News

"Kindergarten Cop" is the quintessential 90s movie. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, the defining action star of the era, in a role few thought he could pull off, and it's directed by one of the most prolific filmmakers of the decade. The film also features a cast of young actors just before they went on to achieve major success. Now, we're looking back at the talent involved in "Ghostbusters" director Ivan Reitman's popular 1990 comedy to find out what they're up to these days, mainly because we love reminding ourselves just how old we are. 

For those unaware, "Kindergarten Cop" follows Detective John Kimble (Arnold) as he goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to bust a dangerous criminal. Like "Twins," Reitman's previous collaboration with Arnold, "Kindergarten Cop" blends comedy with drama, plus a hefty dose of surprisingly violent action, resulting in the perfect movie to show kids of all ages in...

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Glenn Howerton scored rave reviews for his turn in the sitcom A.P. Bio — and the show deserved much better than an early cancelation. Since its four seasons arrived on Netflix, A.P. Bio has climbed the streaming charts to become a huge success. It’s a shame that success has come so late, because the series always struggled for viewership when it was actually on the air. In its initial run, it got canceled due to low viewership (more than once).

Howerton leads the A.P. Bio cast as Jack Griffin, a Harvard professor who’s forced to go back to his hometown and work at a high school after losing his dream job to his academic rival. This role made great use of the comedic strengths that Howerton has refined on It’s Always Sunny. Like Dennis Reynolds, Jack is vindictive and filled with rage.

Until the 2024 Emmy nominations were announced, the last time an Oscar-winning actress had earned TV academy recognition for a guest appearance on a comedy series was 2019, when Emma Thompson (“Saturday Night Live”) battled eventual victor Jane Lynch (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”). Among those in the running for the next Best Comedy Guest Actress trophy are Academy Award recipients Olivia Colman (“The Bear”), Jamie Lee Curtis (“The Bear”), and Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“Only Murders in the Building”), all of whom further stand out from their remaining three competitors in that they are new to the category.

Said three Oscar winners are faced with the daunting challenge of defeating Emmy darling Maya Rudolph, who is seeking her third guest victory for “Saturday Night Live” following triumphs in 2020 and 2021. Also in the mix are veteran nominees Kaitlin Olson (“Hacks”) and Kristen Wiig (“Saturday Night Live”), the latter of whom lost to Rudolph three years ago.

Frasier has finally moved back to the place where he first saw him. Now, with a grown-up firefighter son and many new and old characters. If you were a fan of the Frasier reboot then you might already know that Paramount+ has renewed the comedy series for Season 2. While you wait for the beloved comedy series to return we thought of informing you what the original cast has been up to since the original spin-off series ended.

Bebe Neuwirth Credit – NBC and Paramount+

Neuwirth’s Lilith was one of the favorites in the original Frasier series and after her return in the reboot, the fans want more of her. The actress who played the role of the ex-wife of our neurotic Frasier Crane has had numerous memorable roles since the original series including in Max’s Julia, the political drama Madam Secretary, and the popular legal drama series The Good Fight.

Flipped 2's prospects are uncertain, with no concrete plans for a sequel. A 10-year reunion with the cast occurred, but no sequel was discussed. A Change.org petition suggests a high school setting for Flipped 2, with the original cast returning.

Flipped 2 is the long-hoped-for sequel to Rob Reiner's 2010 movie Flipped; unfortunately, there have been a few discouraging comments made about its prospects. Prolific actor and director Rob Reiner made Flipped for his Castle Rock Entertainment production company. Based on the novel of the same name by author Wendelin Van Draanen, Flipped is a romantic coming-of-age story about two eighth graders who begin developing feelings for one another despite being complete opposites.

The film performed poorly at the box office, earning only $4.3 million (via Box Office Mojo) and reviews were lukewarm, with Flipped only garnering 55% on Rotten Tomatoes. Since its release, however, there's been a groundswell in appreciation for the film.

Every Vought Cinematic Universe Release Ranked by How Much Fans Need It to Be Real - Main Image

When it comes to superhero satire, nobody does it better than The Boys. The show’s premise was built around mocking superheroes, so the big boys would eventually take a hit. And that’s precisely what happened in the latest episode of Season 4.

Episode 5 takes a direct jab at the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In Vought’s rendition of a comic con called the V52 Expo, we get the first look at the Vought Cinematic Universe. Mocking the Marvel universe, the Vcu unveils an overpacked slate of content, with phases 7 to 19.

Many fans loved the joke and wanted the movies released on the big screen. So, in this article, we’ll rank the most wanted movies from the Vought Cinematic Universe.

Homelander vs Soldier Boy Annihilation

Ever since their fight, we knew Vought...

Will Forte has been added to the cast of Netflix’s upcoming comedy “The Four Seasons,” opposite stars including Tina Fey and Steve Carell.

