The Morning Fix: Tired of the iPad yet? Pilot season in full swing. Miramax RIP. Kristen Stewart is hot! ‘Ugly Betty’ is not.
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After the coffee. Before wondering what they were thinking with the name ‘iPad.’
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s an iPad! Apple chief Steve Jobs unveiled the heavily anticipated ‘iPad’ Wednesday to a packed house of fawning employees and media that, frankly, seemed ripe for parody. Whether the device will lead a media revolution or is just a glorified iPhone remains to be seen, but with the price tag starting at $500, market penetration won’t be an issue. For now, most of the attention is focused on what it will mean for Amazon’s Kindle and book publishers. Coverage and analysis from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Variety, Hollywood Reporter and USA Today. If you need a laugh, go find the old MadTV clip that predicted the launch of an iPad from Apple, although Jobs didn’t say whether his device could do what the one shown on MadTV could do.
Pilot season. Development hell is in full swing at the networks. Wednesday was the CW’s turn to make a little news as it ordered a remake of ‘La Femme Nikita’ (this is the third remake of the original movie for those keeping score at home) and a new pilot from ‘Gilmore Girls’ creator Amy Sherman-Palladino. More on that from Variety. ABC Family also gets busy, details from the Wrap, while the Hollywood Reporter looks at how it’s been a good winter for spec scripts.
Miramax bye-bye. The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman weighs in with a piece on the fate of Walt Disney Co.’s Miramax. The once-famous production house has been reducing staff and is now expected to close completely. Meanwhile, founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein would like to get the name back and revive the company that they sold to Disney years ago, but that seems unlikely for now.
NBC not going anywhere (sorry, Conan). Comcast Corp. Chief Executive Brian Roberts reassured the industry and regulators Wednesday that the cable giant had no thoughts of turning NBC into a cable network once it closed on its deal to take control of NBC Universal. ‘We think there is a vibrant role for local broadcast and national broadcast television and intend to keep NBC a free, over-the-air channel,’ he said at an industry conference, according to Broadcasting & Cable. Meanwhile, Comcast is expected to defend the deal to the Federal Communications Commission in a regulatory filing later this morning.
Sundance sales. Business is steady if not exactly booming at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter with an analysis of this year’s deal-making and what it means for the indie film business.
Inside the Los Angeles Times: Liz Murdoch talks tough to a whining industry. Kristen Stewart is the queen of Sundance. ‘American Idol’s’ Randy Jackson talks. ‘Ugly Betty’ is canceled.
-- Joe Flint
