New Evolutionary Stage: NBCUniversal's Peacock launched in 2020 -- partly by design and partly due to necessity given the pandemic -- with a slate of comedies and dramas repurposed from other NBCU networks. Today, no shows from that inaugural lineup -- Saved by the Bell, Punky Brewster, Rutherford Falls, Girls5eva and former USA property Brave New World -- remain on the platform. As the streamer heads into 2023 with its first slate of originals developed by Susan Rovner, chairman of entertainment content for NBCU Television and Streaming, along with her team, its development strategy is being adjusted for the next stage of evolution. A stronger emphasis on drama is in effect, led by event-worthy series, along with a focus on bingeable comedies, more true crime limited docuseries and unscripted celebrity-driven shows. Some of the projects that are part of the strategy shift, Deadline has learned, include an episodic horror thriller from Ian McCulloch and genre ace James Wan, and dating reality show Queen's Court, starring Tamar Braxton, Evelyn Lozada and Nivea. Both have been picked up to series. >>> Data Guides Course Correction |
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So Long, Bombay - Apple TV+’s prestige drama series Shantaram, starring Charlie Hunnam, will not be returning for a second season. Its Season 1 finale, released today, will serve as a series finale. Based on the Gregory David Roberts’ epic, 900-plus-page novel, Shantaram was an ambitious, big-scope undertaking shot across two continents. Shantaram hasn’t generated the level of buzz that some of Apple TV+’s popular titles have. It followed Lin Ford (Hunnam), who escapes a maximum-security Australian prison, reinvents himself as a doctor in the slums of 1980s Bombay, and then gets entangled with a local mafia boss >>>Johnny Depp Connection
Chazelle Swings For The Fences - Deadline's Pete Hammond says director Damien Chazelle's Babylon "is a sight to behold, a decadent, free wheeling, at times even poignant look at a series of dreamers, stars, fringe players, and all who wanted a piece of a world that felt out of control, uninhibited, and full of promise." >>>'Babylon' Review
Buzzy - More than three months ahead of Yellowjackets' Season 2 premiere, Showtime has picked up a new installment of the show. One reason for the early renewal: It was tied to the yearly deadline for picking up the cast's options, which are up in mid-December. The move also "demonstrates our strong commitment to the show and its ability to continue to grow as well as how it fits clearly within a Showtime brand,” said Chris McCarthy, President/CEO, Showtime and Paramount Media Networks. >>> Programming Strategy Taking Shape
Higher Ground Hires 3 - Higher Ground, the production company founded by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, has made a number of hires and promotions on its audio team. The moves come after Higher Ground signed a first-look deal with Amazon’s Audible following its exit from Spotify. >>>Promotion, As Well
Ride The Whirlwind - Following an extensive search that had a number of top directors chasing the job, sources tell Deadline that Oscar-nominated Minari director Lee Isaac Chung is in early talks to helm Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment’s Twisters, the sequel to the 1996 blockbuster. >>>Spielberg-Approved Script
Joint Investigation - NCIS is gearing up for its mega three-way crossover with its spinoffs NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: Hawai’i on January 9. The crossover event will center around a very personal, high-stakes case involving a mysterious hitman. >>>Watch The Trailer
Bloodline - Jack Huston make his feature directorial debut with Day of the Fight, a project that will reteam him with his Boardwalk Empire colleague Michael Pitt, who will star. The story tracks a once-celebrated boxer who takes a redemptive journey through his past and present, on the day of his first fight since leaving prison. Production is under way in New York and New Jersey. >>>Joe Pesci On Board
A 'Holly' Jolly Christmas - Black Adam breakout Sarah Shahi is set to executive produce and star in the Christmas film The Hollys with 17 Again helmer Burr Steers attached to direct. The package is just starting to go out to financiers. The story centers on Emma Holly (Shahi), a workaholic single mom whose life starts to unravel when she loses her job in the city and is forced to move back herself and her daughter back home with her old-fashioned housewife mom. >>> A Love Letter To Motherhood
