Michael Schneider Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Succession” star Kieran Culkin won the Emmy on Monday night for outstanding actor in a drama series. The win was Culkin’s first Emmy for playing the younger Roman Roy on the hit HBO series, which ended its run last May after four seasons. The actor used the moment to thank his costars, the show’s creators, his mother, his manager — and shoot his shot for more kids with his wife, Jazz Charton.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large In other words, Jo Koy is OK. Still, with that kind of global platform, his misstep stung a bit. This was a milestone for the comedian, and his hiring was a proud moment for many Filipino Americans — a group often ignored by Hollywood.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Variety’s annual Showrunners Dinner presented by A+E Studios on Thursday night gathered writers recognized on the publication’s annual TV Producers Impact List, as well as several of this year’s Emmy nominees. In addition, megaproducer Chuck Lorre (“The Big Bang Theory,” “Mom,” “Bookie”) was honored with Variety’s first Norman Lear Award.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The CW is spicing up its look. Timed to Sunday’s airing of the Critics Choice Awards, the Nexstar-run netlet is unveiling an “evolution” in its logo and brand identity. That includes a new red-orange color palette that the network calls “CW hot sauce.” “The CW is in the middle of a brand transformation, and a new network deserves a new look and feel,” The CW chief marketing officer Chris Spadaccini said.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Young Sheldon” may be ending its run, but that’s not the end of the line for “The Big Bang Theory” universe. According to insiders, CBS is nearing a deal with Warner Bros. TV for a direct-to-series order on a “Young Sheldon” spinoff that focuses on the characters of Georgie and Mandy.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Reelz has given another 90-episode order to “On Patrol: Live,” which will keep the weekend franchise on the network through January 2025. The series, hosted and executive produced by Dan Abrams, has been a hit for the small cabler — as Variety recently noted in its ranker of 2023’s top-rated broadcast and cable networks. “Since picking up the series, which was essentially a revival of A&E’s canceled ‘Live PD,’ Reelz has seen its average ratings shoot up dramatically,” Variety wrote last month.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large CBS has firmed up its unscripted and specials oversight as Jack Sussman, the Eye net’s exec VP of specials, music, live events and alternative programming, departs next month. Mitch Graham, who has been running unscripted under Sussman, will continue to do so, while Mackenzie Mitchell will head up specials as VP of that division.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Jack Sussman is exiting CBS after more than 25 years. The exec, who first joined CBS in 1998 as head of CBS Specials, has served as executive vice president of specials, music and live events at CBS Entertainment since March 2006, adding responsibility for all alternative programming in 2020. He won’t be straying too far from the Eye network, however: Moving forward, Sussman will segue into a role as EP for The Tony Awards and The Kennedy Center Honors starting in 2024.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Tyler Perry‘s catalog of BET series, including “Tyler Perry’s Sistas,” “Tyler Perry’s The Oval” and “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne,” is hitting the off-net market. BET was set to announce on Wednesday at the CES convention in Las Vegas that its library of Tyler Perry original series will soon be available for licensing and syndication by third-party platforms, including SVOD, AVOD, FAST and broadcast.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Succession,” “Lessons in Chemistry,” “The Bear,” “Ted Lasso” and “American Born Chinese” are among the frontrunners as the Directors Guild of America has announced the 2024 nominees in television categories, including Dramatic Series; Comedy Series; Movies for Television and Limited Series; Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled Programming; Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials; Reality Program, as well as for children’s programs, commercials and documentary. “Succession” led all series with four nominations, dominating the drama category with all but one entry.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Amazon Prime Video’s “The Boys” led all series at Monday night’s Astra TV Awards, scoring six trophies — including best streaming drama series. HBO’s “Succession” was close behind with five wins, including best cale drama series.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Medhi Hasan is exiting MSNBC. The anchor, whose final show on the news cabler aired on Sunday, announced his exit at the end of the telecast. The news came after MSNBC late last year that it had canceled the outspoken Hasan’s show.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Jeremy Allen White has won his second consecutive Golden Globe for the hit FX series “The Bear,” once again landing the honor for best actor in a television series — musical or comedy. White won the Globe last year as well for playing Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, the five-star chef who returns home to Chicago and this season aims to turn his family’s Italian beef restaurant into a high-class dining establishment.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large After Writers Guild of America waged a protest regarding the Television Academy‘s decision to move the outstanding writing for a variety series or special categories out of the upcoming Emmy telecast, the TV Academy has reversed course. In a joint release sent out today, the Television Academy, Fox and the WGA said they were “happy to announce they have reached an agreement to include the Writing for a Variety Series category in the 75th Emmy Awards telecast airing live on Fox on January 15, 2024, at 8pm EST / 5pm PST.” Because this year’s Primetime Emmys has moved the variety special (live) category into the telecast (it was on the Creative Arts show last year), the TV Academy was likely looking to keep the telecast capped at 25 awards, so something had to fall out.