Imagine sitting down in your seat on a plane, preparing for take-off, and all of a sudden a live version of “Circle of Life” fills the cabin. That’s what happened to lucky passengers on board a plane carrying the cast of the Australian production of The Lion King. The cast was celebrating the Brisbane season launch and heading back to Sydney when they decided to treat their fellow passengers to a song from the hit musical.
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-By Rebecca Murray
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University of Georgia announced the 46 (that’s a new record) winners of the 73rd Annual Peabody Awards representing the best in electronic media for 2013. Almost 1,100 entries were received by the 16-member Peabody Board made up of television critics as well as experts in culture and arts, and those chosen as winners will receive their Peabody statuettes on May 19, 2014 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.
“The quality of storytelling in electronic media continues to increase year-after-year, across platforms, producing organizations and nations,” said Dr. Jeffrey P. Jones, director of the Peabody Awards. “The unprecedented number of awards we gave this year reflects this fact. There simply are a larger number of stories that deserve our attention as citizens and consumers. And what a wonderfully rich and satisfying set of stories we’ve called attention to this year!”
180 Days: A Year Inside an American High School (PBS)
National Black Programming Consortium, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS
Chronicling a year at Washington Metropolitan, aka DC Met, it’s an intimate, unvarnished portrait of a high-poverty high school and the challenges facing students, teachers and administrators.
The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (PBS)
Thirteen, Inkwell Films, Kunhardt McGee Productions in association with Ark Media
A long time coming, not to mention five years in the making, Gates’ history of African Americans, their trials, their triumphs and their ongoing influence on this nation, reaches back five centuries to find stories that inspire, unsettle, surprise and illuminate.
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN)
CNN, Zero Point Zero Production, Inc.
Whether Bourdain’s tireless search for new taste experiences takes him to Myanmar or Detroit, he never fails to find great stories to go with the food.
Best Kept Secret (PBS)
American Documentary / POV, BKS Films, LLC
The “secret” at Newark’s poor John F. Kennedy High School is its unexpectedly resourceful program for special-needs students, especially autistic teens. This documentary – frank, poignant, never simplistic – immerses viewers in the struggles of three autistic kids and one dedicated teacher.
Borgen (DR1, Denmark)
DR Fiktion
Borgen is a Danish term for “government,” and this realistic, richly nuanced dramatic series is peerless in its depiction of how the machinery works. It’s also rumination on power, ambition, integrity, love and deal-making, with one of the most intriguing female protagonists in all the TV world.
Breaking Bad (AMC)
Sony Pictures Television
Through a stunning brand of visual storytelling and meticulous character development, we were able to explore the darkest chambers of a human heart in a way never before seen on TV. Over five seasons, Vince Gilligan made good on his promise to utterly transform Walter White from Mr. Chips into Scarface.
The Bridge (FX)
Shine America and FX Productions
A crime drama set in motion by a murder victim left literally on the border of West Texas and Northern Mexico, its rare, non-stereotypical depiction of two cultures rubbing against and informing each other is as fascinating as the mystery.
Broadchurch (BBC America)
A Kudos and Imaginary Friends Co-Production
A peaceful, picturesque seaside town in England is rattled to its core by the murder of a young boy in this intricately crafted, emotionally rich, endlessly surprising mystery series.
Burka Avenger (Geo Tez)
Unicorn Black
Smart, colorful and provocative, this Pakistani-produced television program about a super-heroine sends a clear message about female empowerment that has the potential to affect an entire generation.
The Central Park Five (PBS)
Florentine Films, WETA
A tragic story, finally told in full, The Central Park Five reexamines not only the case of black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were railroaded and wrongly imprisoned for a rape but the climate of fear and the media frenzy that surrounded their trial.
A Chef’s Life (PBS)
Markay Media in association with South Carolina ETV (SCETV)
A cooking/reality series revolving around a high-end, farm-to-fork restaurant in North Carolina’s low country, it’s made all the more appetizing by generous sides of local color, stereotype-defying rural neighbors and Southern food-lore.
Coverage of Boston Marathon Bombings (WBZ-TV, Boston, and WBZ Newsradio 1030)
WBZ-TV, WBZ Newsradio 1030
Out in force to cover the annual marathon, both WBZ-TV and Newsradio 1030 had a journalistic advantage when the bombs detonated. Neither gave it up as their reporters spent hour after hour on the air providing wide-ranging, enterprising, non-sensational coverage of the casualties, the suspects and the intense, nerve-wracking manhunt. They become crucial sources not just to their city but to a stunned nation.
Coverage of Supertyphoon Yolanda (Haiyan) (GMA Network Inc., Philippines)
GMA Networks, Inc.
