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Jesse Eisenberg Cast As Lex Luthor In Batman-Superman Film

January 31, 2014, 10:01 am
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Jesse Eisenberg has been cast as Lex Luthor in Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" sequel.

“Lex Luthor is often considered the most notorious of Superman’s rivals, his unsavory reputation preceding him since 1940. What’s great about Lex is that he exists beyond the confines of the stereotypical nefarious villain. He's a complicated and sophisticated character whose intellect, wealth and prominence position him as one of the few mortals able to challenge the incredible might of Superman," Snyder said in a press release. "Having Jesse in the role allows us to explore that interesting dynamic, and also take the character in some new and unexpected directions."

In announcing the news of Eisenberg's casting, Warner Bros. also revealed that Jeremy Irons will play Alfred, Bruce Wayne's butler, in the upcoming blockbuster.

"As everyone knows, Alfred is Bruce Wayne's most trusted friend, ally and mentor, a noble guardian and father figure. He is an absolutely critical element in the intricate infrastructure that allows Bruce Wayne to transform himself into Batman," Snyder said of Irons' casting. "It is an honor to have such an amazingly seasoned and gifted actor as Jeremy taking on the important role of the man who mentors and guides the guarded and nearly impervious façade that encapsulates Bruce Wayne."

Michael Caine played Alfred in Christopher Nolan's series of Batman films. The last onscreen version of Lex Luthor was Kevin Spacey in 2006's "Superman Returns."

Ben Affleck stars in the "Man of Steel" sequel as Batman, with Henry Cavill reprising his role as Superman. Gal Gadot will play Wonder Woman, Amy Adams is set as Lois Lane and Laurence Fishburne is Perry White.

Warner Bros. recently announced that the "Man of Steel" follow-up will arrive in theaters on May 6, 2016. The film was initially set for release on July 17, 2015.
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34 Signs You Grew Up In Vancouver In The '80s

January 31, 2014, 10:14 am
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Vancouver may now be a sophisticated city of soaring glass towers with sushi restaurants on every corner, but let's not forget there was a simpler time. A time when SeaBuses were orange, Science World wasn’t a world yet, and something called Expo 86 defined the city.

If you grew up in Vancouver in the ‘80s, this list is for you:



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Steve Carell's College Yearbook Photo Will Give You Mustache Envy

January 31, 2014, 10:39 am
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College Steve Carell was one debonaire guy.

A Reddit user was flipping through their mother's yearbook from Denison University when they stumbled upon a a photo of Carell posing for his school portrait. He sported a gray blazer and speckled tie for the snapshot, along with an epic mustache that even Michael Scott would be proud of.

Under the photo was written his name (Steven John Carell), his hometown (Acton, Mass.) and his majors (History/Theater). He graduated in the class of 1984.

The photo quickly soared on Reddit and another user shared a story about the "Office" funnyman from his alleged high school days.

"My mom went to high school with Steve Carell, and he worked as a bagger at the local grocery store in her town," the user wrote. "She didn't know him that well because they were in different grades, but she says he was a really dorky kid and that no one would have ever guessed he would have become a famous actor one day."

Must have been pre-'stache.

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Jimmy Fallon's 'Tonight Show' Promo Waxes Nostalgic

January 31, 2014, 10:52 am
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The first promo for "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" is here and Jimmy Fallon is more surprised than you are.

"More people have walked on the moon than have hosted the 'Tonight Show,'" he says to the camera after a montage of former hosts, gags and skits. Fallon talks about staying up late as a kid to watch Johnny Carson on the same stage. "It's impossible for me to dream this," he says.

"The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" premieres Monday, Feb. 17.
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'Billy On The Street' Returning With Lena Dunham, Seth Meyers And More Frantic Celebrity Encounters

January 31, 2014, 11:26 am
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The pop culture pop-quiz frenzy known as Fuse's "Billy On The Street" is returning for a third season this March with what looks like more celebrity cameos than ever before.

Watch a promo for the new season above, featuring host and comedian Billy Eichner ("Parks And Recreation") dragging Lena Dunham, Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, Joel McHale and more around New York City to find unwitting participants for his one-of-a-kind game show.

Rachel Dratch, Neil Patrick Harris, Sean Hayes, Lindsay Lohan, Nick Offerman, Paul Rudd and Olivia Wilde are also said to be making appearances this season.

"Billy On The Street" premieres Wednesday, March 12 at 11:00 p.m. EST/10:00 p.m. CST on Fuse.
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'Enlisted' Star Geoff Stults Talks Football, Soldiers And Comedy

January 31, 2014, 11:37 am
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The Super Bowl takes place Sunday (Feb. 2), so it makes sense that Friday's episode of the excellent Fox comedy "Enlisted" features a fierce football rivalry and opposing teams giving their all on the field.

