Television

America’s most notorious (and beloved) outlaw and gunfighter is getting the silver screen treatment. Premium cabler and MGM subsidiary Epix has greenlit a “Billy the Kid” drama, written and executive produced by “Elizabeth,” “The Tudors” and “Vikings” scribe Michael Hirst. The hourlong eight-parter starts production this June in Calgary, with a series premiere slated for

“Big Sky” has been renewed for Season 2 at ABC. In addition, series executive producer Elwood Reid will take over as showrunner for Season 2. His past credits include “The Chi,” “The Bridge,” “Hawaii Five-O,” and “Barkskins.” He takes over running the show from series creator and executive producer David E. Kelley. Season 1 is

The latest comedian to launch a variety series is Sam Jay, whose forthcoming “Pause With Sam Jay” will premiere May 21 at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max, Variety has learned exclusively. The half-hour series, which comes from Jay and showrunner Prentice Penny, features various segments, from an apartment-set party hosted by Jay, to

YouTube has again turned to big-name entertainment personalities to anchor its latest slate of ad-supported originals. At its Brandcast Delivered event for advertisers Tuesday, YouTube announced an unscripted series with Will Smith following his latest fitness journey and a new docuseries with Alicia Keys premiering this summer. The video giant also announced the third and

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Selena: The Series Part 2,” streaming now on Netflix. As the 18-episode saga of singer-songwriter Selena Quintanilla’s (played by Christian Serratos) rise to stardom came to a close, it had to do so with her untimely death at the hands of her former fan

“I May Destroy You,” “Small Axe,” “Ted Lasso,” “The Good Lord Bird” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” are among this year’s entertainment nominees for the Peabody Awards. The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors on Tuesday announced this year’s nominees for entertainment, documentaries, news, podcast/radio, children’s & youth, public service and arts. A total

Sinclair Broadcast Group said Tuesday it intends to start selling its linear and digital ad inventory based on a “common impression-based currency,” joining the ranks of other local-station owners moving to change the nature of their transactions with Madison Avenue as technology spurs new ways consumers watch their video favorites. Sinclair, which owns and/or operates

Conan O’Brien has an official moving-out date at TBS: His long-running late-night show “Conan” will officially end on June 24. “Conan” will mark the end of its 11-year run with final weeks of shows that will include special guests, leading up to an hour-long finale. As announced last year as part of a new deal

Discovery Plus is venturing into scripted development, with the streamer acquiring the TV rights to the book “Girls with Bright Futures” by Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman, Variety has learned exclusively. The move to develop the series, which is in the very early stages, is significant given that Discovery Plus is largely made up of

Billie Hayes, the actor who portrayed Witchiepoo on NBC’s “H.R. Pufnstuf,” has died. She was 96. Hayes’ death was announced on her official website. Hayes is best known for her portrayal of the comical witch Witchiepoo on Sid and Marty Krofft’s show “H.R. Pufnstuf” from 1969 to 1970. From there, Hayes reappeared as Witchiepoo on

You’re not the only one surprised by the sudden announcement of the new “The Simpsons” short “Maggie Simpson in ‘The Force Awakens From Its Nap.’” For executive producer Al Jean and the team behind the long-running animated series, they’re still marveling at how quickly they turned it around. “The Force Awakens From Its Nap,” which

Court is back in session at NBC. The network has formally given a pilot order to a spinoff of “Night Court” led by original series star John Larroquette and “The Big Bang Theory’s” Melissa Rauch. The pilot, produced by Warner Bros. Television and Universal Television, was penned by “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” production alum Dan Rubin,

Exclusive: NATAS Boss on What This Year’s Daytime Emmys Will Look Like, and Plans to Return to an In-Person Event in 2022 After ten years off broadcast TV, the Daytime Emmys returned to CBS last year — and clearly it worked out. The National Academy of TV Arts and Sciences recently sealed a two-year deal

Elizabeth Olsen is set to star in a new HBO Max limited series that boasts an all-star lineup behind the camera as well. Olsen will star in “Love and Death,” which hails from writer and executive producer David E. Kelley. Nicole Kidman will also executive produce, with Lesli Linka Glatter onboard to direct. The series

Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset, Italy’s largest commercial broadcaster, and Vivendi, the parent company of Universal Music Group and Canal Plus Group, have reached an agreement to settle their legal spat over their failed pay-TV deal. Both companies, along with Fininvest, Berlusconi’s holding company, have agreed to waive all ongoing disputes between them. Under the pact, Vivendi

