PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Rick and Morty is getting a fourth season on Adult Swim, which ordered a massive 70 new episodes of the animated series as part of a new long-term deal with creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland. The new tally is more eps than Rick and Morty‘s first three seasons combined.
When you’ve got a good thing going… Lee Daniels, co-creator and executive producer of Empire and the just-renewed Star, signed a new overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV.
Two big pickups at NBC yesterday: The net picked up missing plane mystery thriller Manifest, from Warner Bros. TV and Compari Entertainment. Series from Jeff Rake and Robert Zemeckis follows the action after Montego Air Flight 828 lands safely after a turbulent flight, and its crew and passengers discover in the span of those few hours the world had aged five years and their friends, families and colleagues had mourning their loss and given up hope… Also, NBC said yes to drama pilot The InBetween, from writer Moira Kirland (Madam Secretary, Castle), Heyday Television and Universal Television. Series centers on a woman who was born with the Sixth Sense-y ability to see and communicate with the dead, helping them with their unresolved problems … whether she likes it or not.
Freeform announced a pilot order for Everything’s Gonna Be Okay, a half-hour dysfunctional-family comedy from Please Like Me creator, writer and comedian Josh Thomas. Thomas created the concept, wrote and stars in the pilot with David Martin, Jon Thoday and Richard Allen-Turner serving as exec producers for Avalon Television. Stephanie Swedlove and Kevin Whyte also serve as exec producers. Series is produced by Avalon Television and Freeform Studios.
YouTube ordered a second season of Karate Kid sequel Cobra Kai. The 10-episode season will begin production this fall and debut on YouTube Red in 2019. Since its debut May 4, the first episode has garnered more than 20 million views.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Oxygen Media will premiere Abuse of Power this Saturday, May 12 at 7p. Hosted by television journalist Lauren Sivan, each episode will examine the twisted and true stories of heinous acts of crime. “As a production company, one of the things we strive to do through our content is shed light on important stories and topics that warrant further conversation,” Kim Woodward, EP and Lucky 8 co-president, tells Cynopsis. “In this series, we’ve partnered with producer Betsy Schechter and her Storyville Entertainment to acquaint viewers with a wide range of real cases where an intoxication with power has led people in various positions of prominence to carry out unthinkable acts.”
Syfy set its summer premiere schedule. As announced, the final season of 12 Monkeys will debut June 15, followed by season 4 of Wynonna Earp launching Friday, July 20 at 9p and Sharknado 6 surfacing Sunday, August 19 at 8p to close out Sharknado Week (August 12-19), which also will include Deep Blue Sea 2, Nightmare Shark and 6-Headed Shark Attack.
PBS will launch a new season of 10 That Changed America on Tuesdays beginning July 10. This season, host Goeffrey Baer takes viewers on a cross-country road trip to learn the back stories behind ten streets, monuments and modern marvels.
COMING UP
Smithsonian Channel special Million Dollar American Princesses: Meghan Markle airs this Sunday, May 13 at 9p. “A lot is being produced about the excitement of a native Californian becoming a British Princess, but we wanted to bring special insights to our viewers, adding context and nuance to this cotemporary fairytale,” David Royle, EVP, programming & production, tells Cynopsis. “It is a phenomenon that has happened before. From Grace Kelly trading her Oscar-winning career for a defining role as Princess of Monaco to Consuelo Vanderbilt, whose fortune saved Blenheim Palace, extraordinary American women have crossed the Atlantic to join the European aristocracy. Our special builds on our series Million Dollar American Princesses, which was inspired by Downton Abbey, and compares Meghan’s journey to those of her predecessors – revealing fascinating insights about how her life will change as she enters a truly global spotlight.”
Pasiones will premiere the Argentine romantic comedy Cuatro Reinas (Four Queens) on its Latin American feed this Saturday, May 12.
For the fourth consecutive year, Justice Network, in conjunction with National Police Week, will salute the thousands of men and women who are dedicated to protecting their communities by airing stories narrated by Cynopsis Social Good Impact winner John Walsh of heroes who have fallen in the line of duty as well as those who have gone beyond the call of duty. On Tuesday, May 15, Justice will run a roll call featuring the names of all fallen officers in 2017. The roll call will air five times throughout the day.
