By Bel Hernandez

Director Juan Avella is at the helm of tonight’s episode of NBC’s The Blacklist, the Primetime Emmy Award series starring Golden Globe-nominee James Spader and Megan Boone.

One of those unique dramas with longevity, The Blacklist is currently in its eighth season and it was recently announced that there will be a ninth.  A big part of the show’s popularity is the cast, particularly Raymond “Red” Reddington, played by Spader.  Reddington is an ex U.S. Navy officer turned high-profile criminal who now helps the FBI catch global criminals he once worked with. 

Avella directed “The Russian Knot,” the 15th episode of the season. In this episode, the FBI Task Force hatches a plan to steal a Soviet-era cipher machine needed to decrypt coded messages. Reddington faces his most formidable enemy, Elizabeth Keen (Boone). Aligned with her mother, infamous Russian spy Katarina Rostova, Elizabeth must find out why Reddington has entered her life and what his endgame is. 

For a young director to find himself directing such a high-profile show is not the norm. However, as part of NBCUniversal’s landmark Emerging Director Program, it is an opportunity given to every participant to break into episodic television directing.  

As part of the preparation to direct, the emerging directors must “shadow” two episodes of the chosen TV show. This progress helps both the director and the cast and crew of the TV show get to know the young directors so when it is their turn to direct there is a sense of familiarity and trust.

In an exclusive interview for Latin Heat, Avella explained how getting to direct an episode of such an iconic and fan-loved show like The Blacklist would not have been possible without having been a part of the NBCUniversal’s Emerging Director Program.

“There is a lot of diversity programs out there that help, but this is pretty much one of the only ones that give you an episode [to direct], and that’s just huge,” Avella was happy to recount.

He holds a screenwriting MFA from the AFI Conservatory, where he won the William J. Fadiman Award for excellence in screenwriting for his crime feature Bolichicos. Such script was the recipient of the 2019 TFI Sloan Film Fund grant from the Tribeca Film Institute and was included in The Black List’s 2019 inaugural LatinX List. 

Avella is excited to be on his way to emulating some of the directors who served as an inspiration to him as a young child and during his pursuit of a directing career.  His recently adapted short film Hijo por Hijo has been optioned by Epic Pictures and Avella hopes to be soon directing his screenplay.

One can say that the opportunity to direct such a high-profile show is truly a testament to Venezuelan filmmaker’s ability as a director.

Avella is repped by The Gersh Agency.

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Making Fall Debuts: All Three Chicago Series of Law & Order: SVU and The Blacklist

Thursdays has Comedy with with Martin Gero’s Connecting …

Cloud 9 Opens Its Doors with a Season of Superstore

New Episodes Available on Peacock

Universal City, CA, – NBC is celebrating a November to remember as America’s most-loved dramas make their highly anticipated season debuts the week of Nov. 9-13, including a two-hour premiere of This Is Us (Nov. 10) and all three Chicago series (Nov. 11). The three Dick Wolf series include Chicago Med / Season 5, starring Nick Gehfuss, Yaya DaCosta, and Torrey DeVitto; Chicago Fire / Season 8, starring Jesse Spencer, and Taylor Kinney. As a result of COVID-19 productions were

In addition, Law & Order: SVU (Nov. 12) will return for its record-extending 22^nd season that same week, along with the eighth season of The Blacklist (Nov. 13), starring James Spader and Megan Boone. 

Executive producer Martin Gero (Blindspot) will debut his new scripted comedy Connecting. It stars Otmara Marrero, Parvesh Cheena, Ely Henry, and premieres on Thursday, Oct. 1. The series is about a group of friends trying to stay close (and sane) through video chats as they share the highs and lows of these extraordinary times.

Justin Spitzer’s Superstore, where Cloud 9’s unique family of employees work together and share nearly everything about their personal lives as well, returns for its sixth season on Thursday, Oct. 22 minus America Ferrera who left on her own accord at the end of last season.

The four-time Emmy Award-winning musical competition series The Voice, with coaches Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani, as well as host Carson Daly, will be back in its swiveling red chairs on Monday, Oct. 19 and return for the second night of its season debut Tuesday, Oct. 20.

Host Jane Lynch will kick off the first episode of the worldwide global phenom Weakest Link when the show debuts Monday, Sept. 28. The new version will deliver the fast-paced and quick-witted pillars of the original British format distributed by BBC Studios with a few modern twists. The hybrid game show sees contestants answer general knowledge questions to bank prize money across multiple rounds. At the end of each round, the contestants vote out who they perceive to be the Weakest Link remaining. 

Ellen’s Game of Games, one of the most fun shows on all of television, returns Tuesday, Oct. 6 for a two-hour premiere from 8-10 p.m. before shifting the following week on Oct. 13 to its normal 9-10 p.m. timeslot. A bonafide hit, Ellen’s Game of Games reached more than 47 million viewers through the September through May 2019-20 season.

Primetime’s #1 program, NBC Sunday Night Football, will kick off the season on Thursday, Sept. 10 when the Houston Texans visit the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs. Three days later on Sunday, Sept. 13, the action continues when the Dallas Cowboys visit the Los Angeles Rams to mark the grand opening of SoFi Stadium.

Dateline NBC, the network’s signature newsmagazine and its longest-running primetime program, will return for a new season on Friday, Sept. 25 at 10 p.m. before moving to a two-hour telecast beginning at 9 p.m. later in the fall.

Previous airdates for NBC series already announced include hit Canadian import drama Transplant (Sept. 1) and the return of celebrated athletic competition series American Ninja Warrior (Sept. 7).

Returning series set to debut after Jan. 1 include Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Good Girls, Making It, Manifest, New Amsterdam and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine stars stellar cast remains intact with the wonderful talents of Andy Samberg, Stephanie Beatriz, Melissa Fumero, Terry Crews, Joe Lo Truglio, Chelsea Peretti, Andre Baugher, Dirk Blocker, and Joel McKinnon Miller.

New series set to launch in 2021 include Kenan, Law & Order: Organized Crime, Mr. Mayor, That’s My Jam, Small Fortune, True Story, Who Do You Think You Are? and Young Rock. 

The premiere dates and times for the remainder of 2020 are below. All shows, with the exception of NBC Sunday Night Football and The Voice, will be available on Peacock after its broadcast air date.

SEPTEMBER
Transplant (Tuesday, 9/1, 10-11 p.m.)
American Ninja Warrior (Monday, 9/7, 8-10 p.m.)
NBC Sunday Night Football (Thursday, 9/10 and Sunday, 9/13, 5:20 p.m.)
Weakest Link (Monday, 9/28, 10-11 p.m.)
Dateline NBC (Friday, 9/25, 10-11 p.m.)

OCTOBER
Connecting … (Thursday, 10/1, 8:30-9 p.m.)
Ellen’s Game of Games (Tuesday, 10/6, 9-10 p.m.)
The Voice (Monday, 10/19, 8-10 p.m., Tuesday, 10/20, 8-10 p.m. then switches to 8-9 p.m. on 10/27)
Superstore (Thursday, 10/22, 8-8:30 p.m.)

NOVEMBER
This Is Us (Tuesday, 11/10, 9-11 p.m.; returns to 9-10 p.m. on 11/17)
Chicago Med (Wednesday, 11/11, 8-9 p.m.)
Chicago Fire (Wednesday, 11/11, 9-10 p.m.)
Chicago P.D. (Wednesday, 11/11, 10-11 p.m.)
Law & Order: SVU (Thursday, 11/12, 9-10 p.m.)
The Blacklist (Friday, 11/13, 8-9 p.m.)

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