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Having received a negative response upon its 2014 release, it’s perhaps surprising that Seventh Son is now finding an audience on Netflix. The Sergei Bodrov-directed picture is currently number 7 in the rankings on the streamer’s most-watched films list, an impressive feat considering the amount of competition that it faces. Like many other titles that have received a second shot on the platform, though, Seventh Son is now inviting a reappraisal of sorts of its merits.

Based, albeit loosely, on Joseph Delaney’s novel The Spook’s Apprentice, Seventh Son stars Ben Barnes as Thomas Ward, who as the seventh son of a seventh son, is drawn into a fantasy adventure. Jeff Bridges co-headlines as Master Gregory, otherwise known as a “Spook,” a witch hunter who takes Tom under his wing. The likes of Julianne Moore, Kit Harington and Alicia Vikander, meanwhile, fill out an impressive cast for the fantasy adventure.

Yet another lawsuit has emerged against the team behind Hgtv’s Windy City Rehab. This time, a family that invested $3 million in projects featured on the reality series are suing stars Alison Victoria Gramenos and Donovan Eckhardt. They accused them of “a deliberate and fraudulent scheme to misappropriate funds.”

The lawsuit claims the stars of the show, which focuses on Chicago homes being renovated, of “bungling” and mismanaging “nearly every project they were associated with.”

Gramenos and Eckhardt have split as professional partners, but alleged efforts by Gramenous to pin the blame on Eckhardt are noted in the suit. “Alison has claimed that she was caught unawares by Donovan’s fraud — notwithstanding her own secreting of funds from closing proceeds.”

The suit was filed Tuesday in Cook County circuit court by Michael Ward Jr., a former friend of Eckhardt; his brother, Thomas Ward; and their father, Michael Ward Sr. They...

Freeform has picked up second seasons of “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay” and “Motherland: Fort Salem,” the network announced Tuesday.

Additionally, the debut of horror series “Cruel Summer,” as well as new season premieres for “Grown-ish” and “Good Trouble,” have been pushed to 2021. “The Bold Type,” which was forced to suspend production on Season 4 due to the pandemic, will resume airing later this summer, along with the remotely produced limited series “Love in the Time of Corona.”

“We couldn’t be happier to bring both ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Okay’ and ‘Motherland: Fort Salem’ back for second seasons. Each show’s originality, characters and themes struck a chord with our audience, and we’re excited to share the ambitious stories the writers have planned for season two,” said Lauren Corrao, Freeform’s executive vice president of original programming and development. “We have a strong slate ahead, and with our young adult audience...

Freeform announced a range of programming news on Tuesday.

For starters, the Disney-owned cabler has renewed the freshman comedy “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay” as well as the freshman drama “Motherland: Fort Salem.”

“Everything’s Gonna Be Okay” is created, executive produced and stars Josh Thomas. It follows Nicholas (Thomas), a neurotic twenty-something-year-old who is forced to raise his two teenage half-sisters, one of whom is on the autism spectrum, after the untimely death of their father.

The series also stars Kayla Cromer, Adam Faison and Maeve Press. It is produced and distributed internationally by Avalon. Thomas, Stephanie Swedlove and Kevin Whyte serve as executive producers, with David Martin, Jon Thoday and Richard Allen-Turner executive producing for Avalon. Additionally, “Please Like Me” collaborator Thomas Ward reunites with Thomas as co-executive producer.

“Motherland” is set in an alternate, present-day America where witches ended their persecution over 300 years ago by cutting a deal with...

Freeform has plotted out its original programming plans for the next 12 months with second-season renewals for Everything’s Gonna Be Okay and Motherland: Fort Salem and the move of grown-ish, Good Trouble and Cruel Summer to next year.

The news, released ahead next week’s Disney Advertising Sales Virtual Roadshow presentation, comes as the network looks to get out in front of the Covid-19 production shutdown, which impacted a number of its originals, including the three series pushed to next year. In a video message to fans (watch it below the story), Good Trouble stars Maia Mitchell and Cierra Ramirez explain how production on Season 3 of The Fosters spinoff was suspended over the pandemic and it won’t be ready for a summer 2020 launch as originally planned.

