Today’s Finales
CW: Bulletproof at 9p
Fox: Ultimate Tag at 9p

IN THE NEWS

Emmy nominations were announced Tuesday, and Netflix pulled in a record 160. WarnerMedia Entertainment came in second, with 112 nods (107 of which were for HBO). The show with the most nominations was HBO’s Watchmen, which scored 26. Competing for Outstanding Drama Series are Better Call Saul, The Crown, The Handmaid’s Tale, Killing Eve, The Mandalorian, Ozark, Stranger Things and Succession. Outstanding Comedy Series nods went to Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dead To Me, The Good Place, Insecure, The Kominsky Method, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Schitt’s Creek and What We Do in the Shadows.

Also of note: Brad Pitt earned an Emmy nom for playing Dr. Anthony Fauci on SNL…Five actors scored nominations for roles in more than one show: Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel); Jason Bateman (Ozark, The Outsider); Maya Rudolph (SNL, The Good Place, Big Mouth); Wanda Sykes (Crank Yankers, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel); and Giancarlo Esposito (Better Call Saul, The Mandalorian)…Dime Davis became the first Black woman nominated for a variety series, for A Black Lady Sketch Show…Women nabbed a record one third of directing nominations (16 out of 48)…Schitt’s Creek broke the record for most nominations handed to a comedy series in its final season, with 15 – surpassing 13 for 30 Rock in 2013. For a complete list of nominees, go here.

COVID-19 concerns have prompted Fremantle and ITV Studios to cancel plans to attend the Mipcom TV market, taking place in Cannes October 12-15. Both will host virtual experiences. BBC Studios and A+E Networks also decided to not have a physical presence at the event.

After postponing it, Sinclair Broadcast Group has decided not to air a segment prepared for America This Week that features an interview with medical researcher/conspiracy theorist Judy Milkovits, who accuses Dr. Anthony Fauci of creating the pandemic. “Upon further review, we have decided not to air the interview with Dr. Mikovits,” Sinclair said. “Although the segment did include an expert to dispute Dr. Mikovits, given the nature of the theories she presented we believe it is not appropriate to air the interview.”

The premiere date for WE tv reality show Tamar Braxton: Get Ya Life! has been rescheduled for September 10, following Braxton’s hospitalization on July 16. “This series was conceived by Tamar and is a real portrait of a dynamic woman juggling the demands of being a single mother, a new relationship and her career,” said a WE tv spokesperson. “We know, when the time is right, Tamar’s fans will relate to seeing this honest portrait of her life, but – at this moment – we are joining with her fans and sending strength and healing in the hope that she is getting the support and help she needs at this difficult time.” Braxton also stars in WE tv’s Braxton Family Values and hosts VH1’s To Catch a Beautician.

Following reports in BuzzFeed and Variety of workplace issues at The Ellen DeGeneres Show, WarnerMedia informed staffers the company is conducting an investigation. In addition to WarnerMedia’s employee relations group, a third party firm has been engaged to question current and former employees about their on-set experiences. A source told NBC News the review is not about DeGeneres “at all.”

The LGBTQ+ channel and streaming network Revry will be available to Cox Communications and Plex customers. “Revry believes representation saves lives,” said Damian Pelliccione, co-founder and CEO of Revry. “We’re overjoyed to partner with such wonderful major media companies who support our mission of bringing radically inclusive content to their mainstream audiences.”

Movie exhibitor AMC and studio Universal have come to an agreement on the timing of releases. Universal and Focus Features films will play at AMC theaters for a 17-day exclusive theatrical window, after which Universal has to option to make the titles available on PVOD platforms. And AMC is getting a piece of the PVOD pie. “AMC enthusiastically embraces this new industry model both because we are participating in the entirety of the economics of the new structure, and because premium video on demand creates the added potential for increased movie studio profitability, which should in turn lead to the green-lighting of more theatrical movies,” said AMC CEO Adam Aron. The companies have been at odds since April, when NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell appeared to suggest to the Wall Street Journal that given the success of Trolls World Tour on PVOD, when theaters open after the pandemic movies could be released in theaters and on demand simultaneously.

Acorn TV ordered a second season of Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries, from Every Cloud Productions. The spin-off of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries starts production this year. All3media is partnering for international distribution.

Sony Pictures Television inked a deal with historian and author Dan Jones (The Plantagenets) to develop TV adaptations of his books. “In a world rocked by massive global change there has never been a better time to make sense of it through history’s greatest stories,” said Jones. “I have always written my books with a cinematic sensibility, so I’m delighted to have made a deal with Sony Pictures Television to develop my stories old and new for the screen.”

