PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Bravo’s Married to Medicine franchise is expanding to the City of Angeles. Married to Medicine Los Angeles premieres Sunday, March 10, at 9p. Series follows a group of doctors and wives in the exclusive LA medical community.
Paco Cabezas (Penny Dreadful) will direct multiple episodes of Penny Dreadful: City Of Angeles, the new chapter of the series from original creator, writer and executive producer John Logan.
Showtime’s Shameless was officially renewed for a tenth season. William H. Macy and the rest of the cast will be returning, minus Emmy Rossum. Cameron Monaghan, who left the show in season nine, is heading back for the upcoming run.
In other Showtime news, the net issued an eight-episode order for a sequel to The L Word, scheduled to premiere by the end of 2019. Marja-Lewis Ryan (The Four-Faced Liar, 6 Balloons) will serve as showrunner and is executive producing along with series creator Ilene Chaiken and original series stars Jennifer Beals, Katherine Moennig and Leisha Hailey.
Spring premiere dates were announced for a trio of Showtime projects. The Chi returns Sunday, April 7, at 10p; City on a Hill, starring Kevin Bacon and Aldis Hodge, debuts Sunday, June 16, at 9p; and four-part docu-series Wu-Tan Clan: Of Mics and Men, coming off its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, bows on Friday, May 10, at 10p.
CBS ordered three drama pilots: Republic of Sarah, set in a small New Hampshire town, from writer Jeffrey Paul King (Elementary), Fulwell 73 and CBS TV Studios; legal drama Courthouse, from Greg Spottiswood (Remedy) and Warner Bros. Television; and a new version of Frankenstein, from Jason Tracey, Rob Doherty (Elementary) and CBS TV Studios
Longtime Pixar producer Darla K. Anderson (Coco, Toy Story 3, Cars) inked a multiyear deal at Netflix. Under its terms, Anderson will develop and produce new animated and live-action feature films and series for family audiences.
BBC and PBS have joined forces on a pair of projects. One is a big-budget natural history series called Green Planet (wt) that tells the story of planet earth from the perspective of plants. The second, One Planet, Seven Worlds (wt), is a seven-part David Attenborough docu-series that explores how each continent has shaped the unique animal life found there.
Brenda Song (Pure Genius) and Lex Scott Davis (Superfly) will have lead roles opposite Kat Dennings in Dollface, reports Deadline. Ten-episode Hulu comedy, executive produced by Dennings and written by Jordan Weiss (Harley Quinn), follows a young woman (Dennings) who, after getting dumped by her longtime boyfriend, must rekindle the female friendships she left behind.
ABC gave a pilot order for Woman Up, from Life in Pieces star Zoe Lister-Jones, Single Parents co-creator Liz Meriwether and Jason Winer (Life in Pieces, Single Parents). Written by Lister Jones, comedy tells the story of two former teen moms.
ABC also ordered a pilot for New York Undercover, a contemporary reboot of Dick Wolf’s 1990s series. The series, written by Hand of God creator Ben Watkins and based on a story by Watkins and Wolf, picks up 20 years after the end of the original show. The reboot is expected to feature cast from the original series reprising their roles.
The adventures of the Tanner-Fuller family will continue. Netflix renewed ABC spin-off Fuller House for a fifth and final season.
Dynamic Television teamed with David Mirkin (The Simpsons) to develop one-hour live-action sci-fi dramedy Jeff of the Universe for YouTube Premium. Mirkin will write, direct and executive-produce the series with Dynamic Television’s Daniel March and Holly Hines along with Todd Berger and Emiliano Calemzuk.
Disney+, Walt Disney Company’s soon-to-be direct-to-consumer streaming service, gave a 10-episode straight-to-series order to Diary of a Female President. The project hails from writer Ilana Peña (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Robin Shorr (The Carmichael Show), Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez’s I Can and I Will production company and CBS TV Studios. Created and written by Peña, the series follows a Cuban-American 12-year-old girl as she navigates middle school on her journey to become the future president of the United States.
MTV is taking the dating experience to another level with Game of Clones. New series gives the network’s most eligible reality stars the opportunity to date seven clones of their celebrity crush, and debuts with back-to-back episodes Thursday, February 21, at 9p.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Premiere dates have been pushed back a week for two FOX series due to the rescheduling of the State of the Union address. Masterchef Junior returns Tuesday, March 5, at 8p followed by reality competition Mental Samurai, hosted and produced by Rob Lowe, at 9p.
When it comes to jobs, it’s not just about the money. The Cynopsis Salary Survey also looked at benefits and found that compared with last year, family leave benefits are more prevalent, predominantly due to an increase in paternity leave. Fifty-nine percent of respondents said their company provides maternity leave; 42% also permit paternity leave. Additional family care is noted by fewer than one in 10 respondents – 7% of employees report childcare and 5% note elder-care benefits. If you haven’t reviewed the full report, you can do so here.
