Robert and Michelle King set Vatican City drama series at Hulu / Ego Nwodim to host the Independent Spirit Awards / John Stamos joins The Hunting Party
PLUS: Shohei Ohtani translator gambling scandal drama series lands at Starz.
The Good Wife’s Robert and Michelle King set Vatican City drama series at Hulu
Vatican City will follow Caroline, “an American reporter working in Rome who’s unexpectedly invited by the newly-elected Pope to serve as the Vatican’s first female spokesperson and join Cardinal advisors at the very top of Vatican power,” according to Deadline. “A startled Caroline struggles with papal politics, Vatican misogyny, and her own disbelief and worldly past.” While Vatican City is being made for Disney’s Hulu, it is being produced at the Kings’ longtime home of CBS Studios — where they are currently developing Silicon Valley series Cupertino. If greenlighted, Vatican City would be the first CBS Studios show on Hulu. Vatican City also reteams the Kings with The Good Place and The Good Fight producer Scott Free Productions, which previously developed a 2013 Showtime pilot called The Vatican, written by Paul Attanasio, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Bruno Ganz as the pope and Kyle Chandler.
Shohei Ohtani translator gambling scandal drama series lands at Starz
The drama series about Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ohtani’s translator, Ippei Mizuhara, who stole $17M from the slugger’s bank account to pay off gambling debits, has found a home at Starz, a year and a half after it was first announced as being in development at Lionsgate Television. Alex Convery, who wrote the Ben Affleck-directed Nike film Air, will pen the series, with Justin Lin serving as an executive producer and director. In February, Mizuhara was sentenced in federal court in Santa Ana to four years and nine months in prison, and ordered to pay restitution of more than $18.1 million. In October, The Hollywood Reporter’s Gary Baum wrote about the difficulty of selling a Shohei Ohtani translator series because many “executives are concerned that taking on the project might damage their parent companies’ current or future relationships with Major League Baseball. Disney, Apple and Warner Bros. Discovery have media rights deals with the league worth hundreds of millions each year. Netflix and Comcast are themselves in advanced negotiations for their own pacts. Paramount, which has NFL and UFC rights, is also considered a natural home for baseball.”
Sheinelle Jones is joining NBC’s Jenna & Friends as Jenna Bush Hager’s permanent co-host
The Today veteran will begin her role as Hoda Kotb’s successor starting on Jan. 12 and may still appear on earlier hours of Today. “NBC is betting that Jones’ warmth and Bush Hager’s spirit will make for a formidable combination in TV’s never-ending battle for daytime audience,” says Variety’s Brian Steinberg. Jones shared on Today that the night before her big announcement she received a special phone call from Kotb herself. “Last night obviously, as you guys can imagine, it was an emotional rollercoaster for me and my phone kept ‘zip, zip, zip, zip,’ and I’m like, ‘I can’t talk, Clara’s tapping or dancing,’ and it was Hoda,” Jones said, explaining that she was at her daughter’s dance recital. “And so I went out to the lobby, we had some time, and I said, ‘Hey,’ And she goes, ‘Don’t say anything just listen.’”
Ego Nwodim to host the Film Independent Spirit Awards
Nwodim succeeds her former SNL colleague Aidy Bryant, who hosted the last two years. The 2026 Film Independent Spirit Awards airs from the Hollywood Palladium on Feb. 15, streaming live on the Film Independent and IMDb YouTube channels. “No stage celebrates the incredible work of these visionary artists and independent creators everywhere quite like the Spirit Awards,” Nwodim said in a statement. “I can’t wait to join Film Independent for an afternoon of fun, laughs and a few surprises.”
Sigourney Weaver may join Sophie Turner in live-action Tomb Raider series
The legendary actress is in talks to star in the Amazon Prime Video series in a role that is being kept under wraps. Weaver’s last TV role was also on Amazon, in the 2023 limited series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.
John Stamos boards The Hunting Wives Season 2
Cam Gigandet and Dale Dickey will also be part of the Netflix hit drama’s Season 2 cast. Stamos will play Chase Brylan, while Dickey plays Zelda Moffitt and Gigandet plays Gentle John Moffitt.
Fox sets winter premiere dates for Johnny Knoxville’s Fear Factor: House of Fear, Patrick Dempsey’s Memory of a Killer and more
Fear Factor: House of Fear premieres Jan. 14, Memory of a Killer debuts Jan. 25. Josh Charles’ Best Medicine, a remake of popular British comedy series Doc Martin, will have a special advance series premiere on Jan. 4.
