News

Lester Holt’s announcement that he’s soon leaving his position as anchor at “NBC Nightly News” is only the latest in a wave of departures. And it comes at a moment when the national TV news media needs all the help it can get.

Holt, renowned for his ability to anchor over long periods of time during breaking news situations, said in his announcement that he plans to devote his energies to the newsmagazine “Dateline” moving forward. But his departure from the 30-minute nightly telecast that — still — draws millions of pairs of eyeballs is the latest iteration of a trend. Before Holt, there was Chuck Todd, who outright left NBC News earlier this year after exiting the moderator chair at “Meet the Press” in 2023; Hoda Kotb, who left “Today” in January; and Norah O’Donnell, whose final broadcast of “CBS Evening News” aired last month as well. All of this...

Piece of Magic Entertainment has acquired theatrical rights from Mercury Studios for “One to One: John & Yoko” across a broad swath of European territories, including France, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The documentary from Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald, which world premiered at Venice and recently played Sundance, offers an intimate look at 18 months of Lennon and Ono’s life in Greenwich Village during the early ’70s.

At its heart is newly restored footage of Lennon’s only full-length post-Beatles concert – the “One to One” benefit show at Madison Square Garden in August 1972. The film features remastered audio overseen by Sean Ono Lennon, the couple’s son.

The doc reconstructs the couple’s Greenwich Village apartment to paint a picture of their American experience, weaving in period TV footage spanning everything from Vietnam War coverage to “The Price is Right...

Norah O’Donnell’s exit from “CBS Evening News” Thursday night wasn’t what viewers might have expected. And the successor program that CBS intends to air in its place on Monday will have a similar quality.

O’Donnell bid farewell to viewers of the long-running broadcast after a surprise taped cameo from Oprah Winfrey which celebrated the anchor and showed many highlights of her tenure. O’Donnell thanked the audience for welcoming “hard news with heart into your homes,” and was spotted being surrounded by colleagues and family as the show’s credits began to roll. Coming Monday: a completely overhauled edition of the program that is taking pains to break many visual ties to the days when Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather told the nation what was most important at the end of their day.

CBS will launch a new “Evening News” that relies on a group of co-anchors, rather than a single person.

An attorney urged jurors on Tuesday to “send a message to the mainstream media” by finding that CNN defamed a security contractor in a 2021 report about Afghan refugees.

Zachary Young is suing the network in Panama City, Fla., alleging that he was falsely portrayed as engaging in an illicit “black market” in the wake of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan by offering to get refugees out the country for $14,500 apiece.

During his opening statement on Tuesday, Young’s attorney, Kyle Roche, argued that CNN’s reporting was “reckless” with the facts, and that the network “set out to destroy Zach’s reputation.”

“They didn’t care about the truth,” he said. “They cared about theater and they cared about ratings.”

Roche argued that jurors can “change an industry” by sending a message that will be heard by “every news organization in America.”

“Reckless journalism is un-American,” he argued. “It’s dangerous,...

Aaron Brown died on Sunday in Washington, D.C. He was a veteran radio journalist who was known for keeping calm while reporting on the hijackings on September 11, 2001. He was 76 years old. The person speaking for the family, Molly Levinson, stated that pneumonia was what killed him.

The most important thing that happened to Brown was on September 11, 2001. He saw the World Trade Center towers fall while reporting live from a CNN rooftop in Manhattan. He turned his back on the camera and looked at the disaster 30 blocks away, saying, “Just look at that; that’s the scariest scene you will ever see.” Over the next 17 hours, his steady speech and deep thoughts helped millions understand what was happening.

Brown discussed that day in an interview with NPR’s “All Things Considered” in 2011. “In some ways, you were too focused to be anything other than a reporter with the biggest story anyone had ever had,...

Aaron Brown, a news anchor known for his coverage during CNN’s broadcast of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, died on Sunday in Washington, D.C., his family confirmed to CNN. He was 76.

Brown began his career as a radio talk show host in Minneapolis before moving to local television in Seattle and eventually becoming the anchor of ABC’s overnight news programs “World News Now” and “World News Tonight Saturday.” He joined CNN in 2001, eventually anchoring “NewsNight,” which combined breaking news with in-depth analysis.

Brown was still in training when the Sept. 11 terror attacks occurred and though he hadn’t been scheduled to go on air that morning, but he rushed to CNN’s Manhattan office, making his first appearance as an anchor and guiding millions of viewers through the dramatic events of Sept. 11.

“I felt, in that moment, profoundly stupid,” Brown told CNN’s Brian Stelter years later in...

Over the past 12 months, Elon Musk continued his streak of somehow finding a way into just about every social-political conversation, it seemed, something that was readily apparent in his midyear endorsement of Donald Trump.

