Hot Off The Press: The Latest TV News and Information - Page 2704

Critic's Notes
Bianculli's Best Bets
By David Bianculli, TVWorthWatching.com - Jul. 23, 2012

MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
In 1935, less than a decade after the advent of motion picture talkies, this drama won an Oscar for Best Picture, and Charles Laughton crafted an astoundingly sophisticated portrayal as the maniacal Captain Bligh. And look else who’s along for this fantastic voyage: Clark Cable as Fletcher Christian and Franchot Tone as Byam.

VITO
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
I knew the name Vito Russo only as a film critic and author – as the man who wrote The Celluloid Closet, the early seminal work about gay images and themes in mainstream cinema. But this 2011 documentary covers much more ground than that. It not only documents his early ties to Bette Midler’s New York bath house performances and the city’s emerging gay club scene, but also Russo’s involvement in gay rights and the initial identification of the AIDS virus.

THE CLOSER
TNT, 9:00 p.m. ET
Only a few episodes are left until this series ends and its spinoff begins. So if you’re a big fan of Kyra Sedgwick, now’s the time to watch her. Her tantrums are becoming more frequent, more demonstrative – and, given what’s bothering her these days, more meaningful.

PERCEPTION
TNT, 10:00 p.m. ET
This isn’t a well-written series, which makes it a lot less satisfying to watch – but this new quirky crime series does feature a lot of surprisingly strong guest stars. Tonight, for exaple, the guest star is Sheryl Lee from Twin Peaks, who plays a woman who, after being attacked, raped and almost murdered as a teen, is returned to her old bedroom 26 years later to pick up her life where it left off – and, while thinking she’s a teen again, try and recall details about her attacker. Like I said, not that well written. But Lee’s performance here is quite good.

WEB THERAPY
Showtime, 11:00 p.m. ET
So many stars have jumped aboard for this show’s second season – Meryl Streep and Rosie O’Donnell among them – that Lisa Kudrow’s partly improvised comedy has become increasingly enjoyable. Especially the closing credits, where outtakes are folded in to provide one final jolt of good humor.

http://www.tvworthwatching.com/

Summer TCA Tour Notes
PBS’ Ken Burns ‘The Dust Bowl’ Documentary To Air Nov. 18-19
By the Deadline.com Team - Jul. 22, 2012

Diane Haithman contributes to Deadline’s TV coverage.

When documentarian Ken Burns speaks, everything sounds like poetry. At today’s TCA panel on his latest PBS documentary The Dust Bowl, Burns didn’t say that some of the survivors of the devastating 1930s dust storms that were interviewed for the documentary have died. He said: “We have already lost four of them to the merciless passage of time.” The documentary will air in two episodes November 18-19.

But some of them are very much alive. Cal Crabill, 87, appeared on the panel with Burns, his producing partner Dayton Duncan, and author and columnist Tim Egan, who appears in the documentary and whose book The Worst Hard Time served as an inspiration to the filmmakers.

Burns and Duncan said they connected with some of the approximately 25 survivors interviewed through appeals on PBS stations, visits to nursing homes and running notices in local newspapers. Crabill was one of them. “I watch PBS primarily. NBC for the local news and then I watch PBS, nothing much on TV will really excite me much,” said Crabill, drawing laughs from the television journalists assembled. Now living in the Bay Area, he saw one of the trailers urging him to contact local station management, and he did.

Like the other survivors interviewed Crabill was a child when the dust storms began to hit. His family moved to Burbank when he was 10. He went from a country school class of 3 students to a Burbank high school with 600-700 students. “It was culture shock, and I’ve been in culture shock ever since,” he says. He says when he saw his first dust storm rolling in, as he was trying to drive the family’s cattle home as he always did after school, “I thought it was the end of the world.”

Burns, Duncan and Egan compared the ravages of the Dust Bowl, and the tribulations of those who fled and those who stayed, to contemporary situations, including Hurricane Katrina. They pointed out how the raging dust storms were caused by human disregard to the effects of over-farming the land. Said Duncan, “It’s a cautionary tale … we believe we can ignore the limits on nature and the environment if it suits our purposes. All those things converged on the Southern Plains.”

They also drew parallels between the experience of the “Okies” who fled the Dust Bowl and the cultural clashes that come with contemporary immigration. The displaced Okies, Burns said, were seen as “unwelcome job stealers” just like some current immigrants.

Old feelings die hard. Crabill talked about returning to Burbank for his 55th high school reunion and meeting a schoolmate whose family had owned the little house on the alley his family had rented. When he told her who he was, she recoiled saying he and his family were “Grapes of Wrath people, they were horrible and poor.” While other classmates apologized for her behavior, Crabill said, “I’m not sure we change that much.”

Burns likened interviewing the children of the Dust Bowl to interviewing World War II veterans for his documentary The War in two ways: One, the race against time to capture their stories before they die, and two, the deluge of emotion that poured out when reticent people finally began to open up.

“I did my first interview on 16-millimeter sound film in 1972,” Burns reminisced. “That’s 40-and-a-half years ago, and I still feel like an amateur when it comes to an interview.”

http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/ken-burns-dust-bowl-documentary-to-air-nov-18-19/

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Summer TCA Tour Notes
David Geffen At TCA: “Impossible” To Raise $2B To Start DreamWorks Studio Today
By Dominic Patten, Deadline.com - Jul. 22, 2012

David Geffen is notoriously press and camera shy. (Unless it’s with Maureen Dowd or Barbara Walters.) But he appeared at TCA today for the upcoming PBS American Masters: Inventing David Geffen documentary billed as an “unflinching” portrait of his life. He was brief with his answers to reporters and critics, emphasizing repeatedly this afternoon that he has little to do with showbiz anymore except for the 3 million-4 million stock shares which his foundation owns in publicly traded DreamWorks Animation run by Jeffrey Katzenberg. (He pointed out that he hasn’t even seen Steven Spielberg’s upcoming Lincoln yet “but I’ve heard it is very good” from DreamWorks 2.0.) Geffen said today it would be “impossible” to raise the $2 billion financing that formed the original DreamWorks which he co-founded back in 1994 with Spielberg and Katzenberg as the first new Hollywood studio in 50 years. “I don’t think it can be done today for a start-up. I don’t think anyone can raise $2 billion, I couldn’t do it today.” Geffen repeatedly spoke about the differences in showbiz between when he was coming up in the biz – and now. One of the most dramatic changes? “The demise of the DVD has a huge impact on the finances of the business,” he said. “The business model has changed. The industry will exist in very different ways than we experience it today. It’ll still be here. But I think there will be industries that will be far more profitable.”

Specifically about the film biz, Geffen said, “The biggest movies in the world have no stars in them today. Avatar has no stars. Avengers, with the exception of the small role that Robert Downey Jr had in it, had no stars. Today it is the story not the stars,” the mogul said. (He bluntly said Rock of Ages bombed because “it was a bad movie.”) Geffen did say what’s still the same is how hard it is to get into showbiz. “It was very hard then, and it is now. A very hard bullseye to hit.” His own early years as a working class Brooklyn boy in the William Morris Agency mailroom in 1964 spanned into the music industry and his early success with Joni Mitchell, Crosby Stills and Nash, Jackson Browne, the Eagles, and Guns N’ Roses through his companies Geffen/Roberts Management, Asylum Records, and Geffen Records. He also reached into feature films through Geffen Pictures and onto Broadway. A multimillionaire by 1972 and a billionaire by 1995, Geffen’s final hurrah in Hollywood was DreamWorks and its evolution also is the subject of the PBS’ two-hour Inventing David Geffen documentary. Along the way, the mogul’s relentless ambition, business deals, political activism, and philanthropic causes are woven into the narrative.

Written, directed, and produced by Susan Lacy for PBS’ American Masters, it will air on November 20th. More than 50 of Geffen’s friends, colleagues and clients, as well as other media bigwigs, contributed to the doc exploring the highs and the lows in Geffen’s professional and personal life, like Irving Azoff, Jackson Browne, Cher, David Crosby, Clive Davis, Barry Diller, Maureen Dowd, Rahm Emanuel, Nora Ephron, Tom Hanks, Don Henley, Arianna Huffington, Jimmy Iovine, Elton John, Calvin Klein, Steve Martin, Lorne Michaels, Mike Nichols, Yoko Ono, Frank Rich, Slash, Jann Wenner, Neil Young, and of course Spielberg and Katzenberg. Notorious for his fierce loyalty, bluntness and chutzpah, Geffen has not avoided conflict or controversy. American Masters’ Inventing David Geffen addresses his fallings out with Laura Nyro, the Eagles, and the Clintons, his lawsuit against Neil Young, his unsuccessful stint at Warner Bros Pictures, his whirlwind romance with Cher, and his struggles with cancer, homosexuality, and the AIDS-related deaths of his friends. Since its 1986 premiere, American Masters has earned 23 Emmy Awards, the 2012 Producers Guild Award, 12 Peabodys, an Oscar, and three Grammys.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/tca-david-geffen-hollywood-box-office-avatar-the-avengers-dreamworks-tca-pbs/

TV/Business Notes
Bruising Blackout: A Prelude?
As DirecTV, Viacom Settle Dispute, Contract Talks Loom for Both Fox and CBS
By Shalini Ramachandran and John Jannarone, Wall Street Journal

DirecTV ended its nine-day blackout of Viacom Inc. channels early Friday morning, but the prospect of more blackouts looms as Fox and CBS are soon to renegotiate their own distribution agreements.

And a central issue in the Viacom-DirecTV dispute—the availability of Viacom shows on the Web and its impact on TV viewership—could recur even more intensely in those negotiations, industry executives said. Both Fox and CBS put many of their shows online.

