New F**king AMC Show A Nod to Cheesy Sitcoms 

Kevin Can F**k Himself starts on AMC June 20, following its launch on AMC Plus. Annie Murphy, still drawn to projects with curses in the title after Schitt’s Creek, plays Allison. Think of her as the typical Sitcom Wife: pretty and patient, and married to a goofy guy.

Creator Valerie Armstrong got the idea from the family sitcoms she watched growing up. “The husband is funny and lovable and tubby, but he has this super-hot wife,” Armstrong said. “She laughs at his jokes and makes his meals and is one of the gang. I thought, God, I wonder if she’s miserable.”

Allison busts out of her humdrum sitcom-y life and mayhem ensues. Armstrong said the producers looked at “a ton of people” for Allison, and then Murphy came along. “She fell in love with it the same way we all did,” said Armstrong. “She understood it on a cellular level.”

Series Business: Valerie Armstrong on 'Kevin Can F**k Himself', a Dark Comedy From AMC

The title has been part of the project since it began four years ago. “At the time, I needed everything I was working on to have a title that would make me laugh,” Armstrong said. “Otherwise, I would get annoyed with myself, seeing it on my desktop.”

Kevin Can F**k Himself, she added, “always made me laugh.”

Disney Plus’s ‘Monsters At Work’ Taps a New Power Source

Monsters at Work premieres on Disney Plus July 7. A spinoff of Monsters, Inc., Monsters At Work shows the monster plant no longer committed to scaring the heck out of kids, but to making them laugh, as laughs generate more power than scares. 

Billy Crystal reprises Mike Wazowski and John Goodman is back as Sulley. Ben Feldman voices Tylor Tuskmon, who turns up at Monsters, Inc. psyched to make kids scream, only to learn his job has changed. Feldman was in Superstore and, going back a bit, Mad Men. He brings nuance to his big, scary monster character, said executive producer Bobs Gannaway. 

“Ben’s appealing and somewhat vulnerable voice comes out of this great monster,” he added.  

The producers and writers visited a couple power plants “so we could walk the plants, meet the people who generate the power, and understand how power works,” said Gannaway. 

The series, he added, takes the viewer beneath Monsters, Inc. “It’s like going underneath Disneyland,” Gannaway said. “You see the workings beneath the out-facing areas.”

There is plenty to explore in the 10 episodes. “We want you to fall in love with the new monsters and spend time with old friends,” Gannaway said.

Media veteran Sarah Kate Ellis has been leading the advocacy organization GLAAD for more than seven years, focusing its efforts on building and fostering greater media acceptance of the growing LGBTQ+ community. Ellis, who will be honored at the June 23 B+C and Multichannel News Pride TV Summit, talked about the relevance and importance of this year’s Pride Month celebration, as well as the state of LGBTQ+ representation on television in an interview, an edited version of which appears below.

More on the Pride TV Summit: Pride TV Summit Hones in on the Business of Inclusion

B+C: Does this year’s Pride Month celebration take on greater significance given the cultural climate change the country has experienced over the past year? 

Sarah Kate Ellis: Absolutely. Two things are at play here. One is that for the LGBTQ community as a whole, community is a really important part of our identities, especially because for so long, we lived in the shadows. Our coming together in person was sorely missed last year, especially because so many of our youth live in unaccepting households. From a policy and political perspective, there have been over 250 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced this year in state legislatures across the United States — most of those are targeting trans and non-binary people. This year, we've seen 27 murders of transgender, non-binary people who are mostly Black and Latina, and we’re pacing to be the deadliest year yet for the community. With the Equality Act, which is the largest piece of legislation for our community ever, passed in the House but stalled in the Senate, I think it’s really important for us to use this month to build awareness and education about the Act and what it does to help protect our community. 

B+C: What role can the entertainment industry play in educating the public about the issues you’ve mentioned? 

SKE: TV and streaming content are empathy and education machines for our community. For instance, only 16% of Americans report knowing somebody who is transgender, so the rest of the country is learning about transgender people through media. Our annual report, Where We Are on TV, came out in January 2021, and we found that there was greater diversity of LGBTQ characters, but less characters overall. I'm really hopeful that [the decline] is likely due to COVID because a lot of productions were stopped, but a great example of how important content is for the community is FX’s Pose. This was a revolutionary show that focused on trans people of color for the most part and told their stories, but it also focused on HIV and AIDS in the ’80s. When this show shuts down this month, we will lose a significant number of trans characters on television, and we will then have zero characters living with HIV on scripted TV. 

That’s a lot of weight for one show to carry in terms of creating culture, education and empathy for our community. We need to see that spread out among other shows.

B+C How does the industry go about developing more shows like Pose that depict authentic LGTBQ+ characters and storylines on screen? 

SKE: Hollywood likes success — look at all the awards that Pose has received. Hulu’s Happiest Season is an LGTBQ holiday movie that broke all of their records for new subscribers during its first weekend viewing. So if you put the content out there, the audience will come and they will flock to it as long as it’s fair and accurate. I think that’s a big motivator to create programming that’s going to attract audiences and bring in new fan bases. I think the industry is moving in the right direction because it is showing more diverse characters. For so long, shows and films were scared to include LGBTQ characters mainly out of fear of backlash, and we’re way past that. If you look at the latest Gallup poll, 16% of 18 to 24 year olds in America identify as LGBT. So they want to see themselves and their lives reflected back to them. As content creators look to attract younger audiences, they're going to have to include LGBTQ people.

B+C: What is GLAAD doing to increase LGBTQ+ representation on screen? 

SKE: We approach it really from three different places. One is that we do our annual reports on the TV and streaming content providers and their content. We do the studio responsibility index on films and theaters. So we measure those. We have the GLAAD Media Institute where we work with these creators. We just launched a new project with Procter & Gamble called The Visibility Project. We know how important media representation is and, just like in television and film, advertising is pervasive. We know that if we can be in more ads that will grow acceptance for our community.

What we look to do is provide some measurements so that they have a benchmark that they could move forward from, as well as to hold them accountable, but also offer all our support and services to make sure that they are successful.

With Pride Month celebrations in full swing, Broadcasting+Cable and Multichannel News are gearing up for the first-ever Pride TV Summit virtual conference June 23, focused on the business of television featuring LGBTQ+ characters and storylines. 

Unlike other Pride events that focus on entertainment value and performances, the Pride TV Summit is a business conference that puts the spotlight on relevant LGBTQ+ issues and challenges within the TV and streaming industry. It also honors individuals and companies who are committed to creating strong and more meaningful representation across distribution platforms.

“We have gathered leading creatives, brands, and executives to participate in our program at the Pride TV Summit,” said event producer Joe Schramm. “This event proves that targeting TV and video programming to LGBTQ+ audiences, and about the LGBTQ+ community is simple, good business. Whether you identify as LGBTQ+ or not, this event is worth your time.”

More on the Pride TV Summit: Register | GLAAD's Sarah Kate Ellis Primes TV's 'Empathy Machine'

A Sense of Where Things Are

With the number of LGBTQ+ characters on scripted broadcast, cable and streaming shows declining during the pandemic-challenged 2020-21 television season according to GLAAD’s annual Where We Are on TV report released earlier this year, the conference will examine the importance and impact of representation, how LGBTQ+ characters and storylines have evolved and the overall acceptance of LGBTQ+ characters and storylines.

“We continue to see that the industry and audiences are extremely engaged and interested in the growing landscape of LGBTQ+ content across media today,” GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said. “As we aim to grow authentic LGBTQ+ representation and inclusion, the Pride TV Summit and events like it help give best practices and guidance to ensure impactful content that will also be well-received."

Among the highlights of the event is a panel discussion featuring programming executives discussing the sensitive and controversial nuances of casting LGBTQ roles in today’s market. The panel will feature actor Nicole Maines, who plays the first first transgender superhero on television in CW’s Supergirl, as well Star Trek: Discovery casting director Margery Simkin, NBC Telemundo Enterprises executive producer Karen Barroetta and Batwoman writer/producer/showrunner Caroline Dries. 

The Summit will also feature key interviews with content creators such as three-time Emmy nominee Randy Rainbow as well as a session featuring TV critics who review top programs to watch for the Pride season.

Opening the conference will be a focus on the state of the current marketplace and the impact of LGBTQ+ programming from Hollywood to the TV screen. Luis Sandoval from Univision’s Despierta America will host the opening festivities. 

The event will also feature a series of presentations, case studies and candid conversations from advertisers and sponsors targeting LGBTQ+ audiences, including representatives from such companies as P&G and Getty Images.

Honoring the Leaders

A main highlight of the Pride TV Summit is The Pride TV Leadership and Courage Awards Ceremony which will showcase industry leaders advocating for the LGBTQ+ community on television. The Membership or Employee Association award will be presented to Comcast, while The CW will receive the Television Network award. The Media Agency award will go to the RAPP marketing agency. 

GLAAD’s Ellis will receive the Advocacy award, while on-screen talent awards will go to ABC News transportation correspondent Gio Benitez and MSNBC’s The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart host Jonathan Capehart. 

Producer Ilene Chaiken will receive the Pride TV Awards’ Leadership and Courage award for her groundbreaking work as executive producer of such shows as Showtime’s The L Word, Fox’s Empire and more recently, NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime.

New Disney Plus Superhero Series Is Marvel-ous

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, a Marvel Studios project with Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, aka the Falcon, and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes and The Winter Soldier, premieres March 19 on Disney Plus. 

Those characters, and actors, are well-known in the Marvel movie universe, appearing in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Endgame. (What they weren’t in — 1985 espionage movie The Falcon and the Snowman.) 

“Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan are spectacular actors and we felt like we hadn’t explored their stories or their backstories or their personal stories enough as Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes,” said Kevin Feige, president, Marvel Studios and chief creative officer, Marvel. “So it was always the thought that we wanted to learn more about both of them.”

The characters “team up on a global adventure that tests their abilities,” said Disney Plus, “and their patience.”

Feige has long sought to put the characters center stage. “We thought if we ever had that opportunity, we’d watch a whole show with the two of them,” he said. “And Disney Plus finally gives us that opportunity.”

Nat Geo Remembers the Queen of Soul 

On March 21, National Geographic begins Genius: Aretha. It is the third installment of Genius, after series dedicated to Einstein and Picasso, and Nat Geo was eager to showcase a woman. “This felt the most exciting to us,” said Carolyn Bernstein, executive VP of global scripted content at Nat Geo. “Aretha [Franklin] embodies all the different elements of what we look for in a show.”

That includes a body of work that any reasonable person would consider genius, and an array of “obstacles and pressures and conflict,” said Bernstein. 

There are eight episodes. The series explores “Franklin’s musical genius and incomparable career, as well as the immeasurable impact and lasting influence she has had on music and culture around the world in the first-ever, definitive and only authorized scripted limited series on the life of the universally acclaimed Queen of Soul,” according to Nat Geo. 

Suzan-Lori Parks is the showrunner, and executive produces alongside Anthony Hemingway. Fittingly, Parks has received a MacArthur grant, known as a “Genius” grant. Brian Grazer and Ron Howard of Imagine Entertainment exec produce as well. 

Cynthia Erivo plays Franklin, who died in 2018. Courtney B. Vance plays her father, C.L. 

Bernstein feels Erivo nailed the challenging role. “She delivers both incredible musicianship and first rate acting chops,” she said. “She brings a tremendous amount of soul to the project.”

Vance wasn’t bad either. “He’s just spectacular,” Bernstein said.

The entertainment industry is examining its diversity and inclusion efforts as it continues to make inroads in recognizing the business rationale for greater representation on-air, behind the camera and in the C-suites. Future’s CultureX Conversations on Tuesday, March 16, will build on the dialogue through a series of keynotes, fireside chats, panels and awards that celebrate the industry’s inclusion efforts while searching for ways to improve both the mindset and the impact of decision makers to foster a more inclusive industry.

Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios founder, chairman and CEO Byron Allen will serve as opening keynote speaker of the virtual conference, leading a roster of top industry executives, chief diversity officers, on-air talent and showrunners set to discuss the need for more diversity within all aspects of the industry, while revealing the strategies behind building a successful, diverse workforce. The conference is produced in partnership with The Walter Kaitz Foundation.

Stage 13/Warner Bros. Digital Networks senior VP and general manager Diana Mogollón will headline a panel on the impact of diverse casts on programming acquisition and distribution, while WarnerMedia senior VPs of enterprise inclusion Karen Horne and Samata Narra will share some internal research and insights on implementing the inclusion process within a “merging” corporate culture.

Walter Kaitz Foundation executive director Michelle Ray will host a panel featuring diversity officers such as AMC Networks chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer Aisha Thomas-Petit and Ann Carlsen, founder and CEO of executive search firm Carlsen Resources, discussing their experiences and tips for ensuring equitable results in recruitment practices and hiring procedures.

Regarding on-screen diversity, GLAAD chief communications officer Rich Ferraro will release the organization’s latest report on LGBT characters and storylines on TV (see Viewpoint, page 30), while AARP VP of multicultural leadership Yvette Pena will discuss the impact of content targeting the maturing multicultural audience. 

A highlight of the conference is the CultureX Awards, given to individuals, organizations and programs for their outstanding commitment to inspiring cultural inclusion within the television industry. The ceremony is hosted by 2020’s CultureX award recipient, Julio Vaqueiro, the anchor of Noticias Telemundo Edicion Especial. 

This year’s award recipients are: Juanjo Duran, head of entertainment & multicultural, Google; Juan Williams, Fox News political analyst and co-host of Fox News Channel’s The Five; Access Hollywood, the entertainment news program known for its diverse cast and coverage of inclusion issues in the industry, with Scott Evans accepting; and Starz, for diverse casts and storylines in series such as Power, P-Valley and Outlander, plus upcoming series Run The World, Blindspotting, Black Mafia Family, Shining Vale, Serpent Queen and Power Book II: Ghost. Starz’s award will be accepted by president and CEO Jeffrey Hirsch.

For more information or to register, go to culturexevents.com. 

Direct-to-consumer streaming was a key factor in the new agreement to distribute National Hockey League games, including Stanley Cup playoff contests, on The Walt Disney Co. properties.

Both the league and Disney, which has pivoted from traditional media to streaming, called their seven-year pact a template for future deals and said viewers would be looking for games on the kinds of platforms Disney is building.

“I know how passionate and loyal hockey fans can be growing up as a Chicago Blackhawks fan and this agreement is going to allow them to watch their favorite teams like never before on our world-class platforms, including ESPN, ESPN Plus, ABC and Hulu,” Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in a briefing for reporters after the seven-year pact was signed. “We really look forward to giving fans unprecedented access to an incredible lineup of NHL games and programming.”

Some 75 national games per season will stream on direct-to-consumer outlets ESPN Plus and Hulu. ESPN Plus subscribers will also have access to the 1,000 local game telecasts that had been part of the NHL’s out-of-market package.

“This really is a paradigm-shifting deal,” said Jimmy Pitaro, president of ESPN. 

The agreement with the NHL “serves as a model for rights deals of the future,” Pitaro added. “Streaming really is at the heart of this deal and this is a reflection of its role as a critical part of our future.”

ESPN declined to pay a rights fee when its previous deal with the NHL expired in 2005. Hockey is attractive to ESPN now, though, as the sports leader looks to expand its audience to the NHL’s younger, growing fan base. Those fans tend to be tech savvy and are either cord-cutters or cord-nevers.

“ESPN Plus will now be a must-have for hockey fans,” Pitaro said. 

The NHL still has a second package of rights to games to sell. The package isn’t as large and the league will work with potential partners to determine how many games will be televised on linear channels and how many will be streamed, Bettman said. 

Bettman said talks continue on the second rights package and that NBCU continues to express interest even with the Disney deal being finalized.

“Of course they’re under consideration,” Bettman said of Comcast and NBCU. “They’ve been good partners.”

Streaming video’s rapid expansion — fueled by explosive growth during the COVID-19 outbreak — will continue to increase in coming years, along the way finding a new equilibrium with traditional broadcast and cable TV.  

That was the consensus of three virtual sessions at CES 2021 that examined the evolving media relationships of the digital ecosystem. (For  more from CES, including WiFi and smart set upgrades, see Tech, page 16). 

Data from Nielsen Global Media showed that the pandemic encouraged viewers, especially in older demographics, to learn how to use streaming technology, Nielsen senior VP of product strategy and thought leadership Brian Fuhrer said.  As a result, the audience measurement firm’s year-end assessment showed that total streaming audiences at all age categories were very similar to the segmentation of traditional (broadcast and cable) viewing.  But the assessment also showed that older viewers (age 55 and up) are now among the biggest users of linear, rather than on-demand, streaming services — reflecting their comfort level with linear, ad-supported formats, Fuhrer said. 

Despite the growth of streaming viewership from December 2019 (117.7 billion minutes) to last December (132 billion minutes), the percentage segmentation of preferences, topped by YouTube and Netflix, remained relatively consistent.

Moreover, Nielsen’s findings underscored the continuing crossover between programming on traditional media and over-the-top platforms.  For example, reruns of sitcom The Office attracted 10 million viewers on Netflix (before the show moved to Peacock this month).  But The Office also attracted 11 million viewers for episodes airing in syndication on Comedy Central, local stations and from other sources. 

“That is really important when looking at content,” Fuhrer said, emphasizing “the long-term life in multiple platforms simultaneously.” 

Nielsen’s research also identified emerging release protocols, such as the value of offering all episodes of a series simultaneously (thus allowing immediate bingeing) versus regular rollouts, such as weekly release. Fuhrer noted that Disney Plus’s The Mandalorian had very high viewership during every weekend release, while series unleashed all at once showed steep viewership dropoffs after a one-time spree. 

Fuhrer’s data was reflected in the discussions on two separate CES panels dealing with streaming.  In particular, panelists said, the role of original content versus “acquired” programming such as off-network series is a work in progress.  Speakers also looked at the role of content in consumer acquisition and retention.

At a session titled “The Great Unbundling in Video,” Philo CEO Andrew McCollum predicted cord-cutting would continue to accelerate the viewer shift toward streaming. He expects the streaming companies will “offer new options to people who cut the cord long ago and are looking for new options,” he said. 

Five to 10 years from now, McCollum said, consumers won’t consider OTT options to be “cutting the cord,” but rather “a better way to get the content they care about.” 

Both McCollum and fellow panelist Scott Reich, senior VP of programming at AVOD platform Pluto TV, cited the growth their services experienced during the early COVID crisis. For Philo, it was a surge of attention to kids’ content, while Pluto TV’s “massive influx” came as the 2020 political campaign heated up.  

As PlutoTV, owned by ViacomCBS, had a lot of political and health information, its channels offered “an interesting combination” of political and pandemic news, plus “a whole lot of escapism” from its entertainment channels, including cross-selling of Showtime programs via streaming teases of selected shows. 

Reich and McCollum agreed that streaming isn’t a winner-take-all marketplace, though both said there are lots of questions about how many entrants the SVOD market can support. 

Finding Shows Still a Challenge

Predictably, data is at the heart of video navigation and search. At the “Streaming’s New Era” session, Sandeep Gupta, VP and GM of Amazon’s Fire TV, acknowledged his company — known for its algorithmic awareness of customer preferences and usage — is not sharing what it knows, even with partners such as co-panelists from Starz and WarnerMedia. 

“The key thing is helping them discover content in ways that [the programmers] didn’t think of before,” Gupta said. 

Viewers know what they want to watch and can find it some two-thirds of the time, said Sarah Lyons, senior VP, product experience at WarnerMedia. “We believe in a blend of human curation with underlying data to facilitate that curation,” Lyons said.  

“We are all in this battle to make sure our customers can find our content as easily as possible,” said Starz senior VP of distribution Stefanie Meyers. “We’re just trying to make sure that we make it as easy as possible for our consumer on whatever platform … so they can engage.” λ

‘All American’ Kicks Off on The CW

Season three of All American, about a kid from Crenshaw who plays football for, and attends, Beverly Hills High, begins on The CW Jan. 18. The students are in their senior year, the football guys have their eye on a state championship and they’re thinking about college. 

“It’s the biggest pressure cooker-melting pot we could’ve put them in,” said showrunner/exec producer Nkechi Okoro Carroll. 

