Dick Van Dyke Marries His Makeup Artist

During Castle's recent two-parter, Rick's former muse dropped a bombshell just before she was seemingly killed.Jennifer Beals on her Castle role: "I wasn't interested in a catfight"Sophia (guest star Jennifer Beals) hinted to Castle (Nathan Fillion) that his father may have had ties to the CIA, which would explain both his absence from Castle's life as well as the ease with which Castle was able to shadow a federal agent. The question remains: Is Sophia - who was revealed to actually be a Russian sleeper agent - being honest? "I think he is evaluating whether Sophia was telling him the truth," creator and executive producer Andrew W. Marlowe tells TVGuide.com.... Read More > Other Links From TVGuide.com Jennifer BealsNathan FillionStana KaticCastleAndrew W. Marlowe

Fuentes-Leon preps 'Vanished Elephant'

GUADALAJARA -- Helmer-scribe Javier Fuentes-Leon is preparing "The Disappeared Elephant," the follow-as much as his debut feature, "Undertow," which won Sundance's World Dramatic Competition Audience Award this year. The film noir thriller activates crime novel scribe Edo Celeste, whose girlfriend disappeared years before. Around the fifth anniversary of her disappearance, he receives an envelope with photos that appear a part of a collage, clues as to the happened to her. The pic was initially occur L.A., and can now lense in Peru, placing aspects of classic film noir from the backdrop of Lima, "a damp, sprawling, chaotic urban area," Fuentes-Leon stated, "full of movement, excitement and sharp contrasts between your haves and also have-nots." Moving in the roads of Lima to Peru's Paracas beaches, " 'Elephant' asks constantly: What's fiction and what's reality?," and explores "the creative process, and also the loss and avoid which remains when something close or personal escapes us," Fuentes-Leon described at Mexico's Guadalajara festival. The pic's title describes an elephant-formed rock-formation off Paracas, which flattened and disappeared in to the sea throughout Peru's 2007 earthquake. Skedded to shoot fall 2012, "Elephant" is to establish at Lima's Elcalvo Films. Fuentes-Leon and Colombia's Dynamo, a producer on "Undertow," will work together to boost the financing and also to result in the film. Peru's Oscar submission, "Undertow" was acquired for U.S. distribution through the Film Collaborative for theatrical and Wolfe Delivering for DVD. The pic would be a revenue achievement for Shoreline, and made a sturdy 155,836 ($208,976) in The country. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Current TV To Go In AM News Competition With Radios Bill Press And Stephanie Burns