What might make less sense is a grown man wearing a midriff-baring workout shirt during touch-football practice. The belly shirt, viewers find out, is a relic from the days that Staff Sergeant Pete Hill (Geoff Stults) was a star high school athlete.

Comedically speaking, "I let the shirt do all the heavy lifting," actor Geoff Stults said in a recent interview with HuffPost TV.

Stults plays the oldest of three brothers serving in a rear-detachment Army unit; his siblings, Randy Hill (Parker Young) and Derrick Hill (Chris Lowell), never miss a chance to make Pete's life difficult. In Friday's episode, Stults has to coach his platoon, which includes an entertainingly odd set of recruits, when they take on a fierce bunch of Marines in an annual game that the base commander, Donald Cody (Keith David), takes very seriously. It's only touch football, but as far as Cody is concerned, the Army's pride is at stake.

Stults got suitably enthusiastic about shooting the episode -- he even brought in his old football tapes from his time playing for the Manitou Springs Mustangs in Colorado.

"My actual game tape from high school" can be glimpsed in one part of the episode, Stults said. "Everyone in the cast got so sick of me," he added with a laugh. "They were calling me Al Bundy, because my glory years were clearly behind me."

It's possible Pete's career has seen better days -- he was removed from a combat position when he punched a superior officer -- but that's not true of Stults and the show's terrific cast. The chemistry among Stults, Lowell and Young is one of the most amusing things on TV right now, and Randy's naive enthusiasm are especially winning. Fans will not be surprised to find out in Friday's episode, which also features an appearance from guest star Brandon Routh, that Randy is a big fan of videos showing soldiers reuniting with their families.

But part of the charm of "Enlisted" is its "Bad News Bears" quality -- everybody in Pete's unit is a goofball or a screwup of some kind. But to their credit, they sure try hard. There's a one-minute sequence in Friday's episode that shows members of the platoon trying out for the football team, and it's just hilarious. Given the show's wide embrace of everything from sentiment to silliness, somehow it makes sense that upcoming guest stars include not only the clean-cut Routh (who returns in another episode) but the retro hip-hop duo Kid n' Play and Stacy Keach, Barry Bostwick and Dean Stockwell, who play a group of veterans.

As for the show's ace supporting cast, I said in my review of the comedy, one of the most impressive things about "Enlisted" is how specific each recruit is. One of the most satisfying things about the show is that the leads, the supporting cast and Angelique Cabral, who plays an efficient sergeant in charge of a rival platoon, all have their own particular and distinctive ways of being funny.

Though his character functions more as a straight man, the "Enlisted" actors who play the platoon's misfits get quite a few chances to improvise, Stults said. Executive producers Kevin Biegel and Mike Royce, the actor noted, "know they're all comedians, so they'll just let them do funny stuff. We'll do what's scripted, and then we'll just let them roll," and sometimes those improvisations make it into the final product.

"I have so much fun listening to them and watching them every day that it's got to translate on screen," Stults said. "The episodes for me that are the most fun are the ones that are inclusive of the whole platoon."

Though it's nailed a distinctive mixture of sharp humor, goofy physical comedy and well-earned sincerity since it premiered a few weeks ago, Stults said he and the rest of the show's creative team were very aware that there were details about Army life in the pilot that a number of veterans took issue with. The show quickly corrected those problems, but Stults said there was also some concern that the show would be too goofy and light.

"The first trailers that were going out -- they made it look a little bit more slapstick-y and kind of ridiculous," Stults said. "So there was some backlash from some people in the military -- they were like, 'You're making fun of us.'"

But the cast members and producers made a point of hosting screenings and viewing parties for members of the military and interacting with them whenever possible. This weekend, in fact, Stults and his co-stars will be partying in New York with the winner of an "Enlisted" trivia contest, and the show's team has also kept up with the response to subsequent episodes on social media. Now that people have seen the humane and thoughtful ways in which the show depicts the lives of soldiers -- despite spending a lot of time on believable hijinks that occur on a stateside Army post -- there are few complaints to be found.

"It's been really wonderful to see the reaction after some of these people's [views] have changed," Stults said. And one reaction in particular had a big impact on him. After last week's episode, which touched on Pete's Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a man (possibly a veteran) told Stults on Twitter that he had decided to get help.

"I was sitting on the plane tearing up" when he saw that, Stults said. "I've never thought that what I do as an actor does anything for anybody, other than making them laugh once in a while. That was the proudest moment I've had as a professional."

The show will occasionally return to Pete's PTSD, but Stults said, "it won't be jammed down the audience's throat. You'll just see more subtle signs and more struggle. We may even see Pete feeling like he's gotten above it, and then we might see him realize that he sees he still needs help and [see him] ask for help."

