Today’s entries in the Cable portion of the TCA press tour include A&E Networks, POP, Pivot, TV One, and Starz. As with past days, we will be blogging throughout the day.
A&E Networks
2014 was Lifetime’s “youngest year in 18 years.” This year, they have originals including Whitney, With This Ring, Beautiful & Twisted and more. 2015 will also bring us the miniseries Marilyn, based on The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe. Susan Sarandon will be playing Marilyn’s mother. Kelly Garder plays Monroe, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan is also in the miniseries.
Adding to Dance Moms and other original programming,
Devious Maids will return this summer for its third season. Damien from Glen Mazzara stars Merlin’s Bradley James. Lifetime’s execs are also high on their adaptation of The Clan of the Cave Bear.
For the first panel of the day, creators Sarah Gertrude Shapiro and Marti Noxon bring UnREAL, about behind the scenes of a reality competition series. Shiri Appleby and Constance Zimmer star in the series.
Born In The Wild is a reality show premiering March 3 about a couple that wants to live out in the wild – i.e., no phones, no lights, no motorcars – and actually had a baby out in the middle of the wild. There are six episodes with six couples. Admittedly, with so much that could go wrong, this show looks to be a bit uncomfortable.
Christina Ricci is reprising her role from last year’s highly-rated Lizzie Borden Took An Ax movie with The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, an eight-hour continuation miniseries. Clea DuVall, Jonathan Banks, and Cole Hauser also star.
Mark Pellegrino, Jeremy Sisto, and Sandrine Holt star in The Returned, based on a French format and coming from Executive Producers Carlton Cuse (LOST) and Raelle Tucker (True Blood). The concept is similar to ABC’s Resurrection though the trailer appears to be something very different.
Texas Rising premieres on The History Channel May 25, with a cast that includes Bill Paxton, Ray Liotta, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Robert Knepper, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Kris Kristofferson, and more. It’s about a period of nine months, with people of all backgrounds in the forming times of the state of Texas, including the Alamo.
POP!
POP! Is the former TV Guide Network, and they started their presentation with an a capella performance by a group that is in their music show Sing It On from the company behind American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance.
Shenae Grimes Beech will be one of the cohosts of POPSUGAR NOW, a show that will present up-to-date coverage of awards shows. Allison McNamara and Becca Frucht will be co-hosts. Us? We’re just hoping that this makes us forget the awfulness that is Darcy from Degrassi or Annie from 90210.
Exciting to us is Queens of Drama, which has some famed daytime and primetime drama queens like Donna Mills and Joan Collins. There’s also The Story Behind which looks into behind the scenes of TV classics like Everybody Loves Raymond, Home Improvement, 90210, Full House, Friends, ER, Will & Grace, and more.
POP! will continue to air Big Brother After Dark.
POP! will also present a comedy called Schitt’s Creek premiering Wednesday, February 11 at 10PM ET. The show stars SCTV legends including Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Dan Levy, Chris Elliott, and Annie Murphy as a famous rich family who suddenly find themselves broke.
Pivot
TV One
More details about the TV One programming that is on the way can be found here.
Updating throughout the day…
