01/02/23: Hallmark Movies & Mysteries picks up “Drop Dead Diva”

Cynopsis Medias First Morning Read
Monday January 2, 2023

Today’s Premieres
Discovery: Street Outlaws: OKC at 8p
Fox: Fantasy Island at 8p
Lifetime: Surviving R. Kelly Part III: The Final Chapter at 9p
NBC: America’s Got Talent: All-Stars at 8p
PBS: Antiques Roadshow at 8p

Today’s Finale
HGTV: Celebrity IOU at 9p

IN THE NEWS

Pioneering journalist Barbara Walters died December 30 at age 93. “Barbara was a true legend, a pioneer, not just for women in journalism but journalism itself,” tweeted Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger. Walters joined NBC’s “Today” in 1961 as a writer and researcher and was named co-host in 1974. She became the first woman to anchor an evening news program when she joined ABC News in 1976, joined “20/20” as co-host in 1984 and launched “The View” in 1997. “She outworked, out-thought, and out-hustled her competitors,” tweeted Dan Rather. “She left the world a better place for it.”

Simon Cowell says he’s bringing “The X Factor” back to the US, this time on NBC. Cowell, who has a production deal with NBCUniversal, told The U.S. Sun, “We found our perfect partner with NBC – honestly, I am not just saying that because they pay me, but they are brilliant.” Cowell created the singing competition in the UK in 2004 and launched a US version in 2011 that aired on Fox for three seasons.

Hallmark Movies & Mysteries has acquired “Drop Dead Diva,” a legal dramedy produced by Sony Pictures Television that ran on Lifetime from 2009-14. The series
will air on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries on weekdays from 5p-7p beginning today, January 2.

Despite the success of HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” other “Game of Thrones” spinoffs are hardly assured, wrote author George R. R. Martin in a blog post last week. “All the changes at HBO Max have impacted us, certainly,” acknowledged Martin, who said of his series projects, “Some of those are moving faster than others, as is always the case with development. None have been greenlit yet, though we are hoping… maybe soon.”

Movie studios can be sued for running deceptive movie trailers, ruled a US District Judge. Fans of the actress Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) paid $3.99 to rent the 2019 film “Yesterday” on Prime Video, assuming de Armas, who was in the trailer, would be in the film. She was not, and they sued for $5 million. While Universal argued that trailers are protected under the First Amendment, Judge Stephen Wilson ruled that movie trailers are commercial speech and subject to California False Advertising law. The case will proceed to discovery.

Also facing a new lawsuit is Meta. “Thanks to Meta’s pixel and business tools, the tax filing services H&R Block, TaxAct, and TaxSlayer have been quietly transmitting sensitive financial information to Meta when Americans file their taxes online,” allege two California residents in a class-action complaint brought in US District Court for the Northern District of California. Like another lawsuit filed last month, the complaint alleges Meta’s tracking code, Meta Pixel, collected confidential information from tax-filing sites.

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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

NBC has picked up pilot “The Irrational,” based on the bestselling novel Predictably Irrational, to series. The drama, starring Jesse L. Martin as a professor of behavioral science who helps in high-stakes cases, comes from Arika Lisanne Mittman. Mittman exec produces with Mark Gofman, Samuel Baum and David Frankel; Universal Television is the studio.

Genuis Brands International signed a deal to co-executive produce a documentary on the life of Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee (“Spider-Man,” “Black Panther,” “X-Men”), who died at age 95 in 2018. The film is set to debut this year on Disney+.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Eight dramas are on deck at PBS: Season two of “La Otra Mirada” (premiering January 5); third seasons of “Miss Scarlet and the Duke,” “All Creatures Great and Small” and “Vienna Blood,” all returning January 8; season 12 of “Call the Midwife” and season three of “Sanditon” on March 19; and newcomers “Marie Antoinette” (March 19) and “Tom Jones” (spring 2023).

The third and final season of “La Mujer del Diablo” (“The Devil’s Woman”) premieres January 6 on ViX+. The service already offers the first two seasons of the ViX+ Original series, which premiered in July and October, respectively.

COMING UP

Every Wednesday night in January, TCM will highlight onscreen car chases in classic films, while for the first three Fridays of the month, mystery and crime films featuring female detectives will take center stage.

Decades is paying tribute to the friendship between Dick Cavett and Groucho Marx with episodes of “The Dick Cavett Show” featuring the comedian Monday-Friday this week at 9p. The stunt follows PBS special “American Masters: Groucho & Cavett,” which debuted on December 27.

STREAMING

“Top Gun: Maverick” ranks as the most watched movie globally in its premiere weekend streaming on Paramount + – and a tip of the hat goes to smart windowing strategy, according to Brian Robbins, President and CEO of Paramount Pictures and Chief Content Officer, Movies and Kids & Family, Paramount+. “The runaway success of this film across theatrical, digital and now in streaming is an undeniable proof point demonstrating the power of Paramount’s multi-platform release strategy,” said Robbins. “Our studio has unlocked the value of variable windowing that streaming provides to augment a film’s overall success.”

TECH

Nextologies Limited, specializing in full-time video delivery to cable and streaming platforms, is expanding its remote production division with the acquisition of the businesses of The Video Call Center. The acquisition was finalized on December 23, 2022, and the new division will retain the VCC brand.

SPORTS ROUNDUP

BLK Prime aims to produce six major Pay-Per-View boxing events in 2023. “The plan in 2023 is to make the most compelling fights in boxing,” said Chester Johnson, Vice President of BLK Prime Boxing. “We are open to working with everyone in the sport to bring back the glory days of boxing. Our platform is extremely functional and delivers a high-quality stream. Our cable and satellite pay-per-view distribution agreements with our domestic and international partners are in place for 2023 as well.” The first event for BLK Prime in 2023 will feature former 4-division world champion Adrien Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs) vs. Ivan Redkach (23-6-1, 18 KOs) in a welterweight matchup. The scheduled 10-round bout will take place in Atlanta in February.

