Television

Too often, period pieces about the making of America treat the past with undue dignity, turning the raucousness and rambunctiousness of a two-and-a-quarter-century pageant of personalities into a chamber piece. American history is serious, sure, but it’s also giddy and strange, and too few entertainments treat it that way. It’s perhaps likely that the character

Barcelona-based production outfit Brutal Media is bringing back “The Triplets,” a popular animated kids’ series that delighted audiences in more than 160 territories for more than two decades, and will be looking for partners at Mipcom. Raimon Masllorens, CEO at Brutal Media and driving force behind the project, has assembled a group responsible for rebooting

Shock rippled through the country as President Trump revealed on Twitter on Thursday night that he and First Lady Melania Trump had both tested positive for COVID-19, the respiratory virus that has so far killed over 200,000 Americans and infected millions. Although it’s unclear if he’s symptomatic, at 74, Trump is at higher risk of

NENT Group, the Nordic region’s leading streaming company, has ordered “Two Sisters,” a series based on the bestselling novels by Sweden’s high-profile media personalities Hannah Widell and Amanda Schulman. Yellow Bird, the banner behind “Millennium” and “Wallander,” is producing the eight-part show. “Two Sisters” will premiere exclusively on NENT Group’s Viaplay streaming service across the

Robert Smigel has figured out what disgraced morning anchors Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer are up to: They’re co-hosting a midday talk show in Sarasota, Fla., and making their guests very uncomfortable. That was one of the many gags on Smigel’s half-hour Fox special “Let’s Be Real,” which featured puppets parodying Rose and Lauer, as

“Saturday Night Live” shared a clip of Jim Carrey and Maya Rudolph transforming into former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris, respectively, on Thursday. NBC’s sketch comedy show, which returns for season 46 on Saturday, has a long history of humorous depictions of political figures played by notable actors and comedians, and this

Rob and Michele Reiner have inked a multi-year overall producing and directing deal with Warner Bros. Television through a newly formed production company under the revived Castle Rock banner. Rob Reiner founded Castle Rock Entertainment in 1987; the indie company produced more than 125 films, including “When Harry Met Sally,” “A Few Good Men,” “Miss

“South Park” returned with an hourlong pandemic special on Wednesday night, and boy did viewers find it infectious. The special drew 2.3 million total viewers on Comedy Central and scored a 2.1 rating in the key 18-49 demographic, making it the highest-rated episode of “South Park” in seven years. That also represents a massive 168%

The U.K.’s independent television production sector generated a record £3.3 billion ($4.2 billion) in 2019, driven by international revenues that broke £1 billion ($1.3 billion) for the first time. The Pact U.K. Production Census, an annual survey conducted by the country’s trade org for producers, showed that international work proved to be the most lucrative

In today’s TV news roundup, Amazon Prime Video unveiled a “Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 2” trailer, and Variety exclusively learned that “FBI” actor Jeremy Sisto will be honored with the canopy award at the North Fork TV Festival. FIRST LOOKS Amazon Prime Video released an official trailer for Rihanna‘s “Savage X Fenty Show Vol.

Shepard Smith brings a lot to CNBC, including a sterling reputation for chasing facts. But he wasn’t able in his first night on air to catch the audience he enjoyed at his former employer, Fox News Channel. Smith’s new 7 p.m. program, “The News With Shepard Smith,” won an average of 373,000 viewers in its

The U.K.’s film and TV production restart scheme won’t be open to applications until it’s secured State Aid approval from the European Union — a process that’s still ongoing, with no clear end date in sight. “I was hoping it would be several weeks ago, I hope it’s tomorrow, but I just don’t know,” John

Vampires, shapeshifters and demons, oh my! Since 2005, the Winchester brothers on the CW’s “Supernatural” have hunted anything and everything that posed a threat to humanity — including both the devil and God themselves. But while the show started out as a monster-of-the-week procedural, the battles Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) had were

Apple has filled out the cast for its upcoming musical comedy series starring and produced by Cecily Strong. The Lorne Michaels executive-produced project is adding Keegan-Michael Key,  Fred Armisen and Kristin Chenoweth, as well as seven others.  The as-yet-untitled series, which was announced earlier this year, follows a couple on a backpacking trip designed to

For the first time since Nielsen launched its new weekly streaming top 10 list in late summer, Netflix has some company. The Season 2 premiere of Amazon Prime Video’s “The Boys” managed to make it into the top 10, for the week of Aug. 31 to Sept. 6. Also entering the chart: Disney Plus’ “Mulan,”

