Television Academy Foundation Adds Nne Ebong and Jamila Hunter to Board of Directors (TV News Roundup)

The Television Academy Foundation named two new members to its board of directors: Nne Ebong, vice president of overall deals for series at Netflix, and Jamila Hunter, executive vice president of programming and development at Freeform. Both have been elected to three-year terms.

At Netflix, Ebong leads the development of original series under creative partnerships with Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland, Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions and others. She joined Netflix after serving as creative lead at film and television studio Wiip, where she developed and produced projects for cable, streaming and the international marketplace. Her projects at Wiip included HBO’s “The White House Plumbers” and Amazon’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” Ebong also developed series such as “Scandal,” “How to Get Away with Murder,” and “American Crime” while heading drama development for ABC Studios from 2013 to 2018.

Ebong’s humanitarian work includes being a “big sister” through The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles. She also mentors for Who’s in the Room, the Time’s Up program aiming to diversify executive and producer positions in entertainment.

Hunter oversees all of Freeform’s scripted and unscripted development and current originals. Previously, she has served as vice president and senior vice president of ABC Comedy, working on such sitcom as “Black-ish” and “Last Man Standing” and overseeing the launch of the rebooted “Roseanne,” which became “The Conners.” She then served as president of Kenya Barris’ production company Khalabo Ink Society before returning to Disney in 2020. She has also held positions in comedy and alternative and digital programming at NBC, Bravo, OWN and 20th Century Fox Television.

Hunter serves on the boards of the Ghetto Film School and HBCU in Los Angeles, which both aim to diversify the talent pipeline. She also works with Women in Film and Arts for L.A. and serves as a peer group advisor for the Television Academy’s executive peer group.

Also in today’s TV news roundup:

FIRST LOOKS

Netflix released a trailer and key art and announced new guest stars for Season 5 of “Big Mouth,” premiering Nov. 5. The animated series follows a group of middle schoolers through the process of puberty, which is represented by different “hormone monsters.” New guest stars include Adam Scott, Jemaine Clement, Kristen Schaal, Kumail Nanjiani and Chloe Fineman. Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett serve as creators and executive producers. See the trailer and art below.

Showtime Sports Documentary Films released a first look at “Passion Play: Russell Westbrook,” premiering on Oct. 15 at 9 p.m. The documentary features exclusive footage and interviews with the NBA player, his family, and his former teammates Kevin Love and Nick Collison among others. Gotham Chopra and Erik LeDrew direct. Executive producers include Westbrook, Chopra for Religion of Sports, Ameeth Sankaran and Donnell Beverly. On behalf of Religion of Sports, Meg Cirillo produces and Rob Ford co-produces. Raynard Westbrook co-produces. Watch the new clip below.

CASTING

Netflix announced Michael O’Neill, Celia Weston and Gable Swanlund have been cast as series regulars in “Echoes,” an upcoming limited series about identical twins named Leni and Gina who regularly swap lives until one of the sisters goes missing. Additionally, Tyner Rushing, Hazel and Ginger Mason, Alise Willis and Maddie Nichols have been cast in recurring guest roles. O’Neill plays Leni and Gina’s father Victor McCleary, while Weston plays Dylan James’ grandmother Georgia Taylor and Swanlund plays Leni and Jack’s daughter Mathilda “Mattie” Beck. Rushing plays Leni and Gina’s mother Maria McCleary with the Masons as young Leni and Gina, Willis as Leni’s best friend and Dylan’s cousin Meg and Nichols as Mattie’s babysitter Natasha. They join previously announced cast members Michelle Monoghan, who plays both Leni and Gina; Matt Bomer; Daniel Sunjata; Ali Stroker; Karen Robinson and Rosanny Zayas. Showrunners Brain Yorkey and Quinton Peeples executive produce alongside creator Vanessa Gazy and Imogen Banks of Endemol Shine Banks Australia.

Starz announced additional recurring cast members that will appear in the upcoming series “Gaslit,” which tells the story of Martha Mitchell’s role in exposing the Watergate scandal. Newly announced cast members include Patton Oswalt as Richard Nixon’s advisor Chuck Colson, Nat Faxon as White House chief of staff Bob Halderman, Erinn Hayes as the Mitchells’ friend Peggy Ebbitt, Patrick Walker as Watergate security guard Frank Willis, Carlos Valdes as FBI agent Paul Magallanes, Raphael Sbarge as John Dean’s attorney Charles N. Shaffer, Chris Conner as Nixon’s right-hand man John Ehrlichman, Diana Oweiss as John Mitchell’s secretary Diana Oweiss, Brian Geraghty as the Mitchells’ security guard Peter, Nelson Franklin as John Dean’s right hand man Dick Moore, Reed Diamond as FBI associate director Mark Felt, Johnny Berchtold as Martha Mitchell’s son Jay Jennings, Adam Ray as White House press secretary Ron Ziegler and Billy Smith as John Mitchell’s friend Ken Ebbitt. They join previously announced cast members Julia Roberts and Sean Penn, who play Martha and John Mitchell, respectively. “Gaslit” is executive produced by creator Robbie Pickering, directors Sam Esmail and Chad Hamilton for Esmail Corp, Roberts for Red Om Films and Gabriel Roth and Josh Levin for Anonymous Content and Slate. UCP produces. Starz executive vice president of original programming Karen Bailey oversees.

LATE NIGHT

Oscar Isaac, Jo Firestone and Alec Benjamin will appear on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

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