USA Network Returns to ‘Blue Sky’ Dramas Like MONK, PSYCH, SUITS
By Movieguide® Contributor
The USA Network plans to create new scripted series in the same vein as its early 2000s TV drama hits like MONK, PSYCH and SUITS.
“NBCUniversal’s ad-supported cable net is plotting a return to original scripted programming with light, frothy character-based procedurals in the mold of the lineup from the ‘blue sky’ era that included MONK, BURN NOTICE, PSYCH, ROYAL PAINS, WHITE COLLAR and SUITS,” Deadline has reported.
Former Co-President of USA, Jeff Wachtel, said of the shows in 2011, “One thing that is almost beyond belief is in a world where one in every four shows that launches is successful, we have now…nine shows in a row [including PSYCH and FAIRLY LEGAL] that have launched successfully. The fact that nine in a row have come out of the gate is testimony to the creative and marketing teams here, and the spectacular original vision of the shows.”
The network turned to darker storylines, though, in series like MR. ROBOT and THE SINNER, which came out in the late 2010s. TVLine notes that these shows were not as commercially successful as previous content.
However, the recent success of the early 2010s USA original SUITS, which broke records on Netflix this year, and the new MONK movie encouraged the network to return to lighter scripted series.
According to The Popverse, “after the end of the 2023 WGA writer’s strike the executives at NBC Universal ‘put out feelers’ to writers about its ambitions, and just over two months later they’re sitting on ‘a handful of ideas’ with plans to film in 2024, and air beginning in 2025.”
A SUITS spin-off series has been teased.
Collider reported, “From SUITS creator Aaron Korsh, the NBCUniversal spin-off series, whose specific platform is yet to be determined, will be set in L.A. and will feature new characters, but it will maintain the legal drama workplace setting and energy that Suits had. After Suits’ unprecedented success on Netflix, NBCUniversal snatched the opportunity and commissioned the new series after Netflix turned it down.”
Movieguide® previously reported on the new MONK movie:
The story of TV serial detective Adrian Monk continues in MR. MONK’S LAST CASE: A MONK MOVIE.
The upcoming movie’s creator, Andy Breckman, recently gave a sneak peek to Explore Entertainment.
“The movie finds Monk in a pretty dark place, and he’s back in a hole that he has to try to dig out of emotionally,” Breckman said.
Despite the positive conclusion in the TV series finale, the germaphobic detective’s life takes a negative turn in the new movie. The COVID-19 pandemic throws him into a funk.
“Monk, like all of us, spent a few months at the peak of the pandemic in a hazmat suit, either literally or figuratively,” Breckman shared.
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