What's news: Features journalist Nick Bilton is the new executive producer of 60 Minutes. Martina McBride is the latest act to drop out of the Freedom 250 concert series. Netflix has won a bidding war for Semi Chellas' new TV project. Na Hong-Jin’s Hope has securing pre-sale deals in 200 territories. And Disney+ has greenlit a new docuseries about Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman's Aussie sailing team. — Abid Rahman
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Bari-ing Bad News: '60 Minutes' In Shambles |
►The beatings will continue until morale improves. CBS News 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi is officially out at the network, a culminating event sparked by a spiked segment that she had worked on last year, and a public clash with CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. In addition to Alfonsi, CBS News terminated 60 Minutes exec producer Tanya Simon as well as correspondent Cecilia Vega. Alfonsi and Vega are the latest 60 Minutes correspondents to exit the storied news show, following Anderson Cooper. The story.
—"I very much fear what comes next." Cecilia Vega fired back at Weiss' tenure at CBS News in a statement on Thursday. Vega said that “in recent months, my producing teams and I have experienced efforts to insert political bias into our stories,” though she did not go into detail about what that entailed. “Reporting teams have held back on submitting story pitches about important news topics out of fear of the internal repercussions. “Let’s call this what it is: censorship, both imposed and self-driven,” she continued. "It is dangerous for [60 Minutes] and dangerous for democracy." The story.
—TV news novice. In her most significant move yet since taking over CBS News last year, Bari Weiss installed features journalist Nick Bilton as the new executive producer of 60 Minutes. Bilton was most recently a special correspondent at Vanity Fair, and is known for his investigative print features and books on tech. He wrote and directed the HBO doc Fake Famous and produced the Theranos doc The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley. He is also writing a feature script for Martin Scorsese. The hiring of Bilton, a TV news outsider, was a shock to many inside CBS. The story.
—"The recent direction of the outlet stains the legacy of Mike Wallace." CBS News was the subject of criticism from the stage at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards on Wednesday night. The student journalist recipient of the Mike Wallace Memorial Scholarship called out CBS in the wake of the recent merger of its parent company Paramount with Skydance. "While I want to thank CBS News for funding this generous gift towards my education, I want to also acknowledge how the recent direction of the outlet stains the legacy of Mike Wallace, the namesake of this scholarship," Santiago Campos said onstage to enthusiastic applause from the audience. The story.
—Some good news? CBS says that it now expects to turn a $15m profit on late night, thanks to Byron Allen‘s time buy of the former Late Show timeslot. In a statement late Thursday, a CBS spokesperson said that late night had become “cost prohibitive” to continue programming on its own, which ultimately led to the decision to cancel Stephen Colbert’s Late Show. “With this ‘time buy’ model, we have shifted an hour that was losing roughly $40m annually to $15m in profit — a $55m swing," the statement said. The comments come as Allen’s Comics Unleashed debuted to about 1.1m viewers, a significant decline from the Late Show, which averaged 2.7m in its final season. The story.
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ABC Files TV Station Renewals to FCC "Under Protest" |
►Banana republic latest. In a fiery legal filing to the FCC Thursday, ABC submitted early renewal applications for its eight owned and operated local TV stations, though the Disney-owned broadcaster noted that it was doing so “under protest.” ABC argues that the FCC, under chairman Brendan Carr, was attempting to “suppress speech under the guise of bureaucratic process.” ABC cites the timing of the request, which came days after ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel came under sharp criticism from Donald Trump, who demanded he be fired over a joke he made about Melania. The story.
—Omnishambles. Martina McBride is the latest act to drop out of the Trump-affiliated Freedom 250 concert series for The Great American State Fair this summer, saying that it “turned out to be misleading.” The country singer-songwriter took to her Instagram on Thursday, telling fans that she initially accepted the opportunity thinking it was a nonpartisan event. McBride's exit from the event comes after Young MC, Morris Day and the Commodores also pulled out. Milli Vanilli singer Jodie Rocco also questioned their inclusion on the list, previously saying that no member of the group had been consulted about a performance. The story.
