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Category: Entertainment

  • ‘Doctor Foster’ Returning for a Third and Final Season With Suranne Jones

    Some good news for Doctor Foster fans: The hit drama is set to return for a third and final season.

    The BBC revealed on Wednesday that season three of Mike Bartlett’s show will see Suranne Jones reprise her award-winning role as Gemma Foster, opposite A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms‘ Bertie Carvel as Simon and Tom Taylor as Tom.

    Made by Drama Republic for BBC iPlayer and BBC One, the five-part series will begin filming in and around Hertfordshire later this spring.

    “Ten years ago, on discovering her husband Simon was having an affair, Gemma Foster enacted a masterful revenge. But the fallout was devastating when her 15-year-old son Tom disappeared. Now, in series three, Gemma is still a GP, still in the same house, but on the brink of a fresh start: She has met someone new and is getting married,” a plot synopsis reads. “But as the wedding day draws closer, and friends and family gather, shadows from the past begin to re-emerge, threatening both her happiness and her reputation. As Gemma fights to protect those she loves and expose whoever’s intent on hurting her, will she be able to put the past to bed, dispense justice, and claim the future she deserves, before it is too late”

    Jones says when she got the call to return as Gemma Foster, she “knew the time was right.”

    “We needed space from the first two series, and we needed Tom — Gemma and Simon’s runaway son — to return as an adult with questions,” said the Gentleman Jack star. “For me, this time around it’s about accountability and questioning: ‘Can we ever truly sever ties with our past and the damage or traumas that haunt us, so we can fully move forward?’ Gemma and Simon have so much to unpick… It’s been an exciting time working with the brilliant Mike Bartlett again, and the team at Drama Republic, on the scripts and now I can’t wait to start filming.”

    Writer, creator and executive producer Bartlett added: “I always hoped that we’d get to tell the final part of Gemma’s story, which is about a woman seeking justice in an unfair world. That feels as relevant now as when Gemma first found a blonde hair on the scarf.”

    Doctor Foster was a U.K. sensation when it aired in 2015 and 2017, with nearly 10 million people watching the finale of series two. It also achieved critical acclaim, with Suranne Jones winning a BAFTA for her performance.

    Series three is produced by Drama Republic, a Mediawan Group Company. It will be directed by John Hardwick (One Day, Buccaneers), with Nige Watson (Killing Eve, The Assassin) as producer. Executive producers are Roanna Benn and Jude Liknaitzky (for Drama Republic), Mike Bartlett and Suranne Jones.

    The third season of Doctor Foster was commissioned by Lindsay Salt, BBC director of drama. BBC Studios is handling global sales of the series and the format, adapted in 15 territories worldwide.

  • HBO Max Acquires Japanese Period Action Drama ‘Song of the Samurai’ From Studio the Seven, Sets May Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)

    HBO Max Acquires Japanese Period Action Drama ‘Song of the Samurai’ From Studio the Seven, Sets May Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)

    HBO Max is set to bow “Song of the Samurai,” a live-action jidaigeki series rooted in one of Japan’s most enduring manga franchises, on May 9.

    The show is drawn from “Chiruran: Shinsengumi Requiem,” the long-running manga by Umemura Shinya, whose work on “Record of Ragnarok” earned him a global following after the title was adapted into a popular anime series. “Chiruran” has sustained a devoted readership across more than a decade, with 36 collected volumes and upwards of three million copies sold. It has also spawned anime and stage adaptations over the years.

    The production brings together three major Japanese entertainment players: broadcaster TBS, streaming service U-Next and production house The Seven, whose previous credits include “Alice in Borderland” and “Yu Yu Hakusho.” The series arrives on HBO Max through Warner Bros. Discovery’s existing content partnership with U-Next.

    The drama unfolds in late-Edo period Kyoto and follows the Shinsengumi, the storied samurai corps that served as the shogunate’s last line of defense during one of Japan’s most turbulent political transitions. At its center is Hijikata Toshizo – a former street fighter played by Yamada Yuki – whose unlikely brotherhood with Kondo Isami and Okita Soji shapes the emotional core of the series. Loyalty, betrayal, illness and war all bear down on the group as the old order crumbles around them.

    Rounding out the cast are Go Ayano and Nakajima Kento. Sakai Masaaki penned the scripts, Watanabe Kazutaka helms the direction, and Morii Akira, Inoue Mamoru and Shimomura Kazuya produce.

