Television

“Night Court,” the NBC sitcom that was recently rebooted, enjoyed its heyday after its debut on NBC’s Thursday-night schedule in 1984. But NBCUniversal is hoping the retooled comedy will lead Madison Avenue into the future. When the original program launched, built around star Harry Anderson as a non-traditional metropolitan judge, NBC sold ads against the

Just days after Warner Bros. announced the cancellation of “Judge Mathis” after 24 seasons, Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group has scooped up the services of Judge Greg Mathis to host a new first-run one-hour strip for fall 2023. “Mathis Court with Judge Mathis” has been given a “firm go” by Allen Media Group, which is now

U.K. streamer ITVX has released a trailer for three-part drama “You & Me.” Harry Lawtey (“Industry”), Jessica Barden (“The End of the F***ing World”) and Sophia Brown (“The Witcher: Blood Origin”) star in writer and creator Jamie Davis’ contemporary love story. The series is produced by Happy Prince, part of ITV Studios, and executive produced by

Atari has signed with APA for representation, Variety has learned exclusively. The pioneering video game company will work with APA to develop projects around its best known IP in the live-action, animation, and non-scripted film and television spaces. Atari celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022. The company’s most well-known games include classics like “Pong,” “Asteroids,”

Grammy award-winning artists 2 Chainz (“The Enforcer”) and Ne-Yo (“Dance Monsters,” “Hip-Hop Family Christmas Wedding”) have signed on to join Season 3 of Starz’s gritty drama “BMF” in recurring roles. They join an impressive guest star roster that has previously included Eminem, Serayah, Caresha “Yung Miami” Brownlee and Snoop Dogg. 2 Chainz will play Stacks,

Always a frontrunner at Co-Pro Series, the Berlinale Series Market’s annual project pitching event, “Tipping Point” walked off Tuesday morning with the Series Mania Award. The prize is an invitation to the production’s team to present again at the industry centrepiece at next month’s Lille-based get-together, the Series Mania Forum’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions. “Tipping Point”

Anke Engelke and Bastian Pastewka will star in a new German original series for Prime Video to be produced by Bldundtonfabrik (btf). The series is due to appear on the platform next year. Further details on the show have yet to be announced. “Anke Engelke and Bastian Pastewka are a real dream team in front

Berlin-based X Filme Creative Pool will adapt one of the most successful German-language podcasts, “Zeit Crime” (“Zeit Verbrechen”) into an anthology series for Paramount +. Awarded the German Podcast Prize, “Zeit Crime” is based on the criminal investigations of Sabine Rückert and Andreas Sentker. According to producer Jorgo Narjes, it currently boasts 5 million streams

Richard Armitage (“The Hobbit” trilogy), Michelle Keegan (“Brassic”) and “Absolutely Fabulous” star Joanna Lumley are set to lead the cast of new Netflix series “Fool Me Once.” Based on the Harlan Coben novel of the same name and produced by Nicola Shindler’s Quay Street Productions, the eight-part series stars Keegan (pictured above on set) as

COMMISSIONS The BBC Studios Natural History Unit has commissioned three series for BBC One, BBC Two and iPlayer. “Mammals” (6 x 60’), coproduced by France Televisions, ZDF and BBC America, offers insights into the most widespread animal group in the world. “Big Little Journeys” (3 x 60’), coproduced by PBS, follows the real-life adventures of

Berlinale’s Co-Pro Series title “Tipping Point” heads to the end of the world – Svalbard – to tell a story of a young activist at war with her oil exec father, until he is murdered.  Chasing a piece of stolen software which can be used either to destroy the world or improve it, just like the

ZDF Studios has signed a deal to distribute the second season of the remake of the iconic Spanish horror series “Stories to Stay Awake” (“Historias Para No Dormir”). The series is a reboot of the classic series created by Spain’s Chicho Ibáñez Serrador in the 1960s which proved a milestone in Spanish horror, introducing Spain

Crime shows look for a new angle, argued Berlinale Series participants on Monday.  There is no shortage of new offerings, from Berlinale Market Selects’ “Two Sides of the Abyss,” Serbia’s “The Fall” or South Africa’s “Donkerbos,” created by Nico Scheepers, to China’s melancholic, decades-spanning “Why Try to Change Me Now,” with Golden Bear winner Yinan

Banijay’s Endemol Shine Israel and Munich-based producer Neuesuper (“8 Days”) have inked German adaptation rights to Israeli hit comedy series “Nevsu,” to air on public broadcaster ZDF.  Israel’s “Nevsu” won the International Emmy Award for best comedy series in 2018. Its German adaptation, “I Don’t Work Here,” sees three generations from two worlds come together

