
Former Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland and Mexican singer/actress Paulina Rubio are in negotiations to join Fox‘s X Factor alongside Simon Cowell and Demi Lovato. They’d be filling the judges’ seats vacated by exiting LA Reid and Britney Spears. Both have previous experience: Rowland served as a judge on the award-winning 8th season of the UK version in 2011, while Rubio was a coach on the second season of La Voz… México. In March she also signed on as a coach on Telemundo’s children’s singing competition show La Voz Kids, airing this spring. X Factor US is set to film auditions in Charleston this Tuesday and Wednesday. That leaves little time for the ink to dry ahead of an official announcement from the network, which Cowell Tweeted will be revealed on Monday. X Factor‘s third season will debut this fall.
Kelly Rowland, Paulina Rubio In Talks To Join ‘X Factor’
Charlie Rose Headed To PBS Primetime
The new Friday night show titled Charlie Rose Weekend will bring the 71-year-old host to primetime on PBS, where he’s hosted his syndicated late night Charlie Rose program since 1993. The half-hour show will … Read More »
UPDATE: Yahoo Board OKs $1.1B Deal To Acquire Tumblr — Analysis
UPDATE, 1:27 PM: Yahoo‘s spin machine will be hard at work today and tomorrow trying to persuade investors that CEO Marissa Mayer isn’t wildly overpaying for Tumblr. Although the social media service has become red hot — it averages about 75.8M posts a day — it generated just $12M in revenue last year and hopes for $100M this year, Forbes says. CEO David Karp began to sell ads for the site just a year ago. Yahoo has more than enough cash to make the deal. Still, Mayer could use Wall Street’s support for the biggest acquisition that she has made since taking charge in July. Her company’s shares have appreciated about 33% so far this year because Yahoo’s investments in Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba and Yahoo Japan have been doing so well. Sales of display ads, which have been key for Yahoo, continued to disappoint in Q1. Tumblr, whose average user is under 25, could help Yahoo make more connections with young Web users. But it also could complicate Yahoo’s sales message due to Tumblr’s comparatively lax views about hosting porn, BusinessWeek notes.
The talk about Tumblr could eclipse some additional news Yahoo plans to make tomorrow: It has scheduled a press conference to unveil updates to its Flickr photo-sharing service, Bloomberg reports.
UPDATE 10:55 AM: Yahoo board has greenlighted buying the social network in a billion-dollar-plus deal that could be announced as early as tomorrow Read More »
Bill Hader’s ‘SNL’ Stefon Farewell: Video
SNL‘s season finale also marked the final show for cast standout Bill Hader, who reprised his beloved character Stefon on “Weekend Update”. But with Seth Meyers also departing this year for late-night hosting duties, the segment morphed into a filmed … Read More »
Ben Affleck On ‘SNL’ Finale: ‘Ben Go F*** Yourself’
Five-time host Ben Affleck brought out wife Jennifer Garner for his opening SNL monologue, then poked fun at his Oscar cred and his Gigli past in a Argo bit featuring Fred Armisen as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Affleck:
BBC Confirms ‘Doctor Who’ Season 8
Steven Moffat is returning for another Doctor Who season, the BBC officially confirmed today. The current series finale aired tonight ahead of a 50th anniversary special slated for November 23 starring … Read More »
Global Showbiz Briefs: Shine Int’l Makes CEO Permanent; New Download/Streaming Service Headed For UK
Shine International Takes Interim Tag Off Nohr
More than eight months after Nadine Nohr stepped in as interim CEO at Shine International, the company has made her gig permanent. Two years ago, the exec supervised the unit’s revamp and relocation. She began as a consultant to Shine International, the sales and distribution arm of the Shine Group, in 2011. Her resume includes a dozen years at Granada International. Read More »
UPFRONTS 2013: The Overachievers

