Posts Tagged ‘NBC Universal’

Madonna, Mellencamp Inducted: Yep. It was an all-80s dance party. Madonna thanked all the people who said she was a talentless one-hit wonder. To which, we believe, John Mellencamp muttered under his breath, “You’re welcome.”

Copy Editors RIP: We enjoyed Patrick Goldstein’s column today, but we’ve got a quibble with the subhead: “With the demise of New Line’s Bob Shaye, is the last of the old guard being pushed aside?” It took us three graphs before we realized we weren’t reading an obit.

The Debut of Hulu: the joint News Corp.-NBC Universal answer to YouTube, makes its public debut today. Whopee.

Person We’re Most Jealous Of Today: Deborah Netburn. That lucky so-and-so got get her fangirl on at Wondercon last week, where she heard Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny and X-Files creator/deity Chris Carter talk about the new X-Files film coming out this summer. Well, actually, she didn’t get to hear much. “The fans screamed throughout the whole 45 minutes.”

And You Thought Insurance Companies Just Got In The Way Of Life-Saving Medical Procedures: Turns out, they also have a terrible effect on Indie films. Maybe Hillary should refocus.

Never Mind: Former GE exec Beth Comstock is now current GE exec Beth Comstock. The marketing chief who was sent to NBC Universal HQ two years ago, never really fit in, so she’s back at her previous post. That’s gotta be kinda weird for her.

It’s true. Television Without Pity is going to be producing… television (well, the kind that appears on your computer, anyway).

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Now! In Skank-O-Vision!

MTV renewed A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila for a second season.

E! returns on January 7th with a second season of Chelsea Lately, starring Chelsea Handler.

When’s the Theme Park Opening?

Dick Wolf and NBC Universal are talking about developing a Law & Order: London for ITV.

News for the Dim

TV Guide.com launches a Strike Survival guide so that viewers won’t get stuck watching an episode they’ve already seen. (In the case of Brothers and Sisters, how can anyone tell?)

Firebrand.com is “an online destination to view the best TV commercials”, should anyone feel sad and lonely enough to do so.

It’s the MTV of ads! Firebrand even has

CJ’s (commercial jockeys), the same way MTV had VJ’s, who will contextualize the commercials as art and entertainment.

Where are they finding viewers so challenged as to need TV ads explained to them?

From NBC Universal and Microsoft where art and commerce meet, and commerce stomps art to a bloody pulp. Check out the Facebook group.

(And how much did they pay Marvel for the name? We’re betting $0.00. and not a penny less.)

Burton Busts Out Todd in Venice
Tim Burton took his filmmaking act to the Venice Film Festival where he picked up a Golden Lion Award for lifetime achievement. In return, Burton took the festival opportunity to unspool an eight-minute sneak of the big-screen adaptation of his next pic, Sweeney Todd starring longtime actor collaborator Johnny Depp. Variety reports that Burton described the film – likely a potential Oscar pic for Paramount/DreamWorks – as an “old-fashioned horror movie with music in it.” And yes, Depp can carry a tune!

Big Cash for Big Name Directors
Robert Rodriguez, Ricky Gervais, Walter Salles, Ryan Murphy, Richard Kelly, Bennett Miller and Todd Field all got a shot in the arm for their new directing projects thanks to a $250 million equity fund from Media Rights Capital, reports Variety. The fund comes from a combo of Fortune 500 companies, Wall Street money and private equity, Michael Fleming‘s story says, and will cover eight pics that span all genres. Read all about Hollywood’s new influx of cash here.

High School Musical On Top, Again
A new week delivered pretty much the same results on the album charts – as far as the top spot is concerned. Disney‘s High School Musical 2 soundtrack is No. 1 again, selling 210,000 copies. Its cume has now topped the 1 million mark and is joined on the top 10 charts by two other Disney releases including Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus. Read Variety‘s chart breakdown of all the new discs on the market here.

Penn’s Wild New Pic
Sean Penn is back in the director’s chair with a new dramatic pic set for release this fall. But before it bows in theaters, Into the Wild is making the festival rounds with a screening at the picturesque Telluride Film Festival. THR got a glimpse of the pic based on Jon Krakauer’s book. The review is basically mixed but mostly negative calling the pic – a story about a young man’s demise in the wilderness – an “extravagantly ambitious, unfocused film that chronicles this tragic episode with flights of brilliance, self-indulgence and thrilling nature cinematography.”

ITunes Out, Amazon In at NBCUni
When one door opens another one closes. Atleast that’s the case for NBC Universal, which announced on Tuesday that it would not renew its contract for series downloads with iTunes, instead opting for a new deal with Amazon’s Unbox. Deal includes such series as The Office, Heroes, 30 Rock, Bionic Woman and Chuck.
- CHRIS GARDNER

Comic-Con Coverage: Is relegated to a weird, catch-all blog that features poorly produced video segments of — from what we can tell — nothing.

Silence Is Golden: Nondisclosure agreements aren’t just for nannies anymore. The LAT reports that in our gossipy age, celebs — and many non-celebs — are requiring everyone from plumber and gardeners to delivery people to promise to keep their mouths shut.

Things Just Got Interestinger: While Telemundo considers the fate of Mirthala Salinas, the reporter who had an affair with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Telemundo’s corporate parent, NBC Universal will be leaning on the mayor to help pass a massive $3-billion development plan. A little tat for, um, tit?

Bob Wright, Survived By Jeff Zucker, Is Out At NBC. He was 63: Meg James writes up Bob Wright’s departure from NBC Universal as though it were an obit, which we guess it kinda is.

Life In The Fast Lane: The state has run out of carpool lane stickers for hybrid drivers. Great. Now all these guys are going to be smug and road-rage-y.

Colts Who? Sony’s The Real Winner: Sony has had the number one Super Bowl weekend movie seven years running with The Messengers. Of course, that streak may be due to the fact that no other studio really pays attention to Super Bowl weekend, but whatever. A streak is a streak, and Sony got Josh Friedman to write about it.