Starz

Given the many gruesome stories we hear about behind-the-scenes stress and misbehavior on movie and TV sets, it's easy to forget that acting can be fun. That's why it's nice to stumble across kooky, low-budget comedies such as the returning "Head Case" and the new "Party Down," both on Starz tonight. They're like TV-size versions of the Christopher Guest movies "Waiting for Guffman" and "A Mighty Wind," where the actors are clearly feeling loose and playful. The vibe is kiddie sandbox, not prison work yard.

On Thursday the Globe's Sarah Rodman chatted with viewers about TV on Boston.com. Following are condensed and edited excerpts from that chat. Q. [Actor] John Slattery definitely gets an Emmy for this season [of "Mad Men"]. No matter who they pair him with — in order of maturity: ex-wife, Don, Peggy, young wife, Sally, Joan's baby, or Pete — he is spectacular and brings up everyone's game. A. I've been thinking the same thing. He's been nominated several times and he is just on fire this year.

NEW YORK - The premium cable channel Starz said yesterday that it would not renew its closely watched distribution deal with Netflix, lending the online streaming service a major, but not unexpected, blow. The deal is set to expire Feb. 28, 2012. The Starz chief executive, Chris Albrecht, said in a statement yesterday that negotiations had ended. The distribution deal is significant because Starz supplies a bounty of hit movies and several TV series to Netflix, helping retain some of the 25 million subscribers to the monthly streaming service.

MOVIES Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers 6 p.m. (TOON) Oscar-winning animated short. NR (1993) Paul Blart: Mall Cop 6 p.m., 10 p.m. (FAM) A mild-mannered mall security guard takes on a gang of thieves. Kevin James.PG (2009) Summertime 6 p.m. (TCM) Katharine Hepburn is superb as a tourist who finds romance in Venice. NR (1954) Colombiana 6:10 p.m. (STARZ) Cataleya (Zoe Saldana) becomes a hired killer to find the gangster who killed her parents. PG-13 (2011) 2012 7 p.m., 10:30 p.m. (FX)

ME WITHOUT YOU (Starz on Comcast) In which we trace the friendship of Holly (Michelle Williams) and Marina (Anna Friel) through 30 years of British pop culture, identity crises, and cute boys. Director Sandra Goldbacher knows how comforting and smothering a close friendship can be, but the film is finally too predictable - you can set your watch by the appearance of the obligatory Nick Drake cut on the soundtrack. Pictured (from left): Friel and Williams. (R; runs through Feb. 18)

The fictional Miramar Playa Hotel, the centerpiece of the sumptuous new Starz drama "Magic City" premiering Friday at 10 p.m., is the kind of pristine behemoth of luxury resort hospitality from which "wish you were here" postcard dreams are made: all immaculate white facade, sparkly sea, and enticing sands. The eight episode series was created and written by screenwriter Mitch Glazer ("The Recruit," "Scrooged") and inspired by his own upbringing in Miami Beach. Opening on New Year's Eve 1958 ­­­— as everyone in the...

The online and DVD rental service fell the most in more than a year after John Malone's Starz LLC cable network ended contract renewal talks in a pricing standoff. Starz, part of Liberty Media, had sought an additional levy on Netflix users for its films and TV shows. But according to one analyst, it's more of a negotiating ploy. "Netflix simply cannot allow Starz to leave," said Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter. "On the other hand, Starz needs to cut this deal" to boost revenue, he said.

On Thursday the Globe's Sarah Rodman chatted with viewers about TV on Boston.com. Following are condensed and edited excerpts from that chat. Q. [Actor] John Slattery definitely gets an Emmy for this season [of "Mad Men"]. No matter who they pair him with — in order of maturity: ex-wife, Don, Peggy, young wife, Sally, Joan's baby, or Pete — he is spectacular and brings up everyone's game. A. I've been thinking the same thing. He's been nominated several times and he is just on fire this year.

