SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “America the Beautiful,” the season four premiere of “Outlander.” The tagline for “Outlander” season four is “Brave the New World,” and the premiere episode wasted no time introducing Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) to the not-so-beautiful America upon which they landed in
Television
Nov. 4 saw the debut of HBO’s four-part series of specials “Axios,” which takes its name from the access-driven website that thrives on scoops delivered with limited adornment. Indeed, the website prides itself on drilling down stories to, effectively, headlines. This all makes for unfortunate timing, as Nov. 6 marks the midterms, a story encompassing
The “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” trivia game app launched a new game Sunday that was “intentionally unwinnable” for players, with the prize money instead being donated to the NAACP, Variety has learned exclusively. The app, “This is Not a Game: The Game,” features trivia games during which players have to answer trivia questions designed to educate them
Pete Davidson has garnered some criticism after insulting a conservative politician who lost an eye during his military service on Saturday’s episode of “SNL.” Davidson’s segment on Weekend Update kicked off with his first impressions of several midterms candidates, though he didn’t claim to be an expert on the races. “After I had to move back
Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow and the gang from “The Five” normally have Sundays off at CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel. Not so this weekend. The anchors, who typically hold forth Monday through Friday, are going to do various shows this evening as part of the networks’ coverage in advance of the 2018 midterm elections,
Showrunner Kenya Barris offered a glimpse of one of the projects he is pursuing now that he has relocated to Netflix during a wide-ranging discussion Saturday night held as part of the USC Comedy Festival. “I can say this,” Barris teased. “I want to reboot what a family show is.” Barris spoke with filmmaker Tim
In “Narcos: Mexico,” which Netflix will release Nov. 16, Diego Luna takes on the role of Guadalajara cartel leader Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, considered the founder of the modern Mexican drug trade. Gallardo is currently behind bars in Mexico for the murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, played on the show by Michael Peña.
Jonah Hill hosted the Nov. 3 episode of “Saturday Night Live,” which marked his fifth time hosting overall. He was welcomed into the “Five Timers Club” during his opening show monologue by former “SNL” cast member and writer Tina Fey, as well as Candice Bergen and Drew Barrymore. “Welcome to the club, Seth,” Bergen dryly
After taking its first hiatus of the 44th season, “Saturday Night Live” certainly had a stockpile of material it could have used for the first cold open back in three weeks. In the time away, cast member Pete Davidson ended his engagement to pop star Ariana Grande, this season’s premiere musical guest Kanye West decided
November 3, 2018 10:10AM PT CNN and the oldest son of President Donald Trump got into a dispute on Twitter about the attempted placement of a commercial on the network urging viewers to vote for Republicans in the midterm election. In a statement, CNN said it turned down a commercial from the Trump campaign pushing
“Outlander” is once again changing locations for its upcoming fourth season — but only in show setting, not shooting location, which is something executive producer Matthew B. Robert says provided the “absolute biggest challenge” the production team has thus far faced on the show. The third season finale of the Starz drama saw Claire (Caitriona
November 2, 2018 4:15PM PT HBO has renewed the comedy series “Divorce” for a third season. Production on the third season will begin in early 2019. The new installment of the series will consist of six episodes. Season 1 was 10 episodes, while Season 2 had eight. In addition, Liz Tuccillo will join the series as
In today’s TV news roundup, an exclusive first look at the upcoming Netflix children’s series “Motown Magic” and Anjelika Washington joins “Stargirl.” FIRST LOOKS Variety has obtained an exclusive first look at upcoming Netflix children’s series “Motown Magic,” premiering worldwide on Tuesday, Nov. 20. Each episode’s plot is inspired by the themes and characters of classic Motown songs, featuring newly
November 2, 2018 3:04PM PT Freeform has canceled “Alone Together” after two seasons. The series was a half-hour, single-camera comedy starring Esther Povitsky and Benji Aflalo. The pair play platonic best friends who want nothing more than to be accepted by the vain and status-obsessed culture. Despite their sometimes contentious relationship, when push comes to shove,
German actress Sibel Kekilli is best-known to American audiences for her role as Shae, the prostitute-turned-mistress of Tyrion Lannister in HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” An outspoken feminist of Turkish descent, Kekiilli spoke to Variety at Italy’s Lucca Comics about the culture clash she’s been contending with since the start of her career, and why she
