Tag Archives: television

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 …

Deadline reports: Three-time Emmy nominee and American Horror Story alum Billy Eichner is joining FX’s Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky sex scandal limited series American Crime Story: Impeachment in the role of famed journalist and Drudge Report founder Matt Drudge. It was the Drudge Report that first broke news of the White House affair on Jan. 17, 1998, then reporting that Newsweek …

The Guardian reports: Terry Jones, founder member of Monty Python and director of three of Python’s celebrated feature films, has died aged 77, his agent said. In 2016, Jones and his family revealed he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia a year earlier, and he became a public face of the illness – appearing at a Bafta Cymru awards ceremony …

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 …

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 …

Deadline reports: CBS is the first U.S. broadcast network to announce its plans to pre-empt regular daytime programming for coverage of next week’s first public hearings in the impeachment inquiry. All of the broadcast networks are expected to join cable news channels and news streaming services to cover the hearings, which will start Wednesday with the testimony of Bill Taylor, …

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, …

From the Hollywood Reporter: South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone probably saw this coming, and to their credit, simply didn’t care. The most recent episode of South Park, “Band in China,” has been generating loads of media attention for its sharp critique of the way Hollywood tends to shape its content to avoid offending Chinese government censors in …

TV Line reports: Move over, Alec Baldwin. There’s a new Donald Trump in town. Harry Potter vet Brendan Gleeson has been cast as President Trump in CBS Studios’ four-hour limited series based on former FBI Director James Comey’s bestselling book, A Higher Loyalty. Jeff Daniels will star as Comey in the as-yet-untitled project, which is being written and directed by …

From the Hollywood Reporter: Rachel Maddow is heading to The CW’s Batwoman. The MSNBC host — currently enjoying a big ratings bump amid talk of a presidential impeachment — will have a key role in the Ruby Rose-led drama. Maddow takes on the role of Vesper Fairchild, a character from the Batman comics. Fairchild is a television and radio personality …

From the Hollywood Reporter: Diahann Carroll, the captivating singer and actress who came from the Bronx to win a Tony Award, receive an Oscar nomination and make television history with her turns on Julia and Dynasty, died Friday. She was 84. Carroll died at her home in Los Angeles after a long bout with cancer, her daughter, producer-journalist Suzanne Kay, …

Market Watch reports: Disney is banning Netflix ads across its TV networks, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, ahead of the launch of the entertainment and media giant’s Disney+ streaming-video service next month. Citing people familiar with the matter, the WSJ report said Disney told staffers not to accept ads from any rival streaming services, but later …

The New York Times reports: The category is “Groundbreaker.” On Sunday night, Billy Porter became the first openly gay man to win the Emmy for best actor in a drama. “I am so overwhelmed and I am so overjoyed to have lived long enough to see this day,” said Porter, 50, while accepting the award. The actor won for his …

From an interview with Britain’s Daily Mail: After a tumultuous year and a half, which saw Roseanne Barr fired from her own successful sitcom revival, the star is stepping back on stage in a new comeback comedy tour. She feels like there is more to her departure from ABC than just the shocking social media post and wonders if there …

From the Hollywood Reporter: RuPaul of RuPaul’s Drag Race continues to build his Emmy collection, winning best host of a reality or competition program for the fourth consecutive year on Sunday at the Creative Arts Emmys. As a result, RuPaul is now tied with Survivor host Jeff Probst’s record for most wins in the category. Backstage, RuPaul explained he was …

The Verge reports: Ewan McGregor’s long-rumored Obi-Wan series is officially coming to Disney+, the company confirmed today. McGregor was onstage at D23, the company’s biennial convention, to make the announcement. “It feels so nice to say,” McGregor said. Disney and Lucasfilm originally planned a feature-length theatrical Star Wars spinoff, according to a Hollywood Reporter story from 2017. But after two …