September 24, 2018 4:42PM PT Adam Berkowitz, a longtime top agent in CAA’s television department, is departing from the agency, Variety has learned exclusively. CAA declined to comment on the reason for Berkowitz’s exit beyond confirming he is no longer an employee of the agency. Berkowitz served as CAA’s co-head of television, where his client list
Television
In today’s TV News Roundup, the Paley Center for Media is hosting a “West Side Story” celebration event and Fox is partnering with Turnaround Arts for a new social media campaign. DATES Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American rights for the rom-com “California No” and is set to release the film Dec. 4 on VOD,
“New Amsterdam,” like the mammoth hospital it’s set in, has a whole lot of enthusiasm and too many areas in which to direct it. Based on Dr. Eric Manheimer’s book on New York City’s Bellevue Hospital (“Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital”), NBC’s new medical drama paints a simultaneously promising, bleak, and (unintentionally)
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — A prosecutor urged the judge in Bill Cosby’s sexual abuse case on Monday to sentence the disgraced entertainer to five to 10 years behind bars, while Cosby’s defense lawyer said incarceration would be an “excessive hardship” for the man once known as America’s Dad. Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O’Neill is poised
The birth of the technology industry is an interesting story, one fueled by big money, hubris and creators’ unique ability to see a world that might be overlaying the one that exists. That’s the message that comes through in about half of National Geographic’s new series, “Valley of the Boom,” which had its world premiere
September 24, 2018 2:00PM PT The CW is developing a drama series based on Kathy Parks’ book “The Lifeboat Clique,” Variety has learned. When a freak tsunami hits a Malibu house party, a group of teenagers from diverse social circles are swept out to sea. The place where they wind up is new, but the high
Apple has yet to release a single frame from any of the original scripted shows it has ordered during the past year, but the soon-to-be streaming giant is already making a big impact. Apple has budgeted approximately $1 billion to date on their initial series development slate that will power its push into the streaming
September 24, 2018 1:00PM PT Martin Gero and Brendan Gall have scored a pilot production commitment for a drama series in the works at CBS, Variety has learned. Titled “The Secret to a Good Marriage,” the project follows an elite pair of CIA spies who are pushed to their limits both professionally and personally, fighting to save
The bachelor wasn’t the only person to find love on the Vietnamese version of the popular reality show. During a shocking rose ceremony, two “Bachelor: Vietnam” contestants, Minh Thu and Truc Nhu, decided to leave the show for each other, rather than continue competing for a relationship with bachelor Nguyen Quoc Trung. “I went into this competition
September 24, 2018 12:35PM PT Domhnall Gleeson has been cast in a lead role in the upcoming comedy pilot “Run” at HBO, Variety has confirmed. The project is described as a romantic-comedic-thriller that follows Ruby, a woman living a humdrum existence, who one day gets a text, inviting her to fulfill a youthful pact promising true
TV and film have long been fascinated with the inner lives of spies, assassins, and people who otherwise operate underground and out of sight. Untangling the possible motivations someone might have to live such a life, not to mention carry out startling and sometimes downright horrific acts, provides so much narrative catnip that hardly a
September 24, 2018 11:30AM PT Zoe Kravitz has been cast in the lead role in the series adaptation of “High Fidelity” at Disney’s upcoming streaming service, Variety has learned. The series, which has received a 10-episode order, is inspired by Nick Hornby’s novel and the Touchstone film of the same name. It reimagines the story from
September 24, 2018 8:00AM PT Unscripted TV veteran Greg Lipstone has joined Howard Owens and Ben Silverman as president of the pair’s Propagate production banner. Lipstone left All3Media America in January after two and a half years as CEO. Before that he was a top unscripted TV agent at William Morris Agency and ICM Partners
Halle Berry and Lena Waithe have signed on as executive producers for the “Boomerang” TV series currently in the works at BET. Based on the 1992 American romantic comedy film in which Berry starred alongside Robin Givens and Eddie Murphy, this new series will follow the lives of Jacqueline Boyer’s son and Marcus and Angela Graham’s
“Inside the Actors Studio” is on the move. Ovation TV and the Actors Studio have partnered to produce and air future episodes of the award-winning interview series about the art of acting, which has aired on Bravo since its launch in 1994. As part of the agreement, Ovation will also curate content from the series’
