After three-and-a-half decades, Eddie Murphy returned to Studio 8H to host “Saturday Night Live” on Dec. 21, and he brought along some famous friends and former cast members: Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan and Dave Chappelle. The audience chanted Eddie’s name as he stood on stage for his monologue, which he kicked off by reminding the
Television
Ricky Gervais has posted a series of seemingly transphobic tweets prompted by J.K. Rowling’s support of Maya Forstater, a researcher who was fired for tweeting that a person cannot change their biological sex. In later tweets, Gervais implied the tweets were meant as jokes. In the first tweet, Gervais, who has been tapped to host
December 20, 2019 4:56PM PT In today’s TV news roundup, Hulu released a teaser for Zoë Kravitz’s “High Fidelity” and ABC News announces a podcast about Jeffrey Epstein. CASTING Genneya Walton (“The Resident”), Iman Benson (“Suits”), Scarlet Spencer (“Bright”), Justin Clairborne, Ravi Cabot-Conyers and Richard Gardenhire Jr. have been cast n Netflix‘s new comedy “Black
December 20, 2019 3:20PM PT “Sweetbitter” has come to a bittersweet end. The half-hour drama has been canceled by Starz after two seasons on the network. Season 2 wrapped up in August. The half-hour drama series was based on the book of the same name by Stephanie Danler. It followed a 22-year-old woman (Ella Purnell)
December 20, 2019 1:38PM PT Bill Griffeth, one of TV’s most durable business-news journalists, will step back from his duties at CNBC, where he has worked for 28 years. During a segment Friday at the NBCUniversal-owned cable-news outlet, Griffeth announced he will relinquish daily anchoring duties and instead serve as an anchor at large. He
Last night’s Democratic debate, which inevitably dealt with the recent impeachment of President Donald Trump, drew just over 6 million total viewers for PBS and Politico, according to Nielsen figures. Topics such as the economy, climate change, racism, Afghanistan, and taxing the wealthy were also on the agenda. That total, which counts the PBS broadcast
The decade didn’t lack for powerful and memorable performances across all forms and genres of television. Indeed, the challenge of pulling together a list of turns worth remembering was featuring only one cast member per show — otherwise, this could simply have been a list of “Orange Is the New Black” performers — and eventually
Before this decade, the idea of a network dropping an entire season on one day was not a serious one. Episodes aired week to week, occasionally back to back, and so it went — until streaming services made clear that they were willing to tread a different path. Suddenly, it seemed, TV’s release calendar featured
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “The Witcher,” streaming now on Netflix. A dragon, a zombie-like creature and a banished princess walk into a tavern. Tell me if you’ve heard this one before? All three are part of a big swing fantasy series that represents one of the most sizable TV
When writer Nina Weinman heard Hallmark wanted to include Hanukkah in their annual “Countdown to Christmas” original movie slate for the 2019 holiday season, she was thrilled. Weinman was raised Jewish but now celebrates both Hanukkah and Christmas with her own family after marrying a man who is Christian. Weinman’s producing partner, Joel Rice, is
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “The Interview,” the first season finale of “The Morning Show.” Apple TV Plus’ “The Morning Show” began with beloved fictional morning news anchor Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) getting fired amid sexual misconduct allegations. The veteran media industry professional felt himself to be a casualty in
December 20, 2019 9:00AM PT “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” will expand its podcast menu with the launch of “The Daily Show Podcast Universe” in January. “Podcast Universe” will serve up a five-episode miniseries featuring parodies of popular genres of podcasting, from true crime potboilers to social justice crusades to self-appointed self-help experts. The
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “The Interview,” the first season finale of “The Morning Show.” Apple TV Plus’ “The Morning Show” launched its series with the firing of morning news anchor Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) amid sexual misconduct allegations. To bring the show full-circle, the season finale ended on
December 20, 2019 9:00AM PT Netflix is going back to the Dr. Seuss buffet for another helping of “Green Eggs and Ham.” Sam-I-Am would be proud. The streamer has announced it is renewing the animated series for a second season, appropriately titled “Green Eggs and Ham: The Second Serving.” Netflix’s adaptation of the classic Dr.
