Tonight’s Finale
ID: Killer Bods at 8p

IN THE NEWS

Paramount Television is now, officially, Paramount Television Studios. “We felt it was necessary that our name reflect our function as an independent studio within the ViacomCBS company, as well as to our external partners in the industry,” said Nicole Clemens, President of Paramount Television Studios.

The Paley Center for Media revealed its lineup for PaleyFest LA 2020. Event will feature screenings of shows including ABC’s Modern Family, Netflix’s A Special Evening with Dolly Parton & Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings, HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and NCIS: 400th Episode Celebration for CBS.

Chad Pergram was promoted to congressional correspondent at FOX News Channel. He had been a senior Capitol Hill producer and a presence in the channel’s impeachment proceeding coverage.

TLC’s Say Yes to the Prom returns for a ninth consecutive year, alongside returning retail partner Macy’s, to give 1,000 underserved and deserving students the perfect prom look. The educational and charitable initiative, which will travel to five cities around the country, kicks off prom season in Knoxville, TN.

WWE superstar Mike “The Miz” Mizanin will host USA Network’s new water sports competition series Cannonball, bowing in summer 2020. Rocsi Diaz will cohost the show, with Simson Gibson as a sideline reporter.

The media industry is buzzing with new talent and exciting projects that elevate our industry. And too often, this good work goes unnoticed. That’s why, for the 5th year running, Cynopsis is presenting the Rising Star Awards, celebrating media’s emerging talent. Join us on Thursday, February 6th from 11:30 – 2PM at Tribeca ThreeSixty in NYC. And be sure to reserve your seats before tomorrow night (Jan 16).

Amazon has gone into business with Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, striking a first-look television deal with company. The streamer is also working with Plan B, including Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, on Outer Range, a drama created by playwright Brian Watkins focused on a rancher fighting for his land, who discovers a mystery lurking at the edge of Wyoming’s wilderness. Plan B is also producing Barry Jenkins’ The Underground Railroad and working on Paper Dolls, a drama based on Brian K. Vaughan’s best-selling graphic novel.

Jack Reacher, a drama based on the character from Lee Child’s bestsellers, was greenlit by Amazon. Produced by Amazon Studios, Skydance Television and Paramount Television Studios, the TV series will be written by Nick Santora (Scorpion, Prison Break), who’ll also serve as EP and showrunner.

Amazon also inked an overall deal with 12 Years A Slave and Widows director Steve McQueen, while putting a sci-fi series into development. Last Days, a Lamma Park and See-Saw Films production, centers on the world’s governments secret plan to selectively colonize Mars in the wake of a dying Earth and the rise of AI.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas (Quantico) and Richard Madden (Bodyguard) will headline Amazon Studios global thriller multi-series, Citadel. The franchise is a co-production with Midnight Radio.

Lee Eisenberg, co-creator of Little America, has signed a multi-year overall deal with Apple. Eisenberg will create television and digital media projects exclusively for Apple TV+ via his new Piece of Work Entertainment banner.

Paramount Network issued a series order to Mayor of Kingstown. The drama, from Yellowstone producer 101 Studios, takes a brutal look at the business of incarceration. The net also renewed unscripted series The Last Cowboy for a second season.

During its session at the TCA Winter Press Tour, Pop TV announced the renewal of original sketch comedy Hot Date for a 10-episode, second season. From Electus’ Big Breakfast and EP Will Arnett’s Electric Avenue Productions, the show was inspired by the popular College Humor digital series.

In other Pop TV news, the network ordered scripted comedy pilots Best Intentions and Ride or Die. From A +E Studios with writer/EP Adam Herz and EP Ben Silverman of Propagate Content, Best Intentions centers around a teenager and his awkward single father, who is the guidance counselor at his high school. Ride or Die, a half-hour comedy from writer Matt McConkey (Heathers) and produced by Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Stacey Lubliner of The Gotham Group, as well as Nomadic Pictures with EP Michael Rosenberg, focuses on an elite spin studio rocked by a strange murder. In addition, Pop TV is developing comedy pilot Mother Mary. Conceived by CBS Television Studios, written by Casey Feigh (What We Do in the Shadows), Dan Gregor (How I Met Your Mother) and Betsy Sodaro (Disjointed), and executive produced by Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) along with Tony Hernandez and Brooke Posch of Jax Media (Broad City, Russian Doll) and Feigh, Gregor and Sodaro, it asks what would happen in today’s world if the most irresponsible and lazy human on Earth was impregnated by immaculate conception.

The CW gave series orders to Superman & Lois, starring Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch in the title roles, and Walker, a reimagining of Walker Texas Ranger, headlined by Jared Padalecki. Superman & Lois hails from Warner Bros. TV, while Walker comes from CBS TV Studios.

