1.
Thriller (genre)
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Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film and television, having numerous subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation, successful examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Thrillers generally keep the audience on the edge of their seats as the plot builds towards a climax, the cover-up of important information is a common element. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists, and cliffhangers are used extensively, a thriller is usually a villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the protagonist must overcome. Homers Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the Western world and is regarded as a prototype of the thriller. Thrillers may be defined by the mood that they elicit. In short, if it thrills, it is a thriller, as the introduction to a major anthology explains, Suspense is a crucial characteristic of the thriller genre. It gives the viewer a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, anticipation and tension and these develop from unpredictable, mysterious and rousing events during the narrative, which make the viewer or reader think about the outcome of certain actions. Suspense builds in order to make those final moments, no matter how short, the suspense in a story keeps the person hooked to reading or watching more until the climax is reached. In terms of expectations, it may be contrasted with curiosity. The objective is to deliver a story with sustained tension, surprise, the second type of suspense is the. anticipation wherein we either know or else are fairly certain about what is going to happen but are still aroused in anticipation of its actual occurrence. According to Greek philosopher Aristotle in his book Poetics, suspense is an important building block of literature, common methods and themes in crime and action thrillers are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings. Common in mystery thrillers are investigations and the whodunit technique, common elements in dramatic and psychological thrillers include plot twists, psychology, obsession and mind games. Common in horror thrillers are serial killers, stalking, deathtraps, elements such as fringe theories, false accusations and paranoia are common in paranoid thrillers. Threats to entire countries, spies, espionage, conspiracies, assassins, the themes frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with other or with outside forces. The protagonist of these films is set against a problem, no matter what subgenre a thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. While protagonists of thrillers have traditionally been men, women characters are increasingly common
2.
Mystery fiction
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Mystery fiction is a genre of fiction usually involving a mysterious death or a crime to be solved. In a closed circle of suspects, each suspect must have a credible motive, the central character must be a detective who eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction from facts fairly presented to the reader. Mystery fiction can be detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle or suspense element, Mystery fiction can be contrasted with hardboiled detective stories, which focus on action and gritty realism. Mystery fiction may involve a mystery where the solution does not have to be logical. This contrasted with parallel titles of the names which contained conventional hardboiled crime fiction. The first use of mystery in this sense was by Dime Mystery, the genre of mystery novels is a young form of literature that has developed over the past 200 years. The rise of literacy began in the years of the English Renaissance and, as began to read over time. As people became more individualistic in their thinking, they developed a respect for human reason, perhaps a reason that mystery fiction was unheard of before the 1800s was due in part to the lack of true police forces. Before the Industrial Revolution, many of the towns would have constables, naturally, the constable would be aware of every individual in the town, and crimes were either solved quickly or left unsolved entirely. As people began to crowd into cities, police forces became institutionalized and the need for detectives was realized – thus the mystery novel arose. An early work of mystery fiction, Das Fräulein von Scuderi by E. T. A. Hoffmann, was an influence on The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe as may have been Voltaires Zadig. Wilkie Collins epistolary novel The Woman in White was published in 1860, in 1887 Arthur Conan Doyle introduced Sherlock Holmes, whose mysteries are said to have been singularly responsible for the huge popularity in this genre. The genre began to expand near the turn of century with the development of dime novels, books were especially helpful to the genre, with many authors writing in the genre in the 1920s. An important contribution to fiction in the 1920s was the development of the juvenile mystery by Edward Stratemeyer. Stratemeyer originally developed and wrote the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries written under the Franklin W. Dixon, the massive popularity of pulp magazines in the 1930s and 1940s increased interest in mystery fiction. The detective fiction author Ellery Queen is also credited with continuing interest in mystery fiction, interest in mystery fiction continues to this day because of various television shows which have used mystery themes and the many juvenile and adult novels which continue to be published. There is some overlap with thriller or suspense novels and authors in those genres may consider themselves mystery novelists. Comic books and like graphic novels have carried on the tradition, Mystery fiction can be divided into numerous categories, including traditional mystery, legal thriller, medical thriller, cozy mystery, police procedural, and hardboiled
3.
Patricia Arquette
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Patricia Arquette is an American actress. She made her debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3. Arquettes Academy Award acceptance speech, which she used to bring female wage inequality to attention, on television, she played the character Allison DuBois—based on the author and medium Allison DuBois, who claims to have psychic abilities—in the supernatural drama series Medium. She received three Golden Globe nominations and two Emmy Award nominations, winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama in 2005, Arquette also appeared in the CSI franchise as Avery Ryan, the Deputy Director of the FBI, starring in CSI, Cyber. Arquette was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1968, the daughter of Lewis Arquette, an actor, and Brenda Olivia Mardi, through her father, Patricia is distantly related to explorer Meriwether Lewis. Arquettes father had converted from Catholicism to Islam and her fathers familys surname was originally Arcouet, and his paternal line was of French-Canadian descent. Her paternal grandfather was comedian Cliff Arquette, patricias siblings also became actors, Rosanna, Alexis, Richmond, and David Arquette. When she was a child, her parents offered to get her braces for her teeth, for a time her family lived on a commune in rural Bentonville, Virginia. She has said they became poorer the longer lived there. Their father was an alcoholic, and their mother violently abusive, when Arquette was seven, the family relocated to Chicago. They later settled in Los Angeles, California and she has described her father as a working actor, describing the range of his experience–in industrial films, commercials, voiceovers, etc. He was best known for his role as J. D. Pickett in the TV series The Waltons, before pursuing a career in acting, Arquette had wanted to be a midwife. She put this career prospect aside briefly in an attempt to gain acting jobs and she was cast to appear in the sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, The Dream Master, but she had to drop out due to pregnancy with her son Enzo. She also had to give up the role of Tralala in Last Exit to Brooklyn, in 1988, Arquette played the daughter of Tess Harper in Far North. In 1992, she won a CableACE Award for Best Lead Actress in a Mini-Series for her portrayal of a girl with epilepsy in Wildflower, directed by Diane Keaton. In her early career, Arquette received the most recognition for her role as Alabama Whitman, the film was a moderate success, although some critics were deterred by the graphic violence. In one scene, Arquette puts up a physical struggle in a fight which her character ultimately wins. Arquettes performance received unanimous praise from critics
4.
Jake Weber
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Jake Weber is an English actor, known in film for his role as Michael in Dawn of the Dead and for his role as Drew in Meet Joe Black. In television, he is known for playing Joe DuBois, the husband of psychic Allison DuBois, in 2001 and 2002, Weber was a series regular in HBOs The Mind of the Married Man and made guest appearances on Law & Order, Criminal Intent and NYPD Blue. As of autumn 2016, Weber joined the cast, in a role, of ABCs Secrets. Weber was born in London, the son of Susan Ann Caroline, a British socialite, and Thomas Evelyn Tommy Weber and his father was born in Denmark of Danish and English descent. His mother is of half Sephardic Jewish and half British Isles ancestry, through his English maternal grandmother, Weber is the great-grandson of politician Archibald Weigall and the great-great-grandson of business magnate Sir John Blundell Maple, 1st Baronet. Webers mother, Susan, was diagnosed with depression and LSD-induced schizophrenia and died of an overdose when Jake was 8 years old. His father, who sold drugs and utilized both his sons in trafficking the drugs to various international destinations, struggled with drug addiction until his death in 2006. In an article in The Times of 20 May 2010, Weber recalled that when he was 8 years old, his father used him as a mule to bring cocaine out for Mick. He has one sibling, a brother, Charley, Weber attended Summerhill School, Leiston, Suffolk. A. He attended The Juilliard Schools Drama Division as a member of Group 19, Weber also studied at Russias famed Moscow Art Theatre. Jagger joked about the rarely seen original footage that reveals eight-year-old Weber rolling marijuana joints for them, Weber scored one of his premier leads as Dr. That programme did not last long, and neither did the Mike Binder sitcom The Mind of the Married Man, in which Weber signed on as one of the leads, Chicago newspaper employee Jake Berman. As of autumn 2016, Weber is now a recurring guest-star as the psychotherapist husband of Detective Andrea Cornell in the season of the ABC murder mystery, Secrets. The series was picked up for a second season by ABC after a successful limited run last spring as a midseason replacement. He has performed on Broadway and off-Broadway, as well, Weber and Elizabeth Carey have a son, Waylon. Jake Weber at the Internet Movie Database
5.
