NBC Gives Series Order to Jon Cryer-Starring Divorce Comedy From Mike O’Malley

Kurt Sutter has got the green light for his outlaw western series The Abandons.

Lenny Kravitz is, apparently, not afraid of sharing the occasional thirst trip — especially when it could lead to a big project! The 58-year-old rocker flashes his abs in the trailer for and on Instagram, where his shirtless photos have garnered a hilarious response from his daughter, Zoe Kravitz, and even her boyfriend, Channing Tatum.In an interview with ET's Rachel Smith, Lenny jokes about the time that Zoe and Channing commented on his posts with questions about whether he intended to audition for . «Well I figured, you know, your boyfriend might give me a job,» Lenny cracks, acknowledging that he «missed the boat» on the franchise's third installment. «There's always the number four,» he jokes. Unfortunately, however, the upcoming  is expected to be the final piece of the franchise. A post shared by Lenny Kravitz (@lennykravitz)Lenny spent Wednesday evening celebrating the launch of his latest business endeavor, a partnership with the new spirit Nocheluna Sotol. The drink originates from the Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico and is harvested from the Dasylirion plant. «I tasted it and I fell in love with it,» he says.

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate+ has renewed Señorita 89 for a second season and has added Dolores Heredia (El Galán) and Yoshira Escárrega (Toda La Sangre) as series regulars. Production will kick off on October 17 in Mexico City.

Japanese director Naomi Kawase will preside over the international jury of the 44th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival, running November 13 to 22.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Boxing great Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez is teaming with Cartuna and Campanario Entertainment to develop an adult animated series inspired by his life and career, Variety has learned exclusively. “I’m excited to see my story and my career brought to TV through this incredible medium,” Álvarez said. “It will give my loyal fans a new way to follow my journey to the top of boxing and can also bring new followers to this beautiful sport.” Erick Galindo (“The Ballad of Chalino Sanchez,” “Out of The Shadows: Children of 86”) will write and executive produce the series. James and Adam Belfer, the co-heads of Cartuna, will executive produce along with along with Mike Flavin, senior vice president of development at Cartuna. Jaime Dávila and Rico Martínez will executive produce for Campanario Entertainment. The project is currently in development and is expected to be taken out to networks and streamers later this year.

Starz has given a series order to drama The Venery of Samantha Bird, starring Katherine Langford (Knives Out, 13 Reasons Why) in the title role.

Emily Longeretta Jan Broberg is telling her story again, with hope that this time, she’ll be able to help others. In 2019, she was the subject of Netflix’s documentary “Abducted In Plain Sight,” which told the story of how she was abducted twice in the 70s — first at age 12, and again at 14 — by Bob “B” Berchtold, a close family friend. At the time, he brought her to Mexico and brainwashed her into believing that she had been kidnapped by aliens and had to have sex with him in order to save her family. Her parents, Bob and Mary Ann Broberg, also had sexual experiences with “B,” as they were both groomed as well. (For clarity, Variety will refer to the Brobergs by their first names.)

HBO Max has given an eight-episode straight-to-series order to How To Be a Bookie, the first comedy for the streamer from one of Warner Bros. Television’s top showrunners, Chuck Lorre, co-creator/exec producer of HBO Max’s most watched off-network series, The Big Bang Theory. Actor-comedian Sebastian Maniscalco (The Irishman) is set to star in the single-camera series, which Lorre is co-writing with one of his close associates over the past decade, Nick Bakay. It is comedy king Lorre’s first sale since the start of the pandemic.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In a clear vote of confidence for Colombian director Juan Sebastián Mesa, Bordeaux-based Dublin Films has boarded his third film “Lovers Go Home!” The company also co-produced Mesa’s lauded sophomore pic, “The Rust.” “Lovers Go Home!” centers on a Colombian single mom who leads a double life as a webcammer. One day she meets a U.S. veteran online who becomes obsessed with her. He flies to Colombia to meet her in person. Their meeting makes them reflect on who they truly are. In development, the project participated in this year’s Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, one of San Sebastian Film Festival’s key industry events, which ran over Sept. 19-21. 

