Fun and games among most-watched shows on broadcast networks

NEW YORK - Broadcast networks are the place to be for prime-time competitions - if little else.

Nine of the 20 most-watched programs on the networks last week involved some sort of game, from the Boston Celtics clinching the National Basketball Association title to the eager guys seeking a date on "The Bachelorette," according to Nielsen Media Research. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox are heading into their slowest weeks of the year.

NBC's "America's Got Talent" opened a new season with 12.8 million viewers, by far the most popular prime-time show after the Celtics-Lakers. The talent competition and "Deal or No Deal" enabled NBC to claim the status of No. 1 network for the first time since the first week of the year.

Disney's rollout of the new kids' movie "Camp Rock" was the week's biggest event, shown to a total of 16.1 million people over three networks on three nights.

More people watched "Camp Rock" on its Disney Channel debut Friday (8.9 million) than the 3.7 million who watched on ABC Family Sunday. The smallest audience, 3.5 million, was on ABC Saturday - illustrating how the distinction between broadcast and cable networks mean little to young viewers.

Illustrating ABC's problems in getting viewers to watch its reruns, last week's "Grey's Anatomy" airing reached 3.2 million people, a smaller audience than 14 programs that aired on Univision. ABC's "Desperate Housewives" had virtually the same size audience as Univision's "Amas Casa Desperados."

For the week, NBC averaged 6.5 million viewers (4.2 rating, 7 share). CBS had 6.4 million viewers (4.3, 8), Fox 6.1 million (3.8, 7), ABC 5.4 million (3.6, 6) and the CW 1.7 million (1.1, 2).

A ratings point represents 1,128,000 households, or one per cent of the estimated 112.8 million TV homes in the U.S. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of June 16-22, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: NBA Finals, Game 6: L.A. Lakers vs. Boston, ABC, 16.88 million; "America's Got Talent," NBC, 12.78 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 9.1 million; "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 8.95 million; "So You Think You Can Dance" (Thursday), Fox, 8.87 million; "So You Think You Can Dance" (Wednesday), Fox, 8.86 million; "Deal or No Deal" (Tuesday), NBC, 8.72 million; "House," Fox, 8.63 million; "Deal or No Deal" (Wednesday), NBC, 8.34 million; "Hell's Kitchen," Fox, 8.25 million.

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Madonna Gets Her Way -- As Usual -- In 1994, In The Loder Files

Where do old interviews go to die? Since 1988 they've gone into the MTV News vault, but we've been exhuming them to bring you these classic natterings. Here's the latest in the series, which runs every Tuesday.

November of 1994 was cold, damp and windy up in Ronda, a fairly ancient town perched on a mountain cliff in the south of Spain. Madonna had gone there to shoot a video for "Take a Bow," her next single, so we, of course, dutifully followed. Ronda is promoted to tourists as the birthplace of modern bullfighting — meaning it was there, around 200 years earlier, that some brave/insane matador had decided to climb down from the relative safety of horseback to do battle with a bull face to face (or horn-to-groin, just as likely). "Take a Bow," the song, had nothing to do with bullfighting, but in the world of music videos this was a fact of gnat-like insignificance.
Madonna and her crew (which included cinematographer Harris Savides, who went on to shoot "American Gangster") set up in Ronda's old stone bullring, with Maddy's friend Donatella Versace, the fashion personage, flitting around up in the gallery. Congregated in a street outside the ring was a troupe of bullfighting pros — picadors, banderilleros, and so forth — who were awaiting the arrival of Madonna's video costar, the dark and sultry Emilio Muñoz, an actual, well-known torero. The sun had come out, and the afternoon proceeded in the usual way. Madonna, looking very 1940s in a little black-veiled hat (she was lobbying for the lead role in the movie version of the hit musical "Evita" at the time), was situated in a seat looking down on the dusty ring, where Muñoz twirled about, baffling a bovine opponent with his shiny cape. She was playing the role of a woman who'd been dumped by this guy, and was now blinking away tears of heartbreak. Since tears and heartbreak were two commodities rarely associated with Madonna, it had been decided to intersperse the video with other scenes showing her writhing around on a bed in her underwear. That was more like it.
Our interview later on proceeded in the usual way as well. Our own camera crew spent hours setting up a flattering shot on the edge of a courtyard garden in a beautiful old building filled with gleaming carved wood and weathered brick. Then Madonna arrived — well past the appointed time, as usual — and marched straight up to the cameras to check the out the angles and the lighting, which, as usual, she found to be wanting. After much scurrying about, everything was adjusted to ... well, not to her satisfaction, probably, but to a point where she was willing to put up with it without feeling compelled to punch anybody.
She was wearing some beautiful outfit — I forget exactly what it consisted of, but it looked great on the monitors. Then, however, she pronounced herself chilly, and suddenly pulled on a nondescript white sweater that obliterated the look we'd been hoping to capture. For good measure, she also flopped a fur lap robe over her legs, completing the impression of a person being nursed back to health following some frigid Arctic mishap. She then began talking about her family, her voice, and her then-trashy image while we blinked away tears of professional heartbreak.
Enjoy digging through The Loder Files? You'll find more here, and there's much more to come from the vaults — check back every Tuesday!

