Fox Accumulates Comedy From 'MadTV' Author, ABC Galleries (Exclusive)

Scott King MadTV's Scott King has offered his second project this development season. Fox has acquired The After Wife, from ABC Galleries and King, with Brillstein Television's JoAnn Alfano set to executive produce. The comedy involves four people, all whose partnerships ended because of various scams, who meet and bond together. King, whose credits include Logo's The Large Gay Sketch Show, will pen the project and executive produce alongside former Lifetime executive Alfano. Additionally, the APA-repped King has signed with Anonymous Content for representation. King has additionally offered Stuck backwards to ABC. The ABC Galleries project, executive created by Mark Gordon and also the Mark Gordon Co.'s Andrea Shay, involves a parent that has a near-dying experience must heal his old wounds together with his children. Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com Twitter: @Snoodit RELATED: Hot Producer Mark Gordon Discloses What TV Projects the Systems Are Purchasing ABC Galleries TV Development The Objective Gordon Company

REVIEW: Anna Faris Draws the Short Straw in What's Your Number?

There are hundreds of reasons we should welcome the new trend of movies featuring women who aren’t afraid to admit they enjoy sex and who use language that isn’t always granny-approved. In theory, the Georgia O’Keefe-like flowering of the genre should speak of a newfound freedom in how we think and talk about women’s sexuality. There’s just one problem: The movies are crap. And more often than not, they’re filled with women who worry more about what others think of them rather than less. That was true of the allegedly groundbreaking (and extremely popular) Bridesmaids. But the tendency is even more pronounced, and more egregious, in What’s Your Number?, in which Anna Faris plays a twentysomething who totes up the number of guys she’s slept with (19) and realizes it’s nearly twice the alleged average, as reported in Marie Claire magazine. She vows that the next guy she sleeps with will be the one, and she won’t have to worry about feeling slutty any longer. As distasteful as that premise is, you could probably do something with it, and early in What’s Your Number?, director Mark Mylod — who has directed largely for television (Shameless, Entourage) and has made a handful of features like Ali G Indahouse and The Big White — peppers us with a montage of ridiculous women’s mag headlines, stuff about changing yourself to make men like you more, not that there’s anything wrong with the way you are, mind you. That suggests at least a glancing awareness of the way young, single women are groomed to think there’s something wrong with them if they can’t attract Mr. Right. But in the end — actually, well before the end — What’s Your Number?, instead of refuting such idiocy, plays like a movie ripped from the pages of one of those magazines: What if I’ve slept with too many guys? What if nobody wants me because I’ve slept around too much? My sister is getting married, but I’m not! Waaaaaaah! What’s Your Number? does pay feeble lip service to the double standard that it’s OK for guys to sleep with anyone they want, while women must somehow maintain the illusion of purity and inexperience. But the vibrations of insecurity radiating from Faris’s character, who bears the unscrupulously cute name Ally Darling, are almost too much to bear. It doesn’t matter that Faris is in on the joke — it still steamrolls over her. As the movie opens, Ally is ditching one of the guys who keep drifting into her life without committing — this time, it’s a green-obsessed biker dude played by Zachary Quinto, who rolls out of her bed and out the door with barely a shrug. This isn’t what Ally wants, understandably, and it doesn’t help that her older sister, Daisy (the wonderful Ari Graynor, who has a knack for being both kittenish and deadpan, though she has little to do here), is obsessed with her upcoming nuptials. The pair’s uptight mom, played by Blythe Danner, hovers nearby, expressing consistent disappointment and displeasure with her younger daughter, while beaming at the older. After a chance encounter with a formerly tubby but now slimmed-down ex, Ally becomes convinced that some of her former beaus may have improved with age. Luckily, her across-the-hall neighbor, a cutie with commitment issues of his own — his name is Colin, and he’s played by an unfettered, ridiculously appealing Chris Evans — has the know-how to track people down out of nowhere. And so he and Ally begin riffling through her past to secure her future.

