Washington Showbiz Latest News and Updates

EXCLUSIVE: National Geographic Documentary Films is bringing Bobi Wine: The People’s President back to the big screen in some major markets Friday for President’s Day weekend.

A drama series inspired by the music of Grammy winner Usher about Black love in Atlanta is in development at UCP.

Emily Longeretta On the heels of a charismatic Super Bowl halftime performance, Usher is now bringing his music to the small screen. The eight-time Grammy winner has partnered with UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, to develop a drama series. Executive producers are Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, Katie Zucker (Mad Massive Entertainment) and Kenny Meiselas (KMei Productions).

Blumhouse has set Black Adam filmmaker Jaume Collet-Serra as director, and Danielle Deadwyler as star and EP on The Woman in the Yard.

UPDATED: The companywide layoffs at Paramount Global on Tuesday impacted about 20 employees at CBS News, including correspondents Catherine Herridge and Jeff Pegues, several sources said.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Approximately 20 CBS News staffers were given termination notices Tuesday as a result of broader layoffs taking place across Paramount Global. The cuts extended across CBS News operations in Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles, according to two people familiar with the matter, and included two of the news operation’s most prominent correspondents, Jeff Pegues and Catherine Herridge, these people said. A CBS News spokesperson did not respond immediately to a query seeking comment.

Welcome to ElectionLine’s A View From Abroad series, in which we speak to media figures who don’t live in America, but keep a close eye on its politics. Every few weeks, these smart observers will provide a unique perspective on what promises to be a fraught and unpredictable campaign for the White House. This week, our interview is with Matt Frei, who serves as an anchor and Europe editor for Channel 4 News. He is nominated for the network presenter prize at the Royal Television Society Journalism Awards, which take place on February 28.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Usher is on a roll. Following a high-energy halftime performance at the Super Bowl, where the R&B star performed for the biggest audience of his career, and the release of his ninth studio album “Coming Home,” Usher will embark on his “Past Present Future” tour this summer.

Sleater-Kinney have announced details of a UK and European tour to take place this summer, in support of their new album ‘Little Rope’ – see all the details below.The band will play a total of 15 dates throughout August, kicking off in Gothenburg, Sweden on the 11th, and culminating in four British shows. These include London’s All Points East Festival on the 25th, Glasgow’s Barrowlands on the 27th, Leeds’ Brudenell on the 28th and End of the Road Festival.Tickets for non-festival shows will be available via a pre-sale from tomorrow (February 14), and fans can sign up for the band’s newsletter here to get the code.

Tyler Perry is adding to his collection of first-look deals.

Fellow Travelers, in which Bomer and Jonathan Bailey star as secret lovers who meet in McCarthy-era Washington.While a rapt audience inside the screening room enjoyed the series’ racy, ’70s-era Fire Island episode, Bomer, prompted by our discussion of whether actors are destined for certain roles, mused on his uncertain path to his SAG Award-nominated role as closeted WWII vet turned State Department official Hawkins Fuller.“It’s so interesting, because this came to me early on and I was so pessimistic about it,” he says. “I started out in this industry — I’ve been doing this almost 30 years — at a time when something like this just wouldn’t get made, period.”Still, throughout his career, the erstwhile White Collar lead has represented the LGBTQ community admirably offscreen, and in stage and screen revivals of The Boys in the Band, and his Golden Globe-winning portrayal of a writer with AIDS in HBO’s The Normal Heart.“We have seen this slow ebb of progress happening in Hollywood in our storytelling,” he says, citing Fellow Travelers creator Ron Nyswaner’s “beautiful scripts,” and the support of Showtime and Paramount for the show as prime examples of that progress.

