Proving once again that his finger is firmly on the pulse of what is hot in other countries, in the decades before his network slid into fourth place, or at the multiplex three months ago, NBC's perfect TV executive storm Ben Silverman has made yet another bold programming move that should shame his overly cautious, Idol-dependent, Cavemen-greenlighting rivals: according to Variety, his Peacock is bringing back Knight Rider, preparing a two-hour backdoor pilot that will reintroduce audiences to an updated series about the love between a man and his sassy, wisecracking supercar.
(Hasselhoff, of course, is too busy with other projects to even entertain the idea of trying to squeeze in to his old Members Only jacket.) But realizing that the harder-to-please kids of today would likely dismiss the idea of a talking-car show with, "Why does that dude's OnStar sound so gay?" the first time K.I.T.T* speaks, Silverman's got a totally killer hook to keep them so transfixed they'll hardly notice the Mountain Dew Game Fuel they're drooling all over their Hot Topic t-shirts: The car--or rather, cars, as some will likely be "evil"--will transform, capitalizing on a desirable demographic's proven love of giant-fucking-robot-related entertainment. To his credit, Silverman ultimately decided against integrating other box-office-tested elements, rejecting a briefly considered idea that Michael Knight should be a pirate of indeterminate sexuality.
[*And can we do something about that name? How about P.A.N.T.H.E.R? Someone in development can figure out what it's supposed to stand for.]
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Defendant Phil Spector (L) and his wife Rachelle arrive for a court session in Spector's murder trial at Los Angeles Superior Court, September 26, 2007
Deadlocked jury could not reach verdict
Record producer Phil Spector’s murder trial ended in a mistrial Wednesday because of a jury deadlock.
“We are disappointed the jury was unable to reach a verdict. We will start immediately to prepare for a retrial,” said Los Angeles County D.A. Steve Cooley. Spector will remain free on $1 million bail.
The next court hearing is Oct. 3 for scheduling dates leading up to the retrial. Spector is not required to attend.
On Wednesday, each juror told Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler that the panel could not reach a verdict.
“At this time, I will find that the jury is unable to arrive at a verdict and declare a mistrial in this matter,” the judge said.
The mistrial came on the 12th day of deliberations on whether Spector murdered actress Lana Clarkson more than 4½ years ago.
The foreman reported the panel was deadlocked 10-2 but did not indicate which way they were leaning.
The trial entered uncharted procedural waters on Sept. 18, when the jurors, who had been deliberating since Sept. 10, told Fidler that they had reached a 7-5 impasse in their deliberations but did not indicate which way they were leaning.
Spector has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Clarkson and faced a possible life sentence if found guilty.
Eager to avoid a mistrial, Fidler first told counsel that he wanted to explore the possibility of allowing the jury to deliberate on the lesser charge of manslaughter, but he concluded that it would be improper because it would signal to the jury that the court wanted a conviction at all costs.
After interviewing the jurors, Fidler decided that the instruction about the meaning of reasonable doubt could be the reason for the deadlock, and over defense objections, he provided a new instruction and gave hypothetical scenarios under which Spector could be held guilty. The jury resumed deliberations on Friday.
The nine-man, three-woman jury includes “Dateline NBC” senior producer Adam Gorfain. In his juror questionnaire, he acknowledged familiarity with the case and indicated that his work focused on high-profile crime stories.
On Feb. 3, 2003, nightclub hostess and B-movie actress Clarkson was found dead at Spector’s mansion in Alhambra. On Nov. 20, 2003, Spector was indicted for Clarkson’s murder.
After numerous delays, the trial began April 25 in downtown Los Angeles. The defense claimed the death was a suicide and offered testimony that Clarkson was depressed about her career, as well as forensic evidence that she shot herself in the mouth. The prosecution contended Spector had a history of threatening women with guns and that he shot Clarkson after she declined to spend the night with him. Spector’s chauffeur, Adriano DeSouza, testified that Spector emerged from the house immediately after the sound of a gunshot, holding a gun in his bloody hand and stated, “I think I killed somebody.” Spector did not take the stand during the trial.
The trial was marked by controversy. Spector went through three sets of attorneys. He was first represented by Robert Shapiro, one of the original members of the O.J. Simpson “dream team.” Shapiro was replaced by well-known defense attorney Leslie Abramson, who in turn was replaced by Bruce Cutler, best known as the attorney for Mafia boss John Gotti. Cutler, who was frequently absent from court to film a television show, left the defense team on Aug. 27, when Spector refused to allow him to give the closing argument. It was given instead by attorney Roger Rosen, who had functioned as lead attorney in Cutler’s absence.
Famed forensic expert Henry Lee was accused of hiding crucial evidence found at the crime scene that the police had overlooked. Sara Caplan, one of Spector’s former attorneys, was compelled to testify that Lee placed a item in a vial at the crime scene but that she couldn’t identify it. A former law clerk also claimed to see Lee remove an item from the crime scene. The prosecution theorized that the missing item was an acrylic nail that was pulled off Clarkson’s hand, and it was evidence that she did not shoot herself. Fidler ultimately ruled that Lee had hidden or destroyed evidence.
Another well-known forensic expert for the defense, Michael Baden, was accused of having a fundamental bias because his wife, Linda Kenney-Baden, is a member of the defense team and specializes in forensics. Baden introduced a new theory late in the trial that Clark had breathed for several minutes before she died to explain a spot of blood on Spector’s jacket. The defense contended his clothes would have been soaked with blood if he had been holding the gun because she was shot at such close range.
Spector, 67, had a decades-long career as a musician, songwriter and, most of all, record producer, pioneering the so-called Wall of Sound. During the ‘60s, he worked with several bands, notably the Righteous Brothers, Ike and Tina Turner and the Ronnettes. Spector married lead singer Ronnie Spector in 1968. Spector made a comeback in 1970 when he was brought in to produce the Beatles’ “Let It Be” and produced albums for John Lennon and George Harrison during their solo careers.
Rumors of Spector’s bizarre behavior, including his obsession with guns, circulated for years. Ronnie Spector, who filed for divorce in 1972, wrote in her memoir that he threatened to kill her if she left him. According to several accounts, Spector threatened Lennon with a gun during a recording session, placed a loaded pistol at Leonard Cohen’s head and forced Dee Dee Ramone to play guitar at gunpoint. Spector’s habit of wearing the outlandish wigs he sported at the trial reportedly dates to the 1970s, following a near-fatal car accident, in which he suffered massive head injuries.
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File photo from 2006 shows one of the best-known pop singers in Hong Kong, Jacky Cheung
HONG KONG (AFP) - One of the best-known pop singers in Hong Kong, Jacky Cheung, has been banned from hiring Filipina maids after employing and sacking 21 in three years, the Philippines consulate here said Thursday.
The consulate said it has placed Jacky Cheung and his wife on its watchlist of sub-standard employers for one year, and they will not be allowed to renew the contracts of the four helpers they currently employ.
"There has been a string of Filipina helpers whose record showed they have been terminated by the employer," said Vice Consul Val Roque, vice consul at the consulate.
Roque said the couple was put on the watchlist after the consulate received complaints. He did not reveal details.
"For us, it's a disturbing trend because ideally we want the workers to have a stable job here," he said.
"When an employer terminates a contract it's the workers who suffer because they might have to confront a mountain of debt incurred by coming to Hong Kong. It's an unfair situation."
Roque said Cheung's wife, a former actress, tried to explain the high rate of firings and stress they had all been treated well.
The consulate said its decision could be reviewed after a year.
Cheung, one of Hong Kong's biggest stars, rose to fame in the mid-1980s.
Like most stars here Cheung has been packaged as an all-round entertainer, starring in a number of hit local films as well as singing Canto-pop, a hybrid of Chinese ballads and Western pop.
The South China Morning said one of the complaints came from a former maid who was jailed for six months last year for stealing photographs and a letter from the ballad singer.
She told the paper that helpers often had to work up to 19 hours a day.
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Perhaps concerned that the public might not be internalizing the post-incarceration "Paris Hilton is now a productive, selfless, and globally aware member of society" message they're pushing as quickly as they'd planned, Hilton's image-rehabilitation team is temporarily tabling those obviously ineffective Children's Hospital drop-ins in favor of a more dramatic plan: a trip to Rwanda, a place so war-torn and impoverished that no one will be able to accuse her of being there to raise awareness of her perfume or clothing lines:
"There's so much need in that area, and I feel like if I go, it will bring more attention to what people can do to help," Hilton said of the region. [...]
"I want to visit more countries where poverty and children's issues are a big concern," the 26-year-old socialite said. "I know there's a lot of good I can do just by getting involved and bringing attention to these issues."
Tragically, no matter how effectively Hilton can deliver her publicists' expertly crafted talking points, there will always be those who doubt the sincerity of her transformation. (Has she even picked out a favorite Bible story yet?) We expect that her handlers will be closely monitoring the media reaction to her trip as it unfolds, hoping that the cynicism will be subdued enough that they don't have to resort to their last-ditch strategy: sending Paris back to the States with an adorable Rwandan orphan in tow, promising that she won't cease her charitable, globe-trotting activities until "I've collected more cute babies than Brad and Angie."
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Judge Larry Paul Fidler gestures during a hearing in music producer Phil Spector's murder trial at the Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles September 24, 2007
LOS ANGELES - An Internet posting that appeared to threaten the judge in Phil Spector's murder trial has become the latest twist in the lurid court case.
The jury was set to enter its 12th day of deliberations Wednesday, a day after court officials disclosed the MySpace.com posting that stated "I love Phil Spector" and "The Evil Judge should DIE!!!!."
The posting was on a MySpace Web page called "Team Spector," said Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. It was subsequently taken down, Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini said.
Sheriff's investigators were looking into the messages, which were signed "xoxo Chelle," according to Parachini. Spector's wife is named Rachelle, but one of his defense attorneys, Christopher Plourd, said she denied having anything to do with the notes.
The 67-year-old music producer is charged with second-degree murder in the Feb. 3, 2003, death of actress Lana Clarkson, 40.
Clarkson was killed by a gunshot fired in her mouth as she sat in the foyer of Spector's Alhambra mansion after meeting him at her job as a nightclub hostess and going home with him for a drink. The defense contended Clarkson was depressed and the shot was self-inflicted, either an accident or a suicide.
The case went to the jury on Sept. 10 and the jury foreman told the judge on Sept. 18 that the panel was deadlocked 7-5. After two days of debate among attorneys, the judge revised the jury instructions and the panel resumed talks late on Sept. 20. In addition to those interruptions, the jury has not deliberated on weekends.
Spector emerged on the music scene in the late 1950s and became a top producer using a hit-making recording technique that became known as the "Wall of Sound." Clarkson was best known as the star of Roger Corman's 1985 cult film "Barbarian Queen."
