NBCUniversal cable networks Bravo, Oxygen, Syfy, USA Network, and E! will roll out a slew of new shows and returning franchises ranging from E!'s Snoop Dogg-produced unscripted series to Bravo's renewal of several The Real Housewives franchise shows at NBCUniversal's upfront presentation next Monday (May 13).

E! will team up with Snoop Dogg on a new series featuring his daughter, Cori Broadus. The as-yet-untitled project will feature Broadus and her fiancé Wayne Deuce as they navigate life, love, and their upcoming nuptials, according to the network. Shows returning to the network include House of Villains, E! News and Live from E!

On Bravo, the network will launch Making It in Manhattan, which follows several tight-knit New York City-based friends navigating the trials and triumphs of young adulthood, as well as On Safari, which explores the spectacular world of safari experiences in the heart of the South African bush, according to the network. 

Returning to Bravo are long-running shows Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen along with the renewal of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Beverly Hills, Orange County, Miami, New York City, Potomac and Salt Lake City. Other shows returning include Below Deck, Summer House, Top Chef, Southern Charm and Southern Hospitality.

USA Network this summer will debut new competition series The Anonymous, while Syfy will launch in 2025 a new scripted series Revival, based on the zombie-themed comic book series of the same name. Syfy will also bring back shows Reginald the Vampire, The Ark and SurrealEstate.

Also Read: NBC Affiliates To Get Cut-Ins During Olympic Coverage To Promote Local News

Oxygen will develop several new true-crime series, including Dateline: The Smoking Gun, Philly Homicide, A Plan to Kill, The Girl on the Milk Carton, Deadly Waters with Captain Lee, and Sins of the South. Shows returning in 2024 include Accident, Suicide or Murder, Snapped, Snapped: Behind Bars, Killer Relationship with Faith Jenkins, and Real Murders of Atlanta.  

“From Bravoholics to Oxygen’s true-crime junkies and E!’s pop culture mavens to USA’s sports and WWE fans, our cable networks are home to some of the most loyal and passionate audiences across all of entertainment,” NBCUniversal Entertainment chairman Frances Berwick said. “The strength of our individual brands combined with our continued investment in distinctive original content continues to drive deep connection and engagement with viewers.” 

Oxygen will mark 20 years of its reality crime series Snapped with a two-hour special in May.

The show’s anniversary special debuts May 12 on Oxygen and promises to include new updates to the show's “craziest” Snapped cases, according to the network. The series, which debuted on Oxygen in 2004 and has chronicled the lives of women who lost control and were charged with murder, is currently in its 33rd season, according to the network. Overall, Snapped will have aired 646 episodes by the end of the current season, Oxygen said. 

The series, one of the first shows launched in the now-burgeoning true crime genre, has spawned three spinoffs, including Snapped: Killer Couples, Snapped: Behind Bars, and Snapped: Notorious.

The current season of Snapped is on track to be the shows strongest-performing season ever, averaging 725,000 total viewers in multiplatform viewing, per Nielsen figures supplied by Oxygen.

Oxygen will chronicle the final moments of crime victims as part of a new documentary series Final Moments.

The eight-episode series, produced by Dick Wolf (Law & Order) focuses on difficult and gut-wrenching crimes in which law enforcement’s efforts to solve a case hinges on dissecting the victim’s final moments, said network officials.

"We’re using the last video, the last text, the last cell phone conversation to tell the story of what led up to, and what was the horrific aftermath of a murder," Wolf Entertainment executive producer Tom Thayer told Multichannel News. "This is someone’s last communication or someone’s last appearance on a surveillance camera, seemingly innocent at the time, but revealing as later crucial evidence in the solving of the homicide. It’s dropping the viewer into that one moment that was someone’s last [moment] to be with them prior to their death."  

Through the use of the victim’s last interactions with family and friends, surveillance footage, text messages and social media posts, the series looks to build a timeline to determine what could have happened to the victim, Oxygen said.

Also: An Empire of TV Crime Shows Raised by Wolf

"Final Moments fits with the Oxygen brand because it captures the storylines our viewers love most – how the case was solved, how the killer was brought to justice and the emotional portrayal of the victim,” NBCU Television and Streaming senior VP of unscripted current production Stephanie Steele. "Final Moments illustrates the final day of a victim’s life through the lens of the investigation and through the experience of the victim’s loved ones.”

Steele added that the series continues the network's focus on the true-crime brand, which remains popular with its targeted female audience. "True crime resonates with our viewers because the storytelling is based on the truth, and there’s nothing more compelling than the real story," she said.

Final Moments is produced by Good Cable Content and Wolf Entertainment, with Dick Wolf, Tom Thayer, Kathryn Vaughan, Jordana Hochman and Tim McConville serving as executive producers.

Final Moments premieres on Oxygen Sunday, April 3 at 7/6 c. ■

Cable and streaming networks will enter the New Year with a light slate of original series and specials, highlighted by a spinoff series from Disney Plus's Emmy-nominated series The Mandalorian.

The new series, The Book of Boba Fett, debuts December 29 and follows legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand as they navigate the galaxy's underworld when they return the the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt of Star Wars fame, said the streaming service.

Debuting on New Year's Day on HBO Max is Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, a special which reunites cast members from the Harry Potter film franchise. Among those slated to appear in the special are Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Tom Felton, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Mark Williams, Bonnie Wright, Alfred Enoch, Matthew Lewis, and Evanna Lynch.

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting the week of December 27 to January 2 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

December 28 – The Super Bob Einstein Movie (documentary) – HBO

December 30 – Hilda and the Mountain King (animation movie) – Netflix

December 31 – Cobra Kai (returning series) – Netflix

December 31 – The Lost Daughter (drama) – Netflix

December 31 – Stay Close (drama) – Netflix

December 31 – Queer Eye (returning series) – Netflix

January 1 – The ‘80’s: Top Ten (docuseries) – National Geographic

January 1 – New York Homicide (docuseries) – Oxygen

Oxygen investigates the tragic and suspicious deaths and disappearances of numerous Indigenous women in Montana as part of a new documentary special debuting Nov. 12.

The 90-minute special, Murdered and Missing in Montana, focuses on three young, Indigenous women -- Henny Scott, Kaysera Stops Pretty Places and Selena not Afraid -- whose deaths around the Northern Cheyenne and Crow Reservations remain a mystery to residents and authorities, according to the network. The deaths are part of a spate of reported cases of missing Indigenous girls and women in Montana in recent years.

Oxygen SVP of development, unscripted Cori Abraham said the documentary -- produced by KT Studios -- has been in the works for several years in an effort to tell the story behind the tragedies and to seek justice for the victims. The documentary features interviews from the victims’ family members, local law enforcement, forensic experts and local activists, according to the network.

Here's what Abraham and Oxygen want you to know about Murdered and Missing in Montana.

The special has been in development for more than three years. “KT Studios pitched the show to us around three years ago regarding 27 or so Native American women who had gone missing in Montana. We did a deep dive on it and came up with these three cases that we specifically focus on, but obviously there are many others. There's a lot of conflicting issues with jurisdictions and native American tribal land ... to be honest there just isn't enough law enforcement covering such huge territories in Montana.”

The special shines a light on missing women cases that haven’t received a lot of media attention. “Each time somebody goes missing or is murdered it's a terrible tragedy, including Gabby Petito. Some tragedies obviously get some more coverage than others, but to be truthful all of these tragedies are equal. It’s really unfortunate that these women haven't received a lot of attention. It's not that others shouldn't get attention -- it's just that these women should as well.”

Murdered and Missing in Montana adds to Oxygen’s investigations into missing women of color. “Oxygen has been covering women of color specifically who have gone missing and murdered in the past. We did a special on the [2011 Missouri] disappearance of Phoenix Coldon. We've done one on the (1990) disappearance of the [Dannette and Jeannette] Millbrook twins in Augusta, Ga. Both of those stories were really important, and now 28 indigenous women from roughly the same area have been either murdered or are missing. When we have an opportunity to shed light on something like that it's something that we have to do.”

Oxygen is looking into other cases of missing women around the country. "We're not only looking into Montana, but we're also looking at other states like Washington because there are just so many unfortunate cases where this is happening. In the special, the three women were all found in similar circumstances a few weeks after they went missing, so it just seems like there was some commonality with these murders. Unfortunately, there are many more like them, so it's our obligation to shed light on the bigger issue at large. We’re featuring the tragic stories of Henny, Selena and Kaysera, but there are many, many others.”

Laura Nelson, a media veteran who has led communications operations at industry powerhouses like Nielsen, Comedy Central, VH1 and MTV for nearly three decades, died Aug. 20 after a battle with cancer. She was 55 years old.

A Boston College graduate, Nelson got her start in the PR business with Dan Klores Associates in New York, but was best known as one of the top communications professionals in the media business, leading PR efforts at various networks like Comedy Central, Oxygen, VH1 and MTV between 1993 and 2007. She joined The Gilbride Group, a strategic integrated marketing company focusing on non-profit and media clients, working with clients like the Gates Foundation, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the United Nations, as managing director in 2007, and in 2012 she moved to Current TV, where she headed up that company's communications efforts.

Nelson joined ratings measurement giant Nielsen as chief communications officer in 2014, a position she continued to hold at the time of her death. 

She is survived by her husband James A. Kremens, and two children Charles H. Kremens and Annabelle D. Kremens, all of Westport, Connecticut, as well as three siblings: Gina Wilcox (Brady) of Old Lyme, Connecticut; Paul F. Nelson (Julie) of Wilmette, Illinois; and Andrew Nelson (Meghan) of Cincinnati, Ohio.