    Japanese audiences will get an early look via a two-night broadcast event on TBS TV – “Chapter: Youthful Days in Edo” – on March 26 and 27, with episodes streaming on U-Next straight after each airing. The second chapter, “Chapter: Fateful Showdown in Kyoto,” will then roll out weekly on U-Next every Friday as a streaming exclusive.

    James Gibbons, president, Asia Pacific at Warner Bros. Discovery, said: “With a growing appetite for this genre, we hope fans enjoy this captivating new samurai story – rooted deep in Japanese culture, with passionate action and a charismatic ensemble cast.”

    U-Next president and representative director Tsutsumi Tenshin added: “This project was developed with global distribution and broadcast integration in mind, aiming to expand the reach of Japanese content. With The Seven’s production quality, TBS’s creative strength, and a world-renowned manga at its core, we are confident the series will captivate international viewers.”

    TBS Television president and representative director Masamine Ryuho said: “Set against the upheaval of the Bakumatsu era, this large-scale drama captures the spirit of young men living through one of Japan’s most transformative periods.”

    Morii, who serves as VP, CCO and chief producer at The Seven, said the team set out to reimagine the jidaigeki genre for younger audiences. “Built on an exceptional manga original, ‘Song of the Samurai’ is brought to life through the committed performances and action of Yamada Yuki and an outstanding cast, with a contemporary vision of the samurai spirit,” he said.

    Yamada, who leads the series as Hijikata, added: “In mid-19th century Japan, the Shinsengumi were among the so-called last samurai warriors who upheld the way of the sword during a time of profound change. To me, the samurai spirit is the wish to protect someone; a universal feeling that is shared across borders. I hope audiences can enjoy the action, while also feeling the emotion carried within each blade.”

    Local language subtitles and dubs will be available in select markets.

    Meanwhile, HBO Max will launch direct-to-consumer in new markets across Asia Pacific on March 26, including Bhutan, Fiji, Kiribati, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

  • ‘Hijack,’ ‘Lupin’ Creator’s Psychological Thriller ‘Gone’ Going to BritBox for U.S., Canada

    ‘Hijack,’ ‘Lupin’ Creator’s Psychological Thriller ‘Gone’ Going to BritBox for U.S., Canada

    BritBox has struck a deal to take the upcoming psychological thriller series Gone from George Kay, the creator and writer behind the likes of Hijack, The Long Shadow and Lupin, for the U.S. and Canada. The drama star David Morrissey (Sherwood) and Eve Myles (Keeping Faith).

    All3Media unveiled the deal on Wednesday as part of a raft of pre-sales during the London TV Screenings week in the British capital.

    The six-part series, set to premiere in the U.K. on ITV this spring, centers on the disappearance of Sarah Polly, with suspicion quickly falling on her husband, local headmaster Michael, played by Morrissey. “Outwardly respectable and obsessively ordered, Michael finds his carefully controlled world unravelling when he comes up against Detective Annie Cassidy, portrayed by Eve Myles,” reads a synopsis. “What follows is an intense psychological duel, as Annie chips away at Michael’s composed exterior in a tense game of cat and mouse that threatens to expose what lies beneath.”

    Beyond the central mystery, Gone also digs into themes of trauma, trust, and the long shadow cast by elite institutions.

    Further pre-sales for Gone include deals with Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, Australian streaming service Stan, and Sky New Zealand, which will show the seeies on Three and stream it on ThreeNow.

    Gone has also sold to BBC Studios for its drama streamer BBC First and its broad-based streamer BBC Player across Asia.

    Kay created and is writing the drama, with Richard Laxton (Mrs Wilson, The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe) directing. The cast also includes Jennifer Macbeth, Arthur Hughes, Nicholas Nunn, Elliot Cowan, Billy Barratt, Rupert Evans, Jodie McNee, Oscar Batterham, and Clare Higgins.

    The show, produced by New Pictures (The Long Shadow) in association with Kay’s Observatory Pictures, is partly inspired by the book To Hunt a Killer and the real-world work of former Detective Superintendent Julie Mackay and ITV crime correspondent Robert Murphy, both of whom serve as consultants on the series.

    Other pre-sales on the upcoming, starring take in both top broadcast networks and streaming services in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe. 

