Rob Wade Upped to CEO of Fox Entertainment

Production on Fox’shas been halted following the death of Leslie Jordan. Jordan, who portrayed Phil in the series since Season 1, completed work on a total of 9 episodes.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Carol Mendelsohn and Julie Weitz’s Carol Mendelsohn Productions (CMP) has signed a multi-year first-look broadcast direct deal with Fox Entertainment. The announcement was made by Michael Thorn, Fox Entertainment’s president of entertainment, during MIPCOM Cannes. Under the deal, CMP will develop scripted drams for Fox. Should any shows be greenlit, they would be wholly owned by Fox with Mendelsohn and Weitz executive producing. CMP has already set up one project for development under the deal — a series adaptation of the Thomas Perry novel “The Bomb Maker.” Per the official logline, the series “follows former commander Dick Stahl, who is called in after the majority of the LAPD Bomb Squad is killed by a house bomb. On his first day back, the now three-person team is dispatched to a suspected car bomb, and it quickly becomes clear to him that they are dealing with an unusual criminal mastermind―one whose intended target appears to be the Bomb Squad itself.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Los Angeles-based real estate developer The Ratkovich Company, which brought the Hercules Campus in Playa Vista to life for Google and YouTube Studios, and a J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives investment group have acquired a three-acre property near Downtown Culver City with plans to develop it into a creative campus like others in the area occupied by Amazon, Apple, WarnerMedia, Sony, TikTok, Nike and Adobe, Variety has learned exclusively. Dubbed “The Bowcroft Collection,” the 73,035-square-foot group of connected buildings stretches from 5950-5978 Bowcroft Street, near the intersection of Jefferson and Obama Boulevards in Los Angeles.

Carol Mendelsohn, the former showrunner of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, has signed a deal with Fox and is once again attempting a series adaptation of Thomas Perry’s The Bomb Maker.

“CSI” showrunner and executive producer Carol Mendelsohn and producing partner Julie Weitz have struck a multi-year first-look broadcast direct deal with Fox Entertainment, president of entertainment Michael Thorn announced at MIPCOM Cannes. The duo’s previous deal with Universal Television is now over.Under the terms, Mendelsohn and Weitz will develop scripted dramas for the Fox.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor CANNES – The newly constituted senior entertainment team at Fox Corp. came to Mipcom this year with checkbooks in hand. The trio of executives who offered the keynote address Monday evening at the international content conference were blunt in telling the crowd that they came to make some new friends around the world and strike some deals. The company is bucking the trend in media toward direct-to-consumer subscription platforms. Fox is putting its resources into content and IP that can travel around the world and be adaptable in many forms. “While others are trying to hide their content behind paywalls, we are doing the opposite,” said Rob Wade, who was promoted this month to CEO of Fox Entertainment (“I’m 10 days in to the job,” he noted with a smile on stage). “We see the potential of working with (outside) networks, producers and distributors to be able to get our content out there further.”

New Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade has talked up the potential for TMZ to become a “huge entertainment studio,” setting out his stall at Mipcom Cannes for the first time since he replaced Charlie Collier.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Fox has given out an early Season 2 renewal to the Jon Hamm-led animated comedy “Grimsburg” before the show has even premiered. The announcement was made by Michael Thorn, president of entertainment for Fox Entertainment, during a MIPCOM panel moderated by Variety‘s co-editor-in-chief, Cynthia Littleton. “’Grimsburg’ is yet another clear example of our strong commitment to, and intense focus on, upholding the high bar of standards any show must exceed in order to reside under the Animation Domination banner,” Thorn said. “Of course, having Jon Hamm’s talent and star power front and center is a great place to start. Equally important, everything we’re seeing with ‘Grimsburg’ – from the very first scripts and show bible to animatics and preliminary cuts – makes us believe we have a winner on our hands that beautifully complements our animation brand.”

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is exploring a re-combination of the family’s Fox Corp. and News Corp., which split into two separately companies nearly a decade ago. The boards of directors of both have set up committees to examine the possibility.

Friday report in The Wall Street Journal.The Journal – itself part of the News Corp side of Murdoch’s holdings – says the discussions are at an “early stage,” with special exploratory board committees forming on both sides. A merger would bring the media empires back under one roof since Murdoch split his holdings in 2013 into News Corp, which is primarily publishing, and Fox Corp., mostly TV.Murdoch, 91, is currently executive chair of both companies.

