ABC Orders ‘The Rookie’ Spinoff with Niecy Nash-Betts
Hilary Swank stars in drama ‘Alaska’
ABC has ordered the pilots of dramas Alaska and The Rookie: Feds, and comedy Not Dead Yet, to series for next season.
Alaska is produced by 20th Television. From Tom McCarthy, it has Hilary Swank as a disgraced reporter who leaves her high-profile New York life behind to join a newspaper in Anchorage.
Entertainment One is the producer of The Rookie: Feds, along with ABC Signature. A spinoff of The Rookie, it has Niecy Nash-Betts as the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy. The spinoff was introduced as a two-part event during the fourth season of The Rookie.
From 20th Television, Not Dead Yet comes from David Windsor and Casey Johnson. Gina Rodriguez plays a broke and newly single self-described disaster, working to restart the life and career she left behind 10 years ago. She lands a job writing obituaries. ■
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Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.