April TV: New Shows And Specials On Cable

April 11, 2015

[Written by Shavonne Jeffries, Bermuda CableVision]

An interesting statistic crossed my desk the other day about the sheer volume of new programming coming out on TV nowadays. In 1999, there were 26 original scripted series on cable in prime time and late night. By 2014, that number had increased to 199 – or a jump of 665 percent.

And that number doesn’t take into account news, sports, talk shows, documentaries, movies or reality shows. According to the FX networks, which are keeping count, the pace is only accelerating, meaning there is something new for everyone, every week!

Here are just a few picks for April:

“I Love You but I Lied” – New series – Wednesdays at 11pm on LMN

How huge does a lie have to be before a relationship is destroyed forever? This new LMN original series reveals shocking-but-true stories of deeply buried family secrets and personal betrayal. Each episode takes two stories and unravels the lies, then films the confrontations and consequences – including attempts to make amends.but sometimes it is too late.

“Kevin Hart Presents: Plastic Cup Boyz” – Special – Saturday, April 11 at midnight on Comedy Central

Kevin Hart has just finished playing Roast Master for the “Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber,” and now he’s back to introduce a trio of fresh comedians, the Plastic Cup Boyz: Joey Wells, Will “Spank” Horton and Na’im Lynn. The debut special was taped at The House of Blues in San Diego in front of a live audience, and ranges through topics from reality television, to women’s eyebrows and looking like a cat clock. The show will air right after an encore of the “Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber,” in case you missed it.

Video highlighting MTV Movie Awards nominees:

“The MTV Movie Awards” – Live Special event – Sunday, April 12 at 9pm on MTV

Tune in and see who will take home the “Golden Popcorn” statues this year as MTV dishes up its 2015 edition of this iconic Awards show, which has been in existence since 1992. Nominations are made by MTV producers and directors, but the general public does the voting.

The event will be broadcast live from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, and this year’s host is comedienne Amy Schumer. Among the presenters are Amanda Seyfried; Dwayne Johnson; Jimmy Kimmel; Chris Evans; Jessie J; Kevin Hart; Mark Ruffalo; Sophia Vergara; Scarlet Johansson; Reese Witherspoon; Robert Downey, Jr. and Shailene Woodley.

“Good Work” – New series premiere – Tuesday, April 14 at 11pm on E!

Proof that the world has an endless fascination for the surgical enhancements of the rich and famous, this show follows on the success of E!’s hit series “Botched,” and premieres right after that show’s season two premiere.

Billed as the “Fashion Police” of celebrity plastic surgery, the new series brings together hosts RuPaul, Dr. Terry Dubrow and make-up artist Sandra Vergara to celebrate the ‘good work’ and examine the not-so-good work” performed on various Hollywood celebrities.

The panel will discuss a range of topics from extreme beauty tips and secrets to details of cutting-edge procedures, and will feature a celebrity guest each week to add to the conversation.

Dr. Terry Dubrow is known for fixing ‘bad work’ performed on dozens of patients, and the series will bring in various guests who formerly appeared on “Botched” to discuss the life-changing surgeries performed by Dubrow to undo the damage done.

Game of Thrones season 5 trailer, which premieres this month:

“Flipping Ships” – Series premiere – Friday, April 24 at 11pm on Animal Planet

Did you know musician Edwin McCain has a ship restoration business called Boats Have Souls? Animal Planet’s new, six-part series follows McCain and his fixer-upper crew as they find and restore a variety of wrecks and give them a new lease on life. In episode one, McCain works on a ‘rock-n-roll’ speedboat for Darius “Don’t Call Me Hootie” Rucker, who plans to auction off the boat for charity.

“Star Talk” – New series premieres Monday, April 20, at midnight on National Geographic

This new weekly, late-night science talk show is hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson and is based on the astrophysicist’s radio show/podcast by the same name.

The success of the recent National Geographic show “Cosmos” which Tyson fronted, has demonstrated “a hunger for science,” he says. It was one of the most widely-watched shows in NatGeo’s history, which is surely the reason Tyson is now hosting a show of his own on the same network. It doesn’t hurt that he has a terrifically charismatic personality and a brilliant sense of humour.

“Cosmos allowed us to share the awesome power of the universe with a global audience in ways that we never thought possible,” says Tyson. “To be able to continue to spread wonder and excitement through ‘Star Talk,’ which is a true passion project for me, is beyond exciting.”

His enthusiasm entices us to explore the universe. The series will tape before a live studio audience from the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium in New York City, where Tyson is based.

Nurse Jackie season 7 trailer, which premieres this month:

Finally, a reminder that on Sunday, April 12, two big returning hit shows will make their season premieres:

  • “Game of Thrones” – Season Five Premiere – Sunday, April 12 at 10pm on HBO.
  • “Nurse Jackie” – Season 7 [final season] Premiere – Sunday, April 12 at 10pm on Showtime

Happy viewing and see you here next month.

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Comments (1)

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  1. lifetime says:

    All garbage! People need to be reading more.. Please pick up a book not the remote. Nothing against Cablevision but the standard of tv shows these days has really taken a dive. The educational shows are great but everything else is trash. Tv media plays a huge role in shaping our lives. We must practice self control and turn the tv off more often.