It's that time of year when struggling TV shows are put on their networks' chopping blocks during the upfront presentations in New York City.

This year, a surprising number of shows with critical acclaim and cult fanbase followings — but still not stellar ratings — were given the axe.

With the cancelation of shows such as "The New Normal," "Happy Endings," and "Smash," Slate writes that next year's TV line up "will be a lot more heterosexual than the current season."

See if your TV viewing schedule is about to be changed forever.

NBC was by far the harshest, canceling all of the below shows:

• "Up All Night": Actually a funny show, it was doomed when star Christina Applegate departed in February. Not even remaining cast members Maya Rudolph and Will Arnett could save the sinking ship.
• "1600 Penn": Jenna Elfman, Bill Pullman and Josh Gadd were barely given a chance. Their half-hour comedy was canceled just five months after it premiered.
• "Smash": Produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Katharine McPhee, "Smash" showed the drama behind the scenes on Broadway but didn't have enough to keep the show afloat. Its most recent episode had just two million viewers.
• "Whitney": Not even producer Chelsea Handler could save comedian "Whitney" Cummings from herself. After premiering in 2011, 2013 will be the show's final season.
• "The New Normal": "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy apparently doesn't turn everything he touches into gold.
• "Rock Center with Brian Williams": The primetime news magazine show hosted and executive produced by "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams struggled in the ratings race since its premiere. Not even correspondents such as Ted Koppel, Meredith Vieira, Natalie Moralie and Chelsea Clinton could save it, after multiple scheduling changes.
• Also canceled were new shows: "Deception," "Animal Practice," "Do No Harm," and "Guys with Kids."
• Not to mention, Thursday night staple "30 Rock" just had its final season and "The Office" is about to close its doors for good.
• But, these shows are still safe: "Parks and Recreation," "Chicago Fire," "Law & Order: SVU," "Community," "Grimm," "Parenthood," "The Voice," "Celebrity Apprentice" and "Revolution."
• The fate of "Hannibal" is still undecided.

ABC renewed new favorite "Nashville" and "Grey's Anatomy" for a tenth season, but canceled:

• "Happy Endings": A tragedy! The half-hour comedy was actually a brilliant show, just not enough people realized it. If you don't believe us, check out The Huffington Post's "32 reasons 'Happy Endings' is ah-mah-zing."
• "Don't Trust the B--- in Apartment 23": Despite the cast's Twitter pleas, the show was canceled back in January. But it isn't horrible news for show star James Van Der Beek, who just signed on to star in a new CBS comedy.
• ABC also canceled: "666 Park Avenue," "Body of Proof," "Malibu Country," "Red Widow," "The Family Tools," "Zero Hour," "Last Resort" and "How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)."
• Plus, "Private Practice" just wrapped up its final season.
• But the network did renew ratings favorites: "Scandal," "Grey's Anatomy," "Revenge," "Once Upon a Time," "Castle," "Modern Family," "Suburgatory," "The Middle," "The Neighbors," "Last Man Standing" and fan favorite "Nashville."

CBS renewed more than it canceled. Here are the goners:

• "Rules of Engagement": After seven seasons on the air, the David Spade comedy about relationships is getting a divorce from CBS.
• "CSI: NY": "CSI: NY" is done after nine seasons of getting increasingly lower ratings— making it one of the only flops from the super-successful franchise.
• Also canceled: "Vegas," "Golden Boy," "Made in Jersey," "Partners," and "The Job."
• But all of these shows are returning: "CSI," "NCIS," "NCIS: LA," "The Big Bang Theory," "Two and a Half Men," "Elementary," "How I Met Your Mother (renewed for a final season)," "Criminal Minds," "The Amazing Race," "Blue Bloods," "Hawaii Five-0," "The Good Wife," "The Mentalist," "Mike & Molly," "Person of Interest," "2 Broke Girls" and "Survivor."

Fox canceled three shows, and renewed 11:

• Say sayonara to: "Ben & Kate," "The Mob Doctor" and Kiefer Sutherland drama "Touch," which opens the actor up for a new (limited) run of "24" reboot.
• Breathing a sigh of relief: "Bones," "Glee (renewed for two seasons)," "The Following," "New Girl," "The Mindy Project," "Raising Hope," "The X Factor," "American Idol," "Kitchen Nightmares," "MasterChef" and "Hotel Hell."

The CW is losing two longstanding shows:

• You're fired: "Emily Owens, M.D.," "Cult," "Gossip Girl" (final season), and "90210" (final season).
• You're hired: "Arrow," "Beauty and the Beast," "The Vampire Diaries," "Supernatural," "The Carrie Diaries," "Nikita (a shortened final season)," "Hart of Dixie,," and "America's Next Top Model."

