Lady Antebellum - Photo Courtesy of Capitol Records Nashville (EMI).Lady Antebellum, Jake Owen and Kellie Pickler have joined the list of performers set to take the stage on the 2013 American Country Awards airing on Fox on December 10th at 8pm ET/PT. Trace Adkins and Danica Patrick host the show which will be broadcast live from the Mandalay Bay in Vegas.
ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Matthew Morrison, Sara Evans, Brad Paisley, Florida Georgia Line, Sheryl Crow, and Darius Rucker are also confirmed to perform. Trevor Brazile, Shada Brazile, Cowboy Troy, Big Smo, Dan King, Scotty McCreery, Thompson Square, Chris Young, Olivia Newton-John, Joe Nichols, Lauren Alaina, Clay Walker and Parmalee will present awards during the two-hour show.
Fans have until December 7, 2013 to vote for the Artist of the Year at www.theacas.com.
Michael Moloney and Sabrina Soto host ‘Great Christmas Light Fight’ (Photo by ABC/Jean Whiteside)The battle of holiday decorations will get underway on December 9, 2013 when Great Christmas Light Fight debuts on ABC. The new series pits four families against each other each week as they compete for the best decorated homes in order to earn cash prizes. The new competition series will be judged by Extreme Makeover: Home Edition‘s Michael Moloney and Sabrina Soto.
$50,000 will be given out to a winning family at the end of each episode for a total of $250,000 over the limited run of the series.
How it works: “In the first Christmas lights competition of its kind for television, 4 families will compete each week to transform their homes for the holidays. These 20 families were chosen through an extensive nationwide search, based on their previous elaborate Christmas light displays, incredible choreography and over-the-top designs.”
The 20 Families:
12/9:
Blount/Laguna Hills, CA
Holt/Chesapeake, VA
Goff/Canon, GA
Lynch/Whitestone, NY
12/16:
Simmons/Cathedral City, CA
Rhodes/Cedar Park, TX
Small/Orange, CT
Tittiger/Stockbridge, GA
Baughman/Prosper, TX
Plauche/Pass Christian, MS
Larsen/Elburn, IL
Yangello/Pennsville, NJ
12/23:
Hyatt/Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Downs/Norman, OK
Satterwhite/Mechanicsville, VA
Paradowski/Decatur, GA
Gay/Lagrangeville, NY
Macrina/West Reading, PA
Kowalczyk/Tinley Park, IL
Mize/San Rafael, CA
The Ridley Scott-produced sci-fi adventure Galyntine and Knifeman (inspired by the biography of John Hunter) have both been given pilot orders by AMC. According to the network, if they’re picked up for series they will join the AMC lineup in 2015.
“These are both highly original and ambitious pilots that take us into worlds that we haven’t seen on TV before,” said Joel Stillerman, AMC’s executive vice president of programming, production and digital content. “The bawdiness and fun of Knifeman and London in the mid-18th century; and the completely unique take on a post-apocalyptic world in Galyntine are right in AMC’s wheelhouse of making television that is both unexpected and unconventional. They’re both driven by creative and production teams that we know are capable of delivering ground-breaking television.”
Details on Knifeman:
Set in 18th century London, Knifeman will focus on the untold story of a charming, arrogant, decorum-breaking genius who challenges societal norms to transform his visions into cutting-edge discoveries. A surgeon or “barber” in a time when blood-letting and praying was the norm, John Tattersal is a hard drinking, hard living man not afraid to push the boundaries of modern medicine, even if it takes digging up a few graves to do it. While he makes his living running an unlicensed operating theatre out of his residence, he picks up extra cash harvesting organs for his brother Julian, favorite son and prized physician of the St. Stephen’s teaching hospital. Knifeman is a fast paced, entertaining romp filled with emotion, tackling dark themes with a biting wit. The pilot was written by Rolin Jones (United States of Tara, Friday Night Lights, Weeds, Low Winter Sun) and developed by Jones and Ron Fitzgerald (Last Resort, Prime Suspect, United States of Tara, Friday Night Lights, Weeds), both of whom will serve as executive producers. Media Rights Capital, Josh Donnen and Robert Zotnowski are also executive producers. Knifeman is inspired by The Knife Man: Blood, Body Snatching and the Birth of Modern Surgery.
Details on Galyntine:
Galyntine is a wholly-original vision rooted in a both fantasy/action adventure and science-fiction. Our pilot takes place at a time after a cataclysmic technology-induced disaster has resulted in a new society that has eschewed any form of technology. This catastrophic event leaves small numbers of survivors scattered around the planet and forced to adapt to isolation and unique challenges. Galyntine will explore a post-apocalyptic world in which humanity has evolved – with some strange detours. Galyntine is a man’s journey of discovery through a changed world and its mysterious people. The project is written by Jason Cahill (Halt and Catch Fire, Fringe, Surface, Profiler) and executive produced by Cahill and Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead, This Is The End, Oz The Great And Powerful, Transformers). David Zucker and Ridley Scott will also executive produce through Scott Free’s (The Good Wife, Numb3rs) first-look deal with AMC.
