What Will Conan O'Brien Do?
Now that Leno's move back to 11:30 is official, all eyes are Conan: Will he suck it up and helm the "Tonight Show" at midnight or make the move to another network? Variety says he is 'not happy'. Duh.
It looks like Fox is Conan's most likely Plan B: Fox has been openly hinting that they'd be happy to have Conan, and in 2004 the network wooed the Cone Zone with a salary that was "as much as three times" what he was making as host of "Late Night," according to Variety. The five-year "Tonight Show" handover plan was the carrot NBC used to keep O'Brien from jumping ship. (Now it looks like the carrot was in fact a carrot-shaped pile of bullshit.) Cable networks (FX?) could be another option which would give Conan more freedom but also a smaller audience. We've said it before and we'll say it again: Poor Conan! [Variety]
•NBC is wasting no time filling Leno's now-empty time-slot. The network has picked up six new pilots, including: Hank Steinberg's remake of the British drama "Prime Suspect"; Jerry Bruckheimer's action procedural "Chase"; and "Sex and the City" producer Cindy Chupack's romatic comedy "Love Bites." This is addition to J.J. Abram's spy drama "Undercovers." Scripted dramas in prime-time? How experimental! [THR]
•Michael Cera is famous for playing near-identical awkward teenage characters in very successful films. But "Youth in Revolt," in which Cera plays both an awkward and a 'cool' character did not do too well on its opening weekend, grossing just $7 million. [LAT]
•Blake Lively, action hero. The 'Gossip Girl' star has been cast as Carol Ferris (AKA "Star Sapphire") the female lead in "Green Lantern"—an upcoming blockbuster based on the Marvel comic of the same name. Comicbook websites are already in gripe mode: According to comic book writer Valerie D'Orazio: "I'll be honest, I saw more a brunette like Anne Hathaway, or perhaps even Jennifer Connelly playing the role." [NYT]
•More comicbook casting news: Bald man on campus John Malkovich has replaced John C. Reilly in "Red," the Summit Entertainment espionage thriller based on the DC comicbook. [Variety]
•And the comicbook casting shakeups keep on coming: Stuart Townsend ("Queen of the Damned," "Charlize Theron's Boyfriend,") is being replaced by Joshua Dallas in Marvel Comics' film adaptation of 'Thor' because of "creative differences." Rumor has it he didn't appreciate his character's name being changed from "Fandral" to "Theronschtupper" [THR]
•Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood is going bi-coastal: According to a press release, "20-year Variety superstar" Mike Fleming has signed on to be the editor of Deadline New York. Hey Mike: We should grab a drink and you can sell us some pictures of your reclusive boss. [Deadline]
•"America's Got Talent" but its new judge does not. Howie Mandel will replace David Hasselhoff as a judge on 'AGT'. [TheWrap]