Fox To Launch Reality Channel
As if there weren’t enough reality shows on TV, the Fox Reality Channel is coming early next year. According to the AP, the new network will air a mix of original series and reruns of its popular series, including Joe Millionaire and Temptation Island. But Fox Networks Group president Anthony Vinciquerra said Fox Reality Channel’s programming won’t exclusively be from Fox-related companies, and added that original programming will be developed. Other successful Fox start-ups have included the National Geographic Channel, the Speed Channel for motor sports and Fuel, for extreme sports.
Tourist finds Beatles memorabilia at flea market
A British tourist who purchased a suitcase at an Australian flea market for $36 found Beatles memorabilia inside, including photos, concert programs and unreleased recordings, London’s The Times reported Tuesday. The collection, which has yet to be authenticated, is believed to be the lost “Mal Evans archive,” originally belonging to a Beatles’ roadie and sound recorder killed by police in Los Angeles in 1976 after he brandished a fake gun. The contents of the suitcase were said to be lost during the police investigation. Items found inside include a 4-1/2 hour reel-to-reel tape recording with John Lennon and Paul McCartney experimenting with alternative versions of some previously unrecorded tracks and tapes labeled “Abbey Road… not for release.” The material will be evaluated by the Beatles’ record label, Apple.
Trump to Bush: “You’re fired!”
Billionaire Donald Trump says in Esquire magazine’s August edition he is not happy with the Bush Administration’s handling of the Iraq war. “Does anybody really believe that Iraq is going to be a wonderful democracy where people are going to run down to the voting box and gently put in their ballot and the winner is happily going to step up to lead the country?” Trump said in excerpts of the interview released in advance to Reuters. “C’mon. Two minutes after we leave, there’s going to be a revolution, and the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy will take over. And he’ll have weapons of mass destruction, which Saddam didn’t have.” Trump also said if he were president, he would be tougher on terrorism, adding that Bin Laden would have been caught long ago.
UPN affiliate wants to screen Amish reality series
A UPN affiliate wants to preview the reality TV series Amish in the City before deciding whether to air it, the AP reports. Matt Uhl, the vice president and general manager of CBS and UPN affiliates in Harrisburg, Pa., which reach large Amish communities, said Tuesday he was concerned the show could be exploitative. The show chronicles the experiences of five young Amish men and women living in a Hollywood Hills home with six other roommates. At age 16, members of the Amish religious sect allowed to break free of their strict code before deciding whether they want to be baptized as adults. The show is to begin with a two-hour episode July 28.
Studios spar over Pat O’Brien
NBC and Paramount are in a court fight over whether anchorman Pat O’Brien can promote his upcoming TV news magazine The Insider while still under contract with competitor Access Hollywood. The AP reports NBC wants to bar O’Brien, former co-host of its Access Hollywood, from promoting Paramount’s The Insider until the anchorman’s contract expires Aug. 31. The Insider debuts in syndication Sept. 13. A Superior Court judge Tuesday Court denied NBC’s request for a temporary restraining order but agreed to set a July 23 hearing on the matter.
Presley women grace Vogue cover
The three generations of Presley women–Priscilla, her daughter, Lisa Marie, and Lisa Marie’s daughter–will appear on the August issue of Vogue magazine, the Associated Press reports. In the interview Lisa Marie says she is relieved that her teenage daughter Danielle, who goes by her middle name, Riley, and is beginning a modeling career, hasn’t turned out like Paris Hilton. But Elvis’ ex-wife Priscilla defended the hotel heiress. “Some celebrities’ children have done very well, and some are still struggling,” she said. “It’s a very difficult position to be in.” Riley also tells Vogue being part of such a famous family isn’t that big a deal. “My mom isn’t famous to me. She’s just my mom,” she said.
Study shows movies getting more violent
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health say movies contain significantly more violence, sex and profanity than they did in the past decade and concluded that the Motion Picture Assn. of America (MPAA) is guilty of becoming more lenient in its film classifications. The study, which appears in the July 13 issue of Medscape General Medicine, suggests that even movies with the same rating can differ drastically in the amount and types of potentially objectionable content. It also concluded that age-based ratings alone do not provide enough information about the depiction of violence, sex, profanity and other content in films and that the MPAA rating reasons do not identify all types of content found in films.