Paramount Pictures is showing off two new posters for Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street starring Scorsese’s frequent collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio. The Wolf ensemble also includes Jonah Hill, Jon Bernthal, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Jon Favreau, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner and Jean Dujardin, and the film is one of the few major releases that hasn’t screened for awards groups yet. But it is Scorsese and DiCaprio, so odds are we’ll be seeing this one on multiple year-end ‘Best Of’ lists.
The Plot:
Revered filmmaker Martin Scorsese directs the story of New York stockbroker Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio). From the American dream to corporate greed, Belfort goes from penny stocks and righteousness to IPOs and a life of corruption in the late 80s. Excess success and affluence in his early twenties as founder of the brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont warranted Belfort the title – “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
Money. Power. Women. Drugs. Temptations were for the taking and the threat of authority was irrelevant. For Jordan and his wolf pack, modesty was quickly deemed overrated and more was never enough.
-Posted by Rebecca Murray
Ben Stiller directs and stars in 20th Century Fox’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty opening in theaters on Christmas Day. The comedy-adventure is based on James Thurber’s short story and features Kristen Wiig, Shirley MacLaine, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn, and Sean Penn.
The Plot:
Ben Stiller directs and stars in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, James Thurber’s classic story of a day-dreamer who escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies filled with heroism, romance, and action. When his job along with that of his co-worker (Wiig) are threatened, Walter takes action in the real world embarking on a global journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined.
Why? Why him? Of all the characters on Family Guy, why did you have to kill off my favorite? Family Guy will never be the same after Seth MacFarlane and company opted to kill off one of the most beloved characters on the animated series. The November 24, 2013 season 11 episode followed in the footsteps of other popular shows in killing off a main character, but this time around the character killed off was the show’s voice of reason and unarguably the most endearing character on the animated series. And the death came after Stewie dismantled his time machine so there’s no going back.
Family Guy killed off Brian and fans are not happy about the decision, with some going as far as to wonder if this is truly the beginning of the end. Did the series jump the shark with the death of Brian? It’s too early to tell, but one fan (Aaron Thompson of Tuscaloosa) was so upset that he launched a petition on Change.org to demand the return of Brian.
However, in an interview with E!, executive producer Steve Callaghan said he’s not worried about the backlash from fans. “I’m not, only because our fans are smart enough and have been loyal to our show for long enough, to know that they can trust us. We always make choices that always work to the greatest benefit of the series.”
And one of those choices was to immediately bring in a new family dog (voiced by The Sopranos‘ Tony Sirico). “It felt like the way that this show was conceived by Seth all those years ago, it was this entire family unit including the parents, kids and a dog,” explained Callaghan. “So by losing Brian, it felt like a void needed to be filled both comically, and also for the interpersonal relationships between all the characters. We felt that we needed to fill that role.”
Okay Callaghan, if you say so. But Brian’s going to be deeply missed and if you want to somehow cheat and bring him back, we’d be eternally grateful. Pretty please.
What would the holiday season be without a little Michael Bublé? Grammy-winning singer Michael Bublé is back helping to ring in the holidays with Michael Buble’s 3rd Annual Christmas Special set to air on NBC on December 18, 2013 at 10pm ET/PT.
This year’s special is directed by Brad Lachman and will feature guest-starring appearances by Mariah Carey, Mary J Blige, and Cookie Monster. Yes, Cookie Monster.
“I think we’ve really outdone ourselves for this year’s holiday special. I couldn’t have three bigger stars or better voices than Mary J., Mariah and Cookie Monster. We all had a great time and Cookie Monster shared his cookies with all of us,” said Bublé.
Taped in Vancouver, Bublé’s third holiday special will include such classic holiday tunes as “The Christmas Song,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” and “Let It Snow.”
Seth Rogen and James Franco have outdone themselves with this not safe for work video, “Bound 3.” The two buddies have created a shot-by-shot remake of Kanye West’s “Bound 2” music video that is so, so much better than the original that we can expect another epic rant by West any minute. Franco strikes Kanye West’s poses while Rogen channels his inner Kim Kardashian, and both wind up making love on a motorcycle. Unfortunately, to get the full effect you have to actually listen to West’s atrocious song – something you should not do at work and something I wouldn’t recommend doing if you’re into well-written lyrics.
Update: Rogen posted the video on his Facebook page however it’s been taken down (of course it has). There are still copies of it on Youtube but they could be disappearing soon.
