Latest news with #WarnerBros.TelevisionGroup
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Duffer Brothers and Jerry Bruckheimer Join Program for Entertainment and Technology Summit
Variety has announced first speakers for its annual Entertainment and Technology Summit in Los Angeles on Sept. 25, 2025, including producer Jerry Bruckheimer, 'Stranger Things' creators Matt and Ross Duffer, actress and podcaster Nicole Byer, Sony Pictures Television's Katherine Pope and Warner Bros. Television Group's Brett Paul. Bruckheimer, the prolific Academy-Award nominated producer will speak on the latest trends in filmmaking, including his most recent work on the summer breakout 'F1: The Movie,' which has recently raced past $500 million globally at the box office More from Variety 'Crimson Tide' Sequel in Development, Jerry Bruckheimer Hopeful Denzel Washington Will Return: 'I Think He'd Do It' 'Stranger Things' Season 5 Editing Is Ahead of Schedule, Duffer Brothers Promise at SCAD TVfest: 'We're Definitely on Target' for 2025 Netflix's 2025 Preview: Even With 'Stranger Things,' Ben Affleck, John Mulaney and More Than 190 Titles, the World's Biggest Streamer Still Sees Itself as an Underdog Paul, president of Warner Bros. Television Group and Pope, president of Sony Pictures Television will be featured in a conversation alongside Lisa Katz, president of scripted content, NBCUniversal, about where the streaming content industry will head next, given new pressures to connect with audiences who are more fragmented than ever across entertainment options. The day's events will dive into the evolving entertainment landscape, featuring discussions on the future of streaming, the rise of live experiences, creator-driven marketing, and the creative potential of AI. Matt and Ross Duffer, creators, showrunners and executive producers of 'Stranger Things,' will take us behind the scenes of the fan favorite series as it enters its final season, launching over three parts this November. In other event highlights, the 'Storytelling Entrepreneurs' panel, which examines the movers and shakers redefining storytelling across various platforms, including gaming, podcasts, digital content, and more. Headlining the panel is Nicole Byer, host of 'Why Won't You Date Me?'; Jake Shane, host of 'Therapuss,' Benito Skinner, creator, star and executive producer of 'Overcompensating'; and Matt Rogers, host of 'Las Culturistas.' Josh Simon, VP, Consumer Products and Experiences at Netflix, Rahul Gautam, Global TMT Consulting Leader and Americas Media and Entertainment Consulting Leader for EY, Simon Robinson, COO of Warner Bros Discovery Studios, and Judy Lee, Global Head of Experiences, Pinterest, headline the 'Booming Live Experience Economy' panel. This session highlights leaders who are successfully developing live strategies that deepen fan engagement and unlock new revenue streams. Jody Gerson, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group, Phil Schermer, Founder and CEO of Project Healthy Minds, and others come together to discuss how the entertainment industry is utilizing new technologies to raise awareness about mental health. Karen Kovacs, President of Advertising and Partnerships, NBCUniversal, Julian Franco, President of Operations & Strategy, FOX Entertainment, Amy Reinhard, President of Advertising, Netflix and Lisa Siskind Bilgrei, Global Head of GTM & Content Programming, Google TV join the 'TV Industry Transformed' panel to examine how innovation is expanding opportunities for viewers and brand partners alike. Shahrzad Rafati, founder and CEO, RHEI; Jenn Lockhart, SVP of sales, Midwest & West Coast, Teads; Pouya Shahbazian, producer, ('Love, Victor'; 'Shadow and Bone'; 'Divergent') and CEO, Staircase Studios, AI, among others will be featured in the conversation 'AI to Unlock New Creative Frontiers,' exploring how AI is being put into action across the entertainment industry. Additionally, the 'Groundbreakers of Creator Marketing' panel discussion will feature Spencer Collantes, VP of creative marketing, Neon; Margaret Walker, EVP, entertainment marketing, NBCUniversal; and Dustin Sandoval, VP digital marketing, The Walt Disney Studios. 'Champions of Sports Culture Across Platform' will include Pamela Duckworth, head of Fubo Studios, Fubo; Carlos 'Olek' Loewenstein, global president, Sports TelevisaUnivision; and Robert Gottlieb, president of marketing, Fox Sports. 'From streaming and AI, to live experiences and creator-led content, the conversations happening at this year's summit highlight innovation, creativity, and adaptability within the art of storytelling,' said Variety's chief operations and marketing officer Dea Lawrence. 'We're honored to give a platform to some of the brightest minds at the forefront of the intersection of entertainment and technology.' Additional speakers and sessions to be announced. Ernst & Young is a premier partner of the event. Wells Fargo is an official partner. RHEI & Teads are supporting partners of the summit. Reserve your ticket here. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in August 2025 What's Coming to Netflix in August 2025 Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Channing Dungey to Remain With Warner Bros. Discovery Studios and Streaming Post-Split
