More than 500 Muppets will move to Atlanta
Atlanta's Center for Puppetry Arts will become the home of hundreds of Muppet characters, props and art. The new Henson wing is scheduled to open in 2012 and will occupy 10,000 square feet of the museum.
Time’s fun when you’re having flies, Kermit the Frog once said. And how time has flown: Kermit, or more precisely one of the many puppets that have played Kermit, will be retired to Atlanta on Wednesday, part of a major gift being made by the Jim Henson Foundation.
The flippered phenom, who began life as a scrap of fabric cut from a green coat discarded by Jim Henson’s mother, will be presented to the Center for Puppetry Arts here. He is a symbol of a large gift of Mr. Henson’s work that will be donated to the center and exhibited in a planned Jim Henson Wing, said Cheryl Henson, president of the Jim Henson Foundation.
Ms. Henson, Jim Henson’s second-oldest daughter, and Jane Henson, her mother and Mr. Henson’s first performing partner, expected to be in Atlanta on Wednesday to announce the gift: 500 to 700 puppets, including some of the first Muppets built; props; scenic elements; posters; sketches; and drawings that Mr. Henson created for shows like “The Muppet Show,” “Sesame Street,” “Fraggle Rock” and “Sam and Friends” (where the Muppets first appeared). Cheryl Henson has also pledged $1 million of her own money to the center.
It is unclear how much the gift is worth. The Smithsonian Institution had its small collection appraised but would not make the figure public.
“At the moment, they have not been given the entire collection,” Cheryl Henson said in an interview on Friday. “We are assuming we are going to give them the best of our collection,” she added, explaining that the archive owned by the family consists of “a couple thousand” items, but that many have become too fragile to exhibit. “Some of our collection has gotten old; even in the last seven years it has deteriorated. It’s not that we’re holding back a large portion of the collection.”
Built from foam and fabric, each puppet character had multiple copies because of performance wear and tear. The gift covered puppets that could no longer be used to perform; in fact, the Kermit in question was a “photo Kermit” — used for photographs but with no opening for a puppeteer’s hand.
Ms. Henson said she and her four siblings, who bought back the Jim Henson Company in 2003, had saved the items with the idea of creating a stand-alone museum in New York dedicated to her father’s artistry.
But the realities of running a museum quickly became overwhelming, and the family searched for a home that would both preserve Jim Henson’s beloved characters and serve as an incubator for new work by emerging puppeteers.
“One of the things we really longed for was the thought of a living puppet center,” Ms. Henson said. “Kids, after looking at the puppets in cases, could then go and make their own work. All of that was just bigger than we could do ourselves.”
(The Smithsonian Institution has two Henson puppets, including a Kermit and Oscar the Grouch, in its permanent collection. A traveling exhibition with 13 puppets, “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World,” will start in Little Rock, Ark., on Sept. 7 and travel to several other cities over three years.)
The Center for Puppetry Arts was offered the Henson Foundation archive because of its long history with the Jim Henson Company. Alongside Kermit and Miss Piggy (dressed as Rhett and Scarlett), Jim Henson cut the ribbon at the center’s opening in 1978, and the center’s collection already includes the Pigs in Space from “The Muppet Show.” Another factor favoring the center was its plan to expand and complete an already impressive collection of international puppets.
The institution is “the prime center of puppetry arts in the country and really has been for a long time,” said Eileen Blumenthal, a professor of theater arts at Rutgers and author of the book “Puppety, a World History.”
“I think the center is well on its way already,” Professor Blumenthal added. Even before the gift, she added, it had “a world-class collection of puppets, and the Henson collection just adds a dimension to that.”
Vince Anthony, executive director of the center, described the gift as “institution changing.” “This grand opportunity challenges the center and the Atlanta community to make this unique monumental partnership come to fruition,” he said.
