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Today’s Premieres
BET: Tyler Perry’s The Oval at 9p; Tyler Perry’s Ruthless at 10p
Crunchyroll: Chainsaw Man
CW: The Winchesters at 8p; Professionals at 9p
HGTV: The Renovator at 8p
Netflix: Island of the Sea Wolves; Easy-Bake Battle: The Home Cooking Competition; The Cage
Paramount+: Never Seen Again

Today’s Finale
HGTV: Good Bones: Risky Business at 9p

IN THE NEWS

Fox Entertainment has renewed “Krapopolis” for season two. The animated comedy from creator and executive producer Dan Harmon (“Rick and Morty”) is Fox Entertainment’s first wholly owned animated series and is produced by the company’s Bento Box Entertainment.

NBC ordered six more episodes of its “Quantum Leap” reboot, for a season total of 18. In addition to being the season’s number one new show in the A18-49 demo, “Quantum Leap” is the top current NBC series on Peacock.

Attention, Bravoholics: NBCUniversal announced new shoppable experiences with the return of Bravo Bazaar, a metaverse shopping experience that brings Bravo fans “Top Chef” recipes, “Below Deck” destinations, and more through immersive shopping experiences. “By embedding shoppable experiences within key moments where fans are living out the Bravo life – whether it’s at BravoCon, online across our properties, or in the metaverse with the enhanced Bravo Bazaar – we can drive genuine connection and impact for our partners that transcend the screen and the shows,” said Evan Moore, SVP, Commerce Partnerships, NBCUniversal Advertising & Partnerships.

NBC has greenlit “America’s Got Talent: All-Stars,” featuring winners, finalists, fan favorites and viral sensations from previous seasons of “America’s Got Talent” and “Got Talent” franchises. “Got Talent” creator and executive producer Simon Cowell will judge alongside Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel.

Netflix’s “The Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” will play in about 600 theaters from November 23-29 before being released December 23 on the streamer. It’s the first time a Netflix film will be released in theaters with all three major chains – AMC, Regal and Cinemark – included. “As we have often said, we believe that both theatrical exhibitors and streamers can continue to co-exist successfully,” said AMC Chairman and CEO Adam Aron. “Beyond that, though, it has been our desire that we find a way to crack the code and synergistically work together.”

Ho ho hurry up! The deadline for Cynopsis’ annual Holiday Programming Guide, which comes out on November 2 and will be sent to all Cynopsis subscribers, is four days away. If your network has holiday programming airing from November 3 through January 1, please send your listing to [email protected] and [email protected] no later October 15 with the subject line: Holiday Guide. To be included, programs must be listed by date, title of program, and start times, in the following format: “Thursday, November 19: Network Name: My One Christmas Wish at 9a, Paper Angels at 11a, 12 Days of Giving at 1p”. Holiday-related programs only! A confirmation email will be sent following each submission (if you don’t receive a confirmation email, please resubmit).

2022 Top Women in Media

See you TONIGHT!

A magical evening filled with celebration, dazzling excitement, and specialty drinks. Join us at Top Women in Media, celebrating what makes women shine their brightest, with honorees being recognized for their innovation and success in the areas of entertainment, tech, and sports. The night begins at 5:45 PM, so close your laptop, put on that dress you’ve been waiting for just the right occasion to wear, and come for a night out in NYC!

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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Kelsey Grammer will executive produce and star with his daughter, Spencer Grammer (“Rick and Morty”), in “The 12 Days of Christmas Eve,” part of Lifetime’s 2022 It’s Wonderful Lifetime holiday slate. Grammer the senior is no stranger to Lifetime – the “Frasier” headliner recently starred in the network’s limited series event “Flowers in the Attic: The Origin,” cable’s #1 new scripted series in ad-supported cable in key demos.

Disney Branded Television has ordered a second season of “Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur,” ahead of the animated series’ February 10 premiere on Disney Channel.

