YouTube has canceled “Impulse,” arguably its final out-and-out drama, after two seasons. The cancelation leaves only a couple remaining scripted series at the web subscription service, namely “Cobra Kai” and “Liza on Demand,” and is the latest example of YouTube’s shifting content strategy. The shift became clear in April of last year, when the quadruple
Television
Arturo Castro is set to star alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the upcoming Apple comedy series “Mr. Corman,” Variety has learned exclusively. The series, which was first announced in September 2019, is described as a deep cut into the days and nights of San Fernando Valley public schoolteacher Josh Corman (Gordon-Levitt). Castro will star as Victor,
March 10, 2020 10:28AM PT Mark Wahlberg is making an HBO Max docuseries about, well, himself. The nascent streamer has issued an 8-episode series order for “Wahl Street,” which will follow Wahlberg as he juggles his acting schedule with growing his business empire. News of the show comes less than a week after the release
Andy Garcia has signed on for a main role in the ABC drama pilot “Rebel,” Variety has learned. He joins previously announced series lead Katey Sagal and cast members John Corbett, James Lesure, Ariela Barer, and Tamala Jones. Inspired by the life of Erin Brockovich, the show centers around Annie “Rebel” Bello (Sagal), a blue collar
ICM Partners has cut a deal to acquire U.K. music booking agency Primary Talent International. The deal calls for London-based Primary Talent to continue operating as an autonomous unit, led by its current management team. Primary Talent is marking its 30th anniversary this year. The company has a roster of more than 900 artists for
Things are heating up for “The Bachelor,” both in terms of Peter Weber’s tough decision and in terms of the ratings. The ABC dating show aired part 1 of its finale last night to series high numbers. The 7.6 million total viewers who tuned in were left on a cliffhanger, which will likely provide an
Showtime Networks’s executive vice president and chief financial officer Adam Townsend is stepping down from the position at the end of March, after 12 combined years at Showtime Networks and CBS. Succeeding him in the CFO role will be Michael Crotty, who will be returning to the company after a three-year stint as senior vice
NBC News is considering whether its venerable “Today” morning show might also serve as an all-day streaming-video outlet. In a memo issued Monday, NBC News Digital staffers were told that the company plans to explore streaming opportunities for “Today” and intends to shift some employees assigned to video “to focus on preparing for a streaming
NBC News often delivers seismic headlines and attention-grabbing special reports. Now it wants to offer something equally as compelling to Madison Avenue. The NBCUniversal news operation is launching NBC News Custom Productions, an editorial unit devoted to finding ways to pair advertisers with a growing array of content options made for streaming-video outlets. “The worlds
First Stage Studios, led by Sean Connery’s son Jason and BAFTA-winning producer Bob Last, has won a Screen Scotland tender to run a large-scale film and TV studio space in Edinburgh. Screen Scotland plans to invest £1 million ($1.3 million) towards the initial set up, refurbishment and running costs of the studio space in Port
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the first part of “The Bachelor” Season 24 finale. Pilot Peter Weber has nearly landed. After months of ups and downs, his season is culminating in a two-night live finale, where he was left to choose between Hannah Ann Sluss and Madison Prewett. After a
“Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” will not tape in front of live audiences in the near term, a person familiar with the situation tells Variety, as the continued spread of coronavirus poses a risk to guests as well as immunocompromised “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, who last year was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Both
Quibi has canceled its red carpet launch event “out of an abundance of caution” amid the growing threat of the spread of coronavirus, or COVID-19. The celebration was set for April 5, just a day before the much-anticipated mobile streaming service, led by Jeffrey Katzenberg and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, goes live on April
What defines a Disney Plus original? With the upcoming “Love, Victor” (née “Love, Simon”) moving from the nascent streaming platform to its older sister service, Hulu, and “Lizzie McGuire” regressing to development mode, what constitutes “family friendly” — a key component of Disney Plus’ overall proposition — has become a recurring a question mark. The
March 9, 2020 3:51PM PT Ted Koppel isn’t returning to “Nightline,” but the programming concept that elevated him and the show to wider renown is making a comeback. “Nightline” got its start on ABC in 1980 as a late-night news program that spent its full half-hour length analyzing a single topic, based on months of
