LIBERACE MOVIE A HIT FOR HBO

Aided by solid reviews earlier in the week at the Cannes Film Festival, where it participated in the competition, director Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra produced the highest ratings for an HBO original movie in nine years. The first screening of the movie attracted 2.4 million viewers; a second, immediately afterwards, attracted an additional 1.1 […]

TIME WARNER CABLE CHANNELS BUOY CONGLOMERATE

Time Warner may be the only media conglomerate among the top five — the others are Comcast (NBC), News Corp (Fox), Disney (ABC) and National Amusements (CBS) — without a broadcast network of its own (its Warner Bros. unit is partnered with CBS in the CW network), but its vast system of cable networks propelled […]

HOFFMAN IN NEW FEUD WITH PETA OVER DEAD HORSES IN LUCK

Dustin Hoffman has accused HBO of acting precipitously when it shut down production of his critically acclaimed Luck series after it was reported that three horses died during its production. In an interview with Reuters, Hoffman said, “They closed us down like a guillotine. The facts were so distorted that it frightened HBO into making […]

DIRECTOR SAYS LIBERACE BIOPIC WAS “TOO GAY” FOR STUDIOS

Despite being directed by an Oscar winner and starring two other Oscar winners, Behind the Candelabra, Steven Soderbergh’s drama about flamboyant pianist/entertainer Liberace, received a pass from every major studio, Soderbergh told TheWrap.com. The film, which cost just $5 million to produce and stars Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as his longtime lover […]

EMMY NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

This year’s Emmy awards nominations were something of a rerun in their own right. Like last year, AMC’s Mad Men garnered the most nominations for a dramatic series — 17 — and ABC’s Modern Family for a comedy — 14. Not a single show airing on the four major networks was nominated in the drama […]

HBO QUICKLY REMOVES BUSH’S HEAD FROM THRONES EPISODE

It didn’t take long. Only a week or so ago HBO yanked DVD shipments of the first season of Game of Thrones and pulled the final episode from HBO GO and iTunes, because one of the producers admitted on the making-of soundtrack that he had used a replica of the head of George W. Bush […]

GEORGE W. BUSH’S HEAD? WHO KNEW?

HBO has gone beyond a mere apology following the revelation that it used a model of George W. Bush’s head held on a barbarian’s spike in a scene ending the first season’s finale of Game of Thrones. It has followed up with the announcement today (Friday) that it is yanking the episode from all its […]

LUCK — NOT MUCH OF IT FOR ITS CAST AND CREW

The decision by HBO and the producers of Luck to shut down production of the series following the deaths of three horses came as devastating news to the 180-member crew and dozens of actors working on the series, as well as local suppliers, including prop houses and vendors who supplied services and equipment, the Los […]

PETA AND HUMANE ASSN. BATTLE OVER LUCK

A “turf war” has broken out between People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the American Humane Association over the deaths of three horses used on the now-canceled HBO series Luck. Dr. Rick Arthur of the California Horse Racing Board told today’s (Friday) New York Times that claims by PETA about unsafe conditions of […]

HBO’S LUCK RUNS OUT OF IT

For a show titled Luck, the HBO drama has had little of it. Despite a cast that includes Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte and a clutch of executive producers that includes David Milch and Michael Mann, Luck drew just 1.1 million viewers in its debut last year and averaged 500,000 during its nine-episode run. Set […]

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