Tuesday January 23, 2024

Today’s Finales
ABC: Celebrity Jeopardy! at 8p; Only Murders in the Building at 9p
CBS: NCIS: Sydney at 8p

IN THE NEWS

ESPN’s NFL Divisional Playoff was the net’s most-watched NFL game ever, playoffs or regular season, dating back to 1987 when ESPN acquired NFL rights. With an audience of 31.8 million, per Nielsen fast nationals, Saturday’s game surpassed the 2023 Super Wild Card Monday night game for ESPN’s top spot.

TelevisaUnivision and Charter Communications struck a multi-year agreement to extend and expand their partnership. As part of the deal, TelevisaUnivision will create a new ad-supported premium subscription version of ViX, set to launch later this year. It will be available at no additional cost to Spectrum customers who receive TelevisaUnivision channels as part of their Spectrum TV Select or Mi Plan Latino packages.

Allen Media Group’s broadcast television station division, Allen Media Broadcasting, has closed a new multi-year deal with CBS to retain its affiliation in five US markets. With stations in Rochester, MN (KIMT), Chico, CA (KHSL), Terre Haute, IN (WTHI), West Lafayette, IN (WLFI), and Evansville, IN (WEVV), Allen Media Group now owns/operates 28 ABC-CBS-FOX-NBC network affiliated broadcast television stations in 21 markets.

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Hulu has acquired “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story,” a docuseries about the band’s history with full cooperation from all past and present members. The four-parter premieres Friday, April 26.

“True Crime News,” a new daily syndicated crime show from Warner Bros. Television Group, will premiere nationally this September on select FOX-owned stations. “’True Crime News’ sets out to advance cases, with a true crime tip line and call to action in every show,” said Frank Cicha, EVP of Programming for Fox Television Stations. “It will also work closely with local newsrooms to integrate local crime cases and allow local newsrooms to roll in a crime story in their market.” The series will be hosted by Ana Garcia.

In more syndication news, “Extra” has been renewed for season 31 by Fox Television Stations. It will be the sixth season the entertainment news series will run on FOX stations.

And syndicated game show “The Flip Side” will launch this fall on CBS Stations. “Game shows have been a bright spot in syndication — and network prime-time — the last few years,” said Wendy McMahon, President and CEO of CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures. “Their loyal viewers tune in more times per week than any other genre.” Jaleel White (“Family Matters”) hosts.

Walt Disney Animation Studios’ collaboration with Pan-African entertainment company Kugali has resulted in six-part series “Iwájú,” streaming exclusively on Disney+ beginning Wednesday, February 8. The animated coming-of-age story is set in a futuristic Lagos, Nigeria.

“The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper“ returns Sunday, January 28 at 8p with a look into the exclusive world of the ultra-wealthy at sea. In “Superyachts and the Super
Rich,” Alisyn Camerota journeys to Monaco during the annual Monaco Yacht Show. “Before this assignment, I couldn’t imagine the level of opulence and wealth we’d find,” said Camerota. “But what most surprised me was the universal desire for more – bigger, newer, more extravagant yachts – from the richest people in the world, telling us that even huge superyachts aren’t enough.”

The second half of season two of “Invincible” kicks off Thursday, March 14 on Prime Video. The adult animate superhero series is based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book.

Comedy “Son of a Critch” returns to The CW for season three on Thursday, January 25 at 8p.

Hulu’s “We Were the Lucky Ones,” based on Georgia Hunter’s bestseller, debuts Thursday, March 28 with three episodes. The series follows the story of a Jewish family separated at the start of World War II.

Psychological thriller series “Ripley,” originally intended for Showtime, premieres Thursday, April 4 on Netflix. The show is based on novels by Patricia Highsmith, which were also adapted for the 1999 film “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”

Peacock has set Thursday, March 14 as the premiere date for “Apples Never Fall,” starring Annette Bening and Sam Neill. The mystery series follows a very complicated family.

HGTV’s “Rock the Block” is back Monday, March 4 at 9p. For the first time in series’ history, four returning teams will get a second chance as they compete to add the most value to waterfront homes in Florida.

PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Ludacris is developing a scripted series for BET+ inspired by his upcoming journey in the competitive music scene in Atlanta as DJ Chris Lova Lova. The series will be written by comedian Noah Gardenswartz and follows the misadventures of a group willing to do anything to bolster ratings at their hip hop radio station.

Having scored a hit with “Fool Me Once,” Netflix has ordered two more limited series based on novels by Harlen Coben. Adaptations of Missing You and Run Away will be produced Quay Street Productions, with Coben as executive producer via his Final Twist.

Valerie Bertinelli has not been asked to join season 13 of Food Network’s “Kids Baking Championship,” which she has been hosting with Duff Goldman since its 2015 debut. In a video posted on Instagram, a disappointed Bertinelli cited budget cuts as the cause. While she had nothing but praise for her Food Network family, Bertinelli later took issue with an article in People in which sources claimed Food Network had made an offer to Bertinelli, but talks stalled. “There were never any talks, so no talks could be stalled,” she posted on X.

