Dimitra Arliss dies at 79

Dimitra Arliss, who played a hired killer alongside Robert Redford and Paul Newman in the caper comedy "The Sting," has died in Los Angeles. She was 79.Jaime Larkin, a spokesperson for the Motion Picture and Television Fund Hospital, says Arliss died Jan. 26 at the Woodland Hills facility of complications from a stroke.The Ohio native began her acting career at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. On Broadway, Arliss starred opposite Stacy Keach in "Indians" and with Kevin Kline and John Malkovich in "Arms and the Man."After appearing as a "hit lady" in the 1973 hit "The Sting," she was seen in "Xanadu," starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly, and in Clint Eastwood's "Firefox."Her numerous television credits include "Dallas," ''Quincy M.E.," and "Rich Man, Poor Man."Arliss is survived by a sister. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Pilot Season: NBC Picks Up Projects from Jason Katims and Dick Wolf

Jason Katims, Dick Wolf NBC has picked up two new pilots: County, a medical series from Jason Katims, and a firefighter drama from Dick Wolf. County revolves around on a morally compromising and underfunded Los Angeles hospital. Katims will write and executive-produce the drama with Jason Ritter attached to star. Ritter currently guest-stars on Katims' Parenthood. Get the latest news on all the pilot pickups here Chicago Fire follows the lives of the men and women in the Chicago Fire Department. Law & Order boss Wolf will executive-produce alongside Michael Brandy, Derek Haas, Danielle Gelber and Peter Jankowski. NBC previously ordered dramas Beautiful People, Frontier, Midnight Sun and Do No Harm.

Southland: Breaking Down the New Partnerships

Michael Cudlitz, Lucy Liu Things will look a little different this season on Southland.The fourth season premiere (Tuesday, 10/9c, TNT) picks up six months later, and the partnership deck has definitely been reshuffled. Officer John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz), fresh off of back surgery and a rehab stint for painkiller addiction, is now partnered with Jessica Tang (guest star Lucy Liu), a seasoned cop with her own checkered past and emotional baggage. As first teased in the Season 3 epilogue, Sammy Bryant (Shawn Hatosy) and Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie) remain partnered, and Detective Lydia Adams (Regina King) is training rookie Ruben Robinson (Dorian Missick), an ex-Marine turned homicide investigator.Get more scoop on your favorite shows in our Winter TV previewSo, what kind of drama can you expect from the new partnerships? We chatted with the cast, who helped us break it down.Officers John Cooper and Jessica TangIf you're shocked to see Liu in beat-cop blues, you're not alone. "I was surprised by it because I really thought it was going to be something much more in plain clothes," Liu says. "It's been a lot more challenging to be a police officer. ... It put me in a place where I had to really push myself."As Officer Jessica "Pootie" Tang, Liu is somewhat responsible for babysitting Cooper during his first days back on active duty. But because of Tang's own huge mistake (the video of which has circulated the LAPD), she puts herself and Cooper on equal footing. "He's not training her and she's not training him," Liu says. "She's there to keep an eye on him but they have a very similar outlook on what they're doing and how they go about doing it. ... They're really trying to figure something out for themselves. The emotional undercurrents for both of them are there but they don't talk about it, which I think is kind of wonderful."Check out our list of TV's sexiest crime fighters!As for Cooper, he's got no problem letting Tang take charge - even if that means letting her drive. "I think he's happy to sort of hand it over for a little while," Cudlitz says. "He wants nothing more than to be back on the streets, and he knows he f----- up big time. To think that he's going to get back everything he had prior immediately is ridiculous. So, he's okay with that. He just wants to be out there doing his job and settling back in."Officers Sammy Bryant and Ben ShermanAfter six months of riding together, it's clear this partnership makes sense. Hatosy, whose character gave up being a detective in the gangs unit to return to patrol last season, credits the union's strength to the similarly emotional way the two officers approach their work."Sammy is an emotional and volatile character," Hatosy says. "As a detective, there are procedures and there's a lot of structure and paperwork, and you kind of have to investigate and interrogate and get to the bottom of it. But as a guy on the street, if he sees somebody do something bad, he gets to chase them. And if they hit, he can hit back. It's a bit of a release, and I think that Sammy is confident and comfortable in his skin, more so than we've ever seen him."Southland scoop: Lou Diamond Phillips to guest-starHowever, a case in the Season 4 premiere may divide the partners. When Ben butts heads with a cynical veteran cop (guest star Lou Diamond Phillips) over what's proper police procedure, Sammy is stuck in the middle. But despite his methods, Phillips' character eventually proves himself to be the kind of cop who should be admired by making a life-changing choice that forces Sammy and Ben to consider the weight of the badge."I think that Sammy would like to think that's the kind of cop he is, but I don't think that there's a doubt in Ben," Hatosy says. "He's the perfect hero. There's no way that he's going to shake or he's going to miss the shot. He's going to hit the target every time."Detectives Lydia Adams and Ruben RobinsonPartner change is nothing new for Lydia, but for the first time, she's the training officer, and therefore the dominant figure. "The dynamic that Lydia and Robinson have brings out some of the playful side that I don't think we have seen before," King says. But life at home is, as usual, far from playful, as Lydia continues to struggle with being a single woman. The fact that Ruben is happily married will shed new light on Lydia's relationship woes. "She knows nothing about a family that is together and happy because she didn't grow up in that kind of family," King says. "When you have a single person and married person together, I think the conversation is a little more informative for each person. He's given her insight into what family life may be."And as usual, Lydia will let her heart get the best of her in the premiere, as she tries to keep an informant out of harm's way. "Lydia has always been a compassionate detective, probably to a flaw," King says. "You see how that compassion plays a part in she feels about herself."Southland premieres Tuesday at 10/9c on TNT.

