Levy, a veteran of Spike TV, previously served as Endemol Shine North America’s president of scripted and unscripted television, a role in which she oversaw the studio’s programming and development teams. In her three years at the studio, Levy is credited with reconfiguring her Los Angeles-based team to work more closely with parent company Banijay’s overseas operations.

Endemol Shine’s current slate includes the upcoming “Wipeout” reboot at TBS, Disney+’s “Foodtastic,” Fox’s “Lego Masters” and the “Talented Mr. Ripley” series at Showtime. On the development front, Levy is overseeing the U.S. adaptation of Endemol Shine Israel’s “Queens” with Gal Gadot, a TV version of Hasbro’s “Guess Who?” and an unscripted series with YouTuber Lilly Hevesh.

Also Read: Spike TV Alum Sharon Levy Named Endemol Shine North America President of Unscripted, Scripted TV

“Since arriving three years ago, Sharon has successfully transformed our team’s development and production efforts, creating both unscripted and scripted hits for a wide array of networks and platforms,” said Cris Abrego, Banijay’s chairman of the Americas and president and CEO for Endemol Shine Holdings. “I’m thrilled that she will continue leading our content team and I know that she has an exciting, ambitious slate of new series that we will be rolling out in the coming months.”

“We are clearly building something special and yes, I’m thrilled to continue working alongside Cris, my world-class team here in Los Angeles and all of our Banijay colleagues across the globe,” Levy added. “We enter 2021 with a lot of momentum–several big shows in production and a deep development slate that we have been assembling since I first arrived.”

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“Deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Dustin Diamond, a true comedic genius. My sincere condolences to his family and friends,” former co-star Mark-Paul Gosselaar tweeted. “Looking back at or time working together, I will miss those raw, brilliant sparks that only he was able to produce. A pie in your face, my comrade.”

Another “Saved by the Bell” alum, Mario Lopez, shared a photo from when his friend dropped by “Extra” a few years ago.”Dustin, you will be missed my man. The fragility of this life is something never to be taken for granted. Prayers for your family will continue on.”

Also Read: Dustin Diamond, Screech From 'Saved by the Bell,' Dies at 44

Tiffani Theissen, who played girl-next-door Kelly Kapowski on the series, tweeted: “I am deeply saddened by the news of my old co-star @realdustindiamond passing. Life is extremely fragile and it’s something we should never take for granted.”

Diamond was one of the original cast members on the high school-set series, which followed the show from its predecessor “Good Morning Miss Bliss” and paved the way to a sequel, “Saved by the Bell: The New Class,” as well as a reboot that just launched on NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming network.

His former cast members were among those who took to social media to pay tribute.

See more reactions below.

I am deeply saddened by I the news of my old co-star @realdustindiamond passing. Life is extremely fragile and it’s something we should never take for granted. God speed Dustin. https://t.co/r3NVsWK2K4

— Tiffani Thiessen (@TiffaniThiessen) February 1, 2021

Deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Dustin Diamond, a true comedic genius. My sincere condolences to his family and friends. Looking back at our time working together, I will miss those raw, brilliant sparks that only he was able to produce. A pie in your face, my comrade.

— Mark-Paul Gosselaar (@MPG) February 1, 2021

Dustin, you will be missed my man. The fragility of this life is something never to be taken for granted. Prayers for your family will continue on… pic.twitter.com/BnxY9XgN5g

— Mario Lopez (@mariolopezviva) February 1, 2021

Dustin Diamond brought so much joy to so many people for years. I wish he could have had a second act where he turned everything around.

— Brian Lynch (@BrianLynch) February 1, 2021

RiP #DustinDiamond pic.twitter.com/lF1IkyYANk

— Jeffrey Weissman (@JefWeissman) February 1, 2021

Our hearts go out to the family, friends and fans of actor #DustinDiamond who passed away today at the age of 44 after a short battle with cancer. pic.twitter.com/YqiU3iB3VR

— Wendy Williams (@WendyWilliams) February 1, 2021

Oh man, #DustinDiamond…You lived a complicated public life, but privately you were sweet, nice guy. On #JaneWhite you ad-libbed some of the funniest stuff on set. Thanks for making us all laugh. (pics are from the film). #RIP pic.twitter.com/b0cs2Me4WW

— David Michael Latt (@DavidMLatt) February 1, 2021

Saved By The Bell was a big part of a lot of our lives. From JFK to Bayside. Dustin Diamond made Screech an icon. RIP Legend pic.twitter.com/EMsClyJtd8

— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) February 1, 2021

Screech had the best wardrobe!
RIP Dustin Diamond pic.twitter.com/aFCL5rnROr

— Georgie Beerman (@GeorgieBeerman) February 1, 2021

I’m not one to ask for celeb photos, but I made it my mission to get one with Dustin Diamond aka Screech Powers when he visited us @ABC. RIP to an icon of my 90’s Saturday mornings. pic.twitter.com/po3qJfaUO4

— Alyssa Newcomb (@AlyssaNewcomb) February 1, 2021

This is very sad news iconic character as a kid watching tv in my granny’s #Screech https://t.co/CD4E96ttXT

— Declan Pierce (@DecPierce) February 1, 2021

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Right now, ABC, Fox, CBS, NBC and The CW have set many midseason premiere dates, and TheWrap has rounded up all the debuts we know of so far for fresh and continuing series, which you can find below.

Check back throughout the coming weeks to see additional debut dates added as they become available.

Also Read: Winter TV 2021: All the Premiere Dates for New and Returning Shows - So Far (Photos)

And if you don’t see a show on the list below, check out our grouping of broadcast’s fall TV premiere dates, as many new and returning series did manage to begin their seasons a few months ago.

Sunday, Dec. 27
8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT — “The Masked Dancer” (Fox, series premiere)

Sunday, Jan. 3
8 p.m. — “Call Me Kat” (Fox, series premiere)
8:30 p.m. — “The Great North” (Fox, sneak preview of series premiere)
9:30 p.m. — “Last Man Standing” (Fox, season premiere)
10 p.m. — “The Rookie” (ABC, season premiere)

Monday, Jan. 4
8 p.m. — “The Bachelor” (ABC, season premiere)
10 p.m. — “The Hustler” (ABC, series premiere)
10 p.m. — “The Wall” (NBC, season premiere)

Tuesday, Jan. 5
8 p.m. — “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” (NBC, season premiere)

Thursday, Jan. 7
8 p.m. — “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” (ABC, series premiere)
8 p.m. — “Mr. Mayor” (NBC, series premiere)
8 p.m. — “Hell’s Kitchen” (Fox, season premiere)
9 p.m. — “The Chase” (ABC, series premiere)

Also Read: 'The Masked Dancer': Here Are the Leading Guesses for Identities of Season 1 Contestants

Friday, Jan. 8
8 p.m. — “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” (The CW, cycle premiere)
9 p.m. — “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” (The CW, season premiere)

Tuesday, Jan. 12
8 p.m. — “Two Sentence Horror Stories” (The CW, season premiere)
8 p.m. — “The Resident” (Fox, season premiere)
9 p.m. — “Prodigal Son” (Fox, season premiere)
9 p.m. — “Trickster” (The CW, network debut of international series)

Wednesday, Jan. 13
9:30 p.m. — “Call Your Mother” (ABC, series premiere)

Sunday, Jan. 17
8 p.m. — “Batwoman” (The CW, season premiere)

Monday, Jan. 18
8 p.m. — “All American” (The CW, season premiere)
8 p.m. — “9-1-1” (Fox, season premiere)
9 p.m. — “9-1-1: Lone Star” (Fox, season premiere)

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Wednesday, Jan. 20
8 p.m. — “Riverdale” (The CW, season premiere)
9 p.m. — “Nancy Drew” (The CW, season premiere)

Thursday, Jan. 21
8 p.m. — “Walker” (The CW, series premiere)
9 p.m. — “Legacies” (The CW, season premiere)

Sunday, Jan. 24
9 p.m. — “Charmed” (The CW, season premiere)

Tuesday, Jan. 26
8 p.m. — “To Tell the Truth” (ABC, season premiere)
9:30 p.m. — “Mixed-ish” (ABC, season premiere)

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Sunday, Feb. 7
10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT — “The Equalizer” (CBS, series premiere)

Monday, Feb. 8
9 p.m. — “Black Lightning” (The CW, season premiere)

Wednesday, Feb. 10
8 p.m. — “Tough as Nails” (CBS, season premiere)

Thursday, Feb. 11
10 p.m. — “Clarice” (CBS, series premiere)

Sunday, Feb. 14
7 p.m. — “Cherries Wild” (Fox, series premiere)
8 p.m. — “American Idol” (ABC, season premiere)
8:30 p.m. — “The Great North” (Fox, time slot premiere)

Tuesday, Feb. 16
8 p.m. — “Young Rock” (NBC, series premiere)
9 p.m. — “Kenan” (NBC, series premiere)

Tuesday, Feb. 23
8 p.m. — “Superman & Lois” (The CW, series premiere)

Monday, March 1
8 p.m. — “The Voice” (NBC, season premiere)
10 p.m. — “Debris” (NBC, series premiere)

Tuesday, March 2
8 p.m. — “The Flash” (The CW, season premiere)
10 p.m. — “New Amsterdam” (NBC, season premiere)

Tuesday, March 30
8 p.m — “Pooch Perfect” (ABC, series premiere)

Thursday, April 1
9:30 p.m. — “United States of Al” (CBS, series premiere)

Wednesday, April 7
8:30 p.m. — “Home Economics” (ABC, series premiere)

Thursday, April 8
10:01 p.m. — “Rebel” (ABC, series premiere)

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The exclusive agreement with Disney and Coogler’s Proximity Media expands upon the filmmaker’s relationship with Disney. Proximity will also develop TV projects for other parts of Disney, which include ABC, Freeform and Hulu.

The Wakanda TV series would be the 12th Marvel Studios series for Disney+. The first one, “WandaVision” debuted last month and “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier” and “Loki” are set to premiere in March and May, respectively.

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“It’s an honor to be partnering with The Walt Disney Company. Working with them on ‘Black Panther’ was a dream come true. As avid consumers of television, we couldn’t be happier to be launching our television business with Bob Iger, Dana Walden and all the amazing studios under the Disney umbrella. We look forward to learning, growing, and building a relationship with audiences all over the world through the Disney platforms. We are especially excited that we will be taking our first leap with Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso and their partners at Marvel Studios where we will be working closely with them on select MCU shows for Disney+. We’re already in the mix on some projects that we can’t wait to share,” Coogler said.

Coogler is also rewriting the script for “Black Panther II,” which is due out in 2022, following the death of star Chadwick Boseman last year. Marvel Studios’ chief Kevin Feige has previously said they will not recast Boseman’s role as T’Challa/Black Panther and will instead shift the focus of the sequel to other characters.

The first “Black Panther” was a smash hit and cultural phenomenon, grossing more than $1 billion globally at the box office. Aside from “Black Panther,” Coogler is known for directing “Creed,” “Fruitvale Station” and more recently produced the “Space Jam” sequel with LeBron James and “Judas and the Black Messiah,” which is due out on HBO Max (and theaters where they’re open) this month.

