Daily News Channel
Arab Idol is an over-the-top TV ratings smash in the Middle East, and a young crooner from a Palestinian refugee family, whom admirers have nicknamed “the Rocket”, is stealing the show. The surprise breakout of the second season is a 23-year-old Gaza Strip resident named Mohammed Assaf, whose patriotic folk songs and romantic ballads – with their themes of grit, longing and love – have propelled him into the final rounds.
Italy’s top court has overturned a law that shielded Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from possible prosecution. The flamboyant prime minister pushed the law through after he returned to power in 2008, but legal authorities in the city of Milan challenged it in the Constitutional Court.
Despite the drop in President Obama’s approval ratings, Republican policies are still not as popular as Democratic policies, according to a new national poll. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday morning indicates the GOP has gained some ground in polls in recent months, but Democrats still hold the advantage on key issues such as the economy and health care.
A U.S. military contract that drew fire for creating profiles to rate the output of journalists as well as coverage of the Afghanistan war is being terminated, according to U.S. military officials
Unless you’re an adolescent male, you have already asked yourself this question, perhaps in the past few days: Is there something wrong with teen girls? Specifically, are they getting too sexy?
The number of movies nominated for the best picture Oscar will double next year, a move apparently aimed at bolstering sagging ratings for the Academy Awards broadcast. “Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going allow academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize,” Sid Ganis, president of the Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said. Doubling the nominations would make it more likely a viewer’s favorite movie is in the running for the top honor, which may make them want to watch the show, said Steve Pond, author of “The Big Show: High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards.” “This clearly is a reaction to declining ratings,” Pond said.
You’d think someone who lasted 17 years as host of a television program in this day and age — particularly a show as venerable as NBC’s "Tonight Show" — would be receiving praise and honor. Not so Jay Leno, whose final “Tonight Show” is Friday. “Without fail, Leno’s show fills an hour and kills an hour,” wrote The Associated Press’ Frazier Moore in a recent column on Leno’s “Tonight” legacy.
Smoking in youth-rated movies has not declined despite a pledge two years ago by Hollywood studios to encourage producers to show less "gratuitous smoking," according to an anti-smoking group. The American Medical Association Alliance, pointing to research that big-screen smoking leads teens to pick up the tobacco habit, called for an R rating for any movie with smoking scenes. The head of the group that gives U.S
On June 1st, I start shooting the biggest movie of my career. It’s called “A Couple of Dicks” and stars both comic genius Tracy Morgan and one of my longtime heterosexual crushes, the pride of Penn’s Grove, N.J.
It happens every season. Word gets out that a television show is “on the bubble” and may be canceled. The reasons vary, but more often than not, the ratings don’t match the adoration of the fans