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The Sci Fi Channel released their summer schedule overnight, with new series Destination Truth and returning Ghost Hunters returning to the air on June 6th.
The one-hour weekly series invites viewers along on one man's search for the truth while investigating stories of the unexplained across the globe. Josh Gates stars.
Eureka and Who Want's to Be a Superhero? (unrelated to parent companies Heroes) will be back in July, along with some new untitled series by Derren Brown (who?) Catch the short release here and don't forget that Stargate SG-1 is currently airing its final season, alongside Stargate Atlantis on Friday evenings.
In a bit of unrelated courtroom silliness that somebody really should have seen coming, the jury foreman in a case where the creators of Will & Grace sued NBC over profit sharing was dismissed literally minutes before the decision was to be read for not disclosing that he wrote a blog in which he was critical of NBC, its parent General Electric, and other large corporations.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Warren Ettinger, who is presiding over the case, was expected to announce this morning whether there will be a mistrial or whether deliberations will begin from scratch with an alternate juror taking Hartwell's place.
Adding to the intrigue is the fact that Ettinger knows the verdict.
Kohan, Mutchnick and their agent, Scott Schwartz, sued NBC Studios in 2003, claiming that the studio failed to negotiate a fair licensing fee for the show with sister network NBC, which they say cost them about $65 million in lost revenue.
This is actually a pretty big deal for creators and writers, and I'll explain why. If a parent company owns both a studio (they make the show) and a network (they broadcast the show) then it doesn't make sense for the studio to charge the network an arm and a leg for the rights, because it's just charging itself.
Unfortunately for writers and others, what they make is often a percentage of the fee paid from network to studio, which is what the Will & Grace creators are arguing happened here. It's clever accounting, basically, and totally unfair to everyone who worked to actually make the show, and it needs to stop.
In all fairness to the poor guy caught in the middle of this, his political rants only mentioned GE and NBC in a glancing blow. I'm sure the plaintiffs would have liked to know about this, but I'm also pretty sure they should have found out about it on their own long before the trial began.
"Sir, do you have a website of any kind? Oh really, and what do you write about on this website? Have you ever written about the plaintiffs, their television show, or the defendants? Oh you have? *CLICK*" (Hollywood Reporter)
The MPAA has reversed one its own rulings on an appeal. This never happens, and apparently had something to do with Leprechauns, and I don't mean the good kind. (Variety)
Spider-Man 3 writer/director Sam Raimi didn't intend for the film to be out of control with excess villains and stars, until Marvel stooge Avi Arad stepped in. This is something where Raimi should have listened to his instincts; movies are *not* comics. You need a good guy, and a bad guy, and you've only got 2 hours at most to work the story though. (scifiwire)
Yet another actor ("Entourage" star Kevin Connolly) got rich and famous and now thinks they can be a director at the flip of a switch. (Yahoo!)
A woman stalking Sandra Bullock was arrested after trying to run over her husband with a car. (Yahoo!)
Britney Spears is going to tell us her life story in a new book about her relationship with K-Fed. Wait, Britney Spears knows how to read and write? (Hollywood)
The Sci Fi Channel will be debuting a TV series pilot only on their website, where viewers will be able to participate in its development. (futoncritic)
Jon Stewart will be on Bill Moyer's PBS show this evening. Make sure you watch this.
The Museum of Television & Radio in California is hosting an event called "Video Games: The Writer's Speak". I'm not sure what this has to do with video games, but IGN says writers from Family Guy, 24, and Star Trek (TOS) will be there to speak.
When I noted above that a psycho stalker attacked Sandra Bullocks husband, I had no idea it was Jesse James. I mean damn, that woman must be triple nuts. You don't mess with Jesse James..
