What's news: Meet the controversial doctor behind the Dr. Phil empire, what's next for Neon? Mangold in talks to replace Spielberg on Indiana Jones 5, big debate ratings for CBS, Discovery taps a Hulu exec for streaming content strategy, THR's studio profit report, inside the Tavis Smiley morals clause trial. Plus: Kim Masters on what Hollywood needs to do post-Weinstein, and Peacock inks a deal with A+E Networks. --Alex Weprin

 The Doctor Behind Dr. Phil

►Meet the controversial doctor behind the Dr. Phil empire. Frank Lawlis is a longtime adviser and mentor to the King of Daytime TV, but his practices (including a device to treat mental illness) have been deemed potentially dangerous by the scientific community, Gary Baum reports: "It's predatory on people who are desperate."

Quote: "Without the platform of Dr. Phil, Lawlis, who espouses ideas and treatments considered controversial and even dangerous by the mainstream medical community, might be a figure on the margins of public health. But his ability to directly impact the show's guests, and inform its massive audience, makes him a figure of consequence."

"Dr. Phil viewers recognize Lawlis from his frequent appearances as a designated expert on the show, during which McGraw treats Lawlis with notable respect, often introducing him as one the foremost authors or experts on whatever subject he's conferring on. (Lawlis was McGraw's Ph.D. adviser decades ago.)"

"Beamed in from Texas and donning a white coat, Lawlis weighs in on everything from opioid dependency to autism. In a 2017 segment focused on Chase, a 19-year-old man who claimed his life had spiraled out of control after a marijuana-induced panic attack, McGraw said he was sending him to the Lewisville clinic to get a 'scan of your brain.' Lawlis, who ventured that 'we also might have a feature of PTSD' to explore, explained that techniques "that work very quickly" would be utilized that 'will help resolve him back to where he was before.'"

"Hearing the news back in Los Angeles on the Paramount lot, Chase and his family dissolved into hugs and tears as the crowd applauded." The story.

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►What happens after Weinstein is what matters now. Does Hollywood have the will to create mechanisms to deal with less extreme cases? Or was the downfall of a notorious mogul just an anomaly? asks THR editor-at-large Kim Masters.

Quote: "The looming question for Hollywood now is whether the industry has the will to create mechanisms to deal with less extreme cases — and to deal with the insidious, sometimes subtle, garden-variety misogyny that keeps women — and people of color — from being fairly represented in executive suites and on sets. Because ultimately, that fairer representation is the only real remedy for a culture in which a man like Weinstein can thrive." The column.

►Studio profit report: Disney reigns, Netflix gains. Hollywood majors all made money in 2019, but with streaming the pricey priority, an analysis of studio divisions shows that these investments have already impacted revenue trends, Georg Szalai reports. The full breakdown.

^Parasite exec on life after historic Oscar wins: "I'm still in shock." In a Creative Space interview, Neon co-founder Tom Quinn also opens up about a move into production, the "major flaw" in the Netflix model and why his company won't end up like Open Road.

Quote: "It's good to remind yourself you're not immortal or infallible. We've certainly made mistakes, but the one thing we haven't done is chase things that aren't reflective of what we want to be involved with. We've never chased a deal or the bottom line. We've chased things we believe creatively are a reflection of cinema. What Parasite can say about us as a label is that we support filmmakers at an earlier stage. That's something we always hoped we'd be in a position to do, and now we are." The interview.

►James Mangold in talks to replace Steven Spielberg as Indiana Jones 5 director. This is the latest creative change for the feature, which was first announced in March 2016 by Disney and Lucasfilm. The story.

Elsewhere in film...

--CinemaCon, the annual gathering of global film exhibitors in Las Vegas, is forging ahead as planned despite rising global alarm over the spread of coronavirus, or COVID-19. All Chinese attendees have withdrawn from the event, however.

--Marketing for the new Invisible Man trades the Monsterverse for gritty realism.

--Roman Polanski says he will not attend this year's Cesar Awards

--Asian American producers gain new backing in Hollywood.

--Shout! Studios has nabbed the North American rights to Jay Sebring....Cutting to the Truth — a documentary feature from director Anthony DiMaria, 1010 Films and Halation — about the 1960s Hollywood trendsetter Jay Sebring.

--ReFrame, the coalition of industry leaders and companies dedicated to gender parity in entertainment, has announced the 2019 film recipients of its ReFrame Stamp.

--Berlin: Action, not art house, driving sales as market wraps. Also from Berlin: A bizarre Johnny Depp premiere featured disease victim photos during a dance party.

 Big Debate Ratings

►Debate ratings: The 10th debate among democratic presidential hopefuls gathered another big audience Tuesday night, as CBS' coverage had the evening's largest total audience by a wide margin. NBC's This Is Us and New Amsterdam improved week to week following a solid Tuesday debut for The Voice.

