Hallmark Channel Charts Post-Martha Stewart Plan with Marie ...

At its upfront presentation in New York today, Hallmark Channel confirmed that it has signed Marie Osmond to host a new daytime talk show for the channel. The addition of Osmond had been rumored for some time. The channel also announced that it was picking up an unusual two-hour daytime lifestyle show called Home & Family, which will be filmed inside a real home being constructed on the Universal Studios lot in Los Angeles.

Marie and Home & Family will become the centerpieces of a new daytime lineup for the channel, which is charting a new direction following the cancellation of The Martha Stewart Show. While Stewart will no longer be the face of Hallmark?s daytime lineup, the channel does retain library rights to MSLOs catalog, rights that extend through 2013. It will continue to air MSLO programs as part of its daytime lineup.

Both Marie and Home & Family will debut in the fourth quarter of this year. More information on both is after the jump.

Hallmark also announced that it entering the original scripted series game, and is developing two programs to fit that bill. Cedar Cove and When Calls the Heart will debut as backdoor pilots later this year, and will debut as series next year if they get picked up. To go along with the originals, the channel also picked up off-network rights to the ABC comedy The Middle.

HALLMARK CHANNEL ANNOUNCES GROUNDBREAKING NEW LIFESTYLE SERIES,
?HOME & FAMILY,?
LAUNCHES ON THE NETWORK Q4

220 Original Two-Hour Shows From Creator Woody Fraser;
Hosts to be Announced Soon

Hallmark Channel announces a groundbreaking new Original Daytime Series, ?Home & Family,? will launch in Q4 as part of the network?s robust Lifestyle block. ?Home & Family? is 220 original two-hour shows over 44 weeks from award-winning production company Woody Fraser Productions (?Good Morning America,? ?Nightline,? ?The Dick Cavett Show?). The hosted series is the ultimate destination for innovative home ideas and improvements, as well as, being the place for the latest information, trends and products for everyone in the home. Hosts for the new daytime talker will be announced shortly.

?Home & Family? originates from a Midwestern-style 2800 square foot, fully-functioning house on the Universal Studios lot. Show segments take place throughout the Hallmark Channel home, and everyone is invited in. The home features a fully furnished kitchen, living area, formal dining and casual family rooms. Informative segments on today?s popular tech gadgets will take place in the home?s office, automotive segments in the working garage, and landscaping and gardening segments will be presented from the home?s backyard. As part of the Universal Studios tour, trams will deliver audiences daily for specific portions of the program ? games, animals, parties, musical performances, celebrity and host ?Meet & Greets? ? and performers will entertain audiences from a specially constructed stage that overlooks the famed Psycho House at Universal. The ?Home & Family? home is equipped with two-way video screens, computers and Skype which bring America alive.

?Home & Family? is a show that deals in answers. Each day, the show?s hosts interact in roundtable discussions with experts from every field. High profile celebrities will join in some discussions and auditions will soon be held for real people to become part of the show. Week?to week, ?Home & Family? follows America ? from expecting moms? journeys to weight loss successes ? engaging the audience in stories that matter.

?Morning shows, nightly news series, reality programs, and great American talk shows are the heart of Woody Fraser Productions? remarkable contributions to television,? said Michelle Vicary, Executive Vice President, Programming, Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel.

?Home & Family? is a high-energy experience that blends brand attributes consumers love about Hallmark?s celebration of special occasions with equal parts entertainment, information and unique surprises,? Ms. Vicary concluded.

?Home & Family? is created by Woody Fraser. Steve Leon is Executive Producer.

Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming available in high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) to a national audience of 87 million subscribers. The top-tier program service is distributed through approximately 5,500 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Hallmark Channel is the nation?s leading destination for quality family programming with an ambitious slate of original TV movies and specials, as well as some of television?s most beloved sitcoms and series, including The Golden Girls, Frasier, Little House on the Prairie, and The Waltons. The channel is also home to The Martha Stewart Show and other?lifestyle content. Hallmark Channel?s sibling network is Hallmark Movie Channel, also available in HD and SD, which focuses on family-friendly movies with a mix of classic theatrical films, presentations from the acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame library, original Hallmark Channel movies and special events.