“Ryan Coogler is a singular storyteller whose vision and range have made him one of the standout filmmakers of his generation,” Disney executive chairman Bob Iger said. “With ‘Black Panther,’ Ryan brought a groundbreaking story and iconic characters to life in a real, meaningful and memorable way, creating a watershed cultural moment. We’re thrilled to strengthen our relationship and look forward to telling more great stories with Ryan and his team.”

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The life and career of Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease expert, is the subject of an upcoming feature from National Geographic Documentary Films, the production company announced Monday.

The film simply titled “Fauci” is directed by Emmy winners John Hoffman (“The Weight of the Nation,” “Sleepless in America”) and Janet Tobias (“Unseen Enemy”). The movie is also produced by Dan Cogan (“Icarus”) and Liz Garbus (“What Happened, Miss Simone?”) and Story Syndicate.

“Fauci” gives a look at the professional career of Dr. Fauci up through his experience in the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of those interviewed for the film will include President George W. Bush, Bill Gates and Bono.

Dubbed “America’s Doctor” by The New Yorker, Dr. Fauci has become America’s most unlikely cultural icon, with his signature blend of scientific acumen and candor in the face of COVID-19. He’s been spoofed by Brad Pitt on “SNL” and memorialized by Fauci fans who’ve put his face on everything from coffee mugs to candles. But the documentary will also explore the lesser-known story about the journey that led him to where he is today.

Also Read: Colbert Shares a Look at All the TV Shows Fauci Wasn't Allowed to Go on Until Biden (Video)

“There is only one Dr. Fauci, and it is an incredible privilege to bring his inspiring, lifelong quest to cure disease and prevent outbreaks, to viewers around the world,” Hoffman and Tobias said in a statement. “This film will be an unprecedented, intimate portrait of our nation’s greatest public servant, whose relentless pursuit of truth and devotion to science has never been more important.”

“Dr. Fauci has become a household name because of COVID-19, but what people may not realize is the heroic and integral role he has played in shaping our national response to serious health crises for more than 50 years,” Carolyn Bernstein, EVP scripted content and documentary films for National Geographic, said in a statement. “We couldn’t ask for better partners than John, Janet, Dan and Liz to bring audiences this inside look at the man behind the legacy, and we hope his remarkable story will inspire a new generation to pursue public service with the same commitment and verve.”

The film also recaps his work with HIV/AIDS, particularly when there was no treatment and little funding, showing his efforts to bring medications to sub-Saharan Africa through The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which has saved more than 18 million lives since 2003.

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The documentary will also feature the voices of many of those who have influenced him and whom he has worked alongside — and for — including former HHS secretary Sylvia Burwell, former national security advisor Susan Rice, NIH director Dr. Francis Collins, former CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden, key AIDS activists and organizers, and many others, including his family, friends and former patients.

“Fauci” is produced by Alexandra Moss (“Not Done: Women Remaking America”) and edited by Amy Foote (“Father, Soldier, Son”). The director of photography is Claudia Raschke (“RBG”). For Story Syndicate, executive producers are Cogan, Garbus and Jon Bardin (“All In: The Fight for Democracy”).

Tobias recently directed “Unseen Enemy,” which sounded a warning call about the threat of pandemics.

Check out a trailer for the film above.

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The agreement will see Kanter, via her Available Light Productions banner, develop and produce new animated and live-action kids and family content for Netflix, including both films and series.

Kanter exited Disney last month after a 20-year run, most recently serving as executive vice president of content and creative strategy at Disney Channels Worldwide. Kanter is credited with launching the Disney Junior brand and shepherding series such as “Doc McStuffins,” “Sofia the First” and “Elena of Avalor.”

Kanter announced plans to step down from her position at Disney last April.

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“Throughout my career I’ve challenged myself to think differently, imagine bigger and aim higher,” Kanter said in a statement. “I am delighted at this opportunity to partner with the innovative creators and executive team at Netflix who value those same aspirations, and I look forward to working with them to create new stories that will inspire the minds and touch the hearts of kids and families everywhere.”

“We want Netflix to be the home of the world’s best storytellers and creative visionaries, and few embody that more than Nancy Kanter,” Melissa Cobb, vice president of original animation at Netflix, added. “She’s already made a lasting impact on a generation of kids — creating opportunities to see their lives on screen and inspiring them to feel connected to something bigger than themselves. We can’t wait for her to bring new stories to life at Netflix and continue to entertain and inspire audiences around the world.”

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Diamond passed away on Monday “due to carcinoma,” his reps said in a statement shared with TheWrap.

“He was diagnosed with this brutal, relentless form of malignant cancer only three weeks ago,” the statement read. “In that time, it managed to spread rapidly throughout his system; the only mercy it exhibited was its sharp and swift execution.”

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Diamond “did not suffer,” his reps said.

“We are aware that Dustin is not considered reputable by most. He’s had a history of mishaps, of unfortunate events,” the statement continued. “We want the public to understand that he was not intentionally malevolent. He — much like the rest of those who act out and behave poorly — had undergone a great deal of turmoil and heartache. His actions, though rebuke-able, stemmed from loss and the lack of knowledge on how to process that pain properly. In actuality, Dustin was a humorous and high-spirited individual whose greatest passion was to make others laugh. He was able to sense and feel other peoples’ emotions to such a length that he was able to feel them too — a strength and a flaw, all in one.”

“Dustin Diamond was a character in and of himself: an unpredictable spitfire who always left us shocked, but never left us bored. We are thankful he trusted us enough to share his genuine, authentic self with our team. We wish you knew him in the way that we did. We please ask that you give room for privacy to our team and Mr. Diamond’s family during this tragic time, as we grieve and remember the memories spent together,” it concluded. “This loss is as much stinging as it is sudden.”

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Diamond was hospitalized in Florida last month after reportedly feeling “pain all over his body and a general sense of unease.”

“At this time we can confirm that Dustin does have cancer,” his reps told TheWrap in mid-January. “Dustin will disclose more information once it is available and a plan moving forward is made.”

A representative for the actor elaborated in a statement to EW, saying Diamond is currently feeling “fine” despite the “serious” diagnosis. “He’s undergoing chemo so he will be there at least another week and then we will figure out when he gets to come home,” the spokesperson said at the time. “By next week, we’ll have a much better understanding of the severity of his condition and what treatments he will need so that he’s comfortable.”

Also Read: Dustin Diamond Confirms Cancer Diagnosis Following Hospitalization

As Zack Morris’ nerdy best friend Screech, Diamond appeared on all four seasons of the NBC comedy alongside Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Lark Voorhies, Dennis Haskins, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley, and Mario Lopez. He also returned for both the spinoff series “Saved by the Bell: The College Years” and “The New Class.”

Diamond was the only original cast member not invited back for the recent “Saved by the Bell” reboot at Peacock. His absence is explained by one of the characters referencing the fact that Screech is living on the International Space Station with a robot sidekick.

TMZ first reported the news of Diamond’s passing.

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In her new role as executive vice president of casting for entertainment content, Wu will be responsible for overseeing both scripted and unscripted casting and talent across the entertainment platforms. She’ll report directly to entertainment content chairman Susan Rovner.

Most recently, Wu served as executive vice president, scripted casting, for NBC Entertainment. Additionally, Tomii Crump will oversee unscripted casting, reporting to Wu. Prior to this expanded role, Crump served as senior vice president, talent and casting for NBC Entertainment’s Alternative and Reality Group.

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“There’s a reason Grace is one of the most respected casting executives in the industry; in addition to being a true champion for actors, Grace is a perpetual advocate of diversity on our screens, often encouraging showrunners and writers to think beyond how the role may have been conceived on the page,” said Rovner. “With this expansion of Grace’s purview, all of our shows will now have the opportunity to benefit from her expertise and creative spirit – and I have no doubt they will be the better for it.”

“Tomii is a leader in the world of unscripted casting who has been instrumental in identifying talent for some of the world’s biggest format hits,” said Wu. “I am thrilled to have her at the helm of our alternative casting department, and coupled with Teri, Brian, Jennifer and Trey on the scripted side, I feel lucky to have such an incredibly talented team in place as we oversee casting the vast amount of content across the portfolio.”

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Maya’s Simone Hicks debuted on the second season of the high school drama. The potential project, titled “All American: Homecoming,” would follow Hicks as she attends an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities).

The spinoff would trade in football for multiple college sports, according to the project’s logline:

From the executive producers of ‘All American,’ the show follows a young tennis hopeful from Beverly Hills and an elite baseball player from Chicago as they contend with the high stakes of college sports, while also navigating the highs, lows and sexiness of unsupervised early adulthood at a prestigious Historically Black College.

Also Read: The CW's 'All American' Scores Record Highs in Ratings and Viewers With Season 3 Premiere

“All American” showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll would executive produce alongside Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, David Madden and Robbie Rogers. Michael Schultz would direct. Maya is the only talent attached so far.

“All American” is based on the real-life story of former NFL linebacker Spencer Paysinger, who played seven seasons in the league and won Super Bowl XLVI with the New York Giants. Daniel Ezra stars as Spencer James, a South Los Angeles football star who transfers to the more prestigious Beverly Hills High. Taye Diggs, Bre-Z, Greta Onieogou, Samantha Logan, Michael Evans Behling and Cody Christian also star.

Maya is represented by TalentWorks and Station 3 Management.

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The Midnight Club “members” at the center of the show, which are a group of terminally ill young adults, will be played by Adia, Igby Rigney, Ruth Codd, William Chris Sumpter, Aya Furukawa, Annarah Shephard and Sauriyan Sapkota. Heather Langenkamp will play the doctor who presides over the hospice where the Midnight Club resides.

Zach Gilford, Samantha Sloyan, and Matt Biedel have also joined the 10-episode series, which is based on the works of author Christopher Pike, in supporting roles.

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Co-created by Flanagan and Leah Fong, “The Midnight Club” is executive produced by Flanagan, Trevor Macy, Fong, Julia Bicknell and Pike. Adam Fassullo, who serves as co-executive producer, is overseeing the show for Flanagan and Macy’s Intrepid Pictures production company, which has a multi-year overall deal with Netflix. Flanagan will direct the first two episodes of the series.

Flanagan and Macy set their pact at Netflix in February 2019, following the October 2018 launch of hit series “The Haunting of Hill House.” At that time, the streaming service renewed the show as “The Haunting” anthology, greenlighting the second installment “The Haunting of Bly Manor,” which premiered last fall and starred some of the same actors who led “Hill House.”

While Flanagan says there are currently no plans for a third season of “The Haunting,” he has recently wrapped filming on another series for Netflix, “Midnight Mass.”

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Misha Green, the showrunner behind “Lovecraft Country,” wrote the original screenplay that will star Lopez as an assassin who comes out of hiding to protect her daughter she gave up years earlier. Andrea Berloff (“Straight Outta Compton”) made revisions to the script.

Lopez will produce “The Mother” alongside Elaine Goldsmith Thomas for Nuyorican Productions, Benny Medina and Roy Lee and Miri Yoon for Vertigo Entertainment. Green will also produce. Catherine Hagedorn is the executive producer and Courtney Baxter is the associate producer.

