| Good morning, this is your first early-morning briefing.
Tonight’s Premieres:
Food Network: The Flay List at 10:30p
ID: Deadly Women at 9p, The Lies That Bind at 10p
Netflix: Love Alarm
TLC: Brides, Grooms and Emergency Rooms at 10p
Tonight’s Finales:
ABC: Holey Moley at 9p
Food Network: BBQ Brawl: Flay V. Simon at 9p
FX: Baskets at 10p
History: Alone at 10p
WE tv: Growing Up Hip Hop Atlanta at 9p
IN THE NEWS
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer is among those getting set to tango on season 28 of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars. Also onboard are supermodel Christie Brinkley, James Van Der Beek (Dawson’s Creek), The Supremes’ Mary Wilson and NBA champ/Kardashian ex Lamar Odom, to name a few. Premiere date: Monday, September 16 at 8p.
Among those expressing displeasure about the Dancing casting was host Tom Bergeron, who shared in a tweet that he had met with the show’s exec producer earlier this summer and said he’d hoped the season would be a “joyful respite from our exhausting political climate and free of inevitably divisive bookings from ANY party affiliations.” Bergeron said he left the lunch convinced they were in agreement, but, “subsequently (and rather obviously), a decision was made to, as we often say in Hollywood, ‘go in a different direction.” Hopefully, added Bergeron, fans will “enjoy the charismatic pro dancers, the unpredictable judges and the kitschy charm that has defined DWYS since 2005.”
Playboy White House correspondent Brian Karem filed a lawsuit against President Trump and White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, calling the revocation of his press credential “arbitrary, unlawful, and unconstitutional.” The action comes after a Rose Garden confrontation in July between Karem and WH aide Sebastian Gorka. Karem’s suit said he lacked fair notice of a breach of the standards of decorum that led to his suspension because, “the President has regularly breached any standard of ‘decorum’ by insulting, demeaning, and yelling at journalists at the White House and elsewhere.”
Station group Tegna confirmed that Apollo Global Management, a private equity company that made a deal for a majority stake in Cox Media Group in February and a deal with Northwest Broadcasting for 20 stations, has its sights set on Tegna. A letter of intent sent to Tegna indicated a deal that would combine Tegna with broadcasting assets Apollo is in the process of buying, and “would not have constituted a change of control of Tegna.”
Comscore will lay off about 8% of its employees as part of a reorg plan, said the company in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “In the second quarter, we took significant steps to better prioritize, refocus and invest in our product portfolio, and provide our customers with innovative technologies and services which we believe will drive us to a position of profitability and growth faster and more efficiently,” said Dale Fuller, Director and interim CEO. “The management team is exploring all aspects of the business and is conducting a comprehensive strategic review of all our options.”
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A Cynopsis Message from Situation
There’s an untapped inventory epidemic, and Situation’s President & Founder, Damian Bazadona, wants to help solve it. Sustainability is a buzzword thrown around by the business world, yet there are still too many companies with excess inventory. Look at the entertainment industry — roughly 2 million seats go empty yearly on Broadway. And we’ve all heard about the luxury brand that burned $40 million in unsold products. This isn’t just about sustainability; this is about untapped inventory. Help Damian reach more people about this critical dilemma and how to solve for it by voting for him to speak at SXSW in 2020. Voting ends this Friday.
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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect) will host and EP the first Australian Amazon Original series, LOL: Last One. Six-part comedy/variety series will feature stand-up comics competing to make each other laugh.
Richard Hammond (The Grand Tour) and Tory Belleci (Mythbusters) will star in an adventure series for Amazon. The so-far-untitled six-parter hails from Chimp Productions.
Starz picked up the pilot for Shining Vale, about a dysfunctional family that moves into a house where atrocities have taken place. Horror comedy comes from Other Shoe Productions, Merman and Kapital Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television and Lionsgate Television, and is written and executive produced by Jeff Astrof (Trial & Error) from Other Shoe and Sharon Horgan (Divorce) from Merman.
Lena Dunham (Girls) launched a new production company at HBO, where she is under an exclusive first-look deal. Good Thing Going will be overseen by Michael P. Cohen, President and Manager to Dunham; Liz Watson, Head of Development & Production based in NY and the UK; Marissa Diaz, Head of Development & Production based in LA; and Soham Joglekar, Development Coordinator in NY.
Production has begun on Shook, a modern hip-hop dance focused short-form series starring Sofia Wylie (Andi Mack). Shook will be made available Saturday, September 28 on Disney Channel‘s YouTube.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Animated Lego Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar premieres on Nickelodeon Saturday, September 14 at 11:30a. Miniseries is a prequel to the 2015 film, Jurassic World.
