Season two of anthology drama State of the Union begins on SundanceTV, Sundance Now and AMC Plus February 14. Brendan Gleeson, Patricia Clarkson and Esco Jouley are in the cast 

There are 10 episodes, each one 10 minutes long. The series airs over ten nights on SundanceTV, and all episodes are available on the streaming networks. 

Nick Hornby and Stephen Frears are behind the series, which looks into relationships. 

Clarkson’s Ellen and Gleeson’s Scott are a married couple spending ten minutes in a Connecticut coffee shop before their marriage counseling sessions. 

“Each week, between the bickering, they begin to piece together what has gone wrong between them. As the weeks go by, they start to deconstruct their 30-year marriage. Past betrayals are aired, their sex life is re-examined, and their vulnerabilities are finally shared. By the end of 10 weeks of marital counselling, they’re not the same couple they used to be, but is making a change enough to save their marriage, or should they walk away?” goes the SundanceTV description. 

Gleeson played President Trump in The Comey Rule and Alastor Moody in the Harry Potter films. 

Clarkson’s work includes Sharp Objects and House of Cards. 

Season one had Rosamund Pike and Chris O’Dowd as a bickering couple. 

See-Saw Films produces the show. Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Iain Canning, and Emile Sherman are executive producers along with Hornby and Frears, with Sophie Reynolds producing the series for See-Saw Films.

Hornby’s novels include High Fidelity and About a Boy and the memoir Fever Pitch. ■ 

SundanceTV has renewed State of the Union, a drama written by Nick Hornby and directed by Stephen Frears. Brendan Gleeson, Patricia Clarkson and Esco Jouley will star in the second season, which will have 10 episodes. 

Episodes are just 10 minutes long. 

State of the Union explores relationships and the human experience. In season two, liberal Ellen (Clarkson) drags her traditional husband Scott (Gleeson) out of his comfort zone and into a hipster Connecticut coffee shop, where they have 10 minutes before their marriage counseling session to drink a coffee, gather their thoughts and argue about everything from Quakerism to pronouns. They also discuss betrayals from their past, how they’re changing as people, and what the future of their relationship might look like in a changing world.

“The first season of State of the Union was a triumph of storytelling form, captivating audiences – 10 minutes at a time – by smartly and authentically exploring our fundamental humanity and curiosity around what makes people think, feel, love and interact,” said Dan McDermott, president of original programming for AMC Networks. “We are thrilled to once again partner with the great Nick Hornby and Stephen Frears, and welcome Brendan, Patricia and Esco, to break new ground in short-form storytelling with a series built on the most universal and unifying element of all – the human relationship.”

Season one had Rosamund Pike and Chris O’Dowd playing a couple that meets for drinks before their weekly marriage counseling sessions. 

See-Saw Films produces the show. Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Iain Canning, and Emile Sherman are executive producers along with Hornby and Frears, with Sophie Reynolds producing for See-Saw Films. Kristin Jones, executive VP of international programming for AMC and SundanceTV, is the executive in charge for SundanceTV. 

Gleeson played Donald Trump in The Comey Rule. 

Deutschland 89 starts on SundanceTV Oct. 29. Martin Rauch is in limbo during the peaceful revolution around him in Germany. Pursued by Western spy agencies and the KGB, Martin, played by Jonas Nay, is determined to finish his final job. 

Anna and Jorg Winger created the show and executive produce. Jorg said production was completed when COVID hit, but the virus meant editing happened at three separate apartments in Berlin. 

His source material for the show includes a book called The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall by Mary Elise Sarotte. Deutschland touches on how Germany has reinvented itself a number of times over the years, including stints as a communist, fascist and democratic nation. “I don’t know how many countries there are that went through so many changes,” Winger said. 

Deutschland 83 came out in 2015, Deutschland 86 arrived in 2018 and Deutschland 89 is here now. “I always pitched it as a trilogy,” Winger said. “There are too many series that go on too long.”

The final season “has many colors,” said Winger — a spy show with serious drama roots and a bit of humor, too. “We always wanted to mix the genres,” he said. 

Anna Winger is also behind the Netflix series Unorthodox. With Deutschland behind them, the Wingers can focus on their new projects. “Our 11-year-old asked if we ever talk about anything but work,” Jorg said. 

Also on Oct. 29 is That Animal Rescue Show on CBS All Access. About the animal rescue community in Austin, Texas, the docuseries features dogs, pigs, horses and other animals in need of a home. 

“The theme is, people rescue animals, and animals rescue people,” said Bill Guttentag, executive producer. 

His fellow exec producers include Dr. Phil McGraw and filmmaker Richard Linklater, whose movies include Dazed and Confused and School of Rock. Linklater has rescued a bunch of pigs, and saw some great stories in the world of animal rescue. His goal for That Animal Rescue Show? Ten episodes that could work as shorts at Sundance, said Guttentag. 

Linklater directs a couple episodes about the Body Positive Pig Pageant in Austin, celebrating swine of all sizes. 

Loads of Austin bands contribute to the series’ soundtrack. “It’s very authentic to the area,” Guttentag said. 

That Animal Rescue Show arrives at the right time, believes Guttentag. The nation may be divided on political issues, but most of us can agree on our love of animals. “We’re all looking for respite from all the horrible stuff around us,” he said. “The show is a balm for these troubled times.”