Love: Thy neighbor

Like cheese steaks, G. Love & Special Sauce will always be linked with Philadelphia. Yet Boston can also lay claim to the raspy-voiced music veteran: it was Beantown where he formed his band; it’s also the place G. Love (real name: Garrett Dutton III) now calls home.
Back in 1992, G. Love, whose new album “Superhero Brother” comes out tomorrow, was playing on the streets of Boston and Cambridge, busking his hip-hop/blues hybrid in Harvard Square. He soon met bassist Jim Prescott and drummer Jeffrey Clemens and formed G. Love & Special Sauce and started landing gigs at clubs on Lansdowne Street and pubs like the Plough & Stars and the now-departed Tam O’Shanter.
The band’s star didn’t truly rise until the band relocated to Philadelphia. But 15 years later, G. Love is back living in Boston, the place of his musical birth.



“I definitely come from Philly and always represent Philly,” said Love from his home in the South End last week, “but it was just a nice time for me to relocate up here for the last couple years. I just find Boston to be a tremendous music town. There’s so many people performing music. I feel like I tap into the musical energy that’s floating around in the air around here.”
Reminiscent of his early Boston days, Love has returned to the pub scene recently, performing incognito at Matt Murphy’s under the pseudonym The Phamily.
“It’s obviously been a different experience because when I first got here I was a struggling street musician and now I’m a recording artist,” said Love. “We kept it on the down low, didn’t advertise it, and it was awesome. It’s a great outlet for me.”
The band’s next show under the name G. Love & Special Sauce will be a grander affair: an Aug. 14 date headlining the Bank of America Pavilion.
Surviving 15 years in the music business is an accomplishment - and Love has managed his longevity without a commercial hit. He and Special Sauce came closest when their “Cold Beverages” video made it to MTV in 1994, but their success has been more slow burn than sudden meteor.
“We’ve always been on the edge of breaking out,” Love said. “Because we’ve never had a huge commercial hit, we never had the, ‘Oh they sold out, they’re too commercial now’ reaction. So that has always been special for the fans, people who’ve found us on their own. They feel like they own the music more, which is cool.”
When G. Love and Special Sauce’s debut came out, there was nothing else like it. No one was combining gutbucket acoustic blues with hip-hop. Today, their influence is pervasive, from Jason Mraz to Jack Johnson (whose career G. Love helped start).
“We originated that sound, and over the years you’ve seen a lot of people cop the style a little bit,” Love said. “But you can’t claim music like that. That’s how music is. It gets passed along.”
For the new record, Love didn’t reinvent the wheel. “Superhero Brother” may be less raw and minimalist than the band’s first albums, but it’s still the same G. Love & Special Sauce, with maybe a dash of social consciousness. As Love puts it, “The record is funky and a good time, but it also makes you think a little bit.”

Amor Antiquita

   
Artist: Amor Antiquita

   Genre(s): 
Electronic
   

---

Discography:


   
 Metallic Sonatas

   Year: 2005   
Tracks: 6

---

 





Pt. Ganapati Bhat Hasanagi

Amy Winehouse undergoing more tests

Singer fainted earlier this week





LONDON -- A spokesman for Amy Winehouse says the 24-year-old soul diva is having more hospital tests after fainting earlier this week.
Spokesman Chris Goodman says Winehouse had more scans and tests Thursday.
Winehouse collapsed Monday at her north London home after signing autographs for a group of fans. An assistant caught her before she hit the ground.
She is scheduled to sing at a June 27th concert to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, and is due to take part in the Glastonbury music festival the next day.
Her spokesman says that although Winehouse still plans to perform at both concerts, the decision "will be made entirely on the advice of her doctors and in her best interests."

Tom Hanks supports AFTRA contract deal

LOS ANGELES —

Tom Hanks has thrown his support behind a contract deal reached by the smaller of two actors unions, putting his high-profile name against plans by the larger union to wring more concessions from the major Hollywood studios.

Hanks added his name to an e-mail petition urging members to vote for a deal reached May 28 by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and avoid another Hollywood work stoppage on the heels of the 100-day writers' strike, which put many actors out of work.

