 UPN Banks on More 'Model'
Wed, Jun 25, 2003 01:31 PM PDT
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Prepare to meet America's next next top model.
With "America's Next Top Model" providing UPN with solid summer ratings, the network has ordered another edition of the reality model search.
Hosted by Tyra Banks and executive produced by Banks and Ken Mok ("Making the Band"), "Model" follows 12 women with dreams of making it big in the modeling work. They live in a New York apartment, get judged by celebrity experts, worry about their makeup and face the fierce competition of the profession. Each week, Tyra and the judges eliminate one candidate and the eventual winner will receive a Revlon modeling contract, a photo spread in Marie Claire and any variety of other deals and perks.
Since its premiere after the finale of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Model" has boosted UPN's ratings in several key demographics. In its Tuesday 9 p.m. ET time slot, numbers are up 91 percent among adults 18-34 (including 136 percent among women in that age group) and 62 percent among total viewers.
On Tuesday night's (June 24) episode, viewers watched 22-year-old Kesse Wallace, a Tyra-lookalike from Arkansas become the latest model to be removed from the race.
'Game' On for UPN at Midseason
Fri, Jun 27, 2003 12:26 PM PDT
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - UPN is continuing its push to a comedy-oriented network with the pickup of an animated series called "Game Over" for midseason.
The series, produced by Carsey-Werner-Mandabach ("That '70s Show"), will be the first fully CGI-animated series to air in network primetime. Patrick Warburton ("Seinfeld," "The Tick" ) and Marisa Tomei ("Anger Management" ) lend their voices to the main characters, a married couple who live in a video-game universe.
"'Game Over' is the type of groundbreaking comedy that fits the UPN brand and will definitely appeal to our young adult audience," says Dawn Ostroff, UPN's entertainment president.
Warburton and Tomei play Rip and Raquel Smashenburn, married parents who have typical video-game jobs. He's a reckless Grand Prix driver who races every day and crashes a whole lot; she juggles family demands with her job as a covert agent who fights monsters.
The Smashenburns have two teenage kids, the cynical Alice (Rachel Dratch, "Saturday Night Live") and wannabe rapper Billy (E.G. Daily, "The Powerpuff Girls," "Rugrats"), and a cigar-chomping, larcenous pet named Turbo (Howard Stern sidekick Artie Lange).
'Opposite Sex' renamed 'Eve'
Tue, Jun 24, 2003
John Consoli; Mediaweek
UPN has changed the title of its new fall sitcom The Opposite Sex to Eve, after the show's hip-hop singer.
In the show, Eve stars as Shelly, about a woman trying to navigate her career along with her personal life. The network said it decided to change the title in order to "better market and promote the new series, capitalizing on Eve's wordlwide fan base."
The show is a production of The Greenblatt Janollari Studio, in association with Warner Bros. Television.
|  THE HULK [PG]
Now Playing!
Scientist Bruce Banner's (Bana) quiet life as a brilliant researcher working with cutting edge genetic technology conceals a nearly forgotten and painful past. His ex-girlfriend and equally brilliant fellow researcher, Betty Ross (Connelly), has tired of Bruce�s cordoned off emotional terrain and resigns herself to remaining an interested onlooker to his quiet life. One day a simple oversight leads to an explosive situation and Bruce makes a split-second decision; his heroic impulse saves a life and leaves him apparently unscathed -- his body absorbing a normally deadly dose of gamma radiation. [Universal Pictures]
How is this movie UPN related?
1996 animated Hulk series was made for UPN.
THE ITALIAN JOB [PG-13]
Now Playing!
The plan was flawless, the job executed perfectly and the escape clean. The only threat mastermind thief Charlie Croker (Wahlberg) never saw coming was from a member of his own crew. After pulling off an amazing gold bullion heist from a heavily guarded palazzo in Venice, Italy, Charlie and his gang -- inside man Steve (Norton), computer genius Lyle (Green), wheelman Handsome Rob (Statham), explosives expert Left-Ear (Def) and veteran safecracker Bridger (Sutherland) -- can't believe it when one of them turns out to be a double-crosser. Now, with the help of Stella (Theron), a beautiful nerves-of-steel safecracker, they plan to re-steal the gold by tapping into Los Angeles' traffic control system, manipulating signals and creating the biggest traffic jam in L.A. history. [Paramount Pictures]
How is this movie UPN related?
It's Paramount!!! Was featured on UPN's Buzz Reel May 26th.
LAST WEEKEND BOX OFFICE TOP 10
June 20 - June 22, 2003 |
1. The Hulk (Universal) - 62.1m
2. Finding Nemo (Walt Disney) - 21.1m
3. 2 Fast 2 Furious (Universal) - 11.0m
4. Bruce Almighty (Universal) - 9.8m
5. The Italian Job (Paramount Pictures) - 7.1m
6. Rugats Go Wild (Paramount Pictures) - 6.9m
7. Alex and Emma (Franchise Pictures) - 6.1m
8. Hollywood Homicide (Columbia Pictures) - 5.9m
9. Dumb and Dumberer (New Line Cinema) - 4.3m
10. Matrix Reloaded (Warner Bros.) - 3.9m
Weekend box office data by ACNielsen EDI ©2003
The Incredible Hulk (Animated Series) (2003) (NEW!)
The DVD compiles the first four episodes of the 1996-97 animated series, which outline the Hulk's origins, as well as the struggles of his human alter ego, Bruce Banner, to rid himself of the creature. The episodes also make fine use of Marvel's rosters of heroes and villains; in the two-part "Return of the Beast," the Hulk tangles with the Leader, the Gargoyle, and the hideous Abomination, while in "Raw Power," he's up against the malevolent ZZZAX; and in "Helping Hand, Iron Fist," he goes mano-a-mano with Iron Man and War Machine. Terrific performances (TV Hulk Lou Ferrigno provides the creature's voice) and extensive extras make this DVD a must-have for comic and cartoon aficionados. --Paul Gaita
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What past UPN series involved a video game villan escaping into the real world?