As the co-leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, a made-up department designed to identify areas of the federal government to cut, Musk inevitably will be that provocateur once again.

The wild card is ego, as there may be only so much space in the spotlight for the world’s richest man and the world’s most powerful one. After all, Barack Obama’s relentless mocking of Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner has been seen as a tipping point that led to the then-The Apprentice host’s first White House bid; Likewise, it was Joe Biden’s diss of Musk at a White House electric-vehicle event that help set off the latter’s migration from left to right.

Donald Trump was the winner in the election against Kamala Harris last month, but CBS believes the past and soon-to-be current Potus should be the loser in his $10 billion so-called deceptive editing lawsuit over an October 60 Minutes interview with the Vice President.

“Plaintiff’s attempt to punish Defendants for their editorial judgments is barred by the First Amendment,” declares a motion to dismiss filed Friday by CBS Broadcasting in Texas federal court.

In a separate document, the network said of Trump’s October 31-filed complaint: “The Court should reject President Trump’s naked forum-shopping and either dismiss or transfer the case.” Mocking the matter as no more than a “generalized grievance,” CBS’ memorandum on jurisdiction added: “For the foregoing reasons, this Court should dismiss Plaintiff’s Complaint with prejudice … or, in the alternative, transfer this case to the Southern District of New York.”

Exclaiming that CBS blatantly violated Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act,...

Whoopi Goldberg going out of her way to support Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son will not sit well with Joe Rogan. The online influencer has been feuding with the TV show host for some time now over their politics and ideology. Goldberg put her credibility on the line when she stated that Hunter Biden’s case was very different from that of Trump’s legal issues, because of the former’s drug problem.

Whoopi Goldberg in The View | Credits: ABC News

Outgoing President Biden shocked everyone on Sunday when he issued a full and unconditional pardon to Hunter Biden. This came after the President shared in June that he would not use his executive authority to pardon or commute his sentence. Hunter Biden was convicted of federal gun charges and federal tax evasion charges.

Whoopi Goldberg Supporting Joe Biden’s Decision Wouldn’t Sit Well With Joe...

Arguably one of the most powerful podcast hosts, Joe Rogan boasts millions of listeners each month. Given the scope of his audience, he remains one of the most influential figures in the media space.

Considering this, it's all the more surprising when Joe shares some dubious takes with his audience. Recently, fans were left scratching their heads after Joe claimed to have proof that dragons were a true historical being.

Joe Rogan Claimed He Had "Evidence" That Dragons Were Real

On his X/Twitter account, Joe shared the link to a YouTube video entitled "Evidence Dragons Were Real." The nearly 23-minute video claims to have proof that dragons once walked the Earth along with other animal species. As of this article's writing, Joe's message on X has over 3.3 million views, and many of the comments below the video refer to how Joe directed them to the clip.

"I believe because Joe Rogan believes,...

The View co-host Joy Behar recently took a dig at Joe Rogan, and he clapped back with an epic response. So, what kicked off this firestorm, and how did the podcast host and Mma commentator respond?

The View: Joy Behar And Others Are Not Shy About Controversial Opinions

When it comes to The View and the cast they have as co-anchors, between the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, and others, there is no shortage of controversial opinions. Because those anchors never shy away from politics or other controversial topics, this also opens the door to controversy, or, at the very least, ruffling some feathers.

Joy Behar is never afraid to get in there and mix it up. Recently, she went after podcast host and Mma commentator Joe Rogan. Behar took a jab at Rogan over his belief in dragons. She said: “We went from Walter Cronkite to this guy Joe Rogan,...

Update: CBS on January 8 announced that due to sports coverage of Farmers Insurance Open on January 24, O’Donnell’s original date to sign off from “CBS Evening News,” her last broadcast will now take place on January 23.

Norah O’Donnell’s last day behind the anchor desk of “CBS Evening News” will be January 24, CBS News revealed Friday, setting up a timeline for a transition to a new format for a venerable news program that has been part of its schedule, under various names, since 1941.

O’Donnell, who became anchor of “Evening News” in July of 2019, is moving to a new role as a senior correspondent that will have her contribute special reports built around enterprise work or landing interviews with prominent newsmakers. She will continue to contribute to “Evening News,” “60 Minutes” and other CBS News programs. The arrangement is understood to be part of a longer-term commitment that the anchor...

Whoopi Goldberg and her co-hosts on The View do not seem to close their discussions on Joe Rogan anytime soon. However, there might be one voice in the show who could see things a little more neutral and doesn’t hate Rogan. Alyssa Farah Griffin, the former Assistant to the President during Donald Trump’s earlier presidency, joined as a permanent co-host on the show from 2022.

