Today’s Premieres
Apple TV+: Helpsters; Carpool Karaoke: The Series: Season 5
Disney+: Obi-Wan Kenobi
Hulu: Shoresy
Magnolia: Rooms We Love
Netflix: Stranger Things
PBS: Great Performances: Keeping Company with Sondheim at 9p

Today’s Finale
NBC: The Blacklist at 8p

Saturday’s Premiere
HGTV: Everything But the House at 9 and 9:30p

Sunday’s Premieres
PBS: National Memorial Day Concert at 8p
ID: American Monster at 9p

Sunday’s Finales
HGTV: Home Town Kickstart Presented by People at 8p; Building Roots at 9p

IN THE NEWS

Advertising brought in $7.1 trillion in 2021 US sales and supported 28.5 million US jobs, an Advertising Coalition study found. Noted ANA CEO Bob Liodice, “The advertising industry is an engine of growth for the American economy.” The data trends suggest advertising will generate $9.5 trillion in sales by 2026 and support 31.9 million jobs domestically.

“Abbott Elementary” creator Quinta Brunson didn’t take kindly to requests for a school shooting episode following the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday. Brunson tweeted, “wild how many people have asked for a school shooting episode of the show I write. people are that deeply removed from demanding more from the politicians they’ve elected and are instead demanding ‘entertainment.’”

John Miller, chairman of the NBCUniversal Marketing Council, will retire in June after 43 years. Miller oversaw the launches of shows including “Miami Vice,” “Golden Girls,” “Friends,” “Seinfeld,” “ER,” “The West Wing,” “The Office” and “30 Rock,” among others.

Family Entertainment TV got a distribution boost after striking a deal with Comcast. FETV is now available to 50 million pay-TV subscribers.

PBS will honor Sonia Manzano with the 2022 Beacon Award, the highest honor in public television. Manzano created “Sesame Street” and “Alma’s Way,” and portrayed Maria on Sesame Street for 44 years.

MEASUREMENT & DATA CONFERENCE

Speakers added!

To All About the Ad Tech

Join us in welcoming Director of Insights, Samsung Ads & VP, Data & Media Science, Known

FIND OUT MORE

PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

“Relative Justice” will be back in session for season two. The syndicated court show is cleared in 87% of the market for the 2022-23 television season.

Dorsey Pictures signed a development deal with “Jiggin’ With Jordan” YouTube star Brandon Jordan, in partnership with Underscore Talent. This marks Dorsey Pictures’ first deal with an internet sensation as part of its continued expansion of TV development slate across network, cable and streaming platforms.

Discovery+ renewed “Selling the Hamptons” with an eight-episode order. Season two is slated to launch in early 2023.

BET+ greenlit “The Impact ATL.” The eight-part series will follow young creatives who helped Atlanta become “The New Influencer Capital of America.”

Omar Sy struck a first-look deal with HBO Max, to develop international series including shows out of his native France. Sy struck a multi-year film deal with Netflix last year, through his Paris and LA-based production company, Korokoro. “I am very happy to be partnering with HBO Max who share my dreams of developing globally appealing content for audiences around the world, including French speaking Africa, France and the United States,” said Sy.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

TCM will present a limited series “Follow the Thread,” focused on the synergistic effect of fashion and film-tracing cultural influence. Inspired by The Met’s exhibition, “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” the series will be hosted by Alicia Malone, joined by special guests. The first episode will premiere on June 4 on TCM and HBO Max, with new episodes every Saturday throughout the month.

“Birdgirl” will return for a new season on June 19. The half-hour animated comedy series will premiere on Adult Swim and will be available the next day on HBO Max.

Discovery+ will premiere three new series in celebration of Pride Month. “Generation Drag” (June 1), “The Book of Queer” (June 2) and “Trixie Motel” (June 3) follow LGBTQIA+ stories and heroes that have been straightwashed throughout the years.

Nat Geo greenlit a second season of “Life Below Zero: First Alaskans,” ahead of the series premiere on Monday, May 30 at 8p. The spinoff follows Alaska Natives as they thrive in brutal environments.