Miguel Sandoval
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Miguel Sandoval is an American film and television actor. Sandoval was born in Washington, D. C and he began working as a professional actor in 1975 when he joined a mime school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He later joined the troupe full-time and continued his study of mime and he began his film career in the early 1980s. He had small roles in such acclaimed films Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever, after appearing in Clear and Present Danger in 1994, he began to take on larger roles, and appeared in Get Shorty, Up Close & Personal, and Blow. Having appeared briefly in Repo Man and Sid and Nancy, Sandoval has also played the roles of Treviranus, Bennie Reyes. In addition to film, Sandoval has acted in television shows. Though shows such as The Court and Kingpin failed, he found a success with Medium in 2005, sandovals other guest starring roles include appearances in popular series such as Frasier, ER, The X-Files, Seinfeld and Lois & Clark, The New Adventures of Superman. He was prominently featured in the first season of the ABC drama Murder One, Sandoval has recently moved into directing, taking the helm for the third season Medium episode Whatever Possessed You which aired in March 2007. He has since directed one episode in each of four through seven. He also co-starred as Judge Hernandez in the new comedy Bad Judge and it premiered on NBC on Oct 02,2014. Sandoval resides in Los Angeles, California, Miguel Sandoval at the Internet Movie Database Profile of Miguel Sandoval
6.
Sofia Vassilieva
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Sofia Vladimirovna Vassilieva is an American actress. She attended and graduated from Barbizon Modeling and Acting School in Arizona, less than a year later, Vassilieva received her first role, playing the granddaughter of a retired Russian General in an episode of the CBS television series The Agency. Vassilieva played Cindy Brady in The Brady Bunch in the White House, opposite Shelley Long and that same year, she was cast as a little girl named Gina in Inhabited, starring Malcolm McDowell and former child actress Patty McCormack. In 2003, she played Eloise in two movies, Eloise at the Plaza and Eloise at Christmastime, directed by Kevin Lima. For her role as Eloise, Vassilieva was nominated for the Best Leading Young Actress in a TV Movie, the series premiered on January 3,2005. Vassilieva played the daughter of Arquettes character for seven seasons, until the finale on January 21,2011. Vassilieva was a presenter of Family Feature Film on the Humane Societys 19th Genesis Awards in 2005 and she won a Young Artist Award in 2006 for Best Supporting Actress in a TV Drama for her role as Ariel DuBois in Medium. Vassilieva played the role of terminally ill teenager Kate Fitzgerald in the 2009 adaptation of Jodi Picoults novel My Sisters Keeper. She starred alongside Cameron Diaz, Jason Patric, and Abigail Breslin, Vassilieva shaved her head and eyebrows for her role as a teenage cancer patient. In the same year, she became an ambassador for Stand Up to Cancer. For her performance as Kate, Vassilieva won a Young Artist Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Feature Film in 2010 and it was her third nomination and second win. In 2011, she guest-starred on Law & Order, SVU as Sarah Walsh and she reprised her role as Sarah in 2013. On May 21,2014, Vassilieva graduated from Columbia College, Columbia University with a Bachelor of Arts and she has also completed a Linguistics major with honors, and a special concentration in Business Management. Vassilieva is a member of Alpha Omicron Pi Fraternity, sofia Vassilieva at the Internet Movie Database
7.
Allison DuBois
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Allison DuBois is an American author and purported medium. DuBois has stated that use of her psychic abilities has assisted U. S. law enforcement officials in solving crimes and her alleged powers as a medium were tested by Gary Schwartz of the University of Arizona. While Schwartz claims that his research supports DuBoiss psychic abilities, skeptics have pointed out flaws in both DuBoiss claims and Schwartzs research. Some of her claims regarding work done in high profile investigations, DuBois was born in Phoenix, Arizona, where she attended both North High School in Phoenix and Corona del Sol High School in Tempe. Despite dropping out, she obtained her GED at the age of 16, in college, she worked as an intern at the district attorneys office in Phoenix. She received her B. A. in political science with a minor in history from Arizona State University, DuBois refers to herself as a medium and profiler, rather than a psychic, because of the negative connotation she feels is associated with the term psychic. She claims that she became aware that she had the ability to communicate with departed souls when she was 6 years old and these law enforcement agencies have since either denied any such cooperation happened or stated the tips provided by DuBois were not helpful. According to the TV Guide, Allison DuBois spent four years participating in various tests at the University of Arizona to assist with their studies of mediums, at their first meeting, Schwartz says DuBois accurately described a friend of Schwartzs who had just died. Impressed, Schwartz conducted a series of interviews, including one in which DuBois stated she contacted the late husband of a woman in England, the woman, after reading a transcript of the session, affirmed that 80% of what DuBois said was accurate. Schwartz published his research in a book titled The Truth About Medium, according to a statement by DuBois, she does not endorse the book or Schwartz. The television drama Medium, which aired from 2005 until 2011 on NBC and CBS is based on Allison DuBoiss book, the show was created by Glenn Gordon Caron, creator of Moonlighting and other television shows, who is also one of the writers for the series. It is produced by CBS Television Studios and Grammnet, the company owned by Cheers. Patricia Arquette was cast to play the role of DuBois, at the suggestion of Carons girlfriend. DuBois stated in the January 9,2005 TV Guide that she initially thought Arquette was too liberal to play her, remarking, I mean, I have a gun, I wanted to make sure that was something that didnt bother her. But she assured me that she believed some people may have that coming, every episode is not a biography of my life, it is simply based on my life experiences. It is a portrayal of my life and the people who share it with a little Hollywood magic thrown in. She does state in both her book and in the edition of January 3,2005 of Sci Fi Weekly that the program resembles the truth of her own life. Several details of Arquettes character match DuBoiss life, such as the name of her husband on the show, skeptics such as Paul Kurtz and Ray Hyman say that DuBois does not have psychic powers
8.
