Telemundo Names New GM at KVEA TV

Jose Cancela is coming back to NBCUniversal's Telemundo because the new leader and gm of KVEA TV in La. Cancela was a part of Telemundo from 1992-1998, when he offered as leader and chief operating officer from the Telemundo Station Group. Cancela labored most lately in the Miami-based researching the market firm Hispanic USA, that they founded in 2004. He was leader and chief operating officer of Radio Unica Communications Corp. from 1998-2004. "Jose's leadership abilities, extensive broadcasting and operational experience, in addition to his deep understanding and knowledge of the U.S. Hispanic audience is a tremendous resource to KVEA," stated group leader Ronald J. Gordon. He replaces Jose Valle, who left this past year and nows can serve as leader of Univision Radio for Univision Communications.

Fox nabs Josh Friedman spy drama

Fox has given a put pilot commitment to spy drama project from scribe Josh Friedman and 20th Century Fox TV. Friedman's pitch is among a handful of hot properties making the network rounds this week. Project is described as a sophisticated espionager revolving around a femme spy who uses her powers of seduction on her targets. Meanwhile, a comedy project to star Sarah Silverman from 20th TV and Imagine TV has sparked bidding among ABC, Fox and NBC. Silverman has teamed to pen the semi-autobiographical pilot with two writers, Dan Sterling and Jon Schroeder, from her former Comedy Central series "The Sarah Silverman Program." Imagine principal Ron Howard has also been deeply involved in shepherding the Silverman project. Friedman is no stranger to Fox or 20th TV, having steered the net's "Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles" series as exec producer. He was exec producer on the 20th TV pilot "Locke & Key" this past development season, and he served as a consulting producer on the pilot for the "Bones" spinoff "The Finder." Friedman is repped by UTA and attorney Karl Austen of Jackoway Tyerman. Contact Cynthia Littleton at cynthia.littleton@variety.com

Fashion Slam: Classy Parties For That Preschool Set

By Ryan PattersonLOS ANGELES, Calif. -- My daughter just began preschool and i'm getting my first taste of kids birthday parties - Hollywood style. Oh boy, am I in deep trouble! ' '. From working at Access Hollywood and listening to the parties Nicole Richie, Gwen Stefani, Victoria Beckham along with other parents throw, I understood that parties werent simple cake-and-ice-cream-and-pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey-matters. Over lunch eventually, I received my personal party tutorial from super-mother Heidi Klum, who spoken concerning the parties shes tossed on her kids and just how much that may cost. GULP. We visited two kids birthday parties on the day that earlier this weekend and also at among the parties, I enter what could be easily a film or perhaps a magazine shoot. A home is GORGEOUS. I am talking about like decorated-by-someone-with-amazing-taste-and-lots-of-money, gorgeous. All of the parents in the party seem like they may be stars or rock stars - this really is one attractive bunch. The birthday celebrations women father is incorporated in the music business and most of the men have tats and also have stylish style. The birthday women mother is really a bi-seaside stylist having a killer wardrobe. No surprise her daughter is the greatest outfitted kid in school I am talking about this child dresses much better than I actually do! Really, I believe their nanny is outfitted much better than I'm in the party in her own cute Summer time bustier dress with sparkly sandals. I've on my small mother uniform of cargo pants. Ugh. A few of the moms seem like models. They're glamorous in leopard print and high heel shoes. One lady is wearing a turban type headband with vintage style clothes. Another mother wears a lengthy whitened silk maxi dress with brown Lanvin sandals. Whitened? With my child, that outfit could be trashed within five seconds flat! When I put my purse lower on the couch close to the door I spot the other moms bags are designer Chanel, Givenchy, etc. The party appears like an expert planner made it happen everything and that i mean everything, matches in the margarita glasses (for that grown ups!) towards the customized water bottles using their kids title in it. The home appears like something from the sunday paper and that i would later learn that it's inside a magazine one this month actually. When it comes to Hollywood parties, it is not some crazy over-the-top party where theyve introduced in live tigers or anything like this. But things are matched and incredibly pretty and I saw how this kind of perfection could either inspire creativeness in other parents or incite keeping-up-with-the- Joneses competition, which appears so prevalent nowadays. I'd the optimum time watching people. I've got a feeling using the parties I'll be attending that it is gonna become an amusing sport for me personally. This type of person clearly all very effective, yet I'm not envious. A lot more like amused. As someone in the South, where I'd an extremely normal middle-class upbringing I never get fed up with the Hollywood-ness of existence out here celebrate me laugh! Now how can i rent living elephant for my kids birthday celebration in The month of january Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All privileges reserved.These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

