WarnerMedia, Sesame Workshop Expand Content Alliance to Fight Kids’ Streaming Wars

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCBS News hasn’t put the same kind of spotlight on weather as many of its rivals, but that may all be about to change as quickly as a shift in the wind.The Paramount Global news unit is teaming with The Weather Channel to bring more reporting on weather and climate to CBS News programs including “CBS Mornings” and “The CBS Evening News,” as well as the division’s streaming efforts. Some of the most popular Weather Channel personalities — including Stephanie Abrams, Jim Cantore and Mike Bettes — are likely to turn up on CBS News programs in reports that originate from Weather Channel’s Atlanta headquarters.

‘Fortnite’ is no stranger to crossovers and collaborations, and it all started with ‘Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War’ where you could play as Thanos, but since then we’ve seen Japanese Pro Tennis player Naomi Osaka, multiple Disney properties including Star Wars, and Ariana Grande holding concerts in-game. 

Luke Matheny, who directs Apple TV+’s Ghostwriter, has signed up to serve as head writer and exec producer on HBO Max’s remake of Charlotte’s Web.

Star Wars director J.J. Abrams.According to reports in The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Deadline, Abrams and his Bad Robot Productions company are developing a scripted series for Netflix about the Bono-fronted band.There are reports that the script for the show is being written by Anthony McCarten, the scrip-writer behind Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody.As per The Hollywood Reporter, U2 are “expected to be involved and sanction the project.”NME has reached out to representatives of Abrams and Netflix for comment.Last November, U2 guitarist The Edge revealed that the band were working on a new album.The update came shortly after the four-piece released the track ‘Your Song Saved My Life’, their first new material in two years.Their most recent studio album, ‘Songs Of Experience’, came out back in 2017.

Samuel L. Jackson is just as eager to get back to the Star Wars franchise as fans are for him to make a return. During a recent live taping of the  podcast, the star revealed that he's lobbied for his Jedi Master character, Mace Windu, to make a return much like how other past franchise stars have made it back into the fold in recent years.«There's a huge history of people with one hand returning in ,'» Jackson joked, referring to both Anakin Skywalker severing his character's right hand before his eventual murder by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, as well as the multiple Skywalkers who have lost a hand. Jackson played Mace in the  prequel trilogy alongside stars Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker), Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi) and Natalie Portman (Padmé Amidala). He reprised the role for the 2008 animated film and voiced the character in 2019's The character has also appeared in various  books, comics and video games, as well as the television series voiced by Terrence C.

Star Wars spin-off series.In an interview with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Pulp Fiction star was asked if by Horowitz if he should hold out hope for a return to the role of Windu – a role he performed in all three of the “prequel” films between 1999 and 2005.“Definitely,” Jackson replied, adding: “There’s a huge history of people with one hand returning in the Star Wars franchise. The only person I’ve ever said that to about coming back was Bryce Dallas Howard, ’cause I just did a movie with her.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorChris Cuomo wants CNN parent WarnerMedia to keep paying him even though he no longer works there.The former CNN primetime anchor alleged in an arbitration filing Wednesday that his career has suffered damages in excess of $125 million, and suggested CNN had allowed several of his one-time colleagues to violate standards and practices in a bid to keep viewership. The anchor also said his firing by CNN late last year cost him nearly $15 million in salary that he would have earned if he had served out his last contract.In the filing, Cuomo’s attorneys argued that CNN favorites like Don Lemon and Jake Tapper, as well as analyst Jeffrey Toobin, had potentially violated the news outlet’s practices, but were not punished for doing so.  “As long as CNN’s ratings would not be hurt, [former CNN Worldwide President Jeff] Zucker and [former CNN Chief Marketing Officer Allison] Gollust were more than willing to overlook major transgressions by CNN personalities,” Cuomo’s filing alleges, “or even engage in blatant misconduct themselves.” CNN declined to comment.Cuomo and CNN parted ways last year after the anchor was caught up in the sexual-harassment scandal that engulfed his brother, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo.

While fans of “Star Wars” and Lucasfilm would both argue that “The Mandalorian” is a NEW series about NEW characters in the galaxy far, far away, there’s an argument to be made that Mando (the character and the show) is just an excuse to continue to mine the characters and stories of the franchise’s past. Hell, we even got the return of a young-ish Luke “Uncanny Valley” Skywalker.

Happy, Sad, Confused” podcast, Jackson was asked if he’d be up for returning, considering how many other past franchise stars have made it back into the fold in recent years. His answer was a definitive yes, as he joked that he’s pretty sure Mace Windu survived his fall in 2005’s “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.”Jackson also acknowledged a certain trend in the area of returners as well.“There’s a huge history of people with one hand returning in ‘Star Wars,'” Jackson joked, referring, of course, to the multiple Skywalkers who lost a hand.

