Friday April 15, 2022

Today’s Finale
PBS: Chamber Music Society Returns at 10p

Sunday’s Premieres
PBS Passport: Annika
Showtime: The First Lady at 9p
TLC: 90 Day Fiance at 8p

Sunday’s Finales
Food Network: Tournament of Champions at 8p
HBO: Game Theory with Bomani Jones at 11:30p
Starz: Power Book IV: Force at 8p

IN THE NEWS

Twitter’s biggest shareholder, Elon Musk, has made a “best and final” hostile offer to buy the remaining shares of the company. “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” said Musk in a letter to Twitter. “However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.” The Tesla CEO offered $54.20 per share, valuing the company at about $43 billion. Musk had been given a seat on Twitter’s board of directors, a position that came with the stipulation that he not own more than 14.9% of the company’s outstanding stock; he wound up not taking the seat. Twitter released a statement saying it “will carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes in the best interest of the Company and all Twitter stockholders.”

Warner Bros. Discovery’s first global town hall, held Thursday on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank with out-of-town employees attending virtually, kicked off with a sizzle reel and the message, “It’s a new chapter.” OWN’s Oprah Winfrey was on hand to interview CEO David Zaslav onstage about how the WarnerMedia/Discovery merger came about, what’s ahead, and what understandably unsettled employees can expect as far a cuts. “We are going to focus on less layers and be more entrepreneurial,” said Zaslav. “In some areas there will be less people.” Teams from both sides have been “working hard” on plans, said Zaslav, adding that in the areas where Warner and Discovery have largely different businesses – like sports and movies – “there will be less change.” Overall, said the CEO: “We get to build a creative team, the best of both companies….This is our moment.”

The Republican National Committee voted unanimously to withdraw from presidential debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. “The Commission on Presidential Debates is biased and has refused to enact simple and commonsense reforms to help ensure fair debates including hosting debates before voting begins and selecting moderators who have never worked for candidates on the debate stage,” said RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. The non-partisan debate commission, which determines dates, formats and moderators for events, drew complaints from the Trump campaign for ignoring its suggestions.

Smithsonian Channel shared the trailer for “The Color of Care” documentary and impact campaign, a multi-platform effort to catalyze a movement to eliminate racial disparities in the delivery of US healthcare. The year-long campaign will follow the May 1 premiere of “The Color of Care” documentary, exec produced by Oprah Winfrey.

Tuesday, May 24, 2022, 1:00pm ET

Sessions include executive and brand roundtables, leveraging lifestyle, and a conversation with league CMO’s.

Check out the agenda and join us!

Embassy Row founder Michael Davies, who has been executive producing “Jeopardy!” on an interim basis, has accepted an offer from Sony Pictures Television to take the job full-time. “’Jeopardy!’ has a massive opportunity to build further and, far from being threatened by the massive changes in the media landscape, we can take advantage of the emergence of new platforms and bring more ‘Jeopardy!’ to more audiences,” said Davies in a blog post. “There is just so much more we can do together.” Davies will continue to run Embassy Row.

HBO Max has ordered the Max Original DC drama “Dead Boy Detectives” to series. From Steve Yockey (“The Flight Attendant”), Jeremy Carver (“Doom Patrol”), Berlanti Productions, and Warner Bros. Television, the eight-episode horror detective series explores loss, grief, and death through the lens of two dead British teenagers and their alive friend. Yockey, Carver, Greg Berlanti (“You,” “The Flash”), and Sarah Schechter (“The Flight Attendant,” “You”) are executive producers. Based on characters created for DC by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner, the series is produced by Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Yockey, Carver, Berlanti Productions, and Krieger are all under overall deals with WBTV.

Paranormal investigator Zak Bagans has inked a new three-year deal with discovery+. Under the agreement, Bagans will create, star in and produce over 100 hours of supernatural and horror content for the discovery+ portfolio, including new seasons of “Ghost Adventures,” semi-scripted series “The Haunted Museum” as well as specials and untitled creative projects in the works.

Fremantle plans to develop and produce drama series “Troubled,” exploring the problematic troubled teen reform industry based on creator Misha Osherovich’s (“The Girl in The Woods”) experiences and survival story in the world of “tough love” programs for rebellious youth. Misha Osherovich co-created and co-wrote “Troubled” with screenwriter Skylar Landsee. Osherovich and Landsee will serve as Co-Executive Producers. Paul Keables (“Boss”) in onboard the project as showrunner.

