25th Annual TV Preview: Cable Networks
Please note the schedule for the 2020-21 TV season is ever-changing due to the pandemic. The information provided below is as of 8/17/20.
A&E | In August, A&E launched a new series titled What’s it Worth? hosted by comedian and collector Jeff Foxworthy. Jeff scours the country to find people with unique personal possessions that could be worth a pretty penny, all from the comfort of his own home. The series debuted ahead of the previously announced two-hour live series What’s It Worth? Live, which will air this fall. The live version of the show will give viewers the opportunity to bid on and purchase an array of extremely rare and valuable items featured on the show.
AMC | While many programs were able to complete post-production for their spring 2020 season prior to COVID-19, AMC’s The Walking Dead was not one of the lucky ones. They were able to air seven of their eight episodes in the spring, except for the finale. How ironic – a show about a pandemic getting shut down due to… a pandemic! However, at Comic-Con@Home in July, TWD producers officially announced that the Season 10 finale will finally air on October 4th. In addition, with Season 11 being pushed to sometime in 2021, there will be an additional six episodes added to the back end of Season 10 as a reward to viewers who have been waiting patiently. On top of that, another spin-off series, Walking Dead: World Beyond, will debut this fall. This story will focus on a group of teenagers sheltered from the dangers of the post-apocalyptic world who set off on a cross-country voyage to find help to save the world.
BET | Two of the most successful Tyler Perry shows that launched on BET in early 2020, The Oval and Sistas, have both been renewed for Season 2 and have started production at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. The two Wednesday night comedy staples are executive-produced, directed and written by Perry and are expected to return to air in late fourth quarter or early first quarter 2021. The network is also still planning to have the Soul Train Awards in fourth quarter, but how it looks will depend on the ongoing health crisis.
E! | E!’s favorite family is back in September to finish airing season 18 of Keeping up with the Kardashians. The show left off halfway through the season in March and is expected to return to Thursday nights in September. This season will include self-recorded iPhone footage of the family members adjusting to quarantine life. The network is also planning to air the annual E’s People’s Choice Awards on Sunday, November 15th.
ESPN | While we all keep our fingers crossed that live sports remain on the grid, ESPN is hard at work on producing the compelling content we relied on before the pandemic first broke. 30 for 30 has been a hit documentary series for the network since 2009, and it has never been more relied upon than it is now. ESPN Films helped fill the void with no live sports in second quarter with the massively successful The Last Dance eight-part miniseries, followed by new documentaries on Lance Armstrong, Bruce Lee, and Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. It behooves the network to expedite production on future episodes and topics, in case live sports are forced to shut down again, in order to capitalize on the nostalgia and excitement that these series bring. The network announced that the legendary 1986 NY Mets World Series Championship team (google Bill Buckner) will be next to get the 30 for 30 treatment, with lifelong Mets fan Jimmy Kimmel serving as one of the executive producers. Known for their exploits both on and off the field, the ’86 Mets introduced characters who would generate headlines for years to come afterward.
FOOD | The Food Network has struck a multi-year deal with chef, cookbook author and philanthropist Robert Irvine. This two-year deal includes new episodes of the extremely successful Restaurant Impossible, as well as a new spin-off series, Restaurant Impossible: Back in Business. This new series showcases previously featured restaurants that are struggling during this pandemic, while Irvine tries to help them get back on their feet. The deal also includes new mid- and short-form projects to be developed by Irvine for both linear and digital platforms on the network. The network has also given the green light to a second season of Amy Schumer Learns to Cook. The show, which began during the quarantine and is self-shot at home, features Amy’s husband and famous chef Chris Fischer as he teaches the comedian with no kitchen skills how to prepare delicious meals, all from their home kitchen.
FREEFORM | The widely popular young adult programs Everything’s Gonna Be Okay and Motherland: Ft. Salem have been picked up for second seasons on Freeform. The new series, Love in the Time of Corona, is also set to start production this summer and be available to viewers in 2021. Freeform also continues to outperform other networks when it comes to holiday content. The network is looking forward to showcasing new lineups in their 31 Nights of Halloween, Kickoff to Christmas and 25 Days of Christmas programming slots.
