Patriots game to make U.S. broadcasting history
New England's quest at a historic 16-0 mark will be broadcast Saturday night on American networks CBS, NBC and the NFL Network, the league announced on Wednesday.
The road game for the Patriots against the New York Giants, was originally scheduled to be shown only on the NFL Network, which is available in fewer than 40 per cent of homes with televisions in the United States.
The league announced Wednesday that the NFL Network feed will be simulcast on NBC and CBS.
It's a major concession by league officials, who repeatedly said they would not show the game anywhere but the NFL Network. The NFL had faced mounting pressure from lawmakers in recent weeks to make the game available to more viewers.
The game will be the first three-network simulcast in NFL history and the first simulcast of any kind of an NFL game since the first Super Bowl in 1967, when CBS and NBC both televised the first meeting of the champions of the newly merged National Football League and American Football League.
Local TV affiliates in the Boston, Manchester, N.H., and New York areas who were already set to simulcast the game under NFL policy will still air it.
The NFL has feuded with major cable companies, which have declined to carry the NFL Network as part of basic packages.
"We have taken this extraordinary step because it is in the best interest of our fans," league commissioner Roger Goodell said. "What we have seen for the past year is a very strong consumer demand for NFL Network. We appreciate CBS and NBC delivering the NFL Network telecast on Saturday night to the broad audience that deserves to see this potentially historic game. Our commitment to the NFL Network is stronger than ever."
No team has gone unbeaten since the league moved to a 16-game schedule. The 1972 Miami Dolphins went 14-0 and then won all three post-season games.
Envelope, please: Oscar ballots mailed
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Thousands of Oscar nomination ballots were mailed out Wednesday, heralding the official start of Academy Awards season.
U.S. Postal Service bins overflowed with ballots shipped to 5,829 academy members from the film academy's headquarters in Beverly Hills.
Accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers counted, sorted and numbered the ballots before the massive mail-out. Voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have until Jan. 12, 2008, to return the forms.
Nominees for the 80th annual Academy Awards will be announced Jan. 22. The awards will be presented Feb. 24 at the Kodak Theatre.
Tributes pour in for 'giant in music' Peterson
Tributes are continuing to pour in for Canadian jazz musician Oscar Peterson.
The legendary pianist, considered one of the greatest of all time, died Sunday at the age of 82.
Peterson recorded more than 200 albums and won seven Grammy Awards in a career that made him internationally renowned.
Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean called him a "national treasure" and "one of our greatest ambassadors of Canadian jazz."
"Through his work, he has left us a rich legacy that will inspire many generations to come," she said in a statement that also recalled the courage Peterson demonstrated in the face of health problems, including a stroke that impaired the use of one hand.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper praised Peterson's most famous composition, Canadiana Suite, which pays tribute to each region of Canada.
"Oscar Peterson rose from humble roots in Montreal's Little Burgundy to storm the very heights of the music world," Harper said in a statement.
"A technical and creative master, he toured the globe in the company of the finest jazz artists of his era. More than four decades later the Canadiana Suite is secure as a signature element of the country's cultural fabric.
"A Companion of the Order of Canada and recipient of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Peterson was not simply a giant in Canadian music, but a giant in music period."
Tributes also came from overseas, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy saying Peterson had been a "bright light of jazz."
Within the jazz world, artists and musicians are recalling Peterson as a role model and friend.
"Oscar was an old man who lived a very big life, a wonderful life," said Canadian singer Molly Johnson, who opened for Peterson in his later years. "He was just amazing. Just amazing."
Johnson said Peterson was generous in helping her develop a new fan base.
"He was very real," she said. "I always felt that I really had to be on my best behaviour when I was around him."
"I just thought Oscar would be around for another 100 years," said fellow pianist Hank Jones, a jazz legend in his own right. "This is one of the saddest days of my life."
A tribute concert for Peterson planned for Jan. 11 in Toronto will go ahead as scheduled, despite the absence of the guest of honour, organizers said.
Peterson student and jazz composer Oliver Jones of Montreal will play Peterson's works with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra as part the concert, which will feature artists from Canada and the U.S.
It is being hosted by The Canada Council for the Arts and the U.S.-based National Endowment for the Arts during a conference of jazz lovers
Cuomo Keen On Archival Releases, New Weezer CD
Rivers Cuomo hopes that his new solo set, "Alone -- The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo," is not the last the world will hear of the prolific stash of material that hasn't made it onto Weezer albums.
