Stretch Armstrong Series

Stretch Armstrong Series, Netflix is flexing more muscle in kids’ programming, announcing an original series from Hasbro Studios based on Stretch Armstrong, the blond gel-filled toy bodybuilder popular in the 1970s.

The streaming leader also announced the pickup of live-action tween drama “The Greenhouse” and animated series “Lalaloopsy.”

The 26-episode Stretch Armstrong series, Hasbro Studios’ first original programming for Netflix, is slated to debut in 2017. The animated animated action/comedy series is about an over-scheduled teenager named Jake Armstrong and his two best friends. Then the trio are accidentally exposed to an experimental chemical, they become Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters – a team of stretchable superheroes.

Hasbro has tried to turn Stretch Armstrong into a film property before. Relativity Media cut a deal in 2013 for a live-action movie based on the action figure but passed on the project; that came after Universal Pictures backed out of plans for an adaptation produced by Brian Grazer.

“With roughly half of our 75 million members regularly watching kids content, we’re happy to expand our original slate with these three great series,” Andy Yeatman, Netflix’s director of global kids’ content, said in a statement. “We know kids love Netflix and that’s in part because they never really outgrow us.”

“The Greenhouse,” also set for 2017, comes from Nutz Productions, a subsidiary company of Ananey Communications. The series is set in an elite boarding school in Southern California, where students are divided into two rival houses that must join forces to conquer challenges when an evil plot is uncovered. Paula Yoo (“West Wing,” “Defiance,” “Eureka”) is adapting with showrunner Giora Chamizer, who wrote and created the original series.

“Lalaoopsy,” based on the line of dolls from MGA Entertainment, will feature original music and follows the misadventures of six friends and their pets through a whimsical world. The 13-episode series is scheduled to premiere in the fall of 2016.

Netflix gives new parents a year off

Netflix gives new parents a year off, Netflix’s share price hit a record high on Tuesday after the company confirmed plans to expand into Asia and an investment firm put a mega-bullish price target on the stock.

Shares in the online streaming service closed up 7.63 percent at $121.15. In pre-market trading, shares were up 1.2 percent at around $122.60.

Behind the surge were two factors.

The first came as analysts at Guggenheim Partners initiated coverage of Netflix with a “buy” rating and a price target of $160, 32 percent above the closing price on Tuesday. The $160 price target puts it above Pivotal Research’s $155, Cowen’s $150 and FBR Capital’s $142.

Investment in original content, improving broadband speeds globally and international expansion will drive the company, according to Guggenheim analysts.

Netflix has been investing heavily in original programs and films such as “House of Cards” and “Grace and Frankie” and attracting big name stars in the process.

Why Thousands Of Men Like JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Are Getting Throat Cancer

Why Thousands Of Men Like JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Are Getting Throat Cancer, Last night, Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of banking giant JPMorgan JPMorgan, told employees that he is being treated for throat cancer. In a memo, he said that he would begin eight weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

He wrote:

The good news is that the prognosis from my doctors is excellent, the cancer was caught quickly, and my condition is curable. Following thorough tests that included a CAT scan, PET scan and a biopsy, the cancer is confined to the original site and the adjacent lymph nodes on the right side of my neck. Importantly, there is no evidence of cancer elsewhere in my body.

It’s impossible to speculate on Dimon’s cancer beyond what he put in his memo. I contacted JPMorgan and the company could not confirm any other details about his conditions. But it’s very possible that Dimon has been swept up, along with thousands of other men, by an increasingly common disease: throat cancer caused by infection with the human papilloma virus, or HPV.

“It wouldn’t be unusual,” says Eric Genden, chief of head and neck oncology at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. “This is an epidemic.”

IRS Bombshell Uncovered By Investigators

IRS Bombshell Uncovered By Investigators, Congressional investigators say they uncovered emails Wednesday showing that a former Internal Revenue Service official at the heart of the tea party investigation sought an audit involving a Republican senator in 2012.

The emails show former IRS official Lois Lerner mistakenly received an invitation to an event that was meant to go to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

The event organizer apparently offered to pay for Grassley’s wife to attend the event. In an email to another IRS official, Lerner suggests referring the matter for an audit, saying it might be inappropriate for the group to pay for his wife.

“Perhaps we should refer to exam?” Lerner wrote.

It was unclear from the emails whether Lerner was suggesting that Grassley or the group be audited – or both.

The other IRS official, Matthew Giuliano, waved her off, saying an audit would be premature because Grassley hadn’t even accepted the invitation.

“It would be Grassley who would need to report the income,” Giuliano said.

Ford Mileage Claims Probed

Ford Mileage Claims Probed, When Hyundai and Kia admitted to overstating EPA mileage estimates and were hit with lawsuits, many wondered who would be next to fall. It could be Ford. Just one month after the Korean automakers bungled numbers on 75 new cars, Ford is now in the agency’s crosshairs for its new Fusion and C-Max Hybrid models.

Who else but Consumer Reports, which despises the automaker’s MyFord Touch infotainment system, to claim that the two hybrids aren’t making anywhere near their 47-mpg ratings. Both hybrids claim 47 mpg in city, highway and combined driving.

Consumer Reports, after purchasing and breaking in the two hybrids, says it has achieved an average of only 35 mpg city/41 mpg highway for the Fusion and 35/38 for the C-Max. It says other owners have reported similar disappointing results.

“Yes, the disclaimer on EPA fuel-economy labels notes that your results may differ. But the overall mpg for these C-Max and Fusion models is off by a whopping 10 and 8 mpg, respectively, or about 20 percent,” the magazine said. “Our overall-mpg results are usually pretty close to the EPA’s combined-mpg estimate.”

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