NBCU Kicks Off Upfronts Week With ‘Bravoholics,’ Inadvertent Twitter Jokes and a Fake Colin Jost

Emily Longeretta Thirty years after “Cheers” came to an end, the cast and creatives got back together on Friday night, courtesy of the ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas. The reunion panel, hosted by Variety‘s Michael Schneider, included co-creators James Burrows, Les Charles and Glen Charles and actors Ted Danson, George Wendt and John Ratzenberger. During the conversation, the iconic creators reflected on the making of the show and the cast opened up about how they joined the series and how it’s affected their lives over the years. “Teddy and Shelly auditioned together and they had chemistry that only makes writing better,” Burrows said of casting Danson and Shelley Long, who portrayed Diane Chambers, Sam’s love interest for five seasons.

Penn Badgley is revealing what it is about sex scenes that really makes him nervous.

New Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino will have some key staffing role to fill when she finally takes the reins this month.

the statement reads. “In addition to the changes on the platform that have led to an increase in hate speech, Musk himself has doubled down on dangerous anti-democratic lies and white nationalist hate speech.”B&J then says the platform is now a “threatening and even dangerous” place for women, the gay community, Jewish and Muslim people, racial minorities, and many other groups.“Musk and Twitter’s toxicity and tacit endorsement of hate and violence goes against everything our company stands for,” the post concludes.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The official 2022-2023 TV season ended on May 24, according to Nielsen and as you may have seen via my annual TV series rankers (which I posted on Monday), we’ve got the wrap on this year’s winners and losers in the good ol’ fashioned linear TV world. Football, “Yellowstone” and procedurals, oh my! But we’re not living in a good ol’ fashioned linear TV world anymore. Television didn’t grind to a halt on May 24, and the Memorial Day weekend gauntlet of finales and premieres (!) was a fine reminder that TV no longer plays by the rules of a Nielsen calendar. Three of the biggest on-screen events of the year all took place on Sunday night: The series finales of HBO’s “Succession” and “Barry,” as well as the mind-blowing Season 2 ender for “Yellowjackets,” which hit Showtime’s linear channel that same evening.

Twitter is worth only about one-third of what Elon Musk and 19 co-investors paid to acquire it last fall, according to a new disclosure by one of its investors.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The Television Academy has canceled plans to hold its 16th Television Academy Honors, which had been slated to take place next Wednesday, May 31. “After discussions with the WGA and out of deference to those impacted by the ongoing labor dispute, the Television Academy is cancelling the Television Academy Honors reception which was scheduled for the evening of May 31. We appreciate everyone’s understanding,” the org said on its website. “The Academy would like to congratulate this year’s Honors recipients and thank them on behalf of the entire industry for their groundbreaking and inspiring work,” the org added. HBO Max’s “We’re Here,” Netflix’s “Mo” and Amazon Prime Video’s recently canceled “As We See It” were among the programs set to be recognized at the event.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Let’s travel back to the summer of 1989. I’m 15 years old and have just put two large movie posters on my wall: One for Tim Burton’s game-changing take on “Batman,” starring Michael Keaton, and the other for “UHF,” the theatrical comedy debut for the one and only “Weird Al” Yankovic. It’s now 2023. Keaton is back as Batman in next month’s “The Flash.” And Weird Al (always Weird Al, not just Al Yankovic!) is the front-runner for this year’s TV movie Emmy, thanks to the Roku Channel parody biopic “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.” “1989 is back again! It’s all cyclical,” Yankovic says in his signature cheery, upbeat tone. Tell my 15-year-old self that one day he’ll be recording a podcast with Weird Al, and first he’d say, “what’s a podcast?” But after explaining that it’s essentially a radio show, my 15-year-old self would lose his mind. And ask about 2023’s flying cars. Sorry kid.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Plans have been scrapped to mark the Apple TV+ “Ted Lasso” Season 3 finale with a major Paley Center-sponsored celebration in Beverly Hills on May 30. “We are reaching out to share the news that due to unforeseen circumstances the ‘Ted Lasso’ season finale screening and event planned for Tuesday, May 30, 2023, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills will not be taking place as scheduled,” the Paley Center said in a statement on Thursday. “All ticket buyers will automatically be issued a full refund. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any questions, please email [email protected] and a representative will get back to you as soon as possible.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Hasan Minhaj is open to the idea of hosting “The Daily Show” — but it’s not a decision he would make alone. “That’s a family conversation now,” Minhaj tells Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast. “It’s a very different conversation then when I first got hired at the show, when I was 29. My life is in a very different place. And so that’s a bigger convo.” Minhaj’s recent Netflix stand-up special, “The King’s Jester,” includes a deeply personal look by the comedian at the evolution of his family, from being infertile to eventually raising two children with his life — and how that has changed a lot of things in his life, including his career choices and his on-stage routines.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large That’s true for novelists as much as it is for screenwriters. Often those are one and the same — and because we live in an age where pre-sold IP usually makes it easier to sell a TV project, there have never been more series based on books than there are right now.

