The reunion of Propagate co-CEO Ben Silverman and his former partners at Electus was driven by a mutual desire to become bigger players in the land of media giants. News that Propagate was acquiring Electus raised some eyebrows among industry insiders Tuesday morning as it was no secret that there was strain between Silverman and
Television
In Tuesday’s roundup, Netflix sets the “Fuller House” Season 4 premiere date, and Hulu announces the leads for its adapted series, “Looking for Alaska.” DATES Netflix’s “Fuller House” will return for Season 4 on Dec. 14. It was previously announced in January that the reboot was renewed for a fourth season. The show is a continuation of
Twenty-seven new television pilots developed by creators of color have been funded through Seed&Spark’s “Keep it Colorful” crowdfunding effort, Variety has learned exclusively. The pilots run the gamut of genres, including comedy, drama, sci-fi and animation, and many of them center on themes involving women and LGBTQ individuals. “We are showing the industry there is a
October 30, 2018 3:00PM PT The Dean Koontz novel “Strangers” is in development as a one-hour drama at Fox that hails from Jeff Davis. “Strangers” tells the story of several different people, thousands of miles apart, from different walks of life, finding themselves struck by unusual fears and sudden phobias. A novelist in California suffers unbearable
October 30, 2018 2:36PM PT The ratings for this Sunday’s “The Walking Dead” held even with last week’s numbers. The episode that aired Oct. 28 drew a 2.0 rating in adults 18-49 and 5.1 million viewers, up just a few percent from last week’s numbers. The lack of significant growth comes despite the fact the
October 30, 2018 1:30PM PT NBC is developing an adventure drama titled “Goldbug,” Variety has learned exclusively. Inspired by a true story of gold lost in South America at the beginning of World War I, “Goldbug” follows a bookish PhD student who must travel halfway across the world to find the treasure her estranged mother never
Kevin Williamson’s latest drama, “Tell Me a Story,” blends versions of three classic fairy tales — “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Hansel and Gretel,” and “The Three Little Pigs” — but he didn’t just want to rely on versions of stories already known. Instead, he set out to “write something that was relevant today” for his
Adam Reed is taking the reins of Thinkfactory Media as founder and CEO Leslie Greif departs for a new entertainment venture. Reed has been with the production banner since 2004 and was upped to president in 2016. ITV America bought a majority stake in Thinkfactory for $30 million in 2013 and has now completed its
Robin Wright has long been vocal about equality for women. But the spotlight intensified around her when her longtime co-star on “House of Cards,” Kevin Spacey, stood accused of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Wright was “always ready to do something different,” she says, going into this sixth season of “House of Cards,” which had
20th Century Fox has named Marci Proietto to the newly created position of executive vice president of animation, the studio announced Tuesday. In this role, Proietto will continue to head the studio’s animation area, overseeing creative and production of the studio’s hit animated properties. Those include “Family Guy,” “Bob’s Burgers,” “American Dad,” and “The Simpsons.”
October 30, 2018 10:00AM PT Sony Pictures Television and Tribune Broadcasting have teamed for a syndicated daytime talk show hosted by Mel Robbins. The one-hour show is sold in over 31% of the country and is slated to debut in Fall 2019. “Mel has a proven track record of connecting and resonating with an audience
In a coup for FX, Cate Blanchett is set to star as conservative firebrand Phyllis Schlafly in the limited series “Mrs. America,” recounting the modern history of the women’s movement. “Mad Men” and “Halt and Catch Fire” alum Dahvi Waller is spearheading the project for FX Productions. Waller and Blanchett will exec produce alongside Stacey
October 30, 2018 9:00AM PT Producer Mona Scott-Young is planting her Monami Productions banner at Lionsgate TV. The creator of “Love & Hip Hop” has signed an overall deal to develop unscripted series with Lionsgate. The pact gives her options to work with the studio on scripted projects as well. Scott-Young is the creator and
October 30, 2018 1:25AM PT Holliday Grainger and Callum Turner will star in “The Capture,” the upcoming conspiracy drama from Heyday and NBCUniversal for BBC One in the U.K. Turner (“War and Peace”) plays Shaun Emery, an Afghan war veteran whose conviction for a murder in Afghanistan is overturned due to flawed video evidence. When
SAG-AFTRA has responded to Sarah Scott’s allegation that she was sexually harassed by Kip Pardue by advising its 160,000 members how to deal with such circumstances. In a message posted on the SAG-AFTRA website on Monday, the union did not address Scott’s specific allegations, citing the confidentiality requirements of its procedures. Instead, SAG-AFTRA posted an
October 29, 2018 3:54PM PT The Boston Red Sox-Los Angeles Dodgers 2018 World Series on Fox saw a noticeable drop in viewership compared to last year. Over five games, the 2018 World Series averaged 14.3 million viewers. That is a drop off of 23% compared to the 2017 average of 18.7 million. In fairness, the
In today’s roundup, Fox announces midseason premiere dates, and “Busy Tonight” releases this week’s celebrity guests. DATES Fox has announced its midseason premiere dates, starting with Season 2 of Seth MacFarlane’s space adventure series “The Orville,” which will air Sunday, Dec. 30 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Season 2 of “Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back” premieres Wednesday, Jan.
