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Editor's Blog

(Thursday, March 6th, 2008.  -  Editor)          A long list of celebrities from the music, television and feature film industries will lend their time and talents to the second annual fund-raising special "Idol Gives Back", airing Wednesday, April 9th on FOX. The two hour event is the brainchild of "American Idol" creator and Executive Producer, Simon Fuller. The event has been recognized as a life-changing program, earning praise from many of the world’s best known figures including President George W. Bush, HRH Prince Charles and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

          This year’s event will be bigger and more ambitious and will feature incredible international talent including Bono, Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Miley Cyrus, Mariah Carey, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Fergie, Chris Daughtry, Carrie Underwood, Annie Lennox, John Legend and Snoop Dogg. Additional artists will be announced closer to air time.

          The star-studded evening will echo the success of last year’s event, which raised over $76 million for various U.S. charities that deliver support to underprivileged children in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country, providing them with medical care, food and grocery products, health and life skills and literacy programs, among other important initiatives. In Africa, funds were dedicated to organizations that support efforts to battle poverty through various health and education programs, including delivering medical supplies and providing clean water.

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          Self-proclaimed celebrity Paris Hilton has agreed to guest star as herself in the first new episode of the NBC situation comedy "My Name Is Earl", when that series returns to the network on April 3rd.

          In the episode titled "I Won't Die With A Little Help From My Friends," Earl (Jason Lee) is unconscious and various things from real life are bleeding into his unconscious mind, which viewers will see. Hilton is one of those things in Earl's fevered mind.

          Series Creator and Executive Producer, Greg Garcia, continued the quirky sense of humor from the show as he made the announcement, describing the extensive search for the right actress to play the role. "When we wrote the role of Paris Hilton in the script, we weren't exactly sure who to go with for the role. But after an exhausting search we finally settled on a relatively unknown actress by the name of Paris Hilton. I can't wait to see what she does with the role and I can't wait for America to discover her".

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          Pre-production is underway on a four hour television mini-series based on Raymond Khoury`s Best-Selling novel "The Last Templar", starring Mira Sorvino and Victor Garber. Full production is set to begin in April, in locations in Montreal and Morocco.

          Sorvino will star as Tess Chaykin, a Manhattan archaeologist who is drawn into a fast-paced, romantic adventure concerning the lost secrets of the medieval Knights Templar. The miniseries will also feature Victor Garber ("Alias") as Monsignor De Angelis, who steps in to help with the investigation to retrieve a lost artifact.

          Sorvino, who won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her performance in "Mighty Aphrodite" in 1995, first attracted attention for her early work in such feature films as "Barcelona," "Quiz Show" and "Beautiful Girls." Most recently, Sorvino starred in Terry George's "Reservation Road." Her television movies include her Golden Globe-nominated role in "Human Trafficking" (which was also produced by Muse and RHI Entertainment-formerly Hallmark Entertainment) and starring roles in "Norma Jean & Marilyn" and "The Great Gatsby."

          The six-time Emmy Award-nominated Garber is best known for the role of Jack Bristow in the series "Alias." His other credits have included "Ugly Betty", "Eli Stone" and "Will & Grace." His film credits include "Titanic," "Legally Blond" and "Tuck Everlasting."

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          NBC is planning a large selection of new programming during the summer months that is designed to keep audiences in front of their TV sets until the start of The 2008 Summer Olympic Games and then to hold them there until the launch of the 2008-09 television season in the fall.

          The action series "American Gladiators" is set to return to NBC on May 12th in a new 90 minute format that will allow for additional action each week. The series will continue weekly on Mondays.

          "Last Comic Standing" returns on NBC for a sixth season with host Bill Bellamy ("Def Comedy Jam," "Any Given Sunday") and special correspondent/popular UK personality Fearne Cotton (NBC's "The Guinness Book of World Records - Live!," ITV2's "The Xtra Factor"). The 90 minute premiere episode on Thursday May 22nd will be followed weekly in that Thursday time slot and 90 minute length for the balance of the series.

