Starz Taps Music Artist Fat Joe for New Talk Show
Network also greenlights ‘Sweetpea’ drama series
Starz has greenlit a new talk show featuring hip Hop artist/entrepreneur Fat Joe as well as a new original drama series starring Yellowjackets star Ella Purnell, the network announced Thursday during the Television Critics Association.
The Fat Joe Talks interview series will feature the actor and philanthropist as he provides access into the lives of today’s most influential personalities who drive the cultural zeitgeist, according to the network. The series will offer conversations around a wide range of newsworthy topics and will travel throughout the country to meet cultural icons in their environment.
Embassy Row will produce the series along with SpringHill, according to Starz. Executive producers for the show include Fat Joe, LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Phillip Byron, Jamal Henderson and Michael Davies will serve as executive producers.
“Fat Joe Talks is an exciting foray into talk, and who better than Joe – a legend in and of himself – to drive provocative conversations that tap into the zeitgeist and matter to our audience,” Starz president of original programming Kathryn Busby said in a statement. “We are thrilled to be working with Joe and our partners at SpringHill and Embassy Row to launch this incredible show, offering authentic, backstage, rare access to these cultural icons.”
Sweetpea, set to debut later this year, stars Purnell as a quiet wallflower who develops a vengeful and intoxicatingly liberating taste for murder, according to Starz. The six-part series also stars Nicole Lecky, Jon Pointing, Calam Lynch and Leah Harvey.
“We’re excited to partner with Ella Purnell and Sky Studios on such a fresh, boundary-breaking story,” Starz president of domestic networks Alison Hoffman said. “This darkly, comic tale of revenge is sure to thrill viewers, as Ella’s performance as a woman who finds her voice and claims her agency in ways that are devious and shocking.”
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R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.