Medieval France film in the works from Scorcese December 1, 2006 4:32 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Books, Movies, News.add a comment
Martin Scorcese will develop (with hopes to direct) an adaption of Eric Jager’s “The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal and Trial by Combat in Medieval France”. The movie will carry the title of “Duel”.
The film is part of Scorcese’s new four-year deal at Paramount which will see him direct and produce features (including direct-to-DVD), television and even digital content.
“The Last Duel” was written in 2004 and tells the story of a duel sanctioned by the French government between two knights in 1386 France.
Columbia Pictures to take “Cleopatra” back to the big screen December 1, 2006 4:24 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News.add a comment
Columbia Pictures has acquired the screen rights to “Cleopatra” with hopes of debutinthe movie sometime in 2009.
The film will be written by pullitzer Prize-winning biographer Stacy Schiff with Scott Rudin set to produce.
“3 Lbs.” pulled from schedule November 30, 2006 2:33 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cancellations, News, Television.1 comment so far
The new CBS medical drama “3 Lbs, which stars Stanley Tucci, will be pulled from the schedule after three unsuccessful weeks on the air.
The series premiered on November 14 to a weak 9.86M viewers and has been declining each week. According to preliminary numbers, its third, and most likely final aired episode, averaged 7.95M viewers and a 2.4/6 in adults 18-49.
CBS has yet to officially confirm the shows cancellation.
8 episodes of the series have been filmed and it is not yet known whether CBS will air the remaining episodes at a later time. Its possible they may choose to run them on their online video service Innertube.
The time slot will likely be filled by an hour repeat of one of many crime procedurals CBS has at their disposal.
“The Biggest Loser” renewed for another season November 30, 2006 2:18 am
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NBC has renewed “The Biggest Loser” for a fourth season, ahead of its third season finale which is scheduled to air on December 13th in a two-hour live special.
” ‘The Biggest Loser’ is a valuable franchise and proven competitor in a very challenging time period,” said Reilly. “The producing team has come up with unique ways to keep the series fresh and we anticipate the next cycle will continue to produce life-changing results for the contestants and jaw-dropping reveals for the viewers.”
“We are thrilled to be continuing this franchise with NBC,” said executive producer and Reveille CEO Ben Silverman. “Season four has not only been a strong ratings performer for the network but has also become even more important in teaching Americans how to adopt healthier lifestyle practices. The show is an inspiration to millions of people across the country as well as educational and entertaining.”
So far this season, the series has averaged a 3.1/8 rating and share in adults 18-49 and 7.4M total viewers.
Premiere date set for the run of “The Sopranos” on A&E November 29, 2006 7:19 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.3 comments
A&E has set Wednesday, January 10 at 9:00 PM for basic cable premiere date for the critic/fan, Emmy-winning HBO series. A&E will air back-to-back episodes every Wednesday at the same time and will run in broadcast order un-edited for time (though it will be edited for content, obviously).
“We are thrilled to be able to offer ‘The Sopranos’ to nearly 150 million viewers who never had the opportunity to see it when it first aired on HBO,” says Bob DeBitetto, executive vice president and general manager of A&E. “This is more than just great television. ‘The Sopranos’ has come to define excellence in programming.”
Both HBO and A&E spent a good amount of time working together to utilize alternate versions of many scenes as well as pre-recorded alternate dialog to make the show acceptable to the basic cable environment.
New episodes of “The Sopranos” return to HBO sometime in the Spring of next year with the remaining 9 episodes of the series.
NBC unveils midseason schedule; a few changes, a few missing shows and a new reality series headline. November 29, 2006 7:03 pm
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NBC today announced its mid-season schedule, which is highlighted by a two-hour reality block on Sundays (which will be taking the place of departing football) and “Friday Night Lights”, which will be moving to a new time slot; Wednesdays at 8:00 PM.
A few shows have been left off the line-up, those are “The Black Donnellys” and “Raines”. NBC, however has stated that both shows will join the schedule sometime in the spring of next year.
As I mentioned previously, one of the highlights of the shedule is NBCs new Sunday line-up which will be headlined by the new reality series “Grease: You’re the One That I Want” (it will feature competing contestants for a spot on the broadway production of “Grease”). Following ‘Grease’ will be the returing “The Apprentice” at 9:00 PM, followed by the returing “Crossing Jordan” at 10:00 PM.
The schedule also shows off what NBC had briefly made mention of a few weeks back; reality/news programs in the early evening with “Dateline NBC” having two airings during the week (Tuesdays at 8:00 PM and Sundays at 7:00 PM) and two hours of “Deal or No Deal” (Mondays at 8:00 PM and Wednesdays at 9:00 PM).
Following is the current midseason schedule (all times Eastern):
The CW sets debut and schedule for returning “Beauty and the Geek” November 29, 2006 6:34 pm
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The third season of “Beauty and the Geek” will run for 8 episodes on The CW beginning Wednesday, January 3. The premiere will be a two-hour program from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM.
The remaining 7 episodes will then continue to run every week on Wednesday at 8:00 PM, with repeat airings set for Sunday’s at 9:00 PM.