They’ll join the road-up at the begining of springwith Currentofferingsimulcasts of the radio shows.Full Court Press: The Balance Press Show will run from 6:00 to 9:00 AM ET, andTalking Liberally: The Stephanie Burns Show will followto noon. Here’s the network’s release: NY, NY March 5, 2012 Current TV today introduced the launch of the new morning news block featuring live simulcasts from the radio programs The Balance Press Show from 6am-9am ET and also the Stephanie Burns Show from 9am-12pm ET every week day beginning early this spring. These additions further strengthen Power line-from political commentary and analysis programs including Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The Youthful Turks with Cenk Uygur, and also the War Room with Jennifer Granholm. Ive adopted Stephanie and Bill for a long time. They offer the type of wise, informative news analysis our audiences wish to hear, said Current TV Chairman, Al Gore. Bill brings an important perspective from one's heart from the Beltway, and Stephanies fresh undertake politics and news includes a decidedly outsider flair. Were really searching toward getting their voices to the audiences. 2012 is an important year within the good reputation for our country and that we felt that morning cable tv programming was not talking with People in america with progressive viewpoints and concepts, stated David Bohrman, Leader, Current TV. This new block is going to be an alternative choice to the tired banter and lightweight news that's located on the air today. We're proud to be the sole cable news network showing independent, intelligent and interesting progressive programming for audiences every day. Every week day Current Televisions camera is going to be live inside Bill and Stephanies galleries to create audiences live coverage of two of the very progressive radio shows around the air today. Current audiences will get access to daily live interviews, political commentary, listener calls, in addition to Bill and Stephanies take in the news during the day. Adding Bill and Stephanie to the present TV news fall into line provides around the commitment of developing a round-the-clock progressive cable news network that talks truth to energy while offering a genuine option to traditional programming, Bohrman ongoing. Current has got the youthful, progressive and involved audience that I wish to achieve everyday, stated Stephanie Burns. The Present team shares our view that progressive political news and commentary is crucial to have an intelligent and informed populace and were excited to participate their growing line-from gifted news tv stations. The conservative stranglehold on morning cable news television in the usa has ended, stated Bill Press. Current TV and that i share a typical goal of cutting with the speaking points and shouting heads to provide sane, intelligent political commentary and analysis. The Balance Press Show known as Full Court Press: The Balance Press Show on Current — is really a across the country syndicated radio program featuring Press addressing, leaving comments, and examining the problems during the day. Bill Press started his career like a political insider and media commentator on KABC-TV and KCOP-TV, in La. Through the years, he's received numerous honours for his work, including four Emmys along with a Golden Mike Award. The previous co-host of MSNBCs Buchanan and Press, CNNs Crossfire and also the Spin Room, Press has generated a national status on thought-invoking and humorous experience in the left side from the political aisle. Press may be the author of six books: Spin This! (Atria, 2002), Rose bush Must Go! (Dutton Books, 2004), The Way The Republicans Stole Christmas (Doubleday, 2005), Trainwreck (Wiley, 2008), Toxic Talk (Thomas Dunne Books, 2010), and the latest, The Obama Hate Machine (Thomas Dunne Books, 2012). Press attends the daily Whitened House press briefing and creates a syndicated newspaper column, distributed weekly by Tribune Media Services. The Balance Press Show are available online at billpressshow.com or on Twitter at @BPshow. Since its September 2004 debut, The Stephanie Burns Show known to as Speaking Liberally: The Stephanie Burns Show on Current is shipped on America’s biggest radio network, Dial-Global, and heard on satellite radio via SiriusXM, and is just about the top show in Progressive Talk. Stephanie was named Talk Radios Lady of the season by Talkers Magazine and her Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour (no. 1 comedy tour in the united states) is constantly on the break box office records and stays the very first political comedy album to achieve No. 1 around the comedy charts for iTunes, Amazon . com and Billboard. The Stephanie Burns Show and Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour also boast comics Hal Sparks and John Fugelsang who make regular weekly looks on the program. Fans will find The Stephanie Burns Show online at Stephaniemiller.com or on Twitter at @SMShow and @SexyLiberal, having a combined achieve well over 70,000 fans.

Pilots Only Fools & Horses, Carrie Diaries & Zero Hour Add To Casts

Dustin Ybarra has landed the other lead opposite John Leguizamo in ABC’s multicamera comedy pilot Only Fools And Horses. Based on the British format, the multicamera comedy chronicles the misadventures of two streetwise brothers, Del (Leguizamo) and Rodney (Ybarra), and their aging grandfather as they concoct outrageous, morally questionable get-rich-quick schemes in their quest to become millionaires. Ybarra is with CAA and Andrew Tetenbaum Management. The Killing‘s Katie Findlay and Ellen Wong have joined just-cast AnnaSophia Robb in the CW pilot Carrie Diaries.The project, based on Candace Bushnells novel, chronicles Carrie Bradshaws (Robb) coming of age in the 1980s when she asks her first questions about love, sex, friendship and family while exploring the worlds of high school and Manhattan. Wong will play Jill The Mouse Thompson, Carries best friend in high school who is pragmatic, bright and super loyal. Findlay, repped byThruline and agent Russ Mortensen, will play Maggie Landers, Carries oldest friend, a townie and the daughter of the police chief who has little ambition to leave her town, mostly because she has no idea what she would be leaving for. Addison Timlin has been cast in ABCs drama pilot Zero Hour. The ABC Studios project centers on a man who, after spending 20 years as the editor of a skeptics magazine, becomes involved in one the most compelling conspiracies in human history. Timlin, repped by Gersh and Management 360, will play a member of the Modern Skeptic magazine staff.

