NBCU Pulls out All the Stops to Promote Summer Shows
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NBCU Pulls Out All the Stops to Promote Summer Shows 04.02.2015 With an emphasis on content, no matter what the calendar reads, the summer season of TV has become more and more important for networks, always looking to make a splash. On Thursday, April 2, at The Langham Huntington Hotel and Spa in Pasadena, NBCUniversal provides the media its first glimpse into some of their new and returning summer and fall properties hoping to make its mark in 2015. Welcome to NBCUniversal's Summer Press Day, an event featuring a series of panels with stars and executives in attendance to promote and introduce their respective shows. After snagging a Sharknado coozie and a breakfast burrito filled catered breakfast, the panels begin in the Ballroom with our first show… Just what everyone needs to start their summer right. America's Got Talent (NBC) In Attendance: Executive Producers Jason Raff and Sam Donnelly; Judges Howie Mandel, Mel B and Heidi Klum; Host Nick Cannon The hit reality competition show is celebrating its 10th anniversary season, as evidenced by its new hashtag #AGT10. The mood was celebratory from the start, with Howie Mandel kicking off the panel with a mimosa toast (at 9 AM - never too early) to the press and everyone involved with the show. "To another 10 years," Mandel says as he raises a glass to what he describes as a bigger, better and different show. One that includes more laughs for Heidi Klum, who teased that this summer's rendition will feature more comedians who are actually funny. Afterward, Mandel introduced a promo revealing contestants and their various talents that will "blow your mind" for the upcoming season. For its tenth season, AGT is increasing the spectacle, and widening its scope, giving the show "an international flavor." This year, "more than any other year, people are coming all over the world" to follow their dreams and aspirations. Nick Cannon admits that they've talked about doing an international version of the show, "The World's Got Talent," but Mandel points out that "if you make it in America, you're on the world stage." #AGT is returning again to the Radio City Music Hall in New York City for its live shows this year, starting August 11. The panel ended with Cannon announcing Mat Franco's Got Magic, a pair of primetime specials featuring illusionist Mat Franco, AGT's season 9 winner. The specials will follow Mat as he performs street magic across the U.S., traveling from his hometown in Rhode Island to Las Vegas, where he'll learn how to put on a show as the headlining act at LINQ Hotel & Casino. Mat Franco's Got Magic is produced by FremantleMedia North America and Syco Entertainment. Thom Beers, Toby Gorman and Sean Hancock executive produce. At this time, no premiere date was announced. The 10th season for America's Got Talent premieres Tuesday, May 26, at 8/7c. Clangers (Sprout) In Attendance: William Shatner (narrator), Executive Producer Zoe Bamsey and SVP of Programming Andrew Beecham. Sprout (the first 24 hour preschool network) had a bevy of announcements for us this morning. Back in New York, America's First Mom Michelle Obama is taping an appearance on The Sunny Side Up Show as a continuance of their Let's Move! Campaign for an episode airing next Friday April 10. Today also marks the beginning of their third annual #MomIsHere campaign, a celebration of moms leading up to Mother's Day. The campaign starts with a 30-day social media challenge #NoFilter30, where moms are encouraged to share "the real beauty" of moms in a candid #nofilter photo of themselves and their children every day for 30 days leading up to Mother's Day. Those who complete the challenge will be entered to win the $2,500 grand prize, or could win weekly prizes including gifts from Edible Arrangements. Sprout has created licensed selfie sticks for the occasion. The #NoFilter30 challenge kicks off on Sprout's The Sunny Side Up Show on April 11 and runs until Mother's Day May 10. The #MomIsHere campaign grew 119% from 2013 to 2014. Last year at NBC's Summer Press Day, Sprout announced a shift in their programming and their foray into original content. This year, Beecham points out that they've followed up on their promise: Sprout has doubled their amount of content on air, and on September 26, for Sprout's 10th birthday, the network is premiering its first 2-D show Nina's World. Clangers is Sprouts' newest original series, an outer-space puppet adventure. The stop-motion animated series follows pink mouse-like hand-knit puppets living on a hollow blue planet. Clangers is based on a British animated