ABC SELECTS ITS LATE-NIGHT STAR TO HOST EMMYS

The major television networks, which take turns each year presenting the Emmy awards, now appear to be selecting their late-night personalities to host them — giving each one the opportunity for primetime exposure. It’s ABC’s turn this year,an on Monday it said that Jimmy Kimmel, whose midnight talk show continues to improve in the ratings […]

ACTION-FILM DIRECTOR RATNER TO CO-PRODUCE OSCARS

In the latest head-scratching move to revitalize the annual Oscars telecast, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Thursday that action-movie director Brett Ratner will co-produce next year’s show with veteran Don Mischer. In a statement, Academy President Tom Sherak said that Ratner is “unbelievably creative and knows how to take risks […]

FRANCO, HATHAWAY TO HOST OSCARS

Breaking with the tradition of naming comics or song-and-dance men to host the annual Oscar ceremonies, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today (Monday) announced that James Franco and Anne Hathaway will host next year’s presentations. In a statement, Oscar telecast co-producer Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer said, “James Franco and Anne Hathaway […]

BROADCASTERS HOPE TO DUMP LONGFORM EMMYS

Not only do the Emmy categories for TV movies and miniseries shut out the broadcast networks — who rarely produce such fare anymore — they also act as a drag on the awards show itself, broadcast execs complain. “Once those longform awards come on, it’s the death march of boredom,” one unnamed network executive told […]

NO JANUARY OSCARS NEXT YEAR, SAYS OSCAR PRODUCER

If the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences does indeed move its Oscar presentations to January, it won’t happen in 2011, co-producer Don Mischer has told the Los Angeles Times. The possible switch was reported by Deadline Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke on Wednesday. Finke reported that the academy’s board of governors discussed moving up […]

NEW HANDS ON DECK FOR OSCARS

In the apparent hope of bringing a new perspective to the production of the annual Oscar awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected veteran producers Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer to oversee next year’s telecast. Neither has ever worked on the ceremony, although Mischer has produced the Primetime Emmy Awards ten times. […]