'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Alex's Entertainment Report
Alex
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast morning, dappled sunny afternoon.
Farmer's Market had about half the vendors as usual. Wonder what's up.
More 'food ladies' than usual at CostCo. Grazing was good!
Watched Chuck Barris on Dave. Long time ago, had several pals who 'did' 'The Gong Show'. One of them even got to 'do' Carson one New Year's Eve. Anyone remember 'Professor Flame-O'? He would hold his hands over lit candles & 'shriek' songs.
Tonight, Friday opens the evening with '48 Hours', then a fresh 'Hack', followed by the series premiere of 'Queens Supremee' (insert joke here).
Scheduled on a fresh Dave are Andy Richter and Rich Hall.
Scheduled on a fresh Craiggers is Donnie Wahlberg.
NBC starts the night with the series premieree of 'Mister Sterling', then 'Dateline', followed by a fresh 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
On a RERUN Jay are Tiger Woods, Emma Watson, and 3 Doors Down.
On a RERUN Conan are Johnny Knoxville, Richard Lewis, and David Bowie.
On a RERUN Carson Daly (from 11/8/02), are Ted Danson, Elon Gold, Tim Robbins, and India.Arie.
ABC starts it off with a fresh 'America's Funniest Home Videos', then a fresh 'Who's Line', a fresh 'Drew Carey', and then '20/20'.
The WB has a fresh 'What I Like About You', a fresh 'Sabrina', a fresh 'Reba', and then a RERUN 'Greetings From Tucson'.
Faux has a fresh 'Fastlane' and a fresh 'John Doe'.
UPN has the movie 'Love & Basketball'.
Check local PBS listings for 'NOW With Bill Moyers'.
AA&E has the 'Nobel Peace Concert'.
TCM has 'Tron', with no commercial interruptions.
And, on Comedy Central, at
10pm (est) is Wanda Sykes.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke pose together following a press conference announcing their reunion in a new television adaptation of the play, 'The Gin Game,' part of the drama series 'PBS Hollywod Presents,' in Los Angeles' Hollywood district Thursday, Jan. 9, 2003. The production marks the first time that Moore and Van Dyke have acted together since their original teaming in the classic comedy series 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' in the 1960s. The show is set to air in Spring, 2003.
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Live on HBO
Rolling Stones
After nearly 40 years of playing "Satisfaction," aren't the Rolling Stones a bit sick of it? Really, they aren't.
Keith Richards and Ron Wood say it's a great song and it takes on a different meaning every time they play it.
"Of course, there are nights where you want to throw the set list out the window," Mick Jagger said. "But up to a point, people want to hear certain things.
But you don't want to just play those, you want to play other things.
Richards and Jagger said they never really made a conscious decision what they would sound like.
"It evolved over the decades, Jagger said. "We didn't sit down and decide what we were going to sound like."
"I think though even though we play a lot of the same numbers, we don't quite sound the same as like when we toured with the Everly Brothers," he said
"I know three more chords," Richards pointed out.
The Rolling Stones will be doing their first live concert event on HBO on Jan. 18 from Madison Square Garden.
Rolling Stones
Fire on Set
'The West Wing'
A faulty overhead light ignited a fire on the set of NBC's Emmy-winning White House drama "The West Wing" Thursday, prompting an evacuation of the Warner Bros. soundstage.
Sprinklers doused the flames as about 100 people fled the building, Burbank Fire Marshal David Starr said. There were no reports of injuries.
Studio representatives said they were unsure which actors were present, but the stages involved were the White House situation room and a cafeteria setting.
Shortly after 8 a.m., a halogen light burst, sprinkling flaming material onto a layer of muslin that diffuses the illumination. Sprinklers contained the flames until firefighters arrived to extinguish them.
Production was stopped for the day but was set to resume Friday on another stage. "The West Wing" uses two other soundstage buildings for its sets which were not damaged by the blaze, according to the studio.
'The West Wing'
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Latest Celeb Against Iraq War
Martin Scorsese
Film director Martin Scorsese took time out from promoting his latest movie "Gangs of New York" on Thursday to add his name to a growing list of celebrities opposing a possible U.S.-led war on Iraq.
"One hopes that this kind of war can be done diplomatically, with intelligence rather than wiping out a lot of innocent civilians," Scorsese told BBC radio.
"There are a lot of Americans who also feel that a lot of this (war talk) is economic," he said in London where he attended the premier of "Gangs." "Part of this has to do with the oil."
Scorsese also appeared to suggest that the U.S. was heavy-handed in the way it approached other cultures.
"I think it really has to come down to respecting how other people live," he said. "There's got to be ways this can be worked out diplomatically, there simply has to be."
Martin Scorsese
A frozen fountain is seen with the Pantheon in background, in Paris, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2003, as temperatures stood at - 6 Celcius (21F). The cold has killed a fourth homeless person in three days, rescue workers said Thursday.
Photo by Laurent Rebours
'The Case Of The Missing Necklace'
Sharon Osbourne
The weird world of "The Osbournes" has gotten weirder, with Ozzy Osbourne's wife battling with a Hollywood talent agent over whether the agent belonged at a party where she won the door prize, a $15,000 necklace.
The pricey jewelry was raffled off by Sharon Osbourne and her rocker husband during a New Year's Eve party at which the couple renewed their wedding vows. The party was filmed as part of the hit MTV reality
series "The Osbournes," which stars the Osbourne family.
The winner was Renee Tab of the powerful Hollywood talent agency ICM. But within days, the Osbournes reported that Tab had wrongly claimed the necklace. Sharon Osbourne said the agent wasn't an invited guest.
Police Lt. Gary Gilmond confirmed Wednesday that the Osbournes have filed a theft report.
ICM said Tab won the necklace fair and square.
Sharon Osbourne
Custodian Sought
Lennon Museum
More than 20 people have applied to become the custodian of a new museum being built in a Liverpool house where John Lennon lived as a young boy.
Lennon moved into the small house on Menlove Avenue with his Aunt Mimi when he was 5, and reportedly was only allowed to play his guitar on the front porch.
The museum, run by Britain's National Trust heritage charity, is scheduled to open in March. Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, reportedly paid more than $240,000 for the property and donated it to the National Trust.
Work is under way to recreate the flavor of the '40s and '50s inside the Lennon house, which the singer once described as "a nice semidetached place with a small garden."
Lennon Museum
Singing Anthem At Super Bowl
Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks will sing the national anthem at Super Bowl XXXVII Jan. 26 in San Diego.
Super Bowl organizers also announced this week that country singer Shania Twain will perform during the halftime show at Qualcomm Stadium. Other halftime performers will be announced later.
Dixie Chicks
Super Bowl Web site
Five Former First Ladies Joining In Salute (No Pickles)
Betty Ford
Five former first ladies say they will gather this month to salute Betty Ford and celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Betty Ford Center.
Nancy Reagan, Rosalyn Carter, Barbara Bush and Hillary Clinton will be on hand to honor Mrs. Ford and resident Bush. First lady Laura Bush will send along videotaped remarks, Betty Ford Center president John Schwarzlose said.
Tickets cost $1,000 for the Jan. 17 black-tie event at the Hyatt Grand Champions resort in Indian Wells. CNN's Larry King is master of ceremonies with baritone Josh Groban lined up as featured performer.
The private event is closed to the news media.
Ford's candor about her drug dependence is largely credited with helping break the silence for many alcoholics and drug addicts.
Ford had grown dependent on sleeping pills, pain pills, relaxation pills and pills to counteract the side effects of other pills, which she described in her memoir, "Betty: A Glad Awakening."
Add to that the vodka and bourbon she drank before and after dinner.
Betty Ford
2 Sides (At Least) To Every Story
Paul Reubens
Fresh from the bruises of the Winona Ryder shoplifting trial, Hollywood is grappling with a new celebrity scandal: Is popular comic actor Paul Reubens a consumer of child pornography or an erotic art enthusiast being unfairly prosecuted?
