Updated: The network upfronts are once again front-and-center for the television industry as major players gather in New York May 13-16 for the springtime ritual of courting advertisers and media buyers and presenting programming plans for the upcoming TV season.
The industry is looking forward to a return to form after the disruption of last year’s writers and actors strikes. As content chiefs outline their schedules for the 2024-2025 television season, here is a running list of new comedy, drama and unscripted series orders handed out by ABC, Disney, CBS, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC, Fox, the CW and other major players. This post will be updated throughout upfront week.
Related Content: Upfronts 2024 Full Coverage
NBC Comedy
Happy’s Place (Universal Television)
Logline: Bobbi inherits her father’s bar and is less than thrilled to discover that she has a new business partner in the half-sister she never knew she had.
The industry is looking forward to a return to form after the disruption of last year’s writers and actors strikes. As content chiefs outline their schedules for the 2024-2025 television season, here is a running list of new comedy, drama and unscripted series orders handed out by ABC, Disney, CBS, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC, Fox, the CW and other major players. This post will be updated throughout upfront week.
Related Content: Upfronts 2024 Full Coverage
NBC Comedy
Happy’s Place (Universal Television)
Logline: Bobbi inherits her father’s bar and is less than thrilled to discover that she has a new business partner in the half-sister she never knew she had.
- 5/12/2024
- by William Earl
- Variety Film + TV
CBS has given an early series order to “Sheriff Country,” a new spin-off of hit Eye network drama “Fire Country.” But rather than airing the show next fall or midseason, CBS plans to save “Sheriff Country” for the 2025-2026 TV season.
The show comes out of a “Fire Country” backdoor pilot that aired on April 12 as the episode “Alert the Sheriff.” In that episode and in the series, Morena Baccarin (“Homeland”) stars as “straight-shooting sheriff Mickey Fox,” the stepsister of “Fire Country’s” Cal Fire division chief Sharon Leone (Diane Farr). Per the logline, Mickey “investigates criminal activity as she patrols the streets of small-town Edgewater while contending with her ex-con father and a mysterious incident involving her wayward daughter.”
Tony Phelan and Joan Rater are writing the first “Sheriff Country” episode, with story by Phelan, Rater and Max Thieriot. Executive producers are Thieriot, Phelan, Rater, and Jerry Bruckheimer and...
The show comes out of a “Fire Country” backdoor pilot that aired on April 12 as the episode “Alert the Sheriff.” In that episode and in the series, Morena Baccarin (“Homeland”) stars as “straight-shooting sheriff Mickey Fox,” the stepsister of “Fire Country’s” Cal Fire division chief Sharon Leone (Diane Farr). Per the logline, Mickey “investigates criminal activity as she patrols the streets of small-town Edgewater while contending with her ex-con father and a mysterious incident involving her wayward daughter.”
Tony Phelan and Joan Rater are writing the first “Sheriff Country” episode, with story by Phelan, Rater and Max Thieriot. Executive producers are Thieriot, Phelan, Rater, and Jerry Bruckheimer and...
- 5/2/2024
- by Michael Schneider
- Variety Film + TV
CBS has ordered its first new series for the 2025-26 broadcast season. The network has given a green light to Fire Country spinoff Sheriff Country, headlined by Morena Baccarin. The series order was announced Thursday during CBS’ presentation in Los Angeles.
In Sheriff Country, Baccarin stars as straight-shooting sheriff Mickey Fox, the stepsister of Cal Fire’s division chief Sharon Leone (Diane Farr of Fire Country), who investigates criminal activity as she patrols the streets of small-town Edgewater while contending with her ex-con father and a mysterious incident involving her wayward daughter.
Related: George Cheeks Addresses Paramount Global Shakeup, Company Morale At CBS Schedule Reveal
The (then) potential spinoff was introduced when Baccarin guest starred in an April episode of the mothership series. Like the series’ pilot, the episode was written by Joan Rater and Tony Phelan from a story the Grey’s Anatomy alums co-wrote with series’ star Max Thieriot,...
In Sheriff Country, Baccarin stars as straight-shooting sheriff Mickey Fox, the stepsister of Cal Fire’s division chief Sharon Leone (Diane Farr of Fire Country), who investigates criminal activity as she patrols the streets of small-town Edgewater while contending with her ex-con father and a mysterious incident involving her wayward daughter.
Related: George Cheeks Addresses Paramount Global Shakeup, Company Morale At CBS Schedule Reveal
The (then) potential spinoff was introduced when Baccarin guest starred in an April episode of the mothership series. Like the series’ pilot, the episode was written by Joan Rater and Tony Phelan from a story the Grey’s Anatomy alums co-wrote with series’ star Max Thieriot,...
- 5/2/2024
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
While announcing its schedule for the 2024-25 TV season Thursday, CBS also got a head start on the season after that.
The network has formally greenlit Sheriff Country, a spinoff of its second-year drama Fire Country. Morena Baccarin (Deadpool, Gotham) will star, reprising her role from an April Fire Country episode that set up the spinoff.
Sheriff Country won’t premiere, however, until the 2025-26 season. CBS Entertainment president told reporters Thursday that the extra time will give the network breathing room to get the show right.
“We do long-term development at CBS now,” Reisenbach said. “[The extra year] gives us plenty of time to cast it and figure out how we want to produce it. It’s a huge opportunity for us and speaks to the kind of development we want to be doing.”
CBS also has three new dramas on tap for 2024-25 in a reworking of Matlock starring Kathy Bates...
The network has formally greenlit Sheriff Country, a spinoff of its second-year drama Fire Country. Morena Baccarin (Deadpool, Gotham) will star, reprising her role from an April Fire Country episode that set up the spinoff.
Sheriff Country won’t premiere, however, until the 2025-26 season. CBS Entertainment president told reporters Thursday that the extra time will give the network breathing room to get the show right.
“We do long-term development at CBS now,” Reisenbach said. “[The extra year] gives us plenty of time to cast it and figure out how we want to produce it. It’s a huge opportunity for us and speaks to the kind of development we want to be doing.”
CBS also has three new dramas on tap for 2024-25 in a reworking of Matlock starring Kathy Bates...
- 5/2/2024
- by Rick Porter
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
If you read the headline and are asking yourselves, pilots? what pilots? — you are not wrong. It’s been largely a 2024 pilot season without pilots. A grand total of maybe one of them is expected to factor into any fall decisions as the broadcast networks prepare to unveil their schedules, starting with CBS tomorrow, May 2.
Needless to say, the broadcast pilot season is no longer the industry obsession it once was this time of year, with back-to-back disruptions from the pandemic and the dual Hollywood strikes providing the proverbial final nail in the coffin of the decades-old pilot cycle. But for tradition’s sake, here are some insights into the networks’ current development plans.
There is no more stacked lineup for next season than CBS’ with three new drama series, Young Gibbs prequel NCIS: Origins; Matlock, starring Kathy Bates; and Watson, headlined by Morris Chestnut; and two new comedies, Poppa’s House,...
Needless to say, the broadcast pilot season is no longer the industry obsession it once was this time of year, with back-to-back disruptions from the pandemic and the dual Hollywood strikes providing the proverbial final nail in the coffin of the decades-old pilot cycle. But for tradition’s sake, here are some insights into the networks’ current development plans.
There is no more stacked lineup for next season than CBS’ with three new drama series, Young Gibbs prequel NCIS: Origins; Matlock, starring Kathy Bates; and Watson, headlined by Morris Chestnut; and two new comedies, Poppa’s House,...
- 5/1/2024
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Spoiler Alert! This story contains plot points from Friday’s episode of Fire Country on CBS.
Morena Baccarin made her debut as deputy sheriff Mickey on Fire Country — a role that could lead to a spinoff series if the TV (or CBS) Gods deem it worthy.
