‘Dark Side of the Ring’ Season 4 Trailer Teases Marty Jannetty, Abdullah the Butcher Episodes

Joe Otterson TV Reporter ABC has ordered the drama “High Potential” starring Kaitlin Olson to series. The announcement was made ahead of the Disney upfront presentation in New York on Tuesday afternoon. The series order represents the first such order to come from ABC’s pilot crop this season. According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, the network’s other five pilots remain in contention at this time. The project now known as “High Potential” was originally ordered to pilot at ABC in September 2022, with Olson boarding the show in February. It is based on the French series “Haut Potentiel Intellectuel (HPI).”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Fox made its annual upfront pitch to advertisers at the Manhattan Center on Monday afternoon, pushing the messages of Fox Entertainment, Tubi, Fox News, and Fox Sports, all while promising the audience that don’t worry, we’ll get you hammered soon. Coming off of presentations hampered by the pandemic in recent years, Fox was back in nearly full force, with the writers’ strike limiting the number of network stars in attendance. The event also featured some football antics courtesy of Rob Gronkowski and some well-placed cursing by Gordon Ramsay. Read on below for Variety’s five biggest takeaways from the Fox upfront.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Archer” will end with its upcoming 14th season at FXX. The announcement comes despite the fact that FX never formally announced a Season 14 renewal for the series, though series star Chris Parnell had previously stated that the new season was in production back in January. The series aired its 13th season between August and October 2022. Season 14 of “Archer” will debut on FXX with two new episodes beginning at 10 p.m. ET/PT and stream the next day on Hulu. The show has long been a cornerstone of FX’s comedy lineup. It originally debuted on the network in 2009 and moved over to FXX in 2017. It has received 10 Emmy nominations throughout its run with four wins, including one for best animated series in 2016.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Fox Entertainment’s CEO addressed the decision to cancel “9-1-1” and the show’s subsequent move to ABC during a conference call with the press ahead of the network’s upfront presentation to advertisers in New York. “We look at shows in two different ways,” said Rob Wade, CEO of Fox Entertainment. “First and foremost from a creative lens and how much we like the creative. And the second thing is really the economics of that. I think we felt moving forward into what is really a new era of television, the economics weren’t going to pan out on this show for us. The decision was made there that the business model wasn’t right for us and that 20th TV would take the show back.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “The Last of Us” Season 2 is feeling the effects of the writers’ strike. Casting for the second season of the smash hit HBO series had been underway until earlier this week when it was put on hold, according to an individual with knowledge of the production. Prior to that, however, multiple sources say that the casting team was asking actors to read sides taken directly from “The Last of Us Part II,” the video game on which the second season will be based, due to the fact that there are no scripts for Season 2 at this time. The hope is for the season to begin shooting in early 2024 in Vancouver.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Animal Control” has been renewed for Season 2 at Fox, Variety has learned. The renewal comes as little surprise, given the fact that the show is Fox’s first wholly owned live-action comedy. Per Fox, the show’s premiere was the network’s most streamed scripted debut ever, drawing an estimated 4.5 million viewers across all platforms in its first three days of availability. As the name suggests, the series centers on a group of animal control workers. The cast is led by Joel McHale, who stars alongside Michael Rowland, Vella Lovell, Ravi Patel, Grace Palmer, Alvina August, Kelli Ogmundson, and Gerry Dee.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Fantasy Island” will not be returning for Season 3 at Fox, Variety has learned. The reimagining of the classic series originally aired during the summer on Fox, while the second season has been airing as part of the network’s midseason schedule. “We were very pleased with Fantasy Island’s fun and escapist creative, which we had hoped would gain strong traction among viewers. Sony Pictures Television is an important partner of ours, and we look forward to continuing to work with them on ‘Accused,’ ‘Alert: Missing Persons Unit,’ ‘Doc’ and the upcoming animated series Universal Basic Guys/Hoagie Bros. We’d also like to thank Fantasy Island’s cast, led by Roselyn Sánchez, Kiara Barnes and John Gabriel Rodriquez, crew and executive producers Liz Craft, Sarah Fain and Anne Clements for their partnership on the series,” said Fox in a statement.