PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Pop TV says yes to more One Day at a Time, after the series’ cancellation by Netflix. The network will continue with a new 13-episode fourth season, slated to premiere in 2020. Produced by Sony Pictures Television, the comedy/drama inspired by Norman Lear’s 1975 series of the same name follows the life of a newly single Army veteran and her Cuban-American family, as they navigate the ups and downs of life and stars Justina Machado and Rita Moreno.
Showtime announced a pilot production order for hourlong dramedy Rita, starring Lena Headey (Game of Thrones). Headey will exec-produce the pilot, a co-production of Showtime and Platform One Media, with creator/showrunner Christian Torpe, who is writing the pilot based on his original Danish series. Named for its title character, Rita follows a single mother who takes on every kind of authority, as well as her family, in a messy and unfiltered way… The net also is developing a series about private military contractors with David Ayer, who’s on board to write and direct the series, whose working title is The Company. Ayer will exec produce alongside Chris Long from Cedar Park Entertainment, Jimmy Fox of Main Event Media and Jeremy Scahill. Project is a co-production between Showtime and eOne.
Michael Chabon, Star Trek megafan and an exec producer of CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Picard, has been named showrunner for the revival series, which will see Patrick Stewart reviving his role as Jean-Luc Picard. Series is produced by CBS TV Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment.
Hot videogame franchise Final Fantasy is expanding to television via Sony Pictures TV and production shingle Hivemind (Amazon’s The Expanse and Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of The Witcher). The companies are working with global videogame company Square Enix to develop a live-action adaptation of a chapter from the role-playing game series. Penned by Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton (Winter’s Knight), the TV version unfurls an original story set in the world of Eorzea, based on Final Fantasy XIV, that probes the struggle between magic and technology.
Sarah Esberg, longtime producer and executive at Brad Pitt’s Plan B, is exiting to become president of Drew Goddard’s new production house Goddard Textiles as part of a new deal with 20th Century Fox TV.
Viacom-owned Channel 5 ordered UK series All Creatures Great And Small. The series is the latest adaptation of the James Herriot books centered on the adventures of a young country vet. Playground will produce six episodes and a Christmas special; PBS’ Masterpiece in the US will co-produce and All3Media will distribute internationally. Screen Yorkshire is providing funding.
William Oldroyd, who directed Lady Macbeth, and Mary Magdalene scribe Philippa Goslett are in for eOne and King Bee’s adaptation for television of the novel State of Wonder.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Outdoor Channel will debut Jim Shockey’s Uncharted: Yukon July 1 at 7p, chronicling the triumphs and trials of elite guides for the legendary Rogue River Outfitters deep in wildlands of the Yukon. Wild Boar Fever X bows its 10th season July 6 at 6p. Series shows viewers the action of a driven boar hunt closer-up than ever before.
JAG, the longest running military drama on TV, will join the WGN America lineup beginning with a two-day “JAG of July” marathon Thursday, July 4 and Friday, July 5 starting at 9a. Following launch, JAG will air on the network Monday-Friday for two hours, starting at 4p with the exception of Wednesday, which will run until midnight. All 10 seasons will air in chronological order.
The fourth season of drama series Saints & Sinners will debut on Bounce on Sunday, July 7 at 9p, with new eps premiering Sunday nights through the summer. Bounce will air marathons of the first three seasons Friday, July 5 through Sunday, July 7 beginning each day at 1p.
Oxygen dives inside the hearts and minds of scorned lovers whose overpowering desire leads them down a path of murder in the new series Killer Affair, premiering Thursday, July 11 at 8p. Each ep follows a new investigation of true stories of murder ignited by infidelity and deception.
ID unleashed a peek at season 2 of Dark Waters: Murder in the Deep, whose six-episode second season bows Wednesday, July 17 at 10p. The new chapters explore real-life stories of murder on the water, featuring archival footage, audio and other evidence from investigations, plus first-hand accounts from witnesses, law enforcement, close friends and family members… Later in the month, ID’s three-part limited series Serial Killer: Devil Unchained premieres Monday, July 22 at 9p. Each two-hour episode probes the twisted path of former real estate broker Todd Kohlhepp, who pleaded guilty to seven murders and closed one of South Carolina’s most baffling cold cases.
The worst homes in Houston’s best neighborhoods are getting Texas-sized makeovers in new HGTV series Going for Sold, premiering Thursday, August 1 at 11p. Real estate agent Jon Pierre Tjon-Joe-Pin and his wife Mary through their home renovation business turn forgotten homes into charming and affordable properties that appeal to young families.
Bobby Flay and Anne Burrell will whip a new roster of cooking disasters into culinary shape in the return of Worst Cooks in America on Sunday, August 4 at 9p. Series pits two teams of atrocious cooks in a kitchen boot camp designed to transform their food skills.
Television and radio presenter Clive Anderson (Whose Line Is It Anyway?) and anthropologist Mary-Ann Ochota explore Britain’s ancient places and rituals on a road trip that mixes mysticism with British humor in Smithsonian Channel’s 10-part Mystic Britain, premiering Monday, August 5 at 9p.
Animal Babies: First Year on Earth, a new three-part series co-produced by PBS Studios and BBC Studios, premieres Wednesday, August 28 at 8p on PBS. Series follows four wildlife cinematographers as they capture the first year of life for six animals—from the African elephant to the southern sea otter—across four continents, navigating the challenges they face and how they overcome them.
COMING UP
Get ready for more Housewives as Bethenny, Dorinda, Luann and Sonja spill the tea in Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New York City three-part reunion, premiering Thursday, July 11 at 9p, with subsequent chapters debuting July 18 and 25.
