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Exclusive: After a 15-year tenure, Piers Vellacott is standing down from his role as UK indie Raw’s Chief Commercial Officer and Executive Producer.

He will stay across a number of Raw’s scripted projects as an Executive Producer and leaves “to pursue new opportunities”.

He won’t be replaced at the company, which is one of the UK’s leading indies and part of All3Media.

Vellacott, who had previously served as Managing Director and Head Of Production, worked on hit series including Gold Rush and Locked Up Abroad, and well-received docs including The Tindler Swindler, The Imposter and Three Identical Strangers. He was also an exec producer on Sundance pic American Animals.

Raw told us: “We are incredibly grateful for everything that Piers has contributed to Raw over a decade and a half of extraordinary growth: he has helped guide the company through some the of the most complex...

Updated with more titles being removed: Disney is starting to pull content from streaming, with dozens of series and specials slated to leave Disney+ and Hulu on May 26, Deadline has learned. The titles, which are being removed from Disney’s streaming services globally, include Disney+’s Willow, Big Shot, Turner & Hooch, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, Just Beyond, Diary of a Future President, The Mysterious Benedict Society and The World According to Jeff Goldblum and Hulu’s Y: The Last Man, Dollface, The Hot Zone, Maggie, Pistol and Little Demon. A number of Freeform series also are slated to leave Hulu.

The list features largely short-lived series, specials and direct-to-streaming movies.

The move, which comes with a content impairment charge of $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion, was announced during the recent Disney earnings call on May 10.

“We are in the process of reviewing the content on our Dtc services to align...

It’s a new year which means new movies and TV shows coming to Disney+. Actually, this first month of 2023 is fairly light on new television shows, making it the perfect opportunity to catch up on the numerous other series that are already on the streaming platform, including “National Treasure: Edge of History” and “Willow.”

The only new series debuting in January of 2023 on Disney+ is the second season of their animated series “Star Wars: The Bad Batch.” As IndieWire laid out when the second season’s trailer dropped earlier this month, it’s perfect for those who liked “Andor,” but couldn’t watch it with their kids. “Those looking to scratch that ‘Star Wars’ itch before ‘The Mandalorian’ returns in March would do well to consider giving “The Bad Batch” a try.” The series debuted in 2021 and follows a squad of elite clone troopers with genetic mutations.

“Star Wars: The Bad Batch...

It’s rare that a month goes by on Disney+ without a major new Marvel or Star Wars release. With its list of new releases of November 2022 though, Disney+ is going to attempt to go without it’s two big tentpoles.

That’s not to say that neither Star Wars nor Marvel will play a role on Disney+ this month. Star Wars prequel series Andor will continue to chug along, culminating with its 12th episode and season 1 finale on Nov. 23. Meanwhile, a couple of minor Marvel documentaries make their premieres in the beginning of the month.

In place of new Star Wars or Marvel blockbusters, Disney+ is turning some of its lesser-known franchises this month. Disenchanted, the long-awaited sequel to 2007’s Enchanted, premieres on Nov. 18. That will be followed by the season premiere of Willow, a series based on the 1988 movie of the same name.

Here is everything else you...

Purin Pictures Cash

Purin Pictures, a non-profit Asian film financier, is to give grants to two Burmese, two Cambodian, two Thai, and one Indonesian project in its latest funding round. “We are excited to support multiple projects from Myanmar and Cambodia, two countries that have less developed film industries than their Southeast Asian neighbors,” said Purin Pictures co-director Anocha Suwichakornpong. Production grants worth 30,000 each go to “The Beer Girl in Yangon,” by Sein Lyan Tun, “Fruit Gathering,” by Aung Phyoe, both debut featuring new voices in Burmese cinema, and “9 Temples to Heaven,” the debut fiction feature of Sompot Chidgasornpongse.

