February 21, 2019 10:16AM PT Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine banner has inked a deal with Starz to develop “Kin,” Variety has learned. The multi-generational family drama comes from “Queen Sugar” and “Constantine” writer Davita Scarlett, who developed the project with Chester Jones III. Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine film and TV head Lauren Neustadter are on
Television
Who would invest in the U.S. launch of a linear, 24/7 cable news network in the current climate of bloodletting for niche cable channels? Patrick Drahi, the French-Israeli media mogul who controls Altice USA and Altice Europe, that’s who. Multiple system operator Altice USA is slowly but steadily expanding the cable distribution base for i24News,
Pete Bevacqua, who joined NBC Sports Group as president in September of last year, will gain more oversight of the NBCUniversal unit in the wake of a recent restructuring of the executive ranks of the corporation. Bevacqua retains his role as president, but will oversee the entire NBC Sports Group portfolio, adding NBC Olympics, production,
MADRID — Telefonica, the European telecom which has made the largest bet on content over the last two years, saw a 6% year-in-year growth in pay TV customers in Spain, the country where that drive is most noticeable, Telefonica confirmed on a Thursday conference call, walking analysts through its full-year 2018 results. Net subscriber additions
Global investment firm KKR has acquired Tele München Group, one of Germany’s largest television businesses. The surprise deal was announced Thursday. New York-based global investor KKR has holdings in multiple sectors, including infrastructure, energy and real estate. Tele München Group, or TMG, is active in both production and distribution; its projects include the highly anticipated
Fox is considering removing Jussie Smollett from production on “Empire.” Sources close to the production told Variety that producers are weighing whether to suspend the actor after he was charged Wednesday in Chicago with filing a false police report. A spokesperson for 20th Century Fox Television, which produces the series, declined to comment. Smollett’s status on
We’re just weeks away from the premiere of the final season of “Game of Thrones,” and whether you’re a die-hard fan, on the hunt for a novelty gift, or a serious collector hoping to nab some memorabilia before the series signs off for good, we’ve found 10 pieces of merch that pay tribute to one
Ryan Kadro left CBS News several weeks ago, but he isn’t leaving the news business. Kadro, the former executive producer of “CBS This Morning” is set to join Quibi, the company led by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman that is devoted to short-form content. Kadro is expected to oversee news programming for the subscription-based service,
February 20, 2019 5:03PM PT “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with filing a false police report, the Chicago police said Wednesday. “Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said on Twitter. Police said earlier that they were presenting evidence to
Anchors at CNN and MSNBC and prominent Democrats were targeted for attack by a Coast Guard lieutenant arrested Friday on a firearms charge, according to federal prosecutors in Maryland. In court documents revealed Wednesday, prosecutors describe the firearms and controlled substance charges Christopher Paul Hasson is facing as “the proverbial tip of the iceberg.” CNN’s
In today’s TV news roundup, HBO released the first official trailer for its upcoming docu-series “The Case Against Adnan Syed,” and Freeform announced three new cast members for its upcoming comedy series “Besties,” starring Jordin Sparks. DATES Netflix’s upcoming docu-series “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” is set to premiere March 8 on the streaming platform.
February 20, 2019 3:05PM PT Rory O’Malley, best known for his turn as King George in the Broadway run of “Hamilton” as well as the show’s first national tour, has been cast in the upcoming NBC single-camera comedy pilot “Like Magic.” He will play Michael V., the quieter partner in a two-man magic team with
Zach Woods is staying in the HBO fold. The actor, who currently stars in the HBO comedy series “Silicon Valley,” has been cast in the comedy pilot “Avenue 5” currently in the works at the premium cabler. The project is described as a comedy set in the future, mostly in space. Woods will play Matt
SAG-AFTRA and the advertising industry are quietly launching commercial contract talks on Wednesday, six weeks before the current master contract expires on March 31. Both sides have declined to comment on the talks, which will take place in New York City, and have already agreed to a news blackout until there’s a deal in place.
