Today’s Premieres
Discovery: Growing Belushi at 10p
HGTV: Home Inspector Joe at 9p
PBS: Anmals With Cameras: A Nature Miniseries at 8p

IN THE NEWS

YouTube is winding down its original programming business, electing to focus on creator-driven content and live shoppable programs. Susanne Daniels, global head of original content at the platform for six years, is exiting and YouTube chief business officer Robert Kyncl was quick to follow the news with confirmation that the company will focus on initiatives including Creator Shorts Fund, Black Voices Fund and Live Shopping, with just two areas of YT originals continuing forth. Daniels initially took the video-sharing platform into the SVOD space with premium originals including “Cobra Kai” and “Step Up,” then led the transition to its ad-supported model and helped grow the creator economy. “Today, there are over 2M creators in the YouTube Partner Program and our creator community has never been more successful: we’ve paid more than $30B to creators, artists, and media companies over the last three years,” Kyncl wrote in a letter to creators yesterday.

Let the games begin. Microsoft is acquiring Activision Blizzard in an all-cash, $68.7 billion deal that will have ramifications across the video game sector. The largest transaction in Microsoft’s history will ascend the company to the No. 3 spot among global video game companies by revenue, behind only Tencent and Sony. Warcraft, Diablo, Call of Duty and Candy Crush are among the games in Activision Blizzard’s various ranks, and the company also runs eSports ventures via its Major League Gaming division.

The 64th annual Grammy Awards are taking a new gamble. The awards, which postponed its original January date in LA due to the rise of Covid’s Omicron variant, will now take place Sunday, April 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Hosted by Trevor Noah, the ceremony will air live on CBS and Paramount+ at 8p. Details about official Grammy Week events are to come.

CBS is shuffling its Sunday primetime slate next week so it can air the first of two parts of the “NCIS: Hawaii” two-part episode after its coverage of the AFC Divisional Playoff Game between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs.

Roku is getting weirder. Daniel Radcliffe is onboard to play musician “Weird Al” Yankovic—who rules as the top-selling comedy recording of all time—in “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” a biopic from Funny or Die and Tango that will stream exclusively on The Roku Channel. The feature, which promises to delve deep into the Yankovic backstory, was penned by Yankovic and Eric Appel with Appel slated to direct.

Netflix scored 52 nominations to lead the pack for this year’s 53rd NAACP Awards, which will be hosted by Anthony Anderson and air Saturday, February 26 at 8p on BET.
HBO’s “Insecure” received the most nominations in the television + streaming categories; .H.E.R. is top-nominated in the music recording categories; and RCA Records scored the most noms across record labels.

A commitment to develop a pipeline of diverse documentary filmmakers and include more diverse perspectives in salient production roles are among the diversity initiatives PBS announced during yesterdays’ Television Critics Assn. tour. Among specific moves, the broadcaster is in a new partnership with nonprofit Firelight Media, through which it is committing $3.6 million over three years to support mid-career nonfiction filmmakers through the organization’s William Greaves Fund.

HBO Max announced the call for submissions for its annual Asian Pacific American Visionaries short film competition, established in 2016 and formerly known as the HBO APA Visionaries Short Film Competition.

Disney+ Marvel series “Loki” landed four Visual Effects Society nominations, leading all broadcast series in the run for the 20th annual awards.

In advanced advertising news, Ampersand has been named the exclusive seller of Altice’s national addressable inventory.

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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Public Enemy frontman Chuck D will weave the story of hip-hop music in a new PBS four-part docuseries. “The Story of Hip-Hop with Chuck D” (wt) hails from BBC Studios and is a co-production with the BBC developed by Chuck D and his manager Lorrie Boula. The project will trace the art form’s rise and evolution over the past 40 years … PBS is also at work on two docs with Maryland Public Television: “Becoming Frederick Douglass” and “Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom.”

Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus will star in “Bad Crimes,” an animated comedy that just got a 10-episode order from Netflix. The dark comedy procedural hails from creator Nicole Silverberg, previously a writer on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, and Greg Daniels and Mike Judge; New Bandera Entertainment Co. is the studio. Byer, who hosts unscripted series “Nailed It!,” and Lapkus (“Orange Is The New Black”) will voice two FBI agents who solve grisly crimes while juggling their friendship, career and a gaggle of men.

Production is under way and new cast members have boarded season 3 of Disney+ series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” with the summer residents at Camp Shallow Lake engaged in a production of “Frozen” this time around. As well as music from “Frozen,” the new season, created and exec-produced by Tim Federle, will feature music from “Camp Rock” and the “High School Musical” franchise.

