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“The One with the Blackout,” the seventh episode of “Friends’” inaugural season, was notable for several reasons. It first introduced viewers to both the gang’s miserly broomstick-waving neighbor Mr. Heckles and Ross’ first rival for Rachel’s affections, Italian stallion Paolo. It apparently added the term ‘friend zone’ to the English lexicon as a result. And, as its title suggests, it formed part of an ingenious marketing strategy in which three NBC sitcoms were deliberately plunged into darkness.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this month (November 3), Blackout Thursday was the brainwave of Dan Holm, a promotional producer also responsible for the term ‘Must See TV.’ Alongside the comedy that would prove to be the network’s most successful, the programming stunt also included one of the many forgettable one-seasoners that failed to ride its coattails, the Dabney Coleman-starring “Madman of the People,” and the 12-time Emmy-winning “Mad About You.

It seems impossible to imagine anyone but Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, and Kaley Cuoco on "The Big Bang Theory," but the truth is that other actors were considered before showrunner Chuck Lorre and his team found the perfect people for the lead roles. Marisa Tomei read for Cuoco's character Penny — who was also played by a different actress in the show's original, unaired pilot — and Kevin Sussman originally auditioned for the lead role of Howard Wolowitz (which went to Helberg in the end) before getting his own supporting character. Apparently, "Home Alone" star Macaulay Culkin was also approached for a role ... but he definitively said no.

During a 2018 interview with Joe Rogan, Culkin said that he hasn't really considered any major sitcom roles throughout his career, though it depends on the overall quality. "I couldn't see myself doing a sitcom or a television show kind of thing.

Maura Tierney’s been a staple on TV for 30 years since with strong roles in the sitcom NewsRadio, the long-running medical hit ER, the firefighter dramedy Rescue Me, and the mystery The Affair, among them. Now she’s joining one of television’s longest-running shows, Law & Order, when it returns on Thursday, October 3 for its 24th season. She’s playing Lt. Jessica Brady, the new chief of the NYPD’s homicide unit replacing Lt. Kate Dixon (Camryn Manheim) who ably ran the ship for three seasons. Tierney shares her very happy thoughts about joining the mothership of the venerable Law & Order franchise as the very confident new lieutenant Jessica Brady. Congrats on your movie hit Twisters and, of course, your new role in Law & Order, the Og of Dick Wolf’s procedurals, we might say. Maura Tierney: Yes, it is. Is this the first time you’ve done one of Wolf’s procedurals?...

Joe Rogan is someone who is very well respected in the entertainment and sports communities, for the various things he has done that’s benefited them over the years. If you’re a Rogan fan, there’s one thing that is commonly known about, it’s that he is a massive mixed martial arts enthusiast.

Joe Rogan on his podcast called The Joe Rogan Experience | Credits: youtube.com/@joerogan

But besides lending his hand as a color commentator, the 57-year-old is also popular for his work in the field of stand-up comedy, acting, and hosting TV shows as well. Let’s face it, despite the controversies he’s faced in the past due to his podcast, Rogan’s voice (or work) isn’t easily forgettable.

Over the years, the Mma commentator generated an estimated net worth of $200 million (Via Yahoo Finance). So here’s a brief breakdown of the various he earned his fortune.

Temuera Morrison, best known for playing Boba Fett in the Star Wars franchise, and Spider-Man actor Jacob Batalon have joined Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa in The Wrecking Crew, an action comedy from Amazon MGM Studios.

Frankie Adams, Miyavi and Stephen Root are also joining the crew roster, which additionally includes Claes Bang.

Blue Beetle filmmaker Ángel Manuel Soto is directing the feature, which heads into production in October in New Zealand.

Crew has a script by Jonathan Tropper and follows two half-brothers — one a loose cannon cop (Momoa) and the other a disciplined Navy Seal (Bautista). After 20-odd years of bad blood, they must work together to unravel the conspiracy behind their father’s murder in Hawaii.

Morrison will play the governor of Hawaii, while Batalon is a street-savvy, foul-mouthed private investigator who knew the brothers’ father.

Producing are 6th & Idaho’s Lynn Harris and Matt Reeves as well as Bautista,...

It’s part of TV comedy history that Joe Rogan replaced an actor named Greg Lee in the sitcom NewsRadio, making Rogan a household name and setting the stage for Fear Factor and eventual world domination. It would be easy to point an angry finger at Lee, who actually starred in the NewsRadio pilot, for not holding onto the job that would give Rogan a fame foothold. But there was a third comic actor who was cast before Lee. And if Ray Romano could have done a better job of impressing producers, we’d live in a very different timeline.

Yep, it was the future Everybody Loves Raymond star who was first cast as the electrician on NewsRadio. Romano auditioned and got the part in 1994 — only to get fired two days into rehearsals.

What was the problem? Producers felt like Romano’s sleepy line delivery was slowing down the show’s rapid-fire comic pace.

