In news that will shake Australian TV fans to their very core…
Work is underway on a reboot of 90s teen drama Heartbreak High.
Always Be Watching is now a dedicated Heartbreak High news channel focused on nothing other than the return of this legendary show that I saw maybe three times. After today, it may as well be called Always Be Watching…Drazic. Also, subscription rates will be a mandatory $3000.
As per David Knox at TV Tonight:
Fremantle is working with the format owners to ready the series for a comeback.
Source: TV Tonight
Matt Lucas has been announced as an ongoing judge on The Great British Bake Off.
Sure - nobody wants to be going to theme parks right now because of Coronavirus fear, but that isn’t stopping Disney from talking up their new Avengers Campus attractions (which will include Tom Holland playing Spidey).
David Hollander, the chap who used to be showrunner on Ray Donovan, has wasted no time in jumping onto a new show - an adaptation of American Gigolo for Showtime. Replacing Richard Gere is Jon Bernthal.
Source: Collider
Yesterday in the ABW newsletter was coverage of how coronavirus is impacting shows with live studio audiences. And how some shows are getting rid of the audiences altogether.
Watching that kind of feels like Garfield Minus Garfield. Or at least what The View would look like in the world of The Leftovers.
Well, yesterday was day one of these audience-less studio shows. The New York Times John Koblin has taken a look at how it all went.
Talk show producers have said for years that they need a good audience to make a good episode. Many of the shows bring audience members into the studio an hour before showtime. For some shows, music is pumping at eardrum-splitting volumes, the better to whip fans into a frenzy and get them primed for big reactions live on air.
On Wednesday morning, adjusting to the new realities was playing out in real time.
Mr. Seacrest and Ms. Ripa did their show in front of roughly a dozen staff members, who tried to gamely laugh at the hosts’ jokes.
Source: NYT
French TV festival Series Mania has been cancelled due to the French rule stopping gatherings of 1000+ people (to slow the spread of the coronavirus).
"Every year since its inaugural event in Lille, Series Mania has attracted 80,000 festival-goers, most of whom have already booked their event tickets, and more than 3,000 professionals. Due to the recent restriction from the French government banning gatherings of more than 1,000 people, coupled with the travel restrictions for many of our international participants, we have made the difficult decision to cancel Series Mania,” said Rodolphe Belmer, president of Series Mania.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Shout Factory has acquired the rights to the Stephen J. Cannell Productions Inc library of TV series for a mix of broadcast and streaming rights across the globe. This includes the shows: 21 Jump Street, Hunter, Wiseguy, The Commish, The Greatest American Hero, Riptide, Booker, The Greatest American Heroine, Hawkeye, Marker, Missing Persons, Palace Guard, Renegade, Silk Stalkings, Stingray, Tenspeed and Brownshoe.
Source: Deadline
What’s next?
