The Morning Fix: ‘District 9’ locks them up; Cartoon without cartoons; Comcast and USOC back off Olympic channel; 3-D TV
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After the coffee. Before deciding if ‘Mad Men’ lives up to the hype.
‘District 9’ rounds them up. Sony Pictures’ science-fiction flick ‘District 9’ took in $37 million and crushed the competition. Warner Bros.’ ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ opened to a decent $19.4 million. Paramount’s ‘G.I. Joe’ endured a big drop, and next weekend will only get tougher with Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Inglourious Basterds’ opening. Analysis from the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Variety and the Hollywood Reporter.
A Cartoon Network without cartoons? Turner Broadcasting is overhauling the Cartoon Network with reality and live-action programming. The business rationale makes some sense, but so far the new shows are not catching on. The Los Angeles Times looks at the cable channel’s risky bet.
Universal Blues. Universal Studios has had a tough, to put it mildly, summer. Now two of its top executives -- Marc Shmuger and David Linde -- are under fire. The duo talk to Los Angeles Times reporter Claudia Eller about what’s gone wrong and what needs to be done.
No gold after all. The United States Olympic Committee and cable giant Comcast have backed away from plans to launch an Olympic-themed network. The channel, announced just last month, drew tremendous criticism from the International Olympic Committee and NBC, which holds the U.S. rights for the Games for the next several years. The network also was seen as a threat to Chicago’s chances of hosting the 2016 Summer Games, reports the Chicago Tribune.
Why did ‘Bandslam’ bomb? Some inside dirt on the marketing campaign that failed to get the well-reviewed ‘Bandslam’ off the ground, from Deadline Hollywood Daily.
TV’s dark days. The Wrap looks at the tough times facing the broadcast-TV industry and asks whether the business will ever fully recover. Some of the cuts going on right now -- smaller writing staffs, less glamour -- don’t seem all that bad. Ultimately, though, it will take more than a cheaper salad bar and fewer scribes to revitalize the industry.
3-D TV. Although it is still years, if not a decade, away from going mainstream, there are efforts to bring 3-D to television both here and abroad, reports the Wall Street Journal. In Britain, British Sky Broadcasting is launching a 3-D channel; here, DirecTV and Discovery are researching the viability of 3-D programming.
Michael Eisner -- producer. Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner’s new show, ‘Glenn Martin, DDS,’ makes its debut on Viacom’s Nickelodeon tonight. The New York Times delves into the genesis of the program.
Comcast plotting? Comcast is stockpiling cash, causing some investors and analysts to wonder if it is looking to make a big deal like it tried to do with Disney five years ago, says Reuters.
Inside the Los Angeles Times: Mary McNamaraon reality TV, the media and us. Patrick Goldstein on product placement. As a plot device, time travel is nothing new.
-- Joe Flint
