Television

Mary Louise Parker and David Alan Grier have been tapped as guest stars of Season 2 of CBS’ “Elsbeth,” the mystery spinoff of “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight” starring Carrie Preston as the de facto detective Elsbeth Tascioni. Parker, best known for her star turn in Showtime’s “Weeds,” will play Freya, a decluttering guru

The “Blue Bloods” universe is officially expanding. A spinoff following Donnie Wahlberg‘s Danny Reagan has landed a straight-to-series order at CBS. “Boston Blue” (working title) comes from “S.W.A.T.” writers Brandon Sonnier and Brandon Margolis and will follow Raegan in a new position — not in New York but at Boston P.D. There, he will be partnered

Many Netflix viewers were tuning into “La Dolce Villa” over Valentine’s Day weekend, evidenced by the new romance’s position on the Netflix Top 10 for Feb. 10-16. The movie was the most-watched title of the week with 19.8 million views achieved in just four days. It was followed on the English-language movies list by last

After its landmark 50th birthday celebration, “Saturday Night Live” will return in March with back-to-back episodes. Shane Gillis will host for the second time on March 1 with musical guest Tate McRae, who also makes her second appearance on “SNL.” Lady Gaga will pull double duty on March 8, serving as host and musical guest

(Updated with new information from Dan Aykroyd’s reps.) “Saturday Night Live” icon Dana Carvey has frequently returned to Studio 8H this season to play President Joe Biden, and even revived his famed Church Lady character in December. So why wasn’t he seen on Sunday’s “SNL50: The Anniversary Special”? Variety has learned that Carvey had been

Mindy Kaling is returning to Hulu, with the streamer greenlighting Kaling’s new comedy series “Not Suitable for Work.” The show was first reported to be in the works at Hulu in April 2024 under the working title “Murray Hill.” It landed at Hulu in a competitive situation with a script-to-series commitment. Per the official logline,

Mindy Kaling is ready to step back in front of the camera. After both writing and starring in “The Office” and “The Mindy Project” (which she also created) early in her career, Kaling took a break from acting in recent years to focus on building a string of successful TV series — not to mention

Reggie Miller, the Indiana Pacers NBA veteran, is still following the bouncing ball. The basketball star will after the end of this NBA season leave Warner Bros. Discovery, where he has worked as an NBA analyst for years, to join NBC Sports, which gains a new package of NBA game rights this fall. When Miller

The Blair Partnership, the literary agency that has repped J.K. Rowling since it was first set up in 2011 by Neil Blair, has expanded with two key hires in two newly-created roles. Simon Johnson will join as chief commercial officer from Universal Music UK, where he has spent nearly four years as managing director of

Female creators are ready to tackle sexual violence and abuse in their shows. But they don’t always want to show it.  This was one of the key takeaways from Monday’s Berlinale Series Market panel Owning the Narrative – Deconstructing Stereotypes in TV Series, moderated by Variety. “There are many things that can trigger and re-traumatize

Female-led shows, crime dramas and politically charged stories are still making their mark.   “Anne of Green Gables” author Lucy Maud Montgomery will finally get the starry treatment worthy of her iconic characters in “Lucy. Maud.” Produced by Girls Productions, it’s created by Susan Coyne and presented at Berlinale’s Co-Pro Series.   “It’s a compelling drama about

Megan Follows is coming full circle: After breaking out as Anne Shirley in “Anne of Green Gables,” she will now play its author Lucy Maud Montgomery in upcoming series “Lucy. Maud.”  “I’ve always been incredibly grateful to be introduced, as a young woman, to the power of a character who was a central figure in

The raving success of Globoplay’s medical drama “Under Pressure” — which ran for five heavily acclaimed seasons between 2017 and 2022 — was bound to see Brazil firmly step into procedurals, and Amazon Prime Video’s “Suture” is proof of just that. The eight-episode series, selected as part of the Berlinale Series Market Selects, follows gifted

Three decades into his career, lauded Brazilian director Marcelo Gomes (“Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures”)  is finally stepping into television with the HBO/Max series “Oxygen Masks Will (Not) Drop Automatically.” The five-episode drama, based on the true story of a group of Brazilian flight attendants who set up a scheme to smuggle HIV treatment from the

Globoplay, the freemium streaming service of Brazilian media giant Globo, is stepping into the genre market with “Reincarnate.” The streamer’s first original horror series will have its first public bow as part of this year’s Berlinale Series Market Selects, with an official release date yet to be announced.  “Reincarnate” has a nine-episode run and begins

