February 2023 - TV Online

‘Assume Nothing’ Limited Series Based On Book In Works At Amazon; Priyanka Chopra Jonas To Exec Produce & Possibly Star

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios is developing Assume Nothing, a limited series based on Tanya Selvaratnam’s memoir of the same name, from Joanna Coles, Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ Purple Pebble Pictures, with Chopra Jonas also in talks to star, and ABC Signature.

Assume Nothing will be adapted and executive produced by Mimi Won Techentin (Queen Sugar), who also will serve as showrunner. In it, dating New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman – advocate for women’s rights, prosecutor of Harvey Weinstein – seemed like a dream. After the terrifying end of the relationship, Selvaratnam bravely shares her story with Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow of the New Yorker, which leads to Schneiderman’s downfall and his replacement by Letitia James, the first female attorney general of New York State.

Coles and Jessica Whitaker executive produce for Joanna Coles Productions, with Chopra Jonas and Mary Rohlich for Purple Pebble Pictures. Selvaratnam will serve as producers. The project is co-produced by ABC Signature, where Chopra Jones previously had a deal, Joanna Coles Productions and Amazon Studios.

Chopra Jonas will next be seen in Prime Video’s Citadel, in which she stars alongside Richard Madden, a series by the Russo Brothers for Amazon Studios where she has a deal. Following that, she stars in Love Again, releasing May 12, with Sam Heughan and Celine Dion. Most recently Chopra Jonas starred in Netflix’s Oscar-nominated The White Tiger, which she also executive produced. She is repped by UTA and Anjula Acharia.

Selvaratnam is an Emmy-nominated and multiple Webby-winning filmmaker with projects in production for Aubin Pictures and Story Syndicate. She is also the author of The Big Lie; and the Senior Director of Gender Justice Narratives at the Pop Culture Collaborative.

Techentin has written for a dozen broadcast and streaming shows, including Queen Sugar on OWN, A Million Little Things on ABC, and Echoes on Netflix. She completed the 2022 WGA Showrunner Training program and is repped by Zadoc Angel and Dave Brown at Echo Lake Entertainment and Jamie Mandelbaum and Marissa Linden at Jackoway Tyerman.

Coles most recently served as executive producer of The Bold Type, which aired for five seasons on Freeform. The praised comedy-drama was inspired by her life and career and featured a character, played by Melora Hardin, that was modeled after Coles. She is repped by Brillstein Entertainment Partners, UTA, Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.

Hayden Panettiere Breaks Silence on Brother Jansen’s Death, Died from Enlarged Heart

Hayden Panettiere has broken her silence on the death of her younger brother, Jansen, thanking everyone for their love and also revealing how they’re told he died.

In a statement to ABC News Monday, the Panettiere family says, “Though it offers little solace, the Medical Examiner reported Jansen’s sudden passing was due to cardiomegaly (enlarged heart), coupled with aortic valve complications.”

They continue, “We sincerely appreciate the outpouring of love and support towards our family as we navigate this unthinkable loss, and ask that we be gifted our privacy during this time of mourning,” the family said. “We love you so much Jansen and you will be in our hearts forever.”

TMZ broke the story, Panettiere was found dead inside his apartment in Nyack last weekend. According to a police report, obtained by TMZ, the 28-year-old’s friends became alarmed after he no-showed a business meeting.

Jansen’s friends raced over to this apartment, found him unresponsive in a chair and started CPR, but it was too late.

The medical examiner has not publicly declared a cause of death for Jansen.

Producer Christin Baker Introduces DIVA Box Office, Home of Exciting LGBTQ+ Women’s Content

No one can say that 2022 didn’t showcase a plethora of TV series with authentically shown LGBTQ characters at the forefront, and for that, we’re cheering.

But many of those same shows have been canceled in their proverbial prime. From Gossip Girl to Warrior Nun, Batwoman to Love, Victor, just to name a few, TV fans were left disheartened, confused, and for some, downright angry.

Perhaps this is the best of times to sign up for DIVA Box Office.

Award-winning director and Emmy-nominated producer Christin Baker spoke with us about the relaunch of DivaBoxOffice.TV, a new streaming service where you have a library full of queer women’s focused content.

Where and what can you watch on DIVA Box Office? And why is a platform like this important now? And what will it cost viewers?

Read on as Christin answers those questions, as well as her thoughts on Warrior Nun, Lucy Lawless, the end of Killing Eve, what she’d do with Katee Sackhoff, and more!

