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[This story contains minor spoilers for “Big Week,” the fourth episode of Ted Lasso’s third season.]

During the April 5 episode of Ted Lasso, Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) holds a copy of Grant Wahl’s book The Beckham Experiment, about the soccer superstar’s decision to jump from top European leagues to the L.A. Galaxy of Major League Soccer in the United States. At the time the scene was filmed, it was intended as an Easter egg, as most of Beard’s reading choices have been (earlier in the season, he and Ted (Jason Sudeikis) thumbed through the football strategy book Inverting the Pyramid).

By the time the episode debuted on Apple TV+, however, the nod to Wahl had turned into into a tribute. Wahl died of an aortic aneurysm while covering the 2022 men’s World Cup in Qatar, and the show dedicated the episode, “Big Week,” to him with a title card in the closing credits.

Hunt, a co-creator and executive producer of Ted Lasso, told...

It was inevitable, Hollywood comes to Anacostia. Al Thompson, star of such films as The Royal Tenenbaums, A Walk to Remember, and Love Don’t Cost a Thing, and appearances on Espn’s A Season On The Brink, Sidney Lumet’s 100 Centre Street and Law & Order will guest star on Season 3 of the award-winning web soap, written and directed by DC native, Anthony Anderson.

Filming for the third season has yet to begin, but sources close to the production say that Al Thompson will portray the role of Ray Shelton, “a severely controlling salesman” who has moved into the neighborhood with his new wife Madison. Viewers will be on the edge of their seats when loud noises start emerging from the Shelton home and Madison is seen with “mysterious bruises.” What secret is lurking behind the door of the Shelton household? Inquiring minds and Anacostia fans will want to know.

Espn knows sports, but their record with sports films is a totally different matter. Beginning with 2002's A Season on the Brink, they've hardly delivered a credible sports film worthy of their place at the top of the sports-entertainment heap. Who can forget Tom Sizemore's ill-fitting Pete Rose wig in Hustle or Oliver Platt's oversized harrumphing in The Bronx is Burning? Yesterday, the network announced plans to tackle Vince Lombardi, the legendary Green Bay Packers football coach whose name now graces the Super Bowl trophy, and this time, the network is pulling no punches. For one, the film will be a theatrical release,...

The Dale Earnhardt biopic 3 drove ESPN to a record rating for its original films. The 9 p.m. Saturday broadcast drew 7.2 million total viewers, besting all the network's previous forays into longform entertainment. Barry Pepper stars as the racing legend who died in a crash during the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. "What these ratings have shown us is that our fans not only will respond to these films, but their appetite is growing," said Mark Shapiro, executive vp programming and production at ESPN, of 3 and the other ESPN Original Entertainment films. ESPN got respectable numbers last year with first efforts A Season on the Brink and The Junction Boys but hit a ratings speed bump in September with Hustle.

ESPN said Wednesday that it has revved up development on original telefilms with a slate that includes a biopic of late auto-racing star Dale Earnhardt. During its portion of the Television Critics Assn. winter press tour in Hollywood, the sports network also reaffirmed its commitment to producing original series but deferred any decision on the renewal of its controversial football drama Playmakers. Scheduled to bow in late summer, 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story, chronicling the life of the NASCAR star who died in a crash at the 2001 Daytona 500, will be ESPN's third original longform production, following 2002's A Season on the Brink and The Junction Boys.

NEW YORK -- If you have ever dreamed of becoming a SportsCenter anchor, ESPN is ready to give you a chance. The cable network is developing Dream Job, a primetime reality series that will invite aspiring sportscasters to submit audition tapes for consideration in an American Idol-style competition. ESPN will give the winner a one-year gig on SportsCenter. Dream is just one of several projects ESPN is developing on the original programming front under its ESPN Original Entertainment banner. In its first stab at a scripted series, ESPN has scheduled the behind-the-scenes football drama Playmakers for August. "Instead of sitting on our ratings success, we're investing in new properties," said executive vp programming and production Mark Shapiro, who admitted that the stakes are high. "We're going to give the series business a shot, but there's little room for failure here," he said. "We want to go one-for-one." After two well-received original movies, A Season on the Brink and The Junction Boys, ESPN in December will team with screenwriter Joe Eszterhas (Basic Instinct) on The Ice Bowl. A Pete Rose biopic could soon follow.

NEW YORK -- If you have ever dreamed of becoming a SportsCenter anchor, ESPN is ready to give you a chance. The cable network is developing Dream Job, a primetime reality series that will invite aspiring sportscasters to submit audition tapes for consideration in an American Idol-style competition. ESPN will give the winner a one-year gig on SportsCenter. Dream is just one of several projects ESPN is developing on the original programming front under its ESPN Original Entertainment banner. In its first stab at a scripted series, ESPN has scheduled the behind-the-scenes football drama Playmakers for August. "Instead of sitting on our ratings success, we're investing in new properties," said executive vp programming and production Mark Shapiro, who admitted that the stakes are high. "We're going to give the series business a shot, but there's little room for failure here," he said. "We want to go one-for-one." After two well-received original movies, A Season on the Brink and The Junction Boys, ESPN in December will team with screenwriter Joe Eszterhas (Basic Instinct) on The Ice Bowl. A Pete Rose biopic could soon follow.