Keely's Korner

FIRST LOOK
http://www.eonline.com/news

ON TELEVISION (WEDNESDAY 8/13/25)
DISCOVERY: Mysteries of the Abandoned (Premiere) at 11pm
NETFLIX: Fixed (Premiere)
NETFLIX: Love Is Blind UK (Premiere)
NETFLIX: Saare Jahan Se Accha (Premiere)
NETFLIX: Young Millionaires (Premiere)
PRIME VIDEO: Butterfly (Premiere)
PRIME VIDEO: Sausage Party: Foodtopia (Premiere)

Elon Musk is threatening to sue Apple for breaching antirust regulationsby allegedly favoring rivals of Musk’s xAI in its App Store. “Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation,” posted Musk on X. Grok, xAI’s AI model, ranks 6th in the App Store’s “Top Free Apps” section for iPhones in the US, while ChatGPT ranks first. Apple has partnered with OpenAi to integrate ChatGPT into Apple devices.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Just in time for football season, Sling TV announced the launch of flexible streaming packages. Day Pass, Weekend Pass and Week Pass offer options to stream the sports games, shows, movies and award shows. “This launch is about putting control back in the hands of the fans, whether it’s tuning in for college football, professional sports, award shows, or a spontaneous movie night, all without having to sign a long-term, binding contract,” said Seth Van Sickel, SVP, Product and Operations, Sling TV. “With college football just around the corner, our new Day Pass offering is all consumers need to win on game day, for just $4.99 worth of upcoming programming.”
(Source: Cynopsis)

Sony anime streaming service Crunchyroll is laying off an undisclosed number of employees in a move it says is not a cost-cutting measure, but a restructuring to increase its focus on fast-growing markets like India and Brazil. “As we look toward the next three to five years, we believe the right path forward is a new organizational model that supports regionally-empowered teams to lean into anime fandom even further,” said Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini in a memo to staff. As part of the reorg, Crunchyroll is building engineering hubs in the US, Mexico and India, said Purini.
(Source: Cynopsis)

FBI drama “Task,” from creator Brad Ingelsby (“Mare of Easttown”), debuts Sunday, September 7 at 9p on HBO. The season’s seven episodes will debut weekly.
(Source: Cynopsis)

The first two episodes of music-driven “Vampirina: Teenage Vampire” premiere on Disney Channel on Friday, September 12 at 8p and 8:30p. All 16 episodes will be available October 15 on Disney+ and Disney Channel On Demand.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Family drama “Crossroad Springs” starts streaming on Pure Flix on Thursdays, beginning August 28, and will air on Great American Family and GFAM+ on Saturdays at 8p.
(Source: Cynopsis)

“Forever Young with Dr. Pablo Prichard” premieres Saturday, October 4 as part of NBC’s weekend morning “The More You Know” educational/informational programming block. The series, focused on health and wellness issues, comes from Hearst Media Productions Group in partnership with Evoke Entertainment.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Season two of BritBox’s “Karen Pirie” debuts Thursday, October 2. The drama is based on Val McDermid’s A Darker Domain.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Netflix and Kevin Hart are partnering for a stand-up comedy competition series. In the eight-parter, contestants will face challenges that mirror the real-life journeys of comedians, showing audiences the gritty reality of the stand-up scene. Hartbeat and Alfred Street Industries are producing.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Production is underway for Great American Media movie “Christmas in Midnight Clear,” set to premiere as part of the 5th Anniversary of Great American Christmas in 2025. The programming event kicks off in October.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Adult Swim has ordered “The Terrors of Jordan Mendoza,” a live-action, quarter-hour series created by and starring Jordan Mendoza that follows a man as he navigates a barrage of absurd, terrifying, and hilarious dreamscapes. The series is produced for Adult Swim by Avalon (“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”).
(Source: Cynopsis)

“The Hill,” a digital source for non-partisan political news and information, announced that Lindsey Granger has been named co-host of its flagship morning show “Rising,” alongside Robby Soave.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Nickelodeon and Paramount+ are celebrating 25 years of their “Dora” franchise this week with a special birthday-themed episode, “Dora’s Birthday Surprise,” set to premiere on Friday, August 15, at 11:30a on Nickelodeon.
(Source: Cynopsis) 

