Television

April 16, 2019 9:30AM PT Barry Jenkins’ Amazon series based on the Colson Whitehead book “The Underground Railroad” is beginning to take shape. Variety has learned that the cast will be led by Thuso Mbedu as Cora, with Chase W. Dillon as Homer, and Aaron Pierre as Caesar. The project was first set up more

“Chambers,” Netflix’s new horror series, doesn’t have much going for it — it’s a grody, nasty piece of work, a story that would at least be endurable if it were the under-ninety-minute movie it seems to want to be. But it does boast the casting of both Tony Goldwyn (in his first post-”Scandal” role) and

Netflix is bringing back its “FYSee” Emmy campaign activation with some A-list headliners: Martin Scorsese, Bruce Springsteen, Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay are among the top names at this year’s event. The Netflix “FYSee Experience” will once again take place at Raleigh Studios, and this year will be held from May 5 to June 9.

The Television Academy has announced the seven recipients of its 12th annual Television Academy Honors, which it says represents “some of the most powerful and impactful television of 2018.” The shows, which are recognized for using the medium “to inspire social change,” include the dramas “A Million Little Things” (ABC) and “Pose” (FX); the children’s

BET has ordered the docu-series “Copwatch America” from Renowned Films and Critical Content. The show will follow the work of activists known as “copwatchers” who try to monitor police activity in volatile areas. BET has ordered 10 hourlong episodes from Renowned Films and Critical Content. “BET Networks is committed to bringing important stories of systemic

Russell Crowe’s portrayal of the controversial Fox News chief Roger Ailes will be coming to Showtime on Sunday, June 30, the network has announced. Showtime has also released an unnerving first look trailer for the miniseries, in which Crowe’s Ailes takes over Fox News and starts bending it to his will. “Here in America, television

“Game of Thrones” star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is one of the few cast members of the HBO megahit to play a character, Jaime Lannister, that survives all the way from the start of the show to the eighth and final season. With the end of the series in sight, the Danish actor reveals what the show

Netflix is adding to its growing slate of African content with its first original animated series, “Mama K’s Team 4,” produced by South Africa’s award-winning Triggerfish Animation Studios and British kids’ and family entertainment production company CAKE. The series follows four teenage girls living in a futuristic version of Lusaka, Zambia, who are recruited by

April 15, 2019 8:16PM PT [embedded content] Need help remembering the plot points of past “Game of Thrones” seasons? Jimmy Kimmel has you covered. On Monday night’s episode of “Kimmel Live,” cast members from “Game of Thrones” assembled for a sketch advertising a service called “Game of Phones,” in which viewers can telephone “Thrones” actors

Outspoken playwright and TV writer Jon Robin Baitz has become the first WGA member to openly challenge the guild’s directive that members fire their talent agents. Baitz penned a letter to WGA leaders explaining his refusal to sever ties with his representatives at CAA, praising Bryan Lourd, Joe Cohen and others for sticking by him

Georgia Engel, who played the soft-spoken Georgette Baxter on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” died Friday in Princeton, N.J. She was 70. John Quilty, Engel’s friend and executor, told the The New York Times that the cause of death is unknown, as Engel was a Christian Scientist who did not consult doctors. Engel was Emmy nominated

April 15, 2019 4:41PM PT “Whiskey Cavalier” came out as the biggest gainer in Live+7 for the week of March 25, 2019, holding off NBC’s “The Blacklist” and the season 5 premiere of “Jane the Virgin” on The CW. The ABC drama, which centers around Scott Foley’s FBI agent and Lauren Cohan’s CIA agent, leapt

After a month and a half, Viceland is pulling the plug on “Vice Live,” its weeknight live show, due to low ratings. “Vice Live” aired Monday through Thursday from Vice’s Brooklyn headquarters, originally launching as a two-hour nightly showcase of all things Vice. Viceland later cut the show to one hour a night, but “Vice

The showrunners on the “Y: The Last Man” series have left the project. Variety has confirmed that series showrunners Michael Green and Aïda Mashaka Croal have departed the series due to creative differences. A spokesperson for FX said the network is still planning to move forward with the series with its current cast. Diane Lane

April 15, 2019 3:28PM PT “Like a fish out of water” is as tried and true a premise as a sitcom gets, which means two opposing things. One the one hand, the setup has a proven track record of success. On the other, it gets harder to innovate with every new iteration. “Bless This Mess,”

