Watson starring Morris Chestnut has officially been renewed by CBS for a second season. The network has now confirmed the status of most of its scripted 2024-2025 primetime lineup, with FBI: International, FBI: Most Wanted, and SWAT ending after their current seasons. The Equalizer is one of the few shows left to learn its fate.
The series premiere has been seen by 18.7 million viewers and, according to CBS, is the most-streamed episode of all the network’s original series this season. Season one has been averaging 6.79 million viewers.
Season one stars Morris Chestnut as Dr. John Watson, Eve Harlow as Ingrid Derian, Peter Mark Kendall as Dr. Stephens Croft and Dr. Adam Croft, and Ritchie Coster as Shinwell Johnson. Inga Schlingmann is Sasha Lubbock and Rochelle Aytes stars as Dr. Mary Morstan.
“Watson takes place six months after the death of the titular character’s friend and partner Sherlock Holmes at the hands of Moriarty. The show stars Morris Chestnut as Dr. John Watson who resumes his medical career as the head of a clinic dedicated to treating rare disorders. Watson’s old life isn’t done with him, though—Moriarty and Watson are set to write their own chapter of a story that has fascinated audiences for more than a century,” reads CBS’s synopsis. “Watson is a medical show with a strong investigative spine, featuring a modern version of one of history’s greatest detectives as he turns his attention from solving crimes to solving medical mysteries.
Craig Sweeny serves as showrunner and executive producer. Morris Chestnut, Sallie Patrick, Larry Teng, Shäron Moalem MD, PhD, Kapital Entertainment’s Aaron Kaplan, and Brian Morewitz also executive produce.
McCall turns to serial killer The Grave Digger for help on CBS’s The Equalizer season five episode 14. Directed by Marcus Stokes and written by Terence Paul Winter & Holly Harold, episode 14 will air on Sunday, March 30, 2025 at 10pm ET/PT.
Queen Latifah stars as Robyn McCall, Tory Kittles is Detective Marcus Dante, Adam Goldberg is Harry Keshegian, and Liza Lapira is Melody “Mel” Bayani. Laya DeLeon Hayes plays Delilah and Lorraine Toussaint is Viola “Vi” Marsette.
“The Grave Digger” Plot: McCall visits “The Grave Digger,” a serial killer she put behind bars a year ago, to uncover who is behind a series of copycat murders. Meanwhile, Dee skips her Peer Ear meeting to go to a party with Cam. Michael Worden guest stars.
“The Equalizer is a reimagining of the classic series starring Academy Award nominee and multi-hyphenate Queen Latifah as Robyn McCall, an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills as a former CIA operative to help those with nowhere else to turn. McCall presents to most as an average single mom who is quietly raising her teenage daughter. But to a trusted few, she is The Equalizer—an anonymous guardian angel and defender of the downtrodden, who’s also dogged in her pursuit of personal redemption.
Robyn’s clandestine work and her personal life often collide when her smart and observant daughter, Delilah, and her aunt Vi, who lives with Robyn to help her balance life as a working mother, struggle to conceal her vigilante career. While Robyn worries about the mental and emotional toll her work exacts on her family, she is joined in her pursuit of justice by Melody “Mel” Bayani, an edgy bar owner and sniper from Robyn’s past who recently quit the Equalizer team to recover from post-traumatic stress disorder, and Harry Keshegian, a paranoid and brilliant white-hat hacker married to Mel.
As Robyn aids the oppressed and exploited, she sometimes works with Marcus Dante, an NYPD detective and trusted friend who respects the need for Robyn’s type of justice even as he often questions her methods.”
Fox’s Alert: Missing Person Unit season three episode two finds the team snapping into action to find one of their own. Episode two, “Badge 41870,” will air on April 1, 2025 at 9pm ET/PT.
Scott Caan and Dania Ramirez lead the season three cast as Jason Grant and Nikki Batista. Ryan Broussard plays Mike Sherman, Adeola Role is Kemi Adebayo, and Alisha-Marie Ahamed plays Wayne Pascal. Guest stars include Diana Bang as Helen Gale and Ian Tracey as Charlie McGannon. Malcolm-Jamal Warner appears in a recurring guest-starring role as Chief Inspector Bill Houston.
