Dwighte Schrute rules! Beets rock! And Rainn Wilson of "The Office" should win the supporting comedy actor award this year.
Dwight showed real range of bizarr-o behavior this past season with the breakup with Angela, the trip with Michael to New York when they crashed with Ryan, the hostage-taking incident with the pizza delivery guy. And who could forget him helping Michael grieve for the dead chair model. "Bye bye Miss American Pie..."
Tell that to corporate.
NBC.com has just the thing to help us (in L.A.) through a heat wave: A batch of "Office" webisodes revolving around ice cream and Kevin's efforts to launch a business dubbed "Malone's Cones."
At least that's what he's telling people he intends to do. Funny and (by definition) breezy, the "Kevin's Loan" webisodes are nice fix for "Office" lovers at the midway point in our summertime wait for fresh segs this fall. It doesn't hurt that it amounts to a mini-showcase for fan-fave supporting characters like Brian Baumgartner's Kevin (pictured left), Craig Robinson's Darryl and Oscar Nunez's Oscar.
There were no credits on the screener I just watched but it's clear these bits were penned and helmed by CPAs (Certified People Approved by "Office" guru Greg Daniels). At least this time around "Office" staffers won't be toiling for free on these webisodes. The mandate to do just that two years ago on the first batch of web originals that "Office" team delivered ("The Accountants") was a big bone of contention for the show's staff before and during the WGA strike, but now this work is covered by the WGA's hard-fought new media provisions in its contract running through 2011 pact.
"You are a really weird dude, Oscar," Kevin insists (like he should talk) after Oscar calls him on his Malone's Cones ruse.
The "Kevin's Loan" webisodes bow July 10 at 3 p.m. ET on "The Office" home page on NBC.com.
Nothing says TCA like stars in awkward situations. (See pic at left of "House" star Hugh Laurie in a bumper car at Fox's TCA party on the Santa Monica pier last summer.)
Yep, the Television Critics Assn. summer press tour is upon us, starting Tuesday at the Beverly Hilton hotel. The January TCA gathering was scuttled by the writers strike, so undoubtedly there will be pent-up excitement (agitation? irritation? ultra-obnoxious lines of questioning?) than usual among the scribes, execs and stars who make TCA go 'round.
As we did last year, On the Air will offer team coverage of this fortnight of frothing about shows to come and the strike-interrupted season that just was, and any other issues that crop up between Tuesday and July 22. Variety's Stuart Levine plans to park himself at the BevHilton for the duration, while our TV leader, Michael Schneider, reporter Daniel Frankel and myself will also be availing ourselves of the hotel's free Wi-Fi to cover the events...and drink. I'm guessing it's a safe bet that the tradition of TCA bingo (in which attendees track the over-use of buzz words by panelists) will include the phrase "writers strike" this year.
It all starts Tuesday with a heavy rotation of cable presentations, including Hallmark Channel, HD Net, BBC America and E! nets.
Wednesday's lineup includes: AMC and WE; MTV Networks; A&E Networks
Thursday: Discovery Networks; ESPN; Sundance Channel; HBO
Friday: Turner Broadcasting; Fox Reality Channel; Starz; Lifetime
Saturday-Sunday: PBS -- whose talent roster includes none other than Sir George Martin, plugging his series "On Record: The Soundtrack of Our Lives."
Summer in Scranton? Why not. NBC has set "The Office" star/scribe Mindy Kaling is set to host the "Office Games" in the show's hometown of Scranton, Penn. on July 19. It's a promotional stunt to mark the launch of two games based on the show -- one a vidgame-style DVD, the other an old-fashioned board game based on "Office" trivia. She must be getting her own line of Kelly Kapoor nail polish and lip gloss down the road, because Kaling has committed to spending the day in and around the Mall at Steamtown officiating a "day full of Dunder Mifflin fun," including a 2K "fun run," a beet-eating contest, a trivia challenge and an autograph sesh. Events will raise money for the Scranton-based charitable org United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
"We'll be rolling out the beet red carpet for Ms. Kaling, assured Scranton Mayor Christoper Doherty. (More info on "Office Games" after the jump.) ...
Meanwhile NBC has confirmed what "Office" fans already knew: Amy Ryan will back for multiple episodes in the upcoming season in her role as the new HR person, Holly Flax, who takes over for the (Costa Rica-bound?) Toby Flenderson. Ryan had a swell debut on "Office" in last season's "Goodbye, Toby" finale. 
And it's not like she needs the work, coming off of an Oscar nod for last year's "Gone Baby Gone" and heaps of praise for her perf in the final season of "The Wire." She'll also be seen in one of this year's prestige, likely-to-be-Oscar-bait pics, Clint Eastwood's "Changeling." Wonder how long it will take Holly to figure out that Kevin isn't really slow, by the standards of the Scranton branch.
Continue reading ""The Office": Game(s) on; Amy Ryan's back" »
Hot off the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences nomination vote-tallying machine, here are the top 10 finalists for
Emmy noms in the comedy and drama series heats. The final noms will be announced on Thursday, July 17.
