2008-12-29

Happy HOLLYBEEJ- Entertainment, Celebrity News & Notes Roundup. -Dec. 29, 2008

Live From Hollywood.. News From Inside The Hollywood Machine
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Happy HollyBeej. It has been a long holiday hiatus but we are back with a ball dropping bang.is back with a bang. Here a feast of the seven fishes sized helping from all around the net. All of the juicy gossip from the hottest locations all right here for you. Enjoy!


From Cynthia Turner's Cynopsis
(The greatest behind the curtain inside information entertainment news site)

Good morning. It's Monday, December 22, 2008, and this is your first early morning briefing - an abbreviated edition to remind you Cynopsis editorial staff is off this week, returning after the New Year. Enjoy the holidays - your next edition from us will be on Friday, January 2, 2009. And so, in the meantime ...

Tonight's Premiere:
A&E Network: Runaway Squad at 10p

Tonight's Finales:
ESPN: Monday Night Football at 830p
FOX: Prison Break at 9p
MTV: The Hills at 10p

December 23 Finales:
IFC: IFC Media Project at 8p
BET: Brothers to Brutha at 1030p
TBS: Frank TV at 11p

December 27 Premiere:
Fox Reality Channel: Smile . . . You're Under Arrest at 7p

December 28 Premiere:
FUEL TV: Firsthand at 8p

December 28 Finales:
NBC: Football Night in America at 7p; Sunday Night Football at 815p

December 29 Premieres:
MTV: Bromance at 9p; The City at 10p

December 30 Premiere:
FUEL TV: Snowboard Diaries at 8p

January 1 Premiere:
A&E Network: The First 48 at 9p


VH1's Celebrity Rehab Presents Sober House opens with eight 60m episodes on January 15 at 10p. The new series chronicles cast members from season one and two of Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew as they live in a sober house for three months, transitioning from the rehab center to the real world. Celebrities documented living in the sober house include Rodney King, Nikki McKibbin, Steven Adler and Amber Smith from season two and Seth "Shifty" Binzer and Mary Carey from season one. Comedian Andy Dick will join later in the series. Irwin Entertainment produces.

Weekend Box Office Estimates - December 2931
  • Yes Man (Warner Bros.) opening weekend $18.2m
  • Seven Pounds (Sony / Columbia) opening weekend $16.0m
  • The Tale of Despereaux (Universal) opening weekend $10.5m
  • The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) (Fox) 2 wk total $48.6m
  • Four Christmases (Warner Bros. (New Line)) 4 wk total $100.2m
  • Twilight (Summit Entertainment) 5 wk total $158.5m
  • Bolt (Buena Vista) 5 wk total $95.0m
  • Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) 6 wk total $12.1m
  • Australia (Fox) 4 wk total $41.9m
  • Quantum of Solace (Sony / Columbia) 6 wk total $161.3m
  • Source: www.BoxOfficeMojo.com

 Spike TV approved production on a scripted comedy pilot titled Blue Mountain State about a big Midwestern college football program. The 30m pilot, with production beginning in February, was described as similar to the movie Animal House. Brian Robbins of Varsity Pictures will produce along with Sharla Sumpter-Bridgett and Lionsgate. Robbins will also direct while Chris Romano and Eric Falconer will write the pilot.

Actress Kristin Chenoweth is moving on to a new network as she was signed to star in NBC's new David E. Kelley legal drama, Legally Mad. Chenoweth will play Skippy Pylon, a smart, bubbly attorney who at times displays moments of psychosis and likes it when people mistake her for a teenager. The drama, set in Chicago, is produced by Warner Bros. Television marking the first Kelley project under his new deal with Warner. Most recently, Chenoweth starred in ABC's Pushing Daisies.

