‘Heist 88’ Moves To Showtime As Network Picks Up ‘Seasoned’ To Series, Passes On ‘The Wood’ & Cancels ‘Ziwe’ After 2 Seasons
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EXCLUSIVE: Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance’s film Heist 88, which had been earmarked for Paramount+, will be moving to Showtime, Deadline has learned. Additionally, I hear the network has made decisions on two of its three comedy pilots, handing a six-episode series order to Seasoned, starring Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody, and passing on The Wood, based on the 1999 feature film. Showtime also has opted not to renew Ziwe, hosted and executive produced by comedian Ziwe Fumudoh, for a third season.
Paramount Television Studios, which produces The Wood, will be shopping it elsewhere.
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Original movies were a staple on Showtime in the 1980s, 90s and 2000s until the network shifted to original series. The network recently returned to the genre after a14-year break with Ray Donovan: The Movie. Heist 88, which stars Vance, falls into one of the three new programming lanes for Showtime recently outlined by Chris McCarthy, President and CEO of Paramount Global’s Media Networks: culturally diverse takes in the vein of the network’s The Chi.
The film, written by Dwayne Johnson-Cochran and directed by Menhaj Huda, stars Vance as Jeremy Horne, a criminal mastermind who decides to pull one last job before going to prison in 1988. He recruits four young bank employees to steal close to $80 million dollars via a sophisticated takedown of the banking wire system.
Keesha Sharp, Bentley Green, Keith David, Xavier Clyde, Nican Robinson and Precious Way also star in Heist 88, which Bassett Vance Productions produces alongside MTV Entertainment Studios and Gunpowder & Sky. Bassett, Vance, Lynnette Ramirez, and Johnson-Cochran executive produce for Bassett Vance Productions, Van Toffler and Barry Barclay for Gunpowder & Sky.
Half-hour pilots Seasoned, The Wood as well as Mason, had been greenlighted by the previous regime at Showtime as part of a push in comedy, a genre Showtime has not had a major hit in awhile. Mason starring comedian Nathan Min, from newly minted triple Oscar winners the Daniels, the duo behind Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All At Once, and Oscar nominee Steven Yeun, is yet to be shot.
Seasoned, starring real-life husband and wife Patinkin and Grody and co-created and co-written by their son Gideon Grody-Patinkin and Ewen Wright, is a scripted comedy inspired by the couple’s real life and relationship.
Jax Media is producing, with Brooke Posch, Isabel Richardson, Wright, who directed the pilot, Grody-Patinkin, Patinkin and Grody executive producing.
The Wood is an honest look at friendship and dating from the perspective of three young Black males born and raised in the gentrifying L.A. suburb of Inglewood, fondly referred to by locals as the City Of Champions. Hillian and Famuyiwa executive produced with David Gale and Van Toffler for Gunpowder & Sky.
Ziwe‘s cancellation comes three months after the supersized second season of the show ended its run. With it, Showtime also is officially out of the late-night talk show business — at least for now. Ziwe was a former writer on Desus & Mero, Showtime’s other late-night talker, which ended last year.
There had been a programming slate reevaluation since McCarthy added Showtime to his purview following the exit of longtime CEO David Nevins in October. The process accelerated last month when, following the January announcement that the premium cable network will be integrated into Paramount+ across both streaming and linear later this year and renamed as Paramount+ with Showtime, it was revealed that Showtime will merge with MTV Entertainment Studios. McCarthy at the time set new programming leadership for the network, with Nina L. Diaz expanding her role as Chief Creative Officer and President of Content of the combined operation, and Keith Cox named President of Scripted.
No Showtime series has been renewed since December’s early Season 3 pickup for Yellowjackets, with a number of cancellations since, including Let the Right One In and American Gigolo as well as The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime is working on a new L Word reboot set in New York.) Additionally, three new drama series with completed seasons have been released by Showtime over the past couple of months: Three Women, which landed at Starz, Ripley, which moved to Netflix, and King Shaka.
Additionally, as Deadline reported last week, a significant portion of Showtime’s development slate has been released amid the ongoing changes at the network.
Freshman comedy I Love That for You is the last remaining current Showtime series whose fate is up in the air. As Deadline has reported, there has been an internal push to get the well received series renewed, and I hear it is looking promising.
Ziwe produced 6 episodes in its first season and 12 for Season 2, which launched weekly on Showtime’s streaming service two days ahead of the episode’s linear debut.
Season 2 featured guests including Charlamagne Tha God, Chet Hanks, Emily Ratajkowski, Ilana Glazer, Hannibal Buress, Nicole Byer, Mia Kalifa, Adam Pally and Deux Moi, along with special appearances by Jane Krakowski and Luann de Lesseps.
The first season featured sketches, songs and interviews with the likes of Fran Lebowitz, Andrew Yang, Gloria Steinem and Stacey Abrams.
Exec produced by Ziwe, Jamund Washington, Hunter Speese and Jo Firestone, the series is produced by A24.
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