A trio of scripted series returns leads the list of original shows, movies and specials debuting this week. 

FX on February 22 will debut the sixth and final season of its drama hit series Snowfall. The series, which chronicles how an off-the-books CIA operation contributed to the destruction rock cocaine leveled upon the vibrant community of South Central L.A., stars Damson Idris.  

Starz on February 24 launches season three of its comedy series Party Down, 13 years after canceling the show after two seasons.

The series, which follows a group of caterers hoping to eventually make it to Hollywood, brings back the show's former cast members, including Kevin Marino, Adam Scott, Jane Lynch, Martin Starr, Megan Mullally and Ryan Hansen. Joining the cast for the third season are Tyrel Jackson Williams and Jennifer Garner, according to the network. 

Peacock’s Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot series Bel-Air debuts its second season on February 23. Former Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Tatyana Ali joins the cast of returning regulars that includes Jabari Banks, Adrian Holmes, Cassandra Freeman, Olly Sholotan, Coco Jones and Jimmy Akingbola. 

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for multiple shows debuting the week of February 21 to February 16 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

February 23: Black Snow (drama) — Sundance Now

February 23: Outer Banks (returning series) — Netflix

February 24: Bruiser (drama) — Hulu

February 24: The Consultant (drama) — Amazon Prime Video

February 24: Liaison (drama) — Apple TV Plus

February 24: We Have a Ghost (fantasy movie) — Netflix

February 25: The Weeknd: Live at SoFi Stadium (music special) — HBO

The sixth and final season of drama Snowfall premieres February 22 on FX, with two episodes on that night. The show has chronicled how an off-the-books CIA operation contributed to the destruction that crack brought on South Central L.A. in the ’80s. 

In the final season, civil war threatens to destroy the Saint family. 

Damson Idris, Angela Lewis, Michael Hyatt, Carter Hudson and Amin Joseph star. 

John Singleton and Eric Amodio created the show with Dave Andron. Singleton died in 2019. Showrunner Andron spoke at the TCA Winter Press Tour last month about honoring Singleton with a strong landing for Snowfall. “This is all his legacy,” he said. “This is the story. He started his career telling about South Central, about his neighborhood. If anything, I guess we just felt maybe a little added pressure to make sure we brought it home and landed the plane the right way.”

Executive producer Walter Mosley spoke about the different communities the show spotlights, including Hispanic, Black and white ones, and how they came together, for better or for worse, over the course of the show’s life. He also spoke about how the characters grew. “They started off young, inexperienced, or coming from a different experience, and they had to go through this kind of terror road of crack dealing and racism and come out the other end,” he said. “This is not a happy ending kind of thing.”

Idris plays Franklin Saint, and is a producer on the show. He spoke about his own growth, and the growth of his character. “To see Franklin Saint go from boy to man and to see myself go from boy to man, and my art and the way I interact with the world — being more confident, being more of a leader and leaning into that — I think that’s one of the biggest comparisons I have with Franklin,” Idris said. “I think that is his evolution. We’ve watched a kid turn into a man and the rocky road that that was for him.” ▪️

FX’s gritty drama series Snowfall will end its run in 2023 with a sixth and final season, the network said Tuesday.

The John Singleton-created series, which is currently in its fifth season on FX, examines the events surrounding the 1980s crack epidemic through the lives of several characters in Los Angeles. The fifth season is pacing as the show’s most-watched season ever, according to FX.

Snowfall, which stars Damson Idris, is executive produced by Singleton, Dave Andron, Thomas Schlamme, Eric Amadio, Michael London, Trevor Engelson, Leonard Chang, Walter Mosley and Julie DeJoie.