February 20, 2019 1:33PM PT Lady Gaga and Viggo Mortensen aren’t the only entities set to take a star turn during ABC’s coming broadcast of the Oscars. Marriott International will get its own commercial break during ABC’s telecast this Sunday evening. Viewers will see a 30-second promo for the hotel operator and then a 60
Before shooting his new series “Wild Bill” for Britain’s ITV, Rob Lowe had no idea there was a Boston in England – which the U.S. city in Massachusetts is actually named after. “Wild Bill” is currently in production in the original Boston, in eastern England, and Lowe, appropriately enough, plays a fish out of water
February 20, 2019 10:42AM PT ABC is hoping to drive viewers to its host-less telecast of the 91st Academy Awards on Sunday by dangling the promise of cold, hard cash to one lucky winner. The broadcaster on will launch “The Official Oscar Game,” a live game that will let viewers play along in real time
It wasn’t too long ago that Desus Nice and The Kid Mero were living their lives as Daniel Baker and Joel Martinez, two bored Bronx guys throwing jokes on Twitter about their frustrating jobs. But six years after joining forces, they’re poised to crash the overwhelmingly monochrome late-night talk-show party with their wicked wit, supreme
CBS News is considering making significant changes to its flagship “CBS Evening News,” according to four people with knowledge of the talks, part of a top-down look at the news division by incoming president Susan Zirinsky. Executives are considering putting “CBS This Morning” anchor Norah O’Donnell in the lead role of its evening-news broadcast, these
Showtime has ordered a pilot for “How to Make Love to a Black Woman (Who May Be Working Through Some Sh*t), a half-hour comedy anthology series created by Casallina “Cathy” Kisakye. The show landed at the network through Emmy winner Lena Waithe’s first-look deal with Showtime. Kisakye, who will write the pilot, joins Waithe and
Rainn Wilson has been cast in a lead role in the upcoming Amazon series “Utopia.” Based on the British series of the same name created by Dennis Kelly, “Utopia” follows group of young adults who meet online and are mercilessly hunted by a shadowy deep state organization after they come in to possession of a
February 20, 2019 7:52AM PT Byron Allen has turned to NBCUniversal and Nexstar alum Tom O’Brien to serve as president of the Weather Channel, the cable stalwart that Allen’s Entertainment Studios acquired for $300 million last March. O’Brien replaces Dave Shull, who left the company in October after serving as president-CEO of the Atlanta-based company
February 20, 2019 7:12AM PT ABC News has signed its chief anchor, George Stephanopoulos, to a new four-year deal believed to be valued at between $15 million to $17 million a year, ensuring he will stay at the Walt Disney-owned news outlet well beyond the 2020 election. A person familiar with the matter confirmed a
PARIS — Graced by Uma Thurman, “The Good Doctor” star Freddie Highmore and “Black Mirror” creators-showrunners Charlie Brooker and Anabel Jones, the 10th Series Mania – and second in Lille, north-east France – will kick off March 22 with Netflix prominent, a broader geographical reach and a strong presence of women writers and directors.
Having worked on both sides of the pond, “The Night Of” star Riz Ahmed thinks the U.S. TV biz could learn from the Brits’ “unpretentious” attitude toward the creative process and the U.K. industry could emulate the Americans’ openness to “new voices.” “The British approach to creativity can be really helpfully unpretentious….That sets us apart
“Crazy Rich Asians,” “The Favourite” and “Black Panther” walked away with top honors at the 21st annual Costume Designers Guild Awards Tuesday night, the final industry guild show before the Oscars on Feb. 24. “The Favourite” and “Black Panther” are up for the Oscar this year, along with “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” “Mary Poppins
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Our Little Island Girl,” the 13th episode of Season 3 of “This Is Us.” It took until the middle of the third season of NBC family drama “This Is Us” to explore Beth’s (Susan Kelechi Watson) backstory, and it turned out she also lost her
The George R.R. Martin drama “Nightflyers” has been canceled by Syfy after only one season. Based on the novella from the mastermind behind “Game of Thrones,” the show was seen as a big gamble for the NBCUniversal-owned cable network, as it represented the most expensive series it had ever developed. The network attempted to spark
February 19, 2019 6:03PM PT The CW has added veteran Scottish actor Dougray Scott to its “Batwoman” pilot as well as swapped in Marcos Siega for previous director David Nutter, Variety has learned. The pilot, which stars Ruby Rose as the eponymous caped heroine, is being helmed by DC TV head Greg Berlanti, and was
Jeffrey Wright, the most compelling reason to watch HBO’s new film “O.G.,” is among television’s best actors at switching between codes or manners of being. On “Westworld,” his timeline-toggling android swaps personae so delicately that his performance gains in resonance when recalled in retrospect. (Perhaps that’s why Wright has been so oddly underrated through the