matt.mitovich

ESPN Sports a Civil-rights Documentary

ESPN is trying its hand at a new game by premiering next March a four-hour documentary series about the civil-rights movement in America, to be directed by Dan Klores (Viva Baseball!). According to Variety, Black Magic will view the injustices that permeated the '50s and '60s through the framework of basketball at historically black universities. Coproducers on the project include hoops legend Earl Monroe and former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell.

Thu, Mar 8, 2007

Musical Notes: Hill, McGraw and Loggins

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw this summer will serve up another round of their hugely successful Soul2Soul tour, the AP reports. The Jeep-sponsored concert series, which last year was rated by Pollstar ahead of the Stones and Madonna as the "Major Tour of 2006," kicks off June 6 in Omaha, Nebraska, and wraps up Aug. 10 in Anaheim, California.... Kenny Loggins was inducted into Hollywood's RockWalk on Wednesday, as oiled-up Navy pilots played slo-mo volleyball in the background.

Thu, Mar 8, 2007

Short Cuts: Sound of Music, John Wayne and More

ABC Family has ponied up $3 million to air The Sound of Music up to seven times a year for the next three years, starting in April. As part of the deal, ABC proper gets one holiday-season airing of its own.... To commemorate (what would have been) John Wayne's 100th birthday, the Warner Bros. and Paramount studios on May 22 will release 48 of the Duke's films. The six-disc collection includes spiffed-up versions of Rio Bravo, The Cowboys and True Grit (for which he won an Oscar), as well as six titles never issued on DVD.... John Inman, best known for his role as Mr. Humphries on the long-running BBC comedy Are You Being Served?, died Thursday following a long illness. He was 71.

Thu, Mar 8, 2007

Idol Exec Refutes Rosie's "Racist, Weightist" View

This just came in from American Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, regarding statements Rosie O'Donnell made on Tuesday's The View about Idol's seeming double standard vis-à-vis Frenchie vs Antonella:"Without wishing to add to the obvious self-promotion of Ms. O'Donnell, I feel as though I must refute her absurd and ridiculous claims that American Idol is racist and/or weightist. Ms. O'Donnell has, once again, spoken without thought or knowledge. Viewers need only look at the show tonight to realize that American Idol constantly confirms to America that talent has nothing to do with weight or color."UPDATE: TMZ.com is now reporting that Idol is further retaliating against Rosie and The View by forbidding the ABC talker from showing clips from television's highest-rated series.UPDATE: On Wednesday's Idol, Simon Cowell gave Antonella Barba props for her fortitude in the midst of the media circus, if not for her singing. "I feel for you because you've taken a lot of stick in ...

Thu, Mar 8, 2007

Rosie Treated for Depression: "I Couldn't Stop Crying"

As part of Friday's The View, an episode that was pretaped and devoted to the subject of women and depression, Rosie O'Donnell says she started treatment for depression after the April 1999 Columbine school shootings. According to the Associated Press, Rosie's treatment involves yoga, "inversion therapy" (where she hangs upside down for 15 to 30 minutes a day), and (earmuffs, Tom!) taking antidepressants.Reflecting on her reaction to Columbine, "I couldn't stop crying," O'Donnell says during the show. "I stayed in my room. The lights were off. I couldn't get out of bed, and that's when I started taking medication."O'Donnell says she also suffers from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which is characterized by depressive episodes during the fall and winter.

Thu, Mar 8, 2007

Love Notes: Brangelina and TomKat Updates

New details on Angelina's latest acquisition: According to the AP, Jolie plans to adopt from Vietnam a 3- to 4-year-old boy whom she picked out during a recent visit to the Tam Binh orphanage. The boy will move to the United States with her in no more than three months. Over in the country of TomKat, meanwhile, the New York Post's Page Six hears that Cruise has informed the producers of Kate's new film, Mad Money, that "he will be on set every day"  but only to "observe" and not stare down any manly leading men, seeing as the female heist comedy costars Queen Latifah and Diane Keaton. (The talk is that Holmes bailed on the Batman Begins sequel because of intimate scenes she would have had with Christian Bale, and that Cruise was responsible for Kate's sex scene "mysteriously vanishing" from festival screenings of Thank You for Smoking.)

