Small Screen: Netflix To Reboot ‘Good Times’ While Starz Unveils Plans For New Series, Plus Upcoming Korean Programming

Bashir Salahuddin and Diallo Riddle - Tommaso Boddi / Stringer

Broadcast: Eva Longoria is extending her relationship with 20th Television, signing a new three-year first-look deal to bring content to the studio through her production company, UnbeliEVAble Entertainment. Having first partnered with Disney’s 20th Television three years ago, UnbeliEVAble was behind Grand Hotel, ABC’s first drama series starred by a majority Latinx cast, and has upcoming projects in the works for ABC with Chicano and for Amazon with Before I Forget.

Creative team Bashir Salahuddin and Diallo Riddle have signed a multiyear overall deal with Warner Bros. TV to create, develop and produce series among multiple genres. The duo has been behind hit series such as Sherman’s Showcase (AMC and IFC) and South Side (Comedy Central/HBO Max), and in addition acted as consulting producers for The Last O.G. (TBS). Salahuddin and Riddle expressed their excitement in being able to “give life to ideas [they’ve] had, in some cases, since [they] were kids,” as the pair looks forward to developing a wide variety of content that includes “everything from broadcast sitcoms to daring streaming content; from animation to genre, and…projects in the DC Universe.” In addition, Salahuddin and Riddle stated their intention “to support fresh, new voices and help their ideas take shape with WBTV’s experienced team.”

Vanessa Kai has been confirmed as a series regular for The CW’s upcoming female-led reboot of the 1970s series Kung Fu. The new series follows Nicky Shen (Olivia Liang), a Chinese American woman who ventures out to a remote monastery in the Yuanyang province of China after a quarter-life crisis pushes her to drop out of college. Having learned martial arts and Shaolin values, Shen returns home to take on the role of a vigilante, combating crime and corruption while also looking for the assassin of Pei-Ling Zhang (Kai), her Shaolin mentor. Starring alongside Kai and Liang are Tzi Ma, Kheng Hua Tan, Jon Prasida, Shannon Dang and Eddie Liu. Kung Fu is executive produced by Christina M. Kim- who also writes for the series- and Martin Gero (via Quinn’s House) as well as Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schecter and David Madden (via Berlanti Productions), and comes from Warner Bros. TV.

Tracee Ellis Ross has signed a multiyear overall deal with ABC Signature to create content across all platforms for the studio via her Joy Mill Entertainment production banner. Along with the production deal, Joy Mill is bringing in Adriana Ambriz, who has previously worked with One Community and as BET’s Senior Director of Original Programming, to act as its new Head of Development. The new deal builds upon an already-strong relationship between ABC and Ross, who is behind two of the network’s biggest hits as one of the stars of Black-ish and as a co-creator and co-executive producer for its spinoff Mixed-ish.

Curtis Jackson - Jamie McCarthy

Cable: Starz has announced plans to develop a new series based on the 2018 film Blindspotting, to be written and executive produced by the film’s original writers, producers and stars, Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs, with Casal also acting as showrunner. The upcoming spinoff will focus on Ashley (Jasmine Cephas Jones) as she moves in with Miles’ (Casal) family after he is suddenly incarcerated. Executive producing alongside Casal and Diggs are Jess Wu Calder and Keith Calder- who co-produced the original film- as well as Emily Gerson Saines, Ken Lee and Tim Palen. Christina Davis, President of Original Programming for Starz, called Blindspotting “a beautiful film that…will translate perfectly into a compelling series for Starz.” Davis highlighted the impact that the upcoming series will have on “[shining] a light on so many of the important social issues that the characters and the audience continue to grapple with.”

A local language remake of Peter Moffat’s BBC limited series Undercover is coming to South Korea’s JTBC. The political drama, told from a nonlinear time frame, focuses on a highly successful barrister whose career in law is in jeopardy when public scrutiny on her personal life reveals her husband’s deceit of over 20 years. Produced by Story TV, Undercover will be the third drama collaboration between BBC Studios and JTBC, joining the ranks of other successful South Korean adaptations of BBC series, including Doctor Foster/The World of the Married, Luther and Life on Mars.

Coming off the success of his hit series Power, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is developing two more series for Starz as part of his overall deal with the network. The first is an untitled series inspired by the career of Nicole Lynn, a sports agent and lawyer, focusing on a young and ambitious Black female sports agent as she climbs the ranks of the male-dominated industry of athlete representation, to be written by Tash Grey and co-executive produced by Jackson, Grey and Lynn. The second, Moment in Time: The Massacre- written and executive produced by Abdul Williams- is an anthology series recounting the true stories of iconic moments in hip-hop history. Jackson will produce both series through his production banner, G-Unit Film & Television; both will be developed in part by Anil Kurian (via G-Unit Film & Television) and overseen by Kathryn Tyus-Adair, Starz’s Senior Vice President of Original Programming.