“Thank You for Smoking” to move to the small screen. November 29, 2006 6:20 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in New Show Orders, News, Television.3 comments
The independent hit film “Thank You for Smoking” will be made into a NBC sitcom.
The comedy series will focus on the same main character in the film (Nick Naylor, played by Aaron Eckhart).
The project is from the producer of the movie, David O. Sacks, and the pilot will be written and executive produced by Rick Cleveland (“Six Feet Under”).
Battlestar Galactica moving to a new day November 20, 2006 10:37 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Battlestar Galactica, News, Television.1 comment so far
When Battlestar Galactica goes on hiatus over the holidays, it will not be returning to its current Friday at 10:00 PM slot, instead it will be airing on Sunday’s at 10:00 PM, this according to TV Guide.
The series has suffered from declined ratings to the tune of about 25% comparing the same frame of episodes last season and Sci Fi is hoping to attract more of an audience on a night which has many more tv viewers watching.
The first scheduled episode in the time slot will occur January 21st.
Scoop! Battlestar Galactica on the Move! [TV Guide- Ausiello Report]
Fox’s Murdoch pulls the plug on Simpson Book and Program November 20, 2006 8:16 pm
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News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said today that the company has pulled the publication and two-part televised interview which would have had Simpson discussing how he would have killed his wife and her friend if he did it.
Murdoch said, “I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project. We are sorry for any pain this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown-Simpson.”
Nintendo Wii Launch Today November 19, 2006 5:47 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Nintendo, Nintendo Wii, Video Downloads.add a comment
The last of the two new console launches occured today. The Nintendo Wii has gone on sale for the price of $249.99. There are expected to be some shortages due to the demand, but there should be a greater supply than what was offered with the PS3.
‘Enterprise’ to begin airing on Sci Fi in January November 18, 2006 3:24 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Sci Fi, Star Trek, Television.3 comments
Sci Fi has announced a premiere date for “Star Trek: Enterprise”, the fifth series in the Star Trek franchise which aired on the UPN network from 2001 to 2005, for January 8, 2007.
The series will run in four-hour blocks from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM ET every Monday.
Earlier in the year Sci Fi purchased the rights to air all four seasons of the series, and were expected to begin airing the series in the fall of this year before settling on the early January launch.
The series went off the air with its fourth season finale back in May of 2005. It spent one year in weekend syndication where it averaged a 1.4 household rating through 26 original episodes (with a low of 1.2 and a high of 1.7) selected mainly from the fourth season but also including selected episodes from other seasons.
“Star Trek: The Original Series” is currently airing in weekend syndication, where it is averaging a 1.3 household rating with a low of 1.2 and a high of 1.3.
‘Enterprise’ is also airing on the high-definition network HDNet.
Friday Box Office Estimates, “Casino Royale” comes out on top November 18, 2006 2:27 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Box Office, James Bond, Movies, News.add a comment
In its first day of release, “Casino Royale”, the latest movie in the Bond franchise, grossed an estimated $14.75M, ahead of the other wide-opening movie this weekend “Happy Feet” which grossed an estimated $11.75M.
It is slightly behind the $16.62M which was grossed by “Die Another Day” in its first day of release back in 2002, but inline with studio estimates and predictions.
Additional Episodes Ordered for “Veronica Mars” and “One Tree Hill” November 17, 2006 7:42 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.add a comment
The CW has ordered additional episodes of both “Veronica Mars” and “One Tree Hill”, but not full-season back-nine orders. Instead, the network has ordered eight episodes of the later, bringing its total to 21 episodes this season and seven episodes of the former, bringing its total to 20 episodes this season.
It is unknown why The CW decided against giving normal back-nine episode orders.
Both shows are pacing ahead of their runs last season with “One Tree Hill” averaging 3.31M viewers so far (3.26M last season) and Veronica Mars averaging 3.08M viewers this season thus far (compared to 3.01M last season).
Playstation 3 Launch (and cost details) November 17, 2006 11:39 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Sony, Sony Playstation 3, Video Games.1 comment so far
The first of two new console launches (the Nintendo Wii on Sunday being the other) is happening today.
The Playstation 3 will be available today, to those who’ve pre-ordered or are waiting in line, in two varieties; a $599.99 version which contains a 60GB harddrive, a multimedia reader and WiFi built in and a $499.99 version which contains a 20GB harddrive, no multimedia reader and no WiFi built in.
Demand is expected to be high, but unfortunately Sony will not be able to meet it with expected shipments somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 to 200,000 (they previously were shooting for about 1M, before cutting it to 400,000 and now halving that).
Supplies throughout the holiday season are also expected to be low as Sony as reports indicate Sony will only be able to supply around 500,000 to 800,000 units by the end of the year in North America (halved from the previous estimate of 1M to 1.2M).
According to a report at iSupply Corporation, the 20GB version of the Playstation 3 costs the company $805.85/console (a $306.85 loss/console) to produce, while the 60B version costs the company $840.35/console (or a loss of $241.35/console) to produce.
Needless to say, this is a very expensive launch for the company, and they have a lot riding on it.
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