Hathaway to star in limited series ‘Ambassador’s Wife’
LOS ANGELES, Aug 19, (Agencies): Anne Hathaway has signed on to star in the limited series “The Ambassador’s Wife,” from Entertainment One and the Mark Gordon Co.
Project is based on the newly released novel by author Jennifer Steil about a British woman who is kidnapped in Yemen, setting off an ordeal for her and her ambassador husband.
The project is the most high-profile TV effort to come from Mark Gordon Co. since he set up shop in July with eOne in an effort to build a mini film and TV studio. Entertainment One will finance “Ambassador’s Wife,” which will make the starry package even more of a hot property when it is shopped to TV and digital outlets.
There’s no word yet about a writer for the TV adaptation. Hathaway will also serve as a producer on the series.
“Ambassador’s Wife” continues a trend of limited series attracting topflight movie stars for TV productions that don’t come with the same openended commitment as a traditional series. The first season of HBO’s “True Detective,” with the marquee value provided by stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, set off a frenzy in the creative community to package limited series around talent that otherwise wouldn’t commit to TV. Hathaway’s upcoming pics include “The Intern” opposite Robert De Niro and “Alice Through the Looking Glass.”
“The Ambassador’s Wife’ is an incredible story that pulls you in immediately and resonates with all of us based on the images and news headlines that are pervasive in our lives today,” said Gordon. “We are so fortunate to have Anne starring in this timely, gripping and compassionate drama. She is in a league all her own, and we cannot think of anyone who can better portray Steil’s complex heroine.”
Gordon has said that he intends to shepherd projects from other producers through his eOne shingle. There’s no word yet on producing auspices for “Ambassador’s Wife.”
US technology firm Intel, best known for its semiconductor chips, is jumping into reality TV with a competition pitting makers of wearables and smart connected consumer devices.
For “America’s Greatest Makers,” due to premiere in early 2016 across the Turner Broadcasting entertainment platform, Intel teamed up with “Survivor” producer Mark Burnett.
Winners will take home a $1 million prize.
The program, announced Tuesday at the 2015 Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, will be inspired by television competition shows such as “American Idol.”
Competitors will be challenged to invent wearables and smart connected consumer devices powered by Intel’s Curie technology.
A longtime leader in semiconductors for personal computers, Intel has been shifting its focus to mobile devices and connected objects.
Two months into the transition from Brian Williams to Lester Holt as anchor of NBC’s top-rated “Nightly News” broadcast, and executives at the network can breathe easier.
NBC has beaten David Muir and ABC’s “World News Tonight” in all eight of the weeks since Holt was appointed Williams’ successor, the Nielsen company said. Last week NBC averaged 8 million viewers to ABC’s 7.7 million, and 6.4 million for the “CBS Evening News.”
NBC and ABC ran neck-and-neck during the period when Holt was the substitute for Williams, and Muir’s newscast even won several weeks. Williams was suspended by NBC for lying about his role covering the Iraq War, and eventually dismissed as “Nightly News” anchor. He is expected to re-emerge next month as a breaking news anchor on MSNBC.
Andrew Tyndall, a news consultant who monitors the content of the evening newscasts, credits NBC for a strong advertising push for Holt after five months where the newscast was essentially in limbo.
“They put the promotional weight of NBC behind him,” Tyndall said. “I don’t see any difference in the journalism and I don’t see any difference in the programs.”
During the summer of Trump, all three evening newscasts are seeing bumps in viewership. During the past eight weeks, “Nightly News” is up 2 percent in viewers over the same period in 2014, “World News Tonight” is up 5 percent and the “CBS Evening News” is up 7 percent, Nielsen said.
The accountants at NBC News are particularly pleased with Holt’s performance among viewers aged 25 to 54, the ratings demographic used in advertising sales for news broadcasts. ABC actually led in that demo last summer, but this summer “Nightly News” is up 7 percent among that group and “World News Tonight” is even. Holt has beaten Muir seven of the past eight weeks, Nielsen said.
NBC is delivering a TV movie inspired by Dolly Parton’s childhood as an early holiday gift.
The network said Tuesday that “Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors” will air at 9 pm EST on Dec 10.
Based on the country singer-songwriter’s early years in rural Tennessee, the movie stars Alyvia Alyn Lind as the 9-year-old Parton.
