Michael Thorn Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

EXCLUSIVE: Fox‘s international expansion has taken another step forwards following a deal with Canada’s Bell Media.

EXCLUSIVE: Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade is realigning the company’s content and business operations into three groups, the Fox Television Network, Fox Entertainment Studios and sales arm Fox Entertainment Global.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The BBC leads all producers among nominees with 22 at this year’s 2024 Rockie Awards International Program Competition, as announced Thursday by the Banff World Media Festival. The United States is tops among all countries, with 51 total, followed closely by the UK with 50. Among U.S.

Banff, the Canadian media festival, has unveiled its nominees for its 2024 Rockie Awards International Program Competition.

EXCLUSIVE: The Kumars are plotting a return — this time on American television. Fox has ordered a presentation for multi-camera comedy Meet The Kumars, a followup to the award-winning 2001 BBC series The Kumars At No. 42. Most of the original cast is back for the U.S.-flavored revival of the family sitcom/talk show.

EXCLUSIVE: Fox has picked up psychological crime drama Murder in a Small Town, starring Rossif Sutherland (The Handmaid’s Tale) and Kristin Kreuk (Smallville), for the 2024-25 season. The network has acquired U.S. rights to the series, based on the “Karl Alberg” books by L.R. Wright,, which hails from head writer Ian Weir (Edgemont), director Milan Cheylov (The Cleaning Lady) and Canada’s Sepia Films in association with Fox Entertainment and Future Shack Entertainment, the company of former USA Network President Jeff Wachtel.

EXCLUSIVE: Fox Entertainment has struck a first-of-its-kind drama development deal with two UK production companies, Walter Iuzzolino‘s Eagle Eye and The Serial Killer’s Wife producer Clapperboard.

Ellise Shafer David Smyth has been named the executive vice president of content sales at Fox Entertainment Global. He will begin his new role in January and report to Tony Vassiliadis, FEG’s chief operating officer.

Fox Entertainment Global, the international distribution division of the broadcast network, is staffing up. The company has hired David Smyth as EVP, Sales.

Flatch is no longer a welcoming place.

WGA and the studios are currently meeting at the table. “If the strike isn’t resolved by Oct.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter As a strike-impacted fall season launches later this month, Fox boasts one of the only full nights of scripted programming in primetime — thanks to its Sunday night “Animation Domination” lineup. Besides the returns of “The Simpsons,” “Bob’s Burgers” and “Family Guy,” that sked includes the long-awaited debut of Dan Harmon’s new entry “Krapopolis.” The animated series, set in ancient Greece, was first commissioned at Fox way back in June 2020, when Harmon signed a broadcast network-only exclusive direct animation deal. It was formally ordered to series in February 2021, and was originally intended to debut in 2022 — before being pushed to May 2023, and now, September 24.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This interview reveals major plot points from the “9-1-1” Season 6 finale, which aired Monday on Fox. Buck (Oliver Stark) helped bring a very special baby boy into the world on the sixth season finale of “9-1-1.” The little guy, whom Buck donated sperm to help his friends conceive, was born on Buck’s new couch (if you know, you know) — with Buck delivering the infant during one of the most large-scale disasters “9-1-1” fans have ever seen. “9-1-1” is moving to ABC for its seventh season, meaning, unfortunately, that any future crossovers in the franchise are “extremely unlikely,” according to Fox boss Michael Thorn. For the final episode of “9-1-1” that will ever air on Fox, Stark spoke with Variety about his experience filming it, and what he hopes for Buck’s future.

It was standing-room only crowd at the Fox upfront — mostly because there was no place to sit. But there were cocktails and lots of f-bombs from Gordon Ramsay, who helped to keep the 55-minute presentation moving at NYC’s Manhattan Center Monday.

Production on the Fox game show You Bet Your Life has halted amid the ongoing writers strike as the AMPTP continues to stall negotiations with the WGA. Series host Jay Leno, who has been seen at multiple picket lines delivering donuts, supports the move.

Things aren’t looking great for Fox comedy Welcome To Flatch.

Jamie and Corinne Foxx, and teased the premieres of long-gestating animated series “Krapopolis” — which features Waddingham among its voice cast and has already been renewed through Season 3 — and “Grimsburg,” headlined by Jon Hamm and already renewed for Season 2.While the orders for previously announced new dramas “Doc,” an adaptation of an Italian TV series, and “Rescue: HI-Surf” from “Shameless” producer Wells are still in place, the network did not reveal the cast for either project.The decision to not unveil Fox’s fall schedule — or the cast of its two new drama series — during the upfronts presentation is unusual. The event traditionally serves as the broadcast networks’ opportunity to boast on their programming slate, as well as showcasing their scheduling strategy to potential ad buyers.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Fox Entertainment’s CEO addressed the decision to cancel “9-1-1” and the show’s subsequent move to ABC during a conference call with the press ahead of the network’s upfront presentation to advertisers in New York. “We look at shows in two different ways,” said Rob Wade, CEO of Fox Entertainment. “First and foremost from a creative lens and how much we like the creative. And the second thing is really the economics of that. I think we felt moving forward into what is really a new era of television, the economics weren’t going to pan out on this show for us. The decision was made there that the business model wasn’t right for us and that 20th TV would take the show back.”

