| | | | | | What's news: It's magazine day! This week's cover stars are six comedy actors generating Emmy buzz. Terry Moran is leaving ABC News. Rachel Brosnahan will lead S2 of Apple's Presumed Innocent. Smash is closing on Broadway. — Abid Rahman
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THR's Comedy Actor Roundtable ►On the cover. THR's award-winning Roundtable Series continues, next up are the TV comedy actors. Six uniquely hilarious men — Adam Brody (Nobody Wants This), Ted Danson (A Man on the Inside), John Mulaney (Everybody’s Live), Seth Rogen (The Studio), Jason Segel (Shrinking) and Julio Torres (Fantasmas) — sit down with THR's Lacey Rose to discuss shocking exec notes, industry expectations and the projects that got away. The roundtable. |
RichCo vs. PoorCo: Not All Spinoffs Are Created Equal ►It's complicated. NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery are racing to offload their ailing linear TV channels. But, writes THR's Alex Weprin, just one of the new SpinCos will emerge on top — and unburdened by billions in debt. The analysis.
—"These spinoff companies won’t have the assets from a streaming perspective that we will have." Will Disney follow WBD and Comcast in splitting off most of its TV assets from its streaming business? Don’t bet on it. CEO Bob Iger appeared on CNBC Tuesday morning, where he was interviewed by David Faber about his company’s acquisition of Comcast’s share in Hulu, which was finalized Monday. But Faber also used the opportunity to ask whether Iger, who effectively kickstarted the idea of splitting linear TV from streaming in a CNBC interview two years ago, whether Disney is reevaluating its decision to keep its company together. The story.
—Out. Long-time ABC News correspondent Terry Moran has been let go from the network. The decision comes two days after ABC suspended Moran, the network’s senior national correspondent and an anchor for ABC News Live , over an X post about White House adviser Stephen Miller. In that post, which he lated deleted, Moran referred to Miller as a “world-class hater.” “We are at the end of our agreement with Terry Moran and based on his recent post — which was a clear violation of ABC News policies — we have made the decision to not renew,” an ABC News spokesperson said. “At ABC News, we hold all of our reporters to the highest standards of objectivity, fairness and professionalism, and we remain committed to delivering straightforward, trusted journalism.” The story.
—In. Mark Guiducci has been named the first global editorial director of Vanity Fair. In the newly created role, Guiducci will oversee creative and editorial direction of Vanity Fair across all markets, including the U.S., U.K., France, Italy and Spain. The appointment comes a few months after Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Radhika Jones announced plans to leave the publication. Guiducci, who lives in New York, starts in the role June 30. He has been serving as creative editorial director at Vogue since 2020, where he led the launch of Vogue World, in addition to overseeing content across print, digital, video, audio, social media and live events. The story. |
LGBTQ Representation in Film Drops to 3-Year Low ►"In a time when the LGBTQ community faces unchecked harmful and false rhetoric in news media and are treated as a wedge issue by politicians, these stories are vital." GLAAD has released its 2024 box office report card, and Hollywood’s top 10 distributors mostly got “poor” or “insufficient” marks as overall representation for LGBTQ characters and inclusion is tilting downwards. The 13th annual edition of GLAAD’s Studio Responsibility Index found the number of inclusive films had fallen for the second year running. The LGBTQ advocacy organization found 59 films out of 250 contained an LGBTQ character (or 23.6 percent) in 2024. That marked a decrease from 70 out of 256 films (or 27.3 percent) for 2023 and from a three-year high of 100 films out of 350 (or 28.5 percent) being inclusive in 2022. The report.
—🤝 Multi-album deal. 🤝 Mariah Carey has entered into a partnership with Gamma, Larry Jackson's independent music company, just as the singer is readying the release of her upcoming 16th album. Jackson and Carey first revealed the new partnership in interviewws with Forbes last week, just ahead of Carey’s latest single “Type Dangerous,” with the outlet confirming they’re partnered for a multi-album deal. The album itself is being executive produced by L.A. Reid, who worked closely with Carey after signing her to Island Def Jam in the early 2000s, where she released her multi-platinum The Emancipation of Mimi. The story.
