With around 520 original series set to premiere on television in 2019, a 69% increase in the past five years, the demand for source material and existing intellectual property in Hollywood is greater than ever. “With the advent of so many new streaming services, there is more available bandwidth,” says Rich Green, head of media
Television
One of TV’s oldest commercial formats is in danger of being blitzed. Viewers who tune in to Thursday night games on Fox, “” on ESPN and “” on NBC have likely seen such a maneuver multiple times over the course of the 2018 season, even if they weren’t aware of what was happening. During one
November 8, 2018 7:02AM PT With Italian drama TV enjoying its own golden moment, new free- and pay-TV deals have been struck for two popular series from pubcaster RAI. “Rocco Schiavone,” which has already been bought by Starz in the U.S., and “The Hunter,” which was in competition at Canneseries, have sold in a raft
November 8, 2018 6:00AM PT Netflix subscribers are about to see a lot more of Katherine Ryan. The British-based comic and actress is writing and starring in “The Duchess,” a new comedy series for the streaming giant from 3Arts and Clerkenwell Films, the producers of “The End of the F***ing World.” Canadian-Irish performer Ryan will
November 8, 2018 4:15AM PT Discovery said profit fell in the third quarter as charges associated with its recent merger with Scripps Networks Interactive weighed on the company’s bottom line. The owner of the Discovery Channel, TLC and ID cable networks said net income totaled $117 million, or an adjusted 52 cents per share, compared with
November 8, 2018 4:02AM PT Federation Entertainment has acquired worldwide rights to “Made in Italy,” a drama series chronicling the birth of the Italian fashion industry in the 1970s. Co-produced by Taodue Film and The Family for Mediaset, “Made in Italy” stars up-and-coming model Greta Ferro as Irene, a daughter of Southern Italian immigrants, who
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Fire and Reign,” the ninth episode of “American Horror Story: Apocalypse.” As “American Horror Story: Apocalypse” continued to work its way back to the actual apocalypse that kicked off the season, the penultimate episode, “Fire and Reign,” revealed why there only seemed to be six
Casting director Eddie Foy III, whose credits include “Happy Days” and the Emmy Awards, died after a fall on Nov. 3, his publicist confirmed. He was 83. Foy had been a casting director for more than 42 years. He worked with Columbia Pictures/Screen Gems, 20th Century Fox, and Dick Clark Productions. He served as director
November 7, 2018 3:30PM PT In Today’s TV roundup, a new teaser dropped for an upcoming flashback episode of “Riverdale” and Megan Fox is starring in a new Travel Channel series. DATES The Travel Channel‘s new ancient mystery series “Legends of the Lost with Megan Fox” is set to premiere Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. During
November 7, 2018 3:07PM PT Fox News topped all of its competition in total viewers during primetime coverage of the midterm elections on Tuesday night, while CNN was first in the key demographic. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, and CBS all carried live coverage of the elections as they unfolded over the course of
The holidays are on the horizon, and television networks everywhere are getting ready with a host of Thanksgiving and Christmas specials. Beginning on Thanksgiving Day, CBS will kick off the holiday season with its coverage of the Thanksgiving Day Parade, followed by a host of new holiday films and celebrity specials across broadcast, cable and
Emmy-winning director Susanne Bier has signed on to helm the upcoming HBO series “The Undoing.” Bier will direct all six episodes of the series, which is based on the book “You Should Have Known” by Jean Hanff Korelit, in addition to serving as an executive producer. The series stars and is executive produced by Nicole
November 7, 2018 3:00PM PT Universal Cable Productions has inked an overall deal with Grant Morrison. Under the deal, Morrison will work with the studio to develop and produce original content for television networks and streamers. Morrison’s newest project with UCP will be developing and writing his long-running comic series “The Invisibles” for television. Set
November 7, 2018 2:58PM PT Last month, Strauss Zelnick replaced Richard Parsons as the chairman of the CBS Corp. board of directors, but that hasn’t changed his focus on Take-Two Interactive and his leadership there, he said during Take-Two’s earnings call Wednesday. Zelnick said his role new role at CBS is specifically “interim and non-executive,
In the world of TV news, reporters and producers always want to be first. But on Election Night, they know they need to be right. Executives at Fox News Channel had worked for months to make certain they would be both. Just a few minute after 9:30 p.m. last night, Fox News Channel anchor Bret
