newsmakers
newsmakers
Showrunner leaving ‘The Walking Dead’
NEW YORK
Just in time for the holidays, AMC has quite a surprise for fans of “The Walking Dead.” The megahit zombie series has been picked up for a fourth season but will continue without showrunner Glen Mazzara at the helm.
In a statement Friday announcing the show’s pickup — all but a foregone conclusion, given its record-setting ratings — AMC also dropped the bombshell that Mazzara no longer would be involved with the series beyond the current season, which resumes in February.
“The two parties have mutually decided to part ways,” AMC said in the statement. “Glen guided the series creatively for seasons 2 and 3. AMC is grateful for his hard work. We are both proud of our shared success.”
The statement strongly hints at creative differences between Mazzara and the powers that be at AMC.
‘Gangnam Style’ reaches 1B views
NEW YORK
Viral star PSY has reached a new milestone on YouTube.
The South Korean rapper’s video for “Gangnam Style” has reached 1 billion views, according to YouTube’s own counter. It’s the first time any clip has surpassed that mark on the streaming service owned by Google Inc.
It shows the enduring popularity of the self-deprecating video that features Park Jae-sang’s giddy up-style dance moves. The video has been available on YouTube since July 15, averaging more than 200 million views per month.
Larry L. King dies; wrote ‘Whorehouse’
NEW YORK
Larry L. King, a writer and playwright whose magazine article about a campaign to close down a popular bordello became the hit Tony Award-nominated musical “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and a movie starring Burt Reynolds, has died. He was 83.
King’s wife, Barbara Blaine, says King died Thursday night at Chevy Chase House, a retirement home in Washington, D.C., where he had been living the past six months.
He helped adapt his Playboy article about the Texas bordello into a musical directed by Tommy Tune that opened in 1978 and went on to last for more than 1,584 performances.
Country star Travis pleads not guilty
PLANO, Texas
Country star Randy Travis has pleaded not guilty to simple assault and faces trial March 11 in a Dallas-area municipal court.
Travis appeared Friday in a Plano courtroom with his attorneys and asked for a jury trial.
Plano police cited Travis after an Aug. 23 incident in a church parking lot in which he purportedly intervened in an argument involving a woman he knows and her estranged husband. Nobody was hurt.
Vindicator wire services