Today's Fresh Blogs...

• RIP Merv Griffin, A Showman To the End

  Published: August 12, 2007, 12:01 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Actors, Producers, Moguls, Music, Networks, Cable, Late Night, History

  Here were all his unfinished projects: Merv Griffin Entertainment, The Merv Griffin Ranch racing stable, TeleView Racing Patrol, Worldwide Real Estate, Inc., The Griffin Ranch Development, Griff Yacht, St. Cleran's Manor (Ireland), Coconut Productions. In fact, Merv's latest game show Crosswords premieres September 10th: the half-hour

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• Bob Shaye's Mea Culpa Too Little Too Late

  Published: August 9, 2007, 11:07 pm

  Tags: La Times, Hollywood, Media, Studios, Movies, Box Office, Directors, Moguls, Finance, Summer Movies

  I'm told that tomorrow, on the day that Rush Hour 3 opens, Bob Shaye publicly pledges to make changes in the way New Line Cinema runs its business. It's done via Los Angeles Times' Patrick Goldstein who just six months ago embarrassingly planted a big wet sloppy kiss in print on the mogul last March right before the release of Shaye's

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• What Do Peter Morton & Paramount Have In Common? A Movie That's Gonna Bomb

  Published: August 8, 2007, 9:12 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Studios, Movies, Box Office, Actors, Directors, Producers, Moguls, Tracking, Foreign, Marketing, Finance, Blogs, Trailers, Summer Movies, Vegas

  There are two things you may not know about Stardust, opening this weekend. 1) Good thing Brad Grey is vacationing in Europe with his family. Because he'll miss the pic's disastrous domestic opening this weekend. Even budgeted without marketing costs at $70 million (which sounds way low to me because of all the special effects excess), director

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• Which Draft Exposed Bart's Private Parts?

  Published: August 8, 2007, 8:07 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Movies, Producers, Moguls, Writers, Toons, Summer Movies

  Jim Brooks is saying that The Simpsons Movie screenplay went through 166 drafts. Is that a new record for Hollywood? Or is that a new apocalypse?

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• Patriotic War Book Heats Up Hollywood

  Published: August 16, 2007, 9:59 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Books, Studios, Movies, Moguls

  I hear there's a frenzied Hollywood bidding war going on today over the No. 1 book on The New York Times non-fiction bestseller list: Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes Of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell. Studio toppers are interrupting their vacations to try to get this book which was sold to Little

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• 'Superbad' Trounces Competition & Helps Summer 2007 Stay On Track For Record

  Published: August 19, 2007, 11:49 am

  Tags: Hollywood, Studios, Movies, Box Office, Producers, Moguls, Comedy, Summer Movies

  SUNDAY AM: It was the 6th "up" weekend in a row in overall summer box office which looks increasingly likely to set a new record for 2007. Summer to date this year already has passed 2006. But the overall record for May 1st through Labor Day is going down to the wire since 2004 is the precedent setter with $3.95 billion. But Sony's

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• Is This A Desperation Move & Cash Grab? Or Bloodier Blu-ray/HD-DVD Format War?

  Published: August 20, 2007, 3:46 am

  Tags: Big Media, Hollywood, Studios, Movies, Tech, Moguls, Finance, Toons, Dvds, Distribution, Digital

  I've learned there will be two new developments announced later this week in the ongoing Blu-ray vs HD-DVD format war: separate HD-DVD deals with Paramount and DreamWorks Animation that involve major millions of dollars. I've got a confidential analyst's report that recently alluded to the deals (see below), spinning them as "the format war

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• How Things Work: Rupert Murdoch Fixes Australian Election With Strippers!

  Published: August 20, 2007, 10:33 am

  Tags: Col Allan, How Things Work, Moguls, Politics, Rupert Murdoch, Top

  Rupert Murdoch has done his part to ensure the ouster of Australian prime minister John Howard, who's been toiling as the sad prison-island's leader since time immemorial. In a canny feat, Murdoch...

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• Apatow's 'Superbad' Does Superbetter: $33M

  Published: August 20, 2007, 2:20 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Studios, Movies, Box Office, Producers, Moguls, Comedy, Summer Movies

  Sony's Superbad had a better than expected Sunday so the official weekend total is now $33 mil, not just $31 mil. "We had an exceptional hold Sunday, one of the best I have ever seen, and it looks like we will be only down about 2% off of Saturday's number." See my previous: 'Superbad' Trounces Competition & Helps Summer 2007 For Record

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• David Geffen's Warner Estate NOT For Sale

  Published: August 24, 2007, 3:19 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Studios, Producers, Moguls, Finance, Geffen

  I can tell you that David Geffen is denying a throwaway line inside a Wall Street Journal article about big ticket homes for sale claiming that he "has quietly shopped his historic 9.4-acre Los Angeles estate for $100 million, according to a broker who has shown the property". Indeed, sources tell me that Geffen turns down offers, including

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• So Much For Good, Clean, Wholesome Fun

  Published: September 7, 2007, 7:30 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Studios, Scandal, Actors, Moguls, Cable

  Does this mean Disney can kiss goodbye its ridiculously profitable TV, publishing, music and everything else franchise? Just weeks after High School Musical 2 broke TV records, one of its teen stars, 18-year-old Vanessa Hudgens, apologized to fans today regretting that a nude photograph of her was taken and then leaked onto the Internet. What

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• Advertisers Are Rejecting CBS 'Kid Nation'

  Published: September 9, 2007, 6:56 pm

  Tags: Big Media, Hollywood, Media, Moguls, Networks, Reality, Advertising

  At least adertisers are showing they have a conscience, even if Les Moonves continues to demonstrate he doesn't. Advertising Age surveyed CBS' top 10 advertisers and found that half won't support the controversial reality show. Procter & Gamble, General Motors, Ford Motor, Verizon Communications, Pepsi-Cola and Anheuser-Busch all should be

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• The Single Worst Thing Airing On Bravo...

  Published: September 15, 2007, 12:04 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Internet, Moguls, Cable, Marketing, Blogs, Celebrity

  ... is Andy Cohen, Bravo's senior v-p of production and programming. He has to be the most annoying host to be foisted upon TV viewers in a long, long time. Of course, there's the obvious conflict of interest issue. (Did he audition himself? Yes, but claims in interviews that he did so with "support and encouragement from my bosses. I don't have

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• No 'Kid Nation' Screeners For CBS Board

  Published: September 18, 2007, 2:09 pm

  Tags: Big Media, Hollywood, Scandal, Moguls, Reality

  So CBS' despicable child exploitation series masquerading as a reality show Kid Nation premieres tomorrow. Many of the network's biggest advertisers have passed on it. Newspaper editorials have condemned it. Children were hurt making it. Les Moonves manipulated his board of directors because of it. Speaking of that board, much has been made of

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• Why Studio Moguls Are Like Kremlin Czars

  Published: September 18, 2007, 2:05 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Studios, Hollyweird, Moguls

  Everyone knows there's a "20-minute" rule in Hollywood. As in, if you're late to a meeting or a lunch because of gridlock on the freeway or surface streets, you get 20 minutes to arrive without anyone thinking the worst of you. Now comes a new study showing that the Los Angeles metropolitan area leads the nation in traffic jams, with

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