The CW Picks Up Full Seasons of “The Game” and “7th Heaven” October 20, 2006 8:35 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.add a comment
The CW has given a full-season order to its only remaining new show this season, “The Game”. Its other new series, “Runaway”, has already been canceled.
The series hasn’t faired that well in the ratings, but it has done well in one of the networks key demos (W18-34), holding onto 95% of its lead-in “Girlfriends”.
“The Game” has averaged 2.69M viewers through three new episodes this season.
“7th Heaven” was also given a go-ahead on a full season order.
King Of The Hill Returns In January October 20, 2006 7:02 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.add a comment
The 11th season of “King of the Hill” will premiere Sunday, January 21st at 7:30 PM on FOX.
Created and exec-produced by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, “King of the Hill” is the second-longest running sitcom behind another Fox show, “Simpsons”.
The season finale this past May was expected to be the show’s last airing, and Fox even decided against returning it, but they had a change of heart late in the game, and decided to return the show as a mid-season replacement.
The 10th season opened with 7.15M viewers, before settling into an average of 5.68M viewers a week through 15 new episodes.
‘Halo’ Movie Loses Studio Backing October 20, 2006 6:39 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News.add a comment
Universal Studios and Fox Studios have cut their participation in funding the game-based movie, apparently over budget concerns.
The movie, an adaption of the very successful Xbox series, was said to have been approaching a budget of $200 million, though studio reps will only confirm a pricetag in the neighborhood of $150 million, minus a reduction of 12.5% for shooting in New Zealand.
Its suspected that both studios were uneasy with the deal that Microsoft (the game’s publisher) was set to receive, and were negotiating to lower it. That deal was for a $5 million upfront payment and 10% of the films gross.
In An Effort To Bring Total Spending Down, NBC Universal Will Cut more than 700 Jobs October 20, 2006 2:00 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.add a comment
NBC Universal is cutting about 700 jobs to save the company about $750 million in spending.
The restructuring follows a July initiative that NBC Universal Television Group President Jeffrey Zucker billed as a comprehensive review of a media business that needs to change with evolving digital technologies. The company has been challenged by a ratings decline at NBC that is only beginning to turn around, and NBCU last week said second quarter profit dipped 10 percent from a year earlier.
The new plan, dubbed NBCU 2.0, will bring big changes for the news division, which has been the focus of the most persistent job-cut rumors. The boldest stroke will move MSNBC to NBC News’s Manhattan headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza from the cable channel’s New Jersey home of 10 years.
For more on this news, please follow the link to the source.
ABC Gives Full Season Order To “Brothers & Sisters” October 20, 2006 1:59 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Renewals, Television.3 comments
“Brothers & Sisters” will have a chance to play out its full season, as ABC has given the go ahead on the back nine.
Though the series has not been able to match the performance of former time-period holder “Grey’s Anatomy”, it consistently performs well in A18-49, where it is currently the second highest rated freshman series in the demo (behind “Heroes”).
Through 4 episodes, the series has averaged 13.58M viewers and a 4.9 A18-49 rating.
ABC gives “Ugly Betty” A Full Season Order October 13, 2006 8:28 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in New Show Orders, News, Television.1 comment so far
“Ugly Betty” joins “Heroes” and “Jericho” as the only new shows of the season to be given a full season commitment.
ABC announced today in a press release.
The series has shown strong performance in three weeks on the air, averaging 15.3M viewers and a 4.7/13 A18-49 rating.
Follow the link to read the press release.
TV Notes: Schedule Changes/Orders October 12, 2006 9:12 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Fall 2006 TV, News, Television.add a comment
Schedule Changes
Medium
Starting November 15th, “Medium” will air in “Kidnapped’s” former time-period (Wednesday at 10:00 PM).
Last season, the show averaged 11.1M viewers a week, with a 4.1/10 A18-49 rating.
3 lbs.
Previously rumored, now confirmed by CBS, the new drama “3 lbs.” will be placed in the schedule starting Tuesday, November, 14th. It will occupy the now vacated time-period of the canceled “Smith”.
Back Nine Orders
Jericho
CBS has given a full-season order to the successful new drama “Jericho”.
The show is currently averaging 11.3 million viewers a week and a 3.4/10 A18-49 rating.
It is only the second new series this fall to receive a full season commitment (the other being “Heroes”).
TV Notes: Schedule Changes/Additions (“Medium”, “3 lbs.”) October 11, 2006 8:25 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.1 comment so far
“Medium” may be tapped to fill in for the time-period now vacated by “Kidnapped”, according to sources. From Broadcasting & Cable:
NBC is expected to bring back Medium to replace the relocated Kidnapped Wednesdays at 10.
While NBC isn’t commenting, sources with knowledge of the situation said the network is planning on bringing the veteran drama back onto the schedule in coming weeks, though it will continue to monitor Dateline in that slot.
