Shark Tank, ABC's only series where poor marketing skills are discussed outright, scored its highest ratings (6.2 million in the 18-49 demo) yet yesterday, marking the show's fifth week of gained viewers. I'm almost positive marketing deals in the actual world don't involve a stoic panel of suits granting thumbs-up and thumbs-down like Brooks Brothers-sponsored gladiators, but... this is actually a shockingly watchable hour of television. The one where that woman sold the luxury plus-size clothing line? A great idea for real life and a GSN reality side plot. [THR]
· A Single Man star Nicholas Hoult probably has a lot to talk about with Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson now, as Tom Ford has added Hoult to the illustrious list of stars who've gone topless for him to sell magazines (in Hoult's case, for the new Out).
· Congratulations to erstwhile Michael Scott paramour Amy Ryan and her fiance, who became the proud parents of a baby girl last week.
· Bad news for Hollywood gays, though, as T.R. Knight and Rosie O'Donnell both appear to have split from their partners.
· Is everybody from TV dealing oxycodone now? First there was the Big Brother dude, and now there's Smallville's Sam Jones, who was arrested today after taking part in a conspiracy to deal more than 10,000 pills of oxycodone.
· Joseph Wiseman, who played James Bond villain Dr. No, died Monday at the age of 91. Pour out a martini for him in honor, won't you?
Of the many delights of my recent (Fox-underwritten) trip to England for the premiere of Fantastic Mr. Fox, coming into close proximity of comedy demigod Bill Murray -- who voices the character of Badger -- certainly ranked among the greatest. His presence at a roundtable interview was kept something of a will-he-or-won't-he mystery until the very last moment, when, sure enough, there he was. An awed silence swept through the cramped Nags Head Pub, as though we had just glimpsed a unicorn or manticore -- even better, really, since no unicorns or manticores ever starred in Ghostbusters.
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Maybe we should have seen this coming, with all of the kitschy products being made into feature films lately. Yesterday, ABC announced that it is developing a a multi-cam series called I'm With Stupid, starring Judy Greer and being co-written by 21 and The Baster scribe Allan Loeb. The show is based on a novel by Elaine Szewcyk in which a Manhattanite (Greer) finds herself romantically entangled with a park ranger she met in South Africa; "When she returns home, she wonders whether she'll ever hear from him again, only to have him arrive unannounced at her doorstep. She quickly realizes her new roommate has limited intellectual capabilities and learns that what happens on safari should stay on safari." [Hollywood Reporter]
It's been a decade since Troy Duffy's vigilante epic The Boondock Saints crawled from one of film history's most infamous development hells to become one of its most storied cult sensations. But there wasn't a lot of time for reflection Tuesday night in New York, where the local premiere of the long-awaited sequel Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day drew Duffy (above, second from left) and stars (L-R) Billy Connelly, Sean Patrick Flanery and the humble Norman Reedus to a rare audience with a monster crowd.
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The end of the world is on its way, heralded by four horsemen: disaster porn auteur Roland Emmerich, paycheck-cashing actor John Cusack, a just-happy-to-be-there Amanda Peet, and Adam Lambert. In the meantime, the latter's music video for Emmerich's 2012 sprung up today, and it reveals several glimpses of Emmerich's apocalyptic free-for-all. Spoilery glimpses, in fact -- and not just on the level of "Which vehicle is going to outrun which collapsing city?"
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Man, remember yesterday, when Bronson Pinchot revealed all those weird anecdotes about how Tom Cruise loves to make homophobic comments? Cruise's publicist, Cheryl Maisel, was just about as speechless as the rest of us. "Obviously this is so far removed from who Tom Cruise is as a person, this must have been said in jest," she said in a statement. And then she did the Dance of Joy? [TV Guide]
· Another day, another Stillborn Ridley Scott Project to look forward to -- except this time the filmmaker is merely recycling his long-rumored Gucci as opposed to piling on anything new. This time around Scott is reportedly in talks with the also-spread-thin Angelina Jolie, who would play the role of fashion bride and eventual Gucci-killer Patrizia Reggiano. Fox 2000 wants this to roll next year, but there's no real script, and the restless Scott will likely wind up optioning another 10 ideas before a draft comes through. But go ahead and get excited; this would certainly be a good one, and the payoff on those 500-1 odds against it getting made could afford you a nice vacation. [Variety]
More musical mayhem from Paula Wagner, one of our Verge honorees breaks even bigger, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· To celebrate its 60th anniversary, the Peanuts people have launched a photo look-alike contest, offering entrants inspiration by way of a Celebrity Look-A-Like Gallery. Simon Pegg was chosen for Charlie Brown for his "delightful comic befuddlement," Michael Cera is Linus for his "sweetly innocent philosophical humor," Debi Mazar is Lucy for "her outspoken, opinionated charm," and Sally goes, not surprisingly, to Kristin Chenoweth, who played the little sister on Broadway. [Side-by-sides courtesy of ONTD]
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Michelle Obama is joining a roster that already includes Tom Cruise and John McCain, and it has nothing to do with coarse snickers that scare the kids. Following in those dudes' footsteps, Obama will participate via satellite in a Jay Leno Show segment during which a guest answers 10 rapid-fire questions. We assume the line of interrogation will include hysterical topics like Portuguese Water Dog follies and Nancy Pelosi's "b-ball" skills, but Movieline has one question for Obama that Leno shouldn't skip.
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This afternoon, The Oprah Winfrey Show announced that it would welcome Sarah Palin to the daytime deity's golden-threaded couch for a sweeps appearance that will surely bump Going Rogue: An American Life up on the Amazon best sellers list. A coup for any author, especially a first-time one, the interview is already being touted as a "world exclusive." You'd think that Palin fans would celebrate the impending appearance en masse, but instead they've taken to various Palin fan pages to warn the former Alaskan governor against Oprah a.k.a. "the enemy."
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It always starts this way: A specialized network builds a constituency with influential programming, then gradually alters its format to accommodate a wider audience. But I don't know if anyone saw that coming with The Weather Channel, which announced today it will augment some of the cable's most influential programming on cable with weekly, weather-themed Hollywood movies. First up on Oct. 30: The Perfect Storm, followed by March of the Penguins, Deep Blue Sea, and Misery -- yes, that Misery, which begins in a blizzard. Great. Surely Menage a Tornado, Born in a Tsunami and other stimulating Weather Channel original programming isn't be far behind. [AP]
When Nikki Finke toldjus, she really toldjus, and so it should come as no surprise that the Academy has indeed confirmed Adam Shankman -- he of Hairspray- and Zac Efron's Pool Party-directing, Miley Cyrus Twittercore posting, and So You Think You Can Dance hyperventilated-judging fame -- to produce this year's Oscars. He'll be joined by Bill Mechanic, chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment in the late '90s and more recently the producer of Coraline.
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Rumors abound (I swear) over a November plane crash episode of Desperate Housewives, in which a cast member will be allegedly killed off. The general consensus points to Kyle Maclachlan's character Dr. Orson Hodge, whose blackmail-and-murder-laced storyline seems to have hit a stopping point. Is this fair? I contend that MacLachlan should survive this based on his record of outsmarting fancier foes, like emperors. Creator Marc Cherry should really boot Hatcher. Call me a fuddy-duddy, but I don't like blithe attempts at killing Conan. [EW]
The short answer to that question in the headline is, "Probably not." The longer answer is that it's apparently doing what it can: Taking advantage of the new California state tax credit fund, filming right in the heart of Los Angeles, and pulling out all the stops on what might be one of the biggest direct-to-DVD productions in Hollywood history.
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