Simran Sethi: Last News

Greys Anatomy is heading into a transformational season. Star Ellen Pompeo is scaling back her on-screen presence to eight episodes, signaling a potential departure of her character Meredith which has been the heart of the medical drama since the start. Meanwhile, five new actors are joining as interns in one of the show’s biggest cast infusions ever, reminiscent of the Grey’s pilot that introduced Meredith and her fellow wide-eyed interns.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor FX chief John Landgraf and ABC programming head Simran Sethi will expand their duties under an executive shuffle at Disney’s TV operations, one of the first big moves under Dana Walden, who was assigned responsibility for the company’s TV networks after Bob Iger returned as Disney’s CEO. Landgraf will take oversight of National Geographic as well as Onyx Collective, the production unit devoted to projects from communities of color and underrepresented groups. Sethi, meanwhile, will oversee programming and development for both ABC and Freeform. She will continue to report to Craig Erwich, president, Disney Television Group. The moves comes as Tara Duncan, who had been supervising programming for both Onyx Collective and Freeform, will devote her attention solely to Onyx, freeing up the programming duties for Sethi, who had a previous tenure at the cable network.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterBrianna Bennett has been named senior vice president of network drama for ABC Entertainment, Variety has learned.Bennett comes to ABC from CBS Studios, where she served as vice president of drama development since 2014. She takes over heading up drama for the broadcaster from Brian Morewitz, whose exit was announced back in July.