Former ‘General Hospital’ Actor Johnny Wactor Killed In Downtown Los Angeles Shooting

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former “General Hospital” actor Johnny Wactor was shot and killed when he interrupted thieves stealing the catalytic converter from his car in Los Angeles, his family […]

Johnny Wactor Dies: ‘General Hospital’ & ‘Siberia’ Actor Was 37

IATSE Concludes First Week Of Area Standards Talks, Sets Next Hollywood Agreement Negotiations

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees wrapped up its first week of negotiations over the union’s Area Standards Agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Friday. IATSE and the AMPTP will head back to the table next Tuesday following the Memorial Day holiday.

BRAND CONNECTIONS

Morgan Spurlock, ‘Super Size Me’ Filmmaker And CNN Vet, Dies At 53

Brooke Shields Elected President Of Actors’ Equity

Shields takes over from Kate Shindle, who had served as president since 2015, but decided to step down after her term ended May 23.

WEDNESDAY OVERNIGHTS

‘Jeopardy Masters’ Ends On High Note, ‘Survivor’ And ‘Chicago Fire’ Finales Lead Wednesday

NBC’s Chicago Fire finale (5.8 million/0.4) was Wednesday’s most-watched show, while CBS’ Survivor finale dominated the night in the demo (4.5M/0.8).

Patrick Gottsch Dies: Founder Of The Cowboy Channel And RFD-TV Was 70

NCAA Agrees To Share Revenue With Athletes In Landmark $2.8 Billion Settlement

Breaking with more than a century of policy, the NCAA will pay billions in damages to former athletes and allow schools to pay athletes up to $20 million a year.

Lionsgate Shrinks Quarterly Losses As TV Business Gets Post-Strikes Bounce

Quarterly losses shrank at Lionsgate and revenues climbed as the company’s television business rebounded from the twin strikes that had shut down production for much of 2023. Revenue at the company behind The Hunger Games and John Wick franchises topped out at $1.12 billion for the three-month period ending in March, up from $1.08 billion in the prior-year quarter.

CBS Defends Diversity Hiring On ‘SEAL Team’ From ‘Anti-White Discrimination’ Suit

CBS filed a motion Thursday to throw out a lawsuit challenging its diversity hiring practices for writers on the show SEAL Team, arguing that it has a First Amendment right to hire who it wants. Brian Beneker, the longtime script coordinator on the show, sued in February, arguing that he had been repeatedly passed over for writing jobs because he is a straight, white man.

Bob Iger: Hollywood Storytellers Need To ‘Embrace The Change’ Driven By Tech Innovation

The Disney CEO talks brand-building and maintaining company culture at the inaugural Canva Create event. Iger, who is an investor and board member of the privately held online design platform, commended Canva for embracing the potential of generative AI tools and other cutting-edge technologies to make high-end visual media design tools readily available to everyday users.

 

Premier League Scores Record Season On NBC, Peacock & USA Network

Collective viewership for the last day of the season hit nearly three million, and the 2023-24 season saw the first match ever to top two million viewers.

‘Fallout’ Continues Its Reign On Nielsen Streaming Charts

From April 22 to 28, the video game adaptation scored 1.5 billion viewing minutes across all eight episodes, according to Nielsen’s streaming report. While that was down a hefty billion minutes from the week before, it was pretty comfortably above basically everything else on streaming that week.

Charles Barkley Says ‘Morale Sucks’ As ‘Inside The NBA’ Remains In Limbo For TNT

Charles Barkley is displeased with the situation he and his Inside the NBA teammates find themselves in: sweating whether or not the NBA will keep Warner Bros. Discover, the parent company of TNT, as a partner in its down-to-the-wire media rights negotiations. Barkley took aim at WBD CEO David Zaslav for saying the company didn’t need the NBA at an investing conference two years ago.

NBC Reveals Olympics Commentators Mary Carillo, Andrea Joyce, Jimmy Roberts

Daytime Emmy Hosts Will Once Again Be ‘Entertainment Tonight’ Anchors Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner

Entertainment Tonight anchors Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner are back to once again host the Daytime Emmys, as the 51st edition of the kudocast airs live on Friday, June 7, at 8 p.m. ET (tape delayed on the West Coast). The event airs on CBS and Paramount+.

‘Wild Cards’ Renewed For Season 2 At The CW & CBC

Canadian procedural Wild Cards is coming back for a second season on The CW. It marks a bit of good news for The CW, which canceled Walker earlier this week, while Canadian drama The Spencer Sisters, which it also aired, was canceled by CTV.

Former Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA Boss Priya Dogra Joins Sky As Chief Advertising/New Revenue Officer

Nick Cannon Talk Show Launches On Prime Video Next Week

TNT Strikes Deal With ESPN To Share Rights To College Football Playoff

The deal could help TNT parent Warner Bros. Discovery shore up its position in sports as it faces the possibility of losing NBA rights.

‘FBI’ & ‘Chicago Med’ Set Mike Weiss & Allen MacDonald As New Showrunners

Death and Other Details co-creator/executive producer Mike Weiss has joined the CBS drama series FBI as executive producer and showrunner. Meanwhile, Allen MacDonald has been tapped as executive producer and showrunner of NBC’s Chicago Med. Both Wolf Entertainment/Universal Television dramas are top 10 broadcast series in Live+7 Nielsen viewership.

Behind The Netflix NFL Megadeal

What’s the cost of a game on the streaming giant? About $75 million each.

Weekly Cable Ratings: TNT Secures Fourth Straight Primetime Win

Live sports programming continues to deliver huge ratings for TNT and ESPN as both networks dominated last week’s primetime cable ratings chart.

 

OWN, Hulu, Disney Plus Win Multiple NAMIC Vision Awards

Justin Hartley Procedural ‘Tracker’ Hunts Down Ratings Success For CBS

The series starring Justin Hartley has become the first freshman show since Survivor to be the most watched entertainment show on television.

TV Networks Embrace Their Aging Audience With A New Mantra: Age Doesn’t Matter

With viewers in their 60s, networks aren’t pretending to have youth appeal; they’re touting the virtues of older audiences.

MONDAY OVERNIGHTS

‘All American’ Audience Surges, ‘SYTYCD’ Dips With Finale

NBC’s The Voice was Monday’s most-watched show and landed in a three-way tie for the nightly demo win (with 5.6 million total viewers and a 0.4 demo rating). CBS’ The Price is Right at Night (3.4M/0.4) tied for the nightly demo win.

‘Night Court’s India de Beaufort Exiting Ahead Of Season 3

Fox’s Greg Olsen Wins Top Analyst At Sports Emmy Awards, CBS Wins Top Event For Super Bowl Coverage

After being named Outstanding Emerging On-Air Talent last year, Olsen was named the top Event Analyst during the three-hour ceremony at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York. CBS’ coverage of the 2024 Super Bowl and Toy Story Funday Football, an alternate presentation of the Oct. 1,2023, game between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars on Disney+/ESPN+, won three Emmys apiece. (Julio Cortez/AP)

Don’t Count Out TNT For NBA Rights Just Yet

Sources with direct knowledge of the talks say Warner Bros. Discovery is still very much alive at the negotiating table to try to retain its NBA rights. TNT won’t get the league’s “A” package; that’s likely going to ESPN, along with the marquee rights to the NBA Finals. But WBD’s still in play for the “B” package, which comes with a conference final every other year, or a “C” package, which includes the new midseason tournament, play-in games, and early-round playoff series.