Netflix has found the stopgap solution for the periods between Dave Chappelle specials.

Chappelle, the modern-legend comedian whose legacy has been complicated by the anti-trans material in his Netflix specials, has helped to clarify that the streaming service primarily cares about eyeballs at any cost. What is complicated, and heartbreaking, about Chappelle’s recent material is that he is a generationally gifted comic storyteller who seems compelled by belief to speak out against trans people. Meanwhile, what seems clear about Joe Rogan, whose new special, “Burn the Boats,” aired live on Netflix Aug. 3, is that he’s a sort of inverse Chappelle. He is not a generationally gifted comedian, or even a very good one, but his invocations of culture-war wedge issues bring him attention he would otherwise not have merited.

This is not a revelation. Rogan — whose early career included acting on the sitcom “NewsRadio,” hosting the reality show “Fear Factor,...

Law & Order spoilers and updates reveal some breaking news in the Law & Order franchise department. In it’s twenty-fourth season, the Emmy-nominated ER star Maura Tierney has been cast as Camryn Manheim’s replacement.

Law & Order Spoilers – Manheim’s Character, Lieutenant Kate Dixon Departed

Camryn Manheim‘s departure from the role of Lieutenant Kate Dixon was announced in May. The Emmy-nominated star of The Practice made her final appearance in the season 23 finale.

While there was no on-screen explanation for Dixon’s exit, franchise creator Dick Wolf thanked her for her contribution to the series.

TV Line has confirmed that ER alum Maura Tierney will be joining Law & Order season 24 as a new lieutenant. Details about her character are being kept secret, but this casting update marks Tierney’s return to NBC.

Law & Order Spoilers – Tierney Appeared On ER As Abby Lockhart

For ten years, she portrayed...

“Twisters” is sweeping audiences off their couches and into the theaters.

The standalone follow-up to “Twister” (1996) grossed over $80 million in its first weekend and was the third highest-grossing film of 2024.

Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos lead the disaster film as a ragtag group of storm chasers. Jones plays Kate Carter, a once disaster-seeker turned to corporate weather pro, while Powell plays Tyler Owens, a viral “tornado wrangler.” The two team up with Javi, a longtime friend of Kate’s played by Anthony Ramos, to tackle the biggest twister Oklahoma’s seen in generations.

The cast also features some newcomers but (spoiler alert!) no cameo from Helen Hunt. For the complete “Twisters” cast and character guide, keep reading.

Daisy Edgar-Jones as Kate Carter Daisy Edgar-Jones on the “Twisters” red carpet (Credit: Getty Images)

Kate Carter is a young woman who suffered through a tragedy while attempting a new experiment...

Law & Order is putting a new cop on the case for its 24th season.

Two-time Emmy nominee Maura Tierney is joining the NBC drama’s ensemble in the fall, playing an NYPD lieutenant. Her casting comes after Camryn Manheim departed the series after three seasons of playing Lt. Kate Dixon.

Tierney is the second new(ish) castmember on the long-running crime procedural; Tony Goldwyn joined L&o midway through last season after the departure of the show’s longest-serving castmember, Sam Waterston.

The actress has starred in two NBC series previously: NewsRadio from 1995-99 and ER from 1999-2009. She earned her first Emmy nomination for playing Abby Lockhart on ER in 2001. She also has a history, albeit a brief one, with Law & Order, having guest-starred in an episode of the show’s second season in 1991.

Tierney is currently co-starring in Twisters, which tore up the box office in its opening weekend.

Maura Tierney is joining the cast of “Law & Order” for Season 24.

Though specific character details are not yet available, Tierney will play a lieutenant in the season, which premieres on NBC on Oct. 3.

Among Tierney’s best known projects is “The Affair,” the Showtime drama in which she played Helen Solloway in all five seasons from 2014 to 2019, which earned her a Golden Globe. Like “Law & Order,” her other major TV roles have been on NBC: “NewsRadio,” the ’90s sitcom in which she played Lisa Miller for all five seasons, and “ER,” the medical drama that starred her as Abby Lockhart in Seasons 6 through 15.

In film, Tierney is best known for “Primal Fear” (1996) opposite Richard Gere and Edward Norton, “Liar Liar” (1997) opposite Jim Carrey and “Primary Colors” (1998) opposite John Travolta and Emma Thompson.

More recently, Tierney recurred as Fiona McKee in the Bryan Cranston-led Showtime legal drama “Your Honor...

A ‘Must See TV’ vet is headed back to NBC.

Maura Tierney has been tapped to join Law & Order in Season 24 as a series regular, sources confirm to TVLine exclusively. Character details are being kept under wraps, but we hear Tierney will be playing a new lieutenant.

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This marks Tierney’s return to NBC’s Thursday lineup following her decade-long stint on ER.

The news comes after Camryn Manheim...

