TNT Thursday released a video trailer for the fifth and final season of its drama series The Last Ship.

The series, which chronicles the aftermath of a global catastrophe that nearly decimated the world's population, will return for its final season on Sept. 9, according to network officials.

The Last Ship stars Eric Dane (Grey's Anatomy), Bridget Regan (Agent Carter) and Adam Baldwin (Firefly, Chuck)

A bevy of cable networks and streaming video services gravitated to San Diego this past week to showcase the TV industry's top shows during the annual Comic-Con International show.

Networks such as AMC, History, HBO and TNT, as well as streaming services like CBS All Access and Netflix, presented to an estimated 100,000 Comic-Con attendees numerous panels featuring writers, directors and stars of major hit shows such as The Walking Dead, Vikings, Westworld, The Last Ship, Star Trek Discovery and Stranger Things.

Along with the panels, content providers also released video trailers from several series and specials, a sample of which appears below.


Twice Upon A Time (Doctor Who) -- BBC America 

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency -- BBC America 

Stranger Things – Netflix

The Last Ship – TNT

Star Trek Discovery – CBS All Access

Vikings – History

The Defenders – Netflix

American Horror Story – FX

Westworld – HBO

Stargate – MGM

Krypton -- Syfy

USA Network Monday said it has postponed the July 19 premiere of its new dramatic series Shooter following last week's horrific police shooting in Dallas.

The series, based on the 2007 movie of the same name starring Mark Wahlberg, will now debut on July 26. Shooter, starring Ryan Phillipe, centers on a U.S. veteran and American hero who is trying to clear his name after beng wrongly accused of a crime.

“In light of recent tragic events and out of respect for the victims, their families and our viewers, we have decided to postpone the premiere date for the upcoming USA Network series Shooter, to July 26,” the network said in a statement.

USA last August delayed the final episode of freshman series Mr. Robot, which featured a fictional on-air shooting, in light of a real-life shooting of a local TV reporter in Virginia.

TNT last month delayed the season three premiere of The Last Ship, which depicted a mass shooting, in the wake of the June 12 mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla.

TNT has renewed its sophomore drama series The Last Ship for a third season, the network said Tuesday.

The network has ordered 13 episodes for the third season of the series, which chronicles a global catastrophe that nearly decimates the world's population.

The Last Ship, which stars Eric Dane, Rhona Mitra and Adam Baldwin, is currently in the midst of its second season, which ends on Sept. 16. The show is the most watched scripted series of the summer among adults 18-49 and is averaging some 9 million viewers across TNT's linear, VOD, digital and mobile platforms, said the network.

Turner Broadcasting System has elevated former vice president of digital Justin Williams to senior vice president of digital ventures for TNT and TBS, a newly created role based in Atlanta and reporting to TBS and TNT president Kevin Reilly.

In his new role Williams will be responsible for creating strategic opportunities for new ventures, investments and partners in the digital space.  He will continue to work closely with Reilly and the TBS and TNT executive team developing digital strategy for the networks' digital and mobile platforms. In addition, Williams will collaborate with leaders across Turner on developing strategy for emerging platforms, empowering the businesses to harness opportunities around new ventures, digital innovations and monetization concepts.

"In the short amount of time we’ve worked together, I have garnered plenty of respect and appreciation for Justin’s ability to consistently push our two networks to be at the forefront of innovation and change," Reilly said in a statement. "With the incredible ideas and insight he brings to the table, Justin will help position our businesses for long-term success in the digital realm and deliver the kind of dynamic customer experience that will keep viewers coming back for more."

Williams joined TBS and TNT in February 2013 and in his first year spearheaded a new multiscreen distribution approach for the networks, re-launched the digital experiences of both nets and helped lead data-driven marketing projects aimed at growing linear audiences. By coordinating the new multiscreen strategy, Williams helped propel shows like the first seasons of The Last Ship and Murder in the First to set new records for TNT TV video-on-demand viewing.

Prior to his current role, he served as senior director and general manager of NASCAR.com for Turner Sports. While there, he and his team made NASCAR.COM a major video destination that produced more than 400 hours of live coverage, a 10-fold increase from 2009. He also led his team in the creation of new revenue-generating sponsorships, products and partnerships.

From 2005 to 2010, Williams built the digital business at a startup cable network, grew the digital fan management business for a newly acquired division of InterActive Corp. and advised startups in the TV, music and ticketing business.