  • A Contracorriente Boards Thriller ‘Hour and Twenty’ Ahead of Malaga Bow (EXCLUSIVE)

    A Contracorriente Boards Thriller ‘Hour and Twenty’ Ahead of Malaga Bow (EXCLUSIVE)

    Barcelona-based A Contracorriente Films, one of Spain’s top independent distributors, has taken Spanish distribution rights to M. A. Romero’s thriller “Hour and Twenty” (“Hora y veinte”), ahead of the film’s March 12 world premiere in the Málaga Festival’s official selection.

    A Contracorriente has also boarded international sales on the film, with the company in talks with regular partner Latido Films sales agency about a potential international rollout deal.

    Written and directed by Romero and inspired by real events, the story is set on Christmas Eve, following Manuela, an emotionally distant mother whose six-year-old son vanishes in a shopping mall. As two Guardia Civil investigators pursue the case, Manuela is driven toward a more unsettling possibility: she may be losing her grip on reality.

    With no evidence of a kidnapping, the case escalates when authorities uncover her criminal past — and no one claims to remember ever seeing her with a child. With time tightening, Manuela must prove her innocence before it’s too late.

    Manuela is played by Goya nominee Macarena Gómez (“Shrew’s Nest”). Rounding out the lead roles are two-time Goya winner Roberto Álamo (“May God Save Us,” “The Skin I Live In”) and three-time Goya laureate Emma Suárez (“The Dog In The Manger,” “Julieta”).

    Boré Buika (“Palm Trees In The Snow”) and Alex Sorian Brown (“Evan Wood”) also star, with a special appearance from renowned Spanish vocalist Álex Ubago.

    “Hour and Twenty” is produced by Luces y Acción AIE, El Orgullo Producciones, Producciones La Cochera, Womack Studios, Sorenfilms and Shift Dif, and was shot on location in Torrevieja (Alicante), Martos (Jaén) and Madrid. The film is backed by Andalusian public broadcaster Canal Sur and Torrevieja’s Town Hall.

    Romero described the film as a “relentless, high-concept thriller” designed to sustain tension throughout, while keeping the emotional stakes grounded. A Contracorriente’s involvement, he added, is “incredibly meaningful” not only for this release but for what he framed as a longer-term creative relationship.

    “As I continue developing new stories, it’s important to collaborate with partners who share the same ambition and vision for taking them beyond borders,” Romero said.

    Actor-producer Salva Reina, CEO of Producciones La Cochera, called A Contracorriente’s boarding “Hour and Twenty” “a true validation of the film’s quality.” “Our hope is ‘Hour and Twenty’ can reach the widest possible audience – in theaters, on streaming services and across as many territories as possible,” Reina added.

    Romero previously directed the crime film “75 Días,” which opened in 2021. He is currently in pre-production on “Todo Sobre Mi Padre,” described as a homage to Pedro Almodóvar, Vicente Aranda and Carlos Saura, slated to begin shooting in late 2026.

  • ‘Gone,’ From ‘Hijack’ and ‘Lupin’ Creator George Kay, Pre-Sold to BritBox for North America by All3Media International (EXCLUSIVE)

    Identifying one of the hot tickets at this year’s London TV Screenings,’ “Gone,” from George Kay, creator or writer of “Hijack,” “The Long Shadow” and “Lupin,” has scored bullish pre-sales across four continents led by a BritBox deal for the U.S. and Canada. 

    Other pre-sales on the upcoming psychological thriller, starring David Morrissey (“Sherwood”) and Eve Myles (“Keeping Faith”), take in both top broadcast networks and streaming services in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe. 

    Partners include Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, and Australian streaming service Stan. SkyNew Zealand has also licensed “Gone,” set to air on Three and stream on ThreeNow.

    Across Asia, A3Media International has struck a pre-sales deal with BBC Studios’ premium SVOD drama channel, BBC First, alongside its multi-genre SVOD platform, BBC Player.

    The six-part series will be one of the centerpiece scripted titles at All3Media International‘s London Screenings showcase on Feb. 26.

    In “Gone,” bound for ITV and ITVX for a March bow, Morrissey plays the headmaster of an elite English private school, whose wife suddenly vanishes. Enter Detective Annie Cassidy (Myles) who views Polly as the prime suspect and “Gone” lifts off as a high-stakes cat and mouse psychological drama-thriller between the hard-charging Cassidy and Polly, who keep his own counsel. 

