Australian film organization creates Ledger scholarship (AP)
AP - Heath Ledger was known for giving aspiring Australian actors a hand in Hollywood. Now, an Australian film organization has established a scholarship fund in the late actor's name to continue those efforts. More »
Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings: CBS Wins; Lackluster Season-Opener for Nashville Star on NBC (Mediaweek.com)
Mediaweek.com - -Yesterday's Winners: The Bill Engvall Show R (CBS, *regularly airs on TBS), Bones R (Fox), House R (Fox), Two and a Half Men R (CBS), CSI: Miami R (CBS) More »
Ratings Box: What's Hot/What's Not (Mediaweek.com)
Mediaweek.com - Season No. 2 of Lifetime drama Army Wives premiered on Sunday, June 8 at 10 p.m. ET as the most-watched and highest-rated original series in Lifetime's 24-year history in households (3.7 rating), total viewers (4.5 million), women 18-49 (1.96 million), women 25-54 (1.97 million) and women 18-34 (805,420). Comparably, Army Wives increased by as much as 67 percent among women 18-49 from it's year-ago debut. More »
TV Tidbits: Notes of Interest (Mediaweek.com)
Mediaweek.com - After a 15-month absence, FX crime drama The Shield will return for a seventh, and final, season on Tuesday, Sept. 2. More »
Disney to offer free movies online (Reuters)
Reuters - Disney will stream full-length movies on its Web site for the first time, as part of its "Wonderful World of Disney" series on ABC. The films are scheduled to stream through August. More »
Katrina doc "Trouble the Water" headed for theaters (Reuters)
Reuters - The Hurricane Katrina chronicle "Trouble the Water," winner of this year's Sundance Grand Jury documentary prize, has been picked up for U.S. distribution by Zeitgeist Films. More »
Shia LaBeouf "Embarrassed" by Antigay Slur (E! Online)
E! Online - A slap across the face from a friend isn't the only thing that left Shia LaBeouf red. More »
NBA, NHL finals score solid gains for networks (Reuters)
Reuters - Sports ruled the latest week of television ratings, yet Fox still managed to finish on top, led by its reality programming. More »
"Daily Show," "Colbert Report" headed for Hulu (Reuters)
Reuters - Hulu will offer full-length episodes of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report," the companies said Tuesday. More »
New Couple Alert: Antonio Sabato Jr. & Blu Cantrell? (E! Online)
E! Online - Another reality-series romance is brewing between a couple of celebs! More »
Paranoia less than deep in "Happening" (Reuters)
Reuters - M. Night Shyamalan's breakout hit, "The Sixth Sense," achieved just the right balance of creepiness, horror, supernatural thrills and pop psychology. The writer-director has been chasing those elusive qualities ever since, sometimes down intriguing sci-fi backstreets ("Signs") but more often down blind alleys ("Lady in the Water"). More »
Author, users conjure "Witch" film on MySpace (Reuters)
Reuters - News Corp.'s MySpace is collaborating with best-selling Brazilian author Paulo Coelho to make a user-generated movie of his book "The Witch of Portobello," which centers on a mysterious goddess figure, aTransylvania-born woman who as a girl is orphaned and adopted by a wealthy Lebanese couple. More »
U.S. could face glitch in TV converter box program (Reuters)
Reuters - U.S. officials are facing a potential glitch in a program designed to help television viewers make the switch to digital TV next year. More »
'Monster of Florence' is real-life murder mystery (AP)
AP - "The Monster of Florence" (Grand Central Publishing. 317 pages. $25.99), by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi: This gripping collaboration between a best-selling American author and an Italian journalist is a most unconventional thriller, a real-life murder mystery in which the authors become suspects. More »
Wife of comedian Denis Leary skewers celebrity (Reuters)
Reuters - The wife of comedian Denis Leary sends up Hollywood, marriage and celebrities in her new novel that is based on her experiences of dealing with her husband's fame and observations of film stars. More »
ESPN president Bodenheimer "bullish" on ad growth (Reuters)
Reuters - Walt Disney Co's sports chief, George Bodenheimer, said on Tuesday he is bullish on growth prospects for the cable sports network ESPN, whose solid performance in recent years has been the main engine for Disney's operating income and revenue. More »
CBS gets anti-trust approval for CNET deal (Reuters)
Reuters - CBS Corp on Tuesday said it received U.S. anti-trust approval for its $1.8 billion acquisition of web media company CNET Networks Inc. More »
'Medieval' paparazzi laws could benefit Brangelina (AP)
AP - Perhaps Brangelina chose southern France for its blue skies, vineyards and the availability of an estate with a moat. But there's another reason the world's most famous expecting couple was smart to come here: French law is tough on paparazzi, especially when it comes to snapping photos of children. More »
"Sex and the City" actor hits "naked" jackpot (Reuters)
Reuters - French model-actor Gilles Marini has built his career by dressing up, so he is stunned that his major break has come from stripping down and appearing naked, completely naked, in the hit movie "Sex and the City." More »
Favreau Totally Blogs, Questions Iron Man II Date (E! Online)
E! Online - So this is how it works in Hollywood, now? You direct a huge summer blockbuster, you get a greenlight on your sequel and then have to bitch about your bosses...on your MySpace page? More »
Stuntman Dies on John Woo Film (E! Online)
E! Online - A stuntman is dead after a fire swept through a film set of John Woo's upcoming Chinese-language historical epic, Red Cliff. More »
McCain Isn't the Only One Who Watches Army Wives (E! Online)
E! Online - John McCain and Barack Obama know where the votes viewers are. More »
Billie Letts goes back to Wal-Mart in fourth novel (AP)
AP - "Made in the U.S.A." (Grand Central Publishing. 355 pages. $24.99), by Billie Letts: Billie Letts returns to Wal-Mart in the opening scenes of her fourth novel, which feature a shoplifting gymnastics star and her younger brother. More »
Celtics-Lakers matchup helps ABC in ratings (AP)
AP - The first two games of the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers series on ABC were more popular than any National Basketball Association finals since 2004, a boon to a network otherwise off to a tough start to the summer season. More »