Whoopi Goldberg in a still from The View | Credits: ABC

Griffin was one of the former Trump administration officials who endorsed Kamala Harris during this election. However, Griffin refused to jump onto the hate wagon against Rogan and other X influencers. Griffin wanted the left and right to have conversations and not go into their own echo chambers.

One Co-Host On The View Sees Rationale Amidst Whoopi Goldberg And Others’ Blinding Hate Alyssa Farah Griffin in The View | Credits: ABC

Whoopi Goldberg and The View...

Chicago – At 12:30pm Central Time on November 22nd, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was killed by an assassin’s bullet. The shots that echoed through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, has resonated now for 61 years, but beyond the actual event there was a treasure trove of TV and radio coverage that was recorded, and David Von Pein has collected it on YouTube.

Von Pein’s collection be found on his comprehensive YouTube channel. Click JFK Channel to start browsing. Since our 2021 interview, Von Pein has continued his dogged research into this fascinating recorded history, as it has been said that news coverage and the media changed forever that weekend between the assassination on November 22nd and Kennedy’s burial on November 25th.

Walter Cronkite Delivers the ‘News’ on November 22nd, 1963

Photo credit: CBS-tv

Not only has Von Pein found high quality as-it-happened video from the three major networks at the time – CBS-tv,...

A veteran TV journalist is leaving the cable news game: Chris Wallace is exiting CNN after spending three years there as a host and anchor, TVLine has confirmed.

Wallace told The Daily Beast (who first reported the news) that he’s looking to move to an independent platform via streaming or podcasting, since that’s “where the action seems to be” these days. “This is the first time in 55 years I‘ve been between jobs,” he added. “I am actually excited and liberated by that.”

More from TVLineBrian Stelter Returning to CNN Two Years After Reliable Sources CancellationTVLine Items: Real Housewives Trailer,...

Jimmy Carter, who turned 100 years old Oct. 1, has lived quite a life, on and off screen.

Aside from his presidency during 1977 to 1981, the former president had many iconic pop cultural moments both before he became leader of the United States as well as during and after.

Carter shared moments with cultural figures like Andy Warhol, the Allman Brothers, Johnny Cash, Lucille Ball, Walter Cronkite and more. His real speech was featured at the beginning of 1978’s Americathon before a fictional mob attacks the White House and hangs Carter and his cabinet because of the energy crisis. The Bruce Willis movie The Last Boy Scout is based on Willis’ character being the Secret Service agent who saved Carter from a fictional assassination attempt, and there is an out of focus actor playing Carter in a flash back.

Follow along below for a list of pop culture moments Jimmy Carter cemented into...

Saturday Night Live’s landmark 50th season will kick off nearly over a month ahead of the 2024 presidential election with plenty of material for its cold opens and other political skits.

With Maya Rudolph returning to portray Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, its likely that James Austin Johnson will portray Donald Trump and or Joe Biden in parodies of the candidates. Doug Emhoff (who has been portrayed in the past by Martin Short) and Vice President Tim Walz will also likely receive parodies, though Short’s Only Murders in the Building costar Steve Martin has declined the ask to portray Walz.

The first five consecutive SNL shows’ hosts and musical guests have been announced, and given the volume and talent of cast members over the years, a look back at political parodies by hosts, guests and members of the comedy ensemble can be found below.

Will Ferrell as...

Updated: Jimmy Carter passed the century mark today, the first president to do so, with Joe Biden and other former presidents honoring the Nobel Prize winner and human rights advocate.

On his 100th birthday, Carter is in hospice care and confined to his modest Plains, Ga home, but in recent months, “he’s really gotten re-engaged with the world,” his grandson, Jason Carter, told The New York Times. His grandson has said that Carter wanted to live long enough to vote for Kamala Harris in this year’s presidential election.

The former president did make an appearance outdoors today, surrounded by family, to watch a military flyover to make his birthday.

Former President Jimmy Carter celebrated his 100th birthday surrounded by family and friends in his backyard in Plains, Georgia. CBS News was there as he was wheeled outside, beneath the shade of his trees, to witness a military flyover with four fighter jets.

Clifford Bell, the cabaret impresario, director and producer affectionately known as “Lawrence of Cabarabia,” died Sunday of natural causes at Cha Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, publicist Steve Moyer announced. He was 67.

“Clifford Bell was a force of nature!” Moyer said in a statement. “He lived and breathed music every day of his life to the very end.”

A 40-year show business veteran, Bell wrote and directed variety performances featuring the likes of Walter Cronkite, Colin Powell and Michael Eisner at the Honda Center in Anaheim and toured with Katey Sagal and her band.

