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Hope you all had a great weekend, readers!
- Disney Dabbles In A Deal With Dhar Mann
- Meghan Markle Is In Talks To Join The Cast Of Netflix’s “The Gentlemen” Season 3
- Also Coming To Netflix Is “Blue Eye Samurai” Season 2
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In The News
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Let your conscience be your guide? Disney announced a content deal with Dhar Mann Studios, best known for developing family-friendly, morality-driven scripted videos on YouTube and other platforms.
- Under the deal, Dhar Mann will produce 20 episodes of original content for Disney, although it’s not yet clear whether these episodes will be short-form content for Disney’s Verts product or full-length TV episodes.
- Dhar Mann is already a big name in the digital content space, with over 170 million followers and 300 million cross-platform views, including a dedicated free ad-supported TV (FAST) channel on Samsung TV Plus. In January, his studio struck a similar deal to create 40 original vertical videos for the My Drama app by Holywater, which Fox acquired an equity stake in last year. Mann was even appointed the NFL’s “Chief Kindness Officer” in advance of the 2026 Super Bowl.
- Mann is not without controversy, however. In 2014, he was sentenced to five years’ probation for defrauding the city of Oakland as the CEO of marijuana superstore company weGrow. His video production studio (which is nonunion) was also accused of underpaying actors and fostering an unhealthy workplace culture in 2023, which he publicly denied.
- The Takeaway: It’s logical that legacy TV companies want to partner with Dhar Mann given his huge presence as a digital creator. However, the deal also speaks to the way that the short-form and online content spaces can disrupt the traditional production model in terms of legal protections for actors and crewmembers.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
Acting puts a sparkle in Meghan Markle’s eye. Markle may be considering a return to acting after a nearly 10-year hiatus. She starred in seven seasons of “Suits” before getting engaged to Prince Harry in 2017, leaving behind her role as Rachel Zane and taking on the title Duchess of Sussex instead.
- On Friday, Variety reported that Meghan is in talks to join Season 3 of director Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series “The Gentlemen.” Earlier that day, news also broke that the royal couple plan to move from California back to the UK, where “The Gentlemen” is filmed.
- The role could be good timing for Markle, given that her influence on the entertainment world has started to fade. Earlier this month, Netflix downgraded its creative relationship with the royal couple’s media company, Archewell Productions, from distribution exclusivity agreements to a simpler first-look deal that applies to TV and films. Earlier this year, Netflix also ceased its role as a business partner to Markle’s lifestyle brand, As Ever.
- The Takeaway: Streamers and media companies are competing under intensifying pressure for more viewers, as well as more subscription and advertising revenue. But sometimes, behind-the-scenes deals just aren’t as effective as putting celebrity talent directly in the spotlight.
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New & Returning Series
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For sneak peeks, check out Cynopsis Trailer Park.
Just one day after announcing the new slate of cast members coming to Season 3 of “The Pitt,” HBO released a teaser for the upcoming season, which takes place on Dr. Robby’s (Noah Wyle) first day back in the ER. The season will premiere sometime in January 2027.
Netflix’s animated series “Blue Eye Samurai”
Also arriving in January is Season 2 of “Blue Eye Samurai,” the Netflix animated action series created by Amber Noizumi and Michael Green. The streamer also announced that the show’s third season will be its last.
The streaming service UP Faith & Family announced last week that Season 2 of the procedural mystery series “Blue Skies” will premiere Oct. 1. The series, featuring a criminal investigator and her canine companion, is produced by Bar None Productions in association with Kino Media and Larry Levinson Productions.
TODAY’S PREMIERES
Acorn TV: “Blue Murder Hotel”
HBO Max: “Margarita” Season 3
The Roku Channel: “NFL Hometown Eats”
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Production
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BritBox unveiled a first look at Edward Bluemel (“Killing Eve”) as Hercule Poirot in the upcoming series “Hercule,” an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel series featuring the titular Belgian detective. The six-part prequel series, filmed in Liverpool, is produced by Mammoth Screen (part of ITV Studios) and Agatha Christie Limited for BritBox and BBC.
Peacock’s live-action “Dungeon Crawler Carl” series, based on the bestselling novel series by Matt Dinniman, has found itself a new co-showrunner in Oscar-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer (“Arrival,” “Shadow and Bone”). He joins previously announced writer Chris Yost (“The Mandalorian”).
HBO Max ordered a new eight-episode comedy called “The People v. Gorilla Grodd” from DC Studios and Warner Bros. Television. The original mockumentary-style series presents as a true crime story in which the Daily Planet’s Jimmy Olsen investigates whether Gorilla Grodd (who, by the way, is an evil, super-intelligent, telepathic gorilla) was wrongfully convicted in a famous Metropolis murder trial. Cast members include Skyler Gisondo (“The Righteous Gemstones”) as Jimmy Olsen, Jimmy Tatro (“American Vandal”) as Gorilla Grodd and a handful of actors from the “Superman” universe, such as Beck Bennett and Mikaela Hoover. “American Vandal” creators Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault will serve as showrunners, and DC Studios co-chairmen and co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran will also executive produce.
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Tech News You Can Use
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The creator-first streaming and subscription platform Patreon rolled out roughly 30 new features to help creators get in front of new viewers more easily and measure insights more effectively. One of these features is a tool that turns creator-made videos into shorter, snackable clips that influencers can easily share on social media to expand their reach. Guess television isn’t the only entertainment medium chasing the promise of short-form video monetization as competition for subscriptions rises while attention spans dwindle.
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Coming Up
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There she is, Miss… wait, where is she? The annual Miss USA pageant, which is set to take place in Miami on Aug. 27, won’t be broadcast on The CW after all due to a last-minute “contractual issue.” Fans who want to watch the event will instead have to turn to the Queen Beauty Network (QBN), a subscription-based streaming platform that’s available online or as an app on several TV devices.
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Ratings
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The series premiere of “Lanterns” achieved 6.6 million US viewers and 9.3 million worldwide viewers in its first three days on HBO and HBO Max, as reported by Nielsen. That puts the DC Studios series ahead of “IT: Welcome to Derry,” “The Penguin” and “True Detective: Night Country,” but behind “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”
Meanwhile, on cable television, the new TLC series “Double Lives of Suburban Wives” delivered the biggest freshman prime-time cable premiere of the year among 25-to-54-year-olds when it premiered on Aug. 9, the network recently announced.
Last month, the most-streamed program for the week of July 20 wasn’t a TV show at all, according to Nielsen’s Top 10 Streaming list. It was “Masters of the Universe,” the 2026 film that made only $114 million at the box office on a $170 million budget when it premiered in early June. Still, the movie managed to beat out even “The Big Bang Theory” for most minutes viewed during the five days after it debuted on Prime Video July 22.
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Superman has appeared as a character in multiple TV adaptations. Which one ran the longest?
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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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. “Valerie’s Family: The Hogans” and “The Hogan Family.”
Congrats to: Matt Marini-Paramount/NYC; Rory Rosegarten-The Conversation Company/Manhasset, NY; David Rubinsohn- American Public television/ Boston, MA; Marni C. Gold/Hawthorne, NJ; Dan Whitford-WTTW/Chicago, IL; Tom Boyd-WGN/Chicago, IL; Aaron Paquette-AccelerateSG/Fort Worth, TX; Kevin Moran-Blarney Productions/Pasadena, CA; Michael Coscia/LA; Ed Horwitz-Witz End Productions/Hollywood, CA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA.
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