Hart's Oscars Return?; 'SMILF' Abuse Claims Fallout; Black Directors '18 Strides; Apple Swoon on Streaming; Cable News Firing Line

What's news: Kevin Hart and the Academy are open to an Oscars hosting reconciliation. Plus: Fallout from abuse allegations on the set of Showtime's SMILF, black directors' box office success in 2018 and the unclear standard for cable news firings. — Will Robinson [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( January 04, 2019 What's news: Kevin Hart and the Academy are open to an Oscars hosting reconciliation. Plus: Fallout from abuse allegations on the set of Showtime's SMILF, black directors' box office success in 2018 and the unclear standard for cable news firings. — Will Robinson ^SMILF abuse claims fallout: New CBS Corp content chief David Nevins' handling of misconduct allegations on the set of the pay cable series calls into question how the network, producer ABC Studios and everyone else in Hollywood's power structure responds to the new normal, Kim Masters reports: + Why did Showtime decide to decline comment?: ABC Studios gave what should be the only possible response: that the company takes the matter seriously and will investigate. How should potential whistleblowers react when Showtime doesn't say those words, and instead an "insider" — anyone in media would guess that it was a Showtime publicist — responded to THR's story by telling another outlet that the network stands "100 percent completely behind" Frankie Shaw? + What will happen on a bigger show, or more powerful talent?: This is a particularly urgent question as Showtime CEO David Nevins has taken the reins as chief creative officer of CBS. Given Showtime's apparent indifference to complaints from numerous members of the SMILF cast and crew, how can Nevins effect change in a much bigger job? + Will ABC actually investigate?: So far, insiders on the show say they have not been contacted following THR's Dec. 17 report. "I've been waiting," says one. This is especially striking given the incendiary racial claims, and ABC's recent departure of high-profile black talent in Shonda Rhimes, Kenya Barris and Channing Dungey. [Full story.]( Oscars Return? Hart "evaluating" gig: Ellen DeGeneres reveals on her show, pushed to air Friday instead of Monday, that she called the Academy and learned the organization was open to having Kevin Hart step back into the hosting role, Katie Kilkenny reports: + Sees growth: "You’ve already expressed that it's not being educated on the subject, not realizing how dangerous those words are, not realizing how many kids are killed for being gay or beaten up every day," DeGeneres told Hart. "You have grown, you have apologized, you are apologizing again right now. You’re done it. Don’t let those people win — host the Oscars." "Leaving here, I promise you, I'm evaluating this conversation," Hart said. "This is a conversation I needed to have, I'm glad that I had it here, and I'm glad that it was as authentic and real as I could have hoped that it would be. So let me assess, just to sit in this space and really think, and you and I will talk before anything else." [Interview clips.]( + DeGeneres' Oscars call: "I called them, I said, 'Kevin’s on, I have no idea if he wants to come back and host, but what are your thoughts?'" she recounts to Hart. "And they were like, 'Oh my God, we want him to host! We feel like that maybe he misunderstood or it was handled wrong. Maybe we said the wrong thing but we want him to host. Whatever we can do we would be thrilled. And he should host the Oscars.'" * Inside the Academy: "Buzz grew among Oscars observers that the Academy had finally found a solution to its host problem [before the Hart interview]," Scott Feinberg reports. "If, after the episode airs on Friday, the core trio conducting the search for an Oscars host — first-time Oscar show producer Donna Gigliotti, Academy CEO Dawn Hudson and Academy president John Bailey — concludes that Hart's contrition is genuine and believable, it is well within the realm of possibility that he will be reapproached about hosting the show." [Full story.]( Elsewhere in film... ► Study: Black directors hit historic high in 2018. With 16 black directors helming the top 100 grossing films — as reported in the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative's newest Inclusion in the Director's Chair study — the mark is by far the most representation of black filmmakers across the report's 12-year time frame. * Other demos lack. Ava DuVernay was the only female black director in 2018, one of the seven women of color to direct a top 100 movie since George W. Bush was president. The numbers for female directors in general remain dismal, staying flat at 4 percent across the top 1,200 films from 2007 and 2018. * Board improvement. The seven major media companies (21st Century Fox, AT&T, Comcast, Sony, Walt Disney Company, Viacom, Lionsgate) now have 25 percent of their board seats filled by women, including half of Viacom's. The company also had the most gender-inclusive C-suite (31.8 percent female), while Sony and Comcast had no women in its top executive tier. [Results.]