HBO announces Jay-Z docuseries directed by Rick Rubin / Lizzy Caplan boards FX's Far Cry / The Paper books Andy Richter, Jon Lovitz, Lisa Gilroy, Phil Hendrie and more
PLUS: DC Studios announces Absolute Batman and Joker: Laugh Riot adult animated series, plus a Krypto the Superdog children’s series.
HBO announces Jay-Z docuseries directed by Rick Rubin
Premiering this fall, JAŸ-Z in 8 is described as a “candid and intimate” eight-episode docuseries that will feature legendary music producer Rick Rubin, who is serving as director, interviewing the rap icon about his music, lyrics, life experiences and creative process. Rubin produced Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” for The Black Album in 2003. Shawn Carter, Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya and Rubin will serve as executive producers. “The series announcement comes on the back of a notable year for Jay-Z. He’s been plotting celebrations in honor of the 30th and 25th anniversaries of two of his most revered albums, Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint, respectively, with a series of shows and activations across the globe,” says Variety’s Steven J. Horowitz. “He made his grand return to the stage in May as a headliner at the Roots Picnic, where he revisited hits and deep cuts from his discography. The show was a celebration of both his career and the city of Philadelphia, with a parade of guests that included Beanie Sigel, Freeway, Memphis Bleek, Jazmine Sullivan, Bilal and Young Gunz. In July, he will take over Yankee Stadium for three nights to honor his anniversary milestones.” Watch JAŸ-Z In 8’s teaser.
Lizzy Caplan boards Noah Hawley and Rob Mac’s FX anthology series Far Cry
Caplan’s role on the series based on the Ubisoft video game franchise is being kept under wraps. She is second actor cast, after Mac.
The Paper gets a Season 2 premiere date: Andy Richter, Jon Lovitz, Lisa Gilroy, and Phil Hendrie among guest-stars
Matt Braunger and Toks Olagundoye will also guest-star on Season 2 of the Peacock mockumentary spinoff of The Office, which returns Sept. 9. In Season 2, “Ned searches for a journalistic crusade after sweeping the Ohio Journalism Awards,” per Variety. “He goes after a local private club and puts the Toledo Truth Teller in jeopardy.” “While he and Mare try to figure out their attraction, Esmeralda struggles to find her place and the staff gradually mature as reporters,” per the official logline. ALSO: See photos from The Paper Season 2.
DC Studios announces Absolute Batman and Joker: Laugh Riot adult animated series, plus a Krypto the Superdog children’s series
Absolute Batman will reimagine Batman as “a working class hero” who’s “on a mission to prove that even in an era of wealth, power and corruption, one good person can change the world.” Joker: Laugh Riot has the following description: “When Batman is murdered, the Joker launches a ruthless crusade through Gotham’s underworld to find the killer who took away his greatest adversary. But as his violent quest for answers pushes him closer towards vigilante than villain, Joker is forced to confront the truth that without Batman, he doesn’t know who he is.” The untitled Krypto the Superdog series, which will be aimed at children, has the following description: “When he’s not hanging out with Superman or Supergirl, Krypto tags along with a gang of misfit criminal wannabes who live down the block, and they soon discover he’s a ball of destructive, lovable energy worse than any of them! As he follows them into misadventures and poorly laid plans, Krypto’s pure nature slowly ends up redeeming them, whether they want it or not.”
FCC chair Brendan Carr accuses Disney of running a “campaign of misinformation”
Carr today responded to the ad campaigns rallying public support of the FCC’s equal-time review of The View and of the commission’s early renewal of eight ABC-owned stations. One of the things that I saw was a statement from them in this ad campaign that says the FCC is trying to control who can appear on the show. Look, Disney has a lot of high-priced lawyers, so I would assume that they understand the law and the law is actually very clear. If you’re not bona fide news, the law simply requires the offering of comparable time and placement. It doesn’t dictate that you have to be on any particular show,” Carr said, according to The Wrap. “So to accept that was a statement of law, that’s not consistent with what the law provides.”
