Network built around Atlanta-based reality shows
Comcast on-demand lineup features 25 shows focused on local landmarks

By KRISTI E. SWARTZ
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Comcast likes Atlanta to the point that it’s started an entire on-demand network focused on the city and the people in it.

Real City TV/Atlanta, which starts next week is the first time the cable provider has built an entire lineup of reality programming — 25 shows — around a major city. Should the network prove successful, Comcast has plans to create other ones in other cities, said Larry Schweber, a Comcast spokesman.

Cousins Properties The new show ‘High Rise’ is set at the Terminus condo and office complex in Buckhead.

“We’ve always had a real strong focus here on the local community, and we had had a very robust local on-demand content that was successful,” Schweber said. “The reality is a lot of people are still really enamored with reality shows.”

The lineup includes “Bodies of Art,” set in the Little Five Points neighborhood; “Hard Courts,” a feature on playing tennis at some of Atlanta’s most exclusive clubs; and “High Rise,” shot at the Terminus condo and office complex in Buckhead.

Steve Barnes, executive producer and one of the actors in “High Rise,” said he developed the idea for the series, broken into short, 5-to-7-minute pieces, while driving by the building each day on his way to work.

The scripted show features a mix of actors as well as residents of the Terminus building, which sits at the corner of Peachtree and Piedmont roads.

“I thought it was a good property to use,” Barnes, former morning show host on 99X and Dave FM, said. “I could have easily come here and made it some fictitious building, but I didn’t.”

HIGH RISE is Atlanta’s newest drama, filmed at Terminus in Buckhead and coming to Comcast Ch. 1 March 31.
HIGH RISE is Power. Money. Seduction. Love. Deception.  And Heartbreak.
This season on HIGH RISE Love changes, Friendships fail, ambition destroys and DRAMA ELEVATES at the corner of Peachtree & Piedmont.

Top 10 Facebook Rules and Regulations:

1. DO: Face-Lift…someone you don’t care to have as a friend? Simple…just go to your friend list and click the little x in the right corner of their listing. This will delist them and they won’t be notified. Accept them and then x them right out and, at least, you didn’t diss them straight away. If they search for you and notice you gone from their list…it must have been a FB glitch:) 

2. DON’T: Face-Plant…Don’t become someone’s friend just to promote crap on their page and pillage their friends. It’s ok to promote fun stuff but when it turns into more than a few a week…you are using us. See #1 above as the best way to handle Face Plants.

3. DON’T: Write private messages on someone’s “Wall”… The Wall is not the place to mention private or embarrassing things to someone. Tons of people see this and you can’t take it back. If you’re sleeping with the boss, try not to communicate with them on their wall. Send a Private Message and save everybody the hassle.

4. DON’T: Quote song lyrics… Just don’t do it.

5. DON’T: Change your status everytime the wind blows… Do we really need to know that you are enjoying a Starbucks? Be funny. Be clever. Don’t assume we need your every encounter throughout the day.

6. DON’T: Tag your friends in photos (unless they approve) if they…look stupid…are drunk…are half naked…or anything bad. These pictures will show up when their name is searched and also in their photos. Put your crazy pics there if you need to, but don’t drag your friends down with you.

7. DO: Learn how to center your profile pic and make it so we can see your face… If you don’t have a profile pic, at all, many people will apply a Face-Lift as no one wants to see that little gray image that shows up when you have no profile pic.

8. DON’T: Send those stupid flippin’ “causes” and “drinks” around! This is prime grounds to be Face Lifted and never let back in. Buy us a real drink!

9. DON’T: Friends don’t let Friends Facebook Drunk… You WILL regret the gibberish you put out there. You will not get laid firing off IM’s at 4 am. Close the computer and sleep it off.

10. DO: Use Facebook to… keep up with friends and share interesting, fun, funny and informative things.

I had the pleasure of working with some Hollywood power players on Friday night and I can’t say enough how nice they all are! It’s rare to have “A-List” talent that are actually easy to work with. The movie is called The Joneses and I play one of Steve (Duchovny) and Kate’s (Moore) friends. The Joneses will be in theaters in 2009. The writer/director is Derrick Borte and this is his first major project and he deserves kudos for assembling a great cast and even better atmosphere on the set. 

