What's news: Renewals aplenty with Grey's Anatomy, Emily in Paris and The Morning Show all picking up additional seasons. Michel Hazanavicius' Final Cut has pulled its Sundance screening after the festival went online-only. WarnerMedia and Comcast have agreed a new carriage deal. Steve Levitan's Reboot has a series order at Hulu. Plus: Aubrey Plaza is joining the second season of White Lotus — Abid Rahman
How Sister's Death Inspired Bob Saget's Tireless Mission to Find Scleroderma Cure
►"Bob was that kind of person — he would do anything for others." In 1994, Bob Saget's sister Gay died from scleroderma, the rare and sometimes life-threatening autoimmune disorder that largely affects the skin and connective tissue. From directing a 1996 TV movie to serving on the board of the Scleroderma Research Foundation, Saget spent nearly 30 years raising awareness for the rare disease. The story.
—"We grieve as a family." Bob Saget is being remembered by his Full House TV family following his untimely passing. "Thirty-five years ago, we came together as a TV family, but we became a real family. And now we grieve as a family," read the statement, which was signed by John Stamos, Dave Coulier, Candace Cameron-Bure, Jodie Sweetin, Lori Loughlin, Andrea Barber, Scott Weinger, creator Jeff Franklin, and Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen. The story.
—"It was his gift to find humor in darkness." Writing for THR, comedian George Wallace remembers his friend of over 40 years Bob Saget, reflecting on their close bond and his late friend's optimism. The story.
TV News Hiring Spree Heats Up As Priorities Shift
►The great cable news recalibration.THR's Alex Weprin looks at the flurry of activity currently happening in TV news as the likes of MSNBC and CNN enlist high-profile outsiders to work on both their linear channels and streaming, while Fox News promotes a popular regular to headline one of its critical hours. The story.
—Unstoppable. Netflix has renewed hate-watch fave Emily in Paris for two additional seasons, taking the Darren Star comedy through its fourth season. The supersized renewal arrives two and a half weeks after the sophomore season returned. Per Netflix data, the new season topped its global top 10 list in 94 countries with 107.6 million hours viewed in its first five days. The story.
—Longevity. ABC has handed out an early season 19 renewal for Grey's Anatomy after reaching a new deal with Ellen Pompeo to return. Pompeo joins fellow original stars Chandra Wilson and James Pickens Jr. in coming back for season 19. The latter duo inked multiple-year pacts in May 2021 when TV’s longest-running primetime medical drama was picked up for its 18th season. The story.
—Three, it's the magic number. The Morning Show has been renewed for a third season at Apple TV+ and will also have its third showrunner, with Charlotte Stoudt taking over. Kerry Ehrin, who developed the series and who served as showrunner on the first and second seasons, will serve as consultant on the third season. The story.
—Three pillars of Chapekism. Disney CEO Bob Chapek outlined three “strategic pillars” for the company going forward in a memo to staff Monday. The memo comes as Disney prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2023. The first pillar is “storytelling excellence,” the second pillar “innovation,” which Chapek writes should leverage the company’s “franchise ecosystem,” and the final pillar a “relentless focus on our audience." The story.
'Sing 2,' 'Turning Red' Hit Home Viewing Early Amid Fragile Family Box Office
►A sign of the times. While Spider-Man: No Way Home is reaping the box office riches, family-friendly films are struggling to attract custom as families stay away from theaters amid the Omicron surge. The situation has prompted Universal to make Sing 2 available on premium VOD on Jan. 7, just 17 days after it opened in the cinema. On the same day, Disney announced that Pixar’s Turning Red will bypass theaters in the U.S. and debut exclusively on Disney+. The story.
—New deal. WarnerMedia and Comcast have come to terms on a new carriage deal, keeping WarnerMedia’s channels on Comcast cable systems for years to come. The deal covers TBS, TNT, CNN, Cartoon Network, TruTV, TCM and the other WarnerMedia channels, but it also includes CNN+, the upcoming streaming service. The story.
—Going on vacay. Aubrey Plaza has been tapped to star in the upcoming second season of White Lotus, the dark comedy from creator Mike White. Season two of the HBO show will say farewell to Hawaii and be set at a different White Lotus property as the social satire follows a new group of vacationers. The story.
