Tonight’s Finale
Bravo: Below Deck at 8p
For streaming TV premieres, go here.

IN THE NEWS

George Cheeks has been appointed President and CEO of CBS Entertainment Group, effective March 23. He succeeds Joe Ianniello, Chairman and CEO of CBS, who will be leaving the Company. Cheeks was most recently Vice Chairman, NBCUniversal Content Studios; before he joined NBC in 2012, he worked at Viacom. “Throughout his career, George has built broad experience in broadcast and studio operations and brings a unique mix of skills – combining deep commercial expertise and industry relationships with strong creative and programming capabilities,” said Bob Bakish, President and CEO of ViacomCBS. “With his finger on the pulse of culture and change and his strong grasp of strategy, brands, audiences and content monetization, George will help CBS build on its position as the most-watched broadcast network and drive results across the entire CBS portfolio.” Ianniello will work with the company during the transition.

In another big executive move, Randy Freer has stepped down as CEO of Hulu. Disney is putting its operations under the purview of Direct-to-Consumer & International Chairman Kevin Mayer as part of a plan to centralize leadership. “With the successful launch of Disney+, we are now focused on the benefits of scale within and across our portfolio of DTC businesses”, said Mayer. “Further integrating the immensely talented Hulu team into our organization will allow us to more effectively and efficiently deploy resources, rapidly grow our presence outside the U.S. and continue to relentlessly innovate.” Freer had been CEO of Hulu since October 2017; Disney acquired control of the streaming service as part of its acquisition of 21st Century Fox entertainment assets last year.

Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake) will be the third actress to play Queen Elizabeth in The Crown, for the Netflix drama’s fifth and final season. “I have loved watching The Crown from the very start,” said Staunton. “As an actor it was a joy to see how both Claire Foy and Olivia Colman brought something special and unique to Peter Morgan’s scripts.” The Crown is now is season three.

Netflix canceled Soundtrack after one season. The musical drama starring Jenna Dewan, Callie Hernandez and Madeline Stowe had gone to pilot at Fox before jumping to the streamer.

Charter reported a loss of 105,000 residential video subscribers in 4Q19, up from 36,000 in the year-ago quarter, but video revenues had a 2.6% boost, to $4.47 billion. “Our operating strategy continues to deliver strong results and in 2019, we created over 1.1 million new customer relationships, substantially more than in 2018. And we added over 1.4 million new Internet customers, also more than in 2018,” said Charter CEO Tom Rutledge. “As we look to 2020, we remain focused on driving customer growth by offering superior services and value to our customers, improving the efficiency of our operations, and delivering sustainable free cash flow growth, by driving EBITDA growth, while reducing capital intensity.”

CNN scrapped plans for a political special, Iowa Caucuses: The Final Poll, on Saturday night, when a respondent in the poll raised an issue with the way their interview was conducted. CNN, the Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer said that while the incident appears to have been isolated to one surveyor, that could not be confirmed with certainty, so they “made the difficult decision not to move ahead with the poll.” Instead of a special tied to the poll, CNN’s special covered the Iowa caucus in general.

HBO was the big TV winner at the WGA Awards, earning writing honors for Succession (best drama), Barry (best comedy), Watchmen (new series), Chernobyl (long form original) and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (comedy variety/talk). Other multiple winners included PBS and CBS News, which each won in two categories, and Netflix, with four wins.

TV winners of the Art Directors Guild’s 24th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards on Saturday included The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Big Bang Theory, The Umbrella Academy, Russian Doll and Chernobyl. Big Bang’s Chuck Lorre took home the Cinematic Imagery Award, honoring his work over the past 20 years, and “for keeping the multi-camera sitcom alive in creating hit series that generate mass appeal.”

This Thursday (February 6), media execs and industry teams will gather in NYC as Cynopsis celebrates breakthrough work, and shines a spotlight on the leaders of tomorrow. Best Of The Best Awards winners will be announced, Rising Stars will be recognized and new connections will be made at a one-of-a-kind event hosted by your go-to resource for industry news. Click here to register.

Netflix and Adam Sandler are staying in business. The streamer is extending its deal with Sandler and Happy Madison Productions to make four more movies. Netflix said subscribers have spent over 2 billion hours watching Sandler films, including comedy Murder Mystery, its most popular movie in 2019.

OddBot (Muppet Babies) announced the development of two animated series, preschool action comedy Job Jungle and serialized adventure True Martian, to be showcasedat the Kidscreen Summit in Miami, February 10-13.

