Today’s Finale
ABC: Holey Moley at 8p

IN THE NEWS

It’s the end of the road for AMC’s The Walking Dead – but the franchise appears to still have miles to go. The mama of zombie dramas will conclude with an expanded two-year, 24-episode eleventh season that will run through late 2022. The final run of TWD – which broke ground as the highest-rated series in the history of cable TV – will be followed by a greenlit spin-off focused on the Daryl Reed (Norman Reedus) and Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) characters in 2023, run by current TWD showrunner Angela Kang. AMC is also developing episodic anthology Tales of the Walking Dead, focused on new and existing characters. “The Walking Dead…is one of those rare creative works that has given life to an entire content universe that is still in the early stages of growing and entertaining both new and established fans,” said Ed Carroll, COO of AMC Networks.

ViacomCBS’ Entertainment & Youth Group inked a three-year deal with iHeartMedia to create original podcasts – and between MTV, Smithsonian Channel, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, Pop TV, CMT, VH1, TV Land and Logo, the audio offerings will be able to cater to a wide range of audiences in diverse genres. “Our plan is simple: We will swing all of our resources behind these incredible brands – with support from our production teams, our huge distribution and marketing muscle, and the biggest and best audio sales team in the country – to make sure they get the audience they deserve in this incredible new medium,” said Conal Byrne, President, the iHeart Podcast Network. First up: original podcasts from The Daily Show correspondents, and interview series Yo! MTV Raps.

You Bet Your Life is being revived by Fox Television Stations, with Jay Leno filling original host Groucho Marx’s shoes. The game show will be carried by Fox’s owned-and-operated stations and syndicated nationally. “We need a familiar face to make us laugh and we are incredibly proud and excited to reinvent this renowned franchise with the enormously talented Jay,” said station group CEO Jack Abernethy.

Ad sales for NFL games are coming along nicely, according to CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus. Sales are “pacing at the exact level we paced at last year, and last year was an incredibly successful year for us,” he said on a call with reporters. As for the Black Lives Matter movement, which could include players taking a knee during the National Anthem, “We’re going to address it in our pregame show with interviews and features, but the coverage of the game once we get to our game coverage will obviously focus on presenting the action on the field,” McManus said. “We need to thread the needle just the right way because there are people who are tuning in just to hear about football. So we need to make sure that we don’t overdo the emphasis on what’s going on in our country, but we’re not going to ignore it.”

ABC News is offering a month-long series of reports on America’s racial reckoning. “Turning Point” includes a takeover of Nightline and special reporting across all shows and platforms, with reporting from ABC News anchors, correspondents and multiplatform reporters, as well as discussions and segments with The View hosts.

The Muscular Dystrophy Association is relaunching its Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon as the MDA Kevin Hart Kids Telethon, with the A-lister as host, and a significantly shorter running time of two hours on Saturday, October 24 at 8p. The event will raise money for the MDA and Hart’s Help From the Hart Charity, assisted by celebrity guests like Jack Black, Usain Bolt, Josh Gad, and Michael B. Jordan, among others. Streaming partners are TBA.

The CW is launching a 2020 election initiative focused on encouraging members of its community to vote on November 3. In addition to featuring network talent in get-out-the-vote videos, CW Vote Actually will make Election Day a paid company holiday.

Fremantle has combined UK’s Boundless and Naked labels to form Naked Television, headed by Naked Managing Director Fatima Salaria. “Broad yet bold, populist yet progressive, with a stellar team and combined portfolio of both classic and cutting edge shows, the new Naked will represent a hallmark of both quality and innovation in the global unscripted universe,” said Simon Andreae, CEO, Fremantle UK.

HBO Max gave MGM and UA Television a script to series order for The Westing Game, based on the 1978 novel by Ellen Raskin. Rights owner Julie Corman (Crazy Mama) will serve as executive producer.

Mara Brock Akil (Being Mary Jane) signed an overall deal with Netflix to create new original content. “We are thrilled to welcome Mara Brock Akil to Netflix,” said Channing Dungey, VP Original Series. “Her signature storytelling, authentic perspective and captivating characters have long entertained audiences and proven to be relevant, timely and endlessly engaging.”

Lifetime enlisted Kelly Ripa and husband Mark Consuelos and their Milojo Productions to produce two new movies for the net’s Ripped from the Headlines slate. “Kelly and Mark have been important voices in popular culture for the past twenty years and we are so incredibly pleased to have them become a part of the Lifetime family,” said Paul Buccieri, Group President, A+E Networks.