CBS is also said to be mulling over a decision to put their new drama 3 lbs (starring Stanley Tucci and Mark Feuerstein) about surgeons in the time-period where “Smith” was airing; Tuesday’s at 10:00 PM.
Neither report has been confirmed from the networks involved.
Little Mermaid DVD Sells 4M Copies October 11, 2006 8:25 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in DVD, Movies, News.add a comment
The two-disc Platinum Edition DVD of the 17 year old animated classic debuted to more than four million units in its first week of release. The movie had been placed in Disney’s “vault” for the past seven years.
That mark makes it the top selling animated movie release for October ever, and surpassed all previous Platinum Edition releases (included classics such as “Beauty and the Beast” and “Lion King”).
Stargate SG-1 To Be Continued Via Direct-To-DVD Films October 11, 2006 8:22 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Sci Fi, Stargate, Television.1 comment so far
Executive producer Brad Wright told TV Guide that MGM has given him the green light and enough money to film two SG-1 movies, which likely would be made available by DVD.
“Rambo IV” Ready To Go October 11, 2006 8:21 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News, Rambo.1 comment so far
Sylvester Stallone will replay the lead role of John Rambo in “Rambo IV: In The Serpent’s Eye”.
With production set to begin in January of 2007 Stallone will star, produce and direct the film from a screenplay of which he wrote.
Google Rumored To Be In Talks To Buy YouTube [UPDATE] October 9, 2006 4:26 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Video Downloads.1 comment so far
Update – 10/9/2006:
It has now been confirmed that Google has acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion.
More information about the sale can be read at TV Week.
Best Buy Enters Music Download Business October 9, 2006 8:30 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Music, News.add a comment
Already online at www.bestbuy.com/digitalmusicstore, Best Buy has entered into the music download business with their new service, along with partners RealNetworks and SanDisk.
The service, Best Buy Digital Music Store, allows users to either download individual tracks of music (stored permanently) or pay a monthly subscription fee (files are not permanent). The store is run on RealNetworks’ Rhapsody 4.0 service and it will be jointly promoted by Best Buy, and RealNetworks. Best Buy will also begin promoting SanDisk MP3 players for use with the service in their stores.
Best Buy Enters Music Downloads (Video Business)
Warner Bros. Lowers High-Definition DVD Forecast October 9, 2006 8:00 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray Disc, HD DVD, High Definition Optical Disc, Movies, News.add a comment
After a weaker than expected September in total sales for High-Definition hardware and software, Warner Bros. has halved their original sales estimate for the new medium.
Back in August of this year, they forecasted sales of $1.5-$1.9 billion in hardware and $500 million in software by years end. Because of the lower than expected September take (about $30 million, roughly half of what was expected) estimates have been revised downward to $750 million on hardware and $150 million for software.
Warner Halves High-Def Projections (Video Business)
FOX Sets Premiere Date for “The Rich List” October 9, 2006 7:30 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.add a comment
A new game show in which teams create lists of information to win prices will premiere November 1st (Wednesday) at 9:00 PM. following Bones on FOX.
The Rich List will be hosted by British morning show host Eamonn Holmes.
William Shatner Tapped To Host New Game Show for ABC October 9, 2006 7:00 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.add a comment
William Shatner of Star Trek (and more recently Boston Legal) fame has been chosen by ABC to host a new game show titled Show Me The Money for the network.
“Bill was the guy we wanted from day one to host ‘Show Me the Money,'” said David Goldberg, president of Endemol USA. “More than anything, we were looking for a great showman, and in addition to being an instantly recognizable entertainer to audiences of all ages, Bill’s got a naturally warm and witty presence that is simply perfect for the material.”
Produced by Endemol USA, the company responsible for the NBC hit Deal or No Deal, Show Me the Money has not yet been given a release date.
ABC sets “Big Day” Premiere Date October 6, 2006 12:53 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.add a comment
Knights Of Prosperity was originally going to have the Tuesday at 9:00 PM time-period, but that show has been put on hold (ABC apparently feels it has been lost in the shuffle of new show promotions and will hold on to it a bit longer).
EA Purchases the Maker of the Battlefield Franchise October 3, 2006 2:38 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Video Games.add a comment
Electronic Arts will acquire DICE Studios ( Digital Illusions CE) for the approximate price of $23.9 Million.
The deal had been in the works since the 2004.
More information about the deal and its history can be found at Hollywood Reporter.
FX Purchases Exclusive Cable Rights to “Invincible” October 3, 2006 2:38 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News.add a comment
The cable network FX, has purchased the exclusive cable rights to the Buena Vista feature film starring Mark Wahlburg; Invincible.
It is suspected that FX will pay 10-12% of the domestice boxoffice take of the movie, which is currently at around $56.3M.
“Hustle” Renewed October 3, 2006 2:38 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Renewals, Television.1 comment so far
The AMC series (co-produced with BBC) has started production in London on the fourth season.
6 episodes will make up the fourth season, with the season premiere set for March of 2007.
Your Entertainment Now 