Television
Candice Bergen to Return to TV in ABC’s Cancer Comedy ‘Pearl’
Candice Bergen is the latest ’90s TV icon making a comeback. The “Murphy Brown” star will play the titular character in the ABC comedy “Pearl,” about a matriarch who decides to take...
Can Nikki Glaser Make Sexpert Comedy a Thing?
Back in the ’90s, “sex-positive” was a really big deal. Anka Radakovich held court over at Details magazine with her pioneering sexpert column; vibrators like “The Rabbit” made it into the...
Starz Plans Sequel to Philippa Gregory Historical Drama ‘The White Queen’
“The White Queen,” Starz’s Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated adaptation of the first in Philippa Gregory’s Cousins’ War book series, is getting a sequel. “The White Princess” is based on...
Elena Ferrante’s ‘Neapolitan Novels’ Being Made Into TV Series
Good news for the many admirers of Italian author Elena Ferrante’s so-called ‘Neapolitan Novels.’ The four-part book series, which has recently become a hit with U.S. readers, is set to be...
Canadian Program Aims to Increase Number of Women Directors in TV
A new initiative launched by Women in View and the Directors Guild of Canada aims to double the number of women directing scripted TV in Canada. Their timeline is ambitious — the hope is to...
Watch: ‘Natural Woman’ Singer Carole King Revisits Her Breakthrough Album in New PBS Doc
Adele is currently lighting up the Billboard charts and setting records, but she’s far from the first songstress to dominate the airwaves. An upcoming episode of PBS’s “American Masters”...
Samantha Bee Is Poised To Change The World of Late-Night TV with ‘Full Frontal’
When Jon Stewart announced he was stepping down from “The Daily Show,” many prospective successor names were thrown around — one of the most obvious being Samantha Bee, the show’s most...
‘Good Wife’ Actress Archie Panjabi Lands Leading Role in ABC Drama Pilot ‘The Jury’
It looks like Archie Panjabi has found the perfect follow-up to her Emmy Award-winning role as Kalinda in “The Good Wife,” and is set to star in her very own vehicle. The London-born actress has...
The Trials of Marcia Clark: Sarah Paulson in ‘American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson’
NBC Gives Pilot Orders to Comedies From Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones
Former “Parks and Recreation” stars Amy Poehler and Rashida Jones have received pilot orders from their old network. NBC has given the go-ahead on the first episode of an untitled single-cam...
Trailer Watch: Ellen Page Travels Around the World in LGBT-Centered Docuseries ‘Gaycation’
Ellen Page’s new docuseries project has been hotly anticipated since a video released online last summer showed the “Freeheld” star confronting Texas senator Ted Cruz about LGBT rights at the...
Docu-Series About Hollywood’s Gender Inequality to Air on Epix
Gender inequality has persisted in Hollywood since the early days of the silver screen, but it’s only in recent years that the mainstream media has devoted much attention to sexism on screen and...
‘Homeland’s’ Lesli Linka Glatter to Direct Navy SEAL Series ‘Six’
Veteran TV director Lesli Linka Glatter (“Homeland,” “Mad Men,” “The Leftovers,” “The Walking Dead”) will helm the first two episodes of and executive produce the military drama...
Agents Scully and Carter Return
Former ‘Veep’ Producer Stephanie Laing Launches Online Network for Women-Driven Comedy
Former “Veep” producer and director Stephanie Laing is building a new forum for female-centric comedy. The online network PYPO will debut on January 4, 2016, with sketches, animation,...
Margaret Cho to Star in Amazon Comedy About a Dysfunctional Family With a Pot Business
Twenty freaking years after her last show went off the air, Margaret Cho finally has another one on the way. The Korean-American comedian will star in Amazon’s “Highland,” an hour-long...
Kathryn Bigelow Developing HBO Drama About Jihadi Recruitment in the U.S.
Kathryn Bigelow has finally announced a substantial project since “Zero Dark Thirty.” The first female filmmaker to win an Oscar for Best Director is currently developing a drama for HBO....
Gina Prince-Bythewood & Sanna Lathan’s Police-Shooting Drama ‘Shots Fired’ Picked Up to Series
“Shots Fired,” the racially flipped police-shooting drama that’ll reunite “Love and Basketball” writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood and actress Sanaa Lathan, has been picked up to series....
