Day Two of the Cable TCA Press Tour is underway, and like yesterday, we will be posting highlights from the various networks throughout the day.
Today starts off with Sarah Palin and then the Viacom networks including Comedy Central and MTV and will end with NatGeo. Refresh often for updates!
Sportsman Channel
Friday of the press tour began with breakfast with former Alaska state governor and Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, as she introduced her new series Amazing America with Sarah Palin. The series focuses on the outdoors and the people, places, and pastimes involved that make America’s outdoors great. Palin took time after the presentation to meet and greet critics in the room. In a time where politics and those things are so polarizing, politics were left at the door at this panel and Palin stuck to the message of the American spirit that can be felt in her show.
Viacom Networks
MTV’s Susanne Daniels started by announcing the return of Awkward. on April 15. Season 4 will have a one hour premiere from the series’ new showrunners. Clips were also seen from upcoming MTV series, including a reality show called Are You The One? in which young people will make money if they find their “perfect match.”
Daniels also praised the recent performance of Teen Wolf in social media and in total ratings.
The first presentation was for House of Food, a docu-series about young aspiring chefs in what seems like a cross between culinary school and The Real World. Next, MTV presented an upcoming comedy called Faking It, a series that looks like a lot of fun about two girls who fake being gay in order to become popular in high school. This show should do really well. It stars Katie Stevens, Rita Volk, Bailey Buntain, Michael Willet, and Gregg Sulkin, and the show premieres April 22.
MTV2 made their first press tour appearance presenting comedy series including Charlamagne & Friends. They also have greenlit a half hour series called Jobs That Don’t Suck. Stars from various shows in their lineup appeared on a panel, with Nick Cannon being the most well known and most composed in what was otherwise a bit of an “annoying loud fratboy” parade.
Comedy Central started with a clip from @midnight starring Chris Hardwick, showing people the crazy things that show up that day on the Internet; and then Broad City, from Executive Producer Amy Poehler and starring Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, which looks like what would happen if Girls and 2 Broke Girls had a child together.
Starz
Chris Albrecht started the panel by announcing that the new season of Davinci’s Demons will premiere March 22. Black Sails has also already been renewed for a second season, and the decision was made after a positive response at Comic-Con. Starz is interested in doing The White Princess with writer Emma Frost.
Black Sails, which shoots down in Cape Town, is a pirate series that takes Treasure Island and makes a prequel of it, combining fictional characters with real historic characters. The series premieres January 25 on Starz and has a very impressive and expensive looking reel. The panel did draw a little bit of criticism for the amount of nudity in the show.
Next, the spotlight went to Davinci’s Demons and the show’s stars Tom Riley, Blake Ritson and Laura Haddock, who were joined by executive producer David S. Goyer. The Season 2 promo reel brings up the adventure and looks pretty thrilling.
Outlander, from producer Ronald D. Moore, spans the genres of romance, science fiction, history and adventure in one epic tale of 16 episodes. The show is based on the book by Diana Gabaldon and stars Sam Heughan and Caitriona Baife. The panel began with a look at the book’s large fan base that is excited for the series; next, critics saw the first footage which looks very epic and very Scottish. Four episodes of the series have been filmed so far. See some images from Outlander here!
Turner Networks
The first Turner panel today was for The Last Ship from executive producer Michael Bay. It stars Eric Dane as the captain of a Navy destroyer ship that is among the last survivors of a global catastrophe. Adam Baldwin and Rhona Mitra are also within the cast. The producers feel that the series is a cinematic, movie-like experience.
Murder In The First is a new crime drama from Steven Bochco, and it stars Taye Diggs and Kathleen Robertson. Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy!) is also part of the cast, and the show premieres in June. Bochco did a series like this in the 1990’s with Murder One; the smaller episode order for cable is a different experience with better planning and is a “much nicer way to work,” as the producer said.
Turner Networks also presented a new show featuring Cee-Lo Green and an executive session with CNN’s Jeff Zucker.
Ovation
Ovation showed up with a very art an innovation-inspired lineup. Their main presentation is for The Fashion Fund, a reality show giving viewers a peek behind the curtain with big names like Anna Wintour.
National Geographic
NatGeo started with the new season of Life Below Zero… which is actually not about the East Coast of the United States this time of year. They then presented a special where they will show breathtaking views of Earth from the International Space Station. It sounds pretty amazing, and it’s called Live From Space. Further details will be announced in the coming weeks.
Inside Combat Rescue will detail the hunt for a Taliban leader in Afghanistan, and it looks to be a highly dramatic look at a situation with big stakes. Passengers’ stories will be told for the first time in the world premiere movie event Miracle Landing On The Hudson with some recreations of the crash. A sequel to The 80’s: The Decade That Made Us, focusing on the 90’s, will be airing this Summer. It will be called The 90’s: The Last Great Decade? and features clips of the news and entertainment that made that decade unique.
Cesar Millan will have a new show on NatGeo Wild called Cesar 911 that premieres Friday, March 7, using his expertise to bring balance to dogs and peace to their owners.
NatGeo Wild also will have a response to the competition’s “Puppy Bowl” and the Super Bowl on February 2… with a “Fish Bowl.” Pure, unadulterated fish bowl joy. They then introduced three new series, all focusing on animals and women – We Move Animals, Shear Madness, and The Amazing Dr. Oakley: Yukon Vet. Michelle Oakley from Dr. Oakley, Natalie Redding from Shear Madness, and Susan Denicker from We Move Animals all spoke in a panel with the press.
The National Geographic Channel then presented Building Wild as Paul DiMeo and Pat “Tuffy” Bakaitis start a wild new cabin-building business. They build cabins out of the most improbable and unpredictable materials.
Next, National Geographic presented Wicked Tuna, about the country’s toughest fishermen. They have also announced a spin-off series, Wicked Tuna: North vs. South.
A new season of Brain Games with Jason Silva premieres Monday, January 13, as does the new show Duck Quacks Don’t Echo featuring Tom Papa, Michael Ian Black, and Seth Herzog. Joining them in March will be None Of The Above with Tim Shaw, where every day people are asked to predict the outcome of certain scientific experiments. The three of them did some brain games of their own with members of the press, and that concluded the second day.