( ► 2018 Italian box office drops to 10-year low. The year [brought in]( just $633 million (€555 million) in 2018. It's only 30 million euros below 2017's paltry box office, which brought in $666 million (€585 million), but fares significantly lower than 2010, when cinemas took in $837 million (€735 million). ► Awkwafina in talks to join Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart in Jumanji 2. The plot for the new movie is being [kept under wraps]( as is Awkwafina’s character, although it is described as “key” and “significant,” say sources. The script is by Jake Kasdan, Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner (the latter two worked on the previous outing). ► Socially conscious screening Company Picture Motion acquires Film Sprout. The companies [have worked]( on non-theatrical screening series for titles such as Science Fair, The Tale and The Hunting Ground. On the festival circuit... -> Palm Springs Film Fest's gala awards Glenn Close, Bradley Cooper among others. Eleven awards were handed out during the three-hour awards event, during which Timothee Chalamet dropped an F-bomb and Emily Blunt lovingly anointed her Mary Poppins Returns director Rob Marshall "Manny Poppins," Chirs Gardner reports. [Recap.]( From the stage... ► The Notebook to get Broadway musical treatment. Indie singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson and This Is Us writer-producer Bekah Brunstetter [will collaborate]( on the stage version of the bestselling romance novel by Nicholas Sparks. [Quoted:]( "Photos of me went viral, I became a trending topic on Twitter, and I got death threats and tons of hate mail. I support #MeToo — it had nothing to do with not supporting the cause. I take responsibility for wearing color while everyone else wore black." — Blanca Blanco, on wearing a red dress to last year's Golden Globes, instead of black. ^Tim Blake Nelson details why he trusts the Coen brothers: The star of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs stops by the It Happened in Hollywood podcast with THR senior writer Seth Abramovitch and comedian and TV writer Chip Pope to reveal all about working with the enigmatic duo: + Navigating controversy: In one key O Brother sequence, the three male leads stumble upon a Ku Klux Klan rally with their faces covered in dirt. "I just thought, 'Geez, Joel, we're really going to do this in blackface?'" Nelson recalls. "But it's so benign. Their humor, even the violence. I know this sounds strange, but it's always so good-natured. It's not that they get away with it — you want them to get away with it. They're loved for it." [Listen]( | [Subscribe]( For your consideration... ► Taye Diggs set to host Critics' Choice Awards. The 24th annual event, [honoring]( both films and TV shows, will air Jan. 13 on The CW. As previously announced, best supporting actress nominee Claire Foy will accept the #SeeHer Award, while Chuck Lorre will receive the Critics' Choice Creative Achievement Award. ► The Favourite, Pose, Killing Eve lead Dorian Award nominations. The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, which votes on the annual awards, also announced the host of the Jan. 12 ceremony. [Nominees.]( ► Crazy Rich Asians, Black Panther among nominees for AARP's Movies for Grownups Awards. Kenneth Branagh's All is True — a take on the final days of William Shakespeare — scored mentions for best director, best supporting actress (Judi Dench), best supporting actor (Ian McKellen), and best grownup love story. [Nominees.]( Musical notes... ► Ed Sheeran headed to trial over claim he copied "Let's Get It On." Ed Sheeran is [accused of copying]( Marvin Gaye's 1973 hit in his 2014 song "Thinking Out Loud." Kathryn Townsend Griffin in June sued Sheeran, claiming to own a partial copyright in "Let's Get It On" as an heir of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote it. ► YouTube, Coachella expand live-stream pact to include both weekends. YouTube Music and YouTube Premium subscribers in the U.S. will have [exclusive access]( to a dedicated allocation of passes for purchase for each weekend when tickets go on sale Friday. -> What to know about Idris Elba's DJ past ahead of Coachella gig. Elba, who has worked as a DJ and producer since his teenage years, will perform on April 13. Tame Impala is set to headline that day, while J Balvin, Bassnectar, Weezer, Wiz Khalifa and Maggie Rogers will also take the stage. [Background.]( ► ASAP Bari fined for sex assault in U.K. The hip-hop impresario and fashion designer pleaded guilty and [was]([fined]( 4,000 pounds ($5,000) in the Old Bailey court Thursday and ordered to pay 2,500 pounds to the victim. ► Beyonce's Parkwood Entertainment sued over website accessibility. A New York woman named Mary Conner who has "no vision whatsoever," according to the filing, claims the website isn't fully accessible for her and for millions of others who have visual impairments. [Details.]( The arts scene... ► Beyonce, Jay-Z help Louvre Museum break visitor record. The Louvre in Paris received a record 10.2 million visitors in 2018. The "Apeshit" video of Beyonce and husband Jay-Z, featuring the Mona Lisa and other world-famous artworks, [has been viewed]( over 146 million times on YouTube. In memoriam... ► RIP Brian Garfield. The author wrote the 1972 novel Death Wish, which spawned the popular movie franchise that featured Charles Bronson as an architect turned vigilante. He died Saturday at 79. [Obit.]