Bill Haber News

TNT and TBS Announce Extensive Slate of New Projects from Top Talents, Including Mitch Albom, Thom Beers, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Conan O'Brien, Brad Paisley, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Richard North Patterson, Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Joel Silver, Arthur Smith, Scott Turow, Bertram van Munster and John Wells.

THURGOOD, filmed in front of a live audience at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater in Washington, D.C., will debut THURSDAY, FEB. 24 (9:00-10:45 p.m. ET/PT) during Black History Month, exclusively on HBO, it was announced today by Len Amato, president, HBO Films. The one-man play stars Laurence Fishburne in his Tony-nominated performance as Thurgood Marshall, the remarkable Civil Rights lawyer and Supreme Court Justice. THURGOOD was written by Academy Award(R) and Emmy(R) Award winner George Stevens, Jr.; directed by Emmy(R) Award winner Michael Stevens; and executive produced by Bill Haber.

THURGOOD, filmed in front of a live audience at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater in Washington, D.C., will debut THURSDAY, FEB. 24 (9:00-10:45 p.m. ET/PT) during Black History Month, exclusively on HBO, it was announced today by Len Amato, president, HBO Films. The one-man play stars Laurence Fishburne in his Tony-nominated performance as Thurgood Marshall, the remarkable Civil Rights lawyer and Supreme Court Justice. THURGOOD was written by Academy Award(R) and Emmy(R) Award winner George Stevens, Jr.; directed by Emmy(R) Award winner Michael Stevens; and executive produced by Bill Haber.

BroadwayWorld has learned that a new musical called INNOCENCE just did a low-key reading at The Banff Centre in Alberta last week and now the theatrical community around the world is nosing around. What is INNOCENCE? The days surrounding the assassination and funeral of President John F. Kennedy are the background for the new show, examining the hopes, expectations and emotional significance of that time through the eyes of several people who felt the loss deeply.

Two-time Emmy® winner and 2009 Academy Award® nominee Christopher Plummer (The Last Station) will narrate Turner Classic Movies' (TCM) ambitious, seven-part original production MOGULS AND MOVIE STARS: A HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD.

At yesterday's annual meeting, Milwaukee Ballet endorsed the establishment of The Harmony Initiative, a new vision for Milwaukee's performing arts and education community, the germination of which came from the Ballet's strategic effort to create a defining and collaborative business approach.

TNT has ordered new seasons of three of the network's hit series. The Closer, which continues to rank as ad-supported cable's #1 series of all time, will return for its seventh season. Rizzoli & Isles, which currently ranks as cable's #1 new series for the year-to-date, will return for a second season. Leverage, which is performing exceptionally well in its new Sunday timeslot, will be back for a fourth season. TNT has ordered 15 episodes each of The Closer and Leverage, along with 13 episodes of Rizzoli & Isles, with all three slated to start their new seasons in 2011.

Monday night's premiere of TNT's new original series Rizzoli & Isles now claims the record as cable's #1 commercial-supported series launch of all time, with 7.6 million viewers. The series, starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander, raced out of the starting gate after an equally strong performance for the sixth-season premiere of The Closer, which delivered 7.7 million viewers, up 7% over its fifth-season premiere on June 8, 2009. Both premieres also rank as ad-supported cable's top series telecasts for the year-to-date among viewers and households.

Two-time Emmy(R) winner and 2009 Academy Award(R) nominee Christopher Plummer (The Last Station) will narrate Turner Classic Movies' (TCM) ambitious, seven-part original production MOGULS AND MOVIE STARS: A HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD. This comprehensive true story behind the making of the American movie industry is being co-produced by TCM and Bill Haber's Ostar Productions. The series is slated to premiere in November 2010.

Two-time Emmy® winner and 2009 Academy Award® nominee Christopher Plummer (The Last Station) will narrate Turner Classic Movies' (TCM) ambitious, seven-part original production MOGULS AND MOVIE STARS: A HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD.

Ostar Productions has acquired the television rights to Laura Lippman's IN A STRANGE CITY, the sixth of the Tess Monaghan novels. Academy Award Nominee Jay c*cks will write the pilot episode for the new series which is expected to go into production for the 2011 Season. The role of the sharp-witted private detective has yet to be cast.

An audience of over 500 people attended Westport Country Playhouse's annual fundraising gala, 'An Enchanted Evening: The Music of Richard Rodgers,' featuring special tributes to Mary Rodgers Guettel, composer, presented by Stephen Sondheim, both former Playhouse apprentices; and Elisabeth Morten, Playhouse board of trustees chairman, presented by Anne Keefe and Joanne Woodward, former Playhouse artistic directors, on Monday evening, November 2.

It has been announced by Eddie Marks, President of the Western Costume Company, that the company has acquired the famed Dykeman-Young costume collection, the extraordinary resource for film and theater designers.

Westport Country Playhouse: Please Join Us For Gala 2009!

The Commercial Theater Institute's (CTI) annual three-day intensive training program, 'Producing for the Commercial Theatre' boasts an A-List faculty line-up. This unique program is designed to help foster the next generation of commercial theatre producers and is open to anyone interested in producing or co-producing on or Off-Broadway, on the road, or investing in commercial productions.

The Commercial Theater Institute's (CTI) annual three-day intensive training program, 'Producing for the Commercial Theatre' boasts an A-List faculty line-up. This unique program is designed to help foster the next generation of commercial theatre producers and is open to anyone interested in producing or co-producing on or Off-Broadway, on the road, or investing in commercial productions.

The true story behind the making of the American movie industry has as many ups and downs, twists and turns as the latest big-budget thriller, not to mention a cast of characters worthy of a shelf full of Oscars?. Now, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is telling the real story of the film industry in MOGULS AND MOVIE STARS: A HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD (working title), an ambitious new 10-part documentary series co-produced by Bill Haber's Ostar Productions and TCM. Haber (TNT's Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King; Broadway's The History Boys and Monty Python's Spamalot) will serve as executive producer, while Jon Wilkman will write and produce. Wilkman is a veteran documentary filmmaker whose work has been honored with four Emmys? and numerous other international film and TV awards.

The new American play, IMPRESSIONISM, currently in previews at the Schoenfeld Theatre, has announced a new official opening date. Previously scheduled to open on Thursday, March 12th, IMPRESSIONISM will now open on Tuesday, March 24th at Broadway?s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45 St.).

Variety reveals that with four of her smash London productions in the running for a collective 13 Olivier Awards and two Broadway transfers likely to figure in the Tony race for play revival, Sonia Friedman might be forgiven for slowing down.

The Broadway League held its first-ever Schoenfeld Vision for Arts in Education Award benefit to raise funds for the NYC Schools Blueprint for the Arts program and The Broadway League's educational initiatives at a Gala honoring Gerald Schoenfeld, Chairman of the Shubert Organization and Joel Klein, Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education on Monday, October 6th at the Waldorf Astoria.