Wednesday August 6th, 2014 -12pm
Posted Aug 6, 2014 12:26:30 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The third hour of the 570 Midday Show
12:00 Richard Zurawski, Author/Science Guy
Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft reached its final destination today after a decade-long journey into deep space that aims to place the first lander on a comet. Rosetta began orbiting the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet to glean information about the mass of dirty ice, dust and gas, according to the European Space Agency, which launched the probe in 2004. In November, it’s due to send a smaller landing craft down onto the comet to take more measurements. Scientists hope to learn about the early evolution of the solar system by studying comets, which date back 4.6 billion years when the planets were forming. Researchers are also searching for organic molecules that represent the building blocks for life, which comets may have brought to Earth in its early years.
12:15 Bill Brioux, TV Critic/Columnist
TV’s biggest comedy will bang on. Warner Bros. has finalized contract negotiations with the last two remaining cast members of The Big Bang Theory,meaning that production on the sitcom’s eighth season will proceed on Wednesday, Aug. 6, it was announced Tuesday. That means the ink is finally dry on the contracts of Kunal Nayyar and Simon Helberg, who play Raj and Wolowitz, respectively. Details on the contracts weren’t made available, but Variety says the pair, who support main stars Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, and Kaley Cuoco, will earn something in the mid-six-figure-per-episode range. That’s up from the $100,000 they reportedly earned before.
Fall TV: Scoop on Big Bang Theory and more returning fall shows
That’s still a lot less than the $1 million per episode that Parsons, Galecki and Cuoco will earn, in addition to their share of the show’s back-end profits. The three stars’ lengthy contract holdouts ended Monday. Nayyar and Helberg apparently wanted similar deals to their co-stars, but the studio refused to cave and allegedly threatened to write both characters out of the show if they did not take the deal offered today. Fellow Big Bang Theory cast members Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik had previous deals going into Season 8, leaving Helberg and Nayyar as the only two left without new contracts.
Season 8 was supposed to start July 30. However, the lost time will not affect the 24-episode order. The new season of The Big Bang Theory premieres Monday, Sept. 22 at 8/7c on CBS.
12:30 Craig Patterson, analyst who runs Retail Insider
When Walmart Canada introduced free shipping on all online purchases last year, it was a clear message to its rivals that it was gearing up for a fight. Craig Patterson, an analyst who runs the online news magazine Retail Insider, said the move by one of the world’s largest retailers was bold, setting a new standard in going the extra mile for consumer dollars. “This means war. It’s a declaration of war, no question,” he said from Vancouver. For the last few years, a battle has been waging among retailers trying to set themselves apart, as entrants such as U.S. giants Target and Nordstrom arrive to compete for the same customers. While a behemoth retailer like Walmart may be able to absorb the costs of shipping, it would be a challenging task for smaller retailers to be able to offer the same without raising prices. The head of e-commerce at Walmart Canada says it wanted to offer a seamless transition between online and in-store shopping by eliminating any minimum purchase requirement.
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