He is moving to producing via an overall deal at Universal Television.
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'Roseanne' Revival Order Extended at ABC
The network has given an additional episode order to the family sitcom ahead of its highly anticipated return.
ABC is feeling good about its upcoming Roseanne revival.
The network has ordered an additional episode ahead of the Roseanne Barr sitcom's highly anticipated return, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. That brings the episode total of the reboot to nine episodes.
Set to bow sometime in 2018, the new episodes will see the return of original stars Barr (Roseanne), John Goodman (Dan), Laurie Metcalf (Jackie), Sara Gilbert (Darlene), Michael Fishman (DJ), Lecy Goranson (Becky) and even Sarah Chalke, who played the second Becky and will return to the series in a different role.
Gilbert spearheaded the revival and will executive produce with series newcomers Whitney Cummings and Jax Media's Tony Hernandez, as well as returning producers Tom Werner, Bruce Helford and Barr.
Roseanne is the latest series at ABC to get the green light for additional episodes. In recent weeks, the network has ordered more episodes of long-running drama Grey's Anatomy, as well as comedies Black-ish, American Housewife and The Middle. On Friday, ABC also ordered three more episode of freshman light drama Kevin (Probably) Saves the World.
Although the new episodes have yet to premiere, the decision to invest in more Roseanne is not surprising given the anticipation surrounding the show's return. Roseanne originally ran from 1988-1997. NBC made a similar move when it extended its Will & Grace revival order to 16 episodes, including a holiday special, and also renewed the multicamera effort for a second 13-episode season all more than a month before the show returned.
ABC officially announced the Roseanne revival in May, and used its Upfront presentation to tout the cast reunion, bringing several members of the show's ensemble onstage.
'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Boss on Why Larry David Is Ready for a New Love Interest
Lauren Graham entered the HBO comedy as an NBC censor — a "lucky coincidence" one week after David made the lives of real NBC censors' "miserable" after his 'SNL' monologue, says executive producer Jeff Schaffer.
[Warning: This story contains spoilers from Sunday's episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, "Namaste."]
When Larry David faced backlash over his recent "controversial" Saturday Night Live monologue, many viewers took to social media in his defense to ask, "Have you ever watched an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm?" Sunday's episode of David's HBO comedy proved that point.
When dealing with a broken thermostat, TV character Larry went into another Holocaust-themed bit with his technician (Will Sasso) upon asking him if he'd prefer to only live with heat or air conditioning. "I have no preference at all, it's like children," said Sasso's character. "OK, so it's like Sophie's Choice," said David, referencing the classic film. "You have two children: Heating and Air Conditioning. You have to pick one, the one you have an affinity for, and the other one goes into the concentration camp. Which one are you going to keep?" Answering the analogy, Sasso's character decided to keep Heat.
"That was a wonderfully timed accident. If you didn’t like it before? Here it is again!" Curb executive producer Jeff Schaffer tells The Hollywood Reporter of the response to David's concentration camp bit on NBC's SNL. "This episode, especially, we’re talking about things that many people are afraid to talk about."
Even more aptly timed is the introduction of Larry's new romantic interest, foul-mouthed NBC censor and single mom Bridget, played by Lauren Graham. Below, Schaffer talks to THR about Graham's role — another "lucky coincidence that one week after he made NBC censors’ lives miserable on Saturday Night Live, we got to see him actually dating one on Curb" — and what's ahead for the budding pair.
Why did you want to set up Larry with an NBC censor?
Larry’s had a long history with NBC censors. It’s just a lucky coincidence that one week after he made NBC censors’ lives miserable on Saturday Night Live, we got to see him actually dating one on Curb. Larry thought it would be really funny to be dating a censor and to get turned on by all of the foul language that she says "no" to all day. We shot the scene and it was great, but in the editing room we realized that it wasn’t as much about him getting turned on by it as it was a wonderful, romantic moment. So we put the romantic Parisian music under it and made this very sweet moment for Curb. That’s as romantic as we get: Larry falling for someone as she’s talking about pussy.
Is the real Larry David acting out his own funny fantasy by writing Bridget in as an NBC censor, having dealt with many throughout his career?
It’s a very strange, sweet revenge fantasy for all of the censors. Instead of hating them, what if he actually fell for one? I can say without hesitation that Lauren Graham is playing the coolest NBC censor you will ever meet.
How did you go about casting Graham — were there others who tried out for the role?
