Television

The coronavirus pandemic has scuttled production of TV shows, live sports programs and in-studio audiences for late-night hosts. Now it’s threatening a new measure that might have aided a TV business worried about losing its audiences to streaming video. Nielsen was slated to add measurement of so-called “out of home” audiences to its main tally

This year’s virtual Comic-Con@Home has announced its schedule for Thursday, July 23. The highlights are below. The virtual event replaces the annual San Diego Comic-Con, the largest fan convention in North America, which was to be held July 22–26 at the San Diego Convention Center, until the COVID-19 pandemic forced its cancellation. In June, Comic-Con

Months after revealing that “The Crown” will end after season five, Netflix has said its hit show about Britain’s Royal Family will, in fact, extend to season six. The streaming giant announced the change of plans on Twitter, highlighting that creator Peter Morgan wants to do justice to the “richness and complexity” of the story.

Martha Stewart has spent her career improving homes and hearths. On Friday, July 31, executives at Discovery’s HGTV hope she will add new luster to their network with a new series, “Martha Knows Best.” Stewart will  tackle a variety of outdoor projects at her home in Bedford, N.Y., and will be joined virtually by guests

WarnerMedia has appointed Christina Sulebakk to lead HBO Europe, including the linear networks and streaming service. In her new role as general manager, HBO Europe, Sulebakk will report into Priya Dogra, president, WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks, EMEA and APAC. Sulebakk replaces Hervé Payan, who served as CEO of HBO Europe for eight years and who will

ESPN’s devotion to all things football is well known. But next week, it will cover a decidedly different version of that game. The Walt Disney-owned sports-media outlet intends to make exclusive reveals of the player ratings in Madden NFL 21, the latest title in EA Sports’ Madden NFL franchise. starting on Monday, July 13, on

Not a whole lot of people who sampled Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi premium mobile-streaming app for free are forking over money to pay for it after their gratis trial periods expired, according to new research estimates. The data adds fuel to questions about whether Quibi will be able to successfully pivot its business model, given indications

MSNBC said Thursday it would give Joy Reid the 7 p.m. slot that had been anchored for years by departed journalist Chris Matthews, handing the important task of assembling early-evening weekday audiences for its primetime schedule to a Black woman – still a rarity in the cable-news business in 2020. Her program will be called

British presenter David Olusoga will deliver this year’s MacTaggart Lecture as part of the virtual Edinburgh TV Festival in August. Olusoga, a popular academic, appears frequently in some of the U.K.’s top factual shows, such as the BBC’s “A House Through Time,” “Black and British: A Forgotten History” and the BAFTA Award-winning “Britain’s Forgotten Slave

Although the COVID-19 outbreak has not yet completed its lethal sweep, the U.K.’s public broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation is aiming to tell “the definitive story of the coronavirus pandemic in Britain.” The broadcaster has commissioned its own BBC Studios Documentary Unit to deliver a feature-length documentary “Britain vs Coronavirus.” “Interweaving archive and compelling master

Sky Studios Elstree, the large-scale film and TV production facility being developed by Comcast’s European pay-TV operator Sky, sister company NBCUniversal, and finance firm Legal & General, has received the green light to proceed with construction following a decision late Wednesday by the local government, Hertsmere Borough Council. According to Sky, the studios are likely

Much of Season 10 of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” has centered on tension between Denise Richards and the other cast members, regarding Richards not being authentic about her private life on the show and a rumored relationship between her and former cast member Brandi Glanville. Garcelle Beauvais says it was especially explosive when

Satisfaction Group, Arthur Essebag’s thriving Paris-based production company specializing in non-scripted shows, has acquired 100% of Sony Pictures Television France and its label Starling, creating an exclusive joint venture called Satisfy. Under the deal, Sony Pictures Television has acquired 20% of Satisfaction Group, and will be in charge of the international distribution of the company’s

Former “Glee” star Naya Rivera, 33, is missing after a swimming accident at Lake Piru in Ventura County, Calif., according to the Ventura County sheriff’s department. At 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the sheriff’s department was investigating a possible drowning victim at Lake Piru. A dive team and police investigation team were dispatched to the area.

