| PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Romantic dramedy “With Love” has been set as the first series under the deal between Amazon Studios and “One Day At a Time” co-creator Gloria Calderon Kellett’s GloNation Studios. Additionally, Calderon Kellett has set up three other series projects for development at Amazon Studios, including Shakespeare-themed high-school drama “Verona,” adult animation musical series “Glowing Up” and “Dating the Lopez Ladies,” a half-hour animated comedy.
ABC is developing comedy “Josep,” based on the life of a hardworking Filipino American nurse. Stand-up comedian Jo Koy is attached to topline and exec-produce the show, which follows the titular character as he navigates dating, fatherhood and his mother moving in with him. Steve Joe wrote the project, and will exec-produce and serve as showrunner.
“Mrs. Davis,” an exploration of faith versus technology from “The Big Bang Theory” and “Young Sheldon” co-EP Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof, got a straight-to-series order from Peacock.
FX gave a season 3 renewal to “Breeders,” the comedy series that explores the challenges of modern parenting. Starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard, “Breeders” recently completed its second season.
Trevante Rhodes (“Moonlight”) will play the controversial world champion boxer Mike Tyson in Hulu’s upcoming eight-part series “Iron Mike.” Production is slated to start later this year on the series, from “I, Tonya” screenwriter Steven Rogers and director Craig Gillespie. Margot Robbie exec-produces and Karin Gist (Mixed-ish”) will show-run and exec produce.
Some “Green Lantern” news. Jeremy Irvine will step into the title role in upcoming HBO Max series, and Lee Toland Krieger (“Superman & Lois,” “Riverdale”) is on board to direct the first two episodes of the show, written by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Seth Grahame-Smith Green and based on the DC characters.
Gaz Alazraki has been set to helm HBO Max’s “Father of the Bride” reboot, which added Macarena Achaga to the cast that includes Andy Garcia. In this version, the film will follow a Cuban-American family. Matt Lopez is on board to write the script. Dede Garner and Jeremy Kleiner will produce for Plan B Entertainment. Garcia and Paul Perez will exec-produce.
The second season of Spanish-language show “Luis Miguel: The Series” is underway from Netflix and MGM’s Gato Grande Productions. Cast joining the series about the superstar Mexican singer include Macarena Achaga, Fernando Guallar and Pablo Cruz Guerrero. Series is directed by Humberto Hinojosa and Adrian Grunberg. Mark Burnett, Carla Gonzalez Vargas and Pablo Cruz are exec producers, with Carolina Leconte and Jaime Ramos producers.
Corus Entertainment’s Global announced new season greenlights for original scripted legal drama “Family Law,” season 2, and “Departure,” season 3. Both series are on tap to return in the fall.
Eleventh Hour Films, backed by Sony Pictures Television, optioned Jane Casey’s new novel The Killing Kind to adapt into a limited series. Set in London, the story about a barrister who defends a stalking client who ends up turning on her, will be directed by Zara Hayes (“Showtrial”); Jonathan Stewart (“Meet You In Hell”) is also onboard.
NEW + RETURNING SERIES
A&E’s new series “Court Cam Under Oath” bows Wednesday, June 2 at 10p with the lens on defendants as they take the stand to defend themselves in their own words. Hosted by Dan Abrams, each episode tells the story of a crime from the perspective of the accused.
Peacock released character portraits for comedy “We Are Lady Parts,” which premieres Thursday, June 3. Billed as an “anarchic, joyful and irreverent music comedy,” series follows a Muslim female punk band on a mission to find a lead guitarist and score a proper gig.
Among HGTV June series premieres are “Frozen in Time,” debuting Friday, June 4 at 9p and starring nostalgia enthusiast Maureen McCormick of “The Brady Bunch” fame, and competition series “Beach Cabana Royale,” bowing Sunday, June 20 at 9p and hosted by Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi.
Hosted by NBA All-Star Dwyane Wade and based on the hit UK format, “The Cube” debuts on TBS on Thursday, June 10 at 9p. High-octane episodes spotlight contestant pairs who must demonstrate skill, nerve and determination as they endure seemingly simple physical and mental tasks—all while confined in a glass box with its own mind and attitude.
Apple TV+ dropped the trailer for Rose Byrne-starring dark comedy “Physical,” which premieres Friday, June 18. Set in the ‘80s in San Diego, series follows a quietly tortured, seemingly dutiful housewife supporting her husband’s bid for state assembly who finds a road to empowerment building a business around her passion for aerobics.
Season 6 of Bravo’s “Below Deck Mediterranean” drops anchor Monday, June 28 at 9p. Captain Sandy Yawn and bosun Malia White will be back to preside over a new crew of “yachties.”
“Relentless,” a new limited true crime series from Blumhouse Television and Stick Figure Entertainment, bows on Discovery+ on Monday, June 28. Series follows a documentary filmmaker’s obsessive journey to find the truth about what happened to a young mother who disappeared from a small town.
COMING UP
MTV News will premiere “With One Voice: Fighting Hatred Together,” an hourlong special in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, on Monday, May 31 at 10p. The special will also be simulcast across MTV2, VH1, and the Smithsonian Channel. Produced by ATTN:, program chronicles four young Jewish activists on the front lines of the fight against antisemitism and hate in all of its forms.
