Young Rock and Kenan Set to Return for Season 2; Schmigadoon! A New Apple TV+ Comedy Coming This July

Monday, May 03, 2021

Young Rock and Kenan Set to Return for Season 2; Schmigadoon! A New Apple TV+ Comedy Coming This July

NBC has renewed its first-year comedies Young Rock and Kenan. Both series don't do that great on live linear telvevision after a solid premiere, so to some it may be a surprise that both are coming back, but they benefit with delayed viewing, mostly on digital platforms. Young Rock is the #2 new comedy of the season in the 18-49 demo. The pilot has been seen by 13.4 million people to-date across all platforms. Young Rock is NBC's top comedy debut across digital platforms on record through 60 days (1.85 in 18-49 / 3.6 million on digital only). Young Rock focuses on different chapters of Dwayne Johnson's life. From growing up in a strong and resilient family, to being surrounded by the wild characters of his professional wrestling family, to playing football at the University of Miami, the show explores the crazy rollercoaster that has shaped Dwayne into the man he is today and the larger-than-life characters he's met along the way. Dwayne Johnson, Joseph Lee Anderson, Stacey Leilua, Adrian Groulx, Bradley Constant, Uli Latukefu, Ana Tuisila, Fasitua Amosa and John Tui star. Nahnatchka Khan, Dwayne Johnson, Jeff Chiang, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, Brian Gewirtz and Jennifer Carreras serve as executive producers on season one.

The Kenan premiere ranks as NBC's #4 digital comedy launch on record and has been seen by 7.4 million viewers to-date on all platforms. This single-camera comedy follows a widowed dad, Kenan (Kenan Thompson), who's juggling a high-profile job as the host of an Atlanta morning show and raising his two girls. As Kenan tries to move on, his father-in-law Rick (Don Johnson), brother Gary (Chris Redd) and co-workers all have strong opinions on the best way to live his life. Kenan Thompson, Don Johnson, Chris Redd, Kimrie Lewis, Dani and Dannah Lane star. Lorne Michaels, David Caspe, Jackie Clarke, Kenan Thompson, Ken Whittingham and Andrew Singer serve as executive producers on season one.

Schmigadoon!

Apple TV+ announced Schmigadoon!, the six-episode musical comedy series executive produced by Lorne Michaels and starring Emmy Award-nominee Cecily Strong and Emmy Award-winner Keegan-Michael Key, will make its global debut on Friday, July 16. Two episodes will be available at launch followed by one episode weekly every Friday. Schmigadoon!, a parody of iconic Golden Age musicals, stars Strong and Key as a couple on a backpacking trip designed to reinvigorate their relationship who discover a magical town living in a 1940s musical. They then learn that they can't leave until they find "true love." The first season also stars Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Aaron Tveit, Dove Cameron, Ariana DeBose, Fred Armisen, Jaime Camil, Jane Krakowski and Ann Harada. Martin Short guest stars.

Hailing from Broadway Video and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, Schmigadoon! is co-created by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. Cinco Paul serves as showrunner, and wrote all of the original songs for the series. Barry Sonnenfeld directs and executive produces. In addition to starring, Cecily Strong serves as producer, and Ken Daurio serves as consulting producer and writer. Andrew Singer executive produces with Lorne Michaels on behalf of Broadway Video.