Television

Singapore-based TV production firm, Beach House Pictures is expanding its Asian production capacity. It has acquired a majority stake in Japanese producer Vesuvius Pictures and appointed Felix Feng as GM in China. Founded in 2012, Vesuvius specializes in premium original factual, factual entertainment, reality and scripted programming. Its credits include: an episode of Alex Gibney’s “Dirty

Richard Lewis will not appear in Season 11 of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Variety has confirmed. “For 20 years, I had the greatest comedy gig I could have ever imagined with my oldest and dearest friend LD. Honestly, I’m crushed that I won’t be part of this season,” Lewis tells Variety. “For sure, I will be screaming with

Two of CBS’s two top local-TV executives were placed on administrative leave Monday night after the Los Angeles Times raised issues about their conduct over the weekend in a two-part report that examined their treatment of women and people of color at specific TV stations, among other allegations. Peter Dunn, president of the CBS Television

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the Jan 25 episode of “The Bachelor.” In the wake of last week’s departure of contestant Sarah Trott, Bachelor Matt James struggled. But while he concerned himself with what her exit said about him, some of the women were more than happy to see

Misha Green is taking on Lara Croft. The “Lovecraft Country” and “Underground” creator is set to make her feature directorial debut, writing and directing the next installment of “Tomb Raider” for MGM. Alicia Vikander will reprise her role as Lara Croft in the sequel to the 2018 action flick, which earned nearly $275M at the

Between Clare Crawley and Tayshia Adams’ switch-up as leads on “The Bachelorette” and shooting seasons at sequestered resorts, Bachelor Nation has endured a fair amount of drama lately — but tonight, the new episode of “The Bachelor” will bring, yet again, another unprecedented shakeup. For the first time ever, a limo full of five new

After a nearly two-year standoff, WME is closing in on a settlement with the WGA that will allow the powerhouse agency to resume representing writers. WME and its parent company Endeavor acknowledged in a statement Monday that the sides have been making progress. The guild and the town’s largest agency group have been in on-again,

Apple is nearing an order for the limited series “In with the Devil,” with Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser onboard to star, Variety has learned. The six-episode series would be based on the 2010 novel “In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption” by James Keene

Rupert Murdoch has been silent on Twitter for nearly five years, but the media baron has come out swinging against social media and what he described as the prevalence of a “woke orthodoxy” in the online realm. Murdoch, 89, created a stir with a two-minute video message that was released in connection with his receiving

NBC’s revival of “The Weakest Link” has been renewed for Season 2 at NBC. NBC has ordered 13 more episodes, with production set to begin later this year. Jane Lynch will return to host the series, which sees contestants answer general knowledge questions to bank prize money across multiple rounds. At the end of each

Krysten Ritter has signed with CAA for representation in all areas, Variety has learned exclusively. Ritter joins the agency from WME. She continues to be managed by Kyle Luker at Industry Entertainment and Steve Caserta at Principal Entertainment LA. Her attorney is Dave Feldman at Brecheen, Feldman, Breimer, Silver & Thompson; and her publicists are Lindsay

Rolling off the success of “Family Feud,” Fremantle Latin America is targeting more format adaptations in Argentina with Boxfish, headed by famed former Cuatro Cabezas’ founder Diego Guebel, producer of the multi-formated “CQC.” The conversations to develop more light entertainment formats are part of a growing alliance between Fremantle and Boxfish, who struck a format

MIMO Studios, the production company backed by former Nickelodeon president Cyma Zarghami, has a concept it hopes will go swimmingly with the need for new children’s content. MIMO is in talks with various streaming-video hubs and kid-focused media outlets regarding a trio of 45-minute 3-D animated musical specials based on author Deborah Diesen’s “Pout-Pout Fish”

In today’s Global Bulletin, West One International will distribute climate doc “Earth Emergency,” Cheng Cheng Films gets “A First Farewell” for North America, Discovery U.K. commissions a docuseries on the Children of God cult, Drama Team’s “Jerusalem” goes into production, the British Independent Film Awards announce nine craft category winners and the Red Sea International

Catching up on news from and beyond NATPE Miami, ITV Studios and HOT begin shooting on “Jerusalem,” while Disney Plus starts production on its first originals in Spain and Argentina, Newen ropes its French production companies together as Newen France, Beyond Rights sells 250 hours of content in Spain and Portugal and Onza Distribution gets

Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment has promoted Justin Wilkes to chief creative officer. Currently the head of the prolific Imagine Documentaries division, Wilkes’ expanded role was announced internally on Monday by Howard and Grazer. He will now work closely with film, TV, docs, branded entertainment, kids and family, and international programming. Wilkes will

ABC is developing a series adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s “Paradise” novel trilogy, with “Grey’s Anatomy” star Ellen Pompeo set to executive produce. The project is titled “Winter in Paradise,” named after the first book in the trilogy. The series focuses on Irene Steele, who shares her idyllic life in a beautiful Iowa City Victorian house

Streamers ruled NATPE even if super indies made most of the big announcements. That said, global platforms won’t have it all their own way in 2021, Omdia, a London consultancy, predicted in a NATPE Miami presentation. In 2020, across the 328 online video subscription services that Omdia tracks, more subscribers —  over 226 million —

Craig Mazin has extended his overall deal with HBO and HBO Max for an additional three years. The news comes as little surprise, given the success Mazin has had at HBO. He previously created the critically-acclaimed HBO limited series “Chernobyl,” which detailed the aftermath of the titular Soviet nuclear disaster in 1986. The show, which

The King of Beers is stepping away from one of its most prominent thrones. Beverage giant Anheuser-Busch InBev is benching Super Bowl commercials from Budweiser, perhaps its best-known product — the first time in nearly four decades that the brand won’t have a place on the Big Game ad roster. The move follows decisions by

A dispute over a “Masked Singer” adaptation between Fremantle, Ukrainian broadcaster Ukraine and its local competitor 1+1 Media has finally been resolved. Conflict arose after 1+1 broadcast “Maskarad” (“Masquerade”) in October, leading Ukraine to accuse its rival of pirating “The Masked Singer,” format, for which it had purchased adaptation rights from Fremantle. The global hit

The stage is set for a TV-friendly Super Bowl LV now that the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have secured their spots in the NFL’s big game. The lineup features two of the league’s biggest stars: the Chiefs’ young hot-shot quarterback Patrick Mahomes vs. Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady, the winningest QB of all

Just before kickoff in the New Orleans Saints’ divisional playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccanneers last week, Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reported that Saints quarterback Drew Brees would retire after the season. The news forced an adjustment by the Fox team broadcasting the game. Speculation about Brees’ future had circulated all season long. But

Larry King, the broadcast legend who died Saturday at the age of 87, deserves more credit than he typically gets for helping to build CNN and realize Ted Turner’s audacious vision for a 24-hour global news network. In his prime, King’s “Larry King Live” interviews regularly made headlines thanks to his unique questioning style, which

Oscar-nominated screenwriter and producer Walter Bernstein, who survived the blacklist era by writing pseudonymous scripts for television and later wrote films including “Fail-Safe,” “The Front” and “Semi-Tough,” died on Jan. 22. He was 101. Bernstein’s longtime friend and former WGA West president Howard Rodman shared the news of his death on Twitter Saturday. “Truly saddened

Kenneth Branagh will play U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a new Sky TV series detailing Britain’s muddled response to the COVID-19 crisis. The five-part drama will be directed and written by “The Trip” helmer Michael Winterbottom. Entitled “This Sceptred Isle,” the show will be produced by Fremantle, Richard Brown’s Passenger and Winterbottom’s Revolution Films.

In its first season, “Euphoria” was a lightning bolt. The HBO series, crackling with oddity and possibility, generated noise and light in a manner that felt new, and overdue. The show told stories about the TikTok generation with all the emotional excess that comes with actually being a teen. And in Zendaya and Hunter Schafer,

In the 1980s and ’90s, for celebrities, politicians, lawyers, activists and many others, an appearance on CNN’s “Larry King Live” was a sign that you’d made it on the national stage. King, who died Saturday at the age of 87, was remembered as a tough but fair interviewer who had a strong sense of humor

Emmy-winning TV host Larry King has died. He was 87 years old. His official Twitter account posted an announcement of his death on Saturday morning. “With profound sadness, Ora Media announces the death of our co-founder, host and friend Larry King, who passed away this morning at age 87 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los

Gregory Sierra, best known for his roles as Sgt. Miguel “Chano” Amanguale on “Barney Miller” and Julio Fuentes on “Sanford and Son,” died on Jan. 4 in Laguna Woods, Calif., according to Orange County Health Dept. records. He was 83. The New York-born-and-raised actor, of Puerto Rican descent, found success in his recurring role as