The CW wrapped up its pilot orders with greenlights for Maverick, from Merigan Mulhern (BH90210) and Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage’s Fake Empire, about a President’s daughter questioning her loyalty to her father, and The Lost Boys, based on the 1987 movie, from Heather Mitchell and Rob Thomas.

Top 10 Weekend Domestic Box Office Estimates: January 31-February 2
Bad Boys for Life (Sony) $17.7 million (week 3) cume revenue $148.1 million
1917 (Universal) $9.7 million (week 6), cume revenue $119.2 million
Dolittle (Universal) $7.7 million (week 3) cume revenue $55.2 million
Gretel & Hansel (Universal) $6.1 million, opening weekend
The Gentleman (STX) $6.0 million (week 2), cume revenue $20.4 million
Jumanji: The Next Level (Sony Pictures) $6.0 million (week 8), cume revenue $291.2 million
Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (Walt Disney) $3.2 million (week 7), cume revenue $507.1 million
The Turning (Universal) $3.1 million (week 2), cume revenue $11.7 million
Little Women (Sony) $3.0 million (week 6), cume revenue $98.8 million
The Rhythm Section (Paramount) $2.8 million, opening weekend
Source: Comscore

NEW SERIES

New History series Eating History follows a vintage food expert and a collector as they uncover and eat “the oldest, most nostalgic, and shocking” foods to have survived history. Nonfiction offering launches Wednesday, March 11 at 10p.

The host of YouTube channel Brave Wilderness stars in new Animal Planet series Coyote Peterson: Brave the Wild, debuting Sunday, February 9 at 9p. Peterson shares experiences with creatures both fascinating and bizarre, while promoting compassion for the natural world,

In Food Network’s Vegas Chef Prizefight, chefs battle it out to be named Head Chef at a new $10 million restaurant on the Vegas Strip. Six-parter debuting Thursday, March 5 at 10p is hosted by Anne Burrell.

TECH TALK

Smithsonian Channel’s augmented reality app, “Apollo’s Moon Shot AR,” is a finalist for the 23rd annual South by Southwest Interactive Innovation Awards. Released in July 2019, timed to the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the free app was selected for the Award’s “VME” category. For more, go here.

STREAMING SNIPPETS

Roku reached a new distribution agreement with Fox Corp. for Fox’s streaming apps hours before the Super Bowl kick-off, restoring Fox channels to the Roku Channel Store. Before the new deal, Roku had suggested viewers find Fox programming via rival service’s free trials, while Fox urged Hulu to “stop the intimidation tactics.”

COMING UP

BET is highlighting 40 of the most inspiring people who are redefining what it means to be “unapologetically young, gifted & Black” in The Future 40 Presented By Walmart. Series is part of the net’s online offerings across digital and social platforms during Black History Month. Among those showcased is eleven -year-old ballet dancer Charlotte Nebres, the first Black lead in New York City Ballet’s “The Nutcracker.”

In more Black History Month programming, each Monday during February, AccuWeather Network will bring viewers stories about the intersection between weather and African American history, including why abolitionist Harriet Tubman operated the Underground Railroad during the winter. Stories will appear on the AccuWeather Television Network and on AccuWeather.com.

In Memoriam, a film examining active shooter incidents from the perspectives of wounded survivors, grieving relatives and heroes from three recent massacres, airs commercial-free on ID on Saturday, February 8 at 9p.

PODCAST POST

Corner Table Entertainment, the production company founded by Geoffrey Zakarian – co-host of Food Network’s The Kitchen and Chopped – and Jaret Keller, and iHeartMedia are teaming to create/produce an iHeartRadio Original Podcast . In each episode, Zakarian will interview people, from chefs and athletes, to actors and business leaders, focusing on how they fuel their careers to operate at peak performance. For more, go here.

CASTING

Linda Hamilton (Terminator), Mandell Maughan (Bajillion Dollar Propertie$) and Alex Barima (The Exorcist) will recur on Syfy’s Resident Alien, reports Deadline.

1 Entering is Easy: Summarize your initiatives with synopsis & supporting materials
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4 Showcase Your Work Where It Counts: With over 40 categories to choose from
5 NETWORK: When winners are announced at the 8th Annual Awards Breakfast in NYC

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Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Who voiced superhero the Crimson Chin in The Fairly Odd Parents (2001-17)? Jay Leno. Kudos to: Monica Palermo-The Walt Disney Company/NYC, Tiffany Tate-2U INC/Arlington, VA, Andrew M. Hunn-Hunny Media Marketing/NYC, Mike Doyle-NCM/Madison, CT, Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station, TX, Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank, Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA

Today’s Trivia Question
Which sitcom character made her living known as the “Queen of Romance”? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four.)