March 11, 2019 12:08PM PT Vivendi’s international unscripted unit has sealed its first Latin American deal for the popular “Guess My Age” format. Vivendi Entertainment has inked an agreement with Turner’s Chilean network Chilevision, which has ordered a 40-episode local version entitled “Adivina Mi Edad.” Breakout international entertainment formats are thin on the ground, but
Television
Jenna Santoianni has been named executive vice president and head of development for Paramount Television, as the studio adds several executives to its restructured leadership team under president Nicole Clemens. Santoianni most recently served as executive VP of television series for Sonar Entertainment, where she oversaw “Das Boot,” “Lorena,” and “Mr. Mercedes,” among other scripted
March 11, 2019 9:04AM PT John Oliver answered the question industry insiders were asking last week as AT&T flexed its corporate muscle with a major shakeup of HBO and Turner management. The “Last Week Tonight” host didn’t hold back against parent company of HBO in the show’s main segment about efforts to establish tighter rules
The lawyer Marcia Clark, long a national object of derision for the perception she let the prosecution of O.J. Simpson slip away from her, found redemption through television. Sarah Paulson’s performance as Clark on Ryan Murphy’s FX limited series “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” depicted Clark’s deep well of knowledge, and her
Sam Lavender, who has worked on films including “The Favourite,” “American Animals” and “Lean on Pete” in a 14-year career at Film4 is joining Motive Pictures, the recently-minted TV production outfit launched by Simon Maxwell. Endeavor backs former Channel 4 international drama chief Maxwell’s shingle. Lavender will be an exec producer at the new outfit,
“Beverly Hills 90210” star Tori Spelling initiated the reboot of the teen soap franchise, which will find a way to honor Luke Perry even though the late actor had not signed up for the revival, CBS TV Studios president David Stapf said Monday. “Tori Spelling, as she is wont to do, comes in and pitches
French pay-TV group Canal Plus is launching Canal Plus Series, an OTT channel dedicated to scripted shows, which will bow Tuesday with a slightly cheaper subscription fee than Netflix’s in France. The new OTT service will showcase a mix of Canal Plus original series such as “Spiral,” “Versailles” and the anticipated contemporary half-hour “Vernon Subutex,”
Tucker Carlson responded Sunday night to the discovery of controversial and off-color comments he made during conversations with a radio “shock jock” between 2006 and 2011, urging people who wanted to know more about what he thought to watch his primetime program on Fox News Channel. Media Matters for America, a liberal advocacy group, posted
Natasha Lyonne may have been in the spotlight for more than 30 years, but the lack of diversity and inclusion within the creative sphere still baffles her. “Be intersectional in all ways, and it will transition into gender,” the actress-writer-producer-director urged during her keynote at a female and non-binary-centered event outside of SXSW proper Sunday.
Among the new series screening at South by Southwest is “David Makes Man,” presenting its first episode before a bow on OWN this August. While the episode represents only a glimpse of the show to come, it’s promising — both for OWN and for the South by Southwest confab — that this show is, from
“Broad City” has seen its fair share of breakups, but perhaps none more painful than when co-creator Abbi Jacobson asked Comedy Central President Kent Alterman to coffee. That’s where they had “the talk.” “I did it at Blue Bottle coffee,” Jacobson whispered shamefully into her microphone at the SXSW screening of her groundbreaking series’ final
Jed Allan, who acted in numerous daytime soaps, including “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Days of Our Lives,” and “Santa Barbara,” has died. He was 84. “So sorry to post the very sad news of my fathers passing tonight,” Allan’s son, Rick, posted on Facebook Saturday night. “He died peacefully and was surrounded by his family and
NBC News already pumps out stories and headlines via broadcast and cable TV. Soon it will do so on a sustained basis via streaming video. The NBCUniversal unit plans to launch NBC News Now, a free ad-supported news service that will transmit via broadband and is free to anyone, no matter whether they subscribe to
“The Handmaid’s Tale” executive producer and star Elisabeth Moss said at SXSW Sunday that she believes there are many countries in the world “that are pretty much Gilead.” Appearing in conversation with Brandi Carlile, Moss said she has heard from people who live in those countries — which she did not name — who say
It was long after Roger Ailes allegedly sexually assaulted and harassed her that Megyn Kelly went public with her story about the disgraced former Fox News CEO. She explained that she confided in a supervisor but was advised keep quiet and just avoid Ailes if she could. “In retrospect, it was terrible advice,” Kelly said
