Television

Ed Westwick (“Gossip Girl”), John Hannah (“The Mummy”) and British newcomer Alanah Bloor are set to join Turkish lead Can Yaman in “Sandokan,” Lux Vide’s reboot of the cult Italian TV series about the adventures of its titular pirate who, with his motley crew, fights against colonial powers in Southeast Asia. Shooting is set to start

“The Gray House,” the Kevin Costner-produced limited series about a female spy ring during the Civil War, will open Monaco’s 63rd annual Monte-Carlo Television Festival in June. The six-episode limited series tells the hidden-history tale of four Southern women — a Virginia socialite and her mother, a formerly enslaved Black woman and a high-end prostitute

James Warburton, MD and CEO of Seven West Media, one of Australia’s largest media conglomerates, has resigned following a series of scandals. He was scheduled to depart the company in December, but now exits with immediate effect following a board meeting on Thursday. In a filing to the Australian Stock Exchange, Seven West said that

Leading distribution company Beta Film has come on board four-part Norwegian drama “A Better Man,” created by Thomas Seeberg Torjussen. The show, which was commissioned by Norwegian broadcaster NRK and German broadcaster ZDF‘s platform ZDFneo, is produced by Synnøve Hørsdal and Christian Fredrik Martin at Norway’s Maipo Film. “A Better Man” centers on Tom, Norway’s

Stephen Colbert is taking “The Late Show” on the road. The late-night program will broadcast live from Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre during this year’s Democratic National Convention, also taking place in Chicago, from Aug. 19-22 on the CBS Television Network. “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” will also be available to stream live and on-demand on

The 100th episode of “9-1-1,” which guest starred Joey Graziadei and Jesse Palmer as a crossover with “The Bachelor,” reached a rating of 0.91 among adults age 18-49 according after one week of delayed viewing. Up from a 0.59 according to same-day data, that marks show’s best Live + 7 rating in the key demo

Leslie Moonves, the former CEO of CBS, was fined $15,000 on Wednesday by the L.A. City Ethics Commission for obtaining secret information in 2017 about an LAPD sex assault investigation of which he was the target. The commission voted 4-0 to approve the penalty, which is the maximum allowed for ethics violations under the L.A.

“Billy Joel: The 100th — Live at Madison Square Garden” reached 5.7 million viewers on Sunday night. Calculated from Nielsen’s measurement of linear viewers on CBS and live streaming via Paramount+, this makes the Joel concert the fourth-most-watched special of 2024, ranking only behind the Oscars (19.5 million viewers on ABC), the Grammys (16.9 million

When Ally Lewber joined the cast of “Vanderpump Rules” in Season 10 as James Kennedy’s new girlfriend, the chances for drama could not have been any higher. Kennedy had recently ended an engagement with fellow cast member Rachel Leviss, and the history of exes mingling with new partners on the series has historically not gone

Chef and content creator Nick DiGiovanni has signed with WME for representation in all areas, Variety has learned exclusively. He continues to be represented by Align PR and Yorn Levine Barnes. DiGiovanni rose to fame when he became the youngest-ever finalist on the cooking competition series “MasterChef” in 2019 during the show’s tenth season. He

Donald Trump is keeping his Oscars feud with Jimmy Kimmel alive with a new post on Truth Social in which the former president once again slammed Kimmel for being a “horrendous” Academy Awards host. Trump then mixed up Kimmel with this year’s best picture presenter, Al Pacino. Trump’s diss arrived amid his hush money trial

Lionsgate Television is teaming with Park Chan-wook to develop an English-language TV adaptation of Park’s iconic film “Oldboy.” Park directed and co-wrote the original film, which was itself loosely based on the Japanese manga of the same name. He will produce the new series version along with his producing partner, Syd Lim. Executives Courtney Mock

 Kenya Barris was deeply inspired by “The Cosby Show” when he created “Black-ish” in 2014. The writer and executive producer wanted to create a similarly beloved family sitcom that was expressly Black, not only with the characters, but also in the subject matter the show covered. That mission was achieved, and like “The Cosby Show,”

“For All Mankind” has been renewed for Season 5 at Apple TV+. In addition, Variety has learned the streamer has ordered a spinoff series focusing on the Soviet space program. The spinoff is currently titled “Star City” and hails from “For All Mankind” creators Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi. Nedivi and Wolpert

With France on its highest level of security alert amid geopolitical turmoil in Ukraine and the Middle East, organizers behind the Paris Olympics are still going ahead with ambitious plans to host the opening ceremony along the Seine river on July 26. Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, said on Monday in an interview with

