mark burnett
D.L. Hughley To Host CNN’s Pathetic ‘Daily Show’ Ripoff
6:40AM Seth | The lines between hard news and whatever it is CNN is doing continue to blur: D.L. Hughley will host a “news-driven comedy” show on Saturday nights that will offer a “skewering take on news and events.” Let’s sample the material: “There have been six movies with a black man as the president, and in all those movies, the world was coming to an end. If this election isn’t art imitating life, I don’t know what is.” Yeah. Fuck off. [Variety] NBC has beaten out ABC in the race to nab David E. Kelley’s new series, described as “a father-daughter drama.” [THR] After the jump: Which Funniest Woman Alive is making a return to series TV? More »
Will Movie Ads Save The Oscars?
8:00AM Seth | We have more info on the lift of the Oscars movie-ad-ban in place since 1953: The Academy will allow one spot per distributor, it must feature only one film, and it must premiere during the telecast. The idea is that the high-profile and elaborate ads themselves will become a reason for the disinterested to tune in—like when gay guys watch the Super Bowl. [Variety] ABC continued to see steep ratings decline in its Wednesday night lineup, with Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money both down about 20% from last week’s already low numbers. Over at ABC Family, meanwhile, 10 Things I Hate About You will become a weekly series, and Joey Lawrence and Melissa Joan Hart will star in a romcom MOW, tentatively titled, Whoa. [Variety] [THR] After the jump: Which vigilante actor is about to star in a vigilante movie? More »
On The Fifth Day, ‘The Dark Knight’ Made $200 Mil. And It Was Good.
5:00AM Seth | · The Dark Knight has now become the fastest movie in history to earn $200 million: it made that in five days, three days faster than previous record-holder Spider-Man 2. Do you know how much guyliner that could buy the Mayor of Gotham? Tons! [THR] · Russia has purchased the format for The Office, making the necessary regional tweaks (”Hey—who suspended the phone-bugging equipment in my borcht-flavored gelatin!”) for full comic effect. [Variety] · Because what the TV landscape really needed was another dance competition reality show, Chris Brown and Mark Burnett have teamed up to bring you Chris Brown Presents: Untitled Hip-Hop Dance Project, which should pair nicely with the David Archuleta’s Totally Fly Weep-Off Jam currently being pitched around town. [Variety] · ABC is close to committing to a pilot for Middle, “the story of a middle-class Midwestern family seen through the eyes of the mother,” so long as they can secure Patricia Heaton to star. Heaton said she’d check with the Albertsons people, but that it shouldn’t be a problem. [THR] · Tim Burton has found the girl to play Alice in his adaptation of Alice in Wonderland: relatively unknown Australian actress Mia Wasikowska. [THR] More »
Culture-Wrecking Duo Gene Simmons and Mark Burnett Team Up Again For ‘Jingles’
8:35AM Defamer Hollywood | Half the stories on this sluggish midsummer news day seem to concern the same bad idea at CBS: Jingles, the Mark Burnett-produced product placement platform reality series squaring songwriters off against each other in the pursuit of… the perfect ad jingle. We can’t make this up, folks, and even if we could we probably wouldn’t want to — especially not the part in which the newsworthiest elements of the show are its judges: A kerfuffle-plagued, ex-Wal-Mart marketing guru and — seriously, we’re too exhausted/sad/Dark Knighted-out to fuck with you — Gene Simmons: Simmons will be joined by an “advisory panel” that include Madison Avenue gurus Linda Kaplan Thaler and Julie Roehm. But Simmons will be the final authority on the show who decides which contestants are eliminated each week. More »
CBS Tries To Circumvent Strike By Exploiting Cheap Canadian TV-Developing Labor
6:25AM Mark | · Looking for inventive ways to develop scripted programming during the writers strike, CBS Paramount TV reaches across our northern border to partner with CTV to produce the police drama Flashpoint. which will be scripted and shot in Canada. “[The production values] will be as good as any American production,” somewhat defensively notes a source, trying to alleviate fears that CBS is trying to save money by eventually airing some second-rate Mountie melodrama badly overdubbed to eliminate suspicious Canadian accents. [Variety] · As expected, the WGA has reached an interim deal with the Grammys, saving the highly expendable awards show from suffering the same undignified fate as the Golden Globes. Reacts Recording Academy president Neil Portnow, revealing that he may never have watched a Grammys telecast: “Having our talented writers on the team further ensures the highest level of creativity and innovation, something our audience has come to expect every year.” [THR] More »
Trade Roundup: Spats, Mall Cops, And Dad Brawls
4:00AM Defamer Hollywood | NBC angers its network rivals by working some technically allowed, but “morally” questionable, Nielsen voodoo by repeating its Heroes premiere on Saturday night and adding that showing’s ratings to the series’ original Monday night number. We think. This developing feud over ratings-reporting gamesmanship is as confusing as it is scintillating. [Variety] · In simpler Nielsen-related news, House is still huge, averaging 18.1 million viewers in its best-ever performance not artificially enhanced by an American Idol lead-in [THR] · Creative triple-threat Kevin James will write, produce, and star in Mall Cop. We’ll refrain from relating the logline and let your imaginations run wild with the comedic possibilities evoked by the combination of America’s most beloved schlub and that offbeat occupation. [Variety] · Fox calls up Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy from its FX basic-cable farm team to their network major league club, giving a series commitment to Murphy’s female workplace drama Queen B. [THR] · NBC will bottle up eight midseason episodes of Mark Burnett’s latest reality TV brain fart, My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad, which seeks to combine “the family fun and kid empowerment of ‘[Are You Smarter Than A] 5th Grader’ with the universally relatable concept of bragging that your dad is best.” It’s still unclear whether or not the proud fathers in question will be required to beat each other senseless at the end of each show to truly prove their paternal supremacy. [Variety] More »
Short Ends: ‘Daily Show’ Bringing Fake News To Real War Zone
7:20AM Defamer Hollywood | · The Daily Show is going to Iraq, eschewing the safety of the green screen to try its chances in the Green Zone. · Now this is the way to quit your job. It looks like Ed Limato has one fewer qualified candidate for his blowfish-guarding detail. · Mark Burnett has sold another show to NBC; think of this one as Are You Smarter Than the Friends and Family Members Paid A Nominal Fee to Humiliate You With Stories You Can Hardly Remember? ·You’d think by now that each time K-Fed gets a temp job, we wouldn’t get so excited. But each new gig remains a fresh little thrill, and we can’t wait to see what he’s got in store for us on One Tree Hill. · RIP, Leona Helmsley, the Queen of Mean. More »
