Paramount Television and Anonymous Content, in association with Brillstein Entertainment, have acquired the TV rights to Susan Orlean’s best-seller “The Library Book,” Variety has learned exclusively. Published in October by Simon & Schuster, “The Library Book” tells the true story of the fire that nearly destroyed the Los Angeles Public Library on April 28, 1986.
Television
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, “Killing Eve” returns for season 2, and “This Is Us” season 3 comes
CBS has the drama “Bull” in primetime and now more of a sport for bulls at other times of the day. CBS Sports has extended its rights pact with Professional Bull Riders through 2028, ensuring CBS has exclusive access to the sport through 2028. The new agreement will increase the number of hours of bull-riding
Since 2013, Justin Roiland has been busy serving as co-creator, executive producer, writer, and director of absurdist animated comedy “Rick and Morty,” as well as voicing the show’s two main characters. In 2016, he added another title to his resume: game developer. Teaming up with industry vet Tanya Watson, whose previous credits include “Fortnite” and
April 1, 2019 3:19AM PT Bert Habets has resigned as CEO of European media giant RTL, which has appointed Thomas Rabe to take over the role. RTL said Habets has stepped down as chief executive and also from the board of RTL. Rabe told Reuters that Habets was leaving for family reasons and that there
MADRID — Be-Entertainment has acquired international distribution rights to Canneseries competition contender “Studio Tarara,” the scripted series debut of Tim Van Aelst who has won non-scripted or comedy Intl. Emmy Awards in 2018 (“Did You Get the Message”?), 2014 (“What If?”) and 2011 (“Benidorm Bastards”). The last sparked an NBC remake, “Betty White’s Off Their
SAG-AFTRA and the ad industry have agreed to extend the commercials contract expiration for two days until the end of April 2 while both sides negotiate a successor deal. Terms and conditions of the 2016 commercials contract — which generates about $1 billion a year for members of the performers union — will remain in
The Season 7 premiere of “Veep” will mark the first-ever episode of the HBO series to air that was written while President Trump has been in office. The Emmy-winning comedy debuted in 2012, during President Obama’s first term, and five seasons of the show aired while Obama was in office. The series’ sixth season aired
Members of the Writers Guild of America have voted overwhelmingly to support tightened restrictions on their agents — setting up a potentially chaotic scenario a week from now. The vote was 7,882 in favor of creating a new “Code of Conduct” for agents representing WGA with 392 voting against — that’s more than 95% supporting.
Just days after the state charges were dropped against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett for filing a false police report after a vicious attack in Chicago, Ill., “Saturday Night Live” weighed in on the thesp.’s troubles. Although Fox has stood behind their star, releasing a statement earlier this week that said “Jussie Smollett has always maintained
“Saturday Night Live” cast member Ego Nwodim encountered her “Us”-esque doppelganger on the Mar. 30 episode of the late-night NBC sketch comedy series. In a parody commercial for Discover Card, Nwodim found some unusual activity on her account and called the customer service center. Although Kenan Thompson warned her she’d just be talking to a
March 30, 2019 8:56PM PT “Killing Eve” star Sandra Oh marked her one-year anniversary of becoming an American citizen by hosting the Mar. 30 episode of “Saturday Night Live.” The Canadian-born actress announced the special occasion during the monologue of the NBC late-night sketch series, saying, “I love Americans. You are confident and direct. And
After Robert Mueller finally released his report, “Saturday Night Live” still had some things to say. Returning with a new episode on Mar. 30, the late-night NBC series started with a cold open sketch dedicated to the experience. Robert De Niro was back to play Mueller, reading from the report, while Aidy Bryant played Attorney
March 30, 2019 8:22PM PT “Judge Jeanine” is back in session on Fox News Channel. Outspoken opinion host Jeanine Pirro returned to her Saturday-night program “Justice with Judge Jeanine” on the cable-news outlet after a two-week absence, saying nothing about her time away from the program or the apparent controversy she sparked before she left.
