Fox announced that lawyer, journalist and former “The View” co-host Star Jones has been appointed judge of the first-run syndicated series “Divorce Court,” starting in September.
As television’s longest running court show, “Divorce Court” dates back to the late 1950’s, when actors used to reenact actual divorce proceedings. Today, the program features real people and real cases — ranging from divorce court proceedings to other domestic disputes.
Judge Faith Jenkins will continue through the end of Season 23 and Jones will join for Season 24. Jones, a former assistant district attorney in New York and former legal correspondent on NBC’s “Today Show,” “Nightly News” and more, said that she will “offer the parties before ‘Divorce Court,’ as well as viewers, a no-nonsense approach to the law and a decision driven by my proven legal expertise, compassion and empathy, personal experiences and hard-earned common sense.”
“Divorce Court” is produced by Lincolnwood Productions and distributed by Fox First Run. Sonja Solomun serves as executive in charge.
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Also in today’s TV News roundup:
EVENTS
The ATX Television Festival has announced the first programming for its Season 11 lineup, and “Parenthood” and “Justified” reunions are in store. Reunion participants from “Parenthood,” a family drama that ran for 6 seasons, include creator/showrunner Jason Katims, executive producer/writer David Hudgins, executive producer/director Lawrence Trilling, and stars Dax Shepard, Erika Christensen, Joy Bryant, Mae Whitman and Craig T. Nelson. Creative team members from the six-season drama “Justified” will also reunite — with participants including creator/executive producer Graham Yost, executive producer/director Michael Dinner, executive producer Sarah Timberman, and writer/producers Taylor Elmore, Fred Golan, Dave Andron, Chris Provenzano, Benjamin Cavell, Gary Lennon, Ingrid Escajeda, VJ Boyd and Wendy Calhoun. This year’s ATX Television Festival will return to an in-person event after going virtual in 2020 and 2021; it will take place June 2 to 5 in Austin.
PROGRAMMING
Serhant Studios, the in-house film studio and production team managing content for Ryan Serhant’s real estate and media company, has announced its original programming for the first quarter of 2022, as well as shows that are currently in development. “Creating Spaces” (formerly called “Rented”) is a returning series that explores the spaces that influencers live in. The new season premiered Jan. 4. Another returning series is “Staged,” which presents the process of staging luxury homes for sale with Serhant agent Ashlei De Souza as host. The coming season is set to premiere March 1. “Realtors React” is a new web series that premiered Jan. 6. It features Serhant agents reacting to pop culture- and real estate-related media. Shows in development and upcoming pilots include “Touring the Most” (premiering Jan. 27), which follows Serhant agent Jordan Hurt as he visits the most unique real estate listings across the country; the “Untitled Chloe Tucker Production” (premiering Jan. 13), which follows Serhant agent Chloe Tucker as she guides social media influencers through the process of finding their dream home; “Weekend Goals” (premiering Feb. 10), featuring weekend getaways in the Greater New York area, and “Full Disclosure” (premiere date TBD), where Serhant agent Maggie Chong takes an in-depth look at issues in America through the lens of real estate.
CASTING
Fox News Channel named Jessica Loker as vice president of politics and senior executive producer of Fox News Sunday, the network’s one-hour Sunday public affairs program. Loker, who most recently served as executive producer for Fox News Sunday and previously worked as senior producer for Fox Report with Shepard Smith, will oversee political newsgathering and logistics in addition to managing the program. Alan Komissaroff will continue overseeing political coverage as the senior vice president of news & politics.
“Terror Lake Drive,” an AllBlk thriller series about terrorized tenants in the fictional Freeman Lake Apartments, has announced the lead cast for its second season (which will be called “Single Black Female”). Season 2 takes place two years after the events that haunted Freeman Lake in the show’s first season. Tony Award-nominated actress Pascale Armand will star as Deja, a traveling nurse who moves into the apartment complex with a doula named Shana (Yolanda Ross), unknowingly becoming the next target of Freeman Lake. Other cast members include Charles Malik Whitfield, Denise Boutte and Kendrick Cross. The newest installment of the anthology series is created by Jerry LaMothe and Kajuana S. Marie. The director of “Single Black Female” is LaMothe, who also serves as executive producer alongside Marie and Jumaane Ford. Errol Sadler, Chris Bongirne and Samad Davis serve as producers on the series. The 7-episode second season is set to premiere in June 2022.
FIRST LOOKS
Hulu released a trailer for Season 2 of “Dollface,” which is set to return to the streaming platform on Feb. 11, with 10 new episodes. The new season follows Jules (Kat Dennings) and her best friends (Brenda Song, Shay Mitchell and Esther Povitsky) as they navigate work, love and deeper relationships with each other. “Dollface” was created by Jordan Weiss, who serves as executive producer alongside showrunner Michelle Nader, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Josey McNamara, Bryan Unkeless, Scott Morgan, Kat Dennings and Nicole King. The series is produced by ABC Signature. See the trailer below.
EXECUTIVES
Culture House announced an expansion including a new Los Angeles office led by founding partner Carri Twigg and the hiring of Jaimie Woo as senior development producer and Kristie Lutz as executive in charge of production. Reporting to Twigg, Woo will lead development for Culture House’s documentary and unscripted projects in addition to serving as lead consultant. Her previous experiences include working for Joe Biden, Sam Esmail and as a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant in the entertainment industry. She is also a founding board member of Young Entertainment Activists. Based in New York and reporting to founding partner Nicole Galovski, Lutz will oversee production management across documentary, unscripted and branded content. She previously served in creative positions at HBO, Adult Swim and Univision producing original content for broadcast, streaming and the web.
