HBO has ordered a third season of Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon. Season two premieres Sunday, June 16. 

Based on the George R.R. Martin book Fire & Blood, the series is set 200 years before Game of Thrones. It details the House of Targaryen. 

Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best and Fabien Frankel are in the cast. 

Also Read: Max’s Dragons Seen Flying Over Roku City Promoting Season 2 of ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel

Martin and Ryan Condal are co-creators and executive producers, and Condal is the showrunner. 

“George, Ryan, and the rest of our incredible executive producers, cast and crew, have reached new heights with the phenomenal second season of House of the Dragon,“ Francesca Orsi, executive VP, HBO Programming and head of HBO drama series and films, said. “We are in awe of the dragon-sized effort the entire team has put into the creation of a spectacular season two, with a scope and scale that is only rivaled by its heart. We could not be more thrilled to continue the story of House Targaryen and watch this team burn bright again for season three.”

Sara Hess, Alan Taylor, Melissa Bernstein, Kevin de la Noy, Loni Peristere and Vince Gerardis are executive producers as well. 

At a press event earlier this month in New York, Condal described the new season as “a point of no return” for key characters, with some serious conflicts. “The hatred only gets worse as things go on and pile up,” Condal said. 

HBO had a press event for House of the Dragon, inviting Ryan Condal, co-creator, showrunner and executive producer, to share about season two, along with a dozen cast members, including Emma D’Arcy, who plays Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen; Matt Smith, who portrays Prince Daemon Targaryen; and Olivia Cooke, who plays Queen Alicent Hightower. 

Condal said season one’s finale gave the producers and cast a perfect jumping-off point for the new season, which arrives on HBO and Max June 16. It is set days after the first season ended. 

“That was the place, going back five years, we wanted to end the season with,” said Condal, the lone American representing the show at the event. “Off we go to the next horrible tragedy.”

He described the season as “a point of no return,” with some serious conflicts. “The hatred only gets worse as things go on and pile up,” said Condal. 

Mara Webster, co-founder and head of programming at In Creative Company, moderated the event, at HBO headquarters in New York. 

Team Green came out first, with six cast members. Cooke said she takes issue with viewers hating on Alicent. “I don’t see her as vicious,” she said. “I see that she has got a point a lot of times.”

Fabien Frankel, who plays Ser Criston Cole, hears from the haters too. He said a colleague told him, “I hope you’re looking forward to being the most hated character on television.”

Tom Glynn-Carney, who plays King Aegon II Targaryen, said the king has “a little more spring in his step” in the new season, and is stepping “into these kingly shoes with enthusiasm.”

But he’s still a troubled soul. “The guy is riddled with insecurities and vulnerabilities and the things that fracture a person,” said Glynn-Carney. 

Ewan Mitchell, who plays Prince Aemond Targaryen; Phia Saban, who portrays Queen Helaena Targaryen; and Matthew Needham, who is Lord Larys Strong, were also in the Team Green panel. That then gave way to Team Black. 

“It’s good to get rid of the riffraff,” quipped Smith as the first group exited the venue.

Along with Smith and D’Arcy, the team featured Steve Toussaint, who portrays Lord Corlys Velaryon; Eve Best, who is Princess Rhaenys Targaryen; Harry Collett, who plays Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, and Bethany Antonia, cast as Lady Baela Targaryen. 

Smith shared his thoughts on playing Daemon in the Game of Thrones spinoff. “He flies by the beat of his own drum,” he said. “His moral compass is his own. And I admire that about him.”

Toussaint said he has avoided the George R. R. Martin books. “They’re two different mediums,” he said. “I didn’t want to fall in love with the page. I felt it was safer to just play what is in the script.”

The cast was asked about shooting the riding-dragons scenes. “It’s just exactly like riding a dragon in real life,” joked Best. “It’s desperately uncomfortable in armor.”

Antonia and Toussaint spoke about being Black actors in the cast. “It was so important to me to be in a franchise of this scale,” Antonia said, because she never saw Black actors in such productions as a child.

Toussaint shared about the many, many letters, social messages and personal greetings he has received, viewers sharing their enthusiasm for a diverse cast. “Everybody has a right to be represented,” he said. “That is a world we are striving for.”

Condal said George R. R. Martin is “always with us.” He said the producers are “operating on our own in a good way, but George always looms large in the world of House of the Dragon.”

He hinted at “many more shows about this world.” 

Viewers will meet five new dragons in the new season. But Condal stressed that House of the Dragon is much more than dragons. “The things I’m most proud of are two characters in a room,” he said. “You have to have these stage stories.”

The series premiere of HBO's Game of Thrones spinoff series, House of the Dragon, drew 9.986 million views across linear and HBO Max streaming, and spanning U.S., LatAm and EMEA regions, making it HBO's biggest series debut ever, the premium channel said. 

Typically, first-day Sunday viewership will account for just 20% - 40% of a show's overall audience.

The April 2011 premiere of Game of Thrones previously held the all-time mark for HBO's audience high for a series debut with 9.3 million viewers -- although that performance occurred well before streaming was a factor.

Meanwhile, in terms of third-party metrics, Samba TV said 2.6 million U.S. households watched House of the Dragon in its first six hours Sunday, either via linear or streaming. 

It was far and away the best audience performance of the year for a premium cable TV or streaming series premiere, Samba TV noted, more than doubling the previous-best performance by Netflix's Stranger Things, which saw Season 4, Volume 2 debut to 1.2 million same-day households back at the beginning of July. 

Notably, Warner Bros. Discovery reported that HBO has just under 50 million U.S. subscribers across linear and IP-based HBO Max platforms, as of the end of March, which was the last time the company broke out individual HBO subscriber metrics. Netflix has just under 75 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. 

Samba TV measured viewership for House of the Dragon from 9 p.m. EST Sunday through 3 a.m. EST Monday. 

"Just as Stranger Things’ most recent Season 4, Volume 2 drop surpassed its Volume 1 audience, HBO must look to innovative marketing that drives incremental audience growth to break through today’s saturated content marketplace," said Ashwin Navin, co-founder and CEO of Samba TV. 

Two high-profile series are set to debut during a busy week of summer premieres. 

HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon, makes its much-anticipated debut on August 21. The series, which takes place two centuries before Thrones, tells the story of House Targaryen, according to the network.

Debuting August 19 is Disney Plus' latest Marvel Studios-produced series, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. The nine-episode series stars Tatiana Maslany as a lawyer who gains some of the Hulk’s superpowers after her blood mixes with her cousin Bruce Banner, played by Mark Ruffalo.

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for multiple shows debuting the week of August 15 to August 21 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

Aug. 15 – Legacy: The True Story of the L.A. Lakers (documentary) – Hulu

August 16 – Dark Side of Comedy (documentary series) – Vice

August 18 – Glorious (horror) – Shudder

August 18 – The Undeclared War (drama) – Peacock

August 19 – Bad Sisters (dramedy) – Apple TV Plus

August 19 – Echoes (drama) – Netflix

August 19 – Orphan: First Kill (horror movie) – Paramount Plus

August 19 – Sprung (comedy) – Freeve

August 19 – Surfside Girls (drama) – Apple TV Plus

HBO Thursday offered a teaser trailer for its highly-anticipated Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon, which debuts Aug. 21. 

The 10-episode series, based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, takes place 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones that tells the story of House Targaryen, said the network.

The series stars Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans.

House of the Dragon is executive produced by George R.R. Martin, Ryan Condal, Miguel Sapochnik, Sara Hess, Jocelyn Diaz, Vince Gerardis and Ron Schmidt.

The series is the first of several potential spinoffs of Game of Thrones, which during its eight-season run on HBO won a record 59 Emmy Awards.  ■ 

Also: George Carlin Documentary From Judd Apatow on HBO 

House of the Dragon, based on the George R.R. Martin book Fire & Blood and set 200 years before Game of Thrones, will premiere on HBO August 21. The series tells the story of House Targaryen.

There are 10 episodes.

Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizun and Rhys Ifans are in the cast.

Considine plays King Viserys Targaryen. “A warm, kind and decent man, Viserys only wishes to carry forward his grandfather's legacy,” said HBO. “But good men do not necessarily make for great kings.”

Martin created the show with Ryan Condal. They executive produce with Miguel Sapochnik, Sara Hess, Jocelyn Diaz, Vince Gerardis and Ron Schmidt. Condal is co-showrunner with Sapochnik.  

Game of Thrones ran for eight seasons on HBO before its finale in 2019. ■

HBO Tuesday debuted the first video teaser for its much anticipated original series House of Dragon.

The series, a prequel to its Emmy-winning Game Of Thrones saga and based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood novel, is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and tells the story of House Targaryen, according to HBO.

The series stars Wil Johnson, John Macmillian, Savannah Steyn and Theo Nate. 

House of the Dragon is executive produced by Martin, Ryan Condal, Miguel Sapochnik,  Vince Gerardis, Ron Schmid and Sara Hess.
 

The 2010’s ushered in a new era of original scripted television series created and distributed by an unprecedented number of distribution outlets, all looking to attract viewers anxious to watch content at their leisure across numerous platforms. Heading into 2019 nearly 500 scripted series could be accessed on broadcast, cable and digital streaming platforms.

