Starz has pulled the plug on three sophomore scripted series, Run The World, Heels and Blindspotting, the network confirmed.

Run The World, executive produced by Leigh Davenport, follows the lives of a group of Black women who work, live and play in Harlem as they strive for world domination, according to network officials. The series stars Amber Stevens West, Bresha Webb, Corbin Reid, Stephen Bishop, Tosin Morohunfola and Erika Alexander. It ended its second season in July.

Pro-wrestling drama Heels follows a family-owned wrestling promotion as two brothers and rivals war over their late father’s legacy. The series, which concluded its eight-episode final season on September 15, stars Stephen Amell, Alexander Ludwig, Alison Luff, Mary McCormack and James Harrison. Fans upset about its cancellation made the hashtag #CancelStarz trend on X (formerly Twitter) today.

Also Read: Starz Names Sofia Chang as EVP, Chief Distribution Officer

Blindspotting, based on the 2018 movie, follows a young woman whose life gets turned around after her partner of 12 years and father of her son is suddenly incarcerated. The series stars Jasmine Cephas Jones, Jaylen Barron, Atticus Woodward and Helen Hunt.

The series, created by Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs, ended its second season on Starz in May.

The pay TV service has also confirmed that it will not go ahead with plans to launch drama series The Venery of Samantha Bird, which follows a young woman's whose seemingly storybook love affair isn't what it seems. 

Hallmark Channel will add to its original scripted series lineup with the January 15 launch of The Way Home.

The series follows the lives of three generations of estranged women who look to find their footing as a family, embarking on an enlightening and surprising journey that none of them could have imagined, according to network officials.

The series stars Andie MacDowell, Chyler Leigh, Evan Williams and Sadie Laflamme-Snow, along with Alex Hook, Al Mukadam, Jefferson Brown, David Webster, and Siddarth Sharma.

The Way Home is executive produced by MacDowell and Leigh along with Marly Reed, Arnie Zipursky, Lauren MacKinlay, Larry Grimaldi, Hannah Pillemer, Fernando Szew, Heather Conkie, Alexandra Clarke.■

TNT will add a scripted series to its programming lineup with the acquisition of British drama The Lazarus Project.

The series, which will debut in early 2023, is the first new scripted drama to appear on TNT since Discovery's April acquisition of WarnerMedia. The series was acquired from Sky Studios.

"We have a robust slate of exciting new projects in development to give the large, engaged TNT audience a reason to tune in night after night," Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group chairman and chief content officer Kathleen Finch said. "Acquiring the U.S. rights to The Lazarus Project, a series that already has a strong following in the U.K., gave us a runway to reset TNT's scripted and unscripted development filters and quickly deliver fresh content for fans of big, scripted drama."

According to TNT, The Lazarus Project follows George, the latest recruit to The Lazarus Project, a secret organization that has harnessed the ability to turn back time whenever the world is under threat of extinction. George and his colleagues are the few people on Earth with the ability to remember the events that are undone when time goes backward. But when a freak accident harms someone close to George, Lazarus won't let him turn back time to undo it unless there is the threat of global extinction. Now George must choose to stay loyal or go rogue as he faces the question: If you had the power to rewrite your past, what would you sacrifice to do it?

The series stars Paapa Essiedu, Anjli Mohindra, Tom Burke, Caroline Quentin, Rudi Dharmalingam and Charly Clive. ■

The number of scripted shows on broadcast, basic cable, premium cable and streaming dipped 7% to 493 from their peak of 532 in 2019, according to research from The Walt Disney Co.’s FX Networks.

 Also Read: All This TV: Too Much of a Good Thing? 

The drop, likely caused by shows not being produced or canceled because of COVID-19, came despite the introduction of new streaming services like Peacock and HBO Max that showcase their original series.

Also Read: COVID Cancellations Axe Promising Shows

Despite the decline in the number of new series, time spent watching television and time spent streaming in particular soared as people sheltered in place to avoid catching the Coronavirus and slow its spread.

FX, known for its original content, has been keeping track of the number of scripted shows and its head, John Landgraf, famously called the phenomenon of more networks making more shows “peak TV.”

Also Read: TCA17: FX's Landgraf: Television Heading to ‘Unmanageable Number of Shows’

There were an estimated 210 scripted shows on television in 2009 and the number has grown steadily until it topped the 500 mark in 2019.

With the CTAM portion of the Television Critics Association’s 2020 winter press tour now in the books, the television industry is poised to continue its evolution, with linear networks vying with streaming services for the hearts and eyeballs of consumers.

Here are three trends that marked this year’s TCA Winter press tour presentations for cable networks and streaming services:

Streaming services stake out positions as streaming wars loom

While Netflix was absent from this year’s TCA tour and NBC unveiled its plans for its new streaming service Peacock during its investor day last week, several streaming services presenting at TCA offered a glimpse into their operating strategies as the streaming wars begin to take shape.

Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke said Amazon Prime is not phased by the increased competition among streamers, adding that they are focused on giving its Prime subscribers quality original programming, which includes Emmy-winning series such as Fleabag. HBO Max chief content officer actually lamented the phrase “streaming wars” to describe the growing competitive landscape for streaming services, adding that many of the services currently offered are providing differentiated content offerings to appeal to different tastes and audiences.

“As these services premiere and roll out ... they really are quite different,” Reilly said.

