AP - David Hasselhoff's ex-wife has been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Los Angeles. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:17 am
AP - David Hasselhoff's ex-wife has been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Los Angeles. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:16 am
Fun With Ethnic Stereotypes: Fox has teamed up with Matthew McConaughey to develop an animated comedy about his brother's life. Rooster Tales will focus on a good ol' boy sheriff who marries a much younger Mexican woman and doesn't know that with his wife comes her 114-member family. Variety doesn't say, but it sounds like Carlos Mencia might be one of the writers. [Variety]
The O.C. with Iranians: ABC has given a pilot order to Funny in Farsi, a single-camera comedy about Iranian Americans. Directed and produced by Barry Sonnenfeld, the show will be based on Firoozeh Dumas's memoir, which details her experiences growing up in Newport Beach, California, in the seventies. We're guessing this isn't going to make Ahmadinejad laugh. [THR]
Music City Meltdown: Lucas Black and Cary Elwes have signed on to star with Sam Shepard in Tough Trade, the first pilot for new premium cable channel Epix. The show focuses on a family of Nashville musicians that makes a series of bad decisions leaving it on the verge of bankruptcy. Black will play a talented musician who decides to not go into the family business. Instead, he sells gun ammo around Nashville. Elwes, who won't wear tights, plays his father and Shepard his grandfather. [THR]
Pretty Normal Activity: Paramount has purchased the distribution rights to Area 51, Oren Peli's follow-up to Paranormal Activity. Peli produced Activity for a mere $11,000 but spent a relative fortune, $5 million, on 51. The film, which finished shooting three weeks ago, reprises the found footage technique and tells the story of three teenagers who wander into Area 51. Prediction: Once there, they scream a lot. [Variety]
Back to School: Origin Pictures, the studio founded by ex-BBC films head David Thompson, has signed Justin Chadwick to direct its first feature, The First Grader. Based on a true story, the film will tell the tale of an elderly Kenyan who goes to school for the first time after the government offers free education to everyone. The war vet is determined to take advantage of the opportunity, even though he has to start with the first grade. Producers say it's "full of surprises and unexpected humor." And tears. Lots of tears. [THR]
On Thursday, Ben Bernanke will sit in front of the Senate Banking Committee as it discusses whether he should get a second term as Fed Chair, but the debate started raging yesterday. In an editorial in the Washington Post Bernanke argued against Sen. Chris Dodd's new regulations that would strip the Fed of much of its power. The measures "would seriously impair the prospects for economic and financial stability in the United States," he wrote. He also wrote how a House plan sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul would "undermine the confidence the public and the markets have in the Fed." Of course, that assumes the public and the markets still have confidence in the Fed.
Meanwhile, at least one Senator came out against a second term for Bernanke."If he's the smartest guy in the world, why didn't he do anything to prevent us from sinking into this disaster that Wall Street caused and which he was a part of?" Sen. Bernie Sanders, who plans to oppose Bernanke's reconfirmation, asked on ABC yesterday. Even with Sanders's opposition, Bernanke is expected to win confirmation, giving everyone another four years to make beard jokes.
Bernanke Starts Fed Debate Early [WSJ]
Madonna's boy toy Jesus Luz is a model, a D.J., and according to the Sunday "Styles" section, an opportunist. In an article about how Luz is trying "to make a name for himself," the Times points out that the 22-year-old Brazilian makes a good living D.J.-ing and modeling and it's not just because of a certain sinewy lover of his. "If you want to say he owes it all to Madonna, go ahead. He isn’t concerned with responding to those who say he’d be nothing without the singer," the paper says. Not only will he not respond, he won't share his allowance either! [NYT]
UPDATE: The Florida Highway Patrol has just released the 911 recording of the Woods crash, in which an unidentified caller tells the dispatcher, "I have someone down in front of my...
E! News today spoke exclusively with Rachel Uchitel, the woman in the middle of the Tiger Woods infidelity allegations, and she's ready to set the...
Rough Thanksgiving for the artists formerly known as Mr. and Mrs. Hasselhoff.
The lawyer for David Hasselhoff is trying to tamp down reports that the sobriety-challenged former...