SEE ALSO: "24" is returning to Fox for a limited run >

THEN: Watch the season 4 "Arrested Development" trailer >

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Thanks to a "Game of Thrones" character, the name "Arya" is the fastest-growing name for a baby girl in the U.S.

The name shot up 298 spots in rankings between 2011 and 2012, according to The Social Security Administration's annual update of the most popular names, released today.

"Arya" became popular following the success of HBO's "Game of Thrones," which premiered in — you guessed it — 2011.

"Arya Stark" is the name of the tough-as-nails pre-teen daughter of a northern lord in the hit show, based on the George R. R. Martin novels.

"The name "Arya" made a massive leap from #711 in 2011 during the first season of the show to #413 during its second season in 2012," notes Wired.

"Twilight" had a similar effect in 2011, when the names Isabella and Jacob shot up to the number one baby names after the success of the book-turned-movie franchise.

SEE ALSO: 22 more baby names that are surging in popularity >

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Today, Stephen Colbert turns 49-years-old.

In honor of "The Colbert Report" host's birthday, let's take a look at some highlights from his life and career, thanks to cantmiss.tv.

Images under CC BY-SA 3.0& CC BY 2.0. Additional data from Wikipedia and DirectSpecialTV.

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Despite China's ongoing sexual revolution, pornography is still illegal. Under Chinese law, anyone found to be producing and distributing obscene material can get three years in jail.

The country requires many pornography censors to find and censor content considered obscene, and it's not always easy work.

70-year-old Liu Xiaozhen is one such censor, employed at Hunan province's "eliminate pornography and illegal publications" office. The office had to watch and classify 700 DVDs confiscated in April alone.

Over the weekend Liu granted a rare interview to ND News, describing the stresses and perils of his job.

The interview is in Chinese, but well worth watching even if you don't understand:

"You have to watch even if you don't want to watch," Liu says, according to the South China Morning Post. "But when you're in this job, you have to watch very closely, and once you've watched, you classify."

Recalling his first day, Liu said that it was "awkward, my face and ears turned red and my heart skipped a beat."

The requirements for the job don't seem high, the SCMP notes — candidates must be married and undergo training.

Recently, a job posting seeking a "chief pornography identifier" for internet company Anquan.org went viral, eventually reposted at least 125,000 times on the microblogging site Weibo. The position was said to pay 200,000 yuan ($32,280) a year.

While some observers dismissed the job posting as a publicity stunt, online companies do have their own censorship programs in place — one study found that pornography was "almost universally" censored on Weibo.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Joyce Brothers, the pop psychologist who pioneered the television advice show in the 1950s and enjoyed a long and prolific career as a syndicated columnist, author, and television and film personality, has died. She was 85.

Brothers died Monday in New York City, according to her longtime publicist, Sanford Brokaw. The cause of death was not immediately made public.

Brothers first gained fame on a game show and went on to publish 15 books and make cameo appearances on popular shows including "Happy Days" and "The Simpsons." She visited Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" nearly 100 times.

The way Brothers liked to tell it, her multimedia career came about "because we were hungry."

It was 1955. Her husband, Milton Brothers, was still in medical school and Brothers had just given up her teaching positions at Hunter College and Columbia University to be home with her newborn, firmly believing a child's development depended on it.

But the young family found itself struggling on her husband's residency income. So Brothers came up with the idea of entering a television quiz show as a contestant.

"The $64,000 Question" quizzed contestants in their chosen area of expertise. She memorized 20 volumes of a boxing encyclopedia — and, with that as her subject, became the only woman and the second person to ever win the show's top prize.

Brothers tried her luck again on the superseding "$64,000 Challenge," answering each question correctly and earning the dubious distinction as one of the biggest winners in the history of television quiz shows. She later denied any knowledge of cheating, and during a 1959 hearing in the quiz show scandal, a producer exonerated her of involvement.

Her celebrity opened up doors. In 1956, she became co-host of "Sports Showcast" and frequently appeared on talk shows.

Two years later, NBC offered her a trial on an afternoon television program in which she advised on love, marriage, sex and child-rearing. Its success led to a nationally telecast program, and subsequent late-night shows that addressed such taboo subjects as menopause, frigidity, impotence and sexual enjoyment.

She also dispensed advice on several phone-in radio programs, sometimes going live. She was criticized by some for giving out advice without knowing her callers' histories. But Brothers responded that she was not practicing therapy on the air and that she advised callers to seek professional help when needed.

