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Gay Themed Sitcom Gets Pulled from Utah NBC Affilate

“The New Normal” hasn’t premiered yet and it is already causing a stir in some communities around the country. According to Salt Lake Tribune, a Utah NBC Affiliate has pulled Ryan Murphy’s new sitcom from it’s Tuesday nights lineup. KSL, which is owned by the Latter-day Saints church, refuses to air a television show showcasing the ups and downs of a gay couple raising their new child.

“The dialogue might be excessively rude and crude,” CEO of KSL’s parent company, Bonneville International, Jeff Simpson tells the Tribune. “The scenes may be too explicit or the characterizations might seem offensive.”

KSL is no stranger to pulling questionable content off their airwaves. Last year, NBC show “The Playboy Club” didn’t get any airtime on the NBC affiliate. The show was eventually cancelled in October. In regards to “The Playboy Club,” KSL’s programming director Michelle Torsak said “Our intent is not to tell people what they can and cannot watch, but rather to share programming with our audience in accordance with our mission.”

Ryan Murphy, the creator of Glee, hasn’t commented on the developments yet. “The New Normal” was also under fire recently from One Million Moms who questioned the content and message the show sets to convey.

“The New Normal” premieres nationwide on Sept 11 at 8:30pm EST. Matt Jacquint, general manager of KUCW and KTVX, other affiliates in Utah, says that they WILL air the episodes on the weekends. They are just looking for a timeslot at the moment. So the folks in Utah will have a chance to catch the show, after all.

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NBC Brings ‘Sound of Music’ To Life

It looks like NBC is building on their recent campaign to bring Broadway and musicals to the forefront. According to a press release, NBC is teaming with Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the production team of SMASH, to bring television viewers a live version of “The Sound of Music,” based on the Broadway musical.

NBC Entertainment chairman, Bob Greenblatt said in a statement,

“It is our supreme pleasure to broadcast — live — a new version of the seminal Broadway musical ‘The Sound of Music’ for a whole new generation. There used to be a tradition of broadcasting musicals live back in the 1950s and we’re thrilled to do it once again with a musical that has been a family classic for five decades. There is no more talented and creative producing team than Craig Zadan and Neil Meron to bring Rodgers and Hammerstein’s final – and most beloved – collaboration to network television in this groundbreaking live telecast.”

Zadan went further to say that remaking the movie would be “artistic blasphemy.”

“What we want to do, instead, is to give audiences a completely fresh experience of this great Tony Award-winning stage musical in the form of a classic television event, combined with the spontaneity of a live performance. And all of the actors will be singing live; there will be no lip-synching to pre-recordings.”

The event will feature the songs fans are familiar with, as well as lesser known versions of songs from the Broadway musical. NBC is hoping this will revive a tradition of old – staging a full live Broadway production on television. Casting is not yet underway, but plans to begin casting are underway and casting will begin shorty. An air date will also be released in the new future.

What’re your thoughts on this? An epic event or an epic fail? Will you be watching this event or are you turned off by the fact such an iconic film will be brought to life on television? Sound off below!

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Choices, Coming to a TV Near You

Netflix has made some terrible mistakes in the past year. First it was the idea to separate the DVD service from the streaming (with a huge price hike), then the announcement they will be splitting out the DVD and streaming companies all together, then changing their mind on that, then relegating streaming users to only one stream at a time, then saying that it was an error on their end and they weren’t doing it, THEN actually (lately) rolling out the one stream at a time thing slowly without much fanfare thinking there would be less of an uproar that way. We reported on that last month here:  Netflix: N8107-154-5006 Back to One Stream at a Time.

Their loss is another companies gain. Apparently, Amazon is real close to cutting a deal with Viacom for their programming as well as offering a stand alone streaming subscription for customers without Amazon Prime. The announcement and program may come as early as this week. Amazon has already cut some deals with some other major TV providers such as  CBS Corp, Warner Bros, Fox, Sony Corp, NBC Universal and Walt Disney Co. Viacom is the last of their building block to offer the subscription service with likely more deals with networks to come.

Amazon, in addition to it’s Prime Video library (and soon to come subscription service) also has a rental library similar to iTunes already, which boasts some big name newer movies. The subscription service would round them out to be a huge player in the streaming world and most definitely provide the biggest competition to Netflix to date.

Verizon is also jumping into the streaming game. Just announced this week, Verizon will be teaming up with RedBox to offer streaming subscriptions for content as well. No word yet on what deals they have made with content providers. Verizon says they should be up and running with RedBox in the second half of this year.

What will Netflix do, if anything? Netflix has been on quite a bumpy road lately and appears to be making some very bad decisions, at least where customers are concerned. So bad that it almost seems as if they are trying to go out of business. Are they? Who knows. I will say for me, who has both Netflix and Amazon Prime as well as occasionally use Redbox, I am liking more choices stepping forward. Maybe we can have more deals floating around. Maybe Amazon will be able to offer their newer movie rentals for less… like the price of a RedBox rental perhaps? All the choices coming can only add up to a good thing for us consumers.

What do you think? Do you use Amazon Prime already? Do you like their service? Looking forward to more choices all around? Sound off below!

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‘Apprentice’ Will Go On Without Donald With Presidential Run

Should The Donald put in a bid for a 2012 Presidential Run, NBC will replace him in the boardroom of The Apprentice. New NBC Pres Bob Greenblatt said on Sunday following the release of the new fall schedule “If he decides to run for president and is unavailable to do the show, we will bring the show back and there will be somebody else sitting at the head of the boardroom table. Who that is, we’re not going to really entertain, because I’m still hoping well have Donald back in the seat.” Greenblatt also went on to say, “The show will go on in his absence,” Greenblatt added. “If we had to address the issue of who it would be replacing him, we’d have to be confident we have another galvanizing presence. I’m hopeful we don’t have to go there, but if we do, it’s too strong a franchise to not consider that.” As we reported earlier, the next installment of the Celebrity Apprentice is set to premiere midseason in early 2012. In the meantime, we’re down to the final four this season where either John Rich, Marlee Matlin, Lil’ Jon, or Meatloaf will claim victory.

Would you still watch if The Donald isn’t in the boardroom? Who can fire celebrities so eloquently? Let us know what you think below and in our FORUMS!

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Keith Olbermann Leaves MSNBC

Keith Olbermann tells us this is his last show tonight on MSNBC, marking an abrupt end, and departure from MSNBC.

Olbermann, the very successful, albeit controversial, broadcaster of the show ‘Countdown’ did not address the why’s on his exit, just that he is leaving. According to NBC, his contract expired, which was not set to expire until two years from now. The network and the host were in re-negotiations, but that should not have any bearing on the current contract. All we are left to do is speculate.

Some sources say the merger of NBC and Comcast had something to do with it, but Comcast denies any such notion.

The only real quote we got from the network was “”MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”

His program on MSNBC was their top rated program, what will they do now? His leaving was so abrupt that MSNBC still has him in their “Lean Forward” ads. To end his show, like he has every Friday night, he read a James Thurber short story, this one titled “Scottie Who Knew Too Much” published in 1940.
The story’s final line: “It is better to ask some of the questions than to know all of the answers.”

After thanking a few people, like the late Tim Russert (but not any brass from NBC) he said his good night and good luck.

…and with that, the show ended, and Countdown was over.

MSNBC announced that Lawrence O’Donnell, who substituted for Keith on many occasions will take over Olbermann’s time slot beginning this Monday.

No one knows yet what Olbermann plans to do. Will he go to CNN? Will he go anywhere or does the buyout of his contract forbid him at this time? My guess is we will find out more sooner than later. Keep an eye on Keith’s twitter! I’m sure it will start sending messages soon.

Did you watch Olbermann? What are your feelings on him leaving? Will you follow him to another network if he so chooses to go there?

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FCU: FACT CHECKERS UNIT

[singlepic id=302 w=320 h=240 float=left]Just out!  “FCU: Fact Checker’s Unit,” a new web series from NBC Universal Digital Studio. This seven-episode series stars: Luke Perry, Alex Trebek, Dave Navarro, Karolina Kurkova, Donald Faison, Jon Heder and Zach Gilford.

On this show, no celebrity is too big, no fact is too obscure for FCU: Fact Checkers Unit. This very funny series is about the adventures of two overzealous fact-checkers; Russell and Dylan, who work for “Dictum,” an entertainment magazine.

Russell and Dylan stop at nothing to check each and every fact printed in the magazine, even the most absurd celebrity facts do not get by these guys. They might not be respected around the office, but in the fact-checking world, these guys know how to get it done… Fact Checked!

For full info on the show click here

Episode 1: Paranormal Factivity