News Briefs

Mariska Hargitay thinks "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" has played a huge role in educating people on sexual violence, but believes there is still a lot of work to do.

The star of the TV drama spoke as the NBC show celebrated its 20th season Thursday (9/20) at the Tribeca TV Festival.

Hargitay has been playing Lt. Olivia Benson from the first episode. She said she was initially drawn to the show because it was tackling issues that others weren't.

"It's an incredibly progressive show, progressive idea, and really starting a conversation and taking sexual assault, domestic violence, and these issues that were traditionally swept under the carpet," Hargitay said.

"The conversation is in full swing, and that's very exciting. I think the show has really been a huge part of the cultural education on sexual violence. I think we have taken on the issues of consent and the neurobiology of trauma and created a survivor-centric show that was utterly unique."

Hargitay even created the Joyful Heart Foundation to help empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse.

"Being immersed in this material and learning the statistics and learning about the shame and isolation that survivors of sexual violence feel, that is what really called me to start my own foundation and to respond to the subject matter that I was being immersed in every day," she said.

Ice-T, who joined the show at the end of the first season, admits he was surprised by the impact that it has had on its audience.

"It took about a year or so of people saying 'thank you' to realize that it was therapy for a lot of people. These are survivors," he said.

The second annual Tribeca TV Festival, a spinoff of the Tribeca Film Festival, showcases dozens of series premieres. Most will be followed by panel chats with talent, writers and producers. Highlights will include the world premiere of "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown" season 12 and new season openers of "Empire," ''Madam Secretary" and "Ray Donovan."

The 20th season of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" kicks off Sept. 27 with a two-part episode.

The popular political podcast "Pod Save America" is coming to HBO for a series of four specials.

"Pod Save America" will be hosted by Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer and Tommy Vietor, who worked for the Obama administration. They will provide insight and commentary on the political news of the week.

The series will debut Oct. 12 at 11 p.m. Eastern. The four episodes will be taped in front of live audiences in Miami; Austin, Texas; Philadelphia; and Irvine, California.

Midterm elections will be held Nov. 6.

American filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga is replacing Danny Boyle as director of the next James Bond movie, producers announced Thursday.

Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli and star Daniel Craig said the still-untitled Bond 25 will start filming at London's Pinewood Studios on March 4, and will be released on Feb. 14, 2020.

Release was delayed from the planned November 2019 after "Slumdog Millionaire" director Boyle left the project last month over what producers said were creative differences.

Fukunaga won an Emmy Award for the first season of TV series "True Detective" and wrote and directed gritty war movie "Beasts of No Nation," starring Idris Elba — often named as a potential successor to Craig as the suave superspy.

The new film will be Craig's fifth, and likely last, performance as 007.

Fukunaga, 41, is the first American director in the series, which began in 1962 with "Dr. No."

Wilson and Broccoli said Fukunaga's "versatility and innovation make him an excellent choice for our next James Bond adventure."

Julie Chen announced Tuesday that she was leaving the cast of the CBS daytime show "The Talk" a week after her husband, CBS Corp. boss Leslie Moonves, was ousted from the company due to sexual misconduct allegations.

Chen hadn't appeared on the show during its season-opening week last week. She wasn't on the set Tuesday, either, making her announcement via a taped message from the set of "Big Brother," the prime-time CBS show that she also hosts.

She made no mention of the case involving Moonves. On one episode of "Big Brother" last week, she pointedly signed off as "Julie Chen Moonves," when she usually doesn't use her married name professionally.

"Right now, I need to spend more time at home with my husband and my son," she said.

She's been with the show since its inception nine years ago, along with co-hosts Sara Gilbert and Sharon Osbourne. Chen called the trio "The Three Musketeers" in her goodbye message, played at the end of Tuesday's episode.

Chen appeared to fight back tears when thanking crew members, but quickly gathered her composure.

"I know this show and the sisterhood it stands for will continue on for many, many more years to come," she said.

She appeared to endorse "Dancing With the Stars" judge Carrie Ann Inaba as a successor. Inaba was filling in for Chen behind the show's desk on Tuesday. Chen was effectively the moderator of "The Talk," steering the show's conversation.

"The Talk" began strongly against "The View," the ABC show it is clearly modeled after, and even eclipsed its rival in the ratings four years ago. Since then, "The View" righted itself and has taken over first place.

It's the second traumatic television exit that Gilbert has endured this year. The actress who's in the "Roseanne" reboot also saw Roseanne Barr fired from that show for an offensive tweet.

"We love you, Julie," Gilbert said after the message aired.