In the episode “Alert the Sheriff,” Mickey enters the scene in Edgewater via helicopter; she’s in pursuit of a money launderer who ends up dumping $50,000 in cash over the convicts while they while they’re working in the woods. Viewers quickly learn that Mickey is not only the step-sister of Sharon (Diane Farr), she also played an unfortunate role in putting Sharon’s son Bode (Max Thieriot) behind bars before he joined the Cal Fire firefighting program.
Mickey and Sharon have been estranged, but the women use the episode to heal old wounds. Sharon also leans on Mickey for support when she learns...
Morena Baccarin made her debut as deputy sheriff Mickey on Fire Country — a role that could lead to a spinoff series if the TV (or CBS) Gods deem it worthy.
In the episode “Alert the Sheriff,” Mickey enters the scene in Edgewater via helicopter; she’s in pursuit of a money launderer who ends up dumping $50,000 in cash over the convicts while they while they’re working in the woods. Viewers quickly learn that Mickey is not only the step-sister of Sharon (Diane Farr), she also played an unfortunate role in putting Sharon’s son Bode (Max Thieriot) behind bars before he joined the Cal Fire firefighting program.
Mickey and Sharon have been estranged, but the women use the episode to heal old wounds. Sharon also leans on Mickey for support when she learns...
- 4/13/2024
- by Lynette Rice
- Deadline Film + TV
One of Edgewater’s bravest will get a blast from their past when CBS’ Fire Country introduces a new character that, in success, just might headline the sophomore drama’s first spinoff.
In the sixth episode of this 10-episode season, titled “Alert the Sheriff” and airing Friday at 9/8c, after a fire camp inmate escapes from Three Rock, a deputy sheriff “with a surprising connection to the Leones” is called to investigate.
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In the sixth episode of this 10-episode season, titled “Alert the Sheriff” and airing Friday at 9/8c, after a fire camp inmate escapes from Three Rock, a deputy sheriff “with a surprising connection to the Leones” is called to investigate.
More from TVLineThe Neighborhood Renewed for Season 7 at Cbsncis Renewed for Season 22; Fate of NCIS: Hawai'i Remains Tbdfbi Renewed for 3 More Seasons - FBI: Most Wanted and FBI:...
- 4/9/2024
- by Matt Webb Mitovich
- TVLine.com
Series creator, executive producer, and star Max Thieriot steps behind the camera to direct CBS’s Fire Country season two episode six. Written by Joan Rater and Tony Phelan, episode six – “Alert the Sheriff” – featuring guest star Morena Baccarin (Gotham) will air on Friday, April 12, 2024 at 9pm Et/Pt.
Max Thieriot leads the cast as Bode, Billy Burke plays Vince, Kevin Alejandro is Manny, and Diane Farr is Sharon. Stephanie Arcila stars as Gabriela, Jordan Calloway is Jake, and Jules Latimer plays Eve.
“Alert the Sheriff” Plot: After a fire camp inmate escapes from Three Rock, the deputy sheriff with a surprising connection to the Leones, Mickey (Baccarin), is called to investigate.
Alex Désert as Rudy, Max Thieriot as Bode Leone, and Alberto Frezza as Andy Kubiak in ‘Fire Country’ season 2 episode 6
Series Description, Courtesy of CBS:
Fire Country stars Max Thieriot as Bode Donovan, a young convict seeking redemption...
Max Thieriot leads the cast as Bode, Billy Burke plays Vince, Kevin Alejandro is Manny, and Diane Farr is Sharon. Stephanie Arcila stars as Gabriela, Jordan Calloway is Jake, and Jules Latimer plays Eve.
“Alert the Sheriff” Plot: After a fire camp inmate escapes from Three Rock, the deputy sheriff with a surprising connection to the Leones, Mickey (Baccarin), is called to investigate.
Alex Désert as Rudy, Max Thieriot as Bode Leone, and Alberto Frezza as Andy Kubiak in ‘Fire Country’ season 2 episode 6
Series Description, Courtesy of CBS:
Fire Country stars Max Thieriot as Bode Donovan, a young convict seeking redemption...
- 4/7/2024
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Spoiler Alert! This story contains plot points from Friday’s episode of Fire Country on CBS.
In Friday’s episode dubbed “This Storm Will Pass,” the Edgewater firefighters encounter their first firenado that ends up taking the life of someone very close to the team.
Here, showrunner Tia Napolitano and executive producers Joan Rater and Tony Phelan explain why it made sense to say goodbye to a character who was first introduced in season one, and how the Cal Fire team — especially Bode (Max Thieriot) — will respond going forward.
Deadline: So was this your first firenado?
Joan Rater: Yes, we’re firenado virgins?
Tia Napolitano: We ask all the writers to come in with the most interesting incidents, big or small, at the top of the season. Someone pitched a firenado. Obviously that’s on the big end of the spectrum and we all gravitated toward it really early.
In Friday’s episode dubbed “This Storm Will Pass,” the Edgewater firefighters encounter their first firenado that ends up taking the life of someone very close to the team.
Here, showrunner Tia Napolitano and executive producers Joan Rater and Tony Phelan explain why it made sense to say goodbye to a character who was first introduced in season one, and how the Cal Fire team — especially Bode (Max Thieriot) — will respond going forward.
Deadline: So was this your first firenado?
Joan Rater: Yes, we’re firenado virgins?
Tia Napolitano: We ask all the writers to come in with the most interesting incidents, big or small, at the top of the season. Someone pitched a firenado. Obviously that’s on the big end of the spectrum and we all gravitated toward it really early.
- 4/6/2024
- by Lynette Rice
- Deadline Film + TV
CBS has renewed the comedy “Ghosts” for Season 4 and the drama “Fire Country” for Season 3.
Both shows launched their new seasons in mid-February due to the impact last year’s dual writers’ and actors’ strike had on broadcast production schedules.
“’Ghosts’ and ‘Fire Country’ are proven viewer favorites on both broadcast and streaming thanks to exceptional storytelling, talented actors and an ever-growing fan base,” said Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment. “We are elated to keep the momentum going and bring them back to CBS next season.”
Per CBS, “Ghosts” is currently averaging 10.2 million viewers per episode in Live+7 multiplatform viewing, while “Fire Country” is averaging 9.2 million.
Ghosts” is based on the UK series of the same name. The American version stars Rose McIver, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Brandon Scott Jones, Richie Moriarty, Danielle Pinnock, Asher Grodman, Román Zaragoza, Sheila Carrasco, Rebecca Wisocky and Devon Chandler
Joe Port and Joe Wiseman developed...
Both shows launched their new seasons in mid-February due to the impact last year’s dual writers’ and actors’ strike had on broadcast production schedules.
“’Ghosts’ and ‘Fire Country’ are proven viewer favorites on both broadcast and streaming thanks to exceptional storytelling, talented actors and an ever-growing fan base,” said Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment. “We are elated to keep the momentum going and bring them back to CBS next season.”
Per CBS, “Ghosts” is currently averaging 10.2 million viewers per episode in Live+7 multiplatform viewing, while “Fire Country” is averaging 9.2 million.
Ghosts” is based on the UK series of the same name. The American version stars Rose McIver, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Brandon Scott Jones, Richie Moriarty, Danielle Pinnock, Asher Grodman, Román Zaragoza, Sheila Carrasco, Rebecca Wisocky and Devon Chandler
Joe Port and Joe Wiseman developed...
- 3/12/2024
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
CBS has renewed the hit Friday night drama Fire Country for a third season.
From creators and executive producers Tony Phelan, Joan Rater and Max Thieriot, the series follows Bode Donovan (Thieriot), a young convict seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence by joining a prison release firefighting program in Northern California. The program partners inmates with elite firefighters to extinguish unpredictable wildfires across the region.
When Bode is assigned to the program in his rural hometown—where he was once a golden all-American son—until his troubles begin as he burns down everything in his life, now, he’s looking for the opportunity to change his destiny.
Billy Burke, Kevin Alejandro, Diane Farr, Stephanie Arcila, Jordan Calloway and Jules Latimer also star.