Kids get lessons on friendship and following your dreams in Middle School Moguls, premiering Sunday, September 8 a 11a on Nickelodeon.
The first special guest appearances for HGTV’s reboot of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition include Tarek El Moussa (Flip or Flop), Jasmine Roth (Hidden Potential) and Tamara Day (Bargain Mansions) as well as the star of the original, carpenter and craftsman Ty Pennington. Series hosted by Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family) launches in early 2020.
Season two of USA Network’s Temptation Island premieres Thursday, October 10 at 10p. Mark L. Walberg is back to host the extended 12-episode second season, which will include a reunion special.
MTV tapped Bachelorette alum Rachel Lindsay and recording artist Travis Mills to host its new docuseries, MTV’s Ghosted: Love Gone Missing, set to premiere on Tuesday, September 10 at 9p with back-to-back episodes. In the show, individuals track down a former lover, family member or friend and confront them about why they went MIA.
Paramount Network franchise extender Ink Master: Grudge Match offers former contestants the opportunity to go head to head with their biggest rivals from their seasons. Competition begins Tuesday, October 1 at 10p.
The first half of the fourth and final season of Netflix comedy The Ranch begins Friday, September 13.
COMING UP
NBC will air A Little Late with Lilly Singh: The Primetime Special on Wednesday, September 18 at 10p, two days following the premiere of Singh’s late-night show. The telecast, following the two-hour season finale of America’s Got Talent, will introduce primetime audiences to Singh as she takes part in sketches, interviews, games and interacts with the audience.
TECH TALK
Facebook is rolling out a new way for users to view a summary of the apps and websites that send Facebook information about their activity, and clear that information from their account if they wish. Users can also disconnect future off-Facebook activity from their accounts. “If you clear your off-Facebook activity, we’ll remove your identifying information from the data that apps and websites choose to send us. We won’t know which websites you visited or what you did there, and we won’t use any of the data you disconnect to target ads to you on Facebook, Instagram or Messenger,” said Erin Egan, Chief Privacy Officer, Policy and David Baser, Director of Product, Management, in a blog post. “We expect this could have some impact on our business, but we believe giving people control over their data is more important.”
Data-driven television and analytics company FourthWall Media announced the market-wide release of Reveal Connect, a household matching product that enables the creation of custom audiences by connecting disparate datasets while preserving privacy. Reveal Connect, a key component of the Reveal analytics platform, is now being offered as a stand-alone product. “We have used Reveal Connect with many MVPDs, analytics partners, third-party data providers, and various unique custom datasets to power dynamic matching,” said Ellen Dudar, Chief Product Officer. “As more and more companies drive toward outcome-based analytics, we recognize their need to create detailed custom audiences while maintaining control of the process and control of their own customer data.”
Who needs faster internet for streaming? Not most households, according to a study from the Wall Street Journal. Looking at the internet usage of 53 of its journalists across the country, the WSJ found the panel used only a fraction of their available bandwidth to watch multiple streaming services simultaneously, and quality didn’t improve significantly with higher speeds.
Cox Communications, the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers and SCTE’s global arm, the International Society of Broadband Experts have partnered on a training program to provide Cox with a highly-skilled coax splicing workforce to support implementation of its fiber-deep strategy. The four-day Coax Splicing Boot Camp integrates existing SCTE•ISBE training with Cox needs to create a Cox-specific training program for new splicers.
YouTube is finalizing plans to stop taking targeted ads on videos aimed at kids, reports Bloomberg. The Federal Trade Commission is looking into whether YouTube violated the Children’s Online Privacy Act by serving targeted ads to children under 13 without parental permission.
In more YouTube news, the company is removing the ability to sharevideos via direct messages on YouTube, a feature it launched two years ago. “Since then, we’ve also focused on public conversations with updates to comments, posts, and stories,” said YouTube. “We’re constantly reevaluating our priorities and have decided to discontinue YouTube’s native direct messaging feature while we focus on improving public conversations.”
Gmail is introducing new spelling and grammar correction capabilities. “As you type your message, Gmail will use artificial intelligence to make smarter spell-check suggestions while also detecting potential grammar issues. For some common spelling mistakes, we’ve also added as-you-type autocorrection for improved accuracy,” posted the company. Corrections will take place automatically as users type, and the feature can be disabled.
