Saturday’s Premieres
CNN: On the Trail: Inside the 2020 Primaries at 8p
Nickelodeon: Unfiltered at 8p, Group Chat with Jaden and Brent at 8:35p
OWN: Black Love at 9p
Travel Channel: Paranormal 911 at 9p

Sunday’s Premieres
Aspire TV: No Huddle at 12p, HBCU 101 at 12:30p
BBC America: Top Gear at 8p
Netflix: Undercover
Oxygen: Snapped at 6p
Smithsonian Channel: The Curious Life and Death of… at 9p
Starz: Power Book II: Ghost at 9p
TV One: Uncensored at 10p

Sunday’s Finales
CNN: The Windsors: Inside the Royal Dynasty at 10p
Starz: P-Valley at 8:05

Monday’s Premieres
Hulu: Madagascar: A Little Wild
Nat Geo: Life Below Zero at 8p, Life Below Zero: The Next Generation at 9p
NBC: American Ninja Warrior at 8p
Netflix: Record of Youth
Quibi: Singled Out
Smithsonian Channel: Henry VIII and the King’s Men at 8p
VH1: Brunch with Tiffany at 10:30p

Monday’s Finales
ABC: The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons – Ever! at 8p
Food Network: All-Star Best Things I Ever Ate at 9p, Amy Schumer Learns to Cook at 10p

IN THE NEWS

With 2020 decision day just two months away, Facebook announced steps it is taking to avoid playing a role in disrupting the vote, including not running political ads the week before the election. Among the other moves: The removal of posts claiming people will get COVID-19 if they vote, and informational labels slapped on content seeking to delegitimize the results of the election, or a campaign declaring victory before final results are in. Facebook is also taking part in a national drive to recruit poll workers, instituting a forwards limiting function on its Messenger service to slow the spread of viral information.

Both Facebook and Twitter took action regarding President Trump’s recent suggestion that voters send in their vote by mail and then vote in person to check if their vote has been tabulated. Twitter added a “public interest notice” to two tweets about voting twice, and Facebook said it would remove any video of the president’s voting comments that are shared without context or that support his statements.

Speaking of voting, SAG-AFTRA members voted 87.68% to 12.32% to ratify a new TV animation contract. “This is a strong, future-focused agreement with significant gains for our members,” said SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris. “It applies scale wages to more productions, lowers budget thresholds for half-hour HBSVOD programs and delivers additional money for the use of interstitial programs in new media.” The agreement calls for wage increases of 2.5% in the first year and 3% increases in each of the second and third years, a 26% jump in residuals for high-budgeted SVOD programs, and a change to the broadcast residual from a fixed 6% to a revenue-based residual.

Telemundo’s political-based informational series, Politi¿Que?, has premiered in English on Snapchat, part of the net’s efforts to reach US Hispanics across platforms to encourage voter turnout. The short-format digital series, which explains the political process in simple terms, is part of Decision 2020, the company’s non-partisan multiplatform news and civic engagement initiative.

Marie Osmond is leaving CBS daytimer The Talk after one season. “Marie is a consummate professional, and we thank her for sharing her personal experiences, insight, as well as incredible talents, with our audience,” said CBS. “We will miss her humor, kindness and good nature.” Osmond said she is working on “several projects” with The Talk’s former executive producer and showrunner John Redmann, who recently left after 10 seasons.

Tell it to the judge – again. Netflix is appealing the court ruling that prohibited it from poaching Fox employees, arguing that Hollywood “takes a dim view of employee mobility.” Fox sued the streamer in 2016, after it persuaded Marcos Waltenberg and Tara Flynn to break their contracts with Fox by doubling their salaries. Netflix’s appeal contends policies like Fox’s are “intolerable to innovation, employee mobility and competition.”

NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations announced that its 2020 Clear the Shelters virtual “Adopt & Donate” campaign resulted in the adoption of more than 130,000 pets and counting, as animal shelters continue to report in. Thanks to donations made by individuals all across the country, the campaign also raised more than $1.185 million dollars to benefit shelters/rescues.

