| | | | | | What's news: HBO has renewed I Love LA, Task and The Chair Company and is also keen on Poker Face. Fugees rapper Pras is sentenced to 14 years in prison. Eurovision is changing its voting rules after controversy over Israel's entry earlier this year. And Paramount has hired Neal H. Moritz to produce a live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles feature. — Abid Rahman
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WBD: Paramount, Comcast and Netflix Make Official Bids ►Off we go! The Warner Bros. Discovery bake-off has officially begun. THR's Alex Weprin reports that Paramount, Comcast and Netflix each submitted bids for some or all of WBD on Thursday, officially kickstarting a process that is likely to see the company sold to yet another new buyer, either whole or in part. David Ellison's Paramount is the only bidder (at the moment at least) that wants to acquire the entire WBD portfolio, which includes the well-regarded film and TV studios HBO and HBO Max, as well as cable channels like TNT, TBS, CNN, HGTV and Food Network. Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal (and is in the process of spinning out its cable channels into Versant), and Netflix are each interested in the studios and streaming businesses. The story.
—"We’ve listened and we’ve acted." The Eurovision Song Contest is implementing new rules around its voting system after uproar around Israel’s result in May. When Israeli entrant Yuval Raphael sang “New Day Will Rise” at the competition held in Basel, Switzerland, she swiftly topped the public voting charts and later placed second to Austria when the jury scores were counted. But some counties, including broadcasters in Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Iceland and Finland, raised concerns about the public vote and requested an audit. Now, the song contest has restructured its voting and promotion rules ahead of next year’s edition in Vienna. The story.
—Here we go again. Donald Trump has renewed his beef with late night show host Jimmy Kimmel with a call for ABC to take him off the air, again. “Why does ABC Fake News keep Jimmy Kimmel, a man with NO TALENT and VERY POOR TELEVISION RATINGS, on the air? Why do the TV Syndicates put up with it? Also, totally biased coverage. Get the bum off the air!!!” Trump wrote late Wednesday night on his Truth Social platform. His social media post followed Kimmel in a late night show monologue suggesting Trump “loses his mind” every time he is asked why he hadn’t released the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files. The story. |
Big Productions Relocate to California After Nabbing Subsidies ►Well, well, wellity, well! Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Night Agent will relocate to California after being tapped to receive subsidies to shoot in the state amid a global tit-for-tat race to host Hollywood. In total, 17 TV shows will get roughly $313m in tax credits, the California Film Commission, announced on Thursday. They’re projected to generate $1.2b in economic activity across businesses with ties to the entertainment industry and employ 5,165 cast and crew across 1,000 filming days across the state. Amazon is the biggest beneficiary in this allotment of incentives, nabbing $74m for filming Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Fallout in California, followed by 20th Century Studios, which will get roughly $43m. Season one of Mr. and Mrs. Smith was filmed in New York, among other locations. The story.
—Heading west. New York Post veteran Ian Mohr is headed to Los Angeles to launch Page Six Hollywood. In an internal email, Post EIC Keith Poole told his staff, "Page Six Hollywood will be the first and last word on what’s going on in LA Society, with deeper dives into the business of entertainment, media power players, and high-stakes real estate." Page Six editor Mohr joined the Post’s gossip column in 2011 after time at Variety and THR. News of Mohr leaving his native New York City for Hollywood follows a Nov. 18 launch event for California Post, which will be based on the Fox lot. The story.
—Recession indicator. If this is the year of publicly-traded companies signaling to Wall Street that they’re going to do more with less in preparation for an AI-driven economy, add Verizon to the list of giants cutting a substantial number of jobs in a pivot. The company, newly led by former PayPal mogul Dan Schulman, said Thursday that it is reducing its workforce by 13,000 employees and cutting its outsourced and outside labor expenses. As of the end of Dec. 2024, Verizon had 99,600 full-time staffers, some 88 percent of them are based in the U.S. The story.
