The syndicated Extra, distributed by Warner Bros. TV, has produced more than 9,000 episodes, been on over 14,000 red carpets and logged more than 79,000 celebrity interviews. It’s become so much a part of its audience’s daily lives that producers report fans coming up to them at airports and singing its name: “Extra! Extra!”
Warner Bros. TV group boss Channing Dungey has said there is a “tremendous amount of ambition” for a Harry Potter TV series. Responding to Variety‘s question about whether a TV project set in the wizarding world might be coming, following the success of the Harry Potter reunion and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses, a competition show hosted by Helen Mirren, Dungey said “there’s lot of interest and a lot of passion for it” and that the company was speaking to a number of parties about it.
Quinta Brunson, creator and star of breakout comedy series Abbott Elementary, is staying in business with Warner Bros. Television. Brunson has signed an overall deal with the studio behind the ABC series — her first overall deal. It comes after Brunson was nominated for three Emmys (the show picked up a total of seven nominations).
Channing Dungey has stepped down as VP original content and head of drama at Netflix after 20 months at the company to pursue another opportunity. Her last day is today (Oct. 9). While that opportunity has not been revealed, Dungey, the former ABC Entertainment president, is among the handful of top female TV executives rumored to succeed Susan Rovner as president of Warner Bros. TV.
Three more Vancouver-based series — the CW’s Riverdale and Batwoman and Netflix’s Maid, all from Warner Bros TV — have been cleared to resume production today after receiving the delayed COVID-19 tests for their casts and crews. The trio, which had been dark for more than a week, are the first WBTV series impacted by the lab delays to go back to production. Several other WBTV shows remain idle, with the CW’s The Flash said to be poised to kick off filming later this week.
Exclusives
There is no agreement yet in the contract negotiations between the original cast of The Big Bang Theory and Warner Bros TV, leading to the studio’s decision to push the production start date for Season 8, originally slated for today.
With The Mentalist‘s future at CBS in serious doubt, the studio behind the veteran drama, Warner Bros TV, has been quietly shopping the series to other networks, garnering some preliminary interest from broadcast and cable.
Several series from Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and TNT will be made available on the streaming rental service.
Warner Bros. Television Group has acquired Alloy Entertainment, the producer of the CW network’s No. 1-rated series The Vampire Diaries. Under the deal with investor group led by ZelnickMedia, Alloy Entertainment topper Leslie Morgenstein will stay on to run the company within the WBTVG fold.
Warner Bros. TV chief Bruce Rosenblum told Barclay’s Global Technology, Media and Communication Conference in NYC that the TV group is responsible for over half of the overall operating income at Warner Bros. He said: “From a profitability standpoint the most lucrative part of our business is success with broadcast network series.”
The former VP of cable sales at WBDTD will continue to license Warner Bros. Entertainment programming — including television series, theatrical motion pictures, animation and original digital productions — to pay television, premium and basic cable networks, and satellite services throughout the United States.
Surburgatory and The Middle are among the offerings that will be on Hulu and ABC.com.