Netflix isn’t waiting until the premiere of its zombie action movie Army of the Dead next year to green light a prequel and a spin-off anime series. The prequel will be directed by and star Matthias Schweighöfer and will follow his Army of the Dead character. Shay Hatten will write the prequel as well as the anime series. Jay Olivia (Batman: The Dark Night Returns) will showrun the anime series, Army of the Dead: Las Vegas.

Jeopardy! G.O.A.T. Ken Jennings is joining the trivia show for season 37 as a consulting producer. He’s tasked with presenting some new categories, offering clues, developing new projects and helping find contestants. But, “Don’t worry, I’ll still be the host,” assured Alex Trebek in a promo.

Mixed-ish co-creator Peter Saji inked a new overall deal with ABC Signature (previously ABC Studios). Saji has been with the studio since 2007, getting his start in the Disney/ABC Writers program. “Peter has written some of the most evocative and important episodes of Black-ish, and hit a real home run for us with Mixed-ish,” said Jonnie Davis, President, ABC Signature. “Keeping him at ABC Signature, where he started his career, was a huge priority for us and for me personally. He’s a spectacular talent and I’m so happy he’s staying in the family.”

Millennials, a comedy written by father and son Rugg Williams (In the Heat of the Night) and Oren Williams (Rebound), got the green light from UMC. The series explores the lives of twetysomething roommates. Bentley Kyle (Martin) – who is also currently working on the upcoming UMC sitcom Partners In Rhyme – will serve as executive producer and co-director for the series. Rugg and Oren Williams will executive produce as well, along with son/brother Zachary Isaiah Williams (Honey).

Was Elvis a narc? What was behind the Michael Jackson/Prince feud? AXS TV’s recently greenlit docu-series Music’s Greatest Mysteries will offer answers. “As AXS TV continues to evolve and expand, we are committed to creating new and original reality and lifestyle music programming,” said Sarah Weidman, Head of Original Programming, Development and Multi-Platform Content for AXS TV. “Music’s Greatest Mysteries gives viewers an in-depth look at the myths and legends that have rocked the industry.” Produced by Texas Crew Productions and Hideout Pictures, the six-parter is slated for a 4Q20 debut.

Quibi’s Reno 911! revival made it to season two on the short form service. The current incarnation debuted in May.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Unscripted series Emergency Call, documenting the first minutes of emergencies as told through the lens of 911 call takers, premieres Monday, September 28 at 10p on ABC. Luke Wilson (Legally Blonde) hosts the show, from 8Hours Television and based on a Belgian format. “When you’re younger, you might be drawn toward superheroes or fictional characters, but as you get older you come to realize that people who help, real-life heroes, are just regular people who do extraordinary things,” said Wilson. “911 call takers don’t just save people; they calm and console people until they are safe. They are the first link in the chain of first responders. For that, I feel very lucky to be a part of this project.”

Conspiracy thriller series Spides makes its US debut on Crackle on Thursday, September 17. Set in Berlin, the eight-parter follows a woman who falls into a coma after taking an unknown drug, and wakes up with no memory of her previous life.

STREAMING

HBO Max has brought back its “Save for 12” promotion, giving new and returning customers access for $11.99/month on supported devices, a savings of $36 over the course of a year. The offer comes ahead of originals debuting this month, including Ridley Scott’s buzzed-about Raised by Wolves.

Digital-first news network Cheddar is now streaming on SmartCast, VIZIO’s Smart TV platform. “We pride ourselves on covering the stories that are moving markets and starting new conversations and we’re excited to bring Cheddar’s top business and headline news to SmartCast users,” said Priya Nevrekar, Sr. Director, Distribution & Business Development, Altice News.

AVOD network WildBrain Spark has inked a deal with Funrise Toys to support the launch of the collectible doll brand BFF Bright Fairy Friends with a digital-first content strategy. With Funrise Toys, WildBrain Spark is producing over 100 minutes of short-form animated and live action content for the brand on YouTube; new episodes of the show post weekly.