AMC and BBC America veteran Sarah Barnett is stepping down from her position as AMC Networks Entertainment Group president, the company said Thursday.

Barnett, who was named to the position in 2018, will depart after Labor Day, according to AMC. AMC Networks COO Ed Carroll will assume the position on an interim basis.

Barnett joined AMC Networks in 2008 as senior VP of marketing for the Sundance Channel (now SundanceTV) before being named president and general manager of BBC America in 2014.

“This is a year that has confronted us with radical change on multiple fronts,” said Barnett in a statement. “After a lot of consideration – and with a slightly breaking heart – I have decided that it is the right time for me to follow my curiosity and leave things in the very capable hands of the outstanding team at AMC Networks.”

Added Carroll. “Sarah came to AMC Networks more than a decade ago, when we acquired Sundance Channel. She immediately put her stamp on Sundance with fresh, impactful storytelling like Rectify and Top of the Lake which continued when she took the reins of BBC America, growing Orphan Black, the network’s natural history franchises and developing the critical and audience hit Killing Eve. At AMC, she expanded the growing franchise of The Walking Dead while greenlighting new shows including Kevin Can F*** Himself and 61st Street, and she built a strong team to meet the shifting nature of our business. Sarah is one of the most versatile executives I have had the pleasure of working with – expert at programming, branding and team building, all with an eye toward the business of a rapidly changing entertainment landscape. She is also a truly progressive leader. We will miss her at AMC Networks.”

BET’s debut of two original series from prolific producer/creator Tyler Perry heads up the list of new programming hitting TV screens this week.

Perry’s Oct. 23 premiere of dramas The Oval and Sistas are part of the African-American-targeted network’s multi-year production deal with the director. 

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting this week on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

Oct. 21 -- Catherine the Great (miniseries) -- HBO

Oct. 21 -- Rock the Block (reality competition series) -- HGTV

Oct. 22 -- The Misery Index (game show) -- TBS

Oct. 23 -- Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner (reality series) -- Netflix

Oct. 23 -- Castle Rock (returning series) -- Hulu

Oct. 23 -- The Cry (miniseries) -- SundanceTV

Oct. 23 -- Dancing with the Birds (documentary) -- Netflix

Oct. 24 -- Daybreak (drama/horror) -- Netflix

Oct. 25 -- BoJack Horseman (animation) -- Netflix

Oct. 25 -- The Kominsky Method (returning series) -- Netflix

Oct. 27 -- Mrs. Fletcher (miniseries) -- HBO

Oct. 27 -- Silicon Valley (returning series) -- HBO

National Geographic’s new drama series The Hot Zone will look to heat up TV screens during its Memorial Day premiere as one of several new series premieres and show returns debuting during the holiday week.

The Hot Zone stars Julianna Margulies and chronicles the first known case of the deadly Ebola virus appearing on U.S. soil in 1989, according to the network.

On the returning series front, Starz’s dramedy series Vida returns for a second season on May 23, while Netflix’s Spike Lee-produced series She’s Gotta Have It also returns for a second season on May 24, according to the network.

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

May 22 -- The Wrestlers (reality series) -- Viceland

May 23 -- The Name Of the Rose (Drama) -- SundanceTv

May 24 -- What/If (drama) -- Netflix

SundanceTV debuts State of the Union, a series about a squabbling couple, on Monday (May 6). Nick Hornby, author of the novels High Fidelity, About a Boy and Juliet, Naked, created the show, which stars Chris O’Dowd and Rosamund Pike as a husband and wife working out issues in a pub moments before heading into marriage counseling.

The episodes run for just 10 minutes.

Hornby’s screenwriting projects include the films Brooklyn and An Education. He recently finished a novel called Just Like You, which he describes as a contemporary love story set amidst the Brexit referendum.

Hornby spoke with Multichannel News about the difference between authoring and screenwriting, how State of the Union was hatched and why what happens just before counseling is much more interesting than the counseling.

MCN: Ten-minute episodes — I assume that’s so viewers have more time to read your books?
Nick Hornby: [Laughs.] Yup.

I had a hole to fill when I was waiting for a bunch of people to get back on various projects, and I knew I couldn’t get on with anything for a month or so. I had this idea a while before and said, OK, I’m just gonna try it and see if it works.

MCN: Where did the idea come from?
NH: The idea for the couple was from a long time ago and I can’t really remember. I had been thinking about writing about counseling or therapy in some way and always ended up in the same place, that it doesn’t feel very dramatic to go into a therapist’s office because people say what they mean. The time before they go in is in some ways more dramatically interesting because it’s chaos. That seemed fun to write about.

MCN: How was the shift for you from writing novels to screenwriting?
NH: I love writing a screenplay, but it’s a very, very difficult profession in terms of all the problems, such as waiting three years for someone to read or invest or get a director. There’s a beautiful freedom with sitting down to start a novel and thinking, no one will ask me what the budget is, no one will ask me to cut a scene because it’s too expensive, I’m not going to lose any characters. That is quite refreshing when you’ve been doing screenplays for a while.

MCN: How has screenwriting affected the way you go about your novels?
NH: I think screenwriting affected my novels before I was a screenwriter in that I’d watched a lot of movies. I’d always liked writing dialogue. Some of my inspirations to write in the first place were screenwriters. As well as loving Anne Tyler and other contemporary novelists, I also loved Barry Levinson and what he wrote with Diner. There are a pair of English radio comedy writers, Galton and Simpson, who were big inspirations for me before I started as well.

