Television

The Writers Guild of America West has gone public with a dispute with CBS over its refusal to expand paid sick leave for its news writers who are working during the coronavirus pandemic. The guild asked its 10,000 members on Friday to sign a petition in support of the 100 WGA West members at CBS

HBO Max is trying to make fetch happen with a new dog grooming competition show. The streamer has given the greenlight to “Hot Dog” (working title), a 12-episode, half-hour series that pit bulls, sorry, pits three dog against each other in a “full head-to-tail creative competition” featuring many different canine breeds. “Hot Dog” is inspired

California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Friday the formation of an 80-person task force to develop economic recovery strategies amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic — and that group includes at least one or two well-known Hollywood executives. Disney executive chairman Bob Iger and Apple CEO Tim Cook will participate in the task force, which will

National Basketball Association players have agreed to a 25% reduction in their salaries while games are on hold because of the Coronavirus. Under terms of the agreement, ratified today by the owners and players’ association, the withholding will begin with the May 15 paychecks. The funds will be held in escrow until it’s known how

Some TV doctors seem to be ignoring the real-world Hippocratic oath. In recent weeks, a trio of popular dispensers of lifestyle advice – Drew Pinsky, Mehmet Oz and Phil McGraw – have appeared on media outlets or via digital video downplaying the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, with remarks that undermine their credibility and urge

The judge in the Lori Loughlin college admissions case said on Friday that he is disturbed by defense allegations of misconduct in the case, and asked prosecutors for further briefing. Loughlin’s attorneys have asked the judge to throw out the case, arguing that federal agents had pressured the cooperating witness, admissions consultant Rick Singer, to

Scheduling is a dark art at the best of times, but in a global pandemic, the role becomes a Herculean task for broadcasters around the world. Lockdowns in the U.K., France, Italy and Spain — the four hardest-hit countries in Europe — have proven a boon for broadcasters, who can play to captive audiences, provided

David Boorstein is joining Westbrook Studios as the senior vice president and head of scripted television development, Variety has learned exclusively. Westbrook Studios is a subsidiary of Westbrook Inc., which was founded in 2019 by Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, Miguel Melendez and Kosaku Yada. In his new role, Boorstein will will report to Westbrook

Last year, production designer Kate Bunch outfitted a Staten Island mansion for the Eastern European vampires who inhabit the TV mockumentary adaptation of 2014 comedy-horror film “What We Do in the Shadows.” For the FX on Hulu series’ second collection of shows, though, the job got a lot tougher. The new season required 20 to

Freeform has decided not to renew its “Party of Five” reboot for a second season. The one-hour drama followed the five Acosta children as they navigated daily life struggles to survive as a family unit after their parents are suddenly deported to Mexico. It starred Brandon Larracuente as Emilio, Emily Tosta as Lucia, Niko Guardado

Before the coronavirus outbreak put Italy on lockdown in early March, writer-director Niccolò Ammaniti was in Palermo, shooting “Anna,” a series for Comcast-owned pay-TV operator Sky centered on a 13-year-old Sicilian girl who must contend with a viral contagion that kills off all adults on the island of Sicily.  “We were shooting scenes in which

SeriesFest is expanding its commitment to female-forward initiatives, renewing its partnership with Shondaland, introducing an Executive Elevation Mentorship Program and presenting a live-streamed roundtable discussion about the current state of parity in the industry, Variety has learned exclusively. Additionally, Christina YR Jun has won the Women Writing Competition, which comes from SeriesFest in partnership with

Costume designer Joanna Mae Park and her husband Steven Jones, a production designer, had been working on Netflix’s “Pieces of Her” in Canada in mid-March when television and film productions the world over began rapidly shutting down amid a collective effort to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus. The couple had moved all the

The cast of “Too Hot to Handle” is blinding in exactly the way you’d expect from a show that throws hot singles together on a desert island with nothing but tiny bathing suits and flowing alcohol to entertain them. They’re taut and glistening, boasting chiseled pecs and meticulous false eyelashes, the better to lure each

ABC provided a spoonful of sugar to make the self-isolation medicine go down on Thursday night with the “Disney Family Singalong,” which scored massive numbers for the network. The singalong scored a 2.6 rating among adults 18-49, more than doubling its nearest competitors on the night, and drew 10.3 million total viewers. That rating is the

