Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted Kicks Off Today; 22 Top Nonfiction Programs In Awards-Season Spotlight

Sony Pictures Classics has picked up rights to the animated feature They Shot the Piano Player for the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Scandinavia, India, the Middle East, Turkey, Southeast Asia (excluding Taiwan and South Korea) and airlines within the aforementioned territories. The film from Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, two of the directors behind the Oscar-nominated animated feature Chico and Rita, is set up for a fall awards push from SPC.

Randall Emmett is not happy about Hulu’s upcoming documentary, The Randall Scandal: Love, Loathing and Vanderpump.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Disney’s annual upfront presentation leaned heavily on the company’s non-scripted programming, opening with nearly an hour of focus on ESPN and its sports offerings. The emphasis on live events, of course, comes as the writers strike continues and is expected to impact the fall TV season. In fact, around 100 Writers Guild members and other union supporters marched outside the Javits Center on Tuesday to remind Disney they are still looking for a deal with the company and the other studios. Among those seen on the picket line: Zach Cherry and Michael Emerson. Inside the Javits, sports and news stars from within Disney were out in force, while reality personalities like Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Jesse Palmer and Ryan Seacrest made appearances as well. Even WABC-TV New York anchors Sade Baderinwa and Bill Ritter got some time onstage.

EXCLUSIVE: Magnolia Pictures and mk2 have acquired rights to Oscar-nominated filmmaker Raoul Peck’s Untitled Ernest Cole Documentary, about South Africa’s first Black freelance photographer.

ABC has canceled Hilary Swank-led drama series Alaska Daily after one season. The news is not surprising as the freshman series was not able to establish itself and find a sizable following.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor The Tonys has asked the Writers Guild of America for a waiver in order to go ahead with plans for Broadway’s biggest night of the year. A source confirms that the request was filed with the WGA earlier this week. If the waiver is not granted, the televised ceremony – set for June 11 — will probably be canceled because presenters and nominees are unlikely to cross picket lines. Ariana DeBose is set to return as host but it is believed she’ll cancel if the strike is still on. The Tonys are scheduled to take place at the United Palace in New York’s Washington Heights. The ceremony starts at 8 p.m. ET and air live on CBS, as well as the streaming service Paramount+.

EXCLUSIVE: Lucy J. Mukerjee has joined Stanley Nelson and Marcia Smith’s media company Firelight Media, geared toward nonfiction cinema by and about communities of color, as the new director of its flagship Documentary Lab.

The 2023 NFL season schedule is set to be released tonight at 8pm ET.

Roku, NFL Films and Skydance Sports are teaming on a documentary feature about the NFL Draft.

Beyonce has officially kicked off her highly-anticipated Renaissance World Tour and she did so looking like a billion bucks!

Ring the alarm, Beyhive! Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour is finally here!

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic Does chronic Lyme disease exist? That’s the question that haunts “The Quiet Epidemic,” Lindsay Keys and Winslow Crane-Murdoch’s worthy and provocative documentary about the highly controversial syndrome. (The movie premieres on VOD on May 16.) The filmmakers argue, with unflinching advocacy and some very good reporting, that chronic Lyme disease most definitely exists. Among other things, “The Quiet Epidemic” is a portrait of individuals whose lives have been ravaged by it. Yet the movie, in its doggedly opinionated way, does acknowledge the profundity of the debate. The medical establishment, led by the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, has long held the position — one it maintains to this day — that Lyme disease is a real thing, eminently curable with a two-to-four week regimen of antibiotics, but that chronic Lyme disease, with sometimes devastating symptoms stretching on for months, years, even decades, is not backed up by the science.

Bruce Norris’s Downstate and Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt were named this season’s Best Play and Best Foreign Play, respectively, by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle today.

EXCLUSIVE: Drake’s DreamCrew Entertainment, producers of Dear Mama, Euphoria, and Top Boy is pleased to announce its association as executive producers with Rosie Filmwaze LLC whose The Melt Goes On Forever: The Art & Times of David Hammons receives its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York’s Film Forum today.

Meg Ryan made a rare public appearance in New York on Thursday where she was seen with Michael J. Fox and his wife, Tracy Pollan.  The trio were all smiles sitting on a couch together at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall where a special screening for Fox’s documentary, "Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie," was being held.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Roku is reinvesting in — and bulking up — its originals lineup, announcing a new season of “The Great American Baking Show” and an unscripted comedy featuring singer-songwriter Charlie Puth among the shows coming to the Roku Channel. Notably, the content announcements at Roku’s 2023 NewFronts presentation — coming on Day One of the WGA writers strike — were unscripted/reality formats. Also at the event in New York Tuesday, the streaming platform unveiled a suite of new ad solutions, including sponsorships for its popular Roku City screensaver. The company announced that it has renewed reality competition series “The Great American Baking Show” for Season 2. The news came ahead of the premiere Friday, May 5, of the new six-episode run of the show featuring Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith, Ellie Kemper and Zach Cherry (pictured above, left) on the Roku Channel. “The Great American Baking Show,” produced by Love Productions USA, ran for five seasons on ABC as a spinoff of original hit “The Great British Baking Show” before it was picked up last year by Roku. The streaming company previously acquired U.S. rights to dozens of episodes in the “Great Baking Show” franchise for a FAST channel. Roku will also bring back the holiday special of “The Great American Baking Show,” which will feature all-new celebrity bakers and debut this upcoming holiday season.

Lea Michele and Myles Frost presented the nominees for the 76th annual Tony Awards live on before finishing the list from the heart of Broadway at the Sofitel New York. Recognizing the best in live theater, the Tony Awards cap off a strong year for Broadway, which bounced back during the 2022-2023 season with a number of acclaimed and groundbreaking productions. In total, there were 38 eligible shows, including 17 original plays and nine new musicals as well as six play revivals and six musical revivals.Earning the most of any production, came out on top, with a total of 13 nominations. The most nominated play, meanwhile, is, which garnered six.

via live stream by “Funny Girl” and former “Glee” star Lea Michele, who was an attendee at Monday night’s Met Gala, and Tony winner Myles Frost at the Sofitel New York.“West Side Story” star Ariana DeBose will be hosting the show for a second time.DeBose, 32, announced earlier this month that she was “honored” to return. “I was honored to serve as host last year and even more so to be asked back,” DeBose said in a statement. “So looking forward to celebrating this incredible season and the people who make the work happen.

Funny Girl star Lea Michele and 2022 Tony Award Winner Myles Frost (MJ) will announce the 76th Annual Tony Award Nominations on Tuesday.

The 1619 Project, according to one description, “illuminates the legacy of slavery in the contemporary United States, and highlights the contributions of Black Americans to every aspect of American society.” Nothing controversial there, right? Wrong.