Both Viacom and DirecTV emerged somewhat bruised by their clash, with Viacom's channels suffering ratings declines during the dispute and DirecTV losing some subscribers. Each company claimed satisfaction with the final outcome, however, which was reached after an all-night negotiating session.

Precise financial details of the seven-year agreement weren't disclosed. But people familiar with the situation said Viacom won an increase of more than 20% in the fees paid by DirecTV, which previously had totaled around $500 million annually, lifting the amount to above $600 million.

DirecTV earlier had said that Viacom was asking for a 30% increase in fees, though Viacom said its existing agreement paid it below-market rates and it was just asking for a fair deal. DirecTV will now pay roughly what Viacom receives from other big distributors, said people familiar with the deal. Viacom owns MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central.

DirecTV didn't agree to add Viacom's partly owned premium channel Epix, which analysts said was significant. Getting Epix added would have been an "unequivocal victory" for Viacom, RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank said.

"They recognized that we were not going to blink," said Derek Chang, executive vice president of content strategy and development for DirecTV. "At the end of the day, we feel comfortable with the deal we did because it reflects a fairness in terms of what the market rates are," he added.

"We are satisfied with all aspects of the deal," a Viacom spokesman said. In an internal memo, Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman said "even the strongest partnerships occasionally hit rough patches…it is important that our distribution agreements reflect the value of our content."

One investor in both Viacom and DirecTV noted that Viacom "got a decent bump and it'll be fine, but it takes some of the wind out of the sails of programmers." He added that "it shows that ratings matter," a reference to the steep ratings declines that Viacom's best-known channels, particularly Nickelodeon, had suffered in recent months, which became a central issue in the dispute. The "days of automatic increases above market" cannot be "counted on," the investor said.

Viacom shares, after initially rising on the news, were down 24 cents to $46.41 in 4 p.m. composite trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, while DirecTV shares fell 62 cents to $48.33.

The dispute took on broader significance than the typical programmer-distributor fight, coming amid rising use of online video and growing worries that the increasing cost of pay TV will prompt consumers to disconnect. Analysts said it was a sign of how the landscape is shifting that some cable operators, longtime rivals of DirecTV, issued public statements supporting the satellite TV firm and said they wouldn't capitalize on the situation by ramping up marketing against DirecTV.

Increasingly, the availability of TV programs online will be an issue in future negotiations between distributors and content companies, pay-TV executives said. DirecTV cited it as a factor in this dispute. A similar issue also played a role in Dish Network Corp.'s continuing blackout of AMC Networks Inc.'s channels, as past seasons of some AMC shows are available on outlets like Netflix.

Later this year, Fox network is due to renegotiate its distribution agreement with Comcast Corp., the biggest pay-TV distributor, according to people familiar with the matter. CBS Corp.'s CBS will negotiate a new deal with DirecTV and with Cablevision Systems Corp., the ninth-biggest distributor, according to other people knowledgeable of the situation.

Because broadcast networks were historically free over the air, broadcasters have been more aggressive than cable channels in making their shows available online for free. Both CBS and Fox allow much of their programming to stream online for free, CBS via CBS.com and Fox via sites like Hulu.com. Comcast, Cablevision, Fox and CBS declined to comment. News Corp., which owns The Wall Street Journal, also owns Fox and partly owns Hulu.

"These online deals undercut the value of the content they are providing for us," said Dish Network chief programming negotiator Dave Shull, who foresees online video coming up in future negotiations.

"I'm hoping that they are getting the message that we are very serious about this position. I think whether it's on Hulu or whether it's streaming availability of the content elsewhere, it reduces the amount of money that we want to pay to the broadcasters or the other programmers."

Analysts said it remains an issue for Viacom, which has generated licensing revenue from some of the online deals even as the ratings falls have affected its advertising revenue.

"Viacom will have to be more judicious in making this content available on the Web," said Craig Moffett, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303740704577521300806686174.html?mod=WSJ_0_0_WP_2722_RIGHTTopCarousel_1

TV Notes
WWE's 'Monday Night Raw' packs 1,000 episodes under its belt
By Brian Truitt, USA Today - Jul. 23, 2012

LAS VEGAS – It sounds like an episode of Glee: An on-again, off-again couple finally decide to get engaged, and two separate dance numbers — one involving a disco ball — break out amid a heap of betrayal, wars of words and a few sneak attacks.

But the only thing this program's stars do with glee is hit each other with flying elbow drops off the top rope.

This is Monday Night Raw, World Wrestling Entertainment's wild and woolly live weekly show on the USA Network. Tonight in St. Louis (8 ET/PT), it celebrates its 1,000th episode, a major milestone in the streak of the longest-running weekly episodic program in TV history with no reruns.

In addition to Raw, the WWE has its Friday night Smackdown show on Syfy, and WWE Main Event will air on Ion on Wednesdays starting Oct. 3. That's in addition to 12 pay-per-view events a year and a huge presence on social media.

"It's like an athletic soap opera in some respects, and that's what grabs people," says Glenn Jacobs, a 6-foot-7 mountain of a man who plays the masked monster Kane.

The program has been a cable ratings giant itself over the years, pulling in a consistent and fanatical 5 million people each Monday. "They get acclaim for their original series, but Raw is one of the core reasons USA has been the most-watched cable network for the last six years," says Brad Adgate, senior vice president for research at Horizon Media.

Part of the show's success has been that its target viewers — teens and young men — tend to be hard for shows and advertisers to reach, Adgate says. "These are the ones who are playing video games or going online to watch YouTube."

Raw is more than just a TV show, though. Since its first airing on Jan. 11, 1993, it has been a traveling circus of good-guy/bad-guy drama (or, in wrestling parlance, babyfaces vs. heels), airborne physicality, standup comedy, Broadway showmanship, vaudevillian shenanigans and colorful characters, in a new arena and city every week.

The show moves to three hours starting tonight when it originates from the Scottrade Center and popular stars of WWE past, including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Bret Hart and Mick Foley, share the wrestling ring with today's talent. The tattooed WWE champion CM Punk will defend his title against John Cena, the square-jawed face of the organization, in a battle of fan favorites, and there will be a "wedding" of that engaged couple, Daniel Bryan and his eccentric tomboy girlfriend AJ Lee.

Historically, wrestling weddings don't go all that smoothly, and Raw production designer Jason Robinson would know. His team will do everything from picking out the rings to designing the setup for the vows, and he has done several weddings in his nearly 17 years with WWE.

He has also blown up a limo and a bus on live TV, driven everything from a Zamboni to a milk truck to the ring, and split the stage so someone could drive a tank through it.

"I guess whatever happens next Monday will be the next craziest thing," Robinson says backstage at last week's broadcast from Mandalay Bay Resort and Hotel.

No ceilings

Wrestling has been a fixture on television since its earliest days in the 1950s. But its popularity really soared into pop culture in the 1980s with outsized personalities (and physical specimens) such as Hulk Hogan and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.

Vince McMahon, the WWE CEO who has run the company since 1980, never dreamed of having 1,000 episodes as a goal, "but I have some pretty wild dreams, and have all my life," he says. "I don't know limitations until they really slap me in the face."

His business philosophy is to never have a ceiling, which is why he has expanded his media empire to include a WWE Films brand and an upcoming WWE Network.

"Many years ago, I had a chief financial officer say, 'Vince, you make your money on pay-per-view, so why do all this other crap?' Without all the other stuff we do, pay-per-view doesn't work," says the CEO, whose PPV revenues are up 30% after setting a record with 1.2 million buys for Wrestlemania 28 in April.

McMahon has involved himself in the on-screen action as well, playing an evil version of himself. When Raw debuted in 1993, though, he was just an announcer.

That first episode kept the old-school style of fans' favorite heroes and villains squashing hapless weaker opponents (known in the parlance as "jobbers"). But when rival World Championship Wrestling, owned at the time by media mogul Ted Turner, began airing its Nitro program opposite Raw, "having value in the matches became the most important thing," says David Shoemaker, who writes about wrestling for the websites Grantland and Deadspin.

"We had to build a better mousetrap," says McMahon, whose current competition "across the board is all forms of entertainment."

Back in the day, a Cena/Punk contest would have been held for a WrestleMania or other pay-per-view event. Now, headliner matches are a staple of every Raw.

Fans watching the show at the arena or on their couches see only the spectacle of such a match. But the actual live broadcast is the end to a long and hectic day for wrestlers as well as crew members.

On the morning of the 999th Raw at Mandalay Bay, 14 semis of equipment roll in to put up the ring, a huge HD panel, assorted lights and pyrotechnics in around four hours. Then the creative types show up, including McMahon, for the daily production meeting to go over what will happen on Raw, from wrestlers' story-building "promos" to what tweaks are needed for the script.

Sans mask and in athletic wear, Jacobs is the first in-ring talent in the building and attends the meeting. He's a 17-year mainstay on Raw, but he has been toying with the idea of moving to that less-bruising side of the industry when he hangs up his size-15 boots. "Now that I have seen a little more about the production side of it," he says, "you realize how impressive doing a live television show every week is, and everything that goes into it and the changes that have to be made as you're going along."

Many of those alterations are made in rehearsals before the arena is open for the live audience. Producers go over matches and segments with the wrestlers in a TV writers' room of sorts, and clad in a headset, Paul Levesque, the WWE's executive vice president of talent and live events — he performs under the moniker "Triple H" — makes sure the smallest details will run smoothly. (He also happens to be McMahon's son-in-law.)

At the "Gorilla position" just behind the staging (named for the late wrestling and announcing great Gorilla Monsoon), wrestlers get last-minute instructions on matches, and referees also have in-ear monitors for audibles during the action.

"Raw is live, and it's live right up until we're done, which means we're changing stuff," says Levesque, who will flip the script on the fly depending on crowd reaction. "The reality of our business is fans control the content. They control who's the most popular, who's the most hated, because we really go where they're going."

