PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Mr InBetween, the Australian drama series created by and starring Scott Ryan, was renewed by FX Networks and FOXTEL. The show’s second season is slated to bow in 2019, broadcasting day and date on FX in the U.S. and FOXTEL in Australia.
Turner ordered 10 episodes of M.D. Live (wt) from Lionsgate Television, the first live, non-fiction series that taps into the worldwide phenomenon of medical crowdsourcing. The two-hour weekly event, set to premiere in 2019, will feature patients battling various ailments that are undiagnosed, misdiagnosed or uncured. A recurring panel of doctors will discuss potential diagnoses before throwing live to the crowd for additional feedback, solutions and support.
Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories secured the rights to Signe Pike’s The Lost Queen and will develop it into a series through its partnership with Endeavor Content. Based in medieval Scotland, show follows the plight of Languoreth, a woman born between the ways of the old ancestors and the burgeoning forces of Christianity and the Anglo-Saxons, who is catapulted into a world of violence and political intrigue.
History expanded its nonfiction programming slate, renewing six series and moving forward with five new originals. The network committed to new seasons of The Curse of Oak Island, The Curse of Civil War Gold, Alone, Swamp People, Mountain Men and Truck Night in America. In addition, History is developing Yamashita’s Gold, Ax Men Reborn, Knight Fights, Brothers in Arms and competition series American Butcher (wt).
NBC greenlit comedy Woman Scouts from former Late Night With Seth Meyers writer Allison Hord, Champions co-creator Charlie Grandy, Seth Meyers and Sethmaker Shoemayers Productions and UniversalTV. Project is written and co-executive produced by Hord and centers on a feminist who, after dropping out of grad school, pledges to kickstart the lives of a group of women by forming an adult Girl Scout troop.
YouTube ordered a new series from Vox Entertainment, the studio division of VoxMedia, that will offer answers to big questions in the news today. The format has a team of correspondents asking Vox’s YouTube audience what makes them curious or confused, and find the answers and debunk misconceptions. To premiere on Vox’s YouTube channel in 2019.
Shout! Studios acquired North American rights to Then Came You, also known as Departures. The coming-of-age story celebrating the love of friendship, romance and life hails from BCDF Pictures and Voltage Pictures.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
A&E Network’s The Devil Next Door provides a voice to ex-members of the North Carolina-based Word of Faith Fellowship Church, as they open up about their alleged shocking abuse at the hands of the church. Premieres Tuesday, November 27 at 10p.
MTV debuts Too Stupid To Die on Friday, November 2 at 9:30p. Developed by Zach Holmes, the online daredevil who was banned by YouTube, the series features bizarre pranks antics and stunts.
Axios, a four-part limited documentary of news-oriented specials from HBO Documentary Films and the new media company of the same name, debuts on Sunday, November 4 at 6:30p, available on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and partners’ streaming platforms.
Native America premieres Tuesday, October 23 at 9p on PBS. Four-part series combines modern science and scholarship with traditions and oral history to bring to life the world created by America’s First People.
Brenda Nibley and Alisha Nuttall transform clients’ wildest requests into edible masterpieces in Holiday Cookie Builds, starting Friday, November 9 at 10p on Cooking Channel.
TLC’s Mama Medium debuts Monday, November 5 at 9p, featuring Jennie Marie, a doting wife and mom with a larger-than-life personality who is gifted with the extraordinary ability to talk to the dead.
COMING UP
The Panama Papers premieres on Epix on Monday, November 26 at 9p. Original doc details the unprecedented coordination of journalists around the world working in secret to expose the largest data leak in history.
Manipulation leads to murder in documentary Gypsy’s Revenge, airing Tuesday, November 6 at 9p on Investigation Discovery.
Oxygen Media searches for answers in two-night special The Disappearance of Phoenix Coldon, on Saturday, November 3 and Sunday, November 4 at 7p.
CASTING
Boris Kodjoe was upped to series regular on ABC drama Station 19…David Fumero (Power) and Jordan Rodrigues (Lady Bird) will recur in Spectrum series L.A.’s Finest… Tiffany Dupont (Brian Banks) and Catherine Lidstone (Weeds) landed recurring roles on new FOX legal drama Proven Innocent… Danielle Panabaker (The Flash) and Matt Long (Timeless) are set to star in Hallmark Channel Original World Movie Premiere, Christmas Joy, bowing Saturday, November 3 at 8p.
KID STUFF
Guru Studio signed Ferly to represent publishing rights in all markets, excluding Italy and Iberia, and appointed Atlantyca Entertainment to be the exclusive licensing agent in Italy for Justin Time. While Ferly will look to secure publishing partners around the world for the hit animated series, Atlantyca will pursue consumer product categories for the brand in Italy as well as expand into publishing, interactive and special live stage events.
DIGITAL DATA
Discovery Inc. formed Digital Studios Group a newly expanded hub for digital and social video content creation to support the company’s global websites, social, TVE and direct-to-consumer business and brands. Vikki Neil has been upped to Executive Vice President and General Manager to lead the group.
