pilots
Small Screen
New Amy Poehler Show Doesn’t Suck… That Bad
5:18AM John Cook | According to a leaked focus-group report, NBC’s new Amy Poehler sitcom Parks and Recreation is a flop. But NBC’s boy-genius Ben Silverman says it’s cool, because whatever—focus groups always hate on stuff, man. More »
Brave Fox Exec Lets Assistants Play Around With His Midseason Schedule A Little Bit
6:30AM Defamer Hollywood | While most industry executives are content to let their assistants carry out their primary functions – lying to unwanted callers about their current whereabouts, caffeinated-beverage procurement, Blackberry target practice – without a second thought as to how they might be utilised in less brain-numbing tasks, progressive Fox scheduling guru Preston Beckman recently offered his underlings a chance to partake in the TV-magic-making process in a meaningful way. Briefly freeing the assistants from their chains, he invited his young staffers, who conveniently fell within the demographic sweet spot midseason sitcom Unhitched is targeting and wouldn’t require the $50 stipend he’d otherwise have to waste on focus group cattle, to help him solve a problem. Reports Variety : More »
Trade Roundup: Christian Bale To Save Humanity From Killer Cyborg To Be Named Later
6:45AM Defamer Hollywood | · Unsatisfied at being the face of just one blockbuster franchise, Dark Knight star Christian Bale is in talks to join the next installment of the about-to-be-revived Terminator franchise. Somewhat disappointingly, he’s coming on as the John Connor character, not the latest iteration of the series’ (nearly) indestructible, killing-obsessed cyborg, which would have been a pretty amazing bit of casting. [Variety] Categories/Tags: Casting, Christian Bale, hollywood strikewatch, Pilots, strikewatch, terminator, Trade Roundup More »
Trade Roundup: Hollywood Dreams Of Labour Peace, Internet Porn, And Starter Wives
5:30AM Defamer Hollywood | · The trades discuss yesterday’s big strike news that’s allowing Hollywood its first glimmer of hope that a walkout might be avoided. (Please, no one say anything about the internet and digital downloads and ruin the town’s brief buzz.) Also, THR unveils its stunning, strike-related news logo (at left). [THR, Variety] · Judd Apatow officially joins pals Adam McKay and Will Ferrell as a partner at Funny Or Die, hoping that his bold idea to move the site into the porn space might help it finally generate some revenue. [Variety] More »
CBS’s ‘Babylon Fields’, The Necrophilia-Tinged Crime Procedural You Never Knew You Wanted
4:00AM Defamer Hollywood | Knowing that CBS’s decision to pass on pilot Babylon Fields for a midseason replacement timeslot means that audiences will now never get the chance to experience the network’s bold attempt to invigorate the moribund crime procedural genre with the edgy, zombie-fucking action it was sorely lacking, TV Week.com has resurrected some clips from the aborted series, giving us a glimpse of the necrophilia-tinged primetime programming we could all be enjoying instead of the tepid offerings involving vampires or Jimmy Smits that made the schedule instead. Explains TV Week: The show explores the emotional and societal ramification of loved ones coming back from the dead. You know, like in “Pet Sematary”. But by the end of the episode, the zombie thriller is crossed with a crime procedural. So, small town police detective Stevenson is given a murder to solve while zombies wander the streets. “ZSI.” More »
Trade Roundup: NBCU Family Recycles Smoking, Outsourcing
4:15AM Defamer Hollywood | · Hollywood Out Of Ideas, Feature-to-TV Recycling Edition: Demonstrating a company-wide commitment to reducing its new-idea-footprint, NBC Universal’s USA Network plans a TV series based on Thank You for Smoking, while its NBC flagship will try to adapt Outsourced into a primetime workplace comedy. [Variety] · If this doesn’t stoke your interest in the upcoming Ashton Kutcher/Carmeon Diaz comedy What Happens in Vegas… (not to be confused with the recently announced, Kutcher-free Dude, Where’s My Groom?) nothing will: Queen Latifah has signed on for a cameo so hilarious that if the details of her participation were to escape, the entire project would be doomed to turnaround. [THR] Just in case you hadn’t heard, last week’s WGA contract talks weren’t as friendly as they could have been. [Variety] NBC wins Sunday night behind its Packers-Bears football game, beating lineups from ABC and CBS that dropped off from last week’s numbers. [THR] While American moviegoers largely shunned this weekend’s offerings, overseas ticket-buyers turned out for Ratatouille to the the tune of $US19.7 million. [Variety] More »