Despite criticism of the format, the call-in show took off, and by 1985, the Association of Media Psychologists was created to monitor for abuses.

For almost four decades, Brothers was a columnist for Good Housekeeping. She also wrote a daily syndicated advice column that appeared in more than 350 newspapers. Briefly, in 1961, she was host of her own television program.

Later, Brothers branched out into film, playing herself in more than a dozen movies, including "Analyze That" (2002), "Beethoven's 4th" (2001), "Lover's Knot" (1996) and "Dear God" (1996).

She was also an advocate for women. In the 1970s, Brothers called for changing textbooks to remove sexist bias, noting that nonsexist cultures tend to be less warlike.

The quiz show scandal of 1958-59 was one of the biggest scandals in the history of television. It erupted in 1958 when it was revealed that quiz show producers had been rigging the outcome of some shows, including "The $64,000 Question," by giving favored contestants the answers in advance.

Brothers was one of a number of big winners who told an Associated Press survey in November 1959 that they knew nothing of any cheating.

At a House hearing that month, associate producer Mort Koplin also said Brothers was among those not involved in cheating. But he also described how contestants, who were carefully interviewed in advance, could be affected unknowingly as producers tried to manipulate the outcome of shows by tailoring questions to benefit favored ones and oust less-favored ones.

According to the testimony, Brothers applied to be a "64,000 Question" contestant as an expert in home economics and psychology. The producers, looking for an audience-pleasing oddity, suggested the pretty young woman try boxing as her specialty. She learned the subject so well, Koplin said, she kept on winning even after the producers "threw the book" at her with tough questions aimed at eliminating her.

Born Joyce Diane Bauer in New York, Brothers earned her bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia.

She wrote numerous advice books, including "Ten Days To A Successful Memory" (1964), "Positive Plus: The Practical Plan for Liking Yourself Better" (1995) and "Widowed" (1992), a guide to dealing with grief written after the death of her husband in 1990.

Brothers is survived by sister Elaine Goldsmith, daughter Lisa Brothers Arbisser, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen contributed to this report.

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Last year, everyone was talking about Angelina Jolie's leg, Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise's divorce, the Olympics, and PSY's "Gangnam Style."

So far this year, Robert Downey Jr., Justin Timberlake, and J.J. Abrams have taken the spotlight with new films and the release of a new album.

Which celebrities aren't people talking about this year?

E-Poll crunched the numbers based on responses to 1,100 surveys to tell us which stars lost the most likeability.

15. Wiz Khalifa

Khalifa revealed spending nearly $10,000 on weed every month last year.

The singer just welcomed a son, Sebastian, in February and released a new EP in April.

14. Simon Baker

Baker is losing popularity, despite his CBS series "The Mentalist" being renewed for a sixth season.

13. Russell Brand

Brand was completely in the spotlight until his divorce from superstar ex-wife Katy Perry after two years together.

The comedian later said he and Perry were incompatible. 

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Angelina Jolie says that she has had a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that made it extremely likely she would get breast cancer.

The Oscar-winning actress and partner to Brad Pitt made the announcement in the form of an op-ed she authored for Tuesday's New York Times (http://nyti.ms/17o4A0f ) under the headline, "My Medical Choice." She writes that between early February and late April she completed three months of surgical procedures to remove both breasts.

Jolie, 37, writes that she made the choice with thoughts of her six children after watching her own mother, actress Marcheline Bertrand, die too young from breast cancer.

"My mother fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56," Jolie writes. "She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was."

She writes that, "They have asked if the same could happen to me."

Jolie said that after genetic testing she learned she carries the "faulty" BRCA1 gene and had an 87 percent chance of getting the disease herself.

She said she has kept the process private so far, but wrote about it with hopes of helping other women.

"I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made," Jolie writes. "My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer."

Phone and email messages left by The Associated Press late Monday night seeking comment from Jolie representatives were not immediately returned.

She is anything but private in the details she provides, giving a step-by-step description of the procedures.

"My own process began on Feb. 2 with a procedure known as a 'nipple delay,'" she writes, "which rules out disease in the breast ducts behind the nipple and draws extra blood flow to the area."

She then describes the major surgery two weeks later where breast tissue was removed, saying it felt "like a scene out of a science-fiction film," then writes that nine weeks later she had a third surgery to reconstruct the breasts and receive implants."

Many women have chosen preventive mastectomy since genetic screening for breast cancer was developed, but the move and public announcement is unprecedented from a star so young and widely known as Jolie.

She briefly addresses the effects of the surgery on the idealized sexuality and iconic womanhood that have fueled her fame.

