Today’s Premieres
BET+: Carl Weber’s The Black Hamptons
FXX: Little Demon at 10p
HBO Max: House of Ho
Hulu: Everything I Know About Love; Mike
Netflix: Rilakkuma’s Theme Park Adventure; A Kidnapping Scandal: The Florence Cassez Affair; Angry Birds: Summer Madness; History 101
Paramount+: Star Trek: Lower Decks
Peacock, Syfy: The End is Nye at 10p

IN THE NEWS

NBC’s “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: SVU” and “Law & Order: Organized Crime” launch their new seasons on Thursday, September 22 with a three-show, three-hour crossover episode. “This unprecedented scheduling block is a tribute to all the ‘Law & Order’ fans who’ve been watching this iconic brand for four decades on NBC,” said Lisa Katz, President, Scripted Programming, NBCU Television and Streaming. “We couldn’t be more excited to open our season with such a historic event.”

Paramount+ has a winner. “Secret Headquarters,” starring Owen Wilson as a man who discovers a superhero’s HQ hidden beneath his home, has become the most-watched original movie in its first seven days of release on the streamer. “’Secret Headquarters’ has rocketed to superhero status on Paramount+ as a must-watch summer family film, breaking the viewership record,” said Domenic DiMeglio, EVP and CMO of Paramount Streaming. “We’re thrilled audiences have fallen in love with this fun, action-packed adventure.”

Top Women in Media

Celebrate good times, come on,
Let’s Celebrate!

With over 150 women in media to celebrate, October 11th will be a night full of fun, laughter, and support. Don’t miss your chance to let your hair down and get dressed up as we recognize all of their accomplishments. Tables are filling up, but there’s still room for you!

REGISTER TODAY

PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Netflix is in production on “At Home With the Furys” (wt), a docuseries following heavyweight champ Tyson Fury and his family. Executive producer is Laura Leigh.

Stephanie Allain and Donald De Line were elected new presidents of the Producers Guild of America during the Guild’s annual membership meeting. Allain and De Line ran unopposed and assume the roles from Gail Berman and Lucy Fisher.

John Reiss, executive producer of NBC’s “Meet the Press” for eight years, is moving to streamer NBC News Now’s “Meet the Press Reports.” David P. Gelles, most recently at CNN+, will take the reins at “Meet the Press” starting September 1.

Showtime Sports Documentary Films announced “Stand,” focused on basketball star and social justice activist Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, set to debut on Showtime in early 2023. Produced by Colleen Dominguez with producer Tom Friend and consulting producer David Kelly (Golden State Entertainment), the feature-length documentary follows Abdul-Rauf’s journey from schoolboy prodigy to NBA All-Rookie team to national pariah.

This will be Kelly Kiddish’s last season on NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU.” “I’ve been so fortunate to be a part of the Law & Order family for the last 12 years,” said the actress. “I started on this show when I was in my late 20s and I’m grateful I got to spend so many of my adult years with Rollins in my life…. I’m so excited to take all the things I have learned in my time on ‘SVU’ and put them toward everything that’s next to come.”

Amblin TV, Scholastic Entertainment and Marlee Matlin’s Solo One Productions are teaming develop and co-produce a limited series based on the book Signs of Survival: A Memoir of the Holocaust. Matlin will produce the series. “As a Deaf, Jewish woman, I have been on a quest to find an authentic and never before told story of the Holocaust,” said Matlin in a statement. “This true story, based on the real-life events of two sisters, one Deaf and one hearing, inspired me even more to bring the story to the screen.”

Disney+ is in early stages of development on a serialized drama centered on King Kong, reports Variety. Stephany Folsom (“Paper Girls”) will write and EP the series, based on the original 1933 film.

