Larry David sets HBO return with Obamas-produced sketch comedy series / Apple TV+ renews Murderbot / Ronny Chieng takes over King of the Hill's Kahn role
PLUS: Virgin River to become Netflix's longest-running scripted series with early Season 8 renewal.
Larry David returning to HBO and teaming with Obamas on a sketch comedy limited series about American history
David is reteaming with Curb Your Enthusiasm showrunner Jeff Schaffer on the untitled six-episode limited series, with Barack and Michelle Obama executive producing via their Higher Ground production company. The sketch show will feature Curb alums and other guest-stars. “President and Mrs. Obama wanted to honor America’s 250th anniversary and celebrate the unique history of our nation on this special occasion…But then Larry David called," reads the official logline. “Once Curb ended, I celebrated with a three-day foam party,” David said in a statement. “After a violent allergic reaction to the suds, I yearned to return to my simple life as a beekeeper, harvesting organic honey from the wildflowers in my meadow. Alas, one day my bees mysteriously vanished. And so, it is with a heavy heart that I return to television, hoping to ease the loss of my beloved hive.” In a statement, former President Obama said: “I’ve sat across the table from some of the world’s most difficult leaders and wrestled with some of our most intractable problems. Nothing has prepared me for working with Larry David." Schaffer, who worked with David on Seinfeld and oversaw most of Curb’s seasons, said in a statement: “The characters Larry is playing didn’t change history. In fact, they were largely ignored by history. And that’s a good thing.” This will mark David's return to HBO after Curb Your Enthusiasm ended its 12-season 2000-2024 run last year.
Virgin River to become Netflix's longest-running scripted series with early Season 8 renewal
"Mere days after production wrapped on the upcoming seventh season of the series starring Alexandra Breckenridge and Martin Henderson, it has been renewed for Season 8, which will once again consist of 10 episodes," reports Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. "With the pickup, Virgin River is believed to be Netflix’s longest-running live-action scripted series. It has surpassed comedy Grace and Frankie and comedy-drama Orange Is the New Black‘s seven-season runs and has edged Spanish teen drama Elite‘s eight seasons with 84 vs. 64 episodes across them. (Grace and Frankie‘s episode count remains a Netflix high mark at 94 though the show is half-hour and Virgin River is one-hour, translating to roughly 70+ hours produced for the drama vs. 45+ produced for the comedy.)" Andreeva adds: "It is not surprising that Virgin River, one of Netflix’s 'blue sky', 'comfort' series, has eclipsed flashier, higher-profile shows on the platform with its longevity. It is based on popular IP, Robyn Carr’s novels; it employs a sustainable premise, the relationships among characters in a small town; it features a strong cast led by Alexandra Breckenridge and Martin Henderson and anchored by veterans Tim Matheson and Annette O’Toole; and it boasts appealing economics, filming in Canada in a handful of primary locations with little stunts or special effects involved.”
Apple TV+ renews Murderbot for Season 2
The pickup of the Alexander Skarsgård-led sci-fi action comedy comes ahead of its Season 1 finale on Friday.
The Office spinoff The Paper reveals a September premiere date and Peacock release schedule
The Peacock newspaper-set mockumentary comedy series will debut with four episodes on Thursday, Sept. 4, with two new episodes released weekly through Sept. 25.
Matt Rife, Robin Weigert and Paul Reiser among 10 joining Netflix's FTX series The Altruists
Rife will be a series regular and Weigert and Reiser will recur on the limited series starring Julia Garner as Caroline Ellison and Anthony Boyle and Sam Bankman-Fried. Eugene Young, Madison Hu, Karan Soni, Alex Lawther, Naomi Okada, Maddie Hasson and Marianna Phung are also joining the cast.
Netflix renews Squid Game: The Challenge for Season 3 as Season 2 gets a teaser and November premiere date
The Squid Game reality competition has been picked up for a third season months ahead of its Season 2 premiere on Nov. 4. Watch the Season 2 teaser.
Upload gets a final season premiere date
Amazon announced the sci-fi comedy series will return for its fourth and final season on Aug. 25, in what Amazon Prime Video is describing as a "four-part finale event."
Bobby Berk to host HGTV's Junk or Jackpot? from producer John Cena
The former Queer Eye star has landed his own HGTV series one day after the show he left after Season 8 was announced as ending with Season 10. Junk or Jackpot? will follow Berk as he helps homeowners decide to sell some of their unique collectibles in order to raise enough money to fund their home makeovers. The show is executive produced by Cena, who revealed that, “the idea for Junk or Jackpot? was born out of a conversation I had with friends. People often wonder if their collections are trash or treasure, and this show will help them find out.” Berk previously served as a guest judge on HGTV's Rock the Block.
Ronny Chieng takes over King of the Hill's Kahn role
The Daily Show host/correspondent and comedian will voice fan-favorite character Kahn Souphanousinphone on the Hulu revival. He'll take over the role from Toby Huss, who voiced Kahn for the first 13 seasons. Huss is taking over the Dale Gribble role from late actor Johnny Hardwick. Chieng's role is as a recurring guest-star. ALSO: King of the Hill's Season 14 trailer reveals a whole new Texas.
Annie Potts joins Fox's Best Medicine: Will she still appear on Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage?
Potts will play Aunt Joan, “a strong, sturdy, lobster woman who still goes out every day on her boat, and no one better tell her to stop if they know what’s good for them" on Fox's Josh Charles-led remake of British TV comedy Doc Martin. Potts recurred in four episodes of CBS' Young Sheldon spinoff, but her new role "should not preclude Potts from resurfacing on Georgie & Mandy at some point in Season 2," according to TVLine's Ryan Schwartz.
