TVLine Items: FNL Vet Joins Painkiller, Ed Sheeran Mentors The Voice and More

Friday Night Lights vet Taylor Kitsch will battle the opioid epidemic in Netflix’s forthcoming limited series Painkiller, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Also starring Uzo Aduba (In Treatment) and Matthew Broderick (The Conners), the drama chronicles the origins of the opioid crisis, focusing on Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma. Kitsch will play a hardworking family man whose life is upended when he suffers an injury.

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The series reunites Kitsch and FNL executive producer Peter Berg, who will EP/direct Painkiller. Kitsch’s other TV credits include Waco, True Detective and the upcoming Amazon Prime series The Terminal List (in which he stars opposite Chris Pratt).

Ready for more of today’s newsy nuggets? Well…

* Ed Sheeran will join NBC’s The Voice as a Season 21 Mega Mentor.

* AMC’s Interview With the Vampire series has cast Bailey Bass (Law & Order: SVU) as Claudia, the role played by Kirsten Dunst in the 1994 movie, our sister site Variety reports.

* With Love, a one-hour romantic comedy from Gloria Calderón Kellett (One Day at a Time), will premiere Friday, Dec. 17 on Amazon Prime.

* The animated special Beebo Saves Christmas will air Wednesday, Dec. 1 at 8/7c on The CW. In other CW holiday programming news, the movie The Waltons’ Homecoming will premiere Sunday, Nov. 28 at 8 pm, while the Scooby Gang reunites for Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now! on Friday, Oct. 29 at 8 pm.

* The new Peanuts holiday special, For Auld Lang Syne, will premiere Friday, Dec. 10 on Apple TV+, where it will stream alongside classic specials It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown; A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving; and A Charlie Brown Christmas. In For Auld Lang Syne, “after the Peanuts gang experience a disappointing Christmas because Grandma can’t visit, Lucy resolves to throw herself the best New Year’s Eve party ever, while Charlie Brown struggles to accomplish just one of his resolutions before the clock strikes twelve.”

Which of today’s TVLine Items pique your interest?

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