Here’s a look at five shows on cable and streaming services that helped define the decade though a mix of excellence via ratings, industry awards and cultural influence.

Game of Thrones -- HBO (2011-2019)

HBO’s titanic fantasy series arguably drew more combined viewership, media coverage and social media activity --both positive and negative -- than any other show during the decade. What is not in dispute is the record 59 Emmy Awards the show won over its eight-season run.

Related: HBO, Amazon Prime Rule Emmy Awards Telecast 

Atlanta -- FX (2016 to present) 

Comedian/rapper/musician/producer in Donald Glover created a show that presents a sometimes complex but most times comedic slice of African-American life that had never existed on TV before. The result is a groundbreaking show that has earned critical acclaim and several Emmy Awards, including Glover’s Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series statuette -- the first awarded to an African-American.

Stranger Things -- Netflix (2016 to Present) 

While streaming service Netflix’s ambitious run at producing original scripted series began in earnest with such critically-acclaimed hits as House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black, it was a 1980’s-based, sci-fi thriller full of monsters and young, teen protagonists that gave Netflix a pop culture hit perfectly suited for binge viewing. 

Power -- Starz (2014-2020) 

Starz’s provocative series from executive producers Courtney Kemp and 50 Cent about a drug dealer looking to escape the world of crime and go legit found a fervent and loyal audience early and helped to dismiss the myth that a show with a predominantly African-American cast couldn't draw solid ratings numbers on premium cable television.

American Horror Story -- FX (2011 to Present) 

The series became the poster child for the resurrection of the anthology series genre with its creative ability to scare up a new story each season. American Horror Story paved the way for the success of other anthology series including HBO’s True Detective, AMC’s The Terror, Nat Geo's Genius and FX’s own American Crime Story, Fargo and Feud.

Honorable Mention:

The Walking Dead -- AMC (2010 to Present) -- The most-watched show on cable during the first half of the decade, the zombie-themed series drew a basic cable record 17.3 million viewers for its season five premiere in 2014.

Veep -- HBO (2012-2019) -- Among the most celebrated TV comedies of the decade, the series won 11 Emmy awards, including a record six straight best comedy actress statuettes for series star Julia Louis-Dreyfus from 2012 to 2017.

The Handmaid’s Tale -- Hulu (2017 to Present) -- The dark drama series arguably put the nascent streaming services on equal footing with broadcast networks and cable services by winning the digital platform's first drama series Emmy in 2017. 

The first season of HBO’s Game of Thrones is set to be streamed for free during the holidays on the Roku Channel.

Still perhaps TV’s hottest scripted property, even seven months after it culminated its eight-season subscription-only run. It arrives on Roku’s free-to-consumer, ad-supported VOD platform, Roku Channel, amid what has become an annual promotion for Roku, “Stream-a-thon.”

From December 26 through January 1, Roku Channel watchers will be able to stream content from subscription-only premium channels including not only HBO, but also Showtime, Cinemax, Starz and others. 

This year’s slate includes Cinemax’s Warrior, Starz’s Power and Showtime’s Billions, The Affair and Ray Donovan, among other originals. 

Other HBO shows included in the promotion include Golden Globe-nominated, multi-part series Chernobyl, as well as Euphoria, Sesame Street and Succession. 

HBO outlasted Amazon Prime Video and Netflix as the three services dominated 71st annual Primetime Emmy Awards during a live ceremony that featured several surprises among the night’s winners.

HBO garnered nine Emmy wins during the live telecast to top all services, according to the TV Academy. Amazon Prime Video finished second, drawing seven awards and topping Netflix’s four wins during Fox’s live telecast. 

Prime Video comedy Fleabag won six of the streaming service’s seven awards, including a surprise win in the best comedy series category. The sophomore series topped category favorites The Marvelous Mrs. Masiel, which won last year, and HBO’s Veep, which had won the previous three years.

Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge also won the Emmy for best actress in a comedy, ending Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ record six consecutive wins in years in which she was nominated for the award. Dreyfus was not eligible to win the award last year, which was won by Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.)

NBC and FX were the only other networks with multiple wins with two each.

Overall including Creative Arts Emmys, HBO tallied 34 Emmy wins, with Netflix finishing second with 27 and Amazon Prime Video finishing third with 15. National Geographic was fourth with eight wins, with NBC rounding out the top five with seven statuettes.

HBO Game Of Thrones made one last Emmy splash, winning a total of 12 Emmys -- including a second straight Emmy for best drama series -- to top all shows. The network’s limited series Chernobyl finished second with 10 Emmy wins, including Outstanding Limited Series. Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel finished third with eight Emmy wins.

Below is a partial list of 71st annual Emmy Award winners:

Best Comedy Series 

Fleabag (Amazon)

Best Actress, Comedy Series

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag (Amazon Prime Video)

Best Actor, Comedy Series

Bill Hader, Barry (HBO)

Best Supporting Actress, Comedy Series 

Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime Video)

Best Supporting Actor, Comedy Series 

Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime Video)

Best Drama Series

Game Of Thrones (HBO)

Best Actress, Drama Series 

Jodie Comer, Killing Eve (BBC America)

Best Actor, Drama Series 

Billy Porter, Pose (FX)

Best Supporting Actress, Drama Series 

Julia Garner, Ozark (Netflix)

Best Supporting Actor, Drama Series 

Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones (HBO)

Best Limited Series

Chernobyl (HBO)

Best Television Movie

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (Netflix)

Best Actress, Limited Series or TV Movie

Michelle Williams, Fosse/Verdon (FX)

Best Actor, Limited Series or TV Movie

Jharrel Jerome, When They See Us (Netflix)

Best Supporting Actress, Limited Series or Movie

Patricia Arquette, The Act (Hulu)

Best Supporting Actor, Limited Series or Movie

Ben Whishaw, A Very English Scandal (Amazon Prime Video)

Best Variety Sketch Series

Saturday Night Live (NBC)

Best Variety Talk Series

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO)

Best Reality Competition Program

RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1)

Peter Dinklage repeated as Emmy winner in the best supporting actor category in his last year of eligibility for his role as Tyrion Lannister on HBO’s Game Of Thrones. Dinklage bested actors Giancarlo Esposito, Jonathan Banks, Alfie Allen, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Michael Kelly, and Chris Sullivan for the statuette.

In a surprise, Julia Garner won the best supporting actress Emmy for her performance as Ruth Langmore in Netflix’s Ozark, besting four Game Of Thrones nominees as well as Killing Eve’s Fiona Shaw. 

Related: 'Game of Thrones' Triumphs in Best Drama Category

HBO, led by its powerhouse series Game of Thrones, was the big winner at this weekend's Creative Arts Emmys ceremonies, according to the Television Academy.

HBO garnered 25 Creative Arts Emmys combined across two ceremonies recognizing excellence in technical categories. Netflix finished second with 23 wins.

RELATED: Netflix Tops First Night Of Creative Emmy Awards

National Geographic and Amazon Prime Video tied for third with eight wins, while CNN and NBC finished fourth with five awards. CBS, Fox and YouTube rounded out the top five with four wins each, according to the TV Academy.

HBO’s Game of Thrones won 10 Emmy awards, topping all shows. The network’s Chernobyl tied with National Geographic’s Free Solo for second with seven wins, followed by Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel with six statuettes. Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots and Queer Eye garnered five and four Emmys, respectively.

A complete list of 2019 Creative Arts Emmy winners for Sunday's ceremony can be found here. The 71st Emmy Awards will air on Fox Sept. 22.

HBO easily regained its title as the top Emmy-nominated service, drawing a whopping 137 Emmy nominations, the TV Academy announced Tuesday morning (July 16). 

Leading HBO’s charge was Game Of Thrones, which drew an Emmy-record 32 Emmy nominations in its last year of eligibility, wiping out NYPD Blue’s 25-year record, according to the Academy.

Other shows garnering multiple nominations include Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (20 Emmy nominations), HBO’s Chernobyl (19), NBC's Saturday Night Live (18), HBO’s Barry and FX’s Fosse/Verdon (17).

Video streaming service Netflix - which was the most nominated service last year for the first time in its history --  finished a distant second this year with 117 nominations, led by its documentary series When They See Us, with drew 16 nominations. NBC finished third with 58 nods, followed by Amazon Prime video (47) and CBS (43).

Game Of Thrones will vie for its second straight Emmy for best drama against a host of first time-nominated shows such as Netflix’s Bodyguard, BBC America’s Killing Eve, FX’s Pose, Netflix's Ozark and HBO’s Succession. AMC’s Better Call Saul and NBC’s This Is Us rounded out the category.

HBO's Veep will look to win one more Emmy in the best comedy category after not being eligible for the award last year. Veep star Julia Louis-Dryefus will also look to add to her Emmy collection of wins for best performance by an actress in her last year of eligibility as politician Selina Meyer. 

The 71st annual Emmy Awards will air live on Fox Sept. 22, while the Creative Arts Emmy Awards will air Sept. 21 on FXX.

A complete list of Emmy shows can be found here.

HBO drew a record 19.3 million for last night’s Game of Thrones final episode across its various platforms, besting last week’s audience numbers.

