Category: TV

South Korean conglomerate CJ ENM has appointed Chang-Gun Koo as the new CEO of its entertainment division. Koo is a veteran of the CJ Group, now with a mandate to oversee plans for global expansion and accelerating growth “to lead a new paradigm in the entertainment industry,” the company said today. 

As part of an annual executive reshuffle, Koo is replacing Ho-sung Kang who will become Co-CEO of CJ Group. Koo first joined the company in 2010, then worked as an analyst at Samsung Securities before taking over as CEO of global food service and culture company CJ Foodville in 2017. He followed that post with his most recent role as CEO of Korea’s No.1 health and beauty store CJ Oliveyoung which he has overseen since 2018. 

CJ ENM’s entertainment arm works across media content, music, film and performing arts. It has been aggressive in its growth drive over the past few years. In 2021, it committed to invest more than 5 trillion won ($4.5B) in content creation over the next five years. The company behind Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar winner Parasite and Fox’s I Can See Your Voice earlier this year acquired 80% of Endeavor Content’s scripted business and it has also expanded its multi-studio structure internationally, launching CJ ENM Studios with a focus on specializing in content production for OTT platforms in Korea and worldwide.

CJ ENM is also continuing expansion of its digital and technology business with a recent investment in U.S.-based concert platform AmazeVR and a partnership with Line Digital Frontier on a Japan-based joint venture, Studio Dragon Japan.

Another royal intimate has added their voice to those criticising The Crown, ahead of the fifth season’s arrival next week on Netflix.

The Times quotes the unnamed female friend of the royal family, who attended the Queen’s private committal service at Windsor last month, as slamming the streamer’s editorial decisions, saying they are “vilifying the royal family. It is vicious. It’s as if they’re trying to destroy the royal family.”

Of Prince Harry’s current big-budget partnership with Netflix, which will see the eventual release of his fly-on-the-wall documentary and other projects, the woman told The Times that the Duke was in “the most invidious position.” 

She added: “If I had my family being vilified like that, I wouldn’t take a penny [from Netflix].”

This follows a catalogue of critics in the lead-up to the new series, which features a catalogue of unedifying events in the lives of the then Prince and Princess of Wales in the mid-1990s, as their marriage founded amid affairs on both sides, and mutual mud-slinging in the national press. It is clearly not ideal timing for these events to re-enter the public consciousness as King Charles begins to set out stall for his reign, and look ahead to next year’s Coronation.

Sir John Major, who was the UK prime minister at the time of Charles and Diana’s divorce in the mid-1990s, has publicly dismissed one of the new season’s plot points – that Charles was angling for his mother Queen Elizabeth II to abdicate in his favour – and called the show “damaging and malicious fiction” and “a barrel-load of nonsense peddled for no other reason than to provide maximum, and entirely false, dramatic impact.”

And the UK’s grand dame of the big screen, Dame Judi Dench – who won an Oscar for her depiction of Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love – said last week that the series was “cruelly unjust” and “an inaccurate and hurtful account of history.”

Netflix has so far defended its depiction of events, saying: 

“The Crown has always been presented as a drama based on historical events. Series five is a fictional dramatisation, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the royal family – one that has already been scrutinised and well-documented by journalists, biographers and historians.”

But it did move to add a disclaimer to the latest trailer for the show. In the YouTube description below the video for the fifth season trailer, Netflix states: “Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatisation tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign.”

None of the previous trailers included this disclaimer, instead going straight into a description of the season.

Coincidentally, the King has this week augmented his personal team of aides with Dr John Sorabji, a former barrister and law lecturer, engaged as assistant private secretary to “beef-up” his team.

Otherwise, as is customary for his generation of royals when faced with this kind of public scrutiny and circus (and no doubt aware of what PR pitfalls abound when they do speak out, for example Prince Andrew’s disastrous BBC Newsnight interview in which he sought to explain his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and ended up withdrawing from public life), both Charles and Camilla have, thus far, stayed silent. 

Kathy Hilton was one of the most lauded stars at BravoCon following her second season as an official “friend of” The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. As Season 13 of the reality series wraps up, fans have been questioning if Hilton would return for another season and Paris Hilton’s mother is now opening up about what it would take for her to return to the Bravo franchise.

“I would only be willing to come back if the cast… if it was completely the same? Absolutely not,” she told TMZ. “I feel there are two bullies that intimidate a lot of the other girls. A couple [of the housewives] speak up but most of them… they’re not being their authentic self when they’re pushed up to the wall and they’re afraid of what those two bullies — because they’re capable of anything.”

Hilton was referencing Lisa Rinna and Erika Jayne, who she has come at odds with. In the latter part of Season 13 of the show, Hilton allegedly had an outburst that made Rinna lock herself up in the room. Rinna said on the show that she experienced PTSD following the incident where she claims Hilton said horrible things about her costars, including real life sister Kyle Richards.

Rinna and Hilton addressed the situation on camera, in a scene at Richards’ home. Hilton apologized for her outburst but Rinna has seemingly been unable to let it go. The tension between the RHOBH stars have divided viewers so much that Rinna got booed during a BravoCon panel featuring the reality show personalities. In contrast, Hilton was cheered and applauded during every appearance she made at the convention.

“I had people from the show telling me that this was a setup the whole time by these two girls,” Hilton added.

Hilton questions that if the breakdown was as severe as Rinna claims it was, why she didn’t call her sister Kyle or production. Instead, Hilton alleges Rinna went “to call the media, the press, her little go-to people and Erika.”

Hilton says that Rinna and Jayne “are desperate for a storyline” and “they’ll throw anybody under the bus.”

Cameras for the show were down and there’s no audio or video recording of the allegations Rinna has made against Hilton. Rinna maintains that the truth about the incident in Aspen will eventually come to light.

Hilton will face Rinna in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Reunion Part 3 next Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.

Formula 1 races will continue on ESPN Networks in the United States through the 2025 season.

A new multi-year contract renewal was announced in Austin at the second of two US stops for F1 during the 2022 season.

Under the renewal, at least 16 races will air on ABC and ESPN each season, more than in the previous five years since F1 returned to ESPN networks in 2018. Also, all race telecasts on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 will continue the commercial-free presentation used over the past five seasons.

In what may be a harbinger of an as-yet unannounced but long-rumored online gambling venture, the new agreement also gives ESPN flexibility to roll out additional ways for US fans to explore F1 content over the next three years, including on ESPN+. The companies said details on that are to be announced later.

“Formula 1 and ESPN have been a strong and successful team and we’re delighted to extend our relationship,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN President, Programming and Original Content. “We look forward to serving fans in some new and innovative ways in the next three years as we continue to bring the reach and relevance of the Walt Disney Company networks and platforms to Formula 1.”   

After setting a record in 2021 for the most-viewed F1 season on US television, with an average of 949,000 viewers per race, the average has moved into seven figures in 2022. Through 18 races, live F1 telecasts are averaging 1.2 million viewers on ESPN networks – with multiple events attracting race-record television audiences.

Earlier this year, the telecast of the inaugural Miami Grand Prix on ABC generated an average viewership of 2.6 million, the largest US audience on record for a live F1 race.

“We are delighted to announce that our partnership with ESPN will continue,” said Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO at Formula 1. “Formula 1 has seen incredible growth in the United States with sold out events and record television audiences, and the addition of Las Vegas to the calendar next season, alongside Austin and Miami, will see us host three spectacular races there. The ESPN networks have played a huge part in that growth with their dedicated quality coverage. We are excited to expand our relationship and continue to bring the passion and excitement of Formula 1 to our viewers in the US together.” 

“After Formula 1 returned to the ESPN networks five years ago, the popularity of the sport has grown impressively,” said Ian Holmes, Director of Media Rights and Content Creation, Formula 1. “The extension and expansion of our partnership is a reflection of exciting times ahead and a result of our shared desire to bring Formula 1 to as broad and diverse an audience as possible in the U.S. The popular commercial-free broadcasts ensure that viewers continue to engage with F1 before, during and after the race. From next year we will have six races in the Americas, which means more favorable time zones to fans in the region, making the Formula 1 offering more compelling than ever.”

