Jon Spaihts has stepped down as the showrunner of the HBO Max series “Dune: The Sisterhood,” Variety has confirmed. Spaihts will remain onboard as an executive producer and will focus on writing the script for a second “Dune” reboot film. The TV series was ordered straight-to-series at HBO Max in June. Denis Villeneuve is still attached
Television
“The Voice” on NBC and “9-1-1” on Fox once again tied for first place in the Monday night TV ratings, while CBS’ freshman courtroom drama “All Rise” dropped off a little from last week. The Simone Missick-led show came in at a 0.6 rating among adults 18-49, down around 17% on week 6, however, it
Kate McKinnon has scored her second starring role in a series based on a podcast. McKinnon has signed on to star in and executive produce a series adaptation of the Wondery podcast “Joe Exotic,” which is being developed at Universal Content Productions. It was previously announced that McKinnon would star as disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth
November 5, 2019 9:33AM PT Julianna Margulies and Corey Stoll have both signed on for guest starring roles in the upcoming fifth season of “Billions.” Margulies will play Catherine Brant in the Showtime drama, who is described as an Ivy League sociology professor and bestselling author. Stoll joins in a season-long arc as Michael Prince,
BBC Studios, EOS Films and Oxford Scientific Films have signed a co-production deal with the state-backed China International Television Corporation (CITVC) to produce a nature documentary series, the firms said Tuesday. CITVC is the business division of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, whose interests align with the country’s ruling Communist Party. “China: Nature’s Ancient Kingdom” will
November 5, 2019 8:01AM PT Comedian and actor Ronny Chieng will host the 47th International Emmy Awards Gala in New York later this month. Conleth Hill, known for playing Lord Varys in “Game of Thrones,” will be on hand to give the Founders Award to David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the creators of the hit
Assistants across town, increasingly fired up online, are challenging the long-accepted industry standards of paying support staffers barely above the minimum wage. In person however, speaking up for these workers — at least on television productions — is a task that often falls to those showrunners who choose advocate for those on set with the
Donald Trump Jr. covered a series of wide-ranging topics Tuesday when he stopped by “CBS This Morning” as part of his media blitz to promote his book, “Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us.” In an interview full of constant interruptions, the president’s son was asked about the impeachment inquiry
Fans of Southern Living magazine have since 1966 accessed its many recipes and home ideas through print pages, and, more recently, a website. Next year, they’ll be able to do so with their televisions. Meredith Corp., which acquired the magazine as part of its $2.8 billion purchase of the former Time Inc. in 2017, is
In Variety‘s Recovery Issue, prominent entertainment figures offer insights on navigating a sober life in Hollywood. For more, click here. After five seasons of hallucinogenic trips and drunken meltdowns, Netflix’s “BoJack Horseman” faced a crucial crossroads. The animated comedy series is, overall, one of Netflix’s best, and yet its main character is an acerbic jerk whose love
In Variety‘s Recovery Issue, prominent entertainment figures offer insights on navigating a sober life in Hollywood. For more, click here. Andy Lassner has been candid on Twitter and other social media platforms about how low he sank in the 1990s as his addiction to heroin, alcohol and other drugs spiraled out of control. “I’m someone who hit
The classic game show “It’s a Knockout” is returning to European TV as Banijay Rights retools and relaunches the format, which has teams competing in absurd games while sporting wacky costumes. Production is underway on an Italian version of the original physical game show, and in France a new version of “Jeux Sans Frontieres” has
November 4, 2019 7:09PM PT Amazon is prepping for the couch-bound holiday season with the addition of several originals to the streamer this month. The second season of “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan” starring John Krasinski premiered Nov. 1 and season 4 of “The Man in the High Castle” will follow shortly after with a Nov.
