Ben Hur before; Greenlight Green Lit; Dr. Cooper flies the coop; Monkeys and Romans and Zombies Syfy

We’ve already talked about all of the canceled a renewed shows that there’s lots of other entertainment news to talk about considering I’m nearly 2 months behind. Spoilers may not be spoilers anymore but we will forge ahead.

In the links below read…
Matt’s Inside Line spoilers dated March 28
Amazon renews “Alpha House” and orders six new series
Walking Dead postmortem interview with creator Robert Kirkman discusses finale and next season
Spoilers from Michael Ausiello dated April 2
How will Agents of Shield cope with Capt. America plot twist?
Matt’s Inside Line spoilers dated April 8
Details on TNT’s The Librarian series. Noah Wiley will be recurring character.
Spoilers from Michael Ausiello dated April 16
Spoilers from Michael Ausiello dated April 23
Matt’s Inside Line Spoilers dated April 24 and May 14

Not in the links but also of interest…
Despite the canceling of “Once upon a Time in Wonderland” producers say they may spin off other stories from the original ABC series Once upon Time however there are no current plans pending.
Michael Chiklis is joining the cast of American Horror Story: Freak Show (a.k.a. AH is Sierra season 4)
RIP Kate O’Mara at age 74. The British actress was known for playing Alexis’ sister Caress on Dynasty
Peter Facinelli a.k.a. Dr. Cooper will not return to Nurse Jackie next season. He asked to leave the show to pursue other things.
Frances Fisher of Resurrection has been cast as Sarah Linden’s mother in season 4 of The Killing on Netflix
Pharrell Williams is replacing CeLo Green on The Voice next season
Wil Wheaton will host a “Talk Soup” type of show for Syfy Channel
ABC has postponed “Astronaut Wives Club” from a summer series to a midseason next year
HBO announces True Blood premiere June 22
In case you didn’t hear David Letterman is retiring and Stephen Colbert will replace him (holy cow I really am behind)
Syfy Channel has ordered to series 12 Monkeys based on the film
RIP Mickey Rooney at age 93
Syfy Channel has ordered 13 episodes of Olympus based on Roman mythology
Syfy Channel has ordered 13 episodes of a zombie apocalypse series “Z Nation” to premiere in the fall
Syfy Channel has ordered 10 episodes of The Expanse a space opera based on the books by the same title
Rumors are a Battle Star Galactica movie is in the works but it’s another reboot, not a continuation of the Syfy Channel series
CW network announced five new series this summer the only one worth watching appears to be Penn and Teller: Fool Us in which aspiring magicians tried to fool them.
Gwen Stefani will replace Christina Aguilera on The Voice next season
Discovery Channel has canceled an attempt to do a wing suit jump from Mount Everest in the wake of 12 Sherpas died in an avalanche
There was a funeral scene shot but then cut from the series finale of How I Met Your Mother
Sarah Silverman has been cast as a recurring character in season 2 of Showtime’s “Masters of Sex”
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon will bring Project Greenlight back to HBO!
It’s been years since I watched daytime soaps but I watched enough to know that it’s big news that Michelle Stafford is moving from Y&R to General Hospital
Fox has officially ordered to series Gotham about a young Commissioner Gordon and other young Batman related characters
NBC will host the Olympics through the year 2032
Misha Collins will return to Supernatural full-time next season. Practically was this season although not officially.
Fox confirmed next year’s American Idol will take a page from Dancing with the Stars and not have a results show
NBC announced its next live musical will be “The Music Man”
Among the pilots not picked up is the How I Met Your Dad spinoff series from the recently ended How I Met Your Mother.
TBS announced is renewing Conan O’Brien through 2018
CW announced it picks up to series Flash based on the DC comic
Piers Morgan is leaving his show on CNN. Nobody noticed 🙂
RIP Derek Martinez who was show runner for Dr. Who from 1965-1970. Dead at age 82 from Alzheimer’s complications
Disney’s “Frozen” passes “Toy Story 3” as highest grossing animated film with $1.072 billion worldwide
BBC America has picked up second season of “The Musketeers” before the first season premiere
MSNBC commentator Lawrence O’Donnell has been off work several weeks recovering from a car accident
Warner Bros. announced Magic Mike 2 will open July 2015
Former Dr. Who Matt Smith has been cast in a new character in the reboot of the Terminator film trilogy
RIP Efraim Zimbalist Jr. former star of The FBI. He was 95
RIP artist H.R.Giger who designed the creatures for the Aliens sci-fi series of films. He was 74
The 3rd Capt. America movie will premiere in May 2016
Jodie Foster has married her girlfriend
Ben Hur is being remade for a 2016 film debut
RIP actor Bob Hoskins age 71
Emma Stone and Joaquin Phoenix will star in Woody Allen’s next film

Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on Good Wife, Mentalist, Castle, Once, TVD, Bitten, Shameless and More
Amazon Renews Alpha House, Orders Six Pilots to Series (Including Chris Carter’s The After)
Walking Dead Post Mortem: Robert Kirkman Shares ‘Scary’ Terminus Intel, Talks ‘Difficult’ Carl Scene, Promises Quick Answers In Season 5
Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Hannibal, P’Hood, Once, Girls, Glee, Good Wife, Hawaii Five-0 and More
How Will ABC’s S.H.I.E.L.D. Cope With the Captain America 2 Twist? ‘We Were In Shock,’ Says Star
Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on Arrow, The Mentalist, Scandal, New Girl, Hannibal, Once, SVU and More!
TNT Orders Librarians Series Starring Rebecca Romijn, Leverage Fave; Noah Wyle to Recur
Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Chicago Fire, True Blood, Reign, Mentalist, S.H.I.E.L.D. and More
Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on 24, Revenge, Grey’s, Dixie, Once, NCIS, Arrow, Sleepy and More!
Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on Vampire Diaries, POI, Once, Arrow, The Mentalist, Big Bang and More
Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on S.H.I.E.L.D., Castle, Once, Bones, Major Crimes, Dallas and More

TV Renewals and Cancellations: My Review

It’s been almost 2 months since my last entertainment blog. I’ve been so busy with programming projects, a brief hospital visit, and catching up on watching TV shows (I’m a month behind on some shows) that I haven’t had time to put together this blog. to get things started here are your official guides to what got canceled and what got renewed. Below these links are my comments on some but not all of the shows that were canceled or renewed. Then in a separate blog entry I will go back to my usual entertainment news.

