Television

“Jack Magic,” a biographical series about Jack Ma, the colorful co-founder of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, is in development at French production house Oble. The series is adapted from Duncan Clark’s best-selling book “Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built.” Details of the series such as start date, director and eventual distributor, broadcaster or streamer

“The Bourne Identity” helmer Doug Liman is attached to direct the adaptation of a chapter from acclaimed nonfiction book “Rise And Kill First.”  It details how Israel’s Mossad reached out in desperation to former Nazi Waffen SS lieutenant colonel Otto Skorzeny, a favourite of Hitler’s -branded by British intelligence services as “the most dangerous man

Marvin Josephson, founder of ICM Partners, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 95 years old. A cause of death was not immediately available. Born on March 6, 1927 in Atlantic City, N.J., Josephson was raised by immigrant parents. After serving in the U.S. Navy during the twilight of World War II, Josephson returned to

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 7, Episode 10, of “The Masked Singer,” “Season Finale: I’m Team Good, Thanks for Masking,” which aired May 18 on Fox. It came down to a battle of the Good in the season finale of “The Masked Singer” but only one could emerge

An untitled documentary about Grammy-winning artist Lizzo is coming to HBO Max this fall, she announced at the Warner Bros. Discovery upfront on Wednesday, while unveiling the first teaser of the film. The doc will follow the singer, songwriter, rapper, flutist and actor from her humble beginnings to her history-making career in music and culture,

The venue was the same, but Paramount Global’s inaugural upfront presentation at Carnegie Hall took a very different approach compared to the CBS presentations of old. Jo Ann Ross, longtime CBS ad sales chief, still opened the show without pomp and circumstance, introducing an event that was designed to run an hour playing off the

James D’Arcy will star as Jo’s husband Magnus in the upcoming Apple TV+ thriller “Constellation,” Variety has learned. Additionally, Oliver Hirschbiegel and Joseph Cedar have been set to direct three episodes each of the eight-episode series. The series follows Jo (Noomi Rapace), a woman who returns to Earth after a disaster in space — only

Marnie Schulenburg, known for her roles in soap operas “As the World Turns” and “One Life to Live,” died Tuesday in New York due to a complication from breast cancer, a representative confirmed to Variety. She was 37. Schulenburg’s husband Zack Robidas, an actor known for his roles in “Sorry for Your Loss” and “Succession,”

“This Is Us” said goodbye to Mandy Moore’s Rebecca Pearson Tuesday — and so did many, many NBC viewers. The second-to-last episode of the Dan Fogelman-created family drama drew a 0.95 rating in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic and 5.3 million viewers, according to Live + Same Day ratings from Nielsen. That is the second-highest

The NBC drama pilot “Found” has cast Kelli Williams, Variety has learned exclusively. Williams joins previously announced series lead Shanola Hampton in the project along with fellow cast member Mark-Paul Gosselaar. The show is built around the fact that, in any given year, more than 600,000 people are reported missing in the U.S. More than

Stay in Los Angeles long enough, and you’ll have an Angelyne story. Decades after plastering the city in mysterious billboards bearing her name and Barbie-esque silhouette, the self-made urban legend can still be found zipping through the streets in her signature Corvette, a flash of bubblegum pink on the desert horizon. While less ubiquitous than

Paramount+ announced that “Tulsa King,” Taylor Sheridan’s upcoming series starring Sylvester Stallone, will premiere on Nov. 13 with two episodes. All remaining episodes will become available for streaming weekly on Sundays. Additionally, Paramount Network will air a sneak peek at the premiere on Nov. 13 after the Season 5 premiere of Sheridan’s “Yellowstone.” Episode 2

The “Yellowstone” spinoff series “6666” is joining the mothership show on Paramount Network. It was previously reported that the new show would air exclusively on Paramount+. It will now run on the linear network first before episodes are made available to stream on demand. A premiere date has not been set. “6666” was originally announced

“Conversations With Friends” star Joe Alwyn and his castmates are, no surprise, thrilled that his girlfriend Taylor Swift has broadcast her support for the Hulu series to her 210 million Instagram followers. The singer recently posted an Instagram Story featuring screengrab of a headline from Time magazine that praised the series. Swift’s caption read, “Can