Kevin Walsh inked a multiyear deal with Apple TV+ to produce TV and film projects for the streamer. For the past five years Walsh has served as president of Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions. The move syncs with the debut of his producing shingle The Walsh Co., through which he’ll both bring in and set up projects of his own, as well as work to package programming already at Apple.

Veteran reality creators Stephen Lambert and John de Mol are joining forces for US and UK versions of de Mol’s Dutch series “Million Dollar Island.” The sibling editions, which don’t yet have network homes in either country, will be produced by Lambert’s Gogglebox and Studio Lambert. The premise of the show will remain the same: 100 people are dropped on an uninhabited tropical island, where they need to survive for two months and can fatten their piggybanks by winning via various challenges bracelets worth $10,000 each.

Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton’s HiddenLight Productions is going into the unscripted business. The company set up a new unscripted label and shared its first project, a series for the UK’s Channel 4. Eight-ep “Inside the Superbrands” will go behind the scenes of eight British brands, including Heinz, Guinness and Kellogg’s.

Awesomeness Films is in production on live-action movie “Honor Society,” which follows an ambitious high school senior who will do whatever it takes to get into Harvard. The project is being overseen by Syrinthia Studer, EVP, Nickelodeon and Awesomeness Films, and Fred Lee, director of development.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Guy Fieri heads back to the kitchen for another season of “Tournament of Champions,” which bows on Food Network Sunday, February 27 at 8p. Season 3 will feature two-hour-long episodes and 32 chefs vying for $100,000, the tournament’s largest-ever reward.

“Single Drunk Female,” the new comedy series from Freeform, will debut back-to-back eps Tomorrow, January 20 at 10p. Series stars Ally Sheedy and Sofia Black-D’Elia.

“Back on the Record with Bob Costas” returns to HBO Max on Friday, January 21 at 11p. Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn, broadcasting legend Al Michaels, former NFL cornerback and Domonique Foxworth and author Howard Bryant join for the premiere roundtable discussion.

“Love Off the Grid,” premiering Sunday, January 30 on discovery+, follows four people accustomed to modern amenities who give it all up for a chance at true love.

“Raising Dion” returns to Netflix on Tuesday, February 1. Season 2 continues to follow the complicated life of a mother and son after the younger begins to manifest superhero-like abilities.

ALLBLK dropped a sneak peek for the Thursday, February 3 return of the streamer’s most popular series, “Double Cross.” Season 3 unfolds as new characters enter the mix and everyone must band together to find Layla.

The second season of“Dragon Rescue Rangers: Heroes of the Sky” begins streaming on Peacock Thursday, February 3. The animatedkids series takes place in a faraway corner of the Viking and dragon world, where Viking twins Dak and Leyla, who were rescued and raised by dragons, are growing up learning to speak their language.

In more Viking news, February 25 is the premiere date for Netflix’s “Vikings: Valhalla.” Set more than 1,000 years ago, the series chronicles the heroic adventures of some of the most famous Vikings who ever lived, from explorer Leif Eriksson to ambitious Nordic prince Harald Sigurdsson.

Retro, and ready to transport the beloved video game into the TV realm, “The Cuphead Show!” will bow Friday, February 18 on Netflix. The animated series follows the misadventures of impulsive Cuphead and his more cautious brother Mugman as they romp through adventures.

Apple TV+ dropped the trailer for workplace thriller “Severance,” which debuts its first two eps Friday, February 18. Starring Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette and John Turturro, the series was created by Dan Erickson and is directed and exec-produced by Ben Stiller. The action follows the fallout after a group of workers’ company engages them in a work-life balance test through a procedure that surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives.

Also landing February 18 is season 2 of Disney+ series “The Wonderful Winter of Mickey Mouse.” The second installment comprises four extended-length specials themed to each season—winter, spring, summer, and autumn… Disney+ also dropped a trailer for upcoming Marvel Studios’ series “Moon Knight” during halftime of Monday night’s NFL matchup between the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams. The series will begin streaming Wednesday, March 30.

Spouses Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt are back in a new 10-ep season of HGTV’s “100 Day Dream Home,” which debuts Monday, February 21 at 8p. The couple will continue amazing clients by building a custom, move-in ready home in an 100 days or less.