Also: Fx Rides with 'Mayans M.C.' Fourth Season Trailer

“FX first partnered with legendary writer/director John Singleton and the rest of the creative team six years ago to pursue their vision for an ambitious, powerful drama about the explosion of the crack epidemic of the early 80s,” said Nick Grad, president, original programming in a statement. “Today, as the fifth season of Snowfall reaches new heights of acclaim and viewership, there is no question that this series has become an FX classic drama.  We are thrilled to order a sixth season that will enable Dave Andron, Walter Mosley, and the rest of the producers to bring Snowfall to a climatic finale showcasing the brilliance of everyone involved, from the stellar cast led by Damson Idris, to the writers, directors, artists and crew.” ■

The debut of Killing Eve's fourth and final season highlights a busy week of show premieres.

BBC America's Emmy-winning series starring Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh debuts its final season on February 27. Laura Neal (Secret Diary of a Call Girl) will serve as lead writer and executive producer of Killing Eve's fourth season.

Netflix on February 25 will debut its original movie Tyler Perry's A Madea Homecoming, starring the prolific writer/producer as iconic character Mabel "Madea" Simmons. The movie marks the first film featuring Madea since the 2020 Madea Family Funeral.

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for multiple shows debuting the week of February 22 to February 27 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

February 23 – Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches (documentary) – HBO

February 23 – The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (animated comedy) – Disney Plus

Also: Content Spotlight: Tommy Davidson Returns as Oscar Proud in 'The Proud Family' Reboot

February 23 – Snowfall (returning series) -- FX

February 24 – Hellbender (horror film) – Shudder

February 24 – Love, Tom (music) – Paramount Plus

February 24 – Wasteland (documentary) – Paramount Plus

February 25 – No Exit (movie) – Hulu

February 25 – Reno 911! (returning series) – The Roku Channel

February 25 – Vikings: Valhalla (drama) – Netflix

February 27 – Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber (drama) – Showtime

FX has renewed the John Singleton drama Snowfall for season five. Season four began Feb. 24. 

Singleton, who died in 2019, created Snowfall with Eric Amadio and Dave Andron, who is showrunner. 

Season four, set in 1985 in South Central, is averaging 5.1 million total viewers across all platforms, according to FX, which noted a 41% increase. Episodes are available on Hulu the day after they premiere. 

“Snowfall has come into its own as one of the best dramas on TV. Its quality and audience growth is a remarkable achievement for a show in its fourth season,” said Eric Schrier, president of FX Entertainment. “This series owes its excellence to the amazing team behind Snowfall, its co-creator John Singleton and co-creator/showrunner Dave Andron and executive producers Walter Mosley, Leonard Chang and Tommy Schlamme. Damson Idris and our entire cast continue to deliver outstanding performances every episode.”

Idris plays Franklin. Amin Joseph, Angela Louis and Carter Hudson are also in the cast. 

Michael London, Trevor Engelson and Julie DeJoie executive produce as well. Snowfall is produced by FX Productions.

B&C has partnered with always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv to bring you a weekly chart we call Promo Mojo: exclusive data showing the top five TV promos ranked by ad impressions. Our data covers the seven-day period through Feb. 21.

On the strength of nearly 253 million TV ad impressions, an ABC promo for American Idol takes first place — the second week in a row the singing competition has topped our chart. And once again, CBS lands in second place with a Clarice promo.

Cable networks round out our ranking, with MTV hyping Floribama Shore in third, FX promoting Snowfall in fourth, and USA giving Temptation Island some love in fifth.

Notably, the Snowfall spot has the highest iSpot Attention Index (109) in our ranking, meaning viewers were on average highly likely to watch it all the way through (vs. interrupting it by changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV).

1) American Idol, ABC

Impressions: 252,970,493

Interruption Rate: 1.36%

Attention Index: 99 (1% more interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 87%, Local 12%, VOD/OTT 1%

In-network Value: $1,745,140

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $1,060,681

2) Clarice, CBS

Impressions: 237,415,223

Interruption Rate: 1.49%

Attention Index: 93 (7% more interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 85%, Local 12%, VOD/OTT 3%

In-network Value: $2,444,961

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $737,359

3) Floribama Shore, MTV

Impressions: 227,995,361

Interruption Rate: 3.46%

Attention Index: 108 (8% fewer interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 85%, Local 13%, VOD/OTT 2%

In-network Value: $1,567,575

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $144,321

4) Snowfall, FX

Impressions: 183,696,732

Interruption Rate: 1.84%

Attention Index: 109 (9% fewer interruptions than avg.)

