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| | | | | What's news: Bob Greenblatt is set to step down from running NBC, choosing his own way to go out on top. Plus: Andy Lack's alleged dismissal of sexual misconduct cases at his companies, Kenan Thompson eyes his SNL exit and the A-list opening for L.A.'s new glam mall. — Will Robinson |  | | ^Bob Greenblatt to step down: The NBC Entertainment chairman is eyeing his exit from the network, becoming a rare broadcast exec to step out while on top, Katie Kilkenny and Michael O'Connell report: | | + What led to the decision: Greenblatt is said to have started mulling an exit plan after the sudden death of longtime friend and collaborator Craig Zadan in August. It's also been suggested that he firmed up his decision last weekend prior to Monday's Primetime Emmy Awards. Greenblatt is expected to meet with NBCUniversal boss Steve Burke over the weekend to discuss an exit strategy. | | * Recent re-up: Last year, Greenblatt secured an extension last year that continued his contract past its original end date of 2017. | | + What he's done: The Greenblatt strategy has been one of big swings (see niche comedies like The Good Place) with broad appeal. His suite of Dick Wolf-produced dramas has been a huge factor in the network’s stability. True bona fide hits have come from music competition The Voice, America’s Got Talent and a slew of other alternative offerings from reality czar Paul Telegdy. | | * The payoff: Since joining the network in 2011, the programmer has shepherded the network to a near-uncontested No. 1 in ratings among the key demo of adults 18-49. NBC did that in 2016-17 without aid from either the Super Bowl or an Olympic Games. And, in 2017-18, the network’s successful run among total viewers saw it edge out CBS in the summer to finish as the most watched network in all of TV for the broadcast year. Full story. | | | | | | NBC News Boss Under Fire |  | | | | Claims turned away: NBC News chairman Andy Lack is being accused of overlooking complaints of sexual misconduct made during his tenure as chairman and CEO of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Jeremy Barr reports: | | + Purported inaction: During Lack's tenure, according to a new Daily Beast report, the company discovered that music executive Charlie Walk had sent inappropriate messages of a sexual nature to female colleagues. "Soon after finding the messages, executives said, they repeatedly implored Lack to address Walk’s sexual harassment," according to the report. "Each time, Lack declined to act." | | + Career-long pattern: In the report, Lack is accused of turning a blind eye to sexual misconduct throughout his lengthy career in media, which includes two stints running NBC News. But, his boss, NBCUniversal CEO Stephen Burke, told The Daily Beast that he supports Lack and "look(s) forward to continuing to work with Andy and to his continued success as the leader of NBC News." Full story. | | All eyes on Sky... | | ► Comcast, Fox engaged in auction for broadcaster. No news yet on which media giant has come out on top, but Georg Szalai previewed the process to acquire the European company. | | SNL cast moves... | | ► Kenan Thompson eyes SNL exit amid primetime push at NBC. Thompson, SNL's longest-running castmember, will star in single-camera comedy Saving Larry for NBC. The comedy, which received a sizable production commitment, hails from SNL mastermind Lorne Michaels and writer Jackie Clarke (Superstore). | | ► SNL adds Ego Nwodim to season 44 cast. The UCB regular will fill the void created by the departure of featured player Luke Null as the NBC late-night series also bolsters its writing staff. | | Netflix's developments... | | ► Netflix orders Melissa Joan Hart-Sean Astin sitcom No Good Nick. The two will play parents who unwittingly welcome a teenage con artist into their home. The Netflix production will also star Siena Agudong (Star Falls) as the title character and Kalama Epstein (The Fosters) and Lauren Lindsey Donzis (Liv and Maddie). | | ► Streamer rounds out cast for RuPaul comedy AJ and the Queen. Josh Segarra, Michael-Leon Wooley, Katerina Tannenbaum and Tia Carrere will star alongside the Emmy winner in the 10-episode comedy from Michael Patrick King. | | ► Netflix producing drug lord series Yankee in Mexico. Shooting in Mexico City, the drama centers on a young businessman from the U.S. who, to protect his family, crosses the border into Mexico and becomes a drug lord. Carlos Carrera (The Crime of Padre Amaro) is the main director on the Spanish-language series featuring telenovela star Pablo Lyle. | | Elsewhere in TV... | | ► Ducktales renewed for season three on Disney Channel. The animated series returns for its second season Oct. 20. Stars Danny Pudi (Huey), Ben Schwartz (Dewey) and Bobby