Television

“Survivor” returned to decent ratings numbers for its landmark 40th season on Wednesday night. The CBS show’s two-hour premiere scored a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49 and drew 6.7 million total viewers, which represents a 6% increase in total viewership on last season’s premiere, and a significant up tick on both metrics from the season

ProSiebenSat.1 will regroup several of its channels, digital brands and marketing subsidiaries under a shared roof and with a new name: SevenOne Entertainment Group. This new structure will merge the group’s broadcast arm ProSiebenSat.1 TV Deutschland with digital marketing firm SevenOne Media to create a single point of access and pronounced focus on non-linear offerings.

The fourth season of hit French drama “Call My Agent!” will be its last, according to the show’s producers. Aurélien Larger and Harold Valentin of Paris-based Mother Production, which produces the show with Mon Voisin Productions, have confirmed to Variety that the comedy – originated by French public broadcaster France Télévisions and known locally as

February 13, 2020 4:30AM PT Colin Kaepernick is publishing a memoir this year. The activist and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback announced plans to release the book through Kaepernick Publishing, his own newly launched publishing company that is meant to “reinforce the importance of Black ownership” and “give power to Black and Brown voices globally,

Speaking at U.K. pay-TV operator Sky’s programming showcase at London’s Tate Modern art museum, on the banks of the Thames River Wednesday evening, its CEO, Jeremy Darroch, said: “In the 12 years I’ve been running Sky I’ve never seen a lineup on screen that we are going to have in the next year or so.”

February 13, 2020 1:38AM PT Banking on a long-running partnership with Entertainment One, NBCUniversal Intl. has picked up German, Austrian and Swiss licensing rights for the popular series “Deputy,” “Upright,” “Nurses,” and “Burden of Truth.” Brokered by eOne’s Christian Fritzsche, the deal will offer NBCUniversal Germany pay television rights to the four scripted dramas, all

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead, if you have not watched Season 3, Episode 3 of “The Masked Singer,” which aired Feb. 12 on Fox. Chaka Khan, I feel for you. The iconic singer and songwriter, who had been disguised as Miss Monster, was the next celebrity to be eliminated on Season 3 of “The

February 12, 2020 5:44PM PT One of the hardest and most crucial parts of writing a love story is making sure it has ample chemistry, maybe by finding actors who naturally spark, playing with classic rom-com tropes, or weaving in irresistible banter. You don’t necessarily need to have all three to be successful, but some

WarnerMedia Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt will deliver the keynote conversation at the 2020 NAB Show Executive Leadership Summit on April 19 at the Encore at Wynn Las Vegas. Greenblatt will participate in a Q&A with Variety business editor Cynthia Littleton to discuss opportunities for WarnerMedia and upcoming plans for its newly aligned sister companies HBO,

In today’s TV News Roundup, Variety obtained an exclusive first look at John Legend in “The Simpsons” and NBC announced premiere dates for a slew of its returning unscripted series. CASTING Alexis Ren and Jaime Ray Newman have been cast in “Deputy.” Ren will appear in an upcoming episode as the suspicious lover of a

NBC Sports has confirmed that former NHL player and hockey commentator Jeremy Roenick will not be returning following a suspension prompted by comments that he made on a December episode of the “Spittin’ Chiclets” podcast. “Confirmed,” said an NBC Sports spokesperson via email. “He won’t be returning to NBC Sports. We have no further comment.”

When “Grey’s Anatomy” introduces Dr. Lauren Riley in its Feb. 13 episode, “Save the Last Dance for Me,” it marks more than just Shoshannah Stern’s debut on the long-running drama: Dr. Riley is also the first recurring deaf doctor on a primetime network series. To tackle the groundbreaking character, Stern teamed up with “Grey’s Anatomy”

February 12, 2020 1:04PM PT If there’s a company that knows how to keep unscripted TV hits on the air for the long haul, it’s Bunim/Murray Productions. Maybe that comes with instilling franchises like “The Real World” and “The Challenge” with the staying power to last for more than three decades. But even Bunim/Murray CEO

“Godfather of Harlem,” starring Forest Whitaker, has been renewed for a second season at Epix. Production on the 10-episode second season, created by Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein, will begin production in New York later in 2020. “’Godfather of Harlem’ season one was a remarkable success, tripling previous viewership numbers for the network and earning

Pay-TV operator Sky will offer 80 original series to its British subscribers this year, an increase of 25% year-on-year from last year, together with a 40% boost in the volume of programming from the U.S., it announced Wednesday. It also unveiled 10 new shows it has ordered. Sky revealed its plans at a showcase event

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has found a new, permanent telecast home for the Daytime Emmys: Its own site. NATAS is launching a streaming service that will serve as the place to watch the Daytime Emmys and its other awards shows. The new over-the-top platform is expected to launch in the first

February 12, 2020 11:15AM PT Swoosie Kurtz has signed on to the multi-cam comedy “Call Me Kat,” formerly “Carla,” at Fox opposite Mayim Bialik. The project is based on the BBC original “Miranda” created by Miranda Hart and received a series commitment at Fox back in September. It follows Carla (Bialik), a 39-year-old woman who

There’s some quacking news over at Disney Plus. The streamer has issued a 10-episode series order for a sequel to “The Mighty Ducks,” and has tapped “Gilmore Girls” star Lauren Graham to play the lead. Graham will star as Alex and “Good Girls” standout Brady Noon is set to portray her son, Evan. Based on

February 12, 2020 10:15AM PT John Corbett has signed on for a lead role in the ABC drama pilot “Rebel,” which is inspired by the life of Erin Brockovich. He joins previously announced series lead Katey Sagal. The show centers around Annie “Rebel” Bello (Sagal), a blue collar legal advocate without a law degree. Rebel

Inside Content, the company responsible for the organization of Spain’s Conecta Fiction TV meet and marketplace, will host its first edition of ONSeries Lisboa, a Portugal-based showcase for TV series to find international buyers, sales agents and exhibitors. ONSeries Lisboa will run April 28-29 at the Belém Cultural Center in the Portuguese capital city. Additionally,

ABC Signature’s senior vice president Tracy Underwood has been upped to the newly created position of executive vice president of creative affairs of ABC Studios, where she will broaden her purview to oversee all scripted development of comedy and drama at ABC Studios and ABC Signature. The promotion, which is effective immediately, puts Underwood in

February 12, 2020 8:26AM PT [embedded content] Comedian and “Saturday Night Live” cast member Pete Davidson has set his first Netflix standup comedy special. Entitled “Pete Davidson: Alive From New York,” the special will premiere globally on the streamer on Feb. 25. In the first trailer released for the special, Davidson, who is known for

February 12, 2020 5:28AM PT BBC Studios and Indian content studio Applause Entertainment are returning with the second season of the Indian version of BBC drama format “Criminal Justice” – the inspiration behind HBO’s “The Night Of.” The series will stream on Disney’s Hotstar platform, as a Hotstar Special, as the streamer’s originals are branded.

Canal Plus and the international network beIN Sports have closed a deal that will offer the Vivendi-owned pay-TV service exclusive distribution and sub-licensing rights to beIN content in France for a period of five years. First proposed in December 2019, this newly sealed accord will allow the French broadcaster to offer beIN premium channels within

Newen, a leading French production and distribution group owned by TF1, is expanding to the U.K. with the launch of production company Ringside Studios, in collaboration with “The Fall” producer Gub Neal and DoveTale Media. Ringside Studios will develop premium English and international dramas that may be distributed by Newen. The new banner is majority-owned

International production and distribution powerhouse All3Media has named former ITV and Virgin Media communications boss Mike Large as group director of communications. In the newly created role, Large will oversee corporate communications for All3Media’s expanding operations in the U.K., Europe, North America and Asia, and will report into All3Media CEO Jane Turton. Large was previously

HBO’s “Chernobyl,” Netflix’s “Sex Education” and indie film “Wild Rose” took top prizes at the U.K.’s second annual CDG Casting Awards, held on Feb. 11 in London. Meant to spotlight the full breadth of the profession, the CDG Casting Awards feature competitive categories for theatre, television, film and commercials. Divided into two categories, the television

Passion Distribution have announced a slate of international pre-sales for Pioneer Productions’ forthcoming documentary, “#Trump: How Social Media Changed the Presidency.” A 60-minute examination of America’s tumultuous political and new media landscape, the doc has sold to NTV (Germany), SVT (Sweden) and Network 10 (Australia), and is due for delivery in March. The project was

“Carpool Karaoke” producer Fulwell 73 has hired ITV comedy controller Saskia Schuster to head a new scripted outfit out of the U.K. Schuster joins as head of scripted at the “Late Late Show with James Corden” producer in early May. Based in London, she will report into managing partner Leo Pearlman. Schuster joined ITV in

In today’s TV news roundup, IFC has renewed “Year of the Rabbit” and Netflix released a trailer for “Altered Carbon” Season 2. CASTING Nathalie Emmanuel has been cast in Quibi‘s upcoming series “Die Hart” with Kevin Hart and John Travolta. In it, Emmanuel plays a “tough-minded student” of Hart’s character. Hart plays a fictionalized character