Ample Entertainment (9 Months with Courteney Cox) has launched LA-based Ample Nature, for the production of blue-chip natural history series. Kyllie Stott (David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef) has boarded as VP of Development, Natural History. “Producing powerful, blue-chip natural history programming has been a goal for us since we started Ample, and it’s a perfect progression for our brand because these shows deliver extraordinary production value, incredible stories, and the best in filmmaking,” said Ample co-founder Phil Lott.

German series How To Sell Drugs Online (Fast) was picked up for a third season by Netflix. The show is the streamer’s most-watched German original series, and also has a strong following in Brazil, France and Italy.

Who will take home the win? Join us on August 12th to find out: These Cynopsis Sports Media Awards finalists have gone above and beyond in delivering exceptional content, motivational campaigns and powerful coverage during a time when the sports world has been turned upside down. Join us as we applaud their initiatives and rally behind them with this virtual awards celebration. Registration is free – click here to get started.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

In new Discovery series I Quit, entrepreneurs give up their 9-5 jobs to follow their passions. The new format from Shopify Studios (the content arm of the commerce company) and Spoke Studios debuts Tuesday, August 18 at 10p.

Hurricane-prone states will have to handle not only the storms, but from weather-related emergencies like shelter, supplies, and evacuations in the midst of a pandemic. The Weather Channel series COVIDCANE 2020: Bracing for Disaster offers guidance on how to manage the dual challenges of the health crisis and the upcoming hurricane season.

Upcoming PBS programming includes interview series Tell My More with Kelly Corrigan, kicking off on October 5, and The Black Church: This Is Our Story, including interviews with Oprah Winfrey, John Legend, Jennifer Hudson and more, airing February 16 and 23.

Rainn Wilson (The Office) is host of new digital series An Idiot’s Guide to Climate Change. The six-part docu-series from Wilson’s Soul Pancake is available on the company’s YouTube channel.

July 29 is Global Tiger Day, an occasion with special meaning for Discovery Inc. The company’s Project C.A.T. (Conserving Acres for Tigers) has been working to ensure a healthy habitat for the species, and raise awareness of their global decline. Jessica Beatus, Group VP, Standards & Social Good for Discovery, reports on the initiative’s progress in Cynsiders.

TV One’s Uncensored is back with new season three episodes on Sunday, September 6 at 10p. The docu-series exploring the lives of notable personalities was taped pre-COVID.

STREAMING SCOOP

The National Hockey League is teaming with Twitter and Disney Streaming Services for live look-ins via Twitter of some NHL games during the 2020 Stanley Cup qualifiers and playoffs. Fans will be able to vote in Twitter polls for which games should be featured. “NHL fans are fiercely passionate and are among the most engaged sports fans on social media,” said Heidi Browning, NHL Senior EVP and Chief Marketing Officer. “Everything our fans do shows us they want to have deeper connections with the League and our teams, and this exciting partnership with Twitter and Disney Streaming Services – especially during this unprecedented time of social distancing – provides the perfect platform to facilitate fan interaction and conversation, as well as drive broadcast tune-in.”

PBS Distribution announced the launch of PBS Documentaries on Amazon Prime Video on August 4 (price tag: $3.99/month). Among the 900 hours of content are the entire Ken Burns collection, American Masters, Nature, NOVA, American Experience and more. “This channel will not only help bring engaging stories about life in all corners of our country to a new audience, it will provide needed revenues to sustain public broadcasting’s public-private partnership model for the benefit of all stations and the communities they serve,” said Andrea Downing, Co-President of PBS Distribution.

Crunchyroll, the WarnerMedia anime brand, announced it has crossed three million paid subscribers globally and over 70 million registered users. “We launched in 2006 and it took us about 10 years to hit one million subscribers. It took us only two years after that to break two million, and even less than that to hit three million subscribers where we are today,” said Joanne Waage, General Manager, Crunchyroll. “Our goal has always been to grow the love of anime globally, and these numbers show our labor of love is paying off.”

TECH TALK

The Consumer Technology Association axed plans for an in-person CES 2021 exhibition, in favor of an all-virtual “new immersive experience” in January. Previously, the CTA announced new sanitization and health policies for CES, and gave exhibitors the opportunity to showcase products both physically in Las Vegas, and digitally. A return to Vegas is expected for CES 2022.