Post-production grants of 35,000 each go to documentaries “Tongue of Water,” by Polen Ly and “Double Jeopardy,” by Phally Ngoeum, both shining a light on the struggle of Cambodian individuals against the larger forces of the state, and documentaries “Monisme ,”by Riar Rizaldi and “Breaking the Cycle,” by Akeaphong Saransate and Thanakrit Duangmaneeporn.

Frank Cullotta, a veteran mobster who later became a Las Vegas attraction for his in-depth knowledge of organized crime’s history in Sin City, has died. He was 81 and passed from complications caused by Covid-19.

Cullotta was the right-hand man to Anthony “The Ant” Spilotro, portrayed by Joe Pesci in the film Casino. Another of their childhood friends, Frank ‘Lefty’ Rosenthal, was the inspiration for Robert De Niro’s Ace Rothstein in the film.

Cullotta arrived in Las Vegas from his Chicago hometown in the 1970s and formed a burglary group known as the Hole in the Wall gang. The name derived for their propensity to bust through buildings to avoid door and window alarms. Cullotta ran the operation and paid cuts to Spilotro, and also performed other tasks, including murders, at his childhood friend’s request.

However, an unsuccessful burglary saw Cullotta arrested. He soon feared that Spilotro was targeting him for a hit,...

If there’s a takeaway from this awards season, it’s that true stories are back with a vengeance. For proof, look no further than Rosamund Pike as war reporter Marie Colvin in A Private War, Sam Rockwell as President George W. Bush in Vice, Mahershala Ali as Don Shirley in Green Book, Melissa McCarthy as forger Lee Israel in Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.

’Authenticity’ is hot right now too, as evidenced by Bradley Cooper’s approach to press for A Star is Born – a film seemed to be a shoo-in for awards glory. In all the vast swathes of publicity that accompanied its release, Cooper stressed all the ‘realistic’ elements in his otherwise fictional tale, from literally taking away Lady Gaga’s glam-pop image with a wet-wipe to playing live at the Glastonbury festival in the UK as a...

As heartrending as it is heart-racing, “La 92” will make an uneasy fit when it gets broadcast on National Geographic alongside episodes of “Monster Fish” and “Locked Up Abroad.” Receiving its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin’s unnerving documentary is one of several retrospectives coming out this year on the 25th anniversary of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

Continue reading ‘La 92’ Is A Harrowing, Incendiary Epic Of The 1992 Los Angeles Riots [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.

Despite warnings that Supernatural’s season finale would be a whopper of an episode, I didn’t plan to spend my entire summer trying to recover from the trauma. But it looks like that’s exactly what I’m going to do, following an emotionally exhausting hour that capped off the show’s stellar season 9 Tuesday night.

That may sounds hyper-dramatic. But it’s really not, considering all that happened.

First, I’ll start at the top: Gadreel didn’t die from the wound he received from the First Blade. But he did die later. He sacrificed himself to help Cas escape angel jail.

The firm behind shows including Gold Rush, Unexplained Files, and Dangerous Persuasions will have the freedom to expand into scripted programming and produce “high-quality independent films” following the deal, the companies say. They didn’t disclose how much Discovery paid for Raw, but say that it will “continue to operate independently from its London headquarters” with all of its current staff. “We are looking forward to Raw infusing our ever-expanding creative pipeline with compelling stories that will be seen on Discovery’s networks around the world,” Discovery Studios and Production Group President Lee Bartlett says. He adds that the deal is being unveiled on the same day that Discovery rebranded the Military Channel – now called Ahc: American Heroes Channel. The two events illustrate “Discovery’s ongoing strategy of increasing investment in new brands, new content creators, new programming genres, and new opportunities across more platforms in more regions of the world,...

Following on from the "Guardians of the Galaxy" trailer reveal last week, the film's director James Gunn has talked some more about that wacky Marvel sci-fi feature hitting in August.

