VIDEOAGE "PAPER CLIPS": A WEEKLY PRESS REVIEW

PROGRAMMING
CBC Television plans to put its all into the marketing behind a new Idol-style series this summer that seeks to find the newest member of the Second City comedy troupe. The eight-episode series The Second City's New Comedy Legend will debut in July and follow Idol's elimination format. Contestants will perform sketch comedy, and one will get eliminated each show. The winner will become part of Second City's fall touring company, with a shot at joining the troupe's main cast.
The Globe & Mail

BUSINESS
Canadian film producer Robert Lantos has teamed up with U.S. studio veteran Jeff Sagansky to buy a minority stake in Blueprint Entertainment, a boutique TV production shop with offices in Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver. The pair would not disclose the size of the cash injection in Blueprint, which has produced shows such as Kenny vs. Spenny, Whistler and 'Til Death Do Us Part. Blueprint, which does $100 million worth of production a year, almost entirely in Canada, was founded five years ago by John Morayniss and Noreen Halpern. Morayniss will assume the role of chairman and chief executive. Halpern will serve as president, overseeing development and production.
The Globe & Mail

CONTROVERSY
An employee of Wolfgang Puck Catering who's recently been diagnosed with hepatitis A may have exposed guests at several celebrity events, including Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue party. Health officials say the risk of illness is "quite low," but that anyone who ate raw food at the magazine's February 14 party should receive a preventive shot. Puck's restaurants were not affected, nor were any parties held after February 20, including Sunday's post-Oscar Governors Ball.
The Globe & Mail

Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision is investigating a phone-in controversy surrounding food show Saturday Kitchen. During a show broadcast on February 10, host James Martin asked viewers to call in on a premium rate 25-pounds-per-call number if they wanted to take part in the following week's show -- but the episode filmed just 10 minutes later. Phone line regulator Icstis has already said it will conduct its own investigation into the matter. The BBC has said that neither itself nor program-maker Cactus TV have profited from the phone calls. Cactus said that it would donate any residual money to Comic Relief.
Digital Spy

The nearly decade-long partnership between Babel director Alejandro González Iñárritu and writer Guillermo Arriaga is on the outs after a letter published in Mexican magazine Chilango blasted Arriaga for hogging the movie's spotlight. "It's a shame that in your unjustified obsession to claim sole responsibility for the film, you seem not to recognize that movies are an art of deep collaboration," read the letter, which was signed by, González Iñárritu and Babel stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Adriana Barraza. González Iñárritu goes on to wish Arriaga "luck in your future movies."
Digital Spy

AWARDS SHOWS
Critics are clamoring for comedian Jerry Seinfeld to host the next Oscars, but are finding out that women, across the board, want Ellen DeGeneres to return next year. The female audience was the reason behind Sunday's Nielsen win -- the show posted its highest ratings among women, 18-34 since 2002 when Whoopi Goldberg emceed. Forty million viewers tuned in to see DeGeneres's first-time gig as host.
E! Online

FILM
Essex council chiefs are seeking to establish an official bank holiday to honor their own Dame Helen Mirren, who took home Oscar gold on Sunday night winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in The Queen. Mirren was born in Leigh-on-Sea and went to school in Southend, both of which are in Essex.
Digital Spy

Dreamgirls is a solid hit in the U.S., earning upwards of $100 million in domestic box-office sales, so backers DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures have begun tiptoeing into the international marketplace. They hope that a few Oscars will help overcome foreign resistance to a sticky problem: an all-black cast. Only recently have movies begun to find success despite this least openly discussed of issues: that an international "color line" exists, and films with black stars do not regularly perform well overseas. Dreamgirls' international box office take will help signal insiders whether this problem may soon finally a thing of the past.
The New York Times

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