(Cool) Shite on the Tube – Film, TV, Comics, Games, Books, Genre Pop Culture.

Signs of the Apocalypse Roundup – May 2009 – Week 3

ABC teams with RDF for ‘Family’
Exec producer Tom Forman to develop reality show
“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” exec producer Tom Forman is developing “Find My Family” for ABC. A Dutch property that is now a huge hit in Australia, “Find My Family” follows the stories of people desperate to find a long-lost friend or relative. Cameras roll as the show’s participants reveal what happened to their relationship — and are there when the people are reunited.

Business of the Business

MGM gunning for ‘Terminator’?
Studio fights for the franchise
Terminator” is the only franchise in which the distributors aren’t locked in for future films. MGM has a 30-day right of first refusal to finance and distribute the fifth “Terminator” film. According to sources, MGM has every intention of making a serious play for the franchise, potentially trumping Warner Bros., which is distributing “Terminator Salvation” in domestic territories, and Sony, which is releasing the film overseas.

Tweets chirp upfront news
Networks make announcements via Twitter
News from this week’s network upfronts has been emerging in 140-character chunks — thanks to the exploding popularity of Twitter. As a result, it’s no longer newspapers or blogs breaking news of series orders or cancellations. Quite frequently, it’s producers and stars themselves who are sending out the info first.

“Castle” star Nathan Fillion got some better news: ABC had picked up his show — something he couldn’t wait to tell his 51,000 followers. “I can’t remember the last time I had a second season of ANYTHING,” he typed. “I don’t know if I remember what to do. Step one: go to Canada. Relax.”

StudioCanal defies odds by growing
Studio’s 2008 rev climb to $532.8 million
Owned by Vivendi paybox Canal Plus, StudioCanal in 2008 grew total revenues by 7.5% to f400 million ($532.8 million) and operating profits by 22% to $74.6 million. Profit margins were 14% — healthy even by Hollywood studio standards.

Waley speaks out against Nine
Replaced news anchor bashes Aussie network
Veteran Oz newsreader Jim Waley, 61, dumped by Nine Network in 2004 for a younger anchor, has started to speak out against the broadcaster after a contractual gag order was finally lifted. Now with Foxtel’s Sky News, he said that Nine was “fighting for its life.”

Planet of the Odd

Neil Patrick Harris to host Tonys
‘Mother’ actor tapped for Awards telecast
Neil Patrick Harris has been tapped to host the 63rd annual Tony Awards. Harris comes to the Tonys having notched numerous stage and song-and-dance gigs, including stints in Broadway productions of “Assassins,” “Cabaret” and “Proof.” He also recently toplined Joss Whedon’s Internet tuner “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.”

Producer sues over Farrah Fawcett doc
Craig Nevius claims Ryan O’Neal threatened him
Producer Craig Nevius is suing over Farrah Fawcett’s upcoming documentary on her battle with cancer, seeking to regain creative control of the upcoming NBC special. He is suing Fawcett’s longtime companion, Ryan O’Neal, as well as his business manager and Alana Stewart, who helped produce the documentary. He claims the trio interfered with his rights to produce the documentary. He also claims O’Neal has threatened him.

Pearl Jam bass player mugged
Jeff Ament suffers head injury in Atlanta attack
Three people with knives attacked Ament and a band employee as they arrived at the Southern Tracks recording studio late last month. The attackers smashed three car windows and grabbed a Blackberry and two computers and demanded money. They stole $3,000 in cash and more than $4,000 worth of items. Ament tried to get away, but one of the assailants chased him down and knocked him to the ground. He suffered a head wound and his passport was stolen.

The Fine Print

This is by no means meant to be a comprehensive roundup of the entire weeks’ news. All stories are chosen by me for no other reason than that they got my attention and might capture yours. If something you think is more important chime in on the feedback; we’d love to hear comments and have a conversation about it.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Both comments and pings are currently closed.

About The Author

Scott From LA

Scott is an art director, writer and comics creator living in Los Angeles. He has been a pop culture maven from a very young age. His very first job was as a manager of a comic book store. He spent several years working in a video store, and yes, we are talking VHS tapes. A student of literature and Writing, he brings his obsessive love of comic book trivia, movie history and science fiction/fantasy writing to bear on the work he does for CoolShite.

Bookmark This

  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • MySpace
  • StumbleUpon
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • email
  • FriendFeed
  • Print
  • Twitter

Article Information

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments

Comments are closed.

Latest (Cool) Shite Shows