Mary Viola Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

EXCLUSIVE: Eric Dean Seaton, who has directed episodes of Superman & Lois, Batman and Black-ish among others, is set to direct the first episode of BET+’s upcoming dark comedy Average Joe, starring Deon Cole. The series, which received a cast contingent script-to-series order in February, hails from Robb Cullen and McG.

EXCLUSIVE: The McG-led Wonderland Sound and Vision is developing a new docuseries based on the alleged crimes of Anthony Farrer, a high-end watch dealer and social media influencer who ran a consignment store in Beverly Hills.

BreAnna Bell Pilots for “The Hurt Unit,” “Public Defenders,” “Judgement” and “Keeping It Together” (which was formerly titled “Drop-Off”) are no longer moving forward at ABC. The news comes amid the ongoing writers strike taking hold of Hollywood. The Writers Guild of America decided to strike on May 2 after failing to reach an agreement on issues like wages and protections against AI. The medical procedural drama was ordered in December and starred Ben McKenzie. Per the official logline, the show is “a cutting-edge medical drama about a highly skilled team of trauma surgeons and nurses who race into the field to treat the patients who won’t make it to the hospital in time. When the sick and the injured can’t get to the ER, the Hurt Unit (Hospital Urgent Response Team) brings the ER to them.”

Not Dead Yet is very much alive. ABC has renewed the hit workplace comedy series starring Gina Rodriguez for a second season. The news was announced Tuesday ahead of Disney/ABC’s upfront presentation in New York.

There will be no second season for CBS’ True Lies. The network has canceled the reboot of James Cameron’s hit 1994 action comedy movie after one season. The news comes ahead of the show’s Season 1 finale on May 17.

A year after Black-ish ended its run, Anthony Anderson is returning to ABC as a star of another single-camera comedy, pilot Public Defenders. Randall Einhorn has come on board to direct the pilot, written by Eddie Quintana. Liz Astrof is set as showrunner.

ABC is starting to make comedy pilot orders.

Ed Helms (Together Together) and McG (The Babysitter) have boarded the Netflix body swap comedy Family Leave, inspired by New York Times bestselling author Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s book, Bedtime for Mommy. Helms will star alongside the previously announced Jennifer Garner, with McG serving as the project’s director and producer.

CBS has unveiled its midseason schedule – setting out plans to launch its True Lies series adaptation and RuPaul-hosted gameshow Lingo.

EXCLUSIVE: J.B. Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Francesca Reale (Stranger Things) and newcomer Maria Mancuso will round out the cast of the rom-com Música, which Rudy Mancuso is directing and starring in for Amazon Studios and Wonderland Sound and Vision. The trio joins an ensemble that also includes Riverdale‘s Camila Mendes, as previously announced.

McG, who has been busy producing movies for Netflix, returned to broadcast television this season with three pilots on three different networks for his Wonderland Sound and Vision banner, True Lies, based on James Cameron’s 1994 movie, on CBS; Not Dead Yet starring Gina Rodriguez on ABC; and the Jensen Ackles-produced Supernatural prequel The Winchesters on the CW. Over the last couple of days, all three were picked up to series. Additionally, BET+ just picked up Wonderland’s series Average Joe, created by Robb Cullen and starring Deon Cole.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe “True Lies” series adaptation has been ordered at CBS for the 2022-2023 broadcast season.The series order comes after the show was originally ordered to pilot at CBS in February 2021 before it was pushed off-cycle for consideration during this year’s pilot season.In the series, an unfulfilled suburban housewife (Ginger Gonzaga) is shocked to discover that her bland and unremarkable computer consultant husband (Steve Howey) is a skilled international spy. She is propelled into a life of danger and adventure when she’s recruited to work alongside him to save the world as they try to revitalize their passionless marriage.Along with Howey and Gonzaga, the cast includes Erica Hernandez, Omar Miller, Mike O’Gorman, Annabella Didion, and Lucas Jaye.

EXCLUSIVE: Camila Mendes (Riverdale) has signed on to star opposite Rudy Mancuso in the film Música, which he is directing for Amazon Studios and Wonderland Sound and Vision.

EXCLUSIVE: Deon Cole (Black-ish) has been cast in the lead role of BET+’s upcoming dark comedy Average Joe. The series, which received a cast contingent script-to-series order in February, hails from Robb Cullen and McG.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterGina Rodriguez is set for the lead role of the ABC comedy pilot “Not Dead Yet,” Variety has learned.In the single-cam pilot, Nell Stevens (Rodriguez) is broke, newly single and feeling old. Nell – a self-described disaster – works to restart the life and career she left behind 10 years ago.

Former Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez is returning to broadcast television as the lead in ABC’s single-camera comedy pilot Not Dead Yet from The Real O’Neals creators Casey Johnson and David Windsor, McG and 20th Television.

It’s a busy morning of pilot pickups at ABC.

Ethan Shanfeld ABC has ordered the pilot for “Not Dead Yet,” a single-camera comedy from writing duo Casey Johnson and David Windsor, executive produced by McG.“Not Dead Yet” follows 40-something Nell Stevens, who is down on her luck, low on cash and newly single. When she lands the only job she can find, writing obituaries, she starts receiving life advice from an unlikely source.

EXCLUSIVE: Cop Out writer Robb Cullen is working on a dark comedy drama inspired by his own life for BET+.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has landed the comedy spec The Tradition with McG producing through his Wonderland Sound and Vision banner. Nico Godinez Miller and Grant Mellon penned the script, which pulls from both of their different cultural backgrounds. Mary Viola will join McG as a producer.

Also Read: Joey King in Talks to Board Brad Pitt's 'Bullet Train' at SonyKing, who was a fan of the young adult book series, will executive produce alongside Jamie King and Westerfeld.

Justin Kroll Senior Film ReporterEXCLUSIVE: Nina Dobrev, Jimmy O. Yang and Charles Melton are set to star in the Netflix rom-com Love Hard, which Netflix preemptively acquired last August.