Thompson on Hollywood

Super Bowl Movie Ads: Shutter Island, Prince of Persia, Alice in Wonderland, Last Airbender

I don't watch the Super Bowl game. I watch the ads. CBS has sold out the spots, reports the LAT:

By Anne Thompson
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February 4, 2010 4:24 AM
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Bill Gates Does Jon Stewart

Microsoft billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates is on the circuit: first Sundance, now The Daily Show. Check it out:

By Anne Thompson
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January 26, 2010 11:31 AM
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Trailer Watch: HBO's Temple Grandin Stars Claire Danes

At the jam-packed Paramount pre-Golden Globes party at the Chateau Marmont, I was talking with Jodie Foster, who is editing her Summit drama The Beaver, starring old pal Mel Gibson--"you've never seen him like this before," she promised. She also insisted that she will never change the title, which refers to a Beaver hand puppet who tells the Gibson character what to do.

By Anne Thompson
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January 20, 2010 8:07 AM
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Zucker Tries to Save Face on Charlie Rose

You know things are bad when the CEO of NBC Universal goes on Charlie Rose to try and save his job.

By Anne Thompson
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January 19, 2010 7:59 AM
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Late Night Wars: What Price Will NBC, Leno and Zucker Pay?

You don't have a mess like the Late Night Wars without fallout. Winners and losers are inevitable.

By Anne Thompson
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January 16, 2010 2:53 AM
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NBC Settling Conan Departure, Late Night Goes Wild

Finally, Conan O'Brien is close to settling with NBC, which (thanks apparently to Universal chief Ron Meyer) is not only paying the talk show host off, but letting him go work for someone else. Leno, who has been hammered relentlessly, along with NBC and NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker, will stay.

By Anne Thompson
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January 15, 2010 6:38 AM
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Leaked! NBC CEO Zucker's Phone Messages to O'Brien

Leaked! NBC CEO Jeff Zucker's Vociemails for Conan O'Brien - watch more funny videos

By Anne Thompson
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January 14, 2010 12:41 AM
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Conan O'Brien Takes a Stand

Conan O'Brien has thrown down the gauntlet to NBC. He doesn't want to move The Tonight Show back by half an hour to make way for Jay Leno. Here's his statement. I agree with the argument that in a world of DVRs and TiVo, O'Brien's belief that he must be on at 11:35 PM to be successful is probably misguided. I suspect he feels betrayed more than anything else and fears that being pushed back will make it tougher for him to succeed.

By Anne Thompson
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January 13, 2010 2:20 AM
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Conan Goes Nasty on NBC

In his first Tonight Show monologue following the NBC announcement of Jay Leno's return to 11:30, Conan O'Brien lets loose on NBC:

By Anne Thompson
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January 12, 2010 7:51 AM
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Ferguson Riffs on Late Night Shifts

When my 20-year-old is home, she TiVos Oprah and Conan. (She refuses to watch Leno, Letterman or, God forbid, Charlie Rose.) In passing The Tonight Show mantle to O'Brien, NBC was trying to grow a younger viewer base, which takes time. By moving Leno to 10 PM, the network gambled that it could solve all its problems without losing talent or viewers, and lost. (Here's Kim Masters and the LAT.) While NBC's scrambling --which could return Leno to 11:30 and risks losing O'Brien altogether-- seems messy at best, it did feed this inspired Craig Ferguson monologue: