Nat Geo Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

In another sign that shows — even famous ones — can no longer “live forever” on streaming in the new era of media companies re-prioritizing profits, a slew of titles will be leaving Disney-controlled Hulu in the coming days as their license deals expire. For now, there are no plans to renew any of the pacts but that is always a possibility in the future.

BreAnna Bell Disney has responded to reports claiming the company is in early talks to sell its ABC network and TV stations, saying the company “has made no decision” on it yet. “While we are open to considering a variety of strategic options for our linear businesses, at this time The Walt Disney Company has made no decision with respect to the divestiture of ABC or any other property and any report to that effect is unfounded,” the statement reads.

EXCLUSIVE: Industry Entertainment co-founder Keith Addis is set to launch a new venture and he and former Industry colleague Michael Abrams are set to launch Constellation Media Group.

EXCLUSIVE: Amid a focus on content curation and Disney-owned IP, Disney+ is not proceeding with The Spiderwick Chronicles, its live-action series adaptation of the popular children’s fantasy books, Deadline has learned.

European consolidator Asacha Media Group has acquired a majority stake in Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom producer Arrow International Media.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Discovery’s Shark Week has been a TV institution for 35 years, a summertime staple that has never changed its core purpose: Celebrating the great white and its brethren. But a lot has changed around Shark Week in the decades since, including an explosion of popularity (as “30 Rock” once put it, we all now strive to “live every week like it’s Shark Week”), more competition, a few controversies and one giant corporate acquisition. In 2023, the Warner Bros. Discovery-produced TV event now has a few more boxes to check: From keeping its linear ratings (which grew 10% year-over-year in 2022) up to driving customers to two streaming platforms, Max and Discovery+. Shark Week has also been enlisted to help promote other TV shows and movies in the WBD family. But it also faces lingering concerns over the makeup of its programming (often criticized for lacking enough scientific research or proper experts), while simultaneously competing with younger copycat programming from rival companies Nat Geo’s Sharkfest.

Jonnie Davis is leaving ABC Signature.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter ABC Signature president Jonnie Davis is exiting his role at the studio, Variety has learned. The announcement was made by Davis and Eric Schrier, president of Disney Television Studios and Global Original Television Strategy, in separate notes to the studio’s staff. “I’m forever grateful to Dana Walden and Eric Schrier for the wonderful opportunity to lead this world-class studio,” Davis wrote. “And while I will, of course, miss this outstanding team, after doing this job for over 20 years, I’m looking forward to figuring out my next creative challenge.”

Bradley Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch, Cynthia Erivo, Russell Brand, Troy Kotsur, Rita Ora, Daveed Diggs, and Tatiana Maslany are several famous people who test their survival abilities in the new season of Nat Geo’s “Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge,” which premieres Friday.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor The days of elastic budgets are over. The documentary arena is feeling the great contraction in the volume of content ordered by the largest networks and streamers as the entertainment industry reckons with its spending binge of the past decade. The high-end nonfiction and documentary production community benefited enormously from the spike in demand for episodic series and evergreen films. In recent months, filmmakers, producers and buyers say strictures have tightened on producers to deliver highly accessible, easily promotable documentary content. “Crime, food, music sports”: that’s how director and cinematographer Nicola Marsh describes the hot subject areas for docu makers in the present writers strike-disrupted marketplace.

The Last of Us walked away from the Banff Rockie Awards with the Program of the Year gong.

A Nat Geo doc is to follow the husband-and-wife team behind the Covid-19 Pfizer BionTech vaccine as they take on the fight against cancer.

EXCLUSIVE: The Golden Trailer Awards has unveiled its nominees for its 23rd annual extravaganza taking place on Thursday, June 29th at The Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. The awards show honors the creative teams that are tasked with condensing two-hour films into two-minute trailers.

EXCLUSIVE: Avital Onn-Shachar, who oversaw legal and business affairs for series such as Apple’s Suspicion and HBO’s Our Boys, is leaving Keshet International to establish her own venture.

Aramide Tinubu The story of Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager who hid in a cramped attic with her family during the Nazi occupation in Amsterdam, is widely known, and amid the atrocities of the Holocaust, Anne’s diary presents a story of resilience and unrealized dreams. Nat Geo’s new limited series “A Small Light” isn’t Anne’s story, though the precocious teen’s legacy is embedded throughout. The brainchild of former “Grey’s Anatomy” showrunners Tony Phelan and Joan Rater, the series is a tale of resistance, activism and humanity. The narrative centers on one tenacious young woman, Miep Gies, Otto Frank’s secretary, who risked everything to save the Frank family, and countless others. Beautifully shot by Phelan, Susanna Fogel and Leslie Hope, with a slight sepia tone to ground the audience in the time period, the series opens on July 6, 1942, when the Frank family goes into hiding. Miep (Bel Powley) is tasked with getting Otto’s (Liev Schreiber) eldest daughter Margot (Ashley Brooke) through a Nazi checkpoint and into the secret annex above the office building where Miep and Otto work. Quick thinking and determined, Miep ushers the teen to safety via bicycle past the gun-toting and cruel German soldiers. It’s the first of many risks she takes to combat the racist, authoritarian regime.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney Entertainment has reshuffled roles and oversight among some comms and PR execs amid the second round of layoffs companywide. In addition to this week’s changes, Variety has confirmed that since February, Shari Rosenblum has led publicity, talent relations and events across 20th Television, 20th Animation and ABC Signature as SVP of publicity for Disney Television Studios. Rosenblum, who has spent 18 years at the studio leading campaign efforts for series including “Modern Family,” “The Dropout” and “Homeland,” reports to Candice Ashton. New reorg moves include:

EXCLUSIVE: Keshet Studios, the U.S. division of the Israeli media company behind scripted series including NBC’s La Brea, is moving into unscripted.

EXCLUSIVE: Welcome to Earth with Will Smith producer Nutopia is pushing further into the returning formats game with the hire of a new Creative Director in the UK.

A Small Light star Bel Powley and creator, writer and executive producer Joan Rater joined Deadline’s Contenders TV event Saturday to discuss the Holocaust-centric series and the importance of highlighting a different aspect of the era onscreen. 

The Diplomat. Not to mention, of course, new episodes of , , and , which are all dominating the pop-culture zeitgeist right now.The week starts with Ciao House (think Summer House, but set in an Italian villa with a focus on pasta) on the Food Network and discovery+.

Tommy Thompson, the scientist and explorer who discovered three tons of gold from the wreck of the S.S. Central America and later ended up in prison, is the subject of a new docuseries for Nat Geo.

Disney+ and Hulu, and on the Nat Geo TV and ABC apps.Starring Bel Powley as Miep and Liev Schreiber as Otto Frank, “A Small Light” also stars Amira Casar as Edith Frank, Billie Boullet as Anne Frank, Ashley Brooke as Margot Frank, Andy Nyman as Hermann van Pels, Caroline Catz as Auguste van Pels, Rudi Goodman as Peter van Pels and Noah Taylor as Dr. Fritz Pfeffer.

EXCLUSIVE: FX is getting back into espionage.

Naman Ramachandran Writer, producer and script editor Cassandra Johnson-Bekoe has joined U.K. independent production company DARE Pictures in the newly created position of head of scripted development. Johnson-Bekoe was previously senior development executive at Daniel Kaluuya’s production outfit 59%, overseeing the company’s slate and generating new IP across international and regional markets. Prior to this she worked in scripted development and her credits include “Ted Lasso” season 2 (WarnerBros/Apple+), “Riches” (Greenacre Films for ITV), “Secret Invasion” (Marvel Studios) and “The Chemistry of Death” (Cuba Pictures Ltd, for Paramount+). Reporting into DARE CEO Derren Lawford, Johnson-Bekoe will focus on developing the company’s scripted slate, as well bringing with her an original slate of IP and working on new drama and film projects with a view to taking them from pitch to commission with a particular emphasis on the U.S. and African markets. She will identify and develop relationships with emerging and established storytelling talent.

EbonyLife CEO Mo Abudu and execs from Starz, DreamWorks Animations and Universal International Studios are leading the jury for the Banff World Media Festival, which has unveiled nominations for its Rockie Awards.

EXCLUSIVE: Bear Grylls has unveiled an original content slate for Outdoors.com, the adventure site and streaming platform he recently acquired alongside Nashville-based digital investor Savage Ventures.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The Walt Disney Co. is once again leaning heavily into synergy across its divisions as it aims to bolster awareness and tune-in for Sunday night’s 95thOscars. That includes pop-up events at Disney parks and resorts; special program marathons on Disney-owned networks including FX, Freeform and Nat Geo; and Oscar-branded programming on ESPN, ABC News and ABC-owned stations. That includes everything from an Oscars-themed chocolate brownie milkshake at the Disney California Adventure eatery known as “Schmoozies,” to a binge of “The Simpsons” episodes featuring Oscar-winning guest stars, Hollywood and movie homages and more on FXX.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor FX chief John Landgraf and ABC programming head Simran Sethi will expand their duties under an executive shuffle at Disney’s TV operations, one of the first big moves under Dana Walden, who was assigned responsibility for the company’s TV networks after Bob Iger returned as Disney’s CEO. Landgraf will take oversight of National Geographic as well as Onyx Collective, the production unit devoted to projects from communities of color and underrepresented groups. Sethi, meanwhile, will oversee programming and development for both ABC and Freeform. She will continue to report to Craig Erwich, president, Disney Television Group. The moves comes as Tara Duncan, who had been supervising programming for both Onyx Collective and Freeform, will devote her attention solely to Onyx, freeing up the programming duties for Sethi, who had a previous tenure at the cable network.

Dana Walden is setting out her stall and it includes more responsibilities for John Landgraf and Simran Sethi.

EXCLUSIVE: National Geographic has boarded French history doc Rise and Fall of the Mayas.