FIRST LOOK/ ON TV

FIRST LOOK
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ON TELEVISION (THURSDAY 7/18/19)
GAC: My Lottery Dream Home (Premiere) at 9pm
HGTV: Christina On The Coast (Finale) at 9pm
HGTV: Unspouse My House (Finale) at 9:30pm
LIFETIME: Little Women: Atlanta (Finale) at 9pm

It’s all Access for Mario Lopez, who beginning September 9 will join Kit Hoover and Scott Evans as host of both Access Hollywood and its daytime counterpart, Access Daily, formerly Access Live. Lopez also signed an overall development and producing deal for both scripted and alternative programming with Universal Television and Universal Television Alternative Studio. “I have long admired the team at NBCUniversal and all the shows being produced,” Lopez said. “I’m thrilled to have an opportunity to join in that success and develop scripted and alternative projects on their many creative platforms.”
(Source: Cynopsis)

Prosecutors yesterday dropped the case accusing Kevin Spacey of groping a young man at a Massachusetts resort in 2016. The Cape and Islands district attorney said the indecent assault and battery case brought against the actor last year has been dropped. Spacey was accused of getting an 18-year-old man drunk and then groping him at the Nantucket restaurant where the teen worked. Spacey had denied the allegations and his accuser invoked his Fifth Amendment right and did not testify about text messages the defense claims were deleted.
(Source: Cynopsis)

A.P. Bio, the canceled NBC comedy starring Glenn Howerton and Patton Oswalt, will get third season after all on NBCUniversal’s upcoming streaming service. Show follows a disgraced Harvard philosophy scholar who returns to teach in his hometown, Toledo, Ohio. NBCU’s ad-supported streaming service is set to launch in 2020.
(Source: Cynopsis)

In his swan song producing the Grammys, Ken Ehrlich will exec-produce his milestone 40th incarnation of the awards show, slated to air live Sunday, January 26, 2020, on CBS. The 62nd annual Grammys will be Ehrlich’s finale with the show, as Ben Winston will become the show’s sole exec producer in 2021.
(Source: Cynopsis)

The Paley Center for Media will celebrate the final season of USA series Suits with Suits: A Farewell Celebration Exhibit, which will run at the Paley Center’s Beverly Hills location July 17 to September 15.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Actress and union activist Jodi Long is in the running for the office SAG-AFTRAnational secretary/treasurer on the Membership First slate headed by presidential candidate Matthew Modine.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Showtime gave a series commitment to an untitled musical drama series exec-produced by Alicia Keys and the team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land, Dear Evan Hansen). Pasek and Paul will contribute music to the series. Kyle Jarrow (The SpongeBob Musical) will write and exec-produce. Marc Platt (Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, La La Land), R. J. Cutler (Nashville, American High), and Adam Siegel (Grease: Live!) will exec-produce. Produced by Fox 21 Television Studios, series traverses generations to tell a complex family story that interweaves modern-day and 1959 Detroit while centering on a mystery uncovered by a young musician who moves back to her childhood home.
(Source: Cynopsis)

No rumor here, a Gossip Girl spinoff is officially in the works at WarnerMedia, which gave a 10-ep straight-to-series order for the new show, which will run on its forthcoming streaming service HBO Max. New series  won’t focus on Upper East Siders Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf, the central figures of the CW original, but rather is set eight years after the original show’s finale and will follow a new posse of elite NY teens who are indoctrinated into the social surveillance of the Gossip Girl site. No word yet on which, if any, original cast members will be returning but it does reunite several exec producers from the original series: Joshua Safran, Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage, Leslie Morgenstein. Gina Girolamo will exec-produce for Alloy; Lis Rowinski will co-exec-produce for Fake Empire. XOXO.
(Source: Cynopsis)

