Acclaimed British actor, writer and producer Idris Elba will receive a BAFTA Special Award for his creative contribution to television and his commitment to championing diversity and new talent in the industry. The Special Award is one of the British Academy’s highest honors, with previous recipients for television including Nicola Shindler, Clare Balding, John Motson,
Television
ABC News executive Barbara Fedida will not return to the Disney-owned unit following an investigation into allegations of insensitive behavior and her treatment of employees, according to a person familiar with the matter, Staffers were notified of the matter Monday in a memo from Peter Rice, chairman of Walt Disney Television. “The investigation substantiated that
Lifetime has released a new trailer for investigative documentary “Surviving Jeffrey Epstein,” which is set to air on Aug. 9 and 10. The one-minute trailer introduces eight survivors who are the narrators of the film. They speak of being “touched aggressively” by Epstein in their teenage years and speak up for the “thousands of [sexual
One former Fox News staffer and one frequent on-air guest at the network filed suit in federal court Monday, alleging they had been harassed individually by Ed Henry, the Fox News anchor who was fired by the cable-news outlet earlier this month following a complaint about “willful sexual misconduct in the workplace,” and their disclosures
ICM Partners has hired Courtney Kelley as chief human resources officer. Kelley joins the company from the National Football League, where she served as vice president of human resources. Her post is effective immediately, agency co-presidents Sloan Harris and Kevin Crotty announced Monday. Kelley specializes in organizational and culture development, leadership development, talent acquisition and
“Pose” co-creator Steven Canals has a new limited series in the works at FX. Titled “81 Words,” the series tells the true story of gay activists Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings, who risked their career reputations to conspire with the GAYPA – a clandestine group of closeted psychiatrists – to challenge the American Psychiatric Association’s
If NBC and Lorne Michaels have their way, NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” this fall could move from being produced from cast members’ homes to being made the old-fashioned way – “from New York.” Michaels and his team are making plans to bring the show back to NBC’s Manhattan studios for the venerable late-night program’s 46th
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
“grown-ish” star and executive producer Yara Shahidi has signed an overall deal with ABC Studios. As part of the deal, Shahidi is forming a production company with her business partner and mother, Keri Shahidi. The company is called 7th Sun. Under the deal, 7th Sun will develop and produce scripted and alternative television projects for
Beau Ferrari has been promoted to the role of Chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, succeeding Cesar Conde who departed to head up NBCUniversal News Group in May. In his new role, Ferrari will oversee the company’s media portfolio which includes the Telemundo broadcast network. He will report to directly to NBCUniversal Television and Streaming chairman
Bob Costas, the sportscaster who narrated World Series games, boxing matches and NBC’s Olympics telecasts and elevated his commentary to include politics and culture, is joining CNN as a contributor, the cable-news outlet announced Monday. He is expected to offer perspective on sports issues as that industry grapples with the coronavirus pandemic and a range
Fox Sports has released what it claims is a “completely redesigned” app for livestreaming games, real-time scores, breaking news and more — timed for the debut of Major League Baseball’s delayed 2020 season. The app’s overhaul has been in the works for nearly two years, and Fox Sports decided to introduce the new version once
U.K.-based production company and financier Fugitive has signed a wide-ranging partnership with South African independent producer Helena Spring for a diverse slate of projects. Spring produced “Yesterday,” a 2005 Oscar nominee for South Africa in the foreign language category. The film was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy and an Independent Spirit Award. The new
Canadian broadcast group Corus Entertainment has picked up a wide-ranging slate of comedies and dramas from Sky Studios. Sky Original dramas and comedies such as “Intelligence,” “Devils” and “Bulletproof” will land on Corus’s roster of channels and platforms, which includes national network Global Television, following the multi-year pact between Corus Entertainment and NBCUniversal Global Distribution,
The star of Jason Hehir’s documentary series “The Last Dance” isn’t Michael Jordan so much as his charisma, which seems at times to move independent of him. The nonfiction series, which was a sensation on ESPN this past spring ahead of its bow on Netflix this weekend, is flawed as documentary in all but one
