Duo disbanding?Cultural criticism disguised as sketch comedy “Key & Peele” will be ending after Season 5. The popular show is leaving Comedy Central so that the comedy duo can—as Keegan-Michael Key puts it—“explore other things, together and apart.” New episodes from Season 5 of “Key & Peele” will air through September. Mr. Key and Mr. Peele are still expected to be seen in the theatrical reboot of Police Academy they’re producing for New Line Cinema. After that it’s anybody’s guess what they’ll do.Comedy crimefightersYouTube stars/comediennes Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart stopped by VidCon 2015 earlier this month to show off footage from their new show “Electra Woman and Dyna Girl.” The show is a reboot of the cult ’70s Saturday morning offering starring Deidre Hall and Judy Strangis. The show, produced by kids TV legends Sid and Marty Krofft, ran for 15 episodes in 1976 as part of “The Krofft Supershow.” The new version—featuring the still-kicking Krofft brothers as executive producers—features a much more comedic take. It follows a couple of smalltime superheroes as they move from Ohio to Los Angeles in search of fame and fortune. In the teaser trailer which debuted at VidCon, Helbig jokingly describes the show as, “It’s ‘DuckTales’ meets ‘Superman’ meets an E! fashion review show.” And since watching TV isn’t about going anywhere near a TV these days, the show will air on the website fullscreen.com, a “cross-platform roster of 70,000 YouTube, Instagram, Vine and Snapchat creators who matter.” Unfortunately, I get the feeling anyone old enough to remember the original show will not be able to figure out what the hell fullscreen is.Horror hotelSupermodel-turned-actress Naomi Campbell has confirmed her multi-episode story arc in the upcoming season of “American Horror Story: Hotel.” Campbell will be joining series regulars Angela Bassett, Matt Bomer, Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, Denis O’Hare, Finn Wittrock and Lily Rabe—as well as this coming season’s big guest star, pop idol Lady Gaga. In a recent interview, the show’s creator and executive producer Ryan Murphy promised “American Horror Story: Hotel” will be “much more horror-based” and “a little bloodier and grislier, I think, than anything that we’ve done before.” The show’s fifth season is set to premiere this October on FX.Not so funnyDespite star power in front of the camera (Billy Crystal and Josh Gad) as well as behind it (Larry Charles), FX’ show-biz comedy “The Comedians” won’t be coming back for a second season. The series—a remake of a Swedish sitcom—featured Crystal and Gad playing loose versions of themselves, united for a sketch comedy show neither wanted to make. “The Comedians” debuted with 878,000 viewers, but slid to 306,000 by the end of its 13-episode run. The bastard musicianBritish singer-songwriter (and strawberry-flavored Chupa Chup) Ed Sheeran is joining the cast of FX’ bloody period drama “The Bastard Executioner.” The 10-episode series follows the adventures of a 14th-century warrior knight in King Edward’s army who “is broken by the ravages of war and vows to lay down his sword.” Based on the trailer that premiered at Comic-Con earlier this summer, it doesn’t look like his sword will stay down for long. The six-time Grammy-winning Sheeran is said to be playing Sir Cormac, a character described as “an ambitious and deadly protégé of a high-ranking church elder.” Look for “The Bastard Executioner” to hit the airwaves sometime this fall.
Idiot Box: Televised Tidbits From Around The Dial
Televised Tidbits From Around The Dial
4 min read