Report: CBS Mornings will likely be overhauled after Tony Dokoupil’s departure to anchor CBS Evening News
Dokoupil, who should be announced as the new CBS Evening News anchor soon, is expected to begin the anchor job in early 2026. With his departure from CBS’ morning show, “a source close to the situation said CBS Mornings will likely be overhauled, which may mean that (Gayle) King and (Nate) Burleson will no longer be on the show. A timeline for the revamp, however, hasn’t been finalized and is not expected in the near term,” reports the New York Post’s Alexandra Steigrad. “King, whose contract is up in May, will continue to host until then. Insiders said top brass would like King to continue in another role at CBS should she be moved off the program.”
Jimmy Fallon was in “affable-host mode,” opting not to challenge Open AI CEO Sam Altman
The Tonight Show host was accommodating Monday night to the controversial Altman, whose OpenAI is behind ChatGPT. Fallon laughed along as Altman said “I cannot imagine ... figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT.” “Fallon stayed in affable-host mode—laughing, nodding, softening the edges,” says LateNighter’s Jed Rosenzweig, adding: “Altman’s visit to Fallon’s couch wasn’t the kind of broader cultural vetting you’d get from a Jon Stewart or a David Letterman. Even Johnny Carson challenged his more controversial guests. On Monday, the couch served a different purpose. Altman came to introduce, not defend, and Fallon came to welcome, not interrogate.”
King Of The Hill showrunner Saladin Paterson renews his overall deal
Under the new pact, Patterson will continue as executive producer and showrunner on Hulu’s King of the Hill revival, which he co-developed with original series’ creators Mike Judge and Greg Daniels. He’ll also develop his own projects, including live-action and animated series.
Amazon’s Barbershop series adds Bokeem Woodbine, Bresha Webb, Langston Kerman and Tiana Okoye
The new additions, who will recur, join previously announced lead Jermaine Fowler and fellow cast members Brett Gray, Punkie Johnson, Roy Wood Jr. and E.J. Bonilla.
CBS News officially taps ABC News’ Matt Gutman as chief correspondent
Gutman, a longtime ABC News journalist, is CBS News editor in chief’s most high-profile hire since assuming the role in October. Gutman will serve as lead correspondent for 48 Hours and contribute to CBS Morning, CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles gets an Apple TV premiere date and first-look images
Elle Fanning plays the title role, joined by Michelle Pfeiffer, Nicole Kidman, Nick Offerman, Marcia Gay Harden, Greg Kinnear and more in the series follows “recent college dropout and aspiring writer, Margo (Fanning), the daughter of an ex-Hooter’s waitress (Pfeiffer) and ex-pro wrestler (Offerman), as she’s forced to make her way with a new baby, a mounting pile of bills and a dwindling amount of ways to pay them.” Margot’s Got Money Troubles premieres April 15 with three episodes, followed by a weekly release.
Fox NFL Sunday hosts Curt Menefee to exit his other job as co-anchor of Good Day New York
The Fox Sports veteran, who took up local news anchoring at Fox-owned WNYW in New York, is leaving the post to focus more intently on his sportscasting role. “January will be two years since I’ve been doing ‘Good Day New York‘, but I’m not coming back in 2026,” Menefee said during Tuesday’s show, adding: “It’s one of those things that has been a great time — you have been welcoming, the staff has been wonderful — but the back and forth has been a lot.”
Amazon shares the first look at Guy Ritchie’s Young Sherlock
Hero Fiennes Tiffin plays Sherlock Holmes in the iconic detective character’s early days in the drama series premiering in 2026.
Would Jimmy Kimmel have extended his contract if Trump wasn’t president?
Kimmel, who reportedly signed his one-year extension over the summer before his ABC suspension, announced he’s sticking around through May 2027 last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live! “If you’re tired of Kimmel’s act, blame Trump for the extended encore,” says Cracked’s Matt Solomon. “The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host has been making noise for years about retiring, including gripes in February 2024 that he was exhausted by the job...So why not ride off into the sunset? The answer is obvious: Donald Trump. After successfully beating back the president’s calls for ABC to remove Kimmel from the airwaves, signing off now would be waving a white flag of surrender. There’s no way Kimmel would give him that satisfaction, since there’s no doubt Trump would claim he’d won the war.”
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Pay attention to how Jimmy Kimmel framed his contract extension: “One phrase from Kimmel stood out: ‘I have decided to extend my contract.’ That wording suggested a choice that belonged to him. And it likely did,” says LateNighter’s Bill Carter. Few performers in recent memory have taken firmer charge of their careers than Kimmel did this year, after a MAGA-sparked backlash thrust the show directly into Trump’s bullseye—and after Trump prematurely declared victory, insisting he’d gotten what he wanted: Jimmy Kimmel gone.”
Stephen Colbert calls out President Trump for confusing him with Jimmy Kimmel
The president falsely claimed that the “horrible” Kimmel had previously hosted the Kennedy Center Honors. Colbert, who hosted the Kennedy Center Honors for three years from 2014 to 2015, responded: “Just a quick brain-check. I called him and Jimmy Kimmel has never hosted the Kennedy Center Honors. But there’s the thing. I did the three years leading up to Trump becoming president.”
