Television

“Call My Agent!,” the hit comedy series whose second season recently pulled top ratings on France’s public broadcaster France Televisions and has traveled widely, won the export prize during the French Television Producer Awards gala ceremony organized by Procirep and TV France International. Although “Call My Agent!” was picked up by Netflix for most markets,

Hulu has announced the star-studded cast for season two of “Castle Rock,” which will be led by Tim Robbins, “Masters of Sex” actress Lizzy Caplan, and “Eighth Grade” standout Elsie Fisher. Season two will center around Annie Wilkes, Stephen King’s nurse from hell, who gets waylaid in the town of Castle Rock as a feud between

Netflix has ordered a coming-of-age comedy series inspired by the life of Mindy Kaling, Variety has learned. The untitled series, which has received a 10-episode order, was co-created by Kaling and Lang Fisher, with the latter also set to serve as showrunner. The series will follow the complicated life of a modern-day first generation Indian American

Amid Hollywood’s bitter agency-versus-writers battle, United Talent Agency has issued a robust defense of its television packaging activity. In a three-season study released Wednesday, UTA asserted that its TV writer clients earn $3,374 more per episode on shows the agency packages than on those it does not package. The study also found that writers saved

“Days of our Lives,” “General Hospital” and “The Young and the Restless” lead the list of shows with the most Daytime Emmy nominations in 2019. Variety has also received a nom in the special class series category for “Actors on Actors.” “Days of our Lives” has received the largest total number of nominations across series

March 20, 2019 11:15AM PT Writer and producer Gavin Purcell has signed an overall deal at Universal Television for both scripted and unscripted programming. The deal marks a homecoming of sorts for Purcell, who previously worked as a producer and writer on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” helping the show win the Emmy in

March 20, 2019 10:28AM PT Viacom shares took a 5% hit Wednesday, a day after the company went public with its brewing battle over a new carriage agreement with AT&T’s DirecTV. Most traditional media stocks were down on a day when the Dow teetered between being slightly up and slightly down before closing down 141

Bob Iger marked the historic occasion of Disney’s purchase of 21st Century Fox with a lengthy memo to staffers that was candid about the challenges of the massive integration of people and cultures that lies ahead for the media giant. “I wish I could tell you that the hardest part is behind us, that closing

March 20, 2019 6:39AM PT Tegna has set a deal with Nexstar to buy 11 TV stations — mostly Fox and ABC affiliates — serving eight markets for $740 million. The sale is contingent on Nexstar closing its $4.1 billion acquisition of Tribune Media, which will make Nexstar the nation’s largest TV station owner by

Eugenie Furniss is joining London- and Los Angeles-based management and production company 42 as literary manager, it was announced Wednesday. The company’s slate include movie “Ironbark,” a Cold War thriller starring Benedict Cumberbatch, and TV series “Traitors,” a spy thriller coming to Netflix in the U.S. at the end of the month. Furniss joins 42

March 20, 2019 6:12AM PT Fox Corp. has handed over an $8.5 billion check to help Disney offset tax costs related to the 21st Century Fox acquisition. As spelled out in the Disney-21st Century Fox merger agreement, the Murdoch clan’s newly established Fox Corp. was on the hook to pay a special dividend to 21st

The “Stranger Things” kids are done playing board games in the basement. From the new trailer for season three, which Netflix just dropped, and The Who song “Baba O’Riley” blasting throughout, it would appear that the gang of Eleven, Mike, Lucas, Dustin and co. are about to experience their “teenage wasteland.” The trailer opens with

March 20, 2019 4:40AM PT ITV has reviewed how it cares for contestants on its hit reality show “Love Island” and said it will now offer all participants therapy and train them in how to deal with social media. The broadcaster added that it will also proactively check in with those who have taken part

March 20, 2019 4:18AM PT Tim Roth will star in a third and final season of “Tin Star,” the Sky original drama. Like earlier seasons, it will play on Amazon outside the U.K. Genevieve O’Reilly and Abigail Lawrie also return in the final chapter of the story, which is produced by Endemol Shine’s Kudos alongside

Bruce Lee was ahead of the curve by about four decades when he predicted back in the early 1970s that combat sports would one day take the world by storm. Hong Kong’s favorite son had encouraged his own students to mix up the styles of martial arts they were being trained in — to combine kung fu

