A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM HALLMARK CHANNEL

Hallmark Channel Sleighed the Competition

#1 Most Watched Network
Beat the Nearest Competitor by 65%

Countdown to Christmas Shines Bright
Holiday Movie Premieres
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Today’s Premieres
Disney+: Tales of the Jedi; Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t; The Mysterious Benedict Society
HGTV: Property Brothers: Forever Home at 9p
IFC: Sherman’s Showcase at 10:30p
OUTtv: Call Me Mother

Today’s Finales
CNBC: Jay Leno’s Garage at 10p
E!: Raising a F…ing Star at 9:30p
Lifetime: Married at First Sight at 8p

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM GREAT AMERICAN MEDIA

Great American Family Destined for Christmas Success

Great American Christmas premiere Destined for Christmas breaks all network ratings records to-date in EVERY key demo – HHs, W2554, W1849, P2554, P1849 AND P2+

Tops Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Saturday Premiere in W25-54 Coverage Area*

17 more quality original movies to come this holiday season featuring Candace Cameron Bure, Danica McKellar, Gladys Knight, Cameron Mathison, Jill Wagner, and more!

Great American Family Emerging as The Leader in Quality Christmas Content

IN THE NEWS

“Doctor Who” is traveling to Disney+ outside the UK and Ireland. The BBC and Disney Branded Television are collaborating to transform “Doctor Who” into a global franchise, with Russell T Davies taking control of the TARDIS in 2023 as showrunner. Said Davies, who was responsible for the revival of “Doctor Who” in 2005, “This is the best of both worlds – with the vision and joy of the BBC and Disney+ together we can launch the TARDIS all around the planet, reaching a new generation of fans while keeping our traditional home firmly on the BBC in the UK.” The new episodes, starring Ncuti Gatwa and produced by Bad Wolf with BBC Studios Productions, will premiere on the BBC and Disney+ beginning in late 2023.

James Gunn and Peter Safran have been appointed to the new roles of Co-Chairmen and Chief Executive Officers of DC Studios, overseeing the overall creative direction of the DC Universe across film, TV, and animation under a single banner. Gunn and Safran have extensive superhero experience, having brought some of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Universe’s most popular characters to life in hit films and series. The appointments will be effective on November 1.

“DC has among the most entertaining, powerful, and iconic characters in the world and I am thrilled to have the singular and complementary talents of James and Peter joining our world-class team and overseeing the creative direction of the storied DC Universe,” said David Zaslav, President and CEO of WarnerBros. Discovery, to whom Gunn and Safran will report. “Their decades of experience in filmmaking, close ties to the creative community, and proven track record thrilling superhero fans around the globe make them uniquely qualified to develop a long-term strategy across film, TV, and animation, and take this iconic franchise to the next level of creative storytelling.”

HBO has renewed drama “Industry” for a third season. The series, which follows a group of young bankers, concluded its eight-episode second season on September 19.

Netflix canceled animated comedy “Bad Crimes” before it started airing. The series, created by Nicole Silverberg (“Full Frontal with Samantha Bee”), received a 10-episode order in January.

Warner Bros. Discovery reported a $3.4 billion second quarter loss, including $2 billion in amortization of intangible assets, $1.033 billion in restructuring and other charges and $983 million of transaction and integration expenses involved in the merger of Discovery with WarnerMedia. The company also cut its guidance for future earnings, pointing to decisions made at WarnerMedia that needed to be revised.

A+E Networks and 2K are partnering on an integration to celebrate the upcoming launch of 2K’s latest video game, Marvel’s Midnight Suns. The campaign brings 2K into the development process for a new episode of The History Channel’s “Forged in Fire” competition series. “We set out to unite gamers and ‘Forged in Fire’ with content that bridges their interests and brings them together in a world where fantasy becomes reality,” said Maura O’Donovan, VP, A+E Networks Ad Sales Marketing Partnerships. “It’s the first time we have given exclusive access to our episode development and host, Grady Powell.”