(My 2 cents on the list follows after the jump)
COMEDY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Entourage
Family Guy
Flight of the Conchords
The Office
Pushing Daisies
30 Rock
Two and a Half Men
Ugly Betty
Weeds
DRAMA
Boston Legal
Damages
Dexter
Friday Night Lights
Grey’s Anatomy
House
Lost
Mad Men
The Tudors
The Wire
Continue reading "Emmy's top 10 finalists for the comedy and drama series kudo" »
NBC News made the logical move on Sunday in tapping Tom Brokaw for the tough job of following Tim Russert as moderator of "Meet the Press" for the rest of this year, at least through the end of the presidential race in November.
Brokaw has the reporting experience, the on-air chops and the gravitas to uphold Russert's considerable legacy in turning "Meet the Press" into a consistent news-making and profit-making enterprise for the Peacock, as Variety's Michael Schneider reports.
But as right as it is to hand the chair to Brokaw in the short term, there's an equally smart choice on the NBC News roster to take the job for the long haul. Andrea Mitchell, Peacock's chief foreign affairs correspondent, also has the resume, the Washington relationships, the reporting skills and the extra-thick skin to take on the job. Having Brokaw handle the challenging transition period in the wake of Russert's surprising death June 13 is the best scenario that could arise for the show out of NBC News' tragic loss. Mitchell wouldn't have to follow Babe Ruth up to bat, and having a clearly defined limited tenure would probably help Brokaw avoid the inevitable "is he as good as" comparisons too.
Brokaw, in my view, is the very model of how a network anchor should comport him or herself after relinquishing the throne.
Continue reading ""Meet the Press": Brokaw for now, Mitchell in '09" »
POSTED BY STUART LEVINE
Life can be so freakin' fleeting.
I know I'm supposed to be a hardened journalist and not let news — both good and bad — affect me, but I can't help but feel devasted by the sudden and tragic loss of Tim Russert., who was only 58 years old.
There's an old adage that we feel a special connection to people we see on television all the time. Much more so than in film, as those on TV are in our living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens and everywhere else we watch.
And even more than that, Russert was on in the mornings on the "Today" show, in the afternoons occasionally as a political analyst on MSNBC, in the evenings on "Nightly News With Brian Williams" and then Saturdays on his conversational talkshow and, of course, the political big daddy, "Meet the Press" on every Sunday ayem.
What a tragedy. I still can't believe he's gone.
It wasn't a total loss. This is a contrarian view on the season that will go down in the Nielsen annals as the lowest rated on record for the Big Four nets, but there was some good news to be found here and there, amid the wreckage.
For sure, the season-long stats on the 2007-08 campaign are pretty darn ugly, as Variety ratings guru Rick Kissell smartly and soberly details in this season wrap. But in actuality we didn't have a season, we had two abbreviated seasons -- pre- and post-strike. Writers Guild of America leaders were as strategic as Eisenhower and Marshall carving up the European theater in triggering the work stoppage to begin on Nov. 5, to ensure maximum impact on current production and pilot development.
Of course, most everything the WGA was fighting for in its 100 Days War has been at work in force -- on steroids -- in this topsy-turvy season: the increasing popularity of web streaming of programming and DVR time-shifted viewing, the increasing use of digital extensions of traditional programs to drive traffic to network-affiliated websites and to generate new revenue streams for our half-dozen favorite media congloms.
Beyond the fairness issue and the wonky oh-my-god-younger-generations-will-never-watch-TV-the-same-way-again considerations, let's look at what the nets have to show for themselves program-wise out of the fall and spring mini seasons of '07-'08.
Continue reading "That was the season that was -- sort of" »
NBC made an honest latenight host out of Jimmy Fallon on Monday, confirming him as the successor to the "Tonight Show"-bound Conan O'Brien on what will soon be known as "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon."
The noontime news conference didn't tell us much that we didn't already know, but the smiles were plentiful, as evidenced by this three-shot of "Late Night" exec producer Lorne Michaels, Fallon and NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker. Variety's hard-working man at the upfronts, Michael Schneider, delivered this report from the newser via Blackberry this ayem.
"You can never really be sure of these things," said Michaels, who took a risk in 1993 recruiting the then-unknown comedy writer O'Brien for the job of succeeding David Letterman. "But he's funny and smart and has a really good work ethic. You have to want this more than anything, and I think he does."
Looks like Fallon is going to get his formal intro to America as O'Brien's successor on tonight's edition of 
"Late Night with Conan O'Brien. As seen in this pic, clearly O'Brien's going to take him under wing and show him the ropes.
"Ok, now, the guest sits here, you sit behind the desk..."
Primetime in the 2008-09 season is gonna be all over the map -- Australia, Israel, Canada and the U.K. for starters.
In this strike-interrupted pilot season, networks are embracing concepts and formats from overseas like never before. After writing "based on a ----- series" about 50 times while tracking the pilot buzz this weekend, I got to wondering about the origins of these projects.