MOVIES Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers 6 p.m. (TOON) Oscar-winning animated short. NR (1993) Paul Blart: Mall Cop 6 p.m., 10 p.m. (FAM) A mild-mannered mall security guard takes on a gang of thieves. Kevin James.PG (2009) Summertime 6 p.m. (TCM) Katharine Hepburn is superb as a tourist who finds romance in Venice. NR (1954) Colombiana 6:10 p.m. (STARZ) Cataleya (Zoe Saldana) becomes a hired killer to find the gangster who killed her parents. PG-13 (2011) 2012 7 p.m., 10:30 p.m. (FX)

LOS ANGELES — Sony movies were pulled from Netflix Inc.’s online streaming service yesterday because of what Netflix said is a “temporary contract issue’’ between Sony Corp. and its pay TV distributor, Starz. Netflix notified its members in a blog post yesterday, when movies such as “Easy A’’ and “Grown Ups’’ stopped being available on its “Watch Instantly’’ service. They are still available to be rented through the mail. Starz said in a statement that “all parties are working diligently to resolve the issue.’’ A person familiar with the matter...

The fictional Miramar Playa Hotel, the centerpiece of the sumptuous new Starz drama "Magic City" premiering Friday at 10 p.m., is the kind of pristine behemoth of luxury resort hospitality from which "wish you were here" postcard dreams are made: all immaculate white facade, sparkly sea, and enticing sands. The eight episode series was created and written by screenwriter Mitch Glazer ("The Recruit," "Scrooged") and inspired by his own upbringing in Miami Beach. Opening on New Year's Eve 1958 ­­­— as everyone in the...

The Game 8 p.m., 11 p.m. (OVAT) Billionaire Michael Douglas can't tell what's real when he plays a game. R (1997) The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard 8 p.m. (COM) Don Ready (Jeremy Piven) and his partners take over a town on the brink of financial collapse. R (2009) House Party 4: Down to the Last Minute 8 p.m. (FUSE) A high school student throws a wild house party. Marques Houston. NR (2001) Night and the City 8 p.m. (TCM) A hood (Richard Widmark) tries to cut in on London's wrestling game.

THE TOURIST ★★ (Starz on Comcast) A slow and silly action-comedy-romantic-thriller, in which Angelina Jolie seduces then tries to ditch a disheveled Johnny Depp in Venice. She's being hunted by different factions of men in black leather and gray wool. Is there another kind of Angelina Jolie movie? This is the sort in which she has something or is someone of great interest to a lot of people. Why does this woman constantly require question marks and interrogation sequences?

What a different vision these two stars of "Spartacus: Vengeance" offer in person. Here is Lucy Lawless: In her Starz adventure-action series she builds on worldwide fame as Xena, Warrior Princess, by playing wily Lucretia, widow of the Roman sports impresario whose "ludus" — an extreme training camp for gladiators — was where Spartacus had been enslaved. Transported from Capua in the first century B.C. to modern-day Manhattan, Lawless — in bright sweater and snug jeans — is pretty, girlish and full of laughs.

GNOMEO AND JULIET ★★★ (Starz on Comcast) As enjoyable as non-Pixar kiddie flicks get. This 3-D animated UK import about star-crossed garden gnomes owes more to the "Toy Story" franchise than it should, but it has its own bizarre charms and a breezy confidence that renders it the very definition of a simple pleasure. James McAvoy and Emily Blunt have aural chemistry as the lead voices. (G; runs through Sept. 14) TY BURR JUMPING THE BROOM ★★ ½ (Starz on Comcast)

What a different vision these two stars of "Spartacus: Vengeance" offer in person. Here is Lucy Lawless: In her Starz adventure-action series she builds on worldwide fame as Xena, Warrior Princess, by playing wily Lucretia, widow of the Roman sports impresario whose "ludus" — an extreme training camp for gladiators — was where Spartacus had been enslaved. Transported from Capua in the first century B.C. to modern-day Manhattan, Lawless — in bright sweater and snug jeans — is pretty, girlish and full of laughs.

CHRISTINE (Encore on Comcast) Stephen King’s cherry-red 1958 Plymouth Fury, capable of smoothing out its own dents, runs amok. (R; runs through Nov. 4) PANDORUM (Starz on Comcast) Director Christian Alvart and screenwriter Travis Malloy must have seen “Aliens’’ in the cradle, for they’ve digested it with love and delivered a highly effective sci-fi thriller that will please more than genre fans. Even Dennis Quaid, playing yet another astronaut, this time on a mission to colonize a newly discovered planet, seems genuinely...