March 9, 2019 9:09PM PT The writers at “Saturday Night Live” couldn’t pass up an opportunity to jab at rumors that host Idris Elba could be the next James Bond. “Luther” and “Turn Up Charlie” star Elba hosted the Mar. 9 episode of NBC’s late-night comedy sketch show and took part in “Can I Play
One day after CBS News aired Gayle King’s sit-down with musician and accused sexual predator R. Kelly, “Saturday Night Live” delivered its own take on the interview. In the Mar. 9 cold open of the late-night NBC sketch show, cast member Leslie Jones portrayed King while cast member Kenan Thompson portrayed Kelly. Thompson as Kelly
Amazon’s upcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s “Good Omens” may center on the relationship between an angel (played by Michael Sheen) and a demon (played by David Tennant), but the show strives to reach out to everyone. “It’s about us — our flaws, that trust and belief in humanity. It’s probably what brings
When it came to getting the television adaptation of “Good Omens” right, author and showrunner Neil Gaiman mentally ran things by the ghost of his novel writing partner Terry Pratchett. Keeping it true to what he and Pratchett would have wanted was a “mad passion project.” “Normally if you are the writer in television, your
A comedy based on Ramy Youssef’s life was never going to look quite like anything else on TV. Executive produced by Youssef, Jerrod Carmichael, and “Transparent” EP Bridget Bedard, “Ramy” turns a coming-of-age lens on the kind of man who rarely gets that kind of spotlight. Youssef’s onscreen persona (also named Ramy) is a first-generation
CNN president Jeff Zucker delivered a keynote speech at SXSW Saturday that saw him expressing belief that there was political motivation behind the Justice Department’s lawsuit to stop AT&T’s acquisition of his parent company, Time Warner, as well as discussing the Democratic National Convention’s relationship with the media. Referring to comments Trump said in regard
When Trevor Noah first took over the role of “The Daily Show” host from Jon Stewart in 2015, one year after becoming the Comedy Central show’s senior international correspondent, the television news landscape was changing, becoming ever-more consumed with the contentious 2016 presidential election. Now in the role for a few years, with that news
CBS had a unique opportunity. Two months after “Surviving R. Kelly” premiered on Lifetime, and more than two decades after allegations of sexual abuse and pedophilia first arose against R. Kelly, Gayle King got to sit down with Kelly to get his comments. According to King, she managed to keep the interview going for 80
The degree to which the mockumentary format popularized by “The Office” has reinvented television comedy is hard to overstate. It’s not merely the direct-to-camera “confessional”-style interviews, which have grown so familiar on shows like “Modern Family” that they barely register anymore as stylistic choices but just as what comedy is. It’s also the purposeful awkwardness,
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “The Cryptobanker,” the 10th episode of “The Blacklist” Season 6. Following Coy Stewart’s introduction as the innocent inmate Vontae Jones on the sixth season of NBC’s “The Blacklist,” fans have likened his relationship with Red Reddington (James Spader) to that of Batman and Robin. Had
Charter Files Supreme Court Petition in Byron Allen Racial Discrimination Suit – Variety You will be redirected back to your article in seconds March 8, 2019 6:04PM PT Charter Communications has taken its fight in a racial discrimination suit filed by Byron Allen to the Supreme Court. Charter on Friday filed a petition for the
“SMILF” is coming to an end at Showtime after two seasons. The cancellation comes after it was reported in December that “SMILF” producer ABC Studios opened an investigation into series creator, star, and showrunner Frankie Shaw after actress Samara Weaving raised concerns to fellow cast member Rosie O’Donnell and one of the show’s directors after
Welcome to “TV Take,” Variety’s television podcast. In this week’s episode, Variety’s executive editor of TV, Daniel Holloway, talks with Kal Penn, the host of the documentary series “This Giant Beast That is the Global Economy,” which is currently available to stream on Amazon. The series sees Penn travel around the world, meeting key players behind some
In today’s roundup, BBC America releases a trailer for season two of “Killing Eve” and Zazie Beetz joins “The Twilight Zone” on CBS All Access. DATES “Running with Beto,” the behind-the-scenes look at Beto O’Rourke‘s rise to political fame and narrow defeat by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, will debut on HBO on May 28. The
The former press aide to ex-Attorney General Jeff Sessions will revise her planned role at CNN after details of the hire sparked controversy. Sarah Isgur Flores, a Republican press strategist, had planned to join CNN to help manage coverage of politics. But news of the move generated two common maladies associated with the current media