Twitter temporarily restricted Donald Trump Jr.’s ability to tweet after the First Son posted a video that featured claims that people don’t need masks to stem the spread of coronavirus. The video, published by Breitbart News, was removed by Twitter, Facebook and YouTube after it started to go viral. President Trump retweeted the video but did not upload the video to the site, as his son did, so avoided suspension.

Busy? We get it. But now is the time to show digital innovators how crucial they are to the evolving media landscape. We created The Cynopsis Digital “It List” to shine a light on the contributions of industry standouts – nominations are open until August 11th. Click here to get started.

ADVERTISING

OpenAP struck a deal with iSpot to give agencies and advertisers the ability to activate attribution and OTT measurement on any campaign in the OpenAP Market. Advertisers can deploy performance-based attribution reporting and measure incremental reach over linear TV on cross-publisher campaigns activated centrally with OpenAP. OpenAP clients, including those who are not currently iSpot customers, can measure campaigns activated on strategic audiences using iSpot’s TV performance insights, receiving intelligence across web conversion, retail visits, box office sales and programming tune-in while measuring and analyzing OTT campaigns with linear TV buys.

The US ad economy will have an easier recovery than the global ad economy, according to forecasts from the Big 3 agency holding companies. The revised outlooks of GroupM, Magna and Zenith averages a 6.3% downturn in the US in 2020, versus a 9.4% downturn worldwide.

Omnicon reported pandemic-impacted 2Q20 revenue was down 24.7%, to $2.8 billion. Cost cutting during quarter included 6100 employee layoffs and eliminating one million square feet of real estate space. During an earnings call, CFO Phil Angelastro said Omnicon believes the quarter would be the low point for revenue for the year.

COMING UP

The National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications will host its annual conference virtually for the first time, from Oct. 6-9, during the industry’s Diversity Week. “These past few months have underscored the importance of NAMIC’s mission to advocate for greater diversity, equity, and inclusion in our communities and workplaces,” said NAMIC President and CEO A. Shuanise Washington. “Americans are grappling with fear and uncertainties about racial disparities, the coronavirus pandemic, and its economic consequences. We will tackle these important issues and more.”

A two-hour American Chopper special premieres Tuesday, August 4 at 9p on Discovery. After spending years trying to rebuild their fractured relationship, Paul Teutul Sr. and Paul Teutul Jr. return to the garage where it all started in hopes of building a custom bike together for the first time in over a decade.

The 73rd Annual DGA Awards will take place Saturday, April 10, 2021. That puts the ceremony two weeks ahead of the Academy Awards, set for April 25, and after the Golden Globes, taking place February 28.

PBS Kids special, PBS Kids Talk About: Race and Racism premieres October 9. The half-hour program will feature conversations between real children and their parents about race and racial justice-related topics in an age-appropriate way. American Masters doc How It Feels to Be Free, about trailblazing Black female entertainers, premieres on PBS in winter 2021.

Stacey Abrams voting rights documentary All In: The Fight for Democracy will be released on Amazon Prime Video on September 18, nine days after its theatrical release. “Today, we are 100 days out from Election Day — a pivotal moment in our mission to protect our democracy — and we need to come together as a country and make sure every voice and vote is counted,” said Abrams, who narrowly lost to Republican Brian Kemp in the Georgia gubernatorial race. Amazon bought rights to the film from the Story Syndicate production company.

GOING GLOBAL

A second season of animated series The Strange Chores, from Ludo Studio and Media World Pictures, has been commissioned by ABC Australia, with 26 new episodes beginning pre-production this month in Australia.

CNN had its most-watched July in 40 years, and was tops in the A25-54 demo from 9a-4p, averaging 304,000 viewers. Year-over-year, the net grew 79% in total day and 94% in the news demo.

Many syndicated shows suffered ratings declines amid 2020 record low viewing levels and sporadic pandemic preemptions, but every newsmag show was steady to higher. Access Hollywood (six-week high 1.2 Live+SD national Nielsen, up 9% from the week before) showed the most ratings momentum in the group, up 20% over the past two weeks. Entertainment Tonight had a three-week high 2.4, up 4%, which came within a tenth of sister show and category leader Inside Edition (2.5, unchanged).

Univision ranked as the # 1 network on all of television in primetime for the ninth consecutive week July 20-26 among A18-34, with 218,000 in the demo. This marked the longest weekly winning streak of any network in the current 2019/2020 season and since the 2011/2012 season.

