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Signs of the Apocalypse Roundup – January 2010 – Week 3

CBS renews ‘Survivor,’ ‘Race’
CBS has ordered two more editions of “Survivor” and one more of “The Amazing Race.” “Survivor” will air for a 21st and 22nd cycle, with the Emmy-dominating “Race” earning a 17th round-the-world tour. Between “Survivor,” “Race” and summer’s “Big Brother,” CBS has three of the most durable reality franchises. Yet the network continues seeking something, you know, new. At least, a show created within the last five years. CBS hopes “Undercover Boss,” airing after the Super Bowl, will be its next unscripted hit.

A New Cast for Jersey Shore?
Hold that fist pump: TMZ reports that, if the current cast of Jersey Shore doesn’t agree to a deal for a second season by the end of the day on Monday, then they will be replaced. So far, the cast has been united in rejecting MTV’s offer of a $10,000 signing bonus and $10,000 per episode. Apparently, MTV already has a replacement cast lined up, and is willing to sign up individually any cast members who break ranks. The hardest negotiators, TMZ says, are The Situation and Pauly D.

Hustler plans porn versions of ‘Glee,’ ‘Curb,’ ‘Hills’
Hustler Video announced its “much-anticipated” porn parody lineup for 2010-11. It includes parodies of Fox’s “Glee” (Hello, what are they going to sing? Don’t you think obtaining music rights is going to be an issue? What do you mean Hustler couldn’t care less?) and HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (shudder). Also, “I Dream of Jeannie” (finally!), MTV’s “The Hills” (somehow seems even more out-of-date than “Jeannie”) and E!’s “The Soup” (huh). This is the same company that just released “Nailin Palin.”

Fox back in tune with ‘Lyrics’
Game show to return as cable syndie series
Fox’s Twentieth Television is reviving the game show “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” as a cable/first-run syndie series. Half-hour show will air Monday-Friday on VH1 and in first-run on Fox OandOs in the top 10 markets. It will also air weekly on Fox’s MyNetworkTV broadcast block. Series, from RDF Media, will be hosted by Mark McGrath.

Americana with laughs
Larry the Cable Guy to host History show
History is going for a dose of Americana and a dollop of laughs in a new series fronted by Larry the Cable Guy. Cabler has ordered 13 segs of an hourlong skein featuring the Blue Collar Comedy star visiting iconic American sites. He’ll also shine a spotlight on people with uniquely American jobs, lifestyles and hobbies.

More Horsemen

Business of the Business

Report: US military going rogue for online content
According to a report, US soldiers stationed oversees can’t get online movies and music from legitimate services because of IP address blocks intended to control the way that foreigners access US media. As a result, many uniformed military members have supposedly pleaded with the RIAA and MPAA to get involved and help them out. Allegedly, these pleas have been ignored, and military members are coordinating a “campaign” to download as much music and movies as possible from BitTorrent and other P2P software clients.

Nielsen to combine TV, online ratings
‘Extended Screen’ will help measure Web audience
The major broadcast and cable nets should take a big step forward in monetizing Internet viewing of full-length programs this fall. That’s when Nielsen intends to introduce a service that will combine TV and online viewing of shows into a single rating. There’s one wrinkle to the Nielsen rating plan, however, that could spur a major change in the way nets offer programs online. For Web viewing to be included in what Nielsen is calling its “Extended Screen” reporting service, the online episodes have to carry the exact same commercials that run in a TV telecast. For the past few years, online airings of TV shows typically have carried a quarter or fewer of the spots included in a traditional TV airing, and the online runs often draw different sponsors. At present, Nielsen’s new service would not factor in online viewing done via Hulu, which has become the dominant online vid service for full-length segs, nor would it capture viewing done via ABC.com or other net websites.

Jupiter bows Japan’s first 3D TV service
Sky Perfectv may start 3D operation in summer
Japan’s largest cabler Jupiter Telecommunications will launch 3D broadcasts in April, company sources have revealed. The move is a first for the Japanese broadcast biz. The 3D services will be on-demand, featuring pics, sports, music and other programming, both foreign and domestic. Various sources will supply the content, including pic distribs and specialized channels.

