Wednesday, November 19, 2008

October/November 2008

November is here, bringing lots of changes...

Jimmy Kimmel Live! continues to have great ratings, especially through November Sweeps. The Halloween show was fun, especially since Jimmy, the band, and the guests (Nicollette as Lil' Red Riding Hood and Craig Robinson as Prince) all dressed up! Terry Bradshaw and Robin Thicke on panel were great on the highest rated show the week of November 3rd. Last Thursday’s James Bond show was ambitious but we are grateful to Val and Andre at Sony for all their help in making a great show. See the hilarious open here. Happy to say we have Tom Cruise booked in December….doesn’t get bigger than that.

The Museum of the Moving Image Salute to Ben Stiller was truly a wonderful event for a wonderful museum. Robert DeNiro, Jack Black, Mike Myers and more turned out to honor Stiller, as well as his wife Christine and his parents, Jerry Stiller and Ann Meara. Thanks to Liz Mahoney and Kelly Bush at ID and of course to Shelly at Museum of the Moving Image and Carol Donovan, who is always great fun to work with.

At the MOMI event, we bumped into our friend DMD from The Webby Awards and Webby Connect. In October, CTB helped book keynote speaker NY Times’ Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. for The Webby Connect event at the Ritz Carlton in Laguna. Read the entire transcript of Arthur Sulzberger Jr.’s WebbyConnect Keynote address. Also, check out some video highlights from Day One and Day Two, which includes our friend Andy Cohen from Bravo.

Paltalk is going, going, going, with some great things coming down the pipeline. Be sure to check out the Paltalk Scene interview with Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster.

We are thrilled that the "Cheech and Chong: Roasted" for the TBS VERY FUNNY FESTIVAL in Las Vegas this weekend has come together. Emmy®-winning comic actor Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond, ‘Til Death) will host the festivities, which is set to feature scorchingly funny testimonials from such scheduled roasters as comedian Tom Arnold, television journalist Geraldo Rivera, comic magicians Penn & Teller and That ‘70s Show’s Wilmer Valderrama, comedian Greg Giraldo, The Rev. Al Sharpton and Tommy Chong’s wife, actress Shelby Chong, with special appearances by actor Steve Carell and comedian Andy Dick. Expect to see Roland and Jo off in Vegas for the evening. Cheech and Chong’s managers have been great to work with as has David and Nancy from TBS and of course Morty has been pushing our buttons to deliver a great show…Check it out on TBS on Sunday, November 30th.


Also in November, CTB started booking for the very funny internet talk show, "ANYTIME with Bob Kushell." The show ingeniously takes the best elements of everyone’s favorite latenight talkshows to the comic bare bones…including the studio. ANYTIME is a fully-featured five-minute comically compact show, filmed in a garage in Van Nuys, where today’s stars and entertainment personalities are invited to stop by for a fun, relaxed interview that takes less than a half-hour of their time. Bob Kushell, the Emmy-award nominated writer/producer (Dream On, The Simpsons, 3rd Rock From the Sun, Malcolm in the Middle, Grounded for Life, Hidden Hills and Jake in Progress, Samantha Who?) presides as amiable host in the garage, which has been decked out with an elaborate set designed by Emmy-Award winning production designer Glenda Rovello, as well as top-of-the-line lighting, cameras and yes, even air-conditioning. See who’s already stopped by the garage… Here is a look at two complete episodes, featuring Neil Patrick Harris and Jennifer Esposito.

The end of this month brought Billy Bob Thornton by the NFL Total Access studio to share his favorite picks for this year. Also, the beautiful Nadine Velazquez stopped by to talk about the fourth season of “My Name is Earl” and share her top picks. Be on the lookout for upcoming big bookings like Denis Leary and Ryan Philippe.

The December issue of Oprah Magazine is all about how to have Happier Holidays! The Oprah staff traces the meaning behind some popular holiday traditions. Also, this month business and technology writer Daniel Pink stopped by to chat with Oprah about his new book, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, which explains how right-brained thinkers are wired for 21st Century success. The adorable Lee Pace talks about his favorite books, Sissy Spacek shares her AHA moment, Dido lets us all know “What’s Playing in Her Ear”, and the gorgeous Gretchen Mol does a beautiful fashion spread.

POPTUB has been going along swiftly. Seann William Scott wowed the POPTUB crew when he stopped by to talk about his new number one comedy, Role Models. The funny Jim Norton stopped by to shamefully promote his new book, I Hate Your Guts. POPTUB made it to the Quantum of Solace premiere to catch a quick second with Daniel Craig. And the always hilarious ventriloquist Jeff Dunham stopped by with his friend Walter.

People’s Choice Awards Nominations were announced November 10th at the Peninsula in Los Angeles by Joshua Jackson from “Fringe,” Carrie Ann Inaba from “Dancing with the Stars,” and Paula Marshall and Jay Mohr from “Gary Unmarried.” New categories this year include “Favorite Superhero,” “Favorite TV Drama Diva,” “Favorite Movie Cast” and “Favorite Scene Stealing Guest Star.” Fred and Carol were there with Kellie to check out the nominations. Now we are underway with booking presenters for this fantastic award show. To see the full list of nominees or to vote, please visit www.PCAVote.com.

In October, "Best Week Ever" premiered their revamped show “Best Week Ever with Paul F. Thompkins,” where comic Paul F. Thompkins takes over full hosting duties. Stopping by this month was the adorable Dave Annable, offering "Brotherly Advice with Dave Annable" - relationship advice to viewer "call ins," and David Wain, co-writer and director the smash comedy Role Models. Also, Bruce Cambpell came by to spoof the Obama infomercial. Stay tuned this weekend for Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss, who is currently starring on Broadway in the revival of Speed-the-Plow.



VH1’s hilarious Free Radio is back, and we are so excited to be working with Rory and Lance again. Just in case you missed it, check out some highlights from last season's excitement, including Kiefer Sutherland, Tony Shaloub, Ray Romano, Melora Hardin, and Mary Lynn Rajskub. Stay tuned for more from this funny show.

Also, we'd like to shout out to all the wonderful women who have worked with CTB through the years, incuding Jimmy Kimmel Live's Executive Producer Jill Leiderman, History Channel's Nancy Dubuc, TLC's Eileen O'Neil, Telepictures' HIlary Estey McLoughlin, and Lifetime's Andrea Wong for being part of TV Week’s Driving Forces of Women in Television!