Football, 'Brother' big Sunday

NBC's 'Sunday Night Football' preseason matchup between Dallas and San Diego nabbed 9.6 million viewers overall. The first preseason ''Sunday Night Football'' game of summer lifted NBC to a ratings victory on Sunday night, but CBS had reason to smile too as ''Big Brother'' hit another season high.According to preliminary, affiliated-based national estimates from Nielsen, ''Big Brother'' averaged a 3.3 rating/10 share in adults 18-49 and 8.8 million viewers overall, up about 20% week to week for the show's best numbers on any night in a few years. Also for the net, ''60 Minutes'' kicked things off (1.4/5 in 18-49, 8.5 million viewers overall) and repeats of ''The Good Wife'' (1.0/3 in 18-49, 4.2 million viewers overall) closed out the night (1.2/3 in 18-49, 5.2 million viewers overall).At NBC, the ''Sunday Night Football'' matchup between Dallas and San Diego averaged a 3.3/9 in 18-49 and 9.6 million viewers overall from 8 to 11 p.m., with these numbers expected to rise some in the nationals due to time-zone differences for live sports. Last year's comparable game (Minnesota-San Francisco) did a 3.0 rating in 18-49.ABC aired repeats of ''America's Funniest Home Videos'' (1.2/4 in 18-49, 5.2 million viewers overall) and ''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' (1.1/3 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall), followed by the premiere of ''20/20: The Sixth Sense'' (1.4/4 in 18-49, 5.9 million viewers overall), a repackaging of ''20/20'' segments from recent years; the ABC News show is scheduled to air on three more Sundays over the next month.And Fox went with repeats of animated comedies ''American Dad'' (0.8/3 in 18-49, 1.7 million viewers overall), ''Bob's Burgers'' (1.0/3 in 18-49, 2.1 million viewers overall), ''The Simpsons'' (1.2/4 in 18-49, 2.6 million viewers overall), ''Family Guy'' (1.2/3 in 18-49, 2.6 million viewers overall) and ''The Cleveland Show'' (1.7/5 in 18-49, 3.8 million viewers overall), followed by the second week of sketch comedy series ''In the Flow with Affion Crockett'' (1.2/3 in 18-49, 2.5 million viewers overall), which was in line with its premiere performance.Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: NBC, 2.9/8; CBS, 1.7/5; ABC, 1.3/4; Fox, 1.2/3.In total viewers: NBC, 8.9 million; CBS, 6.7 million; ABC, 5.4 million; Fox, 2.6 million. Contact Rick Kissell at rick.kissell@variety.com

Adam Scott Is Definitely An A.C.O.D.

Adult Child of Divorce.... I show all of the hurtin' words, warbled Dolly Parton in DIVORCE. That's less than just like creating an acronym, but hey, we needed a dent. ACOD means 'Adult Child of Divorce', however for Adam Scott it's going to spell a starring role, becasue it is the next film on his busy roster. The Parks And Entertainment regular plays a man forced at the start of existence to accept area of the sensible one ih his family, when his parents made the decision to obtain divorced. He's been coping with his folks' ongoing feuding since, but finds themself needing to race around arranging and placating and getting back his dysfunctional brothers and sisters when his more youthful brother announces his engagement. Yup, it is a wedding comedy. Weren't a lot of individuals recently. That one however comes with the considerable cache to be co-scripted by Ben Karlin, a author and executive producer for that Daily Show and also the Colbert Report (he co-produced the second). He's been an uncredited script physician on more films than we'll most likely ever know, and edited the essay collection 'Things I have Learned From Ladies Who Left Me', so must have acquired some relationship comedy tips there.... His screenwriting collaborator on ACOD is Stu Zicherman, making his directorial debut after creating and writing TV series like Lights Out and Six Levels. Shooting begins in March, the moment Scott is performed using the Bachelorette and may obtain a break from P&C.