“Badge 41870” Plot: When Nikki suddenly goes missing, MPU bands together and discovers that Raina, a criminal who Nikki put behind bars, has been paroled and is after Nikki with a vengeance. MPU issues an alert on their fearless leader and discovers that Raina was hired by Irish mob boss Charlie McGannon (guest star Ian Tracey), who has kidnapped Nikki in order to prevent her from exposing his corruption.
In their hardest case to date, Jason, Mike, Kemi and everyone at MPU must put their emotions aside and follow the clues that Nikki bravely left for them.
Alert: Missing Persons Unit is a procedural drama set in the Philadelphia Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit (MPU). Each episode features a heart-pounding, life-or-death search for a missing person, with Jason Grant working his magic out in the field and Nikki Batista heading the team. Their job is to find the missing or abducted and reunite them with their loved ones. Jason and Nikki, once married, have a very personal connection to these cases as their own son went missing and was never found.
Their highly skilled team includes Nikki’s new husband, Mike Sherman, whose bantering bromance with Jason never gets in the way of results; Kemi Adebayo, a spiritually savvy detective with an astonishing knowledge base; and Helen Gale, MPU’s effervescent young forensic scientist. Jason also relies on his relationship with master hacker Wayne Pascal, both on and off the clock.
As the third season begins, MPU is tasked with cases ranging from a missing female collegiate rowing team who disappeared while on the water, a missing street artist due to donate his rare bone marrow to save his dying brother, and Nikki’s ongoing and dangerous association with Irish mob boss Charlie McGannon. But the most harrowing case to date is when MPU must band together in a race to find one of their own. Now more than ever, together, the team must work to find the missing or abducted and help reunite them with their loved ones before it’s too late.
Fox’s promo for the season one finale of Rescue: HI-Surf teases that episode 19 will “leave you breathless.” The action drama wraps up with episode 19, “Let Go,” airing on Monday, March 31, 2025 at 9pm ET/PT.
The one-hour drama stars Robbie Magasiva (Wentworth) as Harlan “Sonny” Jennings, Arielle Kebbel (Midnight, Texas) as Emily “Em” Wright, Adam Demos (Sex / Life) as Will Ready, Kekoa Kekumano (The White Lotus, Aquaman) as Laka Hanohano, Alex Aiono (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin) as Kainalu Emerson, and Zoe Cipres (Roswell, New Mexico) as Hina Alexander. Sea Shimooka (3 Body Problem), Shawn Hatosy (Animal Kingdom), Taylor Cooper (FBI: Most Wanted), and Ian Anthony Dale (The Resident) guest star in recurring roles.
“Let Go” Plot: Hina and Kainalu assist the US Coast Guard in searching for two missing snorkelers left behind in the middle of the Ocean. Meanwhile, Captain Sonny takes matters into his own hands about Vince. Will and Julie meet for coffee and Em receives a job offer from a very rich person. Laka and the team attend Ocean’s graduation party.
Rescue: HI-Surf Series Description, Courtesy of Fox
Rescue: HI-Surf follows the personal and professional lives of the heavy-water lifeguards who patrol and protect the North Shore of O’ahu—the most famous and dangerous stretch of coastline in the world. Each episode will feature these dedicated, heroic, and adrenaline-seeking first responders saving lives in the difficult and often life-threatening conditions of Hawaii’s Seven Mile Miracle.
Natalie Dormer in ‘Audrey’s Children’ (Photo Courtesy of Blue Harbor Entertainment)
Dr. Audrey Evans was a trailblazer in the field of pediatric cancer and a hero to countless children and their families. In an era when women weren’t even allowed financial autonomy, Dr. Evans forced her male colleagues to reconsider their approach to the way pediatric cancer patients were treated. Her legacy lives on in the Ronald McDonald Houses she helped establish and in the 80% survival rate for children with neuroblastoma. And now, thanks to Audrey’s Children, her story gets the spotlight it has long deserved.
Set in 1969, Audrey’s Children charts the extraordinary efforts of Dr. Evans to take a more aggressive approach to treating cancer patients. Dr. C. Everett Koop (Clancy Brown), who would become Surgeon General, makes a controversial decision to hire her. Doing so, he puts a tiny crack in the glass ceiling, which Audrey takes a sledgehammer to as the first female Chief of Pediatric Oncology at the prestigious Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Of course, her appointment rankles the group of all-male department heads who mistakenly believe she’s out of her league. However, Audrey, impressively played by Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer, quickly proves she’s not one to be pushed around. She fearlessly advocates for new treatment methods for her young patients, whom she affectionately refers to as “her children.”
Audrey’s passionate about her children and their families, and she takes an unorthodox approach to obtaining funding for her research. All but two of her male peers (Jimmi Simpson as Dr. Dan D’Angio and Brandon Micheal Hall as Dr. Brian Faust—a fictional character—throw up roadblocks and refuse to treat her as an equal. But Audrey’s a warrior. She refuses to back down against bureaucracy, pervasive misogyny, or the rigid mindsets of doctors who are singularly focused on old-school methods and dismiss the suggestion of a more progressive approach to treatment.
Audrey’s Children’s screenwriter Julia Fisher Farbman was a close friend of the real Dr. Evans and had Audrey’s support while penning the script. Fisher Farbman also obtained the support of Ronald McDonald House Charities and CHOP, and the result is a film that captures Dr. Evans’ revolutionary discoveries in the fight against the deadliest of childhood cancers.
Natalie Dormer does a phenomenal job of capturing the remarkable, tenacious, and forward-thinking doctor who transformed patient care. Dormer captures Dr. Evans’ resolve and courage in speaking up at a time when women in her field were considered lesser than their male colleagues. Dormer displays the strength Dr. Evans needed to basically take on the medical establishment and also perfectly portrayed the warmth and compassion Audrey was well known for showing her children and their families.
Audrey’s Children is deeply inspirational, much like the remarkable woman whose story we see on screen. Director Ami Canaan Mann, screenwriter Julia Fisher Farbman, Natalie Dormer, and the supporting cast have skillfully brought Dr. Evans into the spotlight where her incredible life’s work truly belongs.
ABC’s 9-1-1 season eight episode 12 promises to provide a little info on what Eddie’s up to in Texas. Episode 12, “Disconnected,” will air on Thursday, March 27, 2025 at 8pm ET/PT.
The cast is led by Peter Krause as Bobby Nash and Angela Bassett as Athena Grant-Nash. Jennifer Love Hewitt plays Maddie Han, Oliver Stark is Evan “Buck” Buckley, Kenneth Choi is Howie “Chimney” Han, Aisha Hinds stars as Henrietta “Hen” Wilson, Ryan Guzman is Eddie Diaz, and Gavin McHugh is Christopher Diaz.
“Disconnected” Plot: Maddie’s return to work proves to be more triggering than expected, as she may have returned too soon. As Eddie struggles to adapt to his new surroundings, Christopher discovers him in an unfamiliar situation. Guest stars include Rob Benedict, Paula Marshall, and George DelHoyo.
Anirudh Pisharody, Oliver Stark and Aisha Hinds in ‘9-1-1’ season 8 episode 12 (Disney/Christopher Willard)
9-1-1 Synopsis, Courtesy of ABC:
The series explores the high-pressure experiences of first responders — including police officers, firefighters, and dispatchers—who are thrust into the most frightening, shocking, and heart-stopping conditions. These emergency responders must try to balance saving those who are at their most vulnerable with solving the problems in their own lives.
The show draws from the real lives of first responders who regularly face situations that are often unpredictable, intense, and uplifting at the same time.
