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Page 2 of 9July 16, 2013
By Lesley GoldbergHBO will continue to take a bite out of audiences.
The premium cable net-work announced Mon-day that it has renewed True Blood for a seventh season. The series, which stars Anna Paquin, Ste-phen Moyer and Alexan-der Skarsgard, will return in summer 2014 with Brian Buckner returning as showrunner.
“True Blood remains a signature show for HBO, and a true phenomenon with our viewers,” said HBO programming presi-dent Michael Lombardo in making the announcement. “Thanks to Brian Buck-ner and his talented team, the show continues to be a thrill ride like nothing else on TV.”
True Blood returned in June, its sixth-season pre-miere drawing 4.5 million total viewers, down about 700,000 year-over-year — but it faced stiff competi-tion from Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Season six marked the show’s first without series
creator Alan Ball, who adapted the story from Charlaine Harris’ popu-lar book series. Buckner, for his part, replaced Mark Hudis — who was initially set to take over for Ball.
Speaking at the season-six premiere earlier this
HBO Renews True Blood for Season 7
see page 4
Inside:vh1 renews hit the floorPAge 4
zimmerman verdict viewed by 10.5 million PAge 4
abc fam’s lying game canceledPAge 5
bet to re-air abc’s scandal PAge 6
new board for film academy PAge 7
True Blood ranks as HBO’s third-most-watched series ever, behind only The Sopranos and Game of Thrones.
summer, Ball expressed confidence in Buckner. “I told him, ‘I’m available but I know that you can do it, and call me if you need me,’ “ he told The Holly-wood Reporter. “But I’m not going to try to shoe-horn in there. I left the show because I needed a year off, and I think they’re doing great work. My advice is when you get overwhelmed, remember it’s just a television show. It’s a big television show and a really hard one to put together, but don’t let it destroy your life.”
True Blood ranks as HBO’s third-most-watched original scripted series, trailing only The Sopranos and Game of Thrones.
vh1 renews hit the floorBy Philiana NgVH1 is bringing back Hit the Floor for another season.
The cable network has renewed the scripted drama, centered on a group of professional bas-ketball dancers, for a sophomore run, it was announced Monday.
According to VH1, Hit the Floor is the highest-rated freshman scripted cable series among the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic, where it averages a 1.2 rating. The series draws an average of 1.9 million total viewers.
“We always knew that Hit the Floor was a strong project from the beginning and we are thrilled that so
many of our viewers agree with us, “ said Jill Holmes, VH1’s senior vp West Coast production and develop-ment. “With creator James LaRosa at the helm, every-one in front of and behind the camera has created a compelling, addictive series with high-energy dance numbers, and we can’t wait to continue the storyline that’s made it the No. 1 cable show in its time period among adults.”
Hit the Floor follows fic-tional basketball team the Los Angeles Devils, whose players share the fame, money, sex and power with their dancers, the Devil Girls. The show stars Dean Cain, Kimberly Elise, Charlotte Ross, Taylour Paige, Logan Browning, Valery Ortiz, Katherine Bailess, Jonathan McDan-iel, McKinley Freeman, Rob Riley and Don Stark. Hit the Floor was created by LaRosa, who serves as executive producer along with Maggie Malina. Bryan Johnson and the Film Syndicate also executive produce.
Hit the Floor marks VH1’s
second scripted series fol-lowing Single Ladies, which will return for its third sea-son in 2014. The series marks the network’s lat-est attempt to grow into a home for originals as it continues to find suc-cess with unscripted fare, including docuseries T.I. and Tiny: The Family Hus-tle, which was recently picked up for a third season.
Hit the Floor wraps up season one July 29.
zimmerman verdict watched by 10.5 millionBy Michael O’ConnellAs the cable news networks broke into programming on Saturday night to cover the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial, view-ers flocked to the televi-sion. Despite the late hour of the conclusion, which happened just after 10 p.m.
ET, just north of 10.5 mil-lion viewers tuned in across networks.
Fox News Channel edged out the other three in total viewers with 3.68 million, moving past CNN (3.4 mil-lion), HLN (2.2 million) and MSNBC (1.29 mil-lion). CNN had the lead in the targeted adults 25-54 demographic with 1.7 mil-lion viewers. They topped-FNC (1.11 million), HLN (980,000) and MSNBC (510,000).
The relatively speedy trial, which culminated in a six-woman jury finding the Florida man not guilty in Trayvon Martin’s 2012 shooting death, topped the recent verdict coverage of the Jodi Arias murder conviction. That grossed fewer than 7 million view-ers when the verdict was read in May on a Wednes-day afternoon.