Weinstein Co. To Take On MPAA Rating For Bully

The Weinstein Company will take on the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) once again after the organization slapped the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival documentary Bully with an R rating. Harvey Weinstein and one of the film’s featured subjects Alex Libby will personally appeal the rating to the MPAA. The R-rating was made due to “language,” restricting minors under 17 from seeing the film unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. The rating would also in effect ban the film from screening in U.S. middle and high schools. Originally titled The Bully Project, the emotional feature captures the stories of several American middle and high school students who faced relentless bullying at school. Filmed over the course of the 2009/2010 school year, Bully exposes pained and often endangered lives of bullied kids. The film’s director Lee Hirsch became a regular on shows such as CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 following the film’s premiere at Tribeca last year, which happened to coincide with a number of teen suicides allegedly as a result of school bullying. In announcing the appeal via TWC, Hirsch said he made the film for bullies and the bullied to see. “We have to change hearts and minds in order to stop this epidemic, which has scarred countless lives and driven many children to suicide,” he said. The hearing will be held at the MPAA’s Sherman Oaks screening room on February 23rd with Motion Picture Consulting LLC’s Ethan Noble assisting The Weinstein Company. Bully is slated for a March 30th release. TWC is no stranger to MPAA rating hearings. It successfully overturned an initial NC-17 rating in 2010 for Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams.

'Hugo,' 'Boardwalk' top Cinema Audio awards

"Hugo" and "Boardwalk Empire" took top honors at Saturday's 48th annual Cinema Audio Society Awards, held at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles."Hugo," Martin Scorsese's cinematic love letter to film history, was honored for outstanding achievement in sound mixing for a motion picture, while "Boardwalk Empire," which Scorsese exec produces, won sound mixing for television.But Scorsese wasn't the only marquee name the evening's two big winners shared. Re-recording mixer Tom Fleischman worked on both projects' teams, giving him the evening's only double win in film and TV. Fleischman has a previous film win for "The Aviator" and also won for "Boardwalk" last year.Fleischman shared the win with production mixer John Midgley and scoring mixer Simon Rhodes for "Hugo" and with production sound mixer Franklin D. Stettner for "Boardwalk."The miniseries "Too Big to Fail" and reality series "Deadliest Catch: New Blood" earned TV honors, as well.Penelope Cruz presented the honorary CAS Filmmaker Award to director Rob Marshall. Walter Murch and Thomas Newman gave the CAS Career Achievement Award to Scott Millan. Contact Christy Grosz at christy.grosz@variety.com

Imboden preps 'Am Hang'

Markus Imboden, director of Swiss box office hit "The Foster Boy," is prepping "Am Hang," based on Markus Werner's bestseller.Produced by Zurich-based Maximage, the drama revolves around two men who coincidentally meet in a restaurant but who have more in common than it seems.Imboden is currently enjoying huge success in his native Switzerland with "The Foster Boy." The C-Films production has so far garnered $3.6 million, making it the most successful local film in the past five years.Max Hubacher, one of European Film Promostion's Shooting Stars this year at Berlin, toplines in the 1950s-set pic, about a boy who is taken from his parents and sent to work on a farm as a "Verdingbub," or contract child. Film is based on the many true stories of this practice.Imboden is also set for "The Face," a postwar thriller penned by U.S. scribe J. Frank James and produced by Rene Asch, and "Bones of the Wise Men," also set in postwar Germany, from a script by James. Contact Ed Meza at ed.meza@mannaa.de