Facing logistical challenges and sharing in the national shock in the face of what may have been the most powerful typhoon is history, GMA news teams provided desperately needed spot news coverage and information, gaining strength and perspective as they worked, and followed up with solid reporting on the aftermath, heroic acts and relief efforts.
Fault Lines: Haiti in a Time of Cholera (Al Jazeera America)
Al Jazeera America
Nearly 8,000 Haitians have died of cholera since the island was devastated by an earthquake in 2010, and more than half a million others have been infected. Fault Lines presses for accountability as it reports mounting scientific evidence that U.N. peacekeepers were the source of the epidemic.
Fault Lines: Made in Bangladesh (Al Jazeera America)
Al Jazeera America
Probing a garment-factory fire in Bangladesh that left at least 119 people dead, Fault Lines discovered evidence that U.S. retailers such as Walmart, whose Faded Glory clothing brand was found in the ashes, often turn a “blind eye” to their subcontractors’ dangerous, cost-cutting practices.
FRONTLINE: League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis (PBS)
FRONTLINE, Kirk Documentary Group
Undeterred by the National Football League’s defense, FRONTLINE’s investigative team produced a solidly-sourced, high-impact documentary about the extent of brain damage among players, a story still reverberating throughout the world of sports.
Great Performances: Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy (PBS)
B’WAY Films LLC, Ghost Light Films, Albert M. Tapper and THIRTEEN for WNET
Historically fascinating and grandly entertaining, it’s a tune-filled dissertation on the incalculable influence of Jewish musical idioms and Jewish composers – from Irving Berlin to Stephen Sondheim to Stephen Schwartz -on the evolution of a great American art form.
Hanford’s Dirty Secrets (KING-TV, Seattle)
KING 5 Television
Centering on a leaking nuclear-waste storage tank in Washington state, the Seattle station’s expose of mismanagement, deception and waste of tax dollars resulted in a full review of the Hanford nuclear “reservation” by the U.S. Department of Energy and resignations at the company that manages the toxic site.
Hollow (www.hollowdocumentary.com)
Hollow Interactive, LLC
Experiential aurally and visually, the interactive website lets visitors immerse themselves in the lives of 30 residents of McDowell County, West Virginia, an economically stressed, shrinking American community both unique and emblematic.
House of Cards (Netflix)
Donen/Fincher/Roth, Trigger Street Productions, Inc., Media Rights Capital, Netflix
By releasing an entire season of episodes at once, Netflix took binge viewing to a new level and obliterated the idea that a hit TV show needs a slot in prime time. We are able to follow Frank Underwood’s political schemes at our own pace and immerse ourselves in the show’s version of Washington, D.C., where desperation for power is the capital city’s lifeblood.
In Plain Sight: Poverty in America (NBC & www.nbcnews.com/feature/in-plain-sight)
NBC News
Many faces and forms of poverty, some predictable, some startling, are highlighted in NBC News’ wide-ranging, multi-platform project, geared to the 50(th) anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s declaration of “war” on the scourge.
Independent Lens: How to Survive a Plague (PBS)
How to Survive a Plague LLC, Public Square Films, Impact Partners, Little Punk
A real-life medical thriller, David France’s documentary evokes the alarm and enterprise surrounding AIDS in the late 1980s, when the activists in groups such as ACT UP and TAG took their fates into their own hands and changed the course of a global pandemic.
Independent Lens: The House I Live In (PBS)
Charlotte Street Films, Independent Television Service (ITVS), BBC, ZDF/ARTE, NHK Japan
Forty years and 45 million arrests after the U.S. declared war on them, illegal drugs are cheaper, purer and more available than ever. What went wrong with the campaign? The House I Live In counts the ways, not just with hard statistics but with powerful human stories.
Independent Lens: The Invisible War (PBS)
Chain Camera Productions, Independent Television Service (ITVS), Girls Club Entertainment, RISE films, Fork Films, Cuomo Cole Productions, Canal Plus
With powerful interviews with rape survivors at its core, The Invisible War is the most exhaustive report to date on the extent and causes of sexual assault in the U.S. military.
Inside Syria’s War (BBC World News)
BBC World News America
From gruesome mass-murder scenes outside Homs to displaced children living in caves, the consistent, up-close coverage of Syria’s civil war and its human toll by BBC World News journalists had no equal in 2013.
Key & Peele (Comedy Central)
Central Productions
It’s like Abbott and Costello Meet Richard Pryor when the duo of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele fearlessly apply their mischievous minds and satirical savvy to racially aware sketches both broad and incisive.
