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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Fremantle has teamed with 110% Content to produce reality format “Unbreakable” across the globe. The new entertainment series tasks celebrity couples with challenges that test the depth of their relationship. Set to premiere in the UK on BBC One this autumn, the UK version will be hosted by Rob Beckett.
“Razzlekhan: The Infamous Crocodile of Wall Street” is in development at Hulu, with Lily Collins (“Emily in Paris”) set to star and produce. The series, based on a New York Magazine article, focuses on Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein and Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan, who were embroiled in a $3.6 billion Bitcoin heist.
HBO Documentary Films is in production on a follow-up episode to the four-part docuseries “The Case Against Adnan Syed,” exploring the 1999 murder of 18-year-old Baltimore County high school student Hae Min Lee, and the subsequent conviction of her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed. The new episode, following Syed’s release from prison, will debut in 2023.
A TV series adaptation of 1981 sci-fi horror film “Scanners” is in development at HBO, from Media Res, Wayward Productions and HBO. The film’s director/writer, David Cronenberg, is one of the project’s executive producers.
HGTV has picked up 10 new episodes of “Tough Love with Hilary Farr,” which attracted more than 16.1 million viewers and ranked as a top 3 unscripted cable series among upscale P25-54 and upscale W25-54 during its freshman run. The new season is slated to premiere in fall 2023.
Film producer Ben Cosgrove (“Serena”) and bestselling author Josh Foer (Moonwalking with Einstein) have co-founded production company Leviathan Productions, with a focus on creating content for Jewish audiences. “Everyone knows what it feels like to be the underdog, the outsider, or the immigrant. Jewish stories tackle these ideas with humor and drama, and people around the world see themselves in our stories,” said Cosgrove. “Also, shows like ‘Fauda,’ ‘Shtisel,’ ‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,’ ‘The Spy,’ ‘Unorthodox’, and ‘Tehran’ have proven that premium Jewish-centric content is also good business.”
Food Network ordered a third season of “Alex vs America.” Production is set to begin this month, with new episodes slated to premiere in 2023. Season two of the series has reached more than 9.1 million P2+ viewers, +44% vs. last season, with the series averaging .6 P18+ and .9 W18+ Live+3 ratings, an increase of +17% vs. the prior season for both demos.
Adjoa Andoh (“Bridgerton”) will narrate Love Nature’s “Chasing the Rains,” a four-part series that takes audiences on a journey into one of the most rarely filmed areas in Africa. Created by Maramedia, the Scotland-based production, the series is produced in association with ARTE France.
Michael London (“Snowfall”) and his Groundswell Productions have inked a first-look deal with Lionsgate Television Group. Groundswell previously had a first-look deal with CBS Television Studios.
“The Winter Palace” castmates Danica McKellar (“The Wonder Years”) and Neal Bledsoe (“The Man in High Castle”) reunite for “Christmas at the Drive-In,” premiering on Great American Family this holiday season. McKellar is also executive producer for the film, her first original Christmas movie since signing a multi-picture deal with the network.
Casting notes: Molly Ringwald has joined the cast of Ryan Murphy’s FX anthology series “Feud: Capote’s Women.”…Bradley Whitford (“The West Wing”) is onboard AMC’s upcoming “Parish” (fka “The Driver”) in a recurring role.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
“Criminal Minds: Evolution” drops Thanksgiving Day, November 24 on Paramount+. Episodes of the series revival will drop weekly on Thursdays until its midseason finale in December. The original procedural aired 2005-2020 on CBS.
Human Playground, a six-part Netflix docuseries about the origins and evolution of unique sports, will launch internationally in 193 countries on Friday, September 30. Idris Elba (“Luther”) serves as narrator and an executive producer.
ABC has doubled the weekly prize money for season 33 of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro and kicking off Sunday, October 2 with a studio audience.
Late-night variety show “Ziwe” returns to Showtime for season two on Friday, November 18 on demand for subscribers, and on Showtime on Sunday, November 20 at 11p.