    That comes with his caste and class. Released mid-Feb, a trailer for “Gone” begins not with Polly but his school, which looks to date back to Tudor times, its facade sporting an elegant nineteenth century Anglo-Italianate makeover. It goes on to catch Polly addressing students in the school’s main hall, its coat of arms behind him. Cut to Polly’s country house. 

    This is a man who is the voice of the British establishment, its moral arbiter whose ethics are not to be questioned lightly. Enter Myles Cassidy, caught in the trailer in a slightly larger than normal first close-up, who stares at Polly across a police interrogation room table with an air of not very dissimulated disbelief.

    This is a “story about privilege and prejudice,” Kay said when “Gone” was announced. “The truth is tantalisingly close. Or at least, that’s what Annie thinks,” he teased. Kay’s Observatory Pictures, backed by All3Media, produces with New Pictures, in association with All3Media International.

    ‘Gone’ Eve Myles as Annie, David Morrissey as Michael Copyright New Pictures, All3Media International

    Gone Eve Myles as Annie, David Morrissey as Michael Copyright New Pictures, All3Media International

    “Blending psychological mystery with a claustrophobic thriller and layered character drama, George Kay’s latest series has resonated strongly with international buyers as is evident through this impressive line-up of premium partners at pre-sale stage, including BritBox,” said Jennifer Askin, EVP Americas at All3Media International. 

    “With its atmospheric setting, a stellar cast led by David Morrissey and Eve Myles and a tightly constructed cat-and-mouse narrative, “Gone” delivers sustained tension and broad audience appeal,” she added. “We look forward to unveiling further details to buyers at our upcoming upfronts event this week.”

    “Beyond the central mystery, ‘Gone’ digs into themes of trauma, trust and the long shadow cast by elite institutions, giving the drama a deeper emotional and social edge alongside its thriller elements,” All3Media International noted in a press statement on Wednesday. 

    Written and created by Kay, “Gone” is directed by BAFTA-winning Richard Laxton (“Mrs Wilson,” “The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe”). Cast also takes in Jennifer Macbeth, Arthur Hughes, Nicholas Nunn, Elliot Cowan, Billy Barratt, Rupert Evans, Jodie McNee, Oscar Batterham and Clare Higgins.

    “Gone” is produced by Mark Hedges (“Hanna,” “The Rising”). Kay, Laxton, Willow Grylls (“Des,” “The Missing”) and Matt Sandford (“The Long Shadow”) serve as executive producers.

    “Gone” is fiction, A3Media Intl. stresses It is partly inspired, however, by the book “To Hunt a Killer” and the real-world work of former Detective Superintendent Julie Mackay and ITV Crime Correspondent Robert Murphy, both of whom worked as consultants on the show.

  • Lauren Chapin, the Youngest Kid on ‘Father Knows Best,’ Dies at 80

    Lauren Chapin, who portrayed the precocious Kathy “Kitten” Anderson on the iconic 1950s TV series Father Knows Best, has died. She was 80. 

    Chapin, who said she was molested as a child before dealing with drug abuse, jail sentences, several miscarriages and divorce after her show ended, died Tuesday after a battle with cancer, her son, Matthew, reported on Facebook.

    Following appearances on a 1952 episode of CBS’ Lux Video Theatre and in the Judy Garland-starring A Star Is Born (1954), Chapin was hired for Father Knows Best when she was 9.

    She said she got the job in part because she bore a strong resemblance to one of star Robert Young’s four daughters, also named Kathy. (Norma Jean Nilsson had played the part on the preceding NBC Radio version.)

    Chapin’s older TV siblings were Betty “Princess” Anderson (Elinor Donahue) and James “Bud” Anderson Jr. (Billy Gray), and their mom was level-headed housewife Margaret Anderson (Jane Wyatt). Young played Jim Anderson, an insurance salesman.

    Father Knows Best ran for six seasons, from October 1954 through May 1960, with two stints at CBS sandwiched around one at NBC. Reruns then aired for another couple of years in primetime on ABC and for decades in syndication, and the cast reunited for a pair of TV specials in 1977.

    Chapin was born in Los Angeles on May 23, 1945. Her older brothers, Billy Chapin (The Night of the Hunter) and Michael Chapin (It’s a Wonderful Life), were child actors as well.

