PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Straight-to-series Hollywood will be Ryan Murphy’s first original ordered since he signed his massive deal with Netflix. On Instagram, the streamer described the series, co-created with Ian Brennan, as “a love letter to the Golden Age of Tinseltown.”
CBS ordered a pilot from Jennie Snyder Urman (Jane the Virgin) and Alex Herschlag (Will & Grace). Jaime Camil (Jane the Virgin) will star in and exec produce the untitled family comedy. CBS Television Studios, Sutton Street Productions and Propagate will co-produce.
Top 10 Weekend Domestic Box Office Estimates: February 22-24
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World $55.5 million, opening weekend
Alita: Battle Angel (Fox) $12.0 million (week 2), cume revenue $60.7 million
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (Warner Bros.) $10.0 million (week 2), cume revenue $83.6 million
Fighting With My Family (MGM) $8.0 million (week 2), cume revenue $8.2 million
Isn’t It Romantic (Warner Bros.) $7.5 million (week 2), cume revenue $33.8 million
What Men Want (Paramount) $5.2 million (week 3), cume revenue $45.1 million
Happy Death Day 2U (Universal) $5.0 million (week 2), cume revenue $21.6 million
Cold Pursuit (Lionsgate) $3.3 million (week 3), cume revenue $27.1 million
The Upside (STX) $3.2 million (week 7), cume revenue $99.7 million
Run the Race (Roadside Attractions) $2.3 million, opening weekend
Source: Comscore
NEW AND RETURNING SERIES
Season two of Epix espionage drama Deep State premieres Sunday, April 28 at 9p. Joining the cast are Victoria Hamilton (The Crown), Alexander Siddig (Gotham) Lily Banda (The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind) and Zainab Jah (Elementary).
How well do you know beloved Betty White? Find out in the Cynopsis quiz at www.cynopsis.com.
Last week’s premiere episode of Showtime’s first late-night talk show, Desus & Mero, is available for free across multiple platforms. Fellow Bronx native Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez guests. Show airs Thursdays at 11p.
COMING UP
Smithsonian Channel special The Green Book: Guide to Freedom premieres tonight at 8p. What makes the doc, which explores the guide that was intended to assist black families traveling, a fit for Smithsonian Channel? “Since our inception, Smithsonian Channel has been committed to African American history because we believe that it’s essential to a greater understanding of our national story,” Linda Goldman, Executive Producer, Smithsonian Channel, tells Cynopsis. “We found the Green Book story compelling on several levels. It leads us to many fascinating stories, from fabulous vacation resorts like Idlewild, to women entrepreneurs and progressive corporations, to civil rights battlefields. If history were a map, the Green Book guides us off familiar highways onto important, but easily overlooked, scenic routes.”
HBO Films’ Native Son, based on Richard Wright’s 1940 novel, makes its TV debut on Saturday, April 6 at 10p. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
TECH TALK
Verizon aims to launch standards-based 5G services in over 30 U.S. cities this year, the company announced during an analyst conference on Friday. The wireless carrier introduced a 5G Home service in October in four cities, but this is its first dive into Mobile 5G. Verizon told analysts that revenue from 5G will “contribute more meaningfully to growth” in 2021.
Facebook is removing its spyware VPN app Onavo from the Google Play store. The app offered added privacy in public wifi spots, but drew complaints for collecting data on users. The Onavo Protect app will continue operating as a Virtual Privacy Network for now, without pulling data, to give users time to find a replacement.
Calling tech bloggers: If you’d like to share your insights and expertise on the Cynopsis web site, contact Lynn@Cynopsis.com for possible submission.
DIGITAL
Mythical Entertainment acquired Smosh, the YouTube comedy brand left orphaned with the sudden shuttering of Defy Media last fall. “Some of the hardest four months of my life,” tweeted Smosh co-founder Ian Hecox after the deal was announced. “I’m so happy with where we ended up. Very proud of my Smosh Family. So much more to come!”
