‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Showrunner Bruce Miller Renews ABC Signature-Hulu Overall Deal, Ends MGM Pact

Ty Burrell is starring in a new Super Bowl commercial!

Joe Otterson TV ReporterBill Lawrence is staying put at Warner Bros. Television, with the TV writer and producer inking a massive five-year deal sources value at nine figures, Variety has confirmed.WBTV would not comment on the financial terms of the deal.

Bill Lawrence, the top comedy showrunner at the moment amid the enormous critical and commercial success of Ted Lasso, is staying put at Warner Bros. TV Group through 2028. After lengthy negotiations, Emmy winner Lawrence, who had a little time left on his current overall pact at the studio, has closed a blockbuster new five-year deal for his Doozer production company, I have learned. Noone is commenting but sources value the pact at more than $100 million, catapulting Lawrence in the very top tear of TV showrunners.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Los Espookys” co-creator Julio Torres has signed a two-year first-look deal with HBO and HBO Max.Torres has two new projects already in development under the pact, “Little Films” (working title) and “Lucky,” the former of which he’s set to star in and is produced by Emma Stone.In “Little Films,” which has a production commitment at HBO, the former “Saturday Night Live” writer stars as himself. The potential show follows this version of Torres as he tells the tale of when he lost a golden oyster.

EXCLUSIVE: Hulu is developing The Golden Spoon, a darkly comic murder mystery limited series based on the upcoming novel by Jessica Olien, from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend co-creator Aline Brosh McKenna and ABC Signature, where Brosh McKenna and her Lean Machine banner are under an overall deal.

Maggie Mull, co-creator of Hulu’s upcoming comedy series Maggie, produced by 20th Television, has signed a new multi-year overall deal with the studio. Under the pact, Mull will continue as executive producer and writer on Maggie, as well as create new series and supervise other writers’ comedies, both live-action and animated, for all platforms for 20th TV, a part of Disney Television Studios.

Selome Hailu Maggie Mull, co-creator of the upcoming Hulu comedy series “Maggie,” has signed a multi-year overall deal at 20th Television. At the studio, she will continue working on “Maggie” while also creating new series and supervising other live-action and animated comedies for all platforms.“Maggie,” which Mull co-created with Justin Adler, was originally developed for ABC before moving to Hulu in January.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has signed an overall deal with Leah Fong, co-creator and executive producer on the streamer’s upcoming horror/thriller drama The Midnight Club. Under the multi-year pact, Fong will write and produce new series and other projects.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterHulu has delayed “The Orville” Season 3 premiere from March until June, but released the first few minutes of footage from the new season as fans’ conciliation prize while they wait even longer for the return of the former Fox show.“To all The Orville fans: Thanks for being so patient with us as we’ve navigated the production challenges resulting from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” “The Orville” creator and star Seth MacFarlane said in a statement tweeted Friday. “As occasionally happens, our show has been repositioned amidst the ever-changing television schedule landscape, which means that the wait will be just a bit longer, and we’re now preparing for a June 2nd launch on Hulu.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe Pearson family will be hitting the bench for a few weeks as the final season of “This Is Us” is bumped from NBC’s primetime schedule — along with all of the network’s other regularly slated comedies and dramas —  to bring in the Beijing Winter Olympics.While many “This Is Us” fans may not want to part with new episodes of the show in favor of figure-skating, curling and bobsledding competitions from Feb. 2-20, those viewers should know they were going to lose the Pearsons for three weeks this season, with or without the 2022 Olympics.“We don’t love having it off for two weeks [during the Olympics], but those two weeks would have been repeats or preempts anyway, because there’s 18 episodes and 21 weeks,” Steve Kern, head of scheduling for NBC, told Variety. “And so it actually helps us.

Former Manchester United defender Steve Bruce is set to replace Valerian Ismael as West Brom manager after he was sacked, according to reports.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Lucifer” star Tom Ellis has joined the cast of Hulu’s Sterling K. Brown-led “Washington Black” limited series in the role of steam-punk inventor Christopher “Titch” Wilde.Described as an epic nine-episode adventure series based on Esi Edugyan’s novel of the same name, “Washington Black” follows the extraordinary 19th-century adventures of George Washington “Wash” Black, an 11-year-old boy on a Barbados sugar plantation who must flee after a shocking death threatens to upend his life.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“9-1-1” and spinoff “9-1-1: Lone Star” will be reunited on Fox’s Monday primetime lineup when the O.G. show comes back from hiatus in March. When the two are once again airing in the back-to-back 8 and 9 p.m.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterParamount Plus has renewed its revival of “The Game” for Season 2.Starring Wendy Raquel Robinson and Hosea Chanchez, the show is a continuation of the-CW-network-and-later-BET-show of the same name. “A modern-day examination of Black culture through the prism of pro football,” “The Game” follows the team as they face racism, classism and more, all while fighting for fame, fortune, respect and love.“The Game” revival also stars Adriyan Rae, Vaughn Hebron, Analisa Velez and Toby Sandeman.The first iteration of “The Game” debuted on The CW in 2006.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Push,” Monday’s episode of “9-1-1: Lone Star.”We did it, “9-1-1: Lone Star” fans. On Monday, the Fox drama finally made it to the end of the four-episode ice storm arc that kicked off its third season, and turned viewers into nervous puddles of emotion for a month. In the epic fourth-hour climax came three very big moments: The birth of Grace (Sierra McClain) and Judd’s (Jim Parrack) baby girl; the recovery of T.K.

EXCLUSIVE: Teresa Hsiao, co-creator, executive producer and showrunner of Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens, has signed an overall deal with Sony Pictures Television to develop comedy and animation for cable streaming platforms via her Red 136 Productions.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAMC Networks has renewed its multiyear distribution deal with Comcast.Under the continued agreement, AMC Networks’ linear channels — AMC, We TV, BBC America, IFC, and SundanceTV — and streaming service AMC Plus will remain available to Comcast Cable’s Xfinity TV, broadband and XClass customers. Additionally, the pact covers expanded availability of AMC Networks’ other targeted streaming services — Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now, Allblk and the recently acquired Hidive — to Comcast users.Among this year’s upcoming content offerings from AMC Networks are the final seasons of “The Walking Dead,” “Killing Eve” and “Better Call Saul,” as well as the launch of new shows “61st Street,” “Dark Winds,” “Tales of the Walking Dead,” “Moonhaven” and the first two series in its Anne Rice TV universe, “Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire” and “Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches.” “We are excited to continue and also expand our longstanding partnership with Comcast through a new agreement that includes not only continued carriage of our cable networks, but also our fast-growing targeted streaming services including AMC+, which was made available first to Xfinity customers,” Josh Reader, president of distribution and development for AMC Networks, said.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterNetflix has ordered the political drama series “The Diplomat” from Debora Cahn, with Cahn also signing a multi-year overall deal at the streamer.Under the deal, Cahn will write and produce series and other projects for Netflix. The streaming giant has ordered eight episodes of “The Diplomat” at 50 minutes each.In the series, in the midst of an international crisis, a career diplomat lands in a high-profile job she’s unsuited for, with tectonic implications for her marriage and her political future.

Netflix has given a series order to The Diplomat, a political thriller drama created by Debora Cahn (Homeland, The West Wing). Cahn will serve as executive producer and showrunner under a multi-year overall deal with the streamer for series and other projects.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterChad Matthews has been named president of ABC Owned Television Stations, effective immediately. He takes over the position vacated by Wendy McMahon, who exited the company last year.