Former President Donald Trump could soon be criminal defendant Trump … prosecutors in New York have convened a grand jury that could indict him on criminal tax evasion and other charges related to the Trump org’s business affairs. The Manhattan district attorney recently convened the grand jury to hear evidence and weigh potential criminal charges
The latest social media sparring between a politician and entertainer is getting especially personal, as Rand Paul, the COVID-downplaying Republican senator from Kentucky, took to Twitter to suggest that his having received a suspicious powder at his home might be due to singer Richard Marx “encouraging violence” against him. “I take these threats immensely seriously,”
Samuel E. Wright, the actor who voiced Sebastian in “The Little Mermaid,” has died. He was 74. The news of his death was confirmed in a Facebook post on Tuesday by his hometown Montgomery, N.Y. It did not confirm his cause of death. “Today, the Town of Montgomery mourns the loss of Sam Wright,” the
UPDATED: WarnerMedia’s HBO Max was hit with scattered technical issues for more than an hour Tuesday, with users nationwide reporting problems streaming video. According to monitoring site DownDetector, problem reports with HBO Max began to surge around 4:45 p.m. ET, with user-reported issues concentrated in New York, L.A., Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. “We’re aware
CBS clearly knew what it was doing when it decided to launch Queen Latifah’s “Equalizer” reboot behind Super Bowl LV in February. Despite a lopsided game that forced a lot of viewers to tune out before the after-show, CBS nonetheless managed to open “Equalizer” with 20.4 million viewers, and continue to hold on to a
Peter Murrieta has signed a first-look deal with Universal Television, Variety has learned exclusively. Under the deal, Murrieta will develop original content for broadcast, cable and streaming platforms. He was previously an executive producer on “Mr. Iglesias” at Netflix and recently co-wrote the Lifetime movie “Feliz Navidad” with his wife Aliza, with Mario Lopez starring. He
When last week’s fire in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles broke out, Matt Blake did what any homeowner’s association president would do: he lent a helping hand. Blake, who is CAA’s head of comedy touring, played a key role in assisting in the arrest of the alleged arsonist who started the multiple fires
Filmmaker Niki Caro and Charlize Theron are teaming up to develop a feature film about women’s fight for equality in big wave surfing for Netflix. The feature is based on Daniel Duane’s New York Times Magazine article, “The Fight For Gender Equality In One of the Most Dangerous Sports on Earth,” and the four women
Poorna Jagannathan and Casey Thomas Brown are starring in Megan Griffiths’ “I’ll Show You Mine.” The dramedy, a Duplass Brothers Production, centers on Priya Sura, an author who has made a career of examining her own trauma, as she sits down to interview her nephew Nic for a new book about his history as a
“F9” star John Cena apologized to Chinese fans Tuesday after calling Taiwan a country in a promotional interview, but many viewers in the world’s largest film market have deemed his beseeching appeal for forgiveness insufficient. Speaking with the Taiwanese news channel TVBS earlier this month, the professional wrestler — who has been learning Chinese for
Shares of video-hosting provider Vimeo fell 12.85% on Tuesday, its first day of trading as a publicly traded company after being spun off from Barry Diller’s IAC internet conglomerate. Vimeo stock began trading on Nasdaq under the symbol “VMEO.” It closed at $45.39 per share, down from its price of $52.08 on Monday. That gives
“Expats,” the Amazon series adaptation of Janice Y.K. Lee’s novel “The Expatriates,” has found its first cast member in Ji-young Yoo. Set against the fabric of Hong Kong, “Expats” is the story of an international community whose lives are bound together forever after a sudden family tragedy. The show was originally ordered to series at
Jeff Zucker, chairman of news and sports at WarnerMedia, held a company town hall on Tuesday in which he addressed the recent Chris Cuomo–CNN controversy and answered questions regarding return-to-office plans. Zucker suggested CNN staffers who were vaccinated and wished to return to the outlet’s New York offices would likely be able to do so
If Senator Rand Paul wants to keep beefing with Richard Marx, it sure seems like the ’80s hitmaker will be right here waiting for him … on Twitter. Marx is not taking a social media break after Paul publicly accused the singer of calling for violence against him, which the Senator suggested was the reason
“Paper Spiders” opens on a dynamic played out in countless American coming-of-age stories, as bright-eyed high school senior Melanie (Stefania LaVie Owen) and her doting single mother Dawn (Lili Taylor) tour the USC college campus on which the former has her heart set. As Melanie gawps in wonder, Dawn surveys the place with a critical