Westeros fans will soon be able to step into the actual locations where “Game of Thrones” has been filmed, as HBO’s popular fantasy series nears the end of its run. HBO announced plans to convert several “Game of Thrones” filming locations in Northern Ireland into tourist attractions. The premium programmer is considering including the standing
AT&T has long been one of Madison Avenue’s biggest spenders, throwing its commercials across TV, newspapers and the Internet. Now it’s about to become one of its biggest sellers, thanks to its recent $85.4 billion buy of Time Warner. Starting Monday night, the telecommunications giant will go into sales mode. AT&T will kick off a
CNN’s shows regularly feature people who like to defend the administration of President Donald Trump. Keeping their seats filled is becoming a tougher task. Jason Miller had become a steady presence on CNN, appearing on programs like “Erin Burnett OutFront” to defend White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, among other Trump officials. But Miller,
The BBC drama “Bodyguard” bowed out on a high Sunday with 11 million viewers at its peak on BBC One, for a whopping 47.9% audience share. The six-part series, which Netflix is about to launch globally, is Britain’s most popular drama since “Downton Abbey.” Starring Richard Madden (“Game of Thrones”) and Keeley Hawes (“The Durrells”), “Bodyguard” went out
September 23, 2018 6:27PM PT Michelle Guthrie, one of the highest profile women executives in international television, has been fired as managing director of public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She was less than two and a half years into a five-year contract. ABC board chairman Justin Milne said that the decision was “in the
“The Good Doctor” is one of the few shows that puts an autistic character front and center. But the hit Sony TV-ABC series, which returns for its second season on Sept. 24, has another distinction. One of the writers, David Renaud, is a “good doctor” himself off-screen — and uses a wheelchair in daily life. Canadian-born
The last voiceover Anthony Bourdain did for “Parts Unknown” was a fitting one. As a packed, emotional house discovered at the Tribeca screening of the show’s upcoming Kenya episode — the twelfth and final season premiere featuring “United Shades of America” host W. Kamau Bell — Bourdain wanted to emphasize a point that has sometimes
SAN SEBASTIAN — In 2014, launching in France and Germany, Netflix hesitated about entering Spain, reportedly because of prevalent piracy. Four years later, the U.S. streaming giant has chosen Madrid for its first European production hub. Spain is on a roll, impelled by the launch of original series production at Movistar +, Netflix, Amazon and
Bryan Cranston has had an illustrious career over the decades, winning four Emmy awards for his portrayal of anti-hero Walter White on “Breaking Bad” and a Tony Award for “All the Way.” Yet, at the Tribeca TV Festival Saturday, the acclaimed actor shared that there was one person he didn’t win over, and he used
Fox Networks Group is sounding the alarm to viewers in a carriage dispute with cable operator Altice USA as a Sept. 30 contract deadline looms for FX, Fox Sports 1, Fox’s New York O&O and National Geographic Channels. Fox began airing warning spots on select channels on Altice USA systems Sunday in the New York
Jason Miller, a former senior communications staffer for President Donald Trump’s campaign, said he would step down from his role as political analyst on CNN following accusations regarding his behavior toward a women he allegedly impregnated. “I have decided to step away from my role as a Political Commentator at CNN to focus on clearing
Ben Sherwood is preparing to leave the Walt Disney Co. after Disney completes its acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Sherwood, who has served as Disney’s top TV executive as president of Disney/ABC Television Group and co-chair of the Media Networks division, had been considering options for a new role during the past two months after
As the fight for Sky came down to a corporate version of sudden death, Comcast came to win. After being outbid and outmaneuvered by Disney in the hunt for the larger collection of 21st Century Fox assets, Comcast was determined not to go home completely empty-handed from the biggest media M&A battle of the last
Sky has recommended that its shareholders accept Comcast’s blockbuster $39 billion bid for the company, an offer hailed by chief executive Jeremy Darroch as “the beginning of the next exciting chapter for Sky.” Comcast won a three-round auction for Sky on Saturday, with a £17.28-per-share deal that almost certainly puts enough distance between it and
Comcast has beaten 21st Century Fox in the high-stakes auction of European pay-TV giant Sky, coming out on top Saturday with a bid of £30 billion ($39 billion). The victory paves the way for the U.S. cable giant to put a leading offer to Sky shareholders and, if it’s accepted, to bolster significantly its international