Fey, Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield are behind the series, based on the 1981 feature film that was written and directed by Alan Alda (who starred with Carol Burnett).

Forte was most recently seen in Netflix’s “Bodkin.” The “Saturday Night Live” alum’s credits include “Last Man on Earth,” “Sweet Tooth” and “MacGruber.” Besides Fey and Carell, previously announced cast members include Colman Domingo, Kerri Kenney-Silver and Erika Henningsen.

Slated to begin production later this year, “The Four Seasons” has received an eight-episode order at Netflix. The original film, which also starred Rita Moreno, Sandy Dennis, and Len Cariou , centered on three married couples take vacations together each season, but things are thrown for a loop when one of the husbands leaves his wife and begins...

When The Good Place creator Mike Schur called Kaitlin Olson to convince her to take a guest role on an upcoming comedy series back in 2020 — the passion project he was producing from a trio of showrunners about a legendary female comedian staging a career resurgence — the actress says she was a little hesitant.

“I don’t like being a guest star on other people’s shows,” admits Olson. “It’s like being at a party where you don’t know anyone.”

But the role — as DJ, the troubled daughter of Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance on Max’s Hacks — was, as Schur promised, small but juicy. “The writing was so good and so smart,” says Olson of the first script she read, written by co-creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky (the latter was a writer on The Good Place, while all three worked together on Broad City...

Exclusive: NBC’s Suits: L.A. drama pilot will feature guest appearances by John Amos, Victoria Justice and Kevin Weisman (Alias). The project is an expansion of the Suits universe from Aaron Korsh.

Suits L.A. centers on Ted Black (Stephen Amell), a former federal prosecutor from New York, who has reinvented himself representing the most powerful clients in Los Angeles after joining forces with his old buddy Stuart Lane (Josh McDermitt) to build Black Lane Law, which specializes in criminal and entertainment law.

The firm is at a crisis point and to survive Ted must embrace a role he held in contempt his entire career. He is surrounded by a group of characters who test their loyalties to both Ted and each other while they can’t help but mix their personal and professional lives. All of this is going on while events from years ago slowly unravel,...

Former Jax Media president Brooke Posch has opened her own shingle, Good&Done, aiming to focus on comedy projects from new and undiscovered voices. As part of the launch, Posch has hired former Broadway Video and Universal TV exec Hannah Kitziger to serve as head of development.

“Throughout my career I’ve experienced the incredible rewards of having developed and produced some of the most extraordinary voices in TV and film,” Posch said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to take this next step to launch Good&Done and bring on executive Hannah Kitziger. Unique perspectives are the drivers in breakthrough programming, and we’re excited to shake up the comedy landscape.”

Posch exited Jax Media last year after that company was sold to Imagine Entertainment. She first joined Jax Media in 2019 as president of original programming, launching several series and also setting up an unscripted division, a movie division and Jax UK.

Hello, and welcome to the Scene 2 Seen Podcast! I am Valerie Complex, an associate editor and film writer at Deadline. Today I’m chatting with award-winning filmmaker and advertising agency veteran Deborah Riley Draper.

Draper is getting set to premiere her newest project, James Brown: Say It Loud, on Monday on A&e Network. She directed and co-wrote the four-part docuseries, which examines Brown’s legacy through exclusive interviews, never-before-seen footage and his beloved music catalog. It is executive produced by Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Oscar winner Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson.

Draper previously directed the two-part series The Legacy of Black Wall Street for OWN/Discovery+, which received an NAACP Image Awards nomination for Outstanding Breakthrough Creative (Television). In 2017, she received an NAACP Image Award nomination for her documentary Olympic Pride, American Prejudice, which she also directed, produced and wrote, telling the untold story of the 18 African Americans who defied Hitler...

A24 are delivering a special gift to Max this December, as Leo Reich’s acclaimed stand-up show Literally Who Cares?! hits the streamer. The comedian has already won over the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Off-Broadway with runs of the show, but this performance was taped at EartH in London. Consider checking it out – if A24 got involved in the project, you know you’ll definitely see something weird and special.

But if you’re looking for something more serious, add the new three-part documentary series Murder In Boston: Roots, Rampage & Reckoning to your watch list this month. The upcoming series delves into the fallout from the investigation into Charles “Chuck” Stuart’s 911 call reporting that he and his pregnant wife, had been shot in Boston’s Mission Hill neighborhood in 1989.

Here’s everything coming to (and leaving) HBO and Max this month…

HBO and Max New Releases – December 2023

December...

She’s beautiful and she’s here! As the calendar turns to December, a big month for Warner Bros. Discovery begins ahead of its big Christmas Day release: Blitz Bazawule’s reimagining of “The Color Purple,” based on the award-winning stage musical of the same name and starring Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Halle Bailey, Ciara, and more.