Amazon’s animated “The Boys” won’t be back for season 3 until the summer, but the streamer set Friday, March 4 as the premiere of spinoff series “The Boys Presents: Diabolical.” Each ep of the spinoff will tout its own animation style, will uncover unseen stories within “The Boys” universe and will feature voice talent including Awkwafina, Ilana Glazer, Seth Rogen and Andy Samberg.

A new Sir David Attenborough series is PBS-bound. “The Green Planet,” premiering Wednesday, July 6 at 8p is a five-parter that uses technology to reveal the secret,
incredible world of plants around the globe.

COMING UP

“MacGruber” star Will Forte will return to NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” for his first hosting gig on January 22 with musical guest Maneskin. Willem Dafoe will make his hosting debut January 29, with musical guest Katy Perry.

The one where Nick at Nite tests trivia knowledge. The network will host “Friends: The Ultimate Trivia Challenge” from January 24-28 beginning at 10p each night. The interactive trivia challenge based on the Warner Bros. Television series will test fans’ knowledge with more than 200 in-show trivia questions that will appear on screen every two minutes. Viewers will have 20 seconds to answer on their devices.

Bravo’s “Vanderpump Rules” two-night reunion is set for January 25 and 26 at 9p. Host Andy Cohen will sit down with Lisa Vanderpump and her current and former SURvers to dish on this season’s biggest moments.

PBS unveiled its Black History Month programming slate, which includes “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America: An America Reframed Special” on Tuesday, February 8, American Experience’s “The American Diplomat,” on Tuesday, February 15 and American Masters’ “Marian Anderson: The Whole World in Her Hands” on Tuesday, February 22.

She’s baaaack. Tyler Perry returns as Madea in the newest franchise film “Tyler Perry’s A Madea Homecoming,” debuting February 25 on Netflix. The action this go-round centers on Madea’s great-grandson’s college graduation, and the threat of the celebration coming to a halt as hidden secrets and family drama ensue.

KIDS NEWS

Although “Arthur,” the longest-running children’s animated series on American TV, is coming to an end, PBS will keep the revered aardvark alive via a series of digital spinoffs. The OG series will wrap February 21 after a marathon of almost every episode and four final eps in its 25th season, but PBS is planning a podcast, video shorts and digital games, network execs said at the Television Critics Assn. tour. PBS Kids also has a new animated series, “Work It Out Wombats,” in the pipeline that features three energetic and creative marsupial siblings who live with their grandmother in her treehouse apartment complex.

TECH TALK

Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group inked a multiyear, multiplatform partnership with Google to help accelerate growth across its portfolio as the company expands. Among aspects of the deal, Google Cloud will provide secure and scalable cloud infrastructure to power AMG’s digital evolution, enabling it, for one, to build apps more quickly.

The PGA Tour and Twitter renewed their content agreement that supports the Tour’s creation of exclusive content for Twitter’s live audio feature Spaces including real-time highlights each day of every official tournament. The Tour also will make branded and player-specific highlights and weekly Twitter Moments recapping tournament play available for sponsorship with Twitter Amplify.

Also at Twitter, plans to expand to Brazil, Spain and the Philippines a test feature that allows users to flag misleading content on its platform. While users of the feature can designate a tweet as “misleading” after they choose to report the post, the platform may not take action or respond to reports in the test.

PBS is joining the TikTok revolution as a way to connect with younger, more diverse audiences and amplify the work of filmmakers, producers and influencers.

STREAMING

Former NBA player Rex Chapman is boarding CNN as a host for CNN+, the subscription service set to launch in the spring. Chapman had been hosting “Block or Charge,” a series inspired by his viral tweets, for Adult Swim. He also hosts two podcasts.

El Rey Network launched on Xumo as both a free ad-supporting streaming network and VOD channel. Co-founded by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, El Rey joins Xumo’s 200-plus channel roster.

Martin Kove, aka Sensei John Kreese on “Cobra Kai,” is taking the show to the podcast realm. The actor and LiveOne-owned audio platform on Thursday, Januay 20 PodcastOne will launch “Cobra Koves,” which will see Kove joined by fellow cast mates to recap eps of the Netflix series.

PBS Digital Studios is launching podcasts based on popular YouTube series “It’s Lit!” and “Eons.” Debuting in February, “It’s Lit!” focuses on popular and iconic literature and its authors, while “Eons,” premiering in March, probes prehistoric life on Earth.

