The word: ABC trims 'Daisies,' 'Stone' and 'Money'
The second-year shows ABC has shown so much patience with may be on their way out. The word is the network will not pick up “Pushing Daisies,” “Eli Stone” and “Dirty Sexy Money” after their initial 13-episode commitments, though stopping short of officially axing the shows. All three have sunk below a 2.0 adults 18-49 rating in recent weeks and were considered long shots for full-season commitments. They also consistently finished last in their timeslots. The network also had other news out yesterday, including the return of the veteran sitcom “Scrubs,” which will make its ABC debut on Jan. 6 after seven seasons on NBC. The show will run back-to-back episodes in the 9 p.m. slot during its first two weeks, after which ABC is expected to slot in Mike Judge’s midseason cartoon “The Goode Family.” The network also will soon make official the long-speculated Wednesday-Thursday swap of “Private Practice” and “Life on Mars,” which will happen next month when the two shows are in reruns.
Lord Black seeks clemency and payment of his bills
Before he became a lord and then a convicted felon, Conrad Black built a newspaper empire, and now he's turning back to what's left of that empire in his bid to gain clemency before President Bush leaves office in January. Black, now in a federal prison in Florida, wants Sun-Times Media Group, parent of Chicago's Sun-Times, to pick up the legal fees for his clemency appeal. The company would prefer not to, having already paid out some $117 million in legal expenses for Black and other former executives in their court fight to avoid going to jail for looting $6 million from the media company then known as Hollinger International, reports Toronto's Globe and Mail. In the course of various legal wranglings between Black and Sun-Times Media, the company agreed to pick up a portion of Black's legal fees but with the option to seek repayment in the event the conviction were upheld on appeal. Should it have to pay as well for his clemency bid?. The company says no. And the chances of Black gaining clemency seem slight in any case. As presidents go, Bush is tight-fisted when it comes to handing out clemencies.
Study: More people are planning to shop Black Friday
The economy may be rocky, but malls will be busier than last year on Black Friday. Some 26 percent of consumers plan to hit the stores the day after Thanksgiving, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, according to a poll by Consumer Reports. That’s up from the 21 percent who went shopping on that day last year. The study also found that only 38 percent of people said they had started their holiday shopping this year, versus the 43 percent that said the same at this time two years ago. Only 3 percent said they have finished. Among women, who do the brunt of holiday shopping, 45 percent have started shopping already, compared to 30 percent of men. The study also looked at online shopping. It found that 45 percent of adults plan to shop online this year, about the same percentage as last year. However, the study found 20 percent of online shoppers said they would spend more this year, compared to just 8 percent who said they would spend less.
SAG and producers resume long-stalled bargaining
Remember those stalled talks between the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which were such a big concern a few months back but seemed to get buried amid economic worries and the presidential election once it became clear there wouldn’t be a strike? Well, they seem to have quietly resumed. The two sides began meeting again this week, four months after their last sit-down session, this time with a federal mediator assisting, reports The New York Times. Neither side has commented on their discussions. SAG, which has 120,000 members, went through a contentious election in September, when several reform candidates won seats on the union’s board. It’s been unclear since what the guild’s negotiating strategy would be, after working without a contract since July but showing little inclination to strike. AMPTP has laid out what it calls its final offer, but the two sides are still far apart on payment for new media ventures.
Even after leaving, Rosie's still a thorn in Babs' side
Barbara Walters is way too classy to criticize former co-hosts by name during “The View.” But she’s not above calling them out anonymously, and everyone knew who she was talking about yesterday when she suggested that “some people who have done this show” need to “get on with her life.” Walters was aiming squarely at Rosie O’Donnell, who seemed to reignite the long-simmering feud with her former employer earlier this week, when she accused Walters of making it seem like the ABC talk show’s co-hosts were best of pals when in reality they shared little camaraderie. Walters said she was hurt by comments made by former hosts, who only seemed to be seeking attention, and what’s more, she resented the comments. Perhaps not coincidentally, three of the “View” ladies (Walters, Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg) had a very public dinner together Wednesday night, the same day O’Donnell, promoting her new NBC show, told reporters during her one-season stint on the show, “People don't get together and have dinner once a month.”