Specifically he touched upon the two CG characters starting with Bradley Cooper's Rocket Raccoon. He tells Pointless Podcast:

"Rocket is a result of countless and cruel, illegal genetic experiments, where he's been turned--from an innocent little creature, where he has an Iq of three, and he becomes this thing that's completely alone; this gnarled little beast... he's pretty sad."

There's also the walking tree Groot who can only say one line and is voiced by Vin Diesel. Talking about Diesel's performance, Gunn says:

"All of the 'I am Groots' that were earlier voices didn't sound very good at all, they sounded like sh#t. It just didn't work. Then Vin Diesel came in and, in one day, lied down...

Director James Gunn recently showed up as a guest on Pointless Podcast to talk about his highly anticipated Marvel Film, Guardians of the Galaxy. He discussed Rocket Raccoon, Vin Diesel's "I am Groot" delivery, shooting an overhead scene with Peter Quill, the villain Thanos' motive, and much more. 

When talking about Rocket Raccoon this is what he had to say,

"Rocket is a result of countless and cruel, illegal genetic experiments, where he's been turned--from an innocent little creature, where he has an Iq of three, and he becomes this thing that's completely alone; this gnarled little beast. He's pretty sad."

He then moved on to Groot,

"All of the 'I am Groot' that were earlier voices didn't sound very good at all, they sounded like shit. It just didn't work. Then Vin Diesel came in and, in one day, lied [sic] down all these 'I am Groot' tracks, and he's a perfectionist.

Director James Gunn, in an hour-long chat with Kevin Pereira on the Pointless Podcast, opened up about his upcoming Marvel film, Guardians of The Galaxy. With the first trailer dropping last week, it looks like the folks behind the movie are ready to start peeling back the veil of secrecy that has surrounded the project since its inception.

Amongst the topics that were discussed was Thanos, the super-villain that was teased at the end of The Avengers in 2012. Gunn says that Thanos’s “employees” will be primary villains in Guardians, and implies that we won’t know too much more about the character’s true intentions during this film. “Here’s the thing, truthfully the Marvel Cinematic Universe takes out of both the 616 and Ultimate Marvel Comics universe, and then they recreate some elements themselves,” revealed Gunn. He then continued, “What Thanos wants in the comics is not necessarily what...

Ecosse Films Inks First-Look Deal With Shine International The UK’s Ecosse Films has pacted with Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine International in a three-year, first-look deal that will see the latter handle the producer’s TV sales and distribution. Ecosse’s TV credits include three seasons of Mistresses for BBC One (the U.S. remake was recently renewed for a second season by ABC); Life Of Crime for ITV and biopic Fleming for Sky Atlantic HD. Ecosse also has feature credits that include Diana, Becoming Jane and Nowhere Boy. Shine will rep finished tape and format rights for Ecosse Films’ new television output from January 1 onward. Katherine Butler Leaving Film4 For UK Producer Raw Film4 Deputy Head of Film Katherine Butler is leaving to join UK producer Raw. She will head up the film and TV drama division. Traditionally a factual producer, Raw launched a film and drama wing in...

Katherine Butler, Film4’s Deputy Head of Film, is to become head of film and TV drama at UK indie Raw, producers of TV series Gold Rush and feature doc The Imposter.

After nine years at Channel 4’s film arm Film4, Butler will move to work alongside Raw’s Founder Dimitri Doganis, Creative Director Bart Layton, new CEO Joely Fether and head of development Zander Levy.

According to Raw, Butler will spearhead the company’s drive to become “a major force in film and drama production building a slate of bold, authored UK and Us productions”.

Butler will leave Film4 at the end of February.

Raw’s TV output includes Gold Rush, which airs on the Discovery Channel, and National Geographic’s Locked Up Abroad, as well as Channel 4 series Blackout.

Ties between Raw and Film4 are strong. While at Film4 Butler executive-produced Raw’s BAFTA-winning feature The Imposter about serial imposter Frederic Bourdin and the...

