The UBS Evening Television & Movie News 06.18.09
Posted by George H. Sirois on 06.18.2009
The “Wel-ome -o th- -ig-tal A-e of -ele-ision” Edition...
Welcome everyone to the latest edition of the UBS Evening Movie News. I'm George H. Sirois and if you're on Twitter, you can find me HERE!
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Just in case you guys didn't notice, this week's edition of The UBS will focus on both movies and televsion since my Mad Prophet of the Airwaves rant will be all about my current experiences with the big switch to DTV this past June 12th. It will also fill you all in on our experiences before analog became extinct since we've had our converter boxes for a couple months now.
But before we move on to the news, a couple quick pieces of business.
Last week, I participated in the always awesome Movies/TV Fact or Fiction column that Ben Piper sets up each week. Once again, I went head-to-head with Jake Chambers, who gave a very spirited debate. Just two quick items that I wanted to point out, though. First of all, when it comes to Hollywood making adaptations to television shows, I don't count Star Trek in that mix, and I don't look at it as the exception to the rule. The JJ Abrams masterpiece is its own monster, a bridge between an incredibly loyal fanbase and a whole new group of moviegoers eager to embrace this new take on the old classic. I don't lump that in with Bewitched or Wild Wild West or Land of the Lost since those movies are trying to conjure up an audience that last saw first-run episodes of these shows at least thirty years ago. Very different from what Star Trek had. As far as I know, there are no conventions dedicated just to "Bewitched," but I could be wrong.
To answer Bittermidget's question about how I could watch "Nurse Jackie" when I've said that I don't have cable, all I can say is that Netflix is a beautiful thing. And I can wait until the whole season comes out on DVD.
As I said last week, a friend of The UBS Evening Movie News – radio personality, Playboy model, fellow Giants fan and all-around great girl Reby Sky – is in the Top 10 list for Valsport America's Model Search to be the new face of their company. This is another step in Reby's plan to conquer the cyberworld, and I see nothing but a bright future ahead for her.
It will be a large step forward if she were to win this competition, so make sure you vote!!! The polls close June 21st so head over to the site ASAP! You are a reader of the UBS Evening Movie News and your vote counts... if you vote for Reby!
I was looking for a good picture to post for your viewing pleasure, and then I came across a product that she is posing with and I have to let you know this exists! Port-O-Pong! An inflatable raft for a pool with the appropriate cup holders built in for you to play a game of beer pong IN THE POOL! When you're done reading this report, go to portopong.com to check it out, and as I was going to say before, here's Reby for your viewing pleasure...
The Proposal: A pushy boss (Sandra Bullock) forces her young assistant (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her in order to keep her Visa status in the U.S. and avoid deportation to Canada.
I'm convinced. The writers and directors of romantic comedies aren't trying anymore. To hell with what people say about slasher films. Romantic comedies are without a doubt the most blatant paint-by-numbers movies you're ever likely to see. And nothing I've seen about this one has proven otherwise.
Year One: When a couple of lazy hunter-gatherers (Jack Black, Michael Cera) are banished from their primitive village, they set off on an epic journey through the ancient world.
It seems the only difference between this one and every other Jack Black or Michael Cera movie is the setting. Both lead actors are very safe inside their usual character traits. That being said, since Harold Ramis is involved as a writer, producer and the director, I'm interested to see if this one measures up. But I'm still anxious for this one to come out so we won't see as many commercials for it. I can't tell you how sick I am of that Goddamned Ting Tings song...
DVD NEWS
Get ready to watch drummers die in the best possible definition, folks! And turn your stereos up to 11 while you're at it! This is Spinal Tap is coming to Blu-Ray!
The two disc set will come with over an hour of deleted scenes, audio commentary by Spinal Tap (likely the same commentary the band did for the latest standard DVD release), the featurette "Catching Up With Mary DiBergi," the Flower People press conference, music videos, an appearance on Joe Franklin, Spinal Tap selling out incommercials, a 2007 performance of Stonegenge at Live Earth, and the infamous National Geographic interview.
This classic hits shelves on July 28th with a standard retail price of $34.99!
CLASSIC TRAILER OF THE WEEK: This Is Spinal Tap
JIM WEBBING AND HIS IT'S-THE-HONEST-TRUTH-DEPARTMENT
We wish Michael Lake all the best in his future endeavors: World Wrestling Entertainment has a new ringleader to run its film and scripted TV division.
Michael Pavone will take over as executive VP of WWE Studios, replacing Michael Lake, who is ankling to pursue other opportunities.
