TV/STREAMING . . .

Babies First Look: Netflix's New Show Explores the "Ultimate Mystery" of Child Development. You haven't seen babies like this before. After tackling dogs, cheerleading, makeovers and oodles of food shows, Netflix has turned its attention to children and E! News has your first look at the aptly titled Babies. "Babies are the ultimate mystery," a voiceover says in the trailer. "They are much more complex than we ever thought." The new docu-series follows 15 international families that were filmed over the course of a year (the docu-series itself was filmed over the course of three years). The series explores the everything related to, well, babies, from helpless newborn to independent toddler. "This series showcases incredible, groundbreaking science revealing the developmental leaps and bounds babies go through in the first year of life while capturing the personal and emotional journey of the family as a whole," Jane Root, executive producer of Babies and founder and CEO of Nutopia. "For many of the parents on the team both in front and behind the camera this has been one of the rewarding and insightful project to be a part of," Root concluded. The show incorporates scientific research, as well as scientists sharing their personal journeys of discovery into the infant mind. The show explores major milestones of development, from the first bond a baby shares with its parents to feeding, sleeping through the night, crawling, speaking and first steps. The series features Rebecca Spencer from UMASS, Amherst and her study on the importance of naps for learning; Michael Georgieff, University of Minnesota, and his work linking iron and other micronutrients to babies' forming memories; Professor Ruth Feldman, IDC, Herzliya, Israel, and her discovery that the surge in the bonding hormone that occurs in new mothers can also take place in men; and Professor Susan Lynch, University of California, San Francisco, who discovered that babies living with dogs and cat are better protected from developing asthma and allergies. Nutopia Production is behind Babies for Netflix. Nutopia's recent credits include The Last Czars for Netflix, One Strange Rock for National Geographic and PBS's How We Got To Now. Babies drops on Friday, Feb. 21 on Netflix. (Eonline)

Katy Keene Stars Lucy Hale and Ashleigh Murray Are Thrilled to Stop Worrying About Murder. Katy Keene might be calling itself a Riverdale spinoff, but it's really a show in a class all its own. The new series stars Lucy Hale as the titular Katy, an aspiring fashion designer who's doing her best to live her dreams in New York with her friends. The pilot brings Riverdale's Josie McCoy (Ashleigh Murray) into that little circle of dreamers, freeing poor Josie from "the murder capital of the world." In fact, Katy Keene is light and happy in all the ways Riverdale rarely ever is, and these friends aren't running from serial killers or cults or secret boarding school societies. "The biggest difference is everybody lives...People don't have like, those kinda problems," Ashleigh Murray tells E! News. "They have like real, regular world problems, not 'don't drink that juice' kinda problems." And she's thrilled about it. "It's incredibly nice. It's just gonna be fun to get dressed up really pretty and be running around New York City, and maybe do some karaoke," she says. "I just wanna live life freely and full of fun and without fear." Lucy Hale didn't come from Riverdale, but she did come from her own very murdery teen show with Pretty Little Liars. Now, life is much easier. "Someone's not dying, someone's not stalking me, it's great," she tells us, explaining that she really wanted a TV world she felt like she could live in for a while. "It's nice to really switch it up." She describes the world of Katy Keene as "like candy." You can get a taste of the Katy Keene vibe in the night's Riverdale, in which Veronica took a trip to New York and caught up with her old friend Katy, and you can see the pilot on The CW. (Eonline)

Fran Drescher knows how to make you laugh. She did it for six seasons as fish-out-of-water Fran Fine on The Nanny, and now she's back on TV ready to do it again. On NBC's Indebted she plays Debbie, a retired mother and grandmother who, along with her husband (Steven Weber), moves in with her daughter and son-in-law to save money. "I like representing my age group in a relationship that's sexy, madly in love and very tactile," Drescher, 62, told Us Weekly exclusively while reclining on a chaise beneath the Pasadena sun. "I feel like we're breaking walls." Drescher has been acting steadily for the past 40 years -- her first credited role was in 1977's Saturday Night Fever -- and on her signature project, The Nanny, she was a creator, writer, producer and occasional director. Indebted is different. "It kind of just fell into my lap, and it's been an adjustment because I'm not a producer. That's a little hard for me," she said, before commending the crew for staying open to her ideas. "I'm not getting the title or the paycheck, but I'm being heard. That's what matters." Another thing that matters? Her parents will be able to watch her new show! "My last series [Happily Divorced] was on TV Land, and none of my friends could find it," she joked. "In my dad's local paper, they list, like, 60 networks, but not TV Land. Everybody can find NBC!" When Drescher was offered the part, she was already busy working on another project: a musical on-stage adaptation of The Nanny. She penned the book with ex-husband Peter Marc Jacobson -- they cowrote the original show -- and Rachel Bloom is handling the music and lyrics. "They have several songs already. It's a very collaborative art form, and it's something that already exists and is beloved, so it's important we're all true to that," Drescher says. She adds that Bloom, who created and starred in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, is the perfect addition. "One of our huge concerns was that we wouldn't find a lyricist funny enough to capture the comedy of the series," she told Us. "The Nanny was always kind of a musical without the music. It's going to be a very elegant transition ... contemporized attitudinally and stuff." Though Drescher is no stranger to the stage -- she was most recently on Broadway in 2014's Cinderella -- she has no plans to step back into Fran's very high heels: "I can't really sing," she said with the classic Drescher laugh. "There's always the option of me playing [Fran's mom] Sylvia, but it's not on my agenda right now." For more from Drescher, pick up Us Weekly on newsstands now. Indebted premieres on NBC Thursday, February 6, at 9:30 p.m. (US Weekly)

