ET, The Insider Show Off New HD Studio
CBS entertainment newsmagazines launch in HD Sept. 8 with new shared studio.
By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/8/2008 2:00:00 AM
CBS' Entertainment Tonight and The Insider are ready for their close-ups. The two entertainment newsmagazines launch in HD Sept. 8, joining just a handful of syndicated shows ready to take the technological plunge.
The staffs of both shows spent their summer making the move from the iconic Paramount Studio in Hollywood to CBS' brand-new digs in Studio City, Calif.
B&C Tours ET's New HD Set from Broadcasting & Cable on Vimeo.
“We're set up for years to come in HD, with stages and newsrooms that are beyond anything we could have done here at Paramount,” said John Nogawski, president of CBS Television Distribution. “We started completely from scratch,” and that includes everything from the stage to the producers' computers to the miles of fiber-optic cable that connects everything.
At the start, fewer than 30 stations nationwide will air one or both shows in HD; it's still difficult for broadcasters to receive and air syndicated shows in HD. But that will change, and ET and The Insider will be that much ahead of the game.
ET will kick off its new era with several stories that highlight the difference an HD picture can make. The show will launch its 28th season with an exclusive on the filming of Dan Brown's best-selling novel, Angels and Demons, in Rome -- a perfect location to show off ET's new technology, said Linda Bell Blue, executive producer of both shows.
“We followed [Angels and Demons] star Tom Hanks around the streets of Rome to see what [producers] Brian Grazer and Ron Howard have done to make this novel come to life,” Bell Blue added.
ET also has an exclusive with singer Natalie Cole, who talks about being diagnosed with hepatitis C and travels to Rwanda with anchor Mary Hart to check out endangered silverback gorillas.
“High-definition is so perfect for this content,” said Terry Wood, CBS Television Distribution's president of creative affairs and development. “You can see it literally jumping off the screen. Entertainment news really is about the image and the story that goes with it.”
To best showcase those carefully gathered images of celebrities, both shows redesigned their stages, adding tons of HD monitors and glitzy new sets.
ET's set, designed by Emmy Award-winning set designer Steve Bass, creates a “Hollywood event every night,” Bell Blue said. It's backed by four 103-inch and 13 60-inch Panasonic plasma screens, and it even has its own red carpet.
“We're in the business of displaying creative information,” said Dan Henry, the executive in charge of production for both ET and The Insider. “Having multiple displays behind the sets allows us to be really creative.”
The set of The Insider is separated from ET by a tunnel so that both shows' talent and crews can easily go back and forth. Lara Spencer, host of The Insider, who moved from New York to Los Angeles this summer, will stand atop an eight-foot-high Plexiglas stage -- called “the Insider bus” -- that can be put on wheels and moved around the set.
The sets and newsrooms were built from the ground up, and everything is running across high-speed fiber optics on computers with high processing speeds. “Hi-def is definitely a bandwidth hog,” Henry said, “so we designed our facility with that in mind.”
Producers will work on Avid Technology's Interplay system, allowing them to do much of their editing on desktops. When video arrives, producers will be able to work with it first in low-resolution, and several staffers can simultaneously view one piece of video -- with a production assistant archiving it while other producers pull clips for stories, for example. When producers are ready, they can choose one of the 28 edit bays to finish the piece.
Bell Blue said, “This really is the next generation of these shows.”
Check out more video from B&C's exclusive tour of the Entertainment Tonight and The Insider sets below.
'Entertainment Tonight' Shows off its New HD Studio from Broadcasting & Cable on Vimeo.
Entertainment Tonight's New HD Studio Shows Versatility from Broadcasting & Cable on Vimeo.
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I don't understand why you all keep going on and on and on about Tiger and his wife. I know you all have to keep the gossip going forever just like you did Michael Jackson-well guess what Michael is dead now and you can't talk about him anymore and run him into the ground like you all did!!!! Now it's Tiger you'll run him into the ground just so you can sell garbage on TV. I normally don't watch you all but going through the channels tonight you all came up and I just had to say something. Enough is enough. Tiger will pay dearly for what he's done but when it all comes down to it he has to answer to God ONLY not the tabloids!!!! What would you all do if you didn't have some kind of trash to print. It's funny how you all don't hold these women accountable for anything. Anyone that dates a married man isn't much of a woman!!! and don't tell me they didn't know he wasn't married. And now ones of them wants five million dollars to keep quiet what does that tell you about those wonderful women!!!! Get a grip will you. Can you find anything nice to talk about?
Patricia Sarka - 12/15/2009 7:22:23 PM EST -
I DONT GET WHY YOU KEEP GOING BACK AND FORTH WITH KATE AND HIM.agh
they were together for over 11 years he allowed that relationship to be that way and kate has always acted or spoke that way so why now that john is being a ........ is anyone putting kate down? he has slept around was on your show saying he didnt take any money only his paycheck lol but when they went to court he it seems he if he loved his kids he would have bought or rented a house close to them but to take their money and party in ny come on through him to the curb already! thanks
doe - 10/30/2009 8:18:19 PM EDT -
Have any of you watched Jon and Kate from the start of the show ?? Sweet couple with cute babies.. Then she had a tummy tuck and new hair do. If you had a mate that talked to you the way Kate talked to Jon, I can not imagine any one taking the insults, that I heard. And that was just on the program. I`m not saying that I think Jon is all correct, but frankly I would leave.
Fran Berkoski - 10/8/2009 12:25:43 PM EDT -
Can you find some other celebs to report on besides Angelina, Brad, Tom, Katie, Jennifer Anniston, the talentless Donnie & Marie, and George Clooney. I know your reporters have broader minds. And in the multiple birth moms defense not everyone wants to look like Angelina Jolie!
Nae - 2/11/2009 12:52:40 PM EST
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