Showtime will debut the sophomore season of its crime drama series Your Honor starring Bryan Cranston on January 13.

Cranston returns as former judge Michael Desiato in the 10-episode second season, which picks up shortly after the events of season one. According to Showtime's description of the series, Cranston's character has lost the will to live and any semblance of the upstanding judge he once was before the death of his son, Adam. But his life is thrown yet again into chaos by the arrival of a laser-focused federal prosecutor determined to bring down a major crime organization. 

Along with Cranston, the series stars Rosie Perez, Michael Stuhlbarg, Hope Davis, Lilli Kay, Jimi Stanton, Benjamin Flores, Andrene Ward-Hammond, Keith Machekanyanga and Isaiah Whitlock Jr.

Your Honor is executive produced by Cranston, James Degus, Robert and Michelle King, Liz Glotzer and Joey Hartstone.■ 

The second season of Showtime drama Your Honor begins January 13 on demand and on streaming, and January 15 on linear TV. Season two was initially to start December 9 on streaming and on demand, and December 11 on linear TV.

Showtime pushed back the season two start to ensure that the whole season airs, week by week, without interruption. 

Bryan Cranston plays New Orleans judge Michael Desiato, whose life is derailed when his teenage son kills the son of a crime boss in an accidental hit-and-run.

Michael Stuhlbarg, Hope Davis, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Andrene Ward Hammond and Keith Machekanyanga are also in the cast. Season two guest stars include Rosie Perez, Margo Martindale and Amy Landecker. 

Your Honor is executive produced by Robert and Michelle King and Liz Glotzer, with Joey Hartstone the showrunner and executive producer for season two. Cranston and James Degus executive produce the series for Moonshot Entertainment. 

Produced by CBS Studios in association with King Size Productions, Your Honor is based on the Israeli series Kvodo, which is created by Ron Ninio and Shlomo Mashiach. Rob Golenberg, Alon Aranya, Ninio, Mashiach, Ram Landes, Ron Eilon and Danna Stern are executive producers. ■  

Emmy-winning actor Bryan Cranston returns to series television seven years after Breaking Bad ended in Showtime’s new drama, Your Honor. 

Cranston plays respected New Orleans Judge Michael Desiato, a widowed father of a young teenage son, Adam (Hunter Doohan). As a judge, Michael is dedicated to the truth and, as in one of the opening scenes of the pilot, shows he’s willing to go beyond his position on the bench to find it for those who appear in his court. 

He is also devoted to Adam, mourning his mother’s murder. On the anniversary of his mother’s death, Adam drives to the neighborhood where she was killed to place flowers and a photo of her. After he realizes his presence is not welcomed by a local group of men, he quickly drives away, accidentally running directly into a young bike rider, Rocco (Benjamin Hassan Wadsworth), the son of powerful mob boss Jimmy Baxter (Michael Stuhlberg). 

Disoriented from the crash, Adam’s attempts to save the young man’s life fail. He panics and leaves the scene, setting the stage for what eventually evolves into a storyline that pits the truth against the reality of the circumstances and the potential repercussions that surround both Michael and Adam. 

Cranston is brilliant as the honorable and protective father, and at times shows flashes of his unforgettable role as Breaking Bad’s Walter White, willing to push moral and legal boundaries to protect his family.  

Also turning in strong performances are Hope Davis as Baxter’s wife, Gina, and Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Charlie, Michael’s friend and a local power broker.

The early episodes of Your Honor provide a slow build to what will hopefully lead to an exciting and memorable climax for the viewers who put in the time to watch the 10-episode series.

Network, The 1976 film about a ratings-challenged news anchor who vows to kill himself on the air, and sees his Nielsen numbers skyrocket as he delivers loose-cannon jeremiads about politics and media and corporate America to viewers, is set to premiere on Broadway. Bryan Cranston plays anchor Howard Beale.

While the story is set four decades ago, the play — and the not-so-dated movie before it — raises some pressing and familiar issues about the media’s role in our lives today.

