UPDATED: Jussie Smollett, the former star of “Empire” who ignited a firestorm in 2019 when he claimed to be the victim of a homophobic and racist assault, was convicted on Thursday of five counts of lying to the police about the incident. He was acquitted on a sixth charge. Smollett faced six counts of “disorderly
Television
“Cowboy Bebop” has been canceled at Netflix after just one season, Variety has confirmed. The show debuted on the streamer on Nov. 19. Based on the anime series of the same name, the series followed three bounty hunters, aka “cowboys,” all trying to outrun the past. They are: Spike Spiegel (John Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir),
When “The Amazing Race” Season 33 contestants hit the road in February 2020, executive producers Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri were already keeping an eye on reports of a coronavirus beginning to tear through the world. They had even mapped out alternate routes to shift the race to “Plan B” countries, and ultimately an
Mike Flanagan announced that Carla Gugino, Mark Hamill, Frank Langella, Mary McDonnell and Carl Lumbly have been added to the cast of his and Trevor Macy’s upcoming Netflix limited series “The Fall of the House of Usher.” “To tell this epic tale of greed, horror, and tragedy, we have assembled the largest ensemble cast in
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you haven’t watched the first two episodes of “And Just Like That,” which are now available to stream on HBO Max. There was never going to be a perfect way to write Samantha Jones out of “Sex and the City,” even if the show’s now called “And Just Like That.”
Netflix (“Lupin”), Amazon, Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus signed a long-gestating agreement with France’s broadcasting authorities (CSA) on Thursday to start investing 20% of their annual revenues on French content. The CSA expects the investment to be between €250 million ($282 million) to €300 million ($330 million) on average per year. The agreement came
U.K. broadcast giant ITV, which also has a flourishing global production business, revealed an ambitious five-year growth plan on Thursday that included a number of key performance indicators. The “Love Island” producer’s goals for 2026 are to bring organic revenue growth in 2022 back to pre-pandemic 2019 levels and thereafter grow at 5% annually; grow
Freeform is getting into animation for the first time, with the basic cabler ordering the series “Praise Petey” while also announcing two more animated shows into development. “Praise Petey” hails from “SNL” writer Anna Drezen with “Schitt’s Creek” star Annie Murphy in the lead role. The show follows Petey (Murphy), a New York City “it”
“Leverage: Redemption” has been renewed for Season 2 at IMDb TV. “Bringing back these characters has been a dream come true, and working with such incredible people as the team at IMDb TV has been an absolute pleasure,” said Electric Entertainment’s Dean Devlin, co-showrunner and executive producer of the series. “So excited we get to
“Whenever I see the word ‘sex’ nowadays, it’s usually written in pink, not black,” Michael Patrick King said gleefully on a boundless red carpet, stretched through the lobby of the Museum of Modern Art on Wednesday evening in New York City, where “And Just Like That,” HBO’s revival of “Sex in the City,” held its
Lenard McKelvey, the talk show host better known to the world at large as Charlamagne Tha God, last Friday returned to his new TV job after taking a quick Thanksgiving vacation. He wasted no time in showing he was back at work. Over the course of an opening segment in his half-hour show, “Tha God’s
Carrie Byalick, a longtime Hollywood publicist who has become one of comedian Stephen Colbert’s top advisers, has been named president of his production company, Spartina Productions, as it prepares to increase its number of active projects. Byalick will supervise all aspects of Spartina, which in October set a three-year pact with CBS Studios to develop
Lauren Townsend, a veteran of corporate media publicity, has been named a new senior vice president of communications at Fox Corp. The announcement of her new title was made by Brian Nick, the company’s chief communications officer. She will join Fox on January 3, 2022. Townsend had been doing consulting work for Disney’s Hulu, but
Ad-tech firm OpenAP has for the past few years worked to define TV viewers in ways that apply no matter which media company’s programming they watch. Now the company hopes to launch technology that will allow advertisers to measure audiences no matter the choice of consumer yardstick. OpenAP, launched by the former 21st Century Fox,
This article contains spoilers for the first four episodes of “And Just Like That.” The most striking homage to the legacy of “Sex and the City” in the new series “And Just Like That” lands like a bit of bitter irony, or a joke too caustic by half. “Sex and the City” ended, in 2004,