The character, Bridget, is going to be around for a while and we knew it was going to be a pretty big part for the final half of the season. So it was important for us that Larry had someone who he felt super-comfortable with. But it had to work both ways. He had to be comfortable saying anything in front of her, and we also had to make sure that it was someone who would be comfortable saying all of these foul things, too. We didn’t actually audition this part. We just talked about who would be great for this, and Larry thought she would be perfect and she was. He can say anything around her and she rolls with it. She was comfortable saying anything on the planet in front of Larry.
What about Graham did David think would work, and what was it like when they shot their scenes?
Lauren and Larry have an effortless connection. She walked in and it felt like they had been dating for a long time, it was so easy. The very first scene of her story was the first time she was on set, and she had to say the filthiest things on the planet. She was laughing and saying, “Oh, my dad was going to be so happy that I was on Curb.” Larry knew her a little bit socially and just got the great vibe that Lauren gives off. She is an incredibly giving and receptive actress and a great listener, so it's very easy for him to improv with her.
Why did you want to give Larry a romantic interest, someone that he can actually stand, at this point?
Bridget is attracted to the fatwa, so Salman Rushdie was once again right. Larry is still surrounded in the sexy pixie dust of the fatwa and there are beautiful women who are attracted to that. So that’s working great for Larry. But she has this kid, and that’s an issue. It’s like that old analogy about Hollywood — that people come to Hollywood and Hollywood presents you with this beautiful plate of food and there’s just a little piece of poo on the plate. And everyone says, “Eh, I’ll eat around it.” So Larry is going to be eating around the kid at the moment. He really likes Bridget and he’s just going to have to deal with this kid. But he’s quite sure that this kid does not have Asperger's. He, in fact, just think that the kid just has Asshole-perger's.
What does this mean for Larry and Cheryl David (Cheryl Hines) — is there no future for them?
Hasn’t Cheryl suffered enough? Can’t she be happy with Ted Danson? Cheryl is always going to be in Larry’s life and Larry, sadly, is always going to be in Cheryl’s life. They’re always going to have to deal with each other but right now, Larry is trying to find happiness with someone else. When we see them next week, Larry is still going to be very into Bridget and very not into her son. There are a few more episodes to go and Larry is now seeing someone who is excited about the fatwa, so the fatwa has been working pretty well for him recently. But it will come roaring back in the final episodes.
Is Larry using Asperger's the worst excuse he has pulled out of his pocket to try to justify his behavior?
At the heart of this episode is L.A.'s Westside guilt in action. Larry feels terrible admitting the worst thing you can say — “He didn’t sound black over the phone” — which predisposes so many uncomfortable things: Do black people sound different than white people? Do Jewish people sound different than non-Jewish people? Those are issues that people are very uncomfortable talking about, so of course we wanted to talk about them. This show will offend the people who are trying their hardest not to offend people — that’s what we do. It’s a bodily function for us. While political sensitivity to everything has been gaining gravity across the country, I think the Westside of L.A. is the black hole of sensitivity, the hell's mouth of hypersensitivity. We wanted Larry to hit that head-on. There are so many labels for every kind of behavior now and maybe, just maybe, this kid wears no other label than "asshole." Sometimes, people are just assholes.
A trend this season has been that Larry gets banished from everywhere he goes. This episode, it was yoga, the bus, Uber, Susie Greene’s (Susie Essman) boudoir and almost a body shop. Do you try to come up with surprising places for Larry to get thrown out of?
One of the first premises of this show was Larry not saying, “Namaste.” We never thought, “Oh, let’s make sure he gets kicked out of yoga.” It’s just that as that argument progressed, it seemed like there was no way he was going to come back for another class. Larry was in a lot of places this week that he usually isn’t frequenting. Real Larry has taken many Ubers, I can’t speak to how many UberXs he’s taken, however. There was also a lot more that we filmed of Larry on the bus, the art of the delicate transfer and him being a clueless passenger. We had Larry being asked why he was taking the bus and saying, “It’s a long story, but suffice it to say, a woman was involved,” and everyone else going, “Oh, yeah, we’ve been there.”
Larry and Susie have long provided fan-favorite scenes, and this season their relationship seems to continue to evolve. Is a bigger plotline coming up with those two?
Larry and Susie are very good friends that don’t like each other much, a lot of the time. I think if everyone looks inward, they will find that with a lot of their friends. They’re just yelling their displeasure, whereas most of us swallow it. There are some Susie surprises coming later in the season for sure, maybe a side of her that you wouldn’t expect.
David returned to SNL on Saturday to poke fun at himself over last weekend's monologue. Did you talk to him about doing that?