Since the tailend of pri-metime and late night on Saturdays isn’t typically a big time for cable news networks, all four networks were up dramatically from year-to-date averages.
Between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. ET, the four networks grossed 7.5 million view-ers, up from the average 1.8 million viewers. Fox main-tained its viewership lead for the complete coverage, pulling in 2.71 million view-ers over CNN (2.41 mil-lion), HLN (1.43 million) and MSNBC (929,000).
Boasting an exclusive interview with Zimmer-man’s brother, CNN con-tinued to top in the demo with 1.24 million viewers
tv newsPage 4 of 9July 16, 2013
FROM page 2
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Hit the Floor, about a fictional professional basketball team and its dance squad, is VH1’s second-ever original scripted series.
Zimmerman
tv newsPage 5 of 9July 16, 2013
in the time period, up from its year-to-date aver-age of 135,000. MSNBC, which typically wins those hours in adults 25-54 with 261,000 viewers, was up the least with just 404,000.
The trial’s end fol-lows more than two weeks of wall-to-wall cover-age on HLN and aggres-sive reporting from CNN. FNC and MSNBC, both of which curbed time devoted to the drawn-out Arias affair earlier in the year, had noticeably put more resources and time into the Zimmerman trial.
abc fam cancels the lying gameBy Lesley GoldbergABC Family has canceled The Lying Game.
A representative for the youth-skewing cable net-work confirms to The Hol-lywood Reporter that the teen drama starring Alex-andra Chando will not return for a third season.
The actress broke the news personally on Twitter
early Monday. “To our awesome #lyinggame fans, thank you for these two amazing seasons. Unfor-tunately, ABC Family has decided not to bring us back for a third season. We so wanted to do 10 more for you guys! Thanks for your support and keep up with the cast to see what’s next for us!”
Alloy Entertainment’s Lying Game, a story about identical twins who switch lives, was one of two series awaiting word on its future at ABC Family. A decision on fellow bubble series Bunheads has yet to be made, a network spokes-person tells THR.
ABC Family took a wait-and-see approach to renewing both shows, opt-ing to weigh the numbers for new series The Fos-ters and Twisted. The Fos-ters continues to set series highs with each new air-ing, most recently ranking as Monday’s top scripted TV telecast among women
12-34, and No. 2 among women 18-34 as well as viewers 12-34.
Twisted opened to a harder-to-gauge 1.6 mil-lion viewers, benefiting from the massive return for ABC Family’s signature series Pretty Little Liars.
Meanwhile, Switched at Birth most recently set season highs among adults 18-49 and women 18-49.
mira sorvino to recur on psychBy Philiana NgAn Oscar winner is headed to Psych.
Mira Sor-vino, who won an Acad-emy Award for best support-ing actress in Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite, has joined the USA Net-work comedy’s eighth sea-son in a multiepisode arc, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Sorvino will play the Santa Barbara Police Department’s newest head
detective Betsy Brannigan, a sweet, adorably reserved and yet certified badass.Brannigan’s record for tak-ing down ruthless crimi-nals is rivaled only by her skills in sparkly craft mak-ing, and her seemingly bubbly demeanor can turn on a dime once she straps in the dual-wielded Colt .45s. She’s a scrapbooking, cat-loving, crime-fighting machine.
Sorvino, repped by ICM Partners and Unti-tled Entertainment, will first appear in the sea-son premiere. She is also known for starring oppo-site Lisa Kudrow in Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion.
Psych is executive pro-duced by Steve Franks, Kelly Kulchak and Chris Henze. Mel Damski and Bill Callahan are executive producers. Saladin K. Pat-terson, Andy Berman and Todd Harthan are co-exec-utive producers/writers. Kell Cahoon is consulting producer. Universal Cable Productions in associa-tion with Tagline Pictures produces.
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Chando
Sorvino
By Lesley GoldbergScandal is heading to BET.
The Viacom-owned cable network has acquired off-network rights to ABC’s breakout hit Scandal, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.
Under the pact, BET will begin airing sea-sons one and two of the Kerry Washington politi-cal-fixer drama this sum-mer. Additionally, original episodes from the upcom-ing third season of the Shonda Rhimes series will air no sooner than eight days after original first-run episodes are broadcast on ABC. The deal for off-net-work repeats extends to additional seasons of the drama if it should continue its run.
BET will debut the first two seasons of the ABC Studios drama with a mar-athon starting in August, continuing to air episodes up until the third-season premiere on ABC in the fall (a formal third-season premiere date has not been announced yet). The agree-ment extends season-one Scandal episodes to BET in addition to Netflix, where they’ve been streaming since September 2012. It marks the first time season two will air outside of ABC and ABC.com. Financial terms of the deal were not immediately available.
The sale comes as stu-dios continue to enter the
syndication market early (Scandal has produced a total of 29 episodes in its two seasons) in a bid to generate instant revenue rather than waiting for the typical 100-episode mark to explore off-network deals. For their part, USA Network acquired rights to ABC’s Modern Family dur-ing its first season in Jan-uary 2010, while Oxygen picked up Glee during its freshman run. Both series will begin airing in syndi-cation later this year.
The move will likely help ABC broaden the serialized drama’s audience among its core demographic, though Rhimes has been vocal about the series not specifically being a show catering to African-Amer-icans. The show, about a fixer with professional and personal ties to the presi-dent of the United States (Tony Goldwyn), ranks as the No. 1 broadcast series among African-Ameri-cans, averaging 2.8 million
viewers a week.In its second season,
Scandal catapulted from a modest performer in its seven-episode first sea-son to a bona fide hit in its Thursday 10 p.m. slot. The fast-paced drama averaged 8.5 million total viewers and a 2.9 rating among adults 18-49, con-sistently winning its slot against heavy competi-tion from CBS’ Elementary (and frequently topping its Rhimes-created lead-in Grey’s Anatomy). Perhaps more important, the series ranked as Thursday’s most social broadcast this sea-son — out-tweeting Fox’s American Idol with more than 4.2 million total. Star Washington rallied the cast to sign up for Twitter to live-tweet original epi-sodes, with the series reg-ularly taking up multiple worldwide trending topics each week. Since launch-ing as a political soap, the series has grown to become a critical favorite
for its risky storytelling approach and brisk pacing. It’s generating Emmy buzz heading into Thursday’s nominations.
“We’re thrilled to be join-ing forces with ABC in air-ing this dynamic series,” BET chairman Debra Lee said. “Scandal is a cultural phenomenon that has res-onated with viewers for the past two seasons and we’re excited to be part of its continued journey.”
The Scandal deal comes as Viacom-owned BET continues to find success with its original scripted fare. The network earlier this month scored robust ratings for the sixth-season return of its flagship series The Game (3.6 million viewers and a 1.7 in adults 18-49) and the premiere of new Gabrielle Union series Being Mary Jane, which opened to a robust 2.0 in the target demo and 4 mil-lion viewers. (Coinciden-tally, Union was also up for the part of Olivia Pope that ultimately went to Washington.)
Scandal marks BET’s first syndicated scripted drama acquisition. The network in the past has aired repeats of comedies The Parkers, Moesha and Family Matters and contin-ues to air Wendy Williams’ syndicated talk show.
Rhimes created Scandal and executive produces the show alongside Shonda-land partner Betsy Beers and Mark Wilding. BET’s Barbara Zaneri, exec vp program strategy, schedul-ing and acquisitions, nego-tiated the deal.
tv newsPage 6 of 9July 16, 2013
BET Nabs Off-Net Rights to Scandal
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By Greg KildayTen first-time governors — including Sony Pic-tures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal and Oscar-winning documen-tary filmmaker Alex Gibney — have been elected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ board of governors, the organiza-tion’s governing body.
Pascal will represent the executives branch, while Gibney will rep the documentary branch. The other first-timers on the board include Judianna Makovsky and Deborah Nadoolman, representing the newly-created costume designers branch; Rick Carter and Jan Pascale, the designers branch; Lynzee Klingman, film editors; Kathryn Blondell and Bill Corso, make-up
artists and hairstylists; and Nancy Utley, co-president of Fox Searchlight, public relations.
The 48-member board is now comprised of 14 women, the highest figure in its history. “I’m very excited by that,” said Hawk Koch, who will be stepping down from his term as Academy president on July 30. “It reflects the industry as a whole, and is the largest number of women we have ever had. Amy Pascal is only the second woman to represent the executive branch — the first was Mary Pickford.” Pickford was one of the founding members of the Academy in 1927.
Governors who were reelected for three-year terms each include Ed Begley, Jr.: actors; John
Bailey, cinematographers; Kathryn Bigelow, directors; Charles Fox, music; Jon Bloom, short films and feature animation; Curt Behlmer, sound; Richard Edlund, visual effects; and Robin Swicord, writers.
Mark Johnson, a long-time member of the board, is returning after a hiatus to represent the producers branch.