As a cabaret director, he helmed shows for singers Gregg Marx, Todd Murray, Lois Bourgon, Carol Whitener, Joanne Tatham, Bonnie Gilgallon, Lauren White, Quinn Johnson, Chase Masterson, Lee Lessack, Bobbie Norman and Katrina Aguilar.

He produced albums for singers Betsyann Faiella, Eileen Barnett and Judy Butterfield and directed one-person shows starring Beth Lapides, Joan Hotchkis, Juliette Marshall,...

Univision News anchor Jorge Ramos is saying goodbye to the Spanish-language network after nearly 40 years on the air, our sister site Variety first reported. He will remain at the network through the presidential election and depart some time in December.

“This is not a farewell. I will continue anchoring Noticiero Univision until December, and afterwards I will share my professional plan,” he said in a note to his colleagues Monday. “I am deeply grateful for these four decades at Univision and very proud to be part of a team that has established strong leadership over the years.”

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In a seismic shift for Spanish-language TV news in America, Univision anchor Jorge Ramos is leaving the network after a 40-year tenure.

TelevisaUnivision said that Ramos and Univision News both agreed not to renew his contract, which is soon to expire. He will step down as co-anchor of Noticiero Univision at the end of 2024, after the U.S. Presidential Election.

Ramos has been the anchor or co-anchor of Noticiero Univision, which is the most-watched Spanish-language evening news broadcast in America, for 38 years, a tenure that began in 1986. He was the face of Univision’s news division for decades, drawing comparisons to Walter Cronkite for his length of tenure and the trust he had with viewers.

However, as he himself noted in a 2021 column, the TV landscape of 1986 bears little resemblance to that of the present day.

“I started at a time when the big network’s TV anchors – Peter Jennings,...

Phil Jones, who as a CBS News correspondent covered some of Washington’s most momentous political battles including Watergate and President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, has died. He was 87.

The network said that Jones died over the weekend in Florida. Watch a CBS News tribute reel below.

Jones began his career at an Indiana TV station before leaving to work at Wcco-tv in Minneapolis for seven years. He was one of the first local reporters to go to Vietnam, in 1965, and he later returned, according to the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame.

He joined CBS News in 1969. He was recognized with an Emmy for his work covering Vietnam and, according to the network, was among the correspondents known as “Cronkite’s kids,” the team of reporters who were proteges to then-anchor Walter Cronkite.

Jones was present on the White House lawn as Richard Nixon resigned and left on Marine One,...

Chicago – Last week, the world woke to the news that Phil Donahue, talk show pioneer in the 1970s and beyond, had passed away at age 88. Photographer Joe Arce of HollywoodChicago.com took an Exclusive Portrait of the talker in 2010, and the Portrait is republished as a contributions memorial to Phil Donahue.

Midwestern at heart, Donahue was born in Cleveland, and found his way to Notre Dame University, where he graduated in 1957. He began his broadcasting career in Cleveland, but his break came as nationwide notice was focused on his interviews, subsequent work as a news anchor in Dayton, Ohio, and as a stringer for the Walter Cronkite-era CBS Evening News. His Dayton radio show “Conversation Piece” early on scored a triple historical talk coup with then presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, The Tonight Show host Johnny Carson and activist leader Malcolm X.

Phil Donahue in Chicagoland, 2010

Photo credit: Joe...

Phil Donahue, the talk show innovator who changed the conversation and the course of daytime television with the weekday program he hosted for nearly three decades, has died. He was 88.

Donahue died Sunday night at his New York City home following a long illness, his family announced.

Survivors include his wife of 44 years, That Girl star Marlo Thomas. They met when she was a guest on his show — he was a divorced single father living with and raising his four sons at the time — before marrying in May 1980.

The Cleveland native hosted more than 6,000 iterations of The Phil Donahue Show, from the first, broadcast from a Dayton, Ohio station on Nov. 7, 1967, through the last, seen nationwide on syndication via Multimedia Entertainment, on Sept. 13, 1996.

Donahue addressed contemporary and controversial topics and invited his studio audience to participate, carrying his microphone into the crowd. He became adept at interweaving their questions and...

During his iconic career at CBS News, Dan Rather was on the ground in Dallas moments after President Kennedy is assassinated; covered the Civil Rights moment and the Vietnam War; and was the only anchor in China’s Tiananmen Square before the crackdown on protesters. He also famously was roughed up during the 1968 Democratic National Convention — which inspired Variety to ask Rather, still going strong at 92 (you can read his current “Steady” columns at steady.substack.com), to reflect on that tumultuous moment in U.S. politics and how it compares to what has happened in 2024.