STREAMING
YouTube’s shift toward more unscripted programming isn’t limited to the U.S. At the Edinburgh International TV Festival, Luke Hyams, Head of Originals, EMEA, said, “We’re not looking for scripted material at the moment. We feel the unscripted space is really exciting at the moment, particularly as there’s so much ability to crossover with what the really successful talent are already doing themselves on YouTube.”
Pluto TV struck a deal with the NFL for a new channel with content from NFL Films and NFL Media, as well as season recaps and replays. New content will be added to the NFL Channel, including NFL Top 100 Players, previews and press conferences.
Asian video streaming service Viu inked a deal with Canada-based Wattpad to develop film and TV series under the Viu Original label. Wattpad, host of user-generated stories, has also struck deals with companies including Sony Pictures Television and Mediacorp.
CASTING
Singer/actress Demo Lovato has joined the cast of Will Ferrell Netflix comedy Eurovision, inspired by the global singing competition.
GOING GLOBAL
Sky is launching two new linear networks, Sky Crime and Sky Comedy. The crime net will feature programming from Comcast sib NBUniversal’s Oxygen, as well as crime documentaries from HBO. Among Sky Comedy’s offerings will be HBO’s Righteous Gemstones and Ballers, and NBC’s Will & Grace and The Tonight Show.
At the Edinburgh Festival, Viacom’s Channel 5 announced a drama slate that includes three-part Penance; two-hour drama The Small Hand (wt) and the renewal of family saga Blood.
Fremantlehas sold 10-part adventure seriesExpedition with Steve Backshall into over 140 territories. Following a pre-sale to France Télévisions, Fremantle secured deals across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Canada and Latin America.
Banijay Rightsstruck a first look development deal with production company Tigerlily Productions. The new agreement covers scripted programming developed, created and produced by Tigerlily for the UK and international markets.
Kaltura’sCloud TV Platform will power the newly-launched TV service from Beeline Kazakhstan, reaching more than half of the nation’s population. The new platform will replace Beeline Kazakhstan’s legacy pay-TV service. This comes on the heels of Kaltura’s successful launch of Beeline TV in Russia, which now delivers personalized and targeted TV on any device to viewers across 11 time zones in Russia.
KIDS CORNER
Entertainment One announced that Nickelodeon in the U.S. will join the lineup of partners and is set to launch preschool series Ricky Zoom on September 9, including Super RTL (Germany), Clan TV (Spain), Gulli (France), RAI (Italy),Youku (China), and Discovery Kids (Latin America) with further deals in the pipeline.
PODCAST POST
As Poldark heads toward its fifth and final season on PBS, podcast Mining Poldark offers conversations with Robin Ellis, the original Ross Poldark from the 1970s adaptation, and Masterpiece’s Barrett Brountas. First episode is available now, with the rest of the season available on August 26. The final season of Poldark premieres on Masterpiece on PBS on Sunday, September 29.
Parcast’s daily podcast Today in True Crime looks at the notorious murders, heists, crime hits and more that took place on the date each episode airs.
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SOLD OUT
The Cynopsis Top Women in Media Awards
On Monday evening, September 9thin NYC, Cynopsis will be filling the house and toasting the strong women moving the industry forward. 400 attendees, 200+ companies represented, ONE BIG NIGHT!
View honorees here and be sure to sign up for custom sponsorship opportunities while there is still time. Sponsor now.
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RATINGS
Live + Same Day Viewers AA (millions): Tuesday August 20 time period averages
Source: Nielsen Live+SD
NBC: 7.53 million
America’s Got Talent 9.35, Bring the Funny 3.89
CBS: 4.22 million
NCIS 4.663, FBI 4.04, NCIS: New Orleans 3.99
ABC: 23.22 million
Bachelor in Paradise 4.10, Bless This Mess 1.63, black-ish 1.31
FOX: 1.41 million
The Resident 1.35, First Responders Live 1.48
TELEMUNDO: 1.10 million
Exatlon Estados Unidos 1.18, El Final del Paraiso 1.17, Preso No. 1 0.93
UNIVISION: 1.01 million
La Reina Soy Yo 1.17, Juntos, el Corazon Nunca Se Equivoca 0.92, Sin Miedo a La Verdad 0.93
CW: 0.64 million
Pandora 0.68, Mysteries Decoded 0.60
Tuesday A18-49 Ratings
NBC 1.3/7, ABC 0/8/4, CBS 0.4/2, TELE 0.4.2, UNI 0.3/2, FOX 0.3/2, CW 0.2/1
EXECUTIVE MOVES
CBS This Morning added to staff: Shanta Fripp has been promoted to director of CBS This Morning; Claudia Milne has come aboard as managing editor; and Jon Tower was upped to senior broadcast producer.
