NBCUniversal has unveiled a broad range of programming for the first slate of originals for its streaming service, which has officially been dubbed Peacock.
Perhaps the biggest titled announced for the service is a reboot of the classic sci-fi series “Battlestar Galactica,” with “Mr. Robot” creator Sam Esmail executive producing. This is the third version of the series to make it to television. The original aired for one season in 1978 on ABC, which was followed by a short-lived continuation called “Galactica 1980.” Sci Fi Channel (now Syfy) then rebooted the series back in 2003 with a three-hour miniseries whose cast included Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell among others. The success of that project led Syfy and Sky Television to commission a new series with the cast of the miniseries returning. That show ran for four seasons and also spawned two TV movies, wrapping up in 2009. A prequel series, “Caprica,” aired on Syfy for one season in 2010.
Peacock will also be home to a revival of “Saved by the Bell,” with original series cast members Mario Lopez and Elizabeth Berkley reprising their roles in addition to serving as producers. Likewise, the previously announced “Punky Brewster” sequel series starring Soleil Moon Frye has been ordered to pilot at the streamer.
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In addition, the series adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World,” which was ordered straight-to-series at the NBCUniversal cable channel USA Network, will now move to Peacock instead, marking the latest example of a media company moving a project from its linear cable portfolio to a streamer. “Dr. Death” — based on the podcast of the same name and starring Jamie Dornan, Alec Baldwin, and Christian Slater — has also been set up at Peacock with a series order, as has the limited series “Angelyne” starring Emmy Rossum.
The upcoming second “Psych” movie, which is titled “Psych 2: Lassie Come Home,” will debut on Peacock rather than on USA Network. An individual with knowledge of the situation said the film could play on USA Network following its debut on Peacock but no decisions have been made.
Other originals include the comedy “Rutherford Falls” co-created by Mike Schur and starring Ed Helms, the pilot “Straight Talk” starring Jada Pinkett Smith, and the late-night series “The Amber Ruffin Show.” It had previously been announced that “AP Bio,” which was recently canceled by NBC after two seasons, will return for a third on Peacock.
It was previously announced that Peacock would be the exclusive streaming home of the NBC series “The Office” beginning in 2021 when the show’s current deal with Netflix expires. Peacock has announced that it will also stream shows including: “30 Rock,” “Bates Motel,” “Battlestar Gallactica,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Cheers,” “Chrisley Knows Best,” “Covert Affairs,” “Downton Abbey,” “Everyone Loves Raymond,” “Frasier,” “Friday Night Lights,” “House,” “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” “King Of Queens,” “Married…With Children,”“Monk,” “Parenthood,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Psych,” “Royal Pains,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Superstore,” “The Real Housewives,” “Top Chef,” and “Will & Grace.”
The platform will feature more than 3,000 hours of Telemundo’s content, including an original dramedy “Armas de Mujer.” Finally, classic films from the Universal Pictures and Focus Features libraries will be available, including those from the “Fast & Furious,” “Bourne,” and “Back to the Future” franchises. Universal Pictures is also developing original films and animated series to debut on Peacock, while DreamWorks Animation will create original animated content.
Peacock will launch in April of 2020. It will be both advertising and subscription supported. Details on pricing and distribution will be announced closer to launch.
Read the full credits and loglines for all of the Peacock originals below.
THE AMBER RUFFIN SHOW
Logline: Each week “The Amber Ruffin Show” will showcase Amber’s signature smart-and-silly take on the week. A late-night show with just the good parts – the comedy.
T: Amber Ruffin
EP: Seth Meyers, Mike Shoemaker
W: Jenny Hagel
ANGELYNE
Logline: ANGELYNE is a limited series based on The Hollywood Reporter feature that explored the identity of L.A.’s mysterious billboard bombshell.
EP: Emmy Rossum via Composition 8
EP: Sam Esmail via EsmailCorp
EP: Chad Hamilton via Anonymous Content
EP: Lucy Tcherniak
EP: Allison Miller
T: Emmy Rossum
Consultant: Gary Baum
Studio: UCP
A.P. BIO
Logline: When disgraced Harvard philosophy professor Jack Griffin loses out on his dream job, he is forced to return to Toledo, Ohio, and work as a high school Advanced Placement biology teacher. As he comes crashing in to Whitlock High School, Jack makes it absolutely clear he will not be teaching any biology. Realizing he has a room full of honor roll students at his disposal, Jack decides instead to use the kids for his own benefit. Eager to prove that he is still king of the castle, Principal Durbin struggles to control the force of nature that is Jack Griffin.
W/EP: Mike O’Brien
T: Glenn Howerton, Patton Oswalt, Lyric Lewis, Mary Sohn, Jean Villepique and Paula Pell
EP: Seth Meyers, Mike Shoemaker, Andrew Singer, Lorne Michaels
Studios: Universal Television, Broadway Video
Production Company: Sethmaker Shoemeyers Productions
ARMAS DE MUJER
Logline: From the team behind Telemundo’s hit “La Reina del Sur” comes a new dramedy series. Four women suffer their worst nightmare: the police arrest their husbands for being linked to the same criminal organization. Accustomed to a life of abundance, they will be forced to join forces in the most unusual manner.
BRAVE NEW WORLD
Logline: Based on Aldous Huxley’s groundbreaking 1932 novel, BRAVE NEW WORLD imagines a utopian society that has achieved peace and stability through the prohibition of monogamy, privacy, money, family, and history itself.
