New #MeToo Dilemma; TV's Live Boom; Epstein and 'Vanity Fair'; ‘West Side Story’ Revival; Shonda 2020

What's news: A fresh look at Vanity Fair and Jeffrey Epstein, TV's new boom in live shows, Hollywood's new #MeToo conundrum, and celebrity concrete pillars. Plus: Shonda Rhimes' first Netflix show won't launch until 2020, and the U.S. Women's National Team is making the TV rounds. --Alex Weprin July 11, 2019 What's news: A fresh look at Vanity Fair and Jeffrey Epstein, TV's new boom in live shows, Hollywood's new #MeToo conundrum, and celebrity concrete pillars. Plus: Shonda Rhimes' first Netflix show won't launch until 2020, and the U.S. Women's National Team is making the TV rounds. --Alex Weprin TV's New 'Live' Boom ►Cops and classics are fueling a live programming boom on TV. As more entertainment is watched on-demand, networks are looking for programs that are live in order to keep viewers tuned in to linear channels, Michael O'Connell reports. A&E's cop show Live PD helped kickstart the current live reality trend, while ABC found success with its live performances of classic Normal Lear sitcoms in May. [The story](. ►Scott Fienberg's Emmy nominee projections. With voting closed and the nominations to be announced next week, THR's awards columnist offers his best guesses as to who the nominees will be in 23 categories. Alongside projected nominees, he also includes some potential alternates, possible surprises, and "Shoulda Been a Contenda's" [The full list](. ►AT&T is making another major executive change at WarnerMedia. The latest departure? WarnerMedia's head of ad sales Donna Speciale, who will leave the company just as it wraps up its upfront negotiations. According to a memo sent to staff Wednesday evening from WarnerMedia CRO Gerhard Zeiler, two other ad sales evps, Frank Sgrizzi and Dan Riess will also leave the company, while Amit Chaturvedi, Katrina Cukaj, and Joe Hogan take on new responsibilities. [More](. +Revolving door: A [major change]( at the top of ABC Studios: Jonnie Davis will be the new president, succeeding Patrick Moran, who is leaving the company. Carolyn Cassidy and Howard Kurtzman will now run 20th TV, while business affairs exec Howard Davine will also leave the studio... Also at ABC Studios, Amy Hartwick, the studio's head of comedy,[is leaving](... Cable network History [has](tapped Adam Fratto to oversee its growing roster of scripted series... +Former HBO CEO Richard Plepler has launched a consultancy, RLP & Company, the New York Post [reports](. An NDA prohibits him from working with direct competitors to the channel. Tweet of the day: Here's Wall Street Journal reporter Joe Flint, with a "Sun Valley planner" [Twitter thread]( for reporters covering the mogul confab. A taste: "4) Curse to yourself after learning one of the few talkers at event went another way to panels. 5) After the moose crossing of the moguls go to coffee shop and tweet about all that you saw..." ^A year ago, 23 year-old Emma Corrin was packing boxes of underwear at a retail startup in London. Now, she has a leading role in the Epix DC Comics series Pennyworth, and will play Princess Diana in Netflix's The Crown. Bryn Elise Sandberg [talks to the actress](about her quick rise in the industry. ►The ESPY Awards: ESPN televised its ESPY Awards last night in Los Angeles, with comedian Tracy Morgan hosting. One of the [big moments](: Sandra Bullock calling for equal pay for the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team, and Morgan ending the show by saying “Let’s pay these ladies and let’s fight cancer." Another [memorable moment](: When gymnast Katelyn Ohashi gave a rousing acceptance speech addressing body shaming. Here's the [full list of winners](. +The ESPYs served as a centerpiece to a busy few days for the U.S. Women's National Team. Yesterday morning they were feted in New York City with a ticker tape parade, after team members made appearances on Good Morning America, CNN, and MSNBC. Tonight, co-captains Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe will be guests on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The win has permeated pop culture such that the U.S. Soccer Women’s National Team jersey continues to be [one of the summer’s hottest accessories](. Elsewhere in TV... --Daniel Fienberg[reviews](season seven of Netflix's Orange Is The New Black. --Robyn Bahr [reviews]( season three of Hulu's Harlots. --France [passed]( its controversial tech tax. --The FCC on Wednesday [announced new rules]( for children's television. --Residuals payments across a swath of Disney and ABC product [have been delayed]( due to technical problems with the processing process. --Larry Sanders co-star Linda Doucett [remembers]( Rip Torn: "He was a really good bad boy." Hollywood's New #MeToo Dilemma ►Hollywood is facing a #MeToo-related conundrum: What to do when alleged predators give generously to charity. Rebecca Sun looks at what universities and not-for-profits have done when their wealthy donors have been accused of misconduct. Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Bryan Singer and Les Moonves are among those that have had their names stripped from buildings, programs, and scholarships that they funded. Quote: "Ultimately, the ethical question facing nonprofits is not so different from that faced by the public when weighing the artistic legacies of problematic creators, from the music of Michael Jackson to the movies of Woody Allen. 