'Today' producer upped

Senior "Today" producer Dee Dee Thomas continues to be upped to professional producer on "Weekend Today." Thomas will are accountable to "Today" professional producer Jim Bell and work carefully with anchors Lester Holt, Amy Robach and Jenna Wolfe. Thomas has overseen several special broadcasts throughout her tenure at "Today," together with coverage for five Olympics and 2 different "Today Throws a marriageInch broadcasts. Producer continues to be with NBC News since 1993 and became a member of "Today" in 1995.Also at NBC News' weekend programs, Mike Singal continues to be named professional producer of weekend models of "NBC Nightly News." Singal, too, works with Holt on his broadcasts, and can are accountable to "Nightly News" professional producer Patrick Burkey. Singal continues to be with NBC News since 1998 and "Nightly News" since 2002 and it has covered, among other occasions, Ted Kennedy's funeral and the newest withdrawal of yankee troops from Iraq. Contact Mike Thielman at mike.thielman@variety.com

NBCUniversal Agrees to 10-Year Lease at Universal City Tower (Exclusive)

NBCUniversal has agreed to renew its lease at 10 Universal City Plaza for 10 years in a deal valued at about $170 million, according to several real estate sources with knowledge of the Universal City transaction. The deal, which has not yet closed, is for roughly 370,000 square feet with landlord Normandy Real Estate Partners of Morristown, N.J. Itis believed to be the largest office lease in the Los Angeles area since Fox Interactive signed a $350 million deal in 2008 for space in a Playa Vista office development. Several units and divisions of NBCUniversal maintain offices at the 36-story, 774,240-square-foot granite and glass tower, including SyFy, NBCUniversal Television Distribution and Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Other tenants in the Class A building, which is across from Universal Studios Hollywood, include Panasonic and Universal Music Group, the building's largest tenant. The transaction is believed to be the most significant real estate deal made by management since Comcast completed its purchase of a majority share of New York-based NBCUniversal from General Electric in January. NBCUniversal declined to comment. The company's new lease starts at roughly $3.35 per square foot per month and contains annual escalations, according to sources. Typically, such leases escalate by 3% annually. It is a full service gross lease -- a type of deal that involves the landlord paying for taxes, maintenance, insurance and utilities. The lease starts at a slightly higher rental rate than typical deals for high-end space in the area. One source said that leases for Class A space in the nearby Burbank Media District are being inked in the range of $3 to $3.25 per square foot per month. According to data from real estate services firm Grubb & Ellis Co., the average asking rent for Class A space in Burbank during the second quarter was $3.30 per square foot per month. Bill Boyd, a veteran commercial real estate broker who specializes in the Burbank and Glendale markets, said that Normandy Real Estate had the ability to ask for a higher rental rate because NBCUniversal would have few options nearby if it were to move. "There's certainly nowhere nearby with the quality or location of their existing space, which always commands a premium in the marketplace," said Boyd, a senior managing director at commercial real estate brokerage Charles Dunn Co. He is not involved in the transaction. Sources said that as part of the deal, NBCUniversal will be given a roughly $17 million allowance from the landlord to make improvements to its offices. NBCUniversal will also give back to Normandy Real Estate about 30,000 square feet of space it currently leases. The building was once owned by former Universal Studios parent Vivendi, which sold the property in 2003 to investment management firm Beacon Capital Partners of Boston and CarrAmerica Realty Corp. of Washington. Normandy Real Estate acquired the tower in 2008. NBCUniversal is being represented by commercial real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle, which could not be reached for comment; Normandy Real Estate is represented by CB Richard Ellis Group, which declined to comment. Normandy Real Estate did not respond to e-mails seeking comment. Email: Daniel.Miller@THR.com Twitter: @DanielNMiller Related Topics NBCUniversal

