PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
It’s a wrap on CBS’ pilot orders, with the network picking up four additional titles: military courtroom drama The Code, exec-produced by Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman; L.A. Confidential, based on the noir novel and exec-produced by Arnon Milchan; Main Justice, exec-produced by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Jerry Bruckheimer; and racially charged Chicago-based drama Red Line, exec-produced by Ava DuVernay and Greg Berlanti.
ABC snapped up two more pilots. Soapy drama Grand Hotel, from Eva Longoria and writer Brian Tanen (Desperate Housewives) and based on the Spanish format; and comedy Three Rivers, from Sherry Bilsing-Graham and Ellen Kreamer, creators of I Hate My Teenage Daughter. Both hail from ABC Studios.
Director Anton Cropper (Suits) will helm NBC‘s untitled Bad Boys spinoff pilot, starring Gabrielle Union. The project hails from the Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the Bad Boys movies, Doug Belgrad, Primary Wave Entertainment and Sony Pictures TV.
NBC gave a pilot order to an untitled half-hour comedy from Universal TV and Aseem Batra (Marlon), Amy Poehler and Julie Anne Robinson. Storyline is inspired by Orli Auslander’s book I Feel Bad: All Day. Every Day. About Everything, which reveals a woman’s unfiltered take on the side effects of trying to have it all.
Jesse Alexander is onboard as a new showrunner for season 2 of Starz drama American Gods, sharing duties with Neil Gaiman. The duo replaces series creators Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, who abruptly exited.
Top 10 Weekend Domestic Box Office Estimates: February 2-4, 2018
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Sony) $11.0 million (week 7), cume revenue $352.6 million
Maze Runner: The Death Cure (Fox) $10.2 million (week 2), cume revenue $39.8
Winchester (LGF) $9.3 million, opening weekend
The Greatest Showman (Fox) $7.8 million (week 7), cume revenue $137.5 million
Hostiles (ENTMP) $5.5 million (week 7), cume revenue $21.2 million
The Post (Fox) $5.2 million (week 7), cume revenue $67.2 million
12 Strong (WB) $4.7 million (week 3), cume revenue $37.3 million
Den of Thieves (STX) $4.7 million (week 3), cume revenue $36.3 million
The Shape of Water (Fox Searchlight) $4.3 million (week 10), cume revenue $44.6 million
Paddington 2 (WB) $3.1 million (week 4), cume revenue $36.3 million
Source: comScore
COMING UP
Bachelor World reunites for reunion special The Bachelor Winter Games: World Tells All on Thursday, February 22 at 10p on ABC. Hosted by Chris Harrison, special will follow The Bachelor Winter Games finale, and reunite the bachelors and bachelorettes from around the world who participated in the winter-themed iteration of the hit romance reality franchise.
Viewers can get their Chi on when Showtime airs mini marathons of the first four eps of the drama Sunday, February 4, starting at noon. Series, recently renewed for a second season, will resume with a new episode on Sunday, February 11 at 10p.
DIGITAL DATA
YouTube is crafting policies that would punish creators who harm the community. In a recent blog post, chief exec Susan Wojcicki noted egregious acts by some creators “can damage the reputation and revenue of your fellow creators.” She noted YT is consulting with dozens of experts, including the Anti-Defamation League and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. YouTube also is tightening enforcement of its policies through a combination of human review and machine learning technology, she noted, as well as rules for its Partner Program, which allows creators to make money through advertising.
Big Brother: Celebrity Edition premieres on CBS with a three-night premiere beginning Wednesday, February 7 at 8p, and CBS All Access is in the game with the premiere of Big Brother Bot, the first messaging experience in the series’ history, and the return of Big Brother live feeds.
Netflix signed Russell Brand’s forthcoming comedy special Re:Birth. Move follows a line of British comedy specials the streaming service has been scooping up of late; Jimmy Carr and Ricky Gervais are among recent signees.
Digital animal go-to The Dodo launched El Dodo, the first Spanish language channel dedicated to animal content. The channel is currently on Facebook with plans to expand to additional platforms with original, localized content later in 2018. Move follows the launch in 2017 of the company’s Comeback Kids: Animal Edition on Facebook Watch. Since soft-launching in mid-November, El Dodo has garnered more than 600,000 followers and has seen strong success among international viewers.
New non-scripted series Fly Guys launched on Facebook Watch. It follows a group of gravity-defying stunts across Europe. Each episode, 10 in total, runs 12-15 minutes; new eps will be released weekly on Fridays.
CASTING
Carly Jibson will return for the second season of TBS’ The Guest Book, and Eddie Steeples, who had a recurring guest role last season, has been upped to a series regular.
KIDS NEWS
Universal Kids will unleash a kid-centric version of classic series Beat the Clock on Tuesday, February 6 at 7:30p. Hosted by Paul Costabile (New York Live, iHeartRadio), the show will feature kids and their adult relatives attempting to pull off wacky challenges while racing against the clock.
Preschool platform Hopster reached an agreement with Aardman for global distribution of Hopster’s original content, including free and pay TV, and home entertainment.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Shanghai-based animation studio Oriental DreamWorks is under new ownership. A consortium led by Li Ruigang’s CMC Capital Partners has taken over and given the property a new name, Pearl Studio, to be led by CEO Frank Zhu and chief creative officer Peilin Chou. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Not so fast: 21st Century Fox-backed Sky and telecom giant BT are facing new competition in their bid for UK rights to air Premiere League soccer matches from digital firms including Amazon, Facebook and Twitter.
British drama McMafia has become embroiled in a litigation. British writer Wilf Varvill accused the BBC of breach of copyright, alleging the series’ plot is identical to that of a series he penned.
