Billy Porter Opens Up

►On the cover: Billy Porter breaks a 14-year silence: “This is what HIV-positive looks like now.” For the first time since being diagnosed more than a decade ago, the Pose star opens up about the shame that compelled him to hide his condition from his castmates, collaborators and even his mother, and the responsibility that now has him speaking out: "The truth is the healing."

--"There’s happiness, yes; there’s surface joy, but there was also a feeling of dread, all day, every day. It wasn’t a fear that [my status] was going to come out or that somebody was going to expose me; it was just the shame that it had happened in the first place. And as a Black person, particularly a Black man on this planet, you have to be perfect or you will get killed. But look at me. Yes, I am the statistic, but I’ve transcended it. This is what HIV-positive looks like now. I’m going to die from something else before I die from that. My T-cell levels are twice yours because of this medication."

"I go to the doctor now — as a Black, 51-year-old man, I go to the doctor every three months. That doesn’t happen in my community. We don’t trust doctors. But I go to the doctor, and I know what’s going on in my body. I’m the healthiest I’ve been in my entire life. So it’s time to let all that go and tell a different story. There’s no more stigma — let’s be done with that. It’s time. I’ve been living it and being in the shame of it for long enough. And I’m sure this will follow me. I’m sure this is going to be the first thing everybody says, “HIV-positive blah, blah, blah.” OK. Whatever. It’s not the only thing I am. I’m so much more than that diagnosis. And if you don’t want to work with me because of my status, you’re not worthy of me." The cover story.

►Who is the next Ellen? The race begins to replace daytime's biggest host. Rumors of exploratory talent meetings being set up right now are plentiful, with insiders suggesting Tiffany Haddish is among those being heavily courted, Lacey Rose reports.

--“There are celebrities out there who have said to themselves, ‘You know, I’d like to do a talk show one day,’ but have never gone there because they do their other things. Their agents are likely calling them now, saying, ‘You still want to do that talk show? It might be a good time to have that conversation,’” says Mort Marcus, co-president of Debmar-Mercury, the Lionsgate company behind syndication giants Wendy Williams and Family Feud. The story.

David Zaslav's New Empire

►As David Zaslav takes deal crown, how will he rule his Discovery-WarnerMedia empire? The tough-as-nails mogul will lead a Hollywood content powerhouse, but insiders question whether the risk-averse CEO can adjust to the high-rolling world of scripted film and TV bets, Kim Masters writes.

--"He has been hosting regular Zoom calls with a group of maybe a dozen that includes Disney chairman Bob Iger, Access chairman Len Blavatnik, Universal Music Group chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge, Goldman Sachs senior chairman Lloyd Blankfein, former Time Warner chairman Jeff Bewkes, music industry mogul Irving Azoff, former HBO chief Richard Plepler. The calls are free-ranging, says a source with knowledge, covering everything from the stock market to turmoil in the Middle East."

--“How can you not see it as a good thing?” says one veteran executive who does lots of business at Warners and is acquainted with Zaslav, 61, from his days at NBC. “David’s fantastic. He’s super smart. He has a firm understanding of the business but he also understands the media landscape of the future.” A top agent with lots of Warners history, asked how he feels about the changing of the guard, responds: “Like everyone, that it can only be better.” The story.

+Speaking of Zaslav: On Tuesday Discovery announced that he had extended his contract through 2027. “The extension was made in connection with the definitive agreement between AT&T Inc. and Discovery Inc. to combine WarnerMedia’s premium entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery’s leading nonfiction and international entertainment and sports businesses to create a premier, standalone global entertainment company,” Discovery stated on Tuesday. More.

+About that contract: Most details remain under wraps, but a securities filing late Tuesday night said that Zaslav had been granted options for nearly 15 million shares in the company, which will vest through the end of 2027. At Tuesday's closing price of $33.31, those shares would be valued at around $500 million. Of course, Zaslav has to buy them first, and the conversion price ranges from $35.65-$43.33, meaning that if Discovery's stock doesn't rise, the options have little value. If it does rise, however, he could be in for a hefty payday.