“The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” will end with a part four on Netflix later this year. Netflix and showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa made the announcement on Wednesday night. “Working on ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ has been an incredible honor from day one. The cast, beginning with Kiernan as everyone’s favorite teen witch, has been an absolute

Can extra soccer games kick ViacomCBS more directly into TV’s streaming wars? ViacomCBS picked up an extra run of UEFA Champions League games in a deal that will put the European soccer organization’s tournaments on broadcast, cable, and, perhaps most important, streaming at a time when the media conglomerate is trying to spur new interest

In today’s TV News Roundup, NBC set a “Weakest Link” revival with Jane Lynch as host, and Amazon Prime Video released a teaser for Season 2 of “The Boys.” DATES Hulu has announced that Season 2 of its comedy series “Pen15” will premiere on the streamer on Sept. 18. Season 2 consists of 14 episodes.

“Batwoman” has found its new series lead, with Javicia Leslie set to step into the cape and cowl for the show’s upcoming second season on The CW. “I am extremely proud to be the first Black actress to play the iconic role of Batwoman on television, and as a bisexual woman, I am honored to

The Emmys are still set for Sept. 20, and besides host Jimmy Kimmel, there’s very little we know about how this year’s ceremony (to be broadcast on ABC) will be handled. But we now have a better idea of how it might look: The first non-host key art for the 72nd Emmy Awards is out,

It’s safe to say that “Chasing the Cure,” the acclaimed medical series that marked Ann Curry’s return to the small screen, is unlike anything else on television. Over the course of each 90-minute episode, the TBS and TNT series used crowdsourcing and a network of doctors and specialists to try to solve various medical mysteries

Showtime is developing a limited series about entertainment icon and activist Lena Horne. The series is currently titled “Blackbird: Lena Horne and America,” named for Horne’s favorite poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” Jenny Lumet, Horne’s granddaughter, will co-write the first few episodes of the series with Alex Kurtzman, with both also executive

My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way has released his first official song of 2020, “Here Comes the End,” which comes from the new season of “Umbrella Academy,” the Netflix series based on comics and graphic novels created by Way and Gabriel Ba. The song features singer Judith Hill, who previously worked with Prince, Michael Jackson and

After giving Fox News Channel the business with an abrupt departure last year, anchor Shepard Smith is likely to find himself more engaged with news about the subject. He’s joining finance-focused news outlet CNBC to host a new evening-news program, marking one of the first major outside hires by the NBCUniversal-owned cable network in years.

A reboot of “The Wonder Years” has landed a pilot production commitment at ABC. The new half-hour comedy series would focus on how a black middle class family in Montgomery, Alabama in the turbulent late 1960’s made sure it was The Wonder Years for them too.  That puts the new show in the same time

“Sex and the City” and “Younger” creator Darren Star has inked an overall production and development deal with ViacomCBS’ entertainment and youth group. “Darren is a creative force behind some of the most seminal shows of our time and we are thrilled he will continue to call ViacomCBS his home as we rapidly expand our

Few current TV series utilize makeup as expressively as HBO’s “Euphoria,” which follows a group of teenagers coming into their own identities and sexualities while dealing with problems involving trauma, drugs and love. In a video for Variety Artisans presented by HBO, Doniella Davy, head of the makeup department on the series, explained the show’s

In a revealing new interview, Demi Lovato opened up about growing up as a Disney Channel star, including how her old management team normalized her eating disorder, which she said is true of much of the entertainment industry. “I kind of looked around and had a moment where I was like, ‘Wow. This is so

When Aldous Huxley was writing “Brave New World” in 1931, he was envisioning a futuristic world in which humans were genetically engineered into a caste system. Those who were deemed the most intelligent were on top — the aptly named Alphas — but no one looked around or within to question why things were like

Standout Spanish cinema actors Irene Escolar (“Official Competition,” “Tell Me Who I Am”) and Bárbara Lennie (“Everybody Knows,” “Magical Girl”) have teamed on a new anthology series commissioned by HBO España and produced by Calle Cruzada. Created and executive produced by the pair (pictured), who will also perform in the show, “Escenario 0” features six

The new head of NBCUniversal’s news operations pledged to make the workforce that staffs NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC more diverse, calling for the unit’s employee base to be 50% female and 50% people of color over an undefined period of time. “The demographics of America have been changing for decades… and that change is