Ahead of the theatrical release, Max will usher in the month with not only the original 1985 film but also the upcoming documentary special “Oprah and The Color Purple Journey,” which will premiere on Max on Dec. 28 and take viewers through the making of the new movie musical adaptation and Winfrey’s history with the property.

The streamer will also add dozens of other titles from its multiple properties including OWN, HGTV, and CNN Max; film collections like James Bond and “The Pink Panther”; new comedy...

A number of great movies are leaving HBO Max at the end of March, so it’s time to prioritize these titles in your queue. Filmmaker James Gunn’s sequel/soft reboot “The Suicide Squad” will depart the streaming service on March 22 after first hitting HBO Max the same day it was released in theaters back in 2021. Similarly, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” was whisked away on March 1 after also getting a day-and-date release in 2021 (sorry/not sorry if you missed it).

You also only have until March 7 to stream “Just a Boy From Tupelo: Bringing Elvis to the Big Screen,” a short documentary on the making of the Oscar-nominated biopic “Elvis.”

Other noteworthy films leaving HBO Max this month include “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” “Contagion,” the extended version of “Dances with Wolves,” “Ghostbusters,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Love & Basketball” and “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.

The Sundance Institute has set the eight Fellows and projects for its 2022 Episodic Program, which will further the development of four live-action dramas, two live-action comedies, one adult animated comedy and one adult animated sci-fi thriller. The participants are Britt Adams (Onyx), Gianmarco Giacomelli (To Kill a Pope), Naomi Ko (The 20-Year Curse), Ricardo Pérez González (Orlando), Samantha Clay (The Growth), Stephanie Adams-Santos (Sad Girl), Sylvia Batey Alcalá (Blue Neptune) and Tea Ho (Oriental Town).

Sundance’s six-day program brings together writers in the early stages of their career with original series IP that has not yet been produced, allowing them to work closely with established showrunners, producers and executives. Starting today and throughout the next week, Fellows will workshop their pilot and participate in one-on-one story meetings, as well as case study screenings, panels and writers’ rooms focusing on their scripts.

Support from the Institute will continue after the Lab,...

Click here to read the full article.

Kaitlin Olson is best known for playing Deandra “Sweet Dee” Reynolds for 15 seasons on FX’s long-running comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, holding her own alongside her four male co-stars (Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Danny DeVito and her real-life husband, Rob McElhenney). In 2021, she earned her first Emmy nom for the shortform Quibi series Flipped, and she returns to the competition this season for her guest role as D.J. Vance — daughter to Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance — on the HBO Max comedy Hacks. Olson spoke with THR about what attracted her to the role and how it brought a fresh perspective to the “broken” characters the comic actress loves to play.

What about the character first appealed to you?

I really loved that D.J. was basically an angsty teenager and a middle-aged woman. I thought it was so funny — a...

Kaitlin Olson won over legions of fans with the zany comedy “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” but her go-for-broke performance never caught on with Emmy voters. Luckily, the TV academy made it up to the actress with a Best Short Form Actress nomination for “Flipped” in 2020, but Olson has finally earned a nomination for a full-length series this year, for Best Comedy Guest Actress for her role as DJ in HBO Max’s “Hacks.” Can this longtime comedy favorite finally score a win?

Emmy voters clearly love this series as “Hacks” managed to grab a whopping four nominations in this category. In addition to Olson, Jane Adams, Laurie Metcalf and Harriet Sansom Harris are also nominated. Adams and Olson are reprising characters they played in Season 1, while Metcalf and Harris are new additions to the ensemble. Five-time Emmy winner Jane Lynch (“Only Murders in the Building”) and three-time nominee Harriet Walter...

Exclusive: Abigail Breslin (Stillwater), Luke Wilson (Stargirl), Andy Garcia (Father of the Bride) and Donald Sutherland (The Undoing) have signed on to star in the courtroom drama Miranda’s Victim from director Michelle Danner (The Runner), with production underway in New Jersey.

The film written by J. Craig Stiles and George Kolber will tell the true story of Trish Weir (Breslin), who in 1963 was kidnapped and brutally raped by Ernesto Miranda. Committed to putting her assailant in prison, Trish’s life is destroyed by America’s legal system as she triggers a law that transforms the nation. Wilson will play Lawrence Turoff, the country prosecutor that convinces Trish to testify and helps her bring her aggressor to justice, with Garcia as public defender Alvin Moore, who takes on Miranda’s case, and Sutherland as Judge Wren, who convicts Miranda for the rape of Weir. Danner and Kolber are producing alongside Valerie Debler,...