—Sentenced. Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of the Fugees was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in prison for a case in which he was convicted of illegally funneling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. Michel, 52, declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced him. In April 2023, a federal jury convicted Michel of 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. The trial in Washington, D.C., included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The story. |
HBO's Casey Bloys Isn't Sweating WBD Sale Talk ►"I’m obviously very proud of what we’ve done at HBO and HBO Max. I would like to see that continue." As mentioned at the top of the newsletter, the bids for WBD came in on Thursday. It’s the sort of news that could consume many an entertainment executive concerned for the future of their careers, and their team’s future. HBO and HBO Max chief Casey Bloys, however, isn’t spending much time thinking about it. “I had a town hall a couple weeks ago, and I said, ‘The only thing you can do in this process, and the best thing you can do, is just focus on your job, which is making the most impactful programming in whatever genre,’” Bloys told THR at a media event in New York on Thursday, when asked about the likely looming acquisition, noting that for now it remains “theoretical." The story.
—Casey's tell. HBO may be in the business of saving Poker Face. During the programming slate presentation, Casey Bloys said the network actually heard the original pitch for Rian Johnson‘s series that was just canceled at Peacock. “We heard the original take,” he told THR, “and when I heard that Peacock wasn’t moving forward, we were curious. So we’ve had conversations, but I don’t know which way it’ll go. But I think Rian is a fantastic filmmaker, and I love the idea of Peter Dinklage, but I have nothing to report on that.” The story.
—Paging Dr. Ross, paging Dr. Doug Ross. Casey Bloys says “obviously” George Clooney would be “welcome” to join or guest on HBO Max emergency room drama The Pitt. Clooney and The Pitt star-writer Noah Wyle famously co-starred on NBC’s ER, which is equally obviously an inspiration for the streaming series. The two shows share Dr. Wyle, an emergency room setting and a behind-the-scenes team led by John Wells, R. Scott Gemmill and Joe Sachs. The Clooney-on-The-Pitt fan-casting idea made some headlines last week when, speaking with Entertainment Tonight at a screening of his upcoming movie, Jay Kelly, Clooney said he would "do that in a heartbeat." The story. |
'HOTD,' 'Seven Kingdoms' Renewed at HBO ►📅 WOOF! 📅 Back to that newsy HBO and HBO Max press event on Thursday, the premium outlet revealed that it will keep the Game of Thrones pipeline running for the next several years. HBO has ordered new seasons of GOT prequels House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms ahead of their 2026 premieres. HOTD will get a fourth season, and Seven Kingdoms, based on George R.R. Martin’s Dunk and Egg novellas, will return for a second season. Both shows will air in 2026, with Seven Kingdoms set to premiere Jan. 18 and HOTD season three slated for the summer. Season two of Seven Kingdoms will follow in 2027, and season four of HOTD is set for 2028. The story.
—C'est officiel. HBO's The White Lotus is saying “bonjour” to France for the fourth season of the star-studded drama. Big Boy Bloys confirmed the location during Thursday’s HBO Max programming slate presentation in New York. “It’s going to be in France,” Bloys said of the next installment of The White Lotus, indicating season four wasn’t too far along yet. “Mike [White] is writing and just starting.” Bloys added that White is also “very, very early” in the casting process. The story.
—Going back to Pennsylvania. HBO has picked up a second season of Task, the drama from Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby and starring Mark Ruffalo. The renewal comes after Task became a word-of-mouth hit for HBO and grew steadily over the course of its first season. The Oct. 19 finale drew 4m first-night viewers on HBO and HBO Max, and the show ranks as one of HBO’s fastest-growing debut seasons ever. As of the finale date, the series premiere had 11.2m viewers. The story.