October 29, 2018 1:08PM PT In the Live+7 ratings for week 3 of the 2018-2019 broadcast season, four freshman shows doubled or more than doubled their Live+Same Day key demo haul. For the week of Oct. 8, ABC’s “A Million Little Things” (0.8 rating to 1.9 rating, 138% increase), the series premiere of The CW’s
October 29, 2018 1:00PM PT NBC is developing a comedy series that hails from Sas Goldberg and Jake Wilson, Variety has learned exclusively. The untitled project is described as an ensemble musical comedy. It follows Sally who, newly jobless and single after a decade working abroad, returns to New York hoping to relive her college glory days
Hasan Minhaj has an unusually hard task ahead of him with his new political comedy series “Patriot Act.” For one, thanks to the extreme proliferation of cable and streaming networks. there’s no shortage of similar shows out there, standing by for whatever fresh material/hell that week’s news might offer. For another, Netflix has a notoriously rocky history
The opinion hosts at Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network have always been good at tripping liberal sensibilities. In the last few days, however, some of them have drawn criticism from an even wider circle. On Monday morning, “Fox & Friends” co-anchor Brian Kilmeade stirred up social-media reaction with some remarks about a caravan
October 29, 2018 12:23PM PT Paramount Network pulled two episodes of its troubled “Heathers” series Sunday, one day after a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue left 11 people dead. The two episodes that had been scheduled to air included a school-shooting-related storyline. The decision to yank the episodes disrupted the chronology of the series, which
October 29, 2018 12:00PM PT Chris Van Dusen has signed a multi-year overall deal at Netflix. Van Dusen was previously announced as the showrunner on the untitled Bridgerton project that Shonda Rhimes is executive producing at Netflix. Van Dusen will also adapt the Julia Quinn novels on which the hour-long drama is based, with the
Activist and social entrepreneur Topeka K. Sam has signed a development deal with 44 Blue Productions, Variety has learned exclusively. Under the deal with 44 Blue, which is part of Red Arrow Studios, Sam will develop both scripted and unscripted series inspired by her fight to change the many problems that plague female incarceration. Sam recently
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, “House of Cards” returns for its final season and “Homecoming” debuts on Amazon.
Longtime CBS executive Scott Koondel is transitioning from his role as chief corporate content licensing officer to heading his own production-distribution venture in partnership with CBS Corp. The agreement calls for Koondel to package and produce new programming for broadcast, cable and streaming outlets on a first-look basis with CBS and affiliated companies. It also
Discovery is looking to capitalize on the promise of its Scripps Networks Interactive acquisition through a plan to revive the home makeover series “While You Were Out” with separate episodes of the show tailored for TLC and HGTV audiences. The series is billed as the first crossover series among Discovery networks following its $14 billion
Bob Saget is reuniting with producer Vin Di Bona and ABC for a clip-show series, but this time the content will be decidedly more adult-oriented than the family-friendly tone of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” “Videos After Dark” will feature Saget offering his comedic take on clips harvested by Di Bona’s “AFV” team over the years
“Dogs,” a new docuseries from Glen Zipper and Amy Berg, is set to premiere globally on Netflix November 16. Variety has also exclusively obtained the first trailer, which you can watch below. The six-episode series tracks six individual stories “celebrating the deep emotional bonds between people and their beloved four-legged friends” from countries including Syria,
October 29, 2018 7:48AM PT CNN disclosed Monday that another suspicious packaged addressed to the all-news cabler has been discovered at a postal facility in Atlanta. The news comes five days after a pipe bomb was mailed to CNN’s New York headquarters. The discovery of the package on Oct. 24 forced the evacuation of Time