According to her obituary, a mass of Christian burial will be held on Friday, Aug. 27, at 11 a.m. at The Church of the Assumption in Westport.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to The Cancer Couch Foundation. A fund to help finance metastatic breast cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering and Dana-Farber Institute has been set up to honor Nelson, and the Cancer Couch Foundation has pledged to match 100% of donations.

Oxygen rolls out its first “Serial Killer Week” April 10 to April 18. The stunt kicks off with Rifkin on Rifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer, which sees killer Joel Rifkin speak from Attica Correctional Facility in New York. 

A day later, it’s Catching a Serial Killer: Bruce McArthur, about a mall Santa and grandfather who murdered a lot of people. 

Later in the week, April 17 and 18 offers Murders at the Boarding House, which exposes “the sinister scheme grandmotherly Dorothea Puente employed to rob her boarders of their lives and their money,” said Oxygen. 

The week also features new episodes of Snapped, the series premiere of Living with a Serial Killer, which checks in with Joanne Dennehy’s daughter for her thoughts on her mother being “Britain’s most dangerous woman,” said Oxygen; Mark of a Serial Killer, Accident, Suicide or Murder and the series premiere of Mastermind of Murder, among other murderous programming. 

Disney Plus' much anticipated debut of Marvel Studios' WandaVision and the return of HBO Max comedy series Search Party lead a list of new shows debuting this week.

WandaVision, which debuts Jan. 15, follows Marvel Universe characters Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) who seek to live idealized suburban lives, but begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems, according to the streaming service.

Also Read: Disney Plus Now at 86.8 Million Subscribers

HBO Max will debut on Jan. 14 the fourth season of Search Party. The streaming service aired the third season of the comedy series after TBS aired the show's first two seasons. HBO Max will air the first three episodes of the season on the 14th, with three more airing on Jan. 21 and the remaining four episodes on Jan. 28.

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting the week of Jan. 11 to Jan. 16 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

Jan. 11 -- Straight Up With Steve Austin (returning series) -- USA Network

Jan. 13 -- Everyone Is Doing Great (comedy) -- Hulu

Jan. 13 -- Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer (documentary) -- Netflix

Jan 14 -- The Event (documentary series) -- HBO Max 

Jan. 14 -- Locked Down (movie) -- HBO Max

Jan. 15 -- Servant (returning series) -- Apple TV Plus

Jan. 15 -- One Night in Miami (drama) -- Prime Video

July 15 -- Secrets of Sulphur Springs (sci-fi) - Disney Channel

Jan. 17 -- Exhumed (reality) -- Oxygen

Oxygen debuts two-hour special The Case Died With Her Sunday, Dec. 6. Former prosecutor Loni Coombs dives into the case of Emilie Morris, who was killed before she was to appear in court for charges against a man for sexually inappropriate behavior Morris sustained as a minor. 

Pulse Films and BuzzFeed Studios produce the special, which features reporting from then-BuzzFeed News national reporter Jessica Testa. “Viewers will get a front row seat with exclusive sit down interviews with Emilie’s sister Andrea and mother Joan on their emotional crusade in gaining understanding, closure and justice,” said Oxygen. “While various systems failed Emilie, her family is dedicated to shedding light on the effects of child sexual abuse with hopes of making things right for her and for women everywhere.”

Jon Alwen, Marisa Clifford and Dan Baglio are executive producers for Pulse Films, and Cindy Vanegas-Gesuale, Karolina Waclawiak and Charlotte Simms are for BuzzFeed Studios.

This is a quick snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of Nov. 9-15, revealing the most-watched shows and networks using glass-level data from Vizio’s Inscape, and the top shows and networks by TV ad impressions with insights via iSpot.tv. 

Most-Watched Shows and Networks 

Via Vizio’s Inscape, the TV data company with insights from a panel of more than 16 million active and opted-in smart TVs. Data is linear, live TV only and includes all episode types (new and reruns). Rankings are by percent share duration (i.e., time spent watching).

For the first time, college football overtook NFL games for watch-time last week, with 3.68% of minutes watched vs. 2.09%. The 2020 Masters Tournament was third with 1.70% share duration. Various morning and news programs rose up the ranking compared to the previous week. Snapped, a true-crime reality series on Oxygen, was one notable ranking newcomer.

Also Read: Meeting the Challenge of a Most Unusual Sports Year

Thanks in part to college football, GMA and the 54th Annual CMA Awards, ABC took first place for watch-time (7.79%). NBC remained in second place (7.32%), while CBS took third (6.29%), propelled by the 2020 Masters Tournament and NFL games. Lifetime continued its march up the ranking, up to No. 20 from No. 25 in the previous week.

Top Shows and Networks by TV Ad Impressions

Via iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company. Rankings are by TV ad impressions, for new episodes only. 

The NFL is still the champ when it comes to TV ad impressions, but it’s seen slight declines in the past few weeks. For Nov. 9-15, games generated nearly 7.1 billion impressions, down from 7.3 billion the previous week; the week before that, games delivered 7.8 billion. College football took No. 2 with 2.8 billion impressions, followed by Good Morning America (754.3 million). The Voice jumped up the ranking, generating 630.5 million impressions, an increase from the previous week’s 402.1 million. The season 17 premiere of Grey’s Anatomy also made the top 25, coming in with 394.1 million — ahead of The Bachelorette (356.7 million).

Broadcast networks dominated the top of the ranking, led by ABC (6.5 billion impressions), over 1 billion of which came from college football games and 509.9 million from the 54th Annual CMA Awards. In general, football continues to be the biggest driver of impressions for broadcast networks, even amidst schedule changes and cancelled games due to COVID-19-related issues. On the non-sports side of things, Hallmark saw a 20% increase in impressions week-over-week, up to 450.8 million, as people started to tune in more to its ongoing Christmas-movie bonanza.

Killer Siblings returns on Oxygen Nov. 7. It is season two, offering more peeks at real-life “evil, maniacal and downright devious siblings,” in Oxygen’s words. 

There are 12 episodes. One looks at how a person’s embezzlement of family money drives the siblings to take revenge, and another looks at a teen girl who was kidnapped and abused by brothers, then puts her life on the line to find her abductors and bring them to justice. 

Each episode “spotlights some of the most amoral and calculating siblings who were caught red-handed in a web of lies,” said Oxygen. “Psychologists, detectives and investigators take viewers inside the chaos of manipulative brothers and sisters who were blinded by deceit and revenge.”

Killer Siblings is produced by Scott Sternberg Productions with Scott Sternberg, Matthew Watts & Kathi Watson the executive producers.

Oxygen is part of NBCUniversal. 

Oxygen premieres The Real Murders of Orange County, “delving into the most horrific, sinful and salacious cases that rocked Southern California’s wealthy coastal community,” it said, Nov. 8. Two episodes air each Sunday. 

The premiere episode examines the case of Jane Carver, a flight attendant who died while jogging in the picturesque community of Fountain Valley. With no evidence and minimal information from witnesses, the shooting goes unsolved for a year, until police linked her murder to a similar shooting in Huntington Beach.

The Real Murders of Orange County is produced by 44 Blue Productions, a Red Arrow Studios company, with Stephanie Noonan Drachkovitch, Josh Bingham, David Hale and Dan Snook the executive producers. 

Season 14 of Killer Couples starts on Oxygen June 18. Terrifying as they are, the lovestruck pairs can be kind of fun to watch. “The idea of couples, driven by passion and pushed to the brink to do anything to be together,” Todd Moss, senior VP of producer Jupiter Entertainment and executive producer on the series, said. “That’s always an enduring and intriguing story.”

Things kick off with Kelsey Bereth, a young mother who was murdered by her fiancé and his former girlfriend in Colorado. The season also looks at a grandmother and her husband who go missing, and a man and his adult son who are murdered, the investigation exposing an illicit romance and family betrayal.

How do the producers unearth these people? “Thousands of hours of research,” quipped Eric Wetherington, executive producer and showrunner.

The producers either want a case people don’t know about, or a case everyone knows about with a fresh angle to it. Episodes are grouped into themes, such as “First Love,” “First Kill” and “Underage and Full of Rage.”

“We look for great red herrings that allow viewers to be an armchair detective,” Moss said.

Season two of NOS4A2 premieres on AMC and BBC America June 21. The season picks up eight years after the events of season one. Vic McQueen is intent on destroying Charlie Manx, and Manx has his eye on McQueen’s young son Wayne. Ashleigh Cummings plays McQueen and Zachary Quinto plays Manx. He’s a bad dude, devouring the souls of children, then dumping what’s left of them at Christmasland.

NOS4A2 is based on Joe Hill’s novel. Hill, son of Stephen King, executive produces alongside Jami O’Brien. O’Brien formerly worked on Fear the Walking Dead and Hell on Wheels. An AMC exec asked her if she’d read the novel. She hadn’t. “We got the rights to it,” the executive said. “Read it.”

O’Brien did, and found NOS4A2 to be a “real page-turner.”

“The way Joe Hill draws the McQueen family is so nuanced and complicated,” she added. “I haven’t seen a family like that on TV in a long time.”

O’Brien said she fell for Quinto in the Star Trek movies. She called him “a phenomenally talented actor.”

Season one ran on AMC. Season two is on AMC and BBC America, as happened with Killing Eve earlier this year. “It’s great to open up the show to a whole new audience,” O’Brien said.

The series has Charlie Manx at several different ages, and O’Brien said Quinto captures them all. “He worked really hard to create a physicality and a voice for each of the different ages,” O’Brien said. “He’s just delicious to watch.” 

Season 14 of Killer Couples starts on Oxygen June 18. There are 10 new episodes of the true-crime series. The season starts with the story of Kelsey Bereth, a young mother in Colorado who was killed by her fiance and his former girlfriend.