November 7, 2018 1:00PM PT ABC has picked up “Splitting Up Together” and “The Kids Are Alright” for full seasons. Freshman series “The Kids Are Alright” premiered in October in the post-“The Conners” timeslot. From creator and executive producer Tim Doyle, the series is inspired by Doyle’s own childhood. The show stars Michael Cudlitz as
November 7, 2018 12:00PM PT Claes Bang has been cast in the fifth and final season of “The Affair” in a recurring guest role, Variety has learned exclusively. Bang will play Sasha Mann, described as a charismatic, A-list movie star who will play an influential role in both Helen (Maura Tierney) and Noah’s (Dominic West) lives
November 7, 2018 12:00PM PT Michael Sheen is joining season three of the “The Good Fight,” CBS All Access announced Wednesday. Sheen, best known for his roles in “Masters of Sex” and “Frost/Nixon,” will play Roland Blum, a charismatic yet Machiavellian lawyer, described as “a man of appetites – drugs, sex, you name it – who’s far
The untitled morning show drama at Apple is continuing to round out its cast. Variety has learned that Bel Powley, Karen Pittman, and Desean Terry have all been cast in the upcoming series. Powley will play Claire Conway, described as a driven production assistant. Pittman has been cast as Mia Jordan, a producer. Terry has been
November 7, 2018 10:49AM PT Daniel Holloway, Variety’s senior TV writer, is being promoted to Executive Editor, TV. He will assume his new role on Nov. 26. Holloway is succeeding Debra Birnbaum — who’s been tapped as director of awards at Amazon — and will lead the publication’s team of TV writers, editors, and critics
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “The Bodyguard,” streaming now on Netflix. In his new BBC thriller “The Bodyguard,” Richard Madden plays a special protection officer tasked with keeping Britain’s Home Secretary safe. But his role isn’t relegated to a stereotypical stoic action hero. His background as an army veteran provides
Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen blasted AT&T for demanding unreasonable terms from the pay-TV distributor for HBO, saying the telco is insisting Dish pay for a minimum number of subscribers to the premium cabler whether or not that number of Dish customers actually take HBO. HBO on Oct. 31 removed its HBO and Cinemax channels from
The CW is developing a reboot of the USA Network series “The 4400,” Variety has learned. The reboot hails from CBS Television Studios, which produced the original series when it was still known as CBS Paramount Network Television. The project is being shephered by Taylor Elmore and Craig Sweeny, both of whom are under overall deals
Sitting in NBC’s venerable Studio 1A, Andy Lack had to be thinking in 3D. Playing out for the chairman of NBC News on dozens of screens was the network’s broadcast of its coverage of the 2018 midterm elections, with Savannah Guthrie, Lester Holt, Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell hashing out the latest voter data. Elsewhere
November 7, 2018 12:45AM PT ITV Studios recorded a 10% year-on-year increase in revenues over the first nine months of 2018, driving up overall company revenues by 6% to £2.3 billion ($3 billion), the company said Wednesday. CEO Carolyn McCall described the results as in line with expectations and highlighted the performance of ITV Studios,
Sacha Baron Cohen’s infamous Borat made his return Tuesday night in honor of the historic 2018 midterms, visiting a Los Angeles neighborhood for a segment on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “Russia interfere with the presidential election,” Borat said in an introduction. “But now, all eyes are on them. So, it’s up to Kazakhstan to swing the
Typically, a tossed off joke about how slow an internet provider is wouldn’t make much of a ripple. But when “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver used that punchline on Sunday, he wasn’t just poking fun at AT&T; he was taking the company to task, fully knowing that AT&T’s merger with HBO means he was
November 6, 2018 4:07PM PT ABC has all but pulled the plug on “The Alec Baldwin Show,” with the broadcaster moving the talk show hosted by the actor to Saturday nights. ABC announced Tuesday that reruns of “Shark Tank” will now run in the show’s Sunday night at 10 p.m. ET timeslot beginning Nov. 18,
Nearly two months after Leslie Moonves’ ouster from CBS Corp., the search for his successor has been sluggish and only now starting in earnest. But it won’t be a speedy process. The word that the CBS board’s evaluation of candidates could take as long as four to six months speaks volumes about the challenge CBS
November 6, 2018 3:37PM PT In today’s roundup, TBS releases an exclusive clip for a new episode of “The Guest Book,” and El Rey Network appoints a VP of programming and acquisitions. FIRST LOOKS TBS’ “The Guest Book” has released an exclusive clip to Variety ahead of its new episode that will air Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 10:30 p.m.