Iconic television producer Norman Lear is going cable. Lear, who was the force behind such classics as All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Sanford and Sons, will develop a "character-driven" pro wrestling series for the cabler, according to The Hollywood Reporter.Set in the 1970s in New York, the tentatively titled Everybody Hurts will focus on a family operating a pro-wrestling business and will also delve into the hard-knock lives of the wrestlers and their fans.Lear will executive produce the project with Lara Bergthold of his Act III Prods., while the script will be penned by Aaron Blitzstein (The Riches). — Joyce Eng
read more
Folk singer Pete Seeger was a major part of the soundtrack of the '60s, backing up his music with a lifetime of tireless antiwar and environmental activism. As such he'll be the subject of the next American Masters, which premieres Feb. 27 on PBS. The executive producer of the film is another prominent progressive — legendary TV mogul and philanthropist Norman Lear. The producer of classic sitcoms such as All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time (we could go on) has been active in getting young people registered to vote. He still makes hits, too, but now it's for his label Concord Music Group (James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Paul McCartney are on his roster). He's also half-owner of Village Roadshow Pictures (which produced I Am Legend), and owns a copy of one of the world's most famous historical documents. The Biz recently checked in with him.TVGuide.com: You're certainly at a stage in life where you can be choosy about your projects — so why Pete Seeg...
read more
Is there a run on porkpie hats in Hollywood? It seems Norman Lear is making quite a comeback at this summer's press tour. Earlier at the TCAs, NBC announced that he will oversee the production of a new hourlong comedy. At a CBS session, Chuck Lorre told reporters how he recently turned to the legendary producer of All in the Family and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman for some wisdom on how to simultaneously run two sitcoms. (Lorre has the new Big Bang Theory joining Two and a Half Men on Monday nights for CBS.) But the advice was pretty short and simple. "He said ‘I basically worked like a dog,'" said Lorre. "I said, 'Thank you for your time.'" — Reporting by Stephen Battaglio
read more
It was fair to wonder why NBC put Kevin Reilly in the executive ejector seat just after signing him to a new multi-year contract. After seeing the debut performance of his replacement, Ben Silverman, at the Television Critics Association press tour, we're not wondering anymore.Instead of doing a rope-a-dope with reporters because he's only been in the job a month, Silverman came out with guns blazing, firing off one programming announcement after another. He even made a deal with legendary sitcom producer Norman Lear. That's red meat for the TCA, since many of its members love TV the way it used to be.He's even ignored the mandate NBC chief
read more
It was fair to wonder why NBC put Kevin Reilly in the executive ejector seat just after signing him to a new multiyear contract. But after seeing his replacement Ben Silverman's debut performance at the Television Critics Association press tour, we're not wondering anymore.Instead of the doing a rope-a-dope with reporters because he's only been in the job a month, Silverman came out with guns blazing, firing off one programming announcement after another. He even made a deal with legendary sitcom producer Norman Lear. That's red meat for the TCA, since many of its members love TV the way it used to be.He's even ignored the mandate that NBC chief Jeff Zucker publicly issued last year that the network was out of the business of programming 8 o'clock with new, expensive scripted sitcoms and dramas. The first scheduling move under Silverman's watch was moving the new, expensive scripted hi-tech thriller Chuck to Monday at 8, leading into Heroes and Journeyman and turning the night into ...
read more
