FIRST LOOK
http://www.eonline.com/news
ON TELEVISION (THURSDAY 5/28/15)
DESTINATION AMERICA: BBQ Pitmasters All-Stars (Premiere) at 10pm
GREAT AMERICAN COUNTRY: All-American Made (Premiere) at 5pm
LIFETIME: Hoarders: Family Secrets (Premiere) at 9pm
LIFETIME: Smile (Premiere) at 10pm
NBC: Aquarius (Premiere) at 9pm
SHOWTIME: 3AM (Premiere) at 11pm
ABC: 500 Questions (Finale) at 8pm
FX: Louie (Finale) at 10:30pm
Spike TV not only locked in a seventh season of Ink Master, to launch in spring 2016, the net announced a spin-off series, Ink Master: Redemption. New show offers dissatisfied former Ink Master canvases the chance for a new tattoo. Season six of the original bows Tuesday, June 23 at 10p.
(Source: Cynopsis)
ABC Family viewers get a bonus for taking a pledge on Twitter to support the LGBT community: a nine-and-a-half-minute sneak preview of reality show Becoming Us, about a teenage boy dealing with his father’s transition to a woman. The pledge is in partnership with Twitter and advocacy group PFLAG National. Series premieres Monday, June 8.
(Source: Cynopsis)
FX ordered a pilot for animated Cassius & Clay, about bandits in post-apocalyptic America, with a cast including Susan Sarandon and JB Smoove. Project comes from FX Productions and Floyd County Productions.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Arrow Media is going to the dogs. The production company was recommissioned for Dogs: Their Secret Lives, by UK’s Channel 4. New feature “Dog on a Box” will feature clips of canine behavior from the Internet.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Music producer Randy Jackson (American Idol) inked an overall production deal with Endemol Shine North America, to develop scripted, unscripted and digital programming. Idol isn’t Jackson’s only TV success story – he was also behind MTV’s Randy Jackson Presents: America’s Best Dance Crew.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Piers Morgan, Neil Patrick Harris, Michael Buble and Marlon Wayans will guest judge on NBC’s America’s Got Talent for one week each, starting Tuesday, July 14 at 8p, leading to the live performance shows beginning Tuesday, August 11. Should be a piece of cake for Morgan before CNN (RIP Piers Morgan Live) he was an original AGT host, and judged Britain’s Got Talent from 2007-2010.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Esquire has two new original series set for summer. Freshman include doc series The Agent (think Jerry Maguire), launching Tuesday, July 21 at 10p, and cooking competition The Next Great Burger, launching the next day at 10p. Also on deck: live coverage of Pamplona’s Running of the Bulls, presented by “Men in Blazers” Michael Davies and Roger Bennett starting Tuesday, July 7.
(Source: Cynopsis)
TV One’s Unsung returns Wednesday, June 3 at 8p, with a profile of controversial musical genius Ike Turner – and a twist. “We are doing something new this season,” D’Angela Proctor, SVP of original programming and production. “A special ‘Unsung Revisited’ provides updates on past artists featured on the show and how their lives and legacy have changed after Unsung.”
(Source: Cynopsis)
Another TV One series, Verses and Flow, returns for season 5 on Thursday, July 30 at 10p. Performances by renowned recording and spoken word artists were filmed over four nights in LA; celeb guests include Empire’s Taraji P Henson, Glee’s Amber Riley, Power’s Sinqua Walls, and Hollywood Divas’ Elise Neal, among others.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Attention future filmmakers: Turner Classic Movies is launching TCM Movie Camp, a summer-long series for young adults with co-founders of Moonbot Studios William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg offer insight landmark movies. First up: Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Sunday, June 7 at 8p.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Jimmy Smits landed a role in Netflix’s 1970s-set The Get Down, from Baz Luhrmann. The NYPD Blue alum will play a South Bronx political boss.
(Source: Cynopsis)
John Michael Higgins (Pitch Perfect 2) and Paula Marshall (Gary Unmarried) guest star on ABC Family’s Switched at Birth, returning with new eps Monday, August 24 at 8p.
(Source: Cynopsis)
The West Wing alums Richard Schiff and Joanna Gleason landed recurring roles on upcoming season two of Showtime drama The Affair. Schiff will play a high-profile attorney, while Gleason portrays an editor.
(Source: Cynopsis)
William Shatner plays Mark Twain, “in his own inimitable way,” in season 9 of Canada’s Murder Mysteries, reports CBC. Show will film on location for a fall premiere.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Viacom inked a long-term renewal deal with Mediacom Communications that covers 19 basic channels and pay cabler Epix, as well as more VOD titles and TV Everywhere access. “We appreciate Viacom’s willingness to enter into a reasonable agreement that takes into consideration our consumer’s sensitivity to pricing and the alternative ways content is consumed today,” said Rocco Commisso, chairman and CEO of Mediacom. Smaller cable operators, including CableOne and Suddenlink, have ended carriage with Viacom over cost issues.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Tuesday’s premiere of History event series Texas Rising delivered 4.1 million total viewers, the second highest premiere for a new cable launch in 2015 to date, according to Nielsen Fast Cable Ratings, and the best cable miniseries start since History’s The Bible. Part one of the 10-hour series averaged 1.1 million among A25-54.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Everyone’s a winner! ABC World News Tonight won the May sweep among A25-54, with an average 1.82 viewers versus 1.76 million for NBC and 1.47 for CBS. NBC Nightly News was tops in total viewers, with 7.71 million, versus 7.67 for ABC and 6.63 for CBS. And as ABC and NBC jockeyed for first place, CBS Evening News boasts it grew its audience for the fifth consecutive season, a first for any network evening news broadcast since the advent of people meters in 1987. Since Scott Pelley started as anchor of the show in 2011, CBS has added 1.25 million viewers, the largest viewer gain among the nets over four seasons.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Freshman court show Hot Bench hit a ratings high of 2.1HH the week of May 11, up 5 percent from the week prior. Long-time magazine king Entertainment Tonight, steady at 3.1, shared the throne with Inside Edition, up 3 percent to tie.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Steve Wilkos, up 15 percent to 1.5, had the biggest increase among talkers while The Real slipped 9 percent to 1.0, the biggest decrease.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Fox’s Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? returned after four years to a 2.6/9 rating among A18-49 and 10.9 million viewers on Tuesday. NBC’s I Can Do That! launched to 1.8/6 in the demo and 6.5 million viewers.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Adult Swim ranked as basic cable’s number one network in total day delivery of A18-24, 18-34 and 18-49, as well as M18-24 and 18-34 for the second week of May, up 17 percent year-over-year among A18-24.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Keely's Korner 