    She was signed to a contract at Columbia Pictures and studied with choreographers Gower and Marge Champion and famed French mime Marcel Marceau.

    When she was about 6, her mom, Marguerite, whom she said was an alcoholic, took her brother Billy to New York to build his stage career, and she was left with her father, William, whom she said molested her. By age 11, she said was a “manic depressive personality” and once attempted suicide.

    “I was very difficult to understand how Kathy Anderson could be loved and protected and Lauren Chapin lived a whole different kind of life,” she said during an appearance on Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee in 1989. “I didn’t understand how God could let me suffer.”

    Five months after Father Knows Best ended. Chapin appeared on an installment of General Electric Theater alongside Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows, but that would mark her final acting appearance for 16 years.

    She dropped out of Pasadena High School as a junior, and on the Regis and Kathie Lee program, she said got married at 16 and divorced at 18; another marriage was annulled after she discovered her husband was still married. Another man she was involved with turned her into a call girl and on to heroin, which she said she did for seven years until she was 25. Along the way, she lost eight children to miscarriages.

    She said she also had to sue her mother to claim a portion of the money she had earned from Father Knows Best.

    After achieving sobriety in the 1970, Chapin worked as a minister and as a talent manager; on her website, it was noted that actress Jennifer Love Hewitt “got her start in show biz” through Chapin.

    She also published a memoir, 1989’s Father Does Know Best, and appeared on a 2016 YouTube series, School Bus Diaries.

    Survivors also include her daughter, Summer.

    “If I could be on television again, I would pray for a series like Father Knows Best,” she told People magazine in 1981, “one that has no violence, no sex and shows nothing but purity and love.”

  • ‘Project Hail Mary’ First Reactions: Ryan Gosling Is a ‘Shining Star’ in Christopher Miller and Phil Lord’s ‘Must-See Space Odyssey’

    ‘Project Hail Mary’ First Reactions: Ryan Gosling Is a ‘Shining Star’ in Christopher Miller and Phil Lord’s ‘Must-See Space Odyssey’

    “Project Hail Mary” has been unveiled to members of the film press ahead of its March 20 release, and first reactions are calling Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s sci-fi comedy a “must-see space odyssey” that may prove to be a “major awards player” come Oscar time next year.

    Film critic Eric Marchen shared a glowing review on X, writing that “Project Hail Mary” is “the first great blockbuster of 2026.”

    “Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s must-see space odyssey blasts off as the first great blockbuster of 2026,” Marchen wrote. “Out-of-this-world cinematography from Greig Fraser reaches for the stars while anchored by a stellar Ryan Gosling performance. This movie ROCKS!”

    Critic Adriano Caporusso also praised the film on X. He wrote, “‘PROJECT HAIL MARY’: Lord & Miller’s latest plays up a ‘Short Circuit’ bromance to an hysterical extreme while simultaneously delivering a pulse-pounding space epic that brings true humanity to the centrestage, but not without some jaw-dropping visuals alongside.”

    Globe and Mail film writer Barry Hertz shared some reservations about the “Project Hail Mary” on X, but they weren’t enough to outshine Ryan Gosling’s “galaxy-sized charms.”

    “‘PROJECT HAIL MARY’: Not quite faster-than-light script with too many endings and one crucial plot point that evaporates, plus a seeming corporate obligation to Amazon’s ROCKY catalogue, cannot suppress the galaxy-sized charms of Ryan Gosling,” he wrote. “‘INTERSTELLAR’ without all the ~stuff~.”

    Entertainment journalist Scott Menzel called “Project Hail Mary” a “masterpiece” on X and predicted it will be “a major awards player across the board.”

    “‘Project Hail Mary’ is an epic cinematic achievement,” Menzel wrote. “Phil Lord and Chris Miller somehow manage to raise the bar once again, delivering what is not only their most ambitious film to date, but arguably their most accomplished.”

    TV host Jeff Conway echoed the praise, writing on X, “A successfully sophisticated blend of humor, sci-fi, drama and suspense. Ryan Gosling is the shining star of this compassionate story about connection and defying the odds, while Sandra Hüller is the tender heart of this beautiful film.”