France TV Distribution, the commercial arm of the French public broadcaster France Télévisions, one of the most powerful TV companies in Europe, is kicking off international distribution on thriller series “La Vallée en Danger” (“Danger in the Valley”), co-written by bestselling French author Michel Bussi. Produced by Paris-based Cinétévé in co-production with France TV and

Galvanized by pre-sales to France, Germany and Spain on awaited Icelandic crime series “Reykjavik Fusion,” Erik Barmack’s ahead of the game L.A-based Wild Sheep Content has boarded “Good Bones,” a New Zealand murder mystery series. Wild Sheep by Barmack, a former Netflix head of international originals with oversight over “The Witcher,” “Casa de Papel,” “Kingdom”

South Korea‘s premium streaming market demonstrated robust growth in 2024, with Netflix maintaining its leadership while homegrown platform Tving surged to nearly match its market share, according to new data from Media Partners Asia (MPA). The report reveals that Korean viewers streamed a whopping 131 billion minutes of premium VOD content last year, marking an

NBC’s 50th anniversary special for “Saturday Night Live” hit a very strong 14.8 million viewers on average across NBC and Peacock on Sunday night. That number is 202% above the average number of viewers who have tuned into each regular episode of “SNL” throughout its 50th season, which is 4.9 million — itself a 13%

The Baltic States — Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania — are ready for a boom in local TV productions, and international partners are invited. “It’s an intriguing environment — contemporary and innovative, but we carry tons of Soviet heritage,” says Toomas Ili, head of content at Elisa Estonia. “Our scenery and architecture has yet to be

At the end of the Feb. 16 broadcast of “SNL50,” a tribute to the half-century reign of “Saturday Night Live” over American culture, Martin Short thanked executive producer and series creator Lorne Michaels, calling him “the man who made our dreams come true.” Michaels — relentlessly parodied in popular culture, including on that very broadcast

Parker Posey is explaining how she came up with the already much-talked-about southern drawl she uses as Violet Ratliff in the third season of “The White Lotus.” Violet is the pill-popping matriarch of a wealthy North Carolina family vacationing at the posh resort’s Thailand location with her husband (Jason Isaac) and three children (Patrick Schwarzenegger,

With Baltic shows growing bigger and bolder and producers looking for more international collaborators, local creators reach for original stories and established IPs, delivering period dramas and timely satires. However, crime shows, whether contemporary – like this year’s Berlinale Series Market Selects “My Dear Mother” – or set in the 19th century, still take the

Upcoming German series previewed at the EFM’s Berlinale Series Market on Tuesday offered a range of genres and challenging subject matter, from Nazi drug runners and quirky fantasy to teen angst and alter egos. The Berlinale Series Market’s Up Next: Germany showcase presented four new series projects that look certain to entice international audiences. “The

It’s been three and a half years since Gabby Petito made headlines around the world after she vanished during a cross-country road trip she was taking with her finance Brian Laundrie. Now, a new three-part docuseries, “American Murder: Gabby Petito,” goes beyond the headlines to reveal the reality of a 22-year-old woman enmeshed in an

Nationally syndicated talker “Tamron Hall” has been renewed for a seventh season, Variety has learned. The daytime strip, which has become Disney’s second longest-running syndicated talker (behind “Live with Kelly and Mark”) has been picked up for another season by major market ABC-owned TV stations and Hearst Television. That gives it a firm go for

Berlinale Series Market Selects pick “My Dear Mother” might start with a brutal murder, but it’s not really about the crime, “It’s a unique love story,” says writer Raoul Suvi. “Maybe not easily understandable, but it’s based on a fight against injustice that nobody sees or cares about, and on the sense that the main

Former Vice President Kamala Harris will be honored with the Chairman’s Award at the NAACP Image Awards. Harris will accept the prestigious honor, in her first TV appearance since leaving office, during the 56th Image Awards ceremony on Feb. 22, airing live from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on BET and CBS.

Created by Kelly Jones and based on Carol Anne Lee’s biography, “A Fine Day for Hanging,” BritBox‘s “A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story” is a gutting, engaging historical crime drama revolving around an ambitious woman hindered by abuse, misogyny, trauma and her desire to be loved. A foreboding tale, Lucy Boynton is brilliant as Ruth

Spain’s rich TV show lineup at the Berlin Film Festival also features a screening of Atresmedia’s “Red Flags,” charting the often pained sexual and emotional awakening of four Gen Z teens.   Selected titles at Berlin:  Berlinale Market Selects “Honor,” (Atresmedia TV, Portocabo) The Spanish remake of Israeli TV series “Kvodo,” with the often superb Dario Grandinetti (“Talk