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When Kiefer Sutherland wandered out of his East Side comfort zone--where drunken U-turns aren't just legal, they're encouraged!--and into the glare of a West L.A. cop car's spotlight, few of us immediately realized that the ensuing arrest constituted a probation violation for the beloved, tannenbaum-tackling lush-of-the-people. Now, with the actor facing possible jail time and all the ominous God-finding that implies, we offer a Kiefer post-DUI round-up:
• Kiefer's night in lockdown had no immediate effect on 24's shooting schedule, though there's no telling what extended jail time might do to affect the season, or President Cherry Jones's ability to fend off a nuclear threat posed by lesbian-denying Iranian terrorists. [THR]
• Jack "Lauded" Bauer wasn't going to allow one little DUI prevent him from accepting another honor from a grateful nation: This time, the nation was Canada, and the honor was an ACTRA award for commitment to his northern homeland and their native acting peoples. [Variety]
• Unfortunately, as of posting time, Canada's national newspaper doesn't know how to spell their own favorite son's name. [theglobeandmail.com]
• A Canadian journalist breaks down his first post-arrest day like an episode of 24. We're glad you find this so hilarious, Kiefer's supposedly appreciative country! [thestar.com]
• More Commonwealth Kiefer Coverage fun-facts: In England, it's called "drink-driving," and yes, that does sound weird, but no weirder than a "drugs overdose." [news.bbc.co.uk]
• Here's a shocking video of Kiefer signing autographs outside Area the night of the arrest. We know! We can hardly believe it, either! [TMZ]
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Which network, you might ask, will be washed into fourth place when NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman unleashes his perfect television storm on his helpless competitors? In a Very Special Synergistic Conversation with CNBC chatshow personality Michael Eisner to air tomorrow night, the brash young conqueror of boob-tube worlds predicts it's Fox that will feel the resurgent's Peacock's fury (who can forget those terrifying cake-talons?), as Silverman ironically uses the very programs developed by NBC predecessor/newly appointed Foxster Kevin Reilly to bury his rival's network while it awaits American Idol-led Nielsen salvation.
And as for the guy who challenged his manhood over the way he handled the aftermath of Reilly's unexpected firing, Silverman acknowledges there's some buzz on Pushing Daises, but does take a shot at Steve McPherson's beloved Cavemen, which internet blogsite Cavefamer has called "twenty-two rollicking, Cro-Magtastic minutes of laughing and thinking that will make you forget all about auto-insurance commercials!"
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Director John McTiernan has been sentenced to four months in federal prison for lying to the FBI about hiring disgraced private eye Anthony Pellicano to illegally wiretap producer Charles Roven.
U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer sternly admonished the "Die Hard" helmer Monday for suggesting that his crime did not justify prison time, and that he suffers from depression.
"He (McTiernan) will certainly not be the only depressed man in custody," Fischer said during the Monday court hearing. "He has shown no remorse, just excuses."
Sentence, which also included a $100,000 fine, was issued after the court rejected McTiernan's motion to withdraw his earlier guilty plea.
In April 2006, the 56-year-old McTiernan became the highest-profile Hollywood player to be charged in connection with the Pellicano scandal.
He is the second person who used Pellicano's services to receive prison time. Earlier this year, Daniel Nicherie was sentenced to 4½ years after pleading guilty to hiring Pellicano to wiretap a Hollywood businessman.
Prosecutors say McTiernan lied to the FBI when he told investigators that he had no knowledge of Pellicano's illegal wiretapping activities.
In fact, FBI said McTiernan hired and paid Pellicano to conduct an illegal wiretap of producer Roven in summer 2000. Roven and McTiernan had worked together on the movie "Rollerball."
Shortly after McTiernan was indicted, he agreed to plead guilty to one count of making a false statement in connection with a Justice Dept. investigation, an offense that carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.
On Sept. 10 -- 17 months after entering the plea agreement -- McTiernan and his new attorney notified prosecutors that he would seek to withdraw his plea on the grounds that he was given bad advice by his then-attorney.
McTiernan and his new attorney argued that he was jet-lagged and under the influence of alcohol and medications when he made his false denials to FBI agent Stanley Omellas during an after-hours phone call to McTiernan's home.
McTiernan said his former attorney should have advised him that he had good defenses, and a valid basis for suppressing evidence used against him.
Federal prosecutors argued, however, that McTiernan decided to try to withdraw the guilty plea only when he learned prosecutors were planning to recommend six months prison time at the sentencing hearing.
Fischer agreed with prosecutors that McTiernan was fully cognizant when making the false statements to the FBI.
Going further, Fischer said McTiernan was not acting like a person sorry for his crime, as a plea agreement requires, but rather like someone "incensed" that he'd ever been charged in the first place.
Following the hearing, McTiernan's legal team said they would immediately seek an appeal.
"I am somewhat stunned. I just don't see locking a person like this up," said defense attorney Milton Grimes.
McTiernan, whose other directing credits include "Die Hard With a Vengeance," "The Hunt for Red October" and the 1999 "The Thomas Crown Affair," is lined up to direct "Run," a $30 million action-thriller produced by L.A.-based management-production shingle Pierce/Williams and finance brokers Future Films.
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Actor Kiefer Sutherland arrives at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards Sunday, Sept. 16, 2007, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES - Kiefer Sutherland was arrested early Tuesday on misdemeanor drunken driving charges after failing a field sobriety test, police officials said.
The actor was pulled over at about 1:10 a.m. in West Los Angeles after officers spotted him making an illegal U-turn, said Officer Kevin Maiberger.
Sutherland, 40, tested over the state's legal blood alcohol limit of .08 percent, and was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence, Officer Karen Smith said.
He was released around 4 a.m. after posting $25,000 bail, according to Sheriff's Department records.
Maiberger said Sutherland was scheduled to appear in court Oct. 16.
Sutherland won a best actor Emmy Award last year for his role as agent Jack Bauer on the Fox TV series "24." The series is set to return to the air in January.
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Warner Brothers unveils the Batcycle, called the Batpod in the film, for the upcoming movie 'The Dark Knight' at the 2007 Licensing International Expo at New York's Javits Convention Center, June 19, 2007.
LONDON (Reuters) - A crew member involved in the filming of the new Batman movie has died in a car accident on the set, police said on Tuesday. The special effects technician was killed when his 4x4 vehicle crashed into a tree during a dummy film run involving the "Batmobile."
The incident happened on a property near Chertsey, Surrey, on Monday afternoon.
Surrey Police and the Health and Safety Executive said they were investigating a workplace fatality on a London film set.
"Batman: The Dark Knight," starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman, is due for release in the United Kingdom next year.
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French mime Marcel Marceau is shown in this 1970 file photo
PARIS - Marcel Marceau, the master of mime who transformed silence into poetry with lithe gestures and pliant facial expressions that spoke to generations of young and old, has died. He was 84.
Wearing white face paint, soft shoes and a battered hat topped with a red flower, Marceau breathed new life into an art that dates to ancient Greece. He played out the human comedy through his alter-ego Bip without ever uttering a word.
Offstage, he was famously chatty. "Never get a mime talking. He won't stop," he once said.
A French Jew, Marceau escaped deportation to a Nazi death camp during World War II, unlike his father who died in Auschwitz. Marceau worked with the French Resistance to protect Jewish children, and later used the memories of his own life to feed his art.
He gave life to a wide spectrum of characters, from a peevish waiter to a lion tamer to an old woman knitting, and to the best-known Bip.
His biggest inspiration was Charlie Chaplin. In turn, Marceau inspired countless young performers — Michael Jackson borrowed his famous "moonwalk" from a Marceau sketch, "Walking Against the Wind."
Marceau's former assistant Emmanuel Vacca said on French radio that the peformer died Saturday in Paris, but gave no details.
In one of Marceau's most poignant and philosophical acts, "Youth, Maturity, Old Age, Death," Marceau wordlessly showed the passing of an entire life in just minutes.
He took his art to stages across the world, performing in Asia, Europe and the United States, his "second country," where he first performed in 1955 and returned every two years. He performed for Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
Tireless, Marceau took his art to Cuba for the first time in September 2005.
"France loses one of its most eminent ambassadors," President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement. Prime Minister Francois Fillon praised Marceau as "the master" with the rare gift of "being able to communicate with each and everyone beyond the barriers of language."
The son of a butcher, the mime was born Marcel Mangel on March 22, 1923, in Strasbourg, France. His father Charles, a baritone with a love of song, introduced his son to the world of music and theater at an early age. The boy was captivated by the silent film stars of the era: Chaplin, Buster Keaton and the Marx brothers.
When the Nazis marched into eastern France, he fled with family members to the southwest and changed his last name to Marceau to hide his Jewish origins.
With his brother Alain, Marceau became active in the French Resistance, altering children's identity cards by changing birth dates to trick the Nazis into thinking they were too young to be deported. Because he spoke English, he was recruited to be a liaison officer with Gen. George S. Patton's army.
His father was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944.
"Yes, I cried for him," Marceau said. But he said he also thought of the others killed.
"Among those kids was maybe an Einstein, a Mozart, somebody who (would have) found a cancer drug," he told reporters in 2000. "That is why we have a great responsibility. Let us love one another."
Some of Marceau's later work reflected the somber experiences. Even the character Bip, who chased butterflies in his debut, took on the grand themes of humanity.
Marcel's life as a performer began with the liberation of Paris from the Nazis. He enrolled in Charles Dullin's School of Dramatic Art, studying with the renowned mime Etienne Decroux.
On a tiny stage at the Theatre de Poche, a smoke-filled Left Bank cabaret, he sought to perfect the style of mime that would become his trademark.
The on-stage persona Bip was born in 1947, a sad-faced double whose eyes lit up with childlike wonder as he discovered the world. Bip was a direct descendant of the 19th century harlequin, but his clownish gestures, Marceau said, were inspired in part by Chaplin and Keaton.
Marceau likened his character to a modern-day Don Quixote, "alone in a fragile world filled with injustice and beauty."
Dressed in a white sailor suit, a top hat — a red rose perched on top — Bip covered the gamut of human experience, and emotion. He went to war and ran a matrimonial service.
In one famous sketch, "Public Garden," Marceau played all the characters in a park, from little boys playing ball to old women with knitting needles.
In 1949, Marceau's newly formed mime troupe was the only one of its kind in Europe. But it was only after a hugely successful tour across the United States in the mid-1950s that Marceau received the acclaim that would make him an international star.
Single-handedly, Marceau revived the art of mime, which dates to antiquity and continued until the 19th century through the Italian Commedia dell'Arte, or improvised theater.
"I have a feeling that I did for mime what (Andres) Segovia did for the guitar, what (Pablo) Casals did for the cello," he once told The Associated Press in an interview. Marceau started his own company, then in 1978 the International School of Mime-Drama.
Marceau also made film appearances. The most famous was Mel Brooks' 1976 film "Silent Movie" — he had the only speaking line, "Non!"
As he aged, Marceau kept performing, never losing the agility that made him famous.
A perforated ulcer nearly killed Marceau in the Soviet Union in December 1985. He was rushed home to Paris in critical condition, but bounced back to the stage five months later.
On top of his Legion of Honor and his countless honorary degrees, he was invited to be a United Nations goodwill ambassador for a 2002 conference on aging.
"If you stop at all when you are 70 or 80, you cannot go on," he told the AP in 2003. "You have to keep working."
Marceau was married three times and had four children. Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.
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Rapper DMX, whose name is Earl Simmons, performs at The Source Hip Hop Awards at the Pantages Theater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles in this Aug. 18, 1999 file photo
PHOENIX - Two dogs found buried at a home belonging to DMX had serious wounds, said authorities investigating animal neglect allegations.
One of the dogs had serious bite wounds and another had trauma to its abdomen, but exact causes of death were not determined, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Saturday. A third dog carcass had been burned so badly an exam was inconclusive.
The remains were dug up on Aug. 24, when sheriff's investigators probing allegations of animal neglect raided the rapper's home in north Phoenix.
Authorities also seized 12 live pit bulls, numerous weapons, and about a quarter-ounce of marijuana in a bedroom, Arpaio said. The sheriff initially said a half-pound of suspected narcotics was found, but tests showed the substance was not illegal drugs.
No charges had been filed against the rapper or anyone else, but Arpaio said that may change.
"Someone's going to have to pay for this," the sheriff said. "We have 12 dogs who were abused and three dogs buried in the yard — someone's going to have to pay."
A lawyer for the 36-year-old rapper, whose real name is Earl Simmons, has said DMX was not at the home during the raid, hadn't been there for months and was paying caretakers and veterinarians to care for his animals.