Latino Americans (PBS)
WETA, LPB (Latino Public Broadcasting), Bosch & Company, ITVS
A revelation no doubt for many viewers, the documentary series’ six fascinating installments traced a people’s history that’s older than the United States itself and showed how Latinos, rendered to foreigners in a land their ancestors colonized, are now reshaping it.
The Law in These Parts (PBS)
American Documentary / POV
The seemingly lighthearted title notwithstanding, Israeli filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz’s documentary is serious, resoundingly significant work–a long, hard look at the legal system his homeland created in 1967 to govern the newly occupied Palestinian territories and what it has meant and still means to both sides in this lasting conflict.
Life According to Sam (HBO)
HBO Documentary Films and Fine Films LLC
Sam Berns, a teenager bearing up to the ravages of a disease that causes accelerated aging with amazing grace, humor and thoughtfulness, is the subject of this great, informative, humane and humbling documentary.
Louisiana Purchased (WVUE-TV, New Orleans, and NOLA.com)
WVUE-TV & NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune
Plenty big, never easy, this extensive joint TV-newspaper investigation of Louisiana campaign financing – who gives and gets what – put influence peddlers and buyers on notice and provided TV-news operations around the country a template for ambitious digging.
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (HBO)
Jigsaw Productions, HBO Documentary Films, Wider Film Projects and Below the Radar Films
Harrowing and infuriating, Alex Gibney’s investigative documentary focuses on one of the earliest and ugliest cases in the Roman Catholic Church’s sex-abuse scandal: a Milwaukee priest who abused more than 200 deaf children at a school he oversaw.
A Needed Response (YouTube/Samantha Stendal)
Samantha Stendal, Aaron Blanton
Short, simple and spot-on in its critique of rape culture, the ingenious PSA by two University of Oregon students takes just 25 seconds to make its point that real men treat women with respect.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates: Questions of Influence (WTVF-TV, Nashville)
WTVF-TV
In a series of reports capped by an hour-long prime-time special, WTVF’s investigators revealed that running Tennessee state government “like a business,” as the governor had publically pledged, in reality meant sweetheart deals, no-bid contracts and ethical lapses. A scathing state audit was just one of the results.
One-on-One with Assad (CBS)
CBS This Morning, CBS News
In what was surely the biggest journalistic “get” of 2013, CBS This Morning’s Charlie Rose sat down with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Under Rose’s polite but persistent questioning, Assad gave us a look into the mind of one of the world’s most vicious warmongers, a glimpse of banality and evil.
Orange Is the New Black (Netflix)
Lionsgate Television, Netflix
Orange Is the New Black turns a notorious drive-in genre – women behind bars – into a complex, riveting character study rich in insights about femininity, race, power, and the politics, inside and outside prison walls, of mass incarceration.
Orphan Black (BBC America)
Temple Street Productions in association with BBC America and SPACE
It’s all about cloning, but Orphan Black is one of a kind – a super-charged, stylized sci-fi action serial that ponders identity, humanity, bioethics and genetic research when it occasionally stops for breath. Titiana Mislany is a marvel in the title role.
Outside the Lines: NFL at a Crossroads: Investigating a Health Crisis (ESPN)
ESPN
Its close business association with the professional football notwithstanding, ESPN produced a tough, wide-reaching documentary on the concussion crisis in the National Football League and its efforts to downplay growing bodies of scientific evidence and brain-injured player complaints.
The Race Card Project (NPR’s Morning Edition)
The Race Card Project, NPR News, NPR’s Morning Edition
Undercutting the term’s political, pejorative meaning, Michelle Norris’ website project and NPR series defines “race card” literally, inviting listeners to share six-word summations of their racial ideas and experiences that became the basis of compelling reports about race, pride, prejudice and identity.
Reveal: The VA’s Opiate Overload (Public Radio)
The Center for Investigative Reporting, Public Radio Exchange (PRX)
Reveal exposed a staggering upswing – 270 percent over a dozen years – in opiate prescriptions at Veterans Administration hospitals, which has led to an overdose rate among VA patients more than twice the national average.
The Returned (Les Revenants) (Sundance Channel)
Haut et Court TV, Canal +, Jimmy, Cine +, Backup Films
Thoughtfully conceptualized, exquisitely photographed and sensitively acted, this supernatural drama explores loss, grief, memory, guilt and our notions of afterlife as deceased residents of a picturesque mountain town in France seemingly return. It’s elegant, it’s zombie-free and it’s still unnerving.
Scandal (ABC)
ABC Studios
Loosely based on the exploits of a real Washington, D.C. “fixer,” turbocharged by Kerry Washington’s star turn, Scandal is part West Wing and part Dynasty, an exaggerated, outrageous, fun-house reflection of the real-life political shenanigans we’ve come to loathe and jeer.
