“Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” is filling out its faculty.
Actor, comedian, and writer Gina Yashere (“Bob Hearts Abishola”) has enrolled in the first season of the Paramount+ series as a recurring guest star, to play one of the instructors at the storied institution of higher learning.
She joins Holly Hunter, who leads the series as the captain and chancellor of Starfleet Academy, as well as Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané, and Zoë Steiner as new cadets. Paul Giamatti will also recur as the main villain of the season.
According to the official logline, the show “introduces viewers to a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself.”
Production will begin on the series later this summer, and fans are due to get their first preview of the series at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday.
Yashere was the co-creator and showrunner of the sitcom “Bob Hearts Abishola,” which ran for five seasons on CBS. She got her start in the U.S. as a finalist on “Last Comic Standing,” and has appeared as a comedian on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah,” “Def Comedy Jam,” “Live at the Apollo” and “The Tonight Show.” She’s also acted on “The Neighborhood,” “Crashing” and “The Barbarian and the Troll.”
Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau are the co-showrunners and executive producers of “Starfleet Academy,” and executive producer Gaia Violo wrote the premiere episode. Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa and John Weber also executive produce. The series is produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment, and is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.
William Jackson Harper has joined the cast of “The Morning Show” Season 4 at Apple TV+, Variety has learned.
Harper will appear alongside series leads Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston and fellow new cast members Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, and. Aaron Pierre. Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Nestor Carbonell, Karen Pittman, Greta Lee, Jon Hamm, and Nicole Beharie also star.
Harper will play the role of Ben, described as “the network’s self-assured and innovative Head of Sports.”
Harper is perhaps best known for his role in the critically-acclaimed NBC comedy series “The Good Place,” for which he received an Emmy nomination for best-supporting actor in a comedy in 2020. Harper recently appeared in the Netflix limited series “A Man in Full” and has also starred in shows like “Love Life” and “The Resort.” In film, he has starred in features like “Midsommar,” “Dark Waters,” and “Paterson.” In theater, Harper was recently nominated for a Tony Award for his work in the Lincoln Center Theatre revival of “Uncle Vanya.”
“The Morning Show” Season 4 is currently in production. The series was recently nominated for 16 Emmy Awards, including nods for outstanding drama series and acting nominations for cast members like Aniston, Witherspoon, Beharie, Crudup, Duplass, and Hamm.
Kerry Ehrin developed “The Morning Show.” Charlotte Stoudt serves as showrunner and executive producer under her overall deal with Apple. Aniston and Kristin Hahn executive produce via Echo Films, while Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter executive produce via Hello Sunshine. Mimi Leder serves as director and executive producer also under her overall deal. Michael Ellenberg executive produces for Media Res, which produces the series. Micah Schraft and Zander Lehmann also serve as executive producers.
Source: Variety
Jordan Peele is bringing back the hidden camera prank show.
The Oscar-winning Get Out filmmaker is reviving Scare Tactics, which originally launched on Syfy in 2003 and ran for five seasons. The series debuted just one month after MTV’s Punk’d and featured ordinary people being put into terrifying situations with the help of professional Hollywood special effects, stunt and makeup teams.
The official description: “Scare Tactics will turn unsuspecting individuals into the main characters of their very own horror movies. This heart-pounding show offers a cinematic approach to the hidden camera concept. Set up by their friends and family, these unwitting participants are put in hilariously twisted scenarios with fully immersive stories that blur the lines of reality, horror, and comedy. As they navigate one unreal decision after another, audiences will laugh, jump, and be left breathless for more.”
Win Rosenfeld, the president of Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions, said in a statement: “We’re so grateful at Monkeypaw to help reimagine one of our all-time favorite hidden camera shows. Working with showrunner Elan Gale, one of the most creative and mischievous minds in unscripted television, and Scott Hallock, the brilliant creator of the original Scare Tactics, has been an absolute blast. It’s cathartic and hilarious to watch people get a little scared, and the scenarios we cooked up for this season are really wild. We can’t wait to share a little light-hearted schadenfreude with audiences soon.”
Added creator Hallock: “Reimagining Scare Tactics with Jordan, Monkeypaw and UTAS has been a dream come true. Fans have been asking us to bring Scare Tactics back for years, and working with this team was an amazing opportunity.
The rebooted Scare Tactics is produced by Universal Television Alternative Studio and Monkeypaw and will debut on USA Network sometime this fall.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
This September, comedian and social media personality Druski will kick off his first-ever comedy/music festival, Coulda Fest, in Atlanta.
