FEARnet Orders First Original TV Series

EXCLUSIVE: Horror-themed cable channel FEARnet has greenlighted its first original series, Holliston, an offbeat half-hour, multicamera buddy comedy series starring genre filmmakers Adam Green (Hatchet 1 & 2) and Joe Lynch (Knights of Badassdom) The six-episode series, created by Green, is scheduled to start production later this year. It marks the first original production for the linear network. (FEARnet has done original digital series for the Web.) Holliston is expected to join FEARnets Tuesday night "Twisted Comedy" block, a horror-comedy lineup that launched earlier this month with two acquired scripted series, Todd & the Book Of Pure Evil and Psychoville. Set in the town of Holliston, MA, Holliston is described as "Wayne's World meets Saw" and stars Green and Lynch as lesser versions of themselves. They will play Adam and Joe, two friends chasing the dream of becoming successful horror movie filmmakers while struggling to make ends meet and dealing with life and the opposite sex in their post-college jobs at a cable access station where they also host a late night movie program calledThe Movie Crypt. This show has just the right amount of wrong, and you really cant imagine it ever making it on to TV. Thats where FEARnet comes in, said FEARnet president Peter Block. Adam came to us with a truly off-the-wall series that was overflowing with a supporting cast of misfits and I-dont-know-whats, and we knew it was a perfect fit for our Twisted Comedy block. The ensemble cast of the series includes Laura Ortiz (The Hills Have Eyes) and singer Corri English (Unrest), with well-known genre figures expected to make cameos. This is a show built on the memories and real-life experiences of our post-college days, wrapped in a shroud of wrongness, packed full of movie quotes and genre references, and topped off with plenty of jokes at the expense of our real-life friends and industry associates, said Green. No other network would have the guts to make this show; were pushing the boundaries of television. I mean, what other sitcom on television includes exploding heads and an imaginary alien friend who lives in the closet? We plan to really turn the traditional American sitcom on its head. It's the first horror sitcom. A hor-icom!" Holliston is created, written, and directed by Green, with his production company ArieScope Pictures handling the production. Green and Lynch will serve as executive producers along with Cory Neal (Frozen).

TCA: Jane Lynch And Mark Burnett Say 'Glee's Sue Sylvester Will NOT Host Emmys

Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline's coverage of TCA. Jane Lynch said that executive producer Mark Burnett surprised her on the plane back to L.A. from the TV upfronts in New York earlier this year by asking her to save a place on her dance card to host the 2011 Emmys. Burnett, the reality kingpin behind Survivor and The Voice, told her he didnt have the authority to actually offer her the job, but she said yes on the spot. Lynch, an Emmy winner herself for Glee, has already poked fun at her upcoming hosting roleSept. 18with TV spots in which she admits to saying to producers upon being asked: You know Im not Ellen DeGeneres, dont you? On todays lively panel with Lynch, Burnett and John Shaffner, chairman and CEO of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Lynch said she would be sitting in the writers room throughout the development of the awards telecast (her friend Jill Soloway will be among the writers group). Of live hosting duties, Lynch said she brings the necessary energetic cocktail of excitement, anticipation and fear. And both she and Burnett say that viewers will be seeing Jane Lynch, not a version of her Glee character, no-nonsense coach Sue Sylvester, which Lynch used in her emcee duties at the Fox upfronts the last 2 years. A little Sue Sylvester goes a long way, she said. We will probably leave her track suit on the Paramount lot. She also said she hopes to avoid classic awards show disasters such as Rob LowesSnow White number on the Academy Awards. For his part, first-time Emmy producer Burnett says he will use his reality TV experience to keep the shows pacing clipping right along. The most important thing, [because] the Emmys are three hours long, is pacing, saying there would be a lot of comic bits to keep things moving along. Well, it wasnt intended as a comic bit but Burnett drew a laugh when he said he was going to handle the usually somber In Memoriam section recapping TV celebrity deaths in a different way. It doesnt have to be a bummer, he said quickly de-fusing the guffaws from the audience by saying: It can be a celebration of whats left behindwhen you are gone, we can still enjoy your work. [You can make] different choices in tonalityyou can be sad about it, or uplifted by what they left behind.

TV Rankings: 'Big Brother' Is Wednesday's Greatest-Ranked Program

CBS CBS' Your Government won the evening within the rankings, beating just a number of originals airing on broadcast. The most recent installment from the summer time reality series (6.8 million total audiences, 2.5 rating in grown ups 18-49 demographic) rose 4 % from the last comparable telecast on Wednesday, easily winning the 8 p.m. period of time. Though CBS went repeats of Criminal Minds and CSI after Your Government, the Tiffany network rated second (1.7) behind Fox (1.8) within the key demo. NBC's Minute to Win It (4.7 million, 1.1) dipped 8 percent. America's Got Talent (9.six million, 2.4) hit a season low, sinking 14 % however the competition series still won in the 9 p.m. period of time. Love within the Wild (4.8 million, 1.4) sank 13 percent and it is it's cheapest-ranked telecast up to now. Fox won Wednesday within the key demo using the top six performance show of Which Means You Think You Are Able To Dance (5.4 million, 1.8) despite the fact that it had been lower 14 %. The CW broadcast repeats of America's Next Top Model and ABC went reruns of their comedies in addition to Beyond Belief (5.4 million, 1.3), up 44 percent from a week ago, at 10 p.m. Email: philiana.ng@thr.com TV Rankings