Fire Country is averaging 9.21 million viewers in live 7-day multiplatform viewing, up +7% from last year, the network shares while touting the series as a top 6 in streaming on Paramount+.
From creators and executive producers Tony Phelan, Joan Rater and Max Thieriot, the series follows Bode Donovan (Thieriot), a young convict seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence by joining a prison release firefighting program in Northern California. The program partners inmates with elite firefighters to extinguish unpredictable wildfires across the region.
When Bode is assigned to the program in his rural hometown—where he was once a golden all-American son—until his troubles begin as he burns down everything in his life, now, he’s looking for the opportunity to change his destiny.
Billy Burke, Kevin Alejandro, Diane Farr, Stephanie Arcila, Jordan Calloway and Jules Latimer also star.
Fire Country is averaging 9.21 million viewers in live 7-day multiplatform viewing, up +7% from last year, the network shares while touting the series as a top 6 in streaming on Paramount+.
- 3/12/2024
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
As Fire Country has shown, living in a small town means everyone knows your name, and what better way to show that than to expand Edgewater? That’s what the CBS drama is doing with a new character being introduced midway through Season 2, Sheriff Mickey (Morena Baccarin), who could lead a spinoff. Mickey will be introduced in Episode 6, directed by series star, co-creator, and executive producer Max Thieriot, who told TV Insider she’s “really fun” and “exciting.” In the episode, the sheriff’s office will interact with Three Rock (the fire camp for inmates) and Station 42. “It’s such a natural kind of intersection of those worlds, and it’s really fun to get to know somebody at the sheriff’s office and to see the interaction of agencies,” executive producer Joan Rater says. “Morena’s amazing. We’re just so excited to explore that world.” “And also just to expand Edgewater,...
- 2/21/2024
- TV Insider
When Fire Country EPs Tony Phelan and Joan Rater told TVLine that “everybody’s in a new place” when Season 2 opens, they were not kidding.
I mean, yes, of course, Bode is now back behind bars, where he has been misbehaving so as to get moved closer and closer to Sleeper’s cell block. But pretty much everyone else has experienced change either on the professional or personal front, in the six months that have passed since the events of the Season 1 finale.
More from TVLineThe Voice Recap: Bono Way! Did the Blinds Just Introduce a Singer On Par With U2's Frontman?...
I mean, yes, of course, Bode is now back behind bars, where he has been misbehaving so as to get moved closer and closer to Sleeper’s cell block. But pretty much everyone else has experienced change either on the professional or personal front, in the six months that have passed since the events of the Season 1 finale.
More from TVLineThe Voice Recap: Bono Way! Did the Blinds Just Introduce a Singer On Par With U2's Frontman?...
- 2/17/2024
- by Matt Webb Mitovich
- TVLine.com
Exclusive: Morena Baccarin (Deadpool franchise) is set to appear in an upcoming episode of CBS’ Fire Country, playing a sheriff character that could lead her own series. Baccarin will guest star in the Season 2 episode with an option to become a series regular in a potential spinoff series, Deadline has learned. Like the mothership series, the proposed offshoot would be produced by CBS Studios.
Fire Country stars Max Thieriot as a young convict seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence by joining a prison release firefighting program in his rural Northern California hometown of Edgewater.
In the planted spinoff episode, which will air later in the season, Baccarin will play Mickey, a Sheriff’s Deputy for fifteen years who knows every corner of Edgewater … and every one of its inhabitants. This is her town and she’s fiercely protective of it.
Baccarin emerged as a top choice for the role...
Fire Country stars Max Thieriot as a young convict seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence by joining a prison release firefighting program in his rural Northern California hometown of Edgewater.
In the planted spinoff episode, which will air later in the season, Baccarin will play Mickey, a Sheriff’s Deputy for fifteen years who knows every corner of Edgewater … and every one of its inhabitants. This is her town and she’s fiercely protective of it.
Baccarin emerged as a top choice for the role...
- 1/23/2024
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Two of Fire Country‘s creators are here to offer a spark of hope for the CBS hit’s anxious fans.
Season 1 of last season’s most-watched and highest-rated freshman series followed Max Thierot’s Bode as the convict sought redemption (and a shortened sentence) by joining the Three Rock prison-release firefighting program.
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Alas,...
Season 1 of last season’s most-watched and highest-rated freshman series followed Max Thierot’s Bode as the convict sought redemption (and a shortened sentence) by joining the Three Rock prison-release firefighting program.
More from TVLineSVU's Mariska Hargitay: Benson's Compass Necklace Is a Daily Reminder From 'Somebody That She Knows Loves Her' - WatchThe Summit: Mountain Climbing Competition Series Hosted By Spartacus' Manu Bennett Ordered at Cbsncis: Hawai'i Season 3 Trailer Features Sam/Jane Pep Talk and Your Favorite 'Dynamic Duo' (Exclusive)
Alas,...
- 1/17/2024
- by Matt Webb Mitovich
- TVLine.com
With the start of the new year, Fire Country audiences are only a few weeks away from the premiere of the long-awaited second season. Viewers have had to wait a year since Fire Country season 2 was greenlit for production in January 2023. The CBS action drama follows the work life and relationships of Bode Donovan, the Leone family, and the staff of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). Executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Fire Country is created by Max Thieriot, Tony Phelan, and Joan Rater. Fire Country season 1 left viewers with lots of unanswered...
- 1/6/2024
- by Onyinye Izundu
- TVovermind.com
Exclusive: Tye White (American Auto) and Jason O’Mara (The Man in the High Castle) are set for key recurring roles on the upcoming second season of CBS drama series Fire Country.
The drama stars Max Thieriot as Bode Donovan, a young convict seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence by joining a prison release firefighting program in Northern California, where he and other inmates are partnered with elite firefighters to extinguish massive, unpredictable wildfires across the region. It’s a high-risk, high-reward assignment, and the heat is turned up when Bode is assigned to the program in his rural hometown, where he was once a golden all-American son – until his troubles began. Five years ago, Bode burned down everything in his life, leaving town with a big secret. Now he’s back, with the rap sheet of a criminal and the audacity to believe in a chance for redemption with Cal Fire.
The drama stars Max Thieriot as Bode Donovan, a young convict seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence by joining a prison release firefighting program in Northern California, where he and other inmates are partnered with elite firefighters to extinguish massive, unpredictable wildfires across the region. It’s a high-risk, high-reward assignment, and the heat is turned up when Bode is assigned to the program in his rural hometown, where he was once a golden all-American son – until his troubles began. Five years ago, Bode burned down everything in his life, leaving town with a big secret. Now he’s back, with the rap sheet of a criminal and the audacity to believe in a chance for redemption with Cal Fire.
- 12/19/2023
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
CBS is looking to turn another successful drama into a franchise. The network will introduce a new character in an episode from Fire Country‘s upcoming second season that could anchor her own series, sources tell Deadline.
Casting is currently underway for the role, a female sheriff, which is an episodic guest star with an option to become a series regular.
Sources caution that this is not a formal backdoor pilot order, and CBS could go different routes with the new character if the episode is well received, spinning off the character into her own series or adding the actress to the cast of the Fire Country mothership.
CBS’ decision to explore a Fire Country spinoff is not surprising, given the fact that the CBS Studios-produced drama starring Max Thieriot ranked as the most watched new broadcast series last season, averaging 8 million viewers per episode, 10 million in live+35 multi-platform viewing.
Casting is currently underway for the role, a female sheriff, which is an episodic guest star with an option to become a series regular.
Sources caution that this is not a formal backdoor pilot order, and CBS could go different routes with the new character if the episode is well received, spinning off the character into her own series or adding the actress to the cast of the Fire Country mothership.
CBS’ decision to explore a Fire Country spinoff is not surprising, given the fact that the CBS Studios-produced drama starring Max Thieriot ranked as the most watched new broadcast series last season, averaging 8 million viewers per episode, 10 million in live+35 multi-platform viewing.