Harsh Nagar and Sneha Jain have been named as new leads for Star Plus’ Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 2, as confirmed by series producer Rashami Sharma. In addition to the recent casting news, Devoleena Bhattacharjee, Mohammad Nazim and Rupal Patel have been confirmed as returning to the family drama series for its upcoming second season.

Streaming: Hulu has released the first trailer for its upcoming anthology series Monsterland, an adaptation of Nathan Ballingrud’s book North America Lake Monsters: Stories. The horror series is based around the nuances that differentiate man from monster, exploring this concept through the supernatural stories of its many characters. Taylor Schilling, Mike Colter, Kaitlyn Dever and Kelly Marie Tran are among those starring in Monsterland, which will be available to stream starting October 2.

An animated reboot of the classic 1970s CBS sitcom Good Times is coming to Netflix. Set in the present day, the revived series will feature the same core structure as its predecessor by exploring social issues while focusing on the strength that comes from familial love and bonds. The upcoming series is co-produced by Norman Lear’s Act III Productions, Steph Curry’s Unanimous Media- both of which are based at Sony Pictures TV- and Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door, with Carl Jones acting as showrunner and co-creator. Lear, Curry, MacFarlane and Jones will also executive produce along with Brent Miller of Act III, Erick Payton and Jeron Smith of Unanimous Media and Erica Huggins of Fuzzy Door.

Sasheer Zamata recently joined the New Hollywood podcast to discuss her role on Hulu’s recently released Woke, going into some of her favorite aspects of the new series and her character, Ayana, as well as her thoughts on the impact the show has had on the discourse around police brutality. Upon her first reading of the show’s script, Zamata mentions that what excited her about Woke was the way in which the series doesn’t shy away from its subject matter, addressing issues regarding police brutality and racism head on. The core of the show focuses less on the actual racially-charged experience that Keef (Lamorne Morris) has with the police, instead exploring the aftermath of the incident and how the trauma changes him. She brings up the fact that there are few series that focus on this aspect on racism- on how racial aggressions affect victims- and this is what makes Woke a unique series in the exploration of racism because in real life, the trauma “doesn’t just go away.” She goes on to say that the more these issues are talked about and brought into the mainstream, the more that people who have never had these experiences can become empathetic. Zamata also mentioned her appreciation for the fact that the series features multiple Black characters who have differing perspectives, because many shows often just include one Black character, making that singular Black character responsible for representing all Black people and their opinions. With Woke, representation of multiple thoughts, experiences and opinions ranges from Keef having lived his whole life as a Black man who never expected to be racially profiled by the police- hence his initial desire to be “non-controversial”- to Ayana having been woke her whole life and running a progressive paper, to the disinterested Clovis (T. Murph). In her own personal life, Zamata relates to her character’s determination to focus people’s attention on the issues that really matter, as the actress tries to use her own platform to inform people on important issues in a real and authentic way. Although the show has been hailed for its timeliness given the recent events surrounding police brutality in the past few months, Zamata brings up the fact the show was written over a year ago and was conceptualized even before then, so while the show may seem timely now, its focus on a major issue has been in the making for much longer than many may have realized.

Bae Doo-na, Gong Yoo, Lee Joon and Heo Sung-tae are all set to star in the upcoming Netflix series Sea of Tranquility, adapted from the 2016 short film of the same name. Set in a dystopian future where resources are limited, the survival of mankind depends on the successful mission of a group sent into space to collect a sample from an abandoned space station on the moon. Bae stars as Song Ji-an, an astrobiologist who splits her focus between finding the sample and trying to figure out the reason behind the station’s neglect; this leaves her at constant odds with Gong’s Han Yoo-jae, an explorer and the leader of this group who seeks to avoid diversions, looking to safely guide his team to the sample and back to Earth. Rounding out the team are Lee’s Captain Ryu Tae-suk, an engineer and former member of the Ministry of National Defense, and Heo’s Kim Jae-sun, the Director of Resources for the national space agency of South Korea. Written by Park Eun-gyo and produced by Jung Woo-sung, Sea of Tranquility- which is currently in production- is directed by the short film’s original director, Choi Hang-yong.