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large When Jo Koy was announced as Golden Globes host on Dec. 21, it was just a little over two weeks to air. “When they asked me, it was an immediate yes, I couldn’t believe this was happening,” Koy tells Variety.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The dual Hollywood strikes wiped out much of the scripted programming this fall on the linear networks. And yet, according to Variety‘s annual list of the year’s 100 most-watched primetime telecasts, we actually watched more entertainment fare this year. CBS’ “NCIS” led the pack in 2023 with 12 episodes making the list, followed by the Eye’s “Blue Bloods,” with five.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large There are several popular social media accounts that graph weekly cable network schedules, and it’s always stunning to see how many schedulers have just given up. Nearly every cable network, large and small, now mostly program marathons of their most popular shows. You know about “Ridiculousness” on MTV, of course.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large When the 30th annual SAG Awards take place on Feb. 24, we’ll already know how “Succession” and “Ted Lasso” did at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, Primetime Emmys and DGA Awards. It’s quite possible those series stars’ tuxedos and dresses are going to be pretty wrinkly by the time we get to the SAG Awards.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Cheating pays — for Bart and Homer, that is. This Sunday’s episode of “The Simpsons” takes on sports cheating, college admissions scandals (like “Varsity Blues”) and more, as father and son become kings of the blue-collar sports circuit. But in “Do the Wrong Thing,” Marge soon suspects that there’s something dishonest going on.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched the two-hour Season 10 Finale of “The Masked Singer,” which aired Dec. 20 on Fox. Because of you, Ne-Yo just had the time of his life on Fox’s “The Masked Singer.” The artist won the Season 10 finale of the hit series on Wednesday night, becoming the last celebrity to be unmasked this season. Ne-Yo won by performing “Rhythm Nation,” by Janet Jackson; “Take a Bow,” by Rihanna, before being revealed as Cow.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large And then there were four. Season 10 of Fox’s “The Masked Singer” airs this Wednesday with finalists Donut (Group C champion), Sea Queen (Group B winner), Cow (Group A victor) and Group A “Ding Dong Keep It On” recipient Gazelle.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Molly Parker (“Deadwood,” “House of Cards”) is set to star in “Doc,” Fox’s upcoming medical procedural based on the hit Italian series “Doc — Nelle tue mani.” Parker will play Dr. Amy Elias, the chief of internal and family medicine at Westside Hospital in Minneapolis, who must pick up her professional and personal pieces after she loses the memory of the last eight years.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer are teaming up to kick some butt together on TV. The two actors have signed on to star in an action-adventure series based on an original idea by exec producer Tessa Coates (“Feel Good,” “Ladhood”) for Amazon’s Prime Video. Skydance Television is behind the show, along with Andy and Barbara Muschietti’s Double Dream shingle and Spencer’s Orit Entertainment (which has a first-look deal with Skydance; this is the first project to come out of that pact).

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large While Netflix awaits Season 2 of its breakout hit “Wednesday,” the latest adaptation of the “Addams Family” franchise, it is already eyeing a way to expand that universe. Variety has confirmed that Netflix and producer MGM Television are indeed aiming to spin off “Wednesday” to focus on Uncle Fester.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Max’s “Warrior,” a breakthrough series boasting one of the few Asian ensembles on television, has been canceled after three seasons. The series’ repeats will live on, however, via a off-net deal with Netflix, which has acquired the series’ run in a non-exclusive deal and could now potentially expose it to a new audience.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The 2nd annual Children’s & Family Emmys got underway on Saturday night, starting with the Children’s & Family Creative Arts Emmys at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. According to early results — pending final tallies — Disney+ and Netflix tied the lead with nine wins overall. The most honored program of the evening was actually Netflix’s “Lost Ollie,” which scored five trophies.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Better late than never, the 50th Annual Daytime Emmys got underway on Friday night from downtown Los Angeles’ Westin Bonaventure Hotel, after six months of postponement due to the Hollywood strikes. Airing live on CBS, “Entertainment Tonight” hosts Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner were back to emcee this year’s event. “General Hospital” jumped out to a dominant early lead in the competition, winning six awards — including daytime drama, as well as both supporting actor and supporting actress, younger actor, guest actor and directing.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Pete Davidson has more than bupkis to say. The “Saturday Night Live” alum and star of Peacock’s “Bupkis” will star in his second Netflix hour-long special, “Turbo Fonzarelli,” which premieres Jan. 9, 2024, on the streamer.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Veteran TV director David Nutter has been selected to receive the Directors Guild of America’s lifetime achievement award for distinguished achievement in directing. He will receive the honors at the 76th Annual DGA Awards ceremony on Saturday, February 10, 2024.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Discovery Channel has ordered the series “Big Little Brawlers,” which follows a group of little people wrestlers in Tennessee. The six-episode series debuts Tuesday, Jan. 9 at 10 p.m.