Smallville

Transcription

Smallville
Page 1 of 8
January 4, 2013
Da
y
il
Inside:
‘REALITY STEVE’
IS SUED AGAIN
OVER BACHELOR
PAge 2
DJANGO EYEING
WEEKEND TITLE
PAge 3
POLS PROBE CIA
ROLE IN THIRTY
PAge 4
SEA CHANGE FOR
CABLE LOOMING
PAge 5
EMILE HIRSCH’S
AFRICAN ASCENT
PAge 7
Settlement Ends Bulk
of Big Smallville Suit
By Eriq Gardner
Warner Bros. has settled a
big part of a significant
lawsuit that alleged the
creators and executive producers of Smallville were
cheated out of tens of millions of dollars through
sweetheart license-fee deals
that the studio made with
its sister TV networks.
On Wednesday, Tollin/
Robbins Productions submitted papers in Los Angeles Superior Court to
dismiss its claims. A Warner Bros. spokesperson
confirms to The Hollywood Reporter that the
dispute with the production company has been
resolved. Part of the case
from Killara Productions,
run by Smallville co-developer Miles Millar and Leonardtown Productions and
Smallville aired on The WB from
2001-06 then moved to The CW.
operated by Alfred Gough,
continues.
The Tollin/Robbins lawsuit from Smallville showrunners Mike Tollin and
Brian Robbins seeking
more than $100 million in
damages was filed in March
2010, about a year before
the long-running show
SEE &BE SEEN
in PARK CITY.
about Superman’s earthly
upbringing ended after 10
lucrative seasons on the air.
The case touched upon
a sensitive issue in Hollywood: so-called “vertical
integration.” The producers contended they were
deprived of significant profits when WBTV allegedly
undersold the series to affiliates the WB Network and
then The CW instead of
licensing the series to outside companies.
In August, a judge put
the case on the path to a
June trial.
In court papers, Warners argued that that it had
absolute discretion to determine the terms of its license
agreement. The studio
also attempted to convince
the judge that damages
see page 2
SUNDANCE
PREVIEW ISSUE
1/16/13
CLOSE: 1/9/13
MATERIALS 1/11/13
THR.COM/SUNDANCE
Contact: UNITED STATES | Debra Fink | debra.fink@thr.com
EUROPE & AFRICA Alison Smith | alison.smith@thr.com // Tommaso Campione | tommaso.campione@thr.com
ASIA | Ivy Lam | ivy.lam@thr.com // AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND | Lisa Cruse | lisa@spiritedmedia.co.nz
LIVE STARTING
JANUARY 2013
Page 2 of 8
January 4, 2013
legal news
FROM page 1
were merely “speculative” because Tollin/Robbins couldn’t establish that
greater profits would have
been earned if Smallville
had been licensed to Fox or
another network.
But Judge Michael Johnson said there was enough
in the pleadings to send it
to a jury. In his ruling, he
said the plaintiffs had demonstrated triable issues as
to whether WBTV complied with obligations to
conduct negotiations at
various divisions in-house
at arms-length and whether
the producers’ contracts
included profit definitions that necessitated that
money be collected at “fair
market rates consistent
with licenses granted by
Warner to non-affiliates.”
The judge added that it
was up to a jury to determine whether Tollin/
Robbins received terms
comparable to other WBTV
licensing deals, whether
those terms met the customs and practices of the
industry and whether
the plaintiffs could have
received greater compensation from The WB and The
CW if the series’ license
agreements were negotiated and renegotiated in
good faith and at arm’s
length.
The plaintiffs’ claims for
monetary damages also
were aided by the judge
allowing the possibility of
punitive damages as well
as a late claim that alleged
that Warner Bros. had paid
itself for Superman rights
by including subsidiary DC
Comics (the show is based
on the Superman comic)
into the profit pool and unilaterally reducing plaintiffs’’ profit participation.
That action was alleged to
have cost the showrunners
about $13.4 million.
A trial undoubtedly
would garner big attention
in the industry thanks to its
focus on sensitive Hollywood accounting. Terms of
the settlement agreement
have not been made public.
The claims from Millar and
Gough are still active. thr
‘reality steve’
SUED again over
BACHELOR POSTS
By Eriq Gardner
A lawsuit against a spoiler
website is back for another
season, just in time for
the Jan. 7 premiere of The
Bachelor.
Producers of the popular
ABC unscripted show again
are targeting “Reality”
Steve Carbone, who runs a
website devoted to spilling
secrets and commenting on
shows including The Amazing Race, Real Housewives
and Survivor.
