97 entries from November 2007.Theater Watch and Box Office Booty are probably history I've been thinking about moving my Theater Watch series to Thursdays since most films open on Fridays, and often times I don't get the posts up until well into the day and into the night even. Why preview the new flicks after most people go to see them? It then struck me that I really hate doing them and I wondered if anybody even read them at all.According Google Analytics, the answer is a resounding no. The most read post I have done in that series hasn't even broken 10 page views, while collectively, the total number of posts have amassed fewer than 30 reads.... 'Shrek The Halls' obliterates competition No seriously, when I say Shrek The Halls absolutely killed everything in its path, I'm not exaggerating here or merely comparing it to whatever else was on TV during the same hour that night. According to the guys in the know (you know, those pesky Neilsen "people") Shrek The Halls pulled in an 19 share the other night that will guarantee about 50 more Shrek specials down the road.It teamed with animated classic "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Classic" to produce the best young-adult ratings for any entertainment program in the 8 o'clock hour -- on any night, on any net -- since last May's season-ender of "American Idol" on Fox.I had no earthly clue a half-hour special, even... ABC, Shrek NBC intimiated by "uncertain" new media - makes 3rd investment in 5 weeks While NBC and the other major networks and studios continue - even four weeks into a writers strike over these issues - to claim that the "new media" market (digital downloads and streaming video) is too uncertain and unprofitable to share in their booty with writers, they continue pushing aggressively into these supposedly nonexistent markets at a record pace with new deals being announced practically on a weekly basis.... NBC, Netflix Bonds movie? What about Patriots? So Barry Bonds was indicted for lying to a grand jury about using steroids. I thought people didn't go to jail for that? Oh wait, that's only when the president is your personal friend. Darn, sorry Barry. At least HBO is making a movie about how you cheated your way into the record books just like Mark Mcguire did. You guys really did a bang up job setting an example for all the kids coming up in baseball today.The only question I have is when HBO is going to make a movie about the Patriots getting caught cheating. They probably won't since I guess they didn't do anything legal, other than invalidate every game they've played since Bill Belichick stepped... Barry Bonds, HBO, Patriots Bring on the reality For people who like reality programming - by the ratings shows like Dancing With The Stars get I'd say that's a whole lot of you - you're in for a big surprise come January when all the scripted shows start running out of new episodes to air. Of course there will be some exceptions, like The Sarah Connor Chronicles that Fox held back for whatever reason, and a short run of new Jericho episodes on CBS, but other than that, what NBC has planned is precisely what all the other networks have in store for you after the Superbowl.Shrugging your shoulders at a plate full of reality is going to haunt you when you're sitting there staring it directly in... NBC, Reality AMPTP & WGA 'done deal' rumor doesn't pan out Well that didn't take long, did it? Nikkie Finke's "very reliable source" who started a rumor which she happily reprinted on Monday either lied to her, or didn't really know anything to begin with. Her anonymous source said that "It's already done, basically" referring to a deal between the Writers Guild of America and the Association of Motion Picture and Television producers. The two sides came together on the 26th for the first time since the strike began with the rumor coming out less than a day later.Finke vouched for her source as having been "very accurate in the past", but I've yet to see a retraction or explanation as to why she published an unsubstantiated rumor that has now... AMPTP, Deadline Hollywood, WGA Drudge report on Leno firings inaccurate Variety led off the afternoon with a story about staffers for The Tonight Show having worked their last day for NBC, and for some reason or another, Matt Drudge turned this from these guys being laid-off by NBC to them being fired by Lay Leno. That is a blatant misstatement of the facts (also known as a lie.) None of these people work for Jay Leno, they work for NBC; the network signs their checks and they are responsible for the writers strike - along with every other greedy AMPTP member - which is the cause for these layoffs.There's simply nothing for these people to do so long as the Leno writers refuse to work without a fair contract. It's... Jay Leno, NBC DNC cancels Democratic CBS debate Not much news on the strike front, other than the DNC canceling a democratic debate that was supposed to be moderated by Katie Couric. I saw Hillary Clinton on CBS a few days ago and we all knew there was the possibility that the CBS news writers were going to finally call their strike which would have essentially closed off CBS to labor friendly dems. I thought it was pretty low for Clinton to do that, it was obvious she was getting it in under the wire for her own personal gain.... CBS, WGA Donnie Darko is Joe Namath The writers strike may have stopped a number of pictures dead in their tracks, and delayed the beginning of countless others that would be moving ahead right now if they could, but not having anyone around to pawn off those silly writing duties to apparently isn't enough to stop the merry-go-ground deal making from keeping Variety primed with stories that would make it appear as if everything in Hollywood is moving along as fast and efficient as it ever has.One would think that not having anyone around to come up with a good story would make the studios a little apprehensive about signing deals with unpredictable star talent that, as Brad Pitt has recently shown, can be quite temperamental about... Jake Gyllenhaal AICN scores high-res stills from Indy 4 I'm not real big on linking to or posting pictures from upcoming films because there are plenty of fan sites you can go to get that kind of stuff, and you'll end up with far better coverage of it than you'd get at a generalized news blog such as this one. That said, if I've got something to say about things, I'll go ahead and use that as an excuse because lets face it, every excuse is a good excuse.AICN (via a reader) has posted three high-res stills from the upcoming Indiana Jones sequel, all of which feature Harrison Ford and that really goofy kid Shia LaBeouf. No offense, but somebody explain to me how the goofy kid in I,... Indiana Jones Sequel titles mark windfall for Activision Anybody who thinks that making games is still a niche industry unworthy of serious attention in the global entertainment market is probably still right, because the companies that make games generally aren't the ones getting filthy rich off of their creations.Much as is the case in any creative endeavor, it's the parent company at the top of the ownership ladder that is pulling in the big bucks. Case in point, Activision is putting up some dizzying numbers this year by doing exactly what Hollywood has been doing for a long time now: milking the absolute hell out of sequel titles.... Activision, Guitar Hero 3 Negotiations continue Tuesday came and went without a deal between the AMPTP and WGA, which I think was pretty much expected. Even if they came to an agreement on the new media/digital residuals, I imagine it'd still take days to work out everything else. What's important to understand here is that this is still a negotiation - no deal doesn't mean no progress on the issues.There are unsubstantiated rumors Nikkie Finke is spreading that agreement has already been made on the principal issues, which is great if it's true, but when was the last time a rumor from a gossip blog actually turned out to be anything real? I'm not knocking blogs here, you're reading mine so I'm not completely unaware of... AMPTP, WGA Life, Chuck get full seasons Good news for Life and Chuck, and perhaps something of a ray of hope for Journeyman and Bionic Woman fans. The former two got full season orders despite being challenged in the ratings. The latter two are playing in a very similar range and I'm going to have to agree with Hinman at SyFy Portal that some shows in this group aren't going to make it.Still, it didn't really look like Life and Chuck were going to make it