Canadians won't see hyped Super Bowl ads

TORONTO -- Canadians tuning into Sunday's Super Bowl telecast will see the football game. They'll also see the pre-game and halftime shows, with Shania Twain and Celine Dion among the big stars.

But they won't get to see Ozzy Osbourne waking up in bed with Florence Henderson to pitch Pepsi Twist. Nor the orangutan doing the backstroke on behalf of Sierra Mist, a new soft drink. Nor the $85,000 diamond-laden pair of Levi Strauss jeans.

They'll also miss Michael Jordan who, thanks to digital special effects, will play some basketball with his younger self in a Gatorade ad.

That's because in Canada, Global TV has the broadcast rights to the ABC-TV program, including the right to insert its own commercials which, more often than not, are the same old ads one sees during the rest of the TV week, not the so-called "new creative" content airing south of the border.

Dave Hamilton, vice-president of promotions and publicity for Global, concedes the network always takes viewer heat for the arrangement.

"People complain all the time about not seeing these ads," he says. "We don't apologize because we do have the Canadian rights for the game, and it would be great if the Canadian chapters of these companies who are producing them could buy the time and air the creative here, but in most cases that's not the case."

Hamilton laughs at the odd prospect of viewer complaints over the issue.

"It's the only time of year where we actually get people calling to say I WANT to see commercials!"

Truly determined viewers who live near a U.S. border signal could foil the override, though, by disconnecting their cable or satellite service. In Toronto, for example, the ABC affiliate in Buffalo, N.Y. can be received with an old-fashioned antenna.

South of the border, of course, Super Bowl Sunday is more than a sporting event. It has become a national holiday viewed through the electronic stadium of television. And sponsors traditionally pull out all stops to debut imaginative, prestigious and very expensive ads for which they're paying more than $2 million US for a mere 30 seconds of airtime.

That sounds expensive until you consider that an estimated 130 million people in the U.S. will be tuned in to the game and may catch most of the 61 half-minute ad slots. There's also an acknowledged prestige factor. In today's fragmented TV universe, the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards are among the few scheduled programs left that can promise and deliver a truly mass audience.

Global TV expects to lure some three million pairs of eyeballs to the game coverage. Hamilton says Global has sold all its ad time, but won't say how much it's charging. He stresses that the old 10-to-one economic ratio doesn't apply, though. In other words, a spot going for $2 million on ABC would not go for $200,000 in this country.

"Something less than $100,000," is all he would say.

Hamilton says at least one of the U.S. sponsors, Pepsi, may also run its new ad on Global's game telecast, but that would be an exception. Generally, Canadian ads will be seen only in Canada and U.S. ads in the U.S.

One Toronto agency, Downtown Partners DDB, has produced a couple of the American spots, including one for Bud Light beer. The Anheuser-Busch brewery has the most Super Bowl ads -- 10 of the 30-second slots -- including the most coveted and costliest -- the first ad after the kickoff. Anheuser-Busch is also the game's exclusive beer advertiser for the 15th year in a row.

Nell Carter dead at 54

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- Nell Carter, who played the sassy, matronly housekeeper on the 1980s sitcom "Gimme a Break!" and received a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway musical "Ain't Misbehavin'," died Thursday, her publicist said. She was 54.

The singer-actress collapsed in her Beverly Hills home and was found by one of her 13-year-old sons, spokesman Roger Lane said.

Carter had suffered from diabetes for years, Lane added, and underwent brain surgery in 1992 to remove an aneurysm. She recovered and continued to perform, mostly on stage.

Carter was in rehearsals at a Long Beach theater for "Raisin," the musical version of "Raisin in the Sun."

In addition to Carter's Tony win for "Ain't Misbehavin'," she won an Emmy in 1982 for the TV version. One of the highlights of the show -- a revue based on the music of Fats Waller -- was her soulful rendition of "Mean to Me."

Her NBC comedy "Gimme a Break!" ran from 1981 to 1987, and garnered her two more Emmy nominations, in 1982 and 1983.

In February 1985, an episode of the show was broadcast live -- the first for a situation comedy in nearly 30 years. Carter and her costars performed flawlessly, and at the end, she threw up her arms and yelled, "We did it!"

She played the housekeeper to a family headed by a widower who was the town police chief, played by Dolph Sweet. After Sweet died in May 1985, his character "died" too and the show went through a series of plot and cast changes.

Blessed with a big voice and stage presence, the heavyset Carter prided herself on her range as a performer, doing musicals and drama as well as comedy.

