PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Discovery Channel ordered docu-series Why We Hate (wt) from Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television and Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions. The 6-parter examines the evolutionary basis of hate, with the aim of changing behavior. “This is exactly the kind of story Discovery should be telling. Why We Hate has been a four-year discussion with Steven and Alex on how to best capture the domestic and global trends that are growing around the world and bring those facts and stories to a worldwide audience,” said David Zaslav, president and CEO, Discovery, Inc. “Our aspiration is to be working with great storytellers like Steven and Alex all over the world on the most important and consequential stories and issues.”
Discovery also ordered Valley of the Kings, an excavation docu-series set in Egypt’s burial ground of the pharaohs. Valley is slated to premiere later this year on Discovery and Science Channel.
Discovery Inc.’s Upfront event is tomorrow, and as the company’s first big NYC advertiser pitch since Discovery Communications’ merger with Scripps Networks Interactive, it’s sure to make news. What will the messaging be? The Cynopsis Upfronts/NewFronts Portal is more than an Upfront calendar – it includes the news and information buyers and planners need right now.
Tiffany Haddish will EP a comedy series for HBO, reports Variety. In development is Unsubscribed, from writers and exec producers Xosha Roquemore and Danielle Henderson. Haddish and her She Ready banner signed a first-look deal with HBO back in January.
Nickelodeon ordered preschool animated series Fashion Ally (wt), about a little girl with a passion for fashion, from Silvergate Media.
Fulwell 73 (The Late Late Show) landed the rights for Dutch format Pants on Fire from Newen Distribution, which it will develop for English-language outlets. In the show, teams compete to convince a celebrity jury that outrageous stories they’re telling are true.
44 Blue Productions and Wilhelmina Models are collaborating on scripted and unscripted series exploring Fashion Week as well as the story of the modeling agency’s rise and its iconic CEO, Wilhemina Cooper.
Top 10 Weekend Domestic Box Office Estimates: April 6-8, 2018
A Quiet Place $50.0 million, opening weekend
Ready Player One $25.06 million, cume revenue $96.9 million
Blockers $21.44 million, opening weekend
Black Panther $8.43 million, cume revenue $665.36 million
I Can Only Imagine $8.36 million, cume revenue $69.08 million
Tyler Perry’s Acrimony $8.06 million, cume Revenue $31.35 million
Chappaquiddick $6.20 million, opening weekend
Sherlock Gnomes $5.6 million, cume revenue $38.89 million
Pacific Rim Uprising $17.26 million, cume revenue $59.92 million
Isle of Dogs $17.45 million, cume revenue $12.05 million
Source: comScore
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Will Anjelica Huston be part of the season 8 cast of FX’s American Horror Story? She’s in talks to join, said series creator Ryan Murphy at a for-Emmy-consideration event over the weekend. “I just love the ability to reach out to people I love, love, love and say, ‘Hey, would you like to come play in our sandbox?’” said Murphy, who also revealed the new season of the anthology series will take place 18 months in the future, and Joan Collins will play the grandmother of Evan Peters’ character, a comedic hairstylist.
Miniseries C.B. Strike launches on Cinemax Friday, June 1 at 10p. The show, focused on a veteran-turned-P.I., is part of a rebrand returning Cinemax to fun, high-octane adventure programming.
DIY ordered a third season of Restored. The preservation/renovation series has grown the Wednesday 9p timeslot P25-54 rating by 42% year over year.
WGN America greenlit crime drama Pure for a second season. Season one is slated to debut in early 2019. “We are fully committed to this riveting series and knew we wanted to extend the story before the first episode even hits the air,” said Gavin Harvey, president of WGNA.
Wresting series Lucha Undeground is back for season 4 on El Rey Network Wednesday, June 13 at 8p.
EXPERIENCES
Amazon Prime Video is holding an immersive “Prime Experience” spotlighting Emmy hopefuls from April 12-27 at the Hollywood Athletic Club. Interactive themed rooms, events and screenings will feature The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Mozart in the Jungle, The Grand Tour and more shows Amazon hopes will bring home the gold in September.
ID “mystery and suspense experience” IDCon: Cold Case Confidential will be held Saturday, May 19 in NYC, with reporter and Scene of the Crime host Tony Harris emceeing. Event includes immersive experiences, sneak peeks at programming, autograph sessions and panel discussions. Proceeds will be donated to the Silver Shield Foundation, providing support to families of firefighters and police officers killed in the line of duty.
COMING UP
TLC is bringing back “This Is Life Live Week,” starting a 4-night run on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 13 at 9p. Each 2-hour episode will follow “the twists, turns and surprises that come along with putting unfiltered moments on television.”