Hargitay funds scholarship

"Law and Order: SVU" star Mariska Hargitay has led $100,000 to invest in a scholarship at her alma mater, the UCLA School of Theater Film and tv. The Mariska Hargitay scholarship for acting students will probably be restricted to underserved graduate and undergrad students. Since 1999, Hargitay has referred to detective Olivia Benson on "Law and Order: SVU," winning an Emmy for your role. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

In Recognition of Mick Jagger's Potential New Role, 9 Great Performers Who Are Able To Also Act

Don't hold your breath awaiting Mick Jagger to guide 'Tabloid' into theaters -- in the end, it's only within the script stage -- but when it will, the film allows the Moving Gemstones lead singer to increase his Hollywood resume. Positive thing, too, since Jagger pales as compared to the following world-class performers if this involves acting careers. Ahead, nine great performers who also are actually pretty great stars. More often than not. 9 Great Performers Who Become Great Stars CherElvis PresleyBarbra StreisandJustin TimberlakeDavid BowieJennifer HudsonMadonnaWill SmithBeyonce See All Moviefone Art galleries » Top photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Associates: Betrothed

Kimberley Gebbett and Anthony Hume, Sept. 24, Malibu. Gebbett is director of selling at Variety Hume's a non-professional.Stacy Sadikoff and Andrew Brambila, Sept. 10, Tarzana. Sadikoff's West Coast manager of online sales at Variety Brambila's a non-professional.Katharine Webster p Groot and Eden Robert Kasle, Sept. 18, Bristol, R.I. P Groot's a non-professional Kasle's script supervisor for "The Wendy Williams Show." Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com

Visual Effects Society Issues Bill Of Privileges

The Visual Effects Society, theindustry’s organization of visual effects artists and specialists, today launched a Bill of Privileges made to call focus on problems affecting its membership and Hollywood. The document follows a wide open letter towards the entertainment industry through the VES, which reported a volitile manner of working conditions and benefits in addition to earnings for effects pros around the world. Within the VES open letter, we stated the time had come to step-up because the voice from the visual effects industry by speaking to any or all parties regarding concerns, stated professional director Eric Roth. At this time around we now have involved in a energetic dialog with key stakeholders whatsoever levels and believe our Bill of Privileges displays the vital concerns of every segment of the profession. Our next thing is to pay attention to getting both sides together to find solutions.

Cam Gigandet Lands Lead In TNTs Western Pilot Gateway

EXCLUSIVE: Actor Cam Gigandet (Burlesque) has showed up one of the leads inside the TNT Western drama pilot Gateway also called Container Star. The experienceOrjourney project from Bruce C. McKenna and Danny Cannon received a cast-contingent pilot order lately. Occur the Colorado town of the title inside the 1880s, Gateway notifies the story of three brothers and sisters who a part of to be able to save their town when their sheriff father is wiped out, pitting them against a corrupt cattle baron likely to increase the risk for town their very own. Gigandet, whose casting does not lift the contingency round the Warner Horizon-produced project, may have one of the brothers and sisters, Mike. Gigandet, repped by WME and Luber Roklin, recently wrapped the Joel Schumacher-directed Trespass opposite Nicholas Cage and Nicole Kidman.

Gandolfini, Gyllenhaal and much more at TIFF 2011 Days 7 and 8

Even we achieve the final weekend from the 2011 Toronto Worldwide Film Festival, you will find still lots of movies to determine and stars to gawk at. Here is a roundup of the items TIFF needed to offer on days 7 and 8. Gandolfini, Gyllenhaal and much more throughout days 7 and 8 of TIFF 2011 Shawn AshmoreJessica ChastainWendy CrewsonMichael EklundJames GandolfiniMaggie GyllenhaalTerrence Howard And Wendy CrewsonJumping to the red-colored carpetDominic MonaghanBill NighySaoirse Ronan and Alexis BledelMira Sorvino"Hysteria" Director Tanya WexlerThe 'Winnie' Premiere See All Moviefone Art galleries »