On Sept. 7 at the State Farm Arena, Druski will co-host Coulda Fest alongside Wild n Out star and comedian DC Young Fly, with performances by Lil Baby, Kai Cenat, Soulja Boy, Waka Flocka Flame, Yung Joc, Young Dro, Roscoe Dash, Navv Greene, Travis Porter, DJ Unk, Baby Drill, Baby Kia, Shop Boyz, Yung LA, F.L.Y., Rich Kidz, and Ugliest Rapper Alive. Kai Cenat will also appear, as Druski will provide live comedic sketches alongside the music portion of the night, which looks to pay homage to the Atlanta hip-hop scene through nostalgia and humor.
“Coulda Fest won’t be a traditional music and comedy festival,” Druski tells Billboard exclusively. “It’s going to be a celebration of Atlanta’s culture and a night full of hilarious sketches that bring us back to the special times in our city’s music history. This concept has never been done before, so I’m looking forward to bringing this vision to life.”
Produced by Outback Presents, tickets for Coulda Fest will be available with a presale starting on Wednesday (July 24) at 10 a.m. EST (code: COULDA). An extra venue presale will kick off on Thursday (July 25) at 10 a.m. EST ahead of the general on-sale that begins on Friday (July 26) at 10 a.m. EST via 4Lifers.com & ticketmaster.com.
Peacock has released the first trailer for the upcoming limited series “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist.”
Kevin Hart leads the all-star cast of the series, which includes Samuel L. Jackson, Taraji P. Henson, Don Cheadle, and Terrence Howard, as well as guest stars like Chloe Bailey, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Dexter Darden, Lori Harvey, and Sinqua Walls.
“Fight Night” is based on the iHeart true-crime podcast of the same name. The series is set in Atlanta in 1970 in the day surrounding Muhammad Ali’s comeback fight against Jerry Quarry. The series’ logline states:
“When a hustler named Chicken Man (Hart) hosts an afterparty to celebrate the fight with a guest list of the country’s wealthiest, the night ends with the most brazen criminal underworld heist in Atlanta’s history. Suspected of masterminding the crime, Chicken Man is hellbent on clearing his name but must convince his old adversary, J.D. Hudson (Cheadle), one of the first Black detectives in the city’s desegregated police force, who is tasked with bringing those responsible to justice.”
The series will premiere on Peacock on Sept. 5. Shaye Ogbonna serves as creator, and showruns alongside Jason Horwitch. Both executive produce alongside Hart as well as Bryan Smiley and Mike Stein for Hartbeat; Will Packer and Sabrina Wind for Will Packer Media; Conal Byrne and Carrie Lieberman for iHeartPodcasts; Jeff Keating for Doghouse Pictures; and Lars Jacobson, Erika L. Johnson, and Mike Daniels. Also executive producing is Craig Brewer, who directed four episodes. Hartbeat’s Tiffany Brown and Kenny Burns co-executive produce. UTV serves as the studio.
Apple TV+ is ready to hand out some more Loot.
The streamer has ordered a third season of the comedy series starring and executive produced by Maya Rudolph. The renewal comes seven weeks after Loot completed its second season.
“We are thrilled to come back for a third season! We’re extremely fortunate to spend more time with our talented cast and crew,” Rudolph and her Banana Split producing partner Danielle Renfrew Behrens said in a statement. “Making this show with Apple TV+ has been a joy, and we can’t wait to reunite with our Loot family.”
Loot centers on Molly Wells (Rudolph), who as the series begins is finalizing a billion-dollar divorce settlement with her tech-CEO husband (Adam Scott). She turns her attention to a previously neglected charitable foundation and decides to give most of her fortune away. Michaela Jae Rodriguez, Nat Faxon, Ron Funches, Joel Kim Booster, Meagen Fay and Stephanie Styles also star.
“With each season, Loot continues to deliver joy, laughs and endearing characters for audiences around the world,” said Apple TV+ head of programming Matt Cherniss. “We are excited to partner with Maya Rudolph, and the entire cast and creative team behind Loot, to create even more heartfelt moments with an ensemble of fan favorite characters in season three.”
Season two was mostly completed when last year’s writers and actors strikes shut down production. Co-creator Alan Yang told The Hollywood Reporter the cast and crew returned in December 2023 for the final eight days of filming. “I’m so proud of our cast and crew for sticking through it and resuming filming in December, and picking up those eight days almost as if nothing happened,” he said. “I’m glad that we all banded together and did what we had to do as union workers. I’m proud of what we achieved, but I’m also glad the show was able to finish the season and finish strong. We did the best we could to stay in touch as a cast and crew. We were on text threads, we even took a little trip to Disneyland with a lot of the cast to kept that bonding alive.”
