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CBS Slots ‘Mike & Molly’ to Replace ‘The Millers’ on Mondays
54 minutes ago
In a bid to bolster its Monday lineup — and provide a stronger lead-in for rookie drama “Scorpion” — CBS has slotted the fifth season of “Mike & Molly” for the night starting Dec. 8.
“Mike & Molly,” which had aired in Monday’s 9 o’clock hour in its first four seasons, will take over the 8:30 p.m. timeslot currently occupied by “The Millers.” CBS pulled the plug on “Millers” last week, with the second-year show airing tonight and next week before disappearing.
The move is not a surprise, as CBS had a full 22-episode season order of “Mike & Molly” and was expected to get it on the air sooner rather than later. “Mike” was also on the bench at the start of last season, and then summoned to the Monday lineup in November after “We Are Men” was axed after just two airings.
“Scorpion” remains a solid performer for CBS, but has fallen »
- Rick Kissell
The TV Exec Who Was Supposed to Save ‘Today’ Has No Tomorrow At NBC
1 hour ago
“Today” has to find a new leader to take it into tomorrow.
Jamie Horowitz arrived at NBC News in September from Espn with a mandate to seize the reins of the unit’s venerable “Today” franchise and steer it to new frontiers, whether they be new-media venues or a return to the number-one spot among morning shows that was taken in 2012 by ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Now, in November, he is abruptly leaving the operation.
“He’s a talented producer and executive, but, together, he and I have come to the conclusion that this is not the right fit,” NBC News President Deborah Turness said in a memo Monday to staffers. In the wake of Horowitz’ departure, Turness said, she will continue working closely with Don Nash, the executive producer of “Today,” and Jen Brown, the vice president and general manager of Today.com. She expects to find a new general manager of “Today, »
- Brian Steinberg
The CW Renews ‘America’s Next Top Model,’ ‘Penn & Teller: Fool Us’
1 hour ago
The CW bolstered its 2015 programming slate Monday, ordering new seasons of “America’s Next Top Model,” “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” and “Masters of Illusion.” All three seasons will air next year, with production and premiere dates to be announced later.
Today’s announcement promises a 22nd cycle of “America’s Next Top Model,” which features aspiring fashion models competing for a career in the modeling industry. Hosted by Tyra Banks, the series’ 21st cycle currently airs at 9 p.m. on Fridays on The CW.
“Penn & Teller: Fool Us” originally aired on Britain’s ITV in 2011, before its cancellation in 2012. Aspiring magicians perform their acts in front of magician-comedian duo Penn & Teller, and if any magician performs a trick which the Vegas headliners cannot explain, the performer receives a trip to Las Vegas to open for Penn & Teller’s show at the Rio Hotel & Casino.
A Pax TV series from 2001- »
- Kevin Noonan
Fox Renews ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ For Season 12
2 hours ago
Fox has renewed competition series “So You Think You Can Dance” for season 12… and will be introducing some new twists when the show returns in summer 2015.
Throughout the new season, advancing dancers will be placed into two teams — stage dancers, trained in contemporary, ballet, jazz or tap styles; and street dancers, competitors skilled in hip-hop, animation or breaking. During the audition phase, judges and each team’s All-Star mentor will eliminate dancers until 10 stage dancers and 10 street dancers remain.
The top 20 will then be challenged to perform a variety of styles, per tradition, with one dancer from each team eliminated each week.
“‘So You Think You Can Dance’ is a rare jewel,” said Simon Andreae, exec vice president of alternative entertainment for Fox. “It’s produced and consumed with tremendous passion and it’s developed one of the most deservedly loyal followings in all of unscripted television. We are immensely »
- Shelli Weinstein
Survey: 72% Say NBC Should Cut Ties to Cosby
2 hours ago
NBC may want to consider the results of a survey regarding Bill Cosby commissioned by Variety, finding the overwhelming majority of respondents don’t feel the network should be in business with the comedian.
Seventy-two percent believe the Peacock should not go forward with a Cosby comedy series in development in the wake of new sexual-assault allegations raised against him.
Fifty-one percent of the 1,000 people surveyed Monday by celebrity brand expert Jeetendr Sehdev also reported thinking “the same” of the veteran comedian, more than the 41% who felt negatively and the 8% who reacted positively.
Sehdev interpreted that result as a reflection of the reservoir of goodwill the public retains regarding his body of work. “This is most likely driven by his family-centric, funnyman persona and his age,” he said.
