Quibi aims to launch April 6 with 5,000 quick-bite videos. The millennial-targeted mobile streamer is racing to the starting gate, announcing two new shows.
British comedian James Veitch will host “Q Talks.” The freewheeling comedy show has a novel concept: Celebrities give expert talks on topics new to them, presented on a rigged teleprompter. To keep the action going, they have to do whatever the prompter tells them.
On the fiction front, “Ice Cream Man” is a horror-fantasy series based on the Image Comics comic book created by W. Maxwell Prince. It is a nasty tale in which the Ice Cream Man delivers pain to suburbanites for his own twisted amusement. The stories are scary and macabre, revealing the dark side of the American psyche. Or as the Quibi bills it: “Pick a flavor: Chocolate, vanilla, spider, blood or bleach! Have another scoop, on the house!”
Two brothers, Adam and Max Reid, are writing “Ice Cream Man” — they also wrote the compelling crime drama “Sneaky Pete” on Amazon Prime Video.
Universal Content Productions, a unit of NBCUniversal Content Studios, is producing “Ice Cream Man.” The studio is also behind “The Umbrella Academy” (Netflix), “Homecoming” (Amazon), “The Act” (Hulu) and (“Dr. Death,” “Brave New World”) for the upcoming Peacock.
In addition, meteorologist Jordan Steele has been tapped as the weekday host for “Weather Today,” part of Quibi’s Daily Essentials programming lineup. Prior to joining the Weather Channel, he was the chief meteorologist for KING-TV in Seattle.
New cast members have been added to “Swimming With Sharks,” the reboot of the 1994 film that lacerates the Hollywood studio system. Erika Alexander (“Black Lightning”), Gerardo Celasco (“How to Get Away With Murder” and Ross Butler (“13 Reasons Why”) will join Kiernan Shipka and Diane Kruger.
Last week, Quibi announced the 2020 class of “Prodigy,” the working title of a new documentary series that highlights eight young athletes (21 or younger) expected to become stars in their chosen sports. Also on board, “Micro Mayhem” is a stop-motion animation series, created by Eric Towner (“Robot Chicken”), in which cars are the main characters.
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