The Zombies Are Coming - Two projects featuring reanimated antagonists are in the works. The first is the the Night of the Living Dead sequel that Nikyatu Jusu (Nanny) is directing for Village Roadshow Pictures, Vertigo Entertainment, Westbrook, Origin Story and the late George A. Romero’s Sanibel Films. Amazon’s MGM division is in final negotiations to acquire worldwide rights. The second is Killing it, a zombie horror-comedy that A Black Lady Sketch Show's Bridget Stokes will direct for Amazon Studios, from a script by her Sketch Show cohort, Robin Thede. >>>Plotlines
In Brief - Till’s Jalyn Hall will play a young Martin Luther King Jr. in Nat Geo/Disney+’s Genius: MLK/X…Riot Games appointed Cristina Fiumara as its first Global Head Of Animation Development, Film & TV… One Entertainment has merged With Circle Of Confusion to bolster its bicoastal presence... We Were The Lucky Ones: Henry Lloyd Hughes, Moran Rosenblatt, Sam Woolf & Michael Aloni have been added to Hulu limited series...Party & Prey: The graphic novel adaptation is in the works from Legendary Entertainment, AfterShock Media with Patrick Brice directing the queer horror film from Rob Forman’s script...Alexi Hawley’s Perfectman Pictures appointed Rachel Abarbanell SVP and launched development on new legal drama series for ABC. |
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Another year has come and gone at Essex College. Season 2 of The Sex Lives of College Girls ended on a tumultuous note Thursday, as Leighton, Kimberly, Bela and Whitney finished up their first year at the elite private university. If you’re feeling mixed emotions about how things went down, you’re not alone. Reneé Rapp — whose character Leighton quit her sorority, broke up with her girlfriend and rekindled her romance with her former flame — isn’t quite sure how she feels about it either. >>>Read The Interview |
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Exclusive A Little Romance - Jenna Ortega is reteaming with her Wednesday co-star, Percy Hynes White, in Winter Spring Summer or Fall for MPCA. The pic is being described as Before Sunrise meets The Perks of Being a Wallflower, as two teens (Ortega and Hynes White) on the cusp of adulthood meet and fall in love over four significant days of the year. >>> Ortega An EP
Open Season - CBS has ordered its first series for the 2023-24 season. The Never Game, a new drama series, will star and be executive produced by Justin Hartley. Based on the novel by Jeffery Deaver, The Never Game features Hartley as a lone-wolf survivalist who roams the country as a "reward seeker," using his tracking skills to help private citizens and law enforcement solve all manner of mysteries. >>> Mary McDonnell Also Stars
Hard 'Knox' - Michael Keaton, James Marsden, Marcia Gay Harden, Suzy Nakamura, Joanna Kulig, Ray McKinnon, John Hoogenakker, Lela Loren and Al Pacino are starring in the noir thriller Knox Goes Away. Principal photography recently wrapped. Keaton plays John Knox, a contract killer diagnosed with a fast-moving form of dementia. He vows to spend his final days attempting to redeem himself by saving the life of his estranged adult son. >>> Keaton Directing, Too
King For A Day - Where the Crawdads Sing star Daisy Edgar-Jones is set to play Carole King in Sony Pictures’ feature take on the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. The pic will follow King’s rise to fame and off-stage triumphs and tragedies. >>> Has Singer's Blessing
In Brief - Medical drama The Hurt Unit from Matt Lopez & John Glenn has landed a pilot order at ABC…Bruce Dern, Tyrese Gibson, Shawnee Smith & Taryn Manning will lead horror pic The Skulleton...Hollywood hypnotist Dr. Dante , briefly married to Lana Turner, was set as latest subject of Campside Media’s Chameleon podcast series... Project Artemis: Noah Robbins is the latest to join Greg Berlanti’s ApplesSpace race pic...Apple's Dark Matter added The Handmaid’s Tale actress Amanda Brugel in a recurring role. |
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More News
📺 After NBCUniversal execs had discussed potentially returning NBC's 10 p.m. hour of primetime to local stations as a cost-saving move, Deadline has learned that the network is hanging on to it, at least for now. The plan is to put more procedurals and multi-cam sitcoms in the development pipeline.
😇 Hulu has ordered Standing By, a satirical look into the lives of a group of irritated guardian angels and the lessons they learn from not only the dysfunctional humans they’re in charge of protecting but also from one another. The series is from 20th TV Animation and creators Ally Pankiw and Dan Levy — who will also lend his voice.