It's a credit to "Enlisted" that it does such a fine job with two quite different missions: It's a funny comedy with memorable characters and a distinctive approach to workplace chaos, and it depicts the men and women who serve in the military with respect. Perhaps the best measure of the show's respect for members of the military is the fact that it doesn't reduce them to one-dimensional types.

"This is, as we're all aware, a sometimes serious job and people who have worn that uniform have died in that uniform," Stults said. "The people in the military take that very seriously and we as Americans need to take that seriously, because every day they make sacrifices for us. It's important to us that we do the little things right, and we'd never want to be making fun of the Army. The Army's not the joke, it's the situational comedy of a workplace -- that and the dynamic among the family members. That's where the funny is."

"Enlisted" airs 9 p.m. ET Fridays on Fox. And below is a clip from Friday's episode, "Homecoming."

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A Year After J.J. Abrams Was Tapped To Direct, We Still Don't Know Anything About 'Star Wars'

January 31, 2014, 11:42 am
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The email from Disney came in January of 2013, confirming what had already been rumored for the last couple of days -– J.J. Abrams had been hired to direct “Star Wars: Episode VII.”

I specifically remember this because I had just landed at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, after returning from the Sundance Film Festival. I thought about this a week ago -- when once again I landed at JFK for the same reason –- because, one year later, that’s still all we really know about "Episode VII." This is kind of odd.

Okay, fine, Abrams has officially confirmed that R2-D2 will be in the movie -– which, on a scale of revelations, ranks right up there with “The new ‘Star Wars’ will open with a title scroll” or “Rob Ford likes to be tickled.”

Oh, and yes, Abrams recently confirmed that the new script (that he co-wrote with Lawrence Kasdan) is finished. Well, I’d hope so, since this movie comes out next year and all.

For a comparison, “The Phantom Menace” started filming in June of 1997, just two years shy of its release, whereas “Episode VII” has yet to even make a casting announcement. Then again, the original “Star Wars” started filming in March of 1976, only 14 months before its release. So, based on the final product of the above two movies, the lesson here is that reading into a film’s production schedule in an attempt to predict the quality of a movie is a good way to be wrong.

So, what do we know?

Speaking of that script: poor Michael Arndt. The "Toy Story 3" writer will now go down as a footnote; the guy who wrote the fist “Episode VII” script that has nothing to do with the final movie. Someday, his script will sit beside Leigh Brackett’s curious first draft of “The Empire Strikes Back” as nothing more than an interesting piece of trivia. (Though, like Brackett’s draft, I do hope someday we’ll get to read Arndt’s work.)

The Hollywood Reporter ran a story a few weeks ago revealing the reason for Arndt’s script being tossed was that Abrams wants “Episode VII” to focus on the characters from the original trilogy -– Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa -– as opposed to their offspring.

This set off a some spirited Internet debate between those who want to see more of Han, Luke and Leia and those who want a new story. The thing is: Han, Luke and Leia are the big three of “Star Wars.” Lightning struck when these characters were put together onscreen in 1977 and it’s really hard to duplicate that kind of chemistry. Which is why the prequels didn’t work as well -– we weren’t watching Han, Luke and Leia. If we are watching new characters, well, who knows what we’re going to get? Which can be said for any new movie, really. So, I least get what Abrams is thinking here because, for me, “Star Wars” is Han, Luke and Leia. Then again, it’s been 30 years since the cast has played these characters and, yes, that’s a concern.

Literally not one human being has been officially cast in “Episode VII” –- not even Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill or Carrie Fisher; it's to the point that Ford will dodge every question even remotely about Episode VII (I speak from experience) -- even though it seems that almost every living human being is under some sort of consideration. (The latest names thrown around have been Michael Fassbender, Hugo Weaving, Adam Driver and Jesse Plemons from “Breaking Bad” -- because, why not?)

It’s an odd trichotomy at the Lucasfilm camp these days. What once was solely controlled by George Lucas himself –- with all major decisions coming down from one guy, really -– has now been split into three. There’s Abrams, there’s new Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, and then there’s the parent company, Disney itself. The system itself is almost designed to create friction, which, yes, can slow down the process. (As we saw when “Episode VII” was moved from May 2015 to December 2015.)

As I’ve written before, I refuse to freak out about “Star Wars” (I’m really trying my best, I swear). Again, the smoothest “Star Wars” productions were the three prequels and the most difficult, by far –- which included a complete script rewrite just like “Episode VII” -- was “The Empire Strikes Back.” Today, “Empire” is considered the best of the six “Star Wars” movies, while even Lucasfilm seems to be trying to bury the prequels in obscurity.