Exclusive: Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Woody Harrelson, Emmy nominee Kaitlin Olson, Grammy nominee Cheech Marin and Matt Cook will lead Champions, a recently-wrapped film that Bobby Farrelly directed for Focus Features and Gold Circle Entertainment.

Champions is based on the Goya Award winning Spanish film Campeones, which Universal Pictures International released in 2018. It centers on a stubborn and hotheaded minor league basketball coach who is forced to coach a Special Olympics team when he is sentenced to community service. Actors with intellectual disabilities rounding out the cast to ensure authenticity in the storytelling include Madison Tevlin, Joshua Felder, Kevin Iannucci, Ashton Gunning, Matthew Von Der Ahe, Tom Sinclair, James Day Keith, Alex Hintz, Casey Metcalfe, Bradley Edens and Champ Pederson.

Roku says its pickup of the 75-plus shows from Quibi, the short-lived premium mobile entertainment startup that went belly-up last year, has paid off beyond its expectations. But as with other streaming companies, Roku isn’t divulging specific metrics for the Quibi programming, which it rebranded as Roku Originals.

According to Roku, more active accounts streamed a Roku Original in the first two weeks on the Roku Channel than the number of Quibi accounts did on Quibi over the brief nine months of the app’s lifetime.

Roku’s claim that more people have already watched Quibi shows on its platform than on Quibi’s now-defunct app seems credible — but it’s not a particularly high bar.

Jeffrey Katzenberg-founded Quibi launched in April 2020, at the front end of the Covid pandemic. In October, the richly funded company — which had banked nearly $1.8 billion from major studios and other investors — said...

In a week of mostly static VOD charts, something peculiar happened: “Spiral: From the Book of Saw,” the only major new premium VOD release, failed to dislodge “Wrath of Man” from its top overall position.

Both are genre thrillers, each released for $19.99 after their third weekend in theaters. “Spiral” is the more recent, has a 40 percent higher theatrical gross ($21.8 million to $15.6 million), and is part of a lucrative and long-running franchise. However, it’s “Wrath” that was #1 at three of the four lists below (#2 at Apple/iTunes), while “Spiral” lagged at #2 in the two charts that track by revenues and lower (#4 and #6) at Apple/iTunes and Google TV, both of which chart by number of rentals.

Why? “Wrath” had a much better Cinemascore, while the B- for “Spiral” was at the lower end for the franchise. “Wrath” has a proven action star in Statham at a time when a known star can create impulse buys.

You know what everyone could use in the sweltering summer months? A nice, cold glass of…anime. At least that’s the particular theme that comes up in Netflix’s list of new releases for June 2021.

Netflix has been quietly expanding their anime offerings for awhile now but June is a particularly anime-heavy month. The absolutely metal sounding Record of Ragnarok arrives this month. So too do parts 1 and 2 of the newest Sailor Moon film on June 3 and Godzilla Singular Point on June 24.

Read more TV Yasuke Review: Netflix Anime Reclaims The Story of a Black Samurai By Caroline Cao TV Anime For Beginners: Best Genres and Series to Watch By Daniel Kurland

But for those who aren’t ready to dip their toe in the anime pool yet, Netflix has some other originals of note in June. Sweet Tooth, the ambitious comic adaptation starring Will Forte premieres on June 4. Then,...

Kevin Smith is bringing He-Man back to TV this summer: Netflix’s animated series Masters of the Universe: Revelation, showrun by Smith and featuring Chris Wood (Supergirl) as the voice of He-Man, will debut with Part 1 (consisting of five episodes) on Friday, July 23.

“After a cataclysmic battle between He-Man and Skeletor (Mark Hamill), Eternia is fractured and the Guardians of Grayskull are scattered,” reads the official synopsis. “And after decades of secrets tore them apart, it’s up to Teela (Sarah Michelle Gellar) to reunite the broken band of heroes, and solve the mystery of the missing Sword of Power...

Quibi is coming back from the dead next week… sort of.

On May 20, Roku will debut the first batch of Roku Originals — a collection of 30 shows originally produced for Quibi, the short-lived mobile entertainment startup led by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman. Roku paid substantially less than $100 million for the assets of the defunct company, including rights to more than 75 shows overall.

The shows span genres and formats, comprising scripted series, documentaries, alternative and reality programming. Among the first “Roku Originals” coming next week are Kevin Hart’s action series “Die Hart,” Emmy-winning drama “#FreeRayshawn” starring Laurence Fishburne and Jasmine Cephas Jones, the revival of Comedy Central’s “Reno 911!” and “Dummy,” starring Anna Kendrick as a woman who befriends her boyfriend’s sex doll.

The lineup also includes “Chrissy’s Court,” a “Judge Judy”-style show starring Chrissy Teigen; a reboot of MTV’s “Punk’d” hosted by Chance the Rapper...

