CBS Orders ‘Clarice,’ Queen Latifah’s ‘The Equalizer’ & ‘B Positive’ to Series

Meredith Jacobs May 8, 2020, 2:10 pm

CBS is filling up the roster for the 2020-2021 season.

The network has ordered new dramas Clarice and The Equalizer and new comedy B Positive to series. This comes after it announced that 23 shows will be returning next year. (Four, however, were canceled.)

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Clarice follows the titular character (Rebecca Breeds), back in the field six months after the FBI agent’s experiences during The Silence of the Lambs. The cast also includes Kal Penn, Nick Sandow, Michael Cudlitz, Lucca De Oliveira, and Devyn A. Tyler. Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet, and Heather Kadin serve as executive producers and Aaron Baiers as a co-executive producer.

The Equalizer reimagines the classic series with Queen Latifah in the lead role, “an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn.” The cast also includes Chris Noth, Lorraine Toussaint, Tory Kittles, Liza Lapira, and Laya DeLeon Hayes. Andrew Marlowe, Terri Miller, Dana Owens (Queen Latifah), John Davis, John Fox, Debra Martin Chase, Richard Lindheim (co-creator of the original Equalizer TV series), Shakim Compere, and Liz Friedlander are executive producers. Friedlander also directed the pilot.

Annaleigh Ashford Thomas Middleditch B Positive CBS

Chuck Lorre’s B Positive follows a therapist and newly divorced dad in need of a kidney — and his donor is a woman from his past described as “rough-around-the-edges.” The comedy stars Thomas Middleditch, Annaleigh Ashford, Kether Donohue, Sara Rue, and Kamryn Kunody. Lorre and Marco Pennette serve as executive producers, and James Burrows directed the pilot.

These three will join the previously renewed dramas, comedies, and unscripted shows and other new ones yet to be announced for next season.