Black Mirror's Charlie Brooker reteams with Netflix for a detective series / Teri Hatcher launches a Desperate Housewives podcast / Wednesday Season 2 Part 2 drops 43%
PLUS: Zosia Mamet appears to be referring to Mad Men's Matthew Weiner in her new book detailing how she quit an acclaimed show over a toxic showrunner.
Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker reteams with Netflix for a detective series starring Paddy Considine, Lena Headey and Georgina Campbell
The untitled four-episode series is described as a “profoundly serious, stunningly original crime thriller in which a tormented detective from the (fictional) Northern city of Bleakford ventures down to London on a mission to catch a ritualistic serial killer before they run out of people to kill. Contains blood and frowning.” In a statement, Brooker — who has a history of dismantling TV tropes — pokes fun at the use of "profoundly serious," saying: “I’m beyond thrilled to be saying these words for the press release. I’ve dreamt of providing a quote ever since I was a young foetus, and now here I am doing it. I’d pinch myself, but like all of us, I’m terrified that if I do that, I might wake up and discover 2025 has all been a magical dream. Please watch my show. I am begging you.” No other plot details were released. As Deadline's Nellie Andreeva and Max Goldbart note, "the show will be produced by Netflix, a spokesman for the streamer said, rather than a specific British production company. Several weeks back, we revealed Brooker and Jones had left their Netflix-owned production company Broke & Bones after five years."
Zosia Mamet appears to be referring to Mad Men's Matthew Weiner in her new book detailing how she quit an acclaimed show over a toxic showrunner
In an excerpt from her book Does This Make Me Funny?, released today, the former Girls star doesn't name the show or the toxic male showrunner, but it's evidently Mad Men creator and showrunner Matthew Weiner, who was accused of sexual harassment by former writer Kater Gordon. Mamet played Life magazine assistant photo editor Joyce Ramsay on five episodes of Mad Men in Seasons 4 and 5. Mamet describes the unnamed show as "the kind of show that’s a phenomenon, that makes people fall in love with TV as a medium all over again.” "The show’s creator and showrunner was an intense human," Mamet writes. "He directed some episodes every season but not all of them. This one was being directed by someone else. The showrunner wasn’t always around, but when he was, the entire vibe of the set would change, as if a cold front had swept the soundstage. I never entirely understood why. He was definitely spirited and opinionated, but there’s way worse than that in Hollywood. I had always thought there was maybe something I was missing. I was correct. We were doing a blocking rehearsal when he showed up on set. The scene was short and easy. I was meant to come into the office, tell everyone I had photos of something important, remove them from the manila envelope I was carrying, and place them on the table. Then everyone had a few more lines and that was it. So we’re rehearsing, I walk in, I go to take the photos out of the envelope, and the showrunner calls 'Cut.; Not the director of the episode, the showrunner. And we all look at each other like, Did somebody do something wrong? We all thought the scene was going fine. He gets up out of his chair at the monitors and walks toward me slowly, looking at the ground the entire time like he’s trying to figure out how to word what he’s about to say. And when he finally stops right in front of me, he takes a few more beats before he lifts his head, looks at me, and says, 'What the f*ck are you doing?' To which I say, 'Um…rehearsing?' And then he grabs my hand that’s holding the manila envelope and he says, 'No! What the f*ck are you doing with this! That’s not how you take something out of an envelope! Do it again!' So we do it again, and again, and again. And every time we get to the part of the scene where I’m meant to take the photos out of the envelope, he calls 'Cut' and he gets up and he yells. Well, first, he starts off just raising his voice, which escalates to yelling, which eventually mutates into full‑out screaming." Mamet adds: "Eventually he gave up or got bored. But this lasted for about a half hour. And nobody stopped it. Everyone just stared at their shoes while he screamed at me. Eventually we finished the blocking rehearsal and shot the scene. I finished my day. I walked to my car and called my agents and told them I quit. I was supposed to do four more episodes that season, not including the one I was on, but I told them I didn’t care what they had to do, I didn’t care if the network sued me, I refused to go back on that set for one more day than I actually had to. I don’t remember anything else about the rest of that shoot. I think I’ve blocked it out." Mamet writes that she was 19 when she joined the unnamed show. But her Mad Men episode premiered in 2010, when she was 22. When she was 19, Mamet had a recurring role on CBS' The Unit, which was created by her dad David Mamet. But Zosia Mamet writes that on her first episode, “one of the actors on the show was directing for the first time, and he was absolutely incredible at it.” (John Slattery made his Mad Men directing debut with her first episode). And she describes the anonymous show as sweeping the Emmys. The Unit only had one Emmy nomination during its four-season run, while Mad Men won 16 Emmys, including the outstanding drama series Emmy for each of its first four seasons.
