Can You Smell What The Rock Is Cooking?

The Rock will co-star in the 5th installment in the "Fast & Furious" franchise with Vin Diesel -both will find their need for "Faster" speed on the same screen.

When we first mentioned this breaking story to Val, we received not a reaction - she simply graced us with a big, gorgeous smile and walked away. Either this was really good news or she has already floated away blissfully in some heavenly ether over the thought of her favorite action star Vin Diesel (Who once complimented her on her fabulous smile) and The Rock, together in the same movie...Translation: If you want anything - now's a very GOOD time to ask.

Anyway, the new storyline for FF5 is about an ex-con who sets out to avenge his brother’s death after they were double-crossed during a heist years ago. During his campaign, however, he’s tracked by a veteran cop and an egocentric hit man.

Hey Universal, you have just made SOMEONE a MAJOR fan who will probably be attending opening night...and probably every subsequent night thereafter...Cheers. (Photos/Associated Press)

Project Run-a-way Finds Home!

'Allo 'Allo!

My week has been incredible thus far, and hope the same for you!

First, thank you for all of your kind and funny emails (I heard) in response to my last post of concern about "Over Used Movie Cliches".

Ah, there are soo many over extended, drawn out familiars and literally we could discuss for a number of weeks all that is wrong with the finished products made by the creative minds of this town.

However, rather than wrong - let us discuss something right...

Ladies and Gentleman, We have Runway!

Welcome to Your New Lifetime.
Late last week, a resolution for the legal wrangling behind the hit show Project Runway was finally achieved between Harvey Weinstein (Executive Producer, Weinstein Co.) and Bravo (NBC Universal).

An official statement released declared the negotiations successful and the long awaited 6th season of Project Runway is finally cleared to air on it's new network home, Lifetime.

According to Andrea Wong (CEO of Lifetime), "I couldn’t be more excited that Lifetime will bring its viewers an amazing, all-new season of Project Runway this summer."

Wong continued, "As the highest-rated cable network for women, Lifetime is the perfect home for this outstanding program as well as its companion series Models of the Runway. All of us at Lifetime are thrilled to move forward with Heidi, Tim, Nina, Michael, The Weinstein Company and the entire Project Runway team."

We all agree...

Fans of the Runway
Supporting viewers of Project Runway are enraptured that the 'negotiations' have finally been put to rest and the show will return to the air (Official air date yet to be announced)- there has been tons of anticipation and relief.

One item of note about TV fans - they do not take the removal or delay of their shows lightly (The power of the masses for the show Jericho have more than proven this point).

They (TV fans) OWN the shows and the actors within the shows are like members of their own real life families. Movie fans hardly react (If at all) with such vim and vigor....TV fans are a powerful group.

Bravo vs. Lifetime: A Comparison
As you may be aware, I am big huge fan of Lifetime and equally thrilled about the news -

Lifetime has a lot on the ball and I really compliment the moves of the CEO, as they are the moves that I would make to bring the Network to status as top level competitor (Of course, I have to own everything, so it would only be a matter of time -aaah, I digress).

So, here is what we have on Lifetime:

• Army Wives (Total hit)
• Desperate Housewives
• DietTribe
  

As well, my interest in Bravo is no less significant.

Much of my TV viewing time is spent watching Bravo - the programming is hip, young progressive and plays slightly edgy and relevant to my age group (We are an edgy crowd and everything has be fast - due to our short attention spans), without being insulting like another network which shall remain nameless but contains shows with the word "Love" in the title.

So, here are the notables currently airing on Bravo:

• Millionaire Matchmaker (Love anything with the word "Millionaire" in the title)
  
• Housewives of New York City / New Jersey
• Make Me Supermodel (Yummy Tyson)
  
• Tabatha's Salon Takeover
  

Perhaps you may have noticed the similarity between the two networks?

In the case of Bravo, my point, what NBC the network cannot do, Bravo can - it is a near perfect balance. Where the 'near' is that hyper-mega corporation GE owns NBC which controls Bravo. If you have ever worked in a corporate structure, there is only so much you can do within it's structure.

On the other side, Lifetime does not have to answer or make decisions based on a corporate interest - they can expand, test format, content, and promotions for advertisers with much more flexibility and freedom.

I expect great things from both networks within the near future...

Let The NBC Olympic Games Begin!

Hello, Hello, Hello

Ah, the end of the week - I feel as if this has become a permanent opening statement for our conversations.

As always, much continues to happen in the 'World of News and Politics' (Well, the one that matters most: Hollywood). Business as usual if you follow the blurred lines of news and celebrity gossip.

Speaking of the world, the major event on this monumental date is the start of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, also known as today's topic of this monumental blog (-?).

My Olympic Beijing Snap
Today, I am enjoying a slowed pace from my usual exacerbating schedule to relish the start of the 2008 Summer Olympics, which meant sleeping in (7:30 AM) and a decent breakfast in bed.

I was indeed truly looking forward to viewing the competition and had cleared most of the day's schedule.

However, I am largely dismayed with moderate inconvenience...

For you see, the coverage will not air until this evening - I am so disappointed as I had expected to awaken to the sight and sound of competition. Further, I was looking forward to celebrating with an Olympic Social (aka Party) for much of the day - now, I must wait until this evening. Very inconvenient. How I was not aware of such an important scheduling conflict, remains to be seen.

Having said, now choices must be made for the evening's entertainment and guess what may NOT make my viewership and schedule this evening?

Get Ready For NBC Olympic Television
I am sure that you would agree that one of the many benefits to living in such 'Advanced' times is the ability to access to different forms of media for news, entertainment, and as mentioned in last blog, Broadband Television.

Although the official start of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics began some 10 hours prior to this post, within the past hour, I have been literally searching for video coverage of the events.

The results so far have not been promising as I have only been able to discover brief written coverage (There appears to be more than enough words to read about the events, competitors, opening ceremony, still photos), but without actual full length video footage.

One would expect coverage to be abundant of such a worldwide event. However, equal coverage does not appear to be the name of the game. Massive saturation is forthcoming to every form of available media.

At my speculation, it appears as if NBC Universal (General Electric) has secured (Purchased) the rights to broadcast in entirety - meaning the right to control what and where you see Olympic coverage on television, cable, radio, as well as over the Internet.

More Coverage Than You Could Possibly Ever Want...
According to friends at the Hollywood Reporter, NBC Universal is reportedly preparing to air roughly 3600 hours (When - I am not certain) of Olympic programming over the next 2.5 weeks - across its number of networks including NBC, Bravo, Oxygen, CNBC, MSNBC (175 hours), Telemundo (Airing 380 hours alone), and USA Network (Bidding 165 hours).

Further, more than 2,000 hours will also be available via streaming over the Web, Video On Demand (VOD), HD, as well accessible by mobile devices, and specialty channels such as soccer and basketball and unique language stations (Japanese, Mandarin and Korean Channels) - just in case you missed the continuous, over saturating live coverage of the 34 events on the before mentioned Networks.

Without a doubt, coverage will be unprecedented and the largest media coverage in the history of the Olympic Games. More than likely, you will at some point view the games over the next few weeks and this is what NBC Uni is hoping as more than $1 Billion dollars of advertising is also set to air during the broadcast.

I have a few more ideas...But, we will save them for later...I have a '2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony After Party' to attend!

You can brush up before the tonight's broadcast on NBC's Official site located at the following: http://www.nbcolympics.com/



*The photo above was taken at the Opening Ceremony and is provided by the UK Telegraph.