PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
ABC greenlit Pushover from Kevin (Probably) Saves The World creators Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters and ABC Studios, where the duo’s Fazekas & Butters production company is under an overall deal. The darkly comedic soap centers on a woman who has been nice all her life and decides to become a villain.
Hulu picked up Ask Dr. Ruth, which will be distributed through Magnolia. The streamer will air the documentary about the famed sex therapist and Holocaust survivor next year after the Sundance Film Festival concludes and says that it will release “the widest theatrical release for a Hulu Documentary to date.”
National Geographic commissioned British indie production company Caravan to produce The Bible From Space (wt), a two-part documentary special revealing the truth behind the biggest stories from the Old Testament. Albert Lin (Lost Treasures of the Maya Snake Kings, China’s Megatomb Revealed) is set to host
Adult Swim and Cruncyhroll are producing Blade Runner – Black Lotus with Alcon Television Group. The all-new anime series is inspired by Oscar-winning film Blade Runner 2049 and, although the series plot is being kept under wraps, producers confirmed the story will take place in 2032 and include familiar characters from the Blade Runner universe.
Comedy Central is bringing Rory Scovel into its scripted lineup, ordering eight episodes of Robbie. The half-hour scripted series stars Scovel (I Feel Pretty, Rory Scovel Tries Stand Up For The First Time) as a small-town youth basketball coach living in his father’s shadow until he realizes he has a son of his own who can lead him to greatness.
Production has begun on Mira, Royal Detective, an animated mystery-adventure series for preschoolers slated to debut on Disney Junior channels and programming blocks around the world in 2020. Set in the magical Indian-inspired land of Jalpur, series follows Mira, a commoner appointed to the role of royal detective after solving a mystery that involves saving the kingdom’s young prince.
Taylor Kitsch is set to star in and produce an untitled drug dealer drama in the works at HBO and Entertainment One from writers John Barcheski (Sons of Anarchy) and Robert Munic (Ice). Project follows the story of Chris Klug (Kitsch), a young family-oriented dealer who catches the wrong end of a bad batch of dope that leaves him in a temporary vegetative state only to find out it was not an accident and someone close to him was trying to take him out. Matt Shakman (Game of Thrones) also stars.
According to Deadline, NBC is developing Save the Deli, a series based on David Sax’s book of the same title, from writer Lauren Bachelis (Single By 30), Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us) and Russ Cundiff’s DiVide Pictures and 20th Century Fox TV. Family workplace comedy focuses on a 30-year-old woman who shocks family friends and herself when she becomes the new owner of her Chicago family deli after her grandfather dies.
The Cynopsis Social Good Awards is the industry’s top honor recognizing pro-social initiatives that have inspired others while effecting positive change. The entry deadline is Thursday, December 13, 2018… Review your company’s best initiatives and begin the easy online process and enter today!
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Unusual real-life relationships are explored in WE tv’s Extreme Love, bowing Friday, December 28, at 10p. The docuseries, based on the digital series of the same name, explores weird and wild love stories from polyamorous vampires, adult babies, sex robots and more.
FOX Business Network debuts WSJ at Large with Gerry Baker on Friday, November 30, at 9:30p. Kicking off the weekly primetime series, Baker will sit down with former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers for an in-depth interview to discuss international trade, overseas manufacturing, the state of the U.S. economy and more.
CNBC premieres The Exchange on Monday, January 7, at 1p. Anchored by Kelly Evans, the show, which is in development under the direction of Senior Executive Producer of Program Development Matt Quayle and Executive Producer Sandy Cannold, will focus on in-depth reporting on topics of interest to investors.
Ex-couple Deron Jenkins and Page Turner tackle riskier renovations in the new 12-episode season of Flip or Flop Nashville. Show returns Thursday, January 3, at 9p on HGTV.
Showtime is launching its first weekly late-night show, Desus & Mero, on Thursday, February 21 at 11p. Series features the podcast personalities speaking off the cuff about pop culture, sports, music, politics and more.
