The CW Announces ‘Tom Swift’ Premiere Date (TV News Roundup)
“Tom Swift,” a spinoff of the mystery series “Nancy Drew,” will premiere its first episode May 31 on The CW, the network announced Friday. The series, which was first announced in 2020, stars Tian Richards (“Burdin,” “Dumplin’”) as the title character, who was first created in the 1910 book “Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle.”…
“Tom Swift,” a spinoff of the mystery series “Nancy Drew,” will premiere its first episode May 31 on The CW, the network announced Friday.
The series, which was first announced in 2020, stars Tian Richards (“Burdin,” “Dumplin’”) as the title character, who was first created in the 1910 book “Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle.” Originally portrayed as a teen inventor, the series reimagines Swift as a Black, gay billionaire who is thrust into conflict with a mysterious global cabal following the sudden disappearance of his father. Richards first appeared as the character in Season 2 of “Nancy Drew.”
Ashleigh Murray (“Riverdale,” “Katy Keene”) co-stars in the series as Swift’s best friend Zenzi. Marquise Vilsón, April Parker Jones and Albert Mwangi also star, while LeVar Burton voices Swift’s AI companion Barclay. The series is created by Melinda Hsu Taylor, Noga Landau and Cameron Johnson, who executive produce with Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage.
The first episode of “Tom Swift” will air at 9 p.m. ET, immediately following the superhero show “Superman and Lois.”
Also in today’s TV news roundup:
PROGRAMMING
The investigative “NBC Nightly News” series “The Fleecing of America” will return, NBC News and MSNBC have announced. The latest iteration of the series will be a special, two-week series of coverage into fraud that has occurred in U.S. government spending during the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The investigation will kick off with an interview between anchor Lester Holt and department of justice inspector general Michael Horowitz, who leads the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, on “NBC Nightly News” on March 28. Additional programming that will air on NBC and MSNBC include reports and investigations that will air on “The Today Show,” “Weekend Nightly News” and “NBC Nightly News,” led by journalists such as Tom Llamas, Tom Costello, Vicky Nguyen, Ken Dilanian and Stephanie Ruhle.
DEVELOPMENT
TelevisaUnivision has gained the rights to Nobel Prize-winning writer Mario Vargas Llosa’s novel “Captain Pantoja and the Special Service,” and will adapt it as a new-spanish language series. The novel focuses on a captain who is called upon to create a service of female prostitutes for the Peruvian army. Patricio Wills will develop the series, which is described as a “modern take” on the story, for Vix Plus, TelevisaUnivision’s new SVOD service that is slated to launch during the second half of the year.
EXECS
Objective Media Group has announced that Jilly Pearce and Michael Beilinson have been promoted to president and senior vice president of development, respectively. Pearce was promoted from her position as executive vice president, which she held since joining the company in 2017, while Beilinson was promoted from vice president, a position he’s held since 2019. Recent titles Objective Media Group has produced under their leadership has included “Lingo,” “The Great American Recipe,” “The 12 Dates of Christmas” and “Great Balloon Bomb Invasion.”