I think screenwriting has always been in [me]. Recently I gave it more weight because things were taking off and projects were coming in that were quite interesting. It became a bit more than 50-50 of my working time.

MCN: Do Rosamund Pike and Chris O’Dowd weigh in much on your scripts?
NH: They had a rather nice routine, which was, after they finish filming, they get a bottle of wine and read the next day’s script to each other. They’ve very bright and they’re very good about telling me what’s sayable and what’s not sayable or what’s funny and what’s not funny.

MCN: Are you involved with the High Fidelity series for Hulu?
NH: A little bit. I’ve been in quite a bit of touch with [star] Zoe [Kravitz]. Jesse Peretz, who directed the Juliet, Naked movie, is directing the first episode. He’s become a friend over the last year or two. I’ve been helping out where I can.

MCN: Chris O’Dowd’s character has a pint of beer in each episode of State of the Union. Ten minutes isn’t a lot of time to consume an English imperial pint.
NH: The old days, when the licensing hours were different, we were all used to drinking pints in 10 minutes because you only had about two hours [to drink before closing]. Chris is probably just about old enough to remember that time.

Season two of Mars kicks off on National Geographic Nov. 12. The season examines the conflict of science versus industry, and whether humankind ends up making the same mistakes on Mars that it has made on Earth.

There are six episodes. Ron Howard and Brian Grazer executive produce and Dee Johnson is showrunner. Mars’s mix of scripted and documentary makes it “very, very unique,” Johnson said.

Season one had a colony of science-minded individuals on the Red Planet. Season two adds a crew of profit-driven industry types. “They have a completely different agenda,” Johnson said.

Season one looked at whether Mars would kill the astronauts who arrived there. Season two examines whether the humans will kill Mars.

“It’s a unique show,” Johnson said. “You’re not going to see anything else like it.”

You’re not going to see anything like SundanceTV’s Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle either.

It has been 40 years since preacher Jim Jones convinced hundreds of followers to take their lives, and SundanceTV marks the dark occasion with Jonestown Nov. 17-18.

It is based on Jeff Guinn’s book The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple. The book, and the special, depict Jones’ transformation from charismatic preacher to murderous demagogue.

While Jonestown was located in Guyana, Guinn said demagoguery seems to play particularly well in the States. “There are parallels [to Jonestown] throughout American history, and there are parallels today,” said Guinn. “Americans have always been vulnerable to demagogues.”

Such agitators typically traffic in negativity, Guinn said, and promote an us-versus-the enemy mentality. They also try to stifle other voices that followers might otherwise hear.

He unearthed a number of intriguing tidbits in his book research. A large number of the 900-plus who died that day 40 years ago resisted taking the poison, he said, and were lethally injected. “We’re talking mass murder,” Guinn said.

A couple of murderers get their closeup when Escape at Dannemora, about the prison break in upstate New York in 2015, premieres on Showtime Nov. 18. Ben Stiller executive produces and directs. Stiller heard quite a bit from local residents as they shot footage around Clinton Correctional Facility. “At first they were a little bit skeptical,” he said at the Television Critics Association Press Tour. “I understand that. The biggest thing was, tell the whole story.”

The residents didn’t want the convicts, Richard Matt and David Sweat, representing their community. “A few bad apples aren’t representative of what really goes on here,” Stiller said.

Same goes for Tilly Mitchell, the prison employee who abetted Matt and Sweat.

“They’re upset that she’s representative of a place they take pride in,” he said.

If you’re looking for a series that boldly straddles the line between comedy and genre, that show may just be Future Man, which starts on Hulu Nov. 14. Josh Hutcherson of The Hunger Games plays a janitor by day/gamer by night who is recruited to travel through time to prevent the extinction of mankind.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg executive-produce. So does Ben Karlin, who said Future Man is far more than a spoof of time-travel fantasy. “We really take the genre part of it quite seriously,” he said.

The Future Manbrain trust has been wracking their brains, trying to come up with a TV series that balances comedy with genre elements, such as stunts and special effects. “I don’t think, in the history of half-hour television, anything like this has been attempted before,” Karlin said.

Formerly of The Daily Show, Karlin produced the cancer comedy film 50/50 with Rogen and Goldberg, and said the trio has made a habit of reading each others’ stuff. Karlin had a development deal with ABC that he describes as “challenging and frustrating.” Future Man is way more in his wheelhouse than broadcast comedies.

Hulu’s big win at the Emmys, with The Handmaid’s Tale snagging best drama, makes it a more attractive destination for producers. “It’s really nice to be able to come on after that,” Karlin said.

Touching quite a few different emotions than Future Man, Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders starts on SundanceTV Nov. 18. It is directed and produced by Joe Berlinger, and is an homage to Truman Capote’s iconoclastic 1966 bestseller In Cold Blood. “I’ve always been obsessed with his book,” Berlinger said. “It’s the first time I read a required book for school, then went back and read it again and again.”

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Berlinger, whose films include 1992’s Brother’s Keeper, about an alleged murder in central New York, said In Cold Blood motivated him to be a filmmaker. “I consciously try to evoke, in filmic terms, what Capote did in his book,” Berlinger said.

