'Aquaman' Holiday Reign; Netflix's Rom-Com Run; Year in TV Highs (And Lows)

What's news: Netflix's rom-com run, Aquaman's box office reign and a close look at the highs and lows of the year in TV as Hollywood gets set for the holidays. — Erik Hayden and Will Robinson [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( December 22, 2018 What's news: Netflix's rom-com run, Aquaman's box office reign and a close look at the highs and lows of the year in TV as Hollywood gets set for the holidays. — Erik Hayden and Will Robinson ^How Netflix revived the rom-com: Film co-heads Matt Brodlie and Ian Bricke reveal how the streamer targets certain viewers, Bryn Elise Sandberg reports: + Why rom-coms? "A lot of agents and producers were like, 'Wait, I think I have one back on the shelf here … let me just blow the dust off first,'" Brodlie says. "Because nobody was making them." + Knowing the audience: "We actually don't have demographic information on our members," says Brodlie. "We have their credit card and their ZIP code." [Full interview.]( Saturday update... *Part I: Fox & Friends changing course?* "The long friendship between President Trump and Fox & Friends appears to have turned downright frosty ... over the past three days, a chill has crept into the friendly confines." [[Washington Post](] *Part II: Why Fox News made Trump shut down the government.* "the cast of Fox & Friends don’t have serious, substantive policy disagreements with Republican leaders, but they do like to goad them into hopeless confrontations." [[New York](] ► Hoax Beyoncé albums appear on Apple Music, Spotify. "The Beyoncé album releases, it turned out, were a hoax, apparently uploaded to Apple and Spotify through Soundrop." [[New York Times](] ► Photographer Bruce Weber sued for alleged sexual misconduct. "Five male models have filed a new lawsuit claiming Bruce Weber used his power as a top New York fashion photographer to sexually assault and traffic them." [[New York Daily News](] ► "Tencent gets a Christmas present from Beijing." "The Chinese tech giant will benefit from new game approvals, but tighter regulation could always be imposed on game makers down the track." [[Wall Street Journal](] > Closer look: Katzenberg's "risky" video bet. "Quibi pays all production costs and doesn’t retain the rights indefinitely. While that creates what Katzenberg describes as a 'total no-brainer' partnership for the major studios and talent, it also means Quibi is bearing the financial risk of this unproven model." [[Bloomberg Businessweek](] > Reality check: "More than half of the 50 most popular shows on Netflix are owned by companies planning to launch their own streaming services." [[Recode](] TV news briefs... ► NBC cancels Midnight Texas and Marlon. The network has opted to cancel the genre drama based on author Charlaine Harris' trilogy as well as the summer comedy starring Marlon Wayans. [Being shopped?]( ► CBS' Murphy Brown goes quietly. The show on Thursday tied its season low among adults 18-49 with a 0.7 rating. The finale's total audience of 5.21 million was its second [smallest of the season.]( ► Netflix thriller anthology What/If adds to cast. Tyler Ross, Marissa Cuevas, Nana Ghana, Monique Kim and Derek Smith will appear on the series starring Renee Zellweger. [Production starting.]( *R.I.P., Ethel Ayler. The standout stage actress who appeared in Eve's Bayou and To Sleep With Anger and portrayed the mother of Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show has died. She was 88. [Obit.]( ^New podcast. Lesley Goldberg emails: In the final episode of TV’s Top 5, TV critic Daniel Fienberg and I go through the year in TV news and reviews, including all the major changes in the executive suites as three of the Big Four broadcast networks saw major changes. [Listen.]( Movie news briefs... ► Holiday box office update: Warner Bros.' Aquaman easily came in No. 1 Friday with $28 million from 4,125 theaters for a projected weekend debut of $68 million or more, one of the best showings ever for the year-end holiday corridor outside of the Star Wars films. [Already at $350 million overseas.]( ► Sony Animation taps Walt Disney veteran for PR. The studio has hired Garth Burkhard, who spent five years at Walt Disney Animation working on campaigns for Frozen and Zootopia. [Memo to staff.]( ► RBG filmmakers write on Supreme Court justice's health. "'How much can one woman take?' ... The answer, from everything we observed during three years researching and directing RBG, our feature documentary about her life: [A LOT.](" *Long read: "The fall and rise of M. Night Shyamalan." "On a wall in Shyamalan’s production company is a printout of the names of all the execs who said no to The Visit. Most of them, he says, have since lost their jobs." [[Rolling Stone](] THR, Esq. docket... ► Straight Outta Compton lawsuit tossed out of court. Late NWA manager Jerry Heller's lawsuit against Universal over Straight Outta Compton has been dismissed by a California federal judge. [The order.]( ► MacGyver spinoff sparks profits suit. Question: Does a 2016 reboot count as a "spinoff" under a 1984 contract? [The backstory.]( ► Judge: CAA's interest in secrecy doesn't outweigh public access to courts. A talent agency has learned the hard way that it can't keep all its secrets under wraps through arbitration agreements. [Lost bid.]( ► Kate del Castillo suing Mexico's former government for $60 million. The Queen of the South star, who brokered Sean Penn's Rolling Stone interview with drug kingpin El Chapo, claims she later became a victim of an illegal government probe. [The lawsuit.]( What to watch this weekend... Best of Peak TV edition. Daniel Fienberg emails: More than 495 scripted TV shows aired in 2018 and over the past two weeks, THR's intrepid TV critics have worked hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. Tim Goodman offered a list of [32 favorites](. I did a [Top 10]( and then a [Second 10]( and even tossed in 10 honorable mentions. That's like 62 recommendations, or would be except that we like a lot of the same things. Go find something that looks good and if you've seen all of our favorite shows, take a break from TV. You've earned it! From the archives... + 18 years ago today: On Dec. 22, 2000, Robert Zemeckis' 142-minute survival tale Cast Away hit theaters. The film went on to earn two Oscar nominations at the 73rd Academy Awards, including a nom in the best actor category for Tom Hanks. [Flashback review.]( Today's birthdays: Chris Carmack, 38, David S. Goyer, 53, Ralph Fiennes, 56, Gregor Fisher, 65, Diane Sawyer, 73, Hector Elizondo, 82. Enjoy reading this? 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