BERLIN — Described as continental Europe’s most expensive show ever, epic crime drama “Babylon Berlin” will bow on Sky’s streaming service on Jan. 24, now set in 1929, with a new murder mystery, based on “The Silent Death”, the second novel in Volker Kutscher’s trilogy, though the same intent: To trace with large artistic ambition
December 20, 2019 12:01AM PT Into the absence left by “Game of Thrones” strides “The Witcher,” perhaps the most credible of several recent attempts to capture its predecessor’s robust claim on audience affections. Like “Thrones,” “The Witcher” is based on an existing series of novels (by Andrzej Sapkowski, whose work has also been adapted into
At this point, six rounds into a seemingly endless and interminable election cycle, the Democratic debate routine appeared to be set. An assortment of candidates would take the stage to battle each other, the president, and the same spate of questions over and over again. For a primary that’s about as wide open as they
MSNBC is reworking its Saturday and Sunday schedules, giving Ali Velshi a morning program and adding Alicia Menendez to the roster. The NBCUniversal-owned cable-news outlet will pluck Velshi from its weekday schedule, and give him a morning program that stretches from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The move opens up the weekday
December 19, 2019 4:45PM PT Wednesday night’s vote in the House of Representatives to impeach President Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress drew a considerable number of viewers across the cable news networks and NBC. In total, a little over 16 million total viewers tuned in around 9 p.m. to see the
In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix released the launch date and teaser for “Leslie Jones: Time Machine” and HBO announced the premiere date for “The Plot Against America.” DATES “High Maintenance” will return to HBO for Season 4 on Feb. 7. Created by Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, the show’s fourth season follows The Guy
The planned series based on Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles” is no longer in the works at Hulu, Variety has confirmed. According to sources, Rice and her team is once again shopping her intellectual property as a major TV package; according to one insider, the asking price is around $40 million. “The Vampire Chronicles” series
Making the rounds for a new overall talent deal, “Modern Family” star Sofia Vergara met with producer Fremantle this week to discuss opportunities including a judge slot on “America’s Got Talent,” Variety has learned. Vergara’s current pact with ABC, home to “Modern Family” for 11 seasons, expires in 2020. Insiders said Vergara sat for a
Netflix has ordered “The Midnight Gospel,” an animated series from “Adventure Time” creator Pendleton Ward and comedian and host Duncan Trussell. The series will debut on the streaming service in 2020. Co-creators Ward and Trussell will executive produce the eight-episode series, which is “set in a fantastical universe” and draws on interview clips from Duncan
The Paley Center will soon be vacating its Beverly Hills digs, four years sooner than planned. The bicoastal org, which also maintains a headquarters building in New York, confirmed to Variety that it will move out of its Beverly Hills location in mid-2020. The Paley Center has occupied the location since 1995, when it opened
A jury awarded an $8.6 million verdict on Thursday in the death of “Walking Dead” stuntman John Bernecker, who fell to his death on the set of the show in Senoia, Ga., in July 2017. The jurors found that AMC Networks’ entity, TWD 8, and its production company, Stalwart Films, were negligent in Bernecker’s death.
New York state has adopted a landmark TV diversity law that will provide production tax incentives to companies that hire women and people of color for writing and directing jobs. The bill championed by the Writers Guild of America, East and Directors Guild of America calls for incentives of up to 30% of an individual’s
In 2019, J.J. Abrams signed with WarnerMedia for $500 million, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss chose Netflix for $200 million, while Dan Fogelman extended his stay at Fox for a cool $125 million. The latest 2019 studio-creator deal? Sharon Horgan, the creator of “Catastrophe,” who on Thursday inked an exclusive first-look deal with Apple. The
“The Masked Singer” wrapped its second season on Wednesday night, but the bizarre reality competition won’t be off TV for too long. The Fox hit is returning with a brand new season in less than two months, landing the plum post-Super Bowl slot in early February. Season 3 was cast back in September, and the
December 19, 2019 10:30AM PT Stephen King’s short story “Jerusalem’s Lot” is the latest of the prolific author’s work to be brought to the small screen. Epix has issued a series order for a drama based on the story set in the 1850s, with Oscar winner Adrien Brody attached to play the lead role. “Jerusalem’s
“David Makes Man,” the critically-acclaimed coming-of-age drama from “Moonlight” creator Tarell Alvin McCraney, has been renewed for a second season at the Oprah Winfrey Network. The series centers on a 14-year-old prodigy (Akili McDowell) from the projects who is haunted by the death of his closest friend and relied on by his hardworking mother (Alana