Pop Pops at TCA; Also Starz, BBC America, A&E Networks, AMC and Adult Swim – Ed Martin

Pasadena CA How does a quotnewquot network pop at a massive television event The quotnewquot network Pop formerly TVGN showed the others how it39s done the other day at the Winter 2015 Television Critics Association tour Making its impact all the more impressive is the fact that it hasn39t yet formally rebranded yet from TVGN to Pop That happens on January 14The press conference portion of the Pop experience opened with a performance by a large group of young singers who call themselves The Nor39easters They39re from Northeastern University and will be seen in the network39s docuseries that currently has the working title quotSing It Onquot The show will follow six collegiate singing groups gearing up to compete in an acapella championship After a brief welcome from Shenae GrimesBeech whose show quot90210quot will be one of several quotmodern classicsquot featured on Pop and who is one of the hosts of the network39s signature entertainment news series quotPopSugar Nowquot Pop Entertainment President Brad Schwartz did a QampampA something very few basic cable network chiefs actually do FX39s John Landgraf being the most notable exception During his session Schwartz made sure that everyone in the room heard about all of Pop39s programmingA session with Eugene Levy Catherine O39Hara and Chris Elliott followed about their upcoming sitcom quotSchitt39s Creekquot This session reminded those of us who have been TCA members for more than 10 or 20 years that once upon a time most of the people who appeared here were performers with some kind of noteworthy history in the television business rather than twentysomething actors of limited experience and reality quotstarsquot Levy and O39Hara enthralled the room with tales of their days in SCTV while Elliot reminisced about his many years working on David Letterman39s late night shows Levy also talked about his years with John Candy playing the Shmenge Brothers The resultant interest in quotSchitt39s Creekquot was instant and palpableAt the elaborate luncheon that followed there was much enthusiasm from the press for Pop39s reality series quotQueens of Dramaquot about current and former actresses from soap operas attempting to produce their own primetime serial The cast includes Donna Mills currently a recurring player on quotGeneral Hospitalquot Vanessa Marcil formerly of quotGHquot Lindsay Hartley formerly of quotPassionsquot and quotAll My Childrenquot and in the first episode the legendary Joan Collins of quotDynastyquot Pop also previewed quotRock this Boat New Kids on the Blockquot a docuseries about those popular NKOTB ocean cruisesThis was also a good TCA tour for AampampE Networks which generated significant interest in its madeforTV movie quotWhitneyquot about the late Whitney Houston and her tumultuous marriage to Bobby Brown its upcoming dark comedy series quotUnREALquot about the tyrannical producer played by Constance Zimmer of a relationshipdriven reality television series and quotThe Lizzie Borden Chroniclesquot a miniseries that continues the violent drama of last year39s hit TV movie quotLizzie Borden Took an Axequot once again starring Christina Ricci as the fearsome title characterAampampE presented a panel for the upcoming supernatural series quotThe Returnedquot based on the successful French series seen here on Sundance about deceased individuals who mysteriously return to life but are not flesheating zombies Executive producer Carlton Cuse and his firstrate cast including Jeremy Sisto Mark Pellegrino and Mary Elizabeth Winstead put to rest any fears that this remake of a littleseen but critically praised foreign series would turn into another unfortunate quotBroadchurchquotquotGracepointquot situationquotThe Returnedquot will debut on Monday March 9 immediately following the season premiere of quotBates Motelquot which is also produced by Carlton Cuse who is well on his way to becoming the Shonda Rhimes of AampampERounding out AampampE Networks39 portion of the tour was a lavish party for History39s drama series quotVikingsquot which begins its third season next month It was good to see the press pay special attention to the cast of this wellproduced show which remains one of the most underappreciated scripted series on televisionAlso making an impressive impression at this tour was Starz which brought in the cast and producers of three established drama series amp8211 quotOutlanderquot quotPowerquot and quotBlack Sailsquot amp8211 for press conferences and a reception It should go without saying that Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan the sexy stars of quotOutlanderquot were mobbed at the event as were Diana Gabaldon the author of the quotOutlanderquot book series and Ronald D Moore the executive producer of the series and formerly the executive producer of the modern classic quotBattlestar Galacticaquot The charismatic Curtis quot50 Centquot Jackson an executive producer of quotPowerquot who also plays a role on that series also had the press buzzingOn Saturday AMC did a very impressive job of introducing its upcoming quotBreaking Badquot spinoff quotBetter Call Saulquot and bidding farewell to its first great drama series quotMad Menquot If there was a recurring line of questioning in the quotSaulquot session it involved the possibility of characters from quotBadquot making appearances through the series which is a prequel to that instant classic Jonathan Banks will reprise his role from quotBadquot of hitman fixer and allaround sketchy guy Mike Ehrmantraut on quotSaulquot but series creator Vince Gilligan wouldn39t make any promises about Walter White Jesse Pinkman or anyone else As for quotMad Menquot that session deserves a column of its own BBC America presented wellreceived panels for two upcoming series the reality car show quotMud Sweat and Tearsquot and the fantasy quotJonathan Strange ampamp Mr Norrellquot as well as the third season of quotOrphan Backquot which this year will add male clones to its storyline BBC America can always be counted on to go the extra mile at TCA tours this time it produced a lavish lunch that allowed plenty of time for critics to talk with the network39s executives talent and producersA ribald panel for the new Adult Swim series quotThe Jack and Triumph Showquot starring quot30 Rockquot actor Jack McBrayer and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and the human behind him Robert Smigel agitated a number of TCA members when Triumph ripped into popular Hitfix critic Alan Sepinwall making vicious fun of his weight and his ongoing support of quotMad Menquot and later declared that quotTCAquot stood for quotTriple Chin AssociationquotI think quotThe Jack and Triumph Showquot is going to be a big success for Adult SwimEd Martin is the Editor of Planet Ed and MediaBizBloggers and the television and video critic for MyersBizNet Follow him on Twitter at PlanetEdCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates at MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Pop Pops at TCA; Also Starz, BBC America, A&E Networks, AMC and Adult Swim – Ed Martin

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