Who's Who at CBS
Les Moonves Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation
Julie Chen Host and wife of Les Moonves
Nina Tassler CBS President of Entertainment
Chris Castallo CBS President of Alternative Programming
Allison Grodner Big Brother Executive Producer for Fly on the Wall Productions
Robyn Kass Casting director Big Brother and various other programs.

Will Big Brother 16 Have a New Vibe? After all the controversy over the outrageous and offensive behavior of of the BB15 cast, will CBS try to give the show a more family friendly vibe? Who are the CBS executives calling the shots?

Last season's Big Brother opened with 6.5 million viewers, down from season 14's 7.18 million debut. After Aaryn Gries made racial remarks during a squabble with Candice Stewart and other HGs started behaving badly, the ratings started to climb, eventually reaching a high of 7.26 million viewers. It looks like controversy equals ratings, so would CBS want a group of nice warm friendly housemates, or a bunch of combative, racist, homophobic, loud-mouths?

Casting director Robyn Kass and executive producer Allison Grodner, have said that Aaryn Gries was cast as the cute blonde, innocent, girl next-door, and that there were no signs that Gries would turn out to be the center of a racial controversy that would put Big Brother 15 into international headlines.

Who is really making the decisions at Big Brother? Fans and critics of BB give the credit and the blame to EP Allison Grodner, who, with former EP Arnold Shapiro, re-vamped the show's format after the first season. However, Julie Chen is not only the host of Big Brother, but a huge fan of the show, and the wife of Les Moonves, who is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation.

I always thought Grodner and Kass made the final decision as to who becomes a houseguest on Big Brother, until BB14. The cast was selected by the Kass and the producers, and then we heard "CBS" looked at the cast felt the group wasn't strong enough to deliver an audience. At the last minute CBS asked for some former "stars" to be added to the cast. To accommodate the demands of the un-named super powers at CBS, four former houseguests from past seasons of Big Brother returned to coach the new houseguests.

At the time Jennifer Bresnan was the President of Alternative Programming (non-scripted and reality TV shows). Last August during Big Brother's big brouhaha, Bresnan announced that she was stepping down. Fans wrote that CBS was letting her go because of Big Brother, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Jennifer Bresnan's departure was planned before the summer because Bresnan wanted to relocate to New York, where Bresnan's husband, CBS COO Joe Ianniello, and family live. Bresnan's production company, has just sold a new talent competition series to CBS called, In the Spotlight. She remains a consultant to CBS.

Bresnan's replacement at CBS is Chris Castallo. Castallo leads the network's development of new alternative shows, whether they are game shows, reality or non-scripted, as well as overseeing the network's current slate of veteran fare, including Survivor, The Amazing Race and Big Brother. Castallo reports to entertainment president Nina Tassler. Castallo was Executive Senior Vice President of the division under Jennifer Bresnan since 2007.

CBS is the second broadcast networks to be changing alternative heads in what are challenging times for broadcast unscripted programming. The genre has largely struggled to produce a new hit the past couple of years (since Undercover Boss and NBC’s The Voice), while cable networks have had success with mega hits like Jersey Shore and Duck Dynasty.

Mitch Graham is just under Castallo, with the title: "VP of Alternative Programming, CBS Entertainment." Graham is also involved in the development of new alternative programming. Most recently, Graham spearheaded the Network publicity campaign on behalf of the summer hit Under the Dome and was the publicist on the nine-time Emmy Award-winning The Amazing Race since its seventh season.

During the Big Brother season 15 excitement, TMZ interviewed Moonves and Chen as they were leaving a restaurant, Moonves appeared to be annoyed when asked for a comment about the Big Brother situation. It's impossible to know the cause of Moonves' sour look; maybe he had a bad meal, maybe he just doesn't like being ambushed by reporters. It has been long rumored that Moonves feels that Julie Chen's association with the show is beneath her stature as a journalist and the wife of the CEO of CBS.

If Moonves is unhappy with Big Brother's reputation, he definitely has the power to change it. But Moonves answers to the Board of Directors, stock holders, and Sumner Redstone (Redstone and his family are majority owners of CBS Corporation and Viacom). What's more important, ratings or reputation?

Should CBS try to screen out the bigots, homophobes and people that are otherwise not PC? IMHO, No. I have always felt that one of the purposes of Big Brother is to show real people from different backgrounds being real, not a homogenized Brady Bunch family. Although I don't feel they should be casting strictly to create conflicts, when people with differing values and beliefs get together, there will be conflicts. It may seem disturbing to watch, but that can happen if you examine at real life so closely. For parents, this gives them an opportunity to talk to their kids about bullying, conflict resolution and their values.

Fox has announced the cancellation of The X Factor singing competition show created by Simon Cowell. Since its debut in the Fall of 2011, The X Factor was not the hit many expected and has experience a slow decline in the ratings.  A rotation of different judges in the three seasons (Simon Cowell, Demi Lovato, Kelly Rowland and Paulina Rubio most recently) did not help the ratings.  

The X Factor franchise originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for Pop Idol. It is now held in various countries. The contestants are aspiring pop singers drawn from public competitive auditions. The programs are produced by executive producer Simon Cowell and his company SYCOtv. The "X Factor" of the title refers to the undefinable "something" that makes for star quality.

