► Lee Daniels Confirms There Will Be an 'Empire' Spinoff
If Lee Daniels has his way, there will be two versions of Empire on television. The co-creator of the Fox hip-hop drama told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday that there would be a second show stemming from the ratings hit. "We're in talks," Daniels told THR. "We're finally figuring it out. It takes a minute, you know? We just really had to build the foundation of Empire, so we then try to figure out what that B-chorus is." Pressed for details, Daniels remained mum on whether the spinoff could be for this current pilot season or if it would be a planted episode that serves as a back-door pilot. Also unclear is the firm premise, though there had been talk in August 2015 that a spinoff could serve as a prequel revolving around Taraji P. Henson's character Cookie. "It could be," Daniels told THR about a prequel series. "We really are in deep talks about it, and we're having all these ideas thrown around to figure it out. But I can officially say that we will be having a spinoff."
A new court show from Orion Television will premiere next fall following clearances on stations representing 73% of the U.S., Orion announced today. The announcement comes just days before the start of this year's annual NATPE conference next week in Miami Beach. The show, Couples Court, is a half-hour strip developed by producer David Armour of 79th & York Entertainment, producer of Lauren Lake’s Paternity Court, also distributed by Orion. The pair of judges who will preside over Couples Court — Dana and Keith Cutler, who have been married for 30 years and also share a family-law practice.Orion is billing them as “the first-ever married couple to preside over a television courtroom.” On the show, they’ll “serve as passionate advocates, providing guidance to couples facing dysfunction and distrust,” Orion said. “In the search for truth, the Cutlers will use technology including GPS, DNA, deleted emails, video surveillance, cell phone forensics and surprise witnesses to confirm or dispel accusations of cheating and deception.”
