Today's Page Six takes a stand against the creeping commercialization of public spaces in New York while chastising a news organization for unseemly gloating. Under the hed "Desperate Sign," the Sixers report that:
Producer New Line, distributor MGM, and Peter Jackson are locked in an epic battle over who has control over The Hobbit after Jackson declares that he's not willing to talk about directing the film until New Line coughs up the Lord of the Rings profits they've allegedly screwed him out of, while New Line counter-threatens to press on without him, a move that would almost certainly result in global fanboy riots. [Variety]
At the International Emmys, "very concerned" parent Steven Spielberg warns that semen-splattered corpses on CSI and people being sliced in half on Heroes might not necessarily be the best things for children to watch. [THR]
Heroes puts up the best 18-49 demo ratings that NBC's seen all season, throwing a spotlight on the momentum-stopping performance of Studio 60's Very Special Episode on the evils of product placement. [Variety]
· Nearly three years later, the FCC and CBS are still fighting over Janet Jackson's nipple. Thanks a lot, Timberlake. [THR]
Anne Hathaway is "close" to signing on to play Agent 99 to Steve Carrell's Maxwell Smart in Get Smart adaptation for Warner Bros. [Variety]
While the headlines to this story blare O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It Happened publisher Judith Regan's declaration that she considers the hypothetical double-murder how-to manual that Fox is gleefully adapting into two hours of stab-happy, civilization-eroding TV programming to be "his confession," we're more interested in the anecdote about the network that turned down a chance to air the special:
It's that time again where we float a rumor currently making the rounds and ask you to do our work for us: Has the NBC axe fallen on some local "favorites"? A tipster writes:
A couple of readers lucky enough to be on a Staples distribution list have forwarded along this e-mail (pictured) that went out on Friday, proudly touting the company's MailMate™ shredder's upcoming appearance on this week's episode of The Office. It seems that NBC has learned something from their product placement misadventures of the recent past, figuring out that if they partnered with an advertiser ahead of time to spotlight the product's more appealing features instead of demonstrating the unintended, finger-mangling uses of its whirring blades, the network could generate hefty placement fees instead of costly lawsuits.
Comcast pulls the plug on its talks with Al Jazeera International, effectively putting an end to the network's hopes of getting U.S. distribution in time for the worldwide launch of their English-language channel on Wednesday. [Variety]
· Studio 60 ticks up slightly in the ratings, improving to 7.8 million upscale, affluent viewers from last week's count of 7.7 million, a gain that will have NBC considering whether or not to order another five seasons to reward the public's obvious recognition of their faith in the show. Meanwhile, showrunner Aaron Sorkin hopes that now the series is off its deathwatch, people will stop obsessing over the numbers and the fact that he's the person behind the aggressively unfunny in-show sketches that are driving his critics crazy. [THR, THR]
Virgin Comics will adapt its "The Sadhu" for film, with Nick Cage starring and Deepak Chopra writing the script. He's a screenwriter now? We must be really out of touch with the Hollywood ambitions of spiritual gurus these days. [Variety]
Executive tag-teams are the hottest trend in studio management. Read the touching story of how months of trust-falls and a renewed commitment to honest communication led Sony's Matt Tolmach and Doug Belgrad to finally embrace their roles as studio life-partners. [THR]
Chinese TV censors make vague, menacing threats to "severely punish" vulgar and immoral content, announcing that they intend to make "secret inquiries" to discover the broadcast of prohibited programming, an oppressive pilot censorship program expected to eventually be adopted by the FCC. [Variety]
As anyone who has ever worked on a sitcom can tell you, the writers room is not just the inner sanctum where a dozen scribes gather to brainstorm the theoretical contents of Courteney Cox's uterus or share their disdain for foreplay into the wee hours of the morning, it's also the place where metric tons of Red Vines, Balance bars, and production-supplied feasts from local restaurants are ritualistically devoured as part of the creative process. This weekend's NY Times Magazine comedy issue devoted a piece to gluttony in the Room, including this anecdote from a doomed spinoff that generated as many potential diabetes cases as episodes:
The studios are jamming 65 releases down audiences' throats between Nov. 17th and the New Year, hoping to establish favorable awards season position and reap quick profits from a barrage of holiday-themed movies. [Variety]
For those who think Neil Patrick Harris and T.R. Knight's coming out announcements were progress, the THR cautions to wait and see what happens when a Rock Hudson-type steps out of the closet, instead of Doogie and a guy who's "practically one of the girls on Grey's." [THR]
Fox is shy about using the word "canceled" to describe Justice, instead preferring the gentler "pulled from the schedule, never to be seen again, except for possibly on tiny TV sets on budget-fare Eastern European airlines." Meanwhile, ABC gives What About Brian a full season pick-up. [Variety]
Heads have finally started to roll for NBCUni's "Layoffs 2.0" initiative, with about 15 Dateline NBC staffers sacrificing their paychecks to the company's bottom line. [THR]
Two best friends go batshit insane when they pick the same wedding date, starring Kate Hudson. That's pretty much all you need to know. [Variety]
Good news both for genuine fans of Studio 60 and for those who derive their primary enjoyment from the series from their spirited Tuesday morning discussions about why Jesus running a network Standards & Practices department isn't actually funny: Despite our spies' forecast of an imminent mercy killing, NBC has officially picked up a full season's worth of episodes, giving Aaron Sorkin nine more episodes and many more millions of dollars to continue his bold exploration of the curiously serious side of sketch comedy. THR's Ray Richmond (who notes he called it two days ago) has the press release:
Yesterday, THR columnist Ray Richmond interviewed beleaguered showrunner Aaron Sorkin and gave Studio 60 fans hope that their favorite, serious-minded weekly examination of the culture-salvaging possibilities of late-night sketch comedy shows is on the verge of a season-completing back nine episode order, news contrary to earlier reports (like this one, we imagine) that the series is teetering on the precipice of primetime oblivion. Blogged Richmond:
A Hollywood conversation that has dominated much of this decade—regarding the sorry state of affairs for sitcom writers being edged out by more popular and cheaper-to-produce reality programming—continues with an LAT piece that revisits the familiar topic in light of NBC's recent towel-tossing concession of their 8 p.m. timeslot to an almost entirely briefcases-and-yelling-based programming schedule. The debate still falls mainly into two categories: the steadfastly optimistic camp that insists we are just in the midst of an extended audience taste cycle, and the somewhat more pragmatic, "OK, we're pretty much fucked" school of thought:
It's catnip. It's crack. It's the best, and I cannot wait.
