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zondag 21 oktober 2012

Atomic Kitten, 5ive, B*Witched, 911, more to reunite for ITV2 show

Atomic Kitten are among several '90s pop acts who will reunite for an ITV2 documentary series.

The girl group will reform along with 5ive, Liberty X and 911 for The Big Reunion, according to The Sun.

The show will follow the reunited bands as they rehearse for two weeks ahead of a comeback performance.

"We are thrilled to bring the stories of these pop groups up to date," said ITV's head of digital channels Angela Jain.

"A lot has happened in the time these bands have been apart - marriages, divorces and changes in careers - and who knows quite what will happen when they reunite!"

Other acts tipped to come back together for The Big Reunion include B*Witched and the Honeyz.


Anna Nicole Smith Lawyer Howard Stern Back on the Hook for Conspiracy Charges

Howard K. Stern, the former lawyer and domestic partner of deceased actress/heiress/Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith, suffered a blow Thursday in the ongoing legal saga over Smith's death, when a California court of appeal reversed his acquittal on two conspiracy charges.

In October, a judge reversed Stern's earlier conviction on two felony conspiracy charges related to obtaining drugs for Smith under false names, saying there was insufficient evidence.

The appeals court, reversed that decision Thursday, and also reversed the dismissal of charges against Dr. Khristine Elaine Eroshevich, who prescribed drugs for Smith in the period leading up to her death.

"As to defendant, Howard Kevin Stern, the new trial and dismissal orders are reversed," Thursday's ruling reads. "The verdicts as to counts 1 and 3 are ordered reinstated."

It's unclear what the next step is for Stern; according to the ruling, the trial court that ruled in October can dismiss on grounds other than insufficient evidence or impose sentence, but cannot retry Stern due to the rule of double jeopardy.



Fall TV: Forget Trying to Please All, Narrowcasting Thrives

You may be watching the slow death of broadcasting.

Not of broadcast networks – they'll be fine. But the notion that shows can broadly cast out and try to appeal to all might be as dated as the image of an old-time farmer casting seeds. This season, some of the most narrowly targeted shows are proving to be the most successful.

Few could have predicted that three weeks into the season, NBC would be the top-rated network so far. Or that the biggest premiere – aside from football -- would be a cable show about zombies. Or that the top new network show would be essentially a sci-fi Western. (See chart, left.)

While NBC is up, ABC, CBS, and Fox are down (see chart, below) – largely because their attempts to appeal to the masses haven't worked like they used to. Not all of NBC's have, either. The network pledged this season to go for broader comedies, but Thursday canceled one of its highest hopes, "Animal Practice," a veterinary sitcom with a monkey as one of the leads.

You can't get much broader than that, except with singing shows and football. Football is thriving. But singing competitions are down. Fox's "X Factor" has slipped in part because of much tougher competition than it faced last fall. NBC's "The Voice" didn't air then. But the show has fallen hard from midseason, when it got a huge boost from a Super Bowl lead-in.

You can't get much more potentially off-putting, meanwhile, than AMC's "The Walking Dead," which nonetheless scored TV's highest scripted-show ratings in a year with Sunday's third-season premiere. The episode featured a discussion of what would happen if a baby turned into a zombie in the womb, which might turn off lots of viewers. But 10.9 million people were at least willing to give Sunday's premiere a shot. The show has grown dramatically since its debut, while getting gorier and gorier.

Narrowcasting at its best means locking in on one audience with not trying to please everyone. No show does it better than "The Walking Dead." Not including football, its 5.8 rating in the key 18-49 demographic Sunday was the best since the "American Idol" finale in May, and the best for a scripted show since a "Modern Family" episode last October. "Modern Family" ended last season the top scripted series on TV.

The success of a few decidedly different shows doesn't mean it's time to carve up television into small niche networks – though that's certainly what's happening in cable and online, as more and more channels devote themselves to cooking, cars, and a given sport.

Despite the triumphs of narrowcasting, when mass-appeal programming works, it really works.

