BBH Entertainment, the entertainment development arm of creative agency BBH USA, said it named producer and development executive Ali Fazel as its new senior vice president and head of development and current programming. Fazel will report toAmani Duncan, CEO of BBH USA, and and Rafa Rizuto, chief content officer. Fazel will lead BBH Entertainment’s development
Television
“The Challenge” director of photography Bruce Ready is no stranger to braving the elements for the MTV competition series. But for the show’s 37th season, titled “Spies, Lies and Allies,” Ready faced one of his biggest challenges yet navigating the minefield challenge in Episode 5 — during a torrential rainstorm. The episode required each team
The owners of iconic British comedy show “Only Fools and Horses” have won a copyright battle against an “Only Fools”-themed dining show. “Only Fools The (cushty) Dining Experience” is billed as an “interactive dining show” in which diners are subsumed into the world of the long-running TV series, which aired on BBC 1 between 1981
If you ever find yourself directing “Succession” Emmy winner Jeremy Strong, then you might want to forgo yelling “action!” before each take. Strong told his “Serenity” and “Armageddon Time” co-star Anne Hathaway during their “Actors on Actors” conversation for Variety, presented by Apple TV+, that he prefers to take a nonverbal cue from a director
Quinta Brunson, creator and star of the hit ABC sitcom “Abbott Elementary,” will guest star on the upcoming Starz revival of “Party Down.” The appearance inadvertently leaked during an April 21 taping for Variety‘s Actors on Actors series, in which Brunson was paired with Adam Scott, of both Apple TV+’s “Severance” and the revived Starz
Apple TV+ has debuted a trailer for “Black Bird,” the streamer’s upcoming psychological thriller limited series starring Taron Egerton and Ray Liotta. The project is set to premiere on July 8. The six-episode series follows Jimmy Keene (Egerton), a high school football hero and the son of decorated policeman “Big Jim” (Liotta), who is sentenced
In May, Jeremy Strong and Anne Hathaway dazzled the Croisette as they appeared on the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival to promote their roles in James Gray’s critically hailed new film “Armageddon Time.” Two weeks prior, though, they are together in New York discussing their small-screen work. Strong has reached new heights of
The producers of “Live PD” are reviving the show’s live format on Reelz, but under a new working title: “On Patrol: Live” is set to premiere later this summer, the network announced Wednesday. Just like “Live PD,” the show will air live, twice a week (on Friday and Saturday nights from 9 p.m. to midnight).
Some of the U.K.’s biggest TV and streaming stars are set to appear at the 2022 Edinburgh TV Festival. Among those who will be present at the in-person event in Edinburgh are “Succession” patriarch Brian Cox, “Heartstopper” star Kit Connor and “Strictly Come Dancing’s” Rose Ayling-Ellis, who will give this year’s Alternative Mactaggart speech. Actor
J.J. Abrams’ science fiction drama series “Demimonde” will no longer move forward at HBO. This is the end of a long road for the project, which was ordered to series at HBO in Feb. 2018 after a bidding war with Apple. The series order came over a year before Abrams and his wife Katie McGrath
It’s going to be hard to beat the most exciting casting announcement of Season 19 of “The Bachelorette” — a.k.a., the fact that there are two female leads in the upcoming season — but 32 men will be vying for the hearts of two women. Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia will both co-star in “The Bachelorette”
Kristen Stewart has opened the gates for her paranormal reality series, calling on ghost hunters and mediums to audition for the upcoming production. “I am scarily excited to announce that I’m teaming up with Scout, the producers of ‘Queer Eye,’ ‘Legendary’ and ‘The Hype,’ on the most gayest, most funnest, most titillating queer ghost-hunting show
British TV executive Jay Hunt was once a formidable voice in the chorus of the U.K. TV industry. But since departing as Channel 4’s chief creative officer in 2017 to join Apple TV+ as its European originals chief, her voice, at least publicly, is seldom — if ever — heard. It’s this sad reality, that
Paradigm Talent Agency has hired industry veteran Ian Kleinert as a book publishing agent, Variety has learned exclusively. In his new role, Kleinert will be based out of Paradigm’s New York office. “Joining Paradigm during this unique and exciting time at the company opens up a world of exciting new avenues across all media for the
“iCrime with Elizabeth Vargas,” a new, nationally syndicated true crime show, will premiere September 12, Scott Sternberg Productions and Trifecta Entertainment and Media announced. The show will air in over 95% of the country and will be hosted by Emmy-award winning journalist Elizabeth Vargas (“20/20,” “America’s Most Wanted”). In 30-minute episodes airing Monday through Friday
