Hulu Orders ‘Downforce’ Comedy Pilot From Alec Berg, Adam Countee & ABC Signature

homeless man slugged longtime Adam Sandler sidekick Steve Buscemi earlier this month.Host Jake Gyllenhaal as a police sergeant took inspiration from the random attack on a Brooklyn street to kickstart the new task force for the easily recognizable, but indistinguishable actors, dubbed the “Organization to Hinder Harmful Incidents in Manhattan,” or, “Oh, him.”“Summer is coming up and we are seeing an increase in random acts of violence across our streets. Just this week, national treasure Steve Buscemi was punched while walking through Kips Bay,” Gyllenhaal said at a press conference in perfect imitation of a born-and-raised New York cop.“These types of attacks cannot and will not be tolerated,” he added.Buscemi’s attacker socked him in the face on the morning of May 8 — causing the former FDNY firefighter to suffer “bleeding to his eye, swelling, bruising, and substantial pain” — before casually walking awayWhile jarring, the incident is far from isolated — it comes three years after Rick Moranis was punched while walking on the Upper West Side, and just one month after Buscemi’s “Boardwalk Empire” co-star Michael Stuhlbarg was also randomly targeted by a rock-welding homeless man on the Upper East Side.“Oh, that guy!” the crowd of journalists cooed as Stuhlbarg’s face came up on the NYPD screen, with Heidi Gardner adding that she could never place his name: “I always want to call him Tom something.”Gyllenhaal brought the focus back to the issue at hand: that “character actors are being targeted.”“Simply put, it’s actors whose faces you can remember, names you cannot,” he explained.“So when you may be a character actor if you’ve ever been on the TV show Boardwalk Empire.

F1 drivers Nico Hulkenberg, Max Verstappen, Zhou Guanyu, George Russell and Charles Leclerc pose behind the Brazilian flag while posing for a group photo at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari Circuit on Thursday (May 16) in Imola, Italy.

EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Studios has acquired an original feature pitch from Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern (Booksmart), enlisting Gloria Sanchez to produce.

Cameras are rolling on Kangaroo, an Australian family comedy inspired by the true story of an Alice Springs animal sanctuary.

Netflix‘s upcoming comedy series from Erin Foster, starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody, has gotten a title, release date and a first-look photo. FKA Untitled Erin Foster Show, the series is now titled Nobody Wants This. It’s slated to premiere on the streamer September 26. You can see a first-look photo of Bell and Brody above. Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria announced the news Wednesday during the streamer’s Upfront presentation in New York City.

Hulu is staking its claim in the realm of stand-up comedy specials.

Alex Ritman Bill Murray has joined the cast of “Riff Raff,” the upcoming crime comedy from director Dito Montiel set to feature Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus”), Ed Harris (“Love Lies Bleeding”) Gabrielle Union (“The Inspection”), Lewis Pullman (“Top Gun: Maverick”), Emanuela Postacchini (“Robots”), Miles J. Harvey (“American Vandal”) and Pete Davidson (“The King of Staten Island”).

Searchlight Pictures has announced that its drama The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, starring Uzo Aduba, Aunjanue Ellis and Sanaa Lathan, will be available to stream exclusively on Hulu on August 23.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Hulu comedy head Billy Rosenberg is exiting the streamer after more than seven years. Rosenberg, who most recently served as senior VP of comedy for Hulu Originals, has not yet been replaced.

EXCLUSIVE: Billy Rosenberg is exiting his post as Senior Vice President of Comedy, Hulu Originals.

There will be no second season for The Other Black Girl. Hulu has canceled the drama series, based on the Zakiya Dalila Harris’ novel of the same name, after one season, Deadline has confirmed.

Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg (“Crime of The Future”) returns to the festival circuit with “The Shrouds,” making its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Three first-look clips from the film have made their way online (via the Cannes website), and you can watch those scenes below.

EXCLUSIVE: Fox Corporation’s Tubi has greenlighted The Z-Suite, a comedy series starring and executive produced by Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls, Parenthood). The multi-generational workplace comedy, from writer, executive producer and showrunner Katie O’Brien (The Santa Clauses, Teachers), is AVOD service’s first homegrown live-action original series.

Selome Hailu Hulu has given a piot order to “Downforce” (working title), a comedy pilot written and executive produced by “Silicon Valley” writers Alec Berg and Adam Countee. The official logline for “Downforce” reads, “When the heiress to a dynastic racing team is thrust back into the family business, she needs to make some hard choices about the future of the team and her family’s legacy.” The pilot will be produced by ABC Signature, where Berg and Countee both have overall deals.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The ABC comedy pilot “Shifting Gears” has cast Daryl “Chill” Mitchell and Froy Gutierrez, Variety has learned exclusively. The pair join previously announced series leads Tim Allen and Kat Dennings in the multi-cam comedy, which was originally ordered to pilot at ABC back in March. In the show, “Matt (Allen) is the stubborn, widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop.

In a surprising moment during a regularly scheduled press briefing about public safety statistics, the Columbia University protests, migrant centers, the proliferation of illegal weed shops and Mayor Eric Adams‘ upcoming trip to meet the Pope in Rome, a curveball question pressed Adams on the possible, if unlikely, jailing of former President Donald Trump.

EXCLUSIVE: John Pasquin (The Santa Clause, Home Improvement) is reuniting with his frequent collaborator Tim Allen to direct and executive produce ABC multi-camera comedy pilot Shifting Gears (working title), starring Allen and Kat Dennings, from 20th Television.

Lexi Carson The complete “Planet of the Apes” franchise is now available to stream on Hulu. This leads up to the latest release in the franchise “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” which debuts in theaters on May 10. The franchise, based on Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel of the same name, follows the concept of humans and apes clashing for control.

EXCLUSIVE: Emily The Criminal, the 2022 crime thriller starring Aubrey Plaza, is the latest movie set to be turned into a television series.

Simon Curtis’ upcoming comedy Encore, about a group of veteran actors whose passion for their profession is reignited through a retirement home production, has gathered a quartet of Academy Award, Golden Globe and Emmy winning stars for the ensemble cast.