English Entertainment
Top 5 TV spy shows that tasted success
MUMBAI: The recent James Bond starrer Spectre (2015) is taking trolls over the people across the nation with its brilliant cinematography and holds your breath tracking the shots. A Bond film’s rules might be predictable, but once its mechanisms start whirring, you can’t help but fall in place.
The Sam Mendes directed movie was shot on a 35mm film which marks a change of texture from Skyfall’s gleaming digital stake. The film had paid previews held on 19 November 2015 and collected Rs. 2 cr in India. Spectre collected around Rs. 6.5 cr on Friday taking its collections to Rs 8.5 cr at India Box Office.
English entertainment channels have always broadcasted shows and series on thrillers with a spy, to keep the viewers entertained. If you have already seen Spectre and are browsing on every available portal puzzled over what you should stream on tonight, we’ve got you covered.
After perusing the available options on the English entertainment channels, we recommend a few under-the-radar titles to satisfy your hunger for stories of a spy that enjoyed a good number of viewership in the global entertainment industry.
1. Chuck
Chuck is an American spy drama series created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series ran for a period of 5 seasons with 91 episodes. The series portrays the life of a computer geek named Chuck inadvertently downloading critical government secrets into his brain. One day Chuck gets a message from a friend working for CIA. The message embeds the only remaining copy of a software program containing the United States’ greatest spy secrets into Chuck’s brain. CIA and NSA assign two agents to protect him and exploit such knowledge, turning his life upside down.
2. Burn Notice
Burn Notice is an American television series created by Matt Nix. It talks about a spy recently disavowed by the U.S. government and how he uses his special ops training to help others in trouble. His only means of surviving is by doing impossible jobs for the desperate people in Miami, where his mother lives. The series took a permanent place in the heart of the onlookers with 111 episodes for a span of 7 seasons.
3. Alias
The series is created by J. J. Abrams and successfully ran for 5 seasons with about 150 episodes. The plot revolves around a young athletic college graduate who is recruited as a secret agent for the CIA. After a few years the protagonist learns that her boyfriend is a part of a rogue international agency called the Alliance of 12, out to rule the world. She becomes a double agent working with the real CIA to bring down SD-6 with the assistance of her handler and her estranged father who is also a double agent. The series talks about her journey all the while keeping her cloak-and-dagger lifestyle a secret from her friends.
4. Covert Affairs
Covert Affairs ran for 5 seasons with 75 episodes. The series hailed for a period of four years. The plot talks about a young CIA trainee sent into the field to work for the DPD (Domestic Protection Division). The field agent is assisted by a blind tech operative in her new life in the CIA. The lead’s new cover is that of a glamorous and well-connected importer or exporter with expensive tastes and dealings that may not always be legal.
5. 24
The 24 series had touched great heights of success in the entertainment industry for its entire tenure of 9 seasons. The Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran created series covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration. In this concept drama, each season takes place within one 24 hour period. Day 1: Jack Bauer is the head of field ops for an elite team of CTU agents who uncover an assassination plot targeting Presidential nominee David Palmer. Meanwhile, Jack’s strained marriage to his wife, Teri, is pushed to the brink by the sudden disappearance of their troubled teenage daughter.
English Entertainment
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approve Paramount deal
Investors wave through a $111 billion megamerger but deliver a stinging, if toothless, rebuke over half-a-billion-dollar goodbye packages
NEW YORK: The shareholders said yes to the deal. They said no to the cheque. At a virtual special meeting on Thursday that lasted barely ten minutes, Warner Bros. Discovery investors voted overwhelmingly to approve Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of the company — and then turned around and voted against the lavish exit pay packages lined up for chief executive David Zaslav and his fellow outgoing executives.
Not that it will make much difference. The compensation vote is purely advisory and non-binding. The Warner Bros. Discovery board can, and almost certainly will, pay out as planned.
But the symbolism stings. It is the second consecutive year that WBD shareholders have voted against the executive compensation packages, and this time they had good reason. Zaslav’s exit deal is, by any measure, extraordinary. Under the terms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he is set to receive $34.2 million in cash severance, $517.2 million in equity in the combined company, and $44,195 in continued health coverage — a total of at least $550 million. On top of that, Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed to reimburse Zaslav up to $335 million for taxes assessed by the Internal Revenue Service on his accelerated stock vesting, though the company says that figure will decline depending on when the deal closes. As of March 11, Zaslav also held $115.85 million in vested WBD stock awards — and last month sold a further $114 million worth of WBD shares.
Shareholder advisory firm ISS recommended voting against the compensation measure, citing “problematic” tax reimbursements to Zaslav and the full vesting of his stock awards.
Zaslav will be bound by a two-year non-competition covenant and a two-year non-solicitation of customers and employees after the deal closes.
His lieutenants are not walking away empty-handed either. J.B. Perrette, chief executive and president of global streaming and games, is in line for $142 million, comprising $18.2 million in cash severance and $123.9 million in equity. Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer, will receive an estimated $121.5 million, including $18.8 million in severance and $102.7 million in equity. Chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels is set for $120 million, made up of $6.6 million in cash severance and $113.1 million in equity. Gerhard Zeiler, president of international, will get $82.6 million, including $11.9 million in severance and $70.7 million in equity.
The deal itself, clinched in February after Netflix declined to raise its bid for Warner Bros., still needs regulatory clearance from the Justice Department and European authorities. Several state attorneys general are also weighing legal action to block it.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, was unsparing. “The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger isn’t a done deal,” she said after the shareholder vote. “State attorneys general across the country are stepping up to stop this antitrust disaster. We need to keep up this fight.”
If it does go through, the combined entity would be a formidable beast, bringing together Paramount Skydance’s stable — CBS, CBS News, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, BET, MTV and Nickelodeon — with WBD’s portfolio of HBO, Max, Warner Bros. film and TV studios, DC, CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV and Discovery+. Paramount has said it expects $6 billion in cost savings from the merger, which is Wall Street shorthand for mass layoffs on a significant scale.
The ten-minute meeting was presided over by chairman Samuel Di Piazza Jr., with Zaslav, Campbell, Wiedenfels and chief communications officer Robert Gibbs in virtual attendance. Di Piazza was bullish. “We appreciate the support and confidence our stockholders have placed in us to unlock the full value of our world-class entertainment portfolio,” he said. “With Paramount, we look forward to creating an exceptional combined company that will expand consumer choice and benefit the global creative talent community.”
Zaslav echoed the sentiment. “Over the past four years, our teams have transformed Warner Bros. Discovery and returned the company to industry leadership,” he said. “Today’s stockholder approval is another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction that will deliver exceptional value to our stockholders.”
Paramount Skydance struck a similar note. “Shareholder approval marks another important milestone towards completing our acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery,” it said in a statement, adding that it looked forward to “closing the transaction in the coming months.”
The shareholders have spoken on the merger. On the pay, they were ignored before the vote was even counted.