Spotlight on Emmy drama nominees

This past year was the very first that cable shows outnumbered broadcast series within the Emmy drama category, a trend which was hard using the 2011 nominations, which saw a quartet of shows originating from Cinemax, Showtime and AMC.A set of the cable challengers are conversant names -- AMC's zeitgeisty "Mad Males," searching for its 4th award consecutively, and Showtime's four-time nominee "Dexter," searching for its first win.Another two indicate HBO's strong year for newcomer records. The pay-cable powerhouse's new hits "Boardwalk Empire" and "Bet on Thrones" displayed once more the shrewd merging of genre and character study which has seen the cabler go ahead and take western ("Deadwood"), vampires of the underworld ("True Bloodstream") and mobsters ("The Sopranos") towards the nominee circle before.Elsewhere, the ongoing success of CBS's Julianna Marguiles starrer "The Great Wife" like a network law procedural with cable-like nuances and serialized sophistication gained it a repeat appearance within this category. Lastly, the very first appearance of beloved underdog "Friday Evening Lights" -- because of its final season, which went on DirecTV before repeating on NBC -- indicates Academy recognition of sorts for the whole significantly acclaimed run of the low-key, slice-of-existence drama about senior high school football in rural Texas."Boardwalk Empire"Cinemax Highlight: Inside a season full of blistering mob violence, the first courtship moments of Atlantic City bigwig Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) and Irish widow Margaret Schroeder (Kelly MacDonald) indicated a fragile touch using the show's portrayal of psychologically isolated people.Why it could win: Using its wealthy period detail, gangster trappings and stellar creative pedigree (Terence Winters and Martin Scorsese), "Empire" obtained on many fronts like a bold slice of criminal Americana within the wake of HBO's groundbreaking "Sopranos" run.Not: Against lots of competition, voters may find the possible lack of a central galvanizing character -- along with a first season using its share of structural and pace-related hiccups -- sufficient cause to attend on the top-prize kudos until further seasons reveal themselves."Dexter"Showtime Highlight: Inside a hotel-room scene laced with criminal forethought and strange empathy, Dexter (Michael C. Hall) helps gang-rape victim Lumen (Julia Stiles) both get ready for a vengeance killing and all of a sudden get over a psychological breakdown.Why it could win: A broadly famous 4th season, which won John Lithgow a guest actor Emmy -- turned into an psychologically retrenching fifth that saw Dexter have a protective role, and demonstrated this unusual premise still had lots of odd curves worth exploring.Not: In the finish during the day, will still be a bloodstream-drenched series in regards to a serial killer -- a tough route to hoe with Emmy voters -- and after three strong seasons having a nomination with no award, voters might feel at ease disregarding it once again.InchFri Evening Lights"DirecTV Highlight: A tense parole board hearing for Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) makes an extremely high price ticket moving testimonial from Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) as well as an awkward yet suddenly stirring plea from new Buddy Garrity (Kaira Leland).Why it could win: Viewer and critical praise based on how this under-appreciated