Morning Fix: Oprah mulls big screen return! CNN, Larry King split.
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After the coffee. Before deciding if it’s time to go off the Facebook grid.
The Skinny: I have an early lunch in Beverly Hills so I hope the Obama gridlock is over by then. Thursday’s headlines include Oprah Winfrey considering a return to the big screen, Rupert Murdoch going to visit another one of his troubled tabloids, and CNN and Larry King filing for divorce.
The Daily Dose: CBS said on its earnings call Wednesday that it is in talks to make a show for Netflix. Although some wondered why CBS would help a potential competitor, the reality is that networks and studios try to produce shows for everyone. The bigger question is whether Netflix will let CBS and other producers sell reruns to their programs once they’ve been available on Netflix for awhile. If not, Netflix may have to pay a premium to be the exclusive home for a show in perpetuity. Something to keep an eye on.
Good night, Larry. Larry King’s longest marriage -- the one he’s had with CNN for 27 years -- is coming to an end. King, who gave up his daily talk show on the cable news channel in 2010, still had a deal for several prime time specials a year. However, now the two sides are saying they have mutually decided to part ways. That may be CNN’s way of being polite. Details from the Los Angeles Times and New York Times.
Rupert is coming! News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch is going to a pay a visit to his Sun tabloid paper just days after several of its staffers were arrested for allegedly paying off police for scoops. According to Bloomberg, staffers at the paper are mad at the mogul for the handling of the matter. One Sun editor, Trevor Kavanagh, said paying for stories “has been standard procedure as long as newspapers have existed. ... There is nothing disreputable about it. And, as far as we know at this point, nothing illegal.” Well, paying a subject of a story is one thing, but paying a government official for information on someone might be a bigger deal.
Last-minute campaigning. Oscar votes are due Tuesday. Normally the push by the studios to drum up support for their movies starts to wind down about now. This year, though, the studios and producers are taking their sales pitch to voters right down to the wire. Variety takes a look at Oscar campaigns.
As if she didn’t have enough on her plate. Oprah Winfrey, who gave up her daily talk show to launch a cable network, is considering taking a movie role. The Hollywood Reporter says Winfrey is eyeing a co-starring role in ‘The Butler,’ a movie being developed about Eugene Allen, who was a butler in the White House for three decades, serving presidents from Eisenhower to Reagan.
Too soon? Almost a week after he performed on the Grammy Awards, debate is still raging over whether the show should have given Chris Brown such a big platform to the performer who made national news for his 2009 assault on then-girlfriend Rihanna. The Daily Beast looks at the growing backlash against the Grammys for having him on the show.
Fix the system. It’s pilot season, which means lots of actors are going on cattle calls trying to land parts in new sitcoms and dramas. Producer Gavin Polone, who pens a column for Vulture, says the process is ‘so strained and grueling that it doesn’t afford actors the opportunity to be cast in the show best suited to them, nor the producers a position of confidence that they have hired the best ensemble available.’
Inside the Los Angeles Times: Sony Pictures is trying to figure out what to do with ‘Sparkle,’ Whitney Houston’s last film.
-- Joe Flint
Follow me on Twitter and see what all the excitement is about. Twitter.com/JBFlint
