Nickelodeon developing a second Victorious spinoff / Edie Falco, Lennie James and Laura Benanti join Mayor of Kingstown / SNL announces SNL50 guests
PLUS: Sarah Michelle Gellar reassures fans on Hulu’s potential Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot: "I promise you, we will only make this show if we know we can do it right."
Nickelodeon developing a second Victorious spinoff, with Daniella Monet as its star
Monet is set to reprise her Trina Vega role in Hollywood Arts, the working title of the multi-camera comedy "in fast-track development at Nickelodeon, with early casting getting underway," according to Deadline. Hollywood Arts follows Trina returning to her old stomping grounds as the newest teacher at Hollywood’s most elite performing arts school. Victorious creator Dan Schneider will have no involvement in the spinoff after allegations of inappropriate behavior, documented in Investigation Discovery's Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, led to his exit from Nickelodeon. Starring Victoria Justice, Victorious ran for four seasons between 2010 and 2013. Its first spinoff, Sam & Cat, starring Jennette McCurdy and Ariana Grande, aired for one season from 2013 to 2014.
Edie Falco, Lennie James and Laura Benanti join Mayor of Kingstown Season 4
Taylor Sheridan has recruited more big names to his universe. Emmy-winning The Sopranos alum Falco, who played a correctional officer on Oz, will appear in Mayor of Kingstown as Anchor Bay’s new prison warden in a series regular role, according to Deadline. The Walking Dead alum James will play Frank Moses, a legendary gangster respected in the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan, and well as beyond. Tony winner Benanti will play the series regular role of Cindy Stephens, a new correctional officer recruited in Kingstown.
Sarah Michelle Gellar reassures fans on Hulu’s potential Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot: "I promise you, we will only make this show if we know we can do it right"
Gellar responded to reports of her involvement in a potential Hulu reboot of Buffy, saying in a lengthy statement posted to Instagram: “So… you might have heard some news this week, but I realize you haven’t heard from me,. Three years ago, I got a call from my dear friend and mentor, Gail Berman. She told me that she wanted me to sit down with Chloé Zhao to hear her take on a potential Buffy revival. I was blown away that Chloé even knew who I was, but, as I’ve always done, I told Gail that I just didn’t see a way for the show to exist again. We’d always been aligned on that, but this time I heard something different in her voice.” Gellar agreed to a meeting with Zhao. But their “twenty minute coffee quickly turned into a four hour adventure,” Gellar wrote, adding: “This has been a long process, and it’s not over yet. I promise you, we will only make this show if we know we can do it right. And I will tell you that we are on the path there. I feel so lucky to be on this journey with these four unbelievably talented women, all of whom love ‘Buffy’ as much as I do. And as much as you do. Thank you to all the fans who never stopped asking for this. This will be for you.”
Wayne Brady says his The Family Remix reality show is effectively canceled after one season
“There is no season 2 from Hulu,” Brady said of Hulu, which originally ordered his family reality show before it moved to Freeform, where it premiered last July. “But we loved doing season 1, and who knows? Things may change and we may pop up somewhere doing something, but the bottom line is we're always a family.” Brady added that he and ex-wife Mandie Taketa are developing several shows, including a sitcom.
SNL announces the first batch of guests for its SNL50 anniversary special
Five-Timers Club members Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Simon, Martin Short and Woody Harrelson will be joined on the Feb. 16 NBC primetime special by Adam Driver, Ayo Edebiri, Bad Bunny, Dave Chappelle, John Mulaney, Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus, Paul McCartney, Pedro Pascal, Peyton Manning, Quinta Brunson, Robert De Niro and Sabrina Carpenter.
Melissa Gilbert says "there's plenty of room" for new stories as she continues defending Netflix's Little House on the Prairie reboot
Gilbert tells EW that she was initially going to stay silent on the reboot, but she had to speak out against Megyn Kelly's "woke-ify" comment. "I think there's room in the Little House universe for all different kinds of stories to be told — just like there was always room in the Little Women universe to keep retelling that story," she says. "These are classic stories, and no one's done it where they hewed to the books completely. (The original) was Michael Landon's interpretation, and now it's time for someone else's interpretation. And I think there's plenty of room for that. And I think there's a lot of other stories to mine beyond that. So I think this opens the door in a lot of ways for all kinds of Little House on the Prairie projects." Gilbert adds that the new project will have an opportunity "to do things that we didn't get to do necessarily so easily in the '70s," especially when it comes to casting. "They can make an actual point of hiring Native American actors to play the Native Americans, which we didn't do,” she says. “We were certainly inclusive and open to it, but it wasn't a prerequisite.”
Will the NFL and Fox censor Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show out of fear of a Drake lawsuit?
According to TMZ, "this year there's extra attention on Kendrick's plans, because of 'Not Like Us,' and the defamation lawsuit Drake filed against Universal Music Group over the diss track ... which, as we all know, flat-out calls Drake a 'certified pedophile.' So, here's what usually goes down ... once the execs get the set list, they call in the lawyers, who pore over the lyrics to make sure there's nothing that'll get the league or the network in trouble with the FCC. Now, there's no doubt Kendrick is doing the song -- our sources connected to him, the network and the league all confirm that. What the lawyers have to decide is whether to broadcast the lyrics that allegedly defame Drake, and risk a potential lawsuit."