series wrapped its always-battling run was noisy and obvious, and Emmy voters may finally be coming around to why this Peabody-winning show had this type of loyal following.Not: Sometimes an initial nomination for any final months are not enough past too far for any series that rarely taken greater than a fringe viewership. Emmy voters might consider its nomination a prize by itself."Bet on Thrones"Cinemax Highlight: Inside a season chockablock with plot twists, the disturbing fate of castle-climbing kid Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) after seeing a secret rendezvous between Full Cersei (Lena Headey) and her twin brother Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) was -- for audiences not really acquainted with the books -- a genuine surprise.Why it could win: Like "Lost" in the Emmy-winning inaugural season, an illusion-tinged premise struck a chord with audiences like a gripping ensemble drama with complexly woven story lines. Additionally, it resonated like a sweeping, old-school epic about energy struggles one of the wealthy and also the survival instincts of outsiders.Not: As common as the series is, the dungeons-and-dragons shadings may keep more realism-minded Academy voters away for the time being, even though sex and violence never stopped Cinemax from multiple "Sopranos" wins, the greater graphic character of individuals elements here might be an honours barrier."The Great Wife"CBS Highlight: It is a tossup between divorce-minded Alicia (Julianna Marguiles) icily facing her mother-in-law (Mary Janet Piel) about restricting her use of the grandchildren, or Alicia putting Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) about the place concerning the latter's affair with Peter, interspersed with a chilly, direct "How was my hubby?InchWhy it could win: Its status because the most refreshingly adult series among primetime network shows was just burnished following a watercooler-worthy second season. The show's acclaimed mixture of politics, personal lives, intrigue and legal drama is exclusive in television.Not: Despite over-arching story lines as nuanced as anything on cable, its procedural structure may still be described as a hindrance to Emmy voters who haven't given this type of show the very best award in additional than ten years.InchAngry Males"AMC Highlight: Saying goodbye to cancer-ridden Anna (Melinda Page Hamilton), Don Draper (Jon Hamm) -- or Dick Whitman, as Anna knows him, just before altering his identity -- must arrived at grips having a loved a person's imminent dying which symbolically reflects a past he is able to never recapture.Why it could win: Three wins within this category already is certainly not to sneeze at, and also the series' 4th season demonstrated further creative vigor using its character development, changes of scenery and questionable twists.Not: All streaks finish sometime. The infusion of recent bloodstream within the category this season, as well as the first appearance of the acclaimed show in the last season along with a broadcast show considered increasing could spell a big change. Besides, recent news that the deal continues to be struck for more seasons might spur the Academy to provide the show a kudos break.A Evening within the Authors Room:Route To THE EMMYS: DRAMAThink outdoors the dollars Drama producers cite surprising influencesThe nominees Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Final Destination 5: Film Review