Murray Richman on Saturday questioned how the sheriff could connect his client to any alleged animal abuse.
"How do you attribute activities to a person who has not been there, when they have knowledge that other persons have been," Richman said. "Is it because of the celebrity nature?"
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The Apple logo hangs at the entrance to the Apple store on New York's 5th Avenue June 29, 2007
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former drummer from the 1980s punk band, The Ramones, sued Apple Inc, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, RealNetworks Inc and others for copyright infringement, claiming the companies lacked permission to sell downloads of six songs he authored.
In the suit filed in U.S. federal court in Manhattan on Friday, Richard Reinhardt alleges his music publisher never had the right to authorize distribution or duplication of six songs he wrote between 1983 and 1987.
The suit, which also names the estate of the band's one- time guitarist, Johnny Ramone, Ramones Productions Inc and their music publisher as defendants, alleges the music publisher improperly authorized third parties, such as Apple's iTunes service, Wal-Mart.com's music download service and RealNetwork's Real Store and Rhapsody services to use the songs.
Reinhardt claims no music publishing agreement was ever made with his music publisher and that the songs -- Smash You, Somebody Put Something in My Drink', 'Human Kind', 'I'm Not Jesus, I Know Better Now and (You) Can't Say Anything Nice -- are solely owned by Reinhardt, according to the lawsuit.
Reinhardt is seeking at least $900,000 in damages, profits the defendants made from the songs and a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants from using the songs in any manner whatsoever, according to the lawsuit.
A spokesman for Wal-Mart had no immediate comment on the lawsuit. A spokesman from Apple did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
A spokeswoman from RealNetworks said the company had not yet seen the lawsuit and does not usually comment on litigation.
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If early returns are any indication, it could be a challenging fall for the broadcast networks: Four new series got a jump on the competition with early bows Wednesday night, but none seemed to excite auds.
Fox's "Back to You" and "Kitchen Nightmares" looked solid but unspectacular, while CBS' "Kid Nation" fared OK but didn't open to the kind of numbers commensurate with the publicity and controversy it had generated over the summer. And CW's "Gossip Girl" scored big with female teens but didn't do a whole lot in broader demo categories.
One caveat that applies to all shows this season is the DVR factor. With more and more viewing done on viewers' timetables, premiere-night ratings can't be expected to hold up as well as in past years. Also, some pilots this season have been made available to the public on various platforms prior to their television debuts.
According to live-plus-same-day DVR viewing estimates provided by Nielsen, CBS' "Kid Nation" opened with a 3.1 rating/9 share in adults 18-49 and 9.38 million viewers overall from 8 to 9:06 p.m. Show, which drew criticism about child endangerment and exploitation, narrowly won its opening hour in 18-49 -- moving into the lead at 8:30 -- but with an average slightly below what "Jericho" debuted with in the timeslot last fall.
It seemed to draw more family viewing than the typical CBS show, as its kids number was above average (an 8 share), while its 50-plus number was relatively low. "Kid's" success would seem to hinge on getting more kids to start talking about the show, something CBS hoped to spur by offering screenings of its preem at schools in eight cities across the country.
It will also receive a second airing Saturday at 8.
At Fox, Kelsey Grammer-Patricia Heaton laffer "Back to You" bowed at 8 o'clock with a 3.1/10 in 18-49 and 9.48 million viewers overall, making it the top show of the night in 18-49 share and rating (tied with "Kid" and "Kitchen"). "Back to You" beat "Kid Nation" head to head in adults 18-49 (3.1/10 to 2.7/9) and total viewers (9.51 million to 8.55 million).
"'Til Death" followed at 8:30 (2.8/8 in 18-49, 7.76m), dropping off some while auds flipped to the conclusions of the hourlong programs in the time period.
For the hour, Fox was on par with its performance in the timeslot a year ago with "Bones," as "Back to You" was up at 8 and "Death" down at 8:30.
Competition intensifies in the coming week for "Back to You," "Kid Nation" and the other opening-hour skeins as ABC -- the only network not airing regular firstrun fall programming in the 8 o'clock hour this week -- will join the party with "Pushing Daisies." (A special one-time airing of "Dancing With the Stars" plays Wednesday at 8 next week).
NBC's "Deal or No Deal" kicked off its season with below-par numbers (2.5/8, 9.86m) but did spike up in the second half-hour of an NFL-themed episode as a contestant zeroed in on the $1 million prize.
CW's "America's Next Top Model" looked good as usual kicking off its season at 8 o'clock (2.5/8 in 18-49, 5.22m), winning the hour in persons 12-34 (3.0/11) and dominating in femmes 12-34 (4.7/16).
At 9, "Gossip Girl" (1.7/4 in 18-49, 3.50m) fell off quite a bit in broader categories but held up well in femmes 12-34 (3.6/11), winning its hour and retaining more of its "Model" lead-in (77%) than any other show to bow behind the nonscripted heavyweight.
It's worth pointing out that other long-running teen soaps like "Beverly Hills 90210" and "One Tree Hill" didn't exactly storm out of the gate. Net also has to be pleased that the show hit a bull's-eye in female teens (5.3/17), where it opened higher than the preems of other young-skewing shows like "The OC," "Gilmore Girls" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Fox moved to the 18-49 lead at 9 o'clock with the bow of "Kitchen Nightmares" (3.1/8 in 18-49, 6.61m), which built nicely in its second half-hour but didn't approach the ratings level of the summer show it hatched from, "Hell's Kitchen."
ABC ran third in most categories from 9 to 10 with its spec "From Grey's Anatomy to Private Practice" (2.5/7 in 18-49, 7.14m), a retrospective of Kate Walsh's "Grey's Anatomy" character Addison Montgomery. Walsh leads the ensemble in "Practice," a "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff that bows in the Wednesday-at-9 hour next week.
And NBC's season finale of "Last Comic Standing" (2.9/8 in 18-49, 7.10m) posted the show's best numbers in five weeks, moving to the timeslot lead in key demos from 10 to 11.
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The "Leave Britney Alone" guy could be getting his own TV show.
Reality shingle 44 Blue Prods. has inked a development deal with Chris Crocker, the Internet superstar whose tear-filled defense of Britney Spears has generated nearly 8 million hits on YouTube in just one week.
Plan is to develop a docusoap built around Crocker, a 19-year-old who lives with his grandparents in Tennessee. Even before the Britney clip, Crocker had developed a large Net audience via numerous video performances posted on MySpace.com.
"Chris first got on our radar a year ago," said 44 Blue prexy/co-founder Rasha Drachkovitch, who said he wants to develop a show that plays to Crocker's strengths.
"It's going to pretty much be the 'Chris Crocker experience,'" he said. "We consider him a rebel character that people will find interesting. He's going to be a TV star."
Since posting "Leave Britney Alone," Crocker has become a darling of the mainstream media, appearing on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and inspiring countless spoofs, including one from actor Seth Green ("Robot Chicken").
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.......................................................................................................................................................... Network to feature stars from previous shows
A group of celebs who have appeared on VH1 reality series will soon appear in a new venue on the net: rehab.
Cabler is taking four or five personalities from its previous skeins and following them as they go through rehab, with well-known addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky attending to the group.
Several stars not previously seen on VH1 reality skeins will also appear; nine patients will be featured altogether.
Show, titled "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew," will debut on Jan. 10. Net has ordered eight hourlong episodes.
John Irwin and Damian Sullivan are exec producing together with Pinsky and Howard Lapides.
VH1 did not announce the name of the rehabilitation facility involved, but sources said the show is being taped at the Pasadena Recovery Center, where Pinsky serves as a physician.
Net has also yet to reveal the identity of the celebs; it's believed, however, that one is former "American Idol" contestant Jessica Sierra.Far from reveling in drinking or partying, series will be a serious take on the difficulties of going clean. "Celeb Rehab" will "give viewers an unflinching look at exactly how the rehab process works and what it feels like for participants," net said in a statement.
Over the past few years, VH1 has heavily mined the celebreality genre; at present net has a number of shows, such as "Rock of Love" and "Scott Baio Is 45 and Single," which follow the lives of current or former stars.
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The Phil Spector jury still sits deadlocked, one faction firmly convinced the pouffy-wigged eccentric shot Barbarian Queen star Lana Clarkson in the mouth, the other feeling Spector was merely the victim of a convoluted self-murder plot for which he'd unwittingly provide a suicide-friendly foyer and firearm. Presiding Judge Larry Paul Fidler, meanwhile, in his ongoing attempts to shake some clear-minded consensus into the divided group, has opted not to offer the option of a reduced sentence of manslaughter:
The judge told lawyers he was considering allowing the panel to consider a lesser charge, but later decided against making involuntary manslaughter an option for the jurors.
If the deadlock persists and a mistrial is declared, prosecutors would have three options: seek a new trial of Spector, pursue a plea bargain or drop the charges.
The judge ruled in August that the jury would consider only second-degree murder, saying the facts of the case did not support lesser offenses. Involuntary manslaughter involves causing a death through extremely careless acts.</blockquote></p>
We're not sure what the law recognizes as a "careless act," but it would seem to us that the administering of an "intra-oral" gunshot wound followed by the defendant stumbling outside with a gun in his hand and telling his limo driver, "I think I killed somebody," would definitely qualify as one. Nevertheless, the lack of a verdict compromise brings us one step closer to mistrial and the very real prospect of Spector getting off, only to be picked up by Vegas police a decade later for waving a gun in the face of a rock n' roll memorabilia collector he claims stole the napkin on which he scribbled the lyrics to Da Doo Ron Ron and the lucky wig he wore the day he was declared a free man.
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Lawyers representing former television news anchor Dan Rather, pictured in 2006, announced Wednesday they had filed a lawsuit against the CBS network seeking 70 million dollars for violating his contract
Former news anchor files $70 million lawsuit
Three years after a flawed report on President Bush's Vietnam-era military service put a virtual end to Dan Rather's career at CBS News, the former anchor unleashed a long-threatened suit against his former employer.
Rather, 75, has filed a $70 million suit against CBS Corp. and three of his former superiors alleging that he was made a scapegoat in the affair, which "cost him significant financial loss and seriously damaged his reputation." The suit further alleges that they violated his contract by not giving him meaningful work on "60 Minutes" after he was forced to step down as anchor of "Evening News" in 2005.
The suit, filed Wednesday in Gotham, also names CEO Leslie Moonves, chairman Sumner Redstone and former CBS News prexy Andrew Heyward, alleging that the three never intended to live up to his contract and were more interested in restoring the reputation of CBS at his expense and currying favor with the Bush Administration.
CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said "these complaints are old news, and this lawsuit is without merit."
Suit comes as CBS News is attempting to distance itself from the Rather era and to build former "Today" anchor Katie Couric into the new face of the news division. The first year in those efforts has been a struggle, as Couric has lost audience compared with her predecessor, Bob Schieffer, who took over from Rather in 2005.
CBS' attempt to relaunch Couric included a high-profile trip to the Middle East to evaluate the state of the administration's military surge in Iraq. She concluded the surge had been at least a partial success, inflaming some of the administration's critics.
CBS' efforts will be complicated as Rather takes his case public. He's scheduled to give a live interview on the suit to CNN's Larry King today.
While the Eye just dispatched a $50 million wrongful termination suit by settling with Don Imus, sources close to Rather said he's not going to settle. That means dozens of CBS executives could be deposed, dredging up a low point in CBS News history it is trying to forget.
In a news release, Rather's law firm said he intends to donate any judgment in his favor "to causes that will further journalistic independence."