Paula Marshall and Ryan Guzman in season 8 episode 12 (Disney/Ray Mickshaw)Bryan Safi, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Debra Christofferson in season 8 episode 12 (Disney/Ray Mickshaw)Anirudh Pisharody, Oliver Stark and Kenneth Choi in season 8 episode 12 (Disney/Christopher Willard)Peter Krause, Anirudh Pisharody, Oliver Stark and Kenneth Choi in season 8 episode 12 (Disney/Christopher Willard)Peter Krause, Rob Benedict and Anirudh Pisharody in season 8 episode 12 (Disney/Ray Mickshaw)
A24’s The Legend of Ochi pulls back the curtain for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the fantasy adventure and the process of bringing the film’s weird little creature to life. Writer-director Isaiah Saxon opted to use practical effects, including puppeteers manipulating the creature that sort of resembles a gremlin/monkey hybrid.
“In a remote village on the island of Carpathia, a shy farm girl named Yuri is raised to fear an elusive animal species known as ochi,” reads A24’s synopsis. “But when Yuri discovers a wounded baby ochi has been left behind, she escapes on a quest to bring him home.”
Helena Zengel (News of the World), Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), Emily Watson (Dune: Prophecy), and Willem Dafoe (Nosferatu) star in the PG-rated adventure. A24 has set an April 25, 2025 theatrical release.
The Legend of Ochi had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. It’s earned a 77% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics saying it looks gorgeous and that the visuals elevate the storytelling.
2025 inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame Tony Brown, June Carter Cash, and Kenny Chesney (Photo Credit: CMA)
The Country Music Association has selected three individuals to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The class of 2025 includes June Carter Cash in the Veterans Era Artist category and Kenny Chesney in the Modern Era Artist category. Tony Brown rounds out the list of this year’s inductees, entering the Country Music Hall of Fame in the Non-Performer category.
“This year’s inductees embody the relentless drive and dedication that defines Country Music,” stated Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “Kenny, June, and Tony have each left a lasting imprint on the genre, shaping its history with their contributions. From a young age, each of them was immersed in music, and their lifelong commitment has led to this very moment. Their achievements speak to the passion and dedication that have defined their extraordinary careers, and the impact of their work will continue to inspire future generations.”
Trahern continued, “There’s something incredibly special about being able to surprise each inductee or their family with this recognition—it’s one of the most rewarding aspects of my job, knowing how deeply their careers have touched the lives of so many, including myself. It is with great pride that we honor these three remarkable individuals and celebrate the lasting legacy they have created within our format.”
June Carter Cash passed away on May 15, 2003, at age 73. Her family responded to the honor with the following statement: “June Carter Cash represents the whole cloth of Country Music, its breadth and heritage. And June’s place in Country Music is undeniable. From the 1940s, across the decades, and into the current century, her voice has been heard across the country and throughout much of the world, both with Mother Maybelle Carter, sisters Helen and Anita, and on her own, as well as with her duet partners, including her beloved Johnny Cash, with whom she told stories and inspired musicians both past, present, and future.
She was a loving wife and mother, an actress, singer, songwriter, comedienne, and a truly gifted performer whose persona was never exactly what was expected but was always and totally June. She profoundly respected, and was respected for, her craft, and that endures to this day. We, the Carter and Cash families, are most grateful and proud that the County Music Association has given June this well-deserved honor for her undeniable contribution to the fabric of Country Music and American culture.”
Kenny Chesney is the only Country artist to hold a spot on Billboard’s Top 10 Touring Acts of the Last 25 Years and has earned four Country Music Association and four Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year awards. “You don’t dare dream of being in the Country Music Hall of Fame, alongside legends including George Jones, Willie Nelson, Alabama, even Dean Dillon,” said Kenny Chesney about being included in the class of 2025 inductees. “I’ve been lucky enough to get to call them my friends, and that was plenty. But hearing the news I’d been voted into the Hall, I can honestly say beyond my wildest dreams, it’s an honor that defies words. I am humbled, grateful, honored…as much for all the songwriters, musicians, artists, and people who’ve helped me build my career; they have truly inspired me every single day.”
“When you’re producing No. 1 records, you feel like you know what you’re doing,” said Tony Brown on being recognized by the Country Music Association. “But being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame—especially for someone as idealistic as me—makes it feel like you’ve truly made an impact. And that has always been my goal.”
