Television

When Brian Stelter signed off from the last installment of CNN’s “Reliable Sources” Aug. 21, the number of mainstream vehicles analyzing an increasingly confusing media industry shrank even further.  Stelter bid farewell the same day Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan ended her run — asking such notables as Carl Bernstein and Jeffrey Goldberg on

Mireille Enos is on her way back to AMC, joining Bob Odenkirk in his “Better Call Saul” followup entitled “Straight Man.” The dramedy, a series adaptation of Richard Russo’s novel of the same name, hails from “The Killing” producer Aaron Zelman and Paul Lieberstein (“The Office”). Enos starred in the “The Killing” throughout its run.

Keegan-Michael Key, Johnny Knoxville and Judy Greer play former sitcom stars reunited decades later for a reboot in “Modern Family” creator Steve Levitan’s upcoming comedy series, premiering Sept. 20 on Hulu. Aptly titled “Reboot,” the show is produced by 20th Television for Hulu. Details were announced Thursday at the TCA Summer Press Tour. Poking fun

NBCUniversal is getting out of the Washington sports business. Comcast, parent of NBCU, agreed to sell its 67% stake in NBC Sports Washington to Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which currently owns the remaining 33% of the entity. MSE acquired the stake in 2016. Financial terms of the current deal were not disclosed. NBC Sports Washington

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” has been renewed for Season 12 at HBO. Season 11 of the critically-acclaimed comedy series began airing on HBO in October 2021. That season picked up four Emmy nominations, including best comedy series and best guest actor in a comedy series for Bill Hader. The show has received 51 Emmy nominations in

Thinking about a job in broadcast news? The two top spots have long been co-anchoring one of the nation’s big morning programs or leading the evening newscasts. These days, there appears to be room for a third. Each weekday at 1 p.m. on ABC, Amy Robach. T.J. Holmes and Dr. Jennifer Ashton host an afternoon

Maybe people are interested in watching a show about the media. The final broadcast of CNN’s long-running “Reliable Sources,” a show that examines the media industry and has aired on CNN for about three decades, was the most-watched program on the network’s Sunday schedule. CNN said last week it was canceling the program as it

Leading U.K.-based broadcasters have created the TV Access Project (TAP), a response to pressure group Underlying Health Condition’s (UHC) campaign to address disabled access across the TV industry in the U.K. TAP has been created by the BBC, Channel 4, Britbox International, Disney+ U.K., ITV, Paramount, Prime Video, Sky and UKTV, with support from industry

Paul Rudd has joined the cast of “Only Murders in the Building.” Hulu confirmed to Variety that he will star in the show’s third season after making a cameo as Broadway star Ben Glenroy in Season 2 finale “I Know Who Did It.” It has not yet been announced whether Rudd will appear in a

Jed Mercurio, creator of hit BBC series “Line of Duty” and “Bodyguard,” has revealed a few aspects of his craft for screenwriters. Mercurio’s course for the BBC Maestro educational series, titled “Writing Drama for Television,” has launched into North America. It is a comprehensive breakdown of the art and craft of writing, split into 28

Danish Broadcaster DR has ordered “Prisoner,” a dark-edged premium series which starts shooting this fall with a stellar local cast including Sofie Gråbøl (“The Killing,” “The Undoing”) and David Dencik (“Chernobyl”). “Prisoner” was created by Kim Fupz Aakeson, whose credits include the DR drama “Cry Wolf” and the HBO series “Utmark.” Michael Noer (“Papillon”) and

Banijay CEO Marco Bassetti will deliver a keynote address at the upcoming Mipcom TV market in Cannes. As CEO of one of the world’s top independent content production and distribution outfits, Bassetti oversees a large-scale operation spanning 22 territories, over 120 production entities and a catalogue that includes “Survivor,” “Peaky Blinders,” “Big Brother” and “MasterChef,” as

U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 is stepping up its factual programming with two commissions and a recommission. The broadcaster has has commissioned ITV Studios’ The Garden to make the first U.K. series of the international survival hit “Alone.” The six part series will see 10 contestants dropped into the remote Northern Canadian wilderness, where each must

Sajith Sivanandan is joining Disney as executive VP and head of Disney+ Hotstar India, reporting into Rebecca Campbell, chair of Disney’s International content and operations group and K. Madhavan, president, Disney Star. Sivanandan will join in October from Google, where he is currently MD and business head, Google Pay and Next Billion User Initiatives, Asia

