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Produced by Condé Nast Entertainment and Jigsaw Productions, “The New Yorker Presents,” which Amazon revealed in weekly installments starting in February, is unlike anything else. Each of the 10 half-hour episodes is a uniquely curated set of documentary and fiction shorts, comedy, poetry, animation, and cartoons drawn from the rich content of The New Yorker. Both unexpected and hugely entertaining, the series is up for Emmy consideration in the informational program category.

Look at the range of the first two shows. They include Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”) on bull riding, Edwidge Danticat on the connection between Jacob Lawrence’s “Migration Series” and outbreaks of racist violence in America, Nick Paumgarten on closing the $2.4 billion Revel casino, cartoons by Roz Chast, Benjamin Schwartz, and Liana Finck, a look at The New Yorker’s archive library and fact-checking department, a beekeeper and a man who raises pigeons who work atop tall buildings, and...

Kahane Cooperman (The Daily Show With Jon Stewart) has been tapped as showrunner for Amazon’s new docu-series The New Yorker Presents, based on content from The New Yorker magazine. The series is produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney's Jigsaw Productions and Condé Nast Entertainment. Cooperman will executive produce alongside Gibney, Dave Snyder, Dawn Ostroff and Michael Klein. Stacey Offman and Richard Perello will serve as co-executive producers. Isaac Bolden…...

As Netflix continues to assert itself as a major television company with such acclaimed series as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, Amazon Studios is racing to catch up by ordering series it hopes will be equally well-received. So far, Amazon has scored one big hit in the form of Jeffrey Tambor-led dramedy Transparent, and it hopes to find some more in the new lineup of pilots, which will be made available for viewing as part of the company’s first pilot season of 2015.

Enclosed are descriptions of all seven pilots, courtesy of Deadline. The talented involved on all of them is impressive, to say the least. Mad Dogs comes from Cris Cole (The Bill) and Shawn Ryan (The Shield), while The Man In The High Castle hails from Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files). Carlton Cuse (Lost, The Strain) and Randall Wallace (Braveheart) are behind Point Of Honor,...

Amazon is entering pilot season strong with seven pilots for shows with big names attached. The pilots will include hour-long shows Cocked, Mad Dogs, The Man in the High Castle, and Point of Honor, half-hour shows Down Dog and Salem Rogers, and the half-hour docu-series The New Yorker Presents. Cocked is the hour-long dark comedy from Lie to Me's Sam Baum and Manhattan's Sam Shaw. It stars Sam Trammell as Richard Paxson, a man who returns to his rural Virginia family after leaving acrimoniously 20 years ago. Now, Paxson returns with his liberal family to the dysfunctional family he left behind,...

'Days of Our Lives' star Kevin Spirtas leads a cast of 13 in the new musical comedy Mr. Confidential, presented as part of the 2014 New York Musical Theatre Festival. Directed and choreographed by Stephen Nachamiedirector of Nymf's award-winning 2012 production of Foreverman, Mr. Confidential features book and lyrics bySamuel Bernstein Bobbie's Girl and music by David Snyder. The production plays five performances July 21-27 at theAlice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at the Pershing Square Signature Center 480 W. 42nd St., as part of the 2014 New York Musical Theatre Festival. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below...

'Days of Our Lives' star Kevin Spirtas leads a cast of 13 in the new musical comedy Mr. Confidential, presented as part of the 2014 New York Musical Theatre Festival. Directed and choreographed by Stephen Nachamie director of Nymf's award-winning 2012 production of Foreverman, Mr. Confidential features book and lyrics by Samuel Bernstein Bobbie's Girl and music by David Snyder. The production plays five performances July 21-27 at theAlice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at the Pershing Square Signature Center 480 W. 42nd St., as part of the 2014 New York Musical Theatre Festival. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the cast in rehearsal...

The York Theatre Company has announced that it will conclude the Winter 2013 Musicals in Mufti Series with the 1955 musical Silk Stockings that has book by George S. Kaufman, Leueen MacGrath and Abe Burrows, and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. Directed by Stuart Ross, and with music direction by David Snyder, the production will feature Erin Davie, Ben Davis, Erick Devine, Erica Dorfler, David Garrison, Leah Hocking, Andrew Kluger, Mark Price, Kilty Reidy, Danny Rutigliano, Alet Taylor, and Stephen Wallem.

With new backing from John Schmidt's Content Media, Alex Gibney's expanding New York-based production company Jigsaw Productions has added Stacey Offman as VP of Development & Production and Dave Snyder as VP of Development as Gibney tries to keep up with his burgeoning production slate. "Hiring Stacey and Dave is an important move for us as we accelerate our growth,” said Gibney, who directed "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" and Oscar-winning doc "Taxi to the Dark Side." “Jigsaw's aim is to roll out our distinctive brand of content to theatres, the U.S. networks and international partners." TV and film veteran Offman will manage Jigsaw’s production business and develop new documentary and feature projects. Offman has produced both documentaries and non-fiction series across networks IFC, Comedy Central, F/X, History Television, Oln, Alliance Atlantis and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. ...

Experts say that Osbourne has a promising range of treatment options.

By Gil Kaufman

Jack Osbourne

Photo:

A few tell-tale signs are what clued Jack Osbourne into the fact that something was seriously wrong with his health. The son of hard rock icon Ozzy and "America's Got Talent" judge Sharon Osbourne revealed earlier this week that he has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis earlier this spring.According to the "Today Show," Osbourne, 26, decided to visit a doctor when he noticed tingling in his extremities and suffered a 60 percent loss of vision in one eye.Ms is an autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system and which currently has no cure, but is very treatable. It causes inflammation in the brain and spinal cord resulting in the loss of myelin, the insulation around nerves. Among the symptoms are: loss of vision, numbness, tingling, excessive fatigue and weakness. The effects can range from mild to debilitating,...

Roslyn Kind: Coming Home

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College

April 28, 2012

Roslyn Kind is an authentic song artist and entertainer. The audience at the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts was treated to a full hour-and-a-half of her fine voice and lively presence. Using her magnificent instrument, she beautifully rendered songs, "standards" and otherwise. Her infectious self-delight never faltered as she sang, conversationally spoke of growing up in a nearby Brooklyn neighborhood, and engaged with the audience as if the theater were her living room.

Ms. Kind is that breed of entertainer which sophisticated night-lifers would make it their business to see at the lavish "rooms" of old: El Morocco and the Persian Room in New York, or the Chez Paree in Chicago (all now long gone into history). Today we must to settle for the cabaret and the concert hall, and we are fortunate that...