November 2, 2018 2:11PM PT Hulu has given a series order to the comedy “Dollface” starring Kat Dennings. The streamer has given the series a 10-episode order. It follows a young woman (Dennings) who, after being dumped by her longtime boyfriend, must deal with her own imagination in order to literally and metaphorically re-enter the
November 2, 2018 12:34PM PT NBC’s “This Is Us” once again topped the delayed viewing charts, though Fox held the most top spots for the week thanks to NFL and World Series coverage. In the Live+3 ratings for the week of Oct. 22, “This Is Us” went from a 2.1 rating in adults 18-49 to
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Homecoming,” streaming now on Amazon. Micah Bloomberg and Eli Horowitz’ podcast “Homecoming” explored a caseworker’s bond with a soldier in an experimental program designed to wipe memories of trauma so he would be ready to fight again. But (spoiler alert) over the podcast’s two seasons,
November 2, 2018 10:05AM PT [embedded content] “Things I’ve seen, things I know, wouldn’t do anything but cause harm,” Mahershala Ali’s Wayne Hays says in “True Detective’s” Season 3 trailer. The third installment of the HBO limited series follows two children’s disappearance in the Ozarks, and the way it haunts state police detective Hays over
November 2, 2018 10:00AM PT Hulu has ordered a pilot for a comedy series called “Woke” with Lamorne Morris set to star, Variety has learned. “Woke” is a half-hour comedy with a mix of live-action and animation. It is inspired by the life and art of cartoonist Keith Knight. The series follows Keef (Morris), an African-American cartoonist
Welcome to “Remote Controlled,” a podcast from Variety featuring the best and brightest in television, both in front of and behind the camera. In this week’s episode, Variety‘s chief TV critic, Daniel D’Addario, speaks with actor Michael Kelly of “House of Cards,” and senior TV reporter Daniel Holloway speaks with Kelly’s new co-star, Greg Kinnear. Listen to this
Once upon a time, Amazon’s “The Romanoffs” was one of the most highly anticipated shows of the fall season. Five episodes in, however, Matthew Weiner’s long-awaited follow-up to “Mad Men” hasn’t found much of a footing at all. Despite an all-star cast and impeccable production values, the series’ ruminations on the intersecting biases, nuances, and
November 1, 2018 10:16PM PT Revolver Amsterdam is working up a 10-part adaptation of “Takeover,” the thriller from Jussi Adler-Olsen, the Nordic crime writer behind the “Department Q” series. Adler-Olsen has sold over 20 million books globally. Several of his “Department Q” books have been successfully adapted for the big screen in the author’s native
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Grace’s Secret,” the Nov. 1 episode of “Will & Grace.” One year after the #MeToo hashtag went viral, television scribes are still scripting their characters to give voices to those who have previously been pushed into silence. “Will & Grace” is the latest show to
In today’s TV News Roundup, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” announces an hour-long holiday special, and Molly Ringwald joins the”Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City” reboot. DATES VH1 will air “Rupaul’s Drag Race Holi-Slay Spectacular,” a one-hour special bringing back eight past franchise favorites to compete for the title of Drag Race Xmas Queen: Eureka O’Hara, Jasmine
More than 400 SAG-AFTRA members picketed the New York office of advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty on Thursday, six weeks after the union struck the company. The rally took the form of a mock bake sale to raise funds for BBH. The union told its 160,000 members on Sept. 20 not to work for the
CBS’ newly installed leadership team had something of a coming out event on Thursday as the company released strong third quarter earnings. Joe Ianniello, CBS’ president and acting CEO, presided over a conference call with Wall Street analysts along with David Nevins, the Showtime chief who was upped to CBS’ chief content officer last month,
CBS said third-quarter profit rose largely on strength in revenue from affiliate and subscription fees, a testament to the company’s ongoing efforts to find sources of revenue not related to the advertising that fuels its flagship TV network. The quarterly report is the first the company has delivered since the ouster of former Chairman and
November 1, 2018 12:59PM PT Canal Plus has acquired exclusive broadcasting rights to England’s Premier League soccer matches which will kick off in August 2019. The deal will give Canal Plus subscribers access to the 380 Premier League games during the 2020/21 season across multiple territories in Europe. The value of the deal is in
November 1, 2018 11:10AM PT Filmmaker Judd Apatow is continuing to call for the entertainment industry’s creative community to apply pressure to Fox News’ corporate parent amid backlash to the news channel’s recent coverage. Apatow took to Twitter early Thursday morning to criticize executives Lachlan and James Murdoch, the sons of 21st Century Fox founder