Cold Blooded is an intriguing close-up of both the Clutter family and the murderers, who met in prison. Berlinger said it took a lot of convincing for remaining members of the family to help out. The hustle paid off. “The family contributed photos and diaries that no one has seen before,” he said.

Watch SundanceTV's 'Cold Blooded' Trailer

Berlinger said he believes Serial, Making a Murderer and the rest of today’s true-crime standouts owe the same debt he’s paying. “They all trace back,” he said, “to an explosion called In Cold Blood.”

AMC has named former Fox broadcasting programming executive David Madden president of original programming for AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios.

Madden effectively replaces former AMC and SundanceTV president of original programming and development Joel Stillerman, who left AMC in May for Hulu. Madden was most recently president of entertainment for Fox broadcasting network.

“David Madden is a terrific, thoughtful person and a proven, tested executive. He’s known broadly not just for his leadership but also for developing and producing original programming alongside some of our industry’s most outstanding talent,” said Charlie Collier, president of AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios in a statement. “His rare and noteworthy success in this industry speaks for itself. He will have an immediate impact across our AMC and SundanceTV senior management team and, notably, our AMC Studios business as it continues to play an increasingly significant role for our networks and well beyond.”

Madden, who will start later this month, will be based in AMC’s Los Angeles office, where he will work closely with Susie Fitzgerald, executive vice president of scripted programming for AMC and SundanceTV; Kristin Jones, senior vice president of international programming development, acquisitions and co-productions for AMC and SundanceTV; and Eliot Goldberg, senior vice president of non-fiction and alternative programming for AMC and SundanceTV, and their teams.

Prior to Fox broadcasting, Madden was president of Fox Television Studios, which developed and produced programming for a variety of broadcast and cable networks in the U.S. and internationally.

AMC Networks reported higher profits in the second quarter as revenue rose at its domestic cable networks.

Second-quarter net income rose 34% to $103 million, or $1.54 a share, from $77 million, or $1.05 a share. Revenue rose 3.8% to $711 million.

While revenue was lower than expected, the earnings topped Wall Street forecasts.

“Our financial and operating performance in the second quarter and for the year, thus far, has been strong, and we remain on track to deliver on our full-year total company outlook,” CEO Josh Sapan said.

“The success of our long-term focus on investing in marquee content and in distinctive, vibrant brands that attract passionate and engaged fans is reinforced by our wide distribution on new virtual MVPDs, including most recently YouTube TV,” Sapan said. “We continue to partner with our traditional distributors on innovative initiatives that support the cable ecosystem, including our new AMC Premiere offering to Comcast Xfinity TV customers and our AMC Studios co-production partnership with Charter.”

Operating income at the company’s national networks, including AMC, SundanceTV, IFC and BBC America, was up 11.9% to $211.6 million. Revenue rose 5.6% to $605 million. Distribution revenue rose 7.8% to $359 million. Advertising revenue was up 2.6% to $245 million.

Losses at the company’ s international operations grew to $31 million from $8 million a year ago.

The second-quarter results include the impact of impairment charges of $17 million related to AMCNI-DMC, the company’s Amsterdam-based media-logistics facility.

SundanceTV has renewed its anthology drama series Hap And Leonard for a third season, the network said Monday.

The series, based on the book series of the same name by Joe R. Lansdale, will return for a six episode third season in 2018, according to SundanceTV officials.

The series follows the escapades of two lifelong best friends played by James Purefoy and Michael Kenneth Williams.

Hap And Leonard, produced by AMC Studios and executively produced by John Wirth, Jim Mickle, Nick Damici, Jeremy Platt and Linda Moran, is SundanceTV’s highest-rated original series.

 “At once darkly funny and socially relevant, there’s no other series like the southern-noir, Hap and Leonard, and we couldn’t be prouder that it will continue for another season on SundanceTV,” said Jan Diedrichsen, general manager, SundanceTV and Sundance Now. “James and Michael bring new depth and dimension to the buddy-action genre, and Joe Lansdale’s brilliant work continues to be in excellent hands with John Wirth and company.”

LINDA SCHUPACK

TITLE: Executive Vice President of Marketing

COMPANY: AMC and SundanceTV

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Started in TV at Children’s Television Workshop; held senior posts at Nickelodeon, including VP of marketing and programming for Nickelodeon International; served as senior VP, creative services at Rainbow Media Holdings (now AMC Networks).

QUOTABLE: “We feel very privileged to work on the shows that we’re working on, but these shows set a very high bar for us. We really want our marketing materials to be as distinctive as the shows themselves.”

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The TV shows that Linda Schupack markets for AMC have not exactly been easy sells, at least at the start. The eclectic programming has chronicled internal drama at a 1960s ad agency, a desperate teacher’s transformation into a vicious drug lord and a zombie apocalypse.

But Schupack, executive vice president of marketing for AMC and SundanceTV, said that challenges like finding ways to promote Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead are “the nature of the beast” of her job.

“I am never bored,” she said.

MARKETING MAVEN

There’s little doubt Schupack’s marketing savvy helped make those three AMC original dramas and other shows, such as Better Call Saul, major successes with both critics and audiences. In fact, through her work Schupack has helped herald what some journalists and executives claim is a new Golden Age of Television, marked by compelling, literate writing and complex, character-driven storytelling.

