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Mike Schur’s 10 Favorite ‘Parks and Recreation’ Character Names
47 minutes ago
“Parks and Recreation” showrunner Mike Schur takes particular pleasure in coming up with wacky names.
“I have this belief that most people you meet in life aren’t named Bill Smith,” Schur says. “From early on I thought, ‘Part of what’s going to make (the city of Pawnee) feel real is if people have weird names.'”
Over the years some of the silliest and strangest “Parks” names weren’t even heard on the show.
“There’s a whole family, the Lerpiss family,” Schur explains with delight. “You’ve never heard the name Lerpiss on the show, but there’s probably ten or twelve characters who have had the last name. It doesn’t play into any episode and there’s no plot that relates to it.
“If you look up Lerpiss on IMDb, we wrote character descriptions for them and how they’re related to each other. A »
- Geoff Berkshire
Digital Audience Ratings: ‘Agent Carter’ Goes to Work, January Premieres Heat Up
56 minutes ago
Provided by ListenFirst Media, Dar – TV measures what entertainment content is resonating most across Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube and Wikipedia combined. For more on the methodology behind Dar – TV, scroll to the bottom of the article.
Digital Audience Ratings (Dar) – TV Broadcast Monday Jan 5, 2015 – Sunday Jan 11, 2015 Rank Last Week Program Rating(000) 1 1 The Voice 10,715 2 4 America’s Funniest Home Videos 5,774 3 5 Glee 4,475 4 2 America’s Got Talent 4,171 5 - Agent Carter 2,334 6 - American Idol 2,313 7 9 Empire 2,128 8 3 The Simpsons 1,627 9 8 The Vampire Diaries 1,547 10 - Arrow 1,055 -
Cable/Streaming Monday Jan 5, 2015 – Sunday Jan 11, 2015 Rank Last Week Program Rating(000) 1 3 The Walking Dead 5,937 2 4 Pretty Little Liars 5,500 3 1 Top Gear 4,552 4 2 Key and Peele 4,319 5 - Game of Thrones 2,017 6 5 WWE Raw 1,571 7 - Man Seeking Woman 1,570 8 - Untold Stories of the ER 1,561 9 - Keeping Up with the Kardashians 1,286 10 - Impact Wrestling 1,260 -
Late Night Monday Jan 5, 2015 – Sunday Jan 11, 2015 Rank Last Week Program Rating(000) 1 1 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 47,278 2 2 Jimmy Kimmel Live 12,217 3 3 Conan 12,183 4 - »
- Jason Klein
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “Game of Thrones” Lead Visual Effects Society Nominations
56 minutes ago
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” nabbed six nominations, most among feature films, as the Visual Effects Society announced its 2015 Ves Award nominees.
“Apes” will compete with “Interstellar” (4 noms), “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” (4 noms); “Guardians of the Galaxy” (2 noms), “Maleficent” (2 noms) and “X-Men: Days of Future Past” for the org’s top honor: “Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture.”
“Apes” has two characters nommed for “Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture”: Its hero, Caesar, and its villain, Koba.
“Big Hero 6″ and “The Boxtrolls” lead animated films with five Ves noms.
In the feature film supporting f/x category, nominees are: “Birdman,” “Divergent,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The Imitation Game” and “Unbroken.”
Among TV series, “Game of Thrones” collected the most noms, with five. Its episode “The Children »
- David S. Cohen
‘Parks and Recreation’ Boss On the Bumpy Ride and Big Finish
56 minutes ago
Over six years on the air, “Parks and Recreation” experienced more highs (acclaim, awards, 100 episodes) and lows (a rocky launch, near-cancellation) than the audience at a Mouse Rat concert.
Co-creator and showrunner Mike Schur talks Variety through twelve of the show’s biggest turning points.
April 9, 2009
“Parks and Recreation” premieres to incorrect assumptions that it’s a spinoff of Peacock lead-in “The Office.”
“(Co-creator) Greg Daniels is very fond of saying, and I think he’s right, that the cast was great before the show was great. … It didn’t matter how many times we gave interviews or talked about how it wasn’t an ‘Office’ spinoff. I think there were probably a number of people who watched the pilot and were like, ‘I don’t understand. Is this a different branch of Dunder Mifflin somehow?’ (‘Parks’) was a little bit brighter and a little bit louder and a little bit sillier probably. »
- Geoff Berkshire
Disney Xd Renews ‘Kirby Buckets’ For Season 2 (Exclusive)
57 minutes ago
Disney Xd has ordered a second season of comedy series “Kirby Buckets.”
Execs are calling the show about a boy who dreams of becoming a famous animator “a defining new property” for the boy-centric Disney Xd channel. “Kirby Buckets” blends live-action and animation and ranks as the channel’s highest-rated original series since its October bow.