After wayward creative detours with the dreary feature film “Lucy in the Sky” and the over-ambitious fourth season of “Fargo,” Noah Hawley gets back on track with the new season of his FX anthology series.

The latest “Fargo” has all the elements writer-producer-showrunner Hawley knows how to deploy. They may be well-worn tropes at this point: chaos agents, deadpan black comedy, hapless hit men, formidable women, hapless feds, a few good cops, perfectly orchestrated bloodshed beats, hapless wrong kidnap victims, Upper Midwest accents you couldn’t cut with a wood chipper and perhaps a supernatural element or two. But they’ve been craftily reimagined.

New in Season 5 is some ongoing criticism of right-wing extremism — both of the economic Darwinian and Christian patriarchal kind — and other hints that it’s politics as much as people’s inherent stupidity that’s tearing America apart. The implicit message is that those factors are...

It’s Frasier Week at IndieWire. Grab some tossed salad and scrambled eggs, settle into your coziest easy chair, and join us. We’re listening.

Every true “Frasier” fan knows that kitchens are soundproof havens for covert plotting. Whenever Frasier, Martin, Niles, or Daphne needed the rest of the family to help them convince guests that they were Jewish, gay, married, single, or an entirely different person, they’d craft an excuse to sidebar in the kitchen. And despite the apartment’s open floor plan, nobody ever caught a peep of the screaming matches that ensued while plating Camembert.

So it’s fitting that the first episode of the new Paramount+ revival features plenty of kitchen scheming. When Kelsey Grammer’s Frasier Crane attempts to reconnect with his adult son Freddy (now played by Jack Cutmore-Scott), an impromptu dinner party at his Boston apartment quickly devolves into a game of telephone.

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (Csse) has hit something of a wall. The company reported its second quarter 2023 earnings this week, and while total revenue was up year-over-year, it fell well short of Wall Street expectations. The company’s stock price has taken a beating, falling to $0.88 per share in after-hours trading on Monday amidst news that it had absorbed a net loss of $43.7 million during the quarter.

The numbers suggest that Csse is having a tougher time digesting last year's purchase of Redbox than anticipated. Both CEO Bill Rouhana and CFO Jason Meier said during their conference call to discuss the report with analysts and investors that the company planned to “streamline” aspects of its businesses to help boost revenue flows, which means cuts could be coming to its streaming platforms Redbox and Crackle.

Sign Up $0 / month redbox.com

Redbox and Crackle are both free, ad-supported streaming platforms,...

This post contains spoilers for the series finale of "Barry." If you haven't watched yet, consider yourself warned.

If you haven't recognized Stephen Root throughout his illustrious career as a character actor, then you haven't been paying attention. From his iconic role as the put-upon office worker Milton in "Office Space" and appearing in Coen films like "No Country for Old Men" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" to playing the blustery owner of a radio station on the cult NBC comedy "NewsRadio," Root's career not only spans decades and genres, but he's worked with some of the finest filmmakers around. And he's just now fresh off wrapping his role as Monroe Fuches on the remarkable HBO comedy/thriller "Barry," which concluded its fourth and final season tonight with an episode simply entitled "wow." Fuches' arc wraps up here as well, in ways that are both surprising and inevitable for...

This post contains mild spoilers for the "Barry" series finale.

Over the course of his lengthy and varied career, Stephen Root has proven himself to be a consummate character actor; not just someone reliable and hard-working, but a true chameleon, darting in and out of disparate genres and roles.

As a result, it's incredibly difficult to choose a definitive Root character — there are some he's more famous for, like his creepy predator in "Get Out" or his eccentric billionaire in "Newsradio." Yet there are numerous other appearances of his that are just as beloved if not more so.

Throughout his resume, however, one doesn't see too many sexy, virile, crime lord assassin characters. That's all changed thanks to "Barry" and the series star, Bill Hader, who in this fourth and final season of the show has transformed Root's Monroe Fuches into the mysterious, intimidating, and — yes — sexy jailbird, the Raven.

Exclusive: Amazon Studios has rounded out its cast for the actioner Heads of State with the addition of Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon), Stephen Root (Barry), Carla Gugino (Leopard Skin), Jack Quaid (The Boys), Sarah Niles (Ted Lasso), Richard Coyle (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore), Clare Foster (Sherlock), Katrina Durden (Doctor Strange) and Aleksandr Kuznetsov (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore).

The actors join an ensemble that John Cena, Idris Elba and Priyanka Chopra Jonas lead, as previously announced. No details as to their roles have been disclosed.

While plot details are also being kept under wraps, the film is being described as Air Force One meets Midnight Run. Ilya Naishuller (Nobody) is directing from a script by Josh Appelbaum & André Nemec, who were themselves working from an initial draft by Harrison Query. The Safran Company’s Peter Safran and John Rickard are producing, with Cena, Elba and...