either, it was shaping up (and still looks like) a near total wash for NBC this fall. Perhaps their best bet is to clone Tim Kring a couple of times and see how many new shows he can come up with... Chuck, Life 'Shrek The Halls' on ABC tonight I was going to make a joke about one large green cartoon character sitting on and squishing another from Christmas past, but Variety beat me to it. Bastards.ABC is going to air a Shrek-themed Christmas special this year called "Shrek the Halls" with all the old players taking up their parts for one of the most successful animated properties in recent times. Hell, maybe ever. The first three films have grossed just about $2.2 billion between them over the years and I don't think things are going to change very much for the coming fourth film.It seems like an odd match for Christmas, but I guess it was inevitable that they'd branch out to television in one way or another... Shrek Heroes: Truth & Consequences The better the series gets, the less I have to say about it because I'm busy enjoying it and would rather just let it simmer in my mind after watching it, trying to extend the suspension of reality for as long as possible to, as I said, enjoy it rather than eating it.I only have two notes for Truth & Consequences with another floating in the background, and it figures that just when we're at a point where I can sit back and enjoy Heroes without bitching about anything, we've reached the end of the strike shortened season.... Heroes A lesson for people thinking about inflating their traffic numbers There's a bizarre story in the Times today about Deadline Hollywood, Nikki Finke's site which I tend to read (and assail) almost every day for one inaccuracy or another. This time though, I think things are a little more despicable than usual. In the Times story, Brain Stelter says that Finke claims that her site before the strike "averaged 350,000 page views a day" and was averaging almost one million this month.I don't know why (a) reporters don't check their facts; (b) people lie on the Internet and think they can get away with it. One of those has to be the case because the numbers Finke gave to the Times are 100% false. All you have to do is... Deadline Hollywood The state of things I hope everyone enjoyed their long holiday weekend. I didn't bother posting anything since most people were going to be traveling or away from their computers, plus, there wasn't hardly any news to post anyway. Of the things that have happened, I'll catch up you up.I forgot to do the weekend box office preview, I discovered a problem with Yahoo!'s email system that can prevent people from registering accounts for commenting, and Rupert Murdock is still a douchebag intent on indoctrinating not only the United States, but the entire world into the neo-con culture. Still interested?... CBS, Heroes, News Corp, Rupert Murdoch, WGA Happy Thanksgiving There's basically no news coming out this afternoon. A lot of people are looking forward to the 26th when the WGA and AMPTP return to the bargaining table, and I did read a story last night that said the total shutdown of scripted television figures to cost a little over $20 million per day once everything stops. It wasn't really clear if this was loss in revenue and/or profit for the studios and networks, or if that number included what writers and everyone else not working because of this strike are losing as well.Either way, that's a big number. If this strike lasts as long as the last one, we'll be looking at losses above $3 billion rather than the... Wil Wheaton on NUMB3RS Friday One last blurb before I close shop for tonight: Mr. Wil Wheaton did a guest spot on NUMB3RS which is scheduled to air this coming Friday. I don't know a thing about the show as I generally find myself firmly attached to the Sci Fi Channel on Friday nights, but there are fewer and fewer reasons every year to bother watching them. SG-1 is gone, Battlestar is fragmented and feels like it was canceled last year and is long since dust, the way Sci Fi has jerked the schedule around.Do you even remember how the last season ended?Perhaps with all of their mistakes, now is the time to bounce around and find something new to watch. Anybody know what NUMB3RS... NUMB3RS, Wil Wheaton Crappy script has Brad Pitt walk from 'State of Play' This is going to be a little controversial and will undoubtedly lead to somebody somewhere calling me an idiot, but I see this as a good thing. Of the movies that looked as if they had gotten their scripts into a shootable form before the Nov. 5 strike, a few came up just a little short, and we get word every few days now of another flick that just wasn't quite there yet and will have to be put on ice until the differences between the Writers Guild of America, and the Association of Motion Picture & Television Producers, is settled.State Of Play has apparently fallen apart primarily because Brad Pitt didn't like the script, and now there isn't anybody... Brad Pitt, State of Play Christian Bale may star in next Terminator flick Trying to catch up on a bunch of stuff I've missed over the past week and a half, one item crept into view this afternoon that I'm glad I didn't miss like a lot of other stuff: Harry Knowles of AICN reported this afternoon that an anonymous source told him that Christian Bale has been cast, or is being considered/talked to for the role of John Connor in the fourth Terminator feature film.This franchise is already on its third owner and is about as far removed from James Cameron as the Alien flicks are these days. I'm excited that Bale may be on board for this next installment, but also gravely concerned that he's walking into fourth-level trash that should... Christian Bale, Terminator 4 Hayden Panettiere gives jail bait a new meaning Our little Claire Bear just turned 18 about three months ago, but she's still hanging on to that jail bait moniker bestowed upon hot girls that we aren't supposed to think of as hot quite yet. Sin, and all that. Things have gotten just a little more serious though, as Panettiere is now wanted in Japan for participating in a demonstration organized by "Save The Whales" to, ironically, save the dolphins."I learned today that I have an arrest warrant out for me in Japan because of what I did for Save the Whales," says the actress, adding that the repercussions could be, "Potentially jail, but I doubt it. ... I guess they could come here and get us, but probably... Hayden Panettiere Will the strike cause Idol to blossum, or crash? An entertainment writer for the Associated Press wrote a semi-amusing article about his vision of the future of Hollywood due to the strike, at least in the near term, all the way through July of next year. Most of it is just playful prognostication, but there is a nugget of inspiration in there that will lead me to a perhaps controversial prediction. Oh I'll be hearing a strange, low frequency noise emanating from every direction from now until I die that resembles a couple of hundred million people all saying "duh" at the same time."Prison Break" stages a puppet version of the show to benefit production staff; an episode of "Gossip Girl" is mimed to reflect writer-less television. Viewers discover... American Idol, Reality Dexter is murder for Showtime ratings I don't know if you've ever seen Dexter before, but it's a really great show. Don't get a chance to see very many since it's on Showtime and I think paying for more channels twice is kind of absurd, but I've seen a few. More than enough to know I'd be a die hard fan if it was airing on a network, or even a basic-cable channel like FX. It would fit in perfectly with Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me, don't you think?Anyway, those guys over there have a lot to be happy when Dexter apparently broke a ratings record for Showtime, so says Reuters. Kind of funny when you consider Showtime foaming at the mouth over 1.2 million viewers when... Dexter, Showtime NBC's Knight Rider just got lamer You've probably heard by now that NBC is going to remake Knight Rider the same way it did Bionic Woman, only I'm sure they are hoping for much better results this time around, considering that Bionic Woman probably won't be coming back after the writers strike comes to an end. I don't know anybody that thinks this is a good idea, but really, whose idea was it to bring David Hasselhoff on board? I like the guy, and I liked Knight Rider actually, but this is just sad my friends.No matter how much money you throw at it, you can't get it back. Please, for all that is holy and good in the world, just stop it. These network execs... Knight Rider, NBC Picketing on Tuesday - 4000 strong Variety has a write-up about Tuesday's picketing that supposedly drew another 4,000 members to a single place, allowing everyone else to continue working as if nothing was happening at other lots, and noted the letters the networks are sending around to their employees assuring them that their bosses are trying as hard as they can to screw those filthy writers get a fair deal done. I think from this point forward, writers only need to make a single point to win this strike: Warner Bros. and I think it was Paramount started selling DVDs for $3 each in China this year to combat piracy where counterfeit disks sell for about $1.50. Not second-run crap flicks, the good stuff is what... WGA Chili Peppers going after Californication There was a cute story in Variety yesterday about a lawsuit filed against Showtime over the title of their series Californication. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers think they own the name exclusively since they used it first, and foremost for both a CD and song title. The problem with that theory is that song titles generally don't qualify for trademark protection. Just have a look through any catalog and you'll see dozens of songs with the same title, all by different bands in different eras.The same goes for movie and television episode titles. Follow this imdb.com search to see what I mean.Something to consider is that trademark protection is not absolute, either. Because words are kind of a finite resource,... Californication New login options here at The Media Pundit One of my favorite sites to read has begun their upgrade of Movable Type from 3.2 to 4.01. Movable Type is a publishing platform (or a blog+) similar to WordPress, only MT works a little differently on the inside and has features from Six Apart (the people who make and sell it) that make it ideal for enterprise class publishing. I love it to death and launched this site on the back of a beta version of 4.0 and have had few problems with it over the past four months... AMPTP agrees not to spin, spins anyway Apparently back-channeling isn't only used in Hollywood for getting waring partners back to the negotiating table. Even though the AMPTP agreed not to send out any press releases or public statements about coming back to the table (the WGA will do the same) to avoid inflaming the situation more than it already is, that hasn't stopped them from sending out what amounts to a press release to their own employees knowing full well it will be leaked to, and reprinted by the media.Sadly, the irreverent protector of fair and balanced reporting over at Deadline Hollywood bought the bridge and is now passing this love letter around as a sign that real progress is about to take place. All I see... AMPTP, Warner Brothers Internet series Quarterlife will be broadcast on NBC There was a story in Variety right before the weekend saying that NBC was going to bring Internet series Quarterlife to air at some unknown future date, presumably after they start running out of original material due to the writers strike. Any other time it would have been fantastic news, since this is probably going to increase in the future as writers look to get out from under the interfering thumbs of hapless network executives and networks look for more ways to get programming without having to pay anyone for it.The first episodes of Quarterlife have already been produced, and I've wondered if they were of sufficient quality that they'd look good on NBC and whether or not editing for... Quarterlife Heroes: Cautionary Tales I have some mixed feelings about this episode. The negatives are few and mostly about not seeing either Peter or Sylar at all. On the other hand, we didn't see the Hondurans either, and the whole episode is like that. It's not really what the promo sold it as, but it's still good.Not Four Months Later good, but the last scene gets the job done.... Heroes WGA and AMPTP to restart negotiations A couple of notable things have taken place concerning the WGA strike. First and foremost, both sides have agreed to restart negotiations after Thanksgiving, on or about the 26th of November. Carlton Cuse (Lost) has decided to cross the picket line and return to his producing duties with absolutely no guarantee that said negotiations will bare any fruit. I don't know what his contract requires him to do, but by crossing the line, if these negotiations fall apart again, what he'll be doing right now is making sure that ABC has more original material they can air in January and beyond, hurting writers longer than should be necessary.He isn't the only one who is going to, or has already, crossed... Box Office Booty: November 19th, 2007 I wasn't real sure how well Beowulf was going to do this weekend, it's really a toss-up given it being animation and not live-action, but things turned out rather well for Paramount's latest fantasy adventure. The rather expensive flick topped the box office with $28 million on costs of $150m. That ain't great and this probably should have cost $100m instead of 150, but it certainly beats the business for Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (have I mentioned that whoever came up with that title should be liquidated?) with pulled in only $10 million in roughly the same number of theaters.Love in the Time of Cholera (god that's even worse) did $1.9 million in 852 theaters which doesn't bode well when... Brady's New England Patriots have no class I have no intention of doing sports here beyond the occasional TV schedule for a major sport's playoff, but I really need to get this off my chest.I'd like to say to all of you Patriots fans out there that your team, bar none, has the least amount of class of any team in the NFL. Up by over thirty points, your hero of a QB had to go for it on fourth down not once, but twice. You had already won the game by half time, but that wasn't good enough for you. Playing against a team ranked second to last in scoring that up until last week hadn't been over .500 for over two years, with 32 and... New England Patriots, NFL Strike unexpectedly claims 'Angels & Demons' as victim Wow, this is pretty big news. We all read about how Akiva Goldsman was working night and day to finish off the script for Angels & Demons, a follow-up to Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Everything looked good and they were one of the big projects that looked as if he had cleared the deadline. Turns out they didn't quite make it.Says Variety:"While the filmmakers and the studio feel the screenplay is very strong, we do not believe it is the fully realized production draft required of this ambitious project," a Sony spokesperson said. "At this time, there is no new start date for 'Angels & Demons,' but we are setting a release date of May 15, 2009, and... Akiva Goldsman, Angels and Demons Theater Watch: November 16th, 2007 The days of back-to-back blockbusters is long over I'm afraid, but that doesn't mean there aren't still good flicks to see this weekend if you enjoy spending $10 to have people spend two hours talking on their cell phone. Personally I'd rather wait a few months and watch it at home where I can pause it, eat a real dinner, rewind and watch something I didn't understand, turn on subtitles, and all the new experience stuff you get having a home theater.I think most of this year's flicks with the exception of just a few are destined for rental and not really even worth buying after you've seen it. The first couple of Spider-Man films were good but 3, and... Beowulf Worldwide demonstrations to support WGA Nov. 28th George Lucas may have to think twice about seeking scabs to write his live-action Star Wars show, as many international writing unions are declaring support for the Writers Guild of America by pledging not to write for struck companies. Such actions by non-WGA members is considered 'scabbing' and is heavily frowned upon by writers of any stripe. Penalties for WGA members caught doing scab work can be damaging, if not terminal to a persons writing career once a strike ends.Lucas has told trade papers that he wanted an international writing staff to bring culture and flavor to the show, and that he intended to bring them together sometime (I think in December) to hash out plots and outlines, after which... WGA, WGC More shows shut down At first, it looked like the WGA was going to wait until SAG's contract expired sometime near June of next year, in order to give both guilds extreme bargaining power that