Hulu has ordered a limited series from Lee Daniels and 20th Television based on the book, In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr. Elijah Kelley (“The New Edition. Story”) will star as the iconic entertainer.

Andrew Walker (“My Christmas Family Tree,” “A Bride for Christmas”) has signed an exclusive overall deal with Crown Media Family Networks. “Andrew has a special talent and charm that shines through in every role,” said EVP, Programming, Lisa Hamilton Daly. “He’s become a favorite among our viewers for good reason.”

Exile Content Studio and Moxie 88 are partnering to develop scripted series “The Illusionist Club.” Created by Carrillo Levy and Villamar, the series tells the story of a 13-year-old aspiring card illusionist who assembles a ragtag group of suburban teenage magic enthusiasts to solve the mystery of the long-ago disappearance of his grandfather.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

K-drama series “Shooting Stars” hits streamer Rakuten Viki on Saturday, April 23. The rom-com is set in the entertainment industry.

Season two of Showtime’s late-night series “Ziwe” starts streaming Friday, April 29, and makes its linear premiere Sunday, May 1 at 11p.

HBO Max comedy “Hacks” is back for season two on Thursday, May 12. The eight-episode season will air two episodes a week, concluding June 2.

All eight returning queens on season seven of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” have won previous seasons, a first for the competition series. The season launches Friday, May 20 on Paramount+, preceded by four-episode special “Countdown to All Stars 7: You’re A Winner Baby” on VH1 starting Friday, April 29 at 8p.

Food Network’s “Desperately Seeking Sous Chefs” premieres Tuesday, May 31 at 9p. In the five-part tournament, chefs are challenged to utilize mystery of ingredients to make tantalizing fare.

“Billy the Kid,” a romantic adventure starring Tom Blyth (“The Gilded Age”) as the legendary cowboy, kicks off Sunday, April 24 at 10p on Epix.

COMING UP

Singer/songwriters Billie Eilish and FINNEAS get animated in a “The Simpsons” short premiering on Disney+ Friday, April 22. In “When Billie Met Lisa,” Lisa Simpson is discovered by the chart-topping artists while searching for a quiet place to practice her saxophone, and Billie invites her to attend a special jam session.

FETV, home of classic westerns including “Rawhide,” “Wagon Train,” and “The Lone Ranger,” is adding a fan fave show to the lineup with a feminine twist: “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” joins the slate in October.

SeriesFest, the festival and non-profit organization dedicated to supporting underserved voices in episodic storytelling, kicks off May 5 with the US premiere screening of new STARZ new drama, “Becoming Elizabeth,” followed by a Q&A panel with creator and executive producer Anya Reiss and series’ stars Alicia von Rittberg and Jamie Blackley.

Stars from six of Nickelodeon’s live-action series converge in a crossover event,“When Worlds Collide,” premiering Thursday, April 21, at 7p as part of “Side Hustle.”

CASTING

Jing Lusi (“Crazy Rich Asians”) will star in Netflix’s “Man vs Bee,” launching Friday, June 24. The comedy, created by Rowan Atkinson (“Mr. Bean”) and Will Davies (“Johnny English”), is being produced by Atkinson’s HouseSitter Productions.

Stephanie Hsu (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) has joined the cast of Peacock’s “Poker Face,” a mystery drama from T-Street and MRC Television.

Levar Burton (“Star Trek: Picard”), Katlynn Simone Smith (“Empire”) Tamera Tomakili (“Winning Time”) and Tim Chantarangsu (“Laid in America”) will recur on season two of Starz drama “Blindspotting.”

Dominique Fishback (“The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey”) landed the lead in Prime Video’s untitled series from Donald Glover and Janine Nabers.

Teri Polo (“The Fosters”) is joining CBS’ “NCIS” in a recurring role. Her character will be introduced in the season 19 finale, and return in season 20.

TECH TALK

Sinclair Broadcast Group and USSI Global are partnering to offer a commercial datacasting service using the NextGen Broadcast standard (ATSC 3.0). The pilot program will deliver local content, advertising, and data files to the growing Electric Vehicle Charging station market. Similar to a typical digital-out-of-home solution for foot traffic near an outdoor kiosk, this datacasting application supports multi-tenant advertising and real-time updates of local content.