2014 broadcast TV renewal scorecard
2014 cable TV renewal scorecard

Here are my thoughts on various canceled or renewed series. When I say “I didn’t know it existed” sometimes that’s literally true and sometimes we just means I never watched it and/or never had any interest in watching it. When I say “surprised” I mean that I like the show but didn’t think it would survive and I’m happy it did. Also I’m not mentioning renewed shows that I expected to be renewed. Here we go…
ABC: canceled shows I didn’t know existed: The Assets, Back in the Game, Lucky 7, Mixoloy, The Neighbors, Suburbatory, Super Fun Night.
ABC: Canceled shows I might miss: Killer Women, Mind Games (only saw a couple of episodes that kind of liked it),, Once upon a Time in Wonderland (it was a fun diversion and I sort of hate to see it go but I understand they couldn’t keep it up forever), Trophy Wife (it had potential but just never developed).
ABC: Shows I’m very glad will be back: Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD (was very pleasantly surprised it’s coming back), Once upon a Time (very happy), Resurrection (very pleasantly surprised), Revenge (big guilty pleasure).
CBS: Canceled but no surprise Bad Teacher, The Crazy Ones, Friends with Better Lives, We Are Men. Canceled but I’m disappointed: Intelligence, Hostages (although I understand why), How I Met Your Mother (I will miss it but it has run its course. Was very satisfied with the way they wrapped it up)
CBS: Renewed: Big Bang Theory (for 8, 9 & 10 Hooray!), The Millers (surprised but not pleasantly. Liked it at first but then it got way too silly), Mom (guilty pleasure),
Fox: canceled and I’m not surprised: Dads, Enlisted, Raising Hope, Rake (had potential), X factor (too much bickering among judges. Not enough focus on the contestants), Us & Them (never heard of it)
Fox: canceled and very disappointed: Almost Human
Fox: renewed and I’m happy: The Following, Sleepy Hollow.
NBC canceled: Believe (disappointed but not surprised), Community (never watched), Crisis (liked it but not surprised), Dracula (disappointed but not surprised), Ironside (very bad show. Disappointed it wasn’t any good), Michael J Fox Show (wanted it to be good but it never was), Revolution (disappointed but not surprised), Sean Saves the World (never had a chance. Very bad) Welcome to the Family (never heard of it), Growing up Fisher (not surprised)
NBC renewed and I’m happy: The Blacklist, Grimm, Hannibal (very good show!)
CW network: canceled Nikita (it ran its course but it was fun while it lasted), Star-Crossed (watched one. Didn’t go back. Not surprised), The Tomorrow People (mildly disappointed it’s canceled).
CW network: renewed: The 100 (very pleasantly surprised), Arrow (happy), Supernatural (happy), Beauty and the Beast (surprised. Didn’t care for it even though I wanted to)
A&E Network: renewed Bates Motel (never watched. Looks bad) Longmire (premieres June 2)
AMC canceled Breaking Bad (very much regret never watching), The Killing (moved to Netflix. Can’t wait to see it), Low Winter Sun (no good, not surprised)
AMC renewed: The Walking Dead (counting down days to next season)
BBC America: canceled Being Human (never liked new cast), Luther (they could bring it back anytime. Wish they would), Copper (disappointed but as long as Ripper Street has been renewed I’m okay)
BBC America: renewed: Dr. Who (of course very happy), Orphan Black (very happy)
Cinemax renewed Banshee (never got into it), Strike Back (next season will be last. Really like it)
FX/FXX canceled: Chozen (terrible show), Legit (barely watchable)
FX/FXX Renewed and I’m happy: American Horror Story, The Americans, Archer, Justified (season 6 will be last season), Sons of Anarchy (sadly next season will be last), Wilfred (cannot believe this show was even made let alone renewed for 4 seasons. Absolutely terribly bad show)
HBO renews Boardwalk Empire (gave up on it midseason. Next season will be last), Girls (don’t let anybody know I watch this), Game of Thrones (very happy renewed for season 5 & 6), The Newsroom (sadly season 3 will be last), Silicon Valley (have not yet watched but intend to. Season 2 already renewed), True Blood (season 7 will be last. Love the show but it’s time for it to go). Veep (still catching up on season 2 while season 3 underway. Renewed for season 4)
HBO canceled and I never heard of or never watched: Eastbound & Down, Enlightened, Family Tree, Hello Ladies, Treme
Showtime canceled: The Borgias (liked season 1, missed seeing season 2.), Californication (final season underway. I need to catch up. Will miss it.) Dexter (miss you very much), House of Lies (never watched)
Showtime renewed and I’m happy: Episodes, Homeland, Masters of Sex, Shameless, Web Therapy, Nurse Jackie (a bit surprised), Ray Donovan (mixed feelings about this show. We’ll see if season two holds up)
Starz renewed: Black Sails (happy), Da Vinci Demons (need to catch up but I like it)
Starz Canceled Magic City (never lived up to potential), the White Queen (possible prequel series coming which would be fun)
Syfy Channel canceled: Being Human (will miss it but it had run its course), Warehouse 13 (farewell old friend)
Syfy Channel renewed: Haven (coming back for 26 episodes hooray!), Helix (interesting to see where this one goes)
Syfy Channel undecided: Bitten (no word on season 2. I watch it when I get a chance but it’s not a must-see), Continuum (season 3 currently showing, no word on the future but I hope it comes back), Defiance (returns June 19), Lost Girl (season 5 not yet picked up by Syfy Channel. I watch it sometimes but is not must-see)
TNT canceled: King and Maxwell (too bad), Mob City (didn’t care for it), Southland (no big deal)
TNT renewed for this summer but no word beyond that: Falling Skies (June 22), Major Crimes (June 9), Perception (June 17), Rizzoli and Isles (June 17)
TV land renewed Hot in Cleveland (guilty pleasure)
USA canceled: Burn Notice (we will miss you), Necessary Roughness paren sorry to see it go but it had run its course), Psych (very sorry to see it go)
USA renewed and I’m happy:: Affairs, Royal Pains, Suits, White-Collar (renewed for shortened season)

I will try to get a regular entertainment blog out soon (maybe even later today)