Sci Fi TV Update: Disney+ Announces New MCU Shows, Day of the Dead Sinks in the Ratings, and More

Sci Fi TV Update: Status updates, news, and developments on sci fi and fantasy television. For breaking news, be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site

Sci Fi TV Development:

On Disney+ Day on November 12th–celebrating the streaming service’s second anniversary–several new MCU shows were announced and more detail was revealed on some already in the works. Following is the rundown provided by Deadline:

Echo, starring Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez, who will be introduced in Hawkeye
Ironheart, a series starring Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, a genius inventor who creates the most advanced suit of armor since Iron Man
Agatha: House of Harkness, a series starring Kathryn Hahn as her character from WandaVision. Jac Schaefer returns as head writer.
Secret Invasion, the new series wherein Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as Nick Fury and re-teams with Captain Marvel‘s Ben Mendelsohn — aka Skrull Talos. At the center of the series is a faction of shape-shifting Skrulls who have been infiltrating Earth for years.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special written by the franchise’s architect James Gunn.
X-Men ‘97: a new animated series that explores new stories in the iconic ‘90s timeline of the original series. Beau DeMayo is head writer.
What If…? (Season 2): After enlisting the Guardians of the Multiverse to stop Infinity Ultron, The Watcher returns in Season 2 of What If…? to meet new heroes and explore more strange new worlds. Directed by Bryan Andrews with AC Bradley serving as head writer.
Spider-Man: Freshman Year: a new animated series that follows Peter Parker on his way to becoming Spider-Man, harkening back to the character’s comic book roots. Jeff Trammel serves as head writer.
I Am Groot: a series of original shorts exploring Baby Groot’s glory days growing up, and getting into trouble, among the stars. Directed by Kirsten Lepore.
Marvel Zombies: a new animated series that re-imagines the Marvel universe with a new generation of heroes battling against an ever-spreading zombie scourge. Directed by Bryan Andrews.

The new MCU entries will start arriving on Disney+ in 2022.

Ratings Results of Interest:

On Friday, Day of the Dead slipped out of the Top 150 cable shows for the night meaning that is rating was at a 0.03 or below. That show remains On the Bubble, and I am keeping an eye out to see if it gets bumped from Prime Time which means it is pretty much dead. On Thursday, Ghosts slipped to a 0.50 rating in the demo with 5.2 million total viewers on CBS. That show is still performing well for its network and has received a full season pickup. Over on The CW, Legacies improved to a 0.12 rating with 430K total viewers. Its highest numbers so far this season. On Sunday on BBC America, Doctor Who improved a tick to a 0.09 rating with 337K total viewers. I covered the ratings from earlier in the week in Friday’s Sci Fi TV Update post, and following are the numbers for all the sci fi and fantasy shows from last week. Ratings Source: ShowBuzzDaily

Ratings Results for the Week of 11/8/21

Renewal Announcement:

NBC has given a second season renewal to its sci fi drama La Brea. That news does not come as much of a surprise as the show has performed well for the network in its first season. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it is the most-watched new broadcast series among adults 18-49 this season. And it was the 21st ranked show among non-repeat, non-special, and non-sports programming across the broadcast nets through November 7th. The first season will only consist of ten episodes and will be wrapping up in December. There is no word at this point on how many episodes the second season will have, but expect between ten and thirteen.

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