( Correction... In yesterday's newsletter, Universal/DreamWorks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World was labeled a Sony project. Apologies about the error. Power Lawyers is back! Do you know a Power Lawyer? Nominations are now open for The Hollywood Reporter's 13th annual issue highlighting the best entertainment attorneys in the country. Submissions are due by Feb. 1. [Details.]( Cable News Firing Line How far is too far?: Amid a slew of firings, Fox News, CNN and MSNBC decline to open up about the standards that their paid, on-air contributors must adhere to, Jeremy Barr reports: + Silence is the plan: Marc Lamont Hill's quick, forced exit was in line with how Jeff Zucker-led CNN has recently handled contributor controversy: by saying as little as possible and being opaque about the network's standards. CNN's competitors, Fox News and MSNBC, have embraced a similar approach, applying unidentified standards when deciding if, when and how to cut ties with network contributors. Some remarks go unpunished while others end careers. + Murky standard: Jonathan Klein, who ran CNN U.S. from 2004 to 2010, says that contributor terminations are inherently "subjective judgments" determined by the nature of the offense and the perceived value of the offender. "There are few well-defined lines other than criminal behavior, falsifying a story or using a beyond-the-pale term on the air," he adds. [Full story.]( Elsewhere in TV... ► NatGeo shelves Neil deGrasse Tyson's StarTalk amid misconduct allegations. The show has been [off the air]( for several weeks during an investigation into claims against the astrophysicist. ► CBS at "contractual impasse" with ratings provider Nielsen. The company says it's [seeking]( a "fair deal" that includes more and better measurement of digital viewing. The company's contract with Nielsen, said to be worth about $100 million annually, expired on Jan. 1. ► New Netflix CFO will work on cash flow situation. "Netflix in October said it expects to have negative cash flow of $3 billion in 2018, with roughly the same figure in 2019. The company expects material improvements in 2020." [[The Wall Street Journal](] ► Black Mirror: Bandersnatch star Will Poulter leaves Twitter amid backlash. The actor, who co-stars in the Netflix interactive film that has been trending since its Dec. 28 release, is [taking a step back]( from the social media platform "in the interest of my mental health." ► The CW sets Ruby Rose-led Batwoman pilot. David Nutter, who helmed Game of Thrones, Arrow and The Flash, is [on board to direct](. Batwoman is The CW's first official pilot order of the season. It's also Berlanti's first of the season as the prolific producer looks to add to his historic haul of 15 scripted series on broadcast and streaming. -> The complete guide to 2019's pilots. Lesley Goldberg examines the buzziest pilots across the five broadcast networks and will track any and all updates to them, with each pickup, casting and eventual series order (or pass). [Bookmark.]( [Quoted:]( "I don’t mind making light of it and having fun with it — I can roll with the punches. I'm used to locker room banter, and I can have fun with that side of things. Of course night one was maybe over the top, but it was also nice to have those jokes and be able to laugh and smile." — Colton Underwood, on ABC exploiting his virginity in The Bachelor. ^25 years of the Globes: Producing the awards show since 1993, Barry Adelman has seen everything that comes with Hollywood's biggest party, Michael O'Connell reports: + Vetting hosts: "We have a lot of really informed and smart people working with us. They know a lot about a lot of people. Every once in a while, somebody's name comes up … and you go, 'Oh, remember this?'" Adelman says. "In this world of social media, there's always a chance that something you didn't anticipate or know about will come up. I don't think anybody can vet someone 100 percent. You just do the best you can." + A-list flub: "[Elizabeth Taylor] wanted to present the last award, best drama film, and who's going to say no to [her]? But she didn't come to rehearsal, she got a little thrown by the lights and who knows? So, she just walked out, took the envelope and went, 'The winner is …' People in the pit started yelling, 'No! You have to announce the nominees!'" Adelman remembers. "I started running out onstage, and thank God, Dick [Clark] had the same idea." [Full interview.]( Digital digest... -> Will Apple's swoon impact streaming media? Its market cap has slid roughly $350 billion since becoming history's first $1 trillion company in early August, Paul Bond details. * Ahead of competitors. Apple's $675 billion market cap still exceeds that of Comcast, Disney and Netflix, combined. The value of its stock, coupled with its war chest of some $237 billion in cash — a figure dwarfing that of every media and new-media company on the planet — ensures that Apple can still do just about anything it wants to do. [Full story.]