Dispatches From The Picket Lines, Day 29: ‘Ted Lasso’ Cast Picket Ahead Of Series Finale, ‘ER’ Reunion & Middle Eastern Writers Come Together

Editor’s note: The interviews conducted in this podcast were recorded at Deadline’s Contenders TV event, prior to the WGA’s strike starting on May 2.

Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby has landed another series order at HBO – a crime drama starring Mark Ruffalo.

Japanese genre auteur Takashi Miike is notorious for taking his cinema to extreme limits, whether that’s in terms of violence or sexual depravity. And over a career that spans three decades, he’s directed some classics: “Audition,” “Ichi The Killer,” the “Dead Or Alive” trilogy, and “Hara-Kiri,” just to name a few.

In person screen testing for the roles of Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane in the upcoming new film, Superman: Legacy, are expected to be happening in the next few weeks, and there are allegedly 3 frontrunners for each of the two leading roles.

EXCLUSIVE: Following months of going through dozens of audition tapes, Warner Bros and DC Films look to be getting closer to finding the stars of their Superman: Legacy movie as a second round of testing looks to be imminent.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor In the penultimate episode of “Ted Lasso” season 3, “Mom City” features Sam Ryder’s song “Fought & Lost,” a collaboration with Queen’s Brian May. Playing toward the end of the episode, the song acts as a bridge as Ted (Jason Sudeikis) as he has a heartfelt confrontation with his mother Dottie (Becky Ann Baker). The next day, he’s in his office to reveal a “truth bomb” to Rebecca, but the end credits roll before audiences get an answer. Ryder performed the piece in front of an audience at the Grammy Museum in Downtown Los Angeles at a special event with the show’s star Hannah Waddingham joining him.

In the wake of world premiering in Cannes to lackluster film reviews at 50% Rotten, Disney/Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is currently looking at a $60M+ domestic opening.

The group of executives who are leading CNN on an interim basis made their first comments to staffers on Thursday, vowing to make “this period as smooth as possible.”

Chris Licht released a statement following his exit from CNN on Wednesday.

Chris Licht’s ouster as CEO at CNN, Joe Scarborough argued that Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav should have kept Licht on for the full term of his two-year-contract. “Zaslav gave Chris two years; I wish Chris had been given the two years Zaslav promised him,” Scarborough told The New York Times.

The day that SAG-AFTRA began its talks with Hollywood studios over its own film and TV contract with a strike authorization in hand, picketing Writers Guild members on Wednesday hit up Disney and Warner Bros in Burbank.

Ted Lasso wrapped up its three season story just last week on Apple TV+, and one of the show’s creators/stars, Brendan Hunt, has revealed why it avoided a romance between Ted and Rebecca.

Wall Street Journal that the tech giant’s discussions are in the early stages and have been ongoing over the past several weeks. The report notes Amazon is planning for short ad breaks and is considering giving existing Prime subscribers the option to pay for an ad-free alternative and other features.Prime Video is currently included with Prime membership for $14.99 per month and is offered standalone for $8.99 per month. Additionally, Amazon has a separate, free ad-supported streaming platform called Freevee.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic The departure of CNN’s Chris Licht, following his turbulent year atop the cable news network, places a pause on one of the great media stories of the decade so far. But even non-media-junkies can appreciate just how strange and how strenuously rocking had been Licht’s time at the network: It played out across screens. The trouble with being the place that invented the 24-hour news cycle is that those hours can come back to bite when you’re the story. There it was in politics, when Donald Trump’s “Town Hall,” with purported rising star Kaitlan Collins, gear-shifted into the first televised rally of the 2024 presidential cycle — with CNN’s air being used to depict an audience of Trump supporters cheering on his jibes. (No less an eminence than Christiane Amanpour, a CNN icon, registered her dissent in public.) There it was on the business pages, with Licht’s overseeing the dismantling of streaming product CNN+, on orders from Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav, setting the tone for his tenure. There it was at the Oscars, when Michelle Yeoh used her best actress acceptance speech to rebuke anchor Don Lemon’s bizarre on-air comments about a woman’s “prime” years. There it was in the gossip pages, after a Variety story about Lemon’s comportment toward his female co-anchors on the network’s flagship morning show, and then his ouster, leaked into the tabloids, and never seemed to be countered by any good news about the network. And, finally, there it was at length, with an all-access profile by the Atlantic’s Tim Alberta revealing Licht’s contempt for predecessor Jeff Zucker and the depths of his disdain for and, frankly, confusion about CNN’s mission.

