BILLBOARD-2

THЄ ЄXISTЄNTIΛL CHRONICLЄS

►About | ►Explore | ►Links | ►Updates | ►Alerts

Hillary's Vegas KO; Tom Cruise vs. Madea; Did Wanda Impress Hollywood?

October 20, 2016

What's news: Early numbers show a ratings boosts for the final bout between Trump and Clinton. Plus: Two top CAA agents leave for WME, Tom Cruise takes on Tyler Perry at the box office, a new Willy Wonka movie is in the works and a Roger Ailes miniseries is being planned. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman.

How many people were watching? Marisa Guthrie writes: Early numbers for the final presidential debate on Tuesday night show an atypical gain from the previous face-off with a 39.7 overnight rating, according to Nielsen.

That's lower than the first debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, which scored a 46.2 overnight rating across seven networks. But it is higher than the second face-off on Oct. 9, which came just days after the release of the infamous Access Hollywood tape and pulled in a 37.2 overnight six networks when it aired against Sunday Night Football.

About Chris Wallace's refereeing. Frank Scheck writes: Chris Wallace was tough and forceful in his questioning, but like all the moderators before him, he was ultimately helpless to stop Trump from turning the evening into a circus. Now that the debates are finally over, it may be time for Anderson Cooper, Martha Raddatz, Lester Holt and Wallace to form a support group.

Humorously, Trump even argued that he should have won an Emmy for Celebrity Apprentice, prompting the Television Academy to tweet: "Rest assured, the #Emmys are not rigged" along with an infographic. And, yes, the shock of the night was Trump claiming he wouldn't commit to honoring the election results.

Mostly positive reviews for the moderator...

"Chris Wallace used a soft but insistent touch in moderating the third presidential debate, asking a series of substantive questions that produced fewer verbal fireworks." — Paul Farhi, The Washington Post.

"Chris Wallace should do this for a living ... Wallace’s perch as the host of FOX News Sunday seemed to lion-tame Trump." — Glenn Thrush, Politico.

"He posed detailed questions on policy, opened the proceedings with a calm query ... and kept an eyebrow firmly arched as Mrs. Clinton, and more often, Mr. Trump, attempted to talk over him." — Michael Grynbaum, The New York Times.

"Wallace put on a clinic on how to run a debate ... a major bright spot for Fox News." — Rem Rieder, USA Today.

Most importantly, who had a decent live late-night sound-bite?

"Suspense! Democracy's going to end with a cliffhanger!" — Stephen Colbert, The Late Show.

"Did Donald Trump just dismiss democracy like it was dressing on a salad?" — Trevor Noah, The Daily Show.

"He did the worst Alec Baldwin impression of himself." — Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Kimmel Live!

"If I was Hillary Clinton, I would have invited Billy Bush to the debate.” — Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Meet HGTV's 'Fixer Upper' Stars

The non-debate long read: In Waco, Texas, Chip and Joanna Gaines built an unlikely Disneyland for design lovers while becoming one of today's rare cable success stories, Michael O'Connell writes:

An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people now pour into Waco each week to get closer to the Gaineses' booming home and lifestyle brand — headquartered in a 20,000-square-foot former cotton oil mill on 2.5 acres of parched land far from the Knoxville, Tenn., headquarters of the network that made them famous.

Their test this fall: There's a new quarterly magazine, their first book in October (part of a two-title deal with Christian imprint Thomas Nelson valued at north of $600,000) and the fourth season of Fixer Upper in November. In an age of declining cable ratings, the series has become a rare breakout.

When the season-three finale aired in March, its nearly 4 million-strong live audience topped everything that night — including the penultimate episode of FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson and a CNN town hall with Trump.

Elsewhere in TV...

► Netflix countersues Fox. The streamer alleges that Fox has created "a form of involuntary servitude" in its workforce and advises a judge it will be looking to recruit more Fox employees. Netflix demands a declaration that Fox's fixed-term employment agreements are unenforceable.

► Google plans streaming TV service. YouTube has started to piece together the foundation of its forthcoming live television service through a deal to carry a skinny bundle of CBS-owned channels. Details.

↱ Quoted, Leslie Moonves. Clarifying his comment earlier this year that Trump's antics "may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS," he explained during a Vanity Fair event yesterday: "It was a joke! It was a joke! ... It was early in the primaries ... where no one imagined him being where he is today." ↲

► Roger Ailes miniseries in the works. Blumhouse TV is developing a series centered on the ousted Fox News chairman. Notably, Ailes biographer Gabriel Sherman is producing and his book, The Loudest Voice in the Room, will serve as source material. Who should play Ailes?

► How the Cubs could boost World Series ratings. With the team looking to end its 108-year drought and finally win another World Series, Fox execs salivate as viewership spikes and the perennial losers could become baseball TV's  heroes. (The team tied the NLCS last night with a 10-2 win over the Dodgers.)

↱ Exec suite visit: TV Land's Keith Cox. At his Studio City office, the network chief reveals how many times Darren Star passed before bringing Younger to the channel, what it takes to age down an audience and the end results of a Viacom-CBS deal. He says: "When we test some of our pilots, people think they're an AMC or a Netflix show." ↲

► Fox is reteaming with Anders Holm. The Mindy Project alum is set to topline a private-eye comedy titled Pigeon from The Office duo Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, who will pen the script and exec produce via ABC Studios.

► Shondaland plans ABC legal drama. The network has handed out a hefty pilot-production commitment to an untitled drama from Scandal writer Paul William Davies. The drama is set in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Federal Court, aka "The Mother Court."

↱ Quoted, Jonah Peretti. In a tweet after seeing Ivanka Trump's comment about her father's lewd language, the BuzzFeed CEO wrote: "Surprised Ivanka would be shocked by lewd language. I met her once & she casually said: 'I've never seen a mulatto cock, but I'd like to!'" Trump's response: "a complete and total lie." ↲

► Michael B. Jordan sets first project in Skydance Media pact. The Creed star has launched Outlier Productions and signed a multi-year first-look film and TV production deal with Skydance Media. Jordan has also set his new TV project with scripted drama Apollo Park.

► Jodie Foster, Rosemarie DeWitt team for Black Mirror. Foster will direct and DeWitt will star in an episode of Netflix's anthology series' fourth season, which is slated to begin production later this year and premiere in 2017.

WME private video trove found. A source tells THR that a search for a Diane Keaton photo led him to publicly available agency videos, including pitches for a game show starring Ellen DeGeneres and Alec Baldwin and corporate retreats (Jeff Ross roasted Ari Emanuel during one).

Box Office: Tom Cruise vs. Tyler Perry

It'll be a close race between Tom Cruise and Tyler Perry at the box office starting on Friday, Pamela McClintock writes in the weekend forecast:

Cruise-starrer Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and Perry's Boo! A Madea Halloween are both projected to open in the high teens to $20M range. (Some are betting on an upset with Boo! winning.) Never Go Back is a big gamble for Paramount and Cruise as they try to launch a mid-range franchise based on Lee Child's book series.

The first Reacher film, opening to $15M over the Dec. 21-23 weekend in 2012, wasn't considered a huge win at the box office but did big business in home entertainment.

Meanwhile, Blumhouse Productions' Ouija: Origin of Evil is tracking to open in the mid-teens, but prospects are decidedly muted for Fox 2000's comedy Keeping Up with the Joneses, starring Zach Galifianakis, Isla Fisher, Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot. The $40M film is expected to open to $6M-$7M. If so, it will mark the latest comedy to underwhelm.

Elsewhere in film...

↱ Today in agency wars: Longtime agents Kim Hodgert and Kami Putnam-Heist, who represent actors such as Margot Robbie and James Franco, have left CAA to become managers at Anonymous Content. It's unclear which clients are in play. ↲

► Tom Hiddleston joins Aardman's Early Man. The Thor actor has been added to the cast of Nick Park's long-awaited next animated film, a prehistoric comedy adventure, accompanying Eddie Redmayne. He is set to voice a "ridiculously pompous" governor of a Bronze Age town.

► Willy Wonka movie is in the works at Warner Bros. Producer David Heyman (Fantastic Beasts) will be the driving force behind the project, with Man Seeking Woman creator Simon Rich set to pen the film, a stand-alone movie focusing on Wonka's pre-Charlie adventures.

► Colin Firth set to join Mary Poppins Returns. Firth is in negotiations to play William Weatherall Wilkins, president of Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, in Disney's sequel, starring Emily Blunt opposite Lin-Manuel Miranda. The sequel will hit theaters in Dec. 2018.

► Guardians of the Galaxy sequel debuts first footage. Marvel Studios has unveiled a nearly 90-second sneak peek at the sequel. This time around, the heroes go searching for Star-Lord’s father Ego (Kurt Russell) while trying to keep their new family together. Watch here.

↱ Wanda's big Qingdao studio pitch: Will Hollywood take the bait? What location managers are saying: "Forty percent [production rebate] is certainly an impressive subsidy and ranks up there among the highest," says Ilt Jones, a veteran location manager whose credits include Transformers: Age of Extinction, Iron Man 3 and The Dark Knight Rises.

Jones adds: "I hear on the grapevine that people in Hollywood still have qualms about issues like pollution, systemic corruption and culture clashes — but money talks." More here. ↲

► Michael Moore to self-distribute TrumpLand. The firebrand documentarian will handle the film's theatrical release as well as its imminent iTunes launch. That's a departure from Moore's previous movies.

► Sinbad movie sets sail. Studio 8 has won a bidding war for Sinbad, a new take on the fantasy hero. Kyle Killen, creator of Lone Star and Mind Games, is set to write the script while Miguel Sapochnik, known for his work on Game of Thrones, is attached to direct.

► Judy Greer to star in indie comedy Public Schooled. The coming-of-age comedy comes from Canadian-based filmmakers Kyle Rideout and Josh Epstein, who co-wrote the script. Rideout will sit in the director's chair when cameras roll in Vancouver starting in November.

► Glenn Close's The Wife rounds out cast. Max Irons, Elizabeth McGovern and Harry Lloyd have boarded the adaptation of Meg Wolitzer's novel, which begins shooting later this month.