2013-2014 Network Upfront

[managermike99]

May 15th 2013
New York, NY

Liberty Television 2013-2014 Schedule
All times ET/PT

New Shows in Blue
* indicates new time slot
**indicates new night

Monday
8:00pm Detroit Rock City**
8:30pm Another Teen Vampire Show
9:00pm Night Shift
9:30pm Tuesday's Gone
10:00pm Wolf Point

Tuesday
8:00pm Buy More*
8:30pm Anthem*
9:00pm The Follower*
10:00pm Night Moves

Wednesday
8:00pm Hollywood RHD
9:00pm Stoops
10:00pm Greatest Hits

Thursday
8:00pm Global Lock
9:00pm Detroit 1-8-7
10:00pm In Truth

Friday
8:00pm The Next Level
10:00pm Macabre

Saturday
8:00pm Movie
10:30pm Channel 97**

Sunday
7:00pm Liberty Z
8:00pm Liberty X
9:00pm Wildwood
10:00pm Shivers



Liberty TV announces New Primetime Series
For 2013-14 Season

2 new Dramas, a new Reality competition show, and a hybrid scripted horror show join an already jam packed schedule

Will Forte and Gill Bellows create a comedic team of rival rock bar owners in the dramedy "Night Moves"

Shonda Rhimes "Wildwood" brings her second drama to Liberty TV starring Andre Braugher in "Stoops"

Jennifer Nicole Lee (JNL) and Shaun Thompson (Shaun T) attempt to take already good athletes to that next level, with the winner getting a Reebok sponsorship on the new athletic competition show "The Next Level"

Exciting newcomer Sabine Mondestin is joined by veterans "Elvira" and Emo Phillips in bringing a new concept show "Macabre". The Friday night frightfest will include scripted as well as audience submitted amateur segments into one interlocked horror fantasy world.


New Series Synopsis

Night Moves

Dramedy from Jeff Davis co-producer of "Rock of Ages" starring Will Forte "SNL, MacGruber, The Watch" and Gil Bellows "Vegas, Shawshank Redemption, House at the End of the Street" as rival but kindred spirit rock bar owners who must deal with the changes to the music industry in the mid 80's and the impact it has on their business and their future, as well as the turmoil in their own hectic lives and families.
The owners of two adjacent rock bars "Diamonds" and "Rust" compete for patrons, and struggle to survive in the late 80's as music shifts from hard rock to rap and pop. As much as they despise each other they find common ground as well, but ultimately know that only one of their bars can survive.


Production Companies: Offspring Entertainment, Maple Star Entertainment
Creators; Jeff Davis, Will Forte
Writers: Jeff Davis, Spencer Susser, Jeff Rubin, Will Forte
Executive Producers: Jeff Davis, Will Forte
Co-executive Producer; Jerry Kupfer
Directors: John Riggi, Matthew Pollack
Cast:
Will Forte (Pat Willis..owner..Diamonds)
Gill Bellows (Kerry Kanada..owner...Rust)
Teresea Palmer (Allie Berber..Diamonds..floor manager)
Gill Garci (Darrin Figaro..Booking Agent)
Devon Werkheiser (Boyd Zingg..singer)
Darrin Dewitt Henson (investor)
Fred Ewanuick (Murray McPherson...Rust...busboy)
Chris Salvatore (Mike Morrow...Diamonds..Bartender)
Jennifer Elise Cox (Jaz Janus...singer)
Gage Golightly (Jessie "Jess" Willis..Pat's daughter)


Stoops


Stoops is a 60 minute drama from creator Shonda Rhimes ("Wldwood").
Julius (Andre Braugher) is a black man from the streets of Baltimore who has grown up into a successful businessman. He runs a large chain of convienience stores "Stoops" in poor black neighborhoods, with his managers and employees owning a chunk. Despite all the good he does for the 'hoods he still has his many detractors who only see him getting rich, and they say its at the expense of the very people he is helping. His most vocal detractor is Mikey (Mos Def), one of his best friends growing up who despite not having any success with his methods is an activist who believes you must change the whole system, not one life at a time. Despite their differences Julius and Mikey remain good friends. The show centers around the dichotomy that is the life of Julius including his business, his wealth, his model white wife (Aubrey O'Day), and his two spoiled children. Viewers will be asked to take a stand; for Julius or against Julius, there will be no sitting on the fence