USA Network gave the green light for 10 episodes of competition reality series Cannonball, which hails from ITV Entertainment. Show features 16 contestants who compete in physical challenges, with one contender eliminated in each episode. Series, from Talpa Media USA and ITV Entertainment, is slated to premiere next year. It was created by John de Mol, who serves as exec producer with Shye Sutherland, Keith Geller, Bernie Schaeffer and Stijn Bakkers.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Apple is revving up a third season of James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke. The CBS Television Studios-produced series is already under way on production for season 3, which will feature an ep with the cast of Stranger Things. Based on a popular segment from Corden’s CBS talker The Late Late Show, Carpool Karaoke: The Series received a 2018 Emmy for outstanding short-form variety series, for which is snagged another nom this week.
(Source: Cynopsis)

CBS acquired an ownership stake in Patma Productions, the indie production studio helmed by its former entertainment chief Nina Tassler and producer Denise Di Novi. CBS outlets will get first looks at Patma programming in development for broadcast and premium markets will go to CBS outlets while CBS Studios will co-finance and co-produce projects set up at the CBS broadcast network, Showtime or CBS All Access, and serve as their worldwide distributor. Tassler joined CBS in 1997 and exited the company as its chairman of entertainment in 2015.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Prentice Penny, showrunner of HBO’s Insecure, is onboard to exec-produce and develop the network’s The Untamed, a fantasy series based on the Asunda comic book line penned by Sebastian A. Jones and published by Stranger Comics. Penny and Jones will co-write the pilot.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Nonscripted Biggest Little Cook-Off is the latest series announcement from short-form platform Quibi. The comedic miniature food competition will pit two top chefs battling to create the most delicious single bite of food. Series is produced by Levity Productions; Judi Marmel, Johnny Milord and Aron Korney are exec producers. (Source: Cynopsis)

Worldwide rights to the film Selah and the Spades, which centers on a prep school drug dealer, landed at Amazon Studios. The feature debut of writer/director Tayarisha Poe premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Amazon plans to develop an original series based on the teen drama written, directed and produced by Poe and Lauren McBride, who also produced the film.
(Source: Cynopsis)

The Last Cowboy, an unscripted series spotlighting the highly skilled horsemen and trainers that compete in the world of professional reining, premieres on Paramount NetworkWednesday, July 24, at 11p. From Taylor Sheridan, co-creator of the Paramount Net’s hit Yellowstone, new series puts center stage the men and women who compete in the Western-based event, where riders guide horses through a precise pattern of circles, spins and stops.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Viceland is staging a four-day event around the season 2 return of Traveling the Stars: Action Bronson & Friends Watch Ancient Aliens. Beginning Monday, August 5, at 9p, the rapper, chef and superfan of History’s Ancient Aliens will be back with more meta-moments … Also at Viceland, the network set August 14 as the new premiere date for Danny Brown-starring Danny’s House, which lands with two eps beginning at 10p.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Season 4 of Universo reality series The Riveras is set to premiere Sunday, August 11, at 10p. The first English-language reality show about a Latino family in the U.S., The Riveras follows the children of late regional Mexican music artist Jenni Rivera.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Amazon landed four-part German docu series Inside Borussia Dortmund, which is from producer/director Aljoscha Pause and explores the soccer club’s 2018-19 season. Series will launch globally August 16.
(Source: Cynopsis)
“Ghost Brothers” Dalen Spratt, Juwan Mass and Marcus Harvey bunk up with some haunted houseguests in new Travel Channel series Ghost Brothers: Haunted Houseguests. Premiering Friday, August 16, at 9p, series features the trio of intrepid sleuths responding to pleas from families experiencing paranormal activity in their homes by embedding themselves with eight different families for weekend slumber parties.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Dallas returns for a fourth season on Wednesday, September 4, at 9p. Brandi Redmond, D’Andra Simmons, Kameron Westcott, LeeAnne Locken and Stephanie Hollman are back for the new season, joined by new housewife Kary Brittingham.
(Source: Cynopsis)