One of the hallmarks of a good broadcast journalist is the ability to roll with the proverbial punches during live events. You have to be a good ad-libber and be able to pivot, ready for the unexpected. Suffice it to say that on March 31, 1968, I was not ready when President Lyndon Johnson delivered a shocker.

Exclusive: Media veterans Jeff Bewkes, Howard Stringer and Jeremy Fox have launched Thoroughbred Studios. Their fledgling business has galloped to an overall deal with iHeartPodcasts and scored a second season order for its first project, a BBC audio drama about the CIA.

Thoroughbred’s Usp will be creating drama based on monumental events from modern U.S. history. One of the first out of the gate will be a moon-landing podcast for iHeart from 24 producer Stephen Kronish. Another project will be on the Vietnam war.

The focus will be on dramas that delve into hidden truths behind events of the American Century, a period taken as starting in the middle of the 20th century. The iHeartPodcasts deal is for a minimum of four podcasts over the next two years.

The Thoroughbred set-up sees Bewkes serve as Chair, Fox as CEO and Stringer as Exec Producer. The trio have held several...

CBS wants to get back in the battle for evening-news viewers with a new take on the format that looks very little like the evening news viewers have come to know.

The network plans to rebuild its long-running “CBS Evening News,” retooling anchors, format and segments in a bid to make the half-hour once led by Walter Cronkite more valuable for modern news viewers who don’t recognize the show as the cultural touchstone it was in the 1960s and 70s.

After the 2024 election, with current anchor Norah O’Donnell stepping away for a new senior correspondent role at CBS News, executives at the Paramount Global news operation will put the show under the aegis of Bill Owens, the executive producer of “60 Minutes.” Working with a new on-air team that includes co-anchors John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, chief weathercaster Lonnie Quinn and Washington-based “Face The Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan,...

CBS Evening News will be revamped after the election, with John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois anchoring from New York and leading an ensemble that includes Margaret Brennan regularly leading coverage from Washington, D.C. and Lonnie Quinn providing weather segments.

Norah O’Donnell, who has anchored the newscast for the past five years, announced earlier this week that she is stepping down after the election to serve as a senior correspondent focused on major one-on-one interviews and longform reporting.

In addition to the new format, the plans are to infuse the broadcast with more 60 Minutes content and correspondents, with that show’s executive producer Bill Owens expanding his role and serving as supervising producer of the evening newscast. Correspondents from the show will be filing for the Evening News “when they have big news to break,” according to a memo that went out to staffers today from Wendy McMahon, the CEO of CBS News and Stations.

Watching Huw Edwards take his place in the dock at Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday morning was a surreal experience.

The man who was once the BBC’s highest paid news anchor, earning a salary almost on par with the corporation’s director general Tim Davie, cut a pathetic, solitary figure behind the glass panels of the dock. His voice was impassive as he stated his name, age and partial address.

It was equally impassive when, to everyone’s surprise, Edwards pled guilty to all three counts of “making indecent images of children.” So shocked was I to hear his first guilty plea that my hands froze over my keyboard as I was furiously making notes of the proceedings, my ears straining to ensure I’d heard correctly as he again pleaded guilty to the second charge and finally to the third.

In the U.K., the offense of “making...

Norah O’Donnell’s run as anchor of CBS Evening News is coming to an end, but the veteran journalist is not leaving CBS News.

O’Donnell is set to leave the anchor desk after the 2024 presidential election — her seventh U.S. election she has covered as a journalist — and will become CBS News special correspondent at the network. In her new role, she will conduct newsmaking interviews and other reports for CBS News programming with appearances on CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes.

“In this new role, Norah will have the time and the support to deliver even more of the exceptional stories she is known,” wrote Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News and Stations, in a memo to staff (full note below).

In her new role, O’Donnell will contribute newsmaker interviews across CBS platforms, including streaming, digital, primetime and Paramount+. That will include appearances on other news broadcasts besides CBS Evening News.

Norah O’Donnell will cede the reins of the venerable “CBS Evening News” after the 2024 presidential election in favor of a new role as a senior correspondent who will seek out big interviews and opportunities for deeper reporting, the latest major change at CBS News after its business was merged with that of the local-tv operations of parent company Paramount Global.

O’Donnell, who recently celebrated her fifth year in the anchor chair, sees an opportunity to pursue signature interviews with top newsmakers — something that proved appealing to her after logging stints as both a morning-show co-anchor and an evening-news presence and after her recent sit-down with Pope Francis earlier this year.

“Together, our team has won Emmy, Murrow, and DuPont awards. We managed to anchor in-studio through Covid; we took the broadcast on the road from aircraft carriers to the Middle East, and around the world. We were privileged to conduct...

Even Walter Cronkite might be overwhelmed.