would shut down everything almost overnight. Instead, in what now looks like a stroke of genius, the writers walked off the lot just three days after their contract expired on October 31st, right in the middle of the fall television season.With a number of high profile actors and writing/producing "showrunners" refusing to cross picket lines, no fewer than seven shows came to a screeching halt or were disrupted by the strike and were unable to continue with production. Now on the 11th day of the strike and the 16th... Battlestar Galactica, Bionic Woman Variety and AMPTP spin the news A Variety writer yesterday wrote what amounted to a blog post whining about how writers are being mean to his company, after accusations that Variety has been leaning heavily towards the studios and networks in their coverage since before the strike began, was officially declared a mountain. The only question today is which sides spin to start with, Variety's, or the big media association.The trade mags headline this evening says that the "Gulf widens between WGA, AMPTP" while noting below that the AMPTP's President and negotiator Nick Counter has actually come down off his demand that the strike be suspended before he'd return to the bargaining table. That sounds like a concession to me, even if it's a small one,... AMPTP, Variety, WGA 'Ellen' skips east coast visit over WGAe threats The animosity between Ellen DeGeneres and the Writers Guild of America (East) seems to be taking a toll on the host's show, which has canceled plans to travel to the east coast this week apparently due to threats by WGAe that they'd picket her show for continuing her hosting duties while the strike is on-going. WGAe blasted DeGeneres for only honoring the strike for a single day before crossing the line. They are especially pissed because she happens to be a WGA member herself.I don't think there's any argument about the legality of this, her hosting duties are separate from any writing she may have done for the show - which actually appears to be none at all given what... Ellen DeGeneres Variety says writers are being mean You'd think that one of Hollywood's top trade mags would be thrilled over a strike by any of the big unions, as insiders and others turn to their pages as an authoritative source for what's going on, who wants what, and when it'll all come to an end. Something to be proud of, and a fantastic opportunity to raise your profile beyond reporting which studio bought which script and which over paid actor just signed a record deal for a movie nobody wants to go see.And you'd be wrong.Variety published a faux story Wednesday that reads more like an impassioned op-ed from the editor that amounts to begging writers to stop being mean to them. While Brian Lowry acknowledges the... Variety, WGA 'Dragonball Z' Coming to Theaters in 2008 Dragonball (with a Z if you can read this language) is being made into a live-action feature film by 20th Century Fox sometime in the coming months with a tentative release date of August 2008. If you're anything like me then you've heard of this before but may not know what it's about, and frankly I don't care what it's about. Why? Because of the talent bringing this Japanese science fiction tale to life in the form of James Marsters (the bad guy) and James Wong (of the dynamic Wong and Glenn Morgan duo) will direct.These two could do a dog show on TBS and I'd still tune in.Sadly though, the whiny jerk (Justin Chatwin) that played Tom Cruise's son... Dragonball Z Back on the Air Mediapundit.net is back on the air after going dark for a day to show this persons support for the Writers Guild of America. It was symbolic, but they deserve the support regardless of the actual results.Here's why I did it.Misconceptions about this strike are running all over the place due mostly to the large multinational corporations that own the studios and broadcast networks also owning many local TV stations and newspapers. It is in their best interests to pressure people from the top on down to put out positive spin that favors the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) which is exactly whats happening right now.... AMPTP, WGA TV Blogs Go Dark in Solidarity with the Writers Guild of America On November 13th, this blog and the blogs listed below will be on strike for the day in solidarity with the Writers Guild of America. As fellow writers and as TV fans, we are coming together to express our strong support for the writers and their goals. We believe that when a writer's work makes money for a company, that writer deserves to be paid.Many writers depend on residuals for a stable income, and that income shouldn't be based on an outdated formula which ignores the existence of new media and all but a tiny percentage of DVD sales. The talented writers responsible for so much of what we love about television should and must be paid fairly and equitably,... Heroes: Four Months Ago This is everything that Four Months Later could have been, even though the last few minutes of Four Months Later was actually a pretty good grab. I disagree that this is what the premier should have been, though, because a lot happened tonight that wouldn't have been possible without some of the mysteries set in motion up until this point.Finding Peter with no memory handcuffed in a cargo container was cool, but it was no replacement for Four Months Ago, yet it couldn't have come full circle without it. (Moderate Spoilers ahead)... Heroes Jennifer Morrison in Trek XI? A couple of days ago, somebody descended on a shoot taking place for J. J. Abrams new Trek flick and managed to snap some pics of what most people assumed were extras hanging out, waiting for something to do. At the place where I found this one pic (source) the poster noted the striking resemblance between this woman, and Jennifer Morrison of Fox's House.I can see how people would make that leap but I didn't actually believe it. She's hot, she looks like Morrison, and hey, there isn't exactly a hell of a lot to speculate about when it comes to J. J. Abrams movies.Turns out everybody had it straight on - Jennifer Morrison has officially boarded the Enterprise. Or... Jennifer Morrison, Star Trek XI On Sunday, Everybody Wins (Ratings) Everybody except CBS, anyway, but it serves them right for squandering Lost and torturing us with Kid Nation, right? NBC is seeing numbers unlike those since Must See Thursday moved into the retirement home, with football providing a score for the network which saw nearly 17 million people watch the San Diego Chargers upset the Indianapolis Colts 23-21 last night.Fox did very well with Cowboys vs NY Giants, though not nearly as well as NBC did. While NBC is expected to the night overall, ABC had the most watched show of the evening with Desperate Housewives, hauling 18.5 million eyeballs (or would that be 37 million eyeballs?) - but don't expect that to last. According to the strike chart, Housewives... NBC's 'Scrubs' May Be Twice The Victim Scrubs is going to run out of episodes sooner rather than later, like most shows that are still in the first half of their seasonal run. TV Guide estimates Scrubs may have as few as nine episodes left to air with almost all of them already shot and ready for broadcast, but that's really not their biggest concern. Creator Bill Lawrence had intended to wrap up Scrubs this year after an improbable seven-year run, and now it's possible that the strike could very well end it right in the middle of the season with no way of really controlling what will happen.NBC was reluctant to renew the show this year but did end up making that decision, I'm pretty sure... Scrubs Can Quarterlife Survive During The Strike? There has been some talk recently that Internet-only series Quarterlife may be bought by NBC and presumably reproduced for airing on the network after all its own shows run out of original episodes to air, sometime in or after January. That article isn't the first to suggest this and I really don't know anything about the show or the probabilities of such a thing going forward, but it did raise an interesting proposition.How can it all work and how will it be affected by the strike, after it's bought?... NBC, Quarterlife Box Office Booty: November 12th, 2007 Apparently the word-of-mouth for DreamWork's Bee Movie was exceptionally better than it's reviews were. Most critics seemed to agree that the film was basically about nothing at all. Some found that charming and relaxed, others were far less generous than that. The average user review of 55% wasn't much better than the 51% the