Pivot's nightly topical series, TakePart Live, is a destination where Millennial audiences can engage in an intelligent dialogue about what truly matters to their generation. Offering viewers a forum to discuss the issues of the moment, TakePart Live explores topics from the day's headlines. Beginning Monday, May 12, the network will take that conversation from late-night to Primetime when the hour-long program moves to 10 PM ET/9 PM CT.
Along with the shift into primetime,
Pivot announced it has tapped Embassy Row, and its president Michael Davies, to produce the program, which will now be hosted by Meghan McCain, Jacob Soboroff, and Eddie Huang. Huang, a 32 year-old bestselling author, comic, restaurateur, and food personality, is known, according to The New York Times for his "brash cultural mash-ups" and his "take no prisoners critiques of everyone and everything."
News about the series was announced today by Pivot's Belisa Balaban, Executive
Vice President, Original Programming and Craig Parks, Senior
Vice President, Live Programming, at a press breakfast held today in New York.
Airing live Monday through Thursdays, with a special highlights show on Fridays, the program will be shot at TakePart Live's vibrant new studio in Los Angeles. In addition to covering the news as they see it, the hosts will have an opportunity to address topics that they find meaningful, giving the series the chance to explore a more personal side of the issues. The conversation will continue online with original articles, photography and video at Takepart.com.
About the new Embassy Row production team, Balaban commented, "We want viewers to have a truly meaningful, live, interactive experience, so Michael and his Embassy Row team were absolutely at the top of our list when it came to developing a new creative vision for TakePart Live. Michael understands the value of having our content be part of the zeitgeist, and that sensibility will make for great television."
Commenting on Huang's addition to the show, Parks added, "We are so pleased that Eddie Huang will be joining the TakePart Live team. His energy, enthusiasm, and intellectual
Curiosity empower a personality that likes to say it like he sees it. With Meghan, Jacob, and now Eddie, we expect the conversations to be spontaneous, smart, and very unexpected."
Embassy Row is best known for spearheading series including the highly-rated Watch What Happens Live on Bravo, AMC's
Talking Bad and Talking Dead, and more recently
FOX Sports'Crowd Goes Wild. They will be tasked with breaking down the divide between the live, linear television brand, and digital platforms including TakePart.com, which will be used to continue the conversation online and empower social actions.
Davies added, "All of us at Embassy Row are excited about the chance to create a new kind of talk show for young viewers - one that communicates the issues in a way that is at once dynamic and relatable to our audience. We intend to reinvigorate the thinking around news and how it is communicated to a smart and influential generation that doesn't want to be coddled or patronized and also wants to be entertained. Our hosts are all incredibly bright, they form an unexpected, even unlikely team, and their views will be outspoken and make news. That will make for some fantastic conversation and will give viewers a reason to find us."
"Change Lab," a new TakePart initiative supported in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will provide monthly in-depth reports on global issues, which Pivot's audience has a natural
Curiosity for, and which will increasingly impact the network's target demographic. Girls' and women's issues, infectious diseases, vaccines, food and nutrition security, and other global health and development topics will be covered through field pieces with content shot around the world. The on-air programming will be complimented with an online editorial series at TakePart.com, as well as a dedicated social action
HUB where viewers will be able to dive deeper on the issues and possible solutions illuminated on the show.
Commenting on 'Change Lab,' Parks said, "Our first goal will be to connect with our audience to uncover the misconceptions or preconceived notions they have about these topics. Then we will use the field pieces in combination with in-studio and online conversations to decode the issues and inspire action."
About Pivot
Pivot (Pivot.tv) is a television network from Participant Media serving passionate Millennials (18-34) with a diverse slate of original series, acquired programming, films and documentaries.
Pivot focuses on entertainment that sparks conversation, inspires change and illuminates issues through engaging content and, through its websiteTakePart.com, connects audiences to a wealth of content and customizable actions.
Pivot is available nationally via major cable providers and offers subcribers a live and on-demand streaming option via its interactive, downloadable
Pivot app. Follow
Pivot on Twitter at @pivot_tv and on Facebook atfacebook.com/pivottelevision.
About Participant Media
Participant (ParticipantMedia.com) is a global entertainment company founded in 2004 by Jeff Skoll to focus on feature film, television, publishing and digital content that inspires social change. Participant's more than 45 films include GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK, SYRIANA, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, FOOD, INC., WAITING FOR 'SUPERMAN', THE HELP, CONTAGION and LINCOLN. Through its films, social action campaigns, digital network TakePart.com and Pivot, its new television network for Millennials, Participant seeks to entertain, encourage and empower every individual to take action.
About Embassy Row
Embassy Row is a New York City-based television and digital production company dedicated to developing and acquiring original formats for television networks and online distribution in the U.S. and abroad. The company specializes in the genres of talk, games, competition, comedy, factual, food and sports and are pioneers in the areas of brand and social media integration. Recent credits include: Bravo's "Watch What Happens Live," Oxygen's "The
Glee Project" and AMC's "The Talking Dead." Embassy Row is a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television.
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