Before BatmanDanny Cannon and Bruno Heller (the duo behind FOX’s nutty-but-entertaining teenage Bruce Wayne series “Gotham”) are about to flash even further back into pre-Batman history with their new series “Pennyworth.” Yup, Wayne family butler Alfred Pennyworth will take front and center in this period action series about a “boyish, handsome, cheerful, charming, clever young man from London” who finds himself working as a “cold, calculated” SAS killer. The 10-episode, 1-hour drama follows Pennyworth as he forms a private security company that goes to work for a young billionaire named Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge, “Reign”) in swingin’ ’60s London. Jack Bannon (The Imitation Game, “Endeavor”) is signed on to play the title role. The show starts production in late October and is expected to air on the EPIX cable channel sometime next year.Suck On ItCo-creators, writers and executive producers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss (who gave up the smash BBC drama “Sherlock”) are reviving another literary giant. Dracula will reintroduce audiences to the world of Bram Stoker’s bloodsucker as he sets his sights on Victorian London. This “television event” will consist of three 90-minute episodes, which are expected to “expand on” the original 1897 novel. It will premiere on BBC One in the UK and on Netflix in the United States. No word yet on when it might air. The BBC and Netflix have also joined forces to adapt Philip Pullman’s epic “His Dark Materials” series of fantasy/sci-fi novels.Breed All About ItBusy British boy Martin Freeman (“Sherlock,” The Hobbit, “Fargo,” “StartUp,” Black Panther) adds another credit to his crowded résumé with FX’s new sitcom “Breeders.” Freeman and Daisy Haggard (“Episodes”) star in this look at modern-day parenting that promises to explore the “parental paradox” of simultaneously loving your children and wanting to kill them. “Breeders” is the work of Simon Blackwell, writer/producer for “Veep,” “The Thick of It” “Peepshow” and In the Loop. The 10-episode first season, produced in partnership with England’s Sky TV, will air sometime in 2019.Mars RisingAfter three seasons of cult fandom, a crowd-funded feature film and two novels, the UPN/CW series “Veronica Mars” is returning for an eight-episode revival on streaming service Hulu. Kristen Bell is back as the titular character, a high-school-aged private detective (who is, obviously, no longer high-school-aged). Series creator Rob Thomas (“iZombie”) will also be back. Original actors Jason Dohring, Percy Daggs III, Francis Capra, Enrico Colantoni and David Starzyk are all signed on to appear in the series. Production on the long-delayed fourth season begins this month. The story reportedly revolves around a serial killer stalking the streets of small-town Nepture, Calif. Hulu is scheduled to start streaming the first three seasons of “Veronica Mars” in summer of 2019, so it’s reasonable to expect that the new season will also make its appearance around then.
Idiot Box: Televised Tidbits From Around The Dial
Televised Tidbits From Around The Dial
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