'SNL' Turns 50. Now What?; Inside THR's Power Broker Awards; Amazon Greenlights Kay Scarpetta Series; 'Agatha All Along' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( September 19, 2024 What's news: Sean Combs has been denied bail again. Daniel Alegre is the new CEO of TelevisaUnivision. YouTube is planning a major revamp of its connected TV app. CBS has cast the leads of its new Black-led soap Beyond the Gates. AMC has canceled Orphan Black: Echoes after one season. Emilia Pérez has been chosen as France's Oscar contender. — [Abid Rahman]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. 'SNL' Turns 50. Now What? ►On the cover. THR's [Lacey Rose]( spoke to Saturday Night Live's Lorne Michaels, Colin Jost and Michael Che about the NBC institution celebrating its hotly anticipated 50th season this year. The show’s legendary producer and the "Weekend Update" anchors reveal how they'll skewer the craziest presidential contest in American history, why Republicans are less sensitive than Democrats and why Lorne walked back his retirement (again). [The cover story.]( —Stellar lineup. SNL will open its landmark 50th season on NBC with a run of four consecutive live shows. Jean Smart will host the season premiere on Sept. 28, with Jelly Roll as musical guest; both will make their debuts on the show. On Oct. 5, comedian Nate Bargatze will take his second turn as host, with musical guest Coldplay. They’ll be followed by Ariana Grande and Stevie Nicks on Oct. 12, and Michael Keaton and Billie Eilish on Oct. 19. After a one-week break, John Mulaney will host on Nov. 2 with musical guest Chappell Roan. Grande will make her second appearance as host, Keaton his fourth and Mulaney his sixth. [The story.]( Sean Combs to Remain Detained Pending Trial ►The latest. Sean Combs’ request to overturn a prior ruling denying him release on bail has been turned down, a court has ruled. U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter on Wednesday ordered Combs to remain detained after he pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He will stay at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where an inmate was murdered while awaiting trial this summer. “I find that the government has carried its burden of persuasion,” Carter said. He found that Combs could attempt to illegally tamper with the case, continues to present a safety risk to others, and may decide to flee to escape prosecution. [The story.]( —How we got here. On Sept. 17, Sean Combs was arrested in Manhattan on charges that included sex trafficking, forced labor, coercion to engage in prostitution and narcotics distribution. THR has put together a timeline of events that led to this week's dramatic events that has seen the fall of the once powerful music mogul. [The timeline.]( —Plea. Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty to one count of a criminal sexual act in the first degree Wednesday after Manhattan prosecutors arraigned the former mogul in a new indictment. The charge involves Weinstein allegedly forcibly engaging in oral or anal sex with another person. It stems from a recent indictment returned by a grand jury and carries a sentence of up to 25 years in prison. Weinstein also faces a retrial on charges related to his 2020 rape conviction in New York, which was overturned. In total, the convicted rapist is now charged under two indictments for three sex crimes. [The story.]( —Troubling claims. YouTuber MrBeast's production arm has been sued by contestants of the upcoming Beast Games reality competition show, who allege they were subject to abusive working conditions. Five unnamed contestants, in a proposed class action lawsuit filed on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, say they were paid insufficient wages and deprived of proper medical care, food and sleep. Some accuse the production of fostering a “culture of misogyny and sexism” in which they were sexually harassed, with staff allegedly neglecting to conduct background checks. [The story.]( Inside THR's Power Broker Awards ►"It’s really not often that you get to see everyone in the same place." The biggest names in Los Angeles real estate were at the Hotel Bel-Air on Tuesday, for THR's Power Broker Awards 2024. The fourth annual event, presented by The Society Group, was emceed by the Selling Sunset stars Jason Oppenheim and Mary Bonnet and recognized the best and the brightest in the business. [The recap.]( —"The number is out there so that talent can see it, so that agents can see it, so that the press can see it and know what’s a hit and what’s a miss." Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos is asking other streaming competitors to release their viewership numbers. At a Fast Company conference in Manhattan Wednesday, Sarandos spoke to some of the pushback from writers and actors during the strikes, including the fact that they did not have access to viewership numbers for their show. Netflix is scheduled to release viewership numbers for its top shows Thursday, as part of its biannual data dump. [The story.]( —Surprise move. TelevisaUnivision is getting a new CEO. The Spanish-language media giant says that Wade Davis is stepping aside as chief executive of the company, shifting to a new role as vice chairman of the board. Daniel Alegre, the former president and COO of Activision Blizzard and CEO of Yuga Labs, will become CEO effective Sept. 19. Davis helped to orchestrate the $4.8b merger that created TelevisaUnivision two years ago. It was not clear why the company made the sudden change, though the company said that it was “part of the Board of Directors’ long-term succession planning process.” [The story.]( —Boarding. Warner Bros. Discovery is expanding its board of directors. The entertainment company says that Daniel Sanchez will join its board beginning Oct. 1. Sanchez is no stranger to Discovery shareholders, as he previously served on the Discovery board before the 2022 WarnerMedia merger that created the current company. He is also the nephew of fellow WBD board member and shareholder John Malone, and he currently serves on the boards of Malone’s Liberty Global Ltd. and also Liberty Latin America Ltd. Before he retired in 2021, Sanchez worked as an attorney, with a particular focus on tax law and tax planning. [The story.]( Atomic Wojbomb! Wojnarowski to Retire From ESPN ►"Time isn’t in endless supply and I want to spend mine in ways that are more personally meaningful." In a sports world shocker, ESPN's lead NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski will retire from the sports giant — and from the news business altogether — to lead the basketball program at his alma mater St. Bonaventure. Woj, as he is known, was ESPN’s basketball scoop machine, breaking news about trades, injuries and signings before anyone else, gaining a huge social following as a result. He also talked frequently about the work required to break news, with a constant stream of texts and phone calls, coming in all day and night. [The story.]( —🤝 Stake sale 🤝 Canadian phone giant BCE Inc. has inked a deal with rival telecom and cable TV giant Rogers Communications to sell its 37.5 percent stake in Maple Leafs Sports Entertainment for $3.46b. The deal takes Rogers’s majority stake in MLSE, which includes the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors pro sport teams, to 75 percent. Subject to sports league and regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close in mid-2025. [The story.]( —Change is coming. YouTube is planning a major revamp of its connected TV app, adding new functionality and an entirely new look in a bid to defend its lead in streaming from other platforms like Netflix, Max, and Disney+. The company announced its plans at a Made on YouTube event in New York Wednesday. The new TV app includes a number of updated features, including some that could change how some creators categorize their videos by enabling them to organize shows around episodes and seasons, mirroring what viewers have come to expect on subscription video platforms. [The story.]( —🎭 Double debut 🎭 Shailene Woodley has joined the cast of the upcoming Broadway play Cult of Love from Leslye Headland, the creator of The Acolyte. She joins Zachary Quinto and Euphoria star Barbie Ferreira, who have also boarded the play about four adult children from the Dahl family returning to their childhood home with their partners for the Christmas holidays, only to see their harmony interrupted as old and new conflicts arise. Woodley is making her Broadway debut, as is Headland. [The story.]