Television

As “The Masked Singer” panelist Nicole Scherzinger returns to London’s West End this month, starring as Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, the show has found a suitable substitute: Singer/songwriter Rita Ora. Ora, who is no stranger to the format as a panelist for “The Masked Singer UK,” will take the U.S. “Masked Singer” panelist

With appearances from Taylor Swift and NSYNC and performanced from Shakira, Demi Lovato and Doja Cat, this year’s MTV Video Music Awards ceremony brought in 37% more viewers than the 2022 ceremony. Tuesday’s show was watched by 865,000 people compared to 630,000 the year before. Based on fast national data from Nielsen, these stats account

Here we are, just days away from the start of the 2023-24 television season… and the major networks still aren’t 100% sure what they’re doing. Just last week, several broadcasters scrambled to make even more last minute schedule changes — on top of other recently announced tweaks. The fall lineups that viewers tune into later

Three of the “Strike Force Five” are taking their show on the road. Late night hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel will host a one-night-only event, dubbed “Strike Force Three,” at the Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas on Saturday, September 23 — marking the first time the trio have been

“Bachelorette” alum, podcast host and memoirist Hannah Brown will now add romance author to her list of creative endeavors. Brown, who was featured on Season 15 of “The Bachelorette,” has signed a two-book deal with Forever, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing. Her first romance novel, “Mistakes We Never Made,” is set to come out

Ahead of the Season 4 premiere, Fox has renewed “Lego Masters” for Season 5 which will premiere in the 2024-2025 season, Fox Entertainment’s president of unscripted programming, Allison Wallach, announced on Wednesday. Will Arnett will return as host and executive producer. Brickmasters Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard also return as judges. Based on the British

Ready for takeoff? Apple TV+ has released the first teaser trailer for the fourth season of its critically acclaimed space drama “For All Mankind,” which is set to make its release via the streamer on Nov. 10. “Rocketing into the new millennium in the eight years since Season 3, Happy Valley has rapidly expanded its

As a strike-impacted fall season launches later this month, Fox boasts one of the only full nights of scripted programming in primetime — thanks to its Sunday night “Animation Domination” lineup. Besides the returns of “The Simpsons,” “Bob’s Burgers” and “Family Guy,” that sked includes the long-awaited debut of Dan Harmon’s new entry “Krapopolis.” The

Smile! Starz’s “Shining Vale,” starring Courteney Cox, Greg Kinnear and Mira Sorvino, is back for Season 2. The horror comedy picks up from last season after Pat (Cox) checks herself into a psychiatric hospital following her attempt at murdering her own family with an ax. The new season debuts on Friday, Oct. 13, at midnight

Everyone loves an underdog, but it’s possible nobody loves one more than Greg Whiteley. With Netflix hits “Cheer” and “Last Chance U,” the documentarian trained his eye on undergraduate athletes whose programs lack the resources or respect of a Big Ten institution. Each show made a compelling case for its subjects’ skill, tenacity and right

“Portrait Artist of the Year,” the popular U.K. entertainment format that will celebrate its 10th birthday on Sky Arts with Dame Judi Dench on Sept. 30, is set for a Norwegian adaptation to be produced by Nordisk Banijay. Created by U.K. outfit Storyvault, “Portrait Artist of the Year” is an art competition series which gives

Prime Video’s upcoming crime thriller “Bambai Meri Jaan” tells an action-packed tale of good vs. evil in post-independence India — but at its core, the show is a story about family. Premiering Sept. 14 on the streamer, the 10-episode series was created by Rensil D’Silva (“Dial 100”) and Shujaat Saudagar (“The Underbug”), based on a

Finland-based animation studio Gigglebug Entertainment is launching a new adult-focused label and has already begun developing its first project, Variety can confirm. Branded In Stitches and led by Gigglebug’s management team, the banner will focus on bold, experimental and offbeat comedy aimed at grown-ups. Contemporary voices as well as artists and designers from Gigglebug’s in-house

It’s difficult to top the heights and/or depths of “The Morning Show” Season 2, a borderline camp masterpiece in which Elle Woods sucked face with Alicia Florrick and a disgraced Matt Lauer type drove his car off an Italian bluff. But the Apple TV+ drama is obligated to try, so for its latest premiere, it

SkyShowtime, the European streaming home to releases from Paramount and Universal, has revealed its upcoming film and TV slate through the rest of the year, including “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “Poker Face.” Just one year since the streaming service’s launch in the Nordics and six months since its rollout in 20 more European