Stand Up To Cancer will hold its ninth biennial one-hour, commercial-free event, airing simultaneously on over 30 media platforms, on Friday, August 15 at 8p. All four major US broadcast networks will carry the show, with broadcasters donating prime time slots to support the cause. The telecast will also be available to watch on-demand across multiple digital and streaming platforms.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Season two of Netflix’s “Wednesday” delivered a massive 50 million views in its first five days. That’s the second most views in a single week across all English-language TV on the streamer, behind only “Wednesday” season one. Bur that’s not apples to apples – all episodes of the first season dropped at once, versus just the first four episodes for season two.
(Source: Cynopsis)

The NASCAR Xfinity Series on Saturday drew 1,096,000 Total Viewers to CW, to rank as the most-watched Xfinity Series race from Watkins Glen since 2018 and up +41% compared to last year’s race.
(Source: Cynopsis)

POWERBALL
Today’s Jackpot is $526 million.
(One ticket costs $2.00)
Powerball is played in 43 states.
NYLottery.NY.gov

CELEBRITY NEWS: AUGUST 12, 2025
http://www.imdb.com/news/celebrity

Imani Hakim (Everybody Hates Chris) – 33 years old
Cara Delevingne (Model) – 33 years old
Maggie Lawson (Psych) – 45 years old
Plaxico Burress (former NFL Player) – 48 years old
Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone) – 50 years old
Affion Crockett (Comedian/ MTV’s Wild ’N Out) – 51 years old
Yvette Nicole Brown (Elena of Avalor/ NBC’s Community) – 54 years old
Pete Sampras (Tennis Player) – 54 years old
Rebecca Gayheart (“Once Upon A time..In Hollywood”/ Beverly Hills, 90210) – 54 years old
Michael Ian Black (Wet Hot American Summer) – 54 years old
Peter Krause (9-1-1/ Parenthood) – 60 years old
Anthony “Sir Mix A Lot” Ray (Rapper) – 62 years old
Bruce Greenwood (The Resident/ “Star Trek Into Darkness”) – 69 years old
George Hamilton (E!’s Stewarts & Hamiltons/ Actor) – 86 years old

FIRST LOOK
http://www.eonline.com/news

ON TELEVISION (TUESDAY 8/12/25)
DISCOVERY: Truck Dynasty (Premiere) at 9pm
FOOD NETWORK: A Body in the Basement (Premiere) at 9pm
FX: Alien: Earth (Premiere) at 8pm
ID: A Body in the Basement (Premiere) at 9pm
NETFLIX: Final Draft (Premiere)

Anime meets airline! Crunchyroll and Delta are taking off on a partnership that will bring a selection of in-flight anime into seat backs.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Dana Walden will receive the 2025 International Emmy® Founders Award at the November 24 gala in New York City, recognizing her impact on the global media industry. Walden, who previously served as CEO of Fox Television Group, joins prestigious past recipients including Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Shonda Rhimes.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Fox has been mad about moving more into multi-camera comedy series, and tapped Paul Reiser, co-creator and star of 1990s sitcom, “Mad About You,” to partner with Adam F. Goldberg, creator of another popular family comedy of the last decade, “The Goldbergs.” The untitled series is in development and follows a family’s failed-to-launch 20-something fictional son, played by Reiser’s real-life son, Leon, forced to work with his dad. We believe Leon Reiser will be working with dad Paul Reiser by choice. 
(Source: Cynopsis)

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have reupped the creative partnership they began in 2020 between their media company, Archewell Productions, and Netflix, with a multi-year, first look deal for film and television projects. Also, season two of “With Love, Meghan” will include a special episode titled “Holiday Celebration” to premiere in December.
(Source: Cynopsis)

David Weil, showrunner of “Hunters” and “Invasion,” will make his feature directing debut with “Tyrant,” a thriller a la “Whiplash” but set in the fine dining world, that Amazon MGM Studios acquired in a preemptive spec deal. Casting set to begin immediately with The Picture Company’s Alex Heineman and Andrew Rona producing. Weil, who also wrote the script and will produce, is currently adapting the Evan Gershkovich story for United Artists and writing “Extraction 3” for Netflix.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Australia production company WildBear Entertainment will co-pro a new history series, “Fatal Conflicts,” with ZDF Arte, with ZDF Studios handling international distribution. The series recreates two pivotal ancient wars – Xerxes v Themistocles and Hannibal v Scipio, adding expert commentary and inviting viewers to engage with the narrative.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Asian entertainment destination, Viki, part of Rakuten Group, Inc., of e-commerce and internet services, is bringing the K-drama “My Youth” exclusively to the streaming platform in the US, Latin America, and Europe. The series set to launch in September. 
(Source: Cynopsis)

