Television

Following Banijay’s takeover of Endemol Shine Group, Nicolas Coppermann, president of Endemol Shine France, will be stepping down at the end of July, with François de Brugada taking the helm of Banijay France. As CEO of Banijay France, de Brugada will spearhead the combined unscripted and scripted footprint and lead the company’s talent base. Post

Studiocanal, the leading European production, distribution and international sales powerhouse, is teaming with France’s CPB Films (“Savages”) and Leyland Films (“Murder in Provence”) to develop a high-end English-language drama series about the trailblazing African American entertainer and civil rights activist Josephine Baker, whom the partners describe as the world’s first Black global star performer. Studiocanal,

The Shanghai International Film Festival will take place July 25 to Aug. 2, after Chinese authorities announced Thursday that cinemas will reopen at long last, beginning next Monday in low-risk regions. The Shanghai International TV Festival has also set its dates. It is scheduled to run from August 3 to 7. Cinemas in China have

Global streaming giant Netflix has come on board “A Suitable Boy,” the BBC Studios and Lookout Point adaptation of Vikram Seth’s bestselling novel. The series begins airing later this month in the U.K. on BBC One. Netflix will be the exclusive home of “A Suitable Boy” for all global territories, except Canada, the U.S. and

Nick Cannon will continue to host Fox’s top-rated reality competition series “The Masked Singer,” the network confirmed on Wednesday. The news that Cannon would stay on “Masked Singer” comes after the host issued an apology online for anti-Semitic comments he made on a podcast. “When we were made aware of Nick Cannon’s interview with Richard

“The Bold Type” star Aisha Dee took to Instagram on Wednesday to call out the lack of diversity behind the scenes of the Freeform series. In her post, she reflects on growing up in a primarily white, conservative area in Australia and how playing her character Kat Edison “pushed [her] to be better” personally and

In today’s TV news roundup, SiriusXM revealed Gayle King will host a weekly call-in show, and Rob Schneider announced his first-ever Netflix comedy special, “Asian Momma, Mexican Kids.” DATES FOX News Channel will debut “Harris Faulkner Presents: The Fight for America,“ a program about the current American conversations surrounding race, on July 19. The one-hour

If there is one film Christian Slater wants to revisit from his early career, it’s 1990’s “Pump Up the Volume.” The drama — which celebrates its 30th anniversary in August — centered on teenager Mark Hunter (Slater), a high school student by day and a pirate radio DJ who goes by “Hard Harry” by night.

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the finale of “The Challenge: Total Madness.” As the contestants on “The Challenge: Total Madness” prepared for their final competition, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio toasted the group by telling them that out of all of the seasons of the MTV reality competition of which he

Lori Hall and Jessica Lane Alexander had talked about joining forces to open their own marketing firm for years. In 2020, the entertainment veterans made that dream a reality — and their timing couldn’t have been more opportune. Hall and Alexander are the co-founders of Pop’N Creative, an Atlanta-based multicultural marketing firm. In the latest

Heather Morris took to Instagram Wednesday afternoon to post a touching tribute to Naya Rivera, her fellow “Glee” cast member who was found dead on July 13 after a boating accident. Morris and Rivera acted opposite each other on “Glee” as best friends-turned-girlfriends Brittany and Santana, whose relationship played a landmark role in LBGTQ+ representation

Dave Kajganich, the writer and producer who created the first season of AMC’s “The Terror” and penned Luca Guadagnino “Suspiria,” has signed an overall deal with Fox 21 Television Studios. As part of the deal, Kajganich will work with Fox 21 to create, develop and produce series for network, cable and streaming platforms. His current projects

As a spike in COVID-19 cases puts a halt to reopening plans in the city of Los Angeles, public broadcaster KCET is launching the series “Southland Sessions” to bring arts and cultural events to viewers quarantined at home. The series, which premieres Wednesday night, will feature conversations with local artists and cultural leaders as they

Amazon is developing a half-hour comedy series with Crab Club Inc. and SB Projects. The series is titled “The Undesirables.” It is set in a near-future Los Angeles that explores the unexpected relationships that form when a group of outcasts are forced to bond under unusual circumstances. Ken Cheng of Crab Club and Arvin Chen

Last month, during a panel about reality television for Variety‘s Virtual TV Festival, Nick Cannon decried the “cancel culture” that has seemingly now come for him. In response to a question about whether the firings of “Vanderpump Rules” cast members over their past racist actions was something that reality producers now see as a cautionary tale, Cannon said he