RATINGS RAT RACE: OK Debut For Ringer, 90210 And Parenthood Premieres Down

The CW brass considered the new Sarah Michelle Gellar drama Ringer a self-starter, and it proved them right in its debut last night. The mystery drama originally developed and piloted for CBS drew 2.74 million viewers, jumping 68% from its lead-in, the fourth-season premiere of 90210 (1.6 million). Ringer also brought in a broader, mostly older audience. In adults 18-49, the show was up from 90210 by 50% (1.2/3 vs. 0.8/3), while in adults 18-34, the advantage was 22% (1.1/3 vs. 0.9/2). Versus CW’s series debuts last fall, Ringer matched the performance of the now-defunct Hellcats and was down from the premiere of Nikita (1.4/4), though Nikita had a much stronger lead-in with The Vampire Diaries. Ringer was the CW’s most-watched program in the time period in three years, since the series premiere of 90210 in September 2009. Given the fact that last night was the CW’s first night of original programming after three months of repeats, the CW will give Ringer more sampling by re-running the premiere on Friday and again next Monday at 9 PM. As for 90210, it was down 18% in total viewers from the series’ debut last fall when it aired in the Monday 8 PM slot. It was on par with the May season finale. The other series to premiere last night night was NBC’s Parenthood (2.3/6 in 18-49, 6.8 million total viewers), which was down 15% from last season’s debut. In total viewers, the dramedy drew its largest audience since then. Like last September, the Parenthood season opener followed the final performance show of America’s Got Talent (3.6/10, 13.2 million), which was down 8% from last year though it was up 16% from last week to hit an eight-week high in the demo. (Talent is expected to close some of the ratings gap with last year as the reality series is always adjusted up in the finals.) At 8 PM, the season and presumably series finale of It’s Worth What? (1.1/4) was down 8% from last week to match a series low. ABC airedWipeout (2.0/6), followed by ABC News’ Jackie Kennedy audio tapes special (1.5/4). CBS and Fox aired all repeats. NBC (2.4/7, 8.2 million) won the night in 18-49 while CBS (1.6/5, 8.9 million) surprisingly topped the total viewer competition with no originals.

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Letter from Toronto: Hysteria Hums Along; Albert Nobbs Drops the Tea Tray

A tribute to vibrators and the women who love them, Tanya Wexler’s Hysteria is a jaunty little entertainment that’s almost plowed under by its early-suffragette arguments for women’s equality. But like the little motorized whatsit that is its subject, the movie’s charms are ultimately irresistible. The picture is set in Victorian London, a time and place where the women’s ailment known as hysteria was treated by some rather, um, direct and interesting methods. (According to the movie, they involve two kinds of oil and a doctor’s fingers.) Hugh Dancy plays Mortimer Granville, a physician who’s interested in modern medicine — he’s hip to the idea of germs while all the other docs are still hung up on leeches. No hospital will have him, and he feels lucky to land a job in the office of one Dr. Robert Dalrymple (Jonathan Pryce), who specializes in this delicate female complaint. “It’s the plague of our time!” he tells his young colleague. “Half the women in London are afflicted!” Only half? Anyway, many of the afflicted make their way to the good doctor’s office, so many that Dr. Granville begins suffering desperately from hand cramps. Luckily, his closest friend, a layabout aristocrat played by a marvelously louche Rupert Everett, has invented an electric feather duster that, with a few tweaks, actually serves as a handy hysteria treatment device. The thing catches on like wildfire, and everybody’s happy. Well, not quite. There’s also a creaky side plot involving the doctor’s outspoken daughter Charlotte (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and her crusade to help the poor and attain equal rights for all women; it wears thin pretty quickly. Still, Gyllenhaal — with that bright, expressive, acorn-shaped face — carries on valiantly, keeping the material from getting too preachy. The movie’s offhand moments are the most fun, as when the two doctors, plus Everett, try the device on their first patient: They put a drape across her legs and don swimming goggles, peering expectantly into the abyss before — huzzah! — achieving victory. Hysteria is most delightful when it slips into its naughtiest groove and just purrs. It’s probably no coincidence that in Rodrigo Garcia’s Albert Nobbs, Glenn Close, who plays a woman living and dressing as a man and working as a waiter in a 19th-century Dublin hotel, bears a close resemblance to Gordon Jackson, who played butler Mr. Hudson in the ’70s BBC TV series Upstairs, Downstairs. (Pauline Collins, who co-starred with Jackson in the series, also appears in the film.) But Close’s character — the Albert Nobbs of the title — probably isn’t as content with her work as Mr. Hudson was. She’s hoping it’s a means to an end: She’s saving her meager earnings so she can open a tobacco shop and, perhaps, entice the maid she’s in love with (played by the winsome Mia Wasikowska) to share her life with her. The premise is intriguing, and if any director is sensitive enough to explore the plight of a woman trying to pass as a man, it’s probably Garcia. (The screenplay was written by Close and Irish novelist John Banville.) But Albert Nobbs is almost too sensitive — it has a quivering, tentative quality about it that has to do largely with Close’s performance. Her Albert is a human being in pain, and it’s not fun to watch her suffering. But Close too often comes off as a wan Valentine. With her seemingly lashless eyelids and narrow smile, she looks ready to blow off the face of the earth in a heartbeat. Albert’s silent agony comes to seem masochistic early in the film, perhaps because Close spends far too much time gazing into some imaginary distance, fingering her inner pain until it’s worn thin. You feel terrible for her character; but that doesn’t necessarily mean you want to watch her. Read more of Stephanie Zacharek’s 2011 Toronto International Film Festival coverage here.

