“My favorite thing to do is to build a world, musically,” says composer Joseph Trapanese, who got to do just that for “Shadow and Bone,” the eight-part fantasy series that drops April 23 on Netflix. Based on novels by Leigh Bardugo, the show combines elements of magic, horror, war, crime and romance in a setting
Television
An “Oz” reunion and panels for Amazon Prime Video’s “Small Axe,” as well as Showtime’s variety sketch show “Ziwe” are some of the first programs being scheduled at the 2021 ATX Television Festival, Variety has learned exclusively. Additional panels include a “Faking It” reunion, a look at Fox’s new animated comedy “Housebroken,” the independent short-form
AMC announced that the first two episodes of the upcoming dark comedy “Kevin Can F**k Himself” will premiere on AMC Plus on June 13 and air on June 20 at 9 p.m. on AMC. The remaining episodes will continue to debut on AMC Plus one week ahead of the AMC linear airings on Sundays at
The “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series at Disney Plus has cast Maya Erskine, Variety has confirmed. Details on Erskine’s role are being kept under wraps. She joins previously announced series lead Ewan McGregor as well as Moses Ingram, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell and Benny Safdie.
HBO Max is going behind the counter of some of America’s more than 45,000 Asian restaurants. The streaming platform is ordering “Take Out,” a six-part docuseries that chronicles the cultural contributions and unique lives of the people and families behind America’s Asian food joints from award-winning journalist Lisa Ling. The CNN host will be executive
UPDATED: HBO Max continued on its growth curve in the first quarter of 2021, powered in part by big-budget films like “Godzilla vs. Kong” and “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” that streamed onto the service during the quarter. HBO Max gained about 3 million total subscribers sequentially, AT&T said — a number the company should be
Gaumont U.K. has swooped on rights for Greg Buchanan’s debut literary thriller “Sixteen Horses” after a bidding war, and will develop the novel as a drama series. The studio pursued the book for two years after being snared by the first chapter in 2018. “Sixteen Horses” is published by Mantle Books/Pan Macmillan and set for
Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg is getting the deepfake treatment from U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 to commemorate Earth Day (April 22). On Thursday, Channel 4 is releasing a TikTok parody, which appears to star Thunberg. Performed by impressionist Katia Kvinge and written by Stu Richards and Alasdair Beckett-King, the deepfake Thunberg dances to an original
The most memorable moment of “Rutherford Falls” — featuring two characters sitting opposite each other and just talking with startling honesty — deviates sharply from the show’s established norm. Otherwise, the new comedy from Ed Helms, Sierra Teller Ornelas and uber-producer Michael Schur focuses on hapless heir Nathan Rutherford (Helms) trying to preserve his family
It’s happening. Following an uproarious social media push to have “Reading Rainbow” and “Star Trek” star LeVar Burton take the hosting podium on “Jeopardy!”, the actor has been announced as part of the final group of guest hosts who will round out the show’s 37th season in the wake of the death of beloved “Jeopardy!”
Netflix has renewed its game show “Floor Is Lava” for a second season, Variety has learned exclusively. Rutledge Wood will be returning to host the show, a play on a childhood game that features a team of contestants leaping over obstacles and trying to avoid falling into the “lava” as they try to get to
An approximate combined total of 18.38 million viewers across six networks — CNN, ABC, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS and HLN — watched on Tuesday as the verdict was announced in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Per Nielsen’s Live + Same Day fast national time period data, which does not include out-of-home
Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead and the whole Archie Comics gang are making a return to “Robot Chicken,” and Variety has obtained an exclusive first look at the new special. Premiering May 23 on Adult Swim, “The Bleepin’ Robot Chicken Archie Comics Special” will feature a reunion of “Josie and the Pussycats” film stars Rachel Leigh
HBO has acquired “Generation Por Qué?,” a comedic Cuban American short inspired by and starring writer and producer Jacqueline “Jackie” Pereda. The coming-of-age story follows Jackie Pérez, a first-generation woman pursuing her acting dreams in New York City while enduring her very Cuban (and conservative) New Jersey-based parents. She can chase her dreams along with
The much-delayed third season of Netflix’s “Master of None” is coming next month, according to a tweet from the @NetflixQueue account. Here’s just a taste of what’s coming to Netflix (in The US) this May! pic.twitter.com/adTg3mwxEd — Netflix Queue (@netflixqueue) April 21, 2021 “Master of None,” created by Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, has had
