Today and tomorrow mark the midpoint of 2010 -- and thus the midpoint of our year in movies and TV. Join Movieline in both taking stock and looking ahead.
Hype is like cholesterol: There's a good kind and a bad kind. The good kind builds organically from people's genuine interests -- or at least mostly organically, nudged by institutions with significant interests at stake. Think Avatar, which, love it or hate it, many people wanted to see for years, and whose gross proved a phenomenon of demand equal to greater than Fox or James Cameron's hucksterism. The Oscars had a good-hype year in 2009-'10 as well, setting itself up as a populist tradition (10 Best Picture nominees ZOMG!) despite the natural elitism of its organizers. Oscar season was fun! Psychotic, sure, somewhat predictable, but fun. Then came the bad hype, and boy are we paying for it.
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Looks like you'll want to keep an eye out for Love Bites in 2011 instead. In a bit of a surprise, NBC announced that their buzz-y new anthology would be bumped to mid-season and replaced by episodes of The Apprentice on Thursdays at 10 p.m. this fall. The reason(s) for the change? Star Becki Newton is pregnant and -- more important -- showrunner Cindy Chupack is stepping aside, but will remain on as a writer. Says Chupack: "Launching an anthology series, which breaks the form in so many ways, is a huge undertaking, and I strongly feel that I can be most helpful not showrunning, but writing. It just became clear that for several reasons, some of them personal, this change (and a little more time) is what we need to launch this show properly." In other words: Expect to see an anthology-less Love Bites hitting NBC in January! [EW]
I had no doubt that the Mel Gibson/Oksana Grigorieva breakup as going to get ugly, but I guess I didn't quite anticipate it to get this ugly: Radar Online has come into some nasty tirades the actor unleashed on his ex, and it ain't pretty. The centerpiece line -- "You look like a f***ing pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n***ers, it will be your fault" -- has already resuscitated memories of Gibson's infamously anti-Semitic 2006 arrest in Malibu, a blight that caused the actor to disappear from the screen until this year. In fact, 2010 was supposed to herald a comeback for Gibson, thanks to his role in Jodie Foster's quirky comedy The Beaver. Now what?
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This is either a sign that late night television is cannibalizing itself, less people are watching live TV or America just doesn't think Jay Leno is as funny as he used to be -- or all three! The Tonight Show clocked its lowest ratings this past quarter since 1993, when David Letterman premiered his Late Show on CBS. Coincidentally, this is also Leno's first full quarter at the Tonight Show since Conangate. [Deadline]
Tori Spelling's husband Dean McDermott crashed his motorcycle for the second time this year on Tuesday, suffering a punctured lung and ending up in intensive care. The 43-year-old reality star was well enough to Tweet today, "Thanks for the well wishes. A collapsed lung is no fun, and is a lengthy heal. Feeling pretty bad today. Day 2 is always the worst." Spelling says he's expected to make a full recovery and ditch his motorcycle for good. [People]
· Well hey there, poster for the Drew Barrymore/Justin Long romantic comedy Going the Distance. Click for bigger.
· Nikki Reed and Verge alum Deborah Ann Woll have been added to the cast of Catch .44.
· Kelsey Grammer has split from his wife Camille. Now he'll never get all that valuable Real Housewives airtime.
· Kevin Smith says his political horror film Red State is back on to shoot in August, and that he plans to cast all unknowns.
· Here's your unsettling photo-link of the day: ever wanted to lust after Jonathan Lipnicki from Jerry Maguire? He'll make it easy for you!
Today marks the midpoint of 2010 -- and thus the midpoint of our year in movies and TV. Join Movieline in both taking stock and looking ahead.
Good news for those of you who are still unsatisfied with 2010's television programming: the second half of the year promises something for everyone. Whether you like overweight cops, sexy singles looking for love, mini-horses, borderline racist humor or uplifting stories about cancer sufferers, consider yourself covered. Movieline helps match you up with your perfect small screen mate after the jump.
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After grossing a record-setting $30 million from midnight screenings, you didn't need to be Nostradamus to realize that The Twilight Saga: Eclipse was going to smash some records over July 4th weekend. And so down goes the first one: Buoyed by those midnight showings, Eclipse banked $68.5 million on Wednesday, besting the gross of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for biggest Wednesday in box office history. That wasn't enough to top the $72 million opening day record held by New Moon, but it doesn't sound like anyone is complaining. Except maybe Paramount and one Manoj Night Shyamalan.
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"I don't feel very comfortable on the red carpet," Kristen Stewart recently told Hello! What else is new? Oh: "I look out there at a thousand people and I realize they could rush me and assassinate me. No security could protect me. Ostensibly they're fans, but I think about them turning on me." Sigh. On the bright side, at least she has a year off to get the next press tour right. Or get better security. [PopEater]
Yesterday, a whole bunch of stills were released for the upcoming Christina Aguilera/Cher strip-musical Burlesque, and while they're interesting in a "perhaps this isn't quite the best time to launch Christina Aguilera as a major movie star" kind of way, there was only one thing I really wanted to know: does Stanley Tucci wear glasses in it? As you can see, he does, and admit it... didn't your interest just go up a notch? Here are three reasons why a glasses-wearing Stanley Tucci is the best kind of Stanley Tucci:
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While NBC hasn't confirmed that Steve Carell plans to make the next season of The Office his last at Dunder-Mifflin, executive producer Ricky Gervais has wasted no time in offering up his farewell. Said Gervais: "It was expected of me, as executive producer, to persuade him to stay on. With syndication in full swing the more successful the show remains, the more billions we all make. It was tempting, but the truth is, I believe he is doing the right thing. He's fulfilled his contract and more, and is a huge film star now [...] I'd be lying if I said he should do more. He shouldn't. He should move on, continue to do great work, and buy a new house every time The Office is repeated somewhere." That sound you heard was Angela Bromstad throwing her morning latte at the wall. [NYT/ArtsBeat]
You have to hand it to Brett Ratner. Though his unlikely bid to direct The Hobbit may be thwarted by either the will-I-or-won't-I indecision of Peter Jackson or the are-we-solvent-or-aren't-we troubles of MGM, Ratner still spent last night doing the appropriate, NSFW literary research (at least, we think so):
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Today marks the midpoint of 2010 -- and thus the midpoint of our year in movies and TV. Join Movieline in both taking stock and looking ahead.
If there was one constant that unified the first six months of 2010, it was that everyone loved Betty White. Seriously -- saying something mean about America's Grandma this year was akin to stealing candy from a baby while kicking a puppy. You just didn't go there. But now that we're on the other side of 2010, White has probably peaked -- unless someone starts a Facebook campaign to get her become an astronaut or something. So which former icon will return to glory in the next six months? Movieline speculates ahead.
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Exhibit A in the "Judd Apatow is the comedy version of Quentin Tarantino" argument: The uber-producer is helping Paul Reubens dust off his Pee-wee Herman costume for yet another big screen outing. Said Apatow: "Let's face it, the world needs more Pee-wee Herman." And if that sounds familiar, that's probably because it is a variation on what Tarantino was saying about Pam Grier sometime before Jackie Brown came out. So... what will Pee-wee's latest big adventure be like?
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Nothing against Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson, but odds are pretty good that whatever Scream 4 plot twist they're trying to keep -- by bypassing agents and stopping their table reads at page 75 -- probably isn't as cool or shocking as they think. I mean, the minute you add Adam Brody to your cast, everybody knows he must be the killer, right? Anyway, calm down, you guys. If fellow new castmates Marley Shelton and Erik Knudsen can't keep a secret, then who can? [THR]
