Keely's Korner

CNN and the New York Times will co-host the next Democratic presidential debate, slated for mid-October. CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett, and the Times’ national editor Marc Lacey will moderate the event, held at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. Eleven candidates have already met the criteria needed to make the cut; if more qualify by October 2, a second debate night will be scheduled.
(Source: Cynopsis)

“We will not be doing a reunion show, we will not be doing a reboot,” said Friends co-creator and executive producer Marta Kauffman during the show’s 25th anniversary panel at the Tribeca TV festival on Friday. Kauffman offered two reasons to keep that door closed, in an era where other classic comedies are finding new life. “One of the reasons we won’t do a reunion is because this is a show about a time in your life when your friends are your family. And when you have a family, that changes,” she said. “The other reason is it’s not going to beat what we did.” Added co-creator David Crane, “We did the show we wanted to do. We got it right, and we put a bow on it. If you visited those characters now, it just would not be the same DNA and chances are, it wouldn’t be as good.”
(Source: Cynopsis)

Among the highlights at the weekend’s 71^st Creative Arts Emmys: ABC’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s All In the Family and The Jeffersons picked up the trophy for Outstanding Variety Special (Live), making 97-year-old Lear the oldest winner ever in the category… RuPaul landed his fourth consecutive Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program win, for RuPaul’s Drag Race…Carpool Karaoke: When Corden Met McCartney took home pre-recorded variety special honors, while Carpool Karaoke won for short-form variety series…Seth MacFarlane tied the record for most Outstanding Voice-Over wins, with his fourth for Family Guy… Rachel Bloom – winner of an Emmy for music and lyrics for CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – revealed she’s three months pregnant, “so that’s what’s next for me.”
(Source: Cynopsis)

CBS News upped Jim Axelrod from Senior National Correspondent to Chief Investigative and Senior National Correspondent. Axelrod joined CBS News in 1996.
(Source: Cynopsis)

New SNL hire Shane Gillis apologized for a racial slur against Chinese people that surfaced in a YouTube video uploaded last year. “I’m a comedian who pushes boundaries,” tweeted Gillis. I sometimes miss….I’m happy to apologize to anyone who’s actually offended by anything I’ve said.” And he did call comedian Chris Gethard to apologize for a homophobic comment made during a podcast, Gethard told the NYTimes, adding, “the fact that he took some time to do that today, I give him credit.” Presidential candidate Andrew Yang, target of one of Gillis’ anti-Asian jabs, said he prefers “comedy that makes people think and doesn’t take cheap shots,” but added, “for the record, I do not think he should lose his job. We would all benefit from being more forgiving rather than punitive.” The announcement that Gillis was joining the NBC sketch show as a featured player was made last week.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Ugly Betty’s Michael Urie and Becki Newton reteam to star as brother and sister in Fun, which landed a pilot production commitment from CBS. Funeral home comedy comes fromMichael Patrick King (2 Broke Girls), former Ugly Betty EPs Tracy Poust and Jon Kinnally and Warner Bros. TV.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Actor John Lithgow and director Jon Watts (Spider Man: Homecoming)have boarded the pilot of FX drama series The Old Man. Lithgow will star alongside Jeff Bridgesin the project, which begins production this fall under the direction of Watts, who will also serve as an executive producer.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Freeform’s Party of Five reboot, following five children whose parents are suddenly deported to Mexico, is set for a Wednesday, January 8 debut. The new iteration comes from original series creators Amy Lippman and Christopher Keyser.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark? premieres Friday, October 11 at 7p. Three-parter based on the ‘90s kids cult classic has been reimagined for a new generation.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Season two of ID’s Someone You Thought You Knew debuts Monday, September 23 at 9p. True crime series focuses on murders that aren’t as random as they might appear to be.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Home improvement series George to the Rescue returns to NBC stations for season ten on Saturday, September 21 (check local listings). Series features George Oliphant and his team of contractors and designers taking on perplexing home improvement projects for families facing personal challenges.
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Kids series Super Dinosaur, based on the Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard comic book series, premieres launches on Amazon Prime Video on October 6.
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Docu-series Chasing the Sun, following the travels of filmmaker Stephen Friedman (The Blueprints), has two back-to-back premiere dates next month. Season two premieres on travel-focused AVOD channel JOURNY on Wednesday, October 2, while season one, which already aired on JOURNY, makes its debut on Ovation on Thursday, October 3.
(Source: Cynopsis)

