TV TRENDS: SUSAN LUCCI BACK IN PRIMETIME
Susan Lucci is back on primetime TV, narrating a new TV series. How perfect for her: It’s titled Deadly Affairs and it will be on the Investigation Discovery Network. It claims to be the fastest growing network in the US.

Deadly Affairs is a 10-part series that begins filming March 2012. The show is about crimes of passion and romances gone wrong. She says it’s about “deceptive love relationships, love triangles and betrayal that have deadly consequences and they end in tragedy.”

The real-life soap opera  launches fall 2012.

Lucci of course starred on the soap All My Children for 41 years. She played the character of Erica Kane until the show ended on September 23, 2011. She was the highest paid daytime actress while playing Kane and was nominated almost every year for an Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series throughout the length of her soap career. As you know, it was on her 19th nomination when Lucci finally won her first Emmy.

AWARD NEWS:
GOLDEN GLOBES 2012

It moved along… didn’t drag and everyone looked great!  What more can you ask for from an awards show? Ricky Gervais did a good job this year. Don’t think anyone will be complaining too much. He tamed it and it worked. The crowd was with him. He seemed to offend just a few, yes (Elton didn’t seem to fancy him) but not nearly as many as a year ago as he took no REAL personal jabs. He figured out that comedy can’t be real for it will not be funny and will stab. When you exaggerate on something that is so far fetched, people laugh but don’t get offended. He finally figured out that’s what he had to do last year.

It was the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles… so many were best dressed, we can’t even pick. The red carpet rocked this year. Gorgeous with a capital G but then most of the actresses nominated are youngsters with virgin red carpet complexions and faces filled with joy and excitement. Stunning in their gowns were Angelina Jolie, director of In the Land of Blood and Honey, wore a champagne satin stunner, on-shoulder Atelier Versace gown with a red neckline. Wow! In person this was incredible! Her hair was in an updo and her make up, flawless.

Brad Pitt was her perfect accessory in a Salvatore Ferragamo three-piece tuxedo.

Also stunning was Sofia Vergara in a stunning dark turquoise, mermaid-fit, peacock strapless Vera Wang dress, which showed off her beautiful hourglass figure. Truly there are too many to mention.

George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio took it for the men, as always. George by the way is starting a small tequila company. There is money to be made in tequila.

The honorary Cecil B. DeMille award went to veteran favorite Morgan Freeman. His good friend, Sidney Poitier, presented the award to him. Poitier started off by saying a few kind words on Freeman’s acting skills “you become the character, the character becomes you and so begins a process that captivates your audience.” Poitier then ended his speech, wishing Morgan all his best with “may your journey be long and your characters continue to multiply.”

Complete list of Golden Globe Award Winners | 2012

— Best Drama: “The Descendants.”

— Best Comedy/Musical: “The Artist.”

— Actor, Drama: George Clooney, “The Descendants.”
— Actress, Drama: Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady.”
— Director: Martin Scorsese, “Hugo.”
— Actor, Musical or Comedy: Jean Dujardin, “The Artist.”
— Actress, Musical or Comedy: Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn.”
— Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, “Beginners.”
— Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, “The Help.”
— Foreign Language: “A Separation.”
— Animated Film: “The Adventures of Tintin.”
— Screenplay: Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris.”
— Original Score: Ludovic Bource, “The Artist.”
— Original Song: “Masterpiece” (music and lyrics by Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry), “W.E.”

TELEVISION
— Series, Drama: “Homeland,” Showtime.
— Series, Musical or Comedy: “Modern Family,” ABC.
— Actor, Drama: Kelsey Grammer, “Boss.”
— Actress, Drama: Claire Danes, “Homeland.”
— Actress, Musical or Comedy: Laura Dern, “Enlightened.”
— Actor, Musical or Comedy: Matt LeBlanc, “Episodes.”
— Miniseries or Movie: “Downton Abbey (Masterpiece),” PBS.
— Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Kate Winslet, “Mildred Pierce.”
— Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Idris Elba, “Luther.”
— Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Jessica Lange, “American Horror Story.”
— Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Peter Dinklage, “Game of Thrones.”

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR:
BACK AT CNN

She's back at CNN! Now returning to TV news is Christiane Amanpour. She will be officially leaving ABC's This Week on January 8, 2012, after a year and a half there. She will now be hosting a new world CNN International news program five days a week. She had been with CNN for 27 years prior to leaving for ABC.

Amanpour is happy to be a covering reporter again for world issues in the field. She says of her return “I am looking forward to getting back into the field to report stories on global issues that matter greatly. At the same time, I will be broadcasting once again to hundreds of millions of people across the world with a weekday show on CNN International." She now will be reporting for CNN primetime and will also be hosting ABC primetime specials.

OWN NETWORK: UPDATE

Oprah’s OWN Network is still struggling. Over $245 million have been invested in network last year. In 2012 so far, OWN is averaging only 136 000 viewers a day, down 8% from where Discovery Health was in 2010. OWN is down 12% for the 18- to 49-year-old female.

In primetime, OWN is up 2% among total viewers equaling about 258 000 and is also up 8% among women aged 25 to 54. Younger women are not as interested. However, networks usually take three to five years to make an impact.

"I don't understand what anybody was thinking," Oprah said of the network's original roll-out plan. "You're going on the air, you've got four shows. What do you think you're going to do by Tuesday? Did they think people were going to turn on the channel just because it had my name on it?" She is committed to the network but says she has a back up plan. “Organic farming in Maui and I'm not kidding."

NEW FONDA ROLE: NEWSROOM

Aaron Sorkin set in a newsroom! Jane Fonda is going to be starring in his new HBO series titled Newsroom about a 24-hour cable news network. The show also stars Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, and Dev Patel.

Fonda will play Leona Lansing, the tough CEO. The character is a cross between hotel owner, Leona Helmsley, known as the “Queen of Mean” as well as Fonda's friend, former Paramount CEO, Sherry Lansing.

Fonda says she is doing exactly what she wants to be doing right now and is very happy today. Fonda says of this third act of her life that she “didn’t want to be like Christopher Columbus who didn’t know where he was going when he left, didn’t know where he was when he got there, and didn’t know where he’d been when he got back.” Using this philosophy, Fonda analyzed her life and how she has lived it, claiming it made her a much better person. With the new show on the way, she will be able to devote herself to it 100%.

TV TREND:
OLD MOVIES BECOMING SHOWS

A huge trend we’re seeing on TV right now is taking old movies, such as Tom Cruise’s 1993 film The Firm, and making TV shows out of them. It continues next month with the TV version of the movie, this time starring Josh Lucas. It launches on NBC January 8th. It will be a two-hour premiere and picks up from where Tom Cruise’s story left off after Tom’s character had gone to witness protection.

Josh Lucas says it was a page turner when he read the script. He, like Tom, does his own stunt work now. Juliette Lewis has been cast as the quirky secretary character that Holly Hunter played in the original movie.

The concept has been in the works for a few years. Sony Pictures Television ordered 22 episodes of the show from Entertainment One Television. John Grisham is an executive producer of the television series. The show's 22 episode order was the largest of any of NBC's newly picked up shows. Although mostly shot in Toronto, the production has included other host cities such as Washington, DC.

TIM ALLEN:
BACK ON TV

Tim Allen is making headlines again. He is being highlighted on 60 minutes and is doing all the talk shows. He's back with his new TV show on ABC and he says he just wants to do what he does best. Last Man Standing marks the return of Tim Allen 12 years after the final season of Home Improvement. Much like in the previous series, Allen plays a “guys-guy” family man, but the difference here is that he’s surrounded by three daughters.

He says for this one, he realizes the show is not reinventing the wheel. “I don’t think there will be anything about this that is that different. That’s not why we did it. We’re not trying to be cute, not trying to be clever, not trying to break. I like the five camera, four camera sitcom mold, I liked it on Home Improvement, I like watching it. I like Modern Family quite a bit. That’s not shot like this, it’s very different. There’s a sensibility about that show that I like, that was not a model, but the reason I would start this venture into television was partly because I really enjoyed the dynamics of all those people. Good writing I think is back in television right now as opposed to movies, no offense to the movie people. I love doing movies, but right now I found several cases where the writing on television was just stellar and I’m hoping to raise this to that level. “

BEHIND THE SCENES:
TV SHOW TAPING IN HOLLYWOOD

Written by:
Hollywood Trend Report
Guest reporter:
Amanda Triconi

Here's the reality:

If anyone has waited in line for a TV show in the Los Angeles area, such as X Factor, there is the painstaking feeling of waiting for hours in a line and still you are NOT guaranteed a spot at the show.

So let me tell you about one show where the experience was delightful: The Ellen Show

If you come to LA - you must attend The Ellen DeGeneres show just to experience the ease of being an audience member.

It began by presenting our "guaranteed" ticket to Warner Brothers Security at Gate 3 of the studio located in Burbank.

Upon check-in, each ticket holder was stamped with the famous WB logo on his/her right wrist in white ink that is only visible under a purple UV light.

Since we attended Monday morning's episode taping, we had to return to the gate at 1:15 pm to then line up to receive a number. Everyone calmly proceeded to line up without haste.

In the waiting area, there was an Ellen show shop as well as a cantina to purchase delicious foods or Ellen bottled water (yes, you are no one in this town unless you have a water named after yourself, I think Donald Trump started that odd trend)

The Ellen crew then lined us all up in numerical order to cross the street into Stage 3 to pass security (a complete pat down and rummaging through purses, making sure to confiscate any type of camera in your possession. Cameras are an absolute forbidden item in Hollywood on a set) Then once that process was completed, we returned to our numerical positions in a single file, proceeding into the famous riff raff room! Finally from there, we are escorted to our seats.

The audience could not get too comfortable in those purple seats right away; the animator gets us up to clap, cheer, and dance for the 30 minutes prior to the start of the show (yes DANCE, it's The Ellen show of course, dancing is a prerequisite!) He also awarded those who danced on 'the set' in front of the entire audience with an Ellen T-shirt (I did not proceed up but rather chose to watch the mayhem from my own seat...although the T-shirt was quite nice)

A few minutes before Ellen emerged from the two large blue sliding doors, Tony O, Ellen's DJ sits down at his DJ booth and received a warm welcome from everyone in the audience. Before we had time to comprehend the logistics of the moving cameras and producers screaming "3 minutes until show time," the audience continued to dance and at the signal of our animator - we started screaming - and before I knew it, those blue doors opened and Ellen was standing only a few feet from me - "OMG - she's right there!" I started to cry tears of joy. I could not believe what was happening!

She started her show as usual: a few funny anecdotes and, today in particular, she gave us her Thanksgiving tips. We laughed and before I knew it she was dancing and we all joined her (I don't even remember the song because I was way too focused on how close I was to her. Seriously, she was RIGHT there!)

She sat down in her big red chair (which actually does not look so big when you see it with your own eyes) and discussed Bradley Cooper being People magazines "Sexiest Man Alive." She spoke to Tony for a bit and made him laugh and in turn made the audience laugh. His laughter is so contagious!

Before we knew it, the show was taking its first commercial break. It is not exactly a break in the literal sense of the word because it is in fact still quite hectic: the audience is still up dancing, the producers approach Ellen to discuss the next segment, her makeup and hair people come out to quickly retouch her - it's still hectic behind the scenes.

Now we were back from commercial break:

Tim Allen joined us to discuss his new show "Last Man Standing". He was also quite funny explaining that he does realize how old he will be when his two-year-old daughter grows into a woman.

We then had another so-called break of dancing, cheering, and clapping.

When that was over, astronaut Mark Kelly and his two daughters, Claudia and Claire, from a marriage previous to that with Gabrielle Giffords, US Congresswoman, attended. As we all now, January 8, 2011, there was an assassination attempt on Giffords, who miraculously lived after a bullet mangled the entire left side of her brain. The Kelly's explained what a great woman Giffords is and how strong she is to have recovered so amazingly thus far. They also promoted Mark's new book titled "Gabby." One that the audience received as a gift from the family.

After the Kelly segment, another commercial break before the band Daughtry performed "Crawling Back to You" from its new album "Break the Spell" for us. They also gave everyone in the audience one of their CDs.

Next were the adorable You Tube "Super Bass"- singing girls, Sophia Grace and Rosie out for their segment. After all the laughs and tears, this was the segment to watch. Sophia Grace, 8-years-old, and her over-the-top character had the audience in fits of uncontrollable laughter. Ellen sent the girls to report at the American Music Awards the night before and they knew every celeb to cross their path. Between the screaming, singing, and excitement, the girls are such a pleasure to watch. During the commercial break, the girls were dancing with the audience, running around the Ellen set, and through the crowd.

For their next segment with Ellen, we were showed a clip of when the girls met Rihanna, showing her picking up the two little girls in her arms in an embrace. Once the clip was over, little five-year-old Rosie claims that Rihanna had to pick up her cousin, Sophia Grace, who is heavy "like a sack of potatoes". We laughed until our sides were sore.

Then the end was here. It happened so fast and Ellen thanked everyone in her audience for having travelled as far.

On our way out we received our gifts and proceeded out of the studio.

Not only was it one of the easiest shows to be an audience member but Ellen herself, is unforgettable to see. I loved every minute of it and it definitely lived up to my expectations.

Cross that off my bucket list now! (with a bright red check mark!)

STUDY:
TV SHOW SUCCESS & INITIAL PROMOTION

A new study by TiVo shows that the only new TV shows that are a success are those with a successful initial promotion. New series that had lower promo conversation rates such as Charlie’s Angels and H8R have already been cancelled.

TiVo surveyed the viewing habits of 35,000 of its users. It wanted to find out how many promotions for new TV shows they saw, how many times they saw them, and whether the promos convinced them to tune in. If they tuned into the premiere episode after seeing at least three promos, that qualified as a successful "conversion." None of the five shows with the lowest promo conversion rates last year were renewed.

The other new shows with the highest promo conversion rates are Terra Nova, Person of Interest, Pan Am, Suburgatory, Up All Night, Unforgettable, Whitney, The X Factor, Ringer and A Gifted Man.

WEB TREND:
ONLINE TV SHOW CHANNELS

There is a huge online trend now of TV shows being made just for the web. It’s huge. YouTube’s latest announcement that it's launching 100 new channels is a low-budget effort to compete with satellite and cable TV providers. By next year, YouTube will have about 25 hours of new and original programming everyday. Partnering networks and high-profile individuals will be creating television-style channels with professionally produced shows. Companies on board include FremantleMedia, The Wall Street Journal, pro skateboarder Tony Hawk and actors Ashton Kutcher Amy Amy Poehler and Sofia Vergara of Modern Family will be on a Hispanic channel.

World Wrestling Entertainment is getting a YouTube channel and so is The Home Shopping Network. Most of the channels will launch next year. YouTube has spent $150 million in advance to create the 100 channels. Talk about trendsetting.

YouTube will recoup its advances then will give as much as 55 percent of the ad revenue to the content creators. YouTube attracts some 160 million unique users each month so it's a legitimate threat to traditional TV. YouTube's announcement comes after Yahoo and AOL recently unveiled pushes into premium video series with big names such as Mark Burnett. Video makes more in advertising rates than traditional online content but video also costs more to produce and much of the cost to creating original programming is up front.

FALL TV 2011:
COMEDY LEADS THE WAY

The trend in TV this fall has comedies leading the way. Full-season orders of new shows 2 Broke Girls (from the creator of Sex and the City,) New Girl and Up All Night came in quickly this year. 2 Broke Girls had a massive Two and a Half Men lead-in (nearly 30 million viewers) for its premiere. It's also winning its regular slot right after How I Met Your Mother.

Over at Fox, New Girl is the comedy that gave that network its best fall sitcom opening in 10 years. NBC has ordered more Whitney and Up All Night. Whitney is the Thursday night comedy that's out-rating Community and Parks and Recreation, but Whitney’s ratings have been dropping since its big September 22 launch.

At ABC, Suburgatory has now been given a full-season order and Tim Allen's Last Man Standing is on its way to be picked up. It has strong launch ratings and brought men to ABC. ABC is known as a female network by the way. However, Last Man Standing is down double digits for its second episode October 18 but still brought in a 3 rating, which is quite solid. (Although I don't think it’s a funny show.)

J.J. Abrams’ Person of Interest is holding its own in the tough 9:00 p.m. Thursday slot, but the Abrams/Nolan drama is far from the bar set by NCIS. It's one of only three dramas picked up so far for a full season along with ABC's Revenge and Unforgettable starring Poppy Montgomery. NBC also has ordered additional scripts of the Maria Bello's Prime Suspect. Prime Suspect, despite ratings nearly as low as Playboy Club's, which has been canceled, NBC's chief Bob Greenblatt is committed to making the show work.

NBC is the network not doing well at all overall and none of the new dramas are making a major mark. ABC has already canceled Charlie's Angels and Terra Nova, Steven Spielberg's epic dinosaur drama came with a big budget and high expectations, making its 3-plus rating something of a disappointment.

TV TREND:
NIGHTTIME DRAMAS

Nighttime soaps are back in vogue.  I’ve got all the ones you should watch out for. First there’s Ringer, starring a grown up Sarah Michelle Gellar. Sarah plays a woman chased by the mob – so she poses as her twin sister who has more serious problems than she knew of. Gellar is one of the executive producers. The pilot wasn't so good.

Then there’s Revenge. I had high hopes for this one. It's not great overall but it has its moments.  The leading role is played by Canadian actress Emily VanCamp. It’s about a woman who moves back to the Hamptons to seek revenge on those who had destroyed her family. It’s a great break for Emily after Brothers and Sisters but I don’t see this one sticking around too long, though it had the makings of being amazing. It also stars Madeleine Stowe, who still looks great.

Coming to ABC mid season in 2012 is drama-comedy series Good Christian Belles about a woman who returns to her hometown Dallas after an ugly end of her marriage starring Kristin Chenoweth and Leslie Bibb. There will be only 10 episodes produced for the first season. That’s the trend now: studios just not comfortable taking chances in this day and age.

TV TREND:
FEMALE HEADLINERS

The big trend in TV programming is having female stars headlining TV shows. For example, OC star Rachel Bilson who played the character Summer is now headlining her own show, playing an ambitious young doctor in the Hart of Dixie.

The show is kind of a Doc Hollywood starring Michael J. Fox meets Sweet Home Alabama. It's described as a medical comedy drama. Rachel is a good little actress. She is good and carries the show.

When asked how it was carrying a series herself, Rachel says there’s no pressure. She says, yes, she’s the main character, but it’s really a family and a group effort.

TV TREND:
A-LISTERS STILL MOVING TO TV

The TV trend continues: more big screen directors and producers are moving to the small screen. It is the thing to do now if you're in film. The latest are the Coen Brothers, following in the footsteps of Martin Scorcese with Boardwalk Empire, then Steven Spielberg with Terra Nova. The Oscar-winning Coens are co-creating an hour-long comedy project for FOX. It’s called HarveKarbo, a comedy about a private investigator in LA whose cases often get involved with the elite in Hollywood. The brothers won three Oscars for No country for Old Men in 2007 - they are sure to bring good stuff to TV. They are never predictable.

Meantime, another major movie producer is moving to TV, Jerry Weintraub – the legendary veteran Hollywood producer behind The Ocean’s 11,12,13 franchise and the Karate Kid. He’s going to be behind a new drama series set in the world of evening news. I love this one. It will be called The Producer and is coming to CBS. Jerry Weintraub is quite the Hollywood living legend. He is a major humanitarian and received the Unicef Humanitarian award. He has a great book to pick up if you like insider Hollywood stories. It’s his memoir called When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead.

TV NEWS:
CLAIRE DANES RETURNS WITH ‘HOMELAND’

Claire Danes returns to TV with Showtime’s Homeland. This is one of this season’s best new dramas - a very smart show. It is very realistic and very suspenseful each hour. It is about surveillance, terrorism and suspicion. Homeland is a new series, adapted from an Israeli series, Prisoners of War. The hour keeps you guessing. There is great acting in this one.

Claire won an Emmy for Temple Grandin last year. She will likely get another one at one point with this show now. She plays a smart CIA agent. She's perfect in this role. It co-stars Mandy Patinkin and there are great scenes between the two of them.

Claire plays a CIA officer who is incredibly bright, sometimes dangerously bright, extremely focused and compulsive. She is also incredibly sensitive and vulnerable which makes for a very interesting juxtaposition. Claire’s first roommate in college was a CIA officer for a little while and spoke to her about her role. To prepare she trained with the CIA and shadowed a female officer. She found the whole experience to be extremely fascinating and was surprised to see that this stuff actually does happen.

NEWS TREND:
THE TMZ EFFECT

When it comes to TV news magazine shows, there's a trend these days you may be noticing. It's the TMZ effect. Now it's common for cameras to go inside the newsrooms and speak to the staff who critique the day’s Hollywood stories. The story meeting is shot. TMZ started it, then Access Hollywood, then Entertainment Tonight now this is the trend for local newscasts.

The other trend is for talk shows and newscasts to now have four anchors. It’s called The View effect. Another big trend we’re seeing for news shows, reading tweets live.

TV TREND:
CHANGING SEXISM

There's a trend we're seeing with TV shows where the women are strong and the men are weak. Over at ABC, there are many sitcoms like this approved this season. Man Up is a comedy about three middle age friends and the struggles of these three modern guys as they search for their identities. Then there's Last Man Standing starring Tim Allen as a husband and father whose three daughters and wife rule the roost and his wife starts making more money. Work it is another one on ABC. It’s going to be a midseason replacement about two men who start cross-dressing to get jobs.

In female lead roles, more tough chick cops are here. Maria Bello plays the role of Jane Timoney in NBC’s Prime Suspect – and she’s as tough as any guy. Jane has her own point of view about everything. She’s really good at her job of being a detective. She knows it but really has to fight in a man’s world to be recognized for the detective that she is. She is very direct – the men may find it to be aggressive, but she never lies about who she is or what she thinks.

FALL TV TREND:
SUPERNATURAL THEME

On the small screen, you’ll be seeing a lot of supernatural in everyday settings. I call it the Twilight-effect - it's taken over our world. I thought I’d outline for you the shows I think are worth watching:

NBC's Grimm: Feels like a procedural crime drama about a detective who is descendant of people who fight supernatural creatures to save mankind.

The Secret Circle: It’s about a group of teen witches based on the book series by L.J. Smith (author of The Vampire Diaries book series.) This one will appeal to the younger audience as it’s a Vampire Diaries meets Gossip Girl meets the OC.