A little boy sits alone on the floor of his bedroom. Backlit by a window, he leans over pages of construction paper on which he is obsessively drawing. A platoon of little green Army men guards the pages, and ultimately the boy. As the camera pans around him, he does not speak — in fact

Amy Sherman-Palladino has said she pitched “Gilmore Girls” as a half-baked idea for a TV show: “There’s this idea of a mother and daughter, but they’re more like friends than mother/daughter.” Two decades later, Rory (Alexis Bledel) and Lorelai Gilmore’s (Lauren Graham) dynamic has become one of the most iconic relationships in TV history. The

Zack Snyder’s “Army of the Dead” is getting much larger. The “Justice League” director has added 11 new cast members to “Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas,” a spinoff anime series which will serve as a prequel to his 2021 zombie heist movie. Two of the biggest names joining the cast are “Mr. Robot” star

“F Is For Family” is officially coming to an end. Netflix has picked up the animated series for a fifth and final season, Variety has confirmed. The series was created by Bill Burr and Michael Price, and follows the Murphy family, an Irish-American clan living in the 1970’s, a time when political correctness was the last thing

Animated preschool series “Ada Twist, Scientist,” based on the book series from author Andrea Beaty and illustrator David Roberts, is coming to Netflix. The series comes from Chris Nee and Higher Ground, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company. The show centers on eight-year-old Ada Twist, a “young Black scientist who will explore helping

The cast of Peacock’s music comedy “Girls5eva” has added another impressive singer to its cast. Renée Elise Goldsberry, best known for originating the role of Angelica Schuyler in “Hamilton,” has joined the upcoming series from Tina Fey, Robert Carlock and Meredith Scardino. She will star alongside Sara Bareilles, who was announced as one of the

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers secured a comfortable win in game 1 of the 2020 NBA finals versus the Miami Heat, and unsurprisingly ABC rode the team’s success to an easy ratings win. The game averaged a 2.1 rating among adults 18-49 and 5.1 million total viewers according to fast national numbers. While

ABC is developing a comedy with the current coronavirus predicament at the heart of it. The single-camera project in question is called “Real People,” and hails from ABC Signature and “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” writer Nedaa Sweiss (pictured). “Real People” follows diverse neighboring families who grew close during the lockdown as they struggle

U.K. factual indie Woodcut Media has launched an international distribution and sales business. Woodcut International will focus on global sales of a program catalog of some 100 hours from the Woodcut slate, including new Sky Crime U.K. series “The Beverley Allitt Tapes” and library titles “The Ivy,” “Defenders of the Sky,” “Football: A Brief History

Don’t feed the Gremlin after midnight, don’t let it come into contact with water… and show caution when casting it on “The Masked Singer.” In a series first, “The Masked Singer” didn’t unmask a celebrity on Wednesday night — the celebrity did the unmasking themselves. Mickey Rourke was the second performer to leave “The Masked

NBCUniversal tried to harness two Fox News anchors in the recent past and failed. Now the company no doubt hopes the third time’s the charm. The company’s CNBC on Wednesday evening launched former Fox News daytime anchor Shepard Smith in a new 7 p.m. news hour that, as Smith himself described it, aims to give

Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital have acquired Silvercup Studios, the high-profile independent film and television studio in New York City, for an undisclosed price from brothers Stuart and Alan Suna. The acquisition, which includes the property’s operational components and equipment, was announced late Wednesday. It’s the seventh acquisition made by the joint venture’s

“The Good Doctor” actor Nicholas Gonzalez says Latinx representation in media is often stereotyped, and even when it isn’t, the characters are only temporary. “I was thankful to be … doing a very positive portrayal of a high-achieving cardiothoracic surgeon who happened to be Latino, which I think was a very good representation of the

In a bid to create a “further catalyst for real and sustained change,” ABC Entertainment has set forth a slate of new inclusion standards for all primetime series to “ensure multidimensional representation across the entire creative and production process.” The initiative is meant to increase diversity both on screen and behind the scenes. In a

When it comes to the 2020 election, “Utopia” star John Cusack believes everything is at stake. “The right to any future at all, democracy — [I] would say pretty much everything is on the line,” he said in an interview with Variety‘s Audrey Cleo Yap. Cusack, 54, said Democrats and Republicans would benefit from watching