April 15, 2019 3:14PM PT In today’s roundup, FXX announces the premiere date for “Archer: 1999” and the “Young and the Restless” will pay tribute to late actor Kristoff St. John. DATES FXX has announced that season 10 of “Archer” will debut on May 29 at 10 p.m. ET. The newest season is called “Archer:

Lance Reddick never planned to be an actor. But the star of series such as “Bosch,” “Corporate,” “Fringe” and “The Wire” always cites his youthful obsession with William Shatner as the catalyst that eventually led to his career on the screen. “I didn’t really start acting until college and I didn’t even think about being

SPOILER ALERT: Do not keep reading unless you’ve seen “Game of Thrones” Season 8 Episode 1, titled “Winterfell.” Like many “Game of Thrones” fans, John Bradley barely slept a wink last night. The actor attributes his insomnia partly to jet lag, and partly to nerves. The eighth and final season premiere was a monumental episode for

After years of standing on-stage as a comic and appearing on-screen in such scripted series as “See Dad Run” and “Mr. Robot,” Ramy Youssef has combined both sides of his artistry for a self-titled streaming comedy. Youssef created, stars in and also directed an episode of “Ramy,” centered on life as a Muslim man trying

April 15, 2019 12:47PM PT “Game of Thrones” opened to massive ratings on Sunday night. According to figures released by HBO, the Season 8 premiere drew 17.4 million viewers across all platforms (linear, HBOGO and HBO NOW), including 11.8 million who watched on the linear channel. And that is only those who watched Sunday night.

Spoiler alert: Do not keep reading if you have not seen the Season 8 premiere of “Game of Thrones,” titled “Winterfell”  In between all the requisite hand-wringing over royal allegiances and ice zombie invasions, the eighth and final season premiere of “Game of Thrones” unfurled reunion after teary reunion, topped with the long-awaited moment of

April 15, 2019 11:21AM PT 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, Beyoncé’s “Homecoming” documentary drops on Netflix, and “Ramy”

April 15, 2019 11:21AM PT Molly Thompson has joined Apple’s upcoming streaming service as its head of documentaries. Thompson previously founded A&E Indie Films, the feature film production unit of A+E Networks. She was also previously the head of documentary films for A+E Networks. Recent documentaries she has executive produced include “The Clinton Affair,” Charles

“Manifest” has been renewed for a second season at NBC. The first season of the mysterious drama centered on the passengers of Montego Air Flight 828 who went missing for five years and presumed dead. When they finally returned, in the premiere episode, they did so un-aged and having no indication that time had passed.

April 15, 2019 10:46AM PT “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” just got more marvelous. “This Is Us” star Sterling K. Brown has signed on for an unspecified role in the third season of the critically-acclaimed Amazon comedy series. Brown made the announcement in a video posted on his official Twitter account Monday morning. “I’m Eastward bound,”

April 15, 2019 10:27AM PT Entertainment Studios announced on Monday that it has promoted Nora Zimmett to chief content officer and executive vice president of the Weather Channel. She will oversee live and original programming for the Weather Channel, as well as its storm coverage. Zimmett will continue to report to Tom O’Brien, the president

April 15, 2019 8:13AM PT Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, are pleading not guilty in the college admission bribery scandal. The couple are among 33 charged in the widespread scam, in which parent were accused of using their wealth to get their children into elite colleges. Loughlin and Giannulli face

April 15, 2019 7:40AM PT “Shrill” fans will likely let out a high-pitched sound of delight. The Aidy Bryant comedy will be returning to Hulu in 2020 for a second season, Variety has confirmed. Season two will be expanded from six episodes to eight. The comedy toplined by the “Saturday Night Live” trouper has been warmly

Luke Mitchell is an actor whose versatility sparks a different impression for each type of viewer. His fellow Aussies may recognize him from playing heartthrobs on the teen series “H20: Just Add Water” and the long-running “Home and Away” soap. Others may have caught him in regular roles on sci-fi or superhero series like “The

Spain’s largest broadcaster has greenlit a local version of “Temptation Island.” Mediaset Espana will air the first Spanish remake of the well-traveled format. Banijay Rights distributes the finished show and the format. One of Banijay’s stable of production banners, Cuarzo TV, did the Spanish deal and will make the local version. Cuarzo’s Juan Ramón Gonzalo