Imp. Types: National 91%, Local 7%, VOD/OTT 2%

In-network Value: $1,744,080

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $637,524

5) Temptation Island, USA Network

Impressions: 165,371,337

Interruption Rate: 1.99%

Attention Index: 100 (same interruptions as avg.)

Imp. Types: National 94%, Local 4%, VOD/OTT 2%

In-network Value: $1,217,979

Out-of-network Est. Spend: $465,805

*Data provided by iSpot.tv, TV Ad Measurement for Disruptive Brands*

Impressions - The total impressions within all US households including National Linear (Live & Time-shifted), VOD+OTT, and Local.

Attention Score - Measures the propensity of consumers to interrupt an ad play on TV. The higher the score, the more complete views. Actions that interrupt an ad play include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV.

Attention Index - Represents the Attention of a specific creative or program placement vs. the average in its respective industry. The average is represented by a score of 100, and the total index range is from 0 through 200. For example, an attention index of 125 means that there are 25% fewer interrupted ad plays compared to the average.

Imp. Types - Impression types tracked include National (Live + Time-shifted), Local, VOD & OTT. See below for further details.

In-network Value - Estimated media value of in-network promos.

Out-of-network Spend - The estimated amount spent on TV airing time for this promo's spots during a given date range.

National: Live - A national promo which was viewed during live linear television broadcast or same day, via DVR or on-demand.

Local - A promo that was aired during a local ad break slot.

VOD - This includes promos that run in on-demand content past three days (i.e. do not contain the linear promo load)

OTT - On-demand streaming content (i.e. Hulu, Roku, Fire TV Stick, Chromecast).

Streaming services HBO Max and Hulu will serve up high-profile theatrical movies to highlight the final week of February.

HBO Max will offer Warner Bros.’s animated Tom & Jerry film on Feb. 26, the same day the film hits theaters, while Hulu will stream The United States vs. Billie Holiday film, which was initially slated to debut in theaters but was moved to the streaming service as theaters shut last year due to the pandemic. 

Read also: Five things to know about WarnerMedia’s new day-and-date movie release strategy

Returning to TV screens is AMC’s long-running hit series The Walking Dead, which will feature six bonus episodes to the show’s 10th season beginning Feb. 28.

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting the week of Feb. 22-Feb. 28 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

Feb. 23 -- Assembly Required (competition series) -- History

Feb. 23 -- MTV Unplugged Presents: BTS (music special) -- MTV

Feb. 24 -- Ginny & Georgia (drama) -- Netflix

Feb. 24 -- Snowfall (returning series) -- FX

Feb. 25 -- Millennials (comedy) -- ALLBLK

Feb. 25 -- Close Enough (animation) -- HBO Max

Feb. 25 -- Punky Brewster (comedy) -- Peacock

Feb. 26 -- Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry (music documentary) -- Apple TV Plus

Feb. 26 -- Black Renaissance (special) -- YouTube

Feb. 27 -- Don’t Waste Your Pretty (movie) -- TV One

Read also: TV One Pushes the Power of Representation 

Feb. 27 -- The Walking Dead (returning series) -- AMC 

Drama Snowfall, about the rise of crack cocaine in ‘80s America, premieres season four on FX Feb. 24. There are 10 episodes. Two debut on premiere day. 

Episodes shift to Hulu the day after they air on FX. 

“Business is booming in season four of Snowfall. It’s January 1, 1985. Ronald Reagan has won his re-election campaign proclaiming it is ‘morning again in America,’ but in South Central, Los Angeles, it feels more like the sun is getting low,” said FX. “The demand for crack cocaine is high, and while our crew of dealers led by Franklin Saint (Damson Idris) are benefitting greatly from the rising tide of addiction, they are also starting to become aware of the damage the drug is doing to the people and to the place they love. With the entire nation taking note, the LAPD is diverting serious money and resources to the ‘war on drugs.’ Politicians’ phones are ringing. Powerful people are concerned, from the hallways of the White House to those of CIA headquarters, where there are whispers that one of their own may be involved in this burgeoning epidemic.”  

