In today’s roundup, Susan Sarandon will return as a series regular in the sixth season of “Ray Donovan.” James Norton is set to make his final appearance as Sidney Chambers in the fourth season of “Grantchester”
FIRST LOOKS
Stephanie March will make a guest appearance in “Law & Order: SVU” on Wednesday, April 18. The episode will follow Lt. Benson (Mariska Hargitay) as she crosses paths with friend and former ADA Alex Cabot (March) in the search for an abducted woman and her young daughter. See a first look photo below.
CASTING
Showtime has revealed that Susan Sarandon will return to “Ray Donovan” as a series regular. Sarandon will reprise her role as powerful studio head Sam Winslow. The series’ sixth season begins production in New York this month, while the premiere is planned for fall 2018.
RENEWALS
Masterpiece on PBS has renewed mystery series “Grantchester” for a fourth season. This will be the final season for James Norton, who stars as the jazz-loving vicar Sidney Chambers. Casting of a new vicar will be announced at a later date.
AT&T Audience Network has picked up original comedy “Loudermilk,” starring Ron Livingston, Will Sasso, and Anja Savcic, for a second season of 10 half-hour episodes. Peter Farrelly and Bobby Mort will return as writer-creators.
DATES
ABC announced their upcoming finale dates, including series end dates for “Once Upon a Time” on Friday, May 18 and “The Middle” on Tuesday, May 22. As previously announced, the series finale of “Scandal” is slated to air on Thursday, April 19. Additional season finale dates include “Modern Family” on Wednesday, May 16 and “American Idol” on Monday, May 21.
FX has set the premiere date of “Pose,” the new dance musical series from co-creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Steven Canals. The eight-episode first season will debut on Sunday, June 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Evan Peters, Kate Mara, and James Van Der Beek will co-star in the series that features the largest cast of transgender actors in series regular roles as well as the largest LGBTQ cast ever for a scripted series.
“Joe Pera Talks With You” will debut on Adult Swim Sunday, May 20 at midnight and 12:15 a.m. ET/PT. The series charts Pera, who also serves as executive producer with Conner O’Malley, as he plays a teacher in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula exploring “pancakes, blueberries, eggs” and more. Watch the teaser below.
The second season of “Trial and Error: Lady, Killer” is slated to premiere on NBC on Thursday, July 19. Kristin Chenoweth will star in the true-crime comedy alongside Jayma Mays, Sherri Shepherd, Steven Boyer, and Krysta Rodriguez.
“Black Love” will return for its second season on OWN on Saturday, May 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Sterling K. Brown, Niecy Nash, and Tina Knowles-Lawson will appear in the docu-series highlighting love stories from the Black community. OWN will also air “Black Love Motherly Love,” featuring celebrities and their moms including Kofi Siriboe, Bozoma Saint John, and Tichina Arnold, on Tuesday, May 8 in honor of Mother’s Day.
EXECUTIVE NEWS
Steve Chung has been named Chief Digital Officer, a newly-created position, for Fox Television Stations (FTS). “With a fresh and informed perspective, coupled with his impressive and diverse background, Steve will lead our digital strategy in a way that fuels growth and enables our stations to build and foster strong connections with our audience across multiple platforms,” said Jack Abernethy, CEO of FTS. Chung will assume the position in early June.