Watch the video which is, I repeat, not safe for work:
Trinity McCray "Naomi", Ariane Andrew "Cameron", Natalie Neidhart "Natalya", Nicole Garcia-Colace "Nikki Bella", Brianna Garcia-Colace "Brie Bella" from 'Total Divas' (Photo by: Timothy White/E!)Reality shows Total Divas and Eric & Jessie: Game On and talk show Hello Ross have all been given season two renewals by E!. The network announced all three new shows will be back for second seasons in early 2014.
“We are excited to bring back this diverse trio of successful series for second seasons,” stated Jeff Olde, Executive Vice President, Programming & Development, E! “Each of these series feature compelling personalities that offer unique stories and points of view from the world of pop culture. It’s exciting to have this strong line-up of returning series in addition to our other popular core franchises to help propel us into 2014.”
Total Divas has been averaging 1.4 million viewers, leading the pack of network newcomers.
Details on Total Divas:
The reality series pulls back the curtain on WWE®, one of pop culture’s most iconic brands, taking viewers inside the lives of WWE Divas, both inside and outside the ring. The series follows the Divas as they struggle with the challenges of life in the spotlight, a grueling work and travel schedule, and the intense competition for a top spot in WWE. Season one, which currently ranks as cable’s #1 reality series in its Sunday time slot with P18-34 and W18-34, follows the private and often complicated lives of some of WWE’s most popular Divas, including The Bella Twins: Nikki and Brie and their romantic relationships with WWE Superstars John Cena® & Daniel Bryan®; Natalya, as she tried to make it down the aisle and find newlywed bliss in a business where she is constantly surrounded by gorgeous men; “The Funkadactyls,” a tag-team duo with Cameron and Naomi, who worked to find a balance between being a successful team and standing out individually. Season one also showcased Divas-in-training as they attempted to climb the WWE ladder, including newbie Eva Marie who rose to fan popularity quickly much to the dismay of the other Divas. Season two will bring The Bellas’ 30th birthday in addition to Brie’s journey to the altar with Daniel Bryan.
Details on Hello Ross:
Hello Ross is a popular weekly half-hour talk show hosted by pop culture super fan and best-selling author Ross Mathews. Since its debut on September 6, the series has proven to be the ultimate fan forum where celebrity gossip and pop culture collide, ranking as E!’s strongest new weekly topical series of 2013 to date in total viewers (451,000). Produced by Borderline Amazing, the series has welcomed some of the most talked about names in entertainment, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Kris Jenner, NeNe Leakes, Joe Manganiello, Leah Remini, Lance Bass, Norman Reedus, Gloria Estefan and Kelly Osbourne. The interactive series offers fans the opportunity to debate the most buzzworthy topics and celebrity scoop, in addition to joining Ross as he hits the streets with fans for a variety of pop culture adventures. The series has proven to be appointment television, with its debut season reaching over 10 million total viewers to date, and host Ross Mathews being recently nominated as Favorite New Talk Show Host by the People’s Choice Awards.
Details on Eric & Jessie: Game On:
Eric & Jessie: Game On gives fans an up-close look at the steamy relationship of the newly married red-hot couple country/pop singer Jessie James and Denver Broncos wide receiver Eric Decker as they juggle their high-profile careers, family and friends. Popular with young female and young adult audiences, the series currently ranks as one of E!’s top new original series of 2013 in W18-34 (362,000) and reached nearly a half million viewers in P18-34 (446,000) each week. Season one, which debuted September 29, followed Eric and Jessie’s road to the altar as they took on wedding planning and getting settled into their Denver dream home. Season two will follow the tightly connected couple as Jessie adjusts to a baby bump and prepares for the arrival of their little girl, while Eric focuses on football as the top-ranked Broncos aim for the Super Bowl.
Robert Taylor, Katee Sackhoff and Bailey Chase star in 'Longmire' (Photo by Cathy Kanavy/Copyright 2013)
A&E has made it official: Longmire will be returning for another season. The network has just given the popular dramatic series an order for a 10 episode third season, with Robert Taylor returning to star.
“Longmire has become one of the most compelling dramas on television with a devoted audience and we are so proud of the show,” said David McKillop, General Manager and Executive Vice President of A&E. “We are thrilled to continue our wonderful partnership with Warner Horizon Television, the production team, and the talented cast and crew led by the exceptional Robert Taylor.”
Season two of Longmire averaged 3.7 million viewers, surging to 4.4 million for the season two finale, and is the number one dramatic series for A&E. In addition to Taylor, the series also features Lou Diamond Phillips, Katee Sackhoff, Bailey Chase, Cassidy Freeman, and Adam Bartley.
The Plot:
Longmire is based on the Walt Longmire Mystery novels by best-selling author Craig Johnson. The series follows its central character, Walt Longmire (Taylor), the charismatic, dedicated and unflappable sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming. Widowed, Longmire is a man in psychic repair that buries his pain behind a brave face and dry wit but is steadfast in his dedication to both his job and community.
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