I doubt that I'm the only one who assumes that if a property is being exported to the U.S., it must've been a hit at home, right? Wrong. At least that wasn't the case with "Sit Down, Shut Up" (pictured left), the live-action Australian sitcom that has inspired the Fox animated series "Class Dismissed," from Mitch Hurwitz and a bunch of his old "Arrested Development" cohorts. Fox gave it the greenlight on Saturday on the strength of a short presentation reel.
Original "Sit Down" ran for 13 segs on Australia's Channel Ten in 2001 but wasn't well received by critics or viewers, according to a post on "TV Tonight," a blog that bills itself authoritatively as "Australia's leading TV blog." In fact, this voice of Oz TV greeted the news that "Sit Down" had been fingered as a U.S. animated series with a pithy: "Now I've heard everything."
CBS is believed to be thisclose to picking up has picked up an unusual drama project, "Mythological Ex," that is based on an Israeli series of the same name (and retitled "The Ex List" for the U.S.).
Tracking down any details of this show -- revolving a woman sent on a soul-searching journey after a tarot card reader tells her to get hitched pronto to Mr. Right, who is someone who has already been in her life -- on the web in English was kinda tough.
From what I could gather, the series airs on Israel's Channel 2, an outlet that bowed in 2005, and is produced by a company called Reshet TV. Here's the link to the company's home page. If anyone who reads Hebrew can provide further guidance on whether "Mythological Ex" has its own page within, I'd be grateful. (Thanks to reader Phil, here's the link to the page, with clips of the show.) The image at right was all I could turn up through the Google Image search.
Word is that CBS execs are over the moon about the potential of the U.S. adaptation penned by Diane Ruggiero.
Continue reading "Upfronts: A closer look at 'based on a ------ series'" »
It's a very weird year. That's what everyone in town keeps saying over and over again as the biz gears up for the annual upfront ritual, which will be a little less ritualistic this year.
Gone in this Very Weird Year is the time-honored way in which reporters get big hints on what pilots are getting picked up -- by tracking the talent that is being flown in to New York.
As we all know, there are a whole lotta pilots that have not yet been shot and are just now setting casts. Most of the chatter, good and bad, about 2008-09 hopefuls this week has centered around the projects that the nets have in hand as pilots or presentations, or at least have significant thesps attached, a la ABC's "Never Better," which landed Damon Wayans (pictured right) as its lead last week.
So with the caveat that it is all spin and conjecture at this moment in time, let's review the buzz out there.
ABC's the hardest to read when it comes to new stuff.
On comedy front, Cedric the Entertainer (pictured left) vehicle (ABC Studios) seems to have traction -- or not, depending on who you talk to!
"Bad Mothers Handbook" (ABC Studios), about three generations of femmes living 
together, has not lensed but has the benefit of Alicia Silverstone (pictured right) and another high-profile name in the offing.
"My Brother's Hot and Other Dilemmas" (ABC Studios) about a girl attracted to her new step brother, has Alyssa Milano (pictured left). It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that either a Silverstone or Milano comedy vehicle could be a nice companion for ABC's frosh hit "Samantha Who?" -- assuming 
that either pilot satisfies the larger obligation to actually be funny.
"Never Better" (ABC Studios) shot up on the radar after Wayans signed on and Marc Buckland signed on to direct.
Drama-wise at ABC ... I just don't know.
Only "Life on Mars," offbeat time-travel cop drama, is in the can. David E. Kelley and Tommy Schlamme have bowed out of that project, they're looking to move this from 20th Century Fox TV to ABC Studios and retool it under prospective showrunners Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec and Scott Rosenberg.
There's been a lot of chatter in the biz that "Life on Mars" shuffle granted a reprieve to Kelley's "Boston Legal" for another season. (Biz watchers with long memories will recall that two years ago, the same thing happened when ABC was hot for Kelley's "Mars.") But I'm hearing that "Boston Legal's" fate also has a lot to do with Kelley and how involved he intends to be going forward, among other factors.
It seems a safe bet that "Women's Murder Club" is headed for the morgue, though ABC is said to be anxious to stay in biz with star Angie Harmon. Midseason drama "Eli Stone" is said to be 50-50 for a sophomore year. And surprisingly, ABC is said to be considering a pickup for midseason comedy "Miss Guided." Can't swear to this but I heard the actors' options have been extended for a few more weeks.
At CBS, it's always a dangerous game trying to predict what Team Moonves is going to announce at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday. But some chatter about returning shows seems to be firming up.
Continue reading "Upfronts: Pilot buzz in this Very Weird Year" »
CBS chief Leslie Moonves made a visit to the CBS News offices today as a show of support for embattled anchor Katie Couric. Associated Press' David Bouder has all the details in this report on Moonves' journey into the newsroom and meeting with Couric and "CBS Evening News" exec producer Rick Kaplan, who insisted that reports of Couric's exit from the anchor chair have been greatly exaggerated. "She's not been at it two years and everybody is writing her obituary," Kaplan told the AP. "That's fine. Success is the sweetest revenge."...
