Michael Bay Sets New True Crime Docuseries at Investigation Discovery

Max is touting strong viewership for its true-crime limited drama series Love & Death.

Tim Greiving Every composer who scores a true crime series is dealing with ghosts. Their challenge is to help make a show riveting, dramatic — even entertaining — while trying not to exploit a real tragedy with real victims. “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal” called for sensitivity from composers Danielle Furst and Khari Mateen. For Danielle Furst and Khari Mateen, the composers behind “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal,” an added challenge was writing music knowing that the families and friends of victims would likely be watching. “Every time we were working on it, I was thinking about the parents,” says Furst, “listening to what was behind their testimonies and their story and wanting them to feel good about it.”

a lot. The streamer has a solid slate of movies heading into summer 2023.

Prime Video dropped the official trailer for Tom Clancy’s “Jack Ryan,” the political thriller series is set to return with two episodes on Friday, June 30. The six-episode season will be available on the streamer, with the remaining four episodes dropping two each Friday, until the series finale on July 14. The fourth and final season will follow CIA Acting Deputy Director, Jack Ryan, who is tasked with uncovering an internal and national corruption conspiracy; per the official release, “Jack and the team investigate how deep the corruption runs, he discovers a far-worse reality—the convergence of a drug cartel with a terrorist organization—ultimately revealing a conspiracy much closer to home and testing our hero’s belief in the system he has always fought to protect.”

“Transformers” movie, you wouldn’t be wrong.Beginning with 2007’s “Transformers,” seven live-action movies have been released. The first five were directed by Michael Bay, who remained a producer on the two most recent films.The first five films take place in present day, while the sixth film “Bumblebee” (the only film without “Transformers” in its title) is set in 1987. The upcoming film “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” is set in the ’90s, so it’s a sequel AND a prequel.Confused? Don’t be.

Selena Gomez makes for a charming presence in the kitchen. The singer and actress has been involved in “Selena + Chef” for four seasons, showing her willingness to learn and mess up when faced with some food prep.

Paramount has pushed back the release date for Transformers One, the newest animated feature in the Transformers franchise that was unveiled at CinemaCon in April. The origin story from director Josh Cooley, previously set to open on July 19, 2024, will now bow nationwide on September 13, 2024.

Michael Jordan is an avid car collector. The retired NBA superstar is known for his enjoyment of high-end vehicles, with his collection made up of super fast and custom-made cars.

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Discovery is set to undergo another round of layoffs in its television business.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Leading French producer Michael Gentile’s Paris-based outfit The Film is about to start shooting Julie Delpy’s next directorial outing, “The Barbarians,” and Laurence Arné’s “Les Hennedricks” starring Dany Boon. Delpy’s comeback to French filmmaking since “Lolo,” “The Barbarians” is a satirical comedy unfolding in a small town in Brittany which is preparing to welcome Ukrainian refugees after voting unanimously to greet them in exchange for subsidies from the government. But instead of seeing Ukrainians come into town, they see Syrian refugees, causing some tensions among locals and testing their liberal beliefs. Delpy will star in the film opposite Sandrine Kiberlain (“Mademoiselle Chambon”), Laurent Lafitte (“Elle”) and Ziad Bakri (“The Weekend Away”), India Hair (“Angry Annie”), Mathieu Demy (“The Bureau”) and Delpy’s father Albert Delpy.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large As Amazon Freevee’s hoax reality series “Jury Duty” is currently garnering huge amounts of attention, the format originator is staging a comeback. TBS is set to announce Wednesday that it has ordered a revival of “The Joe Schmo Show,” which will air next year on the cabler. The original “Joe Schmo” premiered in 2003 on Spike TV, with a follow-up in 2004 and then a third season revival in 2013. Created by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (both of whom went on to a successful screenwriting career, including the “Deadpool” films), “Joe Schmo” made waves when it first debuted for parodying the then-relatively new and white-hot reality competition genre.

BreAnna Bell Jason Momoa will lead Discovery Channel’s Shark Week as it returns for its 35th year, as the master of ceremonies. The network shared the announcement as part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s Upfront’s appearance on Wednesday. “As the host of Shark Week, I am beyond excited to take you along on this journey,” said Momoa. “This project means more to me than a week of talking about sharks. It’s a chance for me to learn and share my connection to these amazing creatures. My love of sharks came long before my time as Aquaman – it began several generations before me.” Over the course of Shark Week, Momoa will set up the jaw dropping events, epic journeys, first-time revelations, and groundbreaking scientific findings that make up the summer spectacle. WBD promises that fans can expect adrenaline-inducing original hours of sharks from new and continuously explored destinations, all captured on-camera by Discovery’s dedicated science and research field teams.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Food Network has ordered two new series hosted by Selena Gomez as part of its upcoming programming slate. The first show from the “Only Murders in the Building” star, who also hosts cooking series “Selena + Chef” at HBO Max (soon to just be Max), will be a “celebration-focused series” debuting during the holiday season later this year. In 2024, Gomez will launch a show that sees her going to other chefs’ kitchens for a change. The untitled project will feature Gomez “meeting up with some of the best chefs in the country in a quest to cook their most popular dishes when she visits their kitchens.” A source tells Variety these new shows are unrelated to “Selena + Chef,” which has not yet been renewed for a fifth season at Max.

Investigation Discovery is getting into the Michael Bay business.

TNT is launching a second night of professional wrestling with AEW: Collision, a live, two-hour, in-ring show, which will debut June 17 and air Saturdays. The announcement was made Wednesday by Kathleen Finch, Chairman and Chief Content Officer, US Networks Group, Warner Bros. Discovery, during the company’s 2023 Upfront presentation at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The Joe Schmo Show has been in the cultural lexicon in recent months following the successful launch of Amazon Freeve prank show Jury Duty.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor A lot of TV companies are judged by how quickly they can introduce new shows. Warner Bros. Discovery thinks it may find some gains by developing new ways to introduce audiences to series and content that already exists The strategy has been playing out in open view on some of the company’s biggest cable networks. Audiences watching NBA basketball games have been pushed to sample series such as Food Network’s “Tournament of Champions,” HGTV’s “Rock The Block” and Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch.” And some portion decided to follow the programs back to their original homes for more. According to company research, 12% of TNT sports viewers who sampled “Tournament” went on to watch it on Food Network. Likewise, 10% of basketball fans that tried “Rock The Block” followed it to HGTV while 7% of viewers who tested “Deadliest Catch” watched more of it on Discovery.

Megan Fox is opening up about the highs and lows of her Hollywood career.

Kaley Cuoco has her sights set on solving a murder.In Peacock's dark comedic thriller, Cuoco plays Ava, who dreams up the idea to start a true-crime podcast when a serial killer «that's basically in [her] backyard» begins to garner national attention. It's the perfect answer to the financial problems she and her beau, Nathan (Chris Messina), are facing as he recently lost his job, they're expecting a baby and they're very, very behind on bills.When another murder takes place literally in front of their very eyes, it's almost as if the universe is giving them a nudge.

Get ready for the return of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.