News for 9/18/2006
Weekend Boxoffice
"Gridiron Gang" Sacks "Dahlia"
By Bridget Byrne
Apparently movie fans are ready for some football...and little else.
For the second time in the past month, a heart-tugging film based on a true story of pigskin glory has touched down atop the weekend box office.
This time it's Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Gridiron Gang following in the cleats of Mark Wahlberg's Invincible and scoring $14.4 million, per final studio tallies released Monday.
With much real football to watch and school back in session, ticket sales registered another down week--off nearly 13 percent from this time last year. Aside from Gridiron Gang's modest success, the three other new films in wide release opened to weak business.
The noiristh thriller The Black Dahlia wilted with $10 million in second place; the kiddie baseball cartoon Everyone's Hero batted in only $6.1 million in third; and the Zach Braff-powered romance The Last Kiss smooched up a mere $4.6 million in fifth.
Starring the Rock as a probation officer who inspires a bunch of young offenders to achieve higher goals, Gridiron Gang averaged $4,114 at 3,502 locations. The PG-13 Sony release was the studio's 10th top opener this year, an industry record for the most number ones in a calendar year, beating the previous best of nine recorded in 2003 also by Sony. Gridiron Gang is also the fifth number one debut in the Rock's career--but his lowest grossing of the bunch, just behind Doom's $15.4 million last year.
The Black Dahlia, Brian De Palma's star-heavy adaptation of James Ellroy's book about one of Hollywood's nastiest murders, had a slightly better average, with $4,495 at 2,226 locations. The R-rated Universal film about a pair of 1940s private eyes (Aaron Eckhart and Josh Hartnett) investigating the slaying of a starlet (Mia Kirshner) and Scarlett Johansson and Hilary Swank as the requisite femme fatales. Despite mixed reviews, tracking data predicted the film would open in the mid-teens.
Everyone's Hero, a computer-animated project started by the late Christopher Reeve, is a tall tale about a Depression-era kid who recovers Babe Ruth's stolen bat, a chatty piece of wood voiced by Whoopi Goldberg). Unloaded into 2,896 sites, the G-rated Fox release averaged $2,093.
The Last Kiss, starring Braff as an architect afraid of settling down with his pregnant girlfriend (Jacinda Barrett), performed better, averaging $3,410 at 1,375 locations--the best per-site average among the Top 10. The R-rated Paramount film--written by Oscar winner Paul Haggis, directed by Tony Goldwyn and also starring Rachel Bilson--finished behind last week's top movie, The Covenant. The horror flick dropped 46 percent, down to fourth place with $4.8 million to bring its gross to $15.8 million.
Crashing even worse in week two was Hollywoodland, another noir about another nasty Tinseltown death--the mysterious demise of TV Superman George Reeves. The film plummeted 54 percent from second to ninth place with $2.7 million, bringing its total to $10.5 million.
The Protector, which opened fourth last weekend, tumbled out of the Top 10, landing in 11th with $2.5 million for a two-week gross of $9.1 million.
Other established movies fared better.
Disney's Invincible was only down 17 percent in sixth place, tallying $4.1 million for a total of $51.1 million.
The romantic historical mystery The Illusionist dropped only 20 percent as it continued to expand in its fifth week. Now in 1,438 sites, the film filled its coffers with another $3.6 million in seventh and has conjured up a total of $23.1 million.
The summer sleeper and possible Oscar contender Little Miss Sunshine dropped only one place in its eighth week, finishing in eighth with $3.3 million. The film has grossed $46.4 million to surpass The Full Monty as Fox Searchlight's second biggest film ever, behind only the 2004 hit Sideways.
Tops in limited release were the British comedy Keeping Mum and the documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon. The former, starring Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith and Patrick Swayze (that's not a misprint), averaged $13,556 at two sites for a total of $27,112 for distributor ThinkFilm. The latter, a PG-13 Lionsgate release about attempts to deport the outspoken former Beatle, averaged $11,524 at six sites to debut with $69.143.
Al Franken: God Spoke, from Balcony Releases, opened in two sites, where it averaged $5,267 for $10,533. At 164 locations, the R-rated Echo Bridge offering Artie Lange's Beer League, another lowbrow slacker comedy, averaged $1,681 for $275,606. At 24 locations the PG-13 Yari Film Group release Haven a thriller set on a tax haven island with an ensemble cast that includes Orlando Bloom, should barely register a blip on the IRS radar after averaging $1,598 for a total of $38,355. At 12 locations, the R-rated Fox Searchlight release Confetti, an improvised mocumentary about Brits vying in a wedding competition, averaged $1,713 for $20,550.
Here's a rundown of the top-grossing films based on final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
1. Gridiron Gang, $14.4 million
2. The Black Dahlia, $10 million
3. Everyone's Hero, $6.1 million
4. The Covenant, $4.8 million
5. The Last Kiss, $4.6 million
6. Invincible, $4.1 million
7. The Illusionist, $3.6 million
8. Little Miss Sunshine, $3.3 million
9. Hollywoodland, $2.72 million
10. Crank, $2.68 million
'Survivor' Host's Geoethnic Studies, From Soup to Mutts
By Lisa de Moraes
The Washington Post
Until "Survivor" host Jeff Probst sat in on casting sessions for the CBS reality series's new edition, in which competitors were picked and put into "tribes" based on their ethnic background, he had not realized that "Asian" includes Japanese, Koreans and Chinese and that they do not necessarily like each other as a matter of ethnic solidarity.
Whites, on the other hand, are "mutts" and "don't have any ethnicity to hang on to," he told reporters on a phone conference call Wednesday.
"When you start talking to a person from Asia, you realize -- Wow! They have all different backgrounds!" gushed Probst, who described himself repeatedly as a 44-year-old white guy from Wichita.
Thrilled with the outrage generated by Probst's appearance two weeks ago on CBS's "The Early Show" to announce "Survivor: Race Wars," the network served him up again, this time for his traditional one-week-to-debut conference call with the Reporters Who Cover Television.
Grievously, Probst couldn't answer their really big questions, such as "why has this show, which has been so white for so long, suddenly had an attack of acute social consciousness?" and "why have all the sponsors and several advertisers on the show pulled out this edition?" except to say, "I don't run a network."