Production Companies; Shondaland Productions, Liberty Television Studios
Creator; Shonda Rhimes
Writers; Shonda Rhimes, Steve White, Cooper James, Wanda Sykes
Executive Producers; Shonda Rhimes, Wanda Sykes, Andre Braugher
Directors; Randall Zisk, Paul Miller, Manny Coto, Mos Def
Cast;
Andre Braugher (Julius..lead)
Aubrey O'Day (Julius' wife)
Mos Def (Mikey)
Reg E. Cathey (William...politician)
Michael Ealy (Rain...Financial wizard)


The Next Level

12 athletic dreamers, 6 men, 6 women, train and compete both physically and mentally for a chance to win a sponsorship from Reebok that will allow them to train for a year and pursue glory in their chosen sport. Often it's economic circumstances, access to training and competition centers, injuries, and just plain bad luck that separates the ones who become elite from those that look back at what may have been.
World renown trainers Shaun Thompson "Shaun T" and Jennifer Nicole Lee "JNL" will be joined by other professionals including sport psychologists in determining which of the 12 deserve the chance to pursue their dreams.

Production Companies; Liberty Television Studios, Beachbody LLC, Southeast Multimedia
Creator; Cori Abraham
Executive Producers; Cori Abraham, Jennifer Nicole Lee, Shaun Thompson,
Director; Neil DeGroot
Cast;
Shaun Thompson (himself...trainer)
Jennifer Nicole Lee (herself...trainer)



Macabre

An original and ambitious combination of amateur Horror segments and network produced material, spanning interconnected story threads, bringing together an alternative world of horror and suspense. This unique format allows the viewers and followers to help shape the show and even participate.

Production Companies; Relativity Media, Liberty Television Studios, My Destiny Production
Creator; Sabine Mondestin
Writers; Sabine Mondestin, Andrea Adams, Michele Weisler, Jorge Zamacona
Executive Producers; Sabine Mondestin, Cassandra Peterson
Directors; Sabine Mondestin, Stephen Lentini, John McNaughton
Cast;
Sabine Mondestin
Cassanda Peterson (aka Elvira Mistress of the Dark)
Emo Phillips
Bridget Marquardt
Jilon VanOver
Christian Campbell
Matt Battaglia
Lola Davidson


Other Notes

The network has no other mid-season show plans at the moment. In the event that more programming hours need to be filled we will be relying on movies (including original productions), encore programming, and possibly special sports events in conjunction with eVolution and Balls cable networks.

Wolf Point returns for its 5th season and a decision will be made by mid-season on whether this will be its final season or not.

Channel 97 will also return for its 5th season, this will be its final season on the network, and the producers are looking for a syndication deal to continue the show beyond 2014.

[managermike99]

June 10, 2013



Detroit 1-8-7; 2013-14 season preview

Liberty TV has announced that Detroit 1-8-7 will return for its 4th season on Thursday, September 12th 2013, making it one of the network’s earliest premiers. This will be the show’s 3rd season on Liberty, with its first season having been 2010-11 on ABC. Often seen as a “bubble” show by industry insiders and not a shoe-in for renewal, the network has put that to rest by not only putting in a full season’s order but expanding it to a minimum of 24 episodes this season, adding new writers, and a new cast member; Neal McDonough.

Looking back at 2012-13 the show found its groove again with the volatile pairing of enigmatic Det. Fitch (Michael Imperioli) and newcomer fiery Det. Kirchof (Serinda Swan). The show combined its episodic format with a few ongoing storylines that all seemed to crash together at the end of the season. The final episodes saw the murder of former squad member Det. Washington, Fitch’s nervous breakdown, Mahajan coming face to face with the serial killer Kahn, and Kirchof’s past coming to light.

While Liberty TV was happy with the show’s progress and the writing, the fans and critics were both luke warm to the show, with a ratings high on the 18th episode on April 18th of 1.1/3 3.40, up from a season opener of 0.8/2 2.71 on September 20th, and a season low on episode 2 of 0.6/2 2.05. The ratings slowly climbed during the season thanks to the writing, the new show dynamic between Fitch and Kirchof, the emergence of character Mahajan as a star, and the network’s willingness to publically support the show’s chances of continuing. The 22 episode series finished with an average rating of 0.94 in the Thursday 9pm slot.

It’s competition during that slot was Grey’s Anatomy on ABC, Person of Interest on CBS, Beauty and the Beast on CW, Glee on FOX, and The Office and 1600 Penn on NBC. It was a very difficult time slot to compete in but any well written police procedural will find its audience as did Detroit 1-8-7. That loyalty and consistency will be put to the test again this season in the same tough time slot.

