Television

Sam’s Esmail ABC drama pilot “Acts of Crime” has found its lead. Newcomer Candace Grace has been cast in the lead role in the pilot, with Josiah Cross, Peter Mark Kendall, and Molly Price also joining in series regular roles. Little is known about the plot of the show, other than being described as a

The CW is renewing 12 of its scripted series, including an early Season 2 pick up for its freshman drama “Walker” starring Jared Padalecki. The other shows are: “All American” (renewed for Season 4), “Batwoman” (renewed for Season 3), “Charmed” (Season 4), “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” (Season 7), “Dynasty” (Season 5) “The Flash” (Season 8),

In the world of TV dealmaking, 2014 might as well be ancient history, as indicated by the saga of “The Expanse.” The fantasy drama series that drops its fifth season finale Wednesday has had an epic journey through the content pipelines at NBCUniversal’s Syfy and at Amazon. The story of how a linear-only rights deal

Denmark’s Maja Jul Larsen has bested strong opposition to take this year’s Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize for DR’s “Cry Wolf,” Larsen’s first series as a creator and lead-writer. The win, announced at a Göteborg Festival TV Drama Vision award ceremony on Tuesday, goes to one of the rising stars on Denmark’s screenwriting scene

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Sometimes the biggest surprise is that there aren’t any. When it comes to this year’s Golden Globe Awards nominees in the television categories, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association managed to get it mostly right — living up to most predictions, with just a few unexpected choices thrown in for good measure. Trying to guess this

U.K. free-to-air terrestrial broadcaster Channel 4 has won the rights to the upcoming England vs. India Test cricket series in a deal with Disney’s Star Sports. This will be the first time live Test cricket has been on free-to-air television in the U.K. since Channel 4 showed England winning against Australia in 2005. Since then,

Is peak TV really over? Last year, U.S. show releases edged down, breaking 13 years straight of continuous growth. Yet a study presented at Sweden’s Göteborg Festival on Wednesday suggested that global production, particularly of scripted, is primed for a new surge, once COVID-19 wanes. That’s driven by the extraordinary revolution in market dynamics powered

MENA streamer Starzplay Arabia has secured debt financing of $25 million from Abu Dhabi-based independent investment firm Ruya Partners. The funding will be used to reinforce Starzplay’s geographic and customer reach as well as the acquisition and production of new original content. According to the announcement, the influx of capital, building on $125 million in

Speaking to Variety from his home in London, Asa Butterfield – on a short break from filming Season 3 of “Sex Education,” before returning to South Wales, where the Netflix comedy shoots – expresses his gratitude for being able to work during the pandemic. Filming was meant to begin in spring, but – thanks to

No one said starting a revolution, even at a local level, was going to be easy. Nor did they say it would be a painless experience figuring a way to sustain it and persuading others to buy into the radical ideas it would take to fundamentally transform how the criminal justice system operates from within.

In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix announced the docuseries “Amend: The Fight for America,” and Peacock released a trailer for its continuation of the hit ’80s sitcom “Punky Brewster.” DATES Netflix announced the six-part docuseries “Amend: The Fight for America” will premiere on Feb. 17. Executive produced and hosted by Will Smith, each hour-long episode will

The next round of “Jeopardy!” guest hosts has been announced, and it includes Dr. Oz, Anderson Cooper, Savannah Guthrie and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. For each guest host’s appearance, a donation will be made to a charity of their choice equal to the cumulative winnings of the contestants on their respective episodes. “We look forward to

The 78th Annual Golden Globe Awards is going bicoastal. Hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, returning to helm the the ceremony for the first time since 2015, won’t be in the same room together: Instead, Fey will broadcast live from The Rainbow Room (at the top of Rockefeller Center) in New York City, while Poehler

Riot Games, the global game developer and publisher behind online multiplayer phenom “League of Legends,” has named Gaude Lydia Paez as senior VP, global communications and corporate affairs. With nearly two decades of leadership experience in the global media and entertainment, technology and advertising industries, Paez will bring her knowledge to oversee Riot’s communication, social-responsibility,

Monday’s primetime crown winner was, for the fifth time in a row, ABC’s long-running dating game show “The Bachelor.” A new episode of Matt James’ season came out at the top of Nielsen’s Live+Same Day fast affiliate rankings, with a 1.4 in the key, adults 18-49 demographic and approximately 5.3 million viewers. That marks a

In a competitive situation, Marvin Lemus has signed with Verve, Variety has learned exclusively. Lemus, a Mexican-Guatemalan filmmaker, will continue to be repped by The Mission Entertainment in addition to Verve. According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, Lemus asked the agency if they would “go steady” and join “Team Marvin all the way.”