The executive shuffle comes just months after the WWE-produced actioner "12 Rounds" struggled to pin down coin at the box office during its run beginning late March, despite getting a major push across WWE's various platforms.
The Renny Harlin-helmed pic was produced for $24 million and earned $15 million worldwide. It could still recoup the rest when it bows on DVD later this month.
Pavone will head up WWE Studios' slate of theatrical releases and direct-to-DVD movies, as well as the company's expansion into scripted and reality TV programming.
He reports to company chairman Vince McMahon, who has said while WWE will continue to produce films for theatrical release, the budgets are likely to come down in order to recoup costs quicker and generate more of a profit going forward.
Steve Barnett will continue to serve as senior VP of production.
WWE Studios will also continue to distrib its pics through 20th Century Fox. Studio is taking over the deal now that its genre arm Fox Atomic, which initially paired up with the wrestling org, has been shuttered.
An action comedy starring John Cena is close to moving forward as the next pic to get the greenlight.
Lake had headed up WWE Studios since late 2007. The former Village Roadshow exec led a complete overhaul of the slate of pics WWE had in development, looking to produce pics that could feature the company's grapplers in plots that appeal to the company's hardcore fans as well as auds who don't watch its weekly wrestling shows.
McMahon has long seen films and scripted TV shows as a way to cross over his cast of wrestlers to the masses, while also producing a potentially lucrative revenue generator for WWE's bottomline.
The company has yet to produce a breakout hit, however. Previous releases like "See No Evil," "The Marine" and "The Condemned" have collectively earned $49 million worldwide.
"The Marine 2" bows in late December as a direct-to-DVD release.
The role at WWE Studios expands Pavone's relationship with WWE, where he'd been serving as a creative consultant to the writers of the company's shows "Monday Night Raw" on USA Network and "Friday Night SmackDown" on MyNetworkTV since last year.
His credits mainly include TV -- which should fit in well with WWE Studios' expansion into scripted series -- having written, directed and executive produced episodes of Fox's "Prison Break," CBS' "The Client" and the WB's "Jack and Jill." He also exec produced Steven Spielberg's short-lived drama series "High Incident."
"Mike brings a great combination of both filmed entertainment and television experience to his new role," McMahon said in a statement. "We are confident that he can expand the breadth and depth of opportunities for WWE Studios."
I'm hoping that something will click with Mr. Pavone taking over WWE Films. Whatever they have going right now isn't working too well and I don't see much hope for the John Cena action comedy that's already been greenlit. There's plenty of talent on the WWE roster that could work as an ensemble and back up the lead male role that Cena seems to be settling into here. Or here's an idea. Why not put Cena in a supporting role in a regular Hollywood film and THEN give him a leading role in a WWE produced film? Wrestling will always have an audience, but right now, the rest of the moviegoing public needs to be more acquainted with him.
Hey, it worked for The Rock, right?
Credit: Variety
So it was YOUR fault???!!!: MTV is going through a generational shift and a slimming of its senior exec hierarchy.
Brian Graden, president of MTV Networks Music Group and president of the Logo cabler, will depart the company at the end of this year when his contract expires. Graden oversees programming for MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo. He's been the key player shaping programming for MTV and VH1 for more than 10 years.
But MTV Networks said Graden's post will not be filled. It's a tacit acknowledgement that the Viacom cablers have long been top-heavy with execs. At a time when cost-cutting is a mantra throughout Viacom and every other major media concern, it's no surprise that MTV Networks will simply eliminate a layer of management with Graden's departure.
No further changes are planned inside the MTV Networks structure, according to MTV Networks president Van Toffler. MTV's Tony DiSanto, VH1's Jeff Olde, CMT's Bob Kusbit and Logo's Dave Mace will continue to head up original programming at their respective channels.
Graden leaves as MTV once again goes through a big generational shift -- this time reinventing itself as a channel for the so-called "millennial" audience.
The exec has been writing a musical for stage and hopes to write books; MTV is also in talks with Graden about setting up a production deal at the Viacom-owned cabler as well.
During his tenure, Graden oversaw MTV and VH1's move away from music and more toward lifestyle series and reality skeins. He also launched Logo as president of that channel, geared toward gay, lesbian, transsexual and bisexual auds.
Graden had been toying with his next move for a while, having spent 12 years at the conglom. Exec first joined MTV in July 1997 as exec VP of programming. He added VH1 stripes in 2002 and helped launch Logo in 2005.