Wed, Mar 7, 2007

Fall 2007: 24's Prez Is in a Laughlin Mood

The newest pilot news, from Variety/the Reporter: D.B. Woodside (24) has been cast as Marcus in CBS' Hugh Jackman-produced musical drama Viva Laughlin. Marisa Tomei will topline CBS' The Rich Inner Life of Penelope Cloud, the Oscar winner's first network series since appearing on A Different World 20 years ago. Kate Burton (Grey's Anatomy) and Camille Gauty (Prison Break) have joined Fox's Supreme Courtships, playing a justice and her ambitious clerk, respectively. Real-life football wife Holly Robinson Peete is the mom of a star wide receiver in ABC's Football Wives. Mae Whitman (Thief) is The Bionic Woman's younger sister. Just think of the cool hand-me-downs! Heroes' Tawny Cypress has joined Fox's K-Ville, as has John Carroll Lynch (Close to Home). Fox has ordered a half-hour sudser about blue-collar families, from Idol creator Simon Fuller. Kurt Fuller (Desperate Housewives) is the title femme's boss in ABC's See Jayne Run. T...

Wed, Mar 7, 2007

Last-minute Cast Cuts Leave Las Vegas in Lurch

Las Vegas creator Gary Scott Thompson says the decision to bid adieu to both James Caan and Nikki Cox came so last-minute that Friday's season-ender  which boasts an explosion and a shooting, to name but two big events, and was purposely designed to coerce NBC into greenlighting a fifth season  not only might not pave the way for Ed's and Mary's exits, but actually has the writers in a bit of a pickle. "The season finale had already been written," Thompson tells TVGuide.com, "so it's going to be challenging to get us out of the situation I put us in." For Thompson's latest take on why Caan is leaving Las Vegas, see the fresh Ask Ausiello.

Wed, Mar 7, 2007

Wings Man Cast as Grey's 2's McDreamy

This just in, from the Hollywood Reporter:"Tim Daly is set to guest-star in the 'enhanced' two-hour episode of ABC's Grey's Anatomy.... According to the breakdown, Daly's character is described as 'handsome, sincere, like a McDreamy.'"Paul Adelstein (Prison Break's Agent Kellerman) also will guest in the episode, with an eye to costar on the potential Addison-centric spin-off toplined by Kate Walsh.

Wed, Mar 7, 2007

At the Movies: 007 Woos Streep's Mamma

Per Variety, Pierce Brosnan will play Sam to Meryl Streep's Donna in the big-screen Mamma Mia!.... 20th Century Fox has greenlit M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, a paranoid thriller about a family on the run.... Matthew McConaughey is a Surfer, Dude facing an existential crisis.... Penélope Cruz, Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson will star in a drama based on the Philip Roth novella Dying Animal, about the ramifications of a student's torrid affair with her professor.... Per the Hollywood Reporter, Rachel McAdams is one of three injured soliders back home from Iraq in The Return.... Lost's Dominic Monaghan and Ron Perlman are set to star in I Sell the Dead, about 18th-century corpse traders. That's right — another 18th-century corpse-trading film.

Wed, Mar 7, 2007

In the Works: Showtime Peddles More Drugs

 Tim Robbins will write, exec-produce and direct Possible Side Effects for Showtime, a drama pilot about a dysfunctional family tied to the big-bucks pharmaceutical industry, says Variety. Sources tell the New York Post's Page Six that Star Jones, who just recently booked an SVU gig (detailed below), has inked a deal to host her own Court TV show later this year. UPDATE: Court TV announced Wednesday that Star will front a show about criminal justice issues that intersect with the pop culture world.  Filmmaker Curtis Hanson (8 Mile, L.A. Confidential) has inked a multiyear deal to create, develop and produce programming for CBS Paramount Network Television. Lifetime has ordered 13 episodes of Side Order of Life, starring Marisa Coughlan as a photographer who rethinks her life after a pal gets cancer, with Jason Priestley playing her fiancé. A July premiere is slated. Fox News is in talks to pick up 24 creator Joel Surnow's 1/2 Hour News Hour, which ...

