As the 2018 awards season marches slowly into its final days, only a handful of honors remain undistributed after some of the most volatile and contentious campaigns in years. Front-runners have come and gone in one major category after the next, as each guild and critics group announced different winners than its predecessors, demolishing expectations
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Welcome to “TV Take,” Variety’s television podcast. In this week’s episode, Variety’s executive editor of TV, Daniel Holloway, talks with Charley Pride, the subject of the new “American Masters” documentary, “Charley Pride: I Am Just Me,” which premieres Feb. 22 on PBS. Pride was one of country music’s biggest stars in the ’60s and ’70s,
For eight years, PledgeMusic was a success story: A direct-to-fan platform where artists worked directly with their audiences to fund their albums, tours and all stripes of merchandise, with fans able to purchase everything from custom guitar picks to private concerts. Yet last June, Variety broke the news that the company is struggling to pay
February 22, 2019 11:32AM PT UPDATED: John Krasinski is returning to direct the untitled sequel to Paramount’s horror hit “A Quiet Place.” Stars Emily Blunt, Noah Jupe, and Millicent Simmonds are in talks to reprise their characters. Krasinski revealed the news Friday via an Instagram post that said “…time to go back. #PartII 5-15-20”; the
February 22, 2019 11:25AM PT Co-showrunners and EPs Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier have been taken to hospital after an accident on the set of “L.A.’s Finest,” Variety has confirmed with sources. The accident occurred Thursday afternoon at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro where the show was shooting. Friday’s production of the show
After spending eight seasons on a premium cable drama (Showtime’s “Dexter”) and one on a broadcast procedural (CBS’ “Limitless”), Jennifer Carpenter is placing her bets back on broadcast. She stars as former CIA agent Erica Shepherd, who gave up classified information to some very bad people in order to keep her daughter safe, in the
Warren Alfie Baker is always on the hunt for just the right bow tie. He’s a Hollywood stylist who helps keep such clients as Lucas Hedges, Norman Reedus and Harry Shum Jr. looking sharp. “It seems like the easiest thing to sort out, but so many mistakes can be made,” Baker tells Variety. And the
UPDATED: The Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced criminal charges against R. Kelly at a press conference this afternoon. The singer has been charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four victims — three of whom were minors — in incidents that took place between 1998 and 2010; he will have
February 22, 2019 10:45AM PT WASHINGTON — The FCC is being directed to review the 22-year-old TV content ratings system to gauge its accuracy. The review was part of the recently passed spending bill that funds the government through Sept. 30. It requires that the FCC report back to the House and Senate appropriations committee
February 22, 2019 10:20AM PT Luke Wilson is set to join the ensemble of the upcoming “Zombieland” sequel, sources tell Variety. Wilson will star alongside Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin in “Zombieland 2.” As previously reported, Zoey Deutch, Thomas Middleditch, and Rosario Dawson are also boarding the cast. In the sequel,
“Desus & Mero” — the late-night series that made its debut on Showtime Thursday — isn’t new, precisely. The hosts Desus Nice and the Kid Mero, who make an art form of embroidering wit and delicious flourishes of delivery onto frank talk, had previously had a show similar in format on the Viceland channel. But
February 22, 2019 10:00AM PT Netflix has put out a straight-to-series order for 10 episodes of “Firefly Lane,” Variety has learned. Based on the novel of the same name by New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah, the show will revolve around Kate and Tully, two women who meet as young girls and become inseparable
The upcoming DC Universe series “Stargirl” has rounded out its main cast. Amy Smart, Neil Jackson, Hunter Sansone and Trae Romano have all joined the show in series regular roles, Variety has learned. Smart will play Barbara Whitmore, the mother of Courtney Whitmore, a.k.a Stargirl. Now that her teenage daughter Courtney (Brec Bassinger) is older, Barbara
February 22, 2019 9:51AM PT Responding to a continued backlash over its data collection practices, Facebook pulled the plug on its Ovano VPN app Friday. Ovano, which promised users an added level of privacy while using public Wifi hotspots, was used by Facebook for market research purposes. Facebook removed the app from the Google Play
“Young Sheldon” has scored an early renewal for a third and fourth season at CBS, the broadcaster announced Friday. The single-camera comedy series serves as a prequel to the hit multi-cam sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.” It follows 10-year old Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage) as he struggles to fit in with his family and classmates
