In today’s TV news roundup, ABC announced the premiere dates for new series “Pooch Perfect,” “Home Economics” and “Rebel,” and HBO Max unveiled the trailer for its five-part limited series “It’s a Sin.”
CASTING
Constance Zimmer will join the cast of Freeform’s “Good Trouble” in a recurring role as Kathleen Gale, a fearless yet secretive defense attorney who becomes a mentor for Callie (Maia Mitchell). The drama series follows the residents of Downtown Los Angeles’ the Coterie as they juggle their careers, love, friendship and speaking out for causes they care about. Zimmer is an Emmy-nominated actor, best known for her role on Lifetime’s “UnREAL.” She also had recurring roles on “Entourage,” “House of Cards” and “Shameless.” “Good Trouble” returns to Freeform Feb. 17 at 10 p.m.
DATES
ABC announced premiere dates for three new series: the Rebel Wilson-hosted dog grooming competition series “Pooch Perfect,” which will debut on March 30 at 8 p.m.; sibling comedy “Home Economics,” executive produced and starring Topher Grace, which will launchApril 7 at 8:30 p.m., and the Erin Brockovich-inspired drama “Rebel” with Katey Sagal on April 8 at 10:01 p.m. The eight-episode “Pooch Perfect” will showcase 10 of the best dog groomers in the nation, along with their assistants, competing in challenges for a cash prize. The all-star panel of judges features Lisa Vanderpump, celebrity dog groomer Jorge Bendersky and vet Dr. Callie Harris. “Home Economics” will examine the heartwarming yet fraught relations between three adult siblings: one in the 1%, one middle-class and one barely making ends meet. “Rebel” follows a blue-collar legal advocate without a law degree, who will fearlessly fight for the causes and people she cares about.
FIRST LOOKS
Apple TV Plus released the trailer for its upcoming original series, “The Snoopy Show,” in which America’s beloved beagle will return with Charlie Brown, Woodstock and the Peanuts squad on Feb. 5. Each episode will by comprised of three, seven-minute cartoons based on the classic comic series and feature its iconic animation style with reprisals from original characters tackling all-new adventures. The show hails from an exclusive partnership between Peanuts and WildBrain. Watch the trailer below.
OWN released a trailer for Season 5 of Ava DuVernay‘s “Queen Sugar,” which will premiere Feb. 16. The series follows the Bordelon family who is fighting to save its farm and preserve its patriarch’s legacy amid navigating personal obstacles. Season 5 sees Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner) in a tense battle with the Landry family while coming to terms with her son Micah (Nicholas Ashe) away from home at an HBCU. Meanwhile, Nova (Rutina Wesley) launches a new website to support the community while moving out of the Ninth Ward and settling into her romance with Calvin (Greg Vaughan). Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe) works to manage fatherhood with son Blue (Ethan Hutchison) and a healthy path forward with girlfriend Darla (Bianca Lawson) despite outside threats. The season will be set within the context of the pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests. Watch the trailer below.
HBO Max debuted a trailer for its upcoming limited series “It’s a Sin.”The five-episode series, set to premiere Feb. 18, follows three young men, Ritchie (Olly Alexander), Roscoe (Omari Douglas) and Colin (Callum Scott Howells) as they settle in London amid the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. Set in 1981, the series traces the entirety of the decade, unraveling the threads of how the trio come to know each other and following the complex relationships they form. Through it all, the three, along with friend Jill (Lydia West), help each other navigate a global crisis, immense loss and the celebrations that come with being gay. Watch the trailer below.
FX unveiled the trailer for its six-part docuseries “Hip Hop Uncovered,” which examines the paradox of hip hop’s immeasurable influence on pop culture and its criminalization in the United States. Premiering Feb. 12, the series delves into 40 years of music history, exploring hip hop from the ground up through interviews with behind-the-scenes movers and shakers and unfolding its mainstay as a genre of survival and expression. Watch the trailer below.
PROGRAMMING
Multi-platinum artist Bad Bunny will perform hit single “Booker T” off of his new album “El Último Tour Del Mundo” live for the first time at WWE‘s Royal Rumble Jan. 31, streaming on the network at 7 p.m. ET. Bad Bunny has become an international superstar, being declared the No.1 global artist of 2020 by Spotify, winning multiple Latin Grammy Awards and Billboard Music Awards for best reggaeton performance, artist of the year and top Latin album of the year, among others. “Performing at the Royal Rumble is a childhood dream come true,” said Bad Bunny. “I have been a lifelong fan of WWE and I am excited to take the stage and entertain fans around the world.”
EXECUTIVE NEWS
Fox News has named network contributor Emily Compagno as co-host of the ensemble show “Outnumbered,” where she will appear alongside anchor Harris Faulkner and a series of rotating panelists beginning Monday. Since joining Fox News Media as a contributor in late 2018, Compagno has provided political and legal analysis across its platforms, including appearing as a regular panelist on “Outnumbered.” In March 2020, Compagno was tapped to host “Crimes That Changed America,” which explores infamous criminal cases that impacted the nation’s judicial system. In addition to her role at Fox News, Compagno is an attorney and has served as acting director at the Social Security Administration.