Reubens, 50, whose career was nearly derailed in 1991 by a lewd conduct scandal, was charged last November by the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office with a misdemeanor count of possessing
child pornography a year after police searched his home and carted off boxes of material in connection with a wider pornography probe in which he was not charged.
The actor has pleaded innocent and has drawn support from some high-profile friends -- including a star from the popular TV show "Friends" -- and from a prominent TV celebrity program that
maintains prosecutors, rather than Reubens, have a lot to answer for.
"Friends" co-star Courteney Cox and her actor husband David Arquette recently told the syndicated show "Extra," they had seen Reubens' erotica collection and deemed it both "harmless" and "kitschy."
"It's very easy to confuse art with something else," Cox said. Arquette added, "Paul has never been interested in anything improper involving children, or sexually. He doesn't deserve this."
The TV show "Celebrity Justice" maintains that a key piece of evidence that prosecutors are planning to use is a copy of the infamous videotape of "West Wing" co-star Rob Lowe cavorting
with an underage girl in 1988 -- an item widely available on Internet video porn sites.
"Celebrity Justice" executive producer Harvey Levin, in interviews with other TV shows this week and last, said prosecutors' handling of the case has raised "some serious red flags,"
especially since no images of child pornography were found by police in their analysis of the computer equipment seized from Reubens' home.
Paul Reubens
Sony Music Chairman Quits
Tommy Mottola
Sony Music chairman and chief executive Tommy Mottola, who was responsible for building the careers of Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and other superstars, announced Thursday he was leaving the company to start his own music label.
The departure ends Mottola's 14-year tenure at Sony, though the new label is being created in partnership with Sony. Mottola joined the company back when it was CBS Records in 1987. Sony
is letting him out of his contract two years early.
There is no name yet for Mottola's new company, but it will be a partnership with Sony Music. A replacement for Mottola is expected to be named within the next few days, Sony said.
Tommy Mottola
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Tours 'Rings' Valley
Prince Charles
Prince Charles took a bus ride Thursday through a gentle green valley said to have been the inspiration for Middle Earth in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
Launching a new rural bus service through the Rabble Valley between the towns of Clitheroe and Chipping in northwest England, the heir to the throne chatted to fellow passengers.
Bus driver David Wilson, who handed Charles a bus ticket at the start of the journey, said he always drove carefully, "but with an extra special VIP on board I was a bit nervous."
Prince Charles
Thirteen-year-old female polar bear Antonia enjoys the cold weather as temperatures hovered around minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) at the Ruhrzoo in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany,
Thursday, Jan. 9, 2003.
Photo by Martin Meissner
Engagement News
Melissa Joan Hart
Melissa Joan Hart, who's been casting spells as the teenage witch for the past six years, has charmed her off-screen beau into popping the question.
Hart confirmed to E! News Live Thursday that she and her rocker boyfriend of eight months, Mark Wilkerson, are officially betrothed.
Wilkerson, frontman and guitarist for the hard-rock trio Course of Nature, did the ring thing on December 26 as the couple exchanged Christmas gifts.
"We haven't set a date, but we want to do it kind of quick," Hart tells E! "We don't want to be engaged too long. We just want to be married."
Melissa Joan Hart
Won't Be in Court Next Week
Diana Ross
Diana Ross won't be required to appear in Tucson City Court next week in her drunken-driving case.
The singer, represented by Phoenix attorney Greg Davis, filed a written "notice of appearance" with Tucson City Court last week in which she pleaded innocent to three charges.
Because Ross filed the notice, neither she nor her lawyer is required to appear in court Monday for her arraignment.
Another hearing is scheduled for next week in which Ross' lawyers will try to block the release of a police videotape that shows her field sobriety tests.
Diana Ross
Detained After Comment at Airport
Al Goldstein
Pornographer Al Goldstein was pulled off an
airplane and detained by sheriff's deputies after he made some sexual
comments to an airport security worker, authorities said.
