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Digital Gains, Asia Growth Drive 10% Increase in British TV Exports
15 minutes ago
Increasing sales of digital rights and higher demand from top Asian markets fueled a 10% rise in the value of British TV exports during the 2015-2016 cycle, according to the U.K.’s Pact trade org.
The annual survey by the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television found British TV exports hit about $1.65 billion in 2015-16, up 10% from the 2014-15 cycle, when sales were essentially flat from the year before. Among the most widely distributed productions were “The Night Manager,” “Downton Abbey,” “Deutschland 83,” “The Returned,” “Sherlock,” “Doctor Who,” “Poldark,” “The X Factor,” “Mr. Selfridge,” “The Mysteries of Laura” and “Top Gear.”
Exports to Japan marked the single-biggest increase by country, rising 48% year-over-year to $18.7 million. India (43%), China (40%), South Korea (39%) and Spain (33%) rounded out the top five gainers. The U.S. remains the largest export market for U.K. producers, with business rising 16% to $620 million. Sales to Canada dropped 29% to $58.7 million; sales to Australia and New Zealand were down »
- Cynthia Littleton
TV Review: ‘Imposters’ on Bravo
42 minutes ago
For a show about a con artist specializing in heartbreak, “Imposters” is surprisingly funny. Right after gorgeous, accented Ava (Inbar Levi) cleans out her nice Jewish husband, Ezra (Rob Heaps), of all of his savings, Ezra tries to kill himself. But “Imposters” plays the scene as comedy — first demonstrating the futility of trying to stick your head in a modern-day oven, with its built-in safety features, and then asking the viewer to watch with droll impassivity as Ezra watches a YouTube video on how to make a noose with an extension cord.
“Imposters” walks a fine line between primetime soap and buddy comedy, with varying degrees of success. On one hand it’s the story of conwoman Maddie, who has taken on the names Ava, Alice, and CeCe in a cross-country marrying spree that generally follows the same modus operandi: Find the mark, be everything the mark is looking for, make »
- Sonia Saraiya
Procter & Gamble Wants to Clean Up With Super Bowl Ads
5 hours ago
Super Bowl ads typically tell viewers what kind of beer to drink, what kind of candy to eat and what sort of car to drive. This year, they will also suggest how to keep tidy after the event is over.
Procter & Gamble, one of the nation’s biggest manufacturers of consumer products like Pampers, Crest, and Dawn, is adding quite the clean-up crew to the Super Bowl ad roster. Fans who watch Super Bowl Li this Sunday will see spots for the company’s Tide detergent, Febreze air freshener and Mr. Clean cleaning products.
For the Cincinnati company, the presence is oversized: Super Bowl Li will mark the only time Procter & Gamble has run more than a single national ad in the Big Game since first dipping its toe into Super Bowl ad waters in 2004. And the move makes Procter one of the event’s bigger sponsors this year, on par with Pepsi or Fiat Chrysler.
Why »
- Brian Steinberg
Fox Will Throw Super Bowl Spotlight on ’24,’ ‘Empire,’ ‘APB’
6 hours ago
Fox has sold dozens of Super Bowl ads to marketers like Pepsi, Kia and Skittles. But it will also air dozens of its own for programs like “Empire,” “APB, “The Mick” and “Lethal Weapon.”
Viewers of Super Bowl LI understand from the outset that they’ll see 60 or more high-caliber TV commercials, all part of the annual ritual of watching the game. What many fail to realize each year is that they will also see a bevy of “promos” for various TV shows to which the network broadcasting the game hopes to draw attention. Fox expects to air about 30 promos across its Super Bowl broadcast, pre-game and post-game coverage, with about ten of them slated to air in the game itself.
Just like Budweiser and Snickers, networks have something to sell during the Super Bowl, too. Promos typically make up 15% of the Super Bowl’s ad time, according to Kantar, a »
- Brian Steinberg
NBA’s Jalen Rose to Star in ABC Comedy Pilot From ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ Team
16 hours ago
Jalen Rose could be heading from the basketball court to your television screen.
