‘Sesame Street’ Gets into Venture Capitalism

Sesame Street gets into venture capitalism

After hooking up with HBO, Sesame Workshop is forming Sesame Ventures, a new venture capitalism arm. According to The Verge, Sesame Ventures “will largely be an advisory arm focused on working with venture capital firms and startups focused on children’s development. That means Sesame won’t be going out and funding startups entirely on its own. Instead, it’s partnering with established firms to launch new funds. The first is in partnership with the Collaborative Fund that’s being called Collab+Sesame.”

Fresh Off the Boat to celebrate Chinese New Year

Airing Tuesday, the Year of the Rat episode “was really important to us” says showrunner Nahnatchka Khan, adding that the holiday hasn’t been depicted on TV before. PLUS: See the behind-the-scenes Fresh Off the Boat photos.

Instagram announces its first scripted series

The Facebook-owned social media platform’s Shield 5 will tell a story via 28 15-second episodes about a man on the run from police after being wrongly accused of a diamond heist.

NBC extends Dick Wolf’s deal through 2020, renews SVU and Chicago Med

Law & Order: SVU will return for an 18th season, while Chicago Med will be back for Season 2.

Grease: Live! had long prepared for rain, but not the El Nino wind

Exec producer Marc Platt tells Variety nothing “prepared us for what occurred early in the day Sunday which was a very blustery windy day with lots of rain. We actually had to take the walls of that structure down because the wind was blowing so strong. We weren’t sure we were going to be able to use it because of the wind. So at 3 pm, an hour before showtime, we restaged the opening, the Jessie J number, because we didn’t think we’d be able to go under the structure for that number. At 10 of 4, miraculously, the winds died down and the engineers said we could go. At 4pm, boom, we were back to the original opening.” Platt also takes us behind the scenes of Vanessa Hudgens and her decision to perform in wake of her dad’s death—her entire family was there to support her. PLUS: A golf cart nearly tilted over, leaving producers gasping.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show adds Annaleigh Ashford

The Tony-winning actress will play Columbia, the castle’s feisty live-in groupie on the Fox movie remake.

CBS orders Training Day pilot

Antoine Fuqua will serve as a producer on a sequel to his 2001 Denzel Washington-Ethan Hawke film, which will be set in the present day.

More Oscar presenters: Kerry Washington, Priyanka Chopra, Quincy Jones

Lady Gaga, Steve Carell, Olivia Munn and Jason Segel are also set to present.

Kevin Spacey will narrate CNN’s Race For The White House

Each episode will profile a previous presidential campaign, from JFK-Nixon to Bush-Dukakis, using archival footage and dramatic recreations.

James Corden’s post-Super Bowl Late Late Show books Zac Efron, Anna Kendrick and Elton John

As previously reported, Elton John will join Corden for Carpool Karaoke.

Real Housewives of D.C. alum launches “The Real Housewinos” wine brand

White House crasher Tareq Salahi says of his new wine: “This kind of wine you’re going to be [drinking while] watching your favorite reality TV, whether it’s The Real Housewives or whether it’s something on MTV.”

Gilmore Girls’ Keiko Agena is headed to Grimm

She’ll guest on the CBS drama series that the real Lane Kiffin was a co-producer on.

How The X-Files created the Werelizard

Rhys Darby’s costume was created using 3-D printing that was directly applied to his body.

Netflix is getting into sketch comedy with The Characters

Eight comedians—including SNL alum Tim Robinson—will each get 30 minutes to do whatever they want in sketch comedy.

Latest Broad City Season 3 promo puts Abby and Ilana get in the boxing ring

It’s Abbi “The Anxious Assassin” Abrams vs. Ilana “The Jew-nami” Wexler.

Spike TV is adapting Relic and Cabinet of Curiosities book series with The Walking Dead producer

Gale Anne Hurd is producing Pendergast, about an FBI agent investigating a century-old mystery, based on the best-selling book series from Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.