 James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water opened Wednesday in 15 material international box office markets, including France, Germany, Italy and Korea, and has posted an estimated $15.8M overall through yesterday. Market shares are strong, including some at the 99% level (Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, notably).
🌋 Bestselling author James Patterson will coauthor an untitled novel with the late Michael Crichton about a mega-eruption of Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano. The thriller about an event that threatens to destroy not just the island, but the entire world will be published in 2024. The manuscript was left unfinished by Crichton at the time of his passing in 2008.
🛑 Blumhouse, Morgan Creek, Universal and Peacock this week had an early and not cost insignificant shut down for the holiday on The Exorcist, the David Gordon Green-directed continuation of The Exorcist. Sources cited an unspecified health issue involving Leslie Odom Jr., who stars alongside Ellen Burstyn, reprising her role from the original 1973 movie. They hope to have him back along with the rest of the cast in January.
🚑 ABC is taking a ride with the Hospital Urgent Response Team. The network has ordered a pilot for medical drama The Hurt Unit. The project comes from Promised Land creator Matt Lopez and former SEAL Team showrunner John Glenn with The Amazing Spider-Man and (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb helming the pilot.
💰 The Austrian Parliament passed a package of laws on Thursday paving the way for a 30% film and TV production incentive, which also includes Europe’s first Green bonus as well as extra cash for productions with a high percentage of female heads of department. The new law will go into effect on January 1. In Brief - An untitled sci-fi medical drama from Joshua Troke, Mickey Fisher & Justin Lin has been set at NBC...Netflix's Dead To Me landed at No. 2 on the Nielsen U.S. Streaming charts after its Season 3 debut...Apple TV+ has ordered an eight-episode Mythic Quest companion series called Mere Mortals ...A film based on the hit video game Death Stranding is in the works from Barbarian EP Alex Lebovici’s Hammerstone Studios and Kojima Productions |
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Trending  After James Gunn's shocking announcement that fan-favorite Henry Cavill would no longer be DC's Superman, Deadline has confirmed the actor — who also recently ended his stint fronting The Witcher — landed the sci-fi series Warhammer 4000 for Amazon Studios just 48 hours later. Cavill will headline and EP.
🔻 Ten days before Christmas, many media companies — particularly Netflix — got a lump of coal from Wall Street, as recession fears fueled panic about the oft-volatile sector. Netflix in particular — off nearly 10% yesterday — was rocked by a report that its ad-supported tier is having a tough debut.
Writer-director Greta Gerwig's 2023 live-action Barbie movie dropped a new teaser with a monolithic Margot Robbie, Helen Mirren narration and a tantalizing glimpse of Ryan Gosling as Ken. |
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Obituaries
🕯 William Okuwah Garrett, film editor on Hollywood Shuffle and director of music videos during the “Black Pack” era of the early ’90s, has died. He was 73. In addition to Hollywood Shuffle, the man friends called Okuwah worked on Mom and Dad Save the World, From a Whisper to a Scream, Deep Cover, Fear of a Black Hat and In Dangerous Company before transitioning into directing music videos. He started by helming jazz giants Stanley Clark and George Duke in their cover of Funkadelic’s “Mothership Connection.” Among his many videos were Dr. Dre’s title cut from the film Deep Cover — which featured the first appearance on a record or video by the rapper then known as Snoop Doggy Dogg — along with clips for songs by Kris Kross, Yo-Yo, MC Eiht , Gangstarr, Blackstreet and Kirk Franklin. 🕯 See the 400-plus influential figures we've lost this year in Deadline's 2022 Hollywood & Media Deaths photo gallery. |
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On the Radar
Fri - Avatar: The Way of Water opens
Sun - World Cup Final; First day of Hanukkah
Mon - Jan. 6 Committee’s final hearing |
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Do They Come With Bubble Gum? In one of his oddest moves since he descended that gold escalator, former president Donald Trump recently teased a “major announcement” and then revealed the less-then-major payoff: A limited edition “Trump Digital Trading card collection.” The cards, which promise to span Trump’s life and career, are “only $99 each” and guaranteed “to make a great Christmas gift.” Here's a tip: Put them under the tree right next to the Trump steaks and vodka. |
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