--CBS News' debate coverage, which also aired on BET and BET Her averaged 15.34 million viewers. The broadcast network had the vast majority of that audience with 14.78 million viewers, while fellow ViacomCBS networks BET and BET Her brought in 556,000 more. The numbers.

+Fox News' Chris Wallace: "We're all sort of struggling to understand the Bernie Sanders phenomenon." The anchor tells THR's Jeremy Barr that he's proud of his network's coverage of the Democratic 2020 frontrunner. "Not that I know or particularly care, but the campaign manager for the Sanders campaign says we've treated them more fairly than MSNBC has," Wallace told THR. "Lord knows nobody on Fox has compared Sanders' victory in Nevada to the occupation of Paris by the Nazis, so I think we're probably ahead of the game." The story.

►Peacock inks massive licensing deal with A+E Networks. The deal covers hundreds of hours of episodes from A&E series including Cold Case Files, First 48, Storage Wars and History's American Pickers, Ancient Aliens, Curse of Oak Island, Pawn Stars and scripted drama Project Blue Book. A date for Peacock's formal launch as well as when the A&E and History content will be available have not yet been determined. The story.

►Discovery earnings: Discovery on Thursday reported higher fourth-quarter earnings despite lower ratings, continued cord-cutting and investments in its direct-to-consumer business as the bottom line result exceeded Wall Street expectations. Discovery also unveiled a new $2 billion stock buyback authorization, which one analyst said investors will likely see as a bullish sign.

--Discovery CEO David Zaslav on the earnings conference call said the company recorded more than $700 million of "next-gen and direct-to-consumer revenue" in 2019 and was "well on our way" to exceed the milestone of $1 billion in 2020. The story.

+Hulu's Lisa Holme to oversee Discovery's direct-to-consumer content strategy. The company made the announcement Thursday after Peter Faricy, the company's CEO of global direct-to-consumer mentioned the hire on Discovery's fourth-quarter earnings conference call. Holme, who has worked for Hulu since 2010, will lead Discovery’s content strategy for its growing digital business. The former production executive at Illumination Entertainment used to also work as a business analyst at consulting firm McKinsey. More.

+Univision earnings:  Univision, a couple of days after unveiling a deal that will see an investor group led by former Viacom CFO Wade Davis acquire a 64 percent stake in it, on Thursday said it swung to a fourth-quarter profit amid higher revenue and lower expenses. CEO Vincent Sadusky said that the company predicts "a record first quarter in political advertising revenue, as candidates understand that 32 million eligible U.S. Hispanics will be the largest racial or ethnic minority group in the electorate." The story.



^Bob Chapek's rise at Disney helped by soaring revenue at parks. Natalie Jarvey and Georg Szalai write about Disney's CEO, who ran the company's largest division by revenue, and who Bob Iger and the Disney board will lead the company into the future.

Quote: “Chapek’s relatively broad pedigree could portend a fairly pragmatic choice,” says CFRA Research analyst Tuna Amobi. “He’s got some big shoes to fill in Bob Iger, whose transitional period should nevertheless help to smooth a fairly steep learning that Chapek is bound to encounter in some of the digital and creative businesses.” The story.

Revolving door: Nickelodeon veteran Cyma Zarghami has launched MiMO Studio, a production firm and consultancy focused on developing kids and family programming for a range of distributors... Michael Bostick has been tapped to serve as president of Adam F. Goldberg's unnamed production company... Legendary Entertainment has tapped Matthew Erramouspe as chief legal officer and executive vp... Longtime L.A. radio host Big Boy has signed with ICM Partners...

►Roblox raises $150 million in new funding round. Andreessen Horowitz’s Late Stage Venture led the investment in the massively-multiplayer online game and social platform, which welcomes more than 115 million monthly active users. The details.

►As The Simpsons silences Apu, South Asian creatives hope for character's authentic revival. Apu's last notable speaking appearance was in October 2017. Since then, no lines have been given to the Kwik-E-Mart clerk voiced by Hank Azaria for 30 years. The story.

TV renewals: First Wives Club is returning to BET+. The comedy from Girls Trip's Tracy Oliver will be back for a second cycle with principal photography set to begin in September in Atlanta... London gangland drama Top Boy is set to return for a second season on Netflix...

Elsewhere in TV...

--Victoria Mahoney is heading back to space. The history-making Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker second unit director is teaming with Ava DuVernay to adapt Octavia E. Butler's sci-fi novel Dawn as an Amazon Studios drama series.

