Steve Kornacki leaves MSNBC for NBC / Liza Minnelli to make her RuPaul's Drag Race debut / Showtime renews Dexter: Original Sin
PLUS: The White Lotus' Season 3 finale will run 90 minutes — its longest-episode yet.
Steve Kornacki leaves MSNBC for NBC as the two networks split up
"The popular data maven has signed a deal with NBC that will expand his presence across the network’s news and sports divisions," reports the Los Angeles Times' Stephen Battaglio. "But the new contract does not include working for MSNBC, which is being spun off into a new corporate entity formed by parent company Comcast. Under the spinoff arrangement, MSNBC and NBC News are separating their operations, with the left-leaning cable network building its own newsgathering unit. Kornacki has chosen to remain with NBC. Kornacki, 45, will continue to be NBC’s go-to expert for statistical analysis of polls and election results and during major sporting events, including Triple Crown horse racing, the Olympics and the NFL. He will appear on the streaming channel NBC News Now along with the broadcast network franchises Meet the Press, Today and NBC Nightly News.”
Liza Minnelli to make her RuPaul's Drag Race debut in Season 17 finale, with RuPaul presenting her with a special award
The EGOT-winning Hollywood legend will be honored with the Giving Us Lifetime Achievement Award while sitting on a giant throne.
Law and Order: SVU taps Michele Fazekas as its first-ever female showrunner
The former Gen V showrunner, who once worked on SVU nearly two decades ago, is returning to the franchise ahead of its likely Season 27 renewal. In replacing current showrunner David Graziano, Fazekas becomes SVU's first female showrunner in its 26-year history.
Adolescence joins Netflix's Top 10 list of its most popular English-language seasons after just three weeks
With 96.7 million views since its premiere on March 13, Adolescence ranks as No. 9 on Netflix's list of its most popular English-language seasons, bumping Bridgerton Season 2 from the list altogether and pushing Stranger Things 3 to 10th place. Adolescence is likely going to climb the list even further since it’s behind The Night Agent Season 1 and Fool Me Once, which both have about 98 million views.
Hulu greenlights The Handmaid’s Tale sequel series The Testaments
Ann Dowd will reprise her Aunt Lydia role, joining leads Chase Infiniti and Lucy Halliday. The Handmaid’s Tale star Elisabeth Moss will serve as an executive producer. Hulu shared an image of The Testaments' first table read.
Showtime renews Dexter: Original Sin for Season 2
The Dexter prequel series starring Patrick Gibson and Michael C. Hall will be back for a second season as the enduring franchise expands with Dexter: Resurrection.
Morgan Wallen turned down SNL’s "Big Dumb Line" digital short, was replaced by Joe Jonas
Variety reports last week’s “Big Dumb Line" video was written for Wallen, who turned it down. So Jonas was brought in to replace him. The revelation comes after fallout from Wallen's abrupt exit from the SNL goodnights. Yet Variety reports that the country star also abruptly exited from the stage during the goodnights in dress rehearsal.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is staying in business with Amazon with her third deal
Waller-Bridge, who first signed with Amazon for a reported $20 million a year in 2019 in wake of her Fleabag success, has signed a new deal that will shift from being an overall deal to a first-look arrangement. The new deal comes a year after the streamer greenlighted her adaptation of Tomb Raider.
Rick and Morty Season 8 to premiere on May 25
Adult Swim made its announcEment at the end of its traditional April Fools’ Broadcast on YouTube, following a performance of “The Rick And Morty Playhouse Players.”
The White Lotus' Season 3 finale will run 90 minutes — its longest-episode yet
With a lot of loose ends to tie up, Sunday's Season 3 finale will be the length of a movie. The White Lotus' Season 2 finale ran 1 hour and 18 minutes. ALSO: The White Lotus sets new viewership high with penultimate Season 3 episode.
Anthony Edwards and J. Smith-Cameron join FX drama pilot Seven Sisters
They'll co-star with Elizabeth Olsen and Cristin Milioti in the potential series about a large, tight-knit family that begins to unravel when a sister (Olsen) starts communicating with a voice no one else can hear, forcing them to confront long-buried secrets. Edwards and Smith-Cameron will play the family's patriarch and matriarch.
John Oliver sued for defamation by healthcare executive
Dr. Brian Morley, a former medical director at AmeriHealth Caritas, who was featured in an April 2024 Last Week Tonight segment, is accusing Oliver of “knowingly and falsely” portraying him as someone who thinks “it’s OK if people have sh*t on them for days" over Oliver's characterization of his in-home testimony on in-home nursing care for disabled, according to Mediaite. “F*ck that doctor with a rusty canoe,” Oliver said of Morley. “I hope he gets tetanus of the balls.” Morley is suing because he says Oliver's comment came at the cost of his “reputation and personal well-being."