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Lopez is also attached to star in another Netflix thriller called “The Cipher,” and she’s currently filming the Lionsgate comedy “Shotgun Wedding.” She’ll next be seen in the romantic comedy “Marry Me” alongside Owen Wilson and Maluma.

Caro is the director behind the indie “Whale Rider” and films such as “McFarland, USA” and “The Zookeeper’s Wife.” She recently directed the live-action “Mulan” for Disney and she’s next directing “Beautiful Ruins” for Amblin Partners.

Jennifer Lopez is represented by CAA, The Medina Co. and Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof and Fishman. Niki Caro is represented by UTA and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols. Green is represented by CAA and Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein & Lezcano.

Deadline first reported the news.

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Noah Centineo, who will next play Atom Smasher in New Line’s “Black Adam,” is attached to star in the project. Activist/journalist Scott Galloway, a professor at NYU and a tech expert on the “Pivot” podcast, is in talks to consult on the script.

The heavy trading is all thanks to WallStreetBets, a subreddit founded in January 2012 as a meeting place for both new and experienced investors to network and also talk about their bets (as in, what’s good, what to hold, etc). The subreddit quickly grew into a forum for amateur — and often unvetted — wannabe financial advisors who brag about huge gains to encourage other people to play the stock market.

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WallStreetBets exploded in size over the last year — partly thanks to the pandemic, which had lots of people looking for alternate ways to make money. Members started betting heavily on companies like GameStop and AMC that have been heavily shorted, or bet against, by large hedge funds. The way it works is that an investor, more usually a hedge fund or similar entity trading on behalf of multiple investors, borrows shares to sell at what they think is a high price, only to buy them back at a lower price and profit off the gap between prices.

The practice has been heavily criticized in recent years and is cited as a reason why companies that were struggling ended up failing entirely. And as it happens, many members specifically said their goal was to do real harm to hedge funds and other entities engaging in short-selling.

See, by buying up shares in shorted companies such as GameStop or AMC, WallStreetBets investors aimed to create what is referred to as “a short squeeze.” That’s when a company’s stock price runs higher than short-sellers anticipated, forcing them to buy the shares back at the higher-than-expected prices to stave off even deeper losses.

Brad Weston will produce the untitled GameStop Netflix movie with Definition Entertainment’s Nick Styne, with Mark Sourian aboard as exec producer. This is the second movie project about GameStop as Deadline also reported on Sunday that MGM acquired a book proposal by Ben Mezrich titled ‘The AntiSocial Network.“

Mark Boal and Scott Galloway are repped by WME, Noah Centineo by CAA and Definition Entertainment.

Deadline first reported the news.

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The moderator and co-host have liberal views and usually see eye to eye. But that changed this morning during a discussion about Sen. Joe Manchin’s gripe with Vice President Kamala Harris for not informing him before doing an interview with a local West Virginia news station about the new COVID-19 stimulus package.

Goldberg defended Harris, noting that Sen. Manchin “sounds a little bigoted.”

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“Let me just point this out,” Goldberg said. “Joe, she is the vice president, she does not work for you, she doesn’t need your permission to go do this. When you talk like that, it sounds a little bigoted, like you think you have the right to tell her when she can and cannot come someplace.”

Co-host Sunny Hostin agreed with Goldberg, adding that Harris likely was following directions from President Biden and that she found Manchin’s sentiments toward Harris to be “disrespectful.”

But Behar saw it another way.

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“Well, you know, Joe Manchin is a Democrat, but he swings to the right. At this moment in time, the democrats need Joe Manchin more than Joe Manchin needs the democrats because he will always win in West Virginia taking middle of the road positions. He’s got an ego problem, I’ll grant you that. But the guy voted for impeachment, he voted for the ACA, he’s on the Democratic team — so I don’t think it’s a great idea alienating Joe Manchin, no matter how big his ego is.”

Goldberg was so surprised she literally did a double-take.

“I’m sorry, do you think she needed to speak to him before she went and gave this interview?” Goldberg asked.

Behar replied: “I don’t know. I don’t know what the protocol — probably not.”

Goldberg interrupted: “No, because she’s the vice president.”

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“I get that, but we’re talking about politics,” Behar continued. “And like I just said, the democrats need Joe Manchin’s vote. He has a lot of power right now in the democratic party. That’s all I’m saying, it’s politics.”

They continued to spar before Goldberg cut Behar off and asked for Meghan McCain’s opinion.

In perhaps the most shocking moment of this entire exchange, McCain — who just a few weeks ago got into a huge spat with Behar — said, “I completely agree with Joy.”

Watch the full clip below.

MANCHIN SLAMS VP FOR PRESSURING SENATE: After Vice. Pres. Kamala Harris interviewed with a local West Virginia TV station to discuss the new COVID-19 stimulus package, Sen. Joe Manchin took issue over not receiving notice of her appearance – the co-hosts weigh in. pic.twitter.com/R0ohh8HIGh

— The View (@TheView) February 1, 2021

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The toymaker is developing the series with “America’s Got Talent” producer Fremantle.

Here is how Mattel is describing the series: The Whac-A-Mole game show will turn the iconic game into an elimination competition during which opposing teams will use their skill, strength and endurance to face off to become the ultimate Whac-A-Mole champion. The unscripted series will incorporate life-sized Whac-a-Mole, races and obstacle courses, along with a surprising twist that will awe participants and audiences alike.

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“Whac-A-Mole is a beloved, action-packed arcade game with a deep fan following, and the interactive nature and comedic energy of the game makes it a great franchise for episodic television,” said Adam Bonnett, Executive Producer, Mattel Television, who is leading the development project for Mattel. “Jayson and the team at Fremantle have had unparalleled success creating iconic reality television series and are the perfect partners to help us bring this classic game to life in new ways.”

“We’re so excited to have the iconic Whac-A-Mole brand as our newest playground,” said Jayson Dinsmore, President of Alternative Programming and Development, Fremantle. “Partnering with Mattel to bring this classic game to television in a dynamic and synergistic life-sized world is a dream come true.”

Whac-A-Mole originated as a popular arcade game in 1976 and consists of a cabinet with five cut-out holes cut with moles hidden in each. They pop out randomly, at which time the player whacks them with a large, soft mallet, hence the name of the game. In addition to its arcade roots, Mattel first turned Whac-A-Mole into a tabletop game in 2009. This spring, Mattel will be re-releasing Whac-A-Mole, the original tabletop game, as well as introducing Whac-A-Mole Match-A-Mole, which incorporates the traditional gameplay into a matching card game.

Along with Whac-A-Mole, Mattel is also developing “The UNO Game Show” based on the card game, with Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens and Greg Lipstone of Propagate, the production company behind “Charmed,” “Running Wild with Bear Grylls” and “Chopped,” and John Quinn, producer of “Card Sharks” “Let’s Make a Deal” and “Match Game”.

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“Solos,” from “Hunters” creator David Weil, is described as “a dramatic and thought-provoking seven-part anthology series that explores the deeper meaning of human connection, as explored through the lens of the individual.” The series will tell unique character-driven stories, each from a different perspective and moment in time, that illuminate that even during our most seemingly isolated moments, in the most disparate of circumstances, we are all connected through the human experience.

The rest of the cast includes Uzo Aduba, Nicole Beharie, Anthony Mackie, Dan Stevens and Constance Wu.

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“I am beyond thrilled to be bringing ‘Solos’ to life alongside this group of artists who I so deeply admire,” Weil said. “I created this piece with a desire to capture stories about connection, hope and the search for that common hum of humanity that binds us all. I’m immensely grateful to Jennifer Salke and my incredible partners at Amazon for their unwavering support and collaboration on this special project.”

“Solos” is executive produced by Weil, Sam Taylor-Johnson and Laura Lancaster, with Pixie Wespiser serving as a producer. Taylor-Johnson will be directing two episodes and Weil will be making his directorial debut. Additional directors include Zach Braff and Tiffany Johnson.

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Acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Nanfu Wang’s gripping documentary “In the Same Breath” recounts the origin and spread of the novel coronavirus from the earliest days of the outbreak in Wuhan, China to its rampage across the United States. The filmmaker was a Sundance Film Festival juror in Park City, Utah on January 23, 2020 — the same day Wuhan went into lockdown during the first COVID-19 outbreak.

Wang was coordinating in Park City with various camera crews running on the ground in Wuhan.

“I was working with people in China we had a chance of filming one station in the ICU room, one is filming in the ambulance following first responders to get patients, and another one filming people in quarantined homes so we had like all these people working,” Wang tells TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman.

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So how was Wang able to pull this off? “It requires a lot of producing,” Wang explained. “We had a good producing team, field producing and here. It took a lot of effort to find those people, half of them were people that I’ve collaborated before and we had mutual trust. And another half I would say are people who are new/who would recommend them to us who like we called and vetted and then established the relationship.”

“So it took quite a while to get to that point. So it starts with the first person filming in the ICU, and then the emergency center, and then we have more people gradually it expanded to filming at different places at different times,” she added.

Wang and her camera crews were able to get the disturbing and hard-hitting footage of people in Wuhan trying to cope with the outbreak, while it was censored and not spoken on Chinese state-run media.

“I think the Chinese government was really effective in shaping the narrative of how it responded to the outbreak, and oftentimes I think not only within China, but the Western media what they are seeing is how effective the Chinese government has responded to it,” said Wang. “It’s like, ‘Oh, China is great now,’ but footage like that or stories like that — people who died at home, people who couldn’t get access to the hospital, the hospitals were turning people away, and they died on the streets, they died in the lobby waiting for their bed — those stories did not come out or it was not allowed to be told.”

“Our camera people, some of them were there and happened to see a lot of those stories,” added Wang.

HBO has not yet announced a premiere date for “In the Same Breath.”

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Discovery is going for a pretty epic discovery with a two-hour special “Valley of the Kings: The Lost Tombs,” TheWrap has learned.

“The Lost Tombs,” which will stream on Discovery+ in addition to airing on the Discovery Channel, chronicles the largest excavation in Egypt in 100 years. Dr. Zahi Hawass is back and (respectfully, we’re sure) tearing up the infamous Valley of the Kings looking for Queen Nefertiti’s treasure, among other priceless artifacts.

Readers may remember Hawass from April 2019’s “Expedition Unknown: Egypt Live,” also on Discovery, when his team uncovered a 2,500-year-old mummy of a high priest on live television. That special also revealed two other mummies and various ancient antiquities, including a mysterious wax head.

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The Valley of the Kings, a popular tourist destination, was a great burial ground for Egypt’s most powerful Pharaohs, including King Tut, who were all buried there in beautiful, treasure-filled tombs. More than 60 tombs, including Tut’s, have been dug up there.

Much of the prior excavation has taken place in the Valley’s east side. Dr. Hawass and his crew are digging up the rugged, hard-to-reach and, up to this point, mostly untouched west side.

This latest excavation will not be an easy one, Discovery warns in its logline for “Valley of the Kings: The Lost Tombs.” Hawass’ team will need to move hundreds of tons of rocks to get to what they believe may be a treasure trove of lost evidence of the royal family of Tutankhamun.

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Watch TheWrap’s exclusive sneak peek at “Valley of the Kings: The Lost Tombs” above.