Meanwhile, Discovery Inc. may soon step into the digital streaming ring with the potential launch of an SVOD service that would curate the company’s lineup of unscripted content from such networks as HGTV, Food Network, Discovery and TLC, according to Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

RELATED: Zaslav teases potential Discovery-based streaming service

Networks, streaming services continue to increase number of lead LGBTQ characters

Several new shows will feature LGBTQ lead characters, further increasing what LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD recently reported as a noticeable increase in gay and lesbian lead characters on television.

RELATED: Diverse Images Increasing on Screen, but Viewers Want More

LGBTQ character-led shows announced at the TCA include BET’s Twenties, created and produced by Emmy-winning producer Lena Waithe which follows the exploits of a 20-something queer black girl and her two straight best friends; Freeform’s Everything is Going to Be OK, which stars Josh Thomas as a gay man who becomes the guardian of his two half-sisters; and TLC’s reality series Dragnificent!, which recruits four drag queens to rescue people in need of help. In addition, AppleTV+ will stream a documentary, Visible: Out on Television, a five-part docuseries that examines how TV has shaped the American conscience and how the LGBTQ movement has shaped television.

Scripted series still rolling out in record numbers, but cracks are forming in the "Peak TV" universe

Scripted content continued to grow at an unprecedented pace in 2019, with more than 530 scripted original dramas, comedies and limited dramas available on streaming services and broadcast and cable networks, according to FX. But while new entrants like HBO Max,  Peacock and Apple TV+ will help add to the number of scripted series, other companies are getting out of the original series game. Premium service Cinemax will no longer develop original scripted content, according to HBO Max’s Reilly. Cinemax joins AT&T’s Audience Network -- which will be re branded as an HBO Max preview channel -- as services that previously announced a complete elimination of scripted fare. Expect more services to exit the scripted series highway in the months to come. 

Dice, the Showtime series starring Andrew Dice Clay, debuts April 10 at 9:30 p.m., the network said.

The scripted, semi-autobiographical show follows the life of the comedian, “chronicling the stops and starts of his career resurgence in his transplanted home base of Las Vegas,” according to Showtime.

The series also stars Kevin Corrigan, with Lorraine Bracco, Wayne Newton and Adrien Brody among the guest stars.

Dice is produced by Fox 21 Television Studios and created by Scot Armstrong (Old School, The Hangover Part II). 

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

TruTV didn’t wait long to renew its first scripted series, greenlighting a second season of Those Who Can’t months before the show's premiere.

The series, which centers on three trouble-making high school teachers, will debut Feb. 11. TruTv said Tuesday it has picked up 13 additional episodes of the series, executively produced by Dean Lorey, that will air later in 2016.

The network has also ordered a pilot from Lorey dubbed Shady Neighbors, said truth officials.

“We love Those Who Can’t so much we literally couldn’t wait to make more,” said Chris Linn, president for truTV in a statement “Working with Dean has been an incredible experience, and we look forward to developing new projects with him as we continue to take truTV further into the scripted arena.”

Other truTv pilots in development include an untitled medical comedy from comedian Tom Segura and a pilot script from Melissa Hunter (YouTube series Adult Wednesday Addams), said network officials.

Male-targeted network Esquire will debut its first scripted series Spotless on Nov. 14, the network said Tuesday.

The series stars Marc-André Grondin (C.R.A.Z.Y.) Miranda Raison (24: Live Another Day) Denis Ménochet (Inglourious Basterds), and Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey) and follows two estranges brothers forced to reconnect after the lives were torn apart by a terrible childhood secret, said network officials.

Spotless will mark the first scripted series for the NBC Universal-owned cable network.

Pasadena, Calif. -- Discovery Channel will look to develop as many as two scripted series in 2015 as the network eyes a more family-friendly and inclusive brand, said recently named network president Rich Ross.

Ross, speaking during Discovery’s Television Critics Association press tour presentation here Thursday, said he wants to stress authenticity and inclusiveness in the network’s original programming, although he did not give specific examples of new shows.

He did say Discovery will ramp up its scripted programming lineup, possibly launching two historical-based series in 2015. “We have a huge opportunity [in scripted],” he said.

Ross also said the recent hire of veteran documentary producer John Hoffman as the network’s executive vice president of documentaries and specials signals the network’s desire to develop quality and authentic non-fiction fare.

“The most important thing is authenticity,” he said. “It’s really important that we look into the brand and make sure that’s what we stand for.”

Beverly Hills -- Investigation Discovery will jump into the scripted arena with a drama series that chronicles true-life tales of lovers who turn into criminals, the network said during its session Wednesday at the Television Critics Association summer tour.

The series, Heartbreakers, will showcase Hollywood actors from the 80’s and 90’s portraying real-life spouses or significant others who turned out to be cold-blooded killers, said network officials. The series will feature such actors as Kevin Sorbo, Jack Wagner, Judd Nelson, Rob Estes, Tracey Gold, Nicole Eggert, Jamie Luner, Christopher Knight, and Antonio Sabato, Jr.

 “Our viewers simply cannot get enough true stories of love gone wrong,” said Henry Schleiff, Group President, Investigation Discovery, Destination America, American Heroes Channel and Discovery Fit & Health in a statement. “With Heartbreakers, ID has hit on a unique hybrid that marries those true stories our viewers crave with all the romance and drama that they love in their favorite primetime soaps, featuring an amazing line-up of television and movie legends in the most over the top, deliciously devilish roles they have ever played.”

The network has also teamed up with Condé Nast Entertainment and True Entertainment to develop a new series, Vanity Fair Confidential, which explores compelling crimes and scandals covered over the years on the pages of the popular Vanity Fair magazine.

The network also said it will air this Friday a new documentary, A Question of Innocence, that tackles issues surrounding the death penalty.