—Damning with faint praise. Spencer Pratt will probably be thrilled: The would-be L.A. mayor has finally drawn the ire of Jimmy Kimmel. The ABC late-night host targeted the former reality TV star turned political candidate in his Wednesday night Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue. Kimmel laid into Pratt for his lack of leadership experience amid his face-off against incumbent Karen Bass and City Council member Nithya Raman. Yet Kimmel started off, surprisingly enough, by fully agreeing with several of Pratt’s criticisms of the city’s current leadership. The recap.
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Paramount Wins Bidding War for 'The Midnight Library' |
►Finally a big one! Paramount is closing in on a $30m plus deal to acquire hot Cannes title The Midnight Sun, set to be directed by Garth Davis and to star Florence Pugh. StudioCanal, which is backing the feature project, will distribute the film in the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Benelux, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, with Paramount distributing in the rest of the world. The adaptation of the book by Matt Haig is likely the biggest deal out of Cannes this year. The story centers on Nora Seed (Pugh), who finds herself in a magical library between life and death, filled with books that offer her to see the many outcomes of lives not lived. The story.
—🤝 It's a record! 🤝 International buyers are mad for Hope, Na Hong-Jin’s much-talked about sci-fi monster movie, a highlight of Cannes this year. The film has all but sold out worldwide, securing pre-sale deals in 200 territories worldwide. Plus M Entertainment said the pre-sales deals for Hope have set an all-time record for a Korean title, noting the film has already recouped “nearly half” of its net production budget before theatrical release. The story.
—🏆 Amaze! Amaze! Amaze! 🏆 Project Hail Mary snatched the best of show prize at the 2026 Golden Trailer Awards for its trailer entitled “Chance” from Amazon MGM Studios and Wild Card Creative. The awards celebrate the best in motion picture and digital marketing previews, which includes trailers, commercials and posters. The winners.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Janus Films has acquired all North American rights to German filmmaker Valeska Grisebach‘s new film, the Cannes competition title The Dreamed Adventure (Das Geträumte Abenteuer), which was awarded the jury prize on the Croisette. Janus’ acquisition of Dreamed Adventure follows its U.S. deal for Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s The Samurai and the Prisoner. The story.
—🎭 Filling out. 🎭 Andie MacDowell and Kevin Bacon are the next stars joining the Emily Henry cinematic universe. The two actors join Phoebe Dynevor and Patrick Schwarzenegger in the film adaptation of Henry’s 2020 bestseller Beach Read. Their specific roles have not been announced. Dynevor and Schwarzenegger were previously announced as the romantic leads. The story.
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Can Reality TV Favorites 'Top Chef' and 'Survivor' Be Fixed? |
►"Survivor and Top Chef have gone wrong this season, and you know who’s to blame? Me! And you! Us!" THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reflects on the current struggles of once-reliable reality TV staples. Intrusive fan votes, questionable production decisions and stale locations have led to disappointing installments, writes Daniel, and the prognosis for improvement is mixed. The critic's notebook.
—Here we go again. Prepare to recouple with Love Island USA for season eight — Peacock has revealed the first 12 Islanders who will be searching for love this summer. The streamer's hit reality dating series, which has become a cultural phenomenon over the last two years, centers on a group of single Islanders in search of love in a stunning Fijian villa. Last year, the show became the streamer’s most-watched original series, with season seven accounting for 18.4b minutes of watch time over its six-week run. The lineup.
—Going out with a bang. Midway through its final season, The Boys returned to the top of Nielsen’s streaming charts, and a former NBC series jumped into the rankings after being added to Netflix. The Boys drew 947m minutes of viewing time for the week of April 27-May 3, up about 7 percent from the previous week. It was the first time the Prime Video series took the No. 1 overall spot since the week of its season four finale in July 2024. Netflix’s Running Point grew in the week after its season two premiere, growing about 17 percent to 900m minutes and finishing second overall. Another Netflix show, Man on Fire, had the week’s biggest debut with 805m minutes of watch time. The streaming rankings.
