Television

Showtime CEO David Nevins is in negotiations with parent company CBS Corp. to take on an expanded role beyond the premium service he now heads. His renewed deal would give the executive oversight of content for streaming service CBS All Access, in addition to retaining his existing Showtime responsibilities. It could also see his role

October 12, 2018 4:16PM PT Fox has ordered an additional two episodes for Season 3 of “Lethal Weapon.” Series star Damon Wayans is set to appear in the episodes, despite announcing recently that he planned to leave the show after the original 13 episode order for the third season was completed. Season 3 of “Lethal

In Friday’s roundup, NBC releases premiere dates for three series, and sci-fi series “October Faction” announces the main cast. DATES NBC has released premiere dates for three series, starting with “The Titan Games,” which will premiere Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET/PT, and will begin airing in its regularly scheduled 8

October 12, 2018 3:00PM PT ABC is developing a comedy series based on Sara Saedi’s memoir “Americanized,” Variety has learned. The single-camera series, which will be executive produced by Reese Witherspoon, tells the story of a loving and off-beat Iranian family who’s been living with a huge secret: they’re undocumented immigrants. It is described as a window

“You can’t feel and understand real power unless you feel and understand what it means to empower,” Regina King said to a room full of beaming onlookers at Variety‘s annual Power of Women event, held Friday at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.  As one of Variety‘s five Power of Women honorees,

Jenifer Lewis said it’s time to stop joking during her opening remarks at Variety’s Power of Women event in Los Angeles, presented by Lifetime. With midterm elections on the horizon, the actress criticized the “mentally ill” Trump administration, condemning the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh last week as well as Thursday’s bizarre meeting between

October 12, 2018 2:00PM PT Danny Trejo is attached to star in an ABC comedy project that boasts Will Smith among its executive producers. Trejo will star in and executive produce “Food & Familia,” which is currently in development at the broadcaster. The multi-camera comedy, is inspired by Trejo’s life. When the matriarch of the

To call “The Conners” one of the fall’s most anticipated shows is less a commentary on its potential quality than describing the sensation of steeling oneself against an oncoming train. The curiosity factor and difficulty levels are high with this one; there’s not much precedent for a show emerging from the ashes of losing its

Claudia Schmitt, VP international sales and acquisitions, kids and family entertainment, at Munich-based distributor Beta Film, talks about their MipJunior slate, led by animated series “The Rubbish World of Dave Spud.” How important is humor in “The Rubbish World of Dave Spud”? “Dave Spud” is a comedy adventure. And the humor is at the heart

When Ted Sarandos said over the summer that Netflix’s young adult film “The Kissing Booth” was “one of the most-watched movies in the country, and maybe the world,” ears pricked up across the industry. The comment from the Netflix content chief underlined that the YA audience, far from being lost to TV, is tuning in.

October 12, 2018 12:13PM PT “Manifest” continues to top all other new shows of the season in the delayed viewing ratings. In the Live+3 ratings for week 2 of the 2018-2019 broadcast season, which ran from Oct. 1-Oct. 7, “Manifest” was the top gainer in total viewers and second highest gainer in adults 18-49, second

Just as the viability of classic film market models including Cannes and the AFM is coming into question, Rome’s MIA Market for feature films, TV series, and documentaries is gaining traction with a new concept. Launched in 2015 as a re-invention of the Rome Film Festival’s Business Street mart in a concerted effort to put

It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly 50 years since the founding of the comedy troupe that gave us Silly Walks, Dead Parrots, Hell’s Grannies, the Argument Clinic and Sam Peckinpah’s Salad Days, to name only a few of the classic Monty Python sketches, but as with other great comedy artists, from Laurel and Hardy

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “The Haunting of Hill House,” streaming now on Netflix. When telling a genre story, writer/director Mike Flanagan has one rule: play with perspective. The man behind “Hush,” “Absentia,” “Gerald’s Game” and the upcoming “Shining” sequel “Doctor Sleep” has become accustomed to having to “constantly escalate

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 executive editor of TV, Debra Birnbaum, speaks with the filmmakers behind “Making a Murderer,” Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, about Season 2 of the hit documentary, which returns to Netflix on

In what could only be seen as further evidence of the increasing globalization of content, plus Viacom’s drive to produce for and with third-party companies, Nickelodeon Latin America, a Viacom International Studios (VIS) unit, has kicked off production on its Latino fictional music series 60-episode “Club 57” in Italy. Nickelodeon Latin America’s first co-production with

“I Am Richard Pryor,” a look at a comedy legend who reinvented stand-up with his confessional style of humor, is being produced for Paramount Network. The film follows Richard Pryor as he rises from his impoverished childhood, growing up in a brothel run by his grandmother, to become the highest-paid performer in the entertainment industry.