The final episode of GoT’s eighth and final season topped the 18.4 million viewers that tuned into the series' May 12 episode, the prior record, said network officials. The episode also was also the most watched single linear telecast ever for the network, drawing 13.6 million viewers and beating out 13.4 million viewers that watched the 2002 season four premiere of The Sopranos, said HBO.

RELATED: Game of Thrones' Swan Song Strikes Similar Chord to HBO's Other Hit Drama

Overall, season eight of Game of Thrones averaged 44.2 million viewers per episode in gross audience, an increase of more than 10 million viewers when compared to season seven, according to HBO.

HBO’s Emmy-winning series Barry benefited from the big Game of Thrones audience, reaching a series high 2.7 million for its season finale, up 253% compared to last season’s finale of 774,000. The series is currently averaging 4.8 million viewers in gross audiences, up from last year’s 4.4 million, according to HBO. 

The finale of HBO’s Game of Thrones will debut Sunday with much fanfare -- and probably a record number of viewers for the pay channel.

Last Sunday’s penultimate episode set a network audience record as 18.4 million viewers tuned in across HBO's platforms (linear, HBO GO and HBO NOW) according to the network, exceeding the previous series high of 17.8 million viewers HBO reported two weeks ago for the April 28 Winterfell war episode.

The excitement surrounding the Game of Thrones finale brings to mind the hype surrounding another HBO series finale more than a decade ago. The Sopranos was itself a cultural phenomenon as well as a critical and audience success for the premium channel heading into its series finale back in 2007.

Like Game Of Thrones today, The Sopranos back then was the network’s most successful show, and was on track to set a network viewership record for a finale. The infamous Made In America final episode eventually drew a record 11.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

RELATED: Never Say 'Ciao,' Tony

Most industry observers would bet that the audience across HBO’s various platform views for Sunday’s Game of Thrones episode will dwarf The Sopranos’ final episode viewership as HBO and fans bid farewell to television’s top Emmy-winning series. The penultimate episode, "The Bells," drew 18.4 million viewers across platforms.

Sunday’s Game of Thrones will also certainly draw its share of detractors who will dislike how the show finally ends. Already more than 600,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for a rewrite of the entire final season of the series, adding that the show “deserves a final season that makes sense.”

Of course, you can still find people in 2019 who are still talking about the Sopranos’ final restaurant scene that left viewers in limbo on the fate of the series' protagonist Tony Soprano 12 years ago. 

One thing the Game Of Thrones finale will produce: a rare water-cooler moment for a linear television show. 

HBO’s Game of Thrones season eight premiere drew a record 17.4 million viewers in its Sunday debut, according to network officials.

The combined linear, HBO Go and HBO Now audience for the first of the series’ final six episodes beat out the 16.9 million viewers watched by the show's season seven finale to become the most watched episode in the show’s history, according to HBO.

The HBO Now streaming service also saw a jump of approximately 50% in viewing when compared to last season’s finale and nearly doubled (97%) when compared to the seventh season premiere, according to the network. Overall the streaming service reported its largest night of streaming activity ever, said HBO.

RELATED: 'GoT' and Masters Viewers Faced Usual Live Stream Challenges Sunday 

Other HBO shows benefited from the record Thrones ratings debut. The second season premiere of dramedy Barry at 10 pm drew 1.8 million viewers and 2.2 million viewers for the night — more than quadrupling its previous week's audience that did not benefit from the Game of Thrones lead-in. Sunday's episode of Veep at 10:30 drew 1 million viewers and 1.5 million viewers including repeats, its largest audience since June 2016, according to network officials.

Also, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver was watched by 1.7 million viewers for the night and 1.3 million viewers at 11:00 p.m., its most-watched telecast since August 2017, according to the network. 

With the internet a less-than-ideal platform for live-streaming mass-audience events, rarely if ever do hugely anticipated programs go down without a hitch, and Sunday was no exception.

Streamers of HBO’s season eight premiere of Game of Thrones experienced issues in regions including the Northeast U.S., as well as Europe and Latin America, according to the website DownDetector.

Frustrated users of HBO Go, the authenticated online channel, and the standalone streaming service HBO Now took to social media Sunday night to report issues ranging from login problems to excessive buffering and system crashes.

[embed]https://twitter.com/HBOGOhelp/status/1117585945514127360[/embed]

Problems were also reported by users who get HBO through Hulu.

One of the glitches was consumer-friendly: DirecTV Now accidentally made the GOT premiere available in some regions three hours ahead of schedule, according to published reports. 

The season seven finale of Game of Thrones produced a first-night audience of 12.1 million viewers, and the season eight premiere was expected to exceed that total.

Earlier on Sunday, as Tiger Woods was completing his first major pro golf tournament win in 11 years, users of Hulu+ Live TV and DirecTV Now also reportedly faced challenges.

One frustrated user said on Twitter that he was told by Hulu customer service that CBS, which was broadcasting The Masters golf tourney live, cut Hulu and DirecTV Now’s access to local CBS stations so as to re-direct viewership to its website and apps. 

HBO's Game of Thrones will premiere its final season on April 14, headlining a week filled with several new original series and documentary debuts.

Game of Thrones on Sunday will premiere the first of six episodes scheduled for its eighth and final season, according to HBO officials. The fantasy series has won a record 38 Emmy Awards.

Other scripted shows returning this week include Freeform's The Bold Type and Audience Network's You Me Her, both premiering on April 9.

Also premiering April 9 is FX's new drama series Fosse/Verdon.

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting this week on cable networks and streaming service.

April 10 -- Dark Side of The Ring (sports documentary) -- Viceland

April 10 -- The Silence (movie) -- Netflix

April 10 -- You vs. Wild (reality) -- Netflix

April 13 -- The Resurgence: DeMarcus Cousins -- (sports Documentary) -- Showtime

HBO Tuesday released a new trailer linked to the final season of its Emmy Award-winning series Game Of Thrones.

The video trailer, titled Aftermath, shows a barren land devoid of life after what seems to have been an all-out war. The series returns for its eighth and final season on April 14, said the network. 

Comcast’s annual VOD sampling/bingeing fest, known as the Xfinity Watchathon, is set for April 8-14 and will once again be keynoted by a catch-up opportunity for Game of Thrones, with the previous seven seasons of the HBO hit series available leading up to the April 14 final-season premiere.

This year’s Watchathon will include every show of every season for more than 200 series, as well as access to more than 70 networks and streaming services, all available to Comcast’s pay TV users at no extra charge.

Featured shows also include A&E’s 60 Days In, Acorn TV’s Manhunt, Epix’s Punk, HBO’s Veep, MTV’s The Hills, NBC’s This is Us and Showtime’s Billions.

Related: 2018 Xfinity 'Watchathon' Offers Subset of Programming to Web-Only Subs

More than two dozen SVOD services will also be available for sampling without any needed authentication.

The event will augmented by the latest X1 Voice Remote commands—for example, saying “Xfinity Home Watchathon” will dim any connected living room lights.

“Last year, our highest day of on demand viewing happened during Xfinity Watchathon Week and we are excited to once again offer this event to our customers with more great content to enjoy across networks, studios and streaming partners,” Daniel Spinosa, VP of video entertainment services for Comcast Cable, said in a release. 

HBO Monday released the official trailer for the final season of its fantasy/drama series Game Of Thrones.

The eighth season of the Emmy Award-winning series debuts on April 14, according to the network. 

HBO Sunday said it will premiere the final season of its fantasy series Game Of Thrones on April 14.

The eight-episode eight season of the series will air at 9 pm., according to the network. The network released a teaser trailer for the final season of the series, which was directed by Emmy-winner David Nutter, said the network. 

HBO Tuesday unveiled an April launch date for the final season of its fantasy drama series Game Of Thrones. 

The pay TV service released a trailer for the multiple Emmy award-winning series announcing the show's April return, but did not release a specific date. The series won the 2018 Emmy for best drama series last month.

HBO has said it has plans to create several potential Game Of Thrones spinoff projects once the series ends. 

Netflix beat out HBO for the most Emmy wins during last night’s primetime Emmy Awards telecast, but both networks finished in a tie for the most Emmys wins overall, according to the TV Academy.

Netflix, which shocked the television industry by garnering more Emmy nominations than HBO, won seven Emmy awards during NBC’s live Emmys telecast, topping HBO by one statuette, according to the Academy. Amazon and FX tied for third with five wins, while ABC, NBC and VH1 won one Emmy a piece.

Both Netflix and HBO garnered 23 Emmy Awards across the Primetime Emmy and Creative Emmy ceremonies. "Tonight's recognition is a tribute to the creativity and talent of thousands of artists and we are thrilled to see their work awarded by the Academy," said Netflix vice president of original series Cindy Holland in a statement. "We are honored to share this night with our friends at HBO, who have paved the way for years by setting the highest possible standard."

Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was the biggest winner among all shows during last night’s ceremony, winning five statuettes, including best comedy. Maisel’s win officially ended the three-year run of HBO’s Veep atop the best comedy category. Veep was not eligible for 2018 Emmy consideration.

FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace finished second with three Emmy wins including Outstanding limited series, followed by the network’s The Americans, which drew two Emmy wins.

HBO’s Game Of Thrones – which won the best drama Emmy after not being eligible for the honor last year – also drew two wins along with HBO’s Barry, and Netflix’s Godless and The Crown.

