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ABCannes

The busy week continues for me but at least I have time to post for you guys the several news of today, most of them having to do with ABC.

First, early pick-ups for the network.
The list doesn’t seem that surprising: Obviously Lost (for its final season), Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, Private Practice, and Ugly Betty.

Nothing about the new shows though (The Unusuals, Better Off Ted, Castle and In the Motherhood), as well as Scrubs (most likely the last season anyway).

ABC will also be showing a preview of next season’s Flash Forward series next week during the Lost episode.
I loved the pilot script back then, so I’m anxious to find out how it looks like on the screen.
My guess is, they’ll show the freeway sequence.

In movie news, the Cannes line-up was announced today:

OPENER
“Up,” U.S., Pete Docter, Bob Peterson

CLOSER
“Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky,” France, Jan Kounen

IN COMPETITION
“Bright Star,” Australia-U.K.-France, Jane Campion
“Spring Fever,” China-France, Lou Ye
“Antichrist,” Denmark-Sweden-France-Italy, Lars von Trier
“Enter the Void,” France, Gaspar Noe
“Face,” France-Taiwan-Netherlands-Belgium, Tsai Ming-liang
“Les Herbes folles,” France-Italy, Alain Resnais
“In the Beginning,” France, Xavier Giannoli
“A Prophet,” France, Jacques Audiard
“The White Ribbon,” Germany-Austria-France, Michael Haneke
“Vengeance,” Hong Kong-France-U.S., Johnnie To
“The Time That Remains,” Israel-France-Belgium-Italy, Elia Suleiman
“Vincere,” Italy-France, Marco Bellocchio
“Kinatay,” Philippines, Brillante Mendoza
“Thirst,” South Korea-U.S., Park Chan-wook
“Broken Embraces,” Spain, Pedro Almodovar
“Map of the Sounds of Tokyo,” Spain, Isabel Coixet
“Fish Tank,” U.K.-Netherlands, Andrea Arnold
“Looking for Eric,” U.K.-France-Belgium-Italy, Ken Loach
“Inglourious Basterds,” U.S., Quentin Tarantino
“Taking Woodstock,” U.S., Ang Lee

OUT OF COMPETITION
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” Canada-France, Terry Gilliam
“The Army of Crime,” France, Robert Guediguian
“Agora,” Spain, Alejandro Amenabar

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
“A Town Called Panic,” Belgium, Stephane Aubier, Vincent Patar
“Ne te retourne pas,” France-Belgium-Luxembourg-Italy, Marina de Van
“Drag Me to Hell,” U.S., Sam Raimi

SPECIAL SCREENINGS
“Petition,” China, Zhao Liang
“L’epine dans le coeur,” France, Michel Gondry
“Min ye,” France-Mali, Souleyumane Cisse
“Jaffa,” Israel-France-Germany, Keren Yedaya
“Manila,” Philippines, Adolfo Alix Jr., Raya Martin
“My Neighbor, My Killer,” U.S., Anne Aghion

UN CERTAIN REGARD
“Samson & Delilah,” Australia, Warwick Thornton
“Adrift,” Brazil, Heitor Dhalia
“The Wind Journeys,” Colombia, Ciro Guerra
“Demain des l’aube,” France, Denis Dercourt
“Irene,” France, Alain Cavalier
“Air Doll,” Japan, Hirokazu Kore-eda
“Independance,” Philippines-France-Germany, Raya Martin
“Le Pere de mes enfants,” France-Germany, Mia Hansen-Love
“Dogtooth,” Greece, Yorgos Lanthimos
“Nobody Knows About the Persian Cats,” Iran, Bahman Ghobadi
“Eyes Wide Open,” Israel, Haim Tabakman
“Mother,” South Korea, Bong Joon-ho
“The Silent Army,” Netherlands, Jean van de Velde
“To Die Like a Man,” Portugal, Joao Pedro Rodrigues
“Police, Adjective,” Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu
“Tales from the Golden Age,” Romania, Hanno Hofer, Razvan Marculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Popescu, Ioana Uricaru
“Tale in the Darkness,” Russia, Nikolay Khomeriki
“Tzar,” Russia-France, Pavel Lounguine
“Nymph,” Thailand, Pen-ek Ratanaruang
“Precious,” U.S., Lee Daniels

FEATURE FILM JURY
Isabelle Huppert (president), actress, France
Asia Argento, actress, director, screenwriter, Italy
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director, screenwriter, actor, Turkey
Lee Chang-dong, director, author, screenwriter, South Korea
James Gray, director, screenwriter, U.S.
Hanif Kureishi, author, screenwriter, U.K.
Shu Qi, actress, Taiwan
Robin Wright Penn, actress, U.S.