“Thanks to the talented creative team behind this breakout series, we have a unique and defining new property for Disney Xd,” said Adam Bonnett, Disney Channels Worldwide’s exec VP of original programming.
Jacob Betrand stars as the preteen title character. Mekai Curtis, Cade Sutton, Olivia Stuck and Tiffany Espensen round out the cast.
“Kirby Buckets” was created by Gabe Snyder and Mike Alber (“Supah Ninjas”), and is exec produced by Kristofor Brown (“Beavis and Butt-head”).
Production resumes in Los Angeles this month.
»
- Elizabeth Wagmeister
Espn Sets Cable Ratings Record With College Football Title Game
1 hour ago
The first ever College Football Playoff was a rousing ratings success for Espn, whose coverage of the national championship game on Monday between Ohio State and Oregon set a cable record in the overnights.
Nielsen estimates that the Buckeyes’ 42-20 victory over the Ducks averaged an 18.5 overnight household rating, a 21% jump above last year’s Bcs National Championship on Espn between Auburn and Florida State (15.3). It’s also a sizable 20% improvement over this year’s two semifinal games held on Jan. 1 (Alabama-Ohio State and Oregon-Florida State), which averaged a 15.4 in the overnights on Espn and ended up averaging more than 28 million viewers in the nationals.
The previous cable high in the overnights was a 16.1 on Espn for the 2011 Bcs National Championship (Auburn-Oregon), which averaged 27.3 million total viewers in the nationals.
By comparison, Espn’s first-ever NFL playoff game, an afternoon game on Jan. 3 between Arizona and Carolina, netted a 13.1 overnight. »
- Rick Kissell
TV Review: ‘Man Seeking Woman’
1 hour ago
Mashing up Terry Gilliam-like fantasy with early Woody Allen, “Man Seeking Woman” uses the tagline “Love is strange,” and as created by Simon Rich based on his short stories, this Fxx comedy is indeed that. Starring Jay Baruchel as the lovelorn protagonist, the early installments of this 10-episode run embark on bizarre flights of fancy, more peculiar than fall-down funny, but worth watching nevertheless. Counting Lorne Michaels among its producers, the show possesses a decidedly male tilt that meshes with the network’s profile, although whether those qualities translate into Show Finding Audience might be another matter.
Baruchel is certainly well-cast as Josh, a sad-sack sort who, at 27, is both a bit directionless and still pining for Maggie (Maya Erskine), the girlfriend who dumped him after six years (or four, depending on who’s keeping score). Yet when he agrees to be set up on a blind date by »
- Brian Lowry
Stephen King, David E. Kelley Team for ‘Mr. Mercedes’ Limited Series
1 hour ago
Sonar Entertainment is developing a limited series based on the Stephen King novel “Mr. Mercedes,” with David E. Kelley on board to write and Jack Bender tapped to direct.
The novel revolves around psychopath who commits mass murder by driving his Mercedes into a crowd and the retired cop who makes it his mission to bring him down. “Mr. Mercedes” was published last June.
“This is an amazing opportunity to adapt a script from material penned by one of the world’s most acclaimed and accomplished authors,” said Kelley. ” ‘Mr. Mercedes’ is a great story that will translate beautifully to the screen if I don’t mess it up.”
King, Kelley and Bender are exec producing along with Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey of Temple Hill Entertainment and Sonar CEO Gene Stein.
Bender, an alum of “Lost,” worked with King most recently on the CBS drama “Under the Dome,” also based on a King tome. »
- Cynthia Littleton
‘Barber Battle’ Producer Mark Efman Inks Overall Deal with ITV Studios America
1 hour ago
Television vet Mark Efman has signed an overall deal with ITV Studios America to develop unscripted projects through his Big Energy Prods. banner.
Efman, who is exec-producing the CW’s upcoming “Cedric’s Barber Battle,” which was presented by star Cedric The Entertainer at Sunday’s Television Critics Assn., has also been at the helm of projects for History, A&E and MTV2, over the last year.
“I’m excited to have Mark bring his unique sense of programming to add to our continually expanding slate,” said Bruce Robertson, exec VP of creative strategy at ITV Studios America. “His track record just in the last year is a testament to the breadth of content that he’s able to craft.”
Efman said he’s looking forward to “adding to (ITV’s) extremely diverse and entertaining programming line up.”
Prior to Big Energy Prods., Efman was a partner in MarkMark Productions »
- Elizabeth Wagmeister
TV Review: Espn’s ‘Snoop & Son: A Dad’s Dream’
2 hours ago
People talk out of both sides of their mouth all the time, especially in reality TV. But it’s hard to imagine a more fork-tongued project than “Snoop & Son: A Dad’s Dream,” which centers on rapper Snoop Dogg and his football-playing son Cordell Broadus, a major prize for colleges this recruiting season. Snoop talks about just being a proud dad and Cordell escaping his famous father’s shadow, but it’s hard to see how showing up at training camp with a five-part docu-series under his belt will do anything to dial down the pressure.
