TV News Roundup: Showtime Moves Up ‘The Circus’ Premiere in Light of Dramatic Presidential Race
In today’s TV news roundup, Showtime has set an early return for “The Circus,” thanks to the wild election season. Plus, Dwayne Johnson’s holiday special has announced its line-up of stars, and “Bad Girls Club” has been renewed.
CASTING:
Nickelodeon star Lance Lim will guest star on ABC’s “Speechless,” Variety has learned exclusively. Lim will play a character named Justin Chang, described as “one of the cool boys in school” whom Ray (Mason Cook) is hoping to impress. Lim is repped by The Park Noack Agency and Velocity Entertainment.
“Bones” will feature guest star Nathan Gamble, known for the “Dolphin Tale” movies, in an upcoming episode. Full storyline details are being kept under wraps, but Gamble will play a teenager who flees the scene of a crime when he thinks he’s being busted for underage drinking. Gamble is repped by Paradigm, Strong Management, Commercial Talent and Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman.
DATES:
Showtime’s docuseries “The Circus” will make an early return, thanks to the new developments of the current president race. Originally, a two-week break was scheduled, but now, “The Circus” will return this Sunday at 8 p.m.
GREENLIGHTS:
Oxygen has greenlit “Unprotected,” a new doc-comedy, which follows the Cantarellas who have been recently released from witness protection and start a new life back in normal civilization. The Cantarellas will have to try to reform their old ways while staying true to themselves. “Unprotected” is produced by Propagate with Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens, Kevin Healey and Eric Kutner serving as executive producers.
RENEWALS:
Oxygen has renewed “Bad Girls Club” for a season that will pit bad girls from the East Coast against bad girls of the West Coast. The new series, “Bad Girls Club: East Meets West,” is produced by Bunim/Murray Productions with Jonathan Murray and Gil Goldschein serving as executive producers and Steve Ezell, Heidi Van Lier and Alexandria Seidel as co-executive producers.
Destination America has renewed”Ghost Brothers” for Season 2. The unscripted series follows budding paranormal enthusiasts Dalen Spratt, Juwan Mass and Marcus Harvey, three best friends on a mission to uncover whether some legendary haunted houses are the real deal. “Ghost Brothers” will also have a Halloween marathon, featuring episodes from the first season, which will air on Oct. 26 and Nov. 2 from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. both nights.
SPECIALS:
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has partnered with Spike TV, Casey Patterson Entertainment and Don Mischer Productions to present “Rock the Troops,” which will air during the holiday season. The growing list of Hollywood A-listers set to take part includes Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Rob Riggle, Scott Eastwood, Terry Crews and surfing superstar Laird Hamilton. George Clooney will be featured in a taped segment.Musical performances will include Nick Jonas, Flo Rida, Tenacious D, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aaron Lewis, along with stand-up performances from Jeff Ross and J.B. Smoove.
DEALS:
Bento Box Entertainment announced a new kids and family division, Sutikki, in partnership with “Teletubbies” co-creator Andrew Davenport.
“Andrew Davenport has had a storied career as one of the world’s most prolific creators of innovative and popular preschool content, and he is the ideal creative talent for us to partner with as we establish ourselves in the kids marketplace globally,” said Bento Box co-founder and CEO, Scott Greenberg.
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