Daniel Ezra, Bre-Z and Greta Oniegou are in the cast. All American is based on the life of footballer Spencer Paysinger. Carroll aims to tell “an authentic story of what it’s like to be a Black youth in America today.”

There will not be mention of COVID, or characters wearing masks other than a football face mask, in the new season. It’s a “pre-COVID world,” Carroll said. 

All American shoots in Los Angeles, with football action filmed both in South Crenshaw and in Beverly Hills. 

Carroll promises tense moments when everyone returns to Beverly Hills High at the start of the school year. “The summer secrets slowly unfold in the first half of the season,” she said, “and everyone has to deal with the ramifications when the secrets come out.”

Edward Burns Back on Long Island 

Bridge and Tunnel, an Edward Burns dramedy about recent college grads on Long Island in 1980, starts on Epix Jan. 24. The project came to be when exec producer Burns was having dinner with Epix president Michael Wright. The pair lamented the “terrible state of the world,” Burns said, and thought about a series looking at a happier time. 

“We both thought it would be great to create a show that put a smile on your face,” said Burns. 

The characters seek their dreams in Manhattan while clinging to the familiarity of their hometown. Burns was curious to dive into early ’80s Manhattan, with its lively music scene, including punk and the early days of hip-hop. He envisioned a series set half in Manhattan and half on the Island. When COVID struck, much of the budget was eaten up by pandemic protection, and New York City was not handing out permits to film. So Burns set it all on Long Island. The eight-episode season shrunk to six. 

A Long Islander, Burns demanded authentic Noo Yawk accents from his cast, which includes Sam Vartholomeos and Caitlin Stasey. “I’ve always been
a stickler for New York accents,” he said. “There’s nothing I hate more than hearing a bad New York accent.”

Most of the cast is from New York. Stasey is Australian, but stayed in character throughout
the shoot. 

Life was different back in 1980. “We look back at a more simple time,” said Burns. “We weren’t tethered to our phones and maybe we talked to each other a little more.” 

 Peter Dunn marked 11 years as president of CBS Television Stations in November, an extraordinary run for a group chief. Now president and CEO of the group, which includes 27 stations, Dunn is also president and general manager of flagship WCBS New York, a position he has held since 2005, along with running independent WLNY Riverhead, New York. 

Inducted into the B+C Hall of Fame in 2017, Dunn shared his thoughts on the eventful year we’ve had, how 2021 looks in terms of programming and revenue, and what local broadcast might look like five years down the road. An edited transcript follows. 

ALSO READ: Andrea Parquet-Taylor Named VP/News Director at KCBS-KCAL Los Angeles

B+C: Ever seen a year like 2020 before?

Peter Dunn: I’ve never seen anything like this. Absolutely not. It’s a very difficult year.

B+C: What is a highlight for the group this year?

PD: We all chipped in to help each other out. KCBS was doing local news for New York for a couple of days during the pandemic, because WCBS was out of the [CBS] Broadcast Center and we had to come up with a plan. Our stations across the country did weekend news for the network during the pandemic. A couple of our stations carried the national stream for CBSN because their employees couldn’t get into the Broadcast Center.

I’m in total awe of everyone that works in our station group. Every station, every employee — I couldn’t be any prouder to be part of the team.

B+C: Have you found revenue in new spots, maybe revenue that you wouldn't have had in a normal year? 

PD: Political couldn’t have happened at a better time. In the second quarter, the market obviously cratered. Ever since then, we’ve been building back up to where we need to be. Categories across the board were hurting and they’ve gotten better since. Health care is better, entertainment’s a little bit better, sports betting. 

We’ve worked together with our clients to get through this, which makes it kind of special in a weird way. It was all one big team trying to survive 2020.

B+C: In terms of political spending, was it what you anticipated?

PD: It was a little bit more. When [former Democratic presidential candidate Michael] Bloomberg started [spending] in the beginning of the year, that gave us a little bit of a cushion. That helped the political category right from the start. 

This was really an amazing political year on all fronts. We have a lot of markets where we've seen a lot of activity. On the West Coast, we had a lot of [ballot proposition] money. It was a record [political] year for us.

ALSO READ: WFOR Miami VP/GM Levy Stepping Down

B+C: Any thoughts on where people will work when the pandemic is over? Will many still be remote?

PD: One of the things we’ve learned through this whole process is, we could do a lot from home. When things get better, there’s a good chance we will look at every department. Obviously our engineers and IT people, who’ve done an amazing job throughout this whole process, they’ve got to be there. Our news management has to be there, our anchors have to be there. But everybody else, it’s possible we could do a shared office where maybe 50% comes in Monday and Wednesday and 50% comes in Tuesday and Thursday. 

This year we learned a lot. One of the things we learned is, we can do a helluva lot from home.

B+C: George Cheeks was named president and CEO of CBS Entertainment Group on March 23. How has that worked out for the stations?

PD: He’s been so supportive of everything that our people needed. Everything we’ve been doing this year, he’s never said no. It’s amazing, the support he’s given us. And even though he’s only been here since March, I feel like I’ve worked with George for like five years already, because so much has happened in such a short time. 

B+C: It was almost a year ago that the group launched 10 p.m. news on The CW affiliates in three markets. How’s that working out?

PD: It couldn’t have come at a better time. They’re working out great, especially in markets where we have a lot of political money. We have a CW [station] in Atlanta [WUPA], where the Senate runoff is happening. It was a great call to do that prior to 2020. 

The newscasts look really good, too. They are very informative, very clean. It really helps the independent stations to have a base of a 10 p.m. news for promotions.

B+C: In terms of the CBSN rollout at the station level, what does that mean for a station’s presence in a market? Does that make them a bigger news player?

PD: I think it does. More people watch our product. We broke a lot of records in streaming for local news. During the pandemic, we actually rolled out in two markets. We have 10 stations up and running right now [with CBSN Local] and three to finish off in the first quarter of ’21 — Miami, Sacramento and Baltimore. Once that’s done, all of our news stations will have a streaming presence. 

The numbers have been phenomenal. Between the pandemic, the recession, social injustice, wildfires in California and Colorado, and hurricane season, the number of people that turned to our CBSN local product has been amazing. Whether it’s streaming or on television, more people are watching our news.

B+C: In this streaming age, where Netflix is such a premiere destination for so many people, where do you see local TV five years down the road?

PD: After what we’ve been through in 2020, local news is going to be more important than it is now. Whether you’re watching it on Channel 2 or on CBSN New York, wherever you’re getting your content, local news is always going to be important. That’s the only thing that separates us from everything else that’s out there, especially coming off a year where our ratings have been up double digits across the board, year over year, because of all the things that we had to make sure we kept them up to date with. It just shows that audiences want local news.

B+C: How does 2021 look on the business side? 

PD: It’s too early to say. There’s a COVID spike happening now. How much will that cause a hangover in the first quarter? There’s still a lot of unknowns with that. I’m very optimistic about the vaccines. We’ve got the Super Bowl, March Madness, the Grammys, a lot of things that are going to help us with momentum in ’21.

