Brian Steinberg-Senior Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Ronna McDaniel was supposed to be the new star contributor at NBC News. Now her position there is looking increasingly untenable. NBC News hired the former Republican National Committee chief last week, betting that her recent access to the Trump campaign and Republican politicians would make her a valuable analyst as the 2024 election cycle intensified.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Chuck Todd left moderating duties at “Meet The Press” behind several months ago, but he isn’t through with the show yet. During a surprising appearance on Sunday’s broadcast of the program on NBC, Todd took issue with a decision to hire former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel as an NBC News contributor, then put her on “Meet The Press” for an interview with current moderator Kristen Welker, who had booked McDaniel prior to the hiring becoming known.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Ronna McDaniel is no doubt going to create a lot of sound and fury over at NBC News. Shakespeare could tell you what it’s all going to signify.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The day after the Super Bowl typically brings with it another kind of celebration: Nielsen’s annual announcement of the size of the audience for the NFL extravaganza. This year, someone stole some of the spotlight from the measurement giant with an end run. In the early afternoon hours of Feb.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Nearly every commercial that runs on TV is backed by a guarantee of how big an audience will watch it. Late last year, Fox and Netflix decided to throw out that rule, one of the oldest in media economics. In November, Fox ran a two-minute-long segment during its Sunday-afternoon NFL showcase — one of the most-watched programs on TV.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Call it a daytime double. Steve Harvey, who has become an almost ubiquitous presence on TV through his host duties of both a daytime talk show as well as the long-running game show “Family Feud,” is teaming up with Dr. Phil.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Hallie Jackson is taking NBC’s venerable “Nightly News” to Washington D.C. for one night each week. The NBC News senior Washington correspondent has been named the new anchor of NBC’s Sunday evening-news broadcast, taking the reins from Kate Snow.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor NBCUniversal hopes to create a new type of event when its coverage of the Paris Olympics kicks off in late July. You don’t have to be an athlete to participate. When viewers of the company’s Peacock streaming hub open Olympics coverage, NBC is likely to ask some of them if they’d like to order food or beverages.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Taylor Tomlinson has proven herself to be a big draw among younger crowds and those savvy with social media. Now CBS hopes the new “After Midnight” host will have similar appeal with a decidedly niche sector: B-to-B advertisers. The network is trying to develop partnerships with a cluster of marketers that typically find their customers among decision-making executives at corporations.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Former President Donald Trump has filed a defamation suit against ABC News and one of its best known anchors, George Stephanopoulos, alleging that the TV journalist damaged Trump’s standing by saying on air that he had been found liable for raping E. Jean Carroll, a journalist and writer who recently won a defamation suit against the former Commander in Chief. The suit, filed Monday in the Miami division of Southern District of Florida in the U.S.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Bill Maher‘s long-running “Real Time” is getting more time across the Warner Bros. Discovery portfolio. CNN will start running episodes of the program on Saturday nights at 8 p.m., a day after their original broadcasts on HBO.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Tired of forking over hundreds of dollars for cable channels that aren’t always available? DirecTV may have a solution, albeit a controversial one. The satellite content distributor said Sunday it would give its subscribers the choice to “opt out” of receiving the feeds of local TV stations “for as long as they want,” and get a discount for doing so.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Bill Maher is getting more time for “Real Time” at HBO and its parent, Warner Bros. Discovery.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor NBCUniversal is testing a new game for the Paris Olympics. The Comcast-backed media conglomerate has for years launched every Summer Games with primetime coverage of the Opening Ceremonies that typically feature a top sportscaster like Mike Tirico or Bob Costas alongside a popular news anchor such as Savannah Guthrie or Katie Couric.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor NBC is only dipping into a recent “Vintage” when it comes to showing primetime repeats of “Saturday Night Live.” The network has since 2014 used its 10 p.m. slot on Saturdays to run “SNL” repeats from across the show’s decades-long run, a move that whets fans appetites’ for the 11:30 p.m. main showing of the popular late-night series.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Warner Bros. Discovery wants to bring one of its “zombie” cable networks back to life with a big jolt of sports. The media company intends to create a new nightly sports block for TruTV, the reality-series cable network that has largely been left to show endless episodes of the popular prank show “Impractical Jokers” and the caught-on-camera serial “World’s Dumbest.” In doing so, Warner no doubt hopes to create new value where there has only been a little.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Phil Mattingly is discovering that mornings aren’t the only place where one can rise and shine at CNN. The journalist, recently named co-anchor of a morning program that CNN subsequently scuttled, has been named chief domestic correspondent at the Warner Bros,. Discovery-backed network.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Marc Short, the former chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence and a longtime Republican consultant, has been named a contributor to both NBC News‘ “Meet the Press” and CNBC, according to three people familiar with the matter, Short is expected to appear on “Meet the Press” this Sunday, according to one of these people. He has taken part in the program several times in recent years when not affiliated with an active campaign, turning up as recently as January. Short has typically appeared during the show’s panel section, providing a perspective from the right.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Can NBC squeeze ten years’ worth of Jimmy Fallon at its signature “Tonight Show” into just two hours? The network is going to try. NBC plans to celebrate a decade of Fallon at the helm of its venerable late-night program with a two-hour anniversary show slated for 9 p.m.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Gemma Garcia has been named the new head of Noticias Telemundo, Telemundo’s news division, a move that puts an executive with deep experience in digital content and distribution in charge of the company’s news operations She will report directly to Luis Fernández, chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. Garcia will oversee Noticias Telemundo’s news programming, editorial units, digital news properties, newsgathering and bureaus in the United States and Latin America.