Peacock — the new streaming service owned by NBCUniversal — launched July 15, thus entering a fray of new options for streaming subscribers which this year has already seen entries by HBO Max and Quibi. Peacock’s value proposition so far seems heavily driven by its catalog, with past hits including “30 Rock” and “Cheers” as

Universal Content Productions is launching a comics shingle, UCP Graphic. The new initiative will focus on the publication of graphic novels from up-and-coming talent. The first effort from UCP Graphic will be an original comic-book series, “Proctor Valley Road,” from Alex Child and veteran comics and TV writer Grant Morrison (pictured), who will co-write the

Disney has released a new trailer for “Muppets Now,” which is set to premiere July 31 on Disney Plus. The two minute trailer features a video call between many of the iconic Muppets cast, from Miss Piggy to Gonzo. Kermit announces that their idea for a new show got the green light. He then introduces

The Quinn Colson novels by Ace Atkins are being developed as a TV series at HBO, Variety has learned exclusively. In the books, Colson is a former Army Ranger who returns to his home in rural northeast Mississippi. But upon returning, he discovers that where he grew up has been overrun with corruption, drugs, and violence.

Leaders of the Writers Guild of America have told their 15,000 members that United Talent Agency can represent them again after a 15-month standoff. The WGA negotiating committee notified members Wednesday about the deal on the heels of UTA making the announcement about signing a new franchise agreement. “The WGA and United Talent Agency (UTA)

In January, not long after the merger of Viacom and CBS closed, CBS chief creative officer and Showtime Networks chief exec David Nevins asked BET Networks president Scott Mills to share some of the pipeline projects that Mills was most excited about. One of those series was Lena Waithe’s “Twenties,” which at that point hadn’t

NBC for seven years offered advertisers a novel proposition: Pay us money to put your products in our show and let the  series’ writers make fun of them. Oddly enough, it worked. Fans may remember the offbeat sitcom “30 Rock” – a comedy ostensibly about the inner workings and strange characters behind a long-running TV

Hulu is thinking big by trying to get some of the smallest video advertisers to start buying commercials. The Disney-controlled streaming-video hub has long worked with Madison Avenue giants like Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble, but on Wednesday unveiled a concerted effort to get marketers with less heft to start considering Hulu as a choice

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Brave New World,” streaming now on Peacock. Alden Ehrenreich is no stranger to stepping into the worlds of iconic intellectual property: In 2013 he starred in the big-screen adaptation of Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s “Beautiful Creatures” and in 2018 joined the “Star Wars”

The world of the iconic “Usagi Yojimbo” comic books is coming to television for the first time. Netflix is teaming with Gaumont on a CGI animated series titled “Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles,” which is based on the 35-year-old comic book series by Stan Sakai. Rather than centering around the comic books’ protagonist Miyamoto Usagi,

Details around the deal between United Talent Agency and the Writers Guild of America have emerged, revealing some notable concessions that will allow the two Hollywood institutions to resume work together. The agency has agreed to cease packaging fees, a lucrative practice at the heart of the WGA’s new franchise agreement, in two years time,

ViacomCBS is not expecting to bring most of its employees back to its U.S. offices for the remainder of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage across the country. In a memo sent to staff on Wednesday obtained by Variety, ViacomCBS president and CEO Bob Bakish wrote “While we were hopeful we’d be able

Actor and TV host Nick Cannon has struck back at ViacomCBS, hours after he was dropped by the media giant for making anti-Semitic comments on his podcast. Cannon has asked for ownership of his MTV and VH1 series “Wild ‘N Out,” as well as an apology from the company. In a lengthy statement posted to

U.K. broadcaster ITV’s BAFTA-winning gameshow “The Cube” is returning for an eighth season after a five-year hiatus, with a £1 million ($1.26 million) jackpot up for grabs. Host Phillip Schofield will again present the show, which sees contestants attempt seemingly simple tasks within the high-pressure confines of the show’s central Perspex box. In keeping with

French broadcaster TF1 will air entertainment show “Good Singers,” hosted by TV personality Anthony Lambert, from July 17. The weekly prime time show is based on Istanbul-headquartered distributor Global Agency’s original format “Is That Really Your Voice?,” created by Izzet Pinto, in which a panel must select the talented singers from a group based purely