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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

FX has ordered “Never Let Me Go,” a one-hour drama series inspired by Kazuo Ishiguro’s science fiction novel, exclusively for Hulu in the US, Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ under the Star banner in all other territories. Viola Prettejohn (“The Nevers”), Tracey Ullman (“Mrs. America”) and Kelly Macdonald (“Line of Duty”) will star. The series is produced by DNA Productions with FX Productions and Searchlight Television.

Clearstory has been commissioned by Channel 4 to produce “Jimmy Carr Destroys Art,” in which comedian Jimmy Carr invites audience members to destroy controversial artworks. The series is set to air at the end of October as part of Channel 4’s 40th anniversary programming.

Nickelodeon and Mattel Television have greenlit a sequel to the live-action movie musical “Monster High the Movie.” Based on the Mattel franchise about the children of famous monsters and creatures, the feature-length TV movie will begin production in January and air on Nickelodeon and stream on Paramount+ in 2023.

Christine Holder and Mark Holder have been let go from their roles as executive producers of CBS drama “East New York.” The move reportedly comes after an investigation by Warner Bros. Television into allegations involving Christine Holder.

Amy Smart (“Stargirl”), Matt Davis (“The Vampire Diaries”), Ne-Yo (“Stomp the Yard”), Billy Zane (“Titanic”) and Greer Grammer (“Deadly Illusions”) are set to star in writer/director Anna Elizabeth James’ “Blunt.” James will produce the mystery thriller under her Kiss and Tale Productions banner alongside Richard Switzer, Julie Gause, Paul Luba and Chad Verdi Jr. Executive producers are Larry Galluzzo and Tim Bien.

UK’s Northern indie production company Chief announced the opening of a new London office, which will be run by Cris Mudge, who moves to the role of Executive Producer. Founded in 2002, Chief is based in Manchester’s Media City.

Jesse Williams (“Grey’s Anatomy”) has joined the cast of Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.” He’ll recur during season three as a documentarian.

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and Rotten Tomatoes have launched The Crimson Honors, a college film & TV criticism scholarship program for LGBTQ women and nonbinary students of color in Southern California pursuing a career in journalism or entertainment criticism. GALECA will award more than $6000 in financial assistance.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

ABC unscripted series “The Parent Test” gets a plum premiere slot following the debut of “Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration” on Thursday, December 15 at 10p. Based on a hit Australian television format, “The Parent Test” will explore the many different parenting styles by putting twelve families through various situations.

“Baking It” kicks off its second season on Peacock with a holiday special on Monday, December 12. Former “SNL” castmates Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler host and executive produce the cooking competition. Poehler replaces another “SNL” alum, Andy Samberg, in the co-hosting spot.

The Weather Channel has three series returning next month. Season three of “Storm of Suspicion” premieres Tuesday, November 1 at 8p; season two of “Uncharted Adventure” launches Saturday, November 5 at 9p; and the third run of “Deadline to Disaster” begins Saturday, November 12 at 10p.

Season three of BET+ drama “First Wives Club” launches November 17. New episodes will be released every Thursday.

Oxygen’s “Sleeping with Death” explores the horror of waking up to find someone has been murdered in the house where they were sleeping. The true crime series premieres Sunday, November 6 at 7p.

COMING UP

Marvel Studios’ Special Presentation “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” lands Friday, November 25, exclusively on Disney+. In the special, the Guardians, who are on a mission to make Christmas unforgettable for Quill, head to Earth in search of the perfect present – in the form of Kevin Bacon.

Singer-songwriter Rita Ora and Taika Waititi (“Jojo Rabbit”) will host the “MTV EMAs” 2022, broadcasting live from Düsseldorf, Germany on Sunday, November 13.

The initial lineup of performers for “The 56th Annual CMA Awards” on ABC includes Jimmie Allen, Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Bryan, Kelly Clarkson, HARDY, Marcus King, Miranda Lambert, Carly Pearce, Carrie Underwood, Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson, and Zac Brown Band. The broadcast will open with a tribute to Loretta Lynn. Hosted by Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning, the show broadcasts from Nashville on Wednesday, November 9 at 8p.