Final Destination 5 continues New Line's "death tease" series wherein a group of clueless characters are stalked not by a demon or mad man but by death itself ... or to be accurate, the film's makers. Real death, of course, is much more prosaic, letting far too many people expire in their beds, which is very uncinematic. In this film, as in the previous four editions, the suspense, or tease if you will, lies in guessing which of the objects in a location will terminate a character - the faulty wiring, that loose wing nut, those nasty knives, an overhead fan or perhaps a kitchen fire? In a sense, the films offer up black comedy, provoking laughs at wrong guesses and giggles over an absurd chain of events that results in disaster. The series was on its own deathbed when the producers to their credit got the bright idea in FD4 to make the film in 3D. Sharp objects appeared that much sharper with the added dimension so the series got a reprieve and here everyone is back with a fifth film. To borrow from TV terminology, the series hasn't jumped the shark yet, but the strain of inventing bizarre deaths is beginning to show. This film's opening sequence is undeniably spectacular. What must happen in each film is that one character gets a graphic premonition of impending disaster, which he essentially lives through moments before it actually happens. In FD5, a group of young people, heading for a company retreat, gets trapped in a bus on a high suspension bridge over a river just as the damn thing collapses in a "freak wind storm." Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto) is the designated savior this time, which allows him to rescue seven colleagues including best pal Peter (Miles Fisher) and girlfriend Molly (Emma Bell). These survivors are dubbed the Lucky Eight by the media but from death's point of view everyone was meant to die on that bridge. As death's dour emissary (Tony Todd, who took the last film off) warns Sam at the funeral, "Death doesn't like to be cheated." So it's game on and the characters immediately start to meet horrible ends, which baffles an FBI guy (Courtney B. Vance), weirdly called in to investigate potential criminality in the bridge collapse. The series holds a peculiar fondness for impalement of human flesh, but the deaths created here in Eric Heisserer's mercifully swift screenplay really push that predilection to include demises involving acupuncture and laser eye surgery. To be sure, there are a couple of straightforward impalements too mundane to mention. The twist to this new edition is that death's emissary lets a few characters in on a dirty little secret: If any of the Lucky Eight takes an innocent life, this will somehow balance the books in the afterlife: Death will no longer stalk that individual. This twist has greater dramatic potential than the filmmakers seem to realize for in doesn't really come into play until a climatic sequence where the filmmakers unwittingly undercut the series' M.O.: Will a fantastic accident or a good old-fashioned homicide do in the final survivors? The filmmakers never quite make up their minds how to play this. Steven Quale, a longtime colleague of James Cameron who has worked in cinematography and visual effects including 3D for over two decades, was recruited to make his directing debut. Surprisingly, the 3D doesn't amount to much after the bridge collapse. So it will be interesting to see how fans of the series spend their money this time since the 2D option will come with a smaller ticket price. The British Columbia production is slickly designed and takes ample advantage of its locations from an Asian spa to a restaurant kitchen. The cast is a lively bunch but since emotions ran only a narrow gamut from anxiety to terror and back again, there isn't much opportunity to show off thespian skills. Ellen Wroe does get to show off her gymnastic training though in the film's first and least plausible death. Jacqueline MacInnes Wood all but tears a teddy bear to shreds in the ophthalmologist's chair. Arlen Escarpeta should actually survive according to death's survivors calculus but it turns out death cheats too. P.J. Byrne reaches for comedy in his spa death scene while David Koechner, as The Office-style boss, punches out so suddenly you might call his a disappointing death. Opens: Friday, Aug. 12 (Warner Bros.) Production companies: New Line Cinema presents, a Practical Pictures/Zide Pictures production Cast: Nicholas D'Agosto, Emma Bell, Miles Fisher, Courtney B. Vance, Arlen Escarpeta, David Koechner, Tony Todd, P.J. Byrne, Ellen Wroe, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood Director: Steven Quale Screenwriter: Eric Heisserer Based on characters created by: Jeffrey Reddick Producers: Craig Perry, Warren Zide Executive producers: Richard Brener, Walter Hamada, Dave Neustadter, Erik Holmberg, Sheila Hanahan Taylor Director of photography: Brian Pearson Production designer: David R. Sandefur Visual effect supervisor: Ariel Velasco Shaw Music: Brian Tyler Costume designer: Jori Woodman Editor: Eric Sears R rating, 92 minutes Emma Bell Final Destination 5

