Smirnoff’s Master of the Mix has a Second Season

Smirnoff’s reality television show, Master of the Mix that was launched last fall for the first time. Season 2 is aimed at delivering the show on screens, the leading vodka brand is partnering with BET Networks. Master of the Mix is produced by GTM, a full cycle marketing and content development agency in partnership with Electus which is owned by Ben Silverman.

This year’s Master of the Mix varies from the first season with an expanded cast from all over the United States. This year’s cast members and judges include producer and host, Just Blaze, world famous DJ Kid Capri, model and actress Amber Rose, and Master of the Mix Season 1 runner-up DJ Vikter Duplaix, who will also help to decide the next mix master.

Viewers will be able to follow the casting and top contestants from Los Angeles to New York on a Master of the Mix tour bus, where the selected DJs will be judged on their technical ability, track selection, originality, and crowd response. Then the viewers and Facebook fans of the show will decide through online voting who joins DJ Scratch in carrying the Master of the Mix title. The crowned DJ will win $250,000 in cash and prizes.

See more about Master of the Mix here

YouTube Looking to Create Original Content

Google Inc.'s YouTube is expected to announce that it has signed a slew of partnerships with media companies and celebrities to produce content for the popular video website.

Among the expected partners are major media companies such as IAC/InterActiveCorp.'s Electus, News Corp.'s ShineReveille unit, RTL Group's FremantleMedia Ltd., as well as skateboarding legend Tony Hawk and "CSI" creator Anthony Zuiker. Several other partners for YouTube's new initiative already create popular original content on the video site.

YouTube is trying to become a next-generation cable provider overseeing dozens of free online "channels" with high grade shows. Google is supposedly putting up more than $100 million in cash advances to get some of the content produced. The company will recoup the funds from advertising revenue it sells against the content, later splitting ad revenue with the partners.

Some partners such as IAC/InterActiveCorp.'s Electus, News Corp.'s ShineReveille will be in charge of producing multiple channels that fit into one of twenty or so categories such as food, comedy and news. YouTube executives are asking partners, who will retain ownership rights over the content, to produce unique shows that will be completely different than those on TV.

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5 Reasons Yahoo's New TV Lineup Could Save The Web Series

Written By: Megan Angelo

Eric Schmidt might be vowing to keep Google out of the television production game, but Yahoo is heading in the opposite direction.

The company just unveiled a legit programming slate -- eight shows, so you know they mean business -- and will start rolling out the content in October.

And it just might revive the tired, convoluted concept that is the web series. Here's why.

THEY'VE GOT STAR POWER.

Judy Greer (right), Niecy Nash and Morgan Spurlock (who just launched a show on Hulu) are all in the mix.

Plenty of sites have poured earnest capital into funny kids with cell phone cameras, only to find out the hard way: though you feel like you hear about a YouTube sensation going Hollywood every other day, the Internet is not the place to try to launch a star -- not if you actually have money to lose. For every Stevie Ryan, there are scores of unwatched talents.

THEY'RE THINKING LIKE A NETWORK.

Look at the loglines for these shows: getting-healthy adventures, love life dissections -- there's a whole show about the art of crafting a marriage proposal.

Yahoo isn't bothering with the experimental subjects and formats that often go hand-in-hand with web stars. They're aiming directly at women, and not trying to reinvent what a certain type of female viewer wants.

There's no "just give it a shot, you'll love it by episode three" factor.

NO WONDER, SINCE THEY'VE GOT A FORMER NETWORK BOY WONDER.

Three out of eight of the shows come from Electus, the ad-production hybrid agency run by Ben Silverman -- who once ran NBC.

THEY'RE NOT BOTHERING WITH SCRIPTED.

That aforementioned "give it a shot" factor? It's a hundred times more crucial when selling a drama or comedy. Online reality shows are one easy step away from your favorite YouTube channel -- they're just a more natural sell on the Internet.

THEY'VE GOT THE PLATFORMS.

Half the battle of getting users to watch a web series is getting them to remember, visit and return to the URL it calls home. Yahoo doesn't just have the profile and user numbers of producers' dreams; they also have the celebrity-focused omg! and women's-content Shine to help prop up the content.

And in the interest of not sounding too impressed:

We'll go ahead and issue our prediction for the first show cancellation Yahoo will ever have to make. Here's the synopsis for "Your Friends Will Never Believe You":

A high school couple is on a date somewhere in Middle America. When the boy gets up to use the restroom, the star of her favorite television show sits down, tells the girl she’s beautiful; then he says “your friends will never believe you” before he runs out of sight! It was an experience she will remember forever, but will her friends believe it happened? Each week, a new celebrity will surprise one of their fans in a unique manner that will literally never be believed.

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“The Office” Receives Four Emmy Nominations

NBC’s hit comedy “The Office,” produced by Ben Silverman, received four Emmy nominations last week, marking the sixth year in a row the series was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series. Though the show has been nominated every year since its US premiere, it has only won the award once in 2006, its first year.

Steve Carell was also nominated for an Emmy for his portrayal of Michael Scott, the inept, yet lovable boss at Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company’s Scranton branch. He’s up for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, also for the sixth year in a row. Unlike the show itself, Carell has yet to win the Emmy for his performance.

This past season on “The Office” was the last for Carell, who left the show to focus on his film career. He has a romantic comedy, “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” co-starring Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone coming out later this month. James Spader was signed as a permanent cast member, but will not fill Carell’s vacant role. He will play the CEO of Sabre, the parent company of Dunder-Mifflin, replacing Kathy Bates, who also left the show after this season.

"It is thrilling that ‘The Office’ is recognized as the best show on TV year in and year out,” Executive Producer Ben Silverman said. “Our writers and actors deliver at the highest level, and continue to make America laugh and relate."

The show was also nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for the episode "Goodbye, Michael" and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) for the episode "Andy's Play."