Category: TV

EXCLUSIVE: New cast have been added for the second season of MGM+ and Sky’s ancient Rome drama Domina, with David Avery (The Night Manager), Benjamin Isaac (Holmes & Watson) and Joelle (Dune) now aboard.

The show takes places during a volatile period in Roman history and follows the rise of Gaius/Emperor Augustus Caesar’s third wife, Livia Drusilla, who is played by Kasia Smutniak. The second season will chronicle the struggle for control of the Roman Empire and Rome’s Imperial family from a female perspective.

Returning for season two are Smutniak and series regulars Matthew McNulty (Gaius Julius Caesar), Liah O’Prey (Julia), Ben Batt (Agrippa), Ewan Horrocks (Drusus), Claire Forlani (Octavia), Darrell D’Silva (Piso), Christine Bottomley (Scribonia), and Alais Lawson (Marcella).

New series regular Avery will play ambitious young aristocrat Domitius, who joins Gaius’ family through marriage and proves himself to be a thorn in Livia’s side. Joelle will play Vipsania, who refuses to play the conventional power games expected of Roman aristocratic life. She is happily married to fellow outsider, Livia’s son Tiberius, and is a force for good in his life.

Tiberius has been recast with Isaac in the role. Season two will see him increasingly reluctant to fulfill his mother’s ambition for him and his brother to restore the Republic.

Production recently finished at Rome’s historic Cinecittà Studios and is scheduled to premiere on MGM+, which will replace the Epix brand in the new year, and across Europe on Sky in 2023. The show is produced by Banijay UK-owned Tiger Aspect Productions in association with MGM+ Studios, with Banijay Rights attached as distributor.

It’s created by Simon Burke (Fortitude, Strike Back), who is exec producer alongside Tiger Aspect Head of Drama Lucy Bedford Carmel Maloney and Muirinn Lane Kelly, the latter of whom recently passed away aged 50.

Avery is repped by Curtis Brown, and Joelle and Isaac are represented by United Agents.

Bob McGrath, who was a longtime cast member on the beloved children’s show Sesame Street, has died at age 90, his family confirmed.

The actor’s family shared the news on his official Facebook page. “Our father, Bob McGrath, passed away today. He died peacefully at home, surrounded by his family.” No cause was given.

McGrath made his first Sesame Streeet appearance when the show first aired in the ’60s. He was featured playing himself in the 1969 pilot, the start of 47 seasons on the show. He left in 2017, having concluded with an episode titled “Having a Ball.”

Beyond acting, McGrath contributed original songs, including “People in Your Neighborhood,” “Sing a Song,” “If You’re Happy And You Know It” and even the show’s theme song.

He continued to work with Sesame Workshop, which administrates the franchise, by appearing at public events and serving as an advocate for early childhood education.

Beyond the TV series he appeared in Sesame Street standalone films, singalongs, holiday specials, and video games.

Survivors include a wife and several children. No memorial plans have been revealed.

Kanye West has been making headlines all week following his continued antisemitic statements and Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” covered it all.

Colin Jost started off the segment by talking about West’s appearance on conspiracy theorist Alex Jone’s internet show where he spewed off more hate and his love for Hitler.

“It didn’t go great,” Jost said, putting it lightly.

Jost then made reference to West saying, “I like Hitler” and joked that, that “was the same password he used to get into Mar-a-Lago” for his visit with Donald Trump.

“At this point, I don’t think Kanye is off his meds so much as he is immune to them,” Jost added. “We’re basically dealing with the omicron variant of Kanye. We’d thought he’d fade away but now we realize we may have to live with the brain fog of long-haul Kanye.”

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Jost then raised a theory saying, “What I don’t understand about this Kanye stuff is if Jews do control the media then how are we still seeing a new interview with Kanye every day? Also, if Jews controlled the media, explain the 80-foot Christmas tree outside of NBC.”

Later on in the segment, Jost made reference to West again but this time regarding his finalized divorce from Kim Kardashian.

“I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that she may be had an easier time finding a good lawyer,” he joked.

Watch “Weekend Update” in the video posted below.

The moon colony is closing down as AMC+ will not proceed with a second season of Moonhaven. Word of the cancellation comes four months after the dystonic sci-fi series was renewed for a second season and days after AMC Networks announced sweeping cost-cutting measures as CEO Christina Spade stepped down, which included laying off 20% of its U.S. staff, and write-downs for up to $475 million as it restructures its business. Up to $400 million of that is for content-related moves the company calls “strategic programming assessments”

In a SEC filing, AMC Networks said that “programming assessments pertain to a broad mix of owned and licensed content, including legacy television series and films that will no longer be in active rotation on the company’s linear or digital platforms.”

The reverse of Moonhaven’s renewal decision is part of that effort, I hear.

The show’s demise is still surprising given the fact that AMC Networks touted its strong performance, and, in light of that, I heard the company considered a two-season pickup before going with a six-episode second season order in late July. At the time, AMC Networks said that Moonhaven was its number one most-watched AMC+ exclusive series and number most-watched new series in the streamer’s history behind Dark Winds.

Created by Peter Ocko, who served as showrunner, Moonhaven is focused on a utopian colony on the Moon that may hold the keys to preserving life on Earth.

It stars Dominic Monaghan, Emma McDonald, Amara Karan, Ayelet Zurer, Joe Manganiello, Kadeem Hardison and Yazzmin Newell.  

Set 100 years in the future, the series follows Bella Sway (McDonald), a lunar cargo pilot and smuggler who finds herself accused of a crime and marooned on Moonhaven, a utopian community on a 500 square mile Garden of Eden built on the moon to find solutions to the problems that will soon end civilization on Mother Earth. A skeptic in paradise, Bella is sucked into a conspiracy to gain control of the artificial intelligence responsible for Moonhaven’s miracles and teams with a local detective, Paul Serno (Monaghan), to stop the forces that want to destroy Earth’s last hope before they are destroyed themselves. Tomm Schultz (Manganiello), an ex-military with a philosophical bent, is the right hand of the lead Earth diplomat to the moon, who finds his ambitions changed when he’s injected with a mind-altering moon drug. 

Produced by AMC Studios, Moonhaven is exec produced by Ocko and Deb Spera.

“I couldn’t be more excited to return to the Moon and continue our story with this amazing cast and crew,” Ocko said at the time of the Season 2 renewal. “AMC+ has been a wonderful partner in bringing our world to life, and we can’t wait to continue the journey.”

Writer-producer Alissa Neubauer has signed with Gersh for representation.

Neubauer most recently served as showrunner/executive producer for the second season of Fox’s Call Me Kat.

Prior to her work on Call Me Kat, Neubauer worked with Chuck Lorre Productions and Warner Bros. Television for eighteen years. She began her tenure with Lorre as a script coordinator on Two and a Half Men, rising to writer/co-producer. She remained with the company for all eight seasons of the critically-acclaimed CBS series Mom and ended her run there as co-executive producer for the final six seasons. 

Neubauer also is repped by attorney Gretchen Rush at Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.

Another 4,744 Covid infections were reported today by Los Angeles County. That’s up from 4,353 yesterday, continuing a surge in daily cases that could soon lead to a renewed requirement for people to wear masks in all indoor public spaces.

The county has been logging steady increases in daily infections and hospitalizations since the beginning of November. As of Friday, the county’s average daily number of new infections over the past seven days was 3,053, up a little under 50% from the 2,121 average a week ago.

According to state figures, there were 1,171 Covid-positive patients in county hospitals as of Friday, up from 1,164 a day earlier. Of those patients, 131 were being treated in intensive care units, up from 121 on Thursday.

Another 14 deaths were also reported Friday, which marks a rise from the 9-10 daily deaths the county has seen over the past few weeks.

There is some good news, however: The seven-day average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus was 12.2% today. While high, that number is actually down from 13.4% over the past few days and could signal a plateauing of cases.

Even so, hospitalizations would likely continue to rise, given that data point tends to lag changes in cases by about two weeks. The average daily number of Covid-positive patients in county hospitals was 1,056 as of Friday, up 39% from a week ago.

L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday that the rising case and hospitalization numbers have moved Los Angeles County from the “low” Covid community activity level to the “medium” category, as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She said the county is on pace to reach the “high” level in a matter of days, when the rate of new cases reaches 200 per 100,000 residents. The rate is currently 185 per 100,000 residents.

The move to medium does not prompt any immediate changes to public health mandates, such as indoor masking — which is already “strongly recommended” by the county.

But masking could again become mandatory indoors in a matter of weeks, Ferrer said.

The masking mandate would return if the county enters the “high” community level, which is expected by next week, and if the county’s virus-related hospitalization numbers reach two thresholds — if the rate of daily hospital admissions tops 10 per 100,000 residents and the percent of staffed hospital beds occupied by Covid patients tops 10%. If all metrics remain above those thresholds for two weeks, the public health department has said it would reinstitute a “universal indoor mask mandate.”

The county has already surpassed the first threshold, with the rate of daily hospital admissions already at 11.9 per 100,000 residents as of Thursday. But the level of hospital beds occupied by Covid patients was still 5.9% as of Thursday, below the 10% threshold.

The last time L.A. was close to a mask mandate was late July, when numbers finally moved lower on the day the rule was to have seen implemented. At the time, the cities of Beverly Hills, El Segundo, Long Beach and Pasadena announced that they would not enforce any such mandate. Long Beach and Pasadena have their own health departments which issues their own orders, and so they are not subject to the L.A. County mandate.

About half of California’s 58 counties have moved back into the medium level of community spread, including Los Angeles, Orange and Santa Clara, which are among the most populous.

Masks are currently required indoors at health-care and congregate-care facilities, for anyone exposed to the virus in the past 10 days, and at businesses where they are required by the owner.

Ferrer again noted that the actual number of Covid infections in the community is likely much higher than the official numbers reflect — thanks to the prevalent use of at-home tests that aren’t reported to the county, and due to the number of people who are likely sick but don’t get tested at all.

The current surge is being blamed largely on a pair of new variants of the virus, known as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1. Both are offshoots of the BA.5 variant that was blamed for rises in infection numbers earlier this year.

“While there still is uncertainty about what the impact of Covid-19 will be this winter, there is mounting evidence that we are entering another Covid-19 surge,” Ferrer said in a statement.

“In some ways this surge is likely to be different — we know more about Covid, have tools to help mitigate severe outcomes, and we are more aware of symptoms and when to take action. On the flip side, this will be the first winter where we are facing rising levels of Covid, with emerging new strains we know less about, along with unusually high flu and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) activity.”

City News Service contributed to this report.

Roll up, roll up, Insiders. The Deadline International team have once again been travelling the world to bring you the latest news and analysis from the global film and TV biz, with Mel and Zac both in the Middle East. Max and I actually found the TV world descending on London for once, so we didn’t have to go so far for access. Read on.

London Calling

Tighten those belts: Straight over to Max Goldbart with this report — As news emerged repeatedly of mass layoffs at a wealth of legacy U.S. media companies this week, some of the most senior execs in the business were facing tricky questions about the economic headwinds at the Content London event in the UK’s capital. “Belt tightening is coming,” according to Showtime Entertainment President Jana Winograde, who teased her Paramount-owned network’s approach to the global macroeconomic crisis: keeping up the tentpoles but “finding creative ways” to fund lower budget shows. Warner Bros. TV Studios boss Channing Dungey concurred, saying people are “taking a look at the costs of production more,” having spent a period of time being “stuck in a spending bubble” that ended with the Covid-19 pandemic. Universal Studio Group Chairman Pearlena Igbokwe was less concerned, however, stating “we haven’t seen the crisis’ impact” as of yet and stressing that great shows don’t necessarily cost $20M per hour. Igbokwe was on hand to unveil two UK talent deals this week, as Universal ties with Dominic Buchanan and Bennett McGhee’s Home Team and Cooking with the Stars producer South Shore. And she wasn’t the only one with a slightly sunnier outlook on the gloom: Fifth Season’s Co-CEO Chris Rice said the media stocks crash meant those globally minded companies who like creative approaches to program and filmmaking had a great opportunity to make hot new co-productions. We constantly hear that international is the long-term future for entertainment, but maybe it’s also the short-term answer, too.

