TNT and TBS president Kevin Reilly will look to put his official stamp on the two Turner networks with several new brand and content development initiatives.
Reilly, who was tapped to head the two networks last November, said during Turner’s upfront presentation Wednesday morning that the two networks will receive a “makeover” that will sharpen TBS’s comedy focus and TNT’s action/drama programming format through the development of new original programming.
Among the new pilots for TNT are Will, a series about a young William Shakespeare, and Animal Kingdom, a family crime drama set in a gritty surf community.
TBS will add 15 new scripted and unscripted series over the next two years as part of its brand and programming “reposition” set to begin by end of year, Reilly said.
The network announced two new pilot series -- Wrecked, a newly greenlit ensemble comedy from writers Justin Shipley and Jordan Shipley and executive producer Jesse Hara, and The Group, about alien abductees from Conan O’Brien and Greg Daniels (The Office) – that will join already announced series Angie Tribeca and The Detour. The network will also launch this fall Separation Anxiety, a relationship-based game show with a unique twist.
Also previously announced was Turner's move into music with the Live Nation Music Awards, airing Oct. 1 on both TBS and TNT.
"The new TBS will have a huge slate of awesomely in-your-face and effortlessly diverse programming, while TNT will continue to deliver great drama and live event specials, but our presentation and portfolio will look dramatically different," Reilly said.