—🤝 Deal! 🤝 Secretly Group, the indie label group whose companies include Dead Oceans, Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar, has acquired a 50 percent stake in fellow influential indie label Merge Records, the companies announced on Tuesday. Financial details of the new deal weren’t disclosed. Secretly’s co-founders Ben Swanson, Chris Swanson, Darius Van Arman and Phil Waldorf purchased the stake, while Mac McCaughan, also a member of beloved indie band Superchunk, is expected to remain in his role as label president and head of A&R. The story. |
Rachel Brosnahan to Lead 'Presumed Innocent' S2 ►🎭 She's in. 🎭 Apple TV+ has landed an Emmy winner to lead the next season of its legal thriller Presumed Innocent. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan has signed on to star in season two of the series from David E. Kelley and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot. Brosnahan will also be an executive producer. The first season of Presumed Innocent, based on Scott Turow’s novel, starred Jake Gyllenhaal as a prosecutor accused of killing a colleague. In renewing the series, Apple TV+ opted to make it an anthology rather than continue following Gyllenhaal’s character (the actor will remain an executive producer on season two). The story.
—A big reason to keep smiling. THR's resident larrikin Ryan Gajewski has the scoop that Adult Swim's absurdist animated series Smiling Friends has landed a two-season pickup. The two additional seasons will take the cult-favorite comedy series to season five, with the previously announced third season set to premiere this fall. The show's co-creators Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel joined Adult Swim vp of development Cameron Tang for the show’s panel at the Annecy Animation Festival on Wednesday, where the team announced that seasons four and five are currently in production at Williams Street. The story.
—Drip, drip, drip. Bachelor in Paradise is announcing its cast in waves, and the first ripple has landed ashore. After taking last season off, Bachelor in Paradise — the summer spinoff of ABC flagships The Bachelor and The Bachelorette that launched in 2014 — is returning with season 10 on Monday, July 7 (8-10:02 p.m. ET on ABC and next day on Hulu). Some changes are in store for the milestone season, including the addition of senior-aged castmates from the Golden spinoffs. But per the cast list below, the first week of contestants will be the younger crowd hailing from The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. The cast.
—Small market woes. The TV audience for the 2025 NBA Finals has fallen off considerably over the first two games — which is no surprise given the relatively small home markets of the two competing teams. Opposite game two of the Finals, the Tony Awards posted multi-year highs, and CNN’s live airing of the Broadway play Good Night, and Good Luck on Saturday also drew a sizable audience. Through the first two games between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers, the NBA Finals is averaging about 8.84m viewers on ABC — 8.91m for the June 5 opener and 8.76m for Sunday’s second game. That’s down about 24 percent from the first two games last year, which averaged 11.65m viewers (and involved two big-market teams, the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks). The Tony Awards scored its biggest total audience since 2019 with 5.1m viewers, a 44 percent jump over the 3.53m who watched the 2024 ceremony. The ratings. |
'Incredibles 3' Finds Its Director ►Shake-up. THR's Beatrice Verhoeven has the scoop that Peter Sohn will direct the third installment of Pixar's critically and commercially successful animated series, Incredibles. The move to put Sohn, who directed Pixar's Elemental and The Good Dinosaur, at the helm Incredibles 3, is a big change after Brad Bird wrote the screenplays for and directed the first two films in the franchise, which have earned a combined $1.8b at the box office. Bird is currently in the process of writing the screenplay for the threequel, which will be produced by Bird and Dana Murray. The story.
—Moving fast. THR's Borys Kit has the scoop on Scott Cooper's next project after his Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me from Nowhere. Cooper has closed a deal to write, direct, and produce an untitled crime drama for Amazon MGM Studios’ United Artists and the label’s chief Scott Stuber. Stuber and UA’s Nick Nesbitt will produce alongside Cooper. Project details are under wraps, but it is understood to be a contemporary crime two-hander. The feature also marks a reunion between Cooper and Stuber, who is a producer on Deliver Me from Nowhere , a sure sign that the collaboration is going strong on the creative side. The story.
