Ellen DeGeneres addressed allegations of a toxic workplace environment during her talk show’s season 18 premiere on Monday. “I learned things happened here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously and I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected,” said the host, who added, “We have had a lot of conversations over the last few weeks about our show, our workplace, and what we want for the future. We have made the necessary changes and today we are starting a new chapter.” After BuzzFeed News in July reported claims of racist comments and abusive behavior by show staffers, a WarnerMedia investigation led to the firing of three senior producers.

Quibi is exploring strategic options like raising additional cash, or even a possible sale, according to the Wall Street Journal. The short-form video platform for mobile phones, which launched in April amid the COVID-19 health crisis, has not come close to meeting subscriber expectations, a situation founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman have attributed, in large part, to the pandemic. Said a company spokesperson, “Quibi has successfully launched a new business and pioneered a new form of storytelling and state-of-the-art platform. Meg and Jeffrey are committed to continuing to build the business in the way that gives the greatest experience for customers, greatest value for shareholders and greatest opportunity for employees.”

ByteDance and Oracle sent conflicting messages on Monday over ownership of a potential US version of TikTok. While Oracle said “Upon creation of TikTok Global, Oracle/Walmart will make their investment and the TikTok Global shares will be distributed to their owners, Americans will be the majority and ByteDance will have no ownership in TikTok Global,” Chinese-owned ByteDance said it would own 80% of TikTok Global. President Trump said China would have to give up control of the app for a deal to go through.

It’s all starting today... learn strategies for growing your business in the new TV Landscape with Cynopsis’ That Big TV [Virtual Experience]! It’s going to be a powerful must-attend online conference, with three jam-packed afternoons of content…you cannot afford to miss these conversations! Virtual doors will open at 12:15pm and our first session kicks off at 12:50pm ET. Register here.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance was cancelled by Netflix after one season – and an Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Program. “We are grateful to the master artists at The Jim Henson Company for bringing The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance to life for fans around the world,” said Netflix of the prequel to the 1982 film. “We’re thankful to the executive producers Lisa Henson and Halle Stanford, and Louis Leterrier, who also directed all episodes, as well as the writers, cast and crew for their outstanding work and thrilled they were recognized with the Emmy this weekend.”

Fuse Media and OUTtv announced a co-production partnership with VICE Studios for Clothes Minded, a makeover series aimed at helping individuals from the trans and gender non-conforming community find a new look to celebrate their true identity. The show is set to premiere in early 2021 on Fuse and OUTtv.

The winner of Project CRE8, a nationwide competition from BET and Tracy Yvonne Productions, is Thaddeus McCants from Madison, WI. (Congrats, Thaddeus!) The contest gives aspiring and emerging TV writers the opportunity to develop an original comedy.

STREAMING SCOOP

NBCU streamer Peacock is now available on the Roku platform, following a distribution deal reached last week. “Roku customers are engaged streamers and we know they’ll love access to a wide range of free and paid content,” said Maggie McLean Suniewick, President, Business Development and Partnerships, Peacock. Roku reaches households with an estimated 100 million people.

AMC+ will launch on Thursday, October 1 with the debuts of The Walking Dead episode 1016, The Walking Dead: World Beyond and AMC’s new episodic anthology Soulmates. New episodes of The Walking Dead: World Beyond and Soulmates will be available on AMC+ every Thursday, ahead of the linear premieres on Sundays at 10p and Mondays at 10p, respectively.

WandaVision will be the first Marvel Studios’ series to hit Disney+, rather than The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which halted production in the spring due to COVID-19. WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olson and Paul Bettany as their Marvel Cinematic Universe characters, Wanda Maximoff and Vision.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

MTV is bringing back 16 and Pregnant (2009-2014), for a six-episode season premiering Tuesday, October 6 at 9p. The reimagined series will follow the unexpected pregnancy journey from multiple perspectives. “More than a decade after 16 and Pregnant played a significant role in bringing the teen pregnancy rate down to record lows, we are sharing the stories of a new generation of young parents and underscoring the impact of an unplanned pregnancy on families – beyond the moms and dads-to-be – by showing authentic and intimate moments with siblings and grandparents-to-be addressing the life change,” said Nina L. Diaz, President and Chief Creative Content Officer, ViacomCBS Entertainment & Youth Group.