Vistar Media announced the release of dynamic creative capabilities for any DOOH screen connected to the Vistar supply-side platform. Vistar has developed a standardized spec for dynamic creative format for DOOH that works on all major DOOH software stacks. Thesolution is built to provide maximum flexibility in working with different external data feeds, whether an advertiser has proprietary or preferred data or wants to work with Vistar to identify a provider.

STREAMING

Blue Ant Media announced AVOD Homeful on The Roku Channel in the US and Canada. Homeful features real estate, renovation and transformation shows.

XUMO is launching an “Amped Up for Action” Campaign, April 18-24, featuring a new week-long collection of action movies.

UPFRONT CALENDAR

April 19: SeeHer SheFront (virtual)
April 26: Disney Storyteller’s Showcase (virtual); FETV (Empire State Building, NYC)
May 2: NBCUniversal/Peacock NewFront at 11:30a; Vizio at 2p; Tubi at 4:30p; Amazon at 7p
May 3: Samsung Ads at 9a (Samsung 837, NYC), Roku at 11:30a (Caldwell Factory, NYC); Conde Nast at 2p; Snap at 4:30p; Meta at 7o
May 4: Digitas at 9:25a; Blavity at 9:50a; Revolt Media at 10:05a; Black Enterprise at 10:25a; TikTok at 4:30p; Twitter at 7a
May 5: Canela Media at 1p (virtual) and CincoDeFront at 5:30p (NYC)
May 16: NBCUniversal (Radio City Music Hall, NYC); Telemundo (Ziegfeld Theater, NYC); Fox (Skylight, NYC)
May 17: Disney (Basketball City at Pier 36, NYC); YouTube Brandcast at 8p; Univision (Javits Center in NYC)
May 18: Paramount (Carnegie Hall, NYC); Warner Bros. Discovery (Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, NYC)
May 19: The CW (New York City Center Theater, NYC)

GOING GLOBAL

Beyond Rights has closed deals in Latin America with NBCUniversal and Discovery. NBCUniversal Latin America has acquired 129 hours of true crime content, while the Discovery Latin America package totals 93 hours with a focus on lifestyle content.

Banijay France is partnering with dedicated format investment fund La Fabrique des Formats to support French format creation, both locally and internationally.

Channel 4 greenlit 20-part daytime series “Sarah Beeny’s New Country Lives” from Outline Wales and Knockers Group, along with a third season of “Sarah Beeny’s New Life in the Country.”

June 7, 2022, Edison Ballroom, NYC

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BOOK MY SPOT

Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards on Saturday, April 3, which simulcast across Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nicktoons and TeenNick, ranked as the number one telecast of the week across all TV in Live+3 among Kids 2-11 (1.5/246,000) and Kids 6-11 (1.7/188,000) and reached 1.1 million Total Viewers. The show also posted year-over-year double-digit gains in share with Kids 2-11 (+15%) and Kids 6-11 (+16%).

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Wednesday, April 13
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: The Goldbergs 2.95 (0.5), The Wonder Years 2.01 (0.3), The Conners 2.77 (0.4), Home Economics 1.67 (0.3), A Million Little Things 1.96 (0.3)
CBS: Survivor 5.12 (0.8), Beyond the Edge 2.23 (0.3)
CW: The Flash 0.64 (0.1), Kung Fu 0.48 (0.1)
FOX: The Masked Singer 3.97 (0.7), Domino Masters 1.62 (0.3)
NBC: Chicago Med 6.86 (0.7), Chicago Fire 7.20 (0.8), Chicago PD 5.92 (0.7)
Telemundo: Exatlon 0.95 (0.3), Futbol Mexicano Primera Division 0.74 (0.3)
Univision: Soltero Con Hijas 1.60 (0.5), Mi Fortuna es Amarte 1.82 (0.6), Madre 1.97 (0.6)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Andrew Smith been appointed SVP of Product for DoubleVerify’s Publisher Suite product. Smith was OpenSlate’s Chief Product Officer before it was bought by DV.

Friday Fun Fact
The Japanese word “Kuchisabishi” means “lonely mouth” – or eating not because you’re hungry, but out of boredom or stress. Or just because.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
On “Murphy Brown” (1988-98), where had producer Miles worked before he joined “FYI”? Public television. Kudos to: Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC; Dan Whitford-WTTW/Chicago; Louis Lewow-FITE/Atlanta; Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Linda Walker-Smith-Comcast Cable/Orlando

Today’s Trivia Question
Who played Karen’s sister on “Will & Grace” (1998-2006)? (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.)