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Come one, come all! Boys and girls, children of all ages, and feast your eyes on this spectacle — a rare performance by the insufferable duo of Mr. Kyle Orland and Mr. Dan Dormer. Tonight, we’ll be live blogging a piece of gaming culture — the fusion of Guitar Hero with Comedy Central’s South Park. Hit the jump, and keep refreshing to witness all the action. Full Story
This is the kind of thing that really makes the writers’ strike sting. In a new message on her MySpace page, Jenna Fischer says The Office has only two episodes left to air, and that the next one they were about to shoot — but now won’t — “was going to be the funniest of the year. I’m sure of it.” Fischer says the plotline for the episode had been tossed around for two years, and that it involves “Pam and Jim being in Michael’s home. But that’s all I’ll say.”
Fischer says she hopes to get to shoot that episode soon, but makes clear her support of the strike. Explaining a major sticking point that led to the work stoppage, she says, “If you go to NBC.com… you can watch an episode of The Office for free,” and though NBC makes money off ads that surround that content, “the actors, writers, producers and director… are not compensated in any way. The issue is a big deal because the Internet is clearly where the future of entertainment lies.”
Most sitcom creators are thrilled if they snare a movie star or big TV celebrity for a guest appearance. Thursday’s episode of NBC’s “30 Rock” has the guest-star coup of the season: Al Gore, former vice president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, tonight at 8:30.
“It was a question of calling in a lot of favors,” co-executive producer Robert Carlock says. “He has some of the best comic timing. He hosted ‘SNL.’ He knows his way around a joke.”
David Schwimmer also guest-stars on this episode as an actor who becomes the face of GE’s green initiative.
The Hollywood’s Writers Guild is on strike. Among the many grudges they hold with the traditional media giants that pay them is compensation for digital recreations of their work. Forbes says the writers have to strike–that the future of their profession is at stake–while former Disney Chief Michael Eisner called it “insanity.”
Eisner, who is heavily invested in online video startup Veoh, contends that writers don’t understand “there’s no money” in digital media yet. Media companies, entrepreneurs, and the press have piped on and on about how the future is digital and the future is now. Meanwhile, most have yet to earn a dime for their efforts. This includes Eisner’s Veoh, which has enjoyed modest success with its series Prom Queen: “We made history, but we didn’t make money,” he says, adding: “For a writer to give up today’s money for a piece in three years is stupid,” because there won’t be any money in it for at least that long. Of course, Eisner didn’t mention what writers should do in the meantime. Sit tight?
NEW YORK - Meet the next hot digital media entrepreneur - Sumner Redstone.
The Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. chairman Thursday morning applied his old industry mantra to the new media space in a speech entitled: “In the digital domain, content still rules.”
Among other things, Redstone touted his companies’ strong online reach compared to such recent phenomenons as Facebook and their growing advertising revenue coming from cross-platform deals.
While Viacom has sued Google’s YouTube, Redstone also called on media companies “to make it easy for consumers to obtain our content in a legal manner,” and content producers “cannot let the lack of perfect anti-piracy tools keep us from forging ahead in providing the best, most innovative, creative content to the consumer over whatever medium they prefer.” Full Story
Remember Victoria Beckham’s stint as a print model for Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Wear women’s line? Think hard. Think back to 2003. Remember now? I know. I can’t remember the ads either. But none of this matters because Mrs. David Beckham aka Posh Spice did, and her Spice Girls sisters owe her big time.
Have you seen their hip hop comeback video “Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)“? It’s hip hop in the sense that it is a 3 minute commerical for a product line. I’ve watched the video a dozen times and can’t recite one lyric. I’m too focused on checking out Eddie Murphy’s babymama Mel B. and the girls in their Victoria’s Secret lingerie. Wait a minute. Victoria’s Secret? Isn’t this the underwear chain exclusively selling the Spice Girl’s new CD? Not bad Spice Ladies.
Man, I wonder if Jay-Z gets a cut. Apparently, Beckham took note from the mogul in a genre where product merchandising and promotion of music video go hand in hand.
I can’t be mad at the girls for doing it right. Rappers have been giving away free product placements to companies for years. Don’t get Run-D.M.C. started on all the Adidas they sold before the still-popular sneaker company started cutting them checks. What about Snoop Dogg’s “Gin And Juice,” Busta Rhymes’ “Pass The Courvoisier” or Nelly’s “Air Force Ones”? Read the rest of this entry »
We all know the classic Seinfeld episode that involved Junior Mints, but did you know another candy had a chance to be featured? Take a guess below and find out tomorrow!
Hey, Forest Whitaker, what are you going to do now that you’ve had some time to admire that Oscar on your mantle? Oh. You’re producing and acting in some sort of Second Life-esque virtual-reality thing that will let players create a brand-new flavor of Mountain Dew, to go on sale next year. That’s… cool, I guess?”Mountain Dew offered me an amazing opportunity to create a mythic universe using all forms of storytelling that will allow those who participate to develop their product,” the acclaimed actor told Variety today. “Ultimately, the drink will be on the street and in stores where you get to see it, touch it, taste it, drink it, make it a part of you.” Sure, Forest, whatever you say — go ahead and cash that endorsement check, you’ve earned it! Wait, what’s that? “This is about voting. This is about taking a stance and making things happen. It’s about empowering people and allowing them to express themselves and create something that represents who they are.”
Sorry, nope. I hate to be the one to tell you this, dude, but it’s about empowering PepsiCo and allowing them to sell soft drinks. And while I might drink the soda, I’m not sure I can swallow all those vapid platitudes about “Dewmocracy” — which is seriously what they’re calling this thing, no joke.
All in all, I think I liked the guy better when he was playing a sociopathic third-world dictator… Anyone care to disagree? Does the idea of “Dewmocracy” actually leave any of you feeling inspired — or at least thirsty?
Three days in, the writers strike is hitting television hard as schedules are being juggled, overall deals suspended, production on series shut down and layoffs kick in.
Fox on Wednesday became the first broadcast network to announce a strike-affected midseason schedule minus its signature drama “24.”
Q-Ratio: 1.8158
(TIVO) HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
When Larry snubs a frightened Cheryl’s phone call in favor of dealing with a TiVo repairman, she walks out on him, leaving their friends to decide which of the pair to stay true to.
Catch the Featured Product Placements of the Week every Thursday on iTVX.net!