On the eve of the ill-fated story in 2004, Rather and producer Mary Mapes were on a professional high, having broken the story of abuse in Abu Ghraib prison, arguably the biggest scoop of the year.
Mapes told CBS that she was going to secure an interview with a former Texas politico who said he pulled strings to get Bush into the National Guard in the '70s and memos from his commanding officer that said he did not fulfill his commitment.
CBS aired the story but, after withering public criticism, admitted that it could not verify the authenticity of the critical documents. A former secretary said she did not type the docs but said information they contained was true.
CBS hired a private investigator to go to Texas to try to authenticate the documents and commissioned an independent panel to review the story and processes at CBS News. In the wake of the report, three CBS News execs were asked to resign and Mapes was fired.
Rather alleges that the panel itself was biased because it was co-chaired by Richard Thornburgh, former U.S. attorney general under the first President Bush.
In his suit, Rather diminished his role in reporting the story, calling himself a "narrator" and maintain that Heyward oversaw all fact-checking of the piece.
But CBS insiders dispute the notion that Rather's role was hands-off, noting that Rather quibbled over the script and conducted all the interviews, including those with the document expert who judged the documents to be authentic.
After the report, Rather said he tried to remain a good corporate citizen in hopes that his contract, which was set to expire in 2006, would be renewed and that he could continue on as a correspondent for "60 Minutes."
In so doing, his complaint alleges, he didn't respond to criticism from CBS employees like Mike Wallace, Andy Rooney and Walter Cronkite, who was a member of the CBS board of directors.
He said he agreed to read an apology on the air written by CBS spokesman Gil Schwartz even though he believed he had nothing to apologize for.
The anchor, who made his name covering 1961's Hurricane Carla in Texas, was denied a role in covering Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and on "60 Minutes," he alleges he was given "very little staff support" and "very few of his suggested stories were approved."
After he resigned in 2006, Rather joined the Mark Cuban-based HDNet to host weekly news program "Dan Rather Reports."
In his suit, he seeks $20 million in lost compensation and $50 million in punitive damages.
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.......................................................................................................................................................... Recent quarrel with iTunes spawns 'Direct' hit
Weeks after its very public dust-up with Apple's iTunes, NBC U announced it would allow users to download NBC primetime and latenight entertainment shows for free.
The service, called "NBC Direct," will allow consumers to download shows like "Heroes" or "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" to computers for free viewing for one week after the original airing.
Shows will expire after the first week and will include ads that cannot be skipped.
"We are acknowledging that now, more than ever, viewers want to be in control of how, when and where they consume their favorite entertainment," said NBC digital exec veep Vivi Zigler.
The first version of the service, which will begin in October, will permit viewing on Windows-based PCs. Future versions will include Macs and portable devices compatible with the copy protection software NBC requires.
NBC's downloadable player will prevent it from playing any stolen copyrighted material. NBC didn't say how the player would determine whether content was stolen or under legal use.
Future versions of the service will incorporate download-to-own, rental and subscription business models.
Ultimately, NBC.com plans to create a closed peer-to-peer network that would distribute copy-protected high-resolution shows across the web.
NBC already streams certain shows via NBC.com and its affiliated TV web sites. The new service would allow users to view NBC content on a downloaded basis, so not necessarily connected to the Internet.
NBC U is partner in a joint venture, Hulu.com, with News Corp. to distribute digital TV shows and films, which is also set to launch in October.
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Shocking a world that expected it to return the first ever official "So fucking guilty. I mean, come on, look at that guy!" verdict in the history of American jurisprudence, the jury in the Phil Spector murder trial today instead informed the court that it was unable to reach a verdict in the case. Perhaps suspecting that a number of his jurors had somehow been exposed to the mesmerizing, reasonable-doubt-instilling stare of Team Spector's sad-eyed Great Dane, Judge Larry Paul Fidler sent them home for the day, hoping that they'll return in a more unanimously decisive mood tomorrow. Reports the LAT:
"It is possible I may give you further instructions tomorrow," Fidler told the nine men and three women on the jury. He warned the jury that he might ask the lawyers to reargue a part of the instructions.
"Just set the case aside for the rest of the day," he said and then dismissed them for the day
Fidler will meet with the defense and prosecution to discuss what is next. Earlier, he had suggested that he might consider a lesser charge than second-degree murder.
When Fidler brought the jury back he questioned the foreman, Juror 10, a civil engineer.
The foreman said the jury was split 7-5, but wasn't allowed to say what the position of the majority was.
"I believe it comes down to individual jurors," the foreman said. "At this time we don't believe anything will change the positions of the jurors."
Fidler then polled the jury.
At least three jurors indicated that something more might be done to force a verdict. They cited questions about reasonable doubt.
We suppose we'll have to wait and see if tomorrow's reargued instructions prove more effective in helping the jury confidently return a verdict; hopefully, the frustrated prosecution can resist the temptation to succumb to a mistrial-inducing impulse to blurt out, "What do we need to do, hand him a gun and see if he shoots the stenographer, then tries to explain that she followed him into court today to finally indulge her suicidal impulses?," ruining untold months of hard work.
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Singer Britney Spears performs on stage during the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards held at The Palms Hotel and Casino, on 09 Sep, in Las Vegas, Nevada. -- Kevin Federline parties at the Stuff Magazine Party presented by Polaroid and Maker's Mark during the events for the 133rd Kentucky Derby, on 04 May, in Louisville, Kentucky
Faced with the Solomonic dilemma of deciding whether to award custody of steadily working celebrity-weekly cover models Sean Preston and Other One Federline to a former pop star mother prone to vagina-flashing, poorly lip-synced breaks with reality or to to the background-dancing father who impregnated his way to parasitic fame and fortune, a judge ruled on Monday to allow Britney Spears and her ex-husband to continue their joint-neglect arrangement, but did institute a number of court-mandated guidelines the parents need to follow if they hope to keep the state of California from impounding the adorable tykes. But wisely realizing that Spears might need extra help in getting her parenting skills up to an acceptable level, the judge added some supplemental Britney Rules to his decree, as reported by UsMagazine.com's blogspot:
· Attend individual counseling at least once a week to address parenting issues.
· Meet with a parenting coach for a minimum of 8 hours a week, in at least two sessions a week. The coach is to observe her parenting skills and her interaction with her sons and provide Federline with a written progress report by October 22
· And, "based on the evidence presented, the Court finds that there is a habitual, frequent, and continuous use of controlled substances by Petitioner [Spears]," will have to undergo testing for controlled substances and alcohol. The testing shall be conducted twice per week on random dates and times, and the results will be forwarded to the court
While the random drug testing should certainly contribute to a more stable environment for the children, it's really the court-mandated parenting lessons that should most radically impact the quality of care they receive when under their mother's supervision. In their first session alone, the coach should be able to teach Spears a more effective infant smile-whitening technique than the one she'd been using, teaching her to replace the inefficient combination of rollers and cans of paint she devised on her own with a more traditional pairing of toothbrushes and flouride-enriched paste.
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Sally Field holds the award for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for her work on 'Brothers & Sisters' at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards Sunday, Sept. 16, 2007, in Los Angeles
It's telling that seemingly the only thing worth discussing following last night's Emmys--an exercise in show business self-gratification only marginally more entertaining than watching a Lassie stand-in lick its genitals between camera set-ups--are the three words we weren't allowed to hear (to review: "screwing," "[shit]," and "goddamn") during the telecast.
Inside Edition was quick to get Field's post-show thoughts on being a victim of Fox's ultrasensitive network censors, who appears satisfied that it was more the comment's goddamn-iness than its antiwar-iness that led to one of the evening's conspicuous disco-ball cutaways. Edition also managed to poll Oscar-winning Hollywood shadow president Al Gore about Field's speech, who "agreed with the sentiment," but refrained from accusing conservative Fox overlord Rupert Murdoch of personally pressing a dump-button that simultaneously silenced the actress's outrage and triggered the deployment of 10,000 additional News Corp-funded mercenaries to Baghdad to assist in a surge.
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WGA West prexy Patric Verrone - AMPTP prexy Nick Counter
Strike fever's about to hit Hollywood hard.
With WGA negotiations set to resume Wednesday, the saber-rattling is growing louder and the public posturing more pointed. So there's little optimism that the town's scribes will reach a deal with studios and nets by the Oct. 31 expiration of the WGA contract.
Most expect that the guild won't strike at that point but rather tell its members to keep working under terms of the expired deal in hopes of securing a better one once SAG negotiates next year prior to its June 30 expiration.
Still, the WGA's not taking the strike option off the table. It's converted the members' lounge at its headquarters into a strike HQ, and WGA West prexy Patric Verrone admits the guild could schedule a strike authorization vote by early next month.
Belligerence between the two sides has grown since two acrimonious days of bargaining in July. The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers proposal -- a revolutionary revamp of residuals in which payments would be triggered only when producers recoup basic costs -- is still reverberating two months later.
AMPTP prexy Nick Counter contends that fast-shifting showbiz economics have left the companies with no choice but to come in with their guns blazing. He cites soaring costs of film and TV, uncertainty over Internet revenues and flat DVD growth, rattling off MPAA stats showing an average deficit of $70 million per film.
"We are in a high state of deficit financing," he added. "We've made the same argument in the last two rounds of negotiations, but the difference this time is that we've put forth a formula to deal with it. The idea evolved gradually, but we are now at a crisis stage."
The guild's flatly rejected the notion of changing the residuals structure and is promising that the idea will be turned down without further discussion if it's broached at negotiations.
"It's not a serious proposal," Verrone said. "We have no interest in dignifying it as a means of paying residuals in new media or in the traditional markets."
Verrone contends that the revamp would essentially mean talent would cease to see any residuals since the companies use accounting techniques that can keep movies and TV programs permanently in deficit.
"Hollywood accounting is a fantasy designed to pay talent as little as possible," he added.
Counter bristles at such accusations. "Our accounting is transparent," he insisted. "It's a fallacious argument to say that the revenues aren't transparent because of profit participations and audits. Because of shareholders and participants, the industry's books have to be transparent."
The WGA and AMPTP have already grappled over the issue of the health of the industry. John Bowman, head of the WGA negotiating committee, has accused the companies of duplicity -- crying poverty at the bargaining table while bragging to Wall Street about the industry's prospects for growth.
Counter's also peeved by the fact that the WGA hasn't provided any kind of detailed response to its proposal.
"The view of the companies is that the WGA has not responded to our proposal; they have not bargained in good faith," Counter declared. "We're entitled to a point-by-point response, and they have not given us the courtesy of that. And we are surprised and chagrined. This is the first time in my experience that the other side has been nonresponsive."
Asked about Counter's complaints, Verrone said they're nonsense and the companies need to move on.
"If they want a detailed response to their proposal, the answer is no," he added. "And if they ask again, the answer will still be no."
Counter asserted that the companies have the right to seek a revamp in the residuals formula if they're not recouping their costs. Such a right rests in three-decade-old contract language covering pay TV, under which producers reserve the right to redefine "supplemental" markets -- such as homevideo -- as "primary" markets; in the AMPTP's view, that means the basic residuals formula can then be renegotiated so that residuals are not paid until costs have been recouped.
Verrone nevertheless remains upbeat, in part because he believes the town has come to the conclusion that the AMPTP is out of line in asking for something that the guild can't give. And he calls the WGA's proposal --seeking to spell out rates and residuals for new media and expand jurisdiction to reality TV and animation -- fair and reasonable.
"I am optimistic that the companies will see the light of day and agree to a deal by Nov. 1," he added.
Some observers don't believe the AMPTP is completely serious about the proposal.
