Television

Veteran television producer Dick Wolf, best known for creating the “Law & Order” franchise, is eyeing what he believes will be the first-ever cross-network crossover. The crossover would be between his CBS freshman procedural “FBI” or its in-the-works spinoff “FBI: Most Wanted” and one of his NBC shows, such as “Law & Order: Special Victims

Prince Albert II of Monaco opened the 59th Monte Carlo Television Festival on Friday at a glittering ceremony at the principality’s Grimaldi Forum attended by Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba. The Hollywood actresses presented the French premiere of their action cop series “L.A.’s Finest,” which has just been renewed for a second season. “You typically

Actresses Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba spoke about how the horrific accident on the set of their action cop series “L.A.’s Finest” affected them and the crew at the 59th Monte Carlo Television Festival Saturday. They also paid tribute to the main victim of the incident, executive producer/co-showrunner Brandon Sonnier, whose leg was amputated below

The Television Academy’s “block voting” controversy has quickly become the talk of Emmy season — and that appears to have been the org’s point. According to multiple insiders, the number of people disqualified from voting in this year’s competition is believed to be small, only around three members (out of nearly 25,000 members overall). But

June 14, 2019 3:57PM PT In today’s roundup, Hulu dropped the official trailer for the “Veronica Mars” revival and HBO revealed more cast members for “Lovecraft Country.” FIRST LOOKS Hulu has dropped the official trailer for its revival of “Veronica Mars,” set to premiere on July 26. The series will bring back most of the original

Dan Stevens said his powerful, telepathic mutant Legion would do some serious damage if he ever crossed over from the eponymous FX series into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Legion would wreak havoc. He’d probably take on Thanos, let’s see that,” he told Variety on the red carpet at the premiere of the trippy, mind-bending superhero series

Viacom CEO Bob Bakish knows that a lot of his peers are in the original content space in streaming, but he believes the company’s ad-supported free service Pluto TV is better off relying on Viacom’s library of content. “We can debate a lot of things about the future, but in the near term, the opportunity

Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba are coming back for more action. The pair’s cop show “L.A.’s Finest” has been renewed for a second season by Spectrum Originals, despite the 13-episode first season being largely panned by critics and enduring a major on-set accident.  “L.A.’s Finest,” the first show to launch on the cable provider’s on-demand

June 14, 2019 10:23AM PT Gaten Matarazzo, known for his performance as the nerdy and adorable Dustin Henderson on “Stranger Things,” is branching out at Netflix. The streamer has put out an order for “Prank Encounters,” a hidden-camera prank show which Matarazzo will host. Each episode of the series will take two strangers who each think they’re

Much has changed for the LGBT community since the 1993 release of the original TV adaptation of “Tales of the City,” something that producer Alan Poul took into account in revamping the LGBT classic in 2019. Poul spoke with Variety‘s “TV Take” podcast about what’s new in the latest iteration of the show. “We had to

The WGA writers boost and representing Los Angeles on screen were two of the topics most passionately discussed at the comedy panel for Variety‘s “A Night in the Writers’ Room” event. While the drama panel earlier in the evening delved into the struggle that newer writers face as a result of the WGA-ATA impasse, the gathering

June 14, 2019 9:02AM PT Last night’s sixth and final game of the 2019 NBA finals ended in a historic victory for the Toronto Raptors. The Canadian team became the first from outside the United States to claim the title, beating the defending champion Golden State Warriors 114-110 in a tense game. In terms of

June 14, 2019 9:00AM PT Lena Dunham will direct and executive produce “Industry” for HBO, an eight-part series following a group of twenty-somethings breaking into the world of international finance. Variety reported in late 2017 that Jane Tranter’s Bad Wolf production company (“His Dark Materials”) was developing the show for HBO. The premium cabler has

ANNECY, France — Genndy Tartakovsky hosted a ferocious Work in Progress session at the Annecy Intl. Animation Festival on Wednesday for his upcoming Adult Swim series “Primal.” Few figures impress more at a major international animation festival than Tartakovsky, the creator of “Dexter’s Laboratory,” “Samurai Jack” and “Star Wars: Clone Wars.” He’s a cult director,

Danish auteur Nicolas Winding Refn brings his set of interests to the small screen with “Too Old to Die Young,” a ten-episode drama that has kicked up a minor-key storm over whether it is indeed a television series or, as Refn calls it, a very long, serialized movie. Some of the data points involved in

The beginning of “Euphoria” feels like a test. “I was once happy, content, sloshing around in my own primordial pool…” intones a deadpan voiceover as a fetus pulses in “the cruel cervix” of its mother, before cutting to actual news footage of the 9/11 disaster. The voice, belonging to disaffected teen Rue (Zendaya), reveals that

Lew Klein, a Philadelphia television executive who was a producer of “American Bandstand” and founded the National Assn. of Television Program Executives, died Wednesday at his home near Philadelphia. He was 91. Klein was a longtime president of NATPE. He launched the organization’s educational arm, NATPE Foundation, in 1978 and remained head of its educational

In today’s roundup, Idris Elba and professional rally driver Ken Block will compete in a new car-stunt series “Elba vs. Block,” and Cartoon Network’s “Steven Universe The Movie” will feature a soundtrack in collaboration with Chance the Rapper,  Aimee Mann, Estelle, and Patti LuPone.  DATES MTV’s “Jersey Shore Family Vacation” will return with all new

CBS has announced the premiere dates for its fall 2019-2020 shows, including new additions “Bob Hearts Abishola,” “All Rise,” “The Unicorn,” “Carol’s Second Act” and “Evil.” All five new shows will premiere the week of Sept. 23, with comedy “Bob Hearts Abishola” and Simone Missick courtroom drama “All Rise” on Mondays, and the other three

June 13, 2019 1:45PM PT Mexican soap opera star Edith González died after three years of battling cancer on Thursday. She was 54. González’s telenovela credits include “Corazón Salvaje,” “Mujer de Madera,” “Doña Barbara,” “Palabra de Mujer,” “Las Bravo” and “Eva la Trailera.” The National Association of Actors confirmed her death Thursday morning. González was

Tracee Ellis Ross is set to play a prominent role, both as a star and executive producer, in MTV’s upcoming adult animated series “Jodie.” The series is a reimagining of the classic animated show “Daria,” and is described as a satire of the post college workplace and personal adventures of Gen Z. “Daria” was itself inspired

June 13, 2019 10:40AM PT Elizabeth Lederer, one of the prosecutors in the conviction of the Central Park Five, has resigned as a professor at the Columbia Law School. The move comes on the heels of a student protest from the Black Law Students Association at Columbia, which released a statement to the school calling

June 13, 2019 10:10AM PT Daniel Radcliffe is entering the world of Kimmy Schmidt. The “Harry Potter” actor will star in the upcoming “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” interactive special at Netflix, set to debut in 2020. The special will see Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper) set off on her biggest adventure yet across three states. As with Netflix’s

June 13, 2019 4:53AM PT Laura Haddock (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), Marta Milans (“Shazam”) and Juan Diego Botto (“Good Behavior”) are set to star in “White Lines,” the Netflix original series written by “La Casa de Pavel” creator Alex Pina. The 10 episode show will start shooting later this month until October in the Balearic

Network presidents, CMOs, talent, showrunners, producers and more gathered at Variety’s annual TV Summit on Wednesday to discuss how to successfully navigate the rapidly changing industry. During the daylong event, which took place at 1 Hotel in West Hollywood, advertising execs shared personalized strategies for a competitive market, casting directors for shows such as “Catch-22”

Several prominent documentary producers lauded the fact that the medium has seen a major resurgence in recent years during Variety’s TV Summit on Wednesday. “People are starving for the truth,” said Lance Bass, former NSYNC member and producer of the documentary “The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story.” “It’s crazy how all of our stories

While Hulu drew attention to its most recent series by casting A-listers such as George Clooney in its “Catch-22” adaptation and Patricia Arquette in “The Act,” it was the younger actors in both of these series, Christopher Abbott and Calum Worthy, respectively, who took center stage and became breakout stars in the process. During Hulu’s

Ben Stiller began his directorial career in 1994 with the Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke rom-com “Reality Bites,” but it wasn’t until last year’s “Escape at Dannemora” that the multi-talented star finally helmed a project in which he didn’t also star. During his keynote conversation at Variety‘s TV Summit, Stiller talked about how his interest in

In today’s roundup, Epix releases the official trailer for “Pennyworth” and LaLa Anthony will guest star in ABC’s “Reef Break.” FIRST LOOKS Epix has released the official trailer for “Pennyworth,” a drama focused on the origins of Bruce Wayne’s iconic butler Alfred Pennyworth, played by Jack Bannon. Premiering on July 28 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, the series shows Batman’s father

Several top unscripted TV executives and producers descended on the Variety TV Summit Wednesday to break down how the genre has impact the entertainment business. Rob Wade, Fox Entertainment’s president of alternative entertainment and specials, said having successful formats is clearly a good thing, but it does come with drawbacks from an economic point of