Sun staff turn on Murdoch

LONDON -- Fresh evidence of a "civil war" at News Corp. has emerged following what commentators have interpreted as an extraordinary attack by the Murdoch-owned U.K. tabloid The Sun on its parent company. In a signed article, published Monday, one of Murdoch's most loyal British journalists, Trevor Kavanagh, an assistant editor at the Sun, accuses the British police and politicians of conducting a "witch hunt" against Sun journalists. He said that Sun journalists and their families have been treated like "members of an organized crime gang." "Wives and children have been humiliated as up to 20 officers at a time rip up floorboards and sift through intimate possessions, love letters and entirely private documents," he wrote. Kavanagh added: "It is absolutely right the company co-operates with police on inquiries ranging from phone and computer hacking to illegal payments. We are right to hand over any evidence -- emails, expense claims, memos -- that might aid those inquiries. "It is right that those inquiries are carried out separately from the journalists under investigation. Nobody on the Sun was aware in advance that 10 colleagues were about to be nabbed. "It is also important our parent company, News Corp., protects its reputation in the United States and the interests of its shareholders. "But some of the greatest legends in Fleet Street have been held, at least on the basis of evidence so far revealed, for simply doing their jobs as journalists on behalf of the company." Kavanagh's opening line that the Sun "is not a 'swamp' that needs draining" is a reference to reports that a member of News Corp.'s Management and Standards Committee, set up last summer to investigate phone hacking at News International, had described its work as "draining the swamp". Former Sun assistant editor turned professor of journalism at London's City University, Roy Greenslade, interviewed by the BBC, said that Kavanagh's outburst amounted to the clearest evidence yet of what he described as a "civil war" at News Corp. Five Sun journalists, including deputy editor Geoff Webster, were arrested February 11 over allegations of bribing public officials. News Corp.'s U.K. subsidiary News International, which owns the Sun, gave assurances following the arrests that Murdoch remained committed to publishing the paper, which is believed to be the world's 10th best-selling newspaper. The media mogul is expected to personally reassure Sun journalists later this week during a scheduled trip to London that there are no plans to shutter the Sun. Murdoch closed his U.K. Sunday tabloid, the News of the World, following revelations about phone hacking last July. But if more arrests follow, events may once again spiral out of control. Andrew Neil, the former editor of Murdoch's the Sunday Times, tweeted: "In many ways the crisis at the Sun is bigger than the one Murdoch faced at the News of the World. "And his most loyal newspaper has turned against him." As Kavanagh implies, News Corp.'s strategy is to appease the authorities, and so protect the vastly more valuable U.S. arm of his empire by being seen to be doing everything to clean up practices at his British newspapers. But according to Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff even dawn raids on Sun journalists may not be enough to save Murdoch. Writing in the Guardian on Monday, Wolff said: "Murdoch's companies are poisoned, by his own aggressiveness, as well as by the culture of British tabloids themselves "The air itself is poisoned by a public animus the like of which has not been seen since Richard Nixon was run out of Washington." Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Gloria Lloyd, daughter of Harold Lloyd, dies

Gloria Lloyd, daughter of silent film star Harold Lloyd, died Feb. 10 in Santa Monica. She was 87. An actress and a model, she appeared in 1946's "Temptation" with Merle Oberon, and as herself in "American Masters"' "Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius," and "This Is Your Life: Harold Lloyd." Cari Beauchamp, who interviewed her for a book on Greenacres, Harold Lloyd's estate, said, "At her wedding in Greenacres, Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons both came. And for that one day they called a truce." Survivors include a daughter, Susan, chairman of Harold Lloyd Entertainment. Services will be private, although a public memorial is being planned, Beauchamp said. Contact Shalini Dore at shali.dore@variety.com

The Artist and Curb Your Enthusiasm Win Top Awards at Company directors Guild Honours

The Artist Honours season front-runner The Artist came a measure nearer to Oscar gold by winning best director for any feature film in the Company directors Guild Honours. "Best director, I do not fully realize what that's. All of us is really different," champion Michel Hazanavicius stated in the acceptance speech Saturday. "So to try and say which is the greatest is extremely difficult. However I really appreciate thisand thanks greatly." Hugo, The Artist lead Oscar nominations Locked in La and located by Kelsey Grammer, the DGAs also named The Killing pilot as well as drama series, and Curb Your Enthusiasm's "Palestinian Chicken" episode as well as comedy series. The Kennedys won best direction for TV movie and miniseries, and General Hospital was acknowledged as the very best daytime serial. Best musical/variety series visited the 65th annual Tony Honours, as the Greatest Loser required home the recognition of best reality series. James Marsh won best feature documentary for Project Nim.

Just before professionals Choice after-party

Paul Feig and Judd Apatow Penelope Ann Burns, Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo and Missi Pyle get physical at Critics' Choice Movie Honours. Enlivened with the film's best picture win within the Experts Choice Movie Honours, "The Artist" cast people clowned around backstage within the Paladium, obliging photogs with every imaginable pose missing a person pyramid before reacting to reporters' questions."You'll find lots of beautiful people here' must pressure myself not to request autographs," mentioned Michel Hazanavicius, who also needed home the helmer recognition Thursday evening.But allow producer Judd Apatow, who won the comedy prize for "Bridesmaids," to strike back at experts who have spurned him formerly. "There is no afterparty. Have you thought about that? That's how fucking cheap this kind of person,Inch he joked just before the Palladium aud.Apatow should not are actually clued to the fete lower the street at Boulevard3, where house band Licorice entertained the "Bridesmaids" crowd, including Paul Feig and Wendi McLendon-Covey.