Created by John Singleton & Eric Amadio and Dave Andron, Snowfall is executive produced by Singleton, Andron, Thomas Schlamme, Amadio, Michael London, Trevor Engelson, Leonard Chang, Walter Mosley and Julie DeJoie. Andron is showrunner. 

FX will premiere Hip Hop Uncovered Feb. 12. There are six episodes and FX will air two per week. 

Hip Hop Uncovered comes from Malcolm Spellman and is “an examination of a dying breed of power brokers who operate from the shadows of hip hop,” according to FX. Rashidi Natara Harper directs. 

Several high-profile scripted and reality series will launch new seasons this week as the halfway mark of the summer Tv season approaches.

VH1 will bring back the off-MTV horror series Scream:Resurrection for its third season on July 8. The six-part series, based on the popular Scream horror film series, will air over three consecutive nights, according to VH1.

FX will debut the third season of its drama series Snowfall on July 10. The series, co-created and executive produced by the late John Singleton, chronicles the 1980s crack epidemic in Los Angeles. 

On the reality side, MTV’s Jersey Shore Family Vacation returns for its third season July 11, while BBC America debuts the 27th season of reality car series Top Gear on July 14.

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

July 9 -- I Love You, Now Die (docuseries) -- HBO

July 10 -- Family Reunion (comedy series) -- Netflix

July 10 -- Florida Girls (comedy series) -- POP

July 10 -- Harlots (returning series) -- Hulu

July 11-- Escape the Night (returning series) -- YouTube

July 12 -- Point Blank (drama series) -- Netflix

July 12 -- Shangri-La (docuseries) -- Showtime

July 14 -- Sweetbitter (returning series) -- Starz

FX has ordered a third season of its drama series Snowfall, the network said Wednesday.

The series, which chronicles the rise of the 1980s’ crack cocaine epidemic, concludes its second season Sept. 20. Snowfall -- executive produced by John Singleton, Dave Andron, Eric Amadio, Thomas Schlammme, Michael London and Trevor Engelson --stars Damson Idris, Carter Hudson, and Sergio Peris-Mencheta.

“It has been great to see Snowfall’s audience and critical acclaim grow in its second season,” said FX co-president of original programming Eric Schrier in a statement. “The creative team has done a fantastic job and we have high hopes for season three.”

FX’s drama series Snowfall drew more than 2 million viewers in its July 5 premiere on a live+3 basis, according to Nielsen. 

The series, which examines the origins of the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s, averaged 2.24 million total viewers on a live+3 basis, and 1.3 million adults 18-49, said FX.

Further, of the 30 cable drama series premieres year-to-date, the premiere telecast of Snowfall ranked in the Top 5 in Adults 18-49 (4th), Adults 18-34 (4th) and Adults 25-54 (5th), said FX. 

Adding in two encore telecasts for the night and digital viewership, Snowfall received 3.23 million total viewers, said the network. 

Snowfall is executive produced by series creator John Singleton, as well as Amadio Andron, Thomas Schlamme, Michael London and Trevor Engelson.

Fx chronicles the 1980’s crack cocaine epidemic in its new drama series Snowfall.

The John Singleton-created series focuses on the origins of the debilitating drug from three different perspectives. The series opens in South Los Angeles and follows Franklin Saint (Damson Idris), a young street entrepreneur working at a local convenience store while doing some low-level drug dealing on the side for his uncle Jerome Saint (Amin Joseph).

VIDEO: Watch the 'Snowfall' trailer

Franklin’s attendance at a prestigious, integrated high school yielded him some upper-class clients to sell pot to. When one of those clients introduces Franklin to cocaine dealer Avi Drexler (Alon Moni Aboutboul), Franklin sees a opportunity to upgrade his drug-dealing game.

