Stan Lee, the former editor-in-chief at Marvel Entertainment Inc., wants to find the next great crime-fighter in Spandex, and he has a new TV show to help him.
The six-episode series “Who Wants to Be a Superhero?” is a co-production of Lee’s Pow Entertainment Inc., Nash Entertainment and the Sci Fi Channel, a division of NBC Universal Inc. The first one-hour segment will air on Sci Fi on July 27.
Each contestant began the quest with an original idea for a superhero and a self-made costume at open casting calls on April 6. From the horde of hopefuls, Lee selected 11 finalists who must live together 24-7 in a secret lair during the taping of the show. A series of challenges will test the wannabes’ integrity, self-sacrifice, compassion and resourcefulness to discover who is worthy of true superhero status.
“In the end, only one aspiring superhero will possess the inner strength and nobility to open the gates to comic book immortality,” according to Pow. The winner’s character will be immortalized in a comic book penned by Lee himself and appear in an original Sci Fi Channel movie.
Lee, who created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and X-Men while at Marvel, moved into TV with the 2003 series “Stripperella” on Spike TV. The short-lived show featured an animated version of Pamela Anderson working as an exotic dancer by night and a crime-fighter in the later night.
Billboard Broadside
Clear Channel Outdoor, the nation’s oldest billboard advertising firm, has been dropped by the Minuteman Project, which is pressing its campaign against illegal immigration in a nationwide campaign.
The organization switched to CBS Outdoor after Clear Channel said it would not run one of the group’s ads directed against Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
In June, the Minuteman Project sought to post billboards that would have read, “Senator McCain, these soldiers did not die for amnesty!” in Arizona. Clear Channel refused to allow the billboards and others planned in Massachusetts targeting Sen. Edward Kennedy claiming that the ads constituted personal attacks. The ban raised flags among free speech advocates, given that attack ads are commonly sold in election campaigns. A Clear Channel spokesman said that his company regularly rejects ads based on concerns about taste or personal injury, and that regional executives make those decisions on a case-by-case basis. Clear Channel, which took in more than $9 billion in revenue last year, will hardly miss the money.
The project’s first billboard went up last week in Phoenix, and it read, “No Senator, they did not die for amnesty!”
The next billboard will go up at the intersection of Hill and Flower streets in downtown Los Angeles on Aug. 1, according to a Minuteman spokesman. He said the ads will attempt to speak directly to immigrants, portraying a representation of the “running family” image posted on traffic signs near the border accompanied by the words in Spanish and English “No amnesty, intruders!”
Family Tree Log On
OurStory, a new Web site focused on collaborative life story telling, works something like MySpace for family history buffs.
Users can construct baby books, memoirs and private histories online, then allow a select group of people to access or contribute to their work. “The service provides an easy and rewarding way for circles of family and friends to collect, share, preserve and publish the important stories from life’s journey,” according to the company.
OurStory hopes to take advantage of the popularity of online genealogical research pioneered by sites such as FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com. The site is the brainchild of Andy Halliday, a former executive at Excite, and Chris Lunt, a former engineer at Oracle. The start-up site, still in beta phase, has more than $6 million in financial backing from El Dorado Ventures, Venrock Associates and Benhamou Global Ventures.
Users at Ourstory can tell their own life story for free, but posting multiple biographies requires a $39.95 premium membership. The site also has plans for advertising.
The site is currently featuring Aaron Spelling, who died last month, to provide an example of how the “proxy biographies” work. At www.ourstory.com, visitors can read a biographical tribute to Spelling, review a timeline of his career and access photos of his life and shows. They can also contribute memories about characters or shows. Participation requires free registration at the site.
Spelling told plenty of dramatic stories during his lifetime. The Los Angeles-based producer’s early hits included “The Mod Squad” and “Charlie’s Angels.” In the 1980s he dominated the airwaves with shows such as “The Love Boat,” “T.J. Hooker,” “Fantasy Island” and “Dynasty.” More recent successes were “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Melrose Place,” “Charmed” and “7th Heaven.” Spelling was 83 when he died in Los Angeles.
Cup Runneth Over Online
Online metrics firm ComScore Networks has released an analysis of FIFA World Cup Internet traffic during the third week of the tournament. The record day up to that time was Thursday, June 22, when 5.3 million unique visitors from more than 35 countries came to the World Cup site, which is hosted by Yahoo Inc. at fifaworldcup.yahoo.com.
The site had nearly 290 million page views for the day. In addition, comScore reported increased traffic levels at major Web portals with World Cup content such as MSN and AOL. The driving force for those numbers was the final games in Group E, which included the United States, Italy, Ghana and the Czech Republic. Despite its eventual loss to Ghana, page views from the U.S. jumped to 144 million on Thursday compared to an average of 61 million for the rest of the week.
World Marketing Bags AMS
Direct mail house World Marketing Inc. has acquired AMS Response in Los Angeles. The companies did not disclose financial terms. As part of the deal, AMS president Tom Duchene will become vice president of business development for World Marketing – Los Angeles. AMS operations and staff will move into World Marketing’s new facility in La Mirada.
Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237, or at
[email protected]
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