Beyonce and Baby Leave the Hospital

Beyonce Knowles, Jay-Z Beyoncé and Jay-Z have left the building - well, the hospital, anyway.The new parents exited NY's Lenox Hill Hospital with daughter Blue Ivy at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, the NY Daily News reports. Several black SUVs and other vehicles with tinted windows aided in their departure.Beyoncé and Jay-Z confirm daughter's birthThe 30-year-old songstress and 42-year-old rapper confirmed the baby's birth joint statement Monday. "Hello Hello Baby Blue! We are happy to announce the arrival of our beautiful daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, born on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012. Her birth was emotional and extremely peaceful, we are in heaven."The hospital put out a statement of its own in the wake of reports that the couple paid $1.3 million to rent an entire maternity floor. "Simply not true," the hospital said, adding that the family was "housed in an executive suite at the hospital and is being billed the standard rate for those accommodations."Still, that's not what non-famous new parents at the hospital told local media.Meantime, Jay-Z put out a song in honor of his baby girl:

On-set images of Gemma Arterton in Byzantium

To date in her own career, Gemma Arterton has performed lots of upper-class special gems such as Tamara Drewe and Quantum Of Solace, but so far as we all know, she has not received the opportunity to rupture many arterial blood vessels together with her bare teeth.That's soon to alter however, as Neil Jordan's vampire flick Byzantium might find Arterton flex her bloodletting muscles like a toothy creature from the evening.And in the looks from the latest on-set pictures in the film's Dublin-based shoot, Jordan certainly is not skimping around the splatter front. Indeed, we barely recognised Miss Arterton from behind that crimson mask!The film sees Arterton star alongside Saiorse Ronan like a mother and daughter team of vampires of the underworld, who from time to time pose as siblings once the situation calls for this. Away from home for murder, the happy couple make an effort to lie lower in an British seaside town, however it soon becomes obvious it is not only the human government bodies who're after them...It may sound quite a fascinating premise to us, with Arterton's character fatigued by a lot more than two centuries of existence, and torn between the necessity to safeguard Ronan and her desire to finally settle lower. Byzantium is pencilled directly into arrive Stateside later this season, having a United kingdom release date not yet been confirmed.

Zabielski to helm 'Police Academy' redo

Longtime "Tosh." helmer Scott Zabielski could make his feature directorial debut with New Line's remake of "Police Academy." Zabielski outshine several more skillful helmers for your coveted comedy gig, the director is ideal for, getting experienced actual police academy training just like a reserve officer in West Hollywood. David Gem and David Weissman written the script, while original "Police Academy" producer Paul Maslansky will return to result in the remake. New Lines will probably start production this year, though they'll must find a cast first. The first 1984 "Police Academy" opened up up atop el born area office where it continued to be for three days before losing for the second slot. However, it acquired the most effective place throughout its fifth and sixth weekends and shown to own legs with the summer season, grossing greater than $81 million in your area despite never using greater than 1,587 screens. Zabielski started his career becoming an editor on "Beauty as well as the Geek" and "Talkshow with Spike Feresten." He's repped by UTA and Undercover Films and Management. Contact Rob Sneider at rob.sneider@variety.com

