Lip Sync Battle on first Paramount Network slate

Paramount Network’s first slate includes programming from the network it replaces, Spike, and TV Land.

The network is one of six that Viacom is restructuring its strategic focus around, with the others being MTV, BET, Nick Jr., Nickelodeon and Comedy Central.

Lip Sync Battle is transferring from Spike to upcoming general entertainment net Paramount, while on the scripted side the planned event series Waco is also slated.

TV Land dramas American Woman and Heathers are switching to Paramount too, with the scripted series expected to play in the first quarter of 2018.

Paramount Network president of programming Kevin Kay revealed the shows at an upfront event yesterday in the US.

Waco is a six-part series starring Michael Shannon based on the 1993 FBI siege of David Koresh’s religious sect. Weinstein Television is producing.

Heathers is an adaptation of a 1988 dark high school comedy that starred Shannen Doherty. Lakeshore Entertainment is producing.

Sitcom American Woman will star Alicia Silverstone and Mena Suvari and is based on the life of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richard.

John Wells Productions and Warner Bros. Television are attached to coproduce.

On the unscripted front, season four of Lip Sync Battle is joining Paramount Network, as is Ink Master, Bar Rescue and Bellator MMA fights.

Lip Sync Battle will debut in January 2018.

There will also be a documentary from Derik Murray, I Am Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Our mission is to establish Paramount Network as a prime destination for premium storytelling,” said Kevin Kay, president of Paramount Network, TV Land and CMT.

“From Alicia Silverstone as a trailblazing independent working mother in the 1970s to Michael Shannon as an FBI negotiator during the Branch Davidians dramatic standoff and siege, Paramount Network will be home to compelling, unforgettable characters and high quality production with a distinctive global appeal.