Nikolaj Lie Kaas’ series “Agent,” shown at Berlinale Series, centers around Joe, who has high hopes for his famous clients. But it’s not another remake of a certain French smash. “I started writing it before ‘Call My Agent!’ even came out. Then I saw it on Netflix and went: ‘Oh, for f**k’s sake…’,” Danish actor-turned-director

“Snow,” an Austrian-German co-production and one of 16 titles presented in the Berlinale Series Market Selects showcase, weaves the timely issue of climate change and local folklore into a suspenseful mystery drama set in the picturesque Austrian Alps. Brigitte Hobmeier stars as Lucia, a physician who with her husband and children moves to the village,

CNN’s morning show isn’t peeling away from Don Lemon. The anchor will return to “CNN This Morning” on Wednesday, despite delivering a set of controversial remarks last week, the latest maneuver in what has become a more difficult than expected effort by the Warner Bros Discovery-backed outlet to shake up its programming. “I sat down

There aren’t many new print publications being launched in this tough media climate, but the company behind TV Guide Magazine is trying just that. The team behind TV Guide Magazine (owned since 2015 by Michigan-based NTVB Media) have launched a new magazine focused on the TV streaming platforms, hitting newsstands this week. The new monthly

Barbara Bosson, an Emmy-nominated actor known for her role as Fay Furillo on “Hill Street Blues,” died Saturday in Los Angeles. She was 83 years old. Bosson’s death was confirmed by her son, Jesse Bochco. “More spirit and zest than you could shake a stick at. When she loved you, you felt it without a

Political assassinations, war, espionage, royal scandals, teen angst and magic: new German series are setting the bar ever higher in terms of challenging and risky subject matter. The Berlinale Series Market’s Up Next: Germany showcase on Monday presented four forthcoming series projects that look set to entice international buyers: Sperl Film’s political drama “Herrhausen –

The stars are aligning on political thriller “The Chauffeur’s Son,” a six-part series from acclaimed Spanish creative duo Isaki Lacuesta and Isa Campo.  It is one of five projects that has pulled down a muscular €1.5 million ($1.6 million) grant from Catalonia’s ICEC film-TV aimed at ensuring potential production partners that the series can bring

Croatian-Ukrainian crime drama “The Silence,” whose first season sold wide last year for Munich-based Beta Film, is heading to Kyiv for Season 2, Variety can reveal. The series is based on the critically acclaimed fact-based books by investigative journalist Drago Hedl that examine human and weapons trafficking throughout Eastern Europe. The first season spent 25

“Bridgerton’s” Nicola Coughlan and “It’s a Sin’s” Lydia West are set to co-star in a new comedy for Channel 4 titled “Big Mood” (working title). The show, which was previously titled “Super Close,” will be produced by Fremantle’s Dancing Ledge Productions. It was written and created by Camilla Whitehill (“Porters”). “Brooklyn Nine Nine” director Rebecca

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. The Targaryen family is officially getting the Funko treatment with a new Digital Pop! collection inspired by “House of the Dragon.” The virtual Funko lineup, which includes animated versions of Daemon, Rhaenyra and Viserys

BAFTAs awards producer Nick Bullen believes Twitter criticism of Ariana DeBose’s opening number at Sunday’s awards show was “incredibly unfair.” Speaking to Variety the morning after the telecast, the producer — who was backstage during the London awards ceremony honoring the best movies of the year — shared that the “West Side Story” star “put

VESOUL UNVEILS ASIAN LINEUP The Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema has unveiled its 85-title lineup for the edition that starts later this month (February 28 to March 7, 2023). Elements include a 10-film competition section, a 10-film documentary film section, a tribute to the Turkish director Semih Kaplanoglu; a thematic section “Asian Diaspora

Why complicate matters? “The Swarm” – which premiered its first three episodes at the Berlinale Series – is one of those expensive pan-global coproductions necessitating copious logistics, not least a carefully observed quota of performers from each territory pumping money into the production pot. Its opener generates a not inconsiderable carbon footprint, whisking us from

Growth of premium video services in Southeast Asia accelerated in the second half of 2022, to reach 48.4 million paid subscriptions, according to a new report. But the same analysis sees growth slowing and costs accelerating. The latest report from Media Partners Asia, “SEA Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics” shows 48.4 million paid online

Channel 5 news anchor Dan Walker is set to miss Monday evening’s broadcast after he was involved in a bike accident. Bit of an accident this morning. Glad to be alive after getting hit by a car on my bike. Face is a mess but I don’t think anything is broken. Thanks to Shaun and

Total spend on content will “flatten and slightly decline” this year. This tendency might continue for “at least” the next couple of years, according to Ampere Analysis’ Guy Bisson, a speaker at Monday’s opening panel of the Berlinale Series Market, which runs through Feb. 22. “We are entering a phase of market maturity in streaming: Growth