Quick Takes - July 23, 2010

Gigolos on Showtime?

Showtime has had programs about serial killers, drug dealers, lesbians, call girls, sex addicts and multiple personalities. The only thing missing is gigolos — but maybe not for long.

The pay cable channel is developing a reality show about men who rent themselves out. The show, according to Showtime, is an “unscripted look into the personal lives of a group of men who offer sex and companionship for money in Las Vegas.”

While reality has long been a staple of broadcast television and commercial cable, pay channels such as HBO and Showtime have not had the same level of success with the genre.

—Joe Flint

Tabloid settles Brangelina suit

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie accepted an undisclosed amount of damages Thursday after suing a British tabloid newspaper that had claimed they were separating.

In January, the News of the World reported that the couple planned to part and had agreed on custody of their six children and the division of their assets.

Solicitor-advocate Keith Schilling told the High Court in London that News Group Newspapers now accepted that each of the allegations was “false and intrusive,” the Press Assn. reported.

The News of the World agreed to publish an apology and pay the couple costs and damages, which they intend to donate to their charity, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

—Reuters

Amazon lands ace e-books

Amazon.com has landed exclusive rights to sell the e-book versions of some of the best-known titles from top literary authors Philip Roth, Norman Mailer, Vladimir Nabokov, John Updike and more.

The online retailer began offering the books Thursday through its Kindle store, saying a deal with the powerful Wylie Agency will give Amazon.com the exclusive e-book rights for two years. The titles include “Brideshead Revisited,” “Portnoy’s Complaint,” “Lolita,” “The Stories of John Cheever,” “The Naked and the Dead,” “Invisible Man,” “The Adventures of Augie March,” “Love Medicine” and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”

In the simmering conflict between Amazon’s Kindle, Apple’s iBookstore/iPad and everyone else, few exclusive content deals have been announced, and certainly none of this magnitude. It’s an early indication that now that the devices have staked their claims, what matters isn’t how well they work but what content they can deliver. VHS versus Beta, anyone?

—Carolyn Kellogg

Bashir bolts ‘Nightline’

“Nightline” co-anchor Martin Bashir is leaving ABC News to anchor an afternoon program on cable news channel MSNBC.

The move represents a big loss for ABC, which is struggling to compete in the 24-hour news cycle against entrenched rivals with greater resources. Earlier this year, ABC News dramatically pared its operation, eliminating 20% of its staff, or more than 300 positions. Four months ago, another ABC standout, Kate Snow, bolted to NBC.

Bashir is best known for in-depth reporting and documentaries, including the illuminating “Living With Michael Jackson” special in 2003, which prompted a police investigation into the late singer’s relations with children; an interview with Princess Diana; and his investigation into the Bay Area BALCO steroids scandal, which ensnared Olympic athlete Marion Jones.

Bashir will join NBC in September. In addition to his MSNBC program, he will be a contributor to NBC’s prime-time newsmagazine, “Dateline.”

Bill Weir, 31, currently an anchor of weekend “Good Morning America,” will join Cynthia McFadden and Terry Moran on “Nightline.”

—Meg James

Art satellite for Palm Desert

The Palm Springs Art Museum has formed a committee to oversee fundraising and other activities related to a new satellite site that is expected to open in late 2011 or early 2012 in Palm Desert.

Organizers said that the new facility will be in the 8,400-square-foot Palm Desert Visitors Center in the Entrada del Paseo development. To be called the Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Desert, the location is expected to include an ongoing sequence of exhibitions plus a sculpture garden.

An article published recently in the Desert Sun stated that the museum was planning to spend about $500,000 to reconfigure the building to increase exhibition space and upgrade its air conditioning, security and sprinkler systems.

—David Ng