TVLine Items: Brad Garrett Joins ABC’s Not Dead Yet, Mad Men Animated Reunion and More
Emmy-winning actor Brad Garrett (Single Parents, Everybody Loves Raymond) will join Gina Rodriguez as a series regular in Season 2 of the ABC comedy Not Dead Yet, which premieres Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 8:30 pm, Deadline reports.
Garrett will portray Duncan Rhodes, the owner and publisher of the SoCal Independent newspaper who also happens to be the father of Nell’s boss Lexi (played by Superstore’s Lauren Ash).
Duncan is described as a “total master of the universe” with “exuberant confidence and charisma.” At the same time, he’s out of touch with the way regular people live but doesn’t realize that. No one is comfortable calling him out on that or telling him he’s a bad father until he meets Nell.
Ready for some more recent newsy nuggets? Well…
* Christina Hendricks will guest-star in the upcoming animated comedy Grimsburg, reuniting with her Mad Men co-star Jon Hamm, who stars and executive-produces. Premiering Sunday, Feb. 18 at 9:30 pm on Fox, the series will also see Rosie Perez, Kaniehtiio Horn, Wendi Mclendon-Covey, Jaime Camil, Amy Sedaris and Patton Oswalt lend their voices in guest roles.
* Days of Our Lives‘ Peter Porte is out as Dimitri Von Leuschner, Soap Opera Digest reports. The actor first appeared as Dimitri in the offshoot Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem in 2021 and reprised the role for Days starting in May. In his final episode on Dec. 12, Dimitri was sent away to a supermax prison.
* Peacock has greenlit the limited series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Fight starring Kevin Hart, who will executive-produce alongside Will Packer. Set in Atlanta during Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight, the story centers on the famed heavyweight bout and the “criminal underground heist that introduced the world to the city dubbed ‘the Black Mecca,’ and the cop and the hustler in the middle of it all,” per the show’s synopsis.
* Apple TV+’s Manhunt, the seven-part true crime thriller starring Tobias Menzies (The Crown, Outlander), will debut the first two episodes on Friday, March 15.
* Kate del Castillo and Santiago Cabrera will join The Cleaning Lady as series regulars for Season 3, which premieres Tuesday, March 5 at 8/7c on Fox. Castillo will play Ramona Sanchez, a benevolent philanthropist, art collector and loving aunt who’s also shrewd, powerful and fiercely protective of her family, her business and her many dark secrets. Cabrera will portray her brother Jorge, a Harvard Law graduate and successful businessman using legitimate business fronts to launder money and serve as a fixer in his family’s organization.
* The Netflix animated Good Times reboot from Seth MacFarlane and the late Norman Lear has found its voice cast, according to The Hollywood Reporter. J.B. Smoove (Harley Quinn, Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Yvette Nicole Brown (Community) will play the leading couple Reggie and Beverly, with Jay Pharoah (Saturday Night Live, Family Guy) portraying one of their sons, Junior. The modern update follows the Evans family as they navigate today’s world and contemporary social issues.
Cleaning Lady had a decent season two ending. They should have left it at that.
Well, Not Dead Yet lost me. Not a Brad Garrett fan, especially after some of his recent comments. It was a cute show.
Unfortunately I feel the same. Really disappointed in this casting, the show did not need him at all. I could tolerate him for 1 episode, but not as a series regular 🤢
Days needs to bring back Peter Porte ASAP. Gorgeous, talented charismatic. The whole package!
This is an expensive addition to the not-that-cheap-cast which is the show that was saved at the expense of home economics.
Never a great sign when a decent under the radar show suddenly casts a big name to bring “attention” to the show. Usually the original premise gets lost to prop up the new ‘star’. Hopefully the show is Not Dead Yet..(I couldn’t help myself….)
ABC should’ve saved Home Economics and canceled Not Dead Yet. Home Econ was funnier and it did deserve to continue.
Oooohh been waiting for Manhunt! Yay!
I woud be very happy if Not Dead Yet found a way to bring back Martin Mull and his engaging performance of a really lovely character.