Lifetime greenlit “Girl in the Shed: The Kidnapping of Abby Hernandez,” a film based on the real-life kidnapping of 14-year-old Abby Hernandez while walking home from school in North Conway, N.H. in 2013. The film premieres on Feb. 26 at 8 p.m.
“Girl in the Shed” will follow the state’s search for Abby (Lindsay Navarro) as captor Nathaniel Kibby (Ben Savage) psychologically and sexually abused her using a soundproof container and a shock collar, as well as Abby’s fight to stay alive in hopes of seeing her family again, including her mother Zenya (Erica Durance).
Sprott Productions Inc. produces in association with Johnson Production Group. Hernandez executive produces along with Stacy Mandelberg and Michael Vickerman, who also wrote the script. Jessica Harmon serves as director.
Also in today’s TV news roundup:
DATES
Lifetime announced that “Single Black Female” will premiere on Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. Raven Goodwin stars as Monica, who tries to land a hosting job for an afternoon talk show while moving on with her life after a breakup and the death of her father. She hires Simone (Amber Riley) as her new assistant and the two quickly become close friends until Simone’s dark secrets threaten to take over Monica’s life for good. K. Michelle also stars. Shari Carpenter directs while Tessa Evelyn Scott and Sa’Rah L. Jones serve as writers.
Lifetime also announced that “Line Sisters” will premiere on Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. The film follows sorority sisters Valerie (LeToya Luckett), Cassandra (Kierra Sheard-Kelly), Simona (Ta’Rhonda Jones) and Dominique (Drew Sidora), who reunite years after graduation, but strange occurrences begin to bring up the past, including the mysterious death of the dean of pledges, and a deadly secret may tear them apart. Big Dreams Entertainment produces in association with Undaunted Content for Lifetime. D’Angela Proctor and Leslie Greif executive produce. Tailiah Breon directs from a script written by Jasmine S. Greene and Scott Mullen.
“Caught in His Web” premieres on Lifetime on Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. and tells the story of Emma (Alison Thornton), Olivia (Malia Baker) and Gabby (Emma Tremblay) who are each unknowingly tormented by a cyberbully named “Blake” who hacks into their cell phones and computers, coerces them to send nude photos and tracks their every move. The girls eventually join forces and enlist the help of Detective Holland (Garcelle Beauvais). Cyber Productions, Inc. produces for Lifetime in association with Johnson Production Group. Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Egenberg, Jack Heller, Tom Leonardis and Alesia Cook executive produce with Caitlin de Lisser-Ellen as co-executive producer. Hannah Cheesman directs a script written by Danielle Iman.
EXECS
Ranker named Josh McNutt as senior vice president and chief data scientist and Janet Mays as human resources director. McNutt will lead all data science initiatives while working to build new tools and machine learning models to generate business value from Ranker’s intellectual property. He will also work to drive improvements in rankings and recommendation algorithms with emphasis on Watchworthy, Ranker’s crowd-sourced, cross-platform TV recommendations app. Prior to joining Ranker, McNutt was the head of data science and analytics at Quibi. Mays will be responsible for all aspects of employee relations, workplace experience, recruiting and onboarding. She previously served as a senior people partner at WarnerMedia supporting HBO productions.