Audiences love 'Princess and the Frog,' 'Invictus,' but will they keep going?

Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. have established that moviegoers dig their new movies "The Princess and the Frog" and "Invictus." But as a holiday season crowded with highly anticipated movies approaches, the question is whether they can both keep playing.

Disney's first hand-drawn animated feature in six years garnered an average audience grade of A, according to market research firm CinemaScore, while Warners' apartheid story received an A-. Neither movie had particularly strong ticket sales on their opening weekends, however. The big-budget "Princess" launched to a studio-estimated $25 million from Friday through Sunday. Historical drama "Invictus," which cost $60 million to produce, opened to just $9.1 million.

The last two non-Pixar animated features from Disney, "Bolt," and "Meet the Robinsons," opened to $26 million and $25 million, respectively, and were ultimately considered financial disappointments. "Invictus," meanwhile, started significantly below the $29.5-million wide-release debut of the last movie directed by Clint Eastwood, "Gran Torino," a major hit, and closer to that of his 2007 flop "Changeling," which launched to $9.4 million and ended up with just $35.7 million.

Weekends in the first half of December are traditionally slow, and the two studios were both hoping this weekend would essentially serve as a setup to generate momentum and word-of-mouth going into the holiday season, when many children and adults will be off work and out of school.

The competition for moviegoers will be fierce, however, as Fox's hugely hyped "Avatar," the first movie from "Titanic" director James Cameron in 12 years, debuts Friday, along with the romantic comedy "What About the Morgans?" The next week, on Christmas Day, "Sherlock Holmes," "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" and romantic comedy "It's Complicated" all open with big expectations.

For "The Princess and the Frog" and "Invictus" to succeed, they will have to find audiences amid a very crowded marketplace. "Princess," whose opening-weekend audience was 80% families, will be competing for that same crowd with "Alvin and the Chipmunks." "Invictus," meanwhile, faces a number of new pictures aimed at its mostly adult crowd -- which was 69% over 30 this weekend -- as well as several in limited release that will be expanding further, such as "Up in the Air" and "Precious."

For more on the performance of "Up in the Air," "The Lovely Bones," and "A Serious Man" in limited release, as well as the continued phenomenal run of "The Blind Side," see our initial box-office post.

Here are the top 10 movies at the domestic box office, according to studio estimates and Hollywood.com:

1. "The Princess and the Frog" (Disney): $25 million as it opened in wide release. Total: $27.9 million  including its previous two-week run at two theaters.

2. "The Blind Side" (Warner Bros./Alcon): Declined just 23% on its fourth weekend to $15.5 million. Domestic total: $150.2 million.

3. "Invictus" (Warner Bros./Spyglass): $9.1-million debut.

4. "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" (Summit): Fell 48% on its fourth weekend to $8 million. $267.4 million domestic total. International total: $358.7 million.

5. "A Christmas Carol" (Disney): Off only 12% on its sixth weekend at $6.9 million. Total U.S. and Canadian ticket sales: $124.5 million.

6. "Brothers" (Lionsgate/Relativity): $5 million, down 49% on its second weekend. Total: $17.4 million.

7. "2012" (Sony): Dropped 35% on its fifth weekend to $4.4 million. Domestic total: $155.3 million. International: $556 million.

8. "Old Dogs" (Disney): $4.4 million, off 36% on its third weekend. Domestic total: $40 million so far.

9. "Armored" (Sony): $3.5 million, down 46% on its second weekend. U.S. and Canadian total: $11.7 million.

10. "Ninja Assassin" (Warner Bros./Dark Castle/Legendary): Down 46% on its third weekend to $2.7 million. Domestic total: $34.3 million.

-- Ben Fritz

Top photo: Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon in "Invictus." Credit: Keith Bernstein / Warner Bros.
Bottom photo: "The Princess and the Frog." Credit: Walt Disney Studios

At Quince, the dishes — featuring fresh ingredients for each season — are exceptional
My expectations were pretty high when I booked our reservation at Quince just days after it was announced the restaurant had earned a coveted honor: it's first Michelin star. On top of that, the San Francisco food world had been buzzing for months about Quince's move from its Pacific Heights neighborhood to a larger space in the Financial District.

Was Ancient Historian One Of The First Spin Doctors?

Thucydides' account of the war between Athens and Sparta has become an allegory of modern conflicts like the Cold War, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. But a new book about the ancient historian shows he may not quite have been telling the truth.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Thai Media Trade Fairness for National Security
CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Dec 13 (IPS/TerraViva)When it comes to reporting about their neighbouring countries, journalists in Thailand’s mainstream media display a national security bias, often presenting a distorted view of reality and reflecting some prejudices against them.