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RATINGS

Wednesday’s broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors event averaged an evening best 5.1 million total viewers on CBS, up 18% versus last year.

“The Nickelodeon NFL Nickmas Game,” a presentation of the Christmas Day game between the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams, was the highest-rated Christmas Day telecast on Nickelodeon with total viewers P2+ since 2016, up +400% from Christmas Day 2021. The telecast averaged over 906,000 total viewers P2+ and was watched by nearly 2.6 million viewers P2+ on an all-or-part basis.

“The Drew Barrymore Show” hit a new series high 0.9 Live+SD national Nielsen, up 29% from the week before and up 80% from last year at this time in the session ending December 18. The jump came a week ahead of Barrymore’s interview with President and First Lady Biden, telecast December 19.

ABC News’ “Good Morning America” won the 4th Quarter of 2022 in total viewers (3.229 million), based Nielsen data, marking “GMA”’s 11th consecutive year to win the 4th quarter. The net’s “World News Tonight” is ranking No. 1 in A25-54 (1.402 million) and A18-49 (976,000) for the 4th season in a row.

FOX News Channel notched its seventh year as leader in all of cable television while delivering the third highest-rated year ever in cable news history for 2022 in total day viewers, according to Nielsen. In primetime, FNC averaged 2,308,000 total viewers, 341,000 in the 25-54 demo and 211,000 in A18-49.

All of Fox Business Network’s key network dayparts saw audience growth compared to 2021. Business Day programming averaged 224,000 viewers, up 24% year-over-year and 10% in the 25-54 demo, and the net recorded 18% growth among total day viewers (134,000 P2+). During Market Hours FBN saw gains across both total viewers (215,000, up 19%), and the 25-54 demo (22,000, up 10%) year-over-year.

Basic Cable Top 10 Ratings for the week of December 19
Network, P2+ AA (000)
Primetime
ESPN 2461
NFL Network 1690
Fox News 1574
MSNBC 1276
Hallmark Channel 1114
Freeform 876
TBS 805
HGTV 742
USA 740
AMC 735
Total Day
Fox News 1189
ESPN 866
MSNBC 830
Hallmark Channel 723
CNN 514
Freeform 509
TBS 462
HGTV 414
USA 411
Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 407
Source: Nielsen

Broadcast Nielsen Top 11 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of December 12 ranked in order by HH Rtg
Jeopardy (CMV) 5.8 AA
Wheel of Fortune (CMV) 5.4 AA
Family Feud (CMV) 4.8 AA
Judge Judy (CMV) 4.3 AA
Inside Edition (CMV) 2.4 AA
Entertainment Tonight (CMV) 2.2 AA
The Big Bang Theory (WB) 2.0 AA
Live With Kelly and Ryan (DAD) 1.7 AA
Dr. Phil (CMV) 1.5 AA
Dateline (NBCU) 1.2 AA
Hot Bench (CMV) 1.2 AA

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Wednesday, December 28
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: Celebrity Jeopardy 3.14 (0.4), Abbott Elementary 1.57 (0.2), Abbott Elementary 1.26 (0.2), The Rookie: Feds 1.24 (0.2)
CBS: Kennedy Center Honors 5.34 (0.5), The Gift: Kindness Goes Viral 2.94 (0.2)
CW: Dogs of the Year 0.52 (0.1), World’s Funniest Animals 0.51 (0.1), World’s Funniest Animals 0.54 (0.1)
FOX: Holiday Bowl 3.97 (0.9)
ION: NCIS 1.15 (0.1), NCIS 1.15 (0.1), NCIS 1.04 (0.1)
NBC: Wheel 1.91 (0.3), Chicago Fire 1.67 (0.2), Chicago P.D. 1.97 (0.2)
Telemundo: Exatlon Estados Unidos: All Stars 0.95 (0.2), La Reina del Sur 0.85 (0.3), Amor y Traicon 0.75 (0.2)
Univision: Vencer la Ausencia 1.42 (0.4), Mi Camino es Amarte 1.44 (0.4), La Madraste 1.32 (0.4)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

This Day in History
1890 – Alice Sanger became the first female White House staffer.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Vivica A. Fox, Samuel L. Jackson, and Raven-Symoné voiced a homeless family in a Kwanzaa-themed episode of which series? “The Proud Family” (2001-05). Kudos to: Dejarelle Gaines-AMC Networks/NYC; John Kukla-KDFW Fox 4/Dallas; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Dan Weiner/LA; Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC; Barbara E. Bevel/Staten Island, NY; Louis Lewow-FITE/Atlanta

Today’s Trivia Question
What was Monica’s resolution on the “Friends” 1999 New Year’s episode? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four answers per time zone.)

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STARZ/SANTA MONICA: Identify and successfully pitch programming to media, including long leads, dailies, weeklies and online publications; as well as secure electronic bookings; respond to media requests timely for information and interviews. Develop and maintain close working relationships with members of the press. 3+ years of entertainment exp. in public relations. Full info HERE (1/10)

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MONDAY JANUARY 2
ABC: NFL Football
CBS: The Neighborhood, Bob Hearts Abishola, NCIS, NCIS: Hawai’i
CW: All American, All American: Homecoming
FOX: Fantasy Island [p], TMZ Presents
NBC: America’s Got Talent: All-Stars [p], Quantum Leap
PBS: Antiques Roadshow [p], Antiques Roadshow, Independent Lens
Telemundo: Exatlon Estados Unidos: All Stars, La Reina del Sur, Amor yTraicon
Univision: Vencer la Ausencia, Mi Camino es Amarte 1.40, La Madraste

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