FX / FXX / FX ON HULU | FX Productions is at it again. The company has tirelessly churned out hit series over the last 25+ years, and this season is no exception. There is a total of nine new series set to debut in Fall 2020 or early 2021 across their array of networks, with sixteen renewals also on the slate. In an age where everyone is struggling to produce content across mediums, FX continues to step up. FX Networks’ next entry in their growing catalog of docuseries and documentary features is A Wilderness of Error. Set to premiere in late September 2020, AWOE is a five-part series based on the best-selling 2012 book of the same name by Errol Morris. The series reexamines the case of Jeffrey MacDonald, the Army surgeon who has been in federal prison since 1982, accused of killing his family. Another new series, Hop Untold, is set to premiere before the close of 2020. It’s a six-part docuseries about the dying breed of power brokers who operate from the shadows of hip hop. Others on the docu-front include Pride, which focuses on the LGBTQ fight for civil rights, and Hysterical, which examines the world of women in stand-up comedy. Along with the critically acclaimed series Devs and Mrs. America, FX on Hulu is introducing two new exclusive series to the streaming platform. A Teacher is a miniseries based on the 2013 film of the same name and is about a female high school teacher’s illicit relationship with a student and the complexities that follow. The Old Man is a star-studded thriller, based on the 2017 novel of the same name. Starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow, The Old Man centers on an off-the-grid CIA agent who comes out of hiding and encounters an unexpected mission. Ryan Murphy is at it again, this time with another spin-off to AHS: American Horror Stories. Rather than have an inconsistent storyline arc that spans an entire season, Stories will be a weekly analog series that features a different story each week and will each stand on their own merit.
HALLMARK | Hallmark never seems to run out of any holiday content, as the network announced 40 new original Christmas movies to air in 2020. The new movies will begin to air on October 23rd on Hallmark, as well as their new network, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. The network also announced their annual Fall Harvest event, featuring, for now, two new films and another special set to air in September and October. Lastly, the network revealed a new series, Cooking & Conversations with Brian Boitano, set to premiere in October.
HGTV | HGTV has ordered new episodes of two first-year series — Unsellable Houses and 100 Day Dream Home. The series, Unsellable Houses, is planning to release 13 new episodes in early 2021, while 100 Day Dream Home is expected to air eight new episodes at the end of 2020. The network began airing the remaining season two episodes of Christina on the Coast in August, and announced it will begin production of season three.
LIFETIME | Lifetime has announced their It’s a Wonderful Lifetime holiday programming will air as scheduled in 2020. Starting in October and running through December, the network will have new movies and sequels featuring some of the most recognizable names in Hollywood. The new lineup in 2020 includes iconic actors such as Betty White, Mario Lopez and Kelly Rowland.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC | In Genius: Aretha, Nat Geo is producing the first-ever definitive scripted miniseries about the life of the “Queen of Soul,” the legendary Aretha Franklin. The series will encompass Franklin’s life, musical genius, rise to stardom and the enormous impact and influence she had around the world. New to the reality genre, Race to the Center of The Earth will focus on four teams of adventurers, all hustling from different locations on Earth to a central location, in a race for a million-dollar prize. According to Geoff Daniels, executive VP of unscripted entertainment for Nat Geo Networks, “RTTCOTE will combine the grittiness of a survival show with the cinematic style of a feature film action-thriller dropping viewers into the middle of a heart-pounding journey unlike anything ever made for television.” Wow!
TRAVEL | The Travel Channel is launching a new series set to air Labor Day weekend and run throughout the fall titled Shock Docs. These two-hour weekly specials, also being coined as “shockumentaries,” will investigate America’s true horror stories and terrifying tales of infamous paranormal encounters. Each episode will focus on a different ghostly location where the show explores why these places and cases remain the most famous — and the most haunted — in the country.