At CBS, ads have a chance to make a big splash on screen, whether they be a shout out to Sabra hummus from late-night host Stephen Colbert, a scene in “Hawaii Five-0” about Sweet Onion Teryiaki sandwiches from Subway or a bar sponsored by Anheuser-Busch and Heineken on the set of James Corden’s “Late Late
Television
The upcoming series adaptation of the film “Love, Simon” has found its lead. Michael Cimino has been cast as Victor in the Disney Plus series. Victor is a new student at Creekwood High School on his own journey of self-discovery, facing challenges at home, adjusting to a new city, and struggling with his sexual orientation.
For Mandy Moore, the news of her first Emmy nomination for her role as Rebecca in “This Is Us” hasn’t yet sunk in. “I don’t know if it ever really does, does it?” she asked Variety. “It’s pretty crazy. We are truly a family here and I can’t help but think 54 episodes in, three
E! has given the greenlight to a new sitcom. The series, titled “Meet the Frasers,” follows Rhode Island local celebrity couple Matt Fraser, a 28-year-old psychic medium and Alexa Papigiotis, his 21-year-old pageant queen girlfriend. “Meet the Frasers” will showcase the duo’s lives, careers, and their highly involved extended families. The half-hour sitcom is produced
The race to replace “Game of Thrones” has its latest entrant, with Amazon’s new “Carnival Row,” a series that combines fantasy, melodrama, ultraviolence, and strained political allegory. But, for now, the “Thrones” legacy seems safe: This new series reaches for credibility with gruesomeness and exaggeration, falling flat at every turn. It’s painful proof that a
And the next prime minister of Great Britain will be… Hugh Grant! Okay, maybe not. However, Grant says he has entertained the idea of running for office. “I have thought about it a bit to be honest,” Grant says in this week’s episode of “The Big Ticket,” Variety and iHeart’s movie podcast. The 58-year-old actor
Inside CBS and Viacom, there are many execs who believe the companies shouldn’t have split in 2005. But after 15 years of operating independent of each other, some of those same execs weren’t so sure the two sides should get back together. But the media landscape has dramatically changed in the years since Sumner Redstone
In today’s TV news roundup, season two of “Tell me a Story” finds two new cast members, and “Star Wars Resistance” has set a premiere date for its second and final season. CASTING Caleb Castille and Christopher Meyer have joined the cast of season 2 of the CBS All Access fairytale anthology series “Tell Me
As CBS and Viacom put the pieces back together again and rejoin after nearly 15 years apart, it also means that the former Paramount TV studio assets will be back in the same family as Paramount’s film studio. But it also raises new questions about the fate of the newer Paramount TV shingle. When Sumner
Disney and Charter Communications have reached a mammoth carriage agreement that covers 22 cable channels and sets a framework for the companies working together on future distribution of the Disney Plus and ESPN Plus streaming services. The multi-year pact encompasses carriage of ESPN’s latest college football offering, ACC Network, featuring Atlantic Coast Conference games. It
HBO has given a series order to a comedy series based on the film “Skate Kitchen.” Now titled “Betty,” the series is set against the backdrop of New York City and will follow a diverse group of young women navigating their lives through the predominantly male oriented world of skateboarding. Development on the series was
August 14, 2019 1:39PM PT NBC is developing a series adaptation of the 1980s film “St. Elmo’s Fire.” The series is described as a modern adaptation of the film that showcases a group of close friends struggling with career, commitment and the responsibilities of adulthood. Released in 1985, the film starred many members of the
It was good news and bad news for leading Spanish-language media company Univision, which reported a further slide in earnings in its second quarter financial report. However, the company has seen its best upfront in four years, said CEO Vince Sadusky in an earnings call, noting a sales spike in the “mid-single digits” for its
Stuart Varney has seen many things during his nearly four decades as a business journalist. But Wednesday’s stock-market moves made even him take pause. “I’ve seen volatility before, and this is quite extreme,” he says, after having wrapped a broadcast during which the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 700 points. “There’s no question about it.”
