- Social:
Variety
Managing Editor for Variety and co-author of Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of the WB and UPN; former editor of the Hollywood Reporter
PROFILE
Cynthia Littleton
Guest
FROM Cynthia Littleton
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Donald Trump Sells Miss Universe Trump’s been leading in the polls, but his politics have been clashing with his some of his business ventures. So today, he announced he’s unloading one of those ventures. Trump has sold the Miss Universe beauty pageant empire. For months, he’s been battling with the TV networks that air the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants because of his comments on immigration. We get a primer on the sale.
The Spin-off
HBO Now, Andy Lack's Back, Two Comedies, Two Strategies HBO reveals some details, including the price, behind their new OTT service. Andy Lack returns to NBC News, but that doesn't mean Brian Williams will be coming back. A very sad goodbye to Simpson's co-creator Sam Simon. And we take a look at two new, quirky comedies that were launched with very different strategies.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
TV Pilot Season Shakeup We’re in the middle of March Madness - the basketball tournament - but that’s also a perfect name for TV’s pilot season. This is the height of the network’s annual scramble to produce new shows and roll out their Fall line-ups. It’s a costly and slightly crazy tradition - and it’s only gotten costlier and crazier. For years, network executives have said that they were going to do things a better way. Now it seems like that’s finally started to happen.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
The Alternatives to Cable There are a head-spinning number of ways to watch TV these days that don’t even involve a cable box. And that’s the argument Comcast is going to make as it defends its acquisition of Time-Warner Cable. We untangle the web of TV alternatives to figure out what our options are and what they will be in the future.
Which Way, L.A.?
After Year in Limbo, SAG Finally Ratifies Contract It's finally over. After a year of bitter in-fighting, the Screen Actors Guild has overwhelmingly approved a new contract . The deal looks much the same as one SAG was offered by the studios last year and which has already been approved by the AFTRA , the Writers' Guild and Directors' Guild . Cynthia Littleton is Deputy Editor of News at Variety , a daily trade publication covering the entertainment industry.
Recommended
The Treatment
Lucia Micarelli: An Evening with Lucia Micarelli Violinist and actress Lucia Micarelli visits The Treatment to discuss her emotive performances as she prepares for PBS' An Evening with Lucia Micarelli.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Why is Trump so behind on filling staff jobs, establishing concrete policies? Yesterday Donald Trump signed a “decision memo” to revamp the air traffic control system. But there was little legislative detail in the plan. There’s not much to other splashy announcements from the White House, including tax cuts and the arms deal with Saudi Arabia. And hundreds of positions are unfilled in federal agencies.
UnFictional
The Other Man Stories of two men who meet by chance and emerge indelibly changed – or at least, one of them does.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Previewing James Comey's blockbuster testimony Former FBI director James Comey testifies Thursday in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, but his opening statement has been released. In it, he says he felt pressured by Donald Trump to declare loyalty to him and publicly clear him of any wrongdoing in the Russia investigation.