Season eight of Bravo’s Below Deck kicks off Monday, November 2 at 9p, with crew returning to the Caribbean.

Kate Winslet and Priyanka Chopra-Jonas have joined HBO Max’s A World of Calm, launching on Thursday, October 1. The ten-parter combines mesmeric imagery with narration by A-list stars to provide audiences a respite from the stress of 2020.

Mr. Mercedes has landed at Peacock. The crime drama from David E. Kelley, based on Stephen King’s trilogy about a retired detective tormented by a serial killer, previously aired on AT&T Audience Network, which was shut down in May. Seasons one and two launch October 15, with season three dropping at a later date.

Season three of animated preschool series Rainbow Rangers debuts on Nick Jr. on October 11 at 11a with a Halloween-themed episode, leading the net’s “Sunday Girls Rule” block.

All three episodes of limited series Black Narcissus, telling the story of a remote Himalayan palace with dark secrets, premiere on FX on Monday, November 23 at 8p.

TruTV’s upcoming Top Secret Videos follows a fictional group of fresh interns working from the basement of the “NSA,” whose jobs are to catalogue all of the pointless security camera footage that passes through the “NSA” servers. The evolution of America’s Funniest Home Videos captures bizarre behavior with commentary from a cast of comedians including Brian Posehn (The Big Bang Theory), Ron Funches (Trolls), Ali Kolbert (The Tonight Show) and Matt Walsh (Veep). The newcomer premieres after Impractical Jokers: Dinner Party on Thursday, October 29 at 10:30p.

Weekly program Cheddar Climate: The Fight for Change offers updates on climate change news starting today, September 22 at 2p.

HLN’s Sex & Murder, which premiered in March, returns for a late-night run on Sunday, October 4 from 10p-12p. Six-episode Sex & Murder: After Dark, airing over three weeks, will include added material.

Baby Chimp Rescue has its US premiere Saturday, December 5 at 8p on BBC America. The three-part series follows an American couple as they teach their 21 rescued baby chimps how to survive on their own.

ELECTION 2020

NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises will be celebrating National Voter Registration Day today with a national, multiplatform campaign aimed at informing and motivating eligible Latino voters about the 2020 election. The efforts will feature cross-platform civic engagement opportunities for Telemundo’s audience, including a national phone bank, a webinar series, tools and resources and PSAs encouraging viewers to register to vote.

Verizon Media brands including HuffPost, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports are introducing new products and experiences to give users and voters access to trusted information leading into the election, including detailed instructions on voter registration. “We’re dedicated to offering consumers a comprehensive experience and 360 approach to the issues, as well as the platforms, resources and tools they need to feel empowered when they cast their vote on Election Day,” said Guru Gowrappan, CEO of Verizon Media. The first special, airing today, focuses on the Supreme Court vacancy in the wake of Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s death.

A Presidential election. Local races up and down the ballot. A pandemic, and a shift in audience viewing patterns like no time in recent history. Welcome to 2020, the political advertising edition! Join Cynopsis next month on 10/20 to learn about the must-haves of political advertising, how to streamline the process of getting your message across every screen within the all-important limited political window timeframe and more. This roundtable is sponsored by our partners at New York Interconnect, so registration is free – sign up here.

Fox News streaming service Fox Nation will debut the feature film Right Makes Might: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates on Thursday, September 24, ahead of the first presidential debate of the 2020 election cycle. Centered around the political debates that catapulted a little-known Illinois lawyer into a presidential candidate, the documentary will explore the series of seven senatorial debates between Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln and powerful incumbent Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas.

