Television

Comedies “American Housewife” and “Mixed-ish” and dramas “For Life” and “Rebel” have all been canceled at ABC. A cancellation for the comedy “Call Your Mother” was previously announced. The network also passed on pickups for four pilots, the drama “Acts of Crime” from Sam Esmail and comedies “Adopted,” “Black Don’t Crack” and “Bucktown.” All for

ABC has given out series orders to the reboot of “The Wonder Years,” drama series “Queens,” and comedies “Maggie” and “Abbott Elementary.” The new version of “The Wonder Years” is a coming of age story set in the late 1960’s that takes a nostalgic look at a black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama through the

A whopping amount of money that has been held in trust for potential payout to former CBS chief Leslie Moonves is going back to the company. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed Friday, ViacomCBS said that $120 million that has been held in trust for Moonves since he departed under

“Schitt’s Creek” director Jerry Ciccoritti has signed on to direct and produce a TV adaptation of “The Psychology of Stupidity” by Jean-Francois Marmion. Scott Steindorff and Dylan Russell’s Stone Village Television, the producers behind NBC series “Las Vegas” and the Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning HBO miniseries “Empire Falls,” are teaming up with Herbert Kloiber’s

A “Bridgerton” spinoff about a young Queen Charlotte has been ordered to series at Netflix. Along with delving into the origin story of Queen Charlotte, the limited series will also follow young Violet Bridgerton and Lady Danbury. Shonda Rhimes is set to write and executive produce, with Betsy Beers and Tom Verica also executive producing.

Comedies “The Goldbergs,” “The Conners,” and “Home Economics” and dramas “The Rookie” and “A Million Little Things” have all been renewed at ABC. “The Goldbergs” has been renewed for Season 9. The series stars Jeff Garlin, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Sean Giambrone, Troy Gentile, Hayley Orrantia, Sam Lerner and Patton Oswalt (as the narrator). Fellow star George

NBC is counting on the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to make the reforms necessary to allow the network to resume carrying the Golden Globe Awards. Frances Berwick, NBCUniversal’s chairman of entertainment networks, told reporters Friday that the company believes the Globes will eventually return to NBC’s air. On Monday, NBCU took the extraordinary step of

In decades past, the networks’ sports departments were usually given just a sliver of the overall time in any upfront presentation. In 2021, Fox Sports is stepping out on its own. The Fox Corp. unit on Friday put on a separate presentation to advertisers, rather than just having Joe Buck take up a few seconds

Elliot Stabler’s return to New York paid off: “Law & Order: Organized Crime” has been picked up by NBC for a second season. In addition, Dick Wolf fans will be treated to a triple-header on Thursdays after Wednesday night’s “Chicago” lineup — newcomer to the franchise “Law & Order: For the Defense” kicks off at

NBC unveiled a 2021-2022 fall season lineup that will feature a stack of “Law & Order” series on Thursdays — giving producer Dick Wolf two full nights of shows on the schedule — as the network courts audiences with dependable procedurals and nary a comedy until mid-season. Thursday nights this fall mark a real turn

It’s a truism that coming of age as a young queer person is a challenge in part because one’s own cultural heritage is not, in the mainstream, commonly taught. The AIDS epidemic wiped out so much life, so much culture, and so many potential guides; before that, the private lives of queer people looked unintelligible

Barcelona-based mini-studio Filmax is bringing onto the market “The Roar of the Butterflies,” an ambitious period drama made with Pablo Bossi’s Gloriamundi and Disney Plus in Latin America. Focusing on the extreme courage of two women who stood up to one of the bloodiest dictators in Latin American history, the drama series is being brought

APA has promoted senior vice president of talent Sheva Cohen, vice president of scripted literary Jack Leighton, and senior vice president of physical production Julian Savodivker to partner. “It is with great pride that we promote Sheva Cohen, Jack Leighton and Julian Savodivker to partner,” said APA CEO Jim Gosnell and APA president Jim Osborne

U.S. investment firm Narrative Capital has acquired Sony Pictures Television’s entire U.K. channels portfolio in a major deal, Variety can reveal. The pact covers Sony’s seven free-to-air channels, including Sony Movies, Sony Movies Action, Sony Movies Classic, Sony Channel, POP, Tiny POP and POP Max, as well as the brands’ various digital assets. The Sony-labeled

ViacomCBS-backed U.K. broadcaster Channel 5 has revealed a trailer for its much anticipated series “Anne Boleyn,” starring “Queen & Slim” actor Jodie Turner-Smith. The trailer begins with Turner-Smith, as Tudor queen Anne Boleyn, pleading not guilty to charges of treason. It proceeds to rack up the emotional tension with a childbirth sequence and then asks

