Showing posts with label Mel Gibson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mel Gibson. Show all posts
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Out The Rabbit Hole Interview KUCI.org
With every other radio and television station on the planet interviewing Charlie Sheen, KUCI 88.9 FM in Irvine, CA (streaming at http://www.kuci.org/ ) host Robert Larson of Out The Rabbit Hole asked himself: "Who can I get that could bark as raving as that psychotic nutjob?" Mel Gibson is busy today, so I am the next choice. I'm on his show from 4-5 PM PST. Supposedly we'll talk about the revolutions in the Middle East and the battle over union bargaining in Wisconsin, but really we'll spend the whole time talking about how perfect and winning and bitching Charlie Sheen is...
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Winona Ryder claims Mel Gibson called her an 'oven-dodger'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/8208174/Winona-Ryder-claims-Mel-Gibson-called-her-an-oven-dodger.html
Winona Ryder claims Mel Gibson called her an 'oven-dodger'
Actress Winona Ryder has accused Mel Gibson of making anti-semitic and homophobic remarks to her at a party 15 years ago.
17 Dec 2010
In an interview with GQ, she claimed that in 1995 Gibson called her an "oven-dodger", in reference to the gas chambers that Nazis used to kill millions of Jews during the Holocaust.
"I was at one of those big Hollywood parties. And he was really drunk," Ryder, 39, told the magazine.
"I was with my friend, who's gay. [Gibson] made a really horrible gay joke," she said. "And somehow it came up that I was Jewish. He said something about 'oven dodgers,' but I didn't get it. I'd never heard that before."
Ryder, who was born Winona Horowitz, is half Jewish and in the past has revealed that many of her relatives died in the Holocaust.
A spokesman for Gibson refused to comment.
The allegations come weeks before Gibson's new film The Beaver, about a man in the middle of an emotional crisis, is released.
Gibson's reputation has suffered over the past few years after a string of racist and homophobic outbursts.
Earlier this year he was recorded hurling abuse at his former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, allegedly calling her "a pig in heat" and saying that her clothes invited rape.
The foul-mouthed tirades came after the Oscar-winner was arrested in California in 2006 after he was caught drink driving.
Gibson, a devout Catholic, was alleged to have told the police officer that stopped him: "******* Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."
Winona Ryder claims Mel Gibson called her an 'oven-dodger'
Actress Winona Ryder has accused Mel Gibson of making anti-semitic and homophobic remarks to her at a party 15 years ago.
17 Dec 2010
In an interview with GQ, she claimed that in 1995 Gibson called her an "oven-dodger", in reference to the gas chambers that Nazis used to kill millions of Jews during the Holocaust.
"I was at one of those big Hollywood parties. And he was really drunk," Ryder, 39, told the magazine.
"I was with my friend, who's gay. [Gibson] made a really horrible gay joke," she said. "And somehow it came up that I was Jewish. He said something about 'oven dodgers,' but I didn't get it. I'd never heard that before."
Ryder, who was born Winona Horowitz, is half Jewish and in the past has revealed that many of her relatives died in the Holocaust.
A spokesman for Gibson refused to comment.
The allegations come weeks before Gibson's new film The Beaver, about a man in the middle of an emotional crisis, is released.
Gibson's reputation has suffered over the past few years after a string of racist and homophobic outbursts.
Earlier this year he was recorded hurling abuse at his former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, allegedly calling her "a pig in heat" and saying that her clothes invited rape.
The foul-mouthed tirades came after the Oscar-winner was arrested in California in 2006 after he was caught drink driving.
Gibson, a devout Catholic, was alleged to have told the police officer that stopped him: "******* Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."
