FIRST LOOK/ ON TV/ CYBER MONDAY/ WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

FIRST LOOK
http://www.eonline.com/news

ON TELEVISION (MONDAY 11/26/12)
RLTV: Your Life Redefined (Premiere) at 5pm
ENCORE: Return to Lonesome Dove (Premiere) at 8pm
ABC: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (Premiere) at 9pm
TLC: Next Great Baker (Premiere) at 9pm
TLC: Cake Boss (Premiere) at 10:30pm
INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY: Blood, Lies & Alibis (Finale) at 8pm
DISCOVERY: Jesse James: Outlaw Garage (Finale) at 10pm
DIY: Bath Crashers (Finale) at 10:30pm

With the passing of Larry Hagman on Friday (see his obituary below), the producers and writers on TNT’s resurrected version of Dallas are reportedly planning to give Hagman’s iconic J.R. Ewing character “the proper sendoff that he deserves” during the show’s upcoming second season.  Hagman had continued working on the second season even after he announced his cancer diagnosis in October 2011.  He was, in fact, scheduled to appear on set this week.  Hagman filmed six of the ordered 15 episodes of Dallas’ season two slated to premiere on TNT January 28.  Season one of TNT’s Dallas averaged 6.1 million viewers per week based on Live+7 results.
(Source: Cynopsis)

As part of a mutual agreement, Chevy Chase is exiting the half-hour NBC comedy Community effective immediately.  Production on the majority of ordered episodes for season four have been filmed and Chase, who plays character Pierce Hawthorne is expected to appear in the season finale.  It is not clear though if Chase’s departure will be written into the series.  Community is produced by Sony Pictures Television.
(Source: Cynopsis)

UK TV network operator ITV has renewed Downton Abbey for a fourth season.  The costume drama, starring Maggie Smith and created by Julian Fellowes, recently concluded its third season on ITV1 with the highest rated season-to-date of the show.  ITV cited Downton Abbey’s third season averaged 9.7 million viewers topping season one at an average of 8.4 million and season two at an average of 9.5 million viewers.  The storyline of season four will take place in the early 1920s and will return to ITV in the fall of 2013 with production set to commence in February.  PBS will debut season three of Downton Abbey in the US on January 6.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Larry Hagman, whose television career included him playing a handsome astronaut who finds a beautiful genie in a bottle to evil Texas oilman J.R. Ewing in the primetime soap Dallas, passed last Friday at the age of 81.  Mr. Hagman died in a Dallas hospital reportedly surrounded by his Dallas co-stars Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy.  Mr. Hagman announced in October 2011 he had a “treatable” form of cancer though that did not prevent him from working on TNT’s new version of Dallas which debuted last June with a second season set to premiere in January 2013.  The original Dallas series, which ran from 1978-91 on CBS was an international hit seen in nearly 100 countries.  Mr. Hagman was the center of one of the most famous cliffhangers ever, the “Who Shot J.R.?” storyline in which his Ewing character was shot in the 1979-80 season finale in March with the assailant not revealed until the following November when the series tallied a then-record 53.3 rating and 76 share.  Mr. Hagman also had the distinction of appearing in every one of the original Dallas series’ 357 episodes.  Mr. Hagman, the son of Broadway legend Mary Martin, had a long and varied career that spanned stage, film and television.  He appeared on stage in England with his mother in South Pacific right after high school for five years as well as in numerous Broadway and off-Broadway plays.  His television career began in 1961 with guest appearances on several shows which led to him being cast in the daytime soap The Edge of Night from 1961-63.  Following this, NBC cast him as US astronaut Major Anthony Nelson opposite Barbara Eden’s Jeannie in I Dream of Jeannie (1965-70), the network’s answer to ABC’s popular sitcom Bewitched.  Mr. Hagman’s film credits include Ensign Pulver and Fail-Safe both in 1964, the comedy Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976) to Primary Colors (1998) among others.  Mr. Hagman is survived by his wife, Maj Axelsson whom he married in December 1954; their daughter Kristina; their son Preston; and five granddaughters.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Deborah Raffin, an actress and entrepreneur died last Wednesday of leukemia at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.  She was 59.  Ms. Raffin starred in several films such as 40 Carats (1973), Once Is Not Enough (1975) and The Ransom (1977) and then moved to starring in telefilms including 1976’s Nightmare in Badham County, the 1979 thriller Mind Over Matter and in 1980’s Haywire.  She was nominated for a best actress Golden Globe in 1980 for the drama film Touched by Love.  Ms. Raffin was a regular in the short-lived 1981 ABC drama Foul Play and guest starred in many TV series including 7th Heaven, ER and The Secret Life of the American Teenager.  Ms. Raffin is survived by her daughter Taylor Rose and her sister Judy.

Art Ginsburg, best known as “Mr. Food” with his signature sign-off “Ooh it’s so good!” died last Wednesday at the age of 81.  Mr. Ginsburg demonstrated recipes and cooking tips in 90-second Mr. Food segments that originally launched in nine television markets in 1980.  King World Productions (now CBS Television Distribution) began syndicating his segments in 1982.  As of June, the Mr. Food segments were on more than 125 television stations nationwide.  Mr. Ginsburg additionally established his own company which by 1994 sported its own TV studio, a test kitchen and publishing offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and by 2009 his company had produced more than 50 cookbooks.
(Source: Cynopsis)

Television pioneer, Dann Cahn died last Wednesday at his West Los Angeles home at the age of 89.  Mr. Cahn pioneered multi-camera editing on sitcoms in the 1950s including for the classic television show, I Love Lucy.  Mr. Cahn was the last surviving member of the original creative team behind I Love Lucy which broke ground in television by using three cameras instead of one for filming.  This new system allowed a single episode to be filmed as though it were a stage play, continuously and in sequence.  Mr. Cahn, the son of Philip Cahn, a film editor, in 1937 co-founded what is now the Motion Picture Editors Guild.  Mr. Cahn’s son, Daniel Cahn, who is also a film editor, is currently president of the guild.  Daniel Cahn is his father’s only survivor.
(Source: Cynopsis)

2012 CYBER MONDAY DEALS
http://www.cybermonday.com

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2 – $43.1 million
Skyfall – $36 million
Lincoln – $25 million
Rise of the Guardians – $24 million
Life of Pi – $22 million
(Source: Box Office Mojo)

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