NZK Productions and
Horizon Alternative Television, a division of Warner
Bros., first sued Carbone
in December 2011, alleging that to gain spoilers, he
was attempting to induce
contestants into breaching their confidentiality
pledges. The lawsuit settled in June, with Warners
expressing satisfaction that
he had agreed to have no
further contact whatsoever
Sean Lowe leads the rose parade
for the 17th cycle of The Bachelor.
Sean Lowe leads the rose parade
for the 17th cycle of The Bachelor.
with any of the cast, crew
or employees of The Bachelor. Carbone pledged at the
time to continue spoiling
the show but to abide by the
settlement so as not to “to
give them an alleged excuse
to file another [suit].”
The peace lasted six
months. Carbone is back
in court to answer new
charges from the show’s
producers.
On Dec. 12, Carbone
posted spoilers for the
first five episodes of The
Bachelor, which this season will feature Sean
Lowe. Included in his post
were the full names of the
women eliminated from the
competition.
By the end of December, Bachelor producers had
gone to California federal
court to lodge a new complaint. The plaintiffs say
they believe that Carbone
continues “to seek confidential information from
participants, cast, crew
and other employees of the
Bachelor series and, in the
course of doing so, continue
to solicit and induce participants and employees of the
Bachelor series to breach
their contractual obligations to plaintiffs.”
The producers don’t go
into any detail about who
was contacted or what was
offered. That likely will be
information sought in discovery. For now, the plaintiffs just say that the
spoilers Carbone has posted
are “nonpublic information” in “increasingly vivid
details,” including sceneby-scene, shot-by-shot
descriptions. The producers
also note that Carbone has
promised to reveal “everything” about the show’s
forthcoming 17th cycle.
When the first suit was
settled, Carbone admitted
that he had offered compensation to three women
on the last season of the
show for information. But
he denied ever paying them.
The settlement agreement stipulated that
he would refrain from
attempting to contact those
involved in the production
of The Bachelor. According to the new suit, the settlement also provided a
penalty of $10,000 per violation should he breach the
pledge.
Carbone now is being
sued for tortious interference as well as breach of
the settlement agreement.
The producersare asking
for a permanent injunction
and monetary damages.
“The suit is bogus,”
Carbone said in an e-mail
to The Hollywood Reporter.
“The producers have
provided no proof that I did
anything in violation of our
agreement because there is
none.” thr
Page 3 of 8
January 4, 2013
film news
Django Looks to Build
on Wed. Momentum
By Pamela McClintock
Quentin Tarantino’s Django
Unchained came in No. 1 at
the box office Wednesday for
the first time.
Django — from The Weinstein Co. and starring Jamie
Foxx, Christoph Waltz
and Leonardo DiCaprio
— grossed $4.6 million to
unseat New Line and MGM’s
The Hobbit: An Unexpected
Journey, which took in $4.4
million for a new domestic
total of $242.5 million (Hobbit was expected to jump the
$500 million mark internationally Thursday).
Hobbit and Django, earning
$82.4 million since its Christmas Day opening, could
find themselves in a close
race for the top spot at the
North American box office
this weekend, with each predicted to gross in the $18 million to $20 million range.
Others caution against ruling out Universal’s Les Miserables, which took in $3.6
Django Unchained, starring Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz, won its
first daily box-office title Wednesday, setting up a tight weekend race.
million on Thursday for a
domestic total of $84.2 million. The film adaptation of
the hit stage musical, with
an ensemble cast including
Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Russell Crowe, is
expected go gross $16 million
to $18 million.
Hollywood is hoping for a
final burst of moviegoing as
the 2012 year-end holidays
officially come to a close.
Because New Year’s Day fell
on a Tuesday, many schools
and colleges are off until
Monday, and many parents
are still off work. However,
the box office will have to
compete with the first round
of the NFL playoffs Saturday
and Sunday.
Among the films opening
Friday, Texas Chainsaw 3D
is projected to come in No.
4 unless the horror movie
exceeds prerelease tracking.
From Lionsgate, the movie
picks up where Tobe Hooper’s 1974 slasher classic The
FOR UP-TO-THE-MINUTE
INDUSTRY COVERAGE
go to
THR.COM/BUSINESS
Texas Chainsaw Massacre left
off.
Lionsgate, which is distributing Chainsaw 3D on behalf
of Millennium Films and
has limited exposure, is predicting an opening in the $15
million range.
After a modest start
in limited runs, the Matt
Damon-John Krasinski drama Promised Land
expands nationwide, upping
its theater count from 25 to
1,675. Directed by Gus Van
Sant, the Focus Features and
Participant Media film has
earned $294,000 since its
Dec. 28 debut.
From a script by Damon
and Krasinski, Promised
Land is about a salesman
(Damon) for a natural gas
company trying to persuade
a small town to allow fracking. Krasinski plays a wouldbe environmentalist, while
Frances McDormand plays
the salesman’s partner.