Borat's popularity grows overseas, with the movie taking in $17.7 million over the weekend at the foreign box office, including $11.5 million at 426 British theaters. Despite the film's instant international success, Fox still has no plans to induce riots in Kazakhstan by showing the movie in Borat's much-maligned homeland. [Variety]
Desperate Housewives is Sunday's most-watched show, but a strong performance by NBC's Sunday Night Football may give the beleagured network the win for the night once the final ratings come in. In the event of a Nielsen victory, NBC will strongly consider shifting to a primetime schedule consisting of nothing but football games (high-level negotiations with the NFL for revolutionary Every Night Is Football Night In America broadcasts are ongoing) and Deal or No Deal. [THR]
Awards Season Art Film Platform Release Mania! The Queen, Volver, and Babel perform well over the weekend, rolling up gaudy per-theater averages at their strategically limited showings. [Variety]
The budget-slashing NBC gives midseason sitcom The Single's Table a no-confidence vote, cutting back its order from 13 to 6. [THR]
· CBS rescues the comedy pilot the The Papdits from development hell, consigning it to a slightly higher circle of its network Inferno, an online run on their Innertube broadband channel. [Variety]
If you've been counting the minutes until Chevy Chase returns to the limelight in this Friday's Law & Order episode by playing the not-entirely-fanciful role of a Hollywood actor whom, upon being stopped for drunk driving, delivers a virulently anti-Semitic diatribe to his arresting officers, we suggest you read no further: The LA Daily News' The Mayor of Television blog has seen the episode, and details the original SNL breakout star's virtual disappearance beneath the skin of a matzo-mistrusting conspiracy theorist:
Because Steven Soderbergh's Che Guevara biopic jones couldn't possibly be satisfied by directing just a single film, he's doing two, The Argentine and Guerilla, with Benicio del Toro as the title character whose image you've long admired on the T-shirt racks of Urban Outfitters. [Variety]
Friday Night Lights easily outperforms the "ratings troubled" Studio 60 during its (alleged) one-week tryout in Studio's Monday night timeslot (with an episode titled "GIT'ER DONE," no less—is there no end to Aaron Sorkin's pain?). Draw whatever dire conclusions you wish about the fate of 60 based on this result, but know that at least NBC's online schedulers are still optimistic about the series' prospects of returning next week. [THR]
Wondering where your hilarious collection of Daily Show and Colbert Report YouTube clips have disappeared to? Ask Viacom, the company that isn't particularly interested in your enthusiasm for sharing your favorite moments from its shows. [Variety]
· The National Labor Relations Board issues a complaint against the Writers Guild for telling TV writer-producers not to cooperate with NBC Universal TV Studios' demands to produce webisodes until the studio agrees to start paying residuals. The Guild insists it's done nothing wrong, while NBC Uni is pleased by the NLRB's initial support of their desire to squeeze free work from their writing staffs. [THR]
Lindsay Lohan gets another chance to impress a new crew and co-stars with her professionalism, joining Keira Knightley in The Best Time of Our Lives, the story of Dylan Thomas' relationship with his wacky, gun-and-grenade-wielding friends. [Variety]
We usually reserve our speculation about Studio 60's chances of being allowed to continue to trumpet the socially redeeming power of unrelentingly serious-minded sketch comedy shows until the disappointing Tuesday morning ratings numbers for NBC's little momentum-stopper come in, but Fox 411 gossip Roger Friedman's report that the network is ready to nail presumed Nielsen Messiah Aaron Sorkin to the crucifix of cancellation forces us to consider the sad possibility that we may have watched our last tortured interaction between Matt Albie and the woman he dumped for singing to Pat Robertson:
