NBC Orders Pilots for ‘The Brave’ Creator’s Drama ‘Blank Slate,’ ‘Predictably Irrational’ Adaptation

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Call Me Kat” actress Schuyler Helford’s teen-parenting comedy “Unplanned in Akron” has received a pilot order at CBS.Written by Helford with Emily Wilson (“The Conners”) supervising, the multi-cam project follows two teenagers navigating parenthood in the best way they know how. With a little help from their friends and parents, they’ll learn that mistakes in life don’t have to derail your life – that no matter what age you are, taking care of a child is no joke – but sometimes, you just gotta laugh (or cry) your way through it.Helford is co-executive producing the potential series.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterCBS has ordered comedy pilots from “Jane the Virgin” creator Jennie Snyder Urman and Lonely Island crew Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone.The Urman-produced multi-cam project is called “Sober Companion” and follows Eliza, a hot-mess alcoholic who owns a bar with her uncle in New Orleans. She is forced to get her life together when the court appoints her an exhaustingly upbeat sober companion with whom she has to live 24/7.The potential series is based on a story by Urman, Gracie Glassmeyer and David Rosenthal.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Yellowstone” prequel “1883” has been renewed for Season 2 at Paramount Plus, and the ViacomCBS-owned streaming service has ordered another Taylor Sheridan-created origin-story show following the Dutton Family called “1932.” Yes, you guessed it — the show will follow a new generation of Duttons “during the time of western expansion, Prohibition and the Great Depression.”“1883″ stars Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Billy Bob Thornton, Isabel May, LaMonica Garrett, Marc Rissmann, Audie Rick, Eric Nelsen and James Landry Hébert.The show follows the Dutton family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. It is a stark retelling of western expansion and an intense study of one family fleeing poverty to seek a better future in America’s promised land — Montana.

Wyatte Grantham-Philips editorAn eight-hour drama inspired by Carolyn Arnold’s “Madison Knight” detective novels is being developed by Muse Entertainment and Pop Fiction Entertainment.Hélène Joy (“Durham County,” “Murdoch Mysteries”) will star as Madison Knight, a daring detective who works to investigate criminals throughout the series. Orion Lee (“First Cow”) will portray Knight’s work partner, Detective Steven Hung.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDiscovery Plus has ordered “Serving the Hamptons,” a spinoff of “Selling the Hamptons” following the “young, sexy restaurant staff” at a hot Hamptons restaurant and all of the drama they dish up on and off the clock, Variety has learned exclusively.Premiering on Thursday, April 7, the five hour-long episodes take viewers into one of the most exclusive enclaves in the world while showcasing the juicy lives of the staff at Southampton’s “it” destination for dining. The show brings viewers inside 75 Main Restaurant as its staffers hook up, argue and work together to make sure the clients come back for more, per the show’s official logline.To attract the best employees to serve his elite clientele of celebrities, politicians and the uber rich, 75 Main owner Zach Erdem provides his staff with a gorgeous beach house — provided they follow his rules and take care of his customers.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterKelly Clarkson and Snoop Dogg have been named the hosts of NBC’s upcoming singing competition “American Song Contest,” the U.S. adaptation of “Eurovision Song Contest.”Per NBC, “Based on the worldwide phenomenon ‘Eurovision Song Contest,’ organized for 65 years by the European Broadcasting Union and watched by 200 million viewers annually, this amazing musical spectacular combines the competitive spirit of rooting for your favorite sports team with the joy of watching a live performance of an original song.”“American Song Contest” will feature live new music performances – representing all 50 states, five U.S.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNBC briefly misidentified singer Mickey Guyton as Jhene Aiko during a preshow performance at Super Bowl LVI on Sunday.As seen in the video below, the broadcast network first panned over Guyton with a chyron that labeled her as “Jhene Aiko” during Aiko’s performance of “America the Beautiful.” A few seconds later, the incorrect name disappeared under Guyton and cameras shifted to Aiko, who was singing, and a new chyron correctly identified her as “Jhene Aiko.”When Aiko concluded her performance of “America the Beauitful,” Guyton sang the National Anthem ahead of the kickoff for the big game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals.Representatives for NBC Sports did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment on the error Sunday. More to come…@NBCNews #SuperBowlLVI ummm… who confused Jhene Aiko and Mickey Guyton? Its tone deaf….

