PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Travel Channel greenlit 26 new episodes of Paranormal Caught on Camera. The show, which launched on Wednesday, February 13, posted a 50% increase year-over-year for its time slot and ranks in the top 3 of all Travel Channel original series. Over 13.2 million total viewers have tuned into the first season to date. New episodes launch early next year.
Four episodes of into season four, HGTV has picked up 13 additional episodes of Good Bones. On Tuesdays at 9p, the series has grown the timeslot’s rating by 15% among P25-54 over the prior six weeks, making it a top 5 program on HGTV in the demo. Good Bones also ranks as the second most streamed series on the HGTV app since its season premiere.
Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh inked a deal to produce a project with Quibi, revealed the founder of the short-form mobile platform, Jeffrey Katzenberg, at the Produced By Conference on Saturday. Quibi, slated to launch in April 2020, will have “a completely new platform, with a completely new opportunity to tell stories in a different format” of short chapters, said Katzenberg.
Showtime signed executive producers and writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien to an overall deal under which they will continue to serve as showrunners of Billions while also developing new projects exclusively for the network.
AMC Networks landed the rights to Mona Awad’s forthcoming novel Bunny to develop as a series, reports Deadline. Megan Mostyn-Brown is attached to write the pilot.
Top 10 Weekend Domestic Box Office Estimates: June 7-9
The Secret Life of Pets (Universal) $47.1 million, opening weekend
Dark Phoenix (Fox) $33.0 million, opening weekend
Aladdin (BV)$24.5 million (week 3), cume revenue $232.4 million
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (WB) $15.5 (week 2), cume revenue $78.6 million
Rocketman (Paramount) $14.0 million (week 2), cume revenue $50.5 million
Ma (Universal) $7.8 million (week 2), cume revenue $32.8 million
John Wicke – Chapter 3: Parabellum (LG/S) $7.4 million (week 4), cume revenue $138.7 million
Avengers End Game (BV) $4.8 (week 7), cume revenue $824.4 million
Pokeman: Detective Pikachu (WB) $3.0 million (week 5), cume revenue $137.4 million
Booksmart (UAR) $1.6 million (week 3), cume revenue $17.8 million
Source: Comscore
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
New ID series Dying for Love launches Saturday, June 22 at 10p, telling stories of relationships that lead to shocking crimes.
COMING UP
Starz is holding a premiere event for the sixth season of Power, at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, August 20. The one-night event will feature a performance by 50 Cent, surprise guests, and appearances by series creator Courtney A. Kemp and the drama’s cast. Fifteen-episode season debuts Sunday, August 25 at 8p.
LMN’s Wrong movie franchise returns this summer with four new films premiering every Friday in July at 8p. Vivica A. Fox, who starred in last year’s The Wrong Cruise and The Wrong Friend, continues her relationship with the network, will star in and produce all four new movies, The Wrong Stepmother, The Wrong Boy Next Door, The Wrong Mommy and The Wrong Tutor.
Not a fan of fireworks? TLC will run an eight-hour marathon of Dr. Pimple Popper starting at 4p on the Fourth of July. New episodes premiere on Thursday, July 11 at 9pm.
STREAMING TV
WarnerMedia is looking into a plan to package HBO, Cinemax, the Warner Bros. TV and movie library (Friends!), and exclusive originals for a streaming service that would cost $16-17/month, reports the Wall Street Journal. The service, which would launch in beta before year’s end, differs from the three-tiered plan outlined by WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey in November.
Season one of Comedy Central series The Other Two is available to stream now through June 24. Comedy stars Drew Tarver as a 28-year-old actor struggling to get better auditions than “Man At Party Who Smells Fart,” and Heléne Yorke as his 30-year-old sister.
Showtime released the series premiere of its new drama City on a Hill early for free online sampling, on streaming platforms and on demand. Series starring Kevin Bacon (The Following) and Aldis Hodge (Underground) makes its official bow Sunday, June 16 at 9p.
Epix is available on Amazon Prime Video Channels for $5.99 per month - just in time for subscribers to catch a new series. “Working with Amazon to make Epix programming available on Prime Video Channels continues to build on the momentum we’ve created over the last several months,” said Michael Wright, President, Epix. “Having our network launch in time for subscribers to watch our new series Perpetual Grace, LTD is a great moment of awareness and growth for our channel.”
Comcast announced Xfinity X1 is the exclusive home of live 4K coverage in both English and Spanish for the FIFA Women’s World Cup from FOX and Telemundo. Xfinity TV customers will have access to a soccer destination that aggregates live, on demand and streaming events in one place, along with real-time scores, standings, highlights, and more.
ADVERTISING
The CW closed Upfront advertising deals for about 80% of its TV inventory up 14-15% in CPM adult viewer pricing, according to MediaPost. The net had overall single digit percentage gains in dollar volume.
The U.S. ad marketplace dipped 3% in April versus March, but rose 11% versus April 2018, according to Standard Media Index. SMI’s Ad Market Tracker index indicates digital fell 9% from March to April, while its national TV index rose 7%.
Nexstar Digital announced the launch of its proprietary TViQ audience solution for national and local advertisers, integrating proprietary data from Nexstar’s owned and operated U.S. TV stations. “Nexstar Digital is in a unique position to help advertisers navigate the complexities of video advertising across every screen and maximize target audience delivery across the entire Nexstar owned and operated portfolio of assets, which we expect to increase substantially in the near future,” said Greg Morrow, head of Nexstar Digital’s platform group.
CASTING
Among the guest star roster for Sherman’s Showcase, IFC’s new variety sketch series premiering Wednesday, July 31 at 10p, are Andrew “King Bach” Bachelor; Common, Morris Day, Tiffany Haddish, Lil Rel Howery, Quincy Jones, Mike Judge, Kenny and Keith Lucas, John Legend, Nigel Lythgoe, Curt Menefee, Vic Mensa, Tawny Newsome, Ne-Yo, Ray Parker, Jr., Mario Van Peebles, Damon Wayans, Jr., Marlon Wayans and Bresha Webb....Levy Tran was upped to series regular on season four of CBS’s MacGyver....Ashley Tisdale (Clipped) joins new CBS comedy Carol’s Second Act as a series regular, in the role played by Bonnie Denison in the pilot.
