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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While Disneyland and Walt Disney World had initially planned to close through March in an effort to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and comply with shelter-in-place guidelines, the U.S. Disney parks have now announced that they will “remain closed until further notice.” “While there is still much uncertainty with respect to the impacts of COVID-19, the […]
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Mark Blum, a veteran stage actor who appeared in such films as Crocodile Dundee and Desperately Seeking Susan and on TV shows including Mozart in the Jungle, has died. He was 69. Blum died Wednesday at NewYork-Presbyterian hospital of complications from the novel coronavirus, his wife, actress and acting teacher Janet Zarish, told The Hollywood Reporter. A busy actor, Blum also […]
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have fled coronavirus in Canada to set up a permanent home in California, taking a private jet to Los Angeles, a source confirmed to Page Six. The couple, with their 10-month-old baby Archie, took a secret flight to the L.A. area, leaving their recent bolthole on Vancouver Island after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced […]
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Legendary daytime talk-show producer Bill Geddie left “Tamron Hall” at the beginning of 2020, a person with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap, adding that Geddie had clashed with host Tamron Hall. Geddie, who co-created “The View” with Barbara Walters, launched “Tamron Hall” in September. The syndicated daytime talk show has enjoyed a strong freshman […]
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In the span of a couple of weeks, NBC medical drama New Amsterdam, starring Ryan Eggold, found itself eerily blending fiction and reality amid a global pandemic. Set and shot in New York, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., the series, created by David Schulner, had shot an upcoming episode about a deadly flu pandemic in NYC. […]
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A New York federal judge on Tuesday ruled that PEN America may proceed on some of its claims against Donald Trump. Specifically, the U.S. president must continue to face allegations of violating the First Amendment by revoking press badges and security clearances. Pen America is a literary organization that fights to protect free speech. The […]
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Danny Devito is begging people to stay inside to prevent the spread of the coronavirus to the most vulnerable members of the population. “Hi everybody, it’s Danny DeVito, and I’m asking you from the bottom of my heart all over the state of New York to say home,” the actor said in a video from ABC […]
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Bowing to the inevitable, VidCon’s flagship U.S. edition in June has been canceled because of the coronavirus crisis. As recently as last week, VidCon reps said it had remained a go as scheduled for Anaheim, Calif., from June 17-20. But on Monday organizers announced the U.S. confab’s cancellation. “Unfortunately, due to the continued uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 we made the difficult […]
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Many country artists, including Dolly Parton, shared emotional tributes to Kenny Rogers following the news of the country music legend’s death late Friday night. Parton said she was expecting to wake up and see updates about coronavirus, but couldn’t believe it when she learned about Rogers’ death. His “Islands in the Stream” duet partner posted a tearful tribute on Twitter […]
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Two weeks ago, the biggest concern facing the industry was the threat of a strike as writers and studios prepared to enter heated contract negotiations. But, in recent days, that great unknown has been displaced by a global pandemic that’s brought Hollywood — and society at large — to a screeching halt. Says lawyer Jamie […]
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