News

Exclusive: TNT has passed on its two outstanding pilots: Beast Mode, starring Anika Noni Rose, and Constance, headlined by Elisabeth Shue. Both had been picked up in July.

TNT is going through a transition currently. TBS Evp Original Programming Brett Weitz was named General Manager for TNT and TBS in January as TNT Evp Original Programming Sarah Aubrey became Head of Original Content for WarnerMedia’s digital platform. Additionally, the Turner networks were recently put under the oversight of Bob Greenblatt, chairman of WarnerMedia Entertainment.

“Still being figured out,” Weitz said of TNT’s programming direction in February. “My biggest mandate has always been [to] look at how our world exists right now. I don’t want to do really dark, depressing dramas. I think there is a lot of people who do that and do it well. There is a need for, I wouldn’t say levity, but I want...

Exclusive: Private Practice alumna Geffri Maya has been cast as a lead opposite Anika Noni Rose and Chanté Adams in Beast Mode (working title), TNT’s drama pilot inspired by the life of legendary boxing trainer Ann Wolfe.

Tina Mabry (Pose) is attached to direct the pilot, written and executive produced by David Schneiderman and produced by Wolfe and MacRo in association with Studio T.

Pulling herself and her two daughters up from poverty, abuse, homelessness and criminality, Marsha Blackstone (Rose) reached the pinnacle of boxing as a fighter and has become equally as successful a trainer known for unconventional methods and a fiercely combative style. Driven by the belief that any step backward is a slippery slope to her former life, when the boxer Marsha trained to a world title fires her, this complex and inspiring woman is determined to find a new fighter to eclipse the one she lost.

Rising star Chanté Adams (Monsters and Men) has been cast as a lead opposite Anika Noni Rose in Beast Mode (working title), TNT’s drama pilot inspired by the life of legendary boxing trainer Ann Wolfe.

Tina Mabry (Pose) is attached to direct the pilot, written and executive produced by David Schneiderman and produced by Wolfe and MacRo in association with Studio T.

Pulling herself and her two daughters up from poverty, abuse, homelessness and criminality, Marsha Blackstone (Rose) reached the pinnacle of boxing as a fighter and has become equally as successful a trainer known for unconventional methods and a fiercely combative style. Driven by the belief that any step backward is a slippery slope to her former life, when the boxer Marsha trained to a world title fires her, this complex and inspiring woman is determined to find a new fighter to eclipse the one she lost. But...

Anika Noni Rose has been cast as the lead in TNT’s drama pilot, Beast Mode (working title), inspired by the life of legendary boxing trainer Ann Wolfe.

Tina Mabry (Pose) is attached to direct the pilot, written and executive produced by David Schneiderman and produced by Ann Wolfe and MacRo in association with Studio T.

Pulling herself and her two daughters up from poverty, abuse, homelessness, and criminality, Marsha Blackstone (Rose) reached the pinnacle of boxing as a fighter and has become equally as successful a trainer known for unconventional methods and a fiercely combative style. Driven by the belief that any step backward is a slippery slope to her former life, when the boxer Marsha trained to a world title fires her, this complex and inspiring woman is determined to find a new fighter to eclipse the one she lost, but her emotional baggage and militant style could...

Lifetime said today it has greenlit two movies for 2019 to add to the network’s collection of originals. The first is Victoria Gotti: My Father’s Daughter, which will be executive produced, narrated, and co-written by the real-life Victoria Gotti. The second is a remake of Death of a Cheerleader, the cult hit that< originally starred Kellie Martin, who will be back for the new iteration.

Victoria Gotti takes us deep into the world of what it was like to grow up as the daughter of mob boss John Gotti, revealing the glamour, glitz and unique hardships of her world. Chelsea Frei will play the titular Victoria as she shares never-before-revealed stories about her life, from being a sensitive child growing up with her father (Maurice Benard), the tragedy of her younger brother’s death, and her relationship with a the man who would become her husband — a relationship...