Channing Dungey, the chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Television Group and Warner Bros. Discovery's U.S. Networks, is set to remain with the Studios & Streaming business following its separation from the media giant's Global Networks business, which is expected to take place in mid-2026. 'Warner Bros Television Group will become part of Streaming & Studios, and I'm thrilled that I will continue to have the privilege of leading WBTVG,' the executive said in a memo to employees on Monday. As head of Warner Bros. Television Group, Dungey oversees WBTV as well as its unscripted television division, which includes the Warner Horizon, Telepictures, and Shed Media labels. Dungey also has oversight of animated production from Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios, and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe. As of March, WBTVG's divisions were producing more than 80 projects for nearly 20 platforms, including HBO, Max, U.S. Networks, external streaming services, the broadcast networks and local stations. Notable series include 'Ted Lasso,' 'Abbott Elementary', 'All American,' 'The Bachelor' franchise, 'Batman: Caped Crusader,' 'Creature Commandos,' 'Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage,' 'Harley Quinn,' 'Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking,' 'The Jennifer Hudson Show,' 'The Penguin,' 'The Pitt,' 'Presumed Innocent,' 'Running Point,' 'Shrinking,' 'Teen Titans Go!,' 'The Voice,' 'You,' and many more. Following the retirement of Kathleen Finch at the end of 2024, Dungey officially took over the role as U.S. Networks head, giving her additional oversight of Discovery Channel, Food Network, HGTV, Investigation Discovery, TLC, Adult Swim, Animal Planet, Cartoon Network, Cooking Channel, HLN, OWN, Science Channel, TBS, TNT, Travel Channel, truTV, and Turner Classic Movies. Also currently leading the U.S. Networks division with Dungey are chief operating officer Brett Paul, chief creative officer Howard Lee, chief financial and strategy officer Susan Kolar, who has been named chief financial and strategy officer and global chief marketing officer Karen Bronzo. In addition to WBTV, the Studios & Streaming business will include Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO and HBO Max, Warner Bros. Games, Tours, Retail and Experiences, as well as studio production facilities in Burbank and Leavesden. Executives have said that the streaming business is on track to generate at least $1.3 billion in profit by the end of 2025 and reach at least 150 million streaming subscribers by the end of 2026, which it plans to achieve through a combination of expanding Max internationally, strategic distribution partnerships and driving higher penetration of its ad-supported tier. Meanwhile, the studios business is targeting at least $3 billion in annual profit, with a specific timeline for achieving that unclear. Global Networks will include CNN, TNT Sports in the U.S., Discovery, top free-to-air channels across Europe, Discovery+ and Bleacher Report (B/R). It will retain a 20% stake in the studios and streaming business to help the company deleverage and is expected to take the majority of WBD's roughly $37 billion in gross debt. The post Channing Dungey to Remain With Warner Bros. Discovery Studios and Streaming Post-Split appeared first on TheWrap.
Forbes
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Tom Bergeron Tackles Sharks In New Hosting Gig
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - Tom Bergeron (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) Call this a 'fintastic' opportunity! Tom Bergeron, the Emmy Award-winning host of Dancing with the Stars (and America's Funniest Home Videos and The Hollywood Squares before it, among other series), is returning to host a new dancing special. The project is Dancing With Sharks, which will air on Discovery during the annual Shark Week, and it is described as an 'unprecedented underwater dance competition between expert divers and their shark partners." Per the Dancing With Sharks press release: 'Blending skill, grace, and the daring pursuit of the ultimate underwater thrill, five divers all trained by a world-class underwater choreographer, will compete to show off their skills during epic underwater dances. Each diver will attempt to outperform their competitors, with moves including the Hammerhead Hoedown and Tiger Trot, and redefine dancing with danger. They will have one shot to wow the judges and be crowned the first-ever champion of Dancing With Sharks." Channing Dungey, Chairman and CEO of the Warner Bros. Television Group and US Networks also unveiled other new titles at the company's Upfront presentation in New York. 'Our strength lies in our ability to create shows that dominate the zeitgeist,' said Dungey in a statement. 'We produced six of the top 10 new unscripted series on cable last year, and we'll continue to push the boundaries of great storytelling to serve the dedicated fans of our signature franchises in bold new ways.' Among the other new upcoming entries are Food Network's competition shows Family Recipe Showdown, produced and hosted by Octavia Spencer; and Guy's Flavortown Games with Guy Fieri; Investigation Discovery's (ID) They Know What They Did, narrated and executive produced by Jennifer Love Hewitt; and HGTV's latest home renovation competition, Renovating the Bachelor Mansion. ID also will premiere a new series that features a collaboration between Vanity Fair Studios and Dick Wolf's Wolf Entertainment; and OWN will launch docuseries Heart & Hustle: Houston, which follows a dynamic sisterhood of successful Black women in heart of Houston.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The 'Big Bang Theory' Creator Just Lifted The Lid On The Show's 'Sexual' And 'Risqué' Scrapped Pilot Episode, And My Jaw Is On The Floor
