Television

If you had to pinpoint a moment at which it was completely clear that the Grammys would be a much happier experience than the Oscars a week ago, ironically, it was during the saddest moment of the show. That would be the traditional In Memoriam segment, which, at the Academy Awards, wound up being one

Harrison Ford has signed on to star opposite Jason Segel in the Apple comedy series “Shrinking,” Variety has learned. The show was first announced in October 2021. Segel will write the series alongside “Ted Lasso” co-creator Bill Lawrence and “Ted Lasso” star, writer, and co-executive producer Brett Goldstein. “Shrinking” follows Jimmy (Segel), a grieving therapist who

Over cigarettes in a Tokyo nightclub, a newbie crime reporter eager to make a mark is speaking to his source. Jake Adelstein (Ansel Elgort), an American who’s become fluent in Japanese to work as a journalist far from home, uses the language to ask his source Jin Miyamoto (Hideaki Itō) whether the city of Tokyo

Brian Tee fans, the wait is nearly over. The “Chicago Med” cast member, whose Ethan Choi been absent for most of the seventh season, will return during Episode 18, set to air on Wednesday, April 13. He will also be in the rest of the season, showrunners Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider said during NBC’s

Sony Pictures Television International chief Wayne Garvie has set his sights on European production, he revealed during a keynote discussion at MipTV on Monday afternoon. Garvie was speaking alongside Bad Wolf co-founder Jane Tranter in a panel discussion moderated by Variety international editor Manori Ravindran. SPTV International acquired Bad Wolf, who have produced shows including

John Oliver took a moment during the April 3 episode of his HBO talk show “Last Week Tonight” to shut down O.J. Simpson, who defended Will Smith on social media earlier in the week after the Oscars. Smith slapped presenter Chris Rock during the ceremony after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s

Kevin Mayer, co-CEO of Blackstone Group-backed Candle Media, discussed the company’s 360 IP-investment strategy at the MipTV conference in Cannes on Monday morning. Mayer was appearing alongside Moonbug Entertainment co-founder René Rechtman on a panel moderated by Variety international editor Manori Ravindran. Candle Media purchased children-focused brand Moonbug last year for $3 billion. They previously

Bowing in Canneseries official selection, six-episode miniseries “Infiniti” isn’t just for sci-fi aficionados, Empreinte Digitale producer Eric Laroche told Variety. Co-produced between France and Belgium, the latest Canal Plus offering – created by Stéphane Pannetier and Julien Vanlerenberghe – interweaves multiple storylines, moving from the International Space Station (ISS) that suddenly goes silent to an investigation

In scripted content, or “The Godfather,” people should never take sides against the family. As proven by some of 2021 and 2022 top launches, from “Kin,” a RTE One No. 1 launch in Ireland, to South Africa’s “House of Zwide” (E.TV) and Fox’s “The Cleaning Lady,” family bonds continue to dominate no matter the genre.

Paramount Plus has revealed a further slate of scripted and unscripted U.K. original series ahead of the launch of the streaming service in the U.K. this summer. Scripted original series commissioned by Sebastian Cardwell, deputy chief content officer, U.K., Paramount, as part of the streamer’s plans to greenlight 50 new international scripted originals in 2022,

Banijay has picked up multi-territory format rights to two Korean reality shows which it will begin pitching this week at the MipTV market in Cannes. From Korean broadcaster and producer MBC, Banijay has picked up format rights to competition show “Bloody Game” in France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands. From

The Grammys, unlike the usually more-or-less accurately forecasted Oscars, are always full of surprises, this year hardly being any exception. Jon Batiste receiving a leading five wins? Who saw that coming — except for anyone who saw him coming in with a leading 11 nominations and figured the math might translate? But that arithmetic did

Planete Plus Orders Munich Hostage Thriller Doc French broadcaster Planete Plus has commissioned factual political thriller “Munich: Of Games and Blood” from Pernel Media to mark the 50th anniversary of the hostage crisis that rocked the Munich Olympic Games on September 5, 1972. Written by Philippe Saada, Yossi Melman and cinematographer Marc Dugain, the doc is narrated by three

Mediawan Rights, the commercial arm of the European media powerhouse, is set to expand its scope with the launch of a sales division dedicated to light entertainment programming. Estelle Bodén, an industry veteran, has been appointed head of distribution of this newly-created unit. Bodén will report to Valérie Vleeschhouwer, managing director of Mediawan Rights, and

“Theodosia,” the Egyptology-themed adventure series which just premiered on HBO Max in the U.S., has been acquired by BBC, along with a bevy of other partners. Produced by Cottonwood Media, “Theodosia” is represented in international markets by ZDF Studios and Federation Kids & Family, a subsidiary of Federation Entertainment. “Theodosia” follows a smart and bold

Prominent Turkish sales company Global Agency, which brought milestone TV series “Magnificent Century” to the world, has more recently been scoring with formats, such as their singing talent show “Good Singers” that has been a primetime hit on TF1 in France. Now the Istanbul-based company is at MipTV with a new singing show called “Beat

Billie Eilish was seeming Grammy-er than ever at Sunday night’s awards show, being a major presence on the telecast for the third year running in her young life. Besides being nominated for seven awards, she performed the song that was responsible for several of those noms, the title track from her “Happier Than Ever” album.