HBO’s Last Week Tonight With John Oliver won its third straight Emmy for outstanding variety talk series.

A partial list of the 70th annual Primetime Emmys winners are as follows:

Best Drama Series: “Game of Thrones” (HBO)

Best Actor, Drama: Matthew Rhys, “The Americans” (FX)

Best Actress, Drama: Claire Foy, “The Crown” (Netflix)

Best Supporting Actor, Drama: Peter Dinklage, “Game of Thrones” (HBO)

Best Supporting Actress, Drama: Thandie Newton, “Westworld” (HBO)

Best Comedy Series: “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon)

Best Actor, Comedy: Bill Hader, “Barry” (HBO)

Best Actress, Comedy: Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon)

Best Supporting Actor, Comedy: Henry Winkler, “Barry” (HBO)

Best Supporting Actress, Comedy: Alex Borstein, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon)

Best Limited Series: “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” (FX)

Best Actor, Limited Series or TV Movie: Darren Criss, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” (FX)

Best Actress, Limited Series or TV Movie: Regina King, “Seven Seconds” (Netflix)

Supporting Actor, Limited Series or Movie: Jeff Daniels, “Godless” (Netflix)

Supporting Actress, Limited Series or a Movie: Merritt Wever, “Godless” (Netflix)

Variety Sketch Series: “Saturday Night Live” (NBC)

Variety Talk Series: “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” (HBO)

Reality Competition Program: “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (VH1)

Writing for a Comedy Series: Amy Sherman-Palladino, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (“Pilot”)

Writing for a Drama Series: Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg, “The Americans” (“Start”)

Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Drama: William Bridges and Charlie Brooker, “Black Mirror: USS Callister”

Writing for a Variety Special: John Mulaney, “John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous At Radio City” (Netflix)

Directing for a Comedy Series: Amy Sherman-Palladino, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (“Pilot”)

Directing for a Drama Series: Stephen Daldry, “The Crown” (“Paterfamilias”)

Directing for a Limited Series: Ryan Murphy, “The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” (“The Man Who Would Be Vogue”)

Directing for a Variety Special: Glenn Weiss, “The Oscars” (ABC)

HBO’s Game of Thrones is back in Emmy-winning form heading into Monday’s 70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony on NBC.

The fantasy-drama series — ineligible for the Emmys last year because its eighth-season start missed 2017 eligibility deadlines — tied with NBC’s Saturday Night Live for the most Emmy wins with seven after the Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremonies on Sept. 8 and 9.

Game of Thrones’s 12 Emmy wins in 2016 — including best drama series — help the show set a record for the most Emmy wins for a fictional series, with 38.

To return to its Emmys summit, Game of Thrones will have to conquer last year’s Outstanding Drama Series champion, Hulu’s freshman series The Handmaid’s Tale, as well as HBO sister drama series Westworld; Netflix’s Stranger Things and The Crown; FX’s The Americans; and NBC’s This Is Us.

Thus far, HBO leads the Emmy sweepstakes with 17, one ahead of Netflix and two more than NBC headed into the telecast. Netflix shocked the industry by generating 104 Emmy nods, knocking HBO from the top spot it held for more than a decade.

One show HBO cannot count on to build its Emmy wins is comedy series Veep, ineligible this year, officially ending its three-peat in the Outstanding Comedy Series category.

The premium network has fielded three nominated shows to hopefully fill Veep’s shoes — Barry, Silicon Valley and Curb Your Enthusiasm — but the show that arguably has the most momentum heading into the Emmys is The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the Golden Globe-winning period comedy from Amazon’s Prime Video.

Open Field for Funny Women

Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s record streak of six straight Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy wins will also end, leaving the category wide open for other actresses such as Pamela Adlon (FX’s Better Things), Tracee Ellis Ross (ABC’s Black-ish), Lily Tomlin (Netflix’s Grace and Frankie), Issa Rae (HBO’s Insecure), Allison Janney (CBS’s Mom) and Rachel Brosnahan (Marvelous Mrs. Maisel).

Ross and Rae in particular are part of a record number of actors of color vying for the coveted statuette. The performance of such stars during the Creative Arts Emmy ceremonies bodes well for the potential for big wins in major categories on Monday night.

Among the biggest headlines coming out of the Creative Arts Emmys was the sweep by African-American performers in the guest acting categories: This Is Us’s Ron Cephas Jones (guest actor, drama series); The Handmaid’s Tale’s Samira Wiley (guest actress, drama series); Atlanta’s Katt Williams (guest actor, comedy series) and Saturday Night Live’s Tiffany Haddish (guest actress, comedy series) — as well as John Legend’s historic Emmy win for co-producing Fox’s variety special Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, making him the first African-American man to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony award (the coveted EGOT).

Atlanta’s Donald Glover and This Is Us’s Sterling K. Brown will look to repeat with Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor in the comedy and drama categories, respectively, and Sandra Oh could become the first woman of Asian descent to win Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

Amazon Studios has signed Game Of Thrones producer/writer Bryan Cogman to an exclusive development deal, the company said Friday.

Cogman, who has served as a co-executive producer for HBO’s Emmy-winning fantasy/drama series, will work exclusively with the Amazon Studios team to create original TV series for the Amazon Prime Video streaming service, said Amazon.

“We’re proud to be in business with Bryan, who has written some of the most memorable and exhilarating television in recent history,” said Albert Cheng, co-head television, Amazon Studios in a statement. “His storytelling prowess is undeniable, and we cannot wait to introduce his voice to our Prime Video audience.”

Netflix garnered more Emmy Awards nominations than any other network or streaming service, topping perennial nominations leader HBO, the TV Academy announced Thursday morning in Los Angeles.

Netflix drew 112 Emmy Award nominations, topping HBO’s 108, according to the Academy.

Game of Thrones, which was not eligible for last year’s awards ceremony, led all shows with 22, according to the Academy. The fantasy series will look to wrestle back its Outstanding Drama Series Emmy from last year’s winner -- Hulu's The Handmaid’s Tale -- which was nominated in its second season. Netflix’s The Crown and Stranger Things, NBC’s This Is Us, FX’s The Americans and HBO’s Westworld will also compete for the coveted statuette.

Related: Netflix Investing 85% of New Spending in Originals

The Outstanding Comedy category is wide open this year with HBO’s Veep -- which has won the last three Emmys in the category -- ineligible for this year’s award. HBO will send a trio of shows in Barry, Silicon Valley and Curb Your Enthusiasm up against ABC’s Black-ish; Netflix’s GLOW and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; FX’s Atlanta; and Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Veep star Julia Louis Dreyfus will also end her record run of six consecutive wins in the lead comedy actress category due to the show's ineligibility. Contenders vying for the statuette include Pamela Adlon (FX’s Better Things); Tracee Ellis Ross (ABC’s Black-ish), Lily Tomlin (Netflix’s Grace and Frankie); Issa Rae (HBO’s Insecure); Allison Janney (CBS’s Mom) and Rachel Brosnahan (Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel).

In the limited series category, National Geographic’s Genius: Picasso will compete against Netflix’s Godless, Showtime’s Patrick Melrose, TNT’s The Alienist and FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.

For all the 2018 Emmy nominations, visit emmys.com. 

Pictured, top: HBO's 'Game of Thrones' drew more 2018 Emmy Award nominations than any other show. 

Amazon Studios has reached a first look deal with Game Of Thrones producer Vince Gerardis, the studio said Wednesday.

Amazon will have access to Gerardis’ extensive intellectual property library from top science fiction and fantasy authors such as Robert Silverberg, David Brin, Greg Bear and Jack Vance from which to create original series, according to Amazon.

“Vince has his fingertips on a ‘library of worlds,’ and I’m excited about the prospects of building multiple series with him,” said Sharon Yguado, Head of Scripted Genre Programming for Amazon Studios in a statement.

Along with serving as a co-executive producer of HBO’s Game Of Thrones, Gerardis will also produce on the show’s upcoming spin-off series at HBO. Previously, Gerardis founded and ran Created By, a literary management and production company.

Game of Thrones fans were somewhat disappointed recently to hear that their beloved show won’t return for its final season until 2019.

The good news is that a lot of quality, scripted cable shows are premiering between now and the return of the Emmy Award-winning series to help ease the withdrawal period for Thrones aficionados.

January alone is loaded with solid, binge-worthy series debuts that will help viewers get through the cold, wintery months.

Freeform earlier this week premiered the much-ballyhooed Black-ish spinoff Grown-ish, which reportedly drew more than 1.5 million viewers in its Jan. 3 premiere, the network’s best comedy series debut in nearly six years. Freeform comes back Wednesday (Jan. 10) with another comedy series, Alone Together.

Showtime this past Sunday (Jan. 7) debuted its drama The Chi from Emmy award-winning writer Lena Waithe to 1.67 million combined same-day and early sampling viewers – its best debut numbers for a series since Billions in 2016.

Later in the month, Golden Globes show-stopper Oprah Winfrey’s OWN will serve up a reboot of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne series with new show The Paynes, while Comedy Central will debut an edgy workplace comedy dubbed Corporate, and POP will exercise viewers’ funny bones with its new comedy Let’s Get Physical.