Lindsay Lohan (“Mean Girls”) and Kristin Chenoweth (“Schmigadoon!”) are starring in a holiday film for Netflix. “Our Little Secret” is Lohan’s second film in a two movie deal with the streamer; the first is upcoming “Irish Wish.”

Francesca Corney (“The Buccaneers”), Nicholas Duvernay (“Tyler Perry’s Assisted Living”) and Arnas Fedaravicius (“The Last Kingdom”) are onboard season three of HBO’s “The White Lotus.”

SPORTS ROUNDUP

The results of the 2024 Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s Hall of Fame election will be announced on MLB Network today, January 23 at 6p. Eight hours of MLB Network coverage will begin with “Hot Stove” at 9a.

Hexagon Cup, the new padel tournament, has partnered with Story10 to increase the exposure of its inaugural event taking place in Madrid January 31-February 4. Story10 will amplify highlights and pre- and post-event features across its network of 8,500 digital and social channels and 700 broadcast partners. Celebrity padel team owners include Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, and Eva Longoria.

Counter-Strike tournament series BLAST Premier has announced a global partnership with esports betting brand GG.BET. As part of the partnership, GG.BET will be featured across multiple activations, offering BLAST’s audience experiences and integrations including talent predictions and BLAST.tv Pick ‘Ems, live betting odds broadcast integration, social media giveaways, exclusive content and physical/digital branding across the BLAST Premier tournament series.

COMING UP

Burna Boy, Luke Combs and Travis Scott have been added to the list of artists performing at the Grammys, airing Sunday, February 4 at 8p on CBS and Paramount+. They join previously announced Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and Olivia Rodrigo.

GOING GLOBAL

Sony Group is not moving forward with its planned $10 billion merger of its TV and streaming businesses in India with Zee Entertainment. “After more than two years of negotiations, we are extremely disappointed that closing conditions to the merger were not satisfied by the end date,” said Sony in a statement. “Although we engaged in good faith discussions to extend the end date under the merger cooperation agreement, we were unable to agree upon an extension by the January 21 deadline.”

WildBrain will handle global sales (excluding Ireland and Belgium) for new series “Louise Lives Large.” The show has been commissioned by Ireland’s RTÉ, Canada’s Family Channel and Belgium’s Ketnet.

GRB Media Ranch medical reality series “Untold Stories of the E.R.” was licensed to FilmRise for seasons 1-10, for the U, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and all other English-language territories.

US Media and Vevo have entered into an advertising sales partnership. Under the agreement, US Media will be the Latin American sales representative for Vevo’s ad inventory in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Peru. US Media will also sell on behalf of Vevo pan-regionally from Miami.

BBC Children has commissioned “Cronington” from New Pictures, in association with All3Media International. The ten-part returning series, aimed at kids 10-12, is written by the writer and comedian Archie Maddocks, and based on the novels by Alex Wheatle.

Filming has commenced on a four-part psychological thriller, “Dead and Buried,” written by Colin Bateman. The show was ordered by BBC Northern Ireland and Virgin Media Television in association with All3Media International.

EndemolShine India will produce the upcoming “71st Miss World Festival,” which is returning to India after 28 years.

Go Button Media announced a partnership with ZDF Studios. The German producer/distributor has commissioned its first major factual series from the Canadian indie and will also be responsible for its global distribution (excluding Canada).

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GroupM tapped Sharb Farjami to serve as CEO for GroupM North America. Previously, Farjami served as North America CEO for GroupM agency Wavemaker. “Sharb is a hands-on, collaborative leader and a brilliant thinker about the issues shaping the future of our industry,” said GroupM Global CEO Christian Juhl. “He brings a diverse range of industry experience to the role having worked both agency and publisher-side in multiple markets around the world and his success leveraging the best of the GroupM platform to drive advantages for Wavemaker’s clients is a model for the future of our organization.”

Jeff Collins has been appointed President of Advertising Sales, Marketing and Brand Partnerships for Fox Corporation. He succeeds Marianne Gambelli, who is retiring. Collins most recently served as EVP, Advertising Sales for FOX News Media.

Kartoon Studios has appointed Gregg Goldin, former creative executive at DreamWorks Animation, Cartoon Network and MTV, to the newly created position of SVP, Development & Production.

Teads named Damien Islam-Frenoy as Chief Technology Officer. Islam-Frenoy joins from Amazon, where he served as Director of Global Product Management & Software Engineering.

Digital studio TheSoul Publishing promoted Aleksandra Sulimko to COO. Sulimko had been Chief Human Resources Officer.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which actor recurred on a series starring his daughter, and whose character was eventually revealed to be the father of the character played by his daughter’s co-star? Efrem Zimbalist Jr., father of “Remington Steele” (1982-87) star Stephanie Zimbalist. Kudos to: Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Douglas Hochstadt-Disney/NYC; Marlaine Wade/NYC

Today’s Trivia Question
On which sitcom did John Travolta, Mayim Bialik and Merv Griffin guest star as themselves? (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