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Signs of the Apocalypse Roundup – October 2009 – Week 5

ABC orders extreme weight-loss reality show
ABC is teaming with “Biggest Loser” executive producer J.D. Roth for a new show where extremely overweight individuals shed hundreds of pounds over the course of a full year. Tentatively titled “Obese,” the network has taken the rare step of ordering an unscripted show direct to series a year before they’ll see any footage. Six one-hour episodes of the documentary-style series have been ordered which will assemble each person’s story into stand-alone episodes. In each, a personal trainer will work with individuals whose lives have become unmanageable due to their weight.

‘Rock of Love’ producers forced to pay $21 mil to settle lawsuits
In the last month, producers have paid out more than $21 million to settle personal injury claims stemming from a driver for the show who had fallen asleep on the road and crashed the “Rock of Love Bus.” The crash led to the death of a Southern Illinois University student in one car and severe injuries to a Florida couple driving in another car. “Rock of Love,” which starred former Poison singer Bret Michaels, has been subject to other lawsuits, including litigation over the destruction of the mansion used to film the show. The third season of the show was completed earlier this year.

Two Discovery series becoming video games
Publisher Crave set to adapt ‘Deadliest Catch,’ ‘Man vs. Wild’
Discovery Communications is partnering with game publisher Crave to turn two of its top-rated series, “Man vs. Wild” and “Deadliest Catch,” into video games. The action-oriented titles will be created for PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS. “Wild” also will appear on Xbox 360.

Style Network prepping ‘What I Hate’
New series described as unconventional makeover show
Hosted by Style personality Lisa Arch (“Clean House”), “What I Hate About Me” is an unconventional makeover show that challenges women to address the 10 aspects of their lives they dislike the most. Along with the obligatory complaints about cellulite and relationships, the women who appear on the show will look to get a handle on everything from intra-family dynamics to the way they manage their financial affairs. Arch and a rotating panel of experts will attempt to devise pragmatic solutions to some of the more vexing problems.

Reality producer lands Lego
Messick to develop reality programs for franchise
Reality producer Scott Messick has partnered with the Lego Group to develop nonscripted programming related to the toy building-block franchise. Messick said he’s developing several different types of reality shows related to the brand – including docuseries, competition shows and kid-oriented gamers.

More Horsemen

Business of the Business

FCC crafting net neutrality rules
Draft would allow for ‘reasonable’ management by ISPs
The FCC is looking to start crafting rules to ensure “network neutrality,” or restricting Internet network operators from favoring some content and data over other. The FCC’s draft rule would allow for “reasonable” network management by Internet service providers though for such things as blocking child pornography and other unlawful content, blocking content infringing on copyrights, clearing viruses and spam, as well as unclogging congestion.

Hulu testing models to boost revenue
Struggle is to turn ‘pennies into digital dollars,’ Graboff says
Video-viewing site Hulu is experimenting with different business models and initiatives, from bumping up advertising to designing subscription-based content, to boost revenue, said NBC Universal’s TV chief Marc Graboff. Hulu is helping increase viewing overall by drawing viewers to shows they may not have initially watched, but the challenge was in creating a model for Hulu that provides more revenue for its owners, said Graboff, chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios.

Harlan Ellison claims victory in weird Star Trek case
“I am pleased with the outcome,” Ellison said. Ellison, who filed the suit in March in federal court in Los Angeles, also sued the Writers Guild of America for its alleged failure to act on his behalf but sought only $1 in damages plus attorneys fees and court costs from the guild. CBS Paramount and the WGA had no comment. The suit accused CBS Par and the WGA of breaching the collective bargaining agreement and also accused the guild of breaching its duty of fair representation. The episode, which centered on time travel and starred Joan Collins, first aired in April 1967 and won the WGA teleplay award and a Hugo award.

Nielsen: Kids watching TV at eight-year high
According to Nielsen Media Research, children aged 2-11 spend more hours in front of the tube than they have since at least 2001. Kids aged 2-5 average more than 32 hours a week in front of a TV. Kids 6-11 spend a little less, about 28 hours per week, presumably because they’re spending more time in school. Despite the various new ways to consume media in front of a TV, 97% of all usage among kids is traditional live viewing. Among the 2- to 5-year-olds, for example, their time is divided between traditional TV viewing (25 hours), watching DVR playback (90 minutes), watching DVDs (4.5 hours), using a VCR (45 minutes) and playing video games (1 hour). Older kids are slightly more likely to watch live TV than younger kids.

Netflix sales jump thanks to streaming
Subscriber base increases to 11.1 million
The DVD-by-mail rental service added 510,000 subscribers during the last three months, a whopping 95% gain over the same quarter a year ago. It now has 11.1 million subs. The addition helped the company report a 48% boost in profits during its third quarter, earning $30 million from $423 million in revenue, which was up 24%.

Minutae

Planet of the Odd

Smallville actor busted in drug sting
Sam Jones, who played Clark Kent’s best friend on the show, was taken into custody by DEA agents who claim Jones was a “co-conspirator” in a series of major drug deals in 2008. According to documents filed in federal court, the DEA claims Jones was the “Hollywood connection” in a plot to illegally purchase and distribute the oxycodone.

Soupy Sales dies at 83
Comedian made 5,000 live TV appearances
Soupy Sales, the rubber-faced comedian whose anything-for-a-chuckle career was built on 20,000 pies to the face and 5,000 live TV appearances across a half-century of laughs, died Thursday. He was 83. Sales died at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx, New York, said his former manager and longtime friend, Dave Usher. Sales had many health problems and entered the hospice last week, Usher said. At the peak of his fame in the 1950s and ’60s, Sales was one of the best-known faces in the nation, Usher said.

Saudi journalist gets 60 lashes
Case involves the airing of a man’s sex confession
A Saudi court sentenced a female journalist to 60 lashes in a case brought after a Lebanese television channel she worked for aired the sex confession of a Saudi man, the reporter and a lawyer said. Rosana, 22, who did not want her full name disclosed, said a court in Jeddah convicted her on Saturday on grounds that the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. she worked for did not have proper authorization to operate in the Islamic kingdom. The ruling follows the sentencing by the same court of Mazen Abdul-Awad to five years in jail and 1,000 lashes earlier in October after he appeared on an LBC show and talked about his sexual exploits.

Paul Haggis Breaks With Scientology
Haggis has written a letter explaining his exit to Tommy Davis, the celebrity wrangler for Scientology and the son of Scientologist actress Anne Archer. The veracity of the letter has been confirmed by a friend of Haggis. Two things seem to have pushed the popular, amiable Haggis over the edge. One was Scientology’s backing of Proposition 8 in California banning gay marriage. The other is more personal. It turns out that Haggis and his wife, actress Deborah Rennard, came into Scientology through her parents, of all things. But at some point, Rennard was ordered to break off from her parents and have nothing more to do with them because they’d violated some code of the sect. This heartbreaking situation has finally taken its toll.

High school classmates investigated in burglaries of young Hollywood celebrities
They allegedly focused on a celebrity they saw on television or in a magazine, using the Internet to target their movements, Goodkin said, including websites that track celebrity movements. The suspects allegedly staked out their residences, sometimes more than once, the detective added. The alleged victims represent a “pantheon” of young Hollywood stars. Besides Lohan, Patridge, Hilton and Bloom, sources say the crew targeted Rachel Bilson.

Bits and Pieces

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.

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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.

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