Scandal claims Transparent
The critically acclaimed drama Transparent has been cancelled, its scalp effectively claimed by the behind-the-scenes sexual harassment scandal which engulfed its star Jeffrey Tambor. One of the veteran actor's co-stars, Trace Lysette, claimed Tambor made sexual comments to her and physically touched her during filming of the show's second season. Tambor was initially stood down and will not appear in the show's fifth season, but creator Jill Soloway has now confirmed the coming season will be the show's last. Tambor played transgender parent Maura Pfefferman in the series.
Jeffrey Tambor as Maura in Transparent.
Photo: Emily Shur
You're fired!
Despite Hollywood's noted sensitivity to bad headlines, it takes a lot to actually get fired from a TV show. Lethal Weapon star Clayne Crawford found out how much this week as that series – produced by Warner Bros Television for Fox in the US and sold to Channel Nine in Australia – sacked him in the wake of a series of damaging allegations of on-set misconduct. The trade newspaper Variety confirmed Warner Bros was looking to replace Crawford should the series return; the studio acted after behind-the-scenes tensions reached flashpoint and Crawford was twice "reprimanded" for behaviour.
Arrested Development's cast is reportedly unhappy with a recut of the show's fourth season.
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New player for streaming TV
Australia's already tight streaming market is to get a new player by the end of the year with US CBS boss Les Moonves confirming the studio's CBS All Access service would launch in Australia by the end of 2018. In the US the platform has a number of marquee titles including Star Trek: Discovery, The Good Fight and a remake of Stan's No Activity, however rights to to those shows are held with other channels or platforms in Australia. Moonves described the CBS acquisition of Ten as a "gateway to launch in that market", according to The Australian Financial Review. In the US the service as more than 2 million subscribers.
Daina Reid wins top award
Television director Daina Reid has been crowned with the award for best director of a television drama miniseries at the annual Directors Guild of Australia awards. Reid won for her work on the series Sunshine, which is also nominated at this year's Monte Carlo Television Festival. Wentworth's Fiona Banks won the award for direction of a television drama series; Banks also won for directing the children's series Mustangs FC. Other winners included Jonahan Brough (Rosehaven, for direction of a comedy program) and Danny Raco (Home and Away, for best direction of a television drama serial). Previously, Raco worked as an actor on Home and Away, Heartbreak High and Blue Heelers.
Making the cut
To recut or not to recut, that is the question. In a case which echoes curiously an infamous one in Australia (where Prisoner's producers, Grundy Television, recut episodes into the telemovie The Franky Doyle Story back in the day), Arrested Development's studio Fox has recut the show's fourth season of 15 longer 30-minute episodes into 22 episodes of 22 minutes each to help swing repeat sales. And the cast, who were paid per episode, are not happy. After the "recut", The Hollywood Reporter says, actors Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Michael Cera and David Cross are asking for "added compensation". For what it's worth, when the case was fought over Prisoner, the judge ruled in favour of the actors.
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Michael Idato is a Senior Writer based in Los Angeles for The Sydney Morning Herald.
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