Beyond the star-pandering inherent in the premise (after all, there are a lot of promising young players out there) and the further elevation of high school sports to Espn-worthy bombast, “Snoop & Son” is produced with such an exaggerated sense of drama and heavy-handed narration as to leave a bad taste strictly on that level. »
- Brian Lowry
Producer Jason Blum Sets Micro-Budget TV Pact with Universal Cable Prods.
3 hours ago
Producer Jason Blum is bringing his micro-budget production model to the small screen through a agreement forged with Universal Cable Prods.
Syfy and USA Network have both given Blumhouse Prods. a blind series commitment as part of the deal. Blumhouse will develop scripted and non-scripted programming.
“Blumhouse has achieved tremendous financial and creative success with its production model in the feature film business and together, we figured out a way to adapt the model for television,” said Jeff Wachtel, chief content officer for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “It’s part of our studio’s strategy of being flexible with existing models and finding new ways to bring great ideas to market. And because real success is always in the execution, we would only do this type of deal with a company like Blumhouse, who we know can deliver the quality.”
Blumhouse’s micro-budget template calls for keeping upfront production costs low, »
- Cynthia Littleton
Woody Allen to Create His First Television Series for Amazon
3 hours ago
Amazon Studios has signed Woody Allen to write and direct his first television series.
The “Untitled Woody Allen Project,” a half-hour series, has received a full season order from Amazon, with episodes to be written and directed by Allen. The series will be available exclusively on Amazon Prime Instant Video in the U.S., the UK and Germany.
“Woody Allen is a visionary creator who has made some of the greatest films of all-time, and it’s an honor to be working with him on his first television series,” said Roy Price, vice president of Amazon Studios. “From ‘Annie Hall’ to ‘Blue Jasmine,’ Woody has been at the creative forefront of American cinema and we couldn’t be more excited to premiere his first TV series exclusively on Prime Instant Video next year.”
Added Allen, “I don’t know how I got into this. I have no ideas and I »
- Shelli Weinstein
South Korean Cable Platform C&M Put Up For Sale
10 hours ago
South Korean cable TV platform C&M has been put up for sale by its private equity owners.
The company has 2.3 million subscribers, which makes it the third largest of four major players in the country. But it faces growing competition from the Internet and Iptv services.
C&M is currently 92.5% owned by a consortium of investors headed by Mbk and also including Australia’s Macquarie Group and Mirae Asset Managenent.
The consortium has owned its stake for seven years and is understood to have tried previously to sell it. The consortium has now appointed investment bank Goldman Sachs to handle the sale, which it says it would expect to complete in the $2.5-$3 billion range some time this year.
»
- Patrick Frater
Cuba Film and TV School Feels Heat in Wake of Diplomatic Thaw
15 hours ago
Freedom of expression remains under siege in Cuba despite the reopening of diplomatic relations announced in December. The fallout from performance artist Tania Bruguera’s attempt to hold an art event at Havana’s Revolution Plaza and subsequent arrests has impacted Cuba’s erstwhile autonomous film and TV school Escuela Internacional de Cine y Television (Eictv).
Eictv Humanities coordinator Boris Gonzalez Arenas was fired Jan. 5 after he was arrested and incarcerated for three days for trying to participate in Bruguera’s thwarted free speech event on Dec. 30.
After his release, the prestigious school — co-founded in 1986 by the late Colombian Nobel Laureate writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez — opted to fire Gonzalez Arenas for his alleged “lack of trustworthiness.”
A committee led by Eictv head Jeronimo Labrada accused Gonzalez Arenas, one of many bloggers who have begun to flourish in Cuba despite limited Internet access, of publishing articles critical of “the Cuban state »
- Anna Marie de la Fuente
Watch: ‘Penny Dreadful’ Season 2 Trailer Is Bloodier Than Ever
17 hours ago
Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful” will be back — and bloodier than ever — on April 26.
The season-two trailer was first revealed Monday at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena, where series creator John Logan and cast members Josh Hartnett, Timothy Dalton, Helen McCrory and Harry Treadaway offered hints about what’s to come.
“Last season, our heroes were hunters,” Logan said. “This season, they’re hunted.”
The new episodes will feature more of werewolf Ethan (Hartnett), whose self-discovery is a major part of the upcoming storyline. “Ethan, this season, learns exactly what he is,” said Logan. Hartnett added that he knew he’d be playing a werewolf ever since he signed onto the series.
As for the literal bloodbath in the trailer (watch above), McCrory said it took months for the crew to perfect the fake blood in which she bathes.