And to Abrams’ credit, he seems to want to make an announcement soon, just to get it over with, as he said at the Television Critics Association press tour on Jan. 20, “I look forward to that so that we can get past it and we can get on with it.”

So, the lack of news about “Star Wars: Episode VII” means nothing in terms of how that movie will turn out. But it still would be nice to hear something.

Mike Ryan is senior writer for Huffington Post Entertainment. You can contact him directly on Twitter.
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'Hollywood Game Night' Lets Rosie O'Donnell And Penny Marshall Relive 'A League Of Their Own'

January 31, 2014, 11:59 am
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"A League Of Their Own" will always be one of the greatest movies of all time. Rosie O'Donnell and Penny Marshall certainly know that, and in an exclusive clip from the next episode of "Hollywood Game Night," O'Donnell and Marshall play charades and -- yup, you guessed it -- one of the answers is the beloved movie about baseball.

In another clip from the same episode of "Hollywood Game Night," O'Donnell and Marshall, who compete with "Glee" star Chris Colfer, get pretty physical when guessing a TV show based on just one word.

Kaley Cuoco, Taryn Manning and Donald Faison are also players in the episode, set to air on Monday, Feb. 3. Who do you think will win?

"Hollywood Game Night" airs Mondays, 8 p.m. EST on NBC.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misspelled Penny Marshall's name.

Also on HuffPost:


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'24: Live Another Day' Promos To Air During Super Bowl

January 31, 2014, 12:15 pm
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If you're not into watching the Super Bowl for the game, the epic commercials, or the half-time show, then at least tune in for the new "24: Live Another Day" promos.

Fox's reboot of the Kiefer Sutherland real-time drama "24" will find Jack Bauer racing against time in London over 12 episodes. The miniseries event may not make its premiere until May 5, but fans will get multiple sneak peeks of "24: Live Another Day" during Sunday night's game. According to Variety, a series of 10-second promo spots will play throughout the evening, leading up to what Fox calls a "show-stopping" 45-second first look.

Hopefully the televised reunion of Sutherland's Jack and Mary Lynn Rajskub’s Chloe O’Brian will quench your "24" appetites for a few months.

The Super Bowl XLVII airs Sunday, Feb. 2 at 6:30 p.m. EST on Fox.
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Not Only Did 'The Simpsons' Predict A Broncos-Seahawks Super Bowl But It Also Introduced 'Skittlebrau'

January 31, 2014, 1:17 pm
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Move over, NFL prognosticators.

Years before anyone at ESPN or a Las Vegas sportsbook had any idea these teams would vie for the Lombardi Trophy, "The Simpsons" apparently predicted the Super Bowl XLVIII matchup between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks.




Would-be wagerers take note, "The Simpsons" predicted a win for the Broncos in such a meeting. Of course, Homer Simpson's potential ownership of one of the teams involved could have influenced the pick.




The connection between "The Simpsons" and Super Bowl XLVIII may go even deeper than that 2005 episode. The show's writers seem to have foreseen the impact that Marshawn Lynch's love for Skittles would have on football fans as the Seahawks marched to MetLife Stadium. In 1997's "Bart Star," Homer becomes coach of a youth football team in Springfield. At one point during the episode, he dejectedly attempts to buy himself a Skittlebrau at the Kwik-E-Mart.



As the Seahawks are already selling a hamburger with a side of Skittles in honor of Lynch's candy habit at CenturyLink Field, it's possible that Homer's imaginary beverage isn't far behind.
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'How I Met Your Dad' Character Scoops Revealed

January 31, 2014, 1:56 pm
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This week has been a good week for "How I Met Your Mother" fans. Following Monday night's (Jan. 27) 200th episode, which was all about the mother and one of the best "HIMYM" episodes yet, new details have dropped on its spin-off series.

"How I Met Your Dad," which was picked up for a pilot last November, will follow a new story with similar premise to "HIMYM," except from a female perspective.

TV Line got the complete scoop on the "How I Met Your Dad" characters, and we finally have a name for the new Ted: Sally. The spin-off will focus on main character and narrator Sally and her gang of friends. So far, this is what we know about Sally and her friends, courtesy of TV Line:

SALLY | She’s vibrant, messy and unpredictable — a “female Peter Pan who has never grown up and has no idea of where she’s going in life.” She’s thinking of calling it quits with her husband of a year, Gavin. She’ll lean on her circle of friends for advice and support through the inevitable divorce. That circle includes…

JULIET | Sally’s sexy, flamboyant, energetic, party-girl BFF. She runs a successful fashion blog. She’s delighted to learn Sally is ending things with the terminally boring Gavin.

DANNY | Sally’s older gay brother, a Type A, overachieving lawyer whom she shares little in common with. They nonetheless share a tight bond, although Sally’s decision to move in with Danny after her split with Gavin promises to test that bond.

TODD | Danny’s warm, outgoing husband and one of Sally’s closest friends from college. Unlike Danny, Todd welcomes Sally into their home.

FRANK | The head of IT for Juliet’s fashion blog. He’s a hot nerd. He has genuine feelings for Sally, but it’s a one-sided flirtation. At least for the moment.

NARRATOR | It’s Sally from the future. She’s reliving the events of her past to her kids.


Here's to hoping the "How I Met Your Dad" pilot gets picked up for a season so we get more of these characters!

The Huffington Post reached out to CBS for comment, but the request was not yet returned.
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'Downton Abbey' Gets Puurfect Cat Parody 'Downton Tabby'

January 31, 2014, 2:30 pm
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The "Downton Abbey" parodies and puns are never ending it seems. The beloved series has gotten a porn spoof and a board game, and now there's a cat parody.

Although a parody book already came out last year imagining the Downton gang as felines, now there's a video tribute, so your imagination doesn't have to work too hard. Pets Alive, a no-kill animal rescue in New York, made their own version of the "Downton Abbey" opening credits starring their whiskered pals.

The video has all the downstairs-upstairs cat excitement you could ask for, from window sunbathing to cat napping to feather duster playing. Now someone please turn this into a web series to make all of our dreams come true.

tv show gifs

[h/t/ Entertainment Weekly]
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'The Tonight Show' To Lay Off All 164 Employees In Move To New York

January 31, 2014, 3:13 pm
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NBCUniversal will lay off all 164 staff members of "The Tonight Show" when it moves from Burbank, Calif. to New York in February.

The show is relocating to the east coast as Jimmy Fallon takes over for Jay Leno, who has hosted the show for the past 22 years. Layoffs were expected to be a part of the transition, and it seems that none of the 164 Burbank employees, many of whom have production-based jobs, will be transferred to other positions within company. The cuts were reportedly announced to workers in December, and they will be carried out on a staggered timescale between Feb. 14 and April 4.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Leno noted that he is leaving the show six months earlier than intended, in order to bring Fallon on during the Winter Olympics. Leno says that when NBCUniversal pitched the date change, he was adamant that his employees be paid for those six months, which the network agreed to do.

Many of Leno's staff members have been with him since he took over for Johnny Carson in 1992. In 2012, Leno took a pay cut in order to preserve jobs when the show was hit with a round of layoffs.

The Burbank Leader, which broke the story, reports that an NBCUniversal spokesperson said that the displaced employees have been encouraged to apply for other jobs at the company, including positions in New York at "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."

Jay Leno will host his final segment of "The Tonight Show" on Feb. 6.
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Jon Stewart's Canada Rant Is The Best Ever

January 31, 2014, 4:18 pm
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Jon Stewart has laid into Rob Ford and Justin Bieber in a totally hilarious "Daily Show" rant entitled, "What the f***'s going on in Canada?"

To which the only answer must be, "F****** if we know."

Stewart kicks things off with a CNN news segment where the reporter begins, "Believe it or not, things just keep getting worse for Toronto Mayor Rob Ford."

"Believe it or not, they're getting worse?" rails Stewart. "I've never heard anything more believable in my life."

After listing examples of news stories he says would be more surprising to hear about Ford — "Believe it or not, I just read this really interesting piece in the New Yorker by Rob Ford" — he recaps the mayor's increasingly long list of egregious faux pas, and asks, "So, what did Sir Smokes A Lot Of Crack do now?"

Cue much merriment over the latest revelations of the mayor's alleged connection to a jailhouse beating.

"What? Is Rob Ford trying to take control of the cell block before his inevitable arrival?" Stewart quips.

Segueing sweetly into the latest news of Canada's other currently troubled son, Justin Bieber, Stewart flips up an image of the pair with the label, "2 Broken Guys" slapped across the top and asks, "What the f***'s going on in Canada?"

Watch the full video here.
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Super Bowl Ads A Bigger Draw For Canadians Than Game Itself, Survey Suggests

February 1, 2014, 5:00 am
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TORONTO - The millions of Canadians tuning in the Super Bowl on Sunday night are more eager to take in the lavish television ads than the football game itself, a new survey suggests.

A recent Harris/Decima poll found that while a third of Canadians plan to tune into the National Football League's marquee event, 46 per cent intend to watch the ads that air throughout the game.

That doesn't mean, though, that would-be ad-watchers will be turning on their televisions to do so. Of those who hope to check out the big-budget commercials that have become a hallmark of the event, the survey found 45 per cent intend to view them online rather than during the matchup between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks.

