FIRST LOOK
http://www.eonline.com/news
ON TELEVISION (MONDAY 4/12/21)
ACORN TV: Keeping Faith (Premiere)
CNBC: TechCheck (Premiere) at 11am
CRUNCHYROLL: To Your Eternity (Premiere)
DISCOVERY: Street Outlaws: America’s List (Premiere) at 8pm
HBO: Pray, Obey, Kill (Premiere) at 9pm
OXYGEN: Mark of a Serial Killer (Premiere) at 8pm
USA: Miz & Mrs. (Premiere) at 11pm
FOX: America’s Most Wanted (Finale) at 9pm
HGTV: Rock the Block (Finale) at 9pm
Chicken Soup for the Soul announced plans to acquire the TV and film assets of studio Sonar Entertainment (“Hunters”). “The Sonar Entertainment assets are a perfect fit with our objective of building the industry’s best AVOD offering,” said William J. Rouhana Jr., CEO of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. “This acquisition will not only have immense strategic value, positioning us to launch AVOD networks with a critical mass of proven content that fits our desired audiences, but will also give us ownership of several franchise television series and add proven television executive talent.”
(Source: Cynopsis)
With the upfront season approaching, trade group VAB has accused Nielsen of “systematic undercounting” during the pandemic, when the size of the measurement company’s national panel dropped from 36,975 homes to 29.456, and service visits to panel homes largely stopped for health reasons. From March 2020 to March 2021, Nielsen data showed total TV set usage declining by 25.8%. Nielsen responded that its audience estimates “are in line with trends observed via other data sources, and we see no evidence to suggest that changes made during COVID to the panel have materially changed the audience estimates as reported.”
(Source: Cynopsis)
This year’s winners of DGA Awards in TV categories include Susanna Fogel (“The Flight Attendant”), Lesli Linka Glatter (“Homeland”), Scott Frank (“The Queen’s Gamibit”), Don Roy King (“Saturday Night Live”), and Thomas Schlamme (“A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote”).
(Source: Cynopsis)
“SNL” and “The Queen’s Gamibit” also scored wins in a the Art Director’s Guild Awards, along with “Ozark,” “The Mandalorian,” “What We Do in the Shadows,” and “Will & Grace.”
(Source: Cynopsis)
The Television Academy is holding a three-day, virtual College Television Summit for media arts college students, from May 3-5. The event will provide 1000 participants with educational and professional development sessions, with discussions like how to launch a career in reality TV with Snap Inc. head of unscripted originals Jill Dickerson, and Stephanie Drachkovitch, CEO of 44 Blue Productions. “This is a milestone moment for our medium, enabling us to reach more students across the U.S. than we ever thought possible,” said Cris Abrego, chair of the Television Academy Foundation. “Media students from all backgrounds will gain valuable knowledge and advice on careers in the industry—free of charge—from Hollywood professionals who wouldn’t normally be available to them.”
(Source: Cynopsis)
Nonprofit marketing education organization Markeding EDGE has added seven corporate sponsors to its list of partners. DailPay, Data Axle, Gerber Life Insurance, Liz Kislik Associates, Sprinkls, Wiland, and Worldata will help add and expand programs, and have access to Marketing EDGE’s pool of students.
(Source: Cynopsis)
STARZ is partnering with Alliance of Women Directors to increase representation of female directors through the STARZ #TakeTheLead Directors Program. The partnership includes a commitment to staff emerging episodic directors for their first television directing assignment. “More women and people of color behind the camera translates to stories on screen that are more authentic and reflective of our world,” said AnnaLea Arnold, Executive Director at AWD. “By amplifying narratives by, about, and for women, STARZ is making impactful change in the industry and has raised the bar of what inclusion looks like.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (“Game of Thrones”) will star in TriStar Television mini-series “The Second Homel,” adapted from the novel by Christina Clancy. Coster-Waldau will also executive produce, with Joe Derrick and Jeffrey Chassen through their Ill Kippers production company.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Netflix nabbed limited series “The 39 Steps,” taken to market by Anonymous Content, which is producing with Chapter One Pictures and SunnyMarch. Benedict Cumberbatch (“Patrick Melrose”) will star in and exec produce the conspiracy thriller, based on the novel that was turned into a film classic by Alfred Hitchcock.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Apple acquired the script to develop a drama series based on the 1984 memoir, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, in which “Gong Show” host Chuck Barris claimed his game show jobs were a cover for work as a CIA assassin. Miramax, which released the 2002 film based on the book, and Paramount Television Studios are producing. Justin Timberlake is set to star.
(Source: Cynopsis)
HBO Max has put in development a comedy set a a summer camp, from writer Lauren Herstik (“American Vandal”) and Adam Goodwin’s Invisible Narrative. Goodwin will executive produce.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Casting notes: Peggy Blow was promoted from recurring to series regular on the fourth and final season of Netflix’s “On My Block.”…Robin Lively (“Light as a Feather”) and Tom Kenny (“SpongeBob SquarePants”) have joined CW pilot “Powerpuff.”…Peta Sergeant (“Snowfall”) landed a series regular role on the sixth and final season of CW’s “Supergirl.”…Cornelius Smith Jr. (“Scandal”) will play a lead in Apple TV+ limited series “Five Days at Memorial.”
(Source: Cynopsis)
Discovery’s “Bering Sea Gold” is back for season ten on Friday, April 30 at 9p. Zeke Tenhoff and Steve Riedel rejoin the fleet in Nome, Alaska in hopes of staking their claim.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Docu-series “Philly D.A.,” detailing the work of civil rights attorney Larry Krasner, who won a longshot campaign for Philadelphia D.A. in 2017, premieres on PBS’ “Independent Lens” on Tuesday, April 20.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Country star Clint Black is set to host and co-produce a new series, “Talking in Circles with Clint Black,” which will premiere on Circle Network on Saturday, May 22 at 10p, following “Opry Live.” The weekly series will feature musicians, songwriters and artists.
(Source: Cynopsis)
The first episode of business series “Unicorn Hunters” is set for release Monday, May 10. The “enrichtainment” show, combining entertainment with “pre-IPO investment opportunities,” is financed by TransparentBusiness and produced by Smart Dog Media.
(Source: Cynopsis)
discovery+ obtained exclusive filming and broadcast access to the discovery of an ancient Egyptian city in Luxor – The Rise of Aten – that was lost under the sands 3,000 years ago. “This new city paints a picture of life in ancient Egypt that has never been seen,” said Scott Lewers, EVP of Multiplatform Programming, Factual & Head of Content, Science. The findings will air in a new special on the streamer.
(Source: Cynopsis)
The debut of ABC legal drama “Rebel” on Thursday delivered 3.65 million viewers and an 0.5 rating among A18-49. That’s on par with the Live+SD average of the show it replaced in the timeslot, “A Million Little Things,” which returned to Wednesdays.
(Source: Cynopsis)
OWN’s “Love & Marriage: Huntsville” delivered its most-watched season to-date, averaging 689,000 P2+ to mark 15% growth over its previous season. Over the past 10 weeks, it was Saturday night’s #1 original series on all of TV among African-American W25-54, W18-49, and W18+ and the #1 non-sports series on all of TV among African-American HHs and P2+.
(Source: Cynopsis)
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Godzilla vs. Kong – $13.4 million
Nobody – $2.7 million
The Unholy – $2.4 million
Raya and the Last Dragon $2.1 million
Voyagers – $1.4 million
(Source: Box Office Mojo)
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