First stills of Mulder and Scully in X-Files movie:

January 15, 2008

NBC Universal’s spat with Apple’s iTunes over pricing issues has been well documented. But Showtime, a subsidiary of CBS Corporation, has found iTunes to be a good outlet for selling its shows. Last week Showtime shows accounted for six of the top ten television offerings on iTunes, measured by the number of purchases.

A key difference is that Showtime, unlike NBC, is a pay channel, and iTunes represents a good way for the network to disseminate its shows beyond its 15 million subscribers, said Rob Hayes, the company’s senior vice president for digital media.

“It’s a great sampling vehicle for us, helping people who don’t have Showtime to get exposed to our show,” Mr. Hayes said.

Mr. Hayes said that sales through iTunes provide a “nice piece of revenue” for Showtime but would not share specifics. Instead, he emphasized the sampling strategy.

The recently released first seasons of “The Tudors” and “Californication” were the No. 1 and 2 seasons on iTunes, according to Apple’s ranking. Apple does not release sales figures.

After David Duchovny received a Golden Globe award for best actor in a comedic or musical series, his show “Californication” moved into the No. 1 position.

The first two seasons of Showtime’s “Weeds” are also among the top ten best-selling seasons on iTunes. The Fox series “Family Guy” and the Comedy Central shows “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” are often top sellers as well.

- By Brian Stelter
From: Nytimes.com

Tea Leoni and a friend pick up coffee from Starbucks. She also takes the time to sign an autograph for a fan. January 11, 2008.

David Duchovny, who scored best actor in a television musical or comedy for his role as the creatively blocked novelist in Showtime’s “Californication,” had gone out to see “The Bucket List” this evening to avoid watching the announcement, but he knew when he saw the flashing message light when he returned to his Vancouver hotel room this evening that he had won.

“It sounds silly to say—the nomination was really great, but I really wanted the show to win,” said Duchovny, who got the news from his manager. The actor is in Canada filming the sequel to “The X Files.”

But he added that while there were plenty of Golden Globe winners, “Everyone’s a loser right now. The Golden Globes is a fun night – it’s more fun than the other awards shows. And it’s too bad we didn’t get to have fun. I don’t think there are a lot of tears over it not being televised. But I think there are a lot of tears over people losing money and losing jobs. I just hope that people will come back to the table and get this done.”

- Los Angeles Times

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David Duchovny on how he learned he had won the Golden Globe for best actor in a TV series, musical or comedy, for "Californication": "I kinda didn't want to watch, it would just make me tense or nervous, so I went out to see a movie at four [o'clock] and I knew I wouldn't be home until it was announced. I knew if my phone was ringing when I walked into my hotel room that I would have won. And it was. Nobody calls a loser."

- Associated Press

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Duchovny joked that he took a really dressed-down approach.

Asked what he was wearing as he soaked in the news that he was a winner, he quipped: "I was naked in my hotel room. It was my way of protesting any number of issues."

- The Canadian Press

Best Actor in a TV Series Comedy:
David Duchovny - Californication.

The 65th annual Golden Globes were announced Sunday at a news conference held by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in Beverly Hills. Go to The Associated Press for a list of the winners.

Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:18pm EST
By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - For former "The X-Files" star David Duchovny, the television show's slogan "The Truth Is Out There" had extra meaning during his final year on the Fox network playing an FBI agent tracking space aliens on Earth.

"The truth" meant finding an opportunity to portray a character grounded in real life, while "out there" meant the realm of cable television, where Duchovny's new program, "Californication," airs on Showtime.

This Sunday "Californication" will compete for a Golden Globe award for best television comedy or musical after just one season on the air, and Duchovny is up for best actor in a comedy or musical.

"I was really happy for the show and everyone involved," Duchovny, 47, told Reuters. "The thing about any award show is it's about exposure bringing new people to our program."

"Californication" tells of the everyday life of novelist Hank Moody (Duchovny), who lives in Los Angeles and is divorced from his wife. Yet, Moody remains in love with her and they share duties raising a teen-age daughter.

In its first season, Moody was in a writer's funk because his best-selling book had been turned into a silly Hollywood movie that became a hit. He finally produces a new novel only to have it stolen by a young girl who seduced him.

Not surprisingly, "Californication" covers sexual material, shows nudity and uses obscenities, all of which can be done on cable networks but not broadcasters like Fox that are held to stricter content standards on public airwaves.

Duchovny said that toward the end of the ninth and final season of "X-Files" in 2002, he had grown tired of hearing critics laud cable shows such as "The Sopranos" because of their use of street language and real-life situations.

"SOPRANOS" CHEATED

"I used to kind of bemoan the fact they were cheating. They had the richness of the English language and we did not. Now that I get to, it's fun," Duchovny said.

Duchovny shot to stardom in the early 1990s as Fox Mulder, the plain-spoken FBI agent who probed strange cases of aliens visiting Earth. It was a huge hit, earning many awards and nominations for the show and Duchovny.

When it ended, Duchovny kept working but not on network television, as might have been expected from an A-list star.

He took a small role in HBO's "Sex and the City," worked in some low-budget and art movies such as Steven Soderbergh's "Full Frontal" and wrote and directed "House of D," a coming-of-age story about a boy living in New York City.

"The fact that I was in a very mainstream (television) hit was never by design in any way," he said.

Before "X-Files," he won acclaim for offbeat roles such as a transvestite on the television series "Twin Peaks." He also was the narrator for erotic series, "Red Shoes Diaries," and in two decades as an actor, he has shown his talent in a variety of dramas and comedies.

He said Moody appealed to him because the character has a dual nature as a deeply flawed man who also is charming, likable and armed with a sharp wit.

"I've been saying for years, 'I'm funny,'" Duchovny said.

(Reporting by Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Xavier Briand)

Thanks to Reuters!

David Duchovny runs to his car after an early morning workout in Brentwood, CA on january 4, 2008:

Watch a video from ExtraTV on the set of Tea's new movie 'Ghost Town' which just wrapped filming in New York:

http://extratv.warnerbros.com