Gawker: defamer, fringe

Fox TV Wants to Be Your Stripper with a Heart of Gold

Richard Rushfield — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:22:22 EDT

The Fox television network reminds us of many things. When it shows American Idol, it's kinda like a great big Radio City revue. When Moment of Truth airs it's more Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

But the way Fox wants you to think of it is, apparently, as a mid-to-low end strip club that is very welcoming of lady clientele.

The network's "edgy" new redband promo (below) features the whole Fox gang, including the stars of House, Bones, Lie to Me and Fringe out for a night watching women disrobe down to their underwears. It's an interesting piece of positioning; many networks attempt to subliminally communicate that "if you watch our shows we will provide you with low cost sex," but generally they get this message across by working cheerleaders washing cars and high-price brothels into their plot lines and using the flimsiest excuses possible to put models into bikinis. Few just come out and say, Hey, we're a very affordable strip club!

And what about the ladies in the audience? What's in it for them? Well as the promo demonstrates, everyone can have fun watching women take their clothes off. Fringe's Anna Torv almost gets to make out with a stripper! And the Bones cast get to revive their old favorite geek joke reference to the Broken Cowgirl position.

"No shirts. No shoes. No problemo" read the closing credits, and from now on, when I want to party naked, it's going to be straight to Fox for me.

'Fringe' Stars Anna Torv and Mark Valley Wed

Kyle Buchanan — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:28:06 EST

Fringe costars reveal new mystery: they secretly married. [E!]

Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, Hypothetically Together Again

STV — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:20:00 EDT

· In their highly anticipated return to rumors of reuniting, Martin Scorsese is attached to direct Robert De Niro in I Heard You Paint Houses, based on the story of a mob hit man reputedly linked to the death of Jimmy Hoffa. Steven Zaillian will adapt the source book. [Variety]
· With the Jetsons movie permanently stalled and Huckleberry Hound resting snugly on the bottom of the Hanna-Barbera remake barrel, Warner Bros. has defaulted to Yogi Bear as its live-action/animation hybrid to make entire generations cringe in 2010. [THR]

After the jump: Kung Fu Panda reups in 3D, Fringe reups in 2D, and crisis! grips! Bollywood!

· Jack Black and Angelina Jolie will return for a 3D Kung Fu Panda sequel, prompting the Chinese scientists so humiliated by the first one to ramp up their pursuit of a fourth dimension for their eagerly awaited response. [THR]
· The number of new DVD titles released through August is down almost 15% from the same time last year, 8,661 to 7,381. Come on, Hollywood — let's get going! Harvey can't keep up this pace all by himself! [THR]
· The Bollywood film industry is in a standstill today after 147,000 workers in 22 unions (even the dancing girls!) went on strike to protest substandard pay and work conditions. In related news, Warnari Bros. Studios drew fan wrath after the stoppage forced them to delay the release of Hari Puttar 2 to summer 2009. [Variety]
· You wanted it (we think), you got it: Fox ordered a full season of JJ Abrams's Fringe. [THR]

Fox Goes To School!

Seth — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:45:00 EDT

· Fox will stream the premieres of Fringe and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on their website while the shows air on TV, but they'll only be accessible from college dorms. As an additional feature of their on-campus marketing efforts, if there's a Fox-branded sock on the doorknob, that means your roommate is getting busy with his girlfriend during an episode of House. [Variety]
· All 1.3 billion in China tuned in to the Olympics closing ceremony, and are now intimately familiar with E! pre-show host Ryan Seacrest, who they refer to as 树猴, or "the kind-eyed Golden Tree Monkey." [THR]
· Barack Obama continues to be underrepresented in the guy-with-a-talk-show sector, as the Committee for Late Night Monologue Political Parity released preliminary findings putting the Democratic nominee at 169 punchlines versus McCain's 322. [Variety]
· Paul McCartney has announced he'd play Tel Aviv on September 25. The performance comes 40 years after The Beatles were banned from Israel "over concerns the group's lyrics could corrupt Israeli youth." Translation: "What—you couldn't have said you were bigger than Moses? Get lost for 40 years, we'll be in touch." [Variety]
· Let's play One of These Things Just Doesn't Belong: Demoted Casting Edition! [THR]

New J.J. Abrams Series 'Fringe' Billed By Fox As 'Felicity With Smoke-People'

Seth — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:35:00 EDT

· Fox's fall schedule announcement introduces only two new shows: a comedy called Do Not Disturb (formerly The Inn), and J.J. Abrams's new series Fringe, which will air Tuesdays at 9 after House. Details on Fringe are being kept under close wraps, but based upon a slew of promotional images over at TV Week, we think it revolves around a conspiracy discovered by a quality control technician at a menthol cigarette factory, played by Joshua Jackson. Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, meanwhile, and new animated shows Sit Down, Shut Up and The Cleveland Show won't air until mid-season. Executed: Back to You, Canterbury's Law, K-Ville, Nashville, New Amsterdam, The Next Great American Band, The Return of Jezebel James and Unhitched. [Variety]
· Daniel Day-Lewis may be taking over the role vacated by Javier Bardem in Rob Marshall's movie of the musical Nine. Bla bla milkshake jazz-hands bla bla. [Variety]

· Jason Reitman's next movie will be an adaptation of Walter Kirn's Up in the Air, about a frequent-flyer-mile-accrual-addicted HR worker. [Variety]
· Michael Fassbender, whom you might recall as the guy with a bunch of arrows sticking out of his kickin' abs in 300, will play the role of Heathcliff in John Maybury's Wuthering Heights adaptation. Bet you're sorry for dropping out of the project now, Natalie Portman! What's that? You're perfectly happy with your penis-nosed musician boyfriend? OK, never mind. [THR]
· In an attempt at beefing up their interactive arm, CBS paid $1.8 billion in cash for CNET Networks. Explained Les Moonves, "As we've made the case so many times before, there's no profit to be made online, so we thought we'd dump two billion cash into this doomed, money-losing venture just for shits and giggles." [Variety]