Television Tidbits

History

With the holiday season keeping many of us busy with shopping, wrapping, cooking and traveling, you may have missed some of the notable entertainment news from the past week. To bring you up to speed going into the new year, here are some of the highlights:

Netflix

• Netflix announced a later-than-usual premiere date for the fourth season of House of Cards. Instead of the mid-February release date of the past three seasons, Season Four will debut on the streaming service beginning March 4, 2016.
• NBC decided not to move forward with more episodes of Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris. Harris, however, will continue a relationship with the network through his company Harris’ Prediction Productions.
• TNT dropped the axe on three dramas: Legends, Public Morals and Agent X. However, the network gave holiday gifts to Major Crimes and The Librarians, renewing both shows for a fifth and third season, respectively. TNT had previously renewed Murder in the First for a third season in November.
• History announced a premiere date and additional episodes for the fourth season of Vikings. The new season will run for 20 episodes instead of the usual 16, and will premiere Thursday, February 18 at 10:00 PM. There is a catch — 10 episodes will run consecutively before a mid-season break, with the rest of the season to air later in 2016.
• Episodes 13 and 14 of The Flash will introduce the comics villain Geomancer, to be played by Adam Stafford. Geomancer is a dangerous metahuman with the ability to create earthquakes.
• NBC has delayed the return of Grimm by a week. The new return date is January 29.
• Regina Hall will join Fox’s Grandfathered in a recurring role as a love interest for Jimmy.
• LL Cool J will host the 58th Annual Grammy Awards for a fifth year in a row. The special airs Monday, February 15 at 8:00 PM.
• MasterChef is losing another judge. Graham Elliot will be departing the flasgship franchise and the spin-off, MasterChef Junior. Elliot will step down after the current season of MasterChef Junior ends. A replacement will be announced in 2016.
• If you thought Ra’s al Ghul was dead and gone at the end of Arrow‘s third season, think again. The villain, played by Matt Nable, will return on the new companion series DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Current Arrow baddie Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) will also visit the new series.
• Hulu has cancelled the Seth Meyers animated series The Awesomes after three seasons.
• Maya Rudolph will join The Grinder in a recurring role in the second half of the season as a therapist to the Sanderson brothers, played by Rob Lowe and Fred Savage. Her character will first appear in a February episode.
• Sean Penn will play President Andrew Jackson in HBO’s miniseries American Lion, based on the biography by Jon Meacham. The six-hour project goes into production in 2016.
• Margaret Cho will move from guest to regular co-host on E!’s Fashion Police when it returns in 2016.
• The fourth season of HBO’s Vice will premiere Friday, February 5 at 11 PM. The new season will air 18 episodes.