CULTURE

In summer 2008, four college friends pooled $6,000 to shoot a 15-minute presentation for a Web series.

Traditional television viewing patterns are collapsing and the industry needs to quickly figure out how to profit in a world where people can watch TV shows anytime, anywhere, NBC Universal's TV chief said.

For those who don't recall, Jeff Dunham is a comic whose Christmas 2008 special earned Comedy Central record ratings -- a full 6.6 million viewers. Those are numbers Jay Leno would drool over these days, but for most of the country, Dunham is a complete unknown.

Steve Buscemi, Stanley Tucci and Wren Arthur, the trio behind Olive Prods., have set up their first TV projects: a drama at HBO starring Tucci and an animated comedy at TBS to be voiced by Tucci and Buscemi.

Pretty Little Liars, a drama based on Alloy Entertainment's series of young-adult novels by Sara Shepard, is nearing a deal with ABC Family.

A New York law firm is the subject of a new reality series, Legal Ease.

A 50 year-old Russian coal miner suffering from lung disease is seeking a buyer for his prized possession, a signed photograph of sultry Brigitte Bardot, to pay for an operation, a popular tabloid reported on Wednesday.

The music game genre experienced a much-needed lift in September on the backs of new releases The Beatles: Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5.

British rock band Def Leppard has canceled the third leg of its North American tour due to unspecified personal matters, the group said on its website.

Cecilia Bartoli could have followed the path of least resistance. When the Italian mezzo-soprano burst onto the opera scene in the early '90s with a standard repertoire of Rossini and Mozart, she looked like she could establish a career as a traditional classical artist.

Residents of Japanese town defended their annual dolphin hunt on Wednesday as a U.S. documentary showing the event premiered at a Tokyo film festival to a sell-out audience.

Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier is in negotiations to direct the English-language romantic comedy Which Brings Me to You.

Killing Kasztner: The Jew Who Dealt with Nazis purports to be an evenhanded investigation into the case of a Holocaust survivor who, by negotiating with Adolf Eichmann, saved many fellow Jews but apparently let many more perish. This compelling but lopsided documentary is best viewed by reading between the lines.

Pretty people suit up in skimpy swimsuits under the crystal blue waters of the Bahamas in India's most expensive ($21 million) film to date. Although Blue has been promoted aggressively for months, this year's big Diwali holiday release is up against an urban love story and an eagerly awaited big-name comedy that will likely leave Blue's revenues high and dry.

A lawyer for Roman Polanski denied on Wednesday that the film director, now in Swiss custody, may opt to face justice in the United States, where he is wanted on a 1977 sex charge, to avoid lengthy extradition procedures.

MTV, which made its name as the home of the music video three decades ago, will launch a drive into scripted original programs on Friday that executives hope will mark a new era for the youth-oriented cable channel.

Kanye West is not dead, exposing a hoax by a fraudulent web site that claimed to be Fox News. Amber Rose, West's girlfriend, denied the rumors which said he died in a bizarre car crash in Los Angeles.

Amy Winehouse has completely changed and according to her father she is a completely different person from what she was a year ago with her father describing her as Fantastic, fantastic - which also includes her recent breast implants, PEOPLE reported.

Soomaa National Park in central Estonia has joined the Pan Parks network of protected wilderness areas.

Famous former Bachelor and single father Jason Mesnick got engaged to Molly Malaney after he proposed to her in New Zealand, according to People Magazine.

Many of us enjoy the rhythmic sound of water. Spraying water. Rushing water. Trickling water. The sound of water gently lapping at a shore or raindrops on the roof of our home. We have water

A performance by British pop star Robbie Williams, broadcast to more than 250 theatres around the world, set a world record on Tuesday by having the largest number of screenings of a live concert in theaters.

Film director Roman Polanski, now in Swiss detention, may decide to face justice in the United States, where he is wanted on a 1977 sex charge, to avoid lengthy extradition procedures, one of his lawyers said on Wednesday.

R&B singer Chris Brown announced a month long fan appreciation tour on Tuesday -- the same day that ex-girlfriend Rihanna released a new single seen by some as evoking their stormy relationship.

Vic Mizzy, the American film and television composer who wrote the theme song to The Addams Family, has died at the age of 93, with his death announced on his website.

The director behind American Pie and About a Boy wasn't the obvious choice to take on The Twilight Saga: New Moon, the second book in Stephenie Meyer's blockbuster teen vampire romance series. But Chris Weitz, who also writes and produces, sometimes with his brother Paul, had done a fantasy adaptation in 2007's The Golden Compass and felt a connection to the material. On November 20, Twil...

Pop singer Rihanna on Tuesday released her first new single, Russian Roulette, since being assaulted by former boyfriend and singer Chris Brown in February on the eve of the music industry's Grammy awards.

The Founding of a Republic has become the highest-grossing Chinese film in China's box-office history, earning 406 million yuan ($58.4 million) since its September 16 debut, a China Film Group spokesperson told the Xinhua News Agency.

Choreographer and Hairspray director Adam Shankman will produce the 82nd Academy Awards live telecast in March with movie executive Bill Mechanic, organizers said on Tuesday.