Australian box office breaks record
U.S. pics take 83% of territory’s $1 billion total
Coming in at A$1.09 billion ($1 billion), the 2009 Australian box office achieved a record high, with U.S. pics accounting for 83% of the total. U.K. films came a distant second with 9%, while Aussie films accounted for a decent 5% of the overall takings, according to figures released by the Motion Picture Distributors Assn. of Australia. After a few dismal years of around 3%-to-4%, the result for local pics is the best showing since 2001, when they grabbed 8% of B.O. due to Baz Luhrmann’s “Moulin Rouge,” Anthony LaPaglia starrer “Lantana” and helmer Mark Joffe’s “The Man Who Sued God.”

WWE parts ways with Fox, Lionsgate
Studio inks deal with Samuel Goldwyn, Vivendi
After setting up films at Lionsgate and 20th Century Fox over the last decade, Vince McMahon, the chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment is taking full control over the distribution of the company’s future slate of movies, inking a deal with Samuel Goldwyn Films to oversee theatrical releases, while Vivendi Entertainment will handle pics across various homevideo formats in North America. As part of the move, WWE Studios, the company’s film arm, will finance and produce nine movies through 2012, that it can fully own and exploit in theaters, on homevideo, through licensing deals and eventually on its own WWE TV network that it wants to launch.

Minutae

Planet of the Odd

Pernell Roberts, ‘Bonanza’ and ‘Trapper John’ star, dies
Actor Pernell Roberts, who played the eldest Cartwright brother in TV’s “Bonanza,” died at his Malibu, California, home Sunday at 81, his lawyer said. Younger TV viewers may remember Roberts from the lead role in “Trapper John, M.D.,” a medical drama that aired on CBS for seven years, ending in 1986.

‘Guys & Dolls’ star Jean Simmons dies
Actress succumbs to lung cancer at age 80
Jean Simmons, the lovely, ethereal film star who played Ophelia to Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet, sang with Marlon Brando in “Guys and Dolls” and costarred with Gregory Peck, Paul Newman and Kirk Douglas, has died. She 80. Simmons, who won an Emmy Award for her role in the 1980s miniseries “The Thorn Birds,” died Friday at her home in Santa Monica, her agent Judy Page told the Los Angeles Times. Simmons had lung cancer.

Radio Canada doing social media experiment
Reporters will be isolated from traditional media for five days
Radio Canada radio journalist Janic Tremblay is about to find out just how much news you can find on Facebook and Twitter, without access to traditional TV, radio or print media sources. Tremblay, a reporter with Canada’s public broadcaster, will participate along with four other French-speaking radio reporters in “Behind Closed Doors on the Net,” an experiment from Feb. 1-5 in which the journalists will be sealed off in a French farmhouse in Perigord and using only social media to uncover the news.

Forbes lists biggest flops of last five years
‘All the King’s Men,’ ‘The Express’ lead the field
Sean Penn delivered “one of his greatest screen performances” as Willie Stark in “All the King’s Men,” according to The Hollywood Reporter’s review of the film in 2006. Nevertheless, the Sony Pictures film earned just $9 million at the worldwide boxoffice. Factor in its $55 million production budget and it amounts to Hollywood’s biggest flop of the past five years, according to the prolific listmakers at Forbes magazine.

The ‘true story’ of how Dr. King kept Uhura on Star Trek
Nichelle Nichols: One of the organizers came up to me and said that there was someone who wants to meet you; and he says that he’s you’re best, biggest fan and I’m thinking it’s a Trekkie! [laughs] and so I said certainly and I got up and turned around and maybe 10 or 15 feet coming towards me I see Dr. Martin Luther King and I remember thinking whoever that little fan is, he’s going to have to wait, because here’s Dr. King, who walks straight up to me with this big, magnificent smile on his face and says, “I’m the fan!” because I’m sort of looking around for someone else, and he says, “I am your best fan, I am your biggest fan!” and I… I was at a loss for words, and if you know me, I am never at a loss for words.

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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