Keely's Korner

Fox Entertainment is acquiring Bento Box Entertainment, the animation shingle behind hit Fox series Bob’s Burgers. Bento Box will continue to operate as a stand-alone entity; the studio currently produces shows for Netflix, Adult Swim and Nickelodeon, among others. Financial details of the purchase were not released.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Jussie Smollett is speaking out months after Chicago slapped the former Empire star with a lawsuit for the cost of an investigation – which in March was abruptly sealed and dropped – into the disputed hate crime against him. “The City’s Complaint appears to be an unprecedented effort to seek penalties and resources expended in connection with allegedly false statements made to the police where the related criminal case concerning the statements was dismissed …on all counts,” attorneys for Smollett declared in paperwork accompanying his motion to dismiss the suit.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Disney fell notably short of Wall Street projections in its Q3 results, sending company shares tumbling yesterday in after-hours trading. Earnings per share came in at $1.35, below the expected $1.74; revenue was $20.2, below the projected $21.4 billion.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Also yesterday in Disney-land, the company confirmed plans to launch bundle of Disney+, Hulu’s basic on-demand tier and ESPN+ for $12.99 a month. Pricing mimics exactly that of Netflix’s most-subscribed plan. The bundle will offer a $5 discount from the cost of subscribing to the platforms individually, and it adds a live sports element to a bundle package. Disney+ is slated to launch November 12.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Kelsey Grammer will receive the Canopy Award at the North Fork TV Festival, which will take place October 4 at the Greenport Theatre in Greenport, NY.
(Source: Cynopsis)

ABC is developing a Fresh Off the Boat spinoff, with Rachna Fruchbom, writer/producer of the veteran network series, at the helm. In early stages of development at FOTB studio 20th Century Fox TV, new series reportedly would feature a new immigrant family. Fruchbom is under an overall deal at 20th TV, and would write and exec-produce with FOTB exec producers Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Fox is developing Our Kind Of People, a drama inspired by Lawrence Otis Graham’s book Our Kind Of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class, in conjunction with Karin Gist (Mixed-ish) and Lee Daniels Entertainment. 20th Century Fox TV is the studio. Penned by Gist, series follows a single mom who moves her family to Martha’s Vineyard with hopes of taking her hair care line to the next level by infiltrating the African American elite.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Atlanta, Donald Glover’s Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning comedy, got an early fourth season renewal at FX. Production of seasons 3 and 4 is scheduled to begin next spring. Created by and starring Glover, Atlanta is exec-produced by Glover, Paul Simms, Dianne McGunigle, Stephen Glover and Hiro Murai; studio is by FX Productions.
(Source: Cynopsis)

FX also ordered a fourth season of Snowfall, its drama series about the start of the crack cocaine epidemic in LA that was created by the late John Singleton & Eric Amadio and Dave Andron. Season 4 will premiere in 2020.
(Source: Cynopsis)

In more news from the house of Landgraf, FX presidents of original programming Nick Grad and Gina Balian at TCA gave a sneak peak of five new docuseries and one documentary film. Upcoming are Outlaw: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur, from director Allen Hughes (The Defiant Ones); A Wilderness of Error, from producer Marc Smerling (The Jinx) and Blumhouse Television and based on Errol Morris’ like-titled novel about Army surgeon Jeffrey MacDonald, who was sent to prison for killing his family; Pride, from Christine Vachon’s Killer Films and Refinery 29, which details the fight for LGBTQ civil rights in the US; Hip Hop Untold, from exec producer Malcolm Spellman and Lightbox; The Most Dangerous Animal of All, about a man’s search for the father who abandoned him and his discovery that his father may be one of the most infamous serial killers in American history; and feature-length doc Women in Comedy, which examines how women are more daringly using the medium to express their POV.
(Source: Cynopsis)

And… FX purchased several more big-screen hits, including Sony’s Spider-Man: Far from Home and Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, Universal’s Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw and Jordan Peele’s Us, and DreamWorld Animation’s How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
(Source: Cynopsis)

