SPOILER ALERT!! DON'T READ THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN THE HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD COMPETITION!
The Internet Shows 'Big Brother' Competition End
"Big Brother 4" fans and the HouseGuests themselves pulled an all-nighter to find out who would be the winner of a "Big Brother" steel cage challenge and the show's new Head Of Household.
Bartender Erika Landin was the victor of the marathon Head of Household challenge which started at the end of the Wednesday night live broadcast (10:00 p.m. EDT) on television and ended at approximetely 4:23 a.m. EDT. on the live Internet feeds. The results will not be aired on television until the special edition of "Big Brother 4" on Saturday night.
The HouseGuests were involved in an endurance challenge featuring three linked steel cages. The person who could outlast the other players claimed the Head Of Household title. The idea was to move along in the cages as players quit or were disqualified. The first cage held all six competitors. The second just four and the last just two. No bathroom breaks, eating, drinking or sleeping was allowed.
So important was the Head Of Household title that instead of leaving, HouseGuests Jun Song and Alison Irwin urinated in the cage. Suffering from a headache, HouseGuest Robert Roman was the first person to leave the cage at almost four and a half hours. Jun Song was out shortly thereafter.
With Alison Irwin, Erika Landin, Jack Owens and Jee Choe as the final four in the second cage at five hours into the competition, Jee made a deal with the others to hand the victory to Erika if they promised not to speak a word of it to The Three Stooges alliance. They agreed. Choe and Irwin then waffled back and forth on the agreement. At 4:18 a.m. EDT, Owens left the cage after whispering to his alliance partner Landin. A few minutes later, Choe also quit after Landin and Irwin both agreed not to nominate him this week. Minutes after that, Irwin handed the win to Landin by exiting the cage.
As Head Of Household, Landin will nominate two "Big Brother" HouseGuests for eviction. Her decision will be seen on Saturday night's special broadcast.
On the live show Wednesday night, Nathan Marlow, the 23-year-old personal trainer from Edmond, Oklaholma, was unanimously voted out of the game and became the second person on the "Big Brother 4" jury.
Though he wheeled and dealed, fighting to the bitter end, Marlow could not convince The Three Stooges alliance to keep him in the game. The Stooges viewed him as a physical threat at the many crucial competitions.
"It is quite the experience. I was hoping to meet with you later on in the game but I made a run at it and I have no regrets. I am happy,"a light-hearted Marlow told "Big Brother 4" host, Julie Chen.
Marlow was irked though that his strongest bond and alliance partner in the house, Alison Irwin, the 22-year-old beauty queen, did not elect to give him a sympathy vote so that his eviction wasn't unanimous. Marlow had previously won and used the Golden Veto to take Irwin off the nomination block and save her from eviction.
"I know she is a smart player and I felt like she was going to go with the majority to better herself in the game and I understand that. There is no hard feelings towards her," said Marlow. "I am disappointed in her for the predicament she put me in but she is playing a great game and like I said this is a game and you cant take it personal."
As promised, the producers brought back the America's Choice question this week polling viewers on which HouseGuest they feel are deserving of a letter from their loved ones and friends. Unlike previous years, there is no way to vote by telephone. To make their opinion known, fans will have to cast their ballot on the official CBS "Big Brother 4" site.
EVERYBODY MUGS RAYMOND
'Everybody Loves Raymond" co-star Brad Garrett remains AWOL from the popular sitcom as he battles CBS for a raise.
Garrett, who won an Emmy last year for his portrayal of sad-sack big brother Robert Barone, wants to up his reported $150,000-per-episode fee, which comes out to about $3.6 million a year - considered low by industry standards for a show of "Raymond's" top-rated caliber.
By comparison, series star Ray Romano inked a deal earlier this year paying him almost $2 million an episode - the largest per-episode deal in TV history. Romano also gets a cut of the show's syndication profits.
CBS released a statement pointing out that it's already renegotiated Garrett's contract twice before - and isn't pleased with this latest turn of events.
"Brad Garrett is an enormously talented actor whom we hold in the highest regard," the statement said. "As such, we have accommodated Brad's request to negotiate new contracts twice over the past four years.
"The most recent agreement calls for Brad's services through the eighth (upcoming) season . . . It's unfortunate that he is not honoring his contract."