The board, which had previously numbered 43 members, expands this year to 48 members. In January, costume designers, who previously had been part of the designers branch, which also includes production designers, art directors and set directors, were given their own branch. The Academy also decided that the makeup artists and hairstylists
branch, which had been repped by one governor, would be represented by three governors going forward.
“I think it’s a great board,” Koch said of the new line-up. “We had the highest voter turnout ever to vote for the governors, so I think that means the members are really engaged. And I think this is a board that will carry through on everything we tried to do this year.”
One third of the board is elected or reelected each year. Governors who were not up for reelection and who continue on the board are Annette Bening and Tom Hanks, actors; Jim Bissell, designers; Richard P. Crudo and Dante Spinotti, cinematographers; Jeffrey Kurland, costume designers; Lisa Cholodenko and Michael Mann, directors; Michael Apted and Rob Epstein, documentary; Dick Cook and Robert Rehme, executives; Mark L. Goldblatt and Michael Tronick, film editors; Leonard Engelman, makeup artists and hairstylists; Arthur Hamilton and David L. Newman, music; Gale Anne Hurd and Kathleen Kennedy, producers; Cheryl Boone Isaacs and Rob Friedman, public relations; Bill Kroyer and John Lasseter, short films and feature animation; Don Hall and Scott Millan, sound; Craig Barron and John Knoll, visual effects; and Bill Condon and Phil Robinson, writers.
movie newsPage 7 of 9July 16, 2013
Film Academy Announces New
Board of Governors
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forever tangoBy David RooneyThe show is called For-ever Tango, and they weren’t kidding with that title. Two-and-a-quar-ter hours really is a lot of tango time. Like similar revues Tango Argentino and Tango Pasion, this Broad-way summer filler’s main challenge is to inject varia-tion into an entertainment built entirely around a sin-gle sultry dance tradition, defined by its heightened sense of melodramatic siz-zle. But creator-director Luis Bravo’s worldwide hit addresses the fatigue issue by steadily cranking up the degree of difficulty in the routines as the marathon progresses.
First seen in 1994, the show returns at a time when ballroom dancing has enjoyed a massive resur-gence in popularity thanks to the flashy exhibitionism of TV contests like Danc-ing With the Stars. So it was a smart move by produc-ers to recruit two of that show’s adored pros, Kar-ina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy, for a five-week guest spot, as evi-denced by the cheers that greeted the duo’s appear-ances on press night.
Smirnoff and Chmerkovskiy are about as authentically Argentin-ean as Tango & Cash, but who cares? The crowd is mad for them, and it’s easy to see why. They’re tall, sin-uous and sexy, delivering polished showmanship with effortless charisma. The four routines that feature
the duo are among the highlights, in particular a torridly romantic second-act pas de deux that takes the traditional tango moves in a more balletic direc-tion. (I kept thinking Maks in his preening moments looks disturbingly like that irksome Fredrik Eklund on Million Dollar Listings, but I digress.)
Also an audience favorite is guest crooner Gilberto Santa Rosa, aka “El Cabal-lero de la Salsa,” whose appearances seemed to tap into a popular vein of senti-mental nostalgia for many in the house. The Puerto Rican bandleader and sing-er’s impassioned rendition of “Que Alguien Me Diga” serves to unite the entire company onstage for the dynamic Act I closer.
But the guest artists take nothing away from For-ever Tango’s eight pairs of regular dance partners, whose focus and vitality are showcased in every num-ber, along with an abil-ity to combine exacting
precision with what looks convincingly like sponta-neous sensuality. I was less taken with the more theat-rical presentations such as a tango rumble with gang-sters and molls. However, the duos are consistently impressive, each of them displaying subtle distinc-tions in style and execution, in choreography attributed to the dancers themselves.
Even if a certain same-ness inevitably creeps into the routines from time to time, there’s an erotic charge from watching the female dancers roll around their partners’ stiff tor-sos and get slung over their backs or dragged across the floor like paralyzed victims of love. Several of the ver-tiginous dips and soaring lifts in the second-act rou-tines inspired gasps from the audience, while the scissoring legs and gyrat-ing tushes kept reminding me I had Sharknado waiting on the DVR at home. Along
with Maks and Karina, the showstoppers are Juan Paulo Horvath and Victo-ria Galoto, who get primo position in the opening and closing numbers.
Unlike many other dance styles, there’s an egalitar-ian aspect to the tango as performed here, with the range of height, weight and age among the cast sug-gesting that credentials are bestowed less according to physical type than to char-acter and discipline.