The season also examines a grandmother and her husband who go missing, and a man and his adult son who are murdered in a home invasion, leading to a search that “exposes an illicit romance and family betrayal no one saw coming,” in Oxygen’s words.

Killer Couples is a spinoff of Snapped. It debuted in 2013.

Killer Couples is produced by Jupiter Entertainment with Stephen Land, Patrick Reardon, Todd Moss and Eric Wetherington the executive producers. 

Season 14 of Killer Couples starts on Oxygen June 18. There are 10 new episodes of the true-crime series. The season starts with the story of Kelsey Bereth, a young mother in Colorado who was killed by her fiance and his former girlfriend. 

The season also examines a grandmother and her husband who go missing, and a man and his adult son who are murdered in a home invasion, leading to a search that “exposes an illicit romance and family betrayal no one saw coming,” in Oxygen’s words.

Killer Couples is a spinoff of Snapped. It debuted in 2013. 

Killer Couples is produced by Jupiter Entertainment with Stephen Land, Patrick Reardon, Todd Moss and Eric Wetherington the executive producers. 

Oxygen holds its “12 Dark Days of Serial Killers” event April 9-20. The stunt features new specials Catching a Serial Killer: Sam Little, about the man who confessed to a staggering 90 murders, and Snapped: Notorious Hollywood Ripper, about a man who preyed on women on their path to stardom in Los Angeles.

“12 Dark Days” programming also includes the season premiere of Mark of a Killer and the season finale of The DNA of Murder with Paul Holes.

Other serial stuff includes Serial Killer with Piers Morgan; Dateline: Secrets Uncovered and Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt for Justice.

Dave Kaplan, senior VP, strategic insights and research, lifestyle networks (Bravo, Oxygen, E! and Universal Kids), said 61% of the Oxygen audience is very interested in serial killers. “There’s continued interest in understanding the psychology of criminals,” he said. “There’s a ton of curiosity about understanding the motivations of these people. Viewers like to theorize/decode what makes them tick.”

Serial killers have consistently performed well on Oxygen since it became a true-crime network, according to Rod Aissa, executive VP, original programming, Oxygen and E! Production. “What brings someone to the point where they do what they do?” he said, noting how serial killers often come off as a “normal guy next door.”

Season two of Mark of a Killer begins April 9. It’s about killers who steal mementos from a murder scene, or leave some sort of signature there. “It’s not just about serial killers,” said Aissa. “It’s how they kill, why they kill and the mark they leave.”

The DNA of Murder with Paul Holes has its season finale April 11. Holes dives into unsolved homicides by examining the physical and emotional “DNA,” said Oxygen, left behind. With access to crime scene photographs, case files and evidence, Holes investigates each crime utilizing his unique set of skills.

The finale looks into the murder of an elementary school principal in California.

Catching a Serial Killer: Sam Little has its premiere April 12. Little, 78 at the time, confessed to murdering over 90 women across 35 years. “What fueled his deadly rampage?” Oxygen wonders.

Snapped: Notorious Hollywood Ripper premieres April 19. From 1993 to 2008, Michael Gargiulo stalked, befriended and murdered three young women, and attempted to kill a fourth. His victims were all charismatic and seeking stardom.

Oxygen has offered programming stunts before, including one around the longrunning series Snapped. But it has done “nothing at this scale,” said Kaplan.

Oxygen had the “Serial Killers” stunt in the works before the coronavirus pandemic struck. The network might benefit from people stuck at home watching TV, looking for a different kind of terror than the news offers. “People view it as an escape, a peek into a life they don’t experience,” said Kaplan.

Aissa sees it similarly. “It’s an escape from MSNBC and Fox News and local news,” he said. “I think it’s some escapism that people need right now."

Oxygen has teamed with celebrities Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos as well as BuzzFeed News for several new original shows, the network said Wednesday.

The true crime-oriented, female-targeted network has greenlit Exhumed, from Ripa and Consuelos’ Milojo Productions, examines a gripping murder case in which unearthing a victim’s body is the vehicle in solving the twisted crime, according to the network. Also on the slate is The Jane Doe Murders, a special in which renowned crime scene investigator Yolanda McClary examines an active case from Polk County, Oregon.

BuzzFeed News along with Pulse Films will executive produce The Case Died With Her, a special which will follow legal commentator and former prosecutor Loni Coombs as she dives into the case of Emilie Morris, a woman in her 30's who suffered an untimely death just after bringing charges against Jim Wilder for sexually inappropriate behavior when she was a minor.

Oxygen also announced the renewal of Injustice with Nancy Grace for a second season.

RELATED: True Crime is Oxygen’s True North

Breeders has begun on FX. Martin Freeman, who played Lester Nygaard in the first season of Fargo, is a father whose patience with his children is fading fast. Daisy Haggard plays his wife.

FX describes the edgy comedy as exposing “the parental paradox that it is possible, in the very same moment, to love your child to the horizon of the universe, while being apoplectically angry enough to want to send them there.”

Michael McKean plays the estranged father of Haggard’s Ally character.

He said the Breeders cast has that something special. “What really, really counts is when the cameras shut down and you have lunch — what those conversations are like, how much fun you’re having,” McKean said at the TCA Winter Press Tour. “There comes a time at every job that I really love: Someone — often me but not always — says, this is a great job. This is an amazing thing we do. We get to hang out with funny people and laugh. There’s nothing like it.”

Freeman, Simon Blackwell and Chris Addison created Breeders. It’s dark. And quite funny.

Dick Wolf Chases Bad Guys, and Girls, on Oxygen

A new season of Cold Justice begins on Oxygen March 14. Working with local law enforcement, the Cold Justice team has brought on a bunch of arrests, and some convictions to boot.

Dick Wolf executive produces. Cases this season include the murder of a young mother in Fort Myers, Florida, whose football hotshot husband was arrested for her killing; an aspiring police officer shot to death in his motel room, also in Fort Myers; and the murder of an elderly man whose wife was known to have a violent temper. The latter case saw investigators turn up at the home of the 84-year-old wife, Norma Albritton, only to find she wasn’t there. The investigators ventured out to a nearby convenience store for snacks, and found ol’ Norma there.

“The show gets a little lucky sometimes,” executive producer Liz Cook said.

The victim’s family is visited at the beginning and end of each episode. Being able to bring positive news to the grieving families means a lot to the producers. “You want to go into those with good results,” Cook said. “Seeing their satisfaction really makes it worthwhile.”

Cold Justice spent three seasons on TNT, and a couple more now on Oxygen. What compels people to tune in? “People like to see justice,” said Cook. “They want to see them get the bad guy.”

There’s a wide array of intriguing suspects this season. “From the football player to the 84-year-old woman,” Cook said. “They’re old and young, female and male, all different ages. It covers everything.”

Oxygen continues to build on its true crime-themed lineup in April, including new series Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project as well as specials Catching a Serial Killer: Sam Little and Snapped: Notorious Hollywood Ripper.

Rod Aissa, executive VP, original programming, Oxygen Media and E! Production, spoke with Multichannel News about true crime content’s popularity and the NBCUniversal-owned network’s evolving strategy. Here’s an edited excerpt of the conversation.

MCN: Did Oxygen’s move to true crime two years ago generate the ratings and brand development results that were anticipated?

Rod Aissa: It actually has. We’ve had another year of growth since our rebrand in our original true-crime programming block, and for us that is significant — that made us know that we are still relevant and we’re still on the path of evolution in our brand. We’re looking to diversify with more hours. Our struggle has always been, how do we get more hours to compete with the streaming devices, as well as the goliaths that some of our competitors in the cable landscape are. Now that we’re able to increase those hours, we have a stronger foothold in being a differentiator in the space.

MCN: Why is true crime so popular?

RA: There’s not a higher stake than a truecrime story. You can go on Jeopardy! and win a million dollars, but the stakes of life and death are the ultimate challenge. Getting into the psychology of why someone commits a crime and how justice gets served is fascinating to viewers. Whether we’re red, blue or independent, we all have to believe that our justice system is going to work for us. The genre itself speaks to amazing storytelling, and I think it also speaks to relatability and high stakes.

MCN: How will the industry evolve in 2020?

RA: You expect to see more movement on the streaming side. We’re excited about the Peacock launch because it provides more places to make content. As long as you can continue to make content in this game and get it out to the target audience, I think places like Oxygen will continue to be in really good shape. Within NBCU we’re the only crime network, so we’re additive to the sales offerings and we provide diversity in the portfolio, which is really important. We’re not trying to chase the same things that our sister networks are chasing.

MCN: How will the streaming wars evolve?

RA: It’ll be interesting to see with the launches of Quibi and Peacock — and with Disney+ seemingly doing well — who survives, how the various services survive and evolve within the marketplace.

MCN: You also oversee E! Productions. What are the expectations for that?

RA: We love the family doc space, and thanks to [Keeping Up With The Kardashians] and a few others we’ve had great success in it. We’re also looking at some old franchises from back in the day like E! True Hollywood Story and Talk Soup. There’s never been a better time for curation and funny commentary, so we certainly feel blessed to have all of these things to write and joke about.

We’ve also launched a news programming block in the morning from 7 to 11 a.m., which is drawing in a diverse audience. E! in its new evolution is building upon what’s worked in the past, while seeking to expand upon that with new content.

Kent Gibbons and Michael Malone talk about Oxygen's non-holiday programming, stars in the station world, The L Word's return to Showtime, and more.

Santa stuff is all over the TV dial these days, but Oxygen takes it in a different direction, with a December chock full of juicy crime programming. Season three of Criminal Confessions, a Dick Wolf series about the work investigators do to get perps to cop to a crime, starts Saturday, Dec. 7, as does season four of the festively titled Homicide for the Holidays.