Moynihan (Louie) made the announcement in a video, with a bit of help from co-star David Tennant (Scrooge McDuck). | | ► Georgie Hurford-Jones signs new Endemol Shine deal. Hurford-Jones has been named SVP of unscripted original series and specials in a new deal with Endemol Shine North America. | | ► Live PD extended for 150 more episodes on A&E. The show, which airs in three-hour blocks on Friday and Saturday nights, has been a strong performer for the cable channel since its premiere in October 2016. So strong, in fact, that A&E has ordered a whopping 450 more hours that will take the series through 2019. | | Quoted: "There’s a certain storyline that’s challenging that we have to keep going back to the well for. ... I know that if we said, ‘We’re looking for this and it’s for Stranger Things,’ we would have tons more options, but it’s still a lot of work." — casting director Carmen Cuba, on struggle filling out the Netflix hit's season three cast. |  | | ^Dratch details Napa influence on movie: Two years after former SNL castmember Rachel Dratch celebrated her birthday in Napa, Amy Poehler got the gang together for the new Netflix comedy Wine Country, which Dratch recalled to Kathryn Romeyn: | | + Real-life inspiration: The movie that Amy Poehler directed is based on a real trip a bunch of us took together for my 50th birthday. After that trip, Amy had the idea, "Oh, this could make a fun movie," and she conspired to actually do it with all the same people: Maya Rudolph; Ana Gasteyer; Tina Fey; Paula Pell; and Emily Spivey, who ended up writing the movie with Liz Cackowski. | | + Welcome respite: Coming from New York, where it's loud sirens and pigeons, I was surprised by how rural and wild Napa felt. We got to shoot at vineyards for a couple of days. At the Quintessa winery, we were shooting up on the hillside retreat, as well as in the giant cellar. We also shot at Artesa Vineyards & Winery, then did a tasting. I ordered a bunch of Artesa albariño to take home. After a few glasses, you're in for the case. Full story. | | Biden wines and dines... | | ► Joe Biden set to hold Beverly Hills fundraiser hosted by Jeffrey Katzenberg. The former vice president will dust off his fundraising chops for an Oct. 3 fundraiser that will be held in Beverly Hills just weeks before the country heads to the polls for the midterm elections. The $5,000-plate event is being organized by Gonring, Spahn and Associates along with Katzenberg. | | Digital digest... | | ► PayPal cuts ties with InfoWars. The digital payments company is the latest platform to ditch Jones and his InfoWars site, which along with conspiracy theories peddles "I Stand With Trump" T-shirts, Wake Up America coffee, dietary supplements and survival food. | | ► ATTN: raises $15 million from Evolution Media. The company, which uses social media platforms like Facebook to share content about a variety of progressive issues, has over the last couple years focused on video as opposed to written editorial content. Bill McGlashan, founder and managing partner of TPG Growth, will join the ATTN: board. | | Legal briefs... | | ► Roc Nation, Amazon sued over taped "off the record" talk about Meek Mills case. The interview was part of an upcoming Amazon docuseries about Mill's fight for exoneration and "flaws in the criminal justice system." Attorney A. Charles Peruto Jr., who represents Judge Genece Brinkley, says after the interview ended, he asked to go off the record and the interviewer told him the camera would be turned off — though it never was. | | ► L.A. D.A. declines sex assault case against producer Benny Medina. In November of last year, actor Jason Dottley also accused Medina of a crime; an alleged attempted rape in 2008. |  NYT struggles to defend dismissal of Sarah Palin defamation lawsuit. Palin attempted to sue the paper in 2017 after an editorial mistakenly linked one of her political action committee ads to a 2011 mass shooting that severely wounded then-Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. |
| | | | | Moore's Cool 'Fahrenheit 11/9' |  | | | | Slow revolution: Unless traffic picks up, Fahrenheit 11/9 is headed for a sixth-place finish with a $3 million-$4 million debut, below its pre-release tracking of $5 million-$6 million, Pamela McClintock reports: | | + Disappointing sequel: In 2004, Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 debuted to a record-breaking $23.9 million from 868 locations. The 2018 follow-up was released on 1,719 screens. | | * Doc boom excludes politics?: Dinesh D'Souza'sDeath of a Nation debuted to $2.4 million from 1,005 locations before topping out at $5.9 million domestically, the worst showing of D'Souza's directorial career despite an overall doc boom at the box office, including such summer hits as Won't You Be My Neighbor? ($22.6 