Terra Nova: Of course, you’ve all heard of this one. It’s the ultra expensive production from Fox. It is this year’s Lost. A family from the future travel to the prehistoric era to rebuild human society and save the species.

Awake: This one comes midseason about a man who wakes up in two different realities after a car accident.

A Gifted Man: This one I really liked after one episode. It’s from the executive producer of the hit series ER. This one is a medical drama with a twist about a doctor who’s visited by his deceased ex-wife, who inspires him to be a better person. This show has heart and top of the line production. It stars Patrick Wilson. A medical story with out-worldly powers is definitely a new angle.

Eriq La Salle, will be playing doctor again on a multi-episode arc. He will play a neuro-psychiatrist who treats those with emotional and behavioral problems.

TV NEWS:
ALL SIMPSONS CHANNEL?

The word is that Fox network wants to create an all Simpsons channel. That means all Simpsons, all day, 24/7.  Nothing’s official yet and if it were to happen it would be in a couple of years. Fox wants to capitalize, on top of its DVDs, endorsements and syndication. Channels dedicated to one topic remain big.

The Simpsons is the longest running animated show in history – it’s been on the air 23 years. This season will mark the 500 episode mark.  Whether the channel will be a success or not, it’s definitely attention-grabbing.

NewsCorp. COO Chase Carey revealed the idea is being entertained:  “The point I was making, which I will reemphasize, is that this is a unique franchise…and it provides us a unique opportunity to do some interesting things with it,” he said. “The Simpsons has been on the air for 23 seasons, yielding a library of programming few series could ever amass.”

TV NEWS:
ROSIE ON OWN NETWORK

With new TV season underway, there are big changes this year when it comes to talk shows. Anderson Cooper is doing one, as you know. Meantime, the talk show torch has officially been passed. Oprah Winfrey officially crowned Rosie O’Donnell to take over the talk kingdom. Rosie shares the cover of the current O Magazine with Oprah. They recently unveiled a sign at Harpo Studios reading “The Rosie Show. Former House of the Oprah Winfrey Show.” Rosie left The View in 2007 after one season because of controversy. "Not a lot of people get a second shot and this is a second shot that's even bigger than the first shot," she said. "I'm thrilled." Rosie is extremely honored.

Rosie credits hormones for helping her keep her rage and her emotions under control. She says it is only because of the estrogen that she is able to do the show.

The Rosie show debuts October 10 on OWN. There will be only one celebrity interview per show, the rest will be comedy and entertainment. The show will be shot on the same soundstage as the Oprah Winfrey show.

‘MODERN FAMILY’ CLEANS UP at the 63rd ANNUAL PRIME TIME EMMY AWARDS

AMAZING how they held up in the scorching heat here for the “63rd Primetime Emmy Awards” at the Nokia Theatre. Modern Family was the big winner. The king of TV production Mark Burnett, Executive Produced the telecast and it moved along at a good clip. Jane Lynch had a bit of a slow start but had some great comebacks later the show.

In addition to Emmys in 25 categories, Emmys in 76 other categories and areas for programs and individual achievements were presented at the Creative Arts Awards on September 10, 2011 from the Nokia Theatre as well. It truly is the biggest thing in the Tv business when you win an Emmy. It moves these actors and actresses to the top of the heap and they can expect good scripts coming to them from this day forward.

This year, The Governors Award was presented to John Walsh, the creator and host of “America’s Most Wanted.”

Winners:

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
JULIE BOWEN as Claire Dunphy  
ABC Modern Family

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
TY BURRELL as Phil Dunphy
ABC Modern Family

OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A COMEDY SERIES
MICHAEL ALAN SPILLER,
Directed by ABC Modern Family

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
JIM PARSONS as Sheldon Cooper      
The Big Bang Theory
CBS

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
MELISSA MCCARTHY as Molly Flynn
Mike & Molly
CBS

OUTSTANDING REALITY-COMPETITION PROGRAM
THE AMAZING RACE      
CBS
Bertram van Munster, Executive Producer Elise Doganieri, Executive Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Executive Producer Jonathan Littman, Executive Producer Mark Vertullo, Executive Producer Evan Weinstein, Co-Executive Producer Dan Coffie, Co-Executive Producer Giselle Parets, Supervising Producer Michael Norton, Supervising Producer Barry Hennessey, Supervising Producer Matt Schmidt, Supervising Producer Patrick Cariaga, Supervising Producer Phil Keoghan, Supervising Producer Michael Miller, Supervising Producer Bob Parr, Senior Producer
Neil Jahss, Senior Producer

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES
STEVE BODOW, Head Writer TIM CARVELL, Head Writer RORY ALBANESE, Writer KEVIN BLEYER, Writer
RICH BLOMQUIST, Writer WYATT CENAC, Writer HALLIE HAGLUND, Writer JR HAVLAN, Writer ELLIOTT KALAN, Writer JOSH LIEB, Writer SAM MEANS, Writer JO MILLER, Writer JOHN OLIVER, Writer DANIEL RADOSH, Writer JASON ROSS, Writer JON STEWART, Writer The Daily Show With Jon Stewart COMEDY CENTRAL

OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES
DON ROY KING, Director
Saturday Night Live
Host: Justin Timberlake
NBC

OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES
THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART
Jon Stewart, Executive Producer/Host Rory Albanese, Executive Producer Josh Lieb, Executive Producer Kahane Cooperman, Co-Executive Producer Steve Bodow, Co-Executive Producer Jennifer Flanz, Co-Executive Producer
Jim Margolis, Co-Executive Producer Pamela DePace, Supervising Producer Hillary Kun, Supervising Producer Adam Lowitt, Supervising Producer
Jill Katz, Producer

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
JASON KATIMS, Written by Friday Night Lights
Always

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
MARGO MARTINDALE as Mags Bennett Justified

OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
MARTIN SCORSESE, Directed by Boardwalk Empire
Boardwalk Empire (Pilot)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
PETER DINKLAGE as Tyrion Lannister Game Of Thrones

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
JULIANNA MARGULIES as Alicia Florrick The Good Wife
CBS

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
KYLE CHANDLER as Coach Eric Taylor
Friday Night Lights

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A MINISERIES, MOVIE OR A DRAMATIC SPECIAL
JULIAN FELLOWES, Writer
PBS Downton Abbey (Masterpiece) 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
MAGGIE SMITH as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham   
Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)
PBS

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
BARRY PEPPER as Bobby Kennedy  
REELZCHANNEL
The Kennedys

OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A MINISERIES, MOVIE OR A DRAMATIC SPECIAL
BRIAN PERCIVAL, Directed by PBS
Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)
Part I

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
GUY PEARCE as Monty Beragon 
HBO
Mildred Pierce

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
KATE WINSLET as Mildred Pierce Mildred Pierce
HBO

OUTSTANDING MINISERIES OR MOVIE
DOWNTON ABBEY (MASTERPIECE) 
PBS
Gareth Neame, Executive Producer Rebecca Eaton, Executive Producer Julian Fellowes, Executive Producer Nigel Marchant, Producer
Liz Trubridge, Series Producer

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
MAD MEN   
AMC
Matthew Weiner, Executive Producer Scott Hornbacher, Executive Producer Andre Jacquemetton, Co-Executive Producer Maria Jacquemetton, Co-Executive Producer Dahvi Waller, Producer Jonathan Abrahams, Producer Dwayne Shattuck, Producer Blake McCormick, Producer

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
MODERN FAMILY    
ABC
Steven Levitan, Executive Producer Christopher Lloyd, Executive Producer Jeff Morton, Co-Executive Producer Danny Zuker, Co-Executive Producer Dan O’Shannon, Co-Executive Producer Bill Wrubel, Co-Executive Producer
Paul Corrigan, Co-Executive Producer Brad Walsh, Co-Executive Producer Ilana Wernick, Co-Executive Producer Jeffrey Richman, Co-Executive Producer Abraham Higginbotham, Co-Executive Producer

 

NEW TV SHOW:
KELSEY GRAMMER’S LATEST ‘BOSS’

I think Kelsey Grammer finally has a hit on his hands. This one looks slick. Thenew  TV show is called Boss. It feels like a good thriller movie. It stars a very serious Kelsey Grammer. Boss is about political intrigue and betrayal. With all that having gone on in Kelsey’s real life with a darker side- this is the perfect role for him.

The show is about Mayor Tom Kane (played by Kelsey Grammer) who is the center of power in Chicago. He wants to get the job done and sometimes has to use deception and troubling morality to do it. He is diagnosed with a degenerative brain disorder. He can’t trust his memory, his allies, or himself. Kane’s wife Meredith (played by Connie Nielsen) knows nothing. Only Emma (played by Hannah Ware), Kane’s estranged daughter, has a chance of learning his secret.

The cast: Kelsey Grammer, Connie Nielsen, Kathleen Robertson, Hannah Ware, Jeff Hephner, Martin Donovan, Francis Guinan, Rotimi Akinosho, Troy Garity

Premieres on STARZ network October 21st at 10pm.

CELEB STUFF:
THE ‘REAL’ SIMON COWELL

Simon Cowell is back with the X Factor, one of the most anticipated shows of the fall season. Will Simon be the same Simon we know from American Idol, or will we be seeing a different side of him this time around?  Richard Rushfield covers American Idol for the LA Times. HTR sat down with him in Los Angeles and talked about the real Simon. He said in real life he’s more of a nitpicker, focused, and detail oriented. He works very long, strange hours – he works in the middle of the night. He has a very harsh side but he’s also very gracious.

Will he be the same with these kids as he was on American Idol? Rushfield revealed to us that he would go and speak to the kids that he shut down the most on the show and be extremely nice. The contestants never leave with bad feelings towards him. He’s got a good heart.

The X Factor launches September 21.The format is different than Idol. It’s open to both solo artists and groups and has no upper age limit. Each judge is assigned one of four categories: girls between 12 and 25, boys between 12 and 25, individuals over 25, or groups (some of which may be formed from rejected soloists after the audition process.) Through the live shows, the judges act as mentors to their category, helping to decide song choices, styling and staging.

UPCOMING SHOW:
‘TRUMP TOWER’

There's a new show on the way set in Trump Tower in New York. Several networks and cable channel execs are battling to get the Donald Trump show. It will be set in the lavish 58-storey building on Fifth Avenue. The luxury building has had many superstar residents over the years, including Steven Spielberg, Sophia Loren, Michael Jackson and Johnny Carson. Now Trump has commissioned writers to come up with a drama based upon the building's rich residents.

BRETT RATNER:
DEAL WITH 20TH CENTURY FOX TV

Director-producer Brett Ratner is making an even bigger name for himself. He’s producing the Academy Awards and has directed big films like Rush Hour 3 and X-Men: The Last Stand. Now he has just inked an overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television. As part of the deal, Chris Conti, former NBC development executive, was given title of president of Ratner’s production company – Rat TV. Ratner has been busy with feature films.

He has also been involved in many series such as Chaos, Prison Break and Women’s Murder Club. Recently, he produced Horrible Bosses and Bosses and Catfish. He’s also soon producing a movie adaptation of Hong Kong Phooey with Eddie Murphey

CELEB TREND:
FILM STARS KEEP MOVING TO HBO

A huge trend in TV: big screen actors moving to HBO. HBO has the much-anticipated new drama series on the way called Luck, starring Dustin Hoffman. It is a period piece set in the world of horse racing. Luck, premiering in January, will take the Sunday time slot Big Love had. It's directed by the great Michael Mann.

Enlightened is the other new HBO series this fall starring Laura Dern as a self-destructive woman who’s putting her life back together. HBO's other shows have premiere dates: Boardwalk Empire, with 18 Emmy nominations, launches September 25 with 12 episodes, Hung and How to Make it in America launch October 2 and Bored to Death, starring Jason Schwartzman, premieres October 10 with eight episodes.

TV TREND: PAY-TV
PROVIDERS IN TROUBLE

Most pay-TV providers are losing customers non-stop as internet TV and movie services gain interest. Cable and satellite-TV providers are facing the music now. The Trend is called "cord-cutting" - subscribers canceling pay-TV service in favor of Internet-based services like Netflix, Hulu and iTunes. Bloomberg News reports that the six largest publicly traded satellite and cable providers in the US lost 580,000 subscribers in the second quarter. Of the six, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Cablevision Systems, and Dish Network lost subscribers. Only DirecTV saw a gain of 26,000 customers. The troubled economy and lagging economy are to blame as well as deep discounts offered by telco providers AT&T and Verizon to gain market share.

They gained a combined 386,000 new subscribers in the second quarter. A large number of cancellations are coming from lower on the socioeconomic scale - people who simply can no longer afford to pay for television.

The industry is basically saying good riddance to them. Joseph Clayton, CEO of satellite provider Dish Network bluntly told Bloomberg that his company is looking for a better class of customer who will shell out for more and better services. Market saturation is another problem. There are far fewer new installations than there were before the recession. It's hard to say how big an effect streaming services are having. A majority of cord cutters cite the high cost of pay-TV services as the main reason for their decision.

TV TRENDS: PERIOD DRAMAS

Period dramas are the hottest thing right now for scripted TV. There is a wave of 1960 set dramas now. There is news that CBS wants to get on the so-called Mad Men bandwagon. The network is teaming with GoodFellas and Casino writer Nicholas Pileggi to develop RalphLamb, a drama series set in Las Vegas revolving around the former sheriff who served from 1961 to 1979 and helped form the Las Vegas Metro Police Department. He’s known for confronting the Mafia and Hell’s Angels, and never shot anyone in his 18-year career.

Another TV trend that continues: movie directors doing TV shows. Walk the Line director James Mangold is set to direct and co-executive produce.These big time directors are migrating in numbers to TV.

Here are the top shows getting the most buzz that will be launching at the recent TV Critics Press Tour here in LA . These series got a lot of buzz here in LA at the announcements.

Up All Night: NBC (Sept. 14. 10 p.m.). It was a funny pilot starring Will Arnett, Christina Applegate and Maya Rudolph. The pilot is being reshot to give Rudolph a different job (and possibly a bigger role), the star is Arnett and his comic timing is good.

Then over at ABC:

Suburgatory: ABC (Sept. 28, 8:30 p.m.). It’s a funny sitcom with a breakout star, Jane Levy, who plays a teenage girl from New York City uprooted by her single father when he finds condoms in her room (they were not hers) and fears the big city is making her grow up too fast.

New Girl: FOX (Sept. 20, 9 p.m.) with Zooey Deschanel. It’s cute and kind of funny. She plays a dork who moves in with three guys. It’s kind of got a Big Bang Theory thing going on.

X Factor: FOX (Sept. 21. 8 p.m.). This one has got Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul and promises to be better than AmericanIdol.

Terra Nova: FOX (Sept. 26, 8 p.m.). It’s the most hyped drama of the fall, set 85 milion years in the past. It’s got lots of CGI and Steven Spielberg's name attached. It’s a huge budget show.

Person of Interest: CBS (Sept. 22, 9 p.m.). Jonathan Nolan is behind this one (Memento, the Batman/Dark Knight franchise) and is executive produced by J.J. Abrams. Starring Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson, the show looks at the dangers of post 9/11 privacy issues and how the government can abuse them. It's a thriller shot in New York with procedural elements. A presumed dead former CIA agent teams up with a mysterious billionaire named Finch to prevent violent crimes. They use state-of-the-art technology and a general disregard for the law. It is high in concept and loaded with surprising twists and turns. The acting is so good in this. Actor Kevin Chapman plays the detective.

MICHAEL PATRICK KING:
NOT INVOLVED IN ‘SEX & THE CITY’ PREQUEL

Michael Patrick King won’t be part of the Sex and the City movie if there is going to be one. It’s supposed to be a prequel. Who cares? I see why he doesn’t want to do it. She said his version of Carrie Bradshaw started at 33 and ended at 43. He didn’t even want to know who her parents were because that was too far back. For him the idea of going backwards, and making her less evolved, is something he can’t even imagine doing. For him it was all about the character growth.

One thing King is involved with is 2 Broke Girls, coming to CBS-TV this fall. It’s a 30-minute sitcom about two young women forced by circumstance to strike up an unlikely friendship as they try to get through life in an expensive city while looking for their big break. It is written and produced by Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cummins. The cast features Katt Dennings, Beth Behrs, Matthew Moy, Jonathan Kite and Garrett Morris.

HOLLYWOOD TREND:
ACTORS PLAYING AGAINST TYPE

A trend that is taking hold in Hollywood is actors playing against type. HBO just ordered a half hour script that could see Kevin Bacon starring. It's called Valentine. He would play a down on his luck man who gets a talk radio job. Kevin will be executive producer. He is also attached to also star in another HBO show, the golf comedy project TheMember-Guest. HBO likes him. It teamed with him last year on the war TV movie, TakingChance, which he got an Emmy nomination for. See what nominations do.

TV SHOWS:
MOST POPULAR FOR MALES 18-34

Now turning to the hottest TV shows for guys these days ages 18-34.

Here’s a surprise. I never would have guessed this one.

1. American Idol, average on Fox each show 1.5 million

Now, the next nine all make sense.

2. Family Guy, Fox, 1.2 million

3. The Simpsons, Fox, 1.04 million

4. Bob's Burgers, Fox, 1.03 million

5. The Voice, NBC, 1.01 million

6. The Office, NBC, 950,000

7. The Cleveland Show, Fox, 943,000

8. America's Got Talent, NBC, 854,000

9. House, Fox, 801,000

10. Modern Family, ABC, 776,000

TV NEWS: HIGHEST
EARNING SHOWS

When it comes to the business of TV, which shows bring in the most money? According to Forbes annual list of which shows sell the most ads, American Idol is number one. Despite dropping 12 percent from last year, it still made $7.11 million. Two and a Half Men was second, with $2.89 million. At $2.74 million, ABC's Desperate Housewives is in third, followed by ABC's Grey’s Anatomy, with $2.67 million. Rounding out the top 5 is ABC's Dancing With the Stars, which also was at $2.67 million. Mike & Molly is the only new show to crack the top 10. At number ten, it earns $2.11 million per half hour. It is the second show from Chuck Lorre to be on the list. Lorre also is behind Men. Missing from the list: Fox's Glee and ABC's Modern Family. Gleemakes in $2 million per half hour, which would rank it number 11, and Family earns $1.6 million, which would rank it number 16.

GLEE:
SPINOFF NOT HAPENNING NOW

Now to the inception of a proposed Glee spinoff featuring Chris Colfer, Lea Michelle and Chris Monteith at Julliard in New York, it’s not happening. But the actors knew they had a spinoff when they were let go from the show. They were involved in the process for three to four months to the point where the producers were even talking about cities and relocations and they called Julliard and what would that mean and how would they would do it. None of them were fired. In short- the one producer says, things went awry when his cast started getting influenced by other people.

TV NEWS:
OPRAH TAKES ON CEO TITLE OF ‘OWN’

In the network's latest management shuffle and an attempt by the TV star to increase her control over the channel's direction, Oprah Winfrey, who has already been chairman, will also serve as chief creative officer of her OWN network, whose early ratings are below expectations.

In a related move, Erik Logan and Sheri Salata, the current presidents of Harpo Studios, the TV unit of Winfrey's Harpo Productions, are taking over as presidents of OWN, effective immediately. Harpo will start focusing all of its new TV production on OWN. After its January launch, OWN's CEO Christina Norman was pushed out in May, and Discovery Communications COO Peter Liguori was named interim CEO.

Oprah says quote: “I am ready to dedicate my full creative energy and focus as the full time CEO of OWN." By aligning the mission, talent and leadership of Erik, Sheri, the OWN team, the Harpo team, along with expertise of [Discovery Communications CEO] David Zaslav, Peter and all of Discovery behind us, we can unleash the full potential of the network." Oprah earned $290 million last year.

EMMY AWARDS:
‘THE KENNEDYS’ RECEIVEs 10 NOMINATIONS

The Emmy Awards are coming up and it was good news for Canada when the nominations were announced. Montreal producer Micheal Prupas was in shock. He co-produced The Kennedys that ended up airing on The Reelz Channel and says he feels vindicated that it got a nomination for best mini series. Michael Prupas is president of Montreal-based Muse Entertainment, which co-produced the project with Asylum Entertainment. It got ten Emmy nominations, more than the entire History channel, which commissioned and then dumped the mini series. It received a nomination for outstanding miniseries as well as three acting nominations; for Greg Kinnear and Barry Pepper, who played John F. Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy, respectively; and a supporting actor for Tom Wilkinson, who played Joe Kennedy.

Prupas says “I opened up my computer on my desk and I nearly fell off my chair. Honestly, I had prepared myself psychologically for not getting any nominations. But getting ten nominations is way beyond my expectations.”

The Kennedys will compete in the newly merged miniseries or movie category with Starz’s The Pillars of the Earth (which is also a co-produced by Muse and received seven nominations), and PBS’Downton Abbey. HBO'sgreatCinema Verite, HBO's great Mildred Pierce (which received 21 nominations, the most nominations of any program) and HBO's Too Big to Fail which stars William Hurt, James Woods and Ed Asner. If you didn't see it, here's a full taste: it’s fantastic and worth finding again and worth an Emmy.

NEW REALITY SERIES:
‘SAME NAME’

There is a reality series recently launched on CBS called Same Name about celebrities trading places with total strangers who happen to share the same name. Oh Please. Celebrities?  More like pseudo washed up celebs who cant get enough face time. Each one-hour episode has a personality switch places with a person who has the same last name. For one week, the star and their other person live in each other’s houses, meet and interact with family, friends, and co-workers, and experience how the other lives. Now CBS Sundays will have a two hour reality block with Big Brother and then Same Name.

TV TRENDS:
MORE PRODUCTION VALUES FALL 2011

What will be hot this fall when it comes to our TV shows? Get ready for more style, more flair and more production values in our shows.

We found out recently here in LA that there's optimism in the TV industry. Development budgets are much bigger this year to accommodate higher production.

A growth spurt is expected and one leading analyst thinks the ad market for the 4 big networks in the US could go over 10 billion dollars this year -  that would be more than the record in 2004 

As far as themes: Escapist shows are going to be big, like the most expensive this fall (you may have seen the trailer during American Idol) the dinosaur drama "Terra Nova." It doesn't feel like the networks will have to chase us since the big four are now spending more on their shows like cable is.

