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HBO, FX Lead TCA Awards Noms

thomas.umstead@futurenet.com (R. Thomas Umstead) — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 15:45:00 +0000

HBO and FX generated the most nominations for this year's TCA Awards, the Television Critics Association announced Wednesday.

HBO garnered 12 nominations and FX drew 11 to lead a list five broadcast networks, 12 cable networks and streaming service Netflix nominated for 2016 TCA Awards.

USA Network’s thriller Mr. Robot and FX’s limited series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story earned four TCA Awards nods each to lead numerous cable and broadcast shows nominated in a variety of categories including News and Information, Youth, Reality, Drama and Comedy, said the TCA.

Winners of the TCA Awards will be announced Aug. 6, during the TCA Summer Press Tour, at a ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. Jane The Virgin star Jaime Camil will host the event, according to TCA officials.

Following is the complete list of the 2016 Television Critics Association nominees.

'Fargo,' 'Amy Schumer' Among Peabody Award Shows

kent.gibbons@futurenet.com (Kent Gibbons) — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 13:15:00 +0000

Peabody Award-winning entertainment shows this time around include political drama (The Honorable Woman), incisive sketch comedy (Inside Amy Schumer, pictured) and a clever telenovela about a household with three generations of Latina women (Jane The Virgin).

Entertainment programs picked forthe 74th Peabody Awards at the University of Georgia came out this morning. News and radio winners come out on Monday, April 20, on the Peabody website, www.peabodyawards.com. Documentary, public service, education and children’s programming winners come out on Thursday, April 23.

Entertainment winners, as described by the Peabody announcement, are:

Winners will receive their awards on Sunday, May 31, at the first-ever nighttime, red-carpet Peabody ceremony. Peabody winner Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live and Portlandia) will host the gala at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. Pivot TV will air a 90-minute Peabody special on June 21.

The Americans (FX), Fox Television Studios and FX Productions: "In this ingenious, addictive cliffhanger, Reagan-era Soviet spies – married with children and a seemingly endless supply of wigs -- operate out of a lovely 3BR home in a suburb of Washington, D.C. Between their nail-biter missions (and sometimes in the midst of them), the series contemplates duty, honor, parental responsibility, fidelity, both nationalistic and marital, and what it means to be an American."

Black Mirror (Channel 4), Zeppotron/Channel 4: "This cinematically arresting, brilliantly written series from England is an anthology of dark-side tales – dark as a black hole. If its narrative shocks don’t wreck your sleep pattern, its moral conundrums will."

Fargo (FX), MGM and FX Productions: "Fargo, the series, boasts the same snow-swept backdrop and dark, deadpan ambience as the Oscar-winning movie but tells a different, more complicated story. Its villain, Billy Bob Thornton’s mischievous, murderous, charismatic Lorne Malvo, is a character worthy of Norse mythology."

The Honorable Woman (Sundance TV), BBC Worldwide, Drama Republic, Eight Rooks Productions, Sundance Channel: "A visually rich, densely-plotted thriller set against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestine conflict, it suggests complexities and age-old vendettas that often escape even the best documentaries, to say nothing of the evening news."

Inside Amy Schumer (Comedy Central), Jax Media LLC: "Schumer’s wholesome, disarming Brady Bunch looks belie and enhance a comic intelligence that’s smart, distinctively female and amiably profane, whether she’s applying it to sketch comedy, stand-up, or person-on-the-street interviews."

Jane the Virgin (The CW), Eye Productions Inc., CBS Television Studios Inc., Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Electus; RCTV; Poppy Productions: "Immaculately conceived, it’s a smart, self-aware telenovela that knows when and how to wink at itself. Its Latina lead, Gina Rodriguez, is incandescent."

The Knick (Cinemax), Cinemax Entertainment in association with Ambeg Productions, Anonymous Content and Extension 765: "Graphic, gripping, unapologetically grisly when it has to be, this lavish historical drama masterfully dissects surgical experimentation, doctors’ egos, race relations and socials mores in the New York City of 100 years ago. It gives new meaning to the term 'operating theater.' ”

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), HBO Entertainment in association with Sixteen String Jack Productions and Avalon Television: "A most worthy addition to the news-as-comedy genre, Last Week Tonight doesn’t just satirize the previous week’s news, it engages in fresh, feisty investigative reports that 'real' news programs would do well to emulate."

Rectify (Sundance TV), Gran Via Productions, Zip Works: "A powerful, subtle dramatic series about a death-row inmate freed after nearly two decades thanks to new DNA evidence, it ponders whether what’s been lost can ever be repaid, not just to him but to everyone he and his alleged crimes touched."

Diverse Shows Finding Flavor With Viewers

thomas.umstead@futurenet.com (R. Thomas Umstead) — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 13:30:00 +0000

Strong ratings performances from a number of multicultural-themed shows during the 2014-15 television season are proving that an audience exists for quality programming featuring people of color.

The Jan. 6 season-three debut of OWN’s primetime soap opera Tyler Perry’s The Haves and The Have Nots set a network ratings record for a series premiere, averaging 3.22 million viewers and ranking as the network’s second most watched telecast among male viewers.