Garrett's "people" say that CBS, anticipating the contract squabble, ordered "Raymond" creator/executive producer Phil Rosenthal to write Garrett out of the season's first episode, according to a report in The Hollywood Reporter.
That could be troublesome, since Robert Barone, a New York cop, (finally!) got married in last season's finale.
Raymond's series wife, star Patricia Heaton, meanwhile, has also been calling in sick but really isn't feeling well, sources say - putting "Raymond" about a week behind schedule (production on the new season is expected to begin next week).
Garrett, a stand-up comedian by trade, portrayed TV great Jackie Gleason in a CBS biopic last year.
He took the role after the original choice, Mark Addy, pulled out because of his commitment to the CBS sitcom, "Still Standing."
"Everybody Loves Raymond," which premiered in 1997, is the highest-rated sitcom on TV and anchors CBS' vaunted Monday-night schedule which includes "King of Queens" and "Yes, Dear."
The series, built around Long Island sportswriter Ray Barone (Romano), also co-stars Peter Boyle, Doris Roberts and Ray's meddlesome parents, Frank and Marie, who live across the street.
Singer Jewel Catches 'Wave' for Indie Movie
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - After making her feature film acting debut in Ang Lee's 1999 drama "Ride With the Devil," singer Jewel is now readying a follow-up.
The singer will star in "Wave," an independent film about a mother reconnecting with her adult son after spending time in jail for a crime of passion committed when he was a child. Jewel will play the son's girlfriend.
She is developing and producing the project through her Gravitas Entertainment banner, which she runs with her mother and former manager, Lenedra Carroll.
Gravitas acquired the "Wave" script from David Rothmiller, and brought it to Cosmic Entertainment, which houses the production entities of Goldie Hawn and her family. Cosmic is in the process of securing financing for the film, and Hawn's Clearlight Prods. is on board as a producer.
Rothmiller was a co-producer of "Jewel: Live in Concert," which aired on DirecTV.
SCTV Is Finally Coming to DVD
The first DVD set of the classic "SCTV" show, based on the Second City comedy group, is in production for a January release, Video Store Magazine has learned. There's no word yet on a distributor.
The only reason it has taken so long to hit DVD is because of music clearance issues, said Second City veteran Eugene Levy, who is probably better known as the pie-proffering dad in the "American Pie" movies.
"Every tune that we used over eight years had to be re-tossed a lot of money just for clearance, to re-license these things," Levy said.
The DVD release will not be a "complete first-season" package, Levy said. "SCTV" began as a series of half-hour shows but eventually moved to a 90-minute format when the program began airing on NBC. The DVD collection starts with those 90-minute shows.
"Those really are, I think, the best shows," Levy said. "The show reached its creative peak in those 90-minute shows on NBC.
"If they started with season one, I'd go, 'Boy, we'll never make season two. It's not going to work.'"
Levy said the decision was made to start the DVD collection with the 90-minute shows because it's always smart to "start with your strongest stuff."
Not that the earlier programming was bad.
"There were some great shows in the first [season]," Levy said. "The first couple of seasons are funny, but they're raw. We didn't have a lot of money so the sets look a little chintzy.
"I have a soft spot for them because it was the very beginning, but it's hard to look at some of the stuff now only because everybody was still fumbling around a little bit."
Still, Levy has fond memories of those growing pains.
"We just got out of theater and we're now doing a television show," he said. "It took a while before we developed our writing styles.
"We started writing a half-hour television show the way we did Second City theater, which was we'd all get in a room and try to improvise stuff.
"Then you realize it's just not a very efficient way of writing a weekly television show.
"So, by the time we learned to break up into groups and actually start writing, we went through some bumpy times."
Looking back at the old shows, Levy feels they hold up well.
"We created our own universe with 'SCTV,'" he said. "The brilliance of the idea was that you're creating a television station in your own town, so you develop all these characters at the station and you eventually got into characters in the town, like Mayor Tommy Shanks.
"We had Melonville elections, with continuing news coverage, election central and all that stuff. These ads would come on for local aldermen who were running for Melonville that you'd show throughout the programming. We got so into the underbelly of this world we created that it's almost completely insular from being dated."
DVD producers are in the process of putting together bonus content for the "SCTV" set, and Levy is ready to play a part in the extras.
"They're doing that stuff now and finding whatever footage that they can muster, off-camera stuff or anything else," he said. "There will be commentary. They're trying to organize that."
