Elizabeth Vargas Leaving ABC News to Pursue New Ventures

Posted on December 23, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

It’s the end of a long chapter for Elizabeth Vargas…

The 55-year-old half-Puerto Rican journalist, an ABC News staple for two decades and co-anchor with David Muir of the network’s newsmagazine 20/20 for 14 years, is leaving the company in May after the show’s 40th season draws to a close.

The news broke on Friday and ABC News president James Goldston and Vargas told staff in memos, with Goldston saying she was going to “pursue new ventures.” There was no mention of a 20/20 anchor replacement.

“It has been a profound privilege to be the anchor of 20/20 for 14 years, and a true honor to work with each and every one of you,” wrote Vargas in a memo to her co-workers after news broke of her departure. “I am incredibly lucky to work alongside the very best in the business: the producers, editors, writers on this show, and the enormous team working every week to get our show on the air. I am so very proud of the stories we have told together.”

Vargas has worn many hats at ABC’s news division, and famously was named co-anchor of the networks’ World News Tonight with Bob Woodruff. That job was announced in late 2005, about a month before Woodruff was severely injured by an IED while covering the war in Iraq. Eventually, Vargas stepped down from WNT and Charles Gibson became sole anchor.

She became only the second female 20/20 anchor when she replaced Barbara Walters in the fall of 2004, and the first Latina.

In 2014, she spoke about her alcohol addiction, and two years later wrote a book about it, Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction.

Vargas came to ABC from NBC, where she was a correspondent and anchor for Dateline NBC and Today among other assignments.

Tanya Saracho Partnering with Big Beach for New Latinx Series, “Brujas”

Posted on December 6, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

It’s the witching hour for Tanya Saracho…

The Mexican playwright and television writer will serve as the showrunner for a new series titled Brujas, a show in development via Big Beach.

The series will follow four Afro-Caribbean/Latinx women in Chicago and series explore the relationships and community born out of the growing identification with the Bruja movement.

Brujas marks the continuing collaboration between Saracho and Big Beach. The new show will use the brujería counter-culture as a foundation. The brujería culture is a means for Latinx feminists to reconnect with their heritage through music, style, nightlife, and art. It’s a powerful return to indigenous practices and a reclamation of feminine strength. It’s also a headline-grabbing movement reflected from coast to coast by artists from Princess Nokia with her single “Brujas” to Beyonce’s opus of female empowerment, “Lemonade.”

Saracho is writing the series and will serve as executive producer alongside Big Beach’s Robin Schwartz, Peter Saraf, and Marc Turtletaub.

Saracho has written for Lifetime’s Devious Maids, HBO’s Girls and Looking, and ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder.

She was previously named Best New Playwright by Chicago Magazine, one of the 9 national “Luminarios” by Café Magazine and given the first “Revolucionario” award in theater by the National Museum of Mexican Art.

ABC to Release “The Goldbergs” Mixtape, Featuring Six Hayley Orrantia Tracks

Posted on December 6, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Hayley Orrantia is back behind the microphone…

After five seasons on the air, ABC‘s The Goldbergs, starring the 23-year-old part-Mexican American actress/singer, will finally have a soundtrack.

The Goldbergs “Mixtape” will feature 14 tracks, including five classic ’80s songs that Orrantia, who portrays Erica, has covered, including Cyndi Lauper‘s “True Colors” and Katrina & the Waves‘ “Walking on Sunshine,” performed with AJ Michalka.

The other nine tracks on the album, which is being released by Madison Gate Records, are original songs written specifically for Adam F. Goldberg‘s 1980-something semi-autobiographical comedy and include “Love Ninja,” with Orrantia and Troy Gentile (Barry).

The Goldbergs, produced by Sony Pictures Television, has featured a number of original songs on the series as Erica has an interest in becoming a singer-songwriter, while Barry has dreams of becoming a famous rapper via his “alter-ego” Big Tasty. Many television shows like Empire, Glee and Nashville have turned to producing soundtracks featuring their original music as a form of earning ancillary revenue.