Halston, the mononymous designer whose peak fame dovetailed with the celebrity whirl of Studio 54-era New York, rose thanks to his originality and coasted thanks to his willingness to be duplicated. In the new Netflix limited series, also called “Halston,” we see, at first, Ewan McGregor’s gleeful realization at just how much money he can

The ABC single-camera comedy pilot “Adopted” is no longer moving forward at the broadcaster, Variety has learned. The project was a holdover from the 2020 pilot season that was delayed due to the pandemic. It hailed from the team of Shawn Vance, Daril Fannin, and Jimmy Kimmel. In the show, when a Green Beret (Vance) returns

Bill Maher has tested positive for COVID-19, forcing HBO to scrap Friday’s scheduled taping of this week’s episode. In a statement, HBO said Maher is “fully vaccinated” and “feels fine.” Friday’s guests were to have included astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and “Hardcore History” podcast host Dan Carlin. “Bill tested positive during weekly staff PCR testing

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its mask guidance Thursday, allowing Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to resume pre-pandemic indoor and outdoor activities without wearing a mask or socially distancing. That could possibly lead Disneyland and Walt Disney World to drop their current requirement that all visitors wear face coverings while

The CW is aiming to go where few broadcasters dare travel these days: Saturday nights. The netlet plans to add a two-hour Saturday primetime block to its schedule this fall, programming a full seven nights a week for the first time in its 15-year history. The CW chairman/CEO Mark Pedowitz announced the expansion on Thursday.

Cristin Milioti knows there’s a weird coincidental feel that her 2020 film “Palm Springs” and her 2021 series “Made For Love” both felt very timely as bookends to the pandemic. “Palm Springs” was about living the same day over and over again — something that felt very familiar during quarantine times — while “Made for

Disney is in discussions with the NFL about possibly picking up the “Sunday Ticket” franchise that has been a pillar of DirecTV for years. Disney CEO Bob Chapek said during the company’s quarterly earnings call Thursday that the company is “in conversations” with the NFL about picking up the service that offers NFL super-fans the

When Michael Sam came out as gay in 2014, becoming the first-ever openly gay football player to be drafted by an NFL team, Colton Underwood finally saw an opportunity to be his true self. The future star of “The Bachelor” had been hiding his sexuality — from his family, his friends and himself — for

The jets kept firing for Disney Plus, which reached 103.6 million subscribers worldwide as of April 3, the company reported — although the growth was not as torrid as Wall Street hoped. The Mouse House’s flagship streaming service packed on 8.7 million global customers in the most recent quarter (up from 94.9 million at the

Jason Schwartzman, Eric Roberts and Eric Andre are joining the cast of Danny McBride’s “The Righteous Gemstones,” the HBO comedy centered on a famous televangelist family with a penchant for greed. The nine-episode Season 2, which is currently in production, will see Schwartzman in the recurring role of Thaniel, a journalist working on a story

Charlotte Brändström has signed on to direct two episodes of Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings” TV series, joining an impressive international creative team that includes Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona (“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”) and British Chinese director Wayne Che Yip. “I’m very excited to be guided through Middle-earth by J.D.’s and Patrick’s vision and

Jackée Harry and George Wallace have joined the cast of the Freeform comedy pilot “Everything’s Trash” in recurring roles, Variety has learned exclusively. The iconic pair join previously announced series star Phoebe Robinson in the half-hour pilot. It follows Phoebe, a 30-something podcast star navigating her messy life. When her younger brother Jayden emerges as

Five unscripted shows are coming back for another season at ABC, including newcomers “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” and “Supermarket Sweep.” “Supermarket Sweep” the celeb-heavy “Wheel” will each return for a Season 2 in 2021-2022, though both are versions of previously well-known formats. The former, hosted by Leslie Jones, is a revival of the original series

ABC News will expand its recent “Soul of a Nation” series with two primetime specials designed to commemorate the first anniversary of George Floyd’s death and Juneteenth. “After Floyd: The Year that Shook the World – A Soul of a Nation Special,” will air Tuesday, May 25 from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., and will

All eyes will be on the Canadian TV industry over the next month as major players such as public broadcaster CBC, Bell Media, Rogers and Corus unveil their 2021-22 upfront plans. But this year, in the wake of heavy hitters like “Schitt’s Creek” and “Kim’s Convenience” coming to an end, the pressure for networks to