• My source at the Sci-Fi Channel says that although contract negotiations are STILL on-going, Sci-Fi expects no resigning problems and expects ALL of the cast members (not inc. JRD) will return. My source adds that contract talks aren't being rushed because Sliders does not expect to resume production until the first week of October.
•The ratings for the rebroadcast of "Prince of Slides" are in. Not as good as last week, however you can judge that for yourself here.
• The title of "Genie," the ABC show John Rhys-Davies is scheduled to make a guest appearence on, has officially been changed to "You Wish."
• I came across an organization that may be able to help us in the fight to get Sliders shown nation-wide and in Canada. It's called "Viewer's Voice." Check out their website at www.allmediapr.com.
• In unrelated news, Neve Campbell, currently filming the "Scream 2" with JOC has split from her husband of two years. Could Jerry be the cause?!?! ;->
•Fox has not specified what sliders episode it will air on August 22. This may not seem like news, but it is. Usually, Fox announces it's entire schedule on Tuesdays and while the rest of the schedule was filled out today, the Friday at 8 pm slot was listed as TBA. This does not bode well, folks. Could it be that Fox's rerun schedule for Sliders has ended? Could be. The network plans to begin airing it's new shows in early September.
•For those interested in finding out the latest on the Sliders Convention currently in progress, check out Cool List and sub to the convention mailing list. Right now, the committees are being planned and those who wish to volunteer for certain duties can do so. Thanks Shannen!
•From the rumor mill, Shannen passes along some info that a friend of her's spotted Jerry on E! Television's "E! News Daily" as part of the "Saturn Awards." If you have any more info on this, or have seen it, please e-mail me or post your knowledge at the MCA/Universal Sliders Board. Thanks.
•Speaking of awards, the latest issue of Sci Fi Universe Magazine is having its own awards tally. Sliders is nominated in two categories: Best Screenplay and Best Direction. Pick up copy today!
•Kari Wuhrer recently participated in an American Online chat session. Basically, the only thing we can gather is that she has signed on for the next season of Sliders. She also has a new film coming out soon called "Pheonix." for the transcript go to the MCA board. That's the first part. Go here to the final part.
Universal Trims 115 Jobs in Cost-Cutting Move
By CLAUDIA ELLER, L.A. Times Staff Writer
More than 40 jobs were cut from Universal's information technical support division--15 permanent employees and 28 independent contractors. In late May, about 30 people lost their jobs at MCA Records and Geffen Records as the music division slashed more than 10% of its work force.
Since Seagram acquired 80% of Universal in April 1995 for $5.7 billion and the company assembled a new management team under Seagram chief Edgar Bronfman Jr., more than 200 people have been laid off at the studio.
After coming aboard as head of Universal's Television Group last year, Greg Meidel downsized the operation by 50 positions.
A Universal spokeswoman said no further cuts are expected. Universal Pictures employs about 15,000 people worldwide, roughly half of them in Southern California.
My source at "Scream 2" (which is what production is still calling it) says that Jerry O'Connell's character name is Derek. For whatever that's worth to anyone. My contact also confirmed that shooting is now going on in L.A. and will continue for seven weeks. Production is scheduled to wrap at the end of August.
Monday July 14 5:17 PM EDT
Perth Renews Contract As President USA Networks
PASADENA, Calif. (Reuter) - USA Networks Entertainment said Monday that Rod Perth has signed a multi-year extension to continue as president.
USA Networks is jointly owned by Viacom Inc. and Seagram Co. Ltd., which have been fighting for control of the cable partnership.
"Rod has brought to USA Network and Sci-Fi Channel a tremendous amount of creative energy since his arrival," said Kay Koplovitz, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of USA Networks.
Perth joined USA Networks in October 1994, from CBS, and is responsible for the overall programming strategy for USA Network and Sci-Fi Channel.
Reuters/Variety
Kissing a Fool (Romantic/Comedy)
Mendillo Form Prods., 1000 N. Northbranch, Chicago, IL 60622
Shooting in Chicago
(Start July 7, 1997)
Cast: David Schwimmer, Jason Lee, Mili Avital, Bonnie Hunt, Vanessa Angel, Kari Wuhrer,
Frank Medrano, Bitty Schram.