During Williams' first stint at Turner Broadcasting, he served as senior director of platform research and development for the company and, before that, as director of business development and community for Cartoon Network's new media group. Williams' professional career began at Ticketmaster Online/CitySearch, where he was one of the first editorial employees for the startup company.

Turner orignals are totally stacked on Comcast XFinity On Demand.

Comcast and Turner Broadcasting Systems have expanded their On Demand agreement, with the programmer agreeing to allow the cable operator to make full current seasons of 15 original TNT and TBS shows available to XFinity customers.

Full-season stacking – allowing video-on-demand customers to catch up on all of the episodes of certain series in its current season instead of just a few – has been a major initiative for Comcast for more than a year and builds on similar deals it has with cable networks and broadcasters like FX, USA Network, Fox, NBC, CBS and ABC.

Previously, Turner had stacked full-season episodes for The Last Ship, Murder in the First and Falling Skies with Comcast. Beginning today (June 8) with the Season 2 premiere of TNT’s Murder in the First, the programmer is expanding that relationship to include nine additional TNT shows (The Last Ship, Falling Skies, Proof, Cold Justice, Cold Justice Sex Crimes, Public Morals, The Librarians, Legends and Agent X) and five from TBS (American Dad, Clipped, America’s Next Weatherman, Angie Tribeca and The Detour).

“Last year we were dipping our toes in the water,” said Turner Content Distribution executive vice president of brand distribution Jennifer Mirgorod, adding that the evidence showed stacking helped build rather than fragment an audience. "Last Ship, Falling Skies, Murder in the First, I think we were thinking of them as experiments to see how this would work."

Althogh Comcat has been encouraging full stacking for years, Mirgorod said it was't until last year that the porgrammer began to see hard evidence that not only wasn't stacking eroding live viewers, it was adding to ratings.

"It was absolutley additive and their was no erosion, which some feared would be the case. It really helps build a show and particularly a new show," Mirgorod said.

Comcast vice president of video strategy and analysis Steve Meyer said the Turner deal and others is a testament to how viewership is changing and how more and more people are turning to On Demand to watch and discover scripted series.

“We’ve seen a really big explosive growth in episodic TV,” Meyer said. “It’s up more than 100% since 2011 and is the No. 1 content on VOD.”

Comcast has been a cheerleader for On Demand for more than a decade and its customers are prime examples of that dedication. About 70% of Comcast customers watch VOD every month and with its new X1 platform, 85% of customers watch VOD monthly.

Meyer said giving customers the ability to catch up to a full season of a particular show is a valuable tool.

“The big fear with stacking has been that viewers will wait until the end of the season to binge view and wreck my C-3 ratings,” Meyer said. “We’ve found the exact opposite.”

People, he said, want to be current and when they have the opportunity to get back into a show where they may have missed the first few episodes, they eventually migrate to the live viewing camp.

Mirgorod agreed.

"It's been a really helpful way to build an audience," Mirgorod said.

According to Meyer, when just the past four shows of a series are available On Demand, viewership rises 20%. When a series is fully stacked, viewership rises 40%.

“That couldn’t happen if people were waiting until the end of the season,” Meyer said.

Turner itself has seen how stacking has made a difference. Last summer, TNT’s original drama The Last Ship broke records as 5.3 million viewers nationwide tuned in to watch its season premiere live. On Comcast’s Xfinity On Demand, audiences for the show rose week after week as it routinely cracked the top 5 of Xfinity On Demand’s Top 20 list. According to Meyer, in the 18-49 live-plus-3-day (L3) demo, ratings for the show in Comcast households were 30% higher on average throughout the whole season.

And of the 1.1 million views of the premiere episode of TheLast Ship on Xfinity On Demand, 64% occurred after week one and 30% happened after week four.

The numbers were even better with Murder in the First, which was fully stacked in its first season last year with Xfinity On Demand. In Comcast households, Murder in the First’s 18-49 L3 ratings averaged 40% higher throughout the season. Of the 819,000 views of the premiere episode on Xfinity On Demand, 65% occurred after week one and 33% after week four.

Mirgorod added that in addition to stronger viewership, Xfinity On Demand provides another monetization option via dynamic ad insertion. VOD ads are the same as the linear feed for the first three days after air, but from there, ads can be refreshed throughout the VOD life of the show.

“When you put these two together, it’s increasingly becoming a value proposition, not just for the customers, but the networks are realizing they can continue to have an ad model in this time- shifted world,” Meyer said.

TNT’s action/adventure series The Liberians drew 5.4 million viewers Sunday night, the most watched new series premiere on cable in 2014, said the network. 

