Tonight’s Finales:
Lifetime: Married at First Sight at 8p
Travel: Mysteries at the Museum at 9p

IN THE NEWS

Viacom is reportedly making a $10.6 billion all-cash offer for Scripps Networks Interactive, according to Reuters, a proposal that could appeal to family members controlling Scripps looking for a cash deal. A deal with Discovery Communications would reportedly involve stock and cash. Over at Scripps, they’re not commenting on the headlines, just sticking to business as usual.

Fox 21 Television responded to Olivia de Havilland’s request that an LA court judge speed up proceedings in her lawsuit against Ryan Murphy, Fox 21 and FX over her portrayal in Feud: Bette and Joan. The 101-year-old is asking for a jury trial in November, “based on her unusually advanced age.” Saying they would “vigorously defend” the project, the studio argues, “The law on this is very clear: no permissions of any kind were required in order to tell the tale….By the logic of Ms. de Havilland’s attorneys, no producer would be able to tell any stories about famous people, living or dead, without their consent.” De Havilland may not be a fan, but Feud was nominated for 18 Emmys.

TEGNA’s NBC affiliate in Sacramento, CA, today announced a partnership with millennial-focused, streaming financial news net Cheddar that makes KXTV the first local network affiliate to incorporate Cheddar Local segments into news broadcasts. Twice daily segments will feature the day’s top business headlines before the market opens and after it closes. 

Fusion TV joined more than 60 other companies and associations to launch the Creative Thread Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on breaking down barriers of entry for underrepresented content creators and those working behind the scenes in media. “We are committed to moving the dial when it comes to ensuring we see more accurate representation and diversity across the media and entertainment industries, but we know that it takes more than one company to make a difference,” said Henry Louis Gates Jr., who will serve as the Chair of the new Foundation. 

PRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Imagine Entertainment is continuing its effort to go global by teaming with Hong Kong-based TVB Venture for a television production co-financing venture. TVB has invested $100 million to be used for the development and production of TV projects; Imagine and TVB will each own 50% of the venture, with TVB getting broadcast and distribution rights in China.

Electus is teaming with former crime boss and author Michael Franzese and producers Moshe Diamant (The Black Dahlia) and Michael Tadross Jr. (LBJ) on a scripted mob drama, American Royalty. Story would be based on Franzese’s past as a former New York mobster.

Freeform has started production on 10-part mermaid drama Siren. Shooting takes place in Vancouver.

TCA NOTES

At the Television Critics Association summer press tour, Jason Alexander, co-creator and star of Audience Network dysfunctional family comedy Hit the Road, noted the differences between his new show and, say, NBC’s Seinfeld. “With the advent of pay TV, where there are no advertising breaks, it allows you to tell stories in a different way,” notes Alexander. “You break that 5-act structure that we all had to adhere to. Your 30-minute show is actually 30 minutes so you can sit with characters in moments in a more realistic way. You can explore things deeper. Some see it as a scourge, but for the rest of us we see that as a great opportunity.”

OWN renewed Ava DuVernay’s hit drama Queen Sugar for season 3, and roped in DuVernay for a first-look deal with Harpo Films for TV and digital media. The season 2 premiere of Sugar in June delivered 2.3 million viewers, .7 among A18-49 and series high 2.09 in key OWN demo W25-54. 

Discovery’s talk at TCA included the premiere of Manhunt: UNABOMBER on Tuesday, August 1 at 9p. Paul Bettany, who portrays mail bomber Ted Kaczynski, clarified earlier comments about having lived in a cabin in the woods to try to understand his character’s sense of isolation. Unlike Kaczynski’s 8-by-10 foot home with no water or electricity, his “was a nice cabin,” said Bettany. “With a pool.”   

ID’s Son of Sam: The Hunt for a Killer, premiering Saturday, August 5 at 9p, was a topic for discussion at TCA. Said criminologist Dr. Scott Bonn, who interviewed the serial killer, “He was packaged for media. When this took place, it was the ‘70s, which was the Stone Age of media. God forbid this took place today, it would be the biggest crime story in the history of the world.” Also on tap at ID: Drew Peterson: An American Murder Mystery on Sunday, August 27 at 9p

MythBusters premieres on Science Channel with a new team, Brian Louden and Jon Lung, on Wednesday, November 15 at 9p. Louden and Lung showed what they could do with exploding gas masks, rocket powered swords and the like on MythBusters: The Search. The Emmy-nominated series ran on Science sib Discovery from 2003-2016.

