Great News has been charming audiences all season, but the brakes are about to be pumped, at least for a couple months. The NBC comedy has its fall finale on Nov. 2, and fans will no doubt be ready for it when Great News returns to finish out Season 2. Unfortunately, there's not yet a solid date you can mark on your calendar just yet. According to IMDb, all we know so far is that the satirical network news comedy will return in 2018. Deadline also reports that Great News was picked up by NBC for a total of 13 episodes in its second season, so the remainder will come after the new year.
The show, executive produced by comedy powerhouse Tina Fey and created by Tracey Wigfield, of Mindy Project and 30 Rock fame, is amping up momentum in the second season. Wigfield made it clear to Variety that the show is always on the hunt for new guest stars and recurring characters to keep things fresh, so that's something else to look forward to.
"We really wanted to tell stories with our people but we were able to get a bunch of cool guest stars that set our characters off on stories in different ways," Wigfield told the outlet And they've already managed to do lot of that. Fey herself has previously guest starred on the show, as well as other TV staples like Chris Parnell and Rachel Dratch. Veep's Reid Scott is set to play a recurring role this season as well, according to Entertainment Weekly, which is sure to be a delight given the comedic chops he displays on the HBO hit.
The second half of the season has plenty of material and characters to work with, and but it's worth it to wonder if Great News will have much — if any — material on the current political climate, given how much cable news and this presidential administration seem to be intertwined. But although the show isn't hesitant to make political jokes, don't hold your breath for an onslaught of Trump jokes just yet.
"This is never going to be like Saturday Night Live where we’re telling Trump jokes about what happened this week," Wigfield said in the same Variety interview. "I wouldn’t want it to be, and also we can’t because we’re writing jokes that you’ll see on TV two months later. We like to poke fun at news and trends in politics and current events rather than trying to keep up with what’s happening, because you couldn’t. This isn’t the Trump show."
Briga Heelan, who plays the lead role of Katie on Great News, told Parade that in this season it is a little more difficult to ignore real-life politics, but she likes that they steer away from direct references.
"Season 1 was before the election, so it was already in the can before things started going real crazy," the actor said. “With Season 2, we try and keep news as the backdrop for what’s happening and not really dig into it too deeply. At the same time, there are topical jokes now. It’s almost impossible to avoid them. So I think we do a good job of not turning a blind eye to what’s going on, but also not really digging in and camping out there."
Despite steering away from pervasive political influence, Great News has a lot of other current events to focus on — the commentary the show has made this season on sexual harassment has been thought provoking, and many of its jokes, though delivered in a light-hearted or silly way, are biting and smart. That sly sense of humor should be back early next year, along with brand new episodes of Great News.