Going big on social media

A large mat comes out when it's time to practice some of the evening's biggest power moves. The ring has a few inches of padding, but really it's just steel, wood, canvas and ropes, says Sean Sellman , director of production logistics. So stars are taking some serious bumps.

Mike Mizanin just recently returned to the WWE after filming the movie The Marine: Homefront for six weeks — Johnson, Cena, Hogan and other stars over the years have flirted with varying success on the bigger screen. A couple of weeks in, though, the former reality star on MTV's The Real World noticed his back oddly starting to tighten up. "I was like, you know what, I think it's healing right now," the dapperly dressed Mizanin says after a WWE.com photo shoot.

More than just his body is refreshed; he brought his cocky and brash character "The Miz" back with a new haircut and some facial scruff. "Just that little change of your hair and your face, people will notice," Mizanin says. "Twitter is blowing up my hairdo! My hair's trending, what the hell is going on?"

Social media has become a major focus for WWE. Its latest push is with Tout, a newer platform allowing wrestlers to interact with fans through videos of 15 seconds or less.

Many of its stars are on Twitter, and most Monday nights during Raw, Twitter's most popular topics are wrestler names or hashtags created from what's said during a wrestler's verbal sparring with another. The hashtag du jour: #Raw1000.

On social media as well as in arenas, Lee is one of the most popular of the WWE's female "Divas" and a rising star from a current love-triangle angle involving her "crazy chick" character, Bryan and Punk. (The spunky and diminutive Lee, who comes across as shy off-screen, also laid a big wet smooch on the much-larger Jacobs one night to make it a love rhombus for a time.)

"I love the in-ring work, but as a fan I love the dramatic stuff more than anything," says Lee, a self-admitted "nerd" who hopes to inspire little girls the same way WWE women did for her when she was 12.

"This day and age, there needs to be a girl who's not wearing as much makeup and isn't that pampered-up and fancy. There's a place for that, but there's also a place for a girl I think fans want to hang out with and see themselves in."

The fans come first

She's getting a lot of cheers, but the man who garners the most — and receives just as many jeers at times — is Cena. While other wrestlers partake in the vast catering spread or work on their matches, he takes the time to visit with a pair of little boys from the Make a Wish Foundation whose wishes are to meet their muscular idol.

In turn, he dotes on them with autographs, hugs and attention.

"Our audience really attaches themselves to characters," Cena says. "Somehow along this 10-year journey, I've been able to morph into myself."

For him, a 1,000th Raw is just as historic as The Simpsons reaching 500 episodes or 20 seasons of Law & Order.

"It's something that transcends everything, but at the same time, there is no 'Hey, man, they just hit 1,000 episodes!' from the entertainment folks," Cena says. "I've never paid much attention to the 'important' critics. I pay attention to the people who come to see us."

The key to longevity — and another 1,000 — will be continuing to be fresh and innovative, Levesque says. "We'll get to Raw 2,000. It's on the moon, I think."

One guy who hopes to be there, too, is WWE commentator Jerry Lawler, a 42-year veteran who was at the first Raw at New York City's Manhattan Center.

"I might just be a head in a glass tube," Lawler laughs backstage, just before his entrance music queues up — Mussorgsky's The Great Gate of Kiev— and he walks out to 10,000 cheering fans.

"Even if I'm just a head, just set me in front of a TV somewhere."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/story/2012-07-18/wwe-monday-night-raw-1000-shows/56423082/1

TV/Business Notes
Reshooting J. R., This Time on Home Territory
By Christopher Kelly, The New York Times - Jul. 22, 2012

TNT’s reboot of the classic television series “Dallas” has proved a boon on many levels. The nearly forgotten stars of the original CBS show — Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray — reprise their roles and have been given a new lease on their careers.

TNT executives, meanwhile, are no doubt pleased with the show’s ratings. Since its premiere in mid-June, “Dallas” has averaged nearly seven million viewers each week, making it one of the most popular scripted shows on basic cable.

Perhaps the biggest beneficiary, however, is the city of Dallas. In recent months, the city has experienced a boost in civic pride and tourist activity. It is also enjoying economic benefits that it never got from the original “Dallas,” which ran from 1978 to 1991 but was mostly shot in Los Angeles.

The first, 10-episode season of the new “Dallas” was filmed throughout North Texas in 2011 and early 2012, injecting an estimated $28.8 million into the local economy. On June 29, TNT announced that it had renewed the show for a second, 15-episode season.

“We didn’t want what happened with the first season of the original show to happen again,” said Janis Burklund, the head of the Dallas Film Commission. “They did the first season here and then pretty much went back to Los Angeles.”

Ms. Burklund began working to lure “Dallas” to its namesake city in 2010. Last year she successfully lobbied the city to approve a $25,000 grant to the production, as well as a $235,000 economic development grant to help finish a privately owned production facility in south Dallas.

Texas has an incentive program for film and television productions, run through the governor’s office, and the first season of “Dallas” ultimately qualified for a $2.1 million grant because it would pay $7.2 million in wages in Texas, according to Josh Havens, a spokesman for the governor. But this program is not considered as generous as those offered by neighboring states like Louisiana and New Mexico, which is why Ms. Burklund felt her city needed to supplement the state incentives if it hoped to secure the production.

Warner Horizon Television, the show’s production company, “was determined to go with whoever had the best incentives,” Ms. Burklund said. “Luckily, the producers saw the artistic value of being here.”

Ken Topolsky, one of the show’s producers, said: “The city of Dallas is trying to make its place in the 21st century. It feels important and dramatic. We felt we had to shoot here.”

In June, shortly after a number of City Council members attended a premiere of the show at the Winspear Opera House, the Council unanimously approved another package, granting the production $200,000 for each new season produced in Dallas, up to $1.2 million over six seasons.

The new “Dallas” is also stimulating local tourism, especially at Southfork Ranch in Parker. The ranch, a special event and conference center since 1991, was the fictional homestead of the Ewings in the original show, and a number of scenes from the new “Dallas” have been shot there, too. According to Janna Timm, the regional director of sales and marketing for Southfork, the number of visitors has tripled since the show has been on the air, with more than 400 people a day touring the premises on weekends. She also reported a flurry of calls from people hoping to have weddings there.

“One woman already had her wedding planned for New York,” Ms. Timm said. “But the day after the show premiered, she called and said she and her husband wanted to have their wedding just like the Ewings. They wanted to have it here.”

Then there is the welcome ego boost that “Dallas” is giving local actors and crew members, following a string of high-profile disappointments. In 2010, three new network series set up shop in North Texas, bringing with them the promise of new work opportunities. But “Chase” (on NBC), and “The Good Guys” and “Lone Star” (both on Fox) received poor ratings and were quickly canceled.

“When they all hit at once, there was excitement — auditions, crew interviews, a big buzz,” said Brett Brock, a Dallas-based actor who appeared in episodes of both “The Good Guys” and “Chase.” “It felt like a big wave was coming. Of course it didn’t play out that way.”

The popularity of “Dallas,” Mr. Brock added, has the local talent pool excited again. He appeared in the first two episodes of the season, playing a henchman of John Ross Ewing, J. R.’s son, played by Josh Henderson.

As for Dallas residents, no one seems to be complaining. Despite the show’s sometimes broad caricatures and reinforcement of longstanding stereotypes about big oil and big hair, the new “Dallas” deftly pays heed to a city that has always been proud of its own sheen. The show’s opening credits feature brand-new landmarks like the downtown Omni Hotel and the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge alongside familiar ones like Reunion Tower.

The first few episodes alone set scenes at the American Airlines Center; the Cedars Social, the trendy bar; and even on the 50-yard-line of Jerry Jones’s billion-dollar Cowboys Stadium.

“Everywhere I go, I’m hearing from people about how cool it is to see the city on the show,” Ms. Burklund said. “And it looks great. When you watch the show, you have to say, ‘Wow, our city looks great.’ ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/us/dallas-now-on-tnt-is-really-filmed-in-dallas-this-time.html?_r=1&ref=television

SUNDAY's fast affiliate overnight prime-time ratings -and what they mean- have been posted on Analyst Marc Berman's Media Insight's Blog

Nielsen Overnights (18-49)
Sweet bump for ABC’s ‘Bachelorette’ finale
Averages a 3.0 in 18-49s, a season high and up 7 percent
By Toni Fitzgerald, Media Life Magazine - Jul. 23, 2012

ABC's decision to move "The Bachelorette" finale from Monday to Sunday was a good one.

The season-ender drew a season-high rating and was up over last year.

"Bachelorette" averaged a 3.0 in adults 18-49 from 8 to 10 p.m., according to Nielsen, 7 percent better than last year's finale, which averaged a 2.8.

It marked ABC's best non-sports summer numbers in the timeslot in six years.

The after-show, in which Emily and the man she chose (no spoilers here) revealed that they're still together, drew a 3.2, up 14 percent over last year.

"Bachelorette" may have drawn viewers away from CBS last night. The network's "Big Brother" fell 17 percent from last week airing opposite the first hour of "Bachelorette" at 8 p.m.

CBS had originally planned to premiere its own dating show, "3," last night, but it moved the premiere to Thursday after ABC decided to schedule "Bachelorette" on Sunday.

ABC was first for the night among 18-49s with a 2.6 average overnight rating and an 8 share. CBS was second at 1.2/3, Fox and Univision tied for third at 1.0/3, NBC was fifth at 0.9/3 and Telemundo sixth at 0.4/1.

As a reminder, all ratings are based on live-plus-same-day DVR playback, which includes shows replayed before 3 a.m. the night before. Seven-day DVR data won't be available for several weeks. Forty-four percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.