A raft of 30 original shows developed for — and briefly distributed by — now-defunct streaming startup Quibi are getting new life as Roku Originals, with a premiere date of May 20.

The shows, which include Emmy winner #FreeRayshawn as well as series starring Kevin Hart, Chrissy Teigen, Anna Kendrick, Chance the Rapper and more, will be available on the Roku Channel. (See the full list below.) The remaining titles from the full roster of 75 titles will go live on Roku by the end of 2021.

The free, ad-supported Roku Channel offers 190 live, linear channels and 40,000 movie and TV titles, to viewers beyond Roku’s sizable base of connected devices and smart TVs. Unlike the subscription model of Quibi, the originals will be available for free. Limited advertising will be shown in between the seven- to 10-minute episodes.

On its quarterly earnings call last week, Roku said it now has 53.6 million active accounts, while the...

Roku is officially dropping the Quibi name.

Roku announced that the content from its January acquisition of Quibi — the short-lived, short-form mobile entertainment startup founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg — will be rebranded as “Roku Originals.” The 75-plus original shows from Quibi will be available to watch for free on the ad-supported Roku Channel starting sometime this year, the company has said.

Roku Originals also will be the brand name for future original programming for The Roku Channel, which is currently available in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada. The company said it will provide additional details next month about the launch of Roku Originals.

The collection of Quibi programming — snapped up by Roku after Katzenberg’s richly funded company shut its doors six months after launching — includes a dozen unreleased series that will debut for the first time on The Roku Channel. Among those are “The Now,” a suicide-themed comedy from Peter Farrelly,...

Exclusive: Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone’s Netflix series God’s Favorite Idiot is fleshing out its supporting cast.

Joining McCarthy and Falcone in the comedy show will be Yanic Truesdale (Gilmore Girls), Usman Ally (68 Whiskey), Ana Scotney (Educators), Chris Sandiford (What We Do in the Shadows), and writer-actor-producer Steve Mallory.

Mallory, who has collaborated with husband-and-wife team McCarthy and Falcone on movies and series including The Boss, Life Of The Party, Superintelligence and Flipped, will join as a series regular and a co-ep.

In the fun-sounding God’s Favorite Idiot, mid level tech support employee Clark Thompson (Falcone) finds love with co-worker Amily Luck (McCarthy) at exactly the same time he becomes the unwitting messenger of God. Also, there’s roller skating, a lake of fire and an impending apocalypse.

Netflix gave the workplace comedy a 16-episode order last December. A start date has yet to be revealed.

Like 2020, Quibi started out with so much promise when it was unveiled last year. The short-form video streamer launched to a ton of hype in April of 2020, positioning itself as an easy-to-consume alternative to the bigger streaming services on the market. Why slog through an hours-long show on Disney+ or Hulu, the thinking went, when you can finish an entire episode of a Liam Hemsworth thriller in ten minutes or less?

Unfortunately, it turns out the thinking didn’t quite carry over to the general public. Just six months later,...

Shows will play on fast-growing Roku Channel.

In a highly significant play that illustrates its expansion ambitions, Roku has acquired the majority of Quibi’s original content catalogue after the latter shut down late last year.

The Wall Street Journal broke the story on Friday (January 8) and reported sources as saying the sale of more than 75 shows and documentaries is valued at less than $100m.

Content will play on the free, ad-supported Roku Channel, which by the fourth quarter of last year had doubled its reach within US households to an estimated 61.8m people.

Shares in Roku surged by roughly...

Shows will play on fast-growing Roku Channel.

In a highly significant play that illustrates its expansion ambitions, Roku has acquired the majority of Quibi’s original content catalogue after the latter shut down late last year.

The Wall Street Journal reported the sale of more than 75 shows and documentaries to be valued at less than $100m.

Content will play on the free, ad-supported Roku Channel, which by the fourth quarter of last year had doubled its reach within US households to an estimated 61.8m people.

Shares in Roku surged by roughly 5% before settling in the region of $390 by mid-afternoon on the Nasdaq exchange.

Quibi‘s (considerable) loss is Roku’s gain.

Eleven weeks after Quibi announced that it was ending what turned out to be an eight-month experiment in streaming “quick bites” of TV and movie programming, Roku has snatched up the short-lived service’s library of more than 75 programs.

More from TVLineHBO Max to (Finally!) Stream on Roku Devices -- Find Out When It Will LaunchQuibi Streaming Service to Shut DownThe Fugitive Finale Recap: The Chase Is Off -- Did Ferro's Family Survive?

Roku will launch the Quibi shows sometime this year, starting with the United States, Canada and the UK.

Among...

Roku snapped up the rights to the majority of Quibi’s multimillion-dollar portfolio original programming — more than 75 shows in all — and will make them available free to stream in 2021 on the Roku Channel.

