Meghan McCain, a co-host for ABC’s “The View” and daughter of late Sen. John McCain, said Thursday that Republicans must call upon the government to invoke the 25th Amendment following the prior day’s Capitol Hill mob. “I think that this is a good time to take a very hard look at where we are as
Recently, the comic essayist David Sedaris found himself in the midst of a short-lived cycle of criticism for a piece he delivered on CBS’s “Sunday Morning,” which was inelegantly premised on the idea that Sedaris wanted for himself the right to fire service industry employees at will. That this was plainly unworkable became the piece’s punchline,
America might not be going into the office, but they’re getting their fill of watercooler drama via “The Office.” For the week of Dec. 7, the cringe comedy and mockumentary about the lives of office employees at a drab Pennsylvanian paper blasted past the mysterious Mandalorian and weirdly endearing Grogu (fka, Baby Yoda), settling into
With most people staying home last year, content creation on social media app TikTok continued to see a boom in users and videos. The social site shared 2020’s top 100 lists for creators, hashtag trends and viral videos to surface on the app over the year. Many of the year’s top creators gained millions of
As the industry looks ahead to a post-lockdown future, Time’s Up U.K. is commissioning key research to improve the experiences of women in the workplace, while realigning its priorities in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. Time’s Up U.K. chair Heather Rabbatts tells Variety that as the industry resets after the worst of
Prolific producer Stephanie Allain has inked a first-look film producing deal with Endeavor Content. One of Hollywood’s most prolific African American producers, Allain’s filmography includes producing “Dear White People” (the film and series for Netflix), “Hustle & Flow,” Robert Rodriguez’s “El Mariachi & Desperado” and John Singleton’s “Poetic Justice,” “Higher Learning” and the late filmmaker’s
Paramount’s motion picture group president Emma Watts has bolstered her team with two new co-presidents — Daria Cercek and Michael Ireland. Cercek comes from New Line Cinema and will start her post on Jan. 11. Ireland moved to the iconic Hollywood lot last November from 20th Century Studios. As co-presidents of Paramount Pictures, Cercek and
Theaters, museums and other cultural venues will remain closed in France until the end of January, France’s Prime Minister Jean Castex confirmed during a televised address on Thursday evening. Castex said museums, cinemas, theaters, concert halls and gyms “will not [reopen] in the weeks to come.” Meanwhile, bars and restaurants will stay closed until at
Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige’s highly anticipated “Star Wars” project just took a big step forward, with “Loki” executive producer and writer Michael Waldron signing on to write the screenplay, Variety has confirmed. Waldron’s work on the “Star Wars” movie is part of a larger deal he’s signed with Disney, suggesting a long-term relationship with the
CAA has promoted Jim Burtson to the post of president, a move that is another sign of generational changes at the agency. CAA’s trio of co-chairmen — Kevin Huvane, Bryan Lourd and Richard Lovett — are staying put. But Lovett is giving up the president title that he has held since 1995. “The primary role
Music streaming was down in the early days of the pandemic, but that turned around in a big hurry as quarantining went on — so much so that the year 2020 ended up setting a streaming record in America, increasing 17% for the year to end with an unprecedented 872.6 billion streams. The flagship artist
An employed silence. A scratchy phonograph playing a theme inspired by Yiddish music. An exercise in minimalism. Those are some of the components in scores belonging to films flying under the radar as awards season begins — but might not be when all is said and done. Variety looks at some of those works and
The last-minute releases of a calendar year have traditionally been looked upon as possible “late-breaking” entries or “shake-ups” to an awards season. Best picture winners such as James Cameron’s “Titanic,” Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” and Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby,” which opened in theaters in mid- to
Steven Yeun sees a void in cinemas and it’s what is defined as “American” or “Asian,” leaving this space he hopes to occupy. “We wanted to profess that this is an Asian American story,” says Yeun about his new film “Minari.” “It is American but we don’t have that space of understanding carved out in
Online gaming platform Roblox announced Wednesday that it has raised $520 million in new Series H funding with investors that include Warner Music Group and the Investment Group of Santa Barbara. The announcement was made in advance of the company’s plan to float on the stock exchange in a direct listing, similar to the one
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has fired a broadside against outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump, saying that his actions in encouraging people to storm the Capitol were “completely wrong.” During a press conference convened to map out the U.K.’s mass vaccination efforts, BBC journalist Alex Forsyth asked Johnson: “Was Donald Trump responsible for inciting the
The focus of the streaming wars has been on major players like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and Disney Plus, and HBO Max — all fighting to build massive subscriber bases. Now comes Struum, an L.A.-based startup founded by ex-Disney, Discovery and Disney ABC TV execs who believe they can spin smaller, niche-oriented subscription-streaming services into a
Late last year, a potential heir to “30 Rock” debuted on a largely unheralded streaming service. “Saved by the Bell,” Peacock’s reboot of the 1989-93 teen staple, traded its forerunner’s clunkiness for a fleet and jazzy willingness to push past absurdity. From its breezy relationship with reality to its rich and deep bench of characters,
News coverage of the riot that engulfed the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. dominated broadcast network ratings on Wednesday night. Both NBC and ABC shifted from their regularly scheduled programming to air primetime coverage of the violence in the nation’s capital city on Wednesday afternoon. In the overnight ratings, NBC topped all of its
U.K. broadcaster ITV has decided to postpone filming on the next season of popular talent competition “Britain’s Got Talent” while the U.K. is under coronavirus lockdown. “The filming for the 15th series of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ has been postponed from its proposed record dates in late January,” an ITV spokesperson said. “With the announcement of
The music-publishing catalog of songwriter-producer Dan Wilson, known for his hits with Adele, the (Dixie) Chicks and his own band Semisonic, has been acquired by Primary Wave. Terms of the deal include some of Wilson’s biggest hits: three from Adele, including the smash “Someone Like You”; six from the (Dixie) Chicks, including their Grammy-winning hit
Facebook extended its block on Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts “indefinitely,” with the ban lasting at least until Trump leaves office, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday. The move comes after Facebook yesterday initially said it would freeze Trump’s access to its services for a 24-hour period, following the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol
The announcement Tuesday that the Grammy Awards will be moved from January 31 to March 14 took many people by surprise but did not come as a shock: The show is scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, which has seen a dramatic spike in Covid-19 patients and is currently ranked by FEMA as the
After a year in which COVID-19 upended Hollywood, 2021 looms with big question marks for home entertainment executives. The pandemic accelerated the growth of streaming and made premium video-on-demand (PVOD) an economic and logistical necessity due to the closure of movie theaters. And despite the dearth of fresh theatrical product, the transactional end of the
LionTree CEO Aryeh Bourkoff is a master dealmaker. But the prominent investment banker isn’t content to simply facilitate M&A transactions. His loftier goal is to help rewrite the narrative for Big Media at a time of massive transition in the industry. As Bourkoff explains on the latest episode of the Variety podcast “Strictly Business,” the
Samuel Goldwyn has acquired U.S. rights to Christina Rosendahl’s World War II-set drama “The Good Traitor” and Ole Christian Madsen’s Danish terrorist drama “The Day We Died” (“Powder Keg”) from REinvent. Based on true events, “The Day We Died” is headlined by “Game Of Thrones” star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The film follows the journey of four
Official Chinese state media had a field day Thursday with the invasion of the U.S. capitol by armed supporters of Donald Trump. It called the incident “a beautiful sight” and used it as a chance to advance Beijing’s narrative on Hong Kong and promote China’s system of governance. State outlets and even the country’s foreign
“Morning Joe” served up something other than coffee chatter Thursday A.M. Joe Scarborough in the opening 15 minutes of the MSNBC program accused Capitol Police of opening “the f—ing doors” for insurrectionists during Wednesday’s invasion of Congress’ home base, a sign of how shocking the development has been to even the people charged with delivering
NBC is developing “Ties That Bind,” a drama based on Seven Studios’ Australian miniseries “Secret Bridesmaids’ Business,” from writer Deirdre Shaw (“Jane The Virgin”), Keshet Studios and Universal Television. Starring Abbie Cornish (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri”), Katie McGrath (“Supergirl”) and Georgina Haig (“Once Upon A Time”) alongside Alexander England (“Covenant”), “Secret Bridesmaids’ Business” (pictured)
As anticipated, the Japanese government on Thursday declared a state of emergency for Tokyo due to th resurgent coronavirus outbreak. Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide made the announcement at an evening press conference., explaining that the decree applies in the Japanese capital and the three neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa for a period of