Comedy Based On Tumblr Blog ‘F*ck! I’m In My Twenties’ In Development At NBC

NBC has put in development F*ck I’m In My Twenties, a half-hour comedy project based on the Tumblr blog of 24-year-old Emma Koenig, which also has spawned a book. The project, from BermanBraun and Universal Television, chronicles a woman’s experience as a twentysomething living in the big city. It will reflect the reality today’s generation is facing post-graduation as does Koenig’s blog, which consists of hand-drawn musings (like the one on left) about the plight of today’s millennials. It has drawn comparisons to the TV show of another twentysomething female creator, Lena Dunham’s Girls.

Koenig, repped by CAA, Circle Of Confusion and Hansen Jacobsen, will co-write the script with Jeff Lowell (Common Law). Lowell and BermanBraun’s Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun and Gene Stein are executive producing. Koenig, a college graduate, started the blog while working odd jobs as she was trying to make it in New York, auditioning for a string of web series. Her book of the same name came out in August.

This is the second Tumblr blog by a twentysomething female writer to get a TV adaptation, joining Lauren Bachelis’ Hollywood Assistants blog, which inspired a comedy set up at CBS. Tumblr is proving to be as popular source material for broadcast comedy series this season as Twitter once was.

Lawyer Cost Steven Tyler A Big Pay Raise For ‘American Idol’, Suit Claims

The Aerosmith lead singer’s former manager says lawyer Dina LaPolt poisoned Steven Tyler’s contract renegotiations with American Idol, costing him a multimillion-dollar raise. Kovac Media Group/Tenth Street Entertainment today filed an $8 million lawsuit (read it here) against the entertainment lawyer and her West Hollywood firm. American Idol and its former judge are not named as defendants in the breach of fiduciary duty complaint. In fact Tyler is not named at all.

Instead he is referred to as “The Artist” throughout the filing, though it is pretty clear from the players, his membership in a band and his role as judge for two seasons on the Fox show exactly who he is. The suit claims that in 2011 LaPolt lost “hot commodity” Tyler a $6 million to $8 million raise in his Idol contract for a second season on the show.

“LaPolt undercut TSE’s strategy to leverage the Artist’s popularity for a more lucrative deal. She told American Idol’s agent that Kovac “overplayed his hand with his aggressive behavior” and that American Idol could get the Artist for cheap, thereby undermining and negating Kovac’s/the Artist’s position in the negotiations,” says the 19-page suit. The suit also alleges that LaPolt cut Kovac/TSE out of their commission from Tyler. Besides the $8 million, the plaintiffs are seeking interest, punitive and exemplary damages, legal fees and other costs.

They have requested a five-day jury trial. The plaintiffs are represented by Louise “Skip” Miller of Los Angeles firm Miller Barondess.

Ewan McGregor To Star In Aussie Crime Thriller ‘Son Of A Gun’

Ewan McGregor Joins Julius Avery's 'Son Of A Gun'Ewan McGregor, currently working with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in August: Osage County, will shoot heist pic Son Of A Gun in Australia early next year. The film centers on the complex relationship between McGregor’s public enemy number one character and his young protégé. Oz director Julius Avery is best known for the Cannes and Sundance award winning short Jerrycan. He also wrote Son Of A Gun and will make his feature helming debut with the film. Altitude Film Sales, a division of Optimum founder Will Clarke’s Altitude Film Entertainment, is handling global rights.

UTA Independent Film Group has North America. Hopscotch/eOne has already taken Australia and New Zealand. Timothy White is producing via Oz-based Southern Light Films with Media House Capital’s Aaron L. Gilbert exec producing. McGregor is repped by UTA, UK-based United Agents and attorney Robert Offer. He’ll next be seen in Juan Antonio Bayona’s tsunami drama The Impossible which releases in December. Avery is repped by UTA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and attorney Bryce Menzies.

Eddie Murphy Salute Draws Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Tracy Morgan, Arsenio Hall, Martin Lawrence

Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Tracy Morgan, Arsenio Hall, Brett Ratner, Charlie Murphy, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Martin Lawrence have signed on to “Eddie Murphy: One Night Only” a salute to the comedian and actor that will air on Spike.

The special, produced with Don Mischer Productions, will include short films, musical performances and sketch comedy -- as well as an appearance by Murphy. It will chart his rise from a 15-year-old standup to a star of "Saturday Night Live" and such films as "Raw," "Coming to America," and the "Beverly Hills Cop" franchise.

The special will tape on Saturday, Nov. 3 at the Saban Theatre in Los Angeles, and will air on Wednesday, Nov. 14.

Plum TV Goes National With Titan Broadcast Partnership

Plum TV, home of "Yoga With a View" and "Keeping Up With Ramona" in affluent areas like the Hamptons and Martha's Vineyard, has relaunched as a national lifestyle network, after striking an agreement with Titan Broadcast Management, the network said Thursday.

The agreement with Titan will bring Plum TV to Titan station WMFP-TV in Boston and WTVE in Philadelphia. The pact now makes Plum available on cable and satellite in those markets, and makes the network available in more than 6 million households.

Presided over by former MTV executives Morgan Hertzan and Joseph Varet, Plum targets a "mass affluent" audience with coverage of home and real estate, décor, food and wine, style, travel and destinations.

It can be viewed on cable and satellite in select markets such as the Hamptons, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, as well as online platforms such as plumtv.com, Hulu and Hulu Plus and YouTube.

