TV News Roundup: Natalie Martinez Joins CBS All Access’ ‘The Stand’ (EXCLUSIVE)
By LaTesha Harris
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – In today’s TV news roundup, Natalie Martinez will guest star in CBS All Access’ “The Stand,” and USA announces the third season premiere date of “The Sinner.”
CASTING
Natalie Martinez (“The I-Land”) will guest star in CBS All Access‘ adaptation of “The Stand,“ based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name, Variety has exclusively learned. Martinez began her career as the spokesmodel for Jennifer Lopez’s (“Hustlers”) fashion line and has since gone on to star in “Self/less” opposite Ryan Reynolds and Warner Bros. “Reminiscence,” which is currently filming.
Karen Fukuhara (“Suicide Squad”), Deon Cole (“Black-ish”), Coy Stewart (“Are We There Yet”), Sydney Mikayla (“The Gabby Douglas Story”) and Dee Bradley Baker (“American Dad”) have been cast in Dreamworks‘ Netflix original series “Kipo and the Age
of Wonderbeasts,“ premiering Jan. 14. The animated series follows a young girl thrust into adventure on the surface of a fantastical post-apocalyptic Earth. (“Frozen II”), Dan Stevens (“Beauty and the Beast”), Lea Delaria (“Orange is the New Black”) and Joan Jett (“The Runaways”) guest star in the series, executive produced by Radford Sechrist (“How to Train Your Dragon 2”).
Margo Martindale (“The Americans”) will guest star in Showtime‘s highly anticipated 10-episode limited series “Your Honor,“ starring Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”). Martindale will star as Senator Elizabeth Guthrie, the mother of Cranston’s deceased wife. The project is currently in production, scheduled to premiere in 2020.
RENEWALS
Disney Junior ordered a second season of “Mira, Royal Detective” ahead of the series’ spring 2020 debut. Starring Leela Ladnier, Freida Pinto (“The Path”), Kal Penn (“Sunnyside”), Utkarsh Ambudkar (“Brittany Runs a Marathon”), Hannah Simone (“New Girl”), Jameela Jamil (“The Good Place”) and Aasif Mandvi (“Evil”), the series follows commoner Mira throughout her travels as she helps her kingdom.
HGTV picked up a new season of “Flip or Flop” with Christina Anstead and Tarek El Moussa. The current season of the reality real estate series has already attracted more than 21.9 million viewers since its Aug. 1 premiere. The new episodes are slated to premiere in August 2020.
DATES
Lifetime‘s new docuseries about celebrity relationships, “Hopelessly in Love,“ premieres Jan. 4. The docuseries explores the details of three tragic celebrity love stories — Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes of TLC and Andre Rison; Faith Evans and The Notorious B.I.G.; and Anna Nicole Smith and Larry Birkhead — over three weeks.
Amazon Prime Video‘s five-part docuseries “Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer” premieres Jan. 31. Anchored by the story of Elizabeth Kendall — longtime girlfriend of infamous serial killer Ted Bundy — the series reframes Bundy’s crimes from a female perspective. Survivors of Bundy’s attacks, some of whom will speak out for the first time, are featured in the series.
Season 3 of USA‘s anthology series “,“ executive produced by Jessica Biel, premieres Feb. 6. The third installment follows Bill Pullman‘s detective character, Harry Ambrose, investigating a tragic car accident in upstate new york. Pullman, Matt Bomer, (“White Collar”) and Chris Messina (“Sharp Objects”) star.
USA‘s “Briarpatch,“ starring Rosario Dawson (“Zombieland: Double Tap”), premieres Feb. 6. Dawson stars as a no-nonsense professional who returns home to solve her sister’s murder. Jay R. Ferguson (“Mad Men”), Edi Gathegi (“Twilight”), Brian Geraghty (“The Hurt Locker”) and Kim Dickens (“Gone Girl”) also star.
CBS All Access‘ new true-crime drama “Interrogation” premieres Feb. 6. Starring Peter Sarsgaard (“The Looming Tower”), Kyle Gallner (“Outsiders”) and David Strathairn (“Good Night, and Good Luck”), “Interrogation” is based on a 20-year-old case about a young man who was charged and convicted of murdering his mother. Vincent D’Onofrio (“The Godfather of Harlem”) guest stars.
Season 2 of Starz‘ true-crime original series “Wrong Man” premieres Feb. 9. The six-episode docuseries comes from Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger (“Paradise Lost”). The second season explores three new inmates who aren’t guilty of the charge they face.
Bravo‘s “Top Chef” with host Padma Lakshmi returns March 19. Head judge Tom Colicchio and judge Gail Simmons return for the all-star Season 17, and Doneen Arquines and Tara Siener serve as executive producers.
GREENLIGHTS
Quibi announced “The Andy Cohen Diaries,“ an animated series chronicling untold moments from the talk show host’s life. “I’m so excited to start writing more adventures in my diaries, and animated, short installments represent the perfect format to bring these to life,” Andy Cohen said. Cohen executive produces the six-episode series through his production company, Most Talkative Productions.
EXECUTIVE NEWS
Fred Rogers Productions — the nonprofit children’s entertainment producer behind several Emmy Award-winning PBS Kids series — has promoted Ellen Doherty to chief creative officer. “Ellen is a creative dynamo who has done a fantastic job expanding our ‘Neighborhood’ with extraordinary content,” Paul Siefken, president and CEO said. “From her oversight of our award-winning portfolio to exceptional new projects in development, Ellen has been instrumental at every stage of the creative process, and we’ll continue to benefit from her know-how and talent.” Doherty reports directly to Siefken.
PODCASTS
PRX announced TRAX, a podcast network for 9- through 13-year-old listeners. “TRAX will bring public media’s high standards of curation to a mix of both established podcasts and new productions, and will expand to include programming from a variety of ambitious independent creators, established producers, and emerging voices,” Kerri Hoffman, CEO of PRX, said. “The network launches in 2020.
