talent NETWORK NEWS: HOLLYBEEJ -Entertainment News & Notes Round-up

2008-08-12

HOLLYBEEJ -Entertainment News & Notes Round-up - August 12, 2008

Live From Hollywood.. News From Inside The Hollywood Machine
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Here is today's heaping helping of hot buzzing HollyBeej super duper entertaining celebrity news and notes roundup from this cool thing called the world wide web. Enjoy!

The WB will officially rise from the ashes as a beta online network on Aug. 27, reported Mediaweek. The site will launch with archived classics such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Smallville. The 40-episode web mystery Sorority Fever (from Big Fantastic, the producers of Prom Queen) debuts on WB.com on Sept. 8 starring LG 15 herself Jessica Rose.

NBCOlympics.com got off to a promising start garnering 70 million page views on Friday - 10 times the usage achieved on opening day of the Athens Games in 2004. Some 4.8 million people watched 3.1 million video streams on Saturday, more than four times the peak number of daily streams during the 2006 winter Games in Torino, Italy. Features such as a 4-screen video display, the ability to schedule alerts and the capability to jump back and forth to specific periods within an event make the Olympics online a whole new ballgame. Better yet, NBC's exhaustive online coverage of the Games (designed to complement and protect the broadcast schedule) is only helping to boost linear ratings. More viewers tuned in to watch the first two days of Olympic telecasts than any summer games in 10 years.

Manager/producer Bernie Brillstein, considered an icon of the television industry died last Thursday of chronic pulmonary disease. He was 77. As head of his own talent management agency, Brillstein Co., Bernie's roster of stars and shows that he discovered and developed was unparalleled, including Jim Henson, Gilda Radner, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd; as well as many film stars as Brad Pitt, Adam Sandler, Geena Davis, Nicolas Cage, and Martin Short. Bernie's company was one of the first in the 1980s to delve into television production with shows developed around his clients including ALF, It's Garry Shandling's Show and The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd. Later in the 1990s in partnership with Brad Grey, Brillstein-Grey Television developed The Sopranos, Just Shoot Me, NewsRadio, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher and The Larry Sanders Show. Bernie is survived by his wife, Carrie; five children and one grandson. Rather than sending flowers, the family requests donations sent to the Barlow Respiratory Research Center in Los Angeles.

Tori Spelling and CBS Paramount Network Television could not come to terms on a contract for her to appear on The CW's 90210. The plan was to have Tori reprise her Donna Martin character on a recurring basis. Former stars from the original series, Jennie Garth, Joe E. Tata and Shannen Doherty are still scheduled to make appearances throughout the season on the new series.

CBS is bringing back a new version of the classic cop series Hawaii Five-O. Criminal Minds executive producer, Ed Bernero is behind the series revival as well as writing it, having dubbed it Hawaii Five-O 2.0. In the original series Steve McGarrett, played by Jack Lord, headed the fictional Hawaiian state police department. In the new edition, Steve's son Chris will be in charge. Other details from the original version will be freshened up and used in the new installment including the memorable theme music and something similar to the famous closing line: "Book 'em, Danno". The series will be shot on location in Hawaii and is produced by CBS Paramount Television. Ed Bernero is also working on another crime series for CBS called Washington Field about the D.C.-based FBI National Capital Response Squad. This project has received full cooperation and clearance from the FBI for production to take place inside FBI facilities and to use the "from the files of the FBI" logo.

ABC has a new project on the horizon, based on the 2002 Jennifer Lopez film Maid in Manhattan. The pilot will be written by Chad Hodge, and Lopez will be one of the executive producers, reports THR. Similar to the film, the story is about a Latina from the Bronx who works in the housekeeping department at a high-end midtown hotel, where a guest mistakes her for a socialite and falls for her. The television series will focus more on the maid and her colleagues at the hotel, rather than the love affair of the movie. Also exec producing are Joe Roth and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas.

