Television

Jerry Bishop, the longtime announcer for “Judge Judy” and a veteran of Los Angeles radio, died April 21 of heart disease. He was 84. Bishop spent 24 years as the announcer for the popular syndicated court show presided over by Judge Judith Sheindlin. Over his long career, Bishop worked as a morning drive-time host for

In today’s TV News Roundup, Netflix released the trailer for Season 2 of “Dead to Me,” and Global Citizen announced a “Friday Night Lights” cast reunion to benefit the World Health Organization. DATES NBC has made adjustments to its upcoming schedule due to the recent addition of “A Parks and Recreation Special”: “Council of Dads”

The “Disney Family Singalong” continued to be one jump ahead of the competition in delayed viewing. ABC’s special rose on a magic carpet to a 3.2 Live+3 rating among adults 18-49, comfortably topping an encore of “The Masked Singer” by almost an entire ratings point. For comparison, the regular “Masked Singer” is averaging a 3.0

The untitled Cassian Andor series at Disney Plus is continuing to build out its cast. Variety has confirmed that both Denise Gough and Genevieve O’Reilly have joined the show, which will serve as a prequel to the film “Rogue One.” O’Reilly will reprise the role of Mon Motha, whom she played in “Rogue One,” while

In “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels,” John Logan’s followup series to his previous three-season “Penny Dreadful” drama at Showtime, Natalie Dormer stars as Magda, a shape-shifting demon intent on sowing chaos wherever she goes. The backdrop is 1938 Los Angeles, an era rife with racial tension — the perfect opportunity for a hell goddess to start

NBCUniversal said it would hold a one-hour streaming-video presentation for Madison Avenue on May 11 to discuss the advertising marketplace, the first of the big U.S. media companies to commit to a formal conversation with advertisers in the wake of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. In a message sent to agencies and clients Friday,

Andy Cohen, who recently recovered from coronavirus, has called on the FDA to lift its three month waiting period for gay and bisexual men to donate blood and plasma. Broadcasting from his home on Thursday’s “Watch What Happens Live,” Cohen recounted to viewers his recent rejection from a program for coronavirus survivors, who have produced

As Hollywood contemplates the risks and uncertainties around going back into production in the coming months after coronavirus-imposed shutdowns, strategies for scaled-back sets are beginning to emerge. Producers Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Chris Ferguson — from the companies Automatik (“Honey Boy,” “Bad Education”) and Oddfellows (“Child’s Play”), respectively — have created a proposal titled “Isolation Based Production

The Variety Streaming Room will host an exclusive screening presented by BritBox of the first episode of upcoming chilling true crime drama series “A Confession,” followed by a Q&A with star Martin Freeman and director Paul Andrew Williams on May 6 at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET. BritBox is the first streaming platform

When production of the fifth season of “Superstore” was shut down in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, there was still one more episode to shoot: the finale. The episode would also mark America Ferrera’s last. The “Superstore” star announced in February that she was leaving the series. Ferrara will still pop up in the

Carrie Mathison is pressed into service for one last quixotic mission to prevent geopolitical chaos from breaking out in Sunday’s series finale of the Showtime espionage drama “Homeland.” The tortured tale of the brilliant, bipolar CIA agent played by Claire Danes draws to a close after eight seasons — 96 episodes — with an episode

Jeff Wilbusch has signed with Echo Lake Entertainment for mangement, Variety has learned exclusively. Wilbusch most recently appeared in the Netflix limited series “Unorthodox,” inspired by the Deborah Feldman memoir of the same name. It tells the story of a young Jewish woman named Esty who runs away from her arranged marriage and ultra-Orthodox community in

On March 12, after months of intensive work, Tanya Saracho delivered the final cut of “Vida” to Starz. On March 13, she began self-quarantining. “After all that activity, I didn’t know what to do with the silence!” she laughs now, several weeks later. What made that first stretch of social distancing even stranger for Saracho,

The NFL Draft kicked off in strong fashion in the TV ratings, as “Will & Grace” aired its finale ever episode (barring another revival, of course) to decent numbers. Round 1 of the draft, which saw LSU quarterback Joe Burrow selected as the number one overall pick by the Cincinnati Bengals, scored a 1.6 rating

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts saw his 2019 compensation rise 3.8% to nearly $36.4 million, the Philadelphia cable giant disclosed in a filing Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Many of the company’s top executives received relatively straightforward pay raises, though the totals they earn dwarf the average worker’s annual take-home pay. Former NBCUniversal