+Will more media dominos start falling in a new media M&A merry-go-round? That is a question Wall Street is asking after news of the mega-combination of Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia. If so, which media and entertainment players could accelerate possible deal plans or become more aggressive — or even spoil the Discovery-WarnerMedia party with an alternative bid? Georg Szalai breaks down some of the options. The story.

Upfronts Update

►CBS schedule: CBS is relighting the Survivor torches for the 2021-22 season. After a year off the network’s schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 41st edition of the competition series is due back in its familiar Wednesday night spot in the fall. Survivor will be joined on the night by CSI: Vegas, a revival of the procedural franchise featuring a mix of new and returning characters — and a throwback to CBS’ scheduling from 2011-14, when the two shows bookended Wednesdays. (Tough as Nails will air in between the two at 9 on Wednesdays.) The full schedule.

+CBS chief Kelly Kahl on franchise building, CSI revival and playing to strengths. In an interview with THR, the executive also details the network's place in the larger ViacomCBS universe and the toughest choice he had to make heading into upfronts.

--"That’s the underpinning of a lot of these franchises — doing a new NCIS, doing a new FBI, bringing back CSI. These franchises really work on three levels. They do terrific live numbers, they have significant delayed viewing, and they stream really well, both in the short term and long term. It’s always fascinating to me when you look at the top 10 or top 20 lists of these streamers, what do you see over and over again? You see a lot of broadcast shows. There’s something powerful about these shows that work on all levels. That’s what’s working on broadcast TV these days." The interview.

+The ad sales pitch: This year will be “hopefully a return to normal,” ViacomCBS ad sales chief Jo Ann Ross says, with more traditional pickups and scheduling news, albeit in a “informative, funny, engaging” and “entertaining” format. “We are going to be full-out selling, and talking about how big our footprint is, and what we bring to market in terms of all of our assets in a full-on portfolio across the ViacomCBS ecosystem.” More.

►ABC schedule: ABC is sticking with what it knows for the start of the 2021-22 TV season. The network will introduce only two new shows as part of its fall rollout, opting for sizable measures of stability across primetime. A few shows — notably Big Sky, which joins the network’s Thursday lineup — are changing time periods, but the outline of ABC’s fall schedule looks much like it did at the start of the current season. The full schedule.

+Craig Erwich on programming Hulu and ABC. The veteran Hulu head of originals added ABC Entertainment president to his purview in December as part of a major Disney executive realignment that prioritized streaming at the conglomerate. Now, after meeting the press corps and ahead of his first (virtual) presentation to Madison Avenue ad buyers, Erwich is opening up about the delineations between ABC and Hulu.

--"People look to ABC to be inspired and informed; it’s an aspirational brand. Live events, family comedies, shows about heroes — like Grey’s Anatomy, Station 19 and The Good Doctor  telling the stories of the frontline workers — these are shows that people can come together around... Hulu is a different experience. It’s an on-demand platform and people are curating their own set of content of what they want to watch and when they want to watch it. These shows on Hulu are intended to drive conversation and maybe tackle subjects or themes that might not be as broad as ABC. The thru line is creative excellence and do these stories reflect our world? And then the tones and concepts are almost secondary considerations." The interview.

+Jimmy Kimmel roasted the post-pandemic broadcast television landscape at Disney’s annual upfront presentation Tuesday. The late night host delivered a searing stand-up routine during the company’s streaming event to advertisers in which he mocked the traditional broadcast networks, including ABC, as well as ripped Disney+ and Amazon. The best of the jokes.

+Hulu has given a straight to series order about the man behind the Chippendales male striptease show. Kumail Nanjiani will star in Immigrant, an eight-episode limited series based on the story of Somen “Steve” Banerjee, who started the revue as a way to attract attention to a struggling bar in Los Angeles. More.

+Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s purchase of a struggling Welsh soccer club — and the town where it has a long history — will be the subject of a nonfiction series on FX. The Disney-owned cable network has placed a two-season order for Welcome to Wrexham, which will chronicle the two stars’ purchase of the team, along with the dreams of the people of Wrexham, a town of about 65,000 people in Wales. More.

And more upfront news...

►J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves are re-teaming for a new Batman animated series. The powerhouse directors, along with DC animated universe veteran Bruce Timm, have received a straight-to-series order for Batman: Caped Crusader from HBO Max and Cartoon Network. The series is billed as a “reimagining of the Batman mythology. The story.