—Busy day! Also on Thursday, Captain Casey announced renewals for HBO first-year comedies The Chair Company and I Love LA. The pickups come with two episodes remaining in The Chair Company’s season and midway through I Love LA’s run. Chair Company, co-created by Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin, had HBO’s best comedy premiere in five years and is currently averaging 3.3m viewers on HBO and HBO Max. Rachel Sennott created and stars in the buzzy I Love LA, which is averaging 2m cross-platform viewers to date. The story. |
'Landman' S2 Premiere Sets Paramount+ Viewing Record ►A gusher! If streaming views were oil, Landman would be sitting on a huge strike right now. The Texas-set drama from Taylor Sheridan delivered the biggest season or series premiere in Paramount+’s history with its season two opener. The streamer says Landman amassed 9.2m views worldwide over its first few days, more than tripling last year’s series debut over the same time frame. Paramount+ is using the industry standard formula of total viewing minute divided by run time for its calculations. With a 49-minute running time for the Nov. 16 premiere, 9.2m views works out to 450.8m minutes of total viewing worldwide. The ratings.
—📅 Dated! 📅 MrBeast‘s record-setting reality competition series Beast Games is almost ready to return. Amazon Prime Video said Thursday that season two of Beast Games will launch on Jan. 7, 2026. The streamer will debut the first three episodes that day, with new episodes dropping weekly through the finale on Feb. 25. Season two will once again see a $5m grand prize (the inaugural season also featured a slew of other giveaways, and a high-stakes bet that saw the ultimate winner take home $10m), and will have a “strong vs. smart” theme that will play out over the course of the season, with 100 smart contestants and 100 strong contestants. The story.
—🎭 Dream team. 🎭 David Tennant and Siobhan Finneran are set to lead season three of the BBC–BritBox drama Time. Jimmy McGovern’s BAFTA-winning show is set in a young offenders’ institution and first launched with Sean Bean and Stephen Graham in 2021. In the second series, Jodie Whittaker, Bella Ramsey and Tamara Lawrence starred. Now it’s Tennant’s turn, alongside Happy Valley‘s Finneran, who will reprise her role as prison chaplain Marie-Louise. McGovern co-writes Time with Samuel Bailey. The series is made by BBC Studios Fiction for BBC iPlayer and BBC One, in co-production with BritBox. Filming will take place in Belfast. The story.
—"It will be an incredible night of programming from across the global television community." Live With Kelly and Mark co-hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos have been named as hosts for the 2025 International Emmys, the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced Thursday. The show, which celebrates the best in global TV, will take place in New York City on Monday, Nov. 24. The story.
—Forget diplomacy! Netflix’s political drama The Diplomat moved into the top spot on Nielsen’s streaming charts with sizable growth from its premiere week, and the streamer’s true-crime documentary The Perfect Neighbor also surged. The Diplomat drew about 1.24b minutes of viewing time for the week of Oct. 20-26, improving by 36 percent from the previous week and displacing Monster: The Ed Gein Story from the No. 1 overall spot. The Diplomat’s weekly total was its best since the second week of its first season in 2023. Nielsen also notes that 72 percent of the show’s viewing — about 889 minutes — came from the newly released third season, with the remainder devoted to prior episodes. The streaming rankings. |
This Is the Oscar Season of Can't-Miss Directors ►"Few filmmakers can boast an unblemished track record like Coogler’s." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reflects on the career hot streak of Ryan Coogler, who seemingly is finding favor with critics and audiences with all his films. David compare's Coogler's purple patch with filmmakers such as Kathryn Bigelow, Paul Thomas Anderson and Kelly Reichardt who are on similar streaks. The critic's notebook.
—Cowabaunga! THR's Borys "Scoops" Kit has the scoop that Neal H. Moritz, the veteran producer behind The Fast and the Furious franchise, is in negotiations to take on the job of re-starting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a live-action film franchise for Paramount Pictures. Toby Ascher, who works with Moritz at their Original Films banner, will also act as a producer. The move occurs as the studio is taking a magnifying glass to its slate and existing IP. As opposed to some other titles, namely Transformers or G.I. Joe, Paramount fully owns the TMNT brand, having picked it up from co-creator Peter Laird in 2009, and it is seeking to fully unlock its potential. The story.