Early in her career, she performed as a singer on the gospel circuit. She moved on to coffeehouses and nightclubs in her native Birmingham, Ala., before going on to New York.

She aspired to be a belter: a singer who gave her all. "You're afraid you might hyperventilate or crack, but you do it for the excitement of it," she said. "Head singers have to hold everything tight to get the note. I like belters, people who have that non-control but control."

Growing up, Carter listened to her mother's recordings of Dinah Washington and B.B. King, and her brother's Elvis Presley records. She liked Doris Day, the Andrews Sisters, Johnny Mathis, and admired the work of Cleo Laine and Barbra Streisand.

Carter said she would have preferred to be an opera singer.

"When I was growing up, (performing) was not something you aspired to," she said in 1988. "I was a weirdo to want to be in show business. Most kids wanted to be teachers or nurses."

Vader voice talks 'Star Wars'

Actor James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader, answered some questions about "Star Wars" during a recent guest lecture to honour Martin Luther King Jr., in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

In an audio clip of the lecture's question and answer period, posted on TheForce.net, Jones is asked why he devoted only one paragraph of his autobiography to "Star Wars." Jones responds: "There is not much to say. I was just a special effect."

Jones also explained that he was ultimately chosen for the famous part because David Prowse, the actor behind Vader's mask, had a tenor voice, but George Lucas wanted the character to be a baritone.

"He [Lucas] thought of using Orsen Welles but then had second thoughts that Orsen Welles might be too recognizable. So, he picks a guy who stutters and was born in Mississippi," Jones joked.

Jones's booming voice will grace theatres once again during "Star Wars: Episode III." "I talked to George [Lucas] not too long ago and he only asked me to do the voicing for about five minutes, after Anakin Skywalker falls into a volcano and becomes bionic," Jones said, leaking a potentially important bit of the plot.

"Star Wars: Episode III" will begin filming this summer in Sydney, Australia, and is expected to be released in 2005.

Jessica Simpson Readying Third Studio Album

Singer Jessica Simpson is currently working on the follow-up to her 2001 album Irresistible. The still-untitled album will be her third on Columbia Records.

Simpson said that this time around she's trying her hand at production, as well as writing and singing. "I'm more nervous about it this time," Simpson said, "because I'm like, 'Oh, my gosh, are people gonna like what I have to say? Are they gonna like how I sing it?' You know, because I'm doing some of the vocal production, and, you know, I'm a lot more hands-on. My label actually has stepped back and let me do that, so I'm very excited about it."

Simpson and husband Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees were one of several celebrity couples featured on the NBC special InStyle: Celebrity Weddings, which aired Tuesday (January 21) on NBC. In addition, Simpson is featured on the cover of the current InStyle magazine weddings issue.

Shannon Elizabeth (American Pie), Kyle MacLachlan (Sex And The City), and Latin singer Marc Anthony and his wife Dayanara Torres's romantic vow renewal are also featured on the special. Anthony and his wife said "I do" for a second time in San Juan, Puerto Rico on December 2, 2002.

The claws are coming out in Hollywood

Gwyneth Paltrow recently made some observations about wedded bliss. "Marriage isn't something that should be taken lightly," she told an interviewer. "I don't want to be married for six months, then say: 'Oh, well, never mind. On to No. 2.' "

A dig at Jennifer Lopez?

Maybe. After all, Lopez is about to marry Ben Affleck, with whom Paltrow had an intense relationship that ended in 1999. And when Lopez does marry Affleck, he'll be No. 3. Cris Judd, No. 2, lasted eight months before they separated. Cuban waiter Ojani Noa was her first husband. They wed in 1997 and divorced in 1998.

And Paltrow probably still hasn't forgotten some remarks Lopez made in 1998 in Movieline magazine, dissing her acting ability. When asked about Paltrow, Lopez said in the piece: "I don't remember anything she was in. Some people get hot by association. I heard more about her and (former boyfriend) Brad Pitt than I ever heard about her work."

From Gwynnie's crack to the new Miller Lite beer ad, catfights are in the news right now. There's just something about two women going at each other — think back to the glory days of Dynasty.

So just what's in a celebrity catfight?

* Sometimes T-shirts do the talking.

Julia Roberts was caught by photographers wearing an "A Low Vera" T-shirt, a reference to husband Danny Moder's now ex-wife, Vera, who was not happy about her husband taking up with the movie star.

Then there was Britney Spears wearing a "Dump Him" T-shirt just a few months ago. It was taken to be a message for Alyssa Milano, who had taken