08/27/18: Chef Mario Batali in more hot water

Good morning. It’s Monday August 27, 2018 and this is your first early morning briefing.

Tonight’s Finale:

ABC: The Proposal at 10p

IN THE NEWS

An outpouring of reaction to the death of John McCain, the longtime maverick Arizona senator who lost his battle to cancer Saturday night at age 81, continued through the weekend from entertainment and political circles. Look for a number of televised retrospectives in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren is facing backlash for chiding McCain last Friday while speaking at an Arizona Republican rally. On the day McCain announced he was suspending cancer treatment, Lahren referred to him as a RINO (Republican In Name Only), noting, “we can’t put up another RINO like McCain” in office.

Lionsgate paid $92.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by shareholders disconcerted over its $4.4 billion acquisition of Starz. Shareholders spoke out via seven class-action suits filed in July and August 2016 against Lionsgate and former board members, including John Malone.

Celeb chef Mario Batali, former host of ABC’s The Chew and a staple on Iron Chef America, is being hit with more legal woes. Boston woman Natali Tene is claiming Batali groped her at a bar in 2017. Seven women already have accused Batali of alleged inappropriate touching; he subsequently lost his television gigs, and shuttered several restaurants.

It’s a settlement for Comcast and the Fox Networks Group regarding their high-profile carriage dispute over the Big Ten Network ahead of the September 1 end of their current contract. Under the new pact, Comcast will continue to carry BTN and offer the network to customers in states with Big Ten universities; Xfinity subscribers in areas including Delaware, DC and Northern Virginia also will continue to receive the network given their proximity to Big Ten schools.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on September 5. He’s been called to DC regarding his company’s practices. Twitter is among social media outlets that have raised eyebrows for banning conservative voices and censoring comments. Dorsey has denied those practices, but his noting his company is “left-leaning” led to calls for a Congressional hearing. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced the same committee regarding his company’s practices.

Participant Media and Starz launched a nationwide civic engagement and educational outreach campaign tied to the release of the upcoming 10-part docuseries America to Me, from Steve James (Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters, Life Itself). The series debuted on Sunday (August 26); the 10-city program – touching down in cities including DC, LA, NY and Chicago – kicks off in Atlanta and rolls out over the course of 10 weeks, with the goal of sparking thousands of conversations about racial disparity and equality.

Freeform has scrapped a planned finale movie to cap its comedy series Young & Hungry, which recently concluded its fifth and final season. Star Emily Osment tweeted the news over the weekend: “It breaks my heart to tell you that in addition to @FreeformTV not giving our Young & Hungry audience the ending our show deserved, they have ALSO decided to not go forward with a full length film.”

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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Common is expanding his relationship with Lionsgate. The multi-hyphenate artist and exec signed an overall TV deal to develop and produce new TV series under his Freedom Road Productions banner. Common starred in installments of Lionsgate’s John Wick and Now You See Me films; additional film credits include roles in Wanted and Selma. He’s currently starring in and executive producing television series The Chi on Showtime.

R&B artist Ginuwine inked a deal with Bungalow Media + Entertainment to develop unscripted projects. He’s recently appeared in Bravo docuseries Your Husband Is Cheating on Us and Celebrity Big Brother UK.

There’ll be a second season of host Jasmine Roth’s Hidden Potential, thanks to a thumbs up from HGTV. Roth updates generic homes in the Huntington Beach, CA area.

Producer Danielle Claman Gelber renewed her first-look deal with Universal TV. Under the pact, she’ll develop scripted and nonscripted series via her Acoustic Productions banner.

Hulu is finalizing a pilot order to limited series The Great, starring and exec-produced by Elle Fanning and co-starring Nicholas Hoult. Project hails from MRC, and is written/exec-produced by Tony McNamara.

Top 10 Weekend Domestic Box Office Estimates: August 24-26, 2018

Crazy Rich Asians (Warner Bros.) $25.0 million (week 2), cume $76.8 million

The Meg (Warner Bros.) $13.0 million (week 3), cume $105.3 million

The HappyTime Murders (STX) $10.0, opening weekend

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Paramount) $8.0 million (week 5), cume revenue $193.9 million

Disney’s Christopher Robin (Buena Vista) $6.3 million (week 2), cume revenue $77.6 million

Mile 22 (STX) $6.0 million (week 2), cume $25.2 million

Alpha (Studio 8) $5.6 million (week 2), cume $20.2 million

Blackkklansman (Focus Features) $5.35 million (week 3), cume $32.03

A.X.L. (Global Road) $2.94 opening weekend

Slender Man (Sony/Screen Gems) $2.79 (week 3), cume $25.4

Source: comScore

COMING UP

Reba McEntire will return for a second year to host the ninth iteration of CMA Country Christmas, the two-hour music celebration that tapes September 27 and is slated to air on ABC during the holiday season. Tony Bennett, Dan + Shay, Brett Eldredge, Amy Grant, Diana Krall, Dustin Lynch, Martina McBride, Old Dominion and Brad Paisley are among those onboard for the special.

CNBC will premiere original doc Bitcoin: Boom or Bust tonight (August 27) at 6p. Treatment presents the good, the bad and the ugly sides of the cryptocurrency.

HBO set Saturday, October 20 as the premiere date for My Dinner With Herve, starring Peter Dinklage and Jamie Dornan.

DIGITAL DATA

Snapchat is continuing to step up its e-commerce game. Adidas is premiering a new version of its Falcon W sneaker on Fashion 5 Ways, a show that premiered this weekend on Snapchat’s Discover page. Other notable names that have launched products/merch on the platform include SeatGeek, Ariana Grande, Niki Minaj and Kylie Jenner.

