In today’s TV news roundup, “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman” returns to Netflix on May 31 and the Jonas Brothers are set to perform for the June 15 premiere of “All That” on Nickelodeon.
DATES:
”My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman” will return to Netflix on May 31. All six episodes of the new season will drop at once, with each dedicated to in-depth interviews with special guests that will be announced at a later date.
Nickelodeon has set a June 15 premiere date for its reinvented sketch comedy series “All That,” featuring a guest performance by the Jonas Brothers. Executive produced by original cast member, Kenan Thompson, the premiere will also include performances by legacy cast members from the ’90s, including those by Kel Mitchell, Lori Beth Denberg and Josh Server.
The Showtime Documentary Film “16 Shots” will make its small-screen debut on June 14. The doc, created by Oscar nominated director Rick Rowley, examines the cover-up of the 2014 police killing of 17 year-old Laquan McDonald. Including first-hand witness accounts, Rowley dissects the government’s cover-up which essentially led to a conviction that fractured Chicago’s political landscape.
FIRST LOOKS:
A new behind-the-scenes look from Netflix’s reboot of Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City” gives a sneak peek of guest star Jen Richards as a young Anna Madrigal and Daniela Vega as Ysela. In the upcoming limited series, which will stream June 7, Mary Ann returns to San Francisco after fleeing her family to pursue her career, and with her return she reunites with Anna, her chosen family, and a new generation of queer residents living in the city. Pulled from the flashback episode, the BTS clip sees Anna arriving in San Francisco in the 1960s during the nascent stages of the city’s historic LGBTQ activism.
National Geographic’s upcoming five-part series “China’s Hidden Kingdoms,” which launches in January, will take viewers across high mountains, tropical jungles, bamboo forests, great plains and temperate forests as they reveal the historic country’s hidden kingdoms. Variety has obtained an exclusive first look below:
Freeform has released trailers for its upcoming original series, “Motherland: Fort Salem,” “Party of Five” and “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay.” Set in a fantastical alternate America in which witches combat persecution by agreeing to fight for the country, “Motherland: Fort Salem” follows three young women as they use magical powers to fight against terrorism; “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay,” a comedy created, written by and starring Josh Thomas, centers around 25-year-old Nicholas, who copes with his father’s terminal illness alongside his siblings, one of whom is on the autism spectrum; the reboot of “Party of Five” sees the five Acosta children navigate daily struggles after their parents are deported back to Mexico.
PROGRAMMING:
Freeform is expanding its “31 Nights of Halloween” programming event this Oct. with its new original special “Halloween Extravaganza Bash,” adding new movies to the holiday lineup such as the “Ghostbusters” series, the “Scream” series and “The Addams Family.” The network will also add special programming in December for its first “25 Days of Christmas” event, having already tapped classic animations “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman” for the lineup.
CASTING:
Constance Zimmer, Toby Leonard Moore, Eric Johnson, Rose Rollins, Alexei Bondar, Isidora Goreshter and Jonathan Kells Phillips have joined the cast of “Condor” for its second season. Zimmer, who is best-known for her roles on “House of Cards” and “UnReal,” will play Robin Larken, who runs the CIC’s counterespionage unit; Moore and Johnson will play CIA officers Gordon Piper and Tracy Crane, respectively; Rollins will play Eva Piper, a close friend of Gordon’s wife; Bondar will play a colonel in the SVR; Goreshter will play an FSB officer stationed in the Russian Embassy in D.C. who has “grown accustomed to American ways”; and Phillipps will play a high ranking, clever and terrifying FSB operative known as “The Grim Reaper.” Inspired by the 1975 thriller “Three Days of the Condor,” the original series follows CIA agent Joe Turner (Max Irons) on the run after his entire office gets killed.
Keegan-Michael Key is set to host National Geographic‘s reboot of “Brain Games.” Produced by Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz’s Alfred Street Industries and Magical Elves, the series stars world-famous mentalist Lior Suchard as he challenges celebrities with interactive mind games. The new iteration premieres on Dec. 1.
EXECUTIVE:
Brett Holey, Lily Olszewski, and Scott Berger have been appointed Co-Chairs of the Directors Guild of America’s Network Negotiating Committee. In an announcement made by DGA president Thomas Schlamme, Olszewski and Berger, current DGA directors, and Berger, the associate director/DGA assistant secretary-treasurer, will now negotiate agreements for DGA staff and freelance workers in news and sports.