Months after his life was suddenly cut short, Emmy winner Leslie Jordan has a chance to receive more TV academy love for his final small screen performance as Phil on Fox’s “Call Me Kat.” If he does land in this year’s Best Comedy Supporting Actor lineup, he will join a group of 12 other comedy or drama series regulars who posthumously achieved Emmy recognition. If he scores his second victory, he will make history as the first deceased male actor to win an Emmy for a continuing program.

“Call Me Kat” was the first and only multi-season series on which Jordan played a regular role. In his last few episodes, his character, who worked as the head baker at a Kentucky cat cafe, finally found true love with drag performer Jalen, aka Queen Dicktoria (John Griffin). Following his final appearance, Phil was given a happy ending that involved him...

The expansion of free streaming services continues unabated. On Wednesday, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (Csse) shared some details on its ever-expanding reach and upcoming original programming at the Iab Newfronts in New York. A month after launching a new advertising sales division known as Crackle Connex, Csse reports having an audience of over 80 million monthly active users, up 100% year-over-year.

This rapid expansion was aided by the company acquiring Redbox last May, giving Csse an out-of-home presence, but the majority of the growth comes from the addition of over 160 channels on the company’s free ad-supported streaming TV (Fast) and ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) services.

Watch Now $0 / month crackle.com

Csse also benefited from the addition of Crackle and Redbox buttons on [Vizio Smart TV] remotes, making the free streaming services even easier to access and front-of-mind for viewers. Thanks to new deals with the likes of Crunchyroll, Funimation, Vidgo,...

When Donald Glover stopped by the WGA Awards in New York to present “NewsRadio” creator and “Atlanta” executive producer Paul Simms with the Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence on Sunday night, he found time to get a few jabs in at his famously unpleasant “Community” co-star Chevy Chase. For years, Glover has been open about Chase’s racist behavior towards him on the set of the NBC show, which he alluded to during his speech honoring Simms.

“This award was named after Herb Sargent, a writer who worked on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and came up with the ‘Weekend Update’ with Chevy Chase,'” Glover said at the beginning of his remarks. “Chevy Chase once called Herb one of the funniest writers working in television. And Chevy Chase once called me… you know, this is about Paul.”

His long comedic pause led many to believe he was referring to Chase calling him the N-word.

The 2023 Writers Guild Awards were handed out Sunday night in simultaneous ceremonies held in New York and Los Angeles.

Among the winners were Everything Everywhere All at Once, for original screenplay; Women Talking, for adapted screenplay; The Bear, for comedy series; Severance, for drama series and for new series; The White Lotus, for limited series; Better Call Saul, for episodic drama; and Hacks, for episodic comedy.

With the win, Eeaao completed a historic sweep of the top prizes at the guild awards, after also winning at the Spirit Awards on Saturday. Upon accepting the night’s biggest award, Daniel Scheinert admitted, “Writing is confusing and hard and we felt so lost so often,” thanking their collaborators for sifting through “very, very rough drafts.” Daniel Kwan used the moment to address the Writers Guild’s upcoming negotiations, saying, “I’m so proud to be a part of the WGA. What you do for the industry,...

Night Court is back on NBC, but the only reason the new-boot could happen was because people loved the original series. Night Court ran for nine seasons from 1984 – 1992, so if you haven’t seen the original yet, it is streaming on Freevee. If you have exhausted all nine seasons plus the new one, don’t worry. Showbiz Cheat Sheet is here to recommend six other shows you might also like if you liked Night Court.

L-r: Charles Robinson, John Larroquette, Harry Anderson, Markie Post, Marsha Warfield, and Richard Moll | Gary Null/NBC via Getty Images ‘The John Larroquette Show’ is a poignant turn for the ‘Night Court’ star

Larroquette went from lawyer to bus station manager in his self-titled show following the end of Night Court two TV seasons later. Dan Fielding (Larroquette) did get to be serious on some Night Court episodes, like the one where he almost died,...

Exclusive: Patricia Heaton‘s potential return to television is taking shape. The multi-camera comedy from Kapital Entertainment starring and executive produced by the Emmy winner, which was set up at Fox in 2021 with a script-to-series commitment, has found its writers. Comedy veterans Carol Leifer and Andy Gordon have been tapped to pen the untitled half-hour, which also has homed in on a premise.

Heaton is set to star as the host of an upscale lifestyle show, sent to prison for embezzlement and tax evasion. She gets out after two years, forgotten and broke, and moves to Tennessee to live with her estranged sister.

Related Story 2023 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Cable & Streaming Related Story 'Ancient Empires': Julius Caesar, Alexander The Great & Cleopatra Brought To Life By Latest History Channel Mega-Doc From Ample Related Story 'The Cleaning Lady' Renewed For Season 3 At Fox; Jeannine Renshaw Joins...

