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· The Sundance Festival loses some of its excitement due to the fact that many buyers are showing up having already seen screeners of most of the films in the comfort of their own homes, at what is unofficially being referred to as the Underpants Festival. [Variety]
· As the WSJ reported yesterday, talks between the purported Disney acquisition of Pixar are at a very sensitive stage, with Bob Iger and Steve Jobs courtship being observed more closely than two newly-introduced pandas at the San Diego Zoo. [Variety]
· The team behind Dodgeball sells Dreamworks a pitch for a Dr. Evil-envying $1 million. While the plot is being kept a secret, we have it on good authority that it relies heavily on Ben Stiller playing a pompous and/or put-upon guy who is constantly humiliated and/or has trouble keeping his rage bottled up. [Variety]
· Tooth gnashing, wild-eyed crusader for moral betterment Jack Valenti introduces a multimillion-dollar plan to educate Americans about the various ways to protect their children from Satan s tangy gumdrops, i.e. televised smut and violence. [Variety]
· Commander in Chief has been seeing a steady decline in its ratings since its debut, though producers are optimistic that people will show up for their ripped-from-the-headlines episode in which Geena Davis likens the Senate to Uncle Tom s Cabin. [THR]
· Showtime president Bob Greenblatt announces at the TCA winter press tour that there are ongoing negotiations for the premium network to pick up Arrested Development, but that no deal has been reached, further stretching out the series excruciatingly long death sequence, while bringing hope to millions of Arrested fans who, push comes to shove, won t shell out the bucks to subscribe to Showtime in the end, anyway. [THR]