MUBI has released new key artwork for Lars von Trier’s hotly anticipated series “The Kingdom Exodus” ahead of its world premiere out of competition at the Venice Film Festival. The series will go on to play at Toronto and New York Film festival. The third installment of The Kingdom trilogy, the medical horror finale marks

Spoiler Alert: Do not read if you haven’t watched “There Are Some Women…,” Episode 4 of “Industry” Season 2, now streaming on HBO Max. HBO’s “Industry” is a show about being young and hungry: for money, sex, love, power and control. But in the ensemble of twentysomethings attempting to find themselves professionally and personally in

Vietnamese pay-TV provider K+ is launching the HBO Go entertainment package on its platform. The bundle is being launched in time for viewers in Vietnam to catch the beginning of “House of the Dragon” and the second season of “Industry.” K+ is jointly owned by France’s Canal Plus group and by local firm VEV. It

Reality competition series “Ink Master” will return for its 14th season on Wednesday, September 7 in the United States on Paramount+, and the streamer has released a first-look trailer for the new season which highlights the show’s returning contestants. Tattoo artists from previous seasons will return to the show to compete for a grand prize

HBO Max has canceled six upcoming animated series, including “Batman: Caped Crusader,” Variety has learned. The project was ordered to series in May 2021 with Bruce Timm, J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves attached to executive produce. The other series on the chopping block are “Merry Little Batman,” “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes

HBO Max has canceled upcoming animated feature film “Driftwood,” Variety has learned. From Cartoon Network Studios, the film was greenlit just three months ago. The family adventure movie is one of many titles being lost at the streamer — just last week, nearly 40 series and films were removed from the platform, such as “Little

“House of the Dragon” star Steve Toussaint, who plays Lord Corlys Velaryon a.k.a. “The Sea Snake” on the series, slammed viewers of the “Game of Thrones” prequel who took issue with his casting. “It seems to be very hard for people to swallow,” Toussaint said in an interview with Men’s Health. “They are happy with

Sources tell Variety that ABC is developing “The Good Lawyer,” a legal spinoff of the medical drama “The Good Doctor” which stars Freddie Highmore as Dr. Sean Murphy, a surgeon with autism. “The Good Lawyer” will be introduced as a backdoor pilot during Season 6 of “The Good Doctor,” which is set to premiere in

Westeros came back to HBO last night with the series premiere of “House of the Dragon” — and brought the masses along with it. “House of the Dragon” drew in 9.99 million viewers across HBO and HBO Max after premiering with one episode on Sunday, according to Warner Bros. Discovery. This viewership tally includes linear

“The Sandman,” Netflix’s TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s sprawling comic book series, is approaching its third week at the top of Netflix’s Global Top 10 list. The series has racked up over 127.5 million hours viewed, but Gaiman thinks that “may not be enough” for Netflix to renew it for a second season. Answering some

“Little Ellen” co-creator Jennifer Skelly found out her show would be removed from HBO Max earlier this month by reading the news. These past few days, she’s witnessed dozens of other series meet the chopping block as Warner Bros. Discovery purges the HBO streaming platform in order to reduce costs. Not only are the first

“Love Island” host Laura Whitmore has quit the U.K. reality show after two and a half years. Whitmore, a close friend of former host Caroline Flack, famously took over from the long-time presenter in January 2020, shortly after her December 2019 arrest for domestic assault and two months before Flack’s untimely suicide. Between the 2020

Laura Peterson hive, rejoice! Julianna Margulies — who plays an anchor at UBA, a love interest for Bradley (Reese Witherspoon) and the former rival of Alex (Jennifer Aniston) — will return to “The Morning Show” for its third season. The Apple TV+ series is currently in production, and recently announced that Jon Hamm has joined

Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, the creators of the hit series “Yellowjackets,” have signed an overall deal with Showtime. In addition to creating “Yellowjackets,” Lyle and Nickerson serve as executive producers and co-showrunners on the Showtime series, with Jonathan Lisco also serving as executive producer and co-showrunner. “Ashley and Bart are not only great writers,

Benny Boom, the television director who has worked on franchises such as “CSI: Vegas” and “Magnum PI,” has signed with the Gersh Agency for representation. Boom, well-known for his revered work in the music video industry, has in recent years bolstered his television directing credits with his work on franchises such as Showtime’s “City on

Netflix has revealed the official trailer for “Love Is Blind: After the Altar” Season 2, along with the release date for the reality series. Premiering Sept. 16, Season 2 focuses on the lives of several participants from the second season of “Love Is Blind,” including Jarrette Jones, Iyanna McNeely, Deepti Vempati, Shayne Jansen and Natalie