So we'll just be left speculating that what with the show losing about a quarter of its largely white audience in two seasons, someone higher up the food chain than Probst decided that maybe they should try a little ethnic diversity and see if they couldn't snag a few more of those Hispanic, Asian and African American viewers.
Probst did tell reporters that about 85 percent of the show's prospective contestants are white, which he called a "self-fulfilling prophecy" because most of the viewers are white.
Last season, "Survivor: Panama -- Exile Island" ranked No. 8 among white viewers, but 58th among African American viewers. Among Hispanic viewers "Survivor: Guatemala" was last season's most popular edition but ranked 64th. Stats on Asian American viewing were not available.
Meanwhile, Fox's reality hit "American Idol," with its ethnically diverse competitors, ranked No. 1 among whites, African Americans and Hispanics.
Probst could say, however, that working on this edition of "Survivor" has changed his life.
The other day, he told the reporters, he went to his dentist, who is white, and the dentist brought in another dentist, who is Asian. "And I found myself saying to the Asian doctor, 'Where in Asia is your family from?' " The dentist said he was Korean. "The only reason I had the courage to even ask that question or the knowledge to ask that question was I'd just spent 39 days with people from Korea," Probst said.
Yes, he really did.
Asians, he explained, include Chinese and Japanese and Koreans and "they don't necessarily get along," adding, "This is stuff maybe I should know."
Having gone ethnic, "Survivor" will never again be lily white, Probst promised. That Probst is so sweet. And trusting. So naive.
"For me, as a white guy from Wichita who hosts the show I love . . . the minute everything was a go, I felt in my heart we'll never go backwards. We can't. . . .
"It wouldn't surprise me if a few years from now people looked back and said, 'Remember when "Survivor" did that and all the hoopla and now it's more commonplace?' That wouldn't surprise me at all. It would make me real happy."
He sees the stunt casting as nothing but good.
"This is such a positive idea because you're going to see more ethnicities represented, certainly on our show from this point forward. . . . You know, a young Hispanic kid now gets turned on to 'Survivor' because there's somebody he can relate to and it opens up a world to him. Maybe he decides to travel as a result of seeing the show or maybe he sees something . . . in this Hispanic [contestant] that he can connect with and he decides to go do what that guy does.
"The possibilities of what could happen from this, to me, are endless, really."
'The Rock' giving $2M to alma mater
By The Associated Press
Wrestling champ Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and his wife are giving $2 million to the University of Miami, school officials said.
The donation will be used to help fund the construction of an alumni center on the school's Coral Gables campus. A room will be named after the couple.
The center will include a library, gallery, cafe and meeting areas, and the university hopes to have it completed within five years, spokeswoman Margot Winick said Friday.
Johnson played football at the school and graduated in 1995. His wife, Dany Garcia Johnson, a member of the university's board of trustees and founder of a Miami-based wealth management firm, also attended the university. The couple met at the school.
Johnson is currently promoting the film "Gridiron Gang" in which he stars as a football coach at a juvenile prison.
HBO Stays Up on 'The Wire'
Acclaimed series gets a fifth and final season
Following mountains of critical praise that have called it perhaps the best work ever produced for television, HBO has renewed "The Wire" for a fifth season.
The novelistic drama about cops, drug dealers and the people caught in between in Baltimore began its fourth season on Sunday. Only about 1.5 million people watched the episode, down some from the 1.8 million who saw the third-season premiere in 2004. Still, HBO, which is less beholden to ratings than ad-driven networks, opted for quality over quantity.
The audience numbers for the show also don't include people who watched the premiere on demand. HBO is making each episode this season available on demand six days before its scheduled Sunday airing on the network.
"We are delighted -- though not surprised -- at the initial critical response to the new season of 'The Wire,'" says Carolyn Strauss, president of HBO Entertainment. "[Series creator] David Simon and his remarkable team have created a riveting and thought-provoking series that's unlike anything else on TV."
The current season of "The Wire" examines the education system, focusing on four West Baltimore boys (new cast members Julito McCullum, Maestro Harrell, Tristan Wilds and Jermaine Crawford) who may have a chance to escape the drug culture that surrounds them, though the odds are not in their favor.
Season five -- which will be the show's last -- will deal with the role of the media within the city.
"The last question we want to ask is this: For four seasons, we have depicted that part of urban America that has been left behind by the economy and by the greater society, and chronicled entrenched problems that have gone without solution for generations now," Simon says. "Why? What is it that we see and sense about these problems? To what are we giving attention, and what is it that we consistently ignore? How do we actually see ourselves?"
American Idol's Tamyra Gray Gets Married
By Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna
People.com
American Idol season one finalist Tamyra Gray married Sam Watters, a songwriter and producer who was in the early '90s R&B group Color Me Badd, in Capri, Italy, on Saturday, PEOPLE has confirmed.
Gray, 27, and Watters, 36, wed before 45 guests on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The bride wore a gown by Claire Pettibone. After the ceremony, "They walked through the city and townspeople were opening their windows and cheering for them," Gray's manager, Lisa Braudé, tells PEOPLE.
The couple have been together for two years. They got engaged on Valentine's Day when Watters proposed with an antique diamond engagement ring in a platinum setting.
A fan favorite on American Idol in 2002, Gray has ventured into acting – she had a recurring role on Boston Public in 2003, appeared in the 2005 indie film The Gospel and played a waitress on NBC's Las Vegas in March. In 2004 she released an album, The Dreamer.
Since his stint with Color Me Badd, which had a hit with "I Wanna Sex You Up," Watters has worked with partner Louis Biancaniello as a writer and producer for artists including Jessica Simpson (he co-wrote her song "A Public Affair"), Celine Dion and Kelly Clarkson. He also co-wrote, produced and arranged several songs on The Dreamer.
The newlyweds are currently honeymooning in Italy.
Spike Lee develops post-Katrina drama for NBC
By Nellie Andreeva
The Hollywood Reporter
Spike Lee will follow his documentary on Hurricane Katrina with a scripted drama for NBC set in New Orleans.
Titled "NoLa," after the local slang for the Big Easy, the project is a multicultural ensemble exploring the post-Katrina lives of New Orleans residents from different social and economic backgrounds.
"It's a show about the city trying to rebuild itself and the people who are trying to put their lives together," said Lee, who will travel to New Orleans this week with screenwriter Sid Quashie to meet with residents.
Lee began thinking about a TV series set in post-Katrina New Orleans while he was filming his HBO documentary "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts." Like the documentary, "NoLa" will be infused with humor. Lee is set to executive produce and direct the project if NBC decides to turn the script into a pilot.
"It's our goal to make great cinema for television," Lee said of his approach to the show.
Stylistically, he will pay homage to the great tradition of Italian neorealism, a 1942-52 movement in Italian cinema that involved such acclaimed filmmakers as Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini and spawned such films as De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief" and "Miracle in Milan."
Set among the poor and working class and filmed on location, Italian neorealist films contend mostly with the difficult economic and moral conditions of postwar Italy, reflecting the changes in the Italian psyche and the conditions of everyday life: defeat, poverty and desperation.
Lee is taking similar approach to the stories of Katrina survivors who are picking up the pieces of their shattered lives.
"NoLa" would be filmed on location in New Orleans.
"We don't have to build sets," Lee said wryly. "Things there still look like the city's been bombed out."
Taking another page from the book of Italian neorealism, Lee plans to add to the authentic feel of the show by having some of the most colorful people featured in the documentary -- like Phyllis Montana LeBlanc -- written into the script as supporting characters and appear as fictional versions of themselves.
News for 9/2/2006
'Lost' Soul Joins Zombie Conflict
Perrineau will also work on 'Name' and 'Night'
"Lost" co-star Harold Perrineau has found work in a trio of upcoming film projects including the zombie-fighting sequel "28 Weeks Later" from Fox Atomic.
When "Lost" fans last saw Perrineau's Michael, he was boating off into the horizon after a season in which he was held hostage, shot and betrayed his various friends in an effort to rescue his son. The show's producers have said that while Michael's character will continue to play a part in the "Lost" mythology, it's unclear what that will mean.
Meanwhile, according to The Hollywood Reporter, in "28 Weeks Later," Perrineau will play an American Special Forces pilot entrusted with bringing families back to London after the viral epidemic that turns most of the population into hungry zombies. Things probably begin to really stink once the flesh-eating begins anew.
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo ("Intacto") will direct the zombie sequel.
In addition, Perrineau will play Richard Roundtree in Matthew Wilder's "Your Name Here," a twisted story about the last days of Philip K. Dick. Will he be playing "Shaft" star Richard Roundtree? Tough to know.
The "Matrix" and "Smoke" star will also appear in Damian Harris' "Gardens of the Night" with John Malkovich and Jeremy Sisto.
'Commander' Star Clocks into '24'
'Raymond' creator offers 'Help' to Danson
LOS ANGELES -- Harry Lennix, who co-starred on ABC's "Commander In Chief" last season, is joining another show in which the White House plays a role.
Lennix, whose credits also include the "Matrix" sequels, has signed on to a recurring part on "24," according to The Hollywood Reporter. The FOX series has also added Steven Schub and Adoni Maropis to this season's crop of bad guys.
At ABC, meanwhile, "Everybody Loves Raymond" creator Phil Rosenthal will step in front of the camera for a recurring part on the network's new comedy "Help Me Help You," Variety reports.
Just where Lennix will fit into the season six story on "24" remains to be seen. FOX has revealed that David Palmer's brother Wayne (D.B. Woodside, who's now a regular on the show) is the president, and star Kiefer Sutherland has said that Jack Bauer will be trying to save his own skin as well as the world.
Lennix played White House Chief of Staff Jim Gardner on "Commander In Chief." He's also appeared on "House" and "The Practice" and in the films "Ray" and "Collateral Damage."
Schub's credits include "E-Ring" and "The Thirteenth Floor," while Maropis has been seen on "Angel" and in the films "Hidalgo" and "Troy."
On "Help Me Help You," which centers on a psychologist (Ted Danson) with issues of his own, Rosenthal will play a colleague whom Danson's Bill Hoffman turns to when he needs help. Variety says Jane Lynch ("Talladega Nights") and Jonathan Katz ("Dr. Katz") will also play therapists.
Rosenthal originally set out to be an actor but turned to writing some years ago. He does have some on-camera experience, with a role in the film "Spanglish" and a guest appearance on "Curb Your Enthusiasm" to his name.
Bernie Mac Makes Lionsgate Pact
Concert film and celebrity roasts are in Mac's future
Versatile comic Bernie Mac has agreed to a multi-year, multi-faceted first-look deal with Lionsgate.
The "Guess Who" star's MacMan Entertainment shingle will now be housed through Lionsgate, marking the first time the company has pacted with an actor's independent production company.
"Bernie Mac is a household name, and we are thrilled to have him call Lionsgate home," say Lionsgate suits Mike Paseornek and Peter Block in a statement. "He's incredibly talented, he's versatile, and his appeal crosses all boundaries of race, class, gender, ethnicity -- you name it."
The first MacMan production under the deal will be a concert film, to be produced by Mac and his creative partner Steven Greener. Mac, who had previous concert film success with Spike Lee's "The Original Kings of Comedy," will also host at least four celebrity roasts, which will have DVD premieres.
"Lionsgate is the perfect place to hang our hats," Mac and Greener say. "They're a smart and exciting studio, and their marketing skills are second to none. What's more, they're very well-rounded in terms of the entertainment they develop, which gives us a lot of room to play with. We're looking forward to doing great things with them."
Up next for Mac are a starring role in the inspirational drama "Pride," followed by supporting role in a pair of smaller pictures titled "Ocean's Thirteen" and "Transformers."
Whitaker, Philipps Check Into 'ER'
'Shield' star Johnson takes new 'Case'
Forest Whitaker and Kenneth Johnson, whose characters' fates on "The Shield" were intertwined last season, will each make the move to network TV this fall.
Whitaker, along with "Love, Inc." star Busy Philipps, will have a recurring part on NBC's long-running hospital drama "ER" in the coming season. Johnson, meanwhile, will appear in multiple episodes of "Cold Case," continuing a part he played in last season's finale.
