HughJackman-related stories
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 11:29AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Awards, Reality-Free
Oscar roulette is usually played when it comes time to figure out the nominations. However, this year there seems to be a wheel of fortune spinning with the names of possible hosts for the show. Of course, the
folks running the show have intimated that they might want to have a few stars sharing the duties. Historically, that hasn't worked out too well.
The other day when
Hugh Jackman removed his name from the running, I asked you for your ideas and told you that I like Kathy Griffin. Jimmy liked George Clooney and Justin Timberlake. Sancty suggested
Neil Patrick Harris.
Continue reading Who'll host the Oscars? The oddsmakers like Billy Crystal
Posted Oct 30th 2009 6:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free
So
Ricky Gervais has signed to host the Golden Globes, which means the pressure is on the Oscars to come up with a host or hosts equally as stellar. Or interesting. Or compelling.
One star who has removed himself from the running is last year's host,
Hugh Jackman. He will not return as Oscar host when the show airs on ABC, March 7.
He's currently on Broadway in a play -- with 007 Daniel Craig -- and he "quietly turned down the job" according to sources. It's not because he was a bomb emceeing the proceedings either. He didn't do the "Oprah, Uma, Uma, Oprah" joke nor did he trip on his shoelaces in the opening number. Quite the contrary, in fact.
Hugh Jackman was a perfectly fine host.
But he doesn't want to do it in 2010. Maybe he doesn't want to push his luck? Maybe he just doesn't want to work that hard.
Continue reading Hugh Jackman says 'no thanks' to Oscar repeat
Posted May 5th 2009 2:03PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Reality-Free
Are you ready for 2011? Not the first part, the latter part. That's when FX is going to have all of your favorite blockbuster movies from the past few months.
According to Variety, FX has secured rights to show
X-Men Origins: Wolverine,
Taken,
The Wrestler,
The Day the Earth Stood Still, and
Marley and Me.
Variety also points out that it takes about 30 months for films to go from the big screen to television in these kinds of deals.
So, if you can keep from seeing them in the theater, or on DVD, or on demand from whichever cable system you subscribe to, on Netflix or Blockbuster, or from one of the torrents these scofflaw kids are into these days, you can see it for free on FX!
Continue reading Wolverine on FX! In ... 2011
Posted Feb 24th 2009 2:04PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Music and Variety, Watercooler Talk, Ratings, Awards, Reality-Free
Well, it looks like rejiggering the format of the
Oscar telecast paid off; ratings for the 81st annual back-patting orgy were
up 13% from last year's record-low ratings. Maybe it was the
"faster-paced" ceremony, or maybe it was just that there were some intriguing storylines (
Slumdog, Heath Ledger, what kind of nutty stuff would Mickey Rourke have said if he won... that kind of stuff). Or it could have been a matter of more people being at home to watch because, uh, they don't have the money to do anything else. But at least the ratings are back to being semi-respectable.
One interesting aspect to these ratings numbers, though,
was brought up by Newsday's Neil Best: the total number of female viewers for the Super Bowl (38.3 million) surpassed the
entire audience for the Oscars (36.3 million). So, despite the conventional wisdom, it looks like the "Super Bowl for women" is actually... the Super Bowl.
At the very least, the ratings will probably earn Hugh Jackman and producers Bill Condon and Laurence Mark a return engagement. Now if they can just get this thing under three hours, they're all set.
Posted Feb 23rd 2009 12:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Vs., Awards, Reality-Free
It was the best of Oscar it was the worst of Oscar. It wasn't the best show I've ever seen, but was it the worst Oscars ever as one friend emailed me? I think there were features that worked and features that tanked. There could have been more star power -- where were Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Jim Carrey, Sandra Bullock, Christian Bale, Tyler Perry (he had the biggest box office opening last week!), etc.? Forget about stars from the '70s...
Anyway, I had predicted that
the Oscars would stink. Well, I was wrong, or half-wrong. Separate from whether you agreed with the winners -- I did by and large -- or you didn't, what about the broadcast? I think if you had seen all the nominees (or at least the Best Picture noms), you probably had a rooting interest and were amused by most of the show. However, the other half was pretty bad. After the jump, what worked versus what did not.