The top-rated show on television is NBC's "Sunday Night Football," which is down very slightly this season to a still-excellent 8 rating in the demo. But as much as they might like to, networks can't air football around the clock.

The lesson of this season may be that you can't please all the people all the time, but that you don't need to please everyone to score some very respectable ratings.

Take "Sons of Anarchy." The FX biker drama isn't for most. (This week's episode featured a man being beaten to death with a snow globe.) But FX's highest-rated show has repeatedly bested its Tuesdays-at-10 competition this season. Its network rivals -- NBC's "Parenthood," CBS's "Vegas" and ABC's "Private Practice" -- are all decidedly middle of the road.

CBS is the broadest of the broadcast networks, and has the numbers to prove it. Though NBC leads in the key demo this season, CBS has easily the largest overall audience. It can thank its safe, comfortable mix of procedurals and sitcoms.

But even that approach isn't working as predictably as it used to. CBS's most successful new show is also its weirdest. The Sherlock Holmes update "Elementary," in which Holmes is a woman, is second only to NBC's even weirder "Revolution," which imagines life after all power sources go out. (The latest episode of "Revolution" features a fun update on a classic Western train robbery – something we haven't seen since, um, AMC's "Breaking Bad," did it over the summer. But "Breaking Bad" is a famously, wonderfully insane show.)

Many of CBS's most conventional series are down. Last season, all of its Monday comedies scored a huge boost from curiosity about how Ashton Kutcher would score on the new season of "Two and a Half Men." This season, against competition from "The Voice," the Monday comedies have slipped.

Now "Men" has moved to Thursdays with the broadly appealing "Big Bang Theory," where they make life much harder for rivals "X Factor" on Fox and NBC's smart but little-watched Thursday comedies. NBC has made no bones about its plan to go for broader comedies this time out.

But only one of those comedies – the most daring – is scoring big. The Matthew Perry comedy "Go On" tries to mine comedy from a group of people dealing with grief. Viewers seem to appreciate it: "Go On" is the top-rated new comedy of the season.

"Animal Practice," a show more likely to look for laughs by putting a cute monkey in a costume, is gone, along with the CBS underdog procedural "Made in Jersey," the first show to be cut this season. NBC's "Guys With Kids" is also struggling for viewers.

But NBC climbed to No. 3 in the ratings last season after years in fourth through another form of narrowcasting: Choosing easier fights. Rather than unveiling big shows against serious competition in the fall, it debuted "The Voice," its biggest show besides football, in April 2011.

It then aired it in midseason, instead of the following fall, where it nearly tied "Idol" as the No. 2 show on television after "SNF." Then NBC used its strength this fall to launch "Revolution," which airs Mondays after "The Voice."

It's not surprising that "Revolution" debuted to strong numbers. The surprise is that it's held on to a solid audience, at least so far.

The J.J. Abrams-produced "Revolution" is similar to many shows that have come since his ABC hit "Lost": One huge event changes everything and mysteries pile up. But as the mysteries get more confusing, or don't seem to move toward solutions, viewers tend to fall off, as they did for "The Event" on NBC, "FlashForward" on ABC, and Abrams' "Alcatraz" on Fox.

Part of the problem is serialization. "Lost" was not an easy show to start watching five episodes in.

But "Revolution," interestingly, is. Your humble correspondent watched the premiere, left the show for a while, and came back to this week's episode, No. 5.  It was surprisingly easy to follow, and just eccentric enough. It added mysteries while solving some from the first episode. It actually worked.

It also gained in ratings over the episode a week before.

"Walking Dead" is also growing instead of shrinking. It has repeatedly broken cable records, and has a shot this season of becoming the highest-rated scripted show on TV. It would be the first cable show to do so.

The zombies aren't in the same league as football yet. But give them time.


