ScottFeinberg.com

By Rachel Bennett
Television Editor & Columnist

Every Friday, Rachel recaps the week’s major TV-related news, announcements and gossip!

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TOP STORIES

• “Troy and Abed” Move to Wednesdays? NBC’s Community and Whitney will no longer premiere Friday, Oct. 19. — here’s hoping they are shuffled to the middle of the week!

• One of TV’s longest-lasting couples, Danny DeVito (NBC’s Taxi) and Rhea Perlman (NBC’s Cheers), have decided to separate following 30 years of marriage.

• FX’s Louie creator, writer, director, producer, star and editor Louis C. K. is taking an extended hiatus, which means the comedy won’t return until 2014. I wonder why he needs a break…

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By Josh Abraham

They’re back! And it’s time to reload! Download the trailer for this summer’s highly anticipated sequel, The Expendables 2, featuring more action (and explosions) than ever before! Everyone is expendable and the crew has a plan. Track ‘em, find ‘em, kill ‘em.

Click to read more…

• 24 Frames: Steven Zeitchik spreads the word about last night’s not-so-”secret Hollywood screening” of David O. Russell’s much-anticipated boxing drama “The Fighter,” a month before its theatrical release, at Grauman’s Chinese Theater as part of the ongoing AFI Fest. (The film will next be screened on tomorrow evening in New York for east coast critics/pundits, who will then be treated to a Q&A with Russell and Mark Wahlberg, the film’s best actor hopeful.)
• Gold Derby: Tom O’Neil recounts the history of producer Scott Rudin (“The Social Network”) and studio chief Harvey Weinstein (“The King’s Speech”), who used to work together but had a falling out a few years ago. In 2008, the two bucked heads while gunning campaigning for Kate Winslet, who was eligible for both the Rudin-produced “Revolutionary Road” and the Weinstein-distributed “The Reader.” (The Academy ultimately nominated — and awarded — her the best actress Oscar for the latter.) This year, as Tom puts it, “not only are the superheroes of indie film production back in the same derby, but they’re [now] chief rivals for best picture.”
• First Showing: Alex Billington posts the “seductive” new theatrical poster for “Blue Valentine,” the new film from The Weinstein Company that stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, and that has been getting a lot of attention ever since the MPAA rather inexplicably gave it an NC-17 rating about a month ago. Billington writes that the poster makes him believe that The Weinstein Company — which reportedly considered appealing the rating and/or re-cutting and then re-submitting the film with the hope of getting a lower rating — “just said ‘fuck it’ and went all-out as spicy as they could… and I like it.”
• The Playlist: Simon Dang confirms that “Meek’s Cutoff,” a western directed by Kelly Reichart and starring Michelle Williams (which played at the Venice, Toronto, and New York film festivals before being acquired by Oscilloscope, the same studio that released the previous collaboration between the director and actress, “Wendy and Lucy“), will not be released in time to qualify for 2010 awards consideration, but rather on April 8, 2011. In related news, Williams, who is presently on the London set of “My Week with Marilyn,” tells a reporter: “After this movie, I’m taking some time off. I’m not working for another year.” (Check out Scott’s recent conversation with the actress.)
• Cinematical: Jacob Hall passes along the news that legendary actor Robert De Niro will be honored at the Golden Globe Awards on January 16, 2011 with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, which he himself co-presented just last year to his longtime friend and collaborator Martin Scorsese. (In a related post, Tom O’Neil wonders why the Hollywood Foreign Press Association once again “snubbed” women and minorities for the honor. O’Neil writes that, upon hearing the decision, “Many of us award-watchers shrugged, thinking: ‘Great. Another old white guy!’” I beg to differ — I don’t think anyone would or should question the worthiness of De Niro for this sort of an honor.)
• The Hollywood Reporter: Lindsay Powers reports that Hollywood’s reigning east coast power-couple, director Darren Aronofsky (whose “Black Swan” will be released later this month) and Oscar winning actress Rachel Weisz (whose “The Whistleblower” was recently acquired for distribution by Samuel Goldwyn Films), have split after nine years of domestic cohabitation. The duo, who were engaged, will reportedly share joint custody of their four-year-old son.
• The Wrap: Steve Pond notes that the “Casino Jack” AFI Fest gala screening “was supposed to have been a festive occasion, given the fact that the screening would mark the Los Angeles premiere of a film in which director George Hickenlooper brought a comic, satiric touch to the tale of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, played with zest by Kevin Spacey,” but was instead a “more somber and emotional experience” because of Hickenlooper’s sudden death less than two weeks ago. Spacey, who was on hand at Grauman’s Chinese Theater to introduce the film, choked back tears as he said, “This one’s for you, George.”
• Company Town: Claudia Eller reports that “increased movie marketing costs” caused Lions Gate Entertainment to post a net loss of $29.7 million for the second-quarter of the fiscal year, despite the release of such films as the blockbuster “The Expendables,” which grossed $102 million domestically. The studio is currently pushing “For Colored Girls,” “The Next Three Days,” and “Rabbit Hole” for awards consideration.

Photo: Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale in “The Fighter.” Credit: Paramount.

The upcoming release of Sylvester Stallone‘s “The Expendables” (8/13, Lionsgate) — which features a who’s who of action-movie stars from the past 30 years including Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jet Li, Jason Statham, and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin — got me thinking about other guy movies with big ensemble casts composed largely of badasses. The pick of the litter, in my view, are these…

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