Television

Anthony Anderson is set to star in the ABC comedy pilot “Public Defenders,” Variety has learned. In addition, Liz Astrof has joined the pilot as showrunner while Randall Einhorn has signed on to direct. The single-camera pilot, which was originally picked up at ABC in January, hails from writer Eddie Quintana. The official logline states:

The WGA announced Tuesday that 98.4% of members had voted in favor of the “pattern of demands,” a loose outline of topics for discussion in upcoming negotiations. The vote was not unexpected, but does signal a broad consensus around issues like wages, streaming residuals and “mini-rooms.” The negotiations are set to begin on March 20,

If Nick Cannon’s new game show “Who’s Having My Baby?” sounds more like a sketch than an actual TV show… that’s because you’re right. No, there won’t be a TV show called “Who’s Having My Baby?” because, well, what would that show even look like anyway? Instead, the idea for “Who’s Having My Baby?” is

Nexstar is still dark on internet streamer FuboTV on Tuesday, the TV station group giant’s president and chief operating officer explained why. “We are in a dispute with CBS right now over the Fubo situation,” Tom Carter said during a Morgan Stanley-hosted investor conference. “But keep in mind that virtual MVPDs contribute less than 10%

Following its March 4 live debut, Chris Rock’s “Selective Outrage” standup special opened to promising figures as Netflix’s first jump into live content. During the Feb. 27-March 5 viewing window, the special managed to land on the Netflix Top 10 US chart on the English-language TV list at No. 7 despite a small window of

CAA has signed the popular children’s singer Ms. Rachel, as well as her YouTube show and educational brand “Songs for Littles,” for representation in all areas. The “Songs for Littles” YouTube channel has produced educational videos for babies and toddlers that are designed to encourage language development and milestones through play, research-based techniques, nursery rhymes

Phil Augusta Jackson is hungry for two things: good wine and classic network sitcom fare. “In Season 1, we were setting the table. In Season 2, we get to really eat,” Jackson says about his NBC series, a hangout comedy that regularly unites a Black friend group in east Los Angeles at a wine bar

On the heels of his successful series “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” on Peacock, Malcolm D. Lee has extended his first-look deal with Universal Television. As part of the deal, he will continue to write, develop and produce new projects via his Blackmaled Productions banner for a variety of platforms. “Malcolm is an incredibly

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Airbnb is offering “Ted Lasso” fans the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stay overnight at the show’s iconic Crown & Anchor Pub — for only $13 a night. Even better, Annette Badland, who plays Mae on

MRC has set Jenna Santoianni as the studio’s new president of television, following the exit of former president Elise Henderson. In her new role, Santoianni will oversee MRC’s current programming, its full slate of development, all joint ventures and production partnerships, as well as all of the television studio’s operational units, including production, business and

Endeavor has made an investment in Asylum Entertainment Group, which is home to a number of production banners focused on unscripted TV series. Asylum’s collection of companies includes the Content Group, Texas Crew Productions, Big City TV, Breaklight Pictures, and Audity. Those banners will become part of Endeavor’s nonscripted content division, led by Rebecca Sanhueza,

Ted Danson and Mike Schur are officially reuniting for a series adaptation of the documentary “The Mole Agent” at Netflix, Variety has learned. The streaming giant has ordered eight episodes of the untitled project after it was originally reported that it was being taken out to market in early February. Per the official logline, Danson

Warning: This story contains spoilers from “A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Valentine’s Day,” the March 7 episode of “How I Met Your Father,” now streaming on Hulu. Does Lizzie McGuire grow up to be Sophie Tompkins? It sure looks like. During Tuesday’s episode of “How I Met Your Father,” the group reflects on

A new group of singles are looking to fall in love and get engaged before seeing their future spouse. Below, Variety has the first look at the cast of Season 4 of “Love Is Blind,” set to premiere March 24 on Netflix. The hopefuls, aged 25 to 37, have one thing in common: they are

Jenna Ortega is the face of Netflix’s “Wednesday,” the streamer’s second biggest English-language series of all time, but making the popular Addams Family series required the actor to put her foot down in a way she never has before on a film or television set. Ortega said on a recent episode of the “Armchair Expert”