Orrantia rose to acclaim as a member of Lakoda Rayne, a country-pop girl group assembled by Paula Abdul during the first season of The X Factor. During her teen years, she sang background vocals for Demi Lovato on Disney‘s Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam soundtrack and background vocals for Miley Cyrus on Disney’s Hannah Montana Forever soundtrack.

Here’s a look at the track list:

“Rewind” (The Goldbergs Main Title Theme) — I Fight Dragons
“Love Ninja” — Hayley Orrantia & Troy Gentile
“D&D” — Kurtis Blow
“Hit Me With Your Best Shot” — Hayley Orrantia
“Bad Boy Good Guy” — Troy Gentile
“True Colors” — Hayley Orrantia
“Ferris Wheel” — Troy Gentile
“Tom Sawyer” — Hayley Orrantia & AJ Michalka
“He’s the Man” — Troy Gentile (feat. Hayley Orrantia, AJ Michalka & Sam Lerner)
“Eternal Flame” — Hayley Orrantia & AJ Michalka
“Judah Macabee” — Troy Gentile (feat. Sean Giambrone, Sam Lerner, Noah Munck, Matt Bush)
“Barry Goldberg: A Rap Story” — Anthony Petix
“Walking On Sunshine” — Hayley Orrantia & AJ Michalka
“Dads Just Don’t Care” — Troy Gentile

The Goldbergs “Mixtape is available for pre-order on digital platforms, including iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and more. The Goldbergs album costs $8.99.

Fergie to Host Fox’s New Singing Competition “The Four: Battle for Stardom”

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a case of Connect Four for Fergie…

The 42-year-old part-Mexican American singer and Black Eyed Peas member will host Fox’s new primetime singing competition show The Four: Battle for Stardom, the six-episode series that will air at 8:00 pm Thursdays beginning January 4.

“This is a unique and modern show format that I believe will set the standard for the next generation of singing competition series on TV,” said Fergie, who has hosted the Los Angeles segments of ABC’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve for the past few years. “I am looking forward to being by the contestants’ sides during what could be the most important performances of their lives. Along with these amazing panelists whom I know and love, I hope my experiences as a solo artist and as a member of the Black Eyed Peas can help guide them in their quest to make it in the music industry.”

Created by Armoza Formats and produced by ITV Entertainment in association with Armoza, The Four also features expert panelists Sean “Diddy” Combs, DJ Khaled, singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor and record label exec Charlie Walk.

The format works backwards from typical competition shows: Four finalists, chosen from their auditions, will try to defend their coveted spots on the stage, as they are challenged by new singers determined to replace them. Each week, if any of the four are outperformed as determined by a panel of judges, they’ll go home and their challengers will take their place.

The singer who is the last standing at the end of the competition will see the panel of industry experts become key players on their team. The elite group will then guide the winner’s career to help make him or her a breakout star.

“Fergie is a genuine superstar,” said Rob Wade, President of Alternative Programming and Specials at Fox Broadcasting Company. “She’s fierce, she’s a force in her own right, and she knows exactly what these singers are going through. So who better than her to help guide them as they fight their way to the finish?”

The Four will beat to air ABC’s reboot of former Fox mega hit American Idol, which will launch in March and air on Sundays. Fox’s response to Idol 2.0 also will air while NBC’s rival singing competition The Voice is on hiatus, on one of the nights the original aired on Fox toward the end of its run.

America Ferrera Developing Comedy “American Alien” for NBC

Posted on November 21, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

America Ferrera is readying an Alien invasion…

NBC has put in development the comedy American Alien, from the 33-year-old Honduran American actress/producer and Superstore star, Superstore co-executive producer Sierra Teller Ornelas, Teri Weinberg and Universal Television.

