Starz has renewed its hit drama series BMF for a fourth season prior to the show’s third season debut on March 3.

The series, executive produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, follows the exploits of two brothers leading a legendary Detroit-based crime family. The series is one of Starz's most watched shows, averaging 10.6M multiplatform views per episode.

The series stars Demetrius Flenory Jr., Da’Vinchi, Russell Hornsby, and Michole Briana White. Along with Jackson, BMF is executive produced by Randy Huggins, Heather Zuhlke, Anthony Wilson and Anne Clements.

“Fans can’t get enough of the history in the making that is BMF,” Starz president of programming Kathryn Busby said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to start working on a new season that will continue bold storytelling of the legend of the Flenory brothers that has proven to resonate so deeply with our viewers.” 

HBO has set an October 29 date for the return of its drama series The Gilded Age from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. 

The sophomore series, which follows the lives of characters prospering during the late 19th century, ended its freshman season in March. The eight-episode second season will explore the main character Bertha Russell (played by Carrie Coon), as she challenges the old system and works to not only gain a foothold in society but to potentially take a leading role in it, according to the network. 

Along with Coon, The Gilded Age stars Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Morgan Spector, Denee Benton and Louisa Jacobson.

The series is executive produced by Fellowes, Gareth Neame, David Crockett, Michael Engler, Bob Greenblatt, Sonja Warfield, and Salli Richardson-Whitfield.

Prime Video has dropped the original trailer for its upcoming drama series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart starring Sigourney Weaver. 

The seven-part series, based on Holly Ringland's best-selling novel, debuts August 4 and stars Weaver as June Hart, who takes in her granddaughter Alice after her parents perish in a mysterious fire. According to Prime, Alice over several decades learns that there are secrets within secrets about her and her family's past. 

Along with Weaver, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart stars Alycia Debnam-Carey, Asher Keddie, Leah Purcell and Frankie Adams.

The series is executive produced by Weaver, Jodi Matterson, Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky, Sarah Lambert and Glendyn Ivin. 

HBO on Friday pulled the plug on its Emmy-winning drama series Westworld after four seasons.

The series ended its fourth season this past August and was arguably one of the network’s highest-profile shows. During its run the show was nominated for 54 Emmy Awards, winning four statuettes, including a 2018 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series nod for Thandiwe Newton.

Westworld’s ensemble cast featured such stars as Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Tessa Thompson, Luke Hemsworth and Anthony Hopkins.

The series was created by Johnathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, who also served as executive producers along with J.J. Abrams, Alison Schapker, Athena Wickham, Richard J. Lewis, Denise Thé and Ben Stephenson.

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In a statement, HBO said: “Over the past four seasons, Lisa and Jonah have taken viewers on a mind-bending odyssey, raising the bar at every step. We are tremendously grateful to them, along with their immensely talented cast, producers and crew, and all of our partners at Kilter Films, Bad Robot and Warner Bros. Television. It’s been a thrill to join them on this journey.”

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Kilter Films added: “Making Westworld has been one of the highlights of our careers. We are deeply grateful to our extraordinary cast and crew for creating these indelible characters and brilliant worlds. We’ve been privileged to tell these stories about the future of consciousness — both human and beyond — in the brief window of time before our AI overlords forbid us from doing so.” ■

Peacock will bring back its freshman drama series One of Us Is Lying for a second season, the streaming service announced Friday.

The series, which follows the exploits of five high schoolers reporting to detention who become suspects after one of them dies, will feature Erica Saleh as showrunner for the second season, according to Peacock. Season one showrunner Dario Madrona will remain on board as executive producer. 

“We are thrilled that the compelling and binge-worthy first season of One of Us Is Lying resonated so strongly with our [young adult] audience,” said Lisa Katz, president scripted content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming in a statement. “The fandom behind the series is incredibly passionate and we can’t wait to deliver more twists and turns that will leave viewers on the edge of their seats.”  

Added Saleh: “We are so happy with the reception of season one, and are beyond thrilled that we get to continue our story in Season Two. We can't wait to bring more mystery to the halls of Bayview High!” ■ 

HBO Max has renewed its freshman drama series Gossip Girl for a second season, the streaming service said Thursday.

The series, which debuted its first six episodes July 8, launched to best viewership numbers for a drama series on HBO Max, according to the service. The final six episodes of season one will debut in November. 

The series — a reboot of a reboot of the The CW series that ran from 2007-2012 — stars Jordan Alexander, Eli Brown, Thomas Doherty, Tavi Gevinson, Emily Alyn Lind, Evan Mock, Zion Moreno, Whitney Peak and Savannah Lee Smith.

Gossip Girl is executive produced by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage.  

Beverly Hills, Calif.—National Geographic continues to ramp up its scripted lineup with The Hot Zone, starring Julianna Margulies, the network announced Wednesday during the its Television Critics Association summer press tour session.

The drama series—based on the international best-seller by Richard Preston—recounts the terrifying true story of the origins of the Ebola virus, and follows a U.S. Army scientist (Margulies) who put her life on the line to head off the outbreak before it spread to the human population, said network officials.

“Julianna is dream casting for the role of Dr. Nancy Jaax,” said Carolyn Bernstein, executive VP, global scripted development and production, National Geographic in a statement. “Her rare combination of warmth, strength, humor and intelligence are the perfect recipe to make this terrifying true story feel relatable, grounded and human.”

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The Hot Zone will be produced by Lynda Obst Productions, Scott Free Productions, Kelly Souders & Brian Peterson, Jeff Vintar and Fox 21 Television Studios.

The Hot Zone joins the network’s other scripted series including the Emmy-nominated Genius: Picasso and Mars.

Freeform has renewed its drama series Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger for a second season, the network said Friday at Comic Con International.

The series, which follows two teenagers from very different backgrounds who find themselves burdened by and awakened to newly discovered superpowers which are mysteriously linked to one another, will return for a 10-episode sophomore run in spring 2019, said network officials.

Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger, which stars Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph, drew 4.4 million viewers across all platforms, according to Nielsen L+35 ratings the number one new cable drama of the summer in the network’s key demos of women 18-34 and females 12-34.

The series is co-produced by Marvel Television and ABC Signature Studios, and executive produced by Joe Pokaski and Jeph Loeb.

The drama building this summer for a potential nuclear weapons summit between the United States and North Korea, the continuing discovery of malfeasance related to the #MeToo social movement, and a U.S.-less FIFA World Cup will have a tough time measuring up to the sizzling, dramatic tales in new series that cable networks and streaming services are set to unveil over the next few months.

Cable networks have traditionally used broadcast television’s summer hiatus to launch new drama series, but this year, there are more such offerings on the docket than in the past.

And most of these new shows are not traditional, garden variety dramas with clear-cut winners and losers, obvious heroes and villains or plot lines that tie up neatly at the end of each episode.

Shows Get Topical

The unique new scripted dramas reflect many of the issues facing society today. For instance, AMC’s Dietland is the story of an overweight journalist learning to love herself and her body amid a string of vigilante murders committed in the name of women’s empowerment. FX’s Pose follows characters set in the 1980s New York glamour scene, with a cast that includes an industry-first five transgender actors in starring roles.

“We are definitely living in a time with a lot of drama,” Jason Smilovic, executive producer for AT&T Audience Network’s new espionage-themed drama series Condor, said. “I think that it’s certainly timely with regards to what’s going on in the world. A lot of these shows are asking the big question of our time: Can we find common ground with each other, or are we going to fall back to the tribalism that will ultimately destroy us?”

In June alone, 10 new scripted drama series are set to premiere just on cable networks, with an additional nine launching on OTT services.

Last year, cable networks debuted 17 drama series from June through August.

Added to June’s new shows is a batch of returning drama series, including final episodes of Freeform’s teen-targeted series The Fosters; Syfy’s fantasy series 12 Monkeys; AMC’s artificial intelligence-based show Humans; Showtime’s Golden Globe-winning limited series The Affair; Netflix’s superhero series Marvel’s Luke Cage and women’s wrestling-themed GLOW; and TNT’s salon-set drama Claws.

TNT and TBS president Kevin Reilly said the summer still presents the best opportunity to generate the most noise for high-profile cable drama series, even as TNT, for one, has employed a strategy of launching shows on a year-round basis.

“It’s not like the broadcast shows are intimidating ratings-wise — because they’re not — but there is a lot of messaging [when shows premiere in the fall], so it becomes a lot harder to get people’s attention,” Reilly said. “We’re starting to push a little more toward the fall, but we continue to heavy up in the summer with our drama launches.”

In an era when a successful drama series can go a long way in defining a network’s brand, National Public Radio TV critic Eric Deggans said cable networks and streaming services this summer are tackling new, dramatic themes they hope will catch fire with viewers. This summer’s lineup also comes at a time when broadcast networks are dialing back on shows that deal with heavy subject matters in favor of more emotional dramas that almost serve as comfort food for viewers.