Naomi Watts and Ewan
McGregor’s The Impossible,
about a family struggling
to survive the 2004 tsunami
in Thailand, makes a more
modest expansion this weekend, upping its theater count
see page 4
Page 4 of 8
January 4, 2013
film news
FROM page 3
from 15 to 572. The Summit
film has grossed $628,000
since opening Dec. 21.
Among holdovers, 20th
Century Fox’s family-friendly
comedy Parental Guidance
should stay high up on the
chart. The movie is playing
particularly well in Middle
America and has grossed
$40.7 million to date. The film
starring Billy Crystal, Bette
Midler and Marisa Tomei has
been holding steady at No. 4
since its Dec. 25 debut. thr
Senate Panel EyeS
CIA dealings with
DARk THIRTY DUO
By Tina Daunt
The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee has begun
an examination of the contacts between the CIA and
the makers of Zero Dark
Thirty, which has come under
intense criticism in Washington for its depiction of torture
during the hunt for Osama
bin Laden.
A well-placed Washington source tells The Hollywood
Reporter that members of
the committee — led by Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
— are trying to determine
whether the agency gave
director Kathryn Bigelow and
screenwriter Mark Boal inappropriate access to secret
materials about the government’s efforts to find the 9/11
mastermind.
According to Reuters,
which first reported the
probe, the senators want to
determine “whether CIA
personnel are responsible
for the portrayal of harsh
interrogation practices, and
in particular the suggestion
that they were effective.”
The move comes weeks
after committee chair Feinstein, along with senators
John McCain and Carl Levin,
expressed outrage over what
they believe is the erroneous suggestion in the film
that torture led to information that helped kill bin
Laden. The senators sent a
sharply worded letter to Sony
Pictures, Zero Dark Thirty’s distributor, asking that
a disclosure be added to the
movie.
According to Reuters,
investigators plan to examine records detailing contacts
between Bigelow, Boal and
the CIA. Government e-mails
and other documents turned
over last year to the conservative group Judicial Watch
indicate that both the CIA
and Pentagon gave the filmmakers extensive access.
One of the intelligence officials whom the documents
show as having met with the
filmmakers is Michael Morell,
the CIA’s deputy director at
the time and now the agency’s acting chief. Morell
penned a letter to CIA personnel in December criticizing the film’s graphic torture
scenes, an extraordinary
move for a sitting CIA official.
“What I want you to know
is that Zero Dark Thirty is a
dramatization, not a realistic
portrayal of the facts,” Morell
told agency personnel. “CIA
interacted with the filmmakers through our Office of
Public Affairs, but, as is true
with any entertainment project with which we interact,
we do not control the final
product.”
A CIA spokesperson could
not be reached for comment.
It is highly unusual for government officials to offer condemnations of Hollywood
films, which are protected
by the First Amendment. An
official probe into the access
gained by filmmakers to CIA
employees is even more rare,
especially considering the
senators and Morell called
the movie fictional in their
letters.
A spokesperson for Sony
tells THR in a statement: “As
the studio distributing Zero
Dark Thirty in the United
States, we are proud of this
important film. Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal and their
creative team have made an
extraordinary motion picture,
and we fully support bringing
this remarkable story to the
screen.”
Boal and Bigalow released
a statement in December
defending the depiction of
torture.
“The film shows that no
single method was necessarily responsible for solving the
manhunt, nor can any single
scene taken in isolation fairly
capture the totality of efforts
the film dramatizes,” the
filmmakers said. “One thing
is clear: The single greatest
factor in finding the world’s
most dangerous man was the
hard work and dedication of
the intelligence professionals
who spent years working on
this global effort.’
The movie, which is
playing in New York and Los
Angeles and is considered a
likely Oscar contender, is set
to screened Jan. 8 for
lawmakers and others in
Washington. It opens
nationwide Jan. 11. thr
The Carrie remake starring Chloe
Grace Moretz will open Oct. 18.
Carrie REDO WILL
BE UNLEASHED AT
HALLOWEEN TIME
By Pamela McClintock
Moviegoers will have to wait
another 10 months before
seeing Screen Gems’ and
MGM’s Carrie remake.
The horror pic, starring
Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore, is being pushed
back from March 15 to Oct.
18 to take advantage of Halloween, according to studio
insiders. It opens one week
before the seasonal staple
Paranormal Activity 5.
Brian De Palma’s original Carrie, marking Sissy
Spacek’s breakout role,
opened on Nov. 3, 1976.
Moretz also will have more
time to do publicity, since her
Kick-Ass 2 debuts June 28.
Sony also announced other
calendar changes Thursday.
TriStar thriller The Call,
starring Halle Berry and
Abigail Breslin, will take the
March 15 spot, while No Good
Deed, also a thriller, is being
pushed from Oct. 18 to Jan.
