Programming

The CW’s Kung Fu debuted on Wednesday night to 1.4 million total viewers and a 0.2 demo rating — improving upon Riverdale‘s season averages to date (530K/0.14) and, in fact, giving the time slot its largest audience in two-and-a-half years.

Fox has shared its summer premieres, which include Beat Shazam returning June 3. Jamie Foxx hosts the interactive game show as it enters season four.

The network announced late Wednesday that the procedural reboot starring Lucas Till will wrap after its current fifth season ends. The series finale will air April 30 on CBS.

For primetime linear TV this year, absence has not made the heart grow fonder. Heading into the upfront selling season, there have been fewer scripted primetime broadcast TV episodes through March, as well as continued overall declining primetime TV ratings.

CBS’s newest (and, for the record, still unconfirmed) spinoff, NCIS: Hawaii, is slated to feature a woman in the starring role. A CBS rep declined to comment, but sources confirm that the character — tentatively named “Jane Tennant” — will also break ground on-screen, serving as the first special agent in charge of “NCIS Pearl.”

ABC has released its summer unscripted schedule and it looks like things are back to normal after last year’s COVID interruption. The Disney-owned network has renewed game shows including The Chase and The Hustler and has confirmed that Bachelor in Paradise will return this summer after missing out in 2020.

Crime Scene Kitchen, a new baking competition series hosted by comedian, actor and author Joel McHale and judged by chef Curtis Stone and cake artist Yolanda Gampp, will premiere May 26 at 9 p.m. on Fox.

CBS’s NCIS dominated Tuesday both in total viewers (with 9.9 million of ’em) as well as in the demo, holding steady with a 0.9 rating. On ABC, Pooch Perfect (2.5M/0.4) dropped sharply in Week 2.

Club Mundo Kids, a new TV series debuting on Telemundo on April 10, is the latest result of a push for programming that uses Spanish to reach Latino audiences.

Five senior executives have abruptly quit Dick Clark Productions, the company behind the Golden Globes and the upcoming Academy of Country Music Awards, amid complaints of what one insider called a “toxic culture.”

MLB decided to move the game from Truist Park in Atlanta in response to Georgia voting changes signed into law by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on March 25. Critics, including the CEOs of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola, have condemned the changes as being too restrictive.

Just ahead of its Season 2 premiere next month, Fox renewed animated sitcom Duncanville for Season 3. “Watching Amy [Poehler] bring her incredible talent to Duncanville both on and off the screen these past two seasons has been an amazing experience,” said Fox Entertainment President Michael Thorn.

CBS handily won in the primetime ratings last week, averaging 6.1 million viewers. ABC had 3.8 million viewers, NBC had 3.7 million, Fox had 1.8 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 940,000. Fox News Channel led the cable networks, averaging 2.13 million viewers in primetime. TBS had 1.61 million, MSNBC had 1.59 million, ESPN had 1.42 million and HGTV had 1.16 million.

In a letter sent Tuesday to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, the U.S. House Oversight and Reform subcommittee on economic and consumer policy said YouTube does not do enough to protect kids from material that could harm them. Instead it relies on artificial intelligence and creators’ self-regulation to decide what videos make it on to the platform, according to the letter.

CBS’s coverage of this year’s NCAA men’s basketball championship, in which Baylor bested Gonzaga 86-70, averaged 13 million total viewers (and a 3.0 demo rating), easily dominating Monday in both measures though down about a third in audience from Virginia’s OT win over Texas Tech in 2019.

In the week ending March 28, programs did well just to hold their own as virtually none of the top-tier strips in any category was able to muster any improvement whatsoever thanks to a number of factors, including March Madness.

Networks and streamers are upbeat as they seek post-pandemic stability and noisy new hits. There is also a widespread sense of optimism that the next 12 months will be buoyant for the business — the “roaring ‘20s of non-scripted” as one buyer called it — with the pandemic having an encouraging impact on development that will see some wild and noisy ideas emerge.

Jim Reynolds, the creator, executive producer and showrunner of The Neighborhood, is leaving the CBS sitcom The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Reynolds is exiting the series after three seasons, with reports emerging that there were complaints about his leadership style, including on race-related issues. Deadline reports two Black writers left the show after finishing work on season 3.

Greg Gutfeld, a longtime fixture on Fox News, is the latest entrant to the latenight comedy talk show race, with the premiere of his Gutfeld! on Monday at 11 p.m. ET. He’s seeking to appeal to an audience of conservatives who feel like “targets of ridicule” watching rivals like Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon.

After a year in which streaming became even more important to millions of Americans, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, Netflix still dominates the streaming universe in the U.S. But new competitors like HBO Max and NBCU’s Peacock are already eating into Netflix’s lead in the streaming wars.