Wednesday, January 18, 2012

NEWS ROUNDUP: STOP SOPA; Betty White Encore; Did Rick Perry Save DALLAS?

NBC to encore the Betty White birthday special
NBC will air a repeat of the special on Saturday, Jan. 21 from 8-9:30 p.m. The debut telecast on Monday averaged a dominant 13.9 million viewers – NBC’s biggest overall audience in the 8-9:30 p.m. time period, excluding the Olympics, since Feb. 18, 2008.

Did Texas Governor Rick Perry save the new DALLAS on TNT?
Some of the credit for the show's ability to shoot in the real city of Dallas may come from Cynthia Cidre's agent, Anne Blanchard, a Dallas native, and to (wait for it) Rick Perry. When Cidre originally started writing the pilot nearly two years agoo, she said, Blanchard told her, "Honey, if they ever start talking about doing this in another state, you let me know. It has to be in Dallas."

Cidre agreed. But her chance to make that possible didn't happen, she said, until the governor showed up at an L.A. convention center, pushing an event to bring businesses from California to Texas. Cidre said her agent, "fully accessorized," rushed down there and crashed the governor's party, introducing her client.

"How can you let this show be in New Orleans?" Blanchard demanded of the governor. Perry told her to have the head of the city's film commission call him. "Next thing we knew," Cidre said, "our tax credits had been approved."

NeNe Leakes's Acting Debut on GLEE -- How'd She Do?
The REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA star's role wasn't too much of a stretch for her, as she played a synchronized swimming coach with a loud mouth and a short fuse.

GLEE PROJECT winner Samuel Larsen begins work on GLEE
Corey Monteith revealed that Larsen has a "very interesting role" which "ties into a lot of pre-existing storylines".

UK: EASTENDERS tops Tuesday night ratings with 8.9 million viewers
EASTENDERS pulled in 38.3% of the audience at 7.30 p.m. as DCI Marsden asked Ben for information about Stella's death. BBC Three's repeat screening secured 766,000 viewers (3.7%) at 10 p.m.. EMMERDALE attracted 7.37 million (32.9%) at 7 p.m. and 173,000 (0.7%) on +1 as Rodney found himself in trouble with the police. HOLLYOAKS mustered 996,000 (4.6%) at 6.30 p.m. for the George and Callum storyline, while E4's first look interested 560,000 (2.5%) at 7 p.m. On Channel 5, NEIGHBOURS appealed to 698,000 (9.1%) at 1.45 p.m. and 1.17 million (6.8%) at 5.30 p.m., while HOME AND AWAY delivered 784,000 (3.9%) at 6 p.m. and 449,000 (2.1%) for 5*'s first look at 6.30 p.m.

DOWNTON ABBEY Season 2 Will Hit DVD Before Season Finale
Season 2, already aired in the UK, will run each weekend on PBS until February 19, but if you are more impatient, fans will be able to nab DVD copies just a wee bit before the last few episodes air. PBS distribution will release "DOWNTON ABBEY Season 2" on Blu-Ray and DVD February 7.

Historian Simon Schama launches scathing attack on DOWNTON ABBEY as 'a steaming, silvered tureen of snobbery'
Writng in Newsweek, Schama said the U.S. audience had been "falling like grouse to the gun before the mighty edifice of DOWNTON ABBEY."

Tina Sloan to bring 'Changing Shoes’ play to Four Arts
Sloan will perform her one-woman show at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, Florida. At Thursday’s performance, the Four Arts will collect gently worn shoes at the lecture for the Nashville-based charity Soles4Souls. The Gardens Mall will provide a voucher for a $20 mall gift certificate for every attendee who brings a pair of shoes.





Anger as BBC plans to axe Scottish jobs
Last October, when the scope of the cuts was revealed, it was said that more BBC Scotland programs would appear on the main UK network in the coming years, more than 8.6% by 2016/17, including the soap opera RIVER CITY. However, jobs will be lost in news, production, operations, radio, online and Gaelic, as well as at Radio Scotland and possibly in sport.

SOPA protests shut down Web sites
On Wednesday, a group of technology companies is planning to stage an unusual form of protest: The firms are shutting down their own popular Web sites for a day to show their unhappiness with two Internet-regulation bills grinding through Congress. They argue that the bills would impose huge regulatory costs and stifle innovation on the Web.
In Washington, however, the day has another significance. It culminates a surprising lobbying effort in which technology companies such as Twitter, Wikipedia and Google have used their massive reach into Americans’ daily lives as a political weapon, to whip up support from online users.

In this fight, they were pitted against traditional Washington heavyweights, such as Hollywood and the recording industry.

2 comments:

  1. I think it is important to let soap fans know -- especially those who upload and view content on YouTube and other sites as well as those who create mvids -- that SOPA and the PROTECT-IP legislation will impact them directly.

    If you're against it, call your congressman/woman.

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  2. President Obama's skit for the Betty White 90th Birthday special was funny! At the very least, he has a sense of humor about that who 'Birther' nonsense.

    ReplyDelete