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| Wednesday, September 30, 2026 |
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Happy Wednesday, readers! Here’s the news you need to know for today:
- Disney’s TV Division Might Soon Face Major Restructuring
- ABC News Eyes “GMA” Overhaul Following Ratings Shift
- “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Dominates Late-Night Premiere Week
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| In The News |
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Disney conducted another round of layoffs under CEO Josh D’Amaro, impacting around 300 employees primarily across tech and HR. While Disney Entertainment Television was spared this time, sources told Deadline the TV division is bracing for a major impending restructuring under new head Debra O’Connell amid broader workflow automation and cost-tightening pressures.
Speaking of restructuring, ABC News is weighing a major leadership and talent shakeup at “Good Morning America” after losing its No. 1 ratings spot to NBC’s “The Today Show” during the 2025–2026 season, the New York Post reported.
- During the season, “GMA” brought in 2.8 million total viewers and 477,000 in the 25–54 demographic, falling behind 2.9 million total viewers and 612,000 demo viewers for “The Today Show” The shift marks the first win for “The Today Show” since the 2011–12 season.
- Insiders pointed to structural and on-air hurdles, noting that pricey co-hosts Robin Roberts, Michael Strahan and George Stephanopoulos (who each make upwards of $15 million annually) are rarely in the studio together at the same time.
- Sources also cited internal friction and mounting pressure from parent company Disney to cut ballooning talent costs amid sliding ratings and rising sponsor-driven content friction.
- ABC News president Almin Karamehmedovic is reportedly taking a hands-on approach to the crisis, and executive producer Simone Swink is also facing increased internal scrutiny over the show’s editorial direction and commercialization.
- The takeaway: Morning news remains one of the fiercest battlegrounds in TV, where even minor shifts in audience preference can impact top talent and structural overhauls at the network level.
At the Royal Television Society convention in London, Sky content chief Cécile Frot-Cotaz and ITV CEO Carolyn McCall defended Sky’s pending $2.1 billion acquisition of ITV as a vital countermeasure against streaming proliferation and skyrocketing content volume.
- “The transaction is very much a response to what’s happened in the marketplace,” said Frot-Cotaz, citing an increase from 200,000 hours of streaming content five years ago to 900,000 now.
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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.
Netflix released two new trailers for its upcoming docuseries. The chilling “New Stanford Prison Experiment” premieres on Oct. 21; “The One About Matthew Perry,” chronicling the late actor’s life and legacy, is set to premiere on Oct. 27.
Paramount+ dropped the official trailer and set an Oct. 16 premiere date for “Tulsa King” season 4, ramping up anticipation for Sylvester Stallone’s return.
Tubi acquired pocket.watch’s creator-led series, “The Besties in Haunted High,” starring YouTube creators Mackenzie Turner and Lael Hansen. The six-episode series premieres on Oct. 13.
Apple TV released the trailer for its upcoming thriller “Nocturne,” which premieres Oct. 30.
Bravo fans, mark your calendars! “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County” is premiering on Nov. 12.
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| Partner content |
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| Today’s Premieres |
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ABC: “Scrubs” Season 2 at 8 p.m.; “Shark Tank” Season 18 at 9 p.m.
CBS: “The Amazing Race” Season 39 at 9:30 p.m.
Discovery: “Ghost Adventures” Season 31 at 10 p.m.
Hulu: “Deadly Tag”
ID: “Unmasking a Monster: Aileen Wuornos” at 8 p.m.
Netflix: “The Arena”; “Love is Blind: Netherlands”; “Medusa” Season 2; “The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part”
Paramount+: “Sacrifice” Season 2
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| Partner content |
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Forward 2026: A Forum for the Future of TV Advertising—Oct. 29, NYC
Join us at Forward 2026, where Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman will deliver the keynote and marketing leaders from MANSCAPED, Liquid I.V., Avocado, and Jones Road Beauty will share how they’re using TV to reach new audiences, measure impact, and drive real business growth.
Attendance is free, but space is limited.
RSVP Now
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| Production |
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Alan Ritchson as “Reacher”
Amazon’s Prime Video has officially renewed “Reacher” for a sixth season – but not the new spin-off “Neagley” yet. Season 5 of the original series is currently in production.
AMC Global Media greenlit “Happy Jack,” a new multi-cam comedy show starring real-life duo father and son Charlie Sheen (“Two and a Half Men”) and Martin Sheen (“The West Wing”).
Meanwhile, Tom Hollander (“The White Lotus”) has joined the Season 2 cast of AMC’s hit satirical comedy series “The Audacity.”
