NBC announced today that Chicago Fire has been renewed for a seventh season. The original entry in the Chicagofranchise will return for the 2018-2019 season along with spin-offs Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med. The franchise's most-recent spin-off, Chicago Justice, was cancelled last year after just one season.
Chicago Fire follows the courageous men and women at Firehouse 51, home to noble firefighters and paramedics who look fear in the eye and forge headfirst into dangerous situations in order to help those in need. After over 130 total episodes, the series still draws consistently-strong ratings for NBC on Thursday nights.
Look for Season 7 of Chicago Fire this fall.
NBC announced today that A.P. Bio has been renewed for a second season. The Seth Meyers-produced comedy premiered as a mid-season entry in February and just wrapped its 13-episode freshman run last week.
The half-hour series follows a philosophy scholar who, after losing out on his dream job, takes a position as a high school Advanced Placement Biology teacher. But he has plans far beyond teaching biology, including using his classroom full of honor roll students to help him mentally break his job-stealing nemesis and win back the position that he feels is rightfully his.
Critical response to the first season of A.P. Bio was mixed, with reviewers recognizing the show's ability to generate laughs but expecting more from the overall premise. Viewers seemed to have similar sentiments, as ratings were ultimately underwhelming.
Look for Season 2 of A.P. Bio to return for the 2018-2019 season, likely as a mid-season entry once again.
It is being reported that The CW has canceled Valor after its first season. The move was somewhat expected after the network stated late last year that it would not be ordering any additional episodes of the show's first season past its original 13.
The military drama took place on a U.S. Army base home to an elite unit of highly-trained helicopter pilots. After a secret mission in Somalia goes horribly wrong, only two members of the team returned safely. As the two grow closer, they find themselves torn between duty, honor, and desire.
The move to axe Valor comes as the network is making its final decisions on renewals for the 2018-2019 season. Life Sentencewas also officially cancelled earlier today, leaving only iZombiestill waiting on word of its future.
Some sad news today for fans of Life Sentence, as The CW has officially cancelled the new dramedy after just one season. Star Lucy Hale took to Twitter this morning to share the information with her followers, writing that she is shell shocked by the cancellation but proud of what the show accomplished.
The mid-season entry premiered in March and is currently seven episodes into its 13-episode run. While Hale brings with her a sizeable fan base, the series has struggled to find an audience, with ratings among the lowest in the network's prime time lineup.
Life Sentence follows Stella, a young woman who has spent the last eight years living like she was dying after being diagnosed with cancer. When she learns that she is in remission, Stella is faced with the consequences of the bad decisions she made while living in the moment. With the rest of her life suddenly in front of her, Stella now has a real future to think about.
Six episodes remain until the series finale, which is scheduled to air on June 15.
Fox announced today that The Resident has been picked up for a second season. The good news comes ahead of the medical drama's first-season finale, which is scheduled to air next week.
Debuting earlier this year as a mid-season entry, the series has been a decent performer on Monday nights. Airing at 9:00pm, it has improved the network's ratings performance in that time slot by roughly 30% compared with last year.
The Resident stars Matt Czuchry as a senior resident and Emily VanCamp as a nurse practitioner at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital. The series brings to light the hard truths about modern-day medicine - both good and bad. Some lives are saved while others are lost, but expectations will always be shattered.
Today's pickup ensures that all of Fox's new dramas for the 2017-2018 season will be coming back for a second run. This includes The Gifted, The Orville, and 9-1-1.
The CW announced this evening that The 100 will be returning for a sixth season. The pickup comes one month after the veteran drama was left on the bubble when the network renewed 10 of its other prime time shows. Fans can now breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the post-apocalyptic sci-fi series will continue for at least one more season.
Currently just two episodes into Season 5, ratings have so far been on-par with its levels from last year, while overall viewership is tracking slightly higher. The show is currently the fourth-longest-running series on The CW behind only Supernatural, Arrow, and The Originals.
Set in a future where the Earth was previously-decimated by nuclear Armageddon, The 100 follows a group of young survivors who are sent back to Earth in a desperate measure to keep the human race alive.
Look for Season 6 in early 2019.
Hulu announced this morning that The Handmaid's Tale has been renewed for a third season. The good news comes as no surprise considering the success of the book-based drama, which premiered its sophomore season just last week.
The streaming service is stating that the series has doubled its viewership compared to Season 1 after its record-breaking return on April 25. The rise in popularity over the past year makes sense when you take into account the high critical praise the show continues to receive, including Golden Globe and Emmy wins for best television drama.
Based on the classic Margaret Atwood novel of the same name, The Handmaid's Tale takes place in a totalitarian society that was previously part of the United States. Elisabeth Moss plays Offred, one of the few remaining fertile women in the dystopia of Gilead. A handmaid in the commander's household, she is one of the caste of women who are forced into servitude in a desperate attempt to repopulate the world.
Look for Season 3 of The Handmaid's Tale in 2019.
Days before its third-season finale, Fox has cancelled Lucifer. Star Tom Ellis broke the news this afternoon on his Twitter acccount with a message expressing his sadness to fans. The comics-based drama was a decent performer for the network over a good portion of its time on the air, though ratings were hitting series lows this time around.
The hour-long series follows Lucifer Morningstar, who has retired to Los Angeles from his duties as The Devil to indulge in a more carefree lifestyle. That is, until, he finds a new purpose in life and starts working alongside a homicide detective to solve crime and dispense justice.
Lucifer premiered early in 2016 as a mid-season entry, where it exceeded expectations to become Fox's 2nd-highest rated new series of the season. Its strong showing among viewers and critics prompted the network to shift the show to its regular fall lineup for season 2, but its momentum started slowing when it returned later that year.
The series finale of Lucifer will air on May 14.
HBO announced today that Westworld has been picked up for a third season. The big-budget sci-fi drama returned for its long-awaited sophomore run just over a week ago after nearly a year-and-a-half off the air.
Headlined by an A-list cast along with big-name producers and high-quality production values, Westworld premiered in 2016 and made its mark by becoming the cable network's most-watched debut series of all time. It has also garnered a healthy amount of critical acclaim, including dozens of award nominations from the likes of the Emmys and Golden Globes.
Based on the 1973 film of the same name, Westworld is a dark odyssey that takes place in the near future, with a re-imagined past, during the emergence of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. The show is set in a high-tech adult theme park, where every human appetite can be indulged regardless of how noble or depraved.
No time frame for a return has been announced as of yet, but it would appear likely that Season 3 will premiere sometime in 2019.
Showtime announced today that Billions has been renewed for a fourth season. The good news comes midway through the drama's third-season run, which has been continuing to garner solid ratings for the cable network.
Now Showtime's #2 drama behind only Homeland, the critically-acclaimed series stars Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis as two warring power players in the high-stakes world of New York finance. Giamatti plays a shrewd U.S. Attorney who puts his smarts and power up against an ambitious hedge fund manager, played by Lewis, in a bid to outmaneuver each other in a world where billions of dollars are at stake.
Also announced today is a scheduling change for new episodes of the show. Beginning on Sunday, May 6, Billions will air at 9:00pm rather than 10:00pm.
Look for the premiere of Season 4 in early 2019.