--ABC has handed out a late-season pilot order to Valley Trash, and tapped My Name Is Earl grad Jason Lee to star in the comedy from Speechless alum Niki Schwartz-Wright and Fresh Off the Boat creator Nahnatchka Khan.

--Ratings: Add The Bachelor the list of network series getting a big lift from digital viewing. The Jan. 6 premiere of the long-running ABC unscripted series nearly doubled its initial audience after five weeks of multi-platform viewing, according to figures from Nielsen and the network.

--Altered Carbon boss promises a "reckoning" for Netflix thriller's second season.

--Netflix is planning a Love is Blind reunion special.

 The Smiley Trial

At morals clause trial, Tavis Smiley attacks "lies," acknowledges relationships with subordinates. A two-week trial between the talk show host and PBS is nearly finished — but not before a branding expert talks about the #MeToo movement just as the Harvey Weinstein verdict comes, and not before Smiley gets grilled on cross-examination, Eriq Gardner reports. The story.

+Donald Trump's campaign sues N.Y. Times for defamation over Russian collusion story. In a suit filed Wednesday in Virginia state court, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. claims NYT published its article titled “The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo” even though it knew the story contained untrue statements. The story.

+Netflix seeks cancellation of "Choose Your Own Adventure" trademark in Bandersnatch dispute. Not only is the Black Mirror film different from other interactive narratives, Netflix argues, but also the phrase "choose your own adventure" has become generic. The story.

+WGA East files labor complaint against NBC over shuttered nonfiction unit. The union claims that after Peacock Productions was closed in January, the company opened a non-union shop to continue doing similar work. More.

+YouTube isn't a public forum, rules appeals court in conservative censorship case. "Despite YouTube’s ubiquity and its role as a public-facing platform, it remains a private forum, not a public forum subject to judicial scrutiny under the First Amendment," Judge M. Margaret McKeown wrote in the opinion. More.

+New evidence backs Lori Loughlin, Mossimo Giannulli’s innocence, lawyers claim. The filing came on the eve of a status hearing in the case scheduled for Thursday at Boston’s federal court in the sweeping college admissions bribery case. More.



^Global game conventions scale back amid coronavirus concerns. Over the past few weeks, companies such as Sony, Square Enix, Capcom, EA, Facebook Gaming and Kojima Productions have announced plans to fully skip or significantly limit their presence at annual video game conventions such as this weekend's PAX East in Boston and the upcoming Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco next month. Each company specifically cited concerns over the coronavirus outbreak as reasoning for their decision. More.

►ACM Awards: The Academy of Country Music announced the nominations for the 55th Academy of Country Music Awards today. Maren Morris, Thomas Rhett and producer Dann Huff lead the nominations with five nominations each. Dan + Shay earned four nominations (Shay Mooney received an additional nominations while Dan Smyers received two additional nominations) along with Justin Bieber, Blake Shelton and Old Dominion (Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen and Brad Tursi each picked up an additional nomination). Eric Church, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Ashley McBryde and Kacey Musgraves closed out the lead with three nominations a piece. The full list of nominees.

+Also: Garth Brooks will receive the Icon Award at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards.

+Taylor Swift releases "The Man" music video. The song is the fourth single off of her 2019 album Lover, following by "ME!," "You Need to Calm Down" and "Lover." More.

Obituaries: Lee Phillip Bell, Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist and co-creator of daytime series' The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful, has died. She was 91... Clive Cussler, the million-selling adventure writer and real-life thrill-seeker who wove personal details and spectacular fantasies into his page-turning novels about underwater explorer Dirk Pitt, has died, his publisher said Wednesday. He was 88...

Casting roundup: Josh Brolin has signed on to star in and ep the Amazon drama Outer Range... Ryan Phillippe has joined the cast of The Big Sky, a drama from David E. Kelley that was ordered straight to series at ABC... Rebecca Breeds will play FBI agent Clarice Starling in Clarice, a drama pilot that's set a year after the events of The Silence of the Lambs... Letitia Wright is set to appear in thriller The Silent Twins... Macaulay Culkin will be among the cast members for season 10 of American Horror Story... Lyndsy Fonseca and Carra Patterson have been tapped to star opposite Josh Peck in the reboot of Turner and Hooch...

What else we're reading...

--"Disney's new CEO described as a number-crunching tactician" [WSJ]

--"Widespread coronavirus quarantine would create captive audience for TV stations, WGN-TV owner Nexstar says" [Chicago Tribune]

--"Impossible Foods crowned Disney’s ‘preferred plant-based burger’" [AdWeek]

--"What’s the deal with Netflix’s Pokémon movie? It’s the first Pokémon remake" [LA Times]

Today's birthdays: Chelsea Clinton, 40, Josh Groban, 39, Ralph Nader, 86, JWoww, 34, Joanne Woodward, 90.