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Larry Wilmore is moving to Universal Television with a rich four-year overall deal. Under the pact, The Bernie Mac Show creator will develop new projects through his Wilmore Films production company. In addition to creating The Bernie Mac Show, which ran on Fox for five seasons, Wilmore co-created Fox/the WB’s The PJs, Freeform’s Grown-ish and HBO’s Insecure. “The number of successful shows that Larry has had a hand in launching is impressive and he shows no signs of slowing down,” said Universal TV President Pearlena Igbokwe. “I could not be more excited and consider us lucky that he has chosen to call Universal his home for the next few years.” Wilmore is coming off an overall deal at ABC Studios. Joining him at Universal TV is Candace Rodney, VP of development for Wilmore Films. “I’m beyond thrilled to be back at Universal Television to join Pearlena and her amazing team!,” Wilmore said. “As a teen I actually used to sneak on the Universal lot and … [Read more...] about Larry Wilmore Inks Major Overall Deal With Universal Television

EXCLUSIVE : Larry Wilmore is tapping into his experiences in late-night for a primetime comedy in development at ABC . Wilmore is writing, executive producing and is set to star in Lately , described as a behind-the-scenes look at the upstairs-downstairs dynamics of the people who work at a late-night talk show, sources tell Deadline. Tamara Gregory, Head of Television at Wilmore’s Wilmore Films, also executive produces. The project comes from Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, where Wilmore is under an overall deal . Wilmore was host of his own late-night talk show, Comedy Central’s The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore , which ran for nearly two years . He also appeared as “Senior Black Correspondent” on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and more recently hosted and executive produced Wilmore, a limited weekly special talk series for Peacock. This marks Wilmore’s return to ABC, where he helped to launch Black-ish as an executive … [Read more...] about Larry Wilmore To Headline Late Night-Themed Comedy ‘Lately’ In Works At ABC

Starz is ready to get this party started: It released the official trailer for Party Down , the revival of the cult comedy series from 2009-10. Starz will debut the laugher at midnight on Friday, February 24 on its app and streaming platforms. Its linear debut is set for later that night at 9 PM ET/PT on Starz. The third season will consist of six all-new episodes and take place 10 years later, when most of the Party Down catering team have moved on, including actor/bartender Henry Pollard ( Adam Scott ). After a surprise reunion, the gang find themselves once again stoically enduring the procession of random parties and oddball guests all over Los Angeles. Scott reprises his role alongside original cast members Ken Marino, Jane Lynch, Martin Starr, Ryan Hansen and Megan Mullally. New cast members include Jennifer Garner, Tyrel Jackson Williams, Zoë Chao and James Marsden. Guest stars include Dan Bakkedahl, Quinta Brunson, Liv Hewson, Fran Kranz, Ki Hong Lee, Lyric … [Read more...] about ‘Party Down’: Starz Drops Trailer For Series Revival

SPOILER ALERT! This story contains details from the Season 2 finale of HBO Max’s Gossip Girl . It was never supposed to end this way. HBO Max ‘s Gossip Girl took its final bow on Thursday as the Season 2 finale hit the streamer. Since news of the show’s cancellation broke last week, the episode now also serves as a series finale. Showrunner Josh Safran told Deadline that he’s holding on to a glimmer of hope that the series might land at a new home, but he’s had an inkling for months that this might happen, considering the growing number of streaming cancellations and Gossip Girl ‘s hefty price tag. “I asked HBO Max if I actually could go back in [to the episode]. I had the idea to take some of the cliffhangers out, because there were a lot of cliffhangers,” Safran said. “We got the editorial team back together. I went in and I lifted a bunch of stuff, I changed as much as I could. I couldn’t do as much as I wanted, because I couldn’t re-shoot anything, … [Read more...] about ‘Gossip Girl’ Boss Josh Safran Explains How He Re-Shaped The Season 2 Closer As A Series Finale & What He Had Planned For Season 3

Dateline will be back for its seventh season in national broadcast syndication. NBCUniversal Syndication Studios announced Thursday that it has renewed the popular newsmagazine show with the NBC Owned Television Stations Group. The syndicated version of Dateline airs weekdays on stations from leading broadcast groups, including NBC Owned TV Stations, Tegna, Fox, Gray, Cox Media Group, Scripps, Nexstar, Hearst, Sinclair, Sunbeam, Graham Media, Weigel, Block, Hubbard and more. Averaging 1.6 million daily viewers, Dateline in syndication has grown its audience +21% year-over-year and ranks as a Top 5 one-hour Monday-Friday show in syndication, according to NBCU and Nielsen. “When we first launched Dateline in syndication six years ago, it was primarily scheduled as a utility program on various types of stations airing in a wide variety of time periods but this has evolved,” Sean O’Boyle, EVP of Syndication Sales, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios said in a … [Read more...] about ‘Dateline’ Renewed For 7th Season On NBC Television Stations

