TV News Roundup: Rebel Wilson to Host First Australian Amazon Original Series

Dano Nissen

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In today’s TV news roundup, the NFL and Pluto TV announce the launch of a new channel, and Rebel Wilson is named as the host of the first Amazon original series to come out of Australia.

CASTING

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Rebel Wilson is set to host and executive produce the Australian Amazon original series “LOL: Last One Laughing,” the first original series from the streamer to come out of Wilson’s native country. The comedy variety series will feature ten Australian comedians competing to get each other to laugh first. The last one standing, or rather laughing, will go home with $100,000 Australian.

DATES

Investigation Discovery has announced that it new series “The Murder Tapes,” which shows actual footage of murder investigations, will premiere on Aug. 28. The series will use every conceivable form of taped footage in a homicide case, from body cam to home security tapes, to allow viewers see and hear it all.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The NFL and Pluto TV are teaming up to launch The NFL Channel to celebrate the some of the NFL’s most iconic moments from the past ten seasons. The new channel will air previous seasons of “Hard Knocks,” season recaps of NFL teams spanning back over a decade, and replays of classic NFL games.

DEALS

Pongalo, an advertising video on demand service aimed at Latino audiences, has been acquired by VIX. While a specific price for the deal wasn’t disclosed, it’s estimated to be at a low eight-figure cash and stock deal. With Pongalo’s portfolio of services, namely NovelaClub, Pongalo TV and Moovimex, under its control, VIX is planning to launch an AVOD service later this year with over 10,000 hours of content.

EXECUTIVE NEWS

Nickelodeon has named Angelique Yen as its new senior vice president of physical production for Nickelodeon Movies, and Eddie Gamarra as vice president of studio business development. Gamarra was most recently a literary manager at The Gotham Group, while Yen recently oversaw animation production for Netflix. The will both report to Nickelodeon’s executive vice president of animation Ramsey Naito, and will be based in Burbank.

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