- 12/15/2023
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Writers of nine limited series ranging from “A Murder at the End of the World” to “Tiny Beautiful Things” traded shop talk and stories of how they crafted muscular worlds to tell extended, standalone stories.
Ed Solomon of Max’s “Full Circle” astounded the crowd at Variety’s A Night in the Writers Room at Hollywood’s NeueHouse with the origin story of his 586-page spec script for the twisty thriller. “And then Steven [Soderbergh] decided to direct it and that led it to be great.”
Andy Breckman, of Peacock’s “Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie,” explained to moderator Jazz Tangcay, Variety’s senior artisans editor, how he had to pad the original 2002 pilot for the detective franchise into a USA Network TV movie – because star Tony Shalhoub was contractually prohibited against starring in a competing pilot. “I had to fatten up the animal and get it to 90 minutes...
Ed Solomon of Max’s “Full Circle” astounded the crowd at Variety’s A Night in the Writers Room at Hollywood’s NeueHouse with the origin story of his 586-page spec script for the twisty thriller. “And then Steven [Soderbergh] decided to direct it and that led it to be great.”
Andy Breckman, of Peacock’s “Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie,” explained to moderator Jazz Tangcay, Variety’s senior artisans editor, how he had to pad the original 2002 pilot for the detective franchise into a USA Network TV movie – because star Tony Shalhoub was contractually prohibited against starring in a competing pilot. “I had to fatten up the animal and get it to 90 minutes...
- 12/1/2023
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
A24’s Past Lives, the debut film from director Celine Song, won Best Feature tonight at the 33rd Gotham Awards in Manhattan. Check out the full winners list for one the first ceremonies of the movie-kudos season below.
Past Lives follows two deeply connected childhood friends (Greta Lee and Teo Yoo) who are wrested apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny. Here is Song’s acceptance speech:
Lily Gladstone took home the Outstanding Lead Performance award — not for Killers of the Flower Moon but for Music Box Films’ The Unknown Country (watch her acceptance speech here) — and Charles Melton won the Supporting prize for Netflix’s May December (speech video here). Both are gender-neutral categories.
Neon’s Anatomy of a Fall picked up the first two trophies of the night...
Past Lives follows two deeply connected childhood friends (Greta Lee and Teo Yoo) who are wrested apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny. Here is Song’s acceptance speech:
Lily Gladstone took home the Outstanding Lead Performance award — not for Killers of the Flower Moon but for Music Box Films’ The Unknown Country (watch her acceptance speech here) — and Charles Melton won the Supporting prize for Netflix’s May December (speech video here). Both are gender-neutral categories.
Neon’s Anatomy of a Fall picked up the first two trophies of the night...
- 11/28/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith and Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Lily Gladstone, Charles Melton, Ali Wong take acting honours.
Celine Song’s Past Lives at A24 was named best feature while Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall at Neon collected two honours at the 33rd Gotham Awards in New York on Monday night.
In the first major awards ceremony of the season – with actors in attendance since the end of the 118-day strike –Triet’s crime mystery Anatomy Of A Fall was crowned best international feature, and Triet and Arthur Harari took home the award for best screenplay.
Lily Gladstone won the prize in the...
Celine Song’s Past Lives at A24 was named best feature while Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall at Neon collected two honours at the 33rd Gotham Awards in New York on Monday night.
In the first major awards ceremony of the season – with actors in attendance since the end of the 118-day strike –Triet’s crime mystery Anatomy Of A Fall was crowned best international feature, and Triet and Arthur Harari took home the award for best screenplay.
Lily Gladstone won the prize in the...
- 11/28/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Following the resolution of the writers’ strike, Variety’s “A Night in the Writers’ Room” returns Nov. 30 in-person, featuring three panels moderated by Variety’s esteemed journalists, Michael Schneider and Emily Longeretta, with this year’s Emmy-contending writers in the drama, comedy and limited series categories.
An invite-only audience of industry voters will attend the event which features a cocktail reception prior to the panels.
The Comedy panel features:
Duffy Boudreau, “Barry” Michele Fazekas, “Gen V” Justin Halpern, “Abbott Elementary” John Hoffmann, “Only Murders in the Building” Chris Harris, “Frasier” Bill Lawrence, “Shrinking” Judah Miller, “Bupkis” Migizi Pensoneau, “Reservation Dogs” Boots Riley, “I’m A Virgo”
The Drama panel features:
Debora Cahn, “The Diplomat” Michael Dinner, “Justified: City Primeval” Craig Mazin, “The Last of Us” Charlotte Stoudt, “The Morning Show” Sonja Warfield, “The Gilded Age”
The Limited Series panel features:
Andy Breckman, “Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie” Lee Eisenberg,...
An invite-only audience of industry voters will attend the event which features a cocktail reception prior to the panels.
The Comedy panel features:
Duffy Boudreau, “Barry” Michele Fazekas, “Gen V” Justin Halpern, “Abbott Elementary” John Hoffmann, “Only Murders in the Building” Chris Harris, “Frasier” Bill Lawrence, “Shrinking” Judah Miller, “Bupkis” Migizi Pensoneau, “Reservation Dogs” Boots Riley, “I’m A Virgo”
The Drama panel features:
Debora Cahn, “The Diplomat” Michael Dinner, “Justified: City Primeval” Craig Mazin, “The Last of Us” Charlotte Stoudt, “The Morning Show” Sonja Warfield, “The Gilded Age”
The Limited Series panel features:
Andy Breckman, “Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie” Lee Eisenberg,...
- 11/20/2023
- by William Earl
- Variety Film + TV
Monday was move-in day for the writers of CBS’ Fire Country who spent the morning unpacking boxes in their new (larger) office space on the Radford lot, an upgrade from the crammed bungalow/trailer they occupied last year, possibly in recognition of Fire Country ending the 2022-23 as the most watched new broadcast series.
It was also a return-to-work day for the 11-member writing team (and support staff) of the firefighter drama on the day the first writers rooms reopened after the five-month WGA strike. It is led by showrunner/executive producer Tia Napolitano as well as executive producers Joan Rater and Tony Phelan who co-created the series with star/executive producer Max Thieriot.
As they all gathered around the table in their new writers room for the first time just after lunch, the group shared their thoughts about the strike and starting work on the new season after a...
It was also a return-to-work day for the 11-member writing team (and support staff) of the firefighter drama on the day the first writers rooms reopened after the five-month WGA strike. It is led by showrunner/executive producer Tia Napolitano as well as executive producers Joan Rater and Tony Phelan who co-created the series with star/executive producer Max Thieriot.
As they all gathered around the table in their new writers room for the first time just after lunch, the group shared their thoughts about the strike and starting work on the new season after a...
- 10/3/2023
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Humanitas, the organization that annually honors film and television writers whose work best explores the human condition, has revealed its 2023 winners.
Among the prizewinners is Craig Mazin, who scripted Season 1 The Last of Us episode “Long Long Time” that starred Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett. Mazin won in the Drama Teleplay category, beating out fellow semifinalists that included Peter Gould who was up for the series-finale episode of Better Call Saul.
Other Humanitas category winners in TV included Amy Sherman-Palladino for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Comedy Teleplay), and Tony Phelan & Joan Rater for the pilot of A Small Light in Limited Series.
On the movie side, winners included Tyler Perry for his Tyler Perry: A Jazzman’s Blues in the Drama Feature Film category, over Rebecca Lenkiewicz for She Said and Michael Reilly & Keith Beauchamp and Chinonye Chukwu for Till. Cooper Raiff won Comedy Feature Film for his indie Cha Cha Real Smooth,...
Among the prizewinners is Craig Mazin, who scripted Season 1 The Last of Us episode “Long Long Time” that starred Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett. Mazin won in the Drama Teleplay category, beating out fellow semifinalists that included Peter Gould who was up for the series-finale episode of Better Call Saul.