At 7 p.m. ABC was first with a 1.2 for a repeat of "America's Funniest Home Video," while CBS, NBC and Fox all tied for second at 1.0, CBS for "60 Minutes," NBC for "Dateline," and Fox for repeats of "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy." Univision was fifth with a 0.8 for "Familia P. Luche" and Telemundo sixth with a 0.3 for the movie "Kiss of the Dragon."

ABC increased its lead at 8 p.m. with a 2.7 for the first hour of "Bachelorette," followed by CBS with a 1.9 for "Brother." NBC, Fox and Univision all tied for third at 1.0, NBC for more "Dateline," Fox for "Teen Choice 2012" and Univision for "Pequeños Gigantes." Telemundo was sixth with a 0.4 for its movie.

At 9 p.m. ABC led again with a 3.2 for more "Bachelorette," with Univision second with a 1.2 for another hour of "Gigantes." Fox was third with a 1.1 for "Teen Choice," CBS fourth with a 0.9 for a repeat of "The Mentalist," NBC fifth with a 0.8 for a rerun of "America's Got Talent" and Telemundo sixth with a 0.3 for the movie "12 Rounds."

ABC completed the full-night sweep at 10 p.m. with a 3.2 for "The Bachelorette: After the Final Rose," followed by Univision with a 1.0 for "Sal y Pimienta." CBS was third with a 0.9 for more "Mentalist," NBC fourth with a 0.8 for another hour of "Talent" and Telemundo fifth with a 0.4 for its movie.

Among households, ABC finished first for the night with a 5.0 average overnight rating and a 9 share. CBS was second at 3.4/6, NBC third at 2.4/4, Fox fourth at 1.6/3, Univision fifth at 1.4/2 and Telemundo sixth at 0.5/1.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/sweet-bump-for-abcs-bachelorette-finale/

TV Notes
Olympics 2012 on primetime TV: Ready, set, go!
By EW.com Staff

We’re getting close to the start of the 2012 Olympics on July 27, and in addition to all the NBC channels that will be showing the various games throughout the day, the network’s primetime lineup will be the place to catch up on all the big events, like the highly anticipated Ryan Lochte-Michael Phelps head-to-head. But you can also catch those events from the evening program while they are playing out live during the day either on NBCOlympics.com, which will stream every event as it’s happening, or one of the other NBC channels. We’ve run down when and where to see some of the big events.

(ALL TIMES ET)

Friday, July 27

Watch on NBC:

7:30-midnight: Opening ceremonies


Saturday, July 28

LIVE ON NBCSN:

4AM-5AM: Beach Volleyball

12PM-1:45PM: Soccer-USA vs Colombia

LIVE ON CNBC:

8:30AM-11:30AM: Boxing, bantam weight and middleweight

PRIME-TIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC:

8PM-midnight: Swimming finals, including men’s and women’s 400 meter Individual Medley
Gymnastics, men’s qualification
Beach volleyball, women’s early rounds


Sunday, July 29

LIVE ON NBCSN:

9:30AM-11:30AM: Men’s Basketball, USA vs France
4:15PM-6PM: Women’s Field Hockey, USA vs Germany

PRIME-TIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC:

7PM-midnight: Gymnastics, women’s qualification
Swimming finals, including men’s 4x400M free relay
Diving, women’s springboard finals


Monday, July 30

LIVE ON NBCSN:

8:15PM-12:45PM: Equestrian eventing and cross country
5:15PM-7PM: Women’s Basketball, Angola vs USA

PRIME-TIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC:

8PM-midnight: Swimming, men’s 200 meter freestyle–Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte’s first match-up
Gymnastics, men’s team finals
Diving, men’s synchronized platform medal events


Tuesday, July 31

LIVE ON NBCSN:

12:15PM – 2PM: Women’s Soccer, U.S. vs. North Korea
5:15PM-7:15PM: Men’s Basketball, U.S. vs Tunisia

PRIME-TIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC:

8PM-midnight: Gymnastics, women’s team
Diving, women’s 10m synchronized platform
Swimming, men’s 200 meter fly finals


Wednesday, August 1

LIVE ON NBCSN:

5PM-7PM: Women’s basketball:

LIVE ON MSNBC:

3:30PM-3:50PM: Fencing, women’s sabre final

PRIME-TIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC:

8PM-midnight: Swimming, men’s 200m breast, women’s 200m fly, men’s 100m free and the women’s 4x200m free relay finals
Diving, men’s 3m synchronized springboard finals
Gymnastics, men’s all-around finals
Beach Volleyball


Thursday, August 2

TAPED ON NBCSN:

1:20PM-2:20PM: Men’s Water Polo, USA vs German

LIVE ON NBCSN:

5:15PM-7:15PM: Men’s Basketball, USA vs Nigeria

TAPED ON NBC:

3PM-5PM: Men’s Volleyball, USA vs Brazil

PRIME-TIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC:

8PM-midnight:Gymnastics, women’s all-around
Swimming, men’s finals–Phelps vs Lochte in 200 meter individual medley


Friday, August 3

LIVE ON NBCSN:

5PM-7PM: Women’s Basketball, U.S vs Czech Republic

LIVE ON BRAVO:

7 AM – 3 PM: Tennis, Singles Semifinals

PRIME-TIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC:

8PM-midnight: Swimming finals, including 100 meter butterfly
Diving, women’s 3m springboard preliminaries
Volleyball, U.S. Womens vs Serbia
Trampoline, men’s finals


Saturday, August 4

LIVE ON NBC:

9AM-11AM: Women’s Tennis Finals

LIVE ON NBCSN:

4AM-6:15AM: Women’s Triathlon
2PM-3:30PM: Women’s Field Hockey, USA vs. New Zealand

PRIME-TIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC:

8PM-midnight: Swimming finals, including men’s and women’s medley relays
Track & Field, women’s 100 meter dash
Diving, women’s springboard semifinal
Beach Volleyball


Sunday, August 5

LIVE ON NBCSN:

5 AM– 6:30AM: Cycling, Track Events
12:15PM-2PM: Tennis, Women’s Doubles Gold Medal Final

TAPED ON NBC:

11:30AM-1:30PM: Women’s basketball: China vs USA

PRIME-TIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC:

7PM-midnight: Track & Field, men’s 100 meter dash
Gymnastics, apparatus final
Diving, women’s springboard final
Beach volleyball


Monday, August 6

LIVE ON NBCSN:

2:45PM-4:45PM: Women’s Soccer Semifinal, Game 2
5:15PM-7:15PM: Men’s Basketball, USA vs Argentina

PRIME-TIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC:

8PM-midnight: Gymnastics, apparatus finals
Track & Field, men’s 400 meter final
Diving, men’s springboard qualifying
Beach volleyball, men’s quarterfinal
Cycling, men’s track sprint final


Tuesday, August 7

LIVE ON NBCSN:

12AM-1:45PM: Men’s Soccer–Semifinals

10:45AM-11:30AM: Equestrian, Team Dressage Gold Medal Final

LIVE ON NBC:

1:15PM-2PM: Men’s Diving, Springboard Gold Medal Final

PRIME-TIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC:

8PM-midnight: Gymnastics, individual finals
Track & Field
Beach volleyball, semifinal


Wednesday, August 8

LIVE ON NBCSN:

3PM-7:15PM: Men’s Basketball, Quarterfinal Games 3 and 4

LIVE ON MSNBC:

4PM-4:30PM: Women’s freestyle finals

PRIME-TIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC:

8PM-11:05PM:Beach volleyball, women’s finals
Track & Field
Diving, women’s platform preliminaries


Thursday, August 9

LIVE ON NBC:

10 AM-11:45AM: Women’s Volleyball

LIVE ON NBCSN:

12PM-2PM: Women’s Basketball, Women’s semifinal Game 1

PRIME-TIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC:

8PM-midnight: Track & Field finals, including men’s 200 meter finals
Cycling, BMX quarterfinals
Beach Volleyball, men’s finals
Diving, women’s platform


Friday, August 10

TAPED ON NBC:

1:45-2:45: Rhythmic gymnastics

LIVE ON NBCSN:

12PM-2PM: Men’s basketball, semifinal game 1

PRIME-TIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC:

8PM-midnight: Track & Field, relay finals
Cycling, BMX finals
Volleyball, men’s semifinal
Diving, men’s platform


Thursday, August 11

TAPED ON NBC:

1:15PM-2:15PM: Rhythmic gymnastics finals

LIVE ON NBCSN:

12PM-2PM: Track and field

PRIME-TIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC:

8PM-midnight: Track & Field, men’s 4×100 and women’s 4×400 relay
Diving, men’s platform semifinal and final
Volleyball, women’s final

Friday, August 12

WATCH ON NBC:

7PM-10:38PM: Closing Ceremonies

http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/07/20/olympics-tv-schedule/

Summer TCA Tour Notes
Fox Premiering 'Ben and Kate,' 'Mindy' Online, Offering Free 'New Girl'
By Michael O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter's 'Live Feed' Blog - Jul. 23, 2012

As is now something of a tradition for many freshman comedies, Ben and Kate and The Mindy Project will get a two-week sampling period ahead of their official Sept. 25 debuts on Fox.

The network announced Monday morning, at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, that both of the new Tuesday comedies will see early premieres from Aug. 27 through Sept. 9 on Facebook, Yahoo!, Hulu, AOL, MSN, Fox.com, Xfinity and other outlets.

It's a similar move to last year's network success story, New Girl, which actually streamed at multiple online outlets up until the eve of the premiere.

As for New Girl, Fox is making a play for more viewers by offering free encores of the Zooey Deschanel comedy's 24-episode freshman run Yahoo! TV. The standalone website and reference to the series' oft mentioned "douche bag jar," www.addtothejar.com, will house free streams of the initial run throughout august. Six new episodes will arrive each week for four weeks.

