Television

Don’t expect Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood and Knott’s Berry Farm to open anytime soon, according to California Gov. Gavin Newsom at a press conference Wednesday. He said there is “no hurry in putting out guidelines,” but state officials are continuing to work with amusement parks in California after the pandemic prompted closures in March. He

Viacom-CBS has enacted some additional belt-tightening for 2020, as employee merit pay increases have been eliminated for the year. Due to the coronavirus pandemic’s continued hammering of the media sector, Viacom-CBS CEO Bob Bakish addressed staff in a global town hall event on Wednesday morning to announce the cuts. “In an effort to manage company

Dalila Wilson-Scott has been promoted to executive vice president and chief diversity officer at Comcast, where she will oversee all diversity, equity and inclusion activities for the telecom and entertainment giant. “Dalila is a fantastic leader and passionate advocate and supporter of our corporate social responsibility efforts, which have been at the heart of our

While the season 18 premiere of “Ellen,” which saw the host publicly address reports of mistreatment and misconduct behind the scenes for the first time, was even on last year, the rest of her premiere week took a tumble. For the week of Sept. 21, “Ellen” averaged a 1.2 Live+Same Day household ratings according to

The cast of “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” is reuniting for holiday special at Disney Plus. The 45-minute special will debut on Dec. 11 on the streamer and will feature renditions of holiday classics, popular hits, and a medley of Hanukkah favorites. It will also feature a special sneak preview of the show’s

After years of buying and selling, the nation’s largest TV station groups have become local leviathans that own dozens of outlets across the country. At an unsettled time for broadcast TV, the biggest independent groups — including Nexstar Media, Sinclair Broadcast Group and E.W. Scripps — are increasingly trying to generate new profit sources by

One would think that “Westworld” star Thandie Newton and writer-director Ol Parker would be quick to offer acting advice to their daughter Nico Parker. “They do give me advice like, ‘Learn everybody’s name and always be nice’ and things like that, but when it comes to acting, they kind of steer clear of it because

Get ready for more books from the anchors at Fox News Channel and its related businesses. Fox News Media said it struck a three-book deal with Harper Collins Publishers that will feature titles from the media unit’s various on-air personalities. Both Fox News and HarperCollins are controlled by the Murdoch family, the former as part

Depending on who is doing the talking, TV’s 2020 “upfront” market was absolutely horrendous or merely awful. Advance advertising commitments for the next year of TV could be down as much as 15% to 20%, according to six media executives and ad buyers familiar with parts of the industry’s annual negotiations for commercial support for

Variety’s New York Impact Report embraces the persistence and perseverance of the folks in the biz. This year, we’ve all dealt with a global pandemic, racial reckoning, protests, contentious election campaigns, a Supreme Court upheaval and an economic meltdown, but, like a lot of us, showbiz has responded not with despair but with fundraisers, organizing

James Corden poked fun at President Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis with a parody song called “Maybe I’m Immune,” a riff on Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed.” The late-night talk show host performed the song on Tuesday night’s episode of the “Late Late Show With James Corden.” After returning to the studio last month, he took to

Like so many people, Cynthia Nixon had big plans for 2020. Her new series, Netflix’s “Ratched,” was to premiere (this plan, at least, remained unchanged, as the show launched in September). And her next series, Julian Fellowes’ HBO drama “The Gilded Age,” was meant to start shooting on March 17 in New York City. Instead,

This year’s Mipcom is hosting a slate of online, streamed presentations via its Mipcom Online Plus platform, available to accredited badge holders from anywhere in the world. In one such panel, Tony Gunnarsson of independent analysis firm Omdia delivered a 10-minute presentation, followed by a 10-minute chat with Jacob Ahlin, director of digital propositions, EMEA,

While the pandemic may have brought a temporary halt to programming pipelines, children’s broadcasters are using the opportunity to scope out the acquisitions market as well as applying strategies to entice tweens and teens back to their streaming platforms. During Tuesday morning’s Mipcom Warm Up briefing on kids programming, BBC Children’s head of independent animation

Leading Canadian broadcasters Bell Media, Corus Entertainment and Rogers Sports & Media have enforced the use of a new HireBIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) roster in securing a greenlight for original productions. HireBIPOC is the definitive industry-wide roster of Canadian BIPOC creatives and crew working in screen-based industries. Launched this week, the initiative