HLN’s “Toxic Love: The Gabby Petito Tragedy” premieres Saturday, November 5 at 9p. The two-hour special follows the story of the 22-year-old who disappeared after a cross-country trip with her fiancé.

MSNBC Films and XTR’sv short film “The Sentence of Michael Thompson” debuts on MSNBC on October 30. The documentary tells the story of the longest-serving non-violent offender in Michigan history, and the legal battle surrounding his life sentence.

Comedy specials “Ian Lara: Romantic Comedy” and “Entre Nous: The Winners 3” debut Friday, November 11 on HBO Max.

SPORTS

Adidas cut ties with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, following the artist’s repeated antisemitic and offensive remarks. In a statement, the German sportswear brand announced that the company would “end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies,” effective immediately. Adidas “does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said, adding that “Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous.”

Lots of ratings news…
· FOX Sports averaged 4,656,000 viewers for the Phillies/Padres series. That is up over its presentation of the 2021 Red Sox/Astros ALCS a year ago.
· FOX Sports also saw America’s Game of the Week average 22,285,000 viewers this week, up 23% over last year’s comparable window. The franchise is averaging 22,857,000 viewers this season, up 9%.
· ESPN’s blitz of college football programming saw ABC/ESPN networks land six of the top 10 most-viewed games in week 8, led by Syracuse/Clemson which averaged 4.7 million viewers. Across all three games, ABC averaged 4.3 million viewers, the network’s most-watched college football Saturday since Week 1 and up double digits from 2021’s Week 8.
· NBC Sports saw SNF’s Steelers/Dolphins battle average 16.5 million viewers. Sunday’s game was the most-watched Dolphins primetime game in 7 years.

On the programming front, ESPN revealed its broadcast plans for women’s college basketball. The regular season will feature over 230 games across its linear platforms, which over 2300 carried on ESPN+.

PGA TOUR Champions announced the schedule for its 2023 season, lining up 28 events and concluding at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix, AZ. The 25-event regular season will welcome one new tournament, The Galleri Classic in Rancho Mirage, CA, and players will visit 20 U.S. states and three other countries (Morocco, Wales, Canada). In 2023, players will compete for more than $66 million in total prize money, the highest in PGA TOUR Champions’ 43-season history.

The National Women’s Soccer League and CBS Sports announced multiplatform coverage details and announcers for the 2022 Ally Financial NWSL Championship, presented by Budweiser on Saturday. In its first-ever primetime spot live from Audi Field in Washington, D.C., the match between the Kansas City Current and Portland Thorns FC will begin at 8p across CBS, Paramount+ and internationally on Twitch, with live pre-match coverage beginning at 6:30p. Jenn Hildreth will team up with Aly Wagner to call the match.

The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced a “Respect for the Game” program to encourage respectful behavior at all levels of the sport. Pillars include: promoting an environment of mutual respect in workplaces, arenas and communities where players, coaches and teams compete; upholding the honor and dignity of all players, coaches, referees, fans and staff, and setting a positive example for all stakeholders; and fostering inclusivity and diversity with respect to spaces, actions and opinions.

Fubo Sports Network struck a multi-year deal with Gilbert Arenas and Josiah Johnson, hosts of its streaming TV show (and podcast), “No Chill with Gilbert Arenas.” The network’s most watched original program, “No Chill” has generated 5.4 million total streams to date and over 2.7 million podcast downloads. On YouTube, it has garnered 73.5 million views and 6.5 million hours watched.

Charter has named two winners in the World Cup soccer skills contest, which was announced in September: Jacynda Rueda, 17, of West Covina, CA, and Ale Gómez, 20, of NYC. Both submitted videos of themselves performing soccer tricks, and the footage is included in a new Spectrum Mobile commercial starring Mexican soccer star Andrés Guardado.