B+C: You’re the rare group chief who’s also a general manager. Why do you continue to run the show at WCBS New York?

PD: I really don’t sleep much and I like working. It seems to be working, and it’s a great way to share best practices. If I’m going to tell my GMs, ‘you’ve got to do this and that,’ I’m doing it, too. I’m under the same demands that they are. I’m part of the team, which I’m thrilled about. 

Iconic Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek succumbed to pancreatic cancer on Sunday, Nov. 8, at the age of 80. The host, who had been the face of the syndicated game show since 1984, worked until almost the very end, taping his last shows on Oct. 29. Those final episodes will air through Christmas Day. 

“It feels very sudden to all of us,” Mike Richards, executive producer of Jeopardy!, said. “The hardest part of all of this is that we knew he was battling, we knew he was getting chemo, we knew he was in pain. When the light turned on and [show announcer] Johnny Gilbert said his name, he transformed into a healthy, charming, good-looking man who was capable of running the show at the highest levels. 

“If I understood how he did that, I would have all the keys to all the secrets in the world. He had a switch he was able to throw that was rooted somewhere in his immense work ethic. He was never going to turn in a bad performance, ever.” 

Trebek was diagnosed in March 2019, and he quickly made that public via a video in which he vowed to fight the disease. From that point on, fans all over the world were rooting for him, and he often released updates, either through videos or interviews on news programs such as Good Morning America. In July 2020, he also released a memoir, The Answer Is … Reflections on My Life. 

Until the end, Richards said, Trebek would still come into the studio and hang out with the writers, reviewing and tweaking questions before that day’s tapings. 

“Alex is a huge part of what makes Jeopardy! great, and that’s what he loved, he loved the game,” Richards said. “He stayed because he loved the game. He loved being around smart people, he reveled in a great game, he reveled in amazingly quick answers. He loved being with the writers and researchers and going over the clues in the morning. Those were amazing sessions we all got to do with him.” 

Past Winners Pay Tribute 

Upon hearing the news, tweets and tributes started pouring out, including from Jeopardy!’s official Greatest of All Time (GOAT) Ken Jennings and from the man who changed how the game was played, professional gambler James Holzhauer. 

“Alex wasn’t just the best ever at what he did. He was also a lovely and deeply decent man, and I’m grateful for every minute I got to spend with him,” tweeted Jennings, who now serves as a consulting producer on the show after winning ABC’s primetime Jeopardy! GOAT tournament last January. 

Similarly, Holzhauer, who drove Jeopardy! to new ratings highs with his daring play style during his 32-game streak in spring 2019, tweeted: “It was one of the great privileges of my life to spend time with this courageous man while he fought the battle of his life. You will never be replaced in our hearts, Alex.” 

Also chiming in with their respects were such celebrities as Ryan Reynolds, John Legend, Padma Lakshmi and Viola Davis; fellow syndicated hosts Dr. Phil McGraw, Steve Harvey and Ryan Seacrest; and trivia nerds all over the world. Jeopardy! — along with its sibling game show, Wheel of Fortune — airs in access on the Disney-ABC owned TV stations in the country’s top markets, including on WABC New York, KABC Los Angeles and WLS Chicago.

Said The Walt Disney Co. executive chairman Bob Iger: “Today we mourn the loss of Alex Trebek. A friend, a colleague, an icon…He graced us with his kindness, warmth, wit and pure elegance, which is why we welcomed him into our homes night after night, year after year. He also showed us what courage looks like as he battled cancer with dignity and determination. We are deeply saddened for his wife Jean, his family, and millions of Jeopardy! fans.” 

In the wake of Trebek’s death, Richards is unwilling to discuss what might be next for the show, but it’s been on a run over the past couple of years, with such events as Holzhauer’s historic run and ABC’s primetime GOAT tournament. 

“It’s really early for me and the Jeopardy! staff and crew to turn that page today. Jeopardy! has a very bright future and eventually we will turn the page and that’s what Alex would have wanted,” said Richards, who oversaw the transition from Bob Barker to Drew Carey at CBS’ daytime staple The Price is Right. 

In terms of successors to Trebek, Jennings has been reported to be in the running to take over hosting duties. ABC’s George Stephanopoulos also reportedly threw his hat in the ring, with other names mentioned including popular podcaster Joe Rogan, Reading Rainbow and Star Trek: The Next Generation’s LeVar Burton and TCM host Ben Mankiewicz. 

Record-Setting Run 

Trebek hosted Jeopardy! since it made its syndicated debut in 1984, taking the show through nearly 37 seasons and setting a Guinness World Record for hosting the most episodes of a single game show. He won the Daytime Emmy for outstanding game-show host seven times and was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award (along with Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak) from the National Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011. He and the show also won a Peabody Award that year. (The show in its original incarnation on network daytime ran on NBC from 1964 to 1974 with Art Fleming as the host.) 

In 2013, he was inducted into the Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame. He and Jeopardy! were both inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters’ Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2018. 

Trebek was born in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada and hosted numerous game shows before becoming the host of Jeopardy! He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Jean, and children Matthew, Emily and Nicky. 

Said Richards: “I think he knows his legacy was secure and that he was great at the greatest quiz show. That’s how I think he wanted to be remembered.”

Bob Still Hearts Abishola on CBS 

Season two of Bob Hearts Abishola is on CBS Nov. 16. Billy Gardell plays Bob and Folake Olowofoyeku portrays Abishola in this Chuck Lorre comedy, about a compression sock guy who falls for his Nigerian nurse. 

Exec producer and showrunner Al Higgins was pleased with how season one landed. “People who watch our show truly love our show,” he said. “They fell in love with these characters and this world.” 

Season two sees Bob looking at engagement rings. The producers wondered about working COVID into the show, especially with Abishola working in a hospital, then decided not to. “It would overtake everything else in the story,” said Higgins. “I’d rather not have it in my face.” 

Producing in the COVID age was challenging, but the producers were pumped to have cast and crew back on the job, and psyched to offer America a bit of entertainment. Higgins said it’s encouraging when crew members laugh during shooting. “It’s always nice when the crew responds in the way you want the audience to respond,” he said. 

The season goes deeper on a wider array of characters, including Bob’s family and the warehouse guys. “We have a great ensemble,” said Higgins, “and we’re gonna use them to the utmost.” 

ABC Shoots For the ‘Sky’ With David E. Kelley Thriller 

Big Sky begins on ABC Nov. 17. It’s a David E. Kelley drama about two sisters who are kidnapped by a truck driver on a remote highway in Montana. Searching for them are a pair of private detectives, and the estranged wife of one of them. They learn the sisters are not the only ones missing. 

The series comes from the C.J. Box novel The Mountain. “It’s cliché to say that I couldn’t put it down, but really, I couldn’t put it down,” Kelley said during a press event. 