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Kevin Hart comedy docu is weekend's B.O. surprise

Look who's laughing now. Comedian Kevin Hart's standup concert docu "Laugh at My Pain," from Codeblack Entertainment, became the weekend B.O.'s standout, with a revised $1.9 million from just 97 locations. It was the largest debut for such a concert pic since "Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat" in 2002. The African-American comic, who has had several Comedy Central specials, also has roles in Tim Story's upcoming comedy "Think Like a Man" and Nick Stoller's "Five Year Engagement." What's more, "Pain" had a rare day-and-date bow in West Africa (where Hart has a significant fanbase), which yielded $6,000 as the market's overall No. 3 pic. The film earned top grosses in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York, though according to Codeblack CEO Jeff Clanagan, "Pain" ranked first or second place in 80% of all the film's Stateside debut theaters through Sunday. "Pain" -- which recouped its entire P&A cost this weekend, Clanagan said -- earned the most of any film opening at fewer than 100 locations since "Chicago" in 2002. (Lionsgate's "Precious" came close in 2009, bowing to $1.87 million from 18 engagements.) "We have a very keen knowledge of how to reach the urban market," Clanagan told Variety. "But the key is Kevin." Clanagan said his team at Codeblack, which released on DVD Hart's 2010 TV broadcast "Seriously Funny," capitalized on the comedian's social-networking fanbase, targeting fans who had watched his YouTube videos. Outside the U.S., Hart's online videos have generated the most hits from fans in the U.K. Hart has more than 2 million Twitter followers, as well as some 4 million fans on Facebook, of which 250,000 come from West Africa. That's what led to the pic's launch there, Clanagan said. Codeblack also plans to roll out the pic in Blighty and South Africa. "Studios keep telling us that our films don't travel overseas," Clanagan said. "We beg to differ." Six year-old Codeblack has distributed more than 100 urban-themed DVD titles and several theatrical releases.Domestically, Codeblack partnered with AMC Theaters' independent division, which guaranteed trailer placement and in-theater advertising. "They came to the table with a lot of extras that you normally wouldn't get from an exhibitor," Clanagan said. Codeblack will broaden "Pain" to 10 additional markets on Friday, with plans eventually to release the pic at most in 400 locations. Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com

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Greatest Loser's Mike Poueu in Critical Condition After Falling Building

Mike Poueu Greatest Loser contestant Mike Poueu is within critical condition after falling several tales off a building over the past weekend, TMZ reviews.Poueu experienced a pelvic injuries, torn ligaments, a pierced lung along with a damaged leg, but is conscious inside a Bay Area hospital, based on the site. It's unclear what triggered the Saturday fall.Take a look at photos of Mike Poueu"Mike Poueu is really a beloved person in our Greatest Loser family and that we are keeping him and the family within our ideas and hopes," NBC stated inside a statement.Poueu lost 142 pounds on Season 9 of Greatest Loser and it is engaged to fellow contestant Stephanie Anderson.