New Line Cinema’s grisly Final Destination Bloodlines trailer teases deaths by a lawnmower and truck. It also reveals the act that pissed off Death and triggered a string of gruesome deaths.
Kaitlyn Santa Juana (The Friendship Game), Teo Briones (Chucky), Richard Harmon (The 100), Owen Patrick Joyner (Julie and the Phantoms), Anna Lore (They/Them), and Brec Bassinger (Stargirl). Fan-favorite franchise star Tony Todd is back for the latest installment in the Final Destination movies, which marks his final film role.
“Plagued by a violent recurring nightmare, college student Stefanie heads home to track down the one person who might be able to break the cycle and save her family from the grisly demise that inevitably awaits them all,” reads New Line Cinema’s synopsis.
The franchise kicked off in March 2000, followed by Final Destination 2 in January 2003 and Final Destination 3 in February 2006. The Final Destination opened in August 2009, and Final Destination 5 was released in August 2011. Final Destination Bloodlines opens in theaters on May 16, 2025.
Freaks directors Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky helm the sixth entry in the franchise. Guy Busick (Ready or Not) and Lori Evans Taylor (Cellar Door) wrote the screenplay, with Craig Perry, Sheila Hanahan Taylor, Jon Watts, and Toby Emmerich producing.
David Siegel and Warren Zide serve as executive producers. Stein and Lipovsky’s behind-the-scenes team includes director of photography Christian Sebaldt, production designer Rachel O’Toole, editor Sabrina Pitre, costume designer Michelle Hunter, and casting director Rich Delia. The music is by Tim Wynn.
Netflix’s Adolescence has struck a chord with viewers, racking up almost 25 million views in its first four days*. The incredibly intense crime drama focuses on the impact of a horrific crime on the family of the perpetrator while simultaneously exploring the pressures placed on teenagers, in large part, by social media.
No parent expects a SWAT team to bust down their door and take their teenager into custody for murder. That scenario and its aftermath play out in Adolescence in a stunning manner, with each of the four episodes filmed in one take. What’s almost as impressive is accomplishing that extraordinary feat without making it the sole reason to watch the series.
The one-take concept works because of the brilliant performances by series co-creator Stephen Graham, Owen Cooper, Christine Tremarco, Amélie Pease, and Ashley Walters. Erin Doherty and Faye Marsay also star in the riveting drama that’s earned a 99% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Graham and co-creator Jack Thorne wrote the limited series, with Philip Barantini directing. Barantini’s 2021 film Boiling Point starring Graham was also a one-shot project, so making a one-shot television series is almost a natural progression.
Netflix hosted a press conference prior to Adolescence’s March 13, 2025 premiere in which Graham spoke at length about the process of filming one-shot episodes. Graham also discussed the limited series’ subject matter and why he wanted to explore this very touchy, timely subject.
Adolescence Press Conference Highlights
On how Adolescence came to be and why he wanted to investigate these issues:
Stephen Graham: “We did a film called Boiling Point, which was all done in one shot, which was really well-received, and we were asked to do a TV series. And immediately I kind of come up with an idea of making something like this because a while before I’d read an incident in a newspaper where a young boy had stabbed a young girl to death. And then a couple of months later, on the news, on the BBC, there was an incident, and there was a story, again, of a young boy stabbing a young girl to death. They were both at opposite ends of the country.
And if I’m really honest with you, it really hurt my heart. I just thought, what’s happening in today’s society where a young boy does something like this and it’s not a one-off incident? You know what I mean? It’s not like a long attack or anything like that. There seemed to be a few of these cases up and down the country. I just thought that that would be a really interesting story to tell.
[…] Because, as well, within the concept of when we were coming up with the idea, I had this idea of the four different episodes. And it was kind of a case of we know that he’s done it, so it’s not a who-done-it kind of thriller, but it’s a why. It’s a ‘why’ has he done it? And I’ve said this before, but in the context of kind of like it takes a village to raise a child, so kind of that aspect of looking at who is accountable and why would a young boy go to these lengths and commit this horrific crime. I think that’s kind of where it came from.”