The similarities between The X Factor and Idol prompted Idol creator Simon Fuller, along with 19 Entertainment, to file a lawsuit against Cowell, SYCOtv, and FremantleMedia in 2004. An out-of-court settlement was reached in 2005 allowing Fuller to gain a 10% share in The X Factor format, and preventing an American version until 2010. Fuller later filed another lawsuit in 2011, claiming that he had also been promised that he would be credited as an executive producer of The X Factor USA, but that SYCO, FremantleMedia, and Fox Broadcasting Company had failed to fulfill that promise; that lawsuit is pending.

Cowell will continue as a judge on “The X Factor UK” and will focus on the other international formats.

Big Brother Canada Starts March 5th 

TORONTO, Jan. 20, 2014 /CNW/ - Big Brother Canada, the country's number one specialty reality series of 2013*, returns to Slice™ on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at 9pm ET/PT with a special presentation of the premiere also airing on Global. After an epic inaugural season of Endemol's worldwide hit franchise that captivated fans, this season brings with it a new set of houseguests, zany new twists and challenges, and more opportunities for fans online to impact the show.

New this season is the Big Brother Canada Side Show, a weekly post-eviction wrap up show led by series host Arisa Cox and featuring season one houseguests Gary Levy and Peter Brown. Each week a surprise guest will join the Side Show panel to dish on events going on inside the house. The Big Brother Canada Side Show will air immediately following each eviction episode Thursdays at 10 pm ET/PT. 

"Last season, our Canadian edition of Big Brother exceeded all expectations, bringing in record audiences and engaging fans in ways we'd never done before," said Barbara Williams, SVP of Content, Shaw Media. "With season two chalk-full of opportunities for viewers at home to influence the house and never before seen show-altering twists, our new batch of houseguests and fans are in for a wildly exciting ride." 

"If you thought season one was full of twists and turns, strap on your seatbelts, season two is going to be a rollercoaster ride," said John Brunton, Executive Producer for Big Brother Canada. "Fans couldn't get enough of the show, so we're bringing them the all-new Big Brother Canada Side Show hosted by the fabulous Arisa Cox and featuring familiar faces Gary and Peter who know the show inside and out. Sparks will fly." 

A group of strangers from across the country will be plucked from their homes to move in to the Big Brother Canada house, outfitted wall-to-wall with cameras and microphones that capture their every move. Week by week, houseguests will be eliminated as they compete in a series of challenges that test both brain and brawn and better their odds at the grand prize of $100,000 and a $25,000 gift card from The Brick. 

Fans online couldn't get enough of season one, flocking to the site, streaming over one million hours of video online and driving Twitter conversation so high that #BBCAN trended regularly throughout the series run. Earning a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Cross-Platform Project (Non-Fiction) for season one, the series continues to host a myriad of digital extensions and platforms that augment the social dynamics and real-time momentum of the 24/7 television production. Beyond Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, fans of the series can extend their fix of Big Brother Canada at BigBrotherCanada.ca with full episodes, live streams, and a collection of twists and opportunities that allow them to impact the show.

Big Brother Canada, continues to air three nights a week on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 9pm ET/PT. The Big Brother Canada Side Show will air Thursdays, following each eviction episode, at 10pm ET/PT. Big Brother After Dark will air seven days a week from 2am - 5am ET/11pm - 2am PT. 

Details on casting will be revealed at a later date. Tune in to Entertainment Tonight Canada tonight at 7:30pm ET/PT for an exclusive sit-down with Gary Levy about the all-new Big Brother Canada Side Show.

l

Former Friends star Matthew Perry has been tapped by CBS to star in, write and executive produce a new take on Neil Simon's Broadway play, The Odd Couple,  for CBS, Perry will also co-write and executive produce the proposed project alongside Mad About You's Danny Jacobson, Perry will portray Oscar Madison, a sloppy, divorced sportswriter living with neatnik pal, Felix Unger, who is in the process of divorce. The role of Felix Unger has not been cast yet.

Perry told Deadline Hollywood that doing The Odd Couple has been a dream 34 years in the making. “Ever since seeing the movie The Odd Couple when I was 10 years old, it has been a dream for me to play Oscar Madison,” he said. “To be given the opportunity to develop a modern version of it for CBS has put a permanent smile across my face. I met up with a wonderful writing partner in Danny Jacobson. We both have such a passion for the source material that we have instantly become obsessed with making this great. Plus, I think it’s time for me to be in front of a live audience again. I miss that. The search for Felix Ungar is on!”

The Odd Couple, a 1965 stage play by Neil Simon was followed by a 1968 film directed by Gene Saks and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.  The film was highly successful with critics and audiences, grossing over $44.5 million, The success of the film was the basis for the sitcom of the same name, starring Tony Randall as Felix and Jack Klugman as Oscar, which ran for five seasons on ABC. Both actors were nominated for Emmy Awards in each year of the show's run. Jack Klugman won two Emmy Awards for his work (in 1971 and 1973) and Tony Randall won an Emmy as well (in 1975, in which, upon acceptance of the award, he commented on the fact that he wished he currently "had a job", since the show had been cancelled), the show itself was also nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in the years 1971, 1972 and 1974.

This isn't the first attempt at an Odd Couple reboot. In 1982, ABC aired a new version of The Odd Couple, this time with two African-Americans, Ron Glass as Felix and Demond Wilson as Oscar. It was called The New Odd Couple and ran less than half a season.

Klugman and Randall reunited in the 1993 CBS TV movie The Odd Couple: Together Again and another feature film, The Odd Couple II, written by once again Neil Simon (who also produced) was released in 1998. The film reunited Jack Lemmon as Felix Unger and Walter Matthau as Oscar Madison in their last film together. The film is also significant among sequels for having one of the longest gaps between the release of the original and a sequel in which all leads return.