An Unexpected Killer, about a murder investigation where detectives discover, as the name suggests, that the killer is not who they anticipated, begins Dec. 5. Murder for Hire, about the sketchy world of contract killings, has its season finale Dec. 15.

The season premiere of Criminal Confessions features the case of Christopher Watts, and the murder of his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two daughters in Colorado last year. Oxygen starts the season with a 90-minute episode.

The investigators on that crime were deeply impacted by the case, said Stephanie Steele, Oxygen senior vice president of programming and development, and reluctant to share their stories on Criminal Confessions. Producers sent the investigators the first episode from the first season, about Robert Earley and the murder of his girlfriend, Emily Lambert, in New Mexico, to showcase the series’ thoughtful approach.

The investigators then came around. “They felt this was the right format, the right program for them to speak on,” Shed Media executive producer Adam Kassen said.

Criminal Confessions does not have voiceovers, Kassen added, so the investigators’ words tell the story. “It really is an authentic representation,” he said. “It’s not exploitative.”

When inviting investigators to share their stories, it doesn’t hurt to have Dick Wolf behind the show. “He’s the king when it comes to showcasing and representing law enforcement at its best,” Steele said. “He understands wholeheartedly how hard these people work.”

Kassen mentioned Wolf’s “street cred” among law-enforcement types. “He’s been working with investigators and cops and victims a long time,” he added.

The series shows the strategies law enforcement deploys to get the truth out of those who are reluctant to give it up. Wolf said season three “will continue to give crime buffs insight into a side of police work that has never been examined before.”

Steele promised “many different layers” to the Watts interrogation. “It’s a fascinating deep dive,” she said. “You really feel in the moment with these investigators.”

Criminal Confessions had done a two-hour episode before, about a serial killer, but the Watts case marks the show’s first 90-minute installment. Steele mentions the “incredible assets” available to producers — home footage, interrogation footage, bodycam content — that pushed the network to go long.

It makes for intriguing stuff. “Any time you have a case involving children, which we don’t typically do, those stick with you a bit more,” Kassen said.

Homicide for the Holidays shows how the festive season becomes upended when a loved one gets murdered. Season four starts with “Thanksgiving Terror,” which sees a mother shot to death while driving her sons home from Turkey Day dinner. “Investigators soon realize her murder is not as random as it once seemed,” Oxygen said.

Steele said the juxtaposition of happy and heinous is key to viewers connecting with Homicide for the Holidays. Frightful content, she added, works well for devouring multiple episodes.

“There’s something about the crime space that makes it a bingeable space,” Steele said. “Viewers like to cozy up with a blanket and binge.”

The Redemption Project With Van Jones, an eight-part series on CNN, offers a glimpse at what is known as the restorative justice process, as the victim of a life-altering crime, or the family of the victim, meets with the offender, with both parties seeking some healing.

The executive producers are Jonas Bell Pasht, Jonah Bekhor and Jason Cohen, and the host is Jones. The producers shot a “proof of concept,” said Bell Pasht, and passed it along to Jones, who they said fell in love with it. “Criminal justice reform, and everything to do with justice, is the most personal and powerful issue for Van,” Bekhor said.

Airing Sundays, the showdowns include a mother whose son was killed in a drug deal, speaking with a dealer serving a long sentence for the murder; and a man whose teen was killed in a drive-by shooting and the guy who shot the girl. “There were so many tears over the course of making the show, on the set, in the office, in the editing bay,” Bekhor said. “It has had a really profound effect on us.”

The drive-by shooting story, Bell Pasht added, may “haunt me forever.”

Jones is well known as a political commentator, but The Redemption Project shows another side of him. “Viewers will see the charismatic Van they know,” Bell Pasht said. “What they will not see on the show is any politics whatsoever.”

For another compelling look at unthinkable crime, Oxygen debuts The Disappearance of Susan Cox Powell, about a woman who vanished from her Utah home. Husband Josh’s alibi? He took their two sons camping — after Susan went to bed, in the middle of a brutal blizzard.

Two years later, Josh took the lives of their sons, and his own life.

The case got plenty of coverage when it happened in 2009, but there’s more to it. “The story has no closure,” Rod Aissa, Oxygen executive vice president of original programming and development, said. “What exactly happened to Susan? Was it her husband? Her father-in-law? Some combination of both?”

Oh yeah, the father-in-law, Steven. Oxygen has a batch of videotapes shot by the man, which depicts his sexual obsession with Susan.

Steven died just before show producers went to interview him.

“It’s still open-ended,” Aissa said. “That’s why we wanted to take another crack at it.”

Oxygen promises “alarming new developments, scandalous never-before-seen videos and rare interviews with family members offering a closer than ever look at one of the most shocking cases in recent memory.”

The two-night special goes May 4-5. Aissa warns viewers to be prepared. “I was a puddle of emotion and tears by the end of this,” he said.

Lifetime tonight will premiere a new primetime block of true crime-based programming, which is not surprising since the genre is making a killing with female viewers.

Networks, from true crime-branded cable outlets such as Investigation Discovery and Oxygen, to general-entertainment services like Lifetime, TV One and Reelz Channel, are reeling in female viewers attracted to dramatic re-enactments of often grizzly crimes — mostly committed by and against women — that are often as thrilling and more unpredictable than fiction-based scripted series.

Women are the majority of viewers for shows in virtually every subgenre of the category, from live trials to story-driven tales of murder for love to documentaries on injustices within the criminal system, according to network executives.

“People don’t think of women as watching crime dramas, which is a stereotype, and this proves that crime can pay with male and female viewers,” said Marc Berman, editor of TV industry website Programming Insider. “That’s been one of the major misperceptions in our business.”

Investigation Discovery currently tops cable networks in drawing adult women 25-54 on a total day basis, according to network executives. General manager Kevin Bennett said ID’s 650 hours of original genre content skews 60% female, with shows such as Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda and Deadly Women, as well as news magazines such as The Real Story With María Elena Salinas — drawing even higher shares of women viewers looking to watch as crimes are solved or to get the story behind a sensational crime.

Related: ID Orders Season Three of ‘People Magazine Investigates’

“All ID viewers are drawn to the high stakes stories of human nature — the twists and turns of a case and the ability to play along and solve the mystery,” Bennett said. “Because it’s real people and real stories you always have that emotional storytelling, and that’s what ID tries to bring consistently.”

All About the Stories

While many of the stories depicted within the true crime category deal with very bloody, grisly acts of violence, Bennett said that what appeals to women are the stories that lead up to the crimes, as well as the justice that is meted out to the perpetrators.

“We are not about car chases and gunfights — we’re really about the emotional impact that these stories [offer] people and also about the mystery side of things,” he said. “These are real stories, so there is a real emotional connection.”

Oxygen has posted double-digit ratings gains among women viewers in total-day ratings since adopting an all true-crime format last summer, according to Nielsen.

Related: Oxygen Greenlights Eight Series Amid Transition to Crime Genre

Executive vice president of programming and development Rod Aissa said shows such as Snapped — now in its 23rd season — as well as upcoming series In Defense Of appeal to women viewers because they tend to get emotionally invested in the victims and sometimes the perpetrator, with audience memebrs often feeling they could find themselves in the particular situation depicted on-screen.

“A lot of women are watching because of the narrative and storytelling that exists in the true-crime stories, and the stakes couldn’t be any higher,” he said. “Women also invest in the victims, so at its best a true crime show is about the pursuit of justice for a victim and they allow the audience to invest in the women in a significant way.”

That doesn’t mean that men are left on the outside looking in at the genre. Aissa said men tune in when the subject matter pertains to their interests, particularly if it’s sports-themed.

The second installment of Oxygen’s two-part March docuseries Aaron Hernandez Uncovered — which profiled the former New England Patriots tight end who in 2017 committed suicide in his jail cell while serving time on a murder conviction — drew more than 1.25 million viewers and set records for a network true-crime program across all adults 18-49 and 25-54.

“There is an opportunity to grow the audience from just strictly female into some other co-viewing opportunities,” Aissa said.

While the audience for Reelz skews majority female, network executives said the genre can draw co-viewing opportunities with the right subjects.

“There certain types of crime stories you can do — if you’re going to do an historical story on Bugsy Siegel, that’s most likely going to attract male viewers,” said Steve Cheskin, senior vice president of programming. “But when you do stories that involve romance triangles or cases where children are involved like the [convicted murderer] Jodi Arias or [accused child murderer] Casey Anthony cases, you get an emotional connection.”

For Reelz, shows such as Copy Cat Killers and Murder Made Me Famous have often pulled in a 70% female audience. Cheskin added that the storylines in those docudramas can be so intense and involving, the genre often mirrors the appeal of scripted programming. “Many of the crime stories and the procedurals on cable and broadcast networks tend to skew female, so it isn’t surprising that these shows would follow that track, except that these are real stories instead of something that’s made up.”

Lifetime will take a stab at the genre beginning tonight (June 18) with a “Justice for Women” true crime-themed programming block hosted by Gretchen Carlson and anchored by the premiere of Live PD Presents: Women On Patrol. The series, a spinoff of sister network A&E’s Live PD docuseries, follows women law enforcement officers from around the country.

Related: How Twitter Engagement Has Cemented ‘Live PD’ as the ‘Cops’ for a New Millennium

Lifetime executive vice president and head of programming Gena McCarthy said the new true crime-themed unscripted series — combined with original films based on real-life crime cases — provides a unique approach to the genre.

“True crime is one of those classic perennial genres with inherent drama, high emotion, compelling twists and turns in the narrative, huge personal stakes and, ultimately, a big puzzle to solve,” she said. “Women love solving all of that and Lifetime women have a long legacy of really enjoying that content from the movies that we’ve done and continue to do based on ripped-from-the-headlines stories.”

If the true crime block — which also features the fourth season premiere of Escaping Polygamy — clicks with viewers, Lifetime will dive deeper into the genre with more scripted and unscripted content, according to McCarthy.

Spreading the Wealth

Other female-skewing and entertainment-based networks are stepping into the genre with content that will appeal in particular to female viewers:

• TV One earlier this month debuted Evidence of Innocence, which profiles true stories of individuals wrongly convicted of crimes.

• The Weather Channel this fall will premiere Storm of Suspicion, about crimes where weather played a central role to the narrative and investigation. While TWC’s audience splits evenly between male and female viewers, network senior vice president of content and programming Nora Zimmett said the true-crime nature of the series will most likely draw more female viewers to the channel.

“True crime has become an incredibly popular genre across media spaces; not only linear television, but podcasts and works of literary nonfiction are exploding,” she said. “We think this show will appeal to both sexes but would not be surprised if there were to be greater interest from women, given that research has shown that more women than men gravitate to the true crime genre.”

Related: True Crime Confidential

Upstart Law & Crime network, which launched in March, said women make up 60% of the audience tuning in for a slate of predominately live trial coverage.

Women viewers are willing to sit through the trial process and listen to witness testimony to determine guilt or innocence for themselves, network editor in chief Rachel Stockman said.

Stockman said women are more apt to talk about trials on social media: They make up 75% to 80% of the participants within the network’s digital platform and sites.

“Live trials are the biggest soap operas there are,” Stockman said. “You’re with the jurors watching this play out and you’re playing armchair detective trying to figure out how all of this plays out.”

The fervor for true-crime content among audiences in general, and in particular among women, isn’t likely to decline in the near future, according to executives. A recent Oxygen study showed that the percentage of viewers interested in the genre has grown significantly over the past year, with 46% of respondents saying they’re becoming more interested in true crime programming, up 33% year over year, senior vice president of strategy insights and research for NBCU’s Lifestyle Networks Dave Kaplan said.

He doesn’t think the rash of new players in the genre will create oversaturation across the various distribution platforms.

“I think that speaks to the fact that the genre is evolving and that there’s more diversity and content from a number of players,” he said. “People are getting to know the genre in new and different ways, and as a result is sparking this wave of interest. Some networks focus on the investigative/law enforcement side of it, others focus on the actual criminals themselves, others focus on the victims. From what we’re seeing the demand keeps growing, and the supply isn’t necessarily enough to sustain the demand.”

Oxygen, which has turned into a crime-programming focused cable network, says it has four new projects in the genre in development.

One series comes from Buzzfeed motion pictures, with the working title of Buzzfeed: Behind the Crime. Another is based on the Up and Vanished podcast.

Related: True Crime Confidential

“Fans of the crime genre have really responded to the new Oxygen,” said Cori Abraham, Oxygen's senior VP, development and international. “We're attracting some of the biggest producers and talent in this space, and we’re looking forward to unveiling our 2018 slate.”

With its new orientation toward crime programming, including series from Law & Order’s Dick Wolf, Oxygen says viewership among total viewers in total day is up 53% year over year.

Related: Dick Wolf’s ‘Criminal Confessions’ Debuts on Oxygen Oct. 1

The newly slated projects include Up and Vanished (working title), produced by Propagate Content; Buzzfeed: Behind the Crime (wt), produced by BuzzFeed Motion Pictures; License to Kill (wt), produced by Shed Media, a division of Warner Bros. Unscripted and Alternative Television; and Unhinged (wt), produced by Peacock Productions.

Read more, including show descriptions, at broadcastingcable.com.

Fuse Media has named former VH1 and TLC executive Jennifer McGovern to the newly created position of senior vice president, current and development, the network said Thursday. 

McGovern will be responsible for all original content development and production as well as the generation of new original content strategies, said network officials. McGovern, who will report to Fuse chief content officer J-T Ladt, will also be responsible for identifying new material and opportunities for long and short-form programming for Fuse Media’s diverse content platforms.

Most recently McGovern worked at VH1 and was responsible for the development of all VH1 East Coast original programming. McGovern also had stints at Oxygen and TLC.

Unwitting victims kidnapped off the street and brutally murdered. Serial killers scattering body parts across miles of swampland. Desperate searches by law-enforcement officials in a race against time to find a missing person.

At first blush, these terrible incidents seem incomprehensible to the typical TV viewer. Yet millions tune in almost every night to one of several networks that depict such stories — part of the popular genre of true-crime programming.

Such networks as Investigation Discovery (ID) — which devotes its entire programming lineup to true-crime content — as well as Lifetime, Oxygen, TV One, HLN and A&E are betting that depictions and re-enactments of disturbing and mysterious tales of real-life murder and mayhem will continue to captivate viewers who can’t seem to look away from the tragedies explored in genre-based series, documentaries and specials.

The true-crime genre has particular appeal to women viewers, who generally favor mysteries with dramatic storylines but also see their greatest fears reflected in the TV genre’s harrowing tales of murder and violence, most often featuring stories of crimes against women.

Just last year, cable and broadcast networks aired five projects about the 1996 death of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey and three projects on the 1995 murder trial of O.J. Simpson. LMN, NBC and ABC this year aired shows about the life and crimes of cult leader and murderer Charles Manson.

And more projects are on the docket:

• Women-targeted lifestyle channel Oxygen will offer a reboot of the Dick Wolf-produced series Cold Justice as part of its late 2017 rebrand into a crime destination network targeting millennial women.

• NBC is gearing up for a new entry in the Law & Order franchise focused on the sensational 1993 murder trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez. Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie) will star in the eight-episode Law & Order: True Crime — The Menendez Murders.

• Lifetime will also delve into the Menendez brothers’ murder of their parents as part of an original movie, which will star Courtney Love as Lyle and Erik’s mother.

• A&E, which last month resurrected its iconic series Cold Case Files, will tackle the 1990s murders of rap stars Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur in separate episodes of its reimagined Biography franchise, which returns later this year after a five-year hiatus.

• ID will comb through the child-murder trial of Casey Anthony in April with limited series Casey Anthony: An American Murder.

• Discovery Channel and HLN will feature shows surrounding 1990s "Unabomber" suspect Theodore Kaczynski

TV executives cited several factors for true crime’s TV resurgence, including the current crowded TV environment, with more than 450 scripted series on offer, and a confusing political and news arena where real vs. alternative facts are the subject of debate. Viewers are fixated on both current real-life crimes and incidents from the recent past that remain unsolved or invoke more questions than answers.

WIDE-RANGING APPEAL
“There’s a certain kind of sensationalism that in some ways, as a genre, appeals to both educated and barely educated men and women equally,” said Steven Weinstock, co-president and co-CEO of production company Truly Original, which produces ID’s non-scripted series Vanity Fair Confidential. “There’s a certain kind of touchstone that true crime hits, because in a narrative form, it’s very effective in creating a puzzle that forces an engagement in the process by the viewer.”

Added A&E executive vice president and head of programming Elaine Frontain Bryant, “I think people love a good mystery, and because there is so much chaos in the world, I think people just love to settle down and watch with the satisfaction of knowing that problems can be solved.”

The genre isn’t exactly new to cable: Unscripted reality shows such as Oxygen’s Snapped and A&E’s Cold Case Files and The First 48, as well as newsmagazine shows such as NBC’s Dateline, have chronicled real-life murderers and unsolved mysteries for decades. Interest in the genre seems to have peaked in recent months, though, with the launch of high-profile series that have captured viewers’ imaginations.

Projects like HBO’s 2015 docuseries The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, which followed the Manhattan real-estate heir who was considered a person of interest in several murders; and Netflix’s gripping Making a Murderer, which shadowed the Wisconsin murder trial of Steven Avery, have breathed additional life into the genre.

Truly Original’s Weinstock said the sensational nature of the real-life crimes depicted in those shows appeals to the basic human desire to be safe, and to viewers’ sense of voyeurism with regard to violent incidents and actions that would otherwise invoke fear and emotional stress.

‘SOCIAL REALISM’
“Part of the appeal of true crime is a kind of social realism,” Weinstock said. “True crime can describe events that are risqué, deviant or even mundane that [viewers] wouldn’t otherwise have access to.”

Also, true-crime shows allow viewers to play the role of couch detective as they try to finger the perpetrators before the actual killer is revealed — or of judge and jury when they already know who did it.

Supercharging the genre were three recent programs on the 1995 O.J. Simpson “Trial of the Century”: ESPN’s five-part docuseries O.J.: Made in America, which last month won an Oscar for best documentary; FX’s limited scripted series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, which won five Primetime Emmy Awards; and ID’s Is O.J. Innocent? The Missing Evidence, which explored new theories and never-before-seen evidence regarding the trial.

Series such as Is O.J. Innocent? introduced well-known crime stories to younger audiences who may not have known much about the trial’s details, and allowed those viewers to make up their own minds about the verdict, said Henry Schlieff, president of the Discovery Communications network group that includes ID.

“In the case of O.J., if you go with the murder trial verdict, the killer was never found, so we give them a chance to decide what happened for themselves based on the evidence presented,” Schleiff said.

True-crime shows haven’t reached the lofty ratings level of top scripted shows such as AMC’s The Walking Dead, or even popular reality shows like Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Atlanta or Discovery Channel’s Gold Rush, both of which average more than 2 million viewers per episode. But true-crime aficionados are a loyal, passionate audience representing a cross-section of viewers, network officials said.

Some genre-specific shows have slashed through the cornucopia of TV content to generate big ratings. Lifetime’s Nov. 5 original movie Who Killed JonBenet? drew 1.5 million viewers, among the network’s highestperforming movies of last year.