Also big this fall will be: Going back in time ala Mad Men. Big trend for the fall with shows like Pan Am and The Playboy Club. Also big will be musical shows thanks to the mega success of Glee. NBC will have SMASH from Steven Spielberg and the producers of Hairspray and Chicago. The pilot alone cost 7.5 million to produce.  

Comedies will also be a big trend this fall with TV shows and the HUGE trend this fall: Women! Female lead characters are in big demand (finally) thanks to the success of Closer, Damages, The Good Wife etc...the networks realize strong women make great TV and strong women watch great TV. In fact, no a single drama that ABC ordered has a male lead. and four out of five comedies picked up by NBC have female leads. The networks ordered more than dozen new half hours, many of them multi-camera, both ABC and NBC are opening up entirely new nights of comedy next season thanks to the success of Modern Family.

TV TREND:
NO COMPUTER NEEDED DVD

RECORDER!

This is a great find! The ‘Sony DVD Direct MC-3’.

It’s a must-have to make your life more organized. If you want to convert photos or film onto a DVD – now - no computer is needed!

You just slide your memory card in from your digital camera or into this DVD recorder, plug in your own VCR  and then just hit record.

ACCORDING TO CNET REVIEWS:

The good: Makes transferring video footage a breeze; lots of connection options; built-in media card reader; can connect directly to PictBridge printer for photo printing; built-in display lets you preview discs; menus are straightforward and functional.

The bad: Requires a Sony camcorder to take full advantage of features; can't edit videos; works with limited number of photo file formats; can't rearrange photo order prior to burning a slide show.

The bottom line: Although it's pricey, the Sony DVD Direct VRD-MC3 is a boon for anyone who has lots of old videotapes but less time or tech skills to digitize them using a computer. Even better, it doubles as an external DVD burner, so you can use it with your PC long after you've transferred all those old tapes.

Review:
The Sony DVDirect VRD-MC3 takes the pain out of transferring video and photos from your camcorder, VCR, or media cards onto DVDs that are playable on a PC or DVD player. At $250, it's far more expensive than a run-of-the-mill DVD burner, but it also offers more features. And for anyone who has piles of old VHS tapes, it may be well worth the expense, as the Sony DVDirect makes digitizing the video child's play. It also functions as a standard external DVD burner for use with your PC. Be forewarned, though, that unless you have a relatively ... Expand full review

Yes it’s easy to use.
The cost?
$179.00 US

TV TREND:
INFOMERICALS HOTTER THAN EVER

Potential customers are usually more affluent and educated. Although previously female customers outstripped the males, it is changing slowly but surely.

Infomercials tap into our emotional side.

Watching the product in its entirety, being explained all the aspects of the product, watching it in actual use – all these go a long way in building the viewer’s trust. 

This is a special advantage for complex products like repair kits and multi-piece sets where the potential customer has the satisfaction of knowing exactly how to use the product in it’s totality before deciding to buy it.

Nothing is vague or left to the imagination. They promise a better and easier life. We want to buy into that dream.

Researchers say when a new product attracts us - we are excited with anticipation as our brain gets filled with the pleasure chemical dopamine.

The ads work by playing to our basic emotions: fear, need, greed, and sex. That’s what they are going after.

First - there is some kind of opening scene when there is a problem that you're facing. Once the problem is established it’s time to show you how to solve that problem with the demonstration and the benefits of the problem.

Transformations are what we love when we see the before and after. Marketing experts say - testimonials make our buying easier because other people think something is good and it becomes good in our minds.

To get you to buy - the infomercial then offers something else free to get you  and then they do the but wait! and buy now! or the deals will be gone! They then say a limited offer makes you feel like its worth more.

Then there is the upsell: the extra product you buy and the shipping and handling is a big income earner for the companies.

Unlike traditional spots, the viewer is a part of the infomercial. 

The presenter talks directly to the viewer which works sub-consciously at a near-personal level and persuades the viewer to call for more information or to even place an order. 

Attractive buy-back policies, discounts and freebies add to the winning formula. 

Surprisingly according to a survey, infomercial viewers are more likely to trust infomercials than government, used car salesmen and corporate executives!

TV TREND:
ULTIMATE FIGHTING

In screen news...the big trend getting bigger by the day: Ulitimate Fighting.

Showtime Networks picked up the rights to the documentary Fightville, about Ultimate Fighting Championship competitors. Matt Damon will star and may even DIRECT - his new movie is about a man on the run from the law with his daughter - who is his accomplice!

Warner Bros. has bought the spec script called Father Daughter Time: A Tale of Armed Robbery and Eskimo Kisses.

meantime...

NBC is in talks for John Grisham's THE FIRM series. It would be a 22-episode series based on his best-selling 1991 novel and 1993 movie starring Tom Cruise.

The two-hour pilot script, picks up 10 years after the movie left off, with Mitch McDeere having just come out of the Federal Witness Protection Program after bringing down a Memphis law firm operated by the mob. But he and his family soon find their lives are still in danger. Casting is under way. The project is expected to go into production in Canada in July.

and...

Twentieth Television has inked a development deal with the former host for a talk show to potentially launch in fall 2012. Ricki Lake is heading back to daytime.

She's signed a development deal with Twentieth Television for a one hour talk show. Likely will launch in fall 2012. It will be shot in LA and will cover topics such as marriage, divorce, parenting and weight loss. The vice president of Twentieth calls her a pop culture icon who's built a career on candid, straight talk in a relatable nature.

It was seven years when she finished her previous talk show. A fall launch will put her in competition with Katie Couric's likely talk show.

REALITY TV TRENDS:
RYAN SEACREST MOST POWERFUL

Ryan Seacrest is one busy guy. As a TV producer, radio personality and American Idol host – he doesn’t stop. He was named number one on The Hollywood Reporter’s Reality Power List, and deservedly so.He really does a 360 in the media universe.

He touches at every angle and excels in all of them: In front of the camera, behind the scenes or on the radio.

He took the number one spot from his former colleague Simon Cowell who dropped to number six this year.

He’s got Ryan Seacrest Productions with:

In 2009, he signed a three-year, $45 million contract to continue hosting TV’s No. 1 show, American Idol, making him the top-earning reality host.

TV TREND:
HISTORICAL PERIOD DRAMAS

Historical Period Dramas are the big cable TV trend right now.There are so many of them to choose from.It started off with The Tudors. HBO now has Game of Thrones premiering this weekend on HBO Canada as you have heard. It’s really good! Game of Thrones is a multi storyline medieval fantasy based on the best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels that chronicles the violent dynastic struggles with noble families for control of the Iron Throne of Westeros.

Next historical show to come out is a TV mini-series called Pompeii written by Academy Award winning screenwriter Robert Towne based on best selling novel of the same title.The novel was originally going to be adapted into a feature film by Roman Polanski starring Scarlett Johansen and Orlando Bloom.Things didn’t go according to planned because of the writer’s strike.Ridley Scott acquired it and it's now a mini series. It is set during the final days before the Vesuvius eruption that took over the Roman city.

Why such appeal for history dramas? They have all the themes that make good TV: power, corruption, drama and intrigue.The fact that it’s set in another time period gives it a factor of escapism.

TV TREND:
DVR SAVING SHOWS

Thanks to the DVR, playback ratings are saving shows that were near death. Now, some are even bighits because of the DVR.The TV ratings landscape has changed so much.The most watched show on TV now among 18-49 year olds is The Event on NBC. Who knew? DVR’s are bumping up the numbers for shows that just couldn't find an audience. Also benefiting are Parenthood and The Fringe, which have now likely been saved from cancellation. Modern Family is now the highest rated show from 18-49 year olds, Grey's Anatomy has gained alot, and The Office, 30 Rock and The Mentalist are up 36 per cent due to recordings.

TV TRENDS:
THE 5 BIG ONES

There are five big TV trends we’re seeing a lot of this year:

TREND #1: Film Stars Moving to TV

Pilots are now filled with film actors. We’ve got Christina Ricci in ABC’s 1960s soap ‘Pan Am’ and Ethan Hawke in 20th Television’s 24-type thriller ‘Exit Strategy.’ Kiefer Sutherland will get executive producer credit on the 20th Television pilot Touch where he will play a father whose autistic son can see into the future. As well, Christine Lahti, will head up the character-driven medical series ‘The Doctor. ‘Don Johnson, is back with a pilot from Sex and the City creator Michael Patrick King’s hairstylist show for NBC called ‘A Mann’s World.’

TREND #2: High Concept Shows

Just like the movie Inception, high concept is so in. Things like dreams, other worlds and the paranormal are all being seen a lot these days. FOX has ‘Locke & Key’, a supernatural family drama and Smokers, about a team charged with eliminating alien threats in space. There’s also ‘Heavenly’, about a mortal lawyer who teams with an angel. ABC has ‘The River’, about a family’s search for their father, who vanished along the Amazon. NBC’s ‘Echelon’ has a team that investigates paranormal happenings.

Other worlds even continue on the big screen. ‘Source Code’ is the latest sci-fi adventure starring Jake Gyllenhaal. The time-traveling science-fiction thriller about a military officer charged with finding the bomber of a Chicago commuter train before a second bomb destroys the whole city.

TREND #3: Reboots on the Rise

Hawaii Five-O, the season’s number new drama, set this trend. ABC has a Miami-set Charlie’s Angels. New NBC entertainment chief Bob Greenblatt passed on the Rockford Files redo, a leftover from last year, but he’s going forward with David E. Kelley’s Wonder Woman.

TREND #4: The Glee Effect

Many pilots are musicals this year due to the success of Glee. Star Dianne Argon says she was there from the very beginning where they were just a small show. The cast got to see Oprah and President Obama both in one weekend, which she says was surreal.

ABC also has Grace, a dysfunctional-family drama about a womanizing dance choreographer played by Eric Roberts. Dancing With the Stars’ Carrie Ann Inaba is one of the executive producers and Mia Michaels of So You Think You Can Dance is choreographer.

NBC’s Steven Spielberg-produced Smash is about the mounting of a Broadway musical, and Marc Cherry’s ABC effort Hallelujah, a morality play complete with a church choir as Greek chorus. There's also a musical dramedy called Acting Out, about counselors at a summer camp.

TREND #5. Family Time

Office comedies are passé now and off beat family comedies are in. Thanks to the success of ABC’s Modern Family, NBC has Bent with Amanda Peet as a type A single mom. There’s also I Hate That I Love You, about a straight couple and a lesbian couple and A Lot Like Us, about a lesbian couple and their sperm donor. Jack Black produced a show called My Life as an Experiment, about a writer who uses his family as fodder for stunt projects. ABC has Bad Mom with JennaElfman, which plays on mommy guilt; Lost and Found, about a New York bartender whose son she gave up for adoption 18 years earlier seeks her out; and Other People’s Kids, about a middle-aged slacker who falls for a divorced mom.
CBS has Rob Schneider marrying into a Mexican-American family. And FOX has I Hate My Teenage Daughter, about two women dealing with their “mean girls.”