Susan Lucci to Host Deadly Matters on Analysis Discovery

Susan Lucci Cleaning cleaning soap opera ripoffs are likely to showed up at existence for individuals My Children's Susan Lucci. Most broadly known on her behalf turn as Erica Kane round the ABC cleaning cleaning soap, Lucci remains attracted onto host and narrate Deadly Matters, a completely new original series slated to debut inside the fall on Analysis Discovery. See the relaxation of current day news The Ten-part series, which will begin filming in March, will feature the particular-existence tales of office romances, love triangles and infidelity. "There's without any other actress in the world more qualified than Susan Lucci to host Deadly Matters, Analysis Discovery's reaction to addictive daytime cleaning cleaning soap operas," mentioned Leader and Gm of I.D. Henry Schleff. "While our series, clearly, gets the additional advantage of featuring real tales of disloyality, we are delighted that Susan brings her distinctive voice and dramatic flair towards the real existence cleaning cleaning soap." Will you watch Deadly Matters?

VIDEO: Meet Syfy's Lost Girl

Anna Silk Syfy is delving into the world of a supernatural seductress in the network's newest series Lost Girl. The show, which was acquired from the Canadian Showcase Television Network, stars Anna Silk as Bo, a succubus (who feeds on sexual energy). After discovering that she's a member of a long-running group called Fae, Bo sets out to unlock the secrets of her origin. TVGuide.com users are most excited for The Finder, Chelsea Handler sitcom Watch a preview and a clip of the series, premiering Monday at 10/9c. Will you tune in?

