Programming

The cast of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist may have performed their last number. NBC has opted not to give a third-season renewal to the musical dramedy with a passionate following, which topped USA Today’s annual Save Our Shows poll for a second consecutive year.

Starz wants Disney to change the name of its upcoming Latin America streaming service, Star+. The Lionsgate-owned network filed copyright infringement lawsuits against Disney in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Starz is arguing that the name of Disney’s forthcoming streaming service is too similar with Starz, particularly its own streaming service StarzPlay, which operates in 58 countries worldwide and has been available in Latin America since 2019.

California lawmakers are seeking a large increase to the state’s film and TV tax credit program, a $180 million hike that would bring the Golden State more in parity with New York. The state Senate Budget Committee adopted a proposal last week that would provide $90 million per year for 2021-22 and 2022-23. That is a far greater figure than Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to increase the tax incentives by $30 million in the next fiscal year.

Shrugging off preemptions in some West Coast markets for coverage of the mass shooting near Silicon Valley on May 26, Entertainment Tonight rose 5% from the prior frame to a 2.1 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating. Access Hollywood accelerated 11% to a 1.0 and Extra exploded for a 17% increase to a 0.7, tying TMZ for the first time since Dec. 20, 2020. Overall, Family Feud led all of syndication for a second consecutive week with a 5.4.

The CW’s The Flash this week drew 770,000 total viewers and a 0.2 demo rating, marking its best audience in five episodes while also ticking up in the demo. On NBC, America’s Got Talent (6.9M/0.9) dipped from its season opener yet still dominated Tuesday in both measures.

Honorees include Kerry Washington, Catherine O’Hara, Lena Waithe, Kelly Clarkson, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Dede Mcguire, Erin Andrews, Black-Ish, Mrs. America, Folklore and CBS This Morning. The awards ceremony will take place on Sept. 27.

An exclusive deal with European pay TV provider Sky is restricting HBO Max ‘s ability to expand as it tries to catch up with Netflix and Disney+ .

The Parents Television and Media Council is calling on the FCC and Congress to regulate streaming services. That came Tuesday after the heads of the top streaming services did not participate in its virtual town hall on better content controls.

NBA on TNT helped give the WarnerMedia-owned network a big lift over its competitors at this year’s 42nd Annual Sports Emmys. Announced late Tuesday, this year TNT won the most Sports Emmys of any single outlet, with seven — followed closely by ESPN, which earned six. If corporate entities are combined, then the ESPN triumvirate of ESPN, ESPN Plus and ESPN Deportes actually landed the most wins, with a total of nine.

The NFL remains on top in a down year, and The CW’s All American is the only series to increase both its total audience and adults 18-49 rating.

The broadcast networks made a swift turn into summer last week, with NBC’s America’s Got Talent topping the ratings upon its return. CBS led for the week, averaging 3.3 million viewers in primetime. ABC had 3.17 million, NBC had 3.16 million, Fox had 1.7 million, Univision had 1.5 million, Ion Television had 970,000 and Telemundo had 880,000. TNT led the cable news networks, averaging 2.36 million viewers in primetime last week. Fox News Channel had 1.94 million, HGTV had 1.25 million, MSNBC had 1.23 million and TBS had 938,000.

CBS is sticking with The Talk talent to host this year’s Daytime Emmy Awards, but with a twist: This year, Sheryl Underwood will handle solo duties. The Eye network announced on Tuesday that Underwood will host the 48th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, which airs on Friday, June 25, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, as well as streaming live on Paramount+.

The former drama head will fill the void created by Beatrice Springborn, who left last year to run Universal Content Productions. Helman has been head of drama at Hulu since joining the streamer in 2015.

The Bachelorette — sans Chris Harrison, which fans will now have to get used to on a permanent basis — ruled Monday night in Nielsen’s TV ratings. ABC’s The Good Doctor season finale at 10 p.m. did not let its two-hour lead-in down.

Amy Thurlow is leaving Dick Clark Productions after seven years, the last one as president. Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu, co-CEOs of DCP parent MRC just announced Thurlow’a departure internally, and she also shared the news with her staff. A search is underway for her replacement.

Just hours after the 17th season of The Bachelorette debuted, longtime host Chris Harrison has exited the romance franchise for good. Having fronted the Mike Fleiss-created The Bachelor and all its lucrative ABC spinoffs since 2002, Harrison will receive a rose of his own in the form of mid-range eight-figure payoff and promise to keep his mouth shut. The confidential settlement with franchise producers and distributor Warner Horizon was finally reached after one more flurry of back and forth between the parties and Bachelor broadcaster ABC on Monday night.

The yearlong pandemic blurred the already thin line between the media, with movies that were meant for theaters landing on streaming, and Marvel hopping onto the small screen.