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Arrested Development: Breaking News!

NEW YORK (AP) The Bluth family’s frozen banana stand may be back in business. At an “Arrested Development” reunion Sunday at the New Yorker Festival, the creators and cast announced plans for a new TV show that spins off the short-lived but critically acclaimed TV show, which went off the air in 2006 after just … Continue reading “Arrested Development: Breaking News!”

NEW YORK (AP) The Bluth family’s frozen banana stand may be back in business.

At an “Arrested Development” reunion Sunday at the New Yorker Festival, the creators and cast announced plans for a new TV show that spins off the short-lived but critically acclaimed TV show, which went off the air in 2006 after just three seasons. They also discussed more concrete plans for a much-awaited movie.

Creator Mitchell Hurwitz said the spinoff will feature nine or ten episodes focusing on each character and leading up to the movie. The first scene of the movie will be all the characters reunited.

The Fox show, which suffered low ratings despite its rabid fan base, starred Jason Bateman, Michael Cera and Portia de Rossi. They played members of a dysfunctional family who ran a collapsing real estate development company and frozen banana stand.

Shooting for the TV show is tentatively set to begin next summer.

The movie doesn’t have a release date, Hurwitz said, adding that the creative aspects have been largely worked out, but the business side is still being negotiated.

“We’re all game,” he said. “We’ve hated being coy, but we’ve been trying to put together this ambitious idea.”

Check out the series here in Media Services!

Arrested Development Seasons 1 – 3: HU DVD 4871 – 4878

Fox Considering An All-’Simpsons’ TV Channel

THE SIMPSONS: Season 1 – Season 3 – HU DVD 6581 – 6591 Where can The Simpsons, television’s longest-running American prime time, scripted series, go from here? If Fox executives have their way, everyone’s favorite yellow family might get their own TV channel. At a recent media conference, News Corp.’s Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey … Continue reading “Fox Considering An All-’Simpsons’ TV Channel”

THE SIMPSONS: Season 1 – Season 3 – HU DVD 6581 – 6591

Where can The Simpsons, television’s longest-running American prime time, scripted series, go from here? If Fox executives have their way, everyone’s favorite yellow family might get their own TV channel. At a recent media conference, News Corp.’s Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said the company is looking for ways to increase revenue from the long running show and said an all-Simpsons channel has been discussed. Read more after the jump.

Slice of Sci-Fi alerted us to this surprising, but fairly logical, turn of events. Carey was at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media Communications & Entertainment Conference in Beverly Hills and said The Simpsons, well on its way to 500 episodes as its 23rd season is about to kick off, shows “no signs of slowing down.” However, there’s only so much money to be made from merchandising, syndicated repeats and DVD sales after 20 plus years.

Carey said there have been a “number of meetings” to determine how to capitalize on its library of episodes of The Simpsons and he mentioned a digital channel featuring nothing but Homer and the gang as being a possibility. Carey said it is incumbent on the company to take advantage of a show that is “unique in television with a volume, too, that is unprecedented.”

Tim Robbins & James Gandolfini Join The HBO Movie ‘Cinema Verite’

Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini are set to co-star opposite Diane Lane in HBO Films’ Cinema Verite. The movie, written by David Seltzer, is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the groundbreaking 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family. The series by Oscar-winning doc filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond centered on Santa Barbara couple … Continue reading “Tim Robbins & James Gandolfini Join The HBO Movie ‘Cinema Verite’”

Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini are set to co-star opposite Diane Lane in HBO Films’ Cinema Verite. The movie, written by David Seltzer, is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the groundbreaking 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family. The series by Oscar-winning doc filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond centered on Santa Barbara couple Pat Loud (Lane) and Bill Loud (Robbins), who split up during the filming, and their children, the eldest of whom, son Lance, became TV’s first openly gay character. For the rest of the story, click here.

Media Services owns the follow-up film to “An American Family,” called “American Family Revisited” (VHS 2641) and the very funny Albert Brooks’ spoof, “Real Life” (VHS 4876 or DVD 6108). Unfortunately, the original “An American Family” 12 part series has not been released on VHS or DVD. Rest assured, Media Services will purchase it once it does.

“Wire” writer, David Mills dies at 48

David Mills, who won two Emmy awards for his HBO miniseries “The Corner”, died in New Orleans on Tuesday (March 30) where he was working on his upcoming HBO series “Treme.” Mills, who began his career as a features writer for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, and The Washington Post, wrote mostly for … Continue reading ““Wire” writer, David Mills dies at 48″

David Mills, who won two Emmy awards for his HBO miniseries “The Corner”, died in New Orleans on Tuesday (March 30) where he was working on his upcoming HBO series “Treme.”

Mills, who began his career as a features writer for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, and The Washington Post, wrote mostly for crime and police dramas including “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “NYPD Blue,” and “The Wire.” His latest project, “Treme,” is about New Orleans residents struggling to rebuild their lives after Hurricane Katrina.

Mills’ friend and collaborator David Simon is one of the creators of the series. He tells Washington Post that Mills’ death happened “very suddenly.” Mills, age 48, was sitting in a director’s chair, then slumped in the chair and “never regained consciousness.”

Simon remembers Mills as a “very good listener. He was great at dialogue because he listened to people. He was quite a shy person in a lot of ways.”

From Zap2It – From Inside the Box

The Wire DVD 2861 – 2883

Homicide Life on the Street DVD 2798 – 2801

The Corner DVD 3937

Treme teaser

Tease