RFD-TV begins broadcasting the 95th National FFA Convention and Expo today, October 26. The main sessions, events, and rodeo will bring 30+ hours of content to both RFD-TV and The Cowboy Channel television networks.

TECH TALK

The draft of an open letter by Twitter employees, published by Time, paints a picture of a team frustrated and angry about reports that Elon Mask plans to lay off 75% of staff. “These threats have an impact on us as workers and demonstrate a fundamental disconnect with the realities of operating Twitter,” reads the draft. “They threaten our livelihoods, access to essential healthcare, and the ability for visa holders to stay in the country they work in. We cannot do our work in an environment of constant harassment and threats. Without our work, there is no Twitter.” Musk is facing an October 28 deadline to close his $44 billion deal for Twitter.

TelevisaUnivision has signed a multi-year agreement to use Nielsen One, the company’s cross-platform measurement solution to be released in December. TelevisaUnivision will use the full suite of solutions under Nielsen One, along with Nielsen Marketing Cloud, and Gracenote’s Advanced Discovery suite. The deal encompasses measurement across TelevisaUnivision’s national, digital, local and audio affiliates as well as streamer ViX.

Alphabet didn’t meet Wall Street expectations for the quarter, posting $69.1 billion in revenue, up 6% from the year-ago period (or 11% when foreign currency issues are factored out), with earnings per share of $1.06. Analysts had expected $70.6 billion in revenue and EPS. YouTube advertising revenue fell $400 million short of estimates.

YouTube is getting a makeover, with new design elements and product features. Using dynamic color sampling, ambient mode introduces a subtle effect so the app background color adapts to match the video. “We were inspired by the light that screens cast out in a darkened room and wanted to recreate the effect so viewers were drawn right into the content and the video takes an even greater focus on our watch page,” said Nate Koechley, UX Director, YouTube in a blog post. The dark theme has been updated to be even darker, and YouTube links in video descriptions will change to buttons. Also launched is pinch to zoom, enabling users to easily zoom in and out of a video.

STREAMING

VIZIO has introduced My Watchlist, a new feature that allows viewers to add their favorite TV shows and movies from different streaming services into one central location on VIZIO SmartCast TVs. To add shows and movies to My Watchlist, users can search for a title, actor or select the “+ Watchlist” button on the content detail page of each title. Once added, a dedicated My Watchlist row will appear on the SmartCast Home Screen. When ready to begin viewing, the user selects the preferred title and is immediately launched into the service.

Lionsgate+ has arrived on smart TV Sky Glass, and will be on Sky Q, the set top box. Later this year, the app will arrive on Sky Q, Sky Glass in Italy and Sky Q in Germany.

GOING GLOBAL

Moonbug Entertainment has struck an agreement with Gulli, the French kids free-to-air television channel, to air episodes of Moonbug’s “CoComelon” across the channel starting early November. It’s Moonbug’s first free TV channel deal in France.

Nippon TV announced the upcoming season three premiere of Mediacorp’s Singapore adaptation of “Old Enough!”, Nippon TV’s reality series format that focuses on children being tasked to run solo errands while being trailed by an incognito camera crew. The series is returning after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

Tempest Awards
Congrats to our Tempest Finalists!

Collegiate Esports Program of the Year
Clark University
Boise State University
University of Hawai’i
Maryville University
Northwood University

View all finalists

RATINGS

Netflix’s “The Watcher” landed at the top of the streamer’s series chart for a second week, with 148.2 million hours viewed. Week one brought in 125 million hours.

Daytime syndicated shows got slammed in the session ending October 16, competing against or being bumped by ten Major League Baseball playoff games and also getting hit with extensive preemptions on October 13 for hearings of the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. The only first-run show managing to move up was “Live with Kelly and Ryan” (1.6 Live+SD national Nielsen rating, up 7% from the week before), which led the talkers for the 21st straight week (including ties) and matched its highest household number of the season. The newcomers to talk also performed well despite the preemptions, with “Sherri” (0.7) and “The Jennifer Hudson Show” (0.6) holding steady.

