ViacomCBS continues to shed non-core assets, announcing Tuesday a definitive agreement to divest its iconic CBS Studio Center and associated businesses to the partnership of Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management for $1.85 billion. The deal, which was anticipated, was the result of a widely marketed sale process, which the company said attracted interest from a number of buyers for the Los Angeles studio lot. It property sits on a 55-gross-acre site in Studio City and consists of over 1 million square feet of space, including 22 stages, production office and support buildings, third-party tenant offices, a purpose-built broadcast center and filmable backlot locations. The boom in streaming has created a global crunch of production space and an array of real estate developers and financial firms have jumped in with Hackman by far the biggest. The firm last week acquired Wardpark Film and Television Studios , one of the largest production …
CBS News Taps Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews As Executive Vice President Of Newsgathering
Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews , who has been CBS News Washington bureau chief since July, 2020, will now have oversight over all network newsgathering worldwide. Ciprian-Matthews will oversee all domestic and international bureaus in the post. Neeraj Khemlani , president and co-head of CBS News and Stations, said in a statement that she will be “a tremendous asset in unifying CBS News’ newsgathering into one powerhouse operation.” The network has started a search for a new D.C. bureau chief. That person will report to Ciprian-Matthews. As bureau chief, Ciprian-Matthews oversaw campaign coverage during the conventions, presidential debates and election night. Before that post, she served as executive vice president of CBS News in 2018 and executive vice president of strategic professional development in 2019. She also has served as senior vice president of news administration from 2015 to 2018, and as vice president of news from 2011 to 2015. She joined the network in 1993 as a …
CBS Chief George Cheeks Outlines Move To Sunset & Gower Building Following Studio Center Sale
Following this morning’s announcement that ViacomCBS has reached an agreement to sell the CBS Studio Center (Radford) and associated businesses to the partnership of Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management for $1.85 billion, CBS President and CEO George Cheeks laid out the plans for moving employees out of the complex after the transaction. “First, as part of the sale, ViacomCBS will be leasing back our existing office space at CBS Studio Center through at least June 2022,” Cheeks said in an internal memo (You can read it in full below.) “This means the vast majority of those based at Radford will return to your existing office when we return to a mostly hybrid work model, starting Jan. 10, or the designated date determined by your divisions.” The time will be used to “plan for and complete our eventual move to the ViacomCBS office building near the corner of Sunset and Gower in Hollywood,” Cheeks said. “This is a relatively new (2016), six-story …
‘9-1-1’ & ‘NCIS’ Surpass ‘The Voice’ To Lead Monday; ‘The Big Leap’ Bounces Back Ahead Of Finale
The night belonged to the crime-fighters and first responders of primetime as 9-1-1 and NCIS led the charge on Monday. Fox and CBS resumed their typical Monday programming after repeats last week leading into the Thanksgiving holiday. The latest episode of 9-1-1 on Fox earned a 0.8 demo rating and 5.24 million viewers, per fast affiliates. Surpassing The Voice (0.7, 6.28M, 9-1-1 was the highest-rated program of the evening. The Fox drama was up a good amount from its most recent new episode on Nov. 16 (0.5, 4.91M) In the same hour, ABC peaked with CMA Country Christmas (0.4, 3.81M), followed by The Great Christmas Light Fight (0.4, 2.31M), which filled the spot that previously belonged to Dancing With The Stars . It had been a hot minute since CBS aired a fresh episode of NCIS, with the last airing on Nov. 9. That said, the CBS drama came back from its brief break strong (0.6, 7.17M) once again earning the night’s biggest audience. In the …
Adele Announces 2022 Las Vegas Concert Residency
Adele , whose fourth studio album 30 debuted at the top of the charts last week, announced today that she’ll launch a concert residency in Las Vegas in January. “See you at Caesars in Vegasss,” the singer tweeted today. The “Weekends With Adele” residency begins Jan. 21 at the Colosseum of Caesars Palace Hotel, running through April 16. Adele will perform two shows per weekend throughout the engagement. Previous concert residencies at the Colosseum include Elton John, Bette Midler, Rod Stewart, Cher and Celine Dion, among others. Earlier this month, the singer’s Nov. 14 CBS concert special Adele One Night Only delivered the largest audience for an entertainment special since CBS’ Oprah With Meghan & Harry in March. See you at Caesars in Vegasss ✨ pic.twitter.com/VngaofduHQ — Adele (@Adele) November 30, 2021 …
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Charlie Weber Joins Ryan Phillippe, Kate Bosworth In ‘The Locksmith’; Denise Richards Boards Thriller ‘Among The Ashes’