Prd., Tag Mendillo, Andrew Form, Rick Lashbrook; Dir., Doug Ellin; Scr., James Frey,
Doug Ellin; Cam., Tom Del Ruth; Ed., David Finfer; LinePrd., Tom Busch; UPM,
Tom Busch; AD, Gary Goldman; PrdDsgn., Charles Breen; Set, Tricia Schneider;
Cstm., Sue Kaufmann; PrdCoord., Mishell Glockler; Cstg., Ferne Cassel;
Publ., Steven Zeller
Congratulations, Kari!Production of Scream 2 has moved from in and around Atlanta to California (probably for sound stage work), so Jerry is back in L.A. (Thanks to SandyJeanne for the tip).
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - In a move to shore up its action-adventure series identity and move away from half-hour sitcoms, the USA Network has canceled four low-rated primetime comedies, including 4-year-old critical favorite "Duckman."
Besides Duckman, the shows include "Claude's Crib," "Lost on Earth" and "Weird Science." However, "Duckman" could remain in production and get picked up by UPN.
"Duckman" has produced 70 originals to date, and USA will continue to roll out firstrun product through August. Since May, however, the network has been airing the show in the death slot of midnight Saturdays. The show, with voices including Jason Alexander, was never a huge ratings-grabber.
Jeff Reno, who executive produces "Duckman" along with Ron Osborn, said Wednesday the show's future remains in flux but that he was hopeful of a UPN deal.
"It's just too bad that we've been putting out some great original episodes, and they've been buried at midnight on Saturdays," Reno said.
USA Networks entertainment president Rod Perth, who long has been one of Duckman's biggest boosters, expressed regret at having to cancel it. "It's been a great show for USA," he said, "but we need to take our programming in a different direction."
That direction is toward more action hours such as the Sunday night "La Femme Nikita," although Perth declined Wednesday to name any new names.
Reuters/Variety
Congratulations to our own Sabrina Lloyd for winning TV Guide's Ladies of Sci-Fi popularity contest! Here's the final tally, thanks for voting everyone!
Sabrina Lloyd ("Sliders") 4163 31%
Gillian Anderson ("X-Files") 4081 30%
Ally Walker ("Profiler") 1185 8%
Megan Gallagher ("Millennium") 937 7%
Terry Farrell ("ST: DS9") 871 6%
Kristen Johnston ("3rd Rock") 747 5%
Megan Ward ("Dark Skies") 686 5%
Kari Wuhrer ("Sliders") 674 5%
Number of voters: 13345
A couple of days ago, I fired off an email to both Torme and Bob Weiss concerning 1)The USA thing (this was pre-Expert's info) and our Sliders Con. Here's the response I got--still waiting on one from Torme:
Shannen,
In a message dated 7/7/97 5:51:09 AM, you wrote:
==There have been a few rumors swirling around saying that Sliders will be airing in January 1998 on the Sci-Fi Channel
only, and not simultaneously on USA, as Tracy (and look how soon I move away from being formal) mentioned at
DragonCon last month==
Will air on Sci Fi channel (45 Million homes) with a few "stunt" airings on USA Network.
==A few of us online are kicking around and beginning discussions on holding a Sliders convention, sometime next
summer. Since I'm in charge of all this, I have to ask--this is going to be something that we will be allowed to do?==
I think it's a great idea. With an early enough start I would hope it could be done with the "cooperation of Universal and the
SciFi Channel.
Keep Sliding,
Bob Weiss, CoCreator & Executive Consultant
Thanks for the info, Shannen.
Jerry news: Jerry, of course is filming the Scream sequel in Georgia. A source told me that he should wrap filming sometime in August and that Sliders expects to begin production as soon as he gets back (sometime in September).
As for airing in Canada? It looks like no dice at all! When asked if Universal would syndicate the episodes for airing, the publicist said "if that did happen, it wouldn't be before 1999." Then how about first-run pickups by Canadian stations? "That's not normally how it would work, Sci-Fi has the exclusive broadcasting rights."
As for when Sci-Fi will begin airing the first 48 episodes of Sliders, the publicist said the reruns will begin in January of 1999, not before.
Q: "Will the cast be back?"
A: "We hope so, but that's what [production is] working on right now."
More news as I get it.
The July 11, 1997 edition of Entertainment Weekly has a lengthy article on the production of Scream 2. Included is a small picture of Jerry O'Connell lounging on a dorm room bed with Neve Campbell (they're just hanging out) and both have much shorter hair than they did when their respective series ended this spring. There are no quotes from Jerry but EW calls him a "up-and-coming Gen-Xer." Picture when available.
