Broadcast TV Ratings for Sunday, March 15, 2009 March 16, 2009 6:48 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Nielsen TV Ratings, Television.Tags: Broadcast TV Ratings, Sunday
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Full ratings and breakdown’s, including week-to-week comparisons, and individual program analysis, etc., follows after the jump. (more…)
David Chase Working on HBO Miniseries March 16, 2009 3:11 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.Tags: A Ribbon of Dreams, David Chase, HBO
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David Chase, creator of the hit HBO series The Sopranos, is returning to HBO to develop a miniseries about the history of the Hollywood film industry. A Ribbon of Dreams, also reunites Chase with ‘Sopranos’ executive producer Brad Grey, who is now chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures.
“It gives me pleasure to think of working, together with Brad, with HBO again,” Chase said. “These are all people who, obviously, occupy a special place in my heart.”
Here’s a little bit on the background of the series, via THR:
[W]ill begin in 1913 and follow two men, one a college-educated mechanical engineer, the other a cowboy with a violent past, who form an unlikely producing partnership. The duo will start off as employees of D.W. Griffith, and then cross career paths with such Hollywood greats as John Ford, John Wayne, Raoul Walsh, Bette Davis and Billy Wilder. Through the eyes of the two main characters — as well as their offspring — the mini will chronicle the growth of the film industry from the age of rough-hewn silent Westerns, to the golden era of talkies and the studio system, to the auteur movement, to television, and finally to the present day.
President Barack Obama Appearing on Leno This Thursday March 16, 2009 3:02 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.Tags: Barack Obama, Jay Leno, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
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The White House has announced that President Barack Obama, during a trip to Los Angeles on Thursday, will appear on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. NBC will tape the program and air it that night, after the president has returned to Washington.
Sam Raimi Talks Spider-Man 4 March 16, 2009 2:56 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News.Tags: Sam Raimi, Spider-Man 4
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At SXSW to show off an early cut of his new horror film Drag Me to Hell, Raimi took some time out to give some updates on Spider-Man 4, the latest film in the incredibly popular film franchise. Details after the jump. (more…)
SCI FI Channel Changing its Name to SyfY March 16, 2009 2:39 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, SCI FI Channel, Syfy, Television.add a comment
NBC Universal has announced that beginning this summer, the SCI FI Channel is changing its name to Syfy. The switch will happen, on-air and online, beginning July 7th. The network will also get a new tagline: Imagine Greater. Now it may seem odd to change your network name to a name that is so similar to its original, but there is reason to it, explains Dave Howe, President of SCI FI:
“While continuing to embrace our legacy and our core audience, we needed to cultivate a distinct point of view with a name that we could own that invites more people in and reflects our broader range of programming,” said Dave Howe, who made announcement. “Syfy allows us to build on our 16 year heritage of success with a new brand built on the power that fuels our genre: the Imagination. Syfy ushers in a new era of unlimited imagination, exceptional experiences and greater entertainment that paves the way for us to truly become a global lifestyle brand.”
Also, the new name, while phonetically identical to the original, allows the network to have a brand name all to its own.
“We couldn’t own SciFi; it’s a genre,” said Bonnie Hammer, the president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment and Universal Cable Productions. “But we can own Syfy.”
I’ve included the full press release, plus a high res version of the logo above, after the jump. (more…)
MacGyver Headed to the Big Screen March 16, 2009 2:22 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, New Line.Tags: MacGyver
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New Line putting MacGyver, the hit ABC series, into development as a feature film. Raffaella De Laurentiis, daughter of Dino De Laurentiis (who is executive producer), is producing the project through her Raffaella Prods. along with Martha De Laurentiis and series creator Lee Zlotoff.
MacGyver starred Richard Dean Anderson and ran for seven seasons on ABC from 1985-92. Two telefilms, also starring Anderson, aired in 1994. There’s currently no writer attached, but according to THR, New Line “hopes to find a script that can acknowledge how the concept has staked a place into pop culture yet still makes for a serious and fun adventure movie: “We think we’re a stick of chewing gum, a paper clip and an A-list writer away from a global franchise,” said New Line’s Richard Brener, who will oversee with Sam Brown and Walter Hamada.
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