Tuesday, September 17, 2019

NBCUniversal's Streaming Service Announces Name and Robust Slate of Original Programming

NBCUniversal's upcoming streaming service has today announced its name, premiere date window as well as a robust slate of original programming. A specific price point for the new streamer was not immediately available.






The overall company has decided to call the new streaming service Peacock, an homage to NBC's iconic logo. Peacock will launch in April 2020 with over 15,000 hours of content. 

Here are the new series projects that have been confirmed to air on the forthcoming service:

ANGELYNE - A limited series based on The Hollywood Reporter feature that explored the identity of Los Angeles' mysterious billboard bombshell.

Emmy Rossum will play the lead role and will executive produce alongside her husband, Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail.

Additional executive producers include Chad Hamilton, Lucy Tcherniak and Allison Miller, with Gary Baum as a consultant. Universal Content Productions, Esmail Corp, Anonymous Content and Composition 8 will produce.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - A new take on the acclaimed Sci-Fi drama.

Sam Esmail and Chad Hamilton are executive producing. Universal Content Productions, Esmail Corp and Anonymous Content will produce.

BRAVE NEW WORLD - Originally set up at USA, the drama is based on Aldous Huxley's novel imagining a utopian society that has achieved peace and stability through the prohibition of monogamy, privacy, money, family and history itself.

The drama stars Alden Ehrenreich, Jessica Brown Findlay, Harry Lloyd, Kylie Bunbury, Hannah John-Kamen, Sen Mitsuji, Joseph Morgan, Nina Sosanya and Demi Moore.

David Wiener developed the drama. He executive produces with Brian Taylor, Grant Morrison, Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey and director Brian Taylor. Universal Content Productions and Amblin Television produce.

DR. DEATH - Based on Wondery's hit podcast, the limited series tells the terrifying true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a rising star in the Dallas medical community. Young, charismatic and ostensibly brilliant, he was building a flourishing neurosurgery practice when everything suddenly changed. Patients entered his operating room for complex but routine spinal surgeries and left permanently maimed or dead. As victims piled up, two fellow physicians, neurosurgeon Robert Henderson and vascular surgeon Randall Kirby, set out to stop him. The series explores the twisted mind of a sociopath and the gross negligence of the system designed to protect the most defenseless among us.

The cast features Jamie Dornan, Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater.

Patrick Macmanus developed the series. He will executive produce with Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy. Universal Content Productions, Escape Artists and Wondery will produce.

PUNKY BREWSTER - A comedy pilot that serves as a continuation of the iconic '80s sitcom about a bright young girl raised by a foster dad. Punky is now a single mother of three trying to get her life back on track when she meets a young girl who reminds her a lot of her younger self.

Soleil Moon Frye will reprise her title role as Punky Brewster.

Steve and Jim Armogida are writing the pilot, which will be directed by Jonathan Judge. They will executive produce with Frye, Tim Pastore, Jimmy Fox and David Duclon. Universal Content Productions, All3Media America and Main Event Media will produce.

RUTHERFORD FALLS - A small town in upstate New York is turned upside down when local legend and town namesake, Nathan Rutherford, fights the moving of a historical statue.

Ed Helms will star in the single-camera comedy.

Helms also co-created the comedy with Michael Schur and Sierra Teller Ornelas. They will executive produce with David Miner and Mike Falbo. Universal Television, Fremulon, 3 Arts Entertainment and Pacific Electric Picture Company will produce.

SAVED BY THE BELL - A continuation of the hit '80s sitcom. When California governor Zack Morris gets into hot water for closing too many low-income high schools, he proposes they send the affected students to the highest performing schools in the state - including Bayside High. The influx of new students gives the over privileged Bayside kids a much needed and hilarious dose of reality.

Mario Lopez and Elizabeth Berkley will reprise their roles from the original series.

Tracey Wigfield (Great News) is writing the new series. She will executive produce with Lopez, Berkley, Peter Engel and Franco Bario. Universal Television will produce.

STRAIGHT TALK - The dramedy pilot examines what happens when two opposing ideologies are forced into an odd coupling. The main characters will be challenged by one another, making the moral lines at which they once stood harder to define.

Jada Pinkett Smith will star in the pilot.

Kara Brown wrote the pilot, with Rashida Jones set to direct. They will executive produce with Smith, Joy Gorman and Deniese Davis. Universal Television, Anonymous Content and Color Creative will produce.

THE AMBER RUFFIN SHOW - Each week the talk show starring Late Night with Seth Meyers standout Amber Ruffin will showcase her signature smart-and-silly take on the week. A late-night show with just the good parts - the comedy.

Jenny Hagel will serve as showrunner. Seth Meyers and Mike Shoemaker are executive producing.

WHO WROTE THAT - A docuseries that gives a behind the scenes look at Saturday Night Live's most important writers.

Andy Breckman and Susan Morrison are leading the series, with Brett Hodge directing. They will executive produce with Lorne Michaels, Andrew Singer, Erin Doyle, Erik Howard, Howard Klein, Derik Murray and Brian Gersh. Broadway Video, 3 Arts Entertainment and Network Entertainment will produce.

PSYCH 2: LASSIE COME HOME - Originally set up at USA, the television movie is the second follow-up to the hit drama Psych. Santa Barbara Police Chief Carlton Lassiter is ambushed on the job and left for dead. In a vintage Psych-style Hitchcockian nod, he begins to see impossible happenings around his recovery clinic. Shawn and Gus return to Lassie's side in Santa Barbara and are forced to navigate the personal, the professional, and possibly the supernatural. Separated from their new lives in San Francisco, our heroes find themselves unwelcome in their old stomping grounds as they secretly untangle a twisted case without the benefit of the police, their loved ones, or the quality sourdough bakeries of the Bay Area. What they uncover will change the course of their relationships forever.

The cast includes James Roday, Dulé Hill, Maggie Lawson, Kirsten Nelson, Corbin Bernsen and Timothy Omundson.

Steve Franks, James Roday and Andy Berman wrote the film, which Franks also directed. They executive produce with Dulé Hill and Chris Henzie. Universal Content Productions and Thruline Entertainment produce.


These projects at Peacock join the already announced pilot for drama One of Us Is Lying and the third season of comedy A.P. Bio (which previously aired on NBC before getting cancelled and later revived).