IMDB TV Renews ‘Almost Paradise’ for Season 2; HBO Max Unveils Premiere Date for ‘Tokyo Vice’ (TV News Roundup)
IMDb TV has announced that it has picked up a second season of “Almost Paradise,” the American-Filipino crime drama series starring Christian Kane.
Originally a WGN America show, “Almost Paradise” stars Kane as Alex Walker, a U.S. DEA agent who is betrayed by his partner and forced into an early retirement. Walker relocates to the Philippines, where he runs a gift shop in a resort hotel, and slowly gets pulled into the criminal underworld of the island. Samantha Richelle and Arthur Acu?a also star. The series is notable for being the first American scripted TV production to shoot entirely in the Philippines.
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“Almost Paradise” originally premiered on WGN America in March 30, 2020, before the network rebranded as NewsNation. The series is showrun by Dean Devlin and Gary Rosen, who also executive produce alongside Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan-Wilson. The first season is currently available to stream for free on IMDb TV.
Also in today’s TV news roundup:
DATES
HBO Max has announced that its new crime drama miniseries “Tokyo Vice” will premiere on the platform April 7. The series, a co-production with Endeavor Content and Japanese broadcaster Wowow, is based on the 2009 memoir of the same name by Jake Adelstein, an American journalist who moved to Japan to cover the Tokyo police force. Ansel Elgort stars as Adelstein, with Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Ella Rumpf, Hideaki Ito, Show Kasamatsu and Tomohisa Yamashita rounding out the ensemble. Playwright J.T. Rogers created and wrote the series, while Michael Mann directed the pilot episode. The series is executive produced Rogers, Mann, Adelstein, Elgort, Watanabe, Alan Poul, Emily Gerson Saines, Brad Kane, Destin Daniel Cretton, Kayo Washio and John Lesher. The series will premiere with three episodes, followed by two new episodes every Thursday through April 28. HBO Max has also released a first look image of the show: view below.
EVENTS
CultureCon, a conference for entertainment leaders of color, has announced its plans to return to in-person programming after a two-year hiatus. The conference will host events in three cities this year, with a conference taking place in Atlanta on May 7 and another taking place in New York on Oct. 8. In addition, CultureCon will host a pop-up event in Los Angeles from June 16-18. All events will be include both in person and virtual activities. Founded by Imani Ellis, CultureCon is produced by The Creative Collective NYC, a creative agency for artists of color. Past attendees include Will Smith, Spike Lee, Tracee Ellis Ross, John Legend, Regina King, Lena Waithe, Coleman Domingo, Sanaa Lathan and Keke Palmer.
GREENLIGHTS
Netflix announced two new series orders on Tuesday: “Not Quite Narwhal” and “Dew Drop Diaries.” Both are animated preschool series produced by DreamWorks Animation, which also produced the popular kids series “Gabby’s Dollhouse.” “Not Quite Narwhal” tells the story of rambunctious narwhal named Kelp who discovers that he is actually a unicorn, and is based on the children’s book by Jessie Sima. “Dew Drop Diaries” follows a group of fairies, known as dew drops, who live in a big city and keep things running smoothly behind-the-scenes. “Narwhal” co-executive producers are Brian Roberts, Nakia Trower and Sarah Katin, while “Dew Drop” is created and executive produced by Rick Suvalle. Both series have been ordered for two seasons, in addition to an additional 20 episodes being ordered for “Gabby’s Dollhouse,” which is produced by Traci Paige Johnson and Jennifer Twomey.
STREAMING
AspireTV has announced the launch of its new FAST streaming service AspireTV Life. The free ad-supported streaming television channel, which is currently available on The Roku Channel and Klowd TV, offers programming related to Black culture and lifestyle. Shows available on debut include cooking shows “Butter & Brown” and “G. Garvin Live” and design series “Unboxed with Nikki Chu,” “World Wide Nate” and “HBCU 101,” among others. AspireTV is a brand of UP Entertainment.
Fox Weather, Fox News Media’s free ad-supported streaming television weather service, has expanded its availability to new platforms, the company has announced. The service debuted last week on Youtube TV, was added to Amazon News on Monday and is available to stream on The Roku Channel this Tuesday. In addition, the channel will be launched on fuboTV and Xumo later this month. The channel is also available on Fox Television Studios Diginet channels in 17 markets and will simulcast one hour every weekday and two hours per weekend on 11 Fox Television Studios duopoly channels. The service originally launched in October 2021, on Google Play and the Apple App Store.
LATE NIGHT
Channing Tatum and David Oyelowo will appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” this Tuesday.
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