A&E’s Live PD is back for season four on Friday and Saturday, September 20 and 21, at 9p. The net’s Live Rescue returns with a new host, Matt Iseman, and new episodes on Monday, September 23 at 9p.
(Source: Cynopsis)

A six-episode digital series, The Selection, offers viewers a storytelling link to the fourth and final season of NBC’s The Good Place. Written by the comedy’s staff, series focused on Shawn (Marc Evan-Jackson) and his demon team is available on the NBC App. The Good Place returns for its last hurrah on Thursday, September 26 at 9p.
(Source: Cynopsis)

After nine seasons, Discovery Family Channel will celebrate the series finale of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic with a 90-minute special on Saturday, October 12 at 8p. The day before, the net is offering making-of retrospective My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic – A Decade of Pony at 5p.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Alexander Skarsgard (Big Little Lies) will star in CBS All Access’ The Stand, based on the Stephen King novel. Skarsgard will play the sinister Randall Flagg.
(Source: Cynopsis)

The newly re-coupled ViacomCBS wants to create a “virtuous eco-system” for content to thrive across its myriad platforms, David Nevins, chief creative officer of CBS and chairman-CEO of Showtime Networks, said yesterday at Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Media, Communications and Entertainment conference. At the same time, the company will remain active suppliers of content to outside buyers. “We really believe in serving not only our own eco-system but serving people on the outside. There’s a lot of demand and a lot of suppliers pulling back,” he said, adding, “We tend to make money for our partners.”
(Source: Cynopsis)

Hitting it out of the park: South Park got a three-season renewal at Comedy Central, bringing Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s snarky hit through an unprecedented season 26. The Emmy- and Peabody-winning series is the longest-running primetime scripted series in cable. Season 23, during which the series will surpass its milestone 300th episode, will premiere September 25.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Saturday Night Live intro’d new cast additions for its upcoming 45th season, with Chloe Fineman, Shane Gillis and Bowen Yang on board as new featured players. Yang, co-host of the podcast Las Culturistas, joined SNL as a staff writer last season and becomes the show’s first full-time Asian cast member.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Virginia Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax filed a $400 million defamation lawsuit against CBS after the network aired interviews with two women who accused him of sexual assault. Fairfax claims CBS had information that “both allegations had not been corroborated by any independent investigation” and the network “recklessly disregarded” whether what interviewees Vanessa Tyson and Meredith Watson said was true. In response to the suit, CBS News issued the following statement: “We stand by our reporting and we will vigorously defend this lawsuit.”
(Source: Cynopsis)

Naturally, Danny Seo, which for three seasons has run as part of on NBC’s The More You Know block of Saturday morning programming for the past three seasons, has ended its run. The show will go on a hiatus as it gets reformatted for a new home in 2020.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Cake Boss Buddy Valastro yesterday beat the Guinness World Record title for “most cupcakes iced/frosted in one minute” on Live With Kelly and Ryan. The Boss crushed the standing record of 20, icing 36 little cakes in 60 seconds.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Another Friends 25th anniversary celebration is in the works. On October 18–19, Warner Bros. Television Group, AT&T and MGM Resorts International are staging a takeover at MGM including fan experiences powered by AT&T 5G.
(Source: Cynopsis)

JJ Abrams and his Bad Robot studio closed a five-year deal with WarnerMedia that sees Abrams keeping his TV business and moving his film business under the WM umbrella. The estimated $500 million pact, which came after many other companies attempted to woo Abrams, also includes games and digital content. Bad Robot had been based at Warner Bros. Television since 2006, and three of the company’s current shows are at HBO –Westworld, Lovecraft and Demimonde.
(Source: Cynopsis)

