‘9-1-1’ 2nd season unique with ‘fantastic’ storylines
Krueger coming for ‘Goldbergs’
LOS ANGELES, Sept 23, (Agencies): Fox is really shaking things up to get people to tune in to the second season of first-responders drama “9-1-1.”
The 21st Century Fox-owned broadcast network several weeks ago unveiled the fact that the series will kick off this fall with a massive earthquake set in Los Angeles, a storyline that will extend over two different hour-long episodes on Sunday, Sept 23, and Monday, Sept 24. To drive the point home, Fox has created a range of unique promotions that play off the disaster at the center of the series’ debut.
At the Century City Mall on Friday and Saturday, visitors can check in to a facsimile of a 9-1-1 dispatch center and experience what it might be like to be an emergency operator as the room begins to vibrate and shake. They will also be able to take a photo showing the famous “Hollywood” sign crumbling behind them; fans hanging off the balcony of a Los Angeles building; or another giving the illusion they are being strangled by a python, a scene that happens to be from the series’ pilot. Fox is producing custom videos with People. com and ATTN: focused on first responders. And the American Red Cross will launch a disaster relief fundraising campaign, Emergency Preparedness Kit deliveries, blood drives and public service announcements all using actors from the show.
Late summer and early fall are always filled with a barrage of promotional campaigns for the new TV season, but Fox’s work behind “91-1” is somewhat unique. After all, the show is in its sophomore season. TV networks often place most of their efforts on their freshmen crop.
Return
“While ‘9-1-1’ came out of the gate strong in January and was the number-two new drama of last season, we’ve only aired 10 episodes,” says Shannon Ryan. Fox’s chief marketing officer, in a statement. “Since the show is still young and there are so many fantastic, promotable storylines this season, we felt strongly that we needed to make the return this Fall one of our top priorities. Additionally, 9-1-1 is at the start of our premiere week, so it’s also a great promotional platform we can use for all of our other premieres next week.”
Fox has reason to sound a siren about “91-1.” Aside from football, it is the network’s highest-rated show and finished 12th among all TV programs among viewers between 18 and 49 - the demographic most coveted by advertisers. Media buyers expect “9-1-1” to generate some of the coming season’s best “C3” ratings, or bigger audiences who watch the commercials during the programs. At a network that will rely largely on live and sports events after its parent sells the bulk of its assets to Walt Disney in 2019, Fox needs “9-1-1” to stay successful if it wants to keep a connection with producers of scripted entertainment.
The network is using more than clever promotions to generate interest. The show’s second-season premiere will debut after Fox’s usual serving of Sunday football – one of TV’s highest-rated properties. “We’re strategically using the NFL doubleheader lead-in on Sunday as a sampling opportunity for episode one, then using that episode to drive as many viewers as we can into the new time period premiere on Monday,” says Ryan.
Even the ancillary stuff pushes boundaries. Billboards and posters used to promote last season’s debut of “9-1-1” featured an image of a man dangling from a roller coaster stuck high in the air. The scene was ripped right from the show. This season’s outdoor features custom 3-D buildouts of a tourist van crashing into a billboard set across the backdrop of the Los Angeles skyline. In New York, units feature a taxi against the skyline.
LOS ANGELES: Freddy Krueger is coming for “The Goldbergs.”
ABC announced Friday that Robert Englund is reprising his role as the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” slasher for a Halloween episode of the ABC sitcom.
The show is keeping with its 1980s setting. The Krueger episode, titled “Nightmare on Elk Avenue,” centers on the fears of the show’s teenage protagonist, Adam, after seeing “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”
Englund, who played Krueger in eight horror films starting in 1984, was known for killing teens in their sleep wearing a gloved hand with sharpened razors.
In a statement, Englund calls his guest appearance “a spooky valentine to the fans.”
The sixth season of “The Goldbergs” premieres on Sept 26 at 8 pm Eastern, and the Halloween episode will air in October.
LOS ANGELES: The planned “Veronica Mars” revival has officially been picked up at Hulu.
The series, which will see the return of Kristen Bell as the title character, will consist of 8 episodes and is slated to debut in 2019. Bell made the official announcement Thursday on Instagram, which can be seen below. News of the revival first broke in August.
As part of the deal, Hulu has also struck an agreement with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution for the SVOD rights to all past episodes of the original series. Seasons 1-3, as well as the 2014 feature film, will be available to stream next summer.
In the new installment, spring breakers are getting murdered in Neptune, thereby decimating the seaside town’s lifeblood tourist industry. After Mars Investigations is hired by the parents of one of the victims to find their son’s killer, Veronica is drawn into a mystery that pits the enclave’s wealthy elites, who would rather put an end to the month-long bacchanalia, against a working class that relies on the cash influx that comes with being the West Coast’s answer to Daytona Beach.
Original series creator Rob Thomas will executive produce and write the first episode. Bell will also executive produce along with Diane Ruggiero-Wright and Dan Etheridge. Thomas’ Spondoolie Productions will produce in association with Warner Bros Television.
Also:
LOS ANGELES: BAFTA will fete NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” with its Special Award at an Oct 4 event in New York.
“SNL” and its creator, Lorne Michaels, will be honored at an event hosted in partnership with Cadillac at DUMBO House in New York. Past and present cast and crew members are expected to be on hand.
One of BAFTA’s highest honors, the Special Award is reserved for exceptional achievement in film, games or television. Past recipients include “Downton Abbey,” the team behind “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” and the “Harry Potter” film franchise.
“We are delighted that ‘Saturday Night Live’ is receiving the BAFTA Special Award. This is a fantastic achievement for a show synonymous with New York and we are honored to be presenting it in this city to celebrate the huge talents that have influenced and inspired countless people across the world,” said chair of BAFTA New York Arianna Bocco.