Middle East satellite and streaming platform OSN Group has extended its relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery forging a new multi-year licensing deal under which it will become the exclusive home for HBO content in the region. In addition to HBO shows, such as “Succession,” the renewed agreement has been expanded to cover additional content and channel

African streamer Showmax has revealed “Second Family,” its first original telenovela in Kenya. The series follows the dysfunctional Gatehi – Lang’at families. When 57-year-old billionaire Leo Lang’at dies suddenly, his secrets come to light, pitting one family against another. Battling for his wealth, power and for revenge, Sinde, the daughter of Leo’s mistress, faces off

Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service has signed an agreement with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to produce age ratings for content. The agreement will enable Prime Video to build on their existing trust and safety tools, in order to move towards the in-house production of BBFC age ratings that are in line with

Fremantle has acquired global rights to “The Piano,” the format from Love Productions, makers of “The Great British Bake Off.” “The Piano,” hosted by Claudia Winkleman, recently launched in the U.K. on broadcaster Channel 4 and is a ratings success. Created by Richard McKerrow, the British version of the format sees talented amateur pianists invited each week to

Warner Bros. Discovery and Japan’s U-Next have announced an extension of their relationship with a renewed deal to supply content to the SVOD platform. The agreement sees U-Next continue as the streaming home of HBO in Japan. Featuring exclusive content rights for HBO, HBO Original and HBO Max Original series, the strengthened agreement includes: current

The Nordic region’s largest streamer, Viaplay, has debuted in Canada, continuing its expansion into North America after landing in the U.S. on Feb. 22. The direct-to-consumer platform touts itself as the premiere platform for Nordic Noir, the term used to describe the growing subgenre of Scandinavian crime dramas, thrillers, dark comedies and YA offerings. Available

SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from Fox’s “9-1-1” Season 6 spring premiere on Monday, entitled “In a Flash.” The sixth season of Fox first-responder drama “9-1-1” returned Monday after a months-long winter hiatus, with an episode in which almost everything goes surprisingly right for the 118 — until it goes horribly wrong. Before the bad

The series adaptation of “The Devil in the White City” is no longer moving forward at Hulu, Variety has learned. The series had originally been ordered to series at the streamer in August 2022 after originally being put into development there in 2019. At the time it was ordered, Keanu Reeves was attached to star

Netflix and the U.K.’s National Youth Theatre have launch an awareness program after a survey revealed alarming concerns about nepotism in the creative industries. A National Youth Theatre survey of 3,000 young people across the U.K. found that the “nepo-baby” effect extended beyond on screen talent to behind the scenes roles too. Some 79% of

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. After a relatively slow couple of seasons, the Vanderpump universe has delivered some of the best (worst) drama in reality show history. Over the weekend, it was revealed that Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix

Mel Brooks came up with the title to his 1981 comedy feature “History of the World, Part I” as a joke. There were never any plans to make a Part II.  Until now.   As the streaming revolution took hold, Brooks, his producing partner Kevin Salter and rightsholder Searchlight Pictures decided to explore a long overdue

The penultimate episode of “The Last of Us” Season 1 reached an impressive 8.1 million viewers on Sunday night. According to Warner Bros. Discovery, that makes Episode 8 the series’ most viewed thus far. Previously, that title belonged to Episode 3 with 7.5 million viewers, though WBD did not make data available regarding the audience

Tyler Perry is in talks to purchase a majority stake of BET Media Group amid reports that parent company Paramount Global is exploring a sale of the asset, Variety has confirmed. Perry currently owns a minority stake in the operation run by CEO Scott Mills, which includes cablers BET and VH1, and also produces a

“Women Talking” writer-director Sarah Polley and novelist Miriam Toews won in the film category, while “Slow Horses” screenwriter Will Smith and novelist Mick Herron won the episodic TV category at the 35th annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards on Saturday. The awards honored the year’s greatest written word adaptations to cinema and episodic series in the

Bad news for any comedy fan hoping Christopher Guest might get his troupe back together for another mockumentary movie. Guest and actors such as Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Jane Lynch and more popularized the fake documentary format with comedy classics such as “Best in Show,” “A Mighty Wind” and “Waiting for Guffman.” Guest even co-wrote