Instagram is combatting bullying with new machine learning technology that proactively detects bullying in photos and captions. "Online bullying is complex, and we know we have more work to do to further limit bullying and spread kindness on Instagram," said Adam Mosseri, the new head of Instagram, in a blog post. Instagram is also launching a "Kindness Camera Effect" in partnership with dancer Maddie Ziegler; in selfie mode, hearts will appear on the screen and in rear mode, kind comments in different languages appear.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau released the “Ad Receptivity and the Ad-Supported OTT Video Viewer” study, which showed that the largest audience segment of ASV OTT viewers is 18-34-year-old adults, and they are likely to be higher income ($75+K). Nearly three-quarters (73%) of those that regularly stream video say that they have watched ad-supported OTT and 45 percent of streamers report that they watch ad-supported OTT the most. A higher percentage of the ASV OTT segment also enjoy interacting with ads in comparison to SVOD viewers. "Advertisers have a real opportunity to make connections with younger consumers, who are likely to have higher-income, through ad-supported video delivered over-the-top," said Anna Bager, Executive Vice President, Industry Initiatives, IAB.
Amazon has some competition. Vudu, the streaming video service owned by Walmart, inked a deal with MGM to develop TV series based on the independent studio’s film and TV backlog catalog. The first slate of MGM programming is set to arrive at Vudu in 2019. Shows picked up by Vudu will be available exclusively in the company’s free, ad-supported “Movies On Us” service in North America. Vudu execs told Variety that the content would be family friendly and ad friendly.
Roku announced a measurement effort around 11 companies partnering with the service that would bolster its open ad platform. Partners include Acxiom, comScore, Experian, Factual, IHG Markit, Kantar, Nielsen, Nielsen Catalina Solutions, Oracle Data Cloud, Placed and ResearchNow SSI. The companies will measure audience, demographics, brand awareness, store visits, website visits and sales increases.
On the heels of the launch of free trivia game Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?, Sony Pictures Television announced that the app for the Android and iOS devices garnered one million downloads in its first week and ranked as the number one trivia game in both the iOS App Store and Google Play. Marking the 20th anniversary of the hit show, the mobile game was developed in partnership with Uken Games.
Carpool Karaoke is returning for another season of singalongs and will be available for free on the Apple TV app starting Friday, October 12 at 1p. Fans can watch a new episode every Friday on the app on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV at apple.co/Carpool-Karaoke. No subscription is required.
Cinedigm launched digital-first networks CONtv, Dove Channel and Docurama on the free XUMO streaming service. The agreement expands the company’s footprint to XUMO’s base of 30mm-plus households via its extensive multiscreen OTT distribution network.
Acorn TV continues exclusive premieres of international dramas in November. Its first commissioned series with Ashley Jensen’s return in Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham bows on Monday, November 19. The third season of Aussie hit dramedy The Heart Guy is back on Monday, November 12, while new Swedish crime drama The Simple Heist debuts on Monday, November 5.
GOING GLOBAL
Entertainment One presold The Rookie to over 160 territories worldwide ahead of MIPCOM. Included in the deal are M6 in France, Sky (UK), NBCUniversal International Networks (Latin America), RAI (Italy), TNT (Spain), Sony Pictures Television’s networks (Portugal, CE, Russia), M-Net (Africa), Three (New Zealand), COSMOTE TV (Greece) and more.
Bomanbridge Media sold LEVEL-5abby’s original productions across Sony’s Animax Asia, which acquired Yokai-Watch; Cartoon Network Asia, which secured Shadow Side; and TVB Jade Hong Kong, which nabbed Inazuma Eleven Acres.
ZooMoo and MNC Indonesia collaborated to take animated series Kiko global. The partnership will see ZooMoo expand its animation offer across its network EMEA, Australia, U.S. Hispanic and Latam/Brazil.
Endemol Shine Group partnered with China’s CCTC to globally distribute The Nation’s Greatest Treasures. The cultural studio show combines documentary and entertainment to tell stories about museum artifacts.
DHX Media and Dentsu Entertainment U.S.A. announced that the first season of animated series Mega Man: Fully Charged was picked up for linear broadcast and video-on-demand streaming by POP on their channels and services in the U.K., Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man, Malta and Iceland.
Fremantle entered a distribution deal with FOX Italia for drama series Butterfly and Beck is Back.
Fox Network Groups Content Distribution is launching more than 953 hours of new programming. Their slate includes National Geographic’s Valley of the Boom, feature docs Free Solo and Science Fair, and entertainment show Talento Fox.
Drive secured sales to broadcast partners for a range of factual content. TVE in Spain, NRK in Norway, SVT in Sweden and TVB in Hong Kong all acquired Eight Days that Made Rome. RTI Mediaset Group in Italy also landed the series, while Sky Italia licensed a package of ARTE programs including Marilyn: The Auction of a Lifetime.
Globo’s original series Iron Island arrived at MIPCOM with its second season already confirmed. Explores the story of an oil worker torn between the dilemmas of family life on the mainland and the constant rush at sea.
