TVSquad

Can we save the Earth through music?

Of course not, don't be stupid. However, that doesn't mean you can't catch the twenty-four hour Live Earth global concert series on TV starting this Saturday, July 7.

Here's a list of channels that will be covering the event:

• NBC: 8:00 p.m to 11:00
• BRAVO: 9:00 a.m. on July 7 through 2:30 a.m. on July 8
• UNI HD: 4:00 a.m. on July 7 through 2:00 a.m. on July 8
• SUNDANCE: 4:00 a.m. on July 7 through 2:00 a.m. on July 8
• MSNBC: intermittent coverage throughout
• CNBC: 7:00 p.m. on July 7 through 2:00 a.m. on July 8
• TELEMUNDO: 7:00 p.m. through 8:00 p.m.
• MUN2: 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

We've been telling you about NBC Universal and News Corp's new YouTube-esque video service for awhile now, and today The Hollywood Reporter has news that the service has added the following channels to its lineup:

• Fuel TV
• Sundance Channel
• Oxygen
• Speed

I've never used Pipeline, the news video service that CNN has incorporate into its web site. I think I went to the site one time to check it out, but you had to register or had to pay for it or something so I didn't do it. But it has received great reviews, and tomorrow we'll be able to see what the fuss is about.

Pipeline will be free to everyone tomorrow (though I'm not sure if you'll have to register first). And they'll have some big stories covered: the Academy Award nominations at 8:30 in the morning, coverage of the Sundance Film Festival, and President Bush's State of the Union Address at 9pm. Plus, I'm sure they'll be live coverage of breaking news and press conferences all day long, not to mention whatever Paris Hilton is up to.

[via TV Newser]

So I was poking around the ol' iTunes yesterday, and what do you know, they had just added shows from the Sundance Channel.

"Hey, ma!" I yelled, "we done got ourselves some Sundance programming on the iTunes!"

"Yee ha!" she screamed, tossing off her bonnet and almost knocking over her butter churner. As soon as Bessie Ellie Mary Ellen May gets back from the Maple Syrup and Baptism Festival we'll download ourselves some episodes!"

"If only pa were alive to see this," I sighed. "Why did he have to taunt that rabid goat with a stick?"

At any rate, you can now find a few Sundance shows on iTunes. The shows are all of the "reality" variety, including documentaries The Hill and One Punk Under God, and investigations into real-life dramas such as The Staircase and The First Amendment Project.

If you've been spending your free time making a two to eight minute long science fiction, fantasy, or horror film, then opportunity has smiled on you. Sci-Fi is partnering with the Sundance Channel in a contest to give budding film makers exposure. They will be taking submissions between now and Nov. 6th. Submissions must be on a standard DVD and, unfortunately, pornographic, obscene, gratuitously violent, and morally objectionable content won't be considered.

A panel of experts from both networks will choose the best submissions and post them online. Fans will be able to vote for their favorites on both websites. One winner will be chosen each week beginning Oct. 23rd. After eight weeks, the winners will be shown on a one hour special on the Sci-Fi channel. The final grand prize winner will be flown to New York to pitch a movie to Sci-Fi executives. Hopefully it won't be Mansquito 2: Electric Boogaloo. Although, if they can get Corin Nemec again, I'll still watch.

Okay, this might only be interesting to a handful of readers, but since The Flaming Lips are one of my favorite bands of all time I had to let everyone know that Bradley Beesley's recent documentary about the band, The Fearless Freaks, will be airing on the Sundance Channel on Monday, June 19 at 10:50 a.m. and again that same evening at 7:15 p.m. The documentary, which was released last year, had a very brief theatrical run in some cities and is currently available on DVD. Filmmaker Bradley Beesley, a longtime friend of The Lips, was given full access to the band, and the result is a film that is far more intimate, and often more disconcerting, than something that might have been cobbled together by a film crew with no real connection to a band that's been making its own kind of sublime (and ever-changing) noise on the fringes of the music scene for over two decades. Fans who haven't already seen it should check it out, but if you've never heard of the band, or have only a casual interest, it's still a well-made piece of documentary filmmaking, and worth checking out at least once.

VH1 and Sundance will team up to produce a documentary series about the rise of illicit drug use and its influence on culture in the 20th century. It's a four-part series called The Drug Years and it will feature musicians such as Jackson Browne, Ice-T, Liz Phair, Rob Thomas, Henry Rollins, Tommy Chong, and John Mellencamp.

The series debuts June 12 at 9 p.m. on VH1 and then airs again on Sundance Channel on June 16 at 8 p.m.

Bob Odenkirk of Mr. Show, and most recently Tom Goes To The Mayor, created a pilot called Derek and Simon along with Simon Helberg and Derek Waters, who also star. Bob describes it as "a great mix of funny and real." The show was not picked up by any network, however one of the two shorts that made up the pilot was screened at Sundance and can be viewed here. The short is called "The Pity Card" and deals with a young man who takes a girl to the Holocaust Museum on their first date, unaware that she's never heard of the Holocaust. Her emotional reaction and determination to spread the word about this human injustice is priceless. Comedian Zach Galifianakis also makes a hysterical appearance as a laconic party-goer who admires the home's high ceilings, or perhaps it's the low floors.