+Project Greenlight is turning on the cameras again. The filmmaking competition/docuseries is returning as an eight-episode HBO Max series, with Insecure  co-creator and star Issa Rae taking over as a mentor to aspiring auteurs. The new season, which will feature a group of female filmmakers, will be the show’s fifth; it last aired in 2015 on HBO. More.

+The era of the Harry Potter TV series is officially beginning. In a bid to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, WarnerMedia has formally greenlit an unscripted quiz show and retrospective special that will air over five nights on streamer HBO Max and linear networks Cartoon Network and TBS at a date to be determined this year. The story.

+And: Adult Swim is harnessing the streaming prowess of its original fare with four shortform spinoffs from beloved titles Rick and Morty, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Robot Chicken and Pretty Face Is Going to Hell. More.

►Hollywood premieres are making a comeback. On Wednesday night, Disney staged the world premiere of Cruella at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles. The live-action pic, opening in theaters and on Disney+ Premier over Memorial Day weekend, stars Emma Stone as a young Cruella de Vil, the villain from the iconic 101 Dalmatians franchise.

--While the event was smaller in scope than normal Disney bashes because of social distancing and other safety protocols — no press was invited inside, for example — it marked the first major studio in-theater premiere since the COVID-19 crisis commenced and had a proper red carpet. The story.

►Kevin James, Taylor Lautner, and Rob Schneider are set to star in football comedy Home Team , inspired by the life of New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton. The feature, which is currently in production, takes place two years after Payton won the Super Bowl but gets suspended, after which he goes back to his hometown and finds himself reconnecting with his 12-year-old son by coaching his Pop Warner football team. More.

►Technicolor unveils restructure plans, sets ambitious goal for feature animation. Christian Roberton has been named president of newly-titled Technicolor Creative Studios, while former Fox Animation co-president Andrea Miloro leads feature animation, Carolyn Giardina reports. The company intends to add several thousand hires over the next year. The story.

►TV reviews: Inkoo Kang reviews season 3 of Netflix's Master of None, writing that "season 3 — subtitled Moments in Love — marks a radical departure, even for a show that’s embraced formal elasticity from the start." The review.

+Daniel Fienberg reviews the Hulu animated series Marvel's MODOK, calling it "a 10-episode series that very much wants to be similar to Harley Quinn in its embrace of quirky, cartoonish, oddly relatable villainy. On a moment-for-moment, joke-for-joke basis, MODOK sometimes comes close to comparable impact, though it fails to find the same emotional core, despite some effort." The review.

In other news...

--After scoring an Oscar nomination for his role in One Night in Miami, Leslie Odom Jr. has booked his next role in the Knives Out sequel.

--Universal’s adventure thriller Beast will roar into theaters on Aug. 19, 2022, the studio announced Tuesday.

--Bad Robot’s video game division has raised over $40 million in Series B funding that will go towards expanding its studio infrastructure and developing new titles, the company announced on Tuesday.

--Actor Charles Grodin, who charmed audiences with his droll, understated and awkward humor in such films as The Heartbreak Kid, Midnight Run and the Beethoven movies, has died. He was 86.

--DNEG — Christopher Nolan’s go-to visual effects house whose work on Tenet recently won an Oscar — has named Erika Burton as executive vp of VFX and global head of studios.

--Demi Lovato has revealed that they identify as non-binary and will be using the pronouns they/them going forward.

--Chicago’s Lollapalooza is returning and it’s just over two months away. Festival producers C3 Presents announced Tuesday that the three-day festival will return at full capacity July 29-Aug. 1 at Grant Park.

What else we're reading...

--"Binge-viewing movies? Netflix bets on Fear Street trilogy" [N.Y. Times]

--"The WarnerMedia-Discovery deal was structured to make a future sale easier" [CNBC]

--"2021 Emmys will be bursting with nominations ... but not for the shows you love" [L.A. Times]

Today's birthdays: JoJo Siwa, 18, Grace Jones, 73, Amanda De Cadenet, 49, Pete Townshend, 76, Sam Smith, 29.