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

It’s been a busy couple of years for Alan Partridge, who despite being fictional is enjoying a career renaissance that most regional disc-jockeys can only dream of. He’s written a bestselling memoir, embarked on a nationwide book tour of East Anglia and fronted a soul-searching documentary for Sky Atlantic, all the while continuing to pour ‘radio gravy’ into the ears of listeners right across the North Norfolk area. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s now ‘top daddy’ in a new movie from ‘the French dudes’ at StudioCanal and his hated former paymasters at the BBC.

Alpha Papa is a siege drama that Partridge might pitch as ‘Jason Statham meets Roger Moore on a Dog Day Afternoon in Norwich City Centre (plus the A140 to Cromer) for the Mail Online comments-section generation, but without the gay agenda (of Dog Day Afternoon, not Jason Statham...

The National Geographic Channel has been slowly stepping away from the type of nature and travel specials you'd once associate with the brand, toward poppier, ratings-friendlier unscripted series like "Doomsday Preppers," "Locked Up Abroad" and "Brain Games." While also being home to programs like "Jobs That Bite," sister network Nat Geo Wild has picked up some of that slack -- at the Television Critics Association press tour, kicking off today in Beverly Hills, the channel showed clips of the "Planet Earth"-like "One Life," a lavish nature special narrated by Daniel Craig and set to air on December 2013. And Nat Geo did announce "Cosmos," a "reboot" of the Carl Sagan series hosted by Neil Degrasse Tyson and executive produced by Seth MacFarlane, at, of all places, Comic-Con. But it's Nat Geo's odd forays into scripted fare that have been especially interesting in form, if not necessary in viewing experience yet...

New York (AP) — David Lyle, CEO of the National Geographic Channel, has seen enough of the letters to know how they go. The writer is typically a longtime reader of the magazine, who perhaps recalls the times he leafed through its glossy pages while perched on grandpa's knee.

"The second paragraph," he said, "would always be, 'So you can imagine my disappointment when ...'"

Fill in the blank. Maybe the person saw the channel's documentary about escort services, or a show about a man who sculpts with a chain saw. Perhaps it was a show about gypsies, UFO hunters or people stocking up for the imminent end of the world. Maybe more letters will come after this Sunday, when narrator Rob Lowe starts a nostalgic three-day look at the 1980s.

Every day Lyle and his executive team face the challenge of building a successful network in the era of Honey...

National Geographic Channel announced today that Locked Up Abroad will be returning for its ninth season on April 17 at 9 Pm. The season opener features a profile of Ernie Brace, the longest-held American Pow of the Vietnam War. The North Vietnamese imprisoned Brace for almost 8 years, during which he suffered torture, starvation and more. Former Gop Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain met Brace when the Navy man himself was a Pow in Vietnam and in solitary confinement. Though the two never saw each other face-to-face until they were released, they communicated through the walls of their prison. Here’s a Locked Up clip with McCain (via Politico) talking about Brace:...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is returning to television.

Six months after making a cameo on NBC's "Parks and Recreation," McCain will appear the season premiere of National Geographic Channel's "Locked Up Abroad" on April 17.

In an advance clip made available to Politico, McCain attests to the "amazing story of heroism" that will be showcased. PR Newswire explains that the show is set to focus on the story of McCain's friendship with Ernie Brace, which developed during their time as prisoners of war during the Vietnam conflict. McCain, who was held as a Pow for five years, was held captive in an adjacent cell to Brace, who was the longest held prisoner of war at nearly eight years.

McCain recently penned an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal reflecting on Vietnam on the 40th anniversary of his release. He was also praised on the Senate floor and received a...

Out this week courtesy of Anchor Bay is the indie thriller Shadow People starring Dallas Roberts, which is based on a true story about small town radio personality Charlie Crowe, who unravels a conspiracy about encounters with the mysterious shadowy figures.

As it turns out, these "shadow people" are the cause of hundreds of unexplained deaths over hundreds of years in many different cultures throughout the world. Through his own investigations, Charlie (Roberts) encounters Cdc Epidemic Intelligence Agent Sophie Lancombe (Alison Eastwood), whose discoveries end up leading them both into a dark world and a decades old cover-up.

Directed by Matthew Arnold, Shadow People (review) also explores the actual historical evidence of these occurrences and the real phenomenon of an inverse placebo effect where the mind can actually kill the body through false belief.

Dread Central recently chatted with Roberts exclusively about his involvement with Shadow People in honor of...

I have a longstanding respect for and really enjoy Dwayne Johnson, so I went into Snitch expecting not to hate it, 2/5 stars. I know that ain’t much, but it didn’t look particularly substantive, so that was the baseline (though “inspired by” true events, if that’s all that’s said, it often still qualifies as fiction).

Then a funny thing happened, one that in over 2700+ titles hasn’t occurred quite this way before: the stars just kept climbing, step-by-step, hand over fist, as the film progressed. I could actually feel it… “hey this isn’t bad at all”… “you know, this is pretty good”… “whoa, good job”… “that was really well done”… and so on, half-star by half-star until here we are at 4/5. I think I’m as surprised as some of you may be!

Let’s get one thing out of the way at the start: the trailer misleads.

DVD Release Date: Jan. 22, 2013

Price: DVD $19.97

Studio: Indomina Releasing/Vivendi

What if your 13-year-old son went missing? What if he was found three years? But what if he was different? That’s what happened to the subject of the acclaimed documentary The Imposter.

Director Bart Layton (TV’s Locked Up Abroad) follows the story of San Antonio, Texas-native Nicholas Barclay, who went missing on June 13, 1994, his 13th birthday, without a trace. On Oct. 7, 1997, he was reported found, thousands of miles away in Spain. Nicholas said he had been kidnapped and tortured.

His family are understandably thrilled to have Nicholas home. However, even though this boy looks like the Nicholas that wen missing, they start to see differences. When an investigator starts asking questions, things get even stranger.

The Imposter only ran in limited theaters, but impressed critics. The R-rated film garnered 96% approval from critics, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

The movie...

The Imposter | Take This Waltz | The Girl | Doctor Who: Legacy | British Legends Of Stage And Screen

The Imposter

As with all the best true stories, this one offers a premise that you just couldn't make up – it would be considered too far fetched. After Texan teen Nicholas Barclay disappeared in 1994, his family slowly grew to accept they'd almost definitely never see him again, certainly not alive. But three years and four months later they received news that the boy had been located in Spain. What they found wasn't Nicholas but a completely different person, a confidence trickster called Frédéric Bourdin, who was seven years older and with different colour hair and looks from the person he was impersonating. You'd expect this sad story to end there, but there's more. A lot more. Rather than turn away such an obvious fraud, the Barclay family took Bourdin in. They had lost...

It's the most wonderful time of the year -- TV marathons! Since Jan. 1 falls on a Tuesday, cable channels are offering four days of back-to-back programming for a variety of shows. Along with the usual "Twilight Zone" marathon (airing round-the-clock on Syfy Dec. 31- Jan. 1), you can catch "The Walking Dead's" entire third-season run, 24 hours of "Suits" and even "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo."

Whatever your fancy, check out our schedule below and start programming your DVR!

(All times Eastern.)

Saturday, Dec. 29

A&E: "Storage Wars Texas," 6:30 p.m. - 3:30 a.m. Sunday

AMC: "The Rifleman," 6 a.m. - noon

Cloo: "Charlie's Angels": 6 a.m. - 5 a.m. Sunday

Gmc: "Moesha," 3 p.m. - 2:30 a.m.

History: " Outback Hunters," 7 a.m. - 2 p.m.; "Pawn Stars," 7-9:30 p.m.

ID: "Deadly Affairs," 12-7 p.m.

Lifetime: "My Life Is a Lifetime Movie," 12-7 p.