Sean Callery
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Sean Callery is a film and television composer best known as the composer for the action/drama 24, a TV series for which he also composed three soundtracks. The first soundtrack, containing music from the first three seasons was released on December 7,2004, the second soundtrack, containing music from the fourth and fifth seasons was on released on November 14,2006. The third soundtrack contained all the music composed for the 24 television movie,24, other projects include the 2004 James Bond video game, Everything or Nothing and the television series La Femme Nikita and Homeland. He also composed the music for 24, The Game, based on the series, which was created for Sonys PlayStation 2 game console and 24, Legacy, Callery was born in Hartford, Connecticut and raised in Bristol, Rhode Island. He studied at the New England Conservatory of Music, earning a degree in performance in 1987. In 1987, Callery moved to Los Angeles to work for New England Digital, in 1990, he and John Farrar scored the NBC TV movie, A Mom for Christmas. Working as a designer on the series Star Trek, Deep Space Nine also earned him an Emmy nomination. In 1996, Callery was hired to compose the underscore for the USA Network series, La Femme Nikita, Callery next again collaborated with Surnow on the television series 24 from 2001 to 2010. For his work on series, he received three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Music Composition For a Series, in 2003,2006 and 2010. He also won the 2007 Film & TV Music Awards for Best Score for a Dramatic Television Program and Best Television Theme for his work on the series. In addition to his work on 24, Callery scored the music to the television series Medium from 2005 to 2010, all the episodes of Shark, in 2011 he scored the music to the miniseries The Kennedys and Kiefer Sutherlands webseries The Confession. In December,2011, he teamed up with executive producer Howard Gordon of 24 again, in 2012, he composed the title music for the CBS television show Elementary. In 2014, he scored the music to the season of 24,24, Live Another Day. In 2015, he scored the music to Marvels Jessica Jones on Netflix, for which he won the 2016 Emmy for Outstanding Original Main Title Music, official website Sean Callery at the Internet Movie Database Sean Callery discography at MusicBrainz
9.
Kelsey Grammer
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Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, producer, director, writer, singer, and activist. Grammer is known for his portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcoms Cheers. Grammer has been married four times and has seven children, Grammer was two years old when his parents divorced. Grammer attended Pine Crest School, a preparatory school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After leaving Juilliard, he had an internship with the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in the late 1970s before a stint in 1980 at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. He made his Broadway debut in 1981 as Lennox in Macbeth, Grammer then played Michael Cassio in a Broadway revival of Othello, with James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer. In 1983 he performed on the demo of the Stephen Sondheim–James Lapine production Sunday in the Park with George, in 2000, Grammer again played Macbeth on Broadway, in a production that closed after only 10 days. Grammer originated the roles of Charles Frohman and Captain Hook in the Broadway premiere of the musical Finding Neverland in March 2015 and he returned to the stage from January 19,2016, to April 3. His television career began in the early 1980s when he portrayed Stephen Smith in the NBC miniseries Kennedy, Grammer came to broader public attention as Dr. Frasier Crane in the NBC sitcom Cheers. The character became the center of the spin-off Frasier, one of the most successful spin-offs in TV history. In addition to starring, he directed more than 30 episodes, especially during the second half of the series. Frasier was nominated for and won awards during its 11-year run. In 2001, he negotiated a US$700, 000-per-episode salary for Frasier and his 20-year run playing Dr. Frasier Crane ties a length set by James Arness in playing Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke from 1955 to 1975 but was surpassed by Richard Belzer in playing Det. John Munch on Homicide, Life on the Street and Law & Order, Frasier Crane also had a crossover appearance in 1993 Wings episode Planes, Trains, & Visiting Cranes. In 2005, Grammer returned to television and he produced and appeared in an American adaptation of the British show The Sketch Show, which aired on Fox. The main cast consisted of Malcolm Barrett, Kaitlin Olson, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Paul F. Tompkins, Grammer appeared in only short opening and closing segments in each episode. Many of the sketches from the British version were re-created, such as the California Dreamin, English Course, only six episodes of the show were made, and it was canceled after only four of them had aired. In 2007, Grammer starred with Patricia Heaton in the American sitcom Back to You and it was canceled by Fox after its first season
10.
Paramount Television
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Paramount Television is an American television production/distribution company that was active from 1967 until 2006 and revived in 2013. Most of this time it served as the arm of the Paramount Pictures film studio. It later produced Balls follow-up series, The Lucy Show, as well as other shows as Our Miss Brooks, The Untouchables, Mission, Impossible, Mannix. Paramount Pictures had made a couple of attempts in the mid-1950s to produce series themselves under the Telemount banner, the first, Cowboy G-Men, was a joint effort with Mutual Broadcasting for syndication. The second, Sally starring Joan Caulfield, was a series on NBC during the 1957–58 season. Before that, Paramount owned a de facto television network, the Paramount Television Network, and had a stake in another network, Paramount Studios also had outright ownership of KTLA in Los Angeles. The spun-off United Paramount Theatres purchased control of the American Broadcasting Company, another attempt by Paramount was known as Paramount Pictures Television. One of the series was Destination Space, a pilot to a series that never got off the ground. In 1966, Paramount was on the verge of bankruptcy, when the studio was bought out by Gulf+Western. By that point, Paramount had pretty much distanced itself from television, having stopped production of its shows, closed down its networks. They also sold off most of their early theatrical library to such companies as EMKA, & M. TV Corporation, Associated Artists Productions – also called a. a. p. for short, Harvey Films, and National Comics. In 1967, Charles Bluhdorns Gulf+Western brought Desilu, which was merged with Paramount, the sale resulted in Desilus re-incorporation as Paramount Television in December of that year. The three Desilu lots – the original RKO Studios and two Culver City locations – were included in the sale, but the Justice Department forced Bluhdorn to sell the Culver Studios to avoid a monopoly. The old RKO globe is still in place at the corner of Gower, the first PTV production to premiere after the re-incorporation was Heres Lucy. Paramount only produced the first season however, selling their stake in the show to Ball after the season finale, Gulf+Western had plans to launch a television network in the late 1970s, the Paramount Television Service, with a new Star Trek series as the cornerstone of the network. But these plans were scrapped, and Star Trek, Phase II was reworked into Star Trek, in 1989, Gulf+Western was re-incorporated as Paramount Communications, named after the companys prime asset, Paramount Pictures. That firm was sold to Viacom in 1994, the Viacom merger gave Paramount a larger TV show library as well, since Viacom had television production and distribution units as well prior to the Paramount acquisition. The distribution company, Viacom Enterprises, was merged into Paramount Domestic Television while the company, Viacom Productions
11.
CBS Television Studios
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CBS Television Studios is an American television production company that was formed on January 17,2006 by CBS Corporation merging Paramount Television and CBS Productions. It is the production arm of the CBS network, and. Television, it is also the production arm of The CW Television Network. 1952, The Columbia Broadcasting System forms an in-house television production unit, CBS Productions, also formed is CBS Television Film Sales as the distributor of off-network and first-run syndicated programming to local television stations in the United States and abroad. 1963, CBS Studio Center is established in Studio City, California,1971, CBS Films is spun off as Viacom International, Inc. 1974, The company is re-established as CBS, Inc,1978, The production unit gains the secondary/alternate name CBS Entertainment Productions 1994, Westinghouse Electric acquires CBS. 1999, Viacom merges with its creator CBS,1939, Established experimental television stations in Los Angeles as Television Productions Inc. and Chicago with Balaban and Katz. 1943, Began commercial broadcasting over WBKB in Chicago,1947, Began commercial broadcasting over KTLA in Los Angeles. 1949, The first major studio to establish program syndication as Paramount Television Network,1964, Paramount branched out of broadcasting with the sale of KTLA to Golden West Broadcasters. 1950, Desilu Productions formed by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball,1957, Desilu Studios is established in Hollywood and Culver City, after Arnaz/Ball purchased the RKO studio lot. 1962, Desilu Sales Inc. is formed as the syndication arm. 1967, Desilu Productions is acquired by Gulf+Western Industries, the company becomes the TV division of Paramount Pictures Corporation in July, retaining the Desilu name until the end of that year. Desilu Sales, in turn, merges with Paramounts syndication division to become Paramount Television Sales,1967, Paramount Television Enterprises releases 60 titles from their post-1949 feature film library to television broadcasters under the Paramount Portfolio I umbrella package. 1968, Paramount Television, formerly Desilu, is established as the television production unit. 1977, Paramount Television Service is formed,1982, Paramount Television Group and Paramount Domestic Television and Video Programming are established. 1989, September, Gulf+Western is reincorporated as Paramount Communications, Inc,1994, March 11, Viacom acquired Paramount Communications, resulting in the formation of Paramount/Viacom as a byline for several of Viacoms subsidiaries. 1995, Viacom launched the United Paramount Network with Chris-Craft Industries,1971, Viacom Enterprises is established for domestic and overseas syndication of off-network and first-run television programs from various independent producers. 1974, Viacom Productions is formed as the television production unit
12.
CBS Television Distribution
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The current president is Paul Franklin. CBS also handles the TV rights to much of its own theatrical films, the company formerly distributed the film libraries from Paramount Pictures and Republic Pictures, among others. The company is responsible for international television distribution rights to series by Rysher Entertainment including certain HBO series through its CBS Studios International division. These distribution rights are now held by NBCUniversal Television Distribution and Trifecta Entertainment & Media, until May 2009, CTD distributed the Paramount Pictures library on television. By then, CBS also dropped the name Paramount from television for good, Paramount has also joined up with Trifecta. The current moniker for CTDs overseas distribution arm is CBS Studios International and its predecessors were CBS Broadcast International and CBS Paramount International Television. In 2012, CBS Television Distribution ceased to be an entity, becoming a division of CBS Studios
13.
NBC
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The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is part of the Big Three television networks, founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC is the oldest major broadcast network in the United States. Following the acquisition by GE, Bob Wright served as executive officer of NBC, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its entertainment assets with GE, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011, and acquired General Electrics remaining stake in 2013. Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBC Universal and was replaced as CEO by Comcast executive Steve Burke, during a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer Radio Corporation of America acquired New York City radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph. Westinghouse, a shareholder in RCA, had an outlet in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&Ts manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&Ts telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, the 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF maintained a schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with Outlet Company-owned WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric. In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were incompatible with the companys primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&Ts phone lines for network transmission, the divisions ownership was split among RCA, its founding corporate parent General Electric and Westinghouse. NBC officially started broadcasting on November 15,1926, WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On April 5,1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network and this was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18,1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network, initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco. The Orange Network name was removed from use in 1936, at the same time, the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations, in 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect Floyd Brown
14.
CBS
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CBS is an American commercial broadcast television network that is a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major facilities and operations in New York City. CBS is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network, in reference to the iconic logo. It has also called the Tiffany Network, alluding to the perceived high quality of CBS programming during the tenure of William S. Paley. It can also refer to some of CBSs first demonstrations of color television, the network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters Inc. a collection of 16 radio stations that was purchased by Paley in 1928 and renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System. Under Paleys guidance, CBS would first become one of the largest radio networks in the United States, in 1974, CBS dropped its former full name and became known simply as CBS, Inc. In 2000, CBS came under the control of Viacom, which was formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971, CBS Corporation is controlled by Sumner Redstone through National Amusements, which also controls the current Viacom. The television network has more than 240 owned-and-operated and affiliated stations throughout the United States. The origins of CBS date back to January 27,1927, Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18,1927, with a presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, and fifteen affiliates. Operational costs were steep, particularly the payments to AT&T for use of its land lines, in early 1928 Judson sold the network to brothers Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of the networks Philadelphia affiliate WCAU, and their partner Jerome Louchenheim. With the record out of the picture, Paley quickly streamlined the corporate name to Columbia Broadcasting System. He believed in the power of advertising since his familys La Palina cigars had doubled their sales after young William convinced his elders to advertise on radio. By September 1928, Paley bought out the Louchenheim share of CBS, during Louchenheims brief regime, Columbia paid $410,000 to A. H. Grebes Atlantic Broadcasting Company for a small Brooklyn station, WABC, which would become the networks flagship station. WABC was quickly upgraded, and the relocated to 860 kHz. The physical plant was relocated also – to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street in Manhattan, by the turn of 1929, the network could boast to sponsors of having 47 affiliates. Paley moved right away to put his network on a financial footing. In the fall of 1928, he entered talks with Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures. The deal came to fruition in September 1929, Paramount acquired 49% of CBS in return for a block of its stock worth $3.8 million at the time
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1080i
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1080i is an abbreviation referring to a combination of frame resolution and scan type, used in high-definition television and high-definition video. The number 1080 refers to the number of lines on the screen. The term assumes a widescreen ratio of 16,9, so the 1080 lines of vertical resolution implies 1920 columns of horizontal resolution. A1920 pixels ×1080 lines screen has a total of 2.1 megapixels and this format is used in the SMPTE 292M standard. The choice of 1080 lines originates with Charles Poynton, who in the early 1990s pushed for square pixels to be used in HD video formats, within the designation 1080i, the i stands for interlaced scan. A frame of 1080i video consists of two fields of 1920 horizontal and 540 vertical pixels. The first field consists of all odd-numbered TV lines and the second all even numbered lines, 1080i differs from 1080p, where the p stands for progressive scan, where all lines in a frame are captured at the same time. In native or pure 1080i, the two fields of a frame correspond to different instants, so motion portrayal is good and this is true for interlaced video in general and can be easily observed in still images taken of fast motion scenes. However, when 1080p material is captured at 25 or 30 frames/second, it is converted to 1080i at 50 or 60 fields/second, respectively, in this situation both fields in a frame do correspond to the same instant. The field-to-instant relation is more complex for the case of 1080p at 24 frames/second converted to 1080i at 60 fields/second. Both field rates can be carried by digital television broadcast formats such as ATSC, DVB. The frame rate can be implied by the context, while the rate is generally specified after the letter i. In this case 1080i60 refers to 60 fields per second, the European Broadcasting Union prefers to use the resolution and frame rate separated by a slash, as in 1080i/30 and 1080i/25, likewise 480i/30 and 576i/25. Resolutions of 1080i60 or 1080i50 often refers to 1080i/30 or 1080i/25 in EBU notation, 1080i is directly compatible with some CRT HDTVs on which it can be displayed natively in interlaced form, but for display on progressive-scan—e. g. Most new LCD and plasma TVs, it must be deinterlaced, depending on the televisions video processing capabilities, the resulting video quality may vary, but may not necessarily suffer. For example, film material at 25fps may be deinterlaced from 1080i50 to restore a full 1080p resolution at the frame rate without any loss. Preferably video material with 50 or 60 motion phases/second is to be converted to 50p or 60p before display, worldwide, most HD channels on satellite and cable broadcast in 1080i. This also allows local newscasts on these ABC affiliates to be produced in the resolution to match the picture quality of their 1080i competitors
16.