pros gave, but that didn't stop the animated flick from shooting to the #1 spot in its second week hauling in a cool $26 million against $24m for Universal's American Gangster.... American Gangster, Bee Movie, Fred Claus, Lions for Lambs Some Shows Only Have 1 Episode Left I noticed that some family members didn't have any idea there was a strike going on right now in tinseltown, and were less than thrilled at the idea of this mediocre fall television season being cut short just when prospects were looking up on shows like Heroes. If you're one of the brave few, keeping an eye on the situation for the good of the nation, you might want to start letting your own family and friends know that some of their favorite sitcoms and the like are going to burn up and disappear in a matter of weeks.I know I'd rather be sacked out on the floor with the DVR remote sitting on my fat belly for the next... Heroes, The Office NBC Launches Second Digital TV Service in 3 Weeks, Still Refuses to Pay Writers Over the course of less than a month, three interesting things happened that tell you a lot about the honesty and the intentions of the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) who flat out refuse to pay writers anything for TV shows streamed over the Internet or downloaded to your computer (after you've bought it from Apple or Amazon presumably.)NBC and Fox launched a streaming-video website called Hulu.com that streams all their hit TV shows (with commercials that they make money from) absolutely free to users.NBC and Fox as part of AMPTP refused to pay writers any money for digital media at all at the contract negotiating table, and the writers went on strike to protest.NBC launched another... Fox Mass Firings Rumor Quelled Deadline Hollywood started and has now killed an irresponsible rumor that Fox axed every single one of their showrunners for not fulfilling their producing duties during the writers' strike. Turns out what really happened was that Fox started suspending showrunners who stopped running their own shows, hardly a crime when one considers the current situation.RUMOR that Fox just fired all their showrunners/writer-producers. And, because they're now fired, when the strike ends Fox can choose whether or not to rehire them. But since they were fired, the showrunners can ALSO choose whether or not to go back. I'm trrying to confirm. There's a desperate need tro pin down all these rumors...The original post title used a dirty trick from Fox News... In L.A., They Kiss Ass With The Best There's been a lot of ass kissing going on over at Deadline Hollywood lately and sometimes I wonder if people pay any attention to what they are doing and saying anymore. Consider this fellow who is a writer for Ugly Betty, who laminates over chanting in front of the studios that writers are canceling their subscriptions to the trade magazines Hollywood Reporter and Variety in favor of DHD. I wonder if this guy ever actually reads DHD, and how he would feel if he knew that Finke drank the studio koolaid about the residual rollback's coming off the table being a real concession?I thought Nikki and the producers were the only people on Earth that actually bought that line of... Looking For Writers? How Aboot Us, Eh? A couple of stories in Variety remind us that where there is demand, there will always be supply. With all writers currently in strike in Hollywood, there is a chance however remote that U.S. producers will start looking outside the country to fill their gaps rather than subjugating themselves to bargaining with the local red-shirt wearing scum that have the audacity to demand fair payment for the scripts that make their bosses billions of dollars each year.The question of the day seems to be how would you like House to talk down to his desperate minions, with a British or a Canadian inflection? Home grown content from across the border has been sparse over the years as most of Canada's... Marky Mark will bring you Maximum Payne..if you ask nicely The bad news is that movie studios are continuing to bring us game-to-film adaptations that we don't really want, even though Uwe Boll continues aborting one after another after another, all of which we really don't want. The good news is that Uwe Boll isn't directing this one, so it will probably only half suck depending on how bored you are. Max Payne came out in 2001 and I think was the first game to utilize the "bullet time" special effect pioneered in the Matrix films, along with semi-destructible walls and levels, although it was otherwise unremarkable.Mark Wahlberg is in talks to play title character Max Payne in a venture for Fox, with a script written by Beau Thorne (we... Mark Wahlberg, Max Payne Theater Watch: November 9th, 2007 If you're a regular theater bug, you have nothing to worry about from the writers strike that started this past Monday. Feature films move at a glacial pace where most of what you'll be seeing in the theaters this weekend was probably all finished weeks ago. Anything that hasn't been shot yet but already has a completed script will be able to plow forward as if the TV side of things weren't about to lose a billion dollars or two in revenue.But hey, I'm sure the corporate giants that own the studios will find enough loose change in their pockets to keep paying their CEOs $10-20 million per year for doing such a bang up job this fall.... Fred Claus, Lions for Lambs, P2 Ronald D. Moore on NBC: They Weren't Going to Pay Us It seems like the popular thing to do now. Go out to the picket lines and score quick interviews and quotes from showrunners on everything that's been pissing them off lately. Well, Ron Moore is plenty pissed off at NBC and it's easy to understand why. I've written on this subject before and had my reporting linked from the WGA website and quoted in a trade labor magazine, because I think this is important and because I knew it was a pretense to the struggles going on right now over digital media.NBC wanted Ron Moore and company to create a series of webisodes - basically two-minute shorts that step outside the main thrust of a TV show - to broadcast... Battlestar Galactica, NBC, Ronald D. Moore Mickey Rourke Scores a DUI..in Style I'm posting about these because I think it's important to raise awareness about drunk driving. Yes, a lot of instances result in no harm and no foul, but a lot of them also result in the tragic deaths of entire families while the stupid shit that decided to get hammered and then drive walks away with a few bruises. Remember when Kelsey Grammer was so drunk that he flipped his $100,000 Dodge Viper just trying to get out of his own driveway?Mickey Rourke is the latest in the growing line of actors just in the past two months that have been caught driving while intoxicated, and like all his predacessors, he'll likely see zero time inside of a jail cell... Mickey Rourke Polanski Finds a New Flick Wanted fugitive Roman Polanski has selected his next directorial feature, according to Variety, an adaptation of a novel called The Ghost by Robert Harris. As is always the case, the film must be shot in a country that does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, as Polanski is wanted for fleeing justice after pleading guilty to drugging and raping a 14-year-old girl in 1977. Polanski's home country of France does not extradite its own citizens.More info in the original story if you're interested, though personally I don't think people ought to be watching films made by a wanted fugitive, much less one wanted for the rape of a little girl, who has been on the run for... Roman Polanski Bionic Woman Not Getting Bionic Ratings If there were two things that NBC really wanted to see this fall, it was the continued success of Heroes, and at least one show they could follow-up on that success with on Monday night or any other.That show was supposed to be Bionic Woman, only it didn't quite work out that way. The remake is currently sitting on its third showrunner since the pilot was shot and has continually fallen in the ratings nearly every single week since the premier. This past Wednesday didn't help matters, either.Michael Hinman, who has been watching the ratings for Bionic Woman for SyFy Portal, reports that NBC's hopeful darling for the fall has officially lost half its total audience over the series premier,... Bionic Woman, NBC, Ratings Strike News Roundup: November 8th Defamer has a number of great links today, including news that Fox has shelved 24 in favor of Prison Break and The Sarah Connor Chronicles due to running short on episodes for the former ailing drama. 