The Fox broadcasting network’s drama series Empire, starring Terrance Howard and Taraji P. Henson, drew nearly 10 million viewers for its Jan. 7 premiere, the second biggest launch on broadcast TV this season behind ABC’s How To Get Away With Murder, starring African-American actress and recent People’s Choice Award winner Viola Davis.

Add ABC’s comedy sitcom Black-ishto the list, and three of the highest-rated new series for the season are headed by African-American actors and/or actresses.

The Latino family dramedy Jane The Virgin on the CW was the best reviewed new series, according to Ratings Intelligence, and the show’s star, Gina Rodriguez, recently won a Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a TV comedy – the network’s first major Golden Globes win.

Also, ABC Latino family sitcom Cristela was the only freshman comedy besides Black-ish to get a full-season pickup, according to Ratings Intelligence .

The Television Critics Association press tour provided TV writers and viewers with a glimpse at several new projects featuring prominent multicultural characters and storylines. ABC will soon air the Asian-themed series Fresh Off The Boat, while TV One Feb. 7 will launch a monthly series of original movies featuring African-American themes, starting with White Water.

BET will debut its first-ever mini-series The Book Of Negroes, based on Lawrence Hill’s award-winning novel which chronicles a young slave woman who, in exchange for her freedom, s ides with the British during the Revolutionary War.

Emmy and Academy Award winning actor Lou Gossett Jr. said TV series like The Book of Negroes in which he stars as well as movies like Selma and 12 Years A Slave are being developed for an audience looking for programming that tell stories about the history, lives, struggles and stories of people of color.

“It took a minute to tell our stories … now it’s okay for us to tell our stories to the world,” Gossett told nearly 200 TV critics at BET’s recent Television Critics Association Winter tour presentation. “This is the tip of the iceberg as far as information about our roots are concerned,” he said. “We’re going in the right direction, and you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Golden Globes: Amazon's 'Transparent' Top Comedy

MCN Staff — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 01:45:00 +0000

Amazon cracked the Golden Globes' mantle with its 'Transparent' scoring the trophy for best TV comedy, as well as its lead Jeffrey Tambor.

The OTT player's family show in which a father, Mort (played by Tambor, pictured) reveals to his three adult children that he's a woman, came out ahead of HBO's 'Girls' and 'Silicon Valley,' The CW's 'Jane the Virgin,' whose star Gina Rodriguez earned the statue for best actress in a musical or a comedy, and Netflix's 'Orange is the New Black.'

Rodriguez's win was the first ever Globe for The CW.

Tambor -- who during his acceptance speech dedicated his award to the transgender community -- beat out such cable notables as Don Cheadle in Showtime's 'House of Lies,' Louis C.K. in FX's 'Louie' and William H. Macy in Showtime's 'Shameless,' as well as Ricky Gervais in Netflix's 'Derek.'

ABC, The CW Take a Leap With Latina-Themed Series

Adam Jacobson — Wed, 17 Sep 2014 17:45:00 +0000

In the beginning, there was Ricky Ricardo.

Then came Freddie Prinze, Paul Rodriguez, Cheech Marin and George Lopez — superstar comedians of their generations who successfully put a Hispanic spin on universally loved humor.

Yet primetime television, to the lament of many, has been slow to react to the steady growth of the U.S. Hispanic population. The much-anticipated Jimmy Smits-helmed drama Cane fell victim to the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike. A few months earlier, ABC had pulled the plug on sitcom The George Lopez Show after six seasons. Since then, Colombian-born Sofia Vergara of ABC’s Modern Family has been the ubiquitous face of the Latino on English-language TV.

ABC and The CW both wish to do something about that.

On Oct. 10, ABC will debut a 30-minute sitcom the network has high hopes for — Cristela. The series, to air Fridays at 8:30 p.m., is billed as a family comedy loosely based on the life and times and stand-up routine of up-and-coming comedienne Cristela Alonzo.

Who?

Alonzo has been a regular guest on late-night television since 2006. The 35-year-old Texas native has also been honored by Cosmopolitan as one of “13 Female Comedians to Watch for in 2014.”

The road to primetime for Alonzo hasn’t been without its potholes, however. Cristela first emerged as a pilot for ABC a year ago; the network took a pass but ordered another pilot earlier this year. After a

strong reaction from a May focus group screening, ABC green-lighted the show.

Kevin Hench serves as Cristela’s co-creator alongside Alonzo. He’s also an executive producer, along with Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements. Cristela is produced by 20th Century Fox Television.

Cristela centers on Alonzo’s character, a sixth-year law student from Dallas juggling multiple jobs and the demands of her Mexican-American family. Familiar Latino faces can be seen alongside Alonzo: telenovela veteran Carlos Ponce, whose English-speaking roles include a 12-episode arc of 7th Heaven in 2005, is cast as brother-in-law “Felix”; and Maria Canals-Barrera, known to a generation of teens as the mother on Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place, takes the role of sister “Daniela.”

The family matriarch, “Natalia,” is portrayed by Terri Hoyos — a 30-year TV veteran whose recent roles include that of “Rosa Valens” on Cold Case and “Rita Ludgate” on Parks & Recreation.