"I do not feel any less of a woman," Jolie writes. "I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity."

She also wrote that Brad Pitt, her partner of eight years, was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center in Southern California for "every minute of the surgeries."

Bertrand, Jolie's mother, died in January 2007. She had small roles in the movies "Lookin' to Get Out" in 1982 and "The Man Who Loved Women" in 1983. She raised Jolie and her brother after divorcing their father, Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight, when Jolie was a toddler.

Jolie has appeared in dozens of films including 2010's "The Tourist" and "Salt," the "Tomb Raider" films, and 1999's "Girl, Interrupted," for which she won an Academy Award.

But she has appeared more often in the news in recent years for her power coupling with Pitt and her charitable work with refugees as a United Nations ambassador.

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• Leonardo DiCaprio helped Christie's raise a whopping $38.8 million for the 11th Hour charity auction benefiting the actor's environmental and wildlife conservation efforts. According to Christie's Twitter feed, the event saw 13 world auction records for individual artists. Art Market Monitor reported that a total of $38.8 million-plus was raised from the event, double the $18 million that organizers were aiming to raise.
• Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel and Tommy Hilfiger were among the high profile names at Harvey Weinstein's West Village town home last night during Obama's visit.
• Beyoncé's father Mathew Knowles owes over $1.2 million in taxes. TMZ is reporting that the IRS has filed a lien against Knowles for $1.2 million in unpaid taxes from 2010 and 2011, when he was still managing his daughter.
• Cops are investigating after an obsessed fan tweeted Ashley Tisdale 18,000 times and then showed up at her L.A. home. The tweets are pretty creepy -- the person (believed to be a man) seems to be delusional, writing as if the two have some sort of ongoing relationship. 
• Crystal Hefner's parents love her "Playboy" lifestyle. The 26-year-old Mrs. Hugh Hefner says, "My parents come up here pretty much every weekend ...They love coming here, they've made all kinds of new friends."
• Actress Zoe Saldana, who formerly dated Bradley Cooper, reveals "[I might] end up with a woman raising my children, that’s how androgynous I am."
• Rihanna ... in short, bleach blonde wig.

SEE ALSO: Angelina Jolie reveals she had a preventative double mastectomy >

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After eight long seasons, "How I Met Your Mother" finally revealed the mother.

Last night's season finale introduced us to the boot-wearing, yellow umbrella wielding woman who is the basis for the entirety of CBS' sitcom.

If you were expecting a big celebrity reveal, it's not.

(Scroll down to see the mother.)

Who is she?

We don't know her character name yet, but Cristin Milioti will play "the mother" protagonist Ted (Josh Radnor) will meet at a train station sometime next season and eventually marry.

If Milioti looks familiar, you may recognize her from episodes of "30 Rock," "The Good Wife," or "The Sopranos."

She was also nominated for a Tony for Broadway show, "Once."

Milioti will appear in Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" later this year opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill.

Series co-creator Craig Thomas told TV Guide in February that the next, final season of "How I Met Your Mother" will be incredibly different from the rest, so expect to see much more of Milioti. 

Watch the mother's appearance from the season 8 finale:

SEE ALSO: 15 celebrities who are becoming increasingly unpopular >

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Using ropes, hammers and chisels, thieves have reportedly stole more than $100,000 of Justin Bieber’s concert money by breaking into a secure room at FNB stadium in Johannesburg following the singer's Saturday performance.

South African police spokeswoman Katlego Mogale told the BBC: "The suspect/s had gained entry through the stadium roof. They broke the tile of the bathroom between last night (Sunday) after the concert and this morning."

While no suspects have been named yet, it’s believed the thieves dug away at the arena’s thick walls for a few days before breaking through and lowering themselves with ropes into the room where the cash was stored.

The stolen money is also from a Bon Jovi concert, who played the Johannesburg stadium the night before.

The specific amount stolen is still unclear, as TMZ reports the amount to be "an estimated $330,000" while GossipCop says "they grabbed a little more than $100,000."

A lot is still unknown, but in the meantime FNB Stadium is on lockdown while officials investigate.

Adds a police officer from Booysens police station in Soweto, "We don't know how many people were involved as we are still gathering evidence."

Bieber tweeted "It wasn't me" -- but has since deleted the post.

SEE ALSO: Leonardo DiCaprio raises $35M in record-breaking art auction >

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Actress Angelina Jolie revealed in a op-ed for "The New York Times" on Tuesday that she recently had both her breasts removed in the hopes of lowering her breast cancer risk.