million), RBG ($14 million) and Three Identical Strangers ($12.1 million). The latter three all rolled out slowly. | | + Eli Roth's kids movie haul: The House With a Clock in Its Walls is headed for a weekend gross of $21 million-plus from 3,592 theaters, easily enough to top the chart. From Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Universal, the pre-Halloween offering follows a young orphan (Owen Vacarro) who goes to live in his uncle's (Jack Black) spooky house, only to accidentally awaken the town's dead. Full analysis. | | Elsewhere in film... | | ► Marvel Studios' The Eternals finds its director with Chloe Zhao. Matthew and Ryan Firpo, whose spec script Ruin topped the 2017 Black List, wrote the screenplay for the superhero team adventure. | | ► Sony developing real-life crime thriller Storming Las Vegas. Dennis Lehane has been hired to adapt the 2008 book from John Huddy that looks at a series of daring Las Vegas casino robberies masterminded by Jose Vigoa. | | ► Ralph Ineson, Susan Lynch join Here are the Young Men. The film, an Irish coming-of-age drama from director Eoin C. Macken, will also see Ineson reunited with his The Witch co-star Anya Taylor-Joy, who was announced in August. | | ► Kenya court lifts ban on lesbian love story Rafiki in time for Oscar run. In a decision handed down Friday, judge Wilfrida Okwany ruled the film can be screened until Sept. 30, giving it the required seven-day run to be in contention for the country's best foreign-language submission. | | Quoted: “My first day directing alone, I felt like I was going to throw up. It was this massive scene, like a crane and it all had to connect ... I was like, 'How am I going to do this?' And then it just kind of came to me.” — Meagan Good, on her first attempt at directing for If Not Now, When?. |  | | ^Inside starry Palisades Village's star-studded opening gala: Fireworks! Charlize Theron! John Legend! A rabbi! A priest! Get all the A-list details from Rick Caruso's expensive opening of his new upscale retail and dining destination, Chris Gardner reports: | | + Wide-open checkbook: The scene could've doubled for an awards show as there were designer gowns and jewels galore, a sea of tuxedo-clad men and newly-minted EGOT champion Legend. It's clear that no expense was spared in presenting Caruso's years-in-the-making Palisades Village to the invite-only guest list. Attendees didn't even have to pay to get there as they were offered $500 in Uber credits to ensure an easy and chic arrival courtesy of black SUVs. | | + How it got made: Over the last couple of weeks, there were 600 people working at the site "almost around the clock," Caruso claims. Other stats: 102 architects, engineers and designers; 3,000 construction jobs working 2 million hours; 98% of demolition waste that was recycled; 45 tenants; about 1,000 permanent jobs; 20 women-owned businesses; and 77 different tree and plant species. Full story. | | On the festival circuit... | | ► NYFF highlights Vincent Van Gogh movie, Beale Street in trailer for 2018 edition. Other movies set to screen at the 56th edition, which kicks off next week, include The Favourite, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, ROMA and Orson Welles' recently-completed final film The Other Side of the Wind. | | From the stage... | | ► Where the Wild Things Are to get stage adaptation. The Maurice Sendak Foundation has commissioned the full-length play from off-Broadway's New Victory Theater, following a 1984 opera and the 2009 Spike Jonze film based on the classic children's story. | | Elton's big deal... | | ► Elton John and Universal Music sign multi-faceted partnership. The long-term deal covers recorded music, music publishing, merchandise, brand management and licensing rights and will keep the singer with the label for the rest of his career. | | Coming attractions... | | ► First look: Joaquin Phoenix in Joker makeup revealed. In a short screen test shared by director Todd Phillips, Phoenix is staring blankly into the camera before cracking a slight smile. The camera then flashes to Phoenix wearing clown makeup, but not the traditional Joker white face and green hair. Watch. |  Jack Black's evolution to kid-friendly star. With The House with a Clock in its Walls, the actor continues to depart from the raunchy persona he established with Tenacious D decades ago, Josh Spiegel writes. |
| | | How Hollywood Does San Sebastian |  | | | | Spanish getaway: San Sebastian, the posh beachfront town in the Basque region of Spain, becomes a Hollywood hotspot during the annual San Sebastian Film Festival, which runs through Sept. 29, Meredith Maltby reports: | | + Private paradise: "We have beautiful beaches, amazing countryside drives and fantastic hotels — but without all the crowds and fanfare of some other European destinations," says Nicole Warren, a director at MiMo, a local cooking school and gourmet shop. "They can spend time with their families, eat amazing food and not be bothered by paparazzi." | | + Hemsworth family destination: On their most recent trip, the couple stayed at Hotel Iturregi, a countryside property in Getaria about 25 minutes outside of the main city. Located amid vineyards and with views overlooking the coast of Gipuzkoa, it is the ideal place for relaxing amid nature. The town is also well known for Elkano, a legendary restaurant with super-fresh local seafood prepared expertly by chef/owner Aitor Arregui. | | * Bourdain's acclaim: One of the late Anthony Bourdain’s favorite restaurants, the author and food/travel correspondent described the tableside deconstruction of Arregui’s grilled whole turbot as “an anatomy lesson.” Full story. | | + Lighthearted gala: With a noticeably irreverent tone — thanks to a humorous script written by Spain’s top comedy writers Borja Cobeaga and Diego San Jose (Bomb Scared and Spanish Affair), with Borja Echevarria — the formerly staid gala took on a decidedly younger air in keeping with the festival’s stated goal of becoming a one-stop shop for fresh faces. | | What to watch this weekend... | | THR critic Daniel Fienberg sends his recommendation: | | Brace yourself, kids! Premiere week starts on Monday. That means, though, that you have one last "sane" week before all of your favorite network shows return. The big streaming option this weekend is Emma Stone and Jonah Hill in Maniac which — I can't emphasize this enough — is going to freak some people out in a positive way and others in a negative way. It's trippy stuff. | | So if Maniac is too much for you, take your shell-shocked brain over to Amazon for the comfort of newly minted Emmy juggernaut The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which definitely deserved the trophies won by Rachel Brosnahan and Alex Borstein. If you need something even more soothing, why not travel back to the '80s for 18 vintage episodes of Murphy Brown screening on CBS All Access ahead of the classic sitcom's return to CBS this week. | | What else we're reading... | | — "Justin Theroux Is on the Prowl." Alex Williams profiles: “'The good news is that was probably the most — I’m choosing my words really carefully — it was kind of the most gentle separation, in that there was no animosity,' he said, neither defensive nor bitter. 'In a weird way, just sort of navigating the inevitable perception of it is the exhausting part.'" [New York Times] | | — "Jeffrey Wright on the Lessons Learned from Summer Jobs, Growing Up in D.C." Lolade Fadulu interviews: "The general feeling of D.C. is gone. The place that I knew is gone. I was born in 1965, and I left D.C. to go to college in 1983. ... That black folks in Washington, D.C. are no longer a majority, I’m wondering if my very DNA has been reconstituted." [The Atlantic] | | — "DC Superheroes Have Their Own Streaming Service Now." Devin Fuller explores the new platform: "Thus far its selection of contemporary blockbusters is relatively humble. But the service runs deep with more obscure and retro offerings, with several original scripted series on the way." [New York Times] | | — "Raphael Bob-Waksberg, In Good Faith." The BoJack Horseman creator opens up to E. Alex Jung: "I would love for Mel Gibson to go to college campuses and talk about hate speech. I’d love for him to talk to men about what to do with their anger, to not abuse their significant others. I think they need to be a positive in the world now." [Vulture] | | — "The Deliberate Awfulness of Social Media." Mark O’Connell explores: "Social-media platforms know what you’re seeing, and they know how you acted in the immediate aftermath of seeing it, and they can decide what you will see next in order to further determine how you act—a feedback loop that gets progressively tighter until it becomes a binding force on an individual’s free will." [The New Yorker] | | What else we're watching... | | + "How a TV show gets made." [Vanity Fair] | | + "Hillary Clinton never had to steal things from Obama's desk." [Late Show] | | + "Chrissy Teigen clears up name pronunciation." [Tonight Show] | | + "Noah Centineo surprises fans." [Jimmy Kimmel] | | From the archives... | | + On Sept. 22, 1994, NBC bolstered its Thursday night lineup by premiering Friends, the ensemble comedy that "makes the lives of its protagonists humorously involving." Flashback review. |  Today's birthdays: Dina Shihabi, 29, Tom Felton, 31, Tatiana Maslany, 33, Laura Vandervoort, 34, Billie Piper, 36, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., 47, Mireille Enos, 43, Matt Besser, 51, Bonnie Hunt, 57, Scott Baio, 58, John Woo, 72. |
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