Television

After more than two decades leading Warner Bros.’ television operations, chairman Peter Roth has decided to leave his perch at the storied TV studio. Roth is slated to step down in early 2021. He and WarnerMedia studios and networks group chief Ann Sarnoff had been discussing the transition for “some time,” per a statement from

From his work on the iconic, Golden Globe-winning 1980s cop drama “Hill Street Blues” to creating such TV series as “NYPD Blue,” “Deadwood” and “Luck,” four-time Emmy Award-winning David Milich has been an iconic figure in the biz. Milch is battling Alzheimer’s, a ravaging brain disease for which there is no cure. From his residence

With an organization as twisted as NXIVM, there are always more stories to tell. Filmmakers Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer will deliver a second installment of their docuseries “The Vow,” coming to HBO in 2021, the premium cabler announced Friday. Back in September, Noujaim teased this possibility with Variety, saying, “We reached out to everybody involved

Kate Hudson has signed on to star in Season 2 of the Apple drama series “Truth Be Told.” In her first regular television role, Hudson will appear alongside series lead Octavia Spencer. Spencer returns as Poppy Parnell, a true crime podcaster, in the second season. Hudson will play Micah Keith, a lifestyle guru and longtime

As the presidential election heats up, ABC is working on a comedy series about a fictional bar in Washington, D.C. where congressional staffers, among others, go to cool off. The network has put into development a multi-cam comedy titled “Nate’s” which hails from 20th Television and  “A Black Lady Sketch Show” writer Akilah Green. “Nate’s”

Hulu has dropped an action-packed trailer to “No Man’s Land,” an epic war series, love story and, above all, tale of personal odyssey. Setting it apart, the eight-part series takes place against the background of the Syrian Kurd YPJ women’s militia push back against ISIS, a struggle featuring formidable female fighters. A Hulu Original, set

Production is set to start next week on pan-European TV series “Survivors,” the latest project commissioned by the partnership known as The Alliance between leading European public broadcasters to counter the growing power of Netflix and other streamers. The plan is for cameras to start rolling in Genoa on Oct. 21 on the series revolving

At the start of the filmed version of “What the Constitution Means to Me,” playwright and performer Heidi Schreck says that every time she walks out on stage, “the world has changed. I never quite know what’s going to happen.” These days, that feels like an understatement. Schreck first started workshopping the project, which connects

Presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump appeared in directly competing town halls on Thursday night, after the President dropped out of the second debate. Trump’s hourlong appearance on NBC, which drew criticism across the industry and even an angry letter from top talent and showrunners who work with NBCU, appears to be trailing Biden’s

Country singer Ashley McBryde, who’s nominated in three categories in November’s upcoming CMA Awards, will help preside over another country kudocast in the meantime, as she’s been named one of the co-hosts of the CMT Music Awards, set to air next Wednesday, Oct. 21. McBryde is one of three hosts, joining fellow singer Kane Brown

WWE is set to honor the Undertaker’s 30th anniversary with the company with a documentary lineup throughout the month of November they are calling “30 Days of the Deadman.” Beginning Oct. 25, WWE Network will air a new documentary about the Undertaker — whose real name is Mark Calaway — every Sunday for five weeks.

On Aug. 11, 1943, Variety carried a story beginning “Angela Lansbury, 17-year-old English girl, is the colony’s latest Cinderella.” The story said she had gone from an unknown to movie star in only four days. Since then, Lansbury has forged a career that defies all logic. She received supporting-actress Oscar nominations twice in her first two

The U.K.’s £500 million ($648 million) insurance scheme is finally going live. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden and Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced Friday that the hotly anticipated government-backed Film and TV Production Restart Scheme is formally launching following state aid approval from the European Union. It’s expected the scheme — which provides compensation for future coronavirus-related

Long-time NBCUniversal executive Jeff Wachtel has left the company, Variety has confirmed. He most recently served as president of NBCUniversal International Studios. Variety understands that Wachtel’s departure follows some issues pertaining to respect in the workplace, after which it was agreed that Wachtel would leave the company. It’s believed a search for his replacement is

Few companies in the global television industry have been better placed than Netflix to take advantage of the surge in demand for premium international content. But when it comes to the explosion in programming from outside of Hollywood, the company’s former VP of international originals Erik Barmack admitted on Thursday, “We didn’t see it coming.”