Middle East broadcaster MBC Group has announced an exclusive content partnership with Facebook across the Middle East and North Africa involving more than 20,000 videos from the shows aired by the Dubai-based linear and digital services. Under the one-year deal, MBC Group’s digital arm will share content in the MENA region across various Facebook pages including

ViacomCBS International Studios (VIS) has revealed a unified distribution outfit called ViacomCBS International Studios Distribution that encompasses all studio sales business including co-productions, pre-sale, formats, tape sales and co-developments. The company’s former International Program Sales division that focused on tape and format sales for network-branded content outside Latin America including the Nickelodeon library and MTV

Despite looming uncertainty about the testing system for British Columbia-based productions, the Warner Bros. Television shows “Batwoman,” “Riverdale” and “Maid” will resume shooting on Wednesday, having been cleared to restart. The shows — along with CBS TV’s “Nancy Drew” and “Charmed,” and several Disney shows — were forced to stop filming last week due to

BOOM! Studios comic “Lumberjanes,” created by Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters and Grace Ellis, is in the works at HBO Max as an animated series. Comic book news site CBR.com first reported news of the television adaptation on Monday, after noting that Stevenson’s speaker bio for a Children’s Media Association panel noted that she had sold

As videos of Morgan Wallen socializing without a mask — at a crowded bar and at a house party, among other places — circulate widely across the internet, the young country star has begun to draw scrutiny ahead of his Oct. 10 appearance on “Saturday Night Live” amid the global coronavirus pandemic. In numerous TikToks

Netflix has ordered a new Godzilla anime series. Titled “Godzilla: Singular Point,” the series expands Netflix’s roster of projects tied to the King of the Monsters. The streamer previously debuted three Godzilla anime films: “Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters,” “Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle,” and “Godzilla: The Planet Eater.” The first was released

When Trieu Tran auditioned for Hulu’s horror anthology series “Monsterland,” he didn’t anticipate being a lead or that his character’s life would, in some ways, mirror so much of his own. In the episode titled “Palacios, TX,” Tran stars as Sharko, a down-on-his-luck fisherman suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who discovers a mermaid

Allyship has been one of the most helpful shifts in bringing about diversity, equity and inclusion, said Vernā Myers, Netflix’s vice president of inclusion strategy. “When people get busy becoming an ally they discover all sorts of powerful things and they become part of the solution,” she said during episode nine of Variety‘s Rebooting the

In today’s TV news roundup, Cartoon Network greenlit “We Bare Bears” spinoff, “We Baby Bears,” and Raymond Ablack has been cast in a recurring role in Netflix’s “Maid.” CASTING Raymond Ablack (“Narcos,” “Orphan Black”) has been cast in a recurring role opposite Margaret Qualley in the upcoming Netflix dramedy “Maid,” Variety has learned exclusively. The

After decades in the industry, The CW’s executive vice president of talent and casting Lori Openden is retiring this month. In her stead, the network’s senior vice president of talent and casting Dana Therodoratos — who has worked with Openden at the network since 2006 — will step into the role to oversee casting of

The premiere week of the 2020-21 TV season was unlike any other. Due to the massive impact of COVID-19, the week was packed with un-scripted fare, reruns, and broadcast debuts of series which already aired elsewhere. Amongst the lack of original scripted content, “The Masked Singer” and the NFL emerged as clear winners. The whacky

Elisabeth Moss has found her next role, and it’s one which is sure to cause a stir. The “Handmaid’s Tale” star has signed on to play former Congresswoman Katie Hill in a streaming film adaptation of her forthcoming book “She Will Rise: Becoming a Warrior in the Battle for True Equality.” Blumhouse TV has preemptively optioned

The ’90s are back in a big way at Apple TV Plus. The streaming service has ordered docuseries “The Supermodels” from Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Documentaries that centers on runway icons Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista. Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple directed the series, which starts from the 1980s,

“The Batman” may have been delayed until 2022, but the Batmobile is revving up for its own adventure. Warner Bros. Animation has started production on an animated preschool series called “Batwheels,” which will star some of the most iconic vehicles from across the DC universe, fighting crime in Gotham City alongside the usual squad of

Tyra Banks worked quickly to correct a mistake on Monday night’s live airing of “Dancing With the Stars,” after she mistakenly mixed up the bottom two couples in danger of elimination. As the final pairs of dance partners stood on the stage, Banks announced that Anne Heche and Keo Motsep were in the bottom two