Whitaker will appear in five episodes of "ER," starting in October, as a man who comes to County General with an apparently benign cough, according to The Hollywood Reporter. His condition goes south quickly, however, when he suffers a paralyzing stroke.
In addition to "ER," Whitaker will appear in at least the first two episodes of "The Shield's" next season as dogged/obsessed Internal Affairs Lt. Jon Kavanaugh. The FX series is due to return in early 2007.
Philipps, meanwhile, will play an intern whose on-the-job training isn't going so well. She starred in UPN's sitcom "Love, Inc." last season and was a regular on "Freaks and Geeks."
Johnson, whose "Shield" character, Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky, was murdered in last season's finale, will continue a role he originated in May's third-season finale. He'll be playing a love interest for the show's lead character, Detective Lilly Rush (Kathryn Morris).
In other casting news, "Brick" star Nora Zehetner will appear in multiple episodes of NBC's new drama "Heroes" as a struggling New York actress. Zehetner also had a recurring part on "Everwood," playing Coma Boy Colin's sister. At CBS, David Gallagher ("7th Heaven") will guest on two episodes of "Numb3rs," and Lisa Vidal ("The Division," "Third Watch") will have a recurring part as an FBI agent on the new series "Smith."
Tyler Perry Brings the 'Payne' to TBS
Sitcom debuts on cable next year, in syndication in '08
Tyler Perry has written, produced and starred in two surprise hit movies in the past couple of years, and he's now hoping to take that success to television.
The "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" creator is working with syndication company Debmar-Mercury to launch a sitcom called "Tyler Perry's House of Payne." The show, which had a test run in a few cities earlier this year, will launch on TBS in June 2007 and move into broadcast syndication the following year on a handful of FOX-owned stations.
The show, about a multi-generational family sharing the same house, has been in production for a while, and Perry expects to have a library of 100 episodes before the show even premieres on TBS.
"For a creator, you couldn't ask for a better opportunity," Perry says. "With TBS and FOX committed to 100 episodes of my series, I can concentrate on telling great stories and producing the best series possible."
Syndicated sitcoms are a rarity in TV, but Perry's track record with "Diary" and this year's "Madea's Family Reunion" helped sell "House of Payne." The series stars Allen Payne ("The Perfect Storm"), LaVan Davis, Cassi Davis ("Madea's Family Reunion") and Rochelle Aytes ("White Chicks"). Perry will write and direct episodes and executive produce the series.
Following its premiere on TBS next year, the show will debut on FOX-owned stations in New York, Houston, Washington and Dallas, as well as independent station WCIU in Chicago in the summer of 2008. The four FOX stations are part of the new MyNetwork TV, which launches in the fall.
News for 8/22/2006
Outkast's 'Idlewild' rolls out in high style
By Donna Freydkin
USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Prince had Purple Rain in 1984.
And now, Outkast's André Benjamin (André 3000) and Antwan Patton (Big Boi) have their own marriage of music and film in Idlewild, which had its premiere Monday at the Ziegfeld Theatre. Outkast are also releasing a 25-track CD titled Idlewild, which is in stores Tuesday.
Benjamin, an aficionado of colorful clothing, wore an orange-and-blue-striped rugby shirt over white jeans, while Patton wore a charcoal jacket over a T-shirt and baggy pants. Benjamin rode to the theater in a cream-colored antique convertible, and Patton rode in on the hood of a red one.
Their film, opening Aug. 25, tells the story of two struggling musicians and co-stars Ving Rhames, Terrence Howard, Malinda Williams, Patti LaBelle and raspy-voiced songstress Macy Gray. Benjamin and Patton, pals in real life, plays Prohibition-era friends trying to make it big as entertainers.
LaBelle, who doesn't have to stretch to play a singer, fanned herself as she made her way down the carpet. "It's so hot. I'm menopausal."
LaBelle stopped to say that she hopes the movie marks "the return of the black man and black woman being shown as classy."
Paula Patton (no relation to Big Boi) plays Benjamin's love interest and calls the Outkast guys "humble." As for her love scenes with Benjamin, "He's a good kisser, but my husband is a good kisser, too." Patton is married to musician Robin Thicke, son of Alan Thicke and Gloria Loring.
The actress stars next with Denzel Washington in Deja Vu, opening Nov. 22. Who is hotter, Benjamin or Washington? "I can't answer that," the actress says. "My husband is the hottest of all."
With co-star Benjamin focusing on movies (2005's Four Brothers, Charlotte's Web, due Dec. 20) and Patton on his record label, the next Outkast project remains a mystery.
"We're just keeping it under wraps," says Benjamin. "We're just doing our thing."
Fantasia, Shatner Reel 'em In
Lifetime movie, 'Comedy Central Roast' draw big ratings
The title of the movie is "Life Is Not a Fairy Tale," but Lifetime has got to be feeling pretty Cinderella-like at the moment.
The movie, a biopic of "American Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino -- in which she plays herself -- scored some boffo ratings for the cable network over the weekend. Comedy Central also drew some nice numbers with its roast of William Shatner.
"The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life is Not a Fairy Tale" drew a hefty 6.6 million viewers in its premiere on Saturday, making it the No. 2 original movie in the cable network's 22-year history. Only the 1995 flick "Almost Golden," which starred Sela Ward as journalist Jessica Savitch.
The premiere also drew the best ratings of any original movie on cable this year among the female viewers Lifetime targets. A replay of the movie on Sunday brought in an additional 5 million sets of eyeballs.
As for Shatner, the "Comedy Central Roast" of the legendarily hammy "Star Trek" and "Boston Legal" star drew an audience of 3.6 million on Sunday night, 2.1 million of whom fell into the adults 18-49 demographic advertisers love. The show also helped the network's broadband channel, MotherLoad, to its highest-ever single-day traffic on Monday.
On the broadcast side of the ledger, the premieres of "Prison Break" and "Vanished" both drew solid ratings for FOX Monday. "Prison Break" began its second season with 9.3 million viewers -- almost exactly what it averaged last season -- and a 3.7 rating among adults 18-49.
"Vanished," meanwhile, did a nice job of holding its lead-in audience, drawing about 8.7 million viewers and a 3.0 18-49 rating.
'The 4400' Pulls a Quad at USA
Fourth season of series due next year
USA is keeping "The 4400" earthbound for another year.
