showrunners

A few years ago, Mazin was best known as a writer of mediocre comedies. But Chernobyl and now The Last of Us have transformed him into one of TV’s hottest showrunners.

The showrunner will exit at the end of the medical drama’s current 19th season and conclusion of the firefighter spinoff’s seventh season. There is no word on a new showrunner for both Shonda Rhimes-produced shows as ABC has yet to renew either. Sources say that Grey’s Anatomy, which is currently weathering the departure of leading lady Ellen Pompeo as a series regular, is likely to return for its landmark 20th season alongside spinoff Station 19.

Heather Gray, who was executive producer and showrunner on CBS’s daytime talk show The Talk, has died. She died Saturday in Los Angeles of an “unforgiving disease,” according to CBS, which did not provide further details.

Jim Patterson and Maria Ferrari will take over the top spot of the Mayim Bialik comedy for Fox in its third season. They are replacing Season 2 showrunner Alissa Neubauer, who decided not to return. She replaced Darlene Hunt, who was showrunner in the comedy’s first season.

Bryan Goluboff, who has served as co-executive producer on NBC’s Law & Order: SVU, is moving to spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime as executive producer and showrunner for the upcoming third season.

Warren Leight is leaving Law & Order: SVU after serving as an executive producer and showrunner on the venerable NBC crime drama for the past three seasons. It was his second stint at the helm of the Wolf Entertainment series. Leight announced his exit on Twitter Tuesday night, after wrapping production on the current 23rd season of SVU.

It’s an interesting time to be the executive producer of a network late night show. In the span of less than a year, the 11:30 programs on NBC, ABC and CBS will have undergone leadership changes at the top. On Friday The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon announced that Chris Miller would become the new showrunner starting in May, succeeding Jamie Granet-Bederman, who will move to a role developing new projects for Fallon. Miller joins from syndicated talker The Drew Barrymore Show, where he was one of the executive producers.

Steve Barry is the showrunner for NBC’s Small Fortune, which airs on Monday nights at 10. Barry says he developed his chops to be a showrunner by being a local TV news writer/producer at stations in Atlanta, Miami and Fort Myers, Fla.

The veteran writer and producer takes over for series creator Jim Reynolds, who left the show amid complaints about his leadership.

From the dreaded “Zoom room” to hermetically sealed sets, the influential creators on The Hollywood Reporter’s annual rundown — including Michaela Coel, Daniel Levy, Ramy Youssef and more — reveal how they have overcome an unprecedented year with panache.

When television production shut down in the spring, a few showrunners began working on pandemic-themed series that could be shot mostly from afar. But will viewers even want more shut-in stories? Above, Dan Levy stars in the socially distanced HBO special Coastal Elites, which was originally written to be a filmed three-night live event. Plans changed.

Earlier this month, CBS fired Peter Lenkov, who’d overseen a powerful fiefdom. Vanity Fair spoke to 30 sources about what happens when a network gives somebody a difficult job, then seems to let problems pile up for years because he’s making it money.

The network has parted ways with one of its top showrunners after an investigation into what sources say were multiple claims that he created a toxic work environment.

In the wake of dozens of film and television productions abruptly shutting down amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, several organizations and high-profile showrunners — Greg Berlanti, Shonda Rhimes, David Benioff, Julie Plec, Damon Lindelof, Lisa Joy and Jonah Nolan — have come together to fund a relief effort for Hollywood’s support staffers, a low-paid group that often goes overlooked.

The Hollywood Reporter’s annual rundown reveals who’ll be making the series (and the paydays) that define the industry’s next era — as these MVPs disclose what they watch when they aren’t working (Succession), what they think of life without agents and the peer they’re most envious of (Surprise! It’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge).

Rank-and-file scribes may be struggling, but at the other end of the spectrum, superstar showrunners like Shonda Rhimes and Greg Berlanti are commanding more money than ever with increasing regularity (with J.J. Abrams on deck for as much as half a billion dollars).