"I interpret the AMPTP position as a negotiating ploy more than anything else," said Jonathan Handel, a partner at the Troy Gould law firm and a former WGA staff attorney. "The studios are aware that eliminating residuals is a nuclear option that would most surely trigger a strike."
Norman Samnick, an attorney with Bryan Cave who's advised in past guild negotiations, believes there's no chance that the WGA will make a deal by the deadline or go on strike. Instead, be believes the writers will wait for the DGA and SAG to make deals since both have more leverage in terms of a work stoppage.
He speculates that the DGA -- which faces a June 30 contract expiration along with SAG -- would be more likely than SAG to make a deal with the AMPTP later this year or in early 2008 given its history. That would follow what happened in 2004, when the DGA reached its current deal after the WGA contract expired.
"A WGA strike will not stop production," Samnick noted. "The WGA will figure that SAG can do the heavy lifting for them. And I don't think anyone's sure what SAG will do."
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Singer Britney Spears performs onstage during the MTV Video Music Awards September 9 2007
Management company cuts pop princess loose
In the latest bit of fallout from her much-derided appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards, Britney Spears has been dropped as a client by management company The Firm. Spears had been signed recently by The Firm co-head Jeff Kwatinetz, who was planning to spearhead a comeback by the freefalling pop star.
"It saddens us to confirm media reports that we have terminated our professional relationship with Britney Spears," The Firm said in a statement. "We have represented Britney for the past month. We believe Britney is enormously talented, and has made a terrific record. But current circumstances have prevented us from properly doing our job. We wish Britney the best."
Earlier this year, Endeavor discharged Paris Hilton after she was jailed for a probation violation in June, following two years of repping the heiress.
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.......................................................................................................................................................... Both formats will gain foothold
Both the Blu-ray and HD DVD high-definition formats can get a firm foothold and co-exist "for the foreseeable future" in the U.S and Western Europe, according to a report by media analysts Screen Digest.
The report, which examines the evolution of the high-definition market until 2011, suggests that studios supporting only a single format will be missing out on significant potential revenues in coming years by not making their product available on both Blu-ray and HD DVD.
The U.K.-based research org predicts combined consumer spending for both formats will reach $1.55 billion in 2008, up from the $438 million mark projected for this year.
Screen Digest estimates that studios supporting one format are missing out on an estimated $270 million in consumer spending next year.
"Christmas 2007 is going to be critical for the hi-def video business," says Richard Cooper, Screen Digest Video Analyst. "Both formats will be seeking to secure consumer buy-in to their proposition during the critical holiday season but with so much at stake on both sides we think it is highly unlikely that one format will emerge as the 'winner.'
"Once it becomes clear that both formats are gaining customer acceptance, studios that have chosen to support one format over the other will realize that they are missing out on potential sales and will have to decide how long they can afford to place principle over profit.
"We believe that eventually most will decide to offer their titles on both HD DVD and Blu-ray in order to maximize their returns."
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Former football star O.J. Simpson is shown in this police booking photograph released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department September 16, 2007
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Former football star O.J. Simpson, who was acquitted in 1995 of murdering his ex-wife, was arrested and held without bail on Sunday in connection with a suspected armed robbery in a Las Vegas hotel room last week.
Simpson, 60, was taken into custody at the Palms hotel just off the Las Vegas strip on Sunday morning without incident and booked on suspicion of armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy and burglary, Las Vegas police said. If convicted on all charges, Simpson could face some three decades in behind bars.
Simpson will be held without bail pending a court hearing on Thursday, Sgt. John Loretto said.
Las Vegas police on Saturday night arrested another man they believe was with the former star athlete during the suspected theft of Simpson-related sports souvenirs and other items and said they were searching for four others.
They also said they seized two handguns they believe are related to the Thursday night incident, which was reported by a sports memorabilia dealer as an armed robbery in his room at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino.
When asked if police believed Simpson was wielding a gun, Las Vegas Metro Police Lt. Clint Nichols told reporters, "We don't have any info that would lead us to believe he was armed."
Representatives for the Palms and Simpson's attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
'DONE NOTHING WRONG'
Orenthal James, or O.J., Simpson, who parlayed his fame as an athlete into a career in movies and television before the murder trial -- one of the most sensational in U.S. history, ended his career in Hollywood, previously told police and the media he did nothing wrong in Las Vegas.
"I'm not walking around feeling sad or anything. I've done nothing wrong," he said in an interview published in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday.
Simpson told the paper that "golfing buddies and some of their friends" accompanied him to a meeting at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino to help him retrieve sports memorabilia, personal photos and other items he said had been stolen by a former sports agent.
Simpson who lives in Miami, Florida, said an auctioneer set up the meeting with the sellers. He said the men in his party were unarmed.
"I'm O.J. Simpson. How am I going to think that I'm going to rob somebody and get away with it?" he said. "You've got to understand, this ain't somebody going to steal somebody's drugs or something like that. This is somebody going to get his private (belongings) back. That's it. That's not robbery."
After he was acquitted in the murders of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, a civil court jury found Simpson responsible for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages to their families.
The former National Football League star, nicknamed "The Juice" during his playing days, has had other minor brushes with police since 1995.
Simpson's latest legal flap comes as Simpson's book "If I Did It," which includes a hypothetical account of his ex-wife's murder, was hitting store shelves. The book is No. 2 on Amazon.com's best-seller list.
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Ellen DeGeneres jokes around backstage with the Emmys on the trophy table at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards Sunday, Sept. 16, 2007, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles
By JOSEF ADALIAN
Ken Ehrlich, the last-minute replacement for the "American Idol" braintrust that bowed out of producing this year's Emmycast, decided to keep things simple and gimmick-free -- and make very sparing use of the inoffensive, near-invisible Ryan Seacrest. The moves resulted in a fast-moving and relatively painless broadcast that nobody will remember in a few weeks...but at least watercoolers won't be buzzing about yet another dreadfully dull awards show.
Recognizing that comedy isn't Seacrest's strong suit, Ehrlich wisely let Ray Romano and other real comedians interject humor throughout the broadcast. For the most part, it worked. Romano's best line of the night -- "from what I hear, Frasier is screwing my wife," referring to Kelsey Grammer's upcoming sitcom with Patricia Heaton -- was cut by Fox. The network was right to do so: Romano's remarks came during a monologue early in the evening and award shows should be family-friendly.
While Romano's bits were OK, Lewis Black was winning with a rant against TV's overuse of on-screen promo messages. Wayne Brady made a strong case that he should host a future Emmys with a fun bit involving Kanye West, Rainn Wilson and "Don't Forget the Lyrics!"
But by far, the biggest laughs Sunday came near the end of the show, thanks to an impromptu "Daily Show" reunion. When Ricky Gervais failed to show for his best comedy actor win, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert called up Steve Carell, and the trio did a happy dance that's sure to make future Emmycast highlight reels.
As for Seacrest, the fact that there's very little to say about his perf reps a victory for the omnipresent host of multiple TV shows.
His opening few jokes were lame but brief (and included just a quick "American Idol" mention). He poked fun at rumors about his sexuality (appearing in Tudor dress, he quipped, "This didn't look that gay on the rack") and his alleged romance with Teri Hatcher (she didn't seem to appreciate it).
If anything, Seacrest was perhaps a bit too low-key, popping up once every half-hour at most. But while that meant he didn't add much to the show, he also didn't make the night about him -- and that's a good thing. He even demonstrated admirable self-deprecatory skills, joking that just about everyone else in the room had turned down an offer to host the Emmys (not far from the truth).
Kudoscast got off to a swell start with "If You Want It, You Can Find it On TV," a funny musical number from "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane (voicing Stewie and Brian the Dog). Biting remarks about "Scrubs," "Two and a Half Men" and "Desperate Housewives" skirted the line between funny and tasteless, but ultimately came down on the "funny" side. Its egregious error, however, was that it took no potshots at Fox or its programs.
Early on in the show, the fact that Emmy voters honored a sizable number of newcomers aided in the delivery of moments fueled by genuine emotion.
Katherine Heigl let her ego slip when she complained about an announcer mispronouncing her name, but she recovered with an elegant, emotional acceptance speech. Terry O'Quinn joked about the disparity in salaries between actors on "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives." And "30 Rock" creator Tina Fey followed a shout-out to former NBC programming boss Kevin Reilly with an advance thank-you to new boss Ben Silverman.
Then there was Conan O'Brien (who should be named permanent Emmy host). He was truly stunned when his show finally won a much-deserved award for writing, and his face showed it.
And while not quite the same as her "you like me" Oscar speech, Sally Field put some political passion into the night by declaring that, if mothers were in charge, "there would be no goddamned wars in the first place."
Look of Sunday's kudoscast, like the show itself, was simple and spare. Theater-in-the-round presentation made for some striking shots and camera angles (though not for half the crowd, which had to watch backsides all night long).
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Britney Spears performs at the MTV Video Music Awards held at the Palms Hotel and Casino on Sunday, Sept. 9, 2007, in Las Vegas.
Britney Spears is reportedly at serious risk of losing custody of her two children, as early as this morning (September 17).
Gloria Allred, lawyer for Spears's ex-husband Kevin Federline, is bringing a "secret" witness to court at 8.30am Los Angeles time today for a closed hearing, which could see the removal of Jayden James and Sean Preston from Spears's care.
According to a report on Foxnews.com, the witness in question is a man who has had close observation of Spears with her children, and likely observations from him are that the toddlers witnessed drug use by Spears in their home.
The witness signed a declaration, effectively a written testimony, which was filed to Commissioner Scott Gordon, the judge in the case, who accepted the declaration and supposedly praised the work of Allred.
The witness will not have to testify in court unless Spears and her lawyers question the information in the declaration.
Spears and her team would have discovered the identity of the witness on Friday when the declaration was filed.
The witness will be with Allred when she goes to court to fight for Federline's custody of the kids this morning in Los Angeles.
Allred told Foxnews.com that despite that fact that he may be recognized as he enters the court, the witness is "not famous" and is "just someone who is concerned about the kids."
Meanwhile, reports that Spears would apologise at the Primetime Emmy's last night (September 16) proved unfounded. Rumors had been rife that Spears would appear live to address her disastrous performance at the MTV VMAs last week (September 9).
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Former American football player and actor O.J. Simpson is interviewed by media in 2005
LAS VEGAS - Investigators questioned O.J. Simpson and named him a suspect Friday in a confrontation at a casino hotel room involving sports memorabilia. The former football star acknowledged going to the room to get property he said was stolen from him but denied breaking in.
Simpson told The Associated Press auction house owner Tom Riccio called him several weeks ago to say some collectors "have a lot of your stuff and they don't want anyone to know they are selling it."
Simpson, who was in Las Vegas for a friend's wedding, said he arranged to meet Riccio at the hotel and conducted a "sting operation."
"Everybody knows this is stolen stuff," Simpson said. "Not only wasn't there a break-in, but Riccio came to the lobby and escorted us up to the room. In any event, it's stolen stuff that's mine. Nobody was roughed up."
Investigators were reviewing a complaint of a break-in at the hotel late Thursday night, police spokesman Jose Montoya said.
"When they talked to him, Simpson made the comment that he believed the memorabilia was his," Montoya said. "We're getting conflicting stories from the two sides."
Simpson is considered a suspect in the case, Montoya said. He was released after he and several associates were questioned, and he remained in Las Vegas.
The Heisman Trophy winner, ex-NFL star and actor lives near Miami and has been a tabloid staple since his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman were killed in 1994. Simpson was acquitted of murder charges, but a jury later held him liable for the killings in a wrongful death lawsuit.
Simpson has had to auction off his sports collectibles, including his Heisman Trophy, to pay some of the $33.5 million judgment awarded in the civil trial.