Beyonce, Mariah, others deliver new Christmas classics

Muppet fur flies over Jim Henson script

When the Black List, Hollywood's annual ranking of the top unproduced scripts, was unveiled Friday, it lent the full weight of its authority to Christopher Weekes.

Weekes' screenplay "The Muppet Man," about the life and loves of Jim Henson, had landed the top spot, ahead of a number of up-and-coming writers and even established names like Aaron Sorkin.

That kind of honor comes with a host of benefits, not the least of which is giving a valuable boost to the project (last year's winner, a quirky character piece called "The Beaver," was catapulted toward production by its Black List win, with Mel Gibson now starring, Jodie Foster directing and Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the "Twilight" franchise, distributing the film).

"The Muppet Man," which takes an almost fairy-tale view of the romance between the late Jim Henson and his longtime wife Jane, faces a far tougher climb.

Weekes was discovered by managers Britton Rizzio and Kelly McCormack after they had seen an indie movie of his at a film festival in 2008. They soon found he had written, entirely on spec, a script about one of the most enigmatic and private of contemporary artists without having ever met or even read much about him (there exists no major published biography about Henson).

Instead, Weeks conjured the story mostly out of his imagination, basing it on a series of photos he'd studied and whatever strands of information he could find on things like Wikipedia. "Even though I was just 10 when he died, Jim Henson had been this Walt Disney-like figure in my life, and I wanted to create a version of him as seen through these kind of rose-colored glasses," Weekes said Friday from Australia.

As whimsical as the script is said to be (it also folded into the narrative invented particulars of the romance between Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, including a depiction of a hungover Kermit heartbroken by Miss Piggy's impending marriage to another beau), it also wanders into a legal and creative thicket. Weekes had written a story about individuals -- Jim and Jane Henson -- to whom he did not hold rights. Equally problematic, Weekes had included a number of Muppet characters to which Disney owns the rights.

That kind of thing is, to say the least, usually frowned upon.

"He basically did what all your representatives tell you not to do," Sarah Hammer, who used to represent Weekes as an agent, says with a laugh.

And sure enough, when the project was sold to the Jim Henson Co. shortly after  -- "the only place it could go," says Rizzio -- it was welcomed but quickly found itself mired in creative differences. The production banner, according to people familiar with the meetings, wanted to turn the story into more of a Muppet romp -- even a musical -- and excise the Jim and Jane Henson relationship. And Weekes had written an intimate, if not dark, character study.  As the novice Weekes found out, it's not easy being green.

Lisa Henson, the daughter of Jim and Jane Henson who helps run the Jim Henson Co., maintains that the problems can be resolved by simply combining two different visions, though even she acknowledges that the story that came to her was not one that the company liked.

"It was a very gutsy move on [Chris's] part to write this script, and we recognized the enthusiasm," she says. "But it would be irresponsible to make a biopic that would be all made up."

After Henson acquired the script, a number of studio executives read it and began calling Weekes' reps. And stars like Jim Carrey, Leonardo DiCaprio and Hugh Jackman expressed interest in playing the legendary creator of Big Bird and Elmo.

But without the blessing of the Henson Co., it may well be doomed. And that's not even broaching the question of Disney, which, to add more problems to the furry pile, is currently developing its own Muppets movie with Jason Segel. It's hard to imagine new studio chief Rich Ross eager to make a biopic about the founder of a company with which Disney is so closely aligned, not to mention approving a script in which Kermit the Frog smokes and drinks.

Weekes is no longer actively working on his script -- he, in fact, has not written a new draft since the original was sold to the Henson Co. Instead he is working on two new movies, including one for Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures called "Waterproof," to which "Enchanted" director Kevin Lima is loosely attached to direct.

Weekes' own professional arc appears to be headed toward a happy ending. The big-screen story of Jim and Jane Henson -- and Kermit and Piggy -- may not fare as well.

-- Steven Zeitchik

Photo credit: Alan Greth / Associated Press

Beyonce, Mariah, others deliver new Christmas classics
All caroled out? Pop in these updated Christmas classics.
Comedic Alums Star At Second City's 50th

Second City is what amounts to the Oxford and Cambridge of American comedy. The Chicago improv theater began in an old Chinese laundry but now spans several full-time theaters, training centers, and touring ensembles. This weekend, it's having an all-star blowout for its 50th anniversary. Host Scott Simon talks to alum and comedian Jeff Garlin.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Bringing the Rainforest to Copenhagen
COPENHAGEN, Dec 12 (IPS/TerraViva)As delegates deliberate over the extent carbon emissions will be curbed in the closing days of the U.N. summit here, the environmental ramifications of that agreement are likely to be felt in places far removed from the negotiating table, particularly among indigenous people on the front lines of climate change.

Desperate for hits, NBC Universal renews deal with production firm BermanBraun

Desperate for hits, NBC Universal renews deal with production firm BermanBraun

Hoping to find an elusive hit or two (or three) to revive the beleaguered peacock network, NBC Universal this afternoon said it has renewed its production deal with the high-powered production firm BermanBraun.

The three-year contract extension means that the company, launched nearly three years ago by former top network executives Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun, will provide its shows to NBC Universal on a first-look basis. The production firm will continue to operate as a separate label within NBC Universal, developing scripted and unscripted projects for all of NBC Universal's TV divisions. NBC pays the firm's overhead, but the companies declined to provide specifics. 

The move comes as NBC is increasing its emphasis on development to plug holes in its prime-time schedule. The company's contract had been set to expire next summer.

But NBC has been in a programming pickle and didn't want to lose an important supplier.

Earlier this year, NBC executives turned to BermanBraun to produce the nurses drama "Mercy" in time for the fall season. BermanBraun is shooting the NBC drama pilot “Rex Is Not Your Lawyer,” starring David Tennant, Jeffrey Tambor and Jane Curtin, which could be ready to air as early as spring. NBC Universal's Syfy cable channel also has greenlighted another of the company's projects, “Alphas,” written by Zak Penn. That pilot will start shooting in January.

Berman previously served as president of Paramount Pictures, developing such movies as "Star Trek," “Failure to Launch” and “Nacho Libre.” Before her stint in the feature-film world, Berman helped build the Fox broadcast network into a programming powerhouse with the launch of such hits as "American Idol," "House," "24" and "The O.C."  Braun was chairman of ABC Entertainment when the network developed its biggest shows, including "Lost," "Desperate Housewives," Grey's Anatomy" and "Extreme Makeover Home Edition." Braun came up with the initial concept for "Lost" and was instrumental in the creation of "The Sopranos" when he was president of Brillstein-Grey Entertainment.

"It's been a great partnership with Gail and Lloyd," Angela Bromstad, NBC president of prime-time entertainment, said in a statement. "They are a rare team of true producers and executives who understand what it takes to make great programming."
 
-- Meg James

The Star Report: Will Smith and family take the stage at Nobel Peace Prize concert
Other celebs at Nobel Peace Prize Concert include: Wyclef Jean, Donna Summer, Toby Keith. "Hangover" DVD release brings out Heather Graham. Plus Emily Blunt and Kate Hudson promote new movies.
Willard Reflects On Second City At 50

The Second City this month celebrates 50 years of making improvisational comedy, and Fred Willard, a Second City alumnus, joins NPR's Michele Norris to talk about the famed comedy club. The key to improv, he says, is to just do it.

CULTURE: Foreign Cash Makes Afghan Films
KABUL, Dec 11 (IPS)After the fall of the Taliban, the most widely recognised and praised Afghan film has been 'Osama'. Directed by Sediq Barmak, the 2003 production is the heartrending story of a young girl who disguises herself as a boy named Osama so that she might survive the Taliban regime. Osama received awards at both Cannes and the Golden Globes.

Theater review: '39 Setps' a hilarious sendup of Alfred Hitchcock films

Blockbuster partner buys DVDPlay, heading up competition with Redbox

They should just call it Bluebox and really have at it.

NCR Corp., which is expanding aggressively in the DVD rental kiosk business via a partnership with Blockbuster Inc., has acquired competitor DVDPlay in a bid to catch up with market leader Redbox.

NCR, which manufacturers self-service retail devices such as ATM machines and grocery store checkout devices, will put the Blockbuster brand name on its $1-per-night DVD kiosks via a partnership with the struggling home video chain.

The Blockbuster kiosks will be painted blue, in contrast to the red-colored Redbox kiosks.

DVDPlay, currently the No. 3 competitor in the market, has about 1,500 kiosks deployed, including about 1,000 in Los Angeles. With the addition of its machines, NCR will have about 3,800 in the market by the end of the year. Redbox, by contrast, will have more than 22,000 around the country.

By next year NCR is aiming to have roughly 10,000 kiosks in stores.

"Without a doubt there's a new kid on the block," said NCR Vice President and General Manager Alex Camara. "We have an ambitious and strong strategy and we're really going after the competition."

Many DVDPlay kiosks are in Safeway grocery stores, giving NCR an immediate presence at one of the West Coast's biggest retailers.

NCR kiosks hold about 900 discs each, compared to 700 in those of Redbox. Camara said that the higher capacity, along with digital signage on the kiosks, give it an advantage. However, the Blockbuster-branded kiosks don't yet offer online reservations, which Redbox does.

Unlike its bigger competitors, NCR is not currently in court with Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros., all of which have refused to sell new release DVDs to kiosk operators unless they agree to more costly deals. Like Redbox, NCR is currently stocking new releases from those studios by purchasing them at retail.

Camara said he is eager to strike a deal to offer new releases from every studio and would be willing to consider charging more than $1 per night in certain cases if necessary to make it happen.

--Ben Fritz

Photo: A Blockbuster-branded DVD kiosk. Credit: NCR Corp.

Redsan: No bricks or laces, just Delilah
Swabir Mohammed aka Redsan is launching his fourth album,Versatility, next weekend. The show will be graced by the sexy Brick & Lace duo. The Unbreakable star speaks to Pulse about his journey to the top and the rumours that he is dating one of the Brick & Lace sisters.
Theater review: '39 Setps' a hilarious sendup of Alfred Hitchcock films
The comedy, at San Francisco's Curran Theatre through Jan. 3, also spoofs other British crime thrillers '” and pretty much all of Scotland.
Classic TV on DVD Makes A Personalized Holiday Gift

For those looking for gifts for the holiday season, TV critic David Bianculli has a few suggestions—recently released DVD sets of old and new TV shows. Match the right shows to the right recipients, he suggests, and the gift becomes hours and hours of passive pleasure.

ASIA: Excitement, Fear Greet Changes in Media Landscape
CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Dec 9 (IPS/TerraViva)The changing ‘face’ of the media landscape in the Mekong region is eliciting both excitement and fear from observers and professionals alike.

'Save Bandit!' 'Your mother is an Other?' 'Why the face?' The best TV lines of 2009. Add yours!

'Paranormal Activity' scares up $34 million overseas in first two weeks

"Paranormal Activity" has racked up solid early ticket sales overseas, as the surprise of the year at the domestic box office has proved a big hit in the United Kingdom, France and Australia, but bombed in Germany. Total international grosses so far are $34 million.

Unlike in the U.S. and Canada, where Paramount Pictures relied on word-of-mouth from early midnight screenings and Internet advertising, foreign distributors relied on more traditional marketing campaigns because many moviegoers had already heard about the movie following spectacular domestic performance earlier this fall.

"[Foreign] distributors had less time to prepare the audience and there was already high levels of awareness, so they pushed it out like a mainstream genre film," said Stuart Ford, chief executive of IM Global, which served as foreign sales agent for picture.

The independently produced horror flick, which was made for just $15,000 and grossed $107.4 million for Paramount domestically, has been No. 1 at the U.K. box office for two weekends straight, selling a total of $11.8 million worth of tickets. In France it opened at No. 2 this past weekend, collecting $5.3 million, and in Australia it debuted at No. 1, grossing $2.5 million.

In Germany, however, it has grossed just $2 million over two weeks, a low mark for what is traditionally one of the biggest overseas movie markets. Ford attributed that to the "hit and miss" nature of the supernatural horror genre in the country and an unsuccessful attempt by its German distributor to mimic the American viral campaign.

"Paranormal Activity" has also performed solidly so far in Spain and Brazil. Ford said he is expecting particularly strong results in Latin America, where the movie starts rolling out this Friday with its Mexican bow, and in Japan, where it debuts next year.

Movie producers typically receive about 40% of a movie's international gross. A percentage of foreign theater revenue for "Paranormal" will be kept by IM Global, with the rest going to the movie's producers, including director Oren Peli. Ford noted that his company and the movie's producers -- not exactly a surprise given their lucky stroke -- received extremely high advances for the film after its amazing run in the U.S.

--Ben Fritz

Photo: Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat in "Paranormal Activity." Credit: Paramount Pictures.

'Save Bandit!' 'Your mother is an Other?' 'Why the face?' The best TV lines of 2009. Add yours!

On Twitter this afternoon, I read that ABC has commissioned a show called "Conveyor Belt of Love."

I thought it had to be a joke. It is not. ABC has really ordered a reality show that will have women picking men off a conveyor belt. All I could think was, this sounds like the kind of stunt ex-NBC executive Ben Silverman used to pull. Or it sounds like something on Fox.

To take my mind off the rampant hideousness of that TV show, which will no doubt bring about the End Times, I suggested on Twitter that people start contributing the Best TV Lines of 2009. Well, I'm ecstatic to say that the idea took off like wildfire. Go here to see people contributing on Twitter, and Alan Sepinwall and James Poniewozik are also collecting quotes on their sites.

I had to collect some of my favorites here too. Below is a selection -- a mere selection, mind you -- of my favorite quotes from 2009. I contributed a few, but many were contributed by hundreds of awesome people on Twitter. Share your own favorite 2009 TV quote (serious or funny) below!

"Battlestar Galactica"

(This is my personal favorite line of the year) "I laid out the cabin today. It's going to have an easterly view. You should see the light that we get here. When the sun comes from behind those mountains, it's almost heavenly. It reminds me of you."

"Sit down, Cylon!"

"I'm coming for all of you!"

"I just want to hang on to this feeling for as long as I can."

"You know, I know about farming."

"She will not fail us if we do not fail her."

 "Let's go around the horn."

"Parks and Recreation"

Leslie: "Guys love it when you can show them you're better than they are at something they love.

Ron Swanson: "I like pretty dark haired women and breakfast food.”

Andy: "Thank you, everybody, we are Scarecrow Boat -- ah no, screw it! We are Mouse Rat!"

Ron:  "It's like doing peyote and sneezing slowly for six hours."

Ron: "Look, Tammy and I don't work. We are oil and water. Or oil and TNT and C4 and a detonator and a butane torch."

"Community"

"I thought you were like Bill Murray in any of his films, but you're more like Michael Douglas in any of his films."

"Lost"

"Your mother is an Other?"

"It's a compass, John." "What does it do?" "It points north."

 "Wait a second. We're not going to Guam, are we?"

"Why is there a dead Pakistani on my couch?"

Locke: "Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Ben: "I'm a pisces."

"One of these days, sooner or later, I'm going to find a loophole."

"Flight of the Conchords"

"How’s the environment doing? Can we clean it up a bit?” Brian the NZ Prime Minister

"I love weaving. I'm weaving at the moment, making a pair of trousers."

"Burn Notice"
 
Michael Westen: “Revenge is a waste of time." Fiona: “So is watching TV & eating candy, but you do it because it feels good."

"Sons of Anarchy"

Gemma: "God wants me to be a fierce mother."

Clay: “I don’t ever want to see you in this club again without your cut on.”

"30 Rock"

"Wave at a friend....Like a human!"

"A book hasn't caused this much trouble since Where's Waldo went to that barber pole factory."

""Drama is like gay man Gatorade. It replenishes their electrolytes."

"Supernatural"

Ellen: "Dean, kick it in the ass. Don't miss."

"Uriel's the funniest angel in the garrison. Ask anyone."

"He's not on any flatbreads."

"Dean, this is serious. The voice on the phone says I'm almost out of minutes."

"Friday Night Lights"

"Billy, would you pass me that violin, please? You're hoggin' it!"

"Nurse Jackie"

Judith Ivey's character: "I'm dying, & every time I see you, I am reminded what a slow & agonizing process it is."

"True Blood"

"It's like, if a tree falls in the woods, it's still a tree ain't it?"

"Sometimes you need to destroy something to save it. That's in the Bible. Or the Constitution."

 "What's she want you for?" "I think to cut out my heart while a bunch of naked people watch."

"A human with me at the end...and human tears? 2,000 years and I can still be surprised. In this I see God."

"Jesus and I agree to see other people, but that don't mean we don't talk from time to time."

"Chuck"

See, guys can hug!" "Only if they don't have their man parts"

Casey: "Bartowski, you're like the poster child for friendly fire"

Ted Roark: "Oh, a little shotgun wedding. Just think, that terrible pun is the last thing you'll hear."

Morgan: "Know that if you hit me, it only teaches me to hit."

Jeff: "Mind if I get right?"

"I need you to be awesome. Can you... be awesome?"

Casey: "Operation Moron is over?"

Jeff: "80 percent of my encounters with women have been without their knowledge."

"Guys, I know kung-fu"

"You can't kill me with that radiator. It is far too confined in this car for you to get the appropriate torque."

Awesome's dad: ""Why are you letting Sam Kinison & an Indian lesbian ruin your wedding?"

"How I Met Your Mother"

"Make Adjustments, Go Get It Energized"

"Attention, Canada. I'm Barney, from America, and I'm here to fix your backward country. Number one, get real money."

"We wait three days to call a woman because that's how long Jesus wants us to wait.... True story."

"Dollhouse"

"The human mind is like Van Halen. If you just pull out one piece and keep replacing it, it just degenerates."

"Imagine John Cassavetes in 'The Fury' as a hot chick." "Which you know I often have!"

"Given that you're a raping scumbag one tick shy of a murderer. I can't recall, do you take sugar?"  

"I think her bad guys are badder than my bad guys."

"Mad Men"

"He might lose his foot." "Just when he got it in the door."

"I'm Peggy Olson & I want to smoke some marijuana."

"Churchill rousing or Hitler rousing?"

"You are fired for lack of character!" "Very good, Happy Christmas!"

"No. I will spend the rest of my life trying to hire you."

"Peggy, can you get me some coffee?" "No."

"Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, how may i help you?"

"Big Bang Theory"

"You have a lifetime of bad decisions to make, may I interrupt this one?"

"The hero always peeks."

Wil Wheaton: "Did that guy just say 'Revenge is a dish best served cold' in Klingon?"

"Glee"

Kurt: "My body is like a rum chocolate souffle. If I don't warm it up right, it doesn't rise." 

Emma to Kurt: "I'm a girl who knows her solvents, and your breath smells like rubbing alcohol."

Kurt: "He's cheating off a girl who thinks the square root of four is rainbows."

Sue Sylvester: "I've never wanted kids... don't have the time, don't have the uterus."

More Sue: "If I were out to get you, you'd be pickling in a mason jar by now."

Ramps "are what I call lazy-makers."

"The Office"

"Who started the rumor that there is another person inside of me, working me with controls?"

Oscar: "How long do you take to pee?" Kevin: "The peeing is fast, Oscar. It's getting my tie back on."

Jim: "The boat was plan C. The church was plan B. Plan A was marrying her a long, long time ago. Pretty much the day I met her."

"Save Bandit!"

"Barack is President! You are black, Stanley!"

"Boom. Roasted."

"She's a bumpkin. Pass."

"Mose hates to geld the horses by himself."

"Those two treat the whole office as a 1970s key party."

"Fringe"

"Feel his anus! It's soaking wet!"

"Oh! I just pissed myself. Just a squirt."

"Modern Family"

"WTF = why the face?" 

"I'm like Costco. I'm big, I'm not fancy, I dare you not to like me."

"I'm the *ss-kicking clown that will twist you like a balloon animal!"

"Party Down"

"I have a prestigious blog, sir!"

The Star Report: Adam Lambert going more Goth; Rihanna goes for a plunging neckline
But first: Mandy Moore hangs in Dubai. Plus: Snoop Dogg, Sean Paul, Kelly Osbourne, Dana Delany, Diane Lane and many more.
Afghanistan Unveiled In Three Eye-Opening Accounts

Afghanistan is not an easy country to fully grasp. Author Nadeem Aslam recommends three books that help make the United States' involvement there — both before and after Sept. 11 — a little easier to understand.

ASIA: ‘Mekong Media Should Ask Tougher Questions’ â€" Editor
CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Dec 9 (IPS/TerraViva)Countries in the Mekong region have indeed opened their borders and former foes become friends, but several of them are still ruled by authoritarian governments that put limits on media and other freedoms.

The importance of the Kingston Trio

Warner Bros. wants to beef up TMZ

Warner Bros. wants to expand TMZ, the tabloid news website and TV show that has become the bane of every celebrity's life for its scathing -- and usually accurate -- reporting on the rich and the restless.

TMZ, which was the brainchild of lawyer turned muckraker Harvey Levin, has been run as a partnership between Warner Bros.' Telepictures unit and America Online since it launched in December 2005. Now though, as AOL prepares to spin off from Time Warner, TMZ will become 100% owned and operated by Warner Bros. AOL will continue to feature TMZ on its home page to drive traffic to the site for the next year, but Warner Bros. is also going to start establishing relationships with other portals in an effort to broaden its reach.

Often dismissed as a bunch of kids going through celebrity garbage cans, TMZ gained new prominence when it was first to report that pop star Michael Jackson died. It also has been out front on the Tiger Woods scandal. According to regulatory filings, TMZ had revenues in 2008 of $25.4 million. Warner Bros. wants to grow TMZ's news operation, people close to the operation said. At the same time, though, the company does not plan on investing more in TMZ even though it is now losing its partner.

Instead Warner Bros. wants to get more aggressive and effective in selling advertising across the TV show and the site. TMZ, a person a familiar with the company said, attracts more upscale consumers, and Warner Bros. thinks it can boost ad revenues substantially. TMZ also is increasing its presence on mobile phones, which Warner Bros. thinks it can exploit better now that it is the sole owner. 

One thing that is not planned for now is a TMZ cable channel. We think they're missing an opportunity there. How about combining TMZ with Time Warner's Headline News. A Nancy Grace-Harvey Levin combination would be something to behold. It would also be really scary, but anyway.

