nbc

Media Bubble: All in the Family

abalk2 · 12/13/06 09:50AM
  • The Chandler family, former owners of the Los Angeles Times, are unhappy with the way Tribune is selling itself off. [NYT]

'Heroes' Requisite Gay Best Friend Character Is Mysteriously Straightwashed

seth · 12/12/06 01:47PM

AfterElton.com explores the fascinating case of the character of Zach from NBC's hit drama, Heroes: The best friend and confidante to the series' pivotal cheerleader character Claire, Zach (actor Thomas Dekker) was conceived by the show's creators to be a gay teenager. And while Zach never once uttered the words "I'm gay," up until the "Homecoming" episode that aired Nov. 20, all signs still pointed to Queer. (The episode features the cheerleader punching out another girl who called Zach a "gay boy," and later features a scene in which Zach refuses to accompany Claire to the homecoming "for a million different reasons," then seguing into a maddeningly vague speech about embracing one's otherness.) AfterElton reports the official Heroes website even summarized the exchange by saying "Zach stammers with his reply, admitting that he's gay," words which then went mysteriously missing from the online recap. His MySpace page, meanwhile, lists his orientation as "Not Sure," and his favorite movies as a lavender laundry list of the usual suspects (Rocky Horror, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Velvet Goldmine, etc.). So why, then, with Dekker about to leave the show to star in a Terminator TV series, are NBC and the actor's reps now insisting the character was straight all along?

What Is Blog, Brian Williams?

Chris Mohney · 12/12/06 10:30AM

[Blogs] can't be a lesser standard than you would use for page 1 of The New York Times.

NBC Helps You Give The Gift Of Viral Marketing

mark · 12/08/06 06:44PM


A tipster just forwarded us an NBC Universal e-mail newsletter which included this preview of an exciting promotional feature they'll be rolling out on Sunday, giving their own staff a chance to be among the first to tap through a series of automated menus and send their loved ones a greeting from GE's Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Programming. Nothing says "I was bored at work during the holiday slowdown" like sending your mother a message in Alec Baldwin's voice saying, "You always struck me as a lesbian. And a lonely one at that. While everyone else is out making merry at Christmas parties you weren't invited to, why not gather up your six cats, spike some eggnog with cheap Scotch, and join your new best friends at 30 Rock, 9:30 pm Eastern Standard Time on NBC? See you then!"

Trade Round-Up: Screener Pirates Subdued; Hollywood Temporarily Safe From Financial Ruin

mark · 12/06/06 03:16PM

Two people have been arrested for stealing an Academy member's awards screeners and illegally posting them online. The DA has yet to file charges, but is expected to ultimately deny the MPAA's request that the pirates be summarily stabbed in the kidneys and left to bleed to death on the sidewalk in front of the Kodak Theatre. [Variety]
ABC shuffles its Wednesday schedule, sacrificing new comedies Knights of Prosperity and In Case of Emergency to the Nielsen gods by putting them up against the return of American Idol, hoping that better-loved hit Lost might be spared their wrath in its new 10 pm timeslot. [THR]
George Clooney's production company tries to help re-ignite Hollywood's stalled love affair with legal thriller typist John Grisham, buying the movie rights to produce the book The Innocent Man: Murder and Justice in a Small Town for Warner Independent. [Variety]
The IATSE/WGA feud over reality jobs heats up, as IATSE president Thomas Short accuses the WGA of "irresponsibility and incompetence" for delaying producer talks. Only nine more months left of bickering over accusations of Guild posturing and de facto studio work stoppages! Enjoy them while they last. [THR]
The week in ratings: NBC takes the weekly 18-49 demo victory, The CW posts its strongest numbers yet, ABC has the week's most watched show, CBS remains the overall most watched network, and Fox is just happy they're not being beaten by Telemundo. [Variety]

Trade Round-Up: WGA And Studios Bicker Over Who's The Louder Saber-Rattler

mark · 12/05/06 03:32PM

WGA West President Patric Verrone defends the organization's decision to delay contract renewal talks with studios, deflecting accusations of saber-rattling with counter-saber-rattling-accusations about the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers' threats to accelerate production and stockpile scripts if the Guild doesn't immediately do their bidding. [Variety]
America's Next Top Model moves closer to being completely unionized; unfortunately, it's not the union their recently fired writers were hoping for. [THR]
Patrick "McDreamy" Dempsey signs on to star in the romantic comedy Made of Honor, in what will be an ultimately futile attempt to recapture the big-screen stardom he achieved as Loverboy's gigolo pizza delivery guy. [Variety]
· July 2006 Disney shitcanee Nina Jacobson signs a three-year producing deal with DreamWorks, who promise never to fire her while she's in a hospital delivery room, witnessing the miracle of life. [THR]
It's the usual Monday night Nielsen drill for NBC: viewers tune in for people shouting at briefcases, stick around to watch indestructible cheerleaders, then flip to another channel before 10 pm momentum stopper Studio 60 has a chance to capture their hearts with a monologue about the absurdity of FCC fines. [Variety]

