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.
In an interview with TMZ partner site tooFab, former “Days of our Lives” star Justin Gaston (ex-Ben Rogers) talks about playing both actor John Stamos and his alter-ego Jesse Katsopolis in the new Lifetime TV movie, “The Unauthorized Full House Story,” airing Saturday, August 22 on the cable network. Gaston also reveals that he and his wife, actress Melissa Ordway (Abby Newman, “The Young and the Restless”), who he wed in 2012, are definitely open to having kids down the road.
Since departing “Days of our Lives” in 2007, actor Trevor Donovan (ex-Jeremy Horton) has gone on to add several roles onto his resume including appearing in episodes of The CW’s “90210,” ABC Family’s “Melissa & Joey,” and most recently starring in the History Channel mini-series, “Texas Rising.” Now the actor has been cast as the lead in “The Man Who Wasn’t,” a potential TV series adaptation of the Thomas Caplan series of novels which follows the tales of former covert operative Ty Hunter, who unintentionally becomes the world’s biggest movie star while maintaining a double life as a spy.
After picking up the exclusive streaming rights to all-new episodes of “The Mindy Project” in May, following FOX’s decision to pull the plug on the series, Hulu announced today during its portion of the summer Television Critics Association Press Tour that the fourth season of the very young-skewing comedy will kick off on Tuesday, September 15 and each of the 26-episodes ordered will air once a week, like it did on broadcast.
It’s officially upfront week where the networks announce their new season lineups filled with an abundance of new programming consisting of scripted comedies and dramas, unscripted fare, sporting events and specials. Today, FOX announced its fall lineup with the addition of Ryan Murphy‘s “Scream Queens,” which brings together such stars as horror queen Jamie Lee Curtis and “Glee” alum Lea Michele, Rob Lowe comedy “The Grinder,” John Stamos and Ben Savage vehicle “Grandfathered,” the television version of the hit 2002 Tom Cruise film, “Minority Report” starring Stark Sands (“Inside Llewyn Davis”) as a man haunted by the future and Meagan Good (“Think Like A Man” franchise, “Californication”) as a cop haunted by her past. Also joining the network next season is “Rosewood,” which will lead into an 18-episode repeat free season of “Empire” on Wednesdays.
Hallmark Channel announced today that production has begun in Vancouver, Canada on “Radio Hype,” an original movie set to air sometime later this year on the cable network and stars Alison Sweeney (“Days of our Lives,” “The Biggest Loser”) and Jonathan Scarfe (“Raising the Bar,” “Hell on Wheels”).
It looks like Showtime’s revival of “Twin Peaks,” the cult drama series that aired on ABC from 1990 to 1991, might be in jeopardy after co-creator David Lynch announced this weekend that he has dropped out of the project as director, following tense contract negotiations with the network that were halted over disagreements on financial compensation.
After conducting interviews with several of today’s top talents and filing special assignment reports for the newsmagazine on multiple occassions over the past year, CBS Television Distributions’s “Entertainment Tonight” officially announced today the hiring of “All My Children” alum Cameron Mathison (ex-Ryan Lavery) as its new weekend co-anchor and a full-time correspondent. He will also serve as a fill-in anchor for the weekday telecast, hosted by Nancy O’Dell and Kevin Frazier.
First announced in October of last year, Pop is ready to release their “Queens of Drama” as soap stars Lindsay Hartley (“All My Children,” “Days of Our Lives,” “Passions”), Crystal Hunt (“Guiding Light,” “One Life to Live”), Vanessa Marcil (“Las Vegas,” “General Hospital”), Chrystee Pharris (“PSNS,” “GH”) and Hunter Tylo (“The Bold and The Beautiful”) are joined with special appearances by Donna Mills (“Knots Landing,” “Melrose Place” and “GH”) in their new reality series debuting Sunday, April 26 at 10:00 PM, ET/7:00 PM, PT, immediately following the network’s exclusive live broadcast of “The 42nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards.”
On Saturday, May 2 at 9:00 PM, ET/PT, get ready for Alison Sweeney (“Days of our Lives”) and Cameron Mathison (“All My Children”) to take America by storm when their Hallmark Movies & Mysteries original movie, “Murder She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder Mystery,” premieres on the cable network. The movie, also starring “One Life to Live” alum Barbara Niven (“Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove”), is based on the bestselling series of books by Joanne Fluke and follows the story of Hannah Swensen (Sweeney), owner of the Cookie Jar shop where patrons frequently gossip about the latest happenings in town.