On today’s television roundup, TNT orders two new scripted drama shows and HBO’s “2 Dope Queens” will return next year for a second season.

Casting

Shamon Brown Jr., Barton Fitzpatrick and Michael Epps have been upped from guest stars to series regulars for the second season of “The Chi.” The hit Showtime drama series is currently in production in Chicago and will return to the network in 2019.

Renewals

HBO announced “2 Dope Queens,” featuring Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson, will return next year for a second series of four hour-long specials. Based on the hit comedy Wnyc podcast of the same name, the show debuted on the network to critical acclaim last February with four shows directed by Tig Notaro and featuring special guests Uzo Aduba, Tituss Burgess, Sarah Jessica Parker and Jon Stewart.

Dates

Sony Crackle announced the sophomore season of its scripted original drama, “Snatch,” starring...

TNT has ordered its first 2018 drama pilots, Constance, starring Elisabeth Shue, and Beast Mode (working title).

Kc Perry (The Originals) wrote Constance, with Emmy nominee Jesse Peretz (Glow, Girls) attached to direct. Constance is produced by Team Downey, in association with Sonar Entertainment and Studio T, with Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey (Sherlock Holmes), Amanda Burrell, Bill Dubuque (Ozark), Tom Lesinski (Mr. Mercedes), Jenna Santoianni (Mr. Mercedes), Peretz, Shue and Perry serving as executive producers.

Beast Mode, inspired by the life of legendary boxing trainer Ann Wolfe, is written and executive produced by David Schneiderman and produced by Ann Wolfe and MacRo in association with Studio T, with executive producers Stefanie Huie (Triangle) and MacRo’s Charles D. King (Mudbound), Kim Roth (Inside Man) and Poppy Hanks (Fences).

Constance is described as a fun, darkly humorous, veneer-stripping story about one woman’s refusal to fade into obsolescence. It follows former...

TNT is replenishing its pilot crop.

The Turner-owned cable network has handed out pilot orders to dramas Constance, starring Elisabeth Shue and executive produced by Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey, as well as Beast Mode, from writer David Schneiderman (Level Up).

Constance, written by Kc Perry (The Originals), is described as a fun, darkly humorous, veneer-stripping story about one woman's refusal to fade into obsolescence. It follows former beauty queen turned small town bureaucrat Constance Young (Shue, Leaving Las Vegas, CSI), whose life is thrown into turmoil after her husband’s mysterious death. Realizing she and her family are ...

Press Release:

Cartoon Network Continues the Celebration at 2012 San Diego Comic-Con Network Announces Panels and Events Leading Up To 20th Birthday Bash in the Fall

At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Cartoon Network’s amplified Convention Center presence will include a fan-centric booth, buzzing with activity showcasing a life-sized, interactive re-creation of the living room from their hit series Regular Show, where lead characters Mordecai and Rigby spend a majority of their time. As the network prepares for its 20th Birthday celebration later this year, fans will have an opportunity to be filmed by Cartoon Network cameras in the Regular Show living room or in the Network’s 20th Birthday “confessional room” sharing some of their favorite Cartoon Network memories. Some lucky fans may even be featured on the Network during three upcoming marathon weekends! For fans and collectors alike, this year’s Comic-Con exclusive giveaways will include five...

Cartoon Network fans, clear your Comic-Con schedules, the network has announced their panels and events for San Diego this year. The shows that will be there include Adventure Time, Dreamworks Dragons, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and more.

Official Press Release:

Thursday, July 12

Dreamworks Dragons: Riders of Berk: (Room 6A) Picking up where the critically-acclaimed feature film, How to Train Your Dragon, left off, this weekly animated series follows the continuing adventures of master dragon trainer Hiccup, his faithful dragon Toothless and his friends on the island of Berk. Dragon training reaches new heights as our heroes unlock secrets about their dragons, explore wild frontiers and discover new dragon species, all while battling against fierce enemies they never dreamed existed. Come get a first look at the series, which premieres this fall on Cartoon Network, and hear from some of the talented dragon trainers who helped bring it to life.