E! trotted out an expanded entertainment news programming slate including additional hours of original weekday content from a celebrity interview series to a weekly review show to culture commentary programs scheduled to debut in 2020. Under the purview of Tammy Filler, who in May joined as EVP/editor-in-chief from Today, E!’s weekday schedule will include eight original entertainment news and commentary series, including new and existing shows. Additionally, current late night news franchise Nightly Pop will expand to four nights per week, while live daytime series Daily Pop will continue to air every weekday. E! News, which currently airs at 7p, will transform into morning show airing at 7a based in NY. The shift to the East Coast means the company will lay off 20-25 LA-based staffers. Among new entertainment news formats on the 2020 docket are: in-home celeb interview series In the Room (working title); Pop of the Morning (working title), a NY complement to LA-based Daily Pop; weekly series BingE! Club (working title), which will review TV, film, music and social sensations; plus two additional celebrity and pop culture commentary shows in development.
(Source: Cynopsis)

What’s big, fat and hairy and headed to Nickelodeon? Viacom scored the rights to classic feline cartoon Garfield via an agreement to acquire the IP from its owner Paws. The company will develop a new Garfield animated series, and will manage global merch rights to the property going forward. Garfield creator Jim Davis will continue to create the syndicated comic strip he launched in newspapers in 1978.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Netflix gave a 10-ep order to drama series Tiny Pretty Things, based on the book by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton, from writer Michael MacLennan (Bomb Girls), Insurrection Media, Mojo Films and Peacock Alley.
(Source: Cynopsis)

All3Media-owned Optomen Productions and conservation group National Wildlife Federation are partnering to develop and create television projects. Optomen, which is behind A&E’s Employables and Food Network’s Worst Cooks in America, will create specials and series based on the federation’s conversation stories and talent, which includes naturalist and TV personality David Mizejewski.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Rough Draft with Reza Aslan will be the first original series to launch at upcoming streaming service Topic. Eight-ep project, an update of the 2016 Ovation series that featured conversations with novelists, screenwriters, journalists and songwriters in front of an audience, will be set in an LA bar. Show begins filming  next month and is set to debut later this fall.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Univision will premiere El Corazon Nunca Se Equivoca (The Heart Is Never Wrong), the first Spanish-language US broadcast series featuring a same-sex couple in lead roles, on Tuesday, August 13, at 9p. Spinoff of Juan Osorio’s telenovela Mi Marido Tiene Mas Familia (My Husband Has More Family) follows the love story of Aristoteles and Cuauhtemoc (Temo), better known as their couple name “Aristemo.”
(Source: Cynopsis)

Amazon Prime Video dropped a trailer for the first season of Carnival Row, which bows on the streamer Friday, August 30. Sneak peak, featuring stars Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne, depicts a Victorian fantasy in which faeries, fauns and other mythical beings populate the streets of London’s Carnival Row after Europe’s magical and mythical populations have been scattered as their homelands were toppled by the encroaching empires of man.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Bravo’s Married to Medicine returns for season 7 Sunday, September 8 at 9p. Returning cast members include Dr. Jacqueline Walters, Dr. Simone Whitmore, Dr. Heavenly Kimes, Toya Bush-Harris, Quad Webb, Dr. Contessa Metcalfe, Mariah Huq and new friend Buffie Purselle.
(Source: Cynopsis)

On Saturday, August 10 at 7p, UPtv will debut the film Art of Falling in Love. Movie follows a spirited artist with a mysterious bucket list who finds herself falling for an architect after she gets a commission to paint a mural on a new hospital wing in a charming community.
(Source: Cynopsis)

New bluegrass doc Big Family: The Story of Bluegrass Music will bow on PBS stations nationwide Friday, August 30 at 9p. Narrated by Ed Helms(The Hangover), Big Family explores the origins of the musical genre, the pioneers who influenced its sound, and the music’s growing worldwide appeal and pop culture impact.
(Source: Cynopsis)