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Bob Tischler, the writer and producer known for his work on Saturday Night Live, has died. He was 78.

The former SNL head writer, who is largely credited with helping revive the NBC sketch comedy show after its infamously panned 1980-81 season, died on July 13 at his home in Bodega Bay, California.

His son Zeke told The New York Times that the cause of death was pancreatic cancer.

Born June 12, 1946 in Englewood, New Jersey, Tischler attended Ithaca and Franconia Colleges in the 1960s before working as a sound engineer in radio and television.

After working together on a radio ad, Christopher Guest recommended him to National Lampoon, for which he produced the albums Radio Dinner (1972), Gold Turkey (1975) and That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick (1977), as well as The National Lampoon Radio Hour in 1973.

Saturday Night Live Producer Dick Ebersol, writers Bob Tischler and Michael O’Donoghue and improvisation expert Del Close.

Screenwriter Daniel Gerson has died after a battle with brain cancer, at the age of 49, his family announced Monday in an obituary in the New York Times. Gerson began his career as a staff writer on the NBC show Something So Right before transitioning to writing animated features for Pixar. Gerson is best known for co-writing Monsters, Inc., Monsters University, and Big Hero 6. He also voiced minor characters in those films, including company janitors Needleman and Smitty in Monsters, Inc., and the desk sergeant in Big Hero 6. Gerson was working on the script for Cars 3 at the time of his death. He is survived by his wife of 20 years, Beau Stacom, and his two children, Claire and Asher. The obituary reads, "The humanity, humor, and compassion that he brought to his writing, he brought to his family and friends in equal measure."...

“Big Hero 6” screenwriter Daniel Gerson died on Saturday after battling brain cancer. He was 49. According to a New York Times obituary, Gerson died peacefully in his Los Angeles home. Before tackling the 2015 Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature Film, Gerson co-wrote Disney/Pixar’s “Monsters, Inc.” and “Monsters University.” Also Read: Joe Alaskey, Voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Dies at 63 Gerson, a New York native, started his career as a staff writer for the former NBC sitcom, “Something So Right,” and went on to write for several other series in the late ’90s before transitioning to writing feature films.

The Georgia Film Critics Association has more or less kept to the standard flow today with a list of nominations led by critical darlings "Birdman," "Boyhood," "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and "Selma." Each film picked up seven nods, though "Selma" also figured into collective nods for two breakthrough nominees so you'd be on solid turf to say it was out in front. Check out the full list of nominees below. Winners will be announced on Jan. 9. Check out the rest of the madness at The Circuit. Best Picture "Birdman" "Boyhood" "Gone Girl" "The Grand Budapest Hotel" "Ida" "A Most Violent Year" "Nightcrawler" "Selma" "Snowpiercer" "Whiplash" Best Director Richard Linklater, "Boyhood" David Fincher, "Gone Girl" Wes Anderson, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" Ava DuVernay, "Selma" Damien Chazelle, "Whiplash" Best Actor Ralph Fiennes, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" Jake Gyllenhaal, "Nightcrawler" Michael Keaton, "Birdman" David Oyelowo, "Selma" Eddie Redmayne, "The Theory of Everything" Best Actress Marion Cotillard,...

When it comes to cultural impact, mega-sales and drama, this year’s Best Original Song category at the Academy Awards is going to have an awfully difficult time competing with last year’s category.

The 2013 winner, you might remember, was “Let It Go,” the anthem from “Frozen” that became a hit around the world and spawned a zillion amateur YouTube renditions.

See photos: 15 Movies You Already Forgot About: TheWrap’s Best & Worst 2014 (Photos)

And “Let It Go” was joined as a nominee by another song that was so ubiquitous that most sentient human beings got sick of hearing it before the Oscars – Pharrell Williams’ “Happy,...

The list of possible contenders for Best Original Song at the Oscars 2015 has been revealed.

Coldplay, Lorde and Lana Del Rey make up three of the 79 potential nominations released by the academy, four more songs than last year's 75.

Coldplay's 'Miracles' is eligible, which features in Angelina Jolie's Unbroken, while Lorde's 'Yellow Flicker Beat' from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 is also in the running.

Del Rey created the lead song from Tim Burton film Big Eyes, and other contenders include Glen Campbell and Patti Smith.

'Everything Is Awesome' from The Lego Movie could also scoop the prize, as well as Sia's 'Opportunity' from Annie.

Nominations will be announced on January 15.

Listen to Coldplay's 'Miracles' below:

The full list of contenders is as follows:

'It's on Again' - The Amazing Spider-Man 2

'Opportunity' - Annie

'Lost Stars' - Begin Again

'Grateful' - Beyond the Lights...

Three hundred twenty-three feature films are eligible for the 2014 Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.

To be eligible for 87th Academy Awards consideration, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by midnight, December 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days.

Under Academy rules, a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.

Feature films that receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release are not eligible for Academy Awards in any category. The “Reminder List of Productions Eligible for the 87th Academy Awards” is available at http://www.oscars.org/oscars/rules-eligibility.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also announced that 114 scores...