With Good Trouble, new drama series Cruel Summer and Part 2 of grown-ish‘s third season all postponed until next year, Freeform’s summer 2020 lineup...

‘Diary of an Uber Driver.’

New German streaming service Joyn has commissioned a local version of RevLover Films’ ABC dramedy Diary of an Uber Driver.

It’s the first international remake of the format based on Ben Phillips’ popular blog and e-book which was scripted by Thomas Ward and directed by Matthew Moore.

International distributor all3Media’s production label Bon Voyage Films will produce the remake, to be shot in Hamburg. Kostja Ullmann will play the lead.

A joint venture between Discovery and German broadcaster ProSiebenSat1, Joyn aims to become the largest free-tv service in Germany with live streams of more than 50 channels plus an on-demand section with original productions.

All3Media International is shopping the ABC series and format at Mipcom in Cannes this week.

Produced by Martha Coleman and Lauren Edwards and co-funded by Create Nsw, the series starred Sam Cotton as Uber driver Ben with Zahra Newman as Beck,...

Zahra Newman, Thomas Ward and Sam Cotton.

After Josh Thomas’ Please Like Me ended after four seasons on the ABC, his co-writer and co-star Thomas Ward realised there was something lacking in his career.

Having spent the best part of six years in that “bubble,” Ward worried that he did not know any other producers.

So he introduced himself to a number of producers including – fortuitously for him – RevLover Films’ Martha Coleman. She told him she had optioned Ben Phillips’ blog and e-book Diary of an Uber Driver.

After reading the blog he says: “I really liked the idea of doing a show that explores a community, the intimacy that comes with Uber rides and the fact that the protagonist was the same age as me and from a similar background.”

So he prepared a pitch outlining how he would turn the blog into a half hour series and work-shopped...

‘Diary of an Uber Driver.’

Sally Riley is bemused when people use this line when they are pitching projects to her: “This is definitely an ABC show.”

The ABC’s head of scripted production, Riley usually replies: “What is that? What is an ABC show?”

Interviewed in her Ultimo office for a two-part story, she tells If: “If it’s a great show, we’ll do it. I don’t think it must fit in the parameters of what is supposed to be an ABC show.

“We want to not only hold our audiences but also bring in new and younger audiences and we have a broad slate to try to meet both. We will definitely take a calculated risk when we believe in a show.”

As an example of a program which she thinks most people would not expect to see on the public broadcaster, she points to Les Norton,...

The global TV drama market is booming with international networks and worldwide Svod platforms moving into original, local scripted production in an unparalleled way. Foreign dramas and comedies are increasingly starting to play in the U.S., on a variety of cable networks and digital platforms, in addition to broadcasters and studios scouring the globe to find the most interesting ideas to translate to North American audiences.

This year’s development season has already seen ABC working up a legal drama with Daniel Dae Kim based on Korean format My Lawyer, Mr Jo., and romantic drama Until The Wedding, based on the eponymous Israeli series, while Fox handed a script commitment to British comedy Sunny D.

The Svod services are also getting involved; Amazon is piloting a Las Vegas-set remake of DJ mockumentary People Just Do Nothing and Apple is finalizing a deal for a Richard Gere-fronted drama based on Israeli drama Nevelot.

‘Diary of an Uber Driver’. (Photo credit: Tony Mott)

Ben Phillips’ blog and e-book ‘Diary of an Uber Driver’ has been turned into six-part drama series for the ABC, with production currently underway in Sydney.

Produced by RevLover Films with the support of all3media international and Create Nsw, Diary of an Uber Driver is written by Thomas Ward (Please Like Me) and follows Uber driver Ben as he tries to work out what he should be doing while helping others to get where they are going. Against the ticking clock of impending fatherhood Ben must decipher what being ‘relevant’ looks like in a relationship that seems to think he’s surplus to requirements.

Sam Cotton (Rosehaven) plays Ben, while Zahra Newman plays Beck, the mother of his unborn child. The series will also star John Bell, Caroline Brazier, Ed Oxenbould, Julian Maroun and Emily Barclay.