E.W. Scripps-owned Newsy is now available of Amazon’s news app. “Launching Newsy on the Amazon news app is an important way for us to reach the tens of millions of engaged customers who use Fire TV and Fire Tablets devices to access their news,” said Brad Samuels, Newsy’s VP of Content Distribution. “We’re excited to bring our distinctive approach to this OTT experience – providing the fresh perspective, no-hype delivery and added context audiences seek.”

Facebook Watch is drawing more than 1.25 billion viewers a month, according to the company. “During a time when people can’t come together physically, more people are turning to Watch to stay connected to creators, artists, sports, entertainment and what’s happening in the world,” wrote Paresh Rajwat, Head of Video Products, in a blog post. The video platform launched globally in 2018.

Curious George: Go West, Go Wild joins Peacock’s kids slate on Tuesday, September 8. The streamer has a Curious George library of films, TV specials and the TV series.

CASTING

Gina Torres (Suits) landed a series regular role in season two of Fox’s 9-1-1: Lone Star, slated for an early 2021 launch…Ciera Payton (The Oval) will play the lead in Lifetime’s Wendy Williams: The Hot Topic (wt). Also onboard the biopic is Morocco Omari (Empire).

COMING UP

It’s all Star Trek, all day for CBS All Access’ Star Trek Day Celebration on Tuesday, September 8, honoring the 54th anniversary of the original Star Trek series premiere. The virtual event includes exclusive programming, panels with cast and creatives from nine Star Trek series, curated marathons and more.

BET and Entertainment Tonight are honoring the late Chadwick Boseman in a news special hosted by Kevin Frazier. BET and ET Present Chadwick Boseman: Life and Legacy will trace the actor’s career on Sunday, September 6 at 9p. At 6p, BET will air Marshall, starring Boseman as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. The much-admired actor died August 28 of colon cancer, at age 43.

Laff landed licensing rights to How I Met Your Mother, which will launch on the net with a two-day marathon on Sunday, September 6 and Monday, September 7 from 8a-midnight.

Bounce boasts two exclusive US premieres this weekend. A Chance in the World, based on the true story of an abused boy whose life changes when he meets a caring teacher, premieres Saturday, September 5 at 9p, and true crime doc Killing Michael Jackson debuts Monday, September 7 at 8p.

Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD will celebrate Halloween with themed programming starting Friday, October 2 and continuing through the big day. Among the offerings: the season four premiere of Raven’s Home on Friday, October 9 at 8p, and the debut of remotely-filmed Disney Channel Halloween House Party on Friday, October 16 at 8p.

Insp is celebrating the anniversaries of Gunsmoke (65th) on Monday, September 7; Bonanza (61st) on Saturday, September 12; The Big Valley (55th) on Saturday, September 19; and Daniel Boone (56th) on Saturday, September 26, with marathons of memorable episodes.

HBO Documentary Film’s 40 Years a Prisoner, chronicling the controversial 1978 Philadelphia police raid on the radical back-to-nature group MOVE, and the aftermath that led to a son’s decades-long fight to free his parents, debuts Thursday, December 3 on HBO. The film was directed, produced and shot by Tommy Oliver (1982) through his company, Confluential Films, with original music by The Roots.

TECH TALK

DoubleVerify, the software platform for digital media measurement, data and analytics, announced the beta launch of its custom contextual targeting solution that lets advertisers execute contextual targeting within their campaigns, and is intended to assist advertisers with compliance with global initiatives like the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act. “Powering media performance in a post-cookie era continues to be a priority area of innovation for the company,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. “Custom contextual targeting adds to our set of performance solutions — letting advertisers improve campaign relevance at scale, and designed to assist them with complying with consumer privacy measures.”