"I would love to put out at least one more," Cuomo, who chose the albums 18 songs from seven CD's worth of potential tracks he's recorded over the years, tells Billboard.com. In fact, the possibility exists for a series not unlike Who leader Pete Townshend's "Scoop" albums, so Cuomo says that "I'm talking with the record company (now) to figure out what's the best way for me to get more of this stuff out, and if they're gonna be involved or not. But it's certainly my hope to put out as much of this stuff as I can."
For the moment, however, future vault-raiding will have to wait in line behind Weezer's sixth album, which Cuomo says is "almost done" and that he hopes to release in April or May. "I'm listening to the songs every day, trying to figure out which order they go in and understand what the spirit is behind this album," he explains. "It's still changing every day a little bit. It's still evolving."
Cuomo describes the new songs, which are being co-produced by Rick Rubin, as "dark and deep and beautiful," and "definitely more sophisticated and adventurous. You'll hear very long songs ... and non-traditional structures."
Cuomo says Weezer fans will also hear more from Weezer's other band members, who also wrote songs and even sing lead on some tracks. On one unnamed cut, drummer Pat Wilson sings and plays lead guitar while Cuomo takes over the drum stool.
"It was a blast," Cuomo says of the all-in approach. "It definitely feels like there's a lot more of our energy that over the years has been kind of pent-up and now has been released and is flowing freely between the four of us. It's really exciting."
Cuomo's other major project is a "deep and detailed" memoir tracing the period from Weezer's formation in 1992 to the release of its first album. He anticipates another year of writing before he's ready to turn it over to a publisher.
Film's big year could have been even bigger
Despite a fall movie season that had audiences and studios about ready to throw in the towel, ticket sales will top last year's pace, analysts predict.
With less than a week left on the calendar, ticket sales should eclipse $9.35 billion, up about 4.5% from last year, industry tracker Media By Numbers reports. It marks the second straight year of increased sales, though it probably will fall below 2004's $9.41 billion.
When adjusted for the rising cost of ticket prices (which averaged $6.58 a ticket this year), attendance is about even with last year, up just 0.5%.
Not bad, but 2007 hardly fulfilled the promise of summer, which raked in a record $4 billion.
"I thought we would do $10 billion for the first time," says Media By Numbers' Paul Dergarabedian. "And overall, I think studios have to be happy that revenues are up. But the fall, while providing some high-quality movies, didn't do much for the bottom line."
That could be because Hollywood got political and depressing. Despite boasting big-name actors, movies such as Rendition, Lions for Lambs and Reservation Road proved to be clunkers that nearly stopped Hollywood's box-office momentum. "Fall was flat," says Adam Fogelson, head of marketing and distribution for Universal Pictures. "It's hard to tell a year and a half in advance what audiences are going to want. There were a lot of serious movies this fall, when people wanted to be simply entertained."
The holidays came brimming with hits including Will Smith's I Am Legend and Nicolas Cage's National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Even Alvin and the Chipmunks will bring in more than $100 million.
"Heavy movies are fine, but, especially around this time of the year, people want to go out together as a family," says Chuck Viane, distribution chief for Disney, which released National Treasure. "They're getting that again, which is why I think we're finishing big."
Sales also got a boost from more product. According to Box Office Mojo, a record 619 films were released this year.
So what flourished and what flopped?
The hits:
•Threequels. They weren't much of a hit with critics, but the third installments of Spider-Man, Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean together hauled in $966 million domestically and another $1.6 billion overseas. That got the summer season off to its record start.
And one of the threequels, TheBourne Ultimatum, managed to please reviewers and audiences alike. It made $227 million.
•Cartoons. They didn't have the oomph they once had, but animated films remain a favorite of family moviegoers. Two cracked the top 10: Ratatouille and The Simpsons Movie, which combined for $389 million. Even Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie, which got mixed reviews, mustered $123 million.
•Judd Apatow. The champion of the slacker produced two hits in Knocked Up ($149 million) and Superbad ($121 million). The only misstep came last weekend, when his biopic send-up Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story opened to a dismal $4.1 million.
•Digital filmmaking.300, the music-video-style epic shot entirely in front of a green screen, was the surprise of the year with $211 million. The computer-generated robots from Transformers morphed into $319 million. And Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer raked in $132 million — thanks primarily to the hip, digitally rendered surfer, who is getting his own movie.