Jennifer D’Alessandro has been named Senior Director of OTT/CTV Ad Sales at Future Today Inc/HappyKids.TV. She most recently served as Senior Director of Ad Sales, Midwest and Detroit at The Weather Channel.
Future Today Inc/HappyKids.TV named Nunzio Appio to the post of Senior Director of OTT/CTV Ad Sales East. Previously, he was Vice President, Business Development at Beacon Media Group.
Twitter picked up the Lightwellteam and named Suzanne Xie, the startup’s founder and CEO, as Director of Product leading Twitter’s Conversations initiative. “We are excited to welcome Suzanne and her team to Twitter to help drive forward the important work we are doing to serve the public conversation,” said Twitter VP of Product Keith Colman.
This Day in History
1921 – J. Edgar Hoover became the Assistant Director of the FBI.
Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which actor shot some scenes as the Hulk in the original pilot for The Incredible Hulk (1982-1987), because EP Kenneth Johnson was concerned about Lou Ferrigno performing the drama? Richard Kiel. Kudos to: An Cheng-Telepictures/Burbank, Rev. Mark Wajda/Lakeland, FL, Dan Whitford-WTTW/Chicago, Rob Casalaina-ITN/NYC, Aprile Brown-NBB Media Solutions/Washington, DC, Charles Lore/NYC, Matt Fera-McGarryBowen/Chicago, LaKendra Kennedy-Sinclair Broadcast Group/Hunt Valley, MD, David Garber-Loyola Marymount University/Playa Vista, CA, Dave Hammargren-KCPQ-KZJO/Seattle, Steve Iha-Estrella TV/Dallas, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA
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The ultimate resource for media’s jobs seekers & hiring managers
THE CYNOPSIS JOBS SITE
Are you looking for a media job within the TV, Digital or Sports industries OR are you looking to hire a media professional? The Cynopsis Jobs site offers a deep pool of media-savvy, skilled candidates at a range of experience levels and sectors. Click here for a complete look on what’s out there.
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Today’s Trivia Question
Which troubled TV teen was expelled from the Harbor School? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: A limit of four correct answers from each time zone will be selected.)
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VP AD SALES, TV>>
NEWSMAX TV
NY
Responsible for planning and implementing cable TV sales and product development programs, both short and long range, targeted toward existing and new markets. Develops, hires, trains and manages advertising sales team.Experience in national TV or cable network sales. Full info HERE (9/6)
FINANCIAL ANALYST>>
A+E/NY: Manage quarterly profit participation reporting to producers, talent and business partners in tv, theatrical and new media motion pictures across the A+E Networks portfolio. BA/BS in Finance or Acctg. Entertainment Royalty payment exp, strong Excel skills, ability to interpret contractual terms, detailed oriented with strong communication skills. Apply HERE (9/6)
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER>>
NEWSMAX TV/NY:Work w/show hosts, preparing the rundown of new stories, identifying and integrating guests, overseeing and executing the production of key video and graphic elements. 3+yrs executive producing exp or overseeing newscast prod. Full info HERE (9/6)
NEWS PRODUCER>>
NEWSMAX TV/NY:Resp for prod of live newscasts, news shows & recorded video segments for television, and digital platforms. Generate new story ideas. Strong writing/organizational skills req’d; ability to prod content under heavy deadline pressure. Full info HERE (9/6)
ONLINE EDITOR>>
NEWSMAX TV/NY: News editor with hands-on, real-time oversight of Newsmax.com to focus on politics and national news with health, financial and world news coverage. 3+yrs exp in editing online or other publication. 5+yr exp in journalism. Full info HERE (9/6)
SOCIAL MEDIA MGR>>
NEWSMAX TV/NY: Enhancing our brand & building strong online community resp for developing/administering social media content that is designed to engage users and create an interactive relationship between consumers & company. 3+yrs exp in social media mngmnt. Full info HERE (9/6)
TV BOOKER>>
NEWSMAX TV/NY: Resp for supporting developing relationships w/officials, experts, publicists, agents & talent. Work closely w/ news, programming & talent in prod. At least 5+yrs exp media industry in either TV, online, or print publications. Strong relationships w/TV analysts, experts & publicists. Full info HERE (9/6)
VP AD SALES, TV>>
