Behind the Scenes Buzz

Jan 21, 2020 | 6:21 AM

FOX TV GREENLIGHTS CENTRAL AVE: The weekly entertainment news magazine Central Ave, from producer Will Packer and Lionsgate‘s Debmar-Mercury, has the go-ahead from Fox. Two half-hour shows per week tackling pop culture and other topics from a “socially conscious and diverse lens,” per Debmar, will be produced. Former BET personality Julissa Bermudez and Olympic track star Sanya Richards-Ross are hosting. Central Ave had a test run in November.

PROPHETS SET: The third collaboration between 1917 co-screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns and Neal Street Productions is in the works. Dubbed Prophets, it is described as a “darkly comic thriller,” though no other details were available, per The Hollywood Reporter. Wilson-Cairns is also working on a project with Focus Features. Titled Last Night in Soho, it is due out in September.

APPLE TV PLUS ANNOUNCES PREMIERE DATES: Steven Spielberg‘s Amazing Stories is set to drop five episodes on Apple TV March 6th. Home, which bills itself as a “never-before-seen look inside the world’s most innovative homes,” will launch April 17 with nine episodes. Defending Jacob, based on the 2012 novel of the same name by William Landay, will premiere on April 24th with three episodes. Trying, from the U.K., will drop May 1st. The animated musical comedy Central Park, from Josh Gad and Nora Smith, is set to drop in the summer. Kristen Bell, Gad and Leslie Odom, Jr. are among the voice talent.

DAVIS GUGGENHEIM, JONATHAN KING, LAURENE POWELL JOBS LAUNCH STUDIO: The Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth), former Participant honcho Jonathan King and Laurene Powell Jobs are teaming up with Emerson Collective to launch Concordia Studio. The company will focus on nonfiction and scripted film series, plus streaming content.