Following Quibi’s decision last October to shut down after failing to attract a sustainable base of subscribers, Roku acquired Quibi Holdings LLC, the company that holds all of Quibi’s content distribution rights.

Financial terms of the pact were not disclosed. A source familiar with the agreement said Roku is paying “significantly” less than $100 million for the Quibi library, confirming an earlier Wall Street Journal report. Rob Holmes, Roku’s VP of programming, said in an interview, “We do think this deal represents a great value.”

“Fundamentally, we think that Quibi has created great, high-quality content,” Holmes told Variety. “It’s a great value proposition for our users… We’re pivoting from Quibi’s SVOD model to an ad-supported model,...

Roku is reportedly in talks to buy the library rights to Quibi’s shows, following the short-form streaming service’s shutdown in December 2020.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Roku aims to acquire the defunct streamer’s shows, which would be added to its free, ad-supported Roku Channel. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed to the publication, which reported that the deal could still fall apart.

A Roku representative declined to comment. A Quibi representative did not return a request for comment.

Quibi, the mobile-only streaming service that launched in April 2020, premiered dozens of original titles during its short life-span, including the Emmy-winning “#FreeRayshawn” and the Will Forte and Kaitlin Olson-led “Flipped” comedy, as well as titles starring Chrissy Teigen, Liam Hemsworth, and Christoph Waltz. Quibi also boasted revivals of old television shows, such as new takes on “Reno 911” and “Punk’d.” Quibi had seven-year licenses...

Quibi, after its high-profile collapse, may be close to landing a deal with Roku to sell rights to its multimillion-dollar lineup of original shows.

Quibi, the startup led by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, is in “advanced talks” on a pact with Roku to acquire streaming rights to the Quibi catalog, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. If the deal is consummated, Roku would add the short-form original series to the free, ad-supported Roku Channel.

Reps for Quibi and Roku declined to comment.

The Journal story didn’t include details about which Quibi shows may be part of the Roku deal or the financial terms. Quibi announced last fall that it planned to wind down operations after failing to attract a sustainable base of subscribers, leaving dozens of Quibi projects in limbo. The streaming app went dark on Dec. 1 less than eight months after launching.

Quibi does not own any...

Well before Quibi debuted, it seemed inevitable that the service was doomed. Sure, it didn’t help that a streaming platform dedicated to short-form videos had the incredible misfortune to drop during a global pandemic that confined millions to their homes with way more time than they knew what to do with. But it only took a few minutes skimming through the app to understand that Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman’s very concept of Quibi was flawed, pandemic or no. With no immediate ability to watch content on anything but a phone screen, no thought of letting viewers screenshot shows in order to share them, and no compelling answer to “isn’t this just expensive YouTube?”, Quibi didn’t have a grasp on what its audience might want until well after it launched.

In recent weeks, as the writing on the wall got clearer and clearer, it’s been...

Quibi, the big bucks short-form streaming service that launched in April, will shut down after just seven months of operation, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Rumors of the site’s demise have run rampant since the summer, and The Wrap reported that founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and co-founder Meg Whitman scheduled a call with both senior management and investors Wednesday night.

The news of closure comes after the Wall Street Journal reported that Quibi was “exploring several strategic options, including a possible sale.” At the time, the company was also considering raising more money or going public through a merger with a blank-check company to held fund the deal, according to the publication. None of these options have come to pass.

The Wall Street Journal reported in June that Quibi was on track to sign up fewer than 2 million subscribers within its first year, which was around 30 percent of its original target.

Quibi, in its awards-season debut, picked up two trophies at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Thursday night.

Both were for “#FreeRayshawn,” a police drama from from executive producer Antoine Fuqua: Laurence Fishburne and Jasmine Cephas Jones won the acting awards in the Emmys short-form category. It was Fishburne’s third career Emmy win, and the first win for Cephas Jones (“Hamilton”) and her first nomination.

The first Emmy wins for Quibi, which is led by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, don’t come as a surprise: The well-funded mobile streamer has paid handsomely for its originals — upwards of $100,000 per minute of programming from A-list Hollywood talent. All of its entries were in the short-form categories, which historically have been populated by series that are sidecars to TV shows.

Overall, Quibi had picked up 10 Emmy Awards nominations. But it was mainly competing against itself, since it captured four of...

Exclusive: ABC’s rebooted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was one of the last nonscripted shows to finish production before the Covid-19 production shutdown in March.

Host Jimmy Kimmel and the production team shot eight episodes of the game show the weekend of March 14 without an audience to get in under the wire.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire now is back for a second Kimmel-hosted season on ABC, and Deadline understands the show, which is based on the British format, is back in production as of today.

The show is shooting in Los Angeles with a minimal crew and without an audience. Rigorous health and safety protocols are in place that adhere to all state and local requirements as well as union and industry guidelines for production.