Monday, December 6, 2010
Star Whackers Attack
http://www.shout.net/~bigred/mc112210.html
(Melchizedek Communique, MC112210) Randy and Evi Quaid seek asylum in Canada. They claim they need to get away from so-called "star whackers," a shadowy group the couple insist are out to kill them and whose victims have included Heath Ledger and David Carradine. [1]
The ex-wife of Kung Fu star David Carradine supports Randy and Evi Quaid’s claims of a "star whackers" Hollywood hit squad. [2] Another wife of the Kung Fu character, Marina Anderson, has written a book, David Carradine: The Eye of My Tornado. The Globe, a weekly tabloid newspaper, reported on the book and raised questions about Carradine's strange death. At the time of his death, his agent, Chuck Binder, said he believed his client had been murdered. [3]
Last week, Ronni Chasen was shot 5 times while driving away from a party in Beverly Hills CA. It could be, observes one blogger ("Frank"), that the "star whackers" have struck again. Ms. Chasen was a power-behind-the-scenes in Hollywood. Perhaps she stepped on the wrong toes, or knew too much. "This is not the only Hollywood story which caught my attention and seems to speak of something darker," reveals "Frank." "Emma Watson, one of the stars of Harry Potter has a new hairdo which is identical to Mia Farrow’s in Rosemary’s Baby." Recalled is another incident of the star whackers, involving Sharon Tate and her husband Roman Polanski, the director of Rosemary’s Baby. [4]
Polanski recently succeeded in fighting extradition to the United States. Did he just barely escape the star whackers?
Evi Quaid reportedly believes Mel Gibson "was slipped a mickey... to steal his money and ruin him." She thinks Gibson, star of the movie, "Conspiracy Theory," was drugged during audiotapes in which he is heard exploding into foul-mouthed rants towards a sultry Russian siren. [5]
And why has Joaquin Phoenix been behaving so strangely? Does he too fear the star whackers? After his excellent portrayal of Johnny Cash in the movie, "Walk the Line," Phoenix began traveling incognito, disguised as a rap musician.
------- Notes -------
[1] "Randy Quaid Gambles $1 Million on Conspiracy Theory", by Josh Grossberg and Soo Youn. eonline.com, Nov. 16, 2010
[2] "EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: David Carradine's Ex Wife Supports Quaids; Someone Is Killing Stars!", radaronline.com, Nov 02, 2010
[3] "'David Carradine was murdered' claims agent, as the Kill Bill star's family ask the FBI to probe his death", by David Gardner, Andrew Drummond, Debra Killalea and Mail Foreign Service. Daily Mail (U.K.), June 7, 2009
[4] "Hollywood Star Whackers (part 2)", posted on Nov. 19, 2010, by Frank.
http://merovee.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/hollywood-star-whackers-part-2/
[5] "EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: David Carradine's Ex Wife Supports Quaids; Someone Is Killing Stars!", radaronline.com, Nov 02, 2010
(Melchizedek Communique, MC112210) Randy and Evi Quaid seek asylum in Canada. They claim they need to get away from so-called "star whackers," a shadowy group the couple insist are out to kill them and whose victims have included Heath Ledger and David Carradine. [1]
The ex-wife of Kung Fu star David Carradine supports Randy and Evi Quaid’s claims of a "star whackers" Hollywood hit squad. [2] Another wife of the Kung Fu character, Marina Anderson, has written a book, David Carradine: The Eye of My Tornado. The Globe, a weekly tabloid newspaper, reported on the book and raised questions about Carradine's strange death. At the time of his death, his agent, Chuck Binder, said he believed his client had been murdered. [3]
Last week, Ronni Chasen was shot 5 times while driving away from a party in Beverly Hills CA. It could be, observes one blogger ("Frank"), that the "star whackers" have struck again. Ms. Chasen was a power-behind-the-scenes in Hollywood. Perhaps she stepped on the wrong toes, or knew too much. "This is not the only Hollywood story which caught my attention and seems to speak of something darker," reveals "Frank." "Emma Watson, one of the stars of Harry Potter has a new hairdo which is identical to Mia Farrow’s in Rosemary’s Baby." Recalled is another incident of the star whackers, involving Sharon Tate and her husband Roman Polanski, the director of Rosemary’s Baby. [4]
Polanski recently succeeded in fighting extradition to the United States. Did he just barely escape the star whackers?
Evi Quaid reportedly believes Mel Gibson "was slipped a mickey... to steal his money and ruin him." She thinks Gibson, star of the movie, "Conspiracy Theory," was drugged during audiotapes in which he is heard exploding into foul-mouthed rants towards a sultry Russian siren. [5]
And why has Joaquin Phoenix been behaving so strangely? Does he too fear the star whackers? After his excellent portrayal of Johnny Cash in the movie, "Walk the Line," Phoenix began traveling incognito, disguised as a rap musician.