Jolie, 37, had what is known as a preventative double mastectomy, after learning that she was at high risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers due to the mutation of the breast cancer susceptibility gene known as BRCA1, which is inherited from either the mother or father. 

Jolie's mother died from ovarian cancer in 2007. She was 56.

Women who are carriers of a mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 have a high, lifelong risk of hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancer. This is characterized by a lifetime risk of breast cancer that ranges from 60% to 85% and a lifetime risk of ovarian cancer that ranges between 15% and 40%, according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine. 

Jolie says her doctors estimated that she had an 87% risk of breast cancer and a 50% risk of ovarian cancer.  

The Oscar-winning actress and U.N. special envoy decided to undergo an extensive procedure, which included three surgeries between February and April, to significantly reduce her cancer risk. 

After the surgeries, Jolie says her chance of developing breast cancer is now less than 5%.  

The preventative operation to remove breasts before showing signs of cancer is generally not recommended for patients without a genetic predisposition to the disease.

Additionally, not all doctors agree that a preventative double mastectomy is the right way to go. While there's a high cancer risk for those who have mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, these account for only 2 to 3% of all breast cancers.

Still, for patients who have to live with the thought of one day developing breast cancer, a double mastectomy may be more about improving the quality of life than ultimately saving a life.

Jolie, a known activist for women's rights, hopes her story will encourage other women to get the appropriate genetic screening and take preventative measures if that's what their doctor recommends. 

She notes, "the cost of testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2, at more than $3,000 in the United States, remains an obstacle for many women."

A study in the journal Nature, published in 2007, acknowledged the same roadblock. BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations "account for a disproportionately large share of life-years lost due to cancer because familial breast and/or ovarian cancer tends to occur in women at relatively young ages," the study authors wrote. 

It continues: "The considerable costs and technical limitations of BRCA1/2 mutation analysis, however, still prohibit wide application of these tests in all women at high risk."

SEE ALSO: Powerful Pictures Of Earth Being Destroyed

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The price of television advertising continues to skyrocket, even though audiences have dwindled as viewers have moved onto alternative, web-based video platforms.

There are up to 17% fewer TV watchers in some demographics this year, compared to previous seasons.

How, you ask, is this even possible? 

The prices stay high because the TV networks act like a cartel and create the illusion of scarcity.

Imagine this scenario: Every year, a few dozen of the world's top oil buyers and their clients — five major petroleum suppliers — gather in Midtown New York, enter a room that's closed to the public, and agree on the aggregate price of oil for much of the rest of the year.

They don't really know how much oil will be needed, but they can make a good guess. At least 15% of the U.S. oil supply gets priced in for the rest of the year in a series of gigantic contracts worth billions of dollars. Each buyer represents millions of American customers. The prices at which each buyer is getting his oil aren't disclosed. And sometimes the suppliers aren't even sure they can deliver enough oil to fulfill their part of the bargain.

If you were told that this is how oil gets bought and sold — through an opaque cartel that meets in secret — you'd be angry, and for good reason. There would be Congressional inquiries, antitrust prosecutions. Executives might even go to prison.

Oil isn't sold like this, of course. Oil is traded on exchanges, and buyers and sellers can see the price of oil per barrel moving up and down in a fairly transparent manner.

But television advertising is, pretty much, traded like this, in what the industry calls the "upfronts."

The upfront compresses what ought to be a yearlong buying season into just a few days. Advertisers are told "Buy now!" or face a severe disadvantage later in the season when all the good airtime is gone. All the networks agree to use the same week to make their pitch, even though they compete.

Last year, CBS kept the price of its upfront inventory high by refusing to sell some of it until later in the year — making its time even more scarce, and even more expensive for latecomers.

How upfronts work

Right now, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and some of the major cable channels, are holding their "upfront" buying events in Midtown New York. They do this every year: The networks put on crazy shows, featuring their big stars, trying to build as much buzz as possible.

The shows are for ad-buyers, not the public. Last year, Jimmy Kimmel did a set for ABC in which he mocked the NBC show "Animal Practice," which featured a monkey. "This is the first time that NBC has had a star that throws its own feces since Gary Busey on 'Celebrity Apprentice,'" he said. Then he added, "We know that you have 9 billion to spend this week, so don't get all cheap-o, Secret Service on us" (a reference to the scandal in which a presidential security officer short-changed a prostitute).

Once the shows are over, the buyers and the networks literally enter a secret room, or at least a room that no one else is allowed into, and do their deals. About $10 billion will get spent this month. Ad Age describes it this way:

This is the time of year when the most powerful ad execs in the nation stand in line — line! — to get into Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to hear the pitch, see the clips and laugh along with the stars.

… after these big parties are over, possibly as few as 40 people from the networks, agencies and brands will go into backrooms and decide how $9 billion of the $62 billion U.S. TV ad market will be spent next year.

This is madness. No other billion-dollar commodity exchanges hands with this lack of transparency.

"Clients do not share their rates, and if they found out an agency was sharing their rates, that would be it," said one ad agency CEO.

 TV airtime is sold in chunks of 30-second units. At base, it's a commodity. Some of it is more valuable, due to shows with larger audiences, or skewed demographics. But 30 seconds inside "Two And A Half Men" is mostly the same as 30 seconds inside "Big Bang Theory." 

Yet advertisers never really know the "true" price of any 30-second slot. Via their media-buying agencies, they must cut their deals with networks without knowing what other advertisers are paying. The system hurts new advertisers with smaller budgets. Big clients like Ford and McDonald's have been advertising for decades and know all the tricks. They can build in long-term discounts. New advertisers lack that leverage, and don't know how deep the discounts are that other buyers are getting on the same airtime.

Levi's once had the boldness to ask what prices other clients represented by its own ad agency were paying — and people freaked out:

"That kind of thing is not done, and it's because of the cloak-and-dagger nature of how rates are decided in this industry," one agency CEO told Ad Age. "Clients do not share their rates, and if they found out an agency was sharing their rates, that would be it."

Imagine trying to buy stocks, or flights, or concert tickets on the same basis — the vendor would tell you the price you can buy stock at, but not what price everyone else was paying.

The networks have actively resisted reform

And they've been successful doing it: 

• In August 2012, Google's TV Ads experiment, an online exchange for airtime, was closed. None of the networks gave Google any significant inventory to sell.
• NBC offered Google only its worst niche inventory, on obscure channels like Sleuth and Chiller.
• A company called Spot Runner died after failing to sign a single client or network to its online TV marketplace, and Microsoft gave up on its attempt to do the same thing.
• The cable networks also resisted an attempt by Wal-mart to form an online TV ad exchange with eBay — and Wal-mart is one of the biggest buyers of TV in the U.S.

It's not that Google and Wal-mart were defeated by superior competition from NBC et al. This is a business where as late as 2009, Tracey Scheppach of Starcom Media Group (one of the larger ad buyers) complained that some TV deals were still conducted by fax. MediaPost noted that "hundreds of millions of dollars can get spent literally over a lunch and with no more contractual requirement than a handshake."

The inefficiencies are built in for a reason. Networks aren't about to make their own market more efficient if that would mean lower prices for buyers.

And the buyers themselves have a conflict, too. The big media agencies pool billions of dollars of their clients' money to cut upfront deals, in hopes of driving down the aggregate price through sheer volume. If that job was done instead via an online trading exchange, someone might ask the awkward question of why media agencies exist at all.

Clients are trapped because TV buying is genuinely complicated, and companies need specialists to do it for them. It's almost a classic rent-seeking scenario from economics.

I'll give the last word to MediaPost's Joe Mandese, who compares the upfront to a Vegas casino where the odds are structured in favor of the house:

... it could well be the only marketplace where the sellers ask the buyers to “register their budgets” with them beforehand so that they can price their inventory most efficiently. The networks say they do this, and media buyers comply with the request, under the auspices that it is the only way to ensure that all the advertisers and agencies will get all the commercial time in the shows they want. Not because it is a method for the networks to “count the house,” model demand, and optimize their yield based on it — as observers in most any other market might conclude from such practices.

SEE ALSO: The 37 Richest People In Advertising, Ranked By Income

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Last night, J.J. Abrams appeared on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" to discuss his film "Star Trek Into Darkness" out this week in theaters.

Abrams will also be directing Disney's next "Star Wars" film in 2015, and Stewart is a fan of both.

The conversation quickly took a turn with Abrams addressing the differences between the two — apparently he sees "Star Wars" as a "samurai" "Western" — and his initial dislike of "Star Trek" for the longest time.

Abrams also discussed how he improved upon the original "Star Trek" series with his films, unintentionally bashing the popular television show in the process.

"The original show was kind of static," said Abrams. "They couldn't afford to go anywhere or do anything. And we had a slightly larger budget than they did."

"Star Trek Into Darkness" is out in theaters Thursday.

Watch an extended cut of their interview below:

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When Jonathan Mayers started interning at Jazzfest he didn't exactly know he would one day helm a company responsible for putting on some of the biggest and best music festivals in the United States. But that is exactly what happened.

