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Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic When Judd Apatow and the boys make an R-rated pregnancy comedy, they call it “Knocked Up.” But when “Broad City” co-creator Ilana Glazer and stand-up comic Michelle Buteau try their hand at the same subject, the every-bit-as-raunchy result comes with a far classier title: “Babes.” That pun is just one of the movie’s many acts of irreverent reclamation, as helmer Pamela Adlon — making a confident switch to feature directing after seminal small-screen contributions to “Louie” and “Better Things” — and her stars de-objectify a label used by dudes and slap it upon themselves. The cheeky term applies to both lifelong amigas Eden (Glazer) and Dawn (Buteau) and the infants they spend most of the movie incubating.

Ellise Shafer Joaquin Phoenix, Elliott Gould, Chloe Fineman and more than 150 other Jewish creatives have signed an open letter in support of Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars speech. The list of 151 signees obtained by Variety also includes Phoenix’s sister Rain, three-time Oscar nominee Debra Winger, “May December” director Todd Haynes, “Sorry to Bother You” helmer Boots Riley, acclaimed filmmaker Joel Coen, “Room” director Lenny Abrahamson, “Arrested Development” star David Cross, documentarian Amy Berg, “Barbie” actor Hari Nef, legendary playwright Tom Stoppard, former Focus Pictures CEO James Schamus, comedian Kate Berlant, “You Hurt My Feelings” director Nicole Holofcener, “Secrets & Lies” auteur Mike Leigh, “Passages” filmmaker Ira Sachs, “Gossip Girl” actor and writer Tavi Gevinson, “The Princess Bride” actor Wallace Shawn, “Bottoms” director Emma Seligman, “Mistress America” star Lola Kirke, “Zola” helmer Janicza Bravo, “Broad City” stars Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson and IndieWire film critic David Ehrlich.

EXCLUSIVE: Jake Choi (Single Parents) has been tapped to star in The Late Night Creep, a dark comedy from writer-director Jamie Dedeaux (Laff Mobb’s Laff Tracks).

SXSW Film & TV Festival — which runs March 8–16 in Austin, Texas — has cooked up an eclectic spread of studio crowd-pleasers, enterprising TV premieres, and indie gems aiming to break through. Here is some of the most promising fare. The canon of Ilana Glazer-led indies about childbearing expands.

Emmy-nominated TV and film producer Brooke Posch (Broad City, Difficult People) is launching Good&Done Entertainment.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large 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.

We’ll be seeing more of Kayla and Jimmy in the upcoming third season of Hacks. Megan Stalter and Paul W. Downs, who have recurred as the characters since Season 1, have been promoted to series regulars for the upcoming season set for premiere this spring.

A new horror podcast is on its way from iHeartPodcasts, Aaron Mahnke’s production banner Grim & Mild and creator/writer Carlos Foglia (Wolfpack, Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol). The scripted audio thriller Consumed, inspired by Mahnke’s novel of the same name, will consist of 12 episodes with the first two set to premiere on January 31.

Well, it’s that time of year again, isn’t it? The Sundance Film Festival hasn’t even happened, the Berlin Film Festival line-up is not even out or complete, and we’re already looking ahead to March and the SXSW Film & Television Festival. There’s no rest for the wicked.

A number of stars are joining the cast of Netflix‘s No Good Deed!

Molly Seymour, who runs Emily In Paris outfit Jax’s UK division, is to join BBC Studios Comedy Productions as Creative Director.

EXCLUSIVE: Kimiko Glenn, the actress best known for her award-winning work on Netflix’s acclaimed series Orange Is the New Black, has signed with Artists First for management.

The stars are stepping out for Time‘s big event!

EXCLUSIVE: Former Showtime development executive Dave Binegar has joined Jax Media in the newly created role of Head of TV. He will work in partnership with Jake Fuller, Jax’s Head of Production.

EXCLUSIVE: Showtime is developing Jonah Kills, a UK-based comedy created and written by Clem Garritty. It hails from Jax Media UK, which commissioned up-and-comer Garritty to generate four scripts before the comedy was pitched to Showtime. There is no work currently being done on the scripts but I hear the intention is to cast and film a pilot after the strikes, and veteran TV director Iain B. MacDonald (Poker Face, Shantaram) has been tapped to direct it.

The CW is shaking up its fall schedule ahead of its launch.

Channel 4 has renewed Simon Bird-starring apocalypse comedy Everyone Else Burns and greenlit a Rosie Jones sitcom titled Disability Benefits produced by Sharon Horgan.

Sasha Colby wants to be a triple-threat.

“The Righteous Gemstones” has added new members to its congregation for Season 3. Stephen Dorff, Shea Whigham, Iliza Shlesinger, Casey Wilson and four other actors are set to appear in this new season in recurring roles. The HBO comedy will premiere its first two episodes on Sunday, June 18 at 10/9c p.m.Dorff and Whigham appeared in the Season 3 teaser but were not formally introduced.

The CW’s fall primetime schedule, we’re getting a true look at what the Nexstar era of The CW entails. The network’s new schedule only includes two returning scripted originals — Season 6 of “All American” and Season 4 of “Walker.” The network’s typical youth-focused programming has been replaced by seven new and more adult-oriented originals. Say goodbye to DC superheroes and cute fashion dramas and hello to half-hour comedies about raising kids.

Sasha Velour is known to fans of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” as the winner of the ninth season, along with appearances in such TV series as “Broad City” and “Bold Type” — not to mention launching her own production company, House of Velour, among other numerous achievements.

BreAnna Bell Fresh off of her turn in Amazon’s “Swarm,” Heather Alicia Simms has joined Gabourey Sidibe’s “1266” pilot at Onyx Collective as a recurring guest star. She’ll portray Lashanna. According to her official character description, Lashanna is Imagine Inc.’s most dichotomous employee: a phone sex worker who is a very religious Christian with quite conservative views on sexuality. She has photos of her kids and grandkids on her wall and is proud of the fact that most of her money goes to tithes and taking care of her grandkids. She joins previously announced cast members Karim Diané, Kristin Dodson, and Kassandra Lee Diaz as series regulars to star alongside Sidibe, who will executive produce and play the lead role of Gabby. Anna Maria Horsford, Tisha Campbell, and Judy Reyes have been announced as recurring guest stars.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Peri Gilpin is the latest original “Frasier” cast member to join the series’ revival at Paramount+. Gilpin will guest star in an episode of the series, reprising the role of Roz, whom she played throughout the original show’s 11-season run on NBC. As previously announced, Kelsey Grammer will reprise the role of Frasier Crane, with Jack Cutmore-Scott, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Toks Olagundoye, Jess Salgueiro, and Anders Keith also starring. Bebe Neuwirth will guest star in one episode as Dr. Lilith Sternin. The revival series will take place in Boston, which was the setting for “Cheers.” The official logline states, “Frasier is off to a different city with new challenges to face, new relationships to forge, and an old dream or two to finally fulfill. Frasier has re-entered the building!”

BreAnna Bell Jerah Milligan has signed with CAA for representation. A multi-hyphenate creative artist, Milligan co-created and starred in Netflix’s “Astronomy Club,” which was executive produced by Kenya Barris and Dan Powell, and co-wrote, executive produced, and starred in an original presentation of “Sherlock Homies” for HBO Max. As a director, he recently directed the sketch segments of Yvonne Orji’s latest HBO Special “A Whole Me.” Milligan’s short film “Mahogany Drive,” which he directed and co-wrote, was recently screened at the Slamdance Film Festival. His additional directing credits include Showtime’s “Desus & Mero” and MTV’s “Wild ‘N Out.” Milligan is a product of Viacom’s Viewfinder: Emerging Directors Program.

THR sources.Amazon declined to comment.Co-created by Jacobson and Graham, the first season of the show delved into the diverse history of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League made famous in Penny Marshall’s original film starring Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Tom Hanks and Madonna. Carson Shaw (Jacobson) takes a risk and leaves home to try out for the AAGPBL while her husband is away at war. On the way to tryouts, she meets Jo De Luca (Melanie Field) and Gretta Gil (D’Arcy Carden), who become her teammates on the Rockford Peaches.