On the drama side, FX will look to follow up on the success of The People v. O.J Simpson with the true crime drama The Assassination of Ginni Versace: American Crime Story. Also, Starz’s spy thriller Counterpart, TNT’s The Alienist, HBO’s Mosiac, WGN’s Bellevue, and Paramount Network’s Waco are on tap to premiere this month.

This week, cable networks will unveil several more new scripted series set to air later this year. Already at TCA, FX announced a Sons of Anarchy spinoff — Mayans MC -- which will premiere in 2018.

Read More: Complete Coverage of #TCA18

Overall, the number of new and returning scripted series on cable, broadcast and streaming services are expected to increase beyond the 487 that were offered in 2017, according to FX.

Game of Thrones fans should be able to find at least a few shows to fill the void until the dragons fly once again in 2019.

Game of Thrones fans will have to wait until 2019 to watch the fantasy series’ eighth and final season, HBO announced Thursday (Dec. 4).

Series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will return as executive directors for the six-episode final season of the Emmy Award-winning series. The last episode of Game of Thrones’ seventh season, which aired in August, drew a series record 12 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

Also serving as directors for season eight of Game Of Thrones are Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger and Bernadette Caulfield; with Bryan Cogman, Guymon Casady, Vince Gerardis and George R.R. Martin serving as co-executive producers, according to HBO.

Netflix and HBO dominated the 2018 Screen Actors Guild Awards television nominations announced Wednesday morning.

Netflix garnered 19 SAG Awards nominations, with HBO finishing second with 12. NBC finished a distant third with three nominations, according to SAG-AFTRA. 

Three shows tied for the most nominations with four each, including HBO’s limited series Big Little Lies, Netflix’s sci-fi series Stranger Things and female wrestling-themed comedy GLOW. 

Netflix’s Stranger Things will look to repeat in the best drama series category as it competes with sister Netflix series The Crown, HBO’s Game Of Thrones, Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale and NBC’s This is Us.

Netflix’s Orange Is The New Black will also look to defend last year’s win in the outstanding comedy series category against ABC’s Black-ish, HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, Netflix’s GLOW and HBO’s Veep.

The 24th annual SAG Awards will be presented live on TNT and TBS on Jan. 21.

SAG Awards nominees in the television category are as follows:

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series

LAURA DERN / Renata Klein – “BIG LITTLE LIES” (HBO)

NICOLE KIDMAN / Celeste Wright – “BIG LITTLE LIES” (HBO)

JESSICA LANGE / Joan Crawford – “FEUD: BETTE AND JOAN” (FX Networks)

SUSAN SARANDON / Bette Davis – “FEUD: BETTE AND JOAN” (FX Networks)

REESE WITHERSPOON / Madeline MacKenzie – “BIG LITTLE LIES” (HBO) 

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH / Sherlock Holmes – “SHERLOCK: THE LYING DETECTIVE” (WGBH/Masterpiece)

JEFF DANIELS / Frank Griffin – “GODLESS” (Netflix)

ROBERT DE NIRO / Bernie Madoff – “THE WIZARD OF LIES” (HBO)

GEOFFREY RUSH / Albert Einstein – “GENIUS” (National Geographic)

ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD / Perry Wright – “BIG LITTLE LIES” (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

MILLIE BOBBY BROWN / Eleven – “STRANGER THINGS” (Netflix)

CLAIRE FOY / Queen Elizabeth II – “THE CROWN” (Netflix)

LAURA LINNEY / Wendy Byrde – “OZARK” (Netflix)

ELISABETH MOSS / Offred/June – “THE HANDMAID’S TALE” (Hulu)

ROBIN WRIGHT / Claire Underwood – “HOUSE OF CARDS” (Netflix)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

JASON BATEMAN / Martin “Marty” Byrde – “OZARK” (Netflix)

STERLING K. BROWN / Randall Pearson – “THIS IS US” (NBC)

PETER DINKLAGE / Tyrion Lannister – “GAME OF THRONES” (HBO)

DAVID HARBOUR / Jim Hopper – “STRANGER THINGS” (Netflix)

BOB ODENKIRK / Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman – “BETTER CALL SAUL” (AMC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

UZO ADUBA / Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren – “ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK” (Netflix)

ALISON BRIE / Ruth Wilder – “GLOW” (Netflix)

JANE FONDA / Grace Hanson – “GRACE AND FRANKIE” (Netflix)

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS / Selina Meyer – “VEEP” (HBO)

LILY TOMLIN / Frankie Bergstein – “GRACE AND FRANKIE” (Netflix)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

ANTHONY ANDERSON / Andre “Dre” Johnson – “BLACK-ISH” (ABC)

AZIZ ANSARI / Dev – “MASTER OF NONE” (Netflix)

LARRY DAVID / Himself – “CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM” (HBO)

SEAN HAYES / Jack McFarland – “WILL & GRACE” (NBC)

WILLIAM H. MACY / Frank Gallagher – “SHAMELESS” (Showtime)

MARC MARON / Sam Sylvia – “GLOW” (Netflix)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

THE CROWN (Netflix)

GAME OF THRONES (HBO)

THE HANDMAID’S TALE (Hulu)

STRANGER THINGS (Netflix)

THIS IS US (NBC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

BLACK-ISH (ABC)

CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (HBO)

GLOW (Netflix)

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (Netflix)

VEEP (HBO)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series

GAME OF THRONES (HBO)

GLOW (Netflix)

HOMELAND (Showtime)

STRANGER THINGS (Netflix)

THE WALKING DEAD (AMC)

LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

54th SAG Life Achievement Award

MORGAN FREEMAN

David Benioff and D.B Weiss are near household names today – particularly in homes with well-worn and extensive fantasy novel libraries – but it wasn’t always that way. The two, co-creators and showrunners of HBO’s blockbuster Game of Thrones were just two guys with an idea when they pitched their version of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire to the premium network nearly a decade ago.

Today, GoT has won more Emmy Awards than any other scripted series and in its seventh season attracted an average of 33 million viewers, making it the most popular show in HBO history. Benioff and Weiss, on location in Belfast, Northern Ireland, as they film the final year of the fantasy saga, took some time out to answer a few questions from Multichannel News senior finance editor Mike Farrell via e-mail about the man who helped make it all happen, MCN's Executive of the Year, HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler.

MCN: What is it about HBO that made you want to do your show there? What was your first pitch meeting like?
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss: Well, HBO was the home of our favorite dramas: The Sopranos,Deadwood, The Wire. For most of television’s history it has been considered the bastard younger brother of film, but HBO began to change that perception by attracting top-notch actors, directors and writers, and providing big enough budgets to allow for cinematic production values.

So once we realized the story of Game of Thrones could only be told in the multi-season format of a television program, HBO felt like the best choice by far.

We pitched the show to [former HBO Entertainment president] Carolyn Strauss and [former HBO Entertainment SVP] Gina Balian. We had been warned that Carolyn was a tough pitch and we shouldn’t expect her to laugh at any of our jokes. So when she cracked a smile midway through the meeting we felt like we’d won the golden ticket.

MCN: How supportive is the environment at HBO and is it a company you’d like to continue working for?
Benioff and Weiss: For both of us this has been the best experience of our working lives. Our show started out expensive and has gotten more expensive every year. But while each new season brings some creative haggling, HBO has always provided us with the resources we need to tell the story we want to tell.

Even in the early seasons when the show was more of a niche offering, we were able to communicate with leadership and explain our needs. An example: at the end of Season 2 we shot our first big battle, the Battle of Blackwater Bay. We knew it was going to be expensive, with hundreds of extras, a ship that needed to be built, and a great deal of VFX shots. We didn’t have the money for it so we called the home office and explained why we needed the extra money and how we planned on spending it.

It was a big ask but they listened. They never hung up the phone; they never said, “The budget is the budget.” It took some persuasion, but ultimately they said, “We trust you.”

As to the second part of the question— we’ve said this before but it remains the truth: HBO is the New York Yankees of television. If you have a chance to play in Yankee Stadium, you wear the pinstripes until you can’t play anymore.

MCN: Many entertainment CEOs don’t have relationships with talent. How much interaction do you have with Richard Plepler?
Benioff and Weiss: We talk to Richard a lot, and we see him a lot. One of the reasons he's so good at what he does is that he's in his element with such a broad range of people, including people like us. It's an honest impulse that comes from his genuine and voracious curiosity about the world.

If you're making one of his shows, he wants to know the details. If you're making policy in Washington, he wants to know the details. If you're making his sandwich, he wants to know the details. There's a warmth and ease there that makes you look forward to spending time with him. Conversations with him are energizing, not enervating.

MCN: What about him do you admire?
Benioff and Weiss: Aside from the above? In a business full of smiling windsocks, he is not a windsock. He doesn't focus test his decisions, he doesn't crowdsource his decisions. Richard's decisions come from Richard, and he stands by them.

Our show... It's worked out pretty well so far, but we try to avoid the hindsight fallacy here. In 2010, he ordered a very expensive show set in a genre alien to pay TV, from two guys who had never written or run a show before, and whose first attempts at writing and producing the Game of Thrones pilot had fallen well short of expectations. And knowing all those things, he supported our show, and took a serious, potentially ruinous risk in doing so. Because he believed in it.

