“Black-ish” hit comedy series spinoff in the works at ABCJanuary 21, 2017 - 17:35 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - ABC is looking to potentially spin off another one of its top family comedies. The Disney-owned network is in early talks for a Black-ish spinoff starring Yara Shahidi, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Insiders stress talks are still in the early stages — no deals are currently in place — with the potential spinoff revolving around Shahidi's Zoey Johnson in college. The comedy could be planted as a backdoor pilot this spring and hail from series creator Kenya Barris, former showrunner Larry Wilmore and producers ABC Studios. Wilmore, who had served as showrunner for Black-ish's first 13 episodes before moving to Comedy Central's Nightly Show, recently returned to ABC Studios with an overall deal. Should the spinoff move forward, it would be Barris' second pilot in the works this season. He also has ABC comedy pilot Libby & Malcolm, starring Courtney B. Vance and Felicity Huffman. The college-themed Black-ish project also marks the third comedy spinoff in the works this season and second at ABC, which also has a 1990s-set version of The Goldbergs in the works. CBS, meanwhile, also has The Big Bang Theory spinoff Sheldon, focusing on a young version of Emmy winner Jim Parsons' Sheldon Cooper, in the works. In an era of fragmented viewership and more than 450 original scripted series, spinoffs and reboots have become more common as broadcasters, cable networks and streaming services look for proven intellectual property in an attempt to break through the clutter. Black-ish has become a core property for ABC and its sibling studio, recently scoring a Hulu SVOD deal. The comedy has become a critical darling and awards season player for stars including Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross, the latter of whom recently collected a Golden Globe for her role as the family's mother. Top stories Paris Center Pompidou Musée National d’Art Moderne will host the screening of Sergei Parajanov’s "Triptych" on December 15. The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. Partner news | Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. |