Television

When it came to designing the court of Peter III in Hulu’s “The Great,” which premieres May 15, production designer Francesca di Mottola carefully avoided the style of the Versailles-like Russian Winter Palace. “We wanted to invent our world for the show,” she says.  Created by Tony McNamara, “The Favourite” screenwriter, the show focuses on

The coronavirus crisis is deepening an already dire economic outlook for the nation’s newsrooms as companies launch furloughs, layoffs and pay cuts, union leaders are asserting. “The news business is in deep trouble,” said Lowell Peterson, executive director of Writers Guild For America East. “The economic crisis has gutted ad revenues.” Peterson explained that the 3,500

“How to Get Away With Murder” signed off with an ending to die for on ABC last night, scoring its largest audience since Oct. 2018. The final appearance of Viola Davis as Annalise Keating scored a 0.7 rating among adults 18-49 and 3.2 million total viewers. That represents the show’s highest rating of its sixth

CBS All Access is bringing back some fan-favorite characters for a another brand new “Star Trek” series. The streamer has given a series order to “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” starring Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The series will follow Pike, Spock,

Ariana Grande made a surprise appearance during her brother Frankie Grande’s virtual fundraiser for the Los Angeles LGBT Center on Thursday night. “I want to send a hug and so much love to anybody who needs it and feels extra isolated,” the singer said during the two-hour Rainbowthon event. The benefit also included appearances and

In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix announced that “Queer Eye” Season 5 will premiere in June, and Audible has added 40 new sleep and relaxation titles to their newly-launched Sleep Collection. DATES Netflix has announced that “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj” will return on May 17 with seven new episodes releasing over the span of seven

SAG-AFTRA is requiring members to seek union approval before accepting any new work, citing health and safety concerns stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. The union, which represents about 160,000 performers, posted the urgent notice on its website on Thursday. “In light of the COVID-19 global pandemic and the attendant high risk to the health and

“The Blacklist” cast and crew were four days into shooting Episode 19 of Season 7 when coronavirus brought their New York set to a grinding halt. Executive producers Jon Bokenkamp and John Eisendrath’s first thoughts were, “That’s that, season over,” says Bokenkamp. But soon enough, KA-POW, they settled on turning the episode into a hybrid

Sometimes, a setting has to do a bit too much work. “Hightown,” a new drama series on Starz, takes place in Provincetown — the gay mecca and artists’ enclave on the tip of Cape Cod. And while the series puts great effort into exposing other sides of the community, it doesn’t, elsewhere, transcend fairly simple

The CW has announced that it plans on airing its next DC Comics crossover in the first or second quarter of 2021. The announcement was made by CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz on Thursday. “It will not happen in December but it will happen sometime hopefully first or second quarter of 2021,” Pedowitz said.

Lilly Singh, host of NBC’s “A Little Late With Lilly Singh,” joined the NAB Show Executive Leadership Summit, produced in partnership with the Variety Streaming Room, to discuss the first season of her show and representation in late-night television. Singh, who was a successful YouTuber before transitioning to late-night, wrapped the first season of “A Little Late” in

“The Good Fight” still has some punches left to throw. CBS All Access has renewed the drama for season 5, while also conceding that the current season will have to be curtailed to only seven episodes due to the coronavirus production shutdown. The seventh, and now final episode of season 4 will debut on the

A Percy Jackson series is currently in the early stages of development at Disney Plus. Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson book series, made the announcement Thursday in a video on Twitter alongside his wife Becky. Rick then followed up with a statement, which reads in part, “We can’t say much more at this

“Never Have I Ever” star Darren Barnet has landed a guest star role on the Season 7 premiere of ABC’s “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Variety has learned exclusively. In the show’s final season opener, titled “The New Deal,” Coulson (Clark Gregg) and the agents are thrust back in time to 1931 New York City, where they

The CW won’t be debuting any new original scripted shows in fall 2020. Due to the ongoing coronavirus-related production shutdown, the network is holding nearly all of its original scripted fare for January 2021. In announcing its 2020-2021 schedule on Wednesday, however, the network did say that it would air the series finale of “Supernatural”