Mad...

Hero time is most definitely the order of the day this year at San Diego Comic Con. Cartoon Network has just announced that Ben 10: Omniverse will make its national debut at Sdcc.

Yuri Lowenthal (Ben) will be appearing alongside the Omniverse executive producers to discuss the upcoming show and changes to the franchise.

Joining Ben 10 will be Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice from DC Nation. Following a screening of DC’s top shows, several Warner Bros Animation Executive Producers will be on hand to show off new clips from Beware The Batman and Teen Titans Go!, two new series coming to Cartoon Network. Glen Murakami (Teen Titans), Mitch Watson (Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated), Michael Jelenic (ThunderCats), Aaron Horvath (Mad) and Jeff Prezenkowski, director of series and shorts at Warner Bros. Animation will be on the panel.

Editor’S Pick: 23 Photos of Bandai’s Upcoming ‘Ben 10: Omniverse’ Series

Sadly,...

Seth Rogen has come a long way from the days of Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. After Judd Apatow helped turn him into a full-blown movie star with Knocked Up, Rogen continued to build up his resume as a producer and writer until Sony handed him the keys to his first tentpole film with The Green Hornet. While some would question the end result of that project, it certainly hasn't hurt his career. Next year he will take his first stab at directing with Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse, and now Disney has come knocking at his door as well. According to Variety, they have recruited Rogen to produce and possibly star in a new spy comedy called The B Team. The B Team, not to be confused with the Will Ferrell / Mark Wahlberg comedy that was eventually retitled to The Other Guys, is a project that has been...

There was a time when The B Team was a cop comedy starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, before a certain A-Team caused a name-switch to The Other Guys. But with The Other Guys now come and gone, and The A-Team a distant, tank-flying memory, The B Team is back, this time in the form of a spy spoof being developed by Seth Rogen. It just goes to show you can't keep a good name down. Or something.This project actually pre-dates those others, and its title was presumably in flux there for a while. Development being as slow as it is though, it's fair game again. The story in this case is about a "top secret-agent" who gets kidnapped and has to be rescued by his back-up gang of researchers and techies, who presumably aren't quite as "top" as he is.The original pitch to the studio was by Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman,...

Seth Rogan has attached himself to a new film project at Disney called The B Team. He will serve as a producer on the action spy comedy and will most likely end up taking a starring role in the movie. 

As you can imagine, The B Team is a lower level group of operatives that are not as awesome as The A Team. The film is still in the development stage, but the story focuses on a top secret agent who is kidnapped, leaving his tech support team and researchers to rescue him.

Sounds like there could be some fun elements in the film, but there's not much to go off of right now. According to Variety Disney has been sitting on the project for over three years after they bought the pitch from screenwriters Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman (Chasing Liberty). Better late than never I guess. The reason...

Although the duo seems odd at first glance, Pineapple Express star Seth Rogen is teaming up with Disney for their latest project. Variety informs us that the actor is joining Disney’s The B Team as a producer, with the possibility of starring in the project as well.

Disney obtained the project back in 2008, after they bought a pitch from Chasing Liberty screenwriters David Schneiderman and Derek Guiley. The script is based on “a top secret agent being kidnapped, leaving his tech support team and researchers to rescue him.”

With little information to go on, I’m not sure if the project is going to be animated or live-action. Judging by Disney’s upcoming releases, I’m just going to assume animated — which is a good move, considering Rogen has voiced several animated characters over the past few years. His fist voice work was on 2007′s Shrek the Third, with...

‘Disney’ and ‘Seth Rogen’ are three words you probably wouldn’t expect ever to hear in the same sentence, but the movie industry is full of surprises, and if Robert Rodriguez can include Spy Kids and Sin City in his credits, then there’s nothing to stop Seth Rogen from coming on board to produce a Disney film.

Variety are reporting that Rogen, fresh from his turn in the indie comedy 50/50, which has been doing brilliantly in the past few months, is now set to board Disney’s spy comedy The B Team as a producer, with an eye to star in it too.

