Television

MADRID  — Burgeoning Hispanic film and TV studio Exile Content, headed by former Univision and Televisa chief creative officer Isaac Lee, has struck an agreement with Spanish publishing house Planeta and Spanish author Elvira Lindo to create a Spanish-language TV series based on Lindo’s most famous creation, Manolito Gafotas. The move is many ways marks

It’s officially going to be a year before FX delivers more episodes of Donald Glover’s “Atlanta.” During the cabler’s Television Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena, Calif. on Thursday, John Landgraf, chairman, FX Networks and FX Prods., announced that the next two installments of the Emmy-winning comedy series would not be ready until 2021. Calling

Australian comedian Josh Thomas was just 17 when he won the competition at the Melbourne Intl. Comedy Festival — and just 25 when, in 2013, he created and starred in “Please Like Me,” nominated for five Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts awards during its four-season run. Now he’s back with “Everything’s Gonna Be

Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction“New Daughters of Africa” – Margaret Busby (HarperCollins Publishers)“Out of Darkness, Shining Light” – Petina Gappah (Simon and Schuster)“Red at the Bone” – Jacqueline Woodson (Riverhead Books PRH)“The Revisioners” – Margaret Wilkerson Sexton (Counter Point Press)“The Water Dancer” – Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World) Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction“Breathe: A Letter to

Four years ago, Michael Ellenberg faced a crossroads. He knew how to be a TV programming executive, after spending five years at HBO working on shows such as “True Detective,” “Westworld” and “Big Little Lies.” He knew how to be a producer, after working earlier in his career for Scott Rudin and Ridley Scott. What

“Impeachment: American Crime Story” is not going to start airing on FX ahead of the 2020 Presidential election as originally planned. FX chairman John Landgraf made the announcement Thursday at the Television Critics Association winter press tour. Landgraf said that Ryan Murphy is currently directing a feature film and will be unavailable to begin production

Batman’s crimefighting sidekick Robin was famously excitable, with all his “Holy Fill-in-the-Blank” exclamations during the three-season run of the enduringly popular 1960s “Batman” series. But actor Burt Ward learned early on to take the inevitable highs and lows of showbiz career in stride — and that includes a decades-long wait for a star on the

The Oprah Winfrey Network has appointed Robyn Lattaker-Johnson as its new head of unscripted development, programming and specials. In her new role, Lattaker-Johnson will focus on developing unscripted programs for the network’s core African-American female audience, reporting to OWN president Tina Perry. She is taking over the role from Jon Sinclair, who left the company

“American Horror Story” has been renewed for three more seasons, taking the franchise to Season 13, FX announced Thursday. “Ryan [Murphy] and Brad [Falchuk] are the undisputed masters of horror TV, having created the anthological limited series with ‘American Horror Story’ and sustaining its success for nearly a decade as FX’s highest-rated series,” said John

Former TNT/TBS and Gemstone Studios exec Kathryn Busby has been named executive vice president of TriStar Television, a division of Sony Pictures Television. “Whether at SPT’s networks or our boutique production label, Kathryn has had a strong track record of developing original series in an innovative way. Kathryn’s creativity and passion for the artist are

A judge in Rio de Janeiro has ordered that Netflix remove Christmas comedy special “The First Temptation of Christ,” in which Jesus is depicted as a gay man, from the service, saying that, “The right to freedom of expression… is not absolute.” The series has been the focus of extreme criticism in Brazil, including a

Discovery is launching its home and lifestyle channel HGTV, one of its most prominent and successful cable brands, as a free-to-air channel in Italy and in 11 pay-TV markets across Europe including Romania, Hungary and Serbia. The European roll out of HGTV is part of Discovery’s international strategy to expand the reach of this former Scripps

MADRID  —  Giant network TF1, pubcaster France Televisions, upscale channel Arte France, free-to-air network M6 and European TV-film force Studiocanal, owned by Vivendi’s Canal Plus Group, are among companies confirmed for June’s Conecta Fiction in Spain, where France has been chosen as its European Country Focus. A much appreciated Europe-Latin America production forum and networking

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Death and the Serpent,” the sixth episode of the sixth season of “Vikings.” When Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) first appeared on History’s “Vikings” she was a character ahead of her time. She fought for equality, battled alongside the men as a famous shield maiden, and

In today’s TV news roundup, ABC has scheduled the series finale dates for “How To Get Away With Murder” and “Modern Family,” and Netflix announced the launch date for “Ozark” Season 3.  DATES ABC has made some major changes to its programming slate. The network has scheduled the premiere date for “Modern Family’s” series finale

