CNN will add five new original series to its slate in 2018, including four about the 1960s and 1970s, and one about the pope. The news will be unveiled at today’s Turner Upfront presentation in New York City. In addition, HLN will add new original series Unmasking A Killer to its slate in 2018.
The new CNN Original Series for 2018 include:
- Detroit 1963: Once in a Great City (working title), executive produced by Emmy Award winners Anthony Bourdain and Lydia Tenaglia, is a four-part series about the city of Detroit at its high point when their auto industry was the envy of the world and Motown ruled the airwaves. The docuseries, produced by Zero Point Zero, will take viewers back to a time in America when people believed in the power and goodness of big corporations, had high hopes for racial parity, and looked to institutions like unions and the government to solve their problems.
- American Heiress: The Patty Hearst Story, from executive producer Jeffrey Toobin and Bat Bridge Entertainment, is a six-part series that will follow the transformation of Patricia Hearst from heiress to terrorist in a saga of privilege, celebrity, politics, media, and violence. More than forty years since the kidnapping, new evidence sheds light on the facts surrounding one of the most bizarre stories in modern American history. The docuseries based on Toobin’s book, “American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst,” follows his Emmy® and Golden Globe Award wins for “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” a miniseries adapted from his New York Times bestseller, The Run of His Life: The People v. O. J. Simpson.
- 1968: The Year That Changed America (working title), from Emmy Award-winning executive producers Tom Hanks, Gary Goeztman, Kirk Sudaski (Playtone) and Mark Herzog and Christopher G. Cowen (Herzog & Company), is a four-part series that looks back at 1968, a year marked by seismic shifts in American politics, social movements, global relations and cultural icons who forever changed the modern day landscape. The docuseries maps the tumultuous events of the year from the assassinations of MLK and RFK, to the contentious presidential election, to escalating anti-Vietnam War sentiment and beyond.
- Kennedys: An American Dynasty (working title), from Raw TV (Race for the White House), is a six-part series that takes viewers to the heart of America’s ‘First Family,’ revealing how personal relationships within the dynasty helped shaped national and global events from the Cold War to the Wall Street crash. The docuseries spans the life of patriarch Joseph “Joe” Kennedy and his children uncovering how this one family so significantly shaped twentieth century America. Louise Norman and Eamon Hardy serve as executive producers.
- Pope (working title), from Nancy Glass Productions and Rearrange TV, is a six-part series that goes inside the Vatican to reveal the true power held by popes throughout the ages. The docuseries will explore how 12 apostles became 1.2 billion Catholics today, linking recent news events surrounding the Vatican with their unexpected origins. Nancy Glass and Randy Cousman serve as executive producers.CNN also confirmed it has picked up new seasons of Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown, United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell, This Is Life with Lisa Ling, The History of Comedy, Believer with Reza Aslan, The Wonder List with Bill Weir and The Hunt With John Walsh.