“Valley of the Kings: The Lost Tombs” is produced by Blink Films for Discovery. Justine Kershaw is executive producer for Blink. Caterina Turroni served as producer/director. Neil Laird is executive producer for Discovery.

The “Lost Tombs” special will be made available on March 1 on Discovery+. The special debuts Sunday, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery Channel.

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Tarses, who led ABC Entertainment from 1996 to 1999, made history as the first woman to run a broadcast network division. She was a prolific producer as well, leaving a mark at NBC, where she helped develop shows like “Friends” and “Mad About You.”

At ABC, Tarses was responsible for shows like “Dharma & Greg,” Aaron Sorkin’s “Sports Night,” David E. Kelley’s “The Practice” and Ryan Reynolds’ debut, “Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place.” After she left there in 1999, she produced works like “My Boys,” “Happy Endings” and “Marry Me.”

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The longtime television producer adapted to the world of streaming, too. Most recently, she produced “The Wilds” for Amazon in 2020 and “The Mysterious Benedict Society” for Disney+. It will debut in 2021.

Her brother and collaborative writer Matt Tarses released a statement Monday that highlighted who she was beyond television production: “For all her talent and success in entertainment, the thing Jamie was proudest of and most consumed by were her two kids. She was never happier than when she was with Wyatt and Sloane.”

“Jamie had such a true love for movies, television, theater, books and ideas that both transcended her work and absolutely inspired it,” said Betsy Thomas, a friend and collaborator, in her own statement released alongside the family’s. “She was the ultimate fan.”

In a separate statement, Karey Burke, president of Disney’s 20th Television, said, “Jamie was a trailblazer in the truest sense of the word. She shattered stereotypes and ideas about what a female executive could achieve, and paved the way for others, at a cost to herself. She was a mentor and friend, and many of us owe so much to her. As an executive and producer, she was a champion for storytellers, having been raised by one of the all-time greats. Her talent and contribution to our community will be solely missed.”

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Despite the increasing number of multi-platform streaming services, potential viewers did not realize they could find their favorite PBS content via the platform or device of their choice, said Ira Rubenstein, PBS chief digital and marketing officer.

Rubenstein said many PBS viewers are not aware that its programming is available to stream for free via the PBS App on iOS and Android devices, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and others.

In order to counteract the disconnect, about 80% of the nation’s 350 public stations, including the local flagship stations KCET and PBS SoCal, are currently launching a rebranding effort intended to make it easier for viewers to find their way to their desired programs on a preferred platform. The changes include new logos and website redesigns.

“We had a flip phone brand in an iPhone world,” Rubenstein told TheWrap. “It had been more than 12 years since we had done any sort of meaningful PBS branding. Our packaging was built for broadcast, not for digital.”

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PBS SoCal/KCET president and CEO Andrew Russell said the effort goes beyond letting viewers know that they can find programming using various devices and platforms. He also wants to make sure viewers see PBS programming as an attractive alternative to major streaming platforms.

“We are adjusting for a digital age, where national and local PBS content needs to be front and center with programming from Disney+, Apple TC, Hulu and all the other streaming leaders,” Russell said.

The nonprofit PBS has been developing its digital presence for almost a decade, launching its PBS Digital Studios original series programming in 2012 on YouTube.

The studio has continued to launch new digital efforts, including its longtime standard PBS Kids programming on a new 24/7 PBS Kids Channel in 2017, available on television through PBS member stations but also as a streaming service via the web and the PBS KIDS app.

Some classic shows associated with PBS are now also available on paid streaming services. First-run episodes of “The Great British Baking Show” moved from PBS to Netflix in 2018. “Sesame Street,” which made its PBS debut in 1969, struck a deal to move its first-run episodes to HBO in 2015 and began airing first-run shows on HBO Max when the new streamer launched in May 2020. New episodes air on PBS platforms about nine months later.

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Rubenstein acknowledged that new episodes of “Sesame Street” and a handful of other shows can no longer be seen first on PBS platforms due to streaming deals with paid content platforms; the vast “Sesame Street” library can still be accessed on both PBS and HBO Max. As to getting access to first-run “Sesame Street” episodes, he added with a laugh, “I don’t think it matters too much for a 3- to 5-year-old.”

Rubenstein said its streaming business accounts for 375 million streams a month, including more than 255 million across social media platforms, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

“If you were to look at us as a global social media property, we rank in the top 6% based in minutes watched,” he said.

He added that more than 100 million people per month watch PBS programming on its traditional TV stations.

Russell said digital connections allow the stations to make some of their local programming available in other national markets. On that list is the six-episode series “Concert at the Hollywood Bowl” featuring concerts conducted during the past decade by Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and co-produced by LA Phil and KCET.

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PBS does offer paid programming via its SVOD Prime Video Channels, which are available on Amazon Prime Video. In addition to the monthly cost of being an Amazon Prime membership of $8.99 monthly or $119 per year, each PBS video channel carries its own monthly price: PBS Kids ($4.99), PBS Masterpiece ($5.99), PBS Living ($2.99) and PBS Documentaries ($4.99).

Users can also access PBS Living on Apple TV channels via the Apple TV app for $2.99 per month. Viewers can also join PBS Passport, allowing access to full series and local programming presented on their area PBS station. For KCET/PBS SoCal, PBS Passport is available to anyone who becomes a station member by contributing $5 per month, $60 per year or more to the station.

Rubenstein said Passport access allows viewers who have become addicted to binge-watching a series on Netflix or other streamers to do the same on the PBS platform. “All the Ken Burns films, ‘All Creatures Great and Small,’ if you’re a member of Passport, you can binge the whole station,” he said. He added that if you are not a member, you can usually sample a few episodes of a series for free.

Despite providing paid options as a way to help fund PBS programming, Rubenstein and others said the main mission of PBS remains to provide free programming to underserved communities and to help people figure out how to find it.

“It helps with the digital divide,” he said. “Not everyone is broadband, and when you get to rural America it gets even more challenging.”

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Belair’s victory, while impressive, comes as no real surprise. She was the favorite to win the Women’s Royal Rumble Match, according to online sports book Bovada. The betting website had Edge facing the fifth-best odds in the men’s match, which served as the evening’s main event.

Edge ran the table from the No. 1 (of 30) spot. Belair entered her match in the third position.

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The Women’s Royal Rumble Match just began in 2018. Belair joins former winners Asuka, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.

Sunday was Edge’s second Royal Rumble Match win. He is now the eighth person to win more than one Royal Rumble Match. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin remains the only person to win three Royal Rumbles.

Here are the other multi-time winners whom Edge has now joined:
Hulk Hogan (1990, 1991)
Shawn Michaels (1995, 1996)
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin (1997, 1998, 2001)
Triple H (2002, 2016)
Batista (2005, 2014)
John Cena (2008, 2013)
Randy Orton (2009, 2017)

Scroll through our gallery for every winner ever.

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The 2021 Royal Rumble will be the last major PPV in the streaming service’s existing. On Monday, WWE and NBCUniversal announced that WWE Network and its programming is being folded into Peacock in March with a price point starting at $4.99. Subscribers can go ad-free for $9.99.

“We are thrilled to further the long-standing and trusted partnership WWE has with NBCUniversal,” Nick Khan, WWE president and chief revenue officer, said at the time. “Peacock is an innovative platform that will enable us to showcase our most significant events, including WrestleMania, and provide the extraordinary entertainment our fans have come to expect with the combination of premium WWE content, live sports, news, films, and television programs.”

In the third quarter of 2020, WWE Network averaged 1.6 million monthly paid subscribers. Last month, NBCU CEO Jeff Shell said Peacock had passed 26 million sign-ups. Those are not all paid, however. Comcast has projected Peacock will have up to 35 million subscribers by the end of 2024.

The six-episode Scandinavian dramatization starts in a courtroom as viewers — and head homicide investigator Jens Møller (portrayed by Soren Malling, pictured above) and prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen (Pilou Asbæk) — hear an unfavorable (for the good guys, at least) verdict in a murder case. This legally unprovable murder, which we are made to believe was definitely committed by the defendant, has no real relation to the Wall murder case.

It was a tough sell for Lindholm to convince others this was the right opening scene

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“I had a hard time explaining it in the beginning to everybody else. But, for me, it was very important to make the audience understand the rules of the game that the prosecutors, the police and the defense and the perpetrators — or at least the people on trial — are playing,” Lindholm told TheWrap. “Because in courtrooms, it is not about whether you have done it or not. It is about whether the prosecutor can erase any reasonable doubt that you’ve done it. That’s very different. I wanted to show that cynical line of rules of the game that we’re playing.”

The tough loss certainly set the stakes for later when Møller and his team are tasked with handling Buch-Jepsen a slam-dunk conviction in the Wall murder case. It was basically the O.J. Simpson case over there — no pressure.

“And then of course I wanted to let the audience know how personal it is for these guys and how much they hate to lose,” he continued. “Because if they know that somebody did it, but law is protecting that person– in the big picture, they live with it because that’s how democracy works, but in the individual case it’s a nightmare. By showing this we understand the drive of Jens and Jakob later. And that felt important to me.”

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Lindholm, who in his everyday life avoided the sad and gory details of the Wall tragedy as much as anyone could stay away from such an unavoidable story — the largest in his 43 years, Lindholm told TheWrap — initially dismissed what local news dubbed the “Submarine Case” as simply “some crazy guy did something terrible once more.”

That was, at least, until he met the real Jens Møller over coffee. Møller told Lindholm a different story.

“Suddenly, I understood that in this darkness that we all were obsessed with back in 2017…there was this story about life and about human sacrifice and friendship and loyalty and all the things that we value in life,” Lindholm recalled, heralding the work of Møller, his team and the strength of Kim’s parents Ingrid and Joachim Wall, with whom he’d form a professional (for this series) and personal relationship.

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While Lindholm (mostly) fashions his projects from real-life stories, “The Investigation” is a TV show, and TV shows need to be entertaining. We’re not sure that is the exact right adjective for this one, but the word gripping sure applies.

In terms of creative liberties taken on “The Investigation,” Lindholm omitted some people involved in the search for truth and instead created composites — a common practice in adapting real stories for the television medium.

“The real case, more than 20 investigators worked,” Lindholm said, rattling off a few such minor leaps for us. “Jens also has a son.”

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And then there was the whole “submarine” part of the “Submarine Case.” Lindholm said he “deliberately changed the drawings” of the real homemade sub so that he wouldn’t “allow” himself “to be fascinated with it.”

“I changed the route of the submarine so that we don’t have people going out there diving, trying to find stuff,” he said. “Other than that, no facts in the investigation — at all — were changed.”

Of course, the largest and most notable — and noticeable — addition-by-subtraction is the fact that the Danish inventor who murdered and dismembered Wall, Peter Madsen, is never seen nor named. Why? In Lindholm’s words, because “he didn’t really matter” in this story of the dogged (and dog-centric, in the end) police work. In ours, because f— him.

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In 2017, Kim Wall went missing after she boarded a submarine to interview Danish entrepreneur Madsen in what became known as “The Submarine Case.” The sub was found sunken the morning after the Aug. 10, 2017 interview, and Madsen was charged, and later convicted, of Wall’s murder.