Beale is wrestling with the public’s dedication to the almighty box sitting in their family rooms. “This tube is gospel, this tube is the ultimate revelation,” he shouted on the stream-of-consciousness-driven Howard Beale Show, which took the place of his staid newscast. “This tube can make or break presidents, popes and prime ministers. This tube is the most awesome goddamn force in the whole godless world!”

The Howard Beale Show is something of a precursor to the personality-driven, soliloquy-rich content one finds on cable news today. The film, said The New Yorker, “was uncannily prescient about our outrage-fueled news-as-entertainment culture, foreseeing the likes of Sean Hannity, Jerry Springer and Laura Ingraham by decades.”

Every night, some 27 million to 29 million people tuned in to see Walter Cronkite deliver the CBS Evening News, according to Forbes magazine. Beale did a little better than the Most Trusted Man in America as his new program took off. As the anchor starts to become unglued, he’s visited by a ghost. He asks the apparition why he’s been approached. Because you have 40 million Americans watching, he is told.

People loved watching Beale’s “angry prophet” routine, but as happens with viewers, they lost interest over time. His boss, Diana Christensen — she’s played by Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany — tells Beale he’s “dropping like a stone” when his audience share falls below a 40.

Network chiefs today can dream about that 40 share. The average audience for the evening newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC stands at 5.2 million viewers apiece, said comScore TV Essentials, a 7% drop from the year before.

But that’s not to say people aren’t consuming awesome amounts of media. Last year, Fox News Channel generated some $2.67 billion in revenue, CNN tallied $1.59 billion and MSNBC took in $798 million, according to SNL Kagan. Seeking to reach its consumers on the go, Fox News launched its OTT product Fox Nation last week. For six bucks a month, users get on-demand programming starring the likes of star-polished personalities Tomi Lahren, Britt McHenry and Sean Hannity.

Fox News senior vice president of development and production John Finley likened the new channel to a combination of Netflix and Facebook Live. “It’s kind of a hybrid mix between the two,” Finley said, “in terms of format and offerings.”

It’s safe to say Beale would be blown away by Netflix, even though he would probably be disappointed by the platform’s lack of news. Netflix is spending close to $13 billion on original content this year, according to The Economist, way up from $8 billion a year ago. If one can’t swing the eleven bucks a month, one can simply stand in Times Square, a quick hop from where Network shows at the Belasco Theatre, and watch the massive digital billboard showing Netflix clips all day long.

Standard Deviation

Beale also lamented the breakdown in the lofty standards the news business once held itself to. “Television is not the truth,” thundered Beale. “Television is a goddamn amusement park. Television is a carnival, a circus, a traveling troupe of acrobats and storytellers, dancers and jugglers and sideshow freaks, lion tamers and football players.”

Speaking with The New York Times, Cranston — who, of course, played methamphetamine-making Walter White on Breaking Bad — shared his own thoughts on the state of news media. “We’re seeing it now, very clearly: agendas of different outlets, to promulgate their ideology,” he said. “Whether it’s liberal or conservative. It doesn’t matter, it’s out there. And you listen to the people who agree with you for affirmation, and you listen to the other side so you can get angry and shout at them.”

TV news today, Cranston added, is a “news-entertainment program.”

Fittingly, oversight of Beale’s program gets shifted from the news division to programming, with all the entertainment series. As programming chief Diana Christensen discusses the show with news president Max Schumacher, played by Tony Goldwyn, who portrayed the U.S. president on Scandal, she doesn’t think much of the network’s news standards. Its newscasts are “straight tabloid,” she says, mentioning a recent 1½-minute story about a naked lady riding a bike through Central Park. “I don’t think I’ll listen to any protestations of high standards of journalism,” Christensen scoffs. “If you’re gonna hustle, at least do it right.”