Shudder has greenlit an extension of Studio71’s found footage anthology franchise, “V/H/S,” with “V/H/S/85.” The Shudder Original Film will feature genre filmmakers David Bruckner (“Hellraiser”), Scott Derrickson (“The Black Phone”), Gigi Saul Guerrero (“Bingo Hell”), Natasha Kermani (“Lucky”) and Mike P. Nelson (“Wrong Turn”).

Creation Entertainment Media and Magic Frame Animation have partnered for new kids’ animated series “BuddyBots.” The companies will co-develop and produce the educational and inclusive IP.

Casting notes: John Stamos (“Fuller House”) and Katlynn Tarver (“Ballers”) will star in the pilot for Freevee’s “Open Book,” based on Jessica Simpson’s memoir….Tom Welling (“Smallville”) has joined the cast of CW drama “The Winchesters” in recurring role.…Chris Messina (“Sharp Objects”) will star opposite Kaley Cuoco (“The Flight Attendant”) in the dark comedic thriller “Based on a True Story,” from Craig Rosenberg (“Preacher”).

DOING GOOD

Hollywood & Mind, focused on the intersection of mental health and the entertainment industry, will hold its inaugural tentpole event May 11, 2023, at the Beverly Hills campus of founding sponsor United Talent Agency. Initial sponsors also include Hallmark Media and MTV Entertainment Studios. The one-day event will bring together mental wellness experts with executives and talent across music, film, TV, digital, sports and other sectors to foster collaboration and catalyze action to help destigmatize mental health. The event is brainchild of entertainment journalist (and Cynopsis senior contributing editor) Cathy Applefeld Olson. “As we continue to grapple with the growing mental health crisis in this country and around the world, the entertainment industry is in a unique position to amplify conversation, reduce stigma and effect measurable change,” said Applefeld Olson. “Up until now the intersection of entertainment and mental health has been disjointed, with no coalition to gather stakeholders, share learnings, incubate ideas and foster collaborations. Hollywood & Mind is a formal expression of the need and willingness for both mental health professionals and the entertainment industry to come together to provide a powerful platform for discussion.”

Also focused on mental health is The CW, which has launched a new initiative, announced in May, with the United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy. “Through the power of our storytelling and our unparalleled reach across all platforms, The CW is committed to bringing awareness and access to resources surrounding mental health to our audience while helping break the negative stigmas surrounding this topic,” said the network’s new president, Dennis Miller. The campaign kicks off with a new PSA that stars The CW’s on-screen talent and focuses on online hate and cyberbullying.

Creative City Project will receive $10,000 through the 2021-2022 Stand For The Arts Awards, Spectrum’s partnership with Ovation TV that recognizes local arts, cultural and educational organizations and programs. Since the initiative started in 2017, Ovation TV and Spectrum have given out 50 awards totaling $500,000 towards art education.

National Geographic Content and National Geographic Society announced the third year of its Field Ready Program, created to promote diversity and inclusion in global unscripted television production. “As leaders in global unscripted content production, we are committed to increasing diversity and inclusion behind the camera, particularly in natural history filmmaking, a genre that has notably lacked diverse voices,” said National Geographic Content President Courteney Monroe.

After a two-year hiatus, Sportsman Channel’s Hunt.Fish.Feed program is back. Initiated in 2007 to help feed people in need, the tour, in conjunction with Comcast, will continue to raise awareness of the struggle with hunger in the US, as well as shine a light on sportsmen and women’s contributions of game meat and fish to help solve the problem.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

“Opportunity Knock$” pairs six families undergoing financial hardship with experts who work to help get them out of the hole, while offering resources to viewers as well. The series debuts October 27 on PBS Passport, and will begin broadcasting on PBS stations beginning in November.

FX’s “Kindred,” the new drama series based on Octavia E. Butler’s novel, will premiere Tuesday, December 13 exclusively on Hulu. The premiere will include all eight episodes.

Season four of HBO Max’s “Doom Patrol” will launch December 8 with two episodes. A new episode will drop weekly through January 5, with six additional episodes released in 2023.