At MTV, Graden brought on hit series such as "The Osbournes," "TRL," "Pimp My Ride," "Jackass" and "Laguna Beach." He also expanded the net's "Fight for Your Rights" public service campaigns.
Prior to MTV, he ran the Foxlab programming unit within Fox. Graden was also instrumental in the launch of "South Park."
So it's you, huh Mr. Graden? You're the one responsible for MTV no longer being MUSIC Television? You're the one who took a channel that was once groundbreaking and reduced it to a pathetic lapdog following around Spencer and Heidi? As a former viewer of this channel who now blames its current programming as a key reason why we no longer have cable in the apartment, I give you a long overdue Wag of the Finger!
But I will give you a Tip of the Hat for helping to put South Park on the air. I'm sure MTV will be just fine when you're gone. How hard can it be to set up weekend-long marathons of "Next?"
Credit: Variety
Bless You, Hallmark Channel!: Hallmark Channel is implementing Fast Break, a format that allows a single advertiser to sponsor a commercial pod.
The concept is supposed to help an advertiser's message break though the commercial clutter.
During a film's first commercial break, a 10-second spot will announce the movie is being sponsored by a specific company. Immediately following, a 30-second spot will run from that company. Normally, a commercial pod can run four minutes or longer.
Following that first break, commercial pods will return to their normal length, with multiple advertisers.
"Clients are increasingly concerned over the amount and length of commercial pods on television, and this endeavor will provide greater awareness and return on investment for our clients," said Bill Abbott, president and CEO of Hallmark Channel.
"Fast Break" will debut June 23-26 during the 9 p.m. movie. Mutual of Omaha will be the initial sponsor.
If there's anything that I wish for in terms of television, it's that every channel eventually does this. How great would it be if only ONE sponsor was assigned to each television show or televised movie? No more constant barrage of different commercials forcing stations to trim precious seconds – even minutes – off of sitcoms and dramas.
Mr. Abbott, I'm begging you! Make this work and spread the word around to all of the other channels! Their movies may not be for anyone in our demographic, but Hallmark Channel really does care enough to do this, and the news they will send of Fast Break's success will be the very best!
Credit: Variety
More Remake News!: Following on Benicio del Toro's retooling of The Wolf Man, Universal Pictures hopes to launch an electrifying new take on Bride of Frankenstein with filmmaker Neil Burger at the reins.
Burger may direct and co-write the Bride of Frankenstein remake, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The original 1935 horror film featured Elsa Lanchester (pictured) in the title role. Sting and Jennifer Beals co-starred in the 1985 remake called The Bride; to avoid a similar fate for the current reboot, uber-producer Brian Grazer (Angels & Demons) will oversee development on behalf of Imagine Pictures.
I love how the first few words of this report are "Following on Benicio del Toro's retooling of The Wolf Man." It hasn't come out yet, and already another Universal classic has been selected to be remade. But you think that's impatient? They haven't started the development of the original Frankenstein; they're going after the sequel. Gotta love Hollywood this day and age.
Credit: Underwire
FILM MUSIC NEWS
** Haskin releases new book "Becoming an Indie Film Composer"
** Lyric financial announces new mechanical royalty advance program
** LA scoring strings pre-release manual available
** Wavelore releases new Pedal Steel Guitar in Kontakt Format
** Kussu Music licensing network announced
ANDY CRITCHELL'S INTERACTIVE BABE PHOTO NEWS BRIEF WITH ANDY CRITCHELL
Starting this week, I thought I would use the UBS Report to shine the spotlight on some hot chicks that you may not know of. This week, I want to introduce you to Jessica Rockwell. Born in 1983 and raised in Riverside, California, Jessica Rockwell is a professional dancer and glamour model who has appeared on various web sites and magazines. She is also a Hawaiian Tropic model and has appeared as a booth babe at various car and trade shows. I first noticed her on Sportsbybrooks.com and she is quite a stunner. She also appeared on the MTV series Next. Let's check her out:
And there you have it! Hope you enjoyed. Also, don't forget to check me out over in the wrestling zone where I write the hottest new TV Report, Extreme Extracts. Here is the latest entry.
Have a good weekend!
MAD PROPHET OF THE AIRWAVES
Like I said earlier at the beginning of this edition, my wife and I got rid of our cable back in March. Since my position was eliminated, we had to think of various ways to tighten up our budgets, and the most expendable of all our expenses was the cable. We had two Time Warner Cable boxes in the apartment, with one of them being a DVR box for the High-Definition TV. Even without HBO or Showtime, we were paying just over $100 a month.