Asked how likely they were to watch Cosby on TV in light of the allegations, 44% responded “not likely” while 35% were indifferent. The »
- Andrew Wallenstein
HBO Orders ‘Westworld’ to Series
3 hours ago
HBO has announced a series order for “Westworld,” the one-hour drama adapted from the 1973 film of the same name, which was written and directed by Michael Crichton.
Described as “a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin,” the cast includes Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Miranda Otto, Rodrigo Santoro, Shannon Woodward, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Angela Sarafyan and Simon Quarterman.
Jonathan Nolan is attached as executive producer, writer and director on the series, which hails from Bad Robot Productions, Jerry Weintraub Productions and Kilter Films, in association with Warner Bros. Television. Lisa Nolan will also serve as a writer and executive producer, and J.J. Abrams, Jerry Weintraub and Bryan Burk will executive produce. Athena Wickham will produce, with Susie Ekins co-producing.
HBO announced its intention to order the sci-fi drama to series during Warner Bros.’ Investor Day presentation on Oct. »
- Laura Prudom
‘Hot in Cleveland’ to End After Sixth Season
3 hours ago
TV Land will call it a wrap for comedy “Hot in Cleveland” after its upcoming sixth season.
The ensembler about a group of Hollywood-ites who relocate to Cleveland paved the way for TV Land’s original series strategy, turning the cabler into a bigger player in the biz after years as a showcase for vintage TV.
“Cleveland” was a success from the get-go in 2010, thanks in no small part to savvy casting of sitcom vets Betty White, Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick. Series was created by “Frasier” alum Suzanne Martin and produced by Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner’s Hazy Mills banner.
“It’s been an honor to work with Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick and the incomparable Betty White as well as our executive producers Suzanne Martin, Todd Milliner, Sean Hayes and the rest of our exceptional writers, production team and crew,” said TV Land prexy Larry Jones. »
- Cynthia Littleton
Bill Cosby: NBC Under Pressure as Another Woman Accuses Comedian of Rape
4 hours ago
NBC is under mounting pressure to act in regards to the sitcom it is developing with Bill Cosby amid allegations of rape leveled at the comedian by multiple women.
NBC would not comment on the status of the untitled project, but few believe that it has a chance of moving forward in light of new statements by two women who claim they were sexually assaulted by Cosby decades ago. Cosby’s lawyer has denied the claim, calling them “discredited allegations.”
With that denial and no legal charges pending against Cosby, the situation presents a judgment-call dilemma for NBC. The comedian has long been associated with the network, and was a cornerstone of its success in the 1980s with his domestic comedy “The Cosby Show.”
But given the disturbing nature of the allegations, it’s nearly impossible to imagine the network producing and marketing a show featuring the 77-year-old comedian’s trademark avuncular humor. »
- Cynthia Littleton
‘Sons Of Anarchy’ Criticism Exposes Sex-Violence Divide
4 hours ago
Of all the potentially objectionable things shown in last week’s episode of “Sons of Anarchy,” the sexual montage that opened the show – while extended, graphic and no doubt racy even by FX’s permissive standards – shouldn’t have cracked the top five.
Yet that was, not surprisingly, the sequence that the Parents Television Council seized upon in its latest broadside at the TV industry, using the show’s content to push for a la carte cable, which would spare subscribers who object to such fare from having to help subsidize it.
Wherever one falls on the notion of a la carte versus bundling, the fact the program’s sexual content triggered the PTC’s response says a lot about the ongoing disconnect between sex and violence when it comes to what’s deemed permissible on TV.
Admittedly, series creator Kurt Sutter’s opening salvo felt somewhat jarring – an exercise in creative muscle flexing, »
- Brian Lowry
Jeff Eastin Sets New Overall Deal With 20th Century Fox TV, Fox Television Studios
5 hours ago
Jeff Eastin, creator and exec producer of USA Network series “White Collar” and “Graceland,” has signed a new overall deal with both 20th Century Fox Television and Fox Television Studios.
Under the deal Eastin will continue his role as executive producer on “Graceland” while developing new projects for broadcast and cable. Eastin has had an overall deal set with Fox Television Studios since 2010, where he focused on cable series, and joins a small club of showrunners holding such a deal across Fox’s primary television production houses with the new agreement.
“Fox Television Studios has been my home for half a decade and they have been a wonderful creative partner,” said Eastin. “I look forward to expanding that relationship with the team at Twentieth Century Fox Television.”
Michael Thorn, 20th TV’s exec VP of development, said Eastin’s “offbeat sensibility gives him a unique perspective on franchise television shows, »
- Shelli Weinstein
‘Game of Thrones’ Alumni Sean Bean to Lead ‘Frankenstein Chronicles’
7 hours ago
Actor Sean Bean, whose credits include “Game of Thrones” and “Lord of the Rings,” will star in “The Frankenstein Chronicles,” a re-imagining of Mary Shelley’s monster tale as a six-part period crime drama.
Executive producers are Rainmark Films’ Tracey Scoffield and Frank Doelger, whose credits include “Game of Thrones,” “Rome” and “John Adams.”
The series has been created by director and writer Benjamin Ross, who was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for “Rko 281,” and writer Barry Langford (“Torte Bluma”). Ross will direct the series.
Rainmark is producing for U.K. broadcaster ITV. Endemol Worldwide Distribution will be responsible for international sales outside U.K./Ireland.
The series is set in London in 1827 with Bean playing Inspector John Marlott. It opens with the discovery of the corpse of a child that turns out to be a crude assembly of body parts. Marlott accepts the challenge to track the perpetrator of this crime. »
- Leo Barraclough
Ratings: Fox Comedy Block Rises Thanks to ‘Bob’s Burgers’; ABC’s ‘Revenge’ Hits High
8 hours ago
NBC dominated last night’s ratings race behind an above-average result for “Sunday Night Football,” but Fox’s comedy block held up well and was bolstered by “Bob’s Burgers” in its new timeslot, while ABC’s “Revenge” benefited from a special “Once Upon a Time” lead-in to achieve a season high.
NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” matchup between the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts averaged a 13.6 household rating/21 share in Nielsen’s metered-market overnights — up sharply from last week’s season low (11.1/18) and the second best result for the franchise in the last seven weeks. The game netted a 40.2/57 in Boston (the second best “Snf” overnight in the market) and a 37.1/54 in Indianapolis.
Sunday’s contest, won 42-20 by the visiting Patriots, averaged a 6.2 rating/16 share in adults 18-49 and 17.7 million viewers overall on NBC’s stations from 8:30 to 11 p.m., with the program’s average expected »
- Rick Kissell
The Funnies Page’s Unlikeliest Savior: ‘Funky Winkerbean’
8 hours ago
A woman searches fervently for a comic book to bring joy to her son, who is stationed with the military in Afghanistan. A man grapples with Hollywood producers over the script for a film that is supposed to be about his dead wife. Two middle-aged guys taking part in a charity race use the occasion to consider the inevitable: “You have to wonder how much longer we can keep running like this,” one says to the other.
Are you laughing yet?
Haunting – some might say depressing – moments like these are the building blocks of a long running newspaper comic strip that these days acts like it’s something entirely different. For years, Tom Batiuk has studiously avoided the rut worn by Hi and Lois Flagston or Beetle Bailey and Sgt. Snorkel by experimenting with the format of his comic strip, “Funky Winkerbean.” Where other comics center on a small handful of characters, »
- Brian Steinberg
Meet Pop, The Newest Entrant In Cable’s Battle For Bigger, Broader Audiences
8 hours ago
Is there enough room on the bubble for Pop?
When Pop, a cable network most people probably refer to as Tvgn, launches January 14, it will do so with programs that celebrate the continuing ability of such, well, institutions, as New Kids On the Block and “Everybody Loves Raymond” to cut a swath through popular culture. And it will debut with some new programs in tow: a comedy series featuring Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara and the eyebrow-raising title “Schitt’s Creek,’ as well as a reality program that examines the ability of former soap stars from daytime and primetime to produce a new sudser.
But the new network’s schedule is only the tip of an ongoing battle by major media companies to win viewers by highlighting celebrity and fun. Pop is actually a new effort from CBS Corp. and Lionsgate to put forth their own candidate in the »
- Brian Steinberg
Inside the Savage Fight Scenes of ‘Penny Dreadful’ Season 1 (Exclusive)
8 hours ago
The first season of Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful” explored some of horror fiction’s most famous figures, spinning a provocative yarn that weaved vampires, werewolves and demons into the more recognizable stories of Dorian Gray and Victor Frankenstein for a gripping and gruesome monster mash-up. While viewers may have been lured by the chance to see such iconic characters inhabiting the same screen, they stayed for the powerhouse performances from the likes of Eva Green (who played Vanessa Ives, a character original to the series) and the lavish production values, which faithfully recreated the claustrophobic streets of Victorian London and staged some impressive set pieces, from grand theater productions to an elaborate fight scene between our heroes and a vampiric horde.
When dealing with battles between supernatural creatures, viewers have high expectations, so creator John Logan turned to stunt coordinator Pete Miles, whom he had worked with on “Skyfall.”
“You »
- Laura Prudom
TV Review: PBS Documentary Duo: ‘Cold War Roadshow,’ ‘Firestone and the Warlord’
8 hours ago
At first blush, the documentaries PBS is airing Nov. 18, American Experience’s “Cold War Roadshow” and Frontline’s “Firestone and the Warlord,” feel like historical artifacts. Look closer, though, and both contain significant present-day resonance: the first owing to the fraying state of U.S.-Russian relations; the second in the Ebola scare emanating from Liberia — a country in which America and, in particular, one very large tire company harbor dubious ties to its lingering political dysfunction. While each program has merit, the former is more noteworthy, largely because it’s hard to imagine a modern parallel to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s barnstorming tour.
The day-by-day account of Khrushchev’s 1959 trip to America provides not only a fascinating look at the Cold War, but also at the early days of television (the networks devoted a half-hour nightly recap to the Soviet premier’s activities) and, by extension, at the »
- Brian Lowry
New ‘Late Late Show’ Host James Corden Sets David Letterman Appearance
9 hours ago
CBS viewers will get a glimpse of the incoming “Late Late Show” host, James Corden, on Friday when the British thesp makes his first visit to “The Late Show with David Letterman.”
Corden is set to take over the helm of Letterman’s 12:35 a.m. companion show on March 9. Current “Late Late Show” host Craig Ferguson is to sign off on Dec. 19 after 10 years behind the desk. Letterman is set to retire from his show sometime next year although the timing of his departure is still unclear.
Corden was a surprise choice by CBS to fill Ferguson’s shoes as the actor-host is little-known in the U.S. He’ll be on the big screen in December in the Disney feature rendition of the Sondheim musical “Into the Woods.”
»
- Variety Staff
AMC Networks’ We TV Asks Viewers To Cut Back On Timeshifting To Win Prizes
9 hours ago
What’s worth more to the average TV viewer: the chance to watch a favorite show at a time of his or her own choosing or the opportunity to win a prize associated with the program that spurred the original tune-in? AMC Network’s reality-focused We TV intends to find out.
The network, which recently announced its intention to go after a broader, less female-centric audience, said it would begin an effort to get viewers to tune in live (or via video on demand or DVR playback within three days) to certain shows by offering a chance to win a reward. On Thursday, during an episode of We’s series “Tamar & Vince,” the network will feature a specific code word during one of its promos. Viewers who enter the code word at wetv.com will be eligible to win one of ten swag bags given out weekly, while all participants »
- Brian Steinberg
TV Review: TLC’s ‘Risking It All’
9 hours ago
Like a lot of reality TV, “Risking It All” employs an extreme, all-or-nothing approach to an otherwise manageable problem. Three families in different parts of the country choose to explore their pioneering spirit (another well-established TV tradition) by forgoing modern conveniences for three months of “life off the grid” — without electricity or running water. The fact all three have fairly large broods of kids turns the children into props, a tried-and-true TLC formula, which makes the show not much of a risk, development-wise, and still mostly a snooze, TV-viewing-wise.
Part of the challenge facing the premiere involves introducing the three families and boiling down their issues to TV loglines. So the Kemps, with five kids, are seeking to reconnect after dad was laid off from his no-time-for-family job; the Elliotts, with three kids, desire a more holistic existence, due to mom’s degenerative arthritis; and the Watfords, with four children, »
- Brian Lowry
Japan’s SoftBank Launches A La Carte TV Service for Mobile Users
13 hours ago
Tokyo — Softbank, the Japanese investment conglomerate that recently held acquisition talks with DreamWorks Animation, has launched a new streaming service for Japanese smartphone users. It allows them to sign up for individual speciality channels instead of the standard channel bundle.
Called Bbtv Next, with Softbank subsidiary TV Bank acting as the operator, the service bowed today with 12 channels on offer, including Music Japan TV, Cinefile Next and Disney Channel. Subscribers to rival Ntt’s DoCoMo and Kddi’s Au smartphone services can also sign up.
Initially users will be asked to subscribe to three channels for a monthly fee of JPY1,058 ($9.10). By next spring, however, Softbank plans to expand the service to 50 channels, with users able to pick individual channels, at about 400 yen ($3.44) per channel. The service will also be available to tablet and PC users.
Bbtv Next will allow users to catch up on shows they missed in the past week, »
- Mark Schilling
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