Television

In Showtime’s new docuseries “Gossip” a recording of Donald Trump pretending to be his own publicist is played; a story about Tom Cruise’s front teeth falling out during a dinner with former New York Post editor-in-chief Col Allen is told; and 91-year-old Cindy Adams defends her past and present friendships with Roy Cohn, Imelda Marcos,

SummerSlam 2021 is set to feature a major confrontation between top WWE superstars Roman Reigns and John Cena. Reigns has earned considerable praise of late since turning heel (becoming a bad guy in pro wrestling parlance), while Cena remains one of the top babyfaces (good guys) of all time. “As you know, your villain is

After taking a leave of absence in April, Carrie Ann Inaba will be exiting CBS’ “The Talk.” Reportedly, Inaba, who had served as co-host of the daytime talk show for over two years, parted ways mutually. Whether or not CBS will replace Inaba before the show airs again with all-new episodes in September remains unknown,

“There’s a saying in Haiti: ‘deye mon, gen mon.’ It means, ‘beyond mountains, there are mountains,’ Vladimir Duthiers, CBS News correspondent and anchor of the network’s CBSN streaming service tells Variety as he takes pause reporting live from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, where the island was rocked Aug. 14 by a powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake

Although “Impeachment: American Crime Story” has been described as being based on Jeffrey Toobin’s book, “A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President,” the greatest source the show had, the stars and producers noted during the Television Critics Assn. press tour panel for the show, was Monica

The “Armor Wars” series at Disney Plus has tapped Yassir Lester to serve as head writer, Variety has confirmed with sources. Don Cheadle will star in the series, reprising the role of James “Rhodey” Rhodes, a.k.a. War Machine. The series is based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. In the series, Rhodes must

After a short tenure as Alex Trebek’s replacement on “Jeopardy,” Mike Richards made the bombshell announcement to step down following a period of resurfaced lawsuits alleging sexist behavior in the workplace and sexist and disparaging remarks made on his previous podcasts. Now, people in Hollywood and Twitter users are weighing in on the news that

Josh Duhamel will star opposite Renee Zellweger in the NBC limited series “The Thing About Pam.” The series is based on the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria that resulted in her husband Russ’s conviction, although he insisted he didn’t kill her. His conviction was later overturned. This brutal crime set off a chain of events

The untitled HBO series about the Los Angeles Lakers has added five to its cast, with Bo Burnham also exiting the series. It was reported in March that Burnham had been cast in the role of Celtics legend Larry Bird. According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, Burnham is no longer involved with

Following the departure of Joe and Anthony Russo from the “Magic: The Gathering” project, Netflix has tapped Jeff Kline (“Transformers: Prime”) to executive produce and lead a new creative team for the CG-animated adaptation of the collectible fantasy trading card game. The show was first announced in June 2019. The Russos — known for their

The HBO Max pirate comedy series “Our Flag Means Death” has added recurring guest stars Fred Armisen (“Portlandia,” “Los Espookys,” “Documentary Now!”) and Samba Schutte (“Sunnyside,” “9-1-1” and “The Tiger Hunter”). The show hails from writer, showrunner, and executive producer David Jenkins. Garrett Basch and Dan Halsted also serve as executive producers along with Taika

Tamron Hall is moving to a new part of the Walt Disney empire. The news and talk-show veteran, whose current program has been syndicated by Disney since its launch in the fall of 2019, will now be part of ABC News, according to a person familiar with the matter, adding another daytime talk program to

Amanda Peet has been a staple on television screens since the mid-1990s, most recently seen as the eponymous character in “Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story.” But for the first time in her career, she has stepped behind the scenes to co-create and run a series. “The Chair,” bowing Aug. 20 on Netflix, stars Sandra

Mike Richards is out as “Jeopardy!” host, just nine days after he was tapped to succeed the legendary Alex Trebrek as the face of the beloved quiz show. Richards, who is also executive producer of “Jeopardy!,” saw his hold on the job undone with astonishing speed after unflattering and downright ugly details surfaced about his

Stuart Ramsay has covered 18 separate wars and numerous natural disasters during his 30 years as a reporter but even he admits the scenes unfolding around him this week in Afghanistan have been unique. “The circumstances and the desperation and the sadness is the same in every scenario but this is slightly different,” the Sky