“Stranger Things” Season 4, Volume 1 has already smashed multiple Netflix viewership records less than two weeks after its release, and anticipation for Volume 2’s July 1 launch is building more by the day. But the immense success of the streamer’s first-ever season to feature a two-batch drop with just over a month in between
A key question about Season 2 of “And Just Like That”: Will Carrie and Samantha still be texting? “Yes!” answered a gleeful Michael Patrick King, the showrunner of the HBO Max series. King and his writers’ room have only recently embarked on working on the second season of the “Sex and the City” revival. During
“Queer as Folk” and “Big Sky” star Jesse James Keitel is boarding “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” for a guest star role as a nonbinary character. Keitel, who is a trans woman, will appear on the June 16 episode of the show’s first season, currently streaming on Paramount+. Keitel will play Dr. Aspen, who once
A documentary film focusing on the recent sex abuse scandal at Ohio State University has begun production, HBO has announced. The film is based on a 2020 Sports Illustrated cover story written by Jon Wertheim about allegations of sexual abuse that occurred at Ohio State University from 1978 to 1998. The story details how the
The 14th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” will live in the herstory books as a big step forward for trans representation. The show began with just two trans queens, Kerri Colby and Kornbread, but as the season progressed, they were joined by three others who spoke their truths, Bosco, Jasmine Kennedie and Willow Pill. It
The May 27 debut of the first seven episodes of “Stranger Things” Season 4 marked Netflix’s biggest premiere weekend ever, drawing in 287 million hours viewed in just three days. Now, after the season’s first full week of availability, its success continued and broke another, and bigger, record: It’s Netflix’s third most popular English-language TV
Judy Huth cried on the witness stand Tuesday as she recounted her visit to the Playboy Mansion in 1975. Huth, now 64, is suing Bill Cosby for allegedly luring her to the mansion and molesting her in a bedroom when she was 16 years old. “I was mad,” she testified, at times wiping her eyes
The Variety & Sony Pictures Television Virtual FYC House, which captures the attention of TV awards voters, kicked off with a special preview night on June 1 featuring an exclusive “Power of Production” panel in-person on the Sony lot. The round table, moderated by Variety TV editor Michael Schneider, featured panelists Liz Friedman, executive producer,
Carol Burnett has joined the cast of the Apple comedy series “Mrs. American Pie,” Variety has learned. Burnett joins previously announced series lead Kristen Wiig in the show, along with cast members Allison Janney, Leslie Bibb, Josh Lucas and Ricky Martin. The 10-episode comedy follows Maxine Simmons’ (Wiig) attempt to secure her seat at America’s most
“Tokyo Vice,” the crime drama series based on Jake Adelstein’s 2009 memoir of the same name, has been renewed for a second season at HBO Max. The series stars Ansel Elgort as Adelstein, an American journalist who reports on the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat in the late ‘90s, descending daily into the underbelly of the
Allison Williams has boarded the upcoming Showtime limited series “Fellow Travelers” alongside Matt Bomer, Variety has learned exclusively. The series was picked up at Showtime back in April with an eight-episode order. It is based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Mallon. The show is described as an epic love story and political
Everyone loved the second season of “Euphoria” — even Spider-Man. (Well, at least one of the Spider-Men.) When Andrew Garfield sees Zendaya, he can’t stop raving about her tour de force as Rue in the critically acclaimed HBO series. Garfield is both a fan and a friend. The two actors crossed paths in the multiverse
In a chic Islington restaurant, Dolly Alderton asks me where I met my partner. While most people will politely smile and half-listen to the answer, Alderton — who eats love stories for breakfast — virtually squeals at the meet-cute I serve up, which I had a hunch she of all people would appreciate. The London-born
Canal Plus has acquired French rights to “Two Summers,” a Flemish thriller series which is being sold by France TV Distribution. “Two Summers” is available on Netflix in the rest of the world, outside of French-speaking territories in Europe. Produced by Panenka, “Two Summers” will air in France on Canal Plus and on its on-demand
Amy Campbell has been promoted to chief marketing officer for MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks. Campbell’s promotion follows the departure of Jason White, who joined the Paramount Global division in April 2021. Campbell “is one of the smartest, hardest-working and most creative leaders in the industry,” Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Paramount