John Sessions, a Scottish actor and comedian best known for his role on the U.K. version of “Whose Line Is It Anyway,” died on Monday at his home in South London, his agency Markham, Froggatt & Irwin confirmed to Variety. He was 67. Sessions appeared on several other British comedy shows, including “Have I Got
Television
The Big Three network morning shows had the tough assignment Tuesday of launching a day of marathon election coverage with precious little actual news from the polls to report. ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” NBC’s “Today” and CBS’ “CBS This Morning” all largely focused on Election Day issues and the voting process. They brought out
Fox Corporation managed to mitigate some of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic as strength at its Fox News Media operations and a gain recorded on a payment from Walt Disney Co. helped the company navigate its way to a profit in its first fiscal quarter. The owner of Fox News Channel and the Fox
NBC has extended Jimmy Fallon’s contract, according to people familiar with the matter, a vote of confidence in the “Tonight Show” host amid a roiling political cycle. Terms of the new deal could not be immediately learned. Fallon signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with NBC in 2015 that extended a previous contract to the fall of
“Connecting” is being pulled from the NBC schedule, the broadcaster announced Monday. The final four episodes of the social distancing comedy series will air on streaming service Peacock and NBC.com. Episodes of “Superstore” will air in its place on Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT through Nov. 19. “Connecting” was ordered to series in June and
William Dalrymple’s best-selling historical book on colonialism “The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company,” is being adapted into a series by independent studio Wiip and India’s Roy Kapur Films. Set during 1599 to 1802, “The Anarchy” traces the ascent of The East India Company against the decline and fall of the Mughal
Four years ago, Stephen Colbert stood onstage, looked out at his hopeful audience and told them that they didn’t know yet who had won the 2016 presidential election. “But for the life of me,” he continued, “I cannot understand how Trump’s candidacy even got this far.” Cut to: Jeff Goldblum, standing to the side with
“The Talk” is losing another host. Eve announced on the show Monday that she will be stepping away from her hosting duties after four seasons. She has been hosting the show from her London home over the past few months, and attributed her decision to a desire to remain close with her family. “It’s been
Dawn Olmstead is leaving her perch at UCP to become chief executive officer and partner at Anonymous Content, marking the first new head of the company since the death of Anonymous founder Steve Golin in 2019. Meanwhile, David Levine has been elevated to chief creative officer of the management and production company. “Dawn is an
Christopher Walken has joined the cast of the upcoming Apple drama series “Severance.” He joins a cast that includes Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, Tramell Tillman, Jen Tullock, Zach Cherry and Britt Lower. The series is described as a workplace thriller that introduces Lumen Industries, a company that’s looking to take work-life balance to
When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers face the New York Giants this evening on “Monday Night Football,” it will mark a sort-of reunion — Bucs quarterback Tom Brady reunited with the Giants, the team that most bedeviled him during his legendary run with the New England Patriots. And though Brady’s no longer with the Patriots and
The ABC reboot of “Supermarket Sweep,” hosted by Leslie Jones, continued to slide a little in the ratings on Sunday night. Facing formidable NFL competition, the game show delivered a 0.7 rating among adults 18-49 and 3.4 million total viewers. That’s down about two tenths and around 300,000 viewers on last week’s second episode. Prior
The brainpower behind this year’s hit “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” are returning to ABC to star in a new quiz show. James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter are back on ABC’s new U.S. adaptation of “The Chase,” a hit British format in which contestants face off with TV trivia titans. ABC has
Political junkies aren’t the only ones who will have more TV programming than they can possibly watch on Election Night. Two of the better-known business-news outlets, CNBC and Fox Business Network. plan to keep coverage going well after the market closes Tuesday, the better to explain to viewers the financial ramifications for the 2020 presidential
Welcome back to Tune In: our weekly newsletter offering a guide to the best of the week’s TV. Each week, Variety’s TV team combs through the week’s schedule, selecting our picks of what to watch and when/how to watch them. As many across the country continue to practice self-isolation due to coronavirus, why not while away
Jamie Granet-Bederman, a longtime producer of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” who has worked with the host for more than a decade, will take over showrunner duties for the venerable NBC late-night program, the latest change to the series’ top echelon of executives. Gavin Purcell, who has been leading the program on an interim
Who is Lady Whistledown? That is the question at the center of the first teaser for Netflix’s “Bridgerton.” In the upcoming eight-episode hourlong drama from Shondaland, Lady Whistledown is a mysterious author of a gossip newsletter that has provided much entertainment during the recent years’ social seasons. But this time around, she is naming names.