When the news program “CBS News 24/7” surfaces Wednesday morning on streaming venues, it may surprise the average information junkie. There’s no typical anchor behind a desk here.

Instead, on-screen hosts too busy to read scripted lines from a teleprompter will guide viewers from one story to the next, many of which are happening in real time. All are displayed prominently on a screen of insta-feeds from CBS newsrooms around the nation or from points of interest around the world. When it’s time to move beyond the quick headline, or some chatter about what’s happening at the moment, the host is meant to identify the feed, then let viewers hear from people and experts on the ground. It’s entirely possible that a host might start talking to producers and assignment editors while on camera about what’s going on in the...

Legendary actor and comedian Dick Van Dyke has made history, winning the 2024 Daytime Emmy award for guest performer in a daytime drama series — via his spot on Peacock’s “Days of Our Lives.” At 98, that makes Van Dyke the oldest actor to receive a Daytime Emmy win.

Van Dyke came into Friday’s 51st Daytime Emmy Awards already making a mark as the oldest Daytime Emmys nominee ever. Night one of the 51st annual Daytime Emmy Awards took place live on CBS on Friday, June 7, from the Westin Bonaventure hotel in Downtown Los Angeles.

“I feel like a spy from nighttime television,” Van Dyke joked. “I’m the oldest nominee in history. I can’t believe it. I was playing old men all my life. If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself!”

Van Dyke said he had a “wonderful time” on “Days,...

Exclusive: In the week the world commemorates the 80th anniversary of the historic Normandy Landings — and President Biden touches down in France on a state visit timed to the celebrations — we can reveal that European major Studiocanal is teaming up with Darkest Hour producer Working Title on timely D-Day movie Pressure.

The film will chart the extraordinary true story of the pressure-cooker environment facing the decision-makers behind D-Day, and how their liberation of Europe was entirely at the mercy of the weather.

The story will hone in on Group Captain James Stagg, Chief Meteorologist at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expedition Force, whose job it was to inform General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, of weather conditions that would make-or-break the Allied invasion.

Despite a prolonged heat wave and the tide and moon conditions aligning, Stagg made a bold case for the invasion being delayed from June...

Who is the best male TV star of all time? Our photo gallery above takes on the tough task of ranking the 50 greatest actors and performers. Agree or disagree with our choices?

With over 70 years of television to consider, we had to provide ourselves with a few rules to help simplify things. One of those was that every man in our gallery must have been an ongoing leading star at some point, preferably more often than not. That’s why you will not see such classic supporting actors as Art Carney, Tim Conway, Don Knotts, Peter Dinklage and more. We also do not include any news/sports anchors or journalists such as Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow, Peter Jennings, Howard Cosell since they are not performers.

In order to place them in the rankings, we were looking at a combination of quality (top rated shows with the public or critics...

Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story features a star-studded cast, including Kyle Dunnigan playing both Walter Cronkite and Johnny Carson. Kyle Dunnigan's versatile roles in the film include providing the voice of Johnny Carson using deepfake technology. The film is packed with celebrity cameos and gags, with Dunnigan's dual role as two iconic figures being a standout surprise.

Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story is finally out, and the film contains a surprising cameo that contains a secret casting choice. The cast of Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story is absolutely star-studded, with it featuring some of the most well-known actors and comedians of the modern day. However, Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story pulled off an interesting trick with one of its actors, with them getting more screentime than viewers may have originally thought.

Jerry Seinfeld's Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story is finally here, with the highly anticipated comedy movie finally being released on Netflix. The film...

[This story includes spoilers for the Netflix movie Unfrosted.]

The buzz around Unfrosted is heating up, with Jerry Seinfeld’s heavily fictionalized Pop-Tart origin story now streaming on Netflix.

Seinfeld, who stars in the comedy movie that marks his feature directorial debut, also co-wrote the project’s screenplay. Contributing to the script was Spike Feresten, who worked with Seinfeld on the legendary NBC sitcom Seinfeld, with Feresten having penned one of the show’s most beloved and quotable episodes, “The Soup Nazi.”

During a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Feresten discussed some of the most memorable moments for the film that is set in 1963. This includes a plot point involving the Kellogg’s cereal mascots boycotting the company out of concern that the Pop-Tart will make them irrelevant, which leads to a sequence in which the mascots storm the company’s offices à la the attack on the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021.

Feresten explained...

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Unfrosted (2024)!

Unfrosted presents an alternative history of how Pop-Tarts got their name, involving a humorous mix-up on the news. The movie suggests Pop-Tarts were originally called "Trat-Pop," but in reality, the name was inspired by Andy Warhol's pop art movement. Unfrosted gives a nod to Pop-Tart's real-life inspiration with a cameo by Dan Levy as Andy Warhol.

