50. “The Franchise”
Superhero and franchise filmmaking is apparently so overbearing that Hollywood decided to make a satire about the making of such products. Enter “The Franchise,” created by legendary U.K. comedian and writer Armando Iannucci (“Veep”) and filmmaker Sam Mendes (“Skyfall,” “1917”); the series depicts the issues faced by a film crew in production on a superhero film. Billy Magnussen, Jessica Hynes, Himesh Patel, Aya Cash, Richard E. Grant and Daniel Brühl star.
Airdate: TBD, 2024, via MAX.
49. “6666” and Possible Taylor Sheridan-Verse Shows
2023 gave us two Taylor Sheridan shows, “Special Ops Lioness” and the upcoming “Lawman: Bass Reeves.” What’s on deck next? That’s very unclear, especially due to the strikes. A third “Mayor of Kingstown” season with Jeremy Renner was announced mid-year, but it hasn’t been shot yet because of the strikes. There’s also ‘Yellowstone: 6666,‘ a spin-off set in Texas featuring ‘Yellowstone’ cast member Jefferson White, but we haven’t heard a thing in years. Also somewhere in the wings is “Land Man,” starring Billy Bob Thornton as a crisis manager for an oil company, co-starring Michelle Randolph & Jacob Lofland as the leads, but then the strikes happened, and nothing shot.
Airdates: TBD all of it, and we might be looking at 2025 for all of them, frankly.
48. “Sausage Party: Foodtopia”
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s filthy R-rated 2016 animated movie about a sausage who leads a group of supermarket products on a quest to discover the truth about themselves returns in 2024 as the series ‘Foodtopia.’ Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, David Krumholtz, and Edward Norton reprise their voice roles along with newcomers Will Forte, Sam Richardson, Natasha Rothwell, and Yassir Lester.
Airdate: TBD, via Prime Video.
47. “Orphan Black: Echoes”
“The Orphan Black” cloning franchise returns as a spin-off subtitled, ‘Echoes.’ Created by Anna Fishko based on the original series created by John Fawcett and Graeme Manson, the series stars Krysten Ritter and is set in 2052 in the same universe as Orphan Black with a similar premise. Amanda Fix, Avan Jogia, and Rya Kihlstedt co-star.
Airdate: TBD via AMC, but trailers are out, so it should be soon.
46. “The Tattooist of Auschwitz”
A Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during World War II is given the job of tattooing identification numbers on fellow prisoners’ arms. Harvey Keitel, Melanie Lynskey, Jonah Hauer-King, and Anna Próchniak star, and the series is scored by Hans Zimmer and Kara Talve. Jacquelin Perske (“Love My Way“) is the lead writer.
Airdate: TBD via Peacock.
45. “Bad Monkey”
“Ted Lasso” co-creator Bill Lawrence and Carl Hiaasen (“Strip Tease”) tap Vince Vaughn to lead a series about a one-time detective demoted to restaurant inspector in Southern Florida roped into a world of greed and corruption. Michelle Monaghan, Jodie Turner-Smith, Meredith Hagner, Rob Delaney, Natalie Martinez, L. Scott Caldwell. John Ortiz. Charlotte Lawrence and Alex Moffat join the ensemble cast.
Airdate: TBD via Apple TV+.
44. “A Gentleman in Moscow”
In this dramatic historical thriller, a Russian aristocrat is spared from execution and placed on house arrest while the Bolshevik Revolution plays out before him. The cast stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ewan McGregor, Leah Harvey, Paul Ready, and Björn Hlynur Haraldsson. Ben Vanstone (“All Creatures Great and Small”) is the writer/showrunner, and Sam Miller (BAFTA winner for “I May Destroy You”) directs.
Airdate: TBD via Showtime and Paramount+.
43. “The Perfect Couple”
A lavish Nantucket wedding—where the bride (Eve Hewson) was marrying into a wealthy family at the mother’s (Nicole Kidman) disapproval —ends in disaster before it can even begin when a body is discovered in the adjacent harbor, and everyone in the wedding party is a suspect. Dakota Fanning, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor, Billy Howe, and Meghann Fahy co-star. Susanne Bier (“The Night Manager,” “The Undoing“) directs this adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s novel.
Airdate: TBD via Netlix.
42. “Rivals”
Part of Jilly Cooper’s bestselling “Rutshire Chronicles,” “Rivals” is set in affluent 1980s England where two powerful men and neighbors—an Olympian turned politician (Alex Hassell) and a television exec (David Tennant)—have a longstanding rivalry that finally comes to a head. “Rutshire Chronicles” are generally labeled romance novels but are steamy and scandal-ridden. Aidan Turner, Katherine Parkinson, Lisa McGrillis, Emily Atack, and Danny Dyer co-star in an epically big ensemble. Strangely enough, it was made by Disney+, and not the BBC or a U.K. offshoot.
Airdate: TBD. And who knows, it could go to Hulu now that Disney are buying the streamer.
41. “3 Body Problem”
“Game of Thrones” writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss adapt Liu Cixin’s sci-fi novel, and the story takes place in a fictional Earth where a fateful decision in 1960s China echoes across space and time to a group of scientists in the present, forcing them to face humanity’s greatest threat. The cast includes Benedict Wong, Jovan Adepo, John Bradley, Eiza González, Jess Hong, Liam Cunningham, Sir Jonathan Pryce, and dozens more.
Airdate: March 21, 2024, via Netflix.