NBC to Premiere Musical Cleaning soap Smash Online

Smash As NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt place it, NBC is giving Smash the entire-court press. The network introduced Friday the full first episode is going to be available like a digital download beginning Jan. 16 - three days just before the show's February. 6 premiere - on Apple iTunes, Amazon . com VOD, Xbox 360, Ps, Samsunb MediaHub and Vudu. It will likewise be accessible on Comcast's VOD as well as on choose American Air carriers plane tickets. Not much later, beginning Jan. 23, audiences will have the ability to stream the episode on NBC.com and Hulu. Winter 2012 TV: Must-see new shows And when that wasn't enough advanced exposure, NBC will host tests from the pilot on The month of january 9 in Chicago, La, Dallas, Colorado, Ontario, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Tigard and Bay Area, as well as on The month of january 11, it'll screen in LA's Outfest. And like Fox's Glee, the tunes from each episode is going to be provided right after hourly airs. Smash, starring The American Idol Show runner-up Katharine McPhee, Debra Playing and Anjelica Huston, involves the backstage drama active in the development of a brand new musical about Lana Turner. McPhee and theater vet Megan Hilty (Wicked, job) play two stars competing to portray the Hollywood legend. Playwright Theresa Rebeck produced and executive-produces the series, that will feature original tunes by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray). NBC at TCA: Scoop around the Voice, Smash, SVU and Community's future Throughout the show's session at NBC's winter TV preview, the cast and inventive team, a lot of whom have Broadway experience, were quick to express the cleaning soap operatic (and stereotypical) behind-the-moments shenanigans - talking stars, a director who occurs to his stars, super-sized egos - are pretty in keeping with existence. "What goes on behind the curtain is much more interesting than what is happening around the stage," Hilty stated. "The genius of creating this concept right into a series happens when you are an active artist...there's a lot on the line when you are subjecting you to ultimately 100s or 1000's of individuals, it naturally sets a dark tone and stage for top drama," she ongoing. "The stakes are extremely high and there is a lot on the line. This show taps into everything... All individuals stereotypes exist for any reason " For which character may ultimately play Marilyn, Rebek states it isn't so obvious-cut. Not simply will McPhee and Hilty be up for that part, but guest-star Uma Thurman will swing at the end of in to the first season like a major superstar also in consideration to guide the musical. For the time being, McPhee stated the variations between your two characters's versions of Marilyn are rapidly apparent McPhee's Karen is an extremely eco-friendly budding actress while Hilty's Ivy is a chorus girl waiting to land an online insurance lead role for a long time, and prepared to do anything whatsoever to have it. Also, McPhee states, "I think about myself much more of a pop artist, and Megan's got this large Broadway voice," McPhee stated. Smash premieres February. 6 at 10/9c on NBC.

Melanie Amaro Unveils The Primary One Factor She Has The Capacity To Splurge Her X Factor Money On

First Launched: The month of the month of january 5, 2012 4:32 PM EST Credit: Access Hollywood Caption Melanie Amaro Unveils Her Plans For Your X Factors $5 Million Prize NY, N.Y. -- Melanie Amaro acquired herself the big $5 million recording contract using the new the new sony when she won The X Factor only a few days ago, and shes prepared to accept of the cash on a considerably-needed item. A ft massager, she told Access Hollywood in regards to the one factor her heart truly desires. In my opinion thats ultimately, at this time around, a few things i truly, truly would really like. I dont think buying fancy cars, fancy clothes I dont really uncover that the necessity, Melanie ongoing. Personally I seriously need a ft massager. The truth is every one of these really pretty women in like different shows and stuff and so they placed on every one of these nice shoes and [large] heels, which is like, Oh my gosh gosh, you gaze so competent, but inside its killing her because her foot are doing harm to. So personally, its like I put them under which i look good included But if you return home, you just wanna put your ft in the ft massager and basically possess a load off. Melanie will expend a couple of of her cash on one large ticket item, however it won't be something to herself. She told Access she still needs to buy her mother a home. In my opinion my mother warrants a enjoyable house, a sizable kitchen so she'll prepare, a enjoyable large mattress room together with a sizable bed mattress, I'm they warrants it, the singer mentioned. Inside the days since Melanie won Season among the X Factor her existence has changed, but she only recognized the need for what went lower on Wednesday. Yesterday it kind of struck me this really is likely to be my existence any further: interviews, hair, makeup, wardrobe, she mentioned. After I awoke, it absolutely was like, Bam! Bam! Bam! People in my face, people in my hair I used to be like, Wow, that is likely to be me for just about any very very long time. Added Melanie, In my opinion Im becoming familiar with it. Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All rights reserved. These elements is probably not launched, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

History takes Nutopia's 'Mankind'

LONDON -- Nutopia, the shingle produced by former Discovery and BBC topper Jane Root, hopes to cement its status for ambitious docus specific within the worldwide market having its new commission for History, whose working title is "Mankind: The Story famous Us." Greenlit with the U.S. web, the 12-hour show will debut later this year, with assorted versions created for individual local areas, a preliminary for History. The funnel, which has reinvented itself by screening more reality shows and fewer traditional history programs, claims worldwide distribution more than 300 million houses. The completely new project starts while using Large Bang and traces the development of humans in the world where most species finish off extinct, mentioned Root. She known towards the show just like a "real action-adventure," encompassing astronomy and geology together with the great status for mankind. Planned just like a 12-hour, six evening TV event, the docu is produced using it . team as "America: The Story people,Inch introduced by executive producers Root and Ben Goold. Screening is planned for later this year. Filming is able to go such locations as China, Nigeria, Morocco mole as well as the U.K. Root mentioned: "There's a massive appetite all over the world for documentaries such as this that tackle the finest subjects on the world inside an entirely new epic style that mixes amazing drama, CGI and interviews." Nancy Dubuc, prexy and gm, History, added: "'Mankind: The Story famous Us' gets the same spirit of bold storytelling that made 'America the story of Us' this kind of phenomenal success. But this time around around we're going a good deal bigger.Inch Nutopia is presently planning approaching Discovery skein "The Way You Invented the earth,In . a five-part show examining technological breakthroughs such as the automobile as well as the cell phone, in addition to localized for individual areas. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