          A collection of eight famed directors including John Landis (An American Werewolf In London), Darren Bousman (Saw II, Saw III & Saw IV) and Ronny Yu (Freddy Vs Jason, Bride Of Chucky) are among the talented names that have been attracted to a new suspense and horror anthology series titled "Fear Itself". The 13 week project will feature the work of a different director each week. The one hour show will debut on NBC on May 29th.

          The music competition show "Nashville Star" debuts on NBC Monday, June 9th with a 90 minute episode. Host Billy Ray Cyrus will over-see a massive talent search that will culminate in a on air performance battle that will ask viewers to help select the winners and losers each week.

          The reality series "Celebrity Circus" will debut with a two hour episode on Wednesday, June 11th, on NBC, and then becomes one hour long as of June 18th. Like the title suggests, celebrities will attempt to perform various circus acts. The show will follow the journey from the star's first frightening climb up the high wire ladder to the last nerve-wracking rehearsal. Then the celebrities will perform in our studio in front of a live audience. The judges are experts from the finest circus and cirque shows in the world, and they will definitely let the celebrities know if their performances were up to snuff. The names of the celebrity competitors and the expert panel of judges will be announced at a later date.

          "America`s Got Talent" returns for two hours on June 24th. Offers a second teo hour episodes on July 1st and then drops to one hour for July 8th. The show will take a break to allow for live coverage of The 2008 Olympic Games, and then return to the air with a performance episode on August 26th and a results show on August 27th. A colorful array of hopeful stars, including singers, dancers, comedians, contortionists, impressionists jugglers, magicians and ventriloquists of all ages strut and perform on stage in front of celebrity judges David Hasselhoff, Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne. New this season, thousands of people have been invited to attend the audition tapings at some of the largest theaters in the country, where they will judge the acts along with the show's judges, giving America a voice right from the beginning of the competition.

          A reality series designed to test teen responsibility, "The Baby Borrowers" debuts on NBC Wednesday, June 25th. The series is being billed as an intriguing new social experiment based on the hit British program. The show asks five diverse teenage couples, ages 18-20, to fast-track to adulthood by setting up a home, getting a job and becoming caring parents first to babies, toddlers, pre-teens and their pets, teenagers and senior citizens, all over the course of three weeks. Through this emotional, dramatic journey, each young couple will get a unique opportunity to peer into the future and see what they (and their partners) might be like if they remain together and decide to build a family. Tested by the everyday ups and downs of taking care of others and maintaining a relationship, most of the teens find themselves looking at all of their relationships and notions of parenthood in a new light.

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          CBS plans to launch the one hour drama Swingtown into their schedule on Thursday, May 29th. I will be very surprised if the series survives more than a few episodes. If the viewers find this show in enough numbers to keep it on the air, there should also be enough viewers to begin protests about the  strong sexual content.

          The press materials suggest that the series peeks into the shag-carpeted suburban homes of the culturally transformative '70s to find couples reveling in the sexual and social revolution that introduced women's liberation and challenged conventional wisdom.  During this heady era of provocative change, Susan and Bruce Miller move their family to an affluent Chicago suburb where they're confronted with personal choices, experimentation and shifting attitudes, all against the backdrop of a changing social climate defined by its unforgettable music, fashion and style.

          Having seen the pilot episode, I would have to say it looked like the fantasies of an aging baby-boomer who is trying to relive his past in the most sexually permissive period in American history, with a TV show that tries to explain the outrageous behavior. Perhaps this show attempts to tell today's youth that it isn`t the funky clothes and wild hair that should be remembered about that time period. Its the explosion of freedom, open-minded thinking and experimentation that was great about the 1970`s.

          Its no accident that this series does not debut until after the completion of the May ratings sweeps period. Even through the writers strike, CBS held this series back. And only now that it can`t hurt their revenue numbers, are they letting it have a time slot.

 

  -  Editor  - 

 

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