ABC Television Network and Sam Haskell, Chairman of the Board of the Miss America Organization, have announced that “The 2013 Miss America Competition” returns to Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas for a week of preliminary competitions, culminating in a live telecast on Saturday, January 12, 2013 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on ABC.

“The 2012 Miss America telecast on ABC was a tremendous success, taking the ratings crown as the most-watched non-sports program on Saturday night,” said Haskell. “With the success of our re-branding Miss America, we have attracted a new audience. We look forward to working with ABC and Planet Hollywood to make the 2013 broadcast event even more memorable for our viewers.”

The three nights of preliminaries will take place on January 8, 9 & 10 at Planet Hollywood’s PH Live Tickets for the preliminaries, as well as the Miss America live event, will be available soon. For information on ticket sales visit www.missamerica.org. Laura Kaeppeler, of Kenosha, Wisconsin is Miss America 2012.

The Miss America Organization is the world’s largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women and one of the nation’s leading achievement programs. Last year, the Miss America Organization and its state and local affiliates made available more than $45 million in scholarship assistance. The 2013 Miss America Competition will mark its third consecutive year on ABC. The show will air on Saturday, January 12, 2013 at 9:00 p.m. ET. For more information, visit www.missamerica.org.

Image Courtesy of cjorgens / Shutterstock.com

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San Diego, U.S.A - And the award goes to…. Sony Tablet. The traditional envelop will be missed. At the 2012 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas, on-stage presenters will announce the winners by reading their names off of the Sony Tablet P.

With almost everything making the move to digital these days, it is only natural that the iconic awards show moment – when the presenter rips opens an envelope and announces the winner – is also making a technological leap forward.

Presenters for all seven on-air awards will use a Sony Tablet P in place of the traditional envelope. Presenters will open the folding, dual-screen tablet to reveal the name of the winner on the screen inside. Sony Tablet S is being used by members of the production team through pre-production and on show night in monitoring the ongoing discussions across all social media sites.

The 2012 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and are to be broadcast live on ABC, Sunday, May 20, 2012.   This year’s presenters include Taio Cruz, Gavin DeGraw, Gladys Knight, Julianne Hough, Natasha Bedingfield and Jeremy Sisto. More presenters will be announced as the show draws closer. ABC Modern Family’s Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell were previously announced as the event’s hosts.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Sony to make the Billboard Music Awards winner announcements more exciting and dynamic than ever before,” said Tommy Page, publisher of Billboard. “This new advancement in the show is a perfect extension of the Billboard brand as we are constantly evolving our digital content offerings on various platforms from Billboard.com to the Billboard chart app.”

The 2012 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas is a production co-executive produced by Richard D. Beckman, CEO Prometheus Global Media and Don Mischer Productions. The special will be shot in high definition and broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC’s selected HD format, with 5.1 channel surround sound.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.billboard.com

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In its final outing, ‘Desperate Housewives’ will wrap up the stories of Susan Delfino (Teri Hatcher), Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman), Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross), and Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) in a special two-part series finale, titled “Give Me the Blame”/”Finishing the Hat”. The finale will revolve around the ongoing murder trial which sees Bree charged with the death of Gabrielle’s step-father, that actually occurred at the hands of Gabrielle’s husband Carlos (Ricardo Chavira) in an act of self-defense.

Other storylines expected to be resolved in the finale include the long-awaited reunion between Lynette and her husband Tom (Doug Savant), and a follow-up to Susan’s decision in last week’s episode to sell her home on Wisteria Lane, following the death of her husband Mike (James Denton) earlier this season. The official episode description for “Give Me the Blame” reads:

“Susan plans on selling her home; Trip begs for Bree to come clean to him about the night Alejandro was killed; Gabrielle tries to come up with a way to stop Bree from being convicted.”

Then, the official episode description for “Finishing the Hat” reads:

“Katherine returns to Wisteria Lane and offers Lynette a job, that could end her chances of reconciling with Tom; the ladies agree to take care of Mrs. McCluskey when they discover she wants to die with dignity; Julie goes into labor on the way to Ben and Renee’s wedding; Renee is furious to find out that Ben has been arrested and thrown in jail.”

The return of Katherine in the series finale marks the first appearance by former star Dana Delany since her departure from ‘Desperate Housewives’ two years ago, when her character departed on an extended trip to Europe with girlfriend Robyn (Julie Benz). In real life, Delany took a starring role on her own ABC series ‘Body of Proof’.

