Exclusive: Amazon MGM Studios has put a feature rendition of Amy Poeppel’s novel The Sweet Spot into development with Kissing Jessica Stein‘s Jennifer Westfeldt adapting and set to co-star in the female-driven ensemble.

Westfeldt will produce alongside Laura Lewis of Rebelle Media.

The Sweet Spot is a multi-generational, female-driven screwball comedy set in New York City around the chaos of the holiday season. It explores found family, fresh starts, second chances, unlikely alliances, revenge, redemption, unexpected romance, and the ripple effect of seemingly small actions leading to epic consequences in the lives of people you haven’t even met … yet.

Westfeldt previously wrote the romantic comedy The Idea of You for the studio with its filmmaker Michael Showalter. The movie, which starred Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine and world premiered at SXSW, repped Amazon MGM’s biggest romantic comedy debut ever, drawing nearly 50 million global Prime Video viewers in its first two weeks.

Rob Corddry has been promoted to series regular status for Season 2 of the Max comedy series “Bookie.” Corddry appeared in Season 1 of the Chuck Lorre series in the guest role of Walt Dinty.

Season 2 of “Bookie” is set to debut on the streamer in December. Corddry joins fellow returning cast members Sebastian Maniscalco, Omar J. Dorsey, Jorge Garcia, Andrea Anders, Vanessa Ferlito and Maxim Swinton.

Per the official description, “Bookie” follows “veteran Los Angeles bookie Danny (Maniscalco) as the potential legalization of sports gambling in California threatens to upend his business for good. Alongside best friend and former NFL player Ray (Dorsey), side-hustling sister Lorraine (Ferlito), and reluctantly reformed drug dealer Hector (Garcia), Danny must contend with his increasingly unstable clients as he tries to settle their debts – all while making plenty of risky bets of his own.”

Corddry’s recent credits include shows like “Hit-Monkey,” “The Unicorn,” “This Fool,...

Starz has found the lead for its upcoming new drama series, The Hunting Wives, as Billions vet Malin Åkerman has joined the cast. The performer will headline the eight-episode series described as an “addictive, twisty thriller.” The show is set to begin production this spring in Charlotte, North Carolina. Based on May Cobb’s 2021 novel, The Hunting Wives tells the story of Sophie O’Neil and her family’s move from the East Coast to deep East Texas. There, Sophie succumbs to socialite Margo’s irresistible charms, finding her life consumed by obsession, seduction, and murder. (Credit: Starz) Åkerman is best known on TV for her role in Billions, but she’s also appeared in several other titles, including Dollface, Children’s Hospital, Soulmates, The Comeback, Suburgatory, and more. While no other cast members have been revealed at this time, Åkerman will be joined on the production by showrunner Rebecca Cutter, who...

Malin Åkerman has been cast in a leading role of the Starz series adaptation of the May Cobb novel “The Hunting Wives,” Variety has learned.

Åkerman will appear in the role of Margo Banks. The series was ordered at the premium cabler back in October 2023. The first season will consist of eight episodes. Production will begin in Charlotte, North Carolina this spring.

Per the official description, the series “tells the story of Sophie O’Neil and her family’s move from the East Coast to deep East Texas, where she succumbs to socialite Margo’s irresistible charms – and finds her life consumed by obsession, seduction, and murder.”

Åkerman is known for her roles in shows like the hit Showtime series “Billions,” on which she played Lara Axelrod throughout most of the show’s seven season run. Her other TV roles include “Children’s Hospital,” “Dollface,” and “The Comeback.” In film, she has...

An actress from the original The Wonder Years will soon make her way to ABC’s reimagining of the same name.

Photo: Hulu screenshot

TVLine can reveal that Lindsay Sloane — who played Kevin and Winnie’s high school friend Alice Pedermeir in the original ABC comedy, and whose previous TV credits also include Sabrina the Teenage Witch and 2015’s The Odd Couple — will portray Brad Hitman’s mother Judy in an upcoming Season 2 episode.

More from TVLineThe Wonder Years Recap: Phoebe Robinson and Tituss Burgess Drop by the Season 2 Premiere - Grade It!Professionals Seeking New Home After CW Passes...

The live-action “Knuckles” series at Paramount+ has added five new cast members.

Cary Elwes, Stockard Channing, Christopher Lloyd, Paul Scheer, and Rob Huebel have all joined the series. Details on their characters are being kept under wraps.

As previously announced, Idris Elba will once again voice the character Knuckles as he did in the film “Sonic the Hedgehog 2.” Other cast members include Adam Pally, reprising the role of Wade Whipple, as well as Edi Patterson, Julian Barratt, Scott Mescudi, and Ellie Taylor. Guest stars include Rory McCann and Tika Sumpter, with the latter reprising her role as Maddie.

The show was originally announced in February 2022. It is set in the time between “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” and the third film in the franchise, which is slated to debut in theaters on December 20, 2024. In the series, Knuckles “agrees to train Wade as his protégé and teach him the ways of the Echidna warrior,...

Cary Elwes, Stockard Channing, Christopher Lloyd, Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel have joined the cast of Sonic The Hedgehog TV spinoff Knuckles, from Paramount+, Paramount Pictures and Sega.

They join previously announced Idris Elba as the titular character Knuckles and Adam Pally, who will reprise his role from the film franchise as Wade Whipple, with recurring cast members Edi Patterson, Julian Barratt, Scott Mescudi, Ellie Taylor, and guest stars Rory McCann and Tika Sumpter reprising her role as Maddie.

Character details are being kept under wraps.

The live-action series will follow Knuckles on a hilarious and action-packed journey of self-discovery as he agrees to train Wade as his protégé and teach him the ways of the Echidna warrior. The series takes place between the films Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and Sonic The Hedgehog 3, marking the next installment of the hit franchise, which is slated for December 20, 2024.

All of the...

On the NBC comedy Cheers, George Wendt often stole the show as Norm. Norm was Cheers’ most loyal regular. Every episode when he entered the whole bar shouted his name, and he had a different one liner for every entrance. Cheers ended in 1993 after 11 seasons and Wendt has been busy ever since.

Rhea Perlman and George Wendt | NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

If you’re looking for Wendt today, Showbiz Cheat Sheet is here to help. Here’s what Wendt has been up to.

How George Wendt got the role of Norm on ‘Cheers’

After some small roles in films like Bronco Billy and My Bodyguard, and a deleted scene from Somewhere in Time, Wendt moved to Los Angeles in 1980. He got some solid TV appearances including episodes of Hart to Hart, Soap, Alice, and Taxi. It was Taxi that really made an impression, as writers Glen and Les Charles...

The “Goosebumps” series at Disney+ has cast Rob Huebel in a recurring guest star role, Variety has learned exclusively.

The series, which is based on R.L. Stine’s bestselling book series and is described as a teen horror comedy, is said to follow “a group of five high schoolers who unleash supernatural forces upon their town and must all work together — thanks to and in spite of their friendships, rivalries and pasts with each other — in order to save it, learning much about their own parents’ teenage secrets in the process.”

Huebel joins previously announced cast members Ana Yi Puig, Miles McKenna, Will Price, Justin Long, Zack Morris, Isa Briones, and Rachael Harris. He will appear as Colin, father of Margot (Briones). The character is described as “a well-intentioned high school guidance counselor who is about to discover the world is a lot bigger and scarier than he ever imagined.

When Henry Winkler joined “Barry,” as the pompous, washed-up acting teacher Gene Cousineau, he soon asked series creator and star Bill Hader, “Am I playing an asshole?” But by Season 3, Cousineau has suffered a tremendous loss — at the hands of Barry — and it’s forcing him to do some deep introspection.

“I think the umbrella for Season 3 is, can a person change? It was a question Bill asked me in a scene in Season 2. And now it is for all of the characters,” Winkler tells Variety. “Is there atonement?”

On this episode of the “Variety Awards Circuit Podcast,” we talk to Emmy-winning “Barry” star Henry Winkler on how dark the show went this season, especially for his character, as well as what he hopes might come next.

But first, our Awards Circuit Roundtable discusses some of the key Creative Arts Emmys races coming this weekend, including animation and guest actor and actress.