Hilary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton will be the first guests on season three of “The Amber Ruffin Show,” Friday, September 30 on Peacock.
Season 27 of ABC’s “The Bachelor” kicks off Monday, January 23, with “The Bachelorette” season 19 also-ran Zach Shallcross set to take the driver’s seat.
As India celebrates Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav on its 75th year of Independence, Warner Bros. Discovery is set to commemorate the country with a new series, “The Journey of India,” narrated by Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan. Premiering on October 10 on discovery+ in the Philippines and India, the show also airs in India on the Discovery Channel, TLC, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo and DTamil on the same day. It will be available on discovery+ and across the Discovery network globally.
“Batwheels” premieres on Cartoon Network’s Cartoonito on Monday, October 17. The animated series is DC’s first Batman pre-school series.
ViX+ kicks off its sports programming leading up to the World Cup 2022 with “Cenizas de la Gloria,” a docuseries exploring the relation between sports and crime. The series premieres on the streamer today, September 22.
“Talking in Circles with Clint Back” returns for season three October 1 at 10p on Circle Network. Black’s first guest: Grammy winner Luke Combs.
Season two of “Chucky” premieres Wednesday, October 5 at 9p on USA and Syfy, and Elysian Brewing is toasting the launch with CHUCKY: A Killer Wit Beer. “Chucky is one of Halloween’s most iconic, beloved characters and we have found the perfect partner in Elysian Brewing to capture his spirit this season,” said Ellen Stone, EVP, Entertainment Consumer Engagement and Brand Strategy, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming.
SPORTS
Formula 1 is poised to set records in 2023, announcing plans to hold 24 races in a season for the first time, adding two more races to the mix, including the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, which will be run on a Saturday night, and the return of the Chinese GP after a three-year absence. The season will start on March 5 in Bahrain and run through Nov. 26 in Abu Dhabi. “The presence of 24 races on the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar is further evidence of the growth and appeal of the sport on a global scale,” said FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
NBC Sports and BetMGM landed a new partnership for the 2022 NFL season, highlighted by weekly integrations on Football Night in America and content across other NBC Sports platforms. BetMGM integrations will include a weekly segment hosted by Chris Simms and Matthew Berry, which highlights storylines and betting odds for the upcoming Sunday Night Football game while BetMGM betting lines that proved prominent during that week’s matchup.
“Beat the Odds,” the new weekly sports wagering, history and entertainment television series that airs on 106 Gray Television stations, signed SuperBook Westgate Las Vegas as Presenting Sponsor of the show and added viewership in NY, CT, PA and NJ via the YES Network.
Emmanuel Sanders joined NFL Network as a studio analyst and will make his NFL Network debut on NFL GameDay Morning on Sunday at 9a. Sanders will appear regularly on NFL GameDay Morning throughout the season, in addition to various other NFL Network programs and live coverage of such events as Super Bowl. Sanders will also co-host a new podcast to be developed for the NFL Podcast Network.
EA SPORTS announced its latest collaboration with Warner Bros. to bring comedy series “Ted Lasso” to FIFA 23. Players will be able to select Jason Sudeikis’ character Ted Lasso as a manager of AFC Richmond in Career Mode in addition to creating their own Manager or select a real-world licensed manager to take control of AFC Richmond, or create a Player and join the AFC Richmond squad in a league of their choosing.
DZN reports that the final showdown between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin this past weekend delivered more than 1.06 million buys generated worldwide including PPV and DAZN subscriptions. That marks DAZN’s biggest fight in 2022 both globally as well as in the U.S.
STREAMING
NewsON has struck a new licensing deal with CBS News and Stations and its owned-and-operated television stations that adds 13 CBS local stations to its platform. The new stations include many top 25 markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. NewsON will offer live newscasts, CBS News Local FAST channels, and short form story clips from each of the stations, including the upcoming Detroit channel when it launches.
The death of Queen Elizabeth II drew viewers to past seasons of Netflix’s “The Crown.” For the week of September 12-18, season one rose to #3 on the streamer, and season two rose to #7.
