Television

As general manager of three major television stations in Honolulu, Rick Blangiardi oversaw the market’s most-watched newscasts for nearly two decades. But over the past year, Blangiardi began making headlines of his own. Blangiardi took office earlier this month as the new mayor of Hawaii’s capital — winning in a landslide after a blistering 11-month

“No Man’s Land,” “Fauda” and “False Flag” producer Maria Feldman is teaming with “Tel Aviv on Fire” writer-director Sameh Zoabi on a new identity crisis series “Inheritance,” which offers a fresh, comedic take on the Israel-Palestine conflict, breaking new ground for scripted TV. Created by Zoabi, Alma Ganihar and Leora Kamenetzky, a writer on “Fauda”

HBO Latin America veterans Luis S. Peraza, president of networks, and Roberto Rios, corporate vice president of original production, will depart at the end of February, WarnerMedia Latin America announced Thursday. Peraza (pictured, left) is part of the founding team that launched HBO in Latin America in 1991 and is a pioneer of the local

“Animal Kingdom” has been renewed for Season 6 at TNT, which will also be the show’s last. News of the final season comes ahead of the Season 5 premiere of the crime drama, which is set to launch this summer on TNT. The series stars Shawn Hatosy, Ben Robson, Jake Weary, Finn Cole, Leila George, Rigo

“Queen Sugar” has been renewed for Season 6 at OWN. The news comes ahead of the Season 5 premiere, which is slated to debut on Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. ET. Season 4 began airing last summer. “What a joy and an honor to continue the stories of ‘Queen Sugar’ with our partners at OWN

More than half a decade ago when Stephen King’s 1979 post-apocalyptic tome “The Stand” was being considered for a big-screen adaptation, visual effects supervisor Jake Braver joined the team to figure out how they would bring to life not only the physical manifestation of the virus that killed 99.4% of the population within the story,

Veteran British drama producer Nicola Shindler has launched a new scripted venture in Quay Street Productions, backed by ITV Studios.  Based in central Manchester, the outfit will focus on working with new writing talent and producing premium drama for the U.K. and international market. Quay Street Productions is named after the famous Manchester street where

Brazil’s Globo, Latin America’s biggest media company, has sealed an exclusive SVOD deal on a trio of high-profile drama series – NBC-aired “Nurses,” The CW’s “Burden of Truth” and “Mary Kills People”- all sold by Entertainment One (eOne). Announced in the run-up to next week’s NATPE Virtual Miami 2021 market, the exclusive licensing pact, involving

Positive TV messaging about coronavirus safety protocols and vaccines in both scripted and unscripted series can help save lives by persuading ambivalent and resistant viewers to follow recommended public health guidelines, according to a virtual panel discussion presented by USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center’s Hollywood, Health & Society, in partnership with the WGAE and WGAW,

Elizabeth Smart wasn’t interested at first in appearing on Fox’s “The Masked Dancer.” But after her grandmother passed away, Smart said she had an epiphany. “She certainly lived life to the fullest,” Smart said. “As I was sitting at her funeral, thinking about life and death, I just thought, it’s okay to have fun. It’s

On the day when President Donald Trump became the first occupant of the Oval Office to be impeached twice, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey spoke out to say that threats to physical safety and the company’s desire to foster “a more peaceful existence on earth” were among the reasons for the social media giant’s permanent ban

In today’s TV news roundup, Bravo announced a premiere date for “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” Season 11, and Disney Channel ordered a third season of “Big City Greens.” RENEWALS Disney Channel ordered a third season of its animated comedy series “Big City Greens.” Series creators and executive producers Chris and Shane Houghton have

“Jeopardy!” has announced four new guest hosts: Katie Couric, Aaron Rodgers, Bill Whitaker and Mayim Bialik. The group follows current guest host Ken Jennings, who has been the first to fill in after the death of Alex Trebek, the show’s host of 36 years. A journalist and New York Times best-selling author, Couric is set

Ray Brady, a longtime CBS News correspondent who focused on business and the economy, died Jan. 12 at his home in Manhattan. He was 94. Brady spent 28 years with CBS News, starting in 1972 when he joined CBS Radio. He retired in 2000 after 23 years as a correspondent for “CBS Evening News.” Brady

A new, sixth episode of NBC’s syrupy romantic family drama, “This Is Us,” led Tuesday night’s primetime fast affiliate ratings both in total viewers and in the key, adults ages 18-49 demographic, proving that TV watchers in the U.S. are craving comfort, sappiness and tear-inducing plotlines in a not-so uplifting time. The 9 p.m. telecast