LA CINEFONDATION AND SHORT FILM JURY
John Boorman (president), director, author, producer, U.K.
Bertrand Bonello, director, France
Ferid Boughedir, director, Tunisia
Leonor Silveira, actress, Portugal
Zhang Ziyi, actress, China

Maybe I’ll finally be able to go.

They Are A-Changin'

This morning were unveiled the 2008 Peabody Award winners, including HBO’s Entourage (!) & John Adams, ABC’s Lost, and AMC’s Breaking Bad.

The award ceremony will take place on May 18 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York and will be hosted by NBC’s Brian Williams.

What is most peculiar is that among the winners is non other than YouTube.
Add to that The Onion’s online news-network, and the NY Times’ website, and you’ve got yourself the first time Web entities actually receive the coveted prize.

Interestingly enough, the Peabody Award has now become an “International Competition for Electronic Media, honoring achievement in Television, Radio, Cable and the Web.”

The technological shift continues as Disney just got itself a 30% share in Hulu, making it equal partner with NBC-U and News Corp.
Providence Equity Partners still has its 10%.

The following seemed odly appropriate:

Everyone is trying to get on board now it seems.

CBS is still on the sideline though, sticking with YouTube who is launching April 16 its premium content site and Hulu’s main competitor, Sling.

Somewhat ironically, only clips of ABC’s shows will be available on YouTube.

In the meantime, Business Week has just posted an article in why Hulu attracts eyes, but not advertisers.

Venture Beat notes another ironic subtext: Apple’s Steve Jobs is also the largest shareholder at Disney’s table as well as on the board of directors. Ultimately it seems that Hulu’s free ad-supported streaming will have to go head to head with the iTunes’ ad-free pricey content.

Let the fighting continue (or is it begin?).
The times, they are a-changin’.

That's just plain dumb

The title refers to what Isaac Asimov would have said about the Sci Fi/Syfy name change, at least according to Mitch Rubenstein, a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel soon to be named the same as a venereal disease.

Rubenstein says:

What would Isaac have said if the name was instead SyFy Channel. He would have said (we believe): That’s just plain dumb.


The Syfy executives here seen posing for the fans

The outrage continues following the announcement last week of a massive rebranding of the cable SF network.

So who exactly is for this name change?
Beats me.

Continuing on Syfy infos, the network is setting up three minis, all of them adaptations, and two of them backdoor pilots.

The first one is Riverworld, based on the fantasy book series by Philip José Farmer, about a world occupied by everyone who has every lived on Earth.
It should be noted that the characters (and/or historical figures) will be played by actors in their 20s.

The second one, however, is based a comic-book character created by Lee Falke.
I am of course talking about The Phantom.
For those who know what the hell is going on with the character, the story should focus on the 23rd Phantom.


Not an actual poster for the Syfy mini

What is even more interesting is who is behind the script: Carnivàle‘s own Daniel Knauf.
I can’t wait to see it.

But we’re gonna have to wait.

Both four-hour minis (or rather TV-movies) use basically the same format as previously used for Battlestar Galactica. So, if succcessful enough, prepare to see two new shows in a couple of years or so.
The two minis are scheduled to premiere sometime next year.
Me thinks Caprica will be part of this little scheduling game.

Syfy has also ordered Alice, a new take on the Alice in Wonderland classic. This retooling should be in the same vein as Tin Man was for The Wizard of Oz. The adaptation is currently planned for a winter broadcast.

Despite the shitty brand management, at least we can look forward to a few things.