A decade ago, 1.5 million dogs were getting euthanized in shelters in America per year. For animal trainer Brandon McMillan, such a statistic screamed “epidemic” but the news just wasn’t reporting on such stories. So he set out to spread the word about what shelter dogs could do if given the chance. He teamed up

October 12, 2018 8:00AM PT Lionsgate has cut a deal with BBC Studios Los Angeles to develop original scripted series and formats from the Beeb’s vast archive for the U.S. market. The pact calls for the partners to jointly create new series and to comb through the BBC vault for properties with potential as adaptations

Rob Lowe is to star in and exec produce six-part crime drama “Wild Bill” for British broadcaster ITV. The miniseries is produced by 42, Shiver and Anonymous Content. Lowe will play high-flying U.S. cop Bill Hixon, who is appointed chief of police in East Lincolnshire, a rural part of Eastern England. When Hixon arrives in

October 12, 2018 1:00AM PT Werner Herzog is making “Fireball,” a feature documentary about meteorites and comets and their influence on mythology and religion. Production is underway, and international buyers will get a first look at the Mipcom market in Cannes next week. “Fireball” reunites the legendary filmmaker with Prof. Clive Oppenheimer. Werzog and geoscientist

Oscar-nominated actress Berenice Bejo (“The Artist”) is set to headline “Josephine and Napoleon,” an English-language period drama series created by British showrunner Tony Saint (“Das Boot”). Now in development, the eight-part series is being produced by the well-established British company Ecosse Films (“Hampstead,” “Mistresses”) and Pascal Breton’s Paris-based Federation Entertainment (“The Bureau,” “Marseille”) for the

October 11, 2018 8:02PM PT Producers and correspondents for the venerable “CBS Sunday Morning” took some time Thursday night at the Paley Center for Media to explain how the program comes together each week. Martha Teichner, David Pogue, Nancy Giles and Conor Knighton took to the Paley stage along with producer Jay Kernis and executive

After more than 20 years off the air, “Murphy Brown” has had to justify its rebooted existence in 2018. Murphy (Candice Bergen) has to grapple with the wild world of 24-hour cable news, while her son (Jake McDorman) tries to break through his conservative Fox News facsimile network with the power of reason (good luck,

In today’s TV News Roundup, Sanaa Lathan has joined Jordan Peele’s “Twilight Zone” reboot and “Upload” at Amazon adds two to its cast.  FIRST LOOKS Netflix has released the trailer for “Westside,“ a new unscripted series that looks into the journeys of nine L.A. musicians as they struggle to follow their dreams. Debuting on Nov. 9,

Samin Nosrat grew up in San Diego in an Iranian family before cooking at Berkeley’s famed Chez Panisse, the birthplace of the local food movement. All of those elements, combined with her natural ability for teaching cooking, influenced her award-winning book “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking,” which has become a

October 11, 2018 3:30PM PT CBS has given freshman drama “FBI” a full season order. The series details the inner workings of the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It stars Missy Peregrym, Zeeko Zaki, Ebonée Noel, Jeremy Sisto, and Sela Ward. It is the first freshman CBS show to be picked up for a full

October 11, 2018 2:30PM PT 50 Cent’s planned TV series based on the life if Isaac Wright Jr. is in development at ABC, Variety has learned. The untitled series would tell the story of Wright, who was wrongfully convicted as the kingpin behind one of the largest drug distribution networks in New Jersey. He now practices

October 11, 2018 1:04PM PT It was almost a year ago that Steve Carell put the kibosh on an “Office” reunion. At the time, he told The Daily Beast that he thought bringing the show back wasn’t a “great idea” because fans would “want it to be exactly the same, and it won’t be. And

October 11, 2018 12:00PM PT Comedian and writer Jaboukie Young-White has joined “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah,” Comedy Central announced Thursday. Young-White was selected for the position by series host, writer, and executive producer Noah. He will make his debut in tonight’s episode at 11 p.m. ET/PT with an in-studio desk piece. Young-White joins