Author: Kate Stanhope

September 28, 2016 2:23pm PT by Kate Stanhope

Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Bounce Sporting Club

He will play a famed music producer in an episode titled “Bad Rap.”

A three-time Grammy winner is coming to Law & Order: SVU.

Rapper Wyclef Jean is set to guest-star on an upcoming episode of the NBC drama, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

He will play a famed music producer who’s newest and hottest client is embroiled in an assault case. The episode, titled “Bad Rap,” will air later this fall. 

Jean is getting ready to release a new EP, J’ouvert, this November. His other acting gigs include recurring roles on Nashville and Third Watch, as well as an appearance on another NBC series, 30 Rock.

The rapper and producer, who first to fame as one-third of the hip-hop group The Fugees, is known for songs including “Gone Till November,” “We Are Trying to Stay Alive” and his cover of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry.”

The recording artist and activist joins previously announced guest stars for season 18 including ER grad Anthony Edwards, E.T. star Henry Thomas and Vice President Joe Biden; the latter two will appear on Wednesday’s episode. 

Law & Order: SVU airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.

Law & Order: SVU

September 28, 2016 12:00pm PT by Kate Stanhope

Danny Feld/NBC

Hosted by Steve Harvey, ‘Little Big Shots: Forever Young’ will shine a spotlight on the hidden talents and wisdom of senior citizens.

Little Big Shots is growing up fast!

NBC has ordered a spinoff of the popular kid-focused variety show centered on senior citizens, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Little Big Shots: Forever Young will allow young-at-heart seniors to showcase their hidden talents, vibrant personalities and incredible wisdom. 

Like the flagship, the offshoot will be hosted by Steve Harvey, who has a full plate with both Little Big Shot editions, Celebrity Family Feud and his daytime series. There is no premiere date yet for the spinoff.

Little Big Shots: Forever Young is exec produced by Ellen DeGeneres, Harvey, Jeff Kleeman, Gerald Washington, Ed Glavin, Mary Connelly and Andy Lassner. Warner Horizon Television will produce in association with East 112th Street Productions and A Very Good Production.

“We are excited to spotlight and celebrate the wit and wisdom of our elders,” said Paul Telegdy, president of NBC Entertainment’s alternative and reality group. “We can’t wait to see Steve Harvey in action with these incredibly vigorous and energetic seniors as they give him a run for his money with their unique talents, dynamic personalities and irresistible charms.”

Added Mike Darnell, president of unscripted and alternate television at Warner Bros.: “The idea of doing a follow-up to Little Big Shots focusing on seniors struck us as a no-brainer. Just like the kids, they have insane skills that will amaze and surprise you — not to mention the often hysterical (and sometimes shocking) things they say. As good a host as Steve Harvey is, he may have finally met his match with this incredible set of elder statesmen.”

Little Big Shots proved an important shot in the arm for the unscripted genre when it opened to a 2.9 rating among adults 18-49 in March. Averaging a 2.4 rating and 13 million viewers, the series became the No. 1 new show of the 2015-16 TV season in total viewers and the top new alternative series in the demo.

Little Big Shots: Forever Young joins NBC’s robust unscripted slate that includes The Voice – which also hails from Warner Horizon — American Ninja Warrior, America’s Got Talent, Hollywood Game Night, Better Late Than Never and the upcoming re-launch of The Celebrity Apprentice with new host Arnold Schwarzenegger.

On the scripted side, NBC is no stranger to spinoffs with the fourth series in the Chicago franchise, and The Blacklist: Redemption spinoff both set to debut midseason.

Warner Horizon’s other alternative entries include The Bachelor franchise on ABC and Whose Line Is It Anyway on The CW.

Ellen DeGeneres Little Big Shots

September 28, 2016 11:27am PT by Kate Stanhope

Courtesy of USA

The actor was set to star opposite Logan Marshall Green.

There’s a big change on USA Network’s Damnation.

Aden Young (Rectify) has exited the drama pilot, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Described as “an epic saga of the secret history of the 1930s American heartland,” Damnation centers on the struggle between big money and the downtrodden, God and greed, charlatans and prophets during the Depression. The pilot centers on Seth Davenport, a man pretending to be a small-town Iowa preacher in the hopes of starting a full-blown insurrection against the status quo. Focused on his mission, he is unaware that an industrialist tycoon has hired a professional strikebreaker named Creeley Turner to stop the uprising by whatever means necessary. Unbeknownst to those around them, these two men already share a secret bloody past.

Young was set to star as Seth Davenport, a man with a violent past and a secret ambition to lead a revolution against American industrialists.

Production on the pilot is scheduled to begin Monday as planned, with recasting currently underway.

The cast also includes Logan Marshall-Green (Quarry), Sarah Jones (Alcatraz), Chasten Harmon (BrainDead), Christopher Heyerdahl (Hell on Wheels) and Melinda Page Hamilton (Mad Men).

Hell or High Water director David Mackenzie is set to helm the Damnation pilot, which was written by Tony Tost (Longmire). The two will executive produce with James Mangold (Walk the Line), Guymon Casady (Game of Thrones), Daniel Rappaport (Office Space) and Mackenzie’s producing partner Gillian Berrie. The project hails from Universal Cable Productions.

Young is coming off of breakout role on SundaceTV drama Rectify, which begins its fourth and final season next month.

USA Network