There’s even the unapologetically politically incorrect white lawyer, played by veteran actor Sam McMurray (The King of Queens, Scandal), who offers Cristela an unpaid internship. In an interview with the San Antonio Express-News, Alonzo revealed that one episode features a plotline where she is mistaken on the job for the cleaning lady. While some Latino viewers may find this stereotypical and a vestige of yesteryear, Alonzo begs to differ.

“It happens to me all the time,” Alonzo told the newspaper. “It doesn't matter how I dress. In offices and stores, I always get mistaken for somebody who works there, who cleans. I put it in the show because it's real and, also, it may make people feel awkward.”

In an interview with Hispanic Television Update, ABC Entertainment Group executive VP of comedy development and international scripted development Samie Falvey cited Alonzo’s “smart and hilarious” standup routine as the inspiration for the show. “We loved her confidence and her point of view on the world. She felt like a modern day Mary Tyler Moore and a perfect ABC star.”

Falvey added that personal ideas that are distinctive yet, at the same time, relatable are key to the series’ ultimate thumbs-up from ABC. “Alonzo has this amazing ability to feel like your best friend even though she's talking to you through a TV. That defines a star.”

The CW is hoping it has found a star in 29-year-old Chicago native Gina Rodriguez. Perhaps most visible for a recurring role on the CBS daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful, Rodriguez has been cast to play the main role of Jane Villanueva in Jane the Virgin — a loose adaptation of 2002 Venezuelan telenovela Juana la Virgen.

Set to debut Oct. 13, the hourlong series, airing Mondays at 9 p.m., features Rodriguez as a character who is a “driven young woman studying to become a teacher, nursing a dream to be a writer and supporting herself with a job at a hot new Miami hotel.” Jane is also a virgin who is committing to “saving herself” until she and her fiancée are married. But, trouble emerges when Jane is faced with a life-changing dilemma, as she is accidentally artificially inseminated with a specimen belonging to “Rafael” — an ex-playboy and cancer survivor who is not only a former summer crush but just happens to own the hotel where she works.

Like Cristela, Jane the Virgin blends telenovela veterans with English-language television stars: Jaime Camil (Devious Maids, Que Pobres Tan Ricos) takes the role of “Rogelio,” Jane’s illegitimate father; mother “Xiomara” is portrayed by Andrea Navedo (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit).

Jane the Virgin is produced by CBS Television Studios and Warner Bros. Television, in association with Electus, with executive producers Ben Silverman, Gary Pearl, Jennie Snyder Urman and Jorge Granier (Que el Cielo Me Explique). Shooting is ongoing at a Manhattan Beach, Calif. soundstage.

Will such a storyline that seems perfectly plausible for a telenovela but a bit ridiculous for English-language U.S. primetime audiences attract an audience beyond Latinos? Snyder Urman believes so. In a Los Angeles Times interview, she says while Jane the Virgin is a first-, second-, third-generation Latino story, it relates to the culture at large.

“The only thing that separates ourselves is our skin tone and the fact that my family speaks Spanish and that I may like to eat arroz con gandules,” she tells the Times. “We all want love. We all want our dreams to come true. We all are afraid of failure. This is a human story. Granted, it's a little nutty. But once you get past that, it's a human story, not just a Latino story."

TCA Calls Fox's 'Gotham' Most Promising New Fall Show

Jaclyn Tuman — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 17:00:00 +0000

The Television Critics Association announced the most anticipated new fall shows this season, with Fox’s Gotham in the top spot.

“If the 2014 fall survey results are any indication, we’re in for an exciting new season of television,” Scott Pierce, TCA president and TV critic for The Salt Lake Tribune, declared.

Fox’s crime drama, Gotham, is expected to win over audiences with its new take on the Dark Knight’s beginning and a closer look through commissioner James Gordon eyes. Gotham is also expected for best new drama as well. The second and third expected shows are the CW’s Jane the Virgin and Showtime’s The Affair. The Affair took one vote over the thriller, How to Get Away with Murder.

Starring Anthony Anderson and Lawrence Fishburne, the most hopeful new comedy goes to ABC’s Black-ish, which pushed out the second pick, Jane the Virgin, and NBC’s A to Z in third.

As for potential new breakout star, the results highly favored Gina Rodriguez in Jane the Virgin, with more than four times the votes as competing shows. Runners-up included The Flash, starring Grant Gustin and Gotham's Robin Lord Taylor.

Most Promising New Fall Show:

1. Gotham (Fox)

2. Jane the Virgin (The CW)

3. The Affair (Showtime)

Most Promising New Fall Comedy Series:

1. Black-ish (ABC)

2. Jane the Virgin (The CW)

3. A to Z (NBC)

Most Anticipated New Fall Drama:

1. Gotham (Fox)

2. The Affair (Showtime)

3. How to Get Away with Murder (ABC)

Potential New Breakout Star:

1. Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin, The CW)

2. Grant Gustin (The Flash, The CW)

3. Robin Lord Taylor (Gotham, Fox)