Awards

At an early screening of “Bombshell,” which chronicles the Fox News sexual harassment scandal, director Jay Roach was nervous. Writer-producer Charles Randolph says it was because of the audible audience reaction: “It’s just too much laughing!” For many of this year’s prominent Oscar contenders for best picture, one of the most important questions is how

As the amount of premium content continues to steadily grow across the small screen, so too does the demand for casting directors to fill new roles with the best performers, be they big names or fresh faces. But because of the high volume of series in production at the same time, tying up actors’ availability,

Bob Iger, Geraldine Laybourne, Seth MacFarlane, Jay Sandrich and Cicely Tyson have been selected as the next five inductees to the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame. The 25th Hall of Fame class will be honored at a ceremony on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, at the TV Academy’s Saban Media Center. The Hall of Fame selection

This week’s impeachment hearings — in which countless witnesses reaffirmed how Donald Trump had withheld aid to Ukraine until the country agreed to investigate the son of political rival Joe Biden (something even Trump has more or less admitted to) — was nonetheless a reminder how even the truth won’t prevent competing narratives in the

The LGBTQ+ community has made major strides on TV screens across the United States. Subjects that were once considered taboo even just a few years ago, including two same-sex people embracing on-screen, now dominate small-screen storylines. Behind the scenes, writers, producers and directors who identify as LGBTQ+ are also taking the reins of series, often

Last year, the amount of original scripted television series hit an all-time high at just under 500. This year the number is on track to top out well above that, with 154 of those shows being brand new launches for the calendar year (in a combination of ongoing series and limited events). And the kicker

As the champagne flows at the Ronny Chieng-hosted Intl. Emmys gala ceremony in New York Nov. 25, the picture of television is changing. The globalization of content means streamers are increasingly looking to local production, allowing more people to come to the party. Used to be that noms were made up of “a lot from

Angry women, this is your time. At least on TV. From such classic sitcoms as “The Honeymooners” to more modern multicams including “Everybody Loves Raymond,” lead female characters were more often than not portrayed as foils or just general counterpoints to their husbands. Sometimes this was portrayed through hysterical antics; more commonly it was through

When Martin Scorsese complains that a Marvel movie isn’t cinema, he’s not wrong. But his critique of the commercialism undergirding those movies is expressed in the language and tone of an old crank defending a fading novelty from some darned, degenerate kids. It’s not that the theatrical movie-going experience (so sacred!) is going away anytime

Tony Basgallop’s latest television venture is a tense family drama with a twist. In Apple TV Plus’ “Servant,” married couple Sean (Toby Kebbell) and Dorothy (Lauren Ambrose) experience a trauma with their newborn, but rather than deal with it head-on, they use a reborn doll (a realistic baby doll that they treat like a living,

“Pose” star MJ Rodriguez loves the “tomboyish style” of her ballroom house mother character, Blanca on the FX period drama. “She can be a lady, but she can be a little masculine within her womanhood too,” she says. “Being that she’s a trans woman, she doesn’t let that hinder her. She pushes the barrier a

An oppressive regime that enslaves women as servants and baby factories. A racially charged world in which members of law enforcement have to wear masks to keep themselves safe. A television production reeling from the firing of its beloved star after accusations of sexual misconduct surface against him. These subject matters all seem to be

How to define the difference between a lead role versus a supporting role has always been a tricky question for everyone involved, including the actors in those roles and the organizations that unite every year to award the greatest achievers. Controversies ranging from “is that actress actually in more of the show than the supposed

When Tom Perrotta sat down to adapt his 2017 novel “Mrs. Fletcher” into a seven-episode limited series of the same name for HBO, he was facing a world that had changed in the way people spoke about gender and sexuality from when he was penning the book. So although he still had a very specific

This year’s Golden Globes race for drama series could come down to a battle of the oligarchs. Season 3 of Netflix’s “The Crown,” now featuring Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II, is considered the frontrunner in the category right now — but don’t underestimate the ever-growing interest in the scheming, powerful Roy family of HBO’s