W: David Wiener
EP/Showrunner: David Wiener
EP: Grant Morrison
EP: Darryl Frank via Amblin Television
EP: Justin Falvey via Amblin Television
EP/Director: Owen Harris
EP (first episode): Brian Taylor
Studio: UCP, Amblin Television
Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Jessica Brown Findlay, Harry Lloyd, Kylie Bunbury, Hannah John-Kamen, Sen Mitsuji, Joseph Morgan, Nina Sosanya and Demi Moore.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Logline: Battlestar Galactica returns to television with Sam Esmail producing.
EP: Sam Esmail
EP: Chad Hamilton
Studio: UCP
DR. DEATH
Logline: Based on Wonderly’s hit podcast of the same name, Dr. Death tells the terrifying true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch (Jamie Dornan), a rising star in the Dallas medical community. Young, charismatic and ostensibly brilliant, Dr. Duntsch was building a flourishing neurosurgery practice when everything suddenly changed. Patients entered his operating room for complex but routine spinal surgeries and left permanently maimed or dead. As victims piled up, two fellow physicians, neurosurgeon Robert Henderson (Alec Baldwin) and vascular surgeon Randall Kirby (Christian Slater), set out to stop him. Dr. Death explores the twisted mind of a sociopath and the gross negligence of the system designed to protect the most defenseless among us.
W/EP: Patrick Macmanus
T: Jamie Dornan, Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater
EP: Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch (Escape Artists)
EP: Hernan Lopez, Marshall Lewy (Wondery)
Studio: UCP
ONE OF US IS LYING (pilot)
Logline: Based on Karen M. McManus’s New York Times best-selling novel of the same name, One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into
detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has
something to hide.
W: Erica Saleh
A: Karen M. McManus (based on her novel of the same name)
P: 5 More Minutes Productions (John Sacchi and Matt Groesch)
Studio: UCP
PSYCH 2: LASSIE COME HOME
Logline: Santa Barbara Police Chief
Carlton Lassiter is ambushed on the job and left for dead. In a vintage Psych-style Hitchcockian nod, he begins to see impossible happenings around his recovery clinic. Shawn and Gus return to Lassie’s side in Santa Barbara and are forced to navigate the personal, the professional, and possibly the supernatural. Separated from their new lives in San Francisco, our heroes find themselves unwelcome in their old stomping grounds as they secretly untangle a twisted case without the benefit of the police, their loved ones, or the quality sourdough bakeries of the Bay Area. What they uncover will change the course of their relationships forever.
W/D/EP: Steve Franks
W/EP: James Roday
W: Andy Berman
EP: Chris Henzie
EP: Dulé Hill
Studio: UCP in association with Thruline Entertainment
Cast: James Roday, Dulé Hill, Maggie Lawson, Kirsten Nelson, Corbin Bernsen and Tim Omundson
PUNKY BREWSTER (pilot)
Logline: In this multicamera/hybrid continuation of the iconic 80s sitcom about a bright young girl raised by a foster dad, Punky is now a single mother of three trying to get her life back on track when she meets a young girl who reminds her a lot of her younger self.
W/EP: Steve and Jim Amogida
EP/T: Soleil Moon Frye
EP: Tim Pastore and Jimmy Fox (All3Media America/Main Event Media)
EP: David Duclon
D/EP: Jonathan Judge
Studio: UCP/Universal Television
RUTHERFORD FALLS
Logline: A small town in upstate New York is turned upside down when local legend and town namesake, Nathan Rutherford (Ed Helms) fights the moving of a historic statue.
EP/W/Co-creator/T: Ed Helms
EP/W/Co-creator: Michael Schur
EP/W/Co-creator: Sierra Teller Ornelas
EP/NW: David Miner, Mike Falbo
Studio: Universal Television
Production companies: Fremulon, 3 Arts Entertainment, Pacific Electric Picture Company
SAVED BY THE BELL
Logline: When California governor Zack Morris gets into hot water for closing too many low-income high schools, he proposes they send the affected students to the highest performing schools in the state – including Bayside High. The influx of new students gives the over privileged Bayside kids a much needed and hilarious dose of reality.
EP/W: Tracey Wigfield
P/T: Mario Lopez
P/T: Elizabeth Berkley
EP: Peter Engel, Franco Bario
Studio: Universal Television
STRAIGHT TALK (pilot)
Logline: STRAIGHT TALK examines what happens when two opposing ideologies are forced into an odd coupling. The main characters will be challenged by one another, making the moral lines at which they once stood harder to define.
W/Creator: Kara Brown
D/EP/NW: Rashida Jones
T/EP: Jada Pinkett Smith
EP: Joy Gorman, Bedonna Smith (Anonymous Content)
EP: Deniese Davis (Color Creative)
Studio: Universal Television & Anonymous Content
WHO WROTE THAT
Logline: A docuseries that gives a behind the scenes look at “Saturday Night Live’s” most important writers.
W/EP: Andy Breckman & Susan Morrison
D: Brett Hodge
EP: Lorne Michaels, Andrew Singer, Erin Doyle, Erik Howard (Broadway Video)
EP: Howard Klein (3 Arts)
EP: Derik Murray, Brian Gersh (Network Entertainment)
Associate Producer: Eddie Michaels (Broadway Video)