—🎭 Filling out. 🎭 Leighton Meester and Jared Padalecki are ready to bring another holiday rom-com to the Netflix catalog. The stars announced Thursday that they will star in an adaptation of Katherine Center’s bestseller The Bodyguard. Andie MacDowell, Walker Hayes, Noah LaLonde and Toby Sandeman will also star in the film. The novel, published in 2022, follows a “no-nonsense bodyguard” assigned to protect “a charming action star” over the holidays. Little do they know that sparks will fly, secrets will unravel, and the holiday season will get rather complicated because of it. Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum will direct the film, written by Erin Cardillo and Richard Keith. The story. |
THR Beauty Dinner Celebrates the Red Carpet Glam Squads ►"We’re here to celebrate beauty but beauty is a feeling." THR paid tribute to Hollywood glamour and the hard-working talents that are responsible for it at its second Beauty Dinner on Wednesday night. The event, co-hosted by Medicube and sponsored by Olaplex and Reyka Vodka at West Hollywood’s Holloway House, was tied to THR's Beauty Issue and its list of Hollywood’s 25 biggest beauty moments of 2025. A trio of glam squads — and their A-list clients — graced the covers, with Julia Roberts alongside hairstylist Serge Normant, Greta Lee flanked by makeup artist Nina Park and hairstylist Jenny Cho, and Tessa Thompson accompanied by hairstylist Lacy Redway and makeup artist Alex Babsky. The recap. |
'Superman No. 1' Comic Sells for a Record $9M ►Great Moons of Krypton! A comic found in an attic has just become the most expensive of all time. A copy of Superman No. 1, the 1939 issue that introduced the Man of Steel in his first solo title and astonishingly in near pristine condition, sold for a staggering $9.12m Thursday at auction. That price handily beats the previous record, set only in 2024, when Action Comics No. 1, the comic that first introduced the Kryptonian hero to the world, sold for $6m. Before that, a copy of Superman No. 1 held the record with a sale of $5.3m in 2022 while a copy of 1962’s Amazing Fantasy No. 15, the first appearance of Spider-Man, sold for $3.6m in 2021. The story.
—"If Martin Scorsese or Quentin Tarantino call... tomorrow, it will be over." Kevin Spacey has revealed new details about his living situation, with scandal-plagued Oscar-winner claiming he “literally” has “no home.” In a new interview, Spacey opened up about his living situation and also discussed the downward trajectory in his career after he received sexual misconduct allegations in 2017. "I’m living in hotels, I’m living in Airbnbs, I’m going where the work is. I literally have no home, that’s what I’m attempting to explain,” he said, adding that he lost his previous home "because the costs over these last seven years have been astronomical. I’ve had very little coming in and everything going out." But the actor also believes his comeback is on the horizon. The story.
—"Almost embarrassed." It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover is addressing the “circus” surrounding the feature film adaptation and how it has overshadowed her feelings towards the story. In a new interview, the author discussed the controversy surrounding the 2024 film adaptation of her novel starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, who also directed, that has led to Lively and Baldoni enter into a bitter legal feud. Hoover said that despite the “unfortunate” and “disappointing” drama, there are “real people involved, with real feelings and emotions.” “This actually truly has impacted some of the actors’ careers in huge ways,” she said. “And I just find it all around sad." The story. |
TV Review: 'High Horse: The Black Cowboy' ►"Smart and entertaining, if lacking some depth." THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews Peacock's High Horse: The Black Cowboy. This Jordan Peele-produced three-part docuseries looks at the history of Black cowboys, and covers Bass Reeves, Cowboy Carter, Manifest Destiny and more. Directed by Jason Perez. The review.
—"If you liked the first one…" THR's Frank Scheck reviews Simon Cellan Jones's The Family Plan 2. Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan and Kit Harington appears in this Apple TV action-comedy follow-up set over the winter holidays in London and Paris. Also starring Zoe Colletti, Van Crosby and Reda Elazouar. Written by David Coggeshall. The review. |
Thank Pod It's Friday ►All the latest content from THR's podcast studio.