WEtv documentary Power, Influence & Hip Hop: The Remarkable Rise of So So Def debuts tonight (July 18). Doc centers on producer and songwriter Jermaine Dupri as he chronicles the early days of So So Def and how the collective came to shape Atlanta’s music scene and influence hip hop culture.
(Source: Cynopsis)
TV One’s monthlong Love, Lies & Murder promo continues with the premiere of flick Loved to Death on Sunday, July 21, at 8p. Inspired by real events, film stars Malinda Williams (Girlfriends’ Getaway), MC Lyte (Girls Trip) and McKinley Freeman (Hit the Floor) in the story of a couple whose relationship takes a deadly turn.
(Source: Cynopsis)
HDNet Movies will air a marathon of Burt Reynolds movies August 3, followed by a block of Wes Studi cowboy classics on August 4 and August 11.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Hulu set Monday, September 2, as the premiere date for Untouchable, the documentary that follows the meteoric rise and fall of Harvey Weinstein. Rosanna Arquette, Hope D’Amore, Paz de la Huerta and Erika Rosenbaum are among those interviewed on camera.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Rubik’s Cage is the latest twist on Rubik’s Brand’s line of interactive games. Multiplayer strategy game comes just in time for the 40th anniversary of the Rubik Cube.
(Source: Cynopsis)
SpongeBob SquarePants fans, Nickelodeon is headed back to Bikini Bottom for a 13th season of SpongeBob SquarePants. The net picked up an additional season of the iconic show as the network heads to Comic-Con. New season will reunite original voice cast members and current showrunners Vince Waller and Marc Ceccarelli.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Apple dropped a trailer for upcoming series Snoopy in Space timed to coincide with festivities around the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. Teaser depicts Snoopy gleefully floating through space before plummeting to earth and landing atop Woodstock. Series, produced by DHX Media, will debut this fall on upcoming SVOD Apple TV+. Peanuts Worldwide last year partnered with NASA on a Space Act Agreement aimed at inspiring a passion for space exploration and STEM.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Josh Charles (The Good Wife) is in as the male lead opposite Hilary Swank in Netflix’s drama series Away … Model Twiggy and pop singer Cheryl joined the cast of the BBC’s upcoming remake of RuPaul’s Drag Race … Fashion designer Chiara Ferragni joined Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn’s upcoming Amazon series Making The Cut Ben Lewis, who portrays William Clayton on CW’s Arrow, has been upped to a series regular for the series’ eighth and final season.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Nickelodeon’s original special SpongeBob’s Big Birthday Blowout, which aired Friday, July 12, at 7p, drew 2.2 million Total Viewers in its simulcast across Nickelodeon, TeenNick and Nicktoons. The special is the net’s highest-rated premiere with K6-11 since October 2017 (SpongeBob SquarePants The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom) and the highest-rated premiere with K2-11 since February 2018.
(Source: Cynopsis)
The Fourth of July holiday week, the session ending July 7, was no laughing matter for the top sitcoms. Category leader Big Bang Theory and Modern Family both fell to their lowest weekly ratings ever in syndication. Other major laffers losing altitude included Last Man Standing(2.1, down 5%) and Two and a Half Men (1.2, down 14%), which matched its series low. One of the very few strips to show strength breaking into positive territory was true crime kingpin Dateline.
(Source: Cynopsis)
All the big quiz and giveaway shows also declined. Family Feud (5.7, down 7%) led the genre for a fourth straight week followed by Jeopardy! (new season low 5.1, down 9%), Wheel of Fortune (new season low 4.7, down 10%) and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (new season low 1.4, down 7%). Court shows actually held up well in daytime even though the daypart was hit hardest by the World Cup. The season’s No. 1 show, Judge Judy (5.6, down 5%), had only a minor dip despite being in reruns for part of the session. Meanwhile a six-week try-out for comedic game show Punchline (0.4/1 weighted metered market average, down 33% from its lead-ins and unchanged from its June 2018 time periods) debuted July 15.
(Source: Cynopsis)