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.
Television
When the People’s Choice Awards returns to TV for its 44th year on Nov. 11, it will be the first time the franchise won’t be on CBS. That’s because Procter & Gamble sold the telecast to E!, the Comcast-owned cable network ready to evolve from red-carpet host to an awards show of its very own.
The upcoming “Swamp Thing” series at DC Universe has cast two major roles. Andy Bean will play series regular character Alec Holland, and Derek Mears will play the titular character, Swamp Thing. Bean’s character, Alec Holland, is a passionate biologist who finds himself in nightmarish circumstances as he realizes that the bizarre disease affecting townspeople
November 6, 2018 1:00PM PT USA Network is pleased to announced the continuation of the annual Purge. The cable network has ordered a second season of the series based on the Blumhouse horror film franchise. The news comes just hours ahead of the Season 1 finale of the series, which airs tonight at 10 p.m.
November 6, 2018 12:50PM PT Nickelodeon has named veteran producer Ramsey Naito executive VP of animation production and development. In her new role, Naito will oversee the network’s animation content across all formats and platforms, including digital, TV, and film. She will report to Nickelodeon president Brian Robbins and be based in Nickelodeon’s Burbank studio.
November 6, 2018 12:36PM PT NBC has canceled “Reverie.” Starring Sarah Shahi, the drama series premiered in May and ran through August — over the summer stretch when viewership levels are lower than they are during the Nielsen season. “Reverie” landed a series order last year. It hailed from hails from writer Mickey Fisher, who
November 6, 2018 12:15PM PT TNT has canceled the drama series “Good Behavior” after two seasons. The series, based on the book series by Blake Crouch, starred Michelle Dockery, Juan Diego Botto, Terry Kinney, Lusia Strus and Joey Kern. It was adapted for television by Chad Hodge and Crouch. In the series Dockery starred as Letty Raines,
Sean Hannity is no stranger to crossing the long-held journalistic line about getting too chummy with political candidates, and Fox News has frequently had to pull him back. Last night, Hannity may have spurred new thoughts among executives at the cable-news outlet about the length of his leash. Hannity and another Fox News Channel opinion
November 6, 2018 9:35AM PT Fox News Channel said it did not condone host Sean Hannity’s appearance Monday night during President Donald Trump’s campaign rally and called the episode “an unfortunate distraction.” Hannity on Monday night was called up to the stage by President Trump at an event held in Missouri, and then told the
November 6, 2018 6:30AM PT Andrew Lincoln’s much-hyped exit from “The Walking Dead” boosted the show’s ratings–but not by much. In the Nielsen Live+Same Day numbers, this Sunday’s episode of the AMC series drew a 2.1 rating in adults 18-49 and 5.4 million viewers. That is up approximately 6% in both measures from last week.
The sale of Endemol Shine is off, Variety has learned. Senior staff members at the production and distribution giant were told this week that the company’s co-owners, 21st Century Fox and Apollo Global Management, have decided to suspend the process, a source with knowledge of the matter said Tuesday. With the sale shelved, Fox’s 50%
With the 2018 midterm elections tomorrow, late night hosts are joining the rest of the news world to focus on what could result in a Democratic takeover of the House — some more lightheartedly than others. On “The Late Show,” Stephen Colbert was on edge, turning to a pull of bourbon to calm his nerves.
