Elaine Low-Senior Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterStaff Me Up, a hiring and networking platform for media production professionals, is expanding its services with a service intended to highlight underrepresented groups in the industry.Called Coded for Inclusion, the initiative is endorsed by Color Of Change and supported by Michael B.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterAfter 37 years at the company, Rebecca Marks is departing her post as NBCUniversal’s executive vice president of publicity and joining WarnerMedia as executive vice president of publicity and communications at Warner Bros. Television Group.Marks, who will join WBTV Group on June 1, served in her most recent role at NBCU for the last 17 years.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterThree new animated feature films from Asian American creators are coming to Netflix in 2023, including Stephen Chow’s “The Monkey King,” starring the voice talents of Jimmy O.

Elaine Low Senior TV Writer“Give us your money. You might as well, we’re Disney.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterSince gaining oversight of ABC Entertainment in a December reorg at Walt Disney Co., Hulu Originals chief Craig Erwich has taken charge of “a bigger chessboard” to make programming moves.“The reorganization has given me the space to really focus on creative matters, as the excellence of our programming continues to drive our business forward,” he told Variety ahead of Disney’s big upfronts presentation Tuesday afternoon.Now that Erwich is shepherding two networks, one

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterIn the “pre-show to the big show,” the Walt Disney Company put on a full-fledged production for its press briefing ahead of its upfront presentation later Tuesday, highlighting its full array of networks, from ESPN to ABC to NatGeo.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterLionsgate is reconfiguring its worldwide television distribution operations and promoting two executives as it looks to capitalize on the demand for premium content in an ever-competitive market, with more personnel announcements expected in the weeks to come.Kate Nexon, most recently senior vice president of North American TV and digital sales, has been upped to executive vice president of domestic TV and digital distribution, where her duties have been expanded to

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterAfter a four-year hiatus, Netflix’s “Master of None” is back with a third season marked by a tonal and narrative distance from its preceding seasons.Largely centered on Denise (Lena Waithe), Season 3, which is entitled “Master of None Presents: Moments in Love,” is a sort-of spiritual sequel to the beloved “Thanksgiving” episode in Season 2 that offered a glimpse into her character’s childhood and eventual coming out.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterABC unveiled its fall TV offerings for the 2021-2022 season ahead of Disney’s upfront presentation Tuesday, with a schedule that includes several heavy-hitter mainstays as well as a few high-profile newcomers.Unscripted staples “Dancing With the Stars” and “The Bachelorette” anchor Monday and Tuesday nights, respectively, with new drama “Queens” following the dating reality show on Tuesdays, signaling the network’s confidence in the new series.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterWhile the world was in lockdown for the last 14 months, Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier says the network took a close look at its approach to storytelling and gave a great deal of thought to what audiences would want after this very tough past year.“We talked a lot about themes that would be resonant as the world came out of the pandemic,” Collier told Variety.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterCrown Media Family Networks’ lead programming and production executive Michelle Vicary is departing her post as executive vice president at the start of June, the company said Monday.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterKicking off its upfront day with an action-movie parody featuring Aidy Bryant, Kenan Thompson, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon and others rushing to make it to the (ultimately virtual) event, NBCUniversal showcased its wares for the upcoming TV year by spotlighting streaming service Peacock to a nation emerging from the past pandemic-ridden year.The event got underway hours after the mega merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia was formally unveiled to Wall Street, sending

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterAs part of an effort to promote inclusive storytelling, Disney General Entertainment is launching the Onyx Collective, a curated collection of projects from creators of color and underrepresented voices that will be presented as a content brand on Hulu.Freeform president Tara Duncan, who joined the network a year ago, is spearheading Onyx while continuing her duties at the young adult cabler, also a Disney subsidiary. All Onyx Collective titles will be released on the

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterCBS has added one comedy and one drama to its fall TV lineup, with series orders for “Smallwood” and “Good Sam.”“Smallwood,” based on the real-life story of professional bowler Tom Smallwood, stars Pete Holmes, Chi McBride and Katie Lowes. Mark Gross is executive producing and writing, with David Hollander and Brian D’Arcy James also exec producing and Mark Cendrowski directing.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterNBC unveiled a 2021-2022 fall season lineup that will feature a stack of “Law & Order” series on Thursdays — giving producer Dick Wolf two full nights of shows on the schedule — as the network courts audiences with dependable procedurals and nary a comedy until mid-season.Thursday nights this fall mark a real turn from the days of the Peacock network’s must-see comedy blocks: Season 23 of “Law & Order: SVU” will be sandwiched by Wolf’s newest addition to the

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterMagnolia Network, Discovery’s joint venture with home improvement gurus Chip and Joanna Gaines, is premiering four more original series to round out its summer slate: “The Cabin Chronicles,” “Extraordinary Stories Behind Everyday Things,” “RE(Motel)” and “Where We Call Home.”The quartet of new shows will debut on Discovery Plus, the streaming home of Magnolia Network, as well as on the Magnolia app.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its mask guidance Thursday, allowing Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to resume pre-pandemic indoor and outdoor activities without wearing a mask or socially distancing. That could possibly lead Disneyland and Walt Disney World to drop their current requirement that all visitors wear face coverings while at the U.S.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterJason Schwartzman, Eric Roberts and Eric Andre are joining the cast of Danny McBride’s “The Righteous Gemstones,” the HBO comedy centered on a famous televangelist family with a penchant for greed.The nine-episode Season 2, which is currently in production, will see Schwartzman in the recurring role of Thaniel, a journalist working on a story on the ministries.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterFive unscripted shows are coming back for another season at ABC, including newcomers “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” and “Supermarket Sweep.”“Supermarket Sweep” the celeb-heavy “Wheel” will each return for a Season 2 in 2021-2022, though both are versions of previously well-known formats.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterVeteran studio exec and producer Jennifer Gwartz, most recently at 20th Television, is joining UCP as executive vice president of the studio, which is a part of Universal Studio Group.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterTo highlight its Asian American and Pacific Islander creators and talent during AAPI Heritage Month, Netflix is launching a hub on the service dedicated to AAPI content, as well as a national ad campaign.The company joins other streaming services in spotlighting its AAPI shows and movies — HBO Max and Hulu are just two other streamers that debuted a dedicated collection of content featuring Asian Americans on screen.Netflix’s Celebrate Asian American & Pacific