    Based on the 2021 novel by Andy Weir, the film stars Gosling as brainy school teacher Ryland Grace, who wakes up alone on a spaceship light-years away from Earth with no recollection of how he got there. As his memory recovers, he pieces together an outlandish plot that sent him through the galaxy to stop a mysterious entity from blacking out the sun. Other cast members include Sandra Hüller, Milana Vayntrub, Ken Leung, Liz Kingsman and James Ortiz.

    At Comic Con 2025, Gosling unveiled the first five minutes of “Project Hail Mary” alongside Miller, Lord and screenwriter Drew Goddard. Gosling said at the time that he related to Ryland’s situation of being an “ordinary person in an extraordinary situation.”

    “I connected to his reluctance,” he said. “Aside from the fact he has a doctorate in molecular biology, he’s an ordinary person in an extraordinary situation. He reacts to a lot of things the way I might or a lot of us might. He’s terrified appropriately of the task at hand. He’s somebody who gave up on himself on Earth, and he’s given an opportunity to believe in himself again. It’s inspiring to go through this journey with him because he somehow finds the courage to put one foot in front of the other and keep going.”

    Check out more reactions below.

  • ‘Wisecrack,’ Pablo Torre Win Top Ambies Awards for Audio Entertainment

    ‘Wisecrack,’ Pablo Torre Win Top Ambies Awards for Audio Entertainment

    “Wisecrack,” an innovative true-crime podcast revolving around comedian Edd Hedges, won the top prize of podcast of the year Tuesday night in Brooklyn at the sixth annual The Ambies awards ceremony honoring excellence in audio content.

    The iHeartPodcasts series, hosted by experienced documentary and true crime journalist Jodi Tovay, looks at the bizarre confluence of events that engulfed Hedges after he returned to his hometown to perform at a charity event. Per iHeart’s description of “Wisecrack,” “What starts as a heartwarming homecoming quickly spirals into a chilling true crime tale of a downward spiral and a town shaken by murder.” “Wisecrack” also won additional trophies for nonfiction screenwriting, society and culture podcast and for production and sound design.

    ESPN veteran Pablo Torre was dubbed podcaster of the year for Meadowlark Media’s “Pablo Torre Finds Out” at the awards administered by The Podcast Academy. The ceremony, hosted by comedian Wyatt Cenac, was held at the Arlo Williamsburg venue as part of the On the Air festival celebrating audio storytelling.

    LISTEN: “Daily Variety,” “Awards Circuit,” “Strictly Business” and other Variety podcasts

    Here is a full list of this year’s The Ambies winners:

    Vanguard Podcaster of the Year
    Pablo Torre

    Podcast of The Year
    Wisecrack
    Tenderfoot TV , iHeartPodcasts

    Best Ad Read
    Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
    SiriusXM

    Best Branded Podcast
    Sesame Street: Cookie Monster Mysteries
    Audible Studios,Sesame Workshop

    Best Business Podcast
    The Indicator from Planet Money
    NPR

    Best Comedy Podcast
    Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
    SiriusXM, Team Coco

    Best DIY Podcast
    Redacted History
    Dr. Andre White, Airwave

    Best Documentary Podcast
    The Con: Kaitlyn’s Baby
    CBC, BBC World Service

    Best Emerging Podcast
    How Is This Better?
    COURIER Newsroom

    Best Entertainment Podcast
    Twenty Thousand Hertz
    Defacto Sound

    Best Fiction Podcast
    Red for Revolution
    Meta Mana Media

    Best History Podcast
    Our Ancestors Were Messy
    Coco Hill Productions

    Best Indie Podcast
    Our Ancestors Were Messy
    Coco Hill Productions

    Best Indie Podcast Host or Hosts
    Jamie Feldman and Rachel Webster
    Debt Heads
    Captain and the Fox

    Best Interview Podcast
    Death, Sex & Money
    Slate

    Best Knowledge, Science or Tech Podcast
    Radiolab
    New York Public Radio

    Best News & Politics
    Reveal
    Reveal and PRX

    Best Original Score and Music Supervision
    Marcus Bagala and Sam Ewing
    DC High Volume: Batman
    DC Comics, Realm

    Best Performance in Audio Fiction
    Maulik Pancholy, Murray Bartlett, Poorna Jagannathan, Karan Soni, Anna Camp, Adam Pally, Margo Martindale, Richard Kind, Conrad Ricamora, Iqbal Theba, Julian Shapiro-Barnum, Padma Lakshmi, et al.
    Murder at the Patel Motel
    Broadway Video, Audible

