Syndication: The Enormous Gift That Keeps On Giving

Today TV stars get very very rich. TV stars you love like Tina Fey! And TV stars you may not want to love but do anyway despite everything, like Ryan Seacrest. Also news of Robin Hood.

Well, if Tina Fey wasn’t rich before, she definitely is now. NBC has begun selling syndication rights to her 30 Rock sitcom, starting with an $US800,000 per episode deal with Comedy Central and WGN America. They’re expected to also get the show on lots of local affiliates, which is when the big, big money will start rolling in. That’s the crazy thing about syndication. Like… Patricia Richardson, from Home Improvement? Hasn’t done much since. But? So fucking rich. [Variety]

John Goodman and Susan Sarandon, who both recently completed Broadway runs, will join Al Pacino in HBO’s Barry Levinson-directed You Don’t Know Jack. The film is about assisted-suicide champion Jack Kevorkian. Sarandon and Goodman will play two of his loudest supporters. [THR]

So it will, in fact, be snarky Canadian Ryan Reynolds who wraps himself into a tight superhero outfit for The Green Lantern. Reynolds will also be playing the superhero Deadpool in a movie called Deadpool, about a Canadian guy who is sarcastic and has swords. Blech. [Variety]

Forget about Tina Fey, it’s Ryan Seacrest who just got rich. The American Idol host has just signed a three-year, $US45 million deal to continue with 19 Entertainment’s primetime programming. So that money’s just for his network TV work, not for his radio show and E! stuff and production deals and holy cow, the man is just made of money. Bad news, though, about the show: Kara DioGuardi will likely be back. Again, blech. [THR]

Playwright and Dirty Sexy Money creator Craig Wright will develop a religion-themed series for Showtime called Revelation. It’s about an “unconventional” minister who moves to Texas with his teenagers after his wife dies. So it’s Showtime’s answer to Big Love, only set in Texas. Wouldn’t it be funny if Bill Pullman played the lead? [Variety]

Moody actor Danny Huston will play King Richard to Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood and Sienna Miller’s Maid Marion in Ridley Scott’s as-yet-untitled Robin Hood documentary. This thing is taking forever to get made. I mean, they just now cast Richard the Lionhearted? Just now? Sheesh. Oh, and you know who’s playing Little John? Creepy Keamy from Lorst. Kinda fun. [THR]

Um. Judge Reinhold and Lea Thompson are going to star in a zombie movie together. Is it about their careers? Hahahaha. No, it’s actually described as “Shaun of the Dead for American audiences.” Which, wait. Americans didn’t get Shaun of the Dead? “Hey Lurleen, I get that these fellas is foreign and might be gettin’ eaten, but what in the great 48 is a ‘crumpet’? Doggone, I wish someone would make somethin’ I understand. Somethin’ with the nerd from Beverly Hills Cop innit maybe…” [Variety]