Top 10 Weekend Box Office Estimates: August 8-10, 2008:

The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) $26.0 million - 4 wk total $441.5m
Pineapple Express (Sony) $22.4 million - 1 wk total $40.5m
The Mummy: T. D. E. (Universal) $16.1 million - 2 wk total $70.7m
The Sisterhood..Traveling Pants 2 (Warner Bros.) $10.8 million - 1 wk total $19.7m
Step Brothers (Sony) $8.9 million - 3 wk total $80.9m
Mamma Mia! (Universal) $8.1 million - 4 wk total $104.0m
Journey.. Center of the Earth 3D (New Line) $4.9 million - 5 wk total $81.8m
Hancock (Sony) $3.3 million - 6 wk total $221.7m
Swing Vote (Buena Vista) $3.1 million - 2 wk total 12.0m
Wall-E (Buena Vista) $3.0 million - 7 wk total $210.1m Source: Box Office Mojo

From POP SUGAR.com:

Angelina Jolie is rumored to be replacing Tom Cruise as the star of Edwin A. Salt, a movie about a CIA officer wrongly accused of being a Russian spy. The lead role would be changed from male to female, as would the title of the film. — BuzzSugar
Tom Cruise's next role might be as the main character in a comedy called Food Fight about an NYC chef forced to cook at a school cafeteria. — Hollywood Reporter
Vanessa Hudgens is being sued again, this time by Johnny on the Spot Productions, which claims she is not paying the terms of her production settlement agreed on in May 2006. — E! Online
Following his recent arrest in Turks and Caicos, Nikki Blonsky's father was released on $3,000 bail due to health problems and is thought to be flying back to New York. — People
Westmoore Lending of Huntington Beach, CA, is suing Ed McMahon for more than $275,000 that the creditor says he owes from a 2006 loan. — AP
Hayden Panettiere's father was released on $50,000 bail following his felony spousal abuse charges, which the Panettieres say was all a big misunderstanding. — TMZ

From BUZZ SUGAR.com:

The Office has been given the key post-Super Bowl time slot and will air a one-hour episode following the game, Entertainment Weekly reports.
According to ComingSoon, Steve Buscemi and Romany Malco will star together in Saint John of Las Vegas, a loose adaptation of Dante's Inferno.
Tori Spelling has no deal to appear on 90210 and her desired salary may be the sticking point, E! reports.
Sara Gilbert is joining the cast of The Big Bang Theory after a successful guest-starring gig, Zap2it reports.
Dennis Hopper will get his own exhibit in France where, apparently, he is highly revered, writes Variety.
Clarke Peters and Wendell Pierce — aka Freamon and Bunk from The Wire — are joining Treme, David Simon's new HBO pilot about New Orleans, writes The Hollywood Reporter.
Variety has the news that director Chris Columbus is readying a film about Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential run.
24 producer Carlos Coto and Brett Ratner are working on an action-comedy for Fox titled Wild Boys, which will follow "ex-soldiers turned suburban dads," ComingSoon reports.
Matthew Bomer — aka Bryce Larkin from Chuck and Jay from Traveler — has been cast in the lead of a USA series called White Collar, writes The Hollywood Reporter.

From BRICKS and STONES GOSSIP.com:

Jolie - Pitt Twins HUGE Bomb for People Magazine Allie is Wired
Matthew McConaughey Saved his Son’s Placenta Hollywire
No Ben and Jerry’s for Amy Whinehouse Yeeeah
Persians are princely as Jake Gyllenhaal? Mollygood
Michael Phelps Wins Third Gold, Proves He’s Much More Than A Pretty Boy Jezebel
Sienna Miller is distraught The Blemish
Alison Carroll is the new face of Lara Croft Blowing Smoke
Pamela Anderson Gets Wasted with Friends at the Bar Hollywood Rag

From ASYLUM.com:

Hayden Panettiere's father was arrested for domestic abuse. (Celeb Parasite)
Brooke Hogan posted fake mug shots on her MySpace page. (Popeater)
Melissa Theuriau, the hottest newscaster in the world, is both pregnant and topless. NSFW
Kate Bosworth was caught at the beach in a bikini. (WWTDD)
Brad Pitt to be a "Bastard." (AV Club)
Lynne Spears opens up about Britney in her new memoir. (Us Magazine)
Natasha Henstridge hit the beach in a skimpy bikini. (IDLYITW)
Isaac Hayes passed away at the age of 65 in Memphis. (Perez Hilton)
Bernie Mac passed away at the age of 50 from complications due to pneumonia. (EW)
"Retard" joke brings protests to "Tropic Thunder." (Pop Eater)
Jenna Jameson posed nude for a PETA ad. NSFW (The Blemish)
Lindsay Lohan was caught wearing a see-through shirt. NSFW (The Superficial)
Britney Spears is returning to the MTV Video Music Awards. (Celeb Parasite)

From JJ's DIRT.com:

In Hollywood, it is all about the benjamin's. The annual listing of Hollywood's TOP 10 highest paid actresses has just been released and you may be surprised who placed where on the list. Here is the top 10 and what they earned from June 2007-June 2008