Turner encompasses a host of networks ranging from Adult Swim to Turner Sports.
For 2016-17, these networks will be bringing it with new shows from crime series Animal Kingdom, Will (William Shakespeare’s misspent youth), Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace and Dream Corp, LLC to The History of Comedy and The Detour.
Follow the jump to learn what Turner networks have in store for 2016-17.
Turner Comes to 2016-17 Upfront with a Powerful Brand Portfolio & Bold Moves,
Delivering More Content, More Solutions and More Results
Turner’s Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, CNN, HLN, TBS, TNT, truTV, Turner Sports, Bleacher Report, Great Big Story and More Take Center Stage in Star-Studded Event Packed with Announcements about New Programming, Platform Expansion
And a Portfolio-Wide Focus on Creating a Better Viewing Experience
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is basic cable’s #1 home with millennials for over a decade and an ongoing leader in the digital space. Known for its unique approach to content development and having a voice that resonates with its audience, Adult Swim unveiled two robust and diverse slates of original programming last week, one for its top-rated cable network and the other for its ever popular digital domain AdultSwim.com. Building on that story, this morning the network announced that it has ordered a comedy series pilot from Childrens Hospital creator and star Rob Corddry.
Adult Swim’s returning original hits Rick and Morty, The Venture Bros. and The Eric Andre Show will be joined by a number of new original series and specials, including Robot Chicken: The Walking Dead Special; live-action series Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace and Dream Corp, LLC from John Krasinski; a new comedy special from Brett Gelman; and the much anticipated return of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Samurai Jack. Adult Swim also continues its successful collaboration with creator Dan Harmon (Rick and Morty) on a new pilot project, Art Prison.
Extending viewing hours beyond their linear programming, Adult Swim continues to follow its fans across multiple platforms by introducing new original programming for streaming all day long through AdultSwim.com. An entirely new slate of original content created by members of the Adult Swim staff now includes such weekday shows as Stupid Morning Bullshit, Williams Street Swap Shop, Call of Karaoke and Development Meeting. These shows join popular anime fan show Toonami: Pre-Flight and everyone’s favorite afternoon addiction, FishCenter, on AdultSwim.com, which to date has 2 million registered users to interact daily with the show hosts through their live chat feature.
Boomerang
Following a successful global launch in 2015, where Boomerang aligned across 13 international feeds, the 24-hour animation network for kids and families grew year-over-year by +30% among kids 2-11 and +25% among kids 6-11. The network’s first-ever original hits include Wabbit and What’s New Scooby-Doo, along with timeless cartoons from the Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera, MGM and Cartoon Network libraries.
In 2016, Boomerang will keep its tradition of showcasing classic animation for fans of all generations with the launch of new exclusive acquisitions and original productions. The network recently announced the new series Peanuts, where the print comic strips come to life using watercolor art style, textured backgrounds and framing in vignettes filled with humor and heart.
Cartoon Network
Continuing its 2015 momentum as basic cable’s #1 network with kids 6-11, Cartoon Network started off 2016 with cultural buzz around the highly anticipated global launch of The Powerpuff Girls, which became a #1 Facebook and Twitter trending topic when over 15 million fans participated in the #PowerpuffYourself avatar. Since its launch, The Powerpuff Girls has remained #1 in its timeslot. The return of hit series Teen Titans Go!, We Bare Bears, Steven Universe and The Amazing World of Gumball contributed to Cartoon Network becoming the #1 cable network in VOD for 23 consecutive months.
Cartoon Network’s innovative approach to content development through convergence of creativity and technology came to life at its first-ever Game Jam for the new game OK KO! Lakewood Plaza, with over 200 independent game developers coming together in Portland, Oregon. Further, underscoring a strong commitment to engage children in creative coding, Cartoon Network’s STEM platform involves newly announced collaborations with Scratch, a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab; and the White House’s Computer Science for All initiative to empower young people to generate skills in the digital world, featured Cartoon Network characters from shows including Powerpuff Girls and We Bare Bears.
Looking forward, multiple high profile digital launches include the first mobile game from the network’s top-rated series Teen Titans Go!: Teeny Titans, with other games around fan favorite properties to be announced later in the summer. In addition, exciting new specials will air later this fall from the hit series Adventure Time and Regular Show.
CNN
CNN is enjoying a remarkable string of success this year that extends beyond the network’s outstanding political coverage to include its expanding slate of original series. As a result, CNN is not only registering the largest and only triple-digit growth in cable news among key adults and total viewers, it’s also the fastest growing Top 75 network in basic cable. And CNN.com continues to reign as the #1 news source in multiplatform views across desktop and mobile.
To build on that momentum, today CNN announced three new original series joining its 2017 slate:
Soundtracks: Songs That Made History (working title) is an eight-part series executive-produced by Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia and Brian Gewirtz that will explore the music tied to iconic moments in history. Every episode will cover a tragedy, triumph, or the start of a movement – and the music that came to define it. From the March on Washington to the riots at Stonewall, the moon landing to Hurricane Katrina – music has played an integral part in celebrating, criticizing, and amplifying these seismic events in our collective history. Soundtracks is produced by Show of Force and Seven Bucks Productions.