classic of the same name from 1968, described as the UK's "crown jewel" by Zoe Bamsey. Shatner, who had never heard of Sprout until Clangers, is clearly delighted by the children's network's themes and its name, typifying children as sprouts that need to be watered to grow. "I'd like to think of myself as part of the fertilizer," Shatner joked. Last Comic Standing (NBC) In Attendance: Executive Producers Page Hurwitz and Wanda Sykes; Judges Norm Macdonald, Roseanne Barr, Keenan Ivory Wayans; Host Anthony Jeselnik. Armed with a new host and a new judge in Anthony Jeselnik and Norm Macdonald respectively, Last Comic Standing returns for its 9th season this summer. The Trevor Noah controversy was immediately addressed by the #LastComic panel. Jeselnik, who cut his teeth on Comedy Central Roasts, admits "I don't Twitter anymore because of the outrage I've gotten." But he believes that good will come out of it, that after this "outrage," people can't react the same way again and will calm down. Keenan Ivory Wayans doesn't tweet, "because I don't know how. It's a form for idiots. People can heckle from around the globe. I don't know why anyone gives any credence to it. It's just somebody with an opinion." Macdonald, armed with a Budweiser, grumbles "I tweet odd stuff." Macdonald predicts that the blogosphere won't be anonymous in the future and that "insane assaults on people will be tampered." For Wanda Sykes, "after a few drinks, I have to block myself from Twitter." Last Comic Standing's 9th season premieres July 22 at 9 PM. A.D. The Bible Continues (NBC) In Attendance: stars Richard Coyle, Juan Pablo Di Pace, and Vincent Regan. The #ADTheSeries panel began with a sneak peek for the miniseries event. Then the trio of actors got into what it was like to tackle such iconic lines and material. Regan (as Pontius Pilate) struggled staying in character acting opposite Jesus Christ and Mother Mary. Juan Pablo Di Pace, who played Jesus, hailed the show as "epic, action packed. I don't think it's ever been done on network TV. It's exciting and fresh." Executive Producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey "couldn't be more enthusiastic about this project," Di Pace gushes. They had "infectious energy," Coyle agrees. A.D.'s Easter Sunday premiere is "a special day to watch it," as Di Pace puts it. Growing up, Regan always looked forward to watching the big important movie airing Sunday night after church. That was the equivalent of event TV in the 70's, and A.D. "feels like [it] should be something akin to that." A.D. The Bible Continues premieres Easter Sunday April 5 at 9 PM. Saturday Night Live's 40th Anniversary Special Virtual Reality Experience (NBC) While Saturday Night Live didn't have a panel, it was there in spirit thanks to Virtual Reality. On March 13, NBC launched a SNL 40th anniversary special virtual reality experience, working with VRSE and filmmaker Chris Milk. The equipment was on full display at NBC's Summer Press Day. VRSE is an app for iOS and Android for Google Cardboard and in the Oculus VR Store for Samsung Gear VR. By attaching your iPhone 5s or your Samsung Galaxy to a headset, fans get dropped into the middle of the star-studded SNL audience, giving you the power of the camera man, with the ability to spot James Franco, Jack Nicholson or Larry David. It's not often you can see John Goodman crying an arm's length away. The experience launched with Jerry Seinfeld's audience Q&A and has since added the broadcast's Celebrity Jeopardy segment, with plans for additional segments arriving in the coming weeks and months. In addition to SNL, VRSE gives users access to a variety of projects, including a short horror film and upcoming works with filmmaker Spike Jonze. Mr. Robinson (NBC) In Attendance: Executive Producers Mark and Robb Cullen, stars Craig Robinson, Meagan Good, Amandla Stenberg, Tim Bagley, Peri Gilpin, Spencer Grammer, Brandon T. Jackson and Ben Koldyke. Following a clip to introduce the new sitcom from the executive producers of The Office and Parks and Recreation, Craig Robinson jumped on the keyboards and sang a suggestive ode to chocolate muffins, gifting us a glimpse of the fizzy atmosphere to be found on Mr. Robinson. The show comes from Craig's own life: he was a music teacher while trying to make it with his band Nasty Delicious at clubs in Chicago. Mr. Robinson juxtaposes Craig's work with children and his playboy lifestyle at the club. Craig promises "the world that the Cullens have created is nothing like I've seen yet." As Brandon T. Jackson puts it, the show "mixes the old school with the new school." It speaks to "how our generation sounds," in regards to millennials.