Today In Entertainment APRIL 07, 2020
What's news: With productions shut down broadcasters prepare for an uncertain summer and fall, networks plan primetime charity special, All Rise to remotely film quarantine episode, AT&T secures $5.5 billion to boost liquidity, Paradigm pulls together a relief fund for staff, more fests go digital. Plus: Pop TV president Brad Schwartz on Schitt's Creek, and Vince Gilligan on Better Call Saul. --Alex Weprin Broadcasters Scramble ►A puzzle without all the pieces: Broadcast networks scramble to program an uncertain future. With no signs of when production can resume amid the global coronavirus crisis (aside from some at-home programming like the Trisha Yearwood-Garth Brooks special pictured above), the Big Four are considering everything — even streaming fare — as they address summer schedules filled with holes. And fall may pose an even bigger problem, Lesley Goldberg reports. Quote: "There's so many chicken and egg scenarios that it's frustrating for those who like having order and all the pieces in place for a larger strategy," says one broadcast veteran. "We're all playing a game of chicken: how long can we tap dance to get a little information about where this is headed?" Here's where things stand. There is one piece of the puzzle in place... +NBC, ABC and CBS are uniting for a historic, star-studded global broadcast to raise funds and address the fight against COVID-19. Set to air Saturday, April 18 from 8-10 p.m. ET/PT, One World: Together at Home will see NBC's Jimmy Fallon, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel and CBS' Stephen Colbert host the broadcast that is being produced in partnership with Global Citizen and the World Health Organization. --Lady Gaga will curate the special, which will feature exclusive appearances by Alanis Morissette, Andrea Bocelli, Billie Eilish, Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, Burna Boy, Chris Martin, David Beckham, Eddie Vedder, Elton John, FINNEAS, Idris and Sabrina Elba, J Balvin, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban, Kerry Washington, Lang Lang, Lizzo, Maluma, Paul McCartney, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Shah Rukh Khan and Stevie Wonder. The story. And other networks and shows are adapting to the challenging environment... +CBS' All Rise to virtually produce quarantine episode. The episode will center on Judge Lola Carmichael (Simone Missick) conducting a virtual bench trial, with Emily (Jessica Camacho) representing the defendant and Mark (Wilson Bethel) prosecuting. The episode will use FaceTime, Zoom, WebEx and other social media and online technology. It's scheduled to air May 4. --How will it work? Virtual footage will be shot in each of the actors' homes, with producers using visual effects to create the necessary backgrounds. A cinematographer operating solo from a vehicle will also film footage of the empty streets of Los Angeles as it operates under social-distancing rules, with nonessential businesses closed. Executive producer Michael Robin will direct. The story. +Kelly Clarkson Show to resume production with weekly at-home episodes. Clarkson will begin producing an original episode each week from her home in Montana, along with recording new material to be incorporated into episodes taped prior to the show stopping production on March 13 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The new episodes will feature the host interviewing celebrities and people doing good in their communities. More. A sign of what's to come? +NBCUniversal reducing ad loads and adding content as consumers quarantine. As Magna warns that TV ad sales could fall by 13 percent this year, NBCU will reduce commercial loads on its news and entertainment shows. On the entertainment front, late night shows as well as unscripted series on Bravo, E! and USA, will all feature extended episodes and bonus content in lieu of some commercial pods. There will also be commercial-free movie nights. The story. ^AT&T unveils $5.5 billion loan amid virus crisis, touts "strength" of subscription businesses. The loan will boost the telecom giant's liquidity while the crisis rages. It also said it expects to be "sizing our operations to economic activity," a sign of possible layoffs or reduced investment amid the crisis. AT&T vowed it would continue paying dividends, saying: "As it has for the past 36 years, the company looks forward to continuing to pay a quarterly dividend to shareholders." Analysts have in recent weeks wondered whether the dividends could be put on ice or reduced amid the virus crisis. The story. +Paradigm establishes $1.1 million employee relief fund after layoffs, lawsuit. In a letter sent agencywide on Monday night, Sam Gores did not directly mention the pending litigation, which accused him of leaving the laid-off staff high and dry in economically strained times, but unveiled a number of measures that seemed to address that criticism. --"The vital and significant actions we took, though necessary for the health of the company, were hard and painful," Gores wrote, calling them the toughest of his 37-year career. "And while immediate action was required, I realize that the way the message was conveyed to you lacked compassion and made you feel alienated from Paradigm." The story. +In other biz news: Regal owner Cineworld said Tuesday it would suspend its dividend payments and top executives have "voluntarily" agreed to defer salary and bonus payments amid the coronavirus pandemic. More. ►How I'm Living Now: Carol Burnett, comedian. Burnett had recently returned from Hawaii and was looking ahead to a spring and summer filled with tour dates for her interactive show, Carol Burnett: An Evening of Laughter and Reflection. There were dates set for Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Milwaukee, all