The commercials have even captured the attention of those who have no interest in football, Harris/Decima said.

Of those who have no plans to watch the Super Bowl, one third still hope to check out the ads at some point.

The telephone poll, which surveyed 1,010 Canadians across the country between Jan. 23 and 27, carries a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

The survey results came as little surprise to marketing experts, who said the phenomenon of Super Bowl advertising has long threatened to outstrip the actual football game in terms of both spectacle and pop culture significance.

Companies hoping to air a 30-second ad to a captive audience had to shell out US $42,000 in 1967, according to an analysis by the Associated Press. While those numbers may well have seemed steep at the time, they pale in comparison to the US$4 million price tag today's 30 second ads can command.

Those costs don't even account for the creative budgets some companies are prepared to devote to a Super Bowl campaign.

Dino Demopoulos, Vice-President at DDB subsidiary advertising firm Tribal Worldwide, said deep-pocketed American corporations have been known to spend upwards of US$14 million on an ad that would traditionally have aired just a handful of times at best.

Those companies argued that the viewership numbers alone made their investment worthwhile, Demopoulos said. Indeed, the 2014 Super Bowl is expected to attract 108 million viewers in the United States alone.

But Demopoulos said modern day technology has greatly widened the scope of the audience, making the Super Bowl advertising game an even more high-stakes affair than the one unfolding on the field.

Super Bowl ads are no longer one-offs. High-profile advertisers like Anheuser-Busch, Bank of America, H&M and Nestle have already previewed their commercials on social media. All ads will also be available for repeat viewing on video sharing sites after the game has ended.

Demopoulos said these new channels have made pricey ad campaigns more compelling for brands eager to raise their public profile.

"With conversation starting before the Super Bowl spots air, and certainly during the evening of the Super Bowl and beyond, the kinds of things that marketers are measuring that they weren't measuring in the past is the predominant sentiment," Demopoulos said in a telephone interview.

"Are people saying negative things about the brand? Are people saying positive things? . . . There's a whole arena . . . online where a brand can really learn a lot."

The Super Bowl advertising scene is more muted in Canada, where experts say both audience interest and corporate spending are considerably lower than they are south of the border.

Alan Middleton, Assistant Professor of Marketing at York University, said Canadian companies don't aspire to the same advertising budgets as their American counterparts.

U.S. companies with a presence on both sides of the border sometimes release ads tailored for Canadian consumers, though to considerably less fanfare.

Nonetheless, Middleton said he's not surprised by Harris/Decima's take on Canadian interest in Super Bowl ads.

Canadians are usually keen to embrace Americana, he said, adding images from corporate heavyweights such as Volkswagen and Coke have gone on to become pop culture touchstones.

Besides, Middleton said, the experience can simply be fun.

"You've got a much smaller proportion of the audience who feel a loyalty to either of the teams," he said. "Strangely enough, they're much more likely to go, '(this is just as entertaining as watching the game.'

Demopoulos and Middleton both agreed that it's difficult to gauge the overall success of Super Bowl advertising campaigns, especially in light of the more complex media landscape.

Demopoulos said companies have shifted the focus away from boosting sales of a specific product to raising awareness of the business as a whole.

"A lot of the work that's featured in the Super Bowl is just intended to elevate perceptions of the brand," he said. "It's more story-telling as opposed to hard sales."

Middleton said the rise of online interest has taken some of the risk out of an expensive Super Bowl campaign.

The growing number of websites and social networks that carry the pricey productions, he said, go a long way to ensuring that companies on both sides of the border get a real bang for their advertising bucks.

"For the big players to drop four million for a for a 30-second commercial, provided you can expand it across all the other media, it probably pays back in most cases."

Kickoff for Super Bowl XLVIII is scheduled to take place at 6:30 eastern time on Sunday evening.

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What's New On Netflix In February 2014: 'Queer As Folk,' 'Bates Motel,' 'Breaking Bad' Join The List

February 1, 2014, 6:22 am
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Netflix's arsenal of ready-to-watch TV shows and movies changes every week. Titles run out of contract, and new ones are brought into the fold. This month, Netflix adds the final season of "Breaking Bad," the highly anticipated "House of Cards" Season 2, cult classic "Flashdance" and the Cannes Film Festival's 2013 Palme d'Or winner, "Blue Is The Warmest Color."

Here's a complete list of movies and TV shows new to Netflix in February 2014.