ABC has greenlit a comedy pilot, “Jalen Vs. Everybody,” starring the former NBA star and Espn personality, Variety has learned.
The hot project hails from the team behind ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat.” Nahnatchka Khan wrote the pilot and will executive produce with Jake Kasdan, Melvin Mar and Mandy Summers. Aside from starring, Rose will also serve as a producer. Khan’s Fierce Baby banner is producing in association with 20th Century Fox Television and ABC Studios.
The half-hour single camera comedy follows Rose, as he juggles his career responsibilities with the challenges of being a single dad.
The pilot order marks the final comedy pickup from ABC for the 2017-2018 season.
Khan and Rose have worked together before — the sports player guest starred on”Fresh Off the Boat,” appearing in one episode. Other than that small gig, “Jalen »
- Elizabeth Wagmeister
ABC Picks Up Pilots for Single Dad Comedy, Sibling Sitcom from Aaron Kaplan
16 hours ago
ABC has ordered two more comedy pilots, nearly filling out their already-packed slate, as pilot season is heading toward the tail-end of pickups.
The network has ordered a single dad comedy and an adult sibling comedy, Variety has learned. Both are 30-minute series that hail from ABC Studios.
The untitled single dad project is a multi-cam project, penned by Dannah Phirman and Danielle Schneider. The writing duo will executive produce with Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern.
The pilot follows an intellectual, but emotionally challenged single dad, who moves to Queens with his two young daughters and forms an unlikely family with the other residents in their apartment building.
“Losing It” is a single-cam comedy, written by DJ Dash, who will executive produce with Aaron Kaplan and Dana Honor of Kapital Entertainment. The comedy marks the sixth pilot pickup for Kapital Entertainment this cycle.
The laffer is about three adult siblings and their parents who – between their minds »
- Elizabeth Wagmeister
‘S.W.A.T.’ Reboot Directed by Justin Lin Picked Up to Pilot at CBS
17 hours ago
CBS has picked up a pilot for “S.W.A.T.,” a drama based on the film, which was inspired by the 1975 TV series of the same name, Variety has learned.
The series follows a locally born and bred S.W.A.T. lieutenant who is torn between loyalty to the streets and duty to his fellow officers when he’s tasked to run a highly-trained unit that is the last stop for solving crimes in Los Angeles.
Aaron Thomas wrote the pilot, and will serve as executive producer, along with Shawn Ryan, Marney Hochman, Neal Moritz, Pavun Shetty, Danielle Woodrow and Justin Lin, who will direct the pilot. The hot project hails from Sony Pictures Television and CBS Television Studios.
The original “S.W.A.T.” series, produced by Aaron Spelling, ran for two seasons on ABC in the mid ’70s. The 2013 movie, based on the TV show, starred Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell, LL Cool J, Michelle Rodriguez and Jeremy Renner.
“S.W.A.T. »
- Elizabeth Wagmeister
Uptick in Super Bowl TV Show Ads Presents Opportunities for Programmers
17 hours ago
Super Bowl ads have long been expensive. Now they’re about to get strange.
On Friday, Netflix confirmed that it will promote the upcoming second season of “Stranger Things” with a Super Bowl teaser. The ad is one of an unusual number of spots for upcoming television series slated to air during the game. In addition to “Stranger Things,” the Super Bowl will feature commercials for Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” National Geographic’s “Genius,” and Fox’s “Empire,” “24: Legacy,” and “Shots Fired.”
For programmers, the Super Bowl provides a rare opportunity to reach an audience several times the size of any other on television. For Fox, the number of spots for its own shows is a possible byproduct of a sluggish Super Bowl ad-sales market.
“The main gain that you’re hoping to get is the massive reach,” said Derek Rucker, professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and editor of the »
- Daniel Holloway
CBS Orders Multiracial Cop Comedy Pilot From ‘Man With a Plan’ Producer
20 hours ago
CBS has given a pilot order to “Brothered Up,” a multiracial cop multi-cam, Variety has learned.