The gift of Mr. Henson’s archive comes at a time when puppetry is having a resurgence in the United States, particularly in shows geared toward adult audiences. These include the Broadway musical “Avenue Q,” the film “Team America World Police” and the Cirque du Soleil show “KA.”
Puppets have also been making inroads in opera. In 2006 a bunraku boy was a crucial element in Anthony Minghella’s staging of “Madama Butterfly” at the Metropolitan Opera. Next season at the Met, Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch will mount a new production of the Philip Glass opera “Satyagraha” incorporating giant puppets made of newsprint.
“It really is wonderful for this to be happening now,” Ms. Blumenthal said, “because all of this is something that Jim Henson really helped to create.”
Mr. Henson died in 1990 at age 53 from a bacterial infection that caused toxic shock syndrome.
Whether the center will receive the entire collection is contingent on the center’s ability to raise an unknown sum to house and preserve it, Ms. Henson said.
To raise the millions needed for new construction and staff, the center may need to flex fund-raising muscles it has not had to develop.
The center is in the enviable position, for an arts organization, of owning the building it has lived in since 1978. Thanks to low overhead, it has been able to survive on ticket sales and small donations.
“We really want our collection to be shown well,” Ms. Henson said. “We’ll see how it all plays out.”
Doug Riley, Canada's 'Dr. Music,' dies at 62
Doug Riley, a Toronto-born composer, arranger and pianist known as Dr. Music, has died. He was 62.
Riley died suddenly of heart failure at the Calgary airport on Monday on his way to his home in Little Pond, P.E.I.
Riley is known for composing, arranging and performing with numerous artists in the classical, jazz and commercial genres.
He has collaborated on more than 300 recordings, with such musicians as Moe Koffman, Ray Charles, Molly Johnson, Jake Langley, Anne Murray and Natalie McMaster.
A musical chameleon who played with symphony orchestras as comfortably as he played in smoky bars, Riley's greatest love was jazz.
"Ray Charles was my first influence outside of boogie-woogie and stride pianists like Albert Ammons and Fats Waller," Riley said in a 2006 interview with the Toronto Star.
"I was enthralled by his jazz, blues and gospel music and really his roots and my roots were the same. It was the biggest break of my life when I played organ and piano and arranged his 1969 album Doing His Thing."
Charles asked him to join his band, but Riley opted to stay in Canada, a move that led to a career that combined arranging and producing with touring and performing.
"I've toured the country, every nook and cranny of its coasts. I've worked all my life and played all my life," he recalled.
"I've toured with singers Jackie Richardson, Dionne Taylor and Measha Bruggergosman, who's a riot to hang out with. Writing is the most lucrative, and the least fun. The most fun is playing," he said.
Born April 24, 1945 in Toronto, Riley suffered from polio as a child and took to the piano as a way of expressing his creativity.
At four he took lessons in classical piano at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Later, in Montreal, he studied pipe organ with Harry Duckworth at St. Anne de Belleville Church, and piano with Paul DeMarky, Oscar Peterson's piano teacher.
"When I was six, I discovered jazz from my dad's stride and boogie piano 78s — Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, James P. Johnson, Fats Waller — I had perfect pitch so I learned from the records," Riley said.
He went on to earn a Bachelor of Music in composition from the University of Toronto, while playing R&B with the Silhouettes, appearing at the Blue Note and other Toronto nightclubs.
Riley was planning to work on his masters degree in composition and ethnomusicology — he had an interest in First Nations music that was reflected in later recordings — when he got the offer to play with Charles.
After deciding not to move to the U.S., he formed Dr. Music, a vocal and instrumental ensemble that would have several incarnations over the next 15 years.
With Dr. Music, he had a string of Top 20 hits in the 1970s, and released Try A Little Harder, Sun Goes By and Bedtime Story, as well as the later Dr. Music Circa 1984.
He composed jingles, working with Mort Ross, Tommy Ambrose and Larry Trudel, and then worked behind the scenes on television production.