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterMindy Kaling is known for her effervescent, sometimes airy, characters, like Kelly Kapoor on “The Office” or Mindy Lahiri on “The Mindy Project.” But don’t get them confused with Mindy Kaling, the rising entertainment mogul and founder of Kaling International, the production company with three shows in motion and an appetite for more.For Variety’s Power of Women issue, Kaling talked in-depth about her intense daily schedule (literally half a dozen television and film

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterSupersized K-pop group NCT is looking for new members, and the world will be watching — on television.MGM Television and its chairman Mark Burnett have inked a partnership with producer Soo-Man Lee and Korean powerhouse SM Entertainment to develop a K-pop competition series to find the newest members of NCT. The group is currently comprised of 23 members who also make up the sub-groups NCT 127, NCT DREAM and WayV.Open to young men between 13 and 25, the contestants

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterAfter two years at the company, Walt Disney Television president of entertainment Craig Hunegs is departing the media giant at the end of May.The decision to leave was Hunegs’, according to a source familiar with the matter, and follows Disney’s major reorganization last fall that realigned its businesses, splitting off its content creation team from its distribution and commercialization efforts into Disney General Entertainment Content and Disney Media &

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterAmid a spate of anti-Asian hate crimes this past year, the story of Vincent Chin — the 27-year-old Chinese American brutally beaten and killed in 1982 by two former autoworkers, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz, who blamed him for the economic downturn in Detroit — has become the focus of renewed interest for the entertainment industry.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterWhile Bucky Barnes-Sarah Wilson ‘shippers are clamoring for Marvel Studios to #ReleaseTheBuckySarahCut, it’ll have to settle for a detailed behind-the-scenes look at the creation of “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” that includes more delightful Helmut Zemo cuts and a look at the way the writers approached Sam Wilson’s (Anthony Mackie) transformation into Captain America.The hour-long program, part of the “Marvel Studios Assembled” series that last gave us a look at

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterAfter shuttering for 13 months amid a devastating global pandemic, Disneyland is reopening — and David Vaughn, for one, is excited.Before COVID-19 hit, the 36-year-old would visit theme parks about twice a month.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterShares of Facebook surged in after-market trading Wednesday, spiking more than 5% after the social networking giant recorded a major earnings and revenue beat for the first quarter of fiscal 2021, a period marked by strong advertising revenue growth and a 10% rise in monthly active users.Facebook logged diluted per-share earnings of $3.30 on total revenue of $26.17 billion, well ahead of Wall Street’s expected earnings of $2.37 per share on revenue of $23.67 billion

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterLongtime Sony Pictures Entertainment executive Keith Le Goy has been named the studio’s chairman of worldwide distribution and networks.Le Goy joins SPE motion picture group’s Tom Rothman and global TV studios and corporate development’s Ravi Ahuja as one of three chairman-level leaders running the studio’s business under Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra.Here’s the full memo from Vinciquerra:I am pleased to announce that Keith Le Goy has

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterSPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched the first season finale of “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” streaming now on Disney Plus.The six-episode run of “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” has in many ways centered not on the Falcon or the Winter Soldier individually but on the legacy of Captain America and what it would mean for a Black man to take ownership of the shield and all it symbolizes.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterSuzanna Makkos has been named executive vice president of original comedy and adult animation for Adult Swim and HBO Max’s adult animation development teams, which WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group is merging under her newly expanded leadership.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterNetflix has renewed its game show “Floor Is Lava” for a second season, Variety has learned exclusively.Rutledge Wood will be returning to host the show, a play on a childhood game that features a team of contestants leaping over obstacles and trying to avoid falling into the “lava” as they try to get to the other side of each treacherous room.The game show popped on Netflix when it premiered in June 2020, just a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic that confined

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterIt’s happening.Following an uproarious social media push to have “Reading Rainbow” and “Star Trek” star LeVar Burton take the hosting podium on “Jeopardy!”, the actor has been announced as part of the final group of guest hosts who will round out the show’s 37th season in the wake of the death of beloved “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek last November.“Our goal has been to present a wide variety of guest hosts with different skill sets and backgrounds on our path to

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterNetflix revealed that it will spend over $17 billion on content this year, according to its first-quarter earnings report.“As we’ve noted previously, the production delays from Covid-19 in 2020 will lead to a 2021 slate that is more heavily second half weighted with a large number of returning franchises,” said the company in its letter to shareholders.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterNetflix has ordered the new series “Florida Man,” starring Edgar Ramírez and created by Donald Todd.The eight-episode series, described in the same vein as “Body Heat” and Elmore Leonard’s “Out of Sight,” revolves around a struggling ex-cop who is “forced to return to his home state of Florida to find a Philly mobster’s runaway girlfriend… what should be a quick gig becomes a spiraling journey into buried family secrets, and an increasingly futile attempt to do the

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterApple TV Plus has ordered to series the bilingual drama “Now and Then” from Bambú Producciones and creators Ramón Campos, Teresa Fernández-Valdés and Gema R. Neira.