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ABC And FCC Duel Over Court Jurisdiction In First Amendment Case

Published

2 hours ago

August 20, 2026

ABC is proposing a hearing as soon as Friday on its request for a temporary restraining order in its First Amendment lawsuit against the FCC, while the agency signaled that it plans to challenge the litigation as premature.

The plans were laid out on Thursday on in a joint status report from the parties, as requested by the federal judge in the case, Loren L. AliKhan.

The network sued the FCC on Tuesday, claiming that the agency’s order for an early renewal of its eight station broadcast licenses was highly unusual and part of a pattern of using regulatory threat to retaliate on content and news coverage the Trump administration disfavors. In the immediate term, they are asking for a temporary restraining order to halt the renewal proceedings, characterizing them as a threat that chills the network’s free speech rights.

In the filing, ABC’s legal team proposed a hearing for Friday or next week, on Aug. 24 and 25, and the FCC said that its lawyers would be available on those dates.

In the meantime, the FCC’s lawyers, calling ABC’s schedule “highly expedited,” proposed a briefing schedule for next month, and also wrote that they planned to file a motion to dismiss. They argued that the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, not the district court, had jurisdiction, and that the network had to allow the regulatory process to play out.

The agency’s legal team claimed that the network was trying to “circumvent an administrative proceeding followed by judicial review in a court of appeals.”

They wrote, “Although framed as a First Amendment retaliation claim, Plaintiffs’ chief concern appears to be the Commission’s exercise of its statutory authority to ensure that broadcast licensees operate in the public interest, and its conduct of an administrative process that could include (but has not yet been determined to require) a hearing on Plaintiffs’ license qualifications and, depending on the results of any such hearing, hypothetical future license revocations.”

In its lawsuit, ABC’s legal team indicated that they were taking action in anticipation of the FCC designating the license renewals for an administrative hearing, a potentially lengthy process that only added to the uncertainty of whether the stations’ licenses would be revoked.

In the latest filing, its legal team wrote that they have “raised a textbook First Amendment retaliation claim. Courts in this District have already recognized that such claims belong in federal court, not before the very agency accused of engaging in First Amendment retaliation.”

The network’s legal team argued that they have already “documented the irreparable harm [ABC is] suffering, and Defendants’ proposed solution would further exacerbate those harms.”

The network also referred to the potential of the FCC designating the license renewal for a hearing as “sanctions.” The FCC said that it would give the court 48 hours notice before doing so.

“Defendants effectively seek permission to impose draconian sanctions with only 48 hours’ notice, while continuing to hang the threat of those sanctions over Plaintiffs’ heads and remaining free to engage in other forms of retaliation,” the network’s lawyers wrote in the filing.

The FCC said that a hearing designation order would not be a “sanction,” but “would simply set in place a further administrative process in which Plaintiffs would have the opportunity to make their case.”

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‘Seasons’: Ron Perlman Joins Amazon Horror Film

Published

6 minutes ago

August 20, 2026

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EXCLUSIVE: Ron Perlman (Apple’s Cape Fear) is set for a role alongside Lily James and Jack Reynor in Seasons, Amazon MGM Studios‘ horror film marking the sophomore feature of Companion‘s Drew Hancock.

Character details are being kept under wraps.

Hancock’s script is based on a viral horror short story by Matt & Harrison Query, which first appeared on Reddit and was later adapted into a full-length novel. It’s the story of a husband and wife who buy their dream ranch, only to discover the land is alive with ancient spirits. For the couple, survival will mean submitting to increasingly disturbing rituals with each turn of the season.

21 Laps’ Shawn Levy and Dan Levine are producing alongside Blumhouse Atomic Monster’s James Wan and Michael Clear, 12:01 Films’ Scott Glassgold and Dan Cohen. Judson Scott is executive producing for Blumhouse Atomic Monster, with Alayna Glasthal overseeing for the company.

Currently, Perlman can be seen starring alongside Javier Bardem in Apple TV’s Cape Fear series, exec produced by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. Also recently seen on Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Fallout and Poker Face, he is repped by Independent Artist Group and Link Entertainment.

