Programming

Julie Jarmon, most recently VP scripted programming development at The CW, has been named SVP development for Freeform, overseeing scripted series development for the Disney network. This marks Jarmon’s return to Freeform where she previously was an executive director in development.

In an announcement on Thursday, the ACM Awards will move from CBS, which previously announced that it would be airing the Country Music Television awards show next year. A date and location will be announced later, but the show has been traditionally held in Las Vegas, although the pandemic moved the show’s production to Nashville.

ABC’s Press Your Luck this Wednesday drew 2.8 million total viewers and a 0.4 demo rating, hitting and matching series lows. CBS’ Big Brother (3.6M/0.9) led Wednesday in the demo, while NBC’s America’s Got Talent (5.5M/0.6) was steady week-to-week and led the night in total audience.

Now that all the big media companies have launched at least one streaming service into the overcrowded U.S. market, it’s time to look everywhere else for more customers. Kelly Day, a long-time digital-media veteran, is president of international streaming services for ViacomCBS. She’s charged with the task of debuting ad-supported service Pluto and subscription service Paramount Plus into dozens of countries by the end of 2022.

The newly appointed Jeopardy host disparaged women’s weight, called one model a “booth slut” and repeatedly praised “the average white-guy host.”

Gordon Ramsay is returning to the kitchen for another season of Masterchef. Fox has renewed the hit cooking competition series, produced by Endemol Shine North America and One Potato Two Potato, with Ramsay and fellow judges Aarón Sánchez and Joe Bastianich all returning for a 12th season.

Fox’s LEGO Masters’ puppet show was attended by 1.4 million total viewers and scored a 0.4 demo rating, dipping on both counts to hit (what are at least) season lows. Continuing Fox’s night, Fantasy Island (1.7M/0.3) was down a tick from its premiere.

Comcast and ViacomCBS have announced the next phase of their expected joint streaming venture into international markets in the form of SkyShowtime, which is looking to roll out in 20 European territories in 2022.

As the COVID-19 crisis gripped the nation, millions of people went into lockdown and suddenly found a lot of unexpected free time. Some picked up new or long-forgotten hobbies, while others soaked up extra family time. Still others combined the two and began focusing on more involved home-cooked meals. Social media exploded with images, videos and commentary about sourdough starters and banana bread, and that inspired a new wave of unscripted television series.

Jillian Deam and Ryan Ahlwardt will host the hour-long Indy Now, a lifestyle entertainment show, that debuts Monday morning, Sept. 13.

With the Delta variant surging, nothing is back to normal, but syndicated productions are giving it their best shot. Debmar-Mercury’s Nick Cannon and Fox’s You Bet Your Life, starring Jay Leno, are debuting in September, and veteran shows, such as NBCUniversal’s Kelly Clarkson, are returning to live in-studio audiences. To promote the shows, marketers are touching all bases — on-air, online and outdoor — to get the word out.

Nearly two-thirds of people said in June that they viewed free video on demand content on their televisions once a week, up from 46% in February 2020, according to Hub Entertainment Research. Last week, in an otherwise quiet frame, ABC led with an average of 2.69 million viewers in primetime. NBC had 2.65 million, CBS had 2.4 million, Fox had 2.2 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 1 million. Fox News Channel led the cable networks, with an average of 2.2 million viewers in primetime.

TBS said Tuesday that it has completed a deal with WarnerMedia sibling Warner Bros Domestic Television Distribution to acquire off-network rights to the CBS/Warner Bros Television comedy Young Sheldon, and will now premiere in syndication on the cable network beginning Sept. 27. It joins the lineup at TBS that already includes fellow WBTV-produced shows The Big Bang Theory and Friends.

Mike Muriano joined the tech giant Tuesday as executive producer of live sports for Prime Video, where he will oversee production of Thursday Night Football.

The former entertainment chairman at WarnerMedia and NBC has launched a production company, The Green Room, and signed a first-look TV deal with Lionsgate Television. Under the deal, Greenblatt will develop and produce premium projects for the studio via The Green Room. The former Showtime boss has also enlisted Jon Wu to serve as head of filmed content for The Green Room.

ABC’s Bachelor in Paradise — which didn’t air last summer — opened Season 7 with 3.1 million total viewers and a 0.9 rating, marking series lows on both counts but still easily leading Monday in the demo. NBC’s American Ninja Warrior (3.33M/0.5) scored Monday’s biggest audience.

The morning favorite raced ahead 14% to a 1.6 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, shrugging off the second and final Olympics week and blowing away its talk show competition for the 13^th week in a row.

CBS will mark 50 years of contestants comin’ on down for The Price Is Right with a two-hour primetime special next month. Set for 9-11 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30, the special will look back at the biggest winners, never-before-seen outtakes and feature a salute to 35-year host Bob Barker.

CBS ruled Sunday ratings with the latest episode of Big Brother. The network kicked of its Sunday lineup in the 8-9 p.m. time slot with the Big Brother, which took home a 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demo and aired to 3.71 million viewers, per fast affiliates. The reality series, which returned from the weekend slightly lower from last Thursday (1.0, 4.58M), was the highest-rating program Sunday.

The decades-old game show, TV comfort food for many, has been rocked by drama over who would replace the late Alex Trebek.