( Amazon Greenlights Kay Scarpetta Series ►🎭 Hitting the books again 🎭 Amazon Prime Video has greenlit Scarpetta, a crime drama based on author Patricia Cornwell’s best-selling series of novels about Virginia medical examiner Kay Scarpetta. The series, in the works for more than a year, landed a two-season order at Prime Video; Nicole Kidman will play the title character and star opposite Jamie Lee Curtis. Kidman and Curtis will also be executive producers. In addition, the show has lined up an A-list cast that includes Bobby Cannavale, Simon Baker, Ariana DeBose, Rosy McEwen and Jake Cannavale. [The story.]( —🎭 Leads found 🎭 CBS is beginning to populate the world Beyond the Gates. Tamara Tunie, Daphnee Duplaix and Karla Mosley will play lead roles in the soap — which also has a new title, adding “Beyond” to its former name The Gates — that’s set to premiere in early 2025. Beyond the Gates will be the first daytime drama centered on Black characters since NBC’s Generations in 1989, and the first such hour-long show ever. Tunie, Duplaix and Mosley will play members of the Dupree family, who are at the core of the series and described as “a powerful and prestigious multi-generational family that is the very definition of Black royalty.” [The story.]( —🎭 Filling out 🎭 Prime Video's Spider-Man Noir, a live-action series based on the Marvel comic, has added recurring roles played by Lukas Haas, Cameron Britton, Cary Christopher, Michael Kostroff, Scott MacArthur, Joe Massingill, Whitney Rice and Amanda Schull. They join Nicolas Cage previously announced to don a Spidey suit, alongside Lamorne Morris, Brendan Gleeson, Abraham Popoola, Li Jun Li and Jack Huston. The series revolves around an aging and down-on-his-luck private investigator (Cage) in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life as the city’s one and only superhero. [The story.]( —One and done. AMC is saying goodbye to Orphan Black: Echoes after one season. The Orphan Black sequel series, which starred Krysten Ritter, was set in the near future in the same fictional world as the BBC cult favorite led by Tatiana Maslany, who won an Emmy for her portrayal of Sarah Manning. [The story.]( Toronto's So-So Sales Bode Ill For Future Market ►Meh. Measured against recent Toronto Film Festivals, business at TIFF 2024, which wrapped on September 15, was average. Despite deals for September 5 and Nutcrackers and The Brutalist, THR's [Scott Roxborough]( writes that there are few signs TIFF is ready to replace the AFM as North America's indie film bazaar. [The analysis.]( —Bonne chance! France has picked Jacques Audiard’s queer crime musical Emilia Pérez as its Oscar contender in the best international feature category. Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz star alongside Spanish trans actress Karla Sofía Gascón in the genre-jumping feature about a Mexican drug lord (Gascón) who enlists the help of a lawyer (Saldaña) to undergo gender-affirming surgery. Emilia Pérez premiered in Cannes, where it won the Jury Prize as well as a joint best actress honor for the ensemble cast. [The story.]( —🎭 New additions 🎭 Netflix has added Sarah Catherine Hook, Jameela Jamil, Lucien Laviscount, and Lukas Gage to the cast of the upcoming feature adaptation of Emily Henry's bestselling book People We Meet on Vacation. The new additions join Tom Blyth and Emily Bader, who are playing the romantic leads. The story will follow the longtime best friends who took one week of every summer vacation together. However, things changed when they stopped speaking for two years. Brett Haley is set to direct, with Yulin Kuang adapting the screenplay. [The story.]( —📅 Sold and dated! 📅 Writer-director Eddie Mensore’s drug-focused drama feature Hazard has been acquired by Emphatic Pictures and RBL Films for theatrical release on Jan. 10, 2025, in the U.S, Canada, the U.K. and other territories. The film stars Sosie Bacon, Alex Roe, Steven Ogg and Dave Davis, and is set in the Appalachian mining town of Hazard, Kentucky, and explores the ongoing opioid crisis. [The story.]( —📅 Primed for Valentine's 📅 Sony is hoping to scare up some pre-Valentine’s Day moviegoing with Heart Eyes, which the studio has picked up for a Feb. 7, 2025 release date. Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding star in the Spyglass feature, in which the couple-killing Heart Eyes Killer stalks Seattle. When the killer mistakes a pair of co-workers working overtime on Valentine’s Day for a couple, they must flee and spend the most romantic night of the year on the run. Gigi Zumbado, Devon Sawa and Jordana Brewster also star in Heart Eyes. Josh Ruben directs from a script by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy. [The story.]