Cast and creators of The West Wing are getting back together for the first time in 17 years for an election special to air on HBO Max this fall. Titled A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote, event will feature a theatrical staging of an ep from the show’s third season by cast including Rob Lowe, Dule Hill, Allison Janney, Janel Moloney, Richard Schiff, Bradley Whitford, and Martin Sheen. Series creator Aaron Sorkin will write original material for the event, aimed at raising awareness of the organization co-chaired by Michelle Obama.

Queen Latifah will host Change Together: From the March on Washington to Today on Facebook Watch at noon on Thursday, August 27, to mark the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s historic march on Washington and address. The one-hour special is in partnership with Will Packer Media and Jesse Collins Entertainment.

Bounce is partnering with the NAACP to live stream the 2020 Virtual March on Washington commemorating the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s historic march. Two-day event, August 27-28, will feature speakers including Rev. William Barber II, Stacey Abrams, Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence, Mayor Steve Benjamin, Yusef Salaam and Tamika Mallory and performances by B.B. Winans, Lisa Ramey, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, H.E.R and Macy Gray.

Thirty-five percent of US consumers have tried a new ad-supported streaming service since the pandemic outbreak, and 42 percent plan to cancel their cable service, according to new data from Unruly. In a survey of nearly 1,800 US consumers in July 2020, Unruly also found 42 percent are spending “a lot more time” watching CTV content but marketers are trailing with their media plans. In 2020, 3.4 percent of US marketers’ total ad spending will go on CTV. In other findings:
– 73 percent say they would prefer to watch their favorite TV show for free with ads rather than pay for an ad-free experience
– 64 percent plan to reduce the amount they pay for TV services

Your four-day dose of inspiration: Cynopsis is gearing up to recognize the Top Women in Media, pioneers who are pushing the industry forward while empowering and inspiring others. Join us on Oct 13–16 for a free virtual awards event and hear from the female leaders and ambassadors whose contributions to entertainment, tech and sports & esports are elevating the space like never before. View all honorees and register here.

Cast mates of Nick Cordero, who died July 5 from Covid-19 complications, will honor him in a special set for Sunday, September 6 at 7p on BroadwayOnDemand.com. Codero’s fellow thespians from stage productions including A Bronx Tale, Bullets Over Broadway, Rock of Ages and Waitress are slated to take part.

We’ll focus on the benefits clients & agencies will see when they apportion part of their media spend on reaching the Black audience and diverse society that reflects their product’s customer base.

JOIN US TOMORROW FOR THIS CRITICAL CONVERSATION

(Sponsored by TheGrio/ES Networks – so it’s free to attend!)

Icon, a drama series profiling music legends, is in development at Fox from producer Gail Berman and country music manager Jason Owen. Grammy-winning mother/daughter country duo Naomi and Wynonna Judd are the subjects of the first installment. Series is exec-produced by Berman and Hend Baghdady for The Jackal Group and Owen for Sandbox Entertainment.

Get ready cats and kittens. Joe Exotic (working title), UCP’s limited series starring and exec-produced by Kate McKinnon, scored a straight-to-series order by both the NBCU television and streaming divisions. In an unprecedented move, project will roll out across broadcast net NBC, streamer Peacock, and a basic cable net USA. Series is based on the second season of Wondery’s Over My Dead Body podcast.

Television is the next frontier for Buzzfeed. The company signed a first-look deal with Universal TV through which Universal will produce scripted content based on Buzzfeed stories and reporting published by the tech-powered media company. First up is a project with Jenna Bans, creator/exec producer of NBCU’s Good Girls, and writer Erika Green inspired by Bim Adewunmi’s 2018 BuzzFeed News story “Meet the Women Who Are Building a Better Romance Industry.”

Competition show Assembly Required (working title), starring and exec-produced by Tim Allen (Last Man Standing, Home Improvement), is on the books at History. Ten-ep nonfiction run reunites Allen with Richard Karn, who will host and exec produce the show, which spotlights builders from across the country at their home workshops as they compete to breathe new life into everyday household items.

Cynthia Erivo inked a first-look deal with MRC Television and Civic Center Media, the studio’s joint venture with UTA. In her expanded relationship with the studio, she’ll develop and produce television projects through her new Edith’s Daughter production house. Erivo named former BRON Studios exec Solome Williams as VP of Edith’s Daughter.

Lionsgate expanded its partnership with QC Entertainment boarded the train to co-develop Wanderers, based on the Chuck Wendig dystopian sci-fi novel about an opulent rock star, disgraced scientist, religious radio host, and teenage girl who trek across America to protect their friends and family.

