Bear Grylls and the producers of “Hostile Planet” are promising viewers a new type of wildlife show when the series bows on National Geographic on April 1 in the U.S. and around the world in the spring. With the streamers getting into the natural history arena and existing big beasts such as the BBC, Discovery and
Television
February 8, 2019 6:00AM PT ITV on Friday confirmed its order of period drama “Belgravia,” a six-part series from Julian Fellowes that he will adapt from his own 2016 novel. The project re-teams the Oscar- and Emmy-winner with NBCUniversal’s Carnival Films, the production company behind Fellowes’ “Downton Abbey.” It will be co-produced by premium cable
February 8, 2019 4:14AM PT E4 has added ABC sitcom “Speechless” to its U.K. lineup. The entertainment channel of British commercial broadcaster Channel 4, aimed primarily at 16-34-year-olds, has acquired all three seasons of the irreverent comedy which is expected to begin airing soon. “Speechless” stars British actress Minnie Driver as a mom who will do
In the flash-forward storyline in the third season of “This Is Us,” it was revealed that Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) worked in a dance academy, and on the 13th episode of the season, entitled “Our Little Island Girl,” her long-time love of the art will come to light. But it is far from the only
February 7, 2019 5:11PM PT Julian McMahon has been cast in the lead role of the planned “FBI” spinoff currently in the works at CBS, Variety has confirmed. The new series would be titled “FBI: Most Wanted.” It would follow the division of the FBI tasked with tracking and capturing the notorious criminals on the FBI’s Most
February 7, 2019 4:10PM PT Veteran entertainment industry executive Nancy Tellem has become part of the Office of the CEO at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as executive director and will work on long-term strategy. Tellem will remain on the board of privately held MGM, a post she’s held since 2013. Tellem is currently the chief media officer and
In today’s TV news roundup, Spectrum announces the release date for “L.A.’s Finest” and Ginnifer Goodwin joins “The Twilight Zone” DATES Spectrum subscribers can watch “L.A.’s Finest,” the first series kicking off the new video-on-demand service’s orignal content, on May 13. Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba will executive produce and star in the 13-episode series, which is spinoff
David Levine, the co-head of drama at HBO, is departing the premium cabler, Variety has learned. Francesca Orsi, Levine’s fellow co-head of drama, will now oversee drama series for HBO on her own. “David has been a valued member of the HBO family for 10 years and worked on some of our finest shows,” said Casey
February 7, 2019 2:21PM PT Allison Tolman has been cast in the lead role of the NBC drama pilot “Emergence,” Variety has confirmed. The project is described as a character-driven genre thriller that centers around a sheriff (Tolman) who takes in a young child that she finds near the site of a mysterious accident who has
Dan Lin’s production company, Rideback, and Media Rights Capital (MRC) have partnered to launch the Rideback TV Incubator. The incubator offers a paid, eight-month residency program to a group of eight writers who have each previously been staffed on series and want to create their own drama series for cable and streaming. The goal of
February 7, 2019 12:16PM PT Universal Pictures has signed a first-look deal with 14-year-old “Black-ish” star Marsai Martin and her Genius Productions company. The first Genius Productions film under the deal is the comedy “StepMonster,” in which Martin will star as a teenager adjusting to life with a new stepmother. Martin began working as an
The Super Bowl ended days ago. Are you ready for some football? Charlie Ebersol hopes so. He will this Saturday kick off a new era of professional spring football, even though the recent history of U.S. sports is littered with scrapped attempts to give gridiron fans more of their favorite game. Ebersol – and TV
February 7, 2019 10:00AM PT Christopher McQuarrie and Anthony Peckham have signed on to “The President Is Missing,” the drama series based on the novel of the same name by Bill Clinton and James Patterson currently in development at Showtime. McQuarrie will executive produce with Heather McQuarrie, Clinton, and Patterson. Peckham will write the adaptation
This year’s broadcast pilot season is shaping up to be one of the leanest in recent memory as far as sheer numbers are concerned. Among ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox and NBC, 50 pilots have been ordered so far for the 2019-20 season. That number also includes two straight-to-series orders at Fox and one at
CBS News unveiled a new top executive structure, another sign of how Susan Zirinsky, the unit’s incoming president, intends to manage operations going forward. Kimberly Godwin was named executive vice president of news, with top editorial oversight of newsgathering around the world. Charles Pavlounis was given expanded duties as executive vice president of business development
February 7, 2019 4:58AM PT British police drama “Bergerac” is being primed for a reboot for Paramount Network International. U.K. production companies Artists Studios, which is backed by Endemol Shine U.K., and Westward Studios, which is based on Jersey where the show is set, are developing the project as a potential future commission for Paramount’s
Syfy has acquired A+E Networks’ sci-fi historical drama “Project Blue Book” for the U.K., it was announced Thursday by Syfy’s parent company, NBC Universal International Networks. Executive produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, “Project Blue Book” is based on a real-life U.S. government operation of the same name and centers on the investigation by the
All3Media International has secured another major pre-sale on Two Brothers Pictures’ “Cheat” ahead of its screening as part of the European Film Market’s official Drama Series Days program in Berlin next week. ARD Degeto has acquired the drama series for Germany, with plans to air the show later this year. “Cheat” stars Katherine Kelly and
Darren Childs is to step down as CEO of Britain’s UKTV after eight years at the helm. He will exit at the end of June, the company announced Thursday. A successor has not been named. UKTV’s portfolio includes free-to-air channels such as Dave and Drama that mix classic British content with newer U.S. and U.K.