FLETCH LIVES! Writer-director Kevin Smith set to direct Fletch One for Miramax to be followed by the sci-fi adventure Ranger Danger and the Danger Rangers for Dimension, reports Daily Variety.
SMITH ADD: In a post on his Website, the filmmaker criticizing the New York Times for allegedly misquoting him as saying that he trimmed scenes of J.Lo from his upcoming movie Jersey Girl because she and costar Ben Affleck had no chemistry. He called the story nothing more than a "gussied-up gossip piece."
Conan Ready to Mark 10th Anniversary
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Nine years and 11 months ago Wednesday, Conan O'Brien debuted as the successor to David Letterman on NBC's "Late Night" franchise.
NBC hedged its bets in that rocky first year by giving O'Brien 13-week contract renewals, but the one-time writer for "Saturday Night Live" and "The Simpsons" is now basking in the show's first Emmy nomination for variety series and a 10th anniversary primetime special set to air Sept. 14.
O'Brien spoke with The Hollywood Reporter deputy editor Cynthia Littleton last week about what he has learned in his on-the-air training during the past decade.
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: WHY DID YOU RE-UP WITH NBC LAST YEAR THROUGH 2005? YOU HAD A LOT OF OPTIONS AND WERE OFFERED A LOT OF MONEY BY COMPETING NETWORKS.
Conan O'Brien: I wanted to re-up for 13 weeks. I thought that would be really funny, but (NBC executives) weren't interested in that... I had a strong feeling that my work wasn't done here. We did our claymation special (in May), which was one of my favorite things I ever did. I think our best work is still ahead of us... The reason it appealed to me is that Dave (Letterman) did it for something like 11-1/2 years. This contract will put me through to 12 years, and I remember thinking that that meant something to me. I remember what it was like when people thought I might not last 10 more minutes. The idea that I might be able to have a 10th anniversary special -- that meant something to me. It's not all about money. I was offered a ton of money, and that's great, but I wanted the deal that enables me to keep doing this thing I love doing. That's the most important thing. I know I didn't maximize my earning potential -- my agents hate it, they keep reminding me. But I'm getting to do good work, and I think I'm still getting better at this job. I'm also making much more money than I ever thought I'd make in high school, so really, what's the problem?
THR: WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED, WHEN YOU WERE STILL DEALING WITH THOSE 13-WEEK CONTRACTS, WHAT WERE THE HARDEST THINGS ABOUT MAKING THE TRANSITION FROM WRITER TO PERFORMER?
O'Brien: The hardest thing for me was that I knew I had a funny persona and that I had a point of view. I knew it was there. I didn't become this person over the last 10 years; I was this person. But I didn't have the chops to be this person on TV every night for an hour... It was just very tricky for me to learn how to be Conan O'Brien on TV for nine-minute periods of time and then throw it to commercial seamlessly... For the first year and half of the show, you know, you could almost see me thinking, you could see me trying to be a good talk show host. It wasn't fun to watch.
THR: WHEN DID YOU GET TO THE POINT OF FEELING COMFORTABLE ON CAMERA?
O'Brien: What happened over time is that all the things you have to know -- which camera to look at, how to begin a segment, how to end a segment, how to stand -- all those things, eventually, they become second nature, and that allowed my personality to come out. I don't have to think about it anymore. If you wake me up in middle of the night, I'll say, "And my next guest is Fabio" ... then I'll have questions for him... So now 10 years later, you're not watching Conan trying to be a good talk show host; you're watching me in the moment, having a good time trying to be myself, having fun, you know, letting my mind go... That's always what I was doing with myfriends in high school and college. For years when I was a writer, I was the guy in the room performing for the other writers.
THR: ARE YOU COMPETITIVE? DO YOU CALL IN FIRST THING IN THE MORNING FOR THE OVERNIGHT RATINGS?
O'Brien: Comedians are naturally competitive -- it started with us trying to be funniest person at our dining room table when we were growing up... There's definitely a competitive side to me, but I don't think these late-night talk shows work as a competitive sport. I don't get more creative and funnierwhen I watch other people's shows. It doesn't get my creative juices going. If you're obsessing and watching other people's shows, you're gonna consciously or unconsciously imitate them... The other thing is, ratings can be misleading. When they're figuring out ratings at 12:30 at night, the data's coming from like 80 people in the Nielsen sample. If two of those people get head colds and go to bed early, suddenly you don't have as good a night as you might have.
