Rose McIver Talks ‘Ghosts’ Finale and Season 2 Plans, ‘A Christmas Prince 4’ Hopes

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDisney has previously revealed it has 500 shows in the pipeline outside of the U.S., but on Wednesday, the company broke down for the first time how those planned local-language programs are being dispersed throughout global regions.According to Christine M. McCarthy, senior executive vice president and chief financial officer, 140 of those shows are in the works in the Asia/Pacific region, including Southeast Asia; 150 are in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) territories); 100 are set up in India; and 200 are being developed for Latin America.Click here to sign up for Variety‘s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial and investment news, and more.Elsewhere on the call, CEO Bob Chapek was pressed by analysts on another international topic: Disney’s lack of traction in recent months with getting its movies approved for release in China.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterComedies and dramas traditionally make up a large portion of the broadcast TV landscape between September and May, but networks don’t deny the continuous draw of hit reality TV and competition shows. Each season, ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox, the so-called “Big 4” broadcasters, bring back old staples and add in new unscripted content in hopes of topping each other outside of their sitcoms and procedurals.While there could always be slight adjustments to season-long averages by the end of the traditional broadcast season in a few weeks, Variety has gathered Nielsen’s “most current” data through May 8 to rank ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox’s highest and lowest-rated unscripted series among adults 18-49. Below are the lists, which count 33 completed weeks of the soon-ending season.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterWhile measuring the success of broadcast series has largely been a job for the TV ratings among the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic, that total viewer tally is still powerful and not to be ignored.With the end of the 2021-2022 season fast approaching, Variety has looked at 33 weeks of complete Nielsen data from September to May to assess what the most and least-watched primetime scripted series have been across NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox.The below total viewer averages are season-long for each show and include persons over the age of 2, which is what Nielsen counts as a viewer. The totals are based on Nielsen’s “most current” data stream through May 8, which includes a week’s worth of delayed viewing where available. For the “most” list, it is ranked beginning with the top show.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterVice TV’s “Dark Side of the 90’s” returns with its second season next month, featuring new twisted tales from the era. In the Season 2 trailer, which is exclusive to Variety, Mary Jo Buttafuoco breaks down the infamous 1992 incident in which she was shot in the face by Amy Fisher, a teenager that her husband, Joey Buttafuoco, had committed statutory rape against.Labeled by the tabloids as “The Long Island Lolita,” 17-year-old Fisher served seven years on first-degree aggravated assault charges for the attack.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterOne year into its original programming push, Roku is debuting its first major international title.This week, the company will launch “Children Ruin Everything,” an already popular Canadian series, on its free streaming service. Created by “Schitt’s Creek” and “Kim’s Convenience” alum Kurt Smeaton and produced by New Metric Media, the half-hour comedy revolves around young parents Astrid (Meaghan Rath) and James (Aaron Abrams) as they struggle to define their lives outside their roles as mom and dad.Roku snapped up the U.S.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe traditional September to May broadcast TV season is coming to a close in a few weeks. Though there are still several finales left to air during that period, including the series closer for NBC’s tearjerker “This Is Us,” it’s pretty clear at this point what the highest and lowest rated shows are that have aired across the so-called “Big 4” broadcast networks throughout the 2021-2022 season.Keeping in mind there could always be slight adjustments to these season-long averages by the end of the month, Variety has sorted through Nielsen’s “most current” data through May 8 to rank ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox’s best and worst performers among adults 18-49.Below are the lists, which count 33 completed weeks of the soon-ending season. These ratings are averages across the shows’ respective seasons and based on a week’s worth of delayed viewing.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterLongtime Disney communications and marketing staple Charissa Gilmore has been promoted to senior vice president of corporate communications at the company’s TV content arm, Disney General Entertainment.Most recently vice president of global distribution communications for Disney/ABC Television, in her upped role, Gilmore heads up external and internal corporate communications strategies and execution across business operations and content brands, including 20th Television, ABC Entertainment, ABC News, ABC Signature, Disney Branded Television, Freeform, FX, Hulu Originals, National Geographic and Onyx Collective.Her responsibilities include strategy, corporate messaging, executive communications, internal communications, public relations, corporate social responsibility, issues management and the shared functions for events planning, promotions, visual communications, editorial and photo operations. Gilmore reports directly to Peter Rice, chairman of General Entertainment at Disney.“Charissa’s such an important and trusted partner to me and my leadership team, as well as to her colleagues throughout the company,” Rice said in a statement Tuesday.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterHBO’s “Winning Time” scored another series high viewership of 1.6 million viewers across multiple platforms Sunday. That audience tally was up 73% over the drama’s series premiere and 31% from the first season average.Based on the book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s” by Jeff Pearlman, the fast-break series chronicles the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties — a team that defined an era, both on and off the court.“Winning Time” Season 1 stars John C.