Casting Bites: Brad Pitt, Natalie Portman, Freddie Prinze Jr. and more March 18, 2009 6:54 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in ABC, Movies, News, Paramount Pictures, Television, The CW, Walden Media.Tags: Brad Pitt, Ellen DeGeneres, Freddie Prinze Jr., Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris Including Books Street Fashion and Jewelry, Jessica Lucas, Melrose Place, Natalie Portman, No Heroics
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Here are some of the latest casting news for television and film.
- Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman have signed on to a film based on the new Leanne Shapton book Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry. The film, from Paramount Pictures, will be developed as a romantic comedy, with Pitt to play Morris and Porman to play Doolan. [Variety]
- Jessica Lucas (Cloverfield) has landed a lead role on the CW’s new Melrose Place series. Lucas will play Riley Richmond, a wealthy and beautiful 24-year-old who works as an inncer-city elementary school teacher. [THR]
- Freddie Prinze Jr. is returning to ABC for the network’s comedy pilot No Heroics. The pilot is about four B-list superheroes living among us. Prinze’s character, Bradley aka Ultimatum, is the nemesis to the group’s leader Pete aka Chillout. [THR]
- Walden Media has signed Ellen DeGeneres as Mother Nature in a currently untitled comedy that is being produced by the company. Walden says that DeGeneres “will return to Earth for the first time since the planet’s creation.” The film will co-star Jim Carrey.[First Showing]
Matt Barr Joins Gossip Girl Spinoff March 10, 2009 3:03 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television, The CW.Tags: Gossip Girl, Gossip Girl Spinoff, Matt Barr
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One Tree Hill alum Matt Barr has been cast in The CW’s Gossip Girl spinoff as Keith van der Woodsen. The character is described as a rich and handsome Malibu prince who is the love interest to Lily Rhodes (Brittany Snow). Although The CW isn’t confirming it, speculation is that the character is Serena’s (from Gossip Girl) father.
The Gossip Girl spinoff, still untitled, is set in 1980’s Los Angeles and chronicles the teen years of Lily.
Source: THR
Ashlee Simpsons-Wentz Headed to Melrose Place March 9, 2009 5:07 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Casting, News, Television, The CW.Tags: Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, Melrose Place
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Singer/Actress Ashlee Simpson-Wentz will star on The CW’s Melrose Place update, returning to network television seven years after her role on The WB’s 7th Heaven. Simpson-Wentz will play Melrose Place’s newest resident, Violet, a bright-eyed but shrewd small-town girl and recent L.A. transplant who has come to town with a secret. THR reports that the character will draw parallels to the original series’ Sandy Harling (Amy Locane).
Simposon-Wentz joins the previously announced cast of Michael Rady and Katie Cassidy (see related story).
Michael Rady First To Be Cast in Melrose Place February 26, 2009 3:40 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television, The CW.Tags: Melrose Place, Michael Rady
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Michael Rady (Swingtown) has become the first actor to board the new Melrose Place pilot for The CW. THR reports that the actor landed the job on Wednesday morning, a day after The CW officially greenlit the pilot for the update, which will be directed by David Guggenheim.
The CW Announces Early Pickups Of Six Series February 25, 2009 3:58 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Renewals, Television, The CW.Tags: 90210, America's Next Top Model, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Smallville, Supernatural
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The CW today announced that they’ve given early pickups to six of its series, five dramas and reality hit America’s Next Top Model, all of which will return in the fall 2009.
The five other shows are Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, 90210, Smallville and Supernatural.
“As we continue to build The CW Network as a destination for young women, these six shows have clearly contributed to strengthening our schedule and our brand identity,” said Dawn Ostroff, President, Entertainment, The CW. “By securing these signature hits for next season, we’re furthering our commitment to deliver high-quality, original programming to our viewers, advertisers and affiliates.”
You can read the full press release in full after the jump. (more…)
The CW Picks Up Vampire Diaries February 10, 2009 6:21 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Television, The CW, Vampire Diaries.add a comment
The CW has picked up a pilot based on the Vampire Diaries book series. Vampire Diaries was originally launched in 1993 and revolves around a young woman who’s torn between two vampire brothers — one good, one evil — who are battling for her soul, and the souls of her pals, family and the small town where they live.
Source: Variety
The CW Sets Earlier Premiere for Reaper February 3, 2009 6:35 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 90210, Reaper, Television, The CW.add a comment
Reaper is coming back a couple weeks earlier than expected. The network announced today that the supernatural drama will return March 3 at 8:00pm, two weeks sooner than originally announced. With the programming change, 90210 will air after Reaper, a move that will protect that show from the American Idol juggernaut.