( 'The Franchise': How Superhero Movies Lost Their Way ►"It's actual chaos." THR's [James Hibberd]( spoke to Jon Brown (Succession), Armando Iannucci (Veep) and Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes about their new HBO comedy series, The Franchise. The trio discuss the show, that depicts the chaotic production of a superhero tentpole, and reveal how they researched the secret world of making Marvel/DC movies and discovered hilarious and heartbreaking material for a biting workplace satire. [The interview.]( —"Horrible things are happening to Jews around the world." THR's [Seth Abramovitch]( spoke to Israeli social media influencer Hen Mazzig. The 34-year-old is one of the most effective communicators at making the case for the Jewish state, and celebrities like Debra Messing and Ginnifer Goodwin are listening. [The interview.]( —"Timeless enough to be timely." THR's [Zoe Phillips]( spoke to Brian Jordan Alvarez about English Teacher, his new FX show that he created and stars in. Alvarez discusses why he added guns to his comedy series about high school, how it all came about in the first place, and why he chose English, and the timelessness of the setting. [The interview.]( —"I feel so much anticipation just to see people’s reactions to the big reveals, and twists and surprises." THR's [Carly Thomas]( spoke to Sonia Mena and Alicia Crowder, co-stars in the Meaghan Oppenheimer-created Hulu series, Tell Me Lies. Mena and Crowder, who play Pippa and Diana, respectively, discuss navigating the heavy subject of sexual assault and why viewers shouldn't "believe everything that people say" in the second half of the second season. Warning: Spoilers! [The interview.]( TV Review: 'Agatha All Along' ►"Occasionally charming, but hardly spellbinding." THR's [Angie Han]( reviews Disney+'s Agatha All Along. Sometime after the events of Wandavision, Kathryn Hahn's villainous witch teams up with a mysterious teenager and a reluctant coven on a supernatural journey to regain her powers. [The review.]( —"Plenty of sound and fury, not enough patience or heart." Angie reviews Netflix's Twilight of the Gods. In Zack Snyder's animated Norse-mythology retelling, a bride goes on a quest of vengeance against the gods that threatens to bring about the very end of their time. [The review.]( In other news... —Lioness [S2 trailer with Zoe Saldaña: “Nobody’s innocent”]( —Distraught [Saoirse Ronan chases missing child in Steve McQueen’s Blitz trailer]( —Ella Purnell [is an all-new killer tired of being overlooked in Sweetpea trailer]( —Ellen DeGeneres [in Netflix special trailer: "I got kicked out of show business"]( —SmartLess Media’s next podcast bet: [A soccer pod, GoalLess]( —Gotham Awards: [The Piano Lesson cast set for ensemble tribute]( —Zurich Film Festival [to honor Conclave director Edward Berger]( ​​​What else we're reading... —With the distinct lack of kills, Joel Snape looks at how Jeremy Saulnier’s much-talked about revenge rampage Rebel Ridge is reinventing the action movie [[Guardian]( —M.D. Rodrigues has a wonderful tribute to David Lynch's singular accent, that is described as, "thin and tremulous, with a hint of helium, containing both the threat of a whine and the chirpy approachability of an archetypal 1950s suburbia" [[NYT]( —Cassie Cornish-Trestrail, Keaton Stone, Erica Gornall and Sarah Bell have a devastating expose on Mohamed Al Fayed, the late billionaire owner of Harrods who featured in The Crown, who is accused of rape and assault by several women [[BBC]( —Diablo Cody’s movie Jennifer’s Body has been reclaimed as a cult classic, Rafaela Bassili writes that its destructive teenaged protagonist deserves reappraisal too [[Atlantic]( —Natasha Lomas reports on a new social media service SocialAI, that is just the user and AI chatbots (for some reason). We might be cooked as a species [[Techcrunch]( Today... ...in 1963, MGM unveiled The V.I.P.s, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, in theaters. The film went on to win an Oscar at the 36th Academy Awards ceremony for Margaret Rutherford in the best supporting actress category. 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