With the credits poised to roll on 2012, it's time for the Guardian's countdown through the year's best films. We start at number 10: Lauren Greenfield's tragicomic documentary about the Us housing crisis

It's been a pretty good year for documentaries. Bart "Banged Up Abroad" Layton gave us the trashy thrills of The Imposter, Alma Har'el's Bombay Beach offered a mournful valediction to ruined lives on the American margins, while Werner Herzog – who else – took an intriguingly uninflected position on the death penalty with Into the Abyss. But Lauren Greenfield's The Queen of Versailles was arguably the pick of the year, zeroing in on a very contemporary fable and telling its story with sly wit and a degree of empathy.

Greenfield hasn't arrived from nowhere, though: a photographer of considerable distinction, she put herself on the map with her Girl Culture book before breaking into feature-length film-making with the eating-disorder doco Thin,...

Gerald Amster admitted that he was smuggling heroin through Russia at the height of the Cold War. So while he might have acknowledged that he deserved incarceration when he was caught, the conditions he served in were beyond his wildest nightmares on "Locked Up Abroad."

For four years, he was held at a labor camp, until he managed to escape. Amster said that things were so dire, he stopped feeling human.

"I’d become a machine at this point," he said after years of work. "I wasn’t a human being."

A power outage at the prison was the opportunity Amster had been waiting for, and he managed to escape the prison. He knew he could get caught or even killed at any moment, but said that he'd rather had been killed than serve another four years at the prison.

Amster made it to Mosco and the U.S. Embassy,...

Sometimes people have to learn things the hard way, but Angela Carnegie's hard way was beyond imagining. "Locked Up Abroad" (Mon., 10 p.m. Et on National Geographic) talked about how she spent nine years in a foreign prison for committing a crime she hadn't even been all that sure she wanted to do.

Carnegie was coming off of a bad breakup and decided to take up a friend on an offer to make some quick cash. All she had to do was smuggle some heroin out of Thailand. Only Carnegie didn't make it back. Instead, she got caught and sent to prison.

She detailed the horrific conditions she endured while there, including maggots in the food and a gutter of human waste around the prison that would overflow into the showers.

Truly reformed from every wanting a life of crime after her experience, Carnegie reached out to the man she'd...

"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't." 

--Mark Twain

This statement is a perfect metaphor for the documentary The Imposter, which screened at SXSW 2012 and returns to Austin theaters on Friday. The Imposter tells the story of Nicholas Barclay and Frederic Bourdin. Nicholas is a boy from San Antonio who disappeared one day in 1994 after playing basketball with friends. Frederic is a serial imposter who in 1997 managed to convince Barclay's family as well as authorities in Spain and the U.S. that he was Nicholas. This story would make an interesting piece of fiction if it were not true. It definitely makes for an interesting documentary.

The movie was directed by Bart Layton, who is known for creating the British TV series Locked Up Abroad. Layton's extensive experience making documentaries shows in this movie, his first feature. The Imposter...

Two British hikers admitted later that they were stupid for being in the area as they attempted to cross from Panama to Colombia. The story of Paul Winder and Tom Hart Dyke was chronicled with re-enactments on National Geographic's "Locked Up Abroad" (Mon., 10 p.m. Et).

The men were searching for rare orchids when they were taken by guerillas, who told them their freedom would cost them $10 million. All in all, though, they weren't treated all that terribly, according to the BBC. Also, no one seems to have been able to understand why they were captured in the first place.

Then, just as mysteriously, after nine months of captivity, they were set free. Their captors told them if they saw them again, they'd be killed. It took eight days of hiking through the jungle before the men were rescued and able to go home.

Catch new episodes of "Locked Up Abroad...

Looking for more real life shivers to send down your spine? Then you are going to love what Syfy's "Paranormal Witness" has in store for you in its second season. Read on for all the details, including an episode that examines the true story behind Lionsgate's The Possession.

