Top artistes converge in Nairobi for common good

Paramount fills long-empty home entertainment slot

After five months without a president of worldwide home entertainment, Paramount has promoted Dennis Maguire, who previously oversaw DVD sales overseas, to the post.

Maguire became president of Paramount Home Entertainment International in 2006 after holding the same post at Walt Disney Studios, where he worked for 23 years.

He replaces Kelley Avery, who unexpectedly left the job in May. Avery had previously overseen home entertainment for DreamWorks and took the job at Paramount when it acquired her former employer in 2006.

Maguire takes the job at a time when DVD sales, which have been a cash cow for movie studios for the last decade, are rapidly declining and studios are determining how to handle fast-growing but less profitable rental businesses such as Redbox and Netflix, as well as attempting to boost sales of high-definition Blu-ray discs.

"There are a lot of challenges in home entertainment, and it's good to have someone in the job I'm comfortable with and know well," said Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore, to whom Maguire reports. "He feels ready to take on bigger challenges."

Maguire worked with Moore to negotiate the studio's unique deal with controversial DVD kiosk company Redbox, under which the studio is studying its effect on sales this fall before potentially triggering a five-year, $575-million deal at the end of the year.

Moore has been directly overseeing Paramount's domestic DVD business since Avery's departure in May.

--Ben Fritz

Photo: Dennis Maguire. Credit: Paramount Pictures.

What's coming up on 'Supernatural': Video goodness and episode summaries

"Supernatural" fans, there are some goodies below for you.

Look below for summaries of the next three episodes of the CW show, including Thursday's installment, as well as the killer "Coming Soon" video clip that aired at the end of last week's epidoe.

The "Coming Soon" clip is a compilation of moments from the episodes listed below.

Spoilers ahoy.

The photos on this post are from the Oct. 29 episode. The summaries below are from the CW. 

“I Believe the Children Are Our Future,” airs Thursday: "A series of strange and seemingly unexplainable deaths in a small town lead Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) to the home of a young local boy, whose true identity has Castiel (Misha Collins) bent on his immediate destruction.  Guest stars Ever Carradine as ‘Julia’ and Gattlin Griffith as ‘Jesse.’  Written by Andrew Dabb & Dan Loflin and directed by Charles Beeson."

For photos from "I Believe the Children Are Our Future," look here.

The show broadcasts a repeat of the Season 5 premiere on Oct. 22.

“The Curious Case of Dean Winchester,” airs Oct. 29: "When a 25-year-old man drops dead of old age and a 60-something man goes missing, only to turn up young and extremely healthy, the Winchesters investigate and discover a backroom poker game where players gamble to win or lose years of their lives.  Guest stars Jim Beaver as ‘Bobby Singer,’ Chad Everett as ‘Older Dean,’ Hal Ozsan as ‘Patrick’ and Pascale Hutton as ‘Lia.’  Sera Gamble wrote the teleplay for 'The Curious Case of Dean Winchester' based on a story by Sera Gamble & Jenny Klein."

Note: Jim Beaver talks a bit about Bobby's story line in "The Curious Case of Dean Winchester" in this interview.

“Changing Channels,” airs Nov. 5: "When Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) find themselves living their lives on what appear to be TV shows, it makes for a whole new style of reality television and they wonder if the Trickster (guest star Richard Speight, Jr.) is to blame.  From a sitcom to a soapy hospital drama to a Japanese game show to a crime procedural, each new experience they encounter is more bizarre than the next and they want out.  But is the Trickster really the mastermind behind the madness?  Also starring Misha Collins as ‘Castiel.’  'Changing Channels' was written by Jeremy Carver and directed by Charles Beeson."

One final note about the episode that airs Nov. 19: It's called "Abandon All Hope..." and it was written by Ben Edlund. It's the final episode of 2009 for "Supernatural," which returns with new episodes in early 2010. To find out who guest stars in the episode, look at the end of this post. For more "Supernatural" spoilers, check out the Twitter feed of the SuperWiki -- there are links aplenty!

Come back here Friday for a review of Thursday's episode. All my other far-too-numerous "Supernatural" stories are here.

Photos: Jensen Ackles; guest star Chad Everett, Jared Padalecki, Ackles; Jim Beaver and Ackles; Ackles and guest star Hal Ozsan.

Sponsored Link: Amazon's Supernatural Store

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