In Variety‘s March 19 cover story, Kit Harington opens up about the final season of “Game of Thrones” and growing into adulthood as part of the biggest show on television. In a conversation in London in December, Harington opened up about the similarities between the series’ politics and our own. “I think it’s always been about

In today’s roundup, The CW has released two clips from the upcoming “Riverdale” special “Heathers: The Musical,” and Chris O’Dowd will star in an episode of “The Twilight Zone.”  CASTING Chris O’Dowd will star in CBS All Access’ rebooted “The Twilight Zone” episode titled “The Blue Scorpion.” The series will premiere with two episodes on

Wendy Williams, during an emotional monologue on her talk show on Tuesday, revealed through tears that she has been staying at a sober-living house. “So you know me for being a very open and truthful person,” she began the segment on “The Wendy Williams Show,” fighting through tears. “And I’ve got more to the story

Viacom has declared war against AT&T, blasting the telco giant on several fronts as the companies wrestle over a carriage renewal deal that is vital to Viacom’s long-term financial health. As of today, Viacom has begun running crawls and promo spots on its channels warning viewers that Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, MTV and other channels

Rob Silverstein, exec producer of NBC’s entertainment newsmagazine “Access Hollywood” and its spinoffs, is leaving the syndication franchise after 20 years at the helm. He’ll be replaced by “Hot Bench” alumnus Maureen FitzPatrick. Silverstein’s departure was announced Tuesday morning at a staff meeting for “Access” producers. Silverstein was also exec producer of the hourlong talk

March 19, 2019 12:38PM PT A billboard for the Fox procedural “9-1-1” on Pico Blvd., adjacent to the studio lot, has been vandalized with an anti-Beto O’Rourke message, Variety has learned. The imagery was put up by a politically conservative man who goes by ‘Sabo.’ The promotional art for the series featured on the billboard shows

Ryan Phillippe has been cast in the lead role in the upcoming CBS pilot, “Alive,” Variety has learned. The project was formerly called “Frankenstein.” The “Cruel Intentions” star will play Mark Escher, a San Francisco police investigator who was presumed dead after an attack and destructive fire at his home. Six months later, he shockingly reappears

Netflix has put out an order for a new limited series, “The Queen’s Gambit,” starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Variety has learned. Based on Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel of the same name, the six-episode show will be set during the Cold War era and will follow orphan chess prodigy Beth Harmon (Taylor-Joy) from the age of eight to

March 19, 2019 12:00PM PT ABC Studios International has put anthology series “Unsung Heroes,” executive produced by Lucy Liu and Ruthanne Secunda, into development. The scripted show will tell the “untold stories of incredible women who overcame adversity to become pioneers of their time,” showcasing highly accomplished women who were not acknowledged for their achievements

March 19, 2019 11:20AM PT Half-hour pot comedy “High Maintenance,” created by Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, has been renewed for a fourth season, announced HBO. Starring Sinclair, the premium cable comedy follows him as the Guy, a nameless drug dealer in Brooklyn whose business allows viewers a look into a cross-section of New Yorkers

David Simon is urging the Writers Guild of America to file a lawsuit against the four biggest Hollywood talent agencies and the Association of Talent Agents over the practice of packaging. “I’m for filing a civil suit against the ATA and the Big Four for an overt and organized breach of fiduciary duty in which

Rory Kinnear is returning to the world of “Penny Dreadful,” Variety has learned. The acclaimed British actor, who is best known for playing MI6 operative Bill Tanner in the James Bond films and portrayed the horrifically scarred Creature on the original show, has been cast in the role of Dr. Peter Craft in “Penny Dreadful: City

It’s the end of an era. On March 20, the Walt Disney Co. will complete its $71.2 billion acquisition of key assets in Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. That marks the final drumbeat for the historic 20th Century Fox as one of Hollywood’s six major studios, as brands such as FX, Fox Searchlight and NatGeo are

The first thing you notice about Kit Harington is the hair. Or, these days, the relative absence of it. On “Game of Thrones,” the show that brought him global fame as good-hearted action hero Jon Snow, Harington’s locks furl out behind him like a military banner, providing glamorous evidence of Snow’s lack of vanity. (He’s

This is Kristofer Hivju and Kristoffer Metcalfe’s show, the series that actor Hivju, “Game of Thrones” Wildlings leader Tormund Giantsbane,  and Metcalfe “Cupid’s Balls”), developed together for near 15 years. But Hivju is nowhere to be seen in the lovely opening scene where two late teens, identical twins, drive a battered caravan over a hill,