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Posts tagged as “Money”

Sautéed days

First, I’d like to welcome all my new readers, especially the ones that are from the far-away APA Blog. :)
I hope you won’t get too lost in the crazy rants I sometime post.

Speaking of crazy rants (and crazy days for that matter)…

Wednesday is Obama Day.
And by that I mean he’s tomorrow’s Daily Show guest.
What? You thought I was gonna talk about another show he’ll be on tomorrow night simultaneously on NBC, CBS and FOX?
Also, ABC is airing Pushing Daisies.
Who will win the rating war: a pie-maker or a terrorist lover?

As for next Tuesday.
Mmmm…
What are you supposed to do on November 4th again?
Right, buy French fries.
Delish’.

Today, don’t forget that Strike.TV is officially launched.
And, no, I am not producing anything over there, thanks for asking telepathically.

Also today, I successfully cooked “Sautéed aubergines and leeks with ginger”.
Yay me.

In other worldwide TV news, France Television’s primetime will begin next year at around 8:35PM instead of 8:50/9PM (as ads will be suppressed after 8PM).
To try to counter its rival network, M6 will also program its primetime at around 8:35PM.
This is a huge change in the French TV landscape.
That’s like having Mad Men on NBC right after the Super Bowl leading to record-shattering ratings of 10 people watching the show.
Only, you know, at 8:35PM.

Forgive me but I couldn’t leave you with a smile on your face, so here goes:
The Footloose remake has been fast-tracked by Paramount with… Zack Efron in the lead. Right after he signs that half-mil check.

Bonjour WGA

Film France is launching with the WGA a program named France Unlimited Access which allows 10 WGA writers to go on an 8-day tour of, you guessed it, France.
Well, actually Paris and the South of France.
The first tour will be held between Nov. 6 and Nov. 13 with John August, Michael Brandt, Michael Dougherty, Derek Haas, Edward Neumeier, Duncan Tucker and Rita Hsiao.

As you might have also guessed, the aim is to promote France as an appropriate setting for future movies. And what better way to start but with the writers.

August has dedicated a post on this and has kind of spurred somewhat of a debate.
On what you might ask.
Well, some people seem to believe that “relocating” so to speak, say, 10 features in France, will somehow affect the global American economy.

Is that the most ridiculous statement you’ve heard all week or what?

Anyway, since it’s for “business” (in France!), the screenwriters probably won’t do any screenwriting seminars and such here unfortunately.
And since I don’t know where they are in Paris, I won’t be able to stalk them. :(

Interact like you're not a potato

CBS is clearly embracing online video content.

After last week’s deal with YouTube, the Eye has launched today its own “social viewing rooms”.

The “Watch & Chat” section is still in Beta.
I just tested it with Survivor.
For now, it seems that you cannot create your own viewing room, and only 2 are available for a given show. It probably will change when the fully fledged version of the social room is launched later this year.
People join the room and are given the ability to chat, and also sorta interact on the video. You can throw for instance a tomato at the video, or even an Intel logo (gasp!). Think WLM winks but put on screen.
Also throughout the episode (about one every 5 minutes) is a little quiz question about the show.
Soon to come are polls and more interaction.

Still, I’m not yet ready to give up my HD Survivor (or for that matter any other HD CBS show) for some basic interactive features.

CBS is definitely trying to gain online momentum by offering somewhat original interactive options to its viewers.
Whether or not it will succeed in bringing home a solid viewer base…
Well, we’ll have to wait and see.

Since we’re talking about CBS and Survivor, we must talk about Jeff Probst.
Heard about that new show he’s trying to bring to the network?
It’s called Live Like You’re Dying and it seems to be a “Make a Wish” for adults, on TV.
Terminally ill patients will have the opportunity to live “the last adventure of their life”, living out their personal dream.

As you might expect, opinions are starting to diverge on whether or not the show should exist at all, let alone be broadcast on national television for the world to be entertained by.
I for one think it should not be put on TV.
It’s one thing to make a foundation and help people fulfill their dreams, it’s another to put it on prime-time for entertainment value.
Although an idea to erase that “entertainment purpo$e” side of the show would be to give all the money acquired by the ads shown during the program to a charity.

The pilot should be shot around January (after Survivor’s 18th season’s filming is over) for a TBD air date.