He began to acquire a reputation as a pillar of Toronto's music community, forming the Toronto Sound Recording Studio and working as a session musician.
As a composer and arranger, he has worked alongside symphony orchestras and Placido Domingo, Ofra Harnoy and The National Ballet.
"All through the time I was writing and playing pop and jazz and commercial music I wrote three ballets for the National Ballet, a double concerto for flute (clarinet, sax) and string quartet for Moe Koffman, a piano concerto for Mario Bernardi's retirement from the National Arts Centre Orchestra and other works," he said.
Domingo commissioned him to arrange None But The Lonely Heart for tenor and orchestra, which he recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra.
"I like a lot of different kinds of music," Riley said. "Country, jazz, blues, funk, folk — I've recorded with Anne Murray (25 CDs), the Brecker Brothers, Gordon Lightfoot, etc."
He has produced and performed on countless recordings with Koffman, David Clayton Thomas, Bob Seger and Ringo Starr.
Riley also has numerous solo and group recordings under his own name, including Foxy Lady, Dreams, Freedom and Con Alma.
He served as musical director of the Famous People Players for over 20 years and participated in concerts in support of the Easter Seals campaign, the United Way and the Princess Margaret Hospital Lodge.
In 2006, he toured throughout Canada and the U.S. with Canadian star Michael Burgess of Les Miserables and played throughout Canada with his Doug Riley Quartet. His most recent release is Strike, recorded with Tyler Yarema and John Roby.
Riley's credits include numerous jazz festivals, including the P.E.I. Jazz Festival, which he started in the 1990s after he began spending part of the year on the island.
Doug Riley won jazz organist of the year continuously from 1993 to 2000 at the annual Jazz Report Awards. He was awarded the Order of Canada in the fall of 2004.
He leaves behind two sons and his wife Jan.
Eagles Double Up On 'Long Road Out Of Eden'
The Eagles' new album, "Long Road Out of Eden," will be a double-disc affair, Billboard.com has learned. The 20-song set is due Oct. 30 exclusively via Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stories in North America, as well as the band's Web site.
A physical copy of the group's first studio album in 28 years will be priced at $11.88; digitally, it will cost a dollar less. Fans who pre-order "Long Road Out of Eden" through the Wal-Mart, Sam's Club or Eagles Web sites will receive an immediate download of the album's first single, "How Long."
Album tracks include the seven-minute "Waiting in the Weeds" and "Last Good Time in Town," the 10-minute-plus title cut and the Glenn Frey-penned "No More Cloudy Days," which previously appeared on the 2005 live DVD "Farewell 1 Tour -- Live From Melbourne."
The Eagles will be back on stage in October during a six-night stand with the Dixie Chicks as part of the opening of the new Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles. An extensive tour will follow next year.
Here is the track list for "Long Road Out of Eden":
Disc one:
"No More Walks in the Wood"
"How Long"
"Busy Being Fabulous"
"What Do I Do With My Heart"
"Guilty of the Crime"
"I Don't Want To Hear Anymore"
"Waiting in the Weeds"
"No More Cloudy Days"
"Fast Company"
"Do Something"
"You Are Not Alone"
Disc two:
"Long Road Out of Eden"
"I Dreamed There Was No War"
"Somebody"
"Frail Grasp on the Big Picture"
"Last Good Time in Town"
"I Love To Watch a Woman Dance"
"Business As Usual"
"Center of the Universe"
"It's Your World Now"
Britney Wants 'More' On New Danjahandz Track
A new Britney Spears track, "Gimme More," is expected to hit the airwaves next week, according to sources at Jive Records. The up-tempo cut, produced by Timbaland right-hand-man Nate "Danjahandz" Hills, will appear on Spears' new album, but sources say it has yet to be decided whether it will be the official lead single or simply a setup track.
