Joe Biden’s presidential campaign on Sunday urged major U.S. TV-news outlets to cease booking Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney, as a guest, citing his penchant for spreading “false, debunked conspiracy theories” on behalf of the White House. The letter, signed by top Biden aides Anita Dunn and Kate Bedingfield, was sent to top executives
Television
Viewers of Fox Business Network will notice something different about Maria Bartiromo’s program on Monday morning. The anchor will be the same, but the screen around her won’t. The cable network has reworked its graphics, which will appear tomorrow for the first time, around its programs – all part of an effort to provide viewers
“Schitt’s Creek” creator and star Dan Levy wasn’t always as out and proud as his on-screen character. In fact, David’s suave demeanor and clean-cut confidence was a long ways off when Levy first began grappling with his sexual identity. “Standing up here, it’s hard not to think back to a very specific time in my
September 29, 2019 2:00AM PT Oliver Hirschbiegel, the director of “Downfall” and Sundance-winner “Five Minutes of Heaven,” is set to produce and direct “Europe” (working title), a contemporary drama series about African migrants coming to Europe. Hirschbiegel told Variety at the Zurich Film Festival that the series was being co-developed with Sky. Stefano Bises, the
September 29, 2019 1:00AM PT [embedded content] The BBC has dropped a trailer for its upcoming adaptation of H.G. Wells’ alien-invasion classic, “The War of the Worlds.” Set in Edwardian England, in the southern English county of Surrey, the three-part series stars Rafe Spall (“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingfom”), Eleanor Tomlinson (“Poldark”), Rupert Graves (“Sherlock”) and
Before “Saturday Night Live” debuted its 45th season, it was already making major headlines with its decision to hire Shane Gillis, a comedian and podcaster who, just months before booking this high profile gig, had been using racial slurs online. Just days after he was hired, he was fired from the late-night NBC sketch comedy
“Saturday Night Live” has returned with its 45th season, and it wasted no time diving into the polarizing political climate by adding to the discussion around Donald Trump’s impeachment with three separate sketches, including the cold open, as well as a dedicated Weekend Update segment. Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon kicked things off with a
As the television landscape only continues to expand and gender parity, especially when it comes to salaries, is at the top of conversations, a few new fall shows are endeavoring to equally enlarge the footprint their female characters are having on- and off-screen. For Cobie Smulders of ABC’s “Stumptown,” a pivotal part of her character
September 28, 2019 2:27PM PT Two top executives are out at ICM Partners. Chief operating officer Justin Dearborn and chief human resources officer Cindy Ballard are leaving, capping brief tenures for both at the Hollywood talent agency. An ICM spokesperson confirmed that Dearborn and Ballard resigned this week, adding that both are leaving the agency
“Superstore” actress Linda Porter has died, her representatives have confirmed to Variety. She was 86. Porter, who also appeared in “Twin Peaks: The Return,” “Mercy,” “American Horror Story,” “The Suite Life on Deck,” “Gilmore Girls” and other series dating back to the late 1980s, most recently played Myrtle on “Superstore.” She appeared in 35 episodes
CAA, UTA and WME have consolidated their antitrust suits against the Writers Guild of America into a single action, accusing the union of engaging in an illegal group boycott. The agencies filed the suit Friday in federal court in Los Angeles. The complaint repeats allegations that were filed in individual agency suits in June and
October marks the beginning of fall and winter festivities, and Netflix does not want to be left out. The online streamer is prepping for Halloween, releasing family-friendly content such as “Super Monsters: Vida’s First Halloween” on Oct. 4 and “The Spooky Tale of Captain Underpants Hack-a-ween” on Oct. 8. On Oct. 11, Netflix releases “Haunted:
In today’s TV News roundup, the CW has released the first image of Brandon Routh as Superman in the upcoming crossover event “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and Freeform’s “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay” sets its premiere date. DATES Freeform‘s “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay” will premiere Jan. 16. Josh Thomas, the creator, writer, and executive producer, will
Deborah Chow is expanding her directorial credits in the Star Wars universe. The director, who already helmed part of Jon Favreau’s “The Mandalorian” series, has been tapped so sit in the director’s for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series which will see Ewan McGregor reprise his role as the iconic jedi master. McGregor confirmed the series was
September 27, 2019 2:30PM PT Freeform has canceled “Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists.” The series aired just one season, which ran for 10 episodes beginning in March of this year. The series was a spinoff of “Pretty Little Liars” with original series stars Sasha Pieterse and Janel Parrish reprising their roles. It was based on
As Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige builds out his own TV universe spawned from the “Avengers” films, Marvel’s dedicated television unit is seeing its live-action world contract. Feige’s division — part of the Walt Disney Studios feature-film operation — is currently working on multiple shows for the nascent streamer Disney Plus centered on Marvel Cinematic
September 27, 2019 1:41PM PT Rob Garrison, best known for playing Tommy in both “The Karate Kid” and recent series “Cobra Kai,” died Friday morning. He was 59. Garrison’s character is known for his “Karate Kid” line, “Get him a body bag!” He had recently reprised his role as Tommy in the series “Cobra Kai,”
September 27, 2019 1:23PM PT “Impeachment: American Crime Story” may not necessarily be released in September 2020 as previously announced, creator Ryan Murphy indicated to a New York Times reporter, expressing surprise that there was controversy over the timing of the FX series. “I was a little shocked at the idea that a television miniseries
September 27, 2019 12:22PM PT Jon Adler, senior director of development for CNN Original Series, was promoted to vice president of program development for the division. “Jon was the first hire we made to the Original Series team more than seven years ago, and in that time has been an integral part of our success.
