Show Business

Our cousins over at TVNewser dug up some interesting details today on Aaron Sorkin‘s new HBO show The Newsroom–about the cable news biz. Turns out a new name has been given to the fictional network at the heart of the show: Atlantis Cable News. Sorkin’s script originally called the channel UBS in honor of the great film Network.  But for branding reasons, the change was made.

HBO has commisioned a fake news website back the new name: www.atlantiscablenews.com. The page is blank now, but TVNewser has a mock-up of the site-to-be.

The Newsroom will make its debut sometime this summer, possibly on Sunday, June 24th after the season premiere of True Blood.

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And Harrelson, perhaps smarting from the most embarrassing “Ask Me Anything” in Reddit history, was a total jerk to Vice‘s Annette Lamothe-Ramos. She writes about what she witnessed on the press junket for the film Rampart just prior to her own interview:

Before they went into Woody’s hotel suite, I met the girls who were conducting the AMA. They seemed sweet, so I didn’t mind the additional wait—imagining that they might butter him up with a light-hearted Q&A before Woody and I got down to business.

Ten minutes later, a stampede charged the waiting room, each person whispering furiously and cupping their mouths in horror. I didn’t hear everything but I knew it wasn’t good. The only fragments I could make out were something about “de-virginizing a high schooler” and “really angry.” I immediately broke out in hives and my mind went blank. Seconds later I was called into the next room to chat with a visibly irritated Woody Harrelson.

The interview was not a success. Harrelson was rude, dismissive, and more than a little inappropriate. After a few minutes, he stopped answering questions and just sat staring Lamothe-Ramos up and down. The two were alone in his hotel room, and Lamothe-Ramos was so uncomfortable she ended the interview early.

We’d heard rumors that Roseanne Barr was planning on running for president, but now it’s definitely official. California Secretary of State Debra Bowen let it be known yesterday that Barr was one of 24 candidates on the official state Green Party ballot.

Can’t see her having much of a chance. But she’ll definitely pull in a lot of media attention. Which could help push the discourse left.

Fresh off filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Eastman Kodak Company wants out of their naming rights deal at the theater on Hollywood and Highland and home of the Academy Awards.

The 131-year-old company asked a U.S. bankruptcy court judge Wednesday to release them from its $75 million naming rights deal with the CIM group, which owns the complex.

“Kodak is proud of its important role in the Entertainment industry, and our long standing relationship with film makers,” Kodak spokesman Christopher Veronda said in a statement. “Our motion today reflects our commitment to ensure that we are maximizing value for our entertainment customers, creditors and other stakeholders.”

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Patrick Goldstein has an interesting take on the current media fascination with the astronomical free agent salary deals landed by Major League Baseball stars Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols.

He suggests that just as the DVD boom once fueled the headline-grabbing paydays of Hollywood A-listers, billion-dollar media rights deals for MLB teams are now powering a similar inflationary curve on the baseball diamond. This shift has also taken out a once common top-tier talent agency tactic:

CAA was famous for leaking its star salary numbers in the ’90s, and every dazzling new salary breakthrough sent a telling message to stars signed to a rival agency–why isn’t your agent raking in all that moolah for you? When salaries are in decline, as they are now, you rarely see the likes of Kevin Huvane or Ari Emanuel feeding any information to the press, as today’s salary news only offers another instance of the scaling down of A-list actors’ earning power.

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The Artist‘s Jean Dujardin picked up a big win for best male lead, but, other than that, it was all The Help at this year’s SAG Awards. Viola Davis won for best female lead while Octavia Spencer picked up the nod for best female in supporting role. The Help‘s cast also won for best ensemble award.

Meanwhile, on the TV side of things, Boardwalk Empire had a great night, picking up awards for best ensemble cast and best lead actor for Steve Buscemi.

Full list of winners after the jump:

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This Fishie drove by the Alex Theatre in Glendale earlier today and was shocked, SHOCKED to see Deep Throat on the marquee. For those of you not familiar with the Alex, Deep Throat is not the kind of flick one would typically expect to see at this particular establishment–even if the film is undergoing a bit of a resurgence. The Little Mermaid is edgy for the Alex. That shameless tramp Ariel doesn’t wear any pants, after all.

Next month’s Joseph the Dreamer, The Musical presented by the Heart of Worship Community Church is more typical fare. Yes, it’s about the bible.

We figured there must be new ownership or the event programmer had a seizure. But the Glendale News-Press set us straight. Turns out the Linda Lovelace biopic is shooting in town and simply borrowed the Alex marquee for the afternoon.

There goes our Friday night plans.

Comedian Mark Malkoff recently took a trip to LA from New York, and rather than paying for hotels he decided to cold call celebrities to see if he could crash at their places. Of course thirteen said yes.

It’s just that easy!

Malkoff got a bunch of name brand celebrities to take part. But our personal favorite was Martin Kove, who played the asshole karate instructor in Karate Kid. The guy has serious Gary Busey potential. Get him a show immediately.

Australian House of Representatives leader Anthony Albanese was just busted lifting lines from the 1995 film The American President, written by Aaron Sorkin, in a speech to the National Press Club of Australia.

Here is the part of Albanese’s speech in question:

“In Australia we have serious challenges to solve and we need serious people to solve them. Unfortunately, Tony Abbott is not the least bit interested in fixing anything. He is only interested in two things: making Australians afraid of it and telling them who’s to blame for it.”

And here’s are Sorkin’s lines delivered by Michael Douglas in the film:

“We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who’s to blame for it.”

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In the February issue of Los Angeles magazine, Steve Mikulan takes an in-depth look under the headline “Left Behind” at the late Yvette Vickers. The actress best known for her role in 1958′s Attack of the 50 Foot Woman made sad, international headlines last spring after her mummified body was discovered at home in Benedict Canyon.

Via a Web extra conversation with the magazine’s executive editor Matthew Segal, Mikulan provides some interesting framing info. For example, here’s how this forgotten member of Hollywood was able to continue to support herself, in lieu of residuals and such:

“For someone of her middling stature, she could probably count on $25 a pop for a signed 8-by-10. Apparently, though, this was enough to sustain her at some level of comfort.”

Mikulan also reveals that Attack of the 50 Foot Woman was in fact one of the first sci-fi movies he ever saw on TV, and that the film’s ending made a lasting impression.