There will be no late night laughs in Moscow, comrade. Or anywhere else in Russia, for that matter.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Andrew Ross Sorkin is the co-creator of the Showtime series “Billions,” but he isn’t really known for drama in his professional life, just financial reporting. So it came as something of a surprise on Monday, when the CNBC and New York Times journalist got up on stage at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall to tout some of the dramatic fare that NBCUniversal was able to cobble together for the advertisers and media buyers assembled in the audience. It was all part of the industry’s annual “upfront,” when U.S. media companies try to sell the bulk of their advertising inventory before the release of their next cycle of programming.

Sophia Scorziello editor The ATX TV Festival has made changes to their program amid the ongoing writers strike, including the addition of the WGA on Strike! panel of leading television writers. The conversation will address the key issues that writers are fighting for as they share why the strike matters to Hollywood and entertainment unions at large. The panel will host Zoanne Clack (WGA West), Greg Iwinski (WGA East, negotiating committee), Damon Lindelof (WGA West) and Julie Plec (WGA West) and will be moderated by Beau Willimon (WGA East). The festival has cancelled select programs, including “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” the “Andor” conversation with Tony Gilroy, “Tiny Beautiful Things” conversation with Liz Tigelaar and Cheryl Strayed and the “Dawson’s Creek” 25th Anniversary Screening & Conversation.

The yearly ATX Television Festival will adjust its schedule to accommodate conversations about the ongoing writers strike, some of which will replace previously announced panels. The Austin-based event runs from June 1 – 4.

The upfronts may be an annual ritual steeped in TV and streaming advertising, but NBCUniversal gave film more than a fleeting moment in the spotlight during its pitch to media buyers Monday morning.

WGA strike.“We are grateful for the contribution writers make to our company and respect their right to demonstrate it may take some time, but I know we will eventually get through this and the result will be a stronger foundation on which we can all move forward together,” Chairman of NBCUniversal Mark Lazarus said during the New York event. Unsurprisingly, the event scaled back on its celebrities, relying on more executives and reality TV stars to introduce its clips and segments.

exited the company after more than a decade on Friday to serve as the new chief executive officer of Twitter. “So what was more surprising today, being welcomed by a foul mouthed teddy bear or seeing me up here on stage?,” Lazarus told an audience of advertisers during the company’s Upfront presentation on Monday, referencing a raunchy musical opening from Seth MacFarlane’s Ted.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “I don’t know but I’ve been told, NBC has a heart that’s cold,” Writers Guild of America pickets shouted outside Radio City Music Hall Monday, making some noise about the writers strike in front of NBCUniversal’s upfront presentation to advertisers. Approximately 200 pickets, some members of SAG-AFTRA joining the WGA in solidarity, used other chants personalized for the occasion, including, “NBC, you’re no good, pay your writers like you should,” to try to get the attention of those in attendance at the event, which is used to launch NBC’s fall schedule and woo advertisers into spending their dollars on spots with NBCU brands. The WGA is on Day 14 of a strike after failing to ink a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) before the clock ran out May 1.

Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, wasn’t on the production call sheet until very recently for the company’s upfront at Radio City on Monday morning.