Scripting for the Arrested Development has officially begun.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Arrested Development series creator Mitch Hurwitz and co-executive producer James Vallely havebegun writing the script for the long delayed movie. Mr. Hurwitz has said in the past that this wouldn’t happen until all of the main cast had agreed to return, so this seems to confirm that everyone is finally in place.
Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, David Cross, Will Arnett, Alia Shawkat, Portia de Rossi and Jeffrey Tambor all appear ready to return, and filming is expected to start in the spring of 2010. Scheduling may be the only problem as Arnett is preparing a new series for Fox, Bateman is committed to Hancock 2 (blech … this sequel didn’t need to happen) and Cera has multiple upcoming projects.
No release date has been mentioned as of yet, but if the spring filming date does happen, a late 2010/early 2011 release date seems likely.
I leave you with one of my absolute favorite jokes from the series.
The person behind the now infamous Erin Andrews peephole video has not only been discovered, but he is now in custody.
Back in July of this year, controversy erupted over the Erin Andrews peephole video that revolved around a popular female ESPN correspondent being filmed naked in her hotel room through a peephole. At the time there was no indication of who had shot the video, but authorities did begin looking into it.
CNN is reporting that 48-year-old Michael David Barrett was arrested yesterday at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Il on a charge of interstate stalking. It seems Mr. Barrett followed Ms. Andrews to at least two different hotels, and at a hotel in Nashville, TN he checked in after her and requested a room adjacent to hers. It appears that this is where the video was shot through an altered peep hole.
It seems Mr. Barrett had originally intended to sell the multi-part video to celebrity gossip site TMZ.com, and in the end it was employees of that very site that assisted in tracking down the man.
If convicted of the charge, Mr. Barrett faces up to five years in a federal prison.
It would seem that David Letterman has done some “creepy things”, and much to his chagrin, someone knew about it.
On last night’s episode of Late Show with David Letterman, Mr. Letterman revealed that he had been the target of an extortion attempt by someone who was later revealed to be Joe Halderman, a producer on the CBS series 48 Hours. Mr. Halderman had attempted to blackmail Mr. Letterman for $2 million dollars over evidence had of the late night talk show host having affairs with staff members of his series. Mr. Halderman threatened to write a screenplay and book about the evidence he had, and even after asking for the $2 million, he did not guarantee that he would no go forward with this projects.
Mr. Letterman worked with his attorney and the New York City prosecutor’s office to gather evidence about the case, and after three meetings with the gentleman, Mr. Letterman did give Mr. Halderman a fake check for the $2 million. Yesterday morning Mr. Letterman went before a grand jury to testify in the case, and Mr. Halderman was arrested later in the day.
During the course of telling this story, Mr. Letterman did not allude to when these affairs with staff took place, but he did use several plurals that insinuated that there had been more than one.
In March of this year, Mr. Letterman married Regina Lasko with whom has been dating since 1986, and they have a 5-year-old son, Harry, together.
Mr. Letterman ended the story by saying these would be his only comments on the situation, which is not unusual as he is a notoriously private individual.
UPDATE:RadarOnline has learned that Joe Halderman lived with with one of the women that David Letterman had his affair with. The New York Daily News was able to dig up that Halderman once lived with Letterman’s assistant, Stephanie Birkitt. The affair is said to have ended six years ago, before Mr. Letterman had his son Harry, or married his wife. He was, however, living with her at the time. Ms. Birkitt is still employed by Mr. Letterman.
All of this is supposition at this time as to if it was Ms. Birkitt, but the evidence seems fairly strong.
While both companies are currently declining to comment on the story, it is looking like the deal is close to being done with Comcast buying an 80% stake in the television network from its current owner, General Electric. The remaining 20% currently belongs to Vivendi, who has actually been talking about offering their portion as an IPO (initial public offering) of common stock, which Comcast has been rumored to have expressed an interest in purchasing.
If this deal proves to be real, Comcast will be acquiring a truckload of products. Beyond just the flagship NBC network, the holdings include the cable networks Bravo, MSNBC, Syfy, USA Network, Telemundo and The Weather Channel. In the realms of the Internet, NBC is the owner of the iVillage website, and is one of the key owners of Hulu. This isn’t to mention the theme parks and several other smaller holdings.
In short, this is one giant of a purchase … if true. My thinking is that this is real, and it is happening, if there wasn’t some truth to it, the two companies could have easily denied it, but instead they both just declined to comment. According to the original source, the deal is almost hammered out, so expect to see this hitting big in the news any day now.
The 61st Primetime Emmys were held tonight, and there were a few surprises, and a few disappointments.
The Amazing Race won for Best Reality-Competition Program … again. I think this was win number seven for them. Yet Phil Kogen never wins for host, it makes no sense.
Yay for Kristin Chenoweth winning for the role of Olive on Pushing Daisies! Such a great show, sorry to see it go.
Sorry Christian Clemenson didn’t win for Supporting Actor in a Drama for Boston Legal. He was fabulous as Jerry.
I’m sorry, but I just can’t take The Daily Show with Jon Stewart any more. He delivers his jokes in the exact same manner every time, and it just isn’t that funny any more.
American Idol won an award for directing … um … okay. ”Show the contestants! Now … show them from another angle!”
Neil Patrick Harris was robbed of best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. I’m sorry, but he was.
I haven’t watched Breaking Bad or Mad Men yet … I’m thinking I should.
2009 Emmy Winner List
Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Jon Cryer, “Two and a Half Men,” CBS
I couldn’t tell you the last time I actually watched the MTV Video Music Awards, but considering all of the hullabaloo over them this year as they aired, it was almost impossible not to watch them.
Taylor Swift won the award for Best Female Video, and as she went to give her acceptance speech she got part of the way through it when she was suddenly interrupted by Kanye West who basically said she was not deserving of the award. Instead it seems that Mr. West felt that Beyoncé was more deserving of the award, although as it appears he was at least somewhat drunk, the reason isn’t entirely clear. Watch it for yourself, although be warned it is almost uncomfortable to see it actually happen.
Later in the broadcast Beyoncé won for Video of the Year, and while I have never been a fan of her music, I have to give her amazingly huge kudos for what she did during her acceptance speech to make it up to Taylor Swift when it wasn’t even something she was at fault for.
Mr. West? You could learn a lot from what Beyoncé did here.
Kanye West did later release an apology of sorts that … well, it is also not exactly coherent, but here it is:
I’M SOOOOO SORRY TO TAYLOR SWIFT AND HER FANS AND HER MOM. I SPOKE TO HER MOTHER RIGHT AFTER AND SHE SAID THE SAME THING MY MOTHER WOULD’VE SAID. SHE IS VERY TALENTED! I LIKE THE LYRICS ABOUT BEING A CHEERLEADER AND SHE’S IN THE BLEACHERS! …………………… I’M IN THE WRONG FOR GOING ON STAGE AND TAKING AWAY FROM HER MOMENT!…………….. BEYONCE’S VIDEO WAS THE BEST OF THIS DECADE!!!! I’M SORRY TO MY FANS IF I LET YOU GUYS DOWN!!!! I’M SORRY TO MY FRIENDS AT MTV. I WILL APOLOGIZE TO TAYLOR 2MRW. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD!!!! EVERYBODY WANNA BOOOOO ME BUT I’M A FAN OF REAL POP CULTURE!!! NO DISRESPECT BUT WE WATCHIN’ THE SHOW AT THE CRIB RIGHT NOW CAUSE … WELL YOU KNOW!!!! I’M STILL HAPPY FOR TAYLOR!!!! BOOOYAAAWWWW!!!! YOU ARE VERY VERY TALENTED!!! I GAVE MY AWARDS TO OUTKAST WHEN THEY DESERVED IT OVER ME… THAT’S WHAT IT IS!!!!!!! I’M NOT CRAZY YALL, I’M JUST REAL. SORRY FOR THAT!!! I REALLY FEEL BAD FOR TAYLOR AND I’M SINCERELY SORRY!!! MUCH RESPECT!!!!!
