News

Exclusive: Michael Sugar’s Sugar23, which is behind scripted series including Dickinson and 13 Reasons Why, is ramping up its unscripted business with a partnership with Moonshiners producer Magilla Entertainment.

The two companies have teamed up to develop a slate of non-scripted series, across the genre.

They are working on cooking series, a prank competition series and the first project to come out of the deal is an intergenerational dating social experiment.

The Grand Date Experiment (w/t) aims to address the modern dating dilemmas that exist for both single millennials and boomers, as grandparent-grandchild pairs take control of each other’s dating rituals and relationships.

The partnership is being lead by Sugar23 Head of Alternative and Unscripted David Hillman and Magilla Co-Founders Laura Palumbo Johnson and Matthew Ostrom, and President Jason Fox.

In addition to Discovery hit Moonshiners, Magilla makes series including Master Distiller, Diesel Brothers and Dirty Mudder Truckers for Discovery,...

Discovery has jumped into the video streaming service game with Discovery+, a new way to watch all of its content on demand. The service launched in the United States on January 4, and we’ve broken down everything you need to know about it below.

You Can Watch Shows From Several Major Cable Channels

Discovery+ includes content from every media property under the Discovery umbrella, which includes: HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Animal Planet, OWN, Discovery, Discovery+ Originals, Investigation Discovery, Magnolia Network, A&e, Lifetime, History, Trvl, DIY Network, Science Channel, and The Dodo.

With Hollywood production being sideswiped by the coronavirus pandemic, it was a wild spring for the TV world. And there’s still not much clarity as we swing into the summer season. But the shows must go on — most of them, anyway — so here is our annual list of summer premiere dates for new series and new seasons of returning shows. It covers more than 150 broadcast, cable and streaming series bowing from June 1 through August 31 in various dayparts but does not include specials or movies. Please send any additions or adjustments to [email protected]. We’ll update the post regularly as more dates are revealed.

June 1:

The Titan Games (NBC, Season 2; time slot premiere)

90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way

Below Deck Mediterranean

Hero Elementary

Royalties

June 2:

Fuller House

Maxxx (Hulu,...

CNBC has a new head of primetime programming: Denise Contis, who spent nearly a decade at Discovery.

Contis will have the title of Evp and Head of Content for Primetime. Christian Barcellos held the post on an interim basis and will stay on as Svp of Development & Production for the network’s primetime slate.

Contis will report to CNBC Chairman Mark Hoffman and report to the New York office on Tuesday. Hoffman informed the staff of the change in a memo on Monday. (Read it below.)

CNBC, whose daytime mission is to capture financial market movement as it happens, shifts gears in primetime. It has developed a small portfolio of unscripted shows connected with its overall business focus, both acquired staples like Shark Tank and originals like The Profit and the recently premiered Cash Pad.

Contis brings significant experience handling unscripted franchises. From 2008 to 2017, she held a range of positions at Discovery,...

Denise Contis has been named executive vice president and head of primetime content at CNBC. Formerly Discovery Channel’s senior Evp of development and production, she will report directly to CNBC Chairman Mark Hoffman in her new role.

Contis will be responsible for CNBC’s primetime content, production and development. She starts working out of the CNBC’s New York office on Tuesday, and divide her time between New York and Los Angeles, where she resides.

“Denise has a demonstrated track record of building global brands and franchise hits,” Hoffman said in a memo to staff Monday. “She spent many years at Discovery Communications holding a number of leadership positions from 2008 to 2017. Most recently, Denise served as Senior Executive Vice President of Development & Production for the Us & UK managing the delivery of 500+ hours of original programming annually including such hits as ‘Gold Rush,’ ‘Deadliest Catch,’ ‘Fast N’ Loud,’ ‘Alaskan Bush People,...

The Diesel Brothers are back in action. Today, Discovery Channel announced season three of the TV show will debut in September.The docuseries follows longtime friends Heavy D and Diesel Dave and their crew as they turn ordinary rigs into decked out diesel trucks, give away the hottest rides, pull the funniest pranks and push the limits with crazy stunts.Read More…...

There will be baseball. There will be trash talk. There will be testosterone. And there will be one very tricked-out truck.

Yes, it’s the week after Father’s Day and the Discovery Channel has given a gift to fans of its hit show, Diesel Brothers. On Monday and Thursday nights, the show will air two crossover episodes with the Mlb Network that feature a handful of baseball’s A-listers.

During the two-part special, the show’s stars will band together to trick out Detroit Tigers star Miguel Cabrera’s 2016 Chevy Silverado.

But they won’t go it alone.

To...