Amid concerns over conspiracy theories and brand safety, YouTube said it is pulling ads from channels that push anti-vaccination theories. “We have strict policies that govern what videos we allow ads to appear on, and videos that promote anti-vaccination content are a violation of those policies,” said YouTube. “We enforce these policies vigorously, and if we find a video that violates them, we immediately take action and remove ads.”
Twitter co-founder Evan Williams is stepping down from the company’s board at the end of the month. Williams, who was CEO of Twitter from 2008-2010, now heads web publishing platform Medium and technology systems innovator Obvious Corp.
ADVERTISING & AGENCIES
Horizon Media is launching a performance-based agency, Big, aimed at start-ups and emerging brands. The division will offer “holistic data management,” and a compensation model based solely on business outcomes. Horizon Next EVP Gene Levy adds Big to his purview.
The major agency holding companies reported a 3% decline in advertising in January of this year versus 2018, according to a UBS analysis. While it’s the first January to show a decline since the Standard Media Index compilation of ad spend data started in 2011, UBS noted two NCAA semifinal games and the Grammy Awards moved out of the month.
Verizon Media is rolling out two new mobile native ad units as part of its Moments ad suite. Added to Carousel, Panorama, Dynamic Product Ads, and Countdown is Touchpoints, which allows brands to create an instant shoppable catalogue experience, and Playable, letting brands launch an instant interactive preview of their game with no install required.
MEASUREMENT
TV tracking platform TV Time inked a subscription agreement with 44 Blue Productions for TV Time’s cross-platform measurement solution TVLytics. "TVLytics provides viewing and engagement data that helps production companies, media companies, studios, and advertisers understand consumer behaviors to better inform their content development and programming strategies,” TV Time CEO and Chairman Richard Rosenblatt tells Cynopsis. “Our unique understanding of consumer viewing trends is the key to creating good content." 44 Blue’s digital studio, Ovrture, identified TV Time as an analytics tool that could help give a more direct line to consumers, and get more detailed consumer feedback and trends.
GOING GLOBAL
One Caribbean Television, which features original and informational programming about the Caribbean, is now available on Bell Fibe TV in Canada, in preview until early April. The launch coincides with a new slate of programs, including travel series Secrets of the Caribbean, lifestyle show Island Eats, news program Prime Time Caribbean and entertainment series Rhythm & Buzz.
Studio71 UK, a Red Arrow Studios company, unveiled creator-led reality project, Beta Squad. Five rising creators will leave their family homes to live in a state-of-the-art mansion at a secret location in London, England. Over a period of 12 months, the five personalities will create daily content streams for a number of platforms including YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat all under the social handle BetaSquad5 while continuing to publish via their own channels. It will be the UK’s single biggest online collaborative creator project with a media company ever, and Studio71 UK’s largest investment in a creator project since it launched in 2017.
UK’s BBC One ordered The Goes Wrong Show from Lionsgate and Big Talk Production. Six-parter is based on Mischief Theatre’s play about “theatrical catastrophe.”
First Media’s BabyFirst is expanding into Latin America, with five partners onboard: Sky Mexico, Central America and Caribbean, Totalplay Mexico (National), Cable Onda Panama (National), Cable and Wireless Caribbean (Curacao, St Lucia, Grenada, Jamaica, St Vincent & Grenadines, Trinidad), and Caribbean Cooperative.
CASTING
Malik Yoba, who starred in 1994-1999 Dick Wolf drama New York Undercover, will also star in the reboot, which got a pilot order from ABC...Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones) has joined the cast of Showtime prequel Penny Dreadful: City of Angels as a supernatural demon... Added to the cast of DC Universe’s upcoming Stargirl: Amy Smart (MacGyver), Neil Jackson (Absentia), Hunter Sansone (Unfollowed), and Trai Romano (Robbie).
In pilot news, Carra Patterson (The Arrangement), Sarah Levy (Schitt’s Creek) and Paola Lazaro (Lethal Weapon) and Joanna Adler (American Crime Story) will star in Fox comedy pilot Patty’s Auto; Adam Pally (Happy Endings) and Abby Elliott (Saturday Night Live) landed starring roles in NBC comedy pilot Uninsured; and Maggie Lawson (Psych) will star in Fox comedy project Geniuses.