TV Shows
  1. "Bates Motel" Season 1, available Feb. 1

  2. "The Borgias" Seasons 1-3, available Feb. 1

  3. "Queer as Folk" The Complete Series, available Feb. 1

  4. "House of Cards" Season 2, available Feb. 14

  5. "Burn Notice" Season 7, available Feb. 15

  6. "Breaking Bad" Season 5, available Feb. 24

  7. "The Returned" Season 1, available Feb. 24


Movies
  1. "Failure To Launch," available Feb. 1

  2. "Flashdance," available Feb. 1

  3. "Harold and Maude," available Feb. 1

  4. "Mash," available Feb. 1

  5. "Adore," available Feb. 3

  6. "The Fabulous Ice Age," available Feb. 3

  7. "30 for 30: The Price of Gold," available Feb. 6

  8. "Somewhere," available Feb. 16

  9. "Jesus Camp," available Feb. 21

  10. "Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor," available Feb. 24

  11. "Blue Is The Warmest Color," available Feb. 25
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David Schwimmer To Star In 'Irreversible,' ABC's Comedy Pilot

February 1, 2014, 7:35 am
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David Schwimmer is heading back to TV to star in a new comedy from ABC, "Irreversible."

The "Friends" alum will star in and produce the show, which is based on a hit Israeli series called "Bilti Hafich." It centers on an "eccentric, self-absorbed couple, and their trials and tribulations — most of which they bring upon themselves.” Schwimmer will play Andy, the male lead. His female counterpart, Sarah, has not been cast.

"Friends" ended its epic run in 2004, and Schwimmer has focused on directing since then. But this is Ross Gellar's first full-time series since the iconic show came to an end, and he's the last of the gang to get back into the TV game. Matthew Perry has seen his fair share of canceled shows ("Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," "Go On" and "Mr. Sunshine," anybody?). Courteney Cox struck gold with "Cougar Town." Matt LeBlanc plays a version of himself on the recently-renewed "Episodes." Lisa Kudrow became a cult icon with "Web Therapy" and "The Comeback" -- not to mention her inspirational arc on "Scandal" -- and, well, we all know what happened to Jennifer Aniston, even if it hasn't involved full-time TV work.
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Kitten Bowl Bows On Hallmark Channel

February 1, 2014, 10:11 am
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Adorably wide-eyed, fluffy and in need of a loving home is an unusual description for a football player.

But it's perfect for the gridiron stars of Hallmark Channel's "Kitten Bowl," an event that aims to both entertain viewers and inform them about animals consigned to shelters. "The plight of these animals is so sad and really needs" attention, said Bill Abbott, president and CEO of the channel's parent company, Crown Media, and the driving force behind the inaugural Kitten Bowl. "It is an awareness issue."

The three-hour show airs at noon EST Sunday, followed by repeat showings on what the channel is labeling "Su-Purr Bowl Sunday" for those uninterested in the real Super Bowl on Fox. The Kitten Bowl isn't the only game in which the fur flies: "Puppy Bowl," the granddaddy of the genre, marks its 10th year Sunday on Animal Planet with its own rescue dogs, kittens and, this year, penguin co-stars, who aren't up for adoption.

Carrying the idea to its wry extreme, Nat Geo Wild is counterprogramming the NFL's Denver-Seattle contest with the "Fish Bowl," starring a goldfish in a bowl, for four hours.

For Abbott, the Kitten Bowl is serious business. He's a longtime supporter of the North Shore Animal League America, a leading no-kill shelter that joined the Hallmark Channel in presenting the event. The shelter teamed with Last Hope Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation to provide and care for the 71 kittens featured.

The goal is to provide an upbeat look at how to reduce the number of animals that end up homeless, Abbott said.

There's a happy ending for the bowl kittens, whose names include the playful Crazy Legs and Chase, as well as puns like Dan Furrino, for former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino.

All of the felines used in taping last October have been adopted, Abbott said. They worked hard for the opportunity, including two playoff games and the championship match, and consented to interviews, presumably subtitled for non-cat speakers.

An online Feline Fantasy League features digital trading cards and adoption stories.

The Kitten Bowl is hosted by North Shore spokeswoman Beth Stern, wife of Howard Stern, and John Sterling, official radio voice of the New York Yankees. Celebrity guests dropping by include Regis Philbin, Kelly Rutherford and Carrie Ann Inaba.

Although puppies and kittens are competing only indirectly Sunday, cat-loving Abbott isn't shy about predicting who will win viewers' hearts.

"As wonderful as puppies are — and I'm a dog person, too — they are not as cagey and clever and just overall as entertaining at the end of the day," he said.

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Online:


http://www.hallmarkchannel.com
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Gabourey Sidibe Repeatedly Uses The Word 'Tranny' On 'Arsenio Hall Show' [UPDATED]

February 1, 2014, 10:36 am
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Actress Gabourey Sidibe repeatedly used a transphobic slur when she recently visited "The Arsenio Hall Show" to discuss living in New Orleans.