LATE NIGHT
Tonight, Dax Shepard, John Wilson and musical duo I Don’t Know How But They Found Me will be on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” while Jared Leto, Jane Lynch and Jade Bird will be guests on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” “Late Night With Seth Meyers” will feature Gillian Anderson, Kate Flannery and Bartees Strange and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” will feature Serena Williams. Tonight’s guest on “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” will be Nnamdi Asomugha.
ACQUISITIONS
Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s HiddenLight Productions has acquired the series adaptation rights to best-selling author Gayle Tzemach Lemmon’s “The Daughters of Kobani: A Story of Rebellion, Courage, and Justice.” Drawing upon hundreds of interviews and on-the-ground reporting, “The Daughters of Kobani” centers on an all-women Kurdish militia who took on ISIS in Northern Syria — and won. Following the victory, the group set to spreading their political vision and establishing gender equality in the area and beyond. Launched in December 2020, HiddenLight Productions is a global studio that aims to create premium documentary, unscripted and scripted entertainment for TV, film and digital.
AWARDS
American Cinema Editors announced a new television category, best edited variety talk/sketch show or special, for the 72nd Annual ACE Eddie Awards, which will be held April 18. While exact plans for the ceremony are undetermined, the awards show will likely be held virtually. As previously announced, ACE also added a new animation category, best edited animated series (non-theatrical). Submissions for the awards show will close Feb. 12. Honorary award recipients will be announced soon.
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced the recipients of the 72nd Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards, the ceremony for which will take place in partnership with the National Association of Broadcasters Oct. 10. Nielsen will be honored for system to measure video performances and demographics across multiple platforms. For pioneering development and deployment of server-side ad manipulation and/or playout for adaptive bitrate video distribution, the honorees are Google’s mDialog and Anvato, NBCU, Comcast’s This Technology, Commscope’s Seawell and Charter’s Time Warner Cable. Beamr, Netflix, University of Southern California, Université de Nantes, University of Texas Austin, SSIMWAVE, Disney, Google, Brightcove and Ateme will receive the award for development of open perceptual metrics for video encoding optimization. The award for development of event signaling and management API standard will go to CableLabs, Comcast, Charter’s Time Warner Cable and the Society of Cable Telecomunications Engineers. For pioneering deployment of the event signaling and management API, the honorees are Charter’s Time Warner Cable, Commscope’s Arris, Cisco, Mediakind’s Envivio, Harmonic, RGB and Comcast’s This Technology. Vitec Production Solutions’ Litepanels will receive the award for pioneering development of LED lighting for television production. Canoe Ventures will receive the award for cross-MVPD dynamic ad insertion for cable network video on demand content. For AI/optimization for real-time video compression, the honorees are Harmonic, Mediakind, Ateme and Amazon Web Services. Eric Fossum, ON Semiconductor and Eastman Kodak are the honorees for the invention and pioneering development of intra-pixel charge transfer CMOS image sensors. For standardization of SMPTE ST 2110, the honorees are the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and the Video Services Forum. The European Broadcasting Union and DVB will receive the common encryption award. Akamai Technologies will receive the content delivery networks award. For standardization and commercialization of television – broadcast, hybrid electrical and fiber-optic camera cable and connectors, the honorees are SMPTE, the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses, EBU, LEMO, Belden and Nemal Electronics. LG Electronics and Sony Electronics will be honored for OLED reference monitors for creative, technical, quality control and client viewing. Dolby Laboratories will receive the dynamic metadata for optimal HDR and WCG color volume mapping award. The AAF Association, Avid Technology, BBC Research & Development and EBU will be honored for advanced authoring format. Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana and Autodesk’s Shotgun Software will be honored for pioneering secure cloud-based VFX project management and collaboration at scale. For development and pioneering deployment of synchronized local DMA advertising capability for DBS/MVPD’s, the honorees are Ampersand, Comcast, Charter, Cox, AT&T, Dish and INVIDI Technologies. The standardization of the ISO base media file format award will be given to the Moving Picture Experts Group’s ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1, Subcommittee 29, Working Group 3. CBS and CNN will be honored with the on-air touch screen for data visualization award. For development of massive processing optimized compression technologies, the honorees are Amazon, Ateme, Bitmovin, Brightcove, Disney, Encoding, Facebook, Google-YouTube and Netflix. The Associated Press and Avid will receive the newsroom computer system used to plan and automate the production of linear live to air or live to recording news program award. The Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards are given to individuals, companies or other scientific or technical organizations for developments and standardizations involved in engineering technologies that improve upon existing television producing methods. A committee of skilled engineers working in television decides upon the honorees.