Schupack has played a critical role in AMC’s transformation from a commercial-free classic movie channel to an ad-supported leader in original programming, said Charlie Collier, president of AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios, all part of AMC Networks.

“Linda has spearheaded the development of iconic consumer marketing campaigns that have helped AMC achieve all-time highs, as well as securing AMC’s spot in the lexicon of pop culture,” Collier said. “Her work impacts daily conversation and has helped AMC make television history.”

Collier cited The Walking Dead for breaking ratings benchmarks not only for basic cable but for all of TV, and AMC is the only cable network ever to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series four years in a row for Mad Men.

Writer-producer Vince Gilligan, the creator and showrunner of Breaking Bad, gives Schupack a “great deal of credit for the success” of that dark drama.

“She worked her butt off to make people excited about a middle-aged drug dealer who drove a puke-green Pontiac Aztek,” he said. “If that’s not the sales job of the century, I don’t know what is!”

In her current role, Schupack is responsible for the management and implementation of brand identities; consumer, trade and digital marketing activities: and social media for AMC and SundanceTV.

She has been running marketing at AMC since 2005 and was promoted to executive vice president in 2012, assuming responsibility for marketing SundanceTV in 2015.

Schupack, who was an English major at Yale University, said that her love of books and writing dovetails nicely with her career at AMC.

“From my perspective, a lot of our shows are like literature,” she said.

Schupack entered the TV industry via her first job, which was at the Children’s Television Workshop. She moved on and held several senior positions at Nickelodeon, including vice president of marketing and programming for Nickelodeon International.

Schupack later came to AMC’s parent, then called Rainbow Media Holdings LLC, for four years as senior vice president of creative services, working on the evolution of the AMC, IFC and WE tv brands.

She said she “gravitated” toward marketing at Nickelodeon because of her fascination with consumer motivation, returning to Yale to get a master’s in business administration.

“Yale gave me a great framework for analysis and I think it is that way of thinking — being a bridge between creative and the business — that is really foundational to my job,” she said.

AMC’s and Schupack’s approach has been to work closely with show writers and producers to carefully craft the marketing for a TV series, whether for a program’s debut or its returning seasons.

“What is so singular about our shows is our creators’ vision, and we want to understand it as deeply as we can,” she said. “Our challenge is to translate or to execute against that; to develop a plan or creative materials that connect that show to an audience; and to do it in such a way that resonates with that audience, that is relevant and that is provocative to that audience.”

Gilligan, who is also co-showrunner for Better Call Saul, lauded Schupack for taking this collaborative approach, one he said worked well for launching Breaking Bad.

“Our biggest fear was that potential viewers might assume we were glorifying meth and meth dealers,” he said. “That would have been a disaster for us. Therefore, Linda and her team had quite a needle to thread. They had to create a nuanced campaign which spoke to the quality of the show’s storytelling and hinted at its quirky, leavening humor — but which also made clear that its heart was in the right place, so to speak.”

CREATIVE INPUT

This type of process at AMC, teaming up with showrunners on marketing, started with Mad Men and its creator, Matt Weiner, with conversations about the themes of that acclaimed drama, according to Schupack.

Gilligan said that in his experience, it is unusual for a network to work so closely with a showrunner on a program’s promotion.

“On most other movies and TV series I’ve had a hand in, I’ve never even met the folks in the marketing department,” he said. “Linda and AMC do things differently, to their everlasting credit.”

Schupack carefully devised tactics and strategies to salute the creators of Mad Men and Breaking Bad as those shows came to their end, according to Collier.

“Thanks to Linda and her teams, literally and figuratively, each of these programs ended up in the Smithsonian,” Collier said. “That is how big-thinking, how thoughtful and how effective Linda Schupack is: Archie Bunker’s chair; Dorothy’s ruby red slippers; Don Draper’s fedora; Heisenberg’s yellow Hazmat suit; Schupack’s genius.”

SundanceTV Saturday will air an all-day marathon of iconic 1970’s series The Mary Tyler Moore Show in tribute to the beloved actress, who passed away Wednesday at the age of 80.

The marathon will feature all 24 episodes of the final season of the series, which ran on CBS for seven seasons from 1970 to 1977, according to SundanceTV officials.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which focused on an independent woman working in television news. won 29 Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe awards during its broadcast run.

The a Word is a warm, sometimes stressful family drama series set in England’s lush Lake District, with an excellent cast, sharp dialogue, British humor and honest interpersonal situations. Checks all the boxes, really, and more.

Watch the trailer.

It starts out with a little boy wearing big headphones and holding a pinwheel aloft, walking by himself down the middle of a road between two big hills. A van headed toward him pulls up and the driver gets out. Then the little boy, whom we learn is called Joe (Max Vento), gets in the van with two men. A little weird, but OK. The men drop Joe at home and it turns out this is a morning routine — his 30-something parents, Alison (Morven Christie) and Paul Hughes (Lee Ingleby), greet him ahead of his birthday party for turning 5 years old.