Meanwhile, NBC News has locked up the services of its intrepid Middle Eastern correspondent Richard Engel. Engel has been upped to chief foreign correspondent for the Peacock, which is promising to raise his profile on "NBC
Nightly News," MSNBC and other platforms. Engel, who is conversant in Arabic and fluent in Italian and Spanish, made a name for himself covering the early days of the Iraq war as a freelancer for ABC before joining NBC News in 2003. "There aren't enough superlatives to describe the work that Richard has done in some of the most dangerous places on Earth for NBC News," said NBC News prexy Steve Capus in touting Engel's promotion.
A show that did not disappoint on its post-strike return last week was NBC's "The Office" with seg "The Dinner Party."
Special commendation is owed to Melora Hardin, who is turning beyond-bizarro Jan into the show's most explosively funny character. Considering that she's playing opposite Steve Carell's Michael Scott, that's saying something.
Plot of this episode was particularly funny because it is something we've all endured -- an evening with a couple who are obviously not getting along. Of course, Rainn Wilson's Dwight Schrute took the laughs up a notch by crashing Michael and Jan's dinner party with his one-time babysitter ("Strictly carnal," he assures them) and his own food and wine in tow. I didn't catch the actress' name but she gave a great deadpan perf. Thank goodness ABC's "Lost" is moving from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. hour when it returns April 24 -- no tough choices on whether to check in first with the "Office" or the island....
Speaking of "Lost," ABC this ayem put out the good word -- strike be damned, "Lost" is getting a two-hour
finale after all on May 29. (And yes, confirmed with ABC that it is two original hours, not a recap 
show leading into a finale.) That translates to six post-strike segs instead of the five that Darlton previously forecast. (Only downside: "Lost" will be preempted on May 22 to make room for a two-hour "Grey's Anatomy" finale that night.)
I hope to pry a few details about the next run of "Lost" adventures out of exec producers Damon Lindelof (pictured left) and Carlton Cuse (pictured right) Tuesday morning when I have the pleasure of moderating a Q&A with them as part of this week's National Assn. of Broadcasters confab in Las Vegas.
A spinoff of "The Office"? That's the big news outta NBC today as the Peacock makes good on its promise to reinvent the upfront process with its way-early announcement of its sked for the next 65 years, er, weeks.
A "Son of 'Office'" project has been rumored about for some time, and I have to admit I'm very skeptical...but of course will reserve judgment and give Greg Daniels and Co. the benefit of the doubt until we hear more about it.
12:30 p.m. update: Per NBC, the new show will be "another comic journey, complete with new faces and new locations," which suggests that none of the current "Office" workers will be extracted from the Scranton branch, at least not for the purposes of the spinoff. New skein will launch after Peacock's Super Bowl telecast in February, right behind a fresh seg of "Office." Of this development, Daniels said in a canned statement: "Who would have ever thought that Americans would be subjected to a mock-documentary after the Super Bowl? What has happened to this country?"
Other good news from today's announcement is that the glorious "Friday Night Lights" will live to play another season. Whoo-hoo. Variety's Joe Adalian has all the details on NBC's plans right here.
Bonnie Hammer's footprint at NBC Universal continues to grow.
News that caught many in town by surprise out of the Peacock today is that in order to keep Hammer in the fold for a new multi-year pact, NBC Universal has given her oversight of scripted cable production -- cutting Universal Media Studios in half, basically -- and as well as oversight of a bunch of its fledgling networks like Sleuth, Chiller and Universal HD. She exchanges the mouthful of a title of prexy USA Network/Sci Fi Channel for the slightly streamlined prexy, Cable Entertainment and Cable Studio, as reported by Variety's Michael Schneider (news first broke on the L.A. Times' website).
Rewarding Hammer with more turf comes as no surprise; her USA Network and Sci Fi Channel are among the brightest jewel's in NBC U's crown. She's highly regarded by NBC U topper Jeff Zucker. We know she's been on short lists to conquer other fields within the conglom. What is a little surprising is that her gain this time around would come partly at the expense of NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios co-chairmen Marc Graboff and Ben Silverman and Universal Media Studios prexy Katherine Pope. Not that those three don't have their hands full with the ongoing rehab of NBC proper (two words: "Bionic Woman"), but as we all know, execs tend to get fussy about losing turf.
Another immediate question is if Hammer's bump could have a ripple-effect within USA Network. In January, Sci Fi channel marketing guru Dave Howe was boosted from exec vp and general manager to prexy of Sci Fi Channel. There's already insta-speculation that a similar promotion could be in the works for one of Hammer's hard-working lieutenants at USA.
(Pictured above: Bonnie Hammer in December at the L.A. premiere of Sci Fi miniseries "Tin Man," with a new-model Toto.)
For all the affection I have for "Friday Night Lights," I did not know that the story of Jason Street was inspired by a real person, a high school athlete who was dealt the same fateful blow on the gridiron as Street faces in the pilot seg of "FNL."
I didn't know this until I spotted an obituary in Saturday's New York Times with the headline: "David Edwards, who inspired TV episode, dies at 20."