Overall, ID set a network primetime ratings record in February, averaging more than 1.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen. It finished February as the most watched network on a total-day basis (Nielsen live-plus-3) among women 25-54.

Thirteen of ID’s primetime shows averaged more than 1 million viewers in February on a Nielsen live-plus-3- day basis, including shows with such provocative titles as Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda, Murder Chose Me and Evil Lives Here.

“We do a lot of research, and people anecdotally are saying that that they’ve had enough of scripted drama and love to see these true crime stories play out,” Schleiff said. “The true-crime genre has never been hotter, so we love our position.”

Oxygen also will look to slay female viewers when it rebrands. The network, which already features the longest-running series in the genre with the 14-yera-old Snapped, will build on its true-crime lineup when it revamps later this year with the relaunch of former TNT series Cold Justice.

Oxygen’s shift in focus will mean removing hits with broader appeal, such as Bad Girls Club, with hopes that true crime will draw younger and older women to the network. The crime stories entertain while offering viewers a cautionary tale, executive vice president of programming and development Rod Aissa said.

“We hear in focus groups all the time that a lot of this true crime is identifiable for women: Be careful where you go; be careful dating online; make sure people know where you are,” Aissa said. “It’s very tangible for our audience.”

Since it launched in 2016, Oxygen’s “Crime Time” weekend block of true-crime programming has posted a 22% increase in viewing by women 25-54 and a 42% increase in total viewers compared with 2015, according to Oxygen.

In October, the network expanded the block to include Fridays and Mondays.

HOLDING OUT FOR HEROES
Along with unsuspecting victims, true crime programming also depicts heroes in the detectives who do the dirty work to find killers or missing persons, A&E’s Frontain Bryant said — and that also resonates with viewers. That’s one of the reasons the network decided to bring back Cold Case Files after more than a decade’s hiatus.

The 10-episode series, which reopens criminal cases that have gone unsolved for years, debuted Feb. 27.

“I think this is also a time when people need to look for heroes — the people who will not let it go until they solve the case,” she said.

Despite the spree of new shows, ID’s Schleiff isn’t concerned about true-crime oversaturation.

“We love the fact that others are finally coming into our space,” Schleiff said. “It heightens the interest in the category.”

Female-targeted network Oxygen this summer will rebrand itself within the popular true crime genre, network officials said.

The network will jettison its reality and lifestyles shows – including its long-running series Bad Girls Club – once those shows' current and new seasons run their course and will focus exclusively on content in the true crime genre. As part of its rebrand, the network will launch several new series, including a revival of former TNT unscripted series Cold Justice. The Dick Wolf-produced series will debut on the network in third quarter 2017.

“The recent expansion of our ‘Crime Time’ weekend block has enjoyed double-digit gains and has really resonated with our female audience,” Frances Berwick, president of lifestyle networks, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, said in a release. “Oxygen has always played in this space with the highly successful original series Snapped, one of the longest running crime series on television now approaching its 20th season. With a lot of high quality projects in development, we believe our current fans, as well as all arm chair detectives, have good reason to be excited.”

Oxygen has had success with its “Crime Time” weekend block of true crime series. Since launching in 2016, the block has posted a 22% increase in women viewers 25-54 and a 42% increase in total viewers compared to fourth quarter 2015 numbers, according to Oxygen. In October the network expanded the block to include Fridays and Mondays. 

Other new Oxygen shows include Three Days to Live (premiering March 5), which follows the first three days after an abduction, and The Jury Speaks (debuting third quarter 2017), which looks at famous true crime cases decided by a jury.  

Oxygen will join ID (Investigation Discovery), A&E and Reelz, among others, in mining the true crime genre, which has generated several high profile shows such as Netflix's Making Of A Murderer and FX's Emmy-winning miniseries People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. 

Actress/producer Whoopi Goldberg has teamed with Oxygen to develop Strut, a reality series that follows the lives of several transgender models that premieres on the network Sept. 20. Goldberg, Strut’s executive producer, recently spoke with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about the show, as well as her key role in ABC’s daytime talk show The View, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. An edited excerpt follows.

MCN:What should viewers expect fromStrut?

Whoopi Goldberg: It’s kind of amazing. Most people don’t realize that there have been transgender models for years. We’re dealing with real people in the show. We deal with parents and kids and brothers and sisters, and religion, as these folks are trying to find their way on the runway. We’re trying to hit on a lot of different levels while understanding that this is not something new.

MCN:It’s not something new, but it may be new to many Oxygen viewers. Do you have any concerns about what viewer reaction will be to these young men and women profiled in the series?

WG: I don’t. People will either get it or they won’t. We’re hoping that this will help reach people who may not be aware of it, but also people who are struggling with it. One of the things that people keep saying is “God doesn’t make mistakes” … I always say, “God does not make mistakes, but Mother Nature will mess with you forever.” We get quadruplets and twins — we have hermaphrodites that are born.

There are so many things that happen to us as human beings that when someone says, “I don’t think I’m in the right body,” why would you doubt that? It’s not like it’s going to make them popular; they do it because they realize that there’s some difference that they need to deal with.

We see what happens when people are closed off to folks who are different — there’s a high rate of suicide, we get a high rate of folks working in the sex industry because no other industry is accepting. What they don’t realize is that they’ve known folks like this for a very long time, whether its male-to-female or vice versa. So we’re not telling you what to think — we just want you to know that you need to be aware when talking to people that you have to be respectful.

MCN:What does Oxygen bring to the table?

WG: The ability to put it on the air without anyone going, “Can you make them more like women?” They didn’t do any of that. They thought that this was an important conversation to have given what’s going on in the world. These are folks who have been modeling for a while, and it’s pretty brave to let folks know who you are, where you are going and what your dreams are. That’s what this is about. We didn’t want anything salacious.

MCN:Do you see this show potentially reaching beyond Oxygen’s traditionally female-skewing audience?

WG: I do. There are a lot of folks that we will never know that are affected by this very issue, whether they’ve begun the transition, or they’re thinking about it or want to talk to someone about it, or are looking for answers. We may be able to help them and make them feel better about the world they’re living in. We can say, “You’re not alone — we’re here and here’s what people are doing to change the conversation.” I’m really proud of all of our models, because it’s not an easy thing to come out and say that I’m different — here’s what I’m going through and here’s why I’m going through it. Here’s what I believe, and I have a parent that believes something different. I hope people will watch it with an open mind and an open heart.

MCN:I’d be remiss if I didn’t congratulate you on the 20th anniversary ofThe View. Did you thinkThe Viewwould reach the 20-year mark when you started?

WG: I had no idea how long I’d been on the show. (Laughs.) This was Barbara Walters’s idea, so congratulations to her.

MCN:Do you thinkThe Viewhas transcended the talk show category and become more of a trend-setter for the genre?

WG: I came to it late and I never watched it before I became involved in it, so I don’t know where they came from. I think it has spawned a lot of other shows, but they can’t do what that show does. That show has the ability to talk about everything from sex to politics, and everyone has a different opinion. I see lots of people trying to do it, but I don’t see anyone doing it as well as The View has.

Oxygen will explore the world of transgender models in a new original series produced by Whoopi Goldberg, the network said Monday.

The series, Strut, will follow a set of models pursuing careers in the world of fashion while challenging stereotypes of gender and beauty, said network officials. Strut is produced by One Hoe Productions and 44 Blue Productions, with Goldberg, Tom Leonardis, Stephanie Noonan Drachkovitch and Bobby Sizemore serving as executive producers.

"Strut follows a group of inspiring and resilient trailblazers who are working to change the modeling industry, and the world around them, by simply being true to themselves,” said Rod Aissa, executive vice president of original programming and development for Oxygen Media in a statement. “These individuals will empower viewers as they live their lives fully and unapologetically, despite facing many obstacles throughout their journey.”

NBCUniversal will host a single joint upfront presentation next month for the first time in company history, with cable amd broadcast, along with Spanish-language TV, taking the Radio City Music Hall stage together May 16.

Besides NBC entertainment, sports and news, the wingding will feature Bravo, CNBC, E!, Esquire Network, Golf Channel, MSNBC, NBC Universo, Oxygen, Sprout, Syfy, Telemundo and USA. In prior years, NBCUniversal held three upfront presentations, one apiece for broadcast, cable and Telemundo.

“As a media company, we have an unparalleled array of networks and digital platforms that reach the most audiences across all dayparts,” said Linda Yaccarino, chairman, advertising sales and client partnerships, NBCUniversal. “Our event will reflect the way we go to market as a unified portfolio which makes it easier for our clients to do business with us all together.”

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Amid the multitude of female-skewing holiday movies and specials airing in December, networks such as WE tv and Oxygen are giving viewers the gift of new, original regularly scheduled programming.

Women-targeted programmers said they aren’t afraid of competing against one-off holiday movies — and they’re eager to take advantage of reruns airing on broadcast networks.

“There are a lot of Christmas movies and Christmas specials, but that’s not for everybody,” Jerry Leo, executive vice president, program strategy, Lifestyle Networks for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, said. “I think the reality fan is still looking for other options.”

Two new reality series on NBCU’s Oxygen — Finding My Father, which tracks young women searching for their biological dads; and Rich in Faith, which follows Pastor Rich Wilkerson of Vous Church in Miami and his wife, DawnChere — both fit into the religious, heartwarming, family themes of the Christmas holiday, Leo said. In prior years, new seasons of Project Runway and The Real Housewives of Atlanta drew big numbers against holiday fare, he added.

“Hopefully the holidays will actually help us by creating that kind of environment and vibe for the shows,” Leo said.