Ben and Kate, The Mindy Project and New Girl will be joined by Raising Hope when Fox debuts its full Tuesday comedy block this fall.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tca-mindy-project-ben-kate-new-girl-free-episodes-353017

* * * *

Summer TCA Tour Notes
'Glee' Adds Pair for Season 4
By Lesley Goldberg, The Hollywood Reporter's 'Live Feed' Blog - Jul. 23, 2012

Fox's Glee has enlisted two new faces for Season 4.

Dean Geyer and Jacob Artist will join the musical dramedy as series regulars, the network announced early Monday at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour in Beverly Hills.

Geyer, whose credits include Australia's Neighbours, will play Brody Weston, an upperclassman who meets Lea Michele's incoming NYADA freshman Rachel in New York.

Artists for his part will play Puck's (Mark Salling) younger brother who has his sibling's bad streak and tries out for New Directions but whose attitude could derail his chances of following in his brother's footsteps.

Producers said at Comic-Con earlier this month that the series would be looking to repopulate the choir room in the wake of Rachel, Finn, Kurt and company's graduation.

In addition to his Aussie TV credits, Geyer was a contestant on Australian Idol and previously guest starred on Fox's short-lived Terra Nova.

Artist, meanwhile, starred on Lifetime's TV movie Blue Lagoon: The Awakening.

Artist is repped by APA and David Dean Management; Geyer is with APA and Management 360.

Glee's fourth season premieres in its new night and time slot on Thursday, Sept. 13 at 9 p.m.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tca-2012-glee-season-4-puck-brother-jacob-artist-brody-weston-353018

TV Notes
USA Network Orders 10 Episodes Of UK Singing Format ‘The Choir’
By Nancy Tartaglione, Deadline.com - Jul. 23, 2012

USA Network is lending voice to The Choir. The UK format that’s produced by Twenty Twenty, has been picked up by the net for a 10-episode run starting February 2013. Gareth Malone, known to US audiences for hosting the British version of the show on BBC America, will front the USA take as he develops 10 individual choirs in different locations throughout the States. Each episode culminates with a “defining performance” and a “substantial emotional ending.”

Twenty Twenty is part of the UK’s Shed Media Group, which is owned by Time Warner. Shed Media US will produce the American version of The Choir to be exec produced by Sam Whittaker and Stephanie Schwam. Warner Bros International Television Production will handle international distribution.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/usa-network-orders-10-episodes-of-uk-singing-format-the-choir/
Edited by dad1153 - 7/23/12 at 10:11am

TV Notes
This week: Olympics, ‘Godfather Legacy,’ ‘Bachelor Pad’ debut
By Hal Boedeker, Orlando Sentinel's,'TV Guy' Blog - Jul. 22, 2012

Coming this week: Two offers you can’t refuse.

One is the London Olympics. NBC presents the Opening Ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Bob Costas is the prime-time host.

Then there’s a fine documentary about “The Godfather,” the film that made an offer filmgoers couldn’t refuse.

Al Pacino had trouble playing Michael Corleone. Cost overruns and studio interference plagued the production. Director Francis Ford Coppola thought the 1972 film would fail.

Forty years later, “The Godfather” is an oft-quoted classic. “The Godfather Legacy,” a History documentary debuting at 9 p.m. Tuesday, explores the original’s staying power and the two sequels’ quality. The films explored family, power and the American Dream with vivid, violent artistry. In the first two films, Coppola certainly surpassed the source material, Mario Puzo’s best-selling novel.

In the documentary, a mob boss, a crime reporter, a forensic psychiatrist and many others weigh in on the crime-family saga. Home movies supply behind-the-scenes color. Riveting screen tests show Marlon Brando, Pacino, James Caan and Diane Keaton at work.

Joe Mantegna quotes a friend who calls the trilogy “the Italian Star Wars.” Coppola had complete freedom on the ambitious 1974 sequel, which, like the original won the best-picture Oscar. Needing money, Coppola delivered the 1990 sequel, which he now calls unnecessary.

The original, however, made Pacino. “I’m lucky they liked it,” he says. It’s deeper than that: The “Legacy” traces rare movie love.

Also this week:

***”American Ninja Warrior” names a winner in a two-hour finale set in Las Vegas. The fun for four finalists starts at 9 p.m. Monday on NBC.

***”Bachelor Pad” starts its season at 8 p.m. Monday on ABC. Do you want to see alumni of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette”?

***CBS premieres “3,” a dating series about three women assessing male candidates, at 10 p.m. Thursday.

***Want scripted drama? “The Closer” offers a new episode at 9 p.m. Monday on TNT. The Kyra Sedgwick drama ends its run Aug. 13.

***USA presents new episodes of “White Collar” at 9 p.m. Tuesday, “Royal Pains” at 9 p.m. Wednesday and “Burn Notice” at 9 p.m. Thursday.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2012/07/this-week-godfather-legacy-bachelor-pad-debut.html

TV Review
‘I’m Having Their Baby,’ heartfelt
Oxygen series follows women who are giving up their babies
By Tom Conroy, Media Life Magazine - Jul. 23, 2012

We're often told that we're supposed to hate the sin but love the sinner. In reality TV, sometimes we disapprove of the subjects but approve of the show.

Oxygen's series "I'm Having Their Baby," which profiles pregnant women considering giving up their children for adoption, shows us a parade of people who have made foolish or at least debatable choices, people who may initially make many viewers angry or frustrated. But by presenting the stories straightforwardly and sympathetically, the series makes us understand and even identify with the subjects, and the drama and emotion inherent in the stories come through.

Each episode focuses on two pregnant women. In the premiere, airing tonight at 11, we meet Mariah, 18, a high school dropout who is about to give birth to her second out-of-wedlock child; her first is only 9 months old. The children's two dads are both out of Mariah's life; she's currently living in a mobile home with her new boyfriend, Johnny.

The second mother in the episode is Amanda, 29, who has two sons whose father is, she says, "no longer in the picture." She is pregnant by her live-in boyfriend, Shawn, who has a son of his own. She tells the camera that she is worried that if she keeps the child, she and Shawn will have to spend all their time working and will have no time for the children they already have.

Mariah's child is scheduled to be adopted by a couple named Jake and Jessica, whom she describes as "like a dream family," adding, "They do stuff like to go to Hawaii and go the White House — stuff that a normal person like me could never do."

Amanda has arranged to have her child adopted by a gay couple named John and Doug. She says that gay friends of her parents helped raise her.

Since the adoptions aren't finalized until after the baby is born, each story has built-in suspense, since the mothers express varying degrees of ambivalence about their plans. Whatever their decision, the conclusions are presented as happy endings.

Along the way, we see scenes that are more emotionally complex. Amanda has a married sister who is having a hard time conceiving for the second time and would like to adopt Amanda's child. Later, a friend of Amanda's tells her, "The Bible is very clear about homosexuality. It's an abomination."

Mariah has a sister who had a daughter, Icesis (pronounced Isis), at age 14, shortly after their mother allegedly abandoned them to move in with a boyfriend. Nonetheless, their mother says she wants to raise Mariah's new baby. Mariah tells her that she doesn't want the child raised the way she was raised.

The second episode, airing next week, raises different issues. A married woman named Mary, 25, says that she conceived during a brief affair while she and her husband were going through a difficult period. She is struggling with the question of whether her marriage would be more likely to survive if she gave up the child.

We see her browsing the pamphlets that prospective parents make to sell themselves to expectant mothers. It's stunning to see such an important choice being reduced to the equivalent of catalogue shopping.

Mary falls in love with a couple who even attend her sonogram, which takes an unexpected turn that throws everything into doubt.

Meanwhile, Claudia, a teen mom, has to deal with her baby's father, Ben, 25, whom she dated for only a month but who wants her to keep the baby. She meets with one of his three other "baby mamas," who says that Ben is barely involved with their child, and she learns that her child will be Ben's sixth.

In his defense, Ben says that he started getting women pregnant when he was only 20. "I wish men could have kids," Claudia replies, "so they'd know the pain that us women have to go through because of guys like you."

Moments like that set "I'm Having Their Baby" apart from the shouting matches that constitute too much of reality TV. The genre is supposed to let us see people we wouldn't normally meet behaving in unexpected ways, thus increasing our understanding of others. This show does that.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/im-having-their-baby-heartfelt/

TV Notes
'Masterchef' Renewed for 4th Season
By Tim Molloy, TheWrap.com - Jul. 23, 2012

Gordon Ramsey's "Masterchef" has been renewed for a fourth season.

Currently in its third season, the culinary competition is up 8 percent in the ratings in the key 18-49 demographic and 9 percent in total viewers. It is also one of the summer’s Top 10 programs in the key demo.

“We’re excited to be back for another season of 'Masterchef,'” said Ramsay, executive producer and judge on the show. “I am continually amazed by the raw talent, passion and creativity of home cooks across America. The contestants raise the bar every season, and it’s an inspiration and exciting challenge for us.”

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/masterchef-renewed-4th-season-48836

TV Sports
NCAA hands out severe punishment for Penn State
By Eric Prisbell, USA Today - Jul. 23, 2012

Chastising Penn State for "hero worship" and a warped athletic culture, NCAA President Mark Emmert issued a landmark ruling Monday morning, levying unprecedented penalties against the Penn State football program that will cripple its ability to remain competitive on the field for years.

Emmert banned Penn State from bowl games for four years, imposed massive scholarship reductions (a total of 40 initial scholarships lost over four years) and fined the school $60 million.

Emmert also vacated all of Penn State's victories between 1998 and 2011, meaning former coach Joe Paterno loses 111 wins from what had been a total of 409 victories, the most all time in major college football.

The NCAA, which placed Penn State on five years' probation, is reserving the right to investigate and punish individuals implicated in child sex-abuse case until after criminal proceedings.

"This is an unprecedented, painful chapter in the history of intercollegiate athletics," Emmert said during a news conference at NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis.