The cable network has picked up a fourth season of its sci-fi drama about 4,400 people who disappeared over the years and have returned to Earth just as they were when they left -- aside from the extraordinary powers many of them possess. The show wraps up its third season on Sunday.
"This show continues to thrive creatively from year to year," says Jeff Wachtel, who oversees original programming at USA. "We're looking forward to another season filled with intriguing characters, unique twists and incredibly suspenseful storylines."
Ratings for the show this season haven't approached the heights of previous years, but "The 4400" still regularly draws better than 3 million viewers per week, enough for USA to deem it a "ratings powerhouse." It also attracted some additional buzz recently with the return of Billy Campbell's presumed-dead character, Jordan Collier.
Production on season four is scheduled to begin in early 2007, with the premiere set for next summer.
Will Smith Goes Bollywood
'Hitch' star will produce a pair of Indian offerings
Will Smith and his Overbrook Entertainment production shingle have reportedly signed on with Indian entertainment company UTV to produce a pair of movies.
UTV has announced a deal to co-produce two movies with Overbrook budgeted at a combined $30 million. According to various Indian media reports, the pact includes one live-action film with a $10 million budget and a CG animated project with a $20 million budget.
The films will then be internationally distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment, home of Smith's production arm.
Smith and Overbrook partner James Lassiter visited India back in February and certain co-production ventures were proposed.
Neither film is expected to feature Smith in any kind of on-camera role.
"This unique agreement is the future of our business", says Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Pictures Group Chairman Amy Pascal in a statement. "Sony has been involved with local language initiatives for many years and this deal accentuates the way our industry is becoming more borderless and more global every day."
Overbrook Entertainment produced Smith's upcoming "The Pursuit of Happyness," as well as the Oscar nominee's previous hits "Hitch" and "I, Robot."
News for 8/21/2006
Breach of Faith
Spike Lee Channels a Storm Surge Of Anger in 'When the Levees Broke'
By Lynne Duke
Washington Post Staff Writer
It is the anger that cuts deepest -- a righteous, laser-focused anger born of betrayal, laced with sadness, a rumbling anger that pumps like blood through the veins of Spike Lee's masterly Katrina documentary, "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts."
Many Hurricane Katrina survivors are angry people, as well they should be, like Cheryl Livaudais, one of the many voices that narrate Lee's epic film, which airs in two parts tonight and tomorrow on HBO.
Beer in hand, Livaudais stands next to her tent on the concrete slab of what used to be her home in St. Bernard Parish and sarcastically muses that she might have to perform a sex act to finally get the FEMA trailer she's been awaiting so long.
And there's Phyllis Montana LeBlanc, a displaced New Orleanian filled with outrage at Barbara Bush's comment during the Katrina evacuations that "so many of the people in the arenas were underprivileged anyway, this is working very well for them." Montana stares straight into Lee's camera and bitterly challenges the former first lady:
"My phone number is 504-919-8699. Tell her to call me and say that [expletive]. Who's better off? Why? How?"
Even when Lee's subjects are calm and composed, their words cut to the bone. It hurts to listen when Herbert Freeman Jr. describes leaving his dead mother behind at the Convention Center. And most of us know her, or at least know of her, for hers was the body in the wheelchair, covered with the blanket her son had laid over her, along with the note he wrote with her name, his name and his cellphone number.
Four days after her death, the evacuation began. The National Guard prodded the evacuees aboard buses, even a man whose mother was lying dead a short distance away.
"I wanted to go and be with her," says Freeman, his voice a monotone. "The National Guard told me I had to get on the bus. And they all had AK-47s. He told me he was doing his job. I said, 'Let me just go back there just to see her before I leave.' He said, 'No, you're not going to do anything. You're just going to get on this bus.' So I had to make a decision. . . . So I prayed to myself and the voice within me told me just to get on the bus, don't do anything, just stand still and watch my salvation." His mother was left behind.
Along with visuals that capture all aspects of the disaster, these bitter, wounded, poignant, thoughtful, expert and often foul-mouthed voices are knitted together in a tightly edited film that manages to sustain four hours without a central narrator.
Yes, it is long. Lee has a penchant for overlong films, and small cuts in his "Requiem" would not have been a bad thing. There are too many lingering shots of decomposed bodies. He is also a filmmaker that many love to hate or debate, a filmmaker with the kind of audacity, idiosyncrasy and racial sensibility that some find overwrought.
And yet those qualities make Lee that rare director who could absorb the Katrina disaster in all its human, racial and political dimensions and make it his solemn mission to create the authoritative historical documentary. It is a lament for the dead. It is a salve for the wounded of body and soul. It is scored sparely at times, with violins just shy of the maudlin. At other times, we feel that melancholic tug, as when Louis Armstrong sings, "Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?"
Lee's "Requiem" shows much of what many viewers will already be familiar with from the TV news coverage as the crisis unfolded.
The documentary deploys that familiarity, along with the interviews, as relentlessly as a prosecutor in a court of law. Lee is clearly out to make an overwhelming case about government ineptitude, carelessness and racism, but the film is polemical in essence without being heavy-handed.
The usual suspects are allowed to simply hang themselves. And so we hear from President Bush, Michael "You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie!" Brown, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Col. Lewis Setliff of the Army Corps of Engineers. And talking heads have their say, ranging from historian Douglas Brinkley to activist Al Sharpton and a few journalists.
But ordinary people carry the narrative as Lee re-creates the earliest moments of the crisis. It is chilling to hear one of the survivors describe the arrival of the water on the New Orleans streets:
"I walked over to the sewer drain, storm drains, on the side of the street and I could hear this low rumbling gurgle coming at me. It sounded like just bubbling boil and it just spit out all over, spit out all over my shoes. Then I started hearing clang, clang, clang down the street, and it was the manhole covers popping off and the water was just blowing out the manhole covers and it was coming out of the storm drains and it was filling up. You could see it coming down the streets."
And so it was that hundreds of thousands of folks were left wading through filthy, chest-high water, left to fend for themselves and left, ultimately, destitute during months that have yet to end.
Katrina: The word conjures horrors. It conjures a collective psychic wound for many Americans, especially black Americans and, of course, most especially for the victims.