Video software provider Synamedia launched a new security model focused on eradicating streaming pirates’ businesses. The data-led model makes it possible to measure the efficacy and ROI of anti-piracy initiatives, and provides forensic insights into the minds, motivations and behaviors of pirates, and their infrastructure and business models. “Video piracy is becoming an existential threat to the media industry because the barrier to entry is low and the return on investment very high,” said Yael Fainaro, SVP, Security. “Eradicating these businesses is made more difficult by the fact that they have sophisticated operations, are well organized, and make extensive use of the latest technologies.”

WMT and LiveLike are teaming to bring live event fan engagement to college athletic programs. In a debut with Georgia Tech athletics, Georgia Tech’s custom-built digital athletics platform and app will enable students, fans, alumni and recruits to participate in interactive features t­­hat sync to live events, from Georgia Tech’s existing website. “With the postponement of some sports and others reducing or eliminating in-venue attendance, we set out to reimagine the collegiate sports experience,” said Andres Focil, Founder, WMT. “Working with LiveLike, we can elevate how athletic programs engage with their fan base in real-time, without ever leaving the team’s current online platform.”

Consultative agency Gongos and audience-first insights platform DISQO are partnering to offer organizations a fully agnostic digital consumer view of brands and their category, with targeted analysis of unstructured data. DISQO’s first-party audience allows for behavioral inputs at massive scale through permissioned data, while Gongos analyzes and contextualizes the data against brand metrics to derive custom insights. “Digital interactions with brands have grown exponentially since the onset of 2020 and comprise a lion’s share of the customer’s journey,” said Camille Nicita, Gongos president & CEO. “Leveraging DISQO’s rich data source – often not captured by conventional metrics – means marrying the what and the why to develop activation strategies that provide a new dimension of competitiveness for brands.”

GOING GLOBAL

New Director General Tim Davie said the BBC is cutting 900 jobs in news and across nations, in an effort to reduce duplication, layers and overheads, and evolve the institution. “We have no inalienable right to exist. We are only as good as the value we deliver our audiences, our customers,” he said in a speech. “We must grow that value. That is our simple mission.”

Moonbug is contining its expansion into China through a strategic partnership with streaming platform Tencent Video. The deal will make four of Moonbug’s leading IPs, Go Buster, Playtime with Twinkle, The Sharksons, and KiiYii, available to Tencent Video users.

Novel Entertainment’s animated special Horrid Henry’s Gross Day Out drops on Netflix in the UK on September 7. Netflix has also taken worldwide VOD rights for the action-adventure film, which will roll out globally later this year.

APC Studios has secured deals for CTC Media’s preschool animated show Kid-E-Cats with Minika (Turkey), Chilean SVOD VTR, Nordic platform SF (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland), RTVS (Slovakia), and Menart (the Balkans).

AMC Networks International – Central and Northern Europe and Hungary’s state-owned Antenna Hungária struck a multi-year, long term channel distribution agreement to launch AMCNI CNE’s entire portfolio on the major service provider’s line-up. The partnership will also see all of AMCNI CNE’s television channels available in Antenna Hungária’s MinDigTV Extra subscription package.

Bloodlands, the first drama series from newly formed Hat Trick Mercurio Television, has been pre-sold to SBS Australia, VRT Belgium, C-More Scandinavia, NPO Netherlands, TV2 Norway and TV4 Sweden.

In addition to celebrating individual Top Women in Media, Cynopsis is recognizing two distinguished companies who champion women in media the week of October 13.
We can’t wait to highlight:

Ampersand + Starz

>> REGISTER TO ATTEND <<
(It’s free! And sponsored by Turnkey Search)

Nielsen has added a Top 10 ranking of US SVOD viewing, and for the week of August 3, Nielsen was the clear winner, taking every slot. So far, only Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are included in the ranking.