Tell us about the new DIVA Box Office?

It’s a streaming platform that is dedicated to lesbian and queer women. Every single thing that we have on-site is focused on the concept of the community and supporting artists who make content for our community.

So we have some great features. We have some wonderful international shorts. For example, you can rent or buy the holiday movie Merry & Gay, and soon you can get the first installment of ScareBnB: The Hosts.

It’s a streaming platform very similar to an Amazon or like an iTunes, so you don’t have to subscribe.

You can still rent or buy things. But we also have a subscription that includes a lot of great content.

How much is the subscription cost?

It’s $6.99 a month. If you buy it for a year, it’s $59.99, which equates to about $5 a month.

What are you most excited about that’s currently available or upcoming on DIVA Box Office?

Well, definitely the Scare BnB series that we’re launching at the end of February. That’s an original piece of content. It’s two episodes that are going to be part of a limited series, and all the leads are queer females.

It’s got just enough scary for a thriller. But it also isn’t too scary that if you’re not a big fan of horror, like I’m not a huge fan of horror, because it really scares the crap out of me, you can still enjoy it and not be too scared.

Yeah, I’m right there with you.

Yeah, we really tried to hit that not-too-scary but just scary enough spot.

Why do you think it’s important that we have a platform like this?

All the tweets that I’m seeing about how upset people are over the cancellation of Warrior Nun and people got upset about the cancellation of First Kill. I feel like you have a bunch of men making choices for our community, and they don’t care. They don’t care how important the fandom is or the community.

They are looking at the bottom line, and if it doesn’t fit or doesn’t meet what they think of as success, they just cancel it. And I think that’s happened quite a bit this year with some things that we love. I think people are just kind of tired of it.

So, it’s important to have a community, a platform run by the community, so people have a place, especially for indie content. It’s one thing to have millions of dollars and make something, but we’re here to really support the independent indie queer female filmmaker as well.

Now on to a different subject. Since we’re TV Fanatics here, if you could wave a magic wand and be a part of one TV show in any way you want, directing, producing, any show at all, past or present, which one would you choose?

Oh my gosh, you know what popped into my mind? There’s a lot of great past content out there. Lucy Lawless has been on my mind recently, and I loved Xena when I was younger, so I feel to be involved in that would be fun.

But really, I would want to be in a decision-making capacity for Killing Eve so I could change the flipping ending! I loved that series so so much, and it was perfection, in my opinion, until the end. I think Fiona Shaw is brilliant. I think Jodie Comer is brilliant. I think Sandra Oh is brilliant.

So I just think they had this amazing stellar cast, and then they just f’ed it up in the end.

I also really loved Battlestar Galactica, but that’s not as gay as I would want. As far as I’m concerned, Katee Sackhoff should be playing gay at all times.

Okay, TV Fanatics. It’s time to check out DIVA Box Office.

Then hit that SHOW COMMENTS button below and tell us what you think and which show you’re checking out first.

Also, we want to hear which cancellations hurt you the most.

Would you change the ending of Killing Eve if you could? And who is your favorite LGBTQ+ couple on TV right now?

C. Orlando is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.

BBC Staff Vote To Stage Biggest Strike In 13 Years; King Charles’ Coronation Could Be Targeted

BBC employees have voted to stage their biggest strike in 13 years in protest over the corporation’s changes to local content in England.

Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) have warned that they could target King Charles III’s Coronation in May when they down tools.

Some 83% voted in favour of strike in a postal ballot, with the remaining 17% not supporting a walkout. The turnout was 69%, which was higher than some were expecting.

An NUJ meeting will take place later today to decide on a course of action after a mandade was secured for industrial action.

Deadline first reported in January that it was “inevitable” that employees would stage a walkout amid fury at proposals to scale back local television and radio programming across the country.

The BBC has argued that funding for local content is being maintained, but it is reprioritizing £19M ($23M) of resources from traditional broadcast services to online and multimedia production to “keep pace with changing audience expectations.” This includes growing local news online and investing in investigative reporting.

BBC staff have not staged a major strike since 2010, when there was a 48-hour walkout over a pensions dispute. Flagship shows, including Newsnight and Breakfast, fell off air as star presenters including Fiona Bruce joined the protest.

Courteney Cox Gets ‘Friends’ Reunion with Aniston and Kudrow at Walk of Fame

Just as the theme song mentioned, your friends will be there for you, which is exactly why Courteney Cox had her closest gal pals from “Friends” by her side while getting honored in Hollywood.