HALLMARK CHANNEL AND INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTAR MARIE OSMOND
ANNOUNCE THE START OF PRODUCTION ON NEW ONE-HOUR TALK SHOW,
?MARIE!,?
A HALLMARK CHANNEL ORIGINAL SERIES PREMIERING Q4

One-Hour Weekday Show to be Produced by Associated Television International

Hallmark Channel and international super star Marie Osmond announce the start of production on a new one-hour talk show, ?Marie!,? hosted by the popular entertainer. Production commences shortly for a Q4 premiere on the network. Associated Television International will produce the new lifestyle series which will air weekday afternoons on Hallmark Channel.

?Marie!? is an inspirational journey to help people make a difference in their own lives. The segments will feature celebrity and non-celebrity guests who drop by for everything from revelatory discussion, lifestyle tips and trends, socially important issues, and breakthroughs that empower families. Marie?s potential guests include everyone from the publicly famous to everyday people with out-of-the-ordinary experiences, to the star?s famous family, her closest girlfriends, and the nation?s leading experts in diverse fields designed to revolutionize lives.

?Marie Osmond has entertained millions of people since her career launched at the tender age of three,? said Michelle Vicary, Executive Vice President, Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel.

?She is someone we all feel that we know, and the essence of who Marie is fits perfectly with the Hallmark brand to be emotive, family-oriented and celebratory.

?Marie Osmond is perfect for Hallmark Channel because the star remains so true to who she is: an extraordinarily talented and grateful human being who loves and believes in family, hard work and the American dream. It is a joy to welcome her to the network,? Vicary concluded.

?Marie!? is being produced by ATI, Associated Television International. David McKenzie, David Martin, Marie Osmond and Jim Romanovich are Executive Producers.

Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming available in high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) to a national audience of 87 million subscribers. The top tier program service is distributed through approximately 5,492 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Hallmark Channel is the nation?s leading network in quality family programming with an ambitious slate of original TV movies, lifestyle and general entertainment content. Hallmark Channel?s sibling network is Hallmark Movie Channel, also available in HD and SD, which focuses on the family-friendly movies with a mix of classic theatrical films, presentations from the acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame library, original Hallmark Channel movies and special events.

Source: http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/hallmark-channel-charts-post-martha-stewart-plan-with-marie-osmond-home-and-family_b56196

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British MPs press Malawi to end dispute with IMF, World Bank

LILONGWE (Reuters) - Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika should end a dispute with the World Bank and IMF to bring the country back from a worsening economic crisis, a visiting team of politicians from Britain, Malawi's biggest aid donor, said on Wednesday.

Mutharika, a former World Bank economist, last week snubbed a World Bank mission and has publicly denounced an International Monetary Fund package.

The southern African nation has a $121 million hole in its current budget due to the suspension of an IMF loan programme, while Britain and some other countries have frozen aid due to concern about Mutharika's increasingly tight grip on power in the impoverished country.

"Our main concern is the problems facing the people here, problems of fuel shortages, problems of foreign exchange and it's really aggravating poverty," Liberal Democrat Malcolm Bruce said after meeting Mutharika.

"We told the President that there is a role for the World Bank and IMF to help resolve the ongoing economic challenges and what we hoped for was for Malawi to reach a compact, collective agreement to set things on track," he said.

Bruce was leading a delegation of six members of parliament on a visit to address development challenges in the former British colony.

Rising social tension in Malawi, which has one of the world's highest HIV/AIDS burdens, led to unprecedented nationwide demonstrations last July in which 20 people were killed in a crackdown by security forces.

The country's $79 million, three-year loan programme with the International Monetary Fund is on hold due to disagreements between Lilongwe and the lender over Mutharika's handling of the economy.

Britain has frozen $550 million in aid to the country since Malawi expelled London's top envoy last year for referring to Mutharika as "autocratic and intolerant to criticism" in a leaked cable.