Counterpart Studios officially launched as an independent production company.The founding team, CEO Tony Hernandez, President Elise Henderson, and Chief Creative Officer Lilly Burns, stated their approach centers on offering buyers “premium content at the right price” while staying focused on a “creator-centric model” that prioritizes artist relationships and nimble execution. 
(Source: Cynopsis)

Sarayu Blue (“Good American Family”) has joined the cast of Netflix’s upcoming eight-episode adaptation of “Unaccustomed Earth,” based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s award-winning collection of short stories. 
(Source: Cynopsis)

And, Onyx Collective announced entrepreneur and beauty mogul Lori Harvey will join Hulu’s legal drama “Reasonable Doubt” as a recurring guest star when season three premieres on Sept. 18, 2025.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Hallmark Channel is teaming up for the first time with the Grand Ole Opry for “A Grand Ole Opry Christmas,” an original movie starring Nikki DeLoach and Kristoffer Polaha, set to debut during Countdown to Christmas. The project celebrates the Opry’s centennial year, with production beginning soon at notable Nashville locations. The partnership also features a collection of co-branded products launching at Hallmark.com this season.  Brad Paisley will write original music and will also perform. 
(Source: Cynopsis)

A&E’s ten-episode docuseries, “Family Lockup,” premieres Thursday, August 21, covering a re-entry program in which family members of inmates spend two nights behind bars in an attempt to rebuild their broken relationships from within prison walls, working Psychologist Dr. Jeff Gardere, in an innovative correctional rehabilitation initiative in Hampden County, MA.
(Source: Cynopsis)

William H. Macy (Shameless) will star as Hank Durkin in Hulu’s upcoming, Dan Fogelman drama series set around an NFL family. He joins Christopher Meloni as the team’s head coach. The show is produced by 20th Television and Skydance Sports, with Fogelman among the executive producers.
(Source: Cynopsis)

And then there were two. In “The Last Rhinos: A New Hope” photographer Ami Vitale follows scientists racing to save the northern white rhinoceros from extinction, with only two females remaining. The documentary, which captures the world’s first surrogate rhino pregnancy, premieres August 24 on National Geographic and streams the following day on Disney+ and Hulu.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Representing one of the first major content acquisitions since the merger of Paramount Skydance, the newly formed company has landed a knockout deal for seven years, at $1.1 billion per year, with TKO Group to become the exclusive US home of all UFC events, starting in 2026. Stepping into the streaming ring, Paramount+ will host all 13 numbered bouts and 30 Fight Nights at no extra charge for subscribers, with select matchups simulcast on CBS. 
(Source: Cynopsis)

Taking a Big Swing, multi-Emmy-winning journalist Jimmy Roberts, longtime media executive Fred Bucher (ESPN, Time Warner, Charter, Weather),and marketing and agency executive Spence Kramer (Wieden + Kennedy, J. Walter Thompson) have teamed up to lead a new media company focused on the business of lifestyle sports, starting with golf in September. Big Swing Media will deliver editorial and production, access to newsmakers and industry insights through podcasts, subscription newsletters, and custom events.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Gutfeld sparked a double digit increase in Fallon viewers. The FOX News Channel’s Greg Gutfeld’s appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” on Thursday, August 7, averaged 1.7 million viewers (+57%) and 294,000 (+13%) in A25-54, the biggest kickers since November 2024. 
(Source: Cynopsis)

CBS’ “Big Brother” on Sunday reached 3.22 million viewers, up 7% over last week and 1% year-over-year, according to Nielsen.
(Source: Cynopsis)

MEGA MILLIONS
Today’s Jackpot is $182 million.
(One ticket costs $5.00 as of April 2025)
You can now play in 43 states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. NYLottery.NY.gov