Hollywood2020

NBC SPORTS TO USE SECURITY CAMS FOR NEW ANGLES

NBC SPORTS TO USE SECURITY CAMS.....blogged by Joyce Schwarz@ www.hollywood2020.blogs.com. Was just talking to a pal tonight about the much ballyhooed promises to viewers to be able to determine different camera angles when watching football and other sports. Not many of those have evolved. But we did find this news that may be of interest:

NBC Tweaks 'Sunday Night Football' With New Technology
Television Week, MI - Sep 2, 2007
It is using surveillance technology from General Electric to upgrade a feature it calls "NBC It." On replays, it allows NBC to magnify an area of the screen ...

What's "NBC it" all about?  Turns out that nbc is using surveillance techn from General Electric to develop what it "NBC It." On replays, it allows NBC to magnify an area of the screen, giving a closer look at whether a player's knee was down or his foot was out of bounds. Supposedly, this new tech will ensures that when a small part of the screen is blown up, it doesn't get blurry. TV WEEK reports that "SNF" producer Fred Gaudelli plans to use "NBC It" on plays in which officials' rulings are challenged by coaches and on other occasions when the viewer might want a tighter look at a play." Turns out that NBC is also launching a virtually enhanced goal line for replays of plays inside the five-yard line when it looks like the offense is about to score.

Become a Simpsons character in your own movie @ Hollywood2020.blogs.com

Well, I know you've been waiting for this-- blogger & new media expert Joyce Schwarz as a Simpsons character...perfect start for your weekend, blogged by Joyce Schwarz, www.hollywood2020.blogs.com

click on thumbnail to see Joyce Schwarz as a Simpsons character.

Want to create your own Simpson character-- well, here's the info on the new widget I just obtained from www.widgetbox.com --

Of course it's called The Simpsomaker.....

aPreview Details MySpace The Simpsons Character Generator (The Simpsomaker)Just in time for the movie of the summer. The Simpsomaker lets you create yourself as a Simpson's Character. Choose your look, accessories, and background

The movie -- well, you'll have to make your own movie. And don't ask me about the copyright issues???js.

LIFETIME'S "THE MURDER OF PRINCESS DIANA" CONTROVERSY FICTION OR TRUTH?

Okay there's no doubt about the controversy regarding LIFETIME's "Murder of Princess Diana"...blogged by Joyce Schwarz, reviewer after reviewer pans the telefilm. Here's just some of those headlines:

It's fiction, not fact
Deseret News, UT - Aug 23, 2007
... who witnesses the car crash that killed Diana and gets sucked into mysterious conspiracy behind her death. Yes, Lifetime is labeling this as fiction. ...

Lifetime’s ‘Murder’ exploits death of People’s Princess
Boston Herald, United States - Aug 22, 2007
By Mark A. Perigard/ Television Review Lifetime has never been much for subtlety. Its new original film, “The Murder of Princess Diana” (Saturday at 9 pm), ...

Nonsense reigns in what-if movie about Diana's death
Louisville Courier-Journal, KY - Aug 24, 2007
Now that the Elvis-is-alive rumors have been laid to rest for another year, television can move on to what really happened to Princess Diana 10 years ago ...

So what's true and what's fiction. The Lifetime movie is clearly labeled fiction -- yet many of us remember some of the scenes repeating similar scenes from the real-life 'tele-play' that unfolded after her death. This blogger did not see a blow by blow account on the movie showing what was based on truth.

So perhaps we will have to turn into Fox TV's CSI type investigation they plan to feature!

FX NETWORK DAMAGES PREMIERE -- is the nouveau genre damaged?

At Hollywood2020.blogs.com we love FX as much as the other guy or gal. Delve into the seamy side of Hollywood where all the edges are unraveling and it's not TV it's HBO -- I mean it's FX-ellent or at least some of it is blogged by Joyce Schwarz @Hollywood2020.blogs.com.

Look at the reviews I glanced at on Google-- each one more favorable than the other:

Best Bets on TV Tonight: Glenn Close is the TV attraction tonight
Kansas City Star, MO - Jul 24, 2007
9 pm on FX: “Damages.” Veteran actress Glenn Close is mesmerizing in this new, thoroughly intriguing legal thriller. Headlining a TV series for the first ...
Glenn Close knows sexy when she sees it
AfterEllen.com - 19 hours ago
I’m not a big network tv watcher, but I will be tuning in to watch this. Was that you, Scribe, who wrote something about Damages and “moral relativity”? ...

And here's a quote from Reuters reviewer Barry Garron "You can call "Damages" a legal drama, but that doesn't begin to describe it. In the first two episodes available for review, there isn't a single courtroom scene. It's more like an intricately plotted poker game, filled with suspense, bluffs and cards that change value right before your eyes."

BUT IS IT REALLY THAT GOOD...or is it just playing with the viewer as we've almost come to expect the next-generation of nonlinear television writing/programming. When "NIP TUCK" came on the air I was excited -- something beyond HBO's dramas. Something smart, clever and yes, DANGEROUS...in its writing. Each week the stakes seem to call and raise each other. Just when you thought you knew a character he/she changed or rather morphed into something/someone totally different. It reminded me of David Mamet (playwright)'s style -- tantalizing, playful and surprizing -- maybe even more than playful -- playing with the audience.

NOW, after seeing DAMAGES I seem to be the only reviewer taking a wait and see attitud. Okay so I didn't get a DVD from FX in the overnight mail. I tuned in just like the rest of the audience. And then I went over to the website after-- checking out some other video. Flash forward, back to present, flash back, past tense in advance...over and over.

Am I a viewer being manipulated into thinking the writing is special because it is nonlinear. Okay it's a court room drama outside of the courtroom...and yes, as some other reviewers have already noted the main attraction and perhaps even fatal in the long run (according to some of the flash forward scenes) is actress Glenn Close.

Memo to FX -- don't think you've got all of us twisted around your little finger. We still have a middle finger that can sniff out deliberate manipulation. I understand that black and white is over and gray is the new genre and maybe it's even a pixelated version of that. BUT...all those envelopes of money exchanging hands at the end of the first episode...instead of intriguing me, it made me think you're working me! We know when you've shown the Prestige first -- we saw the movie of that name too! js.  Michael Caine defined it as the pledge, the turn and the Prestige......

CNN & YOUTUBE Democratic Debate Blogged Live by Hollywood2020.blogs.com

Okay, so we tuned in a bit late...but here it is ...Governor Richardson saying that there is a Civil War....blogged by Joyce Schwarz, hollywood2020.blogs.com.

Many of the youtube videos went down the tube...because they weren't up to par according to the screeners?

Senator Clinton says, "I put forth a comprehensive 3 point plan for moving our troops out....and we can probably remove a brigade a month....I hope to goodness your youngest son does not face anything like that...with all due respect, yes we want to begin moving the troops out, we want to do safely, carefully...and its time to admit it's going to be complicated....

click on jpeg to see the screen for the CNN debate replay. Coverage is sponsored by MVParents.com -- sponsored by Coors Brewing Co among other corporate sponsors.

Dennis Kucinich-- send a message to Congress -- encouraging the audience to text message PEACE....fascinating usage of new technology at these debates.

CNN offers various channels to watch during the Democratic debates they did with Youtube.com input.

TECH TRENDS FOR TELEVISION SUMMER 07 by Joyce Schwarz/author/emerging entertainment futurist

Okay,okay everyone keeps asking me what's happening out there...what are the hottest trends for emerging entertainment, blogged by Joyce Schwarz, www.hollywood2020.blogs.com. In preparing a webinar presentation for NATPE execs this week I included this list. Tell me what you think -- am I on track or what?

#1 -- Rise of Live events that are simulcast on the web & on TV -- MSN's LIVE EARTH is just one example.

#2)--Online series proliferate:

a) Big Debate-- example of MSN's amazing original programming

b) Prom Queen -- Big Fantastic

#3) LONG TAIL online -- 

a)  MSN pick-up of syndication of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT and

b) Amazon.com unbox -- pick-up Prom Queen compilation for sale and rental.

#4)NEXT Generation Story Telling -- Lonely Girl 15

#5) Rise of Video/image search --Pixsy.com

#6) Multiple content monetization models

a) ads b) product placement c) sponsorship d) ecommerce & more.

ENTERTAINMENT HISTORIAN TOM HATTEN & SQUIGGLES

OOOps just saw that my long time pal Tom Hatten, former KNX radio entertainment reporter is out over there-- what a loss for them. I was just about to call him and invite him to the LATV Festival next week including DIGITAL DAY, NATPE TV Producer's Bootcamp and some other great breakfasts and screenings. What is somewhat of a coincidence is his relationship to something called a SQUIGGLE>

SQUIGGLE and SQUIGGLE THIS -- LATV Fest Viral Video.....as posted earlier, I've been doing some consulting work with NATPE's upcoming LATV Fest (www.latvfest.net) and I encouraged them to create a viral video to promo the festival. They did that and the result is posted on Youtube, Myspace.com, Yahoo and more. The video is about a SQUIGGLE --- a viral video named SQUIGGLES that sells for $28.5 million to a TV production company and if I must say so myself it's hilarious -- here again is the link to that video on Youtube.com.

	Squiggles Enjoy the squiggles...NATPE "latvfest" squiggles	From: myNATPE Views: 244 Added: 1 week ago
	Time: 01:54	More in Entertainment

PAGING TOM HATTEN -- former KNX reporter --

email [email protected]

THE coincidence with Tom Hatten and his relationship to Squiggle or Squiggles is what I found on wikipedia...amazing he was one of the pioneers of TV for kids in Los Angeles....small world ain't it? Now I just have to find Tom and comp him into next weeks events!!!

Los Angeles children may remember "Skipper" Tom Hatten, who hosted the Popeye Show on KTLA 5. Tom Hatten, a performer on television and Broadway, would have children on the show and entertained them by showing Popeye cartoons (mostly from Max Fleischer and Associated Artists Productions), reading trivia and mail, and performing cartoon sketches. One of the contests was a squiggle contest. Children would send in a squiggle (a one-line drawing) and Tom would draw a cartoon character from that squiggle. This show recorded from 1956 to 1964 and aired throughout the 1970s. Tom returned to KTLA in 1976 after a twelve year absence, to host "Popeye and Friends", in color; this version of the show lasted until 1988.

