TV Quick Hits: ‘Lip Sync Battle’ renewed; new J.K. Simmons – Aziz Ansari series

Aziz Ansari, Mike Schur teaming up again – Weeks after the end of “Parks and Recreation,” it looks like one of its former stars in Aziz is working again with its showrunner.

Aziz and Schur are working alongside “Parks and Recreation” co-executive proudcer Alan Yang on a new comedy for Netflix, the service that has also housed Ansari’s recent standup specials. There are not many details known about the project just yet, but Netflix has shown with “Arrested Development” and “Unbreakable Kelly Schmidt” that they can pull off comedy.

“Lip Sync Battle” renewed – Let’s move now into the most unsurprising news of the day: Spike has renewed the silly celebrity show, which is based off of a segment on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” Through the past few weeks it has been the most-watched show in the network’s history. More than that, though, it has proven to be a massive hit on YouTube, with more than 100 million views across all of its clips.

The biggest success story for this show comes via its ability to convince the likes of Emily Blunt, Anne Hathaway, Mike Tyson, and Anna Kendrick to take part in this. The success of it moving forward will probably continue to be based on the gameness of big-named stars willing to compete.

J.K. Simmons series comes to Starz – This is what happens after you win an Oscar, which is proof that we’re entering the golden age of TV. The network has ordered “Counterpart,” a new series created by Justin Marks that will star Simmons as a man within a UN agency who eventually discovers a vast conspiracy that could even include a parallel universe. (This was first reported by Deadline.)

Given the history of Starz giving shows two-season orders before they even premiere and Simmons’ prestige, we imagine that this will have plenty of chances to succeed.

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