E! Brings Back True Hollywood Story; Brockmire Scores in Season Premiere

Wednesday, May 02, 2018

E! Brings Back True Hollywood Story; Brockmire Scores in Season Premiere

E! announced six new series plus three unscripted development projects that are rooted in celebrity and pop culture and target the network's core female millennial audience. New series include an innovative talk show hosted by actress Busy Philipps, a new series centered around the women of the popular podcast The LadyGang, and a new docu-series featuring actress and singer Ashlee Simpson-Ross and her husband, actor and artist Evan Ross. In addition, popular, long-running franchise E! True Hollywood Story will return with a fresh approach and new episodes that dive deep into the most compelling personalities and stories that are shaping headlines. The People's Choice Awards of course is airing November 11 for the first time on E! Among the notable items:

Busy Tonight (working title)
Hosted by actress Busy Philipps, Busy Tonight features comedic commentary, interviews, and segments that go behind her most popular Instagram stories. Unfiltered, in-the-know and always entertaining, Busy will give us her unique and hilarious point of view on literally everything. Executive Producers for Busy Tonight are Busy Philipps, Julie Darmody and Eric Gurian for Little Stranger.

E! True Hollywood Story
The series that told Hollywood's most compelling stories is back. E! True Hollywood Story is taking a modern approach, and providing a voice to the moments that are reshaping popular culture. Each self-contained documentary will explore a topic, headline, or person that became the ground zero for a revolution, change or shift in culture, told by the people who were on the frontlines of the story. E! True Hollywood Story is produced by Wilshire Studios.

Brockmire

The season two premiere of acclaimed IFC comedy Brockmire, starring Hank Azaria experienced strong growth - eclipsing both the season one premiere and finale in key demos - remarkable growth in this environment. Compared to the 2017 series premiere, the season two premiere grew 15% among adults 25-54 and 11% among adults 18-49 in Nielsen live+3 ratings. And compared to the season one finale of Brockmire, the season two premiere grew 24% among adults 25-54, 13% among adults 18-49 and 7% among total viewers. The season two premiere on Wednesday, April 25 also delivered 506,000 total viewers in Nielsen live+3 ratings.

Additionally, the digital pre-premiere generated nearly 3 million total views on digital platforms including VOD, IFC.com, the IFC YouTube and Facebook pages, and FunnyOrDie.com. Debuting to critical praise in 2017, Brockmire follows Jim Brockmire (Azaria), a famed major league baseball announcer who suffered a notorious public breakdown after stumbling upon his wife's infidelity - a breakdown so bad that "Brutal Brockmire" became a viral internet meme. Season one of the series begins a decade later, as Brockmire looked to reclaim his career, reputation, and love life. He eventually found happiness calling games for the Morristown Frackers, the underdog minor league baseball team, alongside his girlfriend, Jules (Amanda Peet). Season 2 finds Brockmire enjoying new found success as a top podcaster with his show "Brock Bottom," while chasing an opportunity to call games in New Orleans and living with his co-dependent friend Charles (Tyrel Jackson Williams).

Episode 202, "Platoon Player," premieres tonight (Wednesday, May 2) at 10:00 PM on IFC. When Charles (Williams) needs the night off for his birthday, tensions arise when Jim shows up at Charles' dinner and meets his judgmental family.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Friday, July 3

The Dick Van Dyke Show - Now in Living Color! - (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
CBS will honor the memory of legendary actor, producer, director, writer, comedian and Emmy Award winner Carl Reiner with THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW – NOW IN LIVING COLOR! A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO CARL REINER, featuring two colorized back-to-back classic episodes of the beloved 1960s series, Friday, July 3 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. As series creator and co-star, Carl Reiner personally supervised the original colorization of the episodes.

The special features “Coast to Coast Big Mouth,” which ranked #8 on TV Guide’s list of the “100 Greatest TV Episodes of All-Time,” and “October Eve,” which Mr. Reiner considered to be one of the series’ funniest episodes. Both were written by Bill Persky and Sam Denoff.

In “Coast to Coast Big Mouth,” Laura Petrie blurts out a top secret on a national television quiz show, revealing that comedian Alan Brady wears a toupee. The episode, which was the show’s fifth and final season premiere, was originally broadcast on Sept. 15, 1965. “Coast to Coast Big Mouth” won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 1966.

In “October Eve,” a painting of Laura returns to haunt her when, despite her having posed fully clothed, the artist (played by Carl Reiner) takes the liberty of “undraping” her. The episode was first presented on April 8, 1964, during season three.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of June 29)

Friday, July 3

Kevin Hart (The Big House/Undeclared) - Watch Kevin on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 12:35am on ABC.
Tina Fey (30 Rock) - Tina appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Laura Dern (Enlightened) - Laura is a guest on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Mark Duplass (Togetherness/The Mindy Project/The League) - Mark appears on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly/Samantha Who?) - Melissa guest hosts a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Brett Gelman (Camping/Fleabag/Love/Married/Go On) - Brett appears on a repeat of A Little Late with Lilly Singh at 1:35am on NBC.
Tika Sumpter (mixed-ish/The Game) - Tika talks about the season finale of mixed-ish and her latest project helping new moms on a repeat of Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Peter Gallagher (Grace and Frankie/The Secret Lives of Men) - Peter talks about Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist and Grace and Frankie on a repeat of Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.