Execs from Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft and Snapchat reportedly met Friday to mindshare about how to prevent meddling in the midterm elections. Allegedly on the agenda according to a report from Buzzfeed, which obtained a memo about the meeting: progress reports on preventing misinformation, current problems, and discussion of whether such meetings should be held more regularly.

CASTING

Suzy Nakamura (Dr. Ken) scored a lead role opposite Hugh Laurie in HBO comedy pilot Avenue 5 (working title)… Ava Duvernay-directed Netflix limited series Central Park Five landed a bevvy of new talent, with Joshua Jackson, Christopher Jackson and Adepero Oduye (12 Years A Slave) onboard the project. Also new to the series are Devorah Herbert, Omar Dorsey (Queen Sugar), Blair Underwood, Famke Janssen, William Sadler (Power) and Aurora Perrineau (Into The Dark)… Cassady McClincy (Love, Simon) is joining season 9 of AMC’s The Walking Dead in a recurring role… Anthony Konechny (Almost Human) will recur on the upcoming fourth season of the CW’s Supergirl… Christine Ko (Hawaii Five-0) will topline Netflix feature film Tigertail; Kunjue Li also joins the cast.

Michelle Beadle is moving from field to court on ESPN. The network shifted the host from its football-centric Get Up! morning show to new NBA post-game show NBA After The Buzzer, which will air after the regular Wednesday and Friday doubleheaders on ESPN.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

New Chinese production house Pop Life Global is a joint venture among Stanley Cheung, former chairman of the Walt Disney Co. China; Guenther Hake, former CEO of Oriental DreamWorks China; and MD Young, co-founder of arts brand Pop Life Entertainment. The company will produce movies, music and merchandise. Films in the pipeline include thriller Painted Beauty and sports-adventure film Underdogs Rising.

Viacom UK broadcaster Channel 5 snapped up another Vice Studios doc series – the four-part series Drug Wars, which probes prolific drug use across the UK.

British broadcaster ITV ordered three-part workplace psychological drama The Man, to be directed by Julia Ford and star Ken Nwosu (Christopher Robin, Killing Eve).

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ANNOUNCING FINALISTS

THE TEMPEST ESPORTS BUSINESS AWARDS

Awards Gala: Tuesday, October 2^nd | Esports Arena at Luxor, Las Vegas

After a two-week judging period by a group of industry experts and editors from Cynopsis Sports, Chief Marketer, and Event Marketer… the most innovative companies, teams, leagues, brands and executives from the last year have been announced. Click here to see who made the cut.

RATINGS

Discovery’s Alaskan Bush People dominated ratings with its season premiere on Sunday, August 19. The season premiere was Sunday night’s No. 1 unscripted cable telecast across A25-54 and M25-54, and was the top cable telecast among M18-49. The series also saw double-digit growth over last year.

Live + Same Day Viewers AA (millions) Thursday, August 23, 2018 time period averages

Source: NTI, Galaxy as dated Live+SD

CBS: 4.82 million

The Big Bang Theory 5.84, Young Sheldon 4.90, Big Brother 5.55, SWAT 2.99

ABC: 3.79 million

The Gong Show 2.88

NBC: 2.32 million

Ellen’s Game of Games 3.38, Trial & Error 2.01, Trial & Error 1.67, Law & Order: SVU 2.24

FOX: 6.08 million

NFL Preseason 6.08

CW: 0.73 million

Supernatural 0.94, Black Lightening 0.51

Univision: 0.9 million

El Rico Y Lazaro 1.07, Bella y las Bestias 0.92, La Piloto 0.72

Telemundo: 1 million

Exatlon 0.7, Sin Senos Si Hay 1.0, Senor de los Cielos 1.1

Wednesday A18-49: CBS 1.0/5, FOX 1.7/9, NBC 0.5/2, ABC 0.5/2, CW 0.2/1, UNI .4/2, TELE .6/3

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Netflix nabbed lauded Disney production exec Tendo Nagenda to lead production for Scott Stuber and the company’s well-funded film division. Nagenda has been at Disney for the past eight years; he had prior stints at HBO, Warner Independent, Plan B and Good Universe.

IN MEMORIAM

Entertainment host and journalist Robin Leach died August 24 at age 76. He had been hospitalized since mid-November after suffering a stroke. Leach’s syndicated TV series Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous was a hit during the’ 80s and early ’90s. He most recently worked as a columnist at the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Lisa Fleming, who was featured on TLC series My 600-lb Life in season 6 this year, died Thursday. She was 50. The cause of death was not known at press time.

This Day in History: 1984 – Diane Sawyer became the fifth reporter on CBS’ 60 Minutes.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question: What article of clothing does Joey don to prove to Phoebe he’s comfortable with his masculinity on Friends (1994-2004)? Women’s underwear. Kudos to: Eric Emeric-Showtime Networks Inc/NY; Ray Giacopelli -MI7 Media Intel/NY; Holly Hearn-H2 Concierge Marketing, LLC/Sarasota FL; David Nerahoo-MTV Networks/NY; Becca Vesperino-Viacom/NY; Squirrel Rippley-Dark Horse Media/Tucson, AZ; Jim Katz-The Carney Awards/LA; Mike Adams-National Sports Forum/San Diego; Eliana Velasco-Canvas Worldwide/LA

Today’s Trivia Question: Who was the first to utter The Electric Company catchphrase “Hey, you guys!” on the show? (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.)

Answer to our last Anagram: Part Hen Tale = Planet Earth. Kudos to: Mandy Ledbetter-Discovery Research/NY; Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank

Today’s Kids TV Series Anagram: Route Lust Cilia (Email trivia@ cynopsis.com with your answer; first three respondents with the correct answer who aren’t in trivia will be posted in tomorrow’s newsletter.)

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