A Short History of the Highrise (www.nytimes.com)
The New York Times, The National Film Board of Canada
With text, games, antique photos and three storybook-style animated shorts – Mud, Concrete and Glass – the interactive website entertainingly explores 2,500 years of “vertical living.” A fourth feature, Home, catalogues images of multi-story life submitted by the public.
Six by Sondheim (HBO)
HBO Documentary Films and Sabella Entertainment
The “father” of the modern Broadway musical bares some of his art and soul in the engrossing, entertaining documentary. It combines his candid reflections, archival footage and fresh interpretations of six of his iconic songs, including “Send in the Clowns.”
TCM: The Story of Film (TCM)
TCM
Turner Classics’ monumental project combined 15 installments of Mark Cousins’ gorgeously constructed and richly layered historical tour of world cinema, The Story of Film: An Odyssey, with full showings of 119 of the movies it covers.
This American Life: Harper High School (WBEZ Chicago 91.5)
WBEZ Chicago’s This American Life
A trio of This American Life reporters embedded themselves for five month at Harper, a Chicago high school where gun violence was epidemic, and produced a pair of hour-long documentaries that were vivid, unblinking, poignant, and sometimes gut-wrenching.
Tom Brokaw: Personal Award
A personal Peabody is given to Tom Brokaw, the longtime reporter and anchor of NBC Nightly News. With his TV projects and celebrated books like The Greatest Generation, the anchor emeritus has only enhanced his reputation since he left the desk in 2004.
Ready for a recap of seasons one through three of Game of Thrones? This five minute video hits the high points of the seasons using humor to actually remind us of what went down.
The Plot of Season 4:
Encouraged by the Red Wedding slaughter in the Riverlands that wiped out many of their Stark nemeses, the Lannisters’ hold on the Iron Throne remains intact…but can they survive their own egos, as well as new and ongoing threats from the south, north and east? While an unbowed Stannis Baratheon continues to rebuild his army in Dragonstone, a more immediate danger comes from the south, as Oberyn Martell, the Lannister-loathing “Red Viper of Dorne,” arrives at King’s Landing to attend Joffrey’s wedding to Margaery Tyrell, and perhaps act on an ulterior agenda. In the north, a depleted Night’s Watch seems overmatched against the inexorable Wall advances of Mance Rayder’s army of wildlings, which in turn is being trailed by an even more formidable foe: the undead White Walkers. As if that weren’t enough, Daenerys Targaryen, accompanied by her menacing trio of dragons and army of Unsullied, is poised to liberate Meereen, the largest city in Slaver’s Bay, which could ultimately provide her with enough ships to sail to Westeros and reclaim the Iron Throne.
Word of warning: The video is not safe for work.
-By Rebecca Murray
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AMC’s revealed a teaser poster for the upcoming fifth season of The Walking Dead which simply says “Survive.” Of course, that simple “survive” will be taken numerous ways and analyzed to death until AMC puts out the next piece of teaser artwork.
Taken at face value, it’s a command to our heroic, ragtag pack of friends to do what it takes to make it out of Terminus alive, which is probably all that’s meant by this first generic tease of the new season. The network’s also put out a super short video with Andrew Lincoln giving a description of what we can expect from season five when it premieres in October.
Among the many big questions left dangling as season four drew to a close was whether that was poor Beth being served up to Rick, Carl, Daryl, and Michonne when they arrived in Terminus. Comic book creator and series writer/executive producer Robert Kirkman talked to TVGuide.com about that possibility.
“The Beth BBQ question is a big one. I’ve seen that a lot on Twitter. When a theory is as prevalent as that one is, it’s more than likely not true,” explained Kirkman. “If there ever was a storyline where we were going a different way and the audience seemed to be ahead of us to that point, it would be extremely unfortunate and I would certainly not feel too good about how well we’re doing our jobs. Thankfully this doesn’t seem to be the case.”
Lifetime’s revisiting the world of the Dollanganger family with the Flowers in the Attic sequel Petals on the Wind coming to the network on May 26, 2014 at 9pm ET/PT. Heather Graham, Ellen Burstyn, and Dylan Bruce are all reprising their roles in the sequel based on the V.C. Andrews book series.
Flowers in the Attic garnered big ratings and currently stands as the “number one movie telecast on ad-supported cable” this year. 6.1 million viewers tuned in to watch the movie’s January 18, 2014 premiere, and the film adaptation caused renewed interest in Andrews’ book series and moved Flowers in the Attic back onto the bestsellers list.