CASTING

Elizabeth Mitchell (“Lost”) will recur on CBS freshman drama series “FBI: International”… New to season 3 of Disney+’s “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” are Adrian Lyles and Saylor Bell (“I Didn’t Do It”) and guest stars Corbin Bleu (“High School Musical” franchise), Meg Donnelly (“Zombies” franchise) and Jason Earles (“Hannah Montana”).

GOING GLOBAL

Keshet International added A Private View’s Flemish thriller drama “Storm Lara” to its growing catalog of foreign-language content with international appeal.

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RATINGS

The January 3 premiere of “The Cleaning Lady” posted Fox’s most-watched drama launch in two years, registering 7.3 million multi-platform viewers in Live+7 Day measurement, a 100 percent lift from Live+Same Day.

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Friday, January 14
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: “Shark Tank” 3.85 (0.6), “20/20” 3.25 (0.5)
CBS: “Under Cover Boss” 4.23 (0.5), “Magnum, PI” 5.77 (0.5), “Blue Bloods” 6.44 (0.5)
CW: “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” 0.86 (0.1), “Nancy Drew” 0.40 (0.1)
FOX: “WWE Friday Night Smackdown” 2.17 (0.6)
NBC: “Wall” 2.59 (0.5), ”Dateline Friday” 3.00 (0.5)
Telemundo: “Casa Telemundo/Exatlon” 0.67 (0.2), “Hercai: Amor” 1.10 (0.3), “Malverde: Santo” 0.79 (0.2)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

CBS News is bolstering the team behind its streaming service. The Wall Street Journal’s Anthony Galloway is in as SVP of CBS News Streaming, while Kaci Sokoloff was elevated to VP of bookings for CBS News Network and Streaming, and David Reiter joins as exec producer of CBS News special events across network and streaming. Sokoloff was most recently senior producer and head of the CBS News booking department; Reiter previously was exec producer of special events at ABC News.

Noticias Telemundo announced its senior news leadership team under the division’s new head, Patsy Loris. Gabriela Tristan, formerly VP and director of news production at Univision, will serve as SVP, News. Gemma Garcia is promoted to SVP, digital news from her role as exec producer of “Noticias Telemundo” and network VP. Vanessa Pombo is elevated to SVP, business operations, news, from her role as senior director of production management at Telemundo Studios.

BET appointed Brian Rikuda to serve as the EVP of enterprise growth strategy, business operations, and programming strategy.

A batch of promotions at Turner’s TNets, which comprisesTBS, TNT and truTV: Jenny Ramirez is elevated to SVP, unscripted programming, TBS, TNT, truTV; she was previously VP. Drew Uhrig Uhrig is now VP, scripted programming, TBS, TNT and truTV; she was manager, current programming for TBS and TNT. On the programming strategy side, Joel McLean is upped to VP, programming strategy & operations, TBS. Brad Kramer is elevated to VP, programming strategy & operations, and Natali Johnson is promoted to VP, program marketing and branding.

Fremantle US hired FilmRise VP, digital content programming Trey Durst in the newly created role of director of distribution. Durst will focus on Fremantle’s AVOD and FAST businesses.

Lauren Moffat, a 15-year Sony Pictures TV veteran who most recently served as SVP, drama development, is joinng Sony TV-based Doug Robinson Productions as EVP.

Suzanne Gomez, a veteran CW and WB communications exec, is seguing to Berlanti Productions and Berlanti-Schechter Films in the newly created role of CMO and head of talent relations.

Tina Tuli, most recently CMO at Samdesk, is joining Firstlight Media as VP of global marketing.

Nexstar Media’s cable network NewsNation is adding author Paula Froelich as senior story editor and on-air contributor for Ashleigh Banfield’s show “Banfield.” Froelich’s work spans The New York Post, Yahoo, “Entertainment Tonight,” Newsweek.

Ireland’s Lighthouse Studios appointed animation consultant Michael Downey to the newly created position of talent management director.

This Day in History
1953 – Sixty-eight percent of all TV sets in the US were tuned to CBS, watching as Lucy Ricardo of “I Love Lucy” gave birth to a baby boy.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Who played April in the backdoor pilot for “The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.” (1966-67)?
Mary Ann Mobley. Kudos to: Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NY; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton, FL; Charles Lore/NY; Dan Whitford-WTTW/Chicago; Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank; David Garber-Loyola Marymount University/Playa Vista, CA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; David Westberg-SAG*AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank

Today’s Trivia Question
What was “How I Met Your Father” topliner Hillary Duff’s first-ever starring role? 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.)

Cynopsis Team