Selome Hailu NBC has given a series order to an untitled comedy pilot written by Mike O’Malley. The multi-cam series follows Jim (Jon Cryer) and Julia (Abigail Spencer), who, after an amicable divorce, decide to continue to raise their kids at the family home while taking turns on who gets to stay with them. Navigating the waters of divorce and child-sharing gets more complicated for Jim when Trey (Donald Faison), the owner of his favorite sports team, enters the picture and wins Julia’s heart. Also starring are Finn Sweeney and Sofia Capanna as Jim and Julia’s kids, Jimmy Jr. and Grace, respectively. O’Malley and Cryer both serve as executive producers along with Tom Werner, Wyc Grousbeck, Emilia Fazzalari and George Geyer. (Werner is the owner of the Boston Red Sox, and Grousbeck is the owner of the Boston Celtics.) Lionsgate TV and Universal Television co-produce the series.

NBC has handed a series order to Mike O’Malley’s family comedy.

Over the past several years, few working filmmakers have been as busy as Michael Showalter. The writer, director, and actor, once known primarily for his involvement in the cultish “Wet Hot American Summer” franchise, has seen a precipitous rise in both the movies and TV.

EJ Panaligan editor Focus Features has shared the trailer for upcoming biographical drama “Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies” from director Michael Showalter. The film stars Jim Parsons as Michael Ausiello, a real-life entertainment journalist who experiences the death of his partner, Kit Cowan (played by Ben Aldridge) over a prolonged 11-month period due to terminal cancer. The film’s story, which was penned by screenwriters David Marshall Grant and Dan Savage, is based on Ausiello’s 2017 book of the same name. In the book, Ausiello chronicled the last year of his partner’s life and their 13-year relationship before Cowan died of a rare form of neuroendocrine cancer in February 2015.

Jon Weisman At the start of 1955, the Dodgers were based in Brooklyn, and Jaime Jarrín was a reporter in his native Ecuador, covering the National Congress. Four years later, the Dodgers had moved to Los Angeles, and Jarrín was broadcasting their games on the radio. Jarrín arrived in Los Angeles on a permanent resident visa that June and worked in a factory until a part-time job opened up at the city’s only Spanish radio station, KWKW. He made fast progress, and by the time the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, Jarrín was KWKW’s news and sports director. They didn’t play much baseball in Quito, but Jarrín had become a fan of the sport in California, going to see the minor league Hollywood Stars and Los Angeles Angels. Still, when KWKW’s owner, William Beaton, announced that the L.A.-bound Dodgers had made a deal to broadcast their games in Spanish, Jarrín didn’t consider himself an automatic choice. But by the following year, he was in.

real story. The film that started the saga of the Warrens begins in 1968 with the Annabelle intervention, but most of the movie is set in 1971.

Naman Ramachandran Joachim Back’s “Corner Office,” featuring “Mad Men” star John Hamm, will open the 30th edition of London’s Raindance Film Festival (Oct. 26-Nov. 5). Austin Bragg and Meredith Bragg’s “Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game” will close the festival. To mark its 30th anniversary, Raindance will screen iconic independent films that had their U.K. premieres at the festival, including “Pulp Fiction,” “Memento,” “The Blair Witch Project” and “Oldboy.” Special screenings of new films include the world premiere of Stephen Moyer’s “A Bit of Light” (U.K.), starring Anna Paquin and Ray Winstone; director Moshe Rosenthal will take part in a Raindance masterclass and present the U.K. premiere of “Karaoke” (Israel); and the world premiere of Dilshad Husain’s British Asian feature “Banglatown.”

Jon Hamm sat down for his first interview on SiriusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show” where he chatted about a number of topics including his current relationship and meeting Tom Cruise for the first time, plus he finally addressed a longstanding rumour about himself.

Eugenio Derbez is developing the workplace comedy series They Came At Night with ViX+ under the first-look deal between 3Pas Studios and TelevisaUnivision.