While living in New Orleans, in addition to interning he was booking a club called Tipitina's where he met Rick Farman and through him Kerry Black. The three of them started thinking about doing their own events and Mayers brought in Richard Goodstone, a friend from high school who moved down to New Orleans. And Superfly was born.

They started with concerts and concert series around special events like Jazzfest and Mardi Gras. The four focused on creating unique one off events, "thinking about it almost like an art project," as Mayers told Business Insider, putting extra effort into getting cool art for the posters and creating engaging environments at the concerts.

With their expertise growing the four decided to launch Bonnaroo in 2002 and it quickly blossomed into one of the premier summer festivals. As that event has grown over the years the group has added more festival and more staff.

The 4-man team has grown to around 60 full time employees in offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. And on top of festivals they've also moved into brand marketing programs, creating unique experiences around brands and companies.

To stay grounded and continue the fun, family feel they started with, Superfly has created an open and relaxed office environment. This keeps it easy for people to work together and collaborate and come up with the new and exciting ideas that keep their events fresh.The occasional late night karaoke session helps too.

But at the end it is about the music and show and when we stopped by their office they were gearing up for this year's the Great Googa Mooga which will take over Prospect Park on May 17-18.

Welcome to Superfly!

The company has a fun entrance that can also serve as a workspace. Julie Daly, seated at the desk, has been an administrative assistant at the company for a year and a half. She enjoys the "family vibe" around the office and loves the company's music festivals. For Googa Mooga she is looking forward to seeing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

A souvenir from last year's Great Googa Mooga, a fun way to kill time if you have to wait in the waiting area.

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In Angelina Jolie's NY Times op-ed Monday morning revealing she underwent a secret, preventative double mastectomy, the 37-year-old actress wrote "I am fortunate to have a partner, Brad Pitt, who is so loving and supportive."

And now, Pitt is speaking out in response to his longtime partner's medical confession.

"Having witnessed this decision firsthand, I find Angie's choice, as well as so many others like her, absolutely heroic," Pitt, 49, tells The London Evening Standard. "I thank our medical team for their care and focus. All I want for is for her to have a long and healthy life, with myself and our children. This is a happy day for our family."

In her op-ed, Jolie revealed that Pitt was a great source of strength during her difficult time.

"Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center [in Beverly Hills], where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries," she wrote. "We managed to find moments to laugh together. We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has."

Pitt and Jolie are parents to six children under the age of 11.

SEE ALSO: Angelina Jolie's NY Times Op-Ed On Her Secret Double Mastectomy >

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Angelina Jolie opened up in a New York Times op-ed about undergoing a secret, preventative double mastectomy after finding out she had an 87% chance of getting breast cancer.

Following the confession, celebrities ranging from Kristen Bell to cancer survivors Sheryl Crow and Giuliana Rancic tweeted their support of the actress.

I commend Angelina Jolie for her courage and thoughtfulness in sharing her story today regarding her mastectomy. So brave!

— Sheryl Crow (@SherylCrow) May 14, 2013

Ladies, please check out Angelina Jolie's story today, especially if you have breast cancer in your family history.

— Sheryl Crow (@SherylCrow) May 14, 2013

Angelina Jolie reveals double mastectomy. Proud of her for using her incredible platform to educate women: nyti.ms/19l8bbZ

— Giuliana Rancic (@GiulianaRancic) May 14, 2013

An admirable op ed by Angelina Jolie: nytimes.com/2013/05/14/opi…

— Kristen Bell(@IMKristenBell) May 14, 2013

My Medical Choice nyti.ms/10U9HwL I really love this woman, so cool & focused on important things in life. #StAngie#angelina

— Eliza Dushku (@elizadushku) May 14, 2013

Much respect & for sharing in classy way: Angelina Jolie on why she had a double mastectomy & how it can save lives: nyti.ms/19l8bbZ

— Elizabeth Banks (@ElizabethBanks) May 14, 2013

Angelina Jolie wrote about testing positive for the cancer gene and getting a double mastectomy. What would you do? bthny.com/12xk7FA

— Bethenny Frankel (@Bethenny) May 14, 2013

My Medical Choice nyti.ms/10U9HwL - bravo Angelina for sharing ur truth !

— Rosie O'Donnell (@Rosie) May 14, 2013

wow. Brave & Considerate move on Angelina Jolie's behalf n.pr/169wayt

— Questlove Jenkins (@questlove) May 14, 2013

This absolutely blew my mind. Angelina Jolie speaking out about a difficult decision that will inform + empower othe… say.ly/BIO5ORL

— Nina Dobrev (@ninadobrev) May 14, 2013

"Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of" - Angelina Jolie.

