Television

November 10, 2018 9:06PM PT Liev Schreiber used his “Saturday Night Live” monologue time to get political — but not in a partisan way. Hosting the Nov. 10 episode of the NBC late night sketch comedy series, the “Ray Donovan” star pointed out that being funny “has just never really been my thing” and said

After Jeff Sessions tendered his resignation as attorney general earlier this week, Kate McKinnon portrayed him for presumably the last time on the Nov. 10 episode of “Saturday Night Live.” While Alec Baldwin was still absent as Donald Trump, post-arrest, Robert De Niro returned as Robert Mueller to send off the former Depart of Justice

Victoria’s Secret chief marketing officer Ed Razek apologized in a statement Friday for remarks he made in a Vogue interview published Thursday about why Victoria’s Secret hasn’t cast transgender models in their annual fashion show. “My remark regarding the inclusion of transgender models in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show came across as insensitive. I apologize,”

Newly appointed Producers Guild of America presidents Gail Berman and Lucy Fisher have a busy agenda for the guild that includes establishing a health care plan for members and bringing its hard-fought Producers Mark certification to television. Berman, a prolific producer who heads the Jackal Group, and Fisher, a film biz veteran who heads Red

November 10, 2018 8:46AM PT Home remodeling superstars Chip and Joanna Gaines are in talks with Discovery to launch a linear channel and streaming service focused on their formidable Magnolia brand of home and lifestyle programming and products. Discovery is planning to relaunch one of its 12 existing U.S. channels as the Gaines’ outlet, which

Margaret Brennan returns as moderator of CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday after a two-month maternity leave that gave her greater perspective on how viewers take in information delivered via television news. Brennan watched the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination hearings in September with her infant son at her side. But she also unplugged from

In today’s TV news roundup, VH1 announced the Season 4 cast members for “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” and Freeform announced the premiere date for Season 2 of “Grown-ish.” DATES Season 2 of “Grown-ish” will premiere Jan. 2 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Freeform. Following their freshman year, Zoey (Yara Shahidi) and her friends are returning

The mansion that serves as the home of ABC’s “The Bachelor” has burned in the Woolsey fire currently raging in southern California. The lower house has reportedly been destroyed, while flames have reached the back patio of the main house and are continuing to advance. Warner Bros. Television, which produces the series, had no comment.

November 9, 2018 1:47PM PT The ABC shows “The Good Doctor” and “A Million Little Things” both doubled in the delayed viewing ratings for week 6 of the broadcast season. For the week of Oct. 29, “The Good Doctor” went from a 1.0 to a 2.0 in adults 18-49, while “A Million Little Things” went

Welcome to “Remote Controlled,” a podcast from Variety featuring the best and brightest in television, both in front of and behind the camera. On this week’s episode, Variety‘s Debra Birnbaum talks with CW stars Caity Lotz and Candice Patton about their website SheThority. Lotz stars as Sara Lance — aka White Canary — on “Legends of Tomorrow.”

Warren Littlefield and The Littlefield company have signed an exclusive pod deal with Fox 21 Television Studios and Twentieth Century Fox Television. Under the deal, Littlefield and his producing team of Ann Johnson and Graham Littlefield to produce new projects for cable, broadcast and streaming platforms for Fox 21 TV and 20th TV, where The Littlefield

November 9, 2018 10:00AM PT Kevin Hart has lined up another comedy project at a broadcast network. Variety has learned exclusively that Hart is executive producing the project “Don’t Call It a Comeback” that is currently in development at ABC and hails from writer and executive producer Courtney Lilly. The series is a single-camera family comedy

The entertainment industry-backed Veterans Fellowship Program is marking its first anniversary with a tally of success stories from the past year and the addition of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a grant partner. The fellowship effort was created by Veterans in Media and Entertainment and the Got Your 6 initiative, an effort to open

November 9, 2018 9:30AM PT Anna Paquin has joined the cast of the fifth and final season of “The Affair,” Variety has confirmed. Paquin joins the Showtime drama in the role of the adult version of Joanie Lockhart, the daughter of Alison and Cole. The show will jump forward in time multiple decades as Joanie returns to

November 9, 2018 9:30AM PT NBC has moved “The Blacklist” to Fridays for its upcoming sixth season. The broadcaster has announced that the drama series will return with a two-hour season premiere on Friday, Jan. 4 at 8 p.m. and will air in its new regular 9 p.m. timeslot beginning Jan. 11. This marks the