TECH TALK
Twitter yesterday tweaked its policy regarding accounts of politicians. A new label that will be applied to tweets from public figures who violate company policies arrives after years of criticism, particularly from Democrats, of Twitter ignoring tweets from Donald Trump that appear to violate company rules. New guidelines apply to verified users with more than 100,000 followers who hold government office or are running for office. If a tweet is in violation, the platform will require people to click or tap through a screen before they can see the tweet. “A critical function of our service is providing a place where people can openly and publicly respond to their leaders and hold them accountable,” Twitter said in a statement, noting the screen will alert users that “Twitter rules about abusive behavior apply to this Tweet. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain available.”
Veteran Apple design officer Jony Ive, who’s steered the company’s design team since 1996, will depart later this year to form an independent design company that will count Apple among its clients.
Yext, a platform for brand verified answers in search, announced a global integration with social media management firm Hootsuite. With the new integration, businesses can bring Yext Reviews into the Hootsuite platform so they can monitor, analyze and respond to customer reviews in the same Hootsuite dashboard where they are already managing their social media presence.
STREAMING
New MotorTrend series Fastest Cars in the Dirty South roars deep into the southern US where daredevil drivers race down closed tracks at speeds topping 140 miles per hour in the world of grudge racing. Premiering Friday, July 12, on the MotorTrend App, series follows Eric Malone, who together with his team dominates the sport.
The first five seasons of The Great British Baking Show will be streaming on the PBS Living Prime Video Channel on Amazon beginning today (June 28). The amateur competition has grown into a beloved international phenomenon, featuring the original comedic hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, as well as baking experts Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. Each season has 10 eps; subscription rate for PBS Living is $2.99/month with an Amazon Prime or Prime Video subscription, or through Apple TV Channels.
AMC Networks’ Shudder teamed with writer/director Sam Wineman—whose short The Quiet Room is coming to the streaming service this summer—on the next incarnation of documentary series Horror Noire, which will explore queer horror on film. Exec producers Phil Nobile Jr. and Kelly Ryan of Stage 3 Productions, and consulting producer Michael Varrrati are behind the project, slated to premiere next year. Doc will explore the works of pioneering queer creators including James Whale and Clive Barker and chart the course of queer subjects and creators in the horror genre from the silent era through the present day.
Poker Central partnered with CBS to live stream 50th annual World Series of Poker across platforms including CBS All Access, with additional coverage to air on CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports Digital platforms.
ADVERTISING & BRANDS
A key trend in the scaling of audience targeted and addressable campaigns is among key takeaways from FreeWheel’s just-released Q1 2019 Video Marketplace Report. In other highlights:
* VMR data showed impressions delivered by audience item targeted campaigns grew 48 percent year-over-year in the US and 56 percent YoY in the EU.
* More than 85 percent of premium video is delivered via dedicated applications across CTV, STB and mobile apps.
* App-based viewing constituted 93 percent of mobile ad views
Indie advertising technologies firm Tremor International rebranded from its former moniker of Taptica International. Tremor now will function as parent company for three separate divisions: recently acquired Tremor Video (branded video advertising) and RhythmOne (media), as well as Taptica (performance advertising).
KIDS NEWS
Season 2 of DreamWorks Animation’s 3Below: Tales of Arcadia drops on Netflix July 31. From creator and exec producer Guillermo Del Toro and exec producers Rodrigo Blaas, Marc Guggenheim and Chad Hammes, series’ next steps find Royal aliens, Aja and Krel cleaning up the mess left behind after their epic victory against General Morando’s bounty hunters.
PODCAST POSTS
British television host and photographer Amanda de Cadenet is adapting her talk show format The Conversation, which previously aired on Lifetime, into a podcast at to Spotify. De Cadenet, CEO of digital media company and foundation Girlgaze, will talk with female activists, actresses, writers, politicians and filmmakers. Amber Heard, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Olivia Wilde are among the first guests. Podcast launches July 2 and will air Tuesdays for nine weeks.
Podcaster Jessica Cordova Kramer and author Stephanie Wittels Wachs are partnering with Westwood One to launch podcast network Lemonada Media. Set to debut in September, Lemonada will share an unfiltered version of the human experience via content that is raw and real beginning with three original series: Last Day, As Me with Sinead (featuring activist Sinead Burke) and Good Kids: How Not to Raise an A**Hole. The two women met in 2017, shortly after both had lost their brothers to opioid overdoses. Guests across the three shows include Aziz Ansari, Jamie Lee Curtis and Sarah Silverman.
GOING GLOBAL
Fifty hours of factual titles from Wag Entertainment are headed to screens in Poland as a result of a deal with Polish broadcaster Telewizja Polsat. Among original series included in the deal are The Great War in Numbers, World War 2 in Numbers and True Evil: Making of a Nazi.
CASTING
Robin Weigert (Deadwood), Sarah Gadon (Alias Grace), Alison Wright (The Americans) and Greg Grunberg (Heroes, Alias) will guest during the second season of Hulu’s Castle Rock… Juliette Lewis (August: Osage County), Ryan Kwanten (The Oath) and newcomer Jordan Alexander are in as series regulars for the second season of Sacred Lies: The Singing Bones on Facebook Watch. Kimiko Glenn (Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse), Kristin Bauer (Once Upon A Time), Antonique Smith (Luke Cage), Siobhan Williams (Deadly Class, Welcome to Marwen), Emily Alyn Lind (Doctor Sleep, Code Black) and Odiseas Georgiadis (Trinkets) will join the series as recurring cast members… Odette Annable and Natalie Alyn Lind are in as leads opposite Paul Wesley in the season 2 of CBS All Access anthology series Tell Me a Story.
