Word: debutants
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...four episodes of the upcoming fourth season (9 p.m. E.T., starting Sept. 15), the only sharks in the Soprano family's immediate future are the kind that wear pinstripes and tracksuits. In most respects, the episodes easily equal last season's, which in turn surpassed the show's 1999 debut for power, popularity--and controversy. Last season established The Sopranos as cable's highest-rated series ever, but it also drew renewed criticism for its unflinching violence, especially against women, in episodes showing a stripper's brutal murder, Dr. Melfi's rape and Tony's beating of his mentally...
...perhaps managing expectations for the season's highly hyped debut, also downplays the showdown. "We're in a different business," demurs HBO chairman-ceo Chris Albrecht. Says Chase: "I never really have paid attention to ratings." But somebody at HBO does: a memo tacked on Chase's bulletin board listed ratings for episodes from last year. And, business-model differences or no, a Sopranos viewer is still two fewer eyeballs for those new-car ads. "[The networks] are afraid to endorse controversial and innovative programming because they're afraid they'll lose the mainstream, but they're losing much...
...American Bandstand- like TV dance show, Hairspray takes us back to the era everyone loves to make fun of, the early 1960s. In theater-coiffure terms, we're in the sweet spot between Grease and Hair. Movie composer Marc Shaiman (South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut) makes his Broadway debut with a score that skillfully mimics the era's perky pop ditties, and director Jack O'Brien has put together a slick, high-spirited production. Add to that a politically correct story line about a girl who fights to integrate the dance show, and you have an unbeatable combination: desegregation...
...TIME's parent company, AOL Time Warner). The Monk "experiment," says ABC Entertainment president Susan Lyne, provides ABC with only slightly used programming on the cheap and benefits Disney, ABC's parent, which produces Monk. "Potentially," she says, "this is a great way of doing business." Monk's ABC debut drew more than 7 million viewers--pretty good for a summer rerun and huge by cable standards...
...scale production models are expected to come out within the next 10 years as costs drop. Before the big roll-out, Toyota and Honda plan to bring small test fleets to market in the U.S. sometime next year, and Ford says it will follow in 2004. To speed the debut of the fuel cells, President Bush is proposing tax breaks and other industry incentives...