Monday, August 29, 2011

Jon Cryer on New Two and a Half Men: Yes, Sheen Dies, No, Charlie Harper Won't Be Forgotten

Jon Cryer Just because Charlie Sheen's character is being killed off Two and a Half Men, that doesn't mean Charlie Harper will suddenly be forgotten, Jon Cryer tells Entertainment Weekly. CBS boss looks to the future with Ashton Kutcher and Ted Danson In August, reports came out that CBS was planning to kill off Sheen's character, which would effectively preclude him from ever returning to the series. Sheen was fired in March by production studio Warner Bros. TV after months of growing tension between Sheen and executive producer Chuck Lorre. Ashton Kutcher was brought onboard the hit show in May. True to the show's tone, Cryer says Charlie Harper's death and funeral won't be a sobfest. "This show has never had an ounce of sentimentality; it's not what we do," Cryer says. "This is [handled] with that same lack of sentimentality. Any concerns I had about it were completely washed away by the studio audience we had - which signed nondisclosure agreements - and had a terrific reaction to it." Report: Ashton Kutcher's first Two and a Half Men episode features Charlie Harper's funeral Still, memories of Harper will linger. "The history of the show does not go away at all," Cryer says. "It will be dealt with all through the first season. It's not, "Oh, that character's gone, let's forget completely about him." There will be ramifications all through the season. We're not taking this into a new universe where the first show didn't exist." Now that Sheen is off the Men series, Cryer says it feels like they're starting fresh. "It's such a strange combination of the same show and a completely new show," he says. "All of us on the set keep referring to the first episode back as the 'pilot' by mistake." Jon Cryer: Charlie Sheen's Two and a Half Men death is "funny" Kutcher's character, a broken-hearted Internet billionaire named Walden Schmidt, will be introduced in the two-part season premiere. "Working with Ashton is a blast. Audiences have been going nuts for him," Cryer says, noting there will be a big change in the dynamic between their characters compared to what we've seen in the past with Alan and Charlie. "I can only say my character ends up being the more romantically experienced one of the two of them," he adds. "So Alan becomes sort of a mentor character to Ashton's character. And as bad as an idea as that sounds, it's just as bad on the show - I'm a terrible mentor. And that's where a lot of the fun of the show comes from." Elsewhere on TV, Sheen isn't being forgotten, either. On the same night of the Men premiere, Monday, Sept. 19 at 9/8c, Sheen will be roasted over on Comedy Central by the likes of TMZ's Harvey Levin, Jackass' Steve-O and boxer Mike Tyson. How do you feel about the idea of Cryer's Alan giving Kutcher's Walden relationship tips? Will you miss Charlie Sheen?

Transformers 3 Full Movie

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Duo build 'Brickhouse' for CBS

WadlowColumbusExclusive: Author-director Shaun Wadlow has teamed with helmer Chris Columbus to build up the offbeat detective drama "Brickhouse" for CBS and CBS TV Galleries.Project involves a nineteen forties-era detective named Frank Brickhouse who creates homicide cases in contemporary Bay Area. Wadlow is writing the pilot script and professional produces with Columbus, who'll direct if "Brickhouse" would go to pilot.The procedural focuses on an old S.F. officer who thinks he's a nineteen forties detective a la Mike Spade or Philip Marlowe. After he's launched from the mental institution in to the custody of the children of his more youthful brother, additionally a homicide detective, his Brickhouse alter ego starts nosing around on his brother's murder cases.Wadlow brainstormed the idea and was rapidly combined with Columbus, who inked a hefty cope with CBS last spring that requires him to build up and direct a minumum of one pilot for that Eye within the coming development season.Additionally towards the CBS project, Wadlow is fielding an hourlong action-comedy for Fox, Warner Bros. TV and McG's Wonderland Seem and Vision banner. That project, tentatively entitled "Cockfight," is really a spy versus. spy buddy vehicle turning about 2 male roommates who work with rival espionage orgs (Daily Variety, August. 10).CBS continues to be at the top of Wadlow's potential like a series creator within the last couple of years. Dealing with producer Joel Silver, he fielded the Minnie Driver pilot "Hail Mary," that was a powerful contender for any drama slot captured, as well as in 2010 he shipped another CBS drama pilot, "The Chances.InchFollowing making some noise with 2002 video clip "The Tower of Babble," Wadlow got his begin in the biz like a feature helmer of these photos as 2005's "Cry Wolf" and 2008's "Never Down Again." Once he switched his focus on television, he teamed with Joel Silver, who championed Wadlow's pitches for "Odds" and "Hail Mary" despite his insufficient prior experience like a TV scribe.Even while Wadlow juggles two projects for pilot season, he's also aboard to direct an element for Silver's Dark Castle banner, the plane thriller "Non-Stop."Wadlow and Columbus are repped by WME. Wadlow's also repped by attorney David Matlof of Hirsch Wallerstein. Contact Cynthia Littleton at cynthia.littleton@variety.com