Wed, Mar 7, 2007

Headline News' Nancy Graces SVU

CNN's Nancy Grace will tackle her first prime-time acting role when she offers up faux legal commentary during the May 22 season finale of Law & Order: SVU. The guest-star-studded installment features, among others, Ludacris (reprising his role as Fin's stepson, on trial for killing a woman and her baby), Steven Weber (as his attorney) and Star Jones (as a legal commentator).

Wed, Mar 7, 2007

Short Cuts: Star Wars, Girlfriends and More!

The brown, hooded cloak worn by Alec Guinness' Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars fetched $104,000 at a Tuesday auction of film and TV memorabilia. Long believed lost, the iconic piece of wardrobe surfaced last year.... James Cameron's The Lost Tomb of Jesus drew 4.1 million viewers on Sunday, Discovery Channel's best audience in 18 months. That same night, The Girls Next Door's Season 3 opener (2.17 million) gave E! its second highest-rated premiere in the cabler's 16-year history.... CMT has announced a March 30 bow for Season 2 of Ultimate Coyote Ugly Search.... Got burning questions about the CW's Girlfriends? Post 'em here, and we'll get 'em answered!

Wed, Mar 7, 2007

Frenchie Fans Idol Scandal Flame! Plus: Antonella a Girl Gone Wild?

Claiming that a double standard has allowed Antonella Barba to remain in the current competition, despite having posed for racy photos that have surfaced online, disgraced American Idol alum Frenchie Davis is calling on the überpopular reality series to "come to the table and see what we can do to make up" for her own 2003 booting. Davis tells the Associated Press that while a public apology from Idol would be "a great start," she feels she is owed more "for the manner in which I was humiliated" and ousted from the contest when topless photos of herself came to the fore. Though Davis doesn't necessarily think that racism is at play here, others do. Civil-rights activist Najee Ali (of Project Islamic H.O.P.E.), for one, objects "to having one rule for black contestants, and a different rule for whites who exhibit the same behavior." "Same behavior," in this particular reference, not meaning Barba's thin, pitchy singing.UPDATE: Girls Gone Wild autuer Joe Francis has offered Anton...

Wed, Mar 7, 2007

Columbia Students Protest Lost Star as Speaker

Sorry, Charlie Salinger. Or much less politely, "Get Lost." That's the message from an editor for Columbia University's undergrad magazine, who in this "bwog" summons peers to protest alum Matthew Fox's serving as Class Day speaker on May 15. "We're not anti-entertainment snobs.... We're not going to pretend we wouldn't have bitched no matter who [it] was.... We're not trying to be mean," writes the daily editor for The Blue and White. "But we want a Class Day speaker that has accomplished more than being hot and lucking into [two popular TV shows]." Citing the likes of Anna Paquin, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Brian De Palma as more esteemed alumni, the editor says, "Fox's invitation to speak should be rescinded." Wow, kinda puts a whole new spin on Jack's tattoo: "He walks among us, but he is not one of us."

Wed, Mar 7, 2007

Ratings: Heroes Takes Off with Three-month High

This Monday's notable numbers:8 pm/ETTrailing Deal or No Deal, Prison Break (9.73 million total viewers) was up 340K week-to-week. CBS' The Class was dismissed by a typical audience of 8.77 million.9 pmThe conclusion of Heroes' second arc (14.9 million, up 630K)  and the last fresh episode until, like, forever  delivered the series' largest audience since Dec. 4, outdrawing both a Two and a Half Men repeat and a thus-handicapped Rules of Engagement (12.6 million, down 1.1 mil). Fox's 24 (13.01 million) was up 200 thou.10 pmPlacing well behind a CSI: Miami repeat (14.27 mil), NBC's The Black Donnellys (7.04 million) lost 1.38 mil from its premiere, but is still 600,000 above Studio 60's last tally. What About Brian had one of its weaker outings, with an audience of just 4.78 mil (slipping 620K).

