Television
Saoirse Ronan and Cynthia Nixon’s Kidnapping Drama “Stockholm, Pennsylvania” to Air on Lifetime
In a clear example of how the distribution market is changing everyday, Nikole Beckwith’s Sundance drama “Stockholm, Pennsylvania” has been slated for a run on the Lifetime channel. Starring...
Sutton and the City in ‘Younger’
Disney Channel Developing TV Movie About Pitcher Mo’Ne Davis
Mo’Ne Davis, the 13-year-old who became the first girl ever to pitch in the Little League World Series, will be the subject of a Disney Channel movie. The inspirational “Throw Like Mo” will...
America Ferrera Returns to TV in NBC’s Single-Cam Comedy ‘Superstore’
America Ferrera’s finally back! The Emmy and Golden Globe winner has signed on to her first TV series since “Ugly Betty” wrapped up its four-season run in 2010. Ferrera will star in and...
Quote of the Day: Shonda Rhimes: “I Make TV Look Like the World Looks”
“I really hate the word ‘diversity,’” announced Shonda Rhimes at the Human Rights Campaign Gala this past Saturday. The “Scandal” creator and “How to Get Away With Murder” producer...
Is There Life in ‘iZombie’?
Watch: E!’s Late-Night Newbie Grace Helbig Gets Promo, Premiere Date
Elizabeth Banks to Play Billie Jean King in HBO’s ‘Battle of the Sexes’
Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti will star as Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in a HBO movie about the two tennis stars’ 1973 Battle of the Sexes. The 29-year-old King handily defeated the...
Watch: Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Selina Meyer Gets a Promotion in ‘Veep’ Season 4
After a stellar third season, “Veep” finally returns to the airwaves on Sunday, April 12. A new trailer for the HBO comedy finds Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Selina Meyer, who flamed out spectacularly...
‘The Daily Show’s’ Samantha Bee to Become One of 2015’s Only Two Female Late-Night Hosts
Samantha Bee, the longest-serving correspondent ever on “The Daily Show,” has taken herself out of the running to become Jon Stewart’s replacement. Instead, the comedienne will headline her...
Brit Marling’s Co-Written Drama ‘The OA’ to Air on Netflix
Brit Marling has written another starring vehicle for herself. The indie actress has co-created and will star in “The OA,” a drama just picked up by Netflix. The show’s plot and premise are...
Apocalypse and Patriarchy in USA Network’s Archaeological Thriller ‘Dig’
Her body you may recognize, because it’s the poster art for the show. “Dig” is literally written on this young woman’s naked back, along with a bleeding hieroglyph that’s been carved...
WGA Study: Declines for Female and Minority TV Writers “Across the Board”
Over the last three years, the employment of women and minority TV writers has suffered a sharp fall. According to a WGA-West study comparing the 2011–12 and 2013–14 TV seasons, writers rooms...
TV Series in Development About Modeling Industry Titan Eileen Ford
An upcoming biography of Eileen Ford, the woman who invented the modeling business as we know it today, has been optioned for a TV series. “Mistresses” creator K.J. Steinberg will adapt Robert...
Jodie Foster and Darlene Hunt to Team Up on a Comedy About a Recovering Alcoholic
If there’s anyone out there who can mine humor from addiction recovery, it might well be Jodie Foster and Darlene Hunt. Foster helmed the tonally challenging psychosis dramedy “The Beaver”...
Phylicia Rashad Cast in CBS’s ‘For Justice’ Pilot; DuVernay Will Direct
The matriarch of the Huxtable family is coming back to weekly TV. Variety reports that Phylicia Rashad, best known for her role as Clair Hanks Huxtable in “The Cosby Show,” has been cast as a...
‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ and Inimitable Tina Fey
Lady Gaga to Star in the Next Season of ‘American Horror Story’
It’s been quite a week for Lady Gaga. On Sunday, she stunned critics and viewers with her powerful “Sound of Music” tribute at the Oscars, prompting Time to suggest that her show-stealing...
Paula Patton to Star in ABC’s Arms-Dealing Drama ‘Runner’
Paula Patton is ditching the occasional supporting part in film for a leading role on TV. The “Precious” and “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” actress has signed on to...
Jenji Kohan Sells Salem Pilot to HBO
“Orange is the New Black” creator Jenji Kohan has created another show about female victims, scapegoats, and troublemakers. HBO has given a pilot order to “New World,” a drama set in...
Former ‘House’ EP Katie Jacobs Goes Indie Route for New Medical Pilot
Between the traditional networks, Netflix and Amazon, Yahoo’s pick-up of NBC’s “Community,” and the proliferation of buzzy, slickly produced webseries like “High Maintenance,” it’s...
Nobody is All Right: Lisa Cholodenko’s ‘The Slap’
Whoopi Goldberg to Co-Star in ABC Comedy as Football-Obsessed Ex-Cop
EGOT winner Whoopi Goldberg is returning to scripted television. Goldberg, who has served as a host on “The View” for the last decade, will co-star in the sitcom “Delores & Jermaine,”...
