In today’s roundup, HBO will air “David Bowie: The Last Five Years” this summer after acquiring the U.S. TV rights, Cartoon Network’s “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” set to premiere in March, and more.
DEALS
HBO has acquired the U.S. TV rights to documentary “David Bowie: The Last Five Years.” Directed and produced by Francis Whately, the film spotlights the legendary singer and actor’s last two albums and Broadway musical, offering new insights into the final five years of Bowie’s life through rarely-seen interviews of the man himself, archival footage, audio from the recording sessions for “The Next Day” and “Blackstar,” and unprecedented access to Bowie’s closest friends and artistic collaborators. Earlier this month, Bowie posthumously swept the 2017 Grammy Awards with five wins for his final album “Blackstar.”
CASTING
Celebrated chef and restaurateur Aarón Sánchez will join Gordon Ramsay and Christina Tosi as the third judge for the upcoming eighth season of “Masterchef” on Fox. Sánchez previously co-starred on “Chopped” and “Chopped Junior,” and is the author of two cookbooks — “Simple Food, Big Flavor: Unforgettable Mexican-Inspired Recipes from My Kitchen to Yours” and “La Comida del Barrio.” He was a also guest judge on season seven of “Masterchef,”and the network has announced he will be featured in upcoming episodes of “Masterchef Junior.”
Former “The Mindy Project” actor Santiago Cabrera has been cast in CBS‘s summer series “Salvation,” a new suspense drama series that centers on an MIT grad student and a tech superstar who discover that an asteroid is just six months away from colliding with Earth. Cabrera will portray Darius, a charming self-made tech billionaire whose greatest project will be an audacious plan to save the human race from an incoming asteroid. Academy Award-nominated director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is in place to direct and serve as exec producer. The show previously announced Jennifer Finnigan, Charlie Rowe, Jacqueline Byers and Ian Anthony Dale as series regulars.
DATES
Cartoon Network has set the premiere of new animated series “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” for Monday, March 6. The series is based on Sony Pictures Animation’s 2009 animated feature of the same name, and its 2013 sequel, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.” The new incarnation takes place before giant food rains down on Swallow Falls, with the original’s central character Flint Lockwood returning as a teenager trying to change the world, one invention at a time.
