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I just saw that Fox is getting a Napoleon Dynamite animated tv show and thought it was brilliant. Although I most likely won’t be a fan of the show, I think it’s a good move.

The franchise is built off an already successful product: the movie, which made around $70 million since it’s release. Bring something with a cult following into the mainstream? No brainer. It will be on Sunday between other shows on Fox’s Animation Domination block. And it’s lead in? The Simpsons and Family Guy. Fox obviously likes what they see, moving American Dad of the schedule momentarily to let viewers see Dynamite.

Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess, the co-creators/executive producters of the show along with Mike Scully - a longtime producer of The Simpsons will be the creative guys behind the show - showing experience from Futurama, various MTV Films projects, and Seinfeld. It looks like they have a rare team that knows what their audience expects from characters, but they aren’t so jaded to take situational humor to a new aspect. Freakin smart.

Fox is sort of a dying network. Other networks have picked up both both America’s Most Wanted and Futurama, after viewers complained that Fox decided to drop them over monetary issues. The network has previously stated that the current season of The Simpsons will be the last - also due to monetary issues.

Fox has stated that they currently intend to stop production of The Simpsons with the current season.

The voice actors of The Simpsons are locked in a bitter contract negotiation with 20th Century Fox, with the studio threatening to end production if the talent does not take a 45% pay cut. The actors are countering with an agreement that gives them a 30% reduction but a small slice of the show’s back-end earnings, which include the billion dollar syndication and merchandising empire that the studio has built over the past two plus decades.

20th Century Fox TV has released a statement about the negotiation, indicating great fear:

23 seasons in, The Simpsons is as creatively vibrant as ever and beloved by millions around the world. We believe this brilliant series can and should continue, but we cannot produce further seasons under its current financial model. We are hopeful that we can reach an agreement with the voice cast that allows The Simpsons to go on entertaining audiences with original episodes for many years to come.

Fox says AMW is going away because it’s not paying the bills. Fox hasn’t been making any money from the show for years. That’s despite the 5 million viewers per episode, which is impressive for it’s Saturday night time-slot. So Fox has pulled the plug. From the last check, the show’s participation with public viewers have helped to catch 1151 criminals.

America’s Most Wanted was cancelled once before in 1996, which was short-lived. The network bought the show back after receiving thousands of pissed off letters, many from law enforcement officers. However, the show’s host John Walsh is said to be in talks with other networks, so don’t be surprised to see America’s Most Wanted appear somewhere else.

(Source: fox40.com)

Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood have two reasons to be paying attention to this year’s Super Bowl weekend. The pop-country trio’s song “Stars Tonight” from their sophomore release, Need You Now, will kick off the official NFL pre-game Westwood One radio coverage of Super Bowl XLV on Sunday, Feb. 6. A special version of the song, mixed with highlights of the Pittsburgh Stellers’ and Green Bay Packers’ winning seasons, will be aired on more than 640 radio stations.

After the big game, Lady Antebellum fans can catch more of the group, as their song “Need You Now” will be featured on a special Super Bowl edition of the musical Glee on Fox.