TV in 3: Sheridan Meets Cindy Holland’s Hammer; USA’s Post-Peacock Playbook
Plus: ‘The Pitt’ grabs a quick season 3 renewal as streaming series increasingly move to a broadcast beat
I recently spoke to showrunner Alex Kurtzman about his Paramount+ Star Trek universe, laid out the stakes for 20 buzzy new series premiering this year and interviewed the Bell Media execs who bet on breakout hit Heated Rivalry. I’m lesley.goldberg@theankler.com
Welcome back to TV in 3, my weekly take on the industry’s latest. Today’s main attraction is a follow-up of sorts to my August report about USA Network’s renewed efforts in scripted. But first, a look at how Paramount is corralling Taylor Sheridan and the impact The Pitt is having when it comes to getting other shows back on the air on an annual basis.
Sheridan’s Shrinking Universe
Mayor of Kingstown will not get to the seven seasons that Hugh Dillon, the series’ co-creator alongside Taylor Sheridan, originally envisioned. Paramount earlier this week announced that the Jeremy Renner-led drama, which premiered in 2021 as Sheridan’s first non-Yellowstone series, will end with an abbreviated eight-episode fifth season (down from its standard order of 10). While Kingstown is the lowest-rated of all the Sheridan shows, the move still comes as somewhat of a surprise given the master showman’s upcoming move from Paramount to NBCUniversal come 2029 — you might expect his current home to squeeze every programming minute out of him that it can.
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Instead, the decision to cap the series at five seasons illustrates a willingness by the new Paramount+ regime — led by Netflix alum Cindy Holland — to make hard decisions even if they disappoint a high-value talent.