Television

ViacomCBS International Studios and Italy’s Leone Film Group have forged a strategic partnership by signing a long-term agreement to co-produce a wide range of Italian content for the global market.  This potentially milestone pact between VIS and Leone — the prominent indie production and distribution shingle owned and operated by late master director Sergio Leone’s children

HBO has paused shooting on its “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon” because of a positive COVID-19 case on set, Variety has confirmed. As part of testing implemented for all production employees, a production member on the series tested positive for COVID-19. In compliance with industry guidelines, the production member is in isolation,

ITV Studios is the latest super-indie to bow out from October’s Mipcom market in Cannes — traditionally the largest annual confab for the global TV industry. The production-distribution giant joins the likes of “Peaky Blinders” distributor Banijay, whom Variety revealed was skipping the market back in June, and content powerhouse BBC Studios, which also pulled the

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read until you have watched “Rick and Morty” Season 5, Episode 5, “Amortycan Grickffiti.” Leave it to “Rick and Morty” to have an episode that’s one-half a coming-of-age (space) adventure and one-half a “Hellraiser”-inspired action-drama. That’s “Amortycan Grickfitti” in a nutshell, separating the kids (Summer and Morty) from the adults (Rick,

Tennis player Coco Gauff has become the latest star athlete to drop out of the Tokyo Olympic games, which are set to begin later this week under unprecedented restrictions for an event designed to bring together a global audience. On Sunday, Gauff confirmed via social media that she has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus

Two decades after his breakthrough as a documentary filmmaker, Chris Smith is on a tear in the non-fiction realm, having directed “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond,” “Fyre,” and “Operation Variety Blues: The College Admissions Scandal” in the past four years, while also serving as an executive producer of last year’s pandemic docuseries sensation “Tiger

Tom O’Connor, the British comedian and host of game shows like “Crosswits,” “Password” and “Name That Tune,” has died. He was 81. O’Connor’s family told the BBC that the comedian, who had Parkinson’s disease for over a decade, died in a hospital in Buckinghamshire on Sunday. O’Connor began his career in show business on the

“You’re trying to punish me. Surely the Southern Hemisphere is bad enough.” So says Edie Henley (Harriet Walter) to her daughter Kate (Frances O’Connor) in the early scenes of the drama “The End.” This dark comedy created by Samantha Strauss comes to Showtime after a 2020 run in Australia; its first episode shows us how

A Queens, N.Y. grand jury indicted TV actor Isaiah Stokes for murder on Friday. Stokes is accused of fatally shooting a man who sat in a parked car in Jamaica, Queens in February. “The defendant is accused of unloading nearly eleven shots during this brazen afternoon shooting,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a

UPDATE: Production on Season 2 of “Bridgerton” has shut down once again following its second COVID-19 case in a week, Variety has confirmed. Production has been paused for an indefinite period of time on the popular Netflix show. Though the streamer declined to comment on whether the person who contracted COVID-19 was a member of the cast

SPOILER WARNING: Do not read if you haven’t seen all of Season 1 of “Loki,” currently streaming on Disney Plus. Ever since “Loki” first premiered in June, Kate Herron, who directed all six episodes of the Marvel Studios series, has had to pretend like she knew far less than she really does. For one, she

The renewed indoor mask mandate coming from Los Angeles County Department of Public Health this weekend is unlikely to have a big effect on production in the region because strict COVID safety rules on set have not been relaxed since they were implemented last fall. But the surge in the infection rate in LA County

Paramount Plus has ordered Paramount Television Studios’ “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” to series, Variety has confirmed. The “Grease” prequel takes place four years before Sandy and Danny’s relationship throws Rydell High into a tailspin. Before rock ‘n’ roll ruled and before the T-Birds were the coolest guys in school, four fed-up, outcast girls dare

With growing concerns about a rise in COVID cases and a new indoor mask mandate for Los Angeles being implemented starting Saturday night, some in-person Hollywood events are already being canceled. A Friday night screening of “Joe Bell,” hosted by stars Mark Wahlberg and Reid Miller at WME in Beverly Hills, was canceled several hours

Jayson Blair has joined the cast of Kat Dennings’ Hulu comedy series “Dollface” in a recurring role. He will play Liam, a new love interest for Izzy (Esther Povitsky), who, for the “Dollface” uninitiated, is a friend and co-worker of Dennings’ main character Jules. The show centers on a young woman who is dumped by

