Rob Lowe on Future ‘9-1-1’ Crossovers, Why He Should Get Credit for Dick Wolf’s Success and His ‘The Grinder’ Reboot Dreams

EXCLUSIVE: Platform Public Relations on Tuesday announced its appointment of Jennifer Curran to the role of Vice President, Global Talent Relations & Strategy, as well as its launch of new divisions in Asia and Europe.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Emmy-winning writer/producer/director Manny Coto, whose credits include “24” and its sequels “24: Live Another Day” and “24: Legacy,” as well as “American Horror Story,” “Star Trek: Enterprise” and “Dexter,” died Sunday in Pasadena. He was 62. News of Coto’s death was confirmed by a family representative. Coto died after a 13-month battle with pancreatic cancer, and passed away at his home, surrounded by family. Born in Havana, Cuba, Manuel Hector Coto was one of primetime’s most prominent Latino writers and showrunners. He shared the outstanding drama series Emmy in 2005 for Season 5 of “24,” and co-created “24: Legacy.” Coto also spend four seasons as exec producer of “American Horror Story,” and also exec produced two seasons of “American Horror Stories,” directing the 2021 episode “Feral.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “A Transparent Musical” is heading to New York and Broadway. The show, the first stage play from Amazon Studios, premiered in Los Angeles at the Mark Taper Forum in May — becoming the last show at the Taper for now, as Center Theater Group has canceled all shows at the stage following the close of “A Transparent Musical” on June 25. But whereas the Mark Taper is on hold, “A Transparent Musical” has big things in store. According to Amazon, the show’s producers “intend to bring the show to Broadway sometime in 2024.” The musical, or course, is based on Amazon Prime Video’s Emmy-winning series “Transparent,” created by Joey Soloway, who also wrote the book to the stage musical with MJ Kaufman. Faith Soloway wrote the music and lyrics to “A Transparent Musical.”

Julian Sands' body was positively identified by the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department Tuesday after hikers found his remains on Mt. Baldy last weekend. He was 65.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large CBS’ “Tough As Nails” was a late addition to the Eye network’s summer schedule, as broadcasters continue to adjust their primetime schedules in light of the WGA writers strike. This time out, the competitive series — hosted and executive produced by Phil Keoghan (“The Amazing Race”) takes place north of the border for the first time. Variety has a first look at Season 5 of “Tough as Nails,” which premieres with a two-hour opener on Sunday, July 2 at 8 p.m. ET. The series will then continue to air twice a week, at 8 p.m. ET on Fridays and Sundays, on CBS and Paramount+. “To be completely honest, we didn’t see the launch of ‘Tough as Nails’ 5 happening so quickly but even with a short notice we are doing everything we can to make the most of this awesome opportunity,” Keoghan told Variety. “‘Tough As Nails’ appeals to people of all ages and a lot of our audience are early to bed early to rise so the early time slot is a chance to grab people like we did when we launched in the summer of 2020 as CBS’s highest rated new reality format in the last five years. We know there’s an audience in the summer who love our show and we are extremely excited to know we have something really special to share with them this season.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large MANILA — Anyone who lived in Hawai’i in the early 1990s remember the story of the pint-sized Elvis impersonator in a Waikiki revue named Bruno Hernandez. He wasn’t even in grade school yet when he appeared on the cover of the local Midweek newspaper (which we all still remember), dressed fully as the King, and it soon landed him a role as an Elvis impersonator in the film “Honeymoon in Vegas.” In Hawaii, local fame is a big deal. And before he even hit 10, Bruno was a bit of local celebrity. The cute kid already had the kind of style, performing chops and showmanship that some spend a lifetime trying to attain. Definitely not the kind of thing that even crossed my mind when I was in elementary school, living in the Philippines. Coincidentally, that’s where I was on Sunday night, watching Bruno Mars perform so effortlessly on stage at the Philippine Arena (in Santa Maria, Bulacan, about 30 km north of Manila, and about 75 km away where I once lived).

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large If this year’s Emmy ballots are any indication, the era of Peak TV may truly be over — which FX boss John Landgraf has of course been predicting for some time. There are 163 dramas, 95 comedies and 51 limited/anthology series that have been submitted — down from 171 dramas, 118 comedies and 61 limited/anthology series last year. That’s still a lot of TV, but with fewer contenders comes the possibility of more dark horses getting noticed.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Up until now, game shows that aired before 8 p.m. competed in a dedicated category at the Daytime Emmys (where “Jeopardy” has won six times over the past decade). Meanwhile, the Primetime Emmys lumped game shows that ran after 8 p.m. in with competition reality series like “Survivor” and “Top Chef.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The decision to realign “variety talk” and “variety sketch” this year into “talk” and “scripted variety” didn’t do much to change that. If anything, it further narrowed the field, as perennial variety talk winner “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” has now been kicked over to scripted variety. As a result, my colleague Clayton Davis counts only 14 series eligible for the outstanding talk nomination. And it’s not much better in scripted variety, where just 10 shows appear to be eligible.

Rob Lowe is opening up about his success, and the success of others he may have inspired along the way!

Sir Rod Stewart took to Instagram on Wednesday to offer clarity following what he described as "confusion" about whether he planned to retire from music.  The 78-year-old singer posted a series of images of black writing on a white background that cleared up his plans.  They read: "I like to clear up any confusion that I may have caused my dear fans and the media.

Dylan Dreyer delivered some big career news on Wednesday and her fans are delighted.  The popular Today host has her hands full juggling her role on the morning show and her hectic life as a mom to her three boys.