Latin rhythm aficiona-dos will also appreciate the spirited musicianship of the 11-piece orchestra, led by Victor Lavallen on one of four bandoneons. The lineup of mostly old gee-zers — which also includes five string players, a key-boardist and pianist — hints at enduring musical and cultural traditions that run deep in the blood.
Venue: Walter Kerr Theatre, New York (runs through Sept. 15)
theater reviewPage 8 of 9July 16, 2013
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Dancing With the Stars duo Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy guest-star in the popular dance show’s Broadway return.
the top 40box office chart
Total: $195,762,761
This week
Last week
Movie Distributor Weekend grossPercent change
# of theaters
Per-theater average
Days in release
Cumulative gross
1 1 Despicable Me 2 Universal 43,892,895 -53.3 4,003 10,965 12 228,376,775
2 New Grown Ups 2 Sony 41,508,572 - 3,491 11,890 3 41,508,572
3 New Pacific Rim Warner Bros. 37,285,325 - 3,275 11,385 3 37,285,325
4 3 The Heat Fox 14,002,080 -49.4 3,128 4,476 17 112,365,557
5 2 The Lone Ranger Disney 11,506,100 -64.3 3,904 2,947 12 71,467,292
6 4 Monsters University Disney 10,631,576 -52.3 3,142 3,384 24 237,771,003
7 5 World War Z Paramount 9,314,862 -54.9 3,003 3,102 24 176,971,782
8 6 White House Down Sony 6,162,633 -59.1 2,566 2,402 17 62,975,566
9 8 Kevin Hart: Let Me Expain Lionsgate 4,754,152 -57.4 892 5,330 12 26,132,461
10 7 Man of Steel Warner Bros. 4,719,084 -62.8 2,150 2,195 31 280,888,962
11 9 This Is the End Sony 2,850,571 -57.5 1,394 2,045 33 91,639,011
12 10 Now You See Me Lionsgate 1,305,391 -59.4 850 1,536 45 113,283,093
13 13 The Way, Way Back Fox Searchlight 1,121,851 87.3 79 14,201 10 1,866,336
14 11 Star Trek Into Darkness Paramount 686,181 -52.9 403 1,703 60 224,360,905
15 New Bhaag Milkha Bhaag Reliance 647,112 - 139 4,655 3 647,112
16 12 Fast & Furious 6 Universal 547,815 -54 397 1,380 52 236,533,170
17 15 20 Feet From Stardom Radius 497,266 2.7 131 3,796 31 1,770,405
18 14 Epic Fox 480,879 -18 352 1,366 52 104,872,293
19 New Fruitvale Station The Weinstein Co. 386,291 - 7 55,184 3 386,291
20 17 Before Midnight Sony Classics 293,836 -38.6 154 1,908 52 7,070,505
21 20 After Earth Sony 273,432 -37.4 238 1,149 45 59,383,574
22 22 The Croods Fox 255,632 -35.2 243 1,052 115 185,630,101
23 16 Iron Man 3 Disney 241,289 -54.2 199 1,213 73 406,850,977
24 28 Unfinished Song The Weinstein Co. 239,700 -9.9 91 2,634 24 785,186
25 19 Much Ado About Nothing Roadside 237,045 -49.4 138 1,718 38 3,385,246
26 18 The Internship Fox 217,751 -58.1 233 935 38 43,220,705
27 21 The Hangover 3 Warner Bros. 199,820 -49.8 265 754 53 111,651,607
28 27 The Great Gatsby Warner Bros. 168,297 -47 125 1,346 66 143,218,776
29 29 The Attack Cohen 167,703 -14.2 55 3,049 24 714,913
30 23 The Purge Universal 161,995 -54.1 179 905 38 63,833,975
31 24 The Bling Ring A24 157,907 -57 97 1,628 31 5,458,152
32 32 Mud Roadside 133,239 -23.3 113 1,179 80 20,979,778
33 31 Fill the Void Sony Classics 132,216 -18.2 64 2,066 52 1,401,561
34 33 I'm So Excited! Sony Classics 105,420 -25.6 22 4,792 17 469,570
35 30 The East Fox Searchlight 93,838 -47.9 71 1,322 45 2,126,090
36 52 Scary Movie 5 The Weinstein Co. 79,846 298.7 33 2,420 94 31,957,944
37 25 Lootera Eros 78,765 -75 100 788 12 550,651
38 35 Pain and Gain Paramount 75,007 -43.9 150 500 80 49,663,157
39 37 The Kings of Summer CBS 72,006 -33.5 56 1,286 45 1,206,711
40 36 Frances Ha IFC 67,381 -39.7 57 1,182 59 3,766,614
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