AMC+ drama “Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches” premieres Thursday, January 5 with two episodes. The eight-parter focuses on a young neurosurgeon who discovers she is the unlikely heir to a family of witches.

Disney Branded Television’s upcoming animated buddy-comedy series “Kiff” will star Kimiko Glenn (“Orange Is the New Black”) as Kiff, an optimistic squirrel, while H Michael Croner (“Craig of the Creek”) co-stars as her bestie, a bunny named Barry. Slated to premiere in 2023 on Disney Channel, the series comes from South African creators and executive producers Lucy Heavens and Nic Smal.

Discovery Family’s “Petronix Defenders,” centered on four second-graders who save wild animals in danger, premieres Saturday, October 15 at 8:30a.

STREAMING

Tubi announced it has expanded its linear FAST channel offering to over 200 live news channels. “In just two short years, our FAST Channel offering has evolved into a robust and popular pipeline of viewing options across news, sports, and entertainment,” said Adam Lewinson, Chief Content Officer, Tubi. “We’re excited to continue delivering a best-in-class streaming experience that combines our massive on-demand library with a large ‘lean-back’ curation of linear channels.”

Sony Pictures Networks’ FAST channel Sony KAL Hindi has launched on Xumo in the US. The general entertainment destination features drama and comedy television series from India.

Sling Media’s Slingboxes, which stream live TV over the internet, are being retired on November 9. “Slingbox is being discontinued due to technology advances within the TV industry,” read a notice sent to Slingbox customers. “The demand for Slingbox has decreased as the ubiquitous nature of streaming devices and services has changed and modernized over the past several years.”

Now live on Pluto TV are four new channels, dedicated to “The Walking Dead,” “cheaters,” and “CSI: NY” and “CSI: Miami” in Spanish.

TECH TALK

The Multicultural Media & Correspondents Association has launched the BIPOCXChange, designed to provide media owners, buyers, brands, and creators with a single solution to connect with one another, identify needs, understand changing demographics, and reach core audiences. The ultimate goal is to increase access for multicultural media in the metaverse, drive coverage and ensure equity and inclusivity.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order last week to implement a new privacy framework aimed at enabling tech companies to transfer data from Europe to America, detailing requirements for government surveillance. “Signals intelligence,” or surveillance, can only be carried out “in pursuit of defined national security objectives.” Signals intelligence collection is prohibited for purposes including suppression of criticism, or disadvantaging people based on their ethnicity, race, religion or gender.

COMING UP

HBO Max’s “Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special,” featuring characters from the adult animated series celebrating their very first Valentine’s Day together, is headed to the streamer in February 2023.

Meanwhile, on mother ship HBO, “Year One: A political Odyssey” premieres Wednesday, October 19 at 9p. The documentary (also available on HBO Max) chronicles the tense first year of President Biden.

BET+ boasts a holiday slate that includes 10 new original films. First out of the gate is “A Wesley Christmas,” following adult siblings who travel to their childhood home – emotional baggage and all – for a family holiday.

“SpongeBob SquarePants Presents The Tidal Zone,” the first SpongeBob Universe crossover special, premieres Friday, November 25 on Nickelodeon, and will air overseas next year.

Shock Doc “Ghosts of Light” follows paranormal experts attempting to make contact with the ghosts of a passengers on a flight that crashed in the Everglades in 1972. The special premieres Friday, October 28 at 8p on Travel Channel and discovery+.

Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” three-part reunion kicks off Tuesday, October 12 at 8p, as host Andy Cohen and the Housewives revisit a drama-filled season 12.

Original documentary “The Fastest Women on Earth,” from filmmakers Chris Otwell and Graham Suorsa, debuts Thursday, October 20 on HBO Max. The doc captures the quest of professional racer and TV personality Jessi Combs to break land speed records in a field dominated by men.

SPORTS

ESPN+ is launching NHL Power Play on ESPN+, a new moniker that will carry over 1,050 live out-of-market games available to stream on ESPN+ throughout the regular season and designed to serve fans located outside the home market of their favorite NHL teams. Replays of every NHL regular season and playoff game on ABC, ESPN, NHL Network, and TNT are also made available to stream on NHL Power Play on ESPN+.

