Lee Daniels, co-creator of “Empire,” posted a strong reaction on Instagram to the assault and suspected hate crime against Jussie Smollett, one of the musical drama’s stars. “It’s taken me a minute to come to social media about this because, Jussie, you are my son,” he said in a video posted on Tuesday. “You didn’t deserve
Television
January 29, 2019 12:00PM PT Vanessa Williams has signed on for a lead role in the ABC single-cam comedy pilot “Happy Accident,” Variety has learned. She joins previously announced cast members Matt Walsh and Joanna Garcia Swisher. In the series, two Pittsburgh families – a father (Walsh) with three adult daughters (Garcia Swisher), and a hotel
A cancer patient who was featured on the daytime show “The Doctors” is accusing the producers of backing out on a promise to help her get a free prosthesis. Marisha Dotson sent a demand letter on Monday to Dr. Phil McGraw’s TV company, Stage 29 Productions, which produces the show for syndication. The letter alleges
The Television Academy is putting its foot down on category flip-flops. Going forward, programs will be allowed to switch categories (say, from comedy to drama competition) in the Emmy race just once. After that, they’re locked in — and won’t be allowed to categorize again. That’s one of the latest changes to the Emmy competition,
The impact of the #MeToo movement is trickling onto sets everywhere, provoking more thoughtful discussion among actors. “Last season, when everything was coming out, we had a lot of male guest stars actually ask us questions, which we found interesting and nice,” said “Good Girls” star Retta at NBC’s “Women of Drama” panel at the TCA
CBS has renewed freshman drama “God Friended Me” for the 2019-2020 television season. “God Friended Me” centers on an “outspoken atheist” who receives a mysterious social media friend request from an account calling itself God and finds himself making new connections and becoming an agent of change in the lives around him. It averages 10
Sasha Lane has been cast in a lead role in the upcoming Amazon series “Utopia,” Variety has learned. 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
TV has been good to Steve Harvey. Just not good enough. Though the comedian may be one of the most omnipresent stars across his many shows (“Family Feud,” “Little Big Shots,” “Showtime at the Apollo,” etc.), he is looking to take his career to the next level by doing more than just being a performer.
Italy’s Mediaset and Indigo Film on Tuesday unveiled a glossy Italian adaptation of Scotland-set rape drama “Liar,” titled “Non Mentire,” which marks the first redo of the hit show from ITV and Sundance TV. All3Media International will kick off global sales on “Non Mentire” at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin. Buyers will see
British television was well ahead of its American counterpart in its early willingness to embrace abbreviated runs — something that’s only now become common this side of the Atlantic. And now, they’ve come up with a welcome innovation for prestige dramedy: A series whose ten-episode run totals a little under two hours. Sure, short-form TV
Bob Iger has repeatedly called it the “highest priority” of the Walt Disney Co. The launch of Disney Plus has become the talk of the entertainment industry — for creatives, for tech mavens and for Wall Street — as production and development of original series and movies accelerate for the streaming service, slated to debut
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Past Sins,” the 11th episode of the seventh season of “Arrow.” David Ramsey has starred as John Diggle on the CW’s first superhero drama “Arrow” since 2012 but the seventh season of the series granted him a very special new experience: stepping behind the camera
January 28, 2019 5:15PM PT Tom Brokaw is used to delivering the news, not being at the center of it. So when NBC News on Monday said remarks made by the longtime anchor on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” “were inaccurate and inappropriate and we’re glad he apologized,” it marked just the latest bump in a
NBC has given a pilot order to a single-camera project starring Kal Penn. Penn also co-wrote the untitled project with Matt Murray, with both attached as executive producers. It follows former New York City Councilman Garrett Shah (Penn), who finds his calling when faced with six recent immigrants in need of his help and in
President Donald Trump will make an appearance during CBS’ pre-game coverage of Super Bowl LIII, reviving a tradition he skipped in 2018 when the White House and NBC News could not come to terms on an interview. CBS News said Trump will do an interview on “Face The Nation” on Sunday, February 3 – game