Spears is known to have worked with J.R. Rotem and Sean Garrett on as-yet-unnamed tracks. "I've got this one record I've been holding for 10 months that everyone has tried to buy, but I stayed with Britney on it," Garrett told Billboard in late June. "I guarantee it will shake up the world. It's uptempo, out of control ... it's wowzers, produced by me and Bloodshy."
In the past year, Spears' personal travails have far overshadowed her music career. But she is rumored to be making an appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards next month in Las Vegas, where she has previously made headlines by kissing Madonna and performing with a giant snake draped across her body.
The new Spears album, which is expected before year's end, is the follow-up to 2003's "In the Zone," which has sold just shy of 3 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Fall films bring Oscar buzz to Hollywood
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Get out the Oscar scorecards because next week Hollywood launches its new movie season, with a typical fall mix of adult dramas dealing with more serious topics than this past summer's popcorn flicks.
Movies like western "3:10 to Yuma," starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, and "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" aspire to be early frontrunners in the race for Oscars, the world's top film honors, which are given out in winter by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
But lovers of adventure and comedy should not despair. Plenty of other titles also fill the bill, ranging from Jodie Foster's actioner "The Brave One" to Ben Stiller's comedy "The Heartbreak Kid" and Disney fairy tale "Enchanted."
"I think people want to be entertained. I think they want to be moved. I think they want to be taken on a journey, and the last thing they want is be preached at," actress Charlize Theron told Reuters recently.
Theron stars in one of September's more serious movies, "In the Valley of Elah," from writer/director Paul Haggis, who brought out Oscar-winning "Crash." "Elah" tells the story of a former military cop (Tommy Lee Jones) investigating the murder of his son, an Army soldier home from Iraq.
Other top September tickets are "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" with Brad Pitt, and "King of California" starring Michael Douglas. Sean Penn directs drama "Into the Wild," and Ang Lee brings out "Lust, Caution," a thriller about seduction and betrayal in 1940s China.
SEPTEMBER BANG, OCTOBER LAUGHS
September ends in a bang with action flick "The Kingdom," starring Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner as FBI agents sent to Saudi Arabia to investigate a bombing, sparking a culture clash between mid-East and Western ideology.
"I wanted to make a film that dealt with the Middle East and that dealt with religious extremism, but I first and foremost wanted to make a film that ... people would be thrilled at," said director Peter Berg.
October starts on a lighter note with Stiller's "The Heartbreak Kid" from comedy writing and directing brothers Peter and Bobby Farrelly, who were behind Stiller's 1998 hit "There's Something About Mary."
"Heartbreak Kid" follows a man pursuing the woman of his dreams while on his honeymoon, and is filled with off-color jokes, strange sex and other Farrelly brother hallmarks.
One offbeat comedy creating big advance buzz in Hollywood is director Wes Anderson's "The Darjeeling Limited," about three friends who go on a spiritual quest throughout India.
Movies also get serious in October. George Clooney, who scored an awards hit in 2005 with "Good Night, and Good Luck," is back with "Michael Clayton," playing a man hired by a law firm to straighten out an attorney drawn into a conspiracy.
Finally in October, John Cusack stars in "Grace is Gone," a hit at 2007's Sundance Film Festival about a father grieving the loss of his wife in Iraq.
HOLIDAY HORIZON
By early November, Hollywood returns to fare aimed at mostly younger audiences, and computer animated "Bee Movie," created by comedian Jerry Seinfeld, fits that bill. It tells of a bee who escapes his hum-drum hive for life in Manhattan.
"You're not going to make anything good if you're not excited, and when I saw this technology and I saw how you can make anything, go anywhere ... this is fresh," Seinfeld said.
Another animated wonder in November will be "Beowulf," directed by Robert Zemeckis, who uses motion-capture technology to retell the epic poem that follows Beowulf's battles.
Paul Giamatti and Vince Vaughn portray rival siblings -- jolly ol' Kriss Kringle and his bad brother -- in "Fred Claus," and "Enchanted" tells of a princess who is plucked from her fairy tale life and put into the real world.
