‘Central Ave,’ Debuting Today On 8 Fox O&Os

Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury today announced Central Ave, the multicultural Atlanta-based entertainment magazine debuting today on eight Fox Television Stations, has tapped five experts and correspondents to cover wide-reaching topics.

The new team joins television personality Julissa Bermudez (106 & Park) and former Olympic track star Sanya Richards-Ross (a five-time gold medalist), who co-host the day-and-date series from Debmar-Mercury and producer Will Packer (Night School, Girls Trip).

Debmar-Mercury says Bermudez and Richards-Ross are the first women of color to co-host an entertainment magazine series. Together they will tackle the celebrity worlds of relationships, red carpets, money and the law, as well as trends emerging in Hollywood, social media and apps.

Named today as Los Angeles- and New York-based correspondents are:

• Shannon Boodram, a certified sex educator, dating coach, relationship expert and media influencer with more than 40 million YouTube views.
• Melissa McCarty, a legal, celebrity crime and justice specialist who has served as a television host, national correspondent and author covering every facet of news and entertainment.
• Sloane Glass, the QVC social correspondent who earlier created content as a digital reporter and producer at WAGA Atlanta, hosted and created videos for Time, USA Today, People, AOL and MSN, and reported for New York’s News12
• Dylan Landon, known for his work over the past decade on programs including MTV’s international music game show Crash Karaoke and livestream hosting top talent appearing at the global electronic music Ultra Music Festival.
• Sequoia Blodgett, the former Fortune reporter went on to found Commas, a virtual entrepreneurship resource center providing soup-to-nuts knowledge about product development, marketing, publicity and fundraising.

They will join a show that Packer created “as a quest to blaze trails and set trends by delivering relevant entertainment and pop culture news through a provocative, socially conscious and diverse lens. With diverse and under-served voices coming to the forefront of society, he will take an entirely new approach to the magazine genre by lending an authentic voice to the pop culture, hip-hop and urban worlds,” according to Debmar-Mercury.

“These people are among the most knowledgeable and experienced experts working in entertainment,” Central Ave showrunner Monique Chenault said. “They fit perfectly with Will’s vision of looking beyond the headlines and peeling back the layers of the day’s most compelling stories.”

Fox will air the daily, 30-minute show for a five-week preview in daytime, early fringe, access, primetime and late night slots on eight of its top stations: WNYW New York at 7:30 p.m.; KTTV Los Angeles at 6:30 p.m.; WTTG Washington at midnight; KRIV Houston at 12:30 p.m.; WAGA Atlanta at 7 p.m.; KSAZ Phoenix at 12:30 p.m.; WJBK Detroit at midnight; and WFTC Minneapolis at 8 p.m.

Will Packer Media and distributor Debmar-Mercury co-produce the series, with Packer, Kelly Smith and Chenault serving as executive producers.