Like most of us these days, “Black Panther” and “Sherlock” star Martin Freeman’s life is on hold and he is stuck at home. Planned film and TV projects for the in-demand actor are either postponed or up in the air. “I’m not doing that much apart from reading and trying to keep fit to make

In this week’s International TV Newswire: spring festivals and markets feel Le Crunch, Warner Bros. steps up Spanish scripted, Nordisk Film and Fantefilm join forces, “All Star Driving School” steers into Mexico. June Builds as a Virtual Market Smackdown Le Crunch used to refer to the France-England rugby match. Now, it pretty much sums up Europe’s virtual

NBC Sports has turned to digital and social venues to rouse sports fans who can’t get their fix. The NBCUniversal-owned unit has been trying to galvanize fans with the hashtag #onehometeam,  under which it distributes everything from a scavenger hunt to an invitation for fitness videos to people who might follow events associated with NBC

MADRID – While Spain’s audiovisual industry anxiously awaits federal relief measures to be approved this coming Tuesday, April 28, the Comunidad de Madrid – the Madrid Region – has announced a €1 million ($1.08 million) investment to generate €40million ($43.14 million) of financial aid for the film, TV and performing arts sectors. Each will receive

Thousands of members of Israel’s entertainment industry convened in Tel Aviv Thursday night for a socially distanced protest calling on the government to provide desperately needed aid. The event began with a laser light show depicting “150” in huge numbers inside a ticking clock, a reference to the 150,000 entertainment industry workers in the country.

Apple CEO Tim Cook made a surprise appearance on BBC’s “Big Night In” fundraiser on Thursday to reveal the company is waiving fees on charity single “Times Like These.” Speaking remotely from his home, Cook said the tech giant is dismissing all royalties on the single, which is a cover of the Foo Fighters song

Even Prince William can’t escape the sensation of Netflix docuseries “Tiger King.” The British royal appeared in a two-minute sketch on BBC’s “Big Night In” fundraising special Thursday evening, where he was in a Zoom call with actor Stephen Fry, playing his iconic “Blackadder” character, Lord Melchett. Prince William at one point asked, “Have you

MADRID —  Renamed Conecta Fiction Reboot, the on-site fourth edition of the Latin America-Europe TV co-production forum, a vibrant and fast-growing event on the market calendar, will take place in Spain’s Pamplona over Sept. 2-3, unspooling as a hybrid on-site and virtual event. Moved from its traditional mid-June slot – this year’s event was originally

Penned in by stay-at-home measures to fend off a pandemic, America’s audiences are turning to their television screens for comfort and distraction. Netflix, for one, saw an estimate-crushing 15.8 million jump in paid subscribers in its most recently reported quarter, more than twice as many as the streaming company expected. It is not the only

The good folks of the Parks and Recreation Department in Pawnee, Indiana are back for more hijinks, well, at least for a little while. NBC has announced that the cast of its iconic sitcom “Parks and Rec” is set to reunite for a half-hour scripted special airing on April 30, in aid of COVID-19. Almost

In today’s TV news roundup, Hulu released the trailer for “The Great,” and AMC dropped a teaser for “Quiz.” DATES Paramount Network has announced “Yellowstone” Season 3 will premiere on June 21. The series follows the Dutton family and the conflicts that arise along the shared borders of their large cattle ranch. This season welcomes

The Emmys must go on, and the New York chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will become the first to hand out awards in this current shelter-at-home environment. The 63rd annual New York Emmy Awards will be announced on Saturday via a pre-produced webcast that could serve as a template for

Many of Fox Sports’ on-air anchors and analysts will take a temporary pay cut, largely in tandem with compensation decreases among top executives at parent company Fox Corporation,  which is, like many other media conglomerates, grappling with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on operations. Fox Corp. said Wednesday that top executives, including Rupert Murdoch

Fox Entertainment has brought on SideCar, its content development accelerator, and writer and executive producer Rob Long to develop the multi-camera comedy, “The Texanist.” Variety exclusively learned in January that Fox was in the very early stages of developing the series, which is based on a long-running advice column from writer David Courtney. According to

Earlier this month, HBO’s “The Plot Against America” came to a rousing end. It was up to production designer Richard Hoover to help the multiple directors of the show create the look for the show’s alternate timeline which posits that aviator Charles Lindbergh, played by Ben Cole, a Nazi sympathizer, is elected president in 1940