Tue, Mar 6, 2007

In the Works: Scorsese, Wahlberg Reunite for HBO

 Martin Scorsese and The Departed cast member Mark Wahlberg are exec-producing an HBO drama series based on Nelson Johnson's book Boardwalk Empire, about the development of Atlantic City. Borat director Larry Charles is returning to broadcast television, having inked a two-and-a-half year, mid-seven-figure deal with ABC Television Studio. Charles, whose recent TV credits include Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm, will write and direct a range of projects, including scripted and "hybrid" (gas-electric?) comedies, and possibly even animation.

Tue, Mar 6, 2007

Stones "Cast" as Oscar Controversy Heats Up

Who is keeping a much-deserved category out of the annual gold-grab, and why? The Casting Society of America, whose efforts have long been overlooked by the Academy Awards, has launched an e-mail campaign urging AMPAS to add a category to the annual kudoscast. "I've been fighting for it for over 30 years," CSA president Mike Fenton (who has cast such films as Godfather II and E.T.) tells the New York Daily News. Alas, the way the Academy sees it, directors theoretically have "final say" on who fills what roles. As such, the Directors Guild is wont to squash the CSA's bid. "It's a very sensitive issue," helmer Taylor Hackford tells the News. "[Talk of a casting category] will cause dissension in the ranks."

Tue, Mar 6, 2007

Strait Talk Rules Music-award Nominations

With eight nominations, George Strait leads the pack at the 42nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, to be broadcast live on CBS May 15. Brooks & Dunn followed close behind with seven nods, while Rascal Flatts rounded up six, and Idol champ Carrie Underwood found herself with five.Strait's eight bids include Entertainer of the Year and top male vocalist, while Underwood is up for top female vocalist, album (Some Hearts), and single, song and video (all for "Before He Cheats").

Tue, Mar 6, 2007

Fall 2007: O'Connell Crossing Over to Comedy

The latest pilot-casting bits, from our friends at Variety and the Hollywood Reporter: Crossing Jordan's Jerry O'Connell, along with Fred Goss (Sons & Daughters) and stand-up comic Jerry Minor, are among ABC's Carpoolers. Scott Wolf (The Nine Party of Five) has landed the lead in an untitled ABC comedy about a top law firm. Two-time Six Feet Under Emmy nominee Lauren Ambrose has been cast as Parker Posey's younger sister in Amy Sherman-Palladino's The Return of Jezebel James. "Varsity Blues: The Later Years"? James Van Der Beek is a rookie in ABC's Football Wives. Hey, Dean Wormer, get a load of this: Tim Matheson is the head of the university in Barnes, the CW's dramedy about crime-solving college students. OK, this time I got it right: Jayma Mays, aka Heroes' ill-fated waitress, has come on board the ABC workplace comedy Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office. Josh Hopkins (pre-Rob Lowe Brothers & Sisters) and Molly Parker (Deadwoo...

Tue, Mar 6, 2007

Big Bucks Prescribed for Scrubs' Zach Braff

Zach Braff has inked a deal with Scrubs producer ABC Television Studio that will bump his pay for the possible seventh season to about $350,000 per episode, sources tell the Hollywood Reporter. Should NBC in fact pick up the comedy for another round, the agreement would make Braff one of the highest-paid male actors on television, alongside Two and a Half Men's Charlie Sheen. And now, a different story about a different TV doctor's different salary talks....

Tue, Mar 6, 2007

Gay Slur May Cost Isaiah Washington Millions

Contrary to the inference that helped put Katherine Heigl's own Grey's Anatomy pay-raise discussions in the headlines, Image Award winner Isaiah Washington might not be seeing as many Benjamins as he would like, thanks to the whole T.R. Knight/F-word debacle. "ABC is using Isaiah's recent troubles to keep from paying him more," a source tells the New York Post's Page Six. "This is going to cost him millions [but] it's just a bitter pill he's going to have to swallow." Hey, it could be worse. Could be a suppository.

Tue, Mar 6, 2007