Other Humanitas category winners in TV included Amy Sherman-Palladino for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Comedy Teleplay), and Tony Phelan & Joan Rater for the pilot of A Small Light in Limited Series.
On the movie side, winners included Tyler Perry for his Tyler Perry: A Jazzman’s Blues in the Drama Feature Film category, over Rebecca Lenkiewicz for She Said and Michael Reilly & Keith Beauchamp and Chinonye Chukwu for Till. Cooper Raiff won Comedy Feature Film for his indie Cha Cha Real Smooth,...
- 8/16/2023
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
This year’s Humanitas Prizes for screenwriting, usually handed out at Beverly Hilton ceremony, were announced via the Los Angeles Times this year in solidarity with the unions on strike, including the Unite Here Local 11 hospitality workers. And on top of awarding shows like The Last of Us and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Humanitas, an organization founded in 1974, also honored the striking Writers Guild of America itself with its “Voice for Change” award. Past winners of that award have included Ava DuVernay and Kenya Barris.
Humanitas’ mission is to tell “stories that explore the human experience because we believe that the act of acknowledging our common humanity is transformational.” With that in mind, this year the organization’s winners include The Last of Us‘ Craig Mazin for the teleplay for the emotional and critically lauded episode “Long, Long Time” in the drama television category. In the comedy equivalent, Amy Sherman-Palladino...
Humanitas’ mission is to tell “stories that explore the human experience because we believe that the act of acknowledging our common humanity is transformational.” With that in mind, this year the organization’s winners include The Last of Us‘ Craig Mazin for the teleplay for the emotional and critically lauded episode “Long, Long Time” in the drama television category. In the comedy equivalent, Amy Sherman-Palladino...
- 8/15/2023
- by Esther Zuckerman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Best Limited Series/TV Movie Writing category has 111 submissions on the 2023 Emmys ballot, giving us six nominees this year. With the same number of nominees last year, they were “Dopesick” (“The People vs. Purdue Pharma” by Danny Strong), “The Dropout” (“I’m in a Hurry” by Elizabeth Meriwether), “Maid” (“Snaps” by Molly Smith Metzler), “Station Eleven” (“Unbroken Circle” by Patrick Somerville), “Impeachment: American Crime Story” (“Man Handled” by Sarah Burgess), and the winner “The White Lotus” (Mike White).
What makes last year interesting is that half of the shows in the category were not nominated for Best Limited Series, something that perhaps could repeat itself to a degree with this year’s potential nominees. Another thing of note is that almost all of the top contenders this year that had the option to submit multiple episodes only went with one, preventing any possibility of vote-splitting.
Take “Beef” for example,...
What makes last year interesting is that half of the shows in the category were not nominated for Best Limited Series, something that perhaps could repeat itself to a degree with this year’s potential nominees. Another thing of note is that almost all of the top contenders this year that had the option to submit multiple episodes only went with one, preventing any possibility of vote-splitting.
Take “Beef” for example,...
- 6/28/2023
- by Christopher Tsang
- Gold Derby
During a recent Gold Derby video interview, news and features editor Ray Richmond spoke in-depth with Liev Schreiber about his role in the eight-part, Holocaust-themed limited series “A Small Light” from National Geographic, which is eligible at the 2023 Emmy Awards. Watch the full video above and read the complete interview transcript below.
By his own admission, Liev Schreiber wasn’t particularly eager to go back to work. He had spent eight years starring in the Showtime series “Ray Donovan” and was “really enjoying” being off and being home with his kids. But when he was sent the script for the National Geographic eight-part limited series “A Small Light” just before making his second trip to Ukraine in support of that nation’s war against Russia, he realized he couldn’t say no.
“It just seemed like the right story at the right time,” the nine-time Emmy nominee stresses. “There...
By his own admission, Liev Schreiber wasn’t particularly eager to go back to work. He had spent eight years starring in the Showtime series “Ray Donovan” and was “really enjoying” being off and being home with his kids. But when he was sent the script for the National Geographic eight-part limited series “A Small Light” just before making his second trip to Ukraine in support of that nation’s war against Russia, he realized he couldn’t say no.
“It just seemed like the right story at the right time,” the nine-time Emmy nominee stresses. “There...
- 6/23/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
During a recent Gold Derby video interview, news and features editor Ray Richmond spoke in-depth with Bel Powley about her starring role in the eight-part, Holocaust-themed limited series “A Small Light” from National Geographic, which is eligible at the 2023 Emmy Awards. Watch the full video above and read the complete interview transcript below.
“I don’t think many people know the story of Miep (Gies),” believes Bel Powley, the British-born actress who portrays her in the eight-part Nat Geo limited series “A Small Light” that has now premiered on the channel and the following day on Disney+ and Hulu. “In terms of our industry, in terms of film and television, I think one of the reasons for it is that pre-#MeToo, people weren’t making shows or spending money on projects with stories about women. I’ve been searching for a role like this my entire career. Post-#MeToo,...
“I don’t think many people know the story of Miep (Gies),” believes Bel Powley, the British-born actress who portrays her in the eight-part Nat Geo limited series “A Small Light” that has now premiered on the channel and the following day on Disney+ and Hulu. “In terms of our industry, in terms of film and television, I think one of the reasons for it is that pre-#MeToo, people weren’t making shows or spending money on projects with stories about women. I’ve been searching for a role like this my entire career. Post-#MeToo,...
- 6/23/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
Bel Powley stars in the National Geographic series “A Small Light” as Miep Gies, the woman who helped hide Otto Frank and his family during WWII. During a reception for the show Thursday at the San Vicente Bungalows in West Hollywood, the actor recalled being on set when she first heard about Kanye West’s antisemitic comments in October 2022.
“We were filming the show when all of the Kanye stuff was happening,” Powley told me. “I was obviously living in the world of the show, which has a lot of Nazi rhetoric because we’re making a show about the Nazi occupation in 1942, but then suddenly seeing and hearing that same rhetoric spoken now by a world-famous celebrity with huge influence was so freaky and unsettling and saddening.”
During a Q&a earlier in the evening, moderator Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”) took off her Star of David necklace and gave it...
“We were filming the show when all of the Kanye stuff was happening,” Powley told me. “I was obviously living in the world of the show, which has a lot of Nazi rhetoric because we’re making a show about the Nazi occupation in 1942, but then suddenly seeing and hearing that same rhetoric spoken now by a world-famous celebrity with huge influence was so freaky and unsettling and saddening.”
During a Q&a earlier in the evening, moderator Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”) took off her Star of David necklace and gave it...
- 6/16/2023
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
Joan Rater wasn’t interested in making another Holocaust project about Anne Frank, in part because the story had been told so often and so well but also because she always felt personally distanced from historical pieces. But after Rater and husband Tony Phelan visited the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam, they were inspired to want to tell the story of the woman who hid Anne and her extended Jewish family from the Nazis in the Netherlands in the early 1940s. “But if we were going to do this, I needed it to feel modern and relatable,” she says. “I needed it to feel like something I’d get into.” The result was “A Small Light,” a Nat Geo eight-part limited series that Rater and Phelan served on as creators, showrunners, co-writers and executive producers. It has attracted consistently stellar reviews while dramatizing the courage of a Dutch woman named...
- 6/16/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
The National Geographic eight-part limited series “A Small Light” (currently streaming on Hulu and Disney+) follows the remarkable true story of Miep Gies, a Dutch woman who risked her life to shelter Anne Frank and her extended Jewish family from the Nazis for more than two years in the early 1940s. It was filmed last year in Prague and Amsterdam, where the Franks were hidden in an area of a structure that came to be known as the Secret Annex. To celebrate the powerful Holocaust drama, check out our special 42-minute “Making of” roundtable discussion with castmates Bel Powley, Billie Boullet and Ashley Brooke as well as costume designer Matthew Simonelli, production designer Marc Homes and makeup and hair designer Davina Lamont. Watch our exclusive video panel interview above.