The backlash against Kanye was pretty much instantaneous thanks to services like Twitter. My favorite quote had to come from singer Katy Perry who took to her account to say, “F*** U KANYE. IT’S LIKE U STEPPED 0N A KITTEN.”
For those who would like to know who won all of the wards, here is the complete list.
Video of the Year – Beyonce, ‘Single Ladies
Best New Artist – Lady Gaga, ‘Poker Face’
Best Hip-Hop Video – Eminem, ‘We Made You’
Best Male Video – T.I. featuring Rihanna, ‘Live Your Life’
Best Pop Video – Britney Spears, ‘Womanizer’
Best Rock Video – Green Day, ‘21 Guns’
Best Female Video – Taylor Swift, ‘You Belong With Me’
Best Video (That Should Have Won a Moonman) – Beastie Boys, ‘Sabotage’
Breakthrough Video – Matt and Kim, ‘Lessons Learned’
Best Art Direction – Lady Gaga, ‘Paparazzi’
Best Choreography – Beyonce, ‘Single Ladies’
Best Cinematography – Green Day, ‘21 Guns’
Best Direction – Green Day, ‘21 Guns’
Best Editing – Beyonce, ‘Single Ladies’
Best Special Effects – Lady Gaga, ‘Paparazzi’
It’s unfortunate that Mr. West felt the need to interrupt Ms. Swift for whatever his insane reason was. It’s sad to see someone that does actually have some talent act the fool every time you turn around.
Season 2 of HBO’s hit series True Blood is wrapping up tonight (9PM EST/8PM CST), and what a wacky season it has been.
If you aren’t familiar with the series, it is based on a series of novels by Charlene Harris entitled The Southern Vampire Mysteries. While the television series and novels start diverting from each other in the very first episode of season 1, the core of the stories remains pretty much the same.
Sookie Stackhouse, portrayed by Anna Paquin in the series, has had telepathic abilities since childhood, and this has ostracized her from the majority of people in Bon Temps, Louisiana where she resides. A few years prior to the start of the series, vampires “came out of the coffin” due to the introduction of a synthetic blood that has been marketed under the name “Tru Blood”. No longer having to feed exclusively off of the living, the vampires finally decided it was time to merge with mainstream society.
While Sookie has desired to meet a vampire ever since they made themselves known, she had no clue how meeting Bill Compton, played by Stephen Moyer in the series, would change her life. She quickly gets entangled in the intricacies of vampire society, the power plays they make against one another and becomes romantically desired by more vampires than just Bill.
While season 1 of the series was good, season 2 has just been insane in the amount of new dangers, plot & character advancement and just a general sense that the stakes have been raised that much more. If you want to give the series a try, season 1 is out on DVD (although, always be cautious with HBO DVD sets), and episodes are also available on HBO on Demand.
Tonight is the season 2 finale, and everything points to it just being wall-to-wall insanity, and somehow I doubt we’re going to get a happy or clean ending. Below is the promo video released by HBO set to the song “Corrupt” by Depeche Mode.
The Duggar family, stars of the TLC series 18 Kids and Counting, have announced that Michelle, the mother of the family, is pregnant with her 19th child.
What sort of insanity is this?
While one of the great things about the United States is that you have the freedom to make whatever choices you want, and that includes having 19 children. Does it make it right? Of course not, but that it isn’t stopping the Duggars.
I have never watched one moment of this series, even when it was 17 Kids and Counting, and I have no desire to ever watch any of it. How can anyone possibly glamorize this family? Say what you will of Jon & Kate Plus 8, but at least there 8 children were the result of extreme luck with fertility treatments. The Duggars are doing this the old fashioned way of popping out one child after another.
It is the right for every family in this country to have as many children as they want, but is it really the responsible thing to do? According to The Inquisitr, the Duggars are part of a religious movement known as QuiverFull which deals with Psalm 127: 3 – 5:
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth. 5 Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
I am all for religious freedom, and worshiping as one sees fit, but isn’t there a point where practicality and social responsibility finally kick in? What about the strain on the planet? The Earth is already over populated, and here we have a family with 19.