March 30, 2019 8:13PM PT Although Chris Rock was told to steer clear of the Jussie Smollett case at the NAACP Image Awards, the comedian couldn’t help but toss a couple barbed jokes towards the “Empire” actor. “They said no Jussie Smollett jokes. I know. What a waste of white skin. You know what I
March 30, 2019 2:39PM PT [embedded content] AMC has announced premiere dates for two of its summer series, Season 5 of “Fear the Walking Dead” and Zachary Quinto vampire series “Nos4a2.” The two series will premiere back-to-back on AMC Sunday, June 2 at 9 p.m. ET and 10 p.m. ET. “‘Fear’ remains one of the
Lisa Simpson may be the newest Disney princess. With Disney finally completing its purchase of 21st Century Fox assets, the company could technically add Lisa Simpson to its ranks of iconic princesses like Snow White, Rapunzel, and Cinderella. Lisa’s voice actor, Yeardley Smith, told Variety at the GLAAD Media Awards on Thursday that Fox nearly
Welcome to “TV Take,” Variety’s television podcast. In this week’s episode, Variety Senior Features Editor, TV Danielle Turchiano talks with David Farr, creator and executive producer of Amazon’s “Hanna.” Based on the 2011 film of the same name, which Farr co-wrote, “Hanna” tells the story of the titular young girl who has lived in a forest her
March 29, 2019 4:24PM PT Epix has canceled the espionage drama “Berlin Station” after three seasons, Variety has confirmed. The series aired its third season finale in February. The series starred Richard Armitage, Michelle Forbes, Leland Orser, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ashley Judd, Keke Palmer, Richard Jenkins and Rhys Ifans. James Cromwell also appeared in Season 3
In today’s roundup, EPIX releases the first teaser for the Batman-spinoff “Pennyworth” and Funny or Die begins production on an interactive murder mystery. DATES The third season of Netflix’s anthology comedy series “Easy” will return on May 10, and the nine-episode run will follow new characters as they navigate love, sex, culture and technology in Chicago.
“Arrow” star Colton Haynes has revealed that he’s six months sober after struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. “In 10 years, there were maybe 25 days I didn’t drink,” he said in an interview with Attitude. “I remember when I started, it was a couple glasses of wine, and it regressed into really dark times.
March 29, 2019 2:26PM PT “Law & Order: SVU,” which was just renewed for a record 21st season by NBC, was one of the top gaining shows in the Live+3 ratings for the week of March 18. “SVU” was one of five shows to double their ratings in delayed viewing, bumping from a 0.8 to
March 29, 2019 1:30PM PT While “Law & Order: SVU” was renewed for a 21st season this morning, not all members of the cast will be returning for that record-breaking season. Philip Winchester, who plays Assistant District Attorney Peter Stone, announced via Twitter that he is leaving the show. “Sadly for me, Peter stone and
Nancy Cartwright has spent more than three decades immersed in the world of “The Simpsons” — first with “The Tracey Ullman Show” shorts, and then with the spinoff to its own franchise in 1989, as the voice of forever-10-year-old prankster Bart Simpson and a gaggle of other supporting characters. But it took Cartwright co-writing the
“Law & Order: SVU” is set to become the longest-running primetime live-action series in TV history. NBC has announced it is renewing the show for a 21st season, meaning “SVU” will overtake the 20-season record it previously shared with the original “Law & Order” and the legendary CBS Western “Gunsmoke.” It now trails only “The
Sean Hannity always nabs one of the biggest slices of viewership in cable TV. Suddenly, his 9 p.m. hour on Fox News Channel is attracting even more people than usual. For four days, Fox News’ primetime lineup has seen distinct rises in the average number of viewers tuning in, while rivals MSNBC and CNN have
Netflix has announced three new Italian originals, indicating that the streaming giant is ramping up operations in the country as it gets more traction with local subscribers. The new Italian Netflix originals in the pipeline are: “Curon,” a genre show with supernatural elements, which is set in a Northern Italian village; a series adaptation of
LILLE, France — In this week’s Newswire, Variety catches Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones at Series Mania, Starzplay continues its major territory overseas rill-out, Endemol Shine Group hires Kasia Jablonska as its digital sales boss, and France’s Annecy Intl. Animation Festival reveals early sections. ‘BLACK MIRROR’ TEASES RETURNING DIRECTOR “Black Mirror’s” Charlie Brooker and Annabel
“Broad City” first splashed into our TV screens like its Technicolor credits, vibrating with a life and personality all its own. Co-creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, starring as hyperbolic versions of themselves, tapped into the experiences of twentysomething women like no other show ever truly had. Their facsimiles stumbled through New York with electric
March 28, 2019 5:24PM PT Russell Jay Kagan, a prominent distribution executive known to his associates at MIP and MIPCOM as the “Mayor of Cannes,” died on March 27 after a battle with cancer. He was 65. Kagan, whose career spanned four decades and earned him widespread recognition, is best known for producing major television