American Idol producers have talked about a cross-promotion with Empire, Fox's hot new television series about a music industry family. Producers said the idea is to perhaps get some of the contestants on the scripted show. "The music connection would be silly to ignore," said Trish Kinane, executive producer of American Idol. The two shows are broadcast back-to-back on Wednesday nights. Empire has been a success out of the gate, already earning a second season, while age has cost American Idol its long-held status of television's biggest show. Producers, the host Ryan Seacrest and the judges Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr talked about getting stronger performers among this season's finalists. While the show had good contestants last year, Seacrest said some of them could have done more to connect with the audience. – AP
Zuckerberg announces next book-club pick
Mark Zuckerberg considers his new book-club pick timely given the recent terrorist attacks in Paris. The Facebook chief executive announced on Saturday, January 17, that he would take on Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature, a widely discussed and occasionally criticised 2011 book that contends violence has decreased in modern times and the world has become more humane. Zuckerberg posted the news on his Facebook page and on a community page he set up for his club, A Year of Books. Zuckerberg declared he would read a new book every other week in 2015 and invited his millions of Facebook friends to join him and participate in an online discussion. His first choice, Moises Naim's The End of Power, quickly became a best-seller on Amazon and elsewhere. But only 162 comments appear for last week's book-club chat, which has more than 260,000 likes. Within hours of Saturday's announcement, Better Angels jumped from No 6,521 on Amazon to No 501. – AP
Documentary focuses on India's attitude to stand-up comedy
The writer and filmmaker Jaideep Varma's new documentary I Am Offended! looks at the intolerance to stand-up comedy in India. It features prominent Indian comedians, including Johnny Lever, Vir Das and Raju Srivastav. "I Am Offended! is a film about humour in contemporary India," said Varma. "The film is like a stimulating conversation with a lot of practitioners in this art form, punctuated by examples of their best work. All this is within the context of a growing social intolerance and 'thin-skinnedness' in our society." Varma has collaborated with the digital-video entertainment company Culture Machine to launch the 102-minute documentary across Being Indian's digital properties on YouTube and Facebook. The film will debut worldwide digitally on February 5 under the Being Indian banner. – IANS
