Category Archives: Entertainment

‘Fringe’ produces tell fans to embrace the Friday move

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This week EW’s Jeff Jensen sat down with Fringe executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman to discuss the future of Fringe and thoughts about FOX’s decision to shift the sci-fi program to Friday nights.  Here are some choice quotes from the interview.

Wyman on the parallel universe episodes: “You definitely haven’t seen the last of the ‘over there’ world. We’ve established that both of these worlds are linked in a profound way. We are going to attend to that. We are going back ‘over there.’ It’s not going to be forgotten about, but we’re not going to be ‘one on, one off’ right now.”

Pinkner on FOX’s “initial resistance” to the parallel universe storyline: “They were really concerned that if the episodes didn’t have [‘over here’] Walter or Peter in them, it wouldn’t feel like our show anymore. We said that not unlike a show likeLost, Fringe has to constantly evolve, to move and grow and go forward, otherwise we’ll get bored, the cast will get bored, the audience will get bored.”  Adds Wyman: “The alternate world storyline really allowed us to explore the characters deeper via their doppelgängers, to illuminate characters we already know. It’s been a real gas for all of us involved in making the show.”  FOX eventually fell in love with the concept, along with the viewers.

Pinkner on the move to Fridays: “It doesn’t feel loaded to us. It’s not like Fox is saying to us: ‘We’re falling out of love with the show. We’re burning it off by moving it to Friday.” .. “For a year and half now, we’ve been asking and our fans have been asking — to take us off Thursday because the landscape is crowded.”  Adds Wyman: “The research shows that people love the show, but they don’t really want to watch it on Thursday night. Thursday is more of a romantic comedy kind of night, not a hard science fiction night,” says Wyman. “We hope our fans follow us to Friday night. It’s a much easier marketplace, and Fox is going to really support it; they think there’s a real opportunity to reinvent the night.”  Pinkner concludes: “If this felt like a vote of no confidence from Fox, I’d be concerned. But they’ve verbalized the opposite. They think we have a better chance at staying on the air for years to come, which, of course, is what we want, because by design, we have years of story left to tell.”

Yeah, I added the bold font there for effect.  Isn’t this wonderful news?  The Fringe execs just confirmed that there’s “years of story to tell” meaning the show will most likely live on past season 3 and potentially even a fourth season.  After reading the news about the Friday move I felt a bit weary of the situation, but all of their words of encouragement are really comforting.  In the interview the producers also hinted at what’s to come in the second half of the season.  The mystery of The First People will receive some attention, and the January 21 returning-from-hiatus episode is called “Firefly” (an ironic nod to the ill-fated 2002 FOX sci-fi series moved to Friday nights, ironic because the name was decided upon before the writers heard about the scheduling shift) and it will focus on The Observers with a special guest appearance by Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) as an old friend of Walter’s.

Fringe returns Friday, January 21 at 9PM on FOX.

[Via EW]

‘The Walking Dead’ is the most watched drama series in basic cable history in the coveted demo

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Typing that post title makes me feel so happy.  Anticipation was high before AMC debuted The Walking Dead on Halloween, and creatives Frank Darabont, Gale Anne Hurd, Robert Kirkman and special effects artist Greg Nicotero knew they had to perform well enough to at least appease the rabid Dead comics fanbase if they were to succeed in the TV format.  They succeeded and then some.  5.3 million people tuned into the series premiere and AMC renewed the show after only two episodes had aired.  It was by all means an instant success.  The season finale managed to top the premiere numbers across the board and crowned Dead the most watched drama series in basic cable history in the coveted 18-49 demo.  Over 6 million viewers tuned into the finale making it the most watched episode of the season–it gained viewers over the course of one month.  Not many network freshman dramas can say they did that.  More stats: 4 million viewers in the 18-49 demo watched the finale (boom, new record for cable!); and on top of the 6 million viewer total, an additional 2.1 million people watched the finale during its 11PM and 1AM encore airings.

The show looked great (Nicotero’s zombies were fantastic), the writing and acting were impeccable, and I can’t wait for season two to premiere.  Though it hasn’t been confirmed, most speculate that it won’t return until Halloween 2011 so it can help promote AMC’s Fearfest week again.