It's hard not to admire someone who takes a risk like that. Especially when the risk he took is the reason we're talking to you in the first place.

Fox News continued its cable primetime and total day ratings roll last week, while HBO’s Game Of Thrones set a series ratings mark in its season seven finale, according to Nielsen. 

Fox News won cable’s weekly primetime ratings race for the 13th consecutive week, averaging 2.4 million viewers for the week of Aug. 21 to Aug. 27, Nielsen reported. MSNBC finished a distant second with 1.8 million viewers followed by USA Network’s 1.5 million viewers, HGTV’s 1.4 million and CNN’s 1.3 million.

Rounding out the top 10 most watched networks for the week were TBS (1.2 million viewers); ESPN (1.1 million); Investigation Discovery and History (1 million viewers each) and Discovery Channel (918,000.)

Fox News won its 34th consecutive total day week ratings race, topping Nickelodeon, MSNBC, CNN, Adult Swim and HGTV.

USA Network was the most watched network in prime time among adults 18-49, while Adult Swim took top honors among the demo on a 24-hour basis, said Nielsen.

HBO’s Aug. 27 Game Of Thrones season seven finale drew a series record 12 million viewers to easily top all cable shows during the week, according to Nielsen.

RELATED: ‘Game of Thrones;' ‘VMA Awards’ Dominate Sunday’s Social Media TV Ratings 

Most Watched Cable Shows During The Week of Aug. 21-27 

DateShowNetworkTotal Viewers

8/27   Game Of Thrones                                               HBO                          12 million

8/21   President Trump Address-Afghanistan                  Fox News                   5.1 million

8/22   Hannity                                                             Fox News                   4.5 million

8/21   President Trump Address/Analysis                       Fox News                   4.4 million

8/21   WWE Monday Night Raw (9-10 pm)                     USA                           3.5 million

8/21   NFL Pre-Season Football – NYG/Cleve.                 ESPN                          3.5 million

8/22   Special Report w/Bret Baier                                Fox News                    3.5 million

8/21   Presidential Address Pre-coverage                       Fox News                    3.4 million

8/21   WWE Monday Night Raw (8-9 pm)                      USA                            3.4 million

8/21   WWE Monday Night Raw (10-11:12 pm)             USA                            3.2 million

Source: Nielsen

HBO’s Game of Thrones season finale and MTV’s Video Music Awards special drew more than 8 million social media interactions Sunday night, according to Nielsen.

The Game of Thrones season seven finale drew a series record 4.1 million Facebook and Twitter interactions from more than 2.2 million unique users to top all television shows on Aug. 27, according to Nielsen’s daily social content ratings report.

On HBO, the episode generated a series record 12.1 million viewers, 13% above the previous record of 10.7 million viewers set two weeks ago.

The VMA Awards finished a close second, garnering 3.9 million interactions from 1.8 million social media users. CBS’ Big Brother. HBO’s Insecure and Showtime’s Twin Peaks: The Return rounded out the top five most social entertainment shows for the day.

NBC’s San Francisco 49ers-Minnesota Vikings NFL pre-season football telecast was drew the most social media interactions for a live sports telecast on Sunday, according to Nielsen.

Beverly Hills, Calif. — HBO programming president Casey Bloys was on the hot seat Wednesday at the network's TCA summer press tour session as TV critics peppered the executive with questions about the network’s controversial new series Confederate.

Complete coverage of the 2017 TCA Summer Press Tour.

The series, which will be produced by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and will depict what the nation would look like if the South had won the Civil War, drew initial backlash when ammounced, from critics concerned about how the issue of race, and slavery in particular, would be portrayed.

Related: HBO Greenlights ‘Confederate’ From ‘Game of Thrones’ Producers

Bloys said the network’s decision to announce the show via a press release without any context from the producers was “misguided” and should have been handled differently.

“If I had to do it over again I would have let the producers sit and talk about it,” Bloys said. “The key to all of this is the context and hearing from the creators. All we can do is ask people to judge the final product rather than what it could be or might be.”

MCN Flashback > TCA16: HBO's Casey Bloys Takes Heat During TCA Session

Bloys also said the long anticipated revival of Western-themed series Deadwood is coming closer to fruition, adding that he’s excited about the new script for the David Milch series, which ran on HBO from 2004-2008. “If we can do it for a budget that makes sense and we can get the cast together then we’re inclined to do it," Bloys said. 

He also said the network is close to greenlighting a third season of its anthology series True Detective, which will feature Moonlight actor Mahershala Ali. “I’m very impressed and excited about what I’ve read,” Bloys said of the script for True Detective.

Bloys also addressed the Game Of Thrones spinoffs, saying that none of the characters in the current Game Of Thrones series will appear in any of the series followups.   

HBO has tapped Game of Thrones creators/showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to develop an new original series Confederate, network officials said Wednesday.

Confederate takes place in an alternate timeline in which the southern states have successfully seceded from the Union, creating a nation in which slavery remains legal and has evolved into a modern institution.

Benioff and Weiss will write Confederate and serve as showrunners on the series.. Also serving as executive producers and writers on the series will be Nichelle Tramble Spellman (Justified, The Good Wife), Malcolm Spellman (Empire), Carolyn Strauss and Bernadette Caulfield (Game of Thrones.)

“As the brilliant Game of Thrones winds down to its final season, we are thrilled to be able to continue our relationship with Dan and David, knowing that any subject they take on will result in a unique and ambitious series,” said Casey Bloys, president, HBO Programming in a statement. “Their intelligent, wry and visually stunning approach to storytelling has a way of engaging an audience and taking them on an unforgettable journey. Confederate promises to be no exception.”

Offering yet another indication that OTT delivery of some tent-pole TV events can have trouble scaling up at the point of impact, Sunday night’s season seven premiere of HBO’s Games of Thrones did not come out unscathed.

The HBO.com web site reportedly went down temporarily during the premiere, and several DirecTV Now customers also reported having troubles last night.

RELATED: 'Game Of Thrones' Draws Massive Social Media Chatter

The Hollywood Reporter noted that the HBO.com web site returned during the second half of the episode’s premiere on the east coast, and that HBO Go, the programmer’s authenticated TV Everywhere service, ran into some issues in Latin America on Sunday night, though that service and HBO Now, the standalone OTT version of HBO, didn’t see any widespread problems in the U.S., the programmer told the pub. 

RELATED: Perchance to Stream

DirecTV Now, AT&T’s OTT TV service that sells subscriptions to HBO, hit a snag during last night’s GoT premiere, according to DownDetector.

RELATED: DirecTV Now to Give New Subscribers Free Year of HBO

HBO dominated the scripted series portion of Saturday’s Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards with a clean sweep in the best drama, best comedy and mini-series categories.

The network’s Game Of Thrones scored its second straight DGA Award in the dramatic series category while Julia Louise-Dreyfus-starrer Veep repeated in the outstanding directorial achievement in a comedy series category, according to the organization. HBO's The Night Of won the DGA Award in the Movies For Television and Mini-Series category. 

Amazon won a DGA Award in the Children’s Programs category with its An American Girl Story – Melody 1963: Love Has to Win original movie, while ESPN’s OJ: Made In America was the top choice for Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Documentary.

DGA Awards winners in the major television categories are as follows:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Dramatic Series

Miquel Sapochnik – Game Of Thrones – (HBO)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Comedy Series

Becky Martin – Veep  -- (HBO)

Movies For Television and Mini-Series

Steven Zaillian – The Night Of – (HBO)

Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled Programming

Don Roy King – Saturday Night Live – (NBC)

Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials

Glenn Weiss – The 70th Annual Tony Awards – (CBS)

Reality Programs

J. Rupert Thompson – American Grit – (Fox)

Children’s Programs

Tina Mabry -- An American Girl Story – Melody 1963: Love Has to Win – (Amazon)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Documentary

Ezra Edleman -- OJ: Made In America – (ESPN)

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)

Cable and streaming services dominated the 2017 Golden Globe Awards nominations announced Monday morning by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

HBO topped all content distributors with 14 nominations, followed by FX with nine. Streaming services Netlfix and Amazon garnered five nominations along with AMC and broadcast network ABC, according to the organization.  

RELATED:FX, HBO dominate Critics Choice Awards for TV

Cable and streaming services all but swept both the best drama and best comedy categories. Netflix’s The Crown and Stranger Things along with HBO’s Game Of Thrones and Westworld will compete against NBC’s freshman hit This Is Us for best drama honors, while FX’s freshman series Atlanta will go head to head in the best comedy category with last year’s winner Mozart In The Jungle (Amazon) as well as Transparent (Amazon) and Veep (HBO). ABC's Black-ish is the lone broadcast network nominee in the category.

Overall, FX’s limited series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story led all shows with five nominations, followed by AMC’s The Night Manager with four, according to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

The 2017 Golden Globes ceremony will air live on NBC on Sunday, Jan. 8. 