Hulu licensed US rights to Soleil Moon Frye’s original doc KID 90, produced in conjunction with STX Entertainment. The author, filmmaker and Punky Brewster star created the project from hundreds of hours of footage—including home videos, voicemails and diary entries—of her life as a teenager in the ‘90s and new interviews with friends including David Arquette, Balt Getty, Brian Austin Green and Stephen Dorff. Appian Way Productions’ Jennifer Davison and Philip Watson also serve as exec producers.

Robin Thede signed an exclusive overall deal with Warner Bros. Television Group to develop new programming for all platforms. The pact continues the creator, exec producer and star of HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show’s partnership with WarnerMedia.

Al Roker Entertainment inked a development and production partnership with Brave Road Entertainment and Vast Entertainment for social impact series Hopetown. Project is based on the 10-book Bring on the Blessings series by author Beverly Jenkins; Shari Simpson and Charlie Shahnaian wrote the adaptation. Hopetown tells the story of a wealthy African American divorcee who must overcome resistance when she purchases a failing, childless town and attempts to turn it into a thriving foster-family community.

Rashad Jennings, former NFL running back and Dancing With The Stars winner, signed a development deal with former Nickelodeon exec Keith Dawkins, founder and CEO of Rock Hill Media Ventures, to expand the media footprint of Jennings’ four-part kids book series The Coin Slot Chronicles. TV, digital, film and consumer products are all on the table.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

The Weather Channel debuts Weather Gone Viral on Sunday, August at 9p. Series features first-hand accounts from people who were involved or who witnessed unforgettable weather moments.

Univision will debut Dulce Ambicion, a new Brazilian novela from Globo, on August 31 at 10p.

Life Below Zero returns to Nat Geo for a new season September 7 at 9p, following the extreme lifestyles of the residents living off the grid in Alaska. With temperatures colder than minus 50 degrees, residents also face whiteout snowstorms, unpredictable frozen terrain and man-eating carnivores in one of the most isolated regions in the world.

Food Network is teeing up nearly 35 hours of Halloween programming featuring thematic showcases and works of edible artistry. On the menu are new series Outrageous Pumpkins, which debuts Sunday, September 13t at 10p, returning seasons of Halloween Baking Championship (September 14, 9p) and Halloween Wars (September 13, 9p), specials Halloween Freakshow Cakes (Sunday, October 18 at 10p), Halloween Wars: Legends (October 18t and 19 at 9p), Road to Halloween Wars (September 13, 8p) and Worst Cooks in America: Halloween Redemption (October 11, 10p), and themed episodes of recurring series.

Telemundo released featurette of the new season of Falsa Identidad (False Identity), which bows Tuesday, September 22 at 10p. New season picks up two years after the suspenseful finale of its first installment.

Season 8 of Don’t Be Tardy drops on Bravo with back-to-back eps Tuesday, October 6 at 10p.

The Stand, CBS All Access’ television adaptation of the storied 1978 Stephen King novel, will debut December 17. Starring Whoopi Goldberg, Alexander Skarsgård, James Marsden, Odessa Young, Jovan Adepo and Amber Heard, the limited series unfolds around King’s apocalyptic struggle between good and evil after a plague destroys most of the country. Ben Cavell serves as show runner and exec producer.

COMING UP

Fuse Media and gender equality nonprofit Equality Now are teaming for the TV premiere of #Female Pleasure on Wednesday, August 26 at 8p. Documentary follows five women—including author Deborah Feldman, whose memoir provided the framework for the Netflix miniseries Unorthodox—who are breaking the silence imposed by their communities to fight for sexual liberation and autonomy.

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network will air OWN Spotlight: They Call Me Dad on Tuesday, September 15 at 9p. One-hour special celebrates Black fatherhood and provides access to a group of famous black fathers away from the spotlight.

Netflix dropped a trailer for its Sept. 23 film Enola Holmes, starring Millie Bobbie Brown (Stranger Things) as Sherlock Holmes’ teen sister. Based on the Nancy Springer books, Enola—in the care of older brothers Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin) after her mother goes missing—escapes from her finishing school to search for her mother in London, becoming a super-sleuth herself.

Six new original specials are on the Reelz roster in September. In the mix are Bernie Mac: In My Own Words and Lucille Ball: We Love Lucy, as well as Jimi Hendrix: A Perfect Murder?, which explores the enduring mystery surrounding the death of the rock icon. Goodfellas: Behind Closed Doors, hosted by Natalie Morales about the organized crime movie, and two Cult of Personality specials that examine, respectively, the Unification Church founded by Sun Myung Moon and The Children of God founded by David Berg round out the list.

