Programming

NBC announced that it will air the 2020 Miss America competition, snagging it from ABC. NBC was the home of Miss America for two decades, and it also previously aired rival competition Miss USA. However, the Peacock decided to dump the latter competition series in 2015, due to the racist remarks made by then owner Donald Trump during the early stages of his presidential campaign.

Walt Disney Co-Chief Executive Bob Iger says it would be “very difficult” for the media company to keep filming in Georgia if a new abortion law takes effect because many people will not want to work in the state. Disney has filmed blockbuster movies in Georgia such as Black Panther and Avengers: Endgame, and it would be a blow to the state’s efforts to create production jobs if the entertainment giant stopped filming there.

ABC’s re-creation of episodes of All in the Family and The Jeffersons was among last week’s most-watched programs with 10.4 million viewers. A Nightline program on the do-overs of producer Norman Lear’s famed 1970s and ’80 comedies also landed in the top 10, with an ABC documentary on the life and career of Farrah Fawcett coming in at No. 12.

Closing in on completing its TV season, top syndicated TV programs — bucking viewing metrics of other top TV programs on broadcast and cable — had mostly flat or modest single digit viewing declines versus a year ago.

The broadcast network will run the first season of the CBS All Access series beginning June 16 as a way to build awareness for both the show and the OTT service.

Beginning Sept. 30 the network will move to ch. 10.2 on Gray’s NBC affiliate in Columbia, S.C.

Major leaders from public media companies and private foundations join entertainment industry executives to provide insight and counsel.

The Jeopardy host says his response to advanced pancreatic cancer treatment is “kind of mind-boggling” and his doctors say the 78-year-old is in “near remission.”

With a 4% increase to a 2.8 in the week ending May 19, it extends its winning streak in the category to a record 141 weeks in the post-Oprah era.

America’s Got Talent opened its 14th season as Tuesday’s No. 1 show on the broadcast networks by a sizable margin. It was also, however, down considerably from its premiere last year.

It’s tough to make a splash when there are literally hundreds of TV shows in the pop culture universe. But the number of freshman series that fought their way to attention-getting status among millennials and Gen Xers made a notable uptick in the 2018-19 season to date.

ESPN’s deeper investment in Snapchat comes as other publishers like the New York Times and Bleacher Report have paused their channels. But for ESPN, producing shows on Snapchat aligns with its digital strategy of meeting sports fans in places they already are. Snapchat also has proven to be a useful way to make revenue and to direct viewers to ESPN on television and to content on ESPN+.

TruTV is laying off a portion of its marketing and programming staffers, who will receive severance packages as part of exit deals similar to those at other units of WarnerMedia.

NBC’s hockey coverage records a four-year high in viewers for the opening game of the series.

This past week on TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center, Tegna, Cox, Hearst, Gray and Quincy have posted job openings at stations in Biringham, Orlando, Phoenix and Waterloo, Iowa.

Lionsgate’s chances of selling its Starz TV network to CBS for $5.5 billion just shrank — by about $2 billion. Investors in the film studio behind The Hunger Games made it abundantly clear this week that they don’t see CBS writing a $5 billion-plus check to Lionsgate to acquire Starz, the channel behind The Spanish Queen and other popular miniseries.

James Holzhauer on Monday won his 28th straight Jeopardy game with an additional $130,222 in winnings, the second highest single-day sum ever recorded on the show. Holzhauer’s total earnings are now at $2,195,557. That’s $325,143 shy of Ken Jennings’ $2,520,700, which he won in 74 episodes in 2004.

Series creator Mike O’Brien shared the news with fans on Twitter, writing that “This has been my favorite project of my life.”