BET’s Female-Centered Slavery Miniseries ‘The Book of Negroes’ Premieres Tonight
Studio Launched to Create Webseries and Digital Shorts for Women of Color
A new studio has been launched to create digital content for women of color. HB Studios will kick off with “Women on Top,” a 14-minute documentary directed by Leigh Davenport, in which...
HBO’s ‘Togetherness’: Marriage — and Middle Age — From Both Sides
HBO Gives Greenlight to Issa Rae Comedy ‘Insecure’
Tiger Moms and Fly Girls: How Do Women Fare on ‘Fresh Off the Boat’?
Jill Soloway Developing Feminist Comedy for MTV
Jill Soloway is developing a new series for MTV. The Transparent creator is collaborating with UCB alumna Ashley Skidmore and Lyle Friedman on creating an untitled “feminist comedy.” The...
Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey to Create TV Series for OWN
After announcing a Hurricane Katrina drama that would reunite her with Selma star David Oyelowo, Ava DuVernay has lined up another project: a TV series co-created by Oprah Winfrey to air on OWN....
Trailer Watch: J.K. Rowling’s Nightmarish English Village Miniseries ‘The Casual Vacancy’
The trailer for BBC One’s miniseries adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy begins on an idyllic note, presenting a quaint, seemingly picture-perfect British village filled with lovely...
‘Agent Carter’ Showrunners Tara Butters & Michele Fazekas Sign Development Deal With ABC
Resurrection and Marvel’s Agent Carter showrunners Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas have signed a new development deal with ABC. Under the two-year arrangement, the long-time writing partners...
NBC Orders Monica Potter Pilot About Juggling Three Ex-Husbands and a Family
Parenthood is coming to an end this Thursday — get your tissues ready — which means we’ll have to say goodbye to Kristina Braverman. But we may be seeing lots more of Monica Potter,...
ABC Orders New Pilots From Shondaland and Stephanie Savage
ABC picked up two women-centric pilots on Monday — new dramas from Shondaland and Fake Empire. The Catch is the latest offering from the prolific executive producers of Grey’s Anatomy,...
Trailer Watch: Ellie Kemper Flees a Doomsday Cult in Tina Fey’s ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’
Guest Post: Earning My Invitation into the Highly Secretive, Male-Dominated Fraternity of Magicians
Ricky Jay, the subject of my American Mastersdocumentary DeceptivePractice (premieres Friday, January23 at 9 PM on PBS), told me that the field of sleight of hand is one of theworld’s few true...
Guest Post: ‘It Happened Here’: Documenting Rape Culture on College Campuses
I’ve been adocumentary filmmaker for over 40 years, and in that span I have crafted film on topicsas diverse as the Barbie doll, the New York Mets, restorative justice, breastcancer, and people...
Women Writers Excluded From the Original ‘Odd Couple’
While we’re still nursing our wounds about the snubbing of Selma director Ava DuVernay by the Academy Awards, here’s a rare story of actual feminist triumph in the showbiz world that might cheer...
Charlize Theron Developing Women-Centric TV Shows in New Production Deal
Charlize Theron’s name isn’t exactly synonymous with TV (though the Oscar-winning actress can boast an unforgettable guest arc sending up the manic pixie dream girl trope in Arrested...
Alexandra Shiva’s Autism Coming-of-Age Doc ‘How to Dance in Ohio’ Acquired by HBO
How to Dance in Ohio Featurette – Meet the Artists – Trailer Addict
‘The Fall’ is a Serial Killer Drama with a Feminist Twist
The second season of The Fall premieres on Netflix today, and if you haven’t watched this BBC drama yet, now’s a good time to start. (The first season’s only five episodes long, so you’ll be...
‘Broad City’ Renewed for Season 3
Get your celebratin’ on, because Broad City has been renewed for a third season. The second season of Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson’s sketch-sitcom hybrid premiered just this week, but the...
Tig Notaro Gets Her Own HBO Special
Grammy-nominated comedienne Tig Notaro will appear in her first HBO special later this year. Notaro will record an all-new standup performance before a live audience in the coming months. A guest...
Dunham does Iowa: ‘Girls,’ Season Four
ABC Family Orders Single-Cam Comedies from Lauren Iungerich, Barbie Adler
ABC Family is expanding its appeal to women in their twenties by adding two single-cam comedies from female creators to its development slate. The cable network has ordered pilots from Awkward...
HBO Renews ‘Girls’ for Fifth Season
Meet Outlander, the Anti-Game of Thrones
Women and Hollywood is taking a break this week. Please enjoy one of our most popular posts of the year below. We will return with new features, editorials, and news stories on Monday, January 5....
Sarah Silverman and Sarah Jessica Parker Developing New Comedies for HBO
Two TV comedy veterans are creating starring vehicles for themselves at HBO. Last week brought news that Sarah Silverman and Sarah Jessica Parker are developing new series around the under-explored...
The Best TV Shows and Moments of 2014: Comics, Convicts, and Curmudgeons
Trailer Watch: Searching for Solutions to Women’s Oppression in ‘A Path Appears’
Trailer Watch: The ‘Broad City’ Broads Ogle Hot Guys in a New Teaser
You know that scene in every 80s teen movie where a couple of high-fiving dorks gawk at a group of ridiculously beautiful women who are weirdly giving them the time of day? Broad City’s Ilana...