Less than two months after stepping down as CEO, Bob Iger has reasserted control at Disney as the company navigates the impact caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to a New York Times report published Sunday. In an email to Times reporter Ben Smith, Iger explained, “a crisis of this magnitude, and its impact on Disney, […]
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Los Angeles prosecutors on Friday filed a new charge against Harvey Weinstein, stemming from an alleged assault at a Beverly Hills hotel room in 2010. Weinstein is already awaiting extradition to Los Angeles to face four other charges, stemming from two incidents in hotels in February 2013. The former producer is serving a 23-year sentence for […]
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The cast of Friends will be there for HBO Max … at some point. The WarnerMedia-backed streaming service said Friday that the highly anticipated unscripted Friends reunion special will not be available when the platform launches at a date to be determined in May. Given that the industrywide production shutdown is remaining in place for the foreseeable future, the six original […]
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MGM has nabbed rights to Ridley Scott’s true crime drama about the murder of fashion icon Guccio Gucci’s grandson Maurizio Gucci, Variety has confirmed. Lady Gaga is in early negotiations to star in the project, which MGM will release on Thanksgiving 2021. The film will be produced by Scott and Giannina Scott via their Scott Free Productions banner. The […]
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Saturday Night Live is returning to NBC — sorta. The late night sketch comedy will be back with a special remote episode set to air April 11 at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. The series, which suspended production amid the novel coronavirus crisis, will produce new material remotely while continuing to practice social distancing. Right now, […]
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By virtue of its name, Modern Family was always going to have an expiration date. The snarkier and the snootier might scoff that the date came and went years ago. But a historic swath of viewers rode happily with the show into the sunset, which officially came Wednesday night after 11 seasons and 250 episodes. Of course, those lingering […]
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Stephen Colbert will be a guest on TBS’ Conan on Tuesday night — and Conan O’Brien will also be a guest on CBS’ The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The two late-night hosts will appear on one another’s shows, sharing a video chat they conducted earlier in the day. Both O’Brien and Colbert are hosting their programs from […]
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Entertainers from around the world will come together for a global televised special in support of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Lady Gaga said during a World Health Organization call Monday. The singer said the special would take place April 18 and proceeds would go toward funding protective equipment for health-care professionals. “We are all so […]
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Quibi is either launching at exactly the wrong time or exactly the right time. The entire model of the shortform programming streamer founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman was built around providing viewers with “quick bites” — the name, pronounced “Qui-Bee,” therefore really ought to be “Qui-Bye” — of drama, comedy, unscripted content and […]
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The spring TV calendar has been mightily disrupted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that brought just about all film and TV production to a grinding halt last month. As stay at home orders have continued to delay filming beyond a few weeks, we’ve started to see the ripple effects reaching previously scheduled air dates as […]
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They had to cancel the premiere party. But Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman have stuck with the April 6 start date of Quibi, the short-form video app for smartphones that they hope will attract millions of subscribers. After having led some of the nation’s top companies for decades, the two veteran executives have spent the […]
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Contrary to popular opinion, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gives out more than just Oscars. On Friday, Hollywood’s most elite organization announced that it will be donating $6 million to “help support motion picture employees and their families facing severe financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with institutions […]
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“Lights Out With David Spade,” which halted production last month due to the coronavirus pandemic, will not return to Comedy Central, Variety has learned. Instead, the ViacomCBS-owned brand is preparing to shop the late-night talker — which it produces through its Comedy Central Productions — to outside networks and platforms. The move comes as Comedy Central has experienced […]
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Bill Withers, a onetime Navy aircraft mechanic who after teaching himself to play the guitar wrote some of the most memorable and often-covered songs of the 1970s, including “Lean on Me,” “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Use Me,” died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 81. His death was announced in a statement from his […]
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CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin became the second network anchor to test positive for the novel coronavirus, revealing her diagnosis in an Instagram post on Friday afternoon. “I’ve tested positive for the coronavirus,” she wrote. “I am OKAY. It came on suddenly yesterday afternoon. Chills, aches, fever.” Her colleague, primetime anchor Chris Cuomo, has also been […]
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HBO is unlocking its biggest trove of free programming ever — in a goodwill gesture as people look for a diversion during the COVID-19 pandemic. The WarnerMedia-owned premium cabler is making almost 500 hours of programming available to stream for free for a limited time on HBO Now and HBO Go services without a subscription, starting […]
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The Walt Disney Co. said on Thursday that it will begin furloughing certain employees whose jobs aren’t deemed necessary beginning on April 19. The company did not give a specific number for the amount of people who it expects to impacted by the furloughs, but did say that all of those affected will remain Disney […]
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SXSW may have been cancelled due to coronavirus, but the filmmakers who were traveling to Austin to share their films with audiences will still get a chance to lift the curtain on their work. That’s because Amazon Prime Video is joining forces with the festival to launch “Prime Video presents the SXSW 2020 Film Festival Collection.” The tech company […]
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A few days ago, Samantha Bee was filming a segment for her TBS late-night series, “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee,” when she encountered a complication she had never dealt with before. “There was literally a screeching hawk, circling up in the sky,” she recalled, speaking from her home in upstate New York where she and her family […]
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A beloved TV character is coming back. NBC has given a 13-episode series order to a new Dick Wolf crime drama series starring Christopher Meloni reprising his Law & Order: SVU role as Elliot Stabler. The SVU spinoff drama, which marks the actor’s return to Wolf World, revolves around the NYPD organized crime unit led by Stabler (Meloni). It is the first show to come […]
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Legendary delicatessen Nate’n Al’s — a Cheers for Hollywood’s power players — has shuttered. Opened in 1945, the Beverly Hills institution was known as much for its beloved longtime staff as its high-priced pastrami and lox. On Saturday, the restaurant published a note to its Instagram account which made clear that the COVID-19 epidemic’s economic shockwave was responsible for […]
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Joe Diffie, a consistent country-music hitmaker throughout the Nineties, died Sunday due to complications related to COVID-19. His publicist confirmed the death to Rolling Stone. Diffie was 61. With a traditional-leaning voice that drew comparisons to George Jones, Diffie populated his records with honky-tonk ballads and lighthearted novelty tunes, earning the Oklahoma native five Number One singles […]
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Grey Sloan Memorial is closing its doors ahead of schedule. The Season 16 finale of Grey’s Anatomy will now air on Thursday, April 9 (ABC, 9/8c), TVLine has learned. The major scheduling change comes as a result of ABC deciding not to resume production on Season 16, which shut down earlier this month in response to the coronavirus crisis. […]
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TLC’s nonfiction medical drama My 600-lb Life continued to film across the U.S. this week with severely obese castmembers despite social distancing recommendations and high-risk factors for the show’s stars amid the coronavirus pandemic. Between March 20 and 26, the TLC show was actively filming in at least three states — Texas, Florida and Mississippi — documents provided […]
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Business Network has parted ways with Trish Regan days after her comments that the coronavirus was “another attempt to impeach the president” went viral. “Fox Business has parted ways with Trish Regan – we thank her for her contributions to the network over the years and wish her continued success in her future endeavors. We […]
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