This season Grey’s Anatomy returns to ABC, CBS counters with a pair of sit-com’s; Robin Williams new Crazy Ones and the hit show Two and a Half Men, CW has freshman offering Reign, FOX has Glee returning in the Fall; and then Freshman show Rake with Greg Kinnear in mid-season, and NBC has freshman sit-com’s Sean Saves the World, and the Michael J Fox show. The night has become a little less “procedural and criminal in nature” which means Detroit 1-8-7 seems to be in a good spot for continued success.

A new detective is being added to the squad for the upcoming season, Russ Renna (played by Neal McDonough). Renna has recently joined the Detroit Police Department after a long career with the FBI. He has his sights set higher then Detective and has been sent here to get his feet wet and his hands a little dirty. While his instincts and detective work are tremendous his squad mates don’t like his higher ambitions, as well as his unwillingness to get emotionally attached to his work or to take a chance. The newbie will be paired with sophomore detective Kirchof to temporarily replace Fitch who is desk bound after his nervous breakdown last year. Most of the squad though is operating under the assumption that Fitch is burned out and will never return to the field. They also wonder if Renna is after Mason’s job. One of the new storylines this season will be the return of Bobby Fitch (played by Vadim Imperioli, Michael’s real life son) to Detroit to live with his father because the 15 year old is caught in a cycle of violence and bullying. However, his Father’s current condition, his job, and Detroit threaten to make the situation worse. To make matters worse Bobby falls into cahoots with Kirchof’s younger brother Blake who is a drug dealer, causing tension between Fitch and Kirchof. Mahajan becomes a poster boy for the department, a new face in the affirmative action drive, while at the same time coming under fire by his brothers in blue as he begins to date Det. Washington’s widow.

Behind the scenes the show is trumpeting the addition of 3 new writer/producers to the staff, all of which are veterans of the Law & Order series. Richard Sweren and Julie Martin will work as a tandem, while Luke Schelhaas has also been added. Fred Berner has also been added behind the camera as an additional Director, he too is a veteran of the Law & Order procedural. Showrunner-Supervising Producer, Mick Betancourt told the press that these additions were to strengthen the show’s focus in being “ripped from the headlines” but also being realistic. “We did not want to run the risk of running out of new ideas and beginning to create absurd storylines and overblown situations”, said Betancourt on the official media press release.

Episodes already being written for next season include;
• A man loses his temper while having a fight with his wife and drives through a restaurant patio killing a child
• A pair of brothers are arrested for kidnapping when it is discovered they have kept a girl there as a sexual slave for over a decade; and it brings the detective work of former squad mate Longford into question
• The suburb where Captain Mason lives has to contact the squad when there own police staff refuse to arrest 4 suspects in a rape because they are prized members of the high school football team
• Two men and one woman are shot in separate incidents within a couple hours in the same neighborhood and police are left with no witnesses, no suspects, and no patience

Jason Richman remains as the Creator, Executive Producer, and a writer for the show, with Betancourt acting as showrunner, and David Zabel remains as an executive producer, and writer/producer and also in charge of overseeing the writing staff. David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman continue to assist Betancourt and Zabel as EP’s, while Kevin Hooks, Dean White, and Jeff Nachmanoff return as directors in addition to the newcomer Fred Berner. Phononzell Williams and Nikki Toscano return as writer/producers, in a stable that also now includes Zabel, Schelhaas, and the team of Sweren/Martin. Doing the simple math that’s 5 writers/teams sharing the 24 episode order, or around 5 episodes each, a very manageable number.

[managermike99]

July 26th, 2013

Liberty TV announces it's entry into latenight television. The Jeff Probst Show and The Joe Rogan Experience come to Liberty.

Liberty television today announced the closing of a deal with its affliates that will see the majority of its affiliates pick up the retooled Jeff Probst Show at midnight, and the Joe Rogan Experience following that at 1:00am (Monday to Thursday). The network schedule will remain with prme time programming until 11pm, then an hour for network and local news, and now the two late night talk shows.

The regular schedule for the two talk shows will be Monday through Thursday as many affiliates wanted to retain Friday nights for themseles. The network is offering a "Best of" the week which many affiliates will run either on Friday night or Sunday night.

Both talk shows are set to premiere in September.