------- Notes -------
[1] "Randy Quaid Gambles $1 Million on Conspiracy Theory", by Josh Grossberg and Soo Youn. eonline.com, Nov. 16, 2010
[2] "EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: David Carradine's Ex Wife Supports Quaids; Someone Is Killing Stars!", radaronline.com, Nov 02, 2010
[3] "'David Carradine was murdered' claims agent, as the Kill Bill star's family ask the FBI to probe his death", by David Gardner, Andrew Drummond, Debra Killalea and Mail Foreign Service. Daily Mail (U.K.), June 7, 2009
[4] "Hollywood Star Whackers (part 2)", posted on Nov. 19, 2010, by Frank.
http://merovee.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/hollywood-star-whackers-part-2/
[5] "EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: David Carradine's Ex Wife Supports Quaids; Someone Is Killing Stars!", radaronline.com, Nov 02, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Great Quotes: South Park, Part 3
http://www.spscriptorium.com/Season11/E1110script.htm
General: What I am about to tell you is highly classified. Two days ago, Muslim terrorists hijacked our imagination. Frankly we don't know what their next move is or how to stop them.
Specialist: In times like these the government often turns to Hollywood for help. You creative filmmakers can think of idea we just can't.
General: That's why we've asked you here, M. Night Shyal-amalam. The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village, all very clever films. But can you use your amazing idea brain now to help us stop the terrorists?
M. Night Shyalaman: What if... What if it turns out they aren't terrorists? But they're actually werewolves? From the future?
General: N, no. No, they're terrorists. They've been linked to Al Qaeda.
M. Night Shyalaman: But what if Al Qaeda, it turns out, is the group being terrorized? By aliens?
General: No- No. That's not an idea, that's a twist. We need ideas.
M. Night Shyalaman: How about we make everyone think that terrorists attacked us? But really, we were all already dead.
General: Get him out of here. [M. Night Shyalaman is hauled away, only to be replaced by...] Mr. Bay, can you think of any idea how to outwit these terrorists?
Michael Bay: I believe I can. We start... by making a big CG building and then we have a meteor go CROSSHH! and it, and it's all like CRAAWWWLL a-and motorcycles burst into flame while they jump over these helicopters, right?
General: No no! We need ideas how to stop the terrorists!
Michael Bay: An eighteen-wheeler spins out of control and it's all like BROSSHH! And then this huuuge tanker full of dyna-
General: Those aren't ideas, those are special effects!
Michael Bay: I... don't understand the difference.
General: I know you don't. Get him out of here! [next in the chair is Mel Gibson] Aaand being that we are all big Mel Gibson film fans, we thought maybe you could help us.
Mel Gibson: Ah, my nipples, they hurt! They hurt when I twist them!
General: Yes, uh, I don't suppose you have any creative ideas how to fight these terrorists?
Mel Gibson: How about this? You have that tape that the terrorists made, right? Well maybe if you did a background check on that videotape, you might find somebody who doesn't belong. Somebody who doesn't fit Imaginationland. Ohhh!
Specialist: Heyy... that's not a bad idea.
General: Yeah. Say what you will about Mel Gibson, but the sonofabitch knows story structure.
General: What I am about to tell you is highly classified. Two days ago, Muslim terrorists hijacked our imagination. Frankly we don't know what their next move is or how to stop them.
Specialist: In times like these the government often turns to Hollywood for help. You creative filmmakers can think of idea we just can't.
General: That's why we've asked you here, M. Night Shyal-amalam. The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village, all very clever films. But can you use your amazing idea brain now to help us stop the terrorists?
M. Night Shyalaman: What if... What if it turns out they aren't terrorists? But they're actually werewolves? From the future?
General: N, no. No, they're terrorists. They've been linked to Al Qaeda.
M. Night Shyalaman: But what if Al Qaeda, it turns out, is the group being terrorized? By aliens?
General: No- No. That's not an idea, that's a twist. We need ideas.
M. Night Shyalaman: How about we make everyone think that terrorists attacked us? But really, we were all already dead.
General: Get him out of here. [M. Night Shyalaman is hauled away, only to be replaced by...] Mr. Bay, can you think of any idea how to outwit these terrorists?
Michael Bay: I believe I can. We start... by making a big CG building and then we have a meteor go CROSSHH! and it, and it's all like CRAAWWWLL a-and motorcycles burst into flame while they jump over these helicopters, right?
General: No no! We need ideas how to stop the terrorists!
