nikki finke-related stories
Posted Jul 24th 2009 3:05PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Late Night, OpEd, Reality-Free
If Wanda Sykes' appearance at the
White House TV Correspondent's Dinner was a taste of
her new FOX late night show, then get ready for the appetizer.
Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily scored a copy of the audition packet the show's producers sent out to prospective comedy writers that included a few choice bits that would make David Letterman's Sarah Palin punchline squad blush.
These are not bits that have been confirmed as part of Sykes' first show. They are just examples designed to guide the prospective writer towards the kind of work they are looking to produce when the show hits the air next fall. But even for random examples, they make my diseased mind wonder what could actually get on the air and how many strokes it will cause for elderly housewives across the nation.
Continue reading Get a taste of the Wanda Sykes show through her writer's packet
Posted Mar 23rd 2009 11:36AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, OpEd, The Office, Reality-Free
When I first saw the headline from this Nikki Finke
report on NBC's Parks and Recreation, the highly-anticipated collaboration between Amy Poehler and the folks who write and produce
The Office, I thought the story might be about set tension or significant rewrites or even those ever-so-useful "notes" from the network.
But it turns out that the article was about notes the network got as part of a "Consumer And Market Intelligence Research Summary." Basically, the pilot went through audience testing, and the test audience saw some problems. In the 12-page report (nine of which are charts and graphs, as Finke takes pains to point out), the test audience liked a lot of the pilot, but thought it dragged in parts, was too similar to
The Office in tone, that Poehler's character needed to have "more energy and enthusiasm," and that there are "there are no 'datable' men in the cast."
To that, I say: who gives a flying crap?
Continue reading Problems with Parks and Recreation?
Posted Oct 29th 2008 9:55AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Reality-Free, Mad Men
Among the Hollywood industry insider columnists, Nikki Finke's hit rate is pretty high, so it's troubling to read a report from her about the acrimonious contract negotiations between Lionsgate and
Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner. It's gotten so bad that Finke is reporting that Lionsgate is calling around looking for
someone to replace Weiner as show-runner.
As everyone else in the industry is saying: What the hell?
Mad Men just finished its second season with record ratings. It's the first basic cable show to win an Emmy for Best Drama, and Weiner is the show's heart and soul. Believe me when I tell you that it's his vision and attention to detail that you see in every scene. Weiner gave critics a tour of the sets during the July TCAs, and he was able to speak about the look and feel of the show as easily as he was able to talk about the stories and characters. I can't imagine anyone else running the show, even if it's someone that's already on staff.
Continue reading What the hell? Lionsgate calling around for a new Mad Men show-runner
Posted Sep 1st 2008 9:38AM by Brett Love
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Watercooler Talk, Reality-Free
I don't think it's really going out on a limb to predict that NBC is going to find itself back in that familiar fourth place spot once this new season gets underway. It's become almost comical to look at what has happened to the network since the days of the unstoppable Must See Thursdays. Now though, as we head into the new season, I find that I only have interest in two of their new shows.
With one of them, My Own Worst Enemy, I seem to be in the minority. I'm having trouble finding anyone else that doesn't want to dismiss it out of hand as an inferior Jekyll. And the other, Kings, won't be premiering any time soon. The network isn't without its prizes. Chuck, Heroes, and The Office are all very good, but I don't expect any giant gains in ratings for any of them. Those would have to come from the new shows, and I'm just not seeing that happening. It's not a good way to kick off a new season, and that's just the start of the troubles. Nikki Finke is now reporting that the impending doom of the new schedule, combined with a host of other troubles, will bring about a shakeup at the top of the network.
Continue reading More dark days ahead for NBC
Posted May 14th 2008 9:21AM by Brett Love
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Moonlight
Moonlight is not going to just go away quietly and join that long list of one-and-done shows. People keep saying it's over, but apparently not everyone is listening. The latest rumor, from Nikki Finke's blog, has the show landing at the CW. And how would that work, considering that the CW has already made their schedule? I'm glad you asked.
You may recall a post from a few days ago about the network throwing in the towel on Sunday nights. That has now been confirmed with their upfront announcements. Sundays have now been outsourced. Moonlight comes back into the picture as a possibility to fill one of those two hours for Media Rights Capital, the new programmers for Sunday nights. If they could get even 60 to 70 percent of the show's viewers to make the move with them, it could be the most watched show on the network. Something that sounds very plausible given the loyal following the show has developed. It's still firmly in long-shot territory, but has the makings of quite a story.
