Seth Rogen on Choosing His Hollywood Battles and Why Movies Will Never Go Away: ‘People Still Go to Museums!’

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large It’s been more than a year and a half since Rob Wade took over as CEO of Fox Entertainment. On Monday at the Banff World Media Festival, Wade made his first extensive public comments about how it’s been going so far — and elaborated on any new acquisition plans he might have for the company, the fate of some of the third party shows still on his air (including “9-1-1: Lone Star”) and the decision behind his recent corporate restructuring network, studio and distribution operations into their own divisions.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Will Arnett is expanding his relationship with Fox Entertainment. The actor and comedian, who hosts Fox’s “Lego Masters,” has sealed an overall producing deal for his Electric Avenue Prods. to produce fare for the network’s in-house production company.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large I can’t help admiring the sheer audacity of Aram Rappaport. He’s the creator, writer and director behind “The Green Veil,” a drama series starring John Leguizamo that debuted with two episodes at the Tribeca fest in 2022. When he couldn’t find an outlet to pick up the full series, Rappaport decided to launch his own ad-supported streaming service — dubbed The Network — from scratch.

It’s almost comical how many films and TV shows get sequels, prequels, or reboots nowadays. It’s actually news when we hear a filmmaker say that a specific property won’t be revisited.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Angel Studios is planning to appeal an arbitrator’s ruling that ended its relationship with the producers of faith-based TV megahit “The Chosen.” The news comes as The Chosen LLC — the company behind the production of series — announced this week that the show’s Season 4 would exclusively stream on “The Chosen” app starting with the first two episodes on June 2. In a statement, Angel Studios CEO Neal Harmon said it will “pursue the appeal provision that Angel and The Chosen agreed to as the process for resolving disagreements privately.” In a unique distribution model, “The Chosen” Season 4 was first released in theaters this February, where it scored big box office returns. But after that, the show’s TV premiere remained in limbo as Angel Studios and The Chosen LLC tussled over the season premiere plans.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Scardino was also part of the Fey/Carlock collab that gave us NBC’s “Mr. Mayor,” and I am still a bit angry that not enough people tuned into that sharp series. Ted Danson and Holly Hunter led a workplace comedy that delightfully skewered Los Angeles while setting up some amazing character dynamics.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Ramy Youssef‘s latest HBO special, “Ramy Youssef: More Feelings,” had been in the works for years — and had evolved over time as Youssef got in a relationship and eventually got married. But some of his routine also became very more front and center for audiences in the wake of the war in Gaza. “There’s stuff that I do touch on, a tightrope walk of taking really big concepts, and then making them super personal,” Youssef tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large TV audiences tracked down “Tracker” in a big way this season. The freshman CBS drama, which stars Justin Hartley as a survivalist who helps law enforcement and others solve tough cases, was the 2023-24 TV season’s most-watched entertainment series. According to the Eye network, that’s the first time a first-year TV series was ranked as the No.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large A year after the Hollywood strikes turned Emmy campaigning into a bit of a muted endeavor, For Your Consideration events are back in a big way for 2024. The networks, studios and streamers have already launched a bevy of activations to celebrate their awards contenders, on top of the usual round of panels, with their stars back on stage front and center. What a difference a year makes.

American actor and comedian Eric André has been spotted at a café in Manchester city centre this afternoon following a sold-out gig.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Alan Cumming isn’t much of a reality TV fan — so as host of Peacock’s “The Traitors,” he enjoys being a bit blind to the baggage that many of the contestants carry to the Scottish Highlands. “When I go to do ‘The Traitors, I have a crash course in reality TV stars, and random people,” he tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast. “I don’t know who many of the people are.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large That’s why I wasn’t happy in the late 1990s when hourlong shows like “Ally McBeal” and “Desperate Housewives” entered (and won, in some cases) the Emmy comedy race. Hourlong dramedies are not comedies! No one ever called “All in the Family” — which had some deep, dark moments — a drama, and yet there were a couple of laughs in “Desperate Housewives” (which opened with a death!) and suddenly it’s a comedy? Sadly, I lost this battle years ago. And as we know, the comedy race is really now a dramedy race.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Entertainment Tonight” anchors Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner are back to once again host the Daytime Emmys, as the 51st edition of the kudocast airs live on Friday, June 7, at 8 p.m. ET (tape delayed on the west coast) from the Westin Bonaventure hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The event airs on CBS and Paramount+, marking the 18th time the Daytime Emmys has been broadcast on the Eye network.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Details follow for Season 11, Episode 13 of “The Masked Singer,” “Finale: One Mask Takes It All,” which aired May 22 on Fox. “The Masked Singer” winner Vanessa Hudgens admits she didn’t necessarily play the hiding game: At least among her friends and fans, they figured out it was her under the Goldfish costume rather quickly. “Rita [Ora] guessed it was me straight from the jump,” Hudgens said. “But she’s also my friend.

Seth Rogen occupies an interesting place in Hollywood. For the most part, he’s made a name for himself enough that he can get a TV show or comedy film financed and distributed with relative ease.

Danny DeVito has thrown his hat into the ring to play the role of Wario in the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel.The Super Mario Bros. Movie was one of the highest-grossing films of 2023 (second behind Barbie) and is the highest grossing film based on a video game of all time.Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, the animated film was a collaboration between Illumination (Despicable Me), Nintendo and Universal Pictures.Chris Pratt voiced the iconic plumber, alongside Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong.The runaway success of the film made a sequel all but a certainty, and after months of speculation, it was confirmed in March, with a planned release date of April 3, 2026.A post shared by The Movie Dweeb (@themoviedweeb)And now, DeVito has said in an interview with The Movie Dweeb on YouTube that he would be up for taking on the role of Wario, the archnemesis of Mario.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Super Bowl LVIII on CBS and “Toy Story Funday Football” on Disney+ and ESPN+ led this year’s tally of Sports Emmys winners, with three each, as announced Tuesday evening by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Hosted by The Kid Mero, the 45th annual Sports Emmy Awards featured the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Honor to sportscaster and three-time Emmy Award-winner James Brown, by Sean McManus (former Chairman, CBS Sports).

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Wang Chung had no idea John Mulaney’s six-episode Netflix talk show “Everybody’s in LA” would use their 1985 song “To Live and Die in L.A.” as its theme song — but they’re thrilled he did. “It’s a total surprise that it’s blown up in the way that it has,” says Wang Chung lead singer Jack Hues, who first heard of the usage on “Everybody’s in LA” via “the guy who does our merch.” For guitarist Nick Feldman, the other half of the duo, he was already a big Mulaney fan when he got the news that “To Live and Die in L.A.” was suddenly getting a new breath of life on Netflix. “It’s so nice to see it get used in such a cool way,” he says.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host Jimmy Kimmel once again shared the Disney upfronts stage on Tuesday, providing his zingers in person for advertisers and media buyers at the programming presentation for the first time in five years. That’s because last year Kimmel didn’t attend due to the Hollywood WGA strikes. And in 2022, he was in New York — but had to be beamed in to do his routine after testing positive for COVID.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Monk” is the epitome of the classic blue-sky show. Its mysteries are gripping, but the show’s characters are inviting — always giving viewers a reason to laugh. That’s still the case with Peacock’s reunion movie “Mr.