Nina Dobrev says she left The Vampire Diaries because she was paid less than co-stars Paul Wesley and Somerhalder
In Samantha Highfill's I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries, released today, Dobrev tells how she Candice King and Kat Graham were the “lowest-paid series regulars” for the show’s first two seasons, according to Us Weekly. "It was a bit of a tricky situation because my contract only said to play Elena, but I was playing multiple characters, which doubled my work-load,” Dobrev explained, referring to her character’s doppelgänger, Katherine Pierce. “I had to be on set for double the amount of time, I had to memorize double the amount of lines. Highfill wrote that “Dobrev was successful in getting more money” but she was never paid the same as Wesley and Somerhalder. The studio allegedly told writers to stop putting Katherine in scenes because they “had to pay” Dobrev for both roles. The show’s co-creator and showrunner Julie Plec recalled things getting “really heated” at the time. “It basically got phoned down back to us writers that we were not allowed to write Katherine in at all ever,” Plec said. “Which of course was not something that I felt was right or fair.”
House Of The Dragon's Olivia Cooke says actresses "get labeled difficult or a bitch" for speaking up about sex scene boundaries
“(Embarrassment is amplified) for those who are just starting out and don’t have the vocabulary to say what they’re not comfortable with,” Cooke told iPaper in praising the use of intimacy coordinators. “And for women, who’ll often get labelled ‘difficult’ or ‘a bitch’ for speaking up, a (good intimacy coordinator) will sense hesitation and become your voice.” Cooke added that while sex scenes can play important roles in certain projects because “showing intimacy, passion is an integral part of reflecting the human experience,” the filming of them can feel like “a chunk of yourself as been taken” if they are not executed carefully. ALSO: Olivia Cooke says she slapped a House of Dragon co-star so hard he cried: “I walloped him!”
Teri Hatcher launches a Desperate Housewives podcast with TV daughter Andrea Bowen and her real-life daughter
Hatcher, Bowen and real-life daughter Emerson Tenney will tackle Desperate Housewives, episode by episode, for iHeartPodcasts' Desperately Devoted, which launches today. Tenney, 27, has never watched the hit 2004-2012 ABC drama. “Revisiting the show at this time with my TV mom of so many years and her daughter, whom I got to grow up alongside, while I embark on this journey of motherhood with my daughter, feels really special,” Bowen tells People.
Emmy presenters include Stephen Colbert, Gilmore Girls' Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel and Wednesday's Jenna Ortega and Catherine Zeta-Jones
Other presenters this Sunday include Charlie Hunnam, Sydney Sweeney, Sterling K. Brown, Jeff Probst, Colman Domingo, Kathy Bates, Tina Fey, Walton Goggins and more.
Wednesday Season 2 Part 2 drops 43% from Part 1
The final four episodes of Season, which dropped on Sept. 3, opened to 28.2 million views in their first five days on Netflix, marking a 43.6% decrease in viewership from Part 1, which scored 50 million views in the same time period.
Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon will celebrate their 25th anniversary with new Pardon the Interruption extension at ESPN
Kornheiser and Wilbon's new three-year deal extends their run through 2028, which means they'll celebrate the 25th anniversary of their Oct. 22, 2001 debut in fall 2026. “Tony and Mike have made PTI into a singular success story and every bit as relevant today as it has ever been,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN’s president of content. “Their information and opinions are as smart and strong as ever, and they remain daily appointment viewing for sports fans.”
Survivor 49 contestant chose the CBS reality show over witnessing the birth of his son
Contestant Jake Latimer says he gave his wife the option of him bowing out. "But she says, ‘No, you go out. This is your dream, go do it, and whatever money you make is mine.’” Latimer says his decision was complicated by his dad on the verge of losing his eyesight. Meanwhile, host Jeff Probst confirms that there were no special rules on updating Latimer on the birth of his child. “The rules on Survivor are really pretty clear,” Probst tells EW. “Which is no news at all about anything that's happening in the world, including in your own family. Unless it is an emergency situation. Then, of course we would tell you and present you with the option that if you want leave the game and go home, you can.”
Stephen Colbert celebrates his 10-year anniversary Late Show anniversary by mocking his cancelation with Julianne Moore
Colbert kicked off his Late Show anniversary episode with a cold open that featured him waking up from a dream with Moore next to him in bed. “I dreamt that I hosted a network talk show for 10 years,” Colbert said. “That’s a long time,” Moore acknowledged, to which Colbert dryly quipped back, “I thought it would be longer.” Moore explained that it must’ve been a dream because no one watches late-night television anymore. “That’s just the thing! People did watch this one!" Colbert responded. "In fact, tonight we were supposed to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the show!” ALSO: Stephen Colbert lookalike contest outside the Ed Sullivan Theater transforms into a protest to save The Late Show.
Jon Stewart jokes "I was a little worried" over Paramount-Skydance merger during The Daily Show summer break
“We took the back-end of the summer off there, and I don’t know if you noticed, but we have new owners here at the network," he said on his return after five weeks off. Didn’t know if they would let us back in the building? But, good news, we have not heard from them, but one of the windows was left unlocked, so here we are.” ALSO: Desi Lydic says of new Paramount owners: "We haven’t been asked to change anything. We aren’t holding back and we don’t intend to."