    Best Personal Growth / Spirituality Podcast
    Wild Card with Rachel Martin
    NPR

    Best Podcast for Kids
    Terrestrials
    WNYC Studios

    Best Podcast Host or Hosts
    Rachel Martin
    Wild Card with Rachel Martin
    NPR

    Best Production and Sound Design
    Alex Vespestad, Steven Perez, and Cooper Skinner
    Wisecrack
    Tenderfoot TV , iHeartPodcasts

    Best Reporting
    Robyn Semien
    Question Everything
    Placement Theory

    Best Scriptwriting, Fiction
    Jana Naomi Smith
    Red for Revolution
    Meta Mana Media

    Best Scriptwriting, Non-Fiction
    Charles Forbes and Edd Hedges
    Wisecrack
    Tenderfoot TV , iHeartPodcasts

    Best Society and Culture Podcast
    Wisecrack
    Tenderfoot TV , iHeartPodcasts

    Best Spanish Language Narrative Podcast – Fiction or Nonfiction
    No Me Provoquen
    Sonoro

    Best Sports Podcast
    Pablo Torre Finds Out
    Meadowlark Media

    Best True Crime Podcast
    Sea of Lies
    Produced by What’s the Story Sounds for CBC

    Best Use of Video in a Podcast
    Tales Unrolled
    Sonoro

    Best Wellness or Relationships Podcast
    Embodied
    WUNC

    Podcast Advertiser Innovator Award
    Charlie’s Place
    Atlas Obscura, Rococo Punch, Visit Myrtle Beach, Pushkin

    (Pictured: Pablo Torre and Wyatt Cenac)

  • Why Stephen Amell Blames Himself for ‘Suits L.A.’ Cancellation After One Season: “It Didn’t Work”

    Why Stephen Amell Blames Himself for ‘Suits L.A.’ Cancellation After One Season: “It Didn’t Work”

    Stephen Amell, who led NBC’s Suits L.A., said he’s taking responsibility for the show’s cancellation after one season.

    The actor, who played Los Angeles attorney Ted Black in the Suits spinoff, made a recent appearance on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast, where he admitted that he thought the show “wasn’t good enough.” He added, “Anything that ends not on your terms is a failure.”

    However, Amell also put the show’s lack of success on himself personally, saying, “The blame rests with me.”

    “Whatever problem you have with the show — because I think that there were issues — it’s my job to solve those, to smooth them over and to gloss them up with some type of performance or something that, tangible or otherwise, covers up those mistakes,” he explained. “Because you do something that is magnetic, that is charismatic, that fixes those problems. And I didn’t do that.”

    He added, “I didn’t find anything ultimately with Ted Black, that character, that translated, that smoothed those things over, that gave us a chance to keep going.”

    Later, the Arrow alum expanded on his reasoning, saying if the show’s “successful, I’m gonna get a disproportionate amount of the credit, and so I think it’s only fair that I stand in front and I take the blame. I’m the lead of the series and it didn’t work.”

    Amell claimed he wasn’t the only one who questioned the spinoff’s potential, even before it premiered. He said Aaron Korsh — who created Suits L.A. and Suits, which ran from 2011 to 2019 — also had some doubts.

    “When I saw the pilot of Suits L.A. — and this goes back to about a month after we finished shooting — I sat down with Aaron Korsh, who created Suits and Suits L.A., and he was editing the pilot. He was like, ‘I don’t know if this is going to work,’” he recalled. “A lot of what he wanted to do seemed to run up against what the network wanted. It seems like they just … I don’t want to say they battled, because I wasn’t a part of those conversations, so I’m not going to speculate. But it just seemed like what he wanted to do and what they wanted to do were different.”

    Amell concluded that it was “tough” having Suits L.A. not renewed for a second season, but that ultimately, “It’s also not anyone’s fault.”

    “We certainly thought that we were gonna have another [season] and we’d get to work out some of those issues, and it just so happened that they went, ‘Nope, we’re gonna pull the plug,’” the Heels actor said.

    Suits L.A. also starred Lex Scott Davis, Josh McDermitt, Bryan Greenberg, Rachelle Goulding, Maggie Grace and Troy Winbush.

