Quick Takes: Meteor hits TV too

L.A. Times Archives

Feb. 16, 2013 12 AM PT

It’s not every day that a nearly 11-ton meteor explodes in spectacular fashion over the Earth less than 24 hours before a 130-ton asteroid passes closer than communications satellites. The men and women of the Science Channel live for days like this, so it’s no surprise that the cable outfit jumped on the events. What is surprising is how fast they were able to scramble. “Russian Meteor Explosion” premieres on the channel Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET.

They may not have had time to come up with a more clever title (“Watch What Hit Us Live!”), but they did put together a panel of scientists, physicists, astronomers and expert minds from around the globe to look at what happened in the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia, on Friday morning. The scientists will discuss what happened, what didn’t happen and what could have happened. After all, Asteroid 2012 DA14 isn’t the only hunk of rock floating around out there.

—Patrick Kevin Day

Pageant returns to Atlantic City

Miss America is headed back home.

After a six-year stint in Las Vegas, the Miss America Organization announced it will move its namesake pageant back to Atlantic City, N.J., in September.

The pageant also signed a three-year renewal of its TV deal with ABC.

In recent years, the pageant has struggled to keep up with the times as Americans’ views of gender roles have changed (and also racial attitudes: for years, non-white women were barred from competing). The move to Vegas, along with a bid to ride the reality-TV wave, were part of the effort to stay relevant.

Sam Haskell, a former TV agent and chairman of the Miss America Organization, said in a statement: “Miss America remains an iconic symbol, and our roots have always stayed connected to Atlantic City.”

Last January Miss America — not to be confused with Miss USA, the event controlled by Donald Trump — drew 6.7 million total viewers on ABC, a respectable if not spectacular figure. As recently as 1988, the pageant drew at least 50 million viewers.

—Scott Collins

New album from ‘Yonkers’ rapper

Tyler, the Creator is back.

Wary perhaps of being outdone by his Odd Future Records pal Frank Ocean — who picked up a pair of Grammys earlier this week — the attention-loving L.A. rapper announced Thursday that he’ll release a new album in a characteristically memorable YouTube video filled with naughty language. (Shocking!)

“Wolf,” the follow-up to 2011’s “Goblin,” which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the semi-hit “Yonkers,” will arrive April 2 bearing three different covers, one featuring art by the painter Mark Ryden. As for the music, Tyler tweeted, expect “ALOT OF GAY JOKES BIKE REFERENCES AND CHORDS STOLEN FROM STUFF I DONT WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT.” Oh yeah, he added: “I YELL ALOT TOO.” (Even more shocking!)

The Odd Future ringleader is scheduled to play L.A. on the day of the album’s release, though a venue hasn’t been announced.

—Mikael Wood

IFC Films hikes into ‘Canyons’

“The Canyons,” a collaboration between screenwriter and author Bret Easton Ellis and filmmaker Paul Schrader billed as “American Psycho” meets “American Gigolo,” has been picked up for distribution by IFC Films.

Starring troubled starlet Lindsay Lohan and porn star James Deen in his first major non-adult-film role, the picture has already lived a vibrant life in the media as something of a contemporary elaboration of the old adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

IFC plans to premiere the movie on digital platforms this summer.

Schrader is quoted in a news release as declaring the film, funded in part through online crowdsourcing, as “cinema for the post-theatrical age.”

—Mark Olsen