CAA Signs NBC News’ Peter Alexander (EXCLUSIVE)

Joe Otterson TV ReporterGeorge Lopez and Mayan Lopez’s NBC comedy pilot “Lopez vs. Lopez” has added three new cast members, Variety has learned exclusively.Selenis Levya, Brice Gonzalez, and Matt Shivley will star alongside the Lopezes in the multi-cam pilot.

Jason Alexander is mourning the loss of his "TV mama" Estelle Harris. The actress, who played George Costanza’s (Alexander) short-fused mother on "Seinfeld," passed away at age 93.The star’s agent Michael Eisenstadt confirmed her death in Palm Desert, California, on Saturday evening. "One of my favorite people has passed - my tv mama, Estelle Harris," tweeted the actor.

Alexander Skarsgard is gearing up for the release of his new movie The Northman!

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAfter more than eight years, the weekday and weekend editions of PBS’ signature evening newscast are finally getting together.Washington’s WETA has long produced the venerable “PBS NewsHour,” the show once known as the “McNeil-Lehrer Report” and now anchored by Judy Woodruff, while New York’s WNET has since 2013 produced the Saturday and Sunday editions of the program. Starting April 2, all seven days will be under the auspices of WETA, with Geoff Bennett, a former NBC News and MSNBC correspondent and anchor who was named the program’s chief Washington correspondent in November, taking the reins of a re-titled half-hour “PBS News Weekend.”“I think we are going to build on ‘NewsHour’s’ traditional mix of news and interviews and in-depth features,” says Bennett, in an interview.

Scarlett Byrne has welcomed twin daughters with her husband, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s son Cooper. The English actress, who played Slytherin student Pansy Parkinson in the wizarding films, said her “heart grew twice” after giving birth on Saturday. Sharing a photo of her holding the new arrivals in the hospital, Byrne revealed their names to her 412,000 Instagram followers.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Mexico’s top broadcaster Televisa has launched N Más (“N+”), a brand-new online news service, in its continued bid to consolidate its digital properties for the streaming era.To be available worldwide over the internet, social media, its upcoming ViX platform and the N Más site (www.nmas.com.mx), the umbrella brand N Más will encompass Televisa’s Noticieros news service, streaming channel N Más Media, the newscasts of its flagship station, Canal 2 Las Estrellas, its cable/broadcast channel FOROtv, and newscasts from its local stations.In addition, N Más launches two new divisions: documentary N Más Docs, headed by Marijean Kushfe, and investigative journalism, N Más Focus, led by Omar Sánchez de Tagle. Leading the charge is Daniel Badía as general manager, the current head of Noticieros Televisa, and a seasoned team made up of Otoniel Ochoa, operations director; Amador Narcia, information director; Yolanda Ocampo, content director; Diego Carvajal, digital director and Gustavo Torres, director of technology.They lead more than 1,600 journalists, producers and technicians with the capacity to produce more than 44,000 hours of content per year and 120 live programs daily, according to Televisa.Recognizing that “today’s audiences are looking for new formats, new themes and new platforms to incorporate into their daily decision-making,” Badía pointed to Televisa’s vast decades-long experience in producing Spanish-language news content. “With this proposal – which combines experience and innovation – we will consolidate the most important information offer in Spanish to maintain and grow our audiences.

The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward and CBS News’s Robert Costa landed one of the week’s bigger D.C. scoops with a report that Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, texted then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows urging him to contest the election results.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, declined. “This isn’t the answer that anybody’s going to want, but I think I was so able to go back and enjoy it because it’s not a part of my day-to-day life anymore,” he said. “I’m getting to a point where I feel like I made it out of 'Potter' OK and I’m really happy with where I am now, and to go back would be such a massive change to my life.”In Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, which picks up nineteen years after the events of Deathly Hallows, the Golden Trio (Harry, Ron, and Hermione) have become parents to their own brood of Hogwarts trouble-makers.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorA new NBCUniversal advertising executive is taking on the task of tackling advertisers to link themselves to such sports properties as “Sunday Night Football” and the soon-to-launch USFL.Peter Lazarus will take the lead on selling ads behind the bulk of NBCUniversal’s sports programming, part of a gradual overhaul of the company’s work behind connecting Madison Avenue with some of TV’s biggest and most-watched properties.Lazarus has been named executive vice president of sports ad-sales, taking up responsibilities previously held by Dan Lovinger, a longtime NBCU ad-sales exec who has been assigned to focus more intently on the company’s efforts behind Olympics advertising. Lovinger was elevated to president in January and will lead Olympics ad-sales efforts as NBCU works harder to fulfill a commitment it has made along the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, pledging to offer long-term deals to partners for TV, digital, and live event advertising, as well as brand activations and associations with Team USA.

A week after a New York judge let Smartmatic move forward with its defamation lawsuit against Fox News, the network is challenging the elections systems company’s whopping $2.7 billion claim of damages.

Manori Ravindran International EditorTurkish writer-director Cenk Ertürk has signed with CAA for representation in all areas.The Istanbul-based Ertürk made his debut with “Noah Land,” which he developed as a Cannes Cinéfondation resident in 2016, and ultimately premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2019, where it won awards for best screenplay and best actor in the international category. The wins were a first for a Turkish project at the New York festival.The film follows an ailing father and son who travel to a village where the former grew up in order to carry out his dying wish to be buried under a particular tree.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCraig Melvin will leave his 11 a.m. weekday morning slot at MSNBC at the end of March, marking the latest shift of personnel at the NBCUniversal-owned cable-news outlet.Melvin will focus more heavily on his duties at NBC News and NBC’s “Today” program, where he is as regular a presence as Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb, according to a spokesperson for MSNBC.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCAA has signed Katty Kay, the popular author and BBC correspondent and author, and will serve as her representative for many of her ventures.The announcement comes just days after Kay rejoined the BBC after leaving last May to join Ozy Media, an ill-fated venture alleged in November to have committed securities fraud. Kay left BBC in a bid to broaden her horizons in digital and audio media, but left Ozy soon after it came under scrutiny.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAndrew Ross Sorkin, the New York Times journalist and CNBC morning host, will take on a new assignment for NBC News: gaining an edge in the TV-news industry’s expanding streaming wars.Sorkin will host and produce a limited-run original series for NBC News Now, the NBC News streaming service that its parent has promoted aggressively in recent weeks as rival CNN prepares to launch a new streaming venture called CNN Plus. Sorkin’s streaming debut is expected to examine “the people, trends, institutions and forces shaping our world,” according to an NBC News statement.