Donald Trump was skewered for his recent press conference in East Palestine, Ohio during the “Saturday Night Live” cold open. Framed as fake C-Span coverage, “SNL” featured player James Austin Johnson embodied the former president as he gave an address to local residents impacted by the recent trail derailment and toxic chemical spill in the
Television
“Saturday Night Live” cast member Colin Jost, co-anchor of Weekend Update, levied a jab at the Academy for this week’s decision to hire a “crisis team” for the upcoming 2023 Oscars. Devised to ensure first-line responders are available at the awards show in the case of an emergency, the newly-implemented team comes on the heels
On Friday, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” will celebrate its 200th episode on MTV. The reality competition series that first aired on Logo TV in 2009 has transformed from the little engine that could to a global phenomenon. Now in its 15th season, “Drag Race” has brought drag queen vocabulary into mainstream vernacular — runways, lip syncs and
The fourth and final season of “The Umbrella Academy” at Netflix has added Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, and David Cross to its cast, Variety has learned. It was announced in August 2022 that the hit series would be wrapping up with its fourth season. Offerman (“The Last of Us,” “Parks and Recreation”) and Mullally (“Will
Riley Keough may be Elvis Presley’s granddaughter, but she didn’t let the pressure of trying to live up to the family name get to her while shooting “Daisy Jones & The Six,” Amazon Prime Video’s adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel. She stars as the lead singer of a Fleetwood Mac-like band in the 1970s.
“The Head of Joaquín Murrieta” bowed Feb. 17, guns blazing worldwide on Prime Video, weighing in as one of the biggest bets ever from Amazon Studios in Latin America and Amazon Prime and Colombian production powerhouse Dynamo. Its success can open the door for other big swings in Latin America. Created by Colombia’s Mauricio Leiva
Despite his objections, Eugene Levy is a thousand feet or so above the Grand Canyon in a helicopter, with only his debilitating fear of heights to comfort him. Whereas most people who seek out an aerial tour of one of the world’s great natural wonders would be taking in the sights, Levy hasn’t opened his
Jhane Myers (Comanche/Blackfeet) has a track record of making history — literally and figuratively. As the producer of summer hit “Prey,” a prequel to the “Predator” series directed by Dan Trachtenberg that centers on Comanche Nation culture circa the 1700s, Myers delved deeply into Indigenous life way before TikTok and even #nativetwitter. And with her
Throughout the currently-running first season of Peacock’s “Poker Face,” guests to actor-writer-co-creator Natasha Lyonne’s murder mystery party have found themselves transformed almost beyond recognition. While this has included Chloë Sevigny as a metalhead, and Judith Light and S. Epartha Merkerson as radical hippies-turned-doubly-radical-senior citizens, one transmutation stands above the rest: Episode 8’s “The Orpheus Syndrome”
Eric Stonestreet has signed on to join Disney’s “The Santa Clauses” just in time for Season 2, which is currently in production. He’ll portray Magnus Antas (aka the Mad Santa), who reigned during the 14th century and is now returning to try and take down Scott Calvin and reclaim the North Pole. Season 2 of
There have been a lot of TV crossover episodes over the years, but this may be the most unique one yet: PBS’ “Finding Your Roots” and host Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. will make a major appearance on Fox’s “The Simpsons” this Sunday. Variety has an exclusive first look at Gates’ appearance; scroll down for
“Party Down” was an underdog show about underdogs — out-of-luck caterers who dreamed of one day rubbing shoulders with Hollywood rainmakers rather than serving them hors d’oeuvres. In the series, which ran on Starz for two seasons (2009-10), an ensemble cast led by Adam Scott and Ken Marino paraded around Los Angeles, working funerals, orgies
HBO Max’s parent company has filed a lawsuit that accuses Paramount Global of reneging on parts of the $500 million licensing deal set in 2019 for the streaming rights to episodes of “South Park.” The suit, filed Friday in New York state Supreme Court, asserts that Paramount breached the contract by steering “South Park” specials
HBO just announced that its Emmy-winning “Succession” will end with its upcoming fourth season. The team behind “Yellowjackets” has been open about having a five-season plan. Does “The Mandalorian” creator Jon Favreau have a similar endgame in mind for his beloved “Star Wars” series? Not in the slightest. “I think the beauty of this is
Netflix has announced Wanda Sykes’ upcoming hour-long standup special, “I’m An Entertainer” will arrive on the streaming service on May 23. The episode will premiere globally. Set at the Miller Theater in Philadelphia, the comedian, actress and producer Wanda Sykes returns for her second hour-long Netflix comedy special. According to the streamer, the comedian tackles
