“Game of Thrones” star Natalie Dormer has launched Dog Rose Productions, which will work up projects that Fremantle has first-look rights to co-develop and distribute. The two parties are already collaborating on “Vivling,” a look at the life of “Gone With the Wind” star Vivien Leigh. Their next project together is “Spitfire Sisters,” an eight-part
Television
ABC News and Apple News are teaming up to provide news coverage of the 2020 election. Starting with the February 7 Democratic primary debate in New Hampshire, Apple News, will start to feature news videos and live-streaming coverage from ABC News during key moments in the 2020 race for the White House, along with polling
December 16, 2019 6:00AM PT Netflix has renewed the comedy series “Special” for a second season. Based on Ryan O’Connell’s book ‘I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves,’ the series centers on a gay man (O’Connell) with mild cerebral palsy who decides to rewrite his identity as an accident victim and finally go after
The California Film Commission has chosen four new shows to receive tax credits through the Film & TV Tax Credit Program 2.0. Those shows are “The Dropout” (Searchlight TV), “Grease” (Paramount), “Nine Perfect Strangers” (Endeavor Content) starring and executive produced by Nicole Kidman, and “Untitled Showtime Lakers Project” (HBO) from executive producer Adam McKay. In
Fremantle is expanding its footprint in Italy by setting up a new development and production company focused on high-end scripted content and headed by Lorenzo Mieli, the producer of such shows as “The New Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend.” The new company, called The Apartment, will sit alongside two other Fremantle units in a reconfiguration
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” “Dolemite is My Name,” and HBO’s “Ballers” are among the winners of this year’s COLA awards. The COLAs recognize location managers, public employees and other professionals who help facilitate on-location production across the Golden State. This year’s awards program was held at the Universal Hilton. Finalists and winners are
The owner of TV’s Hallmark Channel on Sunday reversed a decision to ban a commercial depicting a same-sex wedding, suggesting that it was not in keeping with the company’s well-known slogan, “When you care enough to send the very best.” Earlier this week, Hallmark Channel decided to reject an ad from online-weddings firm Zola which
December 15, 2019 3:01PM PT Chuy Bravo, Chelsea Handler’s sidekick on her E! talk show “Chelsea Lately,” has died in Mexico City. He was 63. According to reports, the Mexican American actor died suddenly after being hospitalized with stomach pains while visiting family in Mexico. Handler posted a tribute to Bravo on Instagram shortly after
Scarlett Johansson may be nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in “A Marriage Story,” but when she hosted the Dec. 14 episode of “Saturday Night Live,” she slid into a less flashy role for that sketch comedy’s parody of the new dramatic film. Johansson took on the role of therapist to Kate McKinnon’s
Scarlett Johansson hosted “Saturday Night Live” for the sixth time on Dec. 14 and kicked things off with an “Avengers”-themed monologue. Stepping out on stage at Studio 8H in New York City, Johansson was first joined by Aidy Bryant who did a quick change from her cold open snowman character into Elf on the Shelf.
With the December holidays upon us, “Saturday Night Live” took a brief detour from its usual parodies of political press conferences and the impeachment hearings to instead begin its Dec. 14 episode with a sketch about average families discussing the state of the world over dinner — with a special message from Greta Thunberg (as
Orlando Jones had held his tongue for months about being let go from “American Gods,” and how his departure was handled by producer Fremantle and the Starz network. But, in an interview with Variety, Jones said he finally decided to stand up for himself and set the record straight on why he won’t be seen
Hallmark Channel this week delivered a sentiment very different from the ones found in its parent company’s greeting cards when its executives questioned an ad showing two women getting married — and barred the commercial from running on its schedule. Zola, a company that offers online wedding registries and wedding planning services, had been running
“American Gods” actor Orlando Jones, who played fan favorite Mr. Nancy, has revealed in a video posted to Twitter that he was fired from the Starz series back in September and, without directly naming him, slammed showrunner Charles “Chic” Eglee for the move. In the fiery video, Jones says that “the new Season 3 showrunner
(SPOILER WARNING: Do not read the following if you’re not caught up on HBO’s “Watchmen.”) It would take Yahya Abdul-Mateen II three hours to finish getting into head-to-toe blue makeup as Doctor Manhattan on HBO’s “Watchmen,” although by the show’s last week of shooting, he had gotten the process down to around two hours, 30