HBO ordered two comedy pilots to series, giving eight episodes each to How to Make It in America and Bored to Death, reports THR. How to Make It stars Bryan Greenberg and Victor Rasuk as two twentysomething hustlers trying to make it big in New York. This project is from Stephen Levinson's Leverage and Mark Wahlberg's Closest to the Hole who also has two other shows currently on HBO - In Treatment and Entourage. Bored to Death stars Jason Schwartzman as a struggling, alcoholic Brooklyn writer, who after his girlfriend dumps him, pretends to be a private detective taking on real cases. Jonathan Ames wrote the project and the pilot co-starred Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis as well as Sarah Condon, Dave Becky, Stephanie Davis and Troy Miller. The verdict is still out on other HBO pilots such as the comedies Washingtonienne and Suburban Shootout and the drama Treme. Also last week, HBO ordered the male-focused comedy Hung starring Thomas Jane.

In further HBO news, the premium cable network has a new drama called Cocaine Cowboys from Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay, per THR. Meredith Stiehm will write the project based on Billy Corben's 2006 documentary Cowboys about the genesis of cocaine trafficking in Miami. Warner Bros. Television will produce where Jerry Bruckheimer TV is located. Bruckheimer, Bay, Stiehm are executive producing along with Jonathan Littman while KristieAnne Reed will serve as consulting producer.

GSN is bringing back a new version of The Newlywed Game and has ordered 40 30m episodes from executive producer Michael Davies, writes THR. Production will begin in February in New York and the game show is slated to premiere on GSN in the spring where it will air Monday-Friday. Sony Pictures Television and Davies' Embassy Row are producing. Familiar elements from the original version include featuring couples who have only been married two years or less and new for this version, couples from the original production, referred to as "goldyweds" will compete against the newlyweds. The show's host has not been announced nor has the grand prize been confirmed, although Davies said it could be a second honeymoon trip like in the original version.

Comedy Central revealed it is readying a new six-episode comedy series called Secret Girlfriend for mid-2009. The format is in first-person making the audience a character in the show and it will feature two back-to-back 11-minute scripted mini-sodes. The story is about a playboy, his friends and the various girlfriends he juggles.

Michael Chiklis is staying involved with FX as the former The Shield star is working on a new series for the network called House of Cards about an investment scheme gone wrong, cites THR. The project is about a group scamming people similar to the real-life Bernard Madoff scandal. Chiklis has been developing this project since February and he would executive produce House of Cards rather than star in it.

From Pop Sugar.com
  • After rumors of relationship trouble, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony are allegedly planning to announce their split after she joins him on stage for a duet on his Valentine's Day concert. — Gatecrasher
  • Marley & Me broke records topping the box office over the holiday long weekend taking in $51.7 million. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button barely slipped past Bedtime Stories to score the second and third spots respectively. — BuzzSugar
  • Tomy Romo collapsed in the shower after his team's final loss of the season to the Philadelphia Eagles yesterday. He was able to walk out on his own and refused to talk about an apparent rib injury he suffered while playing. — ESPN
  • Diddy offered the city of New York $1 million for charity if he could paint the Times Square New Year's Eve Ball purple, the color of grapes, and make Ciroc the official Vodka of New Year's. — Page Six
  • Amy Winehouse's former assistant gave a tell-all interview, including shocking details about how Amy would smoke crack for breakfast and that the singer is battling an eating disorder. — News of the World
  • Heather Mills is being sued by her daughter's former nanny who says she was forced, among other things, to spray tan Mills and blow dry her hair. — The Scoop
  • Lance Armstrong announced yesterday that his girlfriend Anna Hanson, who he has been quietly seeing since July, is pregnant. It will be Lance's fourth child — the first three were with his ex wife. — E Online
  • The AP named Tina Fey Entertainer of the Year as voted on by newspaper editors and broadcast journalists across the country. — AP
  • Nicole Kidman's former Sydney neighbors are upset that a year after moving out the actress has still left her large yacht parked in the marina reserved only for residents of the apartment building. — The Independent
  • It's possible that Simon Cowell wants to leave American Idol. On Wednesday he told reporters that he's still deciding whether he wants to come back as a judge next year due to workload. — Scoop

From Asylum.com (Cheat Sheet)





at 12/29/2008 09:36:00 AM

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