Kelly Nobles, Transportation Security Administration screener at Fort
Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, told police that Goldstein
looked at her Wednesday and asked, "Are you a real blond?"
Goldstein also said, "If you and me were to have sex, I would want you to
keep your uniform on," according to a police report. Other screeners also
heard the remarks.
Goldstein, a Pompano Beach resident, was pulled of his American Airlines
flight to New York. He said he simply asked the woman how often she is
propositioned on the job, then continued talking to a group of men about
porn star Ron Jeremy,
Broward County sheriff's deputies interviewed Goldstein and determined he
had not broken any laws. Goldstein, who said he missed a scheduled knee
operation in New York, was placed on a later American Airlines flight and
upgraded to first class.
Al Goldstein
Thanks, Mr. 2E!
Sold for $685,000
Elvis Presley's Piano
A white Knabe grand piano once owned by Elvis Presley sold this week for $685,000.
Memphis guitarist-music producer Robert A. Johnson and partner Larry Moss sold the piano Monday to Michael Muzio, chairman of Blue Moon Group Inc.
Muzio said he hopes to put the piano on a casino-sponsored promotional tour and then use it for an exhibit at a proposed rock museum in Walt Disney World.
Graceland memorabilia consultant John Heath said Presley purchased the piano after he bought Graceland and used it until 1969, when his wife, Priscilla Presley, gave him a new Steinway grand piano.
Elvis Presley's Piano
Graceland Web site
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
ABC Seeking Pay Cut
'The Practice'
ABC has the right to bring back David E. Kelley's "The Practice" next fall -- but the show's price tag may have to come down for that to happen.
As part of a renewal deal negotiated a few years back, the network has an option to renew the Emmy-winning legal series at a hefty per-episode fee just north of $6 million. While "The Practice"
was one of the few ABC shows to win its Sunday time slot on a consistent basis last season, network executives don't believe its current ratings justify such a price.
Complicating matters is ABC's risky decision to move "The Practice" to Monday nights, a scheduling shift that now seems to have been the opening gambit in a delicate dance between the network
and Kelley. Most industry insiders believe the show will take a Nielsen hit on the night, further lessening its overall value -- and giving ABC more ammo to renegotiate downward the license fee for "The Practice."
The real question, some believe, is whether ABC executives made the right choice by moving "The Practice" to 9 p.m. Mondays to make way for "Dragnet" Sundays at 10 p.m.
'The Practice'
St Stephen's Tower at the Palace of Westminster, home of the Big Ben bell, is seen covered in snow in London, January 8, 2003. Snow and freezing conditions continued to cause travel disruption across the UK on Wednesday.
Photo by Peter Macdiarmid
New TNN President
Albie Hecht
Albie Hecht, the TV producer credited with bringing the hit SpongeBob SquarePants to TV, was named president of TNN on Thursday, as part of a network overhaul
to reposition itself as an entertainment channel for men.
"We are already building from a strong male base, with franchises such as "Star Trek," "CSI," the James Bond film library, the WWE and our upcoming original
adult animation block," Hecht, 49, said. There are 100 million men in this country, and when they turn on our channel moving forward, they are going to know that this is a network for them."
To that end, TNN plans several new adult-oriented animated programs in 2003, including Stan Lee's Striperella, starring Pamela Anderson; Gary the Rat, starring
Kelsey Grammer; and the return of Ren & Stimpy. It also plans a Video Game Awards show, as well as additional programming that will be unveiled in coming weeks.
Albie Hecht
World's Tallest, Fastest Coaster
Cedar Point
Cedar Point, the Sandusky amusement park has introduced the tallest, fastest roller coaster in the world. The Top Thrill Dragster is currently being built and will be ready for the park's opening in May.
The 420-foot tall coaster towers about the Cedar Point skyline. It is the first roller coaster to ever top 400 feet.
But that's not all, the ride also is the first to reach speeds of 120 mph.