Julianne Hough Talks Rock Of Age range & Kim Kardashians Wedding

La, Calif. -- Julianne Hough, star from the approaching Footloose reboot, lately finished filming another musical giant screen project, Rock of Age range, alongside a remarkable roster of the-listers, including Tom Cruise and Catherine Zeta-Johnson. However, the bubbly blonde states there have been not only famous faces to ogle about the set. The knowledge on Rock of Age range was absolutely insane, crazy, completely unpredictable and that we had apes on set, Julianne told Access Hollywood in the Footloose junket in Newhall, Calif., on Monday. Im serious. Like literally everyday could be like, Wait you will find there's monkey on set? Wait we now have hookers? Wait we now have what's going on? This can be a crazy movie, therefore it was unpredictable, fun, amusing also it was fantastic, she added. For her megastar co-star Tom Cruise, Julianne stated she and Tom are actually pals. You realize, TC and that i we return, she stated having a laugh. No hes amazing. [A] really, great guy. And Katies amazing. She came lower [towards the] set and [theyre] just really classy couple. Theyre amazing. Julianne had quite peak week additionally to marketing Footloose, alongside co-star Kenny Wormald, the first kind Dwts professional champion attended Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries wedding on Saturday together with her boyfriend, Ryan Seacrest, and handled to generate the title of best outfitted in the wedding from Kathie Lee Gifford. I gotta let you know in the event that dress was on anybody else I'd have stated exactly the same factor, Julianne stated. That dress was bad ass! It had been from Decades, vintage also it really was awesome, she ongoing. It had its little bustle within the back so Im like, Hun, bustle my butt fluff my butt, because I'd take a seat on it. However it am classy, it had been so chic, I loved it. Thanks, Kathie Lee! For the marriage, Julianne stated the glamorous evening certainly resided as much as the hype. It had been fun, she told Access. It had been really fun. Watch Julianne and Kenny tear in the party area about the giant screen when Footloose hit theaters on October 14. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All privileges reserved.These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Kevin Jonas On Whether Theres Another Jonas Brothers Album In The Works & If Hes Ready For Kids

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Kevin Jonas hit the set of Access Hollywood Live on Tuesday, co-hosting alongside Kit Hoover, and he revealed plans are in the works for another Jonas Brothers project. Little fan Ava recorded a question for the musician, and Kevin responded by noting the band, is ready to do something together again, sometime soon. We definitely will. Joes coming out with an album on Oct. 11 which is really exciting his first solo project but the Jonas Brothers will definitely be coming back with an album soon, he said. We were talking about it recently, about getting back together, doing something, whether its a full album, or something special. Definitely. Beyond talk of another Jonas Brothers project, Kit Hoover, a mother of three, asked Kevin if he and his wife of two years, Danielle, are planning to join the baby club. Its that point now where people are just like, Ok, so youve been married, when are you gonna have a kid? he said. When Kit asked if theres pressure from the couples parents, Kevin said theres been a little bit. No, yes, here and there, he said. Weve started to realize we might become those weird dog people. We have our two dogs, so we dont want to be those weird dog people, so maybe were headed there sooner than we thought. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Capsules (Capsulas)

An Anver Films presentation in co-production with Toy & Butterfly Prods. Created by Veronica Riedel. Executive producers, Riedel, Edgar Hernandez, Simon Junker. Directed, compiled by Veronica Riedel.With: Carolina Cuervo, Giacomo Buonafina, Sebastian Gereda, Jose Penalonso, Jairon Salguero, Marylena Jerez, Sofia Arevalo, Atli Scoenbeck, Luis Sanchez, Samuel Osorio.Just a little wealthy boy in Guatemala City endures an very active day in Veronica Riedel's risible drama "Capsules." Among the couple of features to leave the small but growing Guatemala film community, pic tries to express a boy's secret longing to reunite together with his lengthy-lost father, along with the narrow distance between your country's haves and also have-nots, particularly when the haves are drug sellers. But crude staging, rickety pacing and telenovela-quality acting undermine the project, that will tour strictly Latino fests. Apparently more fortunate than a lot of his mates, schoolboy Fonsi (Sebastian Gereda) likes making paintball videos and hearing rap, but he's encircled by vipers. To his left is his mother's drug-dealing b.f. Simon (Jose Penalonso), who helps make the lad swallow capsules of heroin to smuggle in to the U.S., in which the household is headed. To his right is several bad youths brought by Nena (Sofia Arevalo, inside a ridiculous evil-bitch-from-hell perf). His lengthy-absent father, Giaco (Giacomo Buonafina), handles to obtain Fonsi from the criminals for many time.Digital camera (color, widescreen, HD), Roberto Correa editor, Domingo Lemus music, David P Gandarias production designer, Fernando Galvez costume designer, Sofia Lantan. Examined on DVD, La, August. 15, 2011. (In La Latino, New You are able to Latino film festivals.) Running time: 102 MIN. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

DirecTV's 'NFL Sunday Ticket' Available These Days On Ps 3 For Any Hefty $339

The new sony, together with DirecTV, stated today the satellite television provider's popular National football league Sunday Ticket service is going to be readily available for live streaming on Ps 3 consoles. The package enables audiences to be careful-of-market games and comes free having a DirecTV subscription. The charge for existing customers to include Sunday Ticket on the console is going to be one more $50 at the beginning of the growing season. But Ps 3 customers who would like the National football league package such as the have DirecTV will need to spend out $339.95. The package will feature as much as 14 games per week in high-def and can include DirecTV's Red-colored Zone Funnel, which supplies scoring highlights from round the National football league. "We all know that Ps fans are huge sports fanatics, so adding National football league Sunday Ticket is the best complement towards the PS3s quickly growing selection of sports entertainment," Philip Rosenberg, sr. vice president of economic development stated about the Ps blog. Mlb and also the National Hockey League are presently on the consoles. For the time being, the offer is different. "We would like to make use of a single partner this time around around to provide everybody an excellent experience," DirecTV's director of pr Robert Mercer told Shacknews.

