Monday September 28, 2020

Today’s Finale
Showtime: The Comey Rule at 9p

IN THE NEWS

Jimmy Kimmel’s set to play ball again for ABC, with Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night primetime specials aring every night of the NBA Finals. Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey and Adam Sandler are scheduled guests for the episodes, which are back for the 13th consecutive year.

Netflix responded to five Republican Senators who object to the streamer’s plan to adapt sci-fi trilogy The Three-Body Problem, about humanity’s first contact with alien civilization. The books were written by Chinese author Liu Cixin, who was quoted in the New Yorker last year supporting the government’s internment camps in Xinjiang province. “We have significant concerns with Netflix’s decision to do business with an individual who is parroting dangerous CCP propaganda,” said Senators Marsha Blackburn, Rick Scott, Kevin Kramer, Thom Tillis and Martha McSally. Responded Dean Garfield, VP, Global Public Policy at Netflix, “Mr. Liu is the author of the book – The Three Body Problem – not the creator of this show. We do not agree with his comments, which are entirely unrelated to his book or this Netflix show.” The show’s creators are David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (Game of Thrones), and Alexander Woo (True Blood).

FOX News Media has earned the designation as a 2020 Great Place to Work-Certified Company, the first time FOX News Media has been awarded the honor in its 24-year existence. Among other media companies to make the list, which is based on employee feedback, were Hulu, Activision Blizzard, Axios and Entravision.

Our roundtable of experts have both institutional knowledge and up-to-the-minute intelligence. Join us 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.

SECURE YOUR SPOT

(Sponsored by New York Interconnect – so it’s free to attend!)

Fox’s Family Guy has a new actor voicing Cleveland Brown, the latest character of color to be recast with an actor of color. Arif Zahir, who has impersonated Cleveland on YouTube, will take over from Mike Henry starting with season 19. Henry continues as Cleveland through the current season 18, which has already been completed, and will remain a cast member voicing several other characters. “Arif’s vocal talent is obvious, but his understanding of Cleveland and his respect for the character give me confidence that he is in the right hands,” said Henry. “I look forward to getting to know Arif and working with him to make sure Cleveland stays every bit as awesome as he has always been.”

Sirens Media has partnered with 16-year-old Marsai Martin (black-ish, Little) and her production banner Genius Entertainment to develop and produce Baddies (wt), an unscripted series spotlighting the impact of trailblazing Black women. The series is currently being taken to market.

NPACT, the trade association for non-fiction production companies, has established a COVID-19 Online Hotline for people working in nonfiction production to report COVID-related health and/or safety issues or concerns pertaining to their work experiences, as production resumes. The hotline is available to anyone working in nonfiction production, at any level or position and regardless of whether the production company they are working for is a member of NPACT. Upon receiving a message via the hotline, NPACT will share the anonymously reported information with the relevant production company; NPACT also will share its own best practices guidelines, as well as relevant state guidelines, government resources and response information.

Production company Engel Entertainment announced the launch of a new division specializing in the development and production of documentary films. The division will operate under the joint leadership of SVP Jenna Helwig and independent filmmaker Dana Springer, who has joined the company as Co-Executive Producer of the documentary film team.

Disney+ is in early stages of development for a new Marvel series with Samuel L. Jackson reprising his role of Nick Fury, reports Deadline. Jackson first appeared as the character in 2008’s Iron Man.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Southern Charm returns to Bravo on Thursday, October 29 at 9p, with the socialites testing their relationships amid the pandemic.

Cineflix Rights has acquired the second season of Russian drama An Ordinary Woman from 1-2-3 Production and Look Film. The series tells the story of a woman living a seemingly ordinary life in Moscow, but whose secret career running a clandestine network of prostitutes is threatened following the death of one of her “girls.”

STREAMING SCOOP

Amazon is launching a cloud gaming service, Luna, offering a library of games for $6/month. Ubisoft is the first channel to launch, with “new and favorite titles.” Luna’s 4K streaming will work on TVs, mobile and PC; players will be granted access to the service “on a rolling basis.”

Haystack News streaming channels for the debates will feature news and pre-debate and post-debate analysis from Haystack’s nearly 300 local broadcasters, and national coverage from ABC News, the AP, Bloomberg, CBS News, Cheddar, Euronews and Newsy. “Interest in coverage tied to the November 2020 election is propelling Haystack News to record levels of usage and engagement,” said Daniel Barreto, Haystack TV CEO and co-founder.

A Best Buy promotion offers new subscribers one month of Philo free with a Best Buy purchase, or 50% off the first month’s bill if they sign up through Best Buy. Launched in 2017, Philo offers its 750,000 subscribers over 60 channels for $20/month.