Twitter locked in a deal to deliver live look-ins for every MLB postseason game for the first time. In doing so, Twitter will be the only social media platform to officially stream live look-ins this postseason. Throughout all four rounds of the Postseason, coverage will run across @MLB, @BleacherReport, @BRWalkoff, @ESPN and @MLBonFOX, among others, for the video. Content will also include shoulder programming produced by MLB Network.

FOX Sports revealed the newest commercial in the network’s ‘Tis the FIFA World Cup creative campaign with a spot titled, “Superfan Santa,” promoting the anticipated tournament running November 20-December 18 across FOX Sports’ platforms. The campaign features Jon Hamm appearing as Santa Claus on vacation and discovering the news of the FIFA World Cup taking place during the holiday season, with Ellie Kemper portraying Mrs. Claus.

ESPN’s presentation of NHL games on its platforms this season will see some upgrades on production. In addition to in-game on-ice cameras, player mics during warmups, pregame locker room cameras, player and puck tracking, and other techniques, new developments include both players and referees being “wired” with mics throughout warmups and during games for select games. ESPN will also continue to develop its Rush Coverage, which gives fans an ice-level view, while capturing the natural sounds of the on-ice action without commentary at certain points in the game. Studio coverage during intermissions will originate from Bristol on a new set while the Star Watch alternate telecasts of key games throughout the regular season will also return this season with live streams on ESPN+.

TBS revealed plans for the 2022 American League Division Series and American League Championship Series with coverage of both best-of-five ALDS Game 1s beginning today, with pregame at 3p. Astros/Mariners will be called by Brian Anderson, Jeff Francoeur and reporter Matt Winer while Yankees/Guardians will be called by Bob Costas, Ron Darling and reporter Lauren Shehadi.

FIFA announced that six global destinations will host satellite FIFA Fan Festival events during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ through a collaboration with Budweiser. Budweiser is the first Commercial Affiliate in FIFA World Cup history to host International FIFA Fan Festivals in six cities across the globe together with sister brands Corona and Brahma: London, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Seoul and Dubai. The events will offer live match broadcasts from the FIFA World Cup in Qatar as well as various entertainment-driven activities, including performances by popular international DJs, local musicians and artists.

ONE Championship announced that Season 1 of The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition is now available on-demand on Prime Video exclusively in the US, marking the first time the show will be available for viewers in the country.

GOING GLOBAL

“Monty Python” star John Cleese has joined GB News as a presenter. Cleese will be joined by satirist Andrew Doyle next year for a show encouraging “proper argument.”

Season five of “The Handmaid’s Tale” will premiere simultaneously on Prime Video and Channel 4 in the UK. The move follows Amazon’s acquisition of MGM, which distributes the drama.

Banijay Productions Germany will produce the first European adaptation of entertainment format “Blow Up” for RTL Germany. The format was originally created by EndemolShine Nederland for RTL 4.

London’s CAN’T STOP media’s new dating format “Dating With Dogs” has been optioned in 13 territories. Warner Bros. International Television Production has partnered with CAN’T STOP media to become the exclusive producer of the format in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands and Flemish-speaking Belgium.

Abacus Media Rights has acquired the dramatic film “Mariupol: The People’s Story” (wt) from Top Hat Productions, for worldwide distribution, excluding UK and Northern Ireland.

Love Nature unveiled a slate of original programming including two new series, “My Best Friend’s an Animal” and “Wildlife ER,” as well as new seasons of “Orangutan Jungle School” and “Wild Dogs: Pack vs. Pride.”

Esports Business Summit 2022

Rates increasing tonight!