In a realignment of its divisions, AMC Networks is bringing AMC Studios into the entertainment networks group fold, expanding the purview of current entertainment networks head Sarah Barnett. Current head of programming for the networks and the studio, David Madden, will step down later in August. The move elevates Barnett, a television executive who has
August 14, 2019 10:24AM PT Elizabeth Perkins has joined the cast of the upcoming Fox holiday series “A Moody Christmas.” Perkins will play Ann, the matriarch of the Moody family. She joins previously announced cast member Denis Leary, who will play Moody patriarch Sean Sr. The single-cam comedy follows Dan Moody as he returns home to
August 14, 2019 9:14AM PT “2 Dope Queens” star Phoebe Robinson is getting into the interview business. Comedy Central has ordered an interview show from the multi-talented stand-up comedian. The order consists of 10 half-hour episodes during which Robinson will interview guests one-on-one. The projects represents the first to emerge from Robinson’s recently formed production
Shares of both Viacom and CBS fell Wednesday as an overwhelmingly negative market offset enthusiasm for the merger the two companies announced the day before. Shares of Viacom were off $2.05, or 7.04%, in early trading, down to $27.16 from $29.21. Shares of CBS, meanwhile, were off $3.37, or 6.92%, down to $45.49 from $47.54.
The “Wheel of Time” series at Amazon has found its main cast. Josha Stradowski has been cast in the role of Rand al’Thor, with Marcus Rutherford set to play Perrin Aybara and Zoë Robins playing Nynaeve. In addition, Barney Harris will play Mat Cauthon and Madeleine Madden will play Egwene Al’Vere. They join previously announced
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Mayday,” the third season finale of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” There has long-been a school of thought that in order to move forward, one must be willing to look back. In the case of “The Handmaid’s Tale’s” third season finale, starting the episode entitled “Mayday” with
August 14, 2019 8:31AM PT [embedded content] Who killed Bryce Walker? That’s the central question in the first trailer for Netflix’s upcoming season of “13 Reasons Why” — and everyone’s a suspect. Season 3 picks up with the mysterious murder of the show’s antagonist Bryce (Justin Prentice), a high school student accused of sexual assault.
Joe Ianniello was seen as the odd man out once members of the CBS and Viacom boards got serious about merger discussions this past spring. It became clear early on that Bob Bakish was the choice to lead the combined company as CEO. But as the negotiations progressed, the future of CBS’ president and acting
August 13, 2019 4:45PM PT “Good Girls” fans are getting a bigger season of the show than ever before. Variety has learned exclusively that NBC has ordered an additional three episodes for the show’s upcoming third season, bringing its total episodes for the season to 16. Season 2 of the series was 13 episodes while
The number of straight from the headlines projects seems to be increasing by the day, and Patricia Heaton is the latest to get in on the act. Heaton is attached to produce a project based on the “Perversion of Justice,” a series of articles in the Miami Herald which exposed Jeffrey Epstein as a serial
In today’s TV news roundup, Cicely Tyson joins the cast of Ava DuVernay’s OWN anthology series, and Netflix sets a premiere date for the Broadway play turned film “American Son.” CASTING Legendary actress Cicely Tyson is joining the cast of Ava DuVernay‘s anthology series “Cherish the Day” at OWN. In a fitting role for the actress,
A newly formed streaming giant is entering the ring as Viacom and CBS — now known as ViacomCBS — prepare to merge their content portfolios that include both paid subscription and free ad-supported platforms. The result, says CEO Bob Bakish, will be a “powerful DTC ecosystem, which will allow us to serve consumers at different
August 13, 2019 3:00PM PT Ernest Hemingway’s memoir “A Moveable Feast” could soon be coming to the small screen. Village Roadshow Entertainment Group (VREG), Mariel Hemingway, John Goldstone, and Marc Rosen have closed a deal to produce a series based on the book, which was originally published in 1964. Alix Jaffe, VREG’s executive vice president
Tarrell Alvin McCraney threw up a little in his mouth when Oprah Winfrey sat down in the room to hear his pitch for “David Makes Man.” “I was a lot nervous,” McCraney says. Winfrey had put a meeting of Oprah Winfrey Network’s board of directors on hold at the request of Michael B. Jordan, who
As top executives from CBS and Viacom celebrate a new merger and the hard work behind it, Wall Street has questions about the combined company’s operating structure and next steps. Analysts pressed the company Tuesday for more information about certain elements of the merged owners of the CBS broadcast network; Showtime pay-cable channel; Paramount movie
It’s been nearly 20 years since Viacom and CBS first announced their intent to merge, in a $35 billion deal that was billed at the time as the biggest ever in showbiz. When Viacom’s Sumner Redstone and then-CBS president and CEO Mel Karmazin revealed the plan at a Sept. 7, 1999, press conference, the combined