—Awards Chatter. THR's executive awards editor Scott Feinberg talks to the great and the good of Hollywood. In this live episode, Scott spoke to Jacob Elordi. The Australian actor and heartthrob reflects on almost missing out on his breakout roles in The Kissing Booth and Euphoria, working with female auteurs on Saltburn and Priscilla and venturing into unfamiliar but exciting territory as The Creature in Guillermo del Toro's new adaptation of Mary Shelley's horror novel Frankenstein, which is now the most-watched film on Netflix. The podcast.
—Awards Chatter. In another live episode, Scott spoke to Dwayne Johnson. One of most bankable movie stars of all time reflects on what his experiences as a pro wrestler taught him about being an entertainer, why and how he transitioned to acting, and why, after decades of picking projects with the aim of satisfying others, he decided to challenge himself as never before by taking on the role of Mark Kerr, an early MMA fighter who got hooked on painkillers, in Benny Safdie's A24 film, The Smashing Machine. The podcast.
—I’m Having an Episode. THR’s Mikey O’Connell attempts to stay on top of the latest TV and entertainment news with a little help from his friends, colleagues and a revolving door of actors, writers, showrunners and filmmakers. In this episode, Mikey hosts Wicked: For Good screenwriter Dana Fox, who discusses the movie musical's conclusion, the necessity of rom-coms and her Little House on the Prairie reboot. Also THR's Mia Galuppo joins Mikey to debate awards season movie-going priorities and Mikey yells about the long wait for Stranger Things season five. The podcast.
In other news...
—The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping prequel drops fiery teaser trailer
—Meryl Streep, Dave Franco join Hoppers as Pixar film gets full trailer
—Elf gets first annual celebration day from WBD
—PGA Awards: Mara Brock Akil to receive Norman Lear achievement honor
—Fox News promotes Bill Melugin to congressional correspondent
—Red Sea: Amir El Masry, Kaouther Ben Hania set for talk series
—See Emerald Fennell’s new edition of Wuthering Heights
—Robert Pietranton, Warner Bros. TV publicity exec, dies at 56
What else we're reading...
—Joshua Chaffin, Melissa Korn and Justin Lahart report on how Larry Summers' power delayed the reckoning over his Epstein ties [WSJ]
—Interesting piece from Jennifer Szalai, who looks at how the rise and fall of the nihilist hipster gave us the cruel reactionaries of today [NYT]
—David Gardner reports that JD Vance texted Jeff Bezos demanding that he hire a right-wing journalist to run the Washington Post’s political team [Daily Beast]
—How many sins can one career survive? Jack Crosbie has an excellent piece on the glaring problem with Olivia Nuzzi's media return [Substack]
—Here's your Friday list: 13 film remakes better than the original [THR]
Today...
...in 1931, Universal unveiled James Whale's Frankenstein in theaters, adapting a novel that was at the time an unproven commodity on the big screen. The film starred Colin Clive, Mae Clarke and Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Björk (60), Goldie Hawn (80), Jena Malone (41), Jimmi Simpson (50), Nicollette Sheridan (62), Ira Sachs (60), Andrew Davis (79), Yasmine Al Massri (47), Tina Brown (72), Aimee-Ffion Edwards (🏴 38), Isabel May (25), Grace Van Patten (29), Stefan Sonnenfeld (61), Cherry Jones (69), Cherie Johnson (50), Alexander Siddig (60), Marlo Thomas (88), Sam Palladio (39), Mariana Treviño (48), Cynthia Rhodes (69), Luke Tennie (31), Juliet Mills (84), Brian McNamara (65), Paul W. Downs (43), Audrey Corsa (29), Nikki Garcia (42), Claire van der Boom (42), Ryan Carnes (43), Deborah Shelton (77), Lorna Luft (73), Park Hae-soo (44), Lindsey Haun (41), Sean Schemmel (57), Laurence Luckinbill (91), Chris O'Neill (35), Tamara Gorski (57) |
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