November 5, 2018 4:29PM PT “The Big Bang Theory” saw enough total viewers lift in Live+7 in week 4 of the current season to come out ahead of “Sunday Night Football.” For the week of Oct. 15, the CBS sitcom added 4.6 million viewers in delayed viewing for a total haul of 16.8 million. That
November 5, 2018 3:45PM PT Matt Reeves is bringing a long-gestating project to NBC. Reeves is attached to executive produce the drama “Ordinary Joe” at the broadcaster, which has received a put pilot commitment. The project is based on a pilot that Reeves first wrote more than a decade ago. The series begins with the titular
In today’s TV News Roundup, Anika Noni Rose is set to star in TNT’s upcoming drama “Beast Mode,” and FXX announced the premiere date for the last season of “You’re the Worst.” DATES ION Television is kicking off its tenth holiday movie season Nov. 25 with the premiere of “Christmas Cupid’s Arrow,” followed by more film
November 5, 2018 3:18PM PT Variety Executive Editor Debra Birnbaum will be leaving her post of four and a half years to join Amazon as director of awards. Her last day at Variety will be Nov. 23. Birnbaum has led Variety’s TV team and coverage since joining the news organization in 2014, serving both as editor
November 5, 2018 3:00PM PT Fox is developing the comedy series “Best Lives” from CBS Television Studios and writer Daisy Gardner. The project is described as a hybrid multi- and single-camera comedy that revolves around a brother and sister who find themselves both starting over after divorce. Gardner, an alum of ABC’s “The Goldbergs” and
November 5, 2018 1:48PM PT Bob Kushell, the co-showrunner of CBS’ upcoming midseason comedy “Fam,” has been fired for reportedly using inappropriate language in the workplace, Variety has learned. The show’s creator, Corinne Kingsbury, will now serve as the sitcom’s sole showrunner. Representatives for CBS declined to comment. “Fam” stars Nina Dobrev, Tone Bell and Odessa
Television isn’t hurting for lack of angry women right now, but it’s still startling to make direct eye contact with them as one must with “Snatches.” BBC America’s new series of short films — eight in total — honors the 100th anniversary of women getting the vote in England by centering furious, aching, excited, miserable
AMC Networks has overhauled the management of its entertainment networks, promoting BBC America chief Sarah Barnett to oversee four channels focused on scripted programming: AMC, SundanceTV, BBC America and IFC. David Madden, who joined AMC and SundanceTV last year from Fox, will take on oversight of programming for the four AMC channels in addition to
Disney and Fox found themselves wrapped up in another bidding war earlier this year, but this time around it involved vowels, consonants and answers posed in the form of questions. The ABC Owned Television Stations group has renewed the syndicated game shows “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy” through the 2022-23 television season. The shows have
November 5, 2018 11:30AM PT Election Night 2018 will be fraught with tight political races and tons of anticipation – and filled with real-time jokes from TV’s late-night hosts. Jimmy Kimmel will join Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers in presenting a live broadcast Tuesday night, just as Americans are getting results from many
Welcome back to Tune In: our weekly newsletter offering a guide to the best of the week’s TV. Each week, Variety’s TV team combs through the week’s schedule, selecting our picks of what to watch and when/how to watch them. This week, “The Last Ship” comes to an end on TNT and “Mayans MC” ends
November 5, 2018 10:00AM PT TBS has ordered a pilot for an unscripted series led by Shaquille O’Neal and Ken Jeong. The new series is currently titled “Unqualified.” It will see O’Neal and Jeong team up to try out a variety of odd jobs like patrolling malls as rent-a-cops, substitute teaching kindergarten, train conducting, and
November 5, 2018 10:00AM PT ABC has ordered additional episodes of “The Rookie.” The freshman drama starring Nathan Fillion has been picked up for seven additional episodes, bringing its first season to 20 total. It is the latest example of a broadcast series this season being picked up for a full season that will not
It’s hard to stay current. That’s one of the points of “The Kominsky Method,” a sitcom starring Michael Douglas as a thespian and acting teacher who’s increasingly confounded by his venal young students. Douglas’ Sandy Kominsky, whose career has shifted from having been left out of Hollywood to being left behind by it, finds himself contemplating
UPDATED: NBCUniversal and Fox News said they would pull a controversial Trump campaign commercial from rotation on its networks after the ad sparked criticism while appearing during “Sunday Night Football.” Both Judd Apatow, a movie director who has worked frequently with NBCU’s Universal Pictures, and Debra Messing, an actress who is one of the stars
November 5, 2018 7:04AM PT Greg Kinnear is in talks to star in “War of the Worlds” from Canal Plus and Fox’s Europe and Africa arm. Sources said Kinnear could take the lead role in the series adaptation of H.G. Wells’ alien invasion classic. Kinnear is understood to have seen a script but not signed
November 4, 2018 7:13PM PT Andrew Lincoln will stay in the “Walking Dead” universe. The AMC series veteran has signed on to play the iconic character Rick Grimes in multiple feature-length projects in development at the cable network. A series of AMC Studios Original Films, starring Lincoln and written by “Walking Dead” chief content officer Scott
SPOILER ALERT: Do not keep reading if you have not seen Episode 5 of Season 9 of “The Walking Dead,” titled “What Comes After” As seen in the end of last week’s episode, Rick was thrown from a horse while trying to distract two converging walker herds and was skewered through the abdomen by a