‘The Problem With Jon Stewart’ Won’t Compete for Hosted Nonfiction Emmys, Must Submit as Talk Series (EXCLUSIVE)

Angelique Jackson The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) has announced the lineup for this year’s Talks Series, headlined by 2023 festival ambassador Lena Waithe. The 27th edition of the festival will be held June 14-18 in Miami Beach, followed by a virtual program June 19-25 on ABFF Play. On Thursday, June 15, the Emmy-winning writer, producer and actor will sit for an intimate one-on-one conversation, billed as “The Lena Waithe Effect,” where she’ll recount her journey in the entertainment industry. In addition to Waithe, the series of conversations and panels also features: “That’s Our Business,” a candid conversation with Tabitha Brown and her husband Chance Brown; a panel discussion with TV One Networks’ Kirk and Tammy Franklin (“The One”) and LisaRaye McCoy (“Asking for a Friend”); a look behind-the-scenes of Bounce TV’s “Act Your Age” starring Kym Whitley and Yvette Nicole Brown; a celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary with the Xfinity Original Series “Hip House”; and the WBD Access Music Supervisor Panel featuring Morgan Rhodes (“The Color Purple”) and Carolyn Owens (“Cherish the Day”).

While Amy Adams fans await her next role in Marielle Heller‘s “Night Bitch,” in post-production now, another upcoming film for the actress emerges.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Stanley Tucci may not be searching much longer. The actor-foodie says he’s “pretty confident” that he’ll find a new home for his cooking and travel show, “Searching for Italy.” CNN canceled the two-season series in December when the network ended its development of original documentary programming. “We’re talking to different companies,” Tucci told me at the premiere of his new Amazon Prime Video series, “Citadel.” “We’ll find out in a few weeks.” The series received seven Emmy nominations, winning for outstanding hosted nonfiction series in 2021 and 2022. 

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Guy Fieri is rolling out “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” into a new Emmys category. Food Network has successfully petitioned the Television Academy to move the long-running food reality series back to the outstanding structured reality category, where it will compete against other popular series such as “Love is Blind,” “Queer Eye” and “Shark Tank.” It had previously been submitted for hosted nonfiction series or special since 2020. Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Emmy predictions in all categories. Hosted by Fieri since the show’s debut in 2007, the show had received six Emmy nominations — five for outstanding structured reality program from 2014-2019 and outstanding reality program in 2013, the last year before the category was separated into two for structured and unstructured programming.

EXCLUSIVE: Jon Stewart is the latest star to cancel promotional duties as part of the writers strike.

Stanley Tucci is opening up about his cancer battle.

Stanley Tucci is revealing details of his struggle with oral cancer after a 2017 diagnosis.

Trevor Noah recently stepped down from “The Daily Show” after seven years as host, hired in 2015 when previous host Jon Stewart decided it was time to exit.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor John Mulaney is answering questions about being asked by Comedy Central executives if he was interested in hosting “The Daily Show” when Jon Stewart bowed out in 2015. During a recent appearance on Doug Herzog and Jen Chaney’s “Basic!” podcast, Herzog — who was president of Viacom Music and Entertainment Group, which oversaw Comedy Central, until 2017 — asked Mulaney if he recalled the conversation he had with then-president of Comedy Central, Kent Alterman, about potentially taking over. “I think we were floating your interest in that and you were very lukewarm as I remember,” Herzog said. Mulaney explained that he ultimately passed because, in part, his Fox sitcom “Mulaney” had just been canceled after only one season.

Lionsgate’s brief CinemCon presentation, since they have allotted 90 minutes out of two hours for a screening of “Joy Ride,” was highlighted by the first look at “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songburds and Snakes.” The trailer, which will debut in theaters with “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” next week, introduces viewers to the tenth annual Hunger Games competition, telling a story of how the future President Snow (played in the four “Hunger Games” movies by Donald Sutherland) mentored a promising 12th district competitor and, well, if you’ve seen the movies or read the books you can presume it doesn’t end well for the good guys.

After unveiling a first look at A Quiet Place: Day One here at CinemaCon, John Krasinski teed up a peek at his original family comedy/drama IF. He also announced voice cast including Matt Damon, Jon Stewart, Emily Blunt, Maya Rudolph, Sam Rockwell, Sebastian Maniscalco, Christopher Meloni, Richard Jenkins, Awkwafina and Vince Vaughn.

 is on! On Wednesday, Disney celebrated the upcoming premiere of its live-action reimagining of the studio's animated musical classic by releasing new character posters, a new teaser and the first single from the film's upcoming soundtrack.Fans are getting their first proper listen to Halle Bailey's rendition of the film's classic song, «Part of Your World,» which was briefly heard in previous trailers and sneak peeks.

"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" director James Mangold said this week that the fifth installment of the franchise opens with a 25-minute action sequence in which Harrison Ford, 80, plays a 35-year-old version of himself.  "I just shot him, and he just pretended that he was 35," Mangold told Total Film magazine of Ford who he called "incredibly gifted and agile." He added, "But the technology involved is a whole other thing."  Mangold explained that dots were placed on Ford’s face during the scene that takes place in 1944 and using VFX technology and old Lucasfilm footage of the actor as a younger man, he was de-aged.  The new film is set in the space race-era of 1969.  "We had hundreds of hours of footage of him in close-ups, in mediums, in wides, in every kind of lighting, night and day," he told the magazine. "I could shoot Harrison on a Monday as, you know, a 79-year-old playing a 35-year-old, and I could see dailies by Wednesday with his head already replaced." The director called the technology "incredible," saying he did not think about it while shooting the sequence.

parting ways, and the reactions range in creativity on Twitter.“This is an earth-shaking moment in cable news,” Brian Stelter wrote.Jon Stewart simply tweeted the eyes emoji staring off suggestively. Another user tweeted a photo of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen doing the three finger salute from “The Hunger Games” which serves as a send-off, especially when Rue (Amandla Stenberg) dies.The announcement of Don Lemon’s exit from CNN has spawned even more tweets about the coincidental firings of two major news anchors.“MSNBC executive leadership scrambling to figure out who they should fire today to keep pace with rivals at Fox and CNN,” wrote Jake Whitaker.Another user posted a Simpson’s gif that fits the current situation at the news networks.One user called Carlson’s exit the “succession season finale stunner.”Another Twitter user touted the recent “Succession” storyline that had Kerry vying for an on-air role saying, “It’s her time.” Several people connected Carlson’s departure to this plotline of the hit HBO show.Cliff Schecter wrote a verse set to “We Didn’t Start the Fire” about Fox:Still another user called the announcement “The end of an era” because “Tucker was too much for them to bear. Too much truth about COVID, vaccines, Ukraine, January 6 was probably the last straw.

a recent Morning Consult poll revealed he is the least popular senator in the country, carrying an approval rating of just 28%. In the Friday night bit, the “Tonight Show” host on NBC pulled together several fake quotes from other U.S.

Priyanka Chopra is looking gorgeous in green for the latest red carpet premiere for her Prime Video series Citadel.

has no regular host.

The Sands International Film Festival, Scotland’s burgeoning film event, opened its second edition this weekend with the world premiere screening of Citadel, the much-talked-about Prime Video series from Marvel auteurs Anthony and Joe Russo.

Just the guys. Tristan Thompson was spotted hitting the club with Corey Gamble on Tuesday, April 11.

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC and CNN are teaming up to mark 20 years since the Columbia space shuttle disaster.