Michael Bay: An eighteen-wheeler spins out of control and it's all like BROSSHH! And then this huuuge tanker full of dyna-
General: Those aren't ideas, those are special effects!
Michael Bay: I... don't understand the difference.
General: I know you don't. Get him out of here! [next in the chair is Mel Gibson] Aaand being that we are all big Mel Gibson film fans, we thought maybe you could help us.
Mel Gibson: Ah, my nipples, they hurt! They hurt when I twist them!
General: Yes, uh, I don't suppose you have any creative ideas how to fight these terrorists?
Mel Gibson: How about this? You have that tape that the terrorists made, right? Well maybe if you did a background check on that videotape, you might find somebody who doesn't belong. Somebody who doesn't fit Imaginationland. Ohhh!
Specialist: Heyy... that's not a bad idea.
General: Yeah. Say what you will about Mel Gibson, but the sonofabitch knows story structure.
Monday, April 14, 2008
"Go Ahead. Prove Mel Gibson Wrong..."
South Park Quote of the Week:
"Go Ahead. Prove Mel Gibson Wrong..."
From:
http://www.southparkstuff.com/season_8/episode_801/epi801script/
Cartman: Okay. Go ahead, Kyle. Throw your nunchakus away. If you can. But you know well that your Jewish blood won't let you. You can't throw away something you paid fifteen bucks for. Go ahead and try.
Kyle: Screw you, fatass! [struggles to loosen his grip on the nunchakus]
Cartman: Mel Gibson was right, Kyle. Right now the Jew in you is screamig "NO! Those cost money! Get your money back!" You know this to be true. [Kyle continues struggling and begins to grunt] Go ahead. Prove Mel Gibson wrong, Kyle. [closeup of Cartman's lips] Do it! [Kyle struggles even harder, but eventually gives in]
"Go Ahead. Prove Mel Gibson Wrong..."
From:
http://www.southparkstuff.com/season_8/episode_801/epi801script/
Cartman: Okay. Go ahead, Kyle. Throw your nunchakus away. If you can. But you know well that your Jewish blood won't let you. You can't throw away something you paid fifteen bucks for. Go ahead and try.
Kyle: Screw you, fatass! [struggles to loosen his grip on the nunchakus]
Cartman: Mel Gibson was right, Kyle. Right now the Jew in you is screamig "NO! Those cost money! Get your money back!" You know this to be true. [Kyle continues struggling and begins to grunt] Go ahead. Prove Mel Gibson wrong, Kyle. [closeup of Cartman's lips] Do it! [Kyle struggles even harder, but eventually gives in]
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Oscar Winner Paul Scofield Dies
http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=c04be818-8573-4af4-a3b2-8dce1adebe18
Oscar Winner Paul Scofield Dies
By Josh Grossberg
Thu, 20 Mar 2008
Paul Scofield, the British stage legend often hailed as the greatest Shakespearean actor of his generation and an Oscar winner for his soaring performance in 1966's A Man for All Seasons, has died. He was 86.
His agent, Rosalind Chatto, told reporters Scofield passed away peacefully Wednesday in a hospital near his home in southern England. He was suffering from leukemia and had been ill for some time.
Scofield was considered one of the giants of the British theater during its post-World War II heyday, playing virtually every major Shakespearean role and conquering both the West End and Broadway with his authoritative presence, weather-beaten countenance and low, rumbling voice.
But it wasn't until he originated the part of rebellious Tudor statesman Sir Thomas More in the 1960 London stage production of Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons that Scofield finally earned the international fame he so richly deserved. He reprised the role a year later along the Great White Way, nabbing a Tony for his efforts.
Four years later, director Fred Zinneman brought the thesp back for the film version, which garnered six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and a Best Actor Oscar for Scofield.
In 1969, Scofield became just the sixth performer to win what's often referred to as the Triple Crown of Acting—a Tony, an Academy Award and an Emmy, the last honor collected for the 1969 NBC telefilm Male of the Species.
Despite the acclaim, Scofield preferred the boards to TV and film, routinely turning down offers. But when he did appear on the screen, the results were marvelous.
Aside from A Man for All Seasons, Scofield's other memorable celluloid turns included a German colonel in John Frankenheimer's 1964 espionage thriller The Train, costarring Burt Lancaster and Jeanne Moreau; a 1970 adaptation of Herman Melville's Bartleby; the title role in Peter Brook's 1971 film version of King Lear; reuniting with Lancaster again for another spy flick, 1973's Scorpio; the French king in Kenneth Branagh's bloody, action-packed take on Henry V; and the Ghost in Franco Zeffirelli's 1990 Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson.