From the Press Release

Syfy’s true terror breakout hit series "Paranormal Witness" will leave viewers jumping out of their seats with fear when it kicks off its second season on Wednesday, August 8th, at 10 Pm (Et/Pt). Through gritty, realistic cinematic reenactments, "Paranormal Witness" recounts the bone-chilling, real-life paranormal experiences of everyday people and allows viewers to experience the terrifying moments for themselves. Actual eyewitnesses share their firsthand accounts of the inexplicable phenomena that forced them to try to make sense of the scariest, most inconceivable events of their lives.

Twelve all-new episodes – twice as many as in its debut season...

There are rules you're supposed to follow when you make a documentary.

Bart Layton just happens to think they're ridiculous.

"There's this idea of documentary purity that is not terribly realistic," says the British director, whose debut feature, "The Imposter," sails into limited release this weekend on the strength of a 96% Rotten Tomatoes rating (at press time). "I think everyone who's ever picked up a camera or sat in an edit suite will be aware that there are lots of subjective decisions being made. This idea that you can create a film that is purely objective, it's just not a realistic ideology."

Layton's film tells the stranger-than-fiction story of Frédéric Bourdin, a charming young congenital liar who in 1997 persuaded authorities on two continents that he was Nicholas Barclay, a Texas boy who had gone missing three years earlier at age 13. Somehow, even Barclay's family fell for his act, taking him...

Henry Hill, the inspiration for Martin Scorsese’s classic 1990 movie Goodfellas (where he was played by Ray Liotta), and the nonfiction book from which the film was drawn, Nicholas Pileggi’s Wiseguys, passed away Tuesday at the age of 69. Last summer, National Geographic Channel debuted an episode of its popular Locked Up Abroad series devoted to Hill, called “The Real Goodfella,” which told the complete story of his rise and fall in the New York mob, including details of his life not featured in Scorsese’s film. Ngc will be re-airing that episode tonight and next Wednesday. In the episode, Hill, [...]...

Tune in previews for a great week of programming courtesy of National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo Wild: First up: Amish: Out of Order: Can't Go Home Again - New - Tuesday, May 1 at 10P When an ex-Amish teen gets his driver's license and is soon involved in a harrowing car crash, his friends reassess their views on family, community and the hereafter. Locked Up Abroad: The Juggler Smuggler - New - Wednesday at 10P When a holiday romance results in pregnancy, free-spirited Mark Greening abandons his beach bum lifestyle in Bali and turns to hash smuggling to support his new life in Japan. James Cameron: Voyage to the Bottom of the Earth Encore Presentation...

As you tune into your favorite TV shows tonight, we think it’s only fair that You decide the night’s best sound bite.

After you’ve watched enough TV, submit your choice sound bite in the comments section of this post. Will it be from Locked Up Abroad or Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23? Best Friends Forever or Auction Kings? Total Blackout or Behind the Music: Brandy? Leave us a comment with your favorite quote of the evening, or vote for someone else’s by hitting ”Like” next to their submission.

We’ll highlight the...

National Geographic Channel's hit series "Locked Up Abroad" returns for a sixth season on April 25, taking viewers inside firsthand accounts of capture, imprisonment, and abject terror far from the good old USA. Tune in Wednesday as actor Erik Aude is close to his dreams of fame and success after winning a supporting role in "Dude, Where's My Car?" But, his acting career is put on hold when he's arrested in Pakistan for unknowingly smuggling opium. .From Hollywood to Hell. marks a "Locked Up Abroad" first as Hollywood actor Erik Aude re-enacts his own story. Aude is arrested in Pakistan when police discover opium in the lining of his suitcase, leading to a nearly three-year nightmare. A...

Don’t worry, TV watchers. We know you probably had a rough night last night. We know you might just want to kick-start your New Year’s resolution from the comfort of your couch, and we’re here to help. Below, a guide to the shows on hand and the resolutions that you could adopt while watching, from a Star Wars threepeat to The Three Stooges, from Mad Men to Murder, She Wrote, and everything in between.