“The Investigation” was made in close cooperation with the real-life Jens Møller and Kim Wall’s parents.

Readers can learn more about Kim Wall’s life and journalism and donate to the Kim Wall Memorial Fund here.

“The Investigation” premieres Monday, Feb. 1 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO.

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Leading in to “Card Sharks,” Jimmy Kimmel’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” also grew week to week. The CW’s “Batwoman” added more eyeballs to the previous Sunday’s tally, though it stayed steady in the adults 18-49 demographic.

Sunday was the NFL’s off week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl, which airs on CBS. The setting for Super Bowl LV will be Tampa Bay, Fla.’s Raymond James Stadium, home to the NFC Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It’s the first time a Super Bowl team will play the big game in its own stadium. The NFL is expecting 22,000 fans to attend Sunday’s game. Of them, 7,500 are vaccinated healthcare workers.

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ABC was first in ratings with a 0.5 rating/3 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and second in total viewers with an average of 3.4 million, according to preliminary numbers. Following a rerun, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” at 8 p.m. had a 0.5/3 and 4.2 million viewers. At 9, “Card Sharks” got a 0.5/3 and 3 million viewers. Another repeat followed.

CBS was second in ratings with a 0.4/3 and first in viewers with 4.9 million. At 7, “60 Minutes” drew a 0.7/4 and 9 million viewers. Reruns followed.

NBC, Telemundo and Fox tied for third in ratings, each with a 0.3/2. NBC was third in total viewers with 1.8 million, Telemundo was fifth with 979,000 and Fox was sixth with 896,000.

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NBC aired all reruns in Sunday’s primetime.

Univision was sixth in ratings with a 0.2/2 and fourth in viewers with 992,000.

The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.1/1 and in viewers with 628,000. At 8, “Batwoman” had a 0.2/1 and 717,000 viewers. “Charmed” at 9 got a 0.1/1 and 433,000 viewers.

Episode 507, titled “There,” which is the seventh episode of the NBC drama’s fifth season, will now air next Tuesday, Feb. 9. A rerun of “This Is Us” will play tomorrow night in its 9 p.m. time slot.

“No new episode of #ThisIsUs tonight – Covid-related production delays in LA have forced us to delay a few weeks,” series creator Dan Fogelman tweeted Jan. 19, when announcing the initial delay. “But the next few are big ones, and we are close, so we hope you’ll hang in there with us. Sorry!”

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“This Is Us” studio 20th Television is one of multiple studios that extended its holiday production hiatuses on Los Angeles-based shows in early January amid spikes in coronavirus cases. “This Is Us” was one of the series affected by the studio’s expanded hiatus, and its broadcast schedule on NBC has been affected as a result.

The Jan. 12 episode of “This Is Us” focused on the backstory of Randall’s (Sterling K. Brown) birth mother, Laurel (Jennifer C. Holmes), and the events that occurred both before and after his biological father, William, thought she had died of an overdose shortly after giving birth to Randall. The hour saw Randall and Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) go to New Orleans to hear the story from Laurel’s dear friend, Hai (Vien Hong).

The promo for Episode 507 of “This Is Us,” which aired immediately after the Jan. 12 installment, showed Kevin’s (Justin Hartley) car off the road, after it was revealed at the end of the hour that Madison (Caitlin Thompson) was in labor and he was rushing home from Vancouver to make it in time for the birth of their twins.

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Scarlet Witch and the Vision finally realize they are trapped in an anomaly that manifests as the town of Westview, the mid-season trailer for Marvel Studio’s “WandaVision” reveals.

“I don’t know how any of this started,” says Wanda (aka the Scarlet Witch) in the video, released Monday.

Westview is apparently an idyllic, quiet town where Wanda and Vision have chosen to settle and live out their lives. But is it? Neither of them can remember why they moved there, where they were prior, or really anything at all about their previous lives beyond their crazy superpowers. And now viewers have a few more answers about why that is.

Westview — a town in New Jersey — doesn’t actually exist. When Monica Rambeau arrives to investigate and meets FBI agent Jimmy Woo (last seen keeping watch on Scott Lang in “Ant-Man”), a sheriff from Eastview explains to them that even though they can see the town down the road, there’s “no such place.”

Viewers still don’t know exactly how this reality was created. Possible explanations for Westview’s existence include a warped reality in Wanda’s mind that she’s created to block out the trauma she’s experienced in the MCU, or something that an unrevealed third party put in place. Or something else entirely.

It’s easy to forget after Wanda spent the last few Marvel Cinematic Universe movies mostly just using her powers to pound bad guys that she also has mind powers. She can read people’s thoughts and influence them, as we saw her do a bunch of times in “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” Her mental abilities, which are derived from the very same Mind Stone that brought Vision to life, are more than capable of constructing this world in her mind — or in someone else’s.

Whatever the explanation, it appears that this world is a place that people can physically enter. So we could be seeing the Multiverse in action here.

On top of all that: why would it be a sitcom? Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) apparently had the same question.

Watch the “WandaVision” midseason trailer above and check out a new poster below:

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We can’t tell you what happens during Monday’s “9-1-1,” but we can tell you whatever it is leads to Buck (Oliver Stark) and Eddie (Ryan Guzman) packing up one of the 118’s fire trucks and heading from Los Angeles over to Texas to help out the “Lone Star” team for the Fox shows’ first-ever crossover episode.

But before Buck and Eddie can get their butts in gear, Hen (Aisha Hinds) decides she’s coming along for the ride.

In TheWrap’s exclusive sneak peek from tonight’s “9-1-1,” titled “Future Tense,” we hear a news reporter talking about the “raging fires” in San Angelo and that further counties, including the LAFD, have been asked to come help contain the flames.

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Buck, who says he’s been on the list for special deployment ever since he joined the department and never got a call before today, cannot wait to leave and Eddie is psyched too. Just before they can roll out, Hen comes over and plays the mom card, telling everyone to make sure they go to the bathroom before they start this 20-hour drive.

You might be wondering why Hen would choose to signup for this gig.

“I got two kids and med school bills to pay. I’ll take all the emergency overtime I can get. Besides it will be fun, I’ve never been to Texas,” she tells the guys.

Here’s the description for tonight’s “9-1-1,” which airs at 8 p.m.: The 118 race to save a man under siege by his high-tech smart home, and a yoga teacher who has lost her vision. Athena hunts down a bank robber disguised by Covid protocols. Meanwhile, Buck confides in Maddie, Hen clashes with her antagonizing medical school lab partner and members of the 118’s crew prep for an out-of-state mission.

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And here’s the synopsis for the “Lone Star” episode at 9 p.m., “Hold the Line,” which will act as the crossover: As a wildfire spreads across Texas, Evan “Buck” Buckley, Henrietta “Hen” Wilson and Eddie Diaz from the 118 firehouse in Los Angeles arrive in Austin to help Capt. Strand and the 126. As the crews race to save a group of teenagers trapped by the fire at a campground, Owen and Hen fight for their lives in the aftermath of a helicopter crash.

Check back with TheWrap tonight after the “9-1-1”/”Lone Star” crossover for our post-mortem interview with showrunner Tim Minear.

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Weiss resigned from her role as an opinion editor at the New York Times in July 2020, citing a “hostile work environment” and saying “self-censorship has become the norm.” To that end, she launched her own Substack earlier this month, delivering her unedited, unfiltered thoughts directly to subscribers. Still, she landed herself on a metro-area op-ed page Sunday evening. (A representative for the Post didn’t respond to a request for comment on whether her piece was a one-off or part of a longer-term arrangement.)

She penned a list of 10 ways everyday people can “stand up and fight back” against what she sees as a too-woke culture that easily silences dissidents with the threat of social ostracism.

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The list, she said, is for social conservatives, fans of Joe Rogan, “exhausted parents who want nothing to do with politics” and more.

The fifth item on the list advised readers, “If you don’t like it, leave it.”

“A class in college, a job, anything. Get out and do your own thing. I fully understand the impulse to want to change things from within. And by all means: Try as hard as you can. But if the leopard is currently eating the face of the person at the cubicle next to yours, I promise it’s not going to refrain from eating yours if you post the black square on Instagram,” Weiss wrote.

That echoes the sentiments from her 2020 resignation letter, in which she claimed Twitter had become the “ultimate editor” of the Times.

Read her list in full here.

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Maggie McPherson is described as a passionately committed deputy district attorney known to colleagues as “Maggie McFierce” for her unwavering dedication to her job, according to Netflix’s character notes. Although frequent tensions (both professional and personal) erupt between exes Mickey and Maggie, underneath it all they still care very deeply for one another. They are also both intensely loyal and loving co-parents to their tween-age daughter, Hayley.

“Tween-age” not our verbiage, but we’ll roll with it — for now.

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Here’s the series logline: Mickey Haller (Garcia-Rulfo), an iconoclastic idealist, runs his law practice out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car, as he takes on cases big and small across the expansive city of Los Angeles, California.

Based on the series of bestselling novels by author Michael Connelly, the first season is based on the second book in “The Lincoln Lawyer” series, “The Brass Verdict.”

Season 1 of the drama has a 10-episode order from the streaming service.

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“The Lincoln Lawyer” originally received a series commitment from CBS. The plan at the time was for Season 1 to air, well, pretty much right now, during the 2020-21 television season. The broadcast channel dropped the project last May amid the coronavirus pandemic, when the development of anything was pretty much impossible. Netflix, which is less tied to the traditional development cycle, swooped in and saved the A+E Studios series.

Kelley (“Big Little Lies”) will write and executive produce under showrunner Ted Humphrey. Connelly, the author of the original material, is also an executive producer — as is Ross Fineman.

Variety first reported Campbell’s casting.

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Odom plays iconic soul singer Sam Cooke in the film from director Regina King and also does his own singing on Cooke classics like “Chain Gang” and “A Change Is Gonna Come.” “I was terrified,” he told TheWrap of playing Cooke in the drama, which is based on an actual night in which Cooke, boxer Muhammad Ali (then called Cassius Clay), activist Malcolm X and football star Jim Brown met in a Miami hotel room after one of Ali’s fights.

Odom also co-wrote and performs a new song, “Speak Now,” in the film.

Past recipients of PSIFF’s Spotlight Award, Actor include Timothée Chalamet, Jamie Foxx, Sam Rockwell and J.K. Simmons.

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“Leslie Odom Jr. is a truly talented performer,” PSIFF Chairman Harold Matzner said in a statement. “In his latest project, ‘One Night in Miami,’ Odom Jr. brilliantly portrays singer Sam Cooke with charisma and tenacity, as he joins iconic figures Malcolm X, Cassius Clay and Jim Brown in this fictionalized account that is based on their actual meeting.”

This year’s festival and Awards Gala will not take place as in-person events, but PSIFF is nonetheless announcing a slate of awards recipients. The previously announced honorees are Riz Ahmed for “Sound of Metal” (Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor), Carey Mulligan for “Promising Young Woman” (International Star Award), Gary Oldman for “Mank” (Chairman’s Award), Chloé Zhao for “Nomadland” (Director of the Year Award) and “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Vanguard Award).

Odom is best known for his role as Aaron Burr in the musical “Hamilton,” for which he won Tony and Grammy Awards. His other film and television performances include “Harriet,” “Murder on the Orient Express,” “Red Tails” and “Central Park.”

