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Mitzi McCall, the delightful actress and sitcom writer who partnered with her husband, Charlie Brill, in a sketch comedy act that famously floundered between sets by The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, has died. She was 93.

McCall died Thursday at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, her family announced.

The pint-sized Pittsburgh native also played the dry cleaner’s wife who wears a fur coat owned by Jerry’s mom on the 1994 Seinfeld episode “The Secretary,” and she was the mother of Carol Leifer’s optometrist character on the 1997-98 WB sitcom Alright Already.

McCall had a thriving career as a voiceover artist; she played Mother Goose on Mother Goose and Grimm and worked on other animated projects including The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, Paw Paws, Darkwing Duck, Yo Yogi! and Ice Age (2002).

And she wrote for shows including 13 Queens Boulevard, Eight Is Enough, One Day at a Time,...

I love The A-Team (which we also covered on an episode of Gone But Not Forgotten). I grew up watching the series and had the toys, the Mr. T Cereal, the whole bit. I wasn’t unlike many of my Gen X brothers and sisters in that regard. It was fun, insane, action-packed, and Murdock was my guy.

Over the last few decades, we’ve seen many of these 70s and 80s TV series be redone as feature films or new series for television. The Dukes of Hazzard, Starsky and Hutch, and the list goes on and on. Typically these films are done as just pure comedy. There are the two I just mentioned plus Land of the Lost…and in the case of these three they didn’t stick the landing.

But sometimes, you get a filmmaker and a group who know the assignment and decide to try and...

The Writers Guild of America West will present Designing Women and Evening Shade creator Linda Bloodworth Thomason with its highest honor — the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement. The award is presented to a Guild member who has “advanced the literature of television and made outstanding contributions to the profession of the television writer.” Designing Women star Jean Smart will present the statuette to Bloodworth Thomason at the Wgaw’s annual WGA Awards on April 14.

The multiple Emmy-nominated television creator-writer, director, and producer launched her career with an Emmy-nominated script on M*A*S*H* in 1973. She concurrently worked on M*A*S*H* and Mary Tyler Moore Show spinoff Rhoda before creating and producing her first series Filthy Rich in 1982. Filthy Rich would lay the groundwork for the creation of landmark comedy series Designing Women by bringing her together with actresses and collaborators Delta Burke, Dixie Carter, Annie Potts, and Smart.

In addition to her work in television,...

During its first three seasons on NBC, Stephen J. Cannell's "The A-Team" was one of the most popular shows on television. Critics dismissed it as mindless trash, but its 1983 premiere perfectly captured the gung-ho Reagan-era zeitgeist. The idea of a crack commando unit on the run from a government that did them dirty in the Vietnam War played to the country's bitterness over the mistreatment of veterans. Many Americans wanted to see the American military kick butt again, and what better way to scratch that itch than to build a series around a group of wrongly disgraced heroes?

The challenge for Cannell was satisfying his audience's bloodlust while observing the network's mandate that, due to its family-friendly 8 Pm timeslot, the good guys couldn't kill anybody. Could they fire off loads of cool-looking firearms or turn a bamboo into a bazooka? Absolutely! They just had to make sure their...

In the most important scene of the first season of The Sopranos — arguably the most important scene of television of the last 25 years, if not much longer — Mob boss Tony Soprano stalks and murders Febby Petrulio, a former wiseguy who testified against friends of Tony’s and then went into hiding.

What would have happened, I asked Sopranos creator David Chase recently, if he had pitched the same idea 25 years before that, back when he was a young writer on The Rockford Files, a hit NBC drama starring James Garner as a wisecracking private detective?...

America had just crawled out from under its Vietnam hangover when Stephen J. Cannell's "The A-Team" blasted its way into the country's living rooms on January 23, 1983. NBC did not have high expectations for the show, but when the second episode -- which aired after Super Bowl Xvii (the one where Washington's John Riggins rushed with shocking impunity against Miami's defense) -- scored sky-high ratings, the network realized it had a hit on its hands.

It was the right show for a weird moment in American history. The country had gone gung-ho. We were at the advent of the '80s action hero era, and everyone was flocking to bloody, high-caliber entertainments starring the likes of Charles Bronson, Chuck Norris, and Sylvester Stallone. Meanwhile, the pulpy adventures of Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan were flying off drug store bookshelves. There was an acute interest in vigilante justice, but people were...

A scene from Courtney Gets Possessed. Courtesy of Paramount+

As the odd little horror comedy Courtney Gets Possessed opens, we meet Courtney (Lauren Buglioli) sitting alone and bored at someone else’s wedding when a jaunty fellow named Dave (Jonathon Pawloski) approaches her and arouses some interest in the lass. Fast-forward five years, and Courtney is now the bride about to marry Glen (Zae Jordan) while coping with her lifelong nemesis of a sister, Caitlin (Madison Hatfield). The latter has always resented her more popular sibling and done all she could to mess with her, from swiping jewelry to boinking her boyfriends. At the bachelorette party, Dave turns up at her door. Courtney tries to keep him out, but Caitlin – if only to annoy her sister – invites him in. The group soon learns that Dave is actually Satan, that Courtney naively had a fling with him several years earlier, and now he wants her back,...