The project focuses on,

“a top secret agent being kidnapped, leaving his tech support team and researchers to rescue him.”

Disney picked up the project back in 2008, buying a pitch from the writing team of Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman (Chasing Liberty), with Charles Segars set...

What is this, a leftover SNL sketch? The family-friendly comedy genre is a lean one and with good reason -- they usually don't work. "I Spy"? "Leonard Part 6"? "Get Smart"? "Spies Like Us"? You see where we're going with this? But Seth Rogen thinks he can figure it out and has set up a new movie over at wholesome Disney studios. Entitled "The B Team" (clever!) the project was a pitch picked up by the studio three years ago, and will now enter development with Rogen set to star. Dreamed up by Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman (the duo behind the Mandy Moore rom-com "Chasing Liberty") the story will center on a secret agent who is kidnapped, forcing the rest of his team to come to the rescue. So imagine if Ethan Hunt was inept and had to be rescued by Simon Pegg. Hilarious? Everything is still in early...

Seth Rogen kept up his hectic career pace recently wrapping work on the mother/son road comedy My Mother’s Curse with co-star Barbra Streisand and beginning prep work on the end-of-the-world comedy The Apocalypse with his Pineapple Express co-star James Franco. Variety reported today that Rogen joined the Disney spy comedy The B Team as a producer and continued talks to star in the movie based on a pitch from writers Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman about a kidnapped secret agent in need of rescue from his support team of techs and analysts. Rogen recently stepped behind the camera on The Apocalypse as writer/director/star after working as a producer on multiple films.

Genre: Sci-Fi | Fantasy

Air Date/Time: November 23rd at 7/6c

Network: Cartoon Network

Director: Peter Lauer

Writers: Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman

Cast: Gaelan Connell, Connor Del Rio, Jessie Usher, Aimee Carrero

Cartoon Network’s original movie Level Up is a fantastical comedy for the video game age. At night, Wyatt (Gaelan Connell), Lyle (Jessie T. Usher) and Dante (Connor del Rio) battle together as heroic avatars “Black Death,” “Sir Bickle” and “Wizza” in a massively multi-player online video game, Conqueror of All Worlds. Yet, in real life these high school classmates barely know each other’s names, let alone each other’s real identities. That all changes after they mistakenly open a portal from the game world to the real world.

Sightings of strange creatures around town force the three guys to finally meet up Irl (in real life). Now, they must toss aside their differences and come together...

Cartoon Network revealed today that they will be launching a new block of DC animation properties for TV and Online in 2012 called DC Nation. The new programming line-up will be "populated with event programming, interstitials, exclusive behind-the-scenes of theatrical production and an insider look into the world of all things DC."

The animated line-up includes 13 new animated series, 19 returning shows, and the network’s newest live-action scripted comedy series, Level Up. During the presentation DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg talked about the company's new CG-animated series for Cartoon Network based on How to Train Your Dragon. The network also announced fourth season renewals for the LucasFilm Animation's Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Here's a list a description of all of the new series coming to Cartoon Network, which includes ThunderCats, Green Lantern and Looney Toons.

The Problem Solverz: Created by celebrated artist Ben Jones, The Problem Solverz presents a fresh,...

20th Century Fox is spinning its wheels for Test Drive, picking up the pitch from writing team Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman for studio-based Mel Gibson and Bruce Davey's Icon Prods. to produce. The project centers on a boring accountant who goes to test-drive a new sports car. Things go awry during the drive when the salesman takes him on the ride of his life and a wild goose chase ensues. At the studio, the project will be shepherded by senior vp production Debbie Liebling for TCF division topper Hutch Parker. At Icon, exec Stefanie Huie is credited with bringing the project to the company. Guiley and Schneiderman penned the Mandy Moore starrer Chasing Liberty (formerly known as First Daughter) for Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures. They also are developing two animated projects for Columbia Pictures. The duo are repped by ICM and manager Ilan Breil at LMRK and also are repped by the law firm Stone, Meyer & Genow.