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| Wednesday, September 23, 2026 |
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Happy hump day! On today’s news docket:
- The White House Launches “Trump TV”
- “Darkwing Duck” Returns To TV After Three Decades
- Is “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story” Losing Traction?
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| In The News |
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President Donald J. Trump in a March meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
The White House launched its own 24/7 streaming YouTube feed called “Trump TV: The Essentials Station,” which will air previously recorded speeches, “greatest hits” and other clips featuring the president.
- The move is being seen as a counter-response to major US networks forgoing their press pool coverage in the wake of Trump’s recent press ban, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom calling it “quite literally state-run TV” on X.
- The White House also announced the launch with a trailer featuring clips of TV characters watching television sets themselves, set to the tune of The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Whether the press team actually secured the rights to use the song and footage is unclear, but unlikely given the administration’s track record of using copyrighted materials.
CNN contributor and tech journalist Kara Swisher plans to leave the network after the Paramount Skydance Warner Bros. Discovery merger closes, she announced on the “Pivot” podcast Tuesday. Her current contract with CNN ends Dec. 31, but she told co-host Scott Galloway that she has already asked her agent to get her out of the deal early.
What does ad-free streaming even mean anymore? A source clarified to Adweek that recent changes to the Disney+ subscriber agreement should not result in any changes to the user experience. Instead, Disney was (ironically) trying to simplify the language in its agreement to avoid confusion.
- The confusion makes sense, given that the original subscriber agreement acknowledged “limited” promotional content on ad-free tiers, which can include product placement or house ads for Disney shows and bundle offers, as well as ads during live programming.
- The Takeaway: With live content and live sports overtaking streaming TV, it’s inevitable that ad-free streaming viewers will see more ads.
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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.
Apple TV dropped a new trailer for Season 2 of its animated fantasy series “The Sisters Grimm,” based on the book series by Michael Buckley. The new season premieres Oct. 2.
A new season of the Emmy Award-winning series “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” is returning to Disney Junior. The second season will premiere there Sept. 30 and stream the next day on Disney+.
Similarly, a second season of “Vampirina: Teenage Vampire” will hit Disney Channel Oct. 6 and Disney+ the day after.
“Below Deck” is returning to Phuket, Thailand, for its 13th season. The show premieres on Bravo Oct. 12 and will be available to stream the next day on Peacock.
TODAY’S PREMIERES
Apple TV: “Brothers”
CBS: “Survivor” Season 50 at 8 p.m.
Fox: “The Floor” Season 6 at 8 p.m.; “99 to Beat” Season 2 at 9 p.m.
Netflix: “Habeas Corpus”; “Wonka’s The Golden Ticket”
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| Partner content |
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| Production |
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The third season of the Disney+ series “Daredevil: Born Again” will be its last, and showrunner Dario Scardapane is exiting in the middle of postproduction, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Between this and the unceremonious un-renewal of “Wonder Man” earlier this year, it seems as though Marvel Studios might be pulling back on its TV ambitions for the time being.
In better news for elder millennials, Disney+ is also launching (or LaunchPad McQuacking?) a new “Darkwing Duck” animated series starring Mark Hamill (“The Sandman”), Seth Rogen (“The Studio”), Lizzy Caplan (“Fleishman Is in Trouble”) and Lilimar (“Cleopatra in Space”). The series is being produced by Sean Tretta (“Star Trek: Picard”), Borja Peña Gorostegui (“Lost and Crowned”) and Point Grey Pictures, which recently won an Emmy Award for its “Muppet Show” variety special.
MGM+ greenlit “Rules of Prey,” a crime thriller starring Jensen Ackles (“The Boys”) as a former police detective brought back to investigate a serial killer. The show is adapted from the novel of the same name by John Sandford. Emmy Award-winning writer-producer Bruce Terris (“DTF St. Louis”) serves as creator, showrunner and executive producer.
TV writer Alec Berg signed an overall deal with Netflix. His first project for the streamer will be a comedy series with Charlie Hall, loosely based on the recent Penn State University drug ring scandal.
“Crew Girl” has already been renewed for a second season, Netflix announced on Tuesday. The YA series premiered on Sept. 10 and has since risen from No. 5 to No. 2 on the streamer’s top English-language series list.
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| Tech News You Can Use |
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Roku and Publicis Media Exchange released new research suggesting that ad creative made for social media also performs well on streaming TV. For example, a social-first Celsius ad saw 11% higher purchase intent when viewers saw the same ad on the Roku home screen. Similarly, a social-first ad for Panera increased viewer perception of relevance by 20%, according to the report.
The advertising industry’s US Joint Industry Committee (JIC), which aims to create standards for video ad measurement, announced its recertification for Nielsen’s three rivals: Comscore, VideoAmp and iSpot. The recertification follows an in-depth analysis of the companies’ data accuracy and stability. Nielsen is not a participant of the JIC.
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| Distribution |
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Netflix and Cookbook Media inked a worldwide content distribution deal for ChuChu TV, an India-based media company that specializes in preschool entertainment. The deal brings four ChuChu TV collections to all Netflix territories in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
AMC Global Media has secured the US and Canadian distribution rights for “Smilla’s Sense of Snow,” a dystopian crime drama based on the work of Danish novelist Peter Høeg. The series stars Filippa Coster-Waldau, the daughter of “Game of Thrones” actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, in the titular role, and is directed by BAFTA winner Amma Asante (“The Handmaid’s Tale”).
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| Ratings |
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Ella Beatty in Netflix’s “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story”
“Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story” might have premiered at the top of Netflix’s English TV list last week, but interest in the anthology series appears to be waning overall. The fourth season brought in only 12.1 million views in four days, compared with “The Ed Gein Story” getting 12.2 million views in only three days last year.
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| Executive Moves |
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Former “Access Hollywood” correspondent Billy Bush has joined Fox News as a contributor, the network announced. His first appearance was on Tuesday’s episode of “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
Disney promoted Cathleen Taff to president of Disney Entertainment’s Studios and Consumer Products team, under which the company’s global licensing and publishing businesses will be housed starting Oct. 4.
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In “Supergirl” (2015-2021), what is the name of Kara Zor-El’s foster sister?
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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In the Season 2 Halloween episode of “Castle,” Nathan Fillion briefly wore his old “space cowboy” costume from a previous television role as an easter egg for fans. What series was the costume from? “Firefly” (2002-2003)
Congrats to: Stephen Warren-Northeastern University/Boston, MA; Paul Gluck-TUTV/Philadelphia, PA; James Maxim-Disney/NYC; Charlie Piazza-Lake 5 Media/New York; Andi Leston-Outdoor Sportsman Group/Waukesha, WI; Tom Boyd-WGN/Chicago, IL Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg/M and S Entertainment; LA; Shelby Michlin/LA
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