Finding Your Roots' Henry Louis Gates Jr. meets with Pope Leo XIV to present findings of his genealogical research
The pope met in private with the Harvard professor, as Gates personally revealed his finding about Pope Leo XIV's heritage, published last month in The New York Times. Gates' Time story. story notes that the pope’s Black ancestry is a “reflection of the complexities of the conquest and settling of the New York, the vast extent of voluntary European immigration and the involuntary, forced migration and enslavement of people of African descent who were ought to the Americas.”
Jay Leno recalls telling Hugh Grant “I’m not going to ambush you or anything” before the actor’s post-arrest Tonight Show interview 30 years ago today
On the early morning hours of June 27, 1995, Grant was arrested in Hollywood with sex worker Divine Brown. On July 10, 1995, Grant submitted to his first interview since his arrest on Leno's Tonight Show, with Leno greeting him with his famous question: “What the hell were you thinking?” Leno, not knowing about the 30-year anniversary, tells LateNighter’s Bill Carter that he spoke to Grant before their interview. “I just went in to see him and I said, ‘I gotta ask this. I’m not going to ambush you or anything,” said Leno. “But I gotta ask.’ He says Grant understood. “He was good guy about it.” As Carter notes, "according to late-night lore, the Grant appearance was the launching pad to Leno’s eventual and lasting dominance in the late-night ratings, which until that night had been led consistently for about two years by David Letterman on his then-new CBS show. But as Leno recalls it, the huge audience he received that night was more the nudge over the top after a steady upward climb for his show. Things had already shifted in his direction for a period of months, helped by adjustments he and his producer Debbie Vickers had made—moving Jay close to the audience for his monologue for example—improved NBC programming in prime time (ER had premiered the previous fall), and massive fumbles by CBS, led by losing rights to NFL football. But big moments are easier to remember, and Hugh Grant’s honest and somehow sweet self-abasement before an audience of hundreds in a studio and multi-millions on TV certainly played like a watershed event."
Former Netflix TV boss Cindy Holland, who was behind House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, is set to reinvent the post-merger Paramount
"After joining Netflix during its DVD-by-mail days, Holland ushered the streaming giant into the world of scripted originals with prestige players like House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black," says The Ankler's Lesley Goldberg. "That disruption, in turn, pushed the television industry into the Peak TV era as legacy media companies Disney, Warner Bros., Comcast and Paramount spent with reckless abandon and launched their own direct-to-consumer platforms in a bid to compete with Netflix. Now, Holland (presumably) is less than 90 days away from climbing another mountain: Paramount. The woman who led Netflix’s charge away from its red envelopes and into pricey original hits (Stranger Things) and a wave of landscape-shifting overall deals (Shonda Rhimes, Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss), is, sources tell me, excited by the challenge of reinventing Paramount+. Holland officially has been working for David Ellison as a consultant on his Skydance deal to acquire Paramount Global, but when and if the merger closes, the well-regarded executive is expected to be given oversight of Paramount+, where insiders say she will build the platform around such pillars as its Taylor Sheridan slate, Alex Kurtzman’s Star Trek franchise and CBS originals. For the rest of the TV industry, the impending return of Holland — a savvy, artist-friendly exec and dealmaker — should be considered a boon for the town’s sagging mood and perhaps its business as well."
Julian McMahon's cause of death revealed
The Nip/Tuck and Charmed star died last week at age 56 from lung metastasis as a result of head and neck metastatic cancer, according to a cremation report obtained by People magazine, which adds: "The manner of death was ruled as natural, and McMahon's remains have since been cremated."
Amazon reportedly adds Kevin Harlan, Dell Curry and Brent Barry to NBA coverage
According to Front Office Sports, Steph Curry's father is set to join Amazon's NBA team, while The Athletic reports that Harlan has officially been hired as play-by-play announcer.
Judge rules Don Lemon's lawsuit against Elon Musk over his canceled X show can go to trial
The former CNN host sued last year for alleged fraud, misrepresentation, misappropriation and breach of contract, among other claims, after Musk unceremoniously canceled a content deal he’d made with Lemon.
Michael Ian Black to host CNN's Have I Got News for You companion podcast
The Have I Got News For Your Ears podcast aims to offer a “smart and edgy take on the news,” according to CNN. Black co-stars with Amber Ruffin and host Roy Wood Jr. on Have I Got News for You.
Pedro Pascal's The Last of Us Joel Miller character gets the collectables treatment
Check out Joel's 6th scale collectible from Hot Toys, featuring the actor's “separate rolling eyeballs.”
Hulu sets a premiere date for Ralph Barbosa's standup special Planet Bosa
Barbosa’s second hourlong stand-up special and first for the streamer premieres Aug. 8.
Vanderpump Rules alum Scheana Shay's new memoir will delve into "Scandoval"
In My Good Side: A Memoir, which will be released on July 22, Shay discusses her side of the "Scandoval" story and her husband Brock Davies cheating on her while she was pregnant.
Pokémon voice star James Carter Cathcart dies at 71
In a slew of Pokémon shows and movies, Cathcart, who died Tuesday after battling throat cancer, brought several characters to life, including Professor Oak, Meowth, Gary Oak and James from Team Rocket.
Marc Maron admits progressives are a buzzkill in the trailer for his new HBO special
"We annoyed the average American into fascism," Maron says in the trailer for Marc Maron: Panicked, premiering Aug. 1.
Apple TV+ drops the trailer for Jason Momoa's Chief of War
Momoa stars as 18th century Native Hawaiian warrior Ka'iana in the Hawaiian history drama series, premiering Aug. 1 with two episodes followed by a weekly release.
Outlander: Blood of My Blood trailer reveals a massive twist
Premiering Aug. 8, the new Outlander prequel series trailer reveals that Claire was hardly the first member of her family to travel through time.