Friday December 15, 2023

Today’s Finales
A&E: Killer Cases at 10p
CMT: The Last Cowboy at 9p

Saturday’s Premiere
Magnolia: Room to Inspire at 1:30p; Design Goals at 2p

Sunday’s Premiere
FX and FXX: Archer: Into the Cold at 10p

Sunday’s Finales
FX and FXX: Archer at 10p
HBO: The Gilded Age at 9p
Paramount+: Lawmen: Bass Reeves
PBS: Agatha Christie: Lucy Worsley on the Mystery Queen at 8p
Showtime: Fellow Travelers at 9p

IN THE NEWS

After some will-it-or-won’t-it, it looks like the 12th season of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” will be its last. ”As ‘Curb’ comes to an end, I will now have the opportunity to finally shed this ‘Larry David’ persona and become the person God intended me to be – the thoughtful, kind, caring, considerate human being I was until I got derailed by portraying this malignant character,” said the series’ star and creator. “And so ‘Larry David,’ I bid you farewell. Your misanthropy will not be missed. And for those of you who would like to get in touch with me, you can reach me at Doctors Without Borders.” The season launches Sunday, February 4 at 10p.

Prime Video has renewed “Good Omens” for and third and final season. “’Good Omens’ has checked every box for a clever, witty, and funny comedy that not only made it a success on Prime Video but also made ‘goodness’ watchable and fun,” said Vernon Sanders, Head of Television, Amazon MGM Studios. “The final season is sure to be packed with the same dynamic energy that our global customers have come to enjoy.”

“Dateline” was renewed for season eight in national broadcast syndication by NBCUniversal Syndication Studios and NBC Owned Television Stations. “‘Dateline’ in syndication is a sustained and proven ratings success, consistently placing among the top-rated programs in daytime with remarkable continued growth, making it a perfect station offering for the new realities of our business,” said Sean O’Boyle, EVP of Syndication Sales, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios. “’Dateline’s’ compelling storytelling and high-quality, recognizable brand, continues to appeal to local news viewers and is the perfect program to attract top tier advertisers.”

“Today” anchors Hoda Kotb and Al Roker will return to Pasadena to host the 135th Annual Rose Parade, airing Monday, January 1 at 11a. It will be Roker’s 25th year hosting the event, and NBC’s 97th year broadcasting it, beginning on radio.

UK drama “The Tourist” has traveled to Netflix for season two, where it will be available starting Thursday, February 29. Season one of the thriller series, which will drop February 1 on Netflix, originally aired on Max, which served as co-producer and streaming partner.

Barbra Streisand has been named the 59th recipient of the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievements and humanitarian accomplishments. The award will be presented to her at the 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony, streaming live on Netflix on Saturday, February 24 at 8p.

“It’s not fantasy, it’s reality.” That’s the theme of a campaign The E.W. Scripps Company is launching to educate Americans about free television and the benefits of its Tablo™ device, which enables whole-home viewing, recording of over-the-air broadcast television and curated FAST channels. The marketing campaign features television host and sports commentator Jesse Palmer and Pro Football Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith.

FOX has ordered psychological crime drama, “Murder in a Small Town,” from EP/head writer Ian Weir (“Arctic Air”) and Sepia Films in association with FOX Entertainment and Jeff Wachtel’s Future Shack Entertainment, for the 2024-25 season. Based on the Karl Alberg series by L.R. Wright, the show will be produced in British Columbia, with Milan Cheylov (“24”) executive producing and directing multiple episodes of the program.

National Geographic is taking a trip with Stanley Tucci. The network gave the greenlight to “Tucci – The Heart of Italy” (w/t), a ten-part docuseries following the actor (Emmy-nominated for CNN’s “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy”) across the country as he unlocks the flavors that define each region. The series is produced by BBC Studios’, Specialist Factual Productions, alongside Tucci’s Salt Productions. Production begins in January.

Apple TV+ has ordered sci-fi drama “Murderbot,” starring Alexander Skarsgard (“Succession”) as a soap opera-loving android. Based on Martha Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries, the series comes from Chris and Paul Weitz (“About a Boy”) and Paramount Television Studios.