Telemundo is getting in the royal wedding spirit. The net announced wall-to-wall live programming for Saturday, May 19 starting at 5a, followed by Megan y Harry, La Boda Real, an Al Rojo Vivo special airing on primetime at 10p.
Comedian and I’m Dying Up Here star Erik Griffin returns for his second Showtime comedy special, Erik Griffin: Amerikan Warrior, premiering Friday, June 8 at 10p.
HBO will stage its 11th Bill Maher solo special, Bill Maher: Triggered, Saturday, July 7. The live stand-up performance will air from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
DIGITAL DATA
Brie Larson will narrate the first two eps of virtual reality series Space Explorers: A New Dawn. From Felix & Paul Studios in conjunction with Facebook’s Oculus, with participation from NASA, the series is about the new age of space exploration via firsthand views of the lives of both new and veteran NASA astronauts.
Bravo Media greenlit six original digital series including Imposters digital after-show True Cons: The Tricky Business of Real Life Imposters with host Georgia Hardstark (My Favorite Murder) that dropped this week, and new summer series The First Time I…, which will debut with guests including Shaquille O’Neal, Russell Brand and Derek Hough. Also new: The Weekly Dish Happy Hour, launching May 11; Beats and Bites, launching May 15; Adulting by Bravo, launching in July; and Ghosted, launching in October. Additionally, the network is renewing Throwback Bravo, a video series that celebrates classic Bravo moments from fan-favorite shows, for a second season.
April 2018 was Bravo Digital’s best month ever for full episode starts (11.2 million). Both the site and the app garnered growth among unique visitors (11.5 million) and short-form video streams (8.2 million), up 4% and 3% month-over-month, respectively. Additionally, BravoTV.com had a record-breaking 2017 with its best year ever for visits, unique visitors, short form streams and full-episode starts.
Democrats yesterday released the 3000 paid Facebook ads Russia ran from 2015-2017, from Kremlin-backed fake news experts Internet Research Agency. The posts focused on divisive issues like immigration and gun control.
If Snapchat wanted to appeal to 18- to 34-year-olds with its January redesign, it appears the strategy didn’t work. According to YouGov BrandIndex, user sentiment in the demo dropped 73% after the redo, falling from a high score of 30 to a low of 8 in April. Snapchat’s aim was to make the user experience easier to appeal to a wider audience.
ADVERTISING & PARTNERSHIPS
The Walt Disney Co.’s new direct to consumer and international segment launched Luminate, a suite of advanced advertising offerings aimed at helping clients to target audiences across its portfolio of linear networks, digital experiences and social executions. Luminate is managed by Laura Nelson, SVP, audience solutions, Disney-ABC Advertising Sales and Marketing, and ESPN’s Vikram Somaya, SVP, global data officer and ad platforms.
CASTING
Corbin Bernsen (American Gods, Psych) and Annette O’Toole (Cat People, Smallville) are in for the second season of Marvel’s The Punisher at Netflix… Also at Netflix, a cache of guest stars for the new season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt were unleashed, including: Busy Philipps, Greg Kinnear, Bobby Moynihan and Aidy Bryant. Guests returning from past seasons include Jon Hamm, Amy Sedaris, Mike Carlsen, Zosia Mamet and Derek Klena.
Sakina Jaffrey (Timeless) is in for a recurring role on the upcoming second season of Starz’s American Gods.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Viacom UK broadcaster Channel 5 will probe the history of McDonald’s in a special tentatively titled McDonald’s: The Billion Dollar Burger, from its in-house production shingle Elephant House Studios.
Off Kilter, the new CBC arts digital series From Alejandro Alvarez Cadilla, is now streaming. Series, which “mockuments” choreographer Milton Frank, stars Sarah Murphy-Dyson, Brendan Saye and Zarrin Darnell-Martin.
Atwater Capital launched a $30 million content investment fund that will finance acquisition and development of media properties, with a focus on early content acquisition in partnership with talent.