S.W.A.T. Exiles sets its series regular cast
Lucy Barrett, Zyra Gorecki, Freddy Miyares and Ronen Rubinstein are set to star alongside lead Shemar Moore in the S.W.A.T. spinoff for Sony TV. Here's the official logline: “After a high-profile mission goes sideways, Daniel ‘Hondo’ Harrelson (Moore) is pulled out of forced retirement to lead a last-chance experimental SWAT unit made up of untested, unpredictable young recruits. Hondo must bridge a generational divide, navigate clashing personalities, and turn a squad of outsiders into a team capable of protecting the city and saving the program that made him who he is.”
Hilary Duff's return to music to get the docuseries treatment
Duff, whose fifth studio album was released 10 years ago, has signed with Atlantic Records in anticipation of her return to music.
The Pitt production assistants vote to unionize
According to The Hollywood Reporter, "support staffers on the second season of the HBO Max medical drama opted to join a union aligned with LiUNA Local 724, the Hollywood laborers’ group, in a landmark election that took place Friday. Participating production and office assistants unanimously voted to join the union in the National Labor Relations Board election in a clear show of support for the effort, the labor group announced."
Paramount+ launching a multiview feature
The first iteration of the multiview feature on Paramount+ will let fans to watch up to four UEFA soccer matches at once, but Paramount plans to expand the feature to news and entertainment.
SNL newbie Kam Patterson's dad says he weighed the hiring offer for a week
His father Kenneth Patterson told the Orlando Weekly one of the concerns was his son fulfilling his standup dates, which would delay his starting on the show until Sept. 22. But Patterson is expected to be part of the Season 51 premiere on Oct. 4.
Lara Spencer inks a new deal with Good Morning America, will host That Thrifting Show for Hulu and Freeform
As part of her new multi-year deal with ABC News, Spencer will host That Thrifting Show with Lara Spencer from ABC News Studios. In it, "vintage design expert Spencer presents two designer duos with identical rooms. With limited time and budget, teams must treasure hunt for vintage and thrift store finds to design their way to beautiful, layered, finished rooms. It’s style and sustainability in a race against the clock," per Deadline. “It is so meaningful to share my childhood love of thrifting and celebrate this new generation’s passion for sustainable design,” Spencer said in a statement. “As you will see on That Thrifting Show, there are so many incredible treasures out there, just waiting to be reimagined and given a new life. To see the rooms these designers create with their thrifted finds is aspirational and simply amazing.”
Shifting Gears books Gabriel Iglesias and Lori Greiner
The comedian and the QVC star will play themselves in guest roles on the ABC comedy's second season.
Dancing With the Stars’ Corey Feldman reunites with partner Jenna Johnson after going missing
Johnson announced on Monday that she reunited with Feldman after not seeing him since the Dancing cast was announced last Wednesday.
Paul Shaffer thinks Stephen Colbert's cancelation is a sign of late-night's death
"Shocking. Absolutely shocking," Shaffer, David Letterman's former Late Show bandleader, tells EW of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert's cancelation. He added: "I wouldn't be surprised if those doom-sayers that are saying it signifies the end of the Late-Show-type-of-thing, you know, late night television, it's over," he says. "People will watch clips on their computers, and it all makes sense to me. I'm glad that I was in and out of there while the getting was good."
Law & Order's first-ever FAST channel officially launches
Fans of the classic Dick Wolf drama series will now be able to stream Seasons 5-10 for free on LG Channels, Pluto TV, Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus and Xumo Play. Additional seasons will be made available later this year.
The Gilded Age's Morgan Spector films a dramatic reading of rich New Yorkers’ Zohran Mamdani freakout
The Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City has enlisted the HBO period drama’s robber baron to troll ultra-rich New Yorkers.
Andrew Lincoln stars as a depressed and repressed family man in ITV's Coldwater
Coldwater marks The Walking Dead alum's long-awaited return to British TV. He'll co-star with David Ireland, Indira Varma and Eve Myles on the six-part series. "He plays John, who moves his family from London to the rural idyll of the fictional town of Coldwater," per The Hollywood Reporter. "Upon arrival, John is quickly befriended by his charming, confident next-door neighbor Tommy (Bremner), a devoted husband to the local vicar Rebecca (Myles)."
Netflix will explore the horrors of wildlife in Nightmares of Nature, a Maya Hawke-narrated docuseries from Blumhouse
Watch the trailer for Nightmares of Nature, which will air over two seasons, released on Sept. 30 and Oct. 28.
Love Island Games unveils its Season 2 trailer, cast and premiere date
Ariana Madix returns to Fiji to host an all-new season of the competition dating series premiering Sept. 16.