17, 2014. No Good Deed, from
Screen Gems, stars Idris Elba
and Taraji P. Henson. thr
Page 5 of 8
January 4, 2013
tv news
Analysis: Cable World
Facing a Sea Change
By Alex Ben Block
It isn’t a coincidence that
Time Warner Cable dropped
Current TV from its lineup
just as the fledgling cable
service announced Wednesday that it was being sold to
Al Jazeera. If anything, the
sale accelerated what was an
inevitable process.
Cable television is undergoing a shift away from the
era when the goal was a
500-channel universe. It is
a sea change in the media
landscape that could impact
not just Current and Al
Jazeera but dozens if not
hundreds of small- and
medium-size channels, most
of which are independently
owned and distributed.
On Tuesday, even before
the sale of Current TV, Time
Warner Cable dropped the
Ovation network, citing it
as “among the poorest-performing networks” it offers.
It also said it is seriously considering eliminating more
than 50 other channels,
including such well-known
brands as Encore, E! and
Lifetime. The message might
be a negotiating ploy to get
lower sub fees, but there is
little question that television distributors are re-evaluating how they do business
as the cost of programming
soars. Rising sports rights
fees are to blame, along
with increased program
costs and demands from
broadcasters such as CBS
and Fox for sharply higher
Tom Holland and Naomi Watts
stick together in The Impossible.
ReelzChannel picked up The Kennedys in 2010 after History declined to
air the eight-hour miniseries, saying it was “not a fit” for the network.
retransmission payments.
“You need to find some fat
somewhere to cut, and you
have all these — quite honestly — schlock channels no
one watches, and they get 5
or 10 cents [per subscriber
per month],” says Vasily
Karasyov, senior media analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group. “Now it’s time to
decide which kid doesn’t get
to go to college.”
Says cable industry consultant Steve Effros: “For a
long time, it was a question
of how many channels you
could offer a consumer. That
is now changing. We have
reached a point of diminishing returns because the
Internet offers an infinite
number of channels.”
One reason is cable companies no longer make most
of their money selling video
services.
“They want to sell highspeed Internet and phone,”
says Karasyov. “What they
care about is, ‘If I don’t have
this channel, will I lose video
subscribers to whom I can
upsell other stuff?’ “
Channels on the new
endangered list already
are aware that they need
to ramp up their value and
increase their audience or
face extinction. Consider
the case of ReelzChannel, which recently laid off
nine of its 118 employees
and now is restructuring its
programming.
Reelz CEO Stan Hubbard
says the network has lost
more than $100 million since
it launched in 2006 and still
isn’t profitable. He describes
recent layoffs as part of a
new focus on scripted shows
that will bring attention
to the network — and, he
hopes, a lot more viewers.
For instance, in December,
Reelz canceled Sam Rubin’s
Hollywood Uncensored while
paying big bucks (for basic
cable) for the scripted series
True Justice, starring Steven
Seagal, and the miniseries
After Camelot, a follow-up
to its biggest success to date,
the 2011 miniseries The Kennedys, which drew as many
as 1.9 million viewers (for
multiple airings of each
episode).
Kennedys opened Hubbard’s eyes to what Reelz
could do, even in only 65 million TV homes. “That’s our
benchmark now,” he says.
“We’re trying to do things
that can help us achieve the
same kind of success.”
Still, he admits, “It’s a
hard business model in a
100-plus-channel universe.”
Reelz gets by selling ads
but can’t demand subscriber
fees because it doesn’t deliver
ratings and isn’t bundled
with a group of channels
such as those owned by Viacom and Disney. Hubbard
hopes that will change within
two years with new programming, but by then his losses
will be closer to $200 million
on annual revenue of about
$40 million.
Brad Samuels, executive
vp distribution at Ovation,
admits his channel’s postTime Warner drop from 51
million TV homes to about
44 million will hurt ad sales
and cost it the 7-cent sub fee
it has been collecting.
In the case of Current
TV, the loss of Time Warner
Cable means its reach into
American TV homes drops
from about 60 million homes
to fewer than 48 million.
That means it will lose its
subscriber fees from TWC of
about 12 cents per customer
each month, which Karasyov
says it was able to command
only because of co-founder
Al Gore’s projections at the
see page 6
Page 6 of 8
January 4, 2013
tv news
FROM page 5
time. Those ratings promises
never have been met, while
the cost of doing business
goes up and up.
“If you’re an underdistributed network and you’re
not part of a conglomerate, or if you are another
small independent channel,
you’re scared right now,” says
Karasyov.