Smithsonian Channel special Waco: The Longest Siege airs tonight at 8p. The 1993 tragedy still carries a powerful lesson, even after 25 years, Charles Poe, SVP of production, Smithsonian Channel, tells Cynopsis. “It was a clash of core American values, pitting freedom of religion against a government’s responsibility to protect the innocent, and no one came out unscathed,” says Poe. “While many documentaries and features have been made on the subject, they often take sides or have an agenda. Our film gives voice to those who lived the story, from all sides, and lets the viewer decide what to think about this significant chapter in our history.”
The sixth annual Radio Disney Awards will take place at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre on Friday, June 22, airing Saturday June 23 on Disney Channel as well as other Disney platforms.
Elemental: Hydrogen vs. Hindenburg, from executive producer Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future), reveals how the elements of the periodic table have controlled the outcome of human history. One-hour pilot episode, produced by Outpost Entertainment, tells the harrowing story of the Hindenburg disaster, tonight at 11p on Nat Geo.
DIGITAL DATA
After reviewing how Facebook was used by Russian trolls during the 2016 election – and as he prepared to testify at a Senate hearing tomorrow – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Friday that moving forward, any advertiser that wants to run political or issue ads will have to be verified by confirming their identity and location, and show users who paid for them. Verification will also be required for pages with large followings, to “make it much harder for people to run pages using fake accounts, or to grow virally and spread misinformation or divisive content,” said Zuckerberg.
YouTube TV, launched a year ago, is on the hunt for channels like Cheddar and Tastemade from digital-first media companies, reports Digiday. The livestreaming TV service includes 50+ linear channels for $40/month.
As part of a research study, Twitter will publicize its rules about online abuse to in a test group in an effort to curb bad behavior. The idea, suggested by researchers from Harvard and Princeton, is that if people are shown the rules, they are more likely to follow them. On March 1, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had tweeted, “We’re committing Twitter to help increase collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation.”
Cinedigm and JungoTV are teaming for COMBAT GO, a 24/7 mixed martial arts free streaming channel on Twitch. Launch date: Wednesday, March 18 at 7a. COMBAT GO is the brainchild of former Crunchyroll chief content officer George Chung, a five-time former World Karate Champion.
Microsoft is testing “Skype for Content Creators,” a feature now in preview that lets creators place and record calls using Skype software that can be imported to other apps for editing before posting. In a blog post, the company said the innovation “is designed to open new interactive possibilities for our users all over the world – including leading digital broadcasters, streamers and vloggers – to record videos, podcasts, and live streaming calls without having to invest in expensive studio equipment.”
CuriosityStream, a streaming platform created by Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks, is joining DISH’s Subscription On Demand offering. For $5.99/month, customers will have access to 1,400 of CuriosityStream’s documentary features and series.
The cast and creators of Everything Sucks!, the high school misfit comedy canceled by Netflix, are pushing the streaming service to reconsider. Among the tweets in response was this from creator Michael Mohan: “It’s frustrating, but perhaps appropriate, that a show about a bunch of underdogs finds itself an underdog. If you root for those characters, and this show, please let everyone know: #RenewEverythingSucks”.
CASTING
Frank Whaley (Luke Cage) will recur opposite Tony Danza and Josh Groban on Netflix procedural The Good Cop….Sofia Bryant (Blue Bloods) landed a series regular role on NBC drama pilot Suspicion.
GOING GLOBAL
FremantleMedia has acquired the global rights to reality dating format The Single Wives, following 4 women as they get back into the dating scene. Created by Eureka Productions and Channel Seven, the series has been commissioned by Australia’s Channel 7.
Endemol Shine Group Germany has been commissioned by RTL to produce a new series of physical game show Big Bounce Battle. Known in Germany as Big Bounce, the series premiered on RTL in January.
Blue Ant Media’s Beach House Pictures and Northern Pictures announced that season 2 of pre-school series Teddies is now in production, to debut on Network Nine and okto jr in late 2018 and early 2019, respectively.
FremantleMedia International has taken The Coronation to 70 territories after completing deals across Europe, Latin America, Canada, the Middle East and Asia. The film launched on BBC One (UK), Smithsonian Channel (US) and ABC Television (Australia) this year.
Crunchyroll named Playwire as its exclusive direct sales partner in the UK. Over 90% of the Crunchyroll community self-identifyies as gamers, and reaching the gaming community is one of Playwire’s specialities.
all3media international secured numerous deals with broadcasters across Germany and Benelux for content from its factual portfolio, including ZDF in Germany’s order for Lion Television 3-parter, Great Fire of London: In Real Time, produced for Channel 5.