WildBrain Television has greenlit production on season two of preschool series, “The Fabulous Show with Fay and Fluffy.” Created and produced by Lopii Productions, the new season is scheduled to drop in summer 2024. The series is produced with the financial participation of the Canadian Media Fund Pilot Program for Racialized Communities, as well as the Shaw Rocket Fund.

Go Button Media scored a greenlight from Autentic and Super Channel for “Colossal Weapons,” a six-part series exploring the technological developments in weapons. In addition, “Deadly Science” has been re-commissioned for a second six-hour season.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

ID is expanding its partnership with executive producer Holly Madison with a new series, “Lethally Blonde,” premiering Monday, March 25 at 10p. Madison will present cases where starry-eyed aspirants with big dreams find themselves in a dark world that exploits their sexuality. A new season of Madison’s first foray into true crime television, “The Playboy Murders,” premieres Monday, January 22 at 10p.

“Farmer Wants a Wife” starts its second season on Thursday, February 1 at 9p on Fox, with a new crop of farmers hosting a group of women who have left behind city life to find love.

MotorTrend’s “Last Chance Garage” premieres Wednesday, March 20 at 10p. Each episode features a car with a sad backstory: multiple shops, years lost, and tens of thousands of dollars in sunk costs. Viewers will also see the customer and learn about their unique connection to their car.

Season two of “The Traitors” hits Peacock on Friday, January 12, with new episodes premiering on Thursdays at 6p. New companion show, “The Traitors Postmortem,” will stream afterwards.

Discovery Channel’s “Big Little Brawlers,” following athletes in the Micro Wrestling Federation, premieres Tuesday, January 9 at 10p. “Alongside spectacular feats of athleticism, this Discovery series broadens the way we reveal compelling stories of remarkable people overcoming huge odds,” said Howard Lee, President of Discovery Networks and TLC.

Hulu will launch the first episode of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” on the platform, simultaneous to its launch on Disney+ on December 20. The Disney+ Original series premieres with a two-episode debut on Disney+, followed by new episodes weekly. The first episode will be available on Hulu through January 31.

Netflix’s “Girls5Eva” kicks off its six-episode third season on Thursday, March 14. In this go-round, the reunited ‘90s girl group hit the road to promote their new album.

Ten new episodes “Bluey” launch Friday, January 12 on Disney+. “Bluey” was the #1 most-watched series for preschoolers in the US this year.

Monthly talk series “Friday Night Vibes” will return to TBS on the first Friday of every month, beginning January 5 at 8p. Featuring new hosts, entertainment journalist Nina Parker and comedian Kevin Fredericks, the revival of the weekend movie show will kick off with “Black Panther” and “King Richard.”

Season four of Amazon Freevee’s “Uninterrupted’s Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers” premieres Friday, January 12. The docuseries is produced by Uninterrupted, the athlete-empowerment brand founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter.

COMING UP

HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” wraps its 29-season run on Tuesday, December 19 at 10p. The final episode highlights segments from over 1,100 stories, reported from nearly 70 different countries.

Trevor Noah will fourpeat as emcee of the Grammys, after manning the mic in 2021, 2022 and February of this year. The ceremony airs live on CBS on Sunday, February 4.

Hulu has acquired “Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story.” The short doc executive produced by Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone, telling the story of a man who offers newly sober people a chance to rebuild their lives from his candle shop, arrives on the platform Tuesday, January 9.

The TCA’s Winter Tour 2024 will run February 5-15 at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena. The group’s summer event was cancelled due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

TECH

Instagram has gotten a boost in advertising spend since companies started leaving X over antisemitic content. According to Sensor Tower, Disney increased its spend on Instagram by 40%, and Comcast by 6% in the two weeks after November 20. Paramount tripled its spend on Snapchat. Sensor Tower data showed 51 of the top 100 US advertisers on X stopped spending between from October 2022, when Elon Musk bought the platform, and November 2023.

