In today’s TV news roundup, Showtime announced the premiere date for “Shameless’s” final season, and “The National Dog Show” returns on Thanksgiving. 

CASTING

Carly Pope has been cast as a guest star in ABC’s two-part Season 4 premiere of “The Good Doctor,” Variety has learned exclusively. Pope will portray Lily, a woman whose husband has become sick with symptoms that mirror those of coronavirus. The premiere, which focuses on the effects of COVID-19, will include Lily’s increasing frustration at not being able to stand by her husband’s side due to safety protocols in place. Pope is represented by The Characters Talent Agency, Gersh and LINK Entertainment.

DATES

Showtime announced that the final season of “Shameless” is scheduled to premiere on Dec. 6. The series began in 2011 and is Showtime’s longest-running show to date. The last season will deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and its side effects, as well as gentrification and the struggles of reconciling the inevitability of aging. “Shameless” stars William H. Macy, Cameron Monaghan, Jeremy Allen White, Noel Fisher, Steve Howey, Emma Kenney, Ethan Cutkosky, Shanola Hampton, Christian Isaiah and Kate Miner.

NBC announced it will air “The National Dog Show” on Nov. 26 at 12 p.m., directly after the “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.” The Kennel Club of Philadelphia‘s dog show will be held at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center on Nov. 14 and 15 with regulations and guidelines in place for combatting the spread of COVID-19. This year’s show will also allow for three new breeds to enter into the contest: The Barbet (Sporting Group), the Dogo Argentino (Working Group) and the Belgian Laekenois (Herding Group). The event will be hosted by John O’Hurley and analyst David Frei.

Epix‘s stand-up comedy series “Unprotected Sets” will make its Season 2 debut on Oct. 16. The show combines stand-up sets with behind-the-scenes looks into the minds of comedians featured on each episode. The comedians included in the first seven episodes of Season 2 are Calvin Evans, Hanna Dickinson, Kira Soltanovich, Mike Vecchione, Corey Rodrigues, Steph Tolev, Kabir Singh, Kellen Erskine, Rita Brent, Dave Waite, Jared Logan and Clayton English. Lineups for the final four episodes will be shared closer to their 2021 release dates.

EVENTS

Members of the original cast for “Designing Women” will take part in a charity table read on Oct. 15, which will be available on Sony Pictures Television‘s Throw Back TV YouTube channel. Funds raised will be donated to World Central Kitchen’s COVID-19 relief efforts and to Color of Change. From the original series Jean Smart, Annie Potts, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Scott Bakula will perform, alongside fans and fellow actors Leslie Jordan, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Kyra Sedgwick. The table read will be followed by a Q&A involving Smart, Potts and executive producer and creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason.

DEALS

Variety exclusively learned that entertainment content distribution company Digital Media Rights (DMR) reached a licensing agreement with Crackle, the advertiser-supported video-on-demand streaming service, to provide the streaming company with a TV series and seven films. The content being uploaded to Crackle will include the 195 to 1997 series “Street Fighter II: The Animated Series,” as well as the films “93 Days,” “Children of Mud,” “King Invincible,” “Seven Swords: Blood of the Outlaw,” “Tatu,” “The Attic” and “Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie.”

LATE NIGHT

Tonight, Anthony Davis, Patrick Dempsey, Clare Crawley and OneRepublic will appear on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” while Anita Hill will be on “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah.”

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