The 1980s were a junky era for film and television. Once the studios and networks figured out what kinds of formulas American audiences were keen on after Vietnam, Watergate, and the election of Ronald Reagan reshaped the country's psyche, they exploited them relentlessly. One particularly reliable genre of sorts was the gung-ho, men-on-a-mission actioner where outnumbered, yet armed-to-the-teeth heroes resourcefully defeated equally well-armed bad guys.

When these projects were made for the big screen, studios piled on the red meat. Scads of folks got shot, stabbed, and blown up, and the directors didn't skimp on the viscera. These were the hardest of the hard R-rated movies of the decade, and they made heaps of money.

At a network level, television was still cinema's less-appreciated little brother in the 1980s. Sitcoms were king, while hour-long dramas tended toward soapiness or murder-of-the-week mysteries. There were very fine shows that worked within these parameters,...

Arthur “Buddy” Botham, who served as a cinematographer on The Dukes of Hazzard and handled second-unit shooting on films including Blake Edwards’ Skin Deep and John Carpenter’s Village of the Damned (1995), has died. He was 88.

Botham died June 26 at his home in Woodland Hills, his daughter Julia Bergeron announced.

Botham also worked on several Stephen J. Cannell-produced series, from The A-Team, Hardcastle and McCormick and Hunter to Riptide, Stingray, Sonny Spoon and Stone, and he was a generator operator on James Cameron’s Titanic (1997) and Bill Lawrence’s Scrubs.

Born in Chicago on March 19, 1935, Arthur Ronald Botham joined the Chicago Stage Guild at age 21 and starred in Uncle Vanya and other productions. After a stint in the U.S. Marine Corps as a helicopter repairman, he returned to Chicago, resumed acting and became a cinematographer.

As the in-house director of photography for Encyclopedia Britannica, he shot dozens of educational...

Homeland co-creator Howard Gordon will receive the 62nd Monte-Carlo Television Festival’s Honorary Golden Nymph, an award that honors renowned professionals for their extraordinary contributions to the entertainment and television industry.

Gordon will be presented with the award on Tuesday, June 20, the closing night of the event. The 62nd Edition of the Fest runs June 16-20 in Monaco.

Gordon co-created with Alex Gansa the multiple award-winning series Homeland. He’s currently serving as executive producer on the second season of Fox’s Accused and he previously served as executive producer on the original Fox series 24 and reboot 24: Legacy, among numerous other credits.

Previous recipients of the honor include Darren Star Dick Wolf, Ted Turner, Jerry Bruckheimer, Anne Sweeney, Stephen J. Cannell, Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner.

Additionally, it was announced today that Harlan Coben’s Shelter, a Prime Video Original series, will world premiere at the fest, with the...

Herb Lazarus, the veteran TV distribution executive who spent nearly 70 years in the business, including the past 27 with Carsey-Werner, died Tuesday in Los Angeles, a spokesperson for the company announced. He was 88.

At Carsey-Werner Television Distribution, where he most recently served as international TV president, Lazarus put into place massive deals globally — many still in place today — for such hits as That ’70s Show, Roseanne, The Cosby Show, 3rd Rock From the Sun, A Different World, Cybill, Grace Under Fire and Grounded for Life.

“Herb was so warm and fun to be around, but when it came to getting business done, he was among the greats of the industry,” Carsey-Werner Television president and COO Robert Dubelko said in a statement. “Everyone here is extremely sad but can’t help but smile recounting his poker-playing face and the countless laughs it delivered to all of us.”

Added Alexandra Taylor, Carsey-Werner’s...

Robert Blake, who played the crazed real-life killer Perry Smith in Truman Copote’s In Cold Blood and the popular TV cop Tony Baretta before a sensational Hollywood murder trial destroyed his career, has died. He was 89.

Blake, who got his start as a child star in the 1940s in the Our Gang comedy shorts at MGM, died Thursday at his Los Angeles home after a long battle with heart disease, his niece, Noreen Austin, told The Hollywood Reporter.

On the night of May 4, 2001, Bonny Lee Bakley, Blake’s wife of six months and the mother of his young daughter, was fatally shot twice at point-blank range while she sat in their car after they had dined at Vitello’s, an Italian restaurant in Studio City. (The actor said he had gone back into the restaurant to retrieve a revolver he had left behind.)

Nearly four years later, including a year spent in jail,...