Paul Simms, the writer behind ”Late Night With David Letterman” and the first three seasons of HBO’s “The Larry Sanders Show,” will receive the Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence in recognition of his decades-long commitment to creating transformative content and mentoring budding screenwriters.

“Atlanta” creator Donald Glover is presenting the award to Simms at the 75th Annual Writers Guild Awards on March 5. The ceremony will be held at New York City’s Edison Ballroom.

“I’m deeply honored to receive the Herb Sargent Award and truly grateful to the writers I’ve worked with over the years,” Simms said. “Without their input, I’m not even capable of coming up with a funny quote, and I look forward to their assessments of all the various ways this quote you’re reading right now missed the mark and could have been better.”

The award is annually presented to a...

Paul Simms, the creator of the NBC comedy NewsRadio and currently showrunner on FX’s What We Do in the Shadows and an executive producer on Atlanta, will be this year’s recipient of the WGA East’s Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence. The honor will be presented by Atlanta‘s Donald Glover at the 75th annual Writers Guild Awards ceremony March 5 at New York’s Edison Ballroom.

“I’m deeply honored to receive the Herb Sargent Award and truly grateful to the writers I’ve worked with over the years,” Simms said. “Without their input, I’m not even capable of coming up with a funny quote, and I look forward to their assessments of all the various ways this quote you’re reading right now missed the mark and could have been better.”

Simms joined the guild in 1990 as a writer for Late Night with David Letterman.

The late Phil Hartman voiced two of the funniest characters on "The Simpsons." First, there was the ambulance-chasing lawyer Lionel Hutz, who's like Saul Goodman minus the competence, and then Troy McClure, a washed-up movie star reduced to hosting informational videos. With a trademark pink sweater and forced grin, McClure would always introduce himself with, "You may remember me from such movies as..."

Both characters debuted in season 2, Hutz in "Bart Gets Hit by a Car" and McClure in "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment." Hutz was the more prominent of the two, as the Simpsons were no strangers to lawsuits and Hutz was their go-to representation. McClure's parts tended to be simple cameos when characters watched his films, though he did have a starring role in "A Fish Called Selma." It turns out that McClure's had bad luck getting work because the public learned of his fetish for fish.

Comedian Andy Dick will be spending 90 days in jail after being convicted of misdemeanor sexual battery in Los Angeles. The charge stems from a 2018 incident where he reportedly groped an Uber driver, and he was found guilty this past June.

Dick must also register as a sex offender, and will be under summary probation for 12 months after his release from Los Angeles County Jail, where he began his sentence on November 17. Part of his probation also requires that he complete several programs including Alcoholics Anonymous and attending mental health counseling sessions.

> 50 ‘Best’ Celebrity Mugshots – Famous People At Their Lowest

The comic has been arrested on many occasions in the past for various drug charges as well as sexual offenses and also gained media attention for gross stunts like frequently touching Ivanka Trump when she was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2007.

He also once groped Pamela Anderson live on...

When “The Last Blockbuster,” a documentary celebrating the Blockbuster Video store in Oregon that became the final surviving vestige of the once-mighty video rental chain, found its audience on Netflix, the irony was so neat it barely qualified as such. After all, where else could a contemporary documentary reach so many people but the very streamer that helped kill off Blockbuster?

It’s a bit more perverse, however, that Netflix has apparently made Blockbuster nostalgia part of their brand, picking up “Blockbuster,” a workplace sitcom once intended for NBC. The show is loosely based on the same final Blockbuster outpost depicted in the doc — though the location has shifted to a midwestern strip mall — and follows the store’s transition from part of a waning corporation to a de facto mom-and-pop operation. Timmy (Randall Park), an earnest go-getter who hasn’t actually gone anywhere in his decades with the store...

Denise Dowse, the busy character actress who portrayed Vice Principal Yvonne Teasley on Beverly Hills, 90210, Judge Rebecca Damsen on The Guardian and therapist Rhonda Pine on Insecure, has died. She was 64.

Dowse’s passing was announced Saturday on her Instagram account by older sister Tracey Dowse, who praised her sibling as “the most amazing sister, a consummate, illustrious actress, mentor and director. She was my very best friend and final family member.”

On Aug. 7, Tracey wrote on Instagram that her younger sister was hospitalized and in a coma brought on by a “virulent form of meningitis.”

On the big screen, Denise Dowse stood out as Ray Charles’ manager Marlene André in Ray (2004), starring Oscar winner Jamie Foxx, and she played another principal, this one based on a real-life educator at Richmond (California) High School, in Coach Carter (2005), starring Samuel L. Jackson.

She...

History was made when the 2022 Primetime Emmy nominations were announced, as Chadwick Boseman (“What If…?”) and Jessica Walter (“Archer”) became the first pair of direct competitors to be recognized posthumously. They are both up for the Best Character Voice-Over Performance prize after having passed away in August 2020 and March 2021, respectively.