Backstreet Rookie, the first Korean TV series invested in by A+E Networks, is being aired as an SBS Korea Friday-Saturday primetime drama in Korea and ranks #1 in viewer ratings among mini-series in Korea in its timeslot. In its second window on Lifetime, it ranks first in the same time slot for cable viewing in multiple key demo targets (Male and Female). The show recorded the highest ratings of 2020 for Lifetime in its target demo (women aged 25-39).

Basic Cable Top 5 for the Week of July 20
Primetime (P2+)
Fox News (3,134,000)
MSNBC (2,093,000)
CNN (1,375,000)
HGTV (1,304,000)
TLC (1,241,000)
Total Day (P2+)
Fox News (1,602,000)
MSNBC (1,215,000)
CNN (955,000)
HGTV (675,000)
Hallmark Channel (630,000)

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of July 13 ranked in order by HH Rtg
Family Feud (CTD) 5.8 AA
Judge Judy (CTD) 5.6 AA
Wheel of Fortune (CTD) 5.0 AA
Jeopardy (CTD) 5.0 AA
The Big Bang Theory (WB) 2.8 AA
Inside Edition (CTD) 2.5 AA
Entertainment Tonight (CTD) 2.4 AA
Last Man Standing (DAD) 2.0 AA
Hot Bench (CTD) 2.0 AA
Dr. Phil (CTD) 1.8 AA
Source: Nielsen

Late Night Average Broadcast Ratings for the Week of July 20
CBS: Late Show 2.24 million viewers, 361,000 A18-49
NBC: Tonight 1.47 million viewers, 317,000 A18-49
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live! 1.38 million viewers, 300,000 A18-49

Broadcast News Ratings for the Week of July 20
ABC World News Tonight 8.79 million, 1.70 million A25-54
NBC Nightly News 7.55 million, 1.51 million A25-54
CBS Evening News 5.29 million, 920,000 A25-54

TV Time’s Binge Report for the Week of July 20
Modern Family (ABC) – 2.48%
Cursed (Netflix) – 2.28%
How to Sell Drugs Online Fast (Netflix) – 2.22%
Dark (Netflix) – 1.78%
Friends (NBC) – 1.59%
The Office (NBC) – 1.58%
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) – 1.26%
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (NBC) – 1.24%
One Piece (Fuji TV) – 1.24%
Dark Desire (Netflix) – 1.14%
The weekly Binge Report ranks shows with the most binge sessions. A binge session is when four or more episodes of a show are watched and tracked in the TV Time app within a given day.

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, July 27
Show, P2+ 0000s, (A18-49)
ABC: The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons Ever 1.35 (0.2)
CBS: The Neighborhood 3.84 (0.4), Bob Hearts Abishola 3.43 (0.4), All Rise 2.68 (0.3), Bull 3.28 (0.3)
CW: Whose Line Is it Anyway? 0.96 (0.2), Whose Line Is it Anyway? 0.92 (0.2), Penn & Teller: Fool Us 0.65 (0.2)
FOX: 9-1-1 2.03 (0.3), 9-1-1: Lone Star 2.03 (0.3)
NBC: The Titan Games 3.69 (0.7), The Wall 2.94 (0.4), Dateline NBC 2.78 (0.4)
Telemundo: Exatlon Estados Unidos 1.03 (0.3), Cennet 1.16 (0.3), Enemigo Intimo 0.91 (0.3)
Univision: Te Doy la Vida 1.90 (0.6), Medicos Linea de Vida 1.56 (0.5), Como Tu No Hay 1.619 (0.5)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Jordan Udko has joined video platform Maestro as EVP of Revenue. Udko had been EVP of Commercial Partnerships of Cloud9.

Match Group appointed Jim Lanzone as CEO of dating app Tinder, effective August 3. Lanzone is former Chief Digital Officer at CBS Corp.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Aside from Full House (1987-1995), which sitcom, launched in the 1980s, focused on a family with the last name Tanner? ALF (1986-1990). Kudos to: Stephanie Bonk-ESPN/NYC, Dan Quiterio-The WNET Group/NYC, Art Salisch-Nielsen/NJ, Matthew Willence-ITN Networks/NYC, Lisa Fikeys-NissanUnited/Chicago, Coleen Raymann-Walt Disney Co./Burbank, Bernice Moschini/Burbank, John Baghdassarian-Olympusat/LA, Bob Telford-SAG-AFTRA/Valley Village, CA

Today’s Trivia Question
Who voiced gym teacher Larry Littlejunk on Sit Down, Shut Up (2009)? (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.)