24 and Chronicles were scheduled to debut side-by-side with Prison Break being pushed back, but now it looks like PB will hit the air first, followed by Chronicles mid-month, with 24 to be held back until the strike ends.If you choose to count it, 24 makes the eighth show to be negatively affected by the strike earlier than planned.Nikki Finke had the hilarious idea that agents are the magical solution to the strike, that both sides negotiators be benched and replaced. Let's think about... AMPTP, DGA, WGA Tim Kring: We F*cked up, But We Can Fix It There has been a lot of criticism over the way season two of Heroes has unfolded, least of which has come from me. Everything I've disliked though has been addressed in one way or another by series creator and showrunner Tim Kring in a chat he held with Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Jensen. Wow, there actually is a real person with the last name Jensen. Can you believe it? I'm freaking out, man.The pace is too slow"We assumed the audience wanted season 1 — a buildup of intrigue about these characters and the discovery of their powers. We taught [them] to expect a certain kind of storytelling. They wanted adrenaline. We made a mistake."The world-saving stakes should have been established soonerThe... Heroes, Tim Kring Paramount and Warner Bros. Making Fools of Themselves While Paramount, Warner Brothers, and the other studios refuse to grant writers a four-cent-per-disc increase in DVD residual fees (they currently only get four - they want eight) saying it would cost them too much and that such demands are completely out of the question, the two named companies have hatched a plan to sell DVDs in China at the price of - get this - $3 per disc, to stave off mass street piracy where counterfeit units are going for half that much.They can't give writers a four cent raise, but they can afford to chop between 80-85% off the asking price to prop up sales overseas. They can't possibly be serious..Whatever the price, the studios have come to... Paramount, Warner Brothers Update On The Picketer Struck By Car I just found a story posted on Defamer from a couple of days ago that fills in some missing pieces about the writer who was hit by a car while walking the picket line (two days ago) in front of Sunset-Gower Studios. I did note in the strike news update this afternoon that the writer (Tom Johnson) ended up with a broken leg, but thankfully sustained no critical injuries. I didn't know what the surrounding circumstances were such as whether or not the driver fled the scene.Turns out that's exactly what happened.(Defamer) quoting a local ABC affiliate, whitenesses said that the driver was corralled by other picketing writers immediately after the accident and took away his keys so he couldn't... Michael Eisner Calls Writers' Strike "Stupid", Says They Can't Afford To Pay Writers More -- Time Warner Announces $1 Billion Profit On Huge Summer Box Office $250 Million dollars -- About 1/28th what Time Warnermade this year.Two different stories from two different corporations on two different websites emerged today, that when put together, says all you need to know about why the writers are striking right now and how dishonest and pathetic the major studios are. Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner was on Wall Street today telling the stock market bigwigs that the writers' strike is "insanity" and "too stupid", according to The Hollywood Reporter, that "writers had been premature in pressing for digital revenue when the model was still unproven, and should have postponed action for at least three years."NBC and Fox recently initiated a beta test of their new video publishing website called Hulu.com... Michael Eisner, Time Warner, WGA Is Judd Apatow's Number Finally Up? You can't argue with the mans success to date, but as Moariaty over at AICN points out, he's bound to get raked over the coals eventually. A reader sent in his review of an early screening of Apatow's latest flick Walk Hard. FYI, Apatow is doing sound mixing on one of his upcoming features but has already been walking the picket line with the striking writers, and plans to join them in force once the mixing is done within a weeks time.Straight to the point – WALK HARD was a boring movie. It was not awful, and nowhere near good, but just bland and forgettable. I think John C. Reilly is an okay actor, and he’s definitely one of the... Jude Apatow, Review, Walk Hard Drunk Actor Busted Story #352 Yet another actor (in this case actress) has been arrested and cited for drunk driving in what seems like the hundredth instance just in the last couple of months. Who is it this time? Rebecca De Mornay is the lucky trooper this time, lucky in that she didn't cause a pileup and murder a family of four just trying to get home from a school play or something.De Mornay, 48, was pulled over around 10:30 p.m. for an unknown traffic violation on Sunset Blvd. When the officers approached the actress, they "immediately detected an odor of alcoholic beverages." De Mornay failed several field sobriety tests, and her blood-alcohol level was .09, just above the legal limit. She was cited and... Rebecca De Mornay Strike News For November 7th, 2007 There are only a couple of interesting news bits this afternoon regarding the writers' strike. The guy who was hit by a car yesterday is "Tom Johnson, head writer for Talkshow With Spike Feresten" according to Deadline Hollywood's Nikke Finke. Tom suffered a broken leg but presumably will be ok. I sincerely hope whoever hit him and then fled the scene (an automatic crime no matter what the circumstances are) ends up spending at least some amount of time in the local jail, though knowing how pathetic the L.A. justice system is, he'll probably get even less time than Paris Hilton even though he/she damn near murdered this poor guy.The "breaking talks news" that Nikke alluded to on her blog... Desperate Housewives, DGA, WGA Quick Links: November 6th, 2007 South Park: Raping Your Childhood For 10 Years."Imagination Land" South Park trilogy scores record ratings for Comedy Central (Futon Critic)2 rent-a-cops are no match for 20 pissed off writers. (TV Guide)Lost's midget season may be getting even smaller. (SyFy Portal)This year's Nicholl fellowship is over, congrats you seven lucky cats. (Hollywood Reporter)Huge list of TV show shutdowns - excellent work guys. (AICN)Cashmere Mafia got benched before ever airing. (Variety)My hard drive is making really, really bad noises. Anyone want to buy me a new one?... Quick Update About 'In Their Own Words' I know I said I was going to get the first one up on Monday, but I really want to make these quality posts, and those take some time to put together. I really should have pulled out a studio trick and banked three or four of them before even announcing the series, but I didn't, because I'm a retard (much like the studios.)The first post in the series will may be broken up into parts, because the subject has been kind of prolific. Others near the end will be shorter because I'm going to cover some people that have only written a post or two after the strike started, talking about walking the picket line. Bryce Zabel has some... In Their Own Words Are Canadian Productions Now Scabs? I've been wondering for a couple of weeks what Stargate Atlantis exec-producer Joe Mallozzi meant when answering a question about whether or not SGA would be affected by the WGA strike - the one that began on Monday morning. He said no, but no can mean a lot of things with ambiguous context. The Sci Fi Channel had yet to order a fifth season of the show when the question was asked, and I haven't been clear on the various producers guild affiliations until now.Canada has its own writers guild, which on face value actually seems silly and destructive, at least for North America where you can have writers in one country, while shooting it in another. According to a... Stargate Atlantis, WGA, WGC New Trailer For 'The Mist' This is an Internet-only trailer that IGN found, which I found via AICN. Yes, we're all just one giant link whoring society that enjoy bouncing you guys from site to site because really, what else is there to do? While I'm on the subject of just making stuff up, why the hell are people calling this film "Frank Darabont's Steven King's The Mist"? What the hell? King wrote it, and unlike in Hollywood where writers don't get to attach their own names to features they actually wrote, he gets full cred for it and the title sets it apart from everything else, and rightfully so.It's a freakin' Steven King story.Pre-pending the directors name when it already has the authors name... The Mist Seven Shows Are Shut Down A writers strike isn't supposed to start shutting down shows until those shows start running out of scripts that were finished before the strike started. In this case, that was supposed to be sometime in January, although some were behind and only had one or two scripts ready, the bulk was supposed to come later - and the bulk may yet still drag on.But a number of shows are shutting down right now due to walkouts by the writers, writing-producers, and not an insubstantial number of actors as well. Not to be a party pooper, but aren't a lot of these people violating their SAG contracts? Way to go! That's what I call labor unity.Here's the list as of Tuesday... 'Guitar Hero III' Wants a Piece of 'Halo 3' As far as numbers go, these are pretty big. The third iteration of Activision's Guitar Hero III managed to do about $100 million worth of business in its first week on sale, according to Variety. Hysterically, the price for GH3 is only about $40 more than Halo 3, yet you get the game plus an instrument to go with it, making it far more of a bargain than the current fare of overpriced console games.Rumors indicate that Activision was immediately contacted by a major movie studio interested in adapting the game into a feature film. After the initial confusion over how you could turn a game that consists of players strumming a cheap piece of plastic all night into a... Activision, Guitar Hero 3 Sony and Marvel Raking It In This Year When negotiations began between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) this year, the WGA accused the AMPTP of selling one story to them, and exactly the opposite story to wallstreet. Claiming to the writers that hardly any TV show or film made a profit, that they should stop receiving residual payments until after the studio has recouped its costs to produce the material in question, then producers would then turn to wallstreet and brag about record earnings and golden prospects for future profit.The producers denied every having done this, only they're doing it right this very second, with the most recent entrant bragging about its earnings just a day after... Marvel, Sony, Spider-Man 3 Strike News Roundup: November 6th Apparently someone walking the picket lines was crossing a street yesterday and was hit by a car, one that left the scene of the accident which is felony hit-and-run. Given how many people were there, I would hope that between the group, they can remember the persons license plate and report it to the police. I haven't heard anything else about this, so I assume the guy wasn't killed or seriously maimed. Whoever did that needs to pay a heavy price - this poor guy could have been killed for crying out loud.Is becoming a murderer really worth getting through an intersection three seconds faster?... Deadline Hollywood, United Hollywood, WGA Heroes: Out Of Time This episode was great in that it really set us up for the seasons real arc: stopping the plague. The notepad I use to jot down thoughts while I watch the show has been divided by episode and each passage was longer than the last, meaning more complaints every single time out.This one was a third of the last size and after seeing the teaser for next week, I don't plan on writing another one of these things for at least another two weeks - possibly never again.... Heroes AMPTP President Nick Counter Puts Foot in Mouth While listening to NPR this afternoon/early evening, they did a short segment on the writers strike that started early this morning. They had opposing clip quotes from Craig Mazin and Nick Counter, neither of which was spectacular or notable except for the part where Nick Counter made himself and the AMPTP look like retards. Counter said that "most of the writers that are successful will lose more in one week than they can ever gain from a strike."In his head, it probably sounded like a good argument for not having a strike, after all, if those gains are so incredibly small, why shut down the entire industry and lose so much money for something so insignificant? And there you have... AMPTP, Nick Counter, WGA Jay Leno Joins The Line; Some Shows May Only Have Five Episodes Left I heard on the news this afternoon that Democratic Presidential candidate Barak Obama has declared his support for writers as the strike got underway today. That's not really surprising seeing as how Democrats love unions and Obama and Clinton are not labors favorite son (so to speak) - John Edwards is. Even so, that support is appreciated and won't be forgotten by anyone.As you can see, Jay Leno was walking the lines today showing his support, as have a number of big names that typically hang out in front of the camera. SAG has been more supportive of the WGA this year than they have in a long time, perhaps because this instance of leadership reached out to them more... Jay Leno, SAG, WGA Box Office Booty: November 5th, 2007 While the studios stiff writers over a four-cent-per-DVD increase in residual payments, they are hauling it in with gangster flicks and star studded animation this weekend and will continue to do that for the foreseeable future. The studios currently have enough finished scripts now and enough films already in production that they won't start having shortfalls until well into next year, possibly as far away as 2009.American Gangster easily took the top spot this weekend by cashing in $46.3 million in about 3,000 theaters on a budget of $100 million, easily beating out Bee Movie which opened in 1,000 more theaters than did Gangster, but did very well in its own right with $39 million on a budget of 150.... American Gangster, Bee Movie Hollywood Hyphenates Holding The Line Tina Fey Holds The Line Variety has a story running this afternoon about writer-producers that have duties other than using their titles as seniority in the writing hierarchy - we're talking about people who approve mixes of the show, do actual video editing themselves, and other actual producing duties. They also talk about writers that also act on their shows and are legally obligated to cross the writers picket line and get in front of the camera for episodes the studios still have complete scripts for.These guys and gals are in a tougher place than regular hyphenates as members of more than one guild.... 30 Rock, Shawn Ryan, The Shield, The Unit, Tina Fey Working Writers on the Strike, In Their Own Words. And to think, I used to get paid for this..I've seen a lot of working writers blogging about the strike in the past few days, some of them over the past few weeks, and one that writes all about this kind of thing on a regular basis. I've been writing about it myself for the better part of a year on a multitude of websites, and even though my understanding of labor issues has been questioned by a person or two who probably just didn't know any better, I've had articles on webisodes linked to from the Writers Guild of America's front page and been quoted in a labor trade magazine in the subject.My labor coverage has been generally praised... In Their Own Words There Was No Way This Strike Wasn't Going To Happen For some odd reason, it seems that a number of WGA peeps are trying to do an end run around the leadership by dragging John Wells in to do some back channel negotiating. I'm no expert on unions, Wells, or much of anything for that matter, but I didn't need to read this page to know that Wells was a complete failure as President of the guild during his reign, that he screwed over his own people apparently, and that some elements within the guild would rather sit on the status quo than see gains made through a long and costly strike.I empathize with them not wanting to endure a strike but that's just lame. Wells couldn't get the job... AMPTP, Feature, WGA Cloning 'The Office' For Fun And Profit It was odd when NBC started expanding The Office to a full hour (when's the last time you saw an hour-long comedy?) but I don't watch The Office so I never gave it much thought beyond some weird promotional gimmick. Turns out NBC wants to do it some more and people who watch the show are starting to complain, or at least some of them are anyway.Michael Ausiello wrote a couple of days ago that NBC wants a spinoff of The Office to put into play and perhaps that'll be the unnatural culmination of the hour-long episodes, even if it wasn't planned, at least that'll mean it's going to come to an end. There are some great writers out there... Kev Levine, The Office