The Bachelor Reveals the Final 6 Contestants. Well that was quite the bloodbath. The Bachelor just said goodbye to four whole people, which is only one more than it normally says goodbye to in an episode but now that we actually know most of their names, it felt like a lot. Only six women remain in contention for Peter Weber's heart: Hannah Ann, Victoria F., Kelley, Natasha, Kelsey, and Madison. Even among the women who are still there, there were issues. There were so many doubts, so many questions, so many tears that seemed to come out of nowhere. And there was also a telenovela group date that we're incredibly jealous of. The first to go was Victoria P., who sat down with Peter saying there were things she needed to talk to him about, starting with the fact that he had clearly pulled back from her in the past few days after the situation with Alayah. He agreed, and he also explained that he just didn't see her as his wife and he thought it was time for her to go. She refused to be walked out, and no, she wasn't upset, but also she was pretty upset. Goodbye, Victoria P. The second to leave was Tammy, and as much as we liked Tammy at the start of the season, it feels like good riddance at this point. She destroyed all the good will towards her in Monday's episode when she targeted Kelsey for crying too much, and this time, she made Mykenna her target after Mykenna had a little breakdown and almost left when she, yet again, didn't get a one-on-one. Seeing Peter invite Hannah Ann and Victoria F. on their second group dates before many girls had had one at all would probably also send us over the edge, but Tammy thought Mykenna was taking her emotions too far, once again planning to tell Peter she thought Mykenna wasn't right for him. Tammy was so rude that it was easy to root for Mykenna, despite the fact that she speaks like the back of a tampon box. "I'm a strong, independent woman and I won't let anyone bring me down!" she kept saying, and then the screen reminded us she's a fashion blogger, which made it all make sense (though her website is currently under maintenance). After they were screaming at each other during a post-date party (while Peter was busy making out with Madison, who got the date rose), Peter invited them both to a pretty unconventional two-on-one date. It wasn't really a date, just a pre-cocktail party where they both had the chance to explain themselves. Tammy claimed Mykenna was just there for hashtags, and Mykenna said no she's not, and since Tammy clearly has no connection whatsoever with Peter, it felt pretty clear she should go. Mykenna felt sure that meant she was then getting a rose at the rose ceremony, but she was wrong, and she ended up heading home anyway, along with Sydney. Hannah Ann and Victoria F. got the night's one-on-ones, and both got unexpectedly dramatic. With Hannah Ann, Peter was unsure the 23-year-old could be ready for marriage. And after riding a horse for a while, Victoria F. just sort of broke down. She even got up from their dinner and walked away, freaked out by how she freaked out. But everything was all fine by the end, even if the seeds of doubt had been planted, and now there are only six names we have to remember. Natasha getting a rose was most shocking, just because we've barely seen her and Peter speaking other than when she's calling him out for being stupid, but maybe that's exactly why she's still there, and exactly why we don't dislike her yet. Team Natasha! Until she disappoints us! The Bachelor (usually) airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC. (Eonline)

'Cheer' Breakout Jerry Harris Signs With DBA and UTA. The fan favorite from the hit Netflix docuseries will explore new business opportunities while continuing his studies and sport at Navarro College. Cheer star Jeremiah "Jerry" Harris has signed with influencer management company Digital Brand Architects and its parent agency, UTA, The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively learned. Harris has become a breakout figure in Netflix's hit docuseries about the competitive cheerleading team at Navarro College, balancing personal tragedy from his past with his inspirational "mat talk" and outgoing personality. Since Cheer's Jan. 8 premiere, Harris and his teammates have become media darlings with appearances on such shows as Today and Ellen. DBA and UTA will represent Harris in new opportunities now available to him in television, endorsements, touring, literary and product licensing -- although he isn't abandoning either his studies or his sport at Navarro. (Hollywood Reporter)

Why Netflix Is Ending 'The Crown' at Season 5. The streamer weighs a show's costs against its viewership returns and other top-secret data, including completion rates. Heavy -- and pricey -- is The Crown. Netflix's decision to wrap the awards darling -- which through two of its three seasons has earned 26 Emmy nominations -- after its fifth season caught many in the industry by surprise, as creator Peter Morgan had previously planned the show to run for six. The Jan. 31 announcement, which also included news that Imelda Staunton would take over as Queen Elizabeth, arrived the same day that the streamer brought another critical favorite, BoJack Horseman, to its end after six seasons. To hear Bojack creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg tell it, wrapping his animated comedy so soon wasn't his idea. "From a creative standpoint, I'm not mad at it; but it was not always my plan to do six seasons," he told The Hollywood Reporter podcast TV's Top 5. BoJack and The Crown will finish their runs as two of the six longest-running originals on Netflix and the rare scripted shows to make it to five seasons -- when many deals mandate additional financial incentives to those with a stake in the series. Of 55 Netflix originals that have ended or will do so this year, just nine concluded with three seasons and five after four seasons. The latter group includes GLOW and 13 Reasons Why, with the YA drama weathering pay raises for its stars. Shows tend to become more expensive as they age, and The Crown is among Netflix's priciest. As THR reported in April, streamers like Netflix assign a minimum guaranteed value that creators and top talent receive via ownership points -- but those payments often start in the third season, with the real money coming after four and beyond. In making renewal decisions, Netflix weighs a show's costs against its viewership returns and other top-secret data, including completion rates. That is to say, the streamer could reallocate some of its anticipated $17.3 billion spending budget this year to new programming more likely to attract new subscribers, rather than renewing a veteran series for an additional season should its internal metrics fail to impress. (Netflix, like other streamers, does not release traditional viewership data and declined to comment for this story.) (Hollywood Reporter)

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