All race weekends will continue to include live telecasts of all three practice sessions and qualifying (including the F1 Sprint) as well as pre-race and post-race coverage. The new agreement includes an increased focus on qualifying, with more sessions airing on ESPN or ESPN2.

ESPN Deportes will continue as the Spanish-language home of F1 in the US, and ESPN’s coverage of F1 includes a dedicated website that reports on the championship year-round. 

In addition, ESPN studio shows including SportsCenter will continue on-site coverage from races in the US, including the new event in Las Vegas for 2023, with coverage at other races potentially added. ESPN also will be creating additional ancillary programming on its platforms to support its F1 coverage over the next three years. 

During each of the five seasons that F1 has been on ESPN networks since its return, the amount of F1 content on ESPN television and digital platforms has steadily increased. This year, the Sky Sports F1 programs Ted’s Qualifying Notebook and Ted’s Race Notebook were added, airing on ESPN3 during race weekends, and the video podcast program Unlapped began appearing on the ESPN YouTube channel.

Formula 1 returned to its original US television home in 2018 – the first race aired in the country was on ABC in 1962. F1 races also aired on ESPN from 1984-1997. 

Sunday’s U.S. Grand Prix will air live on ABC with coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET. The next event in the 2022 F1 season is the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday, Oct. 30. The race will air live on ESPN at 3:55 p.m. ET.

Matthew Perry remembers one Friends costar who tried to help him with his drinking problem – Jennifer Aniston.

Speaking to ABC News journalist Diane Sawyer in a trailer advancing his Oct. 28 sit-down, Perry recalls the time Aniston — whom he calls “Jenny”— confronted him on his problem. She said, Sawyer reminded Perry, “We know you’re drinking.”

Perry confirmed the incident.

“Imagine how scary a moment that was,” he said. “She was the one who reached out the most, you know. I’m really grateful to her for that.”

Perry has been forthcoming on his struggles with addiction. The actor tells all in a new book, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir, which comes out Nov. 1.

Perry told People earlier that he was in the early stages of alcoholism when Friends began. That problem grew worse in the ensuing years, to the point where four years ago, his colon burst from using opioids. Perry was in a coma for two weeks, hospitalized for five, and wore a colostomy bag for nine months.

The clip reveals Perry telling Sawyer that he also was once taking “55 Vicodin a day,” as well as Methadone, Xanax and a full quart of vodka.

“At the time, I should have been the toast of the town,” Perry said. Instead, “I was in a dark room meeting nothing but drug dealers, and completely alone.”

Perry claims he’s sober now during the interview, but won’t reveal a time line on that transformation.

Ryan Murphy sat down with the female cast members of The Watcher to reflect on the true crime genre and discuss who may have been the true voyeur who inspired his Netflix limited series.

But first, Murphy was happy to take credit for accomplishing what few — if any — Hollywood projects try to accomplish these days: casting not one, but five women of a certain age.

“People are always writing articles about how there are no roles for women over 40,” Murphy said to stars Naomi Watts, Jennifer Coolidge, Margo Martindale, Mia Farrow and Nova Dumezweni. “That’s not true … I try. I love the scenes that you women all have together.”

He also told the cast members that for the first time in his career, every one of them was his first choice for the seven-parter that dropped Oct. 13. Watts plays Nora Brannock, the co-owner of the house (with Bobby Cannavale) that’s being watched; Martindale and Farrow play a pair of creepy neighbors; Coolidge is the ambitious local realtor, and Dumezweni is the compassionate private investigator who attempts to help the Brannocks.

When asked by Murphy who everyone suspects is the real watcher, three of the women pointed to Martindale.

“I point my finger at everybody,” Martindale shot back.

“By the design of the show which I love is that at the end of every episode, you pretty much think that you figured out who is the watcher, the person who wrote the letters … and suddenly there is a cliffhanger aspect to it,” Murphy said.

Since its debut last Thursday, The Watcher landed in the No. 1 spot on Netflix with 125.01m hours viewed on the English TV List. The 7-episode series was in the Top 10 in 90 countries and took the No. 1 spot in 20 countries.

The Watcher is Murphy’s second No. 1 series debut in four weeks after Dahmer, Netflix’s biggest series debut on record, which has now accumulated 824.15m total hours. Murphy created The Watcher with Ian Brennan, and executive produced the limited series alongside Alexis Martin Woodall, Eric Kovtun, Bryan Unkeless, Eric Newman, Paris Barclay, Watts, Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost and Scoop Wasserstein.

The White Lotus creator Mike White is already thinking about the HBO show’s Season 3, even on the red carpet for Season 2.

“We just turned in our last episode to the network yesterday, so it’s hard to think about the next race,” White told Deadline. “But if we did, I think it’d be fun to maybe go to a whole different continent. You know, we did Europe, and maybe Asia, something crazy like that, that would be fun.”

If that happens, a familiar face from the series may be aboard in Jennifer Coolidge.

“Jennifer is my friend and everybody loved her in the first season, and I was like, ‘I can’t go to Italy without Jennifer.’ And maybe that’s still the case. Like, maybe you can’t go to Japan without Jennifer, either. There are so many fun actors we’ve worked with so far, so it’s just kind of like who’s available.”

The White Lotus was greenlilt for its second season in August after becoming a critical and audience hit in its first go-round. The second season follows a different group of vacationers as they book their stay at an Italian White Lotus property. Coolidge is one of the only original cast members from The White Lotus Vol. 1 to appear in the Sicily-based Season 2.

Actors joining the ensemble in Season 2 include Aubrey Plaza, Will Sharpe, Sabrina Impacciatore, Theo James, Meghann Fahy, F. Murray Abraham, Adam DiMarco, Tom Hollander, Michael Imperioli, Haley Lu Richardson, Leo Woodall, Beatrice Grannó and Simona Tabasco. White, David Bernad and Mark Kamine serve as executive producers for Season 2.

The White Lotus earned a total of 20 Emmy nominations in its first run. Watch White’s chat with us below.

EXCLUSIVE: Garret Dillahunt (Sprung) has joined the third and final season of Netflix’s acclaimed dark comedy series Dead to Me, debuting on the platform on November 17, as a recurring guest star.

With its first season in 2019, Dead to Me introduced viewers to the recently widowed Laguna Beach real estate agent Jen (Christina Applegate) as well as Judy Hale (Linda Cardellini), a free spirit with a shocking secret who came to befriend her via a support group. By the end of the show’s first run (*SPOILERS ahead*), we learned that it was Judy who killed Jen’s husband Ted in a hit-and-run, with Jen later killing Judy’s ex-fiancé, Steve (James Marsden). It seemed near the end of Season 2 that Jen and Judy’s concerns as to the consequences of their crimes might soon be put to rest, given Detective Perez’s (Diana-Maria Riva) decision to take pity on them. The season’s cliffhanger, though, suggested otherwise, with a hiker’s discovery of Steve’s body poised to create further issues for our protagonists. The new 10-episode season picks up in the aftermath of yet another hit and run as both Jen and Judy receive shocking news, and are ready to risk their lives for a friendship that’s above the law.

Dillahunt will be introduced in Season 3 as Agent Glenn Moranis, a top-notch detective who’s basically the MVP of the FBI. You better believe that if anyone’s gonna get to the bottom of Steve’s murder, it’s Agent Glenn Moranis.

Dead to Me has been a hit for Netflix from the outset, coming in as the streamer’s fourth most popular series of 2019 in the U.S., with its first season being watched by 30 million households in its first month and landing Applegate an Emmy nom. The show created by Liz Feldman then went on to notch four Emmy nominations for its second season, including noms for Applegate and Cardellini, with further recognition in the categories of Outstanding Comedy Series and Casting for a Comedy Series. Feldman returned as showrunner for Season 3 and exec produces the series alongside Jessica Elbaum and Will Ferrell for Gloria Sanchez, Christie Smith, Applegate and Adam McKay. Cardellini serves as co-exec producer.

Dillahunt is a Critics’ Choice Award nominee who exec produces and stars in the Amazon Freevee comedy series Sprung, created by Greg Garcia. He can also currently be seen in Andrew Dominik’s fictionalized Marilyn Monroe drama Blonde for Netflix, having recently appeared in Sony’s Where the Crawdads Sing, based on Delia Owens’ acclaimed novel of the same name. Other notable credits include Army of the Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, 12 Years a Slave and No Country for Old Men. 

Dillahunt will recur in the third season of Starz’s crime drama series Hightown, also soon appearing opposite Orlando Bloom in the Nelms brothers’ action-thriller Red Right Hand. Other upcoming projects include Viggo Mortensen’s Western The Dead Don’t Hurt and Prime Video’s drama A Million Miles Away.

Dillahunt is represented by D2 Management and APA.

Christopher Storer, the creator, executive producer, director and co-showrunner of FX’s breakout comedy hit The Bear, has signed with WME for representation.

Storer became one of the most sought-after comedy creators following the critical and commercial success of The Bear, which emerged as the hottest comedy series of the summer. I hear a team of WME agents — including Ari Emanuel, CEO of WME parent Endeavor, whose brother Rahm and Storer share a Chicago connection — were involved in wooing Storer, who developed and sold The Bear while at UTA. I hear this all came down today, and Storer’s IMDb Pro page already has been updated to reflect the agency switch.

FX’s The Bear, which streams on Hulu, follows Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), a young chef from the fine-dining world who comes home to Chicago to run his family sandwich shop after his brother’s suicide.

Chicago native Storer wrote and directed the pilot for The Bear, and executive produces and co-showruns the series with Joanna Calo. The comedy already has been renewed for a second season.

Before creating The Bear, Storer was an executive producer and director on Hulu’s Ramy and produced Bo Burnham’s feature film Eighth Grade. He also has executive produced/directed a slew of comedy TV specials including Bo Burnham’s Make Happy, Whitmer Thomas’s The Golden One, Jerrod Carmichael: 8, Ramy Youssef: Feelings and Hasan Minjah: Homecoming King. Storer continues to be repped by Kaplan/Perrone and attorney Erik Hyman at Paul Hastings LLP.

Say goodbye to the 10 p.m. hour of network-controlled broadcast television.

That was the consensus among a panel of local station chiefs interviewed at NAB Show New York, including NBCUniversal Local Chairman Valari Staab. Her company has stunned the industry in recent weeks by confirming it is actively considering handing back the hour to stations, giving her division what she calls “a different sandbox” to explore. Asked if he expects other media giants to follow NBCU’s lead, Hearst Television chief Jordan Wertleib replied, “I expect they will and I hope they will.”

Wertleib and Staab said media companies are reckoning with the fact that in a world of secular ratings decline, with streaming services controlling the largest chunk of scripted TV viewing and attention, the economics of programming three hours every night make decreasing sense. (Other broadcast nets Fox and The CW have never had the full three hours.) Not only would the expense of programming and promoting an hour of primetime be eliminated, but the media companies could also benefit via their owned stations, as would major stand-alone groups like Hearst.

“Valari made a good point and it applies to all the networks,” Wertleib said. “Take those resources and invest it in a really strong 8 to 10 block and the entire ecosystem improves.”

NBCU CEO Jeff Shell, in an interview with CNBC this month, said no final decision has been made about the primetime shift, but he confirmed that the company is committed to “reallocating resources” in that area to make the most of the current operating environment.

Asked what might go in a 10 p.m. hour controlled by her division, Staab said “it will definitely look probably different than a traditional newscast, but it’s a huge opportunity for us across the board.” While many stations are looking to add more news, given the generally favorable return on investment, lifestyle programming, game shows or sports are all possibilities. Sinclair Broadcast Group CEO Chris Ripley addressed his company’s recent teaming with CSI creator Anthony Zuiker to mine the station group’s archives and work with staffers to create original programming for Sinclair as well as outside buyers.

Ripley didn’t go into detail about his company’s outlook on the 10 p.m. hour, but he didn’t mince words when describing the landscape. “Streaming has gutted the general entertainment and cable networks,” he said. “Literally gutted them. When you take a look at that, the core strength of the pay-TV bundle is live, day-and-date content, which is the strength of broadcast. Within the ecosystem, I think broadcast TV will continue to do quite well.”