Google parent Alphabet handily topped fourth-quarter forecasts, with Google Search and YouTube driving up total revenue for the internet giant. Wall Street analysts had expected earnings of $15.90 per share on revenue of $53.1 billion. The company reported $22.30 in per-share earnings on total revenue of $56.9 billion, marking 45.3% and 23.5% growth, respectively. “Our

NBCUniversal has finalized its organizational structure under new television and streaming entertainment chief Susan Rovner, a move that includes 50 layoffs, mostly in the content division. Scripted content president Lisa Katz’s team now includes Cara Dellaverson and Alex Sepiol, who have been tapped to together lead drama development and current programming as executive VPs of

There’s an incredible, immediate intimacy in opening your phone, seeing that someone is live on Instagram, and clicking over to see their face staring straight into yours. Even as the comments and emoji reactions scroll by at a frantic pace, joining these videos can seem like an intrusion — as if you didn’t mean to

Creating a full picture of an entire city without losing sight of its many complications, contradictions and singular joys is a tall task that most filmmakers would find impossible. For Steve James, however, it’s been a long time coming. “The idea occurred to me probably 15 years ago,” James says of “City So Real,” his

Universal Television and Keshet Studios, which co-produce “La Brea” for NBC, have renewed their first-look programming deal for a third term. The two studios are developing two scripts for two U.S. adaptations for NBC — “The A Ward,” based on Keren Margalit’s “Yellow Peppers” with Arika Mittman, in addition to a remake of Seven Studios’

For journalist Nick Bilton’s first film, he didn’t want to just document the world of social media influencers, he wanted to influence it himself. So he set out to find ordinary people who he could help get famous online through the purchase of bots that would grow their follower counts and engagement, and then he

Kenan Thompson, the longtime cast member of “Saturday Night Live” and “All That” alum, has been tapped to embark viewers on a wild celebratory ride at the ever-slimy Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, airing live on Saturday, March 13, at 7:30 p.m. ET. For the first time in its more than 30-year history, the goopy, fun

Laurence Fishburne is set to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 edition of the SCAD aTVfest. The “Black-ish” star and executive producer is only the second actor to receive the honor from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), after Phylicia Rashad was awarded the comparable Outstanding Achievement in Television prize during

Jason Alexander has an intriguing assignment this Sunday: He’s got 60 seconds to convince Super Bowl audiences they need a new kind of Tide detergent — and he will have to complete the bulk of his assignment without saying a word. Alexander, the actor known for his roles in “Seinfeld,” “Pretty Woman” and on Broadway,

Eric Pertilla is joining Endeavor Content to become its vice president of television development and production. He was most recently director of original content at CBS All Access for the past two years, where he oversaw Richard Linklater series “That Animal Rescue Show” and led development of “The Twilight Zone,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” “The Good

Italy’s CAM Film and Fremantle’s The Apartment have teamed up to acquire rights to bestselling Italian author Carlo Rovelli’s “Helgoland,” an origin story about quantum physics, with plans to turn the book into a high-end TV series. A bestseller in Italy, “Helgoland” will soon be published in the U.K. and elsewhere around world. It’s the story

When Cedric the Entertainer appeared in commercials for Bud Light about two decades ago, they “made me more famous than any TV show or movie,” he recalls. The first one “was off the Richter.” Anheuser-Busch InBev is hoping its next ad for the beer causes a similar metaphorical earthquake during this Sunday’s broadcast of the

AMC Networks and Toronto-based Shaftesbury have entered into a new strategic partnership that, through an investment in Shaftesbury, will grant AMC access to the production company’s slate and expand its content and development capabilities in Canada. The partnership, which builds on AMC and Shaftesbury’s existing production ties, was forged with the intention of growing Shaftesbury’s