3D television
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3D television is television that conveys depth perception to the viewer by employing techniques such as stereoscopic display, multi-view display, 2D-plus-depth, or any other form of 3D display. Most modern 3D television sets use an active shutter 3D system or a polarized 3D system, 3D TV are to be discontinued in 2017 due to low consumer demand. LG and Sony were the last manufacturers to build the product, however, 4K TVs with 3D capability still exist. The stereoscope was first invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1838 and it showed that when two pictures are viewed stereoscopically, they are combined by the brain to produce 3D depth perception. The stereoscope was improved by Louis Jules Duboscq, and a picture of Queen Victoria was displayed at The Great Exhibition in 1851. In 1855 the Kinematoscope was invented, in the late 1890s, the British film pioneer William Friese-Greene filed a patent for a 3D movie process. Stereoscopic 3D television was demonstrated for the first time on 10 August 1928, by John Logie Baird in his companys premises at 133 Long Acre, Baird pioneered a variety of 3D television systems using electro-mechanical and cathode-ray tube techniques. The first 3D TV was produced in 1935, and stereoscopic 3D still cameras for personal use had become fairly common by the Second World War. Many 3D movies were produced for release in the US during the 1950s just when television started to become popular. The first such movie was Bwana Devil from United Artists that could be seen all across the US in 1952, one year later, in 1953, came the 3D movie House of Wax which also featured stereophonic sound. Alfred Hitchcock produced his film Dial M for Murder in 3D, in 1946 the Soviet Union also developed 3D films, with Robinzon Kruzo being its first full-length 3D movie. People were excited to view the 3D movies, but were put off by their poor quality, because of this, their popularity declined quickly. There was another attempt in the 1970s and 80s to make 3D movies more mainstream with the releases of Friday the 13th Part III, 3D showings became more popular throughout the 2000s, culminating in the success of 3D presentations of Avatar in December 2009 and January 2010. According to DisplaySearch, 3D television shipments totaled 41.45 million units in 2012, in late 2013, the number of 3D TV viewers started to decline, and as of 2016, development of 3D TV is limited to a few premium models. There are several techniques to produce and display 3D moving pictures, the following are some of the technical details and methodologies employed in some of the more notable 3D movie systems that have been developed. The future of 3D television is also emerging as time progresses, New technology like WindowWalls and Visible light communication are being implemented into 3D television as the demand for 3D TV increases. Scott Birnbaum, vice president of Samsungs LCD business, says that the demand for 3D TV will skyrocket in the couple of years. The basic requirement is to display offset images that are filtered separately to the left, besides Hitachi, Sony is also working on similar technologies
17.
Mediumship
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Mediumship is the practice of certain people —known as mediums— to purportedly mediate communication between spirits of the dead and living human beings. There are different types of mediumship including spirit channeling, and ouija, humans have been fascinated with contacting the dead since the beginning of human existence. Cave paintings by indigenous Australians date back 28,000 years, some depicting skulls, bones, spirits, Other cave paintings in Indonesia date back a further 10,000 years. Mediumship gained popularity during the century, when ouija boards were used by the upper classes as a source of entertainment. Investigations during this period revealed widespread fraud—with some practitioners employing techniques used by stage magicians—and the practice began to lose credibility, fraud is still rife in the medium/psychic industry, with cases of deception and trickery being discovered to this day. Scientific researchers have attempted to ascertain the validity of claims of mediumship, an experiment undertaken by the British Psychological Society led to the conclusion that the test subjects demonstrated no mediumistic ability. Other forms involve materializations of the spirit or the presence of a voice, the practice is associated with several religious-belief systems such as Vodun, Spiritualism, Spiritism, Candomblé, Voodoo, Umbanda and some New Age groups. In Spiritism and Spiritualism the medium has the role of an intermediary between the world of the living and the world of spirit. Mediums claim that they can listen to and relay messages from spirits, or that they can allow a spirit to control their body and speak through it directly or by using automatic writing or drawing. Spiritualists classify types of mediumship into two categories, mental and physical, Mental mediums allegedly tune in to the spirit world by listening, sensing. During seances, mediums are said to go into trances, varying from light to deep, attempts to communicate with the dead and other living human beings, aka spirits, have been documented back to early human history. Mediumship became quite popular in the 19th-century United States and the United Kingdom after the rise of Spiritualism as a religious movement, Modern Spiritualism is said to date from practices and lectures of the Fox sisters in New York State in 1848. The trance mediums Paschal Beverly Randolph and Emma Hardinge Britten were among the most celebrated lecturers and authors on the subject in the mid-19th century, allan Kardec coined the term Spiritism around 1860. Kardec claimed that conversations with spirits by selected mediums were the basis of his The Spirits Book and later, his five-book collection, some scientists of the period who investigated spiritualism also became converts. They included chemist Robert Hare, physicist William Crookes and evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel Wallace, nobel laureate Pierre Curie took a very serious scientific interest in the work of medium Eusapia Palladino. Other prominent adherents included journalist and pacifist William T, Stead and physician and author Arthur Conan Doyle. After the exposure of the fraudulent use of magic tricks by physical mediums such as the Davenport Brothers. However, the religion and its beliefs continue in spite of this, with physical mediumship and seances falling out of practice, Spiritualism continues to be practiced, primarily through various denominational spiritualist churches in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom
18.
Phoenix, Arizona
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Phoenix is the capital and most populous city of the U. S. state of Arizona. Phoenix is the anchor of the Phoenix metropolitan area, also known as the Valley of the Sun, the metropolitan area is the 12th largest by population in the United States, with approximately 4.3 million people as of 2010. Settled in 1867 as a community near the confluence of the Salt and Gila Rivers. Located in the reaches of the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix has a subtropical desert climate. Despite this, its canal system led to a farming community, many of the original crops remaining important parts of the Phoenix economy for decades, such as alfalfa, cotton, citrus. The city averaged a four percent annual growth rate over a 40-year period from the mid-1960s to the mid-2000s. This growth rate slowed during the Great Recession of 2007–09, and has rebounded slowly, Phoenix is the cultural center of the Valley of the Sun, as well as the entire state. For more than 2,000 years, the Hohokam people occupied the land that would become Phoenix, the Hohokam created roughly 135 miles of irrigation canals, making the desert land arable. Paths of these canals would later used for the modern Arizona Canal, Central Arizona Project Canal. The Hohokam also carried out trade with the nearby Anasazi, Mogollon and Sinagua. It is believed that between 1300 and 1450, periods of drought and severe floods led to the Hohokam civilizations abandonment of the area. After the departure of the Hohokam, groups of Akimel Oodham, Tohono Oodham and Maricopa tribes began to use the area, as well as segments of the Yavapai and Apache. The Oodham were offshoots of the Sobaipuri tribe, who in turn were thought to be the descendants of the formerly urbanized Hohokam and their crops included corn, beans, and squash for food, while cotton and tobacco were also cultivated. Mostly a peaceful group, they did together with the Maricopa for their mutual protection against incursions by both the Yuma and Apache tribes. The Tohono Oodham lived in the region as well, but their concentration was to the south. Living in small settlements, the Oodham were seasonal farmers who took advantage of the rains and they also hunted local game such as deer, rabbit, and javalina for meat. When the Mexican–American War ended in 1848, Mexico ceded its northern zone to the United States, the Phoenix area became part of the New Mexico Territory. In 1863 the mining town of Wickenburg was the first to be established in what is now Maricopa County, at the time Maricopa County had not yet been incorporated, the land was within Yavapai County, which included the major town of Prescott to the north of Wickenburg
19.
