television – News Stories About television - Page 50

Jan 6, 2009 2:29 PM CST

Swayze: 'I'm Going Through Hell'

(Newser) - "Yeah, I'm scared. Yeah, I'm angry. Yeah, I'm all that stuff," Patrick Swayze tells Barbara Walters in a candid interview that airs tomorrow, the first since his pancreatic cancer diagnosis. "I'm going through hell, and I've only just seen the beginning of it." Swayze was determined...

French Public TV Goes Ad Free; Not All Are Pleased

Jan 6, 2009 8:39 AM CST

French Public TV Goes Ad Free; Not All Are Pleased

Critics say Sarkozy plan is gift to corporate competitors

(Newser) - In France last night, television viewers were treated to something they'd never seen before: prime time programming without commercials on the country's five state-run public networks. It's the first reform in Nicolas Sarkozy's proposed "big bang" transformation of France Télévisions, and eventually all advertising will be...

3D in the Comfort of Home

Jan 5, 2009 1:37 PM CST

3D in the Comfort of Home

Pushes failed in the 50s, 70s, but experts think we're ready to enter a new dimension

(Newser) - Twice before, the entertainment industry has tried to get people excited about watching 3D movies and sporting events in their own living rooms. The idea fizzled both times, but this time it has a chance, reports the Los Angeles Times. At this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, manufacturers...

50 Ways to Improve Your 2009

Jan 1, 2009 5:50 PM CST

50 Ways to Improve Your 2009

Resolutions for your health, wealth and playful self

(Newser) - Just in case your pledge to exercise more didn’t satiate your need for self-improvement resolutions, US News and World Report offers 50 more ways to improve your life in 2009. Here are a few:

Pack up for Vermont: When it comes to healthy habits and community, the Green Mountain

...

Time Warner, Viacom Reach Zero-Hour Deal

Jan 1, 2009 9:57 AM CST

Time Warner, Viacom Reach Zero-Hour Deal

Cable provider keeps grip on Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV

(Newser) - The countdown to the New Year was a frantic one for Viacom and Time Warner. The companies had set a midnight deadline in their tense negotiations to keep Viacom’s networks—which include MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon—on the massive cable provider. As the ball dropped, Viacom granted a...

Sobbing
SpongeBob
Joins Viacom
Fee Dispute

Dec 31, 2008 5:29 AM CST

Sobbing SpongeBob Joins Viacom Fee Dispute

Ads aimed at winning support in Time Warner feud feature a sobbing Spongebob

(Newser) - Viacom is enlisting some of its best-known kid cartoon characters in a contract renewal battle with Time Warner, the Wall Street Journal reports. Viacom wants higher fees from the cable carrier for its channels, which could disappear from Time Warner's service at midnight tonight if no new deal is reached....

UK Dad Who Dropped TV on Girl Cleared in Her Death

Dec 30, 2008 6:37 AM CST

UK Dad Who Dropped TV on Girl Cleared in Her Death

Tragedy a 'parent's worst nightmare'

(Newser) - A father accidentally dropped a television on his 4-year-old daughter's head in a horrific Christmas tragedy, reports the Daily Telegraph. The North Wales father was carrying an old television to another room to make way for a new Christmas set when he tripped over his daughter, who was playing at...

Brit, Aussie
Actors Find
US Success

Dec 29, 2008 5:23 PM CST

Brit, Aussie Actors Find US Success

(Newser) - British and Australian actors are flocking to the US in search of work and finding great success in roles that challenge their mimicry skills, the Chicago Tribune reports. Whether it’s Hugh Laurie on House, Anna Friel on Pushing Daisies, or Simon Baker on The Mentalist, the thespians have found...

Thanks for
the Memories,
Bob, 'Cuz 2008
TV Stunk

OPINION

Dec 28, 2008 12:32 PM CST

Thanks for the Memories, Bob, 'Cuz 2008 TV Stunk

The golden age of TV may have died this year

(Newser) - Today's golden age of TV lost a little shine this year, Heather Havrilesky writes on Salon. Twelve quick months gobbled up all of the momentum and promise from years past, leaving “a haze of crappy, unoriginal new programming, lackluster sophomore shows, flaccid sitcoms and pointless cable comedies.” Old...

Shield Guns Down The Wire

OPINION

Dec 27, 2008 2:47 PM CST

Shield Guns Down The Wire

In crime drama face-off, Mackey has the edge on sheer depravity

(Newser) - When it comes to gritty portrayals of life on the unforgiving streets of an American city, no show is better than The Wire—except The Shield, Chris Petit declares in the Guardian. The crime dramas, with their shaky lens style and foul-mouth approach, shuck romance and expose the oft-forgotten American...