Film Factory comes out 'Fin' at Toronto

The spanish language sales house Film Factory Entertainment has nabbed worldwide sales privileges to Jorge Torregrossa's debut "Fin" (The Finish). "Finish" is going to be brought to purchasers at Toronto. Three of Spain's foremost production gamers team on "Finish": Apaches Entertainment ("The Impossible"), Mod Producciones ("Agora") and The spanish language commercial broadcaster Antena 3's film division Antena 3 Films ("You'll Meet a Tall Dark Stranger"). "Finish" activates a reunion of old buddies, now within their 30s or 40s, who spend the weekend inside a mountain vacation cabin. An unusual, sudden incident leaves all of them with no way of communication towards the outdoors world. Seeking help, the audience falls apart, just like a brand new natural world is revealed for their astonished eyes. Cast is brought by Maribel Verdu. A couple of Spain's most searched for-after scriptwriters have composed "Finish": Jorge Guerricaechevarria ("Cell 211") and Sergio G. Sanchez ("The Orphanage"). The script adjusts David Monteagudo's same entitled best-selling novel. Pic is within production, shooting within the Madrid and Valencia regions. " 'End' is really a thriller with decisive fantasy elements. Young people need original plot twists in genre movies, as with 'End,' that is unquestionably among the great The spanish language productions of the season,Inch Film Factory Boss Vicente Canales told Variety. Film Factory's Toronto slate for Toronto includes: Gonzalo Lopez Gallego's vehicle-chase action movie "Inertia" "Puzzled Love," that has 13 company directors Juan Jose Campanella toon pic "Foosball" and Eduardo Cortes' "Winning Streak." Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Toronto: Fox 2000 Acquires Screen Privileges To Novel The Word What Of Flowers Lucy Fisher and Doug Wick To Create

Fox 2000 Pictures has optioned screen privileges to Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s debut novel The Word What of Flowers, using the movie to become created by Lucy Fisher and Doug Wick’s Red-colored Wagon banner. Fox literary consultant Came Reed championed the project, which Carla Hacken will oversee for that studo Rachel Shane will oversee for Red-colored Wagon. Diffenbaugh’s novel, a brand new You are able to Occasions bestseller and released by Ballantine Books, informs the storyline of the lady raised within the promote care system. Interacting with the Victorian art of bouquet, she discovers to beat her troubled past, accept love from the flower vendor, and lastly reconcile using the only mother she's known. Film privileges were symbolized by Sylvie Rabineau of RWSG and posting privileges by Sally Wofford-Girand of Brick House Literary Agents.

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Jesse Trump Manages to lose Libel Suit Over Being Known as A 'Millionaire'

Andrew H. Master/Getty Images A Nj appeals court has confirmed a lesser court's ruling to dismiss a defamation suit introduced by Jesse Trump against a magazine author who stated real estate magnate/reality TV star isn't a real billionaire. Inside a ruling released on Wednesday, the appeals court states that Trump hasn't shown thatauthor Timothy O'Brien committed "actual malice" by stating three un named sources who believed the internet price of The Apprentice star to become between $150 million and $250 million. Trump filed the $5 billion suit last year over O'Brien'sbook,TrumpNation: The skill of Being The Jesse. The suit was declined last year with a Nj superior judge. Trump then become a huge hit the judgment about the theory that depending on anonymous sources could rise towards the actual malice standard required for politicians to prevail inside a libel suit. But a Nj appeals court doesn't begin to see the logic here. Based on the decision: "There have been no significant internal incongruencies within the information supplied by the private sources, nor was there 'reliable' information that contradicted their reviews, providing proof of actual malice.Nothing indicates that O'Brien was subjectively conscious of the falsity of his source's figures or he had actual doubts regarding the information's precision." The most recent decision will probably give Trump one more reason to gripe concerning the nation's libel laws and regulations. In past public comments, Trump has stated these laws and regulations "haven't been fair." For Trump's own estimation of his internet worth, Trump's lawyer states it's been "proven effectively" to exceed $7 billion. On the other hand, throughout a depositing, Trump accepted that his feeling of financial worth is dependent on his feelings day-to-day. Requested whether or not this really was correct that his "internet worth rises and lower based on [his] own feelings," here's Trump's funny response: "Yes, even my very own feelings, regarding in which the world is, in which the world is certainly going, which can alter quickly from daily. Then you've a September eleventh, and also you don't feel so great with regards to you and also you don't feel so great concerning the world and also you don't feel so great about New You are able to City. Then you've annually later, and also the city is really as hot like a pistol. Even several weeks it would be a different feeling. So yeah, even my very own feelings affect my value to myself." E-mail: eriqgardner@yahoo.com Twitter: @eriqgardner Jesse Trump