The OWN Spotlight series “Black Women OWN the Conversation” is taking on the topic of mental health with its first episode of the new season — and for the deep, emotional conversation, the show enlisted a special guest. For the first time, Oprah Winfrey joins the conversation, appearing on the show virtually alongside hosts Adrienne
Any artist who wins the Eurovision song contest is guaranteed to make a big splash — but Italian glam-rock band Måneskin, which won the 65th edition of the competition late last week, made an even bigger impression than they’d intended when, during a press conference immediately after their victory, vocalist Damiano David ducked his head down
The CW has commissioned three new TV specials for late 2021: “The Scooby-Doo Reunion Special,” “The Waltons: Homecoming,” and “Beebo Saves Christmas.” In “The Scooby-Doo Reunion Special,” the Mystery Inc. gang reunites at Warner Bros. Studios to reminisce about their favorite cases and how they were filmed. But it turns out that the backlot may
The CW has released its new, seven-night primetime schedule for 2021-2022, filled with competitive games, DC superheroes, supernatural happenings, football and an inaugural Saturday night dedicated to laughs. This strategic mix of new and returning original scripted series and alternative programming was announced today by Mark Pedowitz, chairman and chief executive officer of The CW.
The CW’s pilot of “Powerpuff,” the live-action series based on the popular Cartoon Network animated show “The Powerpuff Girls,” is being overhauled and re-shot because the initial pilot was “too campy” and not as rooted in reality as network execs would have liked. The CW also offered an update on the fate of “The 100”
Endemol Shine North America has hired longtime TV Academy executive Karla Pita Loor in a new role where she will head up the company’s social responsibility efforts. As executive VP of enterprise inclusion and social responsibility, Pita Loor will report to Cris Abrego, chairman of the Americas, Banijay, and president/CEO, Endemol Shine Holdings, who made
One of the “Game of Thrones” prequels in development at HBO, “10,000 Ships,” has found its writer. Amanda Segel is set to pen the project, Variety has confirmed. “10,000 Ships” is one of several “Game of Thrones” projects in the works at HBO. The show would follow Princess Nymeria, who journeyed with the Rhoynar to Dorne
Mark Pedowitz, chairman and CEO of The CW, spoke about the upcoming Discovery-WarnerMedia merger during a programming conference call on Tuesday. Asked how the deal would affect The CW, which is owned in part by Warner Bros., Pedowitz said “At the moment, it does not. I don’t have any answers beyond that…We’re going to adapt,
J. Cole’s new release didn’t quite land as the top album debut of 2021 so far, but it came close enough to have serious bragging rights anyway. “The Off-Season” premiered at No. 1 on the Rolling Stone album chart with 274,200 album-equivalent units — not so very far off from the 290,000 that Taylor Swift’s
Uninterrupted and unrelenting, for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the world seemed to realize what Black people had been talking about for the last century when George Floyd was murdered a year ago by the now-former police officer and convicted murderer Derek Chauvin. They realized why NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick was taking a knee during
TikTok creator Victoria Paris has signed with Range Media Partners in all areas. After creating a TikTok account on a whim as a way to drive traffic to her Depop store, Paris gained over 800,000 followers in her first four months on the platform. Considered one of the fastest-growing content creators on TikTok with over
In a competitive situation, Blumhouse Television and Maniac Productions have secured the rights to the BBC Radio 4 podcast “The Battersea Poltergeist.” The two companies will now work to develop a scripted series titled “Blumhouse’s Ghost Story,” with the podcast serving as the basis for the first season. In addition, they will develop an unscripted
Forget “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” because on June 11 and 12, audiences at the San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park will be singing a different tune, as the Frameline Film Fest takes over the ballpark with special screenings of “In the Heights” and “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.” For its 2021 edition — dubbed
Independent filmmaker and educator Deborah LaVine has been tapped to run the film program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA). Lavine, who will serve as dean of the school of filmmaking effective July 1, joins UNCSA from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) where she was program director of the
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has revealed nominees for the broadcast portion of the 48th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards. The telecast, which will air June 25 on both CBS and its sister Paramount Plus streaming service, focuses on major categories such as outstanding drama, game show, entertainment talk show, morning show, informative