[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( January 12, 2022 What's news: It's magazine day! This week's cover star is Sidney Poitier as THR remembers the late icon who died Jan. 6. ABC renews Station 19 for a sixth season. Berlin has introduced stricter virus measures and cut three days off the screening schedule. The Oscars will have a host and Glenn Weiss returns as telecast director. Plus: Sharon Stone is joining HBO Max's The Flight Attendant — [Abid Rahman]( Heartfelt Memories of Sidney Poitier From Daughter Anika, Wolfgang Puck and Cheryl Boone Isaacs âº"His voice, laughter and warmth filled the room." Sidney Poitier was a trailblazing performer and beacon to future generations, he radiated grace and dignity on screen and off, say his friends and family: "I will miss seeing his happy dance and holding his hand." [The story.]( —"We've got your back!" Rising star Jonathan Majors pens a powerful letter of thanks to Sidney Poitier, paying tribute to the late screen legend, whose searing film performances continue to inspire and embolden: "What you have done for me as a Black actor, and for other marginalized artists, is monumental." [The story.]( Will The CW Be a Streaming Wars Casualty?
âºTransformation on the cards. With the news that WarnerMedia and CBS are looking to offload The CW, THR's [Alex Weprin]( and [Lesley Goldberg]( look at the future implications of a deal for the broadcast network especially if the local TV giant Nexstar acquires the company. Insiders speculate a Nexstar deal could see a programming strategy shift at The CW, away from the youth-skewing scripted originals toward politics, news and reruns. [The analysis.]( —New rules. The Berlin Film Festival has cut three days off its official screening schedule for 2022 and introduced new virus measures, requiring attendees to be both fully vaccinated or recently recovered from a COVID-19 infection, plus show a recent negative test. [The story.]( —Affleck's real talk tour continues. Ben Affleck is continuing his recent stroll down memory lane in interviews this time dredging up recollections of notorious flop Gigli, the film that introduced him to real-life girlfriend Jennifer Lopez. Affleck said he's experienced bigger box office bombs, but that Gigli really struck a chord with the public in a negative way that was "depressing and really made me question things and feel disappointed and have a lot of self-doubt." [The story.]( —"Nobody can say anything he wants to." Steve Harvey went off on “cancel culture” while promoting his new ABC courtroom comedy series, Judge Steve Harvey. The comedian and actor claimed to reporters Tuesday that he couldn’t do another stand-up comedy special unless it were the last thing he ever did in Hollywood, due to content sensitivities. [The story.]( —Sticking around. ABC has renewed Station 19, a spinoff of Grey’s Anatomy, for a sixth season in 2022-23. The pickup comes a day after the network renewed Grey’s Anatomy for a 19th season. Krista Vernoff will continue as showrunner for both series. [The story.]( —Keeping busy. Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts has joined the creative team behind New Line’s relaunch of its horror franchise Final Destination. Watts has boarded the project, titled simply Final Destination 6, as a producer. He also wrote the treatment and story for what will be an HBO Max original release. [The story.]( Oscars Ceremony Will Have a Host
âºTom Holland, anyone? The upcoming 2022 Academy Awards will be the first since the 2018 to have a host. Jimmy Kimmel hosted the Oscars in 2017 and 2018, with 26.62 million people tuning in for the latter telecast. Ratings for 2019’s hostless Oscars actually rose to 29.56 million, before falling in 2020 to 23.64 million and then plummeting last year to 10.40 million. [The story.]( —"You need someone with the deep technical knowledge and creative insights." The Academy and Oscars producer Will Packer have chosen awards show veteran Glenn Weiss as telecast director for the upcoming 94th edition of the Academy Awards. This will be Weiss’ seventh consecutive Oscars in the director’s chair. [The story.]( —Veterans v. newcomers. THR's awards analyst [Scott Feinberg]( runs the rule over the 15 shortlisted contenders for best international feature at the upcoming Academy Awards and finds that they are less defined by the global themes that link them than they are by the actors who brought their stories to life. [The story.]( —Feel-good moment. In the late 1980s, Brit actress Hayley Mills' Oscar she won for Pollyanna, the last ever “most outstanding juvenile performance" award, was stolen. On Sunday, Mills visited the Academy’s headquarters in Beverly Hills and to her shock was gifted a replacement Oscar. [The story.]( The Making of 'The Harder They Fall' âº"Everyone sensed that we wanted a win for this guy." THR's [Mia Galuppo]( goes inside the making of Netflix's excellent revisionist Western The Harder They Fall. First-time Brit director Jeymes Samuel recalls the uphill battle to get his dream project off the ground, but the dedicated support of some A-list collaborators, including Jay-Z, Idris Elba and Regina King, ensured that his bold vision for an all-Black Western got made. [The story.]( —Cause of death. Betty White died from a stroke she had six days before her Dec. 31 death at age 99, according to her death certificate. The beloved actress died at her home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles as the result of a Dec. 25 cerebrovascular accident, the medical term for a stroke. [The story.]