( * Apple stock sinks after iPhone sales forecast cut. The tech giant saw its share price [fall]( 9 percent after warning its first quarter sales forecast will fall short of analyst projections. ► Bethesda settles copyright lawsuit with Warner Bros., Behaviour Interactive over Westworld mobile game. The Maryland-based video game publisher resolved a lawsuit it [brought against]( Behaviour Interactive and Warner Bros. last June for copyright infringement, breach of contract and unfair competition. ► Streaming, cord-cutting to accelerate in 2019. "Consumers can expect additional price increases as the live streaming services adapt to what subscribers want and will pay for. Other services may turn to advertising, even though the Internet rebelled recently when Netflix did a limited test of what it called promotional videos." [[USA Today](] ► Atlanta Monster team returns with Zodiac Killer podcast. The first two episodes of iHeartRadio Original podcast Monster: The Zodiac Killer are [now streaming]( from iHeartMedia and Tenderfoot TV. Ratings notes... ► Masked Singer premiere scores big for Fox. The singing competition also had the best premiere among adults 18-49 of any series (excluding sports) this season, tying This Is Us' season opener. The Masked Singer [also gathered]( 9.4 million viewers, the best debut by a Fox series this season by more than a million people and ranking fifth among series premieres across all the broadcast networks. Coming attractions... ► Photo: Helen Mirren, Jason Clarke cuddle up in new Catherine the Great still. Mirren plays the famed Russian empress and Clarke her lover Grigory Potemkin. The HBO/Sky miniseries is due this year. [Photo.]( Comcast voice-remote rejects "Dick Van Dyke" search. The state-of-the-art Xfinity X1 Voice Remote got snippy when users asked it to play episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Chris Gardner details: "I [cannot handle]( that type of language." Coachella Underwhelms Copy/pasted lineups: With Wednesday's announcement of the supremely underwhelming 2019 slate at the Indio, Calif. festival, it’s clear that music is now truly an afterthought and that the organizers don’t have many new ideas up their sleeves, Jonny Coleman writes: + Odd headliners: Ariana Grande — while an obvious pop and radio star — feels misplaced. Childish Gambino doesn’t really have the body of work to back up being the headliner of any sort of festival, and it’s clear this is about Donald Glover’s overall celebrity and less about his musical bona fides. Tame Impala is the only one who seems to fit in with the classic Coachella ethos and vibe, but they’ve already played Coachella several times. + Relationships matter: The festival used to be a lot better at shuffling the deck and keeping things fresh — or at least making it feel like they were catering to an audience that was voracious and curious. Maybe it’s impossible to program a lineup that feels like an event or a genuine cultural moment in 2019; maybe culture is too broad and simultaneously too granulated. [Full column.]( What else we're reading... — "Padma Lakshmi, Scars and All." E. Alex Jung follows the Top Chef host around New York City: "I feel like sometimes there is a real dichotomy between what most people in this country know me for and what I’m really like. I’ve had to just say, Well, this is just the way that I make my living. So be it." [[Vulture](] — "Hosting the Oscars Is a Great Job—So Why Doesn’t Anyone Want It?" Sean Fennessey gives his take: "If you want to raise your profile—and honestly, why else would one want to host an awards show?—the Oscars is the closest one can come to maximum exposure right now, shy of singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl or being blasted on Twitter by the president." [[The Ringer](] — "Broad City Is Ending. Be at Peace With That. The Creators Are." Dave Itzkoff chats to Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer: "For the whole show, we’ve been figuring out how much different we are than our characters. Now that it’s over, I feel so free and proud to be like, that is us. It’s not completely, exactly us, but it’s us." [[The New York Times](] — "Vice vs. the Real Dick Cheney." Nicholas Lemann explores: "Vice treats conservatism as a combination of resistance to the civil-rights movement, the Koch brothers’ eagerness to reduce taxes and regulations, and pure opportunism. Cheney’s conservatism, at heart, is none of these. It is what might be called threatism." [[The New Yorker](] — "Joanna Kulig Is Ready for Her Spotlight." Dorota Lech profiles the Cold War breakout: "At a time when many Poles living at home and abroad, myself included, feel despair at the country’s tilt toward authoritarianism ... along with him comes Kulig, Poland’s most exciting star in decades, offering another chance for our small and challenged nation to show its best self." [[Vanity Fair](] From the archives... + Today in 1982: Bryant Gumbel joined the desk at NBC's Today show, where he became a mainstay for 15 years, including weathering a ratings dip after a scathing memo he wrote became public — from Bill Carter in 1990: "Some of the reaction to Gumbel flows naturally from his unwillingness to compromise. He admits, if not to arrogance, to the 'terrible sin' of hubris." [[The New York Times](] Today's birthdays: Charlyne Yi, 33, Kerry Condon, 36, D'Arcy Carden, 39, June Diane Raphael, 39, Graham McTavish, 58, Dyan Cannon, 82. Enjoy reading this? 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