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‘All-American Muslim’ Loses Advertiser
5 hours ago
For a show with such a dividing subject, the lives of Muslims in the U.S., TLC’s All American Muslim went surprisingly long without attracting major controversy. But a month into its run, the docu reality series has lost a major advertiser, Lowe’s, after a campaign by conservative watchdog the Florida Family Association. “The show profiles only Muslims that appear to be ordinary folks while excluding many Islamic believers whose agenda poses a clear and present danger to liberties and traditional values that the majority of Americans cherish,” the group said on its site. “Clearly this program is attempting to manipulate Americans into ignoring the threat of jihad and to influence them to believe that being concerned about the jihad threat would somehow victimize these nice people in this show.” The group posted a letter it said it had received from Lowe’s confirming the pullout, something the »
- NELLIE ANDREEVA
Harpo’s ‘Nate Berkus Show’ To End Its Run
5 hours ago
Syndicated daytime talker The Nate Berkus Show will end its run at the end of this season, its second. The show, hosted by Oprah Winfrey protege Nate Berkus, is produced by Winfrey’s Harpo Studios and Sony Pictures TV. “After careful consideration, we have decided that The Nate Berkus Show will not return for a third season in the fall,” the two companies said in a joint statement. “We are grateful for the hard work and heart that Nate, (exec producer) Corin Nelson and their entire team have poured into the show, and we’re very proud of what they’ve delivered.” The end of Nate Berkus, first reported by Broadcasting & Cable, comes two years into a three-year deal with the show’s core NBC station group. The group has already committed to two new talk shows for fall hosted by Jeff Probst and Steve Harvey. Nate Berkus never took off in the ratings, »
- NELLIE ANDREEVA
ICM Implosion Ends: Chris Silbermann Will Stay At Agency With More Power; Jeff Berg Will Stay With Less; Details By Xmas
7 hours ago
ICM Part 3: Agency Board & Rizvi Blow Off Silbermann’s Demands ICM Part 2: Silbermann Forces Decision By Rizvi; Relying On Mike Ovitz ICM Imploding! Silbermann & Berg Battle For Control Breaking… Exclusive… 3Rd Update: I’ve just learned from insiders that major investor Suhail Rizvi has made a decision regarding the future of ICM. And It’s timed to tonight’s ICM holiday party so the staff can enjoy themselves instead of worrying about the agency’s future. “Management wanted to close the deal today so its employees have a reason to celebrate as well as to send a message to the other agencies,” an insider says. Rizvi is ensuring that President Chris Silbermann will stay at the agency. Chairman/CEO Jeff Berg also will stay. Whether their titles will change remains to be seen. But the power inside the agency will definitely change as the management buyout takes shape: »
- NIKKI FINKE
Landscape Entertainment Ups J.J. Jamieson To TV Prez, Re-Signs Deal With Fremantle
8 hours ago
Exclusive: Landscape Entertainment has promoted J.J. Jamieson to the newly created position of President of Television. Additionally, Bob Cooper’s film and television production company has renewed its first-look TV deal with FremantleMedia North America. Under the pact with Fremantle, Landscape has been developing scripted series projects, mostly cable dramas. Jamieson, who previously served as Svp, has spearheaded these efforts, selling a dozen projects to such networks as HBO, USA, AMC, TNT, Lifetime, Comedy Central, Syfy, Cartoon Network, and ABC. They include the Syfy pilot Three Inches and the ABC drama Beautiful Gangsters produced by Anthony Lapaglia. “There’s always a bit of luck, though I do find that in general, the harder we work, the luckier we get,” Jamieson said of the company’s slew of TV sales. As for extending the collaboration with Fremantle, “they’ve added value to every pitch we’ve taken to the marketplace,” he said. »
- NELLIE ANDREEVA
Gunman Killed After Opening Fire Near Movie Theaters In Hollywood
8 hours ago
Local newscasts are beginning to show video of a lone undentified gunman who walked into the intersection of Vine and Sunset near movie theaters in the middle of Hollywood this morning and began shooting at people and passing cars. He eventually was shot and killed himself by Lapd officers. The rampage occurred at around 10:30 Am. Reports say as many as two bystanders were hit. Witnesses said the suspect was killed after repeatedly being told by police to drop his weapon. Streets surrounding the busy area have been shut down for the investigation. »
- THE DEADLINE TEAM
AMC Acquires Off-Network Rights To ‘CSI: Miami’, Boosting Series’ Renewal Chances
