A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY

PREMIERE BY WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY:
ON AVERAGE FOR THE PAST 8 SUNDAYS WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY
HAD 16 OF THE TOP 25 PROGRAMS IN CABLE
AND 10 OF THE TOP 25 IN TOTAL TV AMONGST P25-54
TNT: NBA PLAYOFFS
TLC: 90 DAY FIANCÉ
FOOD NETWORK: WORST COOKS IN AMERICA
HGTV: HOME TOWN KICKSTART
DISCOVERY: NAKED & AFRAID XL
OUR STORY STARTS WITH YOU

Today’s Premieres
Discovery: Expedition Unknown at 8p, Expedition X at 9p, Josh Gates Tonight at 10p
Fox: MasterChef at 8p
Netflix: Somebody Feed Phil

Today’s Finales
BET: Tyler Perry’s House of Payne at 9p, Tyler Perry’s Assisted Living at 9:30, The Ms. Pat Show at 10p
CBS: Survivor at 8p
NBC: Chicago Med at 8p, Chicago Fire at 9p, Chicago P.D. at 10p
PBS: Colombia – Wild and Free at 10p

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM GAMUT

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IN THE NEWS

It’s MSNBC-official. Jen Psaki is joining the news network this fall, following her tenure as White House press secretary. Psaki is set to appear across all MSNBC programs and also will have a role on sister broadcast net NBC and during MSNBC’s primetime election coverage. She’s also developing a program for the MSNBC’s streaming channel.

Seventy percent of historically excluded writers who developed new series projects during the past five years did so without pay, compared to 53 percent of non-marginalized writers. This according to the fourth annual “Behind the Scenes: The State of Inclusion & Equity in TV Writing” report from The Think Tank for Inclusion and Equity, which is sponsored by Women In Film, LA. Among other findings from the survey of more than 875 working TV writers:
* 81 percent of upper-level white writers with no prior management experience are contracted to showrun their development projects, compared to 67 percent of upper-level BIPOC writers who do have management experience.
* 68 percent of white male and 56 percent of white female respondents who worked as assistants in the past secured their first TV writing job by being promoted from the assistant ranks, compared to 26 percent of BIPOC men and 20% of BIPOC women in the same roles.
* 67 percent of respondents who were harassed said their showrunner was the perpetrator.

A group of minority-owned media, civil rights, and public interest groups have filed a petition for rulemaking at the FCC calling for new data collection and reporting on the diversity of content vendors used by FCC-licensed media and telecom companies. Fuse, an independent, Latino-owned entertainment company, led the group that includes Common Cause, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Public Knowledge, and the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry. The petition proposes establishing a new report that tracks the diversity of content vendors used by FCC licensees, including on traditional platforms like broadcast, cable and satellite TV, along with affiliated streaming services.

GLAAD issued a statement yesterday in response to Ricky Gervais’ Netflix comedy special “SuperNature” noting it’s “full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes.” The statement adds: “Attention Ricky and Netflix: people living with HIV today, when on effective treatment, lead long and healthy lives and cannot transmit HIV to others.”

Pepsi is bowing out of its association with the Super Bowl Halftime Show after an extended run. After a decade as the presenting sponsor of the game’s entertainment break, the company said this year’s performance featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar was its last.

MEASUREMENT & DATA CONFERENCE

Changing the TV Game: Modernizing Currency and Measurement

With Senior Vice President of Media Partnerships, iSpot.TV
& EVP, Measurement & Impact
NBCUniversal

FIND OUT MORE

PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Spanish-language crime drama “Las Azules” got a 10-ep series order from Apple TV+. Based on the true stories of Mexico’s first female police force, the series from showrunner and director Fernando Rovzar (“Monarca”) will feature an entirely Hispanic cast and crew and is inspired by events that occurred in 1970. It centers on a devoted wife whose belief system is flipped upside down when she joins Mexico’s first female police force only to discover their their squad is a publicity stunt to distract the media from a brutal serial killer.

Endeavor Content scoredinternational distribution rights to the Kate Bosworth-led “Bring On The Dancing Horses,” a modern western drama written, directed and exec-produced by Michael Polish (“Twin Falls Idaho”). In the series, which had its world debut at Sundance this year, Bosworth plays a confident assassin with a list of targets to take down.

Spanish-language content hub Exile Content Studio is the latest company to join the growing empire of Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Blackstone-backed Candle Media. The acquisition follows Candle’s purchase last week of social video company ATTN and previous acquisitions of Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine and kids production house Moonbug Entertainment. Exile creates films and TV series; recent projects include “Todo Va A Estar Bien” for Netflix, and docu-series “Un Sueno Real” for HBO.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

The first three episodes of discovery+ docuseries “Fight or Flight” debut Thursday, May 26. The series delves into the advocacy work being done by former Bollywood star Somy Ali as she works with her non-profit N0 More Tears to rescue victims of domestic abuse and trafficking.

