Realty Beat: Andrew Tate Documentary Coming to BBC and Netflix Looks to Japan For Love
Tiffany Haddish - David Livingston / Stringer
Docuseries: Tiffany Haddish is in the works of creating a new home for two new shows that is. Hearst Media Production Group and Haddish have announced a partnership between the group and Haddish’s She Ready production company. The two new shows are showcased as unscripted series, one centering on psychotherapist, author, and lecturer Elliott Conn, and the other exploring and examining successful women who have engaged in romantic, long-term relationships with homeless men.
Haddish explained her passion for the project stating, “I experienced homelessness myself and found that there was a stigma on it that I don’t think should be there. Everyone deserves to be loved. Everyone deserves to have someone supporting them and caring for them — not necessarily carrying them all the way. It’s really important for people to make sure that they know that because it’s really hard to be homeless. So many people are isolated and living on the streets alone.”
A documentary featuring the rise and fall of former kickboxer Andrew Tate will be coming to BBC. The documentary promises to give viewers a deeper look inside the international network of Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan. Reportedly, Andrew and Tristan, along with two other women, were arrested in Romania on suspicion of human trafficking and organized crime in December 2020. Romanian police alleged that the group had coerced victims online into creating paid pornography for social media content. In June, they were formally charged with “rape, human trafficking and running an organized crime group with the intention to sexually exploit women”. The brothers have denied all charges. According to a press release, “For the first time, audiences will see the inner circle behind Andrew Tate, exposing those helping to craft him into a global figurehead, exploring the ideologies and end goal of Tate and his circle, and revealing how his global network has left potentially hundreds of victims in its wake.”
Investigative journalist Matt Shea and director Jamie Tahsin became the forefront of the documentary. “We have now been investigating Andrew Tate and his inner circle for four years and are almost ready to reveal what we’ve uncovered,” Shea said in a statement. “In this documentary we uncover Tate’s global network, which spans multiple continents, affects potentially hundreds of victims, and ultimately seek to discover who is really behind Andrew Tate.”
A&E will be introducing a new docuseries, this time the network aims to follow Houston-based, Latin-only homicide unit, The Chicano Squad. The four-hour docuseries will follow the bilingual force of officers that were promoted to detectives to target and take down Houston’s soaring rate of Latin homicide cases in 1979. Houston’s Latin community took a hit due to utter disregard and corruption formed in Houston’s Police Department which lead to widespread police brutality and hundreds of unsolved homicides in the city’s Latin neighborhoods. Officer, Jim Montero, had a dream of putting together a team of five bilingual Mexican Americans rookies together that faced the limit of ninety days, to solve all open Latin murder cases, regain the trust of the community and assist in any new crimes involving Spanish-speaking people.
“The Chicano Squad were a groundbreaking group of law enforcement officers who broke down barriers and served their community with distinction,” A&E executive VP and head of programming Elaine Frontain Bryant said in a statement. “This documentary will tell the untold story of the Chicano Squad, from their humble beginnings to their trailblazing work building trust between the police and the communities they served.”
A documentary challenging Canada’s cultural Black history and exploring life through the eleven first nations of Quebec is the newest addition to Toronto’s International Film Festival lineup. This project is among nine other television series screening at the festival. Another series, CBC’s ‘Black Life: Untold Stories’, directed by Leslie Norville, aims to reframe Black history with BLM (Black Lives Matter) Canadian co-founder Sandy Hudson and former pro-hocked player P.K. Subban among others. Decolonizing old ideas in a four-part CBC series Telling Our Story, by Abenaki (writer) and director Kim O’Bomsawin; Bria Mack Gets A Life, a 25-year-old Black woman navigating a white world, directed by Sasha Leigh Henry; and more aim to show the story and dynamic lens of Black people in today’s society and how they navigate the world today.
