Categories
Movies

Bring it on!!!

Baby Groot the star of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ trailer

While Chris Pratt will undeniably be the star of the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, it’s Baby Groot that takes centre stage in the new teaser trailer for the film.

Released Saturday, the trailer starts with a visual of a giant space octopus-like creature with a fangy serpentine mouth screaming as we hear Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) say in voiceover, “the fate of the universe lies on your shoulders.”

As he continues to speak and other images flash by, such as Drax (Dave Bautista) attacking the space octoserpent, it becomes clear Rocket is explaining to a now Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) how to operate a bomb.

“Now whatever you do,” Rocket says. “Don’t press this button. Because that will set off the bomb immediately and we will all be dead.”

Baby Groot looks a little worried. When asked to repeat back what he was told, he points at the button he was told not to press and says with confidence his familiar “I am Groot.”

“No, that’s the button that will kill everyone!”

Save for a clip here and there, the trailer mainly shows glimpses of the different characters in action: Star-Lord aka Peter Quill (Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax, Rocket and, of course, Baby Groot, who despite being small can still fight with the best of them. He also runs off with the bomb.

While the trailer doesn’t offer much in the way of plot, the highly anticipated sequel to the 2014 comedy sci-fi extravaganza Guardians of the Galaxy, continues the adventures of Peter Quill, a human kidnapped by aliens as a child and raised as an intergalactic criminal.

While the first film focused on introducing the various space miscreants and forcing them into a situation where they had to work together to stop an alien warrior with universal domination on his mind, this one is said to touch on the secret of Peter Quill’s true parentage – as it has hinted his dad was not human. (If you’ve read the comics, or like reading Wikis, you already know the answer to that question.)

The first film made more than US$773 million worldwide and scored a 91% on RottenTomatoes.com. The sequel has a high bar to meet.

Writer/Director James Gunn returns to the helm and many of the supporting actors are also back for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, such as Karen Gillan and Michael Rooker. Joining the cast this time round are Kurt Russell, Nathan Fillion and Sylvester Stallone.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hits theatres May 5, 2017.

Categories
Movies

I saw THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN last week and can’t wait to see OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY this week!!

Box office report: Moana tops for second week as Disney sets industry record

Disney’s Moana is leading the box office charge on two fronts this weekend. The animated feature tops the domestic chart for the second week in a row, pulling in an estimated $28.4 million in North America and a further $32 million overseas, helping the Mouse again push past an industry record.

Through Sunday, Disney has made an estimated $2.49 billion, topping the previous annual record posted by Universal ($2.45 billion) in 2015. The studio’s international total – bolstered by ongoing grosses from Moana ($177.4 million worldwide to date) and Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange (No. 5 in the nation this week, $634.9 million worldwide to date) – now sits at $4.08 billion, marking the first time Disney has crossed the $4 billion global mark in its history.

Still on deck for Disney is the impending juggernaut Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which hits theaters Dec. 16.

Coming in at No. 2 is the Warner Bros. Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which registers $18.5 million after falling a steep 58.9 percent in the first three-day period following the Thanksgiving holiday stretch. The J.K. Rowling-penned film, directed by David Yates, who helmed several of the original Potter films, has earned $183.5 million in the U.S. and Canada, making it the highest-grossing title (unadjusted for inflation) in the filmographies of stars Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller, and Colin Farrell. And though Johnny Depp appears in only a small role in the film, Fantastic Beasts is also the highest-earning film the actor’s appeared in since 2011, when Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides made $241.1 million.

Paramount’s prospective Best Picture contender Arrival jumps two spots to No. 3 on the U.S. chart, bringing in an estimated $7.3 million for a total of $73.1 million in the country. Unadjusted for inflation, the film is now director Denis Villeneuve’s top earner in the region. Arrival bounds past Robert Zemeckis’ Allied, the Brad Pitt/Marion Cotillard historical thriller, which tallies a little over $7 million across its sophomore weekend, bringing its total to $28.9 million since its Nov. 23 premiere.

BH Tilt’s horror flick Incarnate, targeted exclusively to fans of the genre in a burgeoning initiative by the Blumhouse division, finishes its first weekend at No. 9, making roughly $2.7 million across its first three days in theaters that were hand-selected by the distributor for being frequented by horror aficionados.

