ABC Announces Fall Series Premiere Dates; Freeform Benches “Unrelated”

Note: We will not be publishing the remainder of the week.
See you back on Monday, July 8.

-Did You Know?:
Andrea Barber (aka Kimmy Gibbler) from “Full House” and “Fuller House,“appeared for four seasons as the original Carrie Brady on NBC daytime drama“Days of Our Lives” from 1982 to 1986.

Household Rating/Share
NBC: 4.0/ 8, CBS: 2.8/ 5, ABC and Fox: 1.4/ 3 each, CW: 0.4/ 1

-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Week:
CW: +100, NBC: +18, Fox: +17, ABC: – 7, CBS: -15

Ratings Breakdown:
Despite airing a “Best Of Auditions” edition (translation: repeat), “America’s Got Talent” on NBC was still well above anything else with a 4.7 rating/8 share in the household overnights from 8-10 p.m. Comparably, the 8-9 p.m. portion bested competing “Big Brother” on CBS (#2: 3.1/ 6) by a hefty 52 percent. But “Big Brother” remains close to its summer 2018 overnight levels.

For the remainder of the analysis for Tuesday, July 2, click here

Weekly Ratings Scorecard
What follows is the Live+Same Day data for the week of June 24 for the five broadcast networks. Change versus the year-ago evening appears in parentheses:

-Total Viewers:
NBC: 4.92 million (+16), CBS: 3.63 (-16), ABC: 3.26 (+ 3), Fox: 1.86 (-14), CW: 680,000 -18)

-Adults 18-49: 
NBC: 0.9 rating.5 share (+12), ABC: 0.6/ 3 (no change), CBS: 0.5/ 3 -29), Fox: 0.4/ 2 (-33), CW: 0.2/ 1 (no change)

-Adults 25-54:
NBC: 1.2/ 5 (+ 9), ABC: 0.8/ 4 (-11), CBS: 0.7/ 3 (-22), Fox: 0.6/ 3 (-25), CW: 0.2/ 1 (-33)

-Adults 18-34:
NBC: 0.6/ 4 (+50), ABC: 0.4/ 3 (no change). CBS and Fox: 0.3/ 2 (-25 each), CW: 0.1/ 1 (no change)

2018-19 Live+7 Season Rankings – The Complete Scorecard – Click here

Source: Nielsen Media Research

Think Blind Dates Couldn’t Get Any Worse?
From The Economist 1843
I am trying to decide if the two strangers I am watching on a blind date are into each other. There is no denying they look good together. Nick, who works in a sewage treatment plant, is tall and charming with broad shoulders and a thick “New Joi-see” accent. Bri is slim and blonde with a dry wit, a southern drawl and a job in sales for a large tech company. He seems interested; she is harder to read. Their audience is deeply invested in the fate of their relationship, exhibiting a prurient curiosity that reality-television executives have exploited for the last 30 years. But this date is not being captured on camera. Nick and Bri are live on stage, just a few feet away from their audience, in the basement of a swanky New York hotel.

Since the advent of reality TV, dating shows have let viewers indulge their curiosity about other people’s love lives by giving them a front-row seat to the action. Such shows have proved enormously popular. “The Bachelor”, in which single women vie for the affections of a chiseled Adonis, was the second-most-watched program in America this year. In 2018 the finale of the fourth season of “Love Island”, a British show which locks ten gym-honed fitties in a Spanish villa for eight weeks, drip-feeding them romantic rivals every few days, was the second most-watched hour of television on ITV, one of Britain’s prime television channels – only the World Cup was more popular. But many viewers have grown wise to the way that producers script, structure and edit these shows. They argue that there is nothing “real” about reality TV.

That’s where Nick and Bri come in. That night, they were the stars of“UpDating”, a new kind of dating show, that dispenses altogether with scripting, structuring and editing. The idea came to Brandon Berman, a goofy would-be standup comedian, one day in 2017, when he came across Harrison Forman’s Instagram account. Forman had taken to posting Instagram Stories before, during and after dates he ventured on (having, he is quick to assure me, procured the consent of the girl in question). The mid-date dispatch, or “half-time report” as he calls it, was particularly popular: he would solicit opinions from his followers on whether his navy jumper suited him, and fret about faltering small-talk. It struck Berman that people might pay to watch two singletons going on a date, and delivering their own half-time reports, live on stage. The pair launched the show late last year. It has been a resounding success. “UpDating” routinely sells out (tickets are $15), with Time Out describing it as one of the best things to do in New York. For more, click here

For more on “UpDating,” click here

Freeform Pulls the Plug on Comedy “Unrelated”
Freeform has reversed its decision on the straight-to-series order it gave to multi-camera comedy “Unrelated,” which was fully cast and heading into production. The series, from “black-ish” creator Kenya Barris Ranada Shepard and ABC Signature will now go into redevelopment at the cable network.