Saturday, August 27, 2011

When crix are critical

'The Hedgehog,' about a girl who bonds with her buildings concierge, deserves some critical love.Perhaps you've heard: There's an appealing new movie in theaters now, based on a best-selling novel in which a precocious white girl, working against the objections of her parents and neighbors, befriends a beaten-down servant lady and helps to unlock her literary tendencies. No, it's not "The Help," but a delightful arthouse release called "The Hedgehog." As luck would have it, both "The Help" and "The Hedgehog" fall into that rare category of movie you could recommend to just about anyone -- your mom, your priest, the hipster behind the register at the local Whole Foods market. But as potential crowdpleasers go, "The Hedgehog" has a major handicap working against it -- it's French -- and the conventional thinking goes that foreign pics depend on critical raves to find their audience in this country. Intelligent but not necessarily intellectual, solid but not terribly sophisticated, the pic was a success when it opened in its native France in July 2009, and has delighted moviegoers nearly everywhere it's traveled, winning audience prizes at multiple fests, including Seattle, Palm Springs, and the City of Lights City of Angels in Los Angeles. Released Aug. 19 on just six screens, the film has already earned more than $60,000. Still, "The Hedgehog" is not exactly what you would call a critic's film -- which might explain why it took two years to reach U.S. shores, eventually landing with NeoClassics. With pics like these, distribs want to know in advance that they'll get raves from Manohla Dargis, Kenneth Turan or other key tastemakers, since that means they won't have to spend a fortune on advertising to open the film. "Critics always help a foreign-language film," says Sony Pictures Classics co-chief Michael Barker. "I think the people who go to foreign films are readers: They read subtitles, so they read critics." "The Help," by contrast, doesn't need critics any more than "Harry Potter" does. Between the starry cast, well-loved source material and not-insubstantial marketing budget, audiences will see it, be touched and tell their friends. But when it comes to something like "The Hedgehog" -- a film with the broad appeal of another "Amelie" -- cash-strapped specialty distribs don't have the resources to buy that first wave of support. "That's why a lot of people wait for films to show in fests, because then they get confirmation of what the critics are going to say," Barker says. Notes Ryan Werner, senior VP of marketing for Sundance Selects and IFC Films, "Part of my job at festivals is to really pay attention to the critical response to a film. Like this year at Cannes, the Dardennes' film ("The Kid With a Bike") was really tracking well." That cinched IFC's decision to snap it up. Of course, critics are just one factor distribs consider. Foreign-made genre films typically manage to find their audience: From "Kill List" to "The Troll Hunter," IFC and Magnet routinely acquire such titles. Some auteurs, like Pedro Almodovar, have a built-in audience. The same goes for stars, such as Catherine Deneuve, whose "Potiche" broke out this year. According to Barker, identifying a demographic sure to embrace the film also helps: SPC pushed Trappist monk drama "Of Gods and Men" to $4 million by reaching out to Christian groups. But the cheapest strategy remains free press, whether via positive reviews or publicity generated by director interviews and other opportunities. As a result, Americans' diet of foreign-language cinema tends toward the critically acclaimed. That should be a good thing, but isn't, necessarily. Critics (especially those who haunt the fest circuit) are radically different from the average moviegoer when it comes to taste. They see hundreds of movies a year and quickly burn out on the kind of comfort food most audiences crave. Instead, they seek out and champion increasingly edgy, innovative work at the expense of familiar and classically crafted fare -- like "The Hedgehog." As if to address this disconnect, Stephen Farber wrote a recent column in the Los Angeles Times imploring his fellow critics to lower their brows. "It is distressing to see intelligent critics trampling on so many good movies," he chided, suggesting that his fellow pundits embrace the "earnest, simplistic and sentimental" pleasures of the middlebrow movie. Farber has a point, but he mistakenly reduces the critic to consumer guide, overlooking the more important role as esthetic and cultural judge. Frankly, we should be relieved that critics hold films to a higher standard than the casual moviegoer. But we should also be mindful of the biases and limitations of their taste. For example, a film like "Dogtooth" impresses critics with its audacity, but isn't the kind of Friday-night-out experience you would wish on just anybody. The Oscar-nominated drama is actively antagonistic toward its audience and responsible for nearly as many walk-outs as satisfied customers. Likewise, Cannes Palme d'Or winner "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" scored an 87 on Metacritic. Such positive reviews provide the kind of support Strand needed to release the challenging Thai pic, but left many of those who bought tickets unsatisfied. Meanwhile, countless foreign-language gems lack the effusive critical praise they need to pique audience interest; in turn, distribs won't bite. Unlike Farber, I don't see this as the critics' problem. I can't think of a single person who wouldn't appreciate my favorite film of 2011 -- low-budget Chilean romancer "The Life of Fish," a tender, perfectly observed look at 21st-century coupling starring "Heroes" heartthrob Isaac Mendez -- but it's not my job to overhype it. Nor should critics be scolded for being hard on "The Hedgehog." Ultimately, it's up to a keen distributor to figure out how to communicate a film's broadly appealing qualities on the thinnest of marketing budgets. Every time one of these titles breaks through -- be it "Amelie" or "Pan's Labyrinth" -- the discovery convinces people to expand their cinematic horizons. Contact Peter Debruge at peter.debruge@variety.com