It was a challenging novel to adapt. “The biggest challenge for me was to be able to deliver what the book did, and that is the tension, the thrill, the drama, the relational equations of the characters, which were rich and profound at times, and then the sense of escapism,” Kelley said. 

The cast includes Katheryn Winnick, Kylie Bunbury and Brian Geraghty. Showrunner Kelley’s recent work includes Big Little Lies and The Undoing on HBO. He admitted he was not all that pumped to get back to broadcast TV, where his past hits include Chicago Hope and Ally McBeal. 

“When we set forth with ABC, they were really frisky to break their own mold and to present storytelling to the audience that would be more in line with cable or streaming,” he said. “I think this show lends itself to be a great bingeing show.”

As CEO of Patriot Media, Jim Holanda has had a lot of experience running Astound Broadband, the cable and internet service operator purchased by Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners for $8.1 billion. Patriot, which has been running the assets for about a decade, will continue to do so after the Stonepeak deal is closed, and will also have an ownership interest in the assets. Holanda spoke with Multichannel News senior content producer, finance, Mike Farrell about the Astound deal and his plans for the company going forward. The following has been edited for space and clarity.

MCN: How did this deal come about? 

Jim Holanda: [Private equity firm] TPG has been a wonderful partner over these four-plus years, and their strength in providing capital allowed us to buy Wave Broadband and put this company together, make it the sixth-largest cable company in the country and give us a real national, coast-to-coast footprint. Clearly, when you’re with private equity, you’re always exploring optionality in terms of what people want to do. I think we were looking at that from the start of the year, looking at all of our options, as TPG has been an enthusiastic supporter of the business. And then COVID hits and you’re unsure of the world. We took advantage of the debt markets and the low interest rates at the end of August and the beginning of September, when we refinanced the company with even lower rates. At that point, [TPG] introduced a portability structure within the debt so that the debt could just be assumed by anyone that would take over the company at some point in the future. With that in place, that woke up people to the fact that there was no financing risk in purchasing the business.

MCN: What’s the plan going forward? 

JH: We have the opportunity for organic growth within the footprint. We have the opportunity to expand our residential and commercial networks into new territories continuous with our existing footprint. We’ve been expanding fiber networks outside of traditional footprints, in partnership with anchor tenants, on some very large deals to build an even more robust and geographically diverse fiber network and we’ve made these material and tuck-in acquisitions. TPG buying Wave three years ago and putting the three brands together as a single company was transformative in nature. We announced the Entouch acquisition back at the beginning of the pandemic and closed on it just a month ago and that gave us a great fiber footprint in Houston, Texas, which was the only big city in Texas our footprint didn’t cover. We recently fi led with the FCC on a small fiber acquisition [Digital West] in central California that will fill a fiber gap for us. So I think we’re able to grow the company from all of those standpoints.

MCN: Will you continue under the Astound brand name? 

JH: We own the Astound name because Wave four or five years ago bought a small company in California named Astound. That’s how people have come to know us on Wall Street and in the banking community. So whether we will pivot to that name in conjunction with the brands or as a replacement for the brands is a decision we have not made yet. We’re continuing to evaluate, but everybody seems to like it. Time will tell.

MCN: With COVID, has the business changed for you? 

JH: Today, commercial services represent less than 20% of our revenues. Having said that, for the past three or four years, it’s the fastest-growing segment within our business. Long term, we think that will continue to be not the only focus for us, but an important focus for us. The pandemic hits and clearly we are seeing the same strength, resilience and growth on the residential side of the business as others are seeing. That points to the importance of broadband within the home and having these reliable connections. We’ve clearly benefited from that. And clearly that first quarter after the pandemic hit, commercial services were hit pretty hard, but we came up with some creative solutions and creative programs and we’re seeing that slowly recover as the economy recovers.

MCN: Have you had a relationship with or known the people at Stonepeak before? JH: We had heard of Stonepeak, they obviously have a strong reputation. They own Cologix, which is a data-center business; they own ExteNet, which is building out fiber distributed networks and wireless connectivity. They recently bought Xplornet, which is a Canadian rural broadband provider. Obviously with the other fiber residential broadband infrastructure deals, clearly there has been a lot of activity on that side and we were hoping we would be able to find an infrastructure provider with a long term view of the business as a logical next partner in our evolution. In the months we've gotten to know Stonepeak, we’ve been very, very impressed with them. They have deep conviction in the business, a great deal of knowledge given their prior investments in infrastructure and have a very strong balance sheet in terms of their ability to allow us to grow across all of these various disciplines.

MCN: You have more than 1 million subscribers. Is that enough scale to do what you want to do? 

JH: Almost all of our customers have broadband and we’re a broadband company. Buying Wave and getting a coast-to-coast fiber network in eight of the top DMAs gives us the scale that we need to be very successful in the long term. We’re happy at this size. We’re bigger than other public cable companies, like Cable One and WOW. I think we have the scale we’re very comfortable with. But if there are opportunities to grow through mergers and acquisitions or organically, we’re going to continue to pursue those, because they historically have been very accretive for us and have accelerated our growth.

FX Docuseries Ventures Into Wilderness

Docuseries A Wilderness of Error begins on FX Sept. 25. It looks at a U.S. Army surgeon who is sent to prison for killing his pregnant wife and two daughters at Fort Bragg in 1970. The surgeon, Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald, said a band of drug-crazed hippies led by a girl in a floppy hat killed his family. 

Marc Smerling, who previously worked on HBO true-crime smash The Jinx, directs and executive produces the series, based on a book by Errol Morris. 

“What I'm always amazed about is how when you slow this story down and you look at it over a series, you start to see things that are in plain sight,” Smerling said. 

Morris has long been obsessed with the MacDonald case. “It has so many, many, many, many layers,” he said. “And among those many layers, how, in our judicial processes, we arrive at conclusions and how those conclusions may, in fact, be hopelessly biased.”

Morris credits Smerling with “taking the story several steps further” than his book had. 

The book shares its name with the docuseries. The Wilderness of Error title comes from a Poe short story called “William Wilson.”

“It’s a phrase that has always fascinated me,” Morris said.

Disney Movie Features Teen Girl Superhero 

Also on Sept. 25, live-action movie Secret Society of Second-Born Royals airs on Disney Plus. It’s about Sam, a teen “royal rebel” lined up for the throne in the kingdom of Illyria. Not all that interested in the royal life, she discovers she has super-human abilities and is invited to join a secret society. 

“Sam does not feel like she fits in at all in a royal family,” said Anna Mastro, director. “She’s a little more punk rock — she’s in a band, she doesn’t like to follow rules, she doesn’t like to dress up and be told where to go and what to do.”

Sam’s special abilities include heightened vision, hearing and smell. “Those allow her to do incredible things,” said Mastro, “and get her in trouble.”