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Los Espookys” co-creator Julio Torres has signed a two-year first-look deal with HBO and HBO Max.Torres has two new projects already in development under the pact, “Little Films” (working title) and “Lucky,” the former of which he’s set to star in and is produced by Emma Stone.In “Little Films,” which has a production commitment at HBO, the former “Saturday Night Live” writer stars as himself. The potential show follows this version of Torres as he tells the tale of when he lost a golden oyster.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterFormer NBC drama development exec Lisa Roos has been named head of television at Keshet Studios, the U.S.-based production arm of Keshet International.In her new role, Roos will focus on developing original IP to bolster Keshet Studios’ ambitious lineup of limited and returning series. She will report to Keshet Studios president Peter Traugott.Roos comes to Keshet from NBC, where she was most recently senior vice president of drama development.

Elle Fanning is unrecognizable in the first official look at the true-crime series . In the upcoming limited Hulu drama, the actress portrays Michelle Carter, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the “texting suicide” case surrounding the events leading up to the death of her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III (played here by Colton Ryan).

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNBC says it has “resolved” a “third-party error” that was inhibiting Leslie Jones’ social media commentary on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.“This was the result of a third-party error, and the situation has been resolved,” an NBC spokesperson told Variety on Tuesday. “She is free to do her social media posts as she has done in the past. She is a super fan of the Olympics, and we are super fans of her.”Some of the comedian’s posts were blocked because of restrictions on sharing recorded video on social media, with NBC’s rights to the Olympics — which cost them $7.75 billion through 2032 — being very strictly observed.Jones, an Olympics live-tweeter since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and a guest of NBC’s in Rio and at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games, said in a statement tweeted Monday that she is “starting to feel like this should be my last Olympics I live-tweet.” “I know I know, another celebrity bitching.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNational Geographic announced a slate of more than a dozen upcoming original programs Monday, all of which are produced by the brand but will debut exclusively on Disney Plus — not on the Nat Geo cable channel. But despite the shift, Nat Geo content president Courteney Monroe promised that it’s not a sign that the Disney-owned brand has completely moved away from linear content.“I realize that all of my announcements today were for Disney Plus originals, but that in no way diminishes our focus and investment in National Geographic programming for the linear channel,” Monroe told reporters Monday during Nat Geo’s virtual presentation at the Television Critics Association winter press tour.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe Pearson family will be hitting the bench for a few weeks as the final season of “This Is Us” is bumped from NBC’s primetime schedule — along with all of the network’s other regularly slated comedies and dramas —  to bring in the Beijing Winter Olympics.While many “This Is Us” fans may not want to part with new episodes of the show in favor of figure-skating, curling and bobsledding competitions from Feb. 2-20, those viewers should know they were going to lose the Pearsons for three weeks this season, with or without the 2022 Olympics.“We don’t love having it off for two weeks [during the Olympics], but those two weeks would have been repeats or preempts anyway, because there’s 18 episodes and 21 weeks,” Steve Kern, head of scheduling for NBC, told Variety. “And so it actually helps us.

The premiere of Paris in Love is set to air tonight on E! and during the episode, Paris Hilton asks her (then fiance, soon to be husband) Carter Reum if there’s anything he’d change about her.

Kim Kardashian has been revealed as the new face of Balenciaga alongside Justin Bieber, Isabelle Huppert, and models Tommy Blue and Marie-Agnès Diene. The reality TV star, who has frequently worn the luxury Italian brand on the red carpet, has been photographed for the campaign in her Calabasas, Los Angeles home, wearing a full-length black bodysuit while reclining on a cream sofa.

A rapist who went on the run after attacking a woman was tracked down by detectives - when he ordered a £19 kebab from JustEat.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe Los Angeles Rams beat the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 on Sunday to clinch the NFC Championship in a Fox primetime broadcast that drew more than 50 million viewers. That makes it the most-watched NFC Championship since 2014.A total of 50,420,000 viewers tuned in across Fox, Fox Deportes, Fox Sports streaming platforms, NFL Digital and Yahoo! Sports properties for the telecast. Viewership for the game peaked at 55,218,000 from 9:15-9:30 p.m.