Sunday, July 28, 2013

Spotlight on: Hollywood Game Night

Based on the game nights that executive producer/ creator Sean Hayes would host in his very own home, Glee star Jane Lynch replaces Hayes as host and brings Hollywood Game Night to viewers’ living rooms each Thursday night. Just 3 episodes in, NBC's new game show has already taken to great reviews and is rated #1 in the 10pm time slot.

The game show takes a refreshing twist on traditional TV game shows by bringing together Hollywood celebrities and comedians, throwing liquor into the mix--audience viewers and the guests are encouraged to "drink up"-- and having them play a slew of games that include putting pictures of Jennifer Aniston's hairstyles in chronological order and naming a candy bar by looking at a cross section of it. There’s no surprise that this trifecta of fun has done so well and keeps viewers coming back for more.

The hour long show consists of two “civilians” or non-celebrity contestants playing for the chance of winning some serious cash, as they are teamed together with 3 celebrities and compete in a mix of off the wall and name that celebrity type games. Some of the celebrity teammates have included former SNL cast mates Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry and Martin short among many others. The upcoming episode’s line-up, which will be airing next Thursday, August 1st at 10pm, will feature celebrity teams consisting of Tom Arnold, Stacey Keibler, Rose Byrne, Patricia Heaton and Anthony Anderson and Jamie-Lynn Sigler.

According to an article on the Futon Critic, the show has not only continues to bring in some big laughs, but has consistently done well scoring high Nielson ratings and is sure to have a bright future ahead! Each week the celebrity game show has drawn in more and more viewers in key demographics, in particular, among 25- 54 year old adults. As a new reality show on network programming this summer, Hollywood Game Night has delivered the best ratings so far for reality programming on NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX tied with NBC’s Get Out Alive

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Summer of Sequels

Just recently, I was waiting on the subway platform waiting for the train to arrive and across the way I noticed three new movie posters lined up. The movies were Grown Ups 2, Despicable Me 2, and Red 2. All three movies were sequels. Is this what we have to look forward to this summer? An entire season of movies that were OK and the studios decided to make another offspring. It's a topic that has been going around for some time now and poses the question, where are all the original films? Movieinsider.com listed an incredible 35 sequel films to be released this year in 2013... 35!!!  This summer alone, more than half of those sequels are to be released. If you're looking for something original, this is not the summer for you to rush out to theaters.

There is some background to this influx of sequels... Hollywood saw dollar signs last summer and are hopeful those same moviegoers will return this year and support the movie franchises. Just last year, 7 of the top 10 grossing films just so happened to be sequel films. It's a trend that is likely to follow this year being so many of them released during the summer alone.

One studio, however, has promised to cut back on releasing sequels and put a focus on original stories. In an article from cinemablend.com, Pixar studios has made a noble decision to no longer make unnecessary sequels. While the studio does have a sequel out right now, Monsters University, they will now only make sequels if the story demands that it be made. Although they won't stop making them, Pixar studio head Ed Camull, stated they will now be releasing one original story a year. (Which is very promising since they typically release one film a year). Perhaps other studios will follow Pixar's lead and change their focus to producing original stories as well!