More recently he played poet Mark Van Doren in 1994's Quiz Show, which earned him another Oscar nomination, and merciless Judge Thomas Danforth opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in 1996's The Crucible, Scofield's last major motion picture.
On the tube, Scofield distinguished himself in BBC2 Playhouse productions; appeared as Karenin opposite Christopher Reeve and Jacqueline Bisset in 1985's TV movie Anna Karenina; and played Anne Frank's father, Otto Frank, in the 1988 telefilm The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank.
But the stage remained his first love.
"Of the 10 greatest moments in the theater, eight are Scofield's," Richard Burton once said of his contemporary, regarding him as the true successor to the likes of Sir Lawrence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud.
Scofield displayed an unusual humility, reportedly declining numerous offers of knighthood, though he did accept an invitation to become a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Instead, he preferred to lead a quiet life with his wife and two children in the small country village of Balcome outside of London, not far from the West End theaters where he made his name.
In a rare 1992 interview, Scofield summed up his attitude.
"If you want a title, what's wrong with Mister? If you have always been that, then why lose your title? I have a title, which is the same one that I have always had. But it's not political. I have a CBE, which I accepted very gratefully."
However, he was eventually appointed a Companion of Honor on the 2001 New Year's Honours List.
Born in Sussex, England, on Jan. 21, 1922, to the son of a village headmaster, David Paul Scofield took to acting early in life. After getting a taste of the stage during his primary-school years in Brighton, he went on to train at some of Britain's elite theatrical schools.
When the war started, Scofield was ineligible for military service because of a medical condition and ended up joining an acting troupe and entertaining the troops.
It wasn't until after the war that he took to the stage, appearing in everything from Love's Labour's Lost and Cymbeline to Hamlet and a 1956 stage version of Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory.
Among his greatest latter-day roles was as Salieri in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus in 1979, which he played on both sides of the Atlantic. His last great performance came in a 1996 National Theatre production of Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman.
Scofield is survived by his wife, actress Joy Parker, a son and a daughter.
Oscar Winner Paul Scofield Dies
By Josh Grossberg
Thu, 20 Mar 2008
Paul Scofield, the British stage legend often hailed as the greatest Shakespearean actor of his generation and an Oscar winner for his soaring performance in 1966's A Man for All Seasons, has died. He was 86.
His agent, Rosalind Chatto, told reporters Scofield passed away peacefully Wednesday in a hospital near his home in southern England. He was suffering from leukemia and had been ill for some time.
Scofield was considered one of the giants of the British theater during its post-World War II heyday, playing virtually every major Shakespearean role and conquering both the West End and Broadway with his authoritative presence, weather-beaten countenance and low, rumbling voice.
But it wasn't until he originated the part of rebellious Tudor statesman Sir Thomas More in the 1960 London stage production of Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons that Scofield finally earned the international fame he so richly deserved. He reprised the role a year later along the Great White Way, nabbing a Tony for his efforts.
Four years later, director Fred Zinneman brought the thesp back for the film version, which garnered six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and a Best Actor Oscar for Scofield.
In 1969, Scofield became just the sixth performer to win what's often referred to as the Triple Crown of Acting—a Tony, an Academy Award and an Emmy, the last honor collected for the 1969 NBC telefilm Male of the Species.
Despite the acclaim, Scofield preferred the boards to TV and film, routinely turning down offers. But when he did appear on the screen, the results were marvelous.
Aside from A Man for All Seasons, Scofield's other memorable celluloid turns included a German colonel in John Frankenheimer's 1964 espionage thriller The Train, costarring Burt Lancaster and Jeanne Moreau; a 1970 adaptation of Herman Melville's Bartleby; the title role in Peter Brook's 1971 film version of King Lear; reuniting with Lancaster again for another spy flick, 1973's Scorpio; the French king in Kenneth Branagh's bloody, action-packed take on Henry V; and the Ghost in Franco Zeffirelli's 1990 Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson.
More recently he played poet Mark Van Doren in 1994's Quiz Show, which earned him another Oscar nomination, and merciless Judge Thomas Danforth opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in 1996's The Crucible, Scofield's last major motion picture.