Tribune Media’s third quarter results underscore the gusher of political advertising spending around this month’s midterm federal election. Tribune Media saw a 90% in political ad spending in the quarter compared to the comparable frame during the previous midterm federal election cycle in 2014. The money flow was even 36% faster than the spending in

Viewers who tune in to the broadcast of the 2018 People’s Choice Awards this weekend on E! won’t have to work too hard to find advertisers getting in on the event. Subaru will be active during scenes shot from the awards-show red carpet. EBay will sponsor shots of what’s happening backstage. T-Mobile will sponsor a

Sally (Catherine Shepherd) is not the star of her own show — or her own life. When we meet her, she’s trudging through a job in marketing (tasked with making eggs “sexy” enough to appeal to teens) and a relationship with a fellow whose meek submissiveness is portrayed as something almost grotesque. He doesn’t realize,

Billie Lourd’s “American Horror Story: Apocalypse” character Mallory appeared at first glance just to be the weary assistant of spoiled socialite Coco (Leslie Grossman). But as episodes went on and the story flashed back in time to the events pre-end of the world, she was revealed to be so much more: the next rightful Supreme

One of the biggest flips in the midterm elections — at least for the stars of Netflix’s “Making a Murderer” Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey — may have come in the state of Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walker and Attorney General Brad Schimel, both republican incumbents, lost their bids for re-election on Tuesday.  Described as “the top

In today’s TV News Roundup, YouTube Originals releases the trailer for comedy series “Champaign Ill.” FIRST LOOKS YouTube Premium has released the first trailer for the new series “Champaign Ill,” a comedy debuting on Dec. 12. Starring Adam Pally (“Happy Endings,” “The Mindy Project”), Sam Richardson (“Veep,” “Detroiters”) and guest starring Jay Pharoah (“Saturday Night Live,” “Ride Along”), the 10 episode

November 8, 2018 4:12PM PT Jeff Gaspin’s Gaspin Media has inked an overall deal with Stuart Ford’s AGC Television. The multi-year pact calls for Gaspin to develop a slate of scripted and unscripted TV projects. Gaspin will also join AGC’s board as a non-executive director. Ford, the indie film and TV veteran, launched AGC Studios

Given Alec Baldwin’s recent on- and offscreen troubles, is his most high-profile job — playing President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live” — still secure? Baldwin first played Trump on the NBC sketch show in October 2016, and has made nearly two dozen appearances doing the impression since then. In that time, Baldwin won an

Lionsgate is expanding its European Starz network by launching its Starzplay channel on Virgin Media in the U.K. on Nov. 29. The company made the announcement on Thursday following a better than-expected earnings report for the second quarter that ended on Sept. 30, driven by a gain of 1.3 million domestic Starz subscribers. Virgin TV

The merger of Israel’s financially ailing networks Reshet and Channel Ten was given its final go-ahead Thursday. Just a month ago, Reshet announced that it was calling off the long-planned marriage, blaming foot-dragging by the country’s broadcasting authority. But on Thursday evening in Israel, the authority voted to approve the merger, with the two networks

The CW has ordered more episodes of all three of its new fall dramas. “Charmed” has received a back nine order, bringing its first season to 22 episodes total. Fellow freshman shows “All American” and “Legacies” have gotten picked up for three more episodes, meaning the first season of both shows will run for 16

Renowned British naturalist David Attenborough is lending his voice to “Our Planet,” Netflix’s big-budget wildlife series. Attenborough, 92, who has narrated numerous natural-history shows for the BBC, will be the voice of the eight-part “Our Planet,” which launches on the streaming giant on April 5, 2019. The blue-chip series has been four years in the

A conversation with entertainment industry guild presidents, an inside look at Blumhouse Television and a discussion about on-set safety and sex scenes are among the programming for the 2019 ATX Television Festival, the organization announced Thursday. “Presidents of the Guild” will be a panel discussion with Gabrielle Carteris, president of SAG-AFTRA; David A. Goodman, president

Leading French pay-TV group Canal Plus has renewed its contract with French film guilds to invest up to €180 million ($205 million) per year in local and European movies from 2019 to 2023. The Vivendi-owned French paybox agreed to invest whichever is the greater of two amounts: 12.5% of annual revenue, or between €2.38 ($2.70) and

Over the past year, Mira Sorvino, an important part of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, has opened up about her abuse at the hands of Harvey Weinstein. Sorvino, an Oscar winner for her role in 1995’s “Mighty Aphrodite,” spoke about the strides those movements have made, what still needs to be done and her