    NBC’s president of programming strategy, Jeff Bader, previously said during a conference call with media that the spinoff “had a very short run” because “it really just has not resonated the way we thought it would. There can be many, many reasons — people are speculating why it hasn’t resonated, but it’s just not really showing the potential to grow for us in the future, unfortunately.”

  • S.S. Rajamouli Unveils Motion Capture Facility at Nagarjuna’s Annapurna Studios; Key ‘Varanasi’ Sequences Shot at Lab (EXCLUSIVE)

    S.S. Rajamouli Unveils Motion Capture Facility at Nagarjuna’s Annapurna Studios; Key ‘Varanasi’ Sequences Shot at Lab (EXCLUSIVE)

    “RRR” director S.S. Rajamouli has unveiled what is being billed as India’s most advanced motion capture facility, unveiling the A&M MoCap Lab at Hyderabad’s Annapurna Studios.

    The facility is a joint venture between Akkineni Nagarjuna‘s Annapurna Studios and “Baahubali” producer Shobu Yarlagadda‘s Mihira Visual Labs, with Hollywood’s Animatrik Film Design – whose credits include “Avengers: Endgame,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “RRR” – serving as the technology partner. During the unveiling, Rajamouli shared the first glimpse of the lab and confirmed that key sequences of “Varanasi,” which stars Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Prithviraj Sukumaran were captured there.

    For Rajamouli, the facility closes a long-standing gap in Indian filmmaking infrastructure. “India has always had some of the world’s best technicians contributing to major global productions, but what we lacked was an advanced facility right here at home,” he said. “When I look back at some of my previous films like ‘Baahubali’ and ‘Eega,’ I reminisce how I could have made them even better if I had access to motion capture technology back then in India. With the introduction of A&M’s motion capture technology, that gap has finally been bridged. We utilized this facility in the making of crucial sequences in ‘Varanasi,’ and the results were simply fantastic.”

    Nagarjuna framed the launch as a milestone for Indian cinema at large. “For decades, Indian filmmakers have aspired to tell large-scale stories that match global standards, but access to high-end technology was often a limitation,” he said. “With A&M, filmmakers can now bring everything from epic adventures to intricate science fiction dramas to life right here in Hyderabad.”

    Yarlagadda, whose Mihira Visual Labs co-developed the facility, described it as part of a broader infrastructure-building effort. “For Indian cinema to truly compete on a global stage, it is essential to create advanced technology ecosystems within the country,” he said. “Seeing a filmmaker like S.S. Rajamouli utilize our A&M MoCap facility for ‘Varanasi’ reinforces our belief that the future of Indian storytelling will be driven by innovation built at home.”

    Brett Ineson, president and CTO of Animatrik Film Design, added: “We’re incredibly proud to see Animatrik’s motion capture technology powering this landmark facility at Annapurna Studios. Annapurna has long been a beacon of cinematic excellence, and partnering with them and Mihira Visual Labs to bring world-class performance capture capabilities to India is truly exciting. This collaboration represents a significant step in enabling filmmakers and creators to tell more immersive, emotionally rich stories with the highest global standards.”

    The lab features a 60-by-40-by-30-foot capture volume equipped with Vicon Valkyrie VK26 cameras offering sub-millimeter optical tracking precision and real-time data streaming via Vicon Live. The setup integrates Unreal Engine for live virtual production previsualization and includes Stereo Head-Mounted Camera units for high-resolution facial performance capture. Notably, the facility is modular and expandable, allowing it to be disassembled and reassembled on location as productions require.

    C.V. Rao, CTO of Annapurna Studios, emphasized the facility’s utility as a pre-production tool. “Directors and cinematographers can experiment with camera blocking, lens choices, camera movements, and frame rates in a dynamic virtual environment, allowing critical creative decisions to be finalized during the motion capture stage, prior to principal photography,” he said, adding that the approach is designed to minimize costly trial-and-error during live shoots.

    The launch comes as Annapurna Studios marks its 50th anniversary. The studio said it intends to open the facility to Indian and international filmmakers, game developers, and animation studios seeking a production partner in Asia. It is also not the first time Rajamouli has partnered with Annapurna on a technological milestone – he previously launched India’s first Dolby cinema processing facility at the same studio.

    S.S. Karthikeya, C.V. Rao, S.S. Rajamouli, Brett Ineson, Ben Murray, Srinivas Mohan

    A&M MoCap Lab