No Pulling Out Now, a new series starring and executive produced by comedian and mother of twins, Michelle Buteau, and produced by ITV’s America’s Sirens Media, is headed for Quibi. Buteau will appear alongside celebrity and comedian friends, addressing awkward parenting issues.

A spin-off of black-ish is in development at ABC. Old-ish would follow Dre’s parents, Ruby (Jenifer Lewis) and Earl (Laurence Fishburne), as they give love a second chance. Black-ish creator Kenya Barris will write the script and exec produce alongside Fishburne and Helen Sugland’s Cinema Gypsy, E. Brian Dobbins’ Artists First, and Anthony Anderson. It would be the third black-ish spin-off, after grown-ish and mixed-ish.

Law&Crime is relatively new to the production world, but in short order has seen success with its production arm on both linear and streaming TV, and is now launching its first syndicated daily show. The explosion of interest in true crime has helped fuel Law&Crime’s growth, but that’s only part of the story. Find out more in Cynsiders.

Nickelodeon ordered season six of animated series The Loud House, ahead of its season five debut on Friday, September 11 at 7p. The show currently ranks as the number one animated show in Nickelodeon with Kids 6-11.

Netflix ordered an untitled thriller series from Scandinavian production company Motion Blur. Written by Petter Holmsen, the Norwegian-language six-parter focuses on a woman who is declared dead, then wakes up with an urge for blood.

Peter Sarsgaard (Interrogation) has been cast in a series regular role opposite Michael Keaton in limited series Dopesick, based on the Beth Macy bestseller about opioid addiction.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Limited series A Teacher, examining the complexities and consequences of an illegal relationship, premieres on FX on Hulu on Tuesday, November 10 with the first three episodes.

Bravo franchise extender The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City makes its debut Wednesday, November 11 at 10p. The social circle “hold themselves and each other to an extremely high standard and never hold back when things go sideways,” promises the net.

NBC is tuning up its fall schedule. New game show The Weakest Link will launch Tuesday, September 29 at 9p, a day later than originally planned, then move to Mondays at 10p on October 19. Dateline NBC will now air twice a week from September 21-October 12, adding Mondays to the previously announced Friday dates. Ellen’s Game of Games has a Tuesday, October 6 at 9p premiere date, and America’s Got Talent wraps its season on Wednesday, September 23 at 9p.

Host Jameela Jamil joins the stars of truTV’s Impractical Jokers for new episodes of comedy game show The Misery Index, starting Tuesday, October 20 at 10:30p on TBS. The series return will feature themed episodes including a twins-centric battle, and a dare to regret.

Robin Thede (A Black Lady Sketch Show) is joining grooming competition Haute Dog, launching on HBO Max on Thursday, September 24. Matt Rogers (Las Culturistas) hosts.

Enamornandonos returns to UniMas on Monday, September 14 at 8p. The romance reality show will air Monday through Thursday.

TECH TALK

Vizio data unit Inscape and TV intelligence platform Kinetiq are collaborating to enable new measurement and attribution use cases for Inscape customers. “Inscape data licensees rely on us to provide accurate and timely viewing data. Integrating Kinetiq’s extensive ad library enables us to offer marketers and content owners new options for comprehensive ad detection, while also reducing the need for our clients to have to source and send us ad creatives,” said Greg Hampton, VP, Business Development, at Inscape. Kinetiq gets access to Inscape’s household-level, second-by-second viewing data from 15 million Vizio smart TVs.

COMING UP

The lineup for the 2020 Billboard Latin Music Awards includes Ozuna, Wisin, Farruko, Gente de Zona, Sech, Mike Towers, Black Eyed Peas, Jesse & Joy, and regional artist Gerardo Ortiz. The event will be broadcast live on Telemundo starting with a red carpet pre-show on Wednesday, October 21 at 7p.

ViacomCBS, Discovery, Inc., and Newen have joined the companies who will premiere content as part of the first annual MIPCOM 2020 Global Upfronts presentations. Already onboard were all3media, A+E Networks, BBC Studios and ZDF Enterprises, to offer 20-minute showcases of new programming, both finished series and series that are in production or in pipeline. The new feature aims to give buyers a fresh look at content across genres.