'How do we appraise artists once it is clear that they engaged in objectionable activity in their personal lives?'" asks Ted Lechterman, a Goethe University philosopher who specializes in the ethics of philanthropy. [The story](. ►Jeffrey Epstein and Vanity Fair. Kim Masters recounts her experience working at Vanity Fair, and writes that she trusts the recollection of journalist Vicky Ward, who wrote earlier this week that Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter removed references to young women from a story about Jeffrey Epstein. Quote: "I don’t know Vicky Ward, though I encountered her briefly when she was at Talk. But given my experience, I don’t find it hard to imagine that Graydon cut out information about Epstein, who had knitted himself into New York society so effectively. Having seen my own pieces nipped and tucked and altered for reasons that seemed to have nothing to do with journalism, I believe her. So should you." [The column](. +Meanwhile, Eriq Gardner reports that lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who counted Epstein as a client and friend, is trying to quash a lawsuit that he solicited from one of Epstein's victims. "He trolled [Virginia Roberts] Giuffre into suing and also used his bully pulpit to convey the impression to everyone that the case would be fought on the merits. Instead, he's waiving the First Amendment flag, and while that is all good and well, his right to speak isn't what he supposedly aims to vindicate." [More](. +Elsewhere: Here's Vanity Fair (yes, the same Vanity Fair) on [Epstein's relationship](to the New York City media scene. And The New York Times [writes about](how Epstein's "infinite means," as referenced by prosecutors, may be "a mirage." ^Pillars of Hollywood society. When visitors walk into the Saban Building at the Academy Museum after it opens next year, they will be greeted by a grand room featuring dozens of towering square pillars. Vincent Boucher reports that these pillars have become "part of a final sprint to get the museum to its total fundraising goal of $388 million," with a "Pillar Campaign" offering naming rights to pillars starting at $1 million each. The campaign has brought in $35 million for 28 pillars from the likes of Barbra Streisand, J.J. Abrams, Christopher Nolan and Jason Blum, with 35 pillars still available. [The story](. ►How Hollywood mobilizes after a natural disaster. The recent earthquakes in Southern California served as a reminder that the entertainment industry can play a crucial role in the region after a natural disaster. Falen Hardge looks back at Hollywood's response to last year's wildfires. [More](. Elsewhere in film... --STXfilms [is pulling]( Dave Bautista action-comedy My Spy from its August release calendar. --Warner Bros. Studio Leavesden, outside of London, was [hit by a fire](. There were no injuries, and no damage to current productions. --Here's [the scene]( from the red carpet at The Lion King premiere. Can Taylor Swift Fight Back? How Taylor Swift could fight back against Scooter Braun. While she may not get the chance to buy back her master recordings from Braun, Swift has a number of options if she wants to respond... though the options on the table all carry significant risk, music attorneys James Sammataro and Giovanna Marchese write. In the end, Both Braun and Swift have a financial incentive to be good custodians of the musician's back catalog. [The column](. +Related: Performing last night at the Amazon Prime Day concert, Swift ad-libbed [this line]( in her song Shake It Off: "Just think, while you've been getting down and out about the lying, dirty, dirty cheats of the world, you could have been getting down to this, sick beat..." Also: Big Machine Records, the label Braun just acquired, [is releasing]( limited edition vinyl of Taylor Swift's early singles. [Quoted](: “No one is going to compete with Netflix in gross subscribers... I believe they have won the game...There’s nothing I can see that’s going to dislodge them.” --IAC chairman Barry Diller, speaking to CNBC at Sun Valley. The day in deals: Will Smith and wife Jada Pinkett Smith [unveiled a new media venture](, Westbrook Inc., to oversee the Smith family's expanding media content and commerce businesses... Pop TV [has greenlit](eight episodes of Best Intentions from American Pie writer Adam Herz. The series centers on a single father who works as a guidance counselor at the high school his teenage son attends... Gary Oldman and David Fincher are [teaming on]( a biopic about Herman Mankiewicz, the newspaper man turned screenwriter who is best known for collaborating with Orson Welles on Citizen Kane... ^Shonda 2020: Shonda Rhimes' first show for Netflix will launch next year, more than two years after her Shondaland production company left ABC for the streaming giant. The show will be Bridgerton, an eight episode scripted soap written by Scandal grad Chris Van Dusen. Based on Julia Quinn's novels, the show will star Julie Andrews and Rege-Jean Page. [More.]( +Casting roundup: An [exclusive look]( at the new cast for the Broadway revival of West Side Story... Maitreyi Ramakrishnan will [make her screen debut]( in Mindy Kaling's untitled coming-of-age comedy at Netflix... German theater star Imogen Kogge [will play]( Angela Merkel in an upcoming film about the German Chancellor... Netflix's adaptation of Firefly Lane [has landed]( one of its two leads in Katherine Heigl... Darren Criss [will star in](, executive produce and write songs for Royalties, a musical comedy for Quibi... Blumhouse's The Hunt [has cast](Hilary Swank for the politically charged action-thriller... James Holzhauer [will return]( to Jeopardy! for the show's Tournament of Champions.... Storm Reid is [joining]( the heavy-hitting cast of Warner Bros.' The Suicide Squad... Pose star Angelica Ross has [landed a major role]( in American Horror Story... Obituaries: [Jim Bouton](, the former All-Star pitcher for the New York Yankees who threw baseball the ultimate curve with the publication of his 1970 tell-all book, Ball Four, has died. He was 80... [Denise Nickerson](, the child star who played Violet Beauregarde in the Gene Wilder-starring film adaptation Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, died Wednesday night. She was 62... [Freddie Jones](, the British actor best known for his role on ITV soap opera Emmerdale has died. He was 91... Academy Award-nominated actress [Valentina Cortese]( died Wednesday in Milan. She was 96... What else we're reading... --"Malone may return to Univision’s telenovela" [[WSJ](] --"CNN tells digital staff: take some cues from Fox News" [[Daily Beast](] --"The Life Cycle of a Reality TV Star" [[Vice](] --"Tracing the career arc of Donald Glover, a bonafide quintuple threat" [[Vulture](] From the archives... On July 11, 1997, Robert Zemeckis unveiled his sci-fi adaptation of Carl Sagan's Contact, starring Jodie Foster. [The Hollywood Reporter's original review](. Today's birthdays: Beverly Todd, 73, Greg Mottola, 55, Lil’ Kim, 45, Lisa Rinna, 56, Richie Sambora, 60. 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