January 21, 2008

The premiere of the seventh season of American Idol may have been down 11% compared to last year (33.4 million viewers vs. 37.4 million, respectively), but it was still the most-watched show of the season. And that's attracting record prices for advertisers looking for a sure bet during a strike-riddled TV season. How much do you have to plunk down to get your ad spliced in between Simon's, Paula's and Randy's snarky comments? About $900,000 for a 30-second spot—up 50% from last year. [AP, 1/16/07; bloomberg.com, 1/14/07 stats]

As 2007 wound down, American Idol's fledgling spin-off The Next Great American Band (on Fox) was revving up. Worth noting is the fact that among the final three contestants were two Christian bands, the big band/swing act Denver & The Mile High Orchestra and a progressive bluegrass (or newgrass) band dubbed The Clark Brothers. Throughout the contest, eventual winners Ashley, Adam and Austin Clark spoke and sang openly about their love for God. Father Freddy Clark, who spent 46 years as an itinerant revivalist and who plays 20 instruments himself, commented that he taught all 11 of his children to play various instruments to participate with him in his evangelistic venture, Old Fashioned Revivals Inc. The elder Clark said, "My boys don't drink, smoke or curse—that came through on the show." He went on to say he thinks "the church world kicked in" to help propel them to victory. Before forming their band, each of the brothers had experienced some success as backing musicians for other popular country acts: Ashley played fiddle for Carrie Underwood's band for two years, Austin played dobro for Underwood and SHeDaisy, and Adam played mandolin for SHeDaisy. The Clark Brothers' victory netted them a recording contract with 19 Entertainment, the same label that has promoted all of the American Idol artists. [TV Guide, 12/22/07; theledger.com, 12/28/07]

Disney's kiddie juggernauts Hannah Montana and High School Musical have conquered the small screen, scaled the album charts and prompted some rabid fans to spend thousands to procure tickets to coveted live shows. It's no surprise, then, that the next stop for both franchises is the big screen. Lots of disappointed young fans failed to land tickets to the "Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert." To satiate the resulting pent-up demand, Disney is launching a concert film of the experience—for one week only, beginning Feb. 1. And when Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale and Corbin Bleu reprise their roles in High School Musical 3: Senior Year on Oct. 24, the movie will land in theaters instead of on the Disney Channel. [AP, 1/18/07; variety.com, 1/14/07]

QUOTE: "A quick quiz: Which category of celebrities is most likely to slip up and utter an obscenity on a TV talk show? Could it be Hollywood film stars? So why was Good Morning America unprepared when Diane Keaton dropped the f-bomb during her interview Tuesday with Diane Sawyer, who giggled and suggested that Keaton's mother might want to use a bar of soap on her mouth (wink, wink)? It can't be because the network is incapable of intercepting obscenities. ... [Perhaps] ABC was blasé about such things because a federal appeals court last year decided to bar the FCC from enforcing the rule against obscenities in cases of 'fleeting' use. The decision left FCC officials scratching their heads. So far, they have not announced whether they will pursue any action against ABC. If they don't, will any rationale still exist for pursuing future 'fleeting' f-words uttered by guests? GMA spokeswoman Bridgette Maney told the Washington Post that GMA does not use a delay on the morning shows and that the obscenity was bleeped out in all but the East Coast broadcasts. ... But why not have a delay? How hard could that be when they do it for talk shows?" —Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Media Institute [cultureandmediainstitute.org, 1/16/08]

QUOTE: "It was obviously unfortunate, and we were quick to correct it for subsequent feeds." —ABC News senior vice president Jeffrey Schneider, commenting on Diane Keaton's unbleeped use of the f-word on the East Coast [washingtonpost.com, 1/16/08]

QUOTE: "Godless Hollywood? What is that? First of all, Hollywood is a part of Los Angeles, not a way of thinking. When you say godless Hollywood, are you including me? Are you saying everybody in Hollywood is godless? That's like saying godless Reader's Digest. No such thing, right?" —Denzel Washington, whom Beliefnet noted as one of the most powerful Christians in the entertainment industry, acknowledges that he prays and reads the Bible every day. "I think it's easy to generalize," he adds. "Let's be specific. We say godless Hollywood, then we make an assumption that that's true. It's not true." [Reader's Digest, 12/07]

