TV News Roundup: Nasim Pedrad Joins TBS Comedy ‘People of Earth’ as Series Regular

Sarah Ahern

In today’s TV news roundup, “Saturday Night Live” alum Nasim Pedrad joins TBS’ “People of Earth,” PBS greenlights new docu-series “Chasing the Moon” that follows the space race from the lunar landing to the present day, and more.

CASTING

“Saturday Night Live” alum Nasim Pedrad has joined TBS’s comedy “People of Earth” as a series regular, beginning this summer with the show’s second season. Executive produced by Conan O’Brien and Greg Daniels, the series follows a group of alien abductees, also known as “experiencers,” living in the small town of Beacon, N.Y.

MTV has tapped Asia Kate Dillon as the presenter of the first award of the night — Best Actor in a Movie — at the 2017 MTV Music Awards, which airs Sunday, May 7 at 8 P.M. ET. MTV has done away with gender-specific categories for the upcoming ceremony, and the “Billions” actress is also the first gender non-binary identifying actor to be cast in a major television series.

Upcoming truTV series “I’m Sorry” announced a range of recurring characters on the series to be played by: Kathy Baker, Nelson Franklin, Judy Greer, Jason Mantzoukas, Martin Mull, Lyndon Smith, Gary Anthony Williams, and Steve Zissis. The series, created by and starring Andrea Savage, follows seemingly confident, together comedy writer, wife and mom Andrea, who comically exposes her inner immaturity and neuroses through unexpected life situations. The series will premiere on July 12 at 10pm ET/PT.

GREENLIGHTS

PBS‘ American Experience has greenlit a new four-hour docu-series “Chasing the Moon,” which tracks the space race from its earliest beginnings to the first lunar landing in 1969 and beyond. The series will feature previously overlooked and never-before-seen footage, as well as a cast of characters who were pivotal in these historic events, including astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Air Force Officer Bill Anders. Executive produced by Mark Samels and produced and directed by Robert Stone, “Chasing the Moon” will premiere on PBS in 2019 during the 50th anniversary year of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

PREMIERE DATES

Velocity has set a premiere date for its new original series “Speed is the New Black,” which follows young prodigy Noah Alexander and his team at the elite automotive shop Classic Car Studio in St. Louis, Missouri. The first season finds Alexander and his team redesigning classic cars from a 1962 Corvette to a 1990 Porsche 911, creating custom pieces of art designed for the open road. The series will debut on Wednesday, May 24 at 9 p.m. on Velocity.

EXECUTIVES

DISH announced Thursday that Andy LeCuyer has been named senior vice president of programming, overseeing the acquisition and renewal of programming content for both DISH and Sling TV. LeCuyer leads the team securing satellite and digital rights, general entertainment, local broadcast, sports, Latino and movie studio content. LeCuyer also oversees programming operations.

Global distribution company Keshet International (KI) has expanded its digital team with the appointments of Pasa Mustafa as digital creative director, based in London, and Heather Brewster, who joins Keshet’s LA office as vice president of digital development. Both Mustafa and Brewster will report to KI’s senior vice president of digital and acquisitions, Sebastian Burkhardt, who leads the company’s digital content initiatives and the recently formed Keshet Digital Studios (KDS). They will focus on content for millennials that bridges the gap between KI’s existing branches, emerging technology and the digital space.

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