Actor Robert Blake, a man with a long and complex legacy, has died, a representative for his son-in-law Gregg Hurwitz confirmed to Variety. The former child actor was best known for his Emmy-winning role as the cockatoo-owning undercover cop in the popular 1970s TV series “Baretta” and, more infamously, for his trial following the 2001 murder of his wife. He was 89.

As reported by the Associated Press, Blake died from heart disease on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles.

These two aspects of Blake’s legacy were inseparable in some ways, and the personal turmoil that made the latter at least circumstantially plausible (the case against Blake hinged on motive — he may have wanted to be free of his rocky marriage) fueled his acting.

Blake was acquitted of the murder charge, as well as of one count of soliciting murder, in his criminal trial in 2005, but in a civil trial later that year,...

Robert Blake, the controversial actor who won a Lead Actor Emmy for Baretta and starred in films including In Cold Blood and Lost Highway before a murder trial ended his career, died today of heart disease in Los Angeles. He was 89. His niece, Noreen Austin, confirmed the news.

Blake’s long career ranged from a childhood stint in “Our Gang” at age 5 through major films and television before he was acquitted of murder in the 2001 death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.

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Over the course of 60+ years of working in Hollywood, Blake appeared in such classic films as Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) alongside Humphrey Bogart; In Cold Blood (1967) with John Forsythe...

Barbara Bosson, who received Emmy nominations in five consecutive years for her turn as the divorcee Fay Furillo on the acclaimed NBC drama Hill Street Blues, co-created by her then-husband Steven Bochco, has died. She was 83.

Bosson died Saturday in Los Angeles, her son, director-producer Jesse Bochco, announced.

The actress also was known for her work on three ABC series: as the divorced boss of John Ritter’s San Francisco police inspector on the 1987-89 comedy-drama Hooperman, as the mayor of Los Angeles on the 1990 musical drama Cop Rock and as prosecutor Miriam Grasso on the 1995-97 legal drama Murder One. All three shows were co-created by Bochco, too.

She and Bochco first met when they attended Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh in the 1960s, and they were married from 1970 until their 1997 divorce. He died in April 2018 at age 74 after a battle with leukemia.

Bosson sparked as the needy Fay, the ex-wife of Capt.

The Writers Guild of America West has penciled in Living Single creator-showrunner Yvette Lee Bowser for its 2023 Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement. She will receive the career honor, which is presented to a WGA member who has “advanced the literature of television and made outstanding contributions to the profession of the television writer,” at the 75th annual WGA Awards on March 5.

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A 35-year guild member with more than 600 hours of TV to her credit, Bowser began her career as an apprentice writer on NBC’s Cosby Show spinoff series A Different World,...

Let’s put our cards on the table: Almost three years after Peacock launched, the Comcast-owned streamer finally has a legitimate potential breakout show in Natasha Lyonne and Rian Johnson’s Poker Face.

Debuting with four episodes Friday and then dropping the rest of its 10-episode first season weekly, the one-hour drama could prove the dramatic reset the sports-focused Peacock has needed since day one.

Part of that is clearly the combined star power and skills of the Russian Doll star and the Knives Out director, along with a wonderfully villainous Benjamin Bratt and an old-school awards-show phalanx of guest stars. True to the talent on both sides of the camera, Poker Face’s winning hand has a lot to do with how well-crafted and constructed it is.

However, besides a beat-up Plymouth Barracuda, Rockford Files trailer home homages and all, the wider appeal of Poker Face is that...

The Greatest American Hero is a show that’s much beloved by folks of a certain generation. If you grew up in the seventies or eighties, the theme song is instantly iconic. In fact, the track “Believe it or Not” by Joey Scarbury actually made it all the way to the number 2 spot on the Billboard Charts. It was actually a bigger hit than the show itself, which only ran for two and a half seasons before being cancelled with five unaired episodes in early 1983. Yet, it remains part of the pop culture, with talk of rebooting it every now and then.

A reboot would definitely make sense given how obsessed people are with superheroes, with the red and black suit the hero wears iconic in its own way. The show starred cult horror icon William Katt (House) as Ralph Hanley, a teacher who’s endowed with superhuman abilities by aliens,...

Rick Tuber, a TV and film editor who won an Emmy and an Ace Eddie Award for his work on NBC’s classic medical drama ER, died January 7 of a heart attack at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 69.

His death was confirmed to Deadline by a family spokesperson.

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Tuber’s many editing credits stretch back to the mid-1980s and 1990s, with work on such series as Cagney & Lacey, Wiseguy, Nash Bridges and Martial Law, among others. Subsequent credits include Awake; 23 episodes of The Unit and 13 of Salem; Chicago Fire; and, his final credit in 2017, Bones.

Tuber and fellow editor...

Terrence O’Hara, a television director who most notably worked on series such as “NCIS” and “NCIS: Los Angeles,” died of cancer on Dec. 5. He was 76.