At the same time, the series also shines a light on the exploits of troubled CIA agent Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson), who is unexpectedly engulfed in a CIA-approved cocaine smuggling operation that’s funding the Nicaraguan contras, as well as Gustavo “El Oso” Zapata (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), a down-on-his-luck pro wrestler who becomes muscle for an ambitious, wannabe druglord Lucia Villanueva (Emily Rios).

The series is a slow build, yet still manages to hold viewer interest through the development of its intriguing characters. Idris in particular shines as a level-headed kid who looks to score big in the emerging cocaine drug trade while trying not to get his hands too dirty. Also turning in a strong performance is Rios, who starred in FX Networks’ crime drama The Bridge.

Rather than focusing on the societal ravages of crack cocaine, Snowfall gives viewers an entertaining, inside view of the people on the front lines of the epidemic’s rise.

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

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

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

On Jan. 8, actor and director Donald Glover was onstage at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles accepting the best comedy series Golden Globe Award for FX’s freshman series Atlanta, for which he was a first-time executive producer.

Glover, who would also win the Globe for best actor in a comedy series, thanked the “the black folks” in Atlanta for being “amazing people.”

What’s been amazing for the television industry is the infusion of young, African- American executive producers and creators like Glover who have created popular scripted programming with diverse images and storylines that, until just a few years ago, had been rarely seen on the small screen.

Whether its Selma producer Ava DuVernay examining the complex lives of estranged Louisiana siblings in OWN’s Queen Sugar, rapper 50 Cent and Courtney Kemp Agboh exploring the double life of a club owner who’s also a drug kingpin in Starz’s drama series Power, or Internet sensation Issa Rae keeping it real about the lives of single black women in HBO’s freshman comedy series Insecure, African-American creators and producers are stepping up to the plate and delivering quality, unfiltered programming with broad appeal to a cross section of viewers.

PART OF ‘GOLDEN’ WAVE

More newbie African-American TV creators and producers are set to make their debut in 2017, as an unprecedented 500 scripted series are expected to reach TV scereens this year, according to a recent FX study. Showtime has tapped actress Lena Waithe (Netflix’s Masters of None) to helm its upcoming drama series Chi, while several high-profile movie producers will move to the small screen with scripted projects, including Spike Lee (Netflix’s She’s Gotta Have It) and John Singleton (FX’s Snowfall).

Singleton, an Oscar-nominated director for 1991’s Boyz n the Hood, said television is now providing more opportunities to develop projects targeted to diverse viewers. Singleton, who earned an Emmy Award nomination for his direction of an episdode of FX’s The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, will also produce Rebel, a police drama series for BET set to debut in March.

“With TV, it’s like you’re making a movie every week,” Singleton said.

Black History Month Viewing Guides:What to Watch | Interstitals

As the definition of what constitutes TV widens, African-American-helmed scripted series are making their mark in the current environment of high-quality programming.

“There’s been talk about the golden age of television for a while now, and because there are so many ways to get your content out there it opens the door for a lot more voices to be heard instead of when there were just three or six gatekeepers controlling everything people see,” said music superstar John Legend, an executive producer of WGN America’s sophomore drama series Underground, which chronicles the escape of antebellum-era Southern slaves via the Underground Railroad.

Legend added, “It has been great for diversity on television.”

Related > MCN Original Video: John Legend Discusses 'Underground' Season 2

Still, the question remains whether the influx of African-American showrunners and producers will be a passing trend or a key feature of television’s future. Even as African-American-produced, directed and created projects on cable networks proliferate across cable networks and streaming services, minority producers remain rare behind the camera.

Minority show creators in general represented just 7.8% of cable scripted shows during the 2013-14 season, according to the UCLA 2016 Hollywood Diversity Report. While those numbers will undoubtedly climb over the next few years as post-2014 shows like ABC’s Black-ish and Starz’s Power are factored in, Darnell Hunt, director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA, said at September’s NAMIC Conference that the representation numbers will still remain below the overall U.S. minority population.

