Steven Soderbergh Unretires
Today in show business news: Steven Soderbergh is headed to television, Intervention will intervene no more, and USA is sending camp kids to battle.
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Much noise has been made about acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh's supposed retirement, everyone saying that Behind the Candelabra is his last movie and waving goodbye. (Myself included.) But! He's not really retired. He's just not doing feature films anymore. Look, he's just signed on to write and direct a ten-part Cinemax series called The Knick, starring Clive Owen. Ten parts?? That's like five movies! And it's a big show, set in 1900 New York City, at the innovative Knickerbocker Hospital. That sounds like way more work than Magic Mike. So he's not really retired, he's just moving to big prestige television. Though, prestige-wise, it being Cinemax he's probably going to have to blow up the hospital or something. That's just how they work over there. Anyway, the more fancy directors that move to television, the better we're all off, I think. Welcome, Steven. [Deadline]
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After thirteen seasons and 243 interventions, A&E's hit reality show Intervention has been canceled. I guess they cured all the addicts! No, I kid. An A&E exec says that 156 of the show's subjects are currently sober, which is over half. So that's a pretty good track record I think. There will be five more episodes and then that's it. No more. At least Hoarders is still on. Otherwise how else would we know that people are having a hard time? [Entertainment Weekly]
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USA has welcomed a new character. They've hired former American Idol contestant Matt Rogers to host a reality show called Summer Camp, about "16 die-hard campers in over-the-top competitions inspired by classic camp games." Wait. Campers? As in children? They're going to pit children against each other in over-the-top competitions? That seems like a strange show. I mean it's basically Guts, I guess, but still. That sounds like a very peculiar television show. And it's hosted by a guy from American Idol. Neat program, USA. Another stellar one for the lineup. [Deadline]
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Neil LaBute is also making the transition to television. The playwright and screenwriter is doing a ten-episode show on DirecTV about the interconnectedness of it all called Full Circle. He's cast the thing, and it's quite the lineup of B-listers. Folks like David Boreanaz, Kate Walsh, Draco Malfoy, Billy Campbell, Minka Kelly, Ally Sheedy, Keke Palmer, Julian McMahon, Cheyenne Jackson, and Robin Weigert. That is certainly something! Boreanaz and Sheedy, at long last. Finally Keke Palmer and Draco Malofy, together. Though, hm, they might not all work with each other. The Hollywood Reporter describes the series as this: "Each episode of the drama ... will take place in a restaurant and feature a conversation between two characters, with one of the character's story lines carrying over into the next episode through a conversation with a new character. That character will then be featured in the following episode. The process will continue until the final episode." Aha. So it's single-set and kind of theatery. Fitting for Mr. LaBute. Will you watch this cavalcade of TV stars be bad to one another? Eh, I guess it's a moot point if you don't have DirecTV. [The Hollywood Reporter]