Powley, who portrays the heroic Gies, discusses how “Small Light” creator-writer-executive producers Tony Phelan and Joan Rater insisted that the period...
Powley, who portrays the heroic Gies, discusses how “Small Light” creator-writer-executive producers Tony Phelan and Joan Rater insisted that the period...
- 6/14/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
Bel Powley Says She Was ‘Blown Away by How Contemporary’ Making Holocaust Drama ‘A Small Light’ Felt
This story about Bel Powley and “A Small Light” first appeared in the Limited Series / TV Movies issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
Like so many of us, Bel Powley read “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank when she was in school. But she was less familiar with the woman responsible for the world’s awareness of the diary: Miep Gies. The secretary of Otto Frank, Gies helped hide the Frank family from the Nazis for two years in Amsterdam and kept Anne’s diary safe after the family was arrested in 1945.
“I know a lot about this part of history — the big historical and political backdrop — but I didn’t know anything about Miep or the Dutch resistance,” Powley said. So playing Gies in the National Geographic limited series “A Small Light” was a daunting experience — but also a deeply rewarding one. “It’s so rare...
Like so many of us, Bel Powley read “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank when she was in school. But she was less familiar with the woman responsible for the world’s awareness of the diary: Miep Gies. The secretary of Otto Frank, Gies helped hide the Frank family from the Nazis for two years in Amsterdam and kept Anne’s diary safe after the family was arrested in 1945.
“I know a lot about this part of history — the big historical and political backdrop — but I didn’t know anything about Miep or the Dutch resistance,” Powley said. So playing Gies in the National Geographic limited series “A Small Light” was a daunting experience — but also a deeply rewarding one. “It’s so rare...
- 6/5/2023
- by Missy Schwartz
- The Wrap
The ninth annual SeriesFest, an annual television-centric event held in Denver, kicks off Friday with a slightly abbreviated schedule in light of the writers strike. Per WGA rules, writers are not allowed to make “promotional appearances” at film festivals or at “For Your Consideration” Emmy events. Already, a number of FYC showcases have either been canceled, or continued on but with just a screening, no panel, due to the strike.
SeriesFest becomes the first festival to be impacted by the strike. This year’s event takes place from May 5 to May 10, which now happens to coincide with the early days of the strike. As a result, showrunners have opted out of a handful of panels, while screenings of many new and returning shows will now take place without talent/showrunner Q&As. It could be an early peak at the pivot that may have to take place with other upcoming festivals,...
SeriesFest becomes the first festival to be impacted by the strike. This year’s event takes place from May 5 to May 10, which now happens to coincide with the early days of the strike. As a result, showrunners have opted out of a handful of panels, while screenings of many new and returning shows will now take place without talent/showrunner Q&As. It could be an early peak at the pivot that may have to take place with other upcoming festivals,...
- 5/5/2023
- by Michael Schneider
- Variety Film + TV
Danielle Haim takes on the classic Doris Day record “Till We Meet Again” for the first official release from A Small Light: Songs From the Limited Series, the soundtrack set for release on May 23 to accompany the new National Geographic series.
Este Haim served as executive music producer on A Small Light, which premiered on May 1 but will be unveiling its soundtrack two songs at a time for the duration of the month. Alongside Danielle Haim’s “Till We Meet Again,” Kamasi Washington has shared his rendition of Charlie Parker’s “Cheryl.
Este Haim served as executive music producer on A Small Light, which premiered on May 1 but will be unveiling its soundtrack two songs at a time for the duration of the month. Alongside Danielle Haim’s “Till We Meet Again,” Kamasi Washington has shared his rendition of Charlie Parker’s “Cheryl.
- 5/5/2023
- by Larisha Paul
- Rollingstone.com
“Until this project, I didn’t even know that Anne Frank had a sister,” admits Ashley Brooke, who portrays Anne’s older sibling Margot Frank in the Holocaust-themed eight-part limited series “A Small Light” that premiered with a pair of episodes on May 1 on Nat Geo and repeated May 2 on Disney+ and Hulu. “I’ve had Anne’s diary in my room since I was a little girl, and was told the story at a young age. But I must have forgotten a lot because I really had to start at ground zero when I started researching Margot. I fell in love with her little quirks. She’s really the opposite of Anne in terms of personality, more quiet and reserved. She likes to follow the rules.” Watch the exclusive video interview above.
Unfortunately, this was a time where the rules didn’t matter, particularly for the Jews of Europe.
Unfortunately, this was a time where the rules didn’t matter, particularly for the Jews of Europe.
- 5/3/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
Despite erratic nationwide weather pattern, May Day 2023 has nevertheless brought with it a palpable sense of Spring reverie and renewal—not least of all in movie theaters and on streaming platforms. The freshly-launched Writers Strike (necessary and overdue) will no doubt result in some crinkling of the garden hose of fresh content, but that’s for future content consumers to worry about. In the meantime, enjoy this month’s Don’t-Miss Indies!
A Small Light
When You Can Watch: Now
Where You Can Watch: Disney+, Hulu, NatGeo, ABC
Creators: Joan Rater, Tony Phelan
Cast: Bel Powley, Liev Schreiber, Joe Cole, Amira Casar, Billie Boullet, Ashley Brooke
Why We’re Excited: Shot in Prague and Amsterdam in the summer of 2022, this eight-part National Geographic limited series brings us the true story that transpired during the Nazi occupation of both nations in WWII. Austrian-born Dutch woman Miep Gies works for Otto Frank at a spice company.
A Small Light
When You Can Watch: Now
Where You Can Watch: Disney+, Hulu, NatGeo, ABC
Creators: Joan Rater, Tony Phelan
Cast: Bel Powley, Liev Schreiber, Joe Cole, Amira Casar, Billie Boullet, Ashley Brooke
Why We’re Excited: Shot in Prague and Amsterdam in the summer of 2022, this eight-part National Geographic limited series brings us the true story that transpired during the Nazi occupation of both nations in WWII. Austrian-born Dutch woman Miep Gies works for Otto Frank at a spice company.
- 5/2/2023
- by Su Fang Tham
- Film Independent News & More
Bel Powley is an actor without subterfuge, which I mean only as a high compliment. I feel the same way about Florence Pugh. Their characters are still capable of lying, but neither performer can lie to the camera. When they’re miserable, it bursts through the screen. When they’re joyful, it’s contagious.
Powley is an interesting and effective choice, then, to play the lead in A Small Light, an eight-part NatGeo limited series that’s all about hiding and subterfuge. Playing an ostensibly ordinary woman who responds to an extraordinary challenge by finding the hero within, Powley sets the tone, or rather a variety of tones, for A Small Light. She brings more humor and hopeful energy than you might expect based on the topic, and underlines every emotionally crushing twist and turn you’d expect from a series adjacent to one of the most beloved and devastating stories ever told.
Powley is an interesting and effective choice, then, to play the lead in A Small Light, an eight-part NatGeo limited series that’s all about hiding and subterfuge. Playing an ostensibly ordinary woman who responds to an extraordinary challenge by finding the hero within, Powley sets the tone, or rather a variety of tones, for A Small Light. She brings more humor and hopeful energy than you might expect based on the topic, and underlines every emotionally crushing twist and turn you’d expect from a series adjacent to one of the most beloved and devastating stories ever told.
- 5/1/2023
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Taking its title from a quote with which Miep Gies, the woman who helped hide Anne Frank and her family in Amsterdam during WWII, often ended her speeches later in life, “A Small Light” is the latest engaging, richly detailed biographical drama from National Geographic.
Co-creators Joan Rater and Tony Phelan (“Grey’s Anatomy”) find a deeply humanist angle to this well-known piece of history by telling the story of Frank and her family through those who aided them.
Continue reading ‘A Small Light’ Review: A Richly Detailed Portrait Of Anne Frank Protector Miep Gies at The Playlist.
