For those who missed the spots playing on FX this past week, here is the complete trailer for The Bridge which makes its premiere this summer. The show stars Diane Kruger as she attempts to collaborate on a cross-border murder with a Mexican agent. Like The Killing over at AMC, the concept for this came from overseas. Continue Reading
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The other piece of news today is somewhat obvious. Hot on FX clobbering all basic cable competition Sunday night with another replay of Iron Man 2, the network has locked up the rights to the third Iron Man movie. These are somewhat lucrative deals as even though these movies come to broadcast three years after release, ratings can be tremendous especially when sequels are made.
It is a period drama about tabloid Hollywood in the 1950′s, centering on a wire tapper/informant that lives where ‘glamour and grime intersect.’ This is a work of fiction derived from a 2012 novella called Shakedown that Ellroy himself wrote. Yes, it sounds a bit sensational, this is one of the last untouched squares of the scripted arena thus the intrigue. One could only wonder how this will differ from Frank Darabont’s long in development mid-20th century-set drama Lost Angels over at TNT.
Details are shady, but it looks like they will be expanding original programming rapidly with the goal in mind of each reaching a unique age demographic. FXX will corner the market at 18-34 and comedies while FXM will stray to 25-54-year-olds all while FX maintains a focus on the 18-49 demographic. As part of this reveal, they will be sharing content as FX will be moving some key long-running comedies to their sibling network. Those include It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League, Totally Biased with W. Kamau, and Legit. Each of these series has been renewed for more episodes. Continue Reading
Do not get too upset though because Justified’s ratings are just fine and the show should be able to continue for many more seasons at this rate. By time any viewer gap catches up, Amazon’s ‘bonus service’ should be everywhere thanks in part to recent additions like Downton Abbey and the e-tailer’s continued emphasis on exclusives and original content like the upcoming Zombie Land television series. Continue Reading
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A couple bits of Iron Man 3 news came out today on the same afternoon that the pic officially passed the $700 million mark worldwide. First, the director found a new job. Shane Black has been hired by Sony to co-write and direct Doc Savage. The film will be based on a 1930s-40s pulp novel hero–”a scientist, physician, adventurer, inventor, explorer and researcher with outstanding strength, a photographic memory, and vast knowledge and intelligence.” This is a franchise launcher meaning there is obvious sequel potential. Given the success of Iron Man 3, expect some great casting when the project is ready for production.
A week out from the finale of FX’s new cult-favorite drama The Americans comes first details on the series’ second season. Even though filming does not begin until this fall, three recurring cast members have already made the jump to regular status. Those include Nina-player Annet Mahendru, Alison Wright’s FBI secretary Martha, and Susan Misner’s Sandra Beeman aka the wife of Noah Emmerich’s Stan Beeman. None of these seem to be too big a surprise but the reality might be that any of these could have been killed off in the series’ freshman run.
The return date for Elijah Woods’ comedy Wilfred has been set. The third year series will premiere originals starting Thursday, June 20 where it will run with double episodes two weeks prior to the Fourth of July holiday before returning with single half-hours. More details are as follows.
With the recent wave of announcements that FX made concerning their 
George Lopez is coming back to basic cable. No, TBS is not reviving the cancelled Lopez Tonight talk show. The stand-up comic is instead preparing another half-hour sitcom, this one to come from Lionsgate TV by way of FX. This will be his first comedy since his self-titled ABC show, and its title will be Saint George. The plot? It will be a multi-camera setup that follows the chaotic life of a recently divorced Mexican-American. More details after the jump. 
A week after its 
Whoops! Apparently, FX screwed the pooch when they told the cable providers the time on The Americans this week. As a result, most everyone who DVR’d the series’ most-recent outing missed the last seven minutes. No worries. For those who prefer to get their closure legally, the cable network put the episode online where it will stay until May 15. This might be important considering the show hit all-time ratings lows last night ( an 0.4 18-49 rating.) Press release after the jump. 
And cable networks continue to pander to the streamers among us. FX Networks has just announced a new app called FXNOW that will be available in the fall for authenticated subscribers. This will allow access to the network’s diverse library (more so than traditional on-demand services) including their bloated movie roster which is easily what this thing could be used for most. The big question will lie with what television content makes the transition, but that could be tricky as those rights are already tied up with their respective production outfits. Just last month, Amazon Prime landed 
FX is full of surprises at their upfront presentation today. No press announcement just yet, but the cable network has revealed that they have awarded their original series Justified a fifth season. Many were expecting that news to come down as rating have been steady, but the takeaway may actually be that the brand is converting Fox Soccer to FXX this September all while revamping FXM (their movie channel.)
What is Ang Lee going to do after winning the Oscar for his work on Life of Pi? Apparently, the answer is television as FX has tapped the man to direct the pilot episode for Homeland creator Howard Gordon’s Tyrant. The show is about an American family drawn into the ‘workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation.’ More details after the jump including some network quotes to hype the scripted series. 
FX has given the go ahead for a fifth season of Archer today. The comedy is among the best-received animated series’ for adults in the sub-genre, so we are not at all surprised by today’s news other than the fact that it came on the half-hour side. The cable network has been pushing their dramas as of late it seems, but rest assured there is a continued commitment on that end beyond Anger Management. 
With only a few more seasons of Sons of Anarchy left in the tank, showrunner Kurt Sutter seems to already be laying the ground work for his follow-up series’. FX has just closed a script development deal with the producer for a show called Lucas Stand. The premise has a former spec ops soldier traversing time and place to hunt down and kill Hell’s law-breaking demons. This is an action/horror drama and will be an episodic serialized program. Expect to hear more on this one somewhere down the road in addition to his already in-development comedy Diva. Clown. Killer. which may end up be a starring vehicle for Sutter’s wife Katey Sagal who is still a regular on SoA. 
Well, this is a bit disappointing and exciting all at the same time. Justified will finally be joining the trend of streaming its earlier seasons online. The downside? It will be on Amazon Prime almost defeating the purpose entirely. What we have seen in recent years with similar longform programs were significant ratings boosts thanks in part to distribution of prior content, thus enabling ‘the catchup.’ The problem with Prime is that it is not exactly a full-on competitor to Netflix just yet and as a result not many will likely be able to participate. Bummer.