All Things About
Who says daytime soaps are dead? In 2015, CBS’ “The Young and the Restless” and “The Bold and the Beautiful” and NBC’s “Days of our Lives” all placed among 2015’s top searched non-reality TV shows on Yahoo! In fact, outside of “The Walking Dead” and “Game of Thrones,” all three dramas placed in the top five on the search giant’s year-end list.
In addition to the previously reported untitled Cain and Abel themed soapy family drama that the network gave a put pilot order to on Friday, Deadline is reporting that NBC has bought family drama “The Bourbon Kings,” based on the best-selling novel of the same name by J.R. Ward, and “Talent,” a family oriented soap opera following a music prodigy who is dealing with the murder of his one true love in a unique way. Both projects are in development for the 2016-17 television season.
NBC is looking for its own “Empire” after giving a put pilot order to a soapy family drama with a musical backdrop from Imagine Television.
Along with lighter fare and high-concept comedies, the broadcast networks are looking to correct course in development for the 2016-17 television buying season with more of a focus on soaps, reports Deadline.
Just two weeks after its premiere, FOX has ordered a second season of “Empire,” created by Lee Daniels (“Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “Precious”) and Danny Strong, it was announced today by Dana Walden and Gary Newman, Chairmen and CEOs, Fox Television Group, during the FOX portion of the Winter Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena. Emerging as the #1 new series of the television season in Adults 18-49, “Empire” is averaging a 5.3 rating in Live+3, according to current Nielsen Media Research ratings data.
The series premiere of FOX’s “Empire” on Wednesday night attracted 9.9 million viewers and a 3.8/10 in Adults 18-49, reports TVbytheNumbers, based on rush nationals ordered by the network. “Empire” now ties ABC’s “How to Get Away with Murder” for the highest rated series premiere of the season in the key sales demo.
As it prepares to close out 2014, which included the series enders of such noteworthy programming as “True Blood,” “The Newsroom” and “Empire,” HBO has released its annual year-ender video that teases what’s to come in 2015 to the premium cable network.
