Naomi Watts to play Jackie Kennedy on American Love Story / Doctor Odyssey remains in limbo / Tyra Banks to participate in Netflix's ANTM documentary
PLUS: ESPN's direct-to-consumer streaming service will start off costing $29.99 per month.
Naomi Watts to play Jackie Kennedy on Ryan Murphy's American Love Story — newcomer Paul Kelly cast as John F. Kennedy Jr.
The FX series that delves into the relationship between John F. Kennedy Jr. and wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy will also star Sarah Pidgeon as Bessette-Kennedy. This is the fourth time Watts will star in a Ryan Murphy series. She previously played Babe Paley in FX's Capote vs. The Swans, she led Netflix's The Watcher alongside Bobby Cannavale. She'll also appear in the Kim Kardashian-led legal drama All's Fair on Hulu. First announced in 2021, American Love Story is described as a "a scripted anthology series of sweeping true love stories that captured the world’s attention. The first installment depicts the whirlwind courtship and marriage of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. What started out as a beautiful union for the young couple, widely regarded as American royalty, began to fray under the stress of the relentless microscope and navel gaze of tabloid media. The pressures of their careers and rumored family discord ended with their tragic deaths when his private plane crashed into the ocean on a hazy summer night off the coast of Massachusetts."
ABC is making few changes to its lineup for fall 2025
"The schedule ABC is rolling out for the start of the 2025-26 season looks very similar to the one it had in 2024-25," says The Hollywood Reporter's Rick Porter. "The network has made a couple of moves — 9-1-1 spinoff 9-1-1: Nashville joins the Thursday lineup, and Shark Tank is going from Friday to Wednesday nights — but ABC has opted for a mostly stable lineup. 9-1-1: Nashville is the only new series on the fall slate." As Disney Television Group president Craig Erwich explained: "We have been successfully launching shows and returning shows to the schedule, so we don’t need to make a lot of moves. We have an ability here to focus on one or two shows and really point the audience toward what’s important to us and what we think is worth their time.”
Doctor Odyssey remains in limbo
The Ryan Murphy ABC rookie drama starring Joshua Jackson as a cruise-ship physician is "not currently on our schedule. We’re continuing to have creative conversations with Ryan, and we’ll talk to him about what the next chapter looks like,” Disney Television Group president Craig Erwich told reporters this morning. “Ryan’s really busy, but we’ll continue to talk.”
ESPN's direct-to-consumer streaming service will start off costing $29.99 per month
With the new ESPN streaming service launching this fall, people who don't subscribe to cable will be able to have access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, its college league networks, as well as ESPN+ and any games on ABC for $29.99 per month, or $299.99 per year. For the first 12 months, ESPN will bundle the full platform with Disney+ and Hulu for $29.99 per month. After that, ESPN said the trio will cost $35.99.
YouTube and NFL officially announce a free livestreamed Week 1 game
The São Paulo, Brazil Friday night Week 1 game featuring the Los Angeles Chargers and a yet to be announced opponent will be shown on YouTube for free throughout nearly the entire world (except Canada and a few other countries).
Tyra Banks to participate in Netflix's documentary on America's Next Top Model
According to EW, the former ANTM host "sat for an interview for the multi-episode Netflix documentary series that will premiere on the streaming service at a future date. Other participants have not been announced, but will include figures who were part of the original TV show. The docuseries — from Netflix and EverWonder Studio — will chronicle a wide range of topics from the program's multi-cycle run." The news of Netflix's ANTM docuseries comes after E! announced that its docuseries Dirty Rotten Scandals will also tackle ANTM.
Sarah Sherman on SNL's Aimee Lou Wood controversy: "Never in a million years did I get into comedy to make anyone upset"
“I was excited to play her because she’s so iconic, her character is so iconic, and I f*cking obviously never meant to hurt anyone’s feelings,” Sherman tells Vanity Fair of the recent controversy over playing Wood in "The White Potus" sketch that mocked The White Lotus star's teeth. “Never in a million years did I get into comedy to make anyone upset. I feel terrible that anyone would feel bad.” Sherman adds: "Being in conversation with everything popular culture, there’s such a danger there. Sometimes you just don’t realize how it comes across, but you’re put in a position to be engaging with it all the time, because you are a part of a show that’s constantly interacting with culture and popular politics and popular whatever. As I get thrown more and more into the show, it’s just this other thing that I have to learn about." ALSO: Michael Che trolls Colin Jost over rumors Jost is leaving SNL.
FX sets premiere dates for The Bear Season 4, Alien: Earth and The Lowdown
The Bear will again return in late June, dropping all 10 Season 4 episodes on June 25 on Hulu. Noah Hawley's Alien: Earth premieres on Aug. 12 on Hulu with two episodes, followed by a weekly release. Sterlin Harjo's The Lowdown premieres Sept. 23 on FX with two episodes, followed by a weekly release. ALSO: Check out Alien: Earth first-look photos.