"FNL" shepherd Peter Berg was in the crowd in a Texas high school football arena in November 2003 when Edwards snapped his neck after a collision with the wide receiver, which left him paralyzed. According to the AP obit, he'd been fighting pneumonia for some weeks and then went into a coma.
Edwards died Wednesday at the age of 20. To the millions of "FNL" fans, his legacy will endure in the proud, intelligent and determined character of Jason Street, a man of fortitude and great moral courage who is anything but a victim of his injury. It is to the credit of Berg and the rest of "FNL's" creative team that they found a thesp to play Street with the level of dignity and heart that Scott Porter (pictured left) brings to the role.
How will we ever get any work done?
NBC and CBS have reached deep into their program vaults and are flooding the web with free streaming offerings of couch-potato classics, including "Star Trek" (the great 79); "Hawaii Five-0" (a personal fave); "Emergency" (Gage and DeSoto rule); "Miami Vice" (love the one where Frank Zappa guest stars); "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" (great host); "Kojak" (great Telly); "MacGyver," "Melrose Place," "The A-Team," "Simon & Simon" and the original Lorne Greene-in-a-robe-and-toupe version of "Battlestar Galactica."
There's especially good news for fans of the Rod Serling oeuvre. CBS is offering the first two seasons of "The Twilight Zone," and NBC.com and SciFi.com are beaming out "Night Gallery." "Night
Gallery," produced by Universal TV for NBC from 1970-1973, is not as consistently mind-blowing as "Twilight Zone," but the best of the episodes, mostly the Serling-penned segs, are very, very good indeed. Steven Spielberg famously made his directorial debut on a "Night Gallery" seg starring Joan Crawford as a blind woman with a very high sense of entitlement.
Interesting that these separate initiatives from the Eye and the Peacock were announced about a week after the majors inked the new deal with the Writers Guild of America that calls for them to pay scribes 2% of the distributor's gross on web streaming of library TV shows, library being defined as anything produced after 1977 and streamed more than a year after its initial telecast.
With library product, the 2% of distrib's gross formula kicks in right away, not in year three of the WGA contract as is the case for contempo programs. So the timing of the majors' push to offer on-demand access to their libraries is a good thing for scribes, on paper. The real question is, how do you calculate
the distributor's gross for online distribution of an old "MacGyver" or "Miami Vice" seg?
In theory it will be based on whatever the license fee that the owner (aka distrib) of the program receives from the exhibitor, aka NBC.com and CBS.com. But valuation matters get even more complicated when you're talking about vintage product owned by the same conglomerate that also controls the Internet exhibition. This is the kind of stuff that will keep lawyers for the guild, the studios and top creatives fully employed during the next few years.
Mundane news about the TV biz is overshadowed by the strike drama these days, but in the late afternoon today I caught up with the fact that Sunday was a pretty good night for business, for all but NBC. I can't believe I missed the rare opportunity to enjoy a primetime oater with part one of CBS' three-part Larry McMurtry mini, "Comanche Moon," a "prequel" to "Lonesome Dove." (That's what screeners are for.)
Fox's pre-strike decision to hold "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" back for midseason paid off, with a big assist from the NFC playoff game between the Giants and Cowboys. Sure, the football overrun with a gazillion viewers and 35 share in adults 18-49 helped it get off the tarmac but "Sarah Connor" didn't fold in its second half-hour, which was a good sign.
(Pictured left, Linda Cardellini and Steve Zahn in "Comanche Moon.")
Continue reading "No kidding, some people still watching TV" »
Having pitched NBC Universal's tent in the heart of the Consumer Electronics Show exhibition floor in Las Vegas this week, Beth Comstock is off to a running start in what will undoubtedly be an eventful year for all the digital, marketing and television advertising turf she oversees at NBC U.
The conglom's president of Integrated Media has made a number of new media bets, big and small, that will come due in the next year. I'm generally not big on "ones to watch" predictions but in this case I think Comstock qualifies.
The most high-profile bet NBC U has made is Hulu.com, the joint Internet vid venture with News Corp. that is still in beta mode but expected to be ready for primetime in the not-so-distant future. Hulu is stocked with ad supported, free web-streaming titles, from contempo NBC and Fox hits to scads of vintage product from both studios. (If you've just got to see the episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati" where Les Nessman tries to end it all by jumping off a ledge, Hulu is where you outta be.)
Feature film content so far pretty is limited, though it does include cult faves such as "Weekend at Bernie's" and "The Breakfast Club." (Some programmer is doing his or her homework.)
Unlike past studio-backed 'Net efforts, the partners aren't banking so much on making Hulu.com a destination unto itself, but rather the hub from which to syndicate free, ad-embedded content through its formidable distrib partners including MSN, AOL, Yahoo and MySpace, among others. Hulu in October garnered a $100 million equity investment from a major player in the private equity world, Providence Equity Partners.
