Television

In today’s TV news roundup, “Riverdale” revealed a first look at its “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” musical episode, and Marcy Ross has been named president of television at SK Global.  DATES Netflix has announced that Emmy-winning comedian Hannah Gadsby‘s newest special, “Hannah Gadsby: Douglas” will premiere May 26. Named after her dog, “Douglas” will be

Danny Goldman, a film and TV actor, and the voice of Brainy Smurf in the Hanna-Barbera animated series “The Smurfs,” died Sunday in Los Angeles. He was 80. Goldman’s agent Doug Ely confirmed the news on Facebook. In his post, Ely remembered the actor as “one of a kind” and recounted details of their long

Loring Mandel, a playwright and screenwriter who won two primetime Emmys for his work, died on March 24. He was 91. Mandel died of cancer at his home in Lenox, Mass., his son Alan Mandel told Variety.  The Chicago native, who was born May 5, 1928, went on to earn a total of five Emmy

Peter Micelli, who has spent the last two years as Entertainment One’s chief strategy officer of television, film and digital, is stepping down from his role at the British-Canadian content company, according to an internal memo that went out to staff Monday, Variety has learned. At eOne, Micelli oversaw the company’s TV and digital content

Joel McHale isn’t surprised that Carole Baskin, one of the key subjects in Netflix’s smash hit docuseries “Tiger King,” refused to appear in his reunion special, “The Tiger King and I.” Baskin has heavily criticized her portrayal on “Tiger King,” which pretty substantially laid out the case for why many people believe she was involved

There could certainly be worse times for a bubbly, ebullient new romantic comedy to hit the airwaves. ABC’s “The Baker and the Beauty” is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: An archetype-heavy story of Daniel, an industrious young man (Victor Rasuk) and Noa, a starlet (Nathalie Kelley). After a chance meeting in Daniel’s home

Johanna Fuentes has been named executive VP of worldwide corporate communications at Warner Bros., CEO and chair Ann Sarnoff announced on Monday. Fuentes joins the company from a senior position at Showtime, where she served as executive VP and had oversight of Showtime Networks, Pop TV and the Smithsonian Channel. Fuentes replaces Dee Dee Meyers

Vince McMahon’s XFL has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a move that had been expected after the startup football league was forced to cut short its comeback season amid the coronavirus lockdown. In a Delaware bankruptcy court filing, the XFL listed $10 million-$50 million in debts and an equal amount in assets. When the XFL

One year after a mass exodus of TV and film writers from Hollywood’s largest talent agencies, the Writers Guild of America and the industry’s Big Four talent agencies are still nowhere near settling the impasse over packaging fees and affiliated production entities. The shock of the coronavirus-related shutdown of dozens of productions in recent weeks

Fox has renewed “9-1-1” for Season 4 and “9-1-1: Lone Star” for Season 2. The pair of shows hail from creators and executive producers Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear. Both shows have done incredibly well for Fox, with the original show averaging 16 million viewers per episode in multiplatform viewing and the recently

David Levy, the former president of WarnerMedia’s cable and sports assets, has joined The Raine Group, an investment bank that specializes in the technology, media and telecommunication sectors. He is expected to help Raine identify and execute investment and advisory opportunities, and will be based in New York. “The Raine Group is a leader in

A New York judge on Monday denied AMC’s motion to throw out one of two profit-participation lawsuits filed by “The Walking Dead” creator Frank Darabont, and set a trial on the long-running case for November. Darabont — who was fired after the first season of the show, back in July 2011 — has filed two

Netflix has signed a first look television deal with comic book and graphic novel publisher BOOM! Studios. Under the deal, BOOM! will develop live action and animated series. BOOM! Studios CEO and founder Ross Richie and president of development Stephen Christy will executive produce all shows developed through the pact.The company is behind comic book

ESPN, struggling to keep fresh programming on its schedule with live sports sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic, is asking some of its best-known personalities to take pay cuts. “We are asking about 100 of our commentators to join with our executives and take a temporary salary reduction. These are challenging times and we are all

There may or may not be a full-fledged NFL season this year, but there will at the very least be an NFL Draft. Disney will for a second year televise the annual event across ESPN and ABC, which organizers hope will prove an attractive draw to sports fans who have few new games to watch

Deirdre Bolton, who has for the past few years worked as an anchor at Fox Business Network, is joining ABC News as a New York-based business correspondent. “As an accomplished reporter, Deirdre is adept at translating complex financial concepts into understandable ideas and facts,” said ABC News President James Goldston in a statement Monday. “.

