PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Zach Galifianakis comedy series Baskets got the greenlight for a fourth season on FX. Executive producers include Galifianakis, Jonathan Krisel, Marc Gurvitz, Andrea Pett-Joseph and Anna Dokoza.
Netflix is eyeing a speedy return for Queer Eye. The second season of the rebooted series, which was a hit when it debuted earlier this year on the streaming service, featuring a new “fab five,” is in the works and will debut June 15. David Collins, creator of the original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, exec produces under the Scout Productions banner, alongside Michael Williams and Rob Eric. David Eilenberg, Adam Sher, Jennifer Lane and Jordana Hochman also exec produce, for ITV Entertainment.
A documentary exploring singer R. Kelly’s alleged abuse and exploitation of young African-American women is in the works from BuzzFeed News and Hulu, which will exclusively stream the doc. (T)ERROR helmer Lyric Cabral will direct; Laura Poitras and Charlotte Cook are exec-producing. Doc is based on original reporting by BuzzFeed with music critic Jim DeRogatis and deputy national editor Marisa Carroll. Linzee Troubh and Shani Hilton of BuzzFeed News developed the project.
CMT is ready to party this summer. The net booked Bachelorette Weekend, a new unscripted series from SallyAnn Salsano and 495 Productions, the creator of Jersey Shore, and greenlighted a 13th season of docuseries Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team. Bachelorette Weekend will premiere at 11p Thursday, August 2, and follows the staff of Bach Weekend, a Nashville-based company specializing in creating once-in-a-lifetime bachelor/bachelorette experiences. The new Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team season will serve as lead-in for Bachelorette Weekend, debuting at 10p August 2.
Comedy writer/producer Michelle Nader signed a new multiyear deal with Warner Bros. TV that keeps her at the studio and brings her run there to 10 years. This year, Nader wrote and exec produced I Mom So Hard, which went to pilot at CBS.
Production is under way on the second season of Shaftesbury’s 1920s-set Frankie Drake Mysteries, a co-production with CBC and UKTV and distributed by Kew Media Group.
BYUtv started production of original scripted adventure comedy series Dwight In Shining Armor, slated to premiere in 2019. Sloane Morgan Siegel (Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street), Caitlin Carmichael (Young Sheldon) and Joel McCrary (The Princess Diaries 1 & 2) are set to star in the series, created by LeeAnne H. Adams & Brian J. Adams.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
The Break with Michelle Wolf launches on Netflix this Sunday, May 27, with a new episode streaming weekly every Sunday. Half-hour episodes of the variety/sketch series will feature host Wolf, who previously worked on The Daily Show and Late Night w/ Seth Meyers, and guests.
Velocity will return Fantomworks, the series where expert Dan Short turns problem cars into dazzling four-wheel gems, on Tuesday, May 29 at 9p.
Freeform’s Young & Hungry returns for its final season with a two-episode premiere on Wednesday, June 20 at 8p. Final season sees Gabi and Josh happily together, but now navigating their new status as a full-fledged couple
New eight-part Smithsonian Channel series The Pacific War in Color traces the epic struggle of the Pacific War using rare and never-before-seen color visuals and first-hand accounts from the home front to the battlefront. Series premieres Sunday, June 24 at 8p.
COMING UP
Fox News Channel’s live coverage over Memorial Day Weekend includes a dispatch from the Marine Corps Museum in Virginia with co-anchor Leland Vittert on Saturday, May 26 at noon. Then on Sunday, May 27 at 1p Elizabeth Prann will co-anchor from the Poppy Memorial on the National Mall in DC and present a tour of famous military gravesites at Arlington National Cemetery.
Grab your coffee and cherry pie. Showtime will run all 18 parts of the limited series Twin Peaks consecutively beginning Saturday, June 2 at 4:35a. The uninterrupted marathon will air on Showtime 2 and multiple television and streaming providers’ devices, websites and apps.
The royal wedding may be over but things will still be hopping across the pond. The Late Late Show With James Corden will return to London to broadcast four episodes from Central Hall Westminster, Monday, June 18-Thursday, June 21 on CBS. Corden’s guests will include Cher, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Niall Horan and the Foo Fighters.
CNN Films and Oscar winner Roger Ross Williams are behind new film American Jail, which explores what fuels the prison system in the US from a range of stakeholder positions. The doc will premiere at Sunday, July 1 at 9p on CNN.
Cartoon Network is splashing into summer with plans to debut more than 50 new eps throughout the season. Every Monday beginning June 4, fans can watch five new episodes throughout the week all summer long from Unikitty!, Ben 10, The Amazing World of Gumball, Teen Titans Go!, OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes, Craig of the Creek and more. Additional premieres from Justice League Action and The Powerpuff Girls continue Friday, June 1 and more than a dozen new episodes of Clarence on Sunday, June 10.
ADVERTISING
In a TV advertising industry first, the Video Advertising Bureau is launching a multi-screen promotional campaign. Television. Be Known., featuring the founders of two digital-native, data-driven disruptor companies, Wayfair and Gwynnie Bee. The campaign will run for at least 11 weeks nationally on over 70 TV networks and in virtually all local TV markets on the major cable, satellite and telco video distributors, utilizing a full suite of premium video platforms.
How will the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulations affect business for media buyers and planners? Responses to a survey from contextual targeting platform Vibrant suggests an average 43% of clients’ consumer data would become unusable.
Buyers and planners – looking for info on networks and programming as you strategize for the fall season? The Cynopsis Upfronts portal covers Upfront/NewFront is a handy resource: http://www.cynopsis.com/upfronts2018/.
DIGITAL DATA
Netflix shares reached $346.73 yesterday, assuming a market cap of $151.43 billion – enough to squeak past (for now) the Walt Disney Co. valuation of $151.36 billion. The streamer’s stock is up more than 72% this year.
As promised, Facebook started rolling out disclosures on political advertising yesterday, identifying who paid for what. “We’re up against smart, creative and well-funded adversaries who change their tactics as and when we spot abuse,” wrote Rob Leathern, director of product management, in a blog post. “But we believe that they will help prevent future interference in elections on Facebook.”
Digital channel Cosmo After Dark, with content including explicit discussion of sex and available through Snapchat Discover, is being discontinued after one edition. Although users couldn’t access the channel if their account was registered as under 18, Cosmo After Dark faced backlash from parents.
NBC is taking viewers beyond the broadcast with the launch of the NBC Entertainment Podcast Network, which includes Late Night with Seth Meyers Podcast, American Ninja Warrior Podcast and The Good Place – The Podcast. Podcast eps are available in all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play. American Ninja Warrior Podcast launched yesterday (May 24); the upcoming season of the series debuts Wednesday, May 30 at 8p. The Good Place – The Podcast debuts Friday, June 1, the same date Late Night with Seth Meyers will publish six special edition eps under the banner of The Late Night with Seth Meyers Podcast: Summer Fridays.
Weather Group and Tribune Content Agency, the premium news service and syndicated content division of Tronc, are joining to bring local news content to Local Now users nationwide. Powered by The Weather Channel and other content partners, the Local Now app delivers real-time, localized information about current events, weather, lifestyle, sports, business, and traffic to hundreds of markets across the US.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Great Pacific Media’s High Arctic Haulers, a CBC original factual series, will premiere on the network in 2019. Series looks at Canada’s resilient northern communities and the determined men and women who help provide their lifeline to the outside world.
AROUND THE INDUSTRY
The HGTV Lodge will once again have a presence at CMA Fest, in Nashville Thursday, June 7- Sunday, June 10. The venue will be home to musical performances by Dustin Lynch, Jon Pardi, Lee Ann Womack and other artists.
