Michelle Collins this afternoon entered the Instagram Stage of being let go from The View, becoming, as she noted, the newest member of the One Seasoner Club on a daytime show that is gaining a reputation as one of the riskier gigs for on-air talent. Read
Many of the original cast of American Crime Story‘s debut season — The People V. O.J. Simpson — are expected to reassemble for the next chapter in the Ryan Murphy-produced anthology show. Producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson confirm to Awardsline that writers went to New Orleans last week on a research trip for Season 2, which will tell of the American response to Hurricane Katrina. And O.J.‘s Marcia Clark, Sarah Paulson, says she fully intends to return to the… Read
The Emmy race continued in earnest this week as ballots went out and studios continued ramping up the For Your Consideration events, but perhaps none was bigger than the blowout carnival Paramount set up on its lot Wednesday evening. It followed a one hour and fifteen-minute standing room only conversation I moderated with the cast and key creatives from Grease Live, the highly-rated and acclaimed live TV musical production of the iconic show which aired on Fox on a… Read
There are three things you need to know right off the bat about Greenleaf: the OWN megachurch family drama is not an attack on faith, it tries to cram in way too much, and it needs more Oprah Winfrey. Debuting on June 21 before moving to its regular Wednesday slot the next night, the series created by Craig Wright, produced by Lionsgate that Winfrey both executive produces and stars in is, like a folk mass, a bit of a mixed result. The series revolves around the the… Read
Desperate times call for unconventional measures. After failing to land a single Emmy nomination in 20 cycles, ABC’s popular reality series The Bachelor is mounting a major campaign push built around celebrity “endorsements.” Traditional For Your Consideration Emmy ads feature quotes from critics praising the program in question. Those likely are in short supply for The Bachelor, which has never scored with critics. But it has a rabid fan following, and that’s what the… Read
A&E has passed on hip-hop crime drama pilot The Infamous, from A+E Studios. I hear the studio is talking to the project’s producers about potentially shopping the pilot starring Bokeem Woodbine and Jason O’Mara elsewhere. Written by Joshua Zetumer and directed by Anthony Hemingway, The Infamous is set against real events in turbulent 1990s Los Angeles leading up to the L.A. Riots. It revolves around two complicated men on a collision course… Read
The Massachusetts probate judge who may decide the fate of Sumner Redstone’s $40 billion media empire is thinking seriously about several concerns that Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman has raised — including what it means for someone to have “undue influence,” and whether his court is the right venue to hear the case. Judge George Phelan showed what’s on his mind in an order, disclosed today, that asks lawyers representing Dauman, Vice Chair Shari Redstone, and others to… Read
With a script by playwright David Hare based on Deborah E. Lipstadt's nonfiction book about Holocaust deniers, Mick Jackson’s upcoming drama called, appropriately enough, Denial, promised fireworks from the get-go. This new trailer doesn’t back away, opening with a scene in which denier David Irving (Timothy Spall), lobs the first verbal grenade: “I say to you, quite tastelessly, that more women died on the backseat of Senator Edward Kennedy’s car at Chappaquiddick than… Read
EXCLUSIVE: The hottest package going into the weekend is the drama about the controversial medical company Theranos, which has Jennifer Lawrence attached to play its 32-year-old founder Elizabeth Holmes, and Adam McKay directing after he came off winning the Oscar for co-writing and directing another hot button pic, The Big Short. Deadline revealed last week that Lawrence and McKay would be teaming on this, and a package of background materials was sent to numerous… Read
UPDATE 1:40 PM: The NBA Finals are tied and Sunday's high stakes Game 7 will determine if the Golden State Warriors take home the trophy for the second year in a row or if the Cleveland Cavaliers get what Lebron James has been pining for. That's to come but for what was – up a tenth from Monday’s Game 5, last night's Game 6 has drawn a 7.7/27 rating and 20.70 million viewers in the final numbers. That's a demo and viewership high for the near record 2016 series. On the… Read
UPDATE, 2:28 PM: Here’s Viacom’s answer to those who object to its decision to pay CEO Philippe Dauman’s legal and PR bills in his effort to have controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone found incompetent: Blame Shari Redstone, the company Vice Chair who Dauman says is serving as a “puppet master” to her 93-year-old father. Dauman wants a Massachusetts court to find that she orchestrated an effort to have him and director George Abrams dumped from the family trust and the… Read
Less than a week after winning 11 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Hamilton is facing changes as its Tony-nominated company members announce their departures. The latest is Phillipa Soo, nominated for her performance as Eliza Schuyler, later wife to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Alexander Hamilton. A publicist for the Broadway-bound musical adaptation of Amelie, the French indie film that made a star of Audrey Tatou, said this afternoon that Soo will play the title role in the… Read
