| PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline are onboard to star in an Alfonso Cuaron thriller series for Apple TV+. “Disclaimer,” an adaptation of the Renee Knight novel, marks the first series from the “Roma” filmmaker since he signed an overall deal with the streamer two years ago; it also marks a series debut for Kline. Cuaron will write, direct and exec-produce the project, which follows a successful TV documentarian who has to face her past when a new novel brings a dark secret to life.
Dev Patel launched production company Minor Realm, with a mission to develop “the creative landscape of voices and talent that too often are unrecognized, bringing these stories to life in a larger way.” The company will focus on both film and TV. Joining Patel are former Sony Pictures exec Lakshmi Iyengar and producer Samarth Sahni.
“Best in Dough” is rising at Hulu as the latest addition to the streamer’s lineup of unscripted food series. From Alfred Street Industries, Vox Media Studios and Majordomo Media, the 10-ep first season featuring pizza-obsessed competitors will be hosted by Wells Adams, best known from his stints on “The Bachelor.”
Penelope Cruz will exec-produceand narrate four-part docuseries “Not A Bride,” in the works for Paramount+ from VIS Social Impact, the cause-driven production division of ViacomCBS International Studios, Pedro Almodovar’s El Deseo and Spanish indie Mogambo. Written and directed by Dario Troiani (“Violet”), the series aims to uncover common misconceptions surrounding child marriages.
Miramax TV optioned the rights to “The Christie Affair,” a reimagining of the 11-day disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926, and will develop the treatment as a limited series. Writer Juliette Towhidi (“Calendar Girls”) is set to pen the adaptation. When her husband’s affair became public nearly 100 years ago, Christie vanished for more than a week. This reimagining is told through the eyes of her husband’s mistress, Nan O’Dea. Miramax will produce with The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Rich Green, and DJ Goldberg.
AMC Networks greenlit “Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches,” based on the “Lives of the Mayfair Witches” trilogy, for AMC+ and AMC. It’s the second series in the company’s expanding Anne Rice universe, and will follow “Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire” with a late 2022 premiere. Esta Spalding (“Masters of Sex”) and Michelle Ashford (“Masters of Sex”) are both exec-producers and writers; Spalding will serve as showrunner for the series, which focuses on a young neurosurgeon who discovers she’s the unlikely heir to a family of witches.
HBO Max ordered the four-part limited docuseries “Breath of Fire” from Vanity Fair Studios and SecondNature. The project builds on a recent Vanity Fair magazine feature about Guru Jagat, a star of the Kundalini yoga practice and controversial founder of the RA MA Institute, who died this summer at age 41.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
HGTV’s “Flip or Flop” kicks off an a new season today (December 2) at 9p. This season, stars Tarek El Moussa and Christina Haack will tackle flips that present new challenges including expensive foundation issues and a yearlong reno project.
Coming to Snap on Saturday, December 4 is “Reunited,” an emotionally charged series that follows real stories of people around the US who go to great lengths to reconnect with loved ones.
TV One slotted Tuesday, December 14 at 10p for the premiere of new docuseries “One Stage To The Next,” starring R&B singer, actress and TV host Syleena Johnson. The series will follow Johnson as she continues to navigate through life and the entertainment industry.
Young viewers will travel to faraway places with new 10-ep animated comedy “We Baby Bears,” debuting Saturday, January 1 at 10a on Cartoon Network. The series embarks on magical adventures as the set of siblings search for a place they can call home…. CN also has a sack of holiday-themed episodes of series including “Craig of the Creek,” “Teen Titans Go!” and “Total Dramarama,” beginning Monday, December 6.
HBO original comedy series “Somebody Somewhere” hits the screen Sunday, January 16 at 10:30p. The seven-ep series stars and is exec-produced by comedian and singer Bridget Everett, and follows Sam, a Kansan on the surface who’s really struggling to fit the hometown mold and embarks on a journey to discover herself and a fellow community of outsiders.
COMING UP
ESPN is going to the dogs. “AKC Heroes: 2021 Awards for Canine Excellence” will air on ESPN2 today (December 2) at 11p, featuring stories of the year’s AKC Humane Fund Awards for Canine Excellence winners—loyal, hard-working companions that have significantly improved the lives of their owners and/or communities.
Beginning this week Roku Channel is toasting the holidays with a winter hub of curated collections of thousands of movies, TV shows, live TV channels, kids and family entertainment and more. Additionally, Roku Channel is partnering with iHeartRadio, Vevo and others to bring holiday music experiences to fans, and Roku will launch an immersive New Year’s experience across Roku devices in the US starting December 27, to help users ring in 2022.
Michael Buble returns to NBC to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his album “Christmas” with a new holiday special. “Michael Buble’s Christmas in the City,” airing Monday, December 6 at 10p, will present a mix of comedy, music and guests including Leon Bridges, Camila Cabello, Jimmy Fallon, Kermit the Frog and Hannah Waddingham.
More news from the “People’s Choice Awards,” airing on NBC and E! Tuesday, December 7 at 9p. Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Christina Aguilera will receive the first-ever Music Icon award, and perform at the event.
The Sports Illustrated Awards return live Tuesday, December 7, streaming across SI’s social channels at 8p. Hosted by DJ Khaled and Cari Champion, the event will include live performances from 2Chainz and DJ Irie, and appearances by Tom Brady, Billie Jean King, Brooks Nader, Camille Kostek and more.
