Shortly after James Cameron's 3-D behemoth Avatar flapped its mighty wings past the $350 million mark, three entertainment leaders announced that they were joining forces to create the first full-time 3-D television cable channel in American history. The groundbreaking news came this week from Discovery, IMAX and Sony at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, sending ripples of excitement and waves of confusion through 2-D television connoisseurs. Fortunately, Movieline has compiled a list of questions and answers, with help from IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond (who even discussed the controversy surrounding those "fake IMAX" screens) to strengthen your understanding of the newest tri-dimensional telly.
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· While late night undergoes some major changes at the hands of NBC, the rest of television's news feeds are remarkably calm this morning. One channel even has reason to celebrate -- HBO for snatching up the U.S. television rights to Sins of My Father, the prized documentary from Argentinean filmmaker Nicolas Entel about Colombia's most infamous drug lord, Pablo Escobar, as told from Escobar's son's point of view. The film premieres this month at Sundance. [THR]
Showtime picks up The Big C, NBC previews James Franco's episode of 30 Rock, and more TV Bites after the jump.
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Somewhere on the NBC Universal lot, in a bunker constructed from orange Ford Foci and recycled Headlines cards, a Peacock with a denim tourniquet is frantically trying to pin down an exit strategy. The network's late-night realignment negotiations have stalled as they wait for Conan O'Brien to accept a white flag from NBC -- hold onto the Tonight Show at a new midnight time slot or walk. Meanwhile the length of Jay Leno's 11 p.m. show remains undecided. And not surprisingly, both hosts are pissed.
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It's Thursday night, so we don't even have to remind you that MTV is airing a new episode of Jersey Shore (and Vinny will most certainly deal with the consequences of hooking up with his boss's girl), but for those brave viewers willing to vacation outside of the Garden State, click through to see your other accommodation options.
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If you thought that the ever-shifting late night landscape could not get more exciting than Michael Cera's awkward game of Taboo with Jimmy Fallon, then you have obviously not spent the night with Hugh Jackman. Last night, he entertained Jay Leno by talking about a certain, lordly body part of his and then nearly torching the Jay Leno Show Burbank studio. If that does not get your adrenaline pumping then Conan O'Brien's fluency in Na'vi, Stephen Colbert's tirade against Domino's pizza and Robin Tunney's father's horrifying lies surely will. Those moments, as well as the others you missed while working on your gangster scene straight face, after the jump.
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TMZ is reporting that Jay Leno will abandon prime time when the Winter Olympics begin on February 1 and return to his beloved 11:30 PM time slot when the games finish later that month. Although both Leno and Conan O'Brien know about the time shifts, it is uncertain whether Jay Leno's 11:30 PM show will be a full hour or a half hour and if the Tonight Show host will stay at NBC. The breaking story comes after NBC made a statement this morning in defense of Leno, calling him one of the "most compelling entertainers in the world today."
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Dear President Obama, television viewers understand that sometimes your public addresses conflict with their regularly scheduled programming. You proved your ruthless dedication to communicating with the public when you postponed a A Charlie Brown Christmas just to discuss Afghanistan policy last month. But really, you are considering bumping the the last two-hour Lost season premiere for a State of the Union address on February 2? Especially when your chief of staff is related to the Lost executive producer?! That's just harsh. Please reconsider. [Washington Post]
Not that the People's Choice Awards have ever come close to entering the Oscar/Emmy/Kids' Choice pantheon of importance, but they could've feigned a little restraint and dignity. The mercifully brief show shelled out the hardware and product placements with the elegance of Mariah's walk to the podium in her straitjacket of a dress, which went as smoothly as pushing a grand piano up staircase. All in all, the night was a jagged experience, and these five moments earned the biggest groans.
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Let's say that three months ago you found yourself at the center of a national scandal when you convinced your son Falcon to hide in the attic so that you could report that he had flown away in your homemade flying saucer. It seemed like an airtight plan at the time -- guaranteed to reap a reality show or at least a book deal -- but during the back-to-back media interviews that followed, your son could not stomach the lies he was forced to tell, threw up on-camera and raised enough suspicion to warrant a criminal investigation. After pleading guilty and accepting a sentence of 90 days in jail, you have the opportunity to tell your story -- the real story on Larry King Live. What do you do?
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· The now Monk-less USA Network has picked up a spy drama called Covert Affairs, starring your favorite Coyote Ugly, Piper Perabo. Deck the Halls writers Matt Corman and Chris Ord will co-executive produce the 11-episode season, which follows Annie Walker (Perabo), a "multilingual CIA trainee unexpectedly promoted to field operative while reeling over a mysterious ex-boyfriend who appears to be of particular interest to her agency bosses." God forbid there was not an ex-boyfriend to reel over! Christopher Gorham, Peter Gallagher, Kari Matchett and Anne Dudek will round out the cast. [THR]
David Hasselhoff knows when to quit a good thing, a Seinfeld alum takes on a weighty project, and more TV Bites after the jump.
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It's not easy to deal with the fact that this is Lost's final season, and some of the show's fans have taken it out on Disneyland. Online petitions suggest that Disney (which owns Lost's parent company ABC) should either redo Tom Sawyer Island to become a Lost attraction or devote a new space to it entirely. "While I like the idea of Tom Sawyer's island getting a LOST do-over," tweeted executive producer Carlton Cuse, "I'd rather see Disney make a big LOST E-ticket ride."
Hey, why not go even bigger than that? Over the next few pages, you'll find Movieline's pictorial suggestions for an entire Lost Land. Grab your map of the park (hand-drawn by Rousseau, of course) and take a look!
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Following in the brave footsteps of Britney Spears, Carrie Underwood will make a tightly scripted guest appearance on the CBS series How I Met Your Mother, playing a blonde love interest for Ted (Josh Radnor). Instead of Britney's stalker-like receptionist cameo, Underwood will mark her acting debut as an "enigmatic pharmaceutical sales rep" in March. Merry prescription-pushing! [People]
It's been an interesting ride for Keisha Castle-Hughes since she was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for the performance she gave in Whale Rider at age 11: She made a Star Wars cameo and toplined Catherine Hardwicke's middling The Nativity Story, then gave it her best shot with the sexy gay angel drama The Vintner's Luck, which had no luck winning fans at the Toronto Film Festival last fall. Still, the press release I received today announcing her guest-starring stint on the syndicated Hercules wannabe Legend of the Seeker...well, it's quite the cautionary tale, isn't it?
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It may be James Franco's last week on General Hospital, but his character still hasn't been given more than five minutes worth of airtime in a single day. Potential reasons: his tight schedule, ABC's desire to tease out his arc across as many days as possible, or maybe because the actor had a hard time not laughing through his serious takes. Proof of the latter theory after the jump.
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Before starring in one of ABC's most successful freshman family comedies this season, television audiences knew Neil Flynn from his eight-season run on Scrubs. As the enigmatic Janitor, Flynn's character clocked the most consistent batting average for laughs -- hitting solid singles each episode with his bizarrely detailed lies (about being a world class hurdler or claiming his siblings were also his parents) and occasionally stealing a base with an unexpectedly impressive song. Before Scrubs, the Illinois-native trained as a Second City performer and alternated between blockbuster leagues (The Fugitive, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs) and primetime roles (Seinfeld).
Two weeks ago, Movieline caught up with The Middle's leading actor to discuss that star-studded Second City 50th Anniversary reunion last month, Flynn's own improv experiences and the joys of working with that "trashy broad" Brooke Shields.
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