Like BH Tilt’s previous release, May’s The Darkness, the film was not well received by its target audience, earning a poor C- grade on CinemaScore from polled moviegoers. The Darkness did, however, fall in-line with expectations, earning a healthy $10.8 millon on a modest budget as part of Tilt’s alternative releasing model.

Outside the top 10, Fox’s Jacqueline Kennedy drama Jackie debuts to a stellar estimated $275,000 from five locations, averaging $55,000 per theater – one of the best of the year so far. The Natalie Portman-starring historical film has been heavily praised by movie critics following its run along the fall festival circuit, where director Pablo Larraín won the TIFF Platform Prize and Noah Oppenheim’s script won the Best Screenplay award at the Venice Film Festival. The film’s composer, Mica Levi, also earned recognition from the LAFCA on Sunday, receiving recognition as the critics circle’s runner-up in the Best Music Score category.

Awards hopefuls Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight continue their audience-verified bids for Oscar glory this weekend as well, earning an additional $2.4 million and $915,750, respectively. Manchester’s domestic haul now stands at $4.4 million, while Moonlight sits just under $10 million.

Two Isabelle Huppert dramas are also performing well at the North American box office: Elle, which is likely to earn the French actress her first Academy Award nomination, makes an additional $93,795 in its fourth weekend, bringing its total to $584,604, while Things to Come premieres in three theaters to the tune of $33,090.

Overall box office numbers are up 4 percent from the same period last year. Check out the Dec. 2-4 box office estimates below.

1. Moana – $28.4 million
2. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – $18.5 million
3. Arrival – $7.3 million
4. Allied – $7 million
5. Doctor Strange – $6.5 million
6. Trolls – $4.6 million
7. Hacksaw Ridge – $3.4 million
8. Bad Santa 2 – $3.3 million
9. Incarnate – $2.7 million
10. Almost Christmas – $2.5 million

Categories
Rumours

Amy as Barbie…cool!!

Amy Schumer in Talks to Star in ‘Barbie’ Movie From Sony

Amy Schumer will star in Sony’s live-action Barbie movie.

Mattel and producers Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Amy Pascal have teamed up for the project, which will try to put a contemporary spin on beauty, feminism and identity.

A year ago, Sony hired three scribes to pen separate screenplays, with the studio picking Hilary Winston’s idea and script to work off of. It is expected that Schumer will rewrite the script with her sister, Kim Caramele.

A search for a director is also underway.

The Barbie doll, launched in March 1959 by El Segundo, Calif.-based Mattel, is one of the biggest toy brands in the world, bringing in $3 billion annually. But it’s a brand that has had to address issues of self-image and race in modern times.

The feature, with Schumer in the lead, will try to address those in a story that begins in a perfect land of Barbies, where one woman slowly awakens to the fact that she doesn’t fit in. She is expelled from the idealistic land and journeys to the real world, where she discovers that being unique is an asset.

The studio is hoping to make an imaginative family comedy with plenty of heart, using the Tom Hanks classics Splash and Big, as well as Disney’s more recent Enchanted, which starred Amy Adams, as touchstones.

The road to a Barbie movie has not been an easy one, and finding the right take has been critical. At one point, the project was looking to be a buddy comedy, a two-hander that teamed Barbie with an overworked bureaucrat looking for an assistant.

Schumer’s casting is sure to raise eyebrows. One, it goes against the classic image of Barbie being a thin beauty that has come under fire in recent times, which is precisely the point of this casting. And two, Schumer has cultivated a brand of saucy comedy that may clash with Mattel’s pristine image of a gal who has unlimited career options.

Categories
Music

The play is spectacular and the mixtape is amazing!!

Hamilton, remixed: Alicia Keys, Jimmy Fallon and other famous fans create ‘mixtape’ for Broadway hit

The Broadway megahit Hamilton has already spawned a bestselling cast album, a PBS documentary and a book about its creation. Now it’s spinning off a CD by fans who happen to be some of popular music’s biggest stars.