WE tv last week launched the fourth seasons of two popular reality series, Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars and Tamar and Vince, the Braxton Family Values spinoff.

The holiday season provides a great opportunity to siphon off viewers who have been watching broadcast TV, WE tv president Marc Juris said. “On Thursday, when [ABC’s] Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder are in reruns, maybe 5 million women become available.”

Launching new and returning shows in December also allows the network to promote its January fare, he said. The network on Jan. 7 will debut reality series Growing Up Hip Hop. On Jan. 8, Ex Isle, starring Carmen Electra, will show individuals how to get over an ex.

“We want to use every opportunity in a crowded marketplace to bring in new viewers and to re-establish ourselves with our super-fans,” Juris said.

Still, women-targeted networks will face tough competition from holiday fare on Hallmark Channel and ABC Family.

ABC Family, with its “25 Days of Christmas” programming stunt, was easily the most watched network among women 18- 49, women 25-54 and women 18-34 during the first week of December (Nov. 30 to Dec. 6).

Undaunted, Leo said Oxygen plans to run its original content each week throughout the holiday season without any breaks.

“We don’t take our foot off the gas for even one week during the holidays,” he said. “If you’re into the storyline, you want to stay with it.”

It’s game on for reality shows featuring women athletes.

From young, impressionable dancers to toned football players to nimble and strong pro wrestlers, reality shows featuring athletic female characters are winning over viewers.

Network programmers said shows such as Lifetime’s Dance Moms and Bring It!, E!’s WWE Total Divas and Oxygen’s new series Pretty. Strong. are resonating with a relatively young audience because they feature mostly aspirational stories of hard work, dedication, teamwork and perseverance.

RELATED 'MCN' VIDEO:Oxygen's 'Pretty.Strong.'

“I think viewers like seeing strong, talented women following their passion and making their passion their careers,” Jeff Olde, executive vice president of original programming and development for E!, said of the network’s pro wrestling-themed series Total Divas.

Unlike some sports-themed reality series such Fox Sports 1 and UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter — which focus heavily on the action involving aspiring mixed martial arts competitors — shows like Total Divas use sports as a backdrop to tell participants’ personal stories.

The series — which follows current WWE female performers, dubbed “Divas,” outside the wrestling ring — does not feature a lot of in-ring action. But Olde said the behind-the-scenes drama that occurs in the cast members’ personal lives has drawn strong viewership for E!, particularly in its key demo of 18-to- 49-year-old women.

Almost 900,000 adults 18-49  tuned in for season four of the series (per Nielsen live-plus-3-day figures), which concluded last month. Women comprised two-thirds of the overall audience.

“I think the audience also likes seeing women thrive in a world that is primarily dominated by men and creating their own sets of rules to do so,” Olde said. “While it is competitive, it is also a sisterhood for all of them.”

For viewers looking for some athletic competition, Lifetime’s dance-themed shows feature face-off s between dueling dance teams. The network’s four-year-old franchise Dance Moms and its 19-month-old series Bring It! depict the often dramatic and cutthroat competitive nature of dance schools.

Eli Lehrer, Lifetime’s senior vice president and head of unscripted series, said viewers have become invested in the preteens and teen-agers who appear in the Abby Lee Dance Company on Dance Moms and at Bring It!’s Dollhouse Dance Factory as they train and perform in weekly competitions.

“I do think an important factor in the success of the shows is that the people who are in it are very good,” Lehrer said. “Dance Moms succeeds because the kids are legitimately talented and are the best in the country in what they do.”

Oxygen will look to play in this arena with the Oct. 6 premiere of Pretty. Strong., about women who play in the all-female Legends Football League.

Ellen Stone, executive vice president of marketing for Bravo and Oxygen Media, said the show provides an aspirational look at women playing and thriving in a sport dominated by men.

“It’s about female empowerment, but it’s not about hiding the pretty. It’s about embracing everything it is to be a young woman,” she said. “It’s got the fun sports angle which is unusual and unique, but you also have a lot of really strong women coming together and being inspired, which Is good entertainment.”

Along with Pretty. Strong., Oxygen is working on a reality series featuring African-American ballet dancer Misty Copeland and one starring Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Gabby Douglas, Stone said. The genre represents more than just what female athletes do on the field or the dance floor, she said — it highlights the inspirational stories behind their athletic success.

“We’re about storytelling,” she said. “Whatever the backdrop is we’re going to make it entertaining and exciting for the viewers.”

Oxygen Media will develop five new projects targeted to its core female millennial viewers, the network announced Wednesday.

The new series include Dead Clean, chronicling an all-women clean-up crew; House of Black Diamond, which follows the lives of six members of a California drill team; and Start Me Up, a competition series focusing on raising money through online crowdfunding. Also on the docket are Swipe For Love, in which singles are matched up via social media in front of a studio audience, and competition series The Ultimate Relationship Test, in which couples wager money on each other abilities to win a variety of challenges.

“Inspired by millenials who express themselves and their ideas in innovative and diverse ways, these five new projects reflect Oxygen Media’s commitment to sharing fun and meaningful stories that resonate with our audience,” Cori Abraham, senior VP of development & international for Oxygen Media, said in a statement.

Looking to strengthen its connection with tough-to-reach millennial audiences, Oxygen is taking the digital route to offer early access to the first episode of season two of Sisterhood of Hip Hop about a week before its scheduled debut on regular TV on June 9.

In a first for Oxygen, the network’s pre-linear, digital premiere of the docu-series' new season will hit the Internet on Wednesday (June 3) on Oxygen.com, via Oxygen’s TV Everywhere apps, and will also give viewers a chance to access it without pay TV credentials at Bossip.com. The episode will also be available in the early digital window on set-top VOD and via Hulu.

A big aim of the digital access campaign is to broaden access to the premiere of season two and to cultivate interest in future episodes.

“We’re really trying for a wide sampling opportunity for the millennials,” Ellen Stone, executive vice president of marketing at Oxygen and Bravo, said.

Bossip.com, a site dedicated to African American pop culture and entertainment, will be the only external Web site to post the season two premiere in the early digital window. The site will also provide clips and other editorial coverage around the series.

“We have had a lot of success with them [Bossip.com] in terms of engaging their audience with our content and our programming,” Stone said, noting that the site has an audience of about 3.5 million. “While we wanted it to be a good sampling opportunity, we also wanted to make sure that we'd hit it right, and Bossip was hands-down the place to go." 

For the pre-linear premiere, Oxygen will be inserting ads promoting its own shows rather than selling a separate ad inventory. “It’s really all Oxygen, all the time,” Stone said.

Oxygen is also pairing the season two TV premiere with a Watch & Win sweepstakes, whereby the network will post a special hashtag during the show. Viewers who see it and share it on Twitter will automatically be entered to win $25,000.

Season two of Sisterhood of Hip Hop is scheduled to premiere on Oxygen on Tuesday, June 9 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Additional information about Oxygen’s pre-linear digital campaign, and how it blends with a broader TV trends, will be featured in the Next TV section of the June 8 issue of Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable.

Fuse has picked up the rights to air games from the Legends Football League (formerly the Lingerie Football League), said network officials.

Fuse will broadcast the entire LFL USA 2015 season in primetime which includes 18 regular season games, two conference Playoff games as well as the Legends Cup championship game. The season begins April 18. MyNetwork TV and MTV Networks previously distributed games from the LFL, which launched in 2009.

The deal comes on the heels of a new LFL reality series, Pretty.Strong., to be distributed by Oxygen later this year.

"This is a key acquisition for Fuse as we continue to roll out programming that extends beyond music and resonates with our core audience of New Young Americans as well as the established LFL fan base," said Bill Hilary, President Fuse Media, Inc.  "LFL is primed to become the next major sports and entertainment franchise on television and we are excited to build on this momentum and bring these athletes, games and compelling stories to the network."

Bravo Media, a unit of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, has promoted Jerry Leo to executive vice president, program strategy, Lifestyle Networks & Production, adding responsibility for E! Entertainment and Esquire Network to his current duties at Bravo and Oxygen.

Leo will oversee strategic planning and programming across all four networks, working closely with research, marketing and creative to set series goals. Additionally, he will will continue to supervise Bravo’s production team from the creative side to operations and management, the company said.

During his tenure at Bravo, which he joined in 2005 as vice president, strategic program planning & scheduling, it has become a Top 10 network in the adults 18-49 and 25-54 demos. Most recently Leo oversaw Bravo's expansion into scripted series with one-hour drama Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce and the upcoming half-hour comedy Odd Mom Out. He also spearheaded the strategic planning and production of reality series Million Dollar Listing franchise, Vanderpump Rules, Below Deck and Shahs of Sunset, as well as the Andy Cohen late-night talker Watch What Happens Live.

Leo added responsibility for strategic planning at Oxygen in 2013, when he led the scheduling strategy behind the network’s rebrandto target young, multicultural women.

Prior to joining Bravo Media, Leo was with MTV Networks, most recently as vice president, program planning for VH1, where he managed the program strategy for Behind the Music, Divas Live, Storytellers, Pop Up Video and popular franchises such as the “100 Greatest,” “I Love the 80s” and “Celebreality.”

Leo, based in New York, will continue to report to Frances Berwick, president, lifestyle networks, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, on matters pertaining to Bravo and Oxygen, and now will also report to Adam Stotsky, general manager of E! and president of Esquire Network.

“Jerry is a strong leader with extensive industry knowledge, keen programming instincts and his finger on the competitive pulse,” Berwick said. “His expanded role over all four brands enables us to align an overarching programming strategy and create impactful growth across all platforms."

They’re throwing footballs in the desert.

No, we’re not talking about Tom Brady and Russell Wilson -- they will do their thing on Sunday at the University of Phoenix Stadium.

