Sophie Turner is talks to star as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider / Mythic Quest gets a companion series / ABC cancels Lucky 13
PLUS: NBC has yet to strike a deal for John Tesh's "Roundball Rock," despite saying the iconic theme song will return for its NBA coverage.
Sophie Turner is in talks to star as Lara Croft in Amazon's Tomb Raider from Phoebe Waller-Bridge
The Emmy-nominated former Game of Thrones star is in talks to star in Amazon Prime Video’s high-profile series adaptation of the video game franchise from the Emmy-winning Fleabag creator, according to Deadline, which reported last month that Turner and Lucy Boynton had tested for the Lara Croft. Turner recently starred in the British crime drama limited series Joan. Tomb Raider has been a passion project for Waller-Bridge. “Lara Croft means a lot to me, as she does to many, and I can’t wait to go on this adventure. Bats ‘n all,” Waller-Bridge said in May when Amazon ordered Tomb Raider to series.
NBC has yet to strike a deal for John Tesh's "Roundball Rock," despite saying the iconic theme song will return for its NBA coverage
When NBC re-acquired NBA rights in July, the network announced that Tesh's "Roundball Rock" theme would return. "Now, here’s the surprise: I’m told NBC Sports still doesn’t have a deal to bring back Tesh’s tune," reports CNBC's Alex Sherman "While NBC Sports promised the song would be returning, executives have only assured Tesh they will negotiate with him for the rights in good faith. There have been some talks between the sides, which are ongoing, but Tesh is asking for a lot, and NBC Sports isn’t wedded to the theme at all costs, I’m told. Tesh already re-recorded the theme with a symphony orchestra in Nashville earlier this year." Sherman adds that Tesh may even license "Roundball Rock" to another media company — though, as Sherman points out, the only realistic option is Amazon, which is required to create a new theme song for its NBA package.
Mythic Quest gets a Season 4 premiere date and a Side Quest companion anthology series
The Apple TV+ series returns Jan. 29 for Season 4 with two new episodes, with one new episode weekly through March 26. On the day of the season finale, Apple TV+ will release all four episodes of Side Quest, which “explores the lives of employees, players, and fans who are impacted by the game in an anthology format,"; per the official description. Side Quest will feature Rob McElhenney, Anna Konkle, Derek Waters, William Stanford Davis, Bria Henderson, Rome Flynn, Leonard Robinson, Gary Kraus, Annamarie Kasper, Esai Morales, Shalta Grant and more.
Haley Lu Richardson to co-star with Emilia Clarke on Peacock spy thriller series Ponies
The White Lotus alum and Clarke will play undercover CIA operatives in 1977 Moscow. “Two ‘Ponies’ (‘persons of no interest’ in intelligence speak) work anonymously as secretaries in the American Embassy," reads the official description. "That is until their husbands are killed under mysterious circumstances in the USSR, and the pair become CIA operatives. Bea (Clarke) is an over-educated, Russian-speaking child of Soviet immigrants. Her cohort, Twila (Richardson), is a small-town girl who is as abrasive as she is fearless. Together, they work to uncover a vast Cold War conspiracy and solve the mystery that made them widows in the first place.”
The Golden Bachelorette’s first season, starring Joan Vassos, stood out from The Bachelor franchise for being absolutely charming
"The inaugural season of The Golden Bachelorette wasn’t quite the sensation that predecessor The Golden Bachelor was," says Hillary Frey. "But the reasons why it might have made for worse reality TV are the reasons why I loved it: It had a main character of unimpeachable integrity; nary a trace of backstabbing or conflict among the mansion-dwellers; and not even a hint of sex. This was truly the most wholesome thing I have seen on television in ages … and I have watched a lot of kids’ programming in the past few years. The Golden Bachelorette—and the Golden Bachelorette herself, Joan Vassos—was absolutely charming." Vassos, says Frey, "was just as earnest in her discoveries and her quest: She took her mission to find love deadly seriously from beginning to end. At first, I thought she was playing to the cameras all those times she uttered things along the lines of 'I am here to find the second true love of my life.' Turns out she really meant it! She gave each guy a chance. She genuinely endeavored to picture a life with the handful she felt had potential. She spoke openly about her dead husband, John, who was the one and only love of her life, and listened to the men talk about their sorrow, their broken hearts, their fears. Joan set the tone for the guys to open up and establish friendships with one another. She gave a gift to even the ones she had no romantic spark with. So it wasn’t surprising that Wednesday night’s finale was low on drama."
