There was a moment last November when Channel 4 ’s senior executives breathed a sigh of relief. Sat at the top table of Channel 4’s 40th birthday party, Chief Executive Alex Mahon was flanked by her friend Elisabeth Murdoch and doyens of UK broadcasting, including BBC Director-General Tim Davie and Carolyn McCall, ITV’s Chief Executive. They were raising a glass to a British success story in a rare public display of unity. On the same table was Thérèse Coffey, a senior government minister who had survived three prime ministers in the space of little more than three months. Her presence at the V&A Museum event bemused others, who believed the government only had hostile intentions for Channel 4 after sanctioning a sale of the broadcaster against its wishes. Things soon got weirder. Coffey turned to Mahon and asked if she could raise a glass to Channel 4. She then proceeded to surprise the room full of TV luminaries by serenading her hosts with a rendition of happy … [Read more...] about Channel 4: Inside The Doomed Sale Of A Crown Jewel Of British Television
Piers morgan tonight
Paul McCartney’s Decade-Long Creative Surge Post-Beatles To Be Explored In ‘Man On The Run’ From Oscar Winner Morgan Neville
EXCLUSIVE: Paul McCartney ’s incredible creative output in the decade after he left The Beatles will come into focus in Man on the Run (working title), a documentary to be directed by Oscar and Grammy winner Morgan Neville . MPL and Polygram Entertainment – the film and television unit of Universal Music Group – announced the project today, a day before the 65 th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. The feature film will explore “Paul McCartney’s extraordinary life following the breakup of The Beatles and how the love he shared with Linda McCartney influenced a journey that would lead to the formation of Wings and more of the greatest music ever created.” Neville, whose directing credits include 20 Feet From Stardom , Won’t You Be My Neighbor , and Roadrunner: An Anthony Bourdain Movie , has been granted access to never-before-seen home videos and photos from the archives of McCartney and his late wife, Linda. The archival material will be … [Read more...] about Paul McCartney’s Decade-Long Creative Surge Post-Beatles To Be Explored In ‘Man On The Run’ From Oscar Winner Morgan Neville
Benedict Cumberbatch To Lead & EP Netflix’s ‘Eric’ From Abi Morgan & Sister
Benedict Cumberbatch is to lead and EP Netflix ’s Eric , playing a puppeteer whose son goes missing in 1980s Manhattan. Netflix has set cast on the Abi Morgan -penned show from Chernobyl producer Sister and the likes of Gaby Hoffman, McKinley Belcher II, Dan Fogler and Phoebe Nicholls will star opposite Cumberbatch. Cast is rounded out by Clarke Peters, Ivan Morris Howe, David Denman, Bamar Kane, Adepero Odyue, Alexis Molnar and Roberta Colindrez. The six-parter follows Vincent Anderson (Cumberbatch), a grief-stricken puppeteer on a leading TV show whose young boy goes missing and who finds solace through his friendship with Eric, the monster that lives under his son’s bed. The Split scribe Morgan’s Little Chick is producing with Sister and Morgan EPing alongside Cumberbatch, Jane Featherstone, Lucy Dyke and Lucy Forbes. “Eric is a dark and crazy journey into the heart of 1980’s New York, and the good bad and ugly world of Vincent,” said Morgan. “The chance … [Read more...] about Benedict Cumberbatch To Lead & EP Netflix’s ‘Eric’ From Abi Morgan & Sister
‘American Pain,’ Premiering on CNN Tonight, Documents Twin Brothers Who Became Florida’s Opioid Kingpins
The Sacklers of OxyContin infamy have become indelibly tied to the opioid crisis in America. But the truth is they were far from the only contributors to a drug epidemic that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in recent years. Take Chris and Jeff George, for instance. The steroid-jacked twin brothers opened their first pain medication storefront in Florida in 2007 and before long, as they put it, “We were the Disneyland of pain clinics.” Their exploits are told in the CNN Films documentary American Pain , directed by Darren Foster , which premieres on CNN tonight. “The George brothers did not start the opioid crisis,” retired FBI agent Kurt McKenzie notes in the film. “But they sure as hell poured gasoline on the fire.” Foster, an Emmy-winning filmmaker, first crossed paths with the Georges more than a decade ago. “In 2009 I went down to Florida to report on the pill mills. One pain clinic had a reputation above all the others as being the biggest, the … [Read more...] about ‘American Pain,’ Premiering on CNN Tonight, Documents Twin Brothers Who Became Florida’s Opioid Kingpins
SAG-AFTRA Members Ratify TV/Theatrical Contract
The rank and file has voted overwhelmingly to approve the new, three-year contracts covering movie, primetime and basic cable TV production. The balloting was a lopsided 92%-8%. The deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers was hammered out in the wee hours of the Fourth of July after two months of tough bargaining amid a media blackout and three 24-hour extensions after the June 30 deadline. The national board approved it eight days later . Related: SAG-AFTRA Posts 10 Reasons To Vote Yes On New Contract; Do Members Agree? “Once again, we have made history,” SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard said tonight. “With the approval of the first-ever SAG-AFTRA Television Agreement, we have reached yet another of the goals we set when we merged. I am thankful to all members who participated throughout this process and the dedicated staff of SAG-AFTRA who worked to insure our new contract would usher us into the next generation of entertainment and new media … [Read more...] about SAG-AFTRA Members Ratify TV/Theatrical Contract
(Non) Shocker! SAG-AFTRA Board Approves New Contract