On the tube, Scofield distinguished himself in BBC2 Playhouse productions; appeared as Karenin opposite Christopher Reeve and Jacqueline Bisset in 1985's TV movie Anna Karenina; and played Anne Frank's father, Otto Frank, in the 1988 telefilm The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank.
But the stage remained his first love.
"Of the 10 greatest moments in the theater, eight are Scofield's," Richard Burton once said of his contemporary, regarding him as the true successor to the likes of Sir Lawrence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud.
Scofield displayed an unusual humility, reportedly declining numerous offers of knighthood, though he did accept an invitation to become a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Instead, he preferred to lead a quiet life with his wife and two children in the small country village of Balcome outside of London, not far from the West End theaters where he made his name.
In a rare 1992 interview, Scofield summed up his attitude.
"If you want a title, what's wrong with Mister? If you have always been that, then why lose your title? I have a title, which is the same one that I have always had. But it's not political. I have a CBE, which I accepted very gratefully."
However, he was eventually appointed a Companion of Honor on the 2001 New Year's Honours List.
Born in Sussex, England, on Jan. 21, 1922, to the son of a village headmaster, David Paul Scofield took to acting early in life. After getting a taste of the stage during his primary-school years in Brighton, he went on to train at some of Britain's elite theatrical schools.
When the war started, Scofield was ineligible for military service because of a medical condition and ended up joining an acting troupe and entertaining the troops.
It wasn't until after the war that he took to the stage, appearing in everything from Love's Labour's Lost and Cymbeline to Hamlet and a 1956 stage version of Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory.
Among his greatest latter-day roles was as Salieri in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus in 1979, which he played on both sides of the Atlantic. His last great performance came in a 1996 National Theatre production of Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman.
Scofield is survived by his wife, actress Joy Parker, a son and a daughter.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
TMZ.com makes jump from online to on-air
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070907/ap_en_tv/tv_tmz_on_air
TMZ.com makes jump from online to on-air
By LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer
Fri Sep 7, 2007
Wander through TMZ.com at any given moment and it's easy to grasp what the Web site is gleefully pushing. There are stars smooching. Stars sunning. Stars looking hot, or not. And, always, there are stars misbehaving.
TMZ broke the news of Mel Gibson's DUI arrest and Michael Richards' comedy-club tirade. Looking for "new pics" about a car crash involving Hulk Hogan's son? Or of Lindsay Lohan in any number of interesting activities? They're here.
It all adds up to the most popular online entertainment site and, starting Monday, a television show. "TMZ," joining the crowded field of entertainment news magazines, will test the bounds of the TV audience's fascination with celebrity.
The new venture also is a groundbreaking bid to turn an online success into an even more lucrative TV commodity, a tantalizing possibility that has yet to be realized.
Harvey Levin, managing editor of TMZ.com and host and executive producer of the syndicated series, says he isn't thinking about being a crossover pioneer. He's just preoccupied with getting "TMZ" going.
"I am so charged right now. ... We've been running test shows for a month now and I just want to put the show on the air," said Levin, a lawyer who became a TV reporter, commentator and producer ("Celebrity Justice," "The People's Court").
"TMZ," which will be carried on Fox-owned stations as well as on a mix of other network outlets, is to air as a half-hour show on weekdays (mostly within the 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. window) and in an hourlong version on the weekend.
When TMZ.com launched in November 2005 as a joint venture of Telepictures Productions and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, it was with the intent of eventually translating it to TV, said Hilary Estey McLoughlin, president of Telepictures.
TMZ.com's success was the prerequisite. According to comScore Media Metrix, it's the leading celebrity-news site, with 120 million-plus monthly page views and more than 9 million unique visitors.
(The name is based on the phrase "thirty mile zone," coined in the 1960s for a part of Los Angeles used for location shooting and subject to studio production rules.)
"TMZ" the show is "an important launch for us and a great way to tout that you can brand new projects other than on television and succeed," McLoughlin said. "Part of our strategy is to incubate all kinds of formats and talents and bring them to television."
Jim Paratore, the former Telepictures president who launched TMZ.com and who's producing the TV series with Levin, said they are "trying to do what others are, find the voice that crosses over" from online to on-air.
The program has a good shot at making it, said Bill Carroll, an expert in syndication for Katz Television.