Audience Network as it currently exists is coming to an end. Variety has learned that the network, which has been owned by AT&T since the company acquired DirecTV, will cease operations this spring and transition into a preview channel for HBO Max, the upcoming streaming service from WarnerMedia, which is also owned by AT&T. “We

Longtime “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, who last year announced that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, said at the Television Critics Assn. winter press tour that he doesn’t expect to retire anytime soon. “I don’t foresee that 30-second moment coming up in the near future,” he said on stage, referring to his

While it’s not quite fourth down and long for broadcast networks, lackluster scripted-programming ratings and cord-cutting woes are weighing heavily on the industry’s collective consciousness. So it’s particularly good news that one broadcast mainstay seems to have regained its mojo: live football. After a bumpy year or two, the 2019 NFL regular season grabbed an

This week the new “Bachelor” season kicked off — but it disrupted the usual parade of limos, as well as the season-specific aviation innuendo (titular Bachelor Peter Weber is a pilot) to bring back an old flame. In a surprise move ex-Bachelorette Hannah Brown returned not once, but twice for the season premiere to throw

January 8, 2020 2:30PM PT “Kidding” creator Dave Holstein and fellow executive producer Roberto Benabib have signed a first-look deal with Showtime. The deal will cover all projects they create and develop across multiple platforms. The duo are also forming a production shingle together called R&D Analytics, which will focus on developing “voice-driven television projects in

January 8, 2020 12:57PM PT Some seemingly ridiculous TV show titles are misleading. Others, like “Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector,” are not. The new NBC drama (based on Jeffery Deaver’s novel) stars Lincoln Rhyme (Russell Hornsby) is a cocky detective who’s made a name for himself by scouring crime scenes like no one

All Elite Wrestling’s “Dynamite” currently enjoys a solid ratings edge over WWE’s NXT in the so-called Wednesday Night Wars. AEW and NXT have been going head-to-head on Wednesday nights for about three months now, with “Dynamite” airing on TNT and NXT airing on USA Network. According to Nielsen Live+Same Day figures through Jan. 1, “Dynamite”

Barry Diller’s media company IAC has sold CollegeHumor Media, whose portfolio includes comedy site CollegeHumor, Drawfee, Dorkly and relatively new streamer Dropout, which debuted in September 2018, Variety has confirmed. The move resulted in over 100 layoffs at the company. In a “twist,” chief creative officer Sam Reich announced on Twitter that IAC had agreed to transfer

January 8, 2020 10:23AM PT The “Last of the Mohicans” television adaptation has landed at HBO Max, Variety has confirmed. The nascent streamer has handed out a script order for the project, which is based on James Fennimore Cooper’s novel of the same name. The series is described as a retelling of the novel in which

January 8, 2020 9:21AM PT NBC News has hired journalist Ahiza Garcia-Hodges as a new member of its business, technology and media team. She will be based in San Francisco and will contribute regularly to “Byers Market,” a regular morning newsletter that focuses on issues important to Silicon Valley, the media industry and Washington, D.C.

Banijay Studios North America, a subsidiary of Banijay Group, has named production and development exec Rebecca Mayer to its newly created position of executive vice president of programming and development. There, she will expand the studio’s development and current slate in the U.S., bringing originals to broadcast, cable and streaming, as well as collaborate with

January 8, 2020 8:30AM PT ABC has given out a pilot order to the drama “The Brides,” which is described as a vampire soap opera. The project is further described as a contemporary reimagining of “Dracula” with a trio of female leads. The show would follow these immortal women and the things they do to

The prompt is what show comfortably won Tuesday night’s TV ratings with a whopping 14.4 million total viewers? What is “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” would be the correct answer. The first episode of ABC’s “Jeopardy!” celebration scored a 2.4 rating among adults 18-49, more than doubling its competition on the night. That demo

January 8, 2020 8:00AM PT Mel Brooks is bringing the musical stage version of his iconic film “Young Frankenstein” to ABC. Brooks will produce the ABC version, with casting and an airdate to be announced at a later date. This will mark just the second live musical that ABC has staged, following the successful live

In rebooting their 1994 teen drama “Party of Five,” Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman haven’t just dusted off their old IP to cast a new slate of characters in a familiar story. Instead, they’ve twisted their original concept to fit a scenario that is top of mind in 2020. Whereas their first show followed five