The pilot, from “Man With a Plan” co-exec producer Mark Gross, centers around to Detroit cops: an emotionally guarded African American, and an emotionally available Pakistani. The opposites have to find a way to connect as they patrol their Detroit neighborhood. Gross, who also co-exec produced on “Mike & Molly,” will serve as writer and exec producer.
“Brothered Up” is produced by CBS Television Studios.
CBS has ordered drama pilots for a Mexican-American family cop drama from the creator of “Bull;” a Navy Seal project; “Dr. Death,” starring Alan Cumming; “Perfect Citizen” from “The Good Wife” alum Craig Turk; “The Get,” about internet journalists pursue and expose stories of injustice using unique investigative skills; and Nasa series “Mission Control.”
On the comedy side, in addition to “Brothered Up, the network has picked up a re-developed pilot from last season, “Real »
- Oriana Schwindt
TV News Roundup: ‘Community’ Co-Stars Jonathan Banks and Ken Jeong Reunite, NatGeo’s ‘Genius’ Casts T.R. Knight
21 hours ago
In today’s TV News Roundup, “Community” co-stars Jonathan Banks and Ken Jeong to reunite on “Dr. Ken,” T.R. Knight is cast as J. Edgar Hoover for National Geographic’s scripted series “Genius,” and more.
Casting
A reunion is in the works for “Better Call Saul” star Jonathan Banks and his “Community” co-star Ken Jeong. Banks will appear in a guest starring role on Jeong’s ABC sitcom “Dr. Ken.” The episode, “Ken’s Old Professor,” will feature Banks as Dr. Erwin, Ken’s toughest professor from his residency days. Now, the student has the opportunity to become the master when Erwin comes to Ken for medical treatment. The episode is slated to air March 10 at 8:30/7:30c.
Emmy-nominated actor T.R. Knight will recur as the FBI’s first director, J. Edgar Hoover, on National Geographic’s upcoming Albert Einstein series “Genius,” produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer and starring Geoffrey Rush as Einstein. The »
- Dani Levy
As Annie Awards Thrive, Asifa-Hollywood Plans for More Growth
21 hours ago
Asifa-Hollywood, the organization behind the annual Annie Awards, which honors the best in all kinds of animation, has seen tremendous growth in the last few years, and its work for the animation community has grown as well.
“Six years ago, we were basically in the red. Now we are actually financially healthy,” says executive director Frank Gladstone. “We can do a bigger Annie Awards, we can really talk about putting money down on a building and we can really talk about giving back to the community to the tune of $100,000 to $200,000 a year.”
In addition to the Annie Awards, Asifa recently started awarding scholarships to animation students and is now offering scholarships to animation faculty through its Animation Educators Forum. It also provides funds for artists who have fallen on hard times through its Animation Aid Foundation. And it has been involved in the preservation of animated films.
According to Gladstone, submissions »
- Terry Flores
Andrea Wong to Exit as Sony Pictures International TV Production Chief
22 hours ago
Andrea Wong is leaving her post at Sony Pictures TV’s head of international TV production.
Wong has served in the London-based role since the fall of 2011. She was also president of international for the larger Sony Pictures Entertainment division. The specifics of her departure, first reported by Deadline, are unclear.
Sony’s international TV production activity grew on Wong’s watch through acquisitions and entrepreneurial efforts including the sale in China of a Mandarin-language remake of the 1990s sitcom “Mad About You.” Wong’s unit has recently made a mark with the success of Netflix’s “The Crown.” The series hails from Sony’s Left Bank Pictures, an investment that Wong championed in 2012.
Wong relocated to London for the Sony post after spending three years as head of Lifetime. Before Lifetime, she had a 14-year run at ABC. During her time as ABC’s head of alternative programming Wong developed two franchises that remain pillars of »
- Cynthia Littleton
Edie Falco to Play Attorney Leslie Abramson in Dick Wolf’s NBC Menendez Brothers Series (Exclusive)
23 hours ago
Edie Falco has signed on to play defense attorney Leslie Abramson in NBC’s Menendez Brothers series from Dick Wolf, “Law & Order: True Crime — The Menendez Murders,” Variety has learned exclusively.
The “Nurse Jackie” and “Sopranos” star is the first actor to be cast in the upcoming eight-episode anthology series.
“Law & Order: True Crime — The Menendez Murders” will focus on Lyle and Erik Menendez, the brothers who infamously were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents and sentenced to life in prison. Abramson represented the brothers through their two trials, claiming they had suffered a lifetime of sexual abuse from their father, Jose Menendez.
“I’ve known Edie for more than two decades,” said executive producer Dick Wolf. “Our working relationship started when she was among an elite group of actors who made multiple appearances asdefense attorneys on ‘Law & Order’ in the early ’90s. Edie was at the top of that list. She »
- Elizabeth Wagmeister and Debra Birnbaum
‘House of Cards’ Creator Beau Willimon Tweets Anti-Trump ‘Declaration of Resistance’
23 hours ago
Beau Willimon, the creator of Netflix’s “House of Cards,” took to social media on Friday morning to send a series of 25 tweets forming a “Declaration of Resistance” against President Donald Trump.
The “Deceleration” is modeled after the Declaration of Independence, and accuses the president of conducting “injuries and usurpations, pursuing the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States,” and calls for his impeachment.
5. Immediate impeachment of the President for crimes committed, or removal from office by way of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.
— Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) February 3, 2017
“When in the course of American history it becomes necessary for the people to save our Nation from a Tyrant,” Willimon started, referencing a portion of the first line of the Declaration of Independence. In the following tweets, Willimon — who also served as showrunner for the first four seasons of “House of Cards” — goes on to reject our “autocracy,” and states that it’s the people’s »
- Sarah Ahern
Atx Television Festival Sets ‘Alias’ Writers Reunion, Adds ‘Sweet/Vicious’ and ‘Being Mary Jane’ Creators as Panelists
3 February 2017 12:00 PM, PST
The sixth annual Atx Television Festival has added a second batch of panels and events to the 2017 fest.
“Alias” die-hards can get their fill of stories from the writers of the best spy show of the 2000s, as the organizers are bringing together “Alias” scribes Ken Olin, Lawrence Trilling, Sarah Caplan, Monica Breen, Jeff Pinkner, Andre Nemec, and Josh Appelbaum for a writers’ room reunion. Additional panelists will be announced at a later date.
Atx’s annual tradition of hosting a community screening, open to badgeholders and non-badgeholders alike, will this year feature “Parks and Recreation,” and take place the evening of Friday, June 9, at Hotel San Jose. The event will include live music, food and drink from Jo’s Coffee and other local vendors, and additional activities inspired by Pawnee’s annual “Harvest Festival.”
Creator and executive producer Mara Brock Akil (“Being Mary Jane,” “The Game”) will join this year’s line-up as first-time panelists, along »
- Oriana Schwindt
Odell Beckham Jr., Tony Romo and Other NFL Stars Read Mean Tweets on ‘Jimmy Kimmel’ (Watch)
3 February 2017 11:53 AM, PST
Whether a politician, a movie star, or an athlete, Jimmy Kimmel never lets us forget that everyone gets flak on Twitter. In honor of this Sunday’s Super Bowl festivities, Kimmel rounded up some of the NFL’s shining stars for a second round of “Mean Tweets — NFL Edition,” where he seats players one by one, and has each read out some of the harshest tweets aimed at him.
On Thursday night’s round of “Mean Tweets,” Kimmel’s readers included Tony Romo, Odell Beckham Jr., Russell Wilson, and Rob Gronkowski. While many of their facial expressions were enough of a response to the Twitter roasts, some of the players were prepared with a rebuttal.
“Tony Romo sits down to pee,” Romo reads from a phone. “Well, what other way is there to pee?” he responds.
“I’m tired of people saying Russell Wilson is too short to play quarterback. He »
- Sarah Ahern
Greg Berlanti’s ‘Black Lightning’ Moves to CW With Pilot Pickup
3 February 2017 11:31 AM, PST
“Black Lightning” has nabbed an official pilot order at the CW, Variety has learned.