Japan's bored auds switch off Televisions

Not really TV stalwarts like 'Mito komon,' about the air since 1969, have handled to flee the rankings slump. MBS is tugging the show in December. Tokyo, japan-- Japan, once probably the most TV-addicted people in the world, are moving from the tube -- forcing systems to scramble for other causes of revenue, from pic production, satellite services, Internet streaming sites along with other technology.Every day TV viewing time, which averaged a lot more than five hrs within the seventies, shrank to three hrs and 28 minutes by 2010, based on figures put together through the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute.Males aged 10-20 are watching under two hrs each day.At the same time, program rankings happen to be trending downward for terrestrial systems, pubcaster NHK and commercial rivals TV Asahi, NTV, The best spinner's, Fuji TV and TV Tokyo, japan, despite spikes for major sport occasions along with other special programming.In June not just one show on commercial TV within the 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. "Golden Time" slot won a rating of 10 or over -- considered once the minimum for survival.Even lengthy-running implies that once appeared immortal have either been axed or take presctiption the edge. One which lately got the heave-ho after 43 seasons is period drama "Mito komon," which bowed in 1969. At its peak, the show's rankings arrived at up to 43.7, but lately it's battled to attain double numbers. Its last episode will air in December on MBS, a joint venture partner of The best spinner's.Various causes happen to be advanced for that rankings slide. Like other nations, Japanese families no more sit round the TV watching exactly the same show, as audiences did within the industry's 1960-to-the nineteen nineties heyday. Japan now consume entertainment on a variety of platforms, including Computers, mobile phones and video games.Also, an believed 100,000 homes, including lots of seniors "Mito komon" fans, unsuccessful to create the switch from analog to digital in This summer, and also have effectively quit TV entirely.However the greatest cause, states Hiro Otaka, a media analyst for that Bunka Tsushin entertainment news services, is the fact that "the programs have grown to be boring."Otaka places blame network executives who've taken care of immediately falling rankings by cutting costs and securing their bets."They do not put just as much money or creativeness in to the shows because they accustomed to, so program content has rejected," he states. "You've lots of these inexpensively made variety shows with comics, it's difficult to differentiate between them. Audiences have just become tired of the identical factor over and over."Simultaneously, well-compensated network executives have become "salarymen," Otaka states, utilizing a Japanese-British term which has an adverse connotation of conformist timeclock-puncher. Innovation could range from burgeoning satellite sector. Using wavelengths freed up through the finish from the analog broadcasts in This summer, the amount of broadcast satellite channels is skedded to develop from 12 to 31 by March.Otaka, however, is skeptical that Japanese versions of high-quality shows like "The Wire" will leave such strands."They not have the money to begin with -- Japan is really a small market in comparison towards the U.S. Also, just the terrestrial systems have true countrywide achieve. The satellite channels and native stations can't compete."Imported shows really are a potential supply of stimulus, but you will find couple of on skeds. Fuji TV broadcasts "Mad Males" at 2:30 a.m., while TV Tokyo, japan airs "24 Hrs."Fuji TV has attracted flack for programming a lot of Korean dramas -- area of the so-known as "Korean Wave" (in Japanese, hanryu) of popular culture that's been sweeping the nation previously couple of years.An believed 6,000-10,000 demonstrators protested against Korean content outdoors Fuji's headquarters August. 21. "Fuji is overdoing it," states Otaka. "It must become more selective about the standard from the Korean shows it programs. At this time, it's airing a lot of because they are cheap -- but that only adds towards the volitile manner." Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Friday, August 26, 2011

