The “Chin” is back! That is exactly how NBC ran a promotional spot officially signaling the return of Jay Leno to his old haunt, the late night slot.
Leno was considered the King of late night as he had a long and successful run up to last year when he handed over the reins to Conan O’Brien. Sadly that move ended in disaster as Conan failed to hold on to the ratings built up by Leno and the show entered a disastrous downward rating spiral which eventually saw the exit of Conan. The fact that NBC was willing to sacrifice the entire month of February so that Leno could prepare for a debut in March speaks volumes for his stock as well as damns Conan’s star power.
There are questions though, as to whether Leno will be able to re-capture the lost ratings. NBC seems to be confident of this as they point out that Leno’s faithful followers were not part of Conan’s demographics. They also point out that although The Jay Leno Show did not do well in the ratings, it did not do badly either. Leno averaged 5.2 million viewers for “The Tonight Show” in his last season and averaged 5.3 million in his new prime time slot. The only reason the new show was deemed a failure was that it was expected to bring in a lot more in terms of viewership.
Although the return of Leno to his old slot is not being the subject of hype as the prime time slot was, this appears to be a smart move. Experts say that by keeping a fairly low key approach, expectations will not be overly high thus helping the show to hit the ground running. All of the old gimmicks (the desk, chair and couch) will be back with a new color scheme. However, the new set is still under wraps so it could hold a few surprises when it opens next week!
Known well for his role as Richard “Boner” Stabone in the 80s sitcom “Growing Pains”, Andrew Koenig was a talented actor. His father, Walter, played the unforgettable role of “Pavel Chekov” alongside William Shatner’s “Captain Kirk” in the iconic “Star Trek” TV series. Andrew also had a “trekkie” role in “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” as well as other prominent roles in “InAlienable,” “My Two Dads,” “NonSeNse,” “G.I. Joe,” and “The Theory of Everything.”
Andrew had suffered from depression and was known to be on medication. But recently he had cleared out his L.A. apartment, given away all his belongings and announced to his friends that he was moving to Vancouver to “start over”. Most importantly at this point he had gone off his medication. The actor was last seen on February 14 in Vancouver where he was visiting friends. By the 18th, he was reported missing by his parents and they appealed to the public a few days later to help them find him.
Although Andrew was originally thought to be laying low and avoiding human contact, the family’s worst fears were realized when his body was found in a park in Vancouver a few days later. The actor had apparently taken his own life in an area of the park which was rarely visited. His father later stated that he did not suspect any foul play and that his son had indeed committed suicide.
The Koenig family has urged the public to not let this fate happen to anyone else and has appealed to them to persuade those who suffer from depression to seek help.
The “Nikita” character seems to be a perennial favorite as it has seen many incarnations over the years. Anne Parillaud was the first “Nikita” in Luc Besson’s 1990 movie. This was followed by the 1993 “Point of no return” starring Bridget Fonda and the 1997 TV series “La Femme Nikita” starring Peta Wilson. Originally, Nikita is a woman who gets in trouble with the law and thereafter is given shelter by a secret organization. The organization proceeds to train her and turn her into an accomplished assassin.
The last incarnation of “Nikita” lasted five seasons in its run on TV and CW seems to be banking on that as it has commissioned a pilot for a new rebooted version. The new plot takes off from the point where the old Nikita has gone rogue leaving the requirement for a replacement to be trained. The replacement has been cast and the name may come as a surprise to many because it is Maggie Q.
Traditionally the role of Nikita has been played by a Caucasian, but with the reboot idea, creator Craig Silverstein decided to give it a twist by casting the new Nikita as “Beautiful and Exotic”. Not only will this be Maggie’s highest profile series role, it is so for any Asian actress in the TV business. Maggie has been in several big screen hits such as “Mission: Impossible III” opposite Tom Cruise and “Live free or Die Hard” opposite Bruce Willis, but this will be her biggest TV opportunity if the series does take off.
American Idol judge Simon Cowell would like to see Lady Gaga come on as a mentor on the show this year. Cowell believes that the artist is very relevant to the pop world at present which would make her an obvious choice for the role. Former mentors on the show have included Bono, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Slash and Diana Ross to name a few.
On the future of American Idol without Simon Cowell, the judge said that whoever replaces him should be a person with a solid background of music industry experience. He downplayed Howard Stern’s chances by saying that since Stern did not fit those criteria it was unlikely that the shock jock would be chosen. However, Cowell did wish Stern the best of luck if he was serious about taking up the job. Stern has been stirring up a storm on his radio station Sirius XM trying to get his name into the hat for consideration. Many think that this is another attempt in a long line of attempts to belittle the show.
When asked to name a replacement, Cowell remained neutral and reiterated his earlier point by citing an example of judging Olympic Ice Skating. He said that unless you know exactly what the sport is about you cannot pass criticism or award points. He also pointed out that increasingly on TV, judges were being replaced by personalities and that this trend would cause issues in the long run as they would not be able to spot a “diamond in the rough” as well as a person from the industry would.
