The television world moves so fast that by the time you learn of a show’s premiere, it could already be canceled. It’s hard to keep track of the constant stream of television news, so Flavorwire is here to provide a weekly roundup of the most exciting — and baffling — casting and development updates. This week, renewals, cancellations, and pickups galore!
Billy Eichner (Billy on the Street) and Julie Klausner (How Was Your Week?) are teaming up for a USA comedy. Difficult People — executive produced by Amy Poehler — is about two “frustrated comedians and pop culture-loving best friends living in New York City who hate everyone — except each other.” So far USA has only ordered a pilot presentation, but there’s no way the network can pass up something this amazing. [THR]
TBS pickups! Upcoming: Angie Tribeca, the Steve and Nancy Carell cop comedy starring Rashida Jones and Jere Burns; Buzzy’s, the multi-cam Massachusetts-based barbershop comedy from Will & Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick; and Your Family Or Mine, a family comedy starring Richard Dreyfuss. [Deadline]
Damon Wayans Jr. (Coach) was upped to a series regular on New Girl. Nick Sandow (Joe Caputo) and Selenis Leyva (Gloria Mendoza) were upped to regulars on Orange Is The New Black. [Deadline]
Fox is causing emotional whiplash. I’m happy the network canceled the abysmal Dads but devastated it (predictably) canceled Enlisted. Fox won’t be moving forward with Dead Boss (the Jane Krakowski and David Cross sitcom that sounded amazing) but gave Mulaney ten additional episodes. I don’t know how to feel! (Also canceled: Surviving Jack and Rake) [The Wrap]
Fox renewed American Idol for a 14th season. [EW]
Constantine, an adaptation of DC Comics’ Hellblazer has been ordered to series at NBC. [THR]
The creators of Lizzie Bennet Diaries are now working on an updated, gender-swapped version of Frankenstein for PBS Digital Studios. Frankenstein MD “reimagines the title character as Victoria Frankenstein, an obsessive, eccentric prodigy determined to prove herself in the male-dominated fields of science and medicine.” [Pemberley Digital]
TNT ordered two series: Proof (a procedural about a female surgeon) and Public Morals (a 1960s cop drama). [THR]
Key & Peele showrunners Ian Roberts and Jay Martel will also executive produce TV Land’s comedy pilot Teachers, based on the web series (and executive produced by Community‘s Alison Brie). [Deadline]
HBO renewed Vice for two more seasons.
Spike Lee is remaking She’s Gotta Have It for a possible Showtime series. [AV Club]
CW sadly canceled The Carrie Diaries, meaning that viewers will never know what happens to Carrie Bradshaw in the future. It also axed Star-Cross’d and The Tomorrow People. The network renewed Beauty and the Beast, The 100, and Hart of Dixie. [EW]
Orange Is The New Black has already been renewed for a third season! [Deadline]
Continuing his unlikely domination over at A&E, Mark Wahlberg has received the greenlight for a new reality pilot called The Big Brew Theory. The show “follows four quirky and highly intelligent MIT grad students who have pooled their life savings to achieve their dream of creating a home grown micro-brewery.” [Variety]
NBC pickups: Marry Me, a comedy starring Casey Wilson and Ken Marino; State of Affairs with Katherine Heigl as a CIA analyst; Allegiance with Gavin Stenhouse as a CIA agent; and Odyssey, an action-drama starring Anna Friel. [Vulture]
Fox picked up Lee Daniels and Danny Strong’s (The Butler) Empire, a hip-hop family drama starring Gabourey Sidibe and Red Band Society which is a drama starring Octavia Spencer. [Vulture]
USA announced its development slate, which includes a bunch of fun-sounding comedies and dramas from names like Jodie Foster and Carlton Cuse. [THR]
And finally, saving the worst premise for last: A&E’s reality Love Prison takes Internet couples and forces them to meet for the first time on a desert island. The couples will spend a week in “a lone cabin rigged with fixed cameras; there are no visible producers, no visible cameramen and no escape,” so it’s basically a countdown until something awful happens. [Variety]