Streaming News: Youtube Premium To Announce Slate May 2nd ; AppleTV Announced ; Funimation X bilibili ; StarTimes ; Viacom/DirecTV
Yes, Apple+ happened, but there’s a bunch of other news that digital had over the course of the last couple of days that are pretty important as well.
All this talk about Apple may have had Google change course on a rumored decision to not bother in producing original series. Welp, rumor has it that Google will be announcing additional details about its programming slate at the Digital Content NewFronts on May 2nd. We’re looking for any update on their Dumb People Town pilot pickup from last year, and if Dallas & Robo is coming back for any additional seasons. We’ll let you know if they do.
Apple has officially unveiled its brand-new AppleTV+ service that will eventually be the home spot for the upcoming adult animated series, Central Park. Pricing and availability for the Apple TV+ video subscription service will be announced later this fall, but the all-new Apple TV app is coming to iPhone, iPad and Apple TV customers in over 100 countries with a free software update this May, and to Mac this fall. The Apple TV app will be available on Samsung smart TVs beginning this spring and on Amazon Fire TV, LG, Roku, Sony and VIZIO platforms in the future. Later this year, customers with eligible VIZIO, Samsung, LG, and Sony smart TVs will be able to effortlessly play videos and other content from their iPhone or iPad directly to their smart TVs with AirPlay 2 support.
A year ago, it was announced that Apple had given the production a two-season straight-to-series order consisting of twenty-six episodes total. The series was created by Loren Bouchard, who co-wrote it Nora Smith and Josh Gad. Executive producers for the series include Bouchard and Gad with Kevin Larsen serving as producer. Production companies involved with the production include 20th Century Fox Television.Central Park was developed at 20th Century Fox Television and originally eyed for FOX, which had been looking to develop more animated series. After Fox ultimately passed on Central Park, 20th Century Fox Television began shopping the project which sparked a heated bidding war among Apple, Netflix, and Hulu.
Funimation has announced a new deal with China’s bilibili that will see Funimation licensed anime show up in China, and Chinese-produced animation in the United States. Quitely, this has become one of the better deals of the year so far for Funimation, yes, even better than the one they did with Hulu. Funimation prides itself on dubbing Japanese animated to English for distribution in the United States, it’d be crazy to think that the same couldn’t apply to Chinese animation.
Viacom and DirecTV have announced a renewal of their carriage deal which will see networks stay on multiple AT&T platforms which includes DirecTV, and we’re assuming, a return to DirecTV Now, AT&T’s streaming TV service. This renewal goes for channels like MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and a slew of other networks now all made available on DirecTV:
“We are pleased to announce a renewed Viacom-AT&T contract that includes continued carriage of Viacom services across multiple AT&T platforms and products,” the companies said in a joint statement sent to USA TODAY. “The deal also brings AT&T customers more choice and improved value for Viacom content. We expect to announce additional details in the near future.”
Kenya’s StarTimes online streaming service is getting ready to land a slew of FOX animated series including classics like Family Guy, American Dad, as of last Friday (March 22nd) and in the coming months Bob’s Burgers and Son of Zorn.
Entering its 16th season, FAMILY GUY continues to entertain its die-hard fan base with razor-sharp humor, spot-on parodies, spectacular animation and orchestra-backed original music. Since its debut in 1999, the series has reached cult status among fans, and its breakout star, a talking baby, has become one of the greatest TV characters of all time. FAMILY GUY has racked up numerous awards, including an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series, only the second animated series in television history to be honored with such a distinction. Cast member Alex Borstein (voice of “Lois Griffin”) recently won the 2018 Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance. Series’ creator and lead voice actor Seth MacFarlane (voice of “Brian Griffin,” “Peter Griffin” and “Stewie Griffin”) also was nominated in the category. He won the 2017 and 2016 Emmy Award in the category, and was nominated from 2013 to 2015.
Guest voices this season include Sir Patrick Stewart, Mandy Moore, Sarah Paulson, Bryan Cranston, Niecy Nash, Kyrie Irving, Johnny Weir, Tara Lipinski and Sam Elliot. The series will also celebrate its 20thanniversary in January 2019.
FAMILY GUY is a 20th Century Fox Television production. Seth MacFarlane is creator and executive producer. Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin serve as executive producers and showrunners, while Steve Callaghan, Danny Smith and Kara Vallow are executive producers.
BOB’S BURGERS, a 2018 Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Animated Program, returns for a hearty ninth season on FOX. The series follows BOB (H. Jon Benjamin) and his ever-quirky family who together run the restaurant Bob’s Burgers.