NEWSMAX TV/NY: Responsible for planning and implementing cable TV sales and product development programs, both short and long range, targeted toward existing and new markets. Develops, hires, trains and manages advertising sales team.Experience in national TV or cable network sales. Full info HERE (9/6)
NEWS DIRECTOR, VP>>
NEWSMAX TV/NY: Oversee/manage television news dept and staff to ensure the accurate, timely delivery of news. Oversee the daily operations of the TV news operations. Strong understanding of Newsmax brand and talent. Leadership and team building skills. Full info HERE (9/6)
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR & SOCIAL MEDIA CHAMPIONSHIPS & ALLIANCES>>
NCAA/Indianapolis IN:Collaboratively dvlp/implement/mng NCAA Championships social media strategies. Min 6yrs, social media and/or content prod exp or related field. Excellent written/oral presentation skills. Full info HERE (9/6)
ANALYST, VIDEO SUBSCRIPTION & MEMBERSHIP>>
First Look Media/NY:Resp for maintaining, understanding, and leveraging the organization’s quantitative/qualitative data in support of its premium video streaming offer. Min 2yrs exp w/video content analytics w/ a focus on subscriber acquisition & retention, pref within TV, film, ent, music or video envir. Full info HERE (9/6)
SR MGR, ADVANCED SOLUTIONS>>
A + E Networks/NYC:Leading large Projects/Initiatives, maintaining & optimizing A+E Ad Technology stack, & helping diversify A+E Network’s Ad Product line up. Full Info/Apply HERE (9/6)
RESEARCH ANALYST>>
Crown Media Family Networks/NY: Entry level, provides support to the NY Research Team. BA/BS req; strong MS Office Skills prior exp. Nielsen systems helpful. Apply HERE (9/6)
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT >>
The CW Network/NYC: The CW Network seeks an Executive Assistant for their Media Sales & Planning department. Must have 2+ years of professional administrative experience, preferably in advertising or entertainment. Full info and how to apply HERE (9/4)
SR ANALYST, DIGITAL MKTG ANALYTICS >>
Showtime/NYC: Quantitative thinker who will partner with Depts to provide analyses and dev. reporting dashboards and learnings in support of Showtime’s acquisition and retention goals. Effective storyteller and communicator who is able to craft data and insight-driven narratives required. Full info HERE (8/31)
SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR >>
Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family/LA: Tech-savvy, self-starter professional, exp’d in SM to support strategic social media initiatives set in place. Able to multi task many projects; 1-2 yrs SM exp w/previous writing/editing/creating exp; strong knwlg SM platforms & social community mngmnt. Full info HERE (8/29)
DIRECTOR, DISTRIBUTION >>
Fremantle, Canada International: Maximize revenue across Canada for all Fremantle Int’l proprietary programs towards the achievements of targets. Proven/ demonstrable exp of Sales exp w/in TV licensing enviro, either working within brdcst or wider ent industry/competitor. Full info HERE (8/28)
SR DIRECTOR, IT OPERATIONS >>
GSN/Santa Monica: 10+ yrs. Lead & manage infrastructure & applications teams. Active Directory, Azure, VMWare, AWS, SQL Server, Citrix, Telephony, storage, networking. OS: Server 2012, 2016, Windows 10, Mac OS. Manage SOX-404 audits. This is a hands-on technical position. Full info HERE (8/23)
SPECIALIST, AFFILIATE OPERATIONS >>
MLB/Secaucus NJ: Spearhead affil tech/operational efforts (incl launch authorizations, blackout implementation, VOD & TV Everywhere +) for MLB & NHL Networks. Able to work w/prod, engineering & brdcst depts; Min4-6 yrs exp cable affil sales & mktg, sports media, &/or media ops req’d. Full info HERE (8/23)
MGR, RECRUITING >>
A+E/NY: Manage the day-to-day recruitment function for a defined set of clients to identify, acquire, assess and hire candidates to fill roles required to meet company business goals. 5+ yrs hands-on recruiting exp, preferably within a media environment; strong HR network of recruiters Full info HERE (8/23)
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THURSDAY AUGUST 22
ABC: Holey Moley, Holey Moley [f], Reef Break
CBS: Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, Big Brother, FBI
CW: The Outpost, Two Sentence Horror Stories, Two Sentence Horror Stories
FOX: NFL Football
NBC: The Wall, Ellen’s Game of Games, Law & Order: SVU
PBS: This Old House Hour, Koko – The Gorilla Who Talks, Antiques Roadshow
Telemundo: Exatlon Estados Unidos, El Final del Paraiso, Preso No. 1
Univision: La Reina Soy Yo, Juntos, el Corazon Nunca Se Equivoca, Sin Miedo a La Verdad
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