Netflix rounded out the cast of its upcoming skating drama “Icebreaker,” tapping “Moana” star Auli’i Cravalho and Chaneil Kular (“Sex Education”) to headline the ensemble.
Cynthia Erivo (“Wicked”), Danny Dyer (“The Wall”), and James Norton (“House of the Dragon”) have been announced as the next hosts for “SNL UK” with episodes beginning Oct. 10.
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| Tech News You Can Use |
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At its annual unBoxed conference, Amazon Ads rolled out a sweeping ad tech overhaul headlined by a transition into conversational, agentic ad formats. The update integrates chat-based AI workflows directly into the DSP console, allowing advertisers to brief campaigns, build multi-format assets, and refine branding and performance parameters through conversational prompts while layering in tighter automated brand controls.
Video killed the radio star – but not the Starling. Yet another supply-side platform, Starling, has joined the roster of tech vendors looking to capitalize on the streaming TV ad industry. Starling emerged from stealth mode and officially launched Tuesday, with new tech related to transparency, advanced audience data and direct relationships with premium TV and streaming publishers.
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| Sports Report |
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Streaming sports app Fubo launched “My Local Sports,” a new product feature that allows fans in select regional markets to build custom local sports viewing packages.
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| Distribution |
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Paramount obtained the US streaming rights for three upcoming British A24 productions: “It Gets Worse,” a comedy created and starring Leo Reich; “Major Players,” a coming-of-age soccer drama by Molly Manning Walker and Yasmin Joseph; and “The Ministry of Time,” adapted from the best-selling novel by Kailene Bradley.
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| Ratings |
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ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” won the broadcast network premiere week in late night for the week of Sept. 21, averaging 2.29 million total viewers.
- The late-night program successfully beat out competitors, including NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (1.3 million) and CBS’s “Comics Unleashed”, during the 11:35 p.m. slot, per live+same day big data plus panel ratings.
- This marks the second consecutive year “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has opened the season as the No. 1 late-night show in total viewers and the 18-49-year-old demo during premiere week, along with its fifth consecutive year leading the key demo.
- The ratings dominance arrives as the show kicks off a stacked week of episodes broadcasting from Brooklyn, with an A-list guest lineup featuring Pete Davidson and NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The 2026 MTV Video Music Awards averaged a combined 8.43 million viewers across CBS and MTV for the Sept. 26 telecast, according to Nielsen live+same day fast nationals.
- This marks the most-watched VMA telecast in 11 years (since 2015) and delivered a 51% surge compared to last year’s 5.60 million viewer tally.
- Individual network breakdowns showed CBS averaging 7.61 million viewers (up 52%), MTV’s simulcast pulling in 686,000 viewers (up 40%), and an MTV encore adding 142,000 viewers.
- The broadcast was likely aided by an NFL football overrun that pushed the start time to 7:51 p.m. ET, along with viral moments like Madonna’s first VMA performance in 23 years and Taylor Swift’s major award wins.
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| Executive Moves |
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Berlanti Productions promoted Liam Driscoll to creative executive, expanding his responsibilities to oversee projects across both film and TV.
Creator economy company Motion Society hired former Spotify, Meta, and Fullscreen executive Chanel Simmons as Managing Director, US, to lead its domestic operations.
V10 Entertainment bolstered its international sales team ahead of MIPCOM, adding former Paramount and Amazon MGM Studios executives Michelle Payne, Matt Vassallo, and Poh Lin Ho in strategic partner roles.
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| In Memoriam |
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Dennis Haskins, the actor known for playing the beloved Principal Richard Belding on “Saved By the Bell,” has died at the age of 75.
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Who plays the snarky shrimp-loving protagonist Eleanor Shellstrop in the hit NBC comedy show “The Good Place”?
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 show starring America Ferrara premiered 20 years ago on ABC about a young Hispanic woman from Queens who lands a job at a high-fashion magazine? “Ugly Betty.”
Congrats to: Jane Pook/Brooklyn, NY; Stephen Warren-Northeastern University/Boston, MA; James Maxim-Disney/NYC; Lori Paterson-Spectrum Reach/NYC; Jackie Howell-Nexstar WCMH-TV/Columbus, OH; Creed Heilskov-ImOn Communications/Cedar Rapids, IA; Tom Boyd-WGN/Chicago, IL; Aaron Paquette-AccelerateSG/Fort Worth, TX; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Lauren Watt-Alliance Entertainment/Citrus Heights, CA; Susan Nessanbaum- Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA
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