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Katarina Rostova,” the midseason seventh season finale of “The Blacklist.” Since “The Blacklist” began it has been building towards a confrontation between Agent Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) and her biological mother, Katarina Rostova (Laila Robbins). That promised confrontation was front-and-center in the seventh season
December 13, 2019 5:45PM PT “Reef Break” will not be back for a second season at ABC. The series debuted back in June on the broadcaster and aired 13 episodes, with the finale airing on Sept. 13. It starred Poppy Montgomery as Cat Chambers, Ray Stevenson as Jake Elliot, Desmond Chiam as Wyatt Cole, Melissa
Analytical, decisive, loyal, fair, empowering. Those are just a few of the choice words industry insiders who have worked with incoming NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell — set to succeed current chief exec Steve Burke, as Variety exclusively reported — use to describe the longtime media exec. On Universal’s North Hollywood lot, many insiders who work
In today’s TV news roundup, Hulu announces a premiere date for “Little Fires Everywhere” and Variety exclusively obtains a first look at this year’s Christmas episode of “The Simpsons.” DATES “Little Fires Everywhere” will debut March 18, Hulu announced. Produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, Kerry Washington’s Simpson Street, and ABC Signature Studios, the show
The first time Damon Lindelof realized that “Watchmen” — his adaptation/remix/continuation of the groundbreaking 1986 graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons — might actually be a hit was after the pilot debuted at New York Comic Con in October. In the following panel, the 46-year-old writer-producer could tell the audience was connecting with
December 13, 2019 2:37PM PT “The Good Doctor” on ABC and “9-1-1” on Fox were the two biggest gainers in the Live+3 TV ratings for the week of Dec. 2. The pair benefited from the absence of NBC’s “This Is Us,” which to date has shown the largest gains across all scripted shows after three
Two organizations dedicated to the inclusion and representation of Asian American communities in media have condemned comedian Jay Leno, and called on network NBC to sever its business ties with the former late night host. Both organizations — Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and the Media Action Network for Asian Americans — refer to a joke
When ET Live first launched on Halloween of 2018, the free “Entertainment Tonight”-branded streaming network kicked off with 15 hours of live programming a week, in three daily installments of entertainment news a day at 9 a.m., 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. But after just a few months, the direct-to-consumer platform — modeled off of
A recent graduate of the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, Victoria Pedretti broke out last year with her role as the tragic, youngest Crain sibling in Netflix’s “The Haunting of Hill House.” Her star has continued to rise with a role in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” playing Manson family member Leslie “Lulu” Van
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read on if you have not watched the first six episodes of Disney Plus’ “Star Wars” spinoff series “The Mandalorian.”” Episode 6 of “The Mandalorian” continued the series’ propensity for heavy references to its sister works in the “Star Wars” galaxy. Virtually the entire episode took place inside a high-security prison ship,
Stepping into a chocolate brown ranch-style home, Penn Badgley’s broody Joe Goldberg wanders through a pool party being thrown on a Tuesday afternoon, exasperated. Inside are hipsters lazing on unicorn floats, several men in Borat swimsuits and a reporter who’s chasing down a Jared Padalecki rumor. Toto, we’re not in Manhattan anymore. When Season 2
The Alamo Drafthouse cinema chain is expanding its relationship with HBO. Alamo has announced it will screen four new HBO series in its theaters for free, one-night-only events across the country. The first series on the calendar is the adaptation of Stephen King’s novel “The Outsider,” starring Ben Mendelsohn, Cynthia Erivo and Jason Bateman, on
“Young Sheldon” caught the sniffles on Thursday night, but still managed to top the TV ratings charts. Other than “,” “Young Sheldon” was the most watched show with 8.2 million total viewers. However, the CBS series ticked down to a 1.0 rating among adults 18-49, tying for first place with “Ellen’s Greatest Night of Giveaways”
MADRID — The Mediapro Studio and Amazon Prime Video have teamed to make “Una Vida, Una Cena,” the most Proustian of 2019 Spanish original series, a portrait of six celebrities through their gastronomic emotions, sensations and memories. Created and hosted by Spanish three-star Michelin chef Quique Dacosta and Ran Tellem, The Mediapro Studio’s head of
K Madhavan has been promoted to country manager of all of Disney’s conventional TV businesses in the key Indian market. Madhavan was previously head of Disney’s regional language TV businesses in South India since 2016. Madhavan’s promotion was announced internally within Disney in India on Friday. He takes over from Sanjay Gupta, who has resigned