On Thursday, the Goldman family published a book about the killings that Simpson had written under the title, "If I Did It," about how he would have committed the crime had he actually done it. After a deal for Simpson to publish it fell through, a federal bankruptcy judge awarded the book's rights to the Goldman family, who retitled it "If I Did It: The Confessions of a Killer."
Fred Goldman, Ron's Goldman's father, defended the family's decision to publish the book. He noted Simpson's penchant for breaking headlines.
"He brings attention to himself every time we turn around and he will continue to do that forever," Goldman said Friday on NBC's "Today Show."
The Las Vegas district attorney's office will decide whether to pursue charges in the casino case, but had not received police paperwork by Friday morning, an office assistant said.
Simpson had been scheduled to give a deposition Friday in Miami in a bankruptcy case involving his eldest daughter. But it was rescheduled because Simpson had told attorneys that he would be out of town.
The Palace Station, an aging property just west of the Las Vegas Strip, is one of several Station Casinos-owned resorts that cater to locals. The 1,000-room hotel-casino, with a 21-story tower and adjacent buildings, opened in 1976.
A company spokeswoman did not immediately return a call for comment.
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Singer Fred Durst poses during arrivals at a movie premiere Oct. 13, 2006, in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES - Fred Durst pleaded no contest to seven misdemeanors, including assault, battery and reckless driving, for deliberately hitting two people with his car.
William Fred Durst, 37, entered the pleas Aug. 16 and was handed a suspended 120-day jail sentence, ordered to perform 20 hours of community service and fined $1,500, according to Superior Court documents.
The documents, first obtained by CelebTV.com, also show the Limp Bizkit lead singer was slapped with a restraining order saying he cannot "annoy, harass, strike, threaten or otherwise disturb the peace" of the two victims, whose names weren't disclosed.
Durst must stay at least 100 yards away from the victims and he cannot possess a firearm.
A telephone message left with The Firm, the Beverly Hills representatives for Durst and Limp Bizkit, wasn't immediately returned.
Durst allegedly hit the two Los Angeles residents with his vehicle Oct. 26, 2006, according to the documents. Misdemeanor charges filed in January included two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, three counts of battery, one count of making a criminal threat and one count of reckless driving.
There were no details about the incident.
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File photo shows singer Prince arriving at the UK premiere of the Bourne Ultimatum in Leicester Square, London, August 15, 2007
Songwriter and musician Prince is initiating legal proceedings against YouTube and other major websites for breach of copyright over the unauthorized use of his music.
In a move that is rare for an individual artist to take — rather than music industry trade bodies — Prince says he plans to sue because he wants to "reclaim his art on the Internet."
"YouTube are clearly able [to] filter porn and pedophile material but appear to choose not to filter out the unauthorized music and film content that is core to their business success," said a statement released by the musician.
"Prince strongly believes artists as the creators and owners of their music need to reclaim their art," the statement added.
British company Web Sheriff has been hired to help coordinate the action, which also could includes suits being filed against eBay and Pirate Bay.
In response, YouTube said it works with record labels and artists to help them manage music on the website.
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Leaks continue to spill forth from Rosie O'Donnell's upcoming memoir, Celebrity Detox. And unlike the last batch--which offered the fanciful imagery of Donald Trump as both a scarecrow stuffed with U.S. currency, and a tiny, combforwarded garden slug--the pictures conjured by this latest excerpt were disturbing enough to send us running for our Cirque du Soleil brand inversion therapy swings. From <em>The Insider</em>:
Among the hot topics that Rosie delves into is her painful childhood secret. She writes that as a child, she used to break her own limbs with "a baseball bat" or a "wooden hanger."
On page 186, it reads: "My hands and fingers usually. No one knew. My secret." Why? "Proof," she writes, "that I had some value, enough to be fixed." And later, Rosie cryptically adds, "There were many benefits to having a cast. In the middle of the night, it was a weapon."
We're not exactly sure we completely comprehend the thought process that led a young O'Donnell to take such extreme measures upon herself that she spent the majority of her grade school years looking not unlike a veteran cricket player. Nevertheless, we must commend the lengths she'll go to finally conquer sworn nemesis Donald Trump, reaching into her darkest bag of psychological tricks for a tense end game that will require him to either mock her depressive manifestations anew, or force the competing memoirist to one-up her by dismissing the self-hobbling obsession as nothing compared to the days when he'd "lay his skull on the F-train tracks as a car approached the station, just to feel alive."
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Britney Spears performs at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas, September 9, 2007
As we all learned yesterday through two minutes and eleven seconds of the most affecting moving images ever transmitted over the YouTubes, even though it sometimes seems as if the entire world has turned on turned on VMA exploitation victim Britney Spears, there are still those willing to reach out to her as she tries to navigate this seemingly endless dark night of the erstwhile-pop-star soul. In the interest of connecting Spears with the generous, but anonymity-valuing, individuals offering to help her through these difficult times, we pass along this note from a Craiglister:
Britney Spears please read - m4w - 29
Britney when you want your life back on track and are willing to admit you need help eail me. You have hit rock bottom and only when you realise this will you truley be able to get back on track.
* Location: you know
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
While the provided age and gender might lead you to theorize that the poster is 29-year-old ex-husband Kevin Federline, we suspect those were included to throw us off the trail of the true identity of Spears' Craigslist angel: Lindsay Lohan. All the clues are there: the signature misspellings, the world-weary recognition of another troubled soul's rock-bottom moment from someone who's been there, done that, carjacked the Denali and chased an assistant's mom through the streets of Santa Monica in the early hours of the morning. Should Spears get this message and contact the poster calling out from "location: you know," perhaps Lohan can convince her that even though the first couple of trips through rehab seem like nothing more than an image-salvaging sham forced on you by self-interested handlers, it's during that crucial, eye-opening third stint that one finally realizes the depth of one's problems.
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Actor Ben Affleck poses with members of the African Children's Choir while arriving for the One X One charity gala at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, Sept. 9, 2007
BVI, Miramax cancel 'Gone Baby Gone' release
The U.K. release of Ben Affleck's directorial feature debut "Gone Baby Gone" has been shelved due to its close similarities with the ongoing case of missing British girl Madeleine McCann, who disappeared from her Portuguese holiday apartment in early May.
Buena Vista International U.K. was due to release the Boston-set thriller, which is based on Dennis Lehane's book about a 4-year-old who goes missing, on Dec. 28 but has suspended the release indefinitely.
"Miramax Films and BVI U.K. are sensitive to the depth of feeling surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann," said a statement. "We have been closely following the case and have decided to delay the release of the film in the U.K."
In a bizarre coincidence, the missing girl in the film is played by American thesp Madeline O'Brien, who shares a physical resemblance to her missing British namesake.
This week, the McCann parents were both named as official suspects by Portuguese police. It is possible that this development in the McCann case has led to the BVI U.K. decision to pull the fictional pic but no one at BVI was available to comment on this matter at time of press.
The decision to pull the pic follows Affleck's sensitive comments at the Deauville Film Festival. "We are acutely aware of the situation," he said. "We have a greater concern for that than the release of our film, which is just a commercial matter, whereas this is a matter of life and death.
"I'm not up to date on the details and it is not something that has taken off in the United States in the way it has in the U.K. It is only when someone said there was this case that was very similar to my film that we looked it up."
He added, "We don't want to release the movie if it is going to touch a nerve or inflame anybody's sensitivities."
"Gone Baby Gone" was skedded for a splashy Oct. 26 Times London Film Festival gala screening but, in line with the distribs decision, has been removed from the fest lineup.
The news that the pic has been withdrawn from the LFF program was revealed by LFF artistic director Sandra Hebron at the Sept. 13 press launch. The decision was taken too late to remove the film from the official program booklet, which attendees were handed on departure from the Odeon West End.
Ben Affleck and his brother Casey, who stars in the pic, had been due to attend the LFF gala screening.
The McCann case has been subject to massive media coverage in Blighty since May with "Maddie Pack" journalists reporting from Portugal on the latest developments daily. Numerous U.K. celebrities, including soccer player David Beckham and "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, have helped raise public awareness in the hunt for Maddie.
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It seems that the Academy Awards' Ellen DeGeneres Era, one marked by frequent tuxedo changes and playful trips into the Kodak Theater audience for some daytime-talkshow-quality banter with nominees struggling to stay awake during the punishingly long telecast, is over, as it's been announced that 2006 host Jon Stewart has been reinstalled at the Oscar podium, allowing the comedian to forfeit his membership in Hollywood's shameful Chris Rock/David Letterman Memorial One-and-Done Club.
Though Stewart's previous turn as emcee of Hollywood Biggest Night was met by both low ratings and mixed critical reaction (there's really no pleasing Tim Allen) we're willing to give him another chance: he was profoundly unlucky in drawing the coveted assignment in a year irretrievably tainted by a Crash Best Picture win, and can't be blamed for the mass rioting that immediately followed the hand-over of Paul Haggis' second statuette of the cursed ceremony, an uprising that resulted in the tragic burning to the ground of the Kodak amidst chants of "Worst! Oscars! Ever!" With Oscar's home completely rebuilt and the unlikelihood that we'll experience another apocalypse-harkening upset, Stewart's return should be a triumphant one that helps to erase the painful memories of the unfortuante events of that March 2006 evening.
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On last night's Late Show, David Letterman invited shouty self-help personality Dr. Phil to speak truth to celebutard power in the wake of the latest Britney Spears meltdown, hoping that the unvarnished words of Oprah's Favorite Tough-Love-Providing Thing might help Spears and her panty-eschewing peers get their collective acts together. Unsurprisingly, Dr. Phil will countenance no talk about alcohol or drugs' role as the moral lubricant in desperate starlets' decisions to share their virtue with the public; these coddled fame-whores, argues the good fake-doctor, know exactly how much vagina they're going to flash before a single cocktail is poured or rail is blown.
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U.S. actors Brad Pitt (2nd R) and Angelina Jolie with their children Maddox, Shiloh, Zahara and Pax arrive at the airport as they leave Venice September 3, 2007
· In addition to providing entertaining footage of drunk chicks puking on Hollywood sidewalks, last night's TMZ TV debut blew the lid off what Maddox Jolie might be eating for lunch at his fancy-pants school.
· Rosie O'Donnell thinks it's time for someone to grab a throw pillow from The View's sofa and hold it over a napping Barbara Walters' face until she slips off into retirement.
BAY SHORE, N.Y. - A tire iron-wielding man who police said was looking to mug a senior citizen probably thought he had found an easy target — that is, until the 74-year-old fought back.
Bruce Ferraro had no idea someone was following him as he walked out of a department store at the South Shore Mall on Saturday and got into his car, police said. But then a man pounded on Ferraro's window and demanded cash.
"Ferraro says, 'What, are you kidding me?' and he actually gets out of the car," said Det. Sgt. Thomas Groneman, of the Suffolk County Police Department.
The mugger demanded Ferraro hand over his wallet, calling the Bay Shore resident an "old man" and threatening to hit him with the tire iron, Groneman said.
Instead, Ferraro grabbed the bar and the two fought, until the septaugenarian managed to snatch away the tire iron, police said.
Groneman said Ferraro did "a good job" of disarming his would-be assailant, though he would not recommend other people attempt such a brazen act of self-defense.
Without the weapon, the 32-year-old suspect ran to his car and attempted to drive away, police said. But the vehicle stalled, and the man got out of the car and fled on foot. Ferraro later helped police identify the suspect.
The man was arrested later Saturday at his home in West Babylon. Police charged him with attempted robbery and he was being held on $10,000 bail in Riverhead.
Ferraro's only injury was a scrape on the wrist.