If you're a fan of The Big Bang Theory, you might know that the show initially premiered with an entirely different pilot episode. As far as most people are aware, the first episode of the series introduces main characters Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki), as well as Penny (Kaley Cuoco), Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg), and Rajesh 'Raj' Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar). However, a year prior, TBBT debuted with an unaired original pilot that only featured Sheldon and Leonard's characters from those listed above. The episode also featured Amanda Walsh portraying a character named Katie, while Iris Bahr played a woman named Gilda. Fast-forward to today, and the masterminds behind Big Bang have shared a ton of details about the unaired 2006 pilot. Speaking on Jessica Radloff's new The Official Big Bang Theory Podcast this week, co-creator Chuck Lorre sat down with former chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group, Peter Roth, for a candid conversation about the sitcom's early days. Describing the unaired pilot as '22 minutes of mistakes,' Chuck admitted that the episode — which opened with Sheldon and Leonard in a sperm bank — was largely influenced by the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, which he was also producing at the time. 'The first pilot was so heavily influenced by Two and a Half Men,' he said before later adding, 'The Big Bang, even the second pilot, had elements that were unnecessarily risqué… It took a while to learn that this wasn't this show, this wasn't these characters.' 'The sexual stuff had to go,' he said. 'I was late in understanding that this show [and these characters] didn't tolerate risqué humor.' 'It wasn't 'til the second season that I started to understand that Sheldon was asexual. I didn't understand that going in when we did the pilot,' Chuck continued. The group went on to reveal that Sheldon had sex with Gilda in the unaired pilot and that he had a preference 'for women with big buttocks.' Peter shared, 'In the first pilot, we discover that Sheldon has a predilection for women with big buttocks. And we discover that he has had sexual exploits. He has had coitus. None of that exists in the second pilot. That shift and change into the more innocent quality of that character was extraordinarily wise.' Elsewhere on the podcast, Chuck and Peter discussed how amazingly Kaley's character, Penny, complemented the guys. 'She was never judgmental about these characters. She was bemused by them. In fact, they brought more judgement to her than she did ever of them,' Peter shared. 'And I thought that was also an important difference between the character of what Penny brought versus the character of what Katie brought in the original unaired pilot.' 'There was a sweetness and endearment that she felt towards them. The audience wanted to protect these two boys,' he added. However, it took the Big Bang producers a moment to realize Penny's worth. Chuck admitted that 'so many episodes' were shot before the team understood that there was 'a brilliance to Penny's character' that they hadn't explored. 'We did the very clichéd in the beginning, you know, goofy blonde who says foolish things. It's a clichéd character, right? The dumb blonde. And we missed it. We didn't have that right away that what she brought to this series, to these other characters, was an intelligence that they didn't have…that was alien to them, you know, intelligence about people and relationships and family,' he said. 'It was built in that the scientists of the show didn't understand how to be with people. She did. She brought a humanity to them that they were lacking, and that took a while to figure out. Certainly, in the beginning, she was sadly one-dimensional in many ways.' Interestingly, Penny's initial lack of development beyond her 'goofy' persona and sex appeal is something that has been discussed — and critiqued — by Big Bang viewers for years. Back in 2021, Kaley opened up about how her character's outfits were super sexualized early on in the show during a chat with W magazine. 'I started Big Bang at 21 years old,' she said, per Digital Spy. 'I was the cute girl next door to the nerds. It was all about booty shorts, Juicy Couture zip-ups.' 'And as the years went on, Penny grows up, Kaley grows up. All of a sudden, it's like, 'Can I have a long sleeve shirt? How about a slack? How about a loafer? I never wanna see that high heel again!'' she said. Kaley, now 39, also said, 'That was so long ago. When I think about how many years ago that was... it was a different time,' before adding: 'Also, by the way, at 21, I was hot. I wanted to show that stuff off. You would not catch me dead in a sexy cat costume now!' You can listen to the full episode of The Official Big Bang Theory Podcast here. More on this 9 Times TV Shows Had Drastically Different Pilots That Never Actually AiredMary Colussi · May 31, 2021 Kaley Cuoco Talked About Filming "Big Bang Theory" Sex Scenes With Her Ex Johnny GaleckiNora Dominick · Nov. 12, 2020 Kaley Cuoco Revealed She "Freaked Out" Over Leaving Her "Big Bang Theory" Salary Behind When It Ended After Admitting It Changed Her LifeEllie Woodward · March 5, 2021