In today’s Global Bulletin, “Moominvalley” gets a third season commission; Abacus Media Rights sells “Trickster” in the U.S.; “The Last Journey of the Vikings” to dock at various destinations; Channel 4 and Curious Films announce Caroline Flack documentary special; Talpa Entertainment hires and Jellyfish Studios promotes. ANIMATION Gutsy Animation’s global hit “Moominvalley” has been picked
Nippon TV has licensed the scripted format rights to its hit drama series “I’m Mita, Your Housekeeper” for remake by Turkey’s Medyapim and MF Yapim. The deal was announced on Monday, just days before the start of TIFFCOM, the rights market adjunct to the Tokyo International Film Festival. The show follows the exploits of a
AMC Networks said profit in the third quarter fell after revenue at the company’s U.S. cable networks fell amid the effects of the coronavirus pandemic The New York-based company said it had net income of $1.17 per share, or $61.6 million, compared with $2.07 per share, or $116.9 million in the year-earlier period. The owner
Stockholm-based production company Dramacorp is developing Cold War mini-series “Whiskey On The Rocks,” based on a real-life diplomatic incident. In 1981, a Soviet U-137 ‘Whiskey’-class submarine ran aground on rocks deep inside Swedish territorial waters — in the middle of a sensitive Swedish naval exercise. This breach of sovereignty led to a Cold War stand-off
Voters expected the nation’s big TV-news outlets to go late into the night on Election Day. But they may not have anticipated any of them starting up very early Sunday, several days ahead of the big event. CNN anchor Kate Bolduan normally holds forth late mornings on the cable-news outlet, when many of her viewers
NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” has set its host or the post-election episode: Dave Chappelle will appear on the Nov. 7 episode of the late-night sketch comedy series. The musical guest for the episode has not yet been announced. The comedian previously hosted “SNL” after the election in 2016 and also appeared in the Eddie Murphy-hosted
“Saturday Night Live’s” Oct. 31 episode not only served as the Halloween show, but also as the last show before the 2020 presidential election. So Kate McKinnon reprised her role as Hillary Clinton to warn Jim Carrey’s Joe Biden not to count his chickens before they hatched when it came to expecting a win. “Even
“Game of Thrones” alum Sophie Turner’s next venture is voicing a member of the royal family. Turner is joining the cast of HBO Max’s animated series “The Prince,” created and executive produced by “Family Guy” producer, writer and actor Gary Janetti. The satire focuses on seven-year-old Prince George, who is voiced by Janetti, and his
In the new PBS series “Roadkill,” Hugh Laurie plays Peter Laurence, a conservative (both with a big and small ‘c’) who fights scandal after scandal to try and remain near the top of the greasy political pole. There have been a handful of recent series depicting right-wing demagogues (think “The Comey Rule” in the U.S.
Ellen Pompeo, featured on Variety’s Power of Women cover story about “Grey’s Anatomy,” has played Meredith Grey since filming the show’s pilot in 2004, when she was 33 years old. Throughout the interview, Pompeo was frank, as is her style, in discussing some of her personal highs and lows from her time on the medical drama. She also said — a bit out
“Sisterhood”, a new 40-episode Chinese-language drama series has started shooting at Iskandar Malaysia Studios, amid a continuing wave of COVID19 infections in the South-east Asian country. Producers have had to comply with COVID-19 shooting guidelines from Malaysia’s National Film Development Corporation (FINAS), including online production meetings, mask mandates for production staff, mandatory contact tracing via
Kenya Barris is currently in talks to be a part of a new venture at ViacomCBS, according to a source familiar with the situation, one in which he would be an equity partner. Per the source, ViacomCBS is in “serious talks” to launch a new studio that would be overseen by BET Networks president Scott
It’s a “” reunion… but not really a legally sanctioned “Community” reunion. Stars Ken Jeong, Alison Brie, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, and Jim Rash have filmed a new video under the hashtag #HumanBeingsforBiden — a nod to the Greendale Community College mascot. But again — the video, in support of