Fox News Digital in a Wednesday report that posted just a couple of hours before Warner Bros. Discovery brass announced the ouster of CEO Chris Licht. David Zaslav handpicked Licht last April to replace Jeff Zucker, the successful but divisive longtime CNN leader ousted after disclosing an affair with one of his direct reports.

“We are sending a message that our content doesn’t have to cost a fortune to watch,” said the CEO of fledgling streamer SkyShowtime, who said there could be more bundling in the future.

Today, Outfest announced the Opening and Closing Night gala film selections for the 41st edition of the Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival, taking place from July 13 – 23 in Los Angeles, presented by Warner Bros. Discovery and Genesis Motor America. The festival will open with Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, directed by Aitch Alberto, and the 11-day event will close with Chasing Chasing Amy, directed by Sav Rodgers. The Opening Night Gala will screen at the Orpheum Theatre, with the Closing Night Gala screening at The Montalbán Theatre.

Is Apple toying with us?

Former Warner Bros. President of Sales and Distribution, D. Barry Reardon, passed at the age of 92 on May 27 in Vero Beach, Florida.

Hocus Pocs, Hocus Pocus 3 is officially in the works. President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production Sean Bailey confirmed in an interview with published Sunday, June 4, that the studio is making a second sequel to the 1993 Halloween classic horror-comedy Hocus Pocus, among more than 50 other slated projects. After many years (we're talking literal decades) of anticipation, Hocus Pocus 2 was finally released exclusively on Disney+ in 2022.

Following the series finales of fan favorites such as “Barry,” “Succession,” and “Ted Lasso,” along with the season finale of “Yellowjackets,” about half of the requisite, must-watch television ended in one week. June’s lineup looks to fill in the gaps left by those series, from polarizing new dramas taking that Sunday night HBO slot to prestige series filling up the streaming service lineup.  READ MORE: Summer 2023 TV Preview: 40 Must-See Shows To Watch 2022 breakout “The Bear” returns for its second season after the first nabbed star Jeremy Allen White a SAG award for Actor in a Comedy, while cult favorites such as “Painting with John” are given more love in their latest outing.

EXCLUSIVE: The Golden Trailer Awards has unveiled its nominees for its 23rd annual extravaganza taking place on Thursday, June 29th at The Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. The awards show honors the creative teams that are tasked with condensing two-hour films into two-minute trailers.

The New York Times.“I gave them a gun, and they shot me with it,” Zucker said, according to those sources.Zucker’s abrupt resignation in February 2022 put a spotlight on Gollust, his longtime lieutenant and the network’s chief marketing officer. Gollust, who had worked with Zucker for decades and rejoined CNN in 2013 as his “closest colleague,” had been identified as the woman with whom he had a “consensual relationship,” which he didn’t disclose to CNN owner at the time, AT&T, in apparent violation of company policies.Gollust resigned two weeks after Zucker’s ouster and following a WarnerMedia investigation into Chris Cuomo and his efforts to help his brother, former New York Gov.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) Jamie Cooke is supercharging “original documentaries that push the boundaries” from his Central & Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Turkey region by greenlighting around 10 docs per year.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CNN chief Chris Licht told staffers Monday he wants to help them make the news rather than being a central figure in it. In the wake of a devastating profile of the CNN CEO published Friday by The Atlantic, Licht set about soothing frayed nerves Monday by telling employees on the news outlet’s regular morning call that “I should not be in the news unless it’s taking arrows for you. Your work is what should be written about,” according to two people familiar with the matter, The words are the first from Licht to be made public since the piece was unveiled. Thanks to a rich vein of unfettered access provided over months, the piece detailed the executive’s struggles — and some of his insecurities — during his first year on the job at the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed news outlet. David Zaslav, the CEO of the parent company, has articulated a strategy of eliminating some of the activist bent that resounded at CNN under its previous chief, Jeff Zucker. But Licht’s efforts to do so have been plagued by near-constant leaks and a restive staff, many of whom remain loyal to Licht’s predecessor, ousted after he admitted to a longstanding relationship with Allison Gollust, CNN’s former chief marketing officer.

Sigourney Weaver will premiere on Aug. 4. The seven-part series is based on Holly Ringland’s same-name debut novel. According to the synopsis, “When Alice, aged 9, tragically loses her parents in a mysterious fire, she is taken to live with her grandmother June at Thornfield flower farm, where she learns that there are secrets within secrets about her and her family’s past. Alice finds solace in the native plants and flowers growing in her Australian backyard. She, too, begins to grow from her past, but soon must fight for her life against the man she loves.”

