Television

Nicki Aycox, known for her role as Meg Masters on the CW series “Supernatural,” died on Nov. 16, her family announced. She was 47. Aycox’s sister-in-law, Susan Raab Ceklosky, confirmed the news on Facebook on Nov. 17. “My beautiful, smart, fierce, incredibly talented and loving sister-in-law, Nicki Aycox Raab, passed away yesterday with my brother,

Magnolia Network is getting into the seasonal spirit with a special holiday edition of its hit series “Silos Baking Competition.” The sweet treat from Chip and Joanna Gaines’ joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery, titled “Silos Baking Competition: Holiday Edition,” will premiere on Friday, Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. ET on Magnolia Network and streaming

Angela Tarantino, HBO’s senior vice president of media relations, is leaving the premium cabler after 32 years, Variety has confirmed. Tarantino first joined HBO in 1990 as an executive secretary. She rose through the ranks as a publicist before being promoted to vice president in 2004. She was named senior vice president in 2017. It

Brandy is putting on the glass slippers again. The singer and actor, whose most lauded screen performance was her turn as the humble princess in the 1997 Disney TV movie “Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” will play Cinderella again in the upcoming Disney+ film “The Pocketwatch.” The movie musical takes place in the universe of the

If anyone came away from “Pitch Perfect” with a burning desire to know what happens to male a cappella diva Bumper Allen (Adam Devine), I’d like to meet and study them for science. Of all the characters to earn their own spinoff from this franchise about the transformative power of female friendship, Bumper is the

Iran’s national soccer team did not to sing the country’s national anthem before their World Cup opener at Doha’s Khalifa International Stadium against England on Monday in what is widely considered to be an act of protest against the death of Mahsa Amini. Protests have been mounting in Iran since the Sept. 16 death of

Michael Bass, the longtime CNN programming chief who played a role in devising the network’s more passionate demeanor during the Trump era, is leaving the network. His departure was revealed to staffers at the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed outlet’s daily news meeting Monday. Bass was a key lieutenant and longtime colleague of Jeff Zucker, CNN’s former

SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “Dead to Me” Season 3, now streaming on Netflix. Writer and executive producer Liz Feldman decided how to end “Dead to Me” while filming Season 2 in 2020 — but she still felt a bit of pressure when it actually came time to wrap up such a personal show. “I felt

France’s top two commercial channels, TF1 and M6, have decided to sell their stakes in Salto, the French streaming service, Variety has confirmed. That will leave Salto without two of its three parent companies. The service, which launched in 2020 after multiple delays, was created by TF1, M6, France Televisions in an effort to give

Disney investors rallied behind Bob Iger’s reinstallation as the chief executive of the Mouse House, with the company’s shares climbing more than 8% in early trading Monday. On Sunday, Disney’s board made the surprise announcement that Iger, who previously led the company as CEO from 2005-25, would return for a two-year term. Iger replaces Bob

NBCUniversal International Networks and direct-to-consumer is set to launch DreamWorks, the 24-hour channel dedicated to kids and family entertainment. DreamWorks is distributed as a linear and on-demand service on SFR, the French telco group available on French TV sets. The service is available to all SFR subscribers. “We are thrilled that DreamWorks is now available

It’s hard to talk about “The Walking Dead” without talking about death. It built its reputation as a show where anyone could be killed off, and indeed, it turned over roughly a third of its cast every season in its early years. (Lest you forget them, the series finale gives its final moments over to

Warning: Don’t open, spoilers inside. Stop here if you haven’t yet watched “The Walking Dead” series finale, which aired Sunday night on AMC. “The Walking Dead” ended its 11-season and 177-episode AMC run on Sunday night with a hopeful note, as the Commonwealth had entered a period of peace and the show’s stars prepared to

Killing off someone in the AMC series “The Walking Dead” is tough. Doing so often requires striking a violent blow to the brain. On Sunday, the task became even more complex, thanks to a little help from Madison Avenue. Four old characters from the series’ more than 177 episodes returned Sunday night, but not during

SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers up to Episode 4 of “The White Lotus,” airing Sundays on HBO and streaming on HBO Max. Think you know Ethan? Think again. On Season 2 of “The White Lotus,” Will Sharpe plays the reserved, if not slightly awkward, tech guy who recently came into wealth and embarks on