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“The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson,” the “Westworld” star said in a statement posted to Instagram Monday. “He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I am done living in fear of retaliation, slander or blackmail. I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him, before he ruins any more lives. I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent.”

Representatives for Manson did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment on Wood’s accusations against the musician.

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Wood, who is now 33, met Manson when she was 18 and he was 36. The two had an on-and-off relationship between 2006 and 2011, becoming engaged in 2010 before their eventual split.

In 2018, the Emmy-nominated actress testified before Congress in support of the passage of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights in all 50 states, speaking about her own experiences with domestic abuse, without naming her abuser.

“My self-esteem and spirit were broken,” Wood said. “I was deeply terrified and that fear lives with me to this day. What makes me more hurt and more angry than the actual rape and abuse itself, was that piece of me that was stolen, which altered the course of my life.”

That same year, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to investigate a police report accusing Manson of unspecified sex crimes dating back to 2011, accusations that Manson’s team “categorically denied.” The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office cited statute of limitations and lack of corroboration as the reasons for declining to investigate.

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“The market is going strong and films are selling faster and sooner this year,” one top sales agent told TheWrap. “That’s partly the result of the efficiency of the festival, where we can screen the films quicker for buyers. The number of people we get to screen films for is so much higher and it’s faster and easier.”

“It’s going really well,” Josh Braun, co-founder of the hybrid sales, production and distribution company Submarine, told TheWrap. “At any normal Sundance, you often get to Sunday night and you evaluate what the market looks like and, traditionally, you feel like this dam is about to burst and all the announcements come Monday and Tuesday. This year, it’s different, in that all the premieres will have happened at the end of tonight.”

In the past four days, Sony Pictures Classics picked up the documentary “Jockey,” Neon made a seven-figure deal for the animated documentary “Flee” and bought the Alvin Ailey doc “Ailey,” and Apple broke festival sales records with its $25 million acquisition of “CODA.” And that doesn’t include sales of films before the festival even started, with RLJE Films buying Nicolas Cage’s “Prisoners of a Ghostland” and Juno picking up “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World.”

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For veterans of the festival, this year’s red-hot pace of early acquisitions was a throwback — especially since at last year’s festival, none of the major buzzy films had sold four days in. “A few years ago, it seemed like a lot of titles were gone by the end of opening weekend, but over the last few years, things have taken more time and sales have happened further into — and even sometimes weeks after — the festival,” one producer told TheWrap.

But this year, the opening days of the festival have sparked some heated bidding wars, and many of the buzzy films, especially in the documentary competition, are garnering a lot of interest from buyers. Docs like “Summer of Soul,” “The Sparks Brothers” and “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It” and features like Rebecca Hall’s “Passing” are hot right now, according to multiple insiders.

“Buyers seem keen on finding that next doc that could be an international feature Oscar-entry, as well as a Best Documentary contender,” Braun said.

And with the pandemic disruption to both new productions and release slates, there are a lot of companies clamoring for content. “Every major media company is poised to buy,” the sales agent said.

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“It was a tough year for production and a lot of people saved their films for Sundance, especially on the documentary side, and people are coming ready to buy,” the seller said. “The other thing we are seeing is the effect of media companies consolidating and they are acting as corporate entities instead of smaller media companies.”

Hulu, which teamed with Neon last year for the then-record acquisition of the Andy Samberg-Cristin Milioti rom-com “Palm Springs,” can partner up with corporate parent Disney’s overseas streaming service Star for worldwide distribution deals, insiders have noted. In addition, WarnerMedia “realized they have to compete in the streaming space and they need to use the full might of the media company,” the seller said.

The virtual nature of this year’s Sundance has also led to quicker sales, with insiders crediting festival organizers for creating a platform that makes viewing films easy — while everyone operating remotely makes setting up Zoom calls or meetings less of a hassle than face-to-face haggling in Park City.

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“Sundance nailed it,” the seller said. “The films on the Sundance platform have had an incredible response in a way that doesn’t happen in person because now, no one is running around to the next screening and you can take your time discussing the films.”

Braun, who is selling films like “Rebel Hearts,” “Try Harder” and the Rita Moreno doc at the festival, said the smaller number of titles has contributed to fast, aggressive sales. After all, there is a 43% drop in the number of features included in this year’s festival compared to last year (from 128 to 73). Fewer films creates more urgency, he explained, putting pressure on those needing to find content. “It’s like a pressure cooker,” he said.”There are a lot of buyers out there, so it’s really less titles available and all those buyers being hungry,” he said. “My hope is that there is something for everyone.”

As TheWrap reported ahead of the festival, many distributors and streamers are looking for finished films since new productions have been stop-and-start under pandemic protocols. “There’s a lot of people that need to buy content,” the seller said. Despite the initial optimism about this year’s sales market, no one predicted a massive sale like Apple’s $25 million “CODA” buy.

Amazon and Netflix, who usually are front and center of the sales, have been quiet so far. But the festival is still going on for three more days, and insiders expect the market to remain strong well beyond that with lots of opportunities for the streamers to swoop in with acquisitions. “I expect that over the next days, there will be many films sold — there is lots of action but probably nothing to announce quite just yet,” the seller said.

“I don’t think that it’s likely that there will be more $25 million sales, but it’s what drives the excitement in the world,” Braun added. “It’s clear from talking to buyers that they want to find a film and close the deal quickly. By Monday, I think the floodgates will open.”

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Alzheimer’s, which is a spectrum disorder, is the most common form of age-related dementia. More than five million Americans have the progressive memory disease, which can go so far as to render one without speech.

Many of the saddest stories of Alzheimer’s disease surround a loved one wandering away from familiar areas, not knowing who they are or where they reside. Fortunately, that is not the case with Bennett — at least, not yet.

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“Although he can still recognize family members, he is, according to [his wife] Susan, not always sure where he is or what is happening around him,” the article said of Bennett’s status as of the November-set interview. “Mundane objects as familiar as a fork or a set of house keys can be utterly mysterious to him.”

Bennett, a legendary jazz singer, had a career resurgence in recent years after collaborating on a book of standards — and a tour — with pop star Lady Gaga in 2014. A follow-up from the unlikely duo, recorded between 2018 and early 2020, will be released this spring. Susan says Tony’s symptoms were already clearly apparent when he began recording the new album with Gaga.

It wasn’t the crooner’s first late-career comeback. In the 1990s, Bennett inexplicably became a hit among — and a fixture within — the MTV generation.

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Throughout his many decades as a recording and touring artist, Bennett has been very prolific, releasing a remarkable 60 studio albums. Most of those came on the Columbia Records label.

Bennet has won 18 Grammy Awards, exactly half of the 36 nominations he’s received.

Find all the wins and nods here.

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Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in Queens, New York, in 1926, at 18, Bennett served in World War II.

Bennett has played himself on “The Simpsons,” “30 Rock” and “Entourage,” among other TV series. He parodied himself once on “Saturday Night Live,” playing “Phony Bennett.” In 2014, he appeared as himself in the “Muppets Most Wanted” movie.

In response to the profile, Bennett tweeted Monday, “Life is a gift – even with Alzheimer’s. Thank you to Susan and my family for their support, and AARP The Magazine for telling my story.” Read the full AARP story here.

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Produced by Sonic creator SEGA, as well as WildBrain Studios and Man of Action Entertainment, the show will premiere in 2022.

Per Netflix, The 24-episode animated adventure for kids, families, and long-time fans draws upon the keystones of the brand and features the “Blue Blur” of video game fame in a high-octane adventure where the fate of a strange new multiverse rests in his gloved hands. Sonic’s adventure is about more than a race to save the universe, it’s a journey of self-discovery and redemption.

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The Netflix series based on the beloved video game — which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year — “aims to captivate the imaginations of audiences ages six to 11, as well as legacy Sonic fans of all ages, and will match the scale and scope of the epic adventures synonymous with the Sonic franchise.”

“Sonic Prime” will be animated at WildBrain’s Vancouver studio, and SEGA and WildBrain will jointly participate across production, distribution and licensing. Man of Action Entertainment, the team behind “Ben 10” and “Big Hero 6,” will serve as executive producer and showrunners.

Sonic was recently adapted for the big screen in Paramount Pictures’ 2020 movie “Sonic the Hedgehog,” in which Ben Schwartz voiced the title character. The film, which took the number one spot worldwide on opening weekend, already has a sequel in development.

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An individual with knowledge tells TheWrap there are no casting details yet for Netflix’s “Sonic Prime” series. (As fans of the blur blur probably already know, Roger Craig Smith, who has voiced Sonic across video games and TV series for more than 10 years, announced he was retiring from the gig last week.)

“Sonic the Hedgehog is a global entertainment icon that has captivated audiences since its video game debut in 1991,” Ivo Gerscovich, chief brand officer at SEGA, said. “With over 1.14 billion game units sold and downloaded to date, an exciting feature film, a robust licensing program and more, SEGA’s iconic hedgehog continues to surprise and delight audiences worldwide. We’re thrilled to partner with WildBrain, Man of Action Entertainment and Netflix to speed into this new, animated chapter in the Sonic franchise.”

“Sonic is a beloved character and holds a special place in everyone’s heart including my own,” Dominique Bazay, director of original animation at Netflix, said. “I spent many hours with the blue blur as a kid and it’s a privilege to be able to bring this character everyone knows and loves on a brand new adventure with Netflix — one that a generation of loyal fans and brand new fans around the world can enjoy.”

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When the Kansas City Chiefs attempt to defend their title against the hometown Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it will come in front of a far-less-than-capacity crowd of 22,000 masked-up fans, 7,500 of which will be vaccinated health-care workers. The NFL and CBS, which is broadcasting this year’s big game, have had to rethink almost every part of what is annually a weeklong celebration leading up to the biggest TV event of the year.

“It’s going to be unlike any Super Bowl that I’ve been to,” CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus told media during a virtual press conference with the rest of CBS’ broadcast team. “The Super Bowl usually is a time where we have a lot of meetings with our NFL partners, with owners. We go to a lot of functions like the the big Friday night party that the commissioner holds every year, where you pretty much see everybody involved in television, sports and NFL football.”

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The NFL is the latest sports league that’s had to adapt its marquee event to the reality of the pandemic. The NBA and NHL held their respective championships inside attendance-free bubble environments. Major League Baseball’s own drastically shortened 2020 season finished in front of very little attendance in a neutral stadium of its own.

Most of the events that take place during Super Bowl week, including the big Opening Night event that kicks off the festivities on Monday, will happen virtually this year. The Chiefs won’t even arrive in Tampa until the day before the game. Around the city of Tampa, the Super Bowl Experience, a fan-friendly exhibit that is among the most highly attended attractions, is operating on a reservation system (it’s already sold out) and will require masks and social-distancing protocols.

For play-by-play broadcaster Jim Nantz, the Super Bowl will be an extension of what he’s been doing all season long. “Normally, you would be in by the previous Sunday night or Monday morning at the latest and you go through all the interviews and go to the press days,” he said. Since the Buccaneers are able to stay in their homes and the Chiefs won’t be arriving until Saturday, “there’s not a need for us to be just hanging out in a room in Florida,” he added.