The history of the entertainment industry is littered with periods when movies and TV shows featuring African-American culture looked to have broken into the mainstream, only to nearly vanish within a few years, Insecure showrunner Prentice Penny said.

In particular, he pointed to what was initially thought of as the “Golden Age” of diversity in movies during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when films such as Menace II Society, She’s Gotta Have It and Boyz n the Hood seemed ready to open doors to more films directed and produced by African-Americans. But in the 2000s, few movies from mainstream studios were being helmed by African-American writers, directors and producers.

“The truth is I have no idea,” Penny said when asked whether the current trend of African-American produced content will be long-lasting. “There are always those moments where they make all of these projects and then, 10 years later, there’s nothing. I hope this is [sustainable] and that lots of voices can get heard.”

Certainly, the critical and audience appeal for these shows bodes well for a potentially sustained future. FX’s Atlanta, which follows the lives of cousins trying to make it big in the city’s rap scene, drew 3 million viewers in its Sept. 6 premiere, the most for an FX series in five years. That was followed by a slew of industry accolades, including a Critics’ Choice Award and two Golden Globe Awards for Glover, both as an actor and producer of the series.

Last month, FX rewarded Glover with an exclusive television production deal that includes a second season of Atlanta, set to return in 2018 after Glover finishes his work on the next Star Wars film.

“We’re going to try to get that show back as soon as we can because there’s a great audience that wants that show,” FX president Eric Schrier said during the network’s Television Critics Association tour press event last month.

HBO’s Insecure, which drew 1.1 million viewers in its Oct. 9 premiere, has also been renewed for a second season. Penny — who will produce and star in truTV’s reality series Upscale With Prentice Penny, set to debut in March — said he was initially surprised at the incredibly positive response to the show.

“There’s no formula … you have no idea what people will respond to,” he said. “I feel blessed that people responded to it. You can’t control what the viewing public decides to watch, so you just have to do the best you can.”

He also said that the expansion of distribution outlets via online streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and YouTube will continue to create opportunities for diverse images and stories to be produced.

Added Underground’s Legend: “The landscape was much different then because there are way more distribution channels now — not just cable, satellite or premium channels but so many other places, like Netflix and Hulu, where people can view content. As content creators, its gives us more latitude to populate these different channels with interesting and diverse content.

“It’s made TV more diverse than film because there are so many different opportunities for audiences to get what they’re looking for on television, which means a diverse range of viewpoints and voice can be seen and heard,” Legend added.

Beyond selected hit shows, networks are well aware that African- American viewers are an important audience. African-Americans continue to consume more video than any other group, thereby increasing the viability of content that appeals directly to those viewers. African-Americans average more than 42 hours of live TV viewing during the third quarter of 2016, according to Nielsen’s Total Audience Report, well above the U.S. average of 29 hours, Hispanics (22 hours) and Asian-Americans (14 hours).

KEY TO KEEPING AUDIENCES

Also, as the overall U.S. population continues to diversify, the need for new, unique stories told from a different point of view will force linear network distributors to continue to foster the development of content created by producers and creators of color — otherwise, audiences will migrate to the web, Penny said.

“I think that in the digital space people can just make their own content and put it out there for people to connect to right away,” Penny said. “It changes how we get content to the marketplace, so it definitely opens the door for literally anybody of any color or nationality that has something to say to put it out and get a response right away.”

FX Networks president John Landgraf said 52% of FX’s show directors in 2017 will not be white men, in an effort to better reflect the diversity of the network’s audience.

“We’re going to keep going until everything about our channel and every aspect of our channel is fair and better reflects the diversity of the population of the country we live in, and is not as skewed as the whole industry has been towards white heterosexual males,” Landgraf said at the last month’s Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour.

Added Underground executive producer Misha Green: “I think the diversification of stories that are being told right now will continue because there are more outlets. I think more content is needed, and the gatekeepers who wanted to keep the gate closed are now saying we need shows. I think the increase of content has helped more diverse voices come through, but more still need to come through. I can’t wait to see and hear those voices.”