Continue reading Oscars 2009: What worked vs. what didn't
Posted Feb 23rd 2009 10:43AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Watercooler Talk, Awards, Reality-Free
It's the age-old question that comes up just about every year, but after last night's marathon Oscar ceremony, I need to ask it again: Is it about time for the Academy to award most of the technical prizes (for editing, art, costumes, makeup, visual effects, etc.) either another day or before the televised ceremony starts?
The reason why I ask is because of the way the producers formatted the show this year. They did a nice job of grouping those technical awards together, threading them through the life cycle of a film's production. Believe me, it helped; instead of dragging out new presenters for each and every category, one set usually presented a few at a times (poor Will Smith was out there presenting the post-production awards almost as long as host Hugh Jackman was on stage). But somewhere around 10:30, I was still looking at the clock and trying to count how many categories were left.
Continue reading Should the Oscars skip the technical awards?
Posted Feb 22nd 2009 1:08PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free
Ricky Gervais
won't be hosting the Oscars tonight, but he'll be doing the next best thing. It looks like Gervais will be
writing some of the jokes to be used by host Hugh Jackman and company. If so, then I draw a few conclusions from this:
Tonight's jokes will be swipes at Hollywood and probably the entertainment industry in general. As one can tell from
The Office and
Extras (and even the BBC article itself), Gervais excels at self-deprecating humor. They will be nasty, but nasty in a funny and cute way that industry insiders and the audience will enjoy. He could even recycle jokes from
Extras.
Also, tonight's jokes will be extremely funny if Jackman can deliver them in a Gervais-like style. Hopefully he'll practice them beforehand. I wonder if Stephen Merchant was involved with the joke-writing as well?
If this works out, perhaps he'll accept that offer to host the event next year? Fingers crossed.
Posted Jan 23rd 2009 10:03AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Celebrities, Ratings, Awards, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free
Do you remember what film won the Oscar for Best Picture last year? (
No Country for Old Men). What about Best Actor and Actress? (Daniel Day-Lewis and Marion Cotillard). If you didn't remember, don't feel bad. You're probably like most people. Most of us weren't watching in 2008. Even though they were celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Academy Awards, it was the lowest rated and least watched telecast ever.
As I perused the
Academy Award nominations yesterday, I couldn't help but think that this year's broadcast is going to have a hard time drawing a huge TV audience. And considering that the only thing you can usually count on with the Oscars is that they'll run over three hours long, the show will probably leave something to be desired, too.
In fact, here's six reasons the Oscars -- which will be broadcast live on February 22 on ABC -- will probably stink.
Continue reading Six reasons the Oscars will probably stink - VIDEO
Posted Dec 12th 2008 5:05PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free
At the very least, this sounds more promising than an awards show
hosted by reality TV stars.
Hugh Jackman, probably the only Tony Award-winner to be named
People's "Sexiest Man Alive," will
host this year's Academy Awards ceremony. Yep, it's an odd pick. The last few Oscar night hosts have been comedians (Jon Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres, Chris Rock), but something tells me this broadcast will be the funniest in years.
Why? Because Hugh Jackman likes to sing. And dance. And he usually looks pretty silly when he does those things at the same time, like in that episode of
Viva Laughlin.
Continue reading Are you ready for a singing and dancing Hugh Jackman on Oscar night? - VIDEO
Posted May 9th 2008 2:00PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Awards, Reality-Free
She's an experienced host, an Oscar-winner, a Broadway star. But is
Whoopi Goldberg hosting the 62nd Tony Awards the answer for the struggling annual broadcast? The Tony Awards, which honors the best in Broadway theater is considered one of the four major entertainment awards, along with the Oscar, Emmy and Grammy. But the Tonys have been losing viewership year after year despite the stars lured onto the broadcast. After having no single host the past two years, CBS has tapped Whoopi to be the emcee for the June 15 live broadcast from Radio City Music Hall in hopes that she'll make a difference in the Nielsens. The last single host was Hugh Jackman in 2005.
While this is Whoopi's first turn as Tony host, she is well regarded for her four stints as Oscar hostess. At the most recent Oscars, when Whoopi was left out of the host-highlight clip package of years gone by, she was ticked off and talked about it the morning after on
The View. Perhaps doing the Tonys will be her way of sticking to the Oscars?
Continue reading Can Whoopi save the Tony Awards?