Nick Mohammed and Stephen Fry among the contestants on BBC's Celebrity Traitors UK
Other big names in the celebrity spinoff of The Traitors UK include Charlotte Church, Jonathan Ross and Tom Daley.
CNN's second attempt at a streaming service to launch this fall
After CNN+ failed in spring 2022, CNN will try again with a streaming subscription service this fall. According to The New York Times' Benjamin Mullin, CNN CEO Mark Thompson told staffers "the new service would be tied to the company’s recently introduced subscription product, which gives paying members unlimited access to articles posted on CNN.com. CNN is also taking pains to avoid alienating its most valuable customers: traditional cable distributors. Those customers will have free access to CNN’s streaming service."
9-1-1: Nashville to feature "a really special event" in Season 1
“I think that the 9-1-1 team are truly the masters of event-izing television, the way that be-nado kicked off 9-1-1 last year,” says Craig Erwich, president of Disney Television Group. “They have a really special event planned for 9-1-1: Nashville, and although we haven’t discussed [crossovers], I think it’s an incredible opportunity that I’m sure at some point we’ll figure out how to capitalize on. What the 9-1-1‘s been able to do, it’s really a master class in television, which is consistently event-izing that show to keep it fresh after all these many years, my hat’s off to (showrunner) Tim (Minear) and Ryan Murphy for that.” ALSO: Watch a fiery teaser for 9-1-1: Nashville.
The CW acquires Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent
The first two seasons of the Canadian spinoff of Dick Wolf's Law & Order: Criminal Intent format will join The CW's lineup next season.
Janet Jackson to be honored with the Icon Award at the American Music Awards
The 11-time AMAs winner will also perform for the first time since 2018 and celebrate her 50 years in the music industry during the May 26 ceremony on CBS and Paramount+.
NFL puts another doubleheader against the first Saturday of the College Football Playoffs
"Once again, the third weekend of December will be football overload," says Awful Announcing's Drew Lerner. "As many will recall, last year, the third weekend of December featured two high-profile NFL games and a College Football Playoff tripleheader. This year, it’s looking more like the same. On Monday, Fox Sports announced it will exclusively air an NFL doubleheader on Saturday, December 20. This is the same day that the College Football Playoff will presumably play three first-round games, barring a schedule shift from last year’s layout. Fox will air a doubleheader featuring the Philadelphia Eagles against the Washington Commanders and the Green Bay Packers against the Chicago Bears."
Law&Crime is airing A.I.-generated re-creations of the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex-trafficking trial
Without cameras in the courtroom, Law&Crime will use court transcripts and AI characters to bring the words of witnesses, investigators, and others in the room to life, “ensuring viewers get a factual, real-time understanding of what’s unfolding in the courtroom.”
Don't expect Michael Jordan to be a weekly presence on NBA on NBC with his new "special contributor" role
The NBA icon's new gig that was announced Monday appears to be a part-time job.
Dancing with the Stars reportedly approached Jordon Hudson
The girlfriend of Bill Belichick "likely will decline" Dancing's invitation, reports the Daily Mail, since the reality gig will coincide with him coaching North Carolina's football team this fall.
SoFi Stadium is getting a neighboring movie studio that will be used as the international broadcast center for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke's company announced that construction on Hollywood Park Studios will begin this summer and that it will house hundreds of broadcasters from around the world that have acquired rights to cover the Summer Games in Los Angeles. After the Games, the facility will be used to make movies, television shows and other productions and perhaps host live broadcasts.
Joy Behar and Jimmy Fallon bicker on The View over unanswered emails and whether she confused him for Jimmy Kimmel
"It's funny, because last year I sent an email to Jimmy Kimmel to compliment him on his job he did at the Oscars, but I sent it to you by mistake and I never heard back, even though it wasn't for you, I sent it to you," Behar said.
British viewers are "creeped out" by Channel 4's Virgin Island
The Channel 4 reality show Virgin Island, which premiered last night, follows 12 "courageous virgins" between the ages of 22 and 30 as they embark on a "unique" intimacy course at a luxury "hands-on" retreat, all with the aim of "overcoming" their anxieties towards sex.
Hulu drops the teaser and first-look photos at Kim Kardashian-led Ryan Murphy legal drama All's Fair
Naomi Watts, Niecy Nash-Betts, Teyana Taylor, Matthew Noszka, Sarah Paulson and Glenn Close will appear alongside Kardashian in the legal drama that follows a team of female divorce attorneys who leave a male-dominated firm to open their own powerhouse practice.
Watch Netflix's trailer for F1: The Academy
Premiering May 28, the Reese Witherspoon-produced seven-episode docuseries follows 15 young women "break barriers in one of the world's most demanding sports as they race to get a female driver back on the Formula 1 grid," per Netflix.