Science Channel tapped former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino to host The Great American Eclipse, airing Monday, August 21 at 9p on the day of a rare total solar eclipse; live coverage of the event will take place starting at noon. “This is the most amazing natural phenomenon that happens for the surface of the Earth,” said Angela Des Jardins, who should know, as director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium, and was on hand at the TCA tour. Des Jardins will be part of the on-air team for Science. Massimino will also host 8 episodes of The Planets, launching Tuesday, August 22 at 10p.

And Science Channel announced that Mysteries of the Missing, pursuing explanations for infamous disappearances, will premiere Saturday, August 26 at 10p. Lost (ha!) alum Terry O’Quinn hosts.

Animal Planet is promoting animal adoption with Puppy Bowl Presents: The Dog Bowl, a football competition for adult dogs living in shelters that will be paired with the net’s popular Puppy Bowl. Hosted by animal advocate Jill Rappaport, the one-hour special will (spoiler alert) have a happy ending: all the competing shelter dogs find homes.

Animal Planet also announced a premiere date for new series Rescue Dog to Super Dog. The unscripted show that matches people with disabilities with shelter-turned-service dogs launches Saturday, August 12 at 10p.

Comedy Central extended the first season of new late nighter The Jim Jefferies Show by 10 episodes. “I’m very grateful to Comedy Central for making our relationship more official,” said Jefferies. “Like all my relationships, I look forward to a few more months with Comedy Central before it starts crying outside of a bar at 2am. Or spray paints ‘liar’ on the side of my car.”

Add CNN and Turner Sports to subscribers of Nielsen’s Out-of-Home Reporting Service, measuring viewers like businesspeople watching TV in offices, and sports fans cheering teams in bars. ESPN was first to jump aboard, in April.

Food Network Star posted a .7 rating among A25-54 (630,000 IMP) on Sunday night, ranking 6^th among cable in the 9p time slot. On FoodNetwork.com, show content generated season-high traffic on Saturday, besting the previous season high by 15 percent. 

The premiere of Descendants 2 across Disney Channel, ABC, Disney XD, Freeform, Lifetime and Lifetime Movies delivered a Live+3 audience of 21 million, up 61% from its Live+SD number.

Bravo’s Below Deck Mediterranean was the highest rated episode of the season to-date among P25-54 and total viewers, delivering 1 million P18-49 in Live+3 (up +5% versus the prior week’s episode), 1.3 million P25-54 (up +4%), and 2 million total viewers (up +5%). The Real Housewives of New York City delivered a season high among all key demos, earning 1.3 million  P18-49 (up +15% versus week ago), 1.6 million P25-54 (up +18%), and 2.7 million total viewers (up +13%).

ABC summer drama Somewhere Between dropped from 2.9 million total viewers and a .5 rating among A18-49 on its Monday opener to 1.8 million viewers and a .3 rating for its second episode on Tuesday.

Top 10 Basic Cable Network Live+7 Performance among Total Viewers for the week of July 3, 2017

Primetime (000)/Total Prog. Day (000)
FOXN 2011/FOXN 1335
HIST 1656/NICK 1256
HGTV 1617/HGTV 939
USA 1599/ADSM* 870
FX 1302/DSNY 857
MSNBC 1266/USA 800
TBSC 1198/HIST 776
DISC 1139/TOON 771
AMC 1031/ID 765
ID 1019/NAN* 738

Source: Turner Research from The Nielsen Company data. All ratings based on Total US Television Universe of 116,400,000 homes. *  + Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day. Notes: Data based on most currently available Nielsen Data stream: Preliminary: Live+7. Primetimes is Mon-Sat 8p-11p and Sun 7p-11p. Total day is Mon-Sun 6a-6a for household and demographic performances.

Top 10 Basic Cable Network Live+7 Performance among A18-49 for the week of July 3, 2017

Source: Turner Research from The Nielsen Company data. All ratings based on Total US Television Universe of 116,400,000 homes. *  + Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day. Notes: Data based on most currently available Nielsen Data stream: Preliminary: Live+7. Primetimes is Mon-Sat 8p-11p and Sun 7p-11p. Total day is Mon-Sun 6a-6a for household and demographic performances.