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Posted on Sep 11, 2007, 8:54 AM from IP address 76.81.206.58
Walgreens customers will be able to do more than stock up on toilet paper and cough medicine Wednesday during a free, one-day printer cartridge refill program.
Walgreens has been offering cartridge refills for a year - $10 for black ink and $15 for color. To promote the program, on Sept. 12 the drugstore will fill one black or color cartridge per customer for free at its photo counter.
The store is pushing the program as a low-cost, more eco-friendly alternative to purchasing new cartridges. "For small business owners, students or anyone who prints a lot of documents or Web pages, the savings can add up fast," John Sugrue, Walgreens photofinishing general merchandising manager, said in a statement. "And people feel good about keeping printer cartridges out of landfills."
Cartridges can generally be filled on-site within a few minutes, he said. Customers can visit the Walgreens Web site to find participating locations for Wednesday's event.
In general, printer manufacturers have looked upon the refiller market as one that not only cuts into their profit margins, but one that can affect the quality of print jobs made by the printers. HP has already sued and settled suits against so-called "refillers". Startup Zink, meanwhile, is developing ink-less printers.
Requests for comment from cartridge manufacturers like Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark and Epson were not answered by press time.
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Posted on Sep 11, 2007, 8:54 AM from IP address 76.81.206.58
A real-life Egyptian cobra guards a pair of ruby- sapphire- and diamond-encrusted sandals by designer Rene Caovilla at Harrods department store London.
LONDON (AFP) - To their high society owners, a pair of haute couture shoes can be a precious thing.
But to guard a 62,000 pound (120,000 dollar) pair of ruby- sapphire- and diamond-encrusted Rene Caovilla sandals at their London launch, retailer Harrods went to extreme lengths: bringing in a live Egyptian cobra to patrol the shoe counter.
Whether hiring a poisonous snake is, strictly speaking, the most effective means of guarding precious footwear might be a moot point with security experts.
But it makes for a pretty effective photo opportunity.
A spokeswoman for Harrods admitted that the cobra had been hired strictly for Monday’s launch of the shoe collection.
"The snake has now been returned to its owner," she said.
So no need to fear snake bites at the shoe counter, then.
"Not unless you're a burglar," the spokeswoman said.
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Posted on Sep 11, 2007, 8:54 AM from IP address 76.81.206.58
Britney Spears performs at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas, September 9, 2007.
LAS VEGAS -- Britney Spears brought the bikini and the boots to the MTV Video Music Awards, but what she didn't bring was enthusiasm.
Spears opened the MTV Video Music Awards performing her song "Gimme More" while wearing a black sequined bikini and high-heel boots.
She appeared to be lip-synching and sometimes seemed unprepared. Celebrities in the audience looked confused.
The appearance was meant to be Spears' big comeback after a string of personal troubles, including divorce and a stint in rehab.
VMA host Sarah Silverman, who skewered Paris Hilton at the MTV Movie Awards this summer, wasn't any kinder to Spears Sunday night.
In her opening monologue, Silverman said Spears is amazing because "she is 25 years old and she's already accomplished everything she's going to accomplish in her life."
The comedian also called Spears' children "the most adorable mistakes."
Kanye West said before the VMAs he couldn't believe Spears was opening the show because she "hasn't had a hit record in years."
West seemed miffed that he wasn't asked to open the show.
"Maybe my money's not right," West said. "Maybe my skin's not right."
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Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee are seen at the MTV Video Music Awards at the Palms Hotel and Casino on Sunday, Sept. 9, 2007
Tommy Lee is escorted out of the theater at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas September 9, 2007
LAS VEGAS - Kid Rock was cited by police for misdemeanor battery after a tussle with Tommy Lee in the audience at the MTV Video Music Awards.
The 36-year-old rock-rapper received the citation after police reported to the Palms Hotel and Casino shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday and interviewed people at the scene, Officer Bill Cassell said.
Kid Rock wasn't taken into custody, he said.
Both Lee and Kid Rock are ex-husbands of Pamela Anderson, who was a presenter at the show.
MTV VJ Sway said during the post-show that he saw Kid Rock walk up to the 44-year-old Motley Crue drummer, who was sitting next to Sean "Diddy" Combs, and "deck him."
Another eyewitness, rap producer Rich Nice, said although Kid Rock threw the only blows that landed — a backhand slap and a punch — Lee was the instigator.
"It looked like Tommy Lee initiated it because Kid Rock was ignoring him," said Nice, who was two tables away. "And Tommy Lee kind of antagonized him. And then when Tommy Lee stood up, it looked a little weird, like `Yo, what?'"
"When Tommy stands up is when Kid hit him the first time with a backhand," Nice continued. "And then Tommy Lee looked like he was trying to get at him to aggressively retaliate and then Kid Rock hits Tommy Lee again — bong. And then security grabs Tommy Lee in a headlock and pulls him off."
Security guards let Kid Rock stay for the rest of the show while Lee was dragged out.
Cassell said Kid Rock could face up to six months in jail, but that it would be uncommon for someone facing similar charges to receive such a lengthy sentence.
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I'm on Tommy Lee's side on this one. He got headlocked and dragged out by security when he never even threw a punch.
Posted on Sep 10, 2007, 8:38 AM from IP address 76.81.206.58
Beyonce kisses presenter Kanye West after she won the award for Earth Shattering Collaboration with Shakira.
LAS VEGAS - Kanye West says he'll never return to MTV.
The 29-year-old rapper, who was shut out at the Video Music Awards on Sunday night, threw a tantrum in front of media and crew backstage as the MTV show was ending.
West, waiting for an elevator in a crowded hallway, began yelling about losing all five categories for which he was nominated, including male artist of the year.
"That's two years in a row, man ... give a black man a chance," said West, stomping around his entourage and directing his comments at a reporter. "I'm trying hard man, I have the ... No. 1 record, man."
It was the latest outburst from West at an awards show. Last year, he crashed the stage at the MTV Europe Awards after not winning for best video.
West's latest album, "Graduation," is due out Tuesday. 50 Cent has said he'd stop making solo records if West's CD outsells his "Curtis" album, also set for release Tuesday, in their first week out.
The 31-year-old rapper has been riled by forecasts that sales of West's "Graduation" could rival those for his CD.
West and 50 Cent appeared together at the VMAs to present an award.
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Wow! Ya, I'm with Kanye West. If there's one black man in this world who hasn't gotten a chance - it's poor, destitute, impoverished Kanye West.
Posted on Sep 10, 2007, 8:38 AM from IP address 76.81.206.58
With Law & Order star Fred Thompson's well-publicized announcement of his presidential candidacy still fresh in everyone's minds, the LAT's Cause Cèlebré column takes an opportunity to evaluate the former senator's prospects for raising some of the seemingly limitless industry cash that rains down from the Southern California sky each time Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama set foot within the Los Angeles city limits. Unsurprisingly, the Times finds that the Republican's Hollywood fundraising time would be better spent robbing some Famimas at gunpoint rather than waiting around for a gay billionaire to throw him a Malibu beach party:
So what's Thompson to do? Take the show on the road and rake in the dollars elsewhere. The place that made the former Tennessee senator rich as an actor cannot be counted on to pour cash into his presidential run, especially if he's going around bashing gay marriage and Roe vs. Wade. The minute he comes out strong against embryonic stem cell research -- a fervent Hollywood cause -- he'll be banished from every cocktail party north of Sunset Boulevard.
"You're asking me if people here will support Fred Thompson?" said Donna Bojarsky, a longtime industry political consultant. "How do I put it? No. No. And no."
As unpromising as the above already sounds, things get even worse for Thompson: more socially progressive GOP candidate Rudy Giuliani has already planted his flag in Ron Silver, Hollywood's Token Conservative, appointing him a political advisor. We imagine the Thompson campaign might just cancel any planned L.A. fundraising trips altogether rather than suffer the indignity of begging Britney Spears, the town's lone unaffiliated Republican, to throw him a rager like the one Brett Ratner had for Hillary back in June.
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• Phil Spector showed off his new hairstyle at the closing arguments of his trial today, clearly hoping throwing some mid-'80s Liza the jury's way might earn him some last-minute sympathy votes.
• Michael Lohan has reportedly reunited with his estranged daughter Lindsay at Utah's Cirque Lodge, where he presented her with a brand new cartoon depicting her Denalijacking and subsequent arrest as yet another hilarious misadventure of the Archie gang.
• Time's "The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME" is surely going to be the source of much debate, beginning with the glaring absence of The Powerpuff Girls.
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Star reporter Ilyssa Panitz is in search of experts to look at a couple of photos—photos of someone admitted to a hospital after "reportedly attempting to slit his wrists in a suicide try. The two photos, taken just eight days afterwards, appear to show no scars, scabs or bandages whatsoever."
I am looking for a psychiatrist who specializes in suicide and a surgeon who has treated patients who attempted to commit suicide. I need them to first look at two photos. Background: This particular individual was admitted to a hospital after reportedly attempting to slit his wrists in a suicide try. The two photos, taken just eight days afterwards, appear to show no scars, scabs or bandages whatsoever. My question is, is it possible, based on these new pictures, there could be any way this person had tried to slash his wrists eight days before? Even if he only scratched at them deeply, would there be at least some scabs or bandages? Contact: Ilyssa Panitz,
[REDACTED]
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Italian opera star Luciano Pavarotti waves to spectators during his concert at Red Square in Moscow in this September 7, 1997 file photo
ROME - Luciano Pavarotti, opera's biggest superstar of the late 20th century, died Thursday. He was 71. He was the son of a singing baker and became the king of the high C's.
Pavarotti, who had been diagnosed last year with pancreatic cancer and underwent treatment last month, died at his home in his native Modena at 5 a.m., his manager told The Associated Press in an e-mailed statement.
His wife, Nicoletta, four daughters and sister were among family and friends at his side, manager Terri Robson said.
"The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer," Robson said. "In fitting with the approach that characterised his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness."
Pavarotti's charismatic persona and ebullient showmanship — but most of all his creamy and powerful voice — made him the most beloved and celebrated tenor since the great Caruso and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a popular superstar.
"Luciano's voice was so extraordinarily beautiful and his delivery so natural and direct that his singing spoke right to the hearts of listeners whether they knew anything about opera or not," Metropolitan Opera music director James Levine said in a statement.
Fellow singer Jose Carreras called Pavarotti "one of the greatest tenors ever, one of the most important singers in the history of opera."
For serious fans, the unforced beauty and thrilling urgency of Pavarotti's voice made him the ideal interpreter of the Italian lyric repertory, especially in the 1960s and '70s when he first achieved stardom. For millions more, his thrilling performances of standards like "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot" came to represent what opera is all about.
"Nessun Dorma" turned out to be Pavarotti's last aria, sung at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin in February 2006. His last full-scale concert was at Taipei in December 2005, and his farewell to opera was in Puccini's "Tosca" at New York's Met in March 2004.
Instantly recognizable from his charcoal black beard and tuxedo-busting girth, Pavarotti radiated an intangible magic that helped him win hearts in a way Placido Domingo and Carreras — his partners in the "Three Tenors" concerts — never quite could.
"I always admired the God-given glory of his voice — that unmistakable special timbre from the bottom up to the very top of the tenor range," Domingo said in a statement from Los Angeles.
Pavarotti, who seemed equally at ease singing with soprano Joan Sutherland as with the Spice Girls, scoffed at accusations that he was sacrificing his art in favor of commercialism.
"The word 'commercial' is exactly what we want," he said after appearing in the "Three Tenors" concerts. "We've reached 1.5 billion people with opera. If you want to use the word 'commercial,' or something more derogatory, we don't care. Use whatever you want."