The misses:
•The indie hit: Where was this year's Little Miss Sunshine? Juno may yet claim that mantle, though it's still in limited release. Movies that were expected to be the year's sleeper must-sees —The Darjeeling Limited, Waitress, Eastern Promises — managed to turn profits but failed to crack the mainstream.
•Gore. Once a bulletproof genre, gory horror and torture films were no match for suspense this year. Hostel Part II, The Hitcher and Captivity each took in less than $17 million — poor even for the genre's low production costs.
•Political films. Look at the lowest-grossing movies of the year, and they are littered with stories with something political to say. Blame the films' quality, dark tones or Hollywood's liberal leanings, but In the Valley of Elah, Rendition and Lions for Lambs all had big names behind them — and little else.
"No one is going to complain when you can make more money than you did the year before," Dergarabedian says. "But when you start the way you did this summer, there's going to be a lot of thought about what might have been."
Best of 2007: Five New Games You Must Play
Yes, we loved Mario Galaxy, Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, but we’ve compiled this list of the year's best with one rule in mind: all-new titles only. So, let’s take look at the new stories and characters that rocked our year.
---Bioshock (360, PC)
This got some of the year's best reviews, and the praise is all deserved. In this heady adventure set in an underwater city gone wrong, the only way to survive is to alter your genetic code. There are consequences to this, but hey, you do get powers, like lightning bolts and swarms of bees.
--- Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3)
Games aren’t usually the place to find unforgettable characters, but we love Nathan Drake. Voiced by Nolan North, Drake’s a charming, sarcastic mix of Indiana Jones and Mal from Serenity. The gameplay is a mixture of Tomb Raider meets Gears of War, but that doesn't do it justice. Drake can jump, brawl and use a whole bunch of guns as he makes his way through a jungle rain forest and a lost city of gold. And did we mention this is also the prettiest game on the PS3?
---Rock Band (360, PS3, PS2)
Take what's cool about Guitar Hero—the guitar controller—and multiply by four: microphone, drums, guitar and bass. But just trying to get your pals to agree on a band name will make you realize why so many bands break up: too many egos!
---Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Wii)
This Wii title uses intuitive control in a crazy all-new tale of pirates...and bunnies. You’re a little pirate out to solve puzzles in a quest to find a legendary treasure. Basically, this is a point-and-click PC game, but the puzzles are ingenious and the logic of those mind benders requires the player to think outside the box, which is just what the game designers did when they came up with this.
---Mass Effect (360)
The first great science fiction event of the 21st century is here—and why shouldn’t it be a videogame? Mass Effect features a fantastic character creator, hundreds of aliens and other folks to interact with and a vast universe to explore. The only downside is that when it's over, you’ll have nothing to do but play it again as a new character and relive all those unforgettable moments. Hmmm...come to think of it, there is no downside.
Record-breaking ratings for "Voyage"
Unofficial figures show that the 2007 Christmas special Voyage of the Damned was watched by 12.2 million viewers, a 50% share of the total television audience. This is the highest rating the show has achieved since its return in 2005.
The programme was the second most watched of the day, being beaten by the edition of EastEnders immediately following Doctor Who.
The audience peaked in the last fifteen minutes of the show with a massive 13.8 million watching, nearly 55% of the audience. The five minute breakdown shows that over 15 million watched the last five minutes of the programme.
The day was a triumph for the BBC, with BBC One taking nine of the top ten places. Against the Doctor, Emmerdale on ITV1 could only manage 5.8 million, with the Evening News only getting 3.8 million.
The previous highest rated episode of the new series was Rose, which got 10.8 million viewers. If confirmed these figures will make Voyage of the Damned the highest rated episode of Doctor Who in over 28 years. It has the largest audience since the 1979 Tom Baker story City of Death, which had the advantage of being broadcast when ITV was on strike and BBC1 was one of only two channels broadcasting.
In the Children's Charts, Doctor Who was top of the list with 2.2 million under 16's watching, an incredible 65.3% share of the audience.
Final figures, including data for those who recorded the programme and watched it later, will be released by BARB in two weeks time.
Several news sources are running stories on the BBC's Christmas Day dominance, including Doctor Who's large viewing figure. These include The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Sun, BBC News, The Daily Mail, Digital Spy and Reuters.