Finally, major stars Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe appear together in action thriller "American Gangster," and Tom Cruise takes a leading role in a rumination over war, "Lions for Lambs," directed by Oscar winner Robert Redford.
Yes, it is fall in Hollywood, and the Oscar race is on.
TV dramas lead the field for Gemini Awards
TV dramas Slings & Arrows, ReGenesis and Intelligence joined longrunning news series The Fifth Estate among the leading nominees for the 22nd Gemini Awards.
Announced Tuesday, the annual prize celebrates the best in Canadian English-language television.
The three dramas will compete for the best dramatic series title, with medical drama Jozi-H and Whistler also scoring nominations in the prestigious category.
Slings & Arrows, set backstage at a Shakespearean theatre festival, led the field with 14 nominations.
The show's nominations were dominated by nods for the many celebrated performers who made appearances last season, including stars Paul Gross, Susan Coyne, Martha Burns and the late William Hutt, as well as guests like Sarah Polley and Stephen Ouimette.
ReGenesis, about scientists at a biotechnology lab, scored 12 nominations, with numerous nods for its actors, including Peter Outerbridge and Wendy Crewson.
Right behind with 11 nominations each are the investigative documentary series The Fifth Estate and West Coast crime drama Intelligence, acknowledged for its writing, direction, sound, musical score and lead performers Ian Tracey, John Cassini and Klea Scott.
Other productions winning multiple nominations include:
Dragon Boys.
Doomstown.
Robson Arms.
Corner Gas.
Answered by Fire.
Roxana.
Shades of Black.
In God's Country.
The Robber Bride.
And
Words to Music: The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Little Mosque snubbed for comedy series
Nominated for best comedy program or series are ratings powerhouse Corner Gas and stalwarts Royal Canadian Air Farce and This Hour Has 22 Minutes, with Odd Job Jack and Rent-A-Goalie rounding out the list.
Surprisingly absent from the category's nominees was the new sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie, the lighthearted comedy about Muslims in a small Saskatchewan town that grabbed headlines around the globe upon its debut last season.
The show was also left out of running for the best ensemble comedy performance trophy, with the casts of Air Farce, Rent-A-Goalie, Corner Gas, Comedy Inc., The Business and 22 Minutes nominated.
Little Mosque did pick up two nominations in craft categories: best direction in a comedy program or series and best writing in a comedy, variety program or series.
The TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride will compete for the best TV movie title, competing with Doomstown, Eight Days to Live, In God's Country and Last Exit.
Veteran documentarian and past Gemini winner Allan King is once again nominated for a Donald Brittain Award for best social or political documentary, scoring a nod for his Empz 4 Life. His competition includes the documentaries Bombay Calling, Cottonland, Faith Without Fear, Fatherland and Martyr Street.
The news categories were dominated by CBC nominees, with Global, TV Ontario and Toronto's City TV also receiving nods. In 2006, CTV News withdrew from the awards, saying that the time involved in preparing entries was not worth the effort.
Select Gemini nominees include:
Newscast - CBC News: The National; CityNews at Six; Global National.
News anchor - Ian Hanomansing, CBC News: Canada Now National Edition; Gord Martineau, CityNews at Six; Kevin Newman, Global National.
News information series - CBC News: Sunday; Marketplace; The Fifth Estate.
Host or interviewer in a news information program/series - Gillian Findlay, The Fifth Estate; Hana Gartner, The Fifth Estate; Steve Paikin, The Agenda with Steve Paikin; Evan Solomon, CBC News: Sunday Night; David Suzuki, The Nature of Things with David Suzuki.
Sports play-by-play announcer - Bob Cole, Hockey Night in Canada; Chris Cuthbert, CFL on TSN; Gord Miller, IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship.
Sports studio analyst - Matt Dunigan, CFL on TSN; Kelly Hrudey, Hockey Night in Canada; Bob McKenzie, IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship.