In addition to its 2018 Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Animated Program, the series has been nominated in the same category in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, having won the award twice, its first Emmy Award in 2014 and in 2017. It was also Emmy-nominated in the category of Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance (John Roberts) in 2015. Also in 2017, BOB’S BURGERS was nominated for a 2017 Critics’ Choice Award for Best Animation Series, and won two Annie Awards, one for Best General Audience Animated Television/Broadcast Production and the other for Outstanding Achievement for Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production.
BOB’S BURGERS is a 20th Century Fox Television and Bento Box Entertainment production. The series was created by Loren Bouchard. Bouchard and Jim Dauterive serve as executive producers and writers.
American Dad! centers on super patriotic CIA agent Stan Smith (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) and the misadventures of his unconventional family in Langley Falls, VA. Stan applies the same drastic measures used in his job at the CIA to his home life, where Stan’s blissfully unaware wife, Francine (Wendy Schaal), has an unfaltering loyalty that makes her blind to his unabashed arrogance. His left-wing activist daughter Hayley (Rachael MacFarlane), however, doesn’t let him off so easily – and knows just how to push her father’s buttons. Hayley’s brother is the geeky-yet-confident Steve (Scott Grimes), a kid who spends his time playing video games and obsessing about the opposite sex.
The Smith cabinet is rounded out by two rather unconventional members: Roger (MacFarlane), a sassy, sarcastic and routinely inappropriate space alien, and Klaus (Dee Bradley Baker), an attention-starved goldfish with the brain of a German Olympic skier.
The irreverent, satirical, award-winning animated comedy is created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, executive-produced by co-showrunner Brian Boyle along with creators MacFarlane and Weitzman.
The series premiered on the FOX broadcasting network in 2005 before moving to TBS in 2014. The top 10 cable comedy continues to be a key performer for the network, with the first half of the season reaching 12 million viewers across linear, VOD and TBD digital platforms.
From executive producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The LEGO Movie, 21 Jump Street), and featuring the voice of Jason Sudeikis (The Last Man on Earth, Horrible Bosses¸ We’re the Millers), Son of Zorn was a hybrid live-action/animated comedy about a warrior from a faraway island in the Pacific Ocean – where everything and everyone is animated – who returns to Orange County, CA, to win back his live-action ex-wife and teenage son.
Zorn (Sudeikis), the Defender of Zephyria, Conqueror of the tribes of Agon, decapitator of the dark herdsmen of Grith, has fought in countless epic battles throughout his life, but he may find the greatest challenge of all when he travels back to suburbia to reconnect with his family.
Once there, Zorn finds himself estranged from his son, Alangulon, or just “Alan” (Johnny Pemberton, “21 Jump Street”), a 17-year-old with a mellow, P.C. attitude; and Alan’s mother, Zorn’s ex-wife, Edie (Cheryl Hines, Curb Your Enthusiasm), a former wild child now living the life of an upper middle-class mom. Zorn’s efforts to win them back are complicated by the fact that Edie is now engaged to Craig (Tim Meadows, Saturday Night Live), an online psychology professor and a stable presence in their lives. Nevertheless, to be a good dad, Zorn commits to remaining in Orange County for the long haul, renting an apartment and even working in the exciting field of industrial soap sales under his boss, Linda (Artemis Pebdani, Scandal, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), who appreciates his passion, but just wants him to rein it in at the office.
As he adjusts to life in the suburbs, Zorn is the classic fish out of water, navigating his way through fatherhood, divorce and a boring office job. Sure, as an overlord of pain, he defeated glombeasts, wolf-bats and bloodthirsty arachnobots, but now he’ll go toe-to-toe with a new set of enemies: meter maids, dress codes and the DMV.
In addition to the show’s main case, Mark Proksch, Tony Revolori, and Clara Mamet are featured in recurring roles as Todd McDonald, Scott Schmidt, and Layla Green, respectively. The voice of Rob Riggle is used for Headbutt Man, while Nick Offerman is used for the voice of Dr. Klorpnis.
Son of Zorn was a production of 20th Century Fox Television. Reed Agnew and Eli Jorné (“Wilfred”) co-created and co-wrote the pilot. Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Seth Cohen (The Last Man on Earth) executive-produced, alongside Agnew and Jorné. Sally Bradford McKenna (The Grinder, The Goldbergs) executive-produced and served as showrunner. Eric Appel (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) executive-produced and served as director.
"There are also other characters that come and go (also owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery conglomerate media company)."
Huh. Is that just referring to other characters from the show itself, or is this implying that the new season is going to have cameos from other WBD IPs