Viacom
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Viacom, Inc. is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in cinema and cable television. It is currently the sixth largest broadcasting and cable company in terms of revenue—behind Comcast, The Walt Disney Company, Time Warner, and CBS Corporation. Voting control of Viacom is held by National Amusements, Inc. a privately owned theater company controlled by the billionaire Sumner Redstone, Redstone also holds – via National Amusements – a controlling stake in CBS Corporation. The current incarnation of Viacom was created on December 31,2005 as a spin-off from the incarnation of Viacom. CBS Corporation currently retains control of the broadcasting, TV production, subscription pay television and publishing assets. Predecessor firms of the original Viacom included Gulf+Western and Westinghouse Electric Corporation, in addition, the company was facing issues after MTV was banned from producing any more Super Bowl halftime shows after the Super Bowl Halftime Show controversy of 2004. Redstone was set to retire in the future, and a split was seen as a creative solution to the matter of replacing him. A new company, the present Viacom, was created and was headed by Freston and it comprises BET Networks, MTV Networks, and Paramount Pictures Corporation. In June 2005, Viacom announced its purchase of Neopets, a virtual pet website, along with GameTrailers, GoCityKids and that December, Paramount announced it would acquire DreamWorks. On February 1,2006, Paramount completed its acquisition of DreamWorks. On April 24, Viacom obtained Xfire, in August, just hours before announcing its most recent quarterly earnings, Viacom announced that it had acquired Atom Entertainment for $200 million. In September, Viacom acquired game developer Harmonix for $175 million, in February 2007, Viacom ordered leaked copyrighted video clips be taken off the videosharing service YouTube for copyright reasons. On February 21, Viacom publicly announced they would be offering free access to their own material through Silicon Valleys distributor Joost thanks to a thorough content licensing deal. All future Viacom content for India and new ventures such as a Hindi entertainment channel, on December 19,2007, Viacom signed a five-year, $500 million contract with Microsoft that included content sharing and advertisement. The deal allowed Microsoft to license many shows from Viacom owned cable television and film studios for use on Xbox Live, the deal also made Viacom a preferred publisher partner for casual game development and distribution through MSN and Windows. On the advertisement side of the deal, Microsofts Atlas ad-serving division became the provider of previously unsold advertising inventory on Viacom owned web sites. Also, Microsoft purchased a large amount of advertising on Viacom owned broadcasts, finally, Microsoft will also collaborate on promotions and sponsorships for MTV and BET award shows, two Viacom owned cable networks. On December 4,2008, Viacom announced layoffs of 850 personnel, at the end of the year, Time Warner Cable and Viacoms MTV Networks could not come to terms for the renewal of any Viacom channel beyond the end of year
20.
CBS Corporation
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CBS Corporation is an American mass media corporation focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The president, chief executive and executive chairman of the company is Leslie Moonves, sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBSs majority shareholder and serves as chairman emeritus. The company began trading on the NYSE on January 3,2006, until then, the corporation was known as Viacom, and is the legal successor to said company. A new company, keeping the Viacom name, was spun off from CBS, CBS has its headquarters in the CBS Building, Midtown, Manhattan, New York City, United States. Viacom was created in 1971 as the television division of CBS. However, in 1999, Viacom acquired its parent, by this time also named CBS Corporation. In March 2005, Viacom announced plans of looking into splitting the company into two publicly traded companies, amid issues of the stock price stagnating, on June 14,2005, the Viacom board of directors approved the split of the company into two firms. The split was structured such that the new Viacom was spun off from the old Viacom, in a sense, this was a repeat of the 1971 spinoff. However, in case, CBS retained virtually all of the prior firms broadcast TV assets. With the split, the two new companies began trading on the NYSE on January 3,2006, investors anticipated Viacom benefiting from the split, but instead, it dropped approximately 20 percent, while CBS rose 9 percent. Announced in January 2006, CBS and DIC Entertainment signed a deal in which DIC bought the Saturday morning airtime as CBSs Saturday Morning Secret Slumber Party. In June 2006, DiC added a production partner AOLs KOL, thus block would be called KOLs Saturday Morning Secret Slumber Party on CBS. On January 24,2006, CBS Corporation, and Warner Bros. announced that they were to create a new broadcast network, the network officially debuted on September 18,2006. The network formally debuted on September 20 with the 2 hour premiere of Americas Next Top Model, the network is the result of a merger of The WB and UPN. CBS Corporation and Time Warner each own 50% of the network, tribune Broadcasting and CBS Corporation will contribute its stations as new network affiliates. Three days after the announcement of The CW, on January 27, on May 23,2006, CBS Corp. sold Paramount Parks to the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. With this acquisition, Cedar Fair became the third-largest theme park operator, on June 30,2006, Cedar Fair announced that it has completed its acquisition of Paramount Parks from CBS Corporation in a cash transaction valued at US$1.24 billion. The transaction included a 10-year license that allowed Cedar Fair to use the Paramount name in the parks through the 2017 season
21.
Paramount Pictures
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Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film studio based in Hollywood, California, that has been a subsidiary of the American media conglomerate Viacom since 1994. In 1916, film producer Adolph Zukor contracted 22 actors and actresses and these fortunate few would become the first movie stars. Paramount Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, in 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in digital form only. Paramount is the fifth oldest surviving studio in the world after the French studios Gaumont Film Company and Pathé, followed by the Nordisk Film company. It is the last major film studio headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Paramount Pictures dates its existence from the 1912 founding date of the Famous Players Film Company, hungarian-born founder, Adolph Zukor, who had been an early investor in nickelodeons, saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants. With partners Daniel Frohman and Charles Frohman he planned to offer feature-length films that would appeal to the class by featuring the leading theatrical players of the time. By mid-1913, Famous Players had completed five films, and Zukor was on his way to success and its first film was Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth, which starred Sarah Bernhardt. That same year, another aspiring producer, Jesse L. Lasky, opened his Lasky Feature Play Company with money borrowed from his brother-in-law, Samuel Goldfish, the Lasky company hired as their first employee a stage director with virtually no film experience, Cecil B. DeMille, who would find a site in Hollywood, near Los Angeles, for his first feature film. Hodkinson and actor, director, producer Hobart Bosworth had started production of a series of Jack London movies, Paramount was the first successful nationwide distributor, until this time, films were sold on a statewide or regional basis which had proved costly to film producers. Also, Famous Players and Lasky were privately owned while Paramount was a corporation, in 1916, Zukor maneuvered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky Company, and Paramount. Zukor and Lasky bought Hodkinson out of Paramount, and merged the three companies into one, with only the exhibitor-owned First National as a rival, Famous Players-Lasky and its Paramount Pictures soon dominated the business. It was this system that gave Paramount a leading position in the 1920s and 1930s, the driving force behind Paramounts rise was Zukor. In 1926, Zukor hired independent producer B. P. Schulberg and they purchased the Robert Brunton Studios, a 26-acre facility at 5451 Marathon Street for US$1 million. In 1927, Famous Players-Lasky took the name Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation, three years later, because of the importance of the Publix Theatres, it became Paramount Publix Corporation. In 1928, Paramount began releasing Inkwell Imps, animated cartoons produced by Max, the Fleischers, veterans in the animation industry, were among the few animation producers capable of challenging the prominence of Walt Disney. The Paramount newsreel series Paramount News ran from 1927 to 1957, Paramount was also one of the first Hollywood studios to release what were known at that time as talkies, and in 1929, released their first musical, Innocents of Paris
22.