Trade Round-Up: G.E. Rewards '30 Rock' For Boost In Trivection Oven Sales

mark · 12/01/06 03:00PM

NBC demonstrates its ongoing commitment to struggling, behind-the-scenes- at-sketch-comedy-show programming, picking up 30 Rock for a full season after last night's ratings spike. [Variety]
The Office's John Krasinski join George Clooney in the romantic comedy Leatherheads, in which the two stars try to convince audiences that Renee Zellweger is sexually desirable enough to fight over. [THR]
Columbia and Scott Rudin acquire the screen rights to a still-unpublished "new take" on Cleopatra by biographer Stacy Schiff and producer Scott Rudin. Even though the book centers on Cleopatra as a "a firm ruler and military tactician" rather than as a sexbomb seductress, we wouldn't be surprised if the studio quickly determines that Angelina Jolie is "firm rulerish and tactician-y enough" to send out a big offer. [Variety]
Grey's Anatomy leads ABC to a Thursday night ratings win against the token resistance of CBS's CSI rerun. In other news, no one is watching The OC anymore. [THR]
· The Producers Guild will give Jerry Bruckheimer their Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television, celebrating the superproducer's unparalleled ability to land procedural after procedural on CBS's primetime schedule. [Variety]

Jay Leno Suing Author For Reprinting Bad Jokes Written Expressly For Him

seth · 11/30/06 07:37PM

Preternaturally unfunny talk show host Jay Leno and keeper of the sing-songy one-liner, Rita Rudner, have both filed a lawsuit against an author who has reprinted hundreds of the performers' jokes—many of which were quite possibly written by the comedians themselves!—in a series of joke compendiums currently designated as required reading for scores of "Death of Humor" college seminars across the country:

'SNL' Rehearsals Webcast To Give Rare Insights Into Whatever Made Them Think That Sketch Was Good Enough To Air

seth · 11/30/06 02:11PM

For those of you for whom high hopes for Studio 60 were dashed by entire episodes revolving around the use of Final Draft format settings as a legitimate dramatic device, and who are hesitant to get too attached to 30 Rock, lest series asset Tracey Morgan should suddenly disappear for what characters will refer to as an "8 to 10 month sabbatical to shoot a direct-to-video remake of The Toy," there is now hope in the form of yet another "behind the scenes at an SNL-type sketch comedy show" project at NBC, set literally behind the scenes at SNL:

Irresponsible Rumormongering: Jeff Zucker Not Universally Admired?

abalk2 · 11/30/06 01:40PM

This nasty little nugget dropped into the tip line. As always, we cannot assure its veracity (any item that refers to Bob Wright as "beloved" is immediately suspect in our eyes), but, you know, too good not to share. [We've provided context where appropriate]:

Bravo's Andy Cohen Throws His Yarmulke Into The Hollywood Race War Ring

seth · 11/29/06 04:16PM

All that talk earlier about NBC Universal cable chief and Bravo Queerifier Jeff Gaspin's possible ascendancy to the top of the NBC TV food chain—where his first order of business will be changing the Nightly News theme to "All Things (Just Keep Getting Better)" whilst ensuring Brian Williams' blazer sleeves are always properly zhuzhed—has turned our minds to one of the trusty officers in Gaspin's Army of Gay, Bravo executive Andy Cohen. A visit to Cohen's BravoTV.com blog sees Cohen hurling some grave accusations at anyone who dares criticize the sexy wardrobe choices of Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi:

Burbank Police Use Hot Tip From TV Guide Channel To Ambush Snoop Dogg After 'Tonight Show' Appearance

seth · 11/29/06 01:35PM

Rapper Snoop Dogg's ongoing research-gathering mission into the inner workings of the LA criminal justice system returns to the scene of the crime (the Oct. 26 crime, to be exact, when he was arrested for possession of guns and weed at the Burbank airport, not to be confused with his Sept. 27 arrest at the Santa Ana airport for carrying a "deadly weapon"), when officers descended on the rapper as he left the NBC studios parking lot after an appearance on The Tonight Show:

NBC's Jeff Zucker Sharpens Blade, Starts Thinking About A Trip To Burbank

mark · 11/29/06 11:27AM

Lately, when we see the words "restructuring," "reorganization," and "NBC Universal Television Group president Jeff Zucker" in close proximity in the same story, we brace ourselves for a lowball estimate of how many employees are going to be run head-first through a giant Staples MailMate shredder in the name of corporate streamlining. But instead of raising the spectre of layoffs, today's LAT article on possible changes at NBC 2.0's Burbank division discusses a scenario in which Zucker would "catapult" trusty cable TV lieutenant Jeff Gaspin, a man credited with the profitable queerification of Bravo, over current Aaron Sorkin-enabling entertainment president Kevin Reilly. Such a move would seem to raise the possibility that NBC might use that same trebuchet to launch Reilly over the Hollywood Hills, as adding a layer of supervision above an embattled executive is never exactly a vote of confidence. Reports the LAT:

Trade Round-Up: Spirit Awards Recognize Ryan Gosling's Fine, Crack-Related Work

mark · 11/28/06 03:37PM

Nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards, the annual celebration of films largely released by the somewhat less corporate-seeming arms of huge multimedia conglomerates, have been announced, with Little Miss Sunshine and Half Nelson both receiving five nods. [Variety]
Anna Faris will take a break from being bopped in the head in Scary Movie sequels by starring in the "farcical sci-fi comedy" Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel. [THR]
Heroes and Deal or No Deal win the 18-49 demographic for NBC Monday night, while Studio 60's uplifting episode about how tragic murder-suicides can interfere with the production of a live sketch comedy show (which anonymous internet poster Dilbert27 called "a heavy-handed treatment of already ill-chosen subject matter") fails to draw the expected droves of new viewers to the series. [Variety]
The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers lead negotiator is "shocked and dismayed" that the WGA refuses to surrender their strike leverage by entering negotiations on the studios' timetable. [THR]
The Hollywood Foreign Press puts Apocalypto and Letters From Iwo Jima on the Golden Globes shortlist for Best Foreign Language film, even though neither is eligible for an Oscar in that category. Oh, conflicting awards show rules, why must you be so confusing? [Variety]

NBC Declares Civil War

Chris Mohney · 11/28/06 08:30AM

As of yesterday, NBC has decided to start referring to the conflict in Iraq as a "civil war." The decision was reached after much internal/external consultation, and its announcement has been attended with much ceremonial chin-wagging. Other news organizations were quick to note that they, too, have used the phrase, though usually in the predictive sense, or with the escape-clause question mark — i.e., "Iraq: Civil War?". Nevertheless, this Cronkitean declaration by an American news organization will no doubt give the Shiites and Sunnis of Iraq pause for reflection as they kill each other. "Civil war? When did it come to this? Oh right, a couple years ago actually. Carry on."

Trade Round-Up: Pope Skips Out On Vatican 'Nativity' Premiere

mark · 11/27/06 03:29PM

In case the raw number of $66.2 million that Casino Royale took in at the international box office isn't enough to impress you, that amount was more than double the combined totals of its four closest competitors. We're cowed by the drawing power of Blonde Bond, at least when he's not having his spy-junk stomped by dancing penguins. [Variety]
Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith set up two TV comedy projects, one at The CW about single moms "making lunch and making love" within the same apartment complex, and one at ABC about what happens when a pair of mothers-in-law move in with "an upper-class black man from a conservative family and his Jewish wife from a liberal lower-middle-class family" who are trying to raise twins (what, no talking dog?), a project apparently created when an overly ambitious writer set her Random Sitcom Premise Generator to its highest wackiness setting. [THR]
· New Line's The Nativity Story premiered Sunday at the Vatican without the Pope in attendance, with rumors that he opted out of the event because the movie's unwed, pregnant, teenage star did not conceive through appropriately immaculate means. [Variety]
Carson Daly is supplementing his TV hosting duties with a producing career in online content, hoping to realize his longtime dream of becoming the "Ryan Seacrest of the Internet." [THR]
Fox, CBS, and NBC continue to fight FCC over new indecency regulations, while ABC and The CW haven't yet been fined enough to join the fray. [Variety]

Trade Round-Up: Altman Remembered, Coherently

mark · 11/22/06 02:34PM

The trades eulogize "iconoclastic, prolific, periodically brilliant director" Robert Altman, "one of cinema's great democratic spirits." [Variety, THR]
NBC is developing a TV version of Thank You For Smoking, in which the movie's former tobacco apologist's new PR firm will take on seemingly impossible image rehabilitation tasks, like trying to convince people that Lindsay Lohan is a hard-working, responsible adult committed to shutting out distractions and fully dedicating herself to her craft. [Variety]
NBC orders three more scripts from 30 Rock, momentarily showing support for the far better of their two low-rated, behind-the-scenes-at-a-sketch-comedy-show series. [THR]
Fox Atomic shuts down production on its update of Revenge of the Nerds, sparing us from a needless remake of a perfectly good nerdsploitation flick. [Variety]
Fox joins CBS in challenging the FCC, claiming that new rules that find "certain words so vile they are automatically actionable" will kill live broadcasting by hampering celebrities' ability to spontaneously say "shit" or "fuck" during awards shows. [THR]