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Nantz will not arrive until Thursday and the only other time he said he’ll go to Raymond James Stadium is for a brief walk-through of the trophy presentation on Friday. “I’ll be pretty much quarantined in my room until game time on Sunday.” Though Nantz understands the need for the strict protocols due to the virus, he laments that this Super Bowl (and this season in general) has something missing.

“There’s nothing social about it. I missed it big time,” he said. “It’s not OK with me, I’ll be honest.”

If there is one thing going for this year’s weird Super Bowl, the matchup could not be more TV-friendly. On one side, the Chiefs and star quarterback Patrick Mahomes are attempting to win back-to-back titles against Tampa QB Tom Brady, who is going for his seventh win (in his first year since his divorce from the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick). It’s the first time any team has played the Super Bowl in its home stadium, though that significance will be wiped out somewhat by the sparse attendance.

McManus admitted that the tone of the broadcast will be shaped by the current reality that the country is still very much in the throes of a pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 Americans. “The existence of the health care workers, the overhang of the pandemic, it’s all gonna make our tone a little bit different,” he said. “We’re not going to be somber, and we’re not going to be depressing, but I think we’re going to put everything in perspective.”

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CBS’ sideline reporter Tracey Wolfson has had her whole job change all year since she’s not allowed to be up close and personal with the players. All year long, she and other sideline reporters have had to station themselves in the first few empty rows of stadiums rather than directly behind the team benches.

“It’s gonna be interesting standing there, looking around with a stadium that’s filled with 22,000 fans,” she said. “I don’t know if you’re going to get that huge pomp and circumstance that you’re normally used to.”

When the Super Bowl ends, the NFL will begin its long off-season with the hopes that by September, the U.S. will have reached, or at least have started to reach, some kind of normality. Hollywood will share that same feeling, and not just because the entertainment industry has found it really difficult to keep its cameras rolling during the pandemic.

It’s also the site of next year’s Super Bowl.

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One might have hoped that “Prisoners of the Ghostland” — Sono’s English-language debut, starring Cage, and making its world premiere at Sundance — would have elevated Cage to Sono’s level, but unfortunately, it’s done the opposite. While the film far outshines most of Cage’s recent efforts (he was direct-to-VOD when direct-to-VOD wasn’t cool) in terms of art direction and fearlessly madcap storytelling, the results are nonetheless muddled and messy.

It’s impossible to recap actors-turned-screenwriters Aaron Henry and Reza Sixo Safai’s plot without sounding unhinged, but it basically boils down to a bank robber known only as Hero (Cage) being forced by corrupt, white-suit-wearing The Governor (horror legend Bill Moseley) to rescue The Governor’s “granddaughter” Bernice (Sofia Boutella), who disappeared after escaping his brothel.

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To ensure that Hero will not harm her, The Governor puts him in a leather jumpsuit with strategically-placed explosives designed to control his behavior and to force him to complete the job in just a few days. Driving down the same highway Bernice did, Hero finds himself taken to the Ghostland, where everyone lives in fear of a clock that must be held in place, lest a nuclear explosion take place, one that can be prevented only if The Governor dies.

There are samurais and cowboys and 18-wheelers and zombies and convicts exposed to nuclear waste, and this all sounds far more entertaining in the description than “Prisoners of the Ghostland” manages to be in execution.

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Not that the film doesn’t have Midnight Movie potential: The narrative is probably best served by audience members being not entirely awake or not entirely sober, the better to enjoy the sing-along scene, or the swordfight set to a mellow Jim Croce tune, or the part where Cage yells, “Karate chop you!” at a potential assailant.

Sono’s films certainly aren’t known for following a straight line from A to B — one of his greatest works, 2008’s “Love Exposure,” is a gender-fluid saga of superheroes and original sin and up-skirt panty photography that’s four hours long and never less than riveting — but this time around, there’s barely any internal logic or rules or even stakes to make this jumble of genre tropes remotely interesting.

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The director’s gift for visual style is certainly on display, from a running motif involving gumballs to the cherry-blossom petals that rain down on the bordello compound, but it’s all in the service of a flat piece of storytelling. All the creepy mannequins and primary-colored flashbacks in the world can’t bring us into a story that just isn’t there.

“Prisoners of the Ghostland” has been acquired by RLJE Films.

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The most obvious example is the opening-night documentary “In the Same Breath” from Chinese-born director Nanfu Wang, who came to Park City straight from China in January 2020, and then found she couldn’t rejoin her husband and son there because of the pandemic lockdown. Her film includes wrenching footage from Wuhan in the early days of the virus but expands to look at the Chinese and American governments’ mishandling of the pandemic for political reasons.

But a documentary about COVID is far from the only Sundance film to bear the marks of it. Friday, the second day of the festival, brought an afternoon premiere of Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones’ comedy “How It Ends,” which was shot on the streets of Los Angeles during the pandemic and is set on the last day before the Earth will be destroyed by an asteroid. Three hours later, Ben Wheatley premiered “In the Earth,” a horror film that he shot in the U.K. during the pandemic, about a society in which a virus has raged unabated for a year.

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Other Sundance films that have nothing to do with viruses have somehow caught the mood of the moment. Lucy Walker’s “Bring Your Own Brigade,” for example, is a documentary about the wildfires that have grown increasingly deadly in California over the past few years. But as she delved into the story, Walker said when she came into TheWrap’s virtual Sundance studio that she found the science denial and political motivations behind the COVID response was also present in our response to wildfires.

Meanwhile, Robin Wright’s directorial debut, “Land,” is in some ways a meditation on isolation; the creepy drama “John and the Hole” finds a family in its own enforced isolation, which costar Jennifer Ehle compared to pandemic stay-at-home orders; and Christopher Abbott’s performance in Jerrod Carmichael’s “On the Count of Three” is an encapsulation of the rage that lurks under the surface (and often above the surface) in 2021.

Other Sundance films, even ones set in different times, have ended up speaking to the uncertain and tumultuous time in which we live. “When I started out, I thought I was making a movie about 1969,” director Questlove told TheWrap, referring to his documentary “Summer of Soul,” which chronicles a Harlem music festival but expands to cover issues of racial tension. “But then I realized it was as much about today as it was about 50 years ago.”

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Sundance 2021 has definitely been about today, starting with the fact that people are watching it from their homes and all the Q&As are virtual. But it’s also about today because the films deal with race (Rebecca Hall’s “Passing,” Shaka King’s upcoming “Judas and the Black Messiah”), refugees (the animated documentary “Flee,” the ISIS doc “Sabaya”), fake news (“Misha and the Wolves”), LGBT issues (“My Name Is Pauli Murray”) and revolutions coming from the oddest places (nuns in “Rebel Hearts,” children’s television in “Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street”).

Even the festival’s biggest sale ever, “CODA,” takes a fairly conventional, crowd-pleasing coming-of-age story and gives it a spin that speaks to today’s cries for inclusion and diversity by casting three deaf actors in crucial roles. And as Sharon Waxman pointed out, behind the scenes the festival has hit new peaks in showcasing work from female directors.

That doesn’t mean that Sundance ’21 has been all about current issues; it’s also showcased a typical array of character studies (the docs “Ailey” and “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It”), tough dramas (“Mass”) and indie riffs (“R#J,” which tries very hard to update Shakespeare for the social media age).

Also Read: 'Passing' Film Review: Rebecca Hall's Stunning Directorial Debut Provocatively Explores Race

Normally, four days into a Sundance Film Festival would be time to look back at the festival so far and look ahead to the remaining week — but in this case, nearly everything has already been showcased. Not only was the festival reduced from its usual 11-day run down to seven days, but it was also severely frontloaded: Of the 74 features screening over six days (the seventh being devoted to award winners), 67 will have premiered by the end of Sunday.

What’s left are some films that have already played elsewhere (“Night of the Kings,” “The World to Come”) and Warner Bros.’ premiere of “Judas and the Black Messiah,” among others. And that means that Sundance so far is pretty much all the Sundance we’re gonna get — a slimmed-down, virtualized, COVID-ized festival that has set a new record for the biggest deal ever while struggling to capture the Park City feeling when nobody’s in Park City.

The Sundance virtual festival platform is state-of-the-art when it comes to moving the festival experience online — but like everything else about the past year, it’s not really what we wanted. Still, as one of Donald Trump’s favorite rally songs reminded us (and him), you can’t always get what you want. And maybe those virtual screenings of “CODA” and “In the Same Breath” and “Passing” and “On the Count of Three” are what we need.

In a pandemic year, we’ll just have to settle for a pandemic Sundance.

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While making the Oscar-nominated documentary “RBG,” directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen came upon the incredible story of one of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s greatest influences: civil and women’s rights activist Pauli Murray. Now, three years after “RBG” premiered at Sundance, they are back with “My Name Is Pauli Murray,” which tells of a life made for the big screen.

“After ‘RBG’ debuted, we did some research and went, ‘Whoa!'” West said during a Q&A in TheWrap’s Virtual Sundance Studio presented by NFP and National Geographic. “This woman is so much more…[someone] who influenced RBG and Thurgood Marshall and who, as an activist did so many groundbreaking things before anyone else.”

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Cohen said that Murray was an “underrecognized figure in so many areas” — a Black, non-binary activist and civil rights worker, whose 1950 book “States’ Laws on Race and Color” was considered by Marshall and other activists to be a core document in the push against racial segregation. She was named a co-author in Ginsburg’s brief for her landmark Reed v. Reed victory at the Supreme Court that gave women more control over estates. She was also the first Black person to receive a doctorate from Yale Law School and the first Black woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest.

“How could you not tell this story?” Cohen said. “Obviously, there was the disadvantage that Pauli passed away back in 1985, but very fortunately and through Pauli’s forward-thinking, there’s a tremendous archive of Pauli’s written work and audiotapes and videotapes of Pauli speaking for the future, and that was a foundation for the film.”

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It may seem strange that such an influential figure has been overshadowed by the legal icons she influenced, but Talleah Bridges McMahon, the documentary’s producer, thinks that Murray was so ahead of the curve that it, ironically, worked against her personal legacy.

“Pauli was working on these big issues before anyone really paid attention to them,” Bridges McMahon said. “And by the time there were these big movements, Pauli had already moved on to the next thing. So Pauli was working independently ahead of everyone.”

TheWrap’s Sundance Virtual Studio is sponsored by NFP and National Geographic.

Watch more of the interview with the makers of “My Name Is Pauli Murray” in the clip above.

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Why not? Lesser men have tried — and failed — to floor Owens through lesser measures. And the keys were (presumably) right. there.

From the “Head of the Table” to the driver’s seat.

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Watch the madness from Tampa Bay, Florida’s Tropicana Field (where the MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays play) unfold below.

Like WrestleMania 36 had originally planned (before the coronavirus pandemic came to the States), WrestleMania 37 is set for another major Tampa Bay sports venue: the April 10 and April 11 PPV event will take place at Raymond James Stadium. That’s where the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers play ball — and where one week from tonight, the NFC Champions will become the first team in National Football League history to have home-field advantage in the Super Bowl.

