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.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Longtime comedy exec Suzanna Makkos has exited Max to join ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals as head of comedy. Makkos will report to Simran Sethi, the president of scripted programming for Hulu Originals, ABC Entertainment and Freeform, who announced the hiring on Thursday.

EXCLUSIVE: Suzanna Makkos is leaving her post as head of Original Comedy & Animation at Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max and Adult Swim to join Disney as head of comedy for ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals.

Project Runway is continuing on, but making some major changes.

In a consolidation move six years in the making, ABC Signature is no more. The production unit is being shut down, with its operations folded into 20th Television under 20th TV President Karey Burke.

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.