Both Karin Gist and Mike Schur got their starts in broadcast television in the early aughts — she on sitcom “Girlfriends” and he on late-night sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live.” And broadcast is where they have both made comfortable homes for their careers, with her moving between comedy and drama on such series as
Month: June 2020
Amid nationwide restaurant reopenings, family-friendly arcade and pizza place Chuck E. Cheese is filing for bankruptcy protection. Parent company CEC Entertainment Inc. filed for bankruptcy on Thursday after 43 years of business, it announced in a statement on Thursday. Though the chain had been struggling before COVID-19, prolonged closures as a result of the pandemic
Rooster Teeth, the division of WarnerMedia’s Otter Media dedicated to sci-fi, gaming, animation and fandom, has canceled its flagship RTX 2020 convention. Instead, it’s planning a virtual event for fans in its place. The decision came after the Austin Public Health department determined that the annual convention cannot be held at the Austin Convention Center.
Israeli multi-hyphenate Dani Rosenberg marks his feature debut with “The Death of Cinema and my Father Too,” a self-reflexive hybrid film that mixes fact, fiction and autobiography as it grapples with the big questions. Presented under the Cannes 2020 label and sold internationally by Films Boutique, the film follows a rising director as he tracks
As part of its Cannes Market presentations, HanWay Films arranged for Phillip Noyce to tell buyers about its true-crime love story “Peggy Jo,” which he will direct, with “Baby Driver” and “Yesterday” actress Lily James starring. The film is loosely based on the true-story of the life of Texan Peggy Jo Tallas, who takes to
After a season of watching Clarke family patriarch Mitch (Peter Gallagher) decline due to progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) in “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” viewers saw him pass away in the finale. The titular Zoey (Jane Levy) developed the ability to hear people’s inner feelings as musical numbers at the start of the series, and after her
A long line of iconic artists were interviewed for a revealing and intimate documentary about Grammy Award–winning composer and producer David Foster. “Off the Record” tells the story of the Victoria, Canada native, who started as a session player for such productions as the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and went on to helm many multi-platinum
The Dixie Chicks have officially changed their name to “the Chicks,” after public discussions arose over the appropriateness of the Civil War-era “Dixie” as part of their moniker. The group had long been unofficially referred to as simply the Chicks by many fans and most of their associates in the music industry, but losing the
An all-new documentary series following Demi Lovato’s ups and downs over the last three years is coming exclusively to YouTube, as part of the video giant doubling down on its music, celebrity and creator-focused originals strategy. In addition to the new four-part Lovato docuseries, YouTube has renewed four original series featuring big-name digital talent: “Instant
On Saturday, June 27, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors will host a program of music and conversation with Black artists and organizers called “Black Power Live.” The event will raise funds for the organizations across the movement for Black lives including Crenshaw Dairy Mart, Trap Heals, Transgender Law Center, Sankofa, and Black Men Build. The event is produced by
Epic Records has promoted Brian Wilson to chief financial officer and senior vice president, the company announced today. Reporting to chairwoman and CEO Sylvia Rhone, Wilson’s new role includes oversight of all finances for the label and release planning. In addition, he’ll continue to spearhead budgeting for the roster, which includes Camila Cabello, DJ Khaled,
Malcolm Jenkins, the two-time Super Bowl champion and current New Orleans Saints star, is set to produce a documentary series about the history of Black wealth in America. Titled “Little Africa,” the series aims to draw a correlation between the dispossession of land and the existing wealth and political gaps in the United States. It
Oscar-winning creator/executive producer Tarell Alvin McCraney, showrunner/executive producer Dee Harris-Lawrence and Emmy-nominated actor Phylicia Rashad will participate in an exclusive Q&A and screening of the Peabody Award-winning “David Makes Man” on July 8 at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET in the Variety Streaming Room presented by OWN. The conversation will be moderated by Variety senior
“Game On!,” CBS’ new game show hosted by Keegan-Michael Key and featuring tennis champion Venus Williams and Super Bowl champion Rob Gronkowski as team captains, dropped to its lowest rating and total viewership so far in its freshman season campaign. On Wednesday night, the game show scored a 0.4 rating among adults 18-49 and drew
This year’s TV comedies have shown that period pieces aren’t just about petticoats and pretentiousness. Some shows, including Apple TV Plus’ “Dickinson” and Hulu’s “The Great,” use language and tone to put modern twists on what can be a stilted genre, while others from Showtime’s “Black Monday” to Amazon Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Paul Mescal remembers exactly where he was and what he was doing when he found out he secured the lead role of Connell in Hulu’s “Normal People.” He was participating in a play workshop in London when he missed a call from his agent. “I was like, ‘Oh God, Christ Almighty,’ he recalled during the
At the beginning of each episode of Quibi’s wild “Dishmantled” food competition series, host Tituss Burgess punches a big red button to activate a cannon that splatters a pair of chefs from head-to-toe with a mysterious dish. The chefs then have to re-create the meal that was blasted at them based on taste and touch,
At this point in his television career of mining his personal life for family comedies, Kenya Barris tells his kids ahead of time what from their adolescence they should expect to see on-screen. In fact, for his Netflix comedy “#BlackAF,” in which Barris stars as a version of himself — a Hollywood showrunner with six
If comedy pilots are hard, bringing an established laffer to a satisfying conclusion is nearly impossible. Yet that’s the task many series, from “The Good Place,” “Fresh off the Boat,” “Silicon Valley” and “Modern Family,” to “Schitt’s Creek,” “Vida” and “Will & Grace” faced this season. The pressure to end “Vida” unexpectedly with a shortened
YouTube has canceled “Escape the Night” after four seasons, ending its longest-running original series, Variety has confirmed. The semi-scripted murder-mystery series was hosted by Joey Graceffa, who presided over the retro mega-collab in which a famous YouTuber got killed off in each episode. But Graceffa isn’t letting “Escape the Night” fade to black. In a
Katie Couric and Bozoma Saint John have joined forces for a podcast series that is designed to be a forum where business and cultural leaders “feel comfortable talking about uncomfortable subjects,” as Saint John explained. Couric, the veteran journalist, and Saint John, chief marketing officer for Endeavor, have been friendly for the past few years.
Staffers from NextRadioTV, the French media group owned by Patrick Drahi’s Altice, went on a 24-hour strike on June 24 to protest the company’s plans to trim one-third of its workforce. NextRadioTV, which was founded by Alain Weill, comprises France’s most watched news channel BFM TV, the radio station RMC and the documentary-focused TV channel
The band American Hi-Fi is making the most of isolation during the coronavirus pandemic by honoring some musical heroes. Back in May, the Boston-bred and Los Angeles-based group released a cover of Joe Jackson’s 1982 hit “Steppin’ Out,” which was a bit of a sonic departure for the pop-punk foursome. Now they are back with
While it was not his most commercially successful album, Prince’s 1987 double-set “Sign O’ the Times” is widely recognized as the most diverse, creative and far-reaching outing of his career. The 16-track, 90-minute album represents a distillation of countless hours of songs the artist recorded during one of the most fruitful and prolific eras of
As the fictional crooner Shy Baldwin in Amazon Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” LeRoy McClain has to be smooth and soulful on stage. But in the third season’s sixth episode, “Kind of Bleu,” he gets to further tap into his range as a performer, bonding with the titular Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) first on a
After two seasons of dazzling, award-winning costumes, the task to take “The Crown” into the 1960s fell to Amy Roberts. She has plenty of experience designing shimmering gowns and regal suits for period television, but taking on a big-budget behemoth such as “The Crown” for Season 3 meant walking the fine line between recreating the
When HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” launched as a series in October 2000 (following a 1999 special), Bill Clinton was still president; “streaming” wasn’t a way to watch TV, and it had only been two years since “Seinfeld,” the show Larry David co-created, ended its run. “Curb” persists, and 20 years later, remains a top Emmy
Legendary singer Dionne Warwick is no stranger to putting on glitzy gowns and outfits; she even launched a fitness line with her daughter in 2015. But this year, Warwick was featured on Fox’s “The Masked Singer” in an outfit unlike one she had ever worn before. For the third season of the secret celebrity singing
Imagine if “Jurassic Park” or “Jaws” hadn’t unfolded on the big screen. If, instead of reveling in cinematic carnage, audiences might have experienced the bloodletting of these dinosaurs and giant sharks from the relative safety of their earbuds. At least, that’s the latest idea from Cadence13, a podcast company that counts Goop and Crooked Media
The relationship between director Spike Lee and composer Terence Blanchard is rooted in collaboration, counting over 15 films together — most recently, “Da 5 Bloods.” “Terence is a great jazz musician and band player,” says Lee. “He brings that wealth of understanding of what music does with colors, shapes and feeling.” Blanchard, who moonlights as
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