FIRST LOOK
http://www.eonline.com/news
ON TELEVISION (THURSDAY 5/7/20)
BET+: Tyler Perry’s Bruh (Premiere)
FOX: Celebrity Watch Party (Premiere) at 8pm
COMEDY CENTRAL: Robbie (Premiere) at 11:45pm
NBC: Blindspot (Premiere) at 9pm
SUNDANCE NOW: Bad Mothers (Premiere)
VICE TV: No Mercy, No Malice with Professor Scott Galloway (Premiere) at 10pm
ID: If I Should Die (Finale) at 9pm
SCIENCE CHANNEL: Black Files Declassified (Finale) at 10pm
TNT: Shaq Life (Finale) at 9pm
Disney Advertising Sales is presenting a Virtual Roadshow in place of an upfront event. A 30-minute video, including Disney talent, execs and video compilations, will be customized for each agency and their holding company in presentations running May 26-June 1. “In addition to showcasing our brands, our reach and our premium capabilities, we also plan to bring back some Disney traditions the market has come to look forward to from our event,” teased the company.
(Source: Cynopsis)
ViacomCBS’ virtual upfront will take place May 18-19, as a series of short visual presentations. Monday, May 18 will cover cable networks, Pluto TV, ad solutions and digital platforms. The next day will showcase CBS’s fall lineup, and programming on CBS All Access, CBS Sports and CBS News. “Our newly integrated team across ViacomCBS has come together even more quickly than I could have expected despite the pressure of extenuating circumstances,” wrote Jo Ann Ross, President and Chief Advertising Revenue Officer of Domestic Ad Sales, in a letter to clients and agencies. “This incredible progress gives me optimism for the days ahead.”
(Source: Cynopsis)
Ahead of its upfront showcase, CBS announced it is bringing back 23 series – or 80% of its lineup – for the 2020-21 season, including freshmen All Rise, Bob Hearts Abishola, Evil, FBI: Most Wanted and The Unicorn. “Thanks to these exceptional shows, we’re going to win the current season by 1 million viewers,” said Kelly Kahl, President, CBS Entertainment. “Next year, we’ll have these strong returning series as our foundation…and Super Bowl LV too. It’s a well-balanced lineup across Entertainment, News and Sports that will put us in an incredibly stable position for 2020-2021.”
(Source: Cynopsis)
Comcast took a look at how the coronavirus lockdown is impacting TV habits and found it is blurring weekday and weekend viewing habits. While typically, customers watch far more programming on the weekends, Monday has become a more popular viewing day than Saturday. There’s also an upswing of 40% in viewing during late night hours, and a 6% decrease between 6-8a. And Comcast found a big uptick in VOD usage (50%), and double-digit growth for discovery-related commands like “what to watch” and “surprise me,” suggesting viewers are seeking new shows.
(Source: Cynopsis)
NBC Sports will televise lacrosse tournament PLL Championship Series Powered by Ticketmaster, from July 25-August 9. There will be no fans in attendance, and players, coaches and officials will be quarantined during the event. Games will air live on NBC, NBC Sports Network or NBC Sports Gold, as well as stream on NBCSports.com and the NBS Sports app. The league played its first season last year.
(Source: Cynopsis)
REELZ’s Independence Happens Here public service campaign supports independent businesses with a resource website, social media outreach and on-air PSAs to help people and business owners impacted by COVID-19. There are also resource links for independent business owners for state and federal health department guidelines for operating during the health crisis as well as resources for applying for relief.
(Source: Cynopsis)
FX Networks picked up an untitled anthology series from B.J. Novak (The Office) that uses timely issues as inspiration for character-driven stories. The show’s two-part pilot will serve as the series’ first two episodes. “We have been admirers of B.J. Novak for a long time,” said Nick Grad, President, Original Programming, FX Entertainment. “We loved his creative twist on the anthology format, and he delivered on two phenomenal episodes. We are looking forward to going into production on the rest of the season and supporting BJ’s ambitious vision for this project.”
(Source: Cynopsis)
Amazon Studios picked up thriller series The Terminal List, based on Jack Carr’s bestseller. Chris Pratt (Avengers: Endgame, Parks and Recreation) stars in and executive produces the drama, co-produced with Civic Media Center in association with MRC Television.
(Source: Cynopsis)
After Life is coming back to Netflix for a third season, and the show’s creator/writer/director/star Ricky Gervais has struck a deal with the streamer to develop new scripted projects, as well as stand-up specials.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Alena Smith inked an overall deal with Apple, under which the Dickinson creator, EP and showrunner will develop projects exclusively for Apple TV+.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Glenda Hersh and Steven Weinstock have renewed their deals to remain Co-Presidents and Co-CEOs of Truly Original, the unscripted TV production company owned by Endemol Shine North America. Hersh and Weinstock founded True Entertainment in 2000 (acquired by Endemol Shine in 2003) and in 2015, they assumed the leadership of Endemol Shine North America’s Original Media, as well, before merging the two entities in January 2017 to form Truly Original.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Nickelodeon gave the green light to two virtually interactive series set to debut this summer. Hosted by social media stars Annie LeBlanc and Jayden Bartels, Group Chat: The Show (wt) offers a video chat rundown of the week’s hot topics, taken from what kids are talking about across social media. Game show Game Face (wt) features a celebrity panel that must guess the identities of virtually disguised celebrity guests.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Full Moon Features has tapped John Reinke, the zookeeper and right hand man to Tiger King’s Joe Exotic, to star in the comedy, Barbie & Kendra Save the Tiger King. Reinke co-stars with Leslie Jordan (Will and Grace) who lends his voice to the feature. The film will make its worldwide debut on the Full Moon Features channel on Friday, May 15.
