What really happened behind-the-scenes of the election for a new president of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences tonight? Deadline’s Nikki Finke followed the twists and turns that led to Hawk Koch winning: Make no mistake about it: veteran Hollywood producer Hawk Koch wanted the job “desperately”, in…

EXCLUSIVE: Cillian Murphy has been set to star as Tommy, the most ruthless brother in a family of gangsters in the six-part BBC Two drama Peaky Blinders. Created by Steven Knight, who wrote David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises and was Oscar nominated for Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things, the series is set in…

For the record, it’s a very sympathetic way to exit. Because here’s how Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts told viewers that her medical problems were taking their toll a little early. “Well, a full disclosure here, I’m not feeling too well,” Roberts said at 8:08 a.m. EDT. “In fact, I’m going to leave…

Hollywood favorite Gore Vidal, a literary powerhouse, essayist, screenwriter and political activist, has died. Vidal passed away today at his Hollywood Hills home from complications of pneumonia, according to his family. He was 86. Vidal wrote 25 novels, including the groundbreaking The City and the Pillar, among…

Beverly Hills, CA – Producer Hawk Koch was elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences tonight (July 31) by the organization’s Board of Governors. This will be his first term in the office. Koch, who is beginning his ninth year as a governor representing the Producers Branch, has served…

Veteran character actor Norman Alden, who appeared in numerous TV shows and movies over a career spanning five decades, has died. Alden was 87 and died July 27th in a Los Angeles nursing home. His movie work included a role as a soda jerk in Back To The Future and he played a cameraman in Tim Burton's Ed Wood. He…

CBS today yanked its new dating show 3 from the schedule after just two episodes. Repeats of dramas will be put in its regular Sunday slot until The Good Wife returns in the fall. “It was a show we tried, we were excited about”, CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler said at TCA on Sunday. “It didn’t quite get…

Warner Bros has acquired screen rights to the novel Beautiful Disaster, with Donald De Line producing. In the Jamie McGuire novel, a young girl named Abby Abernathy tries to overcome a dark past by reinventing herself in college. She doesn't drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in…

EXCLUSIVE: Josh Gad has signed up for The Internship. The Book Of Mormon star will join Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in the 20th Century Fox comedy about two middle-aged men who have to start over at the bottom of the career ladder. Shawn Levy is directing. Gad will play Headphones, an anti-social engineer at the…

Dan Harmon is a wanted man this development season. On the heels of a blind script deal at Fox for a multi-camera comedy, the Community creator has signed a second blind script deal at CBS, also for a multi-camera comedy project, which will be produced by CBS TV Studios. Harmon has fielded interest from networks…

Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TV coverage. Sharon Osbourne, on hand to represent The Talk during a TCA panel today for CBS’ daytime shows, revealed she has not been formally asked to return as a judge on NBC’s summer hit America’s Got Talent. "They've asked Howard [Stern] back,” she said. “They…

EXCLUSIVE: In their first development season after partnering last June to launch ABC Studios-based Di Bonaventura Pictures Television, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Dan McDermott landed a series on the air, ABC’s midseason conspiracy drama Zero Hour. Now the duo have netted one of ABC‘s first drama commitments of…