Television

Mehdi Hasan, the political analyst who has demonstrated a knack for producing viral discussions, will bring his savvy conversational skills to MSNBC, in the first programming change at the NBCUniversal outlet since Rashida Jones took oversight earlier this month. Hasan has been hosting a lively program for NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming-video service, and the intensity of

The Paley Center for Media has launched a new paid internship program named in honor of longtime television-studio chief Peter Roth. The new program has been endowed through grants from Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Alliance, the Berlanti Family Foundation, the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation, and the Katie McGrath & J.J. Abrams Family Foundation. The Peter Roth

“A Tiny Audience” is set to return for Season two on March 19. The hit music series will air on HBO Latino at 9 p.m. and be available to stream on HBO Max. The episodes feature chart-topping Latin artists who perform and give new insight to one of their biggest songs. Each artist will showcase

Lisa Opie, managing director of U.K. production at BBC Studios, is departing after eight years with the company. The executive will leave in the coming months. She reported to BBC Studios director of content Ralph Lee and will help him find a replacement. Opie was responsible for delivering BBC Studios Productions’ business plan, defining and

A live-action “G.I. Joe” TV series is in the works at Amazon, Variety has confirmed. The series will be a standalone story centered around “G.I. Joe” undercover operative, Lady Jaye, with the series also connecting to the larger “G.I. Joe” universe. The series hails from Paramount Television Studios, eOne, and Skydance Television. Erik Oleson created the

Television commercials have long been one of the media industry’s surest bets — so much so that advertisers around the world dumped a whopping $149 billion on them in 2020, according to estimates from Magna, the large media-buying firm. But Pepsi recently decided to take a gamble on something else. On Valentine’s Day, the soda

Gearing up for its final-phase filming on locations in northern Spain and North America, Movistar Plus-AMC’s high-end original “La Fortuna,” starring Oscar nominee Stanley Tucci (“The Lovely Bones,” “Hunger Games”) and Clarke Peters (“The Wire”), has shared a behind-the-scenes featurette with Variety. The on-set first-look comes as Germany’s Beta Film has acquired international rights to “La

Sky has unveiled the first look at Kenneth Branagh playing U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the forthcoming drama “This Sceptred Isle.” The British “Tenet” star, whose casting was first announced in January, is virtually unrecognizable as the 56-year-old Johnson. Produced by Fremantle, Richard Brown’s Passenger and Winterbottom’s Revolution Films, the Michael Winterbottom-directed show is

“Sister, Sister,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,’ “Living Single,” “Good Times”: Black comedians have been on television screens for decades, making audiences laugh while simultaneously promoting educational explorations into Black life and culture. But, striking a balance between being insightful and hilarious is a responsibility that weighs on Black creatives. “That’s one thing about being

ViacomCBS is going big in the streaming wars with a broadcast TV-inspired big tent strategy that will be anchored by legacy cable channel and programming brands. On paper, the blueprint unveiled today during the company’s investor presentation for the March 4 Paramount Plus debut doesn’t sound like a path for success in today’s hyperactive media

The Jordan Peele reboot of “The Twilight Zone” will not be returning following its two-season run. “Jordan Peele, Simon Kinberg and the entire production team truly reimagined ‘The Twilight Zone’ for the modern age,” said Julie McNamara, Paramount Plus programming chief. “They upheld the classic series’ legacy of socially conscious storytelling and pushed today’s viewers

The Walt Disney Co. streaming service Disney Plus on Wednesday expressed support for civil rights organizations advocating for Asian Americans amid a wave of violence against people in the AAPI community. In a statement posted on Twitter, Disney shouted out the organizations Asian Americans Advancing Justice and Stop AAPI Hate. “The celebration of the Lunar

Prepare yourselves for the return of Tommy Pickles, Chuckie Finster, Angelica Pickles, Susie Carmichael and Phil and Lil DeVille. An all-new “Rugrats” CG-animated series is slated to premiere on streaming service Paramount Plus (née CBS All Access) in 2021, announced Nickelodeon at ViacomCBS’ investor day. Set to reprise their roles are stars E.G. Daily (Tommy),

In today’s TV news roundup, The CW announced premiere dates for new and returning series, including “Kung Fu” and “The Republic of Sarah,” and the 2021 Writers Guild Awards will be hosted by Kal Penn. RENEWALS CNN has picked up a second season of “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy,” an original series featuring the actor’s

“Ray Donovan” is getting a feature length film continuation at Showtime. Following the show’s surprising cancellation after seven seasons last year, star Liev Schreiber will return in the title role, with series stars Jon Voight and Kerris Dorsey also returning. Schreiber is co-writing the script with series showrunner David Hollander, with Hollander also directing. Hollander