Samuels insists that Ovation will find other ways to
reach consumers, including
satellite and telephone company services as well as newmedia platforms like mobile
that feature interactivity
and second screens. “We feel
strongly Ovation is worth
every penny that we charge,”
he says, predicting that Time
Warner will face a customer
backlash for dropping the
channel. “I still believe independent networks are important to the industry.”
For those who can manage
the transition, a new business
model must emerge. “The
offering of programming has
changed because of the Internet,” says Effros. “If you are
a niche channel, if you are
very tightly targeted, there is
a serious question of whether
you want to market directly
to your audience” on the web.
Hubbard’s family’s broadcasting company, still run by
his father, has financed Reelz
and also is an investor in Ovation. Reelz headquarters were
moved to Albuquerque, N.M.,
to cut costs, but now the
future rests mostly on shows
to be made by outside hired
producers.
Hubbard says he will actually hire more new employees
than were laid off as they shift
Reelz toward production of
its own reality shows and the
Which of these guys bumped off an Oahu State University professor?
Hawaii Five-O fans can take to Twitter or CBS.com to finger the killer.
development of more scripted
programming.
Rubin, entertainment editor at KTLA-TV Los Angeles, will continue to work
with Reelz on awards shows
and other special projects.
He says he understands why
Hubbard is making moves.
“This is his personal gamble,”
Rubin says. “This is his personal money. I think he’s trying to spend it as judiciously
as he can, but he is not afraid
to spend it.”
Says Hubbard: “If we
knew what was involved and
how long it would take to get
to the point we’re at right
now, I’m not sure we would
have made this investment.
But now we’re so close to
turning the corner, it’s an
easy investment to keep
making.” thr
FIVE-O FANS WILL
DECIDE ENDING OF
JAN. 14 Episode
By Lesley Goldberg
CBS’ Hawaii Five-0 is prepping
a television first.
The Jan. 14 episode will
allow viewers to select how
the hour of the cop drama
ends, using real-time voting via CBS.com and Twitter during the broadcasts in
both the Eastern and Western time zones, the network
said Thursday.
In the episode, the team
Tom Holland and Naomi Watts
will
theImpossible.
death of
stick investigate
together in The
an Oahu State University professor, with his boss, teaching assistant and a student he
busted for cheating among
the viable suspects.
After all of the suspects’
motives are revealed, viewers can head to CBS.com or
Twitter to select one of three
options: #TheBoss, #TheTA
or #TheStudent. Votes will
be tallied immediately during the episode, and the most
popular ending will become
part of the broadcast during both the East and West
broadcasts. All three endings
will be available on CBS.com
following the broadcast.
“I’ve always felt the most
fun aspect of watching a
mystery is trying to figure out
whodunit,” exec producer
Peter Lenkov said of the
effort, a first for a primetime
TV drama. “Now the Hawaii
Five-0 viewers will get the
chance to tell us who they
think committed the crime,
and we will listen.” thr
NAT GEO RETEAMS
WITH o’REILLY FOR
KILLING KENNEDY
By Michael O’Connell
National Geographic Channel is teaming up with Bill
O’Reilly again.
Having recently completed
production on an adaptation of the Fox News host
and best-selling author’s Killing Lincoln, the cable network has given the green
light to a second telepic based
another presidential book,
Killing Kennedy: The End of
Camelot. Like Lincoln, Kennedy also will be produced
by Ridley Scott’s Scott Free
Productions.
“The common parallels between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy are
astonishing, with both assassinations profoundly changing the nation during crucial
moments in its history,” said
O’Reilly. “It made perfect
sense that my follow-up to
Lincoln would naturally lead
to Kennedy.”
“With the growing excitement over this February’s
premiere of Killing Lincoln,
producing Bill O’Reilly’s follow-up was a no-brainer and
will be yet another story that
will resonate with our audience,” said National Geographic Channel president
Howard Owens.
Production on the twohour adaptation begins in
the spring and eventually will
premiere in the 171 countries
that carry Nat Geo. Casting news is expected to be
announced shortly.
“Collaborating with
National Geographic on Bill
O’Reilly’s follow-up was an
easy decision. They share the
same passion of storytelling
and are willing to take creative leaps and risks to keep
viewers entertained to tell the
provocative story of Kennedy’s last days, a pivotal and
historic moment.”
Killing Lincoln, starring
Billy Campbell, will air in
February. thr
Page 7 of 8
January 4, 2013
tv news
Hirsch Recounts Climb
Up Africa’s Tallest Peak
Actor Emile Hirsch scaled Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness about
the clear-water crisis that claims millions of lives worldwide every year.