Two new TV shows, both focusing on drug abuse, rehab and recovery, are on the vanguard of the latest trend in reality TV. A&E's Intervention chronicles addicts' journeys from using (filmmakers often shoot hours worth of tape of them drinking or shooting up) to a 90-day stay at a rehabilitation center. Likewise, VH1's Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew follows nine stars (actor Daniel Baldwin and former American Idol finalist Jessica Sierra, among them) as they go through rehab at the Pasadena Recovery Center. "Cameras sort of hold people accountable—they motivate them to keep going," says host Dr. Drew Pinsky. Some critics, however, have labeled the shows exploitative. And not all stories have a happy ending. Last month—well after she finished the reality show—Sierra was arrested for disorderly intoxication and resisting officers. [abcnews.com, 1/10-14/08]

QUOTE: "In an extended, slow-motion backlash against celebrity culture, we elevated ordinary citizens with nefarious intentions to superstardom, and administered relentless, brutal beatdowns to superstars, telling ourselves that they deserved to be cut down to the size of ordinary citizens." —Salon columnist Heather Havrilesky, who claims that 2007 was the year that "media-savvy lunatics took over the asylum." Celebrity has become, for many, the end-all, be-all goal. But celebrities themselves have been rarely treated worse. "What's fascinating and disturbing about this moment in our culture is this pervasive feeling of vertigo, the push and pull of new media marginalizing the more historically weighty stories while the flashiest trivia holds the camera's gaze," she writes. [salon.com, 12/26/07]

Move over, Barry Bonds: Steroids aren't just for athletes anymore. Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Timbaland and other entertainment superstars have also been linked recently to an ongoing steroids investigation. While using steroids won't likely pump up these artists' vocal chords, the drugs do offer the promise of a buff body. "They're getting older," said David Canton, who teaches a class on the history of hip-hop at Connecticut College. "Baseball players are doing it. Why not take a little? It makes a difference when you come back with an album and you look a particular way. It boosts sales." [abcnews.com, 1/15/08]

UPDATE: The controversial child rape scene in The Kite Runner, a film about two young boys in Afghanistan, has led that country to ban the movie. Latif Ahmadi, head of Afghanistan's state-run Afghan Film, said the decision was made by the Information and Culture Ministry "because some of its scenes are questionable and unacceptable for some people and would cause trouble for the government and people." [msnbc.com, 1/15/08]

A 4-year-old girl accidentally hanged herself while trying to re-create a scene from a popular Nick Jr. cartoon. The girl apparently put a hair band around her neck, mimicking a "harness" a cartoon character on Go Diego Go used to ride a zip line. The band then got tangled in a hammock in which the girl kept her stuffed animals. [foxnews.com, 1/3/08]

The ongoing Hollywood writers' strike may have resulted in the cancellation of a star-studded awards broadcast for this year's Golden Globes, but trophies were still handed out via a news conference. Winning films: Atonement for BEST DRAMA and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street for BEST MUSICAL OR COMEDY. Ratatouille was named BEST ANIMATED FEATURE. As for TV, the biggest news was that only one broadcast network show managed to snag an award: Tina Fey of NBC's 30 Rock was named BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY/MUSICAL. The remainder of the awards were all doled out to cable series. Among the winners were AMC's Mad Men, HBO's Extras, FX's Damages and Showtime's Californication. [ew.com, 1/17/08]

The 34th annual People's Choice Awards also handed out awards for movies, television and music on Jan. 8. Movie winners included Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (FAVORITE MOVIE), Shrek the Third (FAMILY MOVIE) and Knocked Up (MOVIE COMEDY). Johnny Depp, Reese Witherspoon, Matt Damon and Keira Knightly won individual awards. TV recipients included Fox's House, CBS' Two and a Half Men, Fox's The Simpsons, ABC's Dancing With the Stars, CBS' Moonlight and ABC's Samantha Who? Music winners included Justin Timberlake, Daughtry, Rihanna, Rascal Flatts, Timbaland and Gwen Stefani. [pcavote.com, 1/8/08]

Trying (but not always succeeding) to present a more family-friendly set of recognitions during awards season is the Family Television Awards. (Its ninth installment was broadcast Dec. 27 on CW.) Tying for BEST ACTOR were Zac Efron (Disney Channel's High School Musical 2) and Kyle Chandler (NBC's Friday Night Lights). America Ferrera of ABC's Ugly Betty was named BEST ACTRESS, and her show also got the nod for BEST COMEDY. On the drama side of things, NBC's Heroes took top honors. ABC Family's Kyle XY was handed the BEST CABLE SERIES award, and BEST NEW SERIES went to ABC's Pushing Daisies. Fox's Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader was dubbed BEST REALITY SHOW, while High School Musical 2 was named BEST MOVIE. [ana.net, 12/27/07]