Sopranos'
Johnny Cakes
Commits Suicide

Dec 25, 2008 3:15 PM CST

Sopranos' Johnny Cakes Commits Suicide

Actor Costelloe played a gay mobster's lover

(Newser) - The actor who played Johnny Cakes on The Sopranos is dead, the New York Post reports. John Costelloe, 47, shot himself in the head in Brooklyn last week, police and friends said. The former firefighter served a brief but pivotal role as the gay lover of a closeted mobster in...

Fey Is AP's
Entertainer
of the Year

Dec 23, 2008 12:42 PM CST

Fey Is AP's Entertainer of the Year

30 Rock star and Palin impersonator beats out Downey, Ledger

(Newser) - Tina Fey is the entertainer of the year? You betcha. Fey was voted the AP's Entertainer of the Year, an annual honor chosen by newspaper editors and broadcast producers across the country. Fey was selected by AP members as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment...

SAG Postpones Strike Vote

Dec 23, 2008 11:27 AM CST

SAG Postpones Strike Vote

Union schedules meeting to iron out division

(Newser) - Facing dissent in the rank-and-file, the Screen Actors Guild is delaying a member vote to authorize a strike, the Los Angeles Times reports. The union’s board will push back balloting slated to begin January 2 to “address the unfortunate division and restore consensus” at a special meeting January...

Star Wars'
Secret Shame:
The Holiday
Special

GLOSSIES

Dec 22, 2008 11:40 AM CST

Star Wars' Secret Shame: The Holiday Special

1978 TV show included singing, dancing, and Wookiees

(Newser) - It sounded like a good idea at the time. In 1978, Star Wars was huge, but a sequel was 2 years away. So why not make a TV special? Why not a holiday special? Centered on Wookiees? "The only sound they make is like fat people having an orgasm,...

7% Not Ready for
Digital TV Switch

Dec 22, 2008 8:59 AM CST

7% Not Ready for Digital TV Switch

With switch due Feb. 17, estimated 7% aren't prepared; feds' coupon program shaky

(Newser) - With US television’s transition from analog to digital broadcasting less than two months away, officials are worried that consumers still don’t have the signal-converter box, the Wall Street Journal reports. An estimated 7% aren’t prepared, and Congress, which authorized $1.34 billion for coupons to help consumers...

Tinseltown Not Run
by Jews? I'm Insulted

opinion

Dec 19, 2008 7:01 PM CST

Tinseltown Not Run by Jews? I'm Insulted

(Newser) - Just 22% of Americans say Jews run Hollywood, and one Jew is insulted: "It just shows how dumb America has gotten," Joel Stein writes in the Los Angeles Times. "Jews totally run Hollywood." Looking through the trades, he could find only eight Gentiles holding powerful positions...

Actor
Sam Bottoms
Dead at 53

Dec 19, 2008 8:42 AM CST

Actor Sam Bottoms Dead at 53

Appeared in Apocalypse Now , Outlaw Josey Wales

(Newser) - Actor Sam Bottoms, who appeared in Apocalypse Now and some 30 other films, died at his LA home this week of brain cancer at age 53, the Los Angeles Times reports. Bottoms began his film career at age 15 in The Last Picture Show and was cast as surfer Lance...

Star Gazing: 9 to Watch in '09

Dec 16, 2008 7:35 PM CST

Star Gazing: 9 to Watch in '09

Entertainment Weekly picks next year's breakout performers

(Newser) - With next year's big-name film and TV projects (including a new Star Trek and a fresh Tom Hanks movie) featuring some unknowns, Entertainment Weekly lists the rising stars of 2009:

Kara DioGuardi, American Idol: The songwriting force behind hits by Pink and Ashlee Simpson will sit at the show's judging

...

Disney Channel Coming to Russian TV

Dec 16, 2008 5:30 PM CST

Disney Channel Coming to Russian TV

Mickey and pals get first Western foothold in massive market

(Newser) - Disney has become the first Western company to crack the potentially lucrative Russian TV market, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company and a Russian broadcaster are finalizing plans to introduce Disney programming on 30 stations nationwide. Disney will have a 49% ownership stake in the deal with Russia's Media-One...

Oprah Seals Production Deal With HBO

Dec 16, 2008 4:35 PM CST

Oprah Seals Production Deal With HBO

Talk-show host's production company will do films, miniseries on cable mainstay

(Newser) - Oprah Winfrey has a production deal with HBO, ending a long-lived partnership with ABC, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The exclusive, 3-year arrangement will allow Oprah’s Harpo Films more flexibility than before. “Being on a cable channel like HBO offers us a tremendous amount of creative freedom not seen...