During the party, it becomes clear Joe has trouble communicating with the other kids and with adults, except through the music he loves and shares with his dad. The first person brave enough to state a concern about Joe to his parents is the physician wife of Alison’s brother: they’ve moved back to town to repair their marriage after she had an affair, so her opinion is not exactly welcome. And thus various family stress lines start to be revealed while Joe is set on a path to being diagnosed with autism and Alison and Paul — and their 16-year-old daughter, Rebecca (Molly Wright) — move through stages of recognition and action for Joe while managing issues like, for example, Paul’s challenging project of building a gastropub and Rebecca’s feeling neglected.

Turns out there are many communication issues all these family members face, including the patriarch, Alison’s 50-something widower dad, played by Christopher Eccleston. Great performances all around, well-rounded storylines and six very satisfying episodes rate this import a solid A.

Cable networks will look to build on the momentum created for the genre by recent projects including FX’s American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson with limited series and specials of their own pulled from the pages of history.

HBO will tackle the 1990s controversy surrounding Anita Hill’s sex-discrimination charges levied during the 1991 Senate confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas with the Saturday (April 16) premiere of original move Confirmation. It will also dig into President Lyndon B. Johnson’s first year in office with the May 21 telefilm All the Way.

On the dramatic-series side, Sundance TV will examine the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland on centenary Sunday, April 24, with the limited series Rebellion.

And A&E on Memorial Day (May 30) will premiere the four-episode remake of 1970’s slavery-themed miniseries Roots.

The projects follow the recent ratings success of high-profile, history-themed projects. FX’s 10-part series American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson drew 3.9 million viewers (per Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings) for its finale April 5 after generating a network-record 5.1 million viewers (also on a live-plus-same-day basis) for the Feb. 2 series premiere.

The retelling of the infamous 1995 Simpson murder trial also generated significant press coverage and social-media buzz that helped build awareness and ratings.

WGN America set a network ratings record with the March 4 premiere of original drama series Underground — the story of slaves escaping bondage along the 19th century Underground Railroad — drawing 1.4 million viewers.

Network executives said the success of The People v. O.J Simpson and Underground are helping to build momentum for a genre that appeals both to older viewers and hard-to-reach younger watchers.

“The appeal of television it its ability to transport you into a story, and to be able to do that across time and go to early 20th century Ireland, or even just back to the 1990s to the O.J Simpson trial, is almost like time-traveling and immersing yourself in that time and place,” said Jan Diedrichsen, executive director of SundanceTV. “That has incredible appeal to viewers of all ages.”

Rebellion, which dramatizes Ireland’s fight for independence through the eyes of three women and their families, is a departure from the network’s mostly fiction-based scripted series. But Diedrichsen said the series fits the SundanceTV brand because it tells a strong and compelling story through well-developed, engaging and relatable characters.

Its historical backdrop is an added benefit for viewers, Diedrichsen said. “Viewers know the ending to the story — the Irish gained their independence — but you’re watching this story and experiencing history differently than reading about it. That allows you to connect and identify with the characters, because you know more than the characters know.”

History, which has scored in the past with shows such as Texas Rising, Hatfields & McCoys and The Bible, will look to draw viewers to its remake of Roots, a remake of the 1977 ABC miniseries based on Alex Haley’s best-selling novel about the journey of an African-American family through slavery. The four-night, eight-hour series will premiere May 30 on A+E Networks outlets History, A&E and Lifetime.

With viewers looking to the past to see how its events shaped today’s issues, the genre is as popular now as ever, History general manager Jana Bennett said.

“It’s not accidental that there’s been some success with shows that look at real stories, rather than just fictional depictions, and that’s true of O.J., Underground and [Netflix’s drug-themed series] Narcos,” she said. “I think the audience is really up to seeing the real story of how did we get here and looking at the bigger questions of what’s the context of where we are now, and how it reflects history.

“There’s a real need among viewers for a change of pace from the acceleration of today’s technology-driven environment and an appetite for history, which helps to answer the question of how we got here in the first place,” Bennett said.

SundanceTV has acquired the first two seasons of Italian crime drama Gomorrah from The Weinstein Company (TWC). The series, based on the novel by Roberto Saviano, focuses on the inside story of the Camorra, the fierce Neapolitan crime organization, and is told through the eyes of the right-hand man of the godfather. 

Gomorrah’s first season, comprised of 12 episodes, will premiere on SundanceTV in summer 2016.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

AMC Networks reported higher second-quarter profits, reflecting the acquisition of BBC America.

Net income rose 41% to $83 million, or $1.14 a share, from $58.7 million, or 83 cents a share, a year ago. Net revenue rose 15.1% to $601 million.

Cash flow at AMC’s national networks, which include AMC, SundanceTV, IFC, BBC America and WE tv, rose 33% to $182.6 million. Net revenue was up 22.8% to $488.6 million, due to the inclusion of BBC America. AMC acquired a 49.9% stake in BBC America last year.

Ad revenue across the networks, including BBC America, increased 13.4% to $186 million. Growth was strong at WE tv, IFC and SundanceTV, the company said.

"AMC Networks had a strong second quarter, with double-digit growth in revenues, AOCF and operating income driven by our continued focus on investing in high-quality programming," CEO Josh Sapan said in a statement. "In addition to maintaining our core content strategy, we have become more of an owner of content; we have closely aligned ourselves with a premier producer of content through our BBC American joint venture.”

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

SundanceTV said it has ordered a fourth season of critically praised drama Rectify, just ahead of the series season premiere Thursday (July 9) at 10 p.m. The fourth season will premiere sometime in 2016, the network said, and an exact episode count for the new season has yet to be determined.

