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The Morning Fix: ’21 Jump Street’ cleans up! O’Donnell hits road.

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This post has been corrected. See bottom for details.

After the coffee. Before seeing how my March Madness picks are standing up.

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The Skinny: I didn’t watch the finale of ‘The Walking Dead’ so I don’t want to hear anyone talking about it today! Monday’s headlines include ’21 Jump Street’ taking the top spot at the box office, James Murdoch leaving Sotheby’s board of directors and, of course, a story about ‘The Hunger Games.’


The Daily Dose: HBO appears to be taking a low-profile approach on air with regards to the demise of its gambling drama ‘Luck.’ After last night’s episode, the promotions for next week’s show did not mention that it would be the series’ finale and instead said only that it was the season finale. ‘Luck’ has not been a ratings draw for HBO, but the network had ordered a second season. However, the death of a third horse during production led the pay cable channel to pull the plug on the series.

Jumping out on top. Sony’s ’21 Jump Street’ took in about $35 million to grab the top spot at the box office. I was one of those contributing to Sony’s bottom line. While ’21 Jump Street’ was good,the previews show all the best scenes and a Richard Grieco cameo would have gone a long way with me. Disney’s expensive ‘John Carter’ continued to struggle, making only $13.5 million in its second weekend. Overall, box office was down 6% compared with the same weekend last year. That marks the first time this year that ticket sales were off versus 2011. Box office coverage from the Los Angeles Times and Movie City News.

The fine art of subliminal seduction. Because our key demographic at the Morning Fix -- girls -- can’t get enough of ‘The Hunger Games,’ here’s a story from the New York Times about the subtle marketing of the movie that makes kids think they’ve discovered it rather than being brainwashed into seeing it. The New York Post writes about how some magazines are looking to ‘The Hunger Games’ to jumpstart sales.

Murdoch off another board. Embattled James Murdoch is giving up his seat on the board of auction house Sotheby’s. Murdoch, whose association with the phone hacking scandal at News Corp.’s British tabloids has seriously damaged his prospects to succeed his father, Rupert Murdoch, as chief executive of the media giant, had previously resigned from the board of GlaxoSmithKline Plc. Details from Bloomberg.

The biggest broadcaster you’ve never heard about. Unless you are a student of the television industry, the names Dave Smith and Sinclair Broadcasting probably don’t mean much. But if you are a network or a syndicator or a TV journalist, at some point you’ve collided with Smith and Sinclair, a Baltimore-based broadcaster that owns local TV stations all over the country. A profile from Broadcasting & Cable.

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C-Span chief to step back. Brian Lamb, who more than 30 years ago had an idea to televise congressional hearings, is stepping back as chief executive of C-Span, the nonprofit cable channel. The 70-year-old Lamb will remain as executive chairman while longtime C-Span co-presidents Rob Kennedy and Susan Swain will now also share the chief executive title. More from Variety.

Miramax mayhem. We live in a ‘that was so 20-seconds-ago world’ that a story about what happened on Friday seems like history by the time Monday rolls around. That said, in case you missed it, Mike Lang abruptly left his position as chief executive of Miramax after less than two years on the job. Given that Miramax doesn’t make movies anymore and only seeks to maximize its library, there must have been some serious personality clashes there. More from the Los Angeles Times.

Rosie O’Donnell hit the road. Another that-was-so-20 seconds-ago story was OWN’s late Friday cancellation of Rosie O’Donnell’s talk show. When companies release news late on Friday, it’s because they hope the media have already left for the weekend and will forget about it by the time Monday rolls around. O’Donnell was a huge and expensive flop for OWN. A look at some of the issues with the show from the Daily Beast and the Chicago Tribune.

Inside the Los Angeles Times: James Rainey visits with new CBS News anchor Scott Pelley. Ed Asner revives his old character on CBS’s ‘Hawaii Five-0.’

-- Joe Flint

Follow me on Twitter. My one-man tweets are all factually correct. Twitter.com/JBFlint

Photo’ ‘21 Jump Street.’ Credit: Scott Garfield/Sony.

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For the record: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that ‘The Hunger Games’ originated with Summit Entertainment. It originated with Lionsgate and was marketed by the production company and Tim Palen, not Summit.

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