TV News Roundup: Showtime Sets ‘The Good Lord Bird’ Premiere Date (Watch)

In today’s TV news roundup, Showtime announced “The Good Lord Bird” will premiere in August, and Netflix released the trailer for the final batch of “Fuller House” episodes.

DATES

Showtime has announced “The Good Lord Bird” will premiere on Aug. 9 at 10 p.m. The limited series from Blumhouse Television is based on James McBride‘s best-selling novel of the same name and told from the point of view of Onion (Joshua Caleb Johnson), a fictional enslaved boy who becomes a member of abolitionist John Brown’s (Ethan Hawke) motley family of soldiers during Bleeding Kansas. Onion eventually finds himself participating in the 1859 raid on the U.S Armory at Harpers Ferry. “The Good Lord Bird” is executive produced by Jason Blum, Ethan Hawke, Ryan Hawke, Mark Richard, Padraic McKinley, Jeremy Gold, Marci Wiseman, Albert Hughes, James McBride, Brian Taylor, Marshall Persinger and David Schiff. Watch a trailer for the new series below.

Lifetime has announced it will premiere its unscripted special “Once Upon a Quarantine” on May 20 at 9 p.m. Featuring self-shot footage over 60 days, the special follows four couples who have been self-filming their shelter-in-place reality during the coronavirus pandemic. The special comes from the Six West Media Group. Executive producers include Amy Winter, Gena McCarthy, Brie Miranda Bryant, Nicole Vogel, Steve Ascher, Kristy Sabat, Kathleen Blake and Matt Solomon; co-executive producers are Allie Breslin and Cindy Keenan.

FIRST LOOKS

Netflix has released a trailer for Hannah Gadsby’s upcoming comedy special “Douglas.” The Australian comic, whose stand-up special “Nanette” earned her a 2019 Emmy Award for variety special writing, named her new special after one of her dogs. It will take viewers “from the dog park to the High Renaissance and back into an unnamed box.” “Hannah Gadsby: Douglas” is set to stream on May 26.

Netflix also has dropped the trailer for the final episodes of “Fuller House.” The series centers around widower D.J Tanner-Fuller (Candace Cameron Bure), Kimmy Gibler (Andrea Barber) and Stephanie Tanner (Jodie Sweetin), who live together in D.J. and Stephanie’s childhood home, raising their families together. In the final batch of episodes, they are planning their triple wedding. The final nine episodes will be available on June 2.

GREENLIGHTS

BET has announced second season pick-ups of “Tyler Perry’s The Oval” and “Tyler Perry’s Sistas.” “The Oval” tells the story of a family placed in the White House by people of power while highlighting the personal and everyday lives of the staff who work there. “Sistas” follows a group of single black women as they navigate their love lives, careers and friendships. Both shows are executive produced, directed and written by Perry. Michelle Sneed will also serve as executive producer of the series for Tyler Perry Studios.

CASTING

Apple TV Plus has announced Common will join The Fraggles in an episode of “Fraggle Rock: Rock On.” Common will join the show for a conversation and participate in a duet of a Fraggle song. Each short episode features new stories and classic Fraggle songs from the characters of the classic ’80s series. The series hails from The Jim Henson Company, and is executive produced by Halle Stanford and John Tartaglia.

PROGRAMMING

Fox Nation has announced it is launching on Cox Contour TV. Cox customers will now have access to Fox Nation through Cox on Demand on Contour, and across devices via the Contour app and portal, as well as the Contour Stream Player. Customers will also have access to Fox Nation’s wide range of content, including historic documentaries, long and short-form programming, extended versions of Fox News Channel’s popular shows, investigative series from several of Fox News personalities and signature specials.

SPECIALS

PBS has announced the launch of “Prideland,” a new one-hour special and short-form digital series hosted by actor Dyllón Burnside that takes viewers on a journey through the southern United States. The series is meant to celebrate and coincide with LGBTQ+ Pride Month. The short-form series will launch on PBS Voices, a new documentary-focused YouTube channel by PBS Digital Studios, on May 26. The companion special will air on June 12 at 9 p.m. on PBS. “Prideland” comes from Tiny Horse. Pamela A. Aguilar is the executive in charge for PBS. Jon Reynaga and Melanie Capacia Johnson serve as executive producers.