News

CBS Mornings co-host and CBS sports analyst Nate Burleson and TikTok/YouTube star Charli D’Amelio have been tapped to co-host Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards 2023.

Meanwhile, Stranger Things leads the nominees with a total of six mentions.

This year, the awards show, which will air live March 4 at 7 p.m. Et/Pt, has a new venue: the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The Kids’ Choice Awards, with its signature sliming of winners and celebrities, honor fan favorites across film, television, music, sports and more.

“Hosting [Nickelodeon’s] NFL Slimetime is always a blast, and I can’t wait to bring that same energy and slime as co-host of the iconic Kids’ Choice Awards.” Burleson said. “I grew up on Nickelodeon and my kids still love watching, so we’re all ready for the stunts, surprises and superstars that await us at this year’s show.”

Added D’Amelio: “I got...

In a sign of its serious U.S. expansion plans, leading Canadian TV production company Shaftesbury Films has signed with WMA.

The agency already brokered Shaftesbury's first major U.S. series deal, NBC's recent 13-episode pickup of the company's upcoming drama series The Listener.

Motivated by the prolonged writers strike, the U.S. broadcasters turned their attention to shows produced north of the border. Several Canadian series, including CTV's dramas Listener and Flashpoint as well as CBC's comedy Sophie, landed episodic pickups by U.S. nets last week, and a few more are under consideration.

"There seems to be a new pattern emerging at American TV networks, which have lately become more open to working with production companies outside the U.S.," Shaftesbury Films chairman and CEO Christina Jennings said.

For the past 10 years, Shaftesbury had been repped in the U.S. by the Alpern Group's Jeff Alpern. Alpern was involved in brokering Shaftesbury's deal with WMA and will continue to manage the company's interests.

TORONTO -- While Canadian broadcasters cue up homegrown drama sales to U.S. networks during the WGA strike, they also have begun mulling how to buy U.S. network series if the traditional upfronts and Los Angeles Screenings in May are canceled.

Talk of contingency plans came as NBC and Canada's CTV on Friday confirmed NBC's pickup of CTV's drama The Listener. The U.S. net has ordered 13 episodes of the Shaftesbury Films-produced series, in preproduction with shooting set to begin in the spring.

"This deal is another example of us reaching out to the international community to find innovative and interesting programming," NBC executive vp Teri Weinberg said.

The NBC sale follows another new CTV drama, Flashpoint, going to CBS earlier last week as U.S. networks turn to Canada for fresh content during the writers strike.

"It's been an incredible week", said Susanne Boyce, president of creative, content and channels at CTV. "Two different series, two different American networks, two different producers -- one huge success for CTV's original development team."

Also Friday, ABC Family and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. confirmed ABC Family's 13-episode pickup of Sophie, a new comedy from Montreal-based Sphere Media.