In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix announced the premiere date for its upcoming drama series “Away” and Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes announced their new podcast “Smartless” will premiere in July.
DATES
Netflix has announced “Away” will premiere on Sept. 4. The upcoming drama series follows American astronaut Emma Green (Hilary Swank) as she prepares to lead an international crew on the first mission to Mars, but she must first reconcile her decision to leave behind her husband (Josh Charles) and teenage daughter (Talitha Bateman) when they need her the most. “Away” is created by Andrew Hinderaker and is executive produced by showrunner Jessica Goldberg, Jason Katims, Matt Reeves, Hinderaker, Edward Zwick, Adam Kassan, Jeni Mulein and Swank. Watch the teaser below.
FIRST LOOKS
Netflix has released a trailer for “Street Food Latin America.” The docuseries will explore countries including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Bolivia, highlighting the stories that bring each country’s cuisine and culture to life. The season is set to premiere on July 21.
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Netflix has also dropped the trailer for its upcoming unscripted series “Love on the Spectrum,” which explores the life of young adults on the autism spectrum as they navigate the unpredictable world of love, dating and relationships. The show will follow seven singles as they step into the dating world for the first time. “Love on the Spectrum” is produced by Northern Pictures, a Blue Ant Media company. The series will premiere on July 22.
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Amazon Prime Video has dropped the trailer of Jim Gaffigan’s stand-up special “The Pale Tourist.” The two-part special follows the comedian as he travels the world, meeting new people in each country, eating the food, and learning a bit about the history. He then transforms those experiences into a stand-up set of all-new material to perform it for locals and expatriates, before heading on to another destination and doing it all over again. The special is produced by Comedy Dynamics for Amazon Prime Video, and executive produced by Brian Volk-Weiss, Cisco Henson, Jeannie Gaffigan and Alex Murray. “Jim Gaffigan: The Pale Tourist” will premiere on July 24.
DEVELOPMENT
Quibi has announced the development of a new drama series tentatively titled ‘The Long Distance Project.” The series follows two people in love living on opposite sides of the globe as they endure the roller coaster of building a life together using their cell phones and today’s technology. The show is written and executive produced by Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman. Greg Silverman and Paul Shapiro for Stampede Ventures also executive produce. Nattiv will direct.
EXECUTIVE NEWS
Former TV One executives Lori J. Hall and Jessica D. Lane Alexander have announced the launch of Pop’N Creative, an Atlanta-based ad agency focused on digital and social content creation, and experience design. Hall and Alexander’s primary mission is to help brands authentically connect with highly-coveted multicultural audiences. The agency’s approach is to build strong brands about which people want to like, tweet, text and talk.
Warner Bros. Television Group has announced its 2020 Directors’ Workshop participants: Omer Ben-Shachar, Auden Bui, Meredith Danluck, Melissa Hickey, Tiffanie Hsu, Marie Jamora, Tahir Jetter, Anna Kerrigan, Stacey Muhammad, Yoko Okumura, Solomon Onita Jr. and Leena Pendharkar. The workshop aims to discover new and innovative talent, to prepare directors from other creative fields for the transition to television, and to spur equity and inclusion by providing increased opportunities for female helmers and those from underrepresented groups. Due to COVID-19, the workshop will now be condensed into two weeks of intensive online learning instead of the typical nine weekly sessions. There will be lecture-based discussions that will teach the participants a new skill essential in pre-production, on-set shooting and post-production. This year’s program will also cast co-habitating actors who will use their homes as sets and the directors will work with them remotely via Zoom and through other technology.
DEALS
Nickelodeon has announced its multiplatform deal with James Corden and Ben Winston, and their production company Fulwell 73, to produce an animated movie and TV series, based on the children’s book “Real Pigeons Fight Crime.” The story follows the secret life of crime-busting pigeons who set out to keep a town safe. The movie and TV series are being developed to air on all Nickelodeon platforms. The deal underscores key elements of Nickelodeon’s content strategy, to build and expand the worlds of popular franchises and give audiences more of what they love. “The Real Pigeons Fight Crime” TV series is executive produced by Corden and Winston, with Andrew McDonald and Ben Wood serving as consultants throughout development and production.
PODCASTS
Actors Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes have announced their new podcast “Smartless” will premiere on July 20. The podcast aims at connecting and uniting people from all walks of life to learn about shared experiences through dialogue and humor. Each episode will start with one of the hosts revealing his mystery guest to the other two and to the audience. Will Ferrell, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Seth Rogen, Awkwafina, Dax Shepard, Melissa McCarthy, Mara Gay and Bill Simmons will guest star on the podcast. The show will be available on Apple, Spotify and wherever podcasts are available.
LATE NIGHT
Tonight, D.L. Hughley, Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. and guest host Anthony Anderson will appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!“