Kill List Director Joins Big Screen

Ben Wheatley to bring thriller footageKeep your eyes peeled for Ben Wheatley's Kill List, a British movie certain to feature strongly on most film-of-the-year tallies. Wheatley, whose debut Down Terrace made a big impression, will be introducing his film at Empire Presents.... BIG SCREEN this weekend. Wheatley and the film's star Neil Maskell will be rocking up at The 02, Kill List in hand and showing off clips from their black-as-pitch thriller. Maskell plays a retired hitman lured back for that fateful 'one last job' by the temptation of some ready cash and the needs of his struggling wife (MyAnna Buring). Only, well, that 'one last job' turns out to be a whole lot of mini-jobs, all of them involving killing people. All on the titular kill list. Intrigued? We are. Kill List is in cinemas on September 2. Click here for tickets to BIG SCREEN's advanced look, introduced by Wheatley himself.

REVIEW: Rise of the Planet of the Apes Can't Sink Much Lower

I could describe Rise of the Planet of the Apes as Escape from Alcatraz, except with apes, but that would make it sound like a movie you might actually want to see. I could also describe it as an “origin story” that supposedly explains, albeit in a rather indirect fashion, how apes became evolved enough to wear black leather-trimmed tunics and walk around speaking in cultured voices that sound suspiciously like those of Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowall. But even if that’s the movie director Rupert Wyatt thinks he’s making — and the one James Franco thinks he’s starring in — that’s not the movie I saw. The backstory told in Rise of the Planet of the Apes is infinitely less compelling — and less inspired — than the one told in Franklin J. Schaffner’s 1968 Planet of the Apes, in which astronaut Charlton Heston crash-lands on a planet where apes are king and humans are second-class citizens. According to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the whole thing began with a dream: San Francisco scientist Will Rodman (Franco) hopes the cure for Alzheimer’s lies in a serum he’s been injecting into apes. His crusade is personal: His father, Charles (John Lithgow), is suffering from the disease. (Its chief effect, apparently, is to make him play the piano very, very badly.) When Will’s most important guinea-ape is shot and killed after having a major temper tantrum, it’s discovered that she was pregnant when captured; apparently, unbeknownst to everyone in the lab, she gave birth in her cage and hid her baby behind a ledge in there. Or something. Will takes the baby chimp home, and Charles, in a brief moment of non-piano-playing lucidity, christens him Caesar. It soon becomes clear that Caesar possesses above-average intelligence; the serum injected into his mom had made her supersmart too, and because it also changed her genetic makeup, she was able to pass this gift along to her offspring. Will raises Caesar as if he were a son, helped along by his girlfriend, pretty zoo doctor Caroline (Freida Pinto). He even teaches the chimp sign language. But because Will is so busy being a scientist and chimp-dad, he doesn’t have time to go see Project Nim, and so he doesn’t realize that somehow or other, his experiment is doomed to fail. After Caesar bites the finger off a mean neighbor, he’s incarcerated in a supposedly clean, pleasant and humane ape facility run by Brian Cox. Run, don’t walk, little chimp! Rise of the Planet of the Apes — which was written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (who adapted their ideas, as the writers of the earlier franchise did, from Pierre Boulle’s novel La Plante des Singes) — is too earnest and dour to be a silly bit of summer fun, but it’s not exactly scientifically sound, either. I kept waiting for a brainy chimp to be catapulted into space. For one brief, hopeful moment, I wondered if John Lithgow, upon being injected with his son’s miracle serum, might turn into a chimp. That would have been something, but no go. By the time Caesar and his fellow imprisoned apes stage their jailbreak — the beginning of a rampage that eventually takes them to the Golden Gate Bridge, ostensibly because a.) for there are cables for them to climb on and swing from but more likely because b.) it’s there — the movie’s grayed-out look and heavy-duty computer-generated enhancements begin to lose their charms, which are puny to begin with. Caesar is played, with the help of a motion-capture leotard and lots of computer flimflam, by Andy Serkis, and though Serkis has played an ape before — he provided the eyes and soul of Peter Jackson’s King Kong — he’s unconvincing here. It’s hard to say if the chief problem is the technology or the performance; it’s probably a combination of both. A computer-generated ape is so much less human-seeming than a real one. Caesar’s eyes, in particular, look all wrong — they’re piercing rather than winsome, and they look hostile even when he’s supposedly doing something sweet, like clambering into daddy Will’s arms for a cuddle. We need to sympathize with Caesar for the movie to work, but from infancy, he just looks shifty and untrustworthy. I’m not so sure about Franco, either. He’s a gifted actor, but he seems to be sleepwalking, or at least just shuffling listlessly, through Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It’s possible he doesn’t care about the movie at all: Could it be one of his winking little experiments, a gag along the lines of pretending to host the Oscars while not really doing anything? Franco has become so meta- that it’s almost impossible to take anything he does, or any character he plays, at face value. It doesn’t help that Rise of the Planet of the Apes is the kind of picture in which one character, about to witness some dastardly procedure visited upon some poor unsuspecting laboratory animal, announces, “I didn’t authorize that!” only to have another stride in just in time to say, “No — I did!” Who’s really in charge here? It’s impossible to know. But these apes will have to evolve a lot further before they do any more rising.