What hasn’t changed is that the show will air all 13 ordered episodes straight through without any repeats. Another change will come to low-rated drama Privileged, which will now conclude on February 24, with less repeats scheduled.
Despite low numbers for both 90210 and Privileged, the two shows actually enjoy the highest percentage of DVR gains across all networks.
Source: THR Feed
Jericho Creator Working on Feature Film Version January 15, 2009 11:37 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in CBS, Jericho, Movies, News, Television, The CW.3 comments
The twice-canceled CBS drama Jericho isn’t dead yet. Executive producer Jon Turteltaub tells iFMagazine that there is a theatrical movie based on the short-lived TV series in development.
…the big news is Turteltaub’s company is currently hatching a potential feature film version of the TV show.
“We’re developing a feature for JERICHO,” says Turteltaub. “It would not require you to have seen the TV show, but it get into life after an event like this on a national scale. It would be the bigger, full on American version of what’s going on beyond the town in Jericho.”
Asked about whether the cast would return, Turteltaub exclaimed “Oh yeah!”. If the project got the green light, Turteltaub expects an adequate budget: “Anything would be a huge budget compared to what we were dealing with,” he adds. “If we had $40 million dollars to make a movie with, that’s 20 times more than we did before.”
The CW is currently airing Jericho repeats on Sunday night’s. Catch the show all over again at 7:00pm.
WWE Friday Night Smackdown Sets New Record on MyNetworkTV January 13, 2009 11:55 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Broadcast TV Ratings, myNetworkTV, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Television, The CW, WWE Friday Night Smackdown.add a comment
Last Friday’s telecast of WWE Friday Night Smackdown set viewership records for MyNetworkTV.
The January 9th episode drew 3.9 million viewers, the most ever for the network, and also matched a network high among households with a 2.2/4 household rating/share.
While they didnt’ make much money from the show, it just really wasn’t such a good idea for The CW to drop ‘Smackdown’ and allow MyNetworkTV to pick it up. MyNetTV has been beating The CW in ratings over the last several weeks, while The CW is struggling, especially on what use to be a reliable night for them, Friday.
By way of comparison, The CW’s lineup that night: original episodes of Everybody Hates Chris and The Game and a repeat of the new reality series 13–Fear is Real, averaged just 1.12 million viewers and a 0.8/1 household rating/share. Yeah, enough said.
The CW to Create Gossip Girl Spinoff December 4, 2008 11:55 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Gossip Girl, News, Television, The CW.add a comment
The CW has confirmed that they are looking at ways to spin off a new series from Gossip Girl for next season. CW entertainment president Dawn Ostroff told The Hollywood Reporter that the network is in discussions with the producers of the show to see how a new series could be done. Ostroff notes, however, that nothing has been finalized and they are still in the early stages:
“Nothing really tangible yet, but we’re talking about it,” Ostroff said after her speech at the WWD Style + Media conference in Manhattan. The network is in constant contact with executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, whom Ostroff praised.
“If it’s the right idea, we’d all embrace it and be enthusiastic,” Ostroff said. “But nobody more than Josh and Stephanie want to make sure there’s the right idea that they can wrap their arms around and really be excited about.”
In other CW news, Ostroff said that they still haven’t decided what would happen with the Sunday primetime block after the removal of the Media Rights Capital programming and that for the time being, the movies will continue to be on the schedule:
“We did better this past week than we did with the MRC programming,” Ostroff said. “We’re programming a movie. Obviously it’s only a week later, but we’re going to look at Sunday night.”
The CW Announces Midseason Schedule December 3, 2008 9:42 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 13 Fear Is Real, 2008/2009 Television, News, Reaper, Television, The CW.1 comment so far
The CW has unveiled its midseason schedule. The lineup features the series premiere of the new reality series 13 Fear Is Real (January 7) and the return of Reaper (March 17).
Check out the new schedule, and full press release follows after the jump.
The CW Sets March Return for Reaper December 3, 2008 1:49 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 2008/2009 Television, News, Reaper, Television, The CW.add a comment
The CW has scheduled the return of the supernatural drama Reaper. The 13-episode second season will air after 90210 on Tuesday nights starting March 17th. Privileged is currently running in that time period, but it will have finished its 18-episode run by the time Reaper returns.
If I may say so, 90210 is a very, very odd choice for a lead-in. Then again, it may end up not mattering one way or the other. We’ll see soon enough I suppose.