The $11 Question: How The Worst Movie EVER! Scored the Worst Opening Ever

The little movie that couldn’t has become the little movie that still probably won’t but will have fun trying: Since Tuesday, when we brought you the story of The Worst Movie EVER! and its unprecedented $11 opening weekend, a groundswell of lookie-loos from around the world have made the trailer a mini-hit on YouTube and initiated something of a cult following on Facebook. It still has a ways to go before reaching The Room levels of notoriety, but for now, anyway, it can still claim one critical distinction: Nobody has any idea who its one ticket-buying viewer is. Movieline finally heard from filmmaker-actor Glenn Berggoetz a few days ago as WME! and its box-office futility began stirring interest around the Web. In a nutshell, he insisted not only that the $11 midnight gross from last Saturday (and the $0 gross from Friday) was not a publicity stunt, but also that his efforts to turn up the identity of his lone theatrical patron has yielded no success to date. The Denver-based schlock impresario added that the last 48 hours have turned up a few Facebook sources claiming to have attended the screening at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in Los Angeles, but he hasn’t been able to confirm any of them as Viewer Zero. Nor has Greg Laemmle’s team at the Sunset 5. “We’re anxious to find out as well,” Laemmle told me today. “We need proof. Glenn said he’s already had a few people claim that they were the ones. I think we need a ticket stub here. We’re going to poll the staff to see if it’s maybe someone they recognize, someone who comes to see everything we play. Who knows?” Even more baffling perhaps: How did this even happen? “There were a number of factors — and I’m not going to comment on the aesthetic qualities of the film,” Laemmle said, laughing. “There was some miscommunication, there were some delays in confirming stuff. I was rushing off to a vacation and sort of said, ‘Oh, by the way, we can go ahead if you want to.’ Glenn, I guess, was anxious to do it and said yes. But clearly, because we hadn’t necessarily confirmed the date in an appropriate fashion, he hadn’t done the work promoting the screening that he thought he could have should have done. These things happen. “Is it one of the worst showings we’ve ever had? Yeah, probably.” According to both Berggoetz and Laemmle, they had begun speaking as early as this past May about programming WME! this summer. The idea was to prime its debut by screening the now infamous trailer in front of the Sunset 5’s monthly midnight screenings of The Room. But Berggeotz said that on Aug. 14, he got word that Laemmle was ready to go ahead with an Aug. 19-20 engagement. The theater’s idea, he explained, was to test WME!’s potential as another midnight institution, with an eye on giving the last two weekends of each month to Berggoetz’s film and The Room, respectively. “I had few apprehensions,” Laemmle said, “if only because we were screening a few other midnight screenings that weekend, and I figured, ‘What’s really the loss to Laemmle in putting one more film into the theater that weekend?’ That’s why we targeted that date from the very beginning. We knew that we would be open for midnights anyway, so let’s give it a shot.” Laemmle consulted with Berggoetz, who approved and commenced a hasty marketing effort for the coming weekend screenings. “I figured I would promote the film as I had done with my previous film that received a theatrical release, To Die is Hard,” Berggoetz told me in an e-mail. “Do a bunch of social networking through e-mail and Facebook, and contact local media people and schedule interviews and reviews. I was busy all day last Monday the 15th traveling, so on Tuesday the 16th I began contacting media outlets in the L.A. area and sending out e-mails and postings.” That’s when things started to look bad. Like, very bad.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Goyokin