Matthew Moore (Offspring) is directing the series,...

Funny things happen when you're on vacation. Sometimes you find a scorpion in your Swiss Airbnb and promptly freak out because what's a scorpion doing in Switzerland (turns out some parts have them), and sometimes you discover a beautiful TV show that you are four seasons too late to and it's already aired its series finale. Both of those things happened to me this summer. The scorpion was handled and I fell in love with Please Like Me. There's a lot of TV out there—peak TV even—and I'm here to say I'm sorry I'm late on Please Like Me. Who's In It Please Like Me stars Josh Thomas, Caitlin Stasey, Thomas Ward, Wade Briggs, David Roberts, Debra Lawrence, Renee Lim,...

We suspect you won't like this. Creator Josh Thomas self-cancelled his Please Like Me TV show after four seasons. The writer and actor broke the news about his decision to end the Hulu show, today. He made sure to thank his fans, the cast and crew, his Mum and Dad, and producer Tom Abbott. Check out the announcement, after the jump.Premiering on ABC2 in Australia, and then the now-defunct Pivot and later Hulu in the Us, Please Like Me stars Josh Thomas as Josh and Thomas Ward as Thomas. The cast also includes John the Dog, Debra Lawrance, David Roberts, Renee Lim, Hannah Gadsby, Keegan Joyce, and Caitlin Stasey. The comedy drama series follows a young, gay Australian, as well as his friends, and his family. Please Like Me Is inspired by Thomas' own life. Read More…...

Please Like Me.

Production is underway in Melbourne for season four of Please Like Me, with six new episodes planned. Creator, writer and star Josh Thomas will be rejoined by co-stars Thomas Ward, Hannah Gadsby, Debra Lawrance, David Roberts, Caitlin Stasey , Emily Barclay, Keegan Joyce, and Renee Lim. After making his directing debut last year, Thomas will direct half of the new season, with the other half helmed by the show.s original director Matthew Saville. Please Like Me will be filmed on location over the next five weeks and will air later in the year. Please Like Me is a Pigeon Fancier/John & Josh International production for the ABC and Participant Media.s Pivot network, made with the assistance of Film Victoria.

Please Like Me.

Production is underway in Melbourne for season four of Please Like Me, with six new episodes planned. Creator, writer and star Josh Thomas will be rejoined by co-stars Thomas Ward, Hannah Gadsby, Debra Lawrance, David Roberts, Caitlin Stasey , Emily Barclay, Keegan Joyce, and Renee Lim. After making his directing debut last year, Thomas will direct half of the new season, with the other half helmed by the show.s original director Matthew Saville. Please Like Me will be filmed on location over the next five weeks and will air later in the year. Please Like Me is a Pigeon Fancier/John & Josh International production for the ABC and Participant Media.s Pivot network, made with the assistance of Film Victoria.

Exclusive: Pivot has given a Season 4 greenlight to Please Like Me, Josh Thomas’ coming-of-age comedy from Australia. Production gets under way this week in Melbourne on the six-episode new season, which will premiere November 10. Creator-writer-director Thomas stars as Josh alongside Thomas Ward, Caitlin Stasey, Emily Barclay, Debra Lawrance, Hannah Gadsby, Keegan Joyce, David Roberts and Renee Lim. Watch Thomas and Ward make the announcement above. In Season 3, Josh's…...

Thethird season of Josh Thomas. comedy drama Please Like Me will premiere on ABC on Thursday, October 15 at 9.30 p.m, moving from ABC2 to the ABC's main channel..

Inspired by the stand-up comedy and real life experiences of Thomas - the series creator, writer and star - Please Like Me explores the world of a man who.s in no hurry to grow up. This season Thomas extends his talents by taking a seat in the director.s chair for an episode, while original director Matthew Saville returns. The new 10-part series will give viewers another glimpse into Josh.s darkly funny world. Joining the cast is Emily Barclay as Ella. Original cast members reprising their roles alongside her and Josh Thomas are Thomas Ward (Tom), Caitlin Stasey (Claire), Hannah Gadsby (Hannah), Keegan Joyce (Arnold), Debra Lawrance in her Aacta award-winning role of Mum, David Roberts (Dad), Renee Lim (Mae) and,...

