Starz announces new content at TCA16

Starz heads to TCA with major new developments

For all you people saying, “What on earth is TCA and why is it all over my social media,” have no fear, we’ve got you covered. TCA stands for “Television Critics Association”, and twice a year they sponsor these press tours where reporters of all kinds can ask casts and creatives about what’s coming up. Those same reporters also get a swanky hotel, lots of free food and some swag, so that’s fun for them. But WE care about TCA because we get loads and loads of great news.

Yesterday we got some great info from Chris Albrecht, the CEO of Starz. Albrecht talked about what’s coming up for the network.

Air Date is Announced for Ash vs. Evil Dead and Blunt Talk

Deadites rejoice! Starz announced that season 2 of Ash vs. Evil Dead will premiere Sunday, October 2nd at 8:00PM ET/PT with an extended episode! From Starz:

“Ash is forced to leave his cushy retirement in Jacksonville, return to his hometown of Elk Grove, Michigan, and mount up once again to face The Evil Dead. This time, he’ll have to form an uneasy alliance with his former enemy Ruby as Elk Grove becomes the nucleus to the most dangerous horror Ash has faced to date.”

The upcoming season will be ten half-hour episodes and from the SDCC panel to the TCA tidbits we heard from the cast should be pretty fantastic.  Bruce Campbell plays Ash Williams; Lucy Lawless is Ruby, who now possesses the powerful Necronomicon; Ray Santiago is Pablo Simon Bolivar, Ash’s loyal sidekick dealing with the trauma he suffered in the cabin; and Dana DeLorenzo is Kelly Maxwell, who plots revenge against The Evil Dead after the death of her parents.  Lee Majors, Ted Raimi, and Michelle Hurd join the cast this year as Brock Williams, Ash’s father, Chet Kaminski, Ash’s childhood best friend, and Linda, Ash’s high school love respectively.

The season premiere of Blunt Talk, called “I Remember That Time More Like a Movie I Saw Than a Life I Lived” will also premiere on Sunday, October 2 at 8:35PM ET/PT with ten half-hour episodes. Looks like October 2nd will be a night of blood, guts and laughs.

Starz is Extending their deal with Curtis “50 cent” Jackson

Jackson is already the executive producer on Power, which has already been renewed for a 4th and 5th season, and Starz has extended his exclusive deal until September 2018 to develop new projects for the network. They also announced their next project, called Tomorrow, Today based on a screenplay written by Jackson on which he will also serve as executive producer.

“I am looking forward to continuing my relationship with my Starz family; we have had great success together on ‘Power’ and I am excited to get going on all of our upcoming projects together.  I knew Starz would be the perfect home for ‘Tomorrow, Today.’ This project is very personal to me…creating it, writing it, finding the best team for it and I will continue to be involved every step of the way.”- Curtis “50 cent” Jackson

Tomorrow, Today is a superhero-themed series.  A Chicago veteran from the south side is falsely imprisoned and becomes the experiment of a crazy prison doctor trying to create the perfect man, but what he becomes is a killing machine. He’s set free but lives on the run from a world that hates him, but tries to use his newfound powers for good.

Three New Series

In addition to the above announcements, Starz announced three new obsessable other projects. Dirty Girls Social Club, based on the novel by Alisa Valdes, is a half hour series about six professional women who have been friends ten years living and working in New York City. Teresa is based on a Mexican telenovela and focuses on the title character, a Latina woman clawing her way to the top of the elite in Los Angeles as it chronicles her ruthless pursuit of money and power. Finally, Starz is also developing Pussy Valley, an hour-long drama about pole dancers in the Mississippi delta working at a fictional club called the Pink Pony. Written and created by Katori Hall, this series will take an unflinching look at the southern strip club world. From the official Starz statement:

“On the quest for money, power, and respect, each woman must make a choice. For some it’s a step down, for others a step up, as the Pink Pony stage constantly shape-shifts between a platform for freedom and a gilded cage.”

Between tried and true content (Ash vs. Evil Dead, Blunt Talk, Power) and pretty awesome new content in development (Tomorrow, Today; Dirty Girls Social Club, Teresa & Pussy Valley), Starz is building a solid base as a network to watch for original content.  What do you think? Are you excited about what Starz has coming up in the pipeline?