— Marlee Matlin (@MarleeMatlin) May 14, 2013

A moment of quiet respect for Angelina Jolie's candor and all women's bravery in facing this choice: nyti.ms/17o4k1m

— Nia Vardalos (@NiaVardalos) May 14, 2013

Anjelina Jolie..an incredible woman. Smart & brave

— Jackie Collins (@jackiejcollins) May 14, 2013

My Medical Choice by Angelina Jolie. Read this,re-tweet it, share it with friends & family. Awareness can save livesnyti.ms/10U9HwL

— soleil moon frye (@moonfrye) May 14, 2013

This will save lives. RT @nytopinion: Angelina Jolie on why she had double mastectomy & how it can save lives: nyti.ms/19l8bbZ

— rob delaney (@robdelaney) May 14, 2013

It's fun seeing people's misogyny and fear of their own mortality come out in full force with this Angelina Jolie news.

— rob delaney (@robdelaney) May 14, 2013

A brave and bold essay by Angelina Jolie about an excruciating medical choice she had to make: nyti.ms/10U9HwL

— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) May 14, 2013

SEE ALSO: Brad Pitt: Angelina's double mastectomy was 'absolutely heroic' >

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In 1977, George Lucas took us to the desert planet of Tatooine in "Star Wars."

36 years later, the planet's structures remain intact in the deserts of Tunisia.

Visual artist and filmmaker, Ra di Martino has photographed the film set in two series called "No More Stars" and "Every World's A Stage."

Di Martino told Business Insider she found out about the "Star Wars" ruins through a Google Earth tourist photo.  

This inspired her to head to Tunisia and take pictures as part of research on abandoned movie sets in North Africa.  

She imagines they were left there because they are literally in the middle of nowhere and no one complained. 

Di Martino gave us permission to run some of her photos. 

Here they are along with how the set of "Star Wars" originally looked.

You can view all of her photos here.

THEN: This was Luke Skywalker's home on the planet of Tatooine.

NOW: Here it is today in the middle of Tunisia.

Visual artist and filmmaker, Ra di Martino traveled there to photograph the location of the "Star Wars" scenes filmed during the '70s.

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Meme-extraordinaire Ryan Gosling went viral this month after Ryan McHenry created a series of 6-second Vines showing the actor in various movie clips refusing to eat his cereal.

In a quick-thinking social media move, Cap'n Crunch decided to insert itself into the conversation by making a Vine of its own, stating "Ryan Gosling won't eat his cereal... unless it's Crunch Berries. #CapnMakesItHapn"

Brands are constantly trying to bring themselves into viral conversations on Twitter. Oreo, for example, completely nailed it by tweeting during the Super Bowl blackout that "You can still dunk in the dark."

Now this reactionary social strategy is finding a home on Vine, the Twitter-owned video platform, as well.

SEE ALSO: These are the amazing things brands are doing on Vine >

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If the $1 trillion student loan debt crisis in America doesn't have you freaked out yet, we're willing to bet this new film will do the trick.

"The Red" is a mini horror film directed by the same team behind thrillers like “Martha Marcy May Marlene” and “Simon Killer."  

But the bad guy isn't a ghost or the spooky neighbor next door. It's the $25,000 student debt bill that haunts most of today's college graduates. 

The end goal isn't just to frighten viewers, but to encourage them to be proactive in paying down their debt early. It's a message that works just as well for anyone in debt but the casting of 20-something characters will really hit home for young people. 

“It isn't easy to get young people who feel panicked about their debts to do something about it,” said Sue Burton of the nonprofit American Student Assistance, which financed the film. “To connect meaningfully with them, we produced something very entertaining that acknowledges how frightening it can be, yet portrays their own power and offers a path out of the nightmare.”

The best part about the film is that it perfectly captures not only the financial impact of debt, but the emotional and psychological repercussions as well. Debt is crippling in every facet of life, and the effects only worsen with time unless, as the film depicts, you face it. 

Check it out below: 

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The Daily Beasthas obtained the screenplay for "Rodham," a new biopic that centers on Hillary Clinton in her 20s and made the 2012 Black List of the top 10 unproduced scripts in Hollywood.

Filming hasn't started yet, but the movie is already getting a lot of buzz. The Daily Beast has published a breakdown of some of the script's juiciest parts:

• Hillary is described as having an “awful haircut," wearing a “hideous pair of Coke-bottle glasses” and being “the valedictorian of the ‘look-like-shit school of feminism.’” Bill is called a “Viking” with a “full mane” and “six-inch beard.”

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