NBCU Mulling Early Retirement Offers; Spacey Found Not Liable in Civil Sexual Misconduct Trial; 'Black Panther 2' Tracking for $175M-Plus Debut; Amazon's 'The Peripheral' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( October 21, 2022 What's news: Amazon canceled autism comedy As We See It. Netflix has added a fiction disclaimer to its YouTube trailer for S5 of The Crown. Taylor Swift has dropped her tenth studio album, Midnights. Trevor Noah has set his third Netflix special. Starz has renewed P-Valley for a third season. — [Abid Rahman]( NBCU Mulling Early Retirement Offers ►Cost-cutting move. THR's [Lesley Goldberg]( has the big scoop on NBCUniversal mulling early retirement offers for veteran staffers age 57 and older. Sources tell Lesley that while no formal offers have gone out, the conglomerate is looking to save costs by offering buyout packages to select employees across the entire company who have been with the company for 10 or more years and who are age 57 and older. The move comes as NBCU also considers cutting primetime programming in the 10 p.m. hour. [The story.]( —"Fictional dramatization." Netflix has added a disclaimer in the description section to its YouTube trailer for the fifth season of the hit drama The Crown, highlighting that it is a work of fiction. The move comes following pointed criticism towards the proposed content of the upcoming season from prominent people in the U.K., including former Prime Minister John Major and actress Judi Dench, who feel The Crown is blurring fact with fiction. [The story.]( —Swift action. Swifties the world over rejoiced as Taylor Swift made a return to pop music when her tenth studio album Midnights dropped at, well, midnight. The singer also revealed plans for a Midnights visual album, or "music movies," her first such project. In addition to the initial 13 tracks, Swift later dropped a surprise seven additional songs dubbed the Midnights 3am Edition.​​​​​ [The story.]( —Next act. Netflix has set Trevor Noah's third standup special. Titled I Wish You Would, the hour will premiere globally Nov. 22. Noah filmed the special in Toronto, recording it a day after announcing on air that he’d be departing The Daily Show after seven years on Sept. 29. Despite its timing, sources who were present at the show say the comic didn’t discuss his bombshell announcement onstage. [The story.]( —Back to the valley. Starz has handed out a third-season renewal for its critically praised drama P-Valley. The renewal for the series from creator-showrunner Katori Hall arrives more than two months after the sophomore season wrapped its 10-episode run. [The story.]( Autism Comedy 'As We See It' Canceled at Amazon ►Sad times. Amazon Prime Video has canceled As We See It after one season. The series, a coming-of-age comedy about three 20-something roommates on the autism spectrum, hailed from Friday Night Lights and Parenthood creator Jason Katims and explored a subject that was close to his heart as his son is autistic. Reps for Amazon declined to comment on the decision. [The story.]( —Moving up. Warner Bros. veteran Jesse Ehrman has been promoted to president, production and development at the Burbank-based studio. He takes over the role vacated by Courtenay Valenti. Cate Adams, Peter Dodd and Sheila Walcott were also promoted to the title of senior vice president, production at Warner Bros. Pictures. [The story.]( —Investment secured. Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat Ventures has taken its first outside investment from J.P. Morgan. The venture capital firm is focused on consumer packaged goods, fintech, Web3 and health investments. Part of its new fund will support minority and underrepresented founders. [The story.]( —TV tribute. George Strait, Brandi Carlile, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Little Big Town and Wynonna are among the artists who will pay tribute to Loretta Lynn on Oct. 30 during Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Celebration of the Life and Music of Loretta Lynn. The event, helmed by CMT and Sandbox Productions in partnership with Lynn's family, will air live and commercial free on CMT at 7 p.m. EDT from Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. [The story.]( Spacey Found Not Liable in Civil Sexual Misconduct Trial ►Not liable. A jury sided with Kevin Spacey on Thursday in one of the lawsuits that derailed the film star’s career, finding he did not sexually abuse Anthony Rapp, then 14, while both were relatively unknown actors in Broadway plays in 1986. The verdict in the civil trial came with lightning speed. Jurors at a federal court in New York deliberated for a little more than an hour before deciding that Rapp hadn’t proven his allegations. [The story.]( —"Trapped animal." Haleigh Breest, a former publicist who has accused Paul Haggis of raping her in 2013, told a jury on Thursday morning about the moment she says the Crash writer attacked her, saying she felt like a "trapped animal." The Oscar-winning filmmaker, who is being sued in the civil case, maintains that their encounter was consensual. [The story.]( —Suit filed. Broadway producer Garth Drabinsky is suing Actors’ Equity for defamation after the union placed him on its “Do Not Work” list following his production of Paradise Square. Drabinsky made the list, effectively barring him from Broadway producing, following reports of unpaid wages and allegations of an "unsafe" environment. [The story.]( —Murphy's law. Netflix’s Jeffrey Dahmer limited series had a huge debut week, coming in as one of the 10 biggest titles since Nielsen began tracking streaming viewing. The Ryan Murphy-produced Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story had 3.66b minutes of viewing time for the week of Sept. 19-25. That ranks 10th of any title since 2020, when Nielsen began tabulating streaming minutes. Stranger Things holds five of the top 10 spots, and Tiger King and Ozark have two each. [The streaming rankings.]