USA NETWORK ANNOUNCES SECOND SEASON PICKUP OF ‘THE PURGE’ AHEAD OF TONIGHT’S SEASON 1 FINALE
NEW YORK, NY – November 6, 2018 – Today, USA Network announced a second season pick-up for THE PURGE. A co-production with Blumhouse Television and Universal Cable Productions, THE PURGE is currently USA’s #1 drama averaging 1.2MM (18-49) and 2.3MM (P2+)*. The series airs on USA with the Season 1 finale airing tonight, November 6 at 10/9c.
“USA Network is so proud to be the television home for the iconic franchise, THE PURGE,” said Chris McCumber, President, Entertainment Networks for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “The partnership and creative trust of Jason Blum and everyone at Blumhouse Television and Universal Pictures ensured THE PURGE’s successful transition from film to TV – and, along with Universal Cable Productions, we look forward to digging even deeper into the mythology in Season 2.”
“James Demonaco has done it again: the propulsive and compelling story he crafted for Season 1 of THE PURGE truly resonated with audiences in a significant way,” said Jason Blum, founder of Blumhouse. “We are thrilled to embark on Season 2, and can’t wait to bring more of James’ vision to USA and fans of THE PURGE.”
Based on the hit movie franchise from Blumhouse Productions, THE PURGE revolves around a 12-hour period when all crime, including murder, is legal. Set in an altered America ruled by a totalitarian political party, Season 1 follows several seemingly unrelated characters living in a small city. As the clock winds down, the characters are forced to reckon with their past as they discover how far they will go to survive the night.
THE PURGE Season 1 was executive produced by the film franchise creator James DeMonaco and Thomas Kelly. Additionally, the entire team behind the blockbuster franchise executive produced: Michael Bay with Brad Fuller and Andrew Form under the Platinum Dunes banner and Sebastien K. Lemercier. The series is a co-production with Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Television and Universal Cable Productions.
*Source: Nielsen Live+7 (000), 1/1/18-10/21/18
You’ve probably heard by now that the lovely Renee Young has been promoted to full time commentator status on Monday Night RAW.
Personally, I think this is a fabulous move on the part of WWE, Renee is a class act and a true pro when it comes to broadcasting. Adding a woman to commentary is a great move, and there is no better woman for the job than Renee. Young had found success even before coming to WWE, with a background in acting and improv, as well as a 3-year-run working for The Score Television Network in Canada from 2009 to 2012.
Renee recently alluded to the fact that her 2012 WWE audition tape wasn’t very good. Well, the WWE Network has found and released that tape and I don’t think it’s bad at all!
You’ll see in the video, she’s not talking about wrestling AT ALL, which I thought was odd and kind of funny. Instead, she was given a product to promote on camera. The little device she is holding in the video is for pet grooming. She talks about all of the features the device has and how it works on grooming your pet(s), even err, fish? Check it out for yourself!
Meet @ReneeYoungWWE: EXPERT pet groomer.
It’s the newest @WWENetwork HIDDEM GEM! pic.twitter.com/8qKLGGkb7u— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) September 13, 2018
WWE’s Renee Young made history last week by being the first woman to be on commentary for an entire episode of Monday Night Raw. Here
Renee Young has been announced to take Jonathan Coachman’s spot on this week’s WWE Monday Night Raw broadcast.
Young, who will be commentating the Mae Young Classic on WWE Network, will be making an historic debut on the franchise broadcast of the WWE.
To our knowledge, this will be the first time in the franchise’s history that a female will be announcing the entire broadcast. There have been many female guest commentators over the years, but they would just cover a match or segment.
Here is the announcement:
Renee Young will be stepping in for Jonathan Coachman on the Raw announce team as a guest commentator this Monday night, ESPN.com reports. Coachman, meanwhile, will be fulfilling another obligation.
Young will work alongside Michael Cole and Corey Graves for all three hours of the broadcast, making this the first time a woman has called an entire episode of Raw.
Don’t miss Renee Young’s historic Raw announce team debut live this Monday at 8/7 C on USA Network.
Suits returned to television last night. Season 8 will be the first season without Patrick J. Adams or Meghan Markle on the cast.