Tatsuya Nakadai plays a samurai overcome with guilt over his unwitting part in a massacre of a small village. Now a ronin, he learns of a scheme by his old clan to repeat the same crime. determined to stop them, he endures great hardships in an attempt to atone for his earlier mistakes.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Sirius XM Gets OK To Settle Price-Hike Suit

A judge today approved the framework of a settlement to a lawsuit subscribers filed against Sirius XM Radio charging that the satellite radio company violated terms of its merger by raising prices afterward. The class action was filed in 2009 and claimed that Sirius XM broke antitrust laws when it boosted prices and imposed a music royalty fee after the 2008 merger was approved. The deal, worth $180 million, ensures that prices and the fee will stay at current levels through year’s end and subscribers who canceled can rejoin without charge.

Frankenweenie Footage Tested

Tim Burton's latest stop-motion taleThe guy themself might possibly not have had the experience (he's just a little busy focusing on Dark Shadows at this time), but Tim Burton was greatly a name only at that weekend's Disney D23 Expo, which displayed the very first take a look at his latest stop-motion project, Frankenweenie. Modified from Burton's own 1984 live-action short, the brand new movie grows about the plot to chart the existence of outcast lad Victor Frankenstein and Sparky, your dog he adores. After suddenly losing his beloved pooch, youthful Victor harnesses the energy of science to create his closest friend to existence - with only a couple of minor changes. He attempts to hide his home-stitched creation, however when Sparky will get out, Victor's fellow students, instructors and also the entire town all learn that obtaining a new "leash on existence" could be monstrous. Though Burton could not show up to produce the film in the event, he was symbolized by producers Don Hahn and Allison Abbate, who introduced a behind-the-moments video package that demonstrated the kind of Winona Ryder, Martin Short and Martin Landau voicing their roles (Hahn referred to the cast as "everybody in the Tim Burton ensemble aside from The Actor-brad PittInch) and also the painstaking procedure for the shoot, which involved a lot more than 200 puppets. There wasn't much when it comes to finished footage - that is being shot in black & whitened and three dimensional - however it certainly transported Burton's trademark style (think Corpse Bride meets Vincent). It'll also provide his usual musical feel too, as Danny Elfman was introduced because the composer. Frankenweenie is going to be on October 5 the coming year.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