Greta Van Susteren is joining Newsmax as host of “The Record with Greta Van Susteren.” “I have been friends with [Newsmax CEO] Chris Ruddy for years, and he is giving me this great opportunity to return, giving me the complete freedom to cover the news that really matters to people,” said Van Susteren. Based in D.C., the show will lead the network’s weeknight lineup starting Tuesday, June 14.

“Jimmy Kimmel Live: NBA Finals Game Night” will air on ABC each night in primetime beginning with game 1 of the basketball event Thursday, June 2. Guests on the show’s 15th run will include Adam Sandler, Chris Pratt, Chris Evans, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Martin Lawrence and Samuel L. Jackson.

Disney+ debuted the trailer for upcoming original “Family Reboot.” Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, Julian P. Hobbs and Elli Hakami exec-produce the six-part series that follows real families as they take a one-of-a-kind journey to reconnect. Debut date: Wednesday, June 15.

COMING UP

Telemundo will air the third annual “Premios Tu Musica Urbano” on Thursday, June 23, live beginning at 7p. The awards show, which recognizes the best in Latin urban music, will be headlined by María Becerra, Sech, Christian Nodal, Ivy Queen, Zion & Lennox and others.

A&E will premiere two-part documentary “Right to Offend: The Black Comedy Revolution” beginning Wednesday, June 29 at 9p. From Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat and Time Studios, the doc explores the progression of Black comedy and the comedians who have used pointed humor to expose, challenge and ridicule society’s injustices and to articulate the Black experience in America. Mario Diaz and Jessica Sherif co-direct the project, which features a broad swath of talent from Redd Foxx to Richard Pryor to Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Issa Rae and more.

STREAMING

Crackle Plus is set to launch five FAST channels on Local Now, Allen Media Group’s free streaming platform for local news and entertainment. Crackle Plus FAST channels include Crackle, Crackle Classics, its newly launched Chicken Soup for the Soul streaming service, Popcornflix and Truli.

Byron Allen is also getting into the podcast business. Allen Media Group’s platform theGrio will launch theGrio Black Podcast Network on Thursday, May 26 as a destination for listeners seeking access to Black entertainment, news, culture and content. Beginning with “Dear Culture with Panama Jackson,” the network will debut six additional podcasts throughout summer and fall, including “TheGrio Daily with Michael Harriot” on June 20, and “Blackest Questions with Christina Greer” in July.

FAST Studios unveiled details around the Women’s Sports Network, launching next month. Among the tidbits: A new partnership with the Play Equity Fund, and intel of the network’s signature daily show “Game On,” which will deliver women’s sports news, talk and highlights shows from a new, dedicated studio space in Los Angeles.

Popular card game “Exploding Kittens” is coming to Netflix’s mobile app on Tuesday, May 31. The debut of the mobile game comes ahead of an animated series set to debut on the streamer in 2023.

TECH TALK

STN Video renewed its multiyear agreement with the PGA Tour to offer digital video highlights to news publishers. The deal includes more than 100 official highlights per round for every PGA Tour event including The Players Championship and FedExCup Playoffs, round and event previews and recaps, shots of the day and golfer interviews.

Gracenote announced the launch of Gracenote Streaming Channels Data, enabling content discovery platforms to better connect consumers to programming on free ad-supported TV channels as well as linear channels on virtual MVPD.

24i launched a new personalization and content recommendations service, 24iQ, powered by the integration of 24i’s existing data team with that of UK-based company The Filter, which was acquired by 24i in April 2022. The 24iQ service is based on the same capabilities that have enabled some of The Filter’s customers to increase engagement by as much as 300 percent.

Among the biggest AI and tech companies, Google received the most negative coverage related to the topic of AI and Business Ethics during the last 12 months (995 negative articles), according to new data rom Signal AI. Google was followed by Amazon.com (465), Microsoft (204), Meta (75), Apple (64) and Tesla (16).

Clinch has partnered with Neustar to offer advertisers more complete view of attribution across their campaign footprint. Neustar’s Maketing Attribution solution can now be activated directly within the Clinch UI.

CASTING

Josh Lucas is set to star opposite Kristen Wiig in Apple TV+ comedy series “Mrs. American Pie,” exec-produced by Laura Dern… Lex Medlin (“Drop Dead Diva”) and Ariana Guerra (“Helstrom”) landed gigs as series regulars on the upcoming second season of “CSI: Las Vegas” and Jay Lee, who recurred last season, has been promoted to series regular on the CBS show.

Netflix’s “Cobra Kai” cast Alicia Hannah-Kim for season 5 and elevated Dallas Dupree Young, who joined the show last season, to series regular… Sandra Mae Frank got an upgrade to series regular for season 5 of NBC’s “New Amsterdam”… Lesley-Ann Brandt (“Lucifer”) is joining Hulu musical pilot “History of a Pleasure Seeker”… Tommy Chong will reprise his role as Leo in Netflix’s upcoming “That ’90s Show.”

TICK TOCK…ONLY 1 WEEK LEFT TO ENTER!

We want to honor you or a colleague at this year’s Top Women in Media Awards. But we can’t if you miss the deadline to enter: Wednesday, June 1st!

Check out the site to see all the amazing categories, from Directors Who Do It All to Tech Leaders.

ENTER NOW

RATINGS

In a week where almost every major strip in syndication slipped, “Dr. Phil” bucked the downtrend and emerged as the highest-rated and most-watched talk show in the session ended May 15. For the prior three weeks, “Phil” had battled to first place ties with “Live with Kelly and Ryan.” Also in the top three was the fastest-growing “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” which avoided declines and pulled even with “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” Finishing first among magazines, “Entertainment Tonight” fought “Inside Edition” to a draw for a second straight week.

Nielsen Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of May 9 ranked in order by HH Rtg
Jeopardy (CMV) 5.2 AA
Family Feud (CMV) 5.1 AA
Wheel of Fortune (CMV) 4,6 AA
Judge Judy (CMV) 4.5 AA
Inside Edition (CMV) 2.1 AA
Entertainment Tonight (CMV) 2.1 AA
The Big Bang Theory (WB) 1.9 AA
The Dr. Phil Show (CMV) 1.6 AA
Live With Kelly and Ryan (DAD) 1.5 AA
Hot Bench (CMV) 1.4 AA

Basic Cable Top 5 for the week of May 16
Network, P2+ AA (000s)
Primetime
TNT 2889
ESPN 2316
Fox News 2292
MSNBC 910
HGTV 903

Total Day
Fox news 1475
ESPN 831
TNT 788
MSNBC 603
HGTV 536

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, May 23
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: “NBA Countdown” 3.11 (0.6), “NBA Playoffs” 6.40 (1.9)
CBS: “The Neighborhood” 5.91 (0.6), “Bob Hearts Abishola” 5.70 (0.5), “NCIS” 7.47 (0.5), “NCIS: Hawaii” 5.47 (0.4)
CW: “All American” 0.67 (0.2), “All American Homecoming” 0.48 (0.1)
FOX: “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” 2.08 (0.4), “Beast Shazam” 1.85 (0.4)
NBC: “NBC Movie Special” 2.51 (0.4)
Telemundo: “Casa De Famosos” 1.09 (0.3), “Amor Valiente” 0.85 (0.2), “Pasion Galivanes” 0.82 (0.2)
Univision: “Soltero Con Hijas” 1.33 (0.4), “Mi Fortuna es Amarte” 1.56 (0.5), “Ultimo Rey” 1.35 (0.4)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Jamie Power joined Disney Advertising as SVP, Addressable Sales. Most recently, Power served as Chief Data Officer and Head of Platform for Cadent.

Joe Benarroch has been elevated to NBCU’s EVP, Communications, Global Advertising & Partnerships, and Annie Betz has been promoted to Director, Communications, Global Advertising & Partnerships.

“Holey Moley” producer Eureka Productionsappointed Eden Gaha as President. Gaha’s experience as a TV producer and executive includes six years as President, Unscripted Television, for Endemol Shine North America.

Although veteran broadcaster Al Michaels is leaving NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” he will have “emeritus” status that could see him contributing across the NBC Sports portfolio including, potentially, coverage of the NFL Playoffs and the Olympics.

Online gaming company FanDuel appointed Andrew Sheh as Chief Technology Officer. Sheh previously was an executive at real estate tech firm Compass.

Former Fox News politics editor Chris Stirewalt is joining NewsNation.

ViewLift has promoted Shraddha Pednekar to Chief Experience Officer and Sujith Vellat to Chief Technology Officer.

Mobile advertising and digital media company Adsmovil hired Jessica Ricaurte as Chief Revenue Officer. Ricaurte most recently was Global Agency Director at Yahoo!

Agora, a platform for real-time engagement APIs, elevated several executives: Stanley Wei will expand his responsibilities as Chief Strategy Officer to include commercial operations globally; co-founder Tony Wang is named Chief Revenue Officer; and company veteran Virginia Liu becomes its first-ever Chief Experience Officer. Agora also hired Roger Hale, former Chief Security Officer at BigID, as Chief Security Officer.

This Day in History
1925 – John Scopes was indicted for teaching the Darwinian theory in school.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
What was the name of the series Matt LeBlanc starred in on “Episodes” (2011-17)? “Pucks.” Kudos to: Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NY;
Cristin DeVries-CBS Network/NY; Dave Martinez-Propagate/NY; Callie Tresser-Warner Bros. Discovery/NY; Zoe Zelkowitz-Google/NY; Aaron Paquette-AccelerateSG/Fort Worth, TX; Randall Bosley-Studio Talent Group/Santa Monica; Ken DuBow-Access Entertainment/LA; David Westberg-SAG*AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank

Today’s Trivia Question
Which lead star was written out of a “CSI” spin-off after ten episodes? 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