Television

In this week’s International TV Newswire Variety recaps more NATPE news from All3Media, Comedy Central Latin America, AMC’s Acorn TV, VIS, El Deseo, Globo and Univision, ZED pre-sales from Realscreen and Aardman’s latest distribution pickup. All3Media Sells to Comedy Central, AMC Networks in Latin America Comedy Central Latin America and All3Media International have closed a deal for

Chance the Rapper is ready to get his prank on. MTV Studios has announced Chance as the host of its revival of the prank show “Punk’d,” which is coming to short form content platform Quibi. “Punk’d” was a hidden camera reality show which aired for ten seasons on MTV and was created by Ashton Kutcher,

Is Apple TV Plus — the tech giant’s foray into the streaming wars — a roaring success? That’s been the initial takeaway from estimates by research firm Ampere Analysis, which has pegged Apple TV Plus as having racked up 33.6 million customers in the U.S. alone as of the end of 2019. As initially reported

“Black Mirror” creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones have departed their Endemol Shine-backed production banner House of Tomorrow amid ongoing talks for an exclusive deal with Netflix, but Variety understands concerns around IP ownership are throwing a spanner in the works.  The pair, who are long-time creative collaborators, resigned earlier last year, but officially stepped

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January 23, 2020 10:05PM PT Shooting of Disney Plus’s Obi-Wan Kenobi has been pushed to next year following the news that show’s writer is being replaced. “I think we start shooting early next year as opposed to summer this year,” Ewan McGregor, who will reprise his role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the series, told Variety

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the “Station 19″/”Grey’s Anatomy” crossover that aired Jan. 23. “Station 19” and “Grey’s Anatomy” kicked off the start of their official combined universe with a two-hour block that began with the third season premiere of the former Shondaland series. In the episode entitled “I

Discovery Networks, which last month unveiled a new business model that would have all but assured series composers a drastic income drop, has scuttled that plan in response to outrage expressed by the media music community. This means that the shows on Discovery, Animal Planet, HGTV, Food Network and other Discovery-owned platforms, will continue to

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Patty,” the penultimate episode of “The Good Place.” The titular good place on Mike Schur’s philosophical comedy “The Good Place” isn’t a literal place at all but instead a state of mind. Sure, after four seasons (50 episodes) the characters on the show did

January 23, 2020 4:44PM PT Pre-production on the Obi-Wan Kenobi-focused TV series in the works at Disney Plus has been put on hold as the streamer and Lucasfilm look to overhaul early scripts and find new writers, sources tell Variety. Ewan McGregor confirmed last August that he would be reprising the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi

With ratings in a slump so far this season, the NBA has needed someone to come off the bench and ball out. Cue the New Orleans Pelicans debut of Zion Williamson. The much-heralded number 1 pick from the 2019 draft had sat out the first 44 games of the Pelicans’ season with a knee injury,

In today’s TV news roundup, VH1 revealed the contestants for the upcoming season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and the Oprah Winfrey Network renewed several of its unscripted series. CASTING VH1 revealed the 13 queens that will be competing on the 12th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” are Aidenn Zhane, Bria, Crystal Methyd, Dahlia Sin, Gigi

January 23, 2020 3:56PM PT The new Fox comedy has promise, but too many basic jokes. The latest variation on network sitcoms’ beloved “a family, but with [x complication],” Fox’s “Outmatched” flips the usual parent-child dynamic on its head by following an Atlantic City family, including three bonafide genius kids who are too smart for

It must be a pretty funny day at NBC. After ordering two comedy pilots this morning, the network has commissioned three more, all from a cluster of creatives who have previous experience on some of the Peacock’s biggest comedies. The first pilot is a single-camera comedy titled “Crazy For You,” which has “Saturday Night Live”

KTLA-TV is poised for a historic changing of the guard as Seattle station executive Janene Drafs takes the reins of the storied Los Angeles TV station as general manager following the retirement of local broadcast stalwart Don Corsini. Drafs, who is the first woman to lead KTLA, is set to begin her post as VP and

January 23, 2020 12:30PM PT Okay Goodnight, the production company helmed by “Friends” co-creator Marta Kauffman alongside Robbie Rowe Tollin and Hannah KS Canter, has signed a multi-year first-look deal with Fox 21 Television Studios to create projects for linear and streaming platforms, starting with an adaptation of the novel, “The Dreamers.” “Marta Kauffman is