As we prepare for the highly-anticipated release of “Obi-Wan Kenobi” on Disney+ in May, it’s clear Lucasfilm has fully embraced “Star Wars” on your TV screen. But what about the movies? It seemed like Patty Jenkins was going to have her “Rogue Squadron” film coming next year, but that got shelved.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorSymone D. Sanders will take over the 4 p.m. weekend slot on MSNBC as the NBCUniversal-owned network continues to bolster opinion programming over hours devoted to straight news reportage.The former media strategist, who has helped two prominent Democrats in presidential campaigns, will kick off her first show on Saturday, May 7, at 4 p.m.

Disney+ but can be rented or purchased for streaming on a variety of platforms. Death on the Nile's synopsis reads: "Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot's Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple's idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short.

bad motherf – – ker.“The Marvel actor, 73, was gifted a purple lightsaber from “Star Wars” creator George Lucas after starring as Mace Windu in the Darth Vader prequels. And the color wasn’t the only unique thing about it: the weapon was also engraved with the letters “BMF,” or “bad motherf – – ker,” a nod to Jackson’s character, Jules Winnfield, in the 1994 action flick “Pulp Fiction.”But during an appearance Wednesday on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Jackson revealed that he didn’t request that his present have a reference engraved on it.“They did that because they loved me — I didn’t ask for it,” Jackson explained to host Fallon.“When the shoot was over, when they presented it to me, it had ‘BMF’ on the on-off button,” the “Glass” actor said of his gift.

Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+ has been shared.The clip, which you can view below, begins with Ewan McGregor reprising his role as the titular Star Wars character on the sand dunes of Tatooine looking over a young Luke Skywalker before The Phantom Menace theme ‘Duel Of The Fates’ plays out.It goes on to show Obi-Wan’s new nemesis, Inquisitor Reva played by Moses Ingram (The Queen’s Gambit), who comes face to face with Skywalker’s Uncle Owen, played once again by Joel Edgerton.The trailer comes after new images for the series were shared earlier today (March 9).Obi-Wan Kenobi is set 10 years after the events of the 2005 Star Wars film Revenge Of The Sith, where Kenobi witnessed the downfall of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side as evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.“We find Obi-Wan at the beginning of our story rather broken, and faithless, and beaten, somewhat given up,” McGregor told Entertainment Weekly of the new series.The show’s director Deborah Chow added of Inquisitor Reva that the character is “ruthlessly ambitious”, while Ingram compared her to the Grand Inquisitor and Darth Vader.“They share a common dark-side goal. They’re on the same team,” she said, before adding that “it’s all heart” in terms of Reva’s ambition.

Ewan McGregor hasn’t starred in a “Star Wars” project since 2005’s “Revenge Of The Sith.” In that film, McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi suffered arguably his most significant defeat: the corruption of his Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, played by Hayden Christensen. READ MORE: The 70 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Mini-Series Of 2022 Now, Disney‘s take on the “Star Wars” universe looks to explore what happened to Kenobi and Vader between the events of “Sith” and “A New Hope.” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” the latest new “Star Wars” show on Disney+, sees McGregor and Christensen return in a new tale set ten years after the events of “Sith.” In the show, Obi-Wan lives in exile on Tatooine and watches over an infant Luke Skywalker, while Vader rules the Empire alongside Emperor Palpatine.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAndrew Ross Sorkin, the New York Times journalist and CNBC morning host, will take on a new assignment for NBC News: gaining an edge in the TV-news industry’s expanding streaming wars.Sorkin will host and produce a limited-run original series for NBC News Now, the NBC News streaming service that its parent has promoted aggressively in recent weeks as rival CNN prepares to launch a new streaming venture called CNN Plus. Sorkin’s streaming debut is expected to examine “the people, trends, institutions and forces shaping our world,” according to an NBC News statement.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCNN and Fox News Channel are fierce rivals, and their anchors regularly take pot shots at each other. But there is at least one thing on which they agree: how much a new subscriber to their streaming outlets ought to pay.CNN will charge $5.99 per month for its new CNN Plus, a subscription-video streaming outlet that is expected to launch in late March, according to a person familiar with the matter, confirming information previously reported by The Los Angeles Times.  That is the same monthly fee sought by Fox News for its Fox Nation outlet.

Richard Natale Contributing WriterOscar-winning producer and influential motion picture executive Alan Ladd Jr., who ushered in the “Star Wars” era of motion pictures, died Wednesday. He was 84.“With the heaviest of hearts, we announce that on March 2, 2022, Alan Ladd, Jr. died peacefully at home surrounded by his family.