George Stephanopoulos revealed on “Good Morning America” Monday that he has tested positive for coronavirus, although he has remained asymptomatic. The diagnosis, he told colleagues on the ABC News program, was “really no surprise,” given that his wife, comic actor Ali Wentworth, has been grappling with the illness for several days. Stephanopoulos and his family

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the fifth episode of “Westworld” Season 3. The fifth episode of “Westworld” Season 3 was all about one character: the mercurial Engerraund Serac (Vincent Cassel). After little teases to his backstory, the episode threw Serac’s past wide open: We learned that his family was killed

SPOILER ALERT: Do not keep reading f you have not watched the Season 3 premiere of “Killing Eve.” Oh my God, they killed Kenny! You bastards! Talk about a shocking, tragic way to kick off Season 3 of “Killing Eve.” Kenny Stowton (Sean Delaney), the former MI6 tech whiz — and son to spy boss

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Famous Last Words,” the eighth episode of “Outlander” Season 5. When “Famous Last Words” first started, it took “Outlander” viewers out of the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Alamance and instead showed Roger (Richard Rankin) and Brianna (Sophie Skelton) back at Oxford in

In a different era, the episode of “Saturday Night Live” that was broadcast last night would never be shown again. “SNL” took itself out of a weeks-long production hiatus spurred by the coronavirus pandemic and tried to give the world a substitute for its more traditional efforts. The show was filled with attempts to emulate

For all you cool cats and kittens who need more “Tiger King,” Netflix delivered a bonus episode of interviews on Sunday morning. Hosted by Joel McHale, “The Tiger King and I” aftershow brought back favorites like John Finlay, Erik Cowie and Kelci “Saff” Saffery. The “Tiger King” crew talked about how they’re getting used to

British actor and comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor, star of popular BBC series “The Goodies,” has died of coronavirus at 79. The actor’s agent confirmed to Variety that Brooke-Taylor died early Sunday from the virus. Brooke-Taylor’s career in comedy began at Cambridge University, where he was part of the renowned Footlights Club — a launchpad for such

In the closing moments of the first-ever “Saturday Night Live From Home,” the show paid tribute to its longtime sketch-music maestro Hal Willner, who died on April 7 with symptoms consistent with coronavirus. Willner was renowned as a multi-talented producer of albums by Lou Reed, Marianne Faithfull, Lucinda Williams as well as elaborate multi-artist tribute

When something unfathomable happens, many try to make sense of it (or simply provide an escapist outlet from it) through humor. And that is exactly what “Saturday Night Live” did when returning with original material on April 11, producing content remotely amid the coronavirus pandemic. Tom Hanks, who went public with his own COVID-19 diagnosis

Hollywood’s talent agencies may be significantly impacted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but agents are still making moves in an unprecedented crisis. Television literary rep Laura Gordon, who has risen from the assistant level at ICM Partners nearly a decade ago to senior agent, left the shop amicably this week after the expiration of her

Variety has compiled the latest series of first-person essays from across the entertainment industry for the Corona Chronicles about how the coronavirus is changing and disrupting lives. Joseph Gordon-LevittActor, founder of HITRECORD I’ve been doing something creative every day, well, five days a week. It was a commitment I made a couple weeks ago. While

Actor Idris Elba has narrated a coronavirus message for public broadcaster BBC as the U.K. marks one of the worst daily death tolls recorded to date out of Europe. The morale-boosting video, entitled ‘Don’t Quit,’ was released Friday night, and has Elba — who was among the first actors to reveal a coronavirus diagnosis in

The recently launched Hollywood Support Staff Relief Fund, aimed at providing assistants and support staffers financial aid amid the coronavirus-induced production shutdown, is now shutting down its GoFundMe and merging with the Actors Fund. It will continue raising funds under that banner. “Despite its name, the Actors Fund was created to assist all industry members

Aaron Kaplan, the prolific TV producer, has been accused in a lawsuit of installing cameras in his sister-in-law’s bedroom closet in order to spy on her. The sister-in-law, Elizabeth Kaplan, filed suit on Wednesday against Kaplan and his lawyers at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell, accusing them of conspiring to invade her privacy. Aaron Kaplan,