“There are a lot of shows coming to the fore where cable networks are taking a chance and trying to do something unique and different,” he said. “The summer is a good time for an HBO, AMC, Netflix or Hulu to try some unconventional dramas during a time when there’s less competition from the broadcast networks.”

Network executives said the summer is also a fertile time to generate strong ratings returns, particularly in delayed viewing, as viewers tend to be out of the house more enjoying the warmer temperatures.

Last year’s most-watched scripted cable series on a Nielsen live-plus-7 basis, HBO’s Game of Thrones, and cable’s top new scripted series, The Sinner on USA Network, debuted between June 1 and Aug. 31.

While the summer months can provide opportunities to launch new shows, network executives said the increase in new shows from cable and streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon has made it more difficult to break through the clutter.

“I think we’ve known that the idea that there could be a safe space to launch something doesn’t exist anymore between broadcast, other cable networks and the OTT services — there’s no place where you have free rein anymore,” FX co-president of original programming Nick Grad said. “We’re less competition-focused with regard to when we launch shows. Right now, it’s just make a great show, market it really well, and let the chips fall where they may.”

For many networks, that means delivering content with a unique perspective or storyline that will capture viewers’ attention or super-serve a targeted demo. AMC is hoping to accomplish both tasks with Dietland, based on the novel by Sarai Walker.

The series is set in the world of high fashion and beauty, and stars Joy Nash as Plum Kettle, an overweight ghostwriter for a fashion magazine, struggling with her self-worth, who gets caught up with a bizarre vigilante group that violently targets people who mistreat women.

Dietland executive producer Marti Noxon said the series is timely, given the #MeToo and women’s empowerment movements. The show addresses such topics as misogyny and body-shaming while depicting an unlikely heroine who ultimately seeks personal comfort and acceptance within her own skin.

“It’s like Devil Wears Prada meets the Fight Club,” said Noxon, who has served as executive producer for such hit series as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, E!’s UnREAL and Bravo’s Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce. “For these characters, no matter how out of the world they are, you can relate to them, and you see the world through their eyes.”

Other dramas set to debut in June tackle themes of big, out-of-control government, as well as hot-button social issues. Epix’s Deep State is about a family man fighting to escape his past and the dark excesses of government and corporate power; Paramount Network’s Yellowstone stars Kevin Costner as a rancher trying to protect himself, his family and his land from border fights and attempted takeovers from large oil and lumber corporations; and Facebook Watch’s Five Points, in which five Chicago high-school students tell the story of a life-changing event from different perspectives, delves into gun violence and bullying.

Epix president Michael Wright said the network is betting Deep State, which stars Mark Strong (Zero Dark Thirty), will provide viewers relevant and appealing content that will stand out in a crowded summer marketplace. 

"I think you’re hoping that anything you put on today has something relevant about it,” Wright said. “In this era, whatever you put on has to be loud and it has to speak to people. We’re hoping with Deep State there is a contemporary relevance to the subject matter that gives it something that will pop and help people notice it.”

Audience Network will look to capitalize on a reboot of a successful espionage-themed movie with Condor, based on Three Days of the Condor, the 1975 thriller starring Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway.

The series follows a low-level CIA employee who seeks to find out who killed his co-workers while uncovering a plan that threatens millions Along with fans of the movie, Condor’s Smilovic said there are numerous similarities between the show’s plot and the events developing around the world that will intrigue younger viewers who are unfamiliar with the film.

“Characters are getting more complicated and gray, whereas they used to be black and white, and good and bad,” he said. “In Condor, our supposedly good characters do bad things, and our supposedly bad characters do good things.

“Television for a long time was unable to tell stories with that type of complexity of character,” Smilovic added. “Now audiences demand it.”

FX’s latest Ryan Murphy project, Pose, is a dance/musical series set in the ball culture of 1980s New York. It features transgender characters in lead roles, a rarity on television.

Grad said Pose provides an inspirational storyline that the network hopes will play well with traditional as well as underserved audiences. “It feels really different and unique and it’s incredibly inspiring,” he said. “It really takes the marginalized, underdog characters … and puts them in the lead.”

More Room for Storytelling

The arrival of new distribution outlets has afforded show producers new opportunities to tell differentiated, unique stories, even if it has also become more difficult for content to break through the clutter.

“It’s both wonderful because there is more opportunity, but it’s also harder to break through,” Noxon said. “People’s attention is so pulled in different directions — they have their phone, video games, television and movies — so the exciting thing about Dietland is that I can’t imagine anyone saying, ‘I’ve seen that story before.’ ”

Added Condor’s Smilovic: “Five years ago, we were still talking about brands, and now we no longer think about brands but about content. People will migrate to any platform for the right content, and so, being given that opportunity, I think there are way more opportunities than there were four or five years ago.”

