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| Wednesday, October 28, 2026 |
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Happy Hump Day! Here’s the news to keep on your radar for today:
- TV Networks And Distributors Are Pining for Miniseries
- Peacock Preps To Release Amy Poehler’s “Dig”
- Political Ads Might Get More Personalized
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| In The News |
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“Fear Factor: House of Fear” host Johnny Knoxville with contestant Kristen
Vertical video is all the rage among TV networks. On Tuesday, Fox Entertainment Studios announced a scripted horror series based on the Fox series “Fear Factor: House of Fear.” The new vertical series, which has yet to be named, will be produced in partnership with Banijay America-owned Endemol Shine North America.
- Fox’s vertical “Fear Factor” adaptation caters to mobile viewers and will be available to watch on My Drama, an app that hosts miniseries such as microdramas. The platform, owned by a company called Holywater Tech, runs episodic series in bite-size clips that are each no longer than two minutes.
- Fox’s latest move reflects a rising trend of networks and streaming services investing in vertical video with hopes of growing their audience viewership on mobile. This also isn’t the first time Fox has dabbled in short-form video. Its free, ad-supported TV (FAST) service, Tubi, has been busy inking content deals with personalities from YouTube and other social media platforms. The goal? To broaden Tubi’s slate of creator-made, short-form content, of course.
- The Takeaway: Networks and streamers are pining for vertical video because they want to reach younger viewers and increase overall viewing hours. Watch time is a common proxy for engagement, which publishers use as a metric of success to woo advertisers, grow profitability and appease Wall Street.
Bring on more microdramas! But make them Korean. Samsung TV Plus, Samsung’s FAST service, announced an expansion to its Korean TV content collection.
- Starting Oct. 28, Samsung TV Plus will launch a slate of Korean movies, TV series and microdramas, including Season 3 of a reality competition series called “Iron Squad,” in which special force reservists compete in physical challenges.
- Samsung’s latest content upgrade reflects two trends – microseries and Korean content – that are both rapidly rising in global popularity among viewers and, in turn, streaming platforms duking it out for viewership. As Korean pop culture becomes more popular across the world, for example, Netflix keeps acquiring more Korean streaming titles as a competitive differentiator that they can also brag about to investors.
Speaking of drama, sports come with their fair share of it. But lately, most of the drama is happening off the field and in the broadcast booth.
- Tension has been building between ESPN’s NFL announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, who reportedly had an altercation on-site before Monday’s matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles Rams.
- The source of the tension is the pair’s fate at the sports broadcaster. Buck recently signed a six-year contract extension with ESPN worth more than $100 million. But ESPN has yet to offer Aikman, a Hall of Fame quarterback who played for the Dallas Cowboys, a contract to re-sign with the network. Aikman’s contract is slated to end after the upcoming Super Bowl.
- The NFL drama includes several top ESPN employees speaking out in defense of Aikman. Meanwhile, neither ESPN nor the NFL is eager to publicly acknowledge the feud between the analysts. Although such a viral rivalry between the analysts could disrupt the public perception of a successful NFL season, it’s arguably unlikely that the bad blood would deter viewers from tuning in to the games for two reasons: Sports are the epicenter of live TV viewing, and people tend to love drama.
The show must go on. As Hollywood content production dwindles, the Los Angeles City Council passed two motions Tuesday designed to reduce filming costs in the city. The motions should especially benefit smaller production crews.
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| Partner content |
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| New & Returning Series |
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For sneak peeks, check out Cynopsis Trailer Park.
Peacock dropped an official trailer and key art for its upcoming comedy series “Dig,” created by actor-comedian Amy Poehler (“Parks and Recreation”) and TV producer Michael Schur (“The Office”). The series also stars Poehler and Hugh Laurie (“House”). The ten-episode comedy premieres Nov. 23.
Peacock has moved up the premiere date for its two-part documentary “OJ’s Accomplice” to Nov. 1. The documentary explores some of the incendiary discoveries uncovered during investigations and challenges a long-held assumption that O.J. Simpson acted alone in the murders he was accused of.