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network renewed for a fifth season Ava DuVernay’s Queen Sugar. Latest installment of the drama series is slated to air in 2020.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Syndicated series Today’s Homeowner with Danny Lipford launches its 22nd season this weekend. Home improvement series, which follows father-daughter host team Danny Lipford and Chelsea Lipford Wolf, achieved a 100 percent renewal rate for 2019-20, and will continue to air in 207 of the 210 Nielsen markets.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Season 9 of Doc Martin kicks off on Acorn TV on Thursday, September 26. Since its premiere on UK’s ITV in 2004, series has become one of the most successful British series worldwide, especially in the US.
(Source: Cynopsis)

BBC America’s BAFTA-winning The Graham Norton Show returns for a new season Friday, October 4 at 11p. Opening night guests include Helen Mirren and Jack Whitehall.
(Source: Cynopsis)

HBO and the BBC set premiere dates for their adaptation of His Dark Materials. The series will first bow on the BBC on Sunday, November 3, with HBO launching the series Monday, November 4 in the US and internationally where it has networks and streaming services.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Nationally syndicated talk show Maury will begin its 22nd season with NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution on Monday, September 16.  The show, hosted by Maury Povich, will now be accessible anytime through Amazon Alexa.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Discovery en Espanol will debut Caravanas, an hourlong special following the journey of thousands of Latin American migrants in search of a better life, on Sunday, September 22 at 9p. Production follows the actual walk of migrant masses, providing insight into the roots of the mass social movement.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Nine-time Grammy winner Sheryl Crow brings her final album Threads to life in star-studded special CMT Crossroads: Sheryl Crow & Friends. Event premieres Friday, September 27 at 10p on CMT.
(Source: Cynopsis)

TLC is bringing “iconic” bridal fashion event The Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Challenge to TV. On September 30 at 10p, the network will air a special hosted by Paige Davis with celebrity judges Jeremiah Brent, Monte Durham and Zanna Roberts Rassi to crown a winner.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Fuse is celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month with programming focused on rising Latinx leaders. September 15-October 15, the net will explore emerging Latinx leaders in music, film, literature and politics through programming and editorial coverage across linear and digital platforms, including the TV premiere of indie film Collisions on Saturday, October 5 at 9p and debut of original series Made From Scratch.
(Source: Cynopsis)

After nine years and 221 episodes, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic will have its series finale on Discovery Family Channel with a primetime 90-minute event Saturday, October 12 at 8p. Leading up to the night, the network will air behind the scenes look My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic – A Decade of Pony on Friday, October 11 at 5p.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Pop star Ally Brooke will sing the theme song to new Nickelodeon series The Casagrandes. The tune has elements of urban and pop music and authentic, fast and upbeat Latin music rhythms, giving it a catchy vibe and expressing the theme, “we’re all familia!”
(Source: Cynopsis)

Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) is onboard to star opposite Olivia Holt in Freeform’s Turkey Drop, slated to premiere Saturday, November 23 at 9p during Freeform’s Kickoff to Christmas programming block. Story follows a small-town girl who returns home for Thanksgiving freshman year of college and takes new charge of her life to brace herself for getting dumped by her high school sweetheart.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Newcomers Quincy Isaiah and Solomon Hughes have been cast as NBA legends Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, respectively, for HBO’s untitled ‘80s Lakers Project… Michael McKean landed a role in the upcoming HBO Max pilot Delilah…Ali Skovbye (Breakthrough) and Roan Curtis (The Magicians) are set as series regulars in upcoming Netflixdrama series Firefly Lane… Georgie Flores (Famous in Love), Adelaide Kane (The Purge),Paige McGhee (Meg’s First Dance), Jacques Colimon (The Society), Dylan Arnold (Halloween) and Evan Bittencourt (Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists) joined the cast of the Uncanny Annie installment of Hulu’s monthly horror event series Into The Dark.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Last week’s Below Deck Mediterranean was the second highest-rated episode of the series-to-date among P25-54 and total viewers, delivering 1.6 million P25-54 (up +3%), and 2.7 million total viewers (up +2%).
(Source: Cynopsis)