Comedy Central on Monday morning announced that The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore would be coming to an end. It was a swift cancellation, with the late-night show, created by Jon Stewart, given one last week before going off the air a month and a half before the November Presidential elections. Comedy Central brass pointed to The Nightly Show ‘s modest ratings and viral play as a reason for ending the show. Wilmore spoke with Deadline following the taping of the Tuesday episode, in which the show had revisited segments on the kinds of topics that became its signature – Baltimore gangs who called truce during the riots, and food choices for low-income people. In the interview, Wilmore talks about how the cancellation came about, his plans for the final shows (will Stewart show up?) and what he may do next, including weighing in on the rest of the presidential campaign. Before getting The Nightly Show gig, Wilmore was a Daily Show contributor, the Black-ish showrunner and … [Read more...] about Larry Wilmore Exit Interview: ‘The Nightly Show’ Host Talks Cancellation, His Final Week, Regrets & What’s Next

UPDATED with final winners: The Oscar-winning documentary Summer of Soul , Bo Burnham’s Emmy-winning musical comedy special Inside , Barry Jenkins’ The Underground Railroad and Raoul Peck’s Exterminate All the Brutes are among the final list of winners of 2022 Peabody Awards . The Peabodys, in their 82nd year, honor the year’s most powerful content across the fields of entertainment, documentary, news, podcast/radio, arts, children’s and youth, and public service programming. The organization based at the Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia wrapped up a a weeklong rollout of all 30 winners Thursday. This year’s awards were presented by the likes of Melissa McCarthy, Morgan Freeman, John Legend, Kevin Bacon, H.E.R., Ethan Hawke, Jon Stewart, Hasan Minhaj, Riz Ahmed, LeVar Burton, Jenny Slate, Malcolm Gladwell and Adam Scott. Newsman Dan Rather and Fresh Air ‘s Terry Gross have already won this year’s Career Achievement Award and … [Read more...] about Peabody Awards: The Complete List Of 2022 Winners

EXCLUSIVE: WME has promoted Amanda Hacohen and Abe Cohen Hoffing to Partner in the Scripted Television department. Hacohen focuses on representing writers, directors, comedians, and growing companies for comedy creators such as Greg Daniels and Mike Judge (Bandera Entertainment), Andrew Goldberg (Brutus Pink), Rob McElhenney (More Better Productions), David Wain, and John Hamburg. Hacohen also signed Saturday Night Live breakout talent Please Don’t Destroy – a comedy trio consisting of Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy – whose film, produced by Judd Apatow will premiere this summer. Other clients include Anna Drezen ( SNL , Praise Petey ), Punkie Johnson ( SNL ), Joel Kim Booster ( Fire Island , Loot ), Byron Wu (The Brothers Sun), Nicole Byer ( Grand Crew , Nailed It ), and Shiva Baby writer/director Emma Seligman and actor/writer Rachel Sennott, whose sophomore film Bottoms premieres this spring. Hacohen continues to be based in the … [Read more...] about WME Promotes Amanda Hacohen, Abe Cohen Hoffing to Partner In Scripted TV Department

Kevin Fortson, the Executive Vice President of Production & Administration for Warner Bros . Unscripted Television, will retire this summer after three decades with the studio. “For the past 30 years, Kevin has been an indelible part of Warner Bros,” said Mike Darnell , President, Warner Bros. Unscripted Television. “His name has literally become synonymous with the company and the lot itself. Personally, I will miss him for his counsel, his friendship and his endless string of dad jokes. He truly is one in a million … although he would probably try to cut that budget down! He is as important to the studio as any movie or television show ever produced here, and if I had the power to do it, there would be a stage with his name on it, right next to Friends and The Big Bang Theory. He is known as the unofficial Mayor of the lot, and his constituents will miss him dearly… and no one will ever be re-elected to that position.” Fortson has been leading all aspects of … [Read more...] about Unscripted TV Exec Kevin Fortson To Retire After 30 Years With Warner Bros.

The Oscar nominations this week set off a new round of speculation about corporate image: Does it matter that Netflix ’s potential Oscar take had dropped to 16 from 36 in 2020? “I don’t give a f*ck about my corporate image and companies shouldn’t waste their time worrying about their’s.” Those were the words of Martin Davis, the only press agent ever to become CEO of a major media company. Davis’ behavior in the ‘90s reflected his views: During his decade-long tenure at Paramount, the company endured a succession of public brawls and setbacks. The Davis Doctrine is worth pondering today given the stalwart efforts of entities like Netflix, Disney and Warner Bros Discovery on image enhancement. Under Bob Chapek, Disney spent $8.3 million to reward its newly recruited PR chief, Geoff Morrell, for his stint on improving the company’s corporate image. Morrell’s four-month tenure culminated in his firing and, later, that of his boss prior to the re-anointment of Bob … [Read more...] about Peter Bart: Big Media Honchos Hunt For Ways To Accentuate The Positive In Turbulent Moment