NBC Announces Supersized ‘Superstore’ Series Finale (TV News Roundup)
In today’s TV news roundup, NBC announced the date of the “Superstore” series finale, and National Geographic set the release date for “Genius: Aretha.”
DATES
NBC’s “Superstore” will end on March 25 with a one-hour series finale at 8 p.m. The workplace comedy, executive produced by Justin Spitzer, Gabe Miller and Jonathan Green, follows the employees of “Cloud 9,” a fictional big-box store in St. Louis, Mo. as they deal with topical issues like immigration, health care, unionization and the struggles of working in retail. The series stars Ben Feldman, Lauren Ash, Colton Dunn, Nico Santos, Nichole Bloom, Kaliko Kauahi and Mark McKinney.
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“Genius: Aretha” will debut on National Geographic on March 21 at 9 p.m. The third installment of the “Genius” anthology, which centers on Aretha Franklin (Cynthia Erivo), will run across four consecutive nights. The only authorized scripted series about Franklin, “Genius” tracks the Queen of Soul’s musical brilliance, unparalleled career and lasting influence on music and culture around the world. The show also stars Courtney B. Vance, Malcolm Barrett, David Cross, Patrice Covington, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Steven Norfleet, Pauletta Washington, Omar J. Dorsey, Marque Richardson and Kimberly Hébert Gregory. Watch a trailer below.
Lifetime will release two new movies produced by TD Jakes Enterprises and Big Dreams Entertainment as part of its adaptation of the “Seven Deadly Sins” anthology by author Victoria Christopher Murray. “Lust: A Seven Deadly Sins Saga,” will debut on April 17 at 8 p.m., followed by “Envy: A Seven Deadly Sins Saga” on April 24 at 8 p.m. The first in the franchise follows Tiffany Cooper (Keri Hilson), who is about to marry soulmate Damon King (Tobias Truvillion). Her world turns upside down when Damon’s best man Trey (Durrell ‘Tank’ Babbs) comes into the picture and triggers in her an unexpected passion. The movie is written by Sonay Hoffman and directed by Star Victoria. The second installment stars Serayah, Rose Rollins and Kandi Burruss, with special appearances by Da Brat and DC Young Fly. In it, Gabrielle Flores (Rollins) learns she has a half-sister, Keisha (Serayah), and is delighted to welcome her into her life. The only problem is Keisha doesn’t want just a sister — she wants Gabrielle’s idyllic life. Damon Lee directs the script written by Nneka Gerstle.
FIRST LOOKS
Elle Fanning, star and executive producer of “The Great,” shared a first look at her titular character, Catherine The Great, in the second season of the Hulu comedy. In it, she is becoming a mother to a literal child, as well as to Russia. From Tony McNamara, “The Great” follows rise of Catherine from outsider to the longest reigning female ruler in Russia’s history. It also stars Nicholas Hoult, Phoebe Fox, Adam Godley, Gwilym Lee, Charity Wakefield, Douglas Hodge, Sacha Dhawan, Sebastian de Souza, Bayo Gbadamosi and Belinda Bromilow.
PROGRAMMING
As part of their first-look deal with National Geographic, “Free Solo” award-winning duo E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin have two new feature documentaries set up at the cabler and two new docuseries. For the former, they have taken over “Thai Cave” (working title) from director Kevin Macdonald, which will chronicle the story of the Wild Boars youth soccer team’s dramatic rescue in 2018, and they also have “Tompkins,” which follows Kristine Tompkins and her Tompkins Conservation organization. The series are the 10-part “Into The Unknown,” which utilizes interviews and self-shot archival footage of elite adventure athletes recounting stories of confronting fear, loss and Mother Nature; “Photographer” is a series pilot they have set up that will follow conservation photographers Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier on a four-year expedition aboard the SeaLegacy One on its maiden voyage to the Bahamas. All four of these projects are being produced by the duo’s production company, Little Monster Films.
LATE NIGHT
Tonight, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Lakeith Stanfield and singer-songwriter Joy Oladokun will be guests on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” while “Jimmy Kimmel Live” will have on Wanda Sykes, Lucas Hedges and Waxahatchee. Casey Affleck and Anthony Atamanuik will be on “Late Night With Seth Meyers” and “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” will feature Robin Roberts and Noah Centineo.
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