TV Bits: 'Bob's Burgers', 'Family Guy', 'They Both Die At The End', 'Psych', 'High School Musical', 'Utopia', 'Nightflyers', 'Man In The High Castle'
In this edition of TV Bits:
Fox loves keeping (most) of their animated shows alive. The Simpsons will seemingly never end, and now the network has just renewed Bob's Burgers and Family Guy for more seasons. THR reports the deals to renew both shows closed months ago, giving the go-ahead for Family Guy's 18th season, and Bob's Burgers' 10th. I'm shocked Bob's Burgers is already up to season 10, but I'm happy to see it's still going. I stopped watching it a few seasons ago, but I loved it when I was watching. As for Family Guy, well...I'd be fine if that show ceased to exist. But that seems unlikely.
J.J. Abrams and Chris Kelly are teaming to develop Adam Silvera's book They Both Die at the End into a half-hour series for HBO, according to Deadline. The story is "set in the near-future where everyone receives a bureaucratic phone call notifying them at the start of their last day on Earth. It follows a seemingly disparate group of people as they live their scary, funny, weird, hopeful, romantic, and unexpected final hours, all connected through the two teenage boys at the heart of the novel." Abrams has a good working relationship with HBO, serving as producer on Westworld and the upcoming series Lovecraft Country. 
I've never seen a single episode of Psych, nor did I see the made-for-TV Psych movie. But someone must love this show, because USA has decided to make a made-for-TV movie sequel. Characters Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dulé Hill) are back again, and TV Line has the synopsis for the film, titled Psych: The Movie 2:
Santa Barbara Police Chief Carlton Lassiter (Timothy Omundson) is ambushed on the job and left for dead. In a vintage Psych-style Hitchcockian nod, he begins to see impossible happenings around his recovery clinic. Shawn (Roday) and Gus (Hill) return to Lassie's side in Santa Barbara and are forced to navigate the personal, the professional, and possibly the supernatural. Separated from their new lives in San Francisco, our heroes find themselves unwelcome in their old stomping grounds as they secretly untangle a twisted case without the benefit of the police, their loved ones, or the quality sourdough bakeries of the Bay Area. What they uncover will change the course of their relationships forever.
Psych: The Movie 2 will debut on USA later this year.
Remember High School Musical? It's back, in...series form. Disney+ is set to debut the 10-episode show High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (yes, that's the real title). The show will pick up 15 years after the original High School Musical movie. The series just began shooting, and features the following cast members, none of whom I've ever heard of: Joshua Bassett, Olivia Rodrigo, Kate Reinders, Sofia Wylie, Matt Cornett, Dara Reneé, Julia Lester, Frankie Rodriguez, Larry Saperstein, and Mark St. Cyr. The show "follows a group of students as they countdown to the opening night of their school's first-ever production of High School Musical. Showmances blossom; friendships are tested while new ones are made; rivalries flare and lives are changed forever as these young people discover the transformative power that only a high school drama club can provide."
Utopia, a series that was once set for HBO with David Fincher at the helm, is now an Amazon show. Writer Gillian Flynn, who was working on the Fincher version, is still involved, and now Rainn Wilson is, too. The Office actor will co-star alongside Sasha Lane in a series that "follows a group of young adults who meet online that are mercilessly hunted by a shadowy deep state organization after they come into possession of a near-mythical cult underground graphic novel. Within the comic's pages, they discover the conspiracy theories that may actually be real and are forced into the dangerous, unique and ironic position of saving the world." Per Deadline, Wilson will play "once promising virologist" who is "now a forgotten scientist who's lost his edge—under-appreciated and underfunded in his laboratory work. When a nationwide outbreak of a deadly flu arises, Michael offers his expertise, and soon finds he has landed smack in the middle of something much bigger." All of this sounds neat, but I'd be much more excited if David Fincher were still involved.
Sure hope you didn't get too attached to Syfy's Nightflyers, based on the novella George R.R. Martin. Syfy has cancelled the show after one season. The show was intended to keep going, but the ratings just weren't there, and Syfy decided to pull the plug. The show focused on a team of scientists who "embark on an expedition to make first contact with alien life. Set in the year 2093, their mission takes them beyond the edge of the solar system, farther than mankind has ever gone before. But when terrifying and violent events start to occur, the team and crew begin to question themselves, each other, and their reclusive captain. They soon come to realize that the true horror isn't waiting for them in outer space — it's already on their ship." I heard the show was okay, but it didn't generate much buzz – and now it's gone.
It lasted longer than Nightflyers, but The Man In the High Castle is coming to an end as well. Deadline reports that the upcoming fourth season of the Amazon series will be the last. Based on a Philip K. Dick novel, the series was set in an alternate world where the Nazis won World War II. "We're sad that we're coming to an end," said executive producer Isa Dick Hackett. "At the same time, we appreciate this beautiful, extraordinary, talented team of family that we have who has produced this alongside us and that I think that the fans will be thrilled by the culmination. There's a lot of thought put into this and love and care and hopefully, they will see that when they get to finally see this culmination." The final season arrives on Amazon Prime Video this fall.