This undated image provided by Lifetime shows the Internet sensation, Grumpy Cat. Let “Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas” be a lesson to TV executives who think they can cash in on a viral Internet hit by porting it to television. Entertainment Weekly reports the shot-in-Vancouver TV movie tanked with U.S. viewers last weekend, although it did generate plenty of chatter on Twitter. Most of it wasn't kind.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Lifetime
December 08, 2014 - 8:26 AM
TORONTO - Some Internet memes should just stay on the web.
Let "Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas" be a lesson to TV executives who think they can cash in on a viral Internet hit by porting it to television.
Entertainment Weekly reports the shot-in-Vancouver TV movie tanked with U.S. viewers last weekend, although it did generate plenty of chatter on Twitter. Most of it wasn't kind.
Another holiday flick, "Christmas Under Wraps" starring old "Full House" star Candace Cameron Bure, drew three times as many viewers.
Lifetime Canada will air "Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever" on Dec. 20.
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The U.K. series "Black Mirror" has a decidedly more bleak holiday special coming soon — across the pond, at least.
The critically acclaimed dark drama imagines how our modern society's growing obsession with technology could play out in the not-too-distant future.
"Mad Men"'s Jon Hamm stars in the new episode of "Black Mirror," which airs next week in the U.K.
No word yet on when the holiday episode might become available in Canada, but the show's first two seasons are streaming at Shomi.com.
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Bell Media's rival to Shomi, CraveTV, launches this week and among the TV titles available to stream is a newly remastered HD version of "The Wire."
On his blog, creator David Simon explains how converting the show into wide screen HD format made the show both better and worse.
It's super-long, and written mostly for die-hard fans, but if you're curious about the process of making the show it's a good weekend read.
Simon has also embedded some YouTube clips of the show before and after the remastering so you can see for yourself how some scenes have been altered.
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Here's another reminder to be careful on the web if you can't watch a big season finale as it airs live. Sometimes you might need to avoid the web completely to dodge spoilers.
AMC infuriated some "Walking Dead" fans last week after it posted a spoiler-filled image on its Facebook page before west coast viewers had a chance to see the mid-season finale.
As Entertainment Weekly reports, the network had to apologize for spoiling a very big moment from the show. If you still haven't seen the finale, don't click this link, which contains details about the spoiler.
If you have seen the episode, check out this interview with showrunner Scott M. Gimple, who explains why the big scene went down the way it did.
He also talks about how the TV show is about to borrow some more storylines from the "Walking Dead" comic books.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014