Oh deer…Outdoor Channel and Sportsman Channel welcome Fall hunting season with the launch of Outdoor Sportsman Group Networks’ fourth annual #DeerWeek presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors, from September 14-20, 7p-midnight. Sportsman Channel host Jeff Danker and country music recording artist Tyler Farr offer their perspectives on deer hunting and the upcoming season. “While 2020 has seen its share of ups-and-downs, Outdoor Channel and Sportsman Channel will focus on the excitement, camaraderie, adventure and anticipation for what we hope will be a fruitful deer hunting season,” said Outdoor Sportsman Group President and CEO Jim Liberatore.

Charter Communications celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month in September and October with Spectrum On Demand movies and television series celebrating Latino inspired entertainment. Beginning September 15, Spectrum TV customers can choose from movies, classic cinema and TV shows.

STREAMING

ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish announced CBS All Access has renewed its deal with Prime Video, and Pluto TV is on track to reach 30 million monthly active users by the end of the year. In a conference call, Bakish also said the company’s pay/SVOD platforms will hit about 18 million.

The origins of Frozen’s Olaf are explored in animated short, Once Upon a Snowman, airing on Disney+ on Friday, October 23. The film comes from Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Mexican boxer Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is suing DAZN and promoter Oscar de la Hoya, claiming breach of contract and fraud. Alvarez alleges adequate plans were not made for his fight schedule, despite his willingness to accept payment below the guaranteed amount due to pandemic disruption.

Verizon Media announced the launch of two new Yahoo features. Watch Together is a co-viewing experience available in the Yahoo Sports app, with NFL as launch partner. Yahoo Sports PlayAR offers graphical replays of key plays in near real-time, by layering the NFL’s Next Gen Stats proprietary tracking data on-screen with enhanced games stats for players who are part of the play.

Hulu experienced a widespread technical issue Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, with customers complaining they were kicked off, or unable to log in. Customer support reported at 8:53a that the problem was fixed.

Funimation, the anime content provider, and VIZ Media, a publisher and distributor of anime and manga, struck a distribution partnership bringing VIZ Media anime titles to Funimation. The partnership deepens Funimation’s catalog with anime from titles like Naruto, and Hunter x Hunter to Megalobox.

GOING GLOBAL

Blue Ant International nabbed global rights to Paradox Pictures doc No Responders Left Behind. The film will tell the story of the efforts of amputee John Feal and former Daily Show host Jon Stewart to get the US government to ensure health care and compensation for first responders dying from Ground Zero toxins.

THEMA América’s Kanal D Drama has been added to Altice’s offering in the Dominican Republic. The first channel that presents 100% Turkish series in Spanish landed on the Caribbean island on September 9.

Pre-school animation show Everything’s Rosie, produced and distributed by UK-based V&S Entertainment, is heading to China. State broadcaster CCTV has acquired 104 episodes of the series, which are currently being dubbed into Mandarin at VSI Studios in London.

WildBrain Spark, the kids and family AVOD network and studio, has secured a deal with US-Korean production company Park Star Media to co-produce and launch the new digital-first kids’ superhero series Super Binks.

BBC One has commissioned a feature-length documentary marking the 20th anniversary of 9/11 from Top Hat Productions, telling the story of the two-hour period when terrorists attacked the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and Flight 93.

9 Story Distribution animated comedy Fugget About It has launched on Amazon Prime Video in the UK. All three seasons are available for UK audiences.

Syndication ratings had a rough ride the week ending August 30, with sporadic local market preemptions throughout the week for news coverage of hurricanes Laura and Marco in the Gulf Coast, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and four days of the 2020 Republican National Convention. Only two talk shows were on the plus side: Live with Kelly and Ryan hit a three-week high of 1.6 in Live+SD national Nielsens, up 7% from the week prior, while Tamron Hall rose 17%, to 0.7. Ellen DeGeneres was unchanged at 0.9, its all-time low and down 36% year-over-year.

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series the Week of August 24, in order by Nielsen HH Rtg
Judge Judy (CTD) 5.5 AA
Family Feud (CTD) 5.5 AA
Wheel of Fortune (CTD) 4.5 AA
Jeopardy (CTD) 4.1 AA
The Big Bang Theory (WB) 2.5 AA
Inside Edition (CTD) 2.4 AA
Entertainment Tonight (CTD) 2.1 AA
Last Man Standing (DAD) 2.0 AA
Hot Bench (CTD) 1.9 AA
Dr. Phil (CTD) 1.9
Source: Nielsen

TV Time’s Shows on the Rise for the Week of August 31
Raised by Wolves (HBO Max) – 99.9%
Away (Netflix) – 99.9%
Sister, Sister (ABC) – 99.7%
Top Model Poland – (TVN) – 97.1%
Grand Hotel France (TF1) – 96.1%
A.P. Bio (Peacock) – 91.7%
Hotel Paradise (TVN) – 90.4%
The Boys (Amazon) – 88.8%
Les Marseillais vs. le reste du monde (W9) – 84.9%
The Hook Up Plan (Netflix) – 82%
Methodology: Every week, millions of viewers around the world use TV Time to track their favorite series. “Shows on the Rise” is calculated by determining the week-over-week growth in episodes watched for a given program.