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Walker: Independence” has been canceled at The CW after just one season, Variety has learned. The series served as a prequel to fellow CW show “Walker,” which was just renewed for Season 4 at the network. The show was set in the late 1800s. Per the official description, it followed “Abby Walker (Katherine McNamara), an affluent and tough-minded Bostonian whose husband is murdered before her eyes while on their journey out West. After crossing paths with Calian (Justin Johnson Cortez), a curious Apache tracker, Abby arrives in the town of Independence, Texas, where she encounters diverse and eclectic residents running from their pasts, chasing their dreams, and keeping their own secrets.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Minx” Season 2 has an official premiere date at Starz. Now that the period comedy has officially moved over from HBO Max, the second season will premiere on July 21 at midnight on the Starz app, app and all Starz streaming and on-demand platforms. On linear, it will debut on Starz at 9 PM ET/PT in the U.S. and Canada. The first season is currently available to stream on the Starz app. “Minx” is set in 1970s Los Angeles. Per the official description, the series “centers around Joyce (Ophelia Lovibond), an earnest young feminist who joins forces with a low-rent publisher (Jake Johnson) to create the first erotic magazine for women. In season two, Doug and Joyce grapple with Minx’s explosive success, which brings more money, fame and temptation than either of them know how to handle.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Call Me Kat” has been canceled after three seasons at Fox, Variety has learned. “We are very proud of ‘Call Me Kat.’ But, unfortunately, the audience response to it was not as strong as we had hoped,” a Fox spokesperson said in a statement. “We are thankful for our partnership with Warner Bros. Television, That’s Wonderful Productions, Sad Clown Productions, BBC Studios, Mayim Bialik, Jim Parsons and the entire cast and crew for their work and dedication to ‘Call Me Kat.'” The multi-cam comedy was a high-profile get for Fox back in 2019, with the network giving the show a series commitment in a highly-competitive situation before formally ordering it to series in May 2020. Both series star Mayim Bialik and executive producer Jim Parsons were coming fresh off of the 12th and final season of the hit CBS multi-cam “The Big Bang Theory,” with “Call Me Kat” representing their first broadcast project after that show.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Yellowstone” is officially coming to an end, with the final episodes of the megahit Paramount Network series’ fifth season set to launch in November. In addition, an untitled sequel series has been ordered and will debut on Paramount Network and Paramount+ in December. The announcement comes after months of speculation that Kevin Costner would be leaving the series, reportedly over his desire to focus on the epic two-part Western feature “Horizon,” which would have seriously impacted his availability to film “Yellowstone.” “’Yellowstone’ has been the cornerstone on which we have launched an entire universe of global hits – from ‘1883’ to ‘Tulsa King,’ and I am confident our ‘Yellowstone’ sequel will be another big hit, thanks to the brilliant creative mind of Taylor Sheridan and our incredible casts who bring these shows to life,” said Chris McCarthy, president & CEO of Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The behind-the-scenes world of professional wrestling was infamously closed off to the public for decades, frustrating fans who craved a glimpse of what their favorite performers were really likeoutside the ring.That all changed with the internet and social media. And now, the industry is peeling back the mystique further via a slew of docuseries about pro wrestling’s biggest stars and aspiring grapplers.WWE has a slate of four shows with A&E, including “WWE Rivals” and “WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures.” Meanwhile, Vice TV is releasing Season 4 of the series “Dark Side of the Ring” on May 30. Also in the mix, Apple TV+ recently aired the docuseries “Monster Factory,” named after the famed pro wrestling school in New Jersey where it takes place, and TBS began airing the All Elite Wrestling show “AEW: All Access” in March.Evan Husney, co-creator and executive producer of “Dark Side of the Ring,” says the pro wrestling doc boom is finally happening because the WWE “controlled the narrative for so long.” Only now are fans getting to see things from other perspectives.“[WWE] controlled all the documentaries that were being put out,” he says. “When we came along with our first season, it was the first time on television in a while that you had seen a sort of journalistic approach and different looks at behind-the-scenes stories and controversies on that large of a scale.”Also driving the wrestling docuseries explosion: nostalgia.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Xilam Animation will serve as animation studio on Zack Snyder’s upcoming Netflix series “Twilight of the Gods.” The series was originally announced in 2019. Little is known about the plot other than it will ancient Norse mythology. The voice cast includes: Sylvia Hoeks, Stuart Martin, Pilou Asbaek, John Noble, Paterson Joseph, Rahul Kohli, Jamie Clayton, Kristopher Hivju, Peter Stormare, Jamie Chung, Lauren Cohan, and Corey Stroll. The series does not yet have a premiere date. Xilam’s animation services on the animated series will include lay-out, colour BG, animation and compositing. The studio’s past credits include the Oscar-nominated feature “I Lost My Body” as well as shows like “Oggy and the Cockroaches,” “Zig & Sharko,” and “Chip ‘n’ Dale: Park Life.