Rather, fans at the NFL Fan Experience in Phoenix are tossing nerf footballs dipped in various paints at blanks canvases as part of interactive exhibit sponsored by Oxygen to help promote its upcoming Street Art Throwdown competition series. On Thursday and Friday, fans, players and celebrities attending the NFL Fan Experience are putting the painted pigskins in flight as the starting points for the show’s contestants turning them into murals representing Play 60, the NFL’s youth outreach initiative, and nearby Luke Air Force Base, as charitable beneficiaries.  

Award-winning artist and show creator Justin Bua, co-judge Lauren Wagner and La’Roi Glover, former NFL player and current director of player engagement for the St. Louis Rams, were the judges for Thursday’s entries.

The show’s hosts will be joined in the judging on Friday by Olympic hurdler Queen Harrison.

On Saturday, the artists will work on two massive murals depicting the Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots, the NBC logo, and other Super Bowl-related fare. Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson, Arizona Cardinals punter Drew Butler and actor Kellan Lutz (Twilight franchise and Legend of Hercules) were expected to be on hand.

The Saturday activities will be filmed in their entirety and then edited to be included as a segment in NBC’s six-hour pre-game show.

The high-profile promotional platform comes ahead of the show -- in which 10 contestants will create various outdoor art forms around Los Angeles with the winner taking home $100,000 --  which will premiere Tuesday, Feb. 3 debut at 9 p.m. (ET/PT).  

"We saw an amazing synergy between the high- energy, competitive nature of Super Bowl and street art,” said Bravo and Oyxgen Media executive vice president of marketing Ellen Stone. Partnering with NBC Sports and the NFL provided the perfect opportunity to highlight Street Art Throwdown, in an impactful way that literally touches the fans and allows them to experience the visually arresting nature of this art through on-site demonstrations by the incredible talent/artists throughout the weekend." .

Each day, the murals are vetted by the judges and then donated back to the participating charities or auctioned off by NFL for proceeds given to an NFL selected organization

OXYGEN’S SUPER BOWL SCHEDULE (all times MT)

THURSDAY & FRIDAY:

2-3pm: The charity organization stops by to meet artists, take photos at the activation site and participate in the pop-art challenge.

2-5:30pm: Pop-art challenge where consumers, fans and talent throw nerf footballs dipped in paint at blank canvas walls to create art splatter and backdrop for the mural.

6-9pm: Artists live-paint the specific theme on the pop-art splattered murals. Talent can participate in painting the mural.

9-9:30pm: Judging by two show hosts and NFL player/celebrity.

SATURDAY:

12-4pm: Live-painting massive Super Bowl XLIX themed murals – one for the New England Patriots, the other for the Seattle Seahawks. Talent will participate in the mural and hold photo opps.

4-4:30pm: Judging by two show hosts and NFL player/celebrity.

Oxygen will look to reach young, multicultural women with four new series as part of its development slate.

The new shows include The Misty Copeland Project (working title) which follows the renowned African-American ballerina (pictured) as she trains would-be ballerinas; Teaching English, which follows a group of young Americans living abroad in countries where English is rarely heard; Survival of The Clickiest, which follows a group of young budding online style stars each forging a path in the ultra-competitive world of vlogging; and Straight Up With A Twist, a half-hour comedy that captures after work bar discussions of various groups of friends.

“From the unbelievably inspirational and talented Misty Copeland, to the bold young women experiencing life abroad, the new development slate appeals to a multitude of female viewers,” said Cori Abraham, Senior Vice President of Development & International for Oxygen Media in a statement.  “These projects embrace the new Oxygen programming filter, which focuses on real characters who are on a journey to seek out new experiences and follow their true passions in life.”

NBCUniversal has restructured its cable portfolio, expanding the purview of Frances Berwick as the overseer of the newly formed lifestyle network group.

In her new position as president of the group, Berwick will add strategic oversight of E! Entertainment and Esquire Network to her current duties at Bravo and Oxygen Media. She will  continue to report to NBCU Cable Entertainment chairman Bonnie Hammer, who announced the reorganization that more closely aligns the lifestyle services with the way they are positioned in the marketplace.

As part of the changes, Suzanne Kolb is exiting her position as president of E!, ending a nine-year run with the entertainment service, including the last three at its helm. Adam Stotsky, president of Esquire Network, which was converted from Style in September 2013, also has been named general manager of E! and will report directly to Berwick in both capacities.

Berwick was appointed president of Bravo and Oxygen Media in September 2013 spearheading strategy and operations for both brands. She was named president of Bravo, which she joined in 1996, in 2010. Under her tutelage, it has become a top 10 cable network with over 550 hours of year-round original programming that reaches one of the most affluent audiences in television.

Over the years, she has overseen breakout original programming, including the popular “Real Housewives” franchise, Watch What Happens Live! and Emmy winners Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Top Chef. Most recently, Berwick has the network poised to enter the scripted realm, with its first entry Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce slated to debut in December, to be followed by the half-hour scripted comedy Odd Mom Out next year. 

In 2013, Berwick's role was expanded to include Oxygen Media where she is currently overseeing the network's rebrand, targeting young, multicultural women and scheduled to launch across all platforms on Oct. 7.

“In a crowded, constantly evolving media landscape, it’s more important than ever to have a business structure that not only delivers results today, but also sets a course with the right leadership for future success,” said Hammer. “Frances is that rare individual whose creative instincts are as finely tuned as her business savvy. Her impressive track record is all about identifying compelling, innovative content. It’s part of her DNA, and it will be an invaluable asset in this new role and in maximizing E!’s tremendous brand potential.”

At E!, Berwick will be directly responsible for original programming and development aimed at buttressing viewership, strengthening the channel’s competitive positioning and extending its worldwide reputation as the multiplatform destination for all things entertainment.  

“I’ve been a huge longtime fan of E! from afar, so I’m really excited to now be part of the team,” said Berwick. “I have enormous respect for the brand leadership position they've built in entertainment news and celebrity culture.”

In his new role as general manager at E!, Stotsky gains oversight of daily operations, notably news, digital, marketing, communications, research and acquisitions. He will continue his duties as president, Esquire Network, with direct oversight of all areas of the network.   

“As a colleague of Adam’s for years, I’ve been impressed by his leadership skills and his ability to envision and define brands, from Syfy to NBC to Esquire,” said Berwick.  "The distinctive brand and impressive slate that he and his team at Esquire Network have built in a short period of time is remarkable. I look forward to working even closer together as we take E! to new heights."

Oxygen Media has picked up five new reality series in advance of the network’s Oct. 7 rebrand, said Rod Aissa who was also elevated to the role of executive vice president of original programming and development.

The new series include The Investment Club, executively produced by Thom Beers and follows millennial entrepreneurs hoping to make it big; The Prancing Elite Project, produced by Crazy Legs Productions and chronicles an all-male competitive dance team in Mobile, Ala; The Wilkersons, from Magical Elves and follows the life of Pastor Rick Wilkerson and his family; and Finding My Father, produced by Asylum Entertainment which follows several men and women who are looking to piece together the truth about their past.  

The network will also expand its popular Preachers Of L.A. reality series with the 2015 launch of Preachers Of Detroit, said network officials.

These shows join the recently announced  greenlit series Nail’d It, My Crazy Love, Fix My Choir, Street Art Throwdown, Funny Girls, Living Different, It Takes A Sister, and After Happily Ever After. The shows are part of Oxygen’s rebrand launching on Oct. 7 and the unveiling the network’s “very real” tagline and new logo.

“Oxygen is committed to delivering more authentic originals geared to young, multicultural women,” said Aissa. “These vibrant series reinforce the network’s new programming direction as we continue to shape the future of Oxygen.”

In his new role, Aissa will continue to oversee the strategic development and production of Oxygen’s original programming and will help oversee the network’s rebrand, according to Oxygen. Aissa was behind the launch of several successful Oxygen series including Preachers of L.A and Sisterhood of Hip Hop.

“Rod has a remarkably intuitive touch for finding unique original content that is culturally relevant for our audience in this young, multicultural demo,” said Frances Berwick, President of Bravo and Oxygen Media.  “His passion and creativity will be instrumental as we continue to expand our programming slate for the new Oxygen.”

Oxygen Media will sing the praises of its new gospel-themed reality show in November.

The series, Fix My Choir, debuts Nov. 5 and stars gospel superstar Deitrick Haddon (Preachers Of LA) and Michelle Williams (Destiny’s Child) as they team to rescue struggling gospel choirs across the country.

“A great choir has the potential to inspire communities and uplift people everywhere,” said Rod Aissa, Senior Vice President, Original Programming and Development for Oxygen Media in a statement. “Viewers will witness Deitrick and Michelle breathe new life into choirs that have lost their way in Fix My Choir, culminating with unforgettable performances that will bring the house down.”  

Fix My Choir will be part of Oxygen’s Oct. 7 rebrand showcasing the network’s new logo and tagline very real, targeting young, modern women.

Oxygen said the Tuesday (Aug. 12) debut of docu-series Sisterhood of Hip Hop was the network's highest-rated freshman series premiere in 2014, drawing 811,000 total viewers, 482,000 in the 18-49 age range and 375,000 in the females 18-49 demographic. The premiere helped the NBCUniversal-owned network have its highest-rated primetime of the year among women 18-49 and overall viewers in that age demo, and it was the most-watched Tuesday of the year in total day among women ages 18-49 and 25-54, according to Nielsen, per Oxygen.

The network said it was the top social reality network in primetime and the Sisterhood premiere was the second-most social cable reality program in primetime, citing Nielsen's Social Guide Intelligence.

The series (sneak peek at Aug. 19 episode) is about five up and coming "femcees" (pictured).