PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
NBC gave a put pilot commitment to comedy All Together Now, from Lesley Wake Webster (Speechless) and Jason Winer (Single Parents), Bradley Whitford (The Handmaid’s Tale), who may be on tap to star, and 20th Century Fox TV, home of Winer’s Small Dog Picture Co. Written by Webster, series follows a rural church choir that gets the gift it never thought it needed when an Ivy league professor becomes its director. Webster and Whitford exec-produce with Winer and Jon Radler of Small Dog Picture Company.
Entertainment One inked a multiyear, first-look deal with entertainment industry mogul Tommy Mottola’s Mottola Media Group for scripted and unscripted programming. Mottola will serve as an executive producer on all TV projects and will develop and produce original programming with eOne. eOne will serve as the studio and control worldwide rights for all projects. Mottola will also consult for eOne’s music and live entertainment business. First under the deal is Harlem High, for Freeform, a scripted series that follows the diverse students involved in a Harlem high school’s show choir that will be written by Sam Laybourne, with Overbrook Entertainment producing alongside Mottola.
Endemol Shine North America signed unscripted producer and development executive Michael Heyerman to an exec producer deal. Among projects, Heyerman, who most recently served as showrunner on MasterChef Jr.- Road To The Finale, will serve as one of Endemol Shine North America’s executive producers on the studio’s upcoming series “Big Bounce Battle” for Fox.
ABC landed for a development deal for Because Kids, a half-hour comedy inspired by the Atomic Moms podcast. Series is from Undateable creator Adam Sztykiel and his wife Ellie Knaus, who created and hosts the podcast; production house Party Over Here; and CBS TV Studios.
The production companies behind Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood and Basketball Wives, two of VH1’s longest-running brands, are out. Eastern TV has been removed from Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood and Shed Media USA from Basketball Wives; VH1 is looking for replacements as it seeks to move the shows in different directions.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Comedy series Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj will debut on Netflix on Sunday, October 28. Netflix committed to an unprecedented 32-episode order, making Minhaj the first Indian-American host of a weekly comedy show… Also, Netflix set Friday, December 14 as the global launch date for its first Australian original, Tidelands. Eight-part supernatural series is created by Secrets & Lies’ Stephen M Irwin and hails from production company Hoodlum Entertainment. Charlotte Best (Home & Away) and Elsa Pataky (Fast And The Furious) star.
Good Trouble, the spinoff of family drama The Fosters, will premiere on Freeform on Tuesday, January 8. The pilot, exec-produced and directed by Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians), follows Callie (Maia Mitchell) and Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) as they embark on the next phase of their young adult lives in LA. Joanna Johnson, Peter Paige and Bradley Bredeweg serve as creators and showrunners; Gregory Gugliotta, Christine Sacani, Maia Mitchell, Cierra Ramirez, Jennifer Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Benny Medina serve as exec producers.
Monday, January 14, will be the premiere date for Fox thriller drama series The Passage, based on Justin Cronin’s best-selling book trilogy. Series stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar and breakout actress Saniyya Sidney, and is from Liz Heldens (Friday Night Lights), Matt Reeves, Scott Free and 20th Century Fox TV.
COMING UP
On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy became the largest natural disaster to ever hit NYC, with 1.6 billion gallons of water flooding the subway system, homes and apartment buildings, and roads and tunnels. Sinking Cities: New York, the first of a four-part doc series premiering Wednesday, October 31 at 10p on PBS stations, probes what the city, and the world, have learned from the disaster. Other eps will look at Tokyo, London and Miami.
Hallmark fans will get an early holiday gift with three new Original World Premiere movies next month. Hallmark Channel unveils Christmas Joy on Saturday, November 3 at 8p and Road to Christmas on Sunday, November 4 at 8p, from the network’s Countdown to Christmas slate, while Hallmark Movies & Mysteries will premiere Marrying Father Christmas, part of the Miracles of Christmas promo, on Sunday, November 4 at 9p.
The CW announced its slate of upcoming holiday specials, including the new Greatest Holiday Commercials Countdown 2018 and Greatest Holiday Video Countdown, both premiering Tuesday, December 18, and Popstar’s Best of 2018, airing Friday, December 28 at 9p. In other network holiday news, on Friday, November 23 at 8p the special Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer returns; the 87th annual Hollywood Christmas Parade will air Friday, December 14 at 8p, iHeartRadio Jingle Ball will drop Sunday, December 16 at 8p, and Masters of Illusion: Christmas Magic will debut Sunday, December 23 at 8p.
Under the category of planning ahead, the Recording Academy and CBS announced dates for the Grammy Awards in 2020 and 2021. The 62nd incarnation will air Sunday, January 26, 2020, and the 63rd edition will air Sunday, January 31, 2021.
