TV News Roundup: Hulu’s ‘Castle Rock’ Drops Creepy New Trailer (Watch)
By Ellis Clopton
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – In today’s television roundup, ‘Castle Rock’ gets a new trailer and the “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”
gang gets their own mobile game.
DATES
ABC, People, and Four M Studios will present “The Story of The Royals,” a two-night, four-hour prime-time television event documenting the lives of the British royal family. “The Story of The Royals: Part One” airs Wednesday, Aug. 22 from 9-11 p.m., and “The Story of The Royals: Part Two” will air Thursday, Aug. 23 from 9-11 p.m. Both parts will air on the ABC.
Netflix announced it will launch “Ghoul,” its first Indian original horror series, on Aug. 24. All three episodes will be available at the same time to over 125 million members in 190 countries. The show stars Radhika Apte and Manav Kaul and is directed by Patrick Graham. Watch the trailer here:
INSP has announced it will move its popular original series, “The Cowboy Way,” from Thursdays to Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET. The change will take place when season 4 premieres on Sunday, Aug. 26.
Netflix announced it will launch “Insatiable,” its original 12-episode “coming-of-rage” series on Aug. 10. Starring Debby Ryan, Dallas Roberts, and Alyssa Milano, the show follows Patty, a girl once mercilessly bullied for her weight who goes about exacting revenge by becoming a beauty pageant contestant once she loses weight.
Freeform’s buddy comedy “Alone Together” returns for its 10-episode, second season on Wednesday, Aug. 1, with new episodes airing at 8 p.m. and 8:30-9 p.m. EDT. The Lonely Island executive-produced series will run for five weeks with two brand-new episodes debuting each week. The series, which is created by and stars Esther Povitsky and Benji Aflalo, will feature guest stars like: Fran Drescher, Carmen Electra, Natasha Leggero, Hana Mae Lee, Danny Pudi, Abby Elliott, Nicole Sullivan, Kay Cannon, Maz Jobrani, Andrew Santino, Seth Morris, Erik Griffin, and more. Punam Patel also joins season two for a recurring role.
Sony Crackle’s new comedy, “Rob Riggle’s Ski Master Academy” is set to premiere on Thursday, Aug. 23 with a special advance debut on Amazon Fire TV through the Sony Crackle app starting on
Monday, Aug 13
. ln this comedy series, celebrity patriot Rob Riggle, who is mostly known for his legendary ski master movies, has invested all of his money and reputation into an academy celebrating water skiing. Guest stars include Dermot Mulroney, Christopher McDonald, Noël Wells, David Arquette, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Jamie Chung, Haley Joel Osment and more.
GREENLIGHTS
Online creator network Tongal is joining forces with Wattpad, the global multi-platform entertainment company for original stories, to launch “Story to Screen – A Digital Pilot Project” with SYFY, adapting Wattpad’s hit sci-fi thriller, “Expiration Date” for the screen. The joint venture kicks off on the Tongal platform with a call for filmmakers to pitch how they would bring “Expiration Date” to life as a digital series at SYFY.com. The partnership is part of the SYFY WIRE Fan Creators initiative launching this month.
DIGITAL
FoxNext Games and East Side Games announced “It’s Always Sunny: The Gang Goes Mobile,” a new free-to-play mobile game based on the award-winning FXX comedy series “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.” The upcoming mobile game, set to release on the Apple app store and Google Play in late 2018, allows players to interact with the entire gang–Mac, Dennis, Charlie, Dee and Frank–to take on Frank’s latest money-making scheme. The announcement comes hot on the heels of the recent news that the 13th season of the long-running comedy series will begin airing on Sept. 5, 2018, on FXX.
EXECUTIVE NEWS
Howard Swartz will join Discovery Channel as senior vice president of production and development. In this role, Swartz will be responsible for executing production strategies for upcoming event programming including the week-long hit series “Shark Week,” which is about to begin its 30th-anniversary run on July 22. In addition, he will have oversight over the network’s documentaries and specials. Swartz will also work to expand, develop, and diversify Discovery’s series slate and acquisitions.
FIRST LOOK
Hulu released a new trailer for the upcoming original series “.” The psychological-horror anthology series from J.J. Abrams and Stephen King stars André Holland, Melanie Lynskey, Sissy Spacek, Bill Skarsgård, Jane Levy and Scott Glenn. It premieres Wednesday, July 25 only on Hulu. Watch the trailer here:
RATINGS
HBO’s “Sharp Objects” debuted with 1.5 million viewers Sunday night at 9 p.m. EDT. The first replay and preliminary viewing on HBO GO and HBO NOW lifted total viewing to over 2.1 million viewers. That is 36% above the debut of “Big Little Lies” in 2017 and marks the best premiere for an HBO original series since “Westworld” nabbed 2 million viewers in 2016. “Sharp Objects” also helped lift “Succession” to a series high of 673,000 viewers.