Individual performance in a comedy program/series - John Cleese, Just for Laughs Gala Series; Phyllis Ellis, The Wilkinsons; Elvira Kurt, Halifax Comedy Fest 2006; Rick Mercer, Rick Mercer Report; Teresa Pavlinek, The Jane Show.
Actor in a continuing leading dramatic role - John Cassini, Intelligence; Paul Gross, Slings & Arrows; William Hutt, Slings & Arrows; Peter Outerbridge, ReGenesis; Ian Tracey, Intelligence.
Actress in a continuing leading dramatic role - Martha Burns, Slings & Arrows; Susan Coyne, Slings & Arrows; Klea Scott, Intelligence.
Performance in a performing arts program/series - Guillaume Côté, Moving to his Music: The Two Muses of Guillaume Côté; Jeff Healey, Opening Night; Chanti Wadge, Karen Young's Canticum Canticorum.
Animated program/series - Captain Flamingo; Naughty Naughty Pets; Ruby Gloom; Skyland; Sons of Butcher.
Children's or youth fiction program/series - Alice, I Think; Degrassi: The Next Generation; Jacob Two-Two; Spirit Bear: The Simon Jackson Story; Wapos Bay.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television will honour winners in the news, documentary, sports, lifestyle, youth and variety programming categories during three Toronto ceremonies on Oct. 15, 16 and 17.
A televised Gemini Awards gala will follow in Regina, which is hosting the festivities for the first time. The telecast will air live from the Conexus Arts Centre on Oct. 28.
Springsteen Hitting North America, Europe This Fall
As expected, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will tour North America and Europe before the end of the year in support of their new album, "Magic." The trek begins on street date for the Columbia set (Oct. 2) in Hartford, Conn., with North American shows wrapping Nov. 18 in Boston. A European leg begins a week later in Madrid.
In addition, the new album's first single, "Radio Nowhere," is available as a free download for a week beginning today (Aug. 28) via the iTunes store. Fans can also pre-order "Magic" and receive the single plus access to its video and a digital booklet.
In an interview with noted fan site Backstreets, Springsteen says this will not be his final tour with the E Street Band, which hasn't been on the road with him since 2004. "I envision the band carrying on for many, many, many more years," he says. "There ain't gonna be any farewell tour. That's the only thing I know for sure."
Of "Magic," he says, "It's just built" to be played live. "I wrote with a lot of melody, and with a lot of hooks, and there's a lot of band power behind the stuff that I wrote this time out."
Here are Bruce Springsteen's tour dates:
Oct. 2: Hartford, Conn. (Civic Center)
Oct. 5: Philadelphia (Wachovia Center)
Oct. 9-10: East Rutherford, N.J. (Continental Airlines Arena)
Oct. 14: Ottawa, Ontario (Civic Centre)
Oct. 15: Toronto (Air Canada Centre)
Oct. 17-18: New York (Madison Square Garden)
Oct. 21: Chicago (United Center)
Oct. 26: Oakland, Calif. (Oracle Arena)
Oct. 28: Los Angeles (TBA)
Nov. 2: St. Paul, Minn. (Xcel Energy Center)
Nov. 4: Cleveland (Quicken Loans Arena)
Nov. 5: Auburn Hills, Mich. (Palace of Auburn Hills)
Nov. 11: Washington, D.C. (Verizon Arena)
Nov. 14: Pittsburgh (Mellon Arena)
Nov. 15: Albany, N.Y. (Times Union Center)
Nov. 18: Boston (TD Banknorth Garden)
Nov. 25: Madrid (Palacio De Deportes)
Nov. 26: Bilbao, Spain (Exhibition Centre)
Nov. 28: Milan (Datchforum)
Nov. 30: Arnhem, Holland (Geldredome)
Dec. 2: Mannheim, Germany (Sap Arena)
Dec. 4: Oslo (Spektrum)
Dec. 8: Copenhagen (Forum)
Dec. 10: Stockholm (Globe)
Dec. 12: Antwerp, Belgium (Sportspaleis)
Dec. 13: Cologne, Germany (Koln Arena)
Dec. 15: Belfast (Odyssey Arena)
Dec. 17: Paris (Palais Omnsiports De Bercy)
Dec. 19: London (O2 Arena)
Kevin Smith To Direct 'Battlestar Galactica'
It might not be "Clerks" or even "Dogma," but Silent Bob actor Kevin Smith is getting what might be almost a dream come true.