Selome Hailu HBO said “Hello, angel” to 913,000 viewers when it aired the series premiere of “The Idol” on Sunday night. Provided by Warner Bros. Discovery, that number points to Nielsen’s measurement of linear viewers on HBO’s cable channel combined with WBD’s own data regarding streams on Max. For context, “Euphoria” drew 1.1 million viewers when it premiered in 2019. (Max had not yet launched, meaning viewers were counted across HBO, HBO Go and HBO Now.) Levinson’s second HBO outing is therefore 17% behind his first. The trajectory of “Euphoria” Season 1 viewership was mostly flat, peaking with 1.2 million viewers of the finale, meaning that “The Idol” could still manage to beat out “Euphoria’s” early performance if its audience continue to grow. But there’s only one month left to achieve that, as the drama’s first season will run for a short five episodes.

After the massive weekend success of Sony Animation’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, there are a lot of rival studios that are looking at executing their comic book IP differently on the big screen. Quite often, animated superhero projects are released directly to the home (think Warner Bros DC’s myriad superhero toon movies like 2010’s Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam and Disney+/Marvel Studio’s avant garde series What If?). Leave it to the guys who bedazzled many with the near half billion grossing The Lego Movie, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, to revolutionize the family animated genre once again.

Charna Flam With a few mystifying teasers and less than two months until the premiere of the live-action “Barbie” film, audiences still don’t know exactly how the film will unfold. But the production team has started to reveal insight into the film — including how they caused an international pink paint shortage. In a recent Architectural Digest profile with production designer Sarah Greenwood, set decorator Katie Spencer and director Greta Gerwig, the group explain that they set out “to capture what was so ridiculously fun” about Barbie’s world, but especially that of Architectural Digest’s subject: Barbie’s Dreamhouse. “I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much,” Gerwig stated. She shared that “the ‘kid-ness’ was paramount” — evoking the feeling of never forgetting “what made [her] love Barbie” as a young girl.

The Los Angeles Times in 1999. “He is one of the few people who really did change the game. Everyone who knows anything will tell you he revolutionized this business and he is a visionary.

Tatiana Siegel “The Flash” is almost here, and the rollout has been anything but typical.  With just 13 days to go before the film’s June 16 release, titular star Ezra Miller has done no press and will make a low-profile appearance at the Los Angeles premiere on June 12, only posing for photos rather than doing interviews. The film’s director, Andy Muschietti, and cast members Ben Affleck, Sasha Calle and Michael Shannon, as well as fellow DC Universe superhero Jason Momoa, will also hit the red carpet that will be missing the standard press gauntlet. Typically, the star of a $190 million tentpole will promote the film in interviews across print, TV and oftentimes podcasts spanning multiple continents. (Harrison Ford has been ubiquitous in the run-up to the June 30 bow of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” including a high-profile showing at the Cannes Film Festival.)

warns could be used as “plagiarism machines” to craft scripts without writers. According to a WGA memo, the strike is costing Hollywood’s economy $30 million a day. Jack Kyser, the chief economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, estimated that the 2007-2008 strike cost his state $2.5 billion; this time the estimate of potential damages are likely to top at least $3 billion. Midway through the last strike, Kyser told the L.A.

The Supernatural franchise is coming to end — at least for now — as The Winchesters has not been able to get a second season anywhere. Producing studio Warner Bros. Television’s efforts to set up the Supernatural prequel series at another network or streaming platform following its cancellation by the CW have been unsuccessful. All possible avenues have been exhausted, and the search for a new home has come to an end, despite a strong #SaveTheWinchesters campaign led by series executive producer (and Supernatural star) Jensen Ackles.

EXCLUSIVE: We hear that the George Clooney directed MGM title, The Boys in the Boat, is set to hit theaters on Monday, Dec. 25, as a wide release.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director The summer movie season is heating up in theaters this June with the releases of Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” Warner Bros.’ “The Flash” and Disney’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” but streamers are also set to make some noise with the arrival of big tentpoles. From Netflix unveiling the sequel to one of its biggest original movies in history (the Chris Hemsworth-starring “Extraction 2”) to Michael B.

Nick Mohammed still can’t believe how lucky he was to have scored the role of Nate Shelley in Apple’s multi-Emmy Award-winning series Ted Lasso—but it almost didn’t happen. Mohammed had set his sights on a different role which he didn’t land but at the time he didn’t realize it didn’t work out for a reason.