9 hours ago
This is an odd pairing — Don Draper and Horatio Caine will now be on the same network! In its first off-network acquisition, AMC, home of Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead, has picked up off-network rights to CBS’ veteran procedural CSI: Miami. The deal with CBS Television Distribution, said to be worth tens of millions of dollars, covers the existing 10 seasons of CSI: Miami as well as Seasons 11 and 12 if produced. (Today’s deal certainly increases the chances of the show continuing on CBS beyond the current 10th season). With the exception of Seasons 11 and 12, which AMC would get exclusively, the pact is non-exclusive. A&E, which had been the exclusive cable home of CSI: Miami, will continue to air the show from 6 Am-4 Pm. AMC is getting fringe and primetime rights with a 4 Pm-6 Am window. The drama starring David Caruso will make its debut on AMC »
- NELLIE ANDREEVA
Ratings Rat Race: ‘Rules’, ‘Parks & Rec’ Hit Lows; ‘Grimm’ Does Ok In Thursday Test
9 hours ago
Another hard-to-untangle night, marked with local NFL preemptions. CBS posted big gains at 9 Pm and 10 Pm but they will likely be erased in the finals because the network’s fast nationals were inflated by a big football game in Pittsburgh. The Big Bang Theory (4.7/14) was the least impacted as the game started at 8:25 Pm on the East Coast. The comedy returned after three weeks of repeats down 11%. Rules Of Engagement (3.2/9) was also down 11% from its last original three weeks ago to post a season low. Because of the game, Rules will likely be adjusted down, so the season low is expected to stick. Not expected to stick are the double-digit bumps for Person Of Interest (3.0/8, up 15% from three weeks ago) and The Mentalist (3.0/8, up 20%), which reflect game-related ratings inflation. For now, CBS is tracking as No.1 in 18-49 and total viewers for the night. After an uptick last week, »
- NELLIE ANDREEVA
The CW Makes Big Push For Reality Show ‘Remodeled’; Delays ‘Ringer’, ’90210′ Returns
10 hours ago
The CW hasn’t been able to successfully launch a reality series in its 6-year history. (Long-running hit America’s Next Top Model originated on Upn.) Now the network is making its biggest effort to date with the midseason fashion docu series Remodeled, which will blanket the CW schedule for 2 weeks in January and push back the returns of 91010 and Ringer. Remodeled, which will bridge the two cycles of Top Model, was originally slated to premiere in Top Model’s Wednesday 9 Pm slot on Jan. 18, following an original One Tree Hill. The debut has now been moved to Tuesday, Jan. 17, when Remodeled will follow the return of 90210, which is being held back a week to help launch the new series. The premiere episode of Remodeled will be rerun twice that week, in the show’s regular Wednesday 9 Pm slot after Oth and on Friday at 8 Pm, replacing Nikita, which was slated to air a repeat. »
- NELLIE ANDREEVA
‘Glee’ & ‘Sons Of Anarchy’ Headed To Amazon Prime As Part Of Fox Pact
11 hours ago
Seattle– (Nasdaq: Amzn) Amazon.com, Inc. today announced an extended licensing agreement with Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution that will bring the popular Fox and FX television shows, Glee and Sons of Anarchy, to Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service. Prime members can now enjoy seasons one and two of the Fox musical phenomenon, Glee, as well as the first two seasons of the critically acclaimed FX drama, Sons of Anarchy. Additionally, season three of the popular biker saga will become available to Prime members starting on Christmas Day. Future seasons of each show will also be available on Prime Instant Video. Prime members can watch these great shows, along with nearly 13,000 Prime Instant Videos, on an Amazon Instant Video-compatible device, or the new Kindle Fire. »
- THE DEADLINE TEAM
HBO Developing Marion Barry Biopic, Eddie Murphy Set To Star, Spike Lee To Direct
11 hours ago
In their latest collaboration, director Spike Lee and writer John Ridley have teamed for an HBO biopic of Marion Barry, with Eddie Murphy attached to play the larger-then-life former Washington D.C. mayor. The HBO Films project, first reported by the Washington Post, is currently in development. Ridley is writing the script based on several pieces of source material, including the 1994 book Dream City by D.C. journalists Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood who will serve as consultants. Lee on board to direct. The two are executive producing with Murphy. HBO previously developed a Marion Barry biopic a decade ago with Jamie Foxx attached to star and Chris Rock to executive produce, but the project didn’t go forward. Barry, currently a member of the Council of the District Of Columbia, did two terms as a mayor of D.C., from 1979-91 and 1995-99, separated by a six-month stint in »
