News Briefs

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Monday, Sep. 16, 2019

Yada yada yada: Netflix to air "Seinfeld" starting in 2021

In this Nov. 17, 2004, file photo Jerry Seinfeld, left, Julia Louis Dreyfus and Michael Richards arrive to celebrate the release of the first three seasons of Seinfeld on DVD in New York. Netflix says it will start streaming all 180 episodes of the “Seinfeld” in 2021, gaining a hugely popular addition to its library as the battle for viewers heats up. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano, File)

LOS GATOS, Calif. (AP) --

Move aside, "Friends" and "The Office." Netflix now has a new gem — a show about nothing.

The company announced Monday it would start streaming all 180 episodes of "Seinfeld" in 2021, gaining a hugely popular addition to its library as the battle for viewers heats up.

Netflix Inc., which pioneered the binge-watching culture of streaming, was dealt a double blow this summer when it lost "The Office" and "Friends," two of its most popular shows, as their respective owners pulled them to add to their own streaming services.

"The Office" will leave at the end of 2020 to join NBCUniversal's new streaming service, and "Friends" will leave at the beginning of 2020 to join the upcoming HBO Max service.

It's a battle not likely to wane as the streaming TV space grows more crowded. Netflix has created significant momentum with its original shows, but new competitors are constantly popping up, including streaming arrivals from Apple and More

Sunday, Sep. 15, 2019

Discounted movie subscription service MoviePass shuts down

This Aug. 23, 2018, file photo shows Movie Pass debit cards and used movie tickets in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

NEW YORK (AP) --

MoviePass, the movie ticket subscription service that allowed subscribers to buy up to three movie tickets per month for a small fee, shut down Saturday.

Its future is unclear.

Helios and Matheson Analytics, the parent company of MoviePass, said Friday in a release that it was interrupting service for all its subscribers because its efforts to seek financing have not been successful.

It says it's "unable to predict if or when" MoviePass will continue. The company says it's planning to study all options including the sale of the company in its entirety.

MoviePass drew in millions of subscribers, initially luring them with a $10 monthly rate. But that proved unsustainable. Because MoviePass typically pays theaters the full cost of tickets — $15 or more in big cities — a single movie can put the service in the red. The company was forced to make changes. Those efforts, however, never stopped the losses.

In a letter posted More

Saturday, Sep. 14, 2019

Oscar among items to be auctioned from late TCM host Robert Osborne's collection

This combination of photos released by Grant Zahajko Auctions shows a 1936 Academy Award, left, and a view of its inscription given to art director Richard Day for his work on the film “Dark Angel.” It’s expected to go for between $70,000 and $100,000. (Grant Zahajko Auctions via AP)

DAVENPORT, Wash. (AP) --

A 1936 Academy Award is among the items going up for auction next month from the collection of the late Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne.

Grant Zahajko Auctions of Davenport, Washington, announced Friday that Osborne's vast movie memorabilia collection will be auctioned on Oct. 10.

The collection of the TCM host and movie historian, who died in 2017, includes the 1936 Oscar statuette given to art director Richard Day for his work on the film "The Dark Angel," which starred Fredric March and Merle Oberon. It's expected to go for between $70,000 and $100,000.

The sale of Oscar statuettes is uncommon because winners since 1951 have had to agree that they or their heirs must offer it back to the movie academy for $1 before selling it elsewhere.

"There are rare instances when they can be made available in the marketplace, as is the case with the Oscar from Mr. Osborne's archive," Zahajko said in a statement. "It's very More

Friday, Sep. 13, 2019

Disney CEO departs Apple's board with video showdown looming

In this Monday, March 13, 2017, file photo, The Walt Disney Company CEO Robert Iger attends a special screening of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" at Alice Tully Hall in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --

Walt Disney Co. CEO Robert Iger has stepped down from Apple's board of directors as the two companies prepare to launch competing video streaming services aimed at market leader Netflix.

Apple disclosed Iger's departure in a regulatory filing Friday, but his resignation became effective Tuesday. That's the same day that Apple announced its long-awaited video streaming service will debut Nov. 1 and cost only $5 per month, less than half the price of Netflix's most popular plan.

Disney is gearing up to launch a video streaming service for $7 per month later in November.

The dueling services raised potential conflicts of interest that apparently prompted Iger to step down after spending nearly eight years on Apple's board.

Apple praised Iger as an "exemplary" board member and one of its "most trusted business partners" in a statement.

Iger responded in kind. "Apple is one of the world's most admired companies, known for More

Friday, Sep. 13, 2019

Felicity Huffman gets 14 days in prison for college scam

Felicity Huffman leaves federal court with her brother Moore Huffman Jr. following, after she was sentenced in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal, Friday, Sept. 13, 2019, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

By Collin Binkley, Education Writer

BOSTON (AP) --

"Desperate Housewives" star Felicity Huffman was sentenced Friday to 14 days in prison for paying $15,000 to rig her daughter's SAT scores, tearfully apologizing to the teenager for not trusting her to get into college on her own.

"I was frightened, I was stupid, and I was so wrong," Huffman, 56, said as she became the first parent sentenced in a college admissions scandal that ensnared dozens of wealthy and well-connected mothers and fathers.

The scandal exposed the lengths to which parents will go to get their children into the "right" schools and reinforced suspicions that the college admissions process is slanted toward the rich.

In sentencing Huffman, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani noted the outrage the case has generated, adding that it "isn't because people discovered that it isn't a true meritocracy out there." The outrage, she said, was because Huffman took steps "to get one more advantage" in a system "already so More

Friday, Sep. 13, 2019

Marvel's Kevin Feige to be honored at 45th Saturn Awards

This Oct. 26, 2018 file photo shows Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige at the 2018 BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Feige will be honored at the 45th annual Saturn Awards in Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 13. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

By Jonathan Landrum Jr., Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) --

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige will be honored at the 45th annual Saturn Awards that will be streamed live for the first time.

Feige is set to receive the inaugural Stan Lee Builder award named after the late Marvel Comics mastermind. The awards show on Friday night will be simulcast for the first time on several platforms including its official YouTube channel , Twitch, Cinedigm's CONtv and Pluto TV Sci-Fi Channel.

Aisha Tyler will host the event, created in 1973 to recognize horror, sci-fi and fantasy films that typically don't get recognized at major award shows. The awards will be presented at the Avalon Hollywood venue in Los Angeles.

Feige is being honored for the successful creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a film world with multiple story lines and characters that so far has spanned 23 films over 11 years. The latest phase of the franchise triumphantly concluded with the record-breaking "Avengers: More

Thursday, Sep. 12, 2019

Patty Jenkins to receive ICG’s inaugural Distinguished Filmmaker honor at Emerging Cinematographer Awards

Patty Jenkins

LOS ANGELES --

The International Cinematographers Guild (ICG, IATSE Local 600) will honor writer/director Patty Jenkins, best known for Wonder Woman, Monster and The Killing, with the inaugural Distinguished Filmmaker Award presented by Panavision, at the 2019 Emerging Cinematographer Awards (ECA) on Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 5:00 PM in the Television Academy’s Wolf Theatre at the Saban Media Center in North Hollywood.

“The Distinguished Filmmaker Award was created to honor filmmakers who best understand the crucial role cinematographers play in capturing their vision, and who exemplify the best in that working collaboration,” said Lewis Rothenberg, national president of the ICG. “Ms. Jenkins is truly a groundbreaking auteur widely known for appreciating the detailed contributions of her craft departments, and particularly her camera team. She is an incredible inspirational and educational role model for our emerging cinematographers.” More

Wednesday, Sep. 11, 2019

History Channel drops out of planned Dillinger documentary

This file photo shows Indiana Reformatory booking shots of John Dillinger, stored in the state archives. The History Channel has dropped out of a planned documentary on John Dillinger that would have included the exhumation of the 1930s gangster's Indianapolis gravesite. (Indiana State Archives/The Indianapolis Star via AP, File)

By Rick Callahan

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) --

The History Channel has dropped out of a planned documentary on 1930s gangster John Dillinger that would have featured the proposed exhumation of his grave in Indianapolis sought by two relatives of the notorious criminal who question whether he's truly buried there.

A&E Networks spokesman Dan Silberman said Wednesday that The History Channel is no longer involved in the documentary, but declined further comment, saying network officials "do not comment on why we aren't moving forward with a project."

Silberman said in early August that the Dillinger project had not gone into production.

Dillinger's nephew, Michael C. Thompson, filed a lawsuit Aug. 14 against Crown Hill Cemetery, after cemetery officials objected to the proposed exhumation.

Thompson is one of two Dillinger relatives who sought a state permit to exhume the gravesite, saying they have evidence that Dillinger's body may not be buried there and that he may More

Wednesday, Sep. 11, 2019

Lawsuit over profits from Fox series "Bones" is settled

In this May 16, 2016 file photo, David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel attend the FOX Networks 2016 Upfront Presentation Party in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) --

A lawsuit over profits between the producers and stars of the show "Bones" and 21st Century Fox has been settled.

The two sides in the long-running lawsuit over the hit Fox TV show filed documents saying the lawsuit was settled in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday.

The terms and other details of the deal are confidential.

A private arbitrator had awarded "Bones" stars David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel along with the show's producers about $178 million after trial.

A judge then threw out $128 million of the award — the portion that was for punitive damages — leaving the plaintiffs with about $50 million. The plaintiffs were appealing the reduction when the lawsuit was settled.

Neither side had any comment, saying only that the lawsuit was settled amicably.

Wednesday, Sep. 11, 2019

Sean Hayes & Todd Milliner’s Hazy Mills launches branded content division, partners with Test Pattern Media

Todd Milliner (l) and Sean Hayes

LOS ANGELES --

Hazy Mills Productions--the company founded in 2004 by Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner, and with credits that include the TV series Hot in Cleveland, The Soul Man (both for TV Land) and Grimm (NBC/Universal Television--has launched a branded content division, partnering with Test Pattern Media, a creative studio and production house specializing in commercial, TV, documentary and short-form content for leading brands and agencies. Operating together as a full service initiative, Hazy Mills and Test Pattern aim to work with brands and agencies to create engaging, series-based content, as well as cutting-edge and unique approaches to advertising.

Hazy Mills is no stranger to the branded space, having won awards for its Orbitz campaign with branded content agency, Bark Bark. The Hazy Mills/Test Pattern partnership’s combined clients include Lucasfilm, Amazon, Showtime, Starbucks, Orbitz, Capital One, TNT, TBS, Lincoln, P&G, and More