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TNT Renews Popular Drama Series LEVERAGE for Second Season. Acclaimed Series, Starring Oscar® Winner Timothy Hutton, Ranks as Ad-Supported Cable’s #1 Entertainment Program in the Tuesday 10 p.m. (ET/PT) Timeslot. Series Averages 3.2 Million Viewers and Scores Big Growth Through Time-Shifted Viewing.
LEVERAGE currently airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), with the second season slated to begin later this year. The series is produced by Dean Devlin’s Electric Entertainment. Dean Devlin (Independence Day, TNT’s The Librarian movie series), John Rogers (Cosby) and Chris Downey (The King of Queens) serve as executive producers. International rights are being handled by Voltage Pictures and headed up by President Nicolas Chartier.
LEVERAGE ranks as ad-supported cable’s #1 entertainment program in the Tuesday 10 p.m. (ET/PT) timeslot among viewers, households and adults 25-54. The Dec. 7 premiere was watched by 5.6 million viewers and scored TNT’s best original series telecast ever in delivery of adults 18-49 during the regular broadcast season. Through its first nine episodes, LEVERAGE has averaged 3.2 million viewers and 1.4 million adults 18-49 in Live + Same Day viewing. The first six episodes scored strong growth when comparing Live to Live + 7 numbers, with total viewership rising 33% to 4.1 million and adults 18-49 rising 42% to 1.9 million.
“We’re thrilled that audiences and critics have responded so positively to LEVERAGE and made the show a solid hit,” Wright said. “We look forward to another great season of fun and exciting storylines brought to life by the outstanding cast, led by Timothy Hutton, and the incredible production team, headed up by executive producers Dean Devlin and John Rogers.”
LEVERAGE follows a team of thieves, hackers and grifters who seek revenge against those who use power and wealth to victimize people. Hutton stars as a former insurance investigator whose son died as a result of corporate greed. He now puts his energy, quick mind and keen intellect toward securing justice for society’s underdogs.
“We had an amazing experience shooting the first season of LEVERAGE with such a talented cast and crew and with the full support of TNT behind us,” Devlin said. “We can’t wait to get to work on season two and take viewers on another adventure with Nate and his team.”
LEVERAGE is part of an ongoing collaboration between TNT and Devlin. Previously, he executive-produced The Librarian action-adventure movies starring Noah Wyle (ER). The third installment in the franchise, The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice, premiered as the lead-in to the first episode of LEVERAGE.
The renewal of LEVERAGE is the latest move by TNT in its aggressive strategy to ramp up original series production. The network recently announced that it is greenlighting two new series: Time Heals, a character-driven medical drama starring Jada Pinkett Smith (The Women, The Matrix Trilogy), and the fast-paced, undercover police drama The Line, starring Golden Globe® winner Dylan McDermott (The Practice, TNT’s The Grid).
TNT’s success with original series includes the critically acclaimed The Closer, ad-supported cable’s #1 series of all time; Saving Grace, which averages more than 5 million viewers; and Raising the Bar, which set a new ad-supported cable viewership record when it premiered on Labor Day 2008. The network’s latest original series, the light-hearted drama Trust Me, starring Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh, premiered Jan. 26, with 3.4 million viewers.
Electric Entertainment is a full-service film, television and new media production company, established in 2001 by veteran writer/producer Dean Devlin (Independence Day, Stargate, The Patriot) and led by Devlin, along with partners Kearie Peak, Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan. Electric is in pre-production on the feature film Ghosting, a supernatural thriller that Devlin will produce and direct. Electric’s previous films include the World War I action/adventure Flyboys; the politically charged documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?; Cellular, starring Kim Basinger, Chris Evans and Jessica Biel; and Eight Legged Freaks, with David Arquette and Scarlett Johansson. The company’s television credits include The Librarian: Quest for the Spear, starring Noah Wyle, which aired on TNT in December 2004 and was the highest-rated movie on cable that year; its sequel, The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines; and Sci Fi’s The Triangle, which won a visual effects Emmy and was the highest-rated miniseries on the cable channel since Steven Spielberg Presents Taken. Electric Entertainment recently teamed with TNT for the crime thriller Blank Slate, starring Eric Stoltz, a microseries that debuted in fall 2008 on the network, as well as on www.tnt.tv. Blank Slate will be re-packaged and distributed on mobile devices, home video and broadcast television. Additionally, Electric Entertainment owns and operates the online independent film magazine IF (www.IFmagazine.com), which reports the entertainment industry’s daily news. Founded in March 2005, Voltage Pictures is a sales and financing company. Their latest titles include THE HURT LOCKER, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, the new untitled George A. Romero project, SPREAD starring Ashton Kutcher and THE KEEPER starring Steven Seagal.
