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Trade Round-Up: Virtual Tony Soprano Panic Attacks Closer To Reality

mark · 05/04/06 03:28PM

· A video game version of The Sopranos is going forward with much of the show's cast, and with David Chase co-writing a story about Big Pussy's bastard son fighting with Philly mob. However, to get to the action, gamers will have to sit through an unskippable two-hour sequence involving Tony's strange dream about an unconsummated hunt for a cheesesteak. [Variety]
· Catherine Zeta-Jones in negotiations to play Harry Houdini's "exotic" psychic (will she ever escape such pernicious typecasting?) love interest in the in the biopic Death Defying Acts. [THR]
· CW head Dawn Ostroff will gather her lieutenants today in a secret bunker underneath the Warners Bros. lot, where they will decide which select few programs will be doomed to the obscurity of their new network's schedule. [Variety]
· Benicio Del Toro, Michelle Williams, Forest Whitaker, and Catherine O'Hara have all been recruited to provide voices in Spike Jonze's adapation of Where the Wild Things Are. [THR]
· Fox continues to bludgeon mercilessly all comers with American Idol, but last night upped the Nielsen brutality with the second part of a two-hour House special. [Variety]

Gay Vito Does Some WeHo Fieldwork

Seth Abramovitch · 05/03/06 08:29PM

Towleroad noted a segment from Jimmy Kimmel Live last week (we found the clip on YouTube) in which Joseph Gannoscoli, the actor who plays Vito, was sent with a camera to West Hollywood's best known gay bar, The Abbey. Why? We're not exactly sure—something about interviewing the owner about membership in the "pink mafia." (In Kimmel's world, adding "gay" to anything makes for instant comedy.) Other highlights include a heated discussion with porn star Max Grand over whether or not Vito is his type (he isn't), and a provocative encounter with a bowl of sliced apples ("Get a load of this fruit!") Luckily, no whack jobs transpire, unless you count a brief interaction between clientele at the bars' furthest urinals.

New 'Entourage' Campaign Leaves City Baffled

Seth Abramovitch · 05/03/06 02:34PM


Driving down Santa Monica Blvd. last night, we noticed an ad campaign for Entourage had popped up on bus shelters and benches. (Which, when you think about it, provides more than a dollop of irony considering the show's characters would sooner throw themselves under the tires of a repossessed Hummer before riding LA's public transportation.) The tagline itself, however, left us so completely confused, we snapped a picture of it: Block, white letters on a black background, stating "It begins and ends with E." Would E! network run syndicated repeats? Was this just some lame reference to Vince's manager/best friend Eric, whose nickname is E? Or would the third season be book-ended with love-drug-fueled Hollywood Hills parties and Vegas Strip adventures, during which Turtle and Drama finally physicalize their deep, mutual admiration? We're rooting for door #3.

Artie Bucco Booked: Another 'Soprano' Arrested

Seth Abramovitch · 05/02/06 01:03PM

While The Sopranos' Artie Bucco still nurses his stirring hand back to health after its inopportune encounter with a pot of molten marinara, the actor who plays Artie, John Ventimiglia, has also found himself in some proverbial hot water: The Smoking Gun posted the police report from Ventimiglia's arrest last night, after cops spotted him weaving his Jetta around Brooklyn with the lights off, only to find an envelope containing cocaine residue in his pocket:

126 Rivington: Cha-Ching

Jesse · 04/25/06 05:30PM

Last we checked in the with kids of 126 Rivington — the LES building where all the tenants are besties, and they're all getting a TV show together — rumor was they were on the verge of a deal with HBO. That seems confirmed by this email, which arrived unbidden — and, we should be quick to note, entirely unverified — this afternoon:

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Gay Vito But Were Afraid To Ask

mark · 04/10/06 12:43PM

The morning after The Sopranos' Gay Vito Spatafore cemented his status as the breakout character of the new season [SPOILER ALERT] by being caught cavorting in a leather bar by a couple of wiseguys, the AP profiles the man behind the bear mobster, actor Joseph R. Giannascoli. Giannascoli claims that taking Vito's arc gayward was his own, somewhat cynical idea, a ploy to push his character from "Hey, want some more gabbagoo, Tone?" Satriale's back room space-filler to front-and-center made guy, and shares some of the colorful past (gambler, restaurateur, and dabbling drug-dealer) that gives so many Sopranos regulars a tinge of authenticity:

Trade Round-Up: Stacey Snider's Vacation May Be Cut Short

mark · 03/22/06 03:20PM

In perhaps the least surprising development in the continuing story of Paramount's shakeup, Stacey Snider might be sprung from her Universal contract and working at DreamWorks in as little as a few weeks. We hope she gets back her security deposit for the 10-month vacation she'd been planning. [THR]
Will Smith will star in the feature adaptation of the TV series It Takes a Thief for Universal, in which he will play "a charming rogue who is blackmailed by the government into doing covert larceny for the good of his country." After stretching to kiss a fat man in Hitch, it's nice to see that Smith continues to challenge himself with different kinds of charming roles. [Variety]
Variety analyzes the closing of theatrical windows, which dropped 11% for films that grossed over $50 million in 2005. Bored yet? You shouldn't be—the closing of the theatrical window foreshadows an entertainment industry apocalypse that will once again plunge us into the days of communal cave painting viewing. Cave paintings directed by Brett Ratner. Yeah, now you're listening. [Variety]
· Big Love drops about 1.2 million viewers between its premiere and this week's episode, and isn't holding its Sopranos lead-in audience well. How many more times does Bill Paxton have to show his ass to please you people? Don't make the man resort to full frontal. [THR]
Mid-seasons The Unit, The New Adventures of Old Christine, American Inventor and Deal or No Deal (for our money, the stupidest show on television, yet we've now watched it twice, powerless against the spectacle of people yelling at briefcases held by supermodels) are scoring well for their respective networks. [Variety]

Trade Round-Up: Benico Del Toro Gets Somewhat Hairier, Scarier

mark · 03/15/06 02:45PM

Travolta as JR Ewing? Yeah, not so much. But Benicio Del Toro as the Wolf Man, well, we can get behind that. [Variety]
Desiring his own 8 Mile or Get Rich or Die Tryin', Kanye West hooks up with New Line to produce a film inspired by his music. [THR]
MPAA head Dan Glickman plans a "Got Milk?"-esque PR campaign for a beleaguered film industry desperate to revive the public's interest in the moviegoing experience. The campaign is still in its early planning stages, with creatives trying to distill the phrase, "What are you going to do, stay at home and talk to that bitch wife of yours?" into just a couple of pithy words. [Variety]
Pilotmania! Stanley Tucci will star in an untitled CBS drama pilot, Campbell Scott is in negotiations for ABC's Six Degrees, Andrew McCarthy joins CBS drama The Way, and Marla Sokoloff leads ABC's comedy A Day in the Life. [THR]
Sarah Jesscia Parker will produce a half-hour comedy series based on Washingtonienne, blogger Jessica Cutler's novel about her DC-based, anal-tastic sexcapades (first brought to light by Original Wonkette Ana Marie Cox) for HBO. [Variety]

126 Rivington Coming Soon to HBO?

Jesse · 03/15/06 09:41AM

Remember our friends at 126 Rivington? It's the Melrose Place on the Lowest East Side, where all the residents are friends with everyone else, and they work together to achieve great things, like a Sunday Styles profile back in January. Soon Alan Salkin's piece ran, we heard rumors that the kids were in talks with The WB for a reality show. But now we hear it's gotten much, much worse.

HBO.com Accidentally Posts Sopranos Season Premiere Spoiler

mark · 03/10/06 08:44PM

A reader just tipped us that a complete episode recap for this Sunday's The Sopranos premiere was mistakenly posted over the one for last year's season finale on HBO's web site. So if you're dying to know what happens in the first new Sopranos episode in about a year and a half and want to kill the crippling sense of anticpation that's been building since then, you can follow this link and throw yourself a little spoiler party—at least until HBO's web staff catches on and rips it down, which we estimate will take about 15 minutes.