COMING UP

CBS News is all in for the upcoming political debates, with live primetime coverage on CBS from 9p-11p, and original reporting across all platforms. CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell will be joined by CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King and CBS News senior political analyst John Dickerson for coverage. Offering insights will be former senior advisor to President Obama Valerie Jarrett and former President Trump Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

ID’s Joe Exotic: Before He Was King focuses on the background of the imprisoned reality star, tonight, September 28 at 10p. “Our prequel is a raw and unfiltered look into the origins of the man we would come to know as the self-proclaimed Tiger King,” said Henry Schleiff, Group President ID, Travel Channel, American Heroes Channel and Destination America. “This one-hour special delves into Joe’s childhood, family dynamics, and past tragedies, culminating in his epic downfall that ultimately led him to where he is today – sitting in a cage.”

Also on the way from ID is O.J. & Nicole: An American Tragedy, marking the 25th anniversary of the aquittal of O.J. Simpson in “The Trial of the Century.” Firsthand accounts from Nicole Brown Simpson’s family and friends are included in the two-hour documentary, premiering Monday, October 5 at 10p.

The Perfect Weapon, a documentary based on the bestseller about the rise of cyber conflict, premieres Friday, October 16 at 8p on HBO. The film draws on interviews with top military, political and intelligence officials for a comprehensive view of new vulnerabilities.

A Veep virtual cast reunion will be livestreamed Sunday, October 4, as a fundraiser in support of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. In addition to the 2012-2019 political satire’s cast, series star Julia Louis-Dreyfus promised “some special guests too.”

TV5Monde USA is honoring designer Christian Louboutin with the US premiere of documentary In the Footsteps of Christian Louboutin, on Wednesday, September 30 at 8:30p.

Stacey Abrams, Desus Nice and The Kid Mero guest star as themselves on a special animated episode of ABC’s black-ish on Sunday, October 4, the second of two election-themed specials that start at 10p.

George Lopez is in the room at TBS, starting today, September 28 from 7a-8:30a. The sitcom, which will air through November 1, ran on ABC from 2002-2007.

CASTING

Lisa Edelstein will recur as the ex-wife of Rob Lowe’s character on season two of 9-1-1: Lone Star. Edelstein played a love interest for Lowe’s West Wing character during the drama’s 1999-2000 first season…Basil Eidenbenz (Victoria) is replacing Thue Ersted Rasmussen in season two of Netflix’s The Witcher. Rasmussen started shooting for the season before production was shut down, but had to exit “due to rescheduling because of COVID-19.”…Terrence Terrell (The First Wives Club) landed a series regular role in CBS comedy B Positive, starring Thomas Middleditch and Annaleigh Ashford…Lynn Whitfield (Greenleaf), Robert Wisdom (The Alienist), and Kamal Bolden (Insecure) have joined the cast of Hulu film Vacation Friends.

The week of September 13, the Discovery portfolio reached more than one in four TV viewers, who watched for nearly 6.5 hours on average, according to Live+3 data. Twenty premiere programs reached over 2 million unique viewers, led by TLC’s 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After (5.5 million), HGTV’s House Hunters (3.1 million) and House Hunters International (3.0 million), and TLC’s Darcey and Stacey (2.9 million).

The series premiere of E!’s The Bradshaw Bunch grossed an average audience of 5 million total viewers in Live+3 and nearly 1.8 million P18-49 across all airings and on-demand. The reality show averaged 1.3 million total viewers and 381,000 P18-49 for its premiere telecast, to rank as the network’s highest-rated series premiere in three years among total viewers.

WGN’s News Nation interview with President Trump on Tuesday drew 116,000 total viewers at 8p and 25,000 among A25-54. News Nation debuted September 1.

Food Network’s Halloween Wars posted a 1.0 Live+3 rating among P25-54 and a 1.2 among W25-54, up +59% versus the prior six weeks and +10% versus year-ago, ranking as the #4 cable program among both P25-54 and W25-54, and #3 among M25-54. New series Outrageous Pumpkins was also up double digits, up +24% versus the prior six weeks and up +43% versus year-ago, posting Live+3 ratings of .6 P25-54 and .9 W25-54.

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Thursday, September 24
Show, P2+ 0000s, (A18-49)
ABC: Celebrity Family Feud 5.26 (0.7), Press Your Luck 3.41 (0.6), Match Game 2.79 (0.5)
CBS: Big Brother 4.21 (1.1), Love Island 1.87 (0.5), Star Trek: Discovery 1.70 (0.2)
CW: Mysteries Decoded 0.74 (0.1), Penn & Teller: Fool Us 0.65 (0.1)
FOX: Masked Singer 1.39 (0.3), Filthy Rich 1.16 (0.2)
NBC: The Wall 2.95 (0.4), Dateline 3.43 (0.4)
Telemundo: Exatlon Estados 1.23 (0.3), Todo por mi Hija 1.41 (0.3), Falsa Identidad 0.74 (0.2)
Univision: Medicos Linea de Vida 1.34 (0.4), Imperio de Mentiras 1.45 (0.4), Dulce Ambicion 1.06 (0.3)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
What was Nina’s nickname when she was a model on Just Shoot Me (1997-2003)? Gotcha Girl. Kudos to: Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC, Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA

Today’s Trivia Question
What was Alexis’ middle name (which her family forgot) on Schitt’s Creek (2015-2020)? (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.)