Walter is now the only performer to ever receive two post-death Emmy bids, having just contended in the same category last summer. Now including Boseman, the list of departed acting Emmy nominees consists of 26 entrants, four of whom were honored with wins.

The first actor to be nominated for and win an Emmy posthumously was Alice Pearce, who was awarded the Best Comedy Supporting Actress trophy for “Bewitched” two months after her death in 1966. The other three champs, all of whom triumphed for TV movie performances, are supporting players David Burns and Diana Hyland and lead Raul Julia.

Two more...

FX has commissioned a comedy pilot from Brian Jordan Alvarez.

The pilot is called “English Teacher.” Alvarez will star as Evan, a gay high school English teacher in Austin, TX, and his fellow teachers trying to balance the competing demands of the students and their parents in a world where the rules seem to change every day. Alvarez is writing the pilot and will also executive produce in addition to starring. Paul Simms is also attached to executive produce.

Alvarez has appeared in a number of hit shows over the years. Those include “Jane the Virgin,” “2 Broke Girls,” “Get Shorty,” and the revival of “Will & Grace.” He is also the creator and star of the YouTube sitcom “The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo.”

He is repped by CAA, Management 360 and Ziffren Brittenham Llp.

For Simms, this is his latest project with FX in recent years.

Viewers before them had first-generation “Saturday Night Live” and “Sctv.” But five Canadian lads turned out to be “kind of the only comedy group that reflected Gen X,” as fan Fred Armisen puts it in “The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks.” Reg Harkema’s documentary is a breezy, worthy overview of a collective career now approaching its 40th anniversary.

While best enjoyed by the already converted, it provides enough showbiz insight and interpersonal drama to entertain newbies. It will provide both camps with an appetizer for the Kids’ limited-run reboot of their original sketch series, which new episodes (featuring an array of name guest stars) launch May 13 on Amazon Prime, followed by this doc a week later (on May 20).

While all in their early twenties, Mark McKinney and Bruce McCulloch met in 1981 via a Calgary comedy-improv group, as did Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald in Toronto the next year.

It’s not as well known as it was in Canada, but during the ’80s and ’90s, “The Kids In The Hall” was one of the most beloved sketch comedies up North, the heir apparent of Sctv. Consisting of comedians Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson, “The Kids In The Hall” aired for five seasons from 1988 to 1995, then there was the 1996 movie, “Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy.” But besides reunion tours, one-offs, and the 2010 “Death Comes to Town” mini-series, that was basically the extent of the ‘Kids.’ Members found success in Hollywood and scattered around to different projects (Dave Foley was notably the first breakout star who had a long run on the American sitcom “NewsRadio”).

Continue reading ‘Kids In the Hall’ Trailer: The Canadian Kings of Comedy Are Back May 13 On Prime Video at The Playlist.

Norm Macdonald, whose laconic delivery of sharp and incisive observations made him one of Saturday Night Live‘s most influential and beloved cast members, died today after a nine-year private battle with cancer. He was 61.

Macdonald’s death was announced to Deadline by his management firm Brillstein Entertainment. The comedian’s longtime producing partner and friend Lori Jo Hoekstra, who was with him when he died, said Macdonald had been battling cancer for nearly a decade but was determined to keep his health struggles private, away from family, friends and fans.

“He was most proud of his comedy,” Hoekstra said. “He never wanted the diagnosis to affect the way the audience or any of his loved ones saw him. Norm was a pure comic. He once wrote that ‘a joke should catch someone by surprise, it should never pander.’ He certainly never pandered. Norm will be missed terribly.”

Norm Macdonald:...

“Black-ish” showunner Courtney Lilly looks back on the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic of being stuck inside as being like “Groundhog Day.” Having just moved into a new house in February 2020, he set up an office in the guest house, which is a converted garage, so he and his partner, who is a professor, could have their own designated space. “Being Gen X, the idea of two separate spaces, where I live is separate from where I work, it’s part of my operating system,” he says. The space is “like a studio apartment,” which means that along with a desk there is a bed and kitchen appliances — and random gifts stored there. But he did what he could to make it a “no-frills” environment because “work is supposed to be hard, so the more comfort I put into a space, the more it makes me feel like I’m not working,...

Becky Clements has been promoted to partner status at Tomorrow Studios, the production banner behind TNT’s “Snowpiercer,” Apple TV Plus’ “Physical” and Netflix’s “Cowboy Bebop.”

Clements had served as president alongside CEO Marty Adelstein since Tomorrow was founded in 2014. The two have been producing partners since 2010 when Clements joined forces with Adelstein and director-producer Shawn Levy in a 20th Century Fox Television-based banner.

Tomorrow launched with a straight-to-series order from NBC for the David Duchovny drama “Aquarius.” The company has a busy pipeline of projects including Netflix’s anime series “One Piece” and a pilot for Showtime “Let the Right One In.”