Wayne Brady and Mandie Taketa
Docusoap: Hulu is bringing in a new reality series. TV personality and game show host Wayne Brady, and his family, will be featured in this eight-part unscripted episode series. The series aims to showcase the life of Brady and his family as he co-parents his 20-year-old daughter Maile Brady, alongside his “ex-wife, soulmate, and business partner,” Mandie Taketa. Brady and Taketa run a production company together named “A Wayne & Mandie Creative”. Jason Fordham, Taketa’s life partner of 12 years, handles the family’s cinematography and post-production efforts. According to the series’ logline, the series will reveal “unexpected points of view and values that most people (including his own family) have a hard time understanding.”
Continuing to expand on its international market, Netflix announced its plan to release five new Japanese reality series. At an event showcase in its Seoul, South Korea office, Netflix revealed that it is putting a huge amount of effort into dating and variety show formats in Japan — two of the country’s most popular TV genres. The lineup will include dating shows like Is She the Wolf? and Love Like a K-Drama and comedy shows like Lighthouse, featuring musician-actor Gen Hoshino and comedian Masayasu Wakabayashi. Two competitive series, Last One Standing and the middle-aged dating show Love Village, will be renewed for a second season.
“We’re excited to move into a new phase of our content strategy, ramping up our investments in unscripted and bringing new concepts to the screen,” stated Dai Ota, Netflix’s Japan content manager. “We want to elevate the unscripted category with great production values and storytelling from Japan’s most innovative creative voices.”
Game Shows: Cutler’s Court, featuring husband and wife Keith and Dana Cutler, will be introduced to broadcast syndication on September 11th. The show is cleared to be aired in more than 80% of the country and has been picked up by 17 of the top 20 markets and stations, such as CBS Television Stations, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Nexstar Media Group, Gray Television, Weigel Broadcasting Co., Tegna Inc., and E.W. Scripps Company, etc.
We saw an opportunity in the marketplace where there was a real demand for real cases, real litigants, and real drama,” said Tom Cappello, executive producer, and CEO of Crazy Legs Productions. “We decided to get into this space and this genre because I think it works really well for a smaller boutique production company like us rather than a big brand like MGM or Warner Bros. Discovery.”
Kandy Muse
Competitive Series: Max (formerly HBO Max) will be hopping on the NFL Sunday Ticket bandwagon. Alphabet and Google Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler announced that YouTube TV will be offering a special bundle on their streaming service that combines Max with the NFL Sunday Ticket “out-of-market” football package. This seven-year deal with the NFL was inked to offer Sunday ticket packages via YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime channels starting with the 2023 season. Pricing and packaging for Max-Sunday tickets on YouTube have not been released yet. According to a YouTube rep “more details are to come.”
Sinclair has made a distribution deal with Hulu. The streaming service will begin to carry Sinclair’s Tennis Channel, T2, Comet, and Charge and will be made available on Hulu Plus Live TV in January. Sinclair’s TV stations are under special agreement terms with Hulu after its ABC affiliates were blacked out for a month earlier this year as broadcast stations and networks debated how carriage agreements with virtual multichannel video programming distributors would be handled.
Season eight winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Jimbo and runner-up Kandy Muse will headline their very own original series. Jimbo’s series, Jimbo Presents: It’s My Special Show!, is the first WOW Presents Plus original series to be filmed in front of a live studio audience. The series will feature special celebrity guests Nicole Byer, Charo, Dustin Milligan, Daniel Franzese, Heidi N Closet, DeJa Skye, Pangina Heals, and Rock M. Sakura. Muse’s series, Inside the Producers Studio, will feature Muse interviewing fellow Drag Race queens Vanjie, Jimbo, Morgan McMichaels, Kerri Colby, Kimora Blac, Scarlet Envy, Aja, and Gottmik. Both series will premiere on August 7th, exclusively on WOW Presents Plus in the U.K.
Co-founders of World of Wonder, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, stated, “Summer just got hotter with Jimbo and Kandy Muse’s new WOW Presents Plus series. We are thrilled to welcome these top all-stars to the platform. Get ready for their endless wit, outrageous style, and total stupidity.”
Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has a new reality series show launching on Netlfix; Let’s Feast Vietnam. The 10-episode docuseries is one part cooking competition and one part-way travelogue. An interesting twist to the show is that the contestants are required to produce video clips along their journey to be featured in the series’ ‘reels’. The series involves 14 content creators from six different countries embarking on a voyage through Southeast Asia, sightseeing and visiting different landscapes and being educated in culinary arts, all whilst taking on challenging missions. Contestants will visit the historic capital of Hanoi, the natural wonders of Ha Long Bay, buzzy commercial capital Ho Chi Minh City, and pearl island Phú Quôc. Along their journey they will be accompanied by various celebrities and influencers acting as commentators along the way, including celebrity couple Tran Thanh (a leading Vietnamese actor) and Hari Won (Korean singer), and supermodel pair Minh Trieu and Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen.
“After ‘Proud Vietnam’ and many programs under the ‘Facebook for Vietnam – #FB4VN’ campaign in 2020, this is a continuation of Meta’s efforts in making international friends in a new and effective way. [It contributes] to promoting the development of the post-pandemic digital economy, especially the tourism industry, building the national brand of Vietnam as a safe, friendly and attractive destination,” said Khoi Le, country director at Meta.
The House of Villains’ cast and premiere date have just been released. The series will feature ten celebrities that are considered villains/bad guys in their respective industries; Jax Taylor from Vanderpump Rules, Omarosa from The Apprentice, Corinne Olympios from The Bachelor, Tiffany "New York" Pollard of Flavor of Love and I Love New York, Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio from The Challenge, Anfisa Arkhipchenko from 90 Day Fiancé, Shake Chatterjee from Love Is Blind, Jonny Fairplay who was seen in Survivor, Bobby Lytes best remembered for Love & Hip Hop: Miami and Tanisha Thomas from Bad Girls all of whom are competing for $200,000 and the title of "America's Ultimate Supervillain."
Disney+, ESPN+, and hulu
Lifestyle: A + E Networks have passed the baton on to Elaine Frontain Bryant and Eli Lehrer to take on expanded roles for the network after Amy Winter, former Lifetime EVP and head of programming, announced her exit on Wednesday. In other news, Tanya Lopez, Executive Vice President of Scripted Content, will change roles as Lopez enters a production deal with A + E Networks in which she will continue to package and produce Lifetime Original Movies.
Rob Sharenow, A+E Networks’ President of Programming, stated, “Elaine and Eli are proven leaders with unapparelled track records of developing hit franchises and first-in-class content that resonates with viewers and drives the success of our industry leading brands. Both executives possess a unique mix of creative prowess, deep relationships in the creative community, and an exceptional understanding of the type of content viewers crave. I’m confident Elaine and Eli will continue to elevate these storied brands and drive our future success. Lifetime is fortunate to have Tanya continuing to produce original movies for the brand that she has been instrumental in building through the years.”
Disney Sports appears to be having a tough time; according to the company, “A tough advertising market sent dollars toward Disney’s sports and streaming properties, but not flocking at the same rate to its traditional TV networks… Overall revenue and volume commitments made in the Upfront are in line with the prior year.” Disney secured $9 billion worth of ad commitments last year when U.S. TV Networks were selling commercial inventory ahead of their next cycled programming.
In another statement, Disney said they upped “single digit increases in sports volume and pricing,” while noting that “more than 40% of the total Upfront dollars committed this year are streaming and digital, led by Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu.”
Big Zuu, UK grime artist-turned TV Chef has got a new order. ITV has placed an order for the new travelogue titled as Big Zuu’s 12 Dishes in 12 Hours. The double-BAFTA winner will be traveling around Europe cooking local delicacies with celebrity special guests whilst educating about the culture, background, and history of the dishes he serves up. Big Zuu, whose real name is Zuhair Hassan, will be co-producing 12 Dishes since launching his production company prior to the green-lighting of the show; this is thanks to ITV commissioner Natalie Rose, the driving force behind Big Zuu’s UKTV show when she worked for that network several years ago.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to have my own food travelogue so I’m gassed to finally be able to announce this new show,” said Big Zuu.