COMING UP

National CineMedia announced the launch of “The Noovie Trivia Show.” Host Maria Menuonos will play pop culture and movie trivia with celebs. The inaugural episode is sponsored by Paramount+ and will include a custom branded movie trivia segment, in conjunction with the release of “Top Gun: Maverick.”

Simu Liu will host the broadcast debut of the TIME100 Gala on June 12. The one-hour special will feature musical performances by Mary J. Blige and Miranda Lambert.

CBS is celebrating “Ghosts” with a “Summer of Ghosts” campaign. Throughout the summer, multi-city, in-person events and Wed3 metaverse experiences will focus on characters from the comedy series.

Connie Chung, Kaley Cuoco, Robert Friedman, Pearlena Igbokwe, Sonequa Martin-Green and Henry Winkler will present the 18th annual Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards. The gala will be hosted by Nancy O’Dell on June 2 and honor Channing Dungey, Whoopi Goldberg, Alex Kurtzman, Amy Poehler, Maury Povich, Jeff Sagansky and William Shatner.

“CMA Fest” is set for August 3 at 8p on ABC. The three-hour concert special will bring Country Music’s Ultimate Fan Experience to a national television audience, hosted by Dierks Bentley and Elle King.

STREAMING

Hulu is furthering its commitment to “Pride Never Stops” with livestreams of LA and NYC Pride Parades. The streaming service launched the campaign to celebrate and amplify LGBTQIA+ voices year-round. In honor of Pride Month this year, both parades will be available to watch for 30 days after their respective livestreams.

TECH TALK

Twitter has been ordered to pay a $150 million settlement for violating user data privacy. The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice accused the social platform of giving advertisers access to users’ contact information without their consent. The suit will also require the company to implement more “robust compliance measures to protect users’ data privacy,” the DOJ announced.

Hootsuite partnered with TikTok to optimize content and advertising opportunities. In a survey conducted with Hootsuite customers, 38.5% said they actively use the app as part of their social media strategy. Customers will now be able to schedule and publish content directly within the Hootsuite platform and can gain insights on post performance and user engagement.

Mirriad announced its latest campaigns with Lexus to drive brand awareness among multicultural and LGBTQIA+ audiences. The in-content advertising company will create campaigns with Lexus through in-content music video activations. Signage, video and virtual products can be placed in post-production with Mirriad’s AI technology.

Clinch has partnered with Neustar, a TransUnion company. Together, the companies will provide advertisers a more complete view of attribution across their campaign footprint.

Broadcom announced it will acquire VMware in a $61 billion deal. Broadcom will get core virtualization and containerization, after assuming $8 billion in VMware debt.

CASTING

Loretta Devine, Sheila E., Misty Copeland, Ellie Kemper, Jack McBrayer, Ryan Michelle Bathé and Wendell Pierce have joined the cast of “Eureka!” The show follows a young inventor ahead of her time, who hopes to move her prehistoric community into a more modern era. The Disney Branded Television series will premiere June 22 at 7:30p on Disney Junior.

Jolie Jenkins, Eva Carlton and Annaka Fourneret round out the new Paramount+ live-action series “The Loud House,” following Lincoln Loud, an 11-year-old boy with 10 sisters, as he navigates life. Production on the 10-episode series begins in June, with the premiere slated for later this year.

Ato Blankson-Wood joined Hulu’s musical pilot “History of a Pleasure Seeker.” The star of Jeremy O. Harris’ Broadway production “Slave Play” will lead with Carla Woodcock, Callum Kerr, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Olumide Olorunfemi and Bebe Bettencourt in the musical drama set in Amsterdam in 1907.

GOING GLOBAL

Saudi Arabia launched a 40% cash rebate initiative in an effort to become a movie production hub and grow the local economy. The Saudi Film Commission (SFC) said the program is now open for applications for film productions.

