Grey's Anatomy writer who lied the subject of Peacock doc / Oprah Winfrey sets CBS Graceland special / Why did Jimmy Fallon ignore Justin Timberlake's arrest?

PLUS: Weeds creator Jenji Kohan calls Showtime's planned sequel series a "money grab” and lashes out at dystopian TV.

Grey's Anatomy writer who lied about her cancer gets the Peacock docuseries treatment
The three-episode Anatomy of Lies, premiering Oct. 15, will delve into how Elisabeth Finch spun a web of lies about having a rare and fatal form of bone cancer, fooling Shonda Rhimes and her Grey's Anatomy staff. Vanity Fair contributing editor Evgenia Peretz, who detailed Finch’s deception in two stories in 2022, directed Anatomy of Lies alongside documentary filmmaker David Schisgall. The docuseries focuses on Finch’s estranged wife, Jennifer Beyer. According to Vanity Fair, "Peretz has been living in Finch’s world for the past two years, ever since she received a tip from a former Grey’s Anatomy writer that all might not be as it appeared with Finch. Shortly after the tip, Peretz was on her way to meet Beyer, a registered nurse and mother of five from Kansas. Beyer met Finch in 2019, while both were patients at an Arizona mental health treatment center. Beyer had recently gotten out of an abusive 18-year marriage and was suffering from severe PTSD; Finch was getting treatment under the alias Jo—the name of a Grey’s Anatomy character she was researching at the time. After marrying Finch in 2020 and planning to relocate her family to California, Beyer began to realize the life she was embarking on with Finch was built on a lie—and that her wife was mining Beyer’s own past trauma for Jo’s storylines on Grey’s Anatomy, while claiming elements of Beyer’s traumatic past as her own."

Baby Reindeer’s Richard Gadd inks a first-look deal with Netflix following his three Emmy wins
While the first-look deal may seem to be in response to Gadd's Emmy wins, Deadline's Nellie Andreeva reports that's not the case. "While it’s been unveiled on the heels of Baby Reindeer’s standout performance at the Emmys where it dominated the longform field with six wins, including Outstanding Limited Series, I hear the two sides agreed to the deal last month, after the show had landed 11 Emmy nominations," says Andreeva, adding: "Netflix is a logical partner for Gadd following their collaboration on Baby Reindeer which became a global phenomenon, spending 8 weeks in Netflix’s Top 10 for English-language TV programs and amassing 88.4M views in its first 91 days of release to briefly make Netflix’s Top 10 most popular series list." Andreeva reports that Gadd also had interest from HBO, which has Gadd’s followup series to Baby Reindeer, the BBC drama Lions. ALSO: Lawyer for "Real Martha" Fiona Harvey slams Baby Reindeer’s Emmy wins for "leaving honesty and transparency behind."

Oprah Winfrey sets Graceland special on CBS with Riley Keough
Winfrey, who hosted an AI special last week on ABC, will host An Oprah Special: The Presleys – Elvis, Lisa Marie and Riley on Oct. 8. Winfrey will sit down with Elvis Presley's granddaughter as she releases her upcoming memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown, which she wrote using recordings from her late mom Lisa Marie Presley. The book will be released the same day as the special.

Sean "Diddy" Combs indicted on sex trafficking and racketeering
The music mogul and Making the Band star was taken into custody on Monday night and pleaded not guilty this afternoon. His federal indictment was unsealed this morning, describing Cobs as "the boss of a yearslong criminal enterprise that threatened and abused women, coercing them to participate against their will in drug-fueled orgies with male prostitutes and threatening them with violence or the loss of financial support if they refused," according to The New York Times. "The 14-page indictment against Mr. Combs, a producer, record executive and performer who is also known as Diddy and Puff Daddy, includes three counts of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. Prosecutors said that to commit these acts, Mr. Combs and his employees engaged in kidnapping, forced labor, arson and bribery, and kept firearms at the ready." Combs faces up to 20 years in prison.

Weeds creator Jenji Kohan calls Showtime's planned sequel series a "money grab” and lashes out at dystopian TV
Deadline reported in May 2023 that Mary-Louise Parker was on board to reprise her Nancy Botwin character in a sequel series to Kohan’s 2005-2012 Showtime hit comedy. But Kohan isn't involved and doesn't think it should be made. “I feel like now that pot is legal (in many places) that I don’t really know if there’s more story to tell,” she said during a masterclass at Seriesly Berlin. “I think Weeds was done, and I think it’d be a money grab a little bit, and I’m not involved with it.” Kohan also denounced dystopian series, saying: “Dystopia is bad for us, it’s sh*tty, it’s lazy, and I’m on a huge kick to say: ‘Stop with the f*cking dystopia’. We’re being fed this diet of dystopia and then (over time) we remember this idea we’ve been given that the future is a dumpster fire, and then we manifest it."

Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon dragged for ignoring the singer's recent DWI arrest and plea deal
Timberlake talked about his new tour during Monday's visit to The Tonight Show, but Fallon made no mention of why the singer had been in the news in recent weeks. Timberlake's appearance was just three days after the singer pleaded guilty to a non-criminal traffic violation following his June 17 arrest in Sag Harbor, New York.

Industry's final two episodes of Season 3 are changing timeslots to make way for The Penguin
The upcoming Episodes 7 and 8 of Industry will air at 10 p.m. on Sundays as The Penguin takes over the 9 p.m. timeslot.

Timothy Simons joins The Handmaid's Tale Season 6
The Veep alum, who also recently joined Percy Jackson and the Olympians, is joining the final season of The Handmaid's Tale in a role being kept under wraps.

William Fichtner boards AMC's Anne Rice series Talamasca
Fichtner will play the role of Jasper, described as “a mysterious American who has quietly assumed control and influence over the Talamasca’s London Motherhouse. Though his motives and methods are cloaked in shadow, his charm and righteous sense of purpose are as dangerous as the power he’s pursuing.”

Stephen Amell reveals he auditioned to play Young Gibbs on NCIS: Origins before landing Suits: L.A. lead role
Amell revealed on the Inside of You With Michael Rosenbaum podcast that he tried out for CBS' NCIS prequel series, for a role that eventually went to Austin Stowell, according to TVLine. The NCIS: Origins audition was two days before his Suits: L.A. audition. After realizing he wasn't going to get the Young Gibbs role, he channeled his emotions into the Suits: L.A. role. “I walked into that audition just with, really, kind of no fear,” Amell said, noting that he “tried to be a lot looser and more spontaneous than I think probably a lot of other people were, because this guy’s a lawyer. This guy’s supposed to be the smartest guy in the room, but, concurrently, I just figured everyone was going to be stone-cold serious, so let’s just have a little bit of fun.”

Netflix boss Ted Sarandos: We can never have too much content
“People often ask me if we need so many movies and TV shows on Netflix,” the Netflix co-CEO said in London at the Royal Television Society conference. “I always answer with an emphatic yes. People have such different and eclectic tastes that you can’t afford to program for just one sensibility. You have to love it all — prestige dramas, indie films, true crime, romantic comedies, stand-up, documentaries and reality TV.”

CBS unveils “You’re Laughing at CBS" comedy campaign
“People will say that CBS is old and stodgy, but actually, if you look at our programming, it’s really not,” says CBS president/chief marketing officer Mike Benson of the tagline that will be used on shows like Ghosts and The Neighborhood. “I think we’ve got a lot of work to do, from a brand perspective, to show that we can have a lot of fun. That we are willing to poke fun at ourselves as much as we want people to come in and laugh at the shows that we’ve got.”

ESPN criticized for "Eagles-centric" Monday Night Football broadcast
Former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce was heavily featured on Monday night's game between the Eagles and Atlanta Falcons, including appearing in the booth for the third quarter. "All told, the Eagles-centric broadcast rubbed a lot of viewers the wrong way, including those in sports media who got a little tired of seeing so much green and white in the booths," says Awful Announcing's Sean Keeley. Meanwhile, Good Morning Football's Kyle Brandt called out ESPN's Eagles-skewing broadcast this morning, saying: "The E in ESPN stood for Eagles."

WWE sets Saturday Night’s Main Event premiere date on NBC
The pro wrestling series will air live on NBC and simulcast on Peacock on Dec. 14 at 8 p.m. ET.

Jon Stewart is taking this week off from The Daily Show after Emmy victory
Monday's show, which Stewart usually hosts, was preempted due to the Emmys. So Ronny Chieng will host The Daily Show for the rest of the week.

Reservation Dogs star D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai wanted to "make a statement" with the red handprint painted over his mouth for the Emmys
The Emmy nominee told Deadline he had the symbol of the Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women movement painted over his face to raise awareness about the high rates of Native women across the U.S. and Canada, many of whom who are killed or abducted each year. “This epidemic has been ignored for far too long and has devastated the lives of countless Indigenous people,” he said. “I’ve been waiting for the right moment to make this statement, and when I received the Emmy nomination, I felt an obligation to use the opportunity to spark these conversations.” Woon-A-Tai recruited makeup artist Martha Phelan to create the handprint. As Deadline note, she is one of those countless indigenous people whose life had been impacted by the crisis, with her sister being a victim.