Celebrity contestants, playing for charity, who appeared on the first season of the reboot included Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet, The Last Man on Earth...

A version of this story about Quibi first appeared in the Down to the Wire issue of TheWrap’s Emmy magazine. The new streaming service Quibi may have gotten off to a rough start this year, but don’t tell that to Emmy voters. While the streamer devoted to short-form content for mobile devices fell short of its projected subscriber count after its April launch and now faces a potentially high cancellation rate as its 90-day free trials expire, the service dominated the Emmy nominations in the short-form categories. It took four of the five nominations in both of the acting categories, plus two additional nominations in the Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series category. Its 10 nominations were spread among six different shows — “#FreeRayshawn,” “Most Dangerous Game,” “Survive,” “Dummy,” “Flipped” and “Reno 911!” — and equaled all other short-form platforms combined. That success was the culmination of a trend that...

With short-form comedy series Flipped, Kaitlin Olson was afforded the opportunity to get involved with the Quibi platform at its inception, jumping at the chance to play the kind of self-involved, heightened character for which she’s become well known.

Directed by Ryan Case, the series centers on Jann (Will Forte) and Cricket Melfi (Olson), a chronically underemployed couple, who have proclaimed themselves home renovation experts, with total confidence that they are TV’s next great home design celebrity duo. While working on their application for a competition that would allow them to realize their dreams, the pair stumble on hidden cartel money, within one of their fixer-uppers, and subsequently, they are forced to design homes for the leaders of a drug cartel.

Sharing scenes in the comedy with Arturo Castro, Andy Garcia and Eva Longoria, the actress left the shoot with a new appreciation for the opportunities to be found in short-form storytelling.

Cricket Melfi is a star. She knows it. Her husband Jann knows it. And soon the world will… well, at least Cricket and Jann know it.

This is the central truth of Quibi’s short-form comedy “Flipped,” which features Kaitlin Olson and Will Forte as a slightly-delusional couple whose dreams of becoming the next Chip and Joanna Gaines results in them running afoul of a drug cartel. The series, like so many of Quibi’s shows, boasts a host of Hollywood luminaries, including Arturo Castro, Andy Garcia, and Eva Longoria, but in a cast littered with stars, it’s Olson (and Cricket) that shine brightest. (And not just because of the latter’s penchant for sequins.)

And thanks to her efforts on “Flipped,” after 15 years spent perfecting her role as “Sweet Dee” Reynolds on Fxx’s “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and two seasons spent in a headlining turn on Fox’s “The Mick,...

MacGruber is officially out of prison and reporting for duty at Peacock.

The NBCUniversal streaming service confirmed Monday that it has handed a series order to a new adaptation of Will Forte‘s MacGyver parody. The eight-episode series comes more than 10 years after the release of the MacGruber movie and eight months since the project was first put into development.

More from TVLinePeacock Orders Larry Wilmore Talker, to Launch With 'The Amber Ruffin Show'Sara Bareilles to Lead Peacock's 'Girls5eva' Comedy From Tina FeyThe Day of the Jackal Video: The Jackal Lets Nuria See Behind His Disguise

Forte will serve...

MacGruber is officially out of prison and reporting for duty at Peacock.

The NBCUniversal streaming service confirmed Monday that it has handed a series order to a new adaptation of Will Forte‘s MacGyver parody. The eight-episode series comes more than 10 years after the release of the MacGruber movie and eight months since the project was first put into development.

More from TVLinePeacock Orders Larry Wilmore Talker, to Launch With 'The Amber Ruffin Show'Sara Bareilles to Lead Peacock's 'Girls5eva' Comedy From Tina FeyA.P. Bio Is Weirder, Wronger and [Bleep]ier in Season 3 Peacock Trailer

Forte will serve as writer...

You’re probably already aware that Academy Award winners Cate Blanchett (“Mrs. America”), Olivia Colman (“The Crown”), Regina King (“Watchmen”) and Octavia Spencer (“Self Made”), among others, landed Emmy nominations on Tuesday, but there are a handful of other familiar faces that joined the ranks in less-publicized categories. Most of these winners will be announced at the Creative Arts Emmys in two separate virtual ceremonies on Sept. 12 and 13, a week before the primetime telecast on Sept. 20. Check out the complete list of nominations here.

In the Best Narrator category, “12 Years a Slave” stars Chiwetel Ejiofor (“The Elephant Queen”) and Lupita Nyong’o (“Serengeti”) reunite as competitors, the former of whom is a previous Best Limited Series/TV Movie Actor nominee for “Dancing on the Edge,” while the latter is enjoying her maiden Emmy nomination six years after winning her first Oscar. Joining her as a first-time nominee is former NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,...