"In a million years, I never would have believed that the national conversation would have been Paris, Britney and Lindsay," Carroll said. "No organization is better at covering that than TMZ. If they can take the tongue-in-cheek sensibility that the Web site has and translate it to broadcast, I'd be very surprised if it's not a success."
It's an interesting test case, said David Card, senior analyst at JupiterResearch.
Whether a show can be launched from a Web site "and then make money and get big audiences" has yet to be seen, Card said. But, he added, "I can't believe it won't happen."
Lew Leone, general manager of WNYW Fox 5 in New York, figures he has solid evidence that "TMZ" will prove a hit for his station.
"I get all the gossip magazines at work, and I get in trouble with my wife if I don't bring them home," Leone said. "It's all the same pictures, same people, but she doesn't tire of looking at them over and over. She's probably typical of viewers out there when it comes to celebrities."
He's also enthusiastic about what's packaged with "TMZ": visitors to WNYW's news Web site can find breaking stories from TMZ.com and promos for the show, which is being distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television.
"It will work for us, it will work for TMZ.com and it will work for the show. I think it's a very powerful way to launch a show and to reach an audience," Leone said.
The competition for "TMZ" includes "Entertainment Tonight," the elder statesman of the Hollywood news shows, along with "The Insider," "Access Hollywood" and, also from Telepictures, "Extra."
"Celebrity Expose," an hour-long weekly program profiling one star at a time, starting with Lohan, debuts Oct. 1 on MyNetworkTV.
Levin is unfazed by the list. In rapid-fire remarks, he asserts that "TMZ" is in a league of its own.
"It doesn't feel like the other shows ... We're not sucking up (to stars). We're not doing junkets. We're not doing red carpets," Levin said.
Humor will be part of the mix because TMZ.com has demonstrated that people enjoy seeing Hollywood covered with irreverence, he said. But he acknowledged that the online vibe — which can veer from snarky to off-color — and that of the show will differ.
"There are obviously things we can do on the Web site that we can't do on TV, and we're not trying to do that. So it's finding the right tone and the right personality," Levin said. "But I know what people want: They want different and they want humor."
Bring it on, said "TMZ's" rivals, including sibling Telepictures entry "Extra," returning for its 14th season Monday.
"The way I look at it, we're in the limo with the stars. They're chasing the limo," said Lisa Gregorisch-Dempsey, "Extra" senior executive producer (and Levin's former colleague on "Celebrity Justice"). "It's a completely different point of view."
Linda Bell Blue, executive producer for "Entertainment Tonight" and "The Insider," adopted an equally confident posture in an e-mailed comment.
"With 26 years under `ET's' belt, we have the best connections in the entertainment business and the best connection with our audience. We're excited that people's interest in celebrity journalism remains very high ...." Bell Blue said.
As yet another show joins the fray, however, consumer fatigue seems to be a possibility.
"I don't see any signs of it. The television marketplace has an insatiable appetite for celebrity news," said Greg Meidel, president of MyNetworkTV.
Offers Gregorisch-Dempsey of "Extra": "All this guilty pleasure stuff that people want to talk about ... they have to get it somewhere."
___
On the Net:
http://www.tmz.com/
TMZ.com makes jump from online to on-air
By LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer
Fri Sep 7, 2007
Wander through TMZ.com at any given moment and it's easy to grasp what the Web site is gleefully pushing. There are stars smooching. Stars sunning. Stars looking hot, or not. And, always, there are stars misbehaving.
TMZ broke the news of Mel Gibson's DUI arrest and Michael Richards' comedy-club tirade. Looking for "new pics" about a car crash involving Hulk Hogan's son? Or of Lindsay Lohan in any number of interesting activities? They're here.
It all adds up to the most popular online entertainment site and, starting Monday, a television show. "TMZ," joining the crowded field of entertainment news magazines, will test the bounds of the TV audience's fascination with celebrity.
The new venture also is a groundbreaking bid to turn an online success into an even more lucrative TV commodity, a tantalizing possibility that has yet to be realized.
Harvey Levin, managing editor of TMZ.com and host and executive producer of the syndicated series, says he isn't thinking about being a crossover pioneer. He's just preoccupied with getting "TMZ" going.
"I am so charged right now. ... We've been running test shows for a month now and I just want to put the show on the air," said Levin, a lawyer who became a TV reporter, commentator and producer ("Celebrity Justice," "The People's Court").
