Gotham girds for Irene's impact

Gotham is bracing for that arrival of Hurricane Irene, eliminating subway service, shuttering Broadway venues and cinemas and delivering newsies scrambling to pay for the unparalleled formulations. Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday introduced the evacuation of low-laying areas across the Large Apple's waterfront areas -- a brand new You are able to first -- and also the Metropolitan Transit Authority shut lower the whole subway system from noon on Saturday until Monday morning, effectively limiting citizens and vacationers to shelter. (The subway has not been shut lower since 2005's transit strike, a move that gained incarceration for Transit Employees Union prexy Roger Toussaint.) The Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting has suspended all filming permits for that weekend (the MOFTB released a terse statement via its website). Productions presently filming apparently include Isla Fisher starrer "Bachelorette" and reality shows "Hoarders" and "House Clean.Inch The evacuation area for that city includes parts of all five boroughs. Silvercup Galleries and Steiner Galleries (a couple of Gotham's three greatest shooting facilities) sit near to the water in Queens and Brooklyn, correspondingly (Steiner reaches an old Navy yard). Only Kaufman Astoria Galleries is situated far enough inland to prevent evacuation. The elements is for certain to affect this weekend's box office, as most of the major theater chains have previously made the decision to shut Saturday or sunday (see separate story). Disney Theatrical productions introduced the cancellation of their Saturday or sunday shows on Friday mid-day, as did the brand new You are able to Intl. Fringe Festival, Off Broadway theaterplexes " New World " Stages and 59E59, and sundry other venues. It's rarely good to shut the theater about the weekend, especially on Broadway (Saturday evening is nearly always the performance that packs the home smallest), but everybody takes the storm seriously. Newsies started into overdrive, too: "NBC Nightly News" broadened for an hour on Friday to pay for the hurricane, with John Williams covering in the Jersey Shoreline (also being evacuated), while ABC's "Nightline" will concentrate on Irene, by having an up-to-date version airing about the West Coast. NBC can also be kicking into high gear with corporate brother or sister the elements Funnel assets -- weather correspondents Bryan Norcross and Jim Cantore will take part in the net's coverage. For that weekend, CBS is adding a unique hourlong Sunday broadcast known as "Irene Strikes" with Scott Pelley anchoring from 11 a.m. -- likely time once the storm is going to be farthest inland. Also about the weekend, "Hello America" will expand to 3 hrs with George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts anchoring from Occasions Square beginning at 7 each morning. Cablers, too, joined the fray: CNN has extended coverage planned for Saturday evening from 8 p.m. to night time, along with a three-hour edition of "The Problem Room" is planned for Saturday from 5 o'clock, while MSNBC's "Hardball" will extend coverage with the weekend, instead of likely to tape. Fox News will apparently preempt is 10-to-noon block of biz programming, in addition to "Huckabee" tomorrow, clearing up time for additional Irene coverage. Shepard Cruz is going to be on point for a lot of the net's coverage. One Gotham biz sector looks prone to a minimum of break even throughout the path of the storm: the neighborhood supermarket biz. On Friday, there have been lines to get involved with the large Trader Joe's on Brooklyn primary drag Atlantic Avenue, and people searching for canned goods and canned water at many stores left disappointed. Contact Mike Thielman at mike.thielman@variety.com