Amid an alleged controversy over a Chris Brown-helmed Michael Jackson tribute that was canceled at the eleventh hour, the singer won Favorite Male R&B Artist trophy and got a shout-out from Kelly Rowland. “Chris brown is not here tonight, so I’m accepting this award on his behalf,” Rowland said, before responding to some unclear shouts

Last week’s season premiere of “Yellowstone” was very dramatic: John Dutton (Kevin Costner) became the governor and already hates it, Beth (Kelly Reilly) has Jamie (Wes Bentley) under her thumb, and Monica (Kelsey Asbille) loses her child in a freak car accident. Things are still high-impact in Episode 3, and Variety gathered loose thoughts, burning

UPDATED with Bob Iger’s full memo: Bob Iger has replaced Bob Chapek as Disney’s CEO, a shocking turn of events for the world’s largest media company that has been in turmoil ever since Iger stepped down as CEO in February 2020. The shakeup that caught the entertainment industry and Wall Street mostly by surprise was

Cheryl Burke is leaving “Dancing With the Stars” after Season 31 — and hopes she’ll be back in another capacity. In an interview with Variety, the professional dancer, who announced her exit via Instagram on Sunday, detailed the decision to leave after competing on 26 seasons. “If I were to just talk as an athlete,

Kevin Costner has taken over hallowed space at Fox Corporation. The exterior walls of the company’s New York headquarters have long been adorned with giant billboards touting content at Fox News Channel. Passers-by over the years might find it hard to ignore giant posters of Sean Hannity or Megyn Kelly. In more recent times, pedestrians

CBS News is halting its activity on Twitter over Elon Musk’s turbulent and potentially devastating moves following his takeover of the company. “In light of the uncertainty around Twitter and out of an abundance of caution, CBS News is pausing its activity on the social media site as it continues to monitor the platform,” Jonathan

NBC and E! have announced that Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter Shania Twain will be honored with the music icon award at this year’s People’s Choice Awards. Twain is known for such hits as “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” and “That Don’t Impress Me Much.” In addition to receiving the award, Twain will perform

ABC has reversed course on the drama series “Avalon,” opting not to move forward with the show despite giving it a straight-to-series order in February. “Avalon” hailed from David E. Kelley and executive producer Michael Connelly, with the show based on a short story that Connelly wrote. Neve Campbell was set to star in the

Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and former CEO of the doomed medical startup firm Theranos, has been sentenced to 11.25 years in prison for her role in defrauding investors and consumers about the potential of her company’s blood-testing device. Holmes’ sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release. She will be required to self-surrender

The jury in the Danny Masterson rape trial told the judge on Friday that it could not reach a verdict. However, Judge Charlaine Olmedo said that the jurors have not deliberated long enough to declare a mistrial. She ordered the jury to resume deliberations on Nov. 28, after taking a week off for Thanksgiving. Masterson,

Millie Gibson is joining the cast of the BBC’s “Doctor Who.” She will play Ruby Sunday, the new companion of the Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa. Gibson is best known for starring in British soap opera “Coronation Street” in the series regular role of Kelly Neelan from 2019 to 2022. Her other screen credits include

Amy Adams and her Bond Group Entertainment production company have signed a first-look TV deal with Fifth Season (formerly Endeavor Content). “Amy’s passion as an artist and her commitment to illuminating our shared humanity through complex characters in all genres aligns perfectly with what we want to do here at Fifth Season,” said Joe Hipps,

The “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series at Disney+ has added Jay Duplass and Timothy Omundsen in guest star roles, Variety has learned exclusively. The pair will appear in the series alongside Walker Scobell as Percy as well as Aryan Simhadri as Grover and Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth. Additional cast members include Virginia Kull,

With nine shows, Taylor Sheridan can’t be as hands-on as he once was. So, after writing the “Tulsa King” pilot in three days, and getting Sylvester Stallone to quickly sign on to the project, Sheridan handed over the reins to “Boardwalk Empire” and “Sopranos” vet, Terence Winter. Now it’s Winter’s show. After reading the “brilliant”

“The White Lotus” has been renewed for Season 3 at HBO. The news of the renewal comes as creator Mike White’s hit anthology series has aired just three out of seven episodes of its second season. Like the seasons before it, the third season will follow a new group of guests at an entirely different