Television

One of The Onion’s classic headlines reads: “Marilyn Manson Now Going Door-To-Door Trying To Shock People.” The satirical article, published in 2001, was a devastating blow to a musician whose career consisted of dressing like a lunatic and screaming profane lyrics. Once you shine a light on it, the shtick becomes embarrassing quickly. That headline

Hollywood had a rough year in many areas — but the stock market largely was not one of them. Wall Street is poised to finish out 2023 up double digits: As of Dec. 27, the S&P 500 index has climbed 25% year to date and is nearing an all-time high record close. And in general,

John Cleese spent Boxing Day courting controversy on X (formerly Twitter) after he posted a joke in which he compared Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler. The joke rubbed many of the comedian’s followers the wrong way, prompting Cleese to issue several responses in which he somewhat trolled those who took his post as fact and

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium,” Episode 3 of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.” For fans of Rick Riordan‘s “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” books, Medusa represents one of Percy’s first big victories: After being tricked into spending time with “Aunty Em,” he beheads the snake-haired woman, and

Colman Domingo is having a banner year thanks to acclaimed performances in “Rustin” and “The Color Purple,” the latter of which opened to a triumphant $18 million on Christmas Day. But things were considerably different for the actor back in 2014. Despite being a Tony nominee for “The Scottsboro Boys,” Domingo couldn’t get his screen

Taraji P. Henson revealed during a recent SAG-AFTRA conversation moderated by Variety’s Angelique Jackson that she fired members of her team after her career hit a wall despite the global success of “Empire,” the Fox musical drama series that she starred on for six seasons from 2015 to 2020. Henson played the outspoken and ferocious

The first episode of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” brought in 13.3 million viewers in its first six days on Disney+ and Hulu. This number puts the series among the top five most-watched season premieres in all of 2023 on both streaming services. While the exact titles that make up the top five lists are

Matt Napolitano, an anchor and reporter for Fox News Audio, died Dec. 23 in New York City after a short illness. He was 33. Napolitano had been with Fox News since 2015, starting out as a writer for its Sirius XM channel, Fox News Headlines 24/7. He quickly advanced to serving as a sports reporter

Adam Petlin, who joined Fox News weeks after its debut in 1996 and was longtime head of Chicago bureau operations, died on Dec. 23 after a long illness. He was 58. Petlin was one of the first six field photographers hired for the then-fledging news operation in August 1996. He was quickly promoted to supervisory

“Survivor” (Season 45, Episode 6) Season 45 of “Survivor” was one for the books thanks to the return to 90-minute episodes, explosive arguments from the get-go, a head-scratching showmance and more. But the best thing about the season, despite that he was taken too soon, was Kaleb Gebrewold. Kaleb was the strongest player on a

Amazon Prime Video India‘s streaming service has had a record 2023 with 22 series and three feature films commissioned, the most since it launched in 2016, and a high level of consumer engagement. India continues to top the charts when it comes to Prime member engagement with Prime Video, the service informs Variety. No other

Kamar de los Reyes, who played the villain Raul Menendez in the popular video game “Call of Duty: Black Ops II” and starred as Antonio Vega in the soap opera “One Life to Live,” died on Sunday in Los Angeles after a brief battle with cancer, his wife’s publicist confirmed to Variety. He was 56.

Netflix has released the official trailer for Dave Chappelle’s newest comedy special, “The Dreamer.” The trailer is narrated by Morgan Freeman, who also makes an appearance alongside Chappelle. “What do you dream about? Not the dreams you have in your sleep: the ones you hold in your heart. Don’t be intimidated by the audacity of

Neel Nanda, a stand-up comedian who appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and Comedy Central’s “Adam Devine’s House Party,” has died. He was 32. His longtime manager Greg Weiss confirmed the news to Variety, saying that he was a “great comic” and “great human being” whom he had known since Nanda was 19 years old. No

Selma Archerd, an actress who was well known in Hollywood as the vivacious wife of longtime Variety columnist Army Archerd, has died. She was 98. Selma Archerd died Dec. 14 in Los Angeles, according to a Legacy.com posting on the Los Angeles Times’ website. Selma Archerd was seen as a hostage in 1988’s “Die Hard”