Resolution: Just say ‘no’ to crime.

For the ultimate reminder that “crime doesn’t pay,” check out 13 hours of Locked Up Abroad (starting at noon) and Drugs,...

Hopefully you got a chance to catch the new Syfy docu-drama series Paranormal Witness earlier this year. Each presentation of events was painstakingly researched by Raw TV, previously known for its documentary work for National Geographic. Now, just in time for the holidays, Syfy has given fans a present: a season two of this excellent and extremely creepy show, to air in 2012. Here’s the press release:

Syfy’S Haunting Hit Series Paranormal Witness Renewed For A Second Season

Twelve-Episode Pick-Up Order To Premiere August 2012

New York, New York – December 19, 2011 – Syfy has re-upped its frightening docudrama series Paranormal Witness for a second season, it was announced today by Mark Stern, President Original Content, Syfy and Co-Head, Original Content, Universal Cable Productions. Production on the twelve-episode pick-up order has commenced and the series is currently scheduled to premiere in August 2012. Paranormal Witness is produced by Raw TV (Locked Up Abroad and...

Syfy is giving more life to its hit docudrama Paranormal Witness. The NBCUniversal-owned cable network has renewed the unscripted series for a second season. It will return with 12 episodes next August. Paranormal, which brings to life the real stories of people who have lived through paranormal experiences that defy explanation, is coming off a highly rated first season as the net's top-rated unscripted non-franchise freshman with all of the key younger demographics. The series, which is produced by Raw TV (Locked Up Abroad,Gold Rush Alaska) and counts Dimitri Doganis and Bart Layton as executive producers,

read more...

SyFy may have found the perfect companion to Ghost Hunters: Here’s a sneak peek at the network’s new unscripted show Paranormal Witness, which promises to focus on real people “who have lived through paranormal experiences that defy explanation.”

First up: A little girl who gets a visit from Emily the imaginary friend, a persistent little bugger who manages to snag the tyke right out from under her momma’s nose. (Unfortunately, the family didn’t film the event so it’s recreated for your benefit. And, you’re welcome!)

The show’s from Raw TV, makers of...

                        

Syfy is growing by leaps and bounds! We reported yesterday about Tommy Lee getting his own show on the cable network and  now we have a whole crap load of announcements. Syfy really is imagining greater and more!

From the Press Release:

Syfy Unveils Largest Original Programming Slate In History Featuring 14 New Series And Events  

Led By Premiere Of Alphas, Four Scripted Series Launch In July - Most Ever In A Single Month 

Unscripted Development Slate Includes Projects With Tommy Lee And Deepak Chopra

 

New York - March 22, 2011 - Continuing the sizzling momentum of the Syfy global brand evolution, which has sparked imagination-driven hit series and double-digit growth in younger, upscale audiences as well as diverse new business ventures, Syfy President Dave Howe today will introduce the largest original programming slate in the channel's 18-year history, highlighted by 14 new original series and events comprising more than 100 hours.

The 2011 Syfy Upfront...

For my money the only paranormal show worth its salt is "Destination Truth", but that doesn't mean I won't consume new bits of spooky stuff like a bag of BBQ potato chips when it comes my way!

According to The Hollywood Reporter Syfy will announce at Tuesday's upfront presentation to advertisers in New York that it has picked up a trio of reality series -- "Haunted Collector", "Legend Quest" and "Paranormal Witness" -- to launch later this year. The series will join the net’s growing cadre of unscripted hits, including "Ghost Hunters", "Destination Truth" and "Face Off", which was recently renewed for a second season.

"Haunted Collector", a working title, centers on a family of renowned paranormal investigators who spend their time tracking down haunted items. The family then houses its collections -- think guns, jewelry, paintings and dolls -- in its museum. The series, from Gurney Prods.' Scott Gurney and Deirdre Gurney,...