For 27 of the last 32 years, Ziffren Brittenham senior partner Clifford Gilbert-Lurie has served as one of the chairs of the Champions for Children’s gala dinner benefiting the Alliance for Children’s Rights, an experience he says is akin to throwing a wedding. “There’s so much that goes into it, and then you’re very concerned

Sports icons Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe are getting in the game as TV producers. Bird and Rapinoe’s production banner, A Touch More, has teamed up with independent TV studio Future Shack Entertainment to develop “Cleat Cute,” the bestselling novel from author Meryl Wilsner. “Cleat Cute” is a contemporary queer romance that follows a young soccer

What do Peyton Manning, Snoop Dogg, Kelly Clarkson, Mike Tirico and Jimmy Fallon have in common? This is not a joke — at least not to the leaders of NBC­ Universal and a small army of NBC Sports producers hunkered down at offices in Stamford, Conn., and Paris, France. The answer is the Paris Olympics,

A “Golden Axe” animated series has been greenlit at Comedy Central, Variety has learned. Based on the beloved Sega games of the same name, the show hails from co-creators Mike McMahan and Joe Chandler. Matthew Rhys (“The Americans,” “Perry Mason”), Danny Pudi (“Community,” “Mythic Quest”), Lisa Gilroy (“Jury Duty,” “Interior Chinatown”), Liam McIntyre (“Spartacus,” “The

Viaplay‘s streaming service — specializing in award-winning Scandinavian series and films — is now available as an add-on subscription on Amazon‘s Prime Video Channels in the United States. Starting Wednesday, Prime members in the U.S. will be able to sign up for Viaplay for $5.99 per month (with a seven-day free trial available for eligible

QVC is bowing to the prevailing demographic trends with the launch of a massive business and programming initiative targeted women over the age of 50. The home shopping stalwart steered is introducing “The Age of Possibility” marketing and programming campaign highlighting female celebrities and leaders age 50 and over who are demonstrating the third act

ZEE END IS NIGH Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., the disappointed bride in the failed engagement between Zee and Sony India, has formally ended its quest for a merger. On Tuesday, it withdrew its application before the industry regulator National Company Law Tribunal and said that it will focus instead on internal growth. Pulling the NCLT

Zendaya claims she, too, is unaware of when “Euphoria” Season 3 will begin production. Although the “Euphoria” star is an executive producer of the hit HBO series, she said she’s “not in charge” of whether or not the third season will really happen. But of course Zendaya wants to play Rue again. “If it’s right

Netflix‘s “Baby Reindeer” is a new miniseries with a twist. “Baby Reindeer,” released April 11, is based on Scottish comedian, actor and writer Richard Gadd‘s own experience with a stalker and sexual predator in his 20s. Gadd stars as Donny Dunn, who is stalked by a woman named Martha he met in a bar he

The upcoming Apple TV+ series “Government Cheese” has filled out its main cast with four new additions, Variety has learned exclusively. Jahi Winston (“We Have a Ghost, “Charm City Kings”), Evan Alexander Ellison (“She Came to Me,” “Devil in Ohio”), Jeremy Bobb (“The Knick,” “Russian Doll”), and Louis Cancelmi (“Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Billions”)

“The Sopranos” fans got thrown a curveball in 2021 when Edie Falco revealed for the first time on an Atlantic podcast that she once reunited with James Gandolfini to reprise Tony and Carmela Soprano for a bizarre clip set two years after the events of the series finale, which infamously ended with a cut-to-black that

Margaret Qualley is no longer going to star in Hulu‘s limited series about Amanda Knox, Variety has confirmed. The untitled series was announced in March with Qualley set to star and executive produce. She has reportedly exited the project due to scheduling conflicts. The role will now be recast. This is not the first time

A group of actors filed a class action lawsuit Tuesday against Casting Networks, one of a handful of websites that connects actors to commercial auditions, alleging that the platform functions as an illegal pay-for-play system. Casting Networks offers actors a free tier and two premium tiers. The paid options allow actors to upload more video

Writers employed by “Sesame Street” producer Sesame Workshop have voted unanimously to support a strike authorization vote from the Writers Guild of America as the April 19 expiration of the current contract approaches. The 35 writers represented by the union have been in negotiations with the production company behind “Sesame Street” and other children’s programs

Steve Buscemi has joined the cast of “Wednesday” Season 2 at Netflix, Variety has learned exclusively from sources. Exact character details are being kept under wraps, but sources say Buscemi will play the new principal of Nevermore Academy. Reps for Netflix and Buscemi declined to comment. Few details are available about the new season of