EXCLUSIVE: Actress, singer and author Sandra Bernhard, who most recently appeared in the 11th installment of Ryan Murphy’s FX series American Horror Story, has signed with The Rosenzweig Group for management.

EXCLUSIVE: Tallie Medel, who can be seen in the Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning A24 film Everything Everywhere All At Once, has signed with Stewart Talent for representation.

EXCLUSIVE: Artists First has signed actor Brandon Micheal Hall for management.

EXCLUSIVE: Jax Media’s Tony Hernandez and Lilly Burns are leaving Imagine Entertainment where they have been Presidents for the past year.

EXCLUSIVE: Petey Gibson (Broad City), Fivel Stewart (Atypical) and Bre Blair (Game of Silence) are set for major recurring roles opposite Scott Caan and Dania Ramirez in Alert, Fox’s character-driven police procedural from The Blacklist showrunner John Eisendrath and Jamie Foxx. 

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The dojos have mojo: “Cobra Kai” Season 5, the latest installment in the popular “Karate Kid” sequel TV series on Netflix, currently has a perfect 100% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. All 10 episodes of the fifth season, which stars Ralph Macchio and William Zabka (reprising their roles from the original “Karate Kid” movies), were binge-released Sept. 9 on Netflix. As of Friday, “Cobra Kai” Season 5 registered a 100% Tomatometer score, based on Rotten Tomatoes’ aggregation of 37 reviews. Season 1 of “Cobra Kai” also has a 100% critics score on the site, while seasons 2 and 3 have a 90% critics score and S4 clocks in at 95%. By comparison, many other recent TV premieres have Tomatometer scores in the 80s. Those include Disney+’s “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” (88%); Netflix’s “The Sandman” (87%); FX/Hulu’s “The Patient” (86%); HBO’s “House of the Dragon” (85%); and Prime Video’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” (84%).

Abbi Jacobson is standing by her new take on “A League of Their Own”.

Actresses Abbi Jacobson and Jodi Balfour announced their engagement earlier this month.Jacobson, who co-created and stars in League of Their Own, a TV series about female professional baseball players named after the 1992 movie with the same title, announced the engagement by showing off a beautiful ring to People magazine during a promotional event in Los Angeles on Aug. 6. D’Arcy Carden Jacobson’s co-star and close friend of 15 years was nothing but smiles over the engagement. “It’s out.

What to watch: 7 movies & shows to stream this week - August 5What to watch: 7 movies & shows to stream this week - July 29Abbi Jacobson is back with a program of her own. Following the end of “Broad City,” Jacobson took her time to deliver a new project, turning in “A League of Their Own,” a TV show based on the legendary Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell and Geena Davis movie. Jacobson is the co-creator of the series and stars in it, telling the story of a team of female baseball players in the 40’s, with an expanded scope that accounts for race and sexuality.

Prime Video series of the same name.The result is entertaining enough and should win over nostalgic fans — but it’s not quite a home run.Now streaming, “A League of Their Own,” has a similar premise to the movie, which starred Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Rosie O’Donnell, Madonna, and Jon Lovitz. Created by Will Graham (“Mozart in the Jungle”) and Abbi Jacobson (“Broad City”), who also stars, the series is set in 1943 and follows the Rockford Peaches, a women’s team in the new All American Girls Professional Baseball League, formed because World War II has threatened the existence of Major League Baseball with men off fighting overseas.The series begins with Carson Shaw (Jacobson) taking a train from Idaho to Chicago for baseball tryouts.

By Warning: A League of Their Own spoilers ahead.Watching D’Arcy Carden kiss shoulder for the third time in one Zoom call, it’s easy to see how their 15-year friendship survived the time star was cut from the pilot of .Over a decade ago, Carden and Jacobson met at an Upright Citizens Brigade improv class called On-Camera Commercial Acting. “I don't think either of us thought we were gonna get on a show. It was like, let's get on a commercial,” Jacobson says with a laugh.