IN THE NEWS

Channing Dungey has left her position as Netflix VP Original Content after less than two years, to pursue another opportunity. She joined the streamer from ABC, where she had been head of the entertainment division. “I’ve known Channing for many years, and it’s been a pleasure working closer with her,” said Bela Bajaria, elevated to Head of Global TV in September. “She’s a terrific executive who’s always carved her own path, and although we will miss her, we wish her all the best for the future.”

Twitter’s talking tough about election results disruption. “Tweets meant to incite interference with the election process or with the implementation of election results, such as through violent action, will be subject to removal. This covers all Congressional races and the Presidential Election,” warned the company in a blog post. “People on Twitter, including candidates for office, may not claim an election win before it is authoritatively called,” Twitter went on to declare on Friday. To determine the results of an election in the US, Twitter will require either an announcement from state election officials, or a public projection from “at least two authoritative, national news outlets that make independent election calls.”

What are the chances of a zombie crossover in AMC’s The Walking Dead franchise, which now includes Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: World Beyond and Tales of the Walking Dead? “There’s something we’re working on that’s kind of far afield that has some crossover-y elements to it,” teased Scott Gimple, Chief Content Office of the TWD universe, at New York Comic-Con. “There are plans.”

Tomorrow is the first day we start honoring our 2020 Top Women in Media! We’ve made it easier than ever to see it: all you need to do is visit our website at 2p ET daily from October 13-16th. If you already registered, no worries – you’re all set, but moving forward there’s no need to do even that. We’re dropping the daily videos like albums 🙂 Get ready to be inspired!

The 2020 ARF David Ogilvy Awards winners included Courageous Conversation Global Foundation’s “Not A Gun” Campaign as the Grand Winner. Other Gold winners include Pure Leaf’s “No Is Beautiful” for Best Brand Transformation in the Food & Beverage category, truth’s “Ditch JUUL” for Best Consumer Experience and ESPN’s “There’s No Place Like Sports” in the Sports, Media & Entertainment category.

Netlfix renewed animated Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous for a second season. The series from Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment follows a group of stranded campers struggling to survive as dinosaurs wreak havoc. The streamer also greenlit animated action series Blue Eye Samarai, following a mixed-race master of the sword seeking revenge in Edo-period Japan, and acquired the rights to develop live-action and animated series and films from the Elf on the Shelf brand, owned by the Lumistalla Company.

A&E true crime series, Accused: Guilty or Innocent?, from Brinkworth Productions, will be back for season two. “A&E has a long-standing legacy of taking an innovative approach to bringing emotional non-fiction stories to our viewers,” said Elaine Frontain Bryant, EVP and Head of Programming for A&E. “By taking the POV of a person accused of a serious crime, Accused: Guilty or Innocent? brings an entirely different perspective to the true-crime genre.”

ViacomCBS International Studios announced Frida Torresblanco (Pan’s Labyrinth) and Jill Offman, Managing Director at 66 Media and former Managing Director of ViacomCBS International Studios UK, as executive producers of a new scripted series in development based on the life of artist Artemisia Gentileschi. Production is slated to begin in 2021.

Call for Submissions: Cynopsis is producing its annual Holiday Programming Guide, which comes out on October 28 and will be sent to all Cynopsis subscribers. If your network has holiday programming airing from October 28 through January 1, please send your listing to [email protected] and [email protected] no later than Monday, October 19 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, A Christmas Kiss at 3p, A Very Country Christmas at 5p, Christmas on the Coast at 7p, A Christmas Cruise at 9p”. Holiday-related programs only! A confirmation email will be sent following each submission (if you don’t receive a confirmation email, please resubmit).

A TV adaptation of Green Lantern, headed for HBO Max, will be written by Seth Grahame-Smith (The Lego Batman Movie) and Marc Guggenheim (Arrow). Berlanti Productions is producing in association with Warner Bros.

The Long Haul nabbed a script-to-series commitment from Fox. The mother/daughter trucking drama comes from writer Katie Joy, Josh Berman and Sony Pictures Television, which is co-producing with Fox Entertainment.

HBO Max is developing two more shows from John Wells Productions: Hawaii-set lffeguard drama Ke Nui Road, and anthology series Things That Make White People Uncomfortable, inspired by the book by Michael Bennett and Dave Zirin. Wells also has a pilot for Red Bird Lane at the streamer.