Throughout his career, he directed episodes of shows like “The Blacklist,” “Smallville,” “Nikita,” “Sons of Anarchy,” “The Shield,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “The X-Files” and more. It was particularly with “NCIS” and “NCIS: Los Angeles” where O’Hara found his second homes in directing, working on both shows for nearly two decades and establishing long-lasting relationships with the cast, crew and their families.

O’Hara was born in Newark, N.J., on Christmas Day, 1945, and was raised by parents Joseph and Marie. In high school, O’Hara caught the acting bug watching his sister Judy perform on stage during a school production, soon following her footsteps as the lead in Essex’s high school production of “The Boy Friend.” He attended Rutgers University for two...

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Terrence O’Hara, who directed 85 episodes of the CBS dramas NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles from 2003 until this year, died Dec. 5 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a five-year battle with cancer, his family announced. He was 76.

A former actor who studied at the American Film Institute, O’Hara was a director for more than 30 years, also working on such other shows as The Blacklist, Smallville, Nikita, Lie to Me, Rosewood, Heroes, The Unit, Legends, Dollhouse, Grimm, Sons of Anarchy, The Shield, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Jag, Angel, Magic City, The X-Files, Dark Angel, Touched by an Angel and Pacific Blue.

His 56th and final NCIS episode, “Birds of a Feather” — the show’s 19th-season finale — aired May 23; the last of his 29 NCIS: Los Angeles assignments, “Bonafides,” aired in March. He also helmed four episodes of NCIS: New Orleans in 2014-16.

“One...

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Stuart Margolin, the character actor and James Garner buddy best known for portraying the smarmy yet sweet con man Evelyn “Angel” Martin on The Rockford Files, has died. He was 82.

Margolin died Monday, his stepson, actor Max Martini (The Unit), reported on Instagram. Another stepson, director Christopher Martini, told THR that Margolin died of natural causes in Staunton, Virginia.

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Margolin also brought his manic, manipulative persona to the Blake Edwards films S.O.B. (1981), as a star’s (Julie Andrews) insidious personal assistant, and A Fine Mess (1986), as a bumbling crook in the filmmaker’s homage to slapstick.

Margolin appeared opposite Charles Bronson in The Stone Killer (1973) and Death Wish (1974) — both directed by Michael Winner — playing a contractor who arranges mob hits in the former and the guy who gives Bronson...

While producer Stephen J. Cannell’s TV shows were entertaining on their own, the experience of watching was often enhanced by the shows’ theme songs, back in an era when theme songs were commonplace. For many of his shows, Cannell — like several other producers, including Dick Wolf, Steven Bochco and Donald Bellisario — turned to composer Mike Post for their themes. The work Post did for Cannell’s shows accounted for two of his three Top 10 pop hits: the theme from The Rockford Files and The Greatest American Hero (Believe It or Not). Though Cannell passed away in 2010, we enjoyed speaking to him several times, and he once described the process of working with Post on those theme songs. (Click on the media bar below to hear Stephen J. Cannell) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Stephen-_J._Cannell_Mike_Post_Music_.mp3

The Greatest American Hero and The Rockford Files...

Holly Robinson Peete’s career is anchored by full-circle moments. So it’s pretty fitting that her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony is also pillared by a blast from the past.

“I got very emotional, and I thought about my mom driving me across the country when I was 9 years old from Philadelphia in search of a better life,” she tells Variety. “I thought of her becoming a personal manager and signing her first client, LeVar Burton. She was the Og momager and she is absolutely the reason why I’m getting this star.”

Fast forward to June 21 and Burton is one of the people speaking on Peete’s behalf when she receives that star. “I can’t wait to hear him speak on the 11-year-old Holly,” she adds.

Growing up, Peete was always around actors. Her mother, Dolores Robinson, represented clients including Martin Sheen, Pierce Brosnan, Wesley Snipes, Rosie Perez and Michael Clarke Duncan.

Jeff Sagansky, a media investor and producer and former top entertainment executive, is sounding the alarm on the adverse impact the now prevalent “cost plus” business model has had on profit participation. The setup, originally introduced by Netflix and subsequently adopted by most major streamers and TV studios, reverses a decades-long practice of above-the-line talent on hit series being handsomely rewarded with a cut of the profits that continues to generate income for decades after the show’s creation.

In a blistering speech as part of a NATPE event Wednesday, Sagansky paints a bleak picture of what is to come if no one stands up to the new paradigm, including cratering buyout premiums and disappearing big overall deals, and issues a rallying cry for producers, writers, actors and agents to go to the Justice Department and Congress “to argue against this anti-competitive behavior” in an effort to “level the playing...

WillI ABC continue to develop a live-action TV series reboot of "The Greatest American Hero" (1981) starring Hannah Simone ("New Girl") as an 'empowered' woman, who is given an alien powered supersuit, or will they opt for a ‘ woke’ interpretation of the main character ?