Distributors Beyond Rights, Blue Ant International, Cineflix Rights, DCD Rights, Hat Trick International, Passion Distribution, and Studiocanal have confirmed their participation at The London TV Screenings 2022. They join an already strong lineup that includes All3Media International, Banijay Rights, eOne, Fremantle and ITV Studios. The distributors are working together to coordinate a series of screenings,
Kelly Edwards has experience in television on every side of the table. The industry veteran has worked as a writer and producer, she’s worked as a development executive, as an advocate and as a leader of diversity and inclusion efforts for HBO. That background gives her unusual perspective on the business. She’s taken many of
HBO Max has released the first image from its upcoming special “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts,” which is premiering on Jan. 1 — and it shows stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson in conversation in the Gryffindor common room. The program was taped at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London. The reunion
Scout Productions announced the appointment of documentarian Amy Goodman Kass as the company’s new senior vice president of documentary. In the role, Goodman Kass will oversee Scout’s current slate of documentary projects, including the upcoming Peacock series about Barney the Dinosaur. She will report to Joel Chiodi, head of documentaries. Most recently, Goodman Kass served
Amandla Stenberg is in talks to join the upcoming Disney Plus series “The Acolyte,” the live-action “Star Wars” series that hails from Leslye Headland. Details on the character Stenberg would play are being kept under tight wraps, but an acolyte in the “Star Wars” universe has typically referred to a Sith who has just begun
ABC won over viewers on Tuesday night with “Live in Front of a Studio Audience’s” nostalgia, lightheartedness and the visual of Kevin Hart standing side-by-side with John Lithgow, with almost a foot of height difference between them. Jimmy Kimmel’s roundup of modern superstars playing the characters of Norman Lear’s beloved classic sitcoms “Diff’rent Strokes” and
SPOILER WARNING: This story discusses plot points in Episode 3 and Episode 4 of Marvel Studios’ “Hawkeye,” currently streaming on Disney Plus. For its first four series for Disney Plus, Marvel Studios hired a single filmmaker to direct every episode of the season (including Matt Shakman for “WandaVision” and Kate Herron for “Loki”). On “Hawkeye,”
Horizon Media, one of the largest advertising companies not owned by the big publicly-traded entities that dominate the industry, intends to sell off a minority stake to investment firms, ending its decades of pursuing a purely go-it-alone strategy. Horizon, long controlled by entrepreneur Bill Koenigsberg, said it had sold a piece of the company to
CBS is sending celebrities into the wild. As first reported by TMZ, the Eye network is believed to be working on a new reality series to air this spring, which Variety has learned will be titled “Beyond the Edge.” The show would pit celebs in a “Survivor”-like battle of strategy, wits and muscle. The network
Many shows that are hitting the 100-episode milestone might use that anniversary as an opportunity to break its usual format for the first time in order to make the episode extra special. But “Riverdale” isn’t like many other shows. During its first five seasons, “Riverdale” continuously pushed the boundaries of what it could do with
As Hollywood constantly looks to novel forms of funding, the special purpose acquisition company or SPAC, has found new popularity over the past couple of years. Besides being a welcome source of funding, these blank-check investment vehicles look to energize the lightly populated middle of the corporate ecosystem in the media, entertainment, sports and digital
For more than three decades, “The Simpsons” has been telling stories about a middle-class family in Springfield, USA. In the 700-plus episodes of the series, Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie have traveled all over the world, met hundreds of celebrities, and saved the world numerous times. They’ve also had so many family squabbles. Oh,
HFPA president Helen Hoehne recently reached out to actor Gabrielle Union to read off the nominations for this year’s Golden Globe Awards on Dec. 13 at The Beverly Hilton Hotel. But Hoehne tells me that Union’s publicists declined the invitation, offering no explanation. Well, the explanation is obvious. Following the Los Angeles Times’ exposé in
Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings are sticking with “Jeopardy!” It was announced on Wednesday that the pair will be hosting the long-running game show throughout its 38th season, which will air into 2022. “We are delighted to let you know that Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings will continue to share hosting duties through the end
“Invasion” has been renewed for Season 2 at Apple. The news comes ahead of the sci-fi drama’s Season 1 finale, which will debut on the streaming service on Dec. 10. Set across multiple continents, “Invasion” follows an alien invasion through different perspectives around the world. The series stars Golshifteh Farahani, Shamier Anderson, Shioli Kutsuna, Firas