Now, you may be asking why we took such an extreme plunge. Why didn't we just downgrade to one regular cable box? Well, considering neither of us watch the majority of channels "offered" to us and the rest of them are constantly flooded with crap that ropes us in on a daily basis ("Rock of Love" comes to mind, and so does "Rock of Love Charm School."), we decided we'd be just fine with the major networks, the ever-growing DVD collection and Netflix. So after a couple of weeks of hesitation, we finally cut the cord, literally, and bid farewell to Time Warner. (Good thing I know how to use Gameday on yankees.com so I wouldn't lose track of my team.)
Once the cable boxes were out, we signed up for our converter box coupons and hooked up the rabbit ears to the hi-def television. After several weeks of waiting, the coupons came in the mail and I promptly went to Radio Shack to buy our new converter boxes. I followed the directions, hooked the box up to the rabbit ears and switched it on, ushering in our own personal digital age two months ahead of schedule.
What I saw made my jaw drop. The picture really was perfect. It looked just like it did when we had cable, and this new box came with a few surprises as well. We got a few new channels that we didn't expect, like NBC Universal Sports (if you're into the Olympics, you get to see the preliminaries here), and we even got a program guide so we wouldn't have to guess what would be on next. (Seriously, how did we as a civilization survive before that was created?)
It would be nice if I wrapped this whole praise of digital television up right here, wouldn't it? Well, I would have been able to if time didn't pass and some problems were brought to our attention. First of all, I need to remind all of you that are getting your own converter boxes that despite using these contraptions, you're still getting your signal via rabbit ears. And while rabbit ears used to be associated with constantly moving them around to get a clearer picture, they're now associated with something much more annoying. The picture's still nice and clear, but it freezes like a son-of-a-bitch at the slightest possible provocation. And if the picture stays frozen for a couple seconds, the screen will go black and you'll see "Weak Signal." If the reception gets worse, then you'll see those lovely words, "No Program." Isn't that nice of them? They're not going to give you a hint of what you're watching anymore, they're just gonna cut you off altogether.
How can you avoid this pain in the ass? Well, it helps if you live in a nice open area so there's little interference with getting your signal. If you live in a house, great, more power to you. Cheryl and I not only live in an apartment building, but the only windows we have are facing the apartments next to us. Not exactly the most open area to get our signal, so we've been subjected to many picture freezes every day. It's almost enough for me to want to put up with paying to hear Bret Michaels say, "Your tour ends here." Almost.
Oh, there's something else that has a tendency to screw up your signal: airplanes passing by the area. Did I mention that we live in QUEENS? The home of JFK International AND La Guardia???
I had no idea that this was only the beginning of our troubles, but then we got another rude awakening when the actual nationwide switch to digital happened on June 12. Once the big switch happened, I had to rescan my converter box to pick up the channels as if I had hooked it up for the first time. When the scanning was over, some channels were added but others were taken away.
Channel 7 – ABC! - was gone! It's a damn good thing "Lost" is already done for this season, or else I would have been screaming for someone's head. Channel 11 – WPIX, one of the central channels of my childhood! - was gone! Will I ever get these channels back??? I honestly don't know, because when I called channel 7's customer service number – 212.456.7000 – I was directed to a recording telling me to call back at another time.
So we lost 4 channels – 3 different ABC channels and Channel 11 – but we gained at least another 10. What's on those 10 channels? Telemundo. Five channels have the same exact programming and the other five channels also have the same exact programming. Yup, two channels are taking up TEN spots!
So this is where we stand right now. Whether or not this will get better, we'll know in time, but as of now, we're missing two channels that were part of our viewing habits and gained a bunch that we won't ever watch.
Just like cable.
And that's a wrap for Chapter 117 of The UBS Evening Movie News! For Andy Critchell, I'm George H. Sirois and we'll see you next week!
There may not be much hope for the John Cena action comedy that's already been greenlit, but I think an action comedy will be better fit for him. On wrestling Cena is at his best when he is going between serious and light hearted stuff. This may be the best type of movie for him.
Posted By: Todd Vote (Registered) on June 18, 2009 at 09:48 AM
Very true, Todd. This should be the kind of film that brings another wrestler or two into the fold. Someone that he's already comfortable with so the non-fans can see the charisma that the fans see from time to time...
Posted By: Sirois! (Guest) on June 18, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Great Mad Prophet this week! I'm against anything that's forced on you or labeled mandatory!
Oh, and just so you know, whenever I picture you typing your report I see you in the glasses and pink boa.
Posted By: stevethegoose (Registered) on June 18, 2009 at 03:53 PM
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