Emmy-winning actor John Karlen, best known for his work on the television series “Dark Shadows” and “Cagney & Lacey,” has died. He was 86. Karlen died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at a hospice in Burbank, Calif., his friend and spokesperson Jim Pierson told the Associated Press. The actor played conman and scoundrel Willie Loomis

January 23, 2020 12:12PM PT Tyler Gwozdz, a former contestant on ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” has died of a suspected drug overdose. He was 29. According to the Boca Raton Police Department, Gwozdz was hospitalized on Jan. 13 following a “medical overdose.” He later died in Florida’s Palm Beach County after spending a week in the  intensive

Documentarian Peter LoGreco has signed an overall deal with the Intellectual Property Company (IPC). LoGreco is a documentary showrunner, director, and producer. Under the deal, he will collaborate with IPC’s CEO, Eli Holzman, and president, Aaron Saidman, to develop original series and showrun series for IPC. LoGreco previously served as showrunner and director for the

January 23, 2020 9:00AM PT Krista Vernoff is looking to set up another show at ABC. The “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Station 19” showrunner is the writer and executive producer on a new pilot which has been ordered at ABC, inspired by the life of famous legal clerk Erin Brockovich. Katey Sagal has been cast to

Offering a snapshot of the new realities in Latin America’s Pay TV market, Buenos Aires-based data and marketing research firm Business Bureau (BB) has published a map of both the Pay TV and OTT landscape in Latin America for the first time. “We have been posting the map of Pay TV statistics in the region

NBC News hopes to be among those vying to make the next “Civil War,” “Capturing the Friedmans” or “Blackfish.” After closing down its long-running Peacock Productions non-fiction unit, NBC News is quickly getting back into the documentary business with NBC News Studios. The new division, led by Liz Cole, will produce premium documentaries, docu-series, select

“America’s Got Talent” host Terry Crews addressed reports that Gabrielle Union was effectively fired from the competition show in November after raising concerns over insensitivities to women and people of color. Speaking on “3rd Hour of Today,” Crews said that the reports did not match his experience working on the NBC show. “First of all,

In a prescient Variety column in 1978, reporter Jim Harwood talked about the blurring distinction (artistic and technical) between film and television. He wrote: “Is a ‘motion picture’ any less of an accomplishment if it’s beamed from Hollywood directly to a wall-sized screen in somebody’s home instead of being hauled in cans to something called

Was Lil Nas X the pop culture phenomenon of 2019, or was it BTS? Either way, the Grammys have it covered — and within a single number. The Recording Academy and CBS officially confirmed Thursday that the rapper and the K-pop group will perform together on the awards telecast Jan. 26. It’s not the first

In this week’s special NATPE: Miami International TV Newswire, Variety looks at the AVoD revolution through a new deal between Tubi and Mexico’s Azteca, ITV and Kew Media sell big across the Americas and two high-profile HBO Latin America series join Hulu Japan’s Latin American showcase. Tubi and Azteca Presage AVoD Revolution Tubi, the world’s largest AVoD

NBC’s trio of “Chicago” dramas ticked down in the TV ratings last night, but there’s no need to call the police, the fire brigade or an ambulance quite yet. “Chicago Med,” “Fire” and “P.D.” were still the top three shows on the night, scoring a 1.1, a 1.1 and a 1.0 rating respectively among adults

MIAMI — The atmosphere at the annual NATPE conference this year was a bit of old school and a lot of new school. In keeping with NATPE’s remit as a content market, hopeful stars of new fall talk show prospects pressed the flesh in a flurry of meetings and receptions with station buyers. MGM TV’s

Angelina Jolie and the BBC want to give young viewers real tools to stop fake news, Jolie will executive produce “BBC My World,” a program that explains the stories behind news and offers facts and information that helps kids over the age of 13 make up their own minds on pressing international issues. The series

January 23, 2020 12:01AM PT “Star Trek: Picard,” the latest entry in an ever-regenerating franchise, eventually gets going. That it does so more tentatively than boldly may, at first, be a test of individual viewers’ loyalty to the “Trek” universe and to its most famous captain. “Picard’s” great asset is its title character — as