The series, based on TNT’s movie franchise of the same name, outdrew the 5.3 million viewers for TNT's June premiere of The Last Ship. The Librarians also drew a combined audience of 7.3 million viewers in Live + Same Day delivery for its two-hour premiere.

The series, which stars Rebecca Romijn (X-Men), Christian Kane (Leverage, Angel), Lindy Booth (Dawn of the Dead, The Philanthropist) and John Kim (Neighbors, The Pacific), also drew 2.1 million adults 25-54, and 1.6 million adults 18-49.

The episode was also the most watched year-to-date in live + same day delivery of adults 25-54, according to Turner. The Liberians,which centers on an ancient organization hidden beneath the Metropolitan Public Library dedicated to protecting an unknowing world from the secret, magical reality hidden all around, is now on track to join other TNT series Rizzoli & Isles, The Last Ship, Major Crimes, Murder in the First and Falling Skies among the top 10 most watched scripted series on cable in 2014.  

Cable networks are jolting ratings with supernatural and horror-themed scripted series that are slaying both male and female viewers.

Following the success of horror/supernaturalthemed shows like AMC’s The Walking Dead, FX’s anthology supernatural series American Horror Story, MTV’s Teen Wolf, TNT’s Falling Skies, HBO’s True Blood, Game of Thrones and The Leftovers and Netflix’s Hemlock Grove, programmers are rolling out nearly a dozen new genrebased series that have either launched or will launch in 2014. They hope to thrill viewers with plenty of action, strong storylines and lots of scares.

“[Horror/supernatural] is a massively popular broad entertainment genre,” Syfy president Dave Howe said. “It’s the most mainstream genre, and I think the broadcast and cable networks have recognized that popularity and are reaching a new generation of viewers that are reading fantasy novels and playing [genre-based] video games.”

Indeed, from theatrical box-office hits such as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, World War Z, The Conjuring and Godzilla to top-selling video games as Call of Duty: Ghosts and Titanfall, shows with horror or supernatural themes are drawing fans across multiple platforms.

On cable, the genre has been slicing its way across network lineups. For one, Syfy’s freshman apocalyptic-themed series Helix has already been green-lighted for a second season after averaging more than 2 million viewers in its winter season run. The same goes for Showtime’s supernatural-themed series Penny Dreadful, renewed for a second season two months ago.

Other shows waiting in the wings to launch this month include Lifetime’s post-apocalyptic drama series The Lottery, in which a national lottery is held to determine surrogates for the last 100 human embryos; and FX’s The Strain, in which current-day New York is infected by a vampire virus.

One of the reasons why horror and suspense shows are performing well on cable is their ability to draw a wide range of viewers, including women who are not traditionally known to be big fans of the genre.

For instance, FX said its Emmy-winning American Horror Story skewed 59% female during its third season. AMC’s zombie drama The Walking Dead — cable’s most watched show — is also the most watched series on cable among female viewers, besting both scripted and reality content.

Most of cable’s horror and supernatural series — which often pair intricate storylines with graphic violence — appeal to female viewers looking for thrills and suspense, FX CEO John Landgraf said. And the genre’s shows feature more involved, soap opera-like storylines that can attract women despite their often grisly scenes, WGN America and Tribune Studios president and general manager Mark Cherniss added.

WGN America’s first original series, Salem, which revisits the period of the Salem, Mass. witch trials, scared up 1.5 million viewers in the supernatural- themed show’s April premiere episode, the network’s highest-rated show in more than seven years, according to the network.

“Horror/supernatural shows can offer action, scares, drama and romance — there are a lot of different elements that fit into the supernatural drama that allow those things to play right next to each other, where in other genres it’s a lot harder to fit all those elements together into one show,” Cherniss said.

Michael Wright, president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies, added that the development of quality, CGI-enhanced special effects has allowed networks to deliver movie-quality content in a series. TNT’s Michael Bay-produced series The Last Ship, which follows a U.S. Navy destroyer carrying the antidote for a global pandemic that has wiped out 80% of the world’s population, is currently the most watched new series on cable this year, averaging more than 5 million viewers.

“You can now make something that’s pretty epic in scope in terms of the storytelling and compete with theatrical films where the viewer doesn’t feel let down,” said Wright. “We could imagine these stories 10 years ago but couldn’t execute them. Now you can.”

On-screen editing standards have also changed, allowing cable and broadcast networks to depict more graphic and often gory scenes that are typical of the genre, making the shows more visually appealing to viewers.