Killers Of The Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone has appeared to call out the Kansas City Chiefs for “misrepresentation” of Native American people.The team won last night’s (February 11) Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers, and ahead of the game, Gladstone – who is of Siksikaitsitapi and Nimíipuu heritage – referenced the controversy around the team and the Native American community.Speaking while being honoured at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Virtuosos Awards, the actress reflected on the “long overdue” milestone of becoming the first Native American performer to be nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award.The star noted that “some of the first filmmakers [and] the first film footage was shot by native people documenting our way of life”.She added: “But that’s a lot of history and a lot of years of exclusion or misrepresentation, and I mean Super Bowl’s tomorrow.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large It’s a semi-annual tradition during the PBS executive session at the Television Critics Assn.: Asking president/CEO Paula Kerger about the state of funding for the public broadcaster. And so it went on Monday, during the public broadcaster’s portion of the winter 2024 press tour — and despite the ongoing gridlock in Washington, Kerger said things, at least for now, are going “OK.” “We are advanced funded, and that we always have been,” Kerger told reporters. “And the idea behind it is that you need to know that when you finish a project, you’re going to actually have the funds for it.

Kyle Shanahan and his team the San Francisco 49ers are taking center stage tonight to take on the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2024 Super Bowl!

Those UCLA fans who wanted Chip Kelly‘s departure got their wish Friday, but not in the way they expected.

embarking on an intensely scrutinized journey to see her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce, play in the Super Bowl in Las Vegas.The prospect of this race against time, crossing nine time zones and the international date line, has fired imaginations, and speculation, for weeks.At Saturday night’s concert, there was plenty of evidence of the unique cultural phenomenon that is the Swift-Kelce relationship, a nexus of professional football and the huge star power of Swift. In addition to sequined dresses celebrating Swift in the packed Tokyo Dome, there were Travis Kelce jerseys and hats and other gear celebrating his team, the Kansas City Chiefs.

Selome Hailu Manolo Caro has entered a multi-year first look deal with Onyx Collective alongside Rafael Ley and Maria Jose Cordova of Woo Films, who produced Caro’s Netflix series “The House of Flowers.” Along with “The House of Flowers,” which ran for three seasons from 2018 to 2020, Caro is known for creating Netflix’s 2020 limited series “Someone Has to Die” and directing films including 2016’s “Tales of an Immoral Couple” and 2018’s “Perfect Strangers.” Woo Films has been behind several of Caro’s projects as well as films the Netflix films “Noise” (2022) and “Where the Tracks End” (2023) and the Viggo Mortensen-led “Eureka” (2023). “Manolo Caro is in a rare class of storytellers who blend heart and humor to reveal the essence of what makes us all human,” said Tara Duncan, president of Onyx Collective.

Saturday Night Live Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost will be the featured entertainer at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

Editors’ Note: Launching today and running until the final general election results come in, the Deadline ElectionLine podcast spotlights the 2024 campaign and the blurred lines between politics and entertainment in America. Hosted by Washington bureau chief Ted Johnson and senior editor Dominic Patten , the podcast features commentary and interviews with top lawmakers and entertainment figures. Of course, you can follow all the action in Biden v. Trump 2.0 and more on the ElectionLine hub on Deadline.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Netflix Mexico has unveiled a rousing new slate in production this year that includes the series debut of Luis Estrada (“¡Que viva México!”), a new pic from Rodrigo Garcia (“Familia”), another series from hit-maker José Ignacio “Chascas” Valenzuela (“Who Killed Sara?”) and “La Reina del Sur”’s Kate del Castillo unusually toplining a comedy. Also leading the pack is series “Gringo Hunters,” produced by Woo Films and Redrum in co-production with Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment in association with The Washington Post.

Spike Lee and Denzel Washington are reportedly teaming up for the fifth time to reimagine Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime drama High And Low.The pair, whose previous projects include Malcolm X, He Got Game and Inside Man, will begin filming the adaptation in March. The original film is based on Ed McBain’s novel King’s Ransom and stars Toshiro Mifune as a wealthy man who is forced to pay the ransom money for his employee’s kidnapped son.In 2008, it was reported that Martin Scorsese would be developing a remake of the story, but the project never went ahead.Lee has previously spoken about his admiration for Kurosawa, claiming that his 1986 comedy She’s Gotta Have It was influenced by the Japanese director’s 1950 drama Rashomon.The remake of High And Low will be released in cinemas by A24 before heading to Apple TV+ (as reported by The Guardian).Alan Fox, a former college basketball player and model turned playwright, will write the script.

America Ferrera, Carey Mulligan and Kerry Washington stepped out for a Chanel cocktail and dinner event held on Wednesday evening (February 7) in New York City.

