Television

The “L.A. Law” sequel series starring Blair Underwood has been given a pilot order at ABC. The followup to the beloved late ’80s-early ’90s series was first announced as being in development at ABC back in December. In the new show, the venerable law firm of McKenzie Brackman reinvents itself as a litigation firm specializing

Sage Steele is one of ESPN’s best-known “SportsCenter” anchors, but viewers won’t see her on air for the next few days. Steele is taking a break from her regular duties after she appeared on an outside podcast and made controversial references regarding President Barack Obama’s racial background; ESPN’s coronavirus policy; and suggested some female journalists

Constance Zimmer has joined the cast of the YA pilot “Shelter” at Amazon, Variety has learned exclusively. Zimmer joins previously announced series lead Jaden Michael. “Shelter” hails from Amazon Studios and MGM International Television Productions. It tells the story of high school junior Mickey Bolitar (Michael) as he navigates his new life with a mom in

The “Interview With the Vampire” series at AMC has cast Bailey Bass in the key role of Claudia, Variety has learned. Bass joins previously announced series leads Jacob Anderson, who will play Louis, and Sam Reid, who will play Lestat. Bass is now the second actress to portray Claudia onscreen, with Kirsten Dunst having played the

Michael Keaton is taking on a more formidable foe than the Joker in the 1989 film “Batman.” Hulu’s “Dopesick” is an eight-episode limited series that depicts the rise and fall of the opioid epidemic, which has raved millions of Americans since a group of powerful painkillers became widely prescribed starting in the 1990s. The series

Sam Catlin has signed an overall deal at Apple, Variety has learned. Under the deal, Catlin will develop and produce scripted television projects for Apple under his Short Drive Entertainment banner along with his producing partner, Tiffany Prasifka. Catlin most recently served as showrunner, and executive producer, and co-creator of AMC series “Preacher.” He developed the

HBO Max is developing a series adaptation of the upcoming Stacy Willingham novel “A Flicker in the Dark” that hails from Emma Stone and Dave McCary’s Fruit Tree and A24, Variety has learned exclusively. The novel is slated for publication in the U.S. in January 2022 with rights sold into 17 foreign markets to date.

Amazon Prime Video announced “With Love” will premiere on Dec. 17. The limited series stars Emeraude Toubia, Mark Indelicato, Rome Flynn, Desmond Chiam, Vincent Rodriquez III, Isis King, Todd Grinnell, Constance Marie and Benito Martinez. “With Love” follows the Diaz siblings, Lily (Toubia) and Jorge (Indelicato), who are on a mission to find love and

Protagonist Pictures are representing international sales for boxing doc series “The Kings” at Mipcom. The mini-series follows four boxers — ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard, Roberto ‘Hands of Stone’ Durán, Thomas ‘The Hitman’ Hearns and ‘Marvelous’ Marvin Hagler — as they jostle to take the throne following boxing legend Muhammed Ali’s retirement in 1981. “The Kings” aired

Hulu has ordered the scripted true crime series about Candy Montgomery, with Jessica Biel now attached to star. The project was first announced as being in the works in July 2020, landing at Hulu in December. At that time, “The Handmaid’s Tale” star Elisabeth Moss was attached to play the lead role. According to an

Fans of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” might get something next week they won’t be expecting — a tribute to hockey. The Disney-backed sports-media giant expects to spend part of its next halftime show treating viewers to a concert as well as a surprise visit from someone who is emblematic of the icy pastime, says Mark

1212 Entertainment and Anonymous Content are teaming to adapt the Ursula K. Le Guin novel “The Dispossessed” into a limited series, Variety has learned exclusively. The book was originally published in 1974 and won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards upon its debut. It tells the story of the twin planets of Anarres and Urras, which

NBCUniversal and the BBC have ordered U.S. and U.K. versions respectively of Studio Lambert’s hit Dutch psychological adventure format “The Traitors.” Contestants in the game move into a castle and work as a team to complete a series of challenging missions to earn money for the prize pot. But three of the contestants are secretly

CASTING BBC One original series “Casualty” has announced its first transgender character, Sah, to be played by newcomer Arin Smethurst. Sah joins the series’ popular existing team of paramedics including Jan (Di Botcher), Teddy (Milo Clarke) and Iain (Michael Stevenson). “Casualty” is Smethurst’s first time working on a TV series, and the first episodes featuring