The 23-track Hamilton Mixtape, set for release Friday, features covers by such artists as Usher, Kelly Clarkson, Nas, Ben Folds, Alicia Keys, Ashanti, John Legend, Sia, Common, Wiz Khalifa, Queen Latifah, The Roots, Jill Scott and Busta Rhymes.

It was unveiled Thursday during a four-song performance at the Broadway home of Hamilton at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, which was packed with those who had won an online lottery. A live stream also captured the event.

Tariq [Black Thought] Trotter of The Roots served as host, and he helped open the show with his version of My Shot. There were also performances by Ashanti and Ja Rule (Helpless), Andra Day (Burn) and Regina Spektor (Dear Theodosia).

The album features songs from the show that have been reworked with new arrangements and new lyrics, as well as demos that never made the show, remixes and new songs like Immigrants (We Get the Job Done).

Highlights include Legend reimagining History Has Its Eyes On You as a gospel anthem, Clarkson turning It’s Quiet Uptown into a power ballad and TV host Jimmy Fallon channeling his inner-Broadway with You’ll Be Back.

Joell Ortiz, a New York rapper who is featured on the mixtape, said he thinks the new album has more appeal to a non-Broadway audience.

“I have friends who have never been to Broadway,” he said. “I realized they’re just scared of it. The buildings seem big and the elevators seem like places they don’t belong.”

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop-flavoured biography about the first U.S. treasury secretary has become a hot ticket on Broadway and has birthed a production in Chicago, with plans for others for San Francisco and London.

The mixtape is in many ways a return to the roots of the project, which began as a collection of songs inspired by hip-hop artists. When Miranda was writing Helpless, he admits he was thinking of Ashanti and Ja Rule singing it.

Ja Rule went to see the show without high expectations, fearful the mix of rap and Broadway wouldn’t work. He left “blown away” and a Miranda fan.

“This is the beauty of what he did: He took something so left and fused it with something so right and made it so right,” he said before hitting the stage.

The mixtape arrives after the cast album has sold more than two million copies and won a Grammy for best musical theatre album. It debuted at No. 12 on Billboard’s album charts — the highest for a cast album debut since 1963. The new mixtape is executive produced by Miranda and Questlove of The Roots.

Producer and DJ !llmind, who produced four tracks on the mixtape, said the biggest challenge of putting together the new album was maintaining the integrity of the original songs while also making them new and fresh.

“Trust me, it was definitely a challenge,” he said.

“Sometimes it was like ‘OK, we’re on our 15th revision’ and then we end up going back to the original one. That’s just the nature of music but it was a hell of a lot of fun doing this.”

Categories
Awards

Congratulations to all the nominees.

Critics’ Choice Awards 2017: La La Land, Moonlight, Arrival lead movie nominees

The Critics’ Choice Awards have announced this year’s film nominees, with La La Land, Moonlight, and Arrival leading the way.

Damien Chazelle’s lavish musical La La Land topped the list with a whopping 12 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Ryan Gosling), Best Actress (Emma Stone), Best Director, and two separate nominations for Best Song. (Gosling also scored a second nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy for The Nice Guys.)

Moonlight and Arrival tied for second place with 10 nods apiece, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay — Moonlight for original screenplay, Arrival for adapted.

Other big nominees include awards season favorites like Manchester by the Sea, Fences, and Jackie, while Captain America: Civil War, Deadpool, and Doctor Strange cleaned up in the action movie categories.

Presented by the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association, the Critics’ Choice Awards can help indicate which films will go on to win big at the Academy Awards. Over the last 10 years, the film that won best picture at the Critics’ Choice Awards has gone on to win at the Oscars eight out of 10 times.

This year’s awards will air live on Dec. 11 at 8 p.m. ET on A&E. Be sure to tune in early to catch the Critics’ Choice Awards Nomination Special at 6 p.m. ET and the Critics’ Choice Red Carpet Live at 7 p.m.

See the full list of film nominees below, and head here to check out the TV nominations.

