Today In Entertainment

OCTOBER 17, 2020

What's news: Warner Bros. TV chief Peter Roth to retire, Writers Guild updates members on WME and CAA talks, ABC's Biden beats Trump in the ratings, Michael B. Jordan gets Static Shock, Star Trek: Discovery snags a renewal. Plus: The Vow renewed, and Dexter showrunner previews the reboot. --Alex Weprin

 Peter Roth To Retire

➤It's the end of an era at Warner Bros. TV. Legendary and longtime studio executive Peter Roth, who currently serves as chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group, will step down when his current contract expires in early 2021.

--Sources tell lesley Goldberg that former Netflix vp originals and ex-ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey is near a deal to take over the top perch at the top of the studio. As Roth currently does, Dungey is expected to report directly to WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group CEO Ann Sarnoff. The story.

➤Hope for a late summer breakthrough on a deal between the Writers Guild of America and two major Hollywood agencies has turned into a fall waiting game. The negotiating committee for the union says it has presented WME and CAA with a proposal on Friday on terms for a new agreement for the holdout talent firms to represent any of its estimated 16,000 members for the first time since April 2019.

--In its note to members on Friday, the guild's negotiating committee claimed that both agencies had arrived at terms for a deal, in theory, following fellow major talent firms ICM Partners' agreement in August and UTA's deal in July. "What they have not done is spell out how they will actually comply," the guild stated. The story.

 ABC Wins Town Hall Ratings Race

➤Biden outrated Trump. In a ratings duel featuring competing town hall forums with the two leading presidential candidates, viewers favored Joe Biden over Donald Trump Thursday.

--ABC's special with Democratic nominee Biden averaged 14.14 viewers over two hours, per Nielsen's final same-day ratings (including a half-hour of analysis after the forum). On NBC, Trump's one-hour town hall, which was simulcast on MSNBC and CNBC drew 13.46 million million viewers. The final figures include adjustments for live telecasts and out of home viewing as well as the cable figures, which gave significant bumps to both programs. The numbers.

+Meanwhile: President Trump will appear in a town hall event broadcast by The Sinclair Broadcast Group on Oct. 21, it was revealed Friday. Eric Bolling, host America This Week host and formerly at Fox News, will moderate the one-hour event, which will take place at the White House and include an interview with Trump and questions from audience members. More.

➤Michael B. Jordan is boarding Warner Bros. and DC’s Static Shock as a producer. Jordan will join Reginald Hudlin on the feature project that was first revealed during August's DC FanDome event. He will produce via Outlier Society, his Warners-based banner. The story.

+More from Heat Vision: Skydance has picked up The Gorge, a spec script by Zach Dean, the writer behind the company’s upcoming Chris Pratt sci-fi tentpole, The Tomorrow War. The deal a preemptive move and the deal said to be in the high-six figure range. More.

 'Star Trek' Renewed

➤Star Trek: Discovery will return. A day after its third-season launch, CBS All Access has handed out a fourth-season renewal for the cornerstone of its rapidly expanding Star Trek franchise. Production on the new season will resume Nov. 2. A return date has not yet been determined. More.

+ABC is heading to Washington for its next comedy project. The network is developing a multi-camera comedy called Nate's, from writer Akilah Green and Disney's 20th Television. The project is set at a Black-owned D.C. dive bar that has been serving drinks for the last 10 presidential administrations and is a sanctuary for congressional staffers, Metro workers, Beltway socialites and other regulars. The story.

+The Vow is getting a second season. HBO has renewed the docu-series, which explores the NXIVM cult, ahead of its season one finale on October 18. Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer will continue to direct and producer the new episodes, which will debut on HBO and HBO Max in 2021. More.

+Ryan Murphy's Netflix series Ratched shot to the top of the streaming charts in its first weekend. The drama, a prequel to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest focused on nurse Mildred Ratched (Sarah Paulson), edged past Cobra Kai to take over the top spot in Nielsen's streaming top 10 for Sept. 14-20. Netflix users watched 972 million minutes of the eight-episode series, to 964 million for Cobra Kai. The list.

Obituary: Rhonda Fleming, the red-haired, green-eyed beauty who lit up the screen in such films as Spellbound, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, has died. She was 97.

➤TV's Top 5 podcast: During this week's podcast, hosts Daniel Fienberg and Lesley Goldberg welcome Dexter showrunner Clyde Phillips for an exclusive interview about the Showtime revival, and also speak with America Ferrera. Listen.

Casting roundup: Kate Hudson has joined the Apple drama Truth Be Told... Xochitl Gomez, the young actor known for Netflix's The Baby-Sitters Club, has joined Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness... On My Block actor Danny Ramirez is suiting up for The Falcon & the Winter Soldier...

In other news...

--S&P Global Ratings has downgraded the credit rating for exhibition giant Cinemark Holdings over delays in Hollywood tentpoles reaching the local multiplex amid the COVID-19 crisis.

--Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman didn't have a will when he died in August after a four-year battle with colon cancer, according to recently filed court records.

--The American Film Institute on Friday unveiled the establishment of a Black Production Fund in partnership with AMC Networks.

--The high-stakes world of Hollywood memorabilia and prop collecting is getting the spotlight in The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, a 12-part podcast series from two of Hollywood’s big collectors, Veep showrunner David Mandel and Colony co-creator Ryan Condal.

--Toronto is taking offers from developers to turn a chunk of land on the city's waterfront into a 500,000 square foot film studio as demand by Hollywood for soundstages in Canada grows.

--The Mipcom international television market — typically the buzziest and most industry-defying event of the year — wrapped without much fuss on Friday.

--Atlanta police on Friday announced a suspect had been arrested in connection to the Thomas Jefferson Byrd homicide case.

--Sean "Diddy" Combs announced this week the launch of Our Black Party, followed by an endorsement for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday.

--Time magazine says that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, will host a special Time100 Talks virtual event.

What else we're reading...

--"Sacha Baron Cohen: This time he's serious" [NY Times]

--"Hulu gets sidelines in Disney's global streaming ambitions" [Bloomberg]

--"Disney and integrators versus aggregators" [Stratechery]

--"How The Lion King became a Broadway smash" [Vanity Fair]

Today's birthdays: Eminem, 48, Kimi Raikkonen, 41, Wyclef Jean, 51, Mike Judge, 58, Felicity Jones, 37.

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OCTOBER 17, 2020

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