PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Donna Gigliotti (Shakespeare in Love) will produce the 91st Oscars, and director Glenn Weiss will co-produce as well as direct the show for the fourth consecutive time. Said ABC president Channing Dungey of Weiss, who proposed to his girlfriend onstage at the Emmys, “We can’t wait to see how they top that at the Oscars.” Trophy day is Sunday, February 24 on ABC.
Producer Mike DiCenzo is leaving NBC’s Tonight Show. On Twitter, DiCenzo called it, “One of the toughest decisions I’ve ever made…Ultimately, I just felt it was time.”
ID greenlit a second season of Breaking Homicide. True crime series following cold cases will return in summer 2019.
Netflix renewed adult animated comedy Disenchantment for seasons three and four. The remaining ten episodes of the show’s initial order will debut in 2019, with batches of ten episodes each airing in 2020 and 2021.
Crime drama Wolfe, from Bones’ Kathy Reichs and Michael Peterson and Kapital Entertainment, landed a put pilot commitment from ABC. Series centers on a veterinarian/coroner and his FBI profiler partner.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Nat Geo’s Inside North Korea’s Dynasty examines the history of the world’s only communist dynasty. A year in production, the four-parter premieres with back-to-back episodes on Sunday, Nov. 11, and Sunday, Nov. 18.
CuriosityStream is launching four-part Living Universe, combining science with science fiction to look 150 years into the future, starting Thursday, October 25.
Top Gear is back to all-UK hosts, with Paddy McGuinness and Freddie Flintoff replacing Matt LeBlanc (and Rory Reid) for season 27. LeBlanc is still onboard for season 26 of the BBC Two series, debuting in early 2019.
Nickelodeon’s Butterbean’s Cafe premieres Monday, November 12 at 1p. Animated preschool series centers on a fairy who runs a bakery.
Season five of TV One’s Rickey Smiley for Real premieres Tuesday, October 30 at 8p. The promotion campaign celebrates Smiley’s HBCU roots; in partnership with Urban One, TV One is hosting the Rickey Smiley for Real HBCULove Tailgate Truck Tour Experience, an interactive event with a branded truck, silent listening party, a live DJ, a virtual reality experience, and promotional giveaways.
COMING UP
Musician LeAnn Rimes and Tyler Hynes (UnREAL) star in Hallmark Channel movie It’s Christmas Eve, premiering Saturday, November 10 at 8p.
MTV wraps its midterm campaign, +1 the Vote, with an “Election Afterparty” at Miami Dade College on Tuesday, November 6 at 7p. The event, expected to be the largest youth-focused election party in the country, will feature performances by Fat Joe, PRETTYMUCH, DJ Nasty and Lauren Jauregui.
Paramount Network is offering a five-night binge of Heathers, starting Thursday, October 25, with two episodes per night at 10p and 11p through Sunday, October 29. Heathers was originally developed for TV Land, moved to Viacom sib Paramount and slated to launch in March 2018, then delayed because of concerns over its content.
Documentary Give Us This Day, tracking a year in the lives of three police officers and three residents living in homicide-plagued East St. Louis, premieres Thursday, November 8 at 10p on AT&T video platforms.
Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly will air as a three-night-event, starting Thursday, January 3, continuing Friday, January 4 and Saturday, January 5 at 9p. Docu-series covers the R&B singer’s controversial past and alleged abuse of underage girls.
Call for Submissions: Cynopsis is producing its annual Holiday Programming Guide, which comes out on November 15 and will be sent to all Cynopsis subscribers. If your network has * holiday-themed * programming airing from November 15 through January 1, please send your listing to [email protected] and [email protected] no later than Monday, November 6 with the subject line: Holiday Guide. To be included programs must be listed by date, title of program, and the start and end times each program will air on that date. A confirmation email will be sent following each submission (if you don’t receive a confirmation email, please resubmit).
DIGITAL DATA
Discovery and the PGA Tour unveiled GOLFTV, powered by the PGA Tour, a live and on-demand international video streaming services slated to launch globally outside the U.S. on January 1. The debut of the brand follows the strategic alliance between Discovery and the PGA TOUR announced in June.
Discovery platform Taboola announced a global strategic partnership with smartphone manufacturer vivo, calling for Taboola to deliver a personalized content experience for vivo’s customers. When users swipe right on the homescreen, Taboola will surface relevant personalized news and content from its network of publishers throughout Asia.
