Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY September 16, 2021.

Where as we enter the 2nd week of the NFL season tonight, I’m very proud to be from New Jersey for a couple reasons - First the GIANTS actually have a good shot at getting a win tonight vs WASHINGTON. I say now.

Second - we had the largest volume of online gambling transactions during NFL opening weekend in the 18 states where it’s now currently legal. 💪👌

ALSO: Hope those folks who observe are having a meaningful Yom Kippur with loved ones out there today. 🕍

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

UNIVERSAL pairs Chris Pratt & Sam Richardson for action comedy

Called “Strandard Asset”, Pratt is producing, Sam is co-writing and… zero other details. Well alrighty then.

The two co-starred in AMAZON’s “The Tomorrow War” this Summer. /THR

WARNER BROS rebooting “The Bodyguard”

They hired playwright Matthew López to write it - he did the Tony-nominated “The Inheritance”. Lawrence Kasdan who wrote the original is among the producers, Costner not listed as involved here. /Variety

ALSO IN MOVIES

• DISNEY+ sets Bryce Dallas Howard to direct reboot of 80’s movie “Flight of the Navigator”, this time starring a pre-teen girl. Bryce directed a couple episodes of “The Mandalorian” as well as the APPLE TV+ docu “Dads”. /THR

📺 THE TV SET

CBS sorta-cancels their “how did this idea get that far along??” reality show “The Activist”

The show that even Jack Donaghy thought was “a bit much”, was to pit 6 activists against each other to see who can draw more social media attention to causes, judged by Julianne Hough, Usher and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. 🤦

The 5 episode project was gonna premiere on Oct 22, but now is being, well completely re-shot as a “docu-series” project with the same activist participants. But in CBS’s limited defense, they didn’t actually produce the reality show themselves - they only made an agreement to air it with it’s producers who made it in the first place, GLOBAL CITIZEN and LIVE NATION. Hey I said limited defense. /Variety

Anthony Mackie starring in TV show adaptation of video game “Twisted Metal”

Mackie playing a “smart-ass milkman” 🥛with no memory of his past 🤔, who’s given a chance at a better life 💰 if he can deliver a package 🎁 across a post-apocalyptic wasteland 🏴‍☠️ filled with vehicular menace 🤬. Cool.

SONY TV producing (as is “PlayStation Productions”), the “Deadpool” writers had the idea… but a “Cobra Kai” writer's gonna do the actual writing. No streaming / network home yet. /Deadline

NETFLIX sets Emily Deschanel to star in limited thriller series “Devil in Ohio”

Based on a book, 8 episodes, inspired by a true story - hospital psychiatrist takes in a mysterious cult escapee… which turns out not to be so great for her family in Ohio. Now shooting in Canada. 🇨🇦 /THR

ALSO IN TV

• TBS / HBOMAX sets Helen Mirren to host their “Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses” 4-night quiz show event will air later this year (I think around Thanksgiving weekend?). ABC animal clip shows… IFC Docu parody series… “Fast & Furious” movies… now game shows - nobody puts Mirren in a corner. /Variety

• Wendy Williams gets breakthru case of Covid - show return delayed 2 weeks to Oct 4 with a full audience. /Variety

• VIACOM launching BET STUDIOS to produce content across all VIACOM brands, and outside networks/streamers as well. Kenya Barris & Rashida Jones among the partners, and they will give equity ownership to Black creators… although didn’t really define what that means pragmatically in the trade announcements. /Deadline

• THR has a good Jon Stewart cover story by Lacey Rose if you’re up for a read on his new show that launches in 2 weeks.

  • PLUS here’s how their blind open-submission process to build the writing staff went.

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

NAB (Nat’l Assoc of Broadcasters) cancels big annual Vegas conference in October

Big confab of local TV affiliate owners and TV tech folks, will hold a show in April instead. Oh right - it’s because of covid. Guess I technically should write that huh?

