'Paranormal Activity 2' tops box office
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- "Paranormal Activity 2" opened with $41.5 million for the No. 1 spot in weekend box office receipts, Box Office Mojo said.
"Jackass 3-D," which has raked in $87.1 million, took in $21.6 million in its second week of release.
"Red," an action flick starring Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren, was a distant No. 3 with $15 million. "Hereafter," a Warner Bros. film about life after death, earned $12 million for No. 4. "The Social Network," the purported story of Facebook with an ensemble cast, brought in $7.3 million for No. 5.
All studio estimates of gross receipts are from Box Office Mojo.
"Secretariat" earned $6.5 million for sixth; "Life as We Know It" $6.1 million for seventh; "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" eighth with 3.1 million; "The Town" $2.7 million for ninth and "Easy A" rounds out the Top 10 with $1.75 million.
FCC: Get programming back on the air
NEWARK, N.J., Oct. 24 (UPI) -- The Federal Communications Commission says it wants the Fox network and Cablevision to quickly conclude negotiations and get programming back on the air.
The FCC said Fox and Cablevision must reveal details of their negotiations by the end of the day Monday, The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger reported.
At issue is Fox's demand that Cablevision pay a $150 million fee to air Fox programming. That's more than twice what the cable company has been paying, the newspaper said.
Both companies have run full-page advertisements in which they blamed each other for the blackout, now in its second week, and both received letters from the FCC Friday asking them to prove they are negotiating in "good faith," and making efforts to reach a deal over the fee dispute.
The blackout is giving upstart fiber-optic cable provider Verizon a chance to get its foot in the door, the newspaper said.
Sunday, Verizon ran its own full-page ad that said: "Another Cablevision Blackout. Another Reason to Get FiOS."
The blackout affects about 3 million viewers, who may miss Sunday's National Football League game between Philadelphia and Tennessee, Monday's episode of "House," and the World Series, which starts Wednesday.
'Rocky and Bullwinkle' creator dies
MONTEREY, Calif., Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Animation artist Alexander Anderson Jr., the creator of the "Rocky and Bullwinkle" cartoon, has died in Carmel, Calif., at the age of 90.
Anderson, a former U.S. Navy spy, honed his animation chops at Terrytoons, the New York studio that created "Mighty Mouse," "Heckel and Jeckel," "Tom Terrific" and "Deputy Dawg," working with his uncle Paul Terry, his wife told the Monterey (Calif.) County Herald.
He died Friday at his home in Pebble Beach after several years of declining health.
In 1948, Anderson joined forces with childhood friend Jay Ward creating such landmark television cartoons as "Crusader Rabbit," "Dudley Do-Right," and the zany Cold War characters of Rocky the Flying Squirrel, his sidekick Bullwinkle the Moose, and crafty Russian spies Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale.
Anderson won an out-of-court settlement with Jay Ward Productions over rights to Rocky, Bullwinkle and Dudley Do-Right in 1996 and was recognized as the creator of the iconic cartoon characters.
Anderson's wife of 36 years, Patricia, told the Herald her husband created Bullwinkle after a dream about a moose sitting in on his poker games with friends.
Sesame Street officials: Bert isn't gay
NEW YORK, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Sesame Street's Muppet Bert is not a homosexual, despite his use of the word "mo" when referring to a hairstyle, show officials said.
"Mo" is slang for homosexual, but it was not a sly reference about gays, a program official said in The Los Angeles Times.
On June 11, Bert tweeted about the premiere of the recent "A-Team" remake starring the Mohawk-wearing actor "Mr. T." In the tweet, Bert said, "ever notice how similar my hair is to Mr. T's? The only difference is mine is more 'mo' and a little less 'hawk.'"
To some, it seemed as if public television's "Sesame Street" was aiming clever, but surreptitious, gay talk directly at them, the report said.
"The people at Sesame Street are way too clever for their own good," said Ed Kennedy, of the gay pop culture site AfterElton.com. He said the tweet came during a week when many cities were hosting Gay Pride celebrations.
"Sesame Street" isn't consciously trying to appeal to gay audiences, said Ellen Lewis, Sesame Workshop's vice president of corporate communications.
"We've always reached out to a variety of actors and athletes and celebrities to appear on the show, and our programming has always appealed to adults as much as children," Lewis said. "Honestly, the idea that anyone would interpret (this season) that way never crossed our minds."