Other former stars are expected to return for the final episode, which comes after several years of declining ratings for the once top-rated series. Premiering in the fall of 2004, ‘Desperate Housewives’ was one of two shows (the other being ‘Lost’) credited with revitalizing the struggling ABC network.

In its first two seasons, the series averaged more than 20 million viewers per week, however, that figure has been in a steady decline ever since, with the current season averaging 8-9 million viewers per week. Still, the series has remained one of ABC’s strongest-performing shows and one of its most popular series internationally. For the majority of its run, ‘Desperate Housewives’ was the most-watched comedy series worldwide, reaching 51.6 million viewers in 2009.

‘Desperate Housewives’ has won seven Emmy awards during its run, including one for Outstanding Actress for Felicity Huffman and two for Outstanding Guest Actress for Kathryn Joosten. In 2004 and 2005, it won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy Series, while Teri Hatcher won Best Actress in 2004. Hatcher and Huffman also won Screen Actors Guild awards for their performances (in 2004 and 2005, respectively), while the entire cast won for Outstanding Cast in 2004 and 2005.

The two-part series finale of ‘Desperate Housewives’ will air on Sunday, May 13 from 9:00-11:00pm.

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As ‘Desperate Housewives’ heads into its final episodes, the series dealt fans a major blow as one original character met his untimely demise.

At the end of the March 11 episode, titled ‘You Take For Granted’, Mike Delfino, played by James Denton, was gunned down on his porch following a confrontation with a mobster in the previous episode. Mike lay dying in the arms of his wife Susan, played by Teri Hatcher, as the show flashed back over memorable scenes involving the couple from throughout its 8-year run.

The episode had begun with a warning from narrator Mary Alice Young, voiced by Brenda Strong, that one of five characters would die within a few days, and throughout the episode all five had various brushes with death until, finally, it was Denton’s character who failed to survive.

Denton’s exit from the show had been teased by ABC earlier this year, when it was announced that a major character would die before the final episode, however, it was during a testimony from executive producer George Perkins that the identity of the deceased character was revealed.

Perkins’ was testifying in the high-profile court case between ‘Desperate Housewives’ show-runner Marc Cherry and former star Nicolette Sheridan, who is suing Cherry over her dismissal from the series in 2009 and for an alleged physical altercation which took place onset several months earlier, and which Sheridan claims was what precipitated her exit from the show.

When Sheridan’s attorney asked Perkins if any other major characters had been killed off, likely in an attempt to establish whether Sheridan had been singled out for firing following the alleged altercation, Perkins revealed that plans had been made to have kill off Denton’s character. Due to the public nature of this trial, Perkins’ revelation was soon picked up on by various news outlets, and ABC’s ‘murder mystery’ suspense for the March 11 episode was spoiled.

Speaking to EW.com about his exit from the series, Denton expressed no bitterness about his departure from the series, saying:

I think it’s really funny because through all the interviews, all the talk shows, people would ask what I wanted on the show. I’d say: “I just want to live. Just don’t kill me. Whatever it takes, just don’t kill me.” And I made it with six episodes to go — I almost made it. Delfino gets this really big exit, and I’m free for pilot season. It’s ironic. It ends up it’s the best gift I could have gotten.

Denton, however, will make one further confirmed appearance on the show in next Sunday’s episode for “the funeral and some flashbacks, and that’s it.” Desperate Housewives continues to air Sundays at 9pm for the remainder of the season, with its last-ever episode scheduled to air in May.

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Cirque du Soleil  presented a wholly unique and exclusive performance for the 84th Academy Awards on Oscar Sunday, February 26. The one-time-only event featured the largest Cirque cast ever assembled for a single act.

To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/54694-cirque-du-soleil-84th-academy-awards-exclusive-performance-danny-elfman. More than 50 international artists from Cirque du Soleil productions around the world converged in Los Angeles to bring the dynamic showcase to life.

The act featured aerialists, Icarian acrobats, hand balancers, dancers and characters from IRIS, A Journey through the World of Cinema along with the 15-member Banquine team from Viva ELVIS in Las Vegas and a hand balancer from Zarkana, direct from Moscow’s Kremlin State Palace Theatre.  The act was accompanied by music from Academy Award-nominated composer Danny Elfman, who scored the music for Cirque du Soleil’s IRIS, A Journey through the World of Cinema.