Thrill seekers will launch out of loading gate in dragster-style trains and quickly reach 120 mph in just 4 seconds. The trains will then shoot up the 420-foot hill on a track that rotates 90 degrees.
Riders crest the apex and then free fall back down, reaching 120 mph again. The track also has a series of twists on the way down.
This is Cedar Point's 16th roller coaster. The park has more coasters than any other in the world.
Cedar Point
Case Sent to Grand Jury
Carlene Carter
A grand jury will decide whether to indict country music singer Carlene Carter, who has been charged with stealing a dead man's identity to obtain prescription drugs.
Carter on Wednesday waived her right to a preliminary hearing and the case was bound over to the Sumner County grand jury, which meets next month, Assistant District Attorney Dee Gay said.
Carter, who is the stepdaughter of Johnny Cash and daughter of country singers June Carter Cash and Carl Smith, was arrested Dec. 12 on two counts of identity theft. If convicted,
she faces two to 12 years in prison.
According to an affidavit in the case, Carter obtained two prescriptions for the anti-depressant Zoloft in the name of Francis Reidy III, a boyfriend who died in November in Nashville.
Carlene Carter
Offers an Apology
Barry Diller
Barry Diller apologized Wednesday for trashing former 20th Century Fox owner Marvin Davis in front of hundreds of investors at a media conference.
In a presentation Tuesday, Diller referred to "fat Marvin Davis," questioned his reputation and jibed that "it would be a sad thing for the world" if the billionaire
oilman wins control of Vivendi Universal's U.S. entertainment assets.
Davis and a consortium of investors have offered about $20 billion for the assets, such as Universal Studios and Universal Music, which Diller is currently overseeing.
"For my stupid and cheesy attempt at humor at the end of a luncheon interview -- I apologize ... it was ungracious, uncalled for ... and inaccurate," Diller said in an email.
Barry Diller
Among New Entrants in Who's Who
Hugh Grant
Heartthrob actor Hugh Grant, athlete Steve Cram and yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur are among around 1,000 new entries in the latest edition of Who's Who, Britain's bible of the rich and famous.
Actress Emily Watson and ballerina Agnes Oaks also made it into the 2003 version of the big red book, to be published on Friday for the 155th consecutive year.
Grant, dashing star of "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Bridget Jones's Diary," lists football and singing among his hobbies and reveals his two middle names -- John and Mungo.
Who's Who has been published annually since 1849, and lists over 32,000 autobiographies of people of note in British society. Entrants remain in the book until they die, when their profiles are transferred to Who Was Who.
Hugh Grant
In Memory
Ron Goodwin
Ron Goodwin, who composed a string of classic movie scores including "Where Eagles Dare," "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Frenzy," has died at 77, his wife said Thursday.
Goodwin died suddenly at his home near Reading, west of London, on Wednesday night, Heather Goodwin said. Goodwin had suffered from asthma for many years.
Although he composed some 60 film scores in his 50-year career, he was best known for the themes to a string of 1960s war films, which also included "Battle of Britain" and "Operation Crossbow."
For the past 30 years, Goodwin has toured the world as a conductor performing a mixture of classical works and popular hits, from James Bond themes to Abba tunes.
Born in Plymouth, southern England, Goodwin worked with British broadcasting stars like Petula Clark and was musical director for the Peter Sellers albums. His first score was for the 1958 film "Whirlpool."
As Ron Goodwin and his Concert Orchestra, he was signed by Beatles producer George Martin and in 1975 received a gold disc to mark 1 million album sales.
His talents were officially recognized in 1994 when Martin presented him with an Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement in Music.
Goodwin is survived by his wife and a son, Christopher.
Ron Goodwin
The sun breaks through the fog as two ships make their way through the frozen harbour of Hamburg January 9, 2003. Snow and freezing conditions with temperatures around minus 10
degrees Celsius continued over large parts of northern Germany.
Photo by Christian Charisius
'The Osbournes'
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