Tom was born on November 14, 1927. His acting credits on stage include Annie (he was "President Franklin Delano Roosevelt"). He also portrayed a corrupt military officer in the movie Spies Like Us, and spent many years hosting KTLA's Family Film Festival (from 1978 to 1988), which, for some time, used the Little River Band's hit song Reminiscing as its theme music (without the lyrics, since copyright laws were relatively meager during the 1970s).

He also played Captain Murdock in several episodes of the television show Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., and has had a wide and varied career on stage and in film.

He is left-handed.

FUTURE OF TV IN PIX -- Courtesy Hollywood2020.blogs.com

As many of you readers know, I've been writing, researching and consulting on the next generation of television since 1990, blogged by Joyce Schwarz,JCOM, author & emerging entertainment consultant, www.joycecom.com.

FUTURE OF TELEVISION? So it makes sense that almost every week people email me and call me and want to know what's next? What does the future of television look like. Well in transferring pix from an older computer to my new one, I came across some great images of what the Future of Television may or may not look like. And I'm going to share them here. We'll talk about some trends for next gen TV later this week. And I'm almost done with more than 50 ways that you can monetize your content in the TV2.0 next gen apps. Stay tuned as they say.

Future of tele-vision as depicted in SCI - FI tv show -- Andromeda. Fascinating huh? Part of a series by Joyce Schwarz @  www.hollywood2020.blogs.com.

A circular 360 degree television/video viewing kiosk as found at Siggraph Conference two years ago by Joyce Schwarz, blogging at www.hollywood2020.blogs.com. THE FUTURE OF TV IN THE ROUND!

One of my favorite pix of the Future of TV -- provided by Philips looking at the future of immersive holograms that could be used to project Holographic TV -- blogged by Joyce Schwarz, Hollywood2020.blogs.com on the future of TV.

PEREZ HILTON TO GET VH1 SPECIALS --TV SHOWS!

PEREZ HILTON www.perezhilton.com is the latest online 'celebrity' to get his own television show-- this time some specials on VH1...blogged by Joyce Schwarz, Hollywood2020.blogs.com.

www.perezhilton.com -- Perez gets his own TV specials!

Here's what Perez says in his blog today:

Perez Hilton's Big Announcement

Perez is coming to television!!!!!
Perez is coming to television!!!!!
Perez is coming to television!!!!!
Perez is coming to television!!!!!
Perez is coming to television!!!!!

We are just so incredibly happy!

It is with great pleasure that we can finally announce…..

VH1 has picked up a show starring the Queen of All Media.

What Perez Sez will be a series of one-hour specials, with the first one premiering in September.

Perez is going to be like the gay Barbara Walters of VH1!

One of the many styles/faces of Perez Hilton.

Perezhilton.com typical pix/post with the little heart drawing on this pix...sometimes its a moustache, sometimes just an arrow...but that's what's been making him very different-- but also got him in some hot water!

Just for fun Hollywood2020 surfed into Perez' blog's shopping section -- and guess what we found-- click on thumbnail and you'll see a better description than we can give you of this 'script bag'....!!!!!!!!

Perez Hilton features this scriptbag on his website-- click on thumbnail to see his much more colorful descripton than we have printed here!

For those of you who don't know Perez-- here's a story CNN did about how he got shut down recently for copyright violations -- it's hard to explain -- what he does is basically draw little doo-dads on other people's pix:

Gossip site PerezHilton.com pulled - CNN.com

Popular Internet gossip columnist Perez Hilton had his Web site shut down for several hours after the company hosting it received a flurry of complaints ... www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/06/22/gossip.site.yanked.ap/index.html - 46k - Cached - Similar pages

BROADBAND -- what's next? Motorola CTO GETS IT!

What's next for broadband? This may be the best story I've seen lately about what's nexgt in broadband, Internet/television, mobile etc. by Joyce Schwarz, www.hollywood2020.blogs.com. '

Highlights of this article (see the complete clickthrough below) include:

* Soon, people everywhere will get access to uninterrupted information, entertainment, communication, monitoring and control through wireless connections. In addition to the opportunities this freedom will offer consumers in every manner of product, service and application, it will open a new world for providers of content and services

The new forms of communication and entertainment this technology will enable center around communities with common interests, sporting events, social networks and even user locations that will allow consumers to carry their lives and friends around in their pockets

For example, imagine a sporting event where spectators can compete with each other to predict the next play using the peer-to-peer capabilities built into their mobile phones. Then, after the game, imagine that they can use a social networking service in conjunction with built-in GPS to find their buddies and discuss the game at a restaurant or friend’s house.

Consumers Demand Nothing Less Than Personal Broadband Capabilities ... Converge Network Digest - 22 hours ago These include fixed broadband wireless solutions for unlicensed spectrum, broadband mesh networks and – perhaps most significantly for mobile operators ...