Comcast Corporation has promoted Mike Cavanagh to president, making him the third person to occupy the role in the company’s 59-year history. He will continue to serve as chief financial officer in addition to working closely with chairman-CEO Brian Roberts on managing the company’s cable and broadband operations as well as NBCUniversal. “Today’s promotion will
Television
Former Warner Bros. Discovery and OSN executives are teaming up to form a new content studio serving the Middle East and North Africa, Variety can reveal. Rise Studios is being set up by industry veterans Emad Morcos, former OSN chief content and commercial officer; Amanda Turnbull, former general manager at Warner Bros. Discovery Middle East,
Willie Spence, who came in second place in “American Idol” Season 19, has died in a car crash. He was 23. Spence was driving from Tennessee to his home in Atlanta when he crashed into a semi-truck that was parked on the side of the road. A post on the “American Idol” Instagram reads, “We
Neo Studios has partnered with New World Distribution for the upcoming docuseries “Life After,” set to premiere Oct. 18 on Prime Video. Directed by Nick Ruff, the eight-part docuseries follows 12 retired NFL players as they face a new chapter of their lives following their professional football careers. Each episode of “Life After” spotlights a
Warner Bros. Television has promoted Parul Agrawal to the role of senior vice president and head of drama development, Variety has confirmed. Agrawal previously served as vice president of drama development. She tales over the role from Leigh London Redman, who exited the studio in July to join Berlanti Productions. Agrawal will report to Clancy
“A young Janeane Garofalo.” That’s how we originally pitched the character of Robin in “Stranger Things.” But that’s about all we had. Well, that and two short scenes where Robin hands out ice cream with Steve Harrington. We just didn’t really know who Robin was — what made her interesting, what made her stand out.
Sara Ramírez isn’t a double threat or a triple threat — they’re an infinity threat. Mike Nichols alerted me to the existence of this superhuman when he was directing Sara in “Spamalot.” Nichols had a nose for talent and was famously the discoverer of Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman and Whoopi Goldberg. In all the time
Not to sound like a cigar-in-mouth Hollywood blowhard, but Bowen Yang is a star. Bowen is effortlessly funny and a pillar at “Saturday Night Live.” Bowen is the emotional heart of “Fire Island.” Bowen looks perfectly placed on a red carpet in platform boots — a hunk for the ages. To audiences and our industry,
The Alliance, which brings together European broadcasters France Télévisions, Italy’s RAI and Germany’s ZDF in a commissioning partnership, announced the development of a new series “The Kollective” at Rome’s MIA Market on Wednesday. France Télévisions, RAI and ZDF decided to join forces back in 2018 to develop and co-produce high-end TV dramas aimed at a
Netflix Studios U.K., the streamer’s U.K.-based production and content arm responsible for shows including “Bridgerton” and “Sex Education,” has posted £103.2 million ($114 million) worth of revenue for the year ending Dec. 31, 2021. The figure represents an increase of 31% on the previous year, ending Dec. 31, 2020, when revenue was at £78.8 million
Production is underway in Italy on the Italian instalment of Prime Video’s global “Citadel” spy thriller franchise, produced by the Russo Brothers, with Matilda De Angelis cast as the lead. De Angelis, a rising Italian star, made her international breakthrough in Susanne Bier’s “The Undoing,” alongside Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant. She more recently appeared
Netflix has announced high-profile Italian original documentary series “Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi,” written and directed by Britain’s Mark Lewis, who won an Emmy for the docu-series “Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer.” The streaming giant has also dropped a trailer for the docuseries, produced by British TV production company Raw.