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp Get Cozy in New Image from The Rum Diary

Hunter S. Thompson’s novel The Rum Diary, written in 1959 but not published until 1998 — the year Johnny Depp channeled Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas — tells the tale of Paul Kemp, an American journalist who finds himself living and drinking among expats in 1950s Puerto Rico. There he meets Chenault, the ravishing girlfriend of another man, with whom he becomes obsessed. After the jump see Depp and Amber Heard getting cozy as Kemp and Chenault in a still from the October release, adapted by writer-director Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I, Jennifer 8). Looks pretty gorgeous, from the color palette to the period style to Amber Heard’s perfect, well, everything. Just one nagging detail remains as what we know of The Rum Diary thus far: It seems that Robinson has taken some creative liberties with the plot, according to the official synopsis which describes Chenault’s boyfriend as “Sanderson, a businessman involved in shady property development deals” instead of Kemp’s colleague Yeamon, as written in the book. With Depp as Kemp, Heard as Chenault, Aaron Eckhart as the aforementioned Sanderson, Richard Jenkins as newspaper editor Lotterman, Michael Rispoli as Bob Salas, and Giovanni Ribisi as Moberg, take a look at the film’s synopsis, courtesy of GK Films: “The Rum Diary is a GK Film, Infinitum Nihil and Film Engine production starring Johnny Depp. Based on the debut novel by Hunter S. Thompson which initiated his long, distinguished and brilliantly unpredictable career, The Rum Diary tells the increasingly unhinged story of itinerant journalist Paul Kemp (Depp). Tiring of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local newspaper, the San Juan Star, run by downtrodden editor Lotterman (Jenkins). Adopting the rum-soaked life of the late-’50s version of Hemingway’s “The Lost Generation,” Paul soon becomes increasingly obsessed with Chenault (Heard), the wildly attractive Connecticut-born fiance of Sanderson (Eckhart), a businessman involved in shady property development deals.” The Rum Diary is in theaters October 28. [GK Films via ComingSoon]

Experts Debate Entertainment Stocks, Debt Issues as U.S. Marketplaces Drop Again

Simon Cowell: The X Factor Can Top American Idol

Simon Cowell Does Simon Cowell think his lineup of X Factor judges are deliberately mean to contestants? Well, not deliberately.During Fox's fall TV preview Friday, American Idol's former acerbic kingpin was asked if the harsh judgments seen in commercials for The X Factor were an intentional contrast with the "cuddly with contestants" vibe of last season's Idol."We didn't make an intentional effort to be mean," Cowell told reporters via satellite. "That's just in us. The contestants are mean to us, sometimes we can be harsh to them. It's give and take." The other judges are Paula Abdul, music executive L.A. Reid and singer-Sing-Off judge Nicole Scherzinger. Audition rounds, which were shot before live audiences, have already been filmed.However, bickering between judges, also formerly an Idol hallmark, appears to be a big part of X Factor. When asked how the reunion with Cowell has gone, Abdul said, "It's nice to be back in a demented relationship. It's like home. It's like we're an old married couple." Cowell followed: "I think it's like Exorcist 2."The plan, in any case, is to crush Idol. "You don't start something for the silver medal," Cowell said. "I wouldn't have made the show unless I thought it was going to be different. We see this as a game-changer; we're going to try and change the rules." Among the other differences to Idol: Contestants as young as 12 years old can compete, the show will entertain both solo artists and groups, the auditions are held in front of live audiences, and mentoring will be a major part of the process.Asked if Fox's two major singing competitions could co-exist - alongside NBC's The Voice and The Sing-Off - Cowell seemed confident that they could. "The idea that there was only ever going to be one singing show in America is crazy," he said. "The Voice came along, and we're going to come on during a time of year where there aren't any [similar singing competitions]. "We've got to design X Factor for people who have never seen these [type of] shows before," Cowell added.Cowell isn't worried that NBC's The Voice beat them to the punch in including judge-mentors for the contestants. "How we work with the contestants and how that is shown on the show... it is very different to The Voice," he said. And with regards to mentors, Cowell said there is truth in the speculation that Mariah Carey would turn up on the show. "There will be certain sections on the show where we have well-known people helping us. I spoke to her the other day," he said. "She's been enthusiastic since Day 1 - but then she selfishly got pregnant and that's why she isn't a judge."As for the ousting of Cheryl Cole, originally a judge on the U.K.'s X Factor before being hired on the U.S. version, Cowell said that after they shot two episodes, he felt Cole would be "more comfortable" back on the U.K. show. "I offered her the U.K. job, which she accepted," he said. "When [the news] went public, the negotiations fell apart." He added it had nothing to do with speculation that she didn't get along with Abdul. "If it was a question of not getting on with Paula, then I wouldn't be on the show," he said. The winner of The X Factor is guaranteed to walk away with a $5 million recording contract. Fox also announced Friday that the winner will also be the star of a Pepsi commercial that will air during next year's Super Bowl. "It's a money-can't-buy prize," Cowell said.The X Factor premieres Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 8/7c on Fox.