Cirque du Soleil presented the performance as a tribute to the movie theatre experience incorporating signature Cirque acrobatic elements and imagery along with classic film clips.

The act marked the second time Cirque du Soleil performed during an Academy Awards telecast.  The troupe’s first appearance, at the 74th Academy Awards, sparked discussions about creating a permanent show at the theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center and resulted in the creation of IRIS.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 were presented on Sunday, February 26, at the theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network as well as being televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

About Cirque du Soleil
Since 1984, the company has brought wonder and delight to more than 100 million spectators in over 40 countries in more than 300 cities on six continents. Cirque du Soleil has 5,000 employees, including more than 1,300 performing artists from close to 50 different countries.

Image Courtesy of    http://www.flickr.com/photos/beaconradio/

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ABC’s hit sitcom will return for its third season on February 14, following an unprecedented, nationwide promotional campaign. Cougar Town, a half-hour comedy starring Courteney Cox (Friends, Scream), follows Jules Cobb (Cox) and her close circle of friends as they attempt to navigate their way through parenthood, marriage, dating and work.

The series has been off the air in the U.S. since last May after ABC opted against giving the show a spot on its fall schedule, offering only vague assertions that it would return at some point at ‘midseason‘. However, the series’ cast and crew have turned to social media in an effort to maintain public interest and to engage with their fan base in a face-to-face manner.

The main feature of their promotional campaign has been Cougar Town viewing parties, which have been in operation across the U.S. for several weeks now as cast and crew members travelled to various cities to interact with fans, offer special screenings of new episodes, take part in Q&A sessions, and to counteract any waning interest as a result of ABC’s delay in confirming a return date for the series, which had previously been airing alongside the network’s Emmy award-winning series Modern Family.

In a further effort to reignite the old and spark some new interest, series star Courteney Cox joined Twitter in January of this year and has since amassed over 90,000 followers. Cox has sent out over 1,000 tweets, the majority of which have sought to publicise the show and to offer Cougar Town fans exclusive behind-the-scenes footage.

As recently as Wednesday February 8, Cox was overseeing a competition to reward 50 fans with bottles of wine – in partnership with THECULTWINE.COM - provided that fans show proof of their age and make a pledge to watch Cougar Town on Tuesday February 14 at 8:30pm.

This is not the first time that cast-members involved with the series have reached out as a way of rewarding and strengthening their audience’s support. In an April 2011 episode, one character read out a telephone number which viewers could in turn call. If they got through, they could speak to actors, writers, and various others involved with the series.

These tactics have all been designed to keep Cougar Town on the public radar in spite of its middling ratings, with several fans going so far as to display billboards in support of the show during television coverage of this year’s Super Bowl, in the hopes of winning a walk-on role from the producers.

Show-runner Bill Lawrence recently expressed his frustration over the ‘flawed system‘ which monitors television ratings and which will ultimately determine the future of his series beyond this season, explaining that the primary hope of his self-funded campaigning is for:

a Nielsen family [to] … want to keep show alive. Ruining it for the masses or encouraging them to watch on their computer doesn’t matter until the system changes.

While there have been instances in the past of grass-roots campaigns being organised to combat network decisions – for example when Jericho fans persuaded CBS to reverse the series’ cancellation in 2007 – the involvement of the Cougar Town cast in this campaign has been particularly note-worthy, as has the fact the majority of their events have been planned entirely through the use of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

The true impact of Lawrence’s, Cox’s, the audience’s and others’ efforts to promote Cougar Town will be made apparent in the coming weeks when the series returns to ABC’s schedule and everyone involved attempts to lure, and hopefully increase, their 7.3 million weekly viewers from last season.

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The current US television season is only just half-underway, but already the major networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and the CW) have made the majority of their pilot orders with regards to new programming for the 2012-2013 season.

John Wells, former show-runner of the hit medical drama ER and current show-runner of the cable dramas Shameless and Southland, makes his return to network television with two pilot orders this development season. The first of his pilots is a comedy co-effort with Glee actor Mike O’Malley for FOX, and is currently titled Prodigal Bully.

