‘Abbott Elementary’ Finale Ratings Spike 200% With a Week of Multiplatform Viewing (EXCLUSIVE)

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterMonday’s Met Gala red carpet was the highest-viewed ever for “Live From E!” when counting all platforms, Variety has learned exclusively.Per NBCU, “Live from E!: Met Gala” scored the biggest multiplatform-viewing for “Live from E!” in the brand’s history, drawing 444 million total multiplatform engagements across linear TV, digital and social views and social post responses via E! News handles and E! Online platforms.That’s up +146% from what “Live From E!” saw for last year’s Met Gala coverage and +390% from 2019. The Met Gala event wasn’t held in 2020 due to COVID-19.There were 151 million video minutes watched across platforms, up +68% from last year, according to E!.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNetflix has ordered a docuseries from Shawn Levy, Vox Media Studios and The Verge about how technology will affect the basic aspects of our lives in the future, Variety has learned exclusively.Titled “The Future Of…,” the show asks: “What if we could look into the future to see how every aspect of our daily lives — from raising pets and house plants to what we eat and how we date — will be impacted by technology?” Per Netflix, “We can, and should, expect more from the future than the dystopia promised in current science fiction. ‘The Future Of…’ will reveal surprising and personal predictions about the rest of our lives — and the lives of generations to come.”The series will be released globally in two batches, with the first six episodes premiering Tuesday, June 21, and the remaining six episodes on Tuesday, June 28.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOLER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched “Miguel,” the May 3 episode of “This Is Us.”“Miguel over the years,” was the simple description given for Tuesday’s “This Is Us,” the fourth-to-last episode of Dan Fogelman’s NBC family drama. While accurate, that logline doesn’t do the hour, aptly titled “Miguel,” justice, as it’s really the day-in-the-limelight installment fans of Jon Huertas’ Miguel Rivas have been waiting six seasons for — and also the one in which the character dies.The episode shows viewers Miguel’s origins in Puerto Rico, how he came to Pennsylvania as a boy with his parents and aunt, how he first didn’t get along with his best friend Jack’s (Milo Ventimiglia) wife Rebecca (Mandy Moore), and how years after Jack’s death, Rebecca and Miguel found their way back to each other, this time as romantic partners.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe 2021-2022 broadcast TV season is coming to a close, and CBS is ready to declare an early total viewers victory. The broadcast network said Tuesday they are poised to win their 14th consecutive season in terms of overall audience size.“The strength and depth of our core CBS series, the top new comedies and dramas on television, our iconic alternative programming, world-class sports franchises, plus the finest news program in the history of television, provided us with the power to surge to the top of the broadcast landscape for the 14th consecutive season.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSteve Carell’s “Space Force” has been canceled after two seasons at Netflix.The second season of the comedy, which re-teamed Carell and “The Office” creator Greg Daniels, debuted on Feb. 18.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterCartoon Network Studios and NFL alumnus Trevor Pryce’s animation studio have teamed up on a content development deal designed to discover emerging creators and artists from underrepresented communities, Variety has learned exclusively.Pryce’s Mid-Atlantic-region-focused Outlook Company will host the initiative out of its recently formed animated projects incubator Neru Projects. The program will launch with six local participants who will have creative executives at Cartoon Network Studios and Neru Projects to shepherd their ideas from concept to pitch through the development of a series bible.Per Cartoon Network Studios, “At least one project will be selected to begin formal development at Cartoon Network Studios and Outlook Company but, through the program, all participants will learn how to collaborate with creative partners to develop and package their original animated series ideas.” The inaugural group for the development program includes these six individuals, who “represent diversity in race, gender, and age and will use their unique perspectives to shine a light on their homes, communities, and personal experiences through animation”:“Elevating original and diverse creative voices is one of our top priorities at Cartoon Network Studios,” Sam Register, president of Cartoon Network Studios and Warner Bros.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterGeekWire co-founder Jonathan Sposato has launched JoySauce Network, a new ad-supported multimedia platform aimed at the “American Asian” audience and its allies, Variety has learned exclusively.The site, which went live Wednesday morning, boasts “multiple channels of vibrant digital programming dedicated to celebrating both new and established American Asian talent.” JoySauce Network notes the use of “American Asian rather than Asian American” is its way of “shifting the center of gravity, while recognizing that each of us chooses how the pieces of our identities fit together.”Per JoySauce Network, “Viewers can expect unscripted and scripted streaming shows, licensed movies from respected directors and writers in the Asian diaspora, stand-up comedy specials from emerging talent, documentaries, and more in a weekly episode format. The site will also publish original editorial from some of the community’s most talented writers, aiming to represent the full spectrum of American Asian narratives, covering culturally relevant topics in lifestyle, food, entertainment, pop culture, education, romance and more.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNBCUniversal Television and Streaming has promoted Orit Blankrot to senior vice president of entertainment business and legal affairs, Variety has learned exclusively.In her new role, Blankrot, who most recently served as vice president of entertainment business and legal affairs for NBCU’s TV and streaming arm, has increased oversight of business and legal affairs for NBCUniversal’s syndication studios. This includes Stamford (Conn.) Media Center’s first-run programming, E! News and co-productions for distribution on both internal and external platforms.As SVP of the department, she will report to Inge Van Herle, the head of entertainment business and legal affairs for NBCUniversal Television and Streaming.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAfrican American-founded, faith-based channel Impact Network is making a big push into entertainment and lifestyle content with the ramping up of its Saturday programming slate, the hiring of a new chief creative officer and executive producer of original content, and the launch of a 6,000-foot production facility in Detroit with a music division, Variety has learned exclusively.The privately owned Impact Network has a reach of 80 million homes and distribution deals with DirecTV, Comcast Xfinity, Charter Spectrum, Verizon Fios, Frontier, Cable Bahamas, Cox and Altice USA. Founder and CEO Bishop Wayne T.