"...'Meera' loves tequila and karaoke, spending her life searching and failing to find meaning...

"...much to the chagrin of her family, until she becomes entrusted with a super suit to protect the planet..."

"The Greatest American Hero" aired for three seasons (1981-1983) on ABC, created by writer/producer Stephen J. Cannell, starring William Katt ("Carrie") as teacher 'Ralph Hinkley', Robert Culp as FBI agent 'Bill Maxwell' and Connie Sellecca ("The Wild Stallion") as lawyer 'Pam Davidson'.'

The series chronicled the adventures of 'Ralph' after a gaggle of aliens give him a red and black suit that grants him superhuman abilities.

Unfortunately for Ralph, who hates wearing the suit,...

Sam Adams, a literary agent whose career began in the postwar years at Warner Bros. and ended with the deal to bring The Handmaid’s Tale to the big screen, has died, according to multiple reports. He was 94.

Adams’ client list included Handmaid’s author Margaret Atwood, the recently-deceased Peter Bogdanovich, Saturday Night Fever director John Badham, TV giant Stephen J. Cannell, Oscar-winner Alvin Sargent, Casablanca star Paul Henreid and Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Adams got his start in Hollywood delivering messages at Warner Bros. while he was still at Beverly Hills High School. At Warners, he met the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Errol Flynn, Bette Davis and Edgar G. Robinson. His stint at the studio was interrupted by 18 months of active duty in the army.

After the war he turned to journalism, serving stints at the William Randolph Hearst-owned Los Angeles Examiner, the Armed Forces Radio Services,...

Sam Adams, who repped literary and entertainment figures including Margaret Atwood, Peter Bogdanovich, John Badham and Stephen J. Cannell, died Saturday in Santa Fe, N.M., his daughter Olivia Adams confirmed. He was 94.

One of final deals was for Atwood’s 1985 novel “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which became a 1990 feature before the TV series, and he also negotiated deals for films such as “Saturday Night Fever,” “Caddyshack” and “Klute.”

Adams started out at the Jaffee Agency, then launched his own firm with Rick Ray, joining with Lee Rosenberg to become the Adams, Ray & Rosenberg agency.

The firm became part of Triad Artists in 1984, and was acquired by William Morris in 1992, after Adams had retired.

Born in Chicago, Adams moved to Los Angeles with his mother at age 7, where she worked for her brother Joseph Schnitzer, an Rko executive. He attended Beverly Hills High, where he wrote for the school newspaper alongside Dick Sherman,...

Writer, director and producer Darren Star will receive the the 60th Monte-Carlo Television Festival’s Honorary Golden Nymph, an award that honors renowned professionals for their extraordinary contributions to the entertainment and television industry.

Star, whose credits include Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Sex & The City, Younger and, currently, Netflix’s Emily in Paris, will be presented the tribute by Prince Albert II of Monaco at the festival’s opening ceremony on June 18 at the Grimaldi Forum.

“We are delighted to honor Darren Star at our 60th Anniversary Festival with the prestigious Honorary Golden Nymph,” said Laurent Puons, CEO of the Monte-Carlo Television Festival. “He is an exceptional talent who has created many of the most-loved and hugely popular television programs for audiences around the world. We are particularly pleased he will be able to join us in Monaco to celebrate this very special award with us in person.

Dick Wolf is spearheading another extension of his venerable Law & Order franchise, and this time he has partnered with one of the key auspices behind another hugely successful procedural drama franchise from the last two decades, CSI‘s Carol Mendelsohn.

NBC has given a straight-to-series order to Law & Order: For the Defense, a new legal drama from Law & Order creator Wolf, which will take a look inside a criminal defense firm. The series will put the lawyers under the microscope, along with the criminal justice system, with every week delivering the promise of a contemporary morality tale.

“This new show is exciting for me personally,” Wolf said. “We spent the last 30 years on shows that played offense. Now it will be great to play defense, and being able to do it with Carol is an honor and an opportunity for both of us to do television that hasn’t been done before.

Frank Lupo, the TV writer-producer who was a frequent collaborator with Stephen J. Cannell in the 1980s on such high-octane dramas as “The A-Team,” “Hunter” and “Wiseguy,” has died. He was 66.

Lupo died Feb. 18 at his home in Florida, according to his sister, Linda Joy Sullivan.

Lupo’s work in TV took off in the late 1970s when he wrote for such series as “Battlestar Galactica,” “Magnum, P.I.,” “B.J. and the Bear” and “The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo.”

Lupo worked on the Universal Television lot in the same era as Cannell, the prolific showrunner behind “The Rockford Files” and “Baretta.” Lupo wrote several episodes of Cannell’s ABC dramedy “The Greatest American Hero.”

Lupo and Cannell then co-created “The A-Team,” the action-drama with touches of comedy that became a massive hit for NBC in 1983. Cannell, who died in 2010, famously took the bold step of launching his own independent production banner on the back of “A-Team.

Frank Lupo, the partner of Stephen J. Cannell on many popular 1980s action shows, died Feb. 17 at his home in Florida, according to his sister and social media. He was 66-years-old and no cause of death was given.

Lupo was part of the creative engine that served up the crime drama television shows The A-Team, Hunter, and Wiseguy. He was also a writer and executive producer on the first season of CBS’ Walker, Texas Ranger.

Born in New York City, Lupo met Cannell at Universal Television in Los Angeles. He began as a writer, penning episodes of ABC’s Battlestar Galactica and NBC’s B.J. and the Bear before joining forces with Cannell in 1981 on the ABC series The Greatest American Hero.

Lupo and Cannell went on to create NBC’s The A-Team in 1983, NBC’s Hunter in 1984, NBC’s Riptide, which began in 1984, and CBS’ Wiseguy in 1987.

They...

Frank Lupo, who partnered with Stephen J. Cannell to create such popular 1980s action shows as The A-Team, Hunter and Wiseguy, has died. He was 66.

Lupo died Feb. 18 at his home in Florida of causes not related to Covid-19, his sister, Linda Joy Sullivan, said.

He also served as a writer and executive producer on the 1993-94 first season of CBS’ Walker, Texas Ranger.

A native New Yorker, Lupo came to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s and at age 20 was hired by Universal Television, where he met Cannell. After writing episodes of such shows as ABC’s Battlestar Galactica and NBC’s ...

Frank Lupo, who partnered with Stephen J. Cannell to create such popular 1980s action shows as The A-Team, Hunter and Wiseguy, has died. He was 66.

Lupo died Feb. 18 at his home in Florida of causes not related to Covid-19, his sister, Linda Joy Sullivan, said.

He also served as a writer and executive producer on the 1993-94 first season of CBS’ Walker, Texas Ranger.

A native New Yorker, Lupo came to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s and at age 20 was hired by Universal Television, where he met Cannell. After writing episodes of such shows as ABC’s Battlestar Galactica and NBC’s ...

ABC continues developing a live-action TV series reboot of "The Greatest American Hero" (1981) starring Hannah Simone ("New Girl") as an 'empowered' woman, who is given an alien powered supersuit : 

"...'Meera' loves tequila and karaoke, spending her life searching and failing to find meaning...

"...much to the chagrin of her family, until she becomes entrusted with a super suit to protect the planet..."

"The Greatest American Hero" aired for three seasons (1981-1983) on ABC, created by writer/producer Stephen J. Cannell, starring William Katt ("Carrie") as teacher 'Ralph Hinkley', Robert Culp as FBI agent 'Bill Maxwell' and Connie Sellecca ("The Wild Stallion") as lawyer 'Pam Davidson'.'

The series chronicled the adventures of 'Ralph' after a gaggle of aliens give him a red and black suit that grants him superhuman abilities. 

Unfortunately for Ralph, who hates wearing the suit, he has to learn how to use his powers through trial and error.

When the theme song to The Greatest American Hero soared to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart, it made a bigger impact than the show itself did. While the show, campy fun that it is, struggled to gain traction in the television ratings, Joey Scarbury’s hit song is permanently etched into the [...]

The post When It Comes To TV Themes, Stephen J. Cannell Talks About One Of The ‘Greatest’ appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

Exclusive: Shout! Factory has struck a distribution deal with Stephen J. Cannell Productions Inc that will give Shout! a mix of worldwide, domestic and international broadcast and streaming rights to the prolific TV creator’s catalog of 1970s-1990s shows including 21 Jump Street, Hunter, Wiseguy, The Commish, The Greatest American Hero and Riptide.

With the deal, Shout! will bring the vast library that totals more than 20 TV series and movies and 900 hours of programming to to broadcast and streaming platforms across territories. Terms were not disclosed.

Previously, MeTV owner Weigel Broadcasting had licensed Cannell’s 21 Jump Street, Booker, Hunter, Wiseguy and Commish.

The deal is the latest to fuel Shout!’s strategy of all-rights acquisitions and worldwide distribution of programming across broadcast and multiple digital streaming platforms, with an eye on reinvigorate and create additional long-term value of pop-culture brands. Previous pacts include with Sesame Workshop and ITV Global Entertainment.

Actor Robert Conrad, the star of television series including “Hawaiian Eye,” “The Wild Wild West” and “Baa Baa Black Sheep” during an almost five-decade career that also included the occasional feature film, has died in Malibu, Calif. He was 84.

Conrad toplined at least one series in the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, a rare feat of longevity for a TV star.

He made his debut playing a pilot in the 1958 film “Thundering Jets” and would go on to make credited appearances in some 15 features, making the biggest impression in 1975 heist pic “Murph the Surf” and playing John Dillinger in 1979’s “The Lady in Red.” But Conrad was a far bigger presence in television.