Turner Network Television (TNT), one of cable’s top-rated networks, is television’s destination for drama and home to such original series as the acclaimed and highly popular detective drama The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick; Saving Grace, starring Holly Hunter; Raising the Bar, with Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Gloria Reuben and Jane Kaczmarek; Leverage, starring Timothy Hutton; and Trust Me, with Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh. TNT also presents such powerful dramas as Bones, Cold Case, Law & Order, Without a Trace, ER and Charmed; broadcast premiere movies; compelling primetime specials, such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards®; and championship sports coverage, including NASCAR and the NBA. TNT is available in high-definition.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.
CONTACTS: For Electric Entertainment: Mariah O’Hara 310-248-6177
Michelle Sisco Atlanta 404/885-4784
Heather Sautter Atlanta 404/885-0746 Popularity: 89% [?] |
Leverage Picked Up for 2nd Season
2 Nominations for Librarian 3
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After premiering to over 5.4 million viewers and rave reviews, Electric Entertainment’s “The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice” has been nominated for two awards. “The Librarian” has been nominated for an Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Award with production designer Robb Wilson King being recognized for his work in the “Television Movie or Mini-Series” category. Additionally, the television movie’s editor, David J. Siegel, A.C.E., has been nominated for an ACE Eddie Award for “Best Edited Miniseries or Motion Picture For Commercial Television.” The winners will be announced on February 14th and 15th respectively. Popularity: 54% [?] |
‘The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice’ Review
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by Mark McNamara Dracula, Judas and Noah Wyle combine for the type of high-end family entertainment typical of the franchise. There’s a vampire theme in “The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice,” which in these “Twilight”/”True Blood” days might feel like, um, overkill, but try not to let it bother you. For one thing, like its predecessors “Quest for the Spear” and “Return to King Solomon’s Mines,” this third “Librarian” film is an old-fashioned family flick with an emphasis on humor, adventure and chaste romance over disturbing sexual metaphor. It stars, once again, the doe-eyed, PG-appealing Noah Wyle as Flynn Carsen, a callow brainiac pried out of his 15-year college plan to work for the mysterious Metropolitan Library, where, under the watchful eyes of the head librarian (Bob Newhart), many treasures of yore are kept safe. There’s Pandora’s box and Excalibur, the Ark of the Covenant (apparently whatever Indiana Jones found was a fake) and a real live unicorn. Flynn’s job is to procure more of the same, usually a half a step ahead of some dastardly band with nefarious plans. “Curse of the Judas Chalice” opens in Bucharest (and really, all you have to do is flash “Bucharest” across the screen to know something at least semi-wicked this way comes), where the frail but feisty Professor Lazlo (Bruce Davison) is finishing up a lecture on Romanian history, after which he ruefully acknowledges that all anyone cares about is Vlad the Impaler, a.k.a. Dracula. Minutes later, Lazlo is kidnapped by Russians searching for the cup made from the 30 coins paid to Judas for his betrayal of Jesus. They hope to use it to reanimate, you guessed it, Dracula. Meanwhile, our man Flynn has problems of his own. He’s bidding on a Ming vase that has its own little secret, but he’s also trying to placate his girlfriend, who’s getting sick of him disappearing for no good reason (his adventures are, of course, secret). He gets the vase but loses the girl and finds himself reading the riot act to the head librarian and his curmudgeonly head of personnel (Jane Curtin). So instead of accepting the assignment to find Lazlo, he goes on vacation. A dream of a beautiful woman takes him to New Orleans, where he not only finds her, Day One, but he is also instantly drawn into the whole Judas chalice situation. Soon he’s racing around colorful New Orleans with a canny local sidekick and the mysterious Simone (Stana Katic), trying to stop a bunch of guys who are probably all named Boris from bringing Dracula back to life. See, when you say it out loud, it sounds silly. But it’s very fun to watch, and if the theory that Judas Iscariot was the world’s first vampire might not stand up, well, it’s as nifty a plot twist as any. It helps that Katic is as good as she is, but what’s great about “Curse of the Judas Chalice” and the Librarian films in general is that they are the rarest of breeds — high-end family entertainment. (Writer Marco Schnabel and director Jonathan Frakes again did the honors.) Wyle is funny and charming and dispenses just enough fascinating arcane knowledge to keep things semi-educational, the special effects are great, Newhart and Curtin are always great to see, the ubiquitous Davison (“Knight Rider”) is obviously having a blast as Lazlo, and really, who doesn’t like a good vampire story? Popularity: 67% [?] |