Paramount Home Media Distribution
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Paramount Home Media Distribution is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures founded in late 1975. PHMD distributes most of the assets owned by Viacoms parent National Amusements. This not only films by Paramount Pictures themselves, but also the back catalog of DreamWorks, shows from Viacom Media Networks. By products of the deal are the series of films based on the Transformers toy line. In 1993, Paramount launched a deal with fast food restaurant McDonalds to release several of its movies at participating restaurants, charlottes Web and The Addams Family were two of the films available. Films from Republic Pictures, Paramounts other subsidiary, are not distributed on video and DVD by PHMD, prior to 2012, these films were distributed by Lionsgate Home Entertainment, which was acquired from previous rights holder Artisan Entertainment. This deal later expanded to some of Paramounts own post-1949 films. Also, as a result of deal, Lionsgate has released in 2007 triple features of their own library of films on DVD using the package design originated by Paramount. With Republics folding, Lionsgates duty has been transferred to Olive, PHMD have developed a trademark by giving their Special Edition/Directors Cut editions different names rather than the usual Special Edition, or Directors Edition. Paramount Home Entertainment gives them different names such as Grease, The Rockin Rydell Edition, Beavis & Butthead Do America, The Edition That Doesnt Suck, the Dont Call Me Shirley Edition. Internationally, PHMD holds the DVD rights to shows on HBO. PHMD also distributes in Germany the DVD releases of films distributed theatrically by Prokino Filmverleih, as Paramount Home Video, the company once distributed several Miramax releases on video – the video rights to some of these films are still owned by Paramount. In 2008, PHMD launched a label, Paramount Famous Productions. In the United Kingdom and Australia, the Paramount Pictures film library were released by CIC Video alongside Universal Pictures until 1999 before CIC turned into Paramount Home Entertainment UK, on May 27,2010, IFC Films struck another home video distribution deal with Paramount Home Media Distribution. The deal came into effect as of January 1,2013, the deal began on July 1,2015 in the United Kingdom. Paramount brands the majority of its HD content under the label Paramount High Definition which is both on the title box cover and as an in-movie opening. In October 2005, Paramount announced that it would be supporting the HD video format Blu-ray in addition to rival format HD DVD and its first four HD DVD releases came in July 2006, and it released four titles on Blu-ray two months later. In August 2007, Paramount announced their support for HD DVD
23.
Texas Ranger Division
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The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, based in the capital city of Austin. The Texas Rangers were unofficially created by Stephen F. Austin in a written in 1823 and were first headed by Captain Morris. After a decade, on August 10,1835, Daniel Parker introduced a resolution to the Permanent Council creating a body of rangers to protect the border. The unit was dissolved by the authorities during the post–Civil War Reconstruction Era. Since 1935, the organization has been a division of the Texas Department of Public Safety, as of 2014, there are 150 commissioned members of the Ranger force. During their history, a distinct Ranger tradition has evolved, their significance to Texians. There is a dedicated to the Texas Rangers in Waco. While there is discussion as to when Austin actually employed men as rangers. The Texas Rangers were formally constituted in 1835 and, in November, within two years the Rangers comprised more than 300 men. Following the Texas Revolution and the creation of the Republic of Texas, lamar, raised a force of 56 Rangers to fight the Cherokee and the Comanche, partly in retaliation for the support they had given the Mexicans at the Cordova Rebellion against the Republic. Ten rangers were killed in the Battle of Stone Houses in 1837 and they played important roles at various battles, acting as guides and participating in Counter-guerrilla warfare, soon establishing a fearsome reputation among both Mexicans and Americans. Richard Addison Gillespie, a famed Texas Ranger, died at Monterrey, John Jackson Tumlinson Sr. the first alcalde of the Colorado district, is considered by many Texas Ranger historians to be the first Texas Ranger killed in the line of duty. One of his most urgent issues was protection of settlers from theft, on his way to San Antonio, in 1823, to discuss the issue with the governor, Tumlinson was killed by Native Americans. His travelling companion, a Mr. Newman, escaped, the now 100-strong Rangers participated in campaigns against the Comanche and other tribes, whose raids against the settlers and their properties had become common. Ford and his Rangers fought the Comanche in the Battle of Little Robe Creek in 1858, the success of a series of campaigns in the 1860s marked a turning point in Rangers history. The U. S. Army could provide limited and thinly-stretched protection in the enormous territory of Texas. Such a force could use the deep familiarity with the territory and this option was not pursued, in view of the emerging national political problems, and the Rangers were again dissolved. Many Rangers enlisted to fight for the Confederacy following the secession of Texas from the United States in 1861 during the Civil War, in 1870, during Reconstruction, the Rangers were briefly replaced by a Union-controlled version called the Texas State Police, disbanded only three years later
24.
Anjelica Huston
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Anjelica Huston is an American actress, director and former fashion model. She also received Academy Award nominations for Enemies, a Love Story, Huston received British Academy Award nominations for her work in the Woody Allen films Crimes and Misdemeanors and Manhattan Murder Mystery. She has frequently collaborated with director Wes Anderson, including The Royal Tenenbaums, hustons paternal grandfather was Canadian-born actor Walter Huston. Huston has Scots-Irish, English and Welsh ancestry from her father and she spent much of her childhood in Ireland, particularly near Craughwell, County Galway, and attended school at Kylemore Abbey. Huston has a brother, Tony, a younger maternal half-sister named Allegra, whom she called Legs, a younger paternal half-brother, actor Danny Huston. She is the aunt of Boardwalk Empire actor Jack Huston and she later lived in England, where she attended Holland Park School. In the late 1960s, she began taking a few roles in her fathers movies. In the same year, her mother, who was 39 years old, died in a car accident, while she modeled, she worked with photographers such as Richard Avedon and Bob Richardson. Deciding to focus more on movies, in the early 1980s she studied acting and her first notable role was in Bob Rafelsons remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice. Later, her father cast her as Maerose, daughter of a Mafia don whose love is scorned by a hit man in the adaptation of Richard Condons Mafia-satire novel Prizzis Honor. Huston won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance, making her the first person in Academy Award history to win an Oscar when a parent and she also earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a con artist in Stephen Frears The Grifters. She also starred as the lead in her fathers final directorial film, The Dead and she was then cast as Morticia Addams, in the hugely successful 1991 movie adaptation of The Addams Family. In 1993, she reprised the role for the sequel Addams Family Values and she also starred in the 1998 Hollywood blockbuster, Ever After, A Cinderella Story alongside Drew Barrymore and Melanie Lynskey as the Baroness Rodmilla De Ghent. She starred in two Wes Anderson films, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, as well as appearing in a role in 2007s The Darjeeling Limited. She voiced the role of Queen Clarion in the Disney Fairies film series starring Tinker Bell, on January 22,2010, Huston was honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2011, Huston was in the film Horrid Henry, The Movie, Huston later appeared on the NBC television series, Smash, portraying Broadway producer Eileen Rand. In 2015 and 2016 Huston appeared in the second and third seasons of the Amazon Video series Transparent, Huston has recently expanded her horizons, following in her fathers footsteps in the directors chair. Her first directorial credit was Bastard Out of Carolina, followed by Agnes Browne, for over 20 years, Huston has been developing a film project on Maud Gonne and William Butler Yeats
25.
