Aha! The world is going to end this year. Just not in the way we expected:
So here’s the deal. According to Toni Fitzgerald of MediaLife, broadcast viewing is continuing its slide. With the exception of NBC, which is up 23% in the ratings so far this season, the broadcast networks are down a total of 11% among adults 18-49. (Ooh, that’s TVWriter™’s demo. We’re so damn significant!)
Lookit that picture up there, kids. Just look at it. Damn that boy looks pleased.
And why not? After a zillion years (well, over 20 for sure) as the world’s highest paid assistant (to Rupert Murdoch, no less), Mr. Chernin left his $15,000,000+ a year gig as President of News Corp. and formed the Chernin Group, forming all kinds of cool alliances with Fox, Dreamworks, and lesser entities. No more Rupert butt to kiss. Yay!
Earlier this year he scored $200 million in working capital from Providence Equity Partners, possibly to fund a merger (read “takeover”) of Endemol, one of the biggest produces of reality TV in the world, and Core Media, which produces AMERICAN IDOL and SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE and, better yet, holds the licensing rights to Elvis Presley and Muhammed Ali.
The guy on the left, marked “husband,” is Rob Cohen. The babe on the right, marked “wife” is Janeane Garofalo.
Rob is writer/co-executive producer of THE BIG BANG THEORY and has also been a writer-producer on AMERICAN DAD, THE JAMIE KENNEDY EXPERIMENT, ACCORDING TO JIM, and on and on and on.
What do you do when you get horribly side-tracked from writing? If you’re former TVWriter™ Online Workshop student Robin Walsh, you make puppets! Working in Hollywood at Screen Novelties, the stop-motion studio that supplies animation for ROBOT CHICKEN, SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, and a host of other top shows, she spent over a year cutting and pasting foam and fabric instead of words and parentheticals. If you want to see the fabulous results, check out IT’S A SPONGEBOB CHRISTMAS on CBS, Friday November 23rd, at 9:30 pm. (The same night as Rudolph!!)
Here’s what CartoonBrew.Com‘s Jerry Beck has to say about the project:
When was the last time a prime-time TV Christmas Special was really special? I’ve seen this one – and it really is. Nickelodeon’s first full-length stop-motion animated special, It’s A SpongeBob Christmas! will premiere on CBS on Friday Nov. 23th, then begin airing about two weeks later on Nickelodeon, starting Sunday Dec. 9th. Inspired by the classic Rankin/Bass specials of the past, and featuring John Goodman and the voice of Santa Claus, the show was animated by Mark Cabellero and Seamus Walsh at Screen Novelties in Los Angeles. The special is available for purchase on DVD…
When it’s this one:
Monty Python Feature ‘Absolutely Anything’ Attracts Gemma Arterton, Benedict Cumberbatch (Exclusive) – by Liza Foreman (TheWrap.Com)
The long-gestating Monty Python project “Absolutely Anything” is moving full steam ahead, with Gemma Arterton confirmed for the project and Benedict Cumberbatch in talks to join the comedy, TheWrap has learned.
To be directed by Terry Jones, “Absolutely Anything” will include voiceovers from Monty Python alumni, including Jones, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and John Cleese. Robin Williams will also do a voiceover.