Writer-creator Josh Thomas is making his directing debut on an episode of the third season of his ABC TV comedy-drama Please Like Me.

Emily Barclay has joined the cast of the 10-part show, which is shooting in Melbourne through the end of June.

Barclay appears with Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Rachel Weisz in The Light Between Oceans, a Hollywood adaptation of Australian author M.L. Stedman.s debut novel set on an island off the coast of Wa in 1918, and in Matchbox Pictures. upcoming ABC supernatural drama Glitch.

Returning. are cast regulars. Debra Lawrence and David Roberts as the parents of Josh.s character plus Caitlin Stasey (Claire), Thomas Ward (Tom), Hannah Gadsby (Hannah) and Keegan Joyce (Arnold). Further guest stars are expected to be announced soon. There's no word yet on the storyline or Barclay's character.

The original creative team is back: director Matthew Saville (The Slap, Felony), producer...

In predictably unpredictable fashion, season 2 of Please Like Me wrapped with drunken skinny dipping, a disastrous balloon ride, and Josh (Josh Thomas) once again falling asleep with a mentally unstable loved one. As for his same-named hero's sleeping arrangements, Thomas laughed as he told EW, "I don't think that'll happen next year. I don't think we want to get into a situation where, at the end of each season, it's like, 'Who's Josh going to get into bed with?'" That said, Plm's creator and star isn't ruling out the possibility that "maybe next year it'll just be John. That's actually such a cute idea.

Josh Thomas is no stranger to a bottle of peroxide. During his awkward teen years, the Please Like Me creator and star emulated Slim Shady’s style, much to his own chagrin when he looks back now.

Fortunately, Thomas is well past his teen years as Plm picks up for a new season. Though the penultimate episode of the first season centered on Josh’s (Thomas) 21st birthday, the latest batch of episodes take place a few years later. Thomas jokes, “We just had to go a bit farther forward because my face is falling apart. I look not-as-radiant as...

Josh Thomas. comedy Please Like Me is set to sell to a growing list of international markets after the ABC and Us cable network Pivot commissioned a third season.

The second series of 10 episodes will premiere on ABC2 at 9.30 pm on Tuesday August 12 and in the Us on August 8.

.ABC TV.s third season pickup of Please Like Me before season two even airs is unprecedented, and yet fitting for a show which has become our most watched original ABC2 comedy series,. said ABC Head of Comedy Rick Kalowski.

The international distributor, Melbourne-based Guesswork Television, sold the first season to Pivot and to broadcasters in France (Canalplay), Germany (Einsfestival), Sweden (Svt), Finland and Israel, working with London-based sales agent Avalon Distribution.

.We have a number of markets being negotiated now that we have series two available,. Guesswork TV.s Kevin Whyte tells If. .The first series was only six eps...

The second season of Please Like Me, the endearing Aussie import that Entertainment Weekly named one of 2013′s Top 10 shows, won’t premiere until August, but you can watch the first clip now. As star Josh Thomas previously told EW, season two jumps ahead a few years and finds Josh living with his best friend Tom (Thomas Ward) and his new housemate/potential love interest Patrick (Charles Cottier).

Josh also has a new baby sister. Enjoy his warm interaction with her below.

Also, Niamh alert.

Please Like Me returns Aug. 8 at 10:30 p.m. Et on Pivot.

Please Like Me, the coming-of-age comedy created by and starring Aussie comedian Josh Thomas, was named one of Entertainment Weekly’s Top 10 shows of 2013 for its “spot-on portrayal of quarterlife confusion.” If you haven’t caught up – season 1′s six episodes are available on iTunes — you’ll want to before the second season premieres Aug. 8 at 10 p.m. Et on Pivot. Season 2 jumps ahead a few years and finds Josh living with best friend Tom (Thomas Ward) and new housemate/potential love interest Patrick (Charles Cottier), as seen in our exclusive photo of the three men and a baby (who...

