TV News Roundup: Ann-Margret Joins ‘Happy!’ Season 2 at Syfy

In today’s roundup, Ann-Margret joins “Happy!” and teasers for “Bill Maher Anniversary Special” and Hulu’s “Marvel’s Runaways” have been released.

FIRST LOOKS

A promo has been released for HBO’s “Bill Maher Anniversary Special.” The 15th anniversary show will take a look back at “Real Time With Bill Maher” through the years with commentary from former President Barack Obama, Larry David, Fran Lebowitz, Michael Moore, Barbra Streisand, and more. It will premiere Oct. 19 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Watch the promo below:

The official teaser for Hulu’s “Marvel’s Runaways” Season 2 has been released. In the new season, the Runaways have left their homes and evil parents behind and now must learn to live on their own and take down PRIDE once and for all. The series stars Rhenzy Feliz, Lyrica Okano, Virginia Gardner, Ariela Barer, Gregg Sulkin, Allegra Acosta, Kevin Weisman, and more. All episodes of the new season will be available to stream on Dec. 21. The show is executive produced by series showrunners/writers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, along with Jeph Loeb, Marvel’s head of television. Watch the teaser below:

DATES

Bravo’s reality series “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” returns for its 11th season on Sunday, Nov. 4 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Returning housewives Cynthia Bailey, Kandi Burruss, NeNe Leakes, and Porsha Williams are joined by new cast members Eva Marcille and Shamari DeVoe. Marlo Hampton and Tanya Sam will be part of the season as friends. Previous main cast members Shereé Whitfield and Kenya Moore will not return, and neither will Kim Zolciak-Biermann, who appeared as a friend to the housewives on the 10th season.

HBO’s anthology series “ROOM 104“comes back for its 12-episode second season, debuting two episodes on Friday, Nov. 9 at 11 p.m. ET/PT. Following episodes will also air back-to-back on Fridays at the same time. From creators and executive producers Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass, the show is set in a single room of a standard American motel and tells a different story of the various characters who inhabit it in each episode. Season 2 actors include Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”), Judy Greer (“Ant-Man and the Wasp”), Brian Tyree Henry (“Atlanta”), Michael Shannon (“The Shape of Water“), Rainn Wilson (“The Meg”), and more. Watch the teaser below:

A musical episode of the Disney series “Raven’s Home” is set to premiere Oct. 12 on the Disney Channel at 8 p.m. ET/PT. “Raven’s Home: Remix” will feature eight original song and dance numbers performed by the cast and choreographed by Will “WilldaBeast” Adams (“America’s Best Dance Crew,” “Glee”). The songs were written and produced by The Heavyweights – a Grammy nominated production team composed of Jamie Jones, Jack Kugell, and Matt Wong – and songwriter Hanna Jones. Paul Hoen directed the episode, and songs from the show will be available for download on streaming services starting Oct. 7.

CASTING

Syfy’s “Happy!” has added Ann-Margret (“Ray Donovan”) to its upcoming second season, and Bryce Lorenzo (“Orange is the New Black”) and Christopher Fitzgerald (“Godless”) have been upped to series regulars. Ann-Margret will play the recurring role of Bebe Debarge, a former siren of stage and screen. Lorenzo returns as Nick Sax’s (Christopher Meloni) estranged daughter, and Fitzgerald is reprising his role as Sonny Shine, a world-renowned children’s entertainer with a dark past and an even darker present. The series follows Sax, a hitman who befriends an imaginary winged horse named Happy (Patton Oswalt). A premiere date for Season 2 has not yet been announced.

PROGRAMMING

Comedy Central has launched its Animated Shorts Program, a development initiative designed for creators to submit short form animated ideas directly to the company and have a chance to sign a development deal. The announcement was made by Sarah Babineau and Jonas Larsen, executive vice presidents and co-heads of Talent and Development. “We hope the Animated Shorts Program is an evolution of our continuous history of finding the next great comedic voices,” they said in a statement. “We are grateful to the very smart people at Nickelodeon who originated this incubator, and we are excited to put the Comedy Central touch on it with hopefully the same successful results Nickelodeon has found.”

Filipino media company ABS-CBN International is introducing its first English-speaking reality show with an all-Asian American cast. “The People’s Queen” follows Cecilio Asuncion (“Strut”) and Voltaire Tayah as they coach and challenge five Filipino pageant hopefuls in their quests for international titles. The show is executive produced by Glenn Meehan (“Little People, Big World”). The show will premiere Oct. 24 on ABS-CBN’s TFC-TV, Myx TV, Lifestyle Network, and Metro channels. VOD platforms will be announced soon.

IFC is launching a slow TV channel called “Sloth” across the network’s OTT apps. The channel provides free, unauthenticated slow TV with an absurd twist for late-night viewing. The topical, curated content will roll-out monthly, allowing viewers to watch something slow for every season. IFC Senior Vice President of Digital and Integrated Marketing, Kim Volonakis Granito, said “Sloth” “is a chance for viewers to tune-in and zone out” of today’s hectic news cycle. The channel will launch exclusively on Amazon Fire TV with “Black Cats Watching Scary Movies” on Monday, Oct. 8, and it will be available across all OTT platforms starting Monday, Oct. 22.

EXECUTIVE NEWS

Seth Yanklewitz has been named executive vice president of talent and casting at Metro Goldwyn Mayer. The announcement was made by Jonathan Glickman, the president of Motion Picture Group at MGM, Steve Stark, the president of Television Production & Development at MGM, and Michael Wright, the president of EPIX. Reporting to Glickman, Stark, and Wright, Yanklewitz began his new role at the company this month and will oversee casting across scripted television and film for MGM. Additionally, he will oversee the casting of all EPIX scripted programming. With more than 20 years of experience, Yanklewitz worked on television and films including 2009’s “The Hangover,” and more recently “The Buddy Games” with Dax Shepard and Olivia Munn. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for casting Fox’s “New Girl” during his tenure as vice president of casting at Fox. In a joint statement, Glickman, Stark, and Wright said, “We are confident that Seth’s keen eye for identifying new talent, coupled with the relationships he’s built across the industry, will greatly benefit MGM’s and EPIX’s growing slates. We look forward to working with him and know that his exceptional skill set will be a great asset.”

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