Starz Wednesday (Oct. 4) announced a straight-to-series order for a new scripted drama series, Sweetbitter.

The six-episode series, based on the national best-selling novel of the same name written by Stephanie Danler, follows the story of a young woman’s coming-of-age, set against the rich and grimy backdrop of exclusive restaurants, said the network.

Stu Zicherman (The Americans, The Affair, Six Degrees) joins Danler as executive producers for Sweetbitter along with Plan B Entertainment. Donna Bloom will serve as producer on the six-episode freshman season.

“Stephanie’s smart, sensory and genuine storytelling is set in the world of high-end dining, fueled by too much debauchery, drugs and French wine,” said Starz CEO Chris Albrecht in a statement. “Stephanie, Stu and Plan B have found an exciting way to translate the celebration of senses depicted in the book to the screen, and along the way, will post a love letter to New York City.”

***

LEARN MORE:NYC TV Week is coming up, starting with the 27th annual Broadcasting & CableHall of Fame on Monday, Oct. 16. For more about #NYCTVWK, click here.

It was a big night for Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale, which took home Emmy Awards in two of the three major drama categories.

Read More: Complete coverage of the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards

The series won the Emmy for best drama -- the first win in the category for a streaming series -- topping veteran drama shows Better Call Saul (AMC) and House Of Cards (Netflix) as well as Netflix freshman series The Crown and Stranger Things. The category was devoid of last year's winner, HBO's The Game Of Thrones, which didn't qualify for Emmy consideration this year.

The Handmaid's Tale star Elisabeth Moss also won the Emmy for lead actress in a drama, besting newcomers Claire Foy (Netflix’s The Crown) and Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld) as well as veterans Viola Davis (ABC’s How To Get Away With Murder), Keri Russell (FX’s The Americans), and Robin Wright (House of Cards).

 FX will debut its new drama series Snowfall on July 5, the network said Monday.

The series, created by John Singleton (Boyz In The Hood), chronicles the early 1980’s crack epidemic in Los Angeles. The series stars Damson Idris, Sergio Peris-Mencheta and Carter Hudson.

Snowfall is executively produced by Singleton, Eric Amadio, Dave Andron, Thomas Schlamme, Michael London and Trevor Engelson. 

RELATED: MCN Review: WGN America's 'Underground'|MCN Original Video > Content Spotlight: WGN's 'Underground'

Grammy-, Golden Globe- and Oscar-winning singer/songwriter John Legend is looking to hit the right notes on TV, serving as executive producer of WGN America’s antebellum drama series, Underground, which depicts the “Underground Railroad” used by 19th-century African-American slaves to escape the South for the free states and Canada (premiering March 9). He also produced the title song. The 37-year-old Legend discussed his move into television, along with his Get Lifted production company, as well as diversity on the small screen with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead. An edited transcript follows.

MCN:What drew you to theUndergroundproject?

John Legend: We were happy to join a team that was already in place with [show creators] Joe [Pokaski] and Misha [Green] and an amazing cast. We’re just happy to help bring the story to light because that’s what producers do — we collaborate with great creative people. I think it’s such a powerful and riveting show and I want people to see it.

MCN:Did you have any apprehensions about moving into the television arena?

JL: [Get Lifted partner Mike Jackson] convinced me that because of who I am and what I do this would be a great opportunity to have an impact in the business, since I’m already plugged into the creative community and Hollywood. I’m an English major who loves to read and consume great stories, as well as great TV and film, so I can use my influence in the community to help bring great stories to light.

MCN:You also had a big hand in directing the music for the show. Since this is a period piece was it difficult to create and match music to the time in which the story takes place?

JL: We used contemporary music, and while we also used period music, we didn’t want it to feel stuck in that era. We wanted to connect it with current popular culture and make it feel like it was coming off the walls of a museum and feel more present and alive. We all went into it with that vision — we didn’t want it to feel staid and stiff, and feel like you were doing a homework assignment to watch it. We wanted it to feel alive and full of action, suspense and thrills. So the music helped us do that.

MCN:Do you think younger viewers will gravitate to the series given its historical nature?

JL: We’re trying to make this relevant to anybody who’s watching it — black, white, Latino, Asian, young or old. We’ve been removed from slavery now for several generations, and we know a little about it from history books, although I think our history classes don’t do a good enough job of telling the stories. We think the power of the story itself and the characters, as well as the storytelling by the director and the music, will connect it to a younger generation. We didn’t slap in new music just to make it cool for the kids, but we really tried to make the music feel organic to what was happening in a given situation.

MCN:Do you think the increased amount of multicultural-themed shows on television helps the overall appeal and interest in the show?

JL: It’s clear that you’re able to see a lot of people of color on television right now in various roles and time periods, and I think the success of shows like Empire, Black-ish, Scandal and other shows where we’re seeing black people in positions of power doing things behind and in front of the camera shows Hollywood and the powers that be that it’s important to tell diverse stories, and creates a climate where it’s easy for us to get this type of show on the air. We’re really starting to see a diverse range of content — not just black and white, but also Asians, Latinos, people of different eras and different countries. You’re seeing a lot of subcultures that are being explored in great television shows, and this is an important story and time period in American history, and we’re excited to get this story on the air.

MCN:What other projects are you working on?

JL: We’re producers on a movie Southside With You, which premiered at Sundance. We’re also working on a couple of documentary projects, not to mention I’m working on a new album and expecting a baby [with wife Chrissy Teigen].

Finally, a high-quality new space drama fills the vacuum that’s been left since Battlestar Galactica and some other period pieces on Syfy ended. (Stargate Universe anyone?)

The Expanse has the right combination of thoughtful human themes and implausibly great space-travel technology, given it’s set a mere 200 years into the future. Storylines blend nicely, the multicultural characters are well-drawn and there’s a fine mix of action and drama.

Earth has colonized the entire solar system and is in a cold-war conflict with Mars. People also live on outposts in the asteroid belt, mined for ice and oxygen; the “belters’ ” bodies have adapted badly to low-gravity environments. There are terrorist threats from a political movement called the Outer Planet Alliance.

The acting is terrific; the top-named actor is Thomas Jane, of HBO’s Hung, who plays Miller, a seedy-seeming cop who’s drawn into searching for a missing heiress. Scenes shift from Miller’s cop life in the Ceres space station to following the crew of the ice freighter Canterbury. They run into trouble after answering a distress call in space, which as we all know is never a good idea. Another key location is Earth, controlled by the United Nations, and a deputy secretary (played by Shohreh Aghdashloo of 24) who tries to maintain the fragile détente between Mars and Earth.

The pilot is online now at Syfy.com.

Studios presents an alternative history lesson with this new original drama. Based on a Philip K. Dick novel, it’s set in a 1962 U.S. ruled by the Axis powers after their triumph in World War II.

Alexa Davalos plays Juliana, a San Francisco resident who comes into possession of a reel-to reel film from her sister, who is killed by the Japanese police force. It shows the U.S. winning the war. She eventually meets Joe Blake (Luke Kleintank), a 27-year-old from New York who’s working with the resistance, but isn’t all that he seems to be.

From executive producer Ridley Scott (Blade Runner), The Man in the High Castle starts slowly and takes time to establish parallel plot lines. It’s a fascinating, espionage- themed thriller with potential to hold viewers throughout a 10-episode run. Watch the trailer here.

UP will step into the very crowded and competitive scripted-series arena with the August launch of its new drama series Ties That Bind.

Known more for family-friendly, inspirational original movies and reality shows, Ties That Bind, which starts Aug. 12, stars Kelli Williams (The Practice) as a woman who looks to balance her life as a hard-nosed detective and a single mom.

The show will be a key part of UP’s presentation during this week’s annual Television Critics Association summer tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. UP will be one of about 20 cable networks to introduce new original scripted series, reality shows, miniseries and documentaries as part of the three-day cable portion of the tour, presented by the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing and beginning July 28.

UP’s first scripted series is a natural extension of its original movies strategy, senior vice president of original programming Barbara Fisher said.

“We recognize that it’s series that are defining networks these days,” she said. “While movies are the backbone of your network, it’s really series that bring attention to the network.”

Fisher said the drama series deals with some gritty issues, such as domestic abuse, divorce and crime — always within the network’s theme of uplifiting, family-friendly programming. The episodes always end with the family settling down to share a meal, she said, stressing the family values that typify the network’s brand.

Networks such as Hallmark Channel have shown that family-friendly series can draw an audience, Fisher said, adding that she hopes the dramatic themes in Ties That Bind will draw viewers looking for safe and entertaining programming.

“A lot of the shows that get a lot of the buzz that feature anti-heroes and dark themes don’t necessarily have as wide a viewing audience as you might think,” she said. “I think there’s a huge opportunity for networks such as ours to offer something that’s uplifting — we can be family-friendly and still be relevant.”

Fisher says that the network will look to roll out at least one more scripted series in 2016 and is looking at several candidates.