Peyton Elizabeth Lee plays Sam. Niles Fitch plays Prince Tuma and Isabella Blake Thomas plays January. 

Secret Society production concluded in mid-March, just as the pandemic lockdown set in. “We really got lucky,” Mastro said. 

Mastro called X Men: First Class a major influence on her film. “I’m a big Marvel junkie,” she said. 

What makes Secret Society of Second-Born Royals right for 2020? Mastro said loads of children remain stuck at home, feeling different and often feeling down. “In the movie, the things that make you unique are the things that make you special,” she said. “Appreciate those things and they will help you find your place and where you fit in.”

The advertising-sales arms of top cable operators Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Communications have produced a playbook designed to help distributors, programmers, media buyers and advertisers take advantage of their addressable advertising capabilities.

The playbook is the latest step in the cable operators’ On Addressability initiative, started in 2019 as a way to increase the effectiveness and value of television advertising.

Featured in the playbook, available to anyone in the industry via the website OnAddressability.com, are a step-by-step technical guide to help programmers and distributors launch addressable advertising, a buyer’s guide to addressable TV and a seller’s guide to addressable TV advertising. There are also definitions of terms used in addressable advertising and an overview of standards that the group hopes the industry will adopt in order achieve scale and simplicity of use.

“Since the launch of On Addressability, we’ve been talking with major programmers and distributors to help marketers incorporate addressability into their TV strategies to drive better results,” Comcast Advertising president Marcien Jenckes said. “Despite this progress, however, there are still challenges for both buyers and sellers alike. That was the impetus for the playbook. The timing could not be better. In the current environment, advertisers are ready to pivot, and we need to be ready, too. The technology is there. Now we just need to bring advertisers a more scalable and consistent offering — and do it quickly.”

Jenckes, Charter executive VP David Kline (president of Spectrum Reach) and Cox Media senior VP Louis Gump discussed the initiative at the Advanced Advertising Summit on Sept. 15, part of Future’s Fall TV Events 2020. 

The companies have a combined reach of more than 30 million homes for addressable ads, Kline said, with AMC Networks and Discovery doing the first tests and the program being fully implemented in Q4. “I think we’re going to probably, before we’re done with this, add more [distributors] to it, so we can scale the way the industry needs,” he said.

Gump said Cox customers wanted more capabilities in terms of measuring ad-sales results, prompting Cox to join forces with the other companies. He said, though, “we can’t do it alone. If we are truly going to serve our customers, it has to be a joint effort. And so I would think of this as something that is not just the MSOs, but it’s also agencies, it’s brands and  various enablers around the ecosystem” looking to build businesses and serve consumers better. 

Traditional TV-advertising growth was slow before the pandemic hit, closing business and forcing those that were open to rethink how they were spending their advertising dollars. 

The industry has touted addressable advertising — the ability to send different targeted messages to different audiences rather than broadcast the same commercial to all viewers — as a way to be more effective and better compete with digital media.

With different distributors using different technology and protocols in different parts of the country, advertisers and media buyers found it complicated to do addressable ad campaigns at scale, leading to calls for industry-wide standards and more cooperation and interoperability among cable operators and other distributors.

The On Addressability campaign is designed to tell marketers that the industry now has the capability to run campaigns at scale, and that it has become easier to plan, buy and evaluate addressable TV campaigns.

To view this panel and other Advanced Advertising Summit sessions on demand,
go to falltvevents.com.

TV measurement veteran Bob Ivins has joined TVSquared as chief strategy officer.

Ivins, most recently chief data officer at Ampersand, will help TVSquared expand its cross-platform measurement product offerings and work more closely with media companies at a time when more marketers are using data to target their ad campaigns.

At Ampersand, Ivins was one of TVSquared’s customers. “I always thought what they were doing is good,” he said. “They don’t sell media. They’re solely focused on measurement. I really like the purity of that. Our focus on technology is more in line with what I want to do.”

Ivins said that TVSquared has built its technology to global scale and that he liked its initial products, which were mainly used by brands. He sees opportunity in the kind of deal TVSquared did with Ampersand, integrating its data enterprise-wide in Ampersand’s operation as a sales tool for media companies.

“As TV redefines itself, accelerated by COVID, I think measurement capabilities need to be redefined too,” he said. “And I think TVSquared is a player and hopefully we can help accelerate their growth.” 

“Bob is an industry veteran with experience and vision to help us continue to drive the industry forward,” TVSquared president Jo Kinsella said. “He is an excellent addition to the TVSquared team, and will be instrumental in supporting adoption of cross-platform measurement to our global client base.”

Last week, TVSquared said it was working with Blockgraph to provide omnichannel TV measurement and audience activation. 

Before joining Ampersand, Ivins was media agency Mindshare’s first chief data officer and Comcast, where he developed its Audience Interconnect Database. He also held posts at Comscore, Nielsen, Yahoo and I/Pro. 

FCC member Michael O’Rielly attended Thursday’s monthly Open Meeting, the only commissioner to wear a jacket and tie for the abbreviated online session. But he didn’t offer a clue by press time as to whether he will keep his seat — as he is entitled to do until Congress adjourns, presumably around Christmastime — or if he will move on sooner in the wake of the unexpected White House decision to pull his renomination on Monday (Aug. 3).

The Trump administration offered no explanation for the sudden withdrawal of O’Rielly’s reappointment, which was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee in mid-July and was awaiting full Senate confirmation. Although Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) had threatened to stymie the process because of disagreement about O’Rielly’s vote to approve Ligado Networks' application to build a low-power terrestrial 5G network in the L-band spectrum, the real rationale stems from the commissioner’s outspoken challenge to administration efforts to force the FCC to handle Section 230 issues in the 1996 Communications Decency Act.

O’Rielly has questioned President Donald Trump’s executive order that would require the FCC to oversee Section 230 enforcement of social-media platforms. In an interview on C-SPAN and at a Media Institute presentation, O’Rielly contended that the FCC does not have Congressional authority to regulate social-media activities. 

The timing is particularly awkward. If O’Rielly does leave now, the agency will face partisan 2-2 votes on controversial issues until a successor is installed. 

Several names have already been bruited about, mostly Capitol Hill and executive branch staffers, but Washington policy experts pointed out there is insufficient time for the FBI to conduct background checks on potential candidates. Moreover, the Senate Commerce Committee is unlikely to take up a confirmation hearing in the waning months of this session.

Looming over everything is the November election, which may set a new course at the White House and the Senate. If a Democratic administration takes over, it would appoint a Democrat to O’Rielly’s seat. 

The White House nominated O’Rielly, a member of the FCC’s three-Republican majority, on March 18 for a term that officially began on July 1, 2019. He has been serving continually since his initial appointment in 2013 and President Barack Obama appointed him to a full term in 2015.

Television lost a true icon when Regis Philbin, longtime host of morning television and game shows, and frequent guest on other hosts’ shows, died July 24. Philbin hosted The Morning Show from 1983 to 1988, Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee from 1988 to 2000, Live! With Regis in 2000 and 2001, and Live! With Regis and Kelly 2001 to 2011. 