The show opens with a recap of season 7’s ending and then it’s back to where last season ended: The wedding to end all wedding. Well, the party. But still.
We see Harvey Specter and Robert Zane sitting at a table trying to figure out what name they are going to call their newly merged firm. Will it be Specter, Zane, Litt, or Zane, Specter, Litt. Either way, Litt goes last, according to the two of them.
We then cut to seeing Alex William played by Dule Hill running to his home where Specter is waiting for him. Specter drops the news that Zane is joining the firm. Williams is upset about the idea of Zane becoming a name partner before him.
Specter promises that William’s name goes up next.
We are in Louis Litt’s office with Katrina Bennett and they are discussing the merger between the two firms. Katrina is the only associate who has worked for both firms.
We then see Zane and Donna looking into Rachel Zane’s office. The two have a sentimental moment over Rachel’s departure. Zane then tells Donna that he plans on being a managing partner, setting up what I believe will be the story arch for the season.
We cut to the opening credits and the show debuts their new opening signature. It’s really cool and fresh. This is the first time in 8 seasons that the show updated their opening credits.
We are back from commercial break and we see the three powers at be in a conference room. Litt is leading the meeting and says that they need to decide who they are going to drop from their client list to avoid conflict of interest. Litt makes a suggestion to get their clients to drop the conflicted departments.
Donna then talks to Harvey about not sabotaging the mission. Harvey says that he won’t sabotage it. He then goes to Williams and asks him to go and try to get him to get Zane’s client to drop their manufacturing division.
Zane goes into a gym and talks to his right-hand woman to get Harvey’s client to drop their division instead.
We go to commercial and return with Katrina and Louis in his office. Katrina is asking for the opportunity to fire the least efficient associates.
We return from commercial and we see Katrina and Brian (an associate) having lunch. Brian catches on to the idea of him being fired and ends up making the situation worst. Katrina ends up firing him and then leaving the bill with him. Ouch!
Williams and Litt are in Litt’s office and the two have a good moment where they made amends. Brian is seen walking to Litt’s office to confront him on the firing situation. Litt and Brian have a moment and Brian walks away from the conversation with his head up.
Litt then confronts Katrina about the firing. She’s claiming she tried to save Brians job. A very heated conversation. Harvey is then given a proposed contract from his client proposing to sell his clients division.
Harvey then talks to Robert Zane and demands that they stand down. The fight for managing partner is in full force with Zane up a battle.
We are back into Robert Zane’s office with Specter. Specter conceded managing partner position and Specter asks for his old office back.
New friendships and alliances are being made in the firm.
Commentary: This was a good show for their reset season. Feels like they are going to be setting up an all-out war for control of the firm and for the first time in the show history, Louis isn’t the one who is looking for control.
I also feel like they are setting up Dule Hill’s character as the new Mike Ross. It will be interesting to see how the characters work out.
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Ruben Jay talks about the WWE Superstar Shakeup and Impact Wrestling.
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USA NETWORK GREENLIGHTS GINA TORRES-LED ‘SUITS’ SPINOFF
FROM UNIVERSAL CABLE PRODUCTIONS
NEW YORK, NY– March 8, 2018 – USA Network today announced the series pickup of the Gina Torres-led SUITS spinoff. Centered on powerhouse lawyer Jessica Pearson (Torres) as she adjusts to the dirty world of Chicago politics, this new drama hails from Universal Cable Productions (UCP) and is executive produced and written by SUITS creator and executive producer Aaron Korsh alongside executive producer and showrunner Daniel Arkin. Doug Liman, David Bartis and Gene Klein of Hypnotic (SUITS) and Gina Torres will also serve as executive producers.
“Gina’s portrayal of Jessica Pearson as one of television’s strongest, most successful businesswomen has made a huge impact with fans,” said Chris McCumber, President, Entertainment Networks, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “We can’t wait to explore this next chapter in the SUITS legacy – and a brand new world for Jessica.”
“It was an extraordinary pleasure working with Gina on SUITS for six years. Beyond her undeniable talent, she is an incredible partner and collaborator, and I always hoped we would work together again,” shared Korsh, creator and executive producer of SUITS and the new spinoff series. “I am sincerely grateful to USA and UCP for giving Dan Arkin, my producing partners at Hypnotic and me the opportunity to continue Jessica Pearson’s journey in this new series that will encapsulate all that our fans love about her and SUITS – but with its own distinct story that will be unique to the franchise.”
