Television

CNN faces a split vote on an unorthodox effort it will undertake to harness interest in its coming broadcast of the next round of Democratic debates. In a non-traditional maneuver, the AT&T-owned cable-news outlet intends to conduct a “live draw” July 18 in primetime that will determine on which of two nights various Democratic candidates

Amazon Prime has picked up Spanish and Latin American streaming rights to “Hernan,” the much-anticipated Spanish conquistador series produced by Spain’s Onza Entertainment and Mexico’s Dopamine, a Salinas Group company. The OTT giant plans to bow the eight-episode series later this year, in time to mark the 500th anniversary of the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes’

In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix drops the trailer for fourth season of “Queer Eye” and Amazon announces the premiere date for its first ever original stand-up special. CASTING Ryan Destiny, best known for playing one of the leads on Fox’s “Star,” will join the cast of “Grown-ish” for the upcoming third season in a recurring

The producer of Netflix’s “The Crown” is making “Sitting in Limbo” for the BBC, a feature-length drama about a recent real-life immigration scandal in the U.K. Novelist Stephen S. Thompson is writing, and it is his first TV script. The Windrush scandal concerns immigrants to Britain, mostly those who came to the country from the

HBO’s documentary “I Love You, Now Die,” about a young woman who went on trial for allegedly coercing her boyfriend to kill himself over text message, is clear-eyed and thoughtful, and, in two brisk installments, manages not to overstay its welcome. It tells a story that will startle the unfamiliar and, too, provide new angles

Nelson Mandela’s family is partnering with Michael Sugar’s Sugar23 and ad agency DMA United to launch Mandela Media, in honor of the late South African leader. Mandela was an anti-apartheid revolutionary who spent 27 years in prison before becoming president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 as the country’s first black head of state, during

Tracy Oliver has set up her second TV series. The “Girls Trip” scribe has landed a ten episode order at Amazon for a half-hour single-cam comedy series following the lives of four black women – friends from their college days at NYU – as they navigate sex, relationships and chasing their dreams. Oliver is the

SideCar, Fox Entertainment’s new content development accelerator led by Gail Berman, has filled out its executive team with Hend Baghdady, Susan Lierle, Jeff Nemon, Alana Romoff, Matthew Chadwick and Eduardo Lopez-Mendez. The company is set to develop scripted and unscripted projects alike for both the Fox network and third-party platforms. “This truly is an amazing

Do not expect to see much, if any, of Sarah Paulson in the new season of “American Horror Story.” Variety has learned from sources that Paulson will not appear in a significant role in the FX anthology series’ upcoming ninth season, which is titled “American Horror Story: 1984.” Paulson has appeared in all eight 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, “Love Island” premieres on CBS and Aziz Ansari returns to Netflix. “Aziz Ansari:

Michael Engleman, most recently the chief marketing officer at TBS and TNT, has been named CMO of Showtime Networks, succeeding Don Buckley. He will oversee Showtime’s marketing, creative advertising and digital media divisions, which includes consumer and distribution marketing, promotions and media. He will also be responsibly for managing daily operations of Showtime’s digital platform

Madison Avenue seems to have more to say to Spanish-speaking TV viewers. Spanish-language broadcaster Univision expects the volume of advance advertising commitments for its next programming cycle to rise after wrapping its negotiations in TV’s annual “upfront” market, according to a person familiar with the matter. This person says Univision saw its overall volume grow

Patty Jenkins is now known as the director behind celebrated films “Monster” and “Wonder Woman,” as well as the recent gritty TNT limited drama series “I Am the Night.” But her first passion is comedy — and in particular, surreal, absurdist comedy. “A lot of my friends who I’d known in the comedy world, in

The U.S. national women’s soccer team achieved a spectacular World Cup repeat yesterday, beating the Netherlands in a tense final in Lyon, France. If the early figures are anything to go by, the game also provided a strong finish for Fox in the ratings. Sunday’s final posted a 10.0 overnight metered market rating. For comparison,

SUN VALLEY, Idaho — The art and commerce of the content business will surely be center stage this year as media moguls gather once again in this mountain resort for Allen & Co.’s annual conference. From Apple to Disney to AT&T, most of the major players who are on the guest list this week at

July 8, 2019 5:04AM PT CNN will rely on two Washington-based hosts and one of its primetime anchors for the next round of debates among Democratic candidates for president. Dana Bash, Jake Tapper and Don Lemon will moderate a two-night series on CNN during which 20 candidates will debate each other. The media venues for