In the annals of that rare and coddled breed, the operatic tenor, it may well be said the 20th century began with Enrico Caruso and ended with Pavarotti. Other tenors — Domingo included — may have drawn more praise from critics for their artistic range and insights, but none could equal the combination of natural talent and personal charm that so endeared Pavarotti to audiences.
"Pavarotti is the biggest superstar of all," the late New York Times music critic Harold Schonberg once said. "He's correspondingly more spoiled than anybody else. They think they can get away with anything. Thanks to the glory of his voice, he probably can."
In his heyday, he was known as the "King of the High C's" for the ease with which he tossed off difficult top notes. In fact it was his ability to hit nine glorious high C's in quick succession that turned him into an international superstar singing Tonio's aria "Ah! Mes amis," in Donizetti's "La Fille du Regiment" at the Met in 1972.
From Beijing to Buenos Aires, people immediately recognized his incandescent smile and lumbering bulk, clutching a white handkerchief as he sang arias and Neapolitan folk songs, pop numbers and Christmas carols for hundreds of thousands in outdoor concerts.
His name seemed to show up as much in gossip columns as serious music reviews, particularly after he split with Adua Veroni, his wife of 35 years and mother of their three daughters, and then took up with his 26-year-old secretary in 1996.
In late 2003, he married Nicoletta Mantovani in a lavish, star-studded ceremony. Pavarotti said their daughter, Alice, nearly a year old at the time of the wedding, was the main reason they finally wed after years together.
In the latter part of his career, he came under fire for canceling performances or pandering to the lowest common denominator in his choice of programs, or for the Three Tenors tours and their millions of dollars in fees.
He was criticized for lip-synching at a concert in Modena. An artist accused him of copying her works from a how-to-draw book and selling the paintings.
The son of a baker who was an amateur singer, Pavarotti was born Oct. 12, 1935. He had a meager upbringing, though he said it was rich with happiness.
"Our family had very little, but I couldn't imagine one could have any more," Pavarotti said.
As a boy, Pavarotti showed more interest in soccer than his studies, but he also was fond of listening to his father's recordings of tenor greats like Beniamino Gigli, Tito Schipa, Jussi Bjoerling and Giuseppe Di Stefano, his favorite.
Among his close childhood friends was Mirella Freni, who would eventually become a soprano and an opera great herself. The two studied singing together and years later ended up making records and concerts together.
In his teens, Pavarotti joined his father, also a tenor, in the church choir and local opera chorus. He was influenced by the American movie actor-singer Mario Lanza.
"In my teens I used to go to Mario Lanza movies and then come home and imitate him in the mirror," Pavarotti said.
Singing was still nothing more than a passion while Pavarotti trained to become a teacher and began working in a school.
But at 20, he traveled with his chorus to an international music competition in Wales. The Modena group won first place, and Pavarotti began to dedicate himself to singing.
With the encouragement of his then-fiancee, Adua, he started lessons, selling insurance to pay for them. He studied with Arrigo Pola and later Ettore Campogalliani.
In 1961, Pavarotti won a local competition and with it a debut as Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Boheme."
He followed with a series of successes in small opera houses throughout Europe before his 1963 debut at Covent Garden in London, where he stood in for Di Stefano as Rodolfo.
Having impressed conductor Richard Bonynge, Pavarotti was given a role opposite Bonynge's wife, Sutherland, in a Miami production of "Lucia di Lammermoor." They subsequently signed him for a 14-week tour of Australia.
It was the recognition Pavarotti needed to launch his career. He also credited Sutherland with teaching him how to breathe correctly.
Pavarotti's major debuts followed — at La Scala in Milan in 1965, San Francisco in 1967 and New York's Metropolitan Opera House in 1968.
Throughout his career, Pavarotti struggled with a much-publicized weight problem. His love of food caused him to balloon to a reported 396 pounds in 1978.
"Maybe this time I'll really do it and keep it up," he said during one of his constant attempts at dieting.
Pavarotti, who had been trained as a lyric tenor, began taking on heavier dramatic roles, such as Manrico in Verdi's "Trovatore" and the title role in "Otello."
In the mid-1970s, Pavarotti became a true media star. He appeared in television commercials and began singing in hugely lucrative mega-concerts outdoors and in stadiums around the world. Soon came joint concerts with pop stars. A concert in New York's Central Park in 1993 drew 500,000 fans.
Pavarotti's recording of "Volare" went platinum in 1988.
In 1990, he appeared with Domingo and Carreras in a concert at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome for the end of soccer's World Cup. The concert was a huge success, and the record known as "The Three Tenors" was a best-seller and was nominated for two Grammy awards. The video sold over 750,000 copies.
The three-tenor extravaganza became a mini-industry and widely imitated. With a follow-up album recorded at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in 1994, the three have outsold every other performer of classical music. A 1996 tour earned each tenor an estimated $10 million.
Pavarotti liked to mingle with pop stars in his series of charity concerts, "Pavarotti & Friends," held annually in Modena. He performed with artists as varied as Ricky Martin, James Brown and the Spice Girls.
The performances raised some eyebrows but he always shrugged off the criticism.
Some say the "word 'pop' is a derogatory word to say 'not important' — I do not accept that," Pavarotti said in a 2004 interview with the AP. "If the word 'classic' is the word to say 'boring,' I do not accept. There is good and bad music."
It was not just his annual extravaganza that saw Pavarotti involved in humanitarian work.
During the 1992-95 Bosnia war, he collected humanitarian aid along with U2 lead singer Bono, and after the war he financed and established the Pavarotti Music Center in the southern city of Mostar to offer Bosnia's artists the opportunity to develop their skills.
He performed at benefit concerts to raise money for victims of tragedies such as an earthquake in December 1988 that killed 25,000 people in northern Armenia.
Pavarotti was also dogged by accusations of tax evasion, and in 2000 he agreed to pay nearly roughly $12 million to the Italian state after he had unsuccessfully claimed that the tax haven of Monte Carlo rather than Italy was his official residence.
He had been accused in 1996 of filing false tax returns for 1989-91.
Pavarotti always denied wrongdoing, saying he paid taxes wherever he performed. But, upon agreeing to the settlement, he said: "I cannot live being thought not a good person."
Pavarotti was preparing to leave New York in July 2006 to resume a farewell tour when doctors discovered a malignant pancreatic mass. He underwent surgery in a New York hospital, and all his remaining 2006 concerts were canceled.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most dangerous forms of the disease, though doctors said the surgery offered improved hopes for survival.
"I was a fortunate and happy man," Pavarotti told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published about a month after the surgery. "After that, this blow arrived."
"And now I am paying the penalty for this fortune and happiness," he told the newspaper.
Fans were still waiting for a public appearance a year after his surgery. In the summer, Pavarotti taught a group of selected students and worked on a recording of sacred songs, a work expected to be released in early 2008, according to his manager. He mostly divided his time between Modena and his villa in the Adriatic seaside resort of Pesaro.
Just this week, the Italian government honored him with an award for "excellence in Italian culture," and La Scala and Modena's theater announced a joint Luciano Pavarotti award.
In his final statement, Pavarotti said the awards gave him "the opportunity to continue to celebrate the magic of a life dedicated to the arts and it fills me with pride and joy to have been able to promote my magnificent country abroad."
He will be remembered in Italy as "the last great Italian voice able to move the world," said Bruno Cagli, president of the Santa Cecilia National Academy in Rome.
The funeral will be held Saturday inside Modena's cathedral, Mayor Giorgio Pighi told SkyTG24.
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Defense attorney Linda Kenney-Baden talks to music producer Phil Spector as they prepare to leave the courthouse following the prosecution's closing arguments in Spector's murder trial in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors closed their case against Phil Spector with sarcastic attacks on his team's scientific experts and called on jurors to do justice for the actress found shot to death in his home.
Prosecutor Alan Jackson on Wednesday accused the defense of using Spector's money to "buy" scientific opinions, calling witnesses who sought the limelight, and dragging actress Lana Clarkson's reputation through the mud.
Defense attorney Linda Kenney-Baden was expected to take up most of Thursday's court session with her closing arguments. The jury is expected to get the case Friday.
Spector, the 67-year-old producer of hit records, is accused of second-degree murder in the death of Clarkson, 40, who died of a gunshot while seated in the foyer of his home at about 5 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2003.
Kenney-Baden was expected to argue that science proves Spector, who is accused of second-degree murder Clarkson's death, was standing too far away from her to have been the shooter.
Spector remained intent on having Kenney-Baden deliver the closing summation despite warnings by Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler. Fidler said the Spector was taking a risk by having her deliver the argument because she was absent for a large part of the defense case while ill.
Kenney-Baden received criticism in Jackson's own summation Wednesday because her husband, forensic expert Michael Baden, testified for the defense.
Jackson suggested Baden tailored his testimony to help his wife win and suggested he and other scientific witnesses were hired guns who would say anything for money.
"You hire enough lawyers to hire enough experts. If you pay someone enough money you can get them to wear a tutu in court. You can get them to say just about anything in court," Jackson said.
Countering the defense claim that Clarkson was depressed and killed herself, Jackson ended his presentation with video excerpts from a self-produced video which Clarkson tried to use to market her talents.
"This is Lana Clarkson," announced Jackson, in the tone of an emcee introducing a star.
The video had been introduced in evidence by the defense to show how desperately Clarkson pursued fame, only to be meet with rejection. Jackson showed segments emphasizing the actress' beauty and ebullience.
He also presented footage of his strongest witnesses — the five women who spoke of Spector drinking and pulling a gun on them and the chauffeur who delivered Clarkson and Spector to his mansion on the fateful night.
After Kenney-Baden's summation for the defense, a second prosecutor, Pat Dixon, was to present the prosecution's wrap-up argument before the case goes to the jury.
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Since we're assuming that you forgot to tune into the Tonight Show last night to watch Hollywood-related political history being made, here's a clip of the district attorney from Law & Order dramatically stating his intention to become the President of all the U.S. Americans, an announcement that host Jay Leno helped celebrate with a series of hilarious, mocked-up campaign bumper stickers pointing out that Italian last names are difficult to spell and that the former senator is not an indiscreet seeker of homosexual encounters in airport bathrooms. If this footage isn't enough to convince you of Thompson's qualifications for our Nation's highest office, we recommend that you view the video posted after the jump, which condenses his impressive career achievements into an easily digestible slideshow:
NEW YORK (AP) — So much for the sedate alternative to Rosie O'Donnell on The View.
Whoopi Goldberg used her first day on the daytime chat show Tuesday to defend football star Michael Vick in his dogfighting case.
Goldberg said that "from where he comes from" in the South, dogfighting isn't that unusual.
"It's like cockfighting in Puerto Rico," she said. "There are certain things that are indicative to certain parts of the country."
The Atlanta Falcons quarterback pleaded guilty to federal dogfighting charges last week, admitting that he provided money for a dogfighting ring that operated on his Virginia property and helped kill six or eight pit bulls. Vick grew up in Newport News, Va.
Goldberg was selected by series creator Barbara Walters to replace O'Donnell, whose stormy tenure on the ABC program lasted less than a year.
In the Vick discussion, Goldberg served notice that she won't shy away from controversy.
Co-host Joy Behar looked horrified at Goldberg.
"How about dog torture and dog murdering?" Behar asked.
For many people, dogs are sport, Goldberg replied, and it appeared it took awhile for Vick to realize that he was up against serious charges.
"I just thought it was interesting, because it seemed like a light went off in his head when he realized this was something that the entire country didn't appreciate," she said.
Vick has been suspended indefinitely by the National Football League and will be sentenced on the dogfighting charges in December. He apologized and asked for forgiveness upon entering his plea in federal court last week.
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