The Complete list of TV Golden Globe Nominations

Best Television Series – Drama

The Crown – Netflix

Game Of Thrones – HBO

Stranger Things – Netflix

This Is Us – NBC

Westworld – HBO

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
Rami Malek (Mr. Robot) -- USA
Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) -- AMC
Matthew Rhys (The Americans) – FX
Liev Scrieibler (Ray Donovan) – Showtime
Billy Bob Thornton (Goliath) -- Amazon

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama
Caitriona Balfe (Outlander) -- Starz
Claire Foy (The Crown) – Netflix
Keri Russell (The Americans) – FX
Winona Ryder (Stranger Things) – Netflix
Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld) -- HBO

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Atlanta -- FX
Black-ish -- ABC
Mozart In The Jungle -- Amazon
Transparent -- Amazon
Veep – HBO

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Anthony Anderson (Black-ish) -- ABC
Gael Garcia Bernal (Mozart In The Jungle) -- Amazon
Donald Glover (Atlanta) -- FX
Nick Nolte (Graves) – Epix
Jeffrey Tambor (Transparent) – Amazon

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Rachel Bloom – (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) -- CW
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep) -- HBO
Sarah Jessica Parker (Divorce) – HBO
Issa Rae (Insecure) -- HBO
Gina Rodriguez – (Jane The Virgin) -- CW
Tracy Ellis-Ross (Black-ish) – ABC

Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made For Television

American Crime -- ABC

The Dresser -- Starz

The Night Manager -- AMC

The Night Of -- HBO

The People V. O.J. Simpson – FX

Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Riz Ahmed (The Night Of) -- HBO
Bryan Cranston (All The Way) -- HBO
Tom Hiddleston (The Night Manager) -- AMC
John Turturro (The Night Of) -- AMC
Courtney B Vance (The People v. O.J. Simpson) – FX

Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Felicity Huffman (American Crime) – ABC

Riley Keough (The Girlfriend Experience) – Starz

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

Charlotte Rampling (London Spy) -- BBC America 

Kerry Washington (Confirmation) --  HBO

Best Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role In A Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made For Television

Olivia Colman (The Night Manager) -- AMC
Lena Heady (Game of Thrones) – HBO
Chrissy Metz (This Is Us) -- NBC
Mandy Moore (This Is Us) – NBC
Thandie Newton (Westworld) – HBO

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Sterling K Brown (The People v. O.J. Simpson) -- FX
Hugh Laurie (The Night Manager) -- AMC
John Lithgow (The Crown) – Netflix
Christian Slater (Mr. Robot) – USA
John Travolta (The People v. O.J. Simpson) -- FX

HBO once again flexed its creative muscles in winning the most 2016 Emmys Awards of any network, but FX gave the reigning champion a run for its money.

FX, on the strength of its freshman limited series The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, won six Emmy Awards during last night’s primetime Emmys telecast, tying HBO for the most wins among all networks and streaming services.

The People V. O.J. Simpson drew the most hardware of the night with five Emmy Awards, including best limited series.

FX kept HBO from once again winning the Emmys triple crown as Game of Thrones won the Emmy for best drama for the second year in a row while Veep repeated as best comedy series.

HBO won 22 Emmys, including 16 Creative Arts Emmys announced last week, to best all cable and broadcast networks. The network was  led by Game Of Thrones, which matched its record 12 Emmys wins set last year.

FX was second with 18 Emmys followed by streaming service Netflix with nine Emmys, including three during last night’s telecast.

Among the surprise winners of the night were Rami Malek, who won best actor in a drama series for his portrayal of computer hacker Elliot Alderson in USA Network’s freshman series Mr. Robot, and Tatiana Maslany, who in her last year of eligibility won the best drama actress Emmy for playing multiple characters in BBC’s science fiction-themed series Orphan Black.

Orphan Black will end its run on BBC America in 2017 after five seasons.

Also pulling off a surprise win was veteran actor Louie Anderson, who won best supporting actor in a comedy series for his role as a woman in FX's freshman series Baskets. 

Not so surprising was Jeffrey Tambor’s repeat as best comedy actor for his transgender role in Transparent, and Julia Louise-Dreyfus, whose lead role on Veep won her best comedy actress honors for the fifth straight year.

The List of 2016 Emmy Winners:

Outstanding Drama Series —Game of Thrones (HBO)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series — Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black (BBC America)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series — Rami Malek, Mr. Robot (USA)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series — Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey (PBS)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series — Ben Mendelsohn, Bloodline (Netflix)

Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series — Miguel Sapochnik, Game of Thrones (HBO)

Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series — David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Game of Thrones (HBO)

Outstanding Comedy Series —Veep (HBO)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series — Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep (HBO)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series — Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent (Amazon)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series — Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live (NBC)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series — Louie Anderson, Baskets (FX)

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series — Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, Master of None (Netflix)

Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series — Jill Soloway, Transparent (Amazon)

Outstanding Limited Series — The People v. O.J. Simpson (FX)

Outstanding Television Movie —Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (PBS)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie — Sarah Paulson, The People v. O.J. Simpson (FX)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a  Limited Series or Movie — Courtney B. Vance, The People v. O.J. Simpson (FX)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie — Regina King, American Crime (ABC)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie — Sterling K. Brown, The People v. O.J. Simpson (FX)

Outstanding Directing in a Limited Series or Movie — Susanne Bier, The Night Manager (AMC)

Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series or Movie — D.V. DeVincentis, The People v. O.J. Simpson (FX)

Outstanding Reality Competition Program —The Voice (NBC)

Outstanding Variety Sketch Series —Key and Peele (Comedy Central)

Outstanding Variety Talk Series —Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO)

The stage is set this Sunday for the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, TV’s biggest awards night.

As the event approaches, there are still a number of plots and subplots to be unwound during the three-hour telecast.

Broadcast network ABC will televise live the Emmy Awards beginning at 7 p.m. ET with a red carpet pre-show. The awards, hosted by late night host Jimmy Kimmel, will air at 8 p.m.

Here are three questions that will make ABC’s telecast a must see for television fans:

Can HBO, Game Of Thrones continue to slaughter the Emmys field?

HBO was the big winner during last year’s Emmys, sweeping the best drama series (Game Of Thrones), best comedy series (Veep) and best limited series categories (Olive Kitterage) on its way 14 primetime Emmys wins and 43 total Emmy statuettes. HBO already leads the field after winning 16 Creative Arts Emmys last weekend – nine alone from Game Of Thrones,which won a record 12 Emmys in 2015.

Will cable and streaming services steal all the drama from the broadcasters?

The big four broadcast networks will haave a tough time winning Emmy awards in most of the major drama categories as cable networks and streaming video services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon dominate the list of nominees. PBS’s outgoing series Downton Abby was the only non-cable/streaming series nominated in the best drama category, while no actor from a broadcast originated show is in the running for best male performance. Among the ladies, only Empire’s Taraji P. Henson and How To Get Away With Murder’s Viola Davis are representing broadcast networks in the best drama actress category.

The comedy category is nearly as big a wipeout for the broadcasters, with only five broadcast-based shows and performers among the 19 nominations across best comedy series, best actor and best actress categories.

Will freshman series and actors of color generate the biggest Emmy headlines?

First year shows such as USA’s Mr. Robot, Netflix’s Making A Murderer and Masters Of None, AMC’s The Night Manager, FX’s Baskets, could upstage their more veteran counterparts in a number of key categories. Also, actors of color – earning a record 21 Emmy nominations this year including nods in key comedy, drama and limited series races -- could be among the big winners of the evening. 

HBO and FX were the big winners during Creative Arts Emmy Awards presentations over the weekend as the TV industry gears up for Sunday's primetime Emmys ceremony.

HBO drew 16 Creative Arts Emmy Awards wins for programs and individual achievements during ceremonies held on Saturday and Sunday night, the Television Academy announced. HBO was paced by nine awards for its drama series Game Of Thrones, including Outstanding Casting for Drama series.

FX – bolstered by four wins for its limited anthology series The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story – finished second with nine Creative Arts Emmy wins.

Netflix’s Making a Murderer also drew four Emmys wins as did Fox’s Grease: Live, according to the Television Academy.

On the individual acting front, Hank Azaria won an Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series Emmy for his role in Showtime’s Ray Donovan, while Margo Martindale won Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her appearance in FX’s The Americans.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler shared the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for co-hosting NBC’s Saturday Night Live, while Peter Scolari won the best actor Emmy in the same category for his role in HBO’s Girls.

FXX will air an edited presentation of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sept. 17, with ABC airing live the 68th Emmy Awards presentation on Sept. 18.

Top Ten Creative Arts Emmy Awards Totals (Through Sunday)

NetworkProgram WinsIndividual WinsTotal Wins

HBO                                       1                                              15                                           16

FX                                           3                                              9                                              12

Netflix                                  2                                              4                                              6

PBS                                        --                                             6                                              6

FOX                                        1                                              4                                              5

A&E                                       2                                              2                                              4

Adult Swim                         2                                              2                                              4

Amazon                               --                                             4                                              4

Cartoon Network             1                                              3                                              4

NBC                                       --                                             4                                              4

Source: Television Academy                

HBO’s fantasy drama Game of Thrones is the most watched entertainment-based series on cable so far this summer (through Aug. 7) on a Nielsen live-plus-7-day basis counting average total viewers, per the ratings company.

The sixth season of the fantasy series bested a trio of TNT scripted shows — Major Crimes, Rizzoli & Isles and The Last Ship, according to Nielsen.