Late Night Broadcast Ratings for the Week of August 31
CBS: Late Show 1.448 million viewers, 0/17/2 A18-49
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live! 1.188 million viewers, 0.21/2 A18-49
NBC: Tonight 1.151 million viewers, 0.20/2 A18-49

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, September
Show, P2+ 0000s, (A18-49)
ABC: The Bachelor: Greatest Seasons Ever 1.42 (0.2)
CBS: The Neighborhood 3.29 (o.4), Young Sheldon 2.95 (0.4), Love Island 1.63 (0.3), Bull 2.38 (0.2)
CW: Penn & Teller: Fool Us 0.63 (0.1), Penn & Teller: Fool Us 0.63 (0.1)
FOX: Fox Movie 1.38 (0.3)
NBC: American Ninja Warrior 3.66 (0.6), Dateline NBC 2.57 (0.4)
Telemundo: Exatlon 1.23, Todo por mi Hija 1.31, Enemgo Intimo 0.74
Univision: Rosa de Guadelupe 1.36 (0.4), Medicos Linea de Vida 1.49 (0.5), Dulce Ambicion 1.20 (0.4)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

The Interactive Advertising Bureau promoted David Cohen to CEO, effective September 15. Cohen succeeds Randall Rothenberg, who has led the association for 14 years and will remain at IAB as executive chair through 2022.

Pearlena Igbokwe has been promoted to Chairman, Universal Studio Group, succeeding Bonnie Hammer, who will become Vice Chairman, NBCUniversal. “This is an exciting time for our business, with demand for entertainment content at an all-time high and more distribution platforms available than ever before,” said Jeff Shell, CEO, NBCUniversal. “Our television studios are key growth engines for the company, and Pearlena is ideally suited to lead them. She has extraordinary taste and is well respected within NBCU, and throughout the global creative community.” As for Hammer, Shell said, “Her deep industry experience, impeccable creative instincts and 25-plus years of prosocial advocacy will be immensely valuable to me and our company.” Hammer replaces Ron Meyer, who left abruptly after disclosing an affair with actress Charlotte Kirk.

Star Stable Entertainment appointed game industry veteran Tabitha Hayes as CMO. Hayes has overseen marketing and brand strategy for franchises including Call of Duty, Battlefield and Need For Speed .

Susan Rovner made her exit as President of Warner Bros. TV official with a memo to staff. “These last 22 years were extraordinary and I am filled with enormous gratitude,” said Rovner, expected to be named head of TV programming at NBCUniversal.

Ukonwa Ojo is the new Chief Marketing Officer for Prime Video and Amazon Studios. Ojo was previously CMO for M?A?C Cosmetics and Coty.

Cindy Holland, VP Original Content for Netflix, is leaving the streamer after 18 years and Bela Bajaria, VP Local Language Originals will become VP Global Television. “Since becoming co-CEO, I’ve wanted to simplify the way our content teams operate – with one global film team led by Scott Stuber and one for TV, which will now be led by Bela Bajaria,” said Co-CEO Ted Sarandos.

Synchronicity Films has appointed Deanne Cunningham as Head of Development, Glasgow to oversee its UK slate, as well as taking the role of Executive Producer across select shows in production. Prior to Synchronicity, Cunningham spent over a decade in various scripted roles, including producing credits on Endeavour and Cold Feet for ITV.

Carrie Lozano has joined Sundance Institute as Director, Documentary Film Program. Lozano previously co-founded and oversaw the International Documentary Association’s Enterprise Documentary Fund.

Vision Films upped Kristen Bedno to VP, Distribution and Marketing. Bedno joined Vision one and a half years ago.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which dramedy about a tech startup was sponsored by an insurance company? Leap Year (2011-12) was sponsored by Hiscox. Kudos to: Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA

Today’s Trivia Question
On which drama was one Grace and Frankie star a series regular, and the other a guest star as CEO of a company? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four.)