When the coronavirus pandemic arrived in Hollywood earlier this year, shutting down productions and throwing the industry into chaos, not even veteran TV executive Michael Ellenberg, the former HBO head of drama responsible for commissioning iconic series such as “Westworld,” “Big Little Lies,” “True Detective,” and “The Leftovers,” could have predicted such a robust, industry-wide

President Trump wanted to run and ramble. Savannah Guthrie wouldn’t let him. In what may be the performance of a career, the popular “Today” anchor kept a tight rein on the proceedings of a controversial town-hall event in Miami with President Donald Trump that put the network’s parent, NBCUniversal, in the cross-hairs of critics and

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched “Gimme Shelter,” the 15th episode of “Supernatural’s” final season. With only a handful of episodes left before The CW’s long-running demon-hunting drama “Supernatural” signs off for good, every line of dialogue, every frame of footage and every decision — from guest star casting to guest

Paul Frank, a producer and TV executive who worked at Columbia TriStar TV, the Firm and Prospect Park, died Sept. 30 at the age of 53. Frank died at his home in Los Angeles of what family members believe was a heart attack. He was the son of Rich Frank, former Walt Disney Studios president,

Vaughn McClure, a member of ESPN’s National Football League coverage team since 2013, died at his home near Atlanta this week. He was 48. ESPN announced Vaughn’s death. No cause of death was given. McClure covered the Atlanta Falcons team as part of NFL Nation. He covered the team during its run to Super Bowl

In today’s TV News Roundup, Netflix announced the premiere date for “Bridgerton,” and HBO unveiled the trailer for the second season of “His Dark Materials.” DATES MTV announced the return of “Jersey Shore Family Vacation” with back-to-back episodes premiering Nov. 19. Following the dramatic events of the Season 3 finale, the reality show will kick off with

Range Media Partners has signed Gabrielle Union. The actress, producer, bestselling author and activist is the latest to join the upstart management company, which launched in September under Peter Micelli and a group of high-profile agents from CAA, UTA and WME. The move is unsurprising as Union, recently named one of Time magazine’s 100 most

Even for celebrated Latinx performers like John Leguizamo, finding success in the entertainment industry is a hard-fought and seemingly never-ending battle. But as a newcomer to the business, Leguizamo recalls being galvanized by the struggle into telling his own stories. “I just kept getting put into these really negative roles that I felt I was

“Ratched” racked up the views in its first week on Netflix. Ryan Murphy’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” prequel series injected itself at the top of Nielsen’s latest streaming ranker for the week Sept. 14 (“Ratched” premiered on the 18th). The show dethroned “Cobra Kai,” which had been the most-viewed program in streaming for

The election coverage will be from CBS News. The studio may remind some savvy viewers of MTV. CBS News will cover the 2020 election from different digs than it has in the past, moving a phalanx of its best-known anchors from its regular New York digs to a big studio in Times Square that once

The 2020 Billboard Music Awards saw Post Malone emerged with a whopping nine total trophies, however, the show itself wasn’t quite as successful in the ratings department. A total of around 3.6 million total viewers tuned in on NBC, which looks to be a substantial 55% dip from the previous edition. Its 0.8 rating among

Netflix’s “Grand Army” (premiering Oct. 16) technically isn’t an adaptation of Katie Cappiello’s 2013 “Slut: The Play,” though it features three characters from the play—including the its central character—with one of the roles even being reprised by an actor from the play. Instead, Cappiello’s “Grand Army” goes from focusing on just one central character—in “Slut:

Public-affairs media outlet C-SPAN said Thursday it had placed host and producer Steve Scully on administrative leave after he falsely suggested his Twitter feed had been hacked as he was preparing to moderate a second presidential debate between President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden. “These actions have let down a lot of

In high school, 15-year-old Heidi Schreck won enough prize money giving Constitution-themed speeches at American Legion halls to pay her way through college. A quarter-century later, Schreck spun her memories of all that youthful idealism into a hit Broadway show, “What the Constitution Means to Me,” which has proven to be every bit as much

President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will no doubt make news when they take part in dueling town halls this evening on NBC and ABC. But the networks broadcasting their events may be looking less at headlines the two politicians will generate and more at the money they will draw. NBC and