In honor of Pride Month, Showtime will releasemore than 50 hours of LGBTQ+ programming for free sampling throughout June. Titles including “The L Word, “The L Word: Generation Q,” “Queer as Folk,” “Work in Progress” and “XY Chelsea” will be available across multiple network partner platforms. Showtime and the Human Rights Campaign also are expanding their collaboration on Queer To Stay, an initiative launched last year to support and preserve businesses that serve the LGBTQ+ community.
Lifetime is celebrating Pride Month with a season finale of dating series “Married at First Sight: Unmatchables” on Wednesday, June 2 at 10p that will center on two LGBTQ men looking to find love. The network will also air encores of two films—“Trapped: The Alex Cooper Story” on June 6 and the GLAAD Award-winning “Prayers for Bobby,” starring Sigourney Weaver, June 20.
The AccuWeather Network will airits second annual “AccuWeather Hurricane Season Special” on Tuesday, June 1 at 8p, featuring AccuWeather’s lead hurricane forecaster Dan Kottlowski.
TV One is celebrating Black Music Month with a slate original programming and musical performances. Original doc “The Beat Don’t Stop” kicks things off Thursday, June 2 at 8p, and the network will air special episodes of “Unsung” as well as performances such as “Alicia Keys: Live in LA” and “Black Star Live At The Vienne Jazz Festival.”
Documentary “Who Gets To Be An Influencer?” premieres Friday, June 4 at 10p on FX and Hulu. It’s the seventh film in the docuseries that brought viewers “Framing Britney Spears.” In this film, The New York Times chronicles the rise of Collab Crib, one of the first mainstream Black “creator mansions,” capturing the influencers wrestling with the profound, challenge: How can they succeed in a nascent industry that seems tilted to their disadvantage?
Eco-thriller “Chasing the Thunder” will stream on Discovery+ on Tuesday, June 8 to mark World Ocean Day. Film follows an epic 110-day high seas adrenaline chase across three oceans and two seas as crews track down ocean criminals on a notorious poaching vessel.
CBS will host the broadcast premiere of Ava DuVernay’s historic Paramount Pictures film “Selma” on Sunday, June 20 at 8p. Film chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965 when Dr. Martin Luther King led thousands of nonviolent demonstrators on a campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of brutal opposition.
A special episode of “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” is slated to air Monday, June 21 at 10p on HBO, marking one year since the guilty plea of Joseph James DeAngelo, the Golden State Killer. The six-part series based on the book of the same name debuted in June 2020 and explores writer Michelle McNamara’s investigation into the dark world of the violent predator.
KIDS NEWS
Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, Paddington Bear, Madeline and The Wiggles are among new programming headed to Genius Brands’ Kartoon Channel platform. New content, debuting in June, also features The Archies, Trollz and Liberty’s Kids.
STREAMING
Roku announced its first-ever pay-one window licensing deal. Roku and Saban inked an agreement through which several titles from Saban’s 2021 slate will stream on the Roku Channel in the US and Canada as early as three months after theatrical and home entertainment release. The movies—including “Echo Boomers,” which kicks off the arrangement June 15—will be available for free, with limited ad breaks. The Roku Channel reaches households with about 70 million people, according to Roku.
Redbox is adding Crackle to Redbox Free Live TV. At launch, the channel features programming including “Cold Blood,” “Grand Isle” and “Playing With Power: The Nintendo Story.”
Qwest TV, the premium music videohub co-founded by Quincy Jones and Reza Ackbaraly, is launching on Comcast Xfinity on June 1. The launch marks Qwest TV’s first major US cable partnership, timed for Black Music Month.
CASTING
Kyle Chandler is set to star opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the first installment of “Super Pumped,” Showtime’s anthology series whose first installment is based on Mike Isaac’s book “Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber.”
Nat Wolff is in as Travis Maldonado, one of Joe Exotic’s husbands, opposite Kate McKinnon and John Cameron Mitchell in “Joe Exotic” (working title), Peacock’s upcoming limited series… Quinta Brunson (“A Black Lady Sketch Show”) landed a recurring role opposite in the upcoming third season of “Miracle Workers” on TBS… The season 6 finale of NBC’s “Chicago Med” was the last episode for original cast members Yaya Dacosta and Torrey DeVitto.
La La Anthony is joining season 2 of Hulu drama series “Wu-Tang: An American Saga” in a recurring role. Freeform is casting up the sophomore season of thriller series “Motherland: Fort Salem.” Victor Webster (“Workin’ Moms”), Mellany Barros (“Chad”), Praneet Akilla (“Nancy Drew”), Ess Hodlmoser (“The Boys”) and Arlen Aguayo (“The Good Doctor”) scored recurring roles.
GOING GLOBAL
Whoopi Goldberg will give a talk at the venerable Edinburgh TV Festival, which will take place as a hybrid digital and in-person event August 23-26. This year’s fest theme is “accelerating change,” according to Georgia Brown, director of European originals at Amazon Studios, who’s the advisory chair of the event.
Electric Entertainment signed new international licensing deals for upcoming original series “Leverage: Redemption” to Bell Media in Canada and Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland in Germany. “Leverage: Redemption,” premieres in the US Friday, July 9 on IMDb TV.
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