Viacom Raking It In This Year Viacom owns many of the companies that are represented by the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the trade group that took such a hard line against the Writers Guild of America this fall that a strike has been called beginning Monday, after which no new writing will be done until a new contract is signed. While browsing around this morning on the light weekend news, I found a post on Defamer pointing to something in Variety where Viacom is bragging about its awesome financial earnings this year and how it is just rolling in the money.Viacom crows about the "phenomenal success" of "new global brand Transformers" that helped lift their net income by 80 percent, forgetting to transfer... Defamer, Viacom 'American Gangster' Opens Big I like to pick on Nikke over at Deadline Hollywood a lot because sometimes she has the tendency to get suckered by her studio/network sources when they want certain information pushed out over the wire, such are the problems of using anonymous sources in the first place. Truth is, I go there a lot because she has great information on tracking that I don't, and I'm happily surprised to find that according to her, the star-laden animation out of DreamWorks isn't going to clean up this weekend at all.I have early box office numbers for the top two movies tonight. I'm told Universal's American Gangster stole the show Friday by snatching $17+ million in domestic gross receipts at 3,054 theaters.... American Gangster, Bee Movie More on Writing With Partners I've thought about this for a bit and while I generally don't think this is even worth the time since this is almost entirely trolling on the part of another party, it's probably worth getting a few words in here to clear the air because loud annoying people..well annoy me. I wrote a post called Writing With Partners on Oct 25th which linked to an article by Patrick Walsh on Cinematical which featured some tips for writing with partners, hence the title.Two items that have become flash points are partnerships and outlines.I don't see the value in writing partners for reasons that matter only to me and are not really subject to debate by others. I am not the only... FX Happy With Nip/Tuck & Rescue Me I see that FX (one of Fox's cable channels) has ordered up another season of Rescue Me (5th season), and the numbers coming in for returning Nip/Tuck are looking great (double what Rescue Me pulls in) so that show is likely to continue into the foreseeable future, the strike not withstanding of course. Cable shows tend to work on a different schedule than network shows so depending on how these two are jiggered, they may have an entire season banked and ready to ride out the first half of 2008, or they may run dry just as fast as everyone else.I've seen both these series in the past and while I couldn't really find enough in them to keep up... FX, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me NBC May Cap Heroes at 11 Episodes This isn't surprising at all, with a strike set to begin sometime Monday morning there won't be anymore writing done from now until the studios and networks decide to stop redefining the word 'greed'. NBC is taking advantage of the last few days they have control over Tim Kring and company by forcing them to write an alternate ending to the 11th episode of Heroes this season so that it can function has a season-ending wrap-up.News comes right on the heels of NBC axing the much hyped spinoff called "Origins" that would have aired either during the regular second season hiatus, or more likely in between the second and third seasons. Kevin Smith, John August, Eli Roth and a number... Heroes, NBC Strike? Try A Studio Lockout In case you had any doubt about who is forcing this strike, the writers or the producers, this really tells you all you need to know. According to Deadline Hollywood's Nikke Finke, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was invited to try his hand at mediating the dispute this weekend but the idea was rejected out of hand by the producers. The writers tried to setup another meeting this weekend to continue negotiations, which was also flatly rejected by the studios.Not only have they shown total disinterest in bargaining (at all) with their ridiculous proposals that amount to suicide, they are now just plain old refusing to meet anymore. Mmmmm, you smell that? Stinks like desperation in here. Says about the... AMPTP, WGA Mike Davidson - RAM Arbitrage They say that when you start a blog, you should fine a niche and not deviate from it, but they also say you should look at what your competition does, and do something else. Rather than focus on television or film, both of which are extensively covered, I've tried to converge the two into a "media brief" theme over the first three months, though I hope to expand just a little bit as time moves on to other things I know people might be interested in, like Apple ripping people off.I've never been a fan of Apple because for what seems like eternity, their hardware has cost more while really under performing compared to PC's. Our stuff may not be... Apple Theater Watch: November 2nd, 2007 This is has to be the lightest weekend I've seen this year in terms of the number of films either opening or expanding, I'm looking at a grand total of eight flicks on the move with only three opening in more than 90 or so theaters. I don't have magical Hollywood connections so I can't tell you how these things are "tracking", but I can still guess, right? I mean that's about all the people who green light these movies are doing anyway.... American Gangster, Bee Movie, Martian Child Contract Expires; Was This Strike Inevitable? Strike news doesn't seem to be carrying very well but I'll tell you something, you're going to start feeling it in about two months and you'll wonder why all your favorite shows stop airing new episodes, why every other program is either a rerun or a reality/sports program, and why it has to be this way. Coming from a person who knows, the truth is that it didn't have to be this way. The guy holding the line for the studios and networks has been doing this almost as long as I've been alive, and has never technically lost to the WGA or any other union in all that time (as far as I know) and fears them about as... AMPTP, DGA, SAG, WGA Joss Whedon and Tim Minear Setup New Series at Fox James Hibberd (the TV Week guy that openly admits downloading pirated TV shows in order to write his stories about pirated TV shows) has news on a new series Fox picking up from cult-god Joss Whedon, with additional news from Michael Ausiello that Tim Minear is on board as well, at least for the time being. Whedon and Minear have collaborated on a number of shows with cult followings including Buffy The Vampire Slayer (7 seasons), Angel (5 seasons), and Firefly, while Minear has worked as a producer on The X-Files and other things.When these two guys get together, you know there are nothing but good things in store.... Dollhouse, Joss Whedon, Tim Minear 'Heroes: Origins' Delayed, Possibly Canceled? You might chalk this one up to the craziness happening over the past week where the studios and networks are indeed freaking out over the coming strike, despite what some people say about them actually being happy they can reset this failed fall season, with a rumor starting on The Hollywood Reporter today that NBC is delaying introduction of Heroes: Origins from its planned mid-season debut.NBC declined comment, but "Heroes: Origins" is not going to get its six-episode run, which was expected to start as early as late April. While the network hasn't officially canceled the spinoff, producers of the series have been given no indication of when it might get a spot on the schedule.Sources indicated "Origins" may be... Heroes, Heroes: Origins When It Comes To The Studios, Greed Looms Large There hasn't been much movement on the Hollywood labor front over the past 24 hours, the studios are still effecting a de facto lockout by halting all writing hiring a few weeks ago and refusing to bargain in good faith at the table, even now that the previous three-year contract has legally expired. The Ass. of Motion Picture and Television Producers' (AMPTP) President and lead negotiator - who has failed to impress and by all appearances looks to be nothing but a thug that is in the midst of a full-on meltdown now that WGA has leadership more stubborn than he is - is spinning the news in his favor by claiming to have made many good-faith attempts to reach... AMPTP, Deadline Hollywood, WGA |