Casting notes: Christian Slater (“Dr. Death”) will play a lead role in Disney+’s “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” based on the fantasy novels…. Cleopatra Coleman (“Dopesick”) rounds out the cast of FX’s “The Sterling Affairs,” about the downfall of LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling….Alexa Mansour (“The Walking Dead: World Beyond”) has joined upcoming ABC drama “Avalon.”…Scott Caan (“Hawaii Five-O”) landed the male lead in Fox procedural “Alert,” reports Deadline….Added to the season three cast of Apple TV+’s “The Morning Show” is Nicole Beharie (“Miss Juneteenth”), as a new anchor.

COMING UP

Bad Bunny will make his “VMAs” return when MTV goes live from Yankee Stadium for the first time as part of “Bad Bunny: World’s Hottest Tour” on Sunday, August 28 at 8p. This marks the Puerto Rican phenom’s first “VMAs” appearance since 2019.

Hulu film “Hellraiser,” a reimagining of the 1987 horror film, premieres October7 as part of the streamer’s annual Huluween stunt.

NBC’s “George to the Rescue” returns for a new season Saturday, September 24 on NBC stations. The home renovation series kicks off with an episode showcasing the renovation of a family’s home to welcome their displaced loved ones affected by the war in Ukraine.

SPORTS

Major League Baseball will see each of the league’s teams play each other in the same season for the first time in 2023 as the sport converts to its first balanced schedule since 2000. The move comes as part of march’s lockout settlement, and now a team will host all of the other 29 clubs at least once every two seasons. Major League Baseball said that it will open the 2023 season on March 30 and again will try to have every team start on the same day, which last occurred in 1968 with each club playing 13 games against each division rival for a total of 52 and six or seven against each other club in its league for a total of 64. The remaining 46 games are against interleague opponents.

The PGA Tour gave an overhaul to its schedule and how players are compensated, announcing Wednesday that a dozen events will be moved to “elevated” level for the next season, while an additional four tournaments set to join that level that will offer an average purse of $20 million. The shifts also mandate that top players, as defined by the revised Player Impact Program (PIP), play at least 20 events a season. The elevated events for the 2022-23 season, in addition to the four majors, are The Players, three FedEx Cup Playoff events, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, WGC-Dell Match Play and Sentry Tournament of Champions.

The Premier Hockey Federation and ESPN cemented a two-year broadcasting extension for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. The professional women’s hockey league debuted on ESPN platforms last season with the new deal seeing ESPN+ providing live coverage of the PHF regular season, special events and the Isobel Cup playoffs in the United States. It also provides international rights for games, including on TSN in Canada.

To commemorate Serena Williams’ career, ESPN2 serves up a 10-hour marathon of five of her memorable Major finals today at 7p. In addition, ESPN+ is offering a “Best of Serena” collection of 15 matches available on demand.

The Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic, a college basketball showcase featuring HBCUs, will see its second installment held on February 4 at Prudential Center in Newark. This year’s men’s college basketball showcase will feature Morgan State University/Delaware State University and Norfolk State University/Hampton University competing in a doubleheader airing on TNT.

STREAMING

Peacock will become the next-day streaming home for NBC and Bravo shows starting September 19. “From Sunday Night Football and ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ to ‘Saturday Night Live’ and ‘The Office,’ Peacock is the streaming home for NBCUniversal and beyond, providing customers a massive premium content offering across TV, Film, Sports, and News, with less than five minutes of ads per hour for just $5 per month,” said Kelly Campbell, President, Peacock and Direct-to-Consumer, NBCU. Throughout the month of September, new customers will be able to sign up for Peacock’s premium tier for $1.99 per month.

DistroTV is expanding its content offerings to VIZIO. DistroTV features more than 270 multicultural channels, including news, sports, entertainment and lifestyle content.

TECH TALK

Twitter’s head of security, fired by the company in January, has accused Twitter of deceiving its board and regulators about its security measures, and of lying to Elon Musk. In a whistle-blower complaint obtained by CNN and The Washington Post, Peiter Zatko claims Twitter allows staffers access to sensitive information; that senior executives have been trying to cover up its security vulnerabilities; and that one or more current employees may be working for a foreign intelligence service. An attorney for Musk, who has been attempting to extricate himself from a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, told CNN, “We have already issued a subpoena for Mr. Zatko, and we found his exit and that of other key employees curious in light of what we have been finding.” For its part, a Twitter spokesperson said the complaint is “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context,” labeling the allegations “opportunistic.”