(Source: Cynopsis)
NBCU’s Peacock set a distribution agreement with Apple covering the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV for the streamer’s national bow on July 15. Peacock, launched for Comcast customers last month, also has a distribution agreement with Cox Communications.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Genius Brands is merging its Kid Genius Cartoon Channel and Baby Genius TV digital platforms under one new network brand, Kartoon Channel, launching June 15.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Prehistoric Road Trip travels thousands of miles to explores dinosaur country, some of the most active fossil sites in the world. The three-parter launches on PBS Wednesday, June 17.
(Source: Cynopsis)
ABC’s Celebrity Family Feud is back for season six on Sunday, May 31 at 8p. The battles begin with the cast of the original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy facing off against the newcomers in Netflix’s version.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Commissioned, a five-part series on The Design Network, looks at the process of creating a commissioned piece of artwork for the home. Season one launches Saturday, May 9 at 8p.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Robbie, a scripted comedy from stand-up comedian/actor Rob Scovel (I Feel Pretty) debuts tonight at 11:45p on Comedy Central. After its linear premiere, the show will be available to watch in its entirety on the net’s YouTube channel, web site, app, VOD and Comedy Central Now.
(Source: Cynopsis)
On Don Wildman’s newest series on Travel Channel, the host heads to remote regions to track alleged lingering ghosts, demons, vampires and witches. Buried Worlds with Don Wildman premieres Monday, June 8 at 9p.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Facebook announced a new, independent board with the power to overturn Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decisions on whether pieces of content should be allowed on Facebook and Instagram. The co-chairs are former U.S. federal circuit judge and religious freedom expert Michael McConnell, constitutional law expert Jamal Greene, Colombian attorney Catalina Botero-Marino and former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Facebook has pledged to fund the board for at least six years.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Showtime has acquired rights to documentary Ringside, which chronicles the upbringing of two boxing prodigies on the South Side of Chicago. Filmed over the course of nine years, the doc premieres Friday, June 12 at 8:30p.
(Source: Cynopsis)
With April’s unemployment data coming out tomorrow, MSNBC is focusing on the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic with special programming. This morning, May 7 and tomorrow, May 8 at 9a., Stephanie Ruhle will quiz guests including Walmart U.S. CEO and president John Furner, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), former Centers for Disease Control director Dr. Tom Frieden, MGM Resorts International president Bill Hornbuckle and Union Square Hospitality CEO Danny Meyer. On Saturday, May 9, anchor Ali Velshi will host a town hall, Velshi: The Covid-19 Economy at 9a. “Our goal is to make our viewers better and smarter,” said Ruhle, an NBC senior business correspondent. “This is a critical time to dedicate three days to addressing the re-opening of our economy and weathering today’s financial storm.”
(Source: Cynopsis)
Meanwhile, Fox Business Network will present its third installment of the America Works Together town hall series today, May 7 at 1p. Anchored by FBN’s Managing Editor of Business News Neil Cavuto, the event will feature Home Depot co-founders Ken Langone and Bernie Marcus for their insights on the state of the economy as the country starts to lift restrictions as well as answer viewer questions.
(Source: Cynopsis)
ABC’s Disney Family Singalong: Volume II has added more celebrity guests to its lineup for Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 10 at 7p. Added to the list are Christina Aguilera, Tituss Burgess, Sabrina Carpenter, Jennifer Hudson, Lang Lang, John Legend and Katy Perry. Opening with show will be Kermit, Miss Piggy and the rest of The Muppets.
(Source: Cynopsis)
AccuWeather is partnering with Lifetime TV as their exclusive weather provider on this season’s Military Makeover with Montel Williams, premiering Friday, May 15. AccuWeather’s SVP Vincent McDonald took part in the May 22 show, talking about the company’s newly updated AccuWeather App, which was used extensively during the show’s recording as the team persevered during less-than-ideal weather conditions.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Freeform is honoring the Class of 2020 the weekend of May 16-17 with graduation-themed programming and interstitial content shared across social accounts using #FreeformClassof2020. The net will also air Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020, hosted by LeBron James and featuring grown-ish producer and star Yara Shahidi, on Saturday, May 16 at 8p.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Vice Versa: Bernie Blackout premieres Wednesday, May 13 at 8p on Vice TV. The documentary, the second in a series of independent specials on the net, explores whether corporate news bias affected the 2020 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders.
(Source: Cynopsis)
The Substitute Top 10 Wildest Pranks counts down the most out-of-control pranks from Nickelodeon’s hidden camera show, on Saturday, May 9 at 8:30p.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Jane Lynch hosts NBC’s Hollywood Game Night remotely on Tuesday, May 12 at 10p, for the show’s third annual Red Nose Day edition. Kristen Bell, Nick Jonas, Kenan Thompson, Sean Hayes, John Legend and Retta battle it out from the comfort of their homes to raise money for children.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Keely's Korner 