AXS TV will premiere “Noel Gallagher – Out Of The Now” on Wednesday, December 8 at 8p, marking the first time the music doc will air in the US. The debut of the film, which combines concert and conversation, coincides with the 10th anniversary of the artist’s post-Oasis band, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
Scholastic will unwrap “The Christmas Pig: A Virtual Event with J.K. Rowling & Friends” this holiday season. Airing on YouTube on Wednesday, December 8 at 1p, the special features an intimate conversation with Rowling and a group of children from across the US about the spirit of giving and the meaning of hope, inspired by her latest novel.
That other Nick is coming down the chimney with holiday competition special “Nickelodeon’s Treasure Truck,” hosted by WWE Superstar Xavier Woods. The hourlong special airs Wednesday, December 8 at 7:30p and features four families competing in slime-filled challenges for the chance to win seasonal gifts found inside the Nickelodeon Treasure Truck.
“Paper & Glue,” a doc in which artist JR turns the camera on his own work as he builds some of his most monumental projects, debuts on MSNBC Friday, December 10 at 10p. From early illicit graffiti videos captured on Paris rooftops at night, to the US-Mexico border, to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, to a current collaboration at a California supermax prison, the film follows JR and his immersive art installations.
“L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth,” a special celebrating 10 US-based nonprofit leaders, returns to NBC on Thursday, December 16 at 8p. Set for the first time in the brand’s namesake city of Paris, audiences can follow as the women travel to meet their fellow honorees, and join L’Oréal Paris celebrity ambassadors Camila Cabello, Helen Mirren, Eva Longoria, Kate Winslet, Andie MacDowell and others.
Amazon dropped a trailer for Gloria Calderon Kellett’s “With Love,” teasing romance with a side of drama is on the menu this holiday season. The five-ep series features a multigenerational, multicultural cast of premieres Friday, December 17.
Taylor Tomlinson heads back to Netflix for her second, as-yet-untitled comedy special on Friday, December 17. Hourlong special was filmed at the Wilbur Theater in Boston.
“This Is Us” co-stars Chrissy Metz, Susan Kelechi Watson will MC NBC’s telecast of the “133rd Rose Parade,” presented by Honda, Saturday January 1 beginning at 11:30a.
“Law & Order: SVU’s” Tamara Tunie will narrate a documentary about the domestic assault on the Capitol complex for PBS. Slated to air Thursday, January 6, two-hour “Preserving Democracy: Pursuing A More Perfect Union” will examine the pursuit of democracy on the anniversary of the 2021 Capitol riot.
DATA & MEASUREMENT
Univision Communications Inc. and Mediahub are partnering with EDO and datafuelX to leverage proprietary consumer behavior data to predict engagement performance for advertiser campaigns across Univision’s linear networks. EDO measures the spike in consumer engagement behaviors, such as online search, for a brand in the moments after a TV ad airs; the deal aims to aid Mediahub, Univision, and their advertisers in ensuring ads are placed in the right contextual environment.
AT&T ad platform Xandr added a feature the company describes as content metadata for video. The new feature will standardize content metadata, enabling Xandr to take the thousands of unique genre values and simplify them into standardized categories using its fields including duration, delivery type, genre, program type, rating, network, and language.
The AccuWeather Network entered into a multiyear agreement with Nielsen for cable TV measurement.The partnership aims to deepen AccuWeather’s ability to profile its evolving audience, identify trends in viewer behaviors and provide greater insights into engagement.
CNBC and First in Business Worldwide inked a deal with Just Capital, a platform for tracking and measuring corporate performance in the stakeholder economy, through which CNBC will use Just Capital’s data and analysis across its television, digital and events platforms.
The Canada Media Fund renewed its partnership with Parrot Analytics to track domestic and international demand for Canadian content. According to Parrot data, Canadian TV series accounted for 5.2 percent of the demand share for all non-US content with global audiences, the sixth best performance out of more than 80 markets.
STREAMING
Univision Communications Inc. launchedNoticias Univision 24/7, a news streaming channel featuring breaking news, original lifestyle content, opinion, and information curated for Spanish-speaking audiences. The platform is the first news streaming channel to launch on PrendeTV’s newly created News category.
Netflix said it has thus far invested $100 million in six US, Black-led financial institutions. The investments are part of a pledge to allocate 2 percent of cash holdings into banks serving Black communities the company made in June 2020 amid protests for racial equality.
CASTING
Cara Delevingne is in as a series regular in season 2 of Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.” She’ll play Alice, an art world insider who becomes enmeshed in the mystery at hand… Mairead Tyers (“Belfast”) scored the lead in Disney+ superhero comedy “Extraordinary” alongside Sofia Oxenham (“Poldark”) and Siobhan McSweeney (“Derry Girls”).
Lifetime rounded out the casts for its “Fallen Angels Murder Club” (working title), starring Toni Braxton, and “Barstow” (working title), starring Angie Harmon. Eddie Cibrian (“Northern Lights”) has joined the first installment of “Fallen Angels”; Kelly Hu (“List of a Lifetime”) joins the cast of the second film… Peacock’s reimagined “Queer As Folk” added Juliette Lewis, Ed Begley Jr., Armand Fields, Chris Renfro, Eric Graise, Sachin Bhatt and Benito Skinner to the cast… Netflix feature “The Pale Blue Eye” added a bunch of cast members including Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Timothy Spall, Fred Hechinger and Robert Duvall.
Casting call: E! News’ “The Rundown” on Snapchat is seeking guest hosts on a rotating basis while host Erin Lim is on maternity leave. Fans can send submission videos to: [email protected]
GOING GLOBAL
Red Arrow Studios International secured a wave of European deals including with RTL and Voxin Germany, SBS in Belgium and across its slate including “Buying Blind,” “Don’t Stop the Music,” and “Meat the Family.”
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