By Emile Hirsch
Emile Hirsch first commanded Hollywood’s attention in 2007’s Into the
Wild, playing Christopher
McCandless — a college student who abandoned the comforts of modern life to conquer
the American wilderness, with
tragic results. Some years ago,
Hirsch’s own foray into the
great outdoors — hiking up
Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro in
support of international cleanwater campaign Summit on
the Summit — resulted in its
share of hair-raising moments,
too. Hirsch grew seriously ill
during the trip and made it
to the peak only thanks to “a
cocktail of antibiotics and antiinflammatory steroids.” But
the 27-year-old actor’s commitment to the important cause is
unwavering. As Summit on the
Summit sets out onto its next
excursion, Hirsch reflects on
that life-altering journey.
Here in the United States,
it’s easy to take water for
granted. We shower, flush
toilets and water our lawns
with the only worries usually centered on the cost of
a utility bill. But 2.5 billion
people around the world live
without basic sanitation; and
every 20 seconds a child dies
from a preventable, waterrelated disease. I’ve seen
overrun sewers in refugee
camps in Congo that would
make the hairs stand on the
back of your neck. But the
key is that these illnesses and
problems are preventable.
A couple years ago my
friend, the spirited musician
and activist Kenna, invited
me to participate in Summit
on the Summit — where several different types of people
including doctors, educators, as well as musicians and
actors, would all climb to
the top Mount Kilimanjaro
in an effort to raise money
and awareness for the international water crisis. Kenna
wanted a broad range of people from different walks of
life and occupations, with
the goal of getting awareness on the single subject of
water to a broad and diverse
Tom Holland and Naomi Watts
audience
all at
once.
And it
stick
together
in The
Impossible.
worked. The YouTube channel had a million-plus hits;
Summit was trending on
Twitter; and due to a smart
and aggressive social media
campaign, the climb was
known by millions of people
the world over. Once Kenna
explained his passion for the
subject, and how the water
crisis contributes to 3.5 million deaths a year, I found it
more than enough of a reason to conquer my vertigo
and go for a hike.
Before the climb, we went
to several villages around
Kilimanjaro and learned just
how important clean water
is; many of the villagers we
spoke to showed us the water
they removed from their
local wells. Some were truly
disturbing sights — water
murky and filled with particles and parasites. It wasn’t
surprising when we then
heard stories of sickness, dysentery and cholera that can
come from contaminated
water. What became clear,
though, is that as a crisis it
isn’t unsolvable. The technology is there for state-of-theart yet affordable filters for
villages. It just needs to be a
priority for people to make
it happen. After the climb,
Kenna, myself and several
other fellow climbers visited
Washington D.C. and Capitol Hill to show our support
for the clean-water cause. We
were happy to contribute our
part, however big or small,
to influencing Congress to
increase appropriations for
the Water for Poor Act.
Part of what Kenna did
so ingeniously on that first
climb was use social media
and his connections to different types of celebrities and
academics to make Summit on the Summit “cool” to
people. Often, with different organizations, it becomes
easy to find oneself bogged
down in depressing statistics
or become numb from the
sheer size of the problems we
as a world face. But Kenna
brings a personal touch to
the causes he believes in and
an ability to excite people
and make them interested
in a subject that they otherwise might not find themselves attracted to. With his
father being raised in Ethiopia and growing up in conditions where the water was
unclean, Kenna knows the
price of doing nothing.
Now, Kenna and his team
at Summit on the Summit
are at it again, with a new
group of faces ready to climb
to the top of that mountain
to raise awareness for the
clean-water crisis. My advice
to the climbers? Stay
hydrated, eat as much as you
can (you’ll still come down
pounds lighter), and
remember what the guides
will continuously tell you:
pole, pole — which means
“slow, slow.” And hopefully,
you won’t do as I did and get
dangerously sick on your way
up, finding yourself limping
to the top on a cocktail of
antibiotics and anti-inflammatory steroids. Ah,
memories. Good luck! thr
3.6/12
1.8/5
1.6/5
1.7/5
1.7/5
1.7/5
WK. AVG.