Buzz Feed
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Years After Kaley Cuoco Recalled Being Sexualized In 'The Big Bang Theory,' The Show's Creator Reflected On Initially Making Her Character 'Clichéd' And 'One-Dimensional'
If you're a fan of The Big Bang Theory, you might know that the show initially premiered with an entirely different pilot episode. As far as most people are aware, the first episode of the series introduces main characters Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki), as well as Penny (Kaley Cuoco), Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg), and Rajesh 'Raj' Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar). However, a year prior, TBBT debuted with an unaired original pilot that only featured Sheldon and Leonard's characters from those listed above. The episode also featured Amanda Walsh portraying a character named Katie, while Iris Bahr played a woman named Gilda. Fast forward to today, and the masterminds behind Big Bang have shared a ton of details about the unaired 2006 pilot. Speaking on Jessica Radloff's new The Official Big Bang Theory Podcast this week, cocreator Chuck Lorre sat down with former chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group, Peter Roth, for a candid conversation about the sitcom's early days. Describing the unaired pilot as '22 minutes of mistakes,' Chuck admitted that the episode — which opened with Sheldon and Leonard in a sperm bank — was largely influenced by the CBS sitcom Two and A Half Men, which he was also producing at the time. 'The first pilot was so heavily influenced by Two and A Half Men,' he said before later adding, ' The Big Bang, even the second pilot, had elements that were unnecessarily risqué…It took a while to learn that this wasn't this show, this wasn't these characters.' 'The sexual stuff had to go,' he said. 'I was late in understanding that this show [and these characters] didn't tolerate risqué humor.' 'It wasn't 'til the second season that I started to understand that Sheldon was asexual. I didn't understand that going in when we did the pilot,' Chuck continued. The group went on to reveal that Sheldon had sex with Gilda in the unaired pilot and that he had a preference 'for women with big buttocks.' Peter shared, 'In the first pilot, we discover that Sheldon has a predilection for women with big buttocks. And we discover that he has had sexual exploits. He has had coitus. None of that exists in the second pilot. That shift and change into the more innocent quality of that character was extraordinarily wise.' Elsewhere on the podcast, Chuck and Peter discussed how amazingly Kaley's character, Penny, complimented the guys. 'She was never judgmental about these characters. She was bemused by them. In fact, they brought more judgement to her than she did ever of them,' Peter shared. 'And I thought that was also an important difference between the character of what Penny brought versus the character of what Katie brought in the original unaired pilot.' 'There was a sweetness and endearment that she felt towards them. The audience wanted to protect these two boys,' he added. However, it took the Big Bang producers a moment to realize Penny's worth. Chuck admitted that 'so many episodes' were shot before the team understood that there was 'a brilliance to Penny's character' that they hadn't explored. 'We did the very clichéd in the beginning, you know, goofy blonde who says foolish things. It's a clichéd character, right? The dumb blonde. And we missed it. We didn't have that right away that what she brought to this series, to these other characters, was an intelligence that they didn't have…that was alien to them, you know, intelligence about people and relationships and family,' he said. 'It was built in that the scientists of the show didn't understand how to be with people. She did. She brought a humanity to them that they were lacking, and that took a while to figure out. Certainly, in the beginning, she was sadly one-dimensional in many ways.' Netflix Interestingly, Penny's initial lack of development beyond her 'goofy' persona and sex appeal is something that has been discussed — and critiqued — by Big Bang viewers for years. Back in 2021, Kaley opened up about how her character's outfits were super sexualized early on in the show during a chat with W Magazine. 'I started Big Bang at 21 years old,' she said, per Digital Spy. 'I was the cute girl next door to the nerds. It was all about booty shorts, Juicy Couture zip-ups.' 'And as the years went on, Penny grows up, Kaley grows up. All of a sudden, it's like, 'Can I have a long sleeve shirt? How about a slack? How about a loafer? I never wanna see that high heel again!'' she said. Kaley, now 39, also said, 'That was so long ago. When I think about how many years ago that was... it was a different time,' before adding: 'Also, by the way, at 21, I was hot. I wanted to show that stuff off. You would not catch me dead in a sexy cat costume now!'