The "American Horror Story: Coven" star said the word "tranny" no less than five times in under a minute when she appeared on the show on January 23:
Gabourey Sidibe: There was a bar that we would frequent and every time we'd go, when we were leaving every single time there was always like a gang of cops arresting trannies.

Audience: [Laughter]

Sidibe: Specifically trannies.

Arsenio Hall: Yeah…

Sidibe: And I don't know what goes on with trannies but that tranny on tranny crime needs to stop!

Arsenio Hall and audience: [Laughter]

Sidibe [chuckling]: It is tearing our nation apart!


While Sidibe brings up a good point about the treatment of transgender people by the police (and not just in New Orleans, where the profiling and abuse of trans women of color by the police was allegedly so bad the Justice Department launched an investigation, a recent study found that "trans people across the U.S. experience three times as much police violence as non-transgender individuals" and that "even when transgender people were the victims of hate crimes, 48 percent reported receiving mistreatment from the police when they went for help") the use of the term "tranny," the tone of the segment and the way the segment was packaged and presented on "The Arsenio Hall Show's" YouTube channel has many upset.

Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, told The Huffington Post:
Using the word 'tranny' isn't OK anymore. Using it to make fun of people is definitely not OK. And using it to make fun of any kind of violence is just plain wrong. I know she meant it in fun but that's the problem in this case. It's not just that she used the word 'tranny' but that she's making fun of violence in a city where the police have a history of committing violence and discrimination against trans women of color. It's the kind of thing that trans people listen to and say, 'This is someone who is not thinking about our lives. This is someone who is making fun of our problems.' Gabby is someone who has approached lots of different social issues with grace and class and so this is just such a disappointment.


Allyson Robinson, an LGBT movement veteran whose consulting firm Warrior Poet Strategies specializes in LGBT inclusion, echoed Keisling's sentiments in an email sent to The Huffington Post.

"It's tremendously disappointing to see Sidibe put her prejudice so callously on display like this," Robinson wrote. "If she isn't aware of the poverty, violence, unjust detention, and inhuman incarceration trans women (and especially trans women of color) face, it's time she educated herself. Sitting down and learning about it from the people at the National Center for Transgender Equality or GLAAD would be a good place to start."

And Jean-Marie Navetta, Director of Equality & Diversity Partnerships at PFLAG National, sent a long statement to The Huffington Post, writing in part:

I don't know [Sidibe]. I will always give people the benefit of the doubt and assume that they weren't thinking and just need some education. We all deserve that chance. We all need the right to redeem ourselves. And I believe this for her, in spite of the fact that it felt very mean-spirited and horrible to me, especially since she has been the point of much ridicule for her differences. It has often been those who are also different -- like trans people -- who have defended her. I hope this is a learning experience.

But what do we say about the larger picture? Here's what we know: People who are trans are 41% more likely than the population as a whole to attempt suicide. Violence against trans people is widespread, representing a significant number hate crimes each year. The treatment of people who are trans in the judicial and prison system is deplorable...


Representatives for Sidibe and "The Arsenio Hall Show" did not immediately responded to requests for comment.

The actress is certainly not the first celebrity to use the slur.

Lance Bass, Kelly Osbourne and Neil Patrick Harris all came under fire for using the term at one point or another and all three stars almost immediately offered apologies. In fact, Bass and Osbourne each wrote blogs calling for an end to the use of the word in the wake of outrage from the queer community.

Though transgender issues and people are gaining more and more visibility in mainstream media, thanks to figures like "Orange Is The New Black" actress and activist Laverne Cox and "RuPaul's Drag Race" star and Elite model Carmen Carrera, among others, the conversation between Sidibe and Hall is a sobering reminder of how many people remain uneducated when it comes to the transgender community.

UPDATE: Sidibe responded via Twitter:







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Renée Fleming Performs Super Bowl National Anthem

February 2, 2014, 3:23 pm
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American opera singer Renée Fleming belted out the "The Star-Spangled Banner" before kickoff at Super Bowl XLVIII on Sunday. A 32-voice military choir accompanied the soprano during the performance, backed by a recording of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

Fleming made news before the Super Bowl by announcing that she would perform the national anthem live, without the benefit of a backing vocal track. "It would be a disaster. I only know how to sing live," she said (via The Associated Press).

Fleming is the first opera singer to perform "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl, which typically enlists pop stars for the event. Recent national anthem singers include Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Billy Joel, Beyonce and Cher. Fleming previously performed at President Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration and at the 2003 World Series.

The Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos were set to face off against each other in Super Bowl XLVIII. The NFL's biggest game is held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

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