It's (Almost) Anyone's Race in This Year's Drama Actress Emmy Fields

If you want to wipe the smile off an Emmy pundit's face, ask her or him to put money on one of the drama actress races. It's a great way to lose cash fast.Last year, everybody would have bet the ranch on "The Good Wife's" lead Julianna Margulies, who had won a Golden Globe and a SAG award. But Margulies made the smart money look stupid by losing to Kyra Sedgwick.Now, Margulies -- owner of a staggering 28 Globe, SAG and Emmy noms or wins -- is back and poised to earn her deferred Emmy. After all, she triumphed at SAG again in 2011, a record-breaking seventh win. Yet it remains entirely possible that she could lose to first-time lead actress contender Elisabeth Moss of "Mad Men." Or 2006 winner Mariska Hargitay of "Law & Order SVU." Or "The Killing's" upstart Mireille Enos. Or "Friday Night Lights'" fan favorite Connie Britton. Or surprise contender Kathy Bates of "Harry's Law."You get the point.So what's a pundit to do? Maybe it's better to give up on predicting these races and instead size up the forces that are driving each candidate. What would the wins signify in each case? Let's focus on the probable winners (bearing in mind that we're in an unusually unknowable zone):Margulies: Her Emmy would demonstrate not only her own perdurable allure to voters, but the salvation of that once almost extinct species: the network drama."When 'The Good Wife' came, I was scared to do it because it wasn't cable," Margulies tells "The Hollywood Reporter." "Because I had done network before, and I was worried about getting watered down and all that stuff. But I love the script so much, and I felt like it had good movie producers behind it that would keep it on track." They did. If nets hire cable-quality talent and resist the impulse to water things down, they can bounce back the same way Detroit did in the face of Japanese car competition: by improving the product.Moss: It's hard to imagine that "Mad Men" has been wholesale-snubbed for acting Emmys-- probably because the performance styles are those that Emmy historically dislikes: emotionally restrained, ensemble-oriented and with a stately pace (Emmy likes splashy, with tears in the mix). With her submitted episode, the splashy, emotionally raw "The Suitcase" -- tightly focused on her long-simmering relationship with Jon Hamm's Don Draper -- Moss would represent a new triumph of the show's recently more accessible emotional quality.Hargitay: Her win would prove that old ways are the best ways in Emmy's eyes. Formulas and familiar faces rule.Enos: Her Emmy would signal radical change, a shift in taste from demonstrativeness toward somber inwardness. Enos would have the most nearly immobile face in Emmy-winning history.Britton: Another radical change, in the direction of improv and indie-cinema spirit. The ghost of John Cassavetes would smile.Bates: Proof that a towering talent with an Oscar and eight Emmy noms can transcend an aggressively eccentric show much less respected than she.The supporting drama actress race is even more bewildering this year.At first, Kelly Macdonald, who shared the SAG ensemble drama prize this year, seemed a lock at the peak of "Boardwalk Empire" fever last winter. It would go to show that it pays to be the most-raved performer in the year's biggest HBO series. And supporting in what amounts to an epic movie trumps triumph in a mere TV show.But last year's second-most shocking winner (after Sedgwick) was Archie Panjabi, Margulies' exotic supporting co-star, who is nominated again. Emmy voters often prove creatures of habit -- ask Hargitay, nominated annually since 2004 -- and Panjabi's profile on the show didn't get any lower after her win. Christine Baranski seems relatively unlikely to beat Macdonald and heist her "Good Wife" colleague Panjabi's Emmy spotlight, but it's not as unlikely as Panjabi having won.And of course "The Killing's" Michelle Forbes, "Justified's" Margo Martindale and "Mad Men's" Christina Hendricks could all be the Panjabi of 2011. Each has way more heat this year than Panjabi did last year, with Martindale in particular generating a downright toasty glow. After all, who cares how young and skinny you are (or aren't)? All you need are brilliant dialogue, a juicy death scene and an onscreen presence more powerful than a poisoned kick of apple-pie moonshine.For viewers who love as many twists and turns in their Emmys as they do in the dramas that showcase these performers, the race has never been sweeter. The Hollywood Reporter