GOING GLOBAL

Banijay France’s scripted label, Shine Fiction, has landed its first commission since launching last year. “Serial Lover” is a co-production with Amaury Fournial and will be distributed by Banijay Rights.

2022 Esports Business Summit

Registration Rate Increasing!

With one of the best Esports Business Summit’s yet, you don’t want to miss out on your chance to attend and save money. Rates for our all access and general pass increase by $200 this Friday, August 26th at 11:59pm EST.

SAVE MONEY: REGISTER NOW

RATINGS

NBC Sports saw Peacock’s coverage of Manchester United/Liverpool average 796,000 viewers. That number marks the best streaming viewership ever for a Premier League match on the platform.

Meanwhile, the BIG3 saw ratings from their 2022 championship weekend, which included the inaugural 2022 All-Star Game and 2022 Championship Game, mark the highest-rated BIG3 event since 2019, with the entire window averaging 638,000 total viewers on CBS, up 56% over last year’s Championship Game. The 2022 Championship Game averaged 681,000 total viewers, up 32%. The Inaugural All-Star Game averaged 587,000 viewers, up 100 percent from last year’s consolation game in the same time window.

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Tuesday, August 23
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: Cinderella: The Reunion 2.01 (0.3), Cinderalla 1.53 (0.2)
CBS: FBI 3.74 (0.3), FBI: International 2.98 (0.2), FBI: Most Wanted 2.71 (0.2)
CW: Leonardo 0.40 (0.0), Devils 0.21 (0.0)
FOX: So You Think You Can Dance 0.73 (0.2), Fantasy Island 0.67 (0.1)
NBC: America’s Got Talent 6.33 (0.7), Password 3.97 (0.5)
Telemundo: Top Chef VIP 0.97 (0.3), Amor Valiente 0.77 (0.2), Infiel: Historia de un Engaño 0.90 (0.2)
Univision: La Mexicana y el Güero 0.95 (0.3), La Herencia un Legado de Amor 1.04 (0.3), Mujer de Nadie 0.84 (0.2)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

American Public Television President and CEO Cynthia Fenneman will step down after 22 years as chief executive. Fenneman will remain through May 31, 2023, as the APT Board of Trustees conducts a search for her successor.

Allen Media Group has named Michele Ghee as President of Multicultural Advertising. Ghee was most recently CEO of Ebony and Jet.

Leadership changes at Comscore: Chief Product Officer Dr. David Algranati will assume the role of Chief Innovation Officer, and Greg Dale has been appointed Chief Operating Officer. Dale, who was part of the Comscore team from 1999 to 2016, recently rejoined Comscore through the 2021 acquisition Shareablee, where he also was COO. Jon LIeberbam, also from Shareablee, will take the role of Chief Technology Officer. Chris Wilson, Chief Commercial Officer, is leaving the company.

Sinclair Broadcast Group announced Tammy Dupuy and David Howitt have been promoted to Senior Vice Presidents of Programming for subsidiary Sinclair Television Group.

World of Wonder has promoted Breonna Carrera to VP Development; Amber Ellis to VP of Production Finance; and Kelly Dirck to Chief of Staff.

Episode Description of the Day
FXX’s “Little Demon” – “Chrissy Feinberg’s first day of seventh grade goes south when she discovers she’s the Antichrist.”

This Day in History
1952 – Puerto Rico became a US commonwealth.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Who played the ex-wife of Henry Winkler’s character in “Out of Practice” 2005-06)? Stockard Channing. Kudos to: Aaron Paquette-AccelerateSG/Fort Worth, TX; Mark Selby-Melbar Entertainment Group/Toronto; Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC; Ken DuBow-Access Entertainment/LA; Sandy Spiegel/Chicago; Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton,FL; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA

Today’s Trivia Question
What was Rob Lowe’s first series regular role? (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.)

Cynopsis Team