SSN. TO DATE
SUN
7:00
7:30
8:00
8:30
9:00
9:30
10:00
10:30
SAT
8:00
8:30
9:00
9:30
10:00
10:30
FRI
8:00
8:30
9:00
9:30
10:00
10:30
THU
8:00
8:30
9:00
9:30
10:00
10:30
WED
8:00
8:30
9:00
9:30
10:00
10:30
5.8
10.0
5.0
4.5
4.3
4.3
4.6
2.1/6
TUE
8:00
8:30
9:00
9:30
10:00
10:30
4.7
4.6
3.3
3.1
3.0
2.8
5.2
5.7
5.33
5.0
5.2
5.3
1.1/3
2.4/7
4.0
8.3
5.0
5.4
3.0
2.8
2.9
2.9
3.2
3.2
Sunday Movie:
“Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix”
0.8/2 3.0 R S
3.6
1.0/3
1.2/3
0.7/2
0.8/2
0.9/2
0.8/2
0.9/2
0.8/2
America’s Funniest Home Videos
1.1/3 5.2 R
0.9/2
2.1
2.2
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.8
0.5/2
0.6/2
0.8/2
0.9/3
0.9/3
0.8/3
Movie of the Week:
“Harry Potter and
the Goblet of Fire”
0.7/2 2.5 R
2.5
0.7/2
Back to the Beginning
With Christiane Amanpour, Part 2
0.9/3 5.2 S
5.3
1.2/4
1.5/5
1.0/3
0.9/3
0.9/3
0.9/3
Shark Tank
1.4/5 5.5 R S
1.1/3
Scandal
0.7/2 2.9 R
Grey’s Anatomy
0.8/2 3.2 R
3.6
Happy New Year, Charlie Brown
1.2/4 4.6 R S
1.3/4
1.2/4
0.8/2
0.7/2
0.7/2
0.6/2
4.5
4.1
5.5
3.6
2.7
2.6
0.9/3
3.9
1.0/3
1.0/3
1.7/5
1.1/3
0.7/2
0.6/2
The Middle R
The Neighbors R
Modern Family R
Suburgatory R
Nashville
0.6/2 2.7 R
1.0/3
Tuesday Movie:
“Dr. Seuss’
How the Grinch Stole Christmas”
1.7/5 4.7 R S
NBA Christmas Special S
How/Grinch Stole Christmas R S
Monday Movie:
“Shrek the Third”
1.0/4 3.3 R S
3.4
3.3
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
0.9/4
1.0/4
1.0/4
1.1/4
1.1/4
1.0/3
Disney Prep & Landing R S
Shrek the Halls R S
3.3
ABC
1.0/4
MON
8:00
8:30
9:00
9:30
10:00
10:30
Week 14
Jan. 4
1.3/4
2.8/8
2.9/9
1.5/4
1.6/4
0.9/2
1.0/3
0.7/2
0.7/2
0.6/2
1.3/3
0.4/1
0.4/1
0.4/1
0.3/1
0.8/3
1.1/3
0.6/2
1.1/4
1.2/4
1.0/3
1.1/3
0.9/3
1.0/3
1.0/3
3.3/10
2.2/7
1.9/5
1.9/6
1.6/5
1.5/5
2.1/6
1.6/5
1.9/5
1.4/4
1.3/4
1.4/4
1.4/4
1.5/4
1.3/4
1.5/5
1.4/4
1.5/4
1.1/3
1.1/3
1.3/4
0.9/4
1.0/4
1.2/4
1.2/4
1.0/3
1.0/3
1.0/4
The Good Wife
0.7/2 5.6 R
The Mentalist R
NCIS
1.0/3 7.5 R S
NFL on CBS
60 Minutes
1.6/4 10.3
48 Hours
1.0/3 4.9 R
Made in Jersey
0.4/1 2.8
Made in Jersey
0.4/1 2.9
Undercover Boss
0.9/3 3.8 R S
Undercover Boss
1.0/3 4.4 R S
Undercover Boss
1.1/4 5.5 R
Elementary
1.6/5 8.1 R
The Big Bang Theory R
Two and a Half Men R
Person of Interest
1.9/5 10.3 R
35th Annual
Kennedy Center Honors
1.4/4 8.2 S
Criminal Minds
1.7/5 8.6 R S
Vegas
1.1/3 6.0 R S
NCIS: Los Angeles
1.4/4 8.6 R S
NCIS
1.4/4 9.8 R S
Hawaii Five-0
1.0/3 4.7 R S
How I Met Your Mother R S
How I Met Your Mother R S
2 Broke Girls R S
Mike & Molly R S
CBS
6.6
11.4
10.9
9.2
11.3
7.2
7.8
5.7
5.4
4.9
7.8
2.9
2.9
2.8
2.8
4.4
5.4
3.5
5.4
5.6
4.3
4.5
3.6
4.0
4.6
9.6
12.0
8.6
10.2
10.5
8.3
7.8
8.2
9.0
7.9
7.5
8.8
8.5
8.3
9.3
10.4
8.7
8.6
6.2
5.8
8.1
3.3
3.2
4.3
4.5
4.5
5.0
4.1
2.3/7
3.1/9
n/a
1.6/5
5.7/16
9.5/26
10.2/27
10.2/26
10.5/27
10.8/29
8.4/23
0.4/1
0.6/2
0.6/2
0.6/2
0.7/2
0.9/3
0.6/2
0.8/3
0.7/2
1.3/4
1.6/5
1.8/6
2.0/6
1.4/4
0.7/2
0.8/2
0.8/2
0.7/2
0.8/2
1.0/3
0.8/2
0.9/3
0.9/3
1.3/4
1.4/4
1.1/3
1.1/3
1.1/3
1.1/3
1.1/3
1.0/3
1.0/3
0.7/2
0.6/2
0.9/3
1.2/5
1.3/5
1.5/5
1.6/6
1.7/6
1.8/6
1.5/6
Sunday Night Football:
Dallas Cowboys at
Washington Redskins!