BEST PICTURE
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
La La Land
Lion
Loving
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Sully

BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
Joel Edgerton – Loving
Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling – La La Land
Tom Hanks – Sully
Denzel Washington – Fences

BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams – Arrival
Annette Bening – 20th Century Women
Isabelle Huppert – Elle
Ruth Negga – Loving
Natalie Portman – Jackie
Emma Stone – La La Land

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali – Moonlight
Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
Ben Foster – Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges – Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel – Lion
Michael Shannon – Nocturnal Animals

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Viola Davis – Fences
Greta Gerwig – 20th Century Women
Naomie Harris – Moonlight
Nicole Kidman – Lion
Janelle Monáe – Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Lucas Hedges – Manchester by the Sea
Alex R. Hibbert – Moonlight
Lewis MacDougall – A Monster Calls
Madina Nalwanga – Queen of Katwe
Sunny Pawar — Lion
Hailee Steinfeld – The Edge of Seventeen

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
20th Century Women
Fences
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

BEST DIRECTOR
Damien Chazelle – La La Land
Mel Gibson – Hacksaw Ridge
Barry Jenkins – Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
David Mackenzie – Hell or High Water
Denis Villeneuve – Arrival
Denzel Washington – Fences

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Damien Chazelle – La La Land
Barry Jenkins — Moonlight
Yorgos Lanthimos/Efthimis Filippou – The Lobster
Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
Jeff Nichols – Loving
Taylor Sheridan – Hell or High Water

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Luke Davies – Lion
Tom Ford – Nocturnal Animals
Eric Heisserer – Arrival
Todd Komarnicki – Sully
Allison Schroeder/Theodore Melfi – Hidden Figures
August Wilson – Fences

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Stéphane Fontaine – Jackie
James Laxton – Moonlight
Seamus McGarvey – Nocturnal Animals
Linus Sandgren – La La Land
Bradford Young – Arrival

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Arrival – Patrice Vermette, Paul Hotte/André Valade
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Stuart Craig/James Hambridge, Anna Pinnock
Jackie – Jean Rabasse, Véronique Melery
La La Land – David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds-Wasco
Live by Night – Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh

BEST EDITING
Tom Cross – La La Land
John Gilbert – Hacksaw Ridge
Blu Murray – Sully
Nat Sanders/Joi McMillon — Moonlight
Joe Walker – Arrival

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Colleen Atwood – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Consolata Boyle – Florence Foster Jenkins
Madeline Fontaine – Jackie
Joanna Johnston – Allied
Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh – Love & Friendship
Mary Zophres – La La Land

BEST HAIR & MAKEUP
Doctor Strange
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hacksaw Ridge
Jackie
Star Trek Beyond

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
A Monster Calls
Arrival
Doctor Strange
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
The Jungle Book

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Finding Dory
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
The Red Turtle
Trolls
Zootopia

BEST ACTION MOVIE
Captain America: Civil War
Deadpool
Doctor Strange
Hacksaw Ridge
Jason Bourne

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Benedict Cumberbatch – Doctor Strange
Matt Damon – Jason Bourne
Chris Evans – Captain America: Civil War
Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Reynolds – Deadpool

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Gal Gadot – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Scarlett Johansson – Captain America: Civil War
Margot Robbie – Suicide Squad
Tilda Swinton – Doctor Strange

BEST COMEDY
Central Intelligence
Deadpool
Don’t Think Twice
The Edge of Seventeen
Hail, Caesar!
The Nice Guys

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Ryan Gosling – The Nice Guys
Hugh Grant – Florence Foster Jenkins
Dwayne Johnson – Central Intelligence
Viggo Mortensen – Captain Fantastic
Ryan Reynolds – Deadpool

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Kate Beckinsale – Love & Friendship
Sally Field – Hello, My Name Is Doris
Kate McKinnon – Ghostbusters
Hailee Steinfeld – The Edge of Seventeen
Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE
10 Cloverfield Lane
Arrival
Doctor Strange
Don’t Breathe
Star Trek Beyond
The Witch

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Elle
The Handmaiden
Julieta
Neruda
The Salesman
Toni Erdmann

BEST SONG
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” – La La Land
“Can’t Stop the Feeling” – Trolls
“City of Stars” – La La Land
“Drive It Like You Stole It” – Sing Street
“How Far I’ll Go” — Moana
“The Rules Don’t Apply” – Rules Don’t Apply

BEST SCORE
Nicholas Britell – Moonlight
Jóhann Jóhannsson – Arrival
Justin Hurwitz – La La Land
Micachu – Jackie
Dustin O’Halloran, Hauschka – Lion

Categories
Star Wars

I want to see it now! Now!! Now!!!