STREAMING SCOOP

The world of virtual fests is expanding. Complex Networks on December 7-11 will host ComplexLand, a free weeklong digital universe set to feature merch drops, musical performances, food collaborations and delivery, discussions, and screenings. Built around community, culture and commerce, the fest will be a 3D theme park that can be experienced via desktop or mobile web-enabled device. Guests will be represented in ComplexLand as customizable avatars featuring branded apparel and footwear.

The 12th annual edition of the Hola Mexico Film Festival, the largest Mexican film festival outside of Mexico, will take place virtually September 11-20 on Lionsgate and Hemisphere’s Spanish-language streaming platform Pantaya. Fest will feature 20 films.

Streaming service KAST TV launches this week as a global SVOD watch party solution. Service features built-in social aimed at enabling “Kasters” to have visual/video chat capabilities in real time without interrupting playback of the streamed content. KAST TV also grants access to browsing third-party content as it opens the gateway Tubi and YouTube on its platform.

DIGITAL NEWS

CBS Village, a new online destination for CBS News content about diverse groups, will focus on content about communities including Black, Asian, LGBQT, LatinX, women and millennials. The network recently launched a race and culture unit, helmed by Alvin Patrick.

Call for Judges: Entries are ramping up for the Cynopsis Digital Awards and we are currently screening industry experts who are passionate about the space to join our judging panel. If you’re interested, please fill out this brief form to apply.

TikTok revealed its user numbers—the platform has 100 million monthly active users, more than double the 39.9 million of last October—as part of its lawsuit filed against President Trump. Since January 2018, the site has surged more than 800 percent, and its global footprint reaches 689 million users across more than 200 countries.

The ‘70s called, and they want to play Pong. The new Atari VCS gaming system, slated to launch in November, is inspired by the classic console that launched in 1977. The VCS will feature new games alongside classic and remastered favorites, plus some decidedly modern perks like streaming media and personal apps including Plex, which offers free-on-demand movies and shows from Crackle, Lionsgate, MGM and Warner Bros. Domestic TV.

The lights are still out for Fortnite at the Apple App Store. A federal judge denied publisher Epic Games’ bid for an emergency order to have the game restored on the app store, the latest chapter in the tech companies’ legal battle over Apple’s policy of assessing a 30 percent fee to apps publishers over which Epic sued earlier this month.

CASTING

After six years, Dorinda Medley is exiting Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New York City… Mary McCormack will topline opposite Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig in Heels at Starz… Garcelle Beauvais will become a co-host of daytime talk show The Real. She joins following the exit of Tamera Mowry-Housley, who left in July…

Cheyenne Jackson, Anthony Rapp, Shannon Purser, Heather Matarazzo, Jamie Clayton, Isis King, Samira Wiley and Gale Harold are onboard to portray iconic LGBTQ+ activists in HBO Max’s upcoming four-part docuseries Equal… Also at HBO Max, singer/actress Jordan Alexander scored a lead role in the Gossip Girl reboot.

KIDS NEWS

Guru Studio’s preschool franchise True and the Rainbow Kingdom returns to Netflix September 1 with new special True: Friendship Day. True and the Rainbow Kingdom initially launched on Netflix in 2017.

GOING GLOBAL

UK’s Channel 4 commissioned a series from Clerkenwell Films, the producer behind its Netflix co-production The End Of The F***ing World. Pete Jackson (One Normal Night), will create eight-part drama The Birth Of Daniel F Harris, about a young man who emerges in the world after his father locked him in the house as a child after his mom was killed in a car crash.

Also at Channel 4, a one-off reboot of morning show The Big Breakfast is in the works after an 18-year hiatus. Special hosted by comedian Mo Gilligan.

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED!

In the face of surprising acquisitions, privacy concerns, and drops in ad spend, we at Cynopsis are blown away by the incredible work we see the ad tech community producing – and we want everyone to hear about it. See who made the cut and stay tuned for ceremony details coming on early December.

[ VIEW FINALISTS ]

CBS Sports’ coverage of the 2020 PGA Tour season delivered the net delivered its best viewership average and highest-rated Tour season since 2015. Coverage of the PGA Tour season was up 17 percent in viewership and 21 percent in national household rating/share vs. last year, averaging 2.495 million viewers and a 1.7/5 rating/share for the 14 events, respectively.

HGTV’s Renovation Island attracted more than 22 million Total Viewers during its 11-week run on Sundays at 8p, with the August 16 finale delivering more than 5 million Total Viewers. The finale was the highest-rated 8p telecast across all nights of the week in HGTV history.

In syndication, season and all-time low ratings abounded in the session ended August 16. In addition to newsbreaks on the coronavirus pandemic, reports on Joe Biden announcing US Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate August 11, and coverage of their first campaign appearance together August 12 caused numerous preemptions. On top of that, Fox blew out programming for Thursday night baseball on August 13.