EXCLUSIVE : Charlie Weber ( As Sick As They Made Us , How to Get Away with Murder ) will star alongside Ryan Phillippe and Kate Bosworth in The Locksmith , a crime thriller helmed by veteran first assistant director Nicolas Harvard , which is currently in production in New Mexico. The film centers on Miller (Phillippe), a thief fresh out of prison after a job gone bad who tries to work his way back into the life of his daughter and ex-girlfriend, Beth (Bosworth), who is now a police detective. Determined to make a clean start, he is forced to use the only skills he has, as a gifted locksmith, to make ends meet. But things soon get complicated after an unexpected kidnapping and from there, take a tumultuous turn. Weber will play Garrett, a real estate developer with a dark secret who keeps dirty cops and politicians on his payroll. John Glosser, Joe Russo & Chris LaMont, and Ben Kabialis penned the screenplay, based on an original story by Blair Kroeber. …
Tommy Lane Dies: ‘Shaft’ And ‘Live And Let Die’ Actor, Stuntman Was 83
Tommy Lane , an actor and stuntman who appeared in such classic films as Shaft and Live and Let Die , died at Fort Lauderdale’s Florida Medical Center on Monday, following a long battle with COPD. He was 83. Confirming his passing to Deadline was his daughter, Kamala Lane. Born on Dec. 17, 1937 in Liberty City, Miami, FL, Lane was primarily active as an actor from the 1960s through the 1990s. In Gordon Parks’ classic private eye thriller Shaft , he played gangster Bumpy Jonas’ (Moses Gun) hitman, Leroy, who is memorably dragged up steps and thrown out of a window by Richard Roundtree’s detective John Shaft. In Guy Hamilton’s 1973 Bond film Live and Let Die , starring Roger Moore, he portrayed Adam, a gangster and enforcer reporting to Yaphet Kotto’s Mr. Big and Julius Harris’ Tee Hee. Lane’s film credits also include Ossie Davis’ Cotton Comes to Harlem , Buzz Kulik’s action comedy Shamus starring Burt Reynolds, Bill Gunn and Lawrence Jordan’s …
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Jewish Groups Condemn Lara Logan’s Comments Comparing Dr. Anthony Fauci To Josef Mengele
A number of Jewish groups condemned Fox Nation host Lara Logan for comments she made comparing Dr. Anthony Fauci to Dr. Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor who performed cruel medical experiments on Jewish prisoners. “This is what people say to me, that he doesn’t represent science to them,” Logan said during an appearance on Monday on Fox News Primetime . “He represents Josef Mengele. the Nazi doctor who did experiments on Jews during the Second World War and in the concentration camps. And I am talking about people all across the world are saying this because the response from Covid, what it has done to countries everywhere, what it has done to civil liberties, the suicide rates, the poverty. It has obliterated economies. The level of suffering that has been created because of this disease is now being seen in the cold light of day, i.e. the truth.” The network did not have an immediate comment. The American Jewish Committee , in a statement posted on Twitter, …
‘The Voice’ Rises To Capture Monday’s Demo & Viewers; ‘DWTS’ Dips Ahead Of Finale
After last week’s three-way ti e for the top demo rating with 9-1-1 and Dancing with the Stars , The Voice reclaimed its spot at the top of Monday primetime snagging both the highest rating and viewership. The latest episode of the NBC competition series rose from the previous week to earn a 0.8 rating in the 18-49 demo and 6.41 million viewers, per fast affiliates. Though Fox’s 9-1-1 ( 0.5, 4.91M) and ABC ’s DWTS (0.6, 4.57M) didn’t tie for the top demo this time around, they were also among the higher demo ratings of the evening, despite dropping a good amount from previous weeks. DWTS will return next week for its Season 30 finale. In addition to winning the night’s top demo, The Voice also snagged the most viewers – an honor that typically goes to NCIS . However all of CBS’ Monday night programming consisted of repeats. That said, it was a pretty tame night for CBS with The Neighborhood (0.5, 3.91M) earning its highest demo rating and …
NBC Nabs ‘The Irrational’ Drama From Arika Lisanne Mittman Inspired By Dan Ariely’s Book As Put Pilot
EXCLUSIVE : NBC has handed out a put pilot commitment to The Irrational , an investigative thriller from writer/executive producer Arika Lisanne Mittman , executive producers Mark Goffman ( Umbrella Academy ) and Samuel Baum ( Lie To Me ) and Universal Television where Mittman is under an overall deal. Written by Mittman, The Irrational is inspired by behavioral economics professor and author Dan Ariely ’s bestselling book Predictably Irrational. In it, a master of human behavior finally meets his match in a suspected domestic terrorist whose behavior even he can’t quite predict. Mittman, Goffman and Baum executive produce while Ariely serves as a consultant. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the studio. Mittman is an executive producer on NBC/UTV’s breakout new drama series La Brea, which was recently renewed for a second season. She previously served as executive producer and co-showrunner on Spectrum’s Southern Gothic mystery …