Bobby Rivers, an entertainment reporter and television personality on the Food Network and VH1, has died. He was 70.
08.12.2023 - 15:33 / deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: USA Network‘s “blue sky” series of the 2000s and early 2010s are having a moment this year between Suits‘ blockbuster run on Netflix, which broke streaming records and led to a potential offshoot series at NBC, and the Monk reunion movie, which premieres today on Peacock and already is getting awards recognition.
Now the brand is making its way back to where it started, on the USA Network. NBCUniversal’s ad-supported cable net is plotting a return to original scripted programming with light, frothy character-based procedurals in the mold of the lineup from the “blue sky”era that included Monk, Burn Notice, Psych, Royal Pains, White Collar and Suits, Deadline has learned.
After the end of the WGA strike, NBCU scripted executives put out feelers about their USA plans and already have identified a handful of ideas they are considering for development but there are no deals yet, sources said. The goal is to roll out the first new series in 2025.
Mindful of the economic realities of basic cable, which has been heavily impacted by cord-cutting and the overall decline in linear viewing, I hear budgets are being capped at $2M-$3M an episode. Like is the case with FX and Freeform scripted fare, which draw the majority of their viewing on Hulu, most of the viewership for the new generation of USA “blue sky” scripted series may come from streaming on sibling Peacock, home of the libraries of the original shows and the Psych and Monk followup movies.
USA Network’s “blue sky” era, engineered by former network topper and current NBCU vice chair Bonnie Hammer, kicked off with the debut of Monk in 2002. It was one of two new scripted series series to premiere on the network that year, alongside The Dead Zone, relaunching
Bobby Rivers, an entertainment reporter and television personality on the Food Network and VH1, has died. He was 70.
Kevin Spacey has rekindled his tradition of appearing in a strange new video for Christmas, reviving his House of Cards role of Frank Underwood. The actor appeared in character with the US conservative host Tucker Carlson on the latter’s X show in a seven-minute ‘interview’ segment, in which they discussed the 2024 presidential election and the state of the media.
American Idol is one of the most beloved competition shows on TV today.
EXCLUSIVE: Despite a difficult year for broadcast television, ABC can look back with confidence as it kicked off the year with some strong scripted content and was buoyed through a rocky fall season primarily by unscripted content.
Some of Hallmark Channel’s hottest stars are opening up about Candace Cameron Bure leaving the network to become an executive at Great American Family.
Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts continues with the ambitious Ava DuVernay-directed drama Origin, with the script also written by DuVernay inspired by Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson’s groundbreaking book Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents.
EXCLUSIVE: As they should, the Black List will be celebrating its 20th anniversary with some of Hollywood’s most acclaimed artists and a cinema institution next year.
EXCLUSIVE: DB Woodside (911: Lone Star, The Night Agent) is partnering with veteran publicist Erin Kyle Osborne to launch Blue City Entertainment.
Dilettante: True Tales of Excess, Triumph, and Disaster tells the story of Graydon Carter’s protégé Dana Brown and how he navigated his way around the New York media world in the 1990s.
Searchlight Pictures’ Poor Things had a monster of an expansion, sewing up $1.3 million at just 82 theaters for a no. 10 spot at the weekend box office. American Fiction and The Zone of Interest, from, respectively, Amazon MGM Studios and A24, opened nicely as specialty films with original stories of all kinds are seeing traction with ticket buyers.
Nicki Minaj has assured her fans that her documentary series is “still coming”.The six-part HBO documentary series was announced back in 2020, and was said to “explore Nicki’s brilliantly creative mind and tell the story of her personal and professional journey.” In July 2022, Minaj released the trailer for the documentary; however, she still hasn’t released the series.Speaking with Andy Cohen, Minaj updated the audience about the status of her documentary on Dcember 14. She explained delays with recent album ‘Pink Friday 2’ pushed the documentary back.
EXCLUSIVE: Fox has picked up psychological crime drama Murder in a Small Town, starring Rossif Sutherland (The Handmaid’s Tale) and Kristin Kreuk (Smallville), for the 2024-25 season. The network has acquired U.S. rights to the series, based on the “Karl Alberg” books by L.R. Wright,, which hails from head writer Ian Weir (Edgemont), director Milan Cheylov (The Cleaning Lady) and Canada’s Sepia Films in association with Fox Entertainment and Future Shack Entertainment, the company of former USA Network President Jeff Wachtel.
Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor MLB Network‘s “Prime 9” countdown show is returning to the schedule. The program, which has been off the programming list since 2015, is set to return on Monday, December 11, with noted sportscaster Bob Costas as the host. During the show, MLB Network offers the “nine best” in a wide array of different categories, including the nine best players at each on-field position in the sport.
EXCLUSIVE: A true-crime series exploring a possible serial killer in the Portland area is in the works.
EXCLUSIVE: Samantha Bee is joining director Nazrin Choudhary and producer Sara McFarlane as Executive Producer on the film campaign for the Oscar-qualifying short film Red, White and Blue.
When Zoya Akhtar was approached some years ago by Graphic India to see if she was interested in adapting American comic The Phantom, her first question was whether the Archies comics were available for adaptation.
Nick Holdsworth International producers can count on help from the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia to take advantage of an “extraordinary explosion” in culture and film, U.S Ambassador Michael Ratney told Variety during the third edition of the Red Sea Film Festival. He said the ambition and drive of the Saudi film industry was an opportunity for international talent.
Jon Burlingame The greatest film score of 2023 isn’t eligible for an Academy Award. That’s because Leonard Bernstein composed it between 1944 and 1977, multiple pieces that collectively form the musical backdrop of “Maestro,” Bradley Cooper’s film about the 20th century American composer-conductor. The classical excerpts functioning as dramatic score include Bernstein’s ballets “Fancy Free” and “Facsimile,” parts of his Broadway scores for “West Side Story” and “Candide,” his opera “A Quiet Place,” music for the film “On the Waterfront,” portions of his second and third symphonies as well as his “Mass” and “Chichester Psalms.” “I think of the score as the co-star of the film,” says the composer’s oldest daughter, Jamie Bernstein.
Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Denny Laine, the British singer-guitarist best known for his work with Paul McCartney & Wings and the Moody Blues, has died after a long battle with interstitial lung disease, according to a social media post from his wife. He was 79.
Netflix is expanding its romance TV brand from the California Redwoods setting of Virgin River to Texas Hill Country with Ransom Canyon, a new drama series headlined by Josh Duhamel (Transformers, Love, Simon) and Minka Kelly (Euphoria, Friday Night Lights).