For networks, the 2016 presidential campaign was a huge summertime draw for the cable news channels. Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC all ranked among the top 10 most watched networks in live-plus-7-day primetime ratings for the summer among total viewers through Aug. 7, according to Nielsen.

Fox News is poised to finish as the most watched network on cable this summer and the only network to average more than 2 million viewers for the period.

The news networks were the only cable channels among the top 10 that garnered a year-to-year viewership gain. Of the seven remaining channels, five posted double-digit declines, Nielsen reported.

Download a PDF of Cable's Summer Ratings Charts.

Summer’s Top 10 Cable Entertainment Series *

SHOW                                                  NETWORK                              TOTAL VIEWERS

Game of Thrones                                     HBO                                         11.5 million

Major Crimes                                           TNT                                             6.5 million

Rizzoli & Isles                                           TNT                                             6.4 million

The Last Ship                                           TNT                                           3.9 million

Alaskan Bush People                       Discovery Channel                      3.9 million

The Haves and the Have Nots              OWN                                              3.6 million

WWE Monday Night Raw                    USA Network                                3.5 million

Love & Hip Hop Atlanta                         Vh1                                             3.5 million

Suits                                                USA Network                                    3.4 million

Street Outlaws                             Discovery Channel                              3.3 million

Summer’s 10 Most Watched Cable Networks *

NETWORK                                        SUMMER 2016                       SUMMER 2015         % CHANGE

Fox News Channel                          2.4 million                                       1.9 million                     +28%

TNT                                                   1.6 million                                        2.0 million                      -17%

USA                                                  1.6 million                                         1.9 million                     -14%

HGTV                                               1.6 million                                         1.6 million                       -2%

Discovery Channel                        1.4 million                                        1.7 million                        -18%

Disney Channel                           1.3 million                                          1.8 million                          -26%

History                                           1.3 million                                        1.5 million                           -10%

TBS                                                 1.3 million                                      1.4 million                             -5%

CNN                                                1.3 million                                        596,000                            +122%

MSN BC                                          1.2 million                                     627,000                                +91%

Read more TCA '16 summer tour coverage

HBO Casey Bloys’ won’t soon forget his first appearance at the Television Critics Association summer tour since being named the network’s programming president after taking some critical questions from TV writers.

As Bloys confirmed the end of the network’s biggest show Game Of Thrones after its eighth season he was hit with several questions from reporters about Thrones and new series Westworld's sexualized violence against women, including rape.

While Bloys said that the concerns are valid, he said that the violence cuts across both men and women, jokingly adding “we’re going to kill everybody.”

Bloys -- who took over the position this past spring from the departed Michael Lombardo -- said Game Of Thrones will not be eligible for the 2017 Emmys season because of the late summer launch of its seventh season, but added he’s confident the network will still have enough content to continue its run as the top Emmy-nominated network in the industry. Game Of Thrones earlier this month earned an industry high 23 Emmy nominations.

“Even without Game Of Thrones my hope is that we will have some new candidates that will help keep our count up,” Bloys said.

HBO Renews 'Real Time With Bill Maher'

Bloys also discussed several other issues during the session, including being open to a third season its anthology crime series True Detective if the network can find the right take on the franchise. He added the network could continue the franchise without creator/writer Nic Pizzolatto taking the lead.

-- The new Jon Stewart digital animated series could debut later this fall, according to Bloys. The series will be revolve around a parody of a fictional cable news network.

-- Bloys also said canceling the The Mick Jagger/Martin Scorsese music series Vinyl was a difficult decision. The series had been greenlit for a second season after its first episode, but the show struggled from a ratings perspective.

 “We didn’t think it was worth the producer’s time our time our resources to try to thread the needle just a little bit,” he said.

The 47th year of Comic-Con, the country’s longest-run comics and popular arts convention comes back with talents both old and new. TBS and Conan return, with new partnerships AT&T and Snickers, with much to offer. Conan and AT&T are bringing in-broadcast virtual reality with 360-degree camera angles. Fans that couldn’t make it to the convention will have virtual reality access to the shows at San Diego’s Spreckels Theatre which includes on-stage interviews, audience interaction and more.

At TBS’s Comic-Con International booth, attendees will receive a VR headset shaped like a Conan Pop! Vinyl figure to get a 360-degree peek into Conan O’Brien’s world.

O’Brien will have the casts of Suicide Squad, Supergirl,Game of Thrones, and more on his late-night show right next to the San Diego Convention Center.

Snickers is playing up on their “You’re not you when you’re hungry” campaign with fans dressing up as fictional superheroes created for the event.

READ MORE: TV Options About at Comic-Con

Syfy is debuting their first-ever live broadcast, Syfy Presents Live From Comic-Con, hosted by Will Arnett. Those unable to attend Comic-Con in person can tune-in so they don’t miss a thing. Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead), Elijah Wood (Dirk Gently), the cast of Mr. Robot, Jamie Alexander (Blindspot), Tony Hale (Veep), Will Forte (Last Man On Earth), and Zachary Levi (Heroes Reborn) are to appear in the broadcast. Each night, Arnett and his team will discuss the convention’s breaking news, insider party coverage, and exclusive content of upcoming films and TV series, like Star Trek Beyond.

Cast and creators of Syfy’s The Magicians and The Expanse and USA’s Mr. Robot and Colony will appear at panels over the weekend at SDCC. New fall shows Incorporated (Syfy) and Falling Water (USA) will feature exclusive pilot screenings. Mr. Robot made its Comic-Con debut this year, with discussion of the series’ second season, moderated by Chris Hardwick.

On Friday, July 22, WGN’s Salem will have a panel event, unveiling an extended sneak peak followed by an audience Q&A. WGN America released the season three full-length trailer for the supernatural thriller, set to premiere Halloween week this year.

Outside of the Convention Center, there is more to do, with FX and Fox’s three-story Mount Zephyria Mighty Rock Climb & Free Fall. Adult Swim’s carnival is set up right next to it.

Fear the Walking Dead will have a panel with the cast and executive producers Friday July 22. A Fear the Walking Dead yacht will be open to attendees wanting to experience life aboard the Abigail for the duration of Comic-Con, located at Fifth Avenue Pier behind the Convention Center.

AMC’s new late-night talk show, Geeking Out premieres Sunday, July 24, specially covering all things Comic-Con. Comic Book Men’s Kevin Smith and Heroes’ Greg Grunberg host. Smith and Grunberg give viewers an all-access VIP pass through the convention. A preview of Star Trek Beyond and a look into the cosplayers who show up at Comic-Con are in the episode, among interviews and first-looks.

Comedy Central brings the raunchiness they’re known for at SDCC with Drunk History, South Park 20 Experience, and The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail. There are panels featuring Drunk History, new animated series Legends of Chamberlain Heights and South Park 20. South Park celebrates its 20th season with screenings of episodes, artwork, and more. In addition, music artist, That Poppy, will broadcast the events on Comedy Central’s Snapchat.

The BBC America booth returns back to Comic-Con, with merchandise from Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Orphan Black, featuring item exclusive only to the convention.

Nickelodeon and The Splat brings the ultimate 90’s throwback experience for SDCC this year, with games, panels, signings and more. Legends of the Hidden Temple, Hey Arnold!, Double Dare, Aaah!!! Real Monsters, Rocko’s Modern Life, and Invader Zim are some of the featured shows that are at the convention. Nickelodeon’s booth will feature a VR 360-experience into the upcoming Legends of the Hidden Temple live-action TV movie, allowing fans to experience the Mayan temple first-hand. Signings by the cast of All That, Legends of the Hidden Temple, SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are few of many opportunities at the convention.

Disney XD’s new series, DuckTales, debuted a collectible comic, DuckTales Cinestory Volume 1which will be available until September 27 of this year. Exclusive teaser art from the series appears on the back of the comic, which retells the first five episodes of the original DuckTales TV show.

FX brings exclusive video content and Q&A’s for the cast and creators of The Strain and Archer.

Cartoon Network’s Screening and Costume Ball returns to SDCC, offering an inside look at hit shows and sneak peaks. We Bare Bears and The Powerpuff Girls make their panel debuts.

Part of the consumer appeal of Hollywood’s buy once, play anywhere Digital HD initiative is that studios often make new releases available for purchase digitally weeks before they’re available on DVD or Blu-ray Disc.

HBO Home Entertainment is taking that concept to the extreme with the latest season of Game of Thrones.

Season six of the hit show will be available for digital purchase on Aug. 1, three and a half months before HBO makes it available on disc. Digital HD is embraced by most of the major studios, with titles being enabled with UltraViolet. Disney remains the lone holdout, instead going with its own Disney Movies Anywhere initiative.

Read more at B&C.

HBO’s signature series Game of Thrones will launch its seventh season next summer, the network said Monday.

The series, which garnered a TV series high 23 Emmy nominations last week, will begin filming its seventh season later this summer, according to Casey Bloys, president of HBO programming. The series typically debuts in April, but Bloys said the network will delay the premiere to “accommodate the shooting schedule” of the fantasy series.

“Now that winter has arrived on Game of Thrones, executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss felt that the storylines of the next season would be better served by starting production a little later than usual, when the weather is changing,” said Bloys in a statement.