Miraculous Corp, the joint venture between production company Mediawan and animation studio Zag, announced that Season 7 of the animated superhero series “Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir” will begin rolling out Oct. 30. The series will premiere on the Brazilian TV network Globo before becoming available on TF1 in France on Nov. 1, Disney Channel across Europe, the Middle East and Africa on Nov. 14 and Disney Channel in the US on Nov. 20.
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| Today’s Premieres |
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Netflix: “The Gift of Deceit”
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| Production |
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Fox has ordered a second season of its celebrity competition series “Nation’s Dumbest,” which will be hosted by award-winning actor and comedian Jack Whitehall (“The ‘Burbs”).
Behold the infamous lunch. Paramount+ has greenlit “Mushroom Murders,” a limited drama series that tells the story of a fatal incident in 2023 in which a woman allegedly served beef wellingtons prepared with toxic mushrooms to her in-laws. The drama stars the series executive producer and Emmy Award-nominated actor Melanie Lynskey (“Yellowjackets”).
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| Tech News You Can Use |
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Auto ad spend is shrinking as brands shift from nationwide campaigns to regional sales pushes. Less than 10% of US ad spend will go toward automotive ads this year, a record low, according to recent data from ad intelligence platform Guideline. Part of the reason for the decline is financial uncertainty, including tariffs. Plus, auto brands are shifting away from linear TV in favor of streaming in pursuit of the greater control streaming offers over ad targeting.
Political ads could become even more personalized. Political data platform Aristotle International inked a deal with data validation vendor Truthset in an effort to help political buyers get in front of harder-to-reach TV viewers. As part of the agreement, Truthset pairs its own consumer identity data with Aristotle’s voter registration and campaign data and grades those pairings by accuracy based on information such as email and postal address. Then, that data becomes available to advertisers as audience segments via ad-buying platforms such as The Trade Desk and NBCU-owned FreeWheel.
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| Coming Up |
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BET announced that Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Durand Bernarr will perform at the “Soul Train Awards 2026” Nov. 27, where he will be receiving the Soul Personified Honor recognition.
Jay-Z performing at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas
It’s official: Jay-Z will headline the Apple Music Super Bowl LXI Halftime Show in February. Many figured this would be the case considering that Roc Nation, the artist’s sports management and entertainment company, has a $5-million-per-year deal with the NFL.
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| Sports Report |
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Overtime Elite (OTE), an alternative professional basketball league for athletes ages 16-20, says its live broadcasts reached an average of 600,000 unique viewers on opening night – a 25% increase year over year.
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| Distribution |
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Channel 4 and The Walt Disney Company struck a distribution deal that will make Channel 4 programming available on Disney+ in the UK and Ireland beginning early next year. As part of the agreement, Channel 4 series will be available on demand on Disney+ once released.
The Heroes & Icons Network will honor “Star Trek” actor Walter Koenig, who died Monday, by airing a marathon of five episodes centered on Koenig’s character Ensign Pavel Chekov. The network’s tribute will run Nov. 1.
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| Ratings |
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Fox announced that approximately 12.26 million viewers tuned in to the World Series Game 1 across Fox, Univision and Fox Deportes.
CBS announced that “CBS Evening News With Tony Dokoupil” reached an average of 4.35 million viewers throughout the month of October, representing a 16% increase compared with October last year.
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| In Memoriam |
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Emmy Award-winning actor Susan Saint James died Monday at 80, her family announced. Saint James was well known for her acting roles in several TV series and sitcoms including “The Name of the Game” (1968-71), “McMillan & Wife” (1971-77) and “Kate & Allie” (1984-89).
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Which anime series has the most episodes: “One Piece,” “Naruto: Shippuden” or “Dragon Ball Z?”
Email answers to Trivia@Cynopsis.com and include your name, company and city/state (don’t forget!). Only the first four correct responses from each time zone will be included.
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YESTERDAY’S TRIVIA ANSWER
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According to author Diana Gabaldon, the “Outlander” franchise was partially inspired by an episode of what British sci-fi show? “Doctor Who”
Congrats to: Jane Pook/Brooklyn, NY; Mark Wajda/Clermont, FL; John Kukla-KDFW/ Dallas-Fort Worth, TX; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; Ken DuBow-DuBow Media Distribution/LA
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