Winfrey show boosts OWN

The famous host oprah Winfrey interviews Stephen Tyler in Oprahs Next Chapter OWN got a pleasant anniversary present: hearty amounts for that two-hour bow of "Oprah's Next Chapter," which preemed on New Year's Day -- within 24 hours the Harpo/Discovery Communications partnership released this past year. The show drawn in 1.a million audiences overall and did single.1 rating within the net's target demo of ladies 25-54, based on Nielsen. It is good news for OWN executives who predicted that Oprah's on-air go back to balance-looked at network bearing her title would boost curiosity about the cabler. Rankings for "Chapter," which adopted Winfrey with an interview with Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler at his house in Nh, gave the series its second-greatest rating to date, behind its two-hour preem of "Season 25: The famous host oprah Behind the curtain" on the day that this past year. Internet also noted that viewership elevated within the show's second hour. As OWN rushed to locate audiences throughout an initial year interrupted by a number of serious difficulties, it's switched progressively to African-American women -- an underserved demo which has responded well to programming like "Thanks for visiting Sweetie Pie's." OWN also offers Good Clean Fun's "Beverly's Full House," another program apparently customized to attract African-American women, bowing the following month. Contact Mike Thielman at mike.thielman@variety.com

Eight vie for Orange Rising Star Award

Chris O'Dowd in 'Bridesmaids'Tom Hiddleston in 'Thor'Jessica Chastain in 'The Help'Felicity Jones in 'Chalet Girl'Eddie Redmayne in 'My Week with Marilyn'Adam Deacon in 'Anuvahood'The Orange Rising Star is not a traditional BAFTA award, but rather an audience prize that's handed out on BAFTA night. It's designed to engage the public in the ceremony, particularly the younger movie fans targeted by cellphone giant Orange, the title sponsor of the awards.The longlist of eight contenders is drawn up by a jury of industry experts, but the five nominees and the winner are decided by public vote. However smart the longlist selections, the candidate with the year's biggest box office has an inherent advantage.By that yardstick, this year's longlist is unusually hard to read.It includes several actors who have appeared in blockbusters, several with multiple credits, several whose big films will be released just as the voting is taking place and one wild card in the form of Adam Deacon, a cult hero among the teen cellphone addicts who decide this award.In order of their U.K. box office in 2011 (through Dec. 19), the contenders are:Chris O'Dowd"Bridesmaids" ($36.8 million)Tom Hiddleston"Thor" ($23.4 million)"Midnight in Paris" ($4.1 million)"The Deep Blue Sea" ($666,000)"Archipelago" ($500,000)"War Horse" (Jan. 13 release)Jennifer Lawrence"X-Men First Class" ($24.6 million)"Winter's Bone" ($1.2 million)"The Beaver" ($200,000)"Like Crazy" (Feb. 3 release)Chris Hemsworth"Thor" ($23.4 million)Jessica Chastain"The Help" ($6.6 million)"The Tree of Life" ($2.8 million)"The Debt" ($2.4 million)"Take Shelter" ($306,000)"Texas Killing Fields" ($202,000)"Coriolanus" (Jan. 20 release)Adam Deacon"Anuvahood" ($3.4 million)"Everywhere and Nowhere" ($62,000)Felicity Jones"Chalet Girl" ($3 million)"The Tempest" ($71,000)"Albatross" ($32,000)"Like Crazy" (Feb. 3 release)Eddie Redmayne"My Week With Marilyn" ($4.2 million) BAFTA: DOWN TO THE WIRE:Documentaries | Foreign Films | The Orange Rising Star Award Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com