“Launching Plum TV in Boston and Philadelphia is a huge step for us as we create a new multi-platform lifestyle network," Plum co-president Hertzan said. "We are all about living the ‘good life’ -- and we are hoping our new viewers in Boston and Philly will love the ‘good life,’ too."

The network's expansion also comes with the news that the network has pulled in $4.4 million in financing to date from a variety of investors including Baroda Ventures and Double M Partners.

'X Factor' Louis Walsh: 'Nobody has ever told me how to vote'

Louis Walsh has responded to allegations that last weekend's X Factor elimination of Carolynne Poole was a fix.

Poole lost out to Rylan Clark after Walsh opted at the last minute to take the bottom two vote to deadlock.

Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger enjoy a night out at the Arts Club in Mayfair London, England

Fans complained about Walsh's actions and were annoyed that he was seen talking to exec-producer Richard Holloway during Poole's sing-off performance. Holloway and Walsh have insisted that they were talking about the running order for the judges' vote, but he only spoke with Walsh.

Writing a diary piece for the Daily Mail about the incident, Walsh said: "I feel totally torn after Carolynne and Rylan's performances. I like them both. With Rylan I thought the production was so amazing that this is something we'll want to see again.

"Carolynne is a great singer. My first instinct is to save her and that's what I say. I think she's good, but I don't think there's a market for her. I want to do the right thing. I feel like I am looking stupid, like a rabbit in the headlights, but that's the thing about The X Factor, it's live, it's real, anything can happen."

Walsh argued that Barlow had no right to criticise pantomime acts on the show after selecting Frankie Cocozza last year and rubbished suggestions that Holloway told him how to vote.

His second diary entry reads: "I wake up to find a huge fuss brewing. People are Tweeting that last night was a fix, and a picture is published showing Richard talking to me. The story is that he's telling me how to vote - but that's not true. Not only has no one ever told any of us what to do, but that picture was taken before the artists sang, so no one could have known how their performance was going to be judged."

Walsh's comments appear to suggest that the reason it couldn't have been a fix is because the producers hadn't heard the sing-off songs. His comments don't appear to take into consideration the possibility that the producers may have made a decision regardless of the sing-off.

He also claims that Holloway spoke to him "before" the sing-off, but video and picture evidence proves that it was during Poole's routine.

However, Walsh said that he wasn't concerned about the outcry from his actions, describing The X Factor as the Manchester United of TV.

"Other shows are just jealous. We are the biggest. We're the Manchester United of television. People are always trying to knock us," he adds.

'Arrow' Is CW's Most-Watched Show in 3 Years; 'Nashville' Solid

The premiere of the DC Comics-inspired "Arrow" was the most-watched show on the CW in three years Wednesday, while ABC's "Nashville" premiered to a solid number and NBC's "Chicago Fire" had a soft debut. Fox won the night overall on the strength of "X Factor."

The CW, which has spent most of its half-decade of existence targeting women 18-34, is trying to branch out this season after ratings were down in 2011-12. With "Arrow," an adaptation of the comic book "Green Arrow," that plan seems to be working. No CW show has earned such a large audience since the debut of "The Vampire Diaries" in September 2009.

Its 1.3 rating/4 share in the 18-49 would have been a letdown to other networks, but was great for the smaller CW. It had 4 million total viewers.

"Nashville," meanwhile, a country music drama starring Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere as musical rivals, scored a 2.8/8 and 9 million total viewers. "Chicago Fire," an ensemble drama from "Law & Order" mastermind Dick Wolf, had a disappointing 1.9/5 and 6.4 million.

Fox, meanwhile, took the night's top ratings spot overall with a 3.4/9 and drew third in total viewers with 9.4 million. The network's primetime slate consisted of "The X Factor" from 8 to 10, which ran even in the demo from last week and saw a marginal bump in total viewers.

ABC came in second in ratings and total viewers with a 3.2/9 and 9.4 million. Aside from the "Nashville" premiere at 10, the network ran "The Middle" at 8, which was up slightly from last week for a 2.4/7 and drew 7.8 million total viewers, while the new offering "The Neighbors" ran even with last week for a 1.9/5 and took 6.3 million total viewers. "Modern Family" at 9 posted a 4.7/13, down 15 percent from its season premiere two weeks ago, and attracted 12 million total viewers. A special airing of "Modern Family" at 9:30 was the night's top-rated and most-watched program of the night, racking up a 4.9/12 and amassing 12.2 million total viewers.

CBS took third in ratings and first in total viewers with a 2.8/8 and 10.5 million. "Survivor" at 8 slipped 13 percent from last week for a 2.6/8 and picked up 9.6 million total viewers. "Criminal Minds" the following hour posted a 3.0/8 and grabbed 11.4 million total viewers, while "CSI" at 10 inched up from it last original airing two weeks ago for a 3.0/8 and attracted 10.6 million total viewers.

NBC drew fourth place in ratings and total viewers with a 1.6/5 and 5.6 million. The "Chicago Fire" premiere was preceded by a series of declines for the network's offerings, starting with "Animal Practice" at 8, which slipped 15 percent from last week to a 1.1/3 and 3.9 million total viewers. "Guys With Kids" at 8:30 fell 13 percent from last week, taking a 1.4/4 and posting 4.2 million total viewers.

"Law & Order" dropped 14 percent from its season premiere two weeks ago for a 1.8/5 and taking 6.2 million total viewers.