Just a few months after Jimmy Fallon marked his first anniversary as host of "The Tonight Show," NBC has signed him for six more years.
Calling him "the best there is," NBC entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt said Fallon, who turns 41 next month, will occupy the "Tonight" host chair until at least 2021.
Speaking to TV critics on Thursday, Greenblatt also announced that Rihanna will join "The Voice" as key adviser to the panel of judges, who will be Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Pharrell and Gwen Stefani.
He said new additions to the cast of the holiday production of "The Wiz Live!" include "Hairspray" co-star Elijah Kelley (in the role of the Scarecrow), singer-songwriter-actor Ne-Yo (as the Tin Man) and Oscar-winning songwriter and actor Common, who will play the Gatekeeper to Emerald City.
Previously announced cast members in the musical production, airing live Dec. 3, include Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, David Alan Grier, Uzo Aduba, Amber Riley, Stephanie Mills and Shanice Williams as Dorothy.
Greenblatt also had two words on whether Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump would ever return as host of "The Celebrity Apprentice": "Absolutely not."
Greenblatt said the show will not be back next season, but will return in the future with a new host. He didn't speculate on whom that host might be, but said, "We're obviously looking for a host who will make noise and is a big personality."
Sony reports healthy profits on strong sales of sensors and games
Sony's profit rose 69% in July-September from a year earlier on the back of strong sales of its image sensors, games, music and network services, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company said on Friday.
Quarterly profit was 338.5 billion yen ($2.2 billion), up from 200 billion yen in the year-earlier period, while consolidated quarterly sales edged up 3% year-on-year to 2.9 trillion yen ($19 billion).
Tokyo-based Sony's latest quarterly results were boosted by healthy demand around the world for image sensors used in mobile products.
Sales also held up in its video games division. During the latest quarter, 3.8 million PlayStation 5 game consoles were sold globally, compared with 4.9 million units sold the same period a year ago.
Demand remained strong for PS5 game software, according to Sony.
The top-selling music releases from Sony for the quarter included "SOS" by SZA, David Gilmour's "Luck and Strange" and Kenshi Yonezu's "Lost Corner."
One area where Sony's business suffered was its pictures division, including TV shows and movies, which was impacted by production delays caused by the strikes in Hollywood.
Among the recent hit films from Sony was "It Ends With Us," a romantic drama based on a novel.
Sony, which also makes digital cameras and TVs, maintained its 980-billion yen ($6.4 billion) profit forecast for the fiscal year through March 2025, up 1% from the previous fiscal year.
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