Harold Wheeler, Dancing with the Stars’ musical director for 17 seasons, dies at 82
The prolific Tony-winning Broadway orchestrator, composer and conductor died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. “From 2006 to 2013, Wheeler was the musical director and composer for 17 seasons of Dancing with the Stars, parting ways with the competition series after producers reportedly (and controversially) decided to pivot to increasing use of recorded music rather than live band music,” says Deadline’s Greg Evans. “Former American Idol bandleader Ray Chew took over the DWTS job after Wheeler left.” Wheeler also music conductor for the 76th Academy Awards and music arranger for the 79th Academy Awards. In 2019, the Tony Awards presented Wheeler with its Lifetime Achievement Award.
Breaking Bad franchise consumer products, brand partnerships and immersive fan experiences are in the works
IMG Licensing and Sony Pictures Television are teaming up to develop a global licensing program for the Breaking Bad franchise. According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Lily Ford, “the multi-year collaboration will deliver consumer products, brand partnerships and immersive fan experiences worldwide — all themed to one of the biggest television shows in history that saw Bryan Cranston’s Walter White turn to making and selling meth following a terminal cancer diagnosis. The licensing deal will span the entire franchise, including the flagship, Emmy-winning series, which ran from 2008 to 2013, as well as prequel spinoff Better Call Saul (2015-2022) and the 2019 feature film El Camino with returning star Aaron Paul.”
JD Vance to become the first sitting president to visit Real Time with Bill Maher
Vance will also become the second Trump vice president, after Mike Pence, to sit down with Maher this month when the veep visits Real Time on Friday to promote his new book Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.
NBC renews The Americas for Season 2, with Tom Hanks returning as narrator
The Emmy-nominated nature docuseries has already begun production on its second season. NBC also announced a series of The Americas specials: The Americas: A Wild 250th on July 2 and The Americas: Mother’s Day in 2027.
Ray Winstone joins Amazon’s Danger Money
The action-comedy series produced by Harry and Jack Williams features The Gentlemen star in his first Amazon Prime Video role, as a former SAS operative haunted by a botched mission. “Winstone will play Alan ‘Razor’ Sharp, a former SAS operative haunted by a botched mission in the ‘90s that left his reputation in tatters and his best friend dead,” per Deadline. “Decades later, Razor – still plagued by guilt and desperate to rebuild a relationship with his daughter – is pulled back into the world that he’d left behind when an old friend resurfaces with a job too good to refuse.”
The Office UK stars Martin Freeman and Mackenzie Crook to reunite for a BBC 25th anniversary special
BBC2’s Remembers series will reunite the Tim and Gareth actors one night before The Office UK’s 25th anniversary, on July 8. The Office UK premiered on July 9, 2001. The pair will share behind-the-scenes stories and personal memories, while reflecting on the show’s enduring legacy and cultural impact. Here’s the official synopsis: “It’s been more than 15 years since the pair last laid eyes on each other, but the groundbreaking comedy’s 25th anniversary has brought them together once again to share their memories of working – and laughing – alongside Ricky Gervais, co-writer Stephen Merchant, and fellow Wernham Hogg star Lucy Davis, who played Tim’s love interest, Dawn.” No word on a U.S. broadcast.
Hasbro sparks outrage by asking Peppa Pig child actors to sign over their voices to A.I.
“Hasbro, the U.S. entertainment giant that acquired the Peppa Pig brand in 2019, is asking child actors on the animated series to sign over their voices to artificial intelligence under new contract terms,” reports Deadline’s Jake Kanter. “Industry sources said AI clauses are now frequently appearing in kids’ contracts on TV and film projects, but Hasbro’s embrace of the terms on Peppa Pig has become a lightning rod for concern.” Nearly 1,000 people have signed an open letter, organized by the Agents of Young Performers Association (AYPA), condemning AI terms on an “international children’s franchise.”
Hannah Montana’s Mitchel Musso turned down 20th anniversary special, says it should’ve been a reunion episode
Musso, who played Hannah’s goofy older brother Jackson, expressed disappointment with how the Disney+ reunion special turned out. “Do an episode. Do the show. The set’s still there,” he said on The Joe Vulpis Podcast, per Variety, referring to the rebuilt sets. Asked if he was offered a role in the anniversary special, Musso said: “Of course they asked me. But, like I said, it wasn’t presented correctly. … It’s too long of a wait to do it in a way that isn’t even close to, in my opinion, correct...They just did it differently, and it is what it is. It wasn’t the right thing. And I was busy doing something that was more important. But it would have been way more important if it would have just been an episode, or a movie. Of course that would have been more important. That would have been everything. I would have dropped everything — eat, breathe, sleep it.”