Smaller bets include a joint venture inked with Procter & Gamble last month on a website, Petside.com, targeting pet owners and the $40 billion they spend on furry friends each year. In between deals the size of Hulu.com and Petside.com are investments NBC U is making in vid game developers and producers, Internet and mobile advertising services and other lifestyle-oriented initiatives. Comstock is working closely with the finance wizards at Peacock Equity, a $250 million investment fund that its parent GE set up earlier this year to make $3 million-$25 million investments in startups and companies with products and services that may be a good fit with NBC U's needs in the new world order.
Ch-ching: "Law & Order" is back. The two segs on tap for Wednesday's two-hour premiere are as strong any the show has delivered in years. Linus Roache is a great addition to the cast as the driven chief assistant district attorney Michael Cutter. Jeremy Sisto is intense but low-key as Det. Cyrus Lupo, the new partner of Jesse Martin's Det. Ed Green.
After hitting a ratings slump during the past few years, "Law & Order" hasn't been treated too well by NBC. The show was exiled to the Friday 10 p.m. berth last season, and then it was in limbo about a pickup (for an astounding 18th season) until the last minute prior to this year's upfronts. And then it was left off the fall sked as a bench show for the post-football period.
But the tide may have turned for the Peacock's war horse. "Law & Order" boss Dick Wolf is glad to see the show landing back in its old familiar time slot of Wednesday 10 p.m., which it owned from 1992-2006. And he is optimistic that the infusion of new thesps the return of Rene Balcer as showrunner will put the show in good stead for many more seasons to come. Show hasn't seen so many on- and off-screen changes in one year since the 1993-94 period, when key cast members Michael Moriarty, Dann Florek, Richard Brooks departed and stalwarts like Sam Waterston and S. Epatha Merkerson arrived, Wolf notes.
"It's changing the whole zeitgeist of the show," Wolf sez of the new cast lineup. "It was getting to be an older show in terms of the age of the cast and in the literal number of years it had been on. Now, it's the same show, but it's a very different six-person ensemble."
This just in: Gloria Reuben is set to reprise her "ER" role in an episode skedded to begin shooting next week (hopefully).
She'll be back as Jeanie Boulet, of course, though only the writers know where life has taken the one-time physical therapist in the eight years since the character exited the "ER" scene. I'm told Reuben's is a one-off return visit that has been planned for some time, a treat for the fans who have hung in with the show through thick and thin all these seasons.
(Pic of Reuben by Mark Von Holden/WireImage)
Now this sounds like fun. An "Office" convention this weekend in Scranton, Pa.? Surprised somebody didn't think of it sooner. Per this AP report, a host of cast members and writers (but not Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson or Jenna Fischer) are winging in for the Friday-Sunday event.
Al Roker is set to cover part of the event live Friday morning for Peacock's "Today" will broadcast live from the University of Scranton on Friday.
"The show has been the vehicle by which we can tell our story, and cities rarely get that opportunity," says Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty, who counts himself as an "Office" fan.
It may have taken them a little longer to get there than most shows, but Fox's unsinkable "Family Guy" is prepping a 100th episode party for Oct. 29 at the ever-fashionable Social Hollywood. Seth MacFarlane and his crew are known to know how to celebrate their "freakin' sweet" milestones. This bash might lend itself to some TMZ moments, if Stewie gets out of hand...
There might be some TMZ action coming out of next week's Hollywood Radio and Television Society gathering of the heads of the five network families. The selection of Barry Sonnenfeld, helmer and exec producer of ABC's "Pushing Daisies," as moderator of the Oct. 16 luncheon has raised some eyebrows among rival nets. It's a head-scratcher for others, given that Sonnenfeld isn't exactly known for his emcee-ing skills. But for those of us who've complained about milquetoast HRTS moderators in the past, we've got to give Barry the benefit of the doubt. It outta be a lively sesh, anyway, with ABC's Steve McPherson, CBS' Nina Tassler, CW's Dawn Ostroff, Fox's Kevin Reilly and NBC's Ben Silverman...
The milestone-episode parties continue on Nov. 3 with Warner Bros. Television's celebration of "ER's" 
300th at Hollywood's Cabana Club. Hard to believe it was 13 years ago that George Clooney did such an effective job of playing the tipsy Dr. Doug Ross in the famously good two-hour "ER" pilot. NBC skein has had its ups and downs since then but it has earned its place in the pantheon of primetime's longest-running series, and casting history. This party outta be a classy affair to remember, especially if it attracts a full (or even pretty full) complement of thesp, writer and producer alums....
And from the good-cause department, Zimmer Children's Museum will fete Fox talent relations exec Missy 
Halperin (pictured left) and PBS' kidvid programming exec Linda Simensky (pictured right) at its 7th annual 
Discovery Award dinner on Nov. 8 at Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel. Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher, the battling spouses of Fox sitcom "'Til Death" will emcee. Zimmer org is focused on teaching small fry about ethics, community involvement and cultural sensivity through interactive and roll-up-your-sleeves exhibits at its museum on the Miracle Mile.