Speaking of U.S. presidents, Beale might be prepared to leap — rather than scream — out the window over a president who derides stories that criticize him as “fake news,” and famously denied a press pass to a CNN reporter he often clashed with. (Jim Acosta’s credentials were restored days later.) Just last week, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to express his desire for a federal news network, because, he said, CNN does not do a good job of portraying the U.S. A “worldwide” network would “show the World the way we really are, GREAT!” he said on Twitter.

The general public’s opinion of TV news isn’t a whole lot higher than the president’s. Some 50% of U.S. adults get news regularly from television, according to a study earlier this year from Pew Research. That’s down from 57% a year before that.

Around 46% of Americans turn to local TV for news, ahead of the 31% who use cable news and 30% who turn to broadcast network stuff.

And 43% of Americans often get their news online, while Pew said a whopping 93% of U.S. adults get at least some news online. Plenty of online sources are legit, with veteran reporters covering the basics of journalism. In the coming weeks, CBSN Local premieres, marrying CBS News’s four-year-old streaming channel with its local news outlets. WCBS New York is first.

But countless other online news sources fit the president’s fake news description.

Remote Vote

Christensen, Network’s network programming chief, says TV networks have little responsibility to deliver responsible, virtuous content. “We’re not in the business of morality,” she tells news chief Schumacher. “We’re in the business of business.”

Its TV network was just one aspect of the portfolio belonging to Communications Corporation of America, the fictional behemoth in Network. CCA presaged the corporate monoliths controlling the media today.

Can we hold our news sources to higher standards than Christensen does? After all, the viewers are ultimately the ones who decide if a news network thrives or dives. Might we take a more active role, with remote or mouse or phone in hand, in clicking off the outlets offering news that does not hit our standards?

Howard Beale implores his viewers to take a stand against the untruths he felt were streaming out of the tube back in the ’70s. “Turn off your television sets!” he howls. “Put an end to this madness. Strike a blow for sanity. Right in the middle of this show. Turn off your TVs and set yourself free, goddamnit!”

His bosses weren’t wild about that message from their ornery host, but it didn’t end there. “Get up out of your chairs right now, stick your heads out the window, and yell,” Beale memorably exhorts, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!”

AMC's Breaking Bad is often heralded as one of the greatest television shows of all time. The series, which starred Bryan Cranston as chemistry teacher suffering from lung cancer who decides to produce and sell crystallized methamphetamine to secure his family's financial future, won 19 Emmy Awards and garnered near universal critical acclaim during its five-season run in the late 2000s.

MCN Original Videos caught up with Cranston in 2010 prior to the show's third season and before the show really took off with viewers and critics. 

The third season of SuperMansion starts on Sony Crackle May 7. Dr. Devizo, voiced by Chris Pine, is declared a hero and he and the Injustice Club are made members of the League of Freedom. “The good guys have to live with the bad guys,” explained Zeb Wells, who created the show with Matthew Senreich.

The animated series has always attracted some biggish names to voice characters, including Bryan Cranston and Keegan-Michael Key. This season sees Minnie Driver join the cast. Driver will voice Debbie Devizo, Dr. Devizo’s ex-wife. “I am thrilled to put on my superhero cape,” Driver said.

“We’re all super-excited about Minnie joining,” Wells added. “She brings a lot of humor and a certain gravitas.”

How does SuperMansion end up attracting boldface names? Well, Cranston is an executive producer of the show, besides voicing Titanium Rex. “They just like what they’ve been reading,” Senreich said of the scripts. “They get excited about playing these characters.”

“And there’s no hair and makeup,” Wells added.

Season three sees the mythology surrounding the League of Freedom get a bit deeper. “You can watch it for the superhero mythology, or you can watch to see some superheroes farting around,” Wells said.

Indeed, SuperMansion remains zany as ever. “I don’t think anyone can predict the way it plays out,” Senreich said. “That’s what makes it so fun.”

And BattleBots starts on Discovery Channel May 11; it pits the most badass robots against each other in battle. Tombstone, Minotaur, Witch Doctor, Bronco and Bite Force are among the battling bots this season.