Thursday, August 4, 2011

The Unsexy Domination of CBS

CBS You can't blame CBS for having a bit of a chip on its shoulder. Up until recently -- and sometimes still recently -- the network was a very easy target for cheap jokes. A network watched by old people. Home of shows like NCIS. The unsexiest network. The good but boring network. It goes on, in some form. And if NBC hadn't been driven into the ground so wrecklessly in the last, oh, decade, things might have been worse. But, of course, CBS is more than that, even when it's a lot of that. So when the network rolled into the Television Critics Association (along with sister network The CW and sister cable channel Showtime), it had a few things to remind critics about. "We're the No. 1 network in viewers," said entertainment president Nina Tassler. "We're the No. 1 network in upfront market revenue, and this season surprise, surprise, we are the No. 1 broadcast network in Emmy nominations, and I'm really happy about that." In a moment of snark control, someone even pointed out that all the jokes about its viewers being old -- as ABC's Jimmy Kimmel mocked at the upfronts in May and NBC's Joel McHale joked several days before CBS arrived at the press tour -- must be tiring. "Well, first, I think they should probably stick to comedy and check their stats a little better," Tassler said. "Because we still have more 18-49s than NBC and ABC. So maybe they stay with comedy and not worry about demos and ratings so much." Missing from those comments from Tassler: "So eat it!" (Although, if pressed, you might get something like that from Tassler off the stage, where she's much more fiery, funny and unfiltered.) "Ratings, revenue, and Emmy nominations, that's a pretty cool trifecta - and I don't play the horses - and speaks to the network's quality on the screen and our appeal to viewers as well as advertisers," Tassler added. "Now, if we can get the love from the TV critics, life would be perfect." That might be a little harder -- though not as difficult as it has been in the past. Though critics are not known for doling out praise to shows that are ratings winners if they don't merit the praise creatively, CBS does have a burgeoning roster of shows a lot of critics like, starting with The Good Wife, breezing through the comedies How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory, and settling on reality franchises Survivor and The Amazing Race. But that's about it. And honestly, if you're tracking love metrics, that's not the largest group of candidates, particularly when you realize how many other shows on the schedule are ignored (or awkwardly smiled at over in the corner and given a polite, non-meaningful wave). It's a schedule full of "meh" on a lot of nights. And yet, CBS probably wouldn't have it any other way. It's the best run broadcast network for a reason -- it understands its audience better than the others and gives those viewers what they want, critics be damned. (For example, from the network that adopted Medium and birthed Ghost Whisperer, comes this fall's feel-good person-who-sees-dead-people drama, A Gifted Man. On Fridays, no less. That's automatic for the people, baby. You can hear the wheels of precision at CBS.) Would getting a big bear hug from critics make life perfect, as Tassler said? You'd have to think such an emotional gesture would be met with stiffness from CBS and a worry we'd put a shiv in its back. Despite a history of throwing some really great parties, there's not historical timeline of CBS-critic canoodling. CBS does just fine beating everybody's ass and winning, thank you very much. It seems to have learned to function in the self-esteem department without needing our validation. And maybe that's a good thing. Reaction to new fall series Unforgettable, How to Be A Gentleman and A Gifted Man falls into the lukewarm category. They are buzzless and unsexy. Two other series from CBS are garnering something more akin to the love Tassler was looking for -- drama Person of Interest from J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan, and comedy 2 Broke Girls from Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cummings. Both of those latter shows have a lot of potential and, in fairness, few critics are really falling all over themselves for this fall's fare from any network. And yet, if you don't parse the two with buzz and take the batch as a whole, what's the reaction at hand? Well, if you've been paying attention at all to CBS in the last decade, you'd have to say a shrug and a "they will all probably work." That's not a sentiment that's going to steam up anyone's glasses. But it's going to keep CBS in the win column most nights (without even considering that Ashton Kutcher's arrival could clean up CBS's biggest mess in Two and A Half Men, while Ted Danson's arrival on CSI might perk up that franchise as well). So what do you call that if "sexy" is not even remotely in consideration? Oh, right, "successful." Email: Tim.Goodman@THR.com Twitter: @BastardMachine TCA CBS Nina Tassler TCA Summer Press Tour 2011