Development Update: The 21st of October

BRIDGE, THE (FOX) - Taylor Elmore's drama, an "Upstairs Downstairs" look at life on a Navy aircraft carrier, is being redeveloped by the network by executive producers "Justified" Graham Yost and Michael Dinner. Said duo will help with the rewrite while Dinner is attached to direct. Sony Pictures Television-based Gran Via Productions is still behind the hour, with Mark Johnson executive producing alongside Elmore, Yost and Dinner. (Deadline.com)

GEORGE CLOONEY MANIFESTO, THE (FOX, New!) - Playwright Annie Hendy ("The Catholic Girl's Guide to Losing Your Virginity") has sold a new comedy to the network about "a single woman who, sick of the shoulds and should nots of society's double standards about dating, decides from this point on she is going to act like George Clooney and live life to the fullest." Mark Waters ("Made In Jersey") is on board to direct and executive produce alongside Watermark Pictures' Jessica Tuchinsky for 20th Century Fox Television. Hendy will write and serve as a co-executive producer while Waters is also set to helm Lifetime's "Witches of East End" pilot. (Deadline.com)

LAST STOP SAVANNAH (CBS, New!) - Feature writer Randy Brown ("Trouble with the Curve") has booked a new drama at the Eye about "a high-profile Chicago attorney who suffers a fall from grace and loses his Illinois license, returns to his hometown of Savannah for a job at his old college roommate's firm - where his daughter works as a newly minted partner" Said hour, which Brown will write and co-executive produce, is set up at the Warner Bros. Television-based Gerber Pictures. The company's Bill Gerber will executive produce. (Deadline.com)

LIFE AS I BLOW IT (NBC) - Sarah Colonna's book - which follows her life in the Midwest surrounded by eccentric friends and family whose opinions and actions know no boundaries - is being redeveloped at the Peacock. Denise Moss ("Rita Rocks") has been tapped to co-write the half-hour alongside Colonna, taking over for Danielle Sanchez-Witzel. Sony Pictures Television-based Happy Madison Productions is still behind the project with Doug Robinson as well as New Wave Entertainment's Abbey MacDonald, Brian Volk Weiss and Michael Pelmont also serving as executive producers. It's not clear if Universal Television is still attached. (Deadline.com)

MANCHILD (FOX, New!) - Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi ("Entourage") has set up at new comedy at the network about "a thirtysomething Rite-Aid pharmacist, single for the first time since high school, who wants to experience the fun he thinks he missed out on in his 20s by befriending the young cashiers and stockboys in the front of the store." Said effort is set up at Lionsgate Television with Ash Atalla (U.K.'s "The IT Crowd") executive producing alongside Wolpert and Nedivi. (Deadline.com)

RE-TOGETHER (ABC, New!) - Andrea Savage ("Dog Bites Man") is set to write and star in a potential single-camera comedy at the Alphabet about "a couple with two small kids who get divorced and live their lives with other people for 30 years [only to] get back together in their 60s, when their grown children are tasked with being a nuclear family for the first time." Sony Pictures Television is behind the half-hour with FanFare Productions' Jamie Tarses executive producing alongside Savage. (THR.com)

SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY! (ABC, New!) - Lizzie and Wendy Molyneux ("Bob's Burgers") has sold a potential comedy to the Alphabet about "a group of people who bond while working for the world's worst boss." 20th Century Fox Television is behind the project with Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment's Aaron Kaplan and Sean Perrone executive producing alongside the duo. (Deadline.com)

UNTITLED BOB MARTIN PROJECT (ABC, New!) - Bob Martin ("Slings and Arrows") is developing a new comedy at the Alphabet about "a cartoonist who struggles to reconcile the idealized married life depicted in his comic strip with his own life - one that is populated by ex-spouses, children from three different marriages, and a wife who earns far more money than he does." Canada's Shaw Media is behind the half-hour with Noreen Halpern executive producing alongside Martin. (Deadline.com)

UNTITLED KAREN CRONER PROJECT (ABC, New!) - Karen Croner ("One True Thing") has scored a script order from the Alphabet for a new drama about "a woman returning with her teenage son to live with her rock-n-roll family in Laurel Canyon." The Warner Bros. Television-based Fake Empire is behind the hour, which is based on Croner's experience of growing up in the Hollywood Hills. Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage and Len Goldstein will executive produce alongside Croner. (Deadline.com)