The series, formerly known as “Besties,” already went through changes behind the scenes. Original showrunners Casey Johnson and David Windsor, who created the series with Barris, were replaced by “The Carmichael Show” producer Aeysha Carr.

“Unrelated” revolved around Jesi (Gigi Zumbado) and Becca (“American Idol’s” Jordin Sparks), who go from strangers to sisters when they find out through a genetic testing company that they share the same birth mother. It was described as a contemporary ensemble comedy about identity and self-discovery. Matt Shively, Kris D. Lofton, Zumbado, Jessika Van and Davi Santos also starred.

ABC Announces Fall Series Premiere Dates
Veteran “Dancing With the Stars” will kick-off the 2019-20 TV season for ABC on Monday, September 16. The following Monday, September 23, which is the official start of the new season, will be the third season premiere of medical drama “The Good Doctor” (out of “Dancing With the Stars”) at 10 p.m. ET.

Mirroring CBS, NBC and Fox, the majority of the alphabet net’s new and returning programming will launched in that third week of September, with the schedule available by clicking here

The 10 Most Memorable Moments (So Far) On CBS Summer Staple ‘”Big Brother” – Click here

Play the ‘Big Brother 21’ Stock Watch Game – Click here

PI Podcast with Douglas Pucci
The discussion this week is on season three of “Stranger Things,” “Dead to Me,” “What/If,”  documentary series “When They See Us” on Netflix; and season three of “The Handmaid’s Tale” on Hulu…. To listen, click here

Investigation Discovery (ID) will debut six-part series “Impact Of Murder” on Sunday, July 14 at 10 p.m. The logline: Through a victim’s own words, viewers understand the horror they endured or the significance of the life that was taken, providing an acute understanding of the collateral damage of murder. Impact statements act as a source of strength for those who may feeling helpless after a senseless tragedy, showcasing the empowerment that they feel when they stand up in court to address the perpetrator.

“This Is Football,“ which explores the emotions, stories, passions and triumphs at the heart of the sport, will launch on Friday, August 2 on Amazon Prime Video. The logline: Each story unfolds dramatically through the experience of men and women of different races, cultures and creeds, all of them remarkable, all of them united in their passion for football and chosen from every continent on Earth.

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Discovery and Science Channel will honor the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing with the following three specials:

“Apollo: The Forgotten Films”
This is the complete story of this most audacious of missions, with footage from a number of different resources including NASA Research Centers, The National Archives, and news reports of the time.
Premieres Saturday, July 20 at 8pm ET/PT on Discovery

“Confessions From Space: Apollo”
Six of the heroes of the Apollo Missions — Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11), Mike Collins (Apollo 11), Charlie Duke (Apollo 16) — and more, come together to share insights, experiences, and stories of the greatest adventure mankind has ever undertaken.
Premieres Saturday, July 20 at 10pm ET on Discovery

“NASA’s Giant Leaps: Past and Future – Celebrating Apollo 50th As We Go Forward to the Moon”
Adam Savage hosts this live broadcast from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, home of a three-day outdoor festival celebrating the moon landing.
Airs live on Friday, July 19 from 1-3 p.m. ET on Science Channel

2019 NBA Summer League TV and Announcer Schedule on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and NBA TV – Click here

2019 Wimbledon Tennis TV Schedule on ESPN Networks – Click here

2019 Men’s College World Series of NCAA Division I Baseball Schedule on ESPN and ESPN2 – Click here

2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Soccer TV and Announcer Schedule – Clickhere

2019 NFL Regular Season Weekly TV Schedule on Fox, CBS, NBC, ESPN, and NFL Network – Click here

Four of the following five TV characters gave birth to triplets. Which one did not?

a) Phoebe Buffay
b) Katie Douglas
c) Leslie Knope
d) Joan Nash
e) Rebecca Pearson
f) they all did

The answer to yesterday’s question…

In the first episode of sitcom “The Honeymooners” (titled “TV or Not TV”), Alice (Audrey Meadows) wanted Ralph (Jackie Gleason) to buy a TV set. What entertainer did she specifically say she wanted to watch?

a) Lucille Ball
b) Milton Berle
c) Bing Crosby
d) Liberace
e) Lawrence Welk

…is: d) Liberace. Said Alice: “I’m left here to look at that icebox, that stove, that sink and these four walls. Well, I don’t want to look at that icebox, that stove, that sink and these four walls! I WANNA LOOK AT LIBERACE!”

For a look, click here