Television

Former Disney execs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs have made 10 acquisitions, beginning with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, and a minority investment in Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook, since launching their Blackstone-backed media company Candle Media in 2021. But CEOs Mayer and Staggs told Variety‘s co-editor in chief Cynthia Littleton at Variety’s Entertainment Summit

In a new tape leaked from the set of “,” host Billy Bush is heard making sexual comments about Kendall Jenner — with a crudeness reminiscent of his infamously leaked “Access Hollywood” conversation with Donald Trump. The Daily Beast reported on Friday that it had reviewed footage of Bush discussing Jenner’s Halloween costume with production

After premiering on Dec. 22, “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” became Peacock’s first original project to make it onto Nielsen’s Top 10 streaming rankings. According to data provided to NBCU by Nielsen and exclusively obtained by Variety, “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” is ranked in the No. 5 position in an early version

Netflix is “pleased with the growth that we’re seeing” in its ad-supported tier since its launch two months ago, said Jeremi Gorman, president of worldwide advertising. Gorman, speaking Friday at Variety’s Entertainment Summit at CES, declined to break out subscriber numbers (Netflix reports fourth-quarter 2022 earnings on Jan. 19). However, she said, “You would be

AMC has opted not to move forward with the series “Demascus,” Variety has confirmed. The show was ordered to series at the cabler back in February 2022 and had completed production but will no longer air on AMC. The news comes after Variety exclusively reported that AMC was also not proceeding with Season 2 of

“Strap in, strap on, get ready — this is humongo.” That’s how celebrity judge Ross Matthews expressed his excitement at the New York premiere of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 15, held at the Conrad Hotel in Downtown Manhattan. One significant change this season is that the flagship series has jumped to MTV after airing on

Brendan Hanson-Kelly, a longtime television executive who worked for New Line Cinema, Relativity Media and others, died Dec. 18 of appendix cancer in New York City. He was 54. Hanson-Kelly’s 30-plus year career in the entertainment Industry spanned executive positions across multiple companies. He began at New Line Cinema in 1994, eventually rising to the position

“Fire Country” has been renewed for Season 2 at CBS. The show originally premiered on CBS on Oct. 7 and has aired eight episodes to date, with the ninth scheduled to air Jan. 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. It was given a full season order less than two weeks after it debuted. Per CBS, the

To the surprise of no one, “Wednesday” has been renewed for Season 2 at Netflix. The eight-episode first season of the series centered on the titular “Addams Family” character originally debuted on Nov. 23. Netflix announced shortly thereafter that the series set a new platform record for most hours viewed for an English language series

Jen Shah — a star of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” — has been sentenced to six years and six months in prison for her role in a years-long telemarketing scam. NBC News first reported the sentencing. On July 11, Shah pleaded guilty to the fraud charges against her, and agreed to make restitution

Damar Hamlin is now breathing independently and able to speak after the Buffalo Bills player suffered cardiac arrest on-field against the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 2 and was rushed into intensive care. Hamlin had previously been relying on a breathing tube and was communicating to his family and medical professionals in writing. Now, the tube

Vince McMahon has formally ousted three WWE board members as he returns to the sports entertainment giant that he retired from in July 2022 amid a sexual misconduct investigation. Per a new SEC filing, JoEllen Lyons Dillon, Jeffrey R. Speed, and Alan M. Wexler have been removed from WWE’s board of directors effective immediately by

Comcast has promoted Jason S. Armstrong to chief financial officer, a role previously filled by Mike Cavanagh, who was named president of the company in October. Most recently, Armstrong served as deputy CFO and treasurer, holding several financial roles at Comcast during his nine years with the company. “Jason is ideally suited to be our

“Worst Cooks in America” co-host and “Tournament of Champions” vet Darnell Ferguson is set to host a new Food Network and Discovery+ cooking competition that hopes to mediate food-related tensions in the chef community. Premiering Feb. 7 at 9 p.m. ET, “Superchef Grudge Match” will see Darnell stage two different battles between chefs who have

Zombies had seemingly been done to death in every conceivable media when a zero-budget Japanese film in 2018 proved that there was still creative life in the genre. Titled “One Cut of the Dead,” this heartwarming zombie comedy by Ueda Shinichiro earned 1,000 times its JPY3 million ($23,000) budget at the Japanese box office, while

“Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead,” a zombie comedy anime series, will launch in July this year following a development and production deal between the U.S.’s Viz Media and Japan’s Shogakukan and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions. The story focuses on a salaryman who finds an exciting new side to life while under siege from zombies. Viz

For Colin Farrell, playing The Penguin in Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” was just the “tip of the iceberg” in his exploration of the character, which will continue with its eponymous HBO Max spinoff series. At the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala on Thursday night, Farrell opened up to Variety‘s Marc Malkin about how

The NFL has officially canceled the “Monday Night Football” game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, which was suspended following a catastrophic injury to Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Following a hit in the game’s first quarter, Hamlin collapsed and suffered a cardiac arrest on the field; after the player was taken from the field

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for “Yellowstone” Season 5. “Yellowstone” is filled with characters who have strong convictions, and no character has challenged their worldviews quite like Summer Higgins. Played by Golden Globe-nominated actor Piper Perabo, Summer first arrived as a foil to John Dutton (Kevin Costner) in Season 4, an environmental activist whose

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from Season 2 of “Ginny & Georgia,” now streaming on Netflix. Netflix’s coming-of-age mother-daughter drama “Ginny & Georgia” dove in a bit deeper with Season 2. The series, which dropped on Jan. 5, picked up with Ginny (Antonia Gentry) and her little brother living with her dad, Zion (Nathan

Apple TV+ has released the official trailer for “Truth Be Told” Season 3, starring Octavia Spencer and Gabrielle Union. Based on Kathleen Barber’s novel “Are You Sleeping,” the anthology series follows Poppy Scoville (Spencer), an investigative reporter turned true crime podcaster who risks everything in pursuit of the truth. In the 10-episode third season, Poppy

After a grisly season — marred especially by the death of her mother, Lois — Lisa Rinna will not be returning to “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” People magazine broke the news, and Variety has confirmed her exit with Rinna’s publicist. In a statement, Rinna said: “This is the longest job I have held in my

HBO Max had a solid streaming performance during the week of Dec. 5-11. According to Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 chart, “The White Lotus” and “Friends” put the streamer among the most popular services that week. Coming in at No. 7, “The White Lotus” made an appearance on the chart following the premiere of the Season

Bam Margera reunited with his former “Jackass” collaborator Steve-O on the most recent episode of the latter’s “Wild Ride” podcast and opened up about his December 2022 hospitalization. News broke Dec. 9 that Margera had been put on a ventilator and was unable to breathe on his own after contracting pneumonia. Margera revealed to Steve-O

Noah Schnapp, who plays the closeted gay teenager Will Byers on Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” has come out as gay. In a video posted to his TikTok account on Thursday, the 18-year-old actor wrote, “When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years and all

TBS hasn’t yet pulled the plug on UFC president Dana White’s upcoming reality series, “Power Slap: Road To The Title.” Though, it has been rescheduled to premiere at a later date after a video showing White slapping his wife over the holidays made its way onto the internet. Originally slated to air on Jan. 11,

Former WWE CEO Vince McMahon is planning a return to the pro-wrestling promotion in order to sell off the company. McMahon, who is the majority owner of WWE, retired from his post as chief last year amid sexual misconduct accusations, leaving his daughter Stephanie McMahon to take over as chairman and co-CEO alongside Nick Khan,

“Saturday Night Live” has set its first two hosts of the new year: Aubrey Plaza on Jan. 21 and Michael B. Jordan on Jan. 28. Both are making their “SNL” debuts, and their episodes will feature musical guests Sam Smith and Lil Baby, respectively. Plaza was most recently seen in Season 2 of HBO’s “The

The rumors aren’t true: Andy Cohen and Ryan Seacrest are not feuding. Cohen was a guest on the Jan. 5 episode of Seacrest’s “On Air” radio show, and the two television hosts put an end to the ongoing rumor that they hate each other. “I didn’t know where we stood, Ryan!” Cohen said. “I got

Lukas Gage has joined “Fargo” Season 5 at FX in a recurring role, Variety has learned exclusively. Gage will appear the character Lars Olmstead. He will appear opposite previously announced cast members like Juno Temple, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Joe Keery, Lamorne Morris, Richa Moorjani, David Rysdahl, Sam Spruell, Jessica Pohly, and Nick Gomez.