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterHBO Max picked up “Julia” for a second season on Thursday, the same day its Season 1 finale dropped on the streamer. With that good news, fans of the Julia Child scripted series can rest assured they will be learning more about The French Chef herself (played by Sarah Lancashire) and the people who made her the icon she is in Season 2, including Judith Light’s Blanche Knopf.And there will be plenty to uncover about Blanche, the publisher of Child’s best-selling “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” books, in particular. The finale episode, titled “Chocolate Soufflé,” revealed the powerful co-founder and leader of publishing house Knopf is going blind, and only her mentee Judith Jones (Fiona Glascott), who was editor for Child, as well as novelists like John Updike at Knopf, knows about the dire situation.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOLER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched “Miguel,” the May 3 episode of “This Is Us.”“Miguel over the years,” was the simple description given for Tuesday’s “This Is Us,” the fourth-to-last episode of Dan Fogelman’s NBC family drama. While accurate, that logline doesn’t do the hour, aptly titled “Miguel,” justice, as it’s really the day-in-the-limelight installment fans of Jon Huertas’ Miguel Rivas have been waiting six seasons for — and also the one in which the character dies.The episode shows viewers Miguel’s origins in Puerto Rico, how he came to Pennsylvania as a boy with his parents and aunt, how he first didn’t get along with his best friend Jack’s (Milo Ventimiglia) wife Rebecca (Mandy Moore), and how years after Jack’s death, Rebecca and Miguel found their way back to each other, this time as romantic partners.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe 2021-2022 broadcast TV season is coming to a close, and CBS is ready to declare an early total viewers victory. The broadcast network said Tuesday they are poised to win their 14th consecutive season in terms of overall audience size.“The strength and depth of our core CBS series, the top new comedies and dramas on television, our iconic alternative programming, world-class sports franchises, plus the finest news program in the history of television, provided us with the power to surge to the top of the broadcast landscape for the 14th consecutive season.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Yellowjackets” ended its chilling first season by further fueling the mystery in the 1996 winter flashback sequence from the pilot, which featured the Antler Queen a.k.a. Lottie Matthews (Courtney Eaton) and her ilk killing and eating one of the survivors.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNetflix’s reboot of the “Iron Chef” franchise is bringing former “Iron Chef America” host Alton Brown and Mark Dacascos, who played the iconic role of “The Chairman” on the competition, back into Kitchen Stadium for another round.The streaming service’s “Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend” will see Brown return to host along with “Top Chef” winner Kristen Kish, and Dacascos reprise the part of The Chairman.Here is the official description for the “reimagining” of “Iron Chef,” which will launch on June 15: The legendary Iron Chef series is reborn with a supersized approach to the ground-breaking culinary competition that started it all. It’s been called the toughest culinary challenge a chef will ever experience.

Rose Leslie is giving a candid look at life at home with Kit Harington and their son who just turned 1.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterLimited series “Anatomy of a Scandal” has ended “Bridgerton” Season 2’s reign as the No. 1 English-language TV series on Netflix, according to the streaming service’s newly release Top 10 rankings.For the week of April 18-April 24, “Anatomy of a Scandal” was viewed for 75.6 million hours in its second week of availability, while “Bridgerton” racked up 46 million and landed in the No.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Abbott Elementary” got an A+ from ABC on its season finale, tripling its ratings with seven days of delayed viewing across DVRs, Hulu and other digital platforms, Variety has learned exclusively.The 9 o’clock on Tuesdays freshman comedy managed an initial 0.6 rating among adults 18-49 and 2.8 million total viewers for its April 12 finale, according to Live + Same Day data from Nielsen. Adding in a week of multiplatform viewing, the episode jumped 200% to a 1.8 rating, tying the show’s series high, and added 3.1 million viewers to reach 5.9 million total, per ABC.In looking at this same week-out metric, the “Abbott Elementary” finale’s key demo rating is up 50% from the show’s Dec.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNetflix’s “Bridgerton” was viewed for more than 2.5 billion minutes during the week of its Season 2 debut, according to Nielsen’s newly released streaming Top 10 rankings.The Chris Van Dusen-created period romance was easily the No. 1 program on streaming for the week of March 21-27 on Nielsen’s charts, even though only its first season was available for the majority of that week, as Season 2 premiered on March 25.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAfter months of criticism and anticipation, “The Masked Singer” episode featuring the unmasking of Rudy Giuliani finally aired Wednesday on Fox. The show’s installment with the disgraced former mayor of New York City and former personal attorney for President Donald Trump, got a 0.6 demo rating and 3.6 million total viewers, according to fast-affiliate Nielsen data.Viewership for Season 7 has been in flux since its March 9 premiere, with the Fox celebrity singing competition drawing a season high 4.3 million viewers on March 30, only to reach a season low of 3.9 million last Wednesday — which was beat by last night’s new low.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOLER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Matryoshka,” the Season 2 finale episode of “Russian Doll.”In Season 2, “Russian Doll” broke out of its first season’s “Groundhog Day”-style time-loop format with a “Quantum Leap”-like time-travel device that allowed Nadia (Natasha Lyonne) and Alan (Charlie Barnett) to jump into the bodies of their deceased loved ones by taking a trip on the New York City subway. Nadia becomes her mother, Lenora “Nora” (Chloë Sevigny), in the East Village in 1982, and grandmother Vera (Irén Bordán, younger version Ilona McCrea), in World War II-era Budapest, while Alan is inhabiting his grandmother Agnes (Carolyn Michelle Smith) in Germany during the Cold War in 1944.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe finale of CNN+’s “Land of the Giants: Titans of Tech,” titled “The Netflix Effect,” launches Thursday, perfect timing for an entertainment industry that is both reeling amid Netflix’s shocking Q1 subscriber miss, poor second-quarter outlook and the wait to see if CNN+ can find its groove as quickly as it might need to in order to survive.Based on the “Land of the Giants” podcast from Vox Media’s Recode, the CNN+ docuseries explores the complicated histories of Meta (a.k.a. Facebook), Apple, Amazon, Google and now Netflix.