Television

Half a decade ago just after Nasim Pedrad left the “Saturday Night Live” ensemble, she came up with the idea for “Chad,” a sitcom centering on an awkward teenage boy who just desperately wants to fit in. After first being developed for broadcast television, “Chad” found a home at WarnerMedia cabler TBS and is finally

ABC announced that the final episode of “The Goldbergs” with George Segal, who played Albert “Pops” Solomon, will air on April 7 at 8 p.m. The episode, titled “Couple Off,” will be followed by a 45-second tribute to Segal. Segal died last month from complications during surgery. He was 87. Written by Annie Mebane and

After a delayed start due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the hotly anticipated “Friends” reunion is finally set to film next week — the week of April 5 — a source tells Variety. Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry will reunite on a Warner Bros. soundstage for the HBO

Since “Balaoo the Demon Baboon” first appeared on film in 1913 to “King Kong” and beyond, anthropomorphised primates have been glorified in countless films and television shows. But what filmmakers, producers and audiences may not realize is that for animal “actors,” Hollywood is anything but glamorous. In fact, landing a leading role for a primate

On Friday morning, Jen Shah from Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” was arraigned in federal court, and pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges for which she was arrested earlier this week. The arraignment, which had been rescheduled from Wednesday after massive technical difficulties thwarted the hearing, took place before United States District

The return of Elliot Stabler to New York was good for NBC on Thursday. The 10 p.m. debut of “Law & Order: Organized Crime” delivered a 1.5 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic and an average of 7.6 million viewers in Nielsen’s live same-day preliminary ratings. The series marks the return of Christopher Meloni to

“Bridgerton” fans, the time has come to bid adieu to Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings. Netflix and Shondaland announced on Friday that star Regé-Jean Page’s character will not appear on the show’s upcoming second season, revealing the news via a notice from Lady Whistledown. “Dear Readers, while all eyes turn to Lord Anthony Bridgerton’s

Earlier this season, one of the most venerable franchises on TV was forced to confront itself. Returning for its 22nd season, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” stepped tentatively into a new world. The death of George Floyd had catalyzed a movement against the sorts of people Dick Wolf’s series had positioned as heroes, or

Students from Los Angeles-based Exceptional Minds school have helped dubbed the Israeli comedy series “On the Spectrum.” The series, released to coincide with Autism Awareness Day, is now available to stream on HBO Max with the remaining five episodes available beginning April 9. The series follows three roommates who are all in their mid-20 and

Don Farmer, a TV news veteran who was one of CNN’s original anchors, died Wednesday in Naples, Fla., after battling a rare neurological disease known as PSP. Farmer and his wife, fellow broadcast journalist Chris Curle, were among the first anchors hired in 1980 when Ted Turner launched CNN. Among Farmer’s early assignments was a

Fox has canceled “Bless the Harts,” the animated comedy series from creator Emily Spivey starring Kristin Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Jillian Bell, Ike Barinholtz, and Kumail Nanjiani. The show premiered in the fall 2019-2020 television lineup. The half-hour series, which is currently in its second season, revolves around a perpetually broke North Carolina family described as

In Marvel Studios’ “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” Amy Aquino plays Dr. Christina Raynor, a no-nonsense military therapist tasked with the unenviable job of rehabilitating Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) from spending roughly 70 years as the Winter Soldier, a brainwashed assassin for Hydra. In Episode 2 of the show, Dr. Raynor even intervenes in the

General Motors, one of the nation’s biggest advertisers, said Thursday it would quadruple the percentage of its advertising dollars that go to Black-owned media outlets between now and 2025. GM’s new effort is a sign of the scrutiny and pressure that corporate giants are facing to spread their corporate spending around a wider array of

Bold and vibrant. Glitz and glamour. Spectacular locations. Those words have become synonymous with the world of Ryan Murphy. The stories might be vastly different, but audiences across the worlds of TV and film know a Ryan Murphy set when they see one. The Art Directors Guild honors the showrunner with its Cinematic Imagery Award

MTV Entertainment Group (MTVE) announced the launch of a new multi-year initiative, “Mental Health is Health,” to tackle the nation’s growing mental health crisis. The campaign will use the power of storytelling to de-stigmatize mental health and drive behavioral and cultural change. MTVE commits to doubling the number of mental health storylines across its portfolio

“The Powerpuff Girls” live-action pilot at The CW has found its Mojo Jojo. Nicholas Podany has joined the pilot in the role of Joseph “Jojo” Mondel Jr. As a kid, the nerdy, power-hungry, insecure JoJo was obsessed with The Powerpuff Girls, despite his father’s grudge against them. As an adult, JoJo finds his sweetness and

