Television

AMC Networks wants to sell the ads that accompany “Walking Dead” on its flagship cable outlet and wherever the series’ zombies might march. The company that operates cable networks like AMC, IFC and We TV is telling advertisers that it will maintain first-window sales rights when series it owns are made available on ad-supported streaming

March 16, 2020 5:35AM PT The BBC is to delay planned TV license fee changes for the over 75s because of the coronavirus outbreak. The majority of folks over the age of 75 were due to have to start paying the annual £157.50 ($194) BBC license fee from June onward, having previously not had to

NBC’s “Today” show is the latest TV-news property to grapple with the spread of the coronavirus around the nation. A staffer who works on the morning program’s third hour has been determined to have the novel coronavirus, “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie told viewers Monday prompting NBC News  to take co-hosts Craig Melvin and Al Roker

Amazon Prime Video has greenlit a sports docuseries about top flight French football club, Paris Saint-Germain. The latest in a line of Amazon original documentaries about top sports clubs and individuals, the four-part series includes interviews with previous and current players, coaches, supporters and executives from the club. It also features footage from inside the

As the coronavirus outbreak escalates in the U.K., union leaders and lawyers are calling for enhanced support for freelance film and TV workers, who are projected to fall at the sharpest edges of a crisis that could decimate the independent production sector if prolonged. With 800 positive cases and a death toll of 10 at

March 16, 2020 12:10AM PT Aaron Pedersen, star of “Mystery Road” and “Goldstone” has begun filming in Australia of factual lifestyle series “Back to Nature.” The show, comprising eight half-hour episodes, is co-hosted with author Holly Ringland (“The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart”). The series is a new exploration of Australia’s hugely varied landscapes, geographies

Standing six feet apart on an airless and suddenly sparse Democratic debate stage, former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders set the tone for a particularly somber and unusual night.  With COVID-19 spreading ever more rapidly throughout the country, co-hosts CNN and Univision first announced that the previously planned debate would have no

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the Season 3 premiere of “Westworld.” “Westworld” viewers, bring yourselves back online. Run a diagnostic — what the heck happened at the end of Season 2, which finished airing almost two years ago? Don’t remember? It’s fine, the Season 3 premiere gives more than

SPOILER ALERT: Do not keep reading if you have not yet watched the fifth episode of Season 5 of “Outlander,” entitled “Perpetual Adoration.” Prior to the fifth season premiere of “Outlander,” executive producer Maril Davis spoke with Variety about the challenges of adapting “The Fiery Cross,” the Diana Gabaldon book on which the season is

March 15, 2020 10:19AM PT As countries including France, Spain and Italy continue to tighten quarantine measures in response to the coronavirus pandemic, things are moving a bit more slowly in the United States and Canada. Amid reports of full restaurants and bars, celebrities including George Takei, Kumail Nanjiani, Jeffrey Wright, Padma Lakshi and Debra

March 15, 2020 10:12AM PT Reruns of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” will be pushed back a half-hour in the coming week as ABC seeks to give a bigger platform to “Nightline” episodes focused on the coronavirus pandemic. ABC said Sunday that “Kimmel” repeats will shift to the 12:05 a.m. slot starting Tuesday through Friday as “Nightline”

Lorenzo Brino, an actor who appeared on the family drama “7th Heaven,” died on Monday, March 9, in a car accident. He was 21. Brino was driving a 2016 Toyota Camry a little after 3:00 A.M. in Yucaipa, Calif., on Monday when he lost control of the car, according to a press release from the

“MPI has confirmed that testing for COVID-19 will be covered by the plan without co-pays or co-insurance,” the ICG said in a message to its 9,000 members. The ICG operates as Local 600 of the International Alliance of Theaterical Stage Employees. It’s the largest IATSE local in Hollywood and represents the below-the-line camera crews along

Just in time as Americans — and much of the world — settle indoors in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, “Black Monday” star Paul Scheer has some TV series suggestions to check out. For the inaugural episode of Variety’s “My Guilty Pleasure,” Scheer sat down with Variety senior editor Michael Schneider to reveal his

Marvel Studios is pressing pause on its Disney Plus shows currently in production, which includes “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Loki” and “WandaVision.” For shows that are in pre-production, work will continue remotely. “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” was one of the first to delay production earlier in the week due to the