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was "very effective" in helping Roman Polanski convince a Swiss court to allow him to go home, according to the director's sister-in-law. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it is thanks to the President that Roman has been freed, but he has been super,” Mathilde Seigner told Le Parisien newspaper. But why would the president go out on a limb for a man who had sex with a 13-year-old girl? His wife probably told him to. [NYDN]
Fox News host and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee probably won't run for president in 2012, he said on CBS's Face the Nation today. This is bad news for Republicans, who seem to love Huckabee more than any other potential 2012 candidate. But you can't really blame Huckabee. He's enjoying his new TV career and doesn't really think President Obama will lose anyway. "Anyone who thinks Barack Obama is an easy mark off, just remember Bill Clinton was just labeled politically dead and came back to win a resounding re-election in 1996," he said. [The Hill]
If it wasn't already clear that the video game industry is in far better shape than Hollywood this should cement it: the Call of Duty franchise just surpassed the $3 billion sales mark. The success comes on the back of the recently released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the sixth in the series, which made $550 million the first five days it was out. Finally, something to explain why Mountain Dew's sales are doing so well. [THR]
Maybe if the Secret Service made a cash offer, those White House intruders would be more amenable to a sit-down.
While reality-TV wannabes Michaele and Tareq Salahi have apparently yet...
Front Page: Animated comedy based on actor’s brother -- Fox has partnered with Matthew McConaughey to develop an animated TV comedy based on his brother's life.
Front Page: Cast, Cameron to discuss film online ahead of network special -- MTV will present a live webcast of a roundtable with director James Cameron and other featured talent from the film "Avatar" on Dec. 3 as a prelude to a half-hour television special the network will air later in the month.
All hope may not be lost for the great Jay Leno experiment. Since the start of September The Jay Leno Show has experienced a pretty steady ratings decline, but in the 11 episodes leading up to this weekend the decline stopped. In fact, those episodes have each either maintained or improved on their adult demographic compared to the previous week.
What does it all mean? Has Leno figured out how to draw a bigger crowd or has the audience leveled out with the same repeat watchers? A little bit of both, probably. He has benefited both from good gets (two weeks ago actors from New Moon appeared on two separate nights, turning the week into his best since mid-October) and the end of premiere season, when TV watchers pick the shows they will stick with. Not that this is really news to celebrate. Even though the slide has slowed, the actual ratings remain bad (hovering around 1.5). But as long as Leno can stick around until next June he's in for another good week; that's when The Twilight Saga: Eclipse comes out.
Hope for Jay? 'Leno Show' halts ratings slide [The Live Feed]
This weekend, while we were away eating and sleeping and then eating just a little more, the world came to know a couple named Michaele and Tareq Salahi. And now the world regrets it. The Salahis are the fame-seekers who finagled their way into the White House state dinner on Tuesday. As the story goes, the couple was filming a tryout for the upcoming Real Housewives of D.C. They convinced producers they had an invite to the state dinner and then crashed the party, posing for pictures with the president, the vice-president and Rahm Emanuel, among others.
Now the Secret Service has egg on its face, but the people who come out looking the worst are, by far, the Salahis. Naturally, they now want money to talk about it. After scheduling an interview with Larry King, they've canceled it so they can sell their story instead. According to the Times:
A television network executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the network does not publicly comment on payments, said the couple’s asking price for an interview was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. “They are asking for best offers from all the networks,” the executive said.
It makes sense. Asking for money was the next logical step for the Salahis, who the Times says have "left behind a record of lawsuits and unpaid bills." The sad part is, someone is almost certainly going to give it to them.
Reuters - Getting a jump on the coming onslaught of year-end film lists, the International Press Academy announced its nominations for its 14th annual Satellite Awards on Sunday. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 29 Nov 2009 | 6:34 pm
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (Hollywood Reporter) - Sundance faves "Sin Nombre" and "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" scooped the bulk of awards at the 20th Stockholm Film Festival,... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 29 Nov 2009 | 6:31 pm
There are few better days to release news you'd like to bury than the day after Thanksgiving. Mayor Bloomberg knows that and it explains why his campaign released data Friday showing that he spent $102 million of his own money to win a third term as New York's mayor. The total is $17 million more than the record-breaking $85 million he spent in 2005, but it doesn't include the typically robust bonuses he doles out to campaign workers. So it's still growing!