Ryan Hurst
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Hurst was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Candace Kaniecki, an acting coach, and Rick Hurst, an actor. He attended Santa Monica High School, growing up in a Hollywood family, Hurst made a very early start in the show business, with a recurring role in the NBC teen situation comedy series Saved by the Bell, The New Class. Additionally, he appeared in the 2002 war film We Were Soldiers as Sgt, ernie Savage, played the football player Lump Hudson in the black comedy thriller film The Ladykillers, and starred in the TNT police drama series Wanted. From 2005 to 2007, Hurst gained recognition for portraying the role of Allison DuBois half-brother, Michael Benoit. Hursts big break came when he was cast as Opie Winston in the FX crime drama series Sons of Anarchy, originally a recurring cast member in the first season, he was promoted to main cast member for the following season, and has since become a fan favorite. Hursts portrayal of Opie earned him the 2011 Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film, also in 2011, Hurst voiced Jedidiah in the animated box office hit Rango. In 1994, Hurst met Molly Cookson and the couple married in May 2005, together, they founded the production company Fast Shoes. In April 2013, Hurst purchased a 3,400 square-foot home in Woodland Hills, Ryan Hurst at the Internet Movie Database Ryan Hurst on Twitter
26.
David Arquette
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David Arquette is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, fashion designer and former professional wrestler. A member of the Arquette acting family, he first became known during the mid-1990s after starring in several Hollywood films, such as the Scream series, Wild Bill and he has since had several television roles, such as Jason Ventress on ABCs In Case of Emergency. In addition to his career, Arquette took a brief foray into professional wrestling in early 2000. During his tenure, Arquette became a one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Arquette was born in a Subud commune in Bentonville, Virginia. He is the youngest child of Brenda Olivia Mardi, an actress, poet, theater operator, activist, acting teacher, and therapist, and Lewis Arquette, Arquettes paternal grandfather was comedian Cliff Arquette. Arquettes mother was Jewish, while his father was a convert from Catholicism to Islam, through him and his father, whose familys surname was originally Arcouet, was of part French-Canadian descent. Arquettes four siblings, Rosanna, Alexis, Richmond, and Patricia are all actors, the Arquettes had an unusual upbringing, with a father who occasionally had substance abuse issues. Their mother died of breast cancer, Arquette appeared in a number of movies in the 1990s, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Airheads, and Never Been Kissed. He had guest spots on television shows like Blossom, Beverly Hills,90210, Arquette achieved his biggest success in the horror/slasher film franchise Scream. It was during the filming of the first film in 1996 that he first met his future wife, Arquette guest starred alongside Cox on Cougar Town in 2012. He also appeared in the 2001 EA video game SSX Tricky and he also starred in See Spot Run in 2001. Arquette starred in the 2007 ABC comedy series In Case of Emergency, since then, he has appeared in the 2008 film Hamlet 2, and reprised his role in Scream 4, again acting alongside Cox. He appeared alongside his sister in the TV show Medium in January 2011 and he appeared in Rascal Flatts music video for their song Why Wait in 2010. Arquette, a horror fan, made his directorial debut with 2007s The Tripper, and has signed on to direct Glutton. The film began shooting in July 2011 in Canada, Arquette appeared on the 13th season of Dancing with the Stars, partnered with two-time champion Kym Johnson. He was eliminated on November 1,2011, on October 7,2013, Arquettes new show Dream School in which he plays a mentor to high-risk kids in LA, premiered on the Sundance Channel. In 2000, after filming the World Championship Wrestling movie Ready to Rumble, on the following episode of Thunder, Arquette teamed with Page in a match against Bischoff and Jeff Jarrett, with the stipulation that whichever man got the pin would take the championship. Arquette pinned Bischoff again in the finish, receiving the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in the process
27.
Kathy Baker
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Katherine Whitton Kathy Baker is an American stage, film and television actress, known for her leading and supporting performances in film and television. Baker began her career in theatre and made her debut in the 1983 drama film. She received the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress, Banks and The Age of Adaline. She later received three nominations and a Primetime Emmy Award for her performances in Touched by an Angel, Boston Public. Baker was born in Midland, Texas, and raised a Quaker in New Mexico, the daughter of John Seawand Baker, a geologist and educator and she attended high school at Mills High School in Millbrae, California. Her drama instructor, Allen Knight, was an influence in her desire to become a professional actress. She studied acting at the California Institute of the Arts in the early 1970s and she later earned a B. A. degree in French in 1977 from UC Berkeley. Baker began her career at San Franciscos Magic Theatre, performing in several of Sam Shepards plays before getting her break in an off-Broadway production of Fool for Love opposite Ed Harris. She won an Obie Award for this role, in same year she was cast as Louise Shepard, Alan Shepards wife, in the drama film The Right Stuff. She later had dramatic performances as a prostitute in Street Smart and she later starred in films Dad, Jacknife and Edward Scissorhands. From 1992 to 1996, Baker starred as Jill Brock, a doctor, in the CBS critically acclaimed drama series. Baker has appeared in the over 50 theatrical films in supporting and leading roles and she starred in two movies directed by Rodrigo García, Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her and Nine Lives. Her other major credits include The Cider House Rules, Cold Mountain,13 Going on 30, The Jane Austen Book Club, Last Chance Harvey, Take Shelter and she starred opposite Tom Selleck in the Jesse Stone television films series in 2000s. Also on television she guest-starred on Nip/Tuck, Law & Order, Special Victims Unit, Greys Anatomy and she also starred in the short-lived Lifetime drama series Against the Wall in 2011. In 2016, it was confirmed that Baker will appear in the new series of Netflix The Ranch along with Ashton Kutcher and she lives in Southern California with her second husband, director/producer Steven Robman. She has a son and daughter with her first husband, Donald Camillieri, Kathy Baker at the Internet Movie Database Kathy Baker at AllMovie Kathy Baker 2003 Interview on Sidewalks Entertainment
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Kurtwood Smith
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Kurtwood Larson Smith is an American television and film actor. He is known for playing Clarence Boddicker in RoboCop and Red Forman in That 70s Show, as well as for his appearances in science fiction films. He also starred in the season of 24. Smith was born in New Lisbon, Wisconsin, the son of Mabel Annette Lund, smiths mother was a fan of a country singer named Kurt in the early 1940s. However, she thought Kurt Smith was too short a name, Smith has said that he is likely the only Kurtwood. Smith grew up in the San Fernando Valley and graduated from Canoga Park High School of Canoga Park, California in 1961, Smith graduated from San Jose State College in 1965 with a B. A. and Stanford University in 1969 with an M. F. A. Onstage, Smith won three Drama-Logue Awards for his performances in Billy Budd, Idiots Delight, and Green Grow the Lilacs. After That 70s Show ended, Smith played Senator Blaine Mayer in the season of the action thriller 24. He enjoyed a role as a rogue FBI agent in Seasons 3–5 of the NBC series Medium. More recently, he played the main character Henry Langston in the ABC sci-fi/drama Resurrection which ran for two seasons, before That 70s Show his other roles included playing Mr. Sue on Foxs espionage comedy The New Adventures of Beans Baxter from 1987–89. He also starred as the father of Robert Sean Leonards Neil in 1989s Dead Poets Society. He also has a voice acting résumé, appearing in computer games such as Fallout Tactics, Brotherhood of Steel, and FreeSpace 2. He played the voice of Bob Johnson on Squirrel Boy and provided the voice of Kanjar Ro in Green Lantern, First Flight, Smith married Cecilia Souza in 1964. Smith then married Joan Pirkle in 1988, Smith has one daughter, Laurel Garner, and one son, Shannon Smith. Smith now lives in Glendale, California, Kurtwood Smith at the Internet Movie Database Kurtwood Smith at the TCM Movie Database Kurtwood Smith at AllMovie