—"God Helmet." CBS is being sued over the portrayal of a torture device on the show Evil. In June, an episode of the show featured the “God Helmet," a device that made users see demons, relive traumatic experiences and lose their spirituality. Todd Murphy, who owns the trademark for the “God Helmet,” is now suing CBS and King Size Productions for misrepresenting his invention. The story.
—No dice. With monster box office hit Spider-Man: No Way Home attracting awards speculation, but there’s one major film awards where no amount of campaigning from Sony will have an impact. BAFTA has revealed that the film did not meet the eligibility criteria for its 2022 film awards and therefore didn’t qualify for entry. All films must be made available to voters on the BAFTA View platform prior to the first round of voting, which closed Jan. 4. The story.
—All in. Tara Duncan’s Onyx Collective has won a multiple-outlet bidding war for the rights to Mahershala Ali drama The Plot, based on the novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz. Sources tell THR's Lesley Goldberg that Duncan fought hard to land the drama as producers including Endeavor Content shopped the package and sought a straight-to-series order. The Plot will stream on Hulu. The story.
Michael Bay, Gareth Evans Team for Netflix's 'The Raid' Reimagining
►Surprisingly long delay. After years of speculation, Gareth Evans’ highly influential Indonesian martial arts action film The Raid is finally set to get a U.S.-based reimagining with the Welsh director teaming with action filmmakers Michael Bay and Patrick Hughes for a new take on the 2011 cult classic. Hughes will direct the film for Netflix with Bay and XYZ Films producing. The story.
—"We’re trading places. I’m working from home. You’re back in the studio." Savannah Guthrie has tested positive for COVID-19. The Today show anchor shared her breakthrough case on Monday to colleague Hoda Kotb, who has since returned to the studio after testing positive for COVID-19 last week. The story.
—Withdrawn. Following last week’s news that Sundance would be online-only due to the COVID-19 surge, Oscar-winning director Michel Hazanavicius and the team behind Final Cut announced that the zombie film would no longer be screening as a part of the festival line-up. Final Cut becomes the first film to drop out since the Jan. 5 announcement. The story.
—It's happening. Hulu has given a series order to Reboot, a star-studded comedy from Modern Family co-creator Steve Levitan. The project stars Keegan-Michael Key and Johnny Knoxville. Judy Greer has also joined the cast, taking over a role that Leslie Bibb played in the pilot episode. The story.
—Casting news. Netflix has added a pair of big names to its limited series All the Light We Cannot See. Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie will star opposite newcomer Aria Mia Loberti in the adaptation of Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. The four-part series comes from Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps Entertainment. The story.
—"Visually energetic, even when the storytelling is running on fumes." THR film critic John Defore reviews Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska's Hotel Transylvania: Transformania. Monsters and humans swap places in the final installment of the Hotel Transylvania franchise, featuring voice work by Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez and Kathryn Hahn. The review.
—Despite Omicron Surge, Scream Will Only Screen In Theaters. Film Critics Weigh The Risk [Los Angeles Times]
—Search Party Star John Early: TV’s Funniest Gay Narcissist Says Goodbye [Daily Beast]
—It’s Still Unbelievable This Boba Fett Show Exists [Uproxx]
—Is This the Year a Documentary Finally Gets Nominated for Best Picture? [Vanity Fair]
—Gemma Chan On the Truth About Her Father’s Life At Sea: "he Knew What It Was Like to Have Nothing" [The Guardian]
Today...
Today's birthdays: Mary J. Blige (51), Amanda Peet (50), Devin Ratray (45), Laysla De Oliveira (30), Phyllis Logan (66), Odessa Young (24), Kyle Richards (53), Aja Naomi King (37), Rockmond Dunbar (49), Konstantin Khabenskiy (50), Malcolm D. Lee (52), Kabir Akhtar (47)
Joyce Eliason, an Emmy-nominated television writer and producer whose works include The Last Don, Titanic and The Jacksons: An American Dream miniseries, has died. She was 87. The obituary.
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