This Week In TV: McMafia, Gilmore Girls, The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead

We all saw that Star Wars trailer but it’s time we settled down. Allow me to remind you that the movie isn’t out for another two months, so in the meantime, why don’t you read something sensible like a round-up of the week’s TV news?

At the top this week, watch Marty and Doc Brown make a time travelling entrance onto the Jimmy Kimmel Show. Looks like we failed to deliver on the hoverboards and flying cars:

TV News

McMafia

The BBC are diving head first into the prestige drama space with McMafia, a global crime saga that is attracting comparisons to The Sopranos and The Godfather. Based on the 2008 book of the same name by Misha Glenny, it will apparently follow a Russian family in exile in London.

Given the subject matter, we can probably presume the family aren’t entirely on the up and up, crime-wise. The BBC are saying McMafia will be truly global, shifting from Dubai to Columbia to India as well as other locations around the world. Even more interestingly, the show’s co-creator says the series will see lines blur between gangsters, politicians and bankers.

McMafia’s six episodes will reportedly cost around £2 million each to make. This follows news in September that another BBC project, Troy: Fall of a City, will also be costing the broadcaster £2 million an episode. That’s a lot of money to gamble on just two series’.

 

Gilmore Girls

Normally, an old TV show getting a cynical revival makes us all very, very tired. The revelation that Netflix may be about to bring back Gilmore Girls, however, could be the ultimate exception to this rule. Not least because the shows creator and former show-runner, Amy Sherman-Palladino, is on board with the new venture.

Thanks to its popularity on Netflix the show looks set to receive four new episodes, each of which will be 90 minutes in length. According to Slate the episodes will begin production near the start of 2016, though the exact date of their release onto Netflix remains unknown.

It’s possible this could be as cynical and lamentable as other recent TV revivals. On the other hand the show never really resolved its main stories before it was cancelled after its seventh season. Netflix is developing a reputation for allowing its content creators the creative space to realise their vision too, so here’s hoping they give Sherman-Palladino the same treatment.

 

Community and Yahoo

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt about the internet, it’s that it loves Community. So here’s me giving you what you want. The unique sitcom from the mind of Dan Harmon aired its sixth (and probably final) season on Yahoo’s new streaming service earlier this year.

It looks like like this streaming service might be dead before it’s even started, though. Yahoo have revealed a loss of a staggering $42 million for the video service, of which Community was the main pillar. Fans of smart comedy will likely weep openly at this news. It truly is the darkest timeline.

Interestingly, a major problem sighted for the project’s failure was an inability to attract advertisers. This is curious, since creator Dan Harmon has hinted since season six aired that its online viewership was much bigger than anyone expected. Perhaps advertisers are still too nervous about online content, and haven’t quite caught up with reality? Who knows?

 

The Walking Dead

For five seasons The Walking Dead has been a juggernaut for AMC, bringing hordes of viewers to its zombie apocalypse saga. Two episodes into season six, though, it’s starting to look like the lustre is wearing off. The ratings for its second episode are again dreary according to Deadline, after poor viewing figures for the season premiere. AMC’s stock prices fell 6.3% on the back of the news.

 

X-Files

If you’re still looking for a reason to believe the X-Files revival will be good, here’s a short new trailer for your eyes to absorb. Ominously, David Duchovny’s Fox Mulder hints at new revelations to do with the X-Files and whether it was ‘all a lie’. Enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl6TC20mrto

 

Jessica Jones

Marvel just can’t deal with not being the centre of attention, can it? The full length trailer for its new Netflix series has finally arrived. To be fair it looks pretty interesting. Here goes nothing:

 

Hack/Slash Adaptation

Cult horror comic book Hack/Slash is set to become a TV series. The show will presumably follow the comic book’s protagonist Cassie Hack, a former horror victim who now targets monsters who stalk teenagers. Fans of the source material should beware though: the pilot episode is being written by Skip Woods, the writer behind such cinematic masterpieces as Hitman: Agent 47, A Good Day to Die Hard and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Type your angry comments below.

 

William Shatner and WWE

Former Star Trek captain William Shatner is set to narrate a new WWE reality show set to air on the WWE Network. The show, to be titled Breaking Ground, will follow up and coming pro-wrestlers as they join WWE and try to make their way onto the company’s main roster. Shatner describes himself as ‘enamoured’ with the WWE, but whether this is true doesn’t really matter. My curiosity is piqued. Here’s the trailer:

 

Doctor Foster

The BBC’s new drama series Doctor Foster has turned out to be the most viewed new drama series in the UK this year. Following the story of a doctor who discovers her husband is having an affair, the series seems to have struck a chord with people, bringing in more than 10 million viewers for its final episode. The BBC are apparently in talks to find a US channel where the series can air.

Late Night Videos

Check out Saturday Night Live’s brilliant parody of the US Democratic Party debate. Keep an eye out for the Hillary Clinton impersonator, Kate Mckinnon, who’ll be a lead character in next year’s new Ghosbusters movie:

Another Jimmy Kimmel clip now. The guy’s on fire this week. Here he’s redubbed the new Star Wars trailer with Brooklyn accents:

Here’s James Corden on The Late Late Show mulling over Playboy’s decision to stop publishing nude images in its magazine:

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