BuzzSugar

Buzz News Roundup, 1/23

BuzzSugar — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:30:09 -0800

It's true: Dakota Fanning has been offered a role in New Moon. - Entertainment Weekly
Samantha Who? has been bumped for The Bachelor but will have Angie Harmon in the cast when it returns. - TV Guide
Tom Wilkinson and Jim Belushi are rounding out the cast of Roman Polanski's The Ghost. - ComingSoon
Hooray, an actors' strike is looking way, way less likely. - AP
ABC has piked up a pilot based on The Witches of Eastwick, while NBC has ordered a medical pilot called Mercy. - The Hollywood Reporter
Tom Hanks and Oprah are producing a film adaptation of the bestselling book The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. - Variety
13: Fear is Real is moving to Fridays, and Privileged repeats will take its spot on Wednesdays. - The Futon Critic
Keira Knightley and Colin Farrell are set to star in London Boulevard, a crime drama that marks the directing debut of The Departed screenwriter William Monahan. - ComingSoon
Steve Martin's banjo album The Crow: New Songs For the Five-String Banjo will be available Jan. 27. - Billboard

Reality Roundup: Game Show in My Head, True Beauty, 13

BuzzSugar — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 07:00:38 -0800

American Idol's still the biggest thing on TV, but it's not the only reality show hitting the airwaves in January. Lots of new reality shows are starting up next month, and here, I've got previews for three of the biggies.

Ashton Kutcher is behind two of these shows, ABC's True Beauty and CBS's Game Show in my Head. For True Beauty, which premieres Jan. 5, Kutcher has teamed up with Tyra Banks for a show that's attempting to find the person out of 10 gorgeous contestants (models, pageant queens, and the like) who's the most beautiful both inside and out. The twist: The contestants don't know the "inner beauty" part of the game, which will be judged from secret footage by Vanessa Minnillo, Cheryl Tiegs, and Nole Marin. That show premieres Jan. 5.

To hear about the other two shows and see clips of all three, just read more.

Game Show is more classic Kutcher in the Punk'd/Wedding Crashers style: Contestants are sent out into the world wearing an earpiece and told to perform ridiculous actions (wear only underwear and get people to give you their clothes; act like you're a hospital patient who just escaped) for the chance to win cash. Its first two episodes air Jan. 2.

And then there's 13: Fear is Real, a horror movie-style reality show from director Sam Raimi. The 13 contestants will be shipped off to a spooky forest where they'll be pitted against each other in challenges straight from horror movies; the weakest links will "die" until only one person remains (I have to assume no actual death is involved). Its visual style is vaguely Blair Witch Project, and I'm amused by the fact that the winner gets $66,666. That one premieres Jan. 7.

Below, I've got clips of all three shows, and I'm curious to know if any of them strike your fancy. Check them out and let me know.

Sam Raimi Readies Horror Movie-Style Reality Show

BuzzSugar — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:31:30 -0700

Sam Raimi, writer/director of The Evil Dead, A Simple Plan and Spider-Man 3 (among other stuff), is a busy guy. In addition to directing a horror flick (Drag Me to Hell) and creating an action/fantasy TV series (Wizard's First Rule), he's decided that the world also needs another reality TV show. A reality show that's kind of like Fear Factor, but shot like a horror movie. Or something.

Airing on the CW, the eight-episode summertime series titled simply 13 will "utilize horror-themed challenges to knock players off one by one, until just one is left, having survived all that bloodshed." Reality show producer Jay Bienstock will executive produce alongside Raimi.

According to Bienstock, "We want to cast it like a horror movie, and shoot it a little differently as well. Think about those old movies - we want to put people in a place like that, where they have to deal with their fears and anxieties. They'll end up surprising one another."

As casting begins for the 13 contestants, producers are also deciding in "which classic horror setting" the show will be placed: "An evil small town? A lakeside retreat with a creepy secret? An abandoned cabin in the forest?"

What do you think about this 13 show? Is it decent summertime programming, or totally dumb? Is the idea of living inside a horror movie kind of cool, or lame-o?

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