—Woof! For the second season in a row, the biggest show on TV comes from Netflix, while CBS — despite a down year overall in primetime — had the most shows near the top of the ratings of any broadcast network. Cross-platform ratings for the 2025-26 season (or about 83 percent of it, to be precise) show Stranger Things as by far the most watched series on all platforms, as measured over 35 days of viewing. The final season of the Netflix series averaged 32.9m viewers in that amount of time — 7.3m more than the second-place show, His & Hers (25.6m). Those numbers are based on Nielsen data through April 12. CBS’ Marshals is the top network show, ranking third overall with 20.7m viewers through the midway point of its first season. The ratings.
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Mika Abdalla and Stephen Kalyn to Lead 'Off Campus' S2 |
►🎭 Dean and Allie fans, rejoice! 🎭 Stephen Kalyn and Mika Abdalla have been tapped to lead Off Campus season two, Prime Video announced Thursday. It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to fans of the series, which premiered on the streamer May 13, as the pairing had an episode dedicated to their complicated not-quite relationship. Following the success of season one, the show’s next installment will adapt the plot of Elle Kennedy’s third novel in the Off Campus series, The Score. The story.
—🏆 Congrats! 🏆 Prime Minister won the top prize of best documentary on night 2 of the 2026 News & Documentary Emmy Awards on Thursday. The documentary, which hails from HBO Documentary Films and CNN Films, tracked Jacinda Ardern’s pathway to becoming New Zealand’s 40th Prime Minister. Other top honors of the night went to Simon Schama: The Holocaust, 80 Years On, for outstanding historical documentary; Tiler Peck for outstanding arts and culture documentary for Tiler Peck: Suspending Time; and National Geographic’s Secrets of the Penguins with the outstanding nature documentary award. The winners.
—Welcome to the Flying Roos. Disney+ has greenlit a new docuseries from Welcome to Wrexham duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac following Reynolds’ and Hugh Jackman‘s Australian sailing team. Reynolds and Jackman, aka Deadpool and Wolverine co-own SailGP’s Bonds Flying Roos race team. The series will follow the Flying Roos “across a global racing season defined by speed, pressure and high stakes,” the media announcement reads, “a stadium-style championship where identical 50-foot catamarans race in close-to-shore courses at speeds of up to 100 km/h.” The story.
—🎭 Dream team. 🎭 Tony Shalhoub has been cast as a recurring guest star on CBS‘ new series Einstein. He’ll play Jack Einstein, the father of Matthew Gray Gubler’s character Lewis Einstein. Lewis, the protagonist on the series, is Albert Einstein’s great-grandson, which makes Shalhoub’s character the grandson. The casting reunites Shalhoub with his Monk creative team Andy Breckman and Randy Zisk, who executive produce Einstein. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Mad Men and The Audacity writer and producer Semi Chellas has landed her next series project at Netflix. The streamer has won a bidding war for The Long Now, a thriller created by Chellas about a man racing time to solve his own murder. Netflix will develop the project as an ongoing series, with Chellas as showrunner. She’ll executive produce with Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan of Aggregate Films, which has a first-look deal at Netflix. The story.
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TV Review: Apple's 'Star City'
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►"Cold War chills meet Space Age thrills." THR's Angie Han reviews Apple TV's Star City. Welsh actor Rhys Ifans leads the 1970s-set alt-history sci-fi, following the cosmonauts, scientists and intelligence officials on the Soviet side of the quest for scientific advancement in this For All Mankind spinoff series. Also starring Anna Maxwell Martin, Agnes O'Casey, Alice Englert, Solly McLeod, Adam Nagaitis, Ruby Ashbourne Serkis, Josef Davies and Priya Kansara. Created by Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert and Ronald D. Moore. The review.