The premise of the series, if it is picked up beyond its pilot order, would be that of “a young boy genius who uses his brains and brawn to get whatever he wants“. As for Wells’ other pilot, he is developing a remake of the British drama hit Bad Girls for NBC. This series would follow the activities of a group of female prisoners, and ran for seven years in the UK.

Other notable figures to have sold new pilots to the major networks include: JJ Abrams (Lost, Alias, Alcatraz), who has sold Shelter to CW; Josh Schwartz (The O.C., Chuck, Gossip Girl), who will be writing Carrie Diaries, a teenage prequel to the Sex and the City franchise); and NCIS star Mark Harmon, who will be producing Joey Dakota for the CW.

It is unusual that so many pilot orders have taken place by the beginning of February, as several midseason shows have yet to debut for the 2011-2012 season, while the fates of such long-running hits as FOX’s House and NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit remain uncertain. In any case, the networks appear to be stockpiling in a effort to combat the ratings decline which has struck many of them this season – particularly, The CW.

The CW came into this season with the high-profile television return of Sarah Michelle Gellar, however, its ratings declines have been well-documented and the network has now picked up five drama pilots with the potential pick-up of several more. This aggressive development move is in contrast to CBS which has so far picked up just a handful of projects, although, CBS’ ratings are in a much stronger position.

As the remainder of the 2011-2012 season plays out and the networks learn of the fates of their long-running shows, while also seeing how their new midseasons shows fare among established competition, it will become more clear just how many of the ordered pilots will indeed make it to air in the fall, how many will be benched until midseason and how many will be put out of contention altogether.

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The upcoming Fall season ushers in many new, must see television series debuting in upcoming weeks. The major television networks of ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX will be introducing a wave of new shows in hopes of becoming the next big hit. Many successful television shows will also be going through major changes as popular celebrities leave shows and are replaced by fresh faces.

NBC welcomes Christina Applegate, Maya Rudolph and Will Arnett in “Up All Night”, a new comedy series that highlights the struggles of parents with young children. The series preview aired on September 14. “Up All Night” is the brainchild of Emily Spivey and produced by Lorne Michaels, both from “Saturday Night Live.”

Juggling careers, daily responsibilities, and sleep deprived life with a baby is the foundation of this new comedy. With strong ties to humor and wit, the cast and creators of “Up All Night” are set on showcasing a hilarious perspective on parenthood. Simon Cowell’s departure from American Idol has come and gone, but the British superstar will now return to television with a new reality competition.

His UK hit show, “The X-Factor” will debut on September 21 on FOX. The singing competition has been #1 in the UK for years, and Cowell hopes to have the same success with the show in the United States. Raising the stakes from prizes in the past, the grand prize of a $5 million record deal is something people have not yet seen in reality competitions.

Judges for the show include music mogul L.A. Reid and Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger. The highly anticipated reunion of Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul as judges will be one to watch. Along with many new up and coming series, many fan favorites are coming back with a new season of episodes.

Hilariously written and performed “Modern Family” will be back for new laughs and jokes on ABC starting September 21. With last season’s mention of couple Cameron and Mitchell wanting to have son, viewers can look out for this story line as well as the usual ups and downs that make up this family’s lives.

Changes are also coming to a solid television series on NBC. “Law & Order: SVU”, which has been on air since 1999, will no longer have Christopher Meloni playing widely popular detective Elliot Stabler. Marishka Hargitay, who plays Olivia Benson as Stabler’s partner will stay for season 13.

The fan favorite duo of Benson and Stabler will no longer be shown each week, leaving loyal fans at a loss. “Law & Order: SVU” has been the most successful series of the Law & Order brand. Time and ratings will tell if the show will continue on as a mainstream hit without the reliable detectives headlining the show. “Law & Order: SVU” will premiere its new seasons on September 21.

Change is also occurring on NBC’s hit comedy, “The Office”. With the departure of comedian Steve Carell as Michael Scott of Dunder Mifflin, critics have questioned if the show can retain its signature comedy. Viewers will soon find out who the new manager of the company will be. The new season of “The Office” starts September 22.

After the much publicized Charlie Sheen scandal, “Two and a Half” men will premiere on September 19, with front man Ashton Kutcher replacing Sheen. Kutcher will also take the coveted title of highest paid actor on television, receiving $700,000 per episode. The comedy will surely be watched under scrutinizing eyes as viewers see the transition of the show from Sheen to Kutcher.

