In today’s TV news roundup, Paramount Network revealed its new recurring cast members joining “Coyote” and Audible announced the debut of “Escape from Virtual Island”
CASTING
Paramount Network revealed a dozen recurring cast members for the upcoming drama series “Coyote.” Mark Feuerstein, Kelli Williams, Daniel Mora, Emy Mena, George Pullar, Amy Forsyth, Ross Phillips, Romina D’ugo, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Bobby Daniel Rodriguez, Jose Pablo Cantillo and Drew Powell are joining the drama series, which stars Michael Chiklis as a retired United States Border Patrol agent. The show is scheduled to premiere on Paramount Network in the summer.
DATES
The new scripted comedy series, “Escape from Virtual Island,” is coming Apr. 2, Audible announced. The audio series follows Derek Ambrose (Paul Rudd) as he runs an island resort in 2038 where the wealthy come to live out their wildest fantasies in virtual reality. The all-star ensemble also includes Jack McBrayer, Paula Pell, Amber Ruffin, Scott Adsit, Jane Krakowski, Seth Meyers, Jason Sudeikis, Kenan Thompson, Olivia Wilde and Henry Winkler. The series was written by John Lutz and produced by Broadway Video Enterprises.
DEVELOPMENT
20th Century Fox Television and Freeform announced the development of “East Nasty.” The show finds two best friends, one a black queer singer-songwriter, and the other a seemingly tailor made country musician from a deeply religious family, struggling alongside other musical misfits for a place at the table. “East Nasty” is being executive produced by Jamie Rosengard, Karin Gist, Ginger Sledge and Paula Hornick. Rosengard will also serve as writer.
SPECIALS
ATX’s Season 9 Television Festival has announced reunions for “Scrubs” and “Cougar Town,” taking place June 4-7. Creator, director and executive producer Bill Lawrence will join “Scrubs” cast members for a reunion panel celebrating 10 years since the series finale. Additionally, co-creators and executive producers of “Cougar Town” Lawrence and Kevin Biegel, will join cast members to celebrate five years since the cul-de-sac crew aired their final episode. The festival will also include panels and screenings from the CW’s “Nancy Drew,” TBS’ “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,” and Comedy Central’s “The Other Two” and “Drunk History.”
EXECUTIVE NEWS
CBS News journalist Jason Sacca was named the new executive editor of CBS Sunday Morning. Sacca began his career at CBS in 1985 as a desk assistant and joined CBS Sunday Morning in 2000 as a producer then was promoted to senior producer in 2012. He was also the lead producer of Emmy-nominated special broadcasts, “Mind Matter” and “40 Years of Sunday Morning.”
Nielsen announced Eric Bosco will join the company as chief product officer for its global media division. Bosco will launch product strategy and execution while being responsible for every element of the division’s product framework as well as designing and creating products to serve Nielsen’s clients and the media industry.