Sharon White is stepping down as the head of British media regulator Ofcom. White joined the body, formally known as the Office of Communications, in 2015. She will vacate the post of chief executive around the end of the year. During White’s tenure, Ofcom was tasked with investigating 21st Century Fox’s bid to take over
Television
Michelle Williams and Patricia Clarkson sat down for a chat for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here. Indie-film stalwarts Patricia Clarkson and Michelle Williams brought class and grit to the TV season. On HBO’s “Sharp Objects,” Clarkson stole scenes as Adora Crellin, a cracked Southern belle whose performance of perfection has a whole town fooled.
Sacha Baron Cohen and Don Cheadle sat down for a chat for Variety‘s Actors on Actors. For more, click here. On Showtime’s “Who Is America?,” Sacha Baron Cohen multiplies his familiar gonzo comedy by four, using a quartet of absurd aliases to dupe politicians like Dick Cheney and Roy Moore into embarrassing interviews. Elsewhere on
Mackenzie Crook will write and direct the BBC’s upcoming “Worzel Gummidge” dramas. He will also star as the lead character – a walking, talking scarecrow – in Worzel’s return to British screens in two hour-long specials. They are expected to bow at the end of the year. Barbara Euphan Todd wrote the Worzel Gummidge books,
Though no decision has been made, J.J. Abrams looks to be closing in on a destination for a new mega-deal for his production company Bad Robot that could be valued at nearly half a billion dollars. Sources tell Variety that WarnerMedia is emerging as the frontrunner to land the filmmaker and TV mind behind “Alias”
June 5, 2019 4:43PM PT Upfronts may have just ended, but NBC has already put a new series into motion. The broadcaster has given a production commitment to a drama series based on the Dan Brown novel “The Lost Symbol,” which follows the early adventures of Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon. In the series, Langdon finds
June 5, 2019 3:45PM PT Newsmagazine show “Entertainment Tonight” has tapped longtime producer Erin Johnson to become its executive producer. “Erin’s experience producing the TV show and having worked on the digital side of the business made her the obvious choice to take the reins at ‘Entertainment Tonight’ and lead the brand into its next
“Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson fought back tears while sharing his story of drug addiction before the show’s premiere in Hollywood on Tuesday. The upcoming HBO series is executive produced by Drake — who got his start on another teen series “Degrassi: The Next Generation” — and based on an Israeli series that depicts sex and
In today’s roundup, Comedy Central announces the “Roast of Alec Baldwin” and “The Hot Zone” brings in huge ratings for National Geographic. SPECIALS Comedy Central has revealed that Alec Baldwin will be this year’s roasting victim on “The Comedy Central Roast of Alec Baldwin.” The roast will take place in New York, and the taping
A series adaptation of the Wondery podcast “Over My Dead Body” is in development at the WarnerMedia streaming service from Elizabeth Banks, Variety has learned exclusively from sources. Banks is attached to executive produce and direct the series, which follows Dan and Wendi, two attorneys whose wedding is featured in the New York Times. But
It took a long time for me to realize what about the evolution of “The Handmaid’s Tale” makes it feel so much less urgent in its third season. It’s not simply that it’s moved well beyond the confines of Margaret Atwood’s source material, which ran its course by the end of Season 1. It’s not
June 5, 2019 11:00AM PT David Tennant and Cush Jumbo will lead the cast of “Deadwater Fell” (working title), the upcoming Channel 4 drama following two families in the aftermath of a tragedy that claims the lives of a woman and her three children. Hailing from Daisy Coulam, the writer of “Grantchester,” and Endemol Shine’s
June 5, 2019 11:00AM PT Elizabeth Hurley has been cast in the upcoming third season of the Marvel-Hulu series “Runaways,” Variety has learned. Hurley will play the Marvel villain Morgan le Fay. A student of Merlin, the character is considered the greatest sorceress of all time. With a black crow as her familiar and the ability to
June 5, 2019 10:41AM PT “Central Park Five” prosecutor Linda Fairstein has resigned from the board of Vassar College as well as the board of victim assistance organization Safe Horizon after Ava DuVernay’s “When They See Us” spurred renewed focus on Fairstein’s role in the 1989 case. “I am told that Ms. Fairstein felt that,
June 5, 2019 10:27AM PT Despite the Herculean efforts of “Jeopardy!” champion James Holzhauer, the long-running game show was unable to snap the May sweeps win streak of “Judge Judy.” From April 25 – May 22, “Judge Judy” averaged a 7.1 household rating compared to “Jeopardy’s” 7.0. “Judge Judy’s” numbers were in line with last