Trade Roundup: New BFFs Ratner And Silverman To Terrorise VIP Booths Of Hollywood During ‘Notes Sessions”
6:00AM Defamer Hollywood | · In case you haven’t heard, Jon Stewart is going to host the Oscars again. Obligatory press release self-deprecation follows: “I’m thrilled to be asked to host the Academy Awards for the second time because, as they say, the third time’s the charm.” [Variety, THR] · NBC greenlights a pilot for Rat Entertainment’s cop drama Blue Blood, a project that will see the collision of irresistible party-boy force Brett Ratner with immovable rock-star object Ben Silverman, unleashing a wave of good-time energy that will likely reduce all of Hollywood to smoldering rubble. [Variety] · The next time Hell’s Kitchen star Gordon Ramsay sears his scrotum on a hot oven, it will be an Endeavor agent who holds the bowl of ice water into which he can dip his still-sizzling testes. [THR] · Fight Club alter-egos Brad Pitt and Edward Norton reteam for Universal’s State of Play, a feature adaptation of the British miniseries about a journalist’s investigation into the murder of a congressman’s girlfriend. We’re unfamiliar with the source material, so we won’t promise any scenes in which the duo strip off their shirts and stage a much-clamoured-for FC rematch. [Variety] · The Weinstein Company’s $US2-2.5 million purchase of George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead, ahem, reanimates the Toronto Fest market. [THR] More »
Trade Roundup: Pre-Strike Surge In Movie Production Causing Acute Director Shortage
7:05AM Defamer Hollywood | Hollywood Out of Directors: “Dimension Films has set a November 26 start date for Comeback, an inspirational sports drama that Ice Cube will star in and produce. Fred Durst will direct.” [Variety] 13.9 million viewers tuned in to watch The Hoff declare the guy with his hand up a turtle puppet’s ass the Most Talented Man in America. [THR] FX greenlights Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy’s transsexual drama 4 oz., but since the pitch was bought in the room by president John Landegraf, the central tranny’s vocation has been changed from sportswriter to gynaecologist. (Was it originally too close to the story of the LAT’s Mike Penner/Christine Daniels?) Murphy ambitiously envisions his protagonist’s journey from male ladydoctor to lady ladydoctor to unfold over four seasons. [Variety] A study claims that people’s internet-time is now rivalling their TV-time, a finding that the studios will do their best to ignore during their fight with the various guilds over online residuals. [THR] · Joey Fatone is trying to become TV Guide Channel’s budget-friendly answer to Ryan Seacrest. [Variety] More »
NBC Using Science To Prove Your TiVo Can’t Protect You From TV Advertising
5:45AM Defamer Hollywood | In an effort to convince sponsors that they’re not throwing away millions of TV advertising dollars on commercials that demographically desirable viewers can render harmless with a press of a DVR button, desperately innovative fourth-place network NBC has contracted a research firm to wire up some guinea pigs helpful volunteers to prove that their promotional messages can still penetrate the human brain even through the muted blur of the fast-forward function. Reports the NY Times: Media executives have long discussed the potential of using physical reactions and brain scanning to track their messages, and advances in medical research in the past few years have made this more practical. NBC is working with Innerscope Research, a small company in Boston that uses wearable sensors to translate physical responses into what the company calls “emotional engagement.” More »
