What's news: Ted Sarandos named co-CEO of Netflix as company shatters subscriber forecasts, Mark Boal adaptation picked up straight to series at Apple, Atlanta EP Hiro Murai inks FX deal, Noah Centineo will play Atom Smasher in Black Adam, Ava DuVernay unscripted series coming to NBC, Attorney General Barr takes on Hollywood for "kowtowing" to China. Plus: Valerie Harper's Emmys pulled from auction, and holiday movies returning to production in Canada. --Alex Weprin

 Netflix's Big Day

►Netflix has a new co-CEO. Longtime Netflix content chief Ted Sarandos will lead the company alongside its founder, Reed Hastings, the streaming giant announced Thursday. He will remain chief content officer, and also join the company's board “Ted has been my partner for decades," Hastings said in a statement announcing the appointment. "This change makes formal what was already informal — that Ted and I share the leadership of Netflix." 

--On a post-earnings call for investors taped Thursday afternoon, Hastings confirmed that he is staying at Netflix for a while, and that Sarandos won't be succeeding him in the near future. "I'm in it for a decade," he said. Netflix also promoted chief product officer Greg Peters to COO. The story.

+The company announced the promotions at the same time it announced a blowout quarter. The streaming giant added 10.09 million subscribers during its second quarter, boosting its global base to nearly 193 million. The company had forecast 7.5 million new subscribers. It's Q3 forecast was even more bearish, as the company warned that "growth is slowing as consumers get through the initial shock of Covid and social restrictions." The company is forecasting a relatively modest 2.5 million new subscribers in the third quarter, down from 6.8 million a year ago.

--Netflix also said that the pandemic shutdowns will begin to impact its programming slate in 2021. "For 2021, based on our current plan, we expect the paused productions will lead to a more second half weighted content slate in terms of our big titles, although we anticipate the total number of originals for the full year will still be higher than 2020." The story.

+What Wall Street is saying: Given the shares' strong run this year, which has led them to hit an all-time high of $575.37 last Friday, some Wall Street observers, after the quarterly update, argued there was little upside left for now, while others increased their stock price targets and urged investors to buy the stock. The story.

+The "ratings." Netflix got strong viewing numbers from Mindy Kaling's high-school comedy Never Have I Ever in the second quarter — and even bigger ones from dating show Too Hot to Handle. The two shows were among several series and movies the streamer highlighted in its earnings report for the second quarter. Also: Space Force and Da 5 Bloodz. The numbers.

+The streamer is also looking to expand up north: Netflix is giving emerging Canadian storytellers an opportunity to see their projects developed into film and TV originals for the American streaming giant. "Diverse and underrepresented stories told authentically are important to us," the streamer said ahead of a Canada Virtual Pitch Day planned for September. More.

 In TV News...

►Mark Boal adapting When Heroes Fly as Apple drama series. The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty screenwriter has landed a straight-to-series order at Apple for a scripted action-thriller based on Keshet's When Heroes Fly, from creator Omri Givon and inspired by the novel by Amir Gutfreund. The 10-episode drama, called Echo 3, revolves around Amber Chesborough, a brilliant young scientist. The story.

+Atlanta EP Hiro Murai signs first-look deal with FX. The Disney-owned cable network's FX Productions has signed a first-look deal with Super Frog, the production company headed by Murai and Nate Matteson. The deal covers all scripted and unscripted programming for FX, and potentially other divisions of Walt Disney Television as well. More.

+Ava DuVernay unscripted series lands at NBC. The network has ordered 10 episodes of Home Sweet Home, a "social experiment" series in which families will switch homes with others from different backgrounds. The show comes from Warner Horizon Unscripted Television and DuVernay's Array Filmworks. More.

+Also at NBC: Don Johnson has been tapped to replace Andy Garcia and star opposite Saturday Night Live favorite Kenan Thompson in single-camera comedy Kenan. Additionally, Thompson's fellow SNL star Chris Redd has also joined the cast of the series. More.

+The Bold Type producers vow to enact change after star calls out Freeform drama's lack of diversity. Aisha Dee, who plays Kat Edison on the Freeform dramedy, took to Instagram to share her thoughts. "I am ready to push harder and speak louder for what matters to me: The diversity we see in front of the camera needs to be reflected in the diversity of the creative team behind the camera," she wrote in a lengthy post. More.

+Calm app to become HBO Max series. The WarnerMedia streaming platform is teaming with the makers of the Calm meditation app for a series based on its popular "Sleep Stories." HBO Max has ordered 10 episodes of A World of Calm from the app and Nutopia (National Geographic's One Strange Rock), with a host of A-listers set to narrate episodes. More.



^Noah Centineo joins Dwayne Johnson in Shazam! spinoff Black Adam. Jaume Collet-Serra, who directed Johnson in Disney's forthcoming The Jungle Cruise, will be in the director’s chair when the feature project goes before cameras, although with the pandemic the timing is unclear. Johnson's longtime collaborator, Beau Flynn of FlynnPictureCo., is producing along with Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia via their Seven Bucks Productions. The story.

+Glen Powell, Jack Black to star in Richard Linklater animated Netflix movie Apollo 10 ½. The movie, set against the backdrop of the 1969 Apollo mission to the moon, will be a hybrid of hand-drawn and computer animation. More.

►Attorney General Barr takes on Hollywood: "Hollywood now regularly censors its own movies to appease the Chinese Communist Party, the world’s most powerful violator of human rights," Barr said in prepared remarks addressing the administration's economic policy toward China. "This censorship infects not only versions of movies that are released in China, but also many that are shown in American theaters to American audiences." The story.