Top 10 SVOD Programs for the week of August 3
Show, # of Episodes, Minutes (Millions)
Netflix: The Umbrella Academy, 20, 3011
Netflix: Shameless, 120,1125
Netflix: Grey’s Anatomy, 361, 918
Netflix: The Office, 192, 897
Netflix: Criminal Minds, 277, 697
Netflix: NCIS, 353, 524
Netflix: In the Dark, 26, 418
Netflix: Dexter, 96, 316
Netflix: Supernatural, 321, 315
Netflix: Parks and Recreation, 121, 304
Source: Nielsen

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Wednesday, September 2
Show, P2+ 0000s, (A18-49)
ABC: The Goldbergs 2.22 (0.4), black-ish 1.60 (0.3), The Conners 1.76 (0.3), American Housewife 1.53 (0.3), The Goldbergs 1.25 (0.3), The Conners 1.24 (0.2)
CBS: Big Brother 4.15 (1.1), Tough as Nails 3.11 (0.4)
CW: The Hundred 0.33 (0.1), Coroner 0.70 (0.1)
FOX: MasterChef 1.26 (0.3), MasterChef 1.47 (0.4)
NBC: America’s Got Talent 5.66 (0.6), Ellen’s Game of Games 2.50 (0.4), Chicago med 2.00 (0.3)
Telemundo: Exatlon Estados Unidos 1.18, Todo por mi Hija 1.35, Enemigo Intimo 0.87
Univision: Rosa de Guadelupe 1.57 (0.5), Medicos Linea de Vida 1.57 (0.5), Dulce Ambicion 1.30 (0.4)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Jay Levine has been promoted to Chief Strategy Officer and EVP Business Operations for WarnerMedia. He had been Warner Bros.’ EVP Television Business Strategy and Digital Services. Thomas Gewecke, Warner Bros. Chief Digital Officer and EVP Strategy and Business Development since 2013, will step down at the end of September.

AMC Networks announced that Rafael Gomez has joined the company as Head of Business Affairs for the company’s Entertainment Group. Scott Stein is being elevated to a new role, as Executive Business Director of the expanding universe around The Walking Dead. Gomez joins the company from NBC Universal, where he served as the SVP of Business Affairs for Peacock.

Post-Banijay takeover, Patrick Keegan, Group Director, Marketing and Communications for Endemol Shine Group, will be leaving his role. Kate Humphreys will take responsibility for the newly-combined group’s global communications strategy.

Discovery is streamlining its EMEA operation with a reorg to accelerate digital transformation. James Gibbons’ portfolio will encompass the Nordic markets in addition to the UK markets; his new title is GM UK & Nordics. The Nordic markets will be unified under the leadership of Nicklas Norrby. Benelux will be unified with Germany under the leadership of GM Germany & Benelux Susanne Aigner, while Spain and France will be unified under the leadership of GM Iberia & France, Antonio Ruiz. Jamie Cooke will take on a new combined role for Russia, CEEMCA, MEA & PayTV. Cooke comes from the role as SVP Chief of Staff EMEA. Leah Hooper will be taking the role of SVP D2C Growth & Strategy International, and Espen Skoland is now SVP Communications for EMEA.

IN MEMORIAM

Television executive W. Russell Barry died August 26 of pulmonary fibrosis. He was 84. Barry was a former President of 20th Century Fox Television and Chairman of Turner Program Services.

This Day in History
1885 – The first cafeteria opened, in NYC.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
From which series was Family Matters (1989-98) a spinoff? Perfect Strangers (1986-1993). Kudos to: Jared Paventi-Alzheimer’s Association/Syracuse, NY/Riverside, NJ, Brianne Maciejowski-Miles/Sarasota, FL, Barbara Bevel/Staten Island, NY, Matt Laramee-Southern New Hampshire University/Manchester, NH, Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station, TX, Beth Tallent-TallentPR/Nashville, Ryan Raines-Biz TV & YTA/Dallas/Fort Worth, Dan Whitford-WTTW/Chicago, John Kukla-KDFW/Dallas/Fort Worth, Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA, Dan Haberer-Creo Entertainment/Playa del Rey, CA, Melissa Friedman/LA, Eric Litt-Nextstar/Chicago, Ken DuBow-Bob’s Your Uncle/LA

Today’s Trivia Question
For which series did Matthew Perry receive two Emmy nominations? (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.)