The Morning Fix: CBS Films shakeup! ‘Nightline’ hot. NBC patient.
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After the coffee. Before picking my cats up from the airport.
The Skinny: Yes, you read that correctly. My cats, who stayed in New York when I moved here (long story), are arriving via Pet Airways today. Hope they got peanuts. Friday’s headlines include an executive change at CBS Films, a slow start for Jay Leno and David Letterman, and a look at why it took six years for the movie ‘Margaret’ to get to the big screen.
Better start atoning now. Normally, Rosh Hashanah is when Hollywood takes a couple days off. Not so at CBS Films where Amy Baer is out as head of the media company’s movie unit. Baer’s exit comes after four years in the job that saw CBS release five films of which only one -- ‘The Back-Up Plan’ -- grossed over $30 million at the box office. No successor was named for Baer, whose deal was up next month. Instead three executives, including influential chief operating officer Wolfgang Hammer, will assume greater responsibility. Coverage from the Los Angeles Times. The news was first broken by industry trade Deadline Hollywood. NOTE: Earlier Friday morning the link to the Deadline story was not working, but the problem has been fixed.
Poor start. Both CBS’ David Letterman and NBC’s Jay Leno saw their ratings tumble during the first week of the fall prime time season, while the audience for ABC’s ‘Nightline’ and ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ went up. While NBC’s prime-time lineup is not exactly providing a great lead-in for Leno, it’s not as if ABC is doing blockbuster numbers in the 10 p.m. hour either. More on the low late-night numbers from the New York Times.
50/50 chance I’ll see that. This weekend’s box office battle is between the comedy ‘50/50’ and horror flick ‘Dream House,’ which sounds awfully similar to the new FX drama ‘American Horror Story.’ Neither ‘50/50’ nor ‘Dream House’ is expected to topple incumbents ‘The Lion King’ or ‘Moneyball.’ Box office projections from the Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Reporter and Variety.
No app for that. iPad apps for TV shows have become Hollywood’s latest gimmick to try to engage viewers in their shows. While finding new ways to offer programming-related content to the audience shouldn’t be dismissed, ultimately there is no app that makes a bad show good. More on the TV industry’s iPad app obsession from the Wall Street Journal.
Showing patience. NBC has a couple of candidates to be the first shows canceled in the new TV season including struggling drama ‘The Playboy Club.’ But according to Deadline Hollywood, new NBC Entertainment chief Bob Greenblatt is going to be patient with his new crop of shows. One potential show to come off the bench will be Brian Williams’ new newsmagazine show in development. However, NBC doesn’t want to rush it on the air.
New Dawn. The New York Post is reporting that former CW chief Dawn Ostroff, who left her gig and Los Angeles for New York several months ago, is in talks to join magazine publisher Conde Nast to oversee its video efforts.
Inside the Los Angeles Times: A look at why the movie ‘Margaret,’ starring Matt Damon and Anna Paquin, has sat in limbo for the last six years. Kenneth Turan on ‘50/50.’ Mary McNamara on Showtime’s ‘Homeland.’
-- Joe Flint
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