ITV

Tag: Twist

  • New season of ‘The Apprentice’ kicks off with a twist

    MUMBAI: The fourth season of the business based reality show The Apprentice kicks off on 22 September on US broadcaster NBC. In India the show airs on Star World.
     
     
     

    For the first time in the show’s history, the show’s host real estate magnet Donald Trump greets his 18 young entrepreneurs outside of Manhattan and tees up a big twist in the first 10 minutes that will give the candidates a serious run for their money

    After dividing the teams, Trump announces a second twist — the winning project managers will only be exempt the following week if their team members grant them that privilege.

    For the first task, Trump instructs the candidates to jump into the $13 billion fitness industry and create a new fitness plus class for Bally Total Fitness. Teams choose between two gyms in demographically diverse areas, where they create and market their class. The winning team is treated to a lavish lunch with Trump at The Friar’s Club and the losing team is sent to the boardroom where the first candidate is ‘fired’.
     
     
     

    Trump’s loyal lieutenants George Ross and Carolyn Kepcher return for the new season and the original Apprentice Bill Rancic, returns for several episodes filling in for Ross while he is away on business.

    As previously announced, a Rhodes Scholar, NFL player and an inventor are among Trump’s “hand-picked” cast of young entrepreneurs on the fourth season. Real estate magnet Donald Trump says, “For the first time, I hand-picked an Apprentice cast and I’m thrilled with the results. This is the most talented group we’ve ever assembled. They have it all: beauty, brains, and big bucks.” Ranging in age from 22-41, these candidates boast degrees from Oxford, Wharton, MIT, and Georgetown and several of the candidates are already millionaires.

    Bally Total Fitness chief marketing officer Jim McDonald said, “We at Bally make it a priority to customize our services and stay on top of the ever-changing needs of our customers. And during their first task, the teams from The Apprentice proved they understand the importance of this as well. Their ideas for a new group exercise class were smart, innovative and right on target with what today’s consumers want. The result of their work will bring an exciting new offering to Bally clubs nationwide, which we feel will be a big hit with our members.”

  • ABC’s new show ‘The Evidence’ puts a twist to the standard police drama

    MUMBAI: People lie. The Evidence doesn’t. US broadcaster ABC has announced that it will launch this new show that puts a twist on the standard police procedural drama.
     

    At the start of each episode, all of the clues (a locket, a phone, a severed finger) are revealed in a videotaped evidence log. The show then flashes to the day the crime was committed and invites viewers to play along with the heroes as they find each clue, determine its meaning, put the pieces of the puzzle together and figure out who done it.

    No one knows the importance of evidence more than the lead character Inspector Sean Cole. After he lost his wife in a brutal murder, the only evidence the cops had was accidentally destroyed, and it ruined his faith in the system. Fortunately his partner and best friend, Bishop, is there for him, pulling him back to work, pushing him forward, as they both try to solve these complex cases set against the streets of San Francisco.

    The show stars Oscar winner Martin Landau Ed Wood and Nicky Katt. In total ABC’s 2005-2006 fall schedule will have 12 new series. Oscar winner Geena Davis Thelma And Louise will try her hand on the small screen with Commander-in-Chief. She plays Mackenzie Allen has a lot on her plate. She has twin teenagers and a six-year-old at home, an ambitious husband at the office, and she is about to become the first female President of the US.
     
     

    Before that happens, however, Mackenzie, who serves as VP has to decide whether or not to go against the dying wishes of the current President, who has asked her to step down and let someone “more appropriate” fill his shoes in the Oval Office. Not only does the President want her to resign, so does the entire party that elected her in the first place.

    Actor Freddie Prinze Jr gets to star in the comedy Freddie. Four women to every man are great odds when you’re a single guy out on the town, but not ideal when it comes to your living situation. Freddie is a young, successful chef with his own restaurant, a stylish bachelor pad and a trust fund baby for a best friend. The world should be Freddie’s oyster at this stage in life, but bachelorhood isn’t working out exactly as he envisioned.

    Freddie loved growing up in a house full of women. He loved the energy of everyone running around, loved cooking for them all, but now

    He is finally starting to realise why his father used to lock himself in the bathroom just for some peace and quiet. Still, Freddie believes family always comes first, which is why he insisted his sister, sister-in-law, niece and grandmother come live with him after his brother passed away. Slowly but surely they are taking over his domain, and voicing their many opinions about his love life. Freddie will have to learn to balance his role as provider, brother, grandson and uncle, all while trying to enjoy what should be his swinging single days.
     

  • Dabur Foods launches Real Mango Twist in two variants

    MUMBAI: Dabur Foods has launched a new beverage – Real Mango Twist – in two variants. The two variants will be a combination of mango-orange and mango-papaya.

     

    These have been launched in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh.

    Real Mango Twist is available in 200 ml and one litre packs, priced at Rs 10 and Rs 50 respectively.