6 Actresses of Color Nominated by Golden Globes for TV, 0 for Film
TV proved itself not just a medium for women, but especially one for women of color, with this year’s Golden Globes nominations. Six actresses of color — Queen Latifah, Viola Davis, Taraji...
New Female-Centric FX Comedy to Focus on TV Writer Returning Home to Rural PA
“You’re the Worst” writer Alison Bennett and creator Stephen Falk are creating a new comedy for FX. The untitled series is described as “a dirty, female-driven take on the “you can’t go...
Claudia Shear Developing 19th-Century NYC-Set Musical About Show Business for NBC
After finding ratings success in its live stagings of “The Sound of Music,” “Peter Pan” and “The Wiz,” NBC is working on bringing an original musical to its primetime programming....
Queen Latifah to Star in Lee Daniels’ Girl-Group Drama
Queen Latifah has joined the cast of “Empire” co-creator Lee Daniels’ unnamed girl-group drama. An Oscar and Emmy nominee, Queen Latifah will play a beauty-salon owner who becomes a surrogate...
‘The Good Wife’ Creators Sell Drama About Female Papal Spokesperson to Amazon
Michelle King and Robert King, the wife-husband writing partners that created “The Good Wife,” have sold “Vatican City,” a new drama, to Amazon. “Vatican City” centers on an American...
Jennifer Johnson and Sue Chung Developing Female-Vigilante Drama for The CW
TV writers Jennifer Johnson (“Lost”) and Sue Chung (“Gotham,” “Marvel’s Agent Carter”) are teaming up for a new CW series about a team of female vigilantes. Previously titled...
‘Transparent’ Returns, in All Its Complicated Glory
Trailer Watch: Pregnant Claire Heads to France to Change History in ‘Outlander’ Season 2
“Outlander” is coming back, but much has changed since the first season concluded back in May. For starters, Claire (Caitriona Balfe) is visibly pregnant. Starz has released a sneak peek of the...
Trailer Watch: The ‘Girls’ Contend With Japan, “Gay Emergencies” and a Wedding in Season 5
‘Supergirl’ Picked Up for Full Season at CBS
You have a lot more “Supergirl” to look forward to. CBS has ordered an additional seven episodes of the series, bringing Season One from 13 episodes to 20. The Hollywood Reporter notes that,...
‘Motley’s Law,’ About an American Lawyer’s Fight for Afghan Human Rights, to Air on Al Jazeera Am
Nicole N. Horanyi’s “Motley’s Law,” a documentary profile of human rights lawyer Kimberley Motley, has found a new home at Al Jazeera America (AJAM). The winner of the Grand Jury Prize at...
Trailer Watch: ‘Agent Carter’ Gets a New, Violent Hobby and Relocates to LA in Season 2
Peggy Carter is back, but Season Two of “Marvel’s Agent Carter” will see the secret agent working in a new locale. Like so many mid-century dreamers and schemers, she’s moving from New York...
Trailer Watch: Samantha Bee Can’t Harness The Force in Star Wars-Themed ‘Full Frontal’ Spot
A new spot for “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” has been released, and the setting isn’t exactly what you’d associate Bee with: She’s in a galaxy far, far away from the “Daily Show”...
Nominate a Female-Created, Female-Starring TV Pilot Script for the 2016 WriteHer List
TV has a reputation for being a more inviting place for women, but female storytellers are still outnumbered nearly 3 to 1 as writers and creators for the small screen. WeForShe, an advocacy group...
Stephenie Meyer Has New Series in the Works at Hulu, Annie Mumolo at HBO
Two women writers who have made a big mark in the film world are taking their talents to the small screen. “Bridesmaids” co-writer Annie Mumolo has a drama in development at HBO, while Stephenie...
The Many, Many Reasons Behind the Exclusion of Women in TV’s Directing Ranks
In the 2014–2015 TV season, white women directed 13% of episodes and women of color directed 3%. Put another way, “Women are more than half of the American population, but they’re getting less...
