Television

“Sweet Magnolias” has been renewed for a fourth season, Netflix announced on Thursday. Based on the popular series of novels by author Sherryl Woods, the series “follows lifelong best friends Maddie (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott), and Helen (Heather Headley) as they juggle relationships, family, and careers in the charming small town of

Pierre-Antoine Capton, the co-founder and CEO of Mediawan, was named Knight of the Legion of Honor by French President Emmanuel Macron during a ceremony held at the Elysée Palace in Paris. Capton was honored alongside other French figures who have made outstanding contributions to the country’s cultural landscape, including the filmmaker Costa Gavras, actor and novelist

Super-indie Argonon has appointed Joe Weinstock to the newly created role of chief executive, Argonon USA, reporting into global CEO James Burstall. Argonon, a global production group headquartered in the U.K. and U.S., owns Scottish indie production company Bandicoot, which makes the U.K. version of “The Masked Singer” as well as “The Masked Dancer.” Weinstock co-founded

Bret Baier’s recent Fox News interview with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took up less than 36 minutes on the cable outlet’s “Special Report.” Behind the scenes, preparations took months. Baier spent time in the U.S. with Princess Reema, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, and made a special trip overseas to meet

Arvin Chen (“Love in Taipei,” “Mama Boy”, episodes of “Pachinko”) is to direct “Coolie,” a limited series featuring enslaved Chinese workers in 19th century Cuba. The eight-part series is the first to emerge from Cathay Film Company, a recent production venture launched by Singapore-based industry veteran Meileen Choo. In the mid-1800s, when the African slave

Youth bolsters a certain amount of invincibility. For young people, there’s almost an embedded assurance that their dreams are bound to come true. Netflix‘s latest series “Neon,” created by Shea Serrano and Max Searle, follows a trio of best friends in their early 20s who leave their hometown of Ft. Myers, Florida, for Miami’s lush

German media giant ProSiebenSat.1 is continuing its period of realignment with a host of changes in its management structure. Last year, ProSiebenSat.1 acquired German streaming service Joyn from Warner Bros. Discovery. The same year, the company bundled its production companies in Germany, the U.K., Denmark and Israel, under the newly established banner Seven.One Studios. In July this year, ProSiebenSat.1

Europe’s major players in TV and film attending Mipcom Cannes sensed a wave of opportunity coming at them from across the Atlantic, as Hollywood muddles through a period of strategic uncertainty and steep losses from the transition to streaming platforms. The extended labor strife in the U.S. this year, with the Writers Guild of America

While artificial intelligence has been one of the biggest points of contention in the WGA and the SAG-AFTRA strikes, back in France, Newen Studios has taken a deep dive into AI to deliver daily soaps, as well as source talent and pitch projects in their own metaverse space. During Mipcom, Newen’s head of innovation, Marianne

Acclaimed film-making duo Kamila Andini and Ifa Isfansyah take a calculatedly side-on approach to Indonesian societal history in “Cigarette Girl,” a new Netflix series that releases on Nov.1 and which premiered its first episodes at the Busan International Film Festival earlier this month. Starting with a wealthy family about to lose its aging patriarch in

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 10, Episode 5 of “The Masked Singer,” “A Celebration of Elton John,” which aired Oct. 18 on Fox. Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote the track “Philadelphia Freedom” in 1975 at the behest of tennis icon Billie Jean King (whose team was the

“Genius: MLK/X” has set its premiere date at Nat Geo, the network announced Wednesday. The first two episodes of the eight-episode fourth season of “Genius” will premiere on Feb. 1 on Nat Geo and will stream the next day on Disney+ and Hulu. Two episodes will then drop weekly thereafter on all platforms. The announcement

Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan will soon have to greet ABC’s morning viewers from a decidedly different locale. As part of a larger move by Walt Disney Co., all of the company’s New York properties are slated to move in 2025 to a building in downtown New York in a neighborhood known as

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos says that “part “of the reason the streamer has long been tight-lipped about viewership data — even when it came to disclosing numbers to those creating the TV shows and films for the platform — is because of the talent’s own concerns about feeling “pretty trapped” by ratings and box office

A group of A-list actors is adding pressure on SAG-AFTRA leadership to find a way to resolve the actors strike, which has now lasted 97 days. George Clooney, Tyler Perry, Scarlett Johansson, and others held a Zoom meeting on Tuesday afternoon with Fran Drescher, the president of SAG-AFTRA, and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s executive director.