     
    Continuing with Real’s promise of 100 per cent preservative-free fruit juice, Real Mango Twist has fulfilled the need of mothers who want their child to get appropriate nutrition from fruits other than mangoes.

  • ‘The Apprentice’ legal tangle takes a fresh twist

    MUMBAI: It is all about the money honey! Reality television has generated ratings by showing the extent of participants’ unadulterated greed for money. It now seems that the people creating and marketing the shows are no different.

    A week ago the creator of the reality show The Apprentice Mark Burnett sued entertainment company Madison Road accusing it of telling advertisers that it has exclusive rights to broker agreements to place products on the show. Burnett had accused Madison Road of overcharging advertisers, demanded exorbitant fees and then pocketing money that should have gone to him.

    Now Madison Road has filed a countersuit seeking $40 million for defamation and trade libel.
     

    Madison Road disputes the claim in Burnett’s suit that it misrepresented its relationship with Burnett and charged up to 250 per cent more than Burnett’s fee for placements. The nasty fight stems from the two companies’ involvement in product placement deals with the successful NBC show. Most episodes involve contests showcasing brand-name products, such as a battle to see which team could sell more Mars and M&M candy bars.

    The Madison Road countersuit cites an e-mail purported to be from Kevin Harris, co-executive producer for Mark Burnett Productions, to Madison Road and AIM Productions, a New York-based product placement firm, asking for a $5 million fee for placements on the third season of The Apprentice.

    Madison Road has stated, “Burnett is the 800-pound gorilla who is making fabricated, defamatory and malicious accusations about Madison Road and then spreading those lies to third parties. Burnett is emulating the conniving, unethical and devious behavior that often leads to success for his reality show contestants.

    “Madison Road purchased from Mark Burnett’s companies the opportunity for a task sponsorship on The Apprentice on an episode by episode basis, and then marketed and sold those opportunities to sponsors for a fair fee based on the actual success of the programme. There was nothing underhanded about the manner in which Madison Road secured or sold the opportunities.

    “It was Burnett — not Madison Road — who drove up the price of getting a product front and center on The Apprentice to as much as $5 million. Then when the market wouldn’t bear his fees he looked for a scapegoat. Indeed it was Madison Road who began questioning the outlandish fees demanded by Burnett’s companies, not the other way around”.

    Madison Road has been credited with bringing Procter & Gamble’s Crest, Levi’s and Mars to The Apprentice and those three brands are mentioned in a letter purported to be from Harris thanking Madison Road and AIM for their help securing marketers for The Apprentice’s second season.
     
     

    Media reports indicate that Burnett filed his lawsuit was filed at the same time his company is expanding the internal team it uses to broker and manage branded-entertainment deals with advertisers for Survivor, The Apprentice, The Contender, the upcoming Rock Star and two upcoming shows starring Martha Stewart.
     

  • Nick lines up French animation with a quirky twist

    MUMBAI: US kids channel Nicktoons from the Nickelodeon stable will partner with Paris-based studio, Xilam Animation, for a series Shuriken School.

    This is a quirky playground comedy with a martial arts twist. It tells the story of a boy’s adventures at Ninja school. Produced by Xilam and based on an original idea by Zinkia Entertainment, the series is made up of 26 half-hour shows and will air on Nicktoons next year.

    Nicktoons VP and GM Keith Dawkins said, “We are thrilled about our first-ever partnership with Xilam Animation and having such a fun and humorous show like Shuriken School on our air. We have already got a roster of hits and now we’re serving our fans even more fresh, new and cutting-edge animation.”

    Shuriken School blends Japanese and European design. This has created a unique, stand-out animation style with intensive use of digital 2-D animation, combining all the detail of high-quality illustration with action sequences.

    Targetted to 6-11 year-olds, the series tells the story of a 10 year-old Eizan Kaburagi’s rite of passage in his first year at Ninja school,Shuriken. The action takes place in the fictional town of Tokirohama, a melting pot of eastern and western cultures. In many ways Eizan is a normal kid with big dreams, hopes and ambitions.

    He hangs out with his best friends Jimmy B and Okuni; they pick conflicts with kids from the rival school, Katana, and have fun and drum up mischief. However, Shuriken School is not a normal type of school. It is a crazy place where the implausible and improbable happen: Children learn how to melt into the walls, fly over rooftops, disappear in a cloud of smoke and move as stealthily as an invisible cat. Teaching methods at the school are unorthodox and absurd things can and do happen.

    Xilam Animation is an independent audiovisual and multimedia production company. It creates, produces and distributes worldwide, top-quality animated content both 2D and 3D CGI for TV, film and video game formats. Xilam has produced internationally successful animated series for TV including Oggy and the Cockroaches, Ratz, The New Adventures of Lucky Luke and Space Goofs (aka Home to Rent). It recently completed Kaena — The Prophecy. This is the first European feature-length computer-animated 3D film.