SliderCon '98 Update:
Yes, a Sliders convention is in the planning stages and Shannen at the MCA/Universal Board seems to be the one with the timer (so to speak). She posted this update today so I thought I'd share:
We had our first chat this past Wednesday, July 2nd. In between the drooly comments ...I mean, Crestgirl *was* there, ya know ;-)... we did get some things done. This first little meeting wasn't about deciding anything, it was just for me to take all the Con ideas I've had running in my head and bounce them off of other people, so that we can see what ideas are good and which are worthless.
So we did that and it was pretty productive --and after the meeting Crestgirl and I had a great time chatting and stuffing the TV Guide ballot box for Sabrina ;-)
We kicked around a few date ideas--nothing is locked down yet, because I want to see about prices of hotels, etc and the availability of people that we want there. So far, we're sort of looking at the end of May, or sometime in July. Again, we have to look and see what prices we are working with and what conflicts we'll have.
We did hammer out a list of potential cities, but keep in mind this is not the final list, although it is the one that I've submitted to the head of the accomodations committee, so that she can start working on it. What I tried to do with the cities is come up with a list that is mainly in the center of the country..but mainly, cities that could handle a convention, cities that were accessible by major modes of transportation, and cities that both we and the stars would like to be at! I mean, for some people, *this* will be their summer vacation, so I wanted to come up with some cities that people would like to see.
Here's the cities--now I like some of them better than others, but I'm trying to be fair and put cities on that don't have any *real* reason for elimination, such as NYC or LA, which are great cities, but may be a little expensive (of course, if it was in NYC, we wouldn't have to pay for a hotel room for Jerry, but....)
1)Chicago--my personal fave
2)Atlanta--if it's good enough for DragonCon....
3)Orlando--this is in case production moves there
4)Columbus OH--'cause they did a good job with Marcon)
5)Cleveland OH--'cause face it, Cleveland rocks! ;-)
6)Pittsburg--don't know about this, but it was a suggestion with no real reason to be eliminated.
For the record, other than Atlanta, the only city I suggested was Chicago. So the presence of *two* cities from my home state on the list had nothing to do with me.
A few final notes--I'm putting the finishing touches on a list of committees that people who want to help can sign up for. In the meantime, you can look at the DragonCon page (http://www.dragoncon.org) to get an idea of what sort of committees there will be.
Prime--on the Sliders Mailing list--has asked out list mom Alicia if we can crash the ID4 list (which must be dying) to use as a Con mailing list--that way people who can't attend the chats and want to help can still be updated. If that comes through though, I'd like to say that I would only want people who are *serious* about helping to be on the list at the beginning--that way we can get a better idea of how many people want to help. Once things start to gel a bit more, then people who just want info could most certainly join it.
Umm..I think that's it. I know I'm forgetting things, but I think I hit all of the major stuff. As usual, I'm still concerned about finances, so if anyone wants to work on that committee, let me know. Oh--and I am going to try and see if we can get rooms for certain groups--like have a room (and these are small conference rooms, not a regular hotel room) for people who post here to hang out and meet, and one for mailing list people, once for newsgroup people, etc, etc. That may have to be paid for by each group--I've got the head of the travel/accomodations committee (Nadine, who is a travel agent) looking into all of that for us with the cities we have so far. So I'll let you know.
Shannen--as usual, mail me if you want to help.
shannen@alpha.wcoil.com
Quinnfan@thevortex.com
Two great links came up today. First, Sliderray has transcribed her tape from Dragon*Con in Atlanta where Tracy Torme and Brad Lindweaver (the author of the Sliders novel) chatted with fans.
Big news, Canadian Sliders fans, though our show is still without a home in Canada, Slidude at the Universal Board (who has been tirelessly e-mailing and following leads up there) reports that City-TV may be the best bet.
For those who don't know, City-Tv is a large independent station based out of Toronto and is owned by the same man who is close to getting Canada's own Sci-Fi Channel. Anyway, Slidude writes:
Well, I mailed CityTV again...and they said that they were in negotiations to get Sliders!
YES, that's right...NEGOTIATIONS!!! This means that they are close...oh so very close to geting Sliders!!!
Pray....like you've never prayed before!!
Slidude
Physrev has confirmed this by e-mailing City-TV and getting the same "negotiations" response.