At the winter Television Critics Assn. press tour Wednesday, Fox presented several of their programs — and debuted a sense of what “new Fox,” a network left out of Disney’s 20th Century Fox acquisition, will look like. Panels included a valedictory look at “Gotham” before its final season, an omnibus presentation of several of the
Charlie Collier is ready to rev up programming activity at Fox. The newly appointed Fox Entertainment CEO spoke with Variety on Wednesday on the heels of his first major public appearance in the new role when he addressed the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour in Pasadena, Calif. Collier weighed in on the future of Fox
February 6, 2019 4:41PM PT In today’s TV News Roundup, Keith Carradine returns to guest on “Big Bang Theory” and “I Am Richard Pryor” will be the first of three new “I Am” chapters of Paramount Network’s documentary franchise. FIRST LOOKS [embedded content] Paramount Network has just announced this year’s film slate for three new
The Smithsonian Channel is launching in the U.K. as a free-to-air service that will reach 19 million homes. It will carry shows from the U.S. such as “America in Color” and a slate of local originals including a documentary about Tariq Ali and Malcom X and a factual series fronted by Clive Anderson. Smithsonian Channel
February 6, 2019 4:00PM PT CBS has picked up three more multi-cam comedy pilots, including one from “Crazy Rich Asians” author Kevin Kwan. Kwan’s project is titled “The Emperor of Malibu.” In the series, when the son of a Chinese billionaire announces his engagement to an American woman, his outrageous family descends upon the couple
Actor and comedian Steven Levy, aka Steve Bean, died Jan. 21 after a battle with cancer. He was 58 years old. Born in Lynn, Mass. and raised in Providence, R.I, Levy attended Carnegie Mellon University and cut his theatrical teeth performing stand-up at local Pittsburgh area nightclubs. In 1980, Levy teamed up with comic Chris
Bill Owens was named just the third executive producer in the history of the venerable “60 Minutes,” capping off a period of uncertainty at the long-running newsmagazine and kicking off a new era at CBS News. Owens has been serving as the leader of the program during an interim period, and his ascension to the
February 6, 2019 12:14PM PT Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier said that the new Fox Corporation will be “more nimble” and getting a “rare business opportunity” to rethink what it means to be a broadcast network once the sale of other 21st Century Fox assets to Disney is completed. “We’re all eagerly awaiting our company’s
February 6, 2019 11:57AM PT In preparation for the much-anticipated debut of the eighth and final season of “Game of Thrones,” HBO has released a set of 14 intriguing new photos. Premiering April 14 on HBO, the photo set depicts several main characters gazing pensively into the distance, presumably gearing up for the final battle
“Vernon Subutex,” one of Canal Plus’ banner Original Series, will world premiere at the opening night of this year’s Canneseries. Directed by Cathy Verney and starring Romain Duris (“The Beat That My Heart Skipped”) and Céline Sallette (“House of Tolerance”), the Canal Plus Création Originale will premiere three episodes, out of competition, at the Palais
February 6, 2019 11:15AM PT “The Simpsons” has been picked up for a 31st and 32nd season at Fox, the network announced Wednesday at the Television Critics Association winter press tour. News of the renewal comes just two weeks after Variety reported that the show was nearing a new deal for a two-season pick up. At