| PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Universal Content Productions inked a multiyear first-look deal with iHeartMedia through which UCP will have first right to adapt iHeartRadio’s original podcasts for TV. Additionally, UCP’s new podcast platform UCP Audio will have the option to develop and co-produce original podcast series with the iHeartPodcast Network. The iHeartPodcast Network houses 750-plus original podcasts.
In more podcasting news, Apple is developing podcast company Wondery’s WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork, as a limited series. The project will be exec-produced and co-written by Lee Eisenberg (Little America) and Drew Crevello (The Grudge 2), and produced by Wondery.
On Thursday, September 24th in NYC, Cynopsis will be filling the house and toasting strong women who are moving the industry forward. Nominate yourself or a colleague whose work in the entertainment or sports media world has inspired others, for the Cynopsis Top Women in Media Awards.
Amazon is developing Mitchcraft (working title), a hybrid relationship comedy series from Psych creator/exec producer Steve Franks and exec producer Chris Henze of Thruline, and Fully Formed Entertainment duo Brad Fuller and Andrew Form (A Quiet Place, The Purge).
Disney+ greenlighted animated family sitcom The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, reuniting the original cast and exec producers from The Proud Family, which aired on Disney Channel from 2001-2005. Premiere date is TBA. Original series creator/exec producer Bruce W. Smith and exec producer Ralph Farquhar are in, as is co-exec producer and story editor Calvin Brown.
Horror-fantasy Ice Cream Man is headed to Quibi. The show, which had been in development from Universal Content Productions, based on the Image Comics series created by W. Maxwell Prince, will be a short-form anthology series narrated by the malevolent titular character.
The unsolved mystery of plane hijacker D.B. Cooper, who disappeared without a trace in 1971, is the subject of a feature-length doc to be co-produced by the BBC and HBO. The Mystery Of D.B. Cooper is helmed by director John Dower and produced by Minnow Films.
Amazon Studios and UK’s Channel 4 are back together on Frank of Ireland, a comedy from Sharon Horgan’s Merman starring and written by brothers Brian and Domhnall Gleeson. Six-parter centers on Frank Marron, a 32-year-old musician who lives in Dublin with his mother.
Kinetic Content, a Red Arrow Studios company, inked an exclusive production deal with showrunner/producer Scott Teti. The studio is producer of Netflix series Love Is Blind and Lifetime’s Married at First Sight. Teti is an exec producer on Spy Games, which Kinetic launched last month on Bravo.
Food Network wrapped production on new primetime series Bakeaway Camp with Martha Stewart. Equal parts baking boot-camp and camp-inspired games and challenges, Stewart helps guide six amateur bakers in a culinary retreat that is anything but, as the campers brave the elements of the outdoors.
Netflix’s first Nigerian original is a drama from Akin Omotoso, director of Vaya, who helms the as-yet-untitled six-part series set in contemporary Nigeria. It tells the story of Kemi, a goddess who must learn how to harness her superpowers when she’s reincarnated as a human to avenge the death her sister.
Global next week begins filming on original legal drama series Family Law, produced by Seven24 Films (Heartland, Wynonna Earp) and Lark Productions (Motive, Fortunate Son) and created by Canadian author Susin Nielsen. Ten-part series is slated to premiere on the Canadian net later this year.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Meghan Markle’s struggles as a royal will be spotlighted as the first subject in new Vice TV docu-series Vice Versa. Meghan Markle Escaping The Crown will debut Tuesday, March 10 at 9p, and investigate the role the monarchy and British tabloid media played in vilifying Markle, and Harry and Meghan’s decision to forgo their royal branding. Vice says the Vice Versa series of independent doc specials will tackle broken systems and corrupt power structures.
Actor, comedian and retired Marine Rob Riggle travels the globe to unearth some of the world’s greatest legends and mysteries in Rob Riggle: Global Investigator, premiering Sunday, March 8 at 10p on Discovery Channel.
Season 2 of Dirty Money premieres globally on Netflix on Wednesday, March 11. Investigative series provides an up-close view into untold stories of scandal, financial malfeasance and corruption in the world of business. This season offers a look inside Jared Kushner’s real estate empire, the Wells Fargo banking scandal and Malaysia’s 1MDB corruption case… Also at the house of Sarandos, Netflix debuted the first teaser for limited series The Eddy, debuting globally May 8. Directed by Academy Award winner Damien Chazelle (La La Land), Emmy winner Alan Poul (Tales of the City), Cannes Camera d’Or winner Houda Benyamina (Divines) and Laila Marrakchi, eight-ep drama takes place in the multicultural neighborhoods of modern-day Paris and focuses on a once-celebrated jazz pianist who now owns a struggling club.