The ruling was precedent-setting because Emmert bypassed usual investigative protocol and instead turned to the NCAA executive committee and Division I Board of Directors for the authority to punish Penn State because senior leaders concealed information for years that could have stopped Jerry Sandusky from sexually abusing children. Emmert's actions were swift and decisive, and the boards unanimously supported the sanctions.

It was also groundbreaking because of the severity of the penalties. While Emmert and the two boards contemplated suspending the program for at least a season, the sanctions Emmert did impose likely will be at least as devastating to the football program.

In the end, Emmert said he sought sanctions that would not only punish but force Penn State to begin to "rebuild its athletic culture." Emmert sought to minimize the damages to innocent individuals.

"We hope we would never, ever see anything of this magnitude or egregiousness again in our lives," Emmert said. "But we do have to make sure that the cautionary tale of athletics overwhelming core values of the institution and losing sight of why we are really participating in these activities can occur. That's the balance that every university needs to strive for."

In circumventing the traditional investigation process, Emmert relied on the conclusions of the nearly 300-page report by former FBI director Louis Freeh. Emmert said the report, which drew upon more than 3 million documents, was more comprehensive than any investigation the NCAA ever could have conducted.

The NCAA informed Penn State of the penalties it would impose. The university agreed with the sanctions and will not appeal.

"The NCAA ruling holds the university accountable for the failure of those in power to protect children and insist that all areas of the university community are held to the same high standards of honesty and integrity," Penn State President Rodney Erickson said in a statement.

Regarding the $60 million fine, Erickson said Penn State will pay $12 million a year for the next five years into a special endowment created to fund programs for the detection, prevention and treatment of child abuse.

Because Penn State will be ineligible for bowl games — or the Big Ten title game — for the next four years, it will not be eligible to receive its share of the conference's bowl revenues. Estimated to be $13 million, the money will be donated to establish charitable organizations in the Big Ten communities dedicated to the protection of children.

The NCAA will also permit current or incoming Penn State football players to transfer without sitting out a season, which is likely to further impede the on-field rebuilding process for first-year coach Bill O'Brien.

Said O'Brien in a statement: "Today we receive a very harsh penalty from the NCAA and as Head Coach of the Nittany Lions football program, I will do everything in my power to not only comply, but help guide the University forward to become a national leader in ethics, compliance and operational excellence. I knew when I accepted the position that there would be tough times ahead. But I am committed for the long term to Penn State and our student athletes."

O'Brien agreed to a five-year deal in January. According to the version of his contract available on the school website, he can't terminate the contract because of sanctions against the program without giving the school a sizable buyout payment. His base salary this season is $950,000.

Some former NCAA investigators and infractions committee chairmen said it was rare, if not unprecedented, for the association to address the Penn State case because it involved a cover-up of criminal activity rather than a violation of traditional NCAA bylaws. Emmert said circumventing the infractions committee was no reflection on the committee or the NCAA's enforcement process.

"These are extraordinary circumstances," said Ed Ray, the chairman of the executive committee who also spoke at the news conference. "The executive committee has the authority to act on behalf of the entire association in extraordinary circumstances. And we have chosen to exercise that authority …

"The cautionary tale is that every major college or university needs to do a gut-check and ask where are we on the appropriate balance between culture and athletics and the broader culture of the university and make certain they got balance right and, if not, they take corrective action."

Said Tom Yeager, commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association and a former chair of the NCAA Committee on Infractions: "It's a new day. What you are going to see is, this action will be subject to question going forward. Anytime there will be something not necessarily a strict NCAA infractions case, all those areas out there, the first question will be whether that falls under that category or not."

The scholarship cuts essentially bump Penn State to the scholarship levels of schools in the Football Championship Subdivision.

The school will be forced to vacate all wins from 1998-2011, a total of 112, and serve five years of probation.

Paterno was fired in November during the scandal after 409 wins at the school. That total is now officially 298. One victory last season came under interim coach Tom Bradley.

Florida State's Bobby Bowden, who had 12 wins vacated because of NCAA violations, is now the major college leader with 377 victories. Grambling's Eddie Robinson becomes the Division I leader with 408 wins in 57 seasons, ending in 1997.

The Penn State team gathered to watch the NCAA announcement in the Lasch Building. Afterward, players left the football offices without comment to news media assembled there.

The NCAA has imposed the so-called death penalty, which essentially shuts down a program for a specified period, on a major college football team just once. And it has taken Southern Methodist more than two decades to recover after it was shut down in the late 1980s following a scandal that involved, among other violations, widespread booster payments to players.

But with Penn State's case, the NCAA confronted a scandal unlike any the association had ever seen. The wrongdoing, while egregious, did not reflect traditional violations of NCAA bylaws. And no obvious competitive advantage was gained by the cover-up of criminal activity.

Paterno's two national titles remain, but his statue is gone, his reputation is irreparably scarred and the program he built during a 61-year career, 46 as head coach, is left to deal with harsh NCAA sanctions and the pending rulings of ongoing investigations.

With the NCAA verdict handed down, Penn State still could face further punitive measures. The Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education are conducting investigations into the school's actions in relation to the scandal.

Contributing: Jack Carey in State College, Pa.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/story/2012-07-23/ncaa-penn-state-punishment-sanctions/56427630/1

Technology/Critic's Notes
Question for a C.E.O.: What Is Yahoo?
By David Carr, The New York Times' 'Media Equation' Column - Jul. 23, 2012

What is Yahoo?

That straightforward question has so far baffled the people who run the company.

I got a taste of the fuzziness when I visited Carol Bartz, then the chief executive, back in 2010. She was funny, profane and articulate, except on the question of what the company is. After five minutes of listening to her I still had no idea. Seventeen years after the company was founded, you still have to wonder whether the frothy trademark Yahoo! should be replaced with Yahoo? to convey the uncertainty of purpose.

Now that question falls to Marissa Mayer, who was named the new chief executive last week. Anybody who has followed tech knows she has remarkable credentials and savvy — she embodied much of Google’s intellectual charisma — but her tenure will be a pass/fail test based on answering that single question.

I’m going to take a whack at it and say that Yahoo is a media company, mostly by accident (more on that in a bit). Yes, its headquarters in Silicon Valley are filled with technologists and have the familiar trappings of a digital enterprise — foosball, anyone? — but for most Americans, Yahoo is where they get news.

In business, people will tell you that everything else is secondary to being first. And Yahoo, despite its tattered reputation, is No. 1 in 10 content categories, according to the measurement service comScore, including news, finance, sports, entertainment and real estate. Yahoo reaches more than 75 percent of the total Internet audience in the United States, with 167.2 million unique users in June. On any given day, 30 million or more people stop by. Globally, about 700 million people visit the site in 30 languages every month.

What they get, more often than not, is carefully selected and displayed commodity news drawn from a variety of sources, but they also can read smart proprietary reporting from one of the 300 journalists — that’s a huge newsroom these days — who work for Yahoo.

It is worth remembering when people start talking about poor, feckless Yahoo that the company suffers from a severe contextual handicap. No, it is not Google or Facebook, but it isn’t nothing, either. Second-quarter earnings announced last week reflected a slide of 4.4 percent from the year before, but the company had $1.22 billion in revenue and earned $226.6 million. Display advertising was actually up, to $534.9 million, compared with $523.5 million from the year before.

So Ms. Mayer may be taking over a stagnating company, but it is not a collapsing one. Yahoo has what all media companies want, which is a large audience. The company just doesn’t know what to do with it.

When Ms. Mayer starts poking around under the hood of the news operation, she will find a home page that has the kind of traffic that can melt servers when it points to another site.

The secret sauce of Yahoo’s front page is more clicky than sticky: the slide show of news that runs at the top is not very deep, but it is difficult to resist. Editors have real-time analytics on click-through rate and can adjust the presentation on the fly; underperformers are quickly dumped or reconfigured. Yahoo uses a combination of technological and human curators to feed a robust audience. (Lest you think that’s easy, compare the home page to that of AOL, another legacy portal. Yahoo smashes AOL flat.)

On Friday, news of the shooting in Aurora, Colo., was mashed up on Yahoo’s home page with an article about a Taiwanese teenager who had died after 40 hours of video gaming and a picture of a Burger King employee standing on tubs containing lettuce about to be served to customers. But that was juxtaposed with a thoughtful, original take on why the New York Knicks had not signed Jeremy Lin.

Yahoo did not set out to be in the news business — it ended up there by default. It was delivering useful apps to consumers long before there was an iPad. Early excellence in search and e-mail generated a huge realm of users. Its ability to help consumers use data led to remarkable success in its finance and fantasy sports portals, which generated huge, loyal comment groups.

Eventually, Yahoo began feeding its audience bare headlines on news it bought from The Associated Press. It added pictures and began making other content-sharing agreements, while adding its own journalists over time.

Yahoo Sports was the prototype for what the company hoped would be a broader play in proprietary news. The money from fantasy sports bought must-read bloggers doing timely work in various verticals, deep investigative projects and big-name columnists.

But sports turned out to be the exception. Because Yahoo’s journey to being a news site was somewhat inadvertent, there was no comprehensive policy for developing content. Yahoo became a series of editorial fiefs — there are dozens of separate subject areas — all competing for attention from the front page with little cooperation or standardization among them. And when you have that much internal traffic to play with, any harebrained programming idea can look like genius just because it received some love from the giant home page.

Chris Lehmann was hired as a deputy editor (then promoted to managing editor) to bring original voices to Yahoo News through a series of news blogs in 2010. He made a number of hires, but he left in 2011, frustrated by yet another change in strategy.

“News is an activity, a verb, really,” Mr. Lehmann, who now works at Bookforum and The Baffler, said, “and we would end up mired in these endless conference calls where you would learn a lot about what buzzwords were gaining currency and very little about how we were going to cover the events of the day.”