Pluto TV is headed north. The FAST channel makes its debut in Canada on December 1, with more than 100 channels and over 20,000 hours of content.
TECH TALK
Kantar is expanding its YouTube measurement services, enabling the company to include YouTube in CrossMedia Brand Lift measurement including TV and other media channels. “This new set of data capabilities will enable Kantar to better serve advertisers as the demand for more insightful and more comprehensive cross-publisher ad effectiveness measurement,” said Will Bordelon, Kantar CEO, North America. “Advertisers are more empowered than ever with this level of insight, allowing them to better justify their advertising budgets using proven third-party effectiveness measurement and cookieless solutions.”
605 reached a collaboration agreement with streaming a?nalytics platform Conviva to bring de-duplicated, standardized data to video and advertising industry customers, enabling full-census measurement of content and advertising across premium video. The agreement leverages Conviva’s census-level, streaming analytics pipeline, which standardizes, cleanses and normalizes in real time, and 605?’s? linear and time-shifted data, to create content and advertising measurement and attribution outputs for publishers, agencies and brands.? “For too long measurement in the U.S. has been fragmented and incapable of giving either the sell-side or the buy-side a consistent view of ad and content consumption in U.S. households,” said Kristin Dolan, CEO, 605. “Through our collaboration with Conviva we will provide programmers, brands and agencies with timely and meaningful metrics to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their content and advertising.”
Law firm Yorn Levine and Parrot Analytics are collaborating to help creators seek the highest possible value for content and performances by using Parrot’s suite of audience demand data products at the negotiating table. “It’s a complicated world we’re helping our clients maneuver. Parrot Analytics helps us cut through today’s fractured media environment and see the value our clients are bringing to the market with their work,” said Kevin Yorn, Managing Partner at Yorn Levine. “The insights we get from their platform are a truly powerful tool in our toolkit during negotiations.”
A reimagined ABC News mobile app includes new features, technological enhancements, and a refreshed design and user experience. Enhancements include a new video player, picture in picture and “docking” capability, and more seamless integration of ABC News Live. “We are excited the new updates to our signature digital app will deliver new ways showcase our world class journalism, take consumers deeper into our reporting, and add to the way that audiences watch and read everything from breaking news to our industry-leading election coverage and more,” said Lulu Chiang, VP of ABC News Digital Content.
Polls open today, September 22 for Krapopolis NFT holders to vote on episodic elements within “Krapopolis,” the upcoming animated series from Dan Harmon (“Rick and Morty”). From Bento Box Entertainment, “Krapopolis” is network television’s first animated series to be curated on the blockchain and will premiere in May 2023 on FOX. Holders of the Krap Chicken NFTs will vote to decide which sailor succumbs to the wrath of a kraken in a Thanksgiving weekend sneak peek of the comedy on November 27.
COMING UP
UPtv’s holiday slate includes 17 premiere movies, as well as country artist Josh Turner’s “King Size Manger Christmas” special on Friday, November 18, and a new season of unscripted series “Small Town Christmas,” highlighting Christmas celebrations across small town America. Along with the net’s annual fan-favorite “GilMORE the Merrier” binge, the premieres are part of UPtv’s collection of more than 600 hours of holiday cheer.
Two-hour special “Ghost Adventures: Devil’s Den” goes behind the barbed wire of a shuttered juvenile detention center on Thursday, September 29 at 9p on Travel Channel. Still want to be spooked? “Shock Docs – The Curse of Robert the Doll” airs the following night at 8p. Both specials also stream on discovery+.
Carly Pearce, Cody Johnson, Kane Brown, Luke Combs and Walker Hayes will be honored at the 2022 “CMT Artists of the Year” celebration from Nashville, premiering Friday, October 14 at 9p on CMT.
GOING GLOBAL
Moonbug Entertainment is partnering with MultiChoice, an African entertainment company, to launch a linear preschool channel on Sub-Saharan African direct broadcast satellite service DStv. The new Moonbug Kids channel will include content from across the Moonbug portfolio of IPs.
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