John Sayles has been hired to write HBO’s “Scar Tissue,” a project based on the childhood of Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis, Daily Variety reports. Kiedis’ dad sold drugs while hobnobbing with rock stars on the Sunset Strip,…
Major advertisers General Motors and Anheuser-Busch are insisting on new, slower payment terms for the companies that produce their television commercials, thel Wall Street Journal says. Media agency GroupM is also trying to get online publishers to wait longer for…
Recently retired quarterback Brett Favre could be a nifty replacement for Emmitt Smith on ESPN, USA Today reports. Norby Williamson, an ESPN executive, tells the paper the network hopes to meet with Favre next month. “He’s a funny, dynamic guy…
As more recession-wary Americans opt to stay at home rather than shell out for movies, cable networks are adding made-for-cable movies to their schedules, Multichannel News reports. Once a staple of the broadcasters in the 1970s and 80s, TV movies…
“Medium” star Patricia Arquette tells the Los Angeles Times that people stop her on the street and ask why her show got cancelled. In fact, “Medium” has started its fifth season and is averaging 8.5 million viewers, a better number…
Two ABC comedy pilots—”Funny in Farsi” and “Planet Lucy”— were put on hold after contingencies couldn’t be met by the network’s Friday deadline, the Hollywood Reporter says. “Farsi,” from ABC Studios, is based on a memoir by Firoozeh Dumas, while…
MTV is banking on 16 new unscripted series and some scripted and animated shows in 2009 to boost its ratings, Broadcasting & Cable says. The strategy marks a radical change in its programming style, which is needed because the cable…
Even though it didn’t run in many markets, Miller is crediting the buzz around its one-second Super Bowl spot for an increase in sales of its High Life brand, Advertising Age reports. —Jon Lafayette
Staying cable’s top sports network isn’t cheap, the Wall Street Journal says. As sports rights fees rise, revenues at Disney’s Cable Networks, including ESPN, grew just 2% in the fiscal first quarter and operating income fell 12% the paper notes….
On Discovery Channel’s “Wreckreation Nation,” host Dave Mordal participates in off-beat competitions around the United States, the New York Times says. The first episode featured lawn-mower racing in Ohio and alligator wrestling in Colorado. “Mordal made it out of the…