Newsrooms have been dominating the news lately. Just last week alone, both ABC News and CBS News named new leaders and Reuters News Service tapped a new editor-in-chief. Earlier this year, MSNBC installed a new president to succeed veteran Phil Griffin, who had worked at the network since its launch in 1996. The recent changes
OWN announced that “David Makes Man” is returning for Season 2 on June 22. The new 10-episode season finds David, played by Kwame Patterson, faced with a decision that will change him and his community forever. The series began filming again in October 2020 in Orlando, Fla. This announcement comes with a slew of new
When Sierra Teller Ornelas was in pre-production on her new Peacock comedy “Rutherford Falls,” she found inspiration in a quote she read from showrunner Prentice Penny describing his movie “Uncorked” as “This is Black people on a Tuesday.” The film, which follows a young man on his quest to become a master sommelier, did not
Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety“… Chanel may not be throwing its annual pre-Oscar dinner with Charles Finch this week, but that doesn’t mean the legendary French fashion house won’t be celebrating the Academy Awards. I can exclusively reveal that about 150 VIPs will not only receive a Chanel gift box on April 24
The upcoming “Fantasy Island” reboot at Fox has added its first two cast members, Variety has learned. Kiara Barnes and John Gabriel Rodriquez will both star in the series, which was ordered straight-to-series at Fox back in December. The new series is described as a modern semi-anthology series that delves into the “what if” questions, both
Actor and author Dondré Whitfield has been named a special contributor for Meredith’s “People (The TV Show!)” based in L.A. Whitfield joins the half-hour daily entertainment and lifestyle TV show alongside special contributors Nancy O’Dell (Los Angeles), Gretchen Carlson (New York) and Julie Moran (Atlanta). “People (the TV Show!)” is hosted by Kay Adams, and
Dorinda Medley wants you to sweat for a good cause. The former “Real Housewives of New York” star and professional aerobics instructor is teaching an ’80s-themed aerobics — or Dorobics, as she likes to call it — class on Moxie April 23. All proceeds benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities. To get ready for the workout,
Normally, for an interview like the one Variety did on Tuesday with Oscars musical director Questlove and show producer Jesse Collins, the reporter can ask at least somewhat informed questions. But so little about the show has been revealed in advance that the interview ended up being almost an investigative piece — and a fascinating
Chinese multi-hyphenate Yi Zhou has partnered with Los Angeles-based Buffalo 8 Productions on judicial inferno TV series “Kompromat,” based on the Giorgi Rtskhiladze memoir “Kompromat: My Story From Trump to Mueller and USSR to USA.” The limited series, on which producer-director-writer Yi Zhou (pictured) will serve as executive producer via her Sun Entertainment banner, is
Roku is officially dropping the Quibi name. Roku announced that the content from its January acquisition of Quibi — the short-lived, short-form mobile entertainment startup founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg — will be rebranded as “Roku Originals.” The 75-plus original shows from Quibi will be available to watch for free on the ad-supported Roku Channel starting
Discovery Inc. is planning to ramp up its local production in New Zealand and Australia, with a view to serving both markets and the world. Speaking at the Asia Pacific-focused APOS virtual conference on Wednesday, Glen Kyne, GM, New Zealand and Australia at Discovery, said: “The really big ambition, frankly, is we’ve got high hopes
Maximo Ibarra and Nicola Maccanico, respectively managing director and programming chief at Comcast-owned Sky Italia, are exiting the pay-TV operation following its failure to secure a rights deal for Italy’s Serie A soccer league. Ibarra, a Colombian-Italian executive with extensive telecoms experience, had been leading Sky Italia since October 2019. His expertise in that sector
Adapting a beloved book is one of the trickiest high wire acts there is in television. Change too much and risk the wrath of a passionate fanbase; change too little and risk losing the magic in replicated story beats that make more sense on the page than the screen. Despite their constant overlap, television and
During Stephen Colbert’s opening monologue for Tuesday night’s “Late Show,” the host delivered a statement reflecting on former police officer Derek Chauvin’s three-count conviction in the murder of George Floyd. “Just before the taping of our show today, the verdict was announced in the trial of Derek Chauvin. He was found guilty on all three
Before the verdict in the killing of George Floyd came in, Jake Tapper of CNN suggested that a guilty finding would potentially unite the nation. After cop Derek Chauvin was indeed found guilty on all three charges he faced, Fox News suggested that there had been no division in the first place. “This didn’t divide