Jerry Seinfelds 2024 comedy movie Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story presents an unreality about the origins of the titular breakfast pastry, including an erroneous suggestion of how it earned its name. Set in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1963, the cast and characters of Unfrosted depict the feud between cereal giants Kelloggs and Post in their efforts to popularize non-cereal breakfast pastries. While loosely inspired by the true story of the Pop-Tarts creation, Unfrosted takes numerous creative liberties in bringing the Kelloggs vs. Post battle to the screen.

One of...

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Ben Thompson on Wbgr-fm on May 2nd, reviewing “Unfrosted,” featuring Jerry Seinfeld as lead role, co-writer and his debut as director. Streaming on Netflix beginning May 3rd.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

The year is 1963, and Seinfeld is Bob Cabana, product developer at the Kellogg’s cereal company in Battle Creek, Michigan. He reports directly to company owner Edsel Kellogg III (Jim Gaffigan), and lives the prototype early 1960s American Dream life with John F. Kennedy, Walter Cronkite, Tony the Tiger and daily milk man deliveries. Kellogg’s rival is Post Cereals, also in Battle Creek, owned by Majorie Post (Amy Schumer). Kelloggs is facing off with Post … with the help of food developer Donna “Stan” Stankowski (Melissa McCarthy … to be the first to create a toaster pastry for America’s breakfast tables. The race is on.

”Unfrosted” is streaming on Netflix beginning May 3rd.

Melissa McCarthy, Jerry Seinfeld, and Jim Gaffigan in Unfrosted Image: Netflix Jerry Seinfeld has never been a great actor. He’d agree that surrounding himself with comedic performers like Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus made his sitcom sing more than his acting chops. So, why he decided not only to...

For years various producers have pitched doing something like a zany It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World, only populated by an epic cast of contemporary comedy stars just like that Stanley Kramer supercomedy did during its time in 1963. So it is probably not a coincidence that Jerry Seinfeld selected that very year in which to set his live action filmmaking debut, Unfrosted, as a quadruple threat of star, director, co-writer, producer.

Placing it in Battle Creek, Michigan and taking the real life story of the rivalry of cereal kingpins Kellogg’s and Post in their race to create a revolutionary breakfast pastry, Seinfeld and his longtime writing partner Spike Feresten, along with their Bee Movie collaborators Andy Rubin & Barry Marder, have chosen to use some real life people, made up several others, salted it all with some basic truths, and basically let the laughs and comedy lead the way in the telling.

Melissa McCarthy, Jerry Seinfeld, and Jim Gaffigan in UnfrostedImage: Netflix

Jerry Seinfeld has never been a great actor. He’d agree that surrounding himself with comedic performers like Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus made his sitcom sing more than his acting chops. So, why he decided not only to star in but also direct Unfrosted,...

Bill Burr was in the middle of a standup set in the original room at The Comedy Cellar when his cell phone rang: It was Jerry Seinfeld. What do you do? Burr answered.

Seinfeld wanted Burr to play JFK in his Pop-Tarts (fake) origin story, “Unfrosted.” Burr immediately accepted the role — and then went back to telling jokes to the paying customers.

It was the fastest (and the most public) “yes” that Seinfeld and his writing partner Spike Feresten say they got from a tremendous ensemble comedy cast that includes Seinfeld himself, as well as Jim Gaffigan, Melissa McCarthy, Amy Poehler, Hugh Grant, Max Greenfield, Christian Slater, James Marsden, Jack McBrayer — there’s honestly just too many to list. That wasn’t always the case.

“There was a long time where we didn’t have anybody to make this movie. We had the budget, we had the script, but we...

Richard Leibner, the prominent talent agent who transformed the TV news business by guiding the careers of such renowned broadcast journalists as Dan Rather, Diane Sawyer, Mike Wallace, Andy Rooney and Norah O’Donnell, has died. He was 85.

Leibner died Tuesday at his home in New York, UTA vice chairman Jay Sures announced. The agent started out in the 1960s at New York-based N.S. Bienstock, which was acquired in 2014 by UTA.

Leibner also signed and represented the likes of Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, Bob Simon, Steve Kroft, Bill Whitaker, Chuck Scarborough, Paula Zahn, Brian Stelter, Daniel Schorr and Fareed Zakaria before he retired in December 2021 after 58 years in the business.

“Decades ago, he made it his personal mission to see that big name news stars should be treated and compensated like traditional movie and television stars,” Sures told staffers in a memo obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.

Born in Brooklyn,...

Richard Leibner, a celebrated talent agent who represented some of the best-known anchors in TV news, first at a firm he helped build and then for UTA, died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. He was 85 years old.