Reaper premiered September 25, 2007 with the following ratings: 2.1/3 HH rating/share, 3.28 million viewers and a 1.5/4 rating among adults 18-49, all of which were series highs.
Overall, 18 episodes aired during season one, averaging a 1.7/3 HH rating/share, 2.62 million viewers and a 1.2/3 rating/share among adults 18-49.
Source: THR Feed
The Graysons Canceled November 11, 2008 2:17 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television, The CW, The Graysons.add a comment
The CW and Warner Bros. have been forced to scrap their plans for The Graysons, a series that the network was planning which was to follow the life and story of Dick Grayson before he became Batman’s sidekick Robin. WB Pictures president Jeff Robinev changed his mind in recent days and according to Variety, wants Warner Bros. to “rethink its DC Comics strategy”:
“The studio has opted not to go forward with the development of ‘The Graysons’ at this time as the concept doesn’t fit the current strategy for the Batman franchise,” the studio said in a statement. “Warner Bros. Television is currently working on several replacement options for the CW.”
Also turns out that The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan was never consulted and was uncomfortable with having a TV show related to the Batman franchise on the air, although the decision rested solely with Robinev.
Source: Variety
The CW Exploring New Version of Melrose Place October 29, 2008 7:40 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television, The CW.add a comment
I guess bringing back 90210 wasn’t enough. The CW and CBS Paramount Network Television are “exploring” the possibility of creating a new version of the successful 1990’s 90210 spinoff Melrose Place. The CBS Paramoutn spokeswoman was quick, however, to stress that talks about reviving the series are still in the early stages, with no writers or showrunners attached.
The CW’s 90210 has been a mild success for the network, becoming the first new fall show of the season to be given a full season.
Source: TV Week
“Gossip Girl” Contest: Enter to Win A $1,000 Gift Card And A 2 Night Trip to NYC + More August 12, 2008 9:25 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in DVD, Gossip Girl, Television, The CW.3 comments
The first season DVD set of The CW’s Gossip Girl is just a week away (August 19, 2008), and in celebration of its release and the upcoming second season you could win a $1,000 Gift Card and more. Click the image below to head over to gossipgirltvondvd.com to enter the contest.
Comic-Con 2008: The CW’s “Supernatural” Panel July 29, 2008 4:32 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Comic-Con, Comic-Con 2008, News, Supernatural, Television, The CW.add a comment
Stars Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki were joined by creator Erick Kripke and writers on the panel for The CW’s Supernatural. Here are some highlights courtesy TV Squad:
- SPOILERS: After some time in Hell, Dean returns from the dead. The beginning of the season will deal with how he got out of Hell and what has happened to Sam in the four months that he was gone.
- Meanwhile Sam is more and more accepting his role as demon killer. He believes more than ever that his rightful place in the world is for him to get rid of demons and ghosts, just like his father.
- The two brothers will continue to hold secrets from each other. They will work more independently from each other, and they’re relationship will grow a bit darker.
- Asked about the effect of the writers strike on the series, Kripke said it actually made it a meaner, leaner and more concise show. However, there were some storylines that were not covered during the season.
- Someone asked if Kripke still has a plan to run the show for only five seasons, he replied yes, saying that he wanted to avoid jumping the shark adding he doesn’t want the show to ever slip into mediocrity.
- The season three DVD will be released on September 2nd on both DVD and Blu-ray Hi-Def.
- There may be a return by the Ghostfacers this season, and there is talk of giving them their own online miniseries. During the panel, Ed and Hary made a cameo apperance.
The CW Fall 2008 Schedule Announced July 20, 2008 6:27 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 2008/2009 Television, News, Programming Guide, Television, The CW.add a comment
The CW has unveiled their schedule for the upcoming fall 2008 season. MRC, which will be programming The CW’s Sunday nights, has also made some changes to their premiere dates. Check out both press releases after the jump. Also, my Fall 2008 Programming Guide has been updated to reflect the additions. With the reveal of The CW schedule, premiere dates have been set for all five major networks. Click here to download it the guide (which as always, can be found on my 2008/2009 Television Page).
Fall 2008 Programming Guide Update June 6, 2008 11:45 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 2008/2009 TV Season, ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Programming Guide, Site Info, Television, The CW.1 comment so far
I’ve made an update to my Fall 2008 programming guide, adding in the premiere dates for the Fox programming. As before, I still plan to add a few other things, such as synopses for the new shows, in future updates.
You can download the file here (Excel .xls file) or click the above image.