UNTITLED PAUL ZBYSZEWSKI PROJECT (FOX, New!) - Paul Zbyszewski ("Hawaii Five-0") has landed a potential drama at the network about Deputy U.S. Marshal Dan Shaker "who, when members of the Federal Witness Security Program begin getting killed, leads the hunt for the person who stole the file with the secret identities of every member of the program." Ruben Fleischer ("Gangster Squad") is also on board to executive produce - and potentially direct - the hour for 20th Century Fox Television. (Deadline.com)

UNTITLED RACHEL ZOE PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Writer Aseem Batra ("Animal Practice") and director Todd Holland ("Go On") are set to team for a single-camera comedy at the Peacock centering on a fictional version of designer/stylist Rachel Zoe, whose reality series "The Rachel Zoe Project" airs on sibling network Bravo. BermanBraun's Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun and Gene Stein as well as Dark Toy Entertainment's Karey Burke will executive produce alongside Batra, Holland, Zoe and her husband Rodger Berman for Universal Television. (Deadline.com)

BENEATH (ABC, New!)
- Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie ("Revenge") have booked a potential new drama at the Alphabet "described as a supernatural drama about the unusual changes that befall a town after an energy company comes drilling for natural gas and unleashes something far more powerful." Peter Traugott and Rachel Kaplan are also on board to executive produce the hour, which is set up at their Universal Television-based TBD Productions. (Deadline.com)

CITIZEN HOULIHAN (FOX, New!) - "Prodigy/Bully" executive producers Mike O'Malley and John Wells are set to re-team for a new comedy about "a man who decides it's his civic duty to improve the coarseness of the modern world, to the dismay of his family and friends." The latter's Warner Bros. Television-based John Wells Productions is behind the half-hour with the company's Andrew Stearn executive producing alongside Wells and O'Malley. (Variety.com)

GAVIN & STACEY (FOX) - David J. Rosen ("I Just Want My Pants Back") is looking to import James Corden and Ruth Jones's U.K. comedy, about "the long-distance relationship between a man from England (Matthew Horne) and a woman from Wales (Joanna Page) who start off talking on the phone." Said effort was previously in the works at ABC in 2009 from writers Stacy Traub and Hayes Jackson. BBC Worldwide Productions, Sony Pictures Television and Baby Cow Productions are behind the FOX take, which "focuses on the key life moments of the title characters who try to maintain their relationship while combining their polarizing families' lives." Jane Tranter, Julie Gardner and Henry Normal also serve as executive producers alongside Corden, Jones and Rosen. (Deadline.com)

HIGH MAINTENANCE (ABC, New!) - Broken Lizard's Kevin Heffernan and Steve Lemme are set to write and star in a new comedy at the network about the staff at an upscale Manhattan apartment building. Said half-hour, which has a script commitment, is based on Lemme's college job experience as an elevator man in a luxury New York City highrise. Universal Television and 3 Arts Entertainment are co-producing. (Deadline.com)

INFERNO, THE (NBC, New!) - "Memphis Beat" creators Liz W. Garcia and Joshua Harto have sold a potential drama to the Peacock "described as a dark, operatic drama about two fledgling New York restaurateurs who, on the eve of bankruptcy, decide to hire a magnetic, fiery, larger-than-life mysterious Italian chef." One Potato Two Potato's Gordon Ramsay and Adeline Ramage Rooney ("Kitchen Nightmares"); Bluegrass Television's Scott Stuber and Quan Phung ("Whitney"); and director Michael Mayer ("Smash") are also on board to executive produce for Universal Television. (Deadline.com)