“Mayans MC” has been renewed for Season 4 at FX. The news comes ahead of the Season 3 finale, which is set to air on May 11. Season 4 of the outlaw biker drama, which was co-created by Elgin James and “Sons of Anarchy” creator Kurt Sutter, is set to air in 2022. “Elgin James,

Jessica Williams and Chris “Comedian CP” Powell have joined “Love Life” Season 2 at HBO Max. The pair joins William Jackson Harper, who will star in Season 2 of the anthology series. In addition, Rachelle Williams has come onboard as executive producer and co-showrunner alongside Sam Boyd and Bridget Bedard, while Janet Hubert, Jordan Rock

IMDb TV, Amazon’s free-streaming video service, has ratcheted up its spending on original content — and more broadly, the e-commerce giant is trying to make the case to Madison Avenue that it has amassed a huge audience for ad-supported video content. At Amazon’s first NewFronts presentation for advertisers Monday, IMDb TV announced unscripted series with

You don’t have to be perpetually “live, from New York” to flourish these days at “Saturday Night Live.” In years past, the show’s cast members focused their all on the venerable late-night program and, when outside opportunity knocked or contracts ran out or media economics forced a tightening of the group, they left. This season

“Succession” Season 3 at HBO has added Alexander Skarsgård to its cast. Skarsgård will play Lukas Matsson in the third season of the critically-acclaimed series, who is described as a successful, confrontational tech founder and CEO. He joins a cast that currently includes Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook, Hiam Abbass, Nicholas Braun,

The “Law & Order” franchise is expanding again at NBC, with the network giving out a straight-to-series order for “Law & Order: For the Defense,” Variety has learned. “For the Defense” will take a look inside a criminal defense firm. The series will put the lawyers under the microscope, along with the criminal justice system with

“Kung Fu” has been renewed for Season 2 and “Stargirl” has been renewed for Season 3 at The CW. “We are beyond proud to continue to share the stories of Nicky Shen and Courtney Whitmore, two strong, powerful young women at the center of this new generation of hit shows for The CW in ‘Kung

Amazon will gain new rights to “” one year earlier than expected, giving the digital giant exclusive access to the NFL property in 2022, instead of in 2023. “This expedited deal is an immediate differentiator for us as a service, as it gives Prime members exclusive access to the most popular sport in the United

Variety is pleased to announce programming for its second annual TV Fest on June 8-10. Keynote conversations include a “New Girl” 10th Anniversary reunion, a conversation with Netflix’s Global Head of TV Bela Bajaria, plus Queen Latifah and producer Debra Martin Chase. “New Girl” creator Elizabeth Meriwether and stars Zooey Deschanel, Max Greenfield, Jake Johnson,

Walter Cronkite held forth from New York and Washington for CBS News. His heirs at a new ViacomCBS unit will do the same, while also monitoring Sacramento, Minneapolis and Dallas. The two executives named to head a newly fashioned division that combines the CBS local stations with CBS News and the team that manages the

How do you get Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to sign on as campaign chairs of Global Citizen’s Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World? Just ask. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex immediately jumped on board when they were approached by Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans. “We said we need champion of this

TBS announced that “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” will be releasing a comedy special about gun reform called “Full Frontal Wants To Take Your Guns,” which will air on May 12 at 10:30 p.m. The special will “explore how appalling and frankly stupid it is that we as Americans are told there’s simply nothing we

Warren Buffett gushed over the management and leadership skills of Apple CEO Tim Cook on Saturday as the renowned investor presided over Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders meeting. Buffett compared Cook to legendary Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, noting that while Jobs was a tech and business visionary, Cook has had a huge impact on the company’s

A report has been filed with London’s Met Police relating to sexual misconduct allegations against British actor Noel Clarke. Met Police confirmed that they received a third party report on April 21 relating to allegations of sexual offenses by a man. Police are assessing the information, but an investigation is not currently underway. A statement

Nathan Jung, the actor who appeared in “Star Trek: The Original Series,” “The A-Team” and “Kung Fu,” has died. He was 74. Jung died on April 24, his close friend and attorney, Timothy Tau, confirmed to Variety. The cause of death has not been disclosed. Jung kicked off his acting career in 1969 with his