“Television back in the broadcast-network era really had to censor the genre to the point where it seemed second-rate to what a theatrical film could put forth for fans of the horror genre,” Landgraf said. “But in the cable era, the networks can put pretty graphic stuff on the air that looks to sustain a story and a group of characters for longer than a two-hour movie. The fans also want story and character development, and I think television right now is able to deliver that in the horror genre.”

And network executives said they’re not worried about oversaturating the market for horror and supernatural shows, adding that there are still a lot of stories to be told within the genre.

“As long as you’re bringing to those different shows a distinctive voice, great casting and a unique approach to the storytelling, I think you can stand out,” Turner’s Wright said. “It’s a marvelous blank canvas for great storytellers.”

Syfy has looked to up the ante on its schedule with the recent debut of Dominion, in which archangels battle each other with the survival of humankind in the balance. The series drew 2 million viewers in its June 16 premiere, above the network’s 970,000 viewer primetime average for June.

The network also has on deck a remake of the 1995 theatrical sci-fi thriller 12 Monkeys, along with several other series that it hopes will keep the network competitive in the growing supernatural/horror genre.

“We recognize that there is an explosion of competition, so I think what we have to do is more of what we do best,” Howe said. “We are the experts in the space and so we’re in the throes of emphasizing and amplifying our high quality, provocative and smart storytelling.”

TNT’s new drama The Last Ship cruised to a strong start with the Nielsens on Sunday night, drawing 5.3 million viewers for its 9 p.m. premiere.

That audience now stands as this year’s top cable debut, easily eclipsing the mark set by another TNT launch with Murder in the First. Adding in another 2.1 million for its 11 p.m. encore, the Michael Bay-produced, pandemic virus drama pulled in 7.4 million viewers on its maiden night, based on Nielsen live+ same-day data.

Among key demos, Last Ship drew 1.7 million adults 25 to 54 and 1.5 million adults 18 to 49 for its premiere, before tacking on another 900,000 and 800,000 with the respective groups, via its encore airing.

Despite leading out of Last Ship, Falling Skies fell in its fourth-season bow to 3.7 million total viewers at 10 p.m., down 12% from last summer’s two-hour premiere. With a midnight replay, Falling Skies notched 4.2 million total viewers.

In TNT’s upcoming drama The Last Ship, an airborne pandemic virus threatens the world and the crew of a U.S. Navy destroyer finds that gasmasks are the survival accessory of choice.

Tying into the storyline, the network is opening an immersive art experience in the Big Apple featuring gas mask fashion from up-and-coming and influential artists who re-imagine the post-apocalyptic. 

TNT is also going under underground with Purell promotion in New York to create buzz for the Michael Bay-action series.

Beginning today (June 16), the network is taking over Manhattan’s Grand Central subway station with billboards that have Purell dispensers attached.

Featuring such copy as “The Virus isn’t the only enemy,” “80% of the world is dead” “and Whatever you do, don’t breathe,” the dispenser-equipped billboards will line corridors in multiple locations in the bustling subterranean hub. From these sanitation stations of sorts, passers-by can clean their hands with Purell.

“People are very interested in the notion of pandemic. The Last Ship is not a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by zombies or aliens,” Tricia Melton, senior vice president of entertainment marketing and branding for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies, said of the show premiering on June 22 at 9 p.m.. “The feedback from our research company is that people feel that this is realistic, that it will play on their fears and hopes for survival.”

As to Purell’s marketing position with the campaign, Melton noted: “Sanitize and survive. Grand Central is certainly a crowded place.”

TNT also will have branded Last Ship street teams in place to hand out Purell samples on June 20-21.

TNT and the Gojo Industries brand worked with marketing agency mono on the Grand Central activation.

Meanwhile, "Survival is an Art: The Last Ship Experience" will feature a gas mark fashion show on June 20 at Dia 545 at 545 West 22nd Street, with work from German designer Irene Luft, whom Melton said made a splash at last year's Fashion Week. Series stars Eric Dane and Rhona Mitra are expected to be on hand that night.

The pop-up gallery will also showcase exhibits from Gary Lockwood, the Bob Basset Workshop, Tom Banwell, Nathan Vincent, Singer Blake, Wren Britton and Howie Katz.

“An entire culture has emerged around the edge of the world,” said Melton, who also believes the gallery will set sail with a significant audience for The Last Ship.  “We’re looking for the series to appeal to women, as well as men.”

TNT worked with entertainment branding agency loyalkaspar in establishing  the Gas Mask Fashion Show and Exhibit.