NBC has acquired the hit Canadian medical drama series “Transplant,” the network announced Thursday. The CTV series debuted its first season on Feb. 26. The 13-episode series centers on Dr. Bashir “Bash” Hamed, a Syrian doctor with battle-tested skills in emergency medicine who fled his country with his younger sister, Amira. Together they struggle to

“Hamilton” star Daveed Diggs booked the role of Andre Layton in the small-screen adaptation of “Snowpiercer” less than a year after taking his final Broadway bow in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical. But it’s only now, exactly three years after his casting in the pilot was announced, that he’ll finally be seen in that role — a

A U.K. petition calling for an inquiry into press conduct leading up to the suicide of “Love Island” host Caroline Flack has been thrown out by Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg. The popular “Love Island” presenter, one of the country’s most recognizable TV personalities, had been due to go on trial in

Rome’s MIA market, an increasingly popular showcase for TV series, feature films and documentaries, has confirmed that it will have its sixth edition in the Italian capital, in a “protected and COVID-proof environment.” It will also be launching a virtual initiative for those who can’t attend. The MIA market (Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo, or International Audiovisual

ViacomCBS’s ad-funded streamer Pluto TV has expanded its offering in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland with the launch of 24 new channels. The launches bring the AVOD service’s portfolio to 75 channels in the three markets. The new offerings include pop-up channels focusing on ViacomCBS IP such as “SpongeBob Squarepants,” “iCarly,” “Blue’s Clues,” “Victorious,” “Bubble Guppies”

In honor of its 20th anniversary, “Survivor” brought back 20 winners from previous seasons, but only one person came out on top during Wednesday’s finale. During a socially distanced video call, host Jeff Probst revealed that Tony Vlachos won the season. Heading into the final episode, five castaways remained to win the $2 million grand prize:

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 3, episode 16 of “The Masked Singer,” which aired May 13 on Fox. Former pro baseball pitcher Barry Zito has spent the past few years focusing on his music career. Just last week, he released a cover of the Kenny Rogers track “The

Mike Tirico, Al Michaels, and Dan Hicks are among the NBC Sports on-air personalities who will take a pay cut for the rest of the year, the latest TV-sports team to agree to salary reductions in the wake of the effects of the nation’s coronavirus pandemic on the sports business. “Our on-air personalities reached out

Both “The Purge” and “Treadstone” have been canceled at USA Network, Variety has confirmed. “The Purge” aired two seasons on the cabler while “Treadstone” had aired one. Both were produced at least in part by UCP and based on Universal film franchises, with “Treadstone” being set in the “Bourne” universe. The cancellations come roughly two weeks

In today’s TV news roundup, Showtime announced the premiere date for “The Go-Go’s” documentary and two other unscripted projects, and Audible announced the cast its adaptation of “The Sandman.” DATES Netflix has announced Eric Andre’s new comedy special, “Legalize Everything,” will premiere on June 23. In the comedian’s first stand-up special, Andre “breaks the boundaries

SAG-AFTRA has engaged public health expert Jonathan E. Fielding to join its team of specialists advising the union in developing and implementing new safety protocols for preventing the spread of COVID-19 when production resumes. “COVID-19 remains a most serious health threat to all those who want and need to return to work. Therefore developing guidelines

In the latest installment of Variety’s new weekly series “Hollywood How-To,” Janet Mock, the writing maven of Ryan Murphy’s “Hollywood” and “Pose,” shares her tips for writing a script. The scribe shares her tips for setting a mood at home while working and reveals her rituals and go-to reads. Plus take a deep dive into

Johan Renck, who landed an Emmy for his work on “Chernobyl,” is in negotiations to direct and executive produce the limited series “Girl A” for Elizabeth Gabler’s 3000 Pictures at Sony Pictures Entertainment. The series is adapted from the upcoming novel by debut author Abigail Dean and is the first limited series project at 3000

Poland’s government has given the greenlight for film and TV production to resume on May 18 as it loosens restrictions in the battle against coronavirus. The country introduced a 30% cash rebate for production at the start of last year, and the Polish Film Institute and the Polish Film Commission have been wooing foreign producers

Netflix has released the official trailer for “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich,” a new docuseries exposing the money, power and secrets behind the international sex trafficking ring that led to Epstein’s 2019 arrest and eventual death in prison. Premiering on May 27, the four-part series features interviews with Epstein’s victims, detailing their experiences on his private