Entertainment

Look Who's Headed to TV!

by Kate Ward

Unfortunately, in recent years, Halle Berry's off-screen life has been far more interesting than her on-screen life. The actress might have X-Men: Days of Future Past in her future, but her past — with roles in The Call, Cloud Atlas, and New Year's Eve — has been less memorable than her Thanksgiving 2012 domestic drama that left ex-fiancé Gabriel Aubry brawling with now-husband Olivier Martinez. (Spoiler alert: Martinez won.) But now, the actress formerly known as Razzie and Oscar winner Berry will try to add Emmy to that title by joining a new CBS series, Extant .

The actress has been tapped to headline the drama, which centers on a female astronaut who returns from space, only to watch her work above Earth change the lives of everyone in the world. (Space: So in right now.) And the network certainly expects the series to be a hit — not only was Extant granted a rare 13-episode order, but the series is clearly investing in winning talent. But Extant does have a distinct advantage: It's on CBS.

Extant would hardly be the first series to hit it big on the network this year. Not only was the network's summer experiment, Under the Dome, an undeniable winner — and thus upgraded from miniseries to series — but The Crazy Ones, starring talent like Sarah Michelle Gellar and Robin Williams, managed to drum up serious ratings. Will Extant follow in the same path? It's entirely possible — though Berry doesn't boast the likability factor that actors like Under the Dome's Dean Norris and Crazy Ones' Williams, the fact that a franchise star and former Oscar winner is headed to CBS is likely to attract more than a few eyes. Plus, sometimes it's just too damn hard to get up and turn off the TV after NCIS.