PODCAST POSTS
SundanceTV and Sundance Now are delving deeper into the true crime genre space with the launch of a seven-ep podcast hosted by Amanda Knox. The Truth About True Crime with Amanda Knox will look at the Jonestown massacre and will serve as a companion to upcoming TV docuseries Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle, which will air on SundanceTV on November 17 and 18 at 9p and then on Sundance Now, AMC Networks’ subscription VOD service, starting December 20. Podcast eps 1 and 2 will be available on Sundance Now, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and other listening platforms beginning Thursday, October 25; eps 3-6 drop Monday, November 19,; and the finale is on Friday, December 7.
In related news, Sundance Now, will launch Exeter, its first scripted podcast, Thursday, October 25. Season 2 of the thriller podcast series has also been greenlit with new episodes slated to premiere in early 2019. The six-ep podcast, created by indie writer/director Ronnie Gunter (Lighter), stars Jeanne Tripplehorn (Big Love, Grey Gardens) and Ray McKinnon (Rectify, Sons of Anarchy).
Podcasts are red-hot—which is why we’ve added a new category to the Cynopsis TV Awards, honoring companion podcasts for a linear TV or online series. To beat the early bird deadline for entries, go here: http://www.cynopsis.com/events/2019-tv-awards/.
Media company Cadence13 today launched Why Sports Matter, a podcast series hosted by filmmaker Gotham Chopra and presented by Religion of Sports, the sports media company co-founded by Chopra, and football greats Tom Brady and Michael Strahan. Why Sports Matter will explore the larger themes of tribalism, authenticity, leadership and more through compelling stories. It’s the latest addition to Cadence13’s slate of premium podcasts on subjects that feature influencers including The Punies by NBA legend Kobe Bryant, What Really Happened? by doc filmmaker Andrew Jenks and producer Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and The Oval Office Tapes by R.J. Cutler and Blumhouse Television.
The latest Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations podcast will feature a interview with Julia Roberts, available on Apple Podcasts and other platforms beginning this week. Roberts also was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey for the November issue of Harper’s Bazaar.
DIGITAL DATA
Starz and Hulu announced the launch of the Starz premium add-on, available on all of Hulu’s subscription plans, just in time for the upcoming season 4 premiere of Starz series Outlander on Sunday, November 4. In a previously announced deal, Hulu has been the exclusive subscription streaming home to past seasons of Starz series Power.
Cinedigm reached an agreement with Chinese streamer Youku to distribute 30 of its original feature films in North America. Under their partnership, Cinedigm will attempt to secure online and TV distribution for a package of films targeting a millennial audience. Youku is a division of e-commerce giant Alibaba.
Verizon bested Wall Street expectations, reporting Q3 earnings per share of $1.19, up 34 percent from the 89 cents it posted in the year-earlier period, but the news was less sanguine for the company’s media unit. Oath, home to brands including AOL, HuffPost and Yahoo, delivered $1.8 billion in revenue for the quarter, 7 percent less than in the year-ago quarter.
CBSN, CBS News’ 24/7 streaming news network, is back on the road. Following last night’s stream of its daily politics hour Red & Blue live from Miami, the show will stream live from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Tuesday, October 30 at 5p with a program focusing on Nevada politics and the national political landscape. Red & Blue is anchored by Elaine Quijano.
A new spin on MoviePass: Helios and Matheson Analytics will spin off the troubled ticketing, film financing and production unit into its own publicly traded company. The move got preliminary approval by the board of directors.
Monday night’s eighth annual Streamy Awards, live-streamed on YouTube, handed trophies to the eponymous series from comedy quartet The Try Guys, who also hosted the awards, for Audience Choice: Show of the Year, while Shane Dawson won the Audience Choice: Creator of the Year and Kevin Hart’s Cold as Balls scored a win in the sports category.
Education tech nonprofit Khan Academy launched a series of civics videos that features conversations on “how government works” between Khan Academy founder Sal Khan and CBS This Morning co-host John Dickerson. First five videos in the new series are available for free on Khan Academy and span two categories of “Why it matters” and “What has changed.”
KIDS NEWS
Music artist and former Cynopsis Imagination Awards Luminary honoree Laurie Berkner’s new show, Laurie Berkner’s Song & Story Kitchen, will debut as a 10-chapter Audible Original Series on November 2. Young listeners can join Berkner and her buddy, Thelonious Pig (Josiah Gaffney), as she whips up yummy food, songs and stories.
CASTING
Emerald Fennell (Call the Midwife) will play Camilla Parker Bowles in the third season of Netflix’s The Crown, set in the ‘70s… James Purefoy (Hap and Leonard, Altered Carbon) joins Matthew Goode (The Crown, Downton Abbey) in the second season of lifestyle doc series The Wine Show, coming to Ovation TV November 15.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
MTV announced the first-ever MTV EMA Generation Change Award, to elevate the fearless young people who are changing the world. Five change makers from locales around the globe including Lebanon, Nigeria and the US, all under the age of 26, are nominated for the award, which will be presented during the 2018 MTV EMA red carpet pre-show in Bilbao, Spain on November 4.