Co-creators Joan Rater and Tony Phelan (“Grey’s Anatomy”) find a deeply humanist angle to this well-known piece of history by telling the story of Frank and her family through those who aided them.
Continue reading ‘A Small Light’ Review: A Richly Detailed Portrait Of Anne Frank Protector Miep Gies at The Playlist.
- 5/1/2023
- by Marya E. Gates
- The Playlist
A Small Light co-showrunner Joan Rater knows that Anne Frank’s story ends in heartbreaking, horrifying fashion. We all do. Frank’s diary, written while the teenage Jewish girl and her family hid from Nazis in World War II-era Amsterdam, comes to an abrupt close when their secret annex is raided. Anne, and most of her family, later died in concentration camps.
“When I read the diary, still to this day — Joan Rater, 60 years old — I get so caught up in Anne’s humanity and in her everyday stuff, her amazing voice and just in her that I find myself going,...
“When I read the diary, still to this day — Joan Rater, 60 years old — I get so caught up in Anne’s humanity and in her everyday stuff, her amazing voice and just in her that I find myself going,...
- 4/30/2023
- by Kimberly Roots
- TVLine.com
The story of Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager who hid in a cramped attic with her family during the Nazi occupation in Amsterdam, is widely known, and amid the atrocities of the Holocaust, Anne’s diary presents a story of resilience and unrealized dreams. Nat Geo’s new limited series “A Small Light” isn’t Anne’s story, though the precocious teen’s legacy is embedded throughout. The brainchild of former “Grey’s Anatomy” showrunners Tony Phelan and Joan Rater, the series is a tale of resistance, activism and humanity. The narrative centers on one tenacious young woman, Miep Gies, Otto Frank’s secretary, who risked everything to save the Frank family, and countless others.
Beautifully shot by Phelan, Susanna Fogel and Leslie Hope, with a slight sepia tone to ground the audience in the time period, the series opens on July 6, 1942, when the Frank family goes into hiding. Miep (Bel Powley...
Beautifully shot by Phelan, Susanna Fogel and Leslie Hope, with a slight sepia tone to ground the audience in the time period, the series opens on July 6, 1942, when the Frank family goes into hiding. Miep (Bel Powley...
- 4/29/2023
- by Aramide Tinubu
- Variety Film + TV
“I’ve been searching for roles like this,” said actress Bel Powley about the character she plays in “A Small Light.” Part of what excited her about the limited series was that generally “people aren’t making shows about women like Miep.” She discussed the project on April 25 at the New York City premiere during a panel moderated by Dan Bucatinsky. Watch the entire panel above.
“A Small Light” tells a familiar story from a different perspective. It’s about Anne Frank‘s family hiding from the Nazis during World War II, but it’s told from the point of view of Miep Gies, Otto Frank‘s secretary who is one of the brave individuals who agrees to harbor the family. Powley actually shies away from period pieces most of the time, but “I immediately felt connected to this character,” noting that Miep was “an incredibly modern woman.”
For Liev Schreiber,...
“A Small Light” tells a familiar story from a different perspective. It’s about Anne Frank‘s family hiding from the Nazis during World War II, but it’s told from the point of view of Miep Gies, Otto Frank‘s secretary who is one of the brave individuals who agrees to harbor the family. Powley actually shies away from period pieces most of the time, but “I immediately felt connected to this character,” noting that Miep was “an incredibly modern woman.”
For Liev Schreiber,...
- 4/27/2023
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
Miep Gies, as well as her husband Jan, helped hide Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis in Amsterdam, she also saved the girl’s diary. But she never considered herself a hero.
“She didn’t want to be put on a pedestal. Her mantra was: ‘I just did what human beings are supposed to do and helped someone in need,’” Bel Powley, who plays Gies in National Geographic series “A Small Light,” said Saturday at Canneseries. The international premiere of the first episode screened at the international series festival in Cannes, followed by an on-stage discussion.
Amira Casar, “Peaky Blinders” alumnus Joe Cole, Liev Schreiber and Billie Boullet also star in the eight-episode show, which was co-created by Tony Phelan and Joan Rater.
“Everybody feels like they know this story, know [about Anne] and the secret annex. But there is so much more to learn and this was just an incredible journey of learning,...
“She didn’t want to be put on a pedestal. Her mantra was: ‘I just did what human beings are supposed to do and helped someone in need,’” Bel Powley, who plays Gies in National Geographic series “A Small Light,” said Saturday at Canneseries. The international premiere of the first episode screened at the international series festival in Cannes, followed by an on-stage discussion.
Amira Casar, “Peaky Blinders” alumnus Joe Cole, Liev Schreiber and Billie Boullet also star in the eight-episode show, which was co-created by Tony Phelan and Joan Rater.
“Everybody feels like they know this story, know [about Anne] and the secret annex. But there is so much more to learn and this was just an incredible journey of learning,...
- 4/16/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
A Small Light star Bel Powley and creator, writer and executive producer Joan Rater joined Deadline’s Contenders TV event Saturday to discuss the Holocaust-centric series and the importance of highlighting a different aspect of the era onscreen.
Related: Deadline Studio At Contenders Television 2023 – Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Dominique Fishback, Riley Keough, Natasha Lyonne & More
The eight-part Nat Geo series debuts May 1st with two back-to-back episodes, with new episodes streaming the following day on Disney+ and Hulu. A Small Light tells the story of Austrian secretary Miep Gies (Bel Powley), a twentysomething who didn’t hesitate when her boss Otto Frank (Liev Schreiber) asked her to hide him and his family from the Nazis during World War II. For the next two years, Miep, her husband Jan (Joe Cole) and several others help watch over the eight people hiding in a secret annex. Miep found Anne’s (Billie Boullet...
Related: Deadline Studio At Contenders Television 2023 – Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Dominique Fishback, Riley Keough, Natasha Lyonne & More
The eight-part Nat Geo series debuts May 1st with two back-to-back episodes, with new episodes streaming the following day on Disney+ and Hulu. A Small Light tells the story of Austrian secretary Miep Gies (Bel Powley), a twentysomething who didn’t hesitate when her boss Otto Frank (Liev Schreiber) asked her to hide him and his family from the Nazis during World War II. For the next two years, Miep, her husband Jan (Joe Cole) and several others help watch over the eight people hiding in a secret annex. Miep found Anne’s (Billie Boullet...
- 4/15/2023
- by Destiny Jackson
- Deadline Film + TV
True Detective is taking an ice-cold turn in its fourth season.
HBO has released a teaser trailer for True Detective: Night Country, premiering later this year on the premium cabler (and Max, the new name of Warner Bros. Discovery’s combined streaming service).
More from TVLineTVLine Items: Julie Bowen's Peacock Series, Slow Horses Adds Five and MoreTVLine Items: Kerry Condon's Star Wars Role, Cocaine Bear Streams and MoreWas Clark Kent Badass? Did FBI Send Wrong Agent? Best Challenge in Ages? WrestleMania Win a Cheat? More Qs!
Set around an Alaskan disappearance case, this installment of the popular crime-drama...
HBO has released a teaser trailer for True Detective: Night Country, premiering later this year on the premium cabler (and Max, the new name of Warner Bros. Discovery’s combined streaming service).
More from TVLineTVLine Items: Julie Bowen's Peacock Series, Slow Horses Adds Five and MoreTVLine Items: Kerry Condon's Star Wars Role, Cocaine Bear Streams and MoreWas Clark Kent Badass? Did FBI Send Wrong Agent? Best Challenge in Ages? WrestleMania Win a Cheat? More Qs!
Set around an Alaskan disappearance case, this installment of the popular crime-drama...
- 4/12/2023
- by Erianne Lewis
- TVLine.com
SeriesFest has announced the official lineup for SeriesFest: Season 9, which will be held from May 5 to 10 in Denver. “RuPaul’s Drag Race” producers will be presented with the SeriesFest Impact in Television Award at the annual festival, Variety can exclusively reveal.
