The Paper switches to a binge-release model / BBC says Doctor Who will continue on / Why two Survivor 49 contestants were dropped
PLUS: HGTV renews The Flip Off, Love It or List It and Renovation Aloha, orders Home Town: Inn This Together, Cheap A$$ Beach Houses and Tropic Like It’s Hot.
The Paper switches to a binge-release model
Peacock has decided to drop the entire 10-episode first season of its newspaper-based The Office follow-up on Sept. 4. That's a change from the original plan to roll out The Paper over four weeks: Four episodes on Sept. 4, followed by two episodes per week through Sept. 25. "Citing positive responses from people who have previewed the series (though not in print; reviews are embargoed until closer to the premiere), Peacock, Universal Television and the show’s producers decided to make the change and drop the entire season at once," says The Hollywood Reporter's Rick Porter. "The move will also put the entirety of The Paper in front of audiences several weeks before the start of the traditional TV season makes the premiere calendar even more crowded."
BBC says Doctor Who will continue on, with or without Disney
With speculation about the show's future growing since Ncuti Gatwa's departure, BBC content chief Kate Phillips announced today that “the Tardis is going nowhere." “Any Whovians out there, rest assured: Doctor Who is going nowhere,” she said at the Edinburgh TV Festival. “Disney has been a great partnership and it continues with (Doctor Who spinoff) The War Between the Land and the Sea next year. But going forward, with or without Disney, Doctor Who will still be on the BBC … The Tardis is going nowhere.” Lindsay Salt, the director of BBC Drama, said while there was no update on the timing of the next series, the corporation would “always stay committed” to it. The news comes after Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies recently said he was in the dark about the show's future.
Mariah Carey to be honored with the MTV VMAs' Video Vanguard Award
Carey, who will also perform at the Sept. 8 ceremony, will become the oldest recipient of the MTV Video Music Awards' most prestigious honor.
Jeff Probst explains why two Survivor 49 contestants were dropped for alternates
The two unnamed contestants were likely dismissed for engaging in communication before the game began. “What I can say about the reason we made the move is this,” Probst tells EW. “Survivor has rules and standards, and if a player crosses that line, we act. It’s one of the reasons we bring alternates, is to have our own insurance.” Probst adds: “Typically, we bring alternates in case somebody gets sick or has a panic attack and can't begin the game. That's very, very, very rare there. But regardless why we brought them there initially, they are also there to serve as a reminder that we do put a lot of importance on the integrity of the game, and we won't let anything or any person put that in jeopardy.”
An AI-generated fake Jon Stewart Daily Show video has gone viral on social media
The fake video purportedly showing Stewart condemning President's Trump’s threatened 50% tariff on India has generated millions of views across TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. But a close look at Stewart's face shows that it's not the video doesn't show how Stewart has recently looked.
HGTV renews The Flip Off, Love It or List It and Renovation Aloha, orders Home Town: Inn This Together, Cheap A$$ Beach Houses and Tropic Like It’s Hot
After canceling seven shows earlier this summer, HGTV is bolstering its lineup. The cable network will also debut two new holiday-centric projects this Christmas season: Hoarding for the Holidays and White House Christmas 2025. “HGTV’s passionate fans tune in for our signature home renovation, real estate and design expertise, and they also want content that’s unfiltered, escapist and fun,” Warner Bros. Discovery chief creative officer of U.S. networks Howard Lee said in a statement. “The network’s large order of new and returning series has something for everyone.”
Apple TV+ is hiking its subscription price to $12.99 per month
The 30% price increase marks the third time Apple has raised its streaming subscription price after launching at $4.99 per month in November 2019. The previous price increase was from $6.99 $9.99 in October 2023.
A Man on the Inside reveals its Season 2 premiere date and the first look at Mary Steenburgen as the love interest for Ted Danson‘s Charles
All eight episodes of the Netflix comedy drop on Nov. 20.
SNL UK formally names its showrunner, as Sky boss promises “chaos” and “noise”
James Longman, former executive producer of The Late Late Show with James Corden, will take the Lorne Michaels-esque job after he was name was first mentioned in April. Phil Edgar-Jones, Sky’s executive director of unscripted originals and Daisy Edgar-Jones' dad, said he embedded with SNL creator Lorne Michaels. “It’s exciting, a little bit scary as well,” Edgar-Jones said at the Edinburgh TV Festival. The series will be filmed in a BBC Studioworks facility, which Edgar-Jones hopes will “capture the intimacy” of the NBC version. He said the show will be true to the American original but “has to be a very British thing” if it is going to resonate with audiences in the UK.