Sunday, November 26 “Our Christmas Mural”Cast: Lacey Chabert, Wes Brown, Stephen Tobolowsky, Melissa Peterman, Ellen Travolta, Seth Morris, Jennifer AspenHallmark Channel, 6 p.m. ET “Mistletoe Connection”Cast: Jessica Sipos, Markian TarasiukUPtv, 7 p.m. ET “A Biltmore Christmas”Cast: Bethany Joy Lenz, Kristoffer Polaha, Jonathan Frakes, Robert PicardoHallmark Channel, 8 p.m. ET “A Christmas for the Ages”Cast: Natasha

Netflix increased the price of both its basic and premium plans in the U.S. Wednesday, as well as in France and the U.K. The cost of the streamer’s ads ($6.99 per month in the U.S.) and standard ($15.49) tiers remain the same in those territories. “While we mostly paused price increases as we rolled out

Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, Prime Video and Telekom Srbija have boarded “Cicatriz,” a high-end action thriller, based on the best-selling Spanish novel of the same name by Juan Gómez-Jurado. It is a first, large-scale co-production between Spain and the Adriatic countries, the partners said.  Spanish powerhouse Plano a Plano and Mexico’s Dopamine will produce, in

Netflix subscribers grew by 8.76 million in Q3, totaling 247.15 million by the end of the fiscal period Sept. 30. Per a letter to shareholders accompanying the third-quarter results Wednesday, “Adoption of our ads plan continues to grow — with ads plan membership up almost 70% quarter-over-quarter — and 30% of sign ups in our

“Survivor” and “The Amazing Race” both shifted to 90-minute episodes this fall, and those extra half-hours have come with solid returns, especially in terms of multiplatform viewership. Viewership of the first two episodes of “Survivor” Season 45 on streaming — counting Paramount+ as well as the CBS website and app — has increased by 83%

Everyone lies in the World War I series “Davos 1917.” Mostly because they have to.  “You have war, you have the elite coming together in this one place. You have to watch your step and tread carefully. Everything could be a trap,” says Jan-Eric Mack, who directed alongside Christian Theede and Anca Miruna Lazarescu.  The

“It’s great to see everyone here. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances is the truth,” Matti Leshem began, introducing a panel on the state of Antisemitism during Variety’s Hollywood & Antisemitism Summit, presented by The Margaret & Daniel Loeb Foundation and Shine A Light. Leshem, a producer and founder of New Mandate Films,

NBCUniversal filed an individual request for a video feed to be provided of former President Donald Trump‘s election conspiracy case, which has been scheduled to start on March 4 of next year. NBCU did so even though a coalition of major news organizations filed a request earlier this month for televised proceedings. NBCU also called

During the recently ended writers strike, many people who worked on the staffs of TV’s late-night shows wished things would get back to normal. Roy Wood Jr. was surprised to find that he was not one of them. Wood, one of the team of faux news correspondents on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” since 2015,

National Geographic has released trailers and announced premiere dates for key upcoming programs, including “Incredible Animal Journeys” (narrated by Jeremy Renner), “A Real Bug’s Life” (narrated by Awkwafina) and “Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold.” The trailer for “Incredible Animal Journeys,” narrated by Jeremy Renner, features Renner giving a glimpse of his narration as zebras race

Julianna Margulies is speaking out against Hollywood for staying silent on antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war. The Emmy-winning actor attended the Variety Hollywood & Antisemitism Summit, presented by The Margaret & Daniel Loeb Foundation and Shine A Light, and said she is continually asking herself why many major Hollywood stars are not speaking out in

Unveiling a raft of international shows at Mipcom, Newen Connect‘s managing director Rodolphe Buet said the distribution arm of the TF1-owned company is seeing its business model go through “drastic changes” as it now plays a more central role in financing content. In the next two years, Buet said roughly 70% of Newen Connect’s revenues

There is no cure for “Doctors,” the long-running soap that has been canceled by the BBC after 23 years for financial reasons. Created by Chris Murray, “Doctors” debuted in 2000 and followed the lives of the staff of a National Health Service doctor’s surgery and and a university campus surgery and the lives of their families

Most contests in the 2024 Summer Olympics set for Paris, France, won’t start until next summer. NBC has been running one race for months. NBCUniversal is seeing more robust interest in the athletic extravaganza from Madison Avenue than is the norm at this point in negotiations, says Dan Lovinger, president of the media company’s Olympics

“It’s been a really buzzy and busy market,” said Lucy Smith, director of Mipcom TV market and conference, and MipJunior, the kids TV event that preceded it, in Cannes Wednesday. More than 11,000 participants from more than 100 countries had come to the event, which runs Oct. 16-19. This was slightly up on last year’s