Latest in Buzz

The buzz has been “it’s not working” on this pic in recent weeks. Now Paramount, DreamWorks, and Spyglass have delayed Dinner For Schmucks originally scheduled for release on July 23 to July 30. UPDATE: An insider just told me the reasoning: “It looks like a much less competitive weekend. July 30 is Cats & Dogs 2…

EXCLUSIVE: James Franco, thriving as an actor in mainstream dramas, comedies, micro-budget indies, and soaps, is back on the laugh track. He is attached to play the title role in the Jeff Bushell-scripted comedy Ricky Stanicky. Summit Entertainment is negotiating to finance the movie. The premise: a couple of pals who…

Will Nikita and Elena get together on the fall CW schedule? I hear strong ramblings that CW’s breakout hit of this season, Vampire Diaries, may be used to launch the network’s most buzzed about new series, Nikita on Thursdays.

UPDATED: People attending the NBC presentation were buzzing about one line in particular from the trailer for new comedy Friends With Benefits. in it, one of the guys complains to a girl about her tongue in his mouth:  “You kiss like a hobo cleaning out a margarine container.” Over at Fox’s presentation, Jane Lynch…

We’ll have Fox’s complete schedule tomorrow morning (make sure to check us out at 8:30AM ET/5:30AM PT when I will be posting it) but for the curious minds out there, here are some tidbits I heard today. It looks like the new Mitch Hurwitz/Will Arnett comedy Running Wilde will launch in the fall, probably paired with…

With the networks wrapping up their internal screenings, pilots are entering the final stretch when executives factor in testing and testing results as well as scheduling needs to make their picks for next fall. Here is the latest buzz on which pilots are still in contention: Besides the Steven Spielberg-produced…

Last Friday was such a busy day that I didn't get to a story that has Broadway buzzing, and not in a good way. Newsweek.com  carried an "exclusive"  article which discussed the drawbacks of gay actors playing straight characters. The writer, Ramin Setoodeh, focused his ire on Sean Hayes, who acknowledged he was gay…

A change-of-address email sent out Monday by Andrea Wong, the departing CEO and president of Lifetime Networks, got industry people buzzing about her future plans. Wong’s new office is in the Animation Building on the Disney lot, marking the former ABC top reality/late-night executive’s return to her old stomping…

The new date set by Sony’s Columbia Pictures for the comedy is now July 8th, 2011, not October 8, 2010 which MGM had originally slotted for it. The decision was made after a rousing test screening with “some of the highest scores we have ever seen,” a studio exec tells me. Seriously, the advance word on this pic has…

UPDATE: Now I hear Denzel Washington is considering directing a film version of Fences. (Bravo!) The last time he helmed a pic was The Great Debaters in 2007 and, of course, Antwone Fisher in 2002. The toughest thing when great movie stars head to Broadway is that their performances live in the moment. At Monday’s…

EXCLUSIVE: After Up In The Air scored the most Golden Globes nominations (6) including best picture, actor, director, screenplay and two supporting actress mentions, Paramount wants to take advantage of the extraordinary buzz. So it’s moving up the Jason Reitman/George Clooney pic’s wide break from Christmas Day to…

BREAKING NEWS! So much for the accuracy of tracking. There’s obviously huge online curioisty about James Cameron’s 3-D latest. The Hollywood Reporter‘s glowing early review of Avatar released just now has crashed the trade paper’s website because of a Drudge Report pickup. The Times of London, KTLA’s Sam Rubin, and…