HBO Max has unveiled a teaser trailer for its hugely anticipated “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon.” (Watch the clip above.) “House of the Dragon” is set 200 years prior to the events of “Game of Thrones” and tells the story of House Targaryen and the Targaryen civil war that became known as

HBO has released a new clip from season 3 of “Succession.” (Watch the clip above.) The close to two-minute-long clip shows the frantic aftermath of Kendall Roy’s (Jeremy Strong) shocking press conference that closed season 2. Upon leaving the room, Kendall tells his team they’re headed to Waystar HQ, where they’ll “plant a flag, fix

The trailer-blazing hair curlers invention from Denmark that took over the world in the swinging 60s is the topic of the new event Danish TV show “Carmen Curlers”, just picked up by DR Sales for global distribution. The distribution arm of Danish public broadcaster DR is launching the eight-part period drama at Mipcom in Cannes.

Alan Kalter, the “voice” of CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman” for most of its run, has died, Variety has confirmed. He was 78. According to Rabbi Joshua Hammerman of Temple Beth El in Stamford, Conn., Kalter died at Stamford Hospital, with wife Peggy and his daughters Lauren Hass and Diana Binger at his side.

Her roots were planted in the past. Though her life was changing fast, who she was was who she wanted to be. Twenty years ago, the now defunct WB network introduced a family sitcom starring country music icon and American treasure Reba McEntire. Appropriately titled “Reba,” in the multicamera sitcom, McEntire plays Reba Hart, a

The Peanuts gang are ringing in the holidays with another New Year’s Eve special. Apple TV Plus has announced a new Peanuts TV installment, “For Auld Lang Syne,” which will premiere globally on Friday, Dec. 10. “For Auld Lang Syne” — the first Peanuts TV special ever with a title that does not include the

Sonia Manzano played Maria on “Sesame Street” for over 40 years, becoming a household name in the U.S. and a trailblazing Latina in the burgeoning public television landscape. Now, Manzano is trading Muppets for the mofongo-loving Alma Rivera, a six-year-old animated Puerto Rican girl of her own invention (and heavily based on her own experience),

Disney Plus has greenlit “American Born Chinese,” a series based on Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel of the same name. The action-comedy follows Jin Wang, a teenager juggling his high school social life with his immigrant home life. When Jin meets a new foreign exchange student on the first day of school, their worlds collide

All products and services featured by Variety are independently selected by Variety editors. However, Variety may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. In Netflix’s ultra-popular “Squid Game,” hundreds of debt-ridden people sign up to compete in order to win a

Wondrium has ordered 12 episodes of an interior design instructional series hosted by designer Jonathan Adler. The series, produced by Wondrium, will debut globally in the streaming service in 2022. The untitled project, with a title to come, will feature Adler “illustrating the basic rules of design, and then how to break them,” the service

Marc Pilcher, the Emmy Award-winning hair and makeup designer for “Bridgerton,” has died of COVID-19, his agency Curtis Brown confirmed to Variety. He was 53 years old. The news comes just three weeks after the U.K.-based stylist — who was double vaccinated and had no underlying health conditions — picked up a Creative Emmy statuette

Robyn Lattaker-Johnson has joined A3 Artists Agency as an agent in its alternative programming division after serving as head of unscripted programming at OWN. “Robyn boasts one of the most impressive and extensive resumes in the industry,” A3 Artists Agency president Brian Cho said in a statement announcing Lattaker-Johnson’s hiring. Lattaker-Johnson has more than 20

Hulu has greenlit the series adaptation of the novel “Washington Black,” with Sterling K. Brown now attached to star as well as executive produce. Variety exclusively reported that the project had received a script commitment with penalty attached at Hulu in September 2019. Based on the Esi Edugyan novel of the same name, the nine-episode

Life imitates… art? William Shatner, famous for portraying Captain Kirk on the original “Star Trek” TV series in the ’60s, will join the crew of Blue Origin’s next space flight on Oct. 12. At the age of 90, he is set to become the oldest person to fly into space. Blue Origin is the aerospace

Pepper Teigen plans to add some flavor to Food Network. The chef and matriarch of TV personality and model Chrissy Teigen’s family, Pepper Teigen plans to showcase Thai cooking in a new half-hour special for the Discovery-owned cable network at noon on Saturday, November 6, as well as on the streaming-video hub Discovery Plus. She

In a challenging era for car sales, sometimes you need a team of superheroes to help get the metal off the lot. Lexus, the luxury-auto unit of Toyota, is joining with the Marvel band of altruistic aliens known as the Eternals, who are slated to be the focus of the next film from the popular