The past five years have given MPAC’s Hollywood Bureau a renewed sense of hope. We’ve seen an unprecedented increase in Muslim characters and storylines on screen, even from major studios. When Mahershala Ali won the Oscar for supporting actor in 2017 for “Moonlight,” he became the first Muslim to ever do so. On Feb. 24,
February 22, 2019 9:28AM PT Ryan Murphy has announced that his third Netflix series will be titled “Hollywood.” Murphy described the show as “A love letter to the Golden Age of Tinseltown” in a post on Instagram. The project has received a straight-to-series order at the streamer. Murphy co-created the series with Ian Brennan. The
The Federal Trade Commission plans to host a public workshop later this year on the issue of loot boxes in video games, according to a letter sent from commission chairman Joseph Simons to Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) this week. In the letter obtained by Variety, Simons declines to comment on any sort of timeline for a
On the cover of “Harverd Dropout,” the sophomore album from Miami rapper Lil Pump, the young MC is tossing homework papers in the air and looking rakish with his graduation cap askew, while wearing a robe emblazoned with the misspelled university name from his new full-length’s title. If this is meant to signal some sort
Smosh, the long-running YouTube comedy brand, has been acquired by Mythical Entertainment, the company formed by Rhett & Link, hosts of comedy show “Good Mythical Morning.” As first reported by Variety last week, Mythical emerged as the leading candidate to buy Smosh, which was left stranded after parent company Defy Media shut down without warning
MADRID — In 1925, Luis Buñuel, son of one of the richest men in the Spanish region of Aragón, went to Paris to make films with Salvador Dalí. The results were two surrealist shorts, 1929’s “Un Chien Andalou,” his passport to membership of André Breton’s surrealists, and “L’Age d’Or,” banned by the Paris police. The
Natalie Dormer has been cast in upcoming drama series “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels” in a lead role, Variety has learned. Described as a spiritual descendant of the original “Penny Dreadful,” the new series opens in 1938 Los Angeles. When a grisly murder shocks the city, Detective Tiago Vega is embroiled in a story that
The standard black tuxedo men donned to awards shows for decades is quickly becoming an outmoded uniform. From bold colors, to striking textures, to novel silhouettes, men’s awards show looks are now just as fashion-forward as women’s. “It was a slow evolution and then a really quick evolution,” says Ilaria Urbinati, who styles Rami Malek,
Neil Gaiman has spent two years working on the TV adaptation of his and Terry Pratchett’s novel “Good Omens” and told an international TV crowd this week he dedicated himself to the task to honor a request from his friend and co-writer, who died in 2015. “I didn’t in any real sense of the word
Milan Fashion Week is officially underway and the must-have accessories of the season are already making themselves known: Oversized retro-shaped sunglasses, trapper hats, all the gold jewelry—and even a spiked collar or two. Click through to see all of the accessories you’ll want to start saving up for now.
Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor has chosen Nickelback’s successor as the most reviled band on earth: Imagine Dragons. During an interview on Tuesday, February 19, conducted by Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones for his radio show, “Jonesy’s Jukebox,” on Los Angeles’ KLOS, Jones made a comment about Nickelback being the “scapegoat of rock
Sundance and the Grammys. Here’s where to trip a little light fantastic and celebrate in style, forget disappointments and, best of all, reconnect with loved ones or yourself. FAMILY GETAWAYSDisney magic: Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, Disneyland, Anaheim, Calif.The Disneyland Resort is expert at handling VIPs and the 948-room Grand Californian is its hotel of
“How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” flew to $3 million at about 3,200 North American location on Thursday night. The figure doubled the preview gross for “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” which pulled in $1.5 million two weeks ago on Feb. 8. Universal has predicted an opening weekend for “How to
All bets are on for the Action Network, the sports-wagering content and analytics roll-up formed by Peter Chernin’s Chernin Group. The company closed $17.5 million in Series B funding led by Fertitta Capital, the investment firm of former UFC owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta. The Chernin Group, which created the Action Network in October 2017
The third time was a charm for super-producer duo Silk City, the first collaboration between longtime friends Diplo (A.K.A. Thomas Wesley Pentz, Jr.) and Mark Ronson, who between them have worked with everyone from M.I.A. and Madonna and Beyonce (Diplo) to Lady Gaga and Amy Winehouse and Bruno Mars (Ronson). After releasing the pair of