Smith, one of the more high-profile defenders of "Battlestar Galactica," will direct an episode of the show during the show's final season. The details were shared with Angel Cohen on AOL, and will mark the third television series Smith will be involved with this coming season.
"I know that I'm going to go up and direct an episode of 'Battlestar Galactica,' which I am kind of stoked about," Smith told Cohn. "It's cool, but it is scary because it is like, 'What the fuck? I can't bring anything to that show.'"
Don't expect to see anything wacky or outright different in terms of cinematography, however, as Smith said he knows how true to form the SciFi Channel show likes to be.
"That show is genius and they have a very distinctive visual style," he said. "But you are safe as a kitten. If you go in there and say, 'I"m going to shoot everything in one big master shot,' they'll go, 'No you're not, because that is not what we do on 'Battlestar Galactica.'
"I guess it is more about performance-oriented stuff, but at the same time that cast is top-notch. How do you fucking direct Mary McDonnell?"
It's not clear what episode Smith will direct, but now that the cast is about halfway through the final season on the production cycle, it likely will be an episode found late in the show's final season, which begins early next year.
Smith has been busy so far this television season. He directed the pilot of The CW series "Reaper" and also will write and direct the first episode of "Heroes: Origins," the mid-season spinoff series of NBC's hit show "Heroes."
Smith is well known for his character of Silent Bob, but also for writing and directing such movies as "Clerks" and "Dogma" as well as "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back." He has filled in for film critic Roger Ebert on "Ebert & Roeper," and has released some of his convention panel talks where he gives frank insight on film and television, straight to DVD.
"Battlestar Galactica" returns in November with the telemovie "Razor" before debuting its fourth and final season in early 2008.
20 YEARS OF THE REEGE
NEW YORK — As Live With Regis and Kelly/Kathie Lee celebrates 20 years in syndication, the man who holds the Guinness world record for hosting the most hours on TV (nearly 16,000) is pondering his future and wondering whether it might be time to pack it in.
His contract has two years to go, but re-upping "is a decision I have to make as we get closer to it," says Regis Philbin, 76, who will decide in the next year.
"I've had a good run. Maybe it's time," he says, breaking into Reege-speak. "We'll see how Regis feels. If Regis isn't up to it, 'Adios, amigos!' "
Philbin had triple bypass surgery five months ago and says he's feeling fine; his health is a "minor consideration" when it comes to deciding his future.
He co-hosts four days a week with Kelly Ripa and lives across the street from the ABC studios that are home to Live, averaging 4 million viewers a day.
It's a short enough commute, Philbin says. "It's still a job, although it comes easy. When I have a week off I really enjoy the fact that I don't have to get up, get dressed, shaved and get over here and be 'on.' "
Michael Gelman, Philbin's producer for the past 25 years, says he can't imagine Philbin ever retiring. "He has the energy of a 30-year-old," Gelman says, noting Philbin still plays clubs on weekends. "After his surgery he said, 'Gelman, any other man would be dead!' "
Philbin has an intuitive appreciation for and an encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture because he has been talking to celebrities longer than anyone else on TV, Gelman says. "Child stars he interviewed are now playing characters with bald heads."
Ripa, who replaced Kathie Lee Gifford full time in 2001, says that although she's still star-struck — "Oh my God, it's George Clooney!" — Regis "has stayed at his house on Lake Como" in Italy.