Community alum Joel McHale has been tapped for the lead of Fox’s straight-to-series workplace comedy, Animal Control. McHale also will executive produce the single-camera show, Fox Entertainment’s first wholly owned live-action comedy.

As the fall sports calendar reaches a peak moment, especially in New York with the Yankees in the playoffs and the Jets finally on a winning path, Fox Corp. has warned Altice customers that a carriage fight could knock sports and other programming off the air.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Subscribers to Altice USA’s Optimum cable service face the prospect of days ahead without Fox’s broadcasts of NFL football and post-season Major League Baseball if contract talks between the two sides fail. Fox is starting to tell Altice subscribers via messages on its broadcast stations and cable networks that they face a potential blackout of programming. Fox and Altice have been in discussions for the past several weeks, according to a person familiar with the matter, but remain “materially apart” on terms. The companies’ current contract is slated to end at midnight Thursday, this person says. Meanwhile, Altice believes Fox is seeking rate increases that would be onerous to subscribers.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Fox Corp. is expanding its efforts to track viewers who might toggle between its Tubi video-streaming hub and its mainstream broadcast outlet. The media company has struck a multi-year deal with Innovid that will utilize the ad-tech and measurement firm’s technology to push Fox’s efforts to find new ways to gauge the performance of commercials placed on its media properties, no matter the venue. “As more viewers engage with content across multiple screens, it remains vital that we continue to work with our ad partners and provide them with the necessary data and insights that further display the value of converged TV and the engaged audiences and concentrated impact FOX delivers,” said Dan Callahan, senior vice president of data strategy and sales innovation at Fox, in a prepared statement. “Our partnership with Innovid is another step forward in expanding and delivering cross-platform measurement solutions that further align with our advertisers’ objectives.”

Fox’s new Entertainment Global sales unit will “go against the grain of other U.S.-based media entities” by being wholly agnostic and selling to everyone, according to CEO Fernando Szew.

Dan Harmon’s “Krapopolis” has scored a Season 2 order from Fox Entertainment before it’s even debuted its first season. The “Community” and “Ricky & Morty” vet’s latest animated series will premiere in 2023. Set in ancient Greece, “Krapopolis” follows a dysfunctional family of humans, gods and monsters as they try to govern the world’s first cities to varying degrees of success.

EXCLUSIVE: Adeola Role (Blue Bloods), Ryan Broussard (Only Murders in the Building) and Graham Verchere (Stargirl) are set as series regulars opposite Dania Ramirez and Scott Caan in Fox’s Alert, a character-driven police procedural from The Blacklist showrunner John Eisendrath and Jamie Foxx, Sony Pictures Television and Fox Entertainment.

Fox is doubling down on Krapopolis.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Fox has renewed the animated comedy “Krapopolis” for Season 2 before the show’s series premiere. The series, which hails from Dan Harmon, was originally picked up at Fox in February 2021. It is slated to premiere on the broadcaster in 2023, but it does not yet have an official premiere date. Per the official logline, “‘Krapopolis’ is set in mythical ancient Greece and tells the story of a dysfunctional family of humans, gods and monsters that try their hand at running the world’s first cities – without trying to kill each other, that is.” The show show’s voice cast includes stars like Hannah Waddingham, Richard Ayoade, Matt Berry, Pam Murphy, and Duncan Trussell.

replaces Charlie Collier, who announced his surprise exit to join Roku last month.Wade most recently served as president of alternative entertainment and specials at the company, where he oversaw the network’s unscripted content and development slate.“Since the formation of FOX Entertainment, Rob has been an integral part of the leadership team responsible for delivering on its long-term strategy of creating an independent media company built on broadcast, developing an owned content portfolio and maintaining a disciplined in-house infrastructure,” Murdoch said in a statement. “Given Rob’s sharp creative instincts and proven operational acumen, he is well-suited to lead FOX Entertainment in what promises to be an exciting next chapter in its rich history.”Fox Entertainment includes an expanding portfolio of content studios, including animation house Bento Box Entertainment, TMZ, MarVista Entertainment and Studio Ramsay Global.