The Firm fires Britney Spears

The Firm fires Spears
Management company The Firm has released a statement saying that it has dropped Britney Spears as a client. ”It saddens us to confirm media reports that we have terminated our professional relationship with Britney Spears. We have represented Britney for the past month,” the statement reads. ”We believe Britney is enormously talented, and has made a terrific record. But current circumstances have prevented us from properly doing our job. We wish Britney the best.” The Firm never officially confirmed that it was representing Spears until this statement that it is letting her go. Ironically, the news comes alongside reports that Spears’ single, ”Gimme More,” shot up into the Top 20 for radio play, her first single to do so since 2004’s ”My Prerogative.” (Business Wire)

Duchovny exec producing kids show
David Duchovny has landed a half-hour live-action pilot at Cartoon Network. The untitled project is about a junior high school student from a long line of newsmen who turns his school AV Club into legitimate citywide news broadcast. Duchovny will executive produce along with Even Stevens creator Matt Dearborn, and Robert Mora. The new Duchovny show extends Cartoon Network’s reach into the live-action arena, following last December’s debut of live-action/animated movie Re-Animated, and a live-action series spinoff, Out of Jimmy’s Head, which premiered Friday night. The network also recently aired a live-action reality special, Props, which gave kids a chance to meet their celebrity heroes. Duchovny executive produces Californication, which just got picked up for a second season on Showtime. (Hollywood Reporter)

Handler joins SATC movie
Evan Handler, known to Sex and the City fans as Harry Goldenblatt, the often bare-bottomed spouse of Charlotte York (Kristin Davis), has joined the cast of the upcoming SATC movie. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, Davis, and Chris Noth are already onboard to reprise the roles they played on the HBO series from 1998 to 2004. Jennifer Hudson is also reportedly in talks for a new character. Handler hinted that other actors from the series may be joining the movie as well. Shooting is set to start this month for a 2008 release. In April, Handler begins shooting his second season on Showtime’s Californication, with David Duchovny. (People)

Makowski directing Kung Fu adaptation
Max Makowski (One Last Dance) will direct Legendary Pictures’ movie adaptation of the 1970s TV series Kung Fu. The director will give the film a harder edge than the ABC series, which centered on a Shaolin monk (David Carradine) forced to flee to the Wild West, where he used his martial arts skills to fend off various evildoers. The movie was originally set to be directed by Albert and Allen Hughes (From Hell, Menace II Society), but the brothers are instead focused on prepping The Book of Eli for production before a possible strike. Makowski is also writing and directing Universal’s remake of the Japanese film Shinobi and developing an untitled action drama for Lorenzo di Bonaventura at Paramount. (Variety)

Sunny in Philadelphia premieres to strong ratings
FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia debuted its third primetime season on Thursday (Sept. 13) at 10 p.m. to its best ratings ever: 2.3 million total viewers, with 77 percent falling in the adults 18-49 demographic. That’s a 62 percent increase on its second-season kickoff on June 29, 2006. The second original episode of Sunny, which aired immediately after the first, at 10:30 p.m., fell off to a still strong 1.86 million viewers, improving on the similar lead-out episode in 2006 by 20 percent. Sunny went up against reruns last week and will eventually have to compete with CBS’ Without a Trace and NBC’s ER, which premiere later this month. For the next four weeks, FX will carry two original episodes of Sunny back-to-back at 10 and 10:30, and for five weeks after that it will play an original half-hour of at 10 and a repeat at 10:30. (Variety)

Pop Up Video returning to mobile platform
MTV Networks is reviving its VH1 Pop Up Video series in a mobile-only platform starting this week. The series, which ran on VH1 until 2002, featured videos with informational pop-up bubbles containing various facts and trivia about the artist, song, and video. Pop Up Video to Go will feature new, original videos and be offered cross carrier exclusively on VH1’s mobile network and updated weekly. Gwen Stefani’s 2004 hit ”Hollaback Girl” and Fall Out Boy’s ”Thnks fr th Mmrs” will be the first videos to get the mobile pop-up treatment. (Hollywood Reporter)

USA reups Psych
USA has picked up a 16-episode third season of its drama Psych, which revolves around a psychic cop, played by James Roday. The show debuted last year as the top-rated new show in cable and has been averaging 4.6 million viewers this summer, winning its Friday timeslot against cable competition. (Variety)

CELEBRITY NEWS

Reuters: O.J. Simpson is being held without bail in a Las Vegas jail in connection with a suspected armed robbery in a hotel room last week. If convicted on all charges (suspicion of armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy, burglary), Simpson could face some three decades in behind bars.

Page Six: Some of the ”live” performances at this year’s MTV VMAs were actually shot days beforehand and slipped into the show. ”MTV and Kanye [West] jointly decided to tape his performance earlier in the weekend in order to capture Las Vegas after sunset,” and MTV spokesperson said. ”Nothing took away from the experience as ratings, online numbers, and audience feedback [have] demonstrated.”