TV News Roundup: CBS Casts DL Hughley as New Lead in ‘Brothered Up’

In today’s roundup, D.L Hughley takes over for Romany Malco in the CBS pilot “Brothered Up,” Khloe Kardashian’s fitspo show has been greenlit for a second season, and Debra Messing will be honored at the 28th Annual GLAAD Media Awards.

CASTING

CBS has re-cast a lead role in the cop comedy pilot “Brothered Up,” replacing original star Romany Malco with comedian D.L. Hughley, Variety has confirmed.

Hughley will star opposite co-lead Adhir Kalyan in the buddy cop sitcom that centers around two cops — an emotionally guarded African-American (Hughley) and an emotionally available Pakistani (Kalyan) — who have to find a way to connect as they patrol their Detroit neighborhood. The comedy hails from Mark Gross, co-executive producer on CBS’s “Man With A Plan,” who is writer and executive producer on the pilot.

The decision to re-cast the character came after last week’s table read for the pilot, Deadline reports.

“Bothered Up” is the second pilot at CBS to undergo re-casting, following the network’s NAVY Seal pilot that originally cast Jim Caveiezel, who was replaced by “Bones” star David Boreanaz. During the 2015-16 season, CBS re-cast a lead role in “Superior Donuts,” which was then re-developed for the next TV season when it was greenlit for a midseason premiere, and now has been renewed for a second season.

Hughley is repped by UTA, 3 Arts and Jackoway Tyerman.

PREMIERE DATES

PBS’s “POV” documentary series will return for its 30th season June 26 at 10 p.m. In a break from tradition, the first five films will features stories relating to pressing current events, namely the Syrian war and ongoing refugee crisis. The series will go on to include stories about the black community in rural North Carolina, Native American judicial traditions, and children on the autism spectrum who discover the sport of swimming.

RENEWALS

E! Entertainment has greenlit a second season of “Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian.” The show stars Khloe Kardashian as she helps a group of men and women transform both physically and emotionally to show themselves and people who have been negative forces in their lives that they are worthy of love and respect. Kardashian lends her own expertise along with that of her teams of beauty, nutrition, and fitness experts.

EXECUTIVES

Jennifer Romolini will be the first Chief Content Officer for shondaland.com. She will oversee digital content strategy and expansion. Shondaland.com is new digital venture that will launch in May to expand showrunner Shonda Rhimes‘s Shondaland brand, featuring lifestyle content, interviews, podcasts, and more covering topics relevant to women’s lives. Romolini is the former editor-in-chief and vice president of content at HelloGiggles, and was also the editor-in-chief of Yahoo Shine and deputy editor of Lucky Magazine.

Kaylee Hartung will join CNN as a news correspondent based in Atlanta effective immediately. Before she joined CNN, Hartung worked as ESPN as a sports reporter, working live events and regularly appearing on SportsCenter. In 2016, she reported on the death of Vanderbilt University baseball pitcher Donny Everett and the flooding of her hometown Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Lara Richardson has been promoted to the group executive vice president of marketing for Discovery, Animal Planet, and the Science Channel. Richardson was previously the senior vice president of marketing for the Discovery Channel. She will now be responsible for managing the marketing campaign across all three brands. She will report to Rich Ross, Group President of Discovery, Animal Planet, the Science Channel, and Velocity. Richardson’s Emmy Award-winning Shark Week campaigns have garnered attention, such as her 2013 “Snuffy the Seal” promo, which had more than 6.5 million views on YouTube.

AWARD SHOWS

Debra Messing will be honored at the 28th Annual GLAAD Media Awards May 6 in New York City. She will receive the Excellence in Media Award, which is presented to media professionals who have made a significant difference in promoting equality and acceptance of LGBTQ people. Messing starred in “Will & Grace,” which was one of the first primetime series to feature out gay lead characters. The show will return to NBC during the 2017-18 season.

Monica Karo of OMD US and Linda Yaccarino of NBCUniversal will be honored by UJA-Federation of New York’s Marketing Communications Division at its Global Marketing Leadership Award Celebration on April 24. Karo will receive the Global Marketing Leadership Award and Yaccarino will receive the Mac Dane Award.

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