Television

The Hollywood Reporter reports: Hugh Downs, the congenial broadcaster whose thousands of hours on network television included two decades on the ABC primetime newsmagazine 20/20 and nine years as the head man on NBC’s Today Show, has died. He was 99. Downs, who also served as Jack Paar’s announcer/sidekick for five years on The Tonight Show and hosted the game …

This will surely enrage Trump: An extraordinary stretch of news with the coronavirus pandemic and racial reckoning triggered by George Floyd’s death has led CNN to its biggest audience for any three-month period in the network’s 40-year history. CNN’s weekday prime-time audience of 1.95 million was up 120% over the same period last year, Nielsen said. Fox News, which has …

Variety reports: Carl Reiner, the writer, producer, director and actor who was part of Sid Caesar’s legendary team and went on to create “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and direct several hit films, has died. He was 98. He died of natural causes on Monday night at his home in Beverly Hills, his assistant Judy Nagy confirmed to Variety. Reiner, …

Variety reports: A&E has canceled its flagship series and one of the highest-rated shows on basic cable. A week after Live P.D. was pulled in the wake of George Floyd’s death, the reality series’ hiatus has been made permanent. The decision was made jointly by A&E and MGM’s Big Fish Entertainment, which produces the series. “This is a critical time …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: Paramount Network has pulled the plug on Cops for good. The ViacomCBS-owned cabler had removed the long-running show from its schedule in the wake of nationwide protests following the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25. Now, the network says it’s dropping the show altogether. “Cops is not on the Paramount Network and we don’t …

Variety reports: Ken Osmond, best known for his role as the troublemaker Eddie Haskell on the television comedy “Leave It to Beaver,” died on Monday morning. He was 76. Sources tell Variety Osmond died at his Los Angeles home surrounded by family members. The cause of death is unknown. Osmond portrayed Haskell as sycophantic to grownups while making fun of …

Variety reports: We can bear-ly believe it: Former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin was unmasked as the Bear on Wednesday night’s edition of “The Masked Singer,” and her song choice was… well, unexpected. Palin, who performed “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix A Lot in the episode, told host Nick Cannon that “to not be able to see much of anything …

TMZ reports: Ja’net Dubois — one of the main characters on “Good Times” — was found dead Tuesday, TMZ has learned. Ja’net played the Evans family’s sassy neighbor Willona Woods on the classic ’70s TV series. Her family tells us Ja’net died unexpectedly in her sleep overnight at her home in Glendale, CA. Ja’net might be most famous for “Good …

The Wrap reports: Donald Trump’s State of the Union address was all anybody could talk about on Tuesday, but “Ellen’s Game of Games” showed up for NBC too. This third SOTU from the 45th president of the United States of America is currently down 26% in Big-4 broadcast viewers from his second. For NBC, “Ellen’s Game of Games” at 8 …

PBS NewsHour reports: It is with great sadness that we share the news that co-founder and longtime anchor of the PBS NewsHour Jim Lehrer died today, Thursday, January 23, 2020, peacefully in his sleep at home. Lehrer, born May 19, 1934, served as anchor of the NewsHour for 36 years before retiring in 2011. Lehrer and Robert MacNeil founded the …

CBS News reports: The parent company of the Hallmark Channel said Thursday that CEO Bill Abbott is stepping down. The move comes about a month after the network became embroiled in controversy after pulling commercials featuring a same-sex couple, then reversing the decision after a consumer backlash. The statement on Wednesday from Crown Media didn’t give a reason for Abbott’s …

Variety reports: The opening day of President Trump’s senate impeachment trial drew a substantial amount if viewers across the three cable news and major networks that broadcast the proceedings. In total, around 11 million people tuned in to see prosecutors and attorneys for the White House argue. Fox News led the way with 2.65 million viewers (from 12:30 p.m. to …

Yahoo News reports: A scene in The New Pope, an HBO mini-series starring Jude Law and John Malkovich, in which sexy young nuns dance in their nighties beneath a giant fluorescent crucifix, has incurred the wrath of the Catholic Church. The provocative scene, which was filmed in a former monastery in Venice, was denounced as “offensive” by the archbishop of …

Page Six reports: For baby boomers and classic TV fans, the name Burt Ward is instantly recognizable as the loyal and extremely excitable Robin on the campy “Batman” series which ran on ABC from 1966-1968. Just this week he happily unveiled a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame which he called an “amazing experience.” The Caped Crusaders costumes were …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: Marriage Story leads the film nominees for the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards, landing six nominations, followed by The Irishman and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood with five apiece. Joker and The Two Popes landed four noms each. On the television side, Chernobyl, The Crown and Unbelievable are tops with four noms apiece. Following with …

NBC News reports: Shelley Morrison, a beloved character actor known for memorable roles on two classic TV sitcoms, “The Flying Nun” and “Will & Grace,” died Sunday at 83 after a brief illness, her husband confirmed. Morrison died at Cedars Sinai Medical Center from heart failure, the filmmaker Walter Dominguez, her husband of many years, with whom she adopted three …

Fox News reports: Supporting President Trump and taking a conservative stance in public ruined Chuck Woolery’s career and got him shadow-banned from Twitter, said the former game show host on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday. Woolery tweeted about his personal political beliefs last week and claimed he paid a heavy professional price for simply expressing how he felt. “My career kind …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Disney revealed Wednesday that streaming service Disney+ has already drawn 10 million sign-ups. That number, which the company ascribed in a press release to “extraordinary consumer demand,” may help explain why the service experienced widespread outages after launching early Tuesday. The glitches, which the company attributed to unexpectedly high interest that overloaded its technological infrastructure, diminished over …

Axios reports: “Sesame Street” officially turns 50 this weekend. That’s 50 years of Bert and Ernie, 50 years of Oscar and Big Bird, and 50 years of expanding minds, stretching boundaries, and occasionally stirring up controversy. Why it matters: As was the original intent, “Sesame Street” has played a huge role in teaching generations of kids not only how to …

The Christian Post reports: Mark Burnett and Roma Downey are planning to launch a subscription-based streaming service for faith-based viewers as part of MGM’s LightWorkers entertainment. “They are looking to expand and provide direct to consumer content for a very large and underserved segment of the population,” a representative for Downey told The Christian Post. Since its inception in 2016, …