NAB 2019 had 91,000 attendees. /Variety

Lebron James’s SPRINGHILL ENTERTAINMENT Close to a minority investment from private equity firm REDBIRD CAPITAL

REDBIRD is also an investor with The Rock in the XFL, and in David Ellison’s SKYDANCE production outfit. Still in the deal-making phase however.

But this apparently quashes earlier rumors of an investment by the Tom Staggs-Kevin Mayer SPAC that bought Reese Witherspoon’s company and is in talks for Will & Jada’s WESTBROOK ENT. /Sportico

ALSO IN MEDIA

• RECODE did a podcast with Head of INSTA Adam Mosseri about the WSJ exposé on FB execs knowing just how toxic their product is to teens… as they continue to also push developing an INSTA for kids. Adam likens INSTA to cars - sure they kill a few people… but they do a lot of good. And ya know, pollute the Earth. Link to the Interview on Apple Pods is here. Or on the universally playable Spotify here.

• CLUBHOUSE hires NPR Arts senior editor Nina Gregory as their head of News & Media Publisher relationships for the platform. /CNN

• WASSERMAN MUSIC Agency (formerly PARADIGM’s music division) promotes 5 to agent, and hires 2 new tour managers. /Variety

• QUIBI and interactive media company EKO settle tech lawsuit that EKO issues before QUIBI even launched, saying they invented the “Turnstyle” video tech that QUIBI prided themselves on. The IP & Tech is being given to EKO since… well ya know. /THR

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

Quiet day, but that COMCAST share slide this week was due to their CFO saying their run of Broadband subscriber growth may be starting to slow starting in Q3, due to increased penetration in their territories and the end of the covid/WFH boom.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

FX ON HULU “The Premise” - Half-hour comedy anthology about people figuring out answers to moral questions, created by BJ Novak. First 2 eps up today. Click Here to Watch or Add to Your List

PEACOCK “The Lost Symbol” - Dan Brown based mystery series. Click Here to Watch or Add to Your List

TRU TV “Tacoma FD” Season 3 premiere at 10p.

And NBC says farewell to “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” - the last 2 episodes of the show air tonight at 8p.

• Although I think in NYC we’re getting the GIANTS / WASHINGTON football game on NBC, so HULU it is.

• Cast will also be on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” tonight.

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🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

DISNEYFOX “West Side Story” trailer. Stunning cinematography… even for a Speilberg movie. Felt bad just watching this on my laptop - In theaters Fri Dec 10.

HULU “Dopesick” limited series trailer. Ensemble with Michael Keaton, Kaitlyn Dever, Peter Sarsgaard, and Rosario Dawson among others, looking at the oxycontin epidemic and PURDUE PHARMA scandal. Premieres Wed Oct 13.

AMAZON PRIME “I Know What You Did Last Summer” new series trailer. Fun fact - the CD for this movie’s soundtrack is still in my mom’s basement #CaseLogic4Life. Oh right the show - seems kinda “Euphoria” meets “13 Reasons Why” meets “Gossip Girl". If they had killed Gossip Girl. Premieres Fri Oct 15.

SETH MEYERS on Norm Macdonald - Ok yes not a trailer, but this was shared a bit around this week, and some fun stories from Seth.

And this classic from CONAN in 1997 is great for so many reasons, least of which is “…ladies and gentlemen Collective Soul is up next” at the end. Here’s to the return of the talk show panel at some point 🍻

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

SAM HUNT “23” - To me this sounds like an outtake from John Mayer’s latest ode to 80’s adult contemporary “Sob Rock”… or a poor man’s version of Morgan Wallen’s “7 Summers” - but folks do love the Sam Hunt - if you’re one of em, have at it!

Listen to the song on Spotify or:

If you need new tunes:

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

Email me anytime - just reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.

-Sean McNulty

@theseanmac on TWITTER

@TheWakeupNews on INSTAGRAM

or I’m also here on CLUBHOUSE