Allies of SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris have blamed rising costs and the pandemic for recently announced changes that will sharply cut eligibility for the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan on Jan. 1. “Nothing is as personal or emotionally charged as our health and the peace of mind that comes with having quality healthcare at an affordable price,”
Television
Jonathan Majors is relishing his opportunity to play a new brand of hero on HBO’s “Lovecraft Country,” where the actor stars as Atticus “Tic” Freeman, a Korean war veteran whose love of sci-fi and fantasy novels turns (maybe a bit too) realistic after he returns home to look for his missing father. From the HBO
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” has overhauled its senior production team in the wake of accusations of racial insensitivity, sexual misconduct and other problems in the work environment at the long-running daytime talk show. Three senior producers — executive producers Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman, and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman — have been ousted from the
In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix announced a premiere date for “Sneakerheads,” and YouTube announced a premiere date for the Paris Hilton Documentary, “This is Paris.” DATES Netflix has announced a Sept. 25 premiere date for “Sneakerheads,” a comedy series starring Allen Maldonado, Andrew Bachelor, Jearnest Corchado, Matthew Josten, Yaani King Mondschein, Justin Lee and
HBO is bringing quarantined celebrities to the small screen with their new original film “Coastal Elites,” and the just-released trailer shows the lighter side of isolation. The film, the latest in a slew of pandemic programming, stars Issa Rae, Bette Midler, Kaitlyn Dever, Dan Levy and Sarah Paulson as several people telling their socially-distanced stories
The series premiere of “Lovecraft Country” scared up decent numbers for HBO. “Lovecraft Country” premiered to 760,000 total viewers in its 9 p.m. linear slot on the premium cabler, which isn’t too far behind the premiere of “Watchmen,” which drew 800,000 viewers. For further comparison to another big HBO series, “Perry Mason” debuted to 884,000
Hollywood agency CAA has launched CAA Scholars, a new initiative that will provide scholarships, fellowships and mentorship to underrepresented students. Formed through the agency’s charitable foundation, the program will target individuals attending college, university, or trade institutes, CAA said in an announcement. “From supporting our partner public schools to volunteering in reading and mentor programs,
Stuart D. Baker has been fired from the Adult Swim animated series “Squidbillies” after posting comments about Dolly Parton and the Black Lives Matter movement on social media. Baker, who performs under the name Unknown Hinson, posted on his Facebook profile about Dolly Parton voicing her support for the Black Lives Matter movement. In doing
Kenan Thompson is the latest star who has been tapped to fill in for Simon Cowell as a judge on “America’s Got Talent.” The “Saturday Night Live” cast member will temporarily take over for Cowell, who underwent back surgery over the weekend of Aug. 10 following a bike accident. Sources close to “AGT” say there
“Supernatural” will return for its final seven episodes starting in October. In announcing its fall premiere dates for the 2020-2021 broadcast television season on Monday, The CW revealed that the first of the long-running show’s final episodes will debut on Oct. 8 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The series finale will then air on Nov. 19
When Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was first cast on HBO’s “Watchmen,” he didn’t know he would be playing Dr. Manhattan, a godlike superhero with glowing blue skin. Instead, he thought he was simply playing Cal Abar, the husband of lead character Angela Abar (Regina King), not a part of the central conceit of the show and
Whether it was the dystopian society of “The Handmaid’s Tale” or the alternate history of “Watchmen,” the Emmy nominated costume designers in the fantasy/sci-fi category sought to ground their looks in reality. This meant relying on historical research, such as art and photo references of specific time periods, to help transport audiences into different worlds,
Not only has the COVID-19 pandemic upended the entertainment business (and, well, all businesses for that matter), it also put a sudden dent in what had been a more straight-ahead race to Emmy glory this year. A year ago, “Succession” Season 2 launched right in the middle of voting, and quickly turned into a phenomenon.