The series has also developed a will-they-or-won’t-they dynamic between Molly and Faxon’s Arthur — one that Faxon hopes will land on the “will they” side in season three. “For Arthur, I do hope that he and Molly can get in sync,” he told THR. It’s been a really fun will-they-won’t-they ride, but I feel like they’re deserving of each other and complement each other well. So I’m hoping that there is a happy ending down the line.”
Yang and Matt Hubbard created Loot and executive produce with Rudolph and Behrens of Banana Split, Dave Becky of 3 Arts Entertainment, and Natasha Lyonne. Universal Television produces.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Tyler Perry is steering into the FAST lane. The mega-producer is launching multiple FAST (free, ad-supported television) channels as part of its ongoing relationship with BET.
Perry’s library of BET series will be scheduled on the new just-launched channels BET Tyler Perry Comedy and BET Tyler Perry Drama, marking the first time Perry’s BET series have been made available on FAST channels. The outlets are set to launch on FAST platforms including Roku, Pluto TV, Plex, TCL, Freevee and more to come.
The Perry BET library reps more than 600 hours of series, including “Tyler Perry’s Sistas,” “Tyler Perry’s The Oval,” “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne,” “Tyler Perry’s Ruthless,” “Tyler Perry’s Zatima,” “Tyler Perry’s Assisted Living” and “All the Queens Men.” The channels will launch with marathons of those shows, as well as best-of highlights and cast conversations.
Shows set to be added at another date include “Tyler Perry’s Meet The Browns,” “Tyler Perry’s The Haves and The Have Nots,” “Tyler Perry’s For Better or Worse,” and “Tyler Perry’s Too Close To Home.”
“The introduction of Perry’s content to FAST channels is a momentous occasion in our partnership,” said Louis Carr, president of media sales at BET Media Group. “We’re thrilled to provide Black audiences with a fresh avenue to enjoy Tyler Perry’s content and offer more access options for our original programming.”
BET announced in January at the CES convention in Las Vegas that its library of Tyler Perry original series will be made available for licensing and syndication by third-party platforms, including SVOD, AVOD, FAST and broadcast.
In April, Perry struck a new multi-year deal with BET Media Group that included the renewal of eight of his shows for BET and its BET+ streamer. BET also ordered another new scripted series from Perry, “Route 187.”
Among the shows that were renewed under that new content deal were BET’s Tyler Perry’s Sistas” for its eighth season, “Tyler Perry’s The Oval” for Season 6, and “Tyler Perry’s Assisted Living” for a sixth season. Also renewed is “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne” for its sixth season on BET (and 12th overall, having previously run in syndication and TBS). The deal additionally included new seasons of BET+ series “Tyler Perry’s Zatima,” “Tyler Perry’s Ruthless,” Tyler Perry’s Bruh” and “All The Queen’s Men.”
Earlier this month, Perry expressed support for a plan by BET CEO Scott Mills, who is part of a group looking to potentially buy the company from Paramount Global. “I’m a huge fan of Scott and if this is a deal that he can work out and make happen, I’m 100% supportive,” Perry said. “Between Shari Redstone and him, they’re the reason that I’m here. They’ve been fantastic to work with. I love working with Scott every day, and I will continue to work with him wherever in whatever capacity he is in.”
Source: Variety
LOS ANGELES (July 15, 2024) — Kevin Hart and his global entertainment company, Hartbeat, announce the return of Hartbeat Weekend, a four-day celebration of music, comedy, and entertainment. Headlined by Kevin Hart, Lil Wayne, and Ludacris, with more special guests to be announced, the event will take place Thursday, August 29 – Sunday, September 1, 2024, at Resorts World Las Vegas.
In addition to the star-studded music lineup, Hartbeat Weekend will feature an exciting array of live stand-up comedy performances, headlined by Hart as he brings his new “Acting My Age” tour to Resorts World Theatre, Sunday, September 1. Throughout the weekend, Hartbeat will also be filming an action-packed slate of half-hour specials featuring 10 of the funniest and most original comedians working today as part of the brand new stand-up series, “LOL Live.”
Tickets for this highly-anticipated experience go on sale to the public Friday, July 19 at 10:00 AM PT. For more information visit hartbeatweekend.com.
“Hartbeat Weekend celebrates the absolute best in comedy, culture and music,” said Kevin Hart. “This year, we’re taking the event to new heights, and I can’t wait for everyone to join us for a weekend filled with laughter, entertainment, and unforgettable moments.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Resorts World and AEG Presents again to bring audiences an exciting lineup of events during Hartbeat Weekend,” said Jeff Clanagan, Hartbeat President. “We are dedicated to creating impactful live experiences that unite audiences through laughter and joy, and this year’s action-packed, multi-day event promises to be unforgettable.”