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Freida Pinto has signed on to “Surface” Season 2 at Apple, Variety has learned exclusively. Pinto joins series star Gugu Mbatha-Raw as well as fellow new cast member Phil Dunster of “Ted Lasso” fame. As previously announced, “Surface” Season 2 will see Mbatha-Raw’s character Sophie return to her hometown of London and “rediscovering the unfinished relationships that have haunted her memories – as she finds out where she really came from, and what made her the flawed person she was.” Pinto will play Grace, Quinn’s (Dunster) fiancé. Quinn is the troubled scion of the infamous Huntley family. As the soon-to-be newest member of the Huntley family, Grace is said to be “conflicted about what she’s really signing up for, and forms a special bond with Sophie.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Dancing with the Stars” is coming back to ABC for Season 32, Variety has confirmed with sources. The move to bring the reality competition series back to the broadcast network comes after the show aired one season exclusively on streamer Disney+.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “9-1-1” is officially done at Fox, with the broadcaster canceling the series after six seasons. However, the show will be moving to ABC for its seventh season, Variety has confirmed. In addition, the sister series “9-1-1: Lone Star” has been renewed for Season 5 at Fox. “It has been an honor to be the founding network of ‘9-1-1’ and we are grateful to Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear, together with Angela Bassett, Peter Krause, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Oliver Stark, Aisha Hinds, Kenneth Choi, Ryan Guzman and the rest of the cast and crew, and 20th Television for delivering such an impactful series to Fox,” the network said in a statement. “We wish them well after ‘9-1-1’s’ final Fox season concludes.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Bosch: Legacy” has been renewed for Season 3 at Amazon Freevee ahead of the show’s Season 2 premiere. The announcement was made ahead of Amazon’s NewFront presentation in New York on May 1. The first season of “Bosch: Legacy” debuted on Freevee in May 2022, with Season 2 set to air this fall. Like its predecessor, the Prime Video series “Bosch,” the Freevee series is based on the Bosch novels written by Michael Connelly. “The story of Harry Bosch has evolved over the years, and his journey is far from over,” said LaurenAnderson, head of AVOD Originals, unscripted, and targeted programming at Amazon Studios. “Thisrenewal of ‘Bosch: Legacy’ is a testament to the enduring power of the world Michael Connelly built. Welook forward to giving Bosch fandom the next chapter for these beloved characters.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Donald Sutherland is the latest addition to the cast of the Bass Reeves series currently in the works at Paramount+. The show is now officially titled “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” and is now described as an anthology series with future installments to follow other iconic lawmen who have impacted history in subsequent seasons. The logline for the Bass Reeves season states it will “bring the legendary lawman of the wild west to life. Reeves, known as the greatest frontier hero in American history, worked in the post-Reconstruction era as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory, capturing over 3,000 of the most dangerous criminals without ever being wounded.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Sarah Goldberg is staying put at HBO, with the “Barry” star set for a recurring guest star role in Season 3 of “Industry.” Production is set to begin in the U.K. soon on the new season of the series, which is a co-production with the BBC. The Season 3 logline states “As Pierpoint looks to the future and takes a big bet on ethical investing, the desk find themselves front and center in the splashy IPO of Lumi, a green tech energy company — in a story that runs all the way to the very top of finance, media and government.” Goldberg will appear in the role of Petra Koenig, described as “a portfolio manager at ethical investment fund FutureDawn.” Goldberg is the latest recurring guest star announced for Season 3, alongside Kit Harington, who will play the CEO of Lumi.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino have scored a two-season order for a series set in the world of ballet at Amazon, Variety has learned. Titled “Étoile,” the series will take place in both New York and Paris. Each season will consist of eight episodes. The official logline states that the show “follows the dancers and artistic staff of two world-renowned ballet companies, as they embark on an ambitious gambit to save their storied institutions by swapping their most talented stars.” The cast for the series includes Luke Kirby (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Deuce”), Camille Cottin (“Call My Agent!,” “House of Gucci”), Simon Callow (“Outlander,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral”), Lou de Laâge (“The Innocents”), Gideon Glick (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Marriage Story”), and David Alvarez (“West Side Story”).