Nancy Dubuc announced in a memo to Vice Media Group staff Friday that she is leaving as CEO of the media company, which has been attempting to find a buyer over the last year. Dubuc, who was previously CEO of A+E Networks and spent nearly 20 years at the cable programmer, was hired as Vice
James Corden aims to leave the late-night stage in a big way. CBS plans to broadcast the last hour of its “The Late Late Show,” which Corden has hosted since March of 2015, on Thursday, April 27, and will add a primetime special that night to help mark the occasion. Tom Cruise will reunite with
The 2023 London Screenings, which unfold Feb. 27 to March 3, take place in an increasingly crowded international TV calendar. The event kicks off just days after the Berlinale Series Market, overlaps with the BBC Studios Showcase and precedes Series Mania and MipTV. The week-long showcase has established itself as a key place to acquire
Netflix, facing more competition globally in the streaming wars, has cut pricing in more than 100 markets worldwide — in some cases, chopping the price of monthly plans in half — to boost subscriber acquisition and retention. The streamer has reduced prices in countries and territories across Asia, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and
Sony Pictures Television-backed Eleventh Hour Films (“Alex Rider,” “The Magpie Murders”) have revealed two more projects in development and made a senior creative hire. “The Man In The Back Seat” (working title) a series development from novelist David Peace (“Red Riding”) and actor-writer, Ted Reilly, is the company’s first foray into the original true-crime genre.
A Daniel Craig-voiced aid appeal for victims of the tragic earthquakes in Turkey and Syria earlier this month is set to run across 29 networks simultaneously in the U.K. on Friday evening. Media companies including Warner Bros. Discovery, Channel 4, ITV, UKTV, Channel 5 and Sky have gifted advertising space for the 90-second Disasters Emergency
Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO, HBO and HBO Max Content will deliver a keynote at Series Mania’s Lille Dialogues whose one-day summit looks set to take the pulse on a global content industry as content investment flattens and ask how to build a more responsible industry in the future. Marking an early opportunity to hear
SPOILER ALERT: This essay contains spoilers from “I’ll Follow the Sun,” the Feb. 23 episode of “Grey’s Anatomy.” From her first episode as Dr. Meredith Grey on March 27, 2005 — when “Grey’s Anatomy” premiered on ABC and became a once-in-a-generation pop-culture sensation — to what’s being billed as a (kind of, sort of) goodbye episode on
As has long been rumored, “Succession” is coming to an end with Season 4. And yes, this will be a real finale: As Variety reported in a cover story with HBO chief Casey Bloys, the network is not developing any spinoffs. Creator and executive producer Jesse Armstrong revealed the news on Thursday in an interview
With “When Calls the Heart” at Hallmark and “When Hope Calls” at Great American Family, Brian Bird is expanding his success with a partnership with UPtv. True Brand Entertainment, founded by Bird, Brandon Clark, Tai Truesdell and Darin Chavez, and the network have a multi-picture licensing agreement, creating a series of uplifting and values-friendly romantic
Amazon Prime Video has released the official trailer for its upcoming sci-fi series “The Power.” The first three episodes will premiere March 31, with the remaining six episodes available each Friday until the finale on May 12. Based on Naomi Alderman’s novel of the same name, the new sci-fi series follows as a group of
SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “Poker Face” Episode 8, titled “The Orpheus Syndrome,” now streaming on Peacock. “Poker Face” took on a “Salvador Dali having a party with Alfred Hitchcock” vibe for its Episode 8 — directed and co-written by star Natasha Lyonne, who provided Variety with that delightful description for the installment, titled “The
David Zaslav sounds tired of taking lumps. After months of cost cutting, write-downs, and getting pilloried among Hollywood natives for killing projects, the Warner Bros. Discovery chief showed off some new truculence, making the case that while his newly-merged company has been having a tough time, so too were others. “‘Last year was a year
Marvel’s the Avengers has recently teased via Twitter and TikTok that a new amusement park experience, “Rogers: The Musical,” will be coming to Disneyland California Adventure Park’s Hyperion Theater for a limited time this summer. The teaser video features a woman in front of the Hyperion theater holding up the theater’s programming booklet, with “Rogers:
“The Goldbergs” is ending after 10 seasons at ABC, Variety has confirmed with sources. The Season 10 finale set to air on May 3 will serve as the single-camera comedy’s series finale. The move to end the series is not altogether surprising, even though it has been a cornerstone of the ABC comedy slate throughout