Regarding the technical aspects of filming episodes in one shot:
Stephen Graham: “It’s a wonderful experience, really, for any actor, because we spend the week rehearsing, and we spend a week really analyzing the script. We had Jack, who’s the wonderful one and only Mr. Thorne, with us on set for that first week’s process—each and every one of us when we were doing our individual episodes, and with myself and with Phil. So, what we kind of did was we really analyzed the script so we make it our own. […] We really get to understand the relationships and the dynamics of the conversations that are happening. And we look at all of those kinds of things, of your wants, your means, your reasons to why and what. We analyze every single word to the extent where, if Owen thinks that you wouldn’t say things in a particular way, then it’s like, ‘Okay, so how would you say it?’ Because we’re not teenage boys, so he has an understanding of the language that would be used.
And then the next week we rehearse the whole process with the camera. Phil and Matt (Lewis), our DP, have already meticulously kind of worked out the map and the road map that they have for what the camera is going to do. Then we just spend that whole week in a choreography kind of week, basically. We work the process with the camera, and it’s very organic. It’s a real kind of natural process.
And then that takes you into the final week, where you know what happens then is you kind of marry both mediums, so we have that kind of spontaneity and that energy that is there, and that visceral energy when you’re on stage and you’re performing on stage. But also, we have the medium, and you know the kind of naturalism and the realism and the social realism element of working with film and television.
So, we bring both of those disciplines together. And it’s just… I’m not just saying it, but it’s an absolutely unique experience, you know what I mean? And every single person… I’ve said this before, but we’re like a footy team. We’re all in this together from the get-go. And like, basically, our director is our manager. And his one-to-one management is fantastic, and his overall view and vision is absolutely beautiful as well. And it’s a collaboration process with everyone. Every single piece is integral to what we do. Every single person has a job to do. And we get up there, and we just, you know, it’s one of the most wonderful, freeing experiences as an actor I’ve ever had in my life.”
On how Adolescence affected him as a father:
Stephen Graham: “What we wanted to do, what we wanted to achieve from the very beginning, was the way you always look at these things, and you go, ‘Oh, well, that could never happen to us. That would never happen to us.’ You know what I mean? ‘That happens to them; that doesn’t happen to us.’ But it’s like, no, this could happen to you. This could be your household. And that’s what we really wanted to do was we wanted to make the Millers a family who were a normal family, a hard-working, decent, loving family. We wanted to make them the people that could live next door to you, or, more importantly, your home itself.
And I think one of the main aspects of it is about that [is] it’s about that communication. And our main aim, our obligation, was to try and create that conversation within the household, with teenagers, with young boys and young girls, both fathers and mothers, to have [those] conversations with their children. Because no matter how much we try and teach our kids and parent our kids, at the end of the day, whether we like it or not, this world that we’re in, it’s a completely different world than when we were kids, you know. These devices are teaching and educating and parenting our kids just as much as we are today, if not more in certain ways.”
His thoughts on addressing the unhappiness caused by our obsession with social media:
Stephen Graham: “Look, we’re not pointing a finger at anyone. We’re not saying, ‘This is the solution. This is what it is’. We don’t know. We don’t know. We don’t have the answers, but we can at least begin the debate, do you know what I mean, and the conversation about how we go about solving this. Because, let’s face it, look, and I’ve said this before, and I don’t mean to be disrespectful in any way, shape, or form, but it’s not as if we’ve created some alien drama on Mars about something that will never happen. That’s not what we’ve done. We’re not about having this alternative society up in space and finding these new aliens. No, no, no, no. It’s about reality and truth.
People can question what it is, but ultimately, these incidents have happened. Young boys have stabbed and have killed young girls. So, it’s not as if we’ve made this thing up. This thing is happening, and it’s happening outside. It’s happening within our society. So, I think it’s something that, as a culture, as a society, we need to have a look at it.”
* Netflix reports that as of March 25th, the series has 66.3 million views and is the most-watched limited series and most-watched UK title ever through its first two weeks.