Movie miracle trumps reality

Rin Container TinCleopatra cost seven occasions its original budget, but Fox offered off its Century City acreage for some other reasons.Sundance starts Jan. 19, featuring 36 feature-length documentaries. The Television systems are airing tons of reality series, including lots of midseason ones. Apparently Hollywood likes to offer "real existence," but "real" is definitely an elusive concept -- particularly when showbiz is speaking about itself.A number of films' most immortal lines -- "Luke, I'm your father," "Listen to it again, Mike," "Avarice is niceInch -- were never really spoken. However these misquotes happen to be repeated so frequently that many people think they are the particular dialogue. And they are frequently much better than the actual factor.So it is by using Hollywood occasions. Oftentimes, the details are prosaic, and also the stories tend to be more colorful. So myth frequently appears more real than reality.Four good examples from various decades:Vidgames are tempting young'uns from films and television.In accordance to some 2011 report in the Entertainment Software Assn., the typical chronilogical age of a vidgame player is 37. Women aged 18 and older take into account 37% of customers -- in comparison with males 17 and under, who constitute a lowly 13%.This has come about as a surprise towards the 1 / 2 of Hollywood that thinks vidgames would be the domain of teenage boys. (Another 1 / 2 of Hollywood are vidgame lovers themselves.)Main point here: We'll need to find another excuse for declines in B.O. and television rankings.'Cleopatra' forced Fox to market land that grew to become Century City.Lensing from the film went from 1960 through '62, postponed by weather, a general change in company directors, Elizabeth Taylor's near-fatal illness, etc. On Jan. 9, 1963, Variety's Abel Eco-friendly pronounced the development cost as $35 million, or seven occasions the initial budget. Others have place the tally even greater.The reality: Fox offered 176 acres before "Cleo" started. On November. 28, 1958, Daily Variety reported the purchase to William Zeckendorf and the real-estate company Webb & Knapp the cost was believed at $56 million.At dedication events for that new Century City (Daily Variety, May 26, 1959), Fox prexy Spyros P. Skouras crowed that movie "attendance is the greatest it has been because the competition of television started."That's an optimistic spin around the real reason for that purchase of Fox's acreage: TV. Movie attendance dropped within the nineteen fifties because of television, and less films were made (frequently on location, instead of around the lot). The 1959 story came to the conclusion the remaining 80 acres was enough for Fox's production needs.This isn't to signify "Nefertiti" was benign. The studio canceled many planned productions and remained afloat because of the mega-success of 1965's "The Seem of Music."Still, the legend continues that cost overruns forced Fox to market. It's more enjoyable responsible a superstar as well as an overbudget film rather than cite the amorphous change in consumer habits.Moviegoing flourished throughout the Depression.The fad for seem movies -- or "talkers," as Variety called them, instead of the sooner "wordless" films -- increased B.O. for any couple of years, however the Depression required a toll. A June 21, 1932, Variety story reported that theater operators and marketers "complain that grosses are off 39% to 40% as well as in exactly the same breath charge that Hollywood does nothing through its galleries to balance the problem.InchA technology craze temporarily blowing up B.O., while participants fight with galleries! Wow, do you know the likelihood of that ever happening again?Academy awards are likely to the dogs.In Susan Orlean's terrific "Rin Container Container: The Existence and also the Legend" (Simon & Schuster), she states the Warner Bros. star received probably the most votes for actor in the first Oscars. "But people from the Academy, anxious to determine the brand new honours as serious and important, made the decision that giving an Oscar to some dog didn't serve that finish, therefore the votes were recalculated "It is a scrumptious doggy tale, but Academy authorities are dubious.Within the AMPAS archives, Robert Cowan (whose brother Lester was assistant secretary from the Academy at that time) states Warner Bros. topper Jack Warner did actually election for that pooch. "Somebody in the Academy told Lester to mail another ballot to Jack Warner, and when he did not complete it properly, to mail it back together with his resignation."Contempo AMPAS scientists havelocated Warner's original election, but the majority of the other ballots are (to make use of another Hollywood metaphor) gone using the wind.This canine caper points up a larger truth in most these tales.Ms. Orlean -- a responsible journalist along with a swell woman, incidentally -- pointedly uses the term "legend" in her own book's title. It's appropriate because showbiz has always celebrated the mixing of myth and reality.We'll don't know exactly the number of votes Rinty got. The Acad's version appears more plausible, but Orlean's is much more fun. (And also the pooches' operate in "Beginners" and "The Artist" were more nuanced than some human performances this year.)Still, believe what you should: Would you like details or would you like miracle?Nobody can be or disprove religious parables, but individuals tales were always told less history, but to train training. And what's Hollywood, otherwise a religion? Contact Timothy M. Grey at tim.grey@variety.com

Danny Trejo Inside A Bad Ass Trailer

Epic Beard Guy will get a film (?)Here's one which passed us by over Christmas, introduced to the attention, somewhat properly, by Devin Faraci's Badass Digest. You might have caught the Epic Beard Guy bus fracas saga a few years ago. And today the greybeard loon continues to be immortalised by Danny Trejo in Bad Ass, a trailer that has already been up. Yup, this really is one its you worrying about endless remakes and sequels and videogame adaptations: Bad Ass is dependant on an online meme.If you are new here, the origin is really a YouTube video recording a disagreement with an Concord, California bus between your 67-year-old Thomas Bruso (putting on a pale blue "I'm A Motherfucker" t-shirt) along with a guy known as Michael. It's unclear what begins the altercation, but Michael eventually ends up bloody and Bruso eventually ends up raving. It appears pretty obvious that Bruso was triggered, but he subsequently, and never the very first time, went through psychological evaluation.At the disposal of director Craig Moss (formerly accountable for the DTV parody The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall And Felt Superbad About This), Bruso becomes Frank Vega, and also the story becomes Dying Wish, possibly via Hobo Having A Shotgun. Ron Perlman, obviously, can also be inside it, out of the box Charles S. Dutton. It's such questionable taste and appears so perfectly absurd that lots of have thought it's a hoax. If that's the case, it is a very thorough one, having a full-page of production specs around the IMDb, along with a convincing Facebook page (although there is no website the website redirects to Facebook).Presuming it's real, we are told it's out in america in April. Within the United kingdom, we are saying it is a shoo-set for Kim's Video Dungeon.[[Poll564]]