of which have been postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic. She offered the same format to THR — clocking in closer to 20 minutes — to discuss what her life is like today, isolating in Santa Barbara with her husband Brian and their cat Nikki. The interview. Zoombombers Invade Quarantine Pornography, racial slurs and coordinated attacks: How Zoombombers are wreaking havoc on virtual 12-step meetings. Hackers have taken over the pandemic’s most popular teleconferencing tool to disrupt everything from classes to recovery meetings, Chris Gardner reports. Quote: “It was like an ambush,” David explains of the coordinated attack, which saw multiple users unmute their computers at once, yell racist and anti-Semitic insults and utilize the screen sharing feature to blast pornography. He then saw one use a drawing tool to cover an X-rated clip with a swastika. “The problem is you don’t immediately know where it’s coming from so, while you can kick them out, it isn’t easy when they are organized and there’s so many,” he says. The story. ►Nielsen Reports 45 percent spike in U.S. video game usage. Nielsen Games polled roughly 3,000 individuals across France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. as part of its monthly Video Game Tracking survey. The data. ►Universal Music Group chief Lucian Grainge "at home and recuperating" after COVID-19 hospitalization. Grainge sent a letter to UMG staff on Monday, updating them to his condition. Read it in full here. Many events this past month were canceled. Others were postponed. Providing refunds obviously makes sense, but what happens for those tickets resold in a secondary market? Who should shoulder those cancellation costs? Thanks to the nightmare known as the COVID-19 pandemic, StubHub faces a rather existential problem. --In Wisconsin federal court, StubHub has been hit with a putative class action from the buyers of those resold tickets. According to the complaint, StubHub has walked away from its longstanding "FanProtect" guarantee of cash refunds upon event cancellation. The story. ►ATX TV Festival shifts to virtual event as reunions pushed to 2021. Co-founders Caitlin McFarland and Emily Gipson have opted to cancel the in-person festival, scheduled for June 5-7, in favor of what they're calling "ATX TV … From the Couch," a virtual gathering designed to celebrate the medium. More. +Germany will still hand out its equivalent of the Oscars, the German Film Awards, in a live ceremony in Berlin on April 24, despite the country being on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of the usual gala, the 70th German Film Awards will take place without an audience of stars and film VIPs and with nominees and winners watching from their homes. More. +Edinburgh TV Festival to go digital due to coronavirus. The physical edition of the U.K.'s biggest TV event has been scrapped, with the key elements moved online and everything made free for freelancers. More. +Delayed Hot Docs partners with CBC on virtual fest. North America's largest documentary festival and Canada's CBC network will join forces to stream select world premieres that lost in-person cinema play due to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 crisis. More. In other coronavirus-related news... --U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved to intensive care after continuing to exhibit symptoms of the coronavirus. --FXX's Archer is the latest series to have its premiere date bumped due to the coronavirus pandemic. The animated show was due to begin its 11th season on May 6. A new premiere date hasn't been set. --J.K. Rowling is the latest industry figure to reveal that they have had symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. --Roseanne Barr has weighed in on the novel coronavirus pandemic — and she seemingly believes it is a cunning plan (unclear whose, exactly) to kill baby boomers. Obituaries: Honor Blackman, the beguiling British actress who portrayed the leather-clad Cathy Gale on TV's The Avengers and then Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, has died. She was 94... George Ogilvie, who co-directed the 1985 action film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome with George Miller and guided Russell Crowe in his big-screen debut, has died. He was 89... James Drury, who starred as the no-name, no-nonsense foreman of the Shiloh Ranch on The Virginian, one of the longest-running Westerns in the history of television, died Monday of natural causes. He was 85... How 'Schitt's Creek' Defined Pop TV ►Schitt's Creek: Pop TV president on how the show defined the network. In a guest column for THR ahead of the series finale, Pop's Brad Schwartz recalls his decade-long relationship with Dan Levy and how it helped an underdog cut through the clutter. Quote: "The big, long-tenured networks stay big. The small, under-financed networks stay small. Rarely does one make the leap. Many would argue that in today's environment, it is impossible to make that leap. But when the forces of show, culture, passion, patience, hard work and talent all crescendo together in harmony, odds can be defied." The column. ►Notorious tabloid editor Dylan Howard departs American Media Inc. Howard had spent the past year producing docs and podcasts for the company after his high-profile involvement in the Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein and Jeff Bezos narratives. The story. ►Universal Music defeats legal claims over destroyed recordings in fire. Many of the original plaintiffs in the case including Soundgarden, Hole and Steve Earle dropped out along the way. There's been ongoing questions about just who was impacted by the fire, but for the most part, the litigation was being led by Jane Petty, who was once married to the late Tom Petty and owned a 50 percent interest