Trade Round-Up: Weinsteins Plan Fake Biopic

mark · 03/02/06 02:32PM

When life gives you a literary hoax, make hoaxster-ade: Weinstein Co. plans to bring a "biopic" about fictitious author J.T. Leroy, based on the articles by the NY Times reporter who outed the fakery. We fear that a tale of James Frey's tragic post-Oprah existence will be announced shortly. [Variety]
Zach Braff will reunite with his Garden State producer to adapt, direct, produce and co-star in remake of 2002 Danish romantic drama Open Hearts for Paramount. And just in case you were wondering on embattled Paramount president Gail Berman's role in this, she was "instrumental in bringing the project to the studio." There, now you know what she's been up to. [THR]
HBO just wants "to be in the Dane Cook business," signing the comedian to develop a series, headline a stand-up special, star in a tour documentary, produce and star in original content for non-traditional platforms, and if he so chooses, open up Dane's Joint, a stand-up comedy theme restaurant. [Variety]
Pilot news clearinghouse: Jesse Bradford is cast in in ABC drama Twenty Questions, Eddie McClintock in NBC's untitled Chris Sheridan comedy, Gerald "Major Dad" McRaney in CBS drama Jericho, and Mo Collins joins Patricia Heaton's untitled comedy at ABC. [THR]
· Crash's original song nominee, "In the Deep," will not be disqualified from Oscar contention. Also, an appeal to the Academy to disqualify the film from the Best Picture category under the arcane "You've got to be fucking kidding me" provision failed, and any votes cast for the movie will stand. [Variety]

Trade Round-Up: "Hoodwinked" Squeaks Past "Glory Road"

mark · 01/17/06 01:35PM

· Not so fast, Glory Road! The Weinstein Co.'s Hoodwinked squeezes past Jerry Bruckheimer's uplifting basketball flick at the MLK holiday weekend box office. [Variety]
· David Chase says this is the last season of The Sopranos, no matter how much money HBO throws at him to stretch out the series into "bonus" mini-seasons. No, for real this time! [THR]
· CBS Corp. officially changes the name of its studio arm to CBS Paramount Television. Meanwhile, Brad Grey is considering starting a new TV division over at the real Paramount, which we're sure will be something suitably retaliatory, like Paramount Pictures' Fuck CBS TV. [Variety]
· X-Files creator Chris Carter sues 20th Century Fox TV for breach of contract, contractual interference and other claims over funds he claims to be owed. He alleges that 20th reneged on their deal because the terms were "too favorable" to Carter, i.e., they forgot to include the proper, obscure contract language to thoroughly but legally screw him out of money. [THR]
· Moving the Golden Globes to Monday to avoid the oncoming Nielsen freight train of Desperate Housewives pays off, with NBC winning the night despite a challenge from 24. [Variety]

Munich's Made For TV Inspiration

Seth Abramovitch · 01/13/06 01:06PM


Between his daily, painstaking shit list revisings, Steven Spielberg finds time to make some of the most critically and commercially successful movies of our time. But does his latest effort, Munich, borrow too heavily from an 1986 HBO film based on the same source material called Sword of Gideon? The Wall Street Journal reports that Gideon's producers are suggesting exactly that:

Trade Round-Up: Koppel Snubs HBO

mark · 01/04/06 01:57PM

· The Producers Guild goes indie/specialty with its best film awards nominations, rounding up Brokeback, Capote, Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck, and Walk the Line. Did any of them actually see Crash? [Variety]
· And here come the Writers Guild nominations for best original screenplay: Cinderella Man, Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck, The Squid and the Whale, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. We think our feelings about one of these nominees are clear by now, so we'll avoid beating that dead hor...oh, fuck it. Crash? Really now? [THR]
· Ted Koppel signs a Seacrestian (yeah, we went there) multi-year deal to produce documentaries and "town meetings" for The Discovery Channel, leaving jilted lover HBO to wistfully smell the helmet-shaped indentation on the pillow from their last romantic rendezvous. [Variety]
· ABC wins the Tuesday night ratings war with its coverage of the Orange Bowl, or as Variety likes to call it, the Fiesta Bowl. [THR, Variety]
· Warner Bros. and Fox celebrate winning 2005's box office, while DreamWorks and Sony cross their fingers for a less disastrous '06. [Variety]

Media Bubble: 'Observer' Admires Its Elders

Jesse · 12/14/05 02:30PM

• Murdoch, Newhouse, Philbin, and friends: Meet the city's media Power Geezers. [NYO]
• CBS wants Katie so badly that they're offering her a pay cut. [NYP]
• Food and the City: HBO buys rights to Ruth Reichl's memoirs for a new memoir. [WWD]
• A new front in the War on Christmas: Plano, Texas, where the school district bans kids from wearing red and green, according to Defender of the Faith O'Reilly. Except for one thing: It's not true. [Dallas Morning News]
LAT to shutter national edition, ending its print presence in Washington and New York. Yeah, we're as surprised as you are to discover it had a print presence in New York. [NYT]