The fall season is well underway and so is the fall leg of panel-confab-Q&A madness. The Hollywood Radio and Television Society's annual network chiefs sesh outta be lively this year, what with ABC's Steve McPherson, NBC's Ben Silverman and Fox's Kevin Reilly on the same stage. (Quick quiz: Which net prexy said "Be a man" during the summer Television Critics Assn. press tour about which prexy in regards to the firing of another prexy?) All I can say is, CBS' Nina Tassler and CW's Dawn Ostroff probably shouldn't wear anything they really love to the luncheon, set for Oct. 16 at the Bev Hilton Hotel...
The night before the HRTS soiree, a group of industry vets who remember a time when a panel of entertainment chiefs featured only three male execs, will gather at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences HQ in North Hollywood to celebrate the release of an industry memoir from Ralph Baruch, founder of Viacom. Event will include a "how-to" Q&A with Baruch, who telegraphs just how much he's seen in his many years in the biz with the title of his tome: "Television Tightrope: How I Escaped Hitler, Survived CBS and Fathered Viacom"...
And for further schooling in smallscreen history, head on over to the Fine Arts Theater in Bev Hills for a conversation among TV publicists who've been through the wars (and then some). The Entertainment Publicists Professional Society panel dubbed "Legends of Television Publicity" will include network and studio vets Cliff Dektar (who was always a gentleman and a friend to me during his days with the Lippin Group), Michael Casey, Doug Duitsman, Hank Reiger, Gene Walsh and Murray Weissman...
OK, this one's kind of a stretch in terms of a TV connection, but I've always loved Raymond Chandler and 
this event sounds like fun. (And come to think of it there was a "Philip Marlowe" gumshoe skein on ABC in 1959-60. Powers Boothe also played the tough-talking sleuth in a mid-1980s HBO series.) Hollywood Heritage cultural org is offering a three-hour guided tour of "Raymond Chandler's Hollywood on Oct. 20 and Oct. 21. (Think "The Big Sleep," "Murder, My Sweet," Dick Powell and Humphrey Bogart in really great suits.) Tour promises to take the curious to various homes, apartment buildings, streets, hotels and dives where Chandler (pictured right) and his lit alter ego Philip Marlowe hung out in the 1930s and '40s. Hard to tell where the line between fact and fiction is drawn here but it still sounds like good, clean, noir-y fun. For more info high-tail it to http://www.hollywoodheritage.org/.
Much has been said by the cognizati about the greatness of NBC's "Friday Night Lights," how it has managed to capture the simple majesty of everyday folks living through everyday trials and triumphs.
All the superlatives that have been hurled at the show during the past year are true, and justly earned. In primetime's sea of cops, docs, lawyers and supernaturals, "Friday Night Lights" is the bravest show on TV, and it trumped the odds against shows with anemic Nielsen numbers to secure a renewal for a second season, which begins Oct. 5 at 9 p.m. (Get plenty of vid clips and full episodes for streaming by clicking here.)
"Friday Night Lights" stood apart in its freshman year because its only storytelling fulcrum in the traditional sense (i.e. a built-in plot engine like the case of the week, disease of the week, etc.) a small-town high school football team's quest to reach the summit of the Texas state high school football championship. The Dillon Panthers' bid for "State" is greatly complicated after the team's star quarterback is injured paralyzed in the first game (and episode) of the season.
But to tag "FNL" as a "football show" is like saying John Ford's "Stagecoach" is about bandits and Indians running amok in the old West. The vast majority of "FNL" hinges on the writers' ability to find compelling stories within the stuff of life in a small Texas town. Like everything else about the show, even the town of Dillon was finely drawn as a vibrant, complex character -- neither dirt poor nor oil flush, neither a redneck wasteland nor an enlightened utopia.
Dillon has many classes, many races and many nuances that were slowly drawn out through the course of 22 segs last season in such a way that made it come alive to people who've never been anywhere near the Lone Star state.
For all that there is to gush about over "FNL" (The writing! The ensemble! The directing! The production touches!), what stands out most to me after two weeks of marathon viewing of the season one DVD set is how so much of the drama is rooted in a subject rarely tackled in such a significant way on the small screen: Parenting.
Pictured above: "Friday Night Lights" cast and producers Jason Katims and Jeffrey Reiner (first row far left) soaked up the kudos during the show's NBC's Television Critics Assn. press tour sesh in July.
NBC Universal's pre-Emmy party at Spago on Saturday night was as relaxed as a shoulder-to-shoulder schmoozefest can be. Place was hopping with NBC U execs, agents, scribes and helmers and stars of NBC U productions -- it seemed everywhere you looked there was a staffer from "The Office" or a savior from "Heroes" holding court.
"Heroes" trouper Hayden Panettiere looked particularly fetching in a white minidress that flattered her cheerleader-worthy figure. Alec Baldwin of "30 Rock" was surrounded by a hub of well-wishers and back-slappers. Kathy Griffin picked up compliments while in line in the ladies room for her win (unveiled at the Creative Arts ceremony) for Bravo's "My Life on the D-List"; there was some discussion of whether her show's title needed to be adjusted in light of her victory. And there was much chatter throughout the night at Spago of the goings-on the previous night at the private affair thrown by new NBC U co-chairman Ben Silverman and impresario Brent Bolthouse. (Among the more talked-about elements of the affair at a rented 10,000-square-foot mansion in the Hollywood Hills: the caged tiger that greeted guests, the number of bikinis running around, and of course, Paris Hilton).