You think you know how deep it hurt, and then Gina Montanna takes it to another level, all the way down to that place in the soul where cultural memories are stored.
She's talking about the Katrina diaspora, with relatives separated, cast from city to city, state to state, from Utah to Florida. She's talking about 2005. But she's also talking about the distant past, about the ancestors, the slaves.
"With the evacuation scattering my family all over the United States," Montanna says quietly, "I felt like it was an ancient memory, as if we had been up on the auction block."
Families torn apart, still torn by pain.
Even the brief interlude in which victims tell of the sound of explosions they heard during the flooding, which gave rise to speculation that the levees were actually blown up -- even that moment is a measure of how deep the hurt runs, informed as it is by history. After all, back in the flood of 1927, levees were exploded to divert water from the city.
The list of indignities is long. The levees were poorly constructed. When they broke, there was no rescue, not even air drops of food and water as in the Asian tsunami, when foreigners got help from the United States within a day. Evacuees were dumped in new cities with few resources and no clear path of return to their homes. Returnees sometimes stumbled upon the remains of dead relatives inside homes that had allegedly already been searched. The trailers people were promised materialized ever so slowly. And hurricane season 2006 arrived with the levees still not sufficient to protect New Orleans.
But who pays the price? Cheryl Livaudais has something to say on that.
"They cost the people -- not just New Orleans and the Ninth Ward -- but the whole freakin' Southeast Louisiana. It cost the people their homes and their lives. I hope the politicians, or whoever did this, the Corps of Engineers, whoever -- I hope that they can sleep at night knowing they're the ones responsible."
She holds up her bottle of beer, saying, "And that's not this talking, that's the freakin' truth."
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (four hours): Acts I and II debut tonight at 9; Acts III and IV debut tomorrow night at 9 on HBO.
Weekend Boxoffice
'Snakes' slithers to No. 1 in box-office
By GARY GENTILE
AP Business Writer
"Snakes on a Plane" was the weekend's top-grossing film, but its $15.2 million box-office bite was a disappointment for a film that has been buzzed about on the Internet for months.
The campy horror flick, however, which cost about $30 million to make, should eventually turn a profit for distributor New Line.
The Samuel L. Jackson thriller, about a plane sabotaged by bad guys unloosing a pack of killer snakes, did not meet the lofty expectations created by the early swell of chat-room excitement and fan-generated trailers and gushing praise.
The studio expected the film to top $20 million its opening week, although it wasn't quite sure if or how the Internet frenzy would translate into box-office bucks.
"It was one of those things where for three months we were trying to catch up with the Internet on this picture," New Line head of distribution David Tuckerman said. "We were never sure where it was going to go. It just was disappointing. We thought it would do better."
In the end, the movie may have suffered from too much attention.
"People started to take the Internet buzz a little bit too seriously," said Lew Harris, editorial director for Movies.com, which is owned by The Walt Disney Co.
"The buzz starts feeding on itself. People then start thinking this is appealing to a larger audience than it was."
For a movie to open with $30 million or more — as was expected by some — "you need a pretty mainstream audience as opposed to the fanboys buzzing about it on the Web," Harris said.
Seattle-based Bridget O'Neill, 24, whose blog is http://www.snakesonstuff.com, said the film's ticket sales were a testament to the excitement generated by Internet fans.
"It wasn't supposed to be a big movie at all and then it got all this hype and I think being number one the first weekend was pretty amazing," she said. "I've already seen it three times."
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. are:
1. "Snakes on a Plane," New Line, $15,206,301, 3,555 locations, $4,277 average, $15,206,301, one week.
2. "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," Sony, $13,755,387, 3,741 locations, $3,677 average, $114,341,263, three weeks.
3. "World Trade Center," Paramount, $10,901,350, 2,998 locations, $3,636 average, $45,105,868, two weeks.
4. "Step Up," Disney, $10,157,605, 2,639 locations, $3,849 average, $39,738,435, two weeks.
5. "Accepted," Universal, $10,023,835, 2,914 locations, $3,440 average, $10,023,835, one week.
6. "Barnyard: The Original Party Animals," Paramount, $7,581,622, 3,227 locations, $2,349 average, $46,088,273, three weeks.
7. "Little Miss Sunshine," Fox Searchlight, $5,610,845, 691 locations, $8,120 average, $12,692,059, four weeks.
8. "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," Disney, $5,212,351, 2,277 locations, $2,289 average, $401,253,092, seven weeks.
9. "Material Girls," MGM , $4,603,121, 1,509 locations, $3,050 average, $4,603,121, one week.
10. "Pulse," Weinstein Co./Dimension, $3,519,889, 2,323 locations, $1,515 average, $14,695,988, two weeks.
11. "The Descent," Lionsgate, $2,437,269, 1,720 locations, $1,417 average, $22,320,119, three weeks.
12. "Miami Vice," Universal, $2,427,730, 1,680 locations, $1,445 average, $59,852,850, four weeks.
13. "Zoom," Sony, $2,415,611, 2,501 locations, $966 average, $9,023,155, two weeks.
14. "Monster House," Sony, $1,970,819, 1,673 locations, $1,178 average, $67,372,407, five weeks.
15. "The Devil Wears Prada," Fox, $1,307,434, 824 locations, $1,587 average, $118,996,040, eight weeks.
16. "John Tucker Must Die," Fox, $1,103,954, 1,218 locations, $906 average, $38,637,285, four weeks.
17. "The Ant Bully," Warner Bros., $1,041,357, 850 locations, $1,225 average, $24,616,815, four weeks.
18. "You, Me and Dupree," Universal, $1,005,675, 759 locations, $1,325 average, $72,887,490, six weeks.
19. "The Illusionist," Yari Film Group, $927,956, 51 locations, $18,195 average, $927,956, one week.
20. "Superman Returns," Warner Bros., $848,255, 383 locations, $2,215 average, $194,165,746, eight weeks.
News for 8/20/2006
Ex-Laker Fox Has 'Dirt' on His Hands
Athlete/actor will have recurring part in FX series
LOS ANGELES -- Pro basketball player-turned-actor Rick Fox has taken another step into Hollywood, signing on to a recurring part in FX's drama "Dirt."