Ellen DeGeneres is substantially expanding her producing portfolio. The multi-hyphenate, who signed a three-year extension to her daytime hosting gig earlier this year, is behind four new shows coming to HBO Max, three of which have been handed straight-to-series orders, and one of which has been put in development. DeGeneres announced the pickups on her
Oprah sat down with Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger to discuss his book, “The Ride of a Lifetime,” on OWN’s “Super Soul Sunday,” airing this Sunday, Sept. 29. During that time, they discuss mentor Roone Arledge, Iger’s father, the Pulse nightclub shooting, and the moment when Steve Jobs revealed his cancer diagnosis to Iger. Here
September 27, 2019 10:00AM PT Apple TV Plus released first look trailers for the three series in its kids and family programming lineup that will launch with the service on Nov. 1. The first is a reimagined version of “Ghostwriter,” Sesame Workshop’s beloved series that originally ran from 1992 to 1995. In this version, a
King of the second-unit cinematographers, Rexford Metz is second to none when it comes to getting shots on the ground, in water or high in the sky. He operated the camera during the famed 10-minute chase sequence in “Bullitt” on the streets of San Francisco in 1968, and it was his coverage of muscle cars
September 27, 2019 9:00AM PT NBC is developing the comedy series “Black Girl Magic” with Gabrielle Union onboard as an executive producer, Variety has learned. The projects follows three estranged sisters who learn a mysterious secret about their family history that changes their lives and brings them back to the magical world of New Orleans. “Black
Thursday was a tricky night for new shows to debut given the presence of a titanic “Thursday Night Football” clash on Fox between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles. Sure enough, all five of the series which debuted struggled to make an impact. On NBC, “Perfect Harmony” starring Bradley Whitford debuted to a
September 27, 2019 8:00AM PT Anika Noni Rose will guest star on Hulu’s upcoming adaptation of “Little Fires Everywhere,” Variety has learned exclusively. Rose will play a character named Paula Hawthorne who is described as a renowned photographer and art professor in New York who becomes a mentor to Mia when she is young. Mia is
BoJack Horseman is riding off into the L.A. sunset. Netflix has announced that the forthcoming sixth season of the adult animated comedy will be its last. The streamer also revealed the concluding season will air in two parts, the first launching Oct. 25, 2019, and the second on Jan. 31, 2020. “BoJack Horseman” features the
The first set of exclusive photos from “Hernan,” the much-anticipated conquistador mega series starring Oscar Jaenada, is out. The entire series drops on Amazon Prime Video Spain and Latin America on Nov. 21. Talks are still underway in other territories where Amazon Prime is present. The History Channel Latin America will air two episodes a
David Attenborough will light up a new natural history series, “Life in Colour,” for the BBC in the U.K., Nine Network in Australia, and Netflix in the rest of the world. It marks the first time that the BBC is collaborating on a natural-history show with Netflix, which is diving deeper into that space. The
September 27, 2019 2:20AM PT The ITV-led “best-of-British” streamer BritBox will be available on various smart TVs and the YouView service when it rolls out on home turf in the U.K. later this year. BritBox already operates in North America and is set to go live in Britain around November. Commercial broadcaster ITV is the