​Eighteen months into its rebrand, Pop brought an upbeat message to the writers assembled at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills.

Pop President Brad Schwartz acknowledged that his network probably was “not one of those channels that you’re tracking on a daily basis,” but said the past year and a half has seen Pop emerge as one of the fastest growing networks in all of television.

“This past quarter, not only are we growing really quickly, but this last quarter, we actually beat Oxygen in primetime with total viewers,” Schwartz said. “So just 18 months into this thing, and we’re closing the competitive gap with far more established networks.”

The network’s breakout hit has been Schitt’s Creek, the Canadian comedy starting Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy. Schwartz said the second series of Schitt’s Creek was the most watched on the channel in the past nine years, and the most sold and downloaded in channel history (Pop was rebranded from TV Guide Network, and is co-owned by CBS and Lionsgate).

As part of the network’s effort to continue to differentiate itself with premium content, Schwartz announced that the first season of the upcoming series Nightcap will feature guest appearance by a raft of A-List talent playing themselves, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Whoopi Goldberg and Paul Rudd.

“In fact, the show features guest stars that have accumulated 11 Golden Globes, 7 SAGs, 2 Grammys, 2 Oscars, and a Peabody,” Schwartz said.

Nightcap, starring and created by Ali Wentworth, and from the executive producers of Chelsea Lately, is a behind-the-scenes look at a fictional late night talk show in the final moments before taping starts.

“With seemingly everyone on television getting into late night, and with late night contents spawning billions of online views and TV spinoffs, we felt it was the perfect time for someone to go poke at it,” Schwartz said.

Among Pop’s other announcements at the TCA press tour on Sunday:

- Fans longing for the 1990s glory days of TGIF and the WB are in luck: production has started on Hollywood Darlings, featuring Jodie Sweeten (Full House), Christine Lakin (Step by Step), and Beverley Mitchell (7th Heaven), “as they manage life as best friends, moms, and mothers—moms and wives, mixed with a ton of nostalgia,” according to Schwartz.

- Former New Kids on the Block singer Joey McIntyre will star in a new scripted single cam comedy from CBS titled The Joey Mac Project, “about a former boy band star, trying to transition to acting, and, frankly, just trying to get out of the house.” It will premiere in 2017.


              
              
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