TV TREND:
3D TV SETS

3D TV is being pushed as the new HD. Year-one adoption of 3D TV is running at a far quicker rate in most territories than it did for high-definition. Manufacturers are now able to embed 3D chip-sets at a relatively low cost, allowing them increase their margins while still keeping 3D affordable for us. Marc Bourbonnais, president of one of Canada’s best visual effects companies, Modus FX, that creates effects for Hollywood films says its not that easy. You really have to make sure you have things just right. The thing is with 3D, it is something that really needs to be in a controlled environment. There is no grey area with good or bad with 3D presentation – it either works or it doesn’t. It is very intricate and depends on the way you are seated, how your glasses work, how your projections work, how far away you are from your TV, the size of your TV and the overall environment of where you’re watching. It is something that needs to be addressed and adapted to make sure it is a pleasurable and entertaining experience in our own homes.

Toshiba's glasses-free 3DTVs could be discouraging some consumers from investing in the current generation of 3DTV. However, the technology is at least four years away from being made available in large sets for the home and up to seven years away from reaching mass-market pricing. Since we just upgraded when the HD switch took place, we're not exactly jumping to buy new TVs right now but they say we will be. For the past few years every Christmas all the HD sets were being sold out, so pretty much everyone has a new TV in their homes. People aren’t too keen on switching right away. That said, it is still something that is going to happen because the content is being produced and we have 3D channels dedicated to that.

Deloitte released a study six months ago that found 83 percent of consumers do not believe 3D technology is enough to make them want to buy a new television. Even worse for vendors, 60 percent of those surveyed said they wouldn't pay extra for 3D capabilities in their televisions. 31 percent of respondents believe 3D does not enhance the entertainment experience, but its coming from just about every TV maker.

TV TREND:
LOS ANGELES HOT SHOOTING CHOICE

The city of Los Angeles has become the very hot setting for Hollywood this year. Many hit shows are set here, Entourage, Californication, Big Bang Theory, NCIS Los Angeles, the recent film Battle: Los Angeles.
The city is a character in itself. NBC is now following the trend. It's launching Law & Order: Los Angeles next month. There will be a two- hour premiere Monday April 11 at 9:00 PM. After that it will air weekly on Mondays at 10:00 PM

TV TREND:
PERIOD DRAMAS

The trend continues for TV shows to be period dramas. We’ve had Boardwalk Empire, Mad Men set in the 50’s and now NBC is making a pilot called Playboy set in the 60's.

Catch Me if You Can and Former CSI: Miami star Eddie Cibrian engaged to Lee Ann Rimes after having an affair with her, will be the star. It’s about a Chicago attorney and key holder who is also a member of the famous Playboy Club during its 1960's heyday!
Shooting is underway.

Iconic brand Pan Am will be the focus of another pilot starring Christina Ricci. It hopes to rival Mad Men. It is set in the days of glamorous air travel at the birth of the jet age.

The resulting pilot is set to be screened on U.S. station ABC and bosses will then give a full season the go-ahead. If they think the idea is ready to, cough, take off. The show is described as a nighttime soap revolving around pilots and flight attendants at the once-dominant airline.

SUPER HERO SHOWS:
VIEWERSHIP DOWN

Super hero TV shows are no longer in vogue. Viewership is way down, but ironically, super heroes in movies still continue to lure viewers. Super hero shows that have been cancelled: The Cape, No Ordinary Family, and Heroes. The formally popular Smallville has been decreasing viewers since it debuted ten years ago. In 2001 it brought in 8.4 million viewers, and now only pulls in an average of 2.9 million.

TV TREND:
3D PORN CHANNELS

3D High Definition has taken on a new twist. X-rated magazines are now on TV like never before. Penthouse Magazine just launched the first ever 3D formatted porn channel in Europe. Penthouse already operates three HD channels. It has a history of being ahead of the curve when it comes to digital distribution.

The channel will air original content from 11pm to 5am. It will feature 30 hours of new content each month during those times. Some distributors are wary. They aren't sure there will be the demand for it. It's already getting increasingly difficult to get people to pay for porn and the accompanying eyewear is "not very sexy." Competitor Hustler is also developing its own HD channel with 3D content. Penthouse network's original, adult-oriented programming will include "both soft-core and hard-core feeds."

"We are very excited about the launch of the Penthouse 3D channel," said Marc Bell, CEO of FriendFinder Networks, the parent company of Penthouse Media Group. "Our goal is always to deliver the latest technology on the world’s best platform."

Hustler’s channel will debut in Europe in March on the Hotbird satellite -- but Penthouse has a jump on its rival.

"We started shooting in 3D this past summer, and have significantly invested to perfect 3D production quality. Consumer excitement for 3D content is high, and Penthouse is the one studio that can rely on its broad expertise to deliver 3D in a manner unmatched by any other branded entertainment company."

"Thanks to the increasing consumer acceptance of 3D, I am delighted to work with Penthouse to be able to satisfy the needs of the consumers and broadcasters alike," said Jacky Wauters, head of NOA Productions, Penthouse channels’ European distribution partner.

JAMIE FOXX:
RETURNS TO TV

Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx is now making a return to TV as an executive producer of a sketch comedy show. It'll be a sketch comedy series like In Living Color, where he got his start, with a fresh take on pop culture including spoofs of move trailers, commercials, TV shows, music videos and celebrities.

The show will have a sneak preview Thursday March 31st following American Idol. The series has a 12 episode order and will go to air June 9.

Right now its working title is The Jamie Foxx Project

TV TRENDS:
NEW PILOTS ANNOUNCED

The trend of movie stars moving to TV is bigger than ever before. 20th Century Fox has ordered a pilot called Exit Strategy starring Ethan Hawke.

It's going to be shot in real time like 24. It's about a team of five experts associated with the CIA, headed by Hawke, who are deployed to extract their own before it's too late. Meantime, Kiefer Sutherland will star in Touch, a drama from the Heroes people about a dad whose autistic son can predict events before they happen.

Over at NBC, Maria Bello is doing a pilot for the reboot of Prime Suspect, the role that Helen Mirren originated and over at CBS, Minnie Driver will be in a show called Hail Mary, about a suburban single mom who teams up with a street-smart hustler to solve crimes. Leelee Sobieski will also be in Rookies, about six NYPD rookies who balance their personal lives with learning the beat on the streets of Manhattan. Rob Schneider has a comedy about a confirmed bachelor who has just married into a tight-knit Mexican-American family and Christine Lahti will be starring in the drama pilot The Doctor.

OSCARS NEWS:
…AND THE NOMINEES ARE!

Here are the nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards.

BEST PICTURE

• “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
• “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
• “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
• “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
• “The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
• “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
• “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
• “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
• “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
• “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

• Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
• Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
• Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
• Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
• James Franco in “127 Hours”

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

• Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
• Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
• Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
• Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
• John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
• Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
• Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
• Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
• Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
• Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
• Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

BEST DIRECTING

• “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
• “The Fighter” David O. Russell
• “The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
• “The Social Network” David Fincher
• “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• “Incendies” – Canada
• “Biutiful” – Mexico
• “In a Better World” – Denmark
• “Dogtooth” – Greece
• “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” – Algeria

NEW HBO MINI SERIES:
'MILDRED PIERCE'

Mildred Pierce is coming to HBO as a five part mini series. There was also another film adaptation made of it in 1945. The story is set in Los Angeles during the depression, and tells the story of a newly divorced, independent woman struggling to make a life for herself. The film has a very strong cast including Kate Winslet, Rachel Evan Wood, Guy Pearce, and Melissa Leo. Joan Crawford won an Oscar best actress in the original film.

This one will be directed and written by Todd Haynes who did Far from Heaven and I'm Not There. This is perfect for him. He was so surprised by reading the original novel written by James M. Cain. He read it in 2008 just when the financial markets were tumbling and was most surprised how realistic the portrait was of the mother daughter relationship.

DVR PLAYBACKS:
CONSUMER PATTERNS

Thanks to DVR playbacks TV viewing isn’t what it used to be. DVR's are bumping up numbers for shows such as The Event on NBC. Also being helped is Modern Family, which is now the highest rated show among those 18-49 thanks to the added ratings from DVR's. The Office and my favorite 30 Rock are both up 36 per cent as is CBS's The Mentalist up 36 per cent as well!

So what is the highest rated show of all ages as far as what we DVR? Hawaii 5-0 is the one we record most often. Parenthood and The Fringe numbers grew by more than 40 per cent once DVR ratings are factored in.

Overall, CBS has the most watched: eight out of the top 15 shows if you add DVR ratings too.

JACK BLACK:
PRODUCING TV SHOW 'MY LIFE AS AN EXPERIMENT'

The trend of movie stars moving to the TV business continues. NBC just picked up a comedy pilot from Jack Black. It’s called My Life as an Experiment, based on a book that focuses on a magazine writer who puts himself and his family in unusual situations for his pieces, which somehow always reflect back on his marriage. Black is one of the executive producers and wrote the script but will not be starring. As far as doing films, he says he really does love doing animation.

TV TREND:
STREAMING

A TV trend that is huge right now is streaming. Getting your content on hand-held devices is so popular, fewer and fewer are actually watching a TV set for movies.

If so many of us are watching TV in some other way than a big TV set, streaming is now the way people are getting their programming and movies. The majority of Netflix customers now get their contact thru streaming and no longer DVD's in the mail. People are getting most of all their content by streaming the delivery of content into hand held devices.

With streaming you can watch it anywhere you want. When Netflix focused on streaming in the last year, membership went from 10 million to 20 million. Blockbuster declared bankruptcy. Amazon is renting and selling movies via streaming to and so is Google. With Amazon you pay $10 per movie to own it and $4 dollars to rent it. With Netflix it's $8 dollars a month to stream as many movies as you like. Amazon has a broader title selection of new movies since it has contacts with major studios but Netflix is $8 a month for unlimited amount of movies. They may not be every brand new movie but there is so much in library for 8 dollars a month it’s well worth it. You can view the movies on your iPad, or just about anything - a PlayStation 3, a cell phone, a laptop or a Wii.

Netflix says it will be buying more contact from the studios as time goes on. The DVD side of the business continues to grow though for Netflix but streaming is the big surprise growing at an extremely fast rate in the last 12 months alone.

TV TREND:
CABLE AND SATELLITE USE DOWN

There's a new survey out that asked “How much do you love your cell phone and your cable?” Nearly half now say they would be willing to give up their cable or satellite to watch TV shows on the web, Netflix, and even Wii!

Nearly one in four already watch TV on a non-television screen "often or sometimes." Our actual TV viewing habits have really changed this last year. A third of households now have a DVR-like device and they watch an average of 42% on the DVR and 17% say they watch at least 80% of their shows after they air. Everyone is worried the DVR allows people to fast-forward though the ads. Do they? I have the answer. We sure do. 83% of survey respondents find that commercials on TV are least-disliked of any platform except newspapers.

According to the survey, platforms on which people least like to see advertising are the ones they are adopting fastest: Mobile (63% don’t like ads there) email (57%); and social media (44%). If people like ads most on the platforms they are most willing to give up, where does that leave us?

AARON SORKIN:
SCRIPT FOR HBO

Talk about a trendsetting writer in Hollywood. This guy is king again. Following momentum from The Social Network and his amazing writing of the script HBO has given the go-ahead for a drama pilot for a cable news show from producers Scott Rudin and Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin shadowed Chris Matthews and the recently ousted news commentator Keith Olbermann to pen his pilot. It begins filming later this year.

Sorkin's top workplace dramas and dramedies, Sports Night, The West Wing, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip all had behind-the-scenes views on the things we all watch today. It’s a show about the inner workings of a nightly cable news show.