The Screen Actors Guild continued to negotiate with studios Monday and has urged its members to vote down the AFTRA deal.

Both unions' contracts on prime-time TV shows and movie productions expire June 30.

The AFTRA petition said a "no" vote would effectively shut down Hollywood.

"Either our employers will lock us out, or SAG will strike," it said. "There really is no alternative if the AFTRA deal is defeated."

Among other prominent backers of the petition are former SAG president Richard Masur, Loretta Swit from "M-A-S-H", James Cromwell from "L.A. Confidential" and other actors including Adam Arkin, Morgan Fairchild and Tess Harper.

Cromwell, a former SAG board member, told The Associated Press he felt SAG was pressing for demands that could not be met.

"You bargain as hard as you can. But when you make promises you can't keep and then you hold this town hostage by your belligerence and intransigence to the realities of the industry ... it ain't gonna fly," he said. "Let's get what we can get."

A representative for Hanks confirmed Monday the actor had added his name to the petition but was unavailable to comment because he was filming in Europe.

AFTRA mailed out ballots to its some 70,000 members last week and the results are expected to be announced July 8.

SAG, representing 120,000 members, has said that talks with Hollywood studios could extend past the end of the current contract on June 30, but it was willing to keep actors working without a deal. Some 44,000 are members of both unions.

The guild has said it would push for higher wage increases, increased fees for Internet and DVD content, better mileage reimbursements and more protection for actors who refuse to consent to the use of clips of their images online.

"When unions compete with different contract terms, actors lose," said SAG's chief negotiator Doug Allen, in a statement urging members to vote against the deal.

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De-vision and Green Court

   
Artist: De-vision and Green Court

   Genre(s): 
Dance
   Electronic
   Trance
   

---

Discography:


   
 Take My Breath Away (Part II)

   Year: 2001   
Tracks: 5


   
 Take My Breath Away (Part I) C

   Year: 2001   
Tracks: 5


   
 Shining (Part II) CD5

   Year: 2000   
Tracks: 5


   
 Shining (Part I) CD5

   Year: 2000   
Tracks: 3

---

 





One Self

Scott Weiland - Weilands Released On Day One Of Sentence

LATEST: Rocker SCOTT WEILAND reportedly walked free from jail on Monday (12May08) - just hours after checking himself in to serve his eight-day sentence for driving under the influence (DUI).

It's claimed the singer began his stint behind bars at a California prison at 8.55am (EST) after pleading guilty to drink driving charges.

However, Weiland - who was axed from Velvet Revolver in March (08) after a series of spats with bandmates - was released from the Van Nuys Municipal Court Lockup at 6.54pm (EST), just 10 hours after entering the correctional facility, reports PerezHilton.com.

Weiland was given until 28 May (08) to complete 192 hours behind bars, but the rocker chose to start his jail time early so he could tour with the newly-reformed Stone Temple Pilots from 17 May (08).

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Day-Lewis jokes about Clooney kiss

Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis has explained his kissing of George Clooney at the Oscars on Sunday night.
MTV.com reports that when asked backstage why he had kissed Clooney on hearing that he had won the Oscar for 'There Will Be Blood', Day-Lewis replied: "I had to kiss someone."
He continued: "I had kissed my wife, so in the interest of parity, I had to kiss George." 
'There Will Be Blood' opens in Irish cinemas on Friday 29 February.
To listen to Marian Finucane's exclusive interview with Daniel Day-Lewis, click here.
Visit our Oscars gallery here.

Faulty seat heater scorches Beckham's 'boys'

David Beckham was left with red hot genitals because of a faulty car heater.

The English soccer star ran into trouble when the heated seats of his 4x4 car malfunctioned in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Galaxy player was driving when the setting jammed on heat, forcing him to pull over and find something to cushion his scorched manhood.

An onlooker told Britain’s Daily Star newspaper: “One minute he was tearing across Los Angeles, the next, he was rolling down his windows, panting and staring down at his crotch in horror.

“There were lots of fans and paparazzi following him, making it even more difficult for him to sort out his boiling bits. He was gutted to be caught cushioning his seat from the hot leather.”

David recently showed the world his seemingly impressive tackle in a series of new adverts for Emporio Armani.

The 33-year-old sports superstar models the fashion house’s autumn and winter 2009 underwear collection.

Meanwhile, Will Smith revealed at the premiere of his latest film Hancock that David is going to give him soccer lessons. 

Smith said: “David Beckham is one of the best soccer players in the world. I begged him to teach me how to play and he promises he will. I can't wait.”





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