Andrew Barker Senior Features Writer Things have always been bigger in Texas. And thanks to some recently passed legislation, Texas film production is finally primed to take on a role befitting the state’s reputation. After years of watching productions opt for more incentive-rich states, Texas has been home to an immense amount of film and TV shooting over the past two years, with HBO’s “Love and Death,” Paramount’s “Yellowstone,” Apple TV+’s “The Last Thing He Told Me,” the CW’s “Walker,” Netflix’s “Hypnotic” and the Houston-set series “Mo” all setting up shop in the Lone Star state. And the floodgates look set to open even further with the recent legislative passage of $200 million in state shooting incentives, a sharp increase from the $45 million the state offered previously.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large We’ve all made the “Cop Rock” jokes. The Steven Bochco musical drama, which premiered in fall 1990, was a big swing: marrying original music with procedural storytelling. It was a colossal flop that we still talk about three decades later, and a reminder that musicals are hard. Music has been a part of the TV landscape going back to the 1950s and shows like “Your Hit Parade.” But few series have successfully integrated regular music performances into their storytelling: “The Monkees” and “The Partridge Family” worked in the 1960s and ’70s. “Fame” did it in the early ’80s. And then “Cop Rock” scared people off the concept.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Marc Maron’s recent HBO standup special “From Bleak to Dark,” yes, touches on subjects that might be considered bleak and dark. But of course, it’s much more than that. Sure, Maron opens the special by pointing out that society seems to be on a collision course with disaster, and there’s little that can be done about it. But, as the comedian, actor and podcaster tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast, he’s just being a realist. “There’s a truth to it,” he says. “And I think that the first 15 or 20 minutes of that special addresses a lot of things in in a fairly broad way, because I wanted it to have some longevity. The negative things I talk about aren’t going anywhere. But also framing the special like that, like ‘I don’t want to be negative, I don’t think anything’s ever gonna get better ever again,’ is an acceptance. If you have acceptance around that, it gives you a bit of freedom of mind. There’s a sort of ‘zero fuckness’ to it.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Dave” and Lil Dicky fans, the artist’s first new music in eight years is finally coming to streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music later this year. Dave Burd, the “Dave” star/exec producer and rapper also known as Lil Dicky, is compiling tracks, and expanding other music cues, from the first three seasons of “Dave” that he plans to release shortly. The album would serve somewhat as a “Dave” soundtrack but also as Lil Dicky’s first official release since 2015’s “Professional Rapper,” which was certified Gold and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Top Rap Albums chart. “I’ve been making music ever since then,” Burd said. “I realized this year, as I took a step back and looked at all the different music that’s made it into the first three seasons of the show, there’s enough here, a great body of work and a project that I can put out as a soundtrack. I think this is such a better representation of Lil Dicky the musical artist than, honestly, my first album even was. People are always like, ‘when can I get that song?’ I think this will be a cool thing for fans who have watched the show. And for people who have never even seen the show, I think they’ll enjoy listening to this as like a body of music.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Tyler James Williams has experienced several different kinds of fandom since childhood, starting with films like “Unaccompanied Minors,” and then his starring role in “Everybody Hates Chris,” and even a stint on “The Walking Dead.” But there’s nothing that compares to the passionate audience of teachers who have gravitated his latest series, ABC’s hit comedy “Abbott Elementary.” On this episode, Williams talks about the show’s resonance, his experience as a child actor, where his character’s relationship with Quinta Brunson’s character might be heading and so much more. Listen below! “It’s such a blessing that they feel so represented by it,” Williams tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit podcast. “Now I feel like, if there’s a teacher within ten blocks of me, I’m going to know about it. They’re going to say something. I didn’t realize how much this show resonated with them until going back out into the world. And seeing how willing they are to give all of the love towards us. It’s really been one of the more beautiful experiences of my career.”

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Netflix’s controversial reality competition show based on its smash South Korean drama “Squid Game” will finally debut in November, and the streamer offered up a very brief glimpse of reality show “Squid Game: The Challenge” on Saturday during its global, virtual Tudum fan event from Brazil. “The world’s most notorious game becomes reality,” the teaser clip says, before showing contestants exiting their rooms and heading to the game of “Red Light Green Light” — featuring the giant, killer doll that in the scripted “Squid Game” swivels its head around and fires gunshots to eliminate players who were moving. The unscripted game show, which was first announced in June 2022, was shot across two studios in the U.K. and produced by Studio Lambert and The Garden. Like the series, 456 contestants were cast (in this case, from around the world) to compete in various challenges based on the Korean children’s games featured on the show, as well as new games. The winner receives a $4.56 million cash prize.

Malina Saval Associate Editor, Features When series creator Tony McNamara was crafting the character of Aunt Elizabeth in Hulu’s Emmy-winning biographical comedy “The Great,” he penned it with his actor wife and fellow Aussie, Belinda Bromilow, front of mind.  “I knew the character and I knew what I needed from an actor to do it,” says McNamara, a seasoned playwright and Oscar-nominated screenwriter for Yorgos Lanthimos’ piquant 2018 drama “The Favourite.”  “I knew [Elizabeth] needed to have a strong dramatic voice but also be  a bit idiosyncratic and have really good comic bones,” McNamara continues. “The actor needed to be able to do comedy and be able to shift gears into a darker place. And I’d worked with Belinda before and knew that she could do that.” 

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Imagine you’ve been given a role in a pilot: The exciting news appears in the trades, you film the episode and take the cast publicity photos. Then your show is picked up! But there’s a caveat: Your role is being re-shot with a new actor. Devastating! Cue sad trombone sound effect. That’s why I like these kinds of stories better: The background actors, guest stars and recurring actors who eventually graduate to series regular status thanks to sheer persistence and talent. That’s the case this season for “Ted Lasso” standout James Lance, who plays Trent Crimm — formerly of The Independent, now just independent — on the show.