Peacock has released the first trailer for “Queer as Folk,” pulling the curtain back on its reimagining of the TV series created by Russell T. Davies. The new series relocates from Pittsburgh, Pa. to New Orleans, La., exploring the lives of a diverse community of LGBTQ+ individuals whose lives are altered following a tragedy. The

The Indian media and entertainment sector, currently valued at $24 billion is expected to grow to $30 billion by 2024, according to the country’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur. “I personally feel with the growth rate we have and I’m sure it’s going to grow more than that. By 2030 we expect it to

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav raised the curtain on the combined Warner Bros. Discovery, kicking off the newly merged media giant’s upfront presentation Wednesday morning by declaring the company to be “the largest maker of motion picture and television content in the world.” Kicking off the presentation at the Theater at Madison Square Garden,

Dick Wolf does not take anything for granted. Not even his prowess as one of Hollywood’s most prolific producers. The lord of “Law & Order” has taken his television operations to new heights during the 2021-22 television season, which is about to conclude with no less than six Wolf-produced series in primetime’s top 10 rankings.

Ahead of Warner Bros. Discovery’s upfronts presentation, Adult Swim has made announcements including a series order for “Rick and Morty: The Anime” and the Season 6 renewal of “The Eric Andre Show.” Based on the hit adult animated comedy, “Rick and Morty: The Anime” will debut with 10 episodes on Adult Swim and HBO Max.

Jo Ann Ross has long recognized when to go for the hard- sell and when to soften things up. The Paramount Global U.S. ad sales chief is, like other executives in her position, is seizing this week to pitch big advertisers as part of the media industry’s annual “upfront,” when U.S. TV companies seek to

ID and Discovery+ announced an extensive slate of true crime specials, original series and reboots, including a special about the alleged crimes of Armie Hammer and his family. “House of Hammer” (working title) will examine different scandals over the course of five generations of Hammer’s family. The special uses “a trove of archive and interviews

CBS has unveiled their fall 2022 schedule, which largely keeps intact the schedule the broadcaster established last season. The network is very heavy on drama programming this year, with only four comedies on the fall schedule. CBS picked up four new dramas for next season, while also passing on all of their comedy pilots. To

HBO Max and Cartoon Network announced a new family-oriented animated special called “Chelm: The Smartest Place on Earth” from Sacha Baron Cohen, Greg Daniels, Mike Judge and Michael Korman. Baron Cohen is set to star. “Chelm: The Smartest Place on Earth” is set in the mythical “Town of Fools” that has long existed in Yiddish

“Squid Game” is coming back to Netflix for a second season, but fans of the smash hit drama series are going to have to wait well over a year for new episodes. Series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk told Vanity Fair that he predicts the next batch of episodes won’t be ready for release until the end

Where do you take advertisers if you want them to make a big purchase? To a department store, of course. Paramount Global will take clients who attend its upfront Wednesday afternoon to an after-party in the structure on New York’s Madison Avenue that once housed the big Barney’s department store, one way to emphasize the

Two-time Academy Award-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky (“Leviathan,” “Loveless”) is developing a new series that charts the rise of Vladimir Putin in what the producer describes as “the actual, horrifying story of how the man who changed the world got the power to do so.” Produced by Rodnyansky’s L.A.-based production shingle AR Content, “All the Kremlin’s

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “The Train,” they May 17 episode of “This Is Us.” The focus of Tuesday’s penultimate episode of “This Is Us” was on the long-dreaded death of Mandy Moore’s Rebecca Pearson and the tearjerking bedside goodbyes from her children Kate (Chrissy Metz), Randall (Sterling K.

(SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “The Train,” the May 17 episode of “This Is Us.”) The end is very near. During Tuesday’s penultimate episode of NBC’s “This Is Us,” the Pearson family gathered to see Rebecca (Mandy Moore) one last time on her deathbed. During the hour, as the

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “New Moon,” the May 17 episode of “The Resident.” Not only did the Fox medical drama “The Resident” get renewed for a sixth season this week, a face from the past returned for emotional new scenes in on Tuesday’s season finale. Nicolette “Nic” Nevin

Jimmy Kimmel had zingers aplenty for companies across the TV spectrum at Disney’s upfront presentation on Tuesday, even though a positive COVID test kept the late-night host from appearing in person. As always, Kimmel didn’t hold back at his bosses in his 10-minute standup bit that was beamed in live to the event held in