Kim Mordaunt won the Australian Writers. Guild best original screenplay award for his debut film The Rocket and Cate Shortland and Robin Mukherjee got the feature film adaptation prize for Lore at the Awgie awards held in Melbourne on Friday night.

David Roach and Warwick Ross.s Red Obsession took the award for public broadcast documentary screenplay.

Underbelly again won best original mini -series and Robert Connolly.s Underground: The Julian Assange Story was named best telemovie adaptation.

The $25,000 Foxtel prize for a significant and impressive body of work in television went to Jacquelin Perske, whose screenwriting credits include The Secret Life of Us, Love My Way, Spirited and Little Fish.

The Good News Week writing team received a ninth Awgie for the final season of the series.

Playwright Alana Valentine picked up three awards including most outstanding script of 2013 and the inaugural David Williamson Prize.

Australian Writers. Guild president Jan Sardi said,...

Tickets are selling fast for the 46th Annual Awgie Awards, to be held in Melbourne on October 4.

To be hosted by writer, comedian and singer Sammy J, the ceremony will honour the achievements made by Australian writers for performance. The Awgie Awards are the only Australian awards judged solely by writers on the basis of the script . the writer's intention . rather than the finished production.

"The Awgies are the highlight of the year for us and a unique chance to celebrate the oft-unsung but stellar work created by Australian writers of the script," says Awg.s President and Academy Award nominee Jan Sardi..

.It.s a night that really just celebrates the importance of story and storytelling. And that.s what sets us apart from other animals in the end, the ability to tell stories..

Sardi says the slate of nominated work is once again a strong one.

.It.s...

This fall’s best new comedy might not be on your television—yet. It’s called Please Like Me, and it premiered last month on Pivot, a new network geared toward Millennials that broadcasts to 40 million homes across the country. (Click here to find out if it’s available in yours. Pivot will marathon all six episodes on Saturday, October 5 from noon to 4:30pm Et, and single episodes will begin airing weekly that day at 9pm Et.) Of course, if you’re a good Millennial, you’ve already watched it on iTunes and tweeted about how you’re now obsessed with its very charming,...

Josh Thomas

If you keep close eye on the cable channel lineup on your TV, you’ll see a new entry appear beginning today. Pivot TV, from Participant Media, is off and running with a mix of favorite movies (Chuck And Buck and Hotel Rwanda), reruns of beloved shows (Friday Night Lights, Farscape) as well as the nightly interactive news show, TakePart Live. Other new entries like Meghan McCain’s docu-talk series, Raising McCain, and the reality soap, Jersey Strong, premiere in September.

Also airing today is the first original scripted comedy series for the network, Please Like Me. We’ve already been talking about the Aussie import on TheBacklot, but you can see all six episodes of the first season when a marathon airs today starting at 8pm Est.

The star and creator of the series, which has already been renewed for a 10-episode second season, is popular 26-year old Australian comedian Josh Thomas,...

Twenty-six-year-old Australian comedian Josh Thomas has become the face of Pivot, the new network for millennials that launched today. Tonight at 8 p.m. Et, the cable channel, available in roughly 40 million homes, will marathon the six-episode first season of his Aussie import Please Like Me, a comedy he created, wrote, executive-produced, and stars in as Josh, a young man who moves back in with his mother after she attempts suicide and who is just realizing he’s gay. You can watch the first episode below and feel good about getting invested — a 10-episode second season has already been greenlit.

Entertainment...

Aussie comedian Josh Thomas isn't just launching his show in the U.S., he's helping launch a whole network with it. "Please Like Me," a six-episode comedy-drama created, written by and starring Thomas, is airing in its entirety tonight on Pivot, the new cable channel from Participant Media that went live today -- you can watch the full first season starting at 8pm, or stream it via DirecTV's app. The series, which premiered in Australia earlier this year, was just renewed for a longer second season to be co-produced by Pivot and ABC2. Winsome and funny, "Please Like Me" is about Josh (played by Thomas), a 20-year-old whose pleasantly aimless life living with his bestie Tom (Thomas Ward) and dating Claire (Caitlin Stasey) is interrupted when Claire, with all kindness, tells him they should just be friends, because he's gay. Just as he's starting to think she might be right...