This year's Best Original Song Oscar race hasn't really achieved much lift-off. Of course, the contenders have been obvious. "Lost Stars" from "Begin Again" may well be the best of them, though "Everything is Awesome" from "The Lego Movie" certainly has its punch-drunk fans. Elsewhere, though, there are a few popular artists in the mix. John Legend and Common put together a hell of a track for "Selma" called "Glory." Lana Del Rey is back in the mix with the title track from "Big Eyes." Coldplay even wants to, uh, play, with "Miracles" from "Unbroken." The Academy announced the list of 79 eligible contenders Friday afternoon, and many of them you've seen outlined clearly in our dedicated Contenders section for the category all season. Let's take a closer look… Animated players "The Book of Life" and "The Boxtrolls" each have a pair of ditties and "Big Hero 6" has one as well.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said today that 79 songs from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2014 are in contention for nominations in the Original Song category for the 87th Oscars. They include “It’s On Again” from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, “Lost Stars” from Begin Again, and “Everything Is Awesome” from The Lego Movie. The nominations will be announced live on January 15. See the complete list below:

“It’s On Again” from “The Amazing Spider-Man 2″

“Opportunity” from “Annie”

“Lost Stars” from “Begin Again”

“Grateful” from “Beyond the Lights”

“Big Eyes” from “Big Eyes”

“Immortals” from “Big Hero 6″

“The Apology Song” from “The Book of Life”

“I Love You Too Much” from “The Book of Life”

“The Boxtrolls Song” from “The Boxtrolls”

“Quattro Sabatino” from “The Boxtrolls”

“Ryan’s Song” from “Boyhood”

“Split The Difference” from “Boyhood”

“No Fate Awaits Me” from “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them...

The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences said on December 12 that 79 songs are in contention for the original song category for the 87th Oscars.

A maximum of two songs may be nominated from one film.

Academy rules state that to be eligible, “a song must consist of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the film.

“A clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition of both lyric and melody must be used in the body of the film or as the first music cue in the end credits.”

The original songs, along with the motion picture in which each song is featured, are listed below in alphabetical order by film title and song title:

It’s On Again, The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Opportunity, Annie

Lost Stars, Begin Again

Grateful, Beyond The Lights

Big Eyes, Big Eyes

Immortals, Big Hero 6

The Apology Song, The Book Of Life

I Love You Too Much, The Book Of Life

The Boxtrolls...

The Oscar chart construction must continue. Maleficent was asking and you don't want to keep her waiting. 

Visuals Chart - In Progress. More Categories To Come

You'll find early predictions for Visual F/X and the always confounding Makeup & Hair category. For Visual F/X I'd love to push Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes higher up the charts but I'm still trying to wrap my head around Oscar's complete disinterest in a) superhero movies that don't feature a man in a batsuit -- and that wouldn't confound me at all if they didn't have such deep abiding love for the Transformers franchise of all things which is surely less reputable than Marvel movies --  and b) Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) which won hugely favorable reviews and surprised virtually everyone in its year and seemed like a likely finalist in...

Following her Thanksgiving special, Lady Gaga reunites with The Muppets on the “Muppets Most Wanted” soundtrack. Lady Gaga, her buddy Tony Bennett, and The Muppets perform the meta tune “We’re Doing A Sequel,” which follows Walter, Statler and Waldorf’s sure-to-be-hilarious “They’ve Ordered a Sequel.” Other singers on the soundtrack include Celine Dion, who performs with fellow diva Miss Piggy, Kermits and the whole Muppet gang for “Something So Right” (we’re guessing it’s not the Paul Simon tune of the same name), Josh Groban and Flight of the Conchords’s Jemaine Clement. Among the chestnuts on the album are Scooter and Pepe the King Prawn (remember the shrimp who felt up Lady Gaga in their atrocious Thanksgiving special?) on “Moves Like Jagger,” and Miss Piggy on “Macarena.” Also on the soundtrack, out March 24, are a number of actors who appear in the movie, including Tina Fey,...

IndieWire the winners at SXSW Fort Tilden (narrative) and The Great Invisible (doc). You may recall that Short Term 12 was the big discovery last year so let's hope Fort Tilden hits theaters soon. But mostly I'm leading with this because the still released has kittens in it. Kittens!

But mostly I led with that because the first still released has kittens in it. Three. Kittens. Kittens, I say.

Kittens

Ahem. Some links...

La Review of Books Charles Taylor on Meryl Streep's recent string of gorgon roles and particularly August: Osage County. Really interesting article but Streep fanatics should steer clear since it is merciless. (Slightly confused about what this essay is doing at a 'Review of Books' since none are mentioned.) 

Golden Globe I hadn't seen this before - celebrities fav movies. Turns out Robin Wright loves Werner Herzog, Carey Mulligan loves Steven Spielberg, Emile Hirsch has very Oscar-bait taste,...

Celine Dion will record the theme song for The Muppets... Again!

The 45-year-old's track 'Something So Right' will be included on the official soundtrack of the 2014 film.

The singer is also expected to film a cameo appearance for the upcoming sequel.

The plot of the film centres around the Muppet repertory company getting caught up with a diamond thief called Constantine - a doppelgänger for Kermit - while on their world tour.

It will star Ricky Gervais in the lead role with Tina Fey, Ray Liotta and Modern Family's Ty Burrell among the supporting cast.

Dion is currently working on her new English language studio album and released a teaser for the record last month.

Under the working title Water and a Flame, it will be Dion's 25th studio album overall.

The Muppets... Again! will be released in cinemas on March 21, 2014.

Watch a trailer for The Muppets...

Renee Taylor has joined the cast of NBC's comedy pilot Early Bird, while Christine Dunford has been tapped to star opposite Donal Logue in the network's comedy pilot The Dennis. Early Bird, from NBC Universal TV Studio and 3 Arts Entertainment, centers on a twentysomething (Timm Sharp) who moves into a retirement community. Taylor, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, most recently co-starred in Alfie. She is repped by the Bauman, Redanty & Shaul Agency and manager Bette Smith. The Dennis, from 20th Century TV and Adelstein-Parouse Prods., centers on a young savant who is forced by his parents (Logue, Dunford) to leave their home and business so he can become a man. Dunford, whose credits include the feature Ulee's Gold and the series Something So Right and The Secret Lives of Men, is repped by SMS and Lesher Entertainment.