· The History Channel has greenlit a reality series called Stan Lee's Superhumans, which will feature people with "remarkable abilities because of being genetically different." The project will be hosted by the X-Men creator and Daniel Browning Smith, who is known for being the world's most flexible man. [THR]
CBS replaces a cast member, NCIS considers going musical, and more TV Bites after the jump.
Conan O'Brien made a famous visit to Twitter headquarters recently, stopping by to take pictures of himself riding piggyback on small women, and at the end of his visit he left a note saying, "Twitter -- Thanks for saving my ass. Your friend, Conan." Though I'm pretty sure it was actually Leno backlash and a discovery of stand-up that saved Conan, he brings up a salient point: Twitter can rejuvenate you. In that case, let's not forget a few TV stars Twitter really did save, the tube presences who found new life and a greater following in 140 characters. We picked our favorite five stars for your RT-able pleasure and listed two new qualities we've learned about each of them through Twitter.
Even though Justified has lost approximately half of its viewers since its premiere -- which was the most-watched in network history -- FX is betting big on its Tim Olyphant drama by giving it another full-season order. That means that Graham Yost's critically acclaimed project has 6 more episodes this season plus another 13 next year to pick up momentum before Sony has to begin cost-sharing conversations with DirecTV, Damages-style. Come on people, pay attention to quality.
With less than a month until the underrated Bonnie Hunt Show drops off the air and four months until the Oprah Winfrey Show's grand finale, the daytime talk show landscape is about to undergo a dramatic shift. Rosie O'Donnell is reportedly returning to the genre to create a show on her terms and give Ellen DeGeneres a run for her money. Meanwhile, other networks are in various stages of of preparation for daytime programs starring Julie Chen, Tori Spelling and Fran Drescher. But before they tape their pilot or race out for a test run this summer, the ladies best study the mistakes made by the gabbers whose daytime forays fizzled out in one season or less.
"We're going to have to pay" -- so said NBC Universal television entertainment chairman Jeff Gaspin to CEO Jeff Zucker upon his arrival to the sinking ship of a network last summer. Gaspin's prescription for what has ailed NBC since the days of Ben Silverman -- as outlined by Bill Carter in today's New York Times -- is simple: Spend money to make money. So how do they plan to do it?
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1. When making the decision to dump your iconic opening credit sequence for the first time in twenty years, why wouldn't you do it by having your characters lip-sync to "TiK ToK" by Ke$ha?
2. The long animation-to-airtime delay with The Simpsons meant producers had to incorrectly gamble that "Tik Tok" would become our new "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" by Beyonce, and not our new "Here Comes the Hotstepper" by Ini Kamoze.
This may shock you, but I think Donald Trump fired Olympic gold medalist Summer Sanders last night on Celebrity Apprentice because she wasn't entertaining enough. I know, I know -- that kind behavior is unheard of, unbelievable. and not outlined in Heloise's Tome of Reality TV Etiquette. But it's the way it is -- Summer was championed by execs throughout the season for her solid, professional efforts, and she never once forced a gym representative to choke herself with anxiety (ahem, Bret). In tribute to our fallen Summer, Movieline will now inspect the kinds of professional employees left in the game. Would you hire these people over a power-suited marvel like Summer?
Coco may not have dropped any bombshells during his heart-wrenching 60 Minutes interview last night, but the former Tonight Show host did boost the program's audience enough to whomp on its NBC competition. Conan O'Brien helped increase the show's numbers nearly 40% from last week to a 2.2 rating among the 18-49 age group. Meanwhile, Dateline NBC placed third after America's Funniest Home Videos on ABC. [TVbytheNumbers]
A few months ago, Fran Drescher was rumored to be in talks with Fox News and MSNBC about hosting a politics-centered chat show. And last night, the former Nanny star announced her upcoming project on Twitter. (Note: if you are prone to migraines, do not read ahead.) Drescher tweeted, "OMG I ate peach cobler w hm made vanilla ice crm. 2moro got2 b redy @9:30am 4cancer event. Thn hm. Mis BF &dog. I'm doin a sumer tlk shw BTW." [@frandrescher via The Wrap]
The return of Real Housewives of New Jersey should signal a rebirth in your household. You should already feel better about your friendship and parenting skills, not to mention relieved that your first ex never penned a tell-all about your cocaine and prostitution-related past. Movieline's staff exhales with you, unless you're Danielle Staub, in which case we sympathize from a distance.
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By now you've heard about the car bomb discovered in Times Square on Saturday night. Inside a dark gray Nissan Pathfinder left running on West 45th St., a lethal recipe of explosives sat waiting to ignite. The bomb malfunctioned instead, and its telltale plumes of smoke were noticed by a heroic T-shirt vendor who quickly reported the suspicious vehicle. As feds investigate the possible terrorist attack today though, they are also checking into a connection between the car bomb and the death threats posed to South Park.
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· Barry Sonnenfeld is experimenting with a new development strategy. The Pushing Daisies executive producer has attached himself to a scripted supernatural thriller called Beat the Devil and, with the help of Fluent Media Group and Resonant TV, is shopping the project overseas. The hope is that after finding international buyers, producers can create a full proof product that can skip the U.S. development process altogether. [THR]
ABC considers recruiting Old Christine, Californication casts a rock star's daughter, and more TV Bites after the jump.
What's another 37 minutes between friends? That's how long into the broadcast 60 Minutes waited to air Steve Kroft's interview with Conan O'Brien, the first time the former Tonight Show host appeared on television since February 20th. And while most of the juicy details had already been previewed -- as it turns out, Conan would have handled this entire situation a bit differently than Jay Leno -- the interview still held some surprises. Namely, how the Great Late Night War of 2010 left the nominally unwavering Coco fairly damaged.
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And now, Movieline's home-viewing guru Michael Atkinson introduces a new feature dedicated to the most recordable films on a movie channel near you during the upcoming week.
Let's forget that trying to make recording movies off of cable illegal is far from logical when every home video player since 1982 has a record button -- it'd be a little like selling us a gun and telling us we can't touch this thing called a trigger. Whatever. Click ahead to see this week on cable.
Because of a clause in his termination contract, Conan O'Brien was banned from appearing on televised interviews until May 1. But now? All bets are off! To celebrate, CBS -- in their increasingly strong efforts to make sure you don't actually tune-in to watch Conan O'Brien on 60 Minutes this Sunday -- has released a video clip of the interview, the first evidence that Conan really should have thought of wearing a tie while talking to Steve Kroft. Seriously, he looks like a mess. Anyway, click ahead to watch Coco say something you already read on Thursday.
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FILM NEWS 