They asked him to come on and he was happy to. I think it was great that he was able to go back as Bernie Sanders and actually make fun of the entire thing from the week before — because it’s such a non-issue. And by the way, those people who were upset about concentration camp lines on SNL got treated to a whole bunch of concentration camp lines on Curb this week. I guess it just worked out that way. We edited this episode pretty early on, so I had actually forgotten about it and when I was watching the show again, I was just laughing. I forgot how funny that scene was — Sophie’s Choice between heating and cooling.
Which scene in this episode made David break up the most?
The UberX scene may be up there for the most Larry has laughed in a scene. The actor, Gregory Tuculescu, is American and has no accent, but his father is from Romania, so he just slips into it. That scene took about three times as long as it should have to film because Larry could not stop laughing. There was also a lot more that we had to cut of Larry and Leon [J.B. Smoove] doing yoga. Like Leon explaining to Larry what Shavasana meant — that it was Pig Latin for, “Meet me in a hotel room and get on top of me.”
What did you think of the episode? Tell THR in the comments below and check back in with Live Feed for weekly chats with Schaffer as Curb Your Enthusiasm airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.
Curb Your EnthusiasmRead the full article – Hollywoodreporter.com
'Suits': Patrick J. Adams, Meghan Markle Eye Exit Ahead of Likely Season 8
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The drama is the longest-running show on USA Network and its second-highest-rated overall.
Some very big changes are coming for USA Network's Suits.
Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the NBCUniversal-owned cable network is close to a deal to renew its "Blue Skies" procedural for an eighth season as stars Patrick J. Adams and Meghan Markle plot their exit from the Aaron Korsh-created series.
Reps for Adams, Markle, USA Network and producers Universal Cable Productions all declined comment.
Adams has been with the series for all seven seasons and recently started directing episodes of the legal procedural, the last remaining drama from USA Network's "Blue Skies" brand (before the cabler went darker after the success of Mr. Robot). Adams earned a SAG Award nomination for his role as likeable bad-boy lawyer Mike Ross. Sources note he is looking to pursue other creative avenues beyond Suits. The actor has been in contract talks for months but now appears poised to exit. Sources note that should Adams indeed exit Suits as a series regular, the door will remain open for him to potentially return in season eight in a guest or recurring capacity (as well as potentially directing). Suits did the same with Gina Torres, who left the show midway through season six but returned for that season's finale and is returning for the season seven finale — which is being eyed as a potential spinoff revolving around the actress' Jessica Pearson character.
Markle co-stars as Rachel Zane, a paralegal-turned-lawyer at the show's law firm who is engaged to marry Mike. Speculation about Adams and Markle's exits resurfaced over the weekend as the duo were spotted on the show's Toronto set filming a wedding scene. Speculation that Markle, an avid philanthropist who also has been with Suits since its start, could exitthe series began almost immediately after she started dating Prince Harry in 2016. Her departure opens the door for a potential royal wedding, which has been wildly speculated since the actress met Queen Elizabeth.
For its part, Suits ranks as USA Network's second-highest-rated scripted series (behind only the yet-to-be renewed Jessica Biel anthology The Sinner.) The drama, produced in-house at Universal Cable Productions, now seems poised to further lean into Gabriel Macht's Harvey Specter, who has been the focal point for the show since its start.
Creator/showrunner Korsh, meanwhile, has spoken openly about his long-term goal for Suits. "I originally thought Suits could possibly go seven or eight seasons. But I wouldn't limit it now, not when I see shows like Grey's Anatomy lasting much longer. There are stories left to tell," he told THR for a feature pegged to the drama's 100th episode.
Korsh is currently readying the Suits spinoff with Torres. The pilot will air as a planted episode in Suits' currently season seven and is slated to be the finale that will air in the first quarter of 2018. The installment will reunite Harvey (Macht), Mike (Adams), Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman), Donna Paulsen (Sarah Rafferty) and Rachel (Markle) with their old friend Jessica (Torres) as she adjusts to her new life in Chicago. When Jessica is forced to enter the dirty world of Chicago politics, she must rely on her legal wits and valiant relationships from Pearson Specter Litt to navigate this unknown territory.
USA Network SuitsRead the full article – Hollywoodreporter.com
Prominent 3 Arts Entertainment rep Dave Becky has issued a statement expressing regret for how he handled claims of sexual misconduct: "I want to ensure that all voices around me are heard, and that everyone is treated respectfully and empathetically."
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Keurig announced on Twitter that it would stop airing ads on his show.