Bill Thompson's campaign hasn't yet released the total it spent, but the number is expected to be in the neighborhood of $10 million. Supporters of campaign finance reform have already pounced on the Bloomberg numbers, calling them "beyond embarrassing." Howard Wolfson, the mayor's campaign spokesman, had a response that's pretty hard to argue: "Losing is embarrassing."
The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Sandra Bullock's football-flick The Blind Side and people eager to escape their families for a couple hours helped break records at the box office this weekend. New Moon's $42.5 million, which puts its total take at $230.7 million, won the box office race for the second week in a row, followed by The Blind Side's $40.1 million. Overall, the $278 million earned at the box office this weekend was an all-time high and confirmation that Americans would really go nuts for a romantic fantasy about a football playing vampire.
Front Page: Uruguayan director Alvarez scores big deal on short -- Ghost House Pictures has made a seven-figure deal with a Uruguayan commercials director to direct his pitch for an alien invasion film.
Mary Murphy's mission to have Tom Cruise guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance is one major step closer to becoming a reality.
I just spoke to Katie Holmes backstage at the...
For today's edition of stating the obvious news, Heidi Samuel and Seal finally gave the world a glimpse their newest daughter Lou Sulola Samuel, and—spoiler alert—she's just...
(AP) AP - Those are the results of a poll conducted by "60 Minutes" and Vanity Fair magazine and issued Sunday. The radio host was picked by 26 percent of those who responded, followed by Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck at 11 percent. Actual politicians — former Vice President Dick Cheney and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin — were the choice of 10 percent each. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 29 Nov 2009 | 5:18 pm
Thanksgiving is history, which means the fall TV season is over and we're heading straight into what the professionals call "midseason"?and what we fans just call "winter...
Reuters - The debut album of Scottish singer Susan Boyle, who shot to fame on TV talent show "Britain's Got Talent," has become the fastest selling album in Britain this year. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 29 Nov 2009 | 3:32 pm
A fan wears a hat displaying a photograph of Stephen Gately, the Irish singer from pop group Boyzone outside St Laurence O'Toole's Church in Dublin, in October 2009. Musicians, actors and other celebrities... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 29 Nov 2009 | 2:36 pm
Wedding bells have rung once again for Tom Arnold.
The funnyman walked down the aisle for the fourth time on Saturday, marrying home organizer Ashley Groussman in an intimate Maui...
If you need something more to be thankful for after the holiday weekend, here it is: You're probably not as big of a jerk as all the a-wipes in the gallery below. You're...
AFP - The outlook for beleaguered French couture house Christian Lacroix looked bleak at the weekend after potential buyers let a deadline pass to deposit cheques ahead of Tuesday's bankruptcy court hearing.
Fifty dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet astounded museum-goers Sunday when they suddenly emerged from the crowd under the Louvre's glass pyramid entrance and started strutting their stuff. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 29 Nov 2009 | 7:23 am
UPDATE: The Florida Highway Patrol has just released the 911 recording of the Woods crash, in which an unidentified caller tells the dispatcher, "I have someone down in front of my...
Rough Thanksgiving for the artists formerly known as Mr. and Mrs. Hasselhoff.
The lawyer for David Hasselhoff is trying to tamp down reports that the sobriety-challenged former...
Maybe if the Secret Service made a cash offer, those White House intruders would be more amenable to a sit-down.
While reality-TV wannabes Michaele and Tareq Salahi have apparently yet...
Mary Murphy's mission to have Tom Cruise guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance is one major step closer to becoming a reality.
I just spoke to Katie Holmes backstage at the...
For today's edition of stating the obvious news, Heidi Samuel and Seal finally gave the world a glimpse their newest daughter Lou Sulola Samuel, and—spoiler alert—she's just...
Thanksgiving is history, which means the fall TV season is over and we're heading straight into what the professionals call "midseason"?and what we fans just call "winter...
Wedding bells have rung once again for Tom Arnold.
The funnyman walked down the aisle for the fourth time on Saturday, marrying home organizer Ashley Groussman in an intimate Maui...
If you need something more to be thankful for after the holiday weekend, here it is: You're probably not as big of a jerk as all the a-wipes in the gallery below. You're...