THR: WHAT'S A TYPICAL WORKDAY LIKE FOR YOU?
O'Brien: I usually work out in the morning because you don't just get a body like mine, you have to work it. I get into work in the morning, but things don't heat up until about 11 o'clock. I tend to walk from office to office on our floor. I sort of peek my head into offices, and a lot of times I have a guitar on, and I'm singing. That's how I relax. I learn a song a week to annoy people. I make up songs to tease people... The first formal meeting of day is at 11:30. That's where we run down what the show is that day, what potential problems there are. Then I'm usually with the head writer for a bit, talking down the show, or I'm talking to (executive producer) Jeff Ross. That usually gets us to around 1 in afternoon. Then I sit with the segment producers and talk about who are the guests today, what stories do they want to tell. We talk about the guests, and lot of it is just trying to figure out what are good ways to start those conversations, what are the potential things I could be funny about. Half of the time you end up coming up in the meeting potential ways I could be funny in an interview, then other times they are improvised. Those are the best. The audience tends to sense when it's improvised. Then maybe there's a pretape (segment) or something I have to shoot for that day's show. We try to do our rehearsal at about 2:30, but that doesn't usually happen right on time. Some rehearsals last a long time, sometimes they're very tense, and sometimes they're very easy. There are definitely not enough easy rehearsals... That takes me to around 4:30, and I go in for makeup and hair. Then just before I go out to warm up the audience around 5:15, we pick the jokes for the monologue. And we fight over them.
THR: WHAT YARDSTICK DO YOU USE TO TELL IF YOU'VE HAD A GOOD NIGHT OR NOT?
O'Brien: For me, it's usually measured by the size of my pompadour. When it inflates, when I have a 6-inch shelf of red hair sticking over my forehead, that's a good show. When it's lying down flat like Moe on the Three Stooges, it's time to check out an infomercial... I think a good show is when the writers and producers build a jungle gym, and I go out, and the show is me jumping around and playing with it, having a good time. That to me is a good episode of "Late Night With Conan O'Brien." It doesn't happen every night -- otherwise, a really good show wouldn't feel like an event. There are too many variables. The crowd, the guests, the mood I'm in, and then it's also like, what's the weather like outside? When all those things line up, that's a great show. And that's a powerful drug that just keeps you coming back over and over and over again. You'll walk over hot coals to get to another one. You'll drag your ass through four bad crowds to get to another good crowd. It feels so good.
THR: WHAT'S UP THESE DAYS AT YOUR NBC-BASED CONACO PRODUCTION COMPANY?
O'Brien: Basically, the idea behind the company was that now that we seemed to have a bit of a brand of comedy, we'd try to make something we really like and try to get it on TV. . . . My goal is to have a game show on every network, and I host every one. I want to out-Regis Regis... This year, we're just meeting with a lot of writers, talking to them about their ideas. The appeal of it all to me was that I've always loved being around writers. I didn't want a vanity company. I didn't want it to be, "Oh, let's just give Conan a production deal to shut him up." One of my favorite things in life is being in roomful of funny writers and being able to contribute in some way. So the thinking was that this would put me in touch with talented people and see if we can't make something out of it. We'll see.
THR: SPEAKING OF MAKING SOMETHING, YOU AND YOUR WIFE ARE ABOUT TO BECOME PARENTS. HOW DO YOU THINK HAVING A BABY WILL AFFECT YOUR WORK?
O'Brien: Yep, Oct. 11 (the due date), it's coming up. I wanted to time it for the 10th anniversary special. It would've been great if the baby could be born on TV at the end of the 90-minute special. NBC's promo department would've done a great job with that... I love kids. I'm childlike. I see this as an opportunity for me to do a separate show. I'll probably do the late-night show and come home, do another 40 minutes for the kid after I wake him up, give him some coffee.
THR: WHAT TREATS DO YOU HAVE IN STORE FOR THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL?
O'Brien: I've never promised anybody anything in television, but this 10th anniversary show is going to be really, really special. I'm really proud of the stuff we've accumulated. It's gonna feel like a live show coming out of the Beacon Theater here in Manhattan. There are going to be a lot of surprises, a lot of guests. It's not going to be just a clip show... I'm passionate about it in a fiery Latin way.