Steve Barnes & Demi Moore

Demi Moore was awesome and a sweetheart. She turns 46 on Tue (11/11) but you would have a hard time pinning that many years on her. She easily looks 30 as you can see from the photo above. She was very fun to work with and very engaging. We talked about everything from her daughter, Rumer, acting on the neighboring “Army Wives” and also CSI soon…to how brutal the tabloids are to stars these days. She was a very bright presence on the set and we had a blast doing the scene. All I could picture was Demi in Indecent Proposal in my head…that’s the Demi burned in my head.

Steve Barnes & David Duchovny

David Duchovny, while a bit more reserved, was just as fun. After spending 8 hours knee to knee on a couch, I can tell you that he is a cool as can be. I never watched X-Files, I am more of a Californication Duchovny fan (That is a killer show). He was very laid back and fun to do the scene with as we riffed on the dialog never doing it the same way twice. Sometimes directors hate when you do that, but some funny stuff was coming from it so it was all good. We all know that Duchovny has a lot going on in his personal life, but he didn’t let it effect him on the set as he was a cool pro.

Gary Cole

Gary Cole plays The Joneses’ next door neighbor. You know this guy because he has been in EVERY THING ON THE PLANET! Check out his IMDB page and you’ll recognize him from several things you forgot he was in. What a GREAT guy!! He was nicer than nice to EVERYONE and a very likable guy. He was as down to earth as you can get, chatting with everyone from the crew, the (real) neighbors around the set and everyone in between. We sat around and chatted for hours about everything from working in Austin on Office Space to his current role on Entourage. I did get some scoop…he’ll be back on Entourage next season!! (shhhhhhh).

When you have that level of “talent” around a set it is usually anything but smooth. These 3 are a great example of how it should be on a movie set as they are some of the nicest in the business. As for the movie, I feel it has a vibe like American Beauty and should be pretty cool when it comes out to the big screens in 2009.

I took up golf exactly 2 years ago after years of fighting it off. This past Saturday, I was fortunate enough to play where the PGA holds their tour Championship, East Lake in Atlanta. Um, that course is Fu*&ing hard as hell!

I have never claimed to be good at golf and every round I play I keep an exact score. I should also point out that I play very fast and never make someone wait behind me. I think that is important to point out as you might be thinking I’m holding up folks behind me with my method of counting every stroke. I don’t care about a Handicap right now, I just want my pure score so I can see when I improve. I’m still waiting for that to happen.

My first round 2 years ago was at Eagle’s Landing (another tough course) and I shot a 150 that day, exactly twice what my friend, Michael Tolcher, shot. This East Lake round was a 149 (go ahead and laugh out loud now) and I am not kidding. Hey, at least, there’s some improvement! I tried, really I did, but it didn’t matter. Usually, I play Chastain, Bobby Jones, or some other local muni course. My best score to date was a 108 (Bobby Jones) but I am usually between 110-125. The rough at East Lake was like hitting out of quicksand. When your ball lands it the rough, it literally disappears. On hole #1 I hit 2 trees trying to come out of the rough and had to dodge from getting hit with my own ball. Within hours of playing, my hamstring, back, feet, and every other muscle in my body was aching for Advil with a Grey Goose chaser. That doesn’t usually happen after a normal round of golf.

Playing East Lake makes you appreciate what these pros can do. At East Lake, you have to walk the course with a caddie. I HATED that part of it because a 149 golfer is about 15 miles of hiking. I’m more of a cart guy…kind of set up the mobile office and enjoy the day with food, drink, iPhone, etc. I know that walking is the way golf was intended to be played, blah blah blah, but walking sucked. I can definitely tell you that I have played areas of that course that Tiger has never even seen other than maybe when taking a leak.

A rare bogey on Hole 6...from Tee to Green. Shocking.

Playing East Lake was an unreal experience and I’m sure I set a new course record and made Bobby Jones roll over a few times in his grave. You can feel the history reeking in that building and soaking that up is an experience I hope you can experience if you are a golfer. Just don’t have the tee time right after mine and you should be ok.

Barnes has been cast in a scene opposite David Duchovny and Demi Moore in the upcoming movie, THE JONESES. The Joneses, which also stars Demi Moore, is in production now and will be released in 2009.