Michelle Buteau is unveiling her first hour-long stand-up comedy special. After turns in several of Netflix’s biggest titles over the last few years (including “Always Be My Maybe,” “Russian Doll” and “Tales of the City”), Buteau is taking center stage with her special “Michelle Buteau: Welcome to Buteaupia,” premiering Sept. 29. The special will see
History plans two new hour-long documentaries and an original eight-part podcast devoted to coverage of the infamous events of September 11, 2001. The two documentaries, “9/11: The Final Minutes of Fight 93” and “9/11: The Pentagon,” will debut Friday, September 11 at 8 pm. and 9 p.m. eastern, and will offer perspective on events that
When Disney Plus launched last year, I would occasionally ask its executives about their Emmy plans. They never quite had an answer — because early on, awards weren’t a high priority as they focused instead on growing the business. “I always found that when you’re working on creative storytelling, especially in filmed entertainment, if you
In today’s Global Bulletin, El Gouna announces CineGouna Platform finalists, “Decrypted” gets back to filming in the U.K. after a five-month layoff, ZDF boards a Danish co-production and Vice appoints a new VP for its U.K. non-fiction branch. FESTIVALS Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival (GFF), rescheduled to take place in person Oct. 23-31, has announced
Nexstar Media believes it has created the nation’s next great evening newscast. All it needs to do now is get viewers to agree. The company, the nation’s largest owner of TV stations, today will kick off a national promotional effort to call attention to “News Nation,” a primetime three-hour newscast that will air on the
Verizon, a key U.S. launch partner for Disney Plus, is reupping with the Mouse House on a brand-new deal: The telco will give wireless customers on two of most expensive unlimited plans access to the Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus bundle — for no extra charge. Starting Aug. 20, the Disney three-way bundle will
WWE is setting up shop at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida for the foreseeable future. The sports entertainment brand is establishing a residency at the arena with a new set that they have dubbed ThunderDome. It will feature large LED screens that will virtually bring fans into the arena via live video, in conjunction
Amazon Prime Video Germany has ordered comedy series “Binge Reloaded” from Redseven Entertainment, a Red Arrow Studios company. The show will continue in the vein of popular comedy show “Switch Reloaded,” which played several years on German channel ProSieben, owned by Red Arrow’s parent company ProSiebenSat.1. Each of the eight 30-minute episodes of “Binge Reloaded”
“The Crown” has found its Princess Diana. Elizabeth Debicki, who will be seen next in Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” has been cast as the late, famous royal in the fifth and sixth seasons of “The Crown.” “Princess Diana’s spirit, her words and her actions live in the hearts of so many. It is my true privilege
“Lovecraft Country” marks the second time Jurnee Smollett and creator Misha Green have worked together, extending their creative relationship from two seasons on WGN’s historical drama “Underground” to HBO’s buzzy horror series, based on the novel of the same name by Matt Ruff. The show is executive produced by Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams. But
More than 11,400 people have asked trustees of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan to overturn recently announced changes that will cut eligibility for the plan on Jan. 1. The petition at change.org — titled “Overturn the changes made to the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan” — noted that the changes are being imposed amid the pandemic and characterized
Noah Schnapp, who stars as Will Byers on Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” had his Twitter account hacked on Saturday afternoon, posting a series of bizarre and inappropriate messages. The first suspicious tweet was sent at 6:27 p.m. E.T. with the message “Suicidal thoughts..” Some fans were alarmed at the tweet, but others quickly realized that this
The Disney Channel animated series “The Owl House” has made history by having Disney’s first bisexual lead character. Luz Noceda, the show’s 14-year-old protagonist, is a normal teen who goes on a journey to another world to become a witch. Luz has shown she’s attracted to male characters in the show, and in the two
Food Network is cutting down the number of episodes for the upcoming fourth season of its holiday series “Christmas Cookie Challenge,” because of a crew member tested positive for COVID-19 this week, Variety has learned. The season will be six episodes long instead of its usual eight. Sonic Dog, the producers of the show, offered Variety a statement
Heidi Bivens, the costume designer for HBO’s hit series “Euphoria,” discussed how she created each character’s Halloween costume in the latest episode of Variety Artisans presented by HBO. Because series creator Sam Levinson wrote in costume cues for each episode’s script, Bivens felt she was able to execute his vision to the fullest extent. For
In today’s TV news roundup, the Billboard Music Awards have a new air date, and Thomas Roberts has been hired as the new host of DailyMailTV. DEALS Thomas Roberts has been hired as the newest host of DailyMailTV, which is going into its fourth season. Most recently, Roberts was the evening news anchor at WGCL-TV
Sorry, football fans: AT&T said it is not changing the restrictions for the NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market games package for the upcoming season. To purchase Sunday Ticket, you must still be either a DirecTV subscriber, or — if you don’t subscribe to the satellite TV service — you may be eligible to get the streaming