Don’t wait any longer – claim your early bird special rate and register for EBS now before prices increase at 11:59 PM EDT tonight! Taking place November 1st-3rd, 2022 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, this three-day program will bring together the entire esports ecosystem, where you will be exposed to exclusive insights, thought-leadership discussion, and authentic networking! Before you switch off the page, visit the link below to…

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RATINGS

The series premiere of “Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire” on October 2 and the return of “The Walking Dead” drove AMC+ to the most successful two days in its history on Sunday and Monday and highest levels of series viewership and new subscriber acquisition ever. “Vampire” ranked as the #1 new drama on ad-supported cable in 2022, giving AMC two of the top three series in that category, along with “Dark Winds.”

ESPN reports that viewership for Sunday Night Baseball Presented by Taco Bell was up vs. last year, according to Nielsen. This season’s 25 telecasts averaged 1,486,000 viewers, up 1%. Sunday Night Baseball was also up year over year in several key demos, including in P12-17 (17%); M35-54 (11%); P35-54 (nine%); and F2+ (3%).

Meanwhile, the St. Louis Cardinals saw local viewership rank tops in MLB for the second straight season. The club saw viewership on Bally Sports Midwest rise 31% to hit its top marks since 2016, averaging 91,000 households and 141,000 viewers in the St. Louis DMA in 2022.

Food Network’s “Halloween Baking Championship” posted .9 P18+/ 1.2 W18+ Live+3 rating last week, ranking as the #1 non-news/sports cable program in its timeslot among P/W 18+

Top 10 Streaming Shows for the week of October 3
Show, Platform, Actions, Posts, Actions per Post, Audience
House of the Dragon (HBO Max), 2.2m, 34, 65,505, 2.5m
Game of Thrones (HBO Max), 1.1m, 23, 47,629, 39.1m
The Boys (Prime Video),901k, 14, 64,349, 3.1m
She Hulk (Disney+), 839k, 49, 17,126, 265k
Get Organized with the Home Edit (Netflix), 695k, 32, 21,708, 7m
Moon Knight (Disney+), 643k, 1, 643,420, 771k
The Lord of the Rings (Prime Video), 634k, 70, 9,057, 1.2m
Fate: The Winx Saga (Netflix), 633k, 6, 105,539, 841k
Dancing with the Stars (Disney+), 615k, 108, 5,698, 9.1m
Daredevil (Disney+), 512k, 16, 32,014, 4.1m

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Friday, October 7
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: Shark Tank 3.44 (0.5), 20/20 2.80 (0.3)
CBS: S.W.A.T 4.76 (0.4), Fire Country 5.91 (0.4), Blue Bloods 6.40 (0.4)
CW: iHeartRadio Music Festival 0.52 (0.1)
FOX: WWE Friday Night Smackdown 2.21 (0.5)
NBC: Capital One College Bowl 1.70 (0.2), Dateline 2.30 (0.3)
Telemundo: Exatlon Estados Unidos 0.79 (0.2), El Fuego del Destino 0.75 (0.2), Infiel: Historia de un Engaño 0.76 (0.1)
Univision: La Herencia 1.42 (0.4), Los Ricos También Lloran 1.31 (0.4)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Upgrade Productions has hired Caroline Kusser as Executive Vice President, Head of Series. Kusser most recently served as EVP International Co-Production at Mediawan and Leonine Studios.

Wag Entertainment has appointed Jane Glasson to the newly created role of Director of UK Development. Glasson joins Wag Et from Spun Gold TV, where she was Head of Development.

Bristol-based Natural History production company Wildstar Films has named Nigel Buck to the newly created role of Executive Editor.

Tara Gaule has joined Beyond Rights as VP sales. Gaule joins from BBC Studios.

This Day in History
1936 – The first radio quiz show, “Professor Quiz,” premiered.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
In which series did Hal Linden replace Lou Rawls, who played the lead in the show’s pilot? “Jack’s Place” (1992-93). Kudos to: Kate Fonshell-Running Penncrest/Ardmore; Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC; Andrew Goldman-Grooveee/NYC; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton, FL

Today’s Trivia Question
In which TV-movie did two future “Charlie’s Angels” stars play college classmates? (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.)

Cynopsis Team