TCA
The CW’s TCA news included early renewals for 10 series: Charmed, Legacies, Arrow, Black Lightning, Dynasty, Riverdale, Supergirl, Supernatural, The Flash and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. “These shows provide a strong foundation for our multiplatform programming strategy, and we look forward to building on this with even more returning and new shows as we approach the May upfront,” said net President Mark Pedowitz. A decision on whether or not All American makes it to a sophomore season is expected in May.
One show definitely not returning to The CW is Jane the Virgin, which will end with its fifth season. “Around the second year, Mark Pedowitz said to me that the show will go as long as the story goes,” said series creator and showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman at TCA. “That is a gift if you work in TV that you don’t always get, and I was really grateful to that because it let me plan,”
Desus & Mero’s Desus Nice and The Kid Mero, on hand to talk about their new Showtime weekly late nighter, explained they met in summer school. “Not because we’re dumb, but it’s air conditioned,” said Desus. How much homework will they do to prepare for interviews? “We try not to do too much research ahead,” said Desus. “People will either jell with us or not.”
Kevin Bacon said it was the “gritty vibe” of Showtime’s upcoming City on a Hill that drew him to the drama. It “was reminiscent of movies I loved in the ‘70s from Scorsese and Sidney Lumet,” explained Bacon. “I felt there wasn’t much on TV in this pocket, there was nothing that felt like this.”
COMING UP
Let’s Make a Deal celebrates host Wayne Brady’s “Favorite Folks” the week of Monday, February 4, on CBS. The second annual event includes “trekkies,” teachers, grandparents and grandchildren, fathers and daughters, and contestants from the original series with Monty Hall. Check local listings for times.
Michael Bublé returns to NBC on Wednesday, March 20, at 10p with his seventh music special on the network. This one takes viewers on a musical journey through his career and features six songs from his new album, “love.”
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah Presents “State of the Union 2019: Uncancelled” airs Tuesday, February 5, at 11p. The special episode will provide immediate commentary about the President’s State of the Union address.
Cynopsis, the leading name in television news, is excited to host the largest gathering of senior brands, agency and programming execs together for That Big TV Conference (September 9 and 10, 2019, in NYC). Save the date and join us as we discuss and solve the critical challenges facing the television industry.
Nick celebrates the Chinese New Year with themed episodes of two series on Monday, February 4: Peppa the Pig (in honor of the Year of the Pig) at 9a, and Thomas & Friends at 9:30a.
TECH TALK
New data from MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer shows that 51% of Americans own at least one Smart Life device, from smart TVs to smart thermostats, but only 6% have three or more. Data also reveals that 83% of Smart Lifers have a smart TV compared to 36% of the total U.S. population, while 62% have a wearable fitness tracker, 53% own a smart home hub and 47% have a smartwatch.
Virtual reality has yet to take off among a critical mass of consumers, but that could change in the next few years. Juniper Research predicts that by 2023, shipments of VR headsets will reach 54 million, up from an estimated 21 million this year, which amounts to 160% growth over four years. Yet the research firm doesn’t foresee Facebook and its Oculus Go headsets benefiting much from the boom. Instead, it sees Sony’s PlayStation VR driving the console-based VR market and outperforming all other VR markets over the next four years. Google is well positioned to remain the leading VR headset vendor through 2023, according to Juniper, at which point the tech giant is expected to account for 27% of all VR shipments.
CASTING
Jennifer Jason Leigh will recur on the fifth and final season of Showtime’s Affair… Michael Raymond-Jones booked a guest spot on Showtime’s Billions…Sarunas J. Jackson (Insecure) and Jackie Long (Real Husbands Of Hollywood) were tapped as the male leads in BET’s upcoming drama series Games People Play … Steven Yeun and J. K. Simmons will lead an A-list voice cast on Amazon Prime Video’s Invincible. Adult animated superhero series is being adapted from Robert Kirkman’s comic book series.
DIGITAL DATA
Customers of AMC Premiere upgrade option will be able to watch the season nine midseason premiere of The Walking Dead a fweek before it appears on linear television. The episode will be available Sunday, February 3, and will remain on the on-demand platform all week leading up to the official premiere on AMC at 9p Sunday, February 10.
Advertising platform Teads and VICE Media inked a deal to place Teads power video and viewable display advertising across VICE’s websites on both mobile web and desktop. The agreement allows VICE to expand its viewable display and video inventory while filling that inventory through direct sales of Teads’ offerings. Alex Payne, Vice President, Global Programmatic Solutions, VICE Media, said his company sees Teads “as part of our growth internationally, supporting strategy to align with demand partners that share our presence and aspirations on a global scale.”
Hulu is teaming with Coca-Cola and Charmin for a new advertising format in a unique place: the pause screen. The streamer is planning to roll it out on select programming in the second quarter. Hulu’s ad-supported tier already had pre-roll ads along with more traditional commercial pods, and the company has expanded those offerings to include sponsorships and takeovers placed on search and show pages.
Cinedigm continued its partnership with Samsung, giving viewers access to two more digital first networks: Asian culture outlet Hallypop in partnership with JungoTV and Docurama, a digital entertainment network devoted to high-quality documentary films. Both are now available on Samsung’s TV Plus video service.