Gael Garcia Bernal (Mozart in the Jungle) and Diego Luna (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), executive producers of Amazon’s upcoming limited series Untitled Cortes and Moctezuma Project, signed a first-look deal with Amazon Studios. The pair will create and produce content to premiere on Amazon Prime Video in over 200 countries and territories world

Comedy Central inked an overall deal with Daniel Tosh that includes a four-season, 80-episode extension for Tosh.0, and a first-look deal for new scripted and unscripted development. The network and Tosh are in discussions for an unscripted series that Tosh would host and executive produce and a script deal for which he would serve as EP.

Awkwafina is Nora From Queens received a sophomore season pickup from Comedy Central ahead of its series premiere on Wednesday, January 22 at 10:30p. The half-hour scripted comedy is inspired by Awkwafina’s real-life growing up in Queens, NY.

Crown Media Family Networks announced its first-ever movie adaptation of a Hallmark Publishing original novel. The film, based on The Secret Ingredient by bestselling author Nancy Naigl, is set to air in February in conjunction with Hallmark Channel’s “Love Ever After” programming event.

New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz (Disney’s Descendants series, Blue Bloods) inked a second writing and producing deal with Brad Krevoy’s Motion Picture Company of America for two Hallmark holiday movies: Christmas in Angel Falls 3 and Christmas at Mansfield Park. Both are slated to air in 2020.

BritBox North America commissioned a drama centered on a character that initially appeared in hit British daytime show Father Brown. The Sister Boniface Mysteries will star Lorna Watson (Watson & Oliver) as a sleuthing nun.

Now’s the time to think of the female trailblazers in your life who are pushing the industry forward and making waves in the areas of entertainment, sports & esports, and tech. Nominations for The Cynopsis Top Women in Media Awards will open later this month, so stay tuned! Honorees will be announced in June and the awards gala will take place on September 24th in NYC.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Netflix renewed You for a 10-episode third season to premiere in 2021. The drama ranked #5 on the streamer’s top 10 list of most popular series in 2019.

Pop TV’s Flack, a dark comedy set in the world of a celebrity crisis PR firms and starring Anna Paquin, returns Friday, March 13 at 10p, while One Day at a Time bows on Tuesday, March 24 at 9:30p.

COMING UP

Oxygen debuts The Witness on Saturday, February 8 at 7p. The two-night investigative documentary special spotlights the policies of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Organization.

Volcano Live! with Nik Wallenda bows Wednesday, March 4 at 8p on ABC. In the special, the seventh generation of the Great Wallendas returns to the high wire for an 1,800-foot-long walk over the active Masaya Volcano in Masaya, Nicaragua.

AWARDS UPDATES

People and Entertainment Weekly, in partnership with TNT, host the official red carpet streaming pre-show in celebration of the SAG Awards on Sunday, January 19 at 5:30p. Entertainment Weekly Editor-in-Chief JD Heyman and PeopleTV hosts Jeremy Parsons, Lola Ogunnaike and Andrea Boehike will co-host People Entertainment Weekly & TV Red Carpet Live: 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards Fashion.

The Peabody Awards will be held in LA for the first time in its 80-year history on Thursday, June 18. The ceremony, which will be held at Beverly Wilshire Hotel, honors the most intelligent, powerful and moving stories told in broadcasting and digital media.

CASTING

Corey Hawkins nabbed a lead role in the upcoming HBO Max series Americanah… John Leguizamo, Toheeb Jimoh, Ria Zmitrowicz, Halle Bush, Heather Agyepong, Nico Hiraga and Daniela Vega join Amazon thriller The Power… Meagan Good (Star), Grace Byers (Empire), Jerrie Johnson (Mother’s Milk) and Shoniqua Shandai (I Am the Night) will star in Amazon’s half-hour comedy, formerly known as Harlem, from Girls Trip writer Tracy Oliver.

TECH TALK

Google’s Chrome browser will phase out support for third-party cookies within two years, according to a company blog post on Tuesday. Google Chrome is betting that its Privacy Sandbox, the API unveiled last August, will build functionality that replaces third-party cookies over the next two years. “We are confident… mechanisms like the Privacy Sandbox can sustain a healthy, ad-supported web in a way that will render third-party cookies obsolete,” said Justin Schuh, director of Chrome engineering. Google Chrome proposes to store individual user-level information in the browser, letting outside ad tech companies do an API call to the Privacy Sandbox in order to receive personalization and measurement data without user-level information.

GOING GLOBAL

GoQuest Media Ventures concluded another deal for its Ukrainian drama Ruby Ring. Vietnamese broadcast THVL acquired exclusive TV rights to the series.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which series was set in the fictional town of Dunn’s River, Connecticut? Soap (1977-1981). Kudos to: Phyllis McQuillan-MSG Networks/NYC; Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing, Inc./NYC; Mark Berger-Fabrication Enterprises/Elmsford, NY; Charles Lore/NYC; Eric Litt-Multicast Networks/Chicago, IL; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station/TX; Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank, CA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/Los Angeles, CA; David Garber-Loyola Marymount University, Playa Vista, CA; David Westberg-SAG AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank, CA.

Today’s Trivia Question
Why did Reed receive the Medal of Honor in the last episode of Adam-12 (1965-1975)? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four.)