‘Lawmen: Bass Reeves’ Becomes The Year’s Most-Watched Series Premiere For Paramount+

Angelique Jackson SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers for “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” all eight episodes of which are now streaming on Paramount+. When David Oyelowo first learned about the legend of Bass Reeves — who escaped enslavement to become one of the first Black U.S. Deputy Marshals west of the Mississippi — nearly a decade ago, the actor-producer set out on a mission to bring the story to the masses. Oyelowo’s goal was the same as the one he’d set when playing Martin Luther King Jr.

Texas repeated its NCAA volleyball national title on Sunday, besting Nebraska in the championship match — which also broke a record for ESPN.

Nicki Minaj has broken a chart record with her new album Pink Friday 2, which has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. That makes the album, released on December 8, her third chart-topping album and the first time a female rapper has achieved the feat.

Lisseth Chavez, who heavily recurred on Season 5 of The Rookie, has been promoted to series regular on the upcoming sixth season.

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures’ adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi‘s novel Children of Blood and Bone is gaining momentum. Deadline is hearing The Woman King director Gina Prince-Bythewood is coming on to helm. Prince-Bythewood will develop the next pass of a draft penned by Adeyemi.

Netflix has released a report of the platform’s most-watched shows and movies from the first half of 2023.In a press release on Tuesday (December 12), the company announced it would publish a new report twice a year to show what people viewed over a six month period. The first ‘What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report’ spans viewing figures from January to June 2023.The comprehensive report covers over 18,000 titles and represents 99 per cent of all viewing on Netflix, amounting to nearly 100 billion hours viewed.While the shows and movies are ranked based on total hours viewed, Netflix notes that success on the platform “is not determined by hours viewed alone” – with the size of the audience relative to the budget also cited as a factor.The Night Agent came out on top in the rankings, racking up over 812million hours globally.

British actor David Oyelowo is drawn to portraying impactful characters, especially Black historical figures throughout the diaspora. He first gained recognition for playing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 2014 film Selma. King Seretse Khama of Botswana in 2016 film, A United Kingdom, and now, with his recent Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Limited Series Made For Television in Paramount Plus’ Lawmen: Bass Reeves, Oyelowo takes on the role of the legendary figure believed to be the inspiration for the Lone Ranger. 

Jack Black made a surprise appearance at the Jonas Brothers‘ concert in New York last night (December 9), to perform ‘Peaches’ from The Super Mario Bros. Movie.The track, which is sung by Black’s character Bowser in the movie, entered the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year.During the intermission at last night’s show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Black came onstage dressed as Bowser and sang Peaches live.

It seems like anytime a bidding war breaks out these days, the only ones who can truly win it are Netflix, Amazon, or Apple, the streamers with essentially the biggest coffers. And true to this posit, Apple has won another big one in “Two For The Money,” a heist thriller with an enticing package: Charlize Theron and Daniel Craig starring with filmmaker Justin Lin (“Fast & Furious 6” “F9,” and “Star Trek Beyond”) directing.

Ileana Márquez Pedroza has secured the much-coveted title of Miss Venezuela. However, her triumph comes with history, as she is the first mother to compete in a beauty pageant and obtain the crown.

EXCLUSIVE: After starring opposite Jamie Foxx in Maggie Betts’ acclaimed legal drama The Burial, currently streaming on Prime Video, Amanda Warren has been tapped for the biggest new role in the second season of Netflix‘s smash hit series The Night Agent, from creator Shawn Ryan and Sony Pictures Television.

Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 took the marquee Game of the Year prize at the 10th annual Game Awards, which were handed out tonight at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

The week of November 6 to 12 appears to have been a slow one for streaming.

Shirley Ballas is celebrating a new arrival to the family after the birth of her first grandchild, a baby boy named Banksi Wylde Ballas, on 5 November. The Strictly Come Dancing judge's only child Mark, who is married to singer-songwriter BC Jean, celebrated becoming a father with a sweet Instagram post a month after Banksi's birth. "Welcome to Earth my son.

Taylor Swift-mania, with Oxford Press University that the word “Swiftie,” the noun used to refer to Taylor Swift fans, was almost selected as this year’s pick.

Taylor Swift, Barbie and Hollywood strikers are among the nine contenders for Time’s 2023 Person of the Year, the magazine announced today.

Angelique Jackson On Friday night, Oprah Winfrey hosted a swanky celebration for “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” executive producer and star David Oyelowo at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood. Photographers lined the driveway of the iconic hotel while a who’s who of Hollywood — including Gayle King, Lupita Nyong’o, Niecy Nash-Betts and the cast of the hit Paramount+ series — posed in front of a black and gold backdrop. Inside the luxurious venue, even more stars — like Macro chief Charles D.

Michaela Zee Paramount+ has released a preview of the upcoming fifth and final season of “Star Trek: Discovery,” which is set to premiere in April 2024 on the streamer. In the new footage, Capt. Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Cleveland “Book” Booker (David Ajala) contend with a massive, hostile alien creature that has the ability to cloak itself.

The final season of Netflix‘s “The Crown” comes to a close in two weeks when the final six episodes premiere on the streamer on December 14. Bad news for fans of the series, but maybe the right call in the long run.

Five-time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams joined us at our Deadline Red Sea Film Festival studio this week to discuss regional change, the role cinema played in her education as an actress and her next project: FX limited series Dying For Sex, which we detailed yesterday.