FIRST LOOK
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ON TELEVISION (MONDAY 11/7/11)
WFN: Hookin’ Up With Mariko Izumi (Premiere) at 7:30pm
SUNDANCE: Love Lust (Premiere) at 8pm
VH1: Michael Jackson’s This Is It (Premiere) at 9pm
The four-part series Weed Wars will now premiere on December 1 at 10p on Discovery Channel and Discovery Fit & Health. During the full four-week run, the series will be simulcast on both networks. Weed Wars is set inside Oakland’s Harborside Health Center, the nation’s biggest medicinal cannabis dispensary serving more than 94,000 patients run by the center’s founder and executive director, Steve DeAngelo.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Andy Rooney, the veteran CBS News broadcaster who contributed more than one thousand essays for CBS’ 60 Minutes, died on Saturday at the age of 92. Mr. Rooney’s career with CBS spanned six decades starting in 1949 when he was hired as a writer by radio star Arthur Godfrey and ended just recently on October 2, 2011 when he aired his 1,067th 60 Minutes essay which he announced was his last. For more than 30 years, Mr. Rooney hosted his A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney as a regular feature of 60 Minutes. He became famous for his curmudgeonly and humorous style as he waxed about life’s minor and ordinary annoyances. Mr. Rooney’s essays earned him three Emmy Awards and a legion of loyal fans. Some of his career highlights include serving as one of the eight World War II correspondents who flew along with the Eighth Air Force in 1943 on the first American bombing raid in Germany. The group of journalists were dubbed “the Writing 69th,” and included United Press writer Walter Cronkite who would become Mr. Rooney’s lifelong friend and colleague at CBS News. While at CBS News in the 1960s, Mr. Rooney first began developing essays for television broadcast which he produced and Harry Reasoner narrated. For a short time, Mr. Rooney and Mr. Reasoner left CBS News for a stint at ABC News with both returning in 1973. Mr. Rooney was awarded a Peabody for “Mr. Rooney Goes to Washington” and appeared on 60 Minutes many times and was soon assigned to replace the program’s Point/Counterpoint segment during the summer of 1978. By the next season, the last few minutes of the newsmagazine program was given to Mr. Rooney and his viewpoints as a standalone segment. The only time Mr. Rooney deviated from his usual format was in May 1996 when he did a longer feature about Dr. Jack Kevorkian who agreed to appear on 60 Minutes only if Mr. Rooney interviewed him. Mr. Rooney wrote a regular column for Tribune Media Services that was distributed to hundreds of newspapers nationwide as well as contributing articles to Esquire, Life, Look, Reader’s Digest, Harper’s, Playboy and Saturday Review among other publications. He also penned several books including The Fortunes of War, A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney, Pieces of My Mind, Word for Word, Not That You Asked and Sweet and Sour. Mr. Rooney’s 60 Minutes essays also, at times, stirred up controversy on a number of subjects and he received the most viewer criticism in 2004 when he called Mel Gibson and Pat Robertson “wackos” on the air. His longtime colleague Morley Safer described Mr. Rooney thusly, “Underneath that gruff exterior was a prickly interior and deeper down was a sweet and gentle man, a patriot with a love of all things American, like good bourbon, and a delicious hatred for prejudice and hypocrisy.” Mr. Safer honored his colleague in a tribute during last night’s 60 Minutes. Mr. Rooney’s wife of 62 years, Marguerite, predeceased him in 2004. He is survived by four children, Ellen, a photographer; Brian, an ABC News correspondent; Emily, the host of PBS’ public affairs show Greater Boston; and Martha Fishel, who works for the US National Library of Medicine; five grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Funeral services will be private and a memorial will be announced later.
(Source: Cynopsis)
Broadway star Nathan Lane will star in an untitled comedy pilot for USA Network. Lane will play an unlucky actor who puts his Broadway ambitions on hold to return home to his Texas hometown as a caregiver for his ailing father. Lane was already involved in the project from Douglas McGrath as an executive producer when USA Network gave the comedy a cast-contingent approval in September. Cheyenne Jackson (30 Rock) and Ken Jenkins (Scrubs) are also set to star in the single-camera comedy. McGrath has another comedy pilot approved by USA Network titled Paging Dr. Fred about two brothers who take over their father’s medical practice. The two comedies will launch on USA Network in 2012 or 2013.
(Source: Cynopsis)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding star and writer Nia Vardalos is coming to the small screen, reports THR. ABC Studios is developing an untitled comedy project for which Vardalos will star, write and serve as executive producer. Details on the ensemble comedy project have not been revealed though it is known it will be about a morning show host (Vardalos) who encourages her viewers and the people around her to wake up. Most recently, Vardalos co-wrote and produced the film, Larry Crowne starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. She has also appeared recently on ABC’s Cougar Town where her husband is a regular part of the cast.
(Source: Cynopsis)
The Online Network said four more of ABC’s One Life to Live cast members will remain with the show when it moves to an online format. Tuc Watkins (David), Josh Kelly (Cutter), Florencia Lozano (Tea) and Shenell Edmonds (Destiny) will join previously-announced OLTL’s Melissa Archer, Kelley Missal, Sean Ringgold, Andrew Trischitta, Jerry VerDorn, Ted King, Michael Eason, Kassie DePaiva and Erika Slezak. The cast roster is pending final guild agreements. Prospect Park is behind The Online Network which will first debut All My Children online in January the same month One Life to Live signs off of ABC.
(Source: Cynopsis)
This weekend’s #3 ranked movie in the US box office, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas from Warner Bros. may possibly turn into an animated TV series from Lionsgate. Lionsgate is reportedly pitching the animated TV project and has tapped John Cho and Kal Penn to lend their voice talent for the two main characters. Original screenwriters Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg will remain involved with the TV animated version.
(Source: Cynopsis)
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Puss In Boots – $33 million
Tower Heist – $25.1 million
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas – $13.1 million
Paranormal Activity 3 – $8.5 million
In Time – $7.7 million
(Source: Box Office Mojo)
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