PROTESTS PLANNED

A loose alliance of Malawi opposition groups has threatened to stage nationwide protests if Mutharika does not come clean on the sources of his personal wealth, and mend relations with Britain, by the end of March.

About 2,000 people gathered in and around a hall in the commercial capital of Blantyre on Wednesday, to hear religious leaders and rights activists discuss political and economic change under heavy police watch.

Mutharika has accused Western donors of funding the opposition protest movement.

Foreign aid has accounted for 40 percent of Malawi's state budget, but much of the aid has been suspended since the row with Britain and the violent suppression of protesters last July.

Bruce said the delegation discussed with Mutharika the possible restoration of ties between the countries.

"The President told us that he is committed to having the diplomatic relations normalised because of the historical importance that there is between the two peoples," Bruce said.

Malawi's economy has seen GDP growth averaging 7.4 percent in recent year thanks to bumper maize harvests as a result of the implementation of farm subsidies, which started in 2005. But life has become increasingly difficult in the past year due to shortages of fuel, medicine and foreign currency.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/british-mps-press-malawi-end-dispute-imf-world-130532925.html

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Miley Cyrus Says She'll Become Huge Hunger Games Addict

Miley Cyrus continues to gush over boyfriend Liam Hemsworth, whom she supported at the premiere of The Hunger Games Monday night.

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George Zimmerman, Neighborhood Watch Captain Who Shot Trayvon Martin, Charged With Violence Before

An attorney for the family of Trayvon Martin, the teenager shot to death last month by a neighborhood watch captain in an Orlando, Fla., suburb, said police withheld the shooter's violent past from the slain youth's family.

Police initially told Martin?s family that George Zimmerman, 28, admitted to shooting Martin, 17, on Feb. 26, after he called 911 and reported a suspicious person, said the attorney, Benjamin Crump. Zimmerman said the shooting was in self-defense, police said.

Zimmerman, who is white, has not been charged in the death of Martin, who was black. Police in Sanford, where the shooting occurred, told Martin?s family that Zimmerman had a ?squeaky-clean? record and that?s why they had not arrested him, according to Tracy Martin, the teen?s father.

Crump said public records show that Zimmerman was arrested in Orange County in 2005 on charges of resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer.

?They just lied to the family,? Crump said. ?They just couldn?t see why [Zimmerman] would do anything wrong or be violent. But not only do you know the guy killed this kid, because he admitted to it, you knew that he has a propensity for violence because of his past record.?

The Orange County Clerk of Courts website shows a man named George Zimmerman, 28, was charged in July 2005 with resisting arrest with violence and battery on an officer. The charges appear to have been dropped.

An email to Sanford Chief Bill Lee was not immediately returned on Friday evening. A phone number for Zimmerman has been disconnected. He could not be reached for comment.

In an interview with HuffPost on Thursday, Tracy Martin said that when he asked police why Zimmerman hadn't been charged, officers told him "they respected [Zimmerman's] background, that he studied criminal justice for four years and that he was squeaky clean." He continued: "My question to them was, did they run my child's background check? They said yes. I asked them what they came up with, and they said nothing. So I asked if Zimmerman had a clean record, did that give him the right to shoot and kill an unarmed kid?"

Crump has asked law enforcement officials to turn over the 911 tapes recorded the night Martin was killed. He has since filed a public records lawsuit to get the recordings.

The teenager was on his way back from a convenience store during halftime of the NBA All-Star game when Zimmerman began following him in his car, police said.

Chief Lee on Thursday said that Zimmerman called 911 and reported a suspicious person. ?For some reason he felt that Trayvon, the way that he was walking or appeared, seemed suspicious to him,? Lee told HuffPost. ?He called this in and at one part of this initial call [the dispatcher] recommends him not to follow Trayvon. A police officer is on the way at that point.?

Lee said Zimmerman instead followed Martin. A confrontation ensued, and soon after he shot the teen, the chief said.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/george-zimmerman-trayvon-martin_n_1335984.html

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