Harry & Meghan Spill The Royal Beans

This won’t be controversial: Is there a celebrity topic that divides opinion more than the marriage of Prince Harry and Suits actress Meghan Markle? Almost certainly not. So, there’s zero chance people will care about the couple’s Netflix doc series charting their relationship and their decision to step back from royal life in favor of a California lifestyle making podcasts and TV shows. This week, we got a first look at Harry & Meghan, the streaming doc from What Happened, Miss Simone? director Liz Garbus. Those who say Harry and Meghan are attention seekers won’t be sated by the opening line of the teaser trailer, in which the Duke of Sussex says: “I had to do everything to protect my family,” but this is their chance to tell more of their personal story and maybe change some minds. In theory, it won’t be long before the series drops now, but Netflix simply went with “coming soon.” Our Baz Bamigboye had noted a November 9 launch date to complement Season 5 ofThe Crown had been planned at one point but the controversy surrounding the drama’s latest run meant it had been pushed. That was all unofficial, of course, as the project has been shrouded in secrecy. Click here to watch the trailer.

Red Sea-Change

Stones in Saudi: Mel Goodfellow has been in Saudi Arabia and filed this report — It’s that time of year when the Middle East’s festival circuit kicks into life. After Marrakech, Egypt Cairo and Carthage, Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival launched its second edition in the port city of Jeddah on Thursday. Running December 1-10, it coincides with the fifth anniversary of news breaking that the country was lifting its 35-year ban on movie theaters as part of wider reforms to open-up the country’s economy and society. Whether to attend the festival amid concerns over the country’s human rights track record remains a hot topic in international film professional circles. However, judging by the roster of high-level guests due to touch down this week — including Sharon Stone, Spike Lee, Jackie Chan and Shah Rukh Khan — the mood around the festival appears to be thawing. Jury president Oliver Stone declared at the opening ceremony that the country was “misunderstood,” and detractors needed to visit in person.

Too big to ignore?: Beyond the stars, international industry execs are also making the trip. Ron Halpern and Working Title’s Lucas Webb were in the audience for the opening film What’s Love Got To Do With It?, on which they are executive producers, while Elysian Film Group’s Danny Perkins, Wild Bunch International’s Vincent Maraval and Vine Alternative Investments partner and COO Steve Kovach are among the speakers lined-up for a program of industry panels. Ultimately, Saudi Arabia’s potential is getting too big to ignore. “Let’s not forget the market opportunities in Saudi Arabia right now. It’s the largest market in the region, both for production and consumption,” the Red Sea Foundation Ceo Jomana Al-Rashid told Deadline in the lead-up to the festival. “Red Sea is a perfect entry point and introduction to what’s happening in the region as a whole.” Full Red Sea coverage can be found here, including Diana’s cool sit down with Bollywood star Rukh Khan.

Screen Scotland Saves Edinburgh… Maybe

Appraise be: The Edinburgh Film Festival went bust in October, along with the Scottish capital’s Filmhouse Cinema and the Belmont Filmhouse in Aberdeen, after the charity that owned them called in the administrators. Things looked bleak for the much-loved festival but it’s possible things are looking up. National funding body Screen Scotland has acquired the rights and brand assets to the festival from FRP Advisory. However, there was no immediate announcement of a 2023 festival and instead Kristy Matheson, who led her Edinburgh Film Festival as Creative Director this year, has been given the task of appraising the possibility of an event next year. Funding for the work will come out of a pot initially awarded to the festival’s previous owner the Centre for the Moving Image. The Edinburgh Film Festival holds the record as the world’s oldest continually running film fest, so not only would Screen Scotland be saving a pretty great event in a beautiful city, but they’d also be ensuring the event’s Wikipedia page won’t have to amend that fact. Zac had plenty more.