Disney, the biggest spender on advertising with Facebook in the first half of 2020, has reportedly suspended ads for Disney Plus and Hulu with the social giant. Disney recently has “dramatically slashed” advertising with Facebook, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing anonymous sources. Disney did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The move
Local public broadcaster KCET was once again the major winner at this year’s Los Angeles Area Emmys, and then, when combined with its sister station KOCE (“PBS SoCal”), the two outlets further dominated the awards. KCET won eight Emmys this year, the most of any station, followed by Univision’s KMEX-TV, which won five. Telemundo’s KVEA
Amazon’s upcoming animated series “Invincible” has added Zachary Quinto and Khary Payton to its already star-studded voice cast. Based on the comic book of the same name by “Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman, “Invincible” follows the adventures of Mark Grayson, the son of the most powerful superhero on Earth who develops his own powers and
Haruma Miura, a Japanese actor known for his roles in the “Attack on Titan” films and “Kimi ni Todoke,” has died, according to Kyodo News and other local reports. He was 30. Kyodo News reported that the actor was found in his Tokyo home on Saturday and was later pronounced dead upon arriving at a
Anjelika Washington, who currently stars on CW’s “Stargirl,” has revealed a previous show gave her a white stunt double in blackface. The actor doesn’t reveal on which show the incident occurred, but said it happened in Los Angeles in 2017 on her fourth job as an actor. On her IMDb page, the Go90 series “Versus”
CBS News has a link to TV broadcasting that hearkens to the days of Walter Cronkite and Douglas Edwards. But a new special set to debut Sunday evening was made available for streaming earlier this week. The hour-long effort, “Pandemia: Latinos in Crisis,” focuses on the Latinx community and the pressures placed upon it and
John Lewis, the revered civil rights pioneer who represented Georgia in Congress for nearly 35 years, died Friday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 80. Lewis became an icon of the 1960s civil rights movement through his leadership alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and others in the non-violent protest movement and landmark peace
“The Amazing Race” was perhaps the first major U.S. production to halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when filming on the show’s Season 33 was paused at the end of February. Host Phil Keoghan said the decision to stop the show midstream, which had never happened before, was disheartening at the time — but it
In today’s TV news roundup, W. Kamau Bell and Jacob Kornbluth release the animated series “Talk Boring to Me,” and Science Channel announces its programming for the Apollo 11 moon landing anniversary. DATES W. Kamau Bell and Jacob Kornbluth released their animated YouTube series “Talk Boring to Me” on July 17. The show, produced and
Luke Evans isn’t saying yes, nor is he saying no to a third season of “The Alienist,” the TNT drama series based on the Caleb Carr book series. Evans returns for the second season, premiering on July 19, as 19th century New York City illustrator-turned-newspaper reporter John Moore, as does Dakota Fanning as Sara Howard,
Hockey star Jeremy Roenick sued NBC Sports for wrongful termination on Friday, claiming the network discriminated against him as a straight man after he made off-color remarks on a Barstool Sports podcast. Roenick also alleges that the network retaliated against him because he was an outspoken supporter of President Trump in 2016. Roenick was let
Rachel Maddow scored her most-watched episode ever of “The Rachel Maddow Show” with an interview of President Trump’s niece Mary Trump. The sit-down drew a whopping 5.2 million total viewers, easily beating Maddow’s previous record for her MSNBC show of around 4.5 million viewers (which dates back to her conversation with Lev Parnas, who was
Nick Cannon’s daytime talk show, which was scheduled to premiere later this year, has been pushed to 2021 in the aftermath of anti-Semitic comments he made on a podcast. The show’s producer, Lionsgate-owned Debmar-Mercury, confirmed the news in a statement obtained by Variety, saying that it is “standing by” Cannon given that his “public comments don’t
Given that Disney Plus’ upcoming “Falcon and Winter Soldier” series hasn’t been in production since coronavirus shut the set down in March, the chances of it making its August premiere date were approximately zero. Confirmation that the series’ release has been delayed has arrived, as it was nowhere to be seen on the list of
RespectAbility Entertainment Lab 2020 wrapped July 16, after 15 sessions intended to create an industry pipeline of professionals with disabilities behind the camera. The five-week program is sponsored by the nonprofit RespectAbility and is run by four women with disabilities: Lauren Appelbaum, Tatiana Lee, Nasreen Alkhateeb and Leah Romond. The program targets individuals who are