“Even in an increasingly crowded field of dramas on television, Rectify has established itself as something special,” Charlie Collier, president of AMC and SundanceTV, said in a release. “What Ray McKinnon, this incredible cast and everyone associated with the show have been able to achieve is remarkable, and we are so pleased to usher in this third season with an order for a fourth. Rectify has had such a huge impact in establishing SundanceTV as a home for high-quality, intelligent drama. We are excited to continue this important partnership with Ray and the entire team.”

Rectify, which recently won a Peabody Award, is about a man, Daniel Holden (Aden Young, pictured), a convicted murderer who is released from prison on DNA evidence after serving 19 years on death row and his attempts to adjust to "normal" life in his Georgia hometown. 

An AMC recap: Season three of the hour-long drama picks up where season two left off, on the afternoon of Daniel’s plea deal. Will the deal be accepted? Will Daniel be forced to leave town? And when the body of a missing person is discovered, law enforcement once again turns to him for answers. As Daniel's sister Amantha (Abigail Spencer) attempts to live her own life, she is given an opportunity at a local store that for the first time in a long time has nothing to do with her brother. Meanwhile, Tawney (Adelaide Clemens) and Ted Jr. (Clayne Crawford) struggle to see if their marriage has a future. Janet (J. Smith Cameron) and Ted Sr. (Bruce McKinnon), also under pressure from Daniel’s actions, will find that their marriage is put to the test as well.

Rectify was created and written by Writers Guild Award-nominated Ray McKinnon, who executive produces, along with Mark Johnson and Melissa Bernstein.

This post-July-4 week has been a big one for cable-network series renewals, including ones at Comedy Central (South Park), Cartoon Network (Adventure Time and four other series), USA Network (Chrisley Knows Best), Lifetime (UnREAL) and Oxygen (The Prancing Elites Project). 

Season one of The Red Road on SundanceTV was a murky crime and cultural stew set in the mountains of northern New Jersey, where a Lenape Indian tribe and rural New Jerseyans co-exist uneasily. It introduced Jason Momoa as the dynamic anti-hero Philip Kopus, a repeat offender with an honor code (frequently broken, as in when he kills his best friend) but whose disadvantages include having a depraved criminal father, currently incarcerated, played by Tom Sizemore. The other principals are local police officer Harold Jensen (Martin Henderson), who somehow survived his encounters with the Kopuses in season one, and his wife, Jean (Julianne Nicholson), who learned in season one that she suffers from schizophrenia. Meanwhile, the hills where the local Native American tribe lives (including Kopus, whose mother, played by Tamara Tunie, is a tribe leader) are polluted and the newly-recognized tribe might or might not want to bring in a casino.

That's a brief recap that leaves out a lot but it sets the stage for some interesting developments in season two. Most of the characters are back: even Tamara Tunie's character, Marie, is in remission from her cancer. (Six questions with Law & Order SVU vet Tamara Tunie here.) Philip Kopus is out of jail, with an ankle monitor, and keeping a relatively low profile. He does have some guilt issues, though, and not a lot of luck on his side. Harold Jensen, by contrast, seems to be riding his luck pretty well, including on the job, despite the many corners he has had to cut. Many of them in season one were to protect Jean, and her story in these new episodes offer an interesting exploration of her condition, and whether or not non-traditional approaches might help. 

Season two of The Red Road has more of a grown-up feel than the anxious first season, with more time to explore the individual characters when they are not under constant stress. There is a murder in episode one, though, and no doubt there will be more than enough danger ahead. Wes Studi joins the cast as pro-casino tribal chief Levi.

Photo, of slightly bloodied Philip Kopus (Jason Momoa), from SundanceTV by Quantrell D. Colbert.

AMC president Charlie Collier will add SundanceTV to his portfolio.

AMC Networks Wednesday named Collier as president and general manager of SundanceTV, overseeing the independent film and original programming service along with AMC.

Collier effectively replaces Sarah Barnett who had been named to head up sister service BBC America in November, shortly after AMC Networks purchased the company last year; she had been managing both networks in the interim

Collier, who joined  AMC in 2006, will continue to report to Ed Carroll, chief operating officer of AMC Networks.

 “Running AMC and Sundance under common management makes good sense for both networks, which are heavily focused on high-end drama,” Carroll said. “Charlie has done a great job in moving AMC to a leadership position in the TV landscape. He inherits SundanceTV at a time when it has gained momentum from its original programs like Rectify, The Honorable Woman and The Returned – which often pop up on critics’ top ten lists.”

When BBC America drama series Orphan Black returns, for a third season, on April 18, it will be shown on AMC, IFC, SundanceTV and We TV in addition to the mother ship, at 10 p.m. ET.

This marks the first time that AMC Networks -- which now oversees BBC America in a joint venture with BBC Worldwide -- will have aired a show across all five national networks at the same time.

“Orphan Black is a truly outstanding original series that has attracted consistent and widespread critical acclaim as well as a considerable, growing following from viewers,” AMC Networks COO Ed Carroll said in a release. “AMC Networks is a channel group known for high-quality storytelling and creating a premiere television event for Orphan Black is a perfect opportunity to use our programming assets to help extend the reach of this quality series.”