[Via Deadline; EW]

ABC announces midseason schedule

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ABC is moving forward into the midseason landscape with only minor additions and scheduling changes compared to competitors FOX and NBC.  But in a similar fashion to the latter network, ABC is going to expand their Wednesday night comedy lineup past the usual 10PM mark and run it all the way to the 11PM news.  On February 9 Cougar Town goes on hiatus and freshman comedy Mr. Sunshine, starring Matthew Perry and Allison Janney, will take its place in the 9:30PM slot.  New one-hour medical drama Off the Map will follow at 10PM.  This will remain in effect through April 6.  Beginning April 13 Cougar Town returns to its regular 9:30PM spot and Off the Map will be replaced by Happy Endings starring Elisha Cuthbert (24) and Zach Knighton (FlashForward).  Since this will run as a standard half-hour comedy, ABC will run Modern Family “fan favorite” episodes in the 10:30PM slot.

In other scheduling news, reality show Secret Millionaire will occupy Extreme Makeover: Home Edition‘s Sunday 8PM position starting March 6, new medical drama Body of Proof starring Dana Delany and Jeri Ryan premieres Tuesday March 29 at 10PM and V returns Tuesday January 4 at 9PM.  Look after the break to see the new ABC Wednesday comedy block.  And click here to read synopses and watch previews of all the new series.

[Via EW; Deadline] Continue reading ABC announces midseason schedule →

Teaser trailer: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

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Transformers 3 (now titled “Dark of the Moon”, and I don’t like the way it rolls off the tongue because I want to say dark side of the moon) has a teaser trailer!  In a surprise move, director Michael Bay decided not to include any of the stars in the teaser; don’t expect to see Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky or his new love interest Carly played by Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley make any appearances here.  Most of the trailer features scenes from the famed 1969 Apollo 11 moon mission, and it’s not that long until we discover the astronauts found more than just moon craters.  Robots on the moon?  Really?  As long as Huntington-Whiteley makes a good replacement for Megan Fox (and I have no doubt she will) and there are some epic fight scenes, I’ll pay the price of admission to see it in IMAX 3D when it hits theatres July 1, 2011.  Here’s a small synopsis of the upcoming robot-bashing flick:

In this new movie, the Autobots and Decepticons become involved in a perilous space race between the U.S. and Russia, and once again human Sam Witwicky has to come to the aid of his robot friends. There’s new characters too, including a new villain in the form of Shockwave, a longtime “Transformers” character who rules Cybertron while the Autobots and Decepticons battle it out on Earth.

‘Entourage’ movie is on track to happen, according to producer Mark Wahlberg

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We’ve heard through HBO programming president Michael Lombardo that Entourage creator Doug Ellin “wants to write a film, but wants to do it when the story will make sense.”  This week more Entourage movie talk added more flames to fan speculation about the possibility of a movie featuring Ari Gold and gang, and this time it comes from executive producer Mark Wahlberg.  “We have one last season left on TV and then it would probably take place after the finale,” said Wahlberg.  “There are places to go. I’m still here all these years later, aren’t I? My story didn’t end in my 20s.” (If you didn’t know, the show is loosely based on the life of actor Wahlberg.)  He says, “We want it to happen…[but] we won’t make it if we don’t have a good script,” echoing what Lombardo said about Ellin’s vision for a movie.

Well Entourage fans, it’s really starting to look like a movie is in the works.  The eighth and final season of the show will air next summer on HBO, and following that six-episode arc we should have a better idea about where the creator and producers might want to head for a movie adaptation.

[Via EW]

Spider-Man reboot is getting the RED EPIC 3D treatment

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Spider-Man reboot cinematographer Jason Schwartzman beat Peter Jackson to the punch!  Just about one week after Jackson announced his crew would be using 30 RED EPIC cameras to shoot The Hobbit in 3D, Schwartzman started production on Spider-Man using 3 EPIC cameras mounted on 2 3ality rigs.  This makes the Spidey reboot the very first major studio motion picture to be shot using the highly lauded RED EPIC configuration.  Schwartzman shared his initial thoughts after the first day of shooting.  “I can say for certainty the camera does exist and boy is it ready for primetime, as a matter of fact it’s a true game changer.  We shot in 3D…including running high speed and the images look stunning!”  Watching a movie in 3D is hotly debatable topic, but there’s no arguing against the 5K super hi-def resolution that EPIC camera make possible.  The Hobbit and Spider-Man are going to look good.

