Trade Round-Up: Brad Grey To Paramount, Yada Yada
· As we all know by now, Brad Grey is confirmed as head of Paramount, etc etc. [THR, Variety, sub. req'd.]
· John Travolta will play a homicide detective in the feature Lonely Hearts. We hope he's the kind of cop who breaks all the rules, we can't get enough of those! James Gandolfini will sully himself alongside the bloated, scenery-chewing Scientologist. [Variety]
· HBO, bored of their procession of single-camera comedy hits, gives a pick up to its first multi-camera sitcom, a family show written by and starring Louis C.K. Oh, the hubris that makes HBO think they can make the laugh track bearable... [THR]
· MTV picks up 3 more seasons of The Real World, ensuring that Los Angeles will have a nearly inexhaustible supply of bartenders and servers that patrons kind of recognize from the TV. [Variety]
· OutKast's Andre 3000 will star as Mark Wahlberg's brother in Paramount's dead-mother-avenging feature previously known as Four Brothers. If you had any questions as to why Paramount had to clean house, please re-read the first sentence. [THR]
· Once-proud, one-man lawyer drama factory David E. Kelley slowly descends the network ladder, exec producing the pilot Halley's Comet for the WB. [THR]
· Breaking: Directors Guild nominates Clint Eastwood, Marc Forster, Taylor Hackford, Alexander Payne, and Martin Scorsese for its awards. [Variety]