TV TREND:
BEZELS GETTING SMALLER

I’ve got the tech trends and the latest from the Consumer Electronics Show show in Vegas.

Last year it was all about thin TV’s. This year it’s all about the bezel, the border around the edge of the TV screen. It’s that thing you look at all the time and never noticed.

Those bezels are too fat, LG says. The company and others here are out to slim them down. The company's new plasma TV bezels slimmed down from one inch last year to about three-quarters of an inch this year. It's impossible for TV makers to completely eliminate that border but that's the long-term goal of TV manufacturers.

Other companies are focusing on size. Mitsubishi has a 92-inch 3-D TV, which it says will be the largest commercial 3-D television on the market when it goes on sale later this year.

Panasonic is making its black hues better on their screens. Panasonic is known for having among the best black images in the industry. The company has a new screen technology called the Infinite Black 2 Panel, on the ST30 series of TVs.

TV TRENDS:
2011

Here are the three big headlines about TV trends today:

1. CASTING IS VITAL
Bristol Palin and a crazy-eclectic cast helped boost Dancing with the Stars to its second biggest fall edition ever, showing once again that even aging reality formats can spike with the right group of contestants. Meanwhile, NBC’s The Apprentice sank to a record low without celebrities and CBS' Survivor, was flat, with no help from the dullest group of castaways in recent memory. CBS sources insist the spring edition is much better.

2. SERIALIZED DRAMAS ARE NOT DEAD
AMC's The Walking Dead may not be the highest-rated new show of the fall, but it's the most successful. AMC made a daring bet in an untested TV genre and landed the highest-rated basic cable drama of all time. TheWalkingDead proves once again networks shouldn't be scared of serialized programs. NBC reportedly rejected the show, which would have been one of the Peacock's top-rated dramas even if it pulled the same number it does on AMC.

3. It doesn't matter where you put your biggest hits (but make sure they're hits):
BigBangTheory opening Thursdays? Survivor on Wednesdays? Both time-period titans of appointment TV ruled their new slots. But moving aging procedurals like CSI: NY, CSI: Miami and Medium is not a good thing.

TV TREND:
DOCTORS ARE BIG RATINGS

Doctors are hot these days. TV doctors are getting audiences like never before. From Dr. Oz, to Sanjay Gupta to The Doctors. Oprah’s new network is even highlighting more doctors on Oprah’s all-stars show. Doctors are big ratings.

The Doctors is a syndicated hour-long talk show that is just fantastic. It has a team of four medical professionals discuss various health-related issues. The Emmy Award winning syndicated television show is hosted by emergency department physician Dr. Travis Stork; obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Lisa Masterson; plastic surgeon and reconstructive surgery expert Dr. Andrew Ordon; and pediatrician Dr. James Sears.

Dr. Travis Stork says he loves that doctors are in vogue right now. He says as a doctor in the public eye he has a duty to educate. He says he is able to reach so many more people by educating on TV than just the patients that come into his emergency department. He says it’s a lot better to get advice from a doctor on TV than a celebrity who doesn’t have the background – so he likes the direction TV is going in.

Dr. Jim Sears agrees. He loves that the show gets the word out to the masses. He says he could see 40-50 patients on a busy day, but on TV he could reach millions of people. He loves how he could reach such a wide array of people in one shot.

NEW TV SHOW:
CHEATING ATHLETES EXPOSED

Cheating major league baseball players are about to see their groupies on TV, thanks to a new reality show in the works. Casting in now taking place for a show about Baseball Annie’s, slang for women who stop at nothing to hook up with major league players - married or single.

The show has the working title of Cleat Chasers. It will feature women who know every trick to score with the pros. It's a reality show about girls who stop at nothing to score with athletes while they are away from their wives and girlfriends during baseball spring training. It's about girls that have gone pro in the sport of “cleat chasing.” These girls will go to any lengths to go to games and practices with the goal of sleeping with and getting material things from athletes as a notch under their belt. These Baseball Annie’s talk about receiving gifts and jewelry from their athlete conquests, and have tales of wild nights out and hotel stays.

The girls map out what clubs, bars, and restaurants players go to so they can stalk them. These girls will do anything and are proud of it. Almost every girl interviewed for the show has admitted that it's not a concern of theirs if the athlete is married or not. The reality show will focus on the women and the “cleat chasing” lifestyle more so than the players and their participation,

The girls have named players some that are famous and married, some single, and some players that are new to the game. The production company is trying to figure out what's true and what's not.

TV TREND:
DOCTOR SHOWS

Doctor shows are in vogue this year.So many syndicated shows are following the trend: The Doctors, Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, and Sanjay Gupta.

Dr. Travis Stork, an emergency physician,is one of the hosts of the The Doctors.He points out that in the emergency department, he may help 30 people in one shift, but on the show he can millions at once. That’s the beauty of the medium of TV. He sees it as a good thing that doctors are in vogue preaching their message to the world. Being in the public eye he feels he has a duty to educate and inform.

Dr. Jim Sears, a certified pediatrician, is another host on The Doctors.He feels the same way about reaching the masses about his message. In his office he sees 4-5 patients an hour but in one hour on TV he can reach millions of patients worldwide. He loves being able to relay the message. He does the same thing he’s done in his office for years – giving great medical advice, helping with problems – now he gets to send it out to everybody.

TV TREND:
ONLINE TV

Here are some TV viewing trends for Canadians in 2011.

With lots of content available online, TV executives are seeing that web is their competition. They don't want to face the same fate as the music and print industry. TV stations will continue to post more and more content online so they don't lose any viewers. CTV has been big with web-viewing. It did it with its online coverage on the Vancouver Olympics. They have14 different online channels streaming live events, connecting with roughly 12.3million online visitors. Executives say advertisers are eager to attach themselves to the popular content. In fact, today TV advertising online sells out the quickest.

TV NEWS:
NEW LED TV & NEFLIX REVAMPED

Samsung has a strong new line up including a 3D home entertainment system and LED TV’s with screens the width of a pencil. It sells for 5,999.99 US. It has a 55-inch screen size and is coated with stainless steel bezel. It can convert 2D and 3D and has other features like a remote control with three-inch LCD screen, Blu-Ray player device and 3D glasses. It also has web connected TV apps that give you access to digital contact like Netflix, Facebook, Hulu and Pandora.

Meantime, Canadian subscribers of Netflix are now being able to get access to U.S. programming that was previously only available to American subscribers. Some of the shows include Weeds and The Big C. A lot of Canadians were complaining before that their online video streaming service lacked many of the TV shows and films they wanted to watch.

CELEBRITY TREND:
PRODUCING PROJECTS

The hot trend for actresses: moving into producing. Eva Longoria is one of the latest to join the bunch. She’s figured out there is a trend with family comedies.

Her production company, Unbelievable Entertainment, is working on three projects. Eva plans to present ABC with two shows. One is a comedy called Parenting by Committee about four single women who are forced to face reality when one finds out she's pregnant. The other she is doing is with Cold Case actress Kathryn Morris, a new drama called Sendera about two wealthy families who are in a constant battle over land, money, and sex. She's also got Aztecs, an eight part historical mini series.

TV TRENDS:
VIEWER ENGAGEMENT

Nielsen took a look at which new fall shows that had the highest viewer engagement and CBS' Mike & Molly came out on top.

Viewer Engagement studies how much information a viewer recalls from a show, something that's important to advertisers who want to put their products on programs where viewers are paying close attention. It's a bit surprising a traditional sitcom would lead. NBC's The Event ranked in a three-way tie for second place, ABC's No Ordinary Family ranked third. Comedies Raising Hope and Running Wilde, also ranked high - showing there may be something to thinking that comedies have better engagement than dramas.

PIERCE BROSNAN:
TV PRODUCER

Now turning to TV news.

After playing James Bond in four movies, Pierce Brosnan is turning TV producer.

It is a new series at Sony Pictures Television about an international operative problem solver for hire for things like kidnappings and espionage.

Pierce won’t even be the main star!

He will be producing it and will have a smaller role.

NEW SHOW:
ROBERT DE NIRO'S "ROOKIES"

Now turning to Robert De Niro news: He's created a new TV show – a police drama called Rookies -boring name, he could have done better.

It's about six freshman police officers sent into high-crime trouble spots.

His Tribeca Productions and CBS TV Studios are producing.

De Niro and his partner, who is best know for HBO's The Wire, are executive producers.

TV NEWS:
LED VS LCD

Now turning to TV news.

In case you’ve been wondering about LCD and LED. It’s kind of confusing. You want both.

LED makes a big impact on the LCD market

Ask anyone who has seen an LED display - such as the Sharp LE700 AQUOS LED LCD series - and they will swear by them: higher contrast of 2M:1, crisper visuals and lower power usage. LED displays still use LCD technology but use a different kind of backlight for a noticeably brighter screen. Sizes range from 32-inch to 52-inch and (at least with the Sharp) and only cost a bit more than older LCDs.

TV BUZZ:
ON THE WEB

Now turning to TV and digital trends.

The Web and social media have now become the "water cooler" for modern TV. Networks now realize online is where you find your new viewers.

It is premiere time on TV and CBS has teamed with Yahoo to maximize online buzz for its new and returning shows. The campaign included messages on the Yahoo home page, email, mobile and Yahoo messenger.

Earlier this year, NBC struck a similar deal with Microsoft's MSN to focus more of its digital ad spend tied to the fall TV season on one big digital player.

The CBS-Yahoo partnership is expected to generate more than 800 million impressions among adults 25 to 54, according to company estimates. Adults 35-49 are affluent TV viewers who tend to spend more time on cable and on-demand platforms these days.

GOOGLE TV:
REVOLUTIONIZING THE INDUSTRY

Want to get rid of you're big cable bill? I've got the latest on Google TV.

This is going to be huge. Finally there’s a way to watch all the stuff online on the beautiful big screen HDTV's we have instead of on our small laptop screens.

Google has truly revolutionized the way people access information and it's now ready to change the television watching experience. On the other hand, it’s causing huge jitters in Hollywood.

Think about it. This could mean big problems for the networks and studios. Truly, it could cannibalize the entertainment industry just like it destroyed the music and newspaper industries.

I predict Internet TV will be the biggest thing to happen in the living room since digital video recorders. Smart TV's will be on store shelves by the fall.

Google is putting a browser in the TV to give us things that the studios and the networks are already doing today, but in a less disjointed way.

Here's exactly how Google TV will work:

We can watch when we want to watch and not have to follow TV schedules. The Internet is at our disposal to type in what we want.

We would buy a TV or you could just buy a set-top box with Google software that connects to the Internet, along with a keyboard to type commands.

Get this: We can also use our iPhone or Android phone to operate it. We all know that Google is big, smart, powerful and disruptive say the experts, but that surface is going to grow for sure.

They are the future. Google sees its role as harnessing the power of the Internet to improve television viewing - an opportunity for the studios and networks to use the limitless storage capacity of the Web to make their "libraries" available whenever someone wants to watch an old episode of All in the Family or Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Hollywood studios and networks are worried. By bringing the Web directly to the living room TV, entertainment industry executives worry Google TV will see people get rid of their huge minimum $70 monthly cable and satellite subscriptions in favor of watching video free via the Internet - on a TV set.

It is also predicted this will see piracy go absolutely crazy as it did with the music industry - because Google refuses to block access to bootleg movies and television shows!