The History of Comedy is an eight-part series executive produced by Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner (Hazy Mills) and Emmy® winners Mark Herzog and Christopher G. Cowen (Herzog & Company). The show will explore what makes people laugh – from the Ancient Greeks, to Shakespeare, Vaudeville, to the biggest contemporary comedians, movies and TV shows. It will dig deep into topics like political humor and slapstick, featuring the voices that have made us laugh over the generations. Using archival footage, original comedic material, interviews with comedy legends and luminaries, the series will showcase how the art form has evolved over the years.
The Nineties follows in the footsteps of previous CNN decade series The Sixties, The Seventies and The Eighties. Executive produced by Emmy®-winning producers Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman in association with HBO and Emmy-winning producer Mark Herzog, the eight-part series will highlight cultural and political milestones, from the birth of the internet to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment that defined the decade.
CNN’s three new shows will join the previously announced spiritual adventure series Believer with Reza Aslan, also launching next year.
In addition, CNN’s 2017 slate will feature new seasons of other CNN Original Series, including the Peabody Award and Emmy®-winning Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (S9 and S10), This is Life With Lisa Ling (S4), The Hunt with John Walsh (S4), Death Row Stories (S3), The Wonder List with Bill Weir (S3) and Finding Jesus (S2). The current CNN Original Series lineup also includes United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell, Morgan Spurlock Inside Man, The Eighties and Declassified: Untold Stories of American Spies.
HLN
HLN returned to its news origins in 2016 under the new helm of Ken Jautz, executive vice president of CNN/U.S. The network currently features live coverage of national, regional, lifestyle, and entertainment stories in a fast-paced approachable tone with expert-led, personality driven hosts. Once again resonating with viewers, HLN kicks off every morning with the popular Morning Express franchise, followed by additional live news hours and hit CNN Original Series during the weekday capping off with iconic talker Nancy Grace in prime.
In 2016, HLN is showing growth in weekday primetime and total day among both total viewers and the key adults 25-54 demo.
In a changing television landscape, Morning Express host Robin Meade remains the longest-running female host on a national morning news program. As she celebrates her 15th year in this role, her show, Morning Express with Robin Meade, continues to be a ratings juggernaut for the network. The popular morning show is up double-digits year-to-date in both total viewers and adults 25-54.
On weekend mornings, Weekend Express with Lynn Smith is also delivering year-over-year increases in the double digits.
Joining the HLN line-up this summer will be a new three-hour daily program hosted by seasoned journalist Michaela Pereira. After three successful years as co-host of CNN’s New Day, Pereira brings her news acumen, effervescent personality and POV to HLN. Setting itself apart from the competition, Pereira’s new show will be the only national morning news program broadcast from Los Angeles. Telecast live from CNN’s LA bureau from 10 a.m.–1 p.m. (ET), the show will have a bit of a “West Coast vibe,” with lots of issue-driven conversation, lively guests and some lighter news.
TBS
Energized with a new brand voice and a slate of unapologetic, quality, young-appeal original comedy series, TBS has launched three consecutive hits this year: Angie Tribeca in January, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee in February and cable’s #1 new comedy of 2016, The Detour, in March. Collectively, the three shows have attracted more than 27 million viewers who are new to TBS. They’ve also generated an enormous amount of buzz across the social media, including nearly 100 million Facebook and Twitter impressions for Angie Tribeca and nearly 36 million YouTube video views for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.
In addition to new series, TBS’s CONAN is enjoying a fresh spark thanks to host Conan O’Brien‘s excursions to such locations as Cuba, Armenia, Qatar and South Korea, not to mention the show’s enormously popular “Clueless Gamer” segments.
TBS will keep its momentum going this summer and beyond with a second season of Angie Tribeca launching on Monday, June 6 and the new scripted comedy Wrecked on Tuesday, June 14. Later this year, TBS will launch its new mystery comedy Search Party, with Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development), and the alien-abduction comedy People of Earth, starring Wyatt Cenac (The Daily Show).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvJurVbrhN8&feature=youtu.be
TBS will also be the television home of Turner Sports’ new ELEAGUE. The first season will make its network debut Friday, May 27, at 10 p.m. (ET) with the world’s elite Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams facing off in a spectacular eSports competition.
TNT
TNT, basic cable’s #1 network in primetime for the quarter-to-date, will build on its success by introducing bold, exciting and cinematic originals that will lure discerning viewers. It all starts with the June 14 premiere of Animal Kingdom, an unflinching family crime drama starring Ellen Barkin, Scott Speedman and Shawn Hatosy and executive-produced by John Wells and Jonathan Lisco. It will be followed in the fall by the premiere of Good Behavior, with Downton Abbey‘s Michelle Dockery in a no-holds-barred performance as a complicated woman trying to regain her life.
As part of the Turner portfolio’s initiative to transform the viewing experience, TNT plans to present Animal Kingdom and Good Behavior with reduced commercial inventory compared to typical television dramas, which will add an extra 10 minutes of story to each episode.