John Cook, a news blogger for Yahoo who is now at Gawker, suggested that Yahoo’s effort to create its own content was more of an effort to pressure providers like The A.P. “They backed into an audience and had no idea what it would take to build a real news operation,” he said.

I exchanged a dozen e-mails aimed at setting up a chat with Mickie Rosen, a senior executive in charge of media and commerce, to get Yahoo’s take on the matter. But the interview was canceled just before it was supposed to occur.

It is possible, of course, that Ms. Mayer will choose code over content, treating news as just the skin on a technology enterprise. But in that space, Yahoo is not No. 1 in anything. It yielded search to Google, flailed at social media and let its messaging product languish.

Even if Ms. Mayer gets the disparate parts of the content apparatus moving in concert, news presents its own problems. Yahoo has done well in display advertising by creating desktop content that is all things to all people. But the desktop is going away in favor of mobile.

Taking that desktop franchise, a 10-pound bag of stuff if there ever was one, and cramming it into the one-pound bag of mobile space will require difficult choices, which will have to be settled by asking the same question over and over: what is Yahoo?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/business/media/yahoos-big-question-for-mayer-what-is-it.html?_r=1&ref=media

TV Notes
And now, hot tubs and hot messes
'Bachelor Pad' returns for a third season of hookups and cattiness
By Toni Fitzgerald, Media Life Magazine - Jul. 23, 2012

Now that "The Bachelorette's" Emily has made her choice, it's time for the "Bachelor" franchise's third show to return.

And what a nasty treat it is.

"Bachelor Pad," which returns tonight at 8 p.m. on ABC with its myriad hookups and fights and over-the-top challenges, makes "The Bachelor" look dignified.

At least on that show, the women are competing for a chance at love and marriage.

On "Pad," past "Bachelor" and "Bachelorette" contestants live together for what's billed as a second chance to find love, but mostly it seems to be about settling old scores and making catty comments.

All that's not to say it's not great fun. "Pad" doesn't pretend to be anything more than late-summer fluff, and it nicely bridges the gap from July, when "Bachelorette" wraps up, to mid-September, when ABC's fall lineup premieres.

Last summer, "Pad" averaged a solid 2.3 adults 18-49 rating for its three-hour premiere.

On last night's season finale of "Bachelorette," "Pad" received a lot of promotion, but the show's premiere faces stiffer competition this year. It goes against Fox's "Hell's Kitchen" and "MasterChef," as it did last summer, " but also the season finale of NBC's "American Ninja Warrior."

Still, "Pad" will undoubtedly do better than its lead-out, the flailing "Big Brother" clone "The Glass House" at 10 p.m. Last week that show mustered just a 0.8 rating.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/and-now-hot-tubs-and-hot-messes/

When is the spin off "Primeval: New World" , that is shot in Canada, supposed to be broadcast here in the US?

Thanks for the warning. I've been boycotting Burns' stuff ever since he butchered his "Jazz" documentary.

Actually, some of the times are ET, and some are ET/PT. And on the cable channels, some cable systems carry the ET and PT SD feeds, but only the ET HD feeds. It's quite confusing at times.

NCAA hands out severe punishment for Penn State

The comment from Emmert that he did not want to punish the current football players with a death penalty is hogwash. What does he think he did? All of the football players that have Pro aspersions will pack their bags. Most, if not all, that are worth a sh** are also gone. No death penalty. This program is dead. The fines are also BS. PSU will raise enough money from donors is 10 minutes to offset. All in all the only ones punished are the students that had nothing to do with any of this. Typical NCAA crap.

Expand please? I remember being disappointed in it, sort of a part 1 where there was no part 2, but I find it hard to dislike Burns. Were you hoping for a multi hour doc on Miles and 'trane? I kind of was lol.

I guess living in Alexandria, VA you are much more informed than we are here in Indianapolis where the NCAA is located and where we have been innundated with information on this subject for weeks. If you had listened to the entire press conference, then you would know why the "death penalty" was not assessed. You would also know many more details than what you presented in your little rant.

Emmert said. "But we do have to make sure that the cautionary tale of athletics overwhelming core values of the institution and losing sight of why we are really participating in these activities can occur. That's the balance that every university needs to strive for."

Interesting comment - he seems to be saying the line for core values is raping children, as long as you stay on the right side of it, no problems. Or maybe by "why we are really participating in these activities" he means make a bunch of money, so don't rock the boat by, you know, raping kids and stuff.

One of the saddest things about BBC America is they eschew plenty of their own content but buy distribution rights to the output of their UK rivals like Primeval, The IT Crowd, Whitechapel, Black Books, The Inbetweeners, etc. and because it's all on BBCA the audience gets a false Impression of what BBC UK actually show.

Then they butcher everything.

That's why I find it hilarious that Hulu will be showing The Thick of It uncensored. An American distributor treats their product better than they do. So do Netflix.

That is pretty wild, although I never use Hulu so I'm not aware of what, if any, censorship they may apply to their content. The Thick Of It though, wow, Peter Capaldi may have some world records on how many times certain words are used in a single episode.

I don't know, South Park went out of their way for an episode to set the record. It had a counter and everything.

Summer TCA Tour Notes
Mariah Carey Named 'Idol' Judge; More Announcements Coming Soon
By Tim Molloy, TheWrap.com - Jul. 23, 2012

Mariah Carey is the new "American Idol" judge, and the show hopes to name the rest of its judging panel within the next two weeks, Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly announced Monday.

Reilly also said not all of those in contention are "household names."

The show was forced to revamp its panel when Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler parted ways with the show after two seasons by what Reilly called a "mutual agreement." Reilly declined to comment on whether Randy Jackson would return to the show, but made it sound likely. Carey was considered a likely candidate to join "Idol" because Jackson is her manager.

"I'm not going to talk about the deal in regards to the judges," Reilly said of Jackson's chances of returning. "We're not confirming it. We have a very close relationship with Randy. He's a very important part of that television show. So in the next week or so we'll confirm that.

He said he also expected executive producer Nigel Lythgoe to return, even though negotiations are still underway. "That's still a negotiation that's going on. It's not a difficult one."

Lythgoe told reporters Monday that he hoped to see the judging panel change every year, something Reilly said may be a possibility.

"I think change is going to be a part of the show going forward," Reilly said. "We're 12 years old. I think we've got to keep it fresh. It's a lot of work. It's not without risk. ... We're going to keep playing with the formula."

Reilly announced Carey was joining the show at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, in an extraordinarily low-key way. In what at first felt like the setup for a joke about rampant "Idol" speculation, he said Fox had just closed a deal with "the biggest recording artist that any of these shows have ever had."

He then dialed the new judge on his cell phone.

"Hi, Mariah?" he said. "How are you? It's Kevin."

It wasn't a joke. Reilly put his phone on speaker, and Mariah Carey came on the line to address a few hundred reporters.

"I am so excited to be joining 'Idol,'" she said.

It was no coincidence that Reilly officially announced Lopez's exit on the same day Carey was announced as a new judge.

"We were waiting for the Mariah deal," Reilly told reporters. He said that Fox didn't think of her, however, as a replacement for Lopez.

Fox had held off on announcing Lopez's exit even after she said she planned to leave "Idol." It did release a statement for Tyler.

The lack of a formal Lopez announcement made it appear there might be a slight chance of bringing her back. Lythgoe fanned that spark by suggesting at another TCA panel -- barely an hour before Reilly spoke -- that he hoped Lopez might be persuaded to return.

With Reilly's comments on Lopez's exit, those hopes seem to be completely dashed.

He said the next "Idol" judge doesn't need to be "a household name" -- but said that viewers would need "something to talk about."

Reilly acknowledged the difficulty of landing new "Idol" judges in a market so glutted with singing shows. Fox's own "X Factor," hosted by former "Idol" judge Simon Cowell, recently hired Britney Spears and Demi Lovato in an attempt to pull a younger audience for its second season this fall.

"It would be nice... if we were the only ones negotiating with these people," he said.

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/fox-mariah-carey-named-idol-judge-48876

Summer TCA Tour Notes
Mindy Kaling returning to 'The Office'
By James Hibberd, EW.com's 'Inside TV' Blog - Jul. 22, 2012

Mindy Kaling is returning to The Office — albeit briefly.

The actress says she’s going to have an opportunity to say goodbye to Kelly Kapoor on the NBC comedy this fall.

Kaling, of course, is starring in her own new comedy, The Mindy Project, on Fox this fall. But she told reporters at the Television Critics Association’s semi-annual press tour Monday that she believes she’ll appear in at least one episode of her old show. “I think I’m going to be in the premiere and maybe another episode,” she says. “That was big. I got attached to that character. It’s fun to see what’s going to happen to Kelly.”

Kaling also made a distinction between her Mindy Project character and Kapoor. “The Office in so many ways is about disguising your reactions because its a mock documentary,” she said. “In some ways, this [show] is a reaction to that.”

The actress revealed that Office co-creator Greg Daniels will direct an episode of Mindy Project during its first season.

“It’ll be great, ‘Who’s the boss now?’” she said, making one of a couple jokes about her newfound star status. “I’m the star of my own show that has my name on it,” she said. “I’m going to turn into a monster. I can’t handle it.”

Kaling repeatedly expressed how fortunate she feels to have her own show, and noted her New Girl lead-in’s star, Zooey Deschanel, is “charm on a plate.”

As an OB/GYN who struggles to find romance, Kaling’s Mindy Project character references Nora Ephron comedies, and the show plays off the differences between her expectations on how romance should work and how it tends to work out in real life. Kaling said that despite Ephron’s influence on the show, particularly in the pilot, her passing won’t be referenced. “Nora’s passing was so devastating for us,” she says. “We want to pay homage by [my] character’s love for romantic comedy … but I don’t know about mentioning her in such an overt way.”

One critic pointed out that although the show mocks the romantic comedy formula, relying on the professional-woman-who-can’t-find-love cliché isn’t necessarily a bad thing either. “[A] formula isn’t bad if it’s executed at high level,” Kaling said, “there’s something cozy about that.”

http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/07/23/mindy-kaling-the-office/

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Summer TCA Tour Notes
'Glee' scoop: Fox boss Kevin Reilly talks season four, 'I thought about splitting the season down the middle, half in New York and half in Ohio'
By Tim Stack, EW.com - Jul. 23, 2012

Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly took to the stage today at TCA in Beverly Hills to talk season four of Glee and the format, now that the series will be cutting back and forth from New York and Ohio. “I’m very happy with how seamless it is,” Reilly told the audience of journalists at TCA. “There’s going to be thematic linkages between the two.”

Reilly also reiterated that Gleeks will still see characters that have graduated, like Mercedes and Quinn. “Although we have not severed relationships with everyone, we’re not servicing that large of a tapestry of characters,” Reilly admitted. “We have fresh faces [Fox today announced new stars Jacob Artist, who will play Puck's half-brother, and Dean Geyer, who will play a NYADA student and possible love interest for Rachel]. This is the natural mirror of real life. People graduate and new faces come in. This is set in a small town in Ohio. Just as in real life people tend not to stray too far away from that. Some settle down, some go away, they come back for holiday and reunions. The idea is to keep that relationship …It’s fun for the audience –who’s going to show up when? We’ll have a core of some of the returning characters and new characters and the we’re going to be servicing every week and then limited deals with some of the other actors who’ll be kind of joining here and there throughout the season. I think it’s going to be a breath of fresh air for the show.

The Fox exec even admitted that there was a time when he considered dividing the season between the two locations. Said Reilly, “I thought about splitting the season down the middle, half in New York and half in Ohio. I think that could be really jarring. We think this is going to work seamlessly back and forth and it is working.”

(Addtional reporting by James Hibberd)

http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/07/23/glee-scoop-season-four-tca/

Summer TCA Tour Notes
Producers Josh Berman, Rob Wright On ‘The Mob Doctor’
By the Deadline.com Team - Jul. 23, 2012

Diane Haithman contributes to Deadline’s TV coverage.

At today’s TCA panel on Fox’s new drama series The Mob Doctor, show co-creators/executive producers Josh Berman and Rob Wright said they were looking to create in their lead character Dr. Grace Devlin a female lead akin to Breaking Bad’s Walter White, played by multiple Emmy winner Bryan Cranston. That is, someone seduced into a moral gray area. The inspiration for her character is Rob Feiber’s book Il Dottore, based on a real-life physician who came to treat such mob leaders as John Gotti and Carlos Gambino, they said. Although they had the idea for a mob doctor before becoming aware of the book, “it helped convince us that this could actually happen”, Wright said.

In the series, shot on location in Chicago, Grace Devlin (Jordana Spiro) plays a doctor torn between the physician’s Hippocratic Oath and her own family’s mob ties. The idea, the producers say, is to test her morality as much as possible. Wright called it a show for “highbrow and regular people too. It’s a re-imagining of Dr. Faustus, but also ER meets The Sopranos”.

Both producers are veterans of the Lifetime series Drop Dead Diva, which Berman created. Said Berman: “Drop Dead Diva is about two women living one life; this is about one woman living two lives”.

After the session, Wright said that, while their character is not specifically a female Walter White, they “absolutely” were looking to recent successful characters including White and Weeds’ Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) “in a way that would feel cool”.

Executive producer Carla Kettner said the show will be grounded in reality, although there will be elements of dark humor, such as a case in which Dr. Devlin treats a racehorse with an “uncontrollable erection.” The producers said that even this oddball story line is based on a real-life case of someone trying to steal semen from a star racehorse.

In terms of network notes, the producers say that so far they have not been asked to adjust their lead character’s moral compass. Said Berman: “We had a note from Standards this morning [saying] when you show a character’s urine, make sure it’s not too yellow”.

Producers confirmed that cast member Terry Kinney would play a significant role in upcoming episodes. But cast member Zach Gilford says there’s no such thing as job security on a show about organized crime: “We’re all expendable in a mob world”, he said.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/the-mob-doctor-lead-character-real-life-physiciantca/

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Summer TCA Tour Notes
Oscar Winner Nat Faxon In Balance On ‘Ben And Kate’
By the Deadline.com - Jul. 23, 2012

Ray Richmond contributes to Deadline’s TV coverage.

It isn’t every TCA session that features an Oscar-winning screenwriter on the panel promoting the new comedy series he’s starring in. But that’s where Nat Faxon found himself this morning, doing his best to draw attention to the forthcoming single-camera Fox comedy Ben And Kate on which his character helps his sister raise his niece. Of course, the first question out of the box was, essentially, what a guy who won an Academy Award this year for adapted screenplay for The Descendants (shared with writing partner Jim Rash and Alexander Payne) was doing slumming it as an actor on a sitcom? “I literally got this (role) the day after I won the Oscar,” Faxon admitted. “I don’t necessarily think I’m going to be handed acting roles because of something I did in the writing field.” Interjected Ben And Kate creator-showrunner Dana Fox: “Let me clarify. We locked (Faxon) in before he had a chance to realize he’d made a huge mistake.” And what’s it like having an Oscar-winning scribe starring in your show? He was asked if he ever stops by the writers room with his Oscar and asks if they’d like help. “Every single day, I’m like, is there anything you’d like to change?” Fox says, “and Nat is just like, ‘Oh no, you did a great job.’ I’ve asked him to just show up with his Oscar one day but he won’t do it.”

Faxon admits that winning did jump-start another area of his blossoming career: as a director. He’s currently co-directing with Rash the dramedy feature The Way, Way Back that stars Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, Amanda Peet, Toni Collette and Allison Janney. He describes it as being “in the same line as The Descendants in tone, a coming-of-age story, though not quite as dramatic.” It’s presently shooting in Massachusetts and is expected to wrap in a week. He believes that winning the Oscar helped provide momentum for moving the film forward after having been scripted some seven years before. Not that Faxon expects to give up acting anytime soon. He says he’s having way too much fun being a multi-hyphenate. “I love the balance acting provides,” he said following the panel. “Directing has been wonderful too. And writing was something that Jim and I used to create more interesting roles for ourselves, because we’d been going on auditions that weren’t fulfilling or exciting. Writing became a way to write things for us to be in.” And then he and his partner won an Oscar, which hadn’t really been part of the plan. Kind of like a couple of guys named Affleck and Damon. “Yeah,” Faxon agreed. “Like them.”

http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/oscar-winner-nat-faxon-in-balance-on-ben-and-kate-tca/

TV Notes
CNBC Announces Its First Development Slate of 7 Reality TV Shows
By Lacey Rose, The Hollywood Reporter - Jul. 23, 2012

CNBC is facing reality.

The business news network has announced it is developing seven reality projects, which range in theme from cash-strapped startups to high-end concierge services. At least a few of these efforts are poised to join a news-heavy schedule that has supplemented its live daytime fare with documentaries and personality profiles to mixed results in the evening.

“Exploring new formats in primetime allows us to find new ways to attract a broader viewership at night while still appealing to CNBC’s highly affluent, educated and influential audience,” said SVP primetime alternative programming Jim Ackerman, adding: “These projects are an extension of CNBC’s distinct brand complete with bold characters, big stakes and of course one undeniable common denominator … money.”

News of these unscripted projects comes nearly six months after the NBCUniversal-owned network announced it had hired Ackerman, who had spent the past nine years at VH1 producing such series as Celebrity Fit Club and Tool Academy.

CNBC’s reality slate includes:

-- Franchised, which will give five contestants -- high in qualifications but short on cash to launch their business -- a chance to win a nationally recognized franchise in every episode. The project hails from Eyeworks USA, with JD Roth, Todd A. Nelson and Brant Pinvidic serving as executive producers.

-- The tentatively titled At Your Service, which revolves around a high-end international concierge service that caters to a very high-end clientele for which no request is too crazy. Among the latter: needing 10 emperor penguins for a Happy Feet-themed kid’s party or finding a 15th century castle for a Henry the VIII fantasy vacation. The unscripted effort comes from Zodiak USA, with execs Natalka Znak and Claire O’Donohoe attached as EPs.

-- Outstanding!, which centers on four high-achieving teens -- and their parents -- who excel in sports, the arts and academics. In addition to the glory, the cameras will capture the sacrifice, hardship and pressures. The RelativityReal series counts Tom Forman and Brad Bishop as EPs.

-- Fakes and Forgeries, an Endemol USA-produced series will center on Curtis Dowling and his team of art investigators, who will try to determine whether their clients are the victims of a counterfeiter’s elaborate scheme with the use of crime lab technology.

-- Venture Men, which will give budding entrepreneurs an opportunity to pitch their business ideas, get instant funding and then bring their products to market, all within a 72-hour period. The entry is produced by Sharp Entertainment, with Matt Sharp attached as an executive producer.

--The tentatively titled American Steel, which, much like History’s newly announced Counting Cars, will take viewers inside the world of competitive car flippers. In this version, it is “motor head” Joe Petralia and “money head” Jay Weinberg who find, fix and flip classic and muscle cars. The project hails from Ellman Entertainment, with Linda Ellman as on board as an EP.

-- Flipping Wars: Vegas, which hits on another familiar theme – and one the net’s business reporters discuss often. It will follow four teams of wheeler dealers who see dollar signs every time they bid on a foreclosed home in Vegas, a city hardest hit by the housing crisis. MorningStar Entertainment is producing, with Gary Tarpinian and Paninee Theeranuntawat serving as executive producers and Christian Robinson attached as a co-EP.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cnbc-reality-shows-nbcuniversal-353146