NBC U graciously pushed back the start time of its Spago party to 8:30 p.m. to accommodate the dance cards of those who also attended Saturday's "Evening Before" benefit in Century City for the Motion Picture Television Fund home, co-sponsored by Variety. Among those who took in both parties on Saturday were "Top Chef" star Tom Colicchio, whose new Century City restaurant Craft pitched in with "Evening Before."
(Sorry, no pics posted yet of the NBC U party. Above shot of Kathy Griffin at the Sept. 8 Creative Arts ceremony by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage.com.)
For anyone who wants to test-drive the experience of being a television writer, Matt Selman has an easy solution.
Get a group of your most sarcastic friends together in a room, preferably windowless, and try to make each other laugh by outdoing one another with a steady stream of the most offensive, sophomoric and vulgar set of jokes and set-ups that you can possibly imagine -- things that could never air on TV, not even pay cable. Add in lots of takeout food and soft drinks and repeat for a few weeks on end. If your heart soars and body tingles every time you make the room snicker, you just might be cut out to be a television writer.
At least that's the quick-and-easy career counseling that Selman (pictured right), an Emmy-winning scribe for "The Simpsons" and co-writer of "The Simpsons Movie," offered Tuesday night during the "Sublime Primetime" dish sesh with a clutch of Emmy-nommed scribes, hosted by the WGA West and Variety at the Writers Guild Theater in BevHills.
"Don't wait for the industry to give you money," Selman instructed. "Take any opportunity to (try writing). The joy of writing is just as fun to do ... if you're on the worst show on television or the best show...Find a group of friends and make each other laugh. Riff off each other. Go on super-offensive runs about degrading subjects."
Continue reading "Emmys: Cheap advice from nommed scribes" »
Not much of an upset Saturday night during the first leg of the Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony as HBO's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" maintained its trophy market share with a total of five wins, followed by Discovery Channel's "Planet Earth" (wha?) and NBC's "Tony Bennett: An American Classic" with four apiece. (For a proper report on who-won-what, click here for the report from Variety's Jeff Sneider, who sacrificed his Saturday night so that you and I wouldn't have to.)
Contrary to conventional wisdom the Creative Arts ceremony isn't all craft and tech honors (though let it be said here that the below-the-line folks are not only H'wood's salt of the earth but its true artisans). NBC nearly swept the guest-star awards categories, which can be a handy career reviver for the right actor at the right moment if the sun and the moon and the stars align...
Elaine Stritch (pictured left) bagged the guest actress in a comedy trophy for her 
turns in "30 Rock." Leslie Caron (pictured right) took the drama trophy for her one-shot on "Law & Order: SVU." John Goodman's visits to "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" were recognized for guest actor in a drama, while Stanley Tucci (pictured above) got the nod on the comedy side for having fun with the great Tony Shalhoub on "Monk." (So if you count USA Network as one of "the networks of NBC Universal," as the Peacock likes to put it, NBC U did sweep the category. That bit of bragging rights and a dollar will buy you a cup of coffee at Musso & Franks...)
(Pics of Stritch and Caron on Creative Arts Emmy red carpet by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage)
Continue reading "Emmys: Losers can (kinda) feel like winners" »
POSTED BY MICHAEL SCHNEIDER
News Corp. and NBC Universal on Wednesday unveiled the official name to their new online video joint venture: Hulu. Hulu?
Apparently the branding companies that specialize in company names are simply picking up a Hawaiian language dictionary these days. (How do I get a piece of that action, by the way? For a few hundred grand, I give any of you permission to swipe a name off the list of songs we've played on Hawaiian Eye.)
After all, Wikipedia comes from the Hawaiian phrase "wiki wiki," or "fast." The search engine Mahalo takes its name after the word for "thank you." Internet tech company Akamai means "smart" in Hawaiian. The list goes on.
Now, there's "hulu," which means "feather, quill, plumage" in Hawaiian, according to the "Hawaiian Dictionary" by Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert (above). The secondary definition is actually rather nice: "esteemed, choice, precious."
Of course, I have no idea whether the folks behind Hulu -- until now only known as "NewCo" -- were thinking Hawaiian. (It was the first thing that came to my mind -- several hula halaus around the globe have the word "Hulu" in their name.) On the site, CEO Jason Kilar explained his choice this way:
Hulu is short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and rhymes with itself. Subjectively, Hulu strikes us as an inherently fun name, one that captures the spirit of the service we're building. Our hope is that Hulu will embody our (admittedly ambitious) never-ending mission, which is to help you find and enjoy the world's premier content when, where and how you want it.
Now, Hulu ever expands overseas, it may run into some unfortunate translation problems, particularly in Indonesia -- according to this list found at Websters Online Dictionary: (Lots more after the jump)