Starring Tatiana Maslany in multiple roles (as cloned copies of the same person), the show is among BBC America's most popular series (see "BBCA Touts 'Orphan Black' Gains"). Maslany has been nominated for Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe awards, and when she is absent from major TV-award categories the snub becomes news. Season three sees her clone characters coping with the knowledge that there is also a line of male clones, played by Ari Millen.

SundanceTV will kick off the second season of its original series The Red Road on April 2, the network said Wednesday.  

The second season of the series, which will continue to chronicle the events following a local murder and the tension it creates between a small town and a neighboring Native American tribe, will feature six new episodes, according to Sundance.

The series is executive produced by Aaron Guzikowski (Contraband, Prisoners) and Sarah Condon (“Looking,” “Bored to Death”).  Randall Einhorn (“Fargo,” “Wilfred”), who join the two as executive producers for the second season.   

“After a thrilling inaugural journey down The Red Road, we are eager to continue this wild ride with fans into a new season,” said Sarah Barnett, President, SundanceTV in a statement. “Season two will continue to explore two opposing worlds, represented by our exceptional leading men Jason Momoa and Martin Henderson and the complex web of lies, compromises and shared history that seeps into their daily lives.”

SundanceTV is set to air the new six-part comedy-drama, Babylon, a co-production with Nightjack Ltd and Channel 4, on Jan. 8, 2015 at 10 p.m, the network announced today.

The series stars Brit Marling (Another Earth, Sound of My Voice, The East) and James Nesbitt (The Hobbit, The Missing), and follows a PR executive (Marling) in her attempt to revamp London’s oldest police force and culture.

Danny Boyle, Robert Jones, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong serve as the creators and executive producers, with production by Jones and Derrin Schlesinger. The series is written by Sam Bain, Jesse Armstrong and Jon Brown.

"Their (the writers) take on the world's oldest police force as it navigates the new world of social media and instant modern communication was irresistible. In turn of course, this quality of writing helps attract the finest actors. Their characters, 16 of them, are kept in the air throughout. That's a wonderful way to look at the spread of humanity under phenomenal pressure in an essential public service," said Boyle in a release.

Additional stars include, Bertie Carvel, Paterson Joseph, Nicola Walker, Adam Deacon, Jill Halfpenny, Johnny Sweet, Ella Smith, Andrew Brooke, Nick Blood and Daniel Kaluuya. 

SundanceTV general manger Sarah Barnett will take over the position of BBC America president and general manager, AMC Networks said Friday.

Barnett will oversee both BBC America and SundanceTV for an interim period until the SundanceTV position is filled. Barnett will continue to report to Ed Carroll, chief operating officer of AMC Networks. Barnett began her television career at the BBC and BBC America before transitioning to then Sundance Channel in 2005. While there, SundanceTV raised its profile with the addition of original programs such as Top of the Lake, The Honorable Woman (co-produced by the BBC) and Rectify.

Current BBC America general manager Perry Simon will receive an exclusive production deal with BBC Worldwide North America, AMC Networks said, adding that Simon had said earlier he would be leaving at the end of the year. On his watch, BBC America developed and launched as original series the Civil War-era police drama Copper and the current hit Orphan Black. 

The moves come a month after AMC Networks obtained operational control of BBC America as part of AMC’s $200 million purchase of 49% interest of the network from BBC Worldwide.

“Sarah has had a remarkable tenure guiding SundanceTV through a dramatic evolution, taking the network ad-supported and establishing it as a formidable player in the scripted drama space,” Carroll said in a release. “Sarah’s appetite for creative risk-taking and her strong leadership skills are well suited to this new role and we look forward to her building on BBC America’s successes, as the network continues to establish itself as a showcase for high quality shows that resonate with critics and audiences alike.”

BBC Worldwide said Simon (pictured) will develop and produce programs for networks and digital platforms. He will continue to work closely with U.K. independent producers and writers, including those that BBC Worldwide has invested in. He reports into Matt Forde, EVP sales and co-productions, BBC Worldwide North America.

Herb Scannell, president of BBC Worldwide North America, said in a release that "Perry is a creative force and has led BBC America with dedication and distinction. His deep knowledge of development, production, scheduling and marketing – along with his hallmark determination and thoughtfulness -- have been key in growing the channel and reaching new audiences.”

SundanceTV’s drama series Rectify returns tonight with the premiere of its second season – this time with one of the show’s writers posting additional online content for each episode, written from the perspective of a supporting character, Jared Talbot, played on the show by Jake Austin Walker (pictured).

The series continues following the story of Daniel Holden (Aden Young), a man whose murder conviction is overturned by retrospective DNA evidence and is released from prison after 19 years on death row.

Rectify script supervisor Kate Powers’s posts, published on Sundance.tv under the title “Jared’s Blog,” will consist of blog entries as well as high school homework assignments written in the character’s voice. Each post will also offer deeper insight and analysis as to the emotional impact of a family readjusting to the presence of a relative they previously believed would be imprisoned for life.

This approach to creating digital content offers Rectify fans the ability to delve deeper into the emotions of the storyline, providing an additional first-person voice to digest outside the series’ norm, the network says.

The first post for “Jared’s Blog” was slated to go live at 6 p.m. tonight, three hours prior to the season two premiere. Future entries will also correspond with the airing of new episodes.