Doctor Odyssey and Shifting Gears are on ABC's bubble for next season
"Both are headlined by top TV stars, Joshua Jackson and Don Johnson (Doctor Odyssey) and Tim Allen and Kat Dennings (Shifting Gears)," says Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. "Both also got off to strong starts, especially Shifting Gears; it is the declines which followed that have left the shows in limbo. The drop-off is particularly significant for Shifting Gears, which launched its 10-episode midseason run big, with 6.1 million Live+Same Day viewers, and ended it with 3.8M. Its premiere demo rating also was off by half by the finale. Doctor Odyssey, which recently got a performance bump from a 9-1-1 crossover, is at about 3.5M L+SD viewers, off from 4.2M for the premiere."
ESPN and The Pat McAfee Show may be sued for amplifying a false sex rumor about an 18-year-old Ole Miss freshman
Earlier this year, Pat McAfee brought a false viral internet rumor that Mary Kate Cornett, an 18-year-old Ole Miss student, had slept with her boyfriend's father and amplified it on his ESPN show without mentioning her name. The Athletic reports Cornett has "engaged legal representation and said she intends to take action against McAfee and ESPN, which airs his show, and potentially others involved in spreading the rumor.” As Cornett explains: “I would like people to be held accountable for what they’ve done. You’re ruining my life by talking about it on your show for nothing but attention, but here I am staying up until 5 in the morning, every night, throwing up, not eating because I’m so anxious about what’s going to happen for the rest of my life.”
Nimesh Patel lands his first full-fledged Netflix special
The Emmy-nominated comedian was supposed to release his latest self-produced special, titled Instant Karma, today as part of a deal with Netflix. Instead, Netflix will produce an entirely new special for Patel. “My special that I self-produced is being postponed. But in bigger and better news, Netflix is producing a brand-new original special that I’ll be filming later this year. More soon,” Patel said in a statement.
NFL will show three games on Christmas Day, including a return to the Netflix doubleheader
After showing two games on Netflix on Christmas Day last year, the NFL plans to again go with two Netflix games plus an Amazon Prime Video game in primetime on Dec. 25, which falls on a Thursday this year.
Grey's Anatomy adds Trevor Jackson
The former Grown-ish star will appear in Grey's in the penultimate Season 21 episode as "a handsome, intelligent, but arrogant man in his late 20s who has just moved to Seattle. It is unclear whether the character is a new surgical intern/resident," reports Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. If Grey's is renewed for Season 22, Jackson could become a full-time cast member.
Shane Gillis' Tires gets a Netflix Season 2 teaser and premiere date
The comedian's auto shop sitcom returns to Netflix on June 5.
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos say goodbye to Live's longtime studio home of 37 years
The studio at 7 Lincoln Square, at 67th St. and Columbus Ave has been home to Live since the ABC daytime show launched as Live with Regis and Kathie Lee in 1988. Live with Kelly and Mark is one of the last ABC shows to move to 7 Hudson Square, the Walt Disney Company’s new New York City headquarters. "Our kids grew up here," Consuelos tells People. "They'd come visit mom here a lot — they were always backstage, even when they were babies."
Federal judge "guts" Leah McSweeney's toxic workplace lawsuit against Bravo and Andy Cohen
The former Real Housewives of New York City star's "discrimination and retaliation lawsuit" against Bravo Media, NBCUniversal Media, and executive producer Andy Cohen was "drastically trimmed" on Monday. "Granting motions to dismiss on more than half of McSweeney's 33 civil counts, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman mostly concurred with the companies’ First Amendment rights to produce a reality television show based on drinking and consequently the right to 'determine that their vision can be conveyed only by showing actual alcohol consumption,'" reports Courthouse News' Josh Russell.
Days of Our Lives star Tamara Braun exits again
“I wish this was an April Fool’s Joke but it’s not,” the Daytime Emmy winner wrote on Instagram. “This is Ava’s last week on Days. Last couple of days really. Sad but true. I’ve been gone since late July of last year but you can still catch Ava on your screens until April 3rd! I miss being with my Days pals. They are a really good group of caring individuals and being with them was a joy.” Braun has exited Days multiple times before.
Thursday Night Football's Richard Sherman says his family is safe and “very shaken up" after his family was hit by a home-invasion robbery
“House being robbed at gun point with my family in it isn’t what anyone wants for a birthday gift,” the retired NFL player tweeted. “Scary situation that my Wife handled masterfully and kept my kids safe.”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives stars to appear at a live Las Vegas event
They'll participate in a roundtable-style discussion, interactive games and other surprises for MomTok: The Unholy Tea, a June 7 event at The Venetian Resort on June 7.
Britt Lower performs Severance‘s theme on a trumpet on The Tonight Show
The Severance star told Jimmy Fallon she was in a marching band in high school.
Bill Murray gets emotional recalling Bruce Willis working as an NBC page on SNL in the 1970s
“Bruce Willis was a page at NBC when I was on Saturday Night Live," Murray said on Watch What Happens Live. "This sounds like insane sh*t, but his job was to come and go to the dressing rooms and refill the M&Ms and pretzels kind of thing in the actors’ rooms."