Critical Content is teaming with Wham-O, maker of classic toys including the Frisbee Disc, Hula Hoop and Slip ‘N Slide, to develop and create TV content built around Wham-O’s portfolio of brands. As part of the alliance, the two are developing a competition series based on Slip ‘N Slide, tentatively titled Slip ‘N Slide Island.

With more than a dozen categories, these companies reign supreme in Cynopsis’ Adtech Awards: 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 December 1st to see who wins!

CASTING

Susan Sarandon will star in the aforementioned HBO Max drama pilot Red Bird Lane. Also onboard the cast of the psychological thriller are Kiersey Clemons (Dope), Isidora Goreshter (Shameless), Danny Huston (Succession), Ash Santos (American Horror Story: Apocalypse), Fiona Dourif (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency), Dizzie Harris (Shameless) and Tara Lynne Barr (Casual)…Broadway’s Mean Girls star Ashley Park reunites with Tina Fey in Peacock’s Girls5eva, from Fey, Robert Carlock and Meredith Scardino. Park will recur in the comedy about a 90s girl group offered another shot at fame…Tracy Vilar (House) landed a series regular role in Netflx dramedy Maid… Greta Lee (Russian Doll) and Ruairi O’Connoer (The Spanish Princess) have been added to the season two cast of Apple TV+’s The Morning Show.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Season two of TNT’s Snowpierce kicks off Monday, January 25 at 9p. Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) and Rowan Blanchard (Girl Meets World) will join the cast alongside Jennifer Connolly and Daveed Diggs. Season one of the sci-fi thriller premiered as the #1 new cable entertainment program in May, with 3.3 million total viewers across TNT and TBS.

HBO Max will be the streaming home for UK dramedy I Hate Suzie, following an actress whose life unravels after she is hacked. Billie Piper (Doctor Who) is co-creator and star.

New Nickelodeon preschool series Santiago of the Seas, which premiered Friday, October 9 on Nick Jr., is infused with a Spanish-language and Latino-Caribbean culture curriculum. Cynopsis spoke with creator and co-exec producer Niki Lopez:
In a time of elevated awareness of diversity and cultures, what’s important for parents to know about the show?
Santiago of the Seas features English-Spanish bilingualism and immerses viewers in a magical world inspired by the rich tapestry of Latino-Caribbean culture. The show will visually highlight inclusivity through its diverse cast; different racial and ethnic heritages are present to champion a truly inclusive community.
What will kids find most relatable about the protagonist?
Our protagonist, Santiago, is a brave and kind-hearted 8 year-old boy with a strong moral compass who loves adventure! Because Santiago feels a deep sense of civic responsibility, he will sometimes use his exciting adventures to give back to his friends and community.

The Astronauts launches Friday, November 13 at 7p on Nickelodeon, with an hour-long event. The live-action series, a co-production with Imagine Kids+Family, follows a group of kids who are mistakenly sent into space.

BBC America’s The Watch will debut Sunday, January 3 at 8p, it was announced at New York Comic Con. It was also revealed that Wendell Pierce (The Wire) and Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows) have joined the voice cast of the series.

STREAMING SCOOP

The Roku Channel is now on Amazon Fire TV devices. “When we launched The Roku Channel in 2017, our goal was to deliver great, free entertainment to the masses. Since then, we’ve continued to drive choice, value and simplicity to the millions of households tuning into The Roku Channel every day,” wrote Rob HolmesVP of programming at Roku, in a blog post. “Today, we’re building on our commitment to make The Roku Channel even more accessible by expanding onto streaming devices such as Amazon Fire TV.”

GOING GLOBAL

GOL has acquired the rights to season two of Karate Combat in Spain. The combat sports action will air Sunday nights until December.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
How did Will Gardner die on The Good Wife 2009-16)? He was shot in the courtroom by a client. Kudos to: Aaron Paquette-Screen Engine/ASI/Fort Worth, TX, Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station, TX, Carla Juda-KOIN 6 News/Portland, OR, John Amato-KTTV/Good Day LA/LA, Larry Hutchings/Nipoma, CA, Lisa Morse-KMPH Fox 26/Fresno, CA, Eric Emeric-Showtime Networks/NYC, Joel Zaremby-The Workplace/Bridgeport, CT, David Martinez-Propagat/Electus/NYC, Jim DeBlasi-The Cue/NYC

Today’s Trivia Question
Which primetime medical drama on CBS was transformed into a soap opera that aired on ABC? (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.)