RIP Andre Braugher

In unexpected news, actor Andre Braugher has passed away at the too-young age of 61.

Born in Chicago in 1961, Braugher was interested in acting from a young age. He studied drama at Stanford University and then attended Juilliard, graduating in 1988. He quickly gained his first notable on-screen role, playing Thomas Searles in Glory (1989), about the first all-black regiment of the Union Army during the American Civil War.

He was then cast as Winston Blake, a young police detective, in five Kojak TV movies (1989-90). This would mark Braugher's first appearance as a police officer. Also in 1990 he placed the titular character in TV movie The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson, marking his first lead role.

In 1993 Braugher was cast as Detective Frank Pembleton, a Baltimore police officer in Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-99). Based on David Simon's book Homicide: A Life on the Killing Streets (1991), the show depicts the difficulties experienced by a Baltimore police unit in bringing order to the streets. The show had an ensemble cast, but Braugher was almost immediately cited as the show's breakout star due to his intense and sometimes unpredictable performance, winning an Emmy Award and a further nomination (as well as crossing over to sister show Law and Order). Braugher left after the sixth season and did not return for the seventh and final year, but did return for Homicide: The Movie (2000), a TV movie which became the show's finale. Homicide: Life on the Street is today seen as the template and forerunner of Simon's HBO shows The Corner and The Wire.

Following the end of Homicide, Braugher picked up roles on TV shows including Gideon's Crossing, Hack, Men of a Certain Age and Last Resort, as well as films including Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, The Mist and Salt.

In 2013 Braugher was cast in the other major, defining role of his career. He was cast as Captain Raymond Holt in Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-21), a taciturn police chief who takes over a fictional Brooklyn police department inhabited by eccentric officers. His role on the show won him four additional Emmy Award nominations. Braugher's taciturn delivery and deadpan humour won him legions of new fans, as well as generating countless Internet memes.

Braugher passed away on 11 December from an undisclosed, short illness. He is survived by his wife and three children. He will absolutely be missed.

BROOKLYN NINE-NINE saved by NBC, more shows cancelled

NBC have swooped in to save Brooklyn Nine-Nine after it was cancelled by Fox yesterday.

NBC cited the enormous outpouring of affection for the show as a reason for rescuing the show, along with their excellent relationship with the show's creators, Michael Schur and Dan Goor, whom they previously worked on with Parks and Recreation. NBC is also currently producing Schur's newer series The Good Place.

The sixth season order is for 13 episodes, which will allow NBC to assess how well the series is going before ordering further episodes.

Meanwhile, cancellations are coming thick and fast. Last Man on Earth has also been cancelled after four seasons and Wayward Pines after two. The X-Files has also been cancelled, or more accurately to say, Fox have no plans to continue the show's soft renewal after Gillian Anderson indicated she was done with the series. Producer Chris Carter is still planning more X-Files movies, however. The Exorcist has also been cancelled after two seasons and Lucifer after three. The outpouring of anger over the cancellation of the latter has matched Brooklyn Nine-Nine's, with fans hoping for a similar reprieve on another network.

Meanwhile, Batman prequel show/hallucinogenic fever dream Gotham is in the bizarre predicament of having its future decided by what happens to another show, the Lethal Weapon reboot. Fox was forced to fire Lethal Weapon's star after on-set drama and is now scrambling to recast with just days left before a final deadline. If it is unable to do so, it will can Lethal Weapon and renew Gotham, otherwise Gotham will be axed, despite some recent ratings boosts as the show has focused on the Joker as a villain and the teenage Bruce Wayne taking more definitive steps towards donning the cowl.

Also in an unusual state is Agents of SHIELD. ABC tried to kill the show last year, but owners Disney stepped in and overruled them, citing the show's importance to their overall Marvel Cinematic Universe. This still seems to be the case this year, with Disney and Marvel leaning on the season finale to tie in with Avengers: Infinity War and help build intrigue for next year's sequel, as well as Captain Marvel (which will see Agents of SHIELD actor Clark Gregg rejoin the movie cast for the first time since the original Avengers movie). On that basis, it seems unlikely that Disney will kill the show, especially as it could make a great fit for their new streaming service launching in late 2019 (allowing them to take it - and possibly their entire Netflix roster - out of another company's hands). With ABC unhappy about the ratings, however, it might be that we get a compromise, with a half-season order with the show not to return until after Infinity War II hits our screens next spring.

Over at the CW, executives surprised industry observers, their own fans and the creative team by confirming they would not be proceeding with Wayward Sisters, a spin-off from their long-running series Supernatural. After a well-received backdoor pilot earlier this year, the project looked good for a season order and it's a bit of a puzzle why the CW has not proceeded with it.

