Author: Lesley Goldberg, Lacey Rose

July 28, 2016 10:52am PT by Lesley Goldberg, Lacey Rose

 Benjamin Cohen/Netflix

The news comes more than two months after THR reported that the Will Arnett comedy was near a deal for a sophomore run.

It’s official: Flaked is returning to Netflix.

The streaming service, a day after presenting its upcoming lineup to critics at TCA, used the show’s Facebook page to confirm that the Will Arnett comedy is returning for a second season. “We’re headed back to Venice for #Flaked Season 2. Can we stay in your guest house?” the show’s Facebook page posted with a tagline that the series would return in 2017.

The formal announcement comes more than two months after THR exclusively reported that Arnett’s deeply personal Venice, Calif., dramedy was near a deal to come back for a sophomore season.

Flaked was co-written by creators Arnett and his pal Mark Chappell (The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret), with Ben Silverman, manager-producer Peter Principato and Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz serving as executive producers. Arnett also stars alongside a lesser known cast that includes David Sullivan, Ruth Kearney and George Basil.

Set in the insular world of Venice, the series centers on a self-appointed “guru” named Chip, played by Arnett, who falls for the object of his best friend’s fascination, London (Kearney). But it didn’t take long for the tangled web of half-truths and semi-bullshit that underpins his all-important image and sobriety to unravel. 

In a revealing profile in The Hollywood Reporter, Arnett, a five-time Emmy nominee, opened up about his own struggles with sobriety, acknowledging that he, like his character, had quietly fallen off the wagon while filming the series. The latter made some of the criticisms lobbed at the semi-autobiographical project that much harder for Arnett to stomach.

During the THR interview, which was conducted pre-premiere in March, Arnett suggested that assuming the series scored a second season, Chip would follow a similar path that he had and turn to his friend Dennis (Sullivan) to get him sober.

For Arnett, the Venice dramedy is one of several projects he has going. In addition to his work on Netflix’s animated comedy BoJack Horseman, Arnett is heavily involved in the Lego, Nut Job and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film franchises. A Turtles follow-up is set to debut in early June.

Netflix Flaked

November 04, 2015 10:30am PT by Lesley Goldberg , Lacey Rose

 Andrea McCallin/ABC

Bob Kushell is departing the Tuesday comedy.

There’s another change at the top of of a fall TV show.

Bob Kushell is exiting ABC’s The Muppets revival, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. 

Insiders say co-creators Kushell, who served as the series’ showrunner, and executive producer Bill Prady (The Big Bang Theory) didn’t say eye-to-eye on the creative direction of the show. There’s talk of Galavant‘s Kristin Newman stepping in to run the show, but the deal has not yet been finalized.

The news comes days after The Muppets was picked up for an abbreviated full-season consisting of only three episodes, bringing its total to 16 episodes. The comedy went into the season as one of the fall’s most highly anticipated series. The ratings, however, haven’t lived up to the hype — with news of Kermit and Piggy’s split going viral and adding to the initial anticipation.  

The series — which sees Miss Piggy hosting her own late-night talk show — has improved the network’s Tuesday slot by 69 percent among total viewers versus last season’s short-lived Selfie (7.6 million vs. 4.5 million) and 86 percent among adults under 50 (2.6 vs. 1.4).

Picked up straight to series based purely on a 10-minute pilot presentation, The Muppets revival is filmed documentary style and explores the personal lives behind the famed characters, including Fozzie, Gonzo and the rest of the gang in a bigger way than the franchise has ever done before.

The Muppets becomes the latest fall TV series to see a change at the top. It joins Fox’s The Grinder, NBC’s Chicago Med, ABC’s Blood & Oil and Shonda Rhimes’ midseason ABC entry The Catch. The showrunner turnover comes as broadcasters face more pressure to get series right amid dwindling ratings and, in some instances, a case of too many cooks in the kitchen with varying creative visions in what insiders have dubbed cases of “bad marriages.”  

AP Images

The sweeping changes continue A+E Networks. 

Exec vp and GM David McKillop is out, and Lifetime general manager Rob Sharenow is taking on additional oversight of the sibling cable network. The news comes as A&E has suffered considerable ratings erosion, having failed to launch a bona fide hit since Duck Dynasty exploded into the zeitgeist.

In his new role as exec vp and GM at both networks, Sharenow will now oversee all content creation, brand development and marketing for both network groups. He will report to newly installed A&E and Lifetime president Paul Buccieri for all A&E related business, and to A+E Networks CEO Nancy Dubuc for all matters Lifetime. Sharenow is intimately familiar with the A&E brand, having spent time as the senior vp of nonfiction and alternative programming before he moved to Lifetime. 

“After 10 years of tremendous growth — we have a renewed focus on re-establishing A&E as a top tier brand,” Buccieri said in a statement Monday. “Rob is the ideal candidate for the job. Before his tenure at Lifetime, Rob was instrumental in the success of A&E for nearly a decade. He was a key member of A&E’s leadership team that developed some of the network’s biggest hit franchises. Under Rob’s leadership at Lifetime, the brand is undergoing a revitalization with a record number of Emmy nominations and returning series. Rob is a great leader with the right balance of creative acumen and strategic vision, essential for today’s changing landscape.”

The change-up comes as the cable network has struggled, like many cable networks, to launch a new unscripted hit. On the scripted side, its most recent drama launch — Chloe Sevigny starrer Those Who Kill — fizzled, moving to cable sibling LMN after just two episodes. Currently, A&E has two entries, both from Carlton Cuse: veteran Bates Motel and remake The Returned, due in March.

For his part, Sharenow — who has a 15-year relationship with Dubuc, and was integral to the development of Duck while still at A&E — joined Lifetime in 2011 as exec vp programming. Under his purview, Lifetime has branched out its scripted programming with ABC import Devious Maids and reality staples including Project Runway, Dance Moms, Bring It and Little Women: L.A. Moreover, the female-skewing cabler has re-established itself a destination for TV movies with ratings grabs including Flowers in the Attic, Aaliyah, Lizzie Borden, the Unauthorized Saved By the Bell Story, among others. 

McKillop, meanwhile, who singled out “declining ratings” as the top TV trend he wished would end as part of a THR survey of network executives in January, will focus on producing.