Courteney was gifted her star on the Walk of Fame Monday, and costars Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow were in attendance for the big day — gracing her and the audience with a fantastic joint speech all about Courteney.

The 2 compared their decades-long friendship to sisters, with Jennifer joking that 30 years since they first met must be a typo — and no, it isn’t.

Jennifer added Courteney has also been an “inclusive, warm, loving” person, noting she was pretty nervous when she first met her — considering herself a “huge fan.” Lisa even hilariously called Courteney the only person in the cast that was famous.

Lisa lovingly mentioned Courteney was the reason the ensemble was so tight all those years … the star of honor also spoke about her time on the hit sitcom, saying everyone went through so much together — adding there was no jealousy, only support.

Could make for a great new episode … “The One Where Phoebe and Rachel Show Up For Monica!”

The Residence: Susan Kelechi Watson, Jason Lee, & More Join Shondaland Netflix Drama

Shondaland’s latest mystery drama has an excellent cast.

Netflix on Monday revealed 11 cast members joining the new series.

Susan Kelechi Watson (This Is Us), Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl), and Ken Marino (Party Down) have joined the cast, according to THR.

Also starring is Edwina Findley (If Loving You Is Wrong, The Wire), Molly Griggs (Servant), Al Mitchell (Stranger Things, Ozark), Dan Perrault (American Vandal), Bronson Pinchot (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Isiah Whitlock Jr. (Your Honor), and Mary Wiseman (Star Trek: Discovery).

They Join Orange is the New Black’s Uzo Aduba, who was revealed to be headlining the show.

Actress Susan Kelechi Watson attends the 2022 Apollo Theater Spring Benefit

“132 rooms. 157 suspects. One dead body. One wildly eccentric detective. One disastrous State Dinner,” the logline reads.

“The Residence is a screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs, and backstairs of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world’s most famous mansion.”

The series is based on Kate Anderson Brower’s book, The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House.

Netflix handed out a straight-to-series order for the project in March 2023.

Jason Lee arrives at Hallmark Hall Of Fame's "Away & Back" Exclusive Premiere

Shondaland has given the streaming service big hits like Bridgerton and Inventing Anna.

The company is also no stranger to White House-set dramas. Scandal was a massive hit for ABC from 2012 – 2018.

Shonda Rhimes executive produces alongside Betsy Beers alongside Paul William Davies (Scandal, For the People).

THR notes that the series is still casting for the role of the show’s president.

Uzo Aduba attends Disney And Pixar's "Lightyear" premiere at El Capitan Theatre

With the success of Shondaland’s other series on Netflix, it will be fun to see where The Residence fits in.

The plot sounds great, and the cast is shaping up to be one of the strongest on the small screen.

What are your thoughts on the cast?

Are you excited about this project?

Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.

‘The Traitors’: Faithfuls Call Out Season 1 Winner For Backstabbing Them In Teaser Trailer For Peacock Series

Andy Cohen is the king of hosting reunion shows on Bravo but this time he is trading The Real Housewives for The Traitors.

SPOILER ALERT: If you’re still watching the first season on Peacock, come back when you’re done to watch the teaser trailer for the reunion special premiering on the streamer on February 28.

The faithful, the traitors and the Season 1 winner returned to hash things out and clear things up. Cirie Fields has a lot to answer and will surely be grilled for her game that ended up making her $250,000.

In the teaser trailer for the special, Quentin Jiles is heard saying that he felt stabbed in the back by Fields. The Survivor alum notes the people that she never betrayed and makes her case for why she deserved to win. Rachel Reilly and Kate Chastain continue their feud over the fashion choices made by the Big Brother alum, which she calls “couture.”

Not all of the cast of The Traitors returned and viewers won’t be getting to see The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville and Shahs of Sunset star Reza Farahan. Farahan missed the reunion as he was attending memorial services for his late father.

The Traitors host will also be making an appearance during the reunion. Other cast members include Arie Luyendyk Jr., Cody Calafiore, Kyle Cooke, Ryan Lochte, Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick, Christian De La Torre, Michael Davidson, Andie Thurmond, Shelbe Rodriguez, Geraldine Moreno, Robert “Bam” Nieves, Anjelica Conti, Azra Valani and Amanda Clark.

The competition series has already been renewed for Season 2 with Cumming expected to return as host of the showed based on a Dutch format called De Verraders.

‘The Last of Us’ Praised by Menstrual Cup Companies for Focus on Product

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