Please feel free to leave any comments here on the site or via e-mail (russtc@yourentertainmentnow.com).
The file(s) will also be posted on the 2008/2009 television page (which you can access here).
I will be updating and re-uploading on a continual basis as I make corrections, edits or if schedules change.
I hope you find it useful!
Russ
Fall 2008 Programming Guide May 27, 2008 6:53 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 2008/2009 TV Season, ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Site Info, Television, The CW.add a comment
Like last year, I’ve decided to create a programming guide for the fall season. My 1st edition for Fall 2008 is online now. This year’s edition is a little less bloated than last year’s and I’ve done it in a different, more simple style. It also only has premiere dates for the NBC shows. That will of course be remedied once the other networks make their announcements. I also plan to add a few other things, such as synopses for the new shows, in future updates.
You can download the file here (Excel .xls file) or click the above image.
Please feel free to leave any comments here on the site or via e-mail (russtc@yourentertainmentnow.com).
The file(s) will also be posted on the 2008/2009 television page (which you can access here).
I will be updating and re-uploading on a continual basis as I make corrections, edits or if schedules change.
I hope you find it useful!
Russ
MRC Unveils Sunday Fall Programming Block May 27, 2008 5:30 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 2008/2009 TV Season, Easy Money, In Harm's Way, Inc., MRC, Surviving Suburbia, Television, The CW, Valentine.add a comment
MRC (Media Rights Capital), the company responsible for programming The CW’s Sunday nights this fall, has unveiled their shows. The programming begins at 6:30pm ET with the one-hour reality series Harm’s Way, followed by the sitcom Surviving Suburbia from 7:30-8pm, drama Valentine, Inc from 8-9pm and another drama Easy Money from 9-10pm. MRC will also be programming the 5-6:30pm block, but they have not yet announced which show, or shows, will air in the time period. The night of programming is scheduled to launch on September 14th. Details of the four shows follows after the jump.
The CW Development Slate for 2008/2009 Season [Continually Updated] May 14, 2008 8:28 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 2008 Upfronts, 2008/2009 TV Season, News, Television, The CW.5 comments
Following you will find The CW’s current confirmed development slate and schedules for the 2008/2009 season.
Reaper Renewed, 90210 Spinoff Picked Up May 12, 2008 7:52 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 90210 Spinoff, News, Reaper, Television, The CW.2 comments
Kristin over at E! Online is reporting from her sources that it’s looking “likely” that The CW will renew Reaper. Because of its low ratings, a renewal for Reaper wasn’t expected: “If you had asked me a week ago, I would have said no, but there have been a few changes, and now it’s looking like it’ll probably get the green light,” reports an insider source. Krisin also reported that the network will be picking up the new 90210 spinoff.
Casting Bites: Caprica, Eureka, 90210 and Fallon Confirmed as Conan O’Brien Replacement May 12, 2008 7:12 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 90210 Spinoff, Caprica, Late-Night, NBC, News, Sci Fi, Television, The CW.add a comment
Eric Stoltz (pictured right) is the latest addition to the cast of the SCI FI Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica. The actor has been cast as Daniel Graystone, a wealthy computer engineer. In other SCI FI channel news, Frances Fisher has signed onto the drama/comedy Eureka for an eight episode run. The actress will play Samantha Thorne, aka “the fixer”. [Sci-Fi Wire]
What’s old is new again as Beverly Hills, 90210 alum Jennie Garth has been cast in the CW’s spinoff. The actress will reprise her role as Keylly Taylor from the original series and will play a guidance counselor at West Beverly Hills High, her alma mater. [THR]
Continuing reading for more casting news
The CW Cancels Aliens in America May 12, 2008 6:27 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 2007/2008 TV Season, Aliens in America, Cancellations, News, Television, The CW.add a comment
The CW has canceled the low-performing freshman comedy series Aliens in America, according to TV Guide. Despite solid reviews from critics, the series just never managed to find a consistent audience from TV viewers, often dropping below 1 million viewers. There remains just one episode left to be aired. Through 17 original episodes, the show has averaged 1.60M viewers and a 0.6/2 rating/share among adults.
Michael Rosenbaum “Smallville” Departure Confirmed, New Villians Revealed May 2, 2008 2:20 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Casting, Smallville, Television, The CW.1 comment so far
In a joint statement from Smallville Executive Producers Darren Swimmer, Todd Slavkin, Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson; The CW Network; and Warner Bros. Television, the departure of actor Michael Rosenbaum from the series was announced. In addition, the network announced some details for the eighth season of the series. Details after the jump.
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