PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Marvel Television seems ready to welcome more women into the superhero pantheon, based on remarks made by svp of original programming Karim Zrek at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. He noted the company is looking at “more female-skewed shows” and that there’s a “Jessica Jones-esque” project in development at ABC now.
CBS TV Studios is developing a new drama series based on an Israeli format called Your Honor. The US adaptation is likely to air on premium cable and streaming networks, and will be headed by Peter Moffat (whose Criminal Justice was the basis for HBO‘s The Night Of) and Robert and Michelle King (The Good Wife, The Good Fight).
CBS has also signed a pilot production commitment for History of Them, a multi-camera/hybrid comedy from Gloria Calderon Kellett (One Day at a Time). Sony Pictures TV Studios is behind the production, with CBS TV Studios co-producing. The semi-autobiographical story will be a multicultural romantic comedy about friends falling in love.
But what about Huggy Bear? Sony TV is considering a return to the mean streets with a Starsky & Hutch reboot headed up by writer/director James Gunn (The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise). The project is currently being pitched to broadcast, cable and streaming networks and is reportedly a character-driven hourlong procedural; Gunn may also direct episodes. The original series ran from 1975-79.
Actress Regina King (American Crime) has been tapped to direct an episode of NBC‘s This Is Us; she begins shooting next week. The series returns for Season 2 on Tuesday, September 26 at 9p.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Shudder, a part of AMC Networks, has picked up the French science-fiction series Missions from AB International Distribution. The series looks at how a Mars expedition turns into a rescue for a competitor’s ship and crew. Shudder will have first-window rights for the US, Canada and UK/Ireland for Season 1, which it will launch on Thursday, September 28 across its territories. It will co-produce the 10-episode Season 2, which is set to air in 2018.
Street Justice: The Bronx, a Discovery Channel series that follows decorated NYPD detective Ralph Friedman through his cases, will premiere on Tuesday, September 19 at 9p.
Ready to work up a sweat? Pop sure is, with its new series Let’s Get Physical, a comedy that will be set in the world of competitive aerobics. The eight-episode series will star Matt Jones (Breaking Bad, Mom), Chris Diamantopoulos (Silicon Valley, Episodes) and AnnaLynne McCord (90210, Nip Tuck) and is scheduled to premiere in 2018.
It’s magic! Season 2 of The Shannara Chronicles is set to premiere on Wednesday, October 11 at 10p. The series has moved to Spike from MTV, which aired the first season in 2016, and is based on the fantasy book series by Terry Brooks.
Z Living has a new docu-soap called Yoga Girls, which will follow elite yoga instructors in Los Angeles as they build client rosters. The series, from Charlie Ebersol‘s The Company, premieres Sunday, September 24 at 8p.
Jay and Mark Duplass‘ anthology series Room 104 has been renewed for a second season by HBO. The series focuses on the different occupants of a particular hotel room in a chain motel.
ABC‘s America’s Funniest Home Videos returns for its 28th season in a new time period on Sunday, October 8 at 8p.
Investigation Discovery‘s new series Grave Mysteries will ask detectives to reconstruct homicide victims’ final moments using social media and online history, and premieres Tuesday, September 5 at 10p.
COMING UP
Netflix will mark the 25th anniversary of Def Comedy Jam this fall with the Def Comedy Jam 25 special, which will premiere this fall. The HBO comedy series, which was created by Russell Simmons, boosted the careers of such comedians as Tracy Morgan, Cedric The Entertainer and Dave Chappelle and ran from 1992-97, then returned from 2006-08.
History will premiere a limited documentary series, Road to 9/11, about the events leading up to the 2001 terrorist attack in New York City, over three consecutive nights beginning on Monday, September 4 at 9p.
Protecting the Sacred: Water, the Environment & Climate Change, a CBS interfaith special, will look at how communities are reacting to the growing crisis. The special broadcast will air Sunday, September 24.
CASTING
Titans now has its Starfire, one of the lead roles in the new live-action series from Greg Berlanti, Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Johns and Sarah Schecter. Anna Diop (24: Legacy) has been cast in the show, which is part of the DC-branded direct-to-consumer digital service’s inaugural slate. The show is set to premiere in 2018.
ABC has announced they will reveal the all-new celebrity cast of Dancing With the Stars on Good Morning America on Wednesday, September 6. The show returns for its 25th season on Monday, September 18 at 8p.
Diane Guerrero (Orange Is the New Black) has joined the cast of CBS‘ Superior Donuts as a regular, and will appear as an uptown gentrifier with a food truck beginning in the second season premiere on Monday, October 30 at 9:30p.
Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Emerald City) has been cast in Netflix‘s upcoming series adaptation The Haunting of Hill House, based on the 1959 Shirley Jackson novel.
Netflix‘s comedy Dear White People has upped Marque Richardson to series regular for its second season. He plays Reggie, the character he portrayed in the film by the same title from 2014.
SYNDICATION
Syndicated daily strip Page Six TV will launch Monday, September 18. The entertainment gossip/news show will air on Fox Television Stations in 16 markets, and comes from Twentieth Television, Endemol Shine North America and the New York Post.
DIGITAL DOINGS
Amazon has renewed its Golden Globe and multiple Emmy-winning series Transparent for a fifth season; production is expected to begin next year with episodes airing in 2018.
Verizon‘s go90 has partnered with the studio division of Robert Rodriguez‘s El Rey Network to create a new animated short series, Explosion Jones (starring Michael Madsen, Carl Weathers and Danny Trejo, among others) and an independent filmmaking event that will commemorate the 25th anniversary of Rodriguez’s filmmaking debut, El Mariachi. The director will invite five amateur filmmakers to follow his model in making the film: write, shoot and edit a feature-length project for just $7,000. The filmmakers’ process and their final films will be streamed on go90 in the show Rebel Without a Crew.
The Orchard has acquired digital rights to Kelly Noonan Gores‘ directorial debut Heal, which explores how thoughts, beliefs and emotions affect human beings’ health. Paladin will distribute the film in select theaters beginning in October; the digital launch is slated for late in 2017.
Netflix has ordered a third season of the docuseries Last Chance U. The new season, which will relocate from the south to Kansas, will explore a junior college football program and is expected to premiere later in 2017.
Netflix has also announced it will premiere Godless on Wednesday, November 22. The seven-part period drama is from Steven Soderbergh and Scott Frank, who worked on Out of Sight together, and stars Jeff Daniels, Michelle Dockery and Jack O’Connell.
Hulu has given the green light to All Night (formerly Grad Night), a 10-episode half-hour comedy series from Awesomeness TV. It uses a big ensemble cast to focus on an overnight, lock-in graduation party, and is set to premiere in 2018.
GOING GLOBAL
Endemol Shine Group and Universal Television Alternative Studio are building The Wall in new territories: Russia, Poland, Romania and Hungary. Multiple episode orders of the game show format created by LeBron James, Maverick Carter and Andrew Glassman have been commissioned for Endemol Shine Poland; Russian broadcaster Rossya 1; Antena (Romania); and RTL (Hungary).
Spain’s Boomerang TV has picked up two of Armoza Formats‘ shows: the social experiment series Sex Tape and reality competition show Curvy Supermodel. Sex Tape involves three couples fixing their relationships through “spicy new therapy” while Curvy Supermodel is a casting show searching for the next great look.
Steve Coogan‘s alter ego Alan Partridge will return to the BBC in a 25th anniversary special, according to BBC comedy controller Shane Allen. The hourlong special will air before the end of 2017, and will mark the quarter-century since the socially-awkward radio host’s debut on BBC Radio in 1992. Coogan has also been tapped to star in a new series on BBC One in 2017.
Oscar winners (Amy) James Gay-Rees and Asif Kapadia are executive producing a BBC One documentary series about the murder of a black teenaged student, Stephen Lawrence, by a group of white teens in the UK in 1993.
BBC One is also keeping busy with three new drama orders: The Cry, adapted from Helen FitzGerald‘s novel about a marriage’s disintegration; The Victim is a modern legal thriller told through the plaintiff and the defendant’s points of view; and The Barking Murders (wt) from Oscar nominee Jeff Pope, a factual drama hoping to explore the lives of the families of victims of a convicted serial rapist and murderer.
Sony Pictures Television Networks president Andy Kaplan now has an additional job: He’s serving as Gala Chair for the 45th International Emmy Awards, which will be held on Monday, November 20, 2017 in New York City.
BBC Four has completed a deal with FremantleMedia International for the German drama Reformation. The story of Martin Luther is set to air in the fall alongside other programming based on the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.