'Jersey Shore' in Italia: Outtakes From THR's This summer Cover Story

What's it decide to try shoot a real possibility show in Italia?our editor recommends'Jersey Shore' Italia: Promising, Sobbing, No Sleep, New Shockers (Exclusive)'Jersey Shore' Italia: 72 Hours within the Existence of the Drama Queen'Jersey Shore': The Quotable Situation'Jersey Shore': The Quotable SnookiThe Best and Worst Moments of Jersey Shore'Jersey Shore': 5 'hang-outs' Where Cast People Made Their Mark (Video)'Jersey Shore' Cast's Memorable Brushes Using the LawRelated Subjects•Jersey Shoreline Try flying on the staff in excess of 150, coping with an italian man , president's sudden decision to shut lower the town center where you are filming - and finding yourself located in a train with a lot of hardened crooks. Individuals are the things Jersey Shoreline executive producer SallyAnn Salsano needed to cope with in Florence, the place for season 4, which begins tonight. THR COVER STORY: 'Jersey Shoreline' Italia: 72 Hours within the Existence of the Drama Full The train was the worst - though fortunately for Salsano, castmates Mike "The ProblemInch Sorrentino and Nicole "Snooki" Palozzi were nowhere around at that time, when Salsano and her key crew were scouting locations early this season. "It had been late," recalls Amy Griggs, executive responsible for production for Salsano's 495 Prods. "I was schlepping our bags. I was half-asleep, i was so exhausted and someone had suggested the bullet train from Rome to Florence - and that we got about the wrong train, filled with crooks, chained track of cops." Thankfully they continued to be chained up, a fate some audiences might want the cast. EXCLUSIVE: 'Jersey Shoreline' Italia: Promising, Sobbing, No Sleep, New Shockers Dealing with crooks might have been easy in comparison towards the other challenges, like selecting which city to shoot in. After toying with filming in Rome (too costly), Milan (too modern) and Riccone (too dull), the producers chosen Florence, where they shot on the set built-in an old bank - with lights and cameras just like a movie studio. Why the financial institution? Since the producers needed a building that may have a crew of 165 (including some 150 People in america and local people), together with the cast and offices. Additionally they needed to obtain permits - not only for that building itself however for every club, tanning salon and gym the cast may want to visit. VIDEO: 6 Best Fights on 'Jersey Shoreline' Each time the thing is Jersey's cast hit a disco or pizza joint, the area continues to be scouted ahead of time, therefore the crew knows where to setup. Proprietors are also taken care of shooting permits. There is a whole book open to all of the cast people showing just which joints they are able to hit and those they cannot. Within the "no" category: a number of Florence's best museums, which either did not want the Jersey cast or demonstrated too costly for shooting. PHOTOS: The Very Best and Wost Moments of 'Jersey Shoreline' Choosing the best location and setting it up setup postponed the beginning of shooting, which meant the cast needed to be flown out after expected and almost meant the show wouldn't happen to be in a position to air August 4. (Should you question the reason why you aren't seeing the cast on the flight in tonight's episode, it is because the modification of dates meant a big change of air travel, with no time for you to secure permits to shoot onto it.) The issue getting a locale meant equipment needed to be air freighted - some 20 tons' worth - since there wasn't lots of time to ship it by ocean. All of this postponed the beginning of production in the third week of April to early May, after which production was further postponed when leader Silvio Berlusconi made a decision to visit Florence, shutting lower the town center altogether. PHOTOS: 'Jersey Shoreline': The Quotable Snooki Expenses active in the shoot were mindboggling, from $220,000 only for shipping the apparatus, to $500,000 for that 27 security personnel and police. The meals budget alone was $250,000 air plane tickets found $275,000 and employing a helicopter for any single shot cost $20,000. And never even money could solve everything. "It is a very slow process here," Griggs notes. Related Subjects Nicole Polizzi Jersey Shoreline

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Comcast 2Q Earnings Are Unsuccessful Of Estimations On Strong Revenue Growth

Comcast produced 2Q net gain of $1.02B, up 15.6% versus exactly the same period this past year, on revenues of $14.3B, up 50.5%. But earnings, at 37 cents a share, skipped the 41 cent target among experts who follow the organization. They expected revenues in the future in at $13.8B. The cable operation had 22.5M pay TV clients in the finish of June, lower 3% versus this past year. But Comcast acquired broadband and make contact with customers getting its total subscriber base to 49.1M, a couple.8% increase. Revenues at NBCUniversal rose 17.1% to $5.2B. Within that group, cable systems enhanced 12.6% to $2.2B andbroadcast TV was up 18.5% to $1.7B. The shot entertainment operation achieved positive results from Fast Five and Bridesmaids and was up 21% to $1.3B. And amusement parks were assisted by "The Wizarding Realm of Harry Potter" as revenues rose 22.5% to $147M.