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Warner Bros. Discovery narrowed its fourth-quarter loss by a significant margin as cost reductions and reduced content production caused by last year’s Hollywood labor stoppages helped it maneuver around a 14% decline in advertising sales and other onerous conditions for traditional media companies. The owner of the TNT and TBS cable networks,.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor And the award for trying to sell top-priced advertising in a format that may no longer be as valuable as it once was to Madison Avenue goes to….ABC. Executives at the Disney-backed broadcast network are still working to sell commercials for the 96th Oscars, slated to air on Sunday, March 10, according to three people familiar with the negotiations — with a little more than two weeks to go before the glitzy event.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor TelevisaUnivision has more to offer than just the usual advertising jargon and programming notes for its 2024 upfront showcase. The Spanish-language media giant plans to open what it calls “Casa Cultura” on May 14 at New York’s HK Hall, where it will invite advertisers, media buyers and other attendees to an experiential presentation that will showcase Latino culture in the United States. In the morning.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Kate Snow, the NBC News veteran who has anchored the network’s Sunday broadcast of “NBC Nightly News” since 2015, plans to exit the post next week, she disclosed to viewers of the program Sunday evening, citing growing responsibilities tied to streaming content. The move may be a sign that her presence is needed elsewhere. Snow, who is also a senior national correspondent for NBC News, has since September of 2022 co-anchored parts of “NBC News Daily,” a set of daytime hours that both stream on NBC News Now and appear in the daytime schedules of all NBC affiliates.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Trey Gargano has been named executive vice president of ad sales, taking the reins of the outlet’s efforts to drive millions of dollars in advertising revenue at a time when Madison Avenue has seemed more ambivalent about news content. Additionally, Ryan Roelle has been promoted to senior vice president of national sales, and will focus on endemic and national advertising in addition to leading linear and digital sales across the country.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Spanish-language giant TelevisaUnivision said it narrowed its fourth quarter loss from the year-earlier period as increases in ad revenue in Mexico helped buoy the company despite a downturn in the same category in the U.S. and its continued investment in streaming. The company, which operates the Univision broadcast network in the U.S., said revenue in the quarter was off 7%, as gains in advertising were offset be declines in revenues from subscription and licensing.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Fox Corp. is getting traditional for TV’s Upfront Week. After experimenting in the last few years with smaller venues for its annual upfront presentation, the company has chosen a more theatrical venue for its showcase.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Geraldo Rivera, a longtime news correspondent and talk-show host with a knack for the theatrical, is taking up roots at a new outlet. The one-time Fox News Channel personality, also known for his time as a syndicated daytime presence, has joined Nexstar Media’s NewsNation as a correspondent at large, effective immediately. He is expected to appear across daytime and primetime programming and will make his first appearance Wednesday evening on “Cuomo,” which airs at 8 p.m.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor What do Valentine’s Day and the ubiquitous zombies of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” have in common (other than a potential focus on the human heart)? More than you might think. The creatures and the protagonists who try to stop them get an unlikely shout out Wednesday when AMC launches a new promo to tout “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live,” the third in a series of character-driven spin-offs that have launched since the end of the original series in 2022.

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.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Before marketers can start putting their commercials into Netflix programs for the year to come, they’ll have to step into those programs themselves. Netflix plans to host an interactive “Netflix Experience” for advertising clients and buyers, all via an event to be held throughout Thursday, May 16, at New York’s Pier 59 Studios. Those who choose to participate will traverse through rooms and experiences built around Netflix series like “Stranger Things” or the comedy offerings of “Netflix is a Joke.” The company also plans to hold what it calls “an intimate first-look presentation” with its executives on Mary 15 in the afternoon.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor As an alumna of “Saturday Night Live,” Kate McKinnon knows what it takes to come up with interesting characters. Now she will do so for a decidedly different format. The comic actor plans to launch a debut novel aimed at young-adult readers.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Can Mondays do for the TV business what Thursdays and Sundays once did? Some of the medium’s best-known personalities are trying to figure this question out. When Jon Stewart re-emerges Monday night as a one-night-a-week host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” he will join MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Jen Psaki in making bespoke Monday appearances for their network, part of what has become a low-key scheduling experiment that actually has high stakes: In a medium best known for offering viewers the same hosts in the same time slots five nights a week, can TV networks that thrive on news-and-talk programs generate new attention and advertising dollars by doling them out less frequently ? “Monday is really appealing,” says Stephanie Morales, vice president of media intelligence at Magna, the Interpublic Group media-research firm.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Advertisers who normally use the Super Bowl to create commercials that make your jaw drop instead were content if they could get just a little smile. For the second consecutive year, Madison Avenue relied on a massive parade of celebrities to capture consumer attention, foregoing in many cases the social messages and dynamic creative concepts that have generated chatter in the past. Where the Super Bowl was once the setting for Apple’s still-talked-about “1984” commercial or Procter & Gamble’s clever insertion of Tide into a bevy of ads, it’s now become a place for formulaic cameos of famous faces.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Sarah Silverman is taking a new swing at David Letterman’s fondly recalled “Stupid Pet Tricks,” and it would be easy to say something about the comic “going to the dogs” or “hoping the new show has legs.” But Silverman has a lot more in store than skateboarding canines and bubble-popping reptiles. That’s right, this isn’t your dad’s “Stupid Pet Tricks.” “The stupid pet tricks happen in front of the camera,” says Silverman during a recent interview, but “we wanted to make it kind of a ‘Muppet Show’ where you see behind the scenes.” Every episode has a storyline that might involve a writers’ room with just one human, or Jack McBrayer as a rival host with his own animal program.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The Kansas City Chiefs aren’t the only returnees to the Super Bowl. Bradley Cooper and his mother, who last year raised eyebrows with a no-frills commercial for T-Mobile, are making a new play. In their 2024 effort, the actor and his mother are among a bevy of famous faces auditioning for “magenta status,” a phone plan that includes membership perks and discounts.