The series, which is likely to premiere next year, stars Courteney Cox ("Friends") as the powerful editor of a gossip magazine and revolves around the celebrity culture the magazine perpetuates. Cox is also an executive producer of the show, along with husband David Arquette and writer Matthew Carnahan.
Fox won't be playing himself on the show, but the character isn't too far away from his real life: According to The Hollywood Reporter, the character will be a well-known hoops star who has marital problems. Fox filed for divorce from actress Vanessa L. Williams two years ago, after pictures of him with another woman popped up in The National Enquirer.
Fox played 13 seasons in the NBA with the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, averaging 9.6 points per game for his career. He helped the Lakers win three straight championships from 2000-02 and retired after the 2003-04 season.
He had a recurring part on HBO's "Oz" and last season guest-starred in several episodes of UPN's "Love, Inc." He's also appeared in a few basketball-themed movies, including "He Got Game" and "Blue Chips."
'ER' Doc La Salle Lines Up Pair of Projects
Keith, Hudson cast in CBS shows
LOS ANGELES -- Eriq La Salle hasn't had a whole lot to do with television since he left "ER" in 2002, but that's about to change.
The three-time Emmy nominee has a hand in two projects currently in development, one at CBS and one at NBC. He'll star in and executive produce a drama for the Eye called "25 to Life," and he'll stay behind the camera to produce a comedy called "The Four Next Door" for NBC, the showbiz trade papers report.
In other casting news, David Keith ("Daredevil," "An Officer and a Gentleman") has signed on to CBS' new comedy "The Class," and Oliver Hudson ("The Mountain") will star in the Eye's midseason project "The Rules of Engagement."
La Salle will play an FBI agent in "25 to Life," which focuses on agents who solve crimes with the help of convicted criminals. Marc Moss ("Along Came a Spider") is writing the script and will executive produce with La Salle and Terri Lubaroff.
"The Four Next Door" is a comedy about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who arrive on Earth 10 years before they're supposed to and have to blend in with us mortals till their time comes. La Salle will stick to producing, along with Lubaroff and writer Mark Legan ("All of Us," "Thanks").
La Salle played Dr. Peter Benton on "ER" from 1994-2002, earning three Emmy nods for the role. Since then, his only TV credit is an episode of UPN's "Twilight Zone" revival, which he also wrote and directed.
As for Keith, he's joining "The Class" as Yonk Allen, a retired football player and the (older) husband of classmate Nicole (Andrea Anders, "Joey"). He replaces Eric Allan Kramer, who played the part in the show's pilot.
Hudson, meanwhile, is replacing another "Joey" alum, Paulo Costanzo, in "The Rules of Engagement," a comedy about a married couple, an engaged couple and their single-guy friend. Hudson will play one half of the engaged couple opposite an actress to be named later; Kathleen Rose Perkins played the role in the first pilot but has left the show.
MTV draws fire for cartoon of black women on leash
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A new MTV cartoon depicting black women squatting on all fours tethered to leashes and defecating on the floor is drawing fire from several prominent African Americans who call the episode degrading.
Critics say MTV showed especially poor judgment because the weekly animated program, "Where My Dogs At?," appeals to young teens and airs at an hour, 12:30 p.m. on Saturdays, when many children are watching television.
The show just completed its initial eight-episode run on MTV2, a spinoff channel of the music video institution that recently celebrated its 25th anniversary.
The half-hour show lampoons real-life celebrities and pop culture as seen through the eyes of two wise-cracking stray dogs -- Woofie and Buddy -- voiced by comedians Tracy Morgan and Jeffrey Ross, respectively.
A statement released this week by the Viacom Inc.-owned cable network, whose president, Christina Norman, is black, defended the episode in question as social satire.
In it, a look-alike of rap star Snoop Dogg strolls into a pet shop with two bikini-clad black women on leashes. They hunch over on all fours and scratch themselves as he orders one of them to "hand me my latte." At the end of the segment, the Snoopathon Dogg Esquire character dons a rubber glove to clean up excrement left on the floor by one of the women.
MTV said the "Woofie Loves Snoop" episode, which first aired on July 1, was "in fact a parody of an actual appearance Snoop Dogg made where he was accompanied by two women wearing neck collars and chains."
"We certainly do not condone Snoop's actions and the goal was to take aim at that incident for its insensitivity and outrageousness," the statement said.
But several prominent blacks, including New York Daily News columnist Stanley Crouch, condemned the segment as misogynist, racist and crude, and they questioned the sincerity of MTV's contention that it was satirizing the outlandish behavior of a real-life rapper.
"Where's the context in that?" said Lisa Fager, president and co-founder of the Industry Ears, a consortium of broadcast industry professionals who monitor and critique media content.
Crouch suggested in a column this week that the "Where My Dogs At?" segment was an extension of dehumanizing images contained in gangsta rap videos aired by MTV and projected "around the world as 'real' black culture."
Payne Brown, a high-ranking executive at cable giant Comcast Corp., said he lodged a personal complaint in an e-mail to Norman but found her response, essentially the same as the network's press statement, to be "unsatisfying."
"Clearly, it goes far beyond the pale of anything that remotely could be considered acceptable," he said of the episode, stressing that he was not speaking for Comcast. "This is just me as an African-American father, husband and son."
The first season of the show, which carries a rating advising that parents may find its material unsuitable for children under age 14, drew a cumulative audience of 17.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
News for 8/6/2006
Network fall TV lineup lacking minority leads
By Jens Manuel Krogstad
Courier Staff Writer
WATERLOO --- Where art thou Cosby, Fresh Prince and Bernie Mac?
Three generations of black sitcoms and, for the first time since the four major networks have all existed, nothing to take their place. Of all the shows on this fall's television lineup on the major networks --- CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox --- none feature black leads on sitcoms. In fact, the only minority lead character is on ABC's "George Lopez."
For those pining for some diversity to go with their laughs, the best bet is to tune in to Black Entertainment Network (BET) for classic programming or the new network, CW (a combination of UPN and WB), for current shows.
The NAACP called this development 'unconscionable' in its annual television report released this summer. It also lamented five canceled UPN shows --- "Love, Inc.," "One on One," "Half & Half," "Cuts" and "Eve" --- that didn't make the transition to the CW, further eroding the black presence on television.