Amazon sets premiere date for 56 Days erotic thriller series starring Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia
Previously titled Obsession, 56 Days, based on Catherine Ryan Howard’s bestseller and premiering Feb. 18, “follows Oliver (Jogia) and Ciara (Cameron), who, after meeting randomly in a supermarket, fall for each other fast, and dangerously hard,” per Deadline. “Fifty-six days later, homicide investigators arrive at Oliver’s apartment to find an unidentified body—brutally murdered and intentionally decomposed. Did he kill her? Did she kill him? Intercutting between an intense single day in the present investigation, and the twisted trajectory of the young lovers’ affair in the past, the series is both a crime story and a sexy, psychological thriller.”
The Pitt Jan. 8 Season 2 return
The Emmy-winning HBO Max medical drama released a teaser for its Season 2 premiere, one day before the one-year anniversary of its Jan. 9, 2025 premiere.
Apple TV developing The Brothers Lionheart from Oscar-winning director Thomas Vinterberg
The Another Round director is set to adapt Astrid Lindgren’s beloved 1973 children’s fantasy novel as a TV series. “The Brothers Lionheart follows two brothers who share an unconditional love that transcends life itself,” per Deadline. “Jonathan and Karl Lion journey through the magical realm of Nangijala, where whispered prophecies, terrifying dragons, and a tyrannical emperor force them to become the heroes their bond demands.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 18 guest judges include Law Roach, Teyana Taylor, Benny Blanco and more
Jamal Sims and Dove Cameron will also guest-judge on Season 18, which will also feature appearances by Brooke Shields, Zara Larsson, Iman, Atsuko Okatsuka, Amy Taylor, Annaleigh Ashford, Danielle Pinnock, Julianne Nicholson, Sarah Sherman and Leland.
Whoopi Goldberg helps Leslie Jones cool down after experiencing a menopausal hot flash on The View
“I’m always hot, babe. I’m in menopause, that pause,” said Jones on Tuesday’s show. “Oh, I’m in it. I am pause. You know what I’m saying? The heat that comes off of me can light a small city in Guadalajara.”
James Van Der Beek raises $47,000 for his cancer fight after selling his Dawson’s Creek memorabilia at auction
The highest-valued item as part of Propstore’s Winter Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction, with an auction price of $26,628, was a necklace that Van Der Beek’s character Dawson Leery gifted to Joey Porter (as played by Katie Holmes) on the teen drama series Dawson’s Creek. Van Der Beek will use the money to fight his stage 3 colorectal cancer.
Check out the first look at Alan Cumming and David Morrissey in Russell T Davies queer Channel 4 drama Tip Toe
The British series is described as an “urgent tale that brings a spotlight to bear on the prejudices which are creeping back into our lives,” according to Channel 4. “Cumming and Morrissey are playing Leo and Clive in Tip Toe, two opposites who have lived next door to each other in Manchester for almost 15 years,” per Deadline. “But just as life should be settling down, the world around them is growing more tense. Words become weapons, opinions become radicalized, and gradually, two neighbors become deadly enemies in a tense, suburban thriller which challenges everything we consider to be safe.” No word on a U.S. release.
Darlene Love returning to sing “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show
Love’s annual tradition of singing her Christmas classic for 28 years on David Letterman’s Late Night and Late Show has officially moved over to The Tonight Show. Love will return on Dec. 18 after performing “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” last year (and performing the song with classroom instruments in 2017). She’ll again be joined by Steven Van Zandt’s Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul and Letterman bandleader Paul Shaffer.
Zachary Levi to host Fox Nation’s David: King of Israel
The four-part docudrama, premiering in 2026, will tell the story of David, who rose to become King of Israel, and who Christians regard as the ancestor of Jesus Christ.
Emily in Paris actor Jeremy O. Harris released from detainment in Japan after his arrest on drug allegations
The Tony-nominated playwright had been detained since mid-November in Okinawa for allegedly smuggling Ecstasy.
Quinta Brunson explains her charity for Philadelphia school kids to go on field trips
The Abbott Elementary creator and star agreed with Jimmy Kimmel that field trips were the best thing about school.
Jeopardy! champ Philip Joseph “Joey” DeSena arrested for felony peeping one year after appearing on the show
DeSena, who won two episodes in November 2024, was taken into custody last week after allegedly installing cameras in a victim’s bedroom and bathroom on October 10.
OWN’s financial advice reality show Maxxed Out unveils its trailer
Financial expert Leah Collins’ new show “dives into the emotional and financial chaos and how money (and mismanaged money) can strain even the strongest relationships,” per Deadline. Season 1 “will follow a married couple of ten years with two young daughters who struggle with crushing debt, conflicting financial views, and a cycle of poor money management.” Maxxed Out premieres Jan. 10.