Bravo’s Top Chef jets to LA for season 17 with All Stars LA, premiering Thursday, March 19 at 10p. Chefs will battle it out for the largest cash prize in Top Chef history.
Showtime dropped the official trailer and poster art for new docuseries Outcry, which world-premieres at SXSW before debuting on the network Friday, April 3 at 9p. Series examines the story of Leander, TX, high school football star Greg Kelley, his controversial conviction on charges of super aggravated sexual assault and the quest for truth and justice as the case unfolds.
Hulu comedy series Future Man will return for its third and final season Friday, April 3 with all eight eps that find the motley trio messing with time one last time.
Home renovator Tamara Day will focus on Kansas City’s most neglected estate homes in a new season of HGTV’s Bargain Mansions, premiering Tuesday, April 7 at 9p.
ABC yesterday revealed the 23 hopefuls in search of a lasting partnership who will be featured in the inaugural season of latest Bachelor Nation series, The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart. Premiering Monday, April 13 at 8p, spinoff is hosted by Chris Harrison and features cast members embarking on a journey to find love through music.
COMING UP
CBS News contributor Maria Elena Salinas takes a deep dive into the nation’s homelessness crisis in a special edition of Eye on America across all CBS News platforms. Content will air tonight (February 28), on the CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell and Saturday, February 29 on CBS This Morning.
HITN & MediaPro’s presentation of The Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Tournament this Saturday, February 29 in NY will be live streamed globally via UBEAT.TV, Mediapro Group’s esports multiplatform.
On Sunday, March 1 at 7p UPtv will premiere the movie Secret Millionaire, about a wealthy young man who hides his identity while getting to know a young woman who happens to be protesting his father’s company.
Women’s History Month is almost here. Syfy’s new “We Are Her(oes)” multiplatform campaign, presented by the net’s female-focused brand Syfy FanGrrls, will feature female-focused content every day in March. On the slate are podcast Forgotten Women of Genre and the series premiere of Vagrant Queen on Friday, March 27 at 10p, followed by doc 20 Women to Watch in 2020 at 11p. Additionally, the net is growing the Syfy FanGrrls brand throughout 2020 by increasing the video, podcast and editorial content made by and for a broad range of women and binary voices… Mondays throughout March, AccuWeather TV Network and Accuweather.com will showcase stories of women whose achievements made an impact on the weather and science communities. Profiles include mathematician Gladys Mae West and astronaut Christina Koch
Fox News Channel will present extensive live programming of the Super Tuesday Presidential primaries on March 3, preceded by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum co-anchoring a special edition of Democracy 2020: Super Tuesday on Monday, March 2 from 6-8p… Neil Cavuto will anchor Fox Business Network’s live coverage of Super Tuesday.
Spirits Network, the streaming channel that pairs entertainment with an integrated shopping experience of liquor delivery and monthly curated bottle service, has a slate of shows on tap for March. New are Spirits for Beginners; a new ep of Peggy Noes Best airing Monday, March 9 for International Women’s Day; and Frontier Filmmakers, featuring whiskey legend Fred Minnick and premiering Monday, March 23.
AXS TV celebrates the life of rocker Eddie Money with the star-studded two-hour Eddie Money Tribute Concert, airing Sunday, March 22 at 9p. The “Two Tickets to Paradise” singer starred in the net’s Real Money before his death in September at age 70.
Oxygen rolls out its 12 Dark Days of Serial Killers event April 9-20, including new specials Catching a Serial Killer: Sam Little and Snapped: Notorious Hollywood Ripper, along with returning series Mark of a Killer and The DNA of Murder with Paul Holes season finales. The net will run additional serial killer-themed programming throughout the 12 days.
STREAMING SNIPPETS
Monumental Sports Network will stream the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Assn. Dream Gap Tour on February 29 and March 1, and March 6-7. The showcase events are played with the mission of closing the gap between what boys and girls can aspire to achieve.
TECH TALK
Chinese-owned social video app TikTok, launched in the US in 2017, now has over 45 million users, according to estimates from eMarketer. Last year, TikTok grew 97.5%, but is on pace to grow a small-by-comparison 22% in 2020. While the stickiness of its scrolling video format is “incredibly popular among teens at this point,” said eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson, older generations haven’t been so quick to jump on the bandwagon. And apprehension among marketers about censorship, data privacy and brand safety issues, as well as competition from newcomers like Legacy as well as Instagram and Facebook, are slowing momentum.
