LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- A roundup of the news items not mentioned in the various press releases and executive session recaps from the cable portion of the TCA Summer Press Tour:
1. New network Pivot - which launches this Thursday, August 1 - will feature repeats of "Friday Night Lights" and "Farscape." The former will regularly air in three-hour blocks on Fridays (8-11 PM ET) and Saturdays (6-9 PM ET) while the latter will air weeknights at 11:00/10:00c.
2. James Woods will host Science Channel's "Futurescape," a new series due in November which "takes viewers on a journey between the present and the distant future, and he's going to explore how emerging technologies of today are going to change the way mankind lives tomorrow." Case in point: "Can you imagine a world where robots work and play among us? What happens if they demand equal rights?" Karga Seven Pictures is behind project.
3. TV One's "Life After" returns Wednesday, September 11 at 8:00/7:00c (with Sheryl Lee Ralph, Clifton Davis and Jimmie Walker among those profiled this cycle) followed by "Verses and Flow's" 12-episode third season at 9:00/8:00c. Then in October, look for new seasons of "Love That Girl!" and "Unsung" (with Heavy D, The Delfonics, Too $Short, The Manhattans and Lisa Lisa among the subjects).
4. National Geographic Channel is "very close" to announcing its first scripted series, likely in the fall. David Lyle, CEO, National Geographic Channels, however didn't give any details beyond that.
5. Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland's "Rick and Morty" will be late-night mainstay Adult Swim's first original primetime series. The half-hour project, about "a genius inventor grandfather and his less than genius grandson, and the journeys in life they share," will launch in December.
6. MTV has renewed "Ke$ha: My Crazy Beautiful Life" for a second season. Ke$ha herself confirmed the news via a taped message from her vacation in Greece played prior to MTV's panels.
7. Discovery will simulcast two of the upcoming premieres from its sibling networks: Velocity's "Patrick Dempsey: Racing Le Mans" (Wednesday, August 28) and Science Channel's "The Challenger Disaster" (Saturday, November 16).
8. Craig Piligian's Pilgrim Studios and documentary filmmaker Amy Rice ("By the People: The Election of Barack Obama") will be the auspices behind OWN's upcoming Lindsay Lohan project. In addition, Oprah Winfrey herself will be featured in the reality series.
9. Werner Herzog's "On Death Row" will return for its second season on Tuesday, September 3. The series, whose freshman run aired in March 2012, features a "riveting glimpse into what he calls the abyss of the human soul, and provides a uniquely thought-provoking exploration of why people and the state kill."
10. TLC will premiere its new romance series "Alaskan Women Looking for Love" in December. The newcomer follows "a group of friends who leave Alaska for the first time, heading to the sunny shores of Miami."
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