A grand total of 34 performs are celebrating their first-ever Emmy bids after Tuesday’s nominations announcement. Some of these were expected based on our odds, and some of these totally came out of the blue.

The list below does not include first-time nominees for Best Reality Host, like Nicole Byer (“Nailed It!”) and the Fab Five from “Queer Eye,” or Best Narrator (Lupita Nyong’o for “Serengeti” or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for “Black Patriots: Heroes of The Revolution”).

Here are all the first-time acting nominees:

See Full list of 2020 Emmy nominations

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II: Best Limited Series/TV Movie Supporting Actor (“Watchmen”)

Jovan Adepo: Best Limited Series/TV Movie Supporting Actor (“Watchmen”)

Mamoudou Athie: Best Short Form Comedy/Drama Series Actor”)

Cate Blanchett: Best Limited Series/TV Movie Actress (“Mrs. America”)

Nicholas Braun: Best Drama Supporting Actor (“Succession”)

D’Arcy Carden: Best Comedy Supporting Actress (“The Good Place...

Baby Yoda is now an Emmy contender. So are several new streaming platforms.

Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus and Quibi all earned nominations from the Television Academy, with Disney Plus’ “The Mandalorian” making a surprise appearance on the best drama series list and Steve Carell and Jennifer Aniston getting nods in the lead acting categories for Apple TV Plus’ “The Morning Show.”

“The Mandalorian” nabbed a total of 15 Emmy nominations, in categories including sound editing, sound mixing, special visual effects, voice-over and stunt coordination, making it the most nominated program from a direct-to-consumer service that debuted in the last year. The voice-over nod went to “Star Wars” fan-favorite Taika Waititi for his performance as Ig-11, the bounty hunter droid-turned Baby Yoda protector. Waititi wasn’t the only “Mandalorian” performer to receive a nomination, as Giancarlo Esposito broke into the guest actor in a drama category for playing the villainous, dark saber-wielding Moff Gideon.

The fat wad of cash Quibi has spent on high-end programming paid dividends in one area, at least: Jeffrey Katzenberg’s streamer picked up 10 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations in short form categories.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that Emmys nods (or even wins) can move the needle for Quibi, which has had a tough time signing up subscribers since premium mobile entertainment app’s launch earlier this spring — at the front end of the Covid-19 crisis.

And note that Quibi’s nominations all fall in the Emmys’ short-form brackets, which are less competitive — and less prestigious — than the traditional TV categories.

Quibi notched two nominations for best short form comedy or drama series, for “Reno 911,” a revival of Comedy Central’s cop spoof, and for dystopian thriller “Most Dangerous Game,” starring Liam Hemsworth.

Quibi’s “#FreeRayshawn,” a police drama from executive producer Antoine Fuqua, scored three acting nominations: Laurence Fishburne (as Lt.

With the debut of Quibi, the short form categories at the Emmys may never be the same. The launch of the mobile streaming service hasn’t exactly been smooth: There were early questions about its business plan and whether consumers would want to pay for such content when free platforms including YouTube exist, subscriptions have already been far below expectations and many of those free trial deals are now expiring.

But with Quibi’s sheer volume of content, its submissions for the 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be vast across three short form genre categories, as well as in the short form actor and actress categories. It’s also making a play for the character voice-over performance and original music and lyrics fields.

Quibi brings big budgets and star power to the short form comedy or drama category, including the comedy “Dummy,” starring Anna Kendrick as a woman who...

HBO Max has a major job on its hands to justify its approximately $15 a month subscription fee, especially given the strong competition out there from established names like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Disney Plus faced a similar challenge last year in arriving onto an already-saturated streaming marketplace, but at least had the advantage of major series like The Mandalorian to promote. While HBO Max will eventually be home to the Snyder cut of Justice League, and has some originals for its first week of availability, the big draw right now is its enormous back-catalogue of movies.

Given the various corporate elements that are going into HBO Max, including the Warner Bros. library, owners AT&T will be hoping that the combination of brand recognition for HBO programming, and a deep bench of movies, will convince people to add a new subscription to their list. To this end, HBO Max have added 122 films today,...

Do you like lists? Well, here’s a doozy. Below is everything coming to Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu and Amazon Prime in June 2020.

Though the summer sun is starting to beat down, most of us are still being encouraged to stay indoors for Covid-19 related reasons. It’s not much fun, but at the very least, there’s an absolute ton of stuff landing in June that should distract you from the call of the beach.

Of particular note is the newly launched HBO Max, which is trying to catch the eye of potential subscribers with a red-hot first month. There’s an excellent selection of movies coming on June 1st, with horror titles like An American Werewolf in London (still the best werewolf movie ever made), Final Destinations 1-4, From Dusk til Dawn and Lifeforce.

Later in the month, there are some more recent films showing up, including...