In the first four days of release, Shudder Original Film “V/H/S/99” registered 28% more unique viewers than the previous record holder, “V/H/S/94,” which premiered on Shudder in 2021. “V/H/S/99” also accounted for nearly 22% of all on-demand streams on Shudder during the same time period and was AMC+’s #1 most watched movie of the weekend.

Nielsen Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of October 10 ranked in order by HH Rtg
Jeopardy! (CMV) 5.2 AA
Family Feud (CMV) 4.7 AA
Wheel of Fortune (CMV) 4.7 AA
Judge Judy (CMV) 3.8 AA
Inside Edition (CMV) 2.1 AA
Entertainment Tonight (CMV) 2.0 AA
The Big Bang Theory (WB) 1.9 AA
Live With Kelly and Ryan (DAD) 1.6 AA
Dr. Phil (CMV) 1.3 AA
Hot Bench (AT) 1.2 AA

Nielsen Basic Cable Ranker for the week of October 17
Network, P2+ AA (000)
Prime Time
TBS 2937
ESPN 2796
Fox News 2301
Fox Sports 1 1684
MSNBC 1126
TNT 1071
Hallmark Channel 982
HGTV 833
TLC 741
INSP 635
Total Day
Fox News 1481
TBS 892
ESPN 888
Hallmark Channel 549
Fox Sports 1 484
CNN 458
HGTV 452
TNT 449
INSP 370

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, October 24
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: Bachelor in Paradise 2.37 (0.6), The Good Doctor 3.20 (0.3)
CBS: The Neighborhood 5.76 (0.6), Bob Hearts Abishola 5.45 (0.5), NCIS 6.97 (0.5), NCIS: Hawai’i 5.01 (0.4)
CW: All American 0.48 (0.1), All American: Homecoming 0.40 (0.1)
FOX: 9-1-1 5.15 (0.7), The Cleaning Lady 2.22 (0.3)
NBC: The Voice 5.77 (0.6), Quantum Leap 2.22 (0.3)
Telemundo: Exatlon Estados Unidos 0.94 (0.2), La Reina del Sur 1.18 (0.4), El Fuego del Destino 0.85 (0.2)
Univision: La Herencia un Legado de Amor 2.00 (0.6), Ricos Tambien Lloran 1.89 (0.6), La Madrastra 1.38 (0.4)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Rob Clark, Director, Global Entertainment at Fremantle, is retiring in February. “For the past 20 years, Rob has been one of the key architects of our vast and successful Global Entertainment business,” said Fremantle CEO Jennifer Mullin. “When we talk about connecting creativity at Fremantle, Rob embodies that.”

DISQO has tapped Nicholas Weaver to serve as VP of Engineering. Weaver previously led engineering in Google search ads for AI and machine learning productivity.

Steve Rotfeld Productions has appointed Shannon Malone-deBenedictis as Senior Vice President of Development. Malone-deBenedictis comes to SRP from Red Rock Films, joining Stephanie Burns, the newly promoted SVP of Development, and DJ Dodd, Senior Director of Development.

This Day in History
1861 – The Pony Express ended after just 18 months, two days after the Western Union Telegraph Company completed its first transcontinental telegraph line in Salt Lake City.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
On which comedy did Joel McHale play a realtor? “Santa Clarita Diet” (2017-19). Kudos to: Brianne Maciejowski-Odyssey Studios/Sarasota, FL; Roger Furman-Sports Marketing Communications/Greentown, PA; Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC; Louis Lewow-FITE/Atlanta; Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA; Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank; Ken DuBow-Access Entertainment/LA; David Garber-Loyola Marymount University/Playa Vista, CA

Today’s Trivia Question
“Mad Men” (2007-2015) character Don Draper was a salesman at what kind of company when he met his future boss, Roger Sterling? (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