PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
NBC is developing half-hour comedy Danni Lowinski, based on the 2010 German TV series. Ian Brennan, co-creator of Glee and Scream Queens; Tariq Jalil’s Intrigue Entertainment and 20th Century Fox TV are behind the project, which follows a smart, mouthy working-class woman who opens a kiosk law practice in a mall after she’s rejected by every traditional law firm in Milwaukee. Brennan wrote the project and serves as showrunner.
Starz is the victor in a competitive scenario for Family Crimes, a drama from Suicide Squad writer/director David Ayer that hails from Jerry Bruckheimer Television. Starz has given a production commitment to the project, about a privileged Latina who tries to save her family when the federal government sniffs out their dealings with the Mexican mob.
Nat Geo greenlit its next scripted project, Valley of the Boom, a six-part limited series from STXtv immersed in the culture of speculation, innovation and debauchery that led to the rapid inflation and burst of the tech bubble in the ‘90s. Series will have a hybrid element similar to the network’s Mars, with supporting documentary elements on screen. Matthew Carnahan (House of Lies) is creator, showrunner, director and exec producer; Arianna Huffington also serves as an exec producer.
Crimetown, based on the podcast from The Jinx creators Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier, is in development at FX, with Ted Melfi attached to direct and executive produce. The TV version probes organized crime and municipal corruption in Providence, RI. Smerling and Stuart-Pontier exec-produce with Color Force’s Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson, along with Melfi.
OBB Pictures and Crypt TV are partnering to develop and produce horror and thriller series for television and digital. The companies will collaborate on a projects that combine Crypt TV’s library of horror content and merchandising channels with OBB’s experience in developing, producing and selling premium serial programming.
Indie production house The WorkShop is about to begin production on eight-part series Shame: The Story of Sexual Harassment in Hollywood. As the Hollywood sex scandals continue to pile up, the project will examine H’wood cultural issues starting with the “casting couch mentality” that dates back to the days of silent films, and peripheral fallout such as how many people are losing their jobs when a show is canceled in the wake of a scandal.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Fox has set January 3 as the premiere date for new drama 9-1-1. The series will bow Wednesday, January 3 following the debut of the 10-ep second season of The X-Files. The two series take the Wednesday night slots of the on-hiatus Empire and Star.
Ralph Friedman, the most decorated detective in NYPD history, takes viewers inside his white-knuckle investigations in the series Street Justice: The Bronx, with new eps premiering on Investigation Discovery starting Thursday, November 30 at 10p.
Ben and Erin Napier return to HGTV for a sophomore season of their series Home Town on Monday, January 8, at 9p.
COMING UP
Carrie Underwood and John Legend will host Grammys Greatest Stories: A 60th Anniversary Special, Friday, November 24 at 9p on CBS. Two-hour special will feature rare archival footage, exclusive interviews and appearances by winners and nominees including Mary J. Blige, Dave Grohl, Elton John, Bruno Mars, P!nk, Ed Sheeran, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake and Keith Urban.
Miss Me This Christmas, premiering Sunday, December 3 at 7p, and You Can’t Fight Christmas, premiering Sunday, December 10 at 7p, are part of TV One’s holiday gift to viewers. The original movies both are set at the fictional Chesterton Hotel, which serves as the epicenter of a small town’s annual Christmas celebration.
Ovation TV is going to 11, as in seasons, with its annual Battle of the Nutcrackers. Beginning Monday, December 11, this year’s “battle” features broadcasts of five different productions of The Nutcracker, and culminates with the fan-voted favorite being revealed and repeated on Monday, December 18 at 7p. All five productions will also be available on VOD.
AXS TV presents Ann Wilson’s Christmas With A Heart, a week of Christmas concerts every night at 8p from Sunday, December 17 through Sunday, December 24, followed by an all-day marathon Monday, December 25 starting at 11a.
Tony Bennett will be honored with the 2017 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in a special event that took place last night at DC’s DAR Constitution Hall and airing on PBS on Friday, January 12. The concert features appearances by Michael Buble, Gloria Estefan, Josh Groban, Vanessa Williams, Stevie Wonder and Wynton Marsalis, among others.
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is getting in the Super Bowl spirit with a live telecast on Sunday, February 4 from the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis – home of Super Bowl LII. Guests for the show TBA. This marks the NBC late nighter’s second post-Super Bowl airing. The show was telecast live from Phoenix following Super Bowl XLIX in 2015.
CARRIAGE & DISTRIBUTION
After reaching a tentative agreement last month, Viacom renewed and expanded its distribution agreement with cable operator Charter. The multiyear deal broadens the companies’ distribution relationship on Charter’s Spectrum systems, and includes a new co-production deal for original content and a plan to collaborate for select advertising and measurement services. Viacom earlier this year reached renewed carriage with Altice for Optimum and Suddenlink.
DIGITAL DOINGS
Time Inc. launched OTT streaming service Sports Illustrated TV, available beginning today (November 16) on Amazon. The network premieres with 130 hours of on-demand programming, including original doc series, weekly studio shows and acquired sports movies, documentaries and TV shows. SI TV joins People TV as Time Inc.’s second streaming network. The five original shows greenlit for SI TV for launch are doc series The Vault, revisiting some of SI the magazine’s most impactful series; SI: Under the Cover, featuring interviews with cover subjects; basketball lifestyle show The Crossover; soccer deep dive Planet Futbol; and The Line (working title), about sports wagering and daily fantasy. In addition, the service launches with exclusive Sports Illustrated Swimsuit content, and SI Now, the daily show that airs on SI.com. SI TV inked deals with Oscar-nominated and award-winning sports filmmaker Mike Tollin, co-chair of Mandalay Sports Media, and 10-time Emmy winner Jonathan Hock, for two sports doc projects slated for early half and latter half of 2018, respectively.
Endemol Shine North America and the New York Post’s nationally syndicated Page Six TV, which launched in September in more than 200 local markets across the US, will begin streaming today (November 16) exclusively on Hulu the day after broadcast.
Fusion Media Group launched of The Takeout (TheTakeout.com), a website exploring the intersection of food and pop culture that’s spun off from The A.V. Club’s food coverage and born from the (non-satirical) editorial teams at Onion Inc.
Univision will extend its direct-to-consumer livestream and on-demand service, Univision NOW, free of charge for a full year to US active duty military personnel.
Music Choice will debut of Sounds of the Seasons Live, a series of live holiday performances and vignettes, on November 20 on Music Choice On Demand.
CASTING
Jenna Elfman is in as a series regular on AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead for season 4.
GOING GLOBAL
Viacom-owned UK broadcaster Channel 5 is producing Raped: My Story, a timely doc it hopes will encourage victims to “find the courage to break their silence,” according to the company.