“The SUITS flagship series has struck a chord with our marketing partners throughout the years as a great platform for advertising and sponsorship opportunities,” said Mark Marshall, Executive Vice President, Entertainment Advertising Sales, NBCUniversal. “This new Gina Torres-led spinoff allows us to provide those same advertisers and audiences with the content we already know they love to watch, and we’re excited to bring them this new chapter in the show’s legacy.”
When SUITS began more than seven years ago, Jessica Pearson was introduced as managing partner of one of New York City’s top corporate law firms. Through the years she remained a highly respected, formidable lawyer who helped lead her firm through the darkest times. Always putting her professional life first, Jessica left New York to follow her heart to Chicago in last year’s mid-season finale. She has made many triumphant returns to the SUITS world since and will introduce her new journey in the Windy City during the Season 7 finale, airing Wednesday, April 25, where she will rely on her wits and relationships from Pearson Specter Litt to navigate this unknown territory.
This spinoff marks USA Network’s second commitment to SUITS this year. Last month, the network renewed the flagship series for Season 8 and announced the addition of Katherine Heigl (Samantha Wheeler) to the ensemble cast which also includes Gabriel Macht (Harvey Specter), Sarah Rafferty (Donna Paulsen), Rick Hoffman (Louis Litt) and new series regular Dulé Hill (Alex Williams).
Monday Night RAW was live from Phoenix, Arizona tonight and was the last RAW before the highly anticipated Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, which takes place this Sunday, live from Las Vegas.
With said Elimination Chamber on everyone’s mind, it makes sense to have all the competitors give us a small taste of what they’ll be bringing to the table this Sunday by having a gauntlet match tonight! This contest, while extremely time consuming, was very entertaining to watch. It was set to have all seven men who will be in the Elimination Chamber on Sunday in this match, and the first one to compete tonight was Roman Reigns. He took on Seth Rollins, and although couldn’t pull of the win over Rollins, was a good sport in the end and extended his hand for a fist bump, only to be interrupted by John Cena’s music.
“THANK YOU SETH! THANK YOU SETH! THANK YOU SETH!”
What an effort by @WWERollins… #RAW #GauntletMatch pic.twitter.com/PQpI8jNMdN
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) February 20, 2018
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RAW was live from the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa tonight. Here are my favorites moments from tonight’s broadcast:
5. Elias vs. John Cena vs. Braun Strowman– The winner of this match snags a coveted spot in the Men’s Elimination Chamber on Feb. 25th. I loved seeing Cena and Elias gang up on Strowman, and I thought Cena was going to win this match, but was pleasantly surprised when Elias got the pinfall over John Cena.
4. Cesaro/Sheamus vs. Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins– This match was originally supposed to have Jason Jordan teaming with Seth Rollins, and earlier in the show we saw Jordan convincing Rollins that he was medically cleared to wrestle and that Rollins shouldn’t worry. Rollins goes with it and says they’ll take their tag team belts back together. Later in the show however, and conveniently right before the match, Jordan confronts Rollins to tell him he injured himself once again and the medical team will not allow him to perform. Kurt Angle who is standing by tells Rollins he’s going to have to forfeit the match. That is, until Roman Reigns appears and without even saying a word, just a knowing glance, it’s now Seth Rollins teaming up with Roman Reigns in a tag match against Cesaro and Sheamus. Jason Jordan finds himself in some hot water with Rollins and Reigns after he comes out to ringside appearing to help his would-be teammates, but manages to do exactly the opposite. Cesaro and Sheamus grab their tag team belts while outside of the ring and try to walk off with them, Jason Jordan gets into it with them and starts throwing punches, therefore getting Reigns and Rollins disqualified from the match. Rollins is livid, you can see him yelling to Jordan from the ring “What are you doing??”, while Jordan is standing there trying to apologize and explain himself. Backstage Rollins is still yelling at Jordan, when Kurt Angle interferes and tells Jordan he needs to go home and not come back until he is completely healed.