I'd be worried about Google gaining too much control over online video advertising but Google hasn't yet figured out exactly how it will make its money or if it plans to compensate the studios and networks. I think Google will run stuff and likely take a cut from each play.

Within five years, television sets and set-top boxes that connect to the Web will be commonplace. That represents a potential boom to content creators, because distributors pay big sums for the right to stream movies and TV shows to subscribers.

DVR STUDY:
TIME-SHIFTING

Do you find yourself not watching as much TV these days? Well you're not alone.

If you're like most, you're using your DVR - a lot!

A new survey is out and it says the majority of us (62%) watch TV by recording.

I don't know about you, but I can't remember the last time I watched a show live. In fact even when it is live - I wait 15 minutes - and start the show at the quarter hour so I can zap thru the commercials. That's 15 minutes of my time better used. Truly, if I didn't have my TIVO, I could never consume as much as I do for work.

The report says DVR usage and other forms of time-shifted TV consumption are more widespread than previously thought. The majority of us want to watch TV on our own schedules.

The new study was conducted by International Communications Research, for cable giant Comcast and it found that: 60% of us are time-shifting more now than we did a year ago and 84% are doing it more than 3 years ago.

What is the show we all like to record so much more than watching live?

HBO's Entourage - more people watch that show in time delay, than when it’s broadcasted.

I know why - like me - I want to watch it twice to see Aris’ maneuvers.

TV NEWS:
TOP TV SALARIES

Hugh Laurie, Charlie Sheen, Matt Lauer, Ryan Seacrest and, Oprah Winfrey are today’s top paid TV celebrities.

Studios are cracking down on pay cheques - overall - to keep costs in line due to lower ratings but some stars still make the big money.

According to the latest TV Guide survey - as far as drama actors (per episode), the highest paid is:

Hugh Laurie (House) $400,000+ USD
Christopher Meloni & Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU) $395,000 USD(each)
David Caruso (CSI: Miami) $375,000 USD
Marg Helgenberger (CSI) $375,000 USD
Laurence Fishburne (CSI) $350,000 USD
Nathan Fillion (Castle) $100,000 USD
Jon Hamm (Mad Men) $100,000 USD

As far as talk show hosts (per year):

Oprah Winfrey $315 million USD
Judge Judy $45 million USD
David Letterman (The Late Show) $28 million USD
Jay Leno (The Tonight Show) $25 million USD
Conan O'Brien (The Conan O'Brien Show) $10 million USD

When it comes to reality TV (per year):

Ryan Seacrest (American Idol) $15 million USD
Piers Morgan (America's Got Talent) $2 million USD
Kate Gosselin (Kate Plus Eight) $250,000 USD per episode
Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi (Jersey Shore) $30,000 USD per episode

Comedy actors (per episode):

Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men) $1.25 million USD
Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men) $550,000 USD
Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner (The Simpson’s) $400,000 USD
Tina Fey (30 Rock) $350,000 USD
Jeremy Piven (Entourage) $350,000 USD
Steve Carell (The Office) $297,000 USD
Ed O'Neill (Modern Family) $100,000 USD
Betty White (Hot in Cleveland) $75,000 USD

And when it comes to newscasters and news hosts (per year):

Matt Lauer (Today) $16 million + USD
Katie Couric (CBS) $15 million USD
Bill O'Reilly (Fox News) $10 million USD
Keith Olbermann (MSNBC) $7 million USD
Wolf Blitzer (CNN) $3 million USD

HBO:
MIC JAGGER IN ‘THE HISTORY OF MUSIC’

Martin Scorsese is teaming up with musical legend Mick Jagger for a new HBO project.

The series, titled History Of Music, will follow the lives of two friends through 40 years in the music business.

‘History Of Music’ originated with Jagger as a possible feature film for Disney, but the project ended up at Paramount.

HBO is now reportedly working with Paramount to develop a pilot based around the concept.

Scorsese and Jagger would all executive produce with Scorsese having first shot at directing the pilot.

HBO:
DUSTIN HOFFMAN TV SHOW

HBO now has a new pilot called ‘Luck,’ a drama from the writer of Deadwood, starring Dustin Hoffman and directed by Michael Mann.

‘Luck’ is a provocative look at horse racing -the owners, gamblers, jockeys and diverse gaming industry players.

The show begins production this fall at Santa Anita and other Los Angeles locations.

Hoffman is producing the series.

He's had a hugely successful career but he does feel, whether it be on the big screen or small screen, often people around you change.

“People are rarely the same when you know (them) before you’ve become famous…They always says you change or you didn’t change… you’re displaced as a person because you feel you’re the same or there’s an underneath hostility which they’re not even aware of because somehow they’re presented with something that makes them feel less valuable to themselves. Suddenly their whole sense of lack of worth is increased.”

DOCUMENTARY FILM CLUB:
ROBERTS, WHITAKER, BYRNE, AND HEMMINGWAY

Julia Roberts, Forest Whitaker, Goldie Hawn, Gabriel Byrne and Mariel Hemingway will be making their way to TV. They are each producing a documentary for Oprah’s OWN TV network, set to launch next year in 2011. The shows will be part of a monthly ‘Documentary Film Club.’

Roberts will present and executive-produce Extraordinary Moms - a film looking at the power of mothers who have fought to make their kids - and the world – better.

Whitaker will produce and narrate One Last Shot - a film that goes inside Louisiana's Angola prison.

Goldie Hawn will produce, host and narrate Searching for Happiness - a documentary that will focus on positive psychology.

Gabriel Byrne will look at homelessness in Nashville, Tennessee with the film Tent City.

Hemingway will explore the legacy of suicide in her own family in the film Seven Suicides.

All of these documentaries fundamentally explore human interaction, relationships and emotions. The network says it hopes to provide viewers with new perspectives and new ways of looking at core themes that shape and affect our lives.

Others already working with Oprah’s network include country music singer Shania Twain in Why Not? which will follow her life on the rebound after a messy public divorce, Jenny McCarthy who has reportedly landed a deal for her own talk show and former British royal Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York who is in talks for an OWN "docu-series.”

NEW BIOPIC:
BARBARA WALTERS


Now turning to a new TV movie.

Barbara Walters, is negotiating with TV executives at HBO to adapt her best-selling memoir, 'Audition', about her 50-year career in journalism into a made-for-TV-movie. In her memoir, the veteran newswoman speaks candidly about breaking the glass ceiling for female anchors at NBC and later ABC, her failures as a mother to a troubled teen daughter, and her secret interracial affair with married Sen. Edward Brooke in the 1970s.

Her representative Cindi Berger has confirmed there is a lot of interest to develop the biopic, but declined to discuss which networks had made serious offers.

Walters, 80, underwent heart surgery to replace a faulty valve in May. On July 12, She made an appearance via video link on her hit ABC network show 'The View' to assure her fans she is fully recovered from the procedure. She will make a full return to the program in September.

LOONEY TUNES:
THEY'RE BACK!


Bugs returns! They are re-doing Looney Tunes! Cartoon Network is launching a new version of the classic Warner Bros. series Looney Tunes. The Looney Tunes Show will star Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, along with Yosemite Sam, Tweety, Sylvester - the whole gang. Weirdly, the network is having each episode as a half-hour story along with cartoons within a cartoon. The concept takes Bugs and Daffy out of the woods and puts them into the suburbs with colorful neighbors. I've seen the preview art and it is smack on. Even better, Looney Tunes will also have classic characters singing original songs in two-minute music videos called Merrie Melodies and the Road Runner and Coyote in CG shorts (that's more like it).

TV TRENDS: TWITTER TV


Now turning to a brand new TV trend - shows originating from TWITTER!

There's a new show, starring William Shatner coming this fall, based on a humor Twitter account called Shit My Dad Says.

CBS has picked up on the comedy from this account, which has enlisted more than 700,000 followers since its launch in August 2009. This is a trend that has opened a whole new door to unemployed bloggers - such as Justin Halpern the creator of this Twitter page. Justin is now an internet star who casually just came up with the name of this golden Twitter account.

EPSN: GOES 3-D


3-D television sets are making their debut on store shelves as Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic take the leap to 3-D. Meantime, World Cup soccer, the 2011 BCS National Championship game and dozens of other sporting events will be shown in 3-D by ESPN in the coming year.

ESPN launched a new channel, ESPN 3D with it's three-dimensional broadcast of a FIFA World Cup soccer match between South Africa and Mexico. In the next 12 months, the network will show at least 85 games in 3-D. The network has been testing its 3-D technology for more than two years. The new network will require a 3-D television set. Initially, the channel is expected to be dark between live events. ESPN probably won't be the only player in the 3-D TV game.

FOX:
TURNS TO TAPED AUDITIONS

Fox Network has a new way to audition actors for pilots. It's shifting to taped auditions instead of actors being there in person. The network has announced that it is phasing out in-person tests, in which finalists auditions for each role for network executives. Now, after passing live tests, performances are being filmed and sent to the network for judging. The upside is that there will be no long lines of actors in hallways. It also gives actors a chance to get it right, as they can record it many times, and now just send in the best one, whereas in live auditions, actors have one shot. The downside is that agents and managers never know when executives will be watching the tapes, therefore they don't get answers anymore on the spot.

TV STATS: UNHAPPY PEOPLE WATCH MORE

Ok I've got some new stats to tell you about....How much do you like watching TV?

New research shows that unhappy people watch more TV while those who are happy - spend more time reading and socializing. The University of Maryland analyzed 34 years of data collected from more than 45 thousand participants and found that watching TV might make you feel good in the short term but is more likely to lead to overall unhappiness. Unhappy people watch more than 30 per cent more TV than happy folks. TV is not judgmental or difficult, so people with few social skills or resources for other activities can engage in it.....Even the unhappiest people can click a remote and be passively entertained....and...Unhappy 'married couples' also watch more TV...meantime - the worsening of the economy is said to be good for TV producers as more people will likely watch more in these tough times.

TV TRENDS:
THE SCIENCE AND ENTERTAINMENT EXCHANGE

Since science and technology have become staples of TV these days - the bar has been raised for better and more accurate science. Forensic investigation and medical shows such as CSI, House, and ER routinely incorporate cutting-edge science into their scripts. Get ready for better TV crime shows...

The National Academy of Sciences just announced the creation of "The Science and Entertainment Exchange," an initiative designed to connect entertainment industry professionals with top scientists and engineers to help the creators of television shows, films, video games, and other productions incorporate science into their work. The Exchange represents the Academy's first formal effort to reach out to the entertainment community and provide the creative minds of Hollywood with a direct connection to the creative minds of science. "Television and film" involve the public in the latest advances in science, medicine, and technology." Relying on the special connections - the Exchange can make introductions, schedule briefings, and arrange for consultations for anyone developing science-based entertainment content. The plan is endorsed by the Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, Producers Guild of America, the Entertainment Industry Foundation, and Women in Film.

It's being promoted to all levels of writers, directors, producers, and others in the entertainment industry. Professionals involved in the creative process may contact the Exchange to be connected with scientists, engineers, health professionals, and other experts for help with their productions and stories. Movies like Children of Men, Mission Impossible, Déjà Vu, and A Beautiful Mind enlisted some aspect of science and technology to help tell their stories, while Iron Man, Minority Report, and the Star Trek series depend very heavily on a foundation of science.