- NELLIE ANDREEVA
Canal Plus Wins Top Pick Of Champions League Soccer Games — And Fends Off Fierce Competition
11 hours ago
While sports broadcast rights have been making headlines recently in the U.S., another battle has been waged on the soccer fields of France. France’s leading pay-tv operator Canal Plus, traditionally the destination for soccer in France, has been under siege of late from newcomer Al Jazeera Sport, but today the group finally scored a goal with the UEFA Champions League. Canal announced this evening in Paris that it’s won the rights to the top pick of games for the 2012-2015 soccer season, including the finale, for a total of 13 games. The news is of special interest given the full-frontal charge the group has been facing from Al Jazeera, but also because the rights for these particular big-ticket games generally go to the nation’s leading free web TF1. A Canal Plus spokesman tells Deadline that TF1 was in the bidding for this round, but he was unaware »
- NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor
Occupy Wall Street Protesters Crash ‘Law & Order: Svu’ Set; Filming Permit Pulled
11 hours ago
Complete with a sign reading “We are a movement, not a TV plot,” New York’s Occupy Wall Street protesters made their way last night to “occupy” a Law & Order: Svu set in New York’s Foley Square that featured a mock-up of the protesters’ onetime camp at Zuccotti Park. The replica included a library and a kitchen like at the original site, which was taken down last month by the city. The plan was for Svu to shoot this morning one of its ripped-from-the-headlines episodes featuring a story with the camp as a backdrop. But protesters, evidently not fans of that idea, changed that: In the end, after the NYPD came in to clear out the crowd, producer Dick Wolf Films saw its film permit rescinded sometime overnight, and no scenes were shot. Dick Wolf Films and NBC have declined comment so far. Here’s a video from the »
- THE DEADLINE TEAM
HBO Sets Airdate For ‘Paradise Lost 3′ Docu
11 hours ago
HBO Documentary Films has set a January 12 premiere date for Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, the conclusion of the trilogy that helped free three men — Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, known as The West Memphis Three — convicted of the gruesome 1993 murder of three 8-year-old boys. The third film, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, chronicles the new developments, culminating in the trio’s August release from prison after more than 18 years. “Almost 20 years and three films ago, HBO’s Sheila Nevins sent us on this journey to document the terrible murders of three innocent boys and the subsequent circus that followed the arrests and convictions of Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley,” says filmmaker Joe Berlinger. “To see our work culminate in the righting of this tragic miscarriage of justice is more than a filmmaker could ask for.” »
- THE DEADLINE TEAM
CAA Loses Top Chef Tom Colicchio To Wme
12 hours ago
Talk about awkward mealtimes. Award winning chef, restaurateur, TV personality, and cookbook author Tom Colicchio has exited CAA for Wme’s East Coast Television and Lifestyle & Branding Group head Jon Rosen. The Top Chef host and producer has owned and operated the pricey restaurant Craft Los Angeles which has served as the agency’s virtual commissary in the CAA building since 2007. It was CAA who encouraged Tom to open in the Century City location in the first place. And there is hidden access to the restaurant: CAA agents have a special route to come from their offices to Craft without going outside. I’ve confirmed that CAA had one of its patented ‘save meetings’ and thought they’d kept Colicchio in the fold. But after no follow-up, Tom left - hoping to build an empire along the lines of Rachel Ray’s. Colicchio, who just finished judging Bravo’s 9th season of Top Chef, »
- NIKKI FINKE
Lifetime Greenlights ‘Blue Lagoon’ Remake
13 hours ago
Exclusive: Lifetime is heading back to The Blue Lagoon. The cable network has greenlighted a contemporary remake of the 1980 romance/adventure movie starring Brooke Shields, which centered on a boy and a girl marooned on a tropical island, where they grow up together, fall in love and discover sexuality. Neil Meron and Graig Zadan’s Storyline Entertainment and Judith Verno’s Peace Out Prods are producing the film in association with Sony Pictures TV, with Meron, Zadan and Verno executive producing. The project was originally set up at Lifetime in 2004 with Heather Rutman and Matt Heller as writers. Casting is already underway, with filming eyed for a February start in Puerto Rico. The Blue Lagoon movie franchise is known for giving young actresses their big break. The 1980 film made Shields a household name, while the 1991 sequel Return To The Blue Lagoon launched the career of Milla Jovovich. The story of The Blue Lagoon, »