David Cronenberg to Direct Jonathan Lethem's 'As She Climbed Across the Table'

If there's any director who can take on a story about a love triangle involving a black hole, it's just might be David Cronenberg, who's always had an affinity for out-there sci-fi scenarios with highbrow appeal. Media Rights Capital has just acquired the Jonathan Lethem novel 'As She Climbed Across the Table' for Cronenberg to direct. The novel is about an academic whose physicist girlfriend accidentally creates a black hole in her lab. She then gives it a name and spends all her time with it, driving her jealous professor beau into a cosmic confrontation. Definitely not your average boy-meets-girl story. Cronenberg's hardly a stranger to adapting difficult books for the screen: His adaptation of Stephen King's 'The Dead Zone' remains one of his best and most accessible films and William S. Burroughs' 'Naked Lunch' one of his most mind-bending and bizarre. He's already wrapped filming on 'Cosmopolis,' based on the Don DeLillo futuristic novel, starring Robert Pattinson and Keira Knightley. His most recent collaborations with star Viggo Mortensen, including the upcoming 'A Dangerous Method' about Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, have been relatively mainstream compared to his early films, like the disturbingly visceral horror films 'The Brood,' 'Scanners' and 'Videodrome' and skin-crawling thrillers like 'Dead Ringers.' As for Lethem's most famous novel, 'Motherless Brooklyn,' about a detective with Tourette's, it was optioned shortly after its 1999 release by Edward Norton to star in and direct. It now has a tentative 2013 release date. [via Deadline]

Bruce Campbell Tweets: 'I Am in 'Oz''

Mike Raimi fans know to anticipate friend Bruce Campbell to exhibit up in certain form in most his films and today the 'Evil Dead' star verifies, yes, he'll make a look and feel in 'Oz: The Truly Amazing and Effective.' "I. Am. In. Oz.," Campbell tweeted yesterday. (His Twitter handle is GroovyBruce, incidentally.) "Mike will not let me know what character I'll portray. Just realize that the role is PIVOTAL." As Campbell once stated about dealing with Raimi, the higher the movie, the more compact his role. He was an announcer in the cage match in 'Spider-Man' and "Snooty Usher" in 'Spider-Guy 2,' what exactly are we able to expect for his role in Oz? We'd totally picture him because the mustachio-erectile dysfunction, surly doorman from the Emerald City, with the exception that there is no Dorothy and her posse requiring entry within this prequel. What then? An adversary magician to James Franco's fledgling wizard? Mind from the flying apes? Your guess is just like ours. What type of role do you want to see Bruce have? [via /film]

Ruffalo, Seyfried join 'Now The Thing Is Me'