In his time, Leibner served as an agent and adviser to Dan Rather, Mike Wallace, Ed Bradley, Morley Safer, Bob Simon, Steve Kroft, Bill Whitaker, Diane Sawyer, Chuck Scarborough, Paula Zahn, Brian Stelter and Fareed Zakaria, among others. He was a passionate advocate for clients, and was never been shy about delivering his opinion of the latest goings-on in the ever-churning news sector.

Leibner firmly believed that top news anchors should be treated akin to Hollywood royalty. “Decades ago, he made it his personal mission to see that big name news stars should be treated and compensated like traditional movie and television stars,” said Jay Sures, UTA’s vice-chairman, in a memo to staffers Tuesday.

Turner Classic Movies, the leading authority and definitive home of classic film, will celebrate its 30th anniversary on April 14, 2024. To honor the milestone, TCM will present on-air programming salutes featuring TCM staff who were there from the very beginning, as well as a 24-hour marathon of films with historical introductions from TCM’s first host and champion, Robert Osborne.

“How many other channels on television celebrate their anniversary? How many other channels’ fans know where they were the day a network launched?” says TCM Primetime Host Ben Mankiewicz. “I’m not sure either of those things are true without Robert Osborne. He’s the Walter Cronkite of TCM. The Johnny Carson. The Alex Trebek. With these intros of Robert’s, we’re celebrating his impact and his continued influence. Plus, as we do with the movies we show, we’ll put Robert into context. Additionally, we’ll also look back...

Turner Classic Movies will turn 30 on April 14, 2024. That’s right: It’ll be 30 years since Ted Turner flipped the switch — flanked by Old Hollywood legends Arthur Hiller, Arlene Dahl, Jane Powell, Celeste Holm, and Van Johnson — right in the middle of Times Square to turn the network “on.”

Also with Turner that day was the man who’d become TCM’s longtime host, Robert Osborne, then just 61. A veteran columnist for The Hollywood Reporter, Osborne had become known as a close friend to many of the surviving stars of yesteryear ever since he was photographed kissing Bette Davis’s hand during a Golden Globes broadcast in the late ’70s. He’d go on to host the intros and outros for most of TCM’s primetime lineup for close to 23 years after that launch date, until he died in March 2017 at 84.

For so many TCM fans, Robert Osborne was the network.

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, TCM on April 14 will present a 24-hour marathon of films with historical introductions from Robert Osborne and throughout the month feature programming with other staffers who started with the channel, it was announced Thursday.

For more than 22 years until his death in March 2017, the revered Osborne served as TCM’s primetime host, bringing millions of viewers into the world of classic cinema he knew as an actor mentored by Lucille Ball, as an Oscar historian and as a longtime The Hollywood Reporter reviewer and columnist.

“How many other channels on television celebrate their anniversary? How many other channels’ fans know where they were the day a network launched?” Ben Mankiewicz, who took over for Osborne, said in a statement. “I’m not sure either of those things are true without Robert Osborne.

“He’s the Walter Cronkite of TCM. The Johnny Carson. The Alex Trebek.

Chicago – At 12:30pm Central Time on November 22nd, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was killed by an assassin’s bullet. The shots that echoed through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, has resonated now for 60 years, but beyond the actual event there was a treasure trove of TV and radio coverage that was recorded.

David Von Pein (Dvp) has collected this coverage and it can be found on his comprehensive YouTube channel. Click JFK Channel to start browsing. November 2023 Update: Since our 2021 interview, Dvp has uncovered some 11/23 & 11/24/63 radio coverage from (click link) Fort Wayne, Indiana and 11/22/63 TV coverage from ITV United Kingdom.

Walter Cronkite Delivers the ‘News’ on November 22nd, 1963

Photo credit: CBS-tv

Not only has David Von Pein found high quality as-it-happened video from the three major networks at the time – CBS-tv, NBC-tv and ABC-tv – but the channel also contains the local Dallas coverage (TV and radio) and a collection...

LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD is set to receive the TV Academy’s 2023 Governors Award, which will be presented during the Primetime Emmys telecast on Jan. 15.

President and CEO of GLAAD Sarah Kate Ellis will accept the award on behalf of the organization.

GLAAD is being recognized for its “work over nearly four decades to secure fair, accurate and diverse representation of the LGBTQ community in the media and entertainment industries and to advocate for LGBTQ equality,” according to the TV Academy.

“Television shapes our society and influences dialogue that increases understanding and acceptance, making GLAAD’s work so important to the LGBTQ community to legislative bodies and to the public,” TV Academy chairman Frank Scherma said in a statement. “Through its education and advocacy programs, it has had a culture-changing impact.”

Each year, the TV Academy’s Board of Governors chooses “an individual, company or organization that has made a profound,...