Other cast members include Sugarland singer Jennifer Nettles and actor Ricky Schroder as Parton’s parents as well as Gerald McRaney as her grandfather.
NBC said that production on “Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors” begins this week in Atlanta.
As she raises two daughters while managing a yoga studio, Nashville mom Jennifer Derryberry Mann swears by Google calendars on her phone to keep everyone organized.
For Kelly Ubinger, working and raising four kids in Pittsburgh requires a huge, paper wall calendar with everyone’s activities recorded. In Washington, DC, single mom El Brown uses the digital organizing app Cozi to coordinate life with her son while running a business and pursuing a doctorate degree.
Strategies vary widely, but many parents agree that having some kind of system to manage schedules is important — especially at this time of year.
“Families with kids can wing it on lazy summer mornings,” says Cynthia Ewer, founder of OrganizedHome.com. But “back-to-school brings new organizational challenges. Adding school, extracurricular activities and sports to a family’s schedule can cause chaos unless you’ve got a good grip on time management.”
As the school year begins, some suggestions on creating and improving a family system that works:
Designate spots for permission slips, soccer cleats, musical instruments and more — what Ewer calls “the miscellany that will float through the household starting on the first day of school” — so you don’t waste time trying to find it each day.
She suggests creating a “family launch pad” in a common area. You might place a file box on a shelf and fill it with colorcoded folders (one for each child’s paperwork), or tack plastic pouches to a wall, each labeled with a child’s name. Donna Smallin Kuper, founder of Unclutter.com, uses Post-It Wall Pockets for this purpose.
Add hooks beneath the pouches or shelf for jackets and lunch boxes, and place labeled bins on the floor beneath each hook. Have kids drop backpacks in their bin, along with other items that go with them to school. Bins and baskets are helpful for kids, says Smallin Kuper, because tossing shoes or unfolded clothing in them is much simpler — and more likely to happen — than arranging shoes in a row, or folding clothes and putting them in drawers.
Craft blogger Jennifer Yates has created a family “command center” using two old window screens, one for each child. She glued clothespins onto the frames for posting papers; attached wooden hymnal holders reclaimed from church pews to hold other papers and small items; and added a row of hooks.
The family organization app Cozi (at Cozi.com) includes a calendar function that can be shared among family members’ devices and easily updated by kids or parents. The app also lets you record meal plans, and shopping and “to do” lists.
Similarly, Outlook, Apple and Google calendars can be customized with colorcoded entries for each family member, and updated and shared among devices.
If you prefer low-tech, a large paper calendar hung in a central spot can be color-coded for each person, and you can achieve some of the portability of a digital calendar by snapping a photo of the calendar with your phone before leaving home. Mann, the Nashville yoga teacher, combines both approaches: She uses Google calendar but also has her daughters’ schedules written in colorful marker and tacked to the wall.
A digital list-maker can help you avoid making multiple, time-consuming trips to the store. Family members can update it from wherever they are, and you can look at it while you’re running errands. (Besides Cozi, check out the Evernote and Omnifocus apps.)
Ubinger goes through the kids’ backpacks to retrieve papers as soon as they get home, signing permission slips and adding appointments to her calendar to make sure they’re not forgotten.
Smallin Kuper suggests getting kids involved in keeping things organized; it’s “a way to strengthen bonds.”
“You might even have just one child help you for the week with cleaning, laundry and meal prep. It makes them feel special to have that one-on-one time with you, and they are learning skills for life,” she says. The truly organized say weekday mornings also can be made easier by prepping lunches and snacks ahead of time. Smallin Kuper suggests taking time Sunday to prep individual baggies of cut vegetables or nuts and raisins. Also do breakfast prep for the week ahead: Make a large pot of oatmeal to keep in the refrigerator, chop plenty of fruit for fast, healthy breakfast smoothies and use a muffin tin to bake mini-omelets for the whole family.
Routine can be a powerful force to keep families on track. For younger kids, post a “morning checklist” and “bedtime checklist” in their rooms. The morning plan might specify which sibling gets the bathroom first, and remind them to brush their teeth. The bedtime routine can include laying out clothes for the morning and making sure homework is in the backpack. (AP)