►Independent content producers coalition calls on government for aid amid COVID-19. A group of 25 independent production companies, distributors, sales agents and completion guarantors including A24, Amblin Partners and Endeavor Content have formed the American Coalition for Independent Content Production, which is calling on the government to provide support through the pandemic.

--This includes asking for liability protection for resuming production, assistance that will support business continuity when projects are suspended or abandoned, grants and long-term low interest loans, and relief through federal tax incentives. The story.

►Canada restarts holiday film production with quarantine pods, masks and Santa masks: "It's a risk." Christmas TV movies are among the first productions to shoot locally with scaled-back sets and social distancing to end a four-month industry shutdown, Etan Vlessing reports. The story.

 Emmy Auction Drama

 The four Primetime Emmy Awards won by the late actress Valerie Harper will not be sold to the highest bidder — at least not on Friday morning, as had been scheduled to occur. On Thursday, the United States District Court serving the Central District of California granted a temporary restraining order, requested by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, blocking Julien's Auction LLC from selling the statuettes, which Harper, who died on Aug. 30, 2019, won for The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1971-1973) and for Rhoda (1975). The story.

 Michael Jackson's ex-manager Tohme Tohme's longstanding legal war with the King of Pop's estate has ended as a California judge ruled that he's owed the $3 million he was promised in a 2019 settlement even though the deal was never finalized in writing. The story.

+Judge allows Mo'Nique's suit alleging Netflix's comedy special offers were discriminatory. Is it unlawful for a producer to throw out an opening low-ball offer and then not budge when the talent demands more? It might be, according to a novel decision on Thursday from a California federal judge. More.

►Hollywood LGBTQ-inclusive films up, diversity down and trans characters absent, GLAAD study finds. A GLAAD survey of 118 studio films released in 2019 indicated "the industry still has a long way to go in terms of fairly and accurately representing the LGBTQ community." More.

►Will Arnett and Sean Hayes talk turning decades-long friendship into podcast Smartless. The actors are teaming up with Jason Bateman on the interview series, which premieres July 20. "We just thought it’d be a really fun way for us to take what we do all the time, which is just goof around, and bring other people into it who were more interesting than us," Arnett says. The interview.

►Walt Disney Concert Hall's fall 2020 season canceled due to coronavirus. Amid pandemic-related cancellations, the LA Philharmonic also announced several broadcast and online programs Thursday to make its entertainment and educational programs more accessible. More.

+KCET producing best of Hollywood Bowl concert series. With the iconic venue closed for summer 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, SoCal’s public media station is collaborating with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association on six episodes featuring performances by Carlos Santana, Kristen Chenoweth, Misty Copeland and more. More.

►TV's Top 5 podcast: During this week's podcast, hosts Daniel Fienberg and Lesley Goldberg welcome P-Valley showrunner Katori Hall and look at the latest ways in which the pandemic is impacting the TV industry. Listen.

►TV ratings: ABC's comedy United We Fall had a solid premiere Wednesday night, with two episodes recording the biggest audiences on the broadcast networks in primetime and the premiere leading the night in adults 18-49. Univision snagged the top spot in the key ad demographic across the night. The numbers.

►TV review: Daniel Fienberg reviews Netflix's Arthurian legend prequel Cursed, writing that "it's an OK show with the raw materials to have been much better given just a bit more commitment to its premise." The review.

In other news...

--Gimlet Media is launching a podcast about climate change. How to Save a Planet is the latest project from the Spotify-owned studio's co-founder and managing director, Alex Blumberg.

--Abigail Disney on Wednesday again went after the company her grandfather helped found, saying The Walt Disney Co. was acting irresponsibly by reopening its theme parks while the novel coronavirus pandemic runs rampant.

--Kristen Wiig has signed with CAA in all areas, except screenwriting.

--The International Documentary Association has named entertainment attorney Brenda Robinson as president of its board of directors.

--New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has joined forces with Tribeca Film Festival co-founders Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro and Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow as well as Hollywood stars like Morgan Freeman, Ellen Pompeo, Jamie Foxx and Rosie Perez on a national mask campaign, featuring eight TV public service announcements.

--Former FaZe Clan executives Greg Selkoe, Clinton Sparks and Wil Eddins, together with Marco Mereu, founder of esports network Framerate, have launched a new gaming brand called XSET.

--Real estate investment company Horizon Group Properties has partnered with esports analytics company Harena Data L.L.C., which operates the brand USA Drive-Ins, to develop esports arenas and drive-in movie theaters in four major U.S. cities.

--Colin Jost is "not sure" if he'll remain at SNL past next season.

--Alex Trebek gave fans and Jeopardy! viewers an uplifting health update via Twitter on Thursday morning. More than a year after the host was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Trebek shared that he's doing just fine.

What else we're reading...

--"Alex Trebek is still in the game" [NY Times]

--"She was a rising star of L.A.’s comedy scene. Then COVID-19 halted comedy altogether" [LA Times]

--"There's still nothing even close to Netflix" [Bloomberg]

--"Can Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez save the Mets?" [Vanity Fair]

--"Roku shares are rising as it goes to war with big media — a top Roku executive lays out its strategy" [CNBC]

Today's birthdays: David Hasselhoff, 68, The Duchess of Cornwall, 73, Donald Sutherland, 85, Angela Merkel, 66, Bryan Trottier, 64.