First off, congratulations to all writers, producers, actors and agents who landed new series this week. I know it wasn’t easy. Here is Deadline’s annual list of those who excelled at the upfronts. I tried to be inclusive, but if I’ve missed anyone who’s had a banner week, let me know. I’ve also compiled a list of pods and independent producers with multiple broadcast series.
Cougar Town co-creator Bill Lawrence and his Doozer banner had three new series unveiled at the upfronts this week: comedies Undateable on NBC, Surviving Jack on Fox and Ground Floor on TBS. Also, TBS recently renewed Cougar Town for a fifth season.
Related: 2013-14 Schedule Grid & Top Face-Offs
J.J. Abrams‘ Bad Robot claimed one of the top new drama series last season with NBC’s Revolution and one of the hottest sophomore shows with CBS’ Person Of Interest. The company is keeping the momentum with two new series orders for next season: Almost Human at Fox and Believe at NBC.
Independent producer Aaron Kaplan of Kapital Entertainment received two new series orders from the broadcast networks: Back In The Game at ABC and Friends With Better Lives at CBS. Additionally, his freshman ABC comedy The Neighbors was renewed and his ABC pilot Bad Management is in serious contention for a series pickup. Kaplan also received two cable series orders in the past month, for Chasing Life on ABC Family and Instant Mom on NickMom, and also has comedy series Wendell & Vinnie on Nick at Nite and pilot HR at Lifetime.
Writer-producer Julie Plec also landed two new series this week, both at the CW: She wrote/executive produces the planted Vampire Diaries spinoff The Originals and executive produces The Tomorrow People. Additionally, she executive produces TVD, giving her three series on the air next season. (Fellow Tomorrow People executive producer Greg Berlanti has two, including returning CW hit Arrow.)
Another drama writer-producer, former ER showrunner David Zabel, saw both of his pilots picked up. He is the writer/exec producer on ABC’s Betrayal and co-writer/exec producer on ABC’s Lucky 7. Read More »
Ben Affleck & Kanye West ‘SNL’ Promos: Video
Oscar winner Ben Affleck is hosting this weekend’s Saturday Night Live season finale, but it’s musical guest Kanye West who steals the spotlight in SNL‘s set of promos. “Hell no, I’m not going on SNL skits, this is my goddamn life,” he said onstage this … Read More »
‘Mike & Molly’ Creator Mark Roberts To Exit, Al Higgins Upped To EP & Showrunner

Mark Roberts, the creator of Mike & Molly, will be leaving the CBS comedy series, which was recently renewed for a fourth season. Roberts “will be stepping down from his showrunner and executive producer roles … Read More »
R.I.P. Ken Venturi
Ken Venturi, the voice of PGA golf on CBS for 35 years, died today after a long hospitalization. He was 82. After a solid career as a pro golfer, including a win at … Read More »
UPDATE: WSJ Says DirecTV Also Mulling A Piece Of Hulu

UPDATE, 4:26 PM: The second company eyeing a Hulu stake is DirecTV, the Wall Street Journal reported today.
PREVIOUSLY, WEDNESDAY AM: … Read More »
Kroenke Sports Completes Outdoor Channel Acquisition
The deal’s finally done, with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment paying $10.25 a share — about $265M — for the cable channel. “As a part of KSE, Outdoor Channel will be well positioned — competitively, strategically and financially — … Read More »
Deadline Big Media With David Lieberman, Episode 35
Listen to (and share) episode 35 of our audio podcast Deadline Big Media With David Lieberman. Deadline’s executive editor joins host David Bloom to discuss the advertising upfronts this week, including the CBS victory lap and whether an auto ad spending blitz will finance this year’s pricey programming; Daniel Loeb’s (and possibly Les Moonves’) plans for Sony; and National CineMedia’s whiz-bang new technologies to give exhibitors and studios more bang for their in-theater ad bucks.
Deadline Big Media, Episode 35 (MP3 format)
Deadline Big Media, Episode 35 (MP4a format) Read More »
Magnolia Manager Vs UTA, Round Two
Previous: Magnolia Client Rachel McAdams Fires UTA
UPDATE: Magnolia Entertainment manager Shelley Browning’s inexplicable and one-sided battle against UTA co-owner Tracey Jacobs rages on. Last month, Browning was behind Rachel McAdams … Read More »
AwesomenessTV Introduces YouTube Channel Targeting Young Males
The channel’s called AwesomenessX and it will offer “original sports, gaming, comedy, pranks and lifestyle content” for males in their teens and 20s, says the company that’s owned by DreamWorks Animation. As the Web destination grows it can … Read More »