July 8, 2019 4:15AM PT Norah O’Donnell will launch her tenure as anchor of “CBS Evening News” with talk about outer space. The anchor will hold a joint interview with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy in which they discuss the future of space exploration, part of a broader

Veteran Writers Guild of America member William Schmidt is challenging incumbent WGA West President David Goodman in the upcoming election, citing complaints with Goodman’s handling of the bitter standoff with Hollywood agents. Schmidt, whose credits include “Yellowstone,” “Outsiders” and “Charmed,” told Variety that he disagrees with Goodman’s leadership regarding the directive for members to fire

SAG-AFTRA has found actor Kip Pardue guilty of misconduct and fined him $6,000 for sexually harassing actress Sarah Scott last year, according to a published report in the Los Angeles Times. The union declined comment on the report about the March disciplinary proceedings, citing reasons of confidentiality. Pardue, was found “guilty of serious misconduct in

July 7, 2019 8:30AM PT WarnerMedia cable network Adult Swim has set the linear television premiere date for mecha-anime series “gen:LOCK.” The show, from WarnerMedia’s Rooster Teeth, will debut on Adult Swim’s anime block Toonami on Saturday, Aug. 3. Starring Michael B. Jordan, “gen:LOCK” is set 50 years in the future, where an oppressive authoritarian

Cartoon Network’s Adults Swim has ordered second seasons for two popular series from international animation studio Titmouse: Christy Karacas’ sci-fi comedy “Ballmastrz: 9009” and Andrew Koehler and Benjamin Martian’s fantasy series “Tigtone.” According to Koehler, now an executive producer on “Tigtone” – along with Martin and “Workaholics” alum Blake Anderson, “‘Tigtone’ is doing what legends

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read until you’ve seen season 3 of “Stranger Things,” which premiered July 4 on Netflix. When “Stranger Things” introduces a new character, it’s almost immediately obvious which archetype they’re supposed to represent. As a deliberate throwback to 1980’s blockbusters that prioritized thrills and jokes over characterization, most everyone can be described

Patricia Clarkson’s portrayals of complicated women “who aren’t 25” in indie films, pay-TV and streaming series, and on stage have offered her a rewarding second act to a career in which she once felt trapped in suburban mom roles. Speaking to Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge as part of the magazine’s Critics Corner video

July 5, 2019 4:52PM PT Canceled Fox musical drama “Star” appears to be making a comeback – as a televised movie, according to co-creator Lee Daniels. “The bad news is that ‘Star’ is not getting picked up for series,” said Daniels in a video post on Instagram, calling the explanation “too long of a story

July 5, 2019 4:00PM PT [embedded content] In today’s TV news roundup, Variety has obtained an exclusive clip of FX’s “Peabody Presents: Stories of the Year,” an hour-long special moderated by Hasan Minhaj, and Rooster Teeth announces the return date for anime web series “RWBY.” FIRST LOOKS: FX will air “Peabody Presents: Stories of the

July 5, 2019 3:59PM PT National Geographic’s “Apollo: Missions to the Moon” stands out of the crowd of 50th anniversary Apollo 11 documentaries, in that it crafts a narrative using only archival footage about multiple Apollo missions. Director and executive producer Tom Jennings spoke with Variety‘s “TV Take” podcast with executive editor of television Daniel

July 5, 2019 11:09AM PT Film and television producer Robert Bradford, novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford’s husband who shepherded adaptations of many of her books, died early Tuesday morning in New York’s Presbyterian Hospital following a stroke. He was 94. Badford played a large role in his wife’s work, producing nine of her books as miniseries

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read until you’ve seen season 3 of “Stranger Things,” which premiered July 4 on Netflix. “Stranger Things” has been world-beatingly successful because of the kids at its center. And they’ve seemed, at times, to be the reason why its success might not be sustainable. When the sci-fi series emerged in the

July 5, 2019 8:41AM PT The annual “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular” soared to the top of the ratings charts once again, however, the show didn’t sparkle quite as brightly as in previous years and was down 25% on 2018. NBC aired only the fireworks show, which drew a 0.9 rating in the key

Almost a year into running BBC Studios Productions, a major part of Ralph Lee’s task is securing more third-party commissions and generating new breakout hits that can sit alongside “Doctor Who,” “Dancing With the Stars” and its other top performers. BBC Studios produces for British pubcaster the BBC, and now also for third parties. This