in his older recordings thanks to a 1996 divorce agreement. The story. Universal is in the mood for some fresh blood. In a preemptive move, the studio has picked up film rights to Crave, an upcoming YA vampire novel from author Tracy Wolff. Entangled Publishing’s Liz Pelletier described the vision for Crave, which was pitched as "vampires for a new generation," as a paranormal fantasy about a human girl "who finds herself at the center of conflict between many warring factions when she falls for a vampire prince, all told with a decidedly feminist perspective." The story. ^Animated comedy Duncanville renewed for season two at Fox. The series, a co-production between Disney's 20th Century Fox TV, Universal TV and Fox Entertainment, is co-created by Amy Poehler and married duo Mike and Julie Scully and joins fellow freshman animated comedy Bless the Harts as having earned an early pickup at the network. The story. +Black Mafia Family drama from 50 Cent scores Starz series order. The premium cable network has handed out an eight-episode, straight-to-series order for the drama series, marking the fifth scripted show that the rapper and prolific producer has in the works there and sixth overall. More. +Nick Cannon's daytime talk show is officially cleared for launch. The eponymous show from Lionsgate's Debmar-Mercury had previously been picked up by Fox-owned stations. It has now brought additional station groups on board and is cleared in more than 90 percent of the country, including all top 20 markets. It's set to premiere Sept. 21, making it the first new syndicated show to secure a debut date for the 2020-21 season. More. ►How WWE pulled off WrestleMania 36 without fans and what it means for its business and future. One potential fallout from this year's WrestleMania could well be that WWE decides to do more filmed content, instead of traditional matches, for special performers or circumstances. After all, to mix things up amid a lack of fans in attendance, WWE offered two showdowns this weekend that didn’t take place in the ring, but were presented as short films, or "cinematic experiences." More. ►ViacomCBS acquires full control of Israeli TV company Ananey. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but ViacomCBS acquired a controlling stake in Ananey after, in December 2017, first picking up a minority stake. Besides producing content for its own and VCNI’s channels in Israel, Ananey also produces the hit teen drama Greenhouse Academy for Netflix. Ananey has also long licensed or represented Viacom’s global brands for Israel, including Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and Nick Jr., including after the merger with CBS to create ViacomCBS. More. Better Call Saul's' Vince Gilligan talks Bagman in a two-part interview with THR's Daniel Fienberg... --On the episode's desert shoot: "Just pure hell." Gilligan spoke about heading deep into the desert in August to direct the pivotal episode and what made filming so tough. The interview. --In part two, Gilligan discusses Mike's monologue, a car-flipping stunt and what, exactly, was in Bob Odenkirk's water bottle. The interview. ►TV ratings: Plan B for the postponed ACM Awards worked out reasonably well for CBS Sunday night. The network's two-hour special, ACM Presents: Our Country, delivered decent ratings, topping CBS' usual numbers from 8 to 10 p.m. ABC's American Idol slipped some vs. last week, hitting its lowest Sunday numbers of the season, but lead-out The Rookie recorded a third consecutive season high in total viewers. The numbers. ►TV review: Daniel Fienberg reviews Acorn TV's Deadwater Fell. The review. ►Behind the Screen podcast: Editor Doug Abel provides a behind-the-scenes look at Netflix’s Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness in a new episode of THR's podcast series. Listen. In other news... --Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski on the "urgent" message of the abortion drama Never Rarely Sometimes Always. --Chris Hemsworth on Tuesday morning debuted the action-packed trailer for his upcoming Netflix movie, Extraction. --Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Alfred A. Knopf has decided to delay publication of a new book co-written by Jim Carrey. The book, Memoirs and Misinformation, co-written with Dana Vachon, was originally set to publish on May 5, 2020. The book's tentative publication date is now Oct. 6. --Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have outlined plans for a new charitable foundation called Archewell. According to paperwork filed with the U.S. trademark office, activities under the L.A.-based operation would include the production of "motion picture films, articles, books, audio books, podcasts, audiovisual entertainment, television shows, digital entertainment content, and informational programming." --The Roddenberry Foundation has teamed up with the ideas program A Day of Unreasonable Conversation to launch the Roddenberry Impact Awards, which will hand out $100,000 in grants to projects and ideas that promote positive social change in television. What else we're reading... --"These top Hollywood agents are signing all the influencers" [NY Times] --UFC president Dana White says he is close to securing a private island, which would allow the mixed-martial arts fights to continue [TMZ] --"Ex-TV executives charged with bribery for World Cup rights" [Bloomberg] --"Coronavirus breaks the telecom bundle" [Axios] Today's birthdays: Jerry Brown, 82, Francis Ford Coppola, 81, Jackie Chan, 66, Russell Crowe, 56, Alexis Jordan, 28. One last thing: THR editor Matthew Belloni told staff yesterday that he will step down after 14 years. He will remain with THR for a month as an editorial consultant. We will miss his guidance and leadership. More.
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