—🎭 Next up. 🎭 Patrick Schwarzenegger, who caught Hollywood’s attention thanks for his breakout work on The White Lotus, has nabbed his first major role since the third season of the buzzy Mike White aired in April. The actor will star opposite Margaret Qualley in Love of Your Life, a romantic drama from Amazon MGM Studios. The project has heat not only because it being directed by Black Panther cinematographer-turned-helmer Rachel Morrison but is being produced by Ryan Gosling and partner Jessie Henderson. The duo are producing via Open Invite Entertainment, formerly known as General Admission. The story.
—🎭 Young Gavin found. 🎭 33 Days has cast its Gavin Newsom for the drama feature focusing on the California housing crisis. Travis Quentin Young will portray Newsom during his tenure as the mayor of San Francisco in the indie film set in 2005. Daniel and David Holechek are directing the movie that is currently in production and stars George Hu as Pastor Roger N. Huang in the story of his 33-day hunger strike outside of San Francisco City Hall. The hunger strike reflected Huang’s effort to enact change in his neighborhood, including his push for new policy to improve the unhoused crisis in the San Francisco area. The story.
—🎭 Showing support. 🎭 Mark Ruffalo is set to play a key role in Oscar-winning CODA filmmaker Sian Heder’s forthcoming feature Being Heumann. Ruffalo has joined the cast of the Apple Original Films project that adapts disability rights activist Judy Heumann’s best-selling memoir of the same name. Ruffalo will play Joseph Califano opposite Ruth Madeley in the titular role as Judy Heumann. Being Heumann focuses on Heumann (Madeley), who leads over a hundred disabled people in a 28-day sit-in at the San Francisco Federal Building in 1977. The protestors vow to stay put until the government enforces section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, requiring accessibility for all federal spaces. The story.
—🎭 Cramming them in. 🎭 Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation on Tuesday unveiled new cast additions for their upcoming The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants movie, with Regina Hall, Sherry Cola, Arturo Castro, George Lopez and Ice Spice joining the ensemble. The four-time Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum-selling rapper will also contribute an original song to the film. They join returning cast members Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants), Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick), Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy), Mr. Lawrence (Plankton) and Mark Hamill (Flying Dutchman) in the feature directed Derek Drymon and written by Pam Brady and Matt Lieberman. The story. |
Broadway Musical 'Smash' Closing After Tonys Loss ►First closing notice. Smash will play its final Broadway performance on June 22. The musical, which is based on an NBC television series, is cutting its open-ended run at the Imperial Theatre short after opening April 10. Robert Greenblatt, Neil Meron and Steven Spielberg are producers on the musical, which features direction by Susan Stroman and a score by Hairspray’s Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. The meta show follows a group of Broadway producers, writers and actors trying to put on a Broadway show about Marilyn Monroe, but running into several obstacles, with some of the songs adapted from the television series and some written specifically for the production. This is the first show to post a closing notice after the Tony Awards took place June 8. The story.
—Going out with a bang. Good Night, and Good Luck ended its Broadway run on a high, bringing in $4.3m last week and yet again breaking its own record for highest-grossing play on Broadway. The record gross came as the play, starring George Clooney, also broadcast its June 7 performance live on CNN, making the show available to all viewers. The play, which recouped its $9.5m capitalization in just over seven weeks, also hit the highest average ticket price of its run with $347 and played to more than 100 percent capacity. Othello, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Denzel Washington, also ended its run at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre June 8 and reached the highest gross of its run with $3.8m, while reaching a new high average ticket price of $456. The Broadway box office report. |
Stephen A. Smith on White House Ambitions, That $100M ESPN Deal ►"I do love talking about issues that matter to the everyday American citizen." For fans of Stephen A. Smith‘s bombastic style, the ESPN superstar’s ongoing expansion into every facet of media — he’s next moving into satellite radio with two shows on SiriusXM — is only more of a good thing. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also been dropping hints that he could throw his hat in the political ring. THR's Seth Abramovitch spoke to Smith about his political ambitions, acting and his new $100m deal with ESPN. The interview.
