LIONSGATE’S DEBMAR-MERCURY & WILL PACKER DEBUT ENTERTAINMENT & POP CULTURE MAGAZINE SHOW CENTRAL AVE THIS WEEKEND IN OVER 200 MARKETS NATIONWIDE
Following 2019’s Successful Weekday Test, the Provocative, Socially Conscious and Diverse Magazine Will Launch for the Full 2020-21 Season with Two Original Weekly Half-Hour Episodes
Sold to a Robust Roster of Syndication Partners Including FOX Television Stations, Sinclair, CBS and The CW-Plus, among many Others
Los Angeles and New York, September 24, 2020 – Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury and record-breaking producer Will Packer (Night School, Girls Trip) will bring back the nationally syndicated, multicultural, investigative entertainment & pop culture magazine show CENTRAL AVE for the full 2020-21 season on Saturday, September 26, with two original weekly half-hour episodes.
Following a limited run last year, the half-hour series will air in 210 markets including on FOX Television Stations, Sinclair, CBS and The CW-Plus, delivering relevant entertainment and pop culture stories through a provocative, socially conscious and diverse lens.
Veteran entertainment reporter Julissa Bermudez (BET's 106 & Park, Empire Girls) and four-time Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross return to their historic roles as the first two women of color to host an entertainment magazine show.
“Central Ave has changed the way audiences view and relate to pop culture and the entertainment world,” said Will Packer. “The diverse and powerful stories featured on this show are meant to provoke, infuriate and inspire people to make positive changes that will impact our society and the world around us.”
Co-Creator Monique Chenault will serve as showrunner of Central Ave and, together with Packer and Will Packer Media’s Kelly Smith, executive producer.
“Painstakingly positioned to be an authority on what drives popular culture, Central Ave is fully committed to investigating and examining the entertainment, trends and celebrities that are making the greatest impact. The audience will get in-depth, comprehensive storytelling through a culturally diverse lens that stems from a richly diverse editorial team behind the scenes,” Chenault said about the vison of the show.
The series also features a diverse group of skilled correspondents with different areas of expertise; Van Lathan, along with Kennedy-Rue McCollough, Sloane Glass, Melissa McCarty, Neima Abdulahi and Zack Greenburg.
Debmar-Mercury Co-Presidents Ira Bernstein and Mort Marcus said, “Central Ave will add a much-needed voice to this genre at such a critical juncture in our history. We’re proud to be collaborating with Will, Monique and the great team they have assembled for this breakthrough series that, above all else, we find to be informative and very entertaining.”
For further information and local listings, visit: https://centralavetv.com/
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About Debmar-Mercury
Debmar-Mercury, an innovative leading media company specializing in syndication, network, cable and ancillary markets, produces and distributes The Wendy Williams Show and Central Ave, a co-production with producer Will Packer’s Will Packer Media. it has U.S. distribution rights to FremantleMedia North America’s Steve Harvey-hosted Family Feud and, starting in September 2020, Schitt’s Creek, the critically acclaimed half-hour, single-camera scripted comedy created by Eugene Levy and Daniel Levy, which ranked as the No. 1 original series on Pop TV and scored the first-ever sweep of all comedy categories at this year’s Primetime Emmys. Other returning series include Caught in Providence, which it produces (together with Citylife Productions) and distributes, now in its second season in national syndication and on social media; Comedy Central’s off-Netflix episodes of BoJack Horseman from Michael Eisner’s privately held media and entertainment company, The Tornante Company; as well as U.S. distribution rights to the 10/90 sitcoms Debmar-Mercury pioneered including Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and spinoff Meet the Browns; Revolution/CubeVision’s Are We There Yet? (starring Ice Cube); and the Debmar-Mercury / Lionsgate Television comedy Anger Management (starring Charlie Sheen). Debmar-Mercury is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B), a premier next generation global content leader.
About Will Packer Media
Led by Hollywood producer Will Packer, Will Packer Media is a first-of-its-kind production and branded content company focused on the New American Mainstream audience, with an urban millennial core. In partnership with Discovery, Inc. and Universal Pictures, the company produces episodic scripted and unscripted series across television and digital platforms, compelling content for brand clients and short-form digital content for millennial audiences. Will Packer’s films have earned more than $1 billion, with ten opening at number one at the box office.
Contact:
For Central Ave:
Jamila Osouna; [email protected]
Tianna Robinson; [email protected]
For Will Packer Media:
Keith Estabrook; [email protected]
For Debmar-Mercury:
Jim Benson, [email protected]