The Greg Berlanti-produced series was originally was developed at Fox earlier this season, landing a hefty pilot production commitment from the get-go. Insiders tell Variety the network passed on the project earlier this week, so then it moved to the CW.
Should “Black Lightning” go to series, it would mark the fifth DC superhero show from Berlanti at the CW, which is currently home to “Arrow,” “The Flash,” DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” and Supergirl,” which have all been renewed for the 2017-2018 season.
If “Black Lightning” is greenlit for 2017-2018, sources close to the network explain that the shows would be staggered throughout the year, rather than scheduling five separate nights of superhero programming.
“Black Lightning” is the second Berlanti Productions series to move from another network to the CW. After “Supergirl’s” first season struggled to keep a big enough »
- Elizabeth Wagmeister
TVLine’s Michael Ausiello Sets Release Date, Title for Memoir
3 February 2017 10:42 AM, PST
TVLine founder and editor-in-chief Michael Ausiello has unveiled the title and release date for his memoir about his husband’s tragic death from a rare form of cancer at the age of 42.
“Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies” will be published Sept. 12 by Simon & Schuster’s Atria imprint. The book focuses on Ausiello’s 13-year relationship with photographer Kit Cowan, who died in February 2015 after a nearly yearlong battle with neuroendocrine cancer. The story also touches on Ausiello’s childhood as a TV-obsessed kid on his way to becoming one of the industry’s most prominent reporters on TV beat.
In announcing the title, Ausiello also addressed the concern he has about working with Simon & Schuster amid the controversy over the publisher’s decision to release a book next month by Milo Yiannopoulos, the incendiary right-wing activist and commentator, via its Threshold imprint. Ausiello said he has donated a portion of his advance for “Spoiler Alert” — in Yiannopoulos »
- Variety Staff
Remote Controlled: ‘24: Legacy’ Producers, Stars Corey Hawkins and Jimmy Smits on Reboot
3 February 2017 10:32 AM, PST
Welcome to Remote Controlled, Variety’s podcast series featuring the best and brightest in television, both in front of and behind the camera.
This week’s episode features Variety executive editor of TV Debra Birnbaum in conversation with “24: Legacy” executive producers Manny Coto and Evan Katz, as well as series stars Corey Hawkins and Jimmy Smits.
The show, which premieres this Sunday after the Super Bowl, addresses the question of what happens to American soldiers who’ve participated in raids against terrorism operatives after they return home.
Hawkins plays Eric Carter, a former Army Ranger who participated in the mission to kill Sheik Ibrahim Bin-Khalid, an Osama bin Laden-like leader, and is now living in witness protection — but finds his comrades being picked off one by one by Bin-Khalid’s allies.
“Originally, [the idea] was for another series,” Coto recalled. “Kiefer [Sutherland] wasn’t coming back, so we thought, we’ll make another thriller.” The »
- Dani Levy
Geoffrey Rush as Albert Einstein: Nat Geo Channel Releases Super Bowl Spot for ‘Genius’ (Watch)
3 February 2017 9:12 AM, PST
National Geographic Channel is getting a big sendoff for “Genius” with a promo spot to air in Sunday’s Super Bowl.
The 10-episode limited series from Imagine Television and Fox 21 Television Studios is set to premiere April 25. Geoffrey Rush stars as famed physicist Albert Einstein in the bio-drama based on the biography by Walter Isaacson, “Einstein: His Life and Universe.” The Super Bowl placement underscores the importance of the series to Nat Geo, which is controlled by 21st Century Fox. “Genius” is designed to be a recurring anthology vehicle for Nat Geo, with each season focusing on an influential thinker or innovator.
The spot features Rush playing violin, a favorite pastime of Einstein’s. In a nod to this year’s Super Bowl halftime performer, the music segues from Bach and Mozart to an unusual arrangement of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” The spot will air immediately after the halftime performance, Nat »
- Variety Staff
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