Global rebrands Prime as TVtropolis
WINNIPEG (CP) - Global TV has announced that five new original Canadian shows are in production for its new specialty channel TVtropolis, a rebranding of its 10-year-old service Prime TV.
The new name and image will take effect June 1. The programs include Ad Persuasion, a look at inventive and bizarre TV commercials; FANatical, which follows a group of obsessive TV fans; Inside the Box, a game show for TV junkies; Popaganda, a pop-culture-themed talk-magazine show and Whatever Happened To? (working title), a series that will chase down faded stars of the 1980s and '90s.
Christine Shipton, the vice-president of original programming for CanWest MediaWorks, says the titles will have a flavour that will perfectly complement their new focus, the world of pop culture and celebrity.
Prime won its licence with a format the licensees said would target an audience of men and women over the age of 50. It's new motto is "Hit TV lives here" and will offer iconic TV hits of the last 10 to 15 years.
TVtropolis will launch June 1 with a day-long marathon of pilot episodes of the classic U.S. series The Nanny, Ellen, Grace Under Fire, Newsradio, Beverly Hills 90210, Seinfeld, Frasier and Married With Children.
There will also be a sneak preview of the reality series Celebrity Fit Club.
Sum 41 guitarist quits band to focus on new project: reports
TORONTO (CP) - Sum 41 is minus one guitarist.
Dave Brownsound has reportedly left the pop-punk group to focus on his new band, Brown Brigade, which will have a heavier metal sound. "I couldn't continue on creatively in Sum 41 without being a thorn in the side of the band," Brownsound said in a statement quoted by MTV.com
"As people grow, they change. All I can ask is that our fans understand and accept my thanks for being there for me whenever I was feeling happy, sad or depressed."
Brownsound, whose real name is Dave Baksh, said the split was amicable after more than a decade of brash, catchy hits with bandmates Deryck Whibley, Steve Jocz and Jason (Cone) McCaslin.
"We are brothers and no matter what, they are Sum 41 and they will make an incredible album. Peace love and all of the above," he said.
Mike Renaud, the president of Upper Management - which represents the guitarist - told MTV.com that the split was simply a matter of Baksh wanting to focus his creative energies elsewhere.
"He's got a new band called Brown Brigade, and he felt it was time to make a switch," Renaud said.
"There's no bad blood between anyone in Sum, and Dave is incredibly proud of everything he did with the band.
OutKast Album, Film Penciled In For August
After numerous delays, the OutKast film "Idlewild" is now slated to arrive Aug. 25 in U.S. theaters, three days after the release of its LaFace soundtrack. The first single from the album, "Mighty O," leaked online earlier this week. The cut features OutKast's take on Cab Calloway's famous scatting from "Minnie the Moocher."
Andre 3000's verse finds him resisting easy categorization: "The damsels in distress but they a mess / They only like my armor and that I'm a performer/ They read one magazine and want to think they're getting warmer / They're only getting colder."
Big Boi, meanwhile, reasserts his dominance over other rappers with lines like "Intended for anyone filling out this application / An estimate is needed for your underestimation / I'm firing on the spot, go back and check your calculations." Later, he threatens, "I'll hurt you like the president's approval rating by serving you're a** with words, fool."
Written and directed by Bryan Barber, "Idlewild" is set in the 1930s around the music and business of running a speakeasy. While it will fit the film's context, Big Boi told Billboard.com last year not to expect period music.
"It's hip-hop. It's OutKast. It is what we've been doing for years," he said. "Some songs have a little more piano or whatever, but the whole project was a natural progression from a double CD [OutKast's 2003 album "Speakerboxx/The Love Below"]. It was like, where do we go from here?"
Recording artists Patti LaBelle, Macy Gray and Fishbone's Angelo Moore also appear in "Idlewild," along with actors Terrence Howard, Faizon Love, Ben Vereen and Cicely Tyson, among others.