—"A powerful debut tackles a tough subject." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews Julien Gaspar-Oliveri's The Blow. Premiering in Cannes, Gaspar-Oliveri's first feature stars César award winner Bastien Bouillon and newcomer Diego Murgia as a father and son facing a deeply disturbing incestuous past. Also starring Romane Fringeli and Héloïse Volle. Written by Julien Gaspar-Oliveri and Claudia Bottino. The review.
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►All the latest content from THR's podcast studio.
—It Happened in Hollywood. THR senior writer Seth Abramovitch goes behind the scenes of the pop culture moments that shaped Hollywood history. In this episode, Seth spoke to John Badham. The veteran filmmaker behind Saturday Night Fever remembers how a TV heartthrob, a light-up dance floor and a white suit ignited the disco era. The podcast.
—I’m Having an Episode. THR’s Mikey O’Connell attempts to stay on top of the latest TV and entertainment news with a little help from his friends, colleagues and a revolving door of actors, writers, showrunners and filmmakers. In this episode, Mikey interviews Gail Simmons, the judge and executive producer of his favorite show Top Chef. Simmons pays a visit to talk about a heated elimination, the likelihood of another All Stars season, her days of caviar-tasting for Vogue and her upcoming book about how to be a better guest — like what to do when you're stuck sitting next to an asshole. The podcast.
In other news...
—Apple's Sugar is still hiding its big twist in trailer for S2
—Shanghai Film Festival to open with Derek Yee and Keane T.K. Wong’s Afterpiece
—Entertainment marketing firm Create promotes Jonathan Gitlin to CEO
—MeatEater’s Steven Rinella signs with UTA
What else we're reading...
—Sophie Gilbert reflects on how, over five seasons, HBO's Hacks explored what it means to succeed creatively [Atlantic]
—Bojan Pancevski goes inside Vladimir Putin's $26b(!!) quest for longevity [WSJ]
—Zohran is a Gooner! Mamdani pens a personal essay on his love for the mighty Arsenal Football Club, revealing he was there in the trenches with the rest of us during the "Banter Era" [The Athletic]
—For those who are still unclear, Nicole Stock helpfully breaks down what "mogging" is [NYT]
—Here's your Friday list: 23 of the most shocking character deaths in TV history [THR]
Today...
...in 2015, Sony released Cameron Crowe's Aloha in theaters. The dramedy, which starred Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams, was a critical and commerical failure and became infamous for a whitewashing controversy, with Stone playing a supposedly one-quarter Chinese and one-quarter Hawaiian character. The original review.
Today's birthdays...
Annette Bening (68), Laverne Cox (54), Riley Keough (37), Maika Monroe (33), Laila Lockhart Kraner (18), Rupert Everett (67), Anders Holm (45), Mitchell Hurwitz (63), Ted Levine (69), Alessandra Torresani (39), Park Ji-hoon (27), Justin Chon (45), Erica Lindbeck (34), Michael O'Neill (75), Noah Reid (39), Adrian Paul (67), Debra Stipe (64), Zulay Henao (47), Diana Lee Inosanto (60), Lisa Whelchel (63), Gregg Sulkin (34), Julie Cobb (79), Aaron McGruder (52), Aníta Briem (44), Crystal Balint (45), Tracey E. Bregman (63), Saori Hayami (35), Rory Albanese (49), Pearl Mackie (39), McNally Sagal (67), Jay Paulson (48), Paloma Kwiatkowski (32), Nevis Unipan (18), Anthony Azizi (53), Aura Garrido (37), Brandon Mychal Smith (37), Daniel Tosh (51), Lorelei Linklater (32), Nick Mancuso (78)
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Jay Daniel, the two-time Emmy-nominated producer who kept the chaos in check on the popular but difficult to make ABC series Moonlighting and Roseanne, has died. He was 82. The obituary.
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