ESPN and Major League Baseball have an agreement for streaming games
"Major League Baseball and ESPN have a framework agreement that would give the network the exclusive rights to sell all out-of-market regular-season games digitally and in-market games for five clubs over the next three years," reports The Athletic's Andrew Marchand, adding: "ESPN would continue to broadcast around 30 regular-season games, but not Sunday Night Baseball. ESPN would move to a different night during the week. The games on the network would remain exclusive, meaning viewers would only be able to watch these matchups through ESPN. The agreement would begin next season.”
Death By Lightning gets a Netflix premiere date
The four-episode limited series starring Michael Shannon and Matthew Macfadyen that tells the story of President James Garfield (Shannon) and the man who would kill him (Macfadyen) premieres Nov. 6.
The Comeback Season 3 casts Tim Bagley, Matt Cook, Jack O’Brien and Ella Stiller
They'll join returning stars Lisa Kudrow, Dan Bucatinsky and Laura Silverman on the third season of the long-awaited third season of the beloved HBO comedy.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 3 casts Dafne Keen and Saara Chaudry
Keen will play Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon and the hunt. Chaudry has been cast as Zoë Nightshade, an immortal hunter and Artemis’ lieutenant.
Seth Rogen: We may scrap a The Studio Season 2 episode if one person turns us down
“I mean, I’m currently working on an episode where, if one person says no, we have to throw away the entire episode idea and start from scratch and write an entirely new episode,” Rogen said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, per The Wrap. “Which is not the smartest way to make a television show, if I’m being very honest. But it’s the only thing we know how to do at this point.”
SNL alums Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett are launching a podcast
Mooney and Bennett, who were roommates and partners in the comedy troupe Good Neighbor before they joined Saturday Night Live, will co-host What’s Our Podcast for the podcast network Headgum (which hosts SNL star Ego Nwodim’s Thanks Dad and Nicole Byer’s Why Won’t You Date Me?) Their upcoming guests include Bobby Moynihan , Marc Maron, Jack Black and Tim Heidecker. “It’s gonna be really original,” Mooney says in the trailer, “and people are saying if they don’t like it, that’s okay too.”
Lil Rel Howery to star in Tubi standup special Rel Talk
In the special, dropping on Sept. 5, Howery offers up unfiltered takes on everything from family and fame to everyday absurdities.
BBC's The Celebrity Traitors reveals its contestants, including Nick Mohammed and Stephen Fry
Ted Lasso's Nick Mohammed, comedian Alan Carr, presenter Jonathan Ross, singer and activist Charlotte Church and Dept. Q actor Mark Bonnar, presenter Stephen Fry and Olympic diver Tom Daley will be among the contestants on the first celebrity version of the BBC's The Traitors.
Investigation Discovery orders The Tech Bro Murders
Premiering Sept. 9, the six-part true-crime docuseries explores the death of executives from companies including Google and Cisco.
Netflix launches an astrology hub to recommend shows and movies based on your sign
The new “Your Zodiac Watchlist” feature will launch on subscriber homepages on Saturday. “When Virgo season officially kicks off,” said a Netflix spokesperson.
The Golden Bachelor's Gerry Turner secretly dated one of his contestants
That's according to his ex-wife Theresa Nist, who said on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast that Turner dated contestant after they broke up. “I’m actually the one who suggested he go out with Christina,” she said.
Suspect in killing of American Idol music supervisor Robin Kaye put on suicide watch
A judge delayed the arraignment of Raymond Boodarian, the 22-year-old who allegedly killed Kaye and her husband Thomas Deluca in their Encino home, because he's allegedly suicidal.
Futurama's Season 13 trailer features Godzilla, an erupting volcano and kissing Siamese twins
All 10 episodes of Season 13 will drop on Hulu on Sept. 15, with two episodes per week airing on FXX on the same day.
The Pitt teases Season 2
The first footage from the second season of the HBO Max hit medical drama reveals which fan-favorite characters are returning.
Netflix unveils the trailer for Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black Season 2
The drama series starring Crystle Stewart and Taylor Polidore Williams returns Sept. 11.
Watch Love Island USA's Season 7 reunion trailer
Andy Cohen joins Ariana Madix as co-host of the reunion set to drop on Peacock on Monday.