Gwendoline Christie: Fans won’t be disappointed by Episode VIII

As we get excited for the unveiling of Rogue One, somewhere in Disney’s top secret post-production editing and visual effect bays are prints of year’s top-secret Episode VIII – which completed principal photography all the way back in July and won’t be released until another date that’s far, far away (December 15, 2017).

Entertainment Weekly recently spoke to Gwendoline Christie, who reprises her role as chrome trooper Captain Phasma in the film, and asked if there were any vague teases she could give fans.

“No,” she said.

Please?

“I don’t think anyone’s going to be disappointed,” she added, and then she made this remarkable expression – her eyebrows shot up, her eyes got wide, and she clamped her lips shut as she smiled, as if thinking about some intensely exciting secrets she’s just bursting to reveal … but absolutely positively will not.

One big question, of course, has been if/when her character will remove her helmet so we can get a look at the real Phasma – though Christie has also defended Episode VII’s choice to keep her appearance mysterious. “I thought it was a really interesting opportunity to play a female character where we formed an opinion of her based on her actions rather than the way she has been made flesh,” Christie told us. “And that concept within a Star Wars movie, a mainstream phenomenon, was very modern and interesting and exciting. I made no secret of the fact I wanted to be in the film, I campaigned hard to be in the film. But to be in it as that kind of character – she’s a woman, she’s in armor, the armor isn’t sexualized, and in the film we don’t see the actor’s face – I thought that was an exciting, modern concept.”

Before Episode VIII comes out, however, Christie will be back in HBO’s Game of Thrones, which returns for its seventh season next summer.

Categories
People

Good luck with allllllllllllllll that!!

Rolling Stones bassist wants full membership

The bassist who stepped in for Bill Wyman after he retired from the Rolling Stones two decades ago would love to become an official member.

Darryl Jones, 54, an American jazz musician who started his career playing with the legendary Miles Davis, replaced Wyman as the group’s bass guitarist following his retirement in 1993.

Despite joining the Stones on tour since then, and appearing on every one of the band’s albums, including new record Blue & Lonesome, he has never been recognized as an official part of the group.

Speaking to the BBC, Jones said he’d love the other members to invite him to become an official Rolling Stone.

“Obviously that would be a really wonderful thing for a person like me,” he explained. “I have been a sideman for more than 30 years now. I think most musicians, somewhere deep down inside, even if they are sidemen, or if they are hired players, there is a desire to be in a band.

The musician added, “I would not be being completely honest if I said that it would not be wonderful, it would not be amazing, to be considered and, you know, jump into this organization as a full member.”

However he was at pains to say that his joining was, “not a decision I am in a position to make.”

The other Rolling Stones are generous in their praise of Darryl, contributing to a documentary about his career which is still in production.

“Darryl is the most solid cat, I mean my solid left arm,” Keith Richards told filmmakers Eric Hamburg and Rick English. “To play with incredible, he’s an incredible musician.”

Although he has now spent more than 20 years performing with the band, the bassist has found the time to work on side projects, and is currently writing a solo album.

Categories
Business

Smart, smart move. Well done, Netflix!!

Netflix makes movies, TV shows available offline

Netflix subscribers can now download shows and movies to watch during a flight, when travelling by car or at any other time their access to the internet is limited.

The download option was announced Wednesday, and a number of shows and movies were made instantly available, including Breaking Bad, Narcos and Spotlight.

Netflix Inc., based in Los Gatos, Calif., says more downloadable content is coming at no additional charge for users.

There has been a push by subscribers to get access to Netflix shows offline.

Amazon.com Inc., which runs a rival video streaming service, has allowed users to download select shows and movies for about a year.

Categories
People

What a legacy, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere. May he rest in peace.

TV Great Grant Tinker Dies, Former CEO Of NBC Was 90

In 1969, Tinker and his then-wife, actress Mary Tyler Moore, launched MTM Enterprises. The company became an indie powerhouse, producing such popular series as the ground-breaking The Mary Tyler Moore Show, starring Moore, Rhoda, The Bob Newhart Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere.