KING & MAXWELL (TNT) - Ryan Hurst ("Sons of Anarchy") has been cast in the Jon Tenney-led drama pilot, about former secret service agents whose unique skill set (not to mention their razor-sharp chemistry) often gives them a leg up on suspects and conventional law enforcement. He'll play Edgar, "a high-functioning autistic savant with an extraordinary ability to see patterns and numerical sequences [who] forms a special relationship with King (Tenney) that leads to a breakthrough in their case." Writer Shane Brennan and director Michael Katleman are behind the CBS Television Studios-based hour, which is adapted from characters created by bestselling author David Baldacci. (Deadline.com)

LAST SHIP, THE (TNT) - Rhona Mitra ("Strike Back") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about a global catastrophe that nearly obliterates the earth's population, forcing the crew of a naval destroyer to confront the reality of their new existence in a world where they are among the only survivors. She'll play Rachel Scott, "a direct, strong-willed, intelligent, and fearless paleomicrobiologist." Director Jonathan Mostow, producer Michael Bay and co-writers Hank Steinberg and Steve Kane are all behind the hour, which is based on William Brinkley's novel of the same name. Charles Parnell, Christina Elmore, Eric Dane, Michaela McManus, Sam Spruell, Titus Welliver and Travis Van Winkle also star. (Deadline.com)

LILY DALE (CBS, New!) - Kip Koenig ("Grey's Anatomy") has sold a new drama to the Eye about "a newly-blended family that runs a bed and breakfast in Lily Dale," based on "the real-life secluded hamlet in Western New York that is home to mediums and adherents of Spiritualism, the religion rooted in the belief that it is possible to communicate with the dead." Said effort is set up at Warner Bros. Television-based John Wells Productions with Wells and Andrew Stearn also serving as executive producers. (Variety.com)

METROPOLIS (The CW, New!) - Rob Thomas ("90210") is taking a new stab at importing the U.K. drama of the same name, about "a group of friends who are struggling with their adult lives not living up to the expectations they had when they were idealistic college friends." Adam Kaufman, Jenni Baird, John Prosky, Keith Carradine, Klea Scott, Matthew Rauch, Michael Ealy and Sarah Paulson starred in his previous take at ABC in 2001, which was set in San Francisco and directed by Michael M. Robin. The original ITV incarnation in 2000, penned by Peter Morgan, featured James Fox, Louise Lombard, James Purefoy and Matthew Rhys. Warner Bros. Television is behind the revised take with The Littlefield Co.'s Warren Littlefield and ITV Studios America's Paul Buccieri also executive producing alongside Thomas and his self-titled banner. (Deadline.com)

UNTITLED DAVEY HOLMES PROJECT (FOX, New!) - Davey Holmes ("Awake") is in talks to land a new drama at the network about "a family who serve as assassins for the federal government." He'll write and executive produce for the Warner Bros. Television-based John Wells Productions with Wells and Andrew Stearn also serving as executive producers. (Variety.com)

WITCHES OF EAST END (Lifetime) - Tom Lenk ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") has scored a role on the drama pilot, about a mother (Julia Ormond) and her two adult daughters (Rachel Boston, Jenna Dewan) - both of whom unknowingly are their family's next generation of witches - who lead seemingly quiet, uneventful modern day lives in Long Island's secluded seaside town of North Hampton. He'll recur as Hudson Rafferty, "Ingrid's (Boston) fellow librarian and gay best friend who helps her cast a fertility spell on one of their pals." Glenne Headly, Killian Gardiner, Madchen Amick, Nicholas Gonzalez and Patrick Heusinger also star in the Fox 21-based hour. (Deadline.com)

DEATH PACT, THE (Showtime, New!) - Tad Safran ("Doogal") and Rob Long ("Sullivan & Son") have booked a potential comedy at the pay channel about "a group of friends who, approaching middle age, find themselves living unfulfilled lives until an old acquaintance re-enters their lives with unexpected consequences." Eric and Kim Tannenbaum are also on board to executive produce the half-hour via their Tannenbaum Co. banner. (Deadline.com)