“Animal Control,” the workplace comedy led by Joel McHale, has locked down a Season 2 renewal at Fox, the studio announced Wednesday.“We are thrilled our viewers have responded to ‘Animal Control’ as much as we did,” Fox Entertainment president of scripted programming Michael Thorn said in a statement. “The incredibly talented ensemble cast, led by Joel McHale, along with our creative team, Bob Fisher, Rob Greenberg, Dan Sterling and Tad Quill – not to mention a menagerie of wild animal method actors — have delivered a hilarious series that is sharp, witty, and warm, week after week.”The series premiere, which launched Feb.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Animal Control” has been renewed for Season 2 at Fox, Variety has learned. The renewal comes as little surprise, given the fact that the show is Fox’s first wholly owned live-action comedy. Per Fox, the show’s premiere was the network’s most streamed scripted debut ever, drawing an estimated 4.5 million viewers across all platforms in its first three days of availability. As the name suggests, the series centers on a group of animal control workers. The cast is led by Joel McHale, who stars alongside Michael Rowland, Vella Lovell, Ravi Patel, Grace Palmer, Alvina August, Kelli Ogmundson, and Gerry Dee.

EXCLUSIVE: Fox has given a straight-to-series order to Rescue: HI-Surf, a Hawaii lifeguard drama from John Wells Productions in Wells’ broadcast return. The series, slated to premiere during the 2023-24 season, will be co-produced by Warner Bros. Television, where JWP is based, and Fox Entertainment.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Scott Greenberg, the co-founder and CEO of Fox-owned animation studio Bento Box Entertainment, is exiting the company, Variety has confirmed. Greenberg is also the CEO of Fox’s Web3 media and creative technology company Blockchain Creative Labs (BCL). He will officially depart both roles on May 19. “It’s been an incredible honor and privilege to work alongside the many people who have helped build Bento Box and Blockchain Creative Labs into two great companies,” Greenberg said. “The many series and projects we launched together are a great source of lasting pride to me. Deep down, I’m an entrepreneur at heart who enjoys building organizations and nurturing their teams to bring out the best in themselves. With Bento Box and BCL running full steam ahead on the path for continued growth and success, now is the time to explore new opportunities.”

EXCLUSIVE: Scott Greenberg, co-founder and CEO of Fox’s animation studio Bento Box Entertainment, the company behind Dan Harmon’s Krapopolis and Apple TV+’s Central Park, is leaving.

BreAnna Bell Fox has given a straight-to-series order for the medical procedural drama “Doc.” The series is slated to debut on the network in 2023-2024. Hailing from executive producers Barbie Kligman (“Magnum P.I.,” “Secrets and Lies,” “Private Practice”), Hank Steinberg (“For Life,” “Without a Trace”) and Erwin Stoff (“I Am Legend,” “The Matrix”), “Doc” is based on the Italian series “Nelle tue mani,” which was created and is produced by Lux Vide, a division of Fremantle. According to Fox’s official description, “Doc” focuses on Dr. Amy Elias, chief of internal and family medicine at Westside Hospital in Minneapolis. “After a brain injury erases the last eight years of her life, Amy must navigate an unfamiliar world where she has no recollection of patients she’s treated, colleagues she’s crossed, the soulmate she divorced, the man she now loves and the tragedy that caused her to push everyone away. She can rely only on her estranged 17-year-old daughter, whom she remembers as a 9-year-old, and a handful of devoted friends, as she struggles to continue practicing medicine, despite having lost nearly a decade of knowledge and experience,” the description reads.

Fox’s crime anthology “Accused” and Philadelphia-set procedural “Alert: Missing Persons Unit” will get second seasons, the network said Thursday. The dramas, which are co-produced by Sony Pictures Television and Fox Entertainment, will air the second seasons in the 2023-24 season.Both series have premiered with impressive first seasons as the Jan.

Fox is doubling down on a pair of freshman crime dramas.

EXCLUSIVE: Fox Entertainment has announced the names of the five Fellows for the 2023 Fox Writers Incubator (FWI), an initiative designed to nurture diverse and creative voices, as well as provide training to five writers of all genres, including comedy, drama and animation.

Krapopolis could spawn Fox’s next iconic animated figure to sit alongside Homer Simpson, Bob Belcher and Peter Griffin, according to the network’s President of Scripted Programming Michael Thorn.

Ellise Shafer In an unprecedented move, Fox has renewed Dan Harmon’s upcoming animated comedy “Krapopolis” for a third season ahead of its series premiere. Additionally, the premiere of the show — which was most recently set for May — has now been pushed to the 2023-2024 season. The news was announced by Michael Thorn, president of scripted programming at Fox Entertainment, at the London TV Screenings on Wednesday. “The 2023-24 season is the perfect launching pad for this highly-anticipated and very funny animated comedy, complete with multiple seasons of epic laughs for fans,” Thorn said. “The more we see from production, the more excited we are about their creativity, story arcs, flawless execution, brilliant voice cast and ability to pump out episode after episode of astonishing events and outrageous, unexpected hilarity.”