In related Spidey news, actress Emma Stone returned to her blonde roots for her Gwen Stacey role.  Let’s just say it’s a natural fit.

[Via Engadget; RedUserForums]

iTunes looks back at this year’s music sales, Train & Eminem top the charts

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At the end of the year, Apple likes to tally up all the singles and albums purchased by iTunes Store customers.; they call it iTunes Rewind.  The 2010 Rewind best-sellers are Train and Eminem for single of the year (“Hey, Soul Sister”) and album of the year (“Recovery”), respectively.  In addition to Train, the top ten best-selling singles include tracks from Katy Perry, Eminem (2), B.o.B, Taio Cruz (2), Usher, Ke$ha, and Lady Antebellum.  The top ten best-selling albums include records from artists Ke$ha, Ladies Gaga and Antebellum, Taylor Swift, Drake, Mumford & Sons, The Black Eyed Peas, Jack Johnson, and Sade.  Before you jump after the break to look at the top ten lists, make some predictions to test your wits; it shouldn’t be that hard to guess what two single Taio Cruz made uber-popular this year.

iTunes Rewind covers more than the music category.  Apple also tallies up the best-selling TV shows, movies, podcasts, audiobooks, and apps.  And yes, it is safe to assume that the app featuring unwieldy birds and idle, snorting green pigs took home the top prize of best-selling paid app.  Click here to browse all the Rewind charts.

[Via iTunes] Continue reading iTunes looks back at this year’s music sales, Train & Eminem top the charts →

Preview Kanye West’s “Monster” music video

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Looks like Kanye West is readying his next music video.  The followup to the “Power” painting will be a haunting tribute to the “Monster” track on West’s incredible My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.  This 40 second preview of the video was originally obtained by Hip Hop Connection but was recently taken down from the site.  I managed to find another copy hanging out in YouTube, so make sure you check it out before it gets squashed again.  In it you’ll see West interacting with dead girls, Jay-Z rapping amidst dead girls hanging from the ceiling like chandeliers, and Nicki Minaj spitting her sick verse erotically crawling on the floor.  Rick Ross also plays a part in the video, and you can click here to see a brief behind-the-scenes glimpse into his on-screen duties.  With all of this leaking at once, I’d like to think the final, official version is ready for a release soon.

Music video: Dr. Dre – “Kush” (Featuring Snoop Dogg & Akon)

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With the release of a brand new music video, Dr. Dre’s Detox release is becoming that much more of an imminent reality.  The music video for the lead single “Kush” features Dre, Snoop, and Akon partying it up but all the guests are frozen in time.  These neat special FX mixed with the thumping bass of this catchy track make for an enjoyable video.

Music video: Coldplay – “Christmas Lights”

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I’ve been jonesing for some new Coldplay content for some time now, and when I heard the band released a new tune just in time for the holidays I was ecstatic!  The song called “Christmas Lights” is great, but the music video for it is even better.  Watch the four piece alt rock band led by talented vocalist Chris Martin deck the halls in this wintry wonderscape video.  Download the track at iTunes.

Documentary teaser: “Turning Into Gods”

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From the inquisitive mind of filmmaker Jason Silva comes Turning Into Gods, “a new feature length documentary exploring mankind’s journey to ‘play jazz with the universe’… it is a story of our ultimate potential, the reach of our intelligence, the scope of our scientific and engineering abilities and the transcendent quality of our heroic and noble calling.”  “Featuring interviews with the world’s most interesting minds, these luminaries will paint for us a picture of the world beyond the looking glass. The world we are creating.”

Sounds interesting, hm?  Silva’s asking the tough questions and one sticks out: What is the meaning of life?  Watch the teaser trailer above to get a taste of what’s to come in this riveting, thought-provoking doc that’s “coming soon.”

[Via Gizmodo; Vimeo]