IAB Tech Lab announced the launch of the Accountability Platform, a technical audit framework designed to help businesses deliver greater transparency in using personal data for addressability. “Compliance without assessment is a promise unfulfilled. The goal of the Accountability Platform is not only for companies to be able to say they are adhering to the privacy choices of consumers but to be able to prove it through a normalized set of compliance data usable for self-assessment, and third-party assessment,” said Anthony Katsur, CEO, IAB Tech Lab. “Without consistent and widely accepted accountability measures in place concerning the disclosure of consumer privacy preferences in digital advertising, there is a risk that organizations may only fulfill their obligations superficially, leaving room for non-compliance or unethical practices.” Companies that pass and receive data to support personalized advertising can leverage the Accountability Platform to audit that their business partners are honoring consumer-provided consent signals throughout the supply chain. This includes brands and publishers, supply-side and buy-side technology companies, identity resolution technology providers, other third-party data providers, processors, and data collaboration solutions.

STREAMING

YouTube viewers are soon going to find fewer ad breaks. Noting on its website that 79% of viewers would prefer video ads that are grouped together instead of distributed throughout a video, Google Ads said, “Based on this preference, we evaluated fewer, longer ad breaks, to create a more seamless viewing experience on the big screen.” In early testing, over half of YouTube CTV streamers experienced 29% longer viewing sessions before their next ad break. “Our research also shows a majority of viewers prefer knowing the total time remaining in the ad break versus the number of ads being served,” said the company. “With this launch, viewers will also see the time left until the break ends or they can skip to the content.”

SPORTS ROUNDUP

Ahead Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, which will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ and NFL+ on mobile, Paramount+ announced “Hide & Peak,” an interactive sweepstakes campaign that gamifies content discovery and offers fans the chance to score a pair of tickets to a VIP experience at Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas. “Hide & Peak” runs through January 8, with winners announced January 15.

Intersport and FOX Sports are teaming to bring women’s volleyball programs to a national television audience on FOX and FS1 during Labor Day Weekend when Minnesota, Stanford, Texas and Wisconsin meet for an early season showcase event at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. The inaugural showcase will be contested Sept. 1-2; two of the four matches will be broadcast on FOX while two will be televised on FS1.

Max and TNT Sports announced that a roster of live cycling across Road, Mountain Bike, Track, BMX and Cyclocross will be coming to the B/R Sports Add-On on Max in February. Live cycling coverage on Max will include more than 300 racing events, including the Giro d’Italia, all race weekends of the UCI Mountain Bike World Series, all rounds of the UCI Track Champions League, 53 women’s World Tour Pro Series broadcasts, the E3 Saxo Bank Classic, the Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne, and more.

GOING GLOBAL

Kids First has secured new global broadcast partners for “Hello Kitty: Super Style!”. The 3D animated children’s program has been picked up by WildBrain TV/ Télémagino (French-speaking Canada); RTVE/Clan (Spain); MBC (Pan Middle East), and ETISALAT /E-Junior (U.A.E.).

HOLIDAY SALE

Cynopsis’ all-new limited offering is here: A holiday sale to select 2024 events. With different packages available at a low cost, you’ll have access to the best Cynopsis has to offer next year!

Keep an eye out for the full scoop.

VISIT CYNOPSIS HERE

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Meredith Gertler, Warner Bros. Discovery’s EVP, Global Streaming Content Strategy, and Lisa Holme, Group SVP, Head of Global Content Strategy, have decided to leave the company. Vanessa Brookman, previously Head of Kids for EMEA, has been promoted to GM of Kids, Global Streaming and International Networks.

Truthset, the data validation-as-a-service offering, has appointed Kevin Dean as General Manager of the Data Collective. Dean previously served as Chief Strategy Officer at AnalyticsIQ.

LiveRamp has promoted Vihan Sharma to Chief Revenue Officer, Kimberly Bloomston to Chief Product Officer and Travis Clinger to Chief Connectivity & Partnerships Officer.

Friday Fun Fact
The fear of long words is called Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which live-action 2006 Christmas special was a remake of a 1970s stop motion animated special? “The Year Without a Santa Claus.” Kudos to: Norman Ellis-GSTV/NYC; Justin Pierce-JP Consulting Group/LA; Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; Maggie Takei-Moore Media/Sherman Oaks, CA; John Kukla-KDFW Fox 4/Dallas; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA

Today’s Trivia Question
What did Kevin and Wayne try to persuade their father to get for Christmas in season two of “The Wonder Years” (1988-93)? (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