There are plenty of new and exciting television shows to watch for the upcoming Fall 2011 season. With new additions to already successful shows, it will be interesting to see which shows come out on top and which may not deliver.

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Catholic hospitals in Australia recently apologized for forced adoptions that took place in Australia decades ago.

Thousands of children were taken away from their unmarried mothers and were given to other married couples. The practice of adopting out newborns to other families was common from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Martin Laverty, the Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Health Australia has apologized for the forced adoptions that took place in Australia’s Catholic hospitals in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

The apology was calculated to “speed up the federal government into action,” said Laverty, as he apologized for the forced adoptions. He continued to say that there is a need to create a national program in order to help all the mothers and children who were harmed by forced adoptions.

In a report by CatholicCulture.org, Laverty also said, “we now know that there were many hospitals across Australia.”According to calculations, more than 150,000 Australian babies were separated from their mothers.Laverty expressed his sadness and referred to this period as a “shameful and regretful time” in Australia’s healthcare history.

“It’s with a deep sense of regret, a deep sense of sorrow that practices of the past have caused ongoing pain, suffering and grief to these women, these brave women in Newcastle but also women around Australia,” he said.

The apology comes in the wake of an Australian Broadcasting Corporation investigation into claims of abuse and trauma in Newcastle, New South Wales.

Due to the importance of the issue, Laverty made a written submission for a national inquiry into what role the federal government had in such adoption policies. The chief executive officer said that the federal government should establish a national program funded by state governments, which have primary responsibility for Australia’s adoption laws.

The program should help to establish “a fund for remedying established wrongs” in addition to help all the families reunite by finding the medical records.

In the words of a psychiatrist who has been treating some of the women affected told the program, it seems as though this had happened in a “totalitarian country somewhere hundreds of years ago.” But these forced adoptions happened only 30 to 40 years ago and will stigmatize Australia’s history.

There are many testimonies from mothers who lost their children from the 1950s to 1970s. The unease and the pain are so strong for all victims and the trauma won’t be easily healed.

Sixteen-year old, Juliette Clough, lost her baby boy shortly after his birth in a Catholic-run hospital in Newcastle in 1970. She still remembers her ankles being strapped to the bed and being gassed.

She said, “they just snatched away the baby” according to an Australian Associated Press report in the Sydney Morning Herald. She wasn’t allowed to see him, hug him or touch him.

“It was just like a piece of my soul had died, and it’s still dead,” Clough said.

She thinks about her son constantly. He would be 42 years old now and she wonders what his life is like, whether he has children and a family and if she has grandchildren. Clough has made a statement for a Senate inquiry into forced adoptions.

The enquiry, officially titled the “Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices”, was set up late last year and was due to report at the end of June 2011 but, because of “the large volume of evidence and the complexity of issues”, this has now been extended until 21 November 2011. The Community Affairs References Committee said in the meantime they will “continue to welcome evidence from new submitters”.

As Laverty said, he and his organization learned about the women’s experiences for first time this June. In a submission to the committee of inquiry he said they were “genuinely sorry” for the “pain that arises from practices of the past.”

Clough, although she has married and given birth again says that the traumatic experience marked her in a strong way. The memories from her first baby taken from her have prevented her bonding properly with her other children.

She suffers from depression and she finds it very difficult to be the mother she wanted to be. There are many more stories like Clough’s. It will take time until everything will be in the public eye.

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ABC adds to the lineup of comedies this fall with a new television series, Man Up. Christopher Moynihan, Mather Zickel, and Dan Fogler star in this comedy about three guys living adult lives but still figuring out what it means to be men.

Will (Mather Zickel) plays video games, and fusses over little things like the type of creamer used for his coffee. Kenny (Dan Fogler) is a pharmaceutical rep still in the process of getting over his divorce while their other friend Craig (Christopher Moynihan) is an ‘emotional basket case’ still hung up on his college ex.

Their lives may not compare to men like Will’s father who was a war veteran and fought in what one would consider a real battle, but life changes and along with that so do the standards and expectations of a ‘real man’.

Through the jokes and outrageous comedic situations they deal with, these men continue to get in touch with their inner tough guys and are ultimately forced to man up. This amusing and relatable comedy gives viewers something to look forward to Tuesday nights, it premieres on October 18th.

Image Courtesy of  http://abc.go.com/shows/man-up

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