RuffaloSeyfriedEXCLUSIVE: Mark Ruffalo and Amanda Seyfried have been in discussions to become listed on the cast of Summit Entertainment's magician heist pic "You Now See Me." Louis Leterrier ("Clash from the Leaders") is pointing the pic, that is set to star Jesse Eisenberg and Melanie Laurent. Compiled by Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt, story starts a team of FBI agents in a game title of cat and mouse against a squad from the world's finest illusionists, who accomplish a number of daring bank heists throughout their performances, taking a shower the earnings on the audiences while remaining a measure in front of the law. Ruffalo is within foretells take part in the primary FBI agent, while Seyfried will have an expert specialist who develops gadgets to assist in the illusion from the heists. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are creating via their Kurtzman Orci Paper Items shingle. Yakin will executive produce together with Bobby Cohen of Kurtzman Orci Paper Items. Summit executives Erik Feig, Michael Schaefer and Ashley Schlaifer will oversee the work for the studio. Ruffalo is presently filming Marvel's "The Avengers," by which he plays Bruce Banner, who's better referred to as Hulk. Thesp can also be mounted on star within the sex addiction indie "Thank You For Discussing," which reunites Ruffalo with "The Children Are Right" scribe Stuart Blumberg. Seyfried next begins opposite Justin Timberlake in Andrew Niccol's sci-fi pic "Over Time,Inch which twentieth century Fox opens March. 28. Thesp is presently filming Justin Zackham's "The Large Wedding" with Robert P Niro and Katherine Heigl. Ruffalo is repped by UTA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners, while Innovative Artists reps Seyfried. Contact Shaun Sneider at shaun.sneider@variety.com

Discovery beats estimates, revenues jump 11%

Despite the quarter's ongoing drama at Discovery Communications' (DISCA) Oprah Winfrey Network, the OWN parent company reported an 11% increase in revenues this morning to $1.067 billion, up $104 million, for Q2. International expansion was a major revenue driver, and rapid expansion at true crime cabler Investigation Discovery helped to push the company's 6% domestic revenue growth. Price per diluted share reached $0.62 - slightly higher than analyst predictions of $0.61. Affiliate fees were up 4%. ''Oprah was just with me last week at TCA, and she is in place as CEO already,'' said company CEO and prexy David Zaslav. ''We now have her creative team in place and a more robust lineup set for the fall and spring.'' Zaslav touted ''The Rosie Show,'' ''OWN Your Life'' (which will have ''significant new Oprah content''), and Jan. offering ''Oprah's Next Chapter.'' Peter Liguori, the company's COO, was until recently the interim head of OWN. ''Sheri and Eric are in there,'' said Zaslav. ''It frees Peter up to go spend more time with us.'' The increase in revenue is on schedule to hit a bump next quarter, according to outgoing CFO Brad Singer. Singer told analysts and investors on Thursday ayem's earnings call that he expected the company's adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) to drop to mid-single digits in Q3. Quizzed on the decrease, Singer blamed higher interest costs related to its bond offerings, a .5% increase in the company's tax rate, and underperformance among its joint venture cable channels. Accordingly, shareholder incentives are on the rise at the company: Discovery plans to boost per-share earnings with another billion dollars in stock buyback, doubling its current program. In Q2, Discovery repurchased 5.64 million shares at an aggregate purchase price of about $210 million. The figure represents roughly a third of the shares repurchased so far under the program. Expanded opportunities throughout the Americas gave Discovery a leg up this quarter. ''Latin America is a great example of a historically underpenetrated market that is delivering real growth,'' said Zaslav. The emerging middle class in countries like Brazil has given the company a foothold in that part of the world. Zaslav said that international CPMs, too, are on the rise. Investigation Discovery continues to grow - the net has moved from the number 26-ranked network in women 25-54 to the 18th ranked network over the course of the last year, Zaslav said. He added that the company hoped to increase ID's distribution from 80 to 100 million homes. ''It is one of the leading if not the leading network in viewing time,'' Liguori said. In a move that likely bodes ill for the future of 3D TV, Zaslav began discussing the company's joint ventures with the phrase ''our two joint ventures,'' and going on to discuss OWN and The Hub. Zaslav addressed hardware-dependent 3D cabler 3net (a j.v. with Sony and IMAX that broadcasts in 3D) later, during the questions portion of the call. ''3D, candidly, has been slower than we expected,'' he said. ''It's going to be driven by the sets and how quick consumers adapt to 3D. We've had a lot of good experience with it; if it transitions into a technology where you don't use glasses, we'll be there.'' But the ultimate responsibility for the net lies with the tech consumer, Zaslav admitted. ''There are markets where distributors feel like they have to hedge and have it just in case,'' he pointed out. ''But the market demand has not developed yet.'' Contact Sam Thielman at sam.thielman@variety.com