Dead Like Me

The cold hard reality for the lenders to MGM may be sinking in, but this could be good for fans of Dead Like Me who would like to see the franchise resurrected in some form or another. The article quoted inside basically says that key lenders are coming to the conclusion that their best pathway out may be to hold a garage sale for MGM assets – selling them off in pieces. The spotlight will be on the big stuff, but for interested parties this will be an opportunity to step in to buy just the DLM franchise and go forward.

According to this source – High Fidelity – The top five smartest people in entertainment:

4.) Ellen Muth (Actress) – TV: Dead Like Me – IQ: 156
This up-and-coming star has won a few awards within her career. Although her acting career started at age four, she has received more attention for her recent role in Dead Like Me. She is currently a member of Intertel and Mensa, which has fairly high standards. Mensa requires one to be in the 98th percentile of IQ, while Intertel members must be is the 99th percentile.

Others on list:

Sharon Stone 154/Tarantino 160/Dolph Lundgren 165/James Woods 180, and mentioned in passing Einstein 163/Stephen Hawking 160 although the last two aren’t entertainers by choice.

High Fidelity – Arts & Entertainment

Yes.  Here’s a quote regarding Dead Like Me and a link to the complete article.

The Showtime original series, Dead Like Me was canceled at the end of season two, and though they did go on to make a coinciding film, the potential for further seasons was abundant. Featuring a cast of “reapers” who take on the job of making sure the dead are collected in a timely manner, the series could have gone on for years, dealing with the living and their struggle when it comes to facing death.

There’s also a clip ‘Dead Like Me – George Dies.

Do Networks Cancel Too Early? | Real TV Addict

And what he has to say sounds like a blunt message to MGM management and to the remaining two bidders  –  see today’s posting inside.

“It’s a girl for Eric Dane & Rebecca Gayheart

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ actor Eric Dane and wife Rebecca Gayheart are parents to a baby girl now. The couple has welcomed their first child together on Wednesday, their publicist confirmed Thursday.

Publicist Nanci Ryder confirmed the happy news to The Associated Press, saying the 38-year-old Gayheart delivered Dane’s baby Wednesday in a Los Angeles hospital.”

It’s a girl for Eric Dane & Rebecca Gayheart | The Money Times

As detailed within, the original plan by the lenders to MGM to hold an auction for the MGM assets, sell everything off, and then walk away has stumbled as the reality of the overall economic situation rudely intruded.  The trend for DVD sales has been down due to the obvious economic downturn, and due to the equally obvious shift in consumer preferences to new means delivery/storage of their TV/Movie entertainment. Estimates of the value of the MGM library – especially when the complicated encumbrances are factored into future projections – have plummeted along with the hopes of the lenders to sell off at a good price and walk away clean.

The final bids were due last Monday, and basically fell short.  That this would happen was clear to several participants of the bidding process earlier and the maneuvering by various players is well underway.

This process is not necessarily bad for those fans who would like to see the Dead Like Me franchise carry on in some reinvigorated form  - either as a series of movies or a new series – because the key questions yet to be answered are who will be the final owner and will the new owner have the money and ideas for new projects.

However, anything new emerging out of the long passage of time since the shutdown is likely to be an entire rebooting of the franchise with a new cast – still perhaps set in DLM universe  - somewhere.  If we’re lucky some of the old cast will be brought in for a send off of the something new.

Information from a series of recent meetings between Cooper at MGM and the 140 strong creditors has leaked. Cooper made a pitch for new debt to jumpstart MGM movie production, and the creditors declined the honor and opportunity to lose even more money.  Instead they made it clear they want the studio and its 4,000 film library (this would include Dead Like Me franchise) to be sold either now by MGM or by the creditors from bankruptcy.  The current agreement in which interest owed to the creditors is converted to equity expires on December 15th.

See inside for link and more discussion………

Steve Cooper, new head of MGM, has accelerated negotiations with debt holders.  The current owners will be removed (or nearly so), significant amounts of debt converted to equity, and then the new owners will auction MGM off.  Interested bidders are rumored to be Lionsgate, Time Warner, and Fox.

See inside for more detail……

In a last stand bid to maintain some control of MGM the private equity firms have removed the current CDO, Harry Sloan, in favor of a work out specialist, Stephen Cooper (he stepped into Enron after it imploded).

see inside for links to articles …

Finally, my day ended with the 1 person I was most excited to see. Callum Blue.  Smallville has brought him in to play General Zod on the show…but that means little to me since I refuse to watch the show. He is still Mason from “Dead Like Me” to me. Which was evidently apparent to him by the fact I had 6 or 7 different photos of him from the show. He cracked a couple jokes about how his autograph might actually be worth something now that he is on Smallville, which I replied to “I cant stand the show…I still wish you were doing Dead Like Me”, which got an excited “me too” from him. He was asked by others why he thought the show died prematurely, he answered that he didnt know, but found it odd that it seems to always be Bryan Fuller shows. He had a laugh or two at some of the DLM photos myself & my friend had of him, the last one being from a scene where hes getting a full body search by airport security because they think hes carrying drugs. He said “is that the episode where I had illegals in my bottom” & I replied “yeah” which he laughed to, and I said as he was starting to walk away, “no problems like that today?”, which he responded “nope, got away with it this time”. As he walked towards the rest of the hounds that were outside, he gladly signed & took pics for them as well. While he was leaving I asked him if there was any talk of a 2nd DLM movie possibly. He siad there is, and was hopefull…..and ended the conversation with “and hopefully a return of the series”…which I certainly would be thrilled to see.

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