“In a world of annoyances, Mr. Philbin was the indignant Everyman, under siege from all sides — by the damned computers, the horrible traffic, the inconsiderate people who were always late,” said The New York Times. “There was no soap in the men’s room. Hailing a cab was hopeless. Losing a wallet in a rental car? Fuhgeddaboudit!”

Philbin was the most-watched person in television history, with more than 17,000 hours of airtime, according to Guinness World Records, surpassing Hugh Downs. 

He was “the perfect television personality,” according to Wally Podrazik, adjunct lecturer at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s department of communication and author of Watching TV.  “He was classy, well-spoken, fun to be with, friendly and a friend of the family.”

Philbin was born in Manhattan and grew up in the Bronx. He graduated from Notre Dame and spent time in the Navy before starting in television as a stagehand, then a news writer, at KCOP Los Angeles. 

Philbin was an anchor in San Diego in the early ’60s and hosted the syndicated The Regis Philbin Show at KOGO San Diego starting in 1964. 

From 1967 to 1969, he was the announcer and sidekick on ABC’s late-night The Joey Bishop Show, and in the ’70s hosted Regis Philbin’s Saturday Night in St. Louis on KMOX St. Louis. From 1975 to 1981 he co-hosted A.M. Los Angeles on KABC Los Angeles, before taking on WABC New York’s local The Morning Show, alongside Cyndy Garvey.

Kathie Lee Johnson, later Kathie Lee Gifford, succeeded Garvey on the program, and national syndication as Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee followed. 

Philbin also hosted Regis Philbin’s Lifestyles on Lifetime from 1982 to 1987, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire  from 1999 to 2002. As a chatty pal of the contestants, “he was perfectly suited for that series,” said Podrazik. 

Philbin was noted as an ace ad-libber. On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough called the opening of a Philbin program “the most compelling 10 minutes in television because it’s just what’s on his mind, what’s in his heart.”

“He was so talented because he always showed his heart on television,” added Scarborough. 

Philbin was inducted into the B+C Hall of Fame, and hosted the 25th anniversary Hall event in 2015. 

Podrazik likened Philbin’s death to a death in the family — for much of America. “If Regis was on screen,” he said, “it was worth tuning in.”

'Hard Knocks' Tackles Two on HBO

Hard Knocks: Los Angeles, HBO’s annual close-up of an NFL team prepping for the season, begins August 11. Unlike other years, this season focuses on two teams, the Chargers and the Rams. 

Hard Knocks opted for two teams because both want bragging rights in their new market. “There’s a built-in tension we found attractive from the get-go,” said Ken Rodgers, showrunner and supervising producer. 

There will be five episodes. Liev Schreiber narrates. 

Also unlike other years, there’s the pandemic issue to deal with. Camera crews set out for Los Angeles in mid-July, anticipating the start of practice. “It’s not completely clear when training camp will start,” Rodgers said. “But we’ll be ready when they are.”

Hard Knocks is aiming to produce what Rodgers calls “a historical document”— a league restarting amidst unique, and daunting, circumstances. 

The head coaches should emerge as star performers, offering their leadership in these trying times. Among players, Rodgers is keen to see Chargers safety Derwin James and Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey show sides of themselves that football fans don’t normally get to see. He said both players have “huge personalities, and even huger playmaking abilities on the field.”

No one knows what will happen with the new season. “Whatever happens to the football teams happens to Hard Knocks,” Rodgers said. 

‘The Circus’ Corrals Trump, and Biden, on Showtime 

Also offering fast-paced, hard-hitting action, The Circus is back on Showtime Aug. 16, airing Sundays through the election. John Heilemann, Alex Wagner and Mark McKinnon “take viewers behind the scenes as the Trump and Biden campaigns hurtle toward a historic Election Day in November,” said the network.

For the hosts, the feeling before this season premieres is a bit different than what it usually is days before kickoff. “We knew two years ago that this would be the most extraordinary, potentially the most important election of our lifetimes,” Wagner said, acknowledging the “deep cleave” across the country. 

There is plenty of political reporting on TV, but Wagner said The Circus’s “documentary verite” style sets it apart. “We do a completely different thing,” she said. “We’re very much out in the world. We’re sifting through the noise.”

Wagner is a special correspondent for CBS News and a contributing editor at The Atlantic. COVID-19 offers plenty of new challenges for the program, which shoots days before an episode airs. “Anybody in journalism is facing a really great challenge,” said Wagner. “Everyone’s figuring out a set of protocols that gives them opportunities to get out in the field.”

Getting into the Trump camp for reporters is always “complicated,” she said, and has been much more so in this challenging year. “We have every intention of following President Trump,” said Wagner, “in the most robust, unflinching way possible.” 

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NBCUniversal’s Access Hollywood is preparing to celebrate its 20th anniversary and first on its list is building an ultra-modern new set that can service both entertainment magazine Access Hollywood and daytime spin-off Access Hollywood Live.

The new set will be unveiled July 6, but Access Hollywood gave B&C an exclusive sneak peak of what it’s building on the Universal lot in Burbank, Calif.

“The new set reflects the consistency of this brand. It’s slick, it’s modern, it’s warm.” says Rob Silverstein, executive producer, Access Hollywood and Access Hollywood Live.

Creating the new set presented a bit of a challenge because the show was moved into a smaller space at Universal, while having to give the two separate shows a unique feel.

“I had a design professor in school who said that the best design comes from clients who have a lot of constraints,” said James Welby, art director for both shows. “If you have a client who has unlimited resources and no idea of what they want, you have no idea what you are doing.”

So Welby made the absolute most of what he had, turning constraints into guidelines.

“We started with the idea of being able to use the set in 360,” he said. “We wanted the ceiling and the floors to be as much as an element as the walls.”

Welby began by creating lots of sliding panels that allows the crew to rearrange the set on the fly. The set is lined with high-resolution Christie 16x9 vertical monitors that allow anchors Billy Bush and Kit Hoover be wherever they want to be and still have screens behind them.

Welby also is using tricks with lighting and perspective to make the set feel bigger than it is, and to create different feels for each show. For example, Access Hollywood Live mostly airs in the daytime, so that show requires different lighting than Access Hollywood, which mostly airs in the evening.

“The design directive that we were given is that the shows should feel different and appropriate for their time slots,” says Welby.

The new set also needed to be “very social media friendly as we continuing adding that to the show without forcing it down people’s throats,” said Silverstein. “We’ve struck a nice balance between moving the show forward with social media but doing it in a way that’s not off-putting.”

The show is sticking with its signature blue and gold colors, with a touch of orange and red  — signifying the glamour of the red carpet where Access Hollywood so often finds itself — but it’s also remaking its graphics and branding packages, to be debuted at a later date.

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