FESTIVAL Japanese director Kawase Naomi will lead the international competition jury of the 44th Cairo International Film Festival (Nov. 13-22). Kawase won the Caméra d’Or for best debut feature film at Cannes for “Moe no Suzaku” (1997) and also won awards there for “Mogari no Mori” (2007) and “Hikari” (2017). In 2000, her film “Hotaru”
Miniseries “The Adrenalist” has been pre-sold to Denmark’s DR and Iceland’s RÚV. Produced by True Content Production in Norway, and with TV2 already on board, it will be shot in Norway. Currently casting, the show – budgeted at €10.5 million – is expected to gather “top star actors from the Nordic countries,” says producer Renée
French production powerhouse Studiocanal is moving into the Italian production market by joining forces with Rome-based shingle Elsinore Film with plans to co-develop and coproduce a slate of scripted and unscripted content for the Italian and international market. Elsinore Film is a boutique outfit headed by Annamaria Morelli (pictured, left), a former head of production
London-based longform news and podcasting outlet Tortoise Media has inked an exclusive first-look deal with Tortoise Media. The multi-year deal will see Sky potentially adapting Tortoise’s original podcasts including their investigative podcast “The Slow Newscast” into scripted and factual high-end series and/or features in the U.K., Italy, Germany and more. Tortoise will collaborate with Sky
The Royal Television Society’s annual RTS Programme Awards have been set for March 28, 2023. The awards ceremony, which is held at Grosvenor House every year, always attracts a sea of bold-face names from the world of television. (Pictured above: Jodie Comer attending in 2019). Last year’s winners included “Help” writer Jack Thorne, “It’s a
After Ariel Elias garnered online attention for a video of her handling a heckler during a standup set and chugging a beer that was thrown at her by an audience member, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is now looking to book the comedian for an appearance. A spokesperson for ABC’s late-night program confirmed that the show is
“Declaration” (“Ariyippu”) a festival hit film by acclaimed filmmaker Mahesh Narayanan and popular actor-producer Kunchacko Boban, has been snapped up by Netflix. The film bowed at Locarno and is playing at the BFI London Film Festival. This week it plays in the Busan International Film Festival’s A Window on Asian Cinema strand. The Malayalam-language film
Warner Bros. Television Group handed out pink slips to 82 staffers on Tuesday, representing 19% of the studio’s workforce, across its scripted, unscripted and animation divisions. Additionally, it has opted not to fill 43 additional vacant positions — making for a total elimination of 125 jobs (or 26% of an approximately 481 headcount). Warner Bros.
Prime Video released the official teaser for upcoming series “Riches,” the streamer’s family drama about the privileged Richards family. The high-stakes series is written and created by Abby Ajayi and stars Deborah Ayorinde, Hugh Quarshie, Sarah Niles, Adeyinka Akinrinade, Ola Orebiyi, Nneka Okoye and Emmanuel Imani. Here’s the logline: When Stephen Richards, played by Quarshie,
Netflix has signed up to U.K. ratings body BARB in what is a massive coup for TV audience measurement in Britain. BARB, an acronym for the Broadcasters Audience Research Board, claims to be the first industry-owned audience currency in the world that Netflix has joined. While BARB has technically been reporting on streaming numbers in
British TV industry leaders are set to convene at an event in celebration of deaf, disabled and neurodivergent talent that will address their lack of representation on screen and commit attendees to specific action points. Created by Bridge06 and Hot Coals Productions, the event — entitled About Time! — is positioned as a “call to
“NCIS: LA” viewers were alarmed this week when the Season 14 premiere of the CBS procedural did not include Linda Hunt’s Hetty, the character whose last known location was Syria. In the episode, the team received word that a body had been a body found in Syria. By the end, they learn that it was
Hollywood is mourning the loss of famed actress Angela Lansbury with stars like Josh Gad, George Takei and Jeremy O. Harris all penning touching tributes to the late actor and singer on social media. Lansbury died at her Los Angeles home on Tuesday. She was just five days shy of her 97th birthday. While known
As Warner Bros. Discovery continues its belt tightening (with more layoffs expected imminently at Warner Bros. TV Group), the company has shuttered Stage 13, a shingle focused on diverse short-form programming, and will also pull the plug on the Warner Bros. Television Workshop, which had aimed to train new creative talent in both writing and
Village Roadshow Television has acquired the rights to Lana Harper’s novel “Payback’s a Witch” with the intention of developing it onto a TV series, Variety has learned exclusively. The book is the first installment in Harper’s “Witches of Thistle Grove” novel series, with the planned show set to take that name as well. Per the
Netflix fans continue to flock to binge-watch “Dahmer,” the unsettling drama series starring Evan Peters as the infamous killer cannibal, in record numbers. Ryan Murphy’s “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” topped Netflix’s English TV Top 10 list for the third week in a row, with 205.33 million hours viewed for the week of
Kelli Giddish’s “Law & Order: SVU” exit is coming soon. The actor’s last appearance will be on Dec. 8, Variety confirms. Additionally, she will make a guest appearance on spinoff “Law & Order: Organized Crime” later this season. Giddish joined the Dick Wolf series in 2011, starring alongside Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T and Peter Scanavino. Her
UPDATED: According to a rep for “Days of Our Lives” star James Lastovic, he and his roommate, Nevin Dizdari, have been found safe after being reported missing in Hawaii. Dizdari’s sister, Emma, also confirmed the news in an Instagram Story post. “My sister and James are okay, they got lost on their hike but made