Christopher Nolan has spoken about his 2020 film Tenet and criticisms that the film is too convoluted to follow.Speaking on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Nolan spoke about the complexities of his films, touching on Tenet’s time-bending themes in particular.When asked by Colbert if viewers have to “get” Nolan’s films or if they can just experience it, the filmmaker said: “If you experience my film you are getting it. I feel very strongly about that. I think where people encounter frustration with my narratives in the past, sometimes I think that they’re slightly missing the point.

“Kobe picked the pose you’re about to see,” said Vanessa Bryant at the unveiling of the statue honoring her late husband today, “so if anyone has any problems with it, tough sh*t.”

18 years after their last collaboration, director Spike Lee and Denzel Washington, one of the legendary filmmaker/lead actor duos, are teaming up again. This time, it’s for a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s classic crime thriller, the 1963 Japanese police procedural crime “High And Low,” which originally starred Toshiro Mifune.

—a question that has long dogged the Chiefs feels more relevant now than ever: Why are they still called that?Many feel the team’s name—a reference to Indigenous chiefs, people with powerful leadership roles within their communities and nations—is appropriative, and its associated imagery (the arrowhead logo, the “” war chants popular among fans) is racist, rendering Native Americans as stereotypical caricatures. So, given other sports teams like the (now the Washington Commanders) and the (now the Cleveland Guardians) have responded to public pressures and changed their names, why haven’t the Chiefs?It’s a complex issue, but before diving into it, one must first understand the Chiefs’ history.

Vicky McClure returned to the small screen this week as ITV's thrilling series, Trigger Point, is back for its second season, after a successful first run in 2022.The first episode of the new season was widely praised on social media as some fans exclaimed their 'heart was racing' during the thrilling segments. However, not all viewers were impressed.

Trigger Point viewers were left issuing a complaint over the opening episode of series two - but those who binge-watched the entire series ended up finding themselves sharing the same verdict.

Actress Vicky McClure returns to our screens as bomb disposal officer Lana Washington in the second season of ITV's Trigger Point tonight (Sunday January 28). The Nottingham actress has graced our screens in a number of iconic roles - including Detective Inspector Kate Fleming in the BBC series Line of Duty.

Kyle Shanahan and his team the San Francisco 49ers are taking center stage tonight to take on the Detroit Lions in the NFC Championship Game.

A comic book lover from America was over the moon that his mum held onto his impressivecollection from over the years, after he discovered one in particular is worth thousands.The Antiques Roadshow US guest was welcomed onto the show clutching his box of comic books that his mum purchased at an auction herself years ago. He explained: "When I was a kid, I would go down to a store in Washington and buy candy and comics and my mum knew this, of course.

Actress Vicky McClure will appear on the long-awaited return of ITV's Trigger Point on Sunday, January 28.

The second series of Trigger Point is set to explode onto our screens after almost a two-year hiatus, with some new faces joining Vicky McClure.The ITV drama follows Lana Washington, played by Line of Duty star Vicky McClure, as a bomb disposal expert with the Metropolitan Police as she attempts to crack down on terrorism across London. After its first season, the show became a fan favourite with its explosive twists and turns with a talented cast keeping us on the edge of our seats! As we get ready to welcome back the ITV drama, let's take a closer look at the cast and where we recognise them from...

A new season of smash hit drama Trigger Point is returning to our screens very soon. Fans have been patiently waiting for two years for the show's next instalment.

Three decades after rockstar Kurt Cobain‘s tragic death, his autopsy report has allegedly leaked online. The leak comes from a man named Tom Gra

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA spoke out Friday against pornographic AI images of Taylor Swift that have been circulating on social media, and reiterated support for legislation to outlaw such images. The actors’ union called the images “upsetting, harmful and deeply concerning.” “The development and dissemination of fake images — especially those of a lewd nature — without someone’s consent must be made illegal,” the union said. “As a society, we have it in our power to control these technologies, but we must act now before it is too late.” The performers’ union has been following this issue for years, and has previously expressed support for state and federal laws that would make it illegal to distribute “deepfake” pornographic images that replicate someone’s likeness without consent.