SeriesFest: Season 9 has slated a wide variety of screenings, panels, workshops and sneak peeks/television premieres at this year’s festival. The non-profit organization is committed to showcasing and uplifting rising talent and underserved communities through episodic storytelling.
This year’s Impact in Television Award will be presented to “RuPaul’s Drag Race” producers Randy Barbato, Fenton Bailey and Tom Campbell, for their pioneering and creative developments in the world of television production. Barbato, Bailey and Campbell will also participate in a panel on Monday, May 8, where audiences can ask the creatives questions.
“We’re excited to celebrate this amazing content and embrace conversations about the ever-changing industry,” Randi Kleiner, co-founder and CEO of SeriesFest,...
SeriesFest: Season 9 has slated a wide variety of screenings, panels, workshops and sneak peeks/television premieres at this year’s festival. The non-profit organization is committed to showcasing and uplifting rising talent and underserved communities through episodic storytelling.
This year’s Impact in Television Award will be presented to “RuPaul’s Drag Race” producers Randy Barbato, Fenton Bailey and Tom Campbell, for their pioneering and creative developments in the world of television production. Barbato, Bailey and Campbell will also participate in a panel on Monday, May 8, where audiences can ask the creatives questions.
“We’re excited to celebrate this amazing content and embrace conversations about the ever-changing industry,” Randi Kleiner, co-founder and CEO of SeriesFest,...
- 4/11/2023
- by McKinley Franklin
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Once Upon A Time alumna Rebecca Mader is set for a key recurring role on CBS’ drama series Fire Country. Additionally, Kanoa Goo (The Rookie) has been cast in the series starring Max Thieriot.
In the drama series, Thieriot portrays Bode Donovan, a young convict seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence by joining a prison release firefighting program in Northern California, where he and other inmates are partnered with elite firefighters to extinguish massive, unpredictable wildfires across the region. It’s a high-risk, high-reward assignment, and the heat is turned up when Bode is assigned to the program in his rural hometown, where he was once a golden all-American son – until his troubles began. Five years ago, Bode burned down everything in his life, leaving town with a big secret. Now he’s back, with the rap sheet of a criminal and the audacity to believe in a...
In the drama series, Thieriot portrays Bode Donovan, a young convict seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence by joining a prison release firefighting program in Northern California, where he and other inmates are partnered with elite firefighters to extinguish massive, unpredictable wildfires across the region. It’s a high-risk, high-reward assignment, and the heat is turned up when Bode is assigned to the program in his rural hometown, where he was once a golden all-American son – until his troubles began. Five years ago, Bode burned down everything in his life, leaving town with a big secret. Now he’s back, with the rap sheet of a criminal and the audacity to believe in a...
- 3/13/2023
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Cable was still coming of age when the original “Night Court” aired on NBC in the ’80s and early ’90s. Forget Netflix; when Harry Anderson first sat behind the gavel as Judge Harry Stone, Napster founder Sean Parker had just turned 4. This “Night Court” starring Melissa Rauch as Judge Abby Stone exists in another century, but it may as well be another world.
However, showrunner Dan Rubin (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”) knows he has an advantage other freshmen do not. “It’s great if you have that name recognition,” he told IndieWire.
This is not the heyday of broadcast TV, but there’s always room for a hit like Fox’s “Accused,” NBC’s “Night Court,” and CBS’ “Fire Country.” The path to making it from idea to air is both similar and different. These days, we have summer originals, straight-to-series orders, smaller episode counts; a midseason premiere is no longer a sign of desperation.
However, showrunner Dan Rubin (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”) knows he has an advantage other freshmen do not. “It’s great if you have that name recognition,” he told IndieWire.
This is not the heyday of broadcast TV, but there’s always room for a hit like Fox’s “Accused,” NBC’s “Night Court,” and CBS’ “Fire Country.” The path to making it from idea to air is both similar and different. These days, we have summer originals, straight-to-series orders, smaller episode counts; a midseason premiere is no longer a sign of desperation.
- 3/8/2023
- by Tony Maglio
- Indiewire
When Otto Frank asked his employee, Miep Gies, to help hide his family during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam in World War II, she readily agreed. The story of that selfless, dangerous decision is the basis of the upcoming drama A Small Light.
The limited series about Anne Frank, her family and those who helped them will premiere on Monday, May 1, at 9/8c, TVLine can reveal exclusively. The news comes on what would have been Gies’ 114th birthday.
More from TVLineLiev Schreiber to Play Anne Frank's Father in Disney+ Series A Small LightTVLine Items: Good Trouble Premiere, Zeta-Jones' Treasure Role...
The limited series about Anne Frank, her family and those who helped them will premiere on Monday, May 1, at 9/8c, TVLine can reveal exclusively. The news comes on what would have been Gies’ 114th birthday.
More from TVLineLiev Schreiber to Play Anne Frank's Father in Disney+ Series A Small LightTVLine Items: Good Trouble Premiere, Zeta-Jones' Treasure Role...
- 2/15/2023
- by Kimberly Roots
- TVLine.com
Fire Country rode the coattails of the AFC Championship Game to red-hot ratings for its January 29 episode.
The episode, which moved from its usual Friday primetime spot on CBS to Sunday after the matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals, tallied 12.22 million total viewers in seven-day viewing, which is up about 20 from the 10M that tuned in same-day.
The episode’s delayed viewership marks the second best seven-day audience for a scripted series this season, coming in just behind the season premiere of Yellowstone (which posted 12.68M viewers). It’s also the best seven-day audience for a broadcast television scripted series since the NCIS: Hawai’i episode that aired after last year’s AFC Championship.
It’s fairly typical for shows on any network with an NFL lead-in, especially a playoff game, to get a boost in ratings. This year’s Kansas City Chiefs vs. Cincinnati Bengals matchup earned...
The episode, which moved from its usual Friday primetime spot on CBS to Sunday after the matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals, tallied 12.22 million total viewers in seven-day viewing, which is up about 20 from the 10M that tuned in same-day.
The episode’s delayed viewership marks the second best seven-day audience for a scripted series this season, coming in just behind the season premiere of Yellowstone (which posted 12.68M viewers). It’s also the best seven-day audience for a broadcast television scripted series since the NCIS: Hawai’i episode that aired after last year’s AFC Championship.
It’s fairly typical for shows on any network with an NFL lead-in, especially a playoff game, to get a boost in ratings. This year’s Kansas City Chiefs vs. Cincinnati Bengals matchup earned...
- 2/10/2023
- by Katie Campione
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: CBS‘ Fire Country is adding Zach Tinker to its Season 1 cast.
Tinker will make his series debut this weekend with a special episode that airs immediately following the AFC Championship game on Sunday, Jan. 29. He plays Collin, a humble, charming, and talented probie firefighter. As the son of a famous firefighting hero, Collin carries a name that he’s constantly trying to live up to.
“You Know Your Dragon Best” – The crews work to contain a dangerous forest fire and save a group of environmentalists protesting a housing development, on Fire Country, Friday, Feb. 3 on the CBS Television Network and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+*. Pictured: Zach Tinker as Collin.
In Fire Country, seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence, young convict Bode Donovan (Max Thieriot) joins a firefighting program that returns him...
Tinker will make his series debut this weekend with a special episode that airs immediately following the AFC Championship game on Sunday, Jan. 29. He plays Collin, a humble, charming, and talented probie firefighter. As the son of a famous firefighting hero, Collin carries a name that he’s constantly trying to live up to.
“You Know Your Dragon Best” – The crews work to contain a dangerous forest fire and save a group of environmentalists protesting a housing development, on Fire Country, Friday, Feb. 3 on the CBS Television Network and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+*. Pictured: Zach Tinker as Collin.
In Fire Country, seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence, young convict Bode Donovan (Max Thieriot) joins a firefighting program that returns him...
- 1/27/2023
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
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