TV News Roundup: BBC America Sets ‘Planet Earth II’ Premiere Date

In today’s TV News Roundup, Planet Earth II gets a premiere date, SundanceTV and Crackle announce dates for their spring programming slate, and more.

DATES

BBC America‘s “Planet Earth II” will premiere on Feb. 18 at 9/8c with a special three-network simulcast on BBC America, AMC, and SundanceTV. The following five episodes of the season will run only on BBC America on Saturday nights following the premiere.

SundanceTV also set its upcoming premiere dates. The network will continue to use Wednesdays at 10/9c as the anchor for its original drama series premieres: “Hap and Leonard: Mucho Mojo,” starring James Purefoy and Michael Kenneth Williams, will premiere on Mar. 15 at 10/9c. Italian crime drama “Gomorrah” will return Apr. 26th and 10/9c.

The Kennedys-After Camelot” will have its two-hour premiere on Reelz on Apr. 2 at 8 p.m., the network announced Friday. The miniseries stars Katie Holmes as Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Matthew Perry as Ted Kennedy. The two hour conclusion will air the following Sunday, Apr. 9 at 9 p.m.

Crackle‘s new scripted series, “Snatch,” based on the Guy Ritchie film, is set to premiere Mar. 16. In the trailer released on Friday, a group of new, young hustlers figuring out the ways of the trade, dodging a band of challengers including mobsters and rogue cops. Rupert Grint (“Harry Potter”) stars as Charlie Cavendish and also serves as an executive producer on the series. Other cast members include Luke Pasqualino as Albert Hill, (“Skins”) and Ed Westwick (“Gossip Girl”) as Sonny Castillo.

GREENLIGHTS

Lifestyle network El Rey has greenlit two unscripted television series: “Man at Arms” and “Rite of Passage,” network president and general manager Daniel Tibbets announced Friday at the TCA press tour. “Man at Arms” currently airs on DEFY’s AWE me digital network, but El Rey has ordered eight new one-hour episodes of the series, which are expected to premiere during the first half of 2017. The series follows a group of highly skilled blacksmiths who bring weapons from TV and video games to life. “Rite of Passage” follows Australian reporter and producer Tim Noonan’s journey of self-discovery as he tries to uncover what it means to be a man.

Related stories

'Planet Earth II': Drones and David Attenborough Drive BBC America's Lavish Docu Series

'Better Call Saul': Does This Los Pollos Hermanos 'Ad' Herald the Return of Gus Fring?

AMC Networks Expands Balkans Footprint via Deal With United Group

Get more from Variety and Variety411: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter