English Entertainment
Comedy Centrals destruct-o-matic lets you vent out your anger
MUMBAI: Comedy Central has played a pivotal role in bringing some of the biggest American sitcoms to India. Earlier in February, the channel premiered the biggest and most anticipated sitcom of the year – Anger Management. The show broke cable TV records in America, making it the most-watched series of all time. The show opened to a crazy frenzy in India as well with fans asking for more of the protagonist – Charlie Sheen.
Keeping this frenzy in mind, the channel decided to take the success of the show beyond television by presenting viewers with a digital application, The ‘Destruct-O-Matic’ – a one of its kind application – will be launched on Facebook and Twitter today.
The Destruct-O-Matic is a Mechanical Machine, which allows users to vent their anger and frustration, on a scapegoat that can take it, instead of at each other. Users are given a list of seven methods they can employ to take out their frustration on a dummy on-screen. The user will be able to see the effect of his actions in real time on his screen. There is a live-feed of the Destruct-O-Matic on a microsite, which users can interact with. Each of the vent-actions are activated via tweets or posts on Twitter or Facebook, by visiting the Destruct-O-Matic microsite and logging in via a social networking sign in.
Speaking on the launch of the ‘Destruct-O-Matic’ application, Viacom18 English Entertainment Sr. VP and GM Ferzad Palia said, “At Comedy Central, it is our constant endeavour to not only offer our viewers the best of comedy available across the globe but to also provide them with entertainment beyond television. Keeping up with the ever rising interaction levels of our TG in the digital domain, we decided to take the Anger Management experience further. The launch of Destruct-O-Matic will see users venting their anger on digital platforms rather than in public, in a fun, witty and healthy way! I am sure our fans will be absolutely delighted to engage with the ‘Destruct-O-Matic’ and have fun while venting their anger.”
The activity gives users a chance to take out their grudges on their friends by tagging them in their posts or mentioning them in their tweets. The excitement level increases as Comedy Central is set to short-list 10 of the wittiest, weirdest and most outrageous rationalisation for a ‘vent’. Shortlisted users will win comedy central merchandise.
Comedy Central continues to air Anger Management with a new episode just 24 hours after US telecast- every Friday at 10:00 pm.
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