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In an interview with ABC News, Rebecca Corry says if she could go back in time, she would have confronted and dealt with the situation when it occurred.
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Lisa Bloom Says Bill O'Reilly Is Libel-Proof
"His reputation is about as low as it could be," said Bloom, who is defending Michael Panter.
On Oct. 27, Bill O'Reilly's legal team filed the paperwork to initiate a lawsuit against Michael Panter, a former New Jersey politician, for making "defamatory and false statements" about the former Fox News host in a Facebook post that went viral.
But Lisa Bloom, who recently began representing Panter, said on Monday that O'Reilly is libel-proof because his reputation is "about as low as it could be."
Bloom said that Panter's post had no damage on O'Reilly's career prospects, which she said were already damaged because of several widely publicized reports detailing sexual harassment cases he settled for millions of dollars. "The idea that Michael Panter's Facebook post caused him any additional damage is preposterous," she said.
In his Oct. 24 Facebook post, Panter wrote about an ex-girlfriend of his who had settled a sexual harassment claim against O'Reilly that stemmed from her time working at Fox News. Panter alleged that O'Reilly called his ex and asked her for dirt about a woman that had accused him of sexual harassment.
Panter, in a joint interview with Bloom, said he didn't talk to his ex before sharing the story on Facebook. "I was very careful not to name her or the other women who are mentioned," he said. "I didn't want to get her in trouble. I wanted to truthfully provide my recollections of these experiences I had."
Bloom said that Panter has not yet been served with a summons with notice — O'Reilly has 120 days to do so. He also has not filed a report specifying which of Panter's words were defamatory.
But, while O'Reilly's suit has not progressed beyond his Oct. 27 filing, Bloom said she and Panter are taking the matter seriously.
"I have to assume that this is going to be a long, hard-fought case, and I'm in for that," Bloom said. Panter has floated the possibility of filing a countersuit against O'Reilly, and Bloom said that O'Reilly has made a number of actionable comments about her client.
Panter told The Hollywood Reporter over the weekend that several law firms were interested in representing him in the case. He chose Bloom, he said, because "she was so passionate about this issue, and has experience leveling the playing field on behalf of folks like me."
Before bowing out of his team in early October, Bloom came under criticism for working on behalf of disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Bill O'ReillyRead the full article – Hollywoodreporter.com
The retail and streaming giant on Monday announced that it has acquired global TV rights to the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy series.
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Michael Wright Named President of Epix
Wright previously headed Turner's TNT and TBS before moving to Amblin, where he stepped down as CEO in September.
Michael Wright is returning to the network space.
The former head of programming at TBS and TNT, who exited the Turner-owned companies to serve as CEO at Amblin, has been tapped to take over for Mark Greenberg as president at Epix.
Epix is the premium cable network now fully owned by MGM after originally launching as a partnership between Viacom and Lionsgate. In a $1 billion deal, MGM acquired full control of Epix in April. Greenberg, who launched Epix in October 2009, stepped down from his role as president and CEO in September.
Wright, meanwhile, stepped down as CEO at Steven Spielberg's Amblin in September. He had served as CEO of DreamWorks since September 2014 and helped forge the company's distribution deal with Universal Pictures. Wright was under contract until 2020, after his deal was renewed in early 2016. Despite serving as Spielberg's No. 2 after the departure of former DreamWorks co-chairman Stacey Snider, sources at the time told The Hollywood Reporter that Wright wasn't the right fit for Amblin.
Wright will begin Dec. 4 in his new post and be based out of MGM's Los Angeles headquarters. He will report to Epix chairman and CEO Gary Barber and will be charged with bringing the network into its next stage of expanding original programming, as well as leading creative and marketing operations. (Business operations will continue to be overseen by Epix GM Monty Sarhan, who will work with MGM worldwide TV distribution president Chris Ottinger on distribution.)
"Epix, under MGM’s ownership, is strongly positioned to excel as a provider of engaging, entertaining original content. This is an exciting time in our business, and I'm looking forward to working with Gary, the Epix and MGM teams, to bring the best storytelling voices to the network and move Epix into the next phase of its growth,” Wright said Monday in a statement. Epix's current roster of scripted programming includes scripted series Get Shorty, Graves and Berlin Station.
“We are thrilled to welcome Michael into the MGM family," said Barber. "His television industry experience and creative instincts are the perfect combination to help us execute on our original content strategy for Epix and drive additional value creation for MGM overall.”Read the full article – Hollywoodreporter.com
