When it rains it pours, goes the saying, and today Apple TV+ flooded the news cycle with a series of announcements. Earlier this afternoon we posted a report titled "Apple TV+ News: 'The Mosquito Coast' Series Debuts on April 30 while the Dramedy Series 'Physical' will Premiere this Summer." We updated the report to include news about season 2 of Mythic Quest just being announced and now there's even more.

Apple has also announced today that the highly anticipated Apple Original limited series "Lisey’s Story" from creator and executive producer Stephen King, executive producer J.J. Abrams, director and executive producer Pablo Larraín, and starring and executive produced by Academy Award winner Julianne Moore, will make its global debut this summer on Apple TV+. The news was revealed today at the Television Critics Association Winter 2021 Press Tour, along with a first look at the star-studded eight-episode series.

Based on the best-selling novel by Stephen King, and adapted by the author himself, “Lisey’s Story” is a deeply personal thriller that follows Lisey Landon (played by Moore) two years after the death of her husband, famous novelist Scott Landon (played by Clive Owen). A series of unsettling events causes Lisey to face memories of her marriage to Scott that she has deliberately blocked out of her mind. Joan Allen, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Dane DeHaan, Sung Kang and Ron Cephas Jones star alongside Moore and Owen.

An Apple Original limited series, "Lisey’s Story" is directed by Pablo Larraín, and hails from J. J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television. In a rare step, every episode of the series was personally written by Stephen King. King, Moore, and Larraín executive produce alongside Abrams, Ben Stephenson and Juan de Dios Larraín.

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Apple TV+ unveiled a first look at “Schmigadoon!,” a new musical comedy series executive produced by Lorne Michaels, and starring Emmy Award nominee Cecily Strong and Emmy Award winner Keegan-Michael Key that is set to make its global debut this summer on Apple TV+, presented today at the Television Critics Association Winter 2021 Press Tour.

"Schmigadoon!," a parody of iconic musicals, stars Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key as a couple on a backpacking trip designed to reinvigorate their relationship when they discover a magical town in which everyone is living in a studio musical from the 1940s. They then discover that they can’t leave until they find “true love.” The first season of the six-episode series also stars Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Aaron Tveit, Dove Cameron, Ariana DeBose, Fred Armisen, Jaime Camil, Jane Krakowski and Ann Harada.

As this story was posted, Apple sent out a press release regarding the overview of what was presented at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour 2021 including a video as presented below. 

While the downpour of new series announcements today was due to the Television Critics Association Winter 2021 Press Tour, it could also double as Apple's response to Netflix Co-Founder Marc Randolf who criticized Apple last week for not being in the streaming game with both feet considering that the company has a market cap of over $2 Trillion. Randolf added that Apple really has "to do the entrepreneurial thing and walk up to the edge of the cliff and jump."  

Obviously COVID-19 put a big damper on all streaming service content productions,  and with Apple TV+ only starting in late 2019, the pandemic came at the worst time as the streaming service struggled to gain much traction in 2020.

Yet if you look at the announcements that have been made in the past few weeks in our Apple TV News archive, you'll see that Apple is furiously pushing to find and green light as many new Series as possible.