Petals on the Wind will be followed by adaptations of If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday from the Dollanganger series. Lifetime also has plans for a film based on the standalone novel My Sweet Audrina.
The Petals on the Wind Plot:
A decade after Cathy (Rose McIver), Christopher (Wyatt Nash) and Carrie (Bailey Buntain) escaped from their grandparents’ attic at Foxworth Hall, Petals on the Wind continues to follow the twisted plight of the family as they attempt to put their sordid past behind them, but soon discover certain secrets can’t be left behind. When Cathy finds herself in an abusive relationship with a fellow dancer, Julian (Will Kemp), Christopher and Cathy are forced to face the forbidden feelings they developed for one another while coming of age during captivity. But when tragedy strikes the Dollangangers once again, Cathy returns to Foxworth Hall to confront her grandmother and seek revenge on her mother with a plan to seduce her husband Bart (Dylan Bruce). When Christopher runs to Cathy’s side, the two are determined to start over again – together.
Chicago Fire had a VIP guest on the set recently. Smokey, the winner of the Chicago Fire Top Dog competition, showed up to shoot her appearance on the show which her earned by being voted Top Dog.
The Labrador/Retriever mix from Station 2 in Jacksonville, Illinois will appear in a May episode of the NBC drama.
While he was on the set, Smokey was given the full star treatment, including a gift basket and her own director’s chair.
Smokey’s Bio:
As a 6-month-old puppy, Smokey was inside a home that was engulfed in flames. Eventually, her lifeless body was brought out and, with the aid of firefighters and a veterinarian, was kept on oxygen for three days, hand-fed, and nurtured. Now, she is a training tool for school children and the community as the firefighters have taught her safety techniques such as “stop, drop and roll,” among other civic duties the 4-year-old pooch performs.
Josh Trank is set to direct The Fantastic Four which is supposed to start filming soon in Baton Rouge. 20th Century Fox is aiming for a June 19, 2015 release.
Kebbell’s credits include Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Counselor, The East, Wrath of the Titans, War Horse, The Conspirator, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, RocknRolla, and Control.
-By Rebecca Murray
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“Earth Kills” Plot:
In a desperate attempt to treat Jasper’s festering wounds, Clarke, Finn and Wells set out in search of a seaweed antibiotic.
-By Rebecca Murray
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Definitely not safe for work or anyone easily offended (who shouldn’t be clicking on an article titled “Sex Tape Offers Up a Not Safe for Work Trailer” in the first place), the new restricted trailer for Sex Tape stars Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel, Rob Corddry, Rob Lowe, some cocaine usage, a sex tape sent into the iCloud, and one very angry dog.
Directed by Jake Kasdan from a screenplay he co-wrote with Kate Angelo and Jason Segel, Columbia Pictures will be launching Sex Tape in theaters on July 25, 2014.
The Plot:
When Jay (Jason Segel) and Annie (Cameron Diaz) first got together, their romantic connection was intense – but ten years and two kids later, the flame of their love needs a spark. To kick things up a notch, they decide – why not? – to make a video of themselves trying out every position in The Joy of Sex in one marathon three-hour session. It seems like a great idea – until they discover that their most private video is no longer private.
With their reputations on the line, they know they’re just one click away from being laid bare to the world… but as their race to reclaim their video leads to a night they’ll never forget, they’ll find that their video will expose even more than they bargained for.
Streep will be showing off her singing skills in the lead role, playing a “rock n’ roll-loving woman who chased her tattered dream at the price of her family, but gets a last chance to, perhaps, make things right.” No stranger to movie musicals having starred in Mamma Mia and the upcoming Into the Woods, Streep will be rocking out as a “guitar-wielding, hard rockin’ mamma by night and grocery store checkout lady by day.”
Streep will be practicing the guitar this summer in preparation for a fall shoot.
Announcing Streep’s casting, TriStar Productions Chairman Tom Rothman said, “We feel lucky as hell to have been selected by such outstanding filmmakers to be the dive bar for Ricki and her band. We aspire to be the best roadies ever. I have been fortunate enough to have personally worked with each of the Fab Four talents involved here before and know well how supremely gifted they are. This is a great day in the life of our company.”
“Mason and I are thrilled. Diablo and Meryl are two of the women I admire most and we are lucky to be collaborating with them,” said producer Marc Platt. “Jonathan and I first worked together on Philadelphia at TriStar, so the homecoming to the studio is particularly sweet. I know Jonathan will do a masterful job on the film and that we will all be in good hands with Tom Rothman and his team.”
Source: Sony Pictures Entertainment
-By Rebecca Murray
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