Shanghai Disneyland Opens – Then Closes — Doors

Crackdown: China remains committed to its hard-line ‘zero Covid’ approach to the global pandemic, despite the recent protests aimed at softening the stance. Shanghai Disneyland had closed its gates in late October but had reopened them a week ago. However, by Tuesday the doors were slammed shut again as the government cracked down on the rise in cases. The park has been closed several times since the pandemic began in March 2020 but this latest closure will be a huge disappointment to Disney, which is still resetting under returning CEO Bob Iger, and something tells me Disney’s troubles in China don’t end here. Tom Tapp had more.

The Essentials

Hot One: Cynthia Erivo and Renee Zellwegger are teaming for Apple TV+ thriller series Raising Wild, per Max’s scoop.

Another One: MGM is shopping Jessica Lange and Ed Harris flick Long Day’s Journey into Night. Andreas on this.

Some more spice: Johnny Depp film Chocolat tempered into TV series treatment.

Stake: BBC Studios invested in Small Axe’s Turbine Studios.

First look: Maxine Peake as late Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Anna. Andreas with this one.

Trailer: Netflix drops a teaser for Harry & Meghan. That one won’t be controversial…

Slate: Prime Video France unveils a slate of films and TV — and a union deal for good measure.

Michael Gandolfini (The Many Saints of Newark) is set for a major role opposite Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio in Daredevil: Born Again, Marvel’s upcoming revival series on Disney+, sources tell Deadline.

Written and executive produced by Covert Affairs creators Matt Corman and Chris Ord, the new installment centers on Cox’s title character Daredevil, otherwise known by the name Matt Murdock, who is an attorney by day and crimefighter by night. D’Onofrio reprises his role as mob boss Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin.

Details about Gandolfini’s character are being kept under wraps; it’s possible he plays an ambitious guy from Staten Island referred to as Liam. Reps for Marvel and Gandolfini had no comment.

Gandolfini played the younger version of Tony Soprano in The Many Saints of Newark, a role made famous by his father, the late James Gandolfini. He was recently seen in Paramount+ limited series The Offer, and in the feature film Cherry, and upcoming will be seen in Apple TV+’s Extrapolations. He recently wrapped production on Susanna Fogel’s psychological thriller Cat Person, Ari Aster’s Disappointment Blvd. and Cori Finley’s sci-fi film Landscape with Invisible Hand. He is repped by WME, Relevant and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.

The 18-episode season of Daredevil: Born Again is slated to premiere in 2024, four years after the original Daredevil series ended its run on Netflix after three seasons.

The Roku Channel has now become the exclusive AVOD streaming home for The Jennifer Hudson Show.

All previously aired episodes are available beginning Thursday, and new episodes will hit the platform the day after they air.

“The authentic spirit that Jennifer Hudson brings to each episode of the series has already won over the hearts of audiences across the country, and we look forward to extending its viewership potential further to the millions of streamers reached by The Roku Channel,” said Rob Holmes, VP, Programming, Roku.

Finding additional avenues on other platforms has become crucial for high-end syndicated talk shows to survive in the current economic environment, which has been increasingly challanging for first-run fare.

Warner Bros.’ freshman The Jennifer Hudson Show got to a respectable start this fall and is currently looking good to be renewed for Season 2 by its core station group, the Fox Stations.

The Jennifer Hudson Show isn’t the first talk show Roku. Earlier this fall, the streamer became the exclusive home of The Rich Eisen Show as part of its sports “experience” rollout to create a centralized hub for sports programming.

The Jennifer Hudson Show features celebrity interviews, topical stories, community heroes, viral sensations, and music. It is produced in Los Angeles by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures and distributed in national syndication by Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution.

Executive producers include Mary Connelly, Andy Lassner, Corey Palent, Jennifer Hudson, Lisa Kasteler Calio, Graehme Morphy and Walter Williams III, with Shani Black as co-executive producer.

