Names and faces

A Hillary Rodham Clinton miniseries timed top recede the 2016 presidential election is part of NBC’s effort to create “event” prog ramming that will draw viewers to the shrinking world of broadcast network TV, NBC’s programming chief said Saturday in Beverly Hills, Calif. “We need to be in the event business. I think you’re going to hear that from every broadcast network,” said Bob Greenblatt, NBC Entertainment chairman. The four-hour miniseries Hillary, starring Diane Lane as the former first lady and secretary of state, is one such bid for distinctive programming, he said. The goal is to woo viewers who are increasingly drawn away by cable TV’s eye-catching, critically acclaimed fare like Mad Men and Breaking Bad and other media choices. Although Clinton hasn’t announced her intention to seek the Democratic nomination for president, Greenblatt spoke as if her candidacy is expected. Hillary could air before Clinton announces her decision, but the timing has yet to be determined, Greenblatt said. The part of former President Bill Clinton has yet to be cast. Lane’s credits include the feature films Unfaithful and Under the Tuscan Sun and the TV movie Cinema Verite.

Michael J. Fox said Saturday in Beverly Hills,Calif., that Parkinson’s disease will not be a major storyline of his forthcoming NBC comedy. On The Michael J.Fox Show, the actor plays Mike Henry, a former local NBC newscaster with Parkinson’s who left the business to spend more time with his family. The series begins when he decides to return to work now that his kids are older. At Saturday’s Television Critics Association summer press tour, Fox said he didn’t think about how others with Parkinson’s would react to the show, because he doesn’t “vet creative instinct.” “I just go with it,” he said. “I feel that this is the reflection of my experience and certainly in the pilot it was more prevalent than it is in subsequent scripts. The way I look at life and the reality of Parkinson’s, sometimes it’s frustrating and sometimes it’s funny. I need to look at it that way and other people need to look at it that way.Beyond that we all got our own bag of hammers. … I think people will look at that and say, ‘Yeah, I need to laugh at my own stuff, too.’” Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie are in the pilot, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will appear in an episode as himself.