March 9, 2020 3:32PM PT In today’s TV news roundup, Quibi released a trailer for LeBron James’ documentary series “I Promise” and Pete Buttigieg announced he will guest host “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on March 12. FIRST LOOKS Quibi released the trailer of LeBron James‘ documentary series “I Promise.” The series tells the story of James’
After working together on the Netflix docuseries “The Keepers,” editors Kate Amend, Rejh Cabrera and Mark Harrison established a creative shorthand that came in handy when collaborating again on another docuseries: Apple TV Plus’ “Visible: Out on Television.” “We had constant conversations as a team to make sure whatever we were working on tied in
Earl Pomerantz, an Emmy-winning television writer who worked on numerous sitcoms over the years, died Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 75. The announcement was made by Pomerantz’s friend, TV writer Ken Levine, on Levine’s personal blog. Over the course of his career, Pomerantz wrote scripts for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Bob Newhart
Welcome back to Tune In: our weekly newsletter offering a guide to the best of the week’s TV. Each week, Variety’s TV team combs through the week’s schedule, selecting our picks of what to watch and when/how to watch them. This week, “Westworld” makes its long-awaited return on HBO, and “The Bachelor” concludes its 24th season
“Lost in Space” has been renewed for a third season at Netflix, which will also be the show’s last. In addition, Netflix has announced that series showrunner Zack Estrin has signed a multi-year overall deal with the streamer to produce new series. The news comes under three months since the launch of Season 2, which debuted
Vice Studios and Insight TV are teaming for a 4K documentary focused on the participants of the upcoming 2020 Invictus Games, the sporting event for veterans founded by Prince Harry. “I am Invincible” (3 x 60′) is slated to premiere on April 18, and is co-produced by Vice Studios and Insight TV Studios U.S., the
Dorothy Byrne is to step down as head of news and current affairs at Channel 4, taking on a specially created role of editor-at-large for the U.K. broadcaster. A hugely admired executive, Byrne’s decision comes less than a year since she delivered an acclaimed and much-talked about MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival where
Tina Fey and Robert Carlock have scored a series order at Netflix for the animated comedy series “Mulligan,” Variety has learned. The show is created and executive produced by Carlock and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” writer and executive producer Sam Means, with Fey executive producing. In the series, after an alien attack destroys the earth, what remains
Goran Visnjic, who rose to prominence playing one of the leads on “ER,” has found his next broadcast role. The Croatian actor has been cast alongside Gina Torres in the ABC soap opera pilot “The Brides,” which is described as a contemporary reimagining of “Dracula” with a trio of female leads. The show would follow
Netflix has ordered a docuseries titled “The Innocence Files,” Variety has learned exclusively. The hour-long episodes detail the personal stories behind eight cases of wrongful conviction that the Innocence Project and organizations within the Innocence Network have worked to highlight and overturn. The series is broken down into three parts — The Evidence, The Witness,
A+E Networks said it would cancel the live presentation it had scheduled March 25 as part of the industry’s annual “upfront” ad-sales market, a move that will likely spur concern about whether any of the glitzy showcases will take place as New York and the world grapple with the spread of the coronavirus and growing
March 9, 2020 8:38AM PT “The Rookie” leapt to its second largest audience ever (behind only the series premiere), thanks in no small part to a strong lead-in from “American Idol.” The Nathan Fillion series posted a 0.8 rating among adults 18-49 and drew 5.1 million total viewers, beating the previous season 2 high of
The membership fees for TV’s golf club just got a lot more expensive. The PGA Tour, the organizer of the main professional men’s golf tours in the U.S., has struck a new nine-year deal with CBS Sports, NBC Sports and ESPN that significantly raises the costs of bringing golf to U.S. fans while gaining new
Raindog Films, the U.K. production company co-founded by actor Colin Firth and music industry veteran Ged Doherty, is to expand into TV drama, music content and documentaries after winning investment from the U.K. Creative Content EIS Fund. The U.K. Creative Content EIS Fund is run by private equity house Calculus Capital, with film and TV
March 9, 2020 1:45AM PT Stock markets have fallen sharply around the world after Saudi Arabia launched an aggressive oil price war that caused oil prices to fall by almost a third. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index plunged by over 8% at the open, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended 7.3% lower on Monday, the index’s