Roku had 65.4 million active accounts as of September 30, and the company estimates that it reaches about 80 million people, making it one of the primary gatekeepers of streaming in the U.S. In addition to its connected devices, Roku’s interface is on more than one-third of smart-TVs in North America.

In what would be his first series regular television role, two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro is set to star in and executive produce Zero Day, a limited series from Eric Newman and Noah Oppenheim, which is in development at Netflix, sources tell Deadline.

Details are being kept under wraps, but we hear De Niro would play a former U.S. President in the political thriller.

Series is written and executive produced by Newman, who is under an overall deal at Netflix, and Oppenheim, with a story by Newman. Oppenheim, journalist and author Michael Schmidt and Jonathan Glickman of Panoramic Media will also executive produce along with De Niro.

Netflix does not confirm or comment on development projects.

Nominated for seven Academy Awards, De Niro won two — best actor for Raging Bull and best supporting actor for The Godfather Part II. He also has received several Emmy nominations, including a nom fo best actor for his role as Bernie Madoff in HBO’s Wizard of Lies. De Niro most recently wrapped Tony Goldwyn’s upcoming feature Inappropriate Behavior, alongside Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne, Vera Farmiga, Rainn Wilson and Whoopi Goldberg.

Variety was first to report the news.

Apple TV+ is offering a first look at Shrinking, the new 10-episode comedy starring Harrison Ford and Jason Segel.

Shrinking follows a grieving therapist (Segel) who starts to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he finds himself making huge, tumultuous changes to people’s lives … including his own. It’s from Ted Lasso co-creator Bill Lawrence, Ted Lasso star and writer Brett Goldstein and Segel.

Shrinking will premiere globally with the first two episodes on Friday, January 27, on Apple TV+, followed by one new episode every Friday. In addition to Segel and Ford, Shrinking stars Christa Miller, Jessica Williams, Michael Urie, Luke Tennie, and Lukita Maxwell.

The series is produced by Warner Bros. Television, where Lawrence is under an overall deal, and Lawrence’s Doozer Productions. Lawrence, Segel, Goldstein, Neil Goldman, James Ponsoldt, Randall Winston, Jeff Ingold, and Liza Katzer serve as executive producers. Lawrence, Segel, and Goldstein created the series and wrote the first episode, which was directed by Ponsoldt.

It’s been a busy week at Amazon as the restructure involving MGM takes hold.

Deadline revealed earlier today that Lindsay Sloane and Rola Bauer were handed key roles within MGM’s new scripted TV structure.

The company is also known for producing a swathe of unscripted series including The Voice, Survivor and Shark Tank as well as reality shows such as The Real Housewives of Orange County and Beverly Hills.

Deadline understands Barry Poznick, who is President of MGM Unscripted Television and Orion Television, and was one of outgoing chief Mark Burnett’s key lieutenants, is set to stay within the organization. This comes after many MGM employees were offered a one-year contract extension.

However, there are still question marks over exactly how the unscripted division looks and its reporting structure.

In August, Amazon Studios merged its Prime Video and Freevee unscripted teams under the leadership of Chris Castallo with Castallo now reporting to Lauren Anderson, who became Head of AVOD Programming and Studios Unscripted across U.S. Prime Video and Amazon Freevee.

It’s unclear who exactly Poznick and his team will report to, but the move obviously brings a lot more volume to Amazon Studios’ unscripted slate, much of which is produced for linear networks.

Poznick, who started working with Burnett in 2006 on Fox’s Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, has overseen MGM’s slate of unscripted programming since 2016 and in 2019 was promoted to oversee sports entertainment, premium documentaries and true crime as well as Orion TV, which has now been folded into MGM US Scripted TV.

Burnett said yesterday that he will continue to oversee MGM’s three unscripted tentpoles – The Voice, Survivor and Shark Tank.

The company also owns stakes in Big Fish Entertainment, the company that produces Reelz’ hit On Patrol: Live, and Evolution Media, which has made The Real Housewives series. Alex Baskin, who ran the latter, stepped down over the summer so who oversees the production of those shows going forward is also up in the air.

Plenty more to come, it seems.