Sandra Oh was getting ready to leave her Los Angeles home for Canada when the world appeared to come to an abrupt stop during the coronavirus pandemic. She was set to shoot Iris K. Shim’s horror movie “Umma” in “the wilds of north Vancouver,” Oh says during an appearance on this week’s episode of the

In this week’s International TV Newswire Movistar Plus booms on Phase II COVID-19 consumption; and there are deals a plenty. ZDF Enterprises sold “Queens of Mystery” while Beta’s “Love, Inevitably” was a ratings hit in its first week before sales in France, Switzerland and Brazil were announced. Recently premiered clairvoyant Canadian series “The Outbreak” has

Crew members from Ellen DeGeneres’ long-running daytime talk show are distressed and outraged over their treatment from top producers amid the coronavirus pandemic, numerous insiders affiliated with the series told Variety. The core stage crew for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” consisting of more than 30 employees, received no written communication about the status of their

In today’s TV News Roundup, HBO announced the premiere date for its reboot of “Perry Mason,” and Fox Entertainment announced a weekly talk show to accompany its Animation Domination Sunday block.   DATES HBO has announced that its upcoming reboot of “Perry Mason” will premiere on June 21 at 9 p.m. The series follows criminal defense

The Writers Guild of America has rolled out what it’s touting as an enhanced online staffing and development platform to connect writers directly with showrunners, producers, and executives — aimed partly at members who don’t have agents. The guild’s announcement about the year-old WGA Platform was notable in that it did not mention agents. It’s

The four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are pretty obsessed with food and so, it turns out, is the director of their most recent big screen outing. Dave Green, who helmed 2016’s “TMNT: Out of the Shadows,” is teaming up with actor Joe Cobden (“Fargo”) to create a food-based sketch comedy series at Quibi. The project

HBO Max has handed out three production commitments to one-hour dramas from Bad Robot Productions, including one set in the “Justice League Dark” universe. In addition, HBO Max and Bad Robot have teamed on the series “Overlook,” inspired by Stephen King’s “The Shining,” and “Duster,” an original drama co-written by LaToya Morgan and Bad Robot’s

“The Disney Family Singalong” is only a few minutes away and is set to feature musical performances from some of Disney’s most beloved actors including Troy Bolton himself, Zac Efron, along with other cast members from “High School Musical.” As people continue to self-quarantine amid the coronavirus pandemic, ABC is bringing a little magic to

The Small Business Administration is already tapped out of emergency loan funds approved last month to help companies stay solvent and avoid having to terminate workers. The $349 billion allocated to the Paycheck Protection Program was part of the $2 trillion stimulus package signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27. Treasury Secretary

Stellan Skarsgard and Kyle Soller are set to join Diego Luna in Disney Plus’ “Star Wars” series based on the Cassian Andor character Luna played in “Rogue One.” Both actors are still in final negotiations for their roles. A Disney spokesperson declined to comment. Tony Gilroy, who co-wrote “Rogue One,” is set to write the

The popular Netflix docu-series “Tiger King” will be the subject of a new comic book coming in June, according to TidalWave Productions. TidalWave announced on Tuesday it will add the Netflix phenomenon to the “Infamous” series of pop culture comic books. It will be written by Michael Frizell and illustrated by Joe Paradise. “You can’t

Brian Dennehy, the winner of two Tonys in a career that also spanned films including “Tommy Boy,” “First Blood” and “Cocoon,” and television roles including “Dynasty” and “Death of a Salesman,” died on Wednesday night in New Haven, Conn. He was 81. “It is with heavy hearts we announce that our father, Brian, passed away

CBS Entertainment’s senior vice president of alternative programming Sharon Vuong has exited the network, deciding to leave at the end of her contract on Friday. Vuong was named to the position in April 2017 after spending six years in CBS’ alternative department, and was well-liked by colleagues and producers. In an internal memo, CBS Entertainment

Rashida Jones’ indelible contributions to the small screen have been off-camera of late, producing series such as “Claws” and doing voice work on the animated “Duncanville.” But with “#BlackAF,” Kenya Barris’ first project under his Netflix deal, Jones is back with a more 360-touch. She executive produces the single-camera family comedy alongside Barris, directs a

The adaptation of Korean post-apocalyptic film “Snowpiercer” into an American television series took a tumultuous, multiyear journey. And that was even before the coronavirus pandemic brought a dose of real-life calamity into the world right before launch. Now TNT is about to premiere a show about people isolated indoors in order to survive a world