January 28, 2019 4:00PM PT The Patricia Heaton-led comedy series “Carol’s Second Act” is one step closer to the airwaves. The broadcaster has given out a pilot order for the multi-cam comedy, in which Heaton would star and executive produce. Heaton is set to play Carol Chambers who, after raising her two children and retiring from
In Monday’s roundup, ABC has revealed the Season 6 trailer for “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” and Bravo’s “Real Housewives of New York” releases the Season 11 premiere date. FIRST LOOKS ABC’s “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” has released its official Season 6 trailer. The new installment will consist of 13 episodes, after Season 5 left off with
Noah Jupe has been cast in the upcoming HBO limited series “The Undoing,” Variety has learned. He joins previously announced cast members Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, and Donald Sutherland. The role also reunites Jupe with series director and executive producer Susanne Bier, who previously directed the child star in the AMC series “The Night Manager.” The
January 28, 2019 2:30PM PT Fox has given a pilot order to the drama project “Prodigal Son.” The one-hour series centers on Malcolm Bright, an acclaimed criminal psychologist. He knows how killers think, how their minds work. Why? His father was one of the worst — a notorious serial killer called “The Surgeon.” He will use
January 28, 2019 1:00PM PT ABC has ordered the American adaptation of “The Baker and the Beauty” to pilot. Based on the Israeli romantic comedy series of the same name, the series tells the story of the unlikely romance between a blue-collar baker and an international superstar. Theirs is a relationship that not only upends
January 28, 2019 12:30PM PT Robin Thede and Issa Rae are teaming for a half-hour sketch comedy series at HBO. The series is titled “A Black Lady Sketch Show.” It will feature narrative sketches performed by a core cast of black women, including Thede, as well as celebrity guests. The show will be written by, directed
January 28, 2019 12:00PM PT Amazon has given out a pilot order to the comedy “Half-Empty.” The series was co-written by Cazzie David and Elisa Kalani, with David also set to star in the series. it follows a sardonic college student whose overactive imagination leads to catastrophic thinking and an endless chain of social disasters.
Brennin Hunt has had a whirlwind weekend. Hunt was set to play musician Roger Davis on Sunday in Fox’s live version of “Rent” — a role that he says “feels like home to me” because he, too, is a singer-songwriter and he knows what it feels like to try to write a powerful song. But
The Television Academy is changing the way members can RSVP for Emmy screenings, which may also address one of the biggest gripes about who shows up to For Your Consideration events. Rather than a first-come, first-served RSVP, the TV Academy’s member and FYC events will move to a lottery system. The goal is to shake
January 28, 2019 11:00AM PT USA Network has given out a series order to “Dare Me,” based on the novel of the same name by Megan Abbott. The series dives into the cutthroat world of competitive high school cheerleading. It follows the fraught relationship between two best friends (Herizen Guardiola and Marlo Kelly) after a
The secret of the Super Bowl: It’s far easier to score a touchdown in the Big Game than it is for advertisers to do the same in the commercial time that surrounds it. With the event about to debut its 53rd edition, longtime viewers might just think they can devise a Super Bowl ad as
Taraji P. Henson had been steadily acting for over a decade, with nearly three dozen projects under her belt, before she reached a critical turning point in her career: what she thought was a fair paycheck. “Hollywood can be cheap. They love a great performance at a discount price … IF they can get it,”
January 28, 2019 10:00AM PT “The Man in the High Castle” executive producer Isa Dick Hackett and her Electric Shepherd Productions banner have signed a first look deal at Amazon. The daughter of Philip K. Dick, Hackett is the co-founder and CEO of Electric Shepherd Productions. The company is dedicated to the stewardship and adaptation
January 28, 2019 10:00AM PT ABC has picked up one-hour drama pilot “Until the Wedding,” a remake of an Israeli TV drama. Becky Mode will write and executive produce. Timberman-Beverly’s Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly, Alon Aranya, and Reshet Media’s Nelly Feld, Avi Zvi and Ami Amir will serve as non-writing executive producers. Timberman-Beverly last
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, the Super Bowl airs on CBS and “Russian Doll” drops on Netflix. “I