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Happy Friday! Here’s what you need to know for today:
- The Television Critics Association Makes Its Top Picks
- “Yellowjackets” Teases Its Final Season
- “Sons of Anarchy” Gets A Weird New Spinoff
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In The News
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Stephen Root, Matthew Rhys and Kate O’Flynn in “Widow’s Bay”
Horror comedy series “Widow’s Bay” cleaned up at the Television Critics Association Awards on Monday night, taking home three awards for best comedy, best new series and individual achievement in comedy for actor Kate O’Flynn.
- However, the show didn’t receive the top program of the year award – that honor went to queer hockey romance “Heated Rivalry.”
- Other winners included Rhea Seehorn from “Pluribus” for individual achievement in drama; “The Pitt” for drama; “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” for variety, talk and sketch; “The Traitors” for reality; and “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” for family programming.
Charter Communications, best known as the company behind Spectrum, announced the close of its $34.5 billion acquisition of rival cable and broadband provider Cox Communications.
- The company will change its parent company name to Cox Communications within the next year, according to the press release announcing the deal. However, it will maintain its consumer-facing identity as Spectrum.
- Together, the combined entity will represent 35 million customers across 45 states, and will reach “more than 70 million homes and businesses,” CEO Chris Winfrey shared on a conference call with press on Thursday.
- Winfrey also shared plans to move Cox’s offshore sales and services functions into the US within the first 18 months, and to expand some of its current TV channel offerings into the Cox market.
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New & Returning Series
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For sneak peeks, check out Cynopsis Trailer Park.
Courtney Eaton and Sophie Nélisse in “Yellowjackets”
The fourth and final season of the Showtime original series “Yellowjackets” will premiere on Nov. 20, parent company Paramount+ announced Thursday. If the new teaser is any indication, the season will likely revolve around the missing soccer team’s rescue and integration back into society.
Season 2 of Netflix’s “Hunting Wives” will debut on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26. Based on the book by May Cobb, the show stars Brittany Snow and Malin Akerman as rival Texan socialites who are drawn into a dangerous world of secrets and murder.
“Line of Fire,” the new NBC drama about a family of law enforcement agents who all work for different federal agencies, will hit the airwaves on Sept. 21. The series was created and written by Joshua Safran and includes Jenna Bush Hager (who knows a thing or two about having relatives with national security clearance) and Ben Spector as executive producers.
Missing the 1989 video game “Golden Axe”? Now you don’t have to, because an animated comedy adaptation is coming to Paramount+ on Sept. 16. The cartoon was co-created by Mike McMahan (“Star Trek: Lower Decks”) and Joe Chandler (“American Dad!”) and stars Matthew Rhys in the lead role.
TODAY’S PREMIERES
Apple TV: “The Dynasty: UConn Huskies”; “Stillwater” Season 5
Disney+: “Big City Greens” Season 5; “LEGO Disney Princess: Magical Mayhem”
Hulu: “The Girls: A Khloe Kardashian Project”
HBO Max: “Conan O’Brien Must Go”
Nat Geo: “9/11 Reunited” at 8 p.m.
SATURDAY’S PREMIERES
CBS: “The Run For A Million” at 8 p.m.
SUNDAY’S PREMIERES
AMC+: “The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only Live”
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Production
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BAFTA Award-winning thriller series “Code of Silence” has begun production on its second season, Britbox announced. The show has also added new cast members Jonah Hauer-King (“The Little Mermaid”), Jo Joyner (“EastEnders”), Sophie McShera (“Downton Abbey”), John Hollingworth (“The Crown”), Sasha Desouza-Willock (“Vengeance: Murder on the Heath”) and Emily Head (“The Inbetweeners”).
“America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders” was renewed for a fourth season by Netflix. The documentary series follows the cheerleaders through the audition process, training camp and a full NFL season. Season 3, which premiered in June, spent two weeks in the Global Top 10.
Two weeks after “Sterling Point” premiered on Prime Video, the streamer renewed the coming-of-age series for a second season. Megan Park will continue to serve as director and co-showrunner alongside Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage.
Noah Wyle in “The Pitt”
HBO series “The Pitt” is adding seven new actors as patients and doctors to Season 3, including Stephen Chang (“The Last of Us: Part II”), Chris Diamantopoulos (“Silicon Valley”) and Barry Clifton (“Yellowstone”). The season started production in mid-June and will premiere next January.
Netflix has secured the rights to “The Headlands House,” a limited series thriller from Cameron B. Dupont (“Yellowjackets”) and actor Colman Domingo (“Euphoria”). AMC Studios will produce the series.
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Coming Up
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CBS announced that the two-hour special “Daughters of 9/11” will air on Friday, Sept. 11. Elizabeth Miller and Jessica Trant, whose fathers died in the World Trade Center attacks, join FBI special agent Frank Pellegrino to confront whether Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), the man regarded as the chief planner of the attacks, will face justice. KSM has been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2006, but pretrial proceedings are still ongoing.
CNN announced the line-up for its second annual “Farm Aid 2026: Music Festival Live” concert, which includes Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews. The event will air on Sept. 26.
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Distribution
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Monumental Sports Network, which holds local television rights for the greater Washington DC metro area, announced its 2026 fall college sports broadcast schedule. The 39-game slate features local NCAA football, including 13 games from historically Black colleges and universities, as well as women’s soccer and volleyball.
On the other side of the country, Spectrum SportsNet LA will expand its availability as a result of the recently closed Charter-Cox merger. The channel, which is the exclusive television home to the Los Angeles Dodgers, will also now reach Cox Contour TV subscribers in the Las Vegas, Orange County, Palos Verdes and Santa Barbara areas.
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Ratings
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Top 10 Broadcast Networks for the Week of Aug. 10
NBC 2,215
ABC 2,138
CBS 2,011
FOX 1,535
Univision 889
Telemundo 812
MeTV 651
ION 567
CW 453
Grit 306
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Executive Moves
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Hearst Television has promoted Joe Fortunato to vice president of revenue, a newly created role. He previously served as director of national sales.
Andy Weil is leaving his role as Netflix’s VP of comedy to join Amazon MGM Studios as head of comedy. At Netflix, he was responsible for overseeing popular shows like “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “BoJack Horseman,” “Nobody Wants This,” “The Four Seasons,” “Master of None” and “The Kominsky Method.”
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Friday Fun Fact
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The world’s first animated feature film was made in Argentina.
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After Valerie Harper was fired from her hit sitcom “Valerie” (1986-1987), the show changed its title two more times and ran for four more years. Name one of the new titles.
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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What long-running ‘90s teen drama inspired a huge boom in the number of baby boys named “Dylan”? “Beverly Hills 90210”
Congrats to: Vince Vincenzo-Omnicom/NY; Brianne Maciejowski-BZM Producing & Consulting/Sarasota, FL; Patrick Lundrigan-Publicis/Atlanta, GA; Rick Ramage-UTA/NY; Dan Whitford-WTTW/Chicago, IL; Tom Boyd-WGN/Chicago, IL; April Iseral-TRG/Dallas, TX; Creed Heilskov-ImOn Communications/Cedar Rapids, IA; Kevin Moran-Blarney Productions/Pasadena, CA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Michael Coscia/LA; Lorrie Schilling/El Segundo, CA
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