BattleBots previously aired on Comedy Central, ABC and Discovery sibling Science Channel. Why is it right for Discovery? Wyatt Channell, executive producer, describes the show as a “remarkable mix of things,” including intriguing builders, who drive the bots, and “tremendously kinetic, engaging battles,” he said. “And it’s just a lot of fun.”

Discovery is doing 20 episodes, which were shot in an airplane hangar in Long Beach, Calif., over the course of two weeks. Five days after they premiere on Discovery, episodes run on Science. Channell described the Science episodes as “the same plus more” — repeats, but with additional stuff, such as a bout you didn’t see on Discovery or behind-the-scenes info.

This year’s competition features a mix of horizontal and vertical spinners, and bots with flippers. Of the latter, Channell noted the “hang time of various bots caught on the wrong end of flippers.”

Discovery is doing the BattleBots Twisted Metal Giveaway, where fans of the series have a chance to win a piece of a bot that was presumably smashed to bits in a battle. “A lot of the shrapnel is surprisingly iconic,” Channell said.

Streaming service Netflix and HBO were the big TV network winners during the Screen Actors Guild Awards Sunday night.

Netflix won four awards including both the best drama series for Stranger Things and best comedy for Orange Is The New Black. HBO took home three SAG Awards statuettes, including a best actress in a comedy series award for Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ performance in Veep.

The SAG Awards were peppered with political statements from the winners. On winning the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor In A TV Movie/Limited Series, All The Way star Bryan Cranston – who plays President Lyndon B. Johnson in the HBO original film -- said if Johnson were alive he would wish current President Donald Trump well, but would warn him: “Just don’t piss in the soup that all of us gotta eat.”

The TV category winners of the 23rd annual Screen Actors Guild Awards are as follows:

Outstanding Performance by and Ensemble In a Drama Series

Stranger Things -- (Netflix)

Outstanding Performance by A Male Actor In A Drama Series

John Lithgow – The Crown (Netflix)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor In a Drama Series

Claire Foy – The Crown (Netflix)

Outstanding Performance By a Male Actor In A TV Movie/Limited Series

Bryan Cranston -- All the Way (HBO)

Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A TV Movie/Limited Series

Sarah Paulson – People v. O.J. Simpson (FX)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble In A Comedy Series

Orange Is The New Black – (Netflix)

Outstanding Performance by A Male Actor In A Comedy Series

William Macy – Shameless (Showtime)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actress In A Comedy Series

Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Veep (HBO)

Outstanding Action Performance by A Stunt Ensemble In A Comedy Or Drama Series

Game Of Thrones – (HBO)

IFC shared its new programming slate at an upfront event in New York April 21, sneak-peeking eight comedies from the likes of Bryan Cranston, Hank Azaria and Sharon Horgan.

Cranston is executive producer on Todd Barth Can Help You, about a nerd who transforms himself into a self-help guru. Azaria stars in Brockmire, a Funny or Die production about a beloved baseball announcer who suffers a very public meltdown. Horgan, costar on Amazon’s Catastrophe, is starring in This Land Is Ours, about anarchist squatters in present day New York (produced by her production company Merman).

"These projects reflect our mission to make great content with cool people," said IFC president Jennifer Caserta. “At IFC, we are driven by developing smart comedy that is 'Slightly Off' and working with the very best creative forces, both in front of and behind the camera."

Seth Meyers was on hand to talk about season two of Documentary Now! Executive produced by Lorne Michaels and produced by Broadway Video, Documentary Now! returns this fall with seven new docu-spoofs showcasing the comedic talents of Bill Hader, Fred Armisen and others.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

RELATED:Looking for Shows People 'Love': A Q&A With Crackle's John Orlando

Crackle is hoping to break into the big leagues of streaming services with the help of new original series, including the Nov. 19 debut of glitzy drama The Art of More, set in the fictitious realm of New York City art-auction houses and featuring star turns by Dennis Quaid, Cary Elwes and Kate Bosworth.