No one knew how many difficulties existed in the fictional town of Letterkenny when the show revolving around small-town hicks, hockey players and skids launched on Super Bowl Sunday 2016. As it turns out, there were enough “Letterkenny Problems” not only to change the lives of all those involved, but to transform the Canadian TV

Cheating pays — for Bart and Homer, that is. This Sunday’s episode of “The Simpsons” takes on sports cheating, college admissions scandals (like “Varsity Blues”) and more, as father and son become kings of the blue-collar sports circuit. But in “Do the Wrong Thing,” Marge soon suspects that there’s something dishonest going on. “It airs

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie‘s “The Curse” is finally here. The bizarre home-flipping comedy series is now available to stream on Paramount+ with Showtime starting today, and will air on Showtime on Nov. 12

Looking back on the year of television, streaming giant Netflix certainly contributed to several stand-out moments of 2023’s peak TV. Not only did the streamer expand on its already adored franchises, with the new U.K.-set season of “You,” the “Bridgerton” spinoff “Queen Charlotte” and the return of the Flanaverse with a meditation on mortality in

NBCUniversal has led the way in terms of holiday season programming. Beginning with record viewership of the annual Macy’s Parade and other ratings wins along the way, the company has boasted a total of 82 million viewers of its holiday programming across NBC and Peacock since Thanksgiving, according to the most current measurement available. The

Broadcast pilot season was already mostly dead when the Hollywood strikes came along. But to paraphrase Billy Crystal in “The Princess Bride,” “There’s a big difference between ‘mostly dead’ and ‘all dead.’ Mostly dead is slightly alive!” And that’s where pilot season now stands: Mostly dead — and yet still stubbornly, slightly alive. A relic

When the Buffalo Bills square off against the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday via a game streamed on NBC’s Peacock, they will, for at least a period of time, do so without one of their most supportive fans: Madison Avenue. Peacock plans to stream the game’s fourth quarter without commercials, essentially sacrificing 12 minutes, or

As part of Variety‘s 100 Greatest Television Shows of All Time issue, we asked 12 of our favorite creators of television to discuss the series that inspire and move them. Check out all the essays, and read our full list of the best TV shows ever made. Almost nothing happens in “The Royle Family.” Over the course of 25 episodes,

As part of Variety‘s 100 Greatest Television Shows of All Time issue, we asked 12 of our favorite creators of television to discuss the series that inspire and move them. Check out all the essays, and read our full list of the best TV shows ever made. “Reservation Dogs” reminds me of… absolutely nothing I’ve ever seen before. The series,

As part of Variety‘s 100 Greatest Television Shows of All Time issue, we asked 12 of our favorite creators of television to discuss the series that inspire and move them. Check out all the essays, and read our full list of the best TV shows ever made. When I was 12, my TV diet consisted of ’80s procedurals like “Knight

As part of Variety‘s 100 Greatest Television Shows of All Time issue, we asked 12 of our favorite creators of television to discuss the series that inspire and move them. Check out all the essays, and read our full list of the best TV shows ever made. I have a theory that “Succession” was the first British sitcom to achieve

In a comeback worthy of “Succession”‘s patriarch Logan Roy, French billionaire Vincent Bolloré has re-emerged from a fictive retirement to engineer a strategic overhaul of his listed media empire, Vivendi. After seemingly passing on the reins of Vivendi to his sons Yannick and Cyrille last year, Bolloré stepped back in with a plan to split

Mark Francis, a veteran TV and streaming executive in Asia, has joined Indonesia’s Vidio streaming platform as its chief content officer and strategy officer. The appointment comes as the platform repasses 4 million subscribers and reclaims a lead in the Indonesian streaming market. Based in Jakarta and reporting directly to CEO Sutanto Harton, Francis is

Ricky Gervais has stirred up another controversy with a joke in his new Netflix special “Armageddon,” which hasn’t even come out yet. In a teaser clip released by the comedian, Gervais jokes about terminally ill children, calling them “baldy” and the R-slur. Now, more than 12,000 people have signed a Change.org petition demanding Netflix remove

“The Gilded Age” will return for a third season at HBO. “We’re so proud of what Julian Fellowes and ‘The Gilded Age’ family have achieved. From the costumes to the production design and performances, the show has captivated so many week after week. Along with our partners at Universal Television, we are thrilled to continue