Shayla Stevenson, a African American fifth-grade teacher at Walter Cunningham School for Excellence, was similarly unforgiving in her assessment of the networks.
"To me it seems like a way to get rid of the black face. I think that it's taking away all the black role models, the people they see on TV," she said.
Stevenson's kids used to watch "The Bernie Mac Show," but now keep their TV tuned in to cable channels like ABC Family, which features "That's So Raven."
Cassandra Hart, a black second-grade teacher at Lowell Elementary, said having African American leads is important, especially for children.
"When a child sees an image of themselves, they think, 'Maybe I can do that. Maybe I could be a writer/producer or TV star,'" she said. "There's no reason in 2006 there can't be a family show with minorities on it."
It's not a complete television blackout, though. The creator, writer and producer of ABC's Emmy-nominated drama, "Grey's Anatomy," is Shonda Rhimes, a black female. Her cast, along with that of ABC's "Lost," is one of the most diverse on television, featuring Caucasian, African American and Asian actors in the ensemble.
Despite fewer shows with black leads on the CW, the network will devote its entire Sunday night programming block to shows featuring black families, including UPN favorites "Everybody Hates Chris," "All of Us" and "Girlfriends." As the NAACP reported noted, minority representation remains strong on network dramas and television's monster reality TV hit, Fox's "American Idol."
Jeff Stein, professor of electronic media at Wartburg College, said a variety of factors play into the dearth of black faces this fall, including the natural cycle of television shows and the gradual decline of sitcoms.
Shows typically run 3 or 4 years, he said, not the nearly decade-long run of "The Cosby Show." With such high turnover, development and production of future shows don't always coincide with other programs' cancellation. That results in peaks as well as the current valley, he said.
Stein said when compared to past years, diversity on television is as high as ever. Reality TV shows are the sitcoms of 20 years ago in terms of popularity, and they consistently feature diverse casts.
"People are flocking towards reality shows, and they are a lot cheaper to make. And if the audience wants reality shows and they cost less to produce, then they're going to give them that," he said.
"American Idol," the reality show king, crowned Reuben Studdard its chanteuse champion in the show's second season, and Fantasia Barrino in the third. This year, Paris Bennett and Mandisa, two black females, made the show's final round of 12 contestants.
Dramas are another genre in which minorities are strongly represented, especially in ensemble casts. NBC's "Law & Order" franchise, CBS' "The Unit," Fox's "House" and ABC's "Desperate Housewives" are just a few of the shows with prominent black characters.
Overall, Stein said one down year in minority representation on TV sitcoms doesn't represent a trend. That's not to say there isn't room for improvement: Of the 15 sitcoms airing this fall, not one features a black lead.
"Not good," he said.
Weekend Boxoffice
'Ricky Bobby' speeds past weekend rivals
By JEFF WILSON
Associated Press Writer
Will Ferrell's NASCAR spoof "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" enjoyed life in the fast lane with a No. 1 finish in the weekend box office race, taking in $47 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"It's one of those movies — pardon the pun — firing on all cylinders. When you have Will Ferrell and NASCAR, you just know you are going to have a crowd pleaser. But this was way beyond expectations," said Rory Bruer, president of distribution for Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Also entering the box office race with a surprising debut was the animated movie "Barnyard: The Original Party Animals," placing second with $16 million.
"It was at the high end of anybody's expectations. We're thrilled," said Don Harris, executive vice president for distribution at Paramount Pictures, noting recent soft openings for the animated movies "Monster House" and "Ant Bully."
Overall, box office revenue for the top dozen films was up 17 percent over the same week last year, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., which tracks box office performance.
"Hollywood's on a roll. Last year at this time it was all gloom and doom. Eighteen of the past 20 weekends have been up over last year. This is a terrific summer," Dergarabedian said.
As for "Talladega Nights," he said: "It's reinvigorated the box office. Everybody loves Will Ferrell. You know you are going to have a good time and NASCAR is an utterly American sport."
Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" earned another $11 million to place third with attendance dropping 46 percent over the previous week. "Pirates" has earned $380 million after five weeks in North America theaters.
"Miami Vice" earned $9.7 million in its second week of release to slip to No. 4, "The Descent" earned $8.8 million for fifth, "John Tucker Must Die" was sixth with $6.05 million in its second week, "Monster House" was No. 7 with $6 million and "Ant Bully" was eighth with $3.9 million.
Rounding out the Top 10 were "The Night Listener" and "You, Me and Dupree," placing ninth and 10th with a too-close-to-call $3.6 million apiece.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," $47 million.
2. "Barnyard: The Original Party Animals," $16 million.
3. "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," $11 million.
4. "Miami Vice," $9.7 million.
5. "The Descent," $8.8 million.
6. "John Tucker Must Die," $6.05 million.
7. "Monster House," $6 million.
8. "The Ant Bully," $3.9 million.
9. "The Night Listener," $3.6 million.
10. "You, Me and Dupree," $3.6 million
Former "Law & Order" actor sued by agency, manager
By Leslie Simmons
The Hollywood Reporter
Actor Courtney Vance is being sued by his former talent agency and manager for unpaid commissions for his work, which includes his role on NBC's "Law and Order: Criminal Intent."
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that in August 2004, Vance terminated his contracts with the Endeavor agency and Dolores Robinson Entertainment after he purportedly was not signed for another year on the NBC drama.
But after he fired his agents and managers, Vance and Studios USA Television, which produces "Law and Order," agreed to extend his original agreement without any changes other than a boost in pay.
The plaintiffs claim Vance fired them to deprive them of the benefits they were entitled to under their contracts. The lawsuit indicates each of the plaintiffs' commissions should have been at least $126,680.
Endeavor and Dolores Robinson Entertainment want the court to order Vance to pay them each their 10% commission in connection with his earnings for the 2005-06 season of "Law and Order: Criminal Intent" as well as for future seasons of the show. Vance left the show last season.
They also seek unspecified compensatory damages for breach of contract, and Endeavor asks the court to order a constructive trust for all payments received by Vance.
The case is Dolores Robinson Entertainment v. Vance, BC356276. The plaintiffs are represented by William Briggs II and Rori Starr Silver of Lavely & Singer.
