AMC Continues to Build Strong Suite of Movie-Centric Talk Shows with Movies 101

Show Based on Popular NYU Course Taught by Professor Richard Brown

AMC Renews Popular Hollywood Talk Show Sunday Morning ShootOut and Movie-Review Show, Movie Club with John Ridley

New York, NY, May 18, 2005 - As part of a series of announcements from AMC during the annual Upfront period, the network announced today that it will add the new movie talk show, Movies 101, to its growing schedule of 2005 original programming. AMC also announced that it has renewed its popular Hollywood talk show, Sunday Morning ShootOut, for an additional 35 episodes, and movie-talk show, Movie Club with John Ridley, for an additional eight episodes. This announcement signifies AMC's commitment to providing viewers with original programming about movies and movie culture, and the network's success in establishing itself in the Hollywood talk show arena.

Today's announcement comes on the heels of AMC's most successful year ever (2004). In 2005, AMC continues to post record ratings growth in total day and prime time households and key demo deliveries. The network experienced its best EVER 1Q in 1Q 2005 and posted double digit HH and key demo growth across every daypart year to year in April 2005. In addition, season to date (Oct 04 thru Apr 05) is pacing to be AMC's strongest season ever.

"AMC has reinvented the Hollywood talk show format with Sunday Morning ShootOut and Movie Club with John Ridley," said Rob Sorcher, AMC's Senior Vice President of Programming and Production. "We are thrilled that Movies 101 will join the successful roster of movie themed shows on our network and that our viewers will have the chance to join Professor Brown on a weekly cinematic adventure. This series is another way to connect our viewers with top Hollywood personalities, and further cements AMC as a home base for movies and movie lovers."

Prof. Richard Brown added, "For over 35 years I have had the privilege of interviewing the most gifted film artists in America. The mission of MOVIES101@NYU has always been to put the film lover at the very center of the motion picture experience. The opportunity now to bring the energy and insights that come out of our weekly conversations to an audience of 86 million film lovers is absolutely thrilling. I am grateful to AMC for their support, their splendid spirit, but most of all, for the great passion which we share for movies and the gifted artists who make them."

Already a popular New York University course taught by Professor Richard Brown, AMC will bring Movies 101 to movie lovers as an original, half-hour series. Since 1969 Brown's classes for legions of moviemakers have featured guests and lecturers from Hollywood's most acclaimed talent roster, including Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Aniston, Nicolas Cage, George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Michael Douglas, Julia Roberts, and directors Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, to name a few. City Lights Media, based in NYC, produces the series for AMC.

AMC commissioned a pilot of Movies 101 in December 2004. The episode features a candid and telling conversation with actor Willem Dafoe. The pilot, as in all future episodes, was shot on location at the Skirball Center for the Arts in Washington Square South in New York City, in front of an audience of students and movie lovers.

In conjunction with today's announcement on Movies 101, AMC also announced that it has renewed its popular series Sunday Morning ShootOut and Movie Club with John Ridley.

Hosted by Peter Bart and Peter Guber, Sunday Morning ShootOut offers an alternative to Sunday morning news shows by featuring candid and lively conversations with the hottest stars and directors of today. Upcoming guests include: Joel Silver, Val Kilmer, Robert Downey, Jr. and writer Shane Black as part of a special episode taped at the Cannes film festival, and actor/director Peter Bogdonavich. Produced by Scott Sternberg Productions, the weekly series airs every Sunday morning at 11 am ET/PT.

Peter Guber is the chairman of Mandalay Pictures, and the producer of dozens of Hollywood's most successful movies including Midnight Express, Batman and Rainman. Peter Bart is editor-in-chief of Variety. In his career as an executive at Paramount Pictures and as president of Lorimar, Bart played a major role creating classics like The Godfather, Rosemary's Baby and The Postman Always Rings Twice.

AMC has picked up eight new episodes of Movie Club with John Ridley, which premiere in time for the studio's summer releases. The series is an AMC-style movie review show - a smart and witty discussion of the week's movies and DVD releases by a diverse group of journalists with differing viewpoints. Joining John Ridley is a panel of clever and wily critics, including: Nathan Rabin, Head Entertainment Writer for 'The Onion; Anderson Jones, CNN Headline News Entertainment Reporter; Dr. Josh Kun, a Los Angeles based writer and critic; and Zorianna Kit, entertainment reporter for KTLA's News @ 10 in Los Angeles. Movie Club with John Ridley was created by John Davies and is executive produced by Davies and Sandy Wernick. Each new episode premieres on Friday nights at 11 pm, with an encore airing on Sunday mornings at 10:30 am.

John Ridley is the author of six highly regarded novels and is a former producer on NBC's "Third Watch." He wrote and produced the film "Undercover Brother," conceived the story for "Three Kings" and wrote/directed "Cold Around the Heart." Ridley's novel, "Stray Dogs," was made into the film "U-Turn" by Oliver Stone. Ridley also is a regular commentator for National Public Radio and is currently writing, producing and directing the upcoming Showtime series, "Barber Shop."

About AMC
AMC, a division of Rainbow Media's Entertainment Services, which also includes WE: Women's Entertainment and IFC Companies, is a 24-hour, movie-based network, dedicated to the American movie fan. The network, which reaches over 86,000,000 homes, offers a comprehensive library of popular movies and a critically-acclaimed slate of original programming that is a diverse, movie-based mix of original series, documentaries and specials. AMC has garnered many of the industry's highest honors, including 14 Emmy awards. AMC is "TV for movie people."