FRANKENSTEIN (TNT, New!) - Dean Koontz's "Frankenstein" novels are once again heading to the small screen, this time at TNT. Feature writer James V. Hart ("August Rush") and his son Jake Hart are co-writing the hour, "set in present-day New Orleans and follows Victor Helios (Frankenstein) and his creation 200 years after they thought they killed each other in a battle in the Arctic." Writer John Shiban, director Marcus Nispel and executive producer Martin Scorsese were behind the previous take at USA, which aired as a backdoor pilot movie in 2004 starring Adam Goldberg, Ivana Milicevic, Parker Posey, Thomas Kretschmann and Vincent Perez. Lionsgate Television and 1019 Entertainment are behind TNT's take with Terry Botwick and Ralph Winter executive producing alongside Koontz and the Harts. (Deadline.com)

GRIEVANCES (ABC, New!)
- Feature writers Nichole Millard and Kathryn Price ("The Game Plan") has booked a potential drama at the network "described as an unvarnished look at a complicated, co-dependent, no-regard-for-boundaries female friendship between a single woman and happily married mother of three, who start their own law firm when they're screwed over by their male bosses." Sony Pictures Television is behind the hour with Original Film's Neal Moritz and Vivian Cannon also serving as executive producers. (Deadline.com)

I LOVE YOU LIKE A BROTHER (CBS, New!) - Kevin Connolly ("Entourage") is set to star in a multi-camera family comedy at the Eye about "the youngest of three brothers who realizes that his non-communicative family isn't normal or healthy, and tries to force his brothers and parents to become closer." Tad Safran ("Doogal") is penning the project, which comes from the CBS Television Studios-based Tannenbaum Co. The company's Eric and Kim Tannenbaum then will executive produce alongside Rob Long ("Sullivan & Son") with Safran and Connolly serving as a co-executive producer and producer, respectively. (Deadline.com)

MADDOX (NBC, New!) - Moira McMahon ("Private Practice") has booked a potential drama at the Peacock about "a family that moves into an idyllic community where medicine and technology are the closest thing we have to utopia, that is, until they begin to suspect that something darker might be afoot." Universal Television is behind the hour with Lisa Zwerling; Peter Traugott and Rachel Kaplan of TBD Productions; and Aaron Kaplan of Kapital Entertainment also serving as executive producers. (Deadline.com)

MAN AND BOY (ABC, New!) - Danny Wallace ("Awkward Situations for Men") has set up a potential comedy at the Alphabet about "an eccentric man who returns to his small town and becomes an important part of his young nephew's life, imparting wisdom and a zest for life." The single-camera comes from ABC Studios and 3 Arts Entertainment with director Julie Anne Robinson also attached as an executive producer. (Deadline.com)

SEA OF FIRE (ABC, New!) - Steven Maeda ("Pan Am") is back in business with the Alphabet for a new drama about how a pornographic film featuring three teenage girls "tears their families apart and leads to a disappearance, a murder and host of other secrets boiling under the surface in their small town." Said effort, from Sony Pictures Television, is based on a Dutch format with Scripted World's Rob Golenberg and Alon Aranya ("Red Widow") executive producing alongside Maeda. (Deadline.com)

TRUE STORY (ABC, New!) - Screenwriters Jennifer Crittenden and Gabrielle Allan ("What's Your Number?") has sold a new single-camera comedy to the Alphabet based on their experiences as girls growing up with single moms in the 1970s. ABC Studios is behind the half-hour, which is described as "a look at what happens when a freshly divorced and boundary-less mother moves herself and two daughters in with her party girl best friend in Laguna Beach in the late 1970s." (Deadline.com)

UNTITLED JULIE BEAN PROJECT (CBS, New!) - Julie Bean ("Mike & Molly") is developing a new multi-camera comedy at the Eye, inspired by the life of consultant Adrienne Brodeur, about "a young couple that decides to end their marriage and part ways but opt to stay in each other's lives as stepbrother and stepsister after her father and his mother elope and tie the knot." Said effort comes from Warner Bros. Television with Alloy Entertainment's Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo executive producing alongside Bean. Brodeur will serve as an executive consultant (THR.com)