Posted Mar 6th 2008 10:19AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Cable/Satellite, Pickups and Renewals, Friday Night Lights
Fans of the perpetually unwatched but much-loved NBC show
Friday Night Lights have a reason to rejoice this morning:
the show has been renewed for a third season, according to Nikki Finke.
NBC executives
had been looking for a way to renew their low-rated show, mostly through cost-sharing deals with other networks. They finally found a partner: DirecTV. No details of the deal were given; all we know right now is that the satellite company and the Peacock folks will share the costs of producing the show and will both air the show across multiple platforms.
Continue reading NBC renews Friday Night Lights with the help of DirecTV
Posted Feb 9th 2008 1:39PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, WGA Strike
According to
Variety, the WGA and the AMPTP
reached a tentative settlement of the three month-old writers' strike early this morning. The presidents of the east and west coast guilds of the WGA sent
this letter, which announces the agreement and gives information on the membership meetings that are being held today to discuss the terms of the deal. According to
this PDF of the contract terms, it looks like the writers are going to get some credit and money if their writing is used for new media purposes, like on the internet or on moblie phones. It just doesn't look like they're going to get as much as they were looking for.
And that might be a problem. According to
Nikki Finke, she's hearing that the rank-and-file members of the guild have been expressing displeasure at the terms of the contract in today's meetings, with the feeling that the union leadership is "ramming this deal down our throats," as one of her sources told her.
Continue reading Tentative deal reached in writers' strike... but are the members happy?
Posted Feb 8th 2008 9:35AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, WGA Strike
Depending on who you want to listen to -- or believe -- the end of the writers' strike is a done deal. Michael Eisner, former Disney CEO and current CNBC host,
thinks "it's over," as he told the network's
Fast Money show. Nikki Finke, in her usual subtle way, takes pains to debunk Eisner's expertise on the matter,
saying that "Eisner hasn't mattered since 2004-2005 when he was kicked to the curb by Disney and its shareholders."
Still, Finke
does give a timeline of how she's been informed the next few days will go; tomorrow seems to be the crucial day, as the WGA membership on both coasts will have "informational meetings" before the governing board of each coast's guild decides whether to put the tentative deal up for a vote. If the informational meetings go well, the union bigwigs may call off the strike before the vote, anticipating the deal will win with the rank-and-file.
Continue reading As the strike winds down, what's next?
Posted Dec 11th 2007 5:19PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV Royalty, Celebrities, WGA Strike
I saw this picture over at Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily site and I had to post it here. It's Jerry Stiller on the picket lines in New York City, supporting the writers during the current strike.
But something strikes me as wrong about the photo. It's fine and dandy that it says "Solidarity," but wouldn't it be even funnier if it said "Serenity Now!"? His famous line from Seinfeld not only fits the situation but would also illustrate that, hey, that line was actually written by a television writer. I'm sure that someone in that picket line must have said that to him during the day.
Continue reading Strike photo of the day: Jerry Stiller!
Posted Sep 16th 2007 9:01AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Web, Celebrities
Posted Jun 7th 2007 2:41PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Celebrities, Talk Show
I don't usually watch Jay Leno's show, unless he has a particularly interesting guest on, and I'll watch "Headlines" every Monday night (it really says something about your show when the funniest, most entertaining thing about it is something like "Headlines"), but he made a joke the other night that
made Deadline Hollywood columnist Nikki Finke think that he might be hinting at having another show on another network when he leaves NBC.
Continue reading Leno hinting at another show in 2009?
Posted May 29th 2007 9:38AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry
It's a rumor that's been going around Hollywood for years; heck,
we even mistakenly thought this was going to happen last year. But now it looks like NBC Universal president Jeff Zucker has finally had enough and is replacing the president of NBC Entertainment, Kevin Reilly.
Over the weekend, Nikki Finke of
LA Weekly reported on her blog that Reilly will be replaced by two people: producer Ben Silverman, whose company brought
The Office and
Ugly Betty to the U.S., will be in charge of the entertainment side and Marc Graboff, currently NBCU Television's West Coast chief, will run the business side. Bill Carter of
The New York Times is also reporting on the change, but in a less definitive manner.
Continue reading Is Kevin Reilly finally gone from NBC?
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