—"I love that Taylor [Sheridan] writes for women in their prime." THR's queen of chat Jackie Strause spoke to Ali Larter about her show Landman. Larter reflects on the early reaction to her feisty female character whom she loves ("She's very comfortable in her body") her thoughts on season two of the Paramount+ drama and her "unlikely love affair" with Billy Bob Thornton's character. The interview.
—"I was really into this idea of code-switching in this way that you could actually see." For THR, Esther Zuckerman spoke to Ramy Youssef about his animated series #1 Happy Family USA. The Emmy-nominated multi-hyphenate discusses figuring out the show’s tricky tone and the inspiration behind the character design. The interview. |
Film Review: 'Inside' ►"Grim but consistently gripping." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Charles Williams' Tribeca narrative spotlight selection, Inside. Guy Pearce, Cosmo Jarvis and new talent Vincent Miller complete a triangle of violent criminals in Williams’ debut feature about incarcerated Aussie men working to redirect their lives. The review.
—"Fitfully amusing." THR's Angie Han reviews Nora Kirkpatrick's Tribeca spotlight narrative selection, A Tree Fell in the Woods. Kirkpatrick's drama tells the story of two couples tested by an act of infidelity during a holiday getaway. Starring Josh Gad, Alexandra Daddario, Ashley Park, Daveed Diggs and Kevin Pollak. The review.
—"Better as a story of survival than an exposé on institutional failings." THR's Daniel Fienberg reviews Eva Orner's Tribeca spotlight documentary selection, Surviving Ohio State. Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan is the biggest name featured in this HBO documentary about the sexual abuse scandal that rocked Buckeye Nation. The story.
In other news...
—Lena Dunham makes TV return with trailer for Netflix’s Too Much
—Jeremy Allen White named ambassador for Louis Vuitton
—Disney+ names Angela Jain content chief for EMEA
—ITV Studios names Tim Carter managing director, unscripted, U.K.
—Hollywood payroll firm GreenSlate shakes up leadership
—Kansas City Chiefs’ Foolish Club Studios sets executive team
—Buying Beverly Hills stars launch boutique brokerage resident group
—AI-powered animation studio Toonstar signs with WME
What else we're reading...
—Amid the Trump-created chaos, Molly Ball writes that Gavin Newsom has positioned himself as leader of the opposition [WSJ]
—Thomas L. Friedman writes that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is a danger to Jews everywhere [NYT]
—Anthony Breznican has the entirely correct opinion that Mon Mothma’s Andor wedding death-dance is the song of the summer [Vanity Fair]
—With the indie film market collapsing and the TV business in trouble, Nicholas Quah talks to Mark Duplass about his plan to save the industry [Vulture]
—Sam White talks to video game titan Hideo Kojima about his upcoming new game Death Stranding 2, his pop culture status and thoughts on his own mortality [GQ]
Today...
...in 1993, Steven Spielberg ushered in a new franchise with the launch of Jurassic Park. The 126-minute film, which set fire to the summer box office that year, would spawn a series of tentpole films for Universal over the course of the next two decades. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Hugh Laurie (66), Peter Dinklage (56), Anna Sawai (33), Joshua Jackson (47), Paapa Essiedu (35), Jimmy O. Yang (38), Jane Goldman (55), Ivana Baquero (31), Adrienne Barbeau (80), Charlie Tahan (27), Claire Holt (37), Clare Carey (58), Katelyn Nacon (26), Benedetta Porcaroli (27), Kenjiro Tsuda (54), Jefferson Brown (49), Shane Thomas Meier (48), Saxon Sharbino (26), Eugene Simon (33), Michael Swan (77), Sherman Howard (76), Alex Kendrick (55), John Tui (50), Peter Bergman (72), Simon Burnett (49), Go Kyung-pyo (35), Christina Crawford (86), Kim Hee-seon (48), Breanna Yde (22), Lenny Jacobson (51), María de Nati (28), Roscoe Orman (81) |
| Chris Robinson, who starred as a World War II bomber pilot on the 1960s ABC drama 12 O’Clock High and had lengthy stints on the daytime soap operas General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful, has died. He was 86. The obituary. |
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