10.5/28 30.3
Football Night in America Part 1
Football Night in America Part 2
Football Night in America Part 3
Law & Order: SVU
0.8/2 4.0 R
Chicago Fire
0.6/2 3.2 R
Chicago Fire
0.5/2 2.6 R S
Dateline
1.7/5 6.8 R
Go On R
Go On R S
30 Rock R
Up All Night R
The Office R
Parks and Recreation R
Rock Center With Brian Williams
0.9/3 3.4 R
Chicago Fire
1.1/3 4.2 R
Whitney R
Guys With Kids R
Law & Order: SVU
1.3/4 5.5 R
Blake Shelton’s Christmas
0.7/2 2.5 R S
Tuesday Movie:
“Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!”
1.1/3 3.1 R S
Monday Movie:
“It’s a Wonderful Life”
1.5/6 5.6 R S
NBC
Tv ratings
7.4
8.8
n/a
4.8
16.5
28.4
30.1
29.5
30.1
30.8
24.5
2.4
2.7
3.2
3.3
3.8
4.3
3.3
2.7
2.2
5.29
6.5
7.5
8.0
5.4
2.5
2.2
2.2
1.9
3.0
3.8
2.6
3.4
2.9
5.2
5.8
4.2
4.2
4.3
3.2
3.1
3.1
3.1
2.4
2.5
2.9
4.7
5.2
5.7
5.7
6.0
6.4
5.6
1.4/4
2.4/7
10.1/30
9.2/27
2.7/7
1.6/4
1.8/5
1.5/4
4.3/12
0.9/3
1.1/4
0.6/2
0.4/1
0.8/2
0.9/3
0.9/3
0.7/2
0.8/2
0.8/3
0.7/2
0.6/2
0.6/2
0.7/2
0.7/2
0.7/2
0.7/2
0.6/2
0.7/2
0.7/2
0.7/2
0.6/2
0.6/2
0.7/2
0.6/2
0.7/3
0.5/2
0.5/2
0.6/2
0.6/2
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
NFL on Fox
n/a n/a
The Simpsons R
Bob’s Burgers R
Family Guy R
American Dad R
Cops R
Cops 2 R
The Mob Doctor
0.5/2 2.1 S
D’Works Dragons: Night Fury R S
Ice Age: Mammoth Christmas R S
Kitchen Nightmares
0.7/2 1.9 R S
The Mindy Project
The Mindy Project
The Mindy Project
The Mindy Project
Ben and Kate
Ben and Kate
Ben and Kate
Ben and Kate
New Girl
New Girl
New Girl
New Girl
Raising Hope
Raising Hope
Raising Hope
Raising Hope
FOX
4.0
6.6
30.6
27.8
6.7
3.7
3.9
3.2
12.0
3.1
3.5
2.2
2.0
2.7
2.8
2.6
1.8
2.0
2.3
2.0
1.6
1.6
1.7
1.7
1.9
1.4
1.2
1.4
1.5
1.9
1.5
1.5
1.8
1.7
1.9
1.4
1.5
1.7
1.6
0.3/1
0.8/2
0.2/1
0.2/1
0.2/1
0.3/1
0.2/1
0.4/1
0.4/1
0.4/1
0.3/1
0.4/1
0.4/1
0.4/1
0.4/1
0.4/1
0.4/1
0.2/1
0.2/1
0.1/0
0.2/0
0.2/1
0.3/1
0.3/1
0.2/1
0.2/1
0.2/1
CW
Millions of Viewers
00.0
Winner of time period
NO PROGRAMMING
NO PROGRAMMING
Arrow
0.2/1 1.1 R
Nikita
0.2/1 0.9 R
Beauty & the Beast
0.3/1 0.9 R
The Vampire Diaries
0.4/1 1.0 R
Supernatural
0.4/1 1.3 R
Arrow
0.4/1 1.9 R
Emily Owens, M.D.
0.1/0 0.7 R S
Hart of Dixie
0.2/1 0.7 R S
Second Star to the Left S
1.0
1.9
1.0
0.9
1.1
1.2
1.0
1.1
0.9
0.9
0.9
1.0
1.9
1.8
1.3
1.2
1.6
0.7
0.7
0.6
0.7
0.7
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.6
0.7
chart
Christmas Is Here Again
0.3/1 0.7 S
Title of Show
18-49 Rating/Share
S=Special
Program Name
D=Debut
0.0/00
R=Repeat
Page 8 of 8