( 'Black Panther 2' Tracking for Huge $175M-Plus Debut ►Monster numbers. The first box office forecast for Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be welcome news after a rough fall for the domestic box office. THR's [Pamela McClintock]( writes that if projections are correct, the Marvel Studios/Disney movie should make at least $175m in its opening over the Nov. 11-13 weekend (and that’s only for North America), according to sources with access to NRG tracking data released Thursday morning. That number could easily grow as the final media push is made. [The box office report.]( —Next up. John Wick filmmaker Chad Stahelski has teamed up with Leigh Dana Jackson, a co-executive producer on kid-with-superpowers series Raising Dion, to tackle Netflix’s adaptation of Black Samurai. The project is based on the pulpy 1970s blaxploitation books by Marc Olden. Stahelski will direct, while Jackson is set to write. [The story.]( —Lead in place. Joel Kinnaman is set to star in the action thriller The Silent Hour, with Brad Anderson on board to direct for AGC Studios and Meridian Pictures. The Boston-set crime drama will see Kinnaman play a police detective who suffers a workplace accident that leaves him hearing impaired. Anderson will helm from a screenplay by Dan Hall. [The story.]( —Leaning into horror. Seeking to capitalize on the horror boom, production/management firm Anonymous Content has partnered with Eat the Cat, the banner run by Nick Antosca and Alex Hedlund, on a new joint venture to make horror and genre films. The partnership launches with three projects already in the works, including one based on a book by the author of Let the Right One In. [The story.]( TV Review: 'The Peripheral' ►"A tidier Westworld for people fatigued by the real thing." THR's chief TV critic [Dan Fienberg]( reviews Amazon Prime Video's The Peripheral. Westworld creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan and A Simple Plan author Scott Smith adapt William Gibson's high-tech time travel story about a gamer (Chloe Grace Moretz) who might save two worlds. [The review.]( —"A sugar-sweet love letter." THR TV critic [Angie Han]( reviews Netflix’s From Scratch. Zoe Saldaña plays an American artist who falls in love with a Sicilian chef in a drama based on the memoir by Tembi Locke (who created the series with Attica Locke). [The review.]( —"Basic story, evocative details." THR film critic [Sheri Linden]( reviews Martijn de Jong's Narcosis. The filmmaker's first feature, the Netherlands’ submission for the best international film category at the Academy Awards, stars Thekla Reuten as a recently widowed mother who happens to be a psychic. [The review.]( Thank Pod It's Friday ► All the latest content from THR's podcast studio. —TV's Top 5. THR's [Lesley Goldberg]( and [Dan Fienberg]( break down the latest TV news. The duo begin by running through the week's headlines, including P-Valley's renewal at Starz, Temuera Morrison's new Apple TV+ show and the showrunner merry-go-round at Peacock’s Bel-Air. There's a broadcast discussion, with midseason updates on Fox, CBS and ABC. THR critic Angie Han offers her thoughts on the first seasons of She-Hulk and Rings of Power. Attica and Tembi Locke drop by to talk about their new Netflix limited series From Scratch. And Dan reviews Amazon’s The Peripheral, Netflix’s From Scratch and IFC’s Sherman’s Showcase. [Listen here.]( —It Happened in Hollywood. THR senior writer [Seth Abramovitch]( goes behind the scenes of the pop culture moments that shaped Hollywood history. In this episode Seth spoke to Walter Hill. The legendary writer-director behind 1979 movie The Warriors, shares his thoughts on the cult favorite. Hill reveals the film could have been even more progressive and forward-looking had he included a group of gay gang members, the Dingos, in the final cut. [Listen here.]( —Behind the Screen. THR's tech editor [Carolyn Giardina]( podcast focuses on the filmmaking crafts. In this episode, Carolyn speaks to Wendell & Wild director Henry Selick. The stop-motion filmmaker considered quitting filmmaking after John Lasseter helped sink his Disney/Pixar project Shadow King, before he went on to work with Jordan Peele on the new Netflix film. [Listen here.]( In other news... —Chelsea Handler [to host the 2023 Critics Choice Awards]( —Snap revenue rises, [but losses widen as restructuring hits earnings]( —AMC Networks [adds former interim CEO Matt Blank to board]( —Chanel brings [90th anniversary high-jewelry collection to L.A.]( —Social media star [Nailea Devora signs at WME]( —[Lucy Simon]( Tony-nominated composer and sister of Carly Simon, dies at 82 What else we're reading... —Dana Stevens writes that this year’s best #metoo movie isn’t the one about Harvey Weinstein [[Slate]( —Dave Itzkoff talks to James Corden about all that recent Balthazar brouhaha and allegations of boorish behavior [[NYT]( —The always excellent Will Sommer reports that plans for Confederacy-themed anti-woke superhero movie turned out to be a $1m con [[Daily Beast]( —This story just gets better and better: "Hans Niemann files $100m lawsuit against Magnus Carlsen, Chess.com over cheating allegations" [[WSJ]( —Here's your Friday list: "10 zombie horror movies ranked by whether you could survive them" [[Collider]( Today... ...in 1964, Warner Bros.’ My Fair Lady held its premiere at the Criterion Theatre in New York. The film, said at the time to have the largest advance ticket sales of any movie in history, eventually went on to win eight Oscars at the 37th Academy Awards. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Glen Powell (34), [Ken Watanabe]( (63), Andrew Scott (46), Doja Cat (27), Catherine Hardwicke (67), LaTanya Richardson Jackson (73), Charlotte Sullivan (39), Sasha Roiz (49), Melora Walters (63), Everett McGill (77), Kim Kardashian (42), Aaron Tveit (39), Helene Joy (44), Hari Nef (30), Lindsay Crystal (45), Michael McMillian (44), Blanca Suárez (34), Matt Dallas (40), Jeremy Miller (46), Amber Rose (39), Kate Drummond (47), Darius Khondji (67), Judge Judy Sheindlin (80), Srinidhi Shetty (30), Ashley Liao (21) Ron Masak, the familiar character actor who as Cabot Cove Sheriff Mort Metzger was the beneficiary of Jessica Fletcher’s crime-solving prowess on the last eight seasons of Murder, She Wrote, has died. He was 86. [The obituary.]( Do you have THR's next big story? 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