Gilmore Girls star Kelly Bishop's new memoir throws shade at Season 7, reveals she "rarely hung out" with Alexis Bledel
Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and husband Daniel Palladino famously didn’t return for Season 7 after negotiations fell apart. Recalling that time, Bishop writes in her new memoir The Third Gilmore Girl: “A new writing team was brought in for the seventh season, and I know they tried their best, but there’s no such thing as trying to be Amy Sherman-Palladino. We actors were contractually obligated for that seventh season, and we did the best we could," according to the New York Post. As for Bledel, Bishop writes: “Alexis and I rarely hung out during our off-hours, but I thought the world of her; and Lauren and I hung out a lot and had even started referring to each other as ‘TVM’ (TV Mom) and ‘TVD’ (TV Daughter).” ALSO: Kelly Bishop is Team Logan and Team Luke and was a fan of Netflix’s divisive Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.

David Beckham to host alternate telecast Beckham & Friends for Paramount+'s UEFA Champions League telecast
The British soccer icon and his pals will provide commentary on UEFA Champions League play on Paramount+ under a two-year deal for an alternate telecast on the streamer.

CNN's Roy Wood Jr.-hosted Have I Got News for You has a solid premiere
The American remake of the hit long-running BBC panel show drew about 737,000 viewers in its Saturday night debut, holding only most of the 863,000 viewers who watched the lead-in rerun of Real Time with Bill Maher, per Vulture’s Josef Adalian.

America's Got Talent pays tribute to Season 19 contestant Emily Gold
The Los Osos High School dancer, who recently competed with her dance team on AGT, died by suicide last Friday. She was 17. In a Facebook post, AGT said: "The AGT Family sends out our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and team members of Emily Gold. She was a bright young soul and will be deeply missed."

David Letterman rejected for jury duty after a charming back-and-forth with the judge
A courtroom in New York City "learned a lot that the world already knows about Letterman," according to the Associated Press of the "volley of questions and answers totaling nearly three dozen exchanges" on Monday. Ultimately, Letterman was rejected for a jury by the prosecutor on the case.

Tracy Morgan Paramount+ comedy Crutch adds Kecia Lewis
The Tony-winning The Blacklist alum will star in The Neighborhood spinoff as the meddling sister-in-law of Morgan's character.

Max French series Merteuil, with stars including Diane Kruger and Lucas Bravo, begins filming
Anamaria Vartolome and Vincent Lacoste also star in the series that Max describes as a free adaptation of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

New Girl stars celebrate Lamorne Morris' Emmy win for Fargo
Zooey Deschanel and Jake Johnson were the only cast members not to post following Morris' win, EW notes. ALSO: Morris is the first Fargo actor to win an Emmy for the show.

Community premiered 15 years ago today
On Sept, 17, 2009, "Community launched as a conventional ensemble comedy that quickly evolved into something much more," says Ryan Schwartz. "Series creator Dan Harmon seemed determined to challenge preconceived notions of what a half-hour sitcom could be. His first high concept outing was a Goodfellas parody, which he followed with a paintball game made to look and feel like a high-budget action movie. By the end of its second season, which included an Apollo 13 parody, an ode to spaghetti westerns and a Claymation adventure made in the style of a Rankin/Bass Christmas special, Community had cemented its status as one of the most experimental, pop culture-obsessed comedies in TV history."

60-year-old Erin Murphy celebrates Bewitched's 60th anniversary
"Want to feel old?" the Little Tabitha actress tweeted this morning. "Bewitched premiered 60 years ago today, September 17, 1964. AND little Tabitha (Me!) is 60 years old!" Murphy, who joined Bewitched for its third season at age 2 in 1966, turned 60 on June 17.

Heartstopper unveils its full Season 3 trailer
Premiering Oct. 3, the Netflix YA drama's third season will be based on creator Alice Oseman's fourth book in her graphic novel series.

Watch Netflix's trailer for NBA docuseries Starting 5
The 10-episode behind-the-scenes look at the 2023-24 NBA season as told through the eyes of Jimmy Butler, Anthony Edwards, LeBron James, Domantas Sabonis and Jayson Tatum drops on Oct. 9.

FBI franchise's joint trailer features the first look at Chicago P.D. alum Jesse Lee Soffer
The CBS trailer shows FBI teams in Budapest (FBI: International's Fly Team), New York (FBI) and the Fugitive Task Force (FBI: Most Wanted) as they tackle emergencies all around the world.

Joshua Jackson is Doctor Odyssey in the official trailer for the Ryan Murphy ABC drama
Don Johnson, Philippa Soo and Sean Teale also star in the drama series starring Jackson as at the on-board doctor on a luxury cruise ship. Doctor Odyssey premieres Sept. 26.