Written by Teller Ornelas, American Alien centers around Denise “Dee Dee” and Sonny Mendoza, a small-town brother-and-sister team who struggle to keep their working-class jobs while also protecting vulnerable space aliens from everyday pitfalls in their hometown of Tucson, Arizona.

Teller Ornelas will executive produce with Ferrera and Weinberg. Universal Television, where Ferrera and Weinberg’s new production banner is based, is the studio.

Teller Ornelas is a Navajo-Mexican writer who began her television career in the Disney Fellowship Program. She is currently a co-executive producer on NBC’s Superstore, in which Ferrera stars and also executive produces. Teller Ornelas previously served as a producer on Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine and ABC’s Happy Endings. This is her first network sale.

This is Ferrera and Weinberg’s second sale under their new, yet-to-be-named production banner, which just signed a first-look deal with Universal Television. The duo has also have an untitled legal drama with former Revenge showrunner Sunil Nayar set at NBC.

Eva Longoria Developing English-Adaptation of Spain’s “Gran Hotel” for ABC

Posted on November 21, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Eva Longoria is having a gran old time…

ABC is developing Grand Hotel, a soapy drama from the42-year-old Mexican American actress/producer and former Desperate Housewives star and writer Brian Tanen.

The project, from Longoria and Ben Spector’s UnveliEVAble Entertainment and ABC Studios, is based on the popular Spanish telenovela Gran Hotel.

Written by Tanen, Grand Hotel is a soapy drama set against the backdrop of a Miami Beach hotel, centering around the family who owns the business, the staff who run it, and the explosive secrets they hide under the perfect exterior.

Tanen, Longoria and Spector executive produce alongside Oliver Bachert and Christian Gockel of Beta Film, which distributes the original series.

UnveliEVAble, ABC and ABC Studios also developed a Grand Hotel adaptation last season with a different writer. Televisa USA previously took a stab at an English-language adaptation of the series set in pre-Castro Havana.

Gran Hotel was created and produced by Bambu Producciones and ran on Spain’s Antena 3 for three seasons, with its first season reaching a 18.5% share.

Dubbed “a Spanish Downton Abbey,” the original series, set in 1905 Spain, has been a top international seller for Beta Films.

Longoria recently teamed with another former Desperate Housewives writer, David Schulner, for immigrant drama Lucky Boy, with Nisha Ganatra directing.

ABC Gives Straight-to-Series Order to “Take Two,” Starring Eddie Cibrian

Posted on November 17, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Eddie Cibrian is taking two…

ABC has given a straight-to-series order to Take Two, starring the 44-year-old Cuban American actor and Rachel Bilson.

Created by Castle creator Andrew W. Marlowe and his wife, former Castle executive producer Terri Edda Miller, the series is described as an upbeat procedural.

Written by Marlowe and Miller, stars Bilson as Ella, the former star of a hit cop series who’s fresh-out-of-rehab following a bender of epic proportion. Desperate to restart her career, she talks her way into shadowing rough-and-tumble private investigator Eddie (Cibrian) as research for a potential comeback role. Though lone wolf Eddie resents the babysitting gig, high-spirited Ella proves herself to be surprisingly valuable, drawing on her acting skills and 200 episodes of playing a detective. When the press touts Ella’s role in solving a high-profile case, Eddie finds his phone ringing off the hook with new clients looking to hire the pair.

The project is an international co-production between ABC Studios and StudioCanal’s Tandem Prods. In addition to ABC, the series has been picked up by RTL/VOX in Germany and France Television in France.

Cibrian played Jesse Cardoza on CSI: Miami and most recently was a series regular on Rosewood.

Christina Aguilera to Perform Whitney Houston Tribute at the American Music Awards

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Christina Aguilera will be the queen of the night for a special tribute at this year’s American Music Awards…

The 36-year-old half-Ecuadorian American Grammy-winning singer will perform a 25th anniversary tribute to Whitney Houston and her iconic work as an actress and singer in the romantic thriller The Bodyguard (released November 25, 1992) at the 2017 AMAs on November 19.

Aguilera’s tribute will include songs from the movie’s Diamond-certified (and primarily Houston-performed) soundtrack.

“Whitney herself stated in 2001 that Christina Aguilera sang the best version of her song ‘Run to You,’” Houston’s estate offered in a press release. “It is with great appreciation and honor that she is returning to participate on the American Music Awards for a special tribute honoring the 25th anniversary of The Bodyguard. Whitney said that Christina is without a doubt one of the best voices she enjoyed in this generation of music.”

Aguilera expressed her deep gratitude for Houston and the opportunity to honor her, also via statement: “I am honored and humbled to be asked to participate in such a special tribute of a timeless soundtrack that has been a huge inspiration not only in my own personal life and career, but to countless aspiring singers — touching music lovers worldwide and influencing the history of music itself.

“To be honoring the one and only, Whitney Houston, is a blessing and I am grateful to celebrate the spirit of her songs and legend that lives on,” she continued. I feel eternally fortunate to have personally met her on and off the stage. My deep appreciation for her kindness to me while coming up in the business — her graciousness, generosity, humanity and beauty — lived up to everything I could have hoped for in meeting my idol and will forever be cherished in my memory of her.”

Houston won 22 AMAs throughout her illustrious music career. She died unexpectedly in February 2012.

The AMAs will air live beginning at 8:00 pm ET on ABC.

You can vote for the awards here.

Luna Lauren Vélez to Star in the Latest Installment of “The Purge” Film Series

Posted on October 27, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Luna Lauren Vélez is feeling the urge to purge…

The 52-year-old Puerto Rican actress has been cast in the fourth installment of The Purge film series from Blumhouse Productions, Universal Pictures and Platinum Dunes.

Velez, best known for her role as María LaGuerta on Showtime‘s Dexter, joins a cast that includes Mo McRae, Joivan Wade, Steve Harris, Patch Darragh and Mugga.

The group joins previously announced Y’lan Noel and Lex Scott Davis for The Purge 4, which Burning Sands director Gerard McMurray is directing from a script by franchise creator James DeMonaco, who wrote and directed the previous three films.

This chapter will serve as a prequel, focusing on the events that lead up to the inaugural Purge event where, for a 12-hour period, all crime is legal.

DeMonaco is producing with Jason Blum, Michael Bay, Brad Fuller, Andrew Form and Sébastien K. Lemercier. The film hits theaters July 4.

Velez most recent appeared on ABC’s How To Get Away with Murder.

Sara Ramirez Lands Series Regular Role on CBS’ “Madam Secretary”

Posted on October 25, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Sara Ramirez is headed to the White House…

The 42-year-old Mexican actress and former Grey’s Anatomy star has joined the cast of CBS’ Madam Secretary as a new series regular.

Ramirez will play Kat Sandoval, a brilliant political strategist, legendary in D.C. for her talent and for abruptly dropping out of politics until Elizabeth (Téa Leoni) manages to coax her back into the State Department.

CBS says Ramirez’s character will be introduced the November 19 episode.

“We’re very excited that Sara is joining the cast,” said Barbara Hall, executive producer and series creator. “She brings a fresh perspective and a fun, energetic quality to the State Department staff.”

“We are thrilled to have Sara join the Madam Secretary State Department team,” said Lori McCreary, executive producer. “From the moment she walked on set with her talent, intellect and spirit, she became part of the family!”

This is Ramirez’s first series regular televisoin role since her departure last year from ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, where she appeared for over a decade as Dr. Callie Torres.

She’s currently the voice of Queen Miranda on Disney Jr.’s hit animated series Sofia the First and the voice of Mamá Calaca in Vampirina.

Ramirez previously won a Tony Award for her performance in Monty Python’s Spamalot.

Madam Secretary airs Sundays at 10 PM on CBS.

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