Cowell leaves Idol at the end of this season to launch his own show next year.
For more info visit American Idol Fan Forum.
Twenty five years after it first swamped the world “We are the world” is back in all its glory and with an all new cast of singers. The original was designed to be a benefit single for African famine relief and was penned by Lionel Richie and the late Michael Jackson. The duo was given the task of writing the song by Harry Belafonte and Ken Kragen.
Richie is once again part of the song, this time as a conductor along with Quincy Jones who was also an integral part of the 1985 effort. “We are the World: 25 for Haiti” was initially not designed for the Haitian earthquake relief efforts, but with the unfortunate events that unfolded in Haiti, Richie and Jones decided to transform the commemorative effort into one that would once again be about relief.
The new version of the song features over 75 artists, updated lyrics and music. It also has a rap segment and a duet between Michael & Janet Jackson. The song was unveiled during the broadcast of the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics on NBC. All of the proceeds generated by the song will be channeled through the We Are the World Foundation to support the relief efforts in Haiti.
The earthquake hit on January 12, 2010 leaving the country devastated with millions homeless. The death toll is eventually expected to top 200,000 in number.
The video, directed by Paul Haggis and the single, are available for purchase on iTunes.
The long awaited debut of Ellen DeGeneres on American Idol was… a hit! In the days leading up to the show, fans were very much divided in their opinion on Ellen’s inclusion as the fourth judge. But happily for Ellen, her performance was good enough to keep the fans and the show’s creator Simon Fuller more than happy. The show also did very well in the ratings game.
However the real test for Ellen was her own critical self-analysis. Passing that was her major concern and in reflection she said “I was honest with them (the singers). I was concerned about tiptoeing around too much, but I didn’t”.
Congratulatory tweets, messages and phone calls after the show have vindicated any fears that Ellen might have had about her performance; even Simon Fuller was quoted as saying that he was “really, really happy”.
The Idol debut marks another good day for Ellen as her daytime talk show was also renewed for a further three years. The much expected war of words between her and über judge Simon Cowell did not materialize, but Ellen did hint that this was not how it was going to be. She said that Hollywood Week was all about the difficult task of pruning the 181 contestant to just 24 which did not leave much time for banter between the judges. She also said that she didn’t know how things will turn out in the later live stages of the show, describing it as “That’s going to be an intersting thing”.
For more info visit American Idol Fan Forum.
How this one got through the approval process is a mystery, but a pleasant one at that. Pitching a story about an autistic person who thinks as cows do, and becomes an animal behavior expert is bizarre enough but there is more than meets the eye. What really sets this script apart is the way it takes this idea to another level altogether as the autistic kid (in the movie) ends up revolutionizing the cattle industry. Somehow, HBO found it appealing enough to bring this touching story to life.
Chronicling the life of Temple Grandin, the movie looks at her life from the moment she arrives at her aunt’s ranch in Arizona to her eventual rise as an expert in the cattle industry and leading autism advocate. The movie attempts to take the viewer through Grandin’s mind so that they can experience how she thinks and perceives the world.
Claire Danes gives us an exemplary performance as Temple Grandin, having studied the character both in person and using video footage. “I didn’t want to fail her (Grandin) or disappoint her in any way,” said Danes about her portrayal. Director Mick Jackson later said that Danes was the obvious choice for the role and that no one else had been considered. He had been impressed with her performance in a theatrical play in New York where she had played the role of a woman disabled from the waist down. This required Danes to drag herself everywhere on stage with her hands.
Jackson said the professionalism and dedication shown in bringing that role to life singled out Danes as a very special actor. Grandin herself is actually thrilled by Danes’ performance likening it to taking a trip in a time machine and watching her younger self.
Eight months ago, Conan O’Brien took over the reins of the “The Tonight Show” from Jay Leno. At that time, the show was the king of its time slot, but that changed soon after Conan entered the picture. The initial slump was attributed to people acclimatizing themselves to Conan’s style of humor and presentation. However, as the ratings nosedive continued, alarm bells started ringing at NBC and the network soon came to a decision.
$45 million was the magic number that eventually sorted out NBC’s problems. Conan takes home $33 million of that while the remaining $12 million is split amongst his 200 strong staff. The long drawn out negotiations were mainly due to Conan’s insistence on the amount that should be paid to his staff as compensation. The network puts that down as a public relations stunt by the O’Brien camp; call it what you may, the little people in the big game have somehow been taken care of in a good way.
Conan’s run on the show ends in the month of January and thereafter reruns will take over until the end of February. The first of March will see the familiar face of Leno returning to “The Tonight Show”, which NBC hopes will return it to the top of the ratings chart. Meanwhile, Conan can cool his heels until September, which is when he will able to take up other commitments. What those commitments may be is pure speculation at this point, as no one seems to be interested.
