Small Screen: Kara Mosely Temporarily Covers Role On 'The Young And The Restless'; HBO Max Will Develop 100 New Productions In Latin America
Karla Mosley - The Young and the Restless/CBS
Broadcast: KBS has cast the rest of the roles for the upcoming drama When Flowers Bloom, I Think of the Moon. Record of Youth actor Byun Woo-seok and Kang Mina of Hotel Del Luna, Mama Fairy and the Woodcutter are starring alongside Yoo Seung-ho of the Memorist and Miss Lee’s Hyeri. The series takes place in the Joseon dynasty during its alcohol prohibition period. Hyeri’s character is a bootlegger, and Yoo Seung-ho portrays a civil servant tasked with enforcing prohibition regulations. Byun Woo-seok plays a rebellious Crown Prince Lee Pyo described as having “a face that lights wherever he goes.” Kang Mina plays Han Ae-jin, the daughter of a well-respected family. She is known by her nickname as “Joseon’s straightforward lady” because she is extremely transparent about her feelings, both positive and negative. Penned by Kim Joo-hee with Hwang In-hyuk set to direct, When Flowers Bloom, I Think of the Moon starts filming in May, and will be broadcast in the latter half of this year on KBS.
The role of Amanda Sinclair on The Young and the Restless has been temporarily given to Kara Mosely. Known for her role as Maya Avant of The Bold and the Beautiful and Christina Moore of Guiding Light, Mosely comes to the rescue while Mishael Morgan is recovering from emergency eye surgery. According to the producers, the daytime soap had no choice but to recast Morgan. However, the show's executive producer Anthony Morina and head writer Josh Griffith said: "We're grateful that Karla Mosley, a seasoned actor, and consummate professional, was able to step into the role of Amanda during Mishael Morgan's temporary absence. Mishael is a valuable member of the Y&R family and will be back on air soon to continue her journey as Amanda."
CBS straight to series spinoff NCIS: Hawai’i has cast Vanessa Lachey, making her the first female lead of a show in the multiple decade-spanning franchises. Yasmine Al-Bustami and Jason Antoon are also attached as regulars. The showrunner of the NCIS: New Orleans, Chris Silber will transition over to the new series writing and executive producing with Jan Nash and Matt Bosack. Larry Teng is slated to direct and executive produce. Lachey, known for Fox’s Call Me Kat and Beverly Hills 90210, is portraying Jane Tennant, the first woman to be named special agent in charge of the NCIS Pearl Harbor office. Al-Bustami known for The Chosen and SWAT will play Lucy, the confident junior member of Tennant’s team who is eager to prove herself in the face of bureaucracy. Antoon from Claws plays the team’s cyber intelligence specialist named Ernie. His interests, although wide-ranging, include a specific focus on Hawaiian history.
Janet Hubert - ABC7
Cable: Janet Hubert known for her role as Aunt Vivian on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has just joined Tiffany Haddish and Tracy Morgan in TBS’ comedy The Last O.G. Hubert will be playing Miss May Miller, one of Roberta’s (Anna Maria Horsford) oldest and dearest friends and weekly bid whist partner. As Brooklyn teens they were rivals. However, in their later years, they settled into a strong friendship as part of a weekly card playing foursome. The card games are a place where the women can weigh in on ex-crack dealer Tray Barker’s (Morgan) struggle to bring positive change to his community after his fifteen-year stint in jail. Jordan Peele serves as executive producer and co-creator of the show that TBS has just greenlit for season 4.
Ken Jeong - Morgan Lieberman / Stringer
Streaming: HBO Max has announced plans to develop over 100 new local productions in Latin America within the next two years. About 33 programs are already in production. All of these will be exclusive to the HBO Max platform under Max Originals. HBO Max programming in Latin America will have something for everyone, including original productions such as the action-comedy Bunker (Mexico), the contemporary family and romantic drama AMARRES (Mexico), the youth and musical drama DÍAS DE GALLOS (Argentina) and The Missing, a drama series about an agency that focuses on missing person cases. According to Tomás Yankelevich, Chief Content Officer of WarnerMedia Latin America: “HBO Max is a new platform that is committed to telling the best stories that generate experiences and emotions in our fans across Latin America. Currently, we are working on productions that cover a wide variety of different genres and formats, with all kinds of local stories that are relevant to our consumers, reinforcing our commitment to local communities with our great Latin American talent and most certainly with our audience. And this is only the beginning.” HBO Max arrives in Latin America in June 2021.
Amazon’s new half-hour dramedy Shoot to the Moon casts Ken Jeong of The Hangover franchise as its lead. Daniel Dae Kim of Lost fame is attached as producer. The single-camera project is loosely inspired by the life failures of Paul Bae, a stand-up comedian known for creating the podcast The Black Tapes. According to Bae:‘he was an evangelical youth pastor who married his college sweetheart. After he lost his wife to divorce and Jesus to atheism, he embarked on a stumbling, years-long journey with his friends and family back to wholeness.’ The series will follow Michael (Jeong), a son of Korean immigrants who have achieved the “American Dream” and is suddenly disillusioned when his marriage and career fall apart, propelling him on a quest to reevaluate and rebuild his life. It is being produced by Kim’s 3AD in association with Amazon Studios. Shoot the Moon comes out of his first-look deal with Amazon Studios, which he signed in 2019. Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Jeong, and 3AD’s John Cheng will executive produce.
UrbanflixTV has hired Kim Fields as executive producer and director of its new series Vicious. It will be helmed by an all-female, Black producing team. Originally a short film digital series, Vicious was created by Jill E. Ramsey, CEO of Jilly Thunda Productions, and written by authors Amaleka McCall-Braithwaite and Tu-Shonda Whitaker. Ramsey will serve as showrunner and executive producer, alongside Fields, Tami Roman, and Kimberly Ogletree, CEO of Karat Entertainment. The plot follows a fashion designer named Chantel whose success is overshadowed by her denial of abuse she constantly endures internally. Vicious is currently in production and is slated to premiere later this year. The cast will be announced around that time.
IMDb TV is diving deeper into the scripted original television business. Back by Amazon, the free and ad-supported streamer which launched in 2019 has announced three new shows in development: Primo, is a compelling, coming of age story about a Mexican-American teenager and the hectic home life of being raised by his single mom and five uncles. This family-comedy is based on the life of Shea Serrano hails from Serrano and Mike Schur previously in the works at ABC; The Fed is a Federal Reserve drama from All American showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll following a collection of young adults as they start their careers at one of the countries most powerful financial institutions; and Indian comedy Pradeeps of Pittsburgh, PA that is inspired by the life of writer Vijal Patel. It takes note of the comedic and chaotic events the family has endured since their move two years prior. Sara Gilbert and Michael Showalter are attached as executive producers.