Telemundo is expanding its connection with fans with the launch of La Vuelta (The Turn Around), a 360-degree interactive multiplatform studio debuting Monday, March 2 at 7a. The 360-degree Studio will create content in real time across linear TV, socials and Telemundo.com to connect fans with the hosts and guests of network’s morning show Un Nuevo Dia. The initiative integrates TV and digital, and includes personalized content available in real-time during the three-and-a-half-hour live show and throughout the day on Telemundo’s social platforms.
Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) and Cecile de France (The New Pope) narrate VR experience Dawn of Art, exec-produced by Atlas V for Google Arts & Culture and France’s rock art site Chauvet Cave.
MONEY TALK
Launches in 30 new territories on HGTV and Food Network helped propel Discovery Communications’ earnings for both full-year and Q4. Total revenue during the quarter rose 2 percent to $2.87 billion, while total revenue across the year grew by 6 percent to $11.1 billion. Net income in Q4 increased to $476 million and diluted EPS increased to $0.67 per share, while annual net income rose to $2.1 billion and diluted EPS increased to $2.88 per share. During the quarter, US advertising and distribution revenue inched up 1 percent and 5 percent, respectively; international advertising and distribution revenues increased 5 percent and 10 percent.
A few days after announcing an investor group led by former Viacom CFO Wade Davis acquire a 64 percent stake, Univision Communications yesterday trotted out a Q4 profit fueled by higher revenue and lower expenses. The company posted earnings of $94.4 million, compared with a year-ago loss of $72.7 million. Further, CEO Vincent Sadusky forecast “a record first quarter in political advertising revenue, as candidates understand that 32 million eligible US Hispanics will be the largest racial or ethnic minority group in the electorate.”
DISTRIBUTION & SYNDICATION
Daytime talker Maury landed a renewal for two more seasons, through 2022, from NBCUniversal Television Distribution. “Like my father used to say about his marriage to my mother after 60 years, we take this one decade at a time. With the Maury show and NBC, it’s a great marriage,” Povich said.
News and commentary net The First is expanding its distribution, now available on free streaming service DistroTV. The First launched in October 2019; content includes The Dana Show with Dana Loesch, True Story with Mike Slater, and The Buck Sexton Show.
PODCAST POSTS
Pod Save America and Lovett or Leave It podcast company Crooked Media unleashed its spring/summer slate. On deck are comedy Hall of Shame, with Fox Sports host Rachel Bonnetta and Rachna Fruchbom, which discusses biggest and weirdest scandals in sports history; Unholier Than Thou, in which Teen Vogue chief content officer Phillip Picardi explores faith and spirituality; author Damon Young’s series about life as a black man in America; and Prisoner, a first-person account of Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian’s 18-month detention in Iran during the Iran nuclear deal negotiations in 2015.
CASTING
Shanola Hampton (Shameless) has been cast as the female lead in NBC’s comedy pilot Night School…Tyrone Marshall Brown (Love Is___) will topline opposite Tate Donovan and Melissa Leo in the Fox pilot Blood Relative… Molly Hagan (Sully) will co-star opposite Jared Padalecki in CBS’ reimagined Walker, Texas Ranger… Tony Award nominee Gideon Glick scored a role in Comedy Central series The Other Two… Juliet Landau (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) will recur on TNT’s Claws.
Katheryn Winnick (Vikings) is in as lead opposite Ryan Phillippe in The Big Sky, ABC’s straight-to-series drama from David E. Kelley… It doesn’t take a sixth sense to realize that Amazon is looking to send “Goliath” off with a bang. The sixth and final season of Amazon’s Goliath added Haley Joel Osment in a recurring role, and Jena Malone (Hunger Games) and recent Clara Chen (Billions) as series regulars… Max Jenkins (Dead To Me) hops to the second season of Netflix’s comedy Special in a major guest arc… Fred Hechinger (Eighth Grade) joined the cast of Amazon’s The Underground Railroad.
GOING GLOBAL
Big US networks and streamers are having a slowing effect on the amount British public service broadcasters the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 spend on original content. This according to a new report from UK media regulator Ofcom, titled Small Screen: Big Debate, which notes the broadcasters spent $3.7 billion on first-run TV shows in 2018, compared with $4.5 billion in 2004. Co-production financing has become an “increasingly important source of funding” for the broadcasters, reports Ofcom. |