In 1959 Conrad signed a contract with Warner Bros., and the studio cast the young actor, with Anthony Eisley, in the Honolulu-set detective show “Hawaiian Eye,” which ran from 1959-63. Conrad played the half-Hawaiian P.I. Tom...

Peter Roth, who has overseen the television production operations of Warner Bros for the past 21 years, has signed a new multi-year contract extension to remain at the helm of the independent TV studio. In conjunction with his new deal, Roth has been elevated to the newly created position of Chairman of the Warner Bros Television Group. The re-upping comes months ahead of the end of Roth’s current contract this coming summer. He will continue to report to Ann Sarnoff, Chair and CEO, Warner Bros.

Roth, who has served as President and Chief Content Officer, Warner Bros Television Group, since May 2013, will continue to oversee Warner Bros’ television production activities, including domestic production of scripted, unscripted and alternative series for U.S. broadcast networks, cable and streaming services. Roth’s elevation to chairman comes four months after his top lieutenants, Susan Rovner and Brett Paul, were upped to presidents Of Warner Bros Television.

Longtime television executive Peter Roth has signed a contract extension, upping him to the newly-created role of chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group.

Roth has overseen television production operations for Warner Bros. for 21 years, and has been serving as president and chief content officer of Warner Bros. Television Group since May of 2013. He will continue to maintain creative responsibility for Warner Bros.’ scripted, unscripted and alternative series for U.S. broadcast networks, cable and streaming services.

His promotion was announced Monday by Ann Sarnoff, chair and CEO of Warner Bros., to whom Roth will continue to report. Roth will also continue to work closely with Jeffrey R. Schlesinger, president of Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Distribution.

Also Read: How 'Arrow' Built The CW's Own Superhero Cinematic Universe

“Across the industry, Peter has the well-deserved reputation as a legend, and I have long been an admirer of his creative insight,...

20th Century Fox TV is set for a changing of the guard in June as longtime business operations leader Howard Kurtzman will retire and Carolyn Cassidy will take the solo reins as president.

Kurtzman has been with Fox since 1997 and is one of the most highly regarded business affairs executives in the TV biz. Kurtzman and Cassidy, president of creative affairs, have jointly run 20th TV together since July.

“Howard is an extraordinary leader, strategist, colleague and friend,” said Dana Walden, chairman of Disney Television Studios/ABC Entertainment. “Working with him has been one of the true highlights of my career and that is a sentiment which is shared by every executive, creator and representative who has interacted with him over the past three decades.”

Kurtzman’s retirement comes after a period of realignment for 20th TV and other Disney TV production banners following the Mouse’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox in March.

ABC is still interested in a reboot of "The Greatest American Hero", based on the 1981 live-action TV series, showcasing a new female superhero: 

"...'Meera' loves tequila and karaoke, spending her life searching and failing to find meaning...

"...much to the chagrin of her family, until she becomes entrusted with a super suit to protect the planet..."

The original series aired for three seasons from 1981 to 1983 on ABC, created by writer/producer Stephen J. Cannell, starring William Katt ("Carrie") as teacher 'Ralph Hinkley', Robert Culp as FBI agent 'Bill Maxwell' and Connie Sellecca ("The Wild Stallion") as lawyer 'Pam Davidson'.'

The series chronicles Ralph's adventures after a group of aliens give him a red and black suit that grants him superhuman abilities. 

Unfortunately for Ralph, who hates wearing the suit, he has to learn how to use its powers by trial and error.

Click the images to enlarge...

Merrill Markoe, longtime head writer at “Late Night With David Letterman,” will receive the Writers Guild of America West’s Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement.

She will be honored at the Writers Guild Awards on Feb. 1 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

“Merrill Markoe’s pioneering work created what was then a new language of comedy in television, and her writing has influenced every comedy variety series in the last three decades. We are truly honored to give her this award,” said WGA West president David A. Goodman.

Markoe has been a member of the WGA West since 1977. She’s best known as the co-creator and original head writer of 1980’s “The David Letterman Show,” for which she shared a Daytime Emmy Award. Markoe went on to earn six Emmy nominations and share three Emmy Awards for her work on “Late Night With David Letterman,” creating many of the show,...

Merrill Markoe, the multple-Emmy-winning former head writer of Late Night with David Letterman, will receive the WGA West’s 2020 Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement.

Named after one of television’s the most influential writers, the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award is the guild’s highest honor for television writing. It is presented to a guild member who has “advanced the literature of television and made outstanding contributions to the profession of the television writer.”

Markoe will receive the award at the Writers Guild Awards ceremony on February 1 in Los Angeles.

“Merrill Markoe’s pioneering work created what was then a new language of comedy in television, and her writing has influenced every comedy variety series in the last three decades. We are truly honored to give her this award,” said WGA West president David A. Goodman.

