TV Shows Take a Back Seat as Upfronts Focus on New Ad Tech

Madonna in an upcoming biopic.According to Variety, sources familiar with the project claim the Ozark actor has “emerged the favourite” from over a dozen candidates. Another source claims Garner is “considering and expected to accept the offer”.NME has reached out to Garner’s representatives for comment.Other actors reported to have been in contention for the role include Florence Pugh (Midsommar), Alexa Demie (Euphoria), Odessa Young (Mothering Sunday) and Emma Laird (Mayor Of Kingstown).

Lil Nas X‘s upset about being snubbed for its 2022 awards, explaining that no one at the awards body was on the voting panel.The Grammy award-nominated rapper expressed dismay at receiving “an outstanding zero nominations again”, marking a two-year run without a nod at the awards which recognises the work of African Americans in the entertainment industry.A BET spokesperson has now issued the following statement to Deadline: “We love Lil Nas X. He was nominated for a Best New Artist BET Award in 2020, and we proudly showcased his extraordinary talent and creativity on the show twice: he performed “Old Town Road” with Billy Ray Cyrus at BET Awards 2019 and his BET Awards 2021 performance was a highlight of our show.

Corus is ready for fall, unveiling an ambitious slate of the most sought-after series premiering across its specialty networks and streaming platforms.

Even the Queen of England loves that concrete jungle where dreams are made of.

Gabrielle Union spoke candidly in a social media post about dealing with PTSD for 30 years after being raped.

A royal success! Queen Elizabeth II is pleased with the outcome of her Platinum Jubilee celebration — despite having to miss a few events, a source exclusively reveals in the new issue of Us Weekly.

A country cutie. Sam Hunt confirmed he and Hannah Lee Fowler are the proud parents of a newborn daughter.

This year’s Banff World Media Festival is set to be one of the most international yet and will go beyond TV trends to address some of the globe’s biggest topics, according to Executive Director Jenn Kuzmyk.

Warner Bros. Discovery has officially laid out its senior EMEA leadership team under President and Managing for the region (excl Poland) Priya Dogra.

Robbie Williams has thrown his hat into the ring for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.The Let Me Entertain You singer said he has put his name "forward" following this year's event, which saw the UK's entry Sam Ryder take the contest by storm and finish in second place.However, fans shouldn't get too excited, as it's not being the UK's competition entry that Robbie is interested in.Instead, he wants to perform a half-time show during the ceremony.So it sounds like the Take That heartthrob won't be facing the dreaded "nil points" that have befallen many a Eurovision hopeful over the years.The Mirror quoted him as saying: "I've already put my name forward, not for the UK but the half-time part.""I thought, I'll have a bit of that," he went on."No one did it until Justin Timberlake did and Madonna. I was like, I want to do that like those people.

The Spinners Quarter development in Pendleton was officially unveiled recently with Salford ’s city mayor cutting the ribbon. The event marks a milestone for Lovell Together, the joint venture between Lovell Partnerships and Together Housing Group.

A 12-year-old schoolgirl who died after being hit by a van has now been named as Lexi McDavid.

Coronation Street star Alex Bain has been back to hospital amid a grisly ankle injury.The actor plays Simon Barlow in the ITV soap, and hasn’t been letting his injury get him down even as he headed to the fracture clinic to have it checked over.Back in May, Alex was pictured in a wheelchair as he attended the A&E at Blackburn Hospital, just weeks before he jetted off on holiday.Now sporting a medical boot, Alex headed to the hospital and updated fans via his Instagram Stories, explaining: “Update on the ankle.“I’m at the fracture clinic having a check up and X-Ray to see how it is doing.

virtual reality HoloLens group has resigned following accusations of inappropriate behaviour and sexual harassment at the tech firm.Alex Kipman, an artificial intelligence engineer and the lead developer of the HoloLens programme, has departed the company less than two weeks after reports emerged claiming he sexually harassed colleagues and allegedly watched an 'erotic' VR pillow fight in front of them.According to GeekWire, an internal Microsoft memo from the company's head of Cloud & AI Scott Guthrie said that its Mixed Reality Hardware Group was being restructured. He added that Alex Kipman was leaving the company 'to pursue other opportunities'.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have risked making their Netflix bosses “cross” by not getting any pictures of Lilibet with the Queen during their Jubilee visit, a critic has claimed.During their recent trip to the UK, there was no official confirmation on whether the Queen had finally met her great-granddaughter Lilibet, though reports of a meeting circulated shortly after the Trooping the Colour ceremony.In the absence of any pictures of Lilibet and the Queen, Harry and Meghan released a picture taken of their daughter at Frogmore Cottage to mark her first birthday.However, speaking to GB News, royal critic Angela Levin has claimed that these adorable snaps might not be sufficient to satisfy the couple’s Netflix bosses, who she suggested had been keen on footage of a royal meeting with the Queen.“They wanted to see the Queen as soon as possible, so she saw them on the first day… And they asked if he could take a picture of the two Lilibets, and she said, ‘no, absolutely not possible’,” she claimed.Angela suggested that this was the correct decision, explaining: “Because they would have sold it and used it for Netflix.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorSurvive, from New York: “Saturday Night Live” will continue on without four prominent departing cast members, but most of them got a chance to offer up a few final laughs before the show completed its 47th season.Word that Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney and Pete Davidson planned to leave the venerable late-night series after Saturday’s broadcast leaked out late in the week. That made appearances by the actors all the more emotional during NBC’s broadcast of SNL’s season finale. McKinnon made one more run as Ms.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorWhen CNN presents an exclusive interview Sunday evening between Jake Tapper and Trevor Reed, recently released from Russia after nearly three years of imprisonment, the network has the potential to spur a new strain of activism around U.S. citizens incarcerated abroad.Reed, who spoke with Tapper for several hours Thursday in Florida, was released “because the Biden administration engaged in a prison swap with Russia, and in the past, that has been seen as controversial,” says Tapper during a recent interview. “The family wants those days to disappear.”During the hour-long special, Reed talks about his experiences overseas, some of which, Tapper says sound like something out of a “horror movie franchise.” He also speaks about his interest in helping other American families who have relatives detained unlawfully overseas.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThis wasn’t supposed to be Joe Buck’s first assignment for ESPN.The veteran sports announcer raised eyebrows earlier this year by jumping from his longtime roost at Fox Sports to the Disney sports giant, where he and colleague Troy Aikman are set to host “Monday Night Football.” On Thursday afternoon, however, Buck was doing something completely different. Here he was, sitting alongside golf analyst Michael Collins on ESPN2, watching Tiger Woods on the green at the 2022 PGA Championship and talking to baseball great Ken Griffey Jr.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorChris Wallace left a Sunday show on Fox News Channel to jump into the world of streaming at CNN. But now he’s going back to a weekend format for which he is best known:Wallace will take the reins of a new Sunday program on CNN, the network announced Wednesday during an upfront presentation for its parent company, Warner Bros.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorJo Ann Ross has long recognized when to go for the hard- sell and when to soften things up.The Paramount Global U.S. ad sales chief is, like other executives in her position, is seizing this week to pitch big advertisers as part of the media industry’s annual “upfront,” when U.S.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorWhere do you take advertisers if you want them to make a big purchase? To a department store, of course.Paramount Global will take clients who attend its upfront Wednesday afternoon to an after-party in the structure on New York’s Madison Avenue that once housed the big Barney’s department store, one way to emphasize the shopping aspect of the event, in which big U.S. TV companies hope to sell the bulk of their commercial inventory for their next programming cycle.As part of the affair, Paramount has dressed up four windows of the former shopping plaza.