We continue this afternoon's exhaustive coverage of disappointing, expensive television dramas with this brief report about an online survey regarding Studio 60 a reader was asked to take after self-identifying as a disgruntled viewer of NBC's programming, an interesting window into how the network tests a show that…
[Note: UPDATE about the misguidedness of the above graphic follows after the jump] Today's NY Post reports that Friday Night Lights will "quietly" be taking over Studio 60's spot on the schedule this Monday night, a once-off shift that can be read as a) an attempt to expose S60's scarce-but-rich viewers to the…
PrivacyWatch celebrity sightings are submitted by our readers, and are now posted several times a week (well, most weeks)—so send them in like your lives depended on it. Submit yours to tips[AT]defamer.com (please put "sighting" or "PrivacyWatch" in the subject line) and let the world know about how first and…
The Weinstein Co.'s Genius Products makes a deal with the WWE to distribute home videos, collaborate on straight-to-video movies, and potentially use the wrestling league's stars to intimidate any filmmakers who stubbornly resist Harvey Weinstein's gentle suggestions about helpful edits. [Variety]
At an address to…
While it was previously believed that Aaron Sorkin's much-discussed, edgy reworking of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Major-General's Song" in the cold open of the fictional Studio 60's first episode under the Albee/Tripp regime owed a creative debt to David Hyde Pierce's performance of the same musical number on SNL…
As breathlessly reported by every news outlet on Earth yesterday, Google buys YouTube for $1.65 billion. Meanwhile, CBS makes a deal to split the ad revenue from "daily, short form content" they'll provide to YouTube, and to divide up any money they might make by selling ads around material posted by users that…
· "Woods is sitting on one side of a couch in the front room with Ashley. Someone mentions 'Entourage,' and Woods reminds everyone that Ashley played his girlfriend. She was the one that was fixing her [breasts], remember? That was her. She was [complaining] and she said, 'My ... shoes hurt.' She improvised all of…
From the overflowing Nobody Knows Anything file: NBC is finding that all of their promotion of Studio 60 hasn't yet bought a hit, while lesser-hyped Heroes is getting the results that Aaron Sorkin is being paid untold millions to deliver. [Variety]
Rachael Ray scores the best opening week syndicated ratings since…
20th Century Fox wins a bidding war for the rights to Moneyball author Michael Lewis' just-released football book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, his latest sport-related tome that a studio hopes to one day figure out how to make into a movie. [Variety]
The Bourne Ultimatum began shooting this week without a…
· If the above video has you angry at the cruel, pugilistic kangaroo race, don't worry: Clowns get payback on humanity's behalf.
Really, it was only a matter of time before the twin Satans of VOD and Netflix forced Blockbuster to adopt a no-fee strategy.
Newly launched film news site ReelzChannel (wow, catchy URLS are…
Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch blog notes that on an improv theater internet message board discussing the merits and missteps of frequent Defaker fodder Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, an astute Sorkinologist had an acute moment of déjà vu when Sarah Paulson's character storms in on Matthew Perry during a writer's…
Los Angeles, you've been put on notice. And there's no way you're going to be able to adequately explain either Lauren Sanchez or this untoward H&M obsession.
· Traffic charges against Mr. Eko were dropped, perhaps signalling an end to the Honolulu Police Department's unfair persecution of any Lost cast member bold…
· A Best Week Ever blogger decides to test-drive Cocaine (the energy drink, not the strawberry-flavored narcotic), and discovers that a drug habit is probably more advisable than another dalliance with the peppery, heart-palpitating beverage.
If Lindsay Lohan really wants to get back at her recent ex and Paris Hilton…
Heroes premieres strong, beating CBS's comedy block of Two and a Half Men and Old Christine. Meanwhile, Studio 60 was down 16 percent from its premiere, a ratings drop-off that might force Aaron Sorkin to finally address the network's note that he find a way to replace Bradley Whitford's cocaine addiction with a…
Not that we'd ever suggest that you need any help whatsoever in getting shitfaced while sitting in front of a television, but the Foma blog has already come up with a drinking game for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which we pass along in the hope that you can put it to good use during tonight's second installment…
While we found Defamer doppleganger Defaker, NBC's attempt to virally promote Studio 60 through a blog that seems to report gossip about the show's fictional universe in the form of interminably long episode summaries, an uncomfortably accurate commentary on our own half-assed efforts in the medium, we did…
To answer a couple of questions we're being frequently asked today: 1) Yes, we're aware of Defaker, NBC's brave foray into interwebinated promo-virality, which apparently attempts to plug Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip by adopting the guise of a grammatically challenged gossip blogger who writes about the show's…
After months of hype declaring prodigal showrunner Aaron Sorkin as perpetually fourth-place network NBC's Nielsen Messiah, the (preliminary) ratings numbers for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip's breathlessly anticipated premiere are finally in. And? While NBC seems to have edged out longtime tormentor CBS for first…
Not to put too fine a point on it, but next Monday's series debut of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, fourth-place NBC's extravagant show of faith in troubled-but-gifted West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin, is easily the most important moment in the network's history since an infamous 1949 episode of Texaco Star Theater,…
