'Nashville' set for January launch on CMT
Nashville is one step closer to making its CMT debut.
The country music drama, which was canceled by ABC in May after four seasons and picked up by CMT the following month, is set to premiere on the Viacom-owned cable channel in January, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Nashville's fifth season will kick off with a special two-hour premiere on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 9 p.m. As part of the CMT pact, new episodes of the Connie Britton-led series will be available to stream on Hulu the day after they air on CMT. The upcoming fifth season will also mark the first for incoming showrunners Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz (thirtysomething).
Nashville is one just part of CMT's push into scripted original programming. The cabler also has limited series Million Dollar Quartet (working title), which is set to bow in March. The eight-part series centers on the birth of rock 'n' roll as told through the eyes of Memphis musicians like Sam Phillips (played by Chad Michael Murray), Elvis Presley (Drake Milligan), Johnny Cash (Kevin Fonteyne) and Jerry Lee Lewis (Christian Lees), among others.
Read more: 'Nashville': Connie Britton, Hayden Panettiere and More Returning for Season 5
The second season of CMT's scripted comedy Still the King will also launch sometime this spring. The half-hour stars Billy Ray Cyrus as a one-hit-wonder turned Elvis impersonator who learns he has a 15-year-old daughter he's never met.
As part of that scripted push, CMT has also ordered a pilot for His Wives & Daughters. Described as a soapy, comedy, the project centers on the eclectic wives and daughters of country music legend (and infamous womanizer) Eddie Ray Banks. After his estranged family is brought together, tempers flare, old rivalries resurface and an unforgettable mystery begins to unfold.
Dina Chapman and Steve Sessions (Still the King) created the hourlong project and will exec produce with CMT's Jayson Dinsmore and Julia Silverton. Casting is underway for the pilot, which will begin production this fall. Chapman is repped by ICM. The pilot pickup comes a week after CMT ordered a script for a Varsity Blues reboot.
CMT's original series slate also includes unscripted entries I Love Kellie Pickler and Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.
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