Ripa says she marvels daily at Philbin's skill at storytelling. "You and I would say, 'I went to the store and picked up juice.' Not Regis," she says. "He takes you on a journey with twists, turns, layers and characters."
On Sept. 14, Gifford will make her first appearance on the show since leaving in July 2000. It's part of a two-week anniversary celebration that begins Monday.
Philbin says both co-hosts "have been great. I've been lucky. They learned right away what it was all about and how to do it," he says. "They kind of remind me of each other: Kathie Lee was Kelly's age when she joined me and got married and had kids. Kelly was married and had one child and two with us. Kathie Lee got a dog, and now here's Kelly with her dog (Chewie, a Shih Tzu)."
"South Park" duo ink lucrative deal
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - An animated series is redrawing the lines of television mega-deals.
The eye-popping $75 million pact announced Monday by Comedy Central and the creators of "South Park" may be the most prominent example of the Internet as a bona fide backend window alongside syndication and DVD. The duo of Matt Stone and Trey Parker will get a 50-50 ad split on digital platforms but not on television.
The new extension will bring three more 14-episode seasons -- the same volume Stone and Parker re-signed for in 2005. "Park" is in place now through 2011, bringing its stint at Comedy Central to 15 seasons going back to 1997.
"Three more years of 'South Park' will give us the opportunity to offend that many more people," Stone said. "And since Trey and I are in charge of the digital side of 'South Park,' we can offend people on their cell phones, game consoles and computers too."
Stone and Parker already have negotiated a share of the hundreds of millions of dollars "Park" has poured in to the network via the backend, not to mention a robust licensing and merchandising revenue stream.
But this time around, they are poised to haul half of the unknown -- but up to now quite modest -- sum awaiting them on the Internet, where "Park" footage has been a fixture of Comedy Central's dot-com strategy, not to mention illegal file-sharing.
Also part of the deal is the formation of a digital animation studio launched jointly with the Viacom-owned channel, which would participate in any new programming spawned under the venture. South Park Digital Studios would come under the Web site it launched earlier this year, Southparkstudios.com.
The deal represents a coup for Kevin Morris, attorney for Parker and Stone, and Doug Herzog, president of MTV Networks Entertainment Group, who ran Comedy Central when "Park" became the channel's first breakout hit. Parent company Viacom also could use a boost in the digital domain, where the company has been criticized on Wall Street.
Abel Lezcano, a lawyer at Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein & Lezcano whose clients include "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry, was less impressed by the ad split than the total value of the pact.
"To me that's not as big a deal as if Comedy Central had given them a share of ad revenue from TV broadcasts, but the total amount is pretty big," he said. "The Big Four networks still won't let you share in any form of advertising (broadcast or Internet) because they sell ads across all platforms and don't want to separate it out, so in that respect, it's different."
Dan Black, partner at Greenberg Traurig in Santa Monica, agrees that this is not a precedent-setting deal.
"I've seen deals like that before with Web site revenue splits," he said. "The paradigm is familiar, but the $75 million is recognition of the success of the show."
But with the ink still drying, speculation already has begun as to what will be the next TV franchise to command a payday of similar scope. Bigger franchises from "The Simpsons" to "Saturday Night Live" also have established online presences that could complicate future negotiations.
Sameer Mithal, consultant for media and content at BusinessEdge Solutions, believes that only A-list content players will get a slice of the digital pie. "A lot of people are going to ask for it, but very few are going to get it," he said. "Someone just starting out doesn't have the leverage of the 'South Park' guys."
Lightning may well strike twice at Comedy Central, which already may be negotiating with another Internet darling: "The Daily Show" anchor Jon Stewart, whose current four-year contract expires at the end of 2008. The current deal for "Park" was also scheduled to elapse late next year.
James Dixon, who manages Stewart, applauded the "Park" pact but said his client is not concerned. "We'll see what happens with his next deal, but 'Daily' is a different animal than an animated series," he said. "A lot more than digital needs to be discussed."