Why Modern Comedies From ‘Cobra Kai’ to ‘The Flight Attendant’ Mix Tones

Kaley Cuoco has been a working actress for nearly three decades, but she only just shot her first sex scene last year.

At a time when we were all locked down during the pandemic, it was fun to revel in a jet-setting, high-stakes and hijinks world, and HBO Max’s freshman series The Flight Attendant delivered that and showed a Kaley Cuoco we’ve never seen before, able to play various shades in spades.

Kaley Cuoco is looking back on having to shoot her first-ever sex scene.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe premiere episode of the “Gossip Girl” reboot will air on The CW after it debuts on HBO Max.The follow-up to the beloved series, which originally aired on The CW from 2007-2012, will become available on HBO Max on July 8. On July 9, The CW will air the first episode from 8-9:30 p.m.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterJordan Young has been named executive producer and showrunner on the Dan Harmon animated Fox comedy “Krapopolis.”The show was ordered at Fox back in January and is slated to debut in 2022.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe HBO Max pirate comedy series “Our Flag Means Death” is rounding out its cast with six new additions.Kristian Nairn, Nathan Foad, Samson Kayo, Rory Kinnear, Con O’Neill and Vico Ortiz will all join the show alongside previously announced series lead Rhys Darby.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterNetflix has given a straight-to-series order to a comedy set in the front office of the Los Angeles Lakers from writer Elaine Ko and executive producer Mindy Kaling, Variety has learned.The untitled, half-hour series is inspired by the personal and professional dynamic between the family owners and front office team that together run one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterZiwe is set to develop the comedy series “The Nigerian Princess” at Amazon, Variety has learned exclusively.The project follows Zoe, a wise-beyond-her-years 20-something who, debilitated by student debt, partners with a known grifter in a desperate bid to achieve the American Dream.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe “Beauty and the Beast” prequel has officially been ordered to series at Disney Plus, Variety has learned.The live-action musical series will star Luke Evans and Josh Gad, who will reprise the roles of Gaston and LeFou (Louie) respectively from the 2017 live-action “Beauty and the Beast” film. In addition, newcomer Briana Middleton will join the show as Tilly, Louie’s stepsister.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterRobin Thede and London Hughes are set to star in a “Perfect Strangers” reboot that is in development at HBO Max, Variety has confirmed.In the multi-cam reboot, perfect strangers Deja (Thede) and Poppy (Hughes) unexpectedly discover that they are half-sisters when they both inherit a one-bedroom apartment above a trap yoga studio in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Danielle Turchiano Senior Features Editor, TVChristina Choe and Susanna Fogel have served as writers and directors of film projects including “Nancy” (Choe) and “The Spy Who Dumped Me” (Fogel).

With two super successful television shows under her belt, Kaley Cuoco is looking forward to what’s next.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“Hacks” has been renewed for Season 2 at HBO Max.The series, which will wrap up its first season on June 10, follows Jean Smart as veteran Las Vegas comedian Deborah Vance and the dark mentorship that she forms with an outcast 25-year old comedy writer (Hannah Einbinder).“I am absolutely thrilled we are picked up for a second season and I told Hannah it’s ‘No more Miss Nice Guy; from now on it’s Bette and Joan! And guess who’s BETTE??!!’” Smart said.The series debuted on

Kate Aurthur editorDuring their conversation for Variety’s Actors on Actors series, Elizabeth Olsen told Kaley Cuoco that she’d been playing Wanda Maximoff for two years straight, having gone from the Disney Plus series “WandaVision” straight into the upcoming Marvel Studios movie “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”Cuoco’s first reaction was, “I was like, ‘What’s it like to play the same character?’” Then she remembered “The Big Bang Theory:” “Oh, I did that for 12 years,” she

Joe Otterson TV ReporterMike Myers’ new Netflix comedy series has officially been titled “The Pentaverate,” with the show adding six new cast members.Ken Jeong (“Crazy Rich Asians,” “Community”), Keegan-Michael Key (“Schmigadoon,” “The Prom,” “Lion King”), Debi Mazar (“Goodfellas,” “Younger”), Richard McCabe (“The Audience,” “Eye in the Sky”), Jennifer Saunders (“Absolutely Fabulous,” “Death on the Nile”), and Lydia West (“Years and Years,” “It’s a Sin”) will all appear alongside Myers in the

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“The Staircase” series at HBO Max has cast Odessa Young, Variety has learned.She joins previously announced cast members Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Juliette Binoche, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Sophie Turner.The eight-episode series is based on the docuseries of the same name as well as various books and reports about the case of Michael Peterson (Firth), who was accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen (Collette), in 2001.