UNTITLED PATRICIA RESNICK PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Patricia Resnick ("Olivia") has sold a new semi-autobiographical drama to the Peacock about "the professional and private lives of the harried staff of a formerly famous novelist suffering from decades-long writer's block." Scott Stuber, Quan Phung and Jonathan Baruch are also on board to executive produce via the former's Bluegrass Television for Universal Television. (Deadline.com)

WARRIORS (ABC, New!) - Writer Steven Baigelman ("Brother's Keeper") and director Christopher Chulack ("Southland") are set to team for a new drama at the Alphabet about "the best and brightest of active-duty military doctors and nurses as they practice trailblazing medicine on critically wounded warriors returning home from Afghanistan; on military families and veterans; as well as administering to Washington's government elite such as the president, senators, Supreme Court justices - all while juggling their complicated personal lives and trying to maintain their sense of perspective, humor, and sanity." David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Maria Crenna of Mandeville Television will also executive produce. No studio was indicated. (Deadline.com)


Rebecca Ferguson: 'X Factor needs entertainment acts'

Rebecca Ferguson has said that The X Factor needs entertainment acts.

The singer - who came second in the 2010 series of the show - insisted that the programme would become "too serious" if there weren't any fun performers in the live finals.

"I remember at the time I was on the show, people gave Wagner a really hard time," Ferguson told Digital Spy. "I just loved him - he didn't bother me at all.

"People were like, 'It's about the music', and I was just like, 'He's having a ball!' He's up there dancing away and has all kinds of gorgeous girls around him and I was just like, 'He's having fun'.

"At the time when I was on the show, it didn't bother me at all," she added. "When you're watching The X Factor it's nice to have that entertainment factor.

"It's a Saturday night entertainment programme and it could get too serious if we didn't have bits of fun in it."

Ferguson also revealed that Jahmene Douglas, Lucy Spraggan and Ella Henderson are her early favourites, adding that Spraggan's original song 'Tea and Toast' made her cry.

Ferguson's repackaged edition of her debut album Heaven is out now and features her new single 'Backtrack'.








Greggs documentary series for Sky1

Sky1 has announced a new documentary series which goes behind the scenes at Greggs.

Baking for Britain offers an access-all-areas look at the popular high street bakery, from the kitchens to the boardrooms.

The fly-on-the wall show, produced by Mentorn Media, will feature some of the 20,000 staff who made the company a success.

Mentorn Media's Executive Producer Neil Grant, said: "What a fantastic opportunity and privilege to make a fun access series behind the scenes with the nation's high street icon - this will be popular television at its very best!"

Siobhan Mulholland, Sky's Commissioning Editor for Factual programming, added: "This is going to be a warm-hearted and fascinating insight into a much-loved British institution.

"The access is impressive; the cameras will be in the shops, following the delivery trucks, following characters, even in the usually confidential tasting labs. It will be a television treat for Sky customers."





James Corden, Ruth Jones 'could earn £5m from US Gavin & Stacey'

James Corden and Ruth Jones will reportedly be in line for a huge pay day if the US version of Gavin & Stacey takes off.

The pair, who created and starred in the UK comedy, could apparently earn up to £5 million each if the show becomes a success for Fox.

Editor's Special Winner James Corden at the GQ Men Of The Year Awards at the Royal Opera House, London

It was announced earlier this week that a US version is in the works, with Corden and Jones serving as executive producers on the project, alongside I Just Want My Pants Back writer David Rosen, who will work on the script.

They will be paid £20,000 each for the pilot episode and a further £175,000 each if Fox commissions a series, The Sun reports. A second series would result in large cash sums.

A source said: "If it takes off as everyone hopes, they can sit back and watch the money coming in."

BBC Worldwide Productions and Sony Pictures TV are producing the show with the company behind the UK series, Baby Cow Productions. Henry Normal, executive producer of the UK version, will fulfil the same role on the US remake.

ABC previously attempted to adapt the series in 2009 with Stacy Traub and Hayes Jackson as writers.