Southern California Public Radio president/CEO Herb Scannell has announced his plans to retire after four years at the organization, which operates KPCC-FM (“LAist 89.3”), LAist.com and LAist Studios. Scannell, the Nickelodeon vet who later ran BBC Worldwide North America and Mitú, will remain in the role until a new successor is named. The SCPR board

The U.K. TV industry delivered a total sector revenue of almost £4 billion ($5 billion) in 2022. The figure comes from a new production census report by local producers body Pact, which showed last year was a booming time for the industry, driven by both internal and international commissions and particularly an increased in streaming

The National Book awards has rescinded Drew Barrymore’s invitation to host its upcoming annual award ceremony in the wake the return of her talk show “The Drew Barrymore Show” this fall amid Hollywood strikes. In a statement to social media, the National Book Foundation wrote “The National Book Awards is an evening dedicated to celebrating

Investors cheered as TKO Group Holdings, the new parent company of UFC and WWE, clambered into the Wall Street ring. Shares of TKO, which began trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange, closed up 2.4% on the day, to $103.05 per share after opening at $102. That gives TKO Group a market capitalization of

When the full cast of “Dancing With the Stars” Season 32 is announced on Wednesday, pro Sharna Burgess will not be on the list. The Season 27 winner discussed her history with the show on the first episode of her new iHeartRadio podcast, “Old-Ish,” claiming that while she took off Season 31 when she had

Mipcom, the Cannes-set international TV showcase, will pay tribute to Arthur Essebag, the well-known French TV host and founder of Satisfaction Group. Essebag will receive the international format awards at a gala ceremony on Oct. 15. Founded nearly 14 years ago, Satisfaction ranks as a leading purveyor of unscripted programs in its home market with

Paradigm Talent Agency has hired Chris Till as an agent in their theater literary and content division, Variety has learned exclusively. The hiring brings Till back to Paradigm, as he previously worked at the agency early in his extensive entertainment career, as he now has over 20 years of industry experience. He previously spent over

The popular sitcom “Modern Family” is picking up some new real estate — while keeping its other homes. Warner Bros. Discovery’s TBS cable network will start showing a three-hour block of the landmark comedy, which ran on ABC for 11 seasons between 2009 and 2020. Beginning Monday, September 25, “Modern Family” will run between 12:30

“Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen” has been acquired by CBS to temporarily take over the 12:37 a.m. timeslot vacated by “The Late Late Show with James Corden.” That timeslot will eventually be replaced with a new version of the former Comedy Central series “@midnight” — but after the Hollywood strikes are resolved. For now, “Comics

Netflix has debuted the trailer for the fourth and final season of its hit coming-of-age series “Sex Education,” complete with the tagline, “Get your tissues ready, let’s finish together.” The British comedy continues to follow the journey of teen sex therapist Otis Millburn (Asa Butterfield) and his friends as they attend a new school with

Bret Baier will be tied to Fox News Channel through for several more years to come. Fox News and Baier have extended his contract, which was last renewed in 2021 for a five-year term that was to keep him at the cable-news outlet through at least 2025. “We are thrilled to have Bret continue leading

As of Tuesday, WWE and Endeavor’s UFC have officially been merged into one company now known as TKO Group Holdings. The change brings the premier names in sports entertainment and mixed martial arts under one roof for the first time. The question remains, however, what does this mean for fans of either or both promotions?

Sofia Chang has been appointed executive vice president, chief distribution officer at Starz, announced Alison Hoffman, Starz’s president of domestic networks, on Tuesday. Chang will oversee all of the streaming platform’s sales activities with multichannel video and digital distributors in the U.S. She’ll be based out of the New York office and will report to

Non-scripted television producer Asylum Entertainment Group has added Ben Bitonti and Eric Hoberman to its executive team. Bitonti joins as chief creative officer, while Hoberman will serve as exec VP of programming and development. Both will report to president Jodi Flynn. “Both Ben and Eric offer a wealth of knowledge paired with the critical instincts

NPR veteran Lakshmi Singh has signed with CAA for representation. Singh, who has been with NPR for 23 years and has one of the public-broadcasting service’s most familiar voices, anchors midday coverage for NPR Newscasts, some of the most-heard content produced by the news outlet. Her work has drawn recognition from Women of Color in