Netflix announces Dept. Q is starting production on Season 2 — 13 months after Season 1 was released
“Season one of this (excellent) show debuted 13 months ago, but production on season two is just beginning *now*?” says Vulture’s Josef Adalian of Netflix’s announcement this morning, which comes 13 months after Dept. Q’s May 29, 2025 premiere. “I am hardly the first to note this, but the Netflix series production model is seriously broken. It shouldn’t take two years to make 8-9 episodes of this kind of show.” ALSO: Amy Brenneman and Tony Curran among Dept. Q’s 10 new cast members.
Ghosts promotes Ben Feldman
After recurring as Kyle the past two seasons, Feldman will become a full-time cast member for Season 6. “We’re so excited to have Ben on Ghosts this season,” showrunners Joe Port and Joe Wiseman said in a statement to Deadline. “He’s a truly gifted actor that is equally adept at comedy and emotion, and he’s an incredible addition to an already stacked cast.”
We Were Liars adds eight for Season 2
Riley Voelkel, Madeleine Arthur, Jaelynn Thora Brooks, Layla Douglas, Callan Potter, Aidan Shaw, Shaun Sipos and Brendon Tremblay will appear in recurring roles on the Amazon Prime Video drama series.
Paramount strikes a deal for Harry Potter to air on MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount Network for the first time
Ahead of the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, Warner Bros. has agreed to license all eight Harry Potter movies and the three films in the Fantastic Beasts franchise to Paramount’s cable networks.
Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” climbs to the top of Billboard’s TV Songs chart, thanks to The Boys series finale
“Piano Man” was featured in The Boys’ series finale last month, resulting in 19.1 million official U.S. streams.
Fox & Friends meteorologist Janice Dean announces departure after 22 years amid complications due to her MS diagnosis
“For a long time, I was able to handle the early mornings, the many hours on my feet and the stress of broadcasting live,” Dean said in a video posted to X. “Getting up at 2:30 in the morning and performing anything is hard, but especially for someone who has multiple sclerosis...For those living with MS, the war is inside of us. We may look fine, but our immune system is attacking the brain, the spinal cord and sometimes, the optic nerve. We’re left with permanent scars, but ones you can only see on MRI imaging.”
Chris Evert announces her ovarian cancer has returned
The tennis legend and ESPN tennis analyst announced Thursday “I have already undergone surgery as the first step in my treatment and recovery, and will begin chemotherapy in the coming weeks. Because of this, I will not be attending Wimbledon this year, and I will step back from my professional commitments over the next few months to focus on my health.” Evert was previously diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021 and 2023.
Will Ferrell is a golf legend who struggles to recapture his magic in Netflix’s The Hawk trailer
Ferrell stars as Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins in the comedy series The Hawk, premiering July 16.
Ransom Canyon’s titular town hangs in the balance in Season 2 trailer
Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly are back with their neo-Western drama series on July 23.
ABC unveils the trailer for Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro
The Robert Irwin-hosted Dancing spinoff will feature 12 dancers competing to become pros on the main show’s next season. Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro premieres July 13.
Watch the trailer for Netflix’s Mary Beth Barone: Galaxy Brain
The comedian’s first hourlong special drops on July 28.
Animals engage in criminal behavior on Tubi’s Breaking Bear
Brendan Fraser, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Annie Murphy, Josh Gad, Elizabeth Hurley, Chris Parnell, Chris Diamantopoulos, Harland Williams, Tony Plana and Jackie Beat star in the adult animated series described as “a fur-flying, law-breaking, forest-saving rampage following a dysfunctional family of bears who go full criminal to stop frackers, mobsters, and a psychotic wolf pack from destroying their home. As they spiral deeper into the criminal abyss, they face off against biker gangs, an egomaniacal news anchor, and their own spectacular talent for self-sabotage.” Breaking Bear premieres July 24. Watch the trailer.