TCA really kicked into gear on Wednesday, with announcements coming fast and furious from the likes of Comedy Central, TV Land, Nickelodeon, A&E, History, Lifetime and Nat Geo.

Comedy Central:

Comedy Central would be a fool not to renew Inside Amy Schumer, starring one of Hollywood’s brightest stars, and since it’s not a fool, it renewed the hit show for a sixth season before the show’s fifth season even gets going.

Staying in business with funny women, Comedy Central also gave Broad City a two-season renewal for seasons 4 and 5 and picked up a new limited series, Time Traveling Bong, from Broad City’s creators, Ilana Glazer, Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs. Glazer and Aniello will star in the three-episode series, which premieres on April 20 (of course it does).

“No comment,” said Glazer, Downs and Aniello in a statement.

Comedy Central also is launching another female-centric series, with Not Safe with Nikki Glaser debuting on Feb. 9 at 10:30 p.m. on the network as well as across multiple platforms online.

TV Land:

Funny women were a trend on other networks as well, with TV Land ordering a new pilot, Nobodies, from Melissa McCarthy and her husband, Ben Falcone, who will executive produce, guest star and direct, while Hugh Davidson, Larry Dorf and Rachel Ramras write, star and executive produce.

In what could become an awkward scenario, the show is ripped from the real lives of Davidson, Dorf and Ramras who watched as their friends from The Groundlings — aka McCarthy — went on to star in blockbuster comedies and be nominated for Oscars and Emmys while they continue to toil away in Hollywood.

The project is one of several in development for TV Land, including the pilot I, Shudder, starring Hamish Linklater and Megan Hilty (Smash) and produced by Dan Jinks and Paul Rudnick. TV Land also has an untitled project based on the life of Real Housewife of Beverly Hills Kyle Richards in the works from John Wells and John Riggi.

Nickelodeon:

Nickelodeon is going the pro-social route with its new docs-series The Halo Effect, which appropriately premieres on Monday, Jan. 18 (Martin Luther King Jr. day) at 8 p.m. ET/PT. In each 30-minute episode, The Halo Effect will highlight a teen making a positive change in his or her community and inspiring others to do the same. The show will air monthly on Nickelodeon, and is hosted by Sydney Park and produced by Nick Cannon’s NCredible Entertainment and Morgan Spurlock’s Warrior Poets.

HALO Effect

A&E:

A&E is partnering with movie star Jake Gyllenhaal and his and producing partner Riva Marker on an as-yet-unnamed anthology series that will take deep dives into the lives of cult personalities, starting with Jim Jones and The People’s Temple of the Disciples of Christ.

A+E Studios is one of the producing partners on the series, and it’s also working on season two of UnReal for Lifetime—to which Hulu announced Wednesday it had picked up the exclusive SVOD rights—and the remake of Roots for History.

A&E also has Bates Motel, starring Vera Farming and Freddie Highmore, and new series Damien, a remake of the 1976 horror film The Omen, both premiering on Monday, March 7 at 9 and 10 p .m. ET/PT, respectively.

History:

History has picked up all 10 episodes of original series Knightfall, which is being produced in partnership with A + E Studios and Jeremy Renner’s and Don Handfield’s The Combine and Midnight Radio.

Knightfall will tell stories of the Knights Templar, elite warriors during the Crusades. The series, which feels like it will work well on the network of the violent but compelling Vikings, is expected to premiere later this year with Renner guest-starring.

Sticking with that military theme but moving into the modern era, History also has greenlit Navy SEAL drama, Six, written by Oscar-nominated screenwriter William Broyles and his son, David, a special ops vet.

Six is produced by The Weinstein Company and A + E Studios.

National Geographic Channel:

National Geographic Channel announced its long-awaited first scripted series at its late afternoon session on Wednesday. The channel is partnering with DNA Films & TV and FX Productions on drama Blood Ivory (working title), which will be a dramatic interpretation of the illegal pursuit of precious ivory and the elephant populations that pursuit has nearly irreparably damaged. Joshua Brand will write the pilot script.

The channel also has optioned the rights to Barkskins, a novel by Annie Proulx, known for writing The Shipping News and Brokeback Mountain. Scott Rudin Productions will produce the series, which is intended to premiere globally in 171 countries and 45 languages.

The deal is part of Rudin’s three-year first-look development and production pact with Fox Networks Group, which includes Fox Broadcasting, FX Networks and National Geographic Channel. Under this deal, Nat Geo also acquired the production rights to Adam Higginbotham’s “The Invisible Enemy: The Untold Story of The Battle of Chernobyl” earlier this summer.

Among other special projects: the channel is partnering with filmmaker Darren Aronofsky and his production partner Ari Handel and their production company Protozoa Pictures on an event series, One Strange Rock.

The series is filming around the world and in outer space for 100 weeks to capture new information about our dynamic Earth. Also partnering with Nat Geo on the project are Jane Root, Arif Nurmohamed and Peter Lovering.

Nat Geo also commissioned a six-part series on sex from World of Wonder titled Original Sin: How Sex Changed the World (working title). Like Barkskins, the series will will air globally on National Geographic Channel this year in 171 countries and 45 languages.

And it’s working with author Sebastien Junger and his producing partner Nick Quested on a new documentary.

As for its veteran shows, Nat Geo renewed Star Talk with Neil DeGrasse Tyson for season 3. The show will return this fall accompanied by a new book, also titled Star Talk and published by National Geographic Books.

Dog whisperer Cesar Millan also is returning to Nat Geo with the season 3 return of Cesar 911 on Friday, Feb. 19 at 9 p.m. ET. In the first episode, Millan helps Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld with their pair of difficult daschshunds, Jose and Foxy. According to the Seinfelds, Jose has an excessive barking problem, while Foxy has a “hating Jerry” problem.

Nat Geo Wild:

Nat Geo’s little brother is bringing on a new primetime pet talk show and a photojournalism series called Mission Critical and is adding a Saturday morning kids’ block, reports The Wrap.

The new Saturday morning kids’ block is a partnership with National Geographic Kids.

Among the series that will be included in the block, called Nat Geo WildKiDs, are adventure series Nature Boom Time; 50 Birds, 50 States, starring an animated bald eagle who raps; kid on the street quiz show Real or Fake and Animal Jam.

Pet Talk, premiering Friday, Feb. 19 at 10 pm ET/PT, will be a weekly primetime series hosted by two vets, a wildlife expert and a field reporter.

Finally, the network is bringing back its BarkFest weekend in April, and it will the premieres of dog-focused series geared to please dog-lovers of all ages: Second Chance Chihuahuas, How Dogs Got Their Shapes, World’s Funniest Dogs and Who’s Your Doggie?

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