“I’m forever grateful for and proud of what we achieved together with the creation of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and founding of MTM Enterprises,” Moore said in a statement. “Grant was a brilliant, driven executive who uniquely understood that the secret to great TV content was freedom for its creators and performing artists.”

In 1981, Tinker left to become chairman and CEO of then-last-place network NBC. There, guided by his famous motto “First be best, then be first,” Tinker, with Brandon Tartikoff as his entertainment president, spearheaded a ratings turnaround as NBC rose from last to first place on the strength of a slew of hit and acclaimed new series, including The Cosby Show, Family Ties, The Golden Girls, Cheers, Night Court, and Hill Street Blues. Tinker left NBC in 1986, following its acquisition by General Electric.

“Grant Tinker was a great man who made an indelible mark on NBC and the history of television that continues to this day,” NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke said in a statement. “He loved creative people and protected them, while still expertly managing the business. Very few people have been able to achieve such a balance. We try to live up to the standards he set each and every day. Our hearts go out to his family and friends.”

Bob Greenblatt, Chairman of NBC Entertainment, this morning sent a note to the network’s staff about Tinker’s legacy. “He was not only an iconic television producer with the highest standards, but also a towering figure in the history of the NBC network,” Greenblatt wrote. “Much will be written about him by more eloquent writers than I, but his level of class set him apart from everyone else in our business and all of us at this company owe him a debt of gratitude. In fact, TV watchers everywhere do.” (You can read the full text of Greenblatt’s appreciation at the end of the post.)

Tinker won a personal Peabody Award in 1994 “for recognizing, protecting, and fostering creativity of the highest order.” He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1997. Tinker is survived by his four children, including director-producer Mark Tinker and writer-producer John Tinker.

“My father set the bar high both as a television executive and a father,” said Mark Tinker, executive producer on NBC’s Chicago PD. “I never heard anyone speak of him with anything other than respect and admiration. I’m proud to be his son and especially proud of the legacy he leaves behind in business and as a gentleman.”

In this Archive of American Television interview below, Tinker recalls his beginnings at NBC as one of the company’s first interns in 1949. He also talks about his involvement with The Danny Thomas Show, and The Dick Van Dyke Show, and of course, The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Here is Greenblatt’s memo:

It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Grant Tinker last night. He was not only an iconic television producer with the highest standards, but also a towering figure in the history of the NBC network.

Much will be written about him by more eloquent writers than I, but his level of class set him apart from everyone else in our business and all of us at this company owe him a debt of gratitude. In fact, TV watchers everywhere do.

Grant was probably most famously married to Mary Tyler Moore, a partnership that yielded one of the most iconic independent production companies in history with MTM Enterprises — with a meowing cat logo that tipped its hat to the MGM lion — but also a string of some of the best comedies and dramas ever made.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970 was the pinnacle of that partnership and will stand the test of time. A few days before production of the pilot, Grant reportedly gave simple but effective direction to creators James L. Brooks and Allan Burns which helped put the show back on track after a rocky run-through. It now lives alongside other MTM productions, such as The Bob Newhart Show, Rhoda, WKRP in Cincinnati, Hill Street Blues, and St. Elsewhere (among others) as some of the best American television series ever.

Grant left MTM in 1981 at the height of its success to become Chairman and CEO of NBC, then in the difficult position of last place among networks in both ratings and profitability. His approach to reversing the situation was clear. He said, “First be best, then be first.” And that’s what happened.

In partnership with Brandon Tartikoff, who worked for him, the network soon regained its footing by producing wildly popular shows like The Cosby Show, Family Ties, The Golden Girls, Cheers, Night Court, and Hill Street Blues. He left the network in 1986, shortly after parent company RCA was bought by General Electric, but seeds had been sown for NBC to remain the dominant network for many years to come.

Grant Tinker restored success and dignity to NBC and helped define our brand that still endures to this day. Furthermore, his two sons John and Mark are award-winning television writers and directors, and Mark Tinker is a member of the NBC family at this very moment as executive producer of Chicago P.D. Please join me in sending condolences to the entire Tinker family. The name will always be synonymous with the best of television and the best of NBC.