Hope Hicks, one of President Trump’s longtime advisers and former Fox. Corp. communications chief, has departed the White House, according to CNN. Her last day was reportedly Tuesday. Reports of her pending exit first emerged on Jan. 8. Bloomberg reporter Jennifer Jacobs, citing sources familiar with the matter, noted that Hicks had told colleagues the

“Bachelor In Paradise” was a television casualty of 2020. With production halted across the industry in the height of the pandemic, ABC’s fan-favorite summer dating show wasn’t able to shoot its seventh season last year. Now, with coronavirus numbers surging once again, TV shows and film productions are shutting down, once again, and non-essential travel

Perhaps it’s because the present moment is so unsettled that “Call Your Mother,” ABC’s new sitcom from “The New Adventures of Old Christine” creator Kari Lizer, manages to feel in its pilot episode more comforting than it otherwise might. The series, about an overbearing mom (Kyra Sedgwick) barging in on the lives of her two

PaleyFest LA will once again return this spring, and the first pieces of programming announced for the television festival are a “Six Feet Under” reunion and panel discussions for ABC’s “Big Sky” and CBS’ “The Late Late Show With James Corden.” Due to ongoing health and safety precautions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 PaleyFest

Yvonne Orji is developing a semi-autobiographical comedy series at Disney Plus that boasts David Oyelowo and Oprah Winfrey among its executive producers, Variety has learned. Titled “First Gen,” the half-hour show is based on Orji’s personal experiences growing up as a Nigerian immigrant in America. As a child, she’s caught between trying to honor her parents

The stars of All Elite Wrestling (AEW) are getting their own awards show. It was announced Wednesday that AEW and TNT were partnering to launch the first ever “AEW Dynamite Awards,” which will air live exclusively on the Bleacher Report app on Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. ET. Starting today, fans can vote for their

Shelley Zimmerman has departed Awesomeness and is joining Kerry Ehrin’s Bad Attitude Entertainment as president of television, where she will develop and produce new projects for the company. “Shelley brings a wealth of experience and knowledge and has great creative instincts, and is the perfect person to partner with as I look to expand my

The new calendar year is stacked to the brim with some of the biggest names in film, but this time they’ll be tackling their roles on television instead. Many of Marvel’s upcoming projects are aimed at streaming, with some of the heroes from their blockbuster movies being expounded upon in spinoff series. “WandaVision” premieres Friday,

“Insecure” is set to end after its upcoming Season 5 on HBO, Variety has learned. The critically-acclaimed comedy was renewed for a fifth season in May 2020 as Season 4 was just beginning.The fifth and final season is scheduled to begin production later this month and is set to debut later this year. “Issa has

Buy the downturn. That may be the mantra for media M&A in the coming year as entertainment giants go through a period of “repositioning” and the streaming sector drives innovation and reinvention. On the latest episode of Variety podcast “Strictly Business,” Bart Spiegel, U.S. entertainment and media deals leader for PWC, predicts there will be

ViacomCBS is consolidating all live-action production, including development, current series and studio content, across Nickelodeon and Awesomeness under one team led by Nickelodeon’s Shauna Phelan and Zack Olin. The pair are expanding their purview beyond Nickelodeon’s live-action scripted projects to include live-action production for Awesomeness and third-party platforms. The shift follows the departure of Awesomeness’

Fox News Channel said Peter Doocy, a Washington-based correspondent at the cable-news network, would move to the White House beat, working alongside Kristin Fisher and filling a spot left vacant by John Roberts’ coming move to the anchor desk. Doocy, whose father, Steve Doocy, is the co-anchor of the network’s “Fox & Friends” morning program,

Ellen DeGeneres returned to television on Jan. 13 and used the opening monologue of “Ellen” to explain how she learned about her positive COVID-19 diagnosis on set, which caused production on the daytime show to halt. “I was getting ready to tape the show, and I was in hair and makeup, getting my face powdered

The upcoming “Lord of the Rings” series at Amazon has unveiled the show’s official synopsis. The epic series is described as follows: “Amazon Studios’ forthcoming series brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the

In today’s Global Bulletin, The Mediapro Studio’s “The Head” lands on Starzplay in the U.K. and Germany and ZDF Enterprises finishes shooting on post-WWII documentary “Lawless.” DISTRIBUTION The Mediapro Studio Distribution has closed a deal with Starz that will land South-Pole murder mystery series “The Head” on the broadcaster’s streaming platform Starzplay in the U.K.,