Zadan and Meron's Empire gets summer premiere date on ABC

Variety reports that Empire--the long-awaited miniseries about ancient Rome from out producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Chicago, It's All Relative)--will be unveiled by ABC in June. The five-week miniseries, which is expected to appeal to male audiences, will be heavily promoted during the network's telecast of the NBA playoffs. "After all the work on this, we want to get noticed," Meron told Variety, "and this is the best way for it to get the recognition we think it deserves." Empire is set to premiere on Tuesday, June 28, in a two-hour block from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., with the other episodes airing the next four Tuesdays at 10 p.m.