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Netflix Nabs ‘The Headlands House’ Starring Colman Domingo (Exclusive)

Published

13 minutes ago

August 20, 2026

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EXCLUSIVE: Emmy winner Colman Domingo (Euphoria, Michael) stars in The Headlands House, a thriller limited series, which, in a competitive situation, has landed at Netflix for development. From AMC Studios, it is executive produced by Colman Domingo and Raúl Domingo for their Edith Productions and Patrick Moran (The Rainmaker) via his PKM Productions.

The Headlands House is written and executive produced by Cameron B. Dupont (Yellowjackets). In it, a marriage begins to fracture after a gay couple moves into their dream home, only to discover that its prior residents were brutally murdered on the property—and that their own lives may now be in danger, too.

This would mark Domingo’s third series for Netflix where he headlined the 2024 limited series The Madness and also stars in the comedy series The Four Seasons, which has earned him two Emmy nominations for the two seasons to date. Domingo’s relationship with Netflix also spans film, including his Oscar-nominated performance in Rustin, as well as Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and the upcoming An Innocent Girl.

Domingo also has a relationship with AMC Global Media, most notably, starring as Victor Strand on Fear the Walking Dead, the second series in AMC’s Walking Dead Universe, which ran for eight seasons from 2015-2023. It is that relationship and the first-look deal Edith Productions has there, that led to AMC Studios’ involvement in the project.

The Headlands House signals an expansion into third-party production for AMC Studios, which AMC Global Media CEO Kristin Dolan alluded to on the company’s most recent earnings call.

“In addition to creating programming for our own platforms, our studio team is actively developing projects with a range of leading distributors,” she said. “Producing for others is a natural offshoot of our internal development process.”

AMC Studios previously developed and produced Apple TV’s Silo before Apple Studios took over the big-budget sci-fi drama after Season 1.

From co-founder and CEO Colman Domingo and co-founder and president Raúl Domingo, Edith has produced Sing Sing, It’s What’s Inside, Dead Man’s Wire, the animated short film New Moon, North Star, When My Sleeping Dragon Woke, Bottomless Brunch at Colman’s and Season 1 of You are Here for AMC Networks. Colman Domingo is repped by WME, Liebman Entertainment and Schreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin & Dunham.

Moran executive produces the USA Network series The Rainmaker and has Genuine Fraud, starring The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s Rain Spencer, and Rich AF, in development at Amazon under his first-look deal there, and Just One Day, starring Kathryn Newton, in the works at Hulu.

Dupont is managed by Echo Lake Entertainment and also repped by Ryan & Jesse Nord of The Nord Group.

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Naruto: Charles Melton to Play Kakashi Hatake

Published

20 minutes ago

August 20, 2026

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Charles Melton, who recently landed an Emmy nomination for his role in the Netflix series Beef, is in final negotiations for a key role in the live-action Naruto movie set up at Lionsgate, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

Destin Daniel Cretton, who is currently in theaters for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, is set to direct the movie based on the manga series by Masashi Kishimoto.

Naruto is the coming-of-age story of a young and enthusiastic ninja named Naruto Uzumaki who wants to grow up to be the leader of his ninja village but also happens to have the spirit of a nine-tailed demon fox inside him. The story was serialized in Japan’s popular Weekly Shonen Jump from 1999 to 2014, and later spawned a couple of popular animated series that ran for years on Cartoon Network and Disney XD.

A search is underway to find the young actor to play Naruto. Melton is said to be playing Kakashi Hatake, the elite ninja mentor figure to the main character and his friends. Kakashi is one of the most popular characters in the long-running and massively popular manga.

Lionsgate had no comment on the casting.

Avi Arad, Ari Arad, and Emmy Yu are producing for Arad Productions with Jeremy Latcham. Cretton is producing alongside Jeyun Munford through his company, Hisako.

Cretton, whose credits also include the Marvel movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, is coming off the massive success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. With its current $2 billion at the global box office, it is one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. Naruto is set to be next up for the director and is eyeing a production start around February 2027, according to sources.

Melton broke out as a star on the long-running CW series Riverdale where played Reggie Mantle and then transitioned into more prestige fare beginning with Todd Haynes’ May December, where he starred opposite Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman. His other credits have included Alex Garland’s Warfare and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell.

The actor is a longtime fan of anime and manga and is also extremely proficient in martial arts. He is a second degree black belt taekwondo and competed in the Junior Olympics held in Seoul, South Korea.