Emily Bear and Abigail Barlow’s Grammy win for best musical theater album for “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical” marks the first award from the Recording Academy to go to a project that originated on TikTok. Bear and Barlow beat out Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cinderella,” the cast recording of “Girl from the North Country,” “Les Misérables: The

The 7th MipDrama – an industry centrepiece at Cannes MipTV trade fair – wrapped with Germany’s “House of Promises” scooping the prestigious Buyers’ Coup de Cœur award. The romantic drama proved the clear favorite among the MipDrama audience gathered in the Debussy Theatre at Cannes’ Palais des Festivals, receiving the most rapturous applause of the

Germany has been a source of shows for the international market for decades, but with series like “Deutschland 83” in 2015, and “Babylon Berlin” and “Dark” in 2017, the bar was raised and the sense of what constituted German drama shifted, and international buyers took note. One of them was Christian Vesper, who bought “Deutschland

Jacob Batalon is best known as Spidey’s BFF Ned Leeds in the box office-smashing “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” but he’s exploring his undead side in upcoming Syfy comedy drama “Reginald the Vampire.” In the series, based on Johnny B. Truant’s “Fat Vampire” novels, Batalon plays a recently turned vampire, Reginald, who finds he still has

Limonero Films, a boutique distributor of factual shows and documentaries, based in London, has announced a string of sales ahead of MipTV. Make Waves Media’s “Thirties in Color: Countdown to War” has been sold to Japan’s NHK, Italy’s RAI, Spain’s RTVE and Germany’s RTL, which also licensed “Victorian Britain on Film” and “Wild Relations.” The

Veteran businessman Ian Cheshire has been appointed the next chair of U.K. broadcaster Channel 4, media regulator Ofcom revealed on Sunday. Cheshire will join the broadcaster’s board on Apr. 11, succeeding interim chair Dawn Airey. Cheshire is currently chair of Spire Healthcare plc, chair of the environmental investment trust Menhaden plc, and a non-executive director

In anticipation of screening at Cannes’ MipTV market, Beta Film, which handles distribution, has provided Variety exclusive access to the international trailer for Greek abduction thriller “Silent Road.” Written by Melina Tsampani and Petros Kalkovalis and directed by Vardis Marinakis, the series dissects the entangled lives of an affluent family in Athens after a school bus carrying

One of the highlights of the April 2 episode of “Saturday Night Live” was the return of Pete Davidson, who had missed a few previous episodes due to a busy film shooting schedule. Luckily, he was in the mood to rap, praising his love for time-efficient cinema in the music video for “Short-Ass Movie.” The

An eerily quaint and picturesque Galician town sets the scene for a chilling high-profile murder in “Rapa,” the highly anticipated follow-up to Spain’s Movistar Plus hit “Hierro.” After coming to the aid of bloodied Mayor Amparo Seoane (Mabel Rivera), lone witness and stymied professor Tomás (Javier Cámara, star of Almodóvar’s “Talk to Her”) becomes obsessed

The latest from Belgium’s Eyeworks Film & TV Drama and director Wouter Bouvijn – who teamed on Canneseries hits “The Twelve” and “Red Light” – “1985,” sold by Studiocanal, works on multiple levels as a coming-of-age series. Two young Gendarmarie police recruits, Marc and Franky, and his sis Vicky, a law student and pirate radio

If you were expecting this week’s “Saturday Night Live” to kick off with a sketch parodying the Will Smith/Chris Rock slap at the Oscars, you may have been disappointed by the cold open. (That came later.) The slap was indeed mentioned, but it was just one of several topics brought up as the show once

Cody Rhodes made his return to WWE on Saturday night at WrestleMania 38, coming back to the promotion that he famously exited nearly six years ago. In that time, Rhodes has wrestled all over the world and was integral to the founding of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), the rival wrestling promotion run by Tony Khan.

Sydney Sweeney says her favorite meme from Season 2 of “Euphoria” is the one from Cassie’s bathroom meltdown scene in episode three. “I would have to say it’s the ‘I’ve never ever been happier’ meme. I love that meme,” she told Variety on Saturday at the Canneseries TV festival, being held on France’s Côte d’Azur. Asked