As the rest of the world says goodbye to Halloween, Hulu seems to still be in the thick of the spooky season, adding some thrilling titles to its library in November, like “Freddy Vs. Jason,” “Texas Chainsaw 3D” and “Interview with a Vampire,” whose star-studded cast included Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Kristen Dunst, and Thandie
FX has renewed “Mayans MC” for a third season. The news comes ahead of the Season 2 finale, which is set to air on Tuesday. In addition, series co-creator and executive producer Elgin James will serve as the sole showrunner for the third season, which is slated to air in fall 2020. The news comes
John J. McMahon, the former president of Carson Productions Group and Wilshire Court Productions, died Monday at his Brentwood, Calif. home after a battle with advanced prostate cancer. He was 89. A longtime network executive, McMahon served as senior V.P. of programming and talent for NBC where he’s credited for his involvement in shows including
Fox Television Stations has cut a broad renewal pact with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution that calls for four returning series to be reformatted to allow them to run seamlessly without commercial breaks between shows. The renewal pact covers “,” “TMZ, “TMZ Live” and “The Real.” Fox Television Stations will eliminate the traditional commercial break
Like a scene straight out of her campy Netflix drama “The Politician,” Gwyneth Paltrow threw a simple but luxurious bash in Montecito, Calif., last week to trumpet the first-ever hotel collaboration for her lifestyle empire, Goop. On the streamer’s series co-created by husband Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy, Paltrow plays Santa Barbara matriarch Georgina Hobart,
Queen Latifah is set to star in a potential reboot of the TV series “The Equalizer” at CBS. The new series has received a pilot production commitment at the broadcaster. It is described a reimagining of the classic series in which Queen Latifah portrays an enigmatic figure who uses her extensive skills to help those
November 4, 2019 10:18AM PT [embedded content] “Tonight you will not sleep,” the Ghost of Christmas Past, played by Andy Serkis, tells Guy Pearce’s Ebeneezer Scrooge in the first trailer for the BBC and FX’s upcoming adaptation of “A Christmas Carol.” “Come and look upon the evil that you did.” Scenes of the effects of
Welcome back to Tune In: our weekly newsletter offering a guide to the best of the week’s TV. Each week, Variety’s TV team combs through the week’s schedule, selecting our picks of what to watch and when/how to watch them. This week, “His Dark Materials” premieres on HBO and ABC takes viewers under the sea
“It was often thought that nostalgia was a bad thing,” Jeff Goldblum intones in his new Disney Plus documentary series, “The World According to Jeff Goldblum.” “It was thought to be an illness. But nostalgia can be a potent psychological force for uplifting.” He’s talking, here, about ice cream. “It’s like a time machine,” he
“His Dark Materials,” the multi-universe fantasy trilogy by British author Philip Pullman, has historically proved to be a bit of daemon to adapt for the screen. Chris Weitz, Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig gave it a crack back in 2007, and the result was a critically-panned, middling box office-performing feature film which, many felt, leant
At first glance, “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” seems like a blatant cannibalization of a Disney property as required by a streaming service that depends on nostalgia. At second glance — well, that’s entirely accurate. To its credit, though, the show is upfront about it, delivering its gentle twist on an aggressively inoffensive
November 4, 2019 4:00AM PT It’s Simon Cowell versus Little Mix in a battle of upcoming TV talent shows. Cowell is launching “The X Factor: The Band,” a new format for ITV. The BBC recently announced “Little Mix The Search,” fronted by the eponymous band, which first came to the public’s attention after winning “The
Fremantle-owned Italian production company Wildside has signed a first-look deal with trader-turned-writer Guido Brera, whose financial thriller “Devils” spawned the Sky series of the same title that recently launched at Mipcom sold by NBCUniversal Global Distribution. Brera worked as a trader in London before relocating to his native Italy, where he currently divides his time
Brian Tarantina, a character actor known for his roles on “Gilmore Girls,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and many other TV series, died Saturday in New York City. He was 60. WCBS-TV New York reported that Tarantina was found dead in his Hell’s Kitchen apartment. A cause of death has not been determined. Tarantina most recently
After kicking off the Nov. 2 episode of “Saturday Night Live” as Elizabeth Warren, diving into the presidential hopeful’s healthcare plan, Kate McKinnon pivoted to reprise her role of Kellyanne Conway to take a jab at former press secretary Sean Spicer, but more importantly celebrate Conan, the military dog integral in helping track down former
Kate McKinnon took center stage during the Nov. 2 “Saturday Night Live” cold open sketch, in which she portrayed Senator Elizabeth Warren delivering a town hall at an Iowa public school that balanced delivering some hard truths with also often sounded like a standup set. “First, I would like to pour one out for Beto
Rudy Boesch, the oldest person to compete on “Survivor,” died Friday from complications of Alzheimer’s disease, according to numerous media reports. He was 91 and was a resident of Virginia Beach, Va. A former Navy Seal, Boesch appeared on the first season of the reality show in 2000. He was 72 at the time and