Some years ago I knew a girl who was the 15th of 17 children, and since I haven’t talked to her in 15 or so years now, I can safely say she was messed up by it. Her siblings I met were also rather ‘out there’ and all seemed desperate for whatever attention they could get, and by whatever means necessary. This isn’t to say all large families have similar effects on their kids by any means, but it certainly was an eye-opening look into that kind of life.
It’s difficult to say that enough is enough as this does fall under religious freedom, and if it’s something they believe in, they should be allowed to practice under the freedoms of this country, but it certainly doesn’t mean I have to agree with, or condone it.
The Walt Disney Company has agreed to purchase Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in cash and stock.
Wow… just… wow. This is huge news in the entertainment industry, and just business in general. Here is the official announcement:
August 31, 2009
DISNEY TO ACQUIRE MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT
Burbank, CA and New York, NY, August 31, 2009 —Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL) in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.
Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.
Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.
“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.”
“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” Iger said.
“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer. “This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.”
Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Mr. Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel’s properties.
The Boards of Directors of Disney and Marvel have each approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, effectiveness of a registration statement with respect to Disney shares issued in the transaction and other customary closing conditions. The agreement will require the approval of Marvel shareholders. Marvel was advised on the transaction by BofA Merrill Lynch.
This just blows me away as someone who has been in and around the comic book industry for decades now. I remember when Marvel was trading below a dollar a share and it looked like the company was going to completely collapse. If anyone had ever told me this was coming, I would have laughed my behind off. (If I also had bought shares like I considered at one point, I would be dancing a jig right now…)
Marvel was truly on its last legs there for a while, and then thanks to some new owners coming in, the company turned around and started to grow like crazy. The core business is no longer the comic books, but that is still the base upon how all of the other properties grow. It is no exageration that Marvel has a stable of 5,000 characters, and what Disney can do with them could be massive. You thought the Marvel movies were doing well before? Just wait until you see what happens with them now that the Disney marketing machine will be behind them.
After the initial dust settles here, it will be interesting to see how things shake out.
Will we see Marvel properties on TV? Disney owns a slew of television property, they could fill time slots until our eyes bleed.
How will the theme parks settle out? Universal Studios currently features Marvel characters, so will they have to relinquish those licensing agreements, or will they now be paying a license fee to Disney? (something I am sure they will hate doing)
Will all current movie plans stand as-is for now? I.E. will we still see the mondo Avengers movie that is being planned?
This is absolutely huge, and honestly somewhat difficult to wrap your brain around. The deal prett much came out of nowhere, and everyone seems to be going “wha…?” The concept of Disney owning characters like Wolverine and the Punisher IS highly amusing though…
I am sure this won’t be the last post you see on this.
I swear that each cast list just gets stranger and stranger on this show. Although I will say they are getting better at finding people I actually remember from things like Melissa Joan Hart, Kelly Osbourrne, Donny Osmond and a few others, but who in the heck is Mark Dacascos? Never heard of him before today.
Of course the name every one is focusing on is Tom Delay.
He was the Republican House Majority Leader from 2003–2005, and eventually stepped down over some legal issues. Doesn’t really matter, just not the kind of guy you imagine dancing a tango or a jive on national television, ya know?
Yes, the cast is the largest yet, and apparently there will be some special eliminations to deal with that. There will also be new professionals to help with the number of “stars”.
The new season kicks off on September 21st.
UPDATE: Oh! Mark Dacascos is the “chairman” of Iron Chef America… got ya.
The rumors are true folks, Chima Simone is no longer on Big Brother 11.
Although I long ago quit doing reality television news, this was just too good to pass up mentioning.