'Rise from the Planet from the Apes': PETA Goes Bananas for CGI Film

Usually Hollywood's arch-enemy, PETA is positively supporting twentieth century Fox's Rise from the Planet from the Apes, since no real simians are utilized within the film.our editor recommends'Rise from the Planet from the Apes' Star Andy Serkis: 5 Items to KnowVIDEO: Start Looking at Ape From 'Rise from the Planet from the Apes''Rise from the Planet from the Apes': Will Andy Serkis Score Acting Nom Without Showing up on the watch's screen?Increase from the Planet from the Apes: Hollywood Premiere at Grauman's'Rise from the Planet from the Apes' Trailer Beats Its Chest PHOTOS: 'Rise from the Planet from the Apes': Hollywood Premiere at Graumans Rather, the film-which opens in theaters Friday-depends on cutting-edge performance capture produced by Peter Jackson's WETA Digital to portray the apes. Andy Serkis plays Caesar, charge ape and also the story's central character. STORY: 'Rise from the Planet from the Apes': Will Andy Serkis Score Acting Nom Without Showing up on the watch's screen? Your pet-privileges org even went to date regarding give Rupert Wyatt, director of Apes, using the Proggy Award, given yearly to animal-friendly companies, people and items. And also the movie itself continues to be given PETA's official press. The Proggy was introduced the 2009 week, just days after people of PETA turned up in the Apes' premiere in La, happily waving placards, "Real Apes Love CGI." PHOTOS: Summer time Movie Guide In most cases, if PETA turns up in a premiere, it's from protest, not support. Recent films which have received attack through the organization include Sony's Zookeeper, Paramount's Rango and Warner Bros.' The Hangover Part II. PETA required are designed for Zookeeper in September 2009 when reviews appeared that the giraffe died soon after shooting ended. The new sony and director Frank Coraci refused any mistreatment, saying animal humane reps were always present on set, but PETA ongoing to require a boycott from the film. Within the situation of Rango, PETA initially supported the pc-animated film, since there have been no really reptiles used. However when Vital joined with PetSmart to provide a $10 discount on any reptile to clients who provided a Rango ticket stub, PETA lashed out, calling the promotion "ill-created and irresponsible." THR's Complete 'Rise from the Planet from the Apes' Coverage "This movie has been promoted to children, who might be intrigued by having a reptile but who're not even close to outfitted to humanely take care of one," read a PETA statement. Hangover II sparked ire for moments showing a monkey smoking, while PETA was fuming once the monkey was outfitted inside a frock and paraded about the red-colored carpet at among the premieres. STORY: Box Office Surprise: R-Ranked Comedies Pass $1 Bil in Summer time Grosses PETA is hopeful the technological developments in Rise from the Planet from the Apes will encourage other galleries to prevent using real creatures too. "Rupert [Wyatt] described that the large theme of the movie is humanity's mistreatment and abuse of captive apes," PETA stated inside a statement announcing the Proggy. "Apes would be the heroes of the film, and humans would be the villains-and Rupert stated he couldn't make a worse method of undercutting that message compared to using real apes within the movie's production." Rise from the Planet from the Apes was created by Chernin Entertainment, as well as stars James Franco, Frida Pinto, Tom Feltman and John Lithgow. Related Subjects James Franco Rise from the Planet from the Apes

'Mo'Nique Show' Put on Indefinite Hiatus

The Mo'Nique Show has been put on indefinite hiatus effective immediately.our editor recommendsMo'Nique, Mulligan among Academy inviteesOnes to Watch: Mo'Nique BET's late night talk show launched in Oct. 2009. The comedienne interviewed a variety of entertainers for the program, with an emphasis on culturally diverse guests. BET said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times, "Mo'Nique Hicks and The Mo'Nique Show are important to the BET Networks family and we look forward to continuing our relationship with her." The comedienne won the best supporting actress Oscar in 2010 for her role as an abusive mother in Precious. She was later invited to join the Academy, and raised eyebrows for turning down the opportunity to present an award at the 2011 Oscars. At the time, Mo'Nique's husband and manager Sidney Hicks said she couldn't make the ceremony because she had to shoot two episodes The Mo'Nique Show the following day in Atlanta. Hicks said he purposely took part in the nominations announcement because she knew there'd be a scheduling conflict. Mo'Nique is slated to appear in the ensemble comedy Bumped. Her other credits include Phat Girlz, Moesha, The Parkers and Soul Plane. The Mo'Nique Show runs weeknights at 11 p.m. Related Topics Precious MoNique