Though season two has yet to debut, Logan teased »
- Elizabeth Wagmeister
Mary Murphy Exiting ‘So You Think You Can Dance’
17 hours ago
The hot tamale train has reached its final destination.
Judge Mary Murphy will not be returning to Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance,” which is back with season 12 this summer, Variety has confirmed.
“Mary has been a huge part of ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ from mentoring the dancers as a choreographer to inspiring fans as a judge. She will always be part of our ‘Dance’ family and we wish her continued success,” Fox, Dick Clark Productions and 19 Entertainment said in a statement.
No replacement judge has been chosen for Murphy’s spot yet.
»
- Elizabeth Wagmeister
‘Welcome to Fairfax,’ ‘Bosch’ Most Active Shoots in L.A. in 2014
17 hours ago
Pivot’s 10-episode documentary series “Welcome to Fairfax” was the most active production shoot in 2014 in Los Angeles, followed by Amazon’s police procedural “Bosch.”
A Variety analysis prepared with assistance from permitting agency FilmL.A. showed that “Welcome to Fairfax” generated 514 permitted production days last year, followed by 379 for “Bosch.”
The final season of FX’s “Sons of Anarchy” finished third with 264 days, followed by three more series — El Rey Network’s “Matador” with 230, CBS’ “Criminal Minds” with 228 and MTV’s “Teen Wolf” with 212. A pair of reality series, Hgtv’s “Sold on the Spot” and Bravo’s “The People’s Couch,” followed with 187 and 167.
CBS’ “Stalker” took the ninth slot with 160 days and Amazon’s series “Transparent” followed with 148.
TV shoots have been the mainstay of production activity in Los Angeles over the past decade as major feature films have opted for incentive programs outside California. TV drama »
- Dave McNary
Golden Globes Winner Amazon Is Hollywood’s ‘New Best Friend’
18 hours ago
With two major wins at the Golden Globes, Amazon Studios is now a contender in Hollywood.
The digital network earned its bona fides as a competitive force in TV by landing trophies for best comedy for its critically praised “Transparent” and actor for series star Jeffrey Tambor.
Like its Svod rival Netflix, Amazon has been surprisingly quick to field awards-bait fare. The ecommerce giant only ramped up its original programming activities in late 2013 with the launch of comedies “Alpha House” and “Betas.”
“Transparent,” which bowed as a series in September after its pilot debuted in February, has been the most talked-about and critically praised entry from Amazon so far. Tambor’s no-holds-barred portrayal of a transgender person ensured the show would get attention at a time when transgender issues are gaining prominence in mainstream media.
Nonetheless, “Transparent’s” win surprised awards prognosticators as it edged out higher-profile contenders: Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black, »
- Debra Birnbaum and Jenelle Riley
Kyle MacLachlan To Reprise Role On Showtime’s ‘Twin Peaks’ Reboot
19 hours ago
Get ready for some damn fine coffee, because FBI Agent Dale Cooper is back.
Kyle MacLachlan is reprising his role on Showtime’s “Twin Peaks” revival, the cabler’s prez, David Nevins, confirmed Monday at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena with the help of MacLachlan, who surprised the room by joining Nevins up on stage — and presenting him with a “damn good cup of coffee.”
“I’m very excited to return to the strange and wonderful world of ‘Twin Peaks,’” MacLachlan said. “May the forest be with you.”
Original series creator-exec producers David Lynch and Mark Frost will write and produce the limited series, with Lynch directing all nine episodes, set in the present day.
Lynch welcomed MacLachlan back to “Peaks” with a modern-day photo of Agent Cooper on Twitter.
Welcome back to #TwinPeaks Special Agent Dale Cooper! @Kyle_MacLachlan returns in ’16 on @SHO_Network #damnfinecoffee pic. »
- Elizabeth Wagmeister
Showtime Chief Talks Free Speech, ‘Homeland,’ ‘Twin Peaks,’ ‘Happyish’
19 hours ago
“It’s been a bad month for free speech around the world,” Showtime topper David Nevins observed during his exec Q&A session Monday at the Television Critics Assn. press tour.
Nevins noted that there’s never been a more dynamic time for a network to be in the business of producing provocative high-end scripted programming. He acknowledged that recent events — from the politically motivated cyber-attack on Sony Pictures to the Charlie Hedbo slayings in Paris — have been nerve-wracking.
“It’s a scary time to be a maker of controversial, political-boundary breaking shows,” Nevins said.
Showtime veered into the volatile world of global politics with “Homeland’s” fourth season, which was set in Pakistan and depicted the country’s internal struggle in connection with fighting terrorism in its backyard and its relationship with the U.S. The Pakistani embassy in the U.S. put out a formal statement of complaint »
- Cynthia Littleton
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