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Nexstar Media Group is officially set to acquire The CW network. The new owners will take a 75 percent ownership interest while former majority stake holders Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global will each retain a 12.5 percent ownership stake in the network. The two will continue to produce original, scripted content for the network. Nexstar, together with its partner stations, is the nation’s largest local television broadcasting company and the largest CW affiliate group with 37 CW and CW Plus affiliates, including affiliates in five of the top ten DMAs, accounting for 32 percent of the Network’s national reach. The proposed transaction is expected to create value for Nexstar shareholders by solidifying the Company’s revenue opportunities as the largest CW affiliate, diversifying its content outside of news, increasing its exposure to the national advertising market, establishing it as a participant in advertising video-on-demand services and improving The CW ratings, revenue, and profitability, by prioritizing programming for the Network’s broadcast audience. Mark Pedowitz will continue to serve as The CW’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, with responsibility for day-to-day operations. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.
VH1 has renewed RuPaul’s Drag Race for a fifteenth season. The network also renewed the companion series RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked. The main show will also include the 200th episode this season. The new season will introduce a new group of sickening queens.
The John Wick prequel series The Continental is moving from Starz to Peacock. The three episode series will explore the origin story and inner workings of the exclusive Continental Hotel, a centerpiece of the John Wick Universe which serves as a refuge for assassins. Told from the perspective of the hotel manager, a young Winston Scott is dragged through 1975 New York to face a past he thought he’d left behind. In an attempt to seize control of the iconic hotel, which serves as a meeting point for the world’s most dangerous criminals, Winston charts a deadly course through the mysterious underworld of New York City. It will premiere in 2023.
Apple TV+’s new drama series Shantaram will premiere October 14 with three episodes. New episodes will premiere weekly through December 16. The series stars Charlie Hunnam and is based on the novel by Gregory David Roberts. The series follows a fugitive named Lin Ford looking to get lost in vibrant and chaotic 1980s Bombay. Alone in an unfamiliar city, Lin struggles to avoid the trouble he’s running from in this new place. After falling for an enigmatic and intriguing woman named Karla, Lin must choose between freedom or love and the complications that come with it.
Tubi has ordered a new adult animated series titled Breaking Bear. The series follows the escapades of three bear siblings who decide they have to start selling drugs in order to raise money and save their home after gas companies start fracking next to their cave. The bears soon enlist other forest animals in a scheme that will pit them against oil companies, The Russian Mafia, local Hell’s Angels and polar bears who hate anything that isn’t white.
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities will debut with a four day double episode event beginning October 25 on Netflix. As a part of Netflix’s Netflix & Chills Halloween event, two all new Cabinet of Curiosities tales will debut daily through October 28, when the entire collection of eight stories will be available to Netflix members around the world. The series features a collection of unprecedented and genre-defining stories meant to challenge our traditional notions of horror. From macabre to magical, gothic to grotesque or classically creepy, these eight equally sophisticated and sinister tales (including two original stories by del Toro) are brought to life by a team of writers and directors personally chosen by del Toro.
Apple TV+’s new kids and family series Life by Ella will premiere September 2. The series follows Ella as she returns to school with a brand new perspective, excitement for what the future holds, and a major “seize the day” mentality following her stint with cancer. With her best friend by her side, she is ready to tackle everything she was too afraid of before, and determined not to let the minutiae of fake friends and social media status distract her.
Hallmark Channel’s The Way Home will premiere in 2023. Andie MacDowell, Chyler Leigh and Sadie Laflamme-Snow star in this multigenerational family drama following the lives of three generations of women – Kat Landry, her 15-year-old daughter Alice, and Kat’s mother Del, who are all strong, willful and independent. More than 20 years prior, lifechanging events prompted Kat to move away from her small, Canadian farm town of Port Haven and she remains estranged from Del to this day. Alice has never met her grandmother and is unaware of the reasons for their fractured family. With Kat’s marriage coming to an end and having just been laid off from her job, she decides to return home after receiving an unexpected letter from Del urging her to come back. Although Alice is none-too-thrilled, Kat and her daughter arrive at her family’s farm, though the reunion isn’t what Kat had envisioned. As the three generations of women slowly work on finding their footing as a family, they embark on an enlightening – and surprising – journey none of them could have imagined as they learn how to find their way back to each other.
New episodes of The Chi and City on a Hill will be preempted this weekend for an airing of Jackass Forever. New episodes will resume August 26 on demand and August 28 on air. Both series finales will now air September 2 on demand and September 4 on air.
Shudder’s Dragula has been renewed for a new season and will be expanding its franchise with a new spinoff series and special set. The spinoff series will premiere this fall. .
Charlie Hall has joined the cast of HBO Max’s The Sex Lives of College Girls. He will appear in the second season as a student attending Essex College. Hall will also recur on season two of Disney+’s Big Shot. He will play a basketball player at an all boys school who crosses paths with Louise.
Carrie Underwood marks her tenth season starring in the show open for NBC’s Sunday Night Football. The new season kicks off September 11. Underwood performed the show open featuring an updated rendition of the now-iconic “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” from The Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas, home of her ongoing residency, REFLECTION. For the first time, the show open will highlight the game-day energy around each Sunday Night Football game as a dedicated film crew will capture the atmosphere leading up to kickoff including fans tailgating and prepping for the game, player arrivals, and scenes from the host city.
The 2022 VMAs have announced more must see superstar performers to the show. BLACKPINK, Jack Harlow, Lizzo and Måneskin will perform from Prudential Center on August 28 on MTV.
Bananaland, a five-part ESPN+ Original series taking fans behind the scenes of baseball’s craziest, most innovative franchise, will premiere August 19 on ESPN+ and ESPN2. Capturing the origins of the Bananas’ wild, new style of baseball, Bananaland follows the team’s owners, players, coaches, and staff as they embark on a seven-city “World Tour” in their quest to bring the revolutionary rules and extravagant showmanship of Banana Ball to the masses.