Jada Pinkett Smith and Olivia Munn Sell Dramas to ABC and The CW
Actresses Jada Pinkett Smith and Olivia Munn (“The Newsroom”) have promising new TV gigs behind the scenes, with both serving as executive producers on upcoming shows. Pinkett Smith will...
Trailer Watch: Jennifer Lopez Is a Morally Ambiguous Cop in a Jam in ‘Shades of Blue’
Jennifer Lopez is coming back to TV as a series regular after a two-decade-plus hiatus in NBC’s new cop drama “Shades of Blue.” Lopez shared a preview for the show on her Facebook page Sunday,...
Rashida Jones’ ‘Angie Tribeca’ Renewed Before Series Debut; Season 1 to Open With 25-Hour Marathon
Rashida Jones is getting a huge show of support from her new network. Jones’ upcoming cop comedy, “Angie Tribeca,” has been renewed for a second season two months before its series premiere....
Shonda Rhimes to Receive PGA’s 2016 Norman Lear Award
Shonda Rhimes has been named the 2016 recipient of the Producers Guild of America’s Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television. Rhimes is, of course, one of the most powerful producers in TV,...
Starz’s “Flesh and Bone” Starts Out “Breaking Ballet,” Ends Up “Showbuns”
SyFy Greenlights New Series About Female Van Helsing
SyFy has given a 13-episode series order to “Van Helsing,” a female take on the vampire hunter. The cable network promises a “bold and complex heroine” in Vanessa Helsing, the daughter of...
Elaine May to Direct Mike Nichols Doc
Elaine May has signed on to helm a PBS documentary about Mike Nichols, the Oscar-winning director of “The Graduate” and her old comedy partner. May will revisit Nichols’ career — which...
Jennifer Lopez’s Cop Drama ‘Shades of Blue’ Gets Premiere Date
Jennifer Lopez’s “Shades of Blue,” about a Brooklyn detective forced into secretly spying on her precinct by the FBI after the agency finds her committing a crime, has gotten a premiere date...
What to Make of GLAAD’s New Report on the State of LGBT TV
Depending on how you look at the numbers, things are either better or still sorely lacking for LGBT characters on television. GLAAD released its annual “Where We Are On TV” report, and its...
‘Supergirl’ Ratings Soar in Biggest Fall Premiere of the Year
Looks like the public isn’t suffering superhero fatigue — or maybe they are, and that’s why they’ve embraced a superheroine so warmly. The ratings are in for CBS’s series premiere of...
Women of ‘Wild’ to Reunite for HBO Series
The stars of last year’s “Wild,” Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern, are collaborating with the author of the film’s source material, Cheryl Strayed, on a HBO series. Witherspoon, Dern,...
Fernanda Coppel to Adapt Her Play About Female Sports Agent for Showtime
Showtime is bringing playwright Fernanda Coppel’s “King Liz” from the stage to the screen. Coppel will adapt her off-Broadway play, centered on fictional sports agent Liz Reco, for the premium...
‘Project Greenlight’ Exemplifies All That is Wrong With the Film Business
I don’t particularly like reality shows, so I really had no interest in watching HBO’s “Project Greenlight.” But after all the talk about the show’s diversity issues and seeing the title...
Former Texas Senator Wendy Davis Inspires TV Show
Wendy Davis, the Democratic Texas state senator who became a viral sensation after filibustering an anti-abortion bill for 11 hours, will serve as the inspiration for a new NBC dramedy. Written by...
Quote of the Day: Mimi Leder: In Filmmaking, “It’s Mostly Males Hiring, and They Mostly Hire Males”
In 1998, “Deep Impact” left a serious impression at the box office, earning nearly $350 million dollars on an estimated $80 million budget. But we haven’t seen much of its director Mimi...
CBS Greenlights New Murder Mystery from Former ‘Good Wife’ Writer Corinne Brinkerhoff
Corinne Brinkerhoff, formerly a writer/supervising producer on “The Good Wife” and writer/co-EP on “Jane the Virgin,” is getting her own show. CBS made a straight-to-series order for...
Gina Prince-Bythewood Developing Racially Flipped Police-Shooting Drama for Fox
Writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood is re-teaming with her “Love and Basketball” star Sanaa Lathan on a Fox drama about a black cop who kills a white teen. Lathan will play an investigator...