( —The Cage bump. Michael Sarnoski, a breakout filmmaker thanks to the Nicolas Cage drama Pig, is in negotiations to direct the next film in the A Quiet Place franchise. The Paramount project is not a direct sequel to A Quiet Place (2018) and A Quiet Place Part II (2021) but rather a spinoff set in that world. [The story.]( —Double bubble. Zach Galifianakis and Elizabeth Banks will star alongside Succession‘s Sarah Snook and Blockers actress Geraldine Viswanathan in The Beanie Bubble that has landed at Apple. The film about the Beanie Baby boom (and bust) of the ’90s is written by SNL alum Kristin Gore, who will co-direct the movie with her husband, OK Go member, Damian Kulash. [The story.]( —Boarding. Sharon Stone is joining HBO Max's The Flight Attendant. The Emmy winner and Oscar nominee will have a recurring part in season two of the series, playing Lisa Bowden, the mother of Kaley Cuoco’s Cassie. [The story.]( —Bedside manner. Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson will star opposite Steve Carell in FX’s The Patient, the half-hour series from The Americans duo of Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields. Ordered to series in October, The Patient stars Carell as Alexander Strauss, a psychotherapist who finds himself held prisoner by a serial killer (Gleeson) with an unusual request: curb his homicidal urges. [The story.]( Review: 'Scream'
âº"Copycat overkill." THR's chief film critic [David Rooney]( reviews Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's Scream. Ghostface returns to terrorize a new group of Woodsboro teenagers in this resurrection of the beloved ‘90s meta-slasher franchise, which brings back original stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette. [The review.]( —"More ambitious, but also messier, than the first season." THR's chief TV critic [Dan Fienberg]( reviews the second season of Netflix’s Cheer. The docuseries about the cheerleading team at Navarro College returns for a season complicated by COVID and off-mat scandals. [The review.]( —"Charming, if a bit clunky as a superhero story." Dan also reviews The CW's Naomi. Ava DuVernay's new DC Comics adaptation focuses on a young woman with a Superman obsession who may, in fact, be pretty super herself. [The review.]( —"An unassuming gem." THR TV critic [Angie Han]( reviews HBO’s Somebody Somewhere. Bridget Everett leads the half-hour dramedy as a 40something woman who struggles to fit into her Kansas hometown before finding friendship and self-expression in a community of outsiders. [The review.]( —This Week in TV. THR's [Rick Porter]( runs down the TV premieres, returns and specials over the next seven days. Among the things to look out for over the coming week the debut of HBO Max's DC series Peacemaker, while Showtime’s much-discussed Yellowjackets ends its first season. The NFL also begins its postseason with a three-day binge of wild card games. [The full guide.]( In other news... —[Kimi trailer]( Zoe Kravitz toplines Steven Soderbergh’s cyber thriller for HBO Max —[Studio 666 trailer]( Foo Fighters battle supernatural forces in haunted house comedy —[TV ratings]( Dexter: New Blood, NFL finish strong —Lionsgate’s [Yonkers studio plans $500m expansion]( —Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild [nominations revealed]( —ICG Publicists Awards [nominations revealed]( —[Amy Lin Johnson and Lisa Anderson]( standouts in TV production, killed in auto accident in Costa Rica —[Ian Greenberg]( Canadian TV and radio pioneer, dies at 79 —[Tim Rosaforte]( newspaper journalist turned Golf Channel "insider," dies at 66 —[Gerard Drouot]( esteemed French concert promoter, dies at 69 —Lionsgate bolsters [film group with new executive team]( —Jax Media elevates [Brooke Posch to president]( —UTA comms chief [Seth Oster lands at The Wonderful Company]( —Comcast promotes [Jason Armstrong to deputy CFO]( —Comcast, ViacomCBS name [Monty Sarhan CEO of SkyShowtime streaming venture in Europe]( —Jen Namoff launches [talent management, production banner]( —Skybound Animation sets [Marge Dean as studio head]( —Famed Brooklyn steakhouse [Peter Luger is opening an outpost in Las Vegas]( What else we're reading... —Inside The Lasting Friendship Between Bob Saget And Norm Macdonald [[NBC News]( —Every Movie Villain Is (Still) a Tech Bro [[Vulture]( —Meta Loses Bid to Dismiss FTC Antitrust Case [[Axios]( —How Judi Dench Takes Kenneth Branagh’s Breath Away [[Los Angeles Times]( —When Axel Webber Was Rejected from Juilliard, the Internet Stepped In [[New York Times]( Today... ...in 1971, in the 9:30 p.m. time slot, the first episode of All in the Family debuted on CBS. Based on the British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, the show was produced by Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin and introduced America to the iconic character of Archie Bunker. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: [Issa Rae]( (37), Kirstie Alley (71), Howard Stern (68), Rachael Harris (54), Rob Zombie (57), Oliver Platt (62), Olivier Martinez (56), André De Shields (76), Mary Harron (69), Simon Russell Beale (61), Vendela Kirsebom (55), Jeff Bezos (58) Maria Ewing, a soprano and mezzo-soprano noted for intense performances who became the wife of director Peter Hall and the mother of actor-director Rebecca Hall, has died at age 71. [The obituary.](
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