'Jersey Shore' Season Premiere Draws Record Social Media Crowd

NEW YORK -- The season premier of MTV's Jersey Shore had more people talking on social media networks like Twitter and Facebook on Thursday than any other show this year, according to data from research firm SocialGuide.our editor recommends'Jersey Shore' Boss: The MTV Hit 'Is the Best and Worst Thing That Ever Happened to Me' (Q&A)'Jersey Shore' New Spinoffs Will Not Dilute Franchise, Says MTV Exec'Beavis and Butt-Head' Riff on 'Jersey Shore' in MTV Series Relaunch (Video) And BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield mentioned in a blog post Friday that Trendrr.tv, which also tracks social media activity around TV shows, shows that Jersey Shore activity on Thursday was bigger than the top 10 broadcast shows and the remaining nine cable shows combined. PHOTOS: 'Jersey Shore' Cast Hits Italy In primetime, the hit show garnered nearly 191,000 unique commentators on social media platforms and close to 300,000 comments, according to the SocialGuide data. Fifty-six percent of the social audience for Jersey Shore commented during airtime of the primetime return of the show. "This is the biggest social performance for a TV series episode since Jan 1 2011 that we have on record," said SocialGuide CEO Sean Casey. PHOTOS: The Best and Worst Moments of 'Jersey Shore' When looking at all social media talk about Jersey Shore during all airtimes throughout the day -- and not just the premier, the show had a record-breaking 65 percent share of all uniques and 62 percent share of all comments made about all of TV programming, according to SocialGuide. In this category, it attracted 342,700 uniques and 602,780 comments, according to SocialGuide. STORY: 'Jersey Shore' in Italy: Outtakes From July's Cover Story Greenfield took further note, saying in his blog post that the Jersey Shore cast started broadcasting live on the Internet at 11:30 a.m. ET this morning with what MTV calls Jersey Shore Hook-Up Live Edition. MTV is "driving Twitter usage during the show with #jerseyshorelive very visible on the MTV website streaming the show," he wrote. Added Greenfield: "TV programmers are increasingly viewing Twitter as an important driver of sentiment around their shows." Related Topics International Jersey Shore

Shaun Nichols Lands Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon For 'Take Shelter' Followup 'Mud'

BREAKING: Take Shelter helmer Shaun Nichols has set Dirt as his next film, and it is in talks with Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon and Tree of Life's Tye Sheridan to star. Everest Entertainment is fully financing and Lisa Marie Falcons is creating alongside Sarah Eco-friendly and FilmNation Entertainment's Aaron Ryder. Eco-friendly would be a producer of Nichols' festival favorite Take Shelter, that was acquired sight unseen by The new sony Pictures Classics at Sundance. FilmNation's Glen Basner is professional creating and handling worldwide sales. CAA and FilmNation will broker a domestic deal. FilmNation made the offer for Take Shelter, which won Critic's Week at Cannes. Dirt is really a redemptive tale of the charming fugitive and the unlikely friendship having a 14-years old kid who's going to help Dirt avoid what the law states plus some tough bounty predators so he is able to reunite together with his true love Juniper (Witherspoon). Nichols authored the script. Shaun Nichols has written an attractive story with wealthy figures learning valuable training through existence-altering conditions. With Jeffs vision, this is a thing of beauty, states Everest Entertainment founder Falcone. Its an amazing script which Shaun, together with Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon and Tye Sheridan, brings to existence. Weve been fortunate to utilize incredible filmmakers like Danny Boyle, Tom McCarthy and Rodrigo Garcia and therefore are grateful to include Shaun Nichols to that particular list.

CW Chief: Network Is looking for Close-Ended Series, Comedies along with a Super hero Show