ABC cancels Shaquille O’Neal and Gina Rodriguez's game show Lucky 13 after one season
Lucky 13, which premiered last summer, "was more of an acquisition than a traditional greenlight by ABC," says Deadline's Jake Kanter. "Under the unusual greenlight model, producer Studio 1 pre-funded Lucky 13 in return for a share of ABC’s advertising and product placement sales on the show. The trouble for Studio 1 was that Lucky 13‘s actual ad revenue fell well short of the producer’s projections, which Deadline understands were independently verified. This was despite the show becoming ABC’s most-watched summer series premiere when it launched on the Disney-owned network in July with 2.7M viewers, beating CBS’s Big Brother. Lucky 13’s season finale was also ranked No. 1 in its time period."
Election Night viewers left TV for live coverage on YouTube, new data suggests
YouTube announced Thursday that more than 45 million people in the U.S. watched election-related content on Nov. 5 on its platform. "That is an enormous number, and while obviously not everyone was watching live videos in primetime, it suggests that tens of millions of people were nonetheless turning to YouTube for election-relayed information," says The Hollywood Reporter's Alex Weprin. "For comparison, Nielsen said that an average of 42.29 million viewers tuned in across 18 cable and broadcast networks from 7-11 p.m. ET. The YouTube data is not an exact comparison, but still shows a scale that is only matched by traditional TV." Yet of the Top 5 Election Night YouTube streams, four were from networks, including Fox News, NBC News and ABC News.
Oprah Winfrey explains why her production company was paid $1 million by Kamala Harris' campaign
Winfrey has said she wasn't personally paid for her and Harris' “Unite for America” livestream rally on Sept. 19. But her Harpo Productions did receive $1 million. The Shade Room re-posted Winfrey's recent response to TMZ denying she was paid. And in the comments, Winfrey reiterated that while she wasn't paid, here production company was paid for the work it performed for the rally. “I was not paid a dime," Winfrey wrote, per Variety. "My time and energy was my way of supporting the campaign. For the live-streaming event in September, my production company Harpo was asked to bring in set design, lights, cameras, microphones, crew, producers, and every other item necessary (including the benches and chairs we sat on) to put on a live production. I did not take any personal fee. However the people who worked on that production needed to be paid. And were. End of story.”
Emma Roberts producing a TV adaptation of Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell‘s novel One Fifth Avenue
Roberts and SNL vet Marci Klein, producers of Hulu's Tell Me Lies, are bringing another female-driven novel to television. Published in 2008, "One Fifth Avenue tells the story of the eponymous Art Deco skyscraper towering over one of Manhattan’s oldest and most historically hip neighborhoods — the sort of building you have to earn your way into — one way or another," per Deadline. "For the women in One Fifth Avenue, this edifice is essential to the lives they’ve carefully established — or hope to establish. From the hedge fund king’s wife to the aging gossip columnist to the free-spirited actress (a recent refugee from L.A.), each person’s game plan for a rich life comes together under the soaring roof of this landmark building."
CMA Awards adds more than a dozen musical acts
The Nov. 20 ABC awards show will feature musical turns by the duo of Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Kahan, Kacey Musgraves, Jelly Roll, Luke Combs, Cody Johnson, Eric Church, Brooks & Dunn, Riley Green, Megan Moroney, Bailey Zimmerman and Ella Langley.