Last year’s WrestleMania ended up being relocated to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

Chromatica 2 into Roman Reigns running Kevin Owens over with a golf cart #RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/QswohQ4Ksd

— Daniel J. Layton (@DanielJLayton) February 1, 2021

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This was AFTER Reigns tossed Owens off the WWE Thunderdome, by the way. Watch that unfold below.

The bigger they are…

@WWERomanReigns just sent @FightOwensFight FLYING out of the virtual stands and through a table! #RoyalRumble #UniversalTitle pic.twitter.com/nMAE0a1CWF

— WWE (@WWE) February 1, 2021

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Unfortunately for Reigns, neither of these insane assaults stopped Owens from doing this:

KEVIN OWENS. That's it. That's the tweet. #RoyalRumble #UniversalTitle @FightOwensFight @WWERomanReigns @HeymanHustle pic.twitter.com/OtitCoOpr1

— WWE (@WWE) February 1, 2021

Yeah, that’s Owens performing a Senton Bomb off of a forklift and onto/through a table (oh yeah, and Reigns).

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Later, Reigns speared Owens through the WWE video board, because none of this was nuts enough.

There aren't words anymore to describe how crazy this match is. #UniversalTitle #RoyalRumble @WWERomanReigns @FightOwensFight @HeymanHustle pic.twitter.com/qK25M3Wu3K

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) February 1, 2021

A quick reminder: This was not even Sunday’s main event.

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Reigns would end up winning via a Guillotine choke, though he had to K.O. (pun kind of intended) one referee to get through a handcuff spot.

There appeared to be a bit of a botch as Reigns’ manager Paul Heyman didn’t get his guy out of the handcuff predicament in time to be the customary 10-count stipulation. The second ref, who replaced the original one after that dude got knocked out cold, inexplicably stopped counting at “5.”

The Men’s Royal Rumble Match followed Owens vs. Reigns. Good luck with that, (30) boys.

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This year we don’t have a panel — and I’m not sure we need one.

For the first time since I can recall, a rich trove of films directed by women at the Sundance Film Festival is dominating the conversation at the festival — even virtually — and resonating with audiences, critics and buyers alike.

This includes “CODA” by writer-director Sian Heder, the film that broke all Sundance sales records with a $25 million buy by Apple this weekend, about a deaf family and their hearing daughter who chases her dream as a singer.

Also Read: 'CODA' Sells to Apple for Record-Breaking $25 Million After Sundance Bidding War

It includes “Passing,” embraced widely by critics after its premiere on Saturday (TheWrap critic Carlos Aguilar called it an “impressively refined and superbly acted directorial debut”), by actress-turned-filmmaker Rebecca Hall. That film stars Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga as well-to-do women who can “pass” on either side of the racial divide, set in 1920s Harlem.

It includes “Land,” the widely-praised first feature by actress Robin Wright, already acquired and launched into the Academy Awards race by Focus Features. Wright directs herself as a grief-stricken woman who strikes out into the wilderness to survive or perish up against the elements.

And numerous notable documentaries by women, including Nanfu Wang’s remarkable investigation into the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in China and the United States, “In the Same Breath”; Lucy Walker’s ambitious look at California wildfires, “Bring Your Own Brigade”; and Jamila Wignot’s documentary “Ailey” about the groundbreaking African-American choreographer Alvin Ailey, which was bought over the weekend by Neon. And that’s just a partial list.

Also Read: Sundance 2021: What Has Sold So Far, From 'CODA' to 'Flee' (Photos)

Sundance has long been a festival that has intentionally strived for diversity, aiming for many years to increase female representation and make space for marginalized voices. That commitment certainly showed in the elevation of Tabitha Jackson as the chief programmer last year, who has voiced her own passion for gender parity and spotlighting underrepresented voices.

But this year feels like some kind of balance has been achieved. Among all of the 72 feature films announced for the festival in December, 47% were directed by women, 3% by non-binary individuals, 43% by BIPOC and 8% by one or more LGBTQ+ filmmakers. (Two more features, both directed by men, were later added.)

There is no mistaking these films for tokens or placeholders. And as someone who has attended Sundance since the mid-1990s when the main competition, year after year, was dominated by coming-of-age dramas or comedies about a young, white man (“Brothers McMullen”; “Napoleon Dynamite”; “Garden State”; “Donnie Darko”), it is a relief to see different kinds of stories so powerfully told.

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Can it be that we have finally achieved an even playing field?

“The moment I saw ‘Passing’ I thought, ‘That will be such an important film for us to create these conversations at Sundance,'” said Kim Yutani, the director of programming at Sundance, in an interview on Sunday. “In this space where the conversation is so much bigger, immediately – it’s a rare opportunity for us.”

She went on: “We’ve been moving the needle for so many years, long before I was leading programming. It’s a long tradition here, to look at outsiders. And now we’ve been pushing so much, putting images and uplifting filmmakers whose voices were not heard on the same level as other voices. To feel that kind of shift is kind of exciting.”

“You have to look at the lack of opportunity given to women, and once people start letting women on the ladders, I don’t think there’s a reason that women can’t make phenomenal movies,” filmmaker Lucy Walker said when I reached her between screenings on Sunday. “We’ve not been allowed on the ladder.”

Walker emphasized that unless women are able to build as an artist, to learn and improve through making movies, there’s little chance to create a great work. “You need to exercise your muscles, build your relationships, build your maturity as an artist,” she said. “A masterpiece is not going to come from a 50-year-old first-timer.”

In interviews at TheWrap’s Sundance studio, female directors talked not just about their individual work but about their choice to tell different kinds of stories. In “Together Together,” writer-director Nikole Beckwith weaves an unconventional comedy about a man hiring a woman (Patti Harrison) to be his surrogate so he can be a father. In “CODA,” the film that sold for such a stunning sum, Heder strikes a funny but honest tone in a story about a deaf family.

“The real problem we have is that these stories are so infrequently told, that when they are, there is this pressure to be all things to all people and to represent every aspect of that experience. And my hope is by telling this story, more stories are told,” Heder told Wrap film editor Beatrice Verhoeven.

Walker, who has been fighting to see more parity in filmmaking for years, the moment feels a long time coming. “We have to see this,” she said. “There isn’t an inherent reason why women can’t make great movies. We have to be given chances. It will take more than a lightning storm to get women working. Sometimes the first movie is OK, and it survives. And it’s the next movie where it blossoms.”

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“My sweet sweet brother, Marc Edward Wilmore, passed away last night while battling COVID and other conditions that have had him in pain for many years. My brother was the kindest, gentlest, funniest, lion of an angel I’ve ever known. I love you little brother,” Larry Wilmore said in a tweet.

In addition to “F Is For Family,” Wilmore also served as a writer for “In Living Color,” appearing onscreen during the show’s final season doing celebrity impersonations of stars like James Earl Jones, Maya Angelou, Andy Rooney and Bob Hope, the latter two in segments imagining what the “60 Minutes” star and the comedian would be like if they were Black.

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He also wrote episodes for “The Simpsons” starting in 2000, including a “Treehouse of Horror” segment where Homer discovers a magical hammock that allows him to make clones of himself. Other writing credits include the claymation series “The PJs” and “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”

Fellow “Simpsons” writer Mike Reiss wrote, “Great on the page, hilarious in the room, and one of the warmest guys I ever had the joy to work with.”

See more tributes to Marc Wilmore below:

My sweet sweet brother, Marc Edward Wilmore, passed away last night while battling COVID and other conditions that have had him in pain for many years. My brother was the kindest, gentlest, funniest, lion of an angel I’ve ever known. I love you little brother. pic.twitter.com/Zhcg1U4Evr

— Larry Wilmore (@larrywilmore) February 1, 2021

In loving memory of Marc Wilmore, writer of a dozen episodes of @TheSimpsons. Great on the page, hilarious in the room, and one of the warmest guys I ever had the joy to work with. https://t.co/qIpKHoPFth

— Mike Reiss (@MikeReissWriter) January 31, 2021

When Marc Wilmore was talking everyone shut up and let him roll, knowing we were witnessing comedic genius. And as funny as he was, he was an even nicer person. I will miss you my friend. https://t.co/jXeIy9x7eb

— Eric Goldberg (@egoldy23) February 1, 2021

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In her feature directorial debut, Wright plays Edee Holzer, a woman clearly shattered from some overwhelmingly enormous tragedy. As the film begins, she is already leaving her former life behind by purchasing an isolated cabin on a Wyoming mountain, tossing her cell phone in the trash and having her truck towed away as soon as she arrives.

These choices are so irrational that one might assume she’s chosen a spot to conclude her pain. But she’s also brought the sorts of books and camping supplies a city dweller might use to try and survive the unknown. The mountain, of course, merely mocks her. An angry bear destroys her supplies, books won’t trap her food, and she can’t get much water by dipping some plastic bottles in a swift-moving river.

Watch Video: Robin Wright Searches for Meaning in 'Land' Trailer

Regardless of her original intentions, her mission is built on madness. And when she finally collapses out of hunger and hypothermia (wood chopping also turns out to be much harder than she imagined), it seems the end is near.

Her luck turns when a kind stranger checks in on her. Soft-spoken local Miguel (Demián Bichir, “A Better Life”) stops by just in time to save Edee, not only physically but spiritually. Though she tries to warn him off — she doesn’t want anything to do with humanity anymore — he gives her just enough space to heal. Over the next few seasons, he teaches her how to live with the land rather than fight against it.

If that sounds trite, well — Jesse Chatham and Erin Dignam’s script is not strong on subtlety. Indeed, its lack of depth feels strikingly at odds with an otherwise refined film. The characters are barely sketched, with supporting turns from Sarah Dawn Pledge and Kim Dickens written down to nearly nothing. Miguel has plenty of screen time, but he suffers from being a cliché; even Edee calls him Yoda for his laconic but film-friendly wisdom.

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Chatham and Dignam may have felt that Edee’s pain is so deep that a backstory would be extraneous. And Wright is able to delve further into Edee’s emotions, approaching her sense of loss — and lost sense of self — with moving and understated empathy. But since Miguel never feels like a real person, and Edee is so contained, we need more.

We get it from cinematographer Bobby Bukowski, who approaches the setting with evident reverence. (The movie was shot on Moose Mountain in Alberta, Canada, and could reasonably be touted by their tourism bureau.) He often keeps a respectful distance, following Edee through trees and from afar as though he doesn’t want to disturb her, either. But this gives him room to take in those stunning vistas, as they shift from one mercurial season to the next. Beautiful as the mountain is, Edee never knows what new surprise will greet her each day. It might be a sunrise and a field of wildflowers. Or it could be a snowstorm and an ornery animal.

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The movie is so visually striking, it’s no surprise that Wright worked with two top editors, Anne McCabe (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”) and Mikkel E.G. Nielsen (“Sound of Metal”). The strings-heavy score from composers Ben Sollee and Time for Three also offers effective support, as it fluctuates in discreet unison with Edee’s experiences.

It would be nice to see Wright work from a stronger script next time, but she rises above the limitations admirably. And for anyone unable to leave the confines of their own home or neighborhood right now, “Land” offers simple lessons and stunning landscapes that may feel like a welcome balm.

“Land” opens in theaters Feb. 12.

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