Among talk shows, Dr Phil (1.8 live plus same day national Nielsen rating, down 5 percent) was completely in reruns but still held up the best. Live with Kelly and Ryan (new season low 1.5, down 6 percent) was a respectable second. Well behind was third place Maury (1.0, unchanged), which was mired at its all-time low for a second consecutive week. Ellen DeGeneres (new series low 0.9, down 10 percent) fell to the weakest rating in its 17-year history. Steve Wilkos (0.9, unchanged) remained at its season low for the third week in a row, landing in a tie with “Ellen.”

Severely preempted repeats of court show extraordinaire Judge Judy (new season low 5.2, down 4%) and encore eps of Hot Bench (1.9, down 5 percent) were the highest rated strips in daytime for a tenth straight week. In access most magazines held their ground. Of note Daily Mail TV (0.8, steady) did well to tie TMZ (0.8, unchanged) for the second week in a row.

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of August 10 ranked in order by HH Rtg
Family Feud (CTD) 5.5 AA
Judge Judy (CTD) 5.2 AA
Wheel of Fortune (CTD) 4.7 AA
Jeopardy (CTD) 4.2 AA
The Big Bang Theory (WB) 2.5 AA
Inside Edition (CTD) 2.4 AA
Entertainment Tonight (CTD) 2.3 AA
Last Man Standing (DAD) 1.9 AA
Hot Bench (CTD) 1.9 AA
Dr. Phil (CTD) 1.8
Source: Nielsen

TV Time’s Shows on the Rise for the week of August 17
Lovecraft Country (HBO) – 99.9%
Lucifer (Netflix) – 84%
Teenage Bounty Hunters (Netflix) – 62.5%
Dirty John (Bravo) – 42.5%
Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star (BBC Three) – 39.4%
It’s Okay to Not Be Okay (TVN) – 32.6%
The Legend of Korra (Nickelodeon) – 29.9%
One Tree Hill (The CW) – 24.4%
3% (Netflix) – 23.3%
The Crown (Netflix) – 15.7%
*Methodology: Shows on the Rise is calculated by determining the week-over-week growth in episodes watched for a given program.

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, August 24
Show, P2+ 0000s, (A18-49)
ABC: Holey Moley 2.50 (0.4), To Tell The Truth 2.26 (0.3), Republican National Convention 1.80 (0.3)
CBS: Love Island 2.17 (0.4), Love Island 1.71 (0.4), Republican National Convention 1.39 (0.2)
CW: Whose Line Is it Anyway? 1.04 (0.2), Whose Line Is it Anyway? 0.96 (0.2), Penn & Teller 0.97 (0.2)
FOX: The King’s Speech 1.47 (0.2), The King’s Speech 1.44 (0.2)
NBC: American Ninja Warrior 2.75 (0.5), American Ninja Warrior 2.34 (0.4), Republican National Convention 1.68 (0.3)
UNI: Rosa de Guadelupe 1.33 (0.4), Medicos Linea de Vida 1.42 (0.4), Como Tu No Hay? 1.80 (0.6)
TELE: Exatlon 1.25 (0.2), Cennet 1.30 (0.3), Enemgo Intimo II 0.78 (0.2)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

CuriosityStream, appointed Matthew Blank, former chairman/CEO of Showtime Networks, to its board of directors.

IN MEMORIAM

Dan Parise, television and live event producer, and founder of Diversified Production Services, died Monday after suffering cardiac arrest, according to a rep from Roc Nation who spoke with Variety. Parise was nominated for both Emmy and Grammy awards during his 30-year career. Among his credits are the Global Citizen Festival, Made in America Festival, Super Bowl Halftime performances and the iHeart Radio Festival.

Actor Allan Rich, whose 50-year career in TV and film included roles on numerous hit TV shows in the ‘70s and a stint on Curb Your Enthusiasm, has died of progressive dementia. He was 94. Rich guested on All in the Family, Hawaii Five-0, Happy Days, The Rockford Files, Kojak, Little House on the Prairie, Baretta, Barney Miller, Alice and CHiPs, followed with roles in ‘80s series including Hill Street Blues. Rich also appeared in films including Serpico, The Gambler and The Happy Hooker.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Who voiced Herb Kazzaz in Netflix’s BoJack Horseman? Stanley Tucci. Kudos to: Charles Lore/NY; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton, FL; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station, TX; Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG•AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank

Today’s Trivia Question
Who wrote the original calypso song heard in the pilot for Gilligan’s Island? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four per time zone.)