Adult Swim will broadcast its first musical performance, in support of voter registration, on Saturday, October 10 at midnight. Hip-hop group Run The Jewels will play their new album, RTJ4. “We’re proud to be a part of this initiative to encourage and enable voting and can’t wait to finally perform our album RTJ4. This will be fun,” said a Killer Mike and El-P of Run The Jewels.

COMING UP

Citizen Bio, a documentary exploring the nascent biohacking movement and the unconventional scientists and researchers developing alternative medicines to prolong human life and eradicate incurable viruses, premieres on Showtime on Friday, October 30 at 9p.

Crackle original documentary Lennox Lewis: The Untold Story, following the journey of the heavyweight boxing champ, premieres Thursday, October 15.

TECH NEWS

With Comscore planning to integrate smart TV data into its ratings, the measurement company has teamed with cross-screen TV data and analytics provider Samba to expand Comscore’s CTV and cross-measurement capabilities globally, starting with Italy and Sweden. “With the rapid shifts across TV viewing behavior, advertisers and publishers can no longer expect their legacy approach to accurately quantify the size of audiences or the effectiveness of advertising,” said Samba TV CEO and Co-founder Ashwin Navin. “This partnership is a game-changer for global marketers.”

SOCIAL GOOD

Charter Communications announced a relaunch of its Remote Education Offer, providing free Spectrum Internet and WiFi access for 60 days to households with K-12th graders, college students and/or educators. “The pandemic has prompted new focus on the technology divide and Charter is committed to being part of the comprehensive solution needed to close these gaps,” said Tom Rutledge, Charter Chairman and CEO.

The Scripps Howard Foundation has pledged up to $1.5 million to establish a fellowship program in honor of journalist and news executive Roy W. Howard. The Roy W. Howard Fellowship program will be open to journalists who have completed studies at the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University and the University of Maryland.

GOING GLOBAL

Red Arrow Studios International has picked up distribution rights for the second season of Departure, with Archie Panjabi and Christopher Plummer. Production is underway in Toronto.

AVOD network and studio WildBrain Spark has been appointed to manage superhero television series Power Players on YouTube. Under the agreement, WildBrain Spark will handle YouTube distribution of episode clips and webisodes and execute a paid-media campaign for English-speaking audiences globally.

Noggin, Nick Jr.’s subscription service for pre-schoolers is launching on Amazon Prime Video Channels as an add-on subscription in the UK, France, Germany and Austria. In the UK, the Noggin service will replace More Milkshake!, which will continue to exist as a separate brand within Noggin.

Blue Ant International unveiled its new slate, with new factual content including Christmas At Chatsworth House, which looks inside the inner workings of an historic British estate; Hotel Paranormal, a 10-part supernatural docu-series narrated by Dan Aykroyd; and Aging Well Suzuki Style, which follows 83-year old David Suzuki as he determines how well he is aging.

With more than a dozen categories, these companies reign supreme: Adobe, Amobee, Bell Media, Concert, Cuebiq, Dell, Disney, Dotdash, Discovery Engage, Gamut Total, GroundTruth, IBM, Imagine Communication, Jaguar Land Rover, ListenFirst, MagicLinks, NewsON, Nielsen, New York Interconnect, Premion, Publica, Realeyes, Roku, Simpli.fi, Spectrum Reach, Tap Native, The AI Exchange, TVSquared, Giant, Viamedia, Vistar Media, WarnerMedia, and Xandr.

Save the date for our virtual awards event on Dec. 1st to see who wins!

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
On which sitcom did O.J. Simpson play a running back-turned football coach? 1st & 10 (1984-91). Kudos to: John Ferlazzo/London, Charles Lore/NYC, Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank, Kecia Watts-A+E Networks/Stamford, CT, Eric Dunefsky-Crossmedia’NYC, John Kukla-KDFW/Dallas, Jim Whaley-Gracenote/Queensbury, NY, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertianment/LA, Jerry Jones/Walnut Creek, CA

Today’s Trivia Question
In which series did Sally Field and Diahann Carroll play Supreme Court Justices? (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.)