“Melrose Place” will host an unofficial reunion this summer on Fox’s “Fantasy Island” when Laura Leighton, Josie Bissett and Daphne Zuniga guest star as friends whose island birthday bash exposes the cracks in their friendships. The all new version of the show, which originally aired from 1977 to 1984, will premiere on Aug. 10 at

AMC Networks has reached a $200 million settlement deal with Frank Darabont and CAA in the long-running profit participation lawsuit over “The Walking Dead.” The deal calls for AMC Networks to pay Darabont and CAA a total of $200 million. They will continue to receive a share of future profits from streaming deals tied to

One of the biggest knocks against the Hollywood Foreign Press Association — that its members can be swayed by trips, gifts and other freebies — is going away. The org confirmed in a statement on Friday that it has approved “new gift, travel and conflict of interest policies. Under these new policies, HFPA members shall

Brian Morewitz is out as senior VP of drama at ABC, the network confirms to Variety. Morewitz had been with ABC for almost 17 years, and had been in his most recent position since March 2016, when he was promoted by then-entertainment president Channing Dungey. There’s no word yet on how Morewitz will be replaced,

In preparing for his eponymous starring role in “Turner & Hooch,” Josh Peck got the Manny Pacquiao treatment. “I did physical fight training with Justin Fortune, who trains Manny Pacquiao. If someone drops out of the next Logan Paul fight, maybe I’ll hop in,” Peck told Variety at the Disney Plus series premiere event on Thursday.

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. After a year of podcasting, Instagram lives and socially-distanced shows, the biggest comedians are finally hitting the road

Jay Shaylor, the executive producer of “CBS Evening News,” has stepped down from his post, one of the first significant rearrangements of top producers at the ViacomCBS news division since it was placed under the aegis of new top executives. “Jay Shaylor is leaving the company. We thank him for his contributions to the broadcast

The TV development logjam that emerged across broadcast, cable and streaming last year as the pandemic raged is showing little sign of abating as COVID-19 restrictions lift. Multiple TV writers and lit agents tell Variety that the market is incredibly challenging, with little appetite from buyers for new projects. Among the factors contributing to the

Jason Sudeikis showed his support for the English soccer players who were targets of racial hate after their team lost the Euro 2020 final on Sunday. At the season 2 premiere of “Ted Lasso” in West Hollywood on Thursday night, Sudeikis wore a sweatshirt that was emblazoned with the first names of Marcus Rashford, Bukayo

CNN has snatched Kasie Hunt, the Capitol Hill correspondent long viewed as a rising star at NBC News, as part of an aggressive bid to push the WarnerMedia cable-news outlet into the new frontier of streaming video. Hunt surprised viewers Friday on her early-morning MSNBC program, “Way Too Early,” by revealing that she was doing

Italian state broadcaster RAI has appointed as its president Marinella Soldi, a former CEO of Discovery Networks Southern Europe, and designated as managing director Carlo Fuortes, chief of the Rome Opera House Foundation. The planned management makeover was decided by the government headed by Prime Minister Mario Draghi. The two key appointments at the mammoth

A spat between members of 1970s punk band The Sex Pistols over the use of their music in Danny Boyle’s new FX series about the group has reached London’s High Court. Former lead singer Johnny Rotten — whose real name is John Lydon — is defending a lawsuit from Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones and

Rising COVID infection rates are wreaking havoc with public events once again as multiple positive COVID tests on Thursday forced the New York Yankees to postpone the start of a four-game series against the Boston Red Sox. Also Thursday, NFL Network analyst Rich Eisen disclosed via Instagram that he has contracted COVID despite having been

Just over a year ago, “Never Have I Ever” star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan was a total unknown, who landed her big break by booking lead role on a new Netflix YA comedy series after answering a casting call via Twitter from show co-creator Mindy Kaling. When the comedy debuted in April 2020, Ramakrishnan practically became a

FX has tapped “Zola” director and co-writer Janicza Bravo to direct the pilot of “Kindred,” starring Mallori Johnson in the lead role. Based on the novel by Octavia E. Butler, “Kindred” follows Dana (Johnson), a young Black woman and aspiring writer who has moved to Los Angeles in pursuit of an independent future. She soon