Coldplay Pays Tribute to Amy Winehouse (Video)

During Wednesday night's Coldplay concert at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, which doubled as a benefit for the Grammy Foundation's Grammy in the Schools program and a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!,singer Chris Martin paid tribute to the late Amy Winehouse by teasing the chorus to her hit "Rehab."our editor recommendsChris Martin's Coldplay Performs New Songs, Classics at Glastonbury (Video)Coldplay apologizes for snub, gives 'Glee' entire catalog STORY: Coldplay to Debut Two New Songs on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' Seated at the piano for a three-song encore, Martin delivered the prophetic line with a hushed voice: "They tried to make me go to rehab and I said no, no, no..." (see video below). The Winehouse moment preceded Coldplay's hit "Fix You," an appropriate preamble considering frontman Martin sings of emotional wounds that feel impossible to heal in the song, which was originally written for his wife Gwyneth Paltrow after the death of her father Bruce in 2002. "Fix You" was followed by the band's latest single, "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall" and capped off the 90-minute show, which debuted several new Coldplay songs including, "Major Minus," "Hurts Like Heaven" and "Charlie Brown." The set also featured some of the band's biggest hits including "Yellow," "In My Place," "Clocks" and "Viva La Vida." Streamers and confetti accented the more high-energy moments as did Kimmel himself, who joked upon taking the stage, "Boy, there are a lot of white people here -- it's unnerving." Martin remarked earlier in the evening that it had been two years since his band last played in L.A. Of Coldplay's new material, he challenged fans to blog about whether they liked the songs or not. See video of Martin's "Rehab" tribute below: Related Topics Jimmy Kimmel Live! Coldplay Amy Winehouse

'Transformers 3' Crosses $1 Billion Worldwide

HOLLYWOOD, CA (August 3, 2011) Worldwide box office receipts for TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, have hit $1 billion, Paramount Pictures announced today. To date, the third installment of the hit Transformers franchise, and the first shot in 3-D, has grossed $338 million in U.S. (through Monday) and $663 million internationally (through Tuesday). TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON is the first billion dollar grossing movie in the history of Paramount Pictures, marking a substantial milestone in the 99 year life of this legendary studio," said Brad Grey, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Pictures. We are grateful for the extraordinary work of Michael Bay and his film-making team, executive producer Steven Spielberg, and everyone at Paramount around the globe who played a part in helping make this latest TRANSFORMERS one of the 10 highest grossing films worldwide of all time." Earlier this summer, Paramount was the first studio to reach $1 billion in domestic grosses, aided by the $180.7 million opening of TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON over the July 4th holiday. This is the fifth year in a row that Paramount has reached the milestone before any other studio. Paramount Pictures International crossed the $2 billion mark on July 30th, making it the first for any studio this year to reach the benchmark. The studio has had six consecutive movies earning over $100 million at the domestic box office in 2011. TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON is directed by Michael Bay, written by Ehren Kruger and produced by Don Murphy & Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Ian Bryce. The executive producers are Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Brian Goldner and Mark Vahradian. When a mysterious event from Earths past erupts into the present day it threatens to bring a war to Earth so big that the Transformers alone will not be able to save us. The movie stars Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, Julie White with John Malkovich and Frances McDormand.

Only for Laffs: Bigger, better, more amusing

TORONTO -- The king of comedy festivals, Only for Laughs Montreal, wrapped its 29th edition Sunday boasting more shows (1,762 British and French combined), more sell-outs, more talent (3,695 artists and participants) and much more tapings for broadcast than previous years.The Gala series offered out four shows -- over 10,000 tickets -- located by Russell Peters.Fest's comedy person of the season, Louis CK, together with Daniel Tosh of Comedy Central's "Tosh." and worldwide funnymen Eddie Izzard and Danny Bhoy were among many hot tickets.Almost 1,000 industryites attended the fest, with 400 executives in the film, TV, digital and live entertainment biz striking the JFL Comedy Conference, having a keynote from Marc Maron along with a Q&An Expert Class with JFL comedy director of the season Paul Feig.Two new groups -- Figures (for sketch artists) and Unrepresented (functions without any agents) -- became a member of fest's New Faces strand, as the sophomore edition from the Associates Series saw several hits including Colin Quinn's Broadway show "Lengthy Story Short" and Funny or Die's "What Are You Doing? With Mike Mitchell."Live comedy podcasts made their first appearance and came capacity auds, but TV cameras were probably the most ubiquitous tech presence.JFL created an archive quantity of recorded TV special offers this season. Montreal roster includes two one-hour "Funny as Hall" special offers for BBC America four one-hour special offers located by John Oliver, Russell Peters, Craig Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet for Canuck pubcaster CBC two one-hrs -- Strange Al's "Amp'd" musical special and JFL live hit "A Tribute to Brainiacs" located by "Large Bang Theory's" Kunal Nayyar and Simon Helberg -- for Canada's The Comedy Network and special offers for GNWTV (Australia), Vital The country, Germany's TBC and Comedy Central channels within the Netherlands and Sweden. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com