Video: Animal Kingdom & Good Behavior
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0AgmOXhnKg
TNT will continue to add to its slate of premium dramas in 2017 with three new series, including Will, a period drama told in contemporary style that the network greenlit this morning. Newcomer Laurie Davidson stars in the series, which follows the exploits of a young Will Shakespeare. Also starring are Olivia DeJonge (The Visit, Hiding), Colm Meaney (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Hell on Wheels), Mattias Inwood (The Shanara Chronicles), Jamie Campbell Bower (Sweeney Todd, The Twilight Saga) and Ewen Bremner (Transporting, Snowpiercer). Will comes to TNT from executive producers Craig Pearce (The Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet), Golden Globe® nominee Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth), Alison Owen (Elizabeth) and Debra Hayward (Love Actually). Vince Gerardis (Jumper), Howard Braunstein (The Informant!, The Client List) and Louise Rosager also serve as executive producers on the series.
Video: TNT’s Will Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIbGTP4iaC0
In addition to Will, next year’s TNT slate will also include The Alienist, based on Caleb Carr’s New York Times bestseller about a serial killer in New York during the Gilded Age, and Tales from the Crypt, a new horror block from executive producer M. Night Shyamalan being built around a revival of the Tales from the Crypt anthology series, complete with a reinvented Crypt Keeper.
On the development front, TNT announced this morning that it has ordered a pilot for the gripping political and social drama Civil, to be directed by seven-time Emmy® nominee Allen Coulter (Damages, Nurse Jackie, Ray Donovan) and written by Oscar® nominee Scott Smith (A Simple Plan). The story takes place in the wake of a hotly contested Presidential election, as America finds itself plunging into a modern day Civil War.
TNT also announced that it has cast Niecy Nash (Reno 911, Scream Queens, The Mindy Project) in Claws, a wickedly funny dramedy pilot set in a Florida nail salon and executive-produced by Rashida Jones, star of TBS’s Angie Tribeca, and Will McCormack (A to Z).
truTV
One of Turner’s youngest, most socially-engaged networks, truTV comes to Upfront with a robust slate that builds on its roster of original programming from some of the industry’s freshest new comedic talent. Since its October 2014 rebrand, truTV has emerged as a network with a passionate fan base of viewers that are richer, smarter and younger, with a median age of only 37.
To build on its success, truTV announced last week that it has given the greenlight to three new series: Jon Glaser Loves Gear, Greatest Ever and Lifescaping (working title). truTV has also given the go-ahead to two new specials: The Problem with Apu (working title), a feature-length documentary from comedian Hari Kondabolu, and an-all new Impractical Jokers live special that will follow on the heels of last year’s juggernaut live punishment event.
On the development front, truTV has ordered a total of six new pilots, including scripted offerings Melissa Hunter, and Andrea Savage and unscripted projects from Hari Kondabolu, Kevin Pereira and Olivia Lee. truTV is also developing a comedic news show created by Jena Friedman.
On the renewals side, truTV has ordered new seasons of Fameless, Hack My Life and its first-ever scripted comedy, Those Who Can’t. Additional episodes have also been ordered for two first-season series – Comedy Knockout and Rachel Dratch’s Late Night Snack – while new seasons are on deck for the hits Adam Ruins Everything, Billy on the Street, Impractical Jokers and The Carbonaro Effect.
Turner Sports
Turner Sports, which is in the midst of the 2016 NBA Western Conference Finals, has a powerful portfolio of premium live sports content. The deep collection of marquee programming includes the NBA regular season, NBA All-Star and more NBA Playoff games than any network; MLB regular season and postseason telecasts; and exclusive coverage of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship (with CBS).
Next week, on Tuesday, May 24, Turner will officially begin its next major venture with the launch of ELEAGUE, a transformative professional eSports league. The inaugural season of ELEAGUE will feature the world’s elite Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams facing off in a dynamic eSports spectator experience that will be presented live across digital platforms Tuesday-Friday each week, along with a weekly Friday night showcase televised live on TBS at 10 p.m. (ET). ELEAGUE regular-season coverage will originate from Turner Studios in Atlanta, with the global championship to be held Saturday, July 30, offering a prize pool of $1.2 million.
Turner Sports is also home to leading digital brands including Bleacher Report, NCAA March Madness Live and NCAA.com, along with PGA.com and RyderCup.com. Additionally, Turner Sports co-manages the NBA’s multimedia platforms including NBA TV, NBA.com, the NBA app, NBA LEAGUE PASS and WNBA.com.
Bleacher Report, Turner’s 24/7 multi-sport digital destination, has established itself as an industry leader in the delivery of social-first content that has sparked unprecedented levels of engagement with its core young audience.
Consistently ranking as a top publisher on social media platforms, Bleacher Report generates more than 40 million social interactions each month. As part of Turner’s $100 million investment in Bleacher Report over the next three years, the division is doubling down on its real-time delivery of social content across a growing array of distribution platforms.