HBO Max has unveiled the first trailer for “Julia,” an upcoming series about the life of beloved culinary icon Julia Child.
Created by Daniel Goldfarb (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), “Julia” focuses on Child (played in the series by Sarah Lancashire) during the years following the publication of her iconic cookbook “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” The series sees Child kickstarting her first television series, “The French Chef,” at the public television station WGBH. Child faces opposition from the sexist and elitist producers at the station, but with the help of her friends and allies, transforms her television show into a certified phenomenon.
“I hope you have as much fun as I did,” Lancashire says during the trailer, emulating Child’s sign-off from her show. “Bon Appétit.”
In addition to Lancashire, the series also stars David Hyde Pierce as Child’s husband Paul. Bebe Neuwirth, Brittany Bradford, Fran Kranz and Fiona Glascott round out the main cast, while Isabella Rossellini, Judith Light, Robert Joy, Erin Neufer, Jefferson Mays, James Cromwell and Adriane Lenox guest star over the course of the first season. The series is showrun by Chris Keyser who executive produces alongside Goldfarb, Erwin Stoff, Kimberly Carver, Charles McDougall and Erica Lipez.
“Julia” will premiere on March 31 with three episodes, followed by weekly episode drops for five weeks. Watch the full trailer below.
Also in today’s TV news roundup:
EXECS
Lauri McGarrigan has been hired as senior vice president of business development and content distribution for Crown Media. In her new position, McGarrigan is responsible for finding new content distribution opportunities, developing business plans, monitoring industry trends and working with the company’s streaming team to develop strategies for content across various platforms. McGarrigan joins Crown Media from Common Sense Networks, a kids digital entertainment platform, where she served as head of distribution & partnerships. In her new position she reports to Judi Lopez, executive vice president of distribution & content strategy.
STREAMING
Terence Winter, the Emmy Award-winning writer and executive producer of “The Sopranos,” is launching a new FAST (free, ad-supported streaming) channel called Mob TV alongside media executive Joe Poletto. Mob TV will feature documentaries, films and series that focus on the mafia and organized crime. The FAST channel will also produce original interview content with the goal of eventually producing film and television programming, led by Winter. The channel is currently set to be distributed by KlowdTV, Plex, LG and Xiaomi, with additional distribution deals in the works.
BUSINESS
AMC Networks has launched AMC Networks Publishing, a new book publishing arm focused on creating specialty books, comics, original graphic novels and other projects based around AMC properties. This year, AMC Networks Publishing will debut two comic series, “Nights of Lono” by Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and Marcel Feldmar, and “Oubliette” by Brenden Fletcher. The publishing arm will also launch two original books based on AMC Networks shows: “Miss Fisher’s First Mysteries,” a graphic novel based on Acorn TV’s “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries” from writer Cecil Castelluci, and “Shudder’s Creepshow: From Script to Scream,” a coffee table book by “Creepshow” showrunner Greg Nicotero.
EVENTS
The Television Academy Foundation has announced the speakers for its annual College Television Summit, a free networking and career conference open to all media students from two- and four-year colleges. The summit will open with a keynote address by Television Academy Foundation chair Cris Abrego, followed by a conversation with Mark and Jay Duplass, executive producers of the recent HBO show “Somebody Somewhere.” Other speakers during the conference include Kristin Chenoweth, Jane Krakowski, Julio Perez, Michele Lewis, Ruben Garcia, Kevin Lin, Cinco Paul, Barry Sonnenfeld, Kevin Turen, Will Greenfield, Jules LeBlanc, Josh O’Keefe, Lee Porter, Joshua Bowen, Melissa McCoy, Tish Monaghan and Mara LePere-Schloop. The event runs March 23 to 25.
INITATIVES
Apple TV Plus has announced a new initiative to collaborate with world renowned education leaders to create new children’s programming for the streaming platform. The initiative includes recently premiered original kids show “Pretzel and the Puppies,” which was created in partnership with Learning Policy Institute senior research fellow Tony Wagner, and the Peabody-winning “Stillwater,” which was created alongside Mallika Chopra, CEO of health company Chopra Global. Additional educators and changemakers Apple has announced partnerships with include Nichole Pinkard, Michele Borba, Cathy Davidson, Christina Katopodis, John F. Evans, Lucy Calkins, Gail F. Melson, Kate Robinson, Tovah Klein, Sonja Lyubomirsky and Dan Siegel.
LATE NIGHT
Sandra Oh, Russell Wilson, Ciara, Mitski and Doreen Ketchens will appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Tuesday and Greg Kinnear, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jim James will guest on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” will feature Bernie Sanders and musical guest Big Thief, while “Late Night With Seth Meyers” will feature Amanda Seyfried, Harvey Fierstein and Frank Bruni.