President Trump rants about 60 Minutes, calls on CBS' license to be "immediately terminated"
"CBS and 60 Minutes defrauded the public by doing something which has never, to this extent, been seen before," the president ranted in an early morning Truth Social post. He added that the 60 Minutes Kamala Harris interview editing controversy "will go down as the biggest Broadcasting SCANDAL in History!!!”
Judge halts Sony's bid to take over Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! distribution from CBS
Amid Sony's breach of contract dispute over CBS' more than 40-year-old distribution contract that includes Sony's claims of "self-dealing," Sony informed CBS on Monday that it was taking over global distribution. Today, a judge halted Sony's attempt. “We’re pleased the court issued a temporary restraining order against Sony’s unlawful actions,” a CBS Media Ventures spokesperson told Deadline after the hearing. “We will continue to seamlessly distribute Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! to our station clients like we have for over 40 years.” Sony Pictures Television responded: “Sony Pictures owns, controls, produces, and finances Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. In light of CBS’s continuous failure to live up to its contractual obligations, SPT believes it has lawfully terminated the distribution agreements with CBS for the shows and accordingly assumed all global distribution functions."
Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins' death will be examined in a Hulu documentary
Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna, premiering March 11 from director Rachel Mason, promises to “take viewers inside that tragic day and its aftermath, told first-hand by many of the people who lived it.”
How Full House's Scott Weinger ended up writing this week's Paradise episode
The Full House and Fuller House alum has moonlighted as a TV writer over the past two decades thanks to Paradise creator Dan Fogelman. Weinger started his writing career on Fogelman's first show, The WB’s Like Family. He went on to write for other Fogelman shows, including ABC’s The Neighbors and ABC’s Galavant. His writing credits also include Black-ish and 90210. Weinger says Fogelman shared the idea for Paradise in fall 2022 and asked for his thoughts. “It was like every writer’s dream in television," Weinger tells Variety. "Basically, Dan emailed me one day and said, ‘I have a script that I wrote, and I’m really excited about it. I think it’s cool, but I’m not sure. Would you take a look and tell me what you think?’ I read it, and I was blown away." Weinger then began collaborating with Fogelman and other writers as they consulted experts, scientists and psychologists.
Report: Netflix may try to outbid ESPN for Formula 1 rights
The Times of London reports that Netflix, following its success with Drive to Survive, is trying to secure U.S. broadcast rights to Formula 1. The Times reports the move "would be the first significant foray into buying season-long mainstream sports rights by the streaming platform," noting that ESPN's exclusive negotiating window for a new contract recently expired.
Skip Bayless and Joy Taylor respond to Fox Sports workplace sexual misconduct lawsuit — Bayless alleges accuser "consented" to acts
As Fox Sports tries to get former FS1 hairstylist Noushin Faraji's lawsuit dismissed, former Fox Sports star Bayless and current host Taylor have asked the court for relief. Bayless’ defense attempts to absolve the former Undisputed host of any wrongdoing, claiming that Faraji “consented” to the alleged acts, according to Awful Announcing. Taylor’s defense similarly contends that any alleged emotional distress experienced by Faraji was due to “outside factors” unrelated to the alleged conduct.
Drew Barrymore addresses Martha Stewart touching controversy: "I think Martha really does like me"
The Drew Barrymore Show host went viral last November when Stewart pushed her away during a touchy interview. "I think she was just teasing," Barrymore said on Watch What Happens Live. "I've never been able to say this before with confidence, but I can now — I think Martha really does like me."
Shudder renews The Creep Tapes
The Mark Duplass-led found footage horror series will return with another six-episode season.
BritBox crime procedural A Taste for Murder to combine a murder mystery with Italian cuisine
Created by Matt Baker, each episode of the series starring Phyllis Logan alongside Warren Brown will feature a murder mystery connected in some way to Italian cuisine.
Amara Walker exits CNN
The co-anchor of CNN This Morning Weekend announced this morning she's leaving CNN after more than a decade, saying in a statement: “I’ve decided to seize on this moment of change in our industry and take a hiatus from TV news. I’m a journalist at heart, but I have other professional passions as well. The timing couldn’t be better to embark on the next chapter.”
Carl’s Jr. Super Bowl ad revives bikini-clad burger models with Alix Earle
The TikTok influencer stars in the fast food chain's return to its "bikini-and-burgers formula" after eight years.
For All Mankind spinoff Star City adds Anna Maxwell Martin
The British BAFTA Award-winning actress will co-star opposite Rhys Ifans in the Apple TV+ alt-history drama series exploring "the story from behind the Iron Curtain, showing the lives of the cosmonauts, the engineers, and the intelligence officers embedded among them in the Soviet space program, and the risks they all took to propel humanity forward."
RuPaul's Drag Race star reveals Charles Barkley is her godfather
Sam Star, who is currently competing on season 17 of RuPaul's Drag Race, stunned RuPaul by disclosing her famous connection. "He went to high school with my mom and they're best friends. So he played a big role in raising me. I'm sure he's proud that I'm now a drag queen and not a basketball player," Star joked, adding: “He's always been supportive, and that's why I've always loved him so much, because he's very outspoken about supporting the queer community.”
Watch the trailer for Adult Swim's Oh My God…Yes!
Sunny, Tulip and Ladi — three friends from South Central L.A. — navigate womanhood in an unpredictable, tech-driven world in the quarter-hour adult animated comedy from Adele “Supreme” Williams, premiering March 9.