Michael Schneider Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Veteran TV exec, producer and entrepreneur Cris Abrego can add another line to his growing list of titles: Chairman of the Television Academy. Abrego was elected to the post on Thursday night by the org’s Board of Governors, as the TV Academy also firmed up its roster of officers and governors for the board’s 2024-2025 term.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Paula Shugart is departing the Miss Universe Organization after 23 years as president, she revealed on Thursday night in El Salvador — where this year’s event is set to take place on Saturday. Shugart’s exit comes following news that Thailand-based Miss Universe owner JKN Global Group had filed for bankruptcy in its country, but insiders said Shugart’s announcement was unrelated to that news and had been in the works for a long time prior to that news.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 10, Episode 8 of “The Masked Singer,” “Trolls Night,” which aired Nov. 15 on Fox. Metta World Peace knows he’s not a great singer, but “The Masked Singer” is the one place where you can get away with it. Well, one of two places.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Think about some of the most iconic moments in modern TV history, and there’s a good chance Don Mischer was in the control room. Michael Jackson performing the Moonwalk for the first time on “Motown 25.” Muhammad Ali making a surprise appearance to light the Atlanta Olympics opening ceremony torch. Prince pulling off arguably the most lauded Super Bowl halftime show ever, in the pouring rain.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large GLAAD — the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer media advocacy organization — has been named the recipient of the Television Academy‘s 2023 Governors Award. The honor will be presented during the 75th Annual Primetime Emmys telecast, set to be broadcast live on Fox (after a lengthy Hollywood strikes delay) on January 15.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Variety chief correspondent and rising star Elizabeth Wagmeister is heading to CNN, where she’ll cover the entertainment beat for the news cabler, based in Los Angeles. Wagmeister was a driving force who helped Variety reclaim its role as the most-read, No.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large If you’re Gen X and living in Los Angeles, there’s a good chance you were at the Wiltern on Friday night, bathing in nostalgia as Liz Phair performed her seminal 1993 album “Exile in Guyville” in its entirety. Now that the age range for Gen X is between 41 and 56, it was probably inevitable that we’d succumb to wistfulness. Isn’t ironic, don’tcha think (sorry, Alanis), since we were supposed to be the cynical and disaffected generation.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Black-ish” star Anthony Anderson and his mother, Doris Bowman, are once again teaming up to host another game show together. The son-and-mother duo have been announced as the new hosts of Fox’s upcoming music gamer “We Are Family,” which premieres Wednesday, Jan.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large After six months of strikes, the primetime cupboard is pretty bare. But after a fall filled with repeats, unscripted series and a smattering of stockpiled scripted episodes, the broadcast networks are racing to salvage the rest of the TV season — and that means a scramble to get episodes in place by the start of 2024. It’s not as easy as flipping a light switch, of course.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Homer Simpson’s reported decision to stop strangling his son, Bart, has fans talking — at least on the Internet. That’s where everyone, of course, has an opinion.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 10, Episode 7 of “The Masked Singer,” “One-Hit Wonders Night,” which aired Nov. 8 on Fox. Money can’t buy you class, but “The Masked Singer” can buy you some well-timed publicity. Just days after she was seen at this year’s BravoCon, original “The Real Housewives of New York City” star and cabaret singer Luann de Lesseps — aka the “Countess” — was revealed on Wednesday as the latest celebrity to participate in Season 10 of “The Masked Singer.” De Lesseps was revealed to be Hibiscus, after performing “It’s Raining Men,” by The Weather Girls.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Audiences can finally catch a first glimpse at Max‘s “Bookie,” the new laffer starring stand-up comedian Sebastian Maniscalco that also is notable for the reunion between co-creator Chuck Lorre and guest star Charlie Sheen. Max dropped the trailer for “Bookie” (formerly titled “How to Be a Bookie”) on Wednesday, scroll down to watch below. “Bookie” premieres Thursday, Nov.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is planning a mega Emmy weekend in December — although it remains to be seen whether the Daytime Emmys will be a part of the festivities. The org has firmed up dates for the Daytime Creative Arts & Lifestyle Emmys, the 2nd Annual Children’s & Family Emmy Awards and Trustees’ Gala and the Children’s & Family Creative Arts Emmys, all of which will take place the weekend of December 16 and 17.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large As the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences continues to figure out how and when to finally hold this year’s Daytime Emmys — delayed in June due to the WGA strike — it has gone ahead and announced the nominations for this year’s 2nd Annual Children’s & Family Emmys. There’s no date yet for this year’s Chidren’s & Family Emmys — NATAS is likely waiting for a hopeful soon resolution to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike before firming up dates. But last year, winners were announced during two ceremonies—one focused on creative and technical arts, and the other to performances and programming—at Wilshire Ebell Theatre on December 10 and 11.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large A month after they got back to work and started airing post-WGA strike originals, early late night returns show good news for Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert — while in daytime, Kelly Clarkson’s move to New York was a winning strategy in its first week of new episodes. Talk shows were among the first original programs to return to air following the resolution of the Writers Guild of America strike, with the late night shows all returning the week of Oct. 2 after a five-month hiatus.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The Academy of Country Music and producer Dick Clark Productions have sealed a new two-year deal to keep the ACM Awards on Amazon’s Prime Video through its landmark 60th anniversary in 2025. The pact, announced Thursday, continues Prime Video’s relationship with the kudocast, which it began airing in 2022 as one of its first major forays into original live programming and the first major awards show to be streamed.