Food Network’s Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition to feature Tiffany Pollard, Sebastian Bach, Cheryl Burke and more
Adam Rippon, Trinity the Tuck, Frankie Grande, Bartise Bowden, Corinne Olympios and Rachel Reilly will also compete on the 28th installment of the reality cooking competition show, premiering Jan. 5, 2025.
Why Survivor brought back its jury walk-in for Tribal Council
The jury walk-in was a regular part of Survivor until the pandemic, when it was scrapped to save time during production. So why was it brought back on last night's episode? “I could make up a story like that, or I could tell you the much less interesting truth,” host Jeff Probst tells EW. “It was a very casual suggestion from (executive producer) Matt Van Wagenen. I think he literally said, ‘Maybe we should see the jury walk in this season?’ And so we did.”
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to feature Jennifer Hudson, Kylie Minogue, Billy Porter, Cynthia Erivo and Cole Escola
The 98th edition of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade airs on NBC on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28.
All American adds Elijah M. Cooper
The 9-1-1 and That Girl Lay Lay vet will recur in Season 7 as the quarterback at South Crenshaw High.
Free ESPN streaming content is coming to Disney+
Disney+ will introduce the ESPN tile for U.S. subscribers on Dec. 4, providing customers who buy Disney’s three streaming products — Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ — “full access to all of the ESPN+ sports content they love while inside Disney+, similar to the experience we offer bundle subscribers with Hulu on Disney+,” Disney bosses announced Thursday. Disney added: “We will also make select ESPN content available to all Disney+ subscribers, including certain live sports events and games, as well as studio shows, series and documentaries."
Sterling K. Brown reteams with This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman in the tense first trailer for Hulu's Paradise
Brown plays the head of security for James Marsden's former president, who ends up being the main suspect when the man he was supposed to protect ends up dead. Paradise premieres Jan. 28, 2025.
Tamara Lawrance investigates missing person cases in HBO's Get Millie Black
Lawrance co-stars with Game of Thrones alum Joe Dempsie on the detective drama, in which she plays Millie-Jean Black, an investigator who returns to Kingston, Jamaica to work missing persons cases. Millie “soon finds herself on a quest to save a sibling who won’t be saved, to find a child who can’t be found, to solve a case that will blow her world apart and prove almost as tough to crack as Millie Black.” Get Millie Black premieres Nov. 25.
Max's Bookie gets a Season 2 premiere date and trailer
The Sebastian Maniscalco-led comedy from Chuck Lorre and Nick Bakay will feature guest-stars including Charlie Sheen, Ray Romano, Zach Braff and Brad Garrett when it returns Jan. 30, 2025.
Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano struggle to hide their house's dark secret in Netflix's No Good Deed trailer
Linda Cardellini, O-T Fagbenle, Abbi Jacobson, Denis Leary, Poppy Liu, Teyonah Parris and Luke Wilson also star in the dark comedy, premiering Dec. 12.
Ali Wong is a Texas teen battling demons in Netflix's Jentry Chau vs the Underworld trailer
Bowen Yang, Lucy Liu, Sheng Ang, and Jimmy O. Yang also star in the animated series, premiering Dec. 5.
HBO unveils the trailer for HBO's Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary
"Before video killed the radio star, smooth rock ruled the airwaves," says HBO of the Music Box documentary, premiering Nov. 29.
Watch the trailer for Hallmark Channel's Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story
Hallmark and the NFL teamed up to produce the holiday movie, starring Hunter King and Tyler Hynes, which sees a Kansas City Chiefs superfan and the team’s director of fan engagement fall in love. Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story premieres Nov. 30.
Deal or No Deal Island reveals its Season 2 trailer
CBS reality TV icons Parvati Shallow and Dr. Will Kirby will be joined by Australian Survivor champ David Genat on the second season of the NBC reality show, premiering Jan. 7, 2024.