Programming

Following a fan outcry over its untimely cancellation, Sanditon has been renewed for Seasons 2 and 3, PBS announced. The eight-part ITV series — based on Jane Austen’s final, unfinished novel — made its stateside debut on PBS in early 2020.

NBCUniversal’s new TV boss discusses the excitement and uncharted waters around her expansive role as she readies the company’s post-COVID upfront presentation. (Damon Casarez photo)

Kids Say the Darndest Things made its CBS debut to 3.6 million total viewers and a 0.3 rating, down sharply in the demo (yet steady in audience) versus its Season 1 averages on ABC (3.6M/0.6).

Craig Hunegs is leaving Disney. The President of Entertainment at Walt Disney Television has decided to step down six months after a major restructure at the company. The Warner Bros. veteran joined Disney in 2019 following the Mouse House’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox, and he was to serve as a layer between Dana Walden and the heads of the various Disney-owned TV studios.

Following Alex Trebek’s death, a parade of replacements seem to be battling for the soul of the game — and the state of knowledge itself.

CBS’s NCIS drew 9.3 million total viewers and a 0.8 demo rating, rebounding from last week’s series lows and leading Tuesday in both measures.

Telemundo is forming a new studio that will exclusively cater to the growing need for Spanish-language content on streaming platforms, including the in-house Peacock. The Miami-based Telemundo Streaming Studios will be under Telemundo Global Studios, led by president Marcos Santana. Santana will oversee all scripted programming for the Telemundo linear TV network as well as streaming development.

The network said Tuesday it had reached a six-year agreement with the South American governing body CONMEBOL for English-language U.S. rights that include this year’s tournament in Colombia and Argentina from June 13 to July 10 and the 2024 tournament, likely to be played in Ecuador.

CBS was the most-watched network in primetime last week, averaging 4.8 million viewers. ABC had 3.2 million, NBC had 2.9 million, Fox had 2.1 million, Univision had 1.2 million, Ion Television had 1 million and Telemundo had 920,000. Fox News Channel led the cable networks, averaging 2.2 million viewers in prime time. ESPN had 2.04 million, MSNBC had 1.59 million, HGTV had 1.3 million and CNN had 1.1 million.

In addition, series executive producer Elwood Reid will take over as showrunner for Season 2. His past credits include The Chi, The Bridge, Hawaii Five-O and Barkskins. He takes over running the show from series creator and executive producer David E. Kelley. Season 1 is still currently airing, with the finale set for May 18.

Despite preemptions for Chauvin trial coverage in the session ending April 25, it rose 6% to a four-week high 1.8 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, taking over sole possession of first place in talk.

Fox’s 9-1-1 drew 5.78 million total viewers and a 0.9 rating, dipping week-to-week yet still topping Monday in the demo. , 9-1-1: Lone Star (5.1M/0.8) was up a tick. Over on NBC, The Voice‘s clip show (5.82M/0.75) veritably tied season lows and juuuust barely edged out 9-1-1 for Monday’s biggest audience, while “bubble” drama Debris (2.6M/0.4) was steady in the demo for a fourth straight week.

The new members are HBO’s Sarah Aubrey, ViacomCBS’s Dan Cohen, Nielsen’s Sean Cohan and Avalon’s Laura Kennedy.

Last year, Amazon’s IMDb TV was the surprise winner of Judy Sheindlin’s follow-up court TV series. While no premiere date has been set, IMDb TV executives are hopeful the new show will be able to premiere sometime this year.

Season to date, The Good Doctor is averaging 4.23 million total viewers and just shy of a 0.6 demo rating (in Live+Same Day numbers) — down about 30% from Season 3.  Among the eight dramas ABC has aired this TV season, it ranks third in both measures (trailing Station 19 and Grey’s Anatomy).

The host will bring his nightly show to a close in late June but will continue his relationship with WarnerMedia via a weekly HBO Max series.

Thursday Night Football is coming to Amazon Prime exclusively a year earlier than planned. This coming season will be the last under the league’s “tri-cast” model, which saw games carried across Fox, NFL Network and Amazon. Starting with the 2022 season, TNF will be exclusive to Amazon (with TV stations in the participating teams’ home markets airing those games as well). Amazon is paying more than $1 billion for the rights.

Dick Wolf is spearheading another extension of his venerable Law & Order franchise, and this time he has partnered with one of the key people behind another hugely successful procedural drama franchise from the last two decades, CSI‘s Carol Mendelsohn.

The renewal announcement for Kung Fu comes just under a month after the series premiered. It has enjoyed strong ratings on the network since then, making the renewal all but a certainty. It was also the only scripted CW series this season still waiting on word of a renewal going into upfronts.