Posted Oct 16th 2007 4:21PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Early Looks
In the world of TV, one of the riskiest things a creative team can do is shoot for the "quirky" factor. It's an all-or-nothing deal: either it works, where everything clicks and the audience embraces the show, or nothing works, and the show explodes in a big awful mess over the poor suckers who decided to tune in and watch. At the beginning of the 2007-08 season, we have two shows who went for the quirk:
Pushing Daisies and
Viva Laughlin. And as it turns out, one show works and the other show is a disaster. Considering
Daisies is one of the most praised new shows of the season, we all know where we're going with this.
Continue reading Viva Laughlin -- An early look
Posted Jul 5th 2007 11:00AM by Brett Love
Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, Early Looks, Upfronts
CBS probably has one of the more interesting schedules of the fall, just for the fact that they are making a concerted effort to try something different. They could have rolled out yet another procedural (
CSI: LA?), and who could really blame them. Those shows have performed extremely well for the network over the past few years.
Instead, in what is a definite gamble, the network will be bringing out some decidedly alternative programming. There is a musical drama about the casino business in Laughlin, a vampire detective, a drama about a Cuban family and their rum making business, and some swinging couples getting their freak on in the 70's. The kind of fare that would probably cause Horatio to tilt his head to the side and remove his sunglasses. Will it work? Time will tell, but we've seen three of them and have a rundown after the jump.
Continue reading TV Squad previews CBS's new shows
Posted May 16th 2007 10:48AM by Brett Love
Filed under: Industry, Programming, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, Numb3rs, Criminal Minds, How I Met Your Mother, Jericho, Shark, Upfronts
CBS is on a good run, being the most watched network for the last five years, but they have taken a bit of heat for the formulaic way they have gone about doing it. Not arguing with success, the whole family of CSIs, and their crime based cousins, will be back, but the network is trying to branch out with some edgier programming. Most notably,
Swingtown, Viva Laughlin, and
Moonlight.Returning: The Amazing Race, Cold Case, 60 Minutes, How I Met Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement, CSI: Miami, NCIS, The Unit, Criminal Minds, CSI: NY, Survivor, CSI, Shark, Without A Trace, Ghost Whisperer, Numb3rs, 48 Hours Mystery.
New: Viva Laughlin, Swingtown, Moonlight, Cane, Big Bang Theory, Power of 10, Kid NationOut: King of Queens, Jericho, The Class, Close To HomeMoving: Without A Trace moves back to Thursday at 10.
Shark heads to Sunday at 10.
Continue reading The Upfronts: CBS
Posted Feb 27th 2007 10:45AM by Brett Love
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, ABC, NBC, FOX, Industry
It's that time of the year. People are being cast in pilots left and right and some interesting stuff has
been announced. At ABC, Christopher Titus (
Titus) has landed one of the lead roles in an untitled project from Warner Bros. The show focuses on CEOs and also stars Dylan McDermott (
The Practice) and Michael Vartan (
Alias). McDermott and Vartan as CEOs is an easy sell. But Christopher Titus, Senior VP Harvard graduate? That's different, and something I look forward to checking out.
Carrie-Anne Moss (
The Matrix) is set to star in ABC's
Suspect. The show is a procedural that will solve crimes by tracking suspects through a lineup. She's joined by Eric Palladino (
ER) and Kathleen Munroe (
Beautiful People). The ABC track record for procedurals is less than impressive, but the addition of Guy Ritchie (
Snatch) as director is intriguing enough to give this one a look.
Continue reading Casting News: Christopher Titus, Carrie Ann Moss, Billy Baldwin, more
Posted Feb 10th 2007 3:03PM by Brett Love
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, CBS, Industry, Celebrities
I mentioned the other day that
Harold Perrineau had joined the CBS pilot
Demons. They've now cast the main character, Gus, and the winner is Ron Eldard. If you were paying attention, you might have seen him in the short-lived
Men Behaving Badly or
Blind Justice. Otherwise, think of him as the paramedic with issues that was dating Carol early in the
ER run. It's not the best piece of casting I've ever seen. Eldard has never proven that he can be the dramatic lead for a show, but stranger things have happened.
Meanwhile, over at CBS, Hugh Jackman (
Wolverine!) is producing something called
Viva Laughlin. Lloyd Owen (
Miss Potter) will star as a family man trying to open a casino in Laughlin, NV. Word is that Jackman will appear in the pilot and may have a recurring role on the series. Given just that bit of knowledge, I'm intrigued by the possibilities.
Continue reading ABC and CBS reveal more pilot casting news
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