German broadcasting group ProSiebenSat.1 has decided to keep its transatlantic production subsidiary Red Arrow Studios after determining that a sale or partial sale of the group was no longer possible due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The media giant launched a strategic review of the production and distribution division in September with the aim of

Fox Business Network said it would scrap most of its primetime schedule by putting two of its programs on hiatus “until further notice” in order to staff coverage of the coronavirus crisis elsewhere within Fox News Media. The network said in a statement that its 8 p.m. hour, “Trish Regan Primetime,” and 9 p.m. hour,

Three episodes into “My Brilliant Friend: The Story of a New Name” comes a scene as lovely and understated as it is pointed and bruising, a combination in which the show specializes, especially in this second season. Elena (Margherita Mazzucco), nervous about going to a party at her intimidating professor’s house, rifles through the lavish

The National Television Academy of Arts and Sciences has opted to postpone its two upcoming Emmy ceremonies in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Both the 71st Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards, set for April 19, and the 41st Annual Sports Emmy Awards, scheduled for April 28, will now take place at a

The first edition of ONSeries Lisboa, an upstart marketplace and networking event set to be run by Conecta Fiction producers Inside Content, has been rescheduled to Sept. 28-29, 2020. Originally scheduled to take place  April 28-29, organizers have moved back the inaugural edition in response to the spread of COVID-19 across Europe and particularly the

In Season 3, Spanish teen drama series “Elite” manages once again to give yet another spin to the already genre-blent and bent tropes that have gained it so much popularity amongst international audiences. This time around, as the series unravels a new murder at posh Las Encinas High School as it comes to terms with

As new cases of coronavirus are declared on an hourly basis and the world reacts, production on multiple projects has already come to a halt. But many in the entertainment-industry trenches want to see the industry step up in the name of safety and do more — and suspend production across the industry. Emmy-winning director

U.K. broadcaster ITV is moving ahead with plans to shoot “Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway” with a live studio audience, despite the country’s accelerating outbreak. The decision follows a day of emergency meetings by ITV bosses, who have been weighing options — including shooting without an audience — for Saturday night’s live taping of

The head of the Intl. Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees has called for the federal government to provide relief for entertainment industry workers displaced by the coronavirus pandemic. Matthew D. Loeb, international president of the IATSE, made the announcement Friday. IATSE represents more than 140,000 below-the-line workers in the entertainment industry in North America. “As

In venturing out of the Luzzatti quarter of Naples where most of the first season of “My Brilliant Friend” is set, the second season, subtitled “The Story of a New Name,” breaks new ground in several ways that are key to understanding the show’s overall vision and ambitious aesthetic scope. The eight new episodes based

March 13, 2020 8:34AM PT As production on broadcast shows is shutting down left, right and center amid the Coronavirus outbreak, Thursday was pretty much business as usual in the TV ratings. “Young Sheldon” drew the largest audience of the night with 8.8 million viewers, ticking up to a 3-week high 1.1 rating among adults

The Masters, golf’s most prestigious tournament, is the latest sporting event to succumb to the Coronavirus pandemic. Fred Ridley, chairman of The Masters, announced the decision to postpone the tournament via the following statement. “On Wednesday, March 4, we issued a memo stating that our plans to host the Masters Tournament, the Augusta National Women’s

March 13, 2020 5:47AM PT U.S. equities markets could see something of a rebound Friday as futures trading in major indices soared in the early hours before the trading session begins at 9:30 a.m. ET. Dow futures were up 1,100 points, following Thursday’s bloodbath that saw the worst declines for the Dow and other indices

March 13, 2020 5:45AM PT Following the shutdown of schools and universities announced by France’s President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, the French prime minister has now banned gatherings for more than 100 people to contain the outbreak of coronavirus in the country. The new ban, announced by the prime minister Edouard Philippe on Friday, has

The U.K.’s Broadcasting Press Guild held its 46th Television and Radio Awards at London’s Banking Hall on Friday, with “Chernobyl” and “The Virtues” among the winners. The BPG Awards, given for work commissioned or premiered in the U.K. and screened in 2019, are selected independently by TV and radio correspondents, critics and previewers. “I’m proud