- NELLIE ANDREEVA
Nickelodeon Deserves Some Of The Blame For Ratings Decline: Analyst
13 hours ago
Credit Suisse’s Spencer Wang says that his review of independent audience data shows that Viacom has a real problem on its hands — it isn’t the victim of a possible Nielsen snafu, as Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman has charged. The analyst cut his ad-growth forecast for Viacom’s current quarter in half, to 3%, and shaved 4 cents off his earnings-per-share estimate, to $1.02, after he concluded that “Nick has lost viewership share to the Disney Channel.” Wang doesn’t let Nielsen off the hook completely. He says that Nick’s audience is really down vs last year by mid- to high-single-digit percentages, not the mid-to-high teens that the ratings service reports. What accounts for the drop? Wang doesn’t buy the thesis that Nick viewers continue to watch its shows but on Netflix, which had 140 programs from the kids’ network in 2011 vs 80 last year and 28 in 2009. Most of this year’s »
- DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
Mo Rocca Becomes A CBS News Correspondent, With An Explanation
14 hours ago
The network is giving the former regular on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart a title that’s usually reserved for journalists. But the release tries to make it clear that CBS hasn’t forgotten the distinction between fake news and the real thing: Mo Rocca has been named Correspondent, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS News announced today. Known for his satirical news reports and commentary, Rocca has been serving as a contributor for the broadcast since 2006, and in his new capacity will continue reporting for Sunday Morning, as well as other CBS News broadcasts. “His title is Correspondent, but we see Mo, as we see all our Sunday Morning contributors, as a ‘columnist,’ bringing his own unique – and it is unique – perspective to everything he does,” commented Sunday Morning Executive Producer Rand Morrison. Rocca is a humorist, actor and Emmy award-winning writer. He is a panelist on NPR’s weekly hit quiz show, »
- DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
‘Dragon Tattoo’ Promo Fakes ‘Hard Copy’ – (…But Why?)
16 hours ago
This is a perplexing bit of promotion from Sony Pictures for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Plus, given the studio’s past media fakery, I don’t think this is the smartest scramble in the movie marketing playbook. Besides, who even remembers Hard Copy? The video features an elaborate re-creation from that 1990s syndicated tabloid show with a 9+-minute segment. They couldn’t get Barry Nolan or Terry Murphy to narrate? »
- NIKKI FINKE
Dodgers Win Approval For Early TV Rights Bidding; Bloomberg Reports Fox To Appeal
8 December 2011 9:18 PM, PST
The Los Angeles Dodgers received bankruptcy court permission Thursday to try to sell future TV rights to its baseball games months before their existing contract with Fox Sports allows, Bloomberg reported. The federal bankruptcy judge in Delaware overruled Fox’s objection to the team entering early negotiations with Fox competitors. Fox Sports has broadcasting rights through the 2013 season but was fighting to retain exclusive bidding rights under that contract until Nov. 30, 2012. That contract would have precluded any other bidders prior to that date but the judge’s decision Thursday eliminated that exclusivity. The judge gave Fox 45 days exclusivity to come to a new agreement with the Dodgers. The countdown for that window started November 30. If no deal is reached, Time Warner Cable is eager to jump into the fray. It already won the rights to broadcast Los Angeles Lakers games on a new regional sports network which will replace previous rights holder Fox Sports. »
- THE DEADLINE TEAM
ABC Orders Extra Episode Of ‘Castle’
8 December 2011 6:22 PM, PST
ABC has given Castle an order for one additional episode, bringing its fourth season to 23 episodes. The quirky detective drama starring Nathan Fillion has been a slow builder but was able to branch out of an early cult status to become a solid performer in the Monday 10 Pm slot. Besides the first season, which launched in midseason, all seasons of Castle have been supersized. Season 2 and 3 consisted of 24 episodes each. Word is one more is all ABC needed this season. The network’s flagship series, comedy Modern Family, already has an order for 24 episodes. »
- NELLIE ANDREEVA
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