The executive producer of “The Young and the Restless” allegedly made repeated advances toward an actress, commented on her body, offered her a “private acting lesson” and had her fired when she rebuffed him, according to a lawsuit filed on Thursday. Actress Briana Thomas filed suit against Sony Pictures Television, which produces the long-running CBS

The show that taught 1980s kids not to hide in an abandoned old refrigerator — or, at the very least, learn CPR in case one of your friends does sneak into one of those scary old latch iceboxes — will not continue with its revival. The updated “Punky Brewster,” which Peacock brought back as part

Issa Rae is best known for creating and starring in “Insecure,” the Emmy-winning show praised for its realistic portrayals of Black women coming-of-age in LA. And with the new reality show, “Sweet Life: Los Angeles,” she’s trying her hand at capturing the experience for “real.” Produced under Rae’s Hoorae content banner, the HBO Max reality

“Better Days” director Derek Tsang has been tapped to direct and co-executive produce Netflix’s adaptation of “Three-Body-Problem” for David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. The forthcoming series, based on the trilogy from Chinese author Liu Cixin, tells the story of what happens when humanity discovers that we are not alone in the universe. “Game of Thrones”

Peter Gallagher has been cast in Season 18 of “Grey’s Anatomy,” Variety has confirmed. Gallagher is the latest addition to the cast of the long-running ABC medical drama. It was previously announced that Kate Burton would return to the series, reprising the role of Ellis Grey. Gallagher will play Dr. Alan Hamilton who knew Ellis back

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. A matching companion ups the ante for any Halloween costume. Why dress up as a “Hocus Pocus” Sanderson

The premiere of Serbian drama series “Bad Blood” Wednesday night at the Sarajevo Film Festival was more than just the usual red-carpet event. An ambitious, decades-spanning period drama that chronicles the waning years of the Ottoman Empire, it was the first series from the festival’s CineLink Drama co-financing forum to go into production since its

Foo Fighters will receive the MTV Video Music Awards’ first-ever Global Icon Award at the 2021 ceremony, airing live from Barclays Center on Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. According to MTV, the Global Icon Award — a fixture of the network’s Europe Music Awards (EMAs) — “celebrates an artist/band whose unparalleled career and continued impact

A biopic based on the life of the late “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry is in the works from Roddenberry Entertainment. Gene Roddenberry’s son Rod Roddenberry is producing with Trevor Roth; the duo serves as executive producers on current series “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Star Trek: Picard.” Adam Mazer, the Emmy-winning writer of the Dr.

“BMF” used “the same technology” that Martin Scorsese used in “The Irishman” in order to turn Marshall Mathers aka Eminem back in time for the seventh episode of the upcoming Starz drama. Executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson revealed that tidbit during the series’ Television Critics Assn. press tour panel on Aug. 19. Mathers was

“Masked Singer” panelist Robin Thicke is teaming up with up-and-coming TikTok star La’Ron Hines for a new show, Variety can reveal. Leopard USA, the New York-based production company backed by the U.K.’s Argonon Group (“The Masked Singer U.K.”), is developing the as-yet-untitled series with Thicke, who mentors the viral video star. With nearly nine million

Courteney Cox is arguably best-known for two diametrically opposed genres: the multiple jokes per page format of sitcom “Friends” and the jump scares of slasher-horror franchise “Scream.” But with Starz’ “Shining Vale,” she will be combining a version of those two tones. “Sharon [Horgan] and I set out very, very ambitiously — and Sharon before

“The Reunion,” the French Riviera-set series adapted from Guillaume Musso’s bestselling novel “La Jeune Fille et la Nuit,” has started shooting on location in the south of France with an international cast headlined by Ioan Gruffudd (“Fantastic Four”), Ivanna Sakhno (“Pacific Rim Uprising”) and Grégory Fitoussi (“Spiral”). Directed by Bill Eagles (“Beautiful Creatures,” “12 Monkeys”),

Francis “Frankie” Mossman, a New Zealand actor best known for his roles on television shows like “Spartacus” and “The Horizon,” died on Aug. 14 in Sydney, Australia. He was 33. Mossman’s death was confirmed in a GoFundMe post put together by his brothers, Laurence and Jeremy Mossman, to raise money for Mossman’s repatriation and funeral

JB Perrette has a unique perch on the global television business. The longtime Discovery International chief sits atop a collection of more than 200 channels serving up content in more than 50 languages. This summer, he’s in the throes of rolling out the Discovery Plus streaming service in the many territories where Discovery has a