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Signs of the Apocalypse Roundup – November 2009 – Week 2

Trump, Omarosa reunite for ‘Merger’
Mogul, ‘Apprentice’ villain team for new reality show
Donald Trump is reuniting with his most infamous “The Apprentice” villain to produce a new reality show for TV One. “Omarosa’s Ultimate Merger” will star the now mono-named Omarosa (nee Maingault-Stallworth) as she attempts to choose a mate from a stable of 12 bachelors.

Michelle Obama to star with Nigella Lawson as she becomes first presidential wife to appear on a reality show
The First Lady will make a guest appearance on ‘Iron Chef America’ which features British cook Nigella Lawson as a judge. The episode of the popular series, which pits well-known chefs against each others, has been filmed at the White House and will be aired in the New Year. Many of the ingredients for the meals prepared in the show were chosen from the recently planted White House vegetable garden.

Kirstie Alley set to go unscripted for A&E
Actress ready open up life for reality series
Kirstie Alley is set to join the docuseries ranks; thesp is close to signing on to star in an unscripted show for A&E. Cabler has picked up 10 half-hour episodes of the untitled series, which is set to run sometime next year. The program will follow Alley as she struggles with weight loss while handling life as a single mom to two teenagers in Hollywood.

‘Survivor’, ‘Race,’ ‘Minds’ becoming video games
CBS Consumer Products announced that six TV shows will get video game treatment within the next year: “Survivor,” “The Amazing Race,” “Criminal Minds,” “Diagnosis Murder,” “Ghost Whisperer” and “Hollywood Squares.”

Evolution Media boards ‘Boys Club’
‘Housewives’ producers turn attention to Atlanta
Evolution Media is developing “Boys Club: ATL,” which will follow a group of socially connected men in Atlanta. “Boys Club” hasn’t yet been pitched to networks. Casting is currently underway in Atlanta. “Men’s lives are as dramatic and interesting as their female counterparts,” Ross said. “Our goal isn’t to embarrass or ridicule them. We’re trying to capture their rich, varied experiences.”

More Horsemen

Business of the Business

Fox lawsuit wonders why studios ever buy insurance
The company has filed a fascinating lawsuit against Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, saying the insurer sold Fox coverage that was “illusory” and “deprived Fox of the benefits of the insurance that it had purchased.” Let’s recap: Fox puts in a claim against FFIC, which sues De Niro, who sues Fox, which is now suing FFIC! A district court threw out FFIC’s claims against De Niro on summary judgement, but Fox is still on the hook for the actor’s legal bills. Naturally, Fox is wondering whether there was any point to purchasing insurance in the first place if the studio would have to fork over $470,000 to defend De Niro against FDIC.

NCR, MOD launch movie rental kiosks
Companies to test on computer memory cards
This week, kiosk players NCR Corp. and MOD Systems will launch digital movie rental kiosks via downloads to SD cards — the same memory cards used in digital cameras. The kiosks will be loaded with 1,000 films at launch including some of the biggest fourth-quarter DVD releases, such as “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” MOD expects to offer more than 1,500 films by early next year, and CEO Anthony Bay said the company is in talks with other studios to broaden the available content.

Takeover debt has Aussie nets scrambling
Ad revenues are slipping at debt-laden Seven
The network has slashed more than A$1.5 billion ($1.3 billion) off the value of its TV network. The culprit is the debt-laden structure under which the network operates after its purchase by private equity firm KKR. In 2006, KKR bought into Seven for $2.9 billion. Now with plunging ad revenues and increased competition from feevees, Seven’s liabilities outstrip its assets to the tune of $1.5 billion.

The Rise of Digital Cameras: Postproduction
The rise of digital cameras poses new challenges for feature postproduction
Digital cameras are gaining ground on celluloid thanks to such benefits as cost savings, immediate viewing on set and longer shooting times. But in postproduction, the workflow for celluloid, which has been standardized over 100 years of production, goes out the window. “Each digital camera has its own specific way to record, not like film,” says Denis Leconte, vp software development at Prime Focus. “Essentially you have to build the workflow around each camera.”

U.S. production shuts out Australia
Production falls from $227 million to $20 million
Lensing of U.S. productions Down Under has hit a dry spell, with not one big-budget Hollywood feature shot in Oz in the past 12 months — the first yearlong lapse in nearly 20 years. The drought was highlighted in the annual Screen Australia Drama Production Survey, which showed foreign production in Australia had plunged from A$251 million ($227 million) last year to just $20 million in 2008-09.

Minutae

Planet of the Odd

GLAAD protests ‘South Park’ f-bomb episode
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is coming out against Wednesday’s “South Park” episode that attempted to re-define the word “fag.” In the episode, the “South Park” gang rally their Colorado town to use the anti-gay slur to refer to “annoying and inconsiderate” riders of Harley Davidson motorcycles. Local gays initially take offense the boys’ use of the world, then get on board with the re-branding after noting the word is “never going to disappear, [it's] simply too much fun to say.”

‘Girls Gone Wild’ founder Joe Francis sentenced in tax evasion and jail bribery case
A federal judge sentenced “Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis today to 301 days already served and a year of probation in a case in which the soft-porn mogul pleaded guilty to filing false income tax returns and bribing jail workers.

Suicide prevention groups protest ‘The Office’
Michael Scott uses a hangman’s noose in a recent ep
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and other mental health organizations say NBC and other entertainers should stop using suicide as a punchline. They worry that depiction of a method of suicide might encourage mentally ill people to take their own lives. “We try not to be zealots about this,” said Robert Gebbia, the foundation’s executive director. “But this one … kind of crossed the line.”

Disney settles Pixar ‘Luxo, Jr.’ lamp case
two months ago, trouble broke out after Disney began selling limited-edition “Luxo Jr.” lamps packaged with a Blu-ray version of “Up.” There also is a six-foot animatronic version of the lamp at Walt Disney World. Norwegian lamp-producing giant Luxo AS wasn’t exactly turned on by Disney’s growing commercialization of the lamp. On September 3, Luxo sued Disney for trademark infringement. saying the sale of Pixar lamps would “cause devastating damage to Luxo and dilute the goodwill which Luxo has built up.”

Roger Avary pioneers jail-tweeting.
On October 29th, 4 days after his incarceration, his Twitter feed began producing some truly frightening screenplay-style updates, seemingly from inside jail: “The building is an imposing example of the Brutalist architectural movement. The windows are designed so as to not let too much light in.” “Night falls, and the only real activity is an endless recounting of the terrible and pointless events that brought us all to this sad place.” “Long scratched into the black locker are two conjunctive words, never more true: ‘TIME’ and underneath it ‘FUCK’. It has become a mantra.” And so on.

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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