COMING UP
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah: Self-Deportation Division airs Monday, December 3, at 11p on Comedy Central. Noah heads home to South Africa for the special presentation to celebrate the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100.
CMA Country Christmas bows Monday, December 10, at 8p on ABC. Reba McEntire returns as host and performer during the music special, which also features Tony Bennett, Dan + Shay, Brett Eldredge, Amy Grant, Diana Krall, Martina McBride, Brad Paisley and more.
TV One original film Merry Wishmas premieres Sunday, December 2, at 7p, centered on a successful businesswoman who heads home for the holidays hoping for a peaceful visit but faces unresolved family issues. The net also introduces Three’s Complicated on Sunday, January 13, at 7p, chronicling the love triangle between a divorcee, a younger man and her daughter.
CASTING
Raoul Bova, Paola Nunez, Antonio Gil, Patricia Reyes Spindola, Mark Tacher, Kika Edgar, Flavio Medina, Eduardo Santamarina and Eric Roberts are joining Kate Del Castillo in the 2019 return of Telemundo’s La Reina Del Sur.
DIGITAL DATA
YouTube is adapting its programming strategy, making its slate of original videos free and ad-supported. Until now, YouTube originals were only available to paid subscribers of YouTube Premium, which removed all advertising from YouTube videos.
Meanwhile, new YouTube series Kikis with Louie, a collaboration between Advocates For Youth and the MAC Aids Fund, aims to normalize stigmatized conversations about HIV, STIs, healthy relationships and more. Hosted by Louis Ortiz-Fonseca, Director of LGBTQ Health and Rights at Advocates for Youth, the first episode features the star of FX’s Pose, MJ Rodriguez, discussing the trans-erasure at the height of the AIDS crisis and need for sex ed to be LGBTQ-inclusive.
Nielsen, through its Nielsen Digital Content Ratings solution, studied the audience of the “connected living room,” examining households with internet-connected devices like Roku, Apple TV or gaming consoles. The findings showed that American households collectively watch more than 8 billion hours of content each month through connected TV devices and that those devices are becoming the preferable way to watch video. Consumers watch an hour daily on those platforms compared to 36 minutes on computers and 24 minutes on mobile devices. Most interesting, at least for marketers, is that connected device users tend to skew young. Nielsen found that 7% of Total Day viewership for five networks was viewed by consumers 25 to 34. By comparison, viewership of the same content through connected TV devices had 19% of the audience in the 25-34 age bracket. A similar boost was prevalent when examining the 18-24 age bracket.
Season 2 of The Oath returns to Sony Crackle on Thursday, February 21, with eight new episodes. Series explores a world of gangs made up of those sworn to protect and defend.
Dataxu announced that is the only company that can natively utilize LiveRamp’s Identity Link, a people-based persistent identifier that allows advertisers to target their CRM data on TV and all other screens. By using IDL directly instead of through a cookie-transition, advertisers reduce the data loss that’s common in programmatic activation.
Hulu released the official Season 2 trailer of Marvel’s Runaways ahead of its December 21 premiere. The clip reveals more magic ahead in the new season, as well as the introduction of newcomer Jan Luis Castellano as Topher, a character that was a vampire in Marvel’s Runaways comics.
GOING GLOBAL
Love Nature 4K greenlit a second season of 4K natural history series Orangutan Jungle School. It will air on Love Nature’s linear and streaming video platforms internationally and Smithsonian Channel in the U.S.
Cinedigm struck a deal with JungoTV to launch digital-first network CONtv on mobile platform OONA Indonesia TV. It brings the company’s fandom-focused network to over 185 million Indonesians.
While Fremantle has begun discussing a reboot of beach drama Baywatch, UK production label Thames is putting a spin on the title for its newest reality dating format. Channel 4’s youth-skewing network E4 commissioned eight-part series Baewatch (wt) from the unscripted production company. It centers on a group of beautiful young contestants testing their relationship in luxury beach setting with their in-laws providing a series of tasks and challenges.