The BBC will lay off up to 1,000 employees and stop the broadcast of smaller linear channels. Director General Tim Davie laid out plans as to how the company will save $2 billion over the next two years in response to a government-enforced license fee freeze. In an attempt to digitize its business, the public broadcaster revealed it would merge BBC World News and BBC News Channel into a single, 24-hour TV channel. Davie told staff, “This is our moment to build a digital-first BBC.”

THAT BIG TV CONFERENCE

NEW SESSIONS ADDED for September 29-30, NYC

Cultural Equity in Media Planning, In the Streaming World, Kids’ Content Is Key, What’s In Store for Shoppable TV, and Privacy, Personalization & Permission

VIEW THE AGENDA

RATINGS

NBC’s “Chicago Fire” season 10 finale topped Wednesday ratings, fresh off of the network’s “This Is Us” finale on Tuesday. “Chicago Fire” came to a close as the highest-rated and most-watched title of the evening, knocking CBS’ “Survivor” out of the top spot.

UEFA Women’s Champions League drew a record-setting live viewership of 3.6 million globally. The UWCL match between Barcelona and Lyon bolstered an audience up 56% from last year’s final between DAZN, DAZN’s YouTube channel and 11 free-to-air channels in Europe.

VH1’s “Level Up” Mondays achieved double digit growth in the A18-49 demo. May 16 was the network’s highest rated Monday prime in three months thanks to the season premieres of “Basketball Wives” and “Couples Retreat.”

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Wednesday, May 25
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: Martha Stewart’s Great American Tag Sale 3.01 (0.3), American Rescue Dog Show 2.16 (0.2)
CBS: Survivor 5.11 (0.8)
CW: The Flash 0.54 (0.1), Kung Fu 0.48 (0.1)
FOX: MasterChef 1.75 (0.3), So You Think You Can Dance 1.26 (0.3)
NBC: Chicago Med 6.43 (0.7), Chicago Fire 7.03 (0.8), Chicago PD 5.98 (0.7)
Telemundo: La casa de los famosos 1.16 (0.3), Amor valiente 0.92 (0.2), Pasión de Gavilanes 0.81 (0.3)
Univision: Soltero con hijas 1.29 (0.4), Mi fortuna es amarte 1.56 (0.5), El último rey: El hijo del pueblo 1.22 (0.4)

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Endemol Shine Finland hired Paria Eskandari to bolster production of its scripted arm. “Paria is well-known as a dedicated filmmaker who focuses on both the story and the people,” said Head of Scripted Max Malka. Eskandari has worked as line producer on Cannes Critic Week title “The Woodcutter Story” and Cannes Grand Prix winner “Compartment No. 6.”

Disney kids exec Kitty Walsh joined Thunderbird Entertainment’s Kids Division Atomic Cartoons as Executive Director of Development. Walsh will lead development across the team, seek IP and grow talent relationships for the division.

Omnicom appointed Brian Clayton to its newly established Chief Data Privacy Officer role. Clayton will be responsible for ensuring that brands and the company comply with privacy laws and regulations.

Entertainment One promoted Amanda Bowman Gerisch to SVP Scripted Development. Gerisch has overseen multiple series including “The Rookie” and spinoff, “The Rookie: Feds.”

IN MEMORIAM

Actor Ray Liotta died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic on May 26. He was 67. Best knowns for the films “Field of Dreams” and “Goodfellas,” Liotta got his first big break on soap opera “Another World,” and starred in “Shades of Blue” from 2016-18.

This Day in History
1977 – The Sex Pistols released “God Save the Queen,” leading to a ban on the song by the BBC.

Friday Fun Fact
An elephant’s skin can be an inch thick in places

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
What made Harry on “Mike & Molly” (2010-16) realize he was gay? When Victoria, Molly’s sister, kissed him in season 3. Kudos to: Sandy Spiegel/Chicago; Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC; Marni C. Gold/Hawthorne; Andy Pittman/College Station; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; Thomas Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Dana Keith-GAC Family/Atlanta

Today’s Trivia Question
Where did the characters Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza first meet in “Seinfeld” (1989-1998)? (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