Wertleib pushed back at a recent report by Wall Street investment firm MoffettNathanson that posited that linear television is in a death spiral, shedding 6 million subscribers a year (and counting). “The prognostication of the death of linear television has been going on for 40 years,” he said. While many Wall Street analysts say the bundle could shrink to half its current size of around 70 million U.S. households in the coming year, Wertleib sees the floor as more like 60 million. “Every year, we surprise the marketplace because the American public loves broadcast television.”

Claudia Jordan, former star of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, is opening up about her own experience on the Deal or No Deal set after Meghan Markle claimed they treated her like a bimbo.

“Flor clarity — yes getting a modeling gig on a game show isn’t necessarily about your intellect but every show the executive producers picked five models with the most outgoing and fun personalities to place mics on who they knew would engage with the contestants,” Jordan shared on her Instagram Stories.

In a second post she continued, “And Deal or No Deal never treated us like bimbos. We got so many opportunities because of that show.”

“That’s the kind of opportunity that is what you make it. If you just show up and don’t engage then you’ll just get your check and not get much out of it but if you show up and seize your moments then there’s no limits to what you can do with the opportunity,” she added.

Jordan she enjoyed her “experience working on Deal or No Deal” as it was a good opportunity in her career and helped her pay “all her bills.”

She also clarified that her response was not an “attack on Meghan cause Lord knows I’ve been defending this woman in the media for years and I still will but I just didn’t want any misunderstanding about the climate and environment on the Deal or No Deal set.”

Jordan said she was “especially protective of Howie Mandel who was nothing but kind and respectful to all 26 of us.”

Markle opened up about her time on the NBC game show on the most recent episode of her Archetypes podcast.

“I was surrounded by smart women on that stage with me, but that wasn’t the focus of why we were there,” she said. “And I would end up leaving with this pit in my stomach, knowing that I was so much more than what was being objectified on the stage. I didn’t like feeling forced to be all looks and little substance. And that’s how it felt for me at the time, being reduced to this specific archetype.”

You can listen to Markle’s podcast below.

EXCLUSIVE: Prime Video is developing Seven Wonders, an action-adventure series based on Ben Mezrich’s novel, headlined and executive produced by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu. The project, written by Adam Cozad (The Legend Of Tarzan) and to be directed by Justin Lin (S.W.A.T.), hails from Lin’s Perfect Storm Entertainment, Beau Flynn’s Flynn Picture Company (Black Adam) and Universal Television, where Lin and Perfect Storm are under a deal.

Seven Wonders revolves around the brilliant botanist-adventurer, Dr. Nate Grady (Liu), who teams up with the slippery international fixer, Sloane Seydoux, on a breathless race to solve an ancient mystery tied to the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World.

Liu executive produces with Cozad. Lin, Salvador Gatdula and Andrew Schneider executive produce for Perfect Storm, along with Flynn via Flynn Picture Company. Scott Sheldon serves as co-executive producer. Universal TV, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the studio.

The idea for Seven Wonders originated with Flynn and Mezrich who developed the book together. Flynn’s feature producing credits include Disney’s Jungle Cruise, Netflix’s Red Notice and WB/New Line’s upcoming Black Adam, all starring Dwayne Johnson.

Liu, former star of CBC and Netflix comedy series Kim’s Convenience, became a global star with his role as the titular superhero in Marvel’s Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings. He’ll next be seen starring alongside Mark Wahlberg in upcoming film Arthur The King. Liu, who just did a cameo as Shang-Chi in the season finale of She-Hulk, is repped by CAA, Authentic Talent & Literary Management, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.

Lin and Cozad previously worked together in developing the feature Snap Dragon at Warner Bros. Cozad co-penned the scripts for Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and The Legend of Tarzan. On television, he recently served as a consulting producer on FX’s The Old Man.

Lin is best known for directing Universal’s Fast and the Furious franchise (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6) and Star Trek: Beyond. He was recently tapped to direct One Punch Man, the live-action film adaptation of the worldwide hit manga series, for Sony Pictures. In TV, he executive produces CBS’ S.W.A.T. as well as Magnum P.I., which is moving to NBC after four seasons at CBS. He directed the pilots for both series.

Mezrich also is the author of The Accidental Billionaires about the founding of Facebook, on which The Social Network film was based, and Bringing Down The House, which was adapted into the films 21 and The Last Casino.