“We’re looking forward to welcoming Hartbeat Weekend back this year,” said Peter LaVoie, President of Resorts World Las Vegas. “We’ve enjoyed partnering with Kevin and his team on this iconic weekend and his shows in the theatre throughout the year. Hartbeat Weekend 2024 will be another incredible experience for our guests.”
Key events taking place throughout the four-day celebration include:
Hartbeat takes over Zouk Nightclub, the premier destination for Las Vegas nightlife, with nightly after-parties featuring live performances by Lil Wayne and Ludacris.
The energy of Hartbeat Weekend extends into the day with electrifying live performances, unforgettable DJ sets, and sun-soaked fun sets at AYU, the heart of Las Vegas’s outdoor entertainment.
Vibee, the music-led destination experience company, is the exclusive VIP Experience & Hotel Package partner for Hartbeat Weekend. Vibee is offering three unforgettable weekend getaway packages curated by Kevin Hart.
All Vibee packages come with expedited entry to Zouk Nightclub & Ayu Dayclub, a welcome letter from the comedian himself, and a limited-edition Kevin Hart JBL speaker. Vibee packages are available for pre-sale starting on Tuesday, July 16 at 10am PT at hartbeat.vibee.com.
For more information and updates on Hartbeat Weekend visit http://hartbeatweekend.com/.
Paramount+ has given a series order to Crutch, a new half-hour comedy starring Tracy Morgan that is set in the same world as CBS‘s The Neighborhood.
The upcoming project centers around its titular character, Francois “Frank” Crutchfield (Morgan), who is otherwise called “Crutch” by those who know him well. A Harlem widower who is an empty nester, Crutch’s plans are put on hold after his millennial son and free-spirited daughter move back home. The character Crutch previously appeared on The Neighborhood in the Season 4 episode, “Welcome to Bro Money, Bro Problems.”
Cedric The Entertainer and Tracy Morgan in ‘The Neighborhood’© Monty Brinton/CBS
Crutch is produced by CBS Studios and is slated to begin production later this year. Hailing from Cedric the Entertainer’s production company, A Bird and a Bear Entertainment, the series is executive produced by Cedric, Eric C. Rhone, showrunner and writer Owen Smith, Aaron Kaplan, Wendi Trilling, and Tracy Morgan. The project reunites Morgan and Smith who previously collaborated on The Last O.G..
“I’m excited to be expanding our The Neighborhood universe, by producing a show with the legendary comedian Tracy Morgan,” said Cedric the Entertainer. “This new character is the close cousin to my character Calvin Butler and you will enjoy some of their many similarities. Morgan plays Crutch a ‘say-it-like-it-is’ widowed father who is challenged when his two adult children and a couple of grandchildren need to move back home, and let’s say there will be several comedic complications.”
Regarding the project, Morgan said in a statement, “Crutch will be navigating the ups and downs of having his kids and grandkids back under one roof, and you know if I am doing this, there will be plenty of laughs along the way. I am so happy to be able to do this with my brother Cedric the Entertainer, Owen Smith, and the rest of the amazing crew we have put together. Get ready for your new favorite show!”
As for when Crutch will arrive, fans of The Neighborhood will have to wait a little while, but Crutch does join a solid lineup of originals on the streamer including comedies like Frasier and Colin from Accounts as well as dramas like Tulsa King.
Stay tuned for more on Crutch as it takes shape at Paramount+.
Crutch, Series Premiere, TBA, Paramount+
July 12 (UPI) — HBO teen drama Euphoria will begin production on Season 3 in January 2025.
HBO announced the news Friday, more than two years after the conclusion of Season 2.
The show’s main cast members are slated to return, with a time jump to take place between Season 2 and 3, according to Deadline.
Season 2 starred Zendaya, Maude Apatow, Eric Dane, Alexa Demie, Jacob Elordi, Storm Reid, Hunter Schafer, Sydney Sweeney and Dominic Fike.
Series creator Sam Levinson will return as writer, director, and executive producer.
“I am thrilled that we are ready to begin production on Euphoria in January. We could not be happier with our creative partnership with Sam and this incredible cast. We look forward to bringing this new season of Euphoria to life for the fans,” said Francesca Orsi, EVP of HBO programming and head of HBO drama series.
Euphoria originally premiered on HBO in 2019. Variety said production on Season 3 was delayed due to the writers and actors strikes in 2023, the cast members’ other projects, and Levinson’s desire to write the episodes himself.
Angus Cloud, who played Fezco in Seasons 1 and 2, died at age 25 in July 2023.