As expected, the national board of SAG-AFTRA voted overwhelmingly tonight to approve the terms of a new three-year film and TV contract . It now will go to the union’s 165,000 members for final ratification. The new contract had been unanimously recommended to the board by the union’s negotiating committee, which included SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard and National Executive Director David White . The board tonight voted 90% to 10% to approve the new contract, which achieved the major goal of the union going into the talks: the unification of its two separate television contracts. Related: Guild Official: Merging SAG And AFTRA TV Deals Key Goal Of Talks When SAG and AFTRA merged in 2012, the new union was stuck with two separate pension and health plans, and two separate TV contracts. The unification of the TV contracts, which guild leaders called “historic,” is considered a major milestone in the still-evolving merger of the two unions. Related: WGA … [Read more...] about (Non) Shocker! SAG-AFTRA Board Approves New Contract
Blue Jays Ace Alek Manoah Rips MLB Network Analyst Over Body-Shaming Comments
Getty Composite You can't mess with Alek Manoah 's fastball on the field, and you apparently can't mess with it off of it either ... 'cause the Blue Jays ace absolutely eviscerated an MLB Network analyst this week after the guy body-shamed him on live TV. Anthony Recker , a former MLB catcher who's been breaking down players and games for the league's network for the past year, made the comments on "MLB Tonight" on Wednesday ... seemingly taking a shot at Manoah's 6-foot-6, 285-pound frame. "Show me you're willing to put a little more time in the gym," Recker said. Hey @Anthony_Recker my job isn’t to please you. You are an outsider you don’t know me or my work ethic. What I do in the gym has clearly worked check the numbers, sucks you can’t say the same for yourself. https://t.co/9Je9xqTBYx — MANOAH (@Alek_Manoah6) February 2, 2023 @Alek_Manoah6 Manoah caught wind of the remarks a few hours later -- and he was clearly pissed over them. "Hey … [Read more...] about Blue Jays Ace Alek Manoah Rips MLB Network Analyst Over Body-Shaming Comments
Jim Mahoney, PR To Sinatra, McQueen, Gable, Explores 60 Years Of Hollywood In Memoir: “It Was About Taming The Lion”
Jim Mahoney was one of Hollywood’s go-to guys. He spent 60+ years in public relations, guiding the public images of Clark Gable, Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Christie Brinkley, Peggy Lee, and hundreds more. He was on the front lines when Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped, and was at the party at Peter Lawford’s house the night Marilyn Monroe died. He was also there with the Rat Pack in Las Vegas. Now age 95, Mahoney has captured all of that in a memoir, Get Mahoney!: A Hollywood Insider’s Memoir. “Get Mahoney!” was the phrase often used when stars and their handlers knew trouble was brewing and needed to keep their names out of the press. Mahoney was good at his job, and frequently referred to himself as a better “suppress” agent than press agent. “It was about ‘taming the lion’ – both the press and the clients themselves,” Mahoney said. That sometimes involved making arrangements with the authorities and media to keep … [Read more...] about Jim Mahoney, PR To Sinatra, McQueen, Gable, Explores 60 Years Of Hollywood In Memoir: “It Was About Taming The Lion”
DGA Says “Studios Are Not Yet Prepared To Address Our Key Issues” & Won’t Be First Guild To The Bargaining Table This Year
DGA leaders told their members tonight that the DGA won’t be the first guild at the bargaining table with the AMPTP this year because “the studios are not yet prepared to address our key issues.” It’s a break from recent tradition: the DGA has gone before the WGA and SAG-AFTRA in each of the last three bargaining cycles. The last time the DGA didn’t go first was in 2010, when pre-merger SAG and AFTRA came to the bargaining table first. The last time the WGA went first, back in 2007, a 100-day writers’ strike ensued. The DGA’s current film and TV contract expires June 30 – on the same day as SAG-AFTRA’s and two months after the May 1 expiration of the WGA’s contract. In a message to their members, guild leaders said that “after careful consideration,” the guild’s 80-person Negotiating Committee “unanimously determined today that it is not in our interest to begin negotiations well in advance of our contract expiration. We will work with the studios to schedule bargaining … [Read more...] about DGA Says “Studios Are Not Yet Prepared To Address Our Key Issues” & Won’t Be First Guild To The Bargaining Table This Year
Reese Witherspoon Says “There Is No ‘Legally Blonde 3’ Without Jennifer Coolidge”
One of the most memorable scenes of Legally Blonde is when Reese Witherspoon ’s Elle Woods teaches Jennifer Coolidge ’s Paulette Bonafonté the “bend and snap” trick. Over the years, that moment is still heavily quoted by fans. As a third movie is in the works, Witherspoon shed light on Coolidge’s involvement in the film. “There is no Legally Blonde 3 without Jennifer Coolidge,” Witherspoon told Entertainment Tonight . Coolidge is coming off a renaissance in her career starring last year on Netflix’s thriller The Watcher and HBO’s The White Lotus , for which she recently earned a Golden Globe trophy and had previously won at the Emmys . Witherspoon is thrilled about Coolidge’s success and added, “I’m beyond myself about Jennifer Coolidge. She deserves every one of those flowers she is receiving right now. And she’s just one of those people who is so naturally gifted and funny and that you can just tell people love her, ’cause she gets up there and … [Read more...] about Reese Witherspoon Says “There Is No ‘Legally Blonde 3’ Without Jennifer Coolidge”