PlayStation Vue has integrated with Apple’s TV app, as the first pay-TV provider to be featured on the app, reports TheVerge. Users will be able to find content from Sony’s nationally available channels and live sports from national and regional channels.
Netflix is looking to raise $2 billion from institutional buyers for “general corporate purposes, which may include content acquisitions, production and development, capital expenditures, investments, working capital and potential acquisitions.” The company reported almost $12 billion in debt in September.
Teens spend over 70% of their video consumption on Netflix and YouTube, according to a study from Piper Jaffray that will surprise no parents of teens. The demo devotes 38% of their video time watching Netflix (down 1% from six months ago), and 33% on YouTube (up 3%). Cable TV viewing accounts for 16% of viewing time, down 44% from three years ago.
Yesterday, Facebook emailed Oculus Rift users, informing them its movie store is shuttering. “It’s become clear that while people love to stream immersive media on other devices, Rift is used primarily for gaming,” said Facebook. “These insights inform how we support new and existing features and apps across the platform.”
Five months in, 56% of companies are not compliant with GDPR, according to the IAPP-EY Annual Privacy Governance Report, and 19% said they will never be. Among U.S. firms, 67% of respondents said they have hired a data protection officer, versus 89% of European companies.
Barcroft Media’s original interactive series, Most Incredible Homes, debuts on Facebook Watch on Saturday, November 3 with episodes dropped weekly.
AMC Networks streaming service Shudder has launched its first scripted podcast series, Video Palace, created by Nick Braccia and The Blair Witch Project producer Michael Monello.
Overtime announced the launch of its first esports series, The Gaming Life, a three-parter following gamers trying to win $1 million playing Fortnite. “It has heart, it’s funny and it’s perfect for binging,” said Overtime head of production Dave Zigerelli. (For more on the exploding business of esports, go here.
Amazon’s Alexa Fund is investing in SevenRooms, a reservation platform that will integrate Alexa technology allowing Alexa-enabled devices to grab tables at its eateries.
ADVERTISING
Turner Ad Sales content and data solutions division of Turner Ignite launched a new brand studio dedicated to the company’s entertainment networks. Turner Ignite Studios brings together entertainment creators to align with advertising partners in developing original content that leverages Adult Swim, TBS, TNT and truTV. “As fans engage with our entertainment brands everywhere, marketers are increasingly looking for high-quality creative that can travel, and content that they have a voice in creating,” said Jennifer Cohen, SVP of content partnerships for Turner Ignite, who will oversee the new studio. “We’ve made this investment because we know premium branded content drives greater client results than traditional commercials.”
MEASUREMENT
Factual and mobile shopping app Ibotta are teaming to combine Factual’s real-time location data with Ibotta’s deterministic purchase data. Factual + Ibotta joint audience segments will be created for marketers to reach a group of consumers who made a product purchase and visited a physical retail location; these segments will allow marketers to target audiences with specific messages. Marketers will also have the ability to measure the value of their campaigns, attributing exposed audiences to real-world, in-store behavior.
GOING GLOBAL
CBS Studios International grabbed global rights to Have You Been Paying Attention?, an Australian quiz show produced by Working Dog Productions for CBS-owned Network Ten.
Kids animated series Kiva Can Do!, licensed for broadcast by Nick Jr. across multiple international territories, has entered production for a second season, set to begin airing in 2019.
Endemol Shine Group’s traveling entertainment format All Together Now has been commissioned in Romania, the show’s eleventh deal this year.
CASTING
Henry Lloyd-Hughes (Indian Summers) and Shannon Tarbet (Genius: Einstein) have joined the cast of BBC America’s Killing Eve, returning for season two in Spring 2019….Hannah Rae (Broadchurch) landed a series regular role in TNT drama pilot Constance….Freeform’s Party of Five reboot pilot found its lead four actors in Brandon Larracuente (13 Reasons Why), Emily Tosta (Mayans M.C.), Niko Guardado (The Goldbergs) and 10-year-old newcomer Elle Paris Legaspi.
DISTRIBUTION
Tribune Broadcasting multicast network Antenna TV has expanded to clearances on 135 stations across the country, bringing the network’s reach to 86% of US TV households. In the new affiliate agreements, Antenna TV will air in Charleston, SC, Reno, NV and Chattanooga, TN.