-- Joe Flint 

Photo: TMZ's Harvey Levin. Credit: TMZ / Warner Bros.

Laugh with 'Better Off Ted's' mad scientists and corporate drones

December may bring lots of holiday parties and far too many opportunities to snack on fattening treats, but if you want fresh episodes of television instead of warmed-over reruns, the pickings this month are usually pretty sparse.

So it's nice to find "Better Off Ted" (8:30 p.m. Central, ABC; three and a half stars) nestled under the tree like a refugee from the Island of Misfit Toys. This brightly colored gem, which acquired a small but devoted following during its low-rated spring and summer runs, does seem like the toy that ABC played with for two minutes and then forgot about.

"Ted," an entertainingly subversive comedy set in the labs and offices of an ominous corporation named Veridian Dynamics, deserves better than that.

Comedy is having a comeback this year, but it's a shame that "Ted" seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle (ABC's odd "Ted" scheduling during 2009 certainly didn't help). But "Ted" can and should take its place among smart new network comedies such as "Modern Family" and oft-praised veterans such as "How I Met Your Mother" and "30 Rock." If you like those shows, "Ted's" fast-paced brand of mildly absurd humor may be right up your alley.

Like a rogue fungus in one of Veridian's labs, "Ted" has grown on me. The show seems to be more thematically and tonally unified than it did early in its first season, when it was a bit too brittle and arch for my tastes. This season, "Ted" seems to have a looser, even goofier vibe, and it plays to its actors' strengths more consistently while also giving plenty of screen time to my favorite characters, insecure research scientists Phil (Jonathan Slavin) and Lem (Malcolm Barrett)

But perhaps "Ted's" wry, endearingly odd humor always going to appeal to a somewhat limited (limi-"Ted"?) audience. In the Dec. 15 episode, harried employee Linda (Andrea Anders) works on a kids' book in her spare time, in the hopes that her new career as an author will allow her to break free from Veridian's corporate death grip.

"I may have a career entertaining children instead of working for a place that uses them to assemble munitions," she says.

As Ted, Jay Harrington is dryly competent, but the character is rather colorless and bland. Perhaps that's to be expected; someone has to be the straight man at the center of Veridian's weird corporate labyrinth. But as Michael Bluth on "Arrested Development," a show that is one of "Ted's" most obvious influences, Jason Bateman got to be funnier, or at least he got to be exasperated in a more amusing way.

But like "Arrested," "Ted" doesn't get overly sentimental with its characters. In one episode, Ted repeatedly grills his daughter for information after she comes home from day care with some juicy office gossip.

Portia De Rossi, who I found off-puttingly expressionless early in "Ted's" run, continues to get many of the best show's lines, and her character, corporate executive Veronica, has been integrated more smoothly into "Ted's" whimsical plots. The socially clueless and relentlessly ambitious Veronica thinks only of acquiring more money and power for Veridian. The health and safety of employees and consumers and the rule of law? Those things are mere hurdles to be overcome in pursuit of ever-bigger corporate profits (in other words, she's Jack Donaghy's dream woman).

Perhaps the most complimentary thing I can say about "Ted" is that I don't want to repeat the show's best lines here. They're often so skillfully woven into the fabric of the episodes that putting them in this review could ruin some pleasing punch lines. 

It's probably not worth wondering if "Ted" will get a third season; I suppose we should just enjoy the comedy while we can. In this weird TV year, which gave us unexpected additional seasons of shows that were widely expected to get canceled, we should just be grateful, I guess, for the gifts that we got.

Photos: Jonathan Slavin as Phil, Malcolm Barrett as Lem.

The importance of the Kingston Trio
Why the Kingston Trio deserves to be considered for the title of the most important Bay Area band of all time.
CBS Cancels Daytime Drama 'As The World Turns'

CBS canceled As the World Turns on Tuesday, putting Procter & Gamble — the company that put the "soap" in soap operas — out of the business of making daytime dramas after 76 years. It's the second soap opera CBS has canceled in a year, after Guiding Light.

'Everybody Loves Raymond' star returns with 'Men,' but will everyone love this trio?

Oprah picks not one, but two new presidents for her Harpo Productions

Tim Bennett, the longtime president of Oprah Winfrey's bustling Chicago-based company, Harpo Productions Inc., said he is retiring at the end of May. 

How important the low-key Bennett to Winfrey? So important that he's being replaced with not one, but two people. Sheri Salata, who is currently executive producer of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and Erik Logan, executive vice president of Harpo Inc., will become presidents of Harpo. Their mission will be to "develop new programming for syndication, prime-time, cable television, radio and the Internet," according to the company. 