“Becky has been an incredible partner in establishing Tomorrow Studios as a leader in scripted entertainment,” said Adelstein. “She cultivates longstanding relationships with talent on both sides of the camera and has earned an abundance of trust from network and streaming partners.”

Before aligning with Adelstein,...

Snowpiercer producer Tomorrow Studios has upped President Becky Clements to partner alongside CEO Marty Adelstein.

The move comes ahead of the launch of its Rose Byrne comedy Physical on Apple TV+ on Friday – Clements was a key driver in this project.

Clements has worked with Adelstein for over a decade and she will continue to have oversight of the company’s production slate, which include Snowpiercer, which is currently in production on its third season, Cowboy Bepop, which is launching on Netflix in the fall, 10-Year Old Tom, which will air on HBO Max later this year, and the pilot for Let The Right One In, which starts production soon for Showtime.

ITV-backed Tomorrow Studios is also developing the first U.S. scripted project from The Bureau producer Éric Rochant.

Previous credits for Clements and Adelstein include Amazon’s Hanna, Fox’s Last Man Standing, TNT’s Good Behavior and NBC’s Aquarius.

Netflix Doc Shorts

Netflix has revealed the 10 winning filmmaker teams from its inaugural UK Documentary Talent Fund. A total of £400,000 in financing will be handed out to back 10 short documentary projects, each 8-12 minutes long and answering the brief “Britain’s Not Boring And Here’s a Story”. Winners are: Beya Kabelu’s The Detective & The Thief; Daisy Ifama’s Twinkleberry; Dhivya Kate Chetty’s Bee Whisperer; Jakob Lancaster & Sorcha Bacon’s Seal In The City; Jason Osborne and Precious Mahaga’s Love Languages; Ngaio Anyia and Aodh Breathnach’s Tegan; Sean Mullan and Michael Barwise’s Hyfin; Shiva Raichandani and Shane ShayShay Konno’s Peach Paradise; Tavie Tiffany Agama’s Women Of The Market; and Tobi Kyeremateng & Tania Nwachukwu’s ÓWÀMBÈ.

Berlinale Audience Award

The Berlin Film Festival will introduce a new audience award during its planned summer event. Due to run June 9-20, attendees will have to chance...

Title revealed of the upcoming feature from the director of ‘This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection’.

The next feature from Lesotho filmmaker Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese is among 10 upcoming projects to receive support from the Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf), administered by the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

The writer and director of Sundance award-winner This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection has received a grant of €10,000 for script and project development on his fourth feature, titled The Chattering Of Teeth.

Earlier this year, the filmmaker said he was developing a new feature around the theme of siege and fear...

Amazon’s IMDb TV free, ad-supported streaming service is bulking up its originals lineup — announcing five new series in development, including a comedy from “The Good Place” creator Michael Schur and author Shea Serrano.

The projects are part of Amazon’s first-ever NewFronts presentation to advertisers on Monday.

“Primo,” from Serrano and Schur, is billed as a coming-of-age story about a Mexican-American teenager balancing cultural norms, college aspirations, societal expectations and the hectic home life of being raised by his single mom and five uncles.

The series is written and executive produced by Serrano, who based the comedy on his upbringing. Schur, who co-created “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Parks and Recreation” after serving as a writer and producer on “The Office,” also serves as executive producer alongside David Miner. “Primo” is a Fremulon and 3 Arts production in association with Universal TV, a division of Universal Studio Group.

The other projects in...

Jamie Tarses, who broke the glass ceiling for female TV executives as the first woman to run a network entertainment division, passed away this morning from complications stemming from a cardiac event she suffered last fall, according to her family. She was 56.

A superstar TV executive, Tarses was instrumental in developing such iconic shows as NBC’s Friends and Frasier and reached the pinnacle of the network programming executive ladder by age 32, becoming president of ABC Entertainment. Young and phenomenally successful, Tarses transcended the media business to become a bona fide celebrity who was both admired and scrutinized. The enormous pressure of the job and relentless media attention took a toll on her tenure, which Tarses followed with a successful second career as a TV producer of such popular shows as ABC’s Happy Endings, TBS’ My Boys, TNT’s Franklin & Bash and Amazon Prime Video’s The Wilds.

We're back with another installment of Horror Highlights, bringing you the trailer for Vicious Fun, details on the Salt Lake Horror Festival, the trailers for Remothered: Broken Porcelain and 8ight After, information on ShortsTV's Halloween programming, and news of The Chattering Hour YouTube show and podcast:

Watch the Trailer for Vicious Fun: "Life comes terrifyingly close to imitating art in Vicious Fun, the new horror-comedy from Breakthrough Entertainment and Black Fawn Films made in partnership with Particular Crowd, the original movie banner of WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks Latin America. The first trailer and poster for the exciting new project have just been released.

The film follows Joel (Evan Marsh), a caustic 1980’s film critic for a national horror magazine, who finds himself unwittingly trapped in a self-help group for serial killers. With no other choice, Joel attempts to blend in with his homicidal surroundings or risk becoming their next victim.

There’s a ridiculous amount of TV content out there waiting to be streamed during your downtime — and a lot of it won’t cost you one shiny penny.

TVLine already offers a premium streaming guide, which delivers a rundown of subscription rates, original series and select library content offered by established, new and forthcoming streamers. We also publish a monthly list of TV shows and movies coming and going on Netflix.

More from TVLineThe Blacklist Creator Explains the Midseason Premiere's Glaring Absence, Teases a Major Secret for [Spoiler]American Idol Video: Will Margie Mays and Jonny West Survive the New 'Duets' Round in Hollywood Week?...

Screen UK Star Of Tomorrow Moin Hussain will present his project Birchanger Green.

Screen Star of Tomorrow Moin Hussain, Egypt’s Mohamed Siam, North Macedonia’s Teona Strugar Mitevska and UK-Yemini filmmaker Sara Ishaq are among the 16 directors who will present projects at the 16th edition of the Atelier co-production meeting in May.

The initiative, run by Cannes Cinefondation, will take place within the framework of the Cannes Film Festival, from May 14-21.

A total of 15 projects from 15 countries will attend this year.

Hussain will present his debut feature project Birchanger Green, about a directionless man in his thirties who...

Screen UK Star Of Tomorrow Moin Hussain will present his project Birchanger Green.

Screen Star of Tomorrow Moin Hussain, Egypt’s Mohamed Siam, North Macedonia’s Teona Strugar Mitevska and UK-Yemini filmmaker Sara Ishaq are among the 16 directors who will present projects at the 16th edition of the Atelier co-production meeting in May.

The initiative, run by Cannes Cinefondation, will take place within the framework of the Cannes Film Festival, from May 14-21.

A total of 15 projects from 15 countries will attend this year.

Hussain will present his debut feature project Birchanger Green, about a directionless man in his thirties who...

Six prizes awarded this year at CineMart closing night.

Argentinian director Natalia Garagiola’s Infanta, produced by Rei Cine, won the Eurimages Co-production Development Award, worth €20,000, at the Iffr Pro award ceremony at the International Film Festival Rotterdam on January 29, the closing night of co-production market CineMart (January 29).

The award Eurimages award is open to CineMart or BoostNL projects that are or will be a European co-production. Infanta is Garagiola’s second feature after 2017’s Hunting Season. The jury said: “[This] project promises to be an intense drama, with a starting point in real historical events.”

The Filmmore Post-production Award, presented...

Ari Graynor and Chris Messina are set for the lead roles in an untitled comedy pilot at FX that hails from Paul Simms, Variety has confirmed.

In additon, Jonathan Krisel is set to direct. Krisel previously co-created the FX series “Baskets,” which recently ended after four seasons. The pilot is about a family surviving a widespread technological crisis. Graynor will play the mother, Rachel, while Messina will play the father, Hunt.

Simms wrote the script and will also executive produce, with M. Blair Breard also executive producing. FX Productions will produce. Simms is currently under an overall deal at FX, while Breard has a first-look deal.

Messina’s previous TV credits include starring roles in “The Mindy Project” and “Sharp Objects.” He has also appeared on shows such as “The Newsroom,” “Damages,” and “Six Feet Under.” On the feature side, he will appear as Victor Zsasz in the upcoming release...

Exclusive: Chris Messina (HBO’s Sharp Objects) and Ari Graynor (Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here) are set to headline a single-camera comedy from Atlanta and What We Do In the Shadows executive producer Paul Simms, which has received a formal green light at FX with Baskets co-creator/executive producer Jonathan Krisel directing.

Written by Simms, the untitled comedy is about a family surviving a widespread technological crisis. Messina and Graynor will play the parents, Hunt, a lawyer, and Rachel, an Hr executive, respectively.

Simms executive produces with M. Blair Breard. FX Productions, where Simms is under an overall deal and Breard has a first-look pact, is the studio.

The project had had a blinking green light at FX for awhile, looking for the rights actors to play the leads Hunt and Rachel.

Messina will next be seen in the Warner Bros. DC film, Birds Of Prey,...

The marathon is almost over. What started in February with the first official Fyc screenings is about to wrap up on the final day of Emmy voting. All the advocacy from publicists, networks, critics, friends, and colleagues will either add up to an Emmy win or not, and the mourning cycle will last, at most, one month — before the end-of-year awards races start up in earnest.

So today, on the last day of voting, IndieWire TV Critic Ben Travers and TV Awards Editor Libby Hill have a few last-second pleas for everyone to consider. Sure, it would be nice if someone clicked on this article and then clicked over to their ballot, convinced of a nominee’s merit. But it’s just as important that we all remember the impressive efforts of these creators. Whether they win or not, the work demands to be seen, and the long Emmy race...