Katie Couric leaving Yahoo news site
NEW YORK » Katie Couric is leaving the online company Oath, formerly Yahoo, where she has been conducting interviews and reporting news since 2014.
The former “Today” show host and “CBS Evening News” anchor will be concentrating on production work for the time being. A representative for Couric said Friday she turned down an opportunity for a short-term contract extension at Oath.
Couric is working on a documentary with National Geographic, where she did a project on gender revolution recently. She’s producing a scripted series for Netflix, hosts a podcast where she interviews figures in news and pop culture, and produces “Scraps,” a cooking and travel series for the FYI network.
The 60-year-old Couric also hosts an online cooking series with her husband John Molner.
Lifetime movie ‘Flint’ dramatizes city’s water crisis
BEVERLY HILLS » Melissa Mays, a resident of Flint, Michigan, came armed to discuss the city’s tainted water crisis and a new Lifetime TV movie dramatizing it.
Mays, speaking to a TV critics’ meeting Friday in Beverly Hills, California, pointed to several bottles she had filled with her tap water, and challenged the room to taste or just smell it. There were no immediate takers.
The activist, who said the battle over water safety continues, is among the residents portrayed in Lifetime’s movie titled “Flint.” Mays is played by Marin Ireland, who costars with Betsy Brandt, Jill Scott and Queen Latifah.
Executive producer Neil Meron said the film is intended to spotlight what happened in Flint, including how a united community can force officials to act.
Lifetime’s Oct. 28. “Flint” debuts
Producers: No end in sight for ‘Outlander’ as season 3 nears
BEVERLY HILLS » The producers of “Outlander” don’t expect the drama to outstrip the extensive series of novels it’s based on.
Diana Gabaldon has published eight books about time-traveling British nurse Claire Randall, who finds love and adventure with Jamie Fraser in 18th-century Scotland.
Starz’s “Outlander,” starring Caitriona Balfe, returns for its third season in September. Drawing on events in novel No. 3, “Voyager,” the series opens immediately after Claire lands back in her 1948 life. She’s left behind Jamie, played by Sam Heughan.
At a TV critics’ meeting Friday with Balfe and other cast members, producer Ronald Moore said he can’t imagine a scenario where the series catches up with Gabaldon’s work.
Fellow producer Maril Davis said they “absolutely” will keep making the show if Starz and studio Sony let them.
AMC green-lights series based on satiric novel ‘Dietland’
BEVERLY HILLS » AMC says it’s green-lighted a new series, “Dietland,” based on the darkly satiric novel about a weight-obsessed society.
The show’s creator is Marti Noxon, whose credits include “Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce” and “UnReal.”
AMC said the show based on Sarai (sa-RAY) Walker’s novel will explore the emphasis on weight and beauty in a “bold, original and funny way.”
The main character of the 2015 novel “Dietland” is a 300-pound woman, Plum, who becomes involved with an underground group of radical women.
Noxon told a TV critics’ meeting Saturday that the series will be unlike anything else on TV.
The writer-producer said the series is for people who’re saying “enough” to “looks-ism,” sexism and racism, and being told that they don’t count.
The premiere date and casting for “Dietland” weren’t announced.
Elizabeth Smart finally ready for a movie to tell her story
BEVERLY HILLS » Elizabeth Smart said it required years for her to participate in a movie about her kidnapping ordeal.
Smart said Friday that she couldn’t have done so immediately after her abduction from her Salt Lake City home in 2002 at age 14. She was rescued nine months later, and said Friday she was eager to “run away” from the experience.
Even as an adult, Smart said it took time and serious discussion with producers for her to agree to work on Lifetime’s “I Am Elizabeth Smart.”
Smart said she began to realize that such a project could make a difference. She narrates the drama, which stars newcomer Alana Boden as Smart and Skeet Ulrich as her abductor.
“I will say that it is the best worst movie I’ve ever seen. I mean, I think it’s so well done. I think it was accurate,” she said. “I’m very proud of it, but at the same time, part of me thinks I’ll be happy if I never have to watch it again.
Smart took advantage of her appearance at a TV critics’ meeting to promote AMBER Alert, designed to help locate missing children with alerts distributed through media, email and other means. Smart asked that promote the system and activate it on their smart phones.