, the fascinating limited drama about the meteoric rise of a $47 billion startup called WeWork, came to an epic end, chronicling the downfall of its eccentric co-founder, Adam Neumann (Jared Leto), and his ambitious wife, Rebekah (Anne Hathaway), in the series finale. While speaking to ET, creators and showrunners Lee Eisenberg and Drew Crevello broke down the final moments of the episode, “The One With All the Money,” and the story behind Katy Perry’s “Roar,” as heard throughout the series.With mounting pressure to go public, Adam and Rebekah come up with a wildly fantastical S-1 filing that’s met with a disastrous reaction from inside and outside of the company.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterHBO’s “House of the Dragon” cost under $20 million per episode to produce its 10-episode first season, which debuts Aug. 21, a source close to production told Variety.For comparison, “Game of Thrones” cost HBO around $100 million to per season.

After being delayed for nearly two years, FX‘s drama series “The Old Man” is finally set to return on June 17, with streaming availability the next day on Hulu. Production had been shut down due to the usual Covid complications, but also had been delayed because of lead actor Jeff Bridges‘ cancer scare.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOLER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched “Farnsby & B,” the Season 2 finale of “Ghosts.”Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) finally opened their bed & breakfast in the “Ghosts” Season 1 finale Thursday — only for their dreams to come literally crashing down moments later thanks to a curse. In the closing seconds of the episode, titled “Farnsby & B,” Sam and Jay are ready to welcome their first guests to the Woodstone B&B after defeating their enemy neighbors the Farnsbys in a game of pickle ball to get them to close their spitefully opened competitor, the Farsnby & B.But just as they open the doors, the floorboards crumble beneath them, suggesting the curse Thor (Devan Chandler Long) put on them before he got to know Sam is actually real.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDiscovery+ is set to launch a new docuseries focused on Black food history in America from producer Viola Davis, featuring scholar and cookbook author Caroline Randall Williams as host, Variety has learned exclusively.The four-episode show, titled “Hungry for Answers,” will follow Williams as she travels the country, “uncovering the fascinating, essential, and often untold Black stories behind some of America’s classic and emblematic food and spirits,” per the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streamer.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe finale of CNN+’s “Land of the Giants: Titans of Tech,” titled “The Netflix Effect,” launches Thursday, perfect timing for an entertainment industry that is both reeling amid Netflix’s shocking Q1 subscriber miss, poor second-quarter outlook and the wait to see if CNN+ can find its groove as quickly as it might need to in order to survive.Based on the “Land of the Giants” podcast from Vox Media’s Recode, the CNN+ docuseries explores the complicated histories of Meta (a.k.a. Facebook), Apple, Amazon, Google and now Netflix.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterWhip Media has hired Disney global integration and digital distribution operation’s strategy executive Artin Nazarian as vice president of global enterprise account management, Variety has learned exclusively.In his newly created role, Nazarian will develop and grow the company’s enterprise platform customer relationships worldwide, including focusing on strategy, product adoption and revenue.Whip brings Nazarian on board on the heels of  the commercial launch of the Whip Media Exchange, described by the company as “a first-of-its-kind global licensing and research platform for film and TV content.” Whip will model the product, along with the company’s CVM and CVMi platforms, at the 2022 NAB Show next week in Las Vegas. Prior to joining Whip, Nazarian spent nearly two decades at Disney, where he most recently served as head of global integration and digital distribution operation’s strategy.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNetflix reported its first-quarter 2022 earnings Tuesday, revealing how the company did in terms of subscriber signups and financial growth in the three-month period that included the debuts of “Bridgerton” Season 2 and “The Adam Project.”The streaming service lost 200,000 subscribers in Q1 and said it expects to lose another 2 million in the current second quarter. In January, Netflix reported it had 221.84 million subscribers at the end of 2021. The new total is 221.64 million subs.Netflix previously forecast 2.5 million paid net adds in Q1 while Wall Street analysts expected Netflix to add 2.8 million new subscribers worldwide in the first quarter vs.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“All Rise” has won the 2022 SeeHer Programming Award, which will be presented to the show’s new home channel Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) during the fourth annual SeeHer SheFront Tuesday, Variety has learned exclusively.The Simone Missick-led series is a courthouse drama that follows the lives of its judges, prosecutors, and public defenders, as they work with bailiffs, clerks and police to get justice for the people of Los Angeles amidst a flawed legal system. “All Rise,” which was canceled at CBS after two seasons last May and then revived by OWN in September, will debut its third season in June. OWN is airing the first two seasons ahead of the Season 3 premiere.Missick, who plays Judge Lola Carmichael, executive produces alongside showrunner Dee Harris-Lawrence, Michael M.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterMarvel is kicking butt and eating nuts with the launch of a scripted “Squirrel Girl” podcast that serves as a continuation of the comic book series from Ryan North, Variety has learned exclusively.The six-episode SiriusXM podcast series titled “Marvel’s Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show,” which stars Milana Vayntrub of AT&T-ad fame as Doreen Green/Squirrel Girl and is written by North, debuted across multiple platforms on Monday. The podcast is produced by Radio Point, the podcast arm of “I Think You Should Leave” and “Life & Beth” production company Irony Point.Here’s the official description for the “Squirrel Girl” podcast: “Squirrel Girl has taken down Thanos and Doctor Doom — but now she faces something far more terrifying… living authentically.

Before there was Pim, some folks thought there was going to be Paley instead.