Over the past five years, the unit of Sony Pictures Television has evolved from offering short-form content, then adding Web series, to now creating long-form TV and films. While The Art of More is the free, ad-supported platform’s first original scripted series, in early October Crackle reached another milestone with the launch of stopmotion animated series SuperMansion, voiced by Emmy Award winner Bryan Cranston.

With 18 million monthly users in the U.S. and availability via 30 different applications for connected TVs, smartphones, tablets and the Web, Crackle has taken pains to ensure its content is pervasive and accessible. To that end, its content also comes in three languages and is available in 21 countries.

‘OTT’ IS TEMPORARY

As executive vice president of digital networks at Sony Pictures Television and general manager of Crackle, Eric Berger has helped develop the division into Sony’s always-on global streaming network. He is responsible for the development, production and distribution of original features and series created for Crackle. He also oversees all programming, marketing, distribution, product, video operations and engineering, as well as ad sales for Crackle and PlayStation Vue.

While it’s tempting to call Crackle another over-the-top provider, Berger eschews the term, calling it “temporary.”

“We view ourselves much more akin to a TV network,” he said. “We’re in the best of both worlds between TV and streaming, and we’re programming with original content. We’ve gone from shortform websites to half-hours, to features and one-hour dramas. We’re growing and evolving.”

Berger said Crackle has aimed for a seamless streaming experience that mirrors programmed linear-TV viewing. When a viewer launches the Crackle app, a scheduled program begins to play, and consumers can browse for something else in the channel guide while continuing to watch the show that’s currently on.

While viewers can always watch something on-demand, Crackle also offers multiple scheduled channels of themed content that vary by daypart.

Berger’s team analyzed consumer behavior with OTT and found that the connected TV category was the most desirable for streaming video into the home.

There were also differences in behavior among users of Roku boxes, Apple TV boxes and game consoles vs. linear TV. The idea of coming home and watching whatever’s on TV is a thing of the past — connected-TV users were simply watching whatever was on, the team found.

This fall, Crackle rolled out the always- on experience on a number of connected devices, including Roku, PlayStation, Xbox, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV.

Consumers started to take notice of Crackle in a big way in 2013 when Comedians in Cars Drinking Coffee, the unscripted interview series produced by and starring Jerry Seinfeld, launched. That was Crackle’s first big crossover show, and it returns in January for a seventh season.

Dan Patrick’s Sports Jeopardy!, a weekly show produced in front of a live studio audience, takes Crackle even further into the pop-culture zeitgeist.

Berger made note of another differentiator for Crackle: Its shows go straight to series; there are no pilots. In addition, Crackle integrates advertisers early on in the process and because it’s backed by Sony, the shows are distributed globally. And by being both the studio and the network, Crackle has an end-to-end process that it sees all the way through from conception with the talent, through distribution. Plus it controls the ad sales.

‘TV AND NOTHING SHORT OF THAT’

Berger calls The Art of More and SuperMansion “TV and nothing short of that.”

“It’s the next evolution for us as we come up from movies and half-hours,” he said. “We want to position Crackle as the best of both worlds — we’re on-demand and we’re a linear network.”

Crackle’s predominantly 18-to-34- year-old male demographic is also evolving and the network is looking more at the psychographics of its streaming audience. “We’re focused on ‘rechargers,’ people who are in the prime of their professional lives, building careers, working hard and playing hard. They stream to relax, they over-index on game-console usage, and they want things that are hassle-free and accessible.”

Bridging the gap between linear TV and on-demand is what Crackle’s aiming for and it’s a sweet spot for Berger.

“I really enjoy the intersection of the art and the technology,” he said. “I like taking the data and learnings about the experiences consumers like to have and translating them into new experiences.”

“We’re introducing audiences to new worlds they haven’t seen before and aligning them thematically with other content that resonates and does well,” Berger added. “By using the data and seeing what works and doesn’t work, we can extrapolate.

“You’re going to see more and more original programming on Crackle,” he added.