Markoe’s career as a TV writer began in 1977 on the revival of Laugh-In,...

Veteran television writer James Schmerer, whose credits encompass some of the most popular series of the 1970s and ’80s including MacGyver, CHiPs, Vega$, Fantasy Island and Starsky & Hutch, died Oct. 4 at his home in Eugene, Oregon, following a stroke. He was 81.

Schmerer’s death was announced by Writers Guild of America West.

A native of Flushing, New York, Schmerer launched his television writing career in the 1960s (he became a Wgaw member in 1965), and by the ’70s was a sought-after scripter for action series of all types, with the occasional family series – Eight is Enough – and sci-fi show – Star Trek: The Animated Series – tossed in for good measure.

Just a few of the other series that carried a Schmerer “Written by” credit: Hawaii Five-0, The Six Million Dollar Man, The High Chaparral, T.J. Hooker, and The Fall Guy.

Schmerer also wrote scripts for The Rookies, The Streets of San Francisco,...

King of the second-unit cinematographers, Rexford Metz is second to none when it comes to getting shots on the ground, in water or high in the sky.

He operated the camera during the famed 10-minute chase sequence in “Bullitt” on the streets of San Francisco in 1968, and it was his coverage of muscle cars — and stuntman Bud Ekins’ motorcycle slide — that viewers could feel on the seat of their pants.

Metz was born in Los Angeles in 1937 to Glen and Mildred Metz. His dad built race car engines, and Metz graduated from Fairfax High School in 1955 with knowledge of two things: fast cars and using his 4×5 Graflex camera to photograph them.

On “Bullitt,” Ekins, who raced motorcycles with Metz, introduced his friend to star Steve McQueen, who got him hired on the film as a background actor. But after Metz shared his passion for cameras with Dp Bill Fraker, the cinematographer helped him change jobs.

Thanks to a recently greenlit TV pilot, ABC is deciding whether or not to reboot "The Greatest American Hero" as an episodic TV series, starring actress Hannah Simone ("New Girl") as an 'empowered' woman, given an alien powere bsuit : 

"...'Meera' loves tequila and karaoke, spending her life searching and failing to find meaning...

"...much to the chagrin of her family, until she becomes entrusted with a super suit to protect the planet..."

"The Greatest American Hero" aired for three seasons (1981-1983) on ABC, created by writer/producer Stephen J. Cannell, starring William Katt ("Carrie") as teacher 'Ralph Hinkley', Robert Culp as FBI agent 'Bill Maxwell' and Connie Sellecca ("The Wild Stallion") as lawyer 'Pam Davidson'.'

The series chronicled the adventures of 'Ralph' after a gaggle of aliens give him a red and black suit that grants him superhuman abilities. 

Unfortunately for Ralph, who hates wearing the suit,...

With more than 500 scripted series across and a multi-platform TV universe constantly expanding with new streaming players, it was inevitable for competition over television’s top creative talent to get fierce. But the current frenzy in the marketplace with a slew of A-list writer-producers sparking bidding wars among traditional studios and Svod platforms is pretty unprecedented with the number of producers seeking overall deals, the intensity of the fights over them and the skyrocketing prices.

The offers are in for Jj Abrams and his Bad Robot, whose next pact could fetch as much as $500 million, with the TV and film mogul yet to make a decision where his company will be based. Top comedy creator Michael Schur has multiple studios vying for him. Also attracting a lot of interest from multiple places are Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, coming off the success of Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse,...

Jenji Kohan, creator of Weeds and Orange Is the New Black, will be this year’s recipient of the WGA West’s Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award, which is given to a guild member who has “advanced the literature of television and made outstanding contributions to the profession of the television writer.” She will be honored at the guild’s La awards show on February 17.

“Jenji Kohan’s work is what all good writers aspire to – touching on the harsh but also comedic realities of life through characters that don’t sound written, that talk like real people,” said WGA West president David A. Goodman. “Her scenes can be comic and tragic simultaneously; while she engages, she also unnerves, pushing us out of our comfort zone. Her work has truly advanced the literature of television, and the WGA West board of directors considers it our honor to give her this award.

Jenji Kohan, creator and showrunner of “Orange Is the New Black” and “Weeds,” has been named recipient of the Writers Guild of America West’s Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement.

She will be honored at the Writers Guild Awards show on Feb. 17 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif.

“Jenji Kohan’s work is what all good writers aspire to – touching on the harsh but also comedic realities of life through characters that don’t sound written, that talk like real people,” said WGA West president David A. Goodman. “Her scenes can be comic and tragic simultaneously; while she engages, she also unnerves, pushing us out of our comfort zone. Her work has truly advanced the literature of television, and the Wgaw Board of Directors considers it our honor to give her this award.”

Kohan is also an executive producer and writer on “Glow.” She has...