“Avatar: The Last Airbender” fans had their dreams of more content based on the beloved animated series and its sister spinoff squashed last year when the series’ creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko stepped away from a planned live-action adaptation project at Netflix last August. But today, Nickelodeon announced that the world of “Avatar” and

You wouldn’t be able to guess it while watching the visually complex and highly detailed “WandaVision,” but the Marvel Studios series on Disney Plus was cinematographer Jess Hall’s first time working on a television series. The cinematographer credits his experience with shooting Cannes Gold Lion and Silver D&AD award-winning commercials and his long-form work on

Paramount Plus will boast a slew of revivals and spinoffs of established MTV Entertainment Group comedies as part of its original programming lineup. The new service will feature iterations of of “Inside Amy Schumer,” “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah,” “Workaholics,” “Reno: 911!” and “Beavis & Butt-head.” “Inside Amy Schumer” will return with five specials

The producers of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” have been booked and busy producing a new unscripted international drag queen singing competition (that’ll reportedly blow your wig off) for ViacomCBS’ all-new SVOD rebrand Paramount Plus. “Queen of the Universe,” produced by World of Wonder, the company behind “Drag Race,” promises to be a singing competition like no

Warner Bros. Television veteran Jeff Tobler has been named chief marketing officer for ARRAY, the creative collective founded by filmmaker Ava DuVernay. In his new role, Tobler will lead all aspects of brand, marketing and communications across the four companies assembled under the ARRAY banner: ARRAY Filmworks, ARRAY Alliance, ARRAY Crew and ARRAY Releasing. Tobler

If anyone wondered what escapist entertainment might look like in a world where no one can escape, the Golden Globes comedy/musical film and television nominations for 2020 — aka The Year Formerly Known as Normal — provide a handy showcase of examples of the phenomenon. If the drama side of the Golden Globes is all

The cutting edge of production technology is getting cornered by the video game business instead of the usual Hollywood companies. North Carolina-based Epic Games, creator of the global phenomenon “Fortnite,” is making a name for itself out West by providing its Unreal Engine software to TV and film productions looking to shoot with a new

“Loki,” the next Marvel Studios project for Disney Plus, will premiere June 11 on the streamer. Additionally, Disney Plus announced the rest of its spring and early summer slate as follows: “Big Shot” will premiere April 16; “Star Wars: The Bad Batch” will launch May 4; “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” Season 2

I think it’s safe to assume that the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. is not exactly overflowing with excitement over its Golden Globes extravaganza this coming weekend. Rather, the group is scrambling to play damage control in response to a scathing exposé by the Los Angeles Times published this week. Throughout the decades, the scandal-ridden HFPA

Real estate shows play to many aspects of what an audience wants: fantasy, escapism, relatability, drama and personalities that can get welcomed into a viewer’s home on a regular basis. Such shows as Netflix’s “Selling Sunset,” “Million Dollar Beach House” and the ur-series of this nonfiction subgenre, “Million Dollar Listing L.A.” and “Million Dollar Listing

Nickelodeon has a pair of secret weapons when it comes to harvesting talent: the studio’s thriving writing and artist programs. The writing program, which began in 2000, offers training that lasts for one year and, over the past five years, boasts an 85% hire rate at Nick/Kids & Family through staff positions, freelance or development

Kaley Cuoco looks back on her 12 seasons on CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory” with pride and affection — and admiration for her former co-star Jim Parsons. “Jim was 100% the breakout, deservedly — the stuff he did on that show was an out of body experiences,” she said during an interview for a Variety cover

Sioban Sinnerton, executive producer of Oscar-nominated and BAFTA, Emmy and Cannes-winning documentary “For Sama,” has joined Hillary Clinton, Sam Branson and Chelsea Clinton’s production outfit HiddenLight Productions. Sinnerton will take on the newly created role of creative director and senior VP unscripted, and will report into CEO Johnny Webb. She joins from U.K. broadcaster Channel

Germany’s ZDF Enterprises has acquired global distribution rights to three-part period drama “Ku’damm 63,” the third instalment in one of ZDFE’s best-selling franchises, which has been licensed to more than 30 broadcasters around the globe. Produced by UFA Fiction for German public broadcaster ZDF and made up of three 90-minute episodes, the miniseries will be

Hakan Kousetta and Jamie Laurenson are departing U.K./Australia production outfit See-Saw Films to start their own TV production company 60Forty Films. Kousetta and Laurenson are Primetime Emmy winners for short form series “State of the Union.” At See-Saw, Laurenson was head of television, while Kousetta was COO, television. They will continue as executive producers on