Meanwhile, the fate of The Expanse remains unclear. Alcon Entertainment own the show outright so can sell it to Amazon, Netflix or another network much more easily, but this is likely to be a more involved process, where we likely won't know the outcome for a few weeks at least.

Over at Netflix directly, the streaming service seems happy with the performance of Lost in Space (despite lukewarm reviews) and on course to renew. The fate of Altered Carbon is much less clear. The cyberpunk epic aired to generally good reviews (after more mixed early previews), but its viewership seemed weak, with the show charting up less than one-third of the streams of Lost in Space in its first week available, despite an apparently higher budget. However, Netflix themselves have to bear some blame for this by sabotaging Altered Carbon's launch with news of their Cloverfield Paradox deal (complete with a major Superbowl ad campaign). With Altered Carbon airing three months ago, it is unusual for Netflix to wait so long before confirming the show's return or cancellation, suggesting it's a tough decision for them.

THE EXPANSE and BROOKLYN NINE-NINE cancelled

Two of the most critically-acclaimed TV shows in their respective genres have been cancelled, including SF darling The Expanse.

The Expanse's cancellation was slightly unexpected, with the show drawing immense critical buzz of the kind that SyFy has not enjoyed since the second and early third season of Battlestar Galactica, well over a decade ago. First-run ratings were not as strong as might be wished given the show's relatively high budget (at between $4 and $5 million per episode, the show cost almost twice to make as BSG), but of course the metrics of how ratings are measured have changed dramatically in the last few years. By all accounts The Expanse also enjoyed healthy streams and sales through Amazon.

A key factor in the decision was the show's overseas performance and how it's finances are calculated. SyFy was not produced inhouse but was instead financed and produced by Alcon Entertainment and sold to SyFy. SyFy only had first-run transmission rights in the United States, with Alcon able to sell streaming rights to Amazon and international rights to Netflix. However, SyFy insisted on a six-month delay before Netflix could stream the show, despite overseas viewers having no other legal way of watching the show and thus there would have been no cannibalising of SyFy's US viewership. This decision seems to have cost the show international viewership, with hardcore international fans of the series downloading and torrenting the show long before it could be seen legally.

As a result, SyFy's deal meant that The Expanse's success was extremely dependent on first-run viewing figures and with these running at around 1 to 1.2 million per episode in Season 3, these figures were insufficient to support the high cost of the show (compared to SyFy's inhouse programming, such as the considerably cheaper - and vastly cheaper-looking - The Magicians).

Alcon Entertainment are shopping the show to other networks, which means that they may be able to find the show a new home elsewhere. Netflix may or may not be interested, given the lukewarm international figures. Amazon, who have recently been picking up almost every single SF and fantasy property of note (including Wheel of Time, Conan the Barbarian, Lord of the Rings, Ringworld, The Three-Body Problem and Snow Crash), may be a safer bet. Amazon in particular would find The Expanse's budget to be relatively cheap by their standards and they would probably prefer to have a show they can get on the air every year rather than waiting 18-24 months between seasons (The Expanse has gone about 14 months between each season). The momentum of just being able to continue production immediately rather than ramping up on a new show may also be attractive.

Meanwhile, Fox have cancelled Brooklyn Nine-Nine, their most critically-acclaimed comedy series. Brooklyn Nine-Nine's cancellation was more widely expected, with the show's viewing figures dropping by over half over its five-season run. Some fans were hoping for a reprieve, as viewing figures held relatively firm from Season 4 to Season 5 and the show enjoys widespread global popularity (in the UK it unusually has both reasonable audiences on Channel 4 and then again on Netflix). However, Fox have decided to swap out one of their TV drama nights for sports, which rendered the point moot. A whole swathe of other shows (such as Last Man on Earth) have also been axed to make room for this change in the schedule.

There has been hope that the show might be saved. Netflix are a possibility based on their success with the show internationally, and compared to most of their shows Brooklyn Nine-Nine would be incredibly cheap to make, as well as easily being able to get on the air every year. However, it's unclear if Fox would be willing to make the show for a company they are increasingly seeing as an adversary in the marketplace.

Possibly more likely is US streaming service Hulu. Hulu are are looking to beef up an original programming lineup strengthened by The Handmaid's Tale. Provisional talks between Hulu and Fox have already apparently taken place, with interest from other parties.

Hopefully both shows are saved, particularly The Expanse which was roughly only a third of the way through adapting James S.A. Corey's novel series.