For those who need to be caught up, on Thursday’s episode of Big Brother 11, Jeff Schroeder used a special power given to him by the viewers, the Coup D’Etat. This allowed him to over throw the current Head of Household (HoH), Chima Simone, nominations and replace either one or both of the current nominees with his own selections. He chose to replace Lydia Tavera and Russell Kairouz with Natalie Martinez and Jessie Godderz, with Jessie being his ultimate target. By a vote of 3-to-2, Jessie was evicted, and Michele Noonan became the new HoH.
Chima was quite angry about her nominations being over turned, and as Thursday night wore on, and she and Lydia & Natalie mourned Jessie’s eviction in something akin to a cult leader dying, Ms. Simone reportedly considered quitting the game. Big Brother staff talked her out of it, and she stayed in the game.
When Friday rolled around, Chima, Lydia and Natalie, now known by fans as the Bitches/Witches of Eastwick, continued their mourning and attempted to rattle the other house guests by doing things such as taking over the lone washer and dryer and washing one pair of socks at a time. They also stole other house guests property and hid it around the house, conspired to slip red M&Ms into Michele’s food as she is allergic to red food dye and numerous other antics.
Things escalated even more as Michele announced her nomination for possible eviction this week, and she put up Chima and Natalie with the hopes that Chima would be the one evicted.
Late Friday night/early Saturday morning, things escalated as Chima began refusing to listen to the requests of Big Brother, and when told to put on her microphone pack, she instead threw it in to the hot tub. She was later told to get a replacement mic from the storage room, which she also refused to do. Fellow house guest Kevin Campbell eventually retrieved it for her, and again Ms. Simone refused to put on her mic. She did finally concede to that request, but only after her fellow alliance members begged her to do so.
Around 12:30 AM PST, the live feeds were cut and people who watch the live feeds (myself included, and all of these accounts of what happened are from my watching) were treated to what is known as FotH, Fish of the House, where Big Brother forces us to watch the fish in the aquarium, for a little over an hour and half. When the feeds returned, I was in bed, but the house guests reported that Ms. Simone had indeed left the house and would not be returning to the game.
It is unclear at this time if she left of her own accord or was removed by the producers of the show, but either way, she is no longer a part of the game. As the game had now moved on to the Jury portion, she will not be included in the Jury, and will have no vote in who the ultimate winner of the game is.
This week was a planned Double Eviction, meaning that two house guests would be evicted. The way this usually works is that one is voted out at the beginning of the live episode on Thursday and then an HoH and Power of Veto competition are quickly played to nominate the next two potential evictees. The night then finishes off with another HoH being played for the next week. As Ms. Simone has left the game, Mrs. Noonan has been removed as HoH and another competition is to be held prior to Thursday to keep the show on schedule.
Having watched this show for 11 seasons, I can tell you that Ms. Simone’s actions in the house have been some of the most atrocious ever seen. She has been referring to Mr. Kairouz as a “terrorist” for some time now as they do not get along and he is of Lebanese descent. She carried this further on Thursday night referring to him as “a Muslim extremist” and she likened herself to the World Trade Center. Her flagrant disregard for the requests from Big Brother producers were merely icing on the cake for her antics.
CBS is expected to make a formal announcement at some point, and footage is sure to be shown on the Sunday and Tuesday editions of the series.
Chima has been evicted by the producers from the Big Brother house for violating the rules. She will not be part of the show’s jury. Her eviction will be addressed on an upcoming broadcast of the show.
Scripting for the Arrested Development has officially begun.
The person behind the now infamous Erin Andrews peephole video has not only been discovered, but he is now in custody.
It would seem that David Letterman has done some “creepy things”, and much to his chagrin, someone knew about it.
Someone seems to be forgetting to tell large corporations that there is a recession going on.
The 61st Primetime Emmys were held tonight, and there were a few surprises, and a few disappointments.
Season 2 of HBO’s hit series True Blood is wrapping up tonight (9PM EST/8PM CST), and what a wacky season it has been.
The Duggar family, stars of the TLC series 
The Walt Disney Company has agreed to purchase Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in cash and stock.
The “celebrities” for season 9 of 
The rumors are true folks, Chima Simone is no longer on Big Brother 11.