"TMZ," which will be carried on Fox-owned stations as well as on a mix of other network outlets, is to air as a half-hour show on weekdays (mostly within the 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. window) and in an hourlong version on the weekend.
When TMZ.com launched in November 2005 as a joint venture of Telepictures Productions and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, it was with the intent of eventually translating it to TV, said Hilary Estey McLoughlin, president of Telepictures.
TMZ.com's success was the prerequisite. According to comScore Media Metrix, it's the leading celebrity-news site, with 120 million-plus monthly page views and more than 9 million unique visitors.
(The name is based on the phrase "thirty mile zone," coined in the 1960s for a part of Los Angeles used for location shooting and subject to studio production rules.)
"TMZ" the show is "an important launch for us and a great way to tout that you can brand new projects other than on television and succeed," McLoughlin said. "Part of our strategy is to incubate all kinds of formats and talents and bring them to television."
Jim Paratore, the former Telepictures president who launched TMZ.com and who's producing the TV series with Levin, said they are "trying to do what others are, find the voice that crosses over" from online to on-air.
The program has a good shot at making it, said Bill Carroll, an expert in syndication for Katz Television.
"In a million years, I never would have believed that the national conversation would have been Paris, Britney and Lindsay," Carroll said. "No organization is better at covering that than TMZ. If they can take the tongue-in-cheek sensibility that the Web site has and translate it to broadcast, I'd be very surprised if it's not a success."
It's an interesting test case, said David Card, senior analyst at JupiterResearch.
Whether a show can be launched from a Web site "and then make money and get big audiences" has yet to be seen, Card said. But, he added, "I can't believe it won't happen."
Lew Leone, general manager of WNYW Fox 5 in New York, figures he has solid evidence that "TMZ" will prove a hit for his station.
"I get all the gossip magazines at work, and I get in trouble with my wife if I don't bring them home," Leone said. "It's all the same pictures, same people, but she doesn't tire of looking at them over and over. She's probably typical of viewers out there when it comes to celebrities."
He's also enthusiastic about what's packaged with "TMZ": visitors to WNYW's news Web site can find breaking stories from TMZ.com and promos for the show, which is being distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television.
"It will work for us, it will work for TMZ.com and it will work for the show. I think it's a very powerful way to launch a show and to reach an audience," Leone said.
The competition for "TMZ" includes "Entertainment Tonight," the elder statesman of the Hollywood news shows, along with "The Insider," "Access Hollywood" and, also from Telepictures, "Extra."
"Celebrity Expose," an hour-long weekly program profiling one star at a time, starting with Lohan, debuts Oct. 1 on MyNetworkTV.
Levin is unfazed by the list. In rapid-fire remarks, he asserts that "TMZ" is in a league of its own.
"It doesn't feel like the other shows ... We're not sucking up (to stars). We're not doing junkets. We're not doing red carpets," Levin said.
Humor will be part of the mix because TMZ.com has demonstrated that people enjoy seeing Hollywood covered with irreverence, he said. But he acknowledged that the online vibe — which can veer from snarky to off-color — and that of the show will differ.
"There are obviously things we can do on the Web site that we can't do on TV, and we're not trying to do that. So it's finding the right tone and the right personality," Levin said. "But I know what people want: They want different and they want humor."
Bring it on, said "TMZ's" rivals, including sibling Telepictures entry "Extra," returning for its 14th season Monday.
"The way I look at it, we're in the limo with the stars. They're chasing the limo," said Lisa Gregorisch-Dempsey, "Extra" senior executive producer (and Levin's former colleague on "Celebrity Justice"). "It's a completely different point of view."
Linda Bell Blue, executive producer for "Entertainment Tonight" and "The Insider," adopted an equally confident posture in an e-mailed comment.
"With 26 years under `ET's' belt, we have the best connections in the entertainment business and the best connection with our audience. We're excited that people's interest in celebrity journalism remains very high ...." Bell Blue said.
As yet another show joins the fray, however, consumer fatigue seems to be a possibility.
"I don't see any signs of it. The television marketplace has an insatiable appetite for celebrity news," said Greg Meidel, president of MyNetworkTV.
Offers Gregorisch-Dempsey of "Extra": "All this guilty pleasure stuff that people want to talk about ... they have to get it somewhere."
___
On the Net:
http://www.tmz.com/
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