Today was a good day for several series on CBS, Hulu, and ABC.
I will start the news off with CBS. The network picked up Tracker, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, Hollywood Squares, Elsbeth, Fire Country, NCIS, NCIS: Origins, and NCIS: Sydney for another season.
But that is only eight shows. What is #9? Ghosts will haunt us for two more seasons.
Those nine join returning shows Matlock, FBI, Survivor, and The Amazing Race, new shows Fire County spinoff Sheriff Country, Blue Bloods spinoff Boston Blue, and singing competition The Road.
Over at Hulu, Dan Fogleman’s Paradise, which stars his This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown, will remain underground for another season.
Finally, ABC loves 9-1-1 so much that they are adding Nashville to the franchise next season. But before then, we are going to get a 9-1-1/Doctor Odyssey crossover in March. According to Variety, the episode takes part during Casino week, and “unexpected guest Athena Grant suspects two passengers are targeting the ship’s vault. Enlisting Max’s help, Athena raises the stakes in a dangerous game where not everyone will end up with a winning hand.”
I wish ABC and Ryan Murphy had picked someone else to take the cruise because it seems
unrealistic that she would get back on a ship so quickly after last year’s water disaster.
Even though we are seven months away from the 2025-2026 season, I can’t wait for it to start.
In November 2023, CBS made a shocking decision to cancel one of its most popular shows, Blue Bloods. However, today, the network announced something to sort of rectify their choice.
There have been rumors that the police procedural would be getting a spinoff, and now we know it is true. Donnie Wahlberg is getting his own series.
In Boston Blue, a universe expansion of the long-running top drama Blue Bloods, Wahlberg will reprise his role as NYPD officer Danny Reagan as he takes a position with Boston PD. Once in Boston, he is paired with Detective Lena Peters, the eldest daughter of a prominent law enforcement family.
It will be interesting to see how Danny’s character survives without his family, which was such an important part of the series’ dynamic.
Another thing I am curious about is how will Boston-born Wahlberg will handle playing a proud New Yorker in Boston. For those of you who are not from the North East, both cities have a long rivalry going on since there were only 13 colonies. Therefore, Wahlberg will still have to be a Yankees fan who hates the Patriots.
In case you haven’t watched Suits yet, here is a little spoiler. Wendell Pierce played Meghan Markle’s father on the legal drama. So you would think he would never joke* about the Duchess. But he does tonight at 10p on CBS’s Elsbeth.
The police procedural is back with its first new episodes in 2025, and Elsbeth goes on a work vacation.
I say work vacation because she has to investigate the murder of a man who died coming back from a holistic wellness center in update New York.
The man was found dead after a car accident, and his death looks suspicious.
Captain Wagner (Pierce) assigns Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) to the case because he says it is one of those type of places where the Royals go to. And that is up her aisle.
When she gets there with Officer Blake (Carra Patterson), they meet Tom Murphey (Eric McCormack), the founder who puts everyone at ease. Elsbeth likes it and him so much that she decides to stay up there to investigate the case.
She will not only be working, but she will also be enjoying the center’s benefits, which includes Tom analyzing Elsbeth. He is going to give her some insight, which is really going to make her think about her life.
Before she can do that, she needs to solve the murder. As she gets closer to finding out who did it, the killer sets their eyes on her to be their next victim.
Will she be able to find out who did it before they do it to her? I think you know the answer to that because there is no series without the title character. But do you know who the murderer is? You don’t know, so you will have to tune in to find out.
*I just mentioned the joke to get to read the preview. Did it work?
Tonight at 10p on CBS, get ready for a TV show within a TV show or procedural inside of a procedural. In other words, Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) is called in to find out who killed the executive producer of a Law & Order: SVU-type show.
Regina Coburn (Laurie Metcalf), think Mariska Hargitay, is the star of the show, and she is getting ready to take a hiatus from the long-running series so that she can act in a play in London. So, the showrunner agreed to put her character into a coma.
Regina hates her co-star, Jack Wilson (Dominic Fumusa). However, the fans of the show want the two of them to hook up. How far did someone go to make sure that storyline will happen or will not happen? That is what Elsbeth has to find out.
And it is not the only murder she is looking into. She is still trying to find out if Judge Crawford (Michael Emerson) killed the man who was the victim in the murder case she was a juror on last week.
You want to make sure to watch the final minutes because they will set up what we can expect from the second half of this season, which returns on January 30th.
But let’s finish talking about tonight’s episode. Metcalf is so brilliant in this episode, and I am so happy that she was because her performance on The Conners made me forget that she can act.
Elsbeth celebrates Christmas tonight at 10p on CBS. It wouldn’t be an episode of the police procedural unless someone was murdered, and that is precisely what happens.
Mr. and Mrs. Christmas, aka Dirk and DeeDee Dashers (Vanessa Bayer), light up the holiday season. However, it is a broken light on a Christmas tree that will take out Dirk. Who would want to kill the man who encompasses the season, especially right before the big day?
Will his death ruin the holiday for everyone, including cheerful Elsbeth (Carrie Preston), who is all about this time of year?
Elsbeth, Kaya (Carra Patterson), and Detective Donnelly (Molly Price) will spend the days leading up until December 25th looking into who killed Dirk. His murder will be a tough nut to crack, even for Elsbeth.
Along the way, while solving the case, she will get some bad news, which will damper her cheer. Our happy detective is going to make you cry with her. Is there anything that can bring joy back into her life?
Solving the murder would be a start, but it is not enough for her. She keeps getting sad news. Will she finally get a Christmas miracle?
You will have to tune in for an episode that is as sweet as all of the gumdrops, chocolate Santas, hot cocoa, egg nog, and candy canes out there.
If ever there was a drama that deserved a Christmas episode, it is this one. And the writers worked their holiday magic with this episode.