While Winfrey is going to be devoting much of her resources to thelaunch of her cable network OWN, which is a partnership with DiscoveryCommunications, Harpo will continue to sell product to everyone.

"Under Sheri and Erik's leadership I am confident in Harpo's future and know that we will continue to create quality programming with compelling content," Winfrey said. Harpo Productions has one of the best track records in daytime television, producing four of the top shows in syndication today including "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "Dr. Phil," "Rachael Ray," and the production company's latest hit, "The Dr. Oz Show."

It will also present "Christmas at the White House: An Oprah Primetime Special" on Dec. 13 on ABC, showcasing Winfrey's relationship with another president from Chicago that she helped to establish: Barack Obama.

-- Meg James

Photo: New Harpo Inc. presidents Erik Logan and Sheri Salata. Credit: Harpo.
'Everybody Loves Raymond' star returns with 'Men,' but will everyone love this trio?
I don't know how I got the impression that "Men of a Certain Age" (9 p.m. Central Monday, TNT; two stars) was a half-hour show.

It's not. But that's part of the problem with this intermittently interesting and frequently frustrating show.

There's a certain slackness to the story lines on "Men," which concerns the lives of three good friends in their late 40s. If I weren't above such things, I'd pun that the plots spread out like a middle-aged gut.

Even after I read the show's press materials and realized "Men" was an hourlong drama, as I watched each episode, I kept looking over at the clock before the 30-minute mark arrived, waiting for "Men" to wrap it up. I can't say that reaction surprised me, given that "Men's" premise recalls half-hour "Are we really grown-ups now?" comedy-dramas such as "My Boys," "The League" and "Californication."

(Actually, here's the shorthand for "Men": It's "Californication" with less fornication, "The League" with less raunchiness and "My Boys" with only three boys, who meet frequently at a local diner instead of a neighborhood bar.)

My mixed-to-meh reaction pained me a little, given that I'd watch Andre Braugher read the phone book.

Braugher, who plays Owen, a father of three working for his taskmaster father as a car salesman, occasionally gets interesting things to do, but I couldn't escape the feeling that "Men" taps into only about 30 percent of his range. Casting this magnetic, subtle and precise "Homicide" vet in a slight dramedy about men facing their insecurities is like bringing a Howitzer to a water-gun battle. Braugher could supply a lot of firepower -- he effortlessly nails both the comedy and the drama -- but the show doesn't quite know how to use his many gifts.

As does Braugher, Scott Bakula excels at playing the kind of character we've all seen before. Terry is the Peter Pan of the group; he's still pursuing a "cool" career as an actor (but in reality, paying the bills by working as a temp). The adept, versatile Bakula demonstrates a light touch with Terry's rogueishness and pathos. The aging playboy does love wooing the ladies, but he has enough self-awareness to know that his rootless lifestyle is getting more pathetic by the year (and at some point, he'll figure out that the highlights in his hair are not a good idea). 

"Men," which was created by "Everybody Loves Raymond's" Ray Romano and Mike Royce, gives Romano the potentially most interesting character to play. Joe is a middle-aged party store owner who's living in a hotel as his marriage disintegrates. In this role, Romano attempts to do more than he ever did on "Raymond," with some success, but I can't escape the feeling that a more skilled actor would have been able to give Joe's self-pity, fear and frustration more nuances.

The best "Men" moments come when the three guys eat breakfast after going on one of their "Let's get in shape" hikes. These diner dialogues play to all three actors' strengths, and there's a certain rueful honesty lurking behind the trio's casual joshing.

For me, however, there isn't a huge reason to tune in to "Men" again, now that I've watched the episodes TNT sent. There are a few confrontations or comedic moments that catch fire, but mostly "Men" just ambles along, sometimes perceptively and sometimes lazily observing the lives of these guys, who have stumbled into middle age and its grinding routines and hard-won but significant satisfactions. These observations don't add up to much and the show's pace frankly becomes tedious at times.

If these appealing actors anchored a better-constructed half-hour show, "Men's" low-key charms would be a lot more effective. But I guess middle age isn't necessarily about getting what you want.

Review: 'A Civil War Christmas' shines, if not brightly, at Theatreworks
Paula Vogel's flawed but enjoyable 'A Civil War Christmas' gets a strong staging at Theatreworks.
Fugard's 'Have You Seen Us?': Looking Within Again

Have You Seen Us? is set in San Diego — a first for playwright Athol Fugard, a South Africa native and one of the English theater's great humane bards. It's having a world premiere production at the Long Wharf Theatre, with Sam Waterston as the embittered, alcoholic academic at the center of the story.