12 articles

56 minutes ago

Oprah will star in “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” which has been greenlit by HBO Films.

The premium cabler made the announcement on Monday.

Based on Rebecca Skloot’s best-seller, Winfrey will also serve as an exec producer on the film, along with Alan Ball, Peter Macdissi, Carla Gardini and Lydia Dean Pilcher. Skloot will serve as a co-exec producer. George C. Wolfe will direct and wrote the screenplay.

The project has been in the works for years. First announced in 2010 when Winfrey’s Harpo Films acquired the book rights, the media mogul was attached to produce, alongside Ball, for HBO Films. The project has sat in development, but now with Winfrey attached to star, has been put on the fast-track with filming beginning this summer.

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line. »

- Elizabeth Wagmeister

1 hour ago

May is here, which means that new broadcast TV shows are almost here.

This week, network execs are sitting in screening sessions, gathering final thoughts on pilots, some of which will be unveiled as official 2016-17 series later this month at upfronts in New York City.

Though the nets will have a better sense of their pilot slates by this week’s end, certain projects are emerging as hot — or not.

Diversity will shine this next TV season across the board, as will recognizable brands and talent. Female-led comedies are dominating ABC’s list of potential favorites, along with female-led dramas that appear to pack more procedural flare. Major male TV stars will topline the majority of programming at CBS. Fox is full of reboots, as well as some really big swings, while NBC is eyeing properties and hitmakers that have done well for them in the past. The CW »

- Elizabeth Wagmeister

2 hours ago

There were few ratings fireworks on the first night in May, with NBC’s “Little Big Shots” standing as the top broadcast in key demos while most of Sunday’s dramas held steady week to week, including the penultimate episode of “The Good Wife” on CBS. Fox, meanwhile, didn’t gain much traction with its “American Country Countdown Awards.”

According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, NBC followed a repeat “Little Big Shots” (0.8/3 in 18-49, 5.0 million viewers overall) with an original episode of the Steve Harvey-hosted alternative series (1.6/6 in 18-49, 9.9 million viewers overall). “Little Big Shots” was on par with its prior original of two weeks ago, winning the 8 o’clock hour in all key demos and tying with CBS’ “Madam Secretary” for the lead in total viewers. Comedies “The Carmichael Show” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 4.6 million viewers overall) and “Crowded” (0.8/2 in 18-49, 3.2 million viewers overall) bounced back from their lows »

- Rick Kissell

4 hours ago

(Spoiler Alert: Do not read until you’ve watched the second episode of season six of “Game of Thrones,” titled “Home.”)

The wait is finally over. After almost a year of suspense, “Game of Thrones” finally revealed Jon Snow’s fate on Sunday night’s episode.

The Lord Commander is alive, after all, despite star Kit Harington’s insistence that he died in the season five finale at the hands of the Night’s Watch and Alliser Thorne. He apologized for lying to fans in an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly as part of this week’s cover story on his revival.

“Sorry!” Harington said, when asked by EW what he’d like to tell his fans. “I’d like to say sorry for lying to everyone. I’m glad that people were upset that he died. I think my biggest fear was that people were not going to care. »

- Maane Khatchatourian

4 hours ago

Mario Lopez, Larry King, Kevin Frazier, Nancy O’Dell and other stars and creators of daytime television packed the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites for the 43rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards.

The room was full of applause as CBS’s “The Talk” won its first Daytime Emmy in six years, beating the prevailing champion, Ellen DeGeneres, and others in the daytime yak pack.

Cast members of “The Talk” told Variety that they were shocked when the winner was announced. “I don’t know if it was something that happened this season that made it a standout, but we’ve been on for six seasons now and it was our time,” said Julie Chen, co-host of “The Talk.” “In daytime TV, viewing habits shift and it takes a while to become a household name and I think we have accomplished that.”

CBS was a big winner last night, nabbing the outstanding »

- Lamarco McClendon

5 hours ago

The trouble with being the most prominent brand in sports is the big fat target on Espn’s back.

That’s why a quiver’s worth of arrows has come sailing in the Disney juggernaut’s direction this past week as some of its most established on-air veterans have opted to go elsewhere like Mike Tirico, to NBC, and Skip Bayless, most likely to Fox Sports. Their departures extend an Espn-exodus narrative that has been gathering steam since Bill Simmons (HBO), Colin Cowherd (Fox Sports), Jason Whitlock (Fox Sports) and Keith Olbermann (who knows) also decamped over the past 12 months.

Their departures feed into a more macro narrative about Espn, which finds itself in a newly precarious state as its subscriber numbers drop and its parent company feels the pain from the decline of the most valuable asset in Bob Iger’s portfolio.

Naturally, Espn isn’t sitting idly by »

- Andrew Wallenstein

10 hours ago

LevelK and Mondrian Entertainment have joined forces to handle international sales on 3D animation series “Klump,” which is made by Studio Soi and based on the Rasmus Klump book series.

One of Denmark’s top literary exports, the Rasmus Klump books have sold more than 32 million copies and have been described as the Indiana Jones for kids.

Directed by Johannes Weiland, Paul Cichon, Michael Bohnenstingl, the toon series turns on the adventures of Klump and his friends as they travel the world and come across creatures, fascinating locations and challenges.

“Klump,” produced by Carsten Bunte from Studio and Lars Sylvest from Mondrian Entertainment, was commissioned by Zdf and Egmont. Season three and four are now in development. The series has just won the best animated series award at Itfs (International Trick Film Festival in Stuttgart).

Studio Soi is the Danish outfit behind Oscar-nominated “The Gruffalo” and BAFTA-winning “Gumball.”

»

- Elsa Keslassy

15 hours ago

Spoiler warning: Do not read on unless you’ve seen “Game of Thrones” Season 6, Episode 2, titled “Home.”

Ser Davos Seaworth has always been a kind of audience surrogate on “Game of Thrones,” and tonight, he spoke for many fans of the HBO drama. He stepped into the room of the depressed Melisandre and asked the question that has obsessed a large chunk of the internet for about a year: Is Jon Snow really dead, and if so, does he have to stay that way?

In the final frame of the second episode of the season, Jon, who bled out in the last moments of the Season 5 finale, came back to life.

Presumably he’s not a White Walker, given that his eyes remained their usual brown. But will he be the same Jon Snow we knew in the past? We do know he’s been shorn of his lovely locks, »

- Maureen Ryan

16 hours ago

After months of speculation, “Game of Thrones” has finally revealed the fate of fan favorite Jon Snow.

(Spoiler alert: Do not read until you’ve watched the second episode of season six of “Game of Thrones,” titled “Home.”)

The cast and creators have long insisted that “Jon Snow is dead” repeatedly in various interviews leading up to the sixth season premiere.

But near the end of the second episode, Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham) convinces a reluctant Melisandre (Carice van Houten) to work her magic to resurrect Jon Snow (Kit Harington) — the exact question fans have long been hoping for. “Do you know of any magic that could help bring him back?” he asks her.

She’s lost her faith, but he pleads his case. “I’m not asking the Lord of Light for help,” he says. “I’m asking the woman who showed me that miracles exist.”

So she washes Jon’s body, »

- Debra Birnbaum

16 hours ago

Hulu is preparing to break into the channel bundling business with plans to offer a low-cost streaming package of cable and broadcast outlets early next year.

The Wall Street Journal reported late Sunday that Hulu is in the process of setting agreements with Fox and Disney, two of its three parent companies, to carry key channels including Espn, Disney Channel, ABC, Fox, FX and Fox Sports 1.

Hulu would join Sony Corp.’s PlayStation Vue and Dish Network’s Sling TV in the race to market skinny bundles of channels via streaming to cost-conscious consumers. The Journal reported that Hulu is eyeing a price tag of about $40 per month and a launch in the first quarter of next year.

Amazon has also taken steps to market pay-tv channels in partnership with programmers including Starz.

Comcast has not yet agreed to license NBC or any of its other channels to the Hulu bundle, »

- Variety Staff

16 hours ago

Spoiler Alert: Do not read ahead if you haven’t seen season two, episode four of “Fear the Walking Dead,” titled “Blood in the Streets.”

The fourth episode of season two of “Fear the Walking Dead” opens with the first real “what the hell is going on” moment of the season. Nick is seen struggling to shore with some debris (maybe the Abigail?) and upon making landfall sees a helicopter fly overhead and head out toward the water where there are many more ships, most of which seem to be manned and operational. Nick heads deeper inland and finds a startlingly large, and unshockingly empty, camp. It doesn’t take long for a walker to start tailing him but with the help of a tent, it is easily taken care of. The trusted “cover yourself in zombie guts” strategy Nick learned about in last week’s episode is utilized and once he’s sufficiently covered, »

- Jacob Bryant

18 hours ago

Just as they are preparing to split up, Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan on Sunday won their second consecutive Daytime Emmy Award for entertainment talk show hosts for their syndicated chat show “Live with Kelly and Michael.”

Meanwhile, CBS’ “The Talk” won its first Daytime Emmy for entertainment talk show.

The Daytime Emmy win capped a roller coaster two weeks for Ripa and Strahan after the news broke that Strahan would be moving on to “Good Morning America” full-time in the fall. Ripa protested the decision to keep her in the dark until the last minute by sitting out three episodes of “Live” during the week of April 18.

Ripa previously won Daytime Emmys for entertainment talk show host in 2011 and 2012 during her run on “Live” with previous co-host Regis Philbin.The Daytime Emmy Awards were held Sunday night in Los Angeles but the ceremony was not carried on TV. For »

- Variety Staff

12 articles

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