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large CBS has tapped stand-up comedian Taylor Tomlinson to host its new late night franchise “After Midnight.” The series is executive produced by Stephen Colbert, who announced Tomlinson during Wednesday’s episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Tomlinson then discussed the news with Colbert on stage. Tomlinson’s recent TV credits include her Netflix comedy specials “Look At You” and “Quarter Life Crisis.” As announced earlier today, “After Midnight” will launch in early 2024 in the slot previously held by “The Late Late Show with James Corden.” It’s based on “@midnight,” which followed “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” from October 2013 to August 2017, was a panel series with mostly guest comedians, who would interact with host Chris Hardwick.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large As they were writing the pilot script for their new Max comedy series “Bookie,” co-creators Chuck Lorre and Nick Bakay thought it would be fun to add a real-life Hollywood star playing a version of themself as an inveterate gambler. The series stars stand-up comedian Sebastian Maniscalco as Los Angeles sports betting bookie, so it made sense that his character might run into a few high-roller celebrities during his travels. In early drafts of that Lorre and Bakay script, the character was left as a “TBD” — to be determined.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large And this time I have some backing: McHale himself. I recently got the most unusual pitch in my email: With the SAG-AFTRA strike ongoing, McHale can’t talk about the upcoming “Community” movie, his Fox sitcom “Animal Control,” or really, almost anything. But he can talk about Klondike ice cream bars.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Kylie Jenner got up and worked: The mogul is a guest voice on this year’s “Treehouse of Horror” episode of “The Simpsons,” and Variety has a first look below. In the Season 35 edition, “Treehouse of Horror XXXIV,” Bart is turned into an NFT — and Marge travels through the blockchain to save her son. In the segment, Kylie Jenner is one of a handful of celebrities — also including Jimmy Fallon and Rob Gronskowski — who are the “illuminati of the crypto universe” and help Marge find Bart.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 10, Episode 6 of “The Masked Singer,” “Harry Potter Night,” which aired Oct. 25 on Fox. The timing couldn’t have been better: With Halloween approaching, it was a spooky “Harry Potter”-themed episode of “The Masked Singer” this week, so it was only appropriate that “Teen Wolf” star Tyler Posey would be the next celebrity to be unmasked in Season 10. Posey was revealed to be Hawk, after this week performing “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” by The Police.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “The Masked Singer” goes whole Hogwarts on this week’s episode with a “Harry Potter” theme, and Variety has a first look. On the “Harry Potter Night,” tied to Halloween (of course), a new costumed Wildcard celebrity joins the competition: The Sea Queen.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 10, Episode 5 of “The Masked Singer,” “A Celebration of Elton John,” which aired Oct. 18 on Fox. Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote the track “Philadelphia Freedom” in 1975 at the behest of tennis icon Billie Jean King (whose team was the Philadelphia Freedoms). So, it was wildly appropriate that King performed the song on Wednesday during “A Celebration of Elton John” on Fox’s “The Masked Singer.” King performed “Philadelphia Freedom” as the Royal Hen — and the fact that we know she was on the show means that, alas, she was also the next celebrity to be unmasked on “Singer.” “A true trail blazer, she is famous for championing equal opportunities for all, and has made it her royal mission to be a voice for the voiceless,” a “Masked Singer” voiceover shared in giving the hints to whom the Royal Hen might be.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Minutes before “Saturday Night Live” was set to kick off Season 49 inside Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the show’s production team — led, of course, by executive producer Lorne Michaels — received word that two special guests were on their way. According to a source, that was when they learned that Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who were in New York City, wanted to drop by the show.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Saturday Night Live” returned with host Pete Davidson on Saturday, and the first sketch of the night took on Taylor Swift/NFL mania, via a parody of Fox’s NFL Sunday team. As the anchors tried to outdo each other with their Swift fandom, the sketch ended with a cameo by Travis Kelce himself — the Kansas City Chiefs tight end at the center of the brouhaha.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Saturday Night Live” opened this week’s Season 49 premiere without a skit, but instead with host Pete Davidson discussing “the horrible images and stories from Israel and Gaza.” Said Davidson: “And I know what you’re thinking, Who better to comment on it than Pete Davidson? Well, in a lot of ways, I am a good person to talk about it because when I was seven years old, my dad was killed in a terrorist attack. So I know something about what that’s like. “I saw so many terrible pictures this week.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Fox will utilize its NFL doubleheader on Sunday, January 7, to help launch the network’s latest animated comedy, “Grimsburg.” The show, starring Jon Hamm (who also executive produces), will air immediately following the second game in all time zones. The scheduling strategy was set to be announced on Saturday at the New York Comic-Con, where Fox is holding panels for both “Grimsburg” and its most recent new animated comedy, the Dan Harmon-created “Krapopolis.” At the event, “Grimsburg” showrunner Chadd Gindin planned to discuss his new series and introduce an early screening of the show’s first episode. Both “Grimsburg” and “Krapopolis” are produced by Bento Box and are wholly owned by Fox.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Kensday” may soon be everyday. “Community” star and “The Masked Singer” panelist Ken Jeong is eyeing a daytime talk strip for 2024, to be developed and produced by Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury shingle.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Former Electus CEO and Shine International prexy Chris Grant has launched a new distribution company, Osmosis Global, which he will unwrap in time for next week’s Mipcom conference. Investor and entrepreneur Marc Pierce is backing the new venture.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 10, Episode 4 of “The Masked Singer,” “2000s Night,” which aired Oct. 11 on Fox. Michael Rapaport had never sung in public until “The Masked Singer.” Now, he can’t stop. Rapaport was unmasked on Wednesday as the Pickle, the latest costumed celebrity to go home on the hit Fox unscripted series.