The “Station Eleven” series currently in the works at HBO Max is rounding out its cast. Lori Petty and Daniel Zovatto have been cast as series regulars, while Andy McQueen, David Cross, Enrico Colantoni And Julian Obradors will recur. They join previously announced cast members including Mackenzie Davis, Himesh Patel, David Wilmot, Nabhaan Rizwan, and

A docuseries based on “The 1619 Project” from New York Times Magazine’s and Nikole Hannah-Jones has been ordered at Hulu. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams will produce and oversee the series under his One Story Up production banner with producing partner and co-executive producer Geoff Martz. Williams will also direct the first episode. Emmy-nominated

Longtime 20th exec Chet Dave has been tapped to lead the studio’s comedy division as senior vice president of comedy development, where he and his team will be tasked with shaping 20th’s comedy development strategy, identifying writers and guiding projects from pitch to series order. He replaces head of comedy Cheryl Dolins, who departed in

Michelle Obama and Lin-Manuel Miranda are set to appear on NBC’s “Roll Up Your Sleeves” vaccination special, which will air April 18 at 7 p.m. The special is designed to educate audiences on the importance of getting vaccinated and will also feature Matthew McConaughey interviewing Dr. Anthony Fauci, comedy acts, real-life stories and heartwarming surprises.

Dan Stevens has been cast in the Starz series “Gaslit,” which will tell the story of the Watergate scandal, Variety has learned from sources. Stevens joins previously announced cast members Julia Roberts and Sean Penn. Roberts will star as Martha Mitchell, the protagonist and the celebrity Arkansan socialite who was one of the first to publicly

WarnerMedia has named Asif Sadiq to the newly created role of senior vice president, equity and inclusion, international. Sadiq will be based in London, working to implement a comprehensive strategy to address all aspects of diversity across WarnerMedia’s workforce, programs, content, suppliers and community alongside the rest of the equity and inclusion team. “Asif’s proven

“Moonlight” writer-director Barry Jenkins and his partners in Pastel have set up shop with HBO and HBO Max under a first-look deal that calls for A24 to executive produce all projects with the Pastel trio. Jenkins and Pastel partners Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak had previously been under a first-look pact at Amazon Studios. The

Anchor Bret Baier has renewed his contract with Fox News Channel, extending a pact that was last negotiated in 2019. The deal will keep Baier at the network through 2025 and will maintain his roles as anchor and executive editor of the Fox Corp. network’s “Special Report” and as the outlet’s chief political anchor. The

When Trishelle Cannatella quit “The Challenge” in 2013, she thought it would be her last time appearing on the MTV show. She had badly cut her foot on broken glass her first night in the house — the result of her housemates’ sloppy partying — and it became infected. After 10 days of not drinking while on antibiotics, Cannatella got wasted, and had a screaming fight with Aneesa Ferreira, who’d been told that Cannatella had made remarks behind her back about Ferreira being multiracial, in

ViacomCBS has taken a stance in opposition to the Georgia voting rights law that restricts voting access, making it the first major entertainment media corporation to do so and part of a group of vocal big businesses that include Delta and Coca-Cola. “We unequivocally believe in the importance of all Americans having an equal right

The U.S. Supreme Court has paved the way for the FCC to relax some of its media ownership rules, reversing a lower court ruling that the commission did not take sufficient steps to study the effect of changes on women and minority owners. The nation’s high court unanimously agreed to reverse the 2017 decision by

“Coming 2 America,” the long-awaited sequel to Eddie Murphy’s 1988 “Coming to America,” was the most-streamed title in the U.S. the week of its premiere, according to new Nielsen data. The movie, released March 4 on Amazon Prime Video, drew 1.413 billion minutes of total viewing for the week of March 1-7 among U.S. viewers,

Following on “Medici: Masters of Florence,” with Dustin Hoffman and Richard Madden, and “Leonardo,” starring Aidan Turner, Italy’s Lux Vide is teaming with ex-Hasbro chief content officer Stephen J. Davis (“Transformers”) to produce what may be its most ambitious production yet: “The Rising.” The English-language historical drama series focuses on what it described as the

Julian Hector, head of the Natural History Unit at BBC Studios Productions, will step down at the end of the year after five years leading the unit, and almost three decades at the BBC. Since taking over from Wendy Darke in 2016, Hector has overseen a stellar period in the Bristol, England-based production house’s 64-year