This year’s Golden Globes race for drama series could come down to a battle of the oligarchs. Season 3 of Netflix’s “The Crown,” now featuring Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II, is considered the frontrunner in the category right now — but don’t underestimate the ever-growing interest in the scheming, powerful Roy family of HBO’s

Asante Blackk was brand new to television when Ava DuVernay and casting director Aisha Coley cast him in “When They See Us,” Netflix’s four-part limited series centered on the real-life young men who were falsely convicted of a horrendous assault in 1980s New York City. Plucked from his Baltimore high school to play the teenage

The Television Academy is introducing a vetting process to its Emmy-voting body, in a move that it hopes will “uphold the caliber of the Emmy Awards competition and the vibrancy of its membership.” In a letter sent to the organization’s membership on Friday afternoon, the Academy detailed new efforts to review Emmy voting status. Beginning

This year’s race for lead actress could yield some surprising nominations, outside of some clear front-runners including Renee Zellweger (“Judy”), Charlize Theron (“Bombshell”), and Scarlett Johansson (“Marriage Story”). It’s been a terrific year for female performances, with a wide selection of talent taking on challenging roles spread over various genres. The recent societal demand toward

While this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards saw categories dominated by multiple performers from the same show (think “Game of Thrones,” which had at least one player represented in each major drama acting category, as well as “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Fleabag,” whose on-screen talent nabbed spots in almost all the comedy categories), that trend

Among the record 92 submissions this year, 27 titles are directed or co-directed by women. There are six documentaries in the mix, as well as two animated features. Moreover, for the first time, Ghana and Uzbekistan are each fielding an entry. However, Nigeria’s submission was disqualified by the Academy as being mostly in the English

We’ve spent the entire summer listening to the “Succession” theme; the sound of extreme wealth and extravagance courtesy of Emmy-Award winner Nicholas Britell. The score reflects the absurdly manipulative Roy family. He’s no stranger to composing scores revolving around power and families; “The Big Short” and “Vice” come to mind. His work has garnered him

Ellen DeGeneres has been tapped to receive the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s second-ever Carol Burnett Award. The honor will be handed out at the 76th Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan. 5. The award, which honors TV notables, was introduced during last year’s ceremony; namesake Carol Burnett received the inaugural accolade. DeGeneres, who is set

For the second year in a row, Variety will present its 10 Actors to Watch in conjunction with the Newport Beach Film Festival and Visit Newport Beach. This marks the 21st year Variety has presented 10 Actors to Watch. The festival will also bestow honors on artists who have made a significant impact in film

The National Academy of TV Arts and Sciences is looking to clarify the difference between “daytime” and “primetime” Emmy eligibility. As part of a new set of Daytime Emmys rules announced on Thursday, primetime offshoots of daytime programs will now compete in the Daytime Emmy Awards. “A broadcast series considered eligible for daytime may submit

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is moving ahead with a plan to eliminate two of its gender-specific acting categories. As first reported by Variety in August, the organization has been looking into merging combing its outstanding younger actor and actress categories into one. The TV Academy is expected to formally announce the

The National Academy of TV Arts and Sciences is spreading out next year’s Daytime Emmy Awards over three days — mirroring what its west-coast counterpart already does with the Primetime Emmys. NATAS, the East Coast-based academy handling most non-Primetime Emmys, announced Tuesday that the 47th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be divided into three awards

In the lead-up to Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” there was some fretting about how a director known for grindhouse exploitation might handle the summer of 1969, when the Manson murders capped a period of social upheaval. While Tarantino does get around to what happened on Cielo Drive on the fateful

Scarlett Johansson admits she was skeptical when her agent first approached her about “Jojo Rabbit.” “The logline is not great, so it’s impossible to pitch without sounding full crazy,” Johansson tells me. Written and directed by Taika Waititi and based on the book “Caging Skies,” “Jojo Rabbit” is a satire that takes place in Nazi

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) is sporting a fresh look. The New York-based org, which handles the Emmy Awards for daytime, sports and news and documentary programming, as well as 19 regional chapters, unveiled its new official branding and identity package on Tuesday morning. The new logo, which NATAS will employ