Chris Spadaccini, a veteran HBO executive who has devised promotions for everything from “The Sopranos” to the launch of the HBO Now streaming service, will have a lot more to talk about in days ahead. He has been named chief marketing officer of WarnerMedia Entertainment, making him the chief pitchman for not only HBO, but
The recent, and long-deferred, backlash to prosecutor Linda Fairstein’s role in wrongfully convicting the so-called “Central Park Five” has been fascinating to watch unfold — not least because Fairstein’s most significant failing has been understood as such for quite so long, to no apparent effect. The conviction Fairstein obtained was overturned in 2002; since then,
June 5, 2019 9:45AM PT “Transparent” is going out with a big song and dance. Amazon has released the trailer for the show’s 2-hour musical feature finale, which will close out the series in place of a traditional final season. In the finale, the Pfeffermans will confront the life-changing loss of Maura Pfefferman and “come together
June 5, 2019 9:42AM PT “Duck Dynasty” producers Deirdre and Scott Gurney have reached a settlement with ITV Studios after a years-long conflict. ITV, which had acquired a majority interest in Gurney Productions in 2012, fired the Gurneys in late 2016 and sued the pair, alleging fraud and misuse of company funds. The couple then
Ellen Pompeo and Taraji P. Henson sat down for a chat for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here. Taraji P. Henson and Ellen Pompeo are two of the most powerful women on television, sitting at the center of major broadcast hits. On Fox’s “Empire,” Henson’s Cookie Lyon has proved to be a fan favorite, while Pompeo’s Meredith Grey has
Benicio Del Toro and Michael Douglas sat down for a chat for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here. Michael Douglas made a return to television with Netflix’s “The Kominsky Method” — a comedy about aging in Hollywood that’s his first series-regular work since ’70s drama “The Streets of San Francisco.” His fellow acting
June 5, 2019 5:35AM PT The struggle for the Iron Throne generated record viewing figures for Sky in the U.K. The final episode of “Game of Thrones” was the biggest season-closer ever for a drama on Sky with 5.8 million viewers. That was a 12% uptick on the previous season finale. The show averaged over
June 5, 2019 3:52AM PT “House” and “The Night Manager” star Hugh Laurie will receive the Edinburgh TV Festival’s Outstanding Achievement Award later this year. The Festival will also hold a retrospective ‘In Conversation With…” session with Laurie ahead of him collecting the honor. Laurie’s long list of TV and film credits span several decades
A raft of international broadcasters have acquired “The Day We Walked on the Moon.” The upcoming moon landings documentary special was produced by Scotland-based indie Finestripe for ITV in the U.K. and the Smithsonian Channel in the U.S. It is distributed by Cineflix Rights, which has sold it to Seven Network in Australia and Kiwi
June 5, 2019 1:56AM PT Anke Engelke will play a funeral eulogy speaker who loses faith in her work and tries to sabotage her husband’s funeral in “The Last Word,” an original comedy drama out of Germany for Netflix. Pantaleon Films is making the six-part series with Aron Lehmann and Carlos V. Irmscher attached as
June 5, 2019 12:27AM PT Fox has snagged U.S. cop show “L.A.’s Finest” for the U.K. The series is set within the universe of Jerry Bruckheimer’s “Bad Boys” franchise and is an original for Spectrum in the U.S. Following the LA Screenings, Fox Networks Group has acquired the 13-part procedural. It will play on the
June 4, 2019 6:30PM PT Syfy has opted to cancel “Deadly Class” and “Happy!”, Variety has learned. The former, an adaptation of Rick Remender’s comic book series, starred Lana Condor, Benjamin Wadsworth and Benedict Wong. Produced by the Russo brothers, the series revolved around an orphan who becomes a student assassin at King’s Dominion High
June 4, 2019 2:21PM PT MRC’s president of television development Peter Johnson is departing after two years in the role, Variety has learned. The veteran producer, who was formerly EVP of scripted development at Legendary Television, oversaw the development and sale of MRC’s TV projects, reporting to co-CEO Modi Wiczyk and COO Scott Tenley. Johnson’s move
June 4, 2019 12:40PM PT The Netflix multi-cam comedy “The Ranch” is ending. Series star Ashton Kutcher made the announcement on Twitter Tuesday, saying “@theranchnetflix is coming to an end, but not just yet. We’re excited to bring you the final 20 episodes — 10 streaming later this year (2019) on @netflix, and then 10
Elizabeth Banks has joined the cast of the upcoming FX limited series “Mrs. America,” Variety has learned. The series tells the story of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), and the unexpected backlash led by a conservative woman named Phyllis Schlafly, played by Cate Blanchett. Banks will play Jill Ruckelshaus, a pro-choice, socially