Showbiz News

A Georgia jury has awarded $8.6 million to the family of a stuntman killed during the production of a The Walking Dead episode in 2017. The Daily Report reports the verdict  Thursday comes after a weeklong trial before Gwinnett County State Court Judge Emily Brantley. Jurors began deliberations late Tuesday and handed up the verdict shortly before 6 p.m. Lawyers […]

NBC has met with “Modern Family” star Sofia Vergara to discuss a variety of projects, including filling one of the two recently vacated “America’s Got Talent” judge positions, an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap. The person told TheWrap that NBC is “actively talking to a number of people” about the open judge […]

“Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” actor Brian Tarantina’s death was ruled an overdose from fentanyl, heroin, diazepam and cocaine by the New York City Medical Examiner, according to Entertainment Tonight. The 60 year-old actor was found dead in his apartment in New York City on Nov. 2, an NYPD spokesperson told TheWrap at the time. “On Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019 […]

Olivia Wilde defended her role as journalist Kathy Scruggs in Clint Eastwood’s polarizing film “Richard Jewell” with a series of tweets Thursday. The movie dramatizes the story of Scruggs and her news coverage of Richard Jewell — a security guard during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta who found a bomb that killed one person and wounded more than […]

NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke is preparing to step down from his post once his current contract expires in August 2020, according to media reports. A representative for NBCUniversal had no comment on the reports. NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment chairman Jeff Shell, who was promoted to that role in January, is considered the leading contender to […]

Caroll Spinney, the actor and puppeteer who portrayed Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street over five decades, died Sunday at age 85. The Sesame Workshop said Spinney had died at home in Connecticut, and that he had long lived with dystonia, a disorder that causes involuntary muscle contractions. “Caroll and Big Bird are very similar in […]

Ron Leibman, an actor whose career of more than six decades in film, television and the theater was highlighted by a Tony Award in 1993 for his electrifying performance as Roy Cohn in the first part of “Angels in America,” died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 82. A spokeswoman for the actress Jessica Walter, […]

Leonard Goldberg, a prolific producer and TV executive who supervised movies and TV series that captivated viewers in two different centuries, died on Wednesday due to injuries sustained during a fall. He was 85. Goldberg most recently served as an executive producer on the popular CBS drama series “Blue Bloods,” which is in its tenth […]

CBS and Viacom are finally, really, back to together. Less than four months after announcing their intentions to rejoin as one company, the companies closed their merger on Wednesday, beginning the new ViacomCBS era. The merger took effect following the closing bell on Wednesday. ViacomCBS Inc. will begin trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday under ticker […]

Jay Leno has shared his thoughts on Gabrielle Union‘s exit from “America’s Got Talent.” Last week, news broke that Union, 47, and Julianne Hough, 31, would exit “AGT,” with reports saying the departure was a result of an alleged “toxic” workplace at the show. (Hough has denied the report.) According to Variety, Union allegedly was subject to various racially motivated criticisms. […]

A New York judge has denied Harvey Weinstein’s latest effort to have the criminal case against him dismissed and consolidated the two indictments against the producer, which means a Sopranos actress who accused him of rape will likely take the stand. Prosecutors in August went back to a Grand Jury for a superseding indictment in order to call an […]

Hoda Kotb is tying the knot. The “Today” co-anchor, 55, announced on the morning show Monday that she and longtime boyfriend Joel Schiffman are engaged. Showing off her giant engagement ring, Kotb revealed that Schiffman, 61, surprised her with a marriage proposal while they were on vacation recently in Mexico. “Literally we went on our usual vacation. We […]

Former HBO, Viacom and Universal Studios chief executive Frank Biondi Jr. has died at the age of 74. Biondi died Monday at his home in Los Angeles following a battle with bladder cancer, his daughter told the Los Angeles Times. As an entertainment executive in the 1980s and ’90s, Biondi helped shepherd the rise of HBO […]

Following Michael Bloomberg’s announcement of his entrance into the 2020 presidential campaign, Bloomberg News will suspend its editorial board while several of its members join the former New York City mayor on his campaign staff, according to an internal memo from Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait. In the memo, which was first published by Washington Post’s Paul Farhi, […]

Harry Morton, the businessman best known for founding L.A. establishment Pink Taco, has died. He was 38. The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that Morton died at his residence Saturday afternoon and the Beverly Hills Police Department is investigating. According to TMZ, Morton was found unresponsive in his Beverly Hills home by a family member and […]

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen isn’t joking around when it comes to Facebook and its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. Cohen, speaking Thursday at the Anti-Defamation League’s “Never Is Now” Summit in New York City, skewered Facebook for not doing enough to combat racism and anti-Semitism on its platform. Cohen said Zuckerberg’s stance that “people should decide what’s credible, […]

ABC has put in development Text Me When You Get Home, a single-camera comedy based on Kayleen Schaefer’s book, from American Housewife writer-producer Lauren Caltagirone, Modern Family star Julie Bowen’s Bowen & Sons production company and ABC TV Studios, part of Disney TV Studios. Written by Caltagirone, Text Me When You Get Home explores the unique and complicated bonds amongst women who grow […]

Jussie Smollett filed a malicious prosecution counterclaim in federal court late Tuesday against the city of Chicago, including multiple Chicago Police Department officers. The suit names Superintendent Eddie Johnson, as well as brothers Abimbola Osundairo and Olabinjo Osundairo, stating that “as a proximate result of the wrongful conduct engaged in by Counterclaim-Defendants, Mr. Smollett has […]

For fans that just can’t get enough “Days of Our Lives,” a digital series called “Last Blast Reunion” is premiering on The DOOL app on Black Friday. Set in 2000, the digital series will feature characters played by the original actors who were in the roles at that time, as well as the surprise return […]

Fox News maintained its lead over cable competitors CNN and MSNBC during Tuesday’s round of hearings in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. However, all three broadcast networks had more demo viewers than all of the cable news networks in both the morning and afternoon sessions, with ABC leading the way Fox News brought […]

Kelly Clarkson’s presence as a talk show host is about to get stronger. NBCUniversal has renewed the “The Kelly Clarkson Show” through the 2020-2021 season, extending Clarkson’s daytime run. The “American Idol” and “Voice” coach’s show has been hitting hight notes in the ratings so far, with its debut back in September scoring the highest debut […]

Fox Television Stations has signed on to serve as the launch group for Nick Cannon, the recently announced daily, nationally syndicated daytime talk show headlined by the actor-comedian. The program, from Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury, is set to premiere in September 2020 and originate from New York. Fox will carry double runs of Cannon’s eponymous, live-to-tape daily daytime talk show in […]

Long-running trivia game show Jeopardy! will air a multi-night tournament event, “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time,” in prime time on ABC starting January 7, the show announced on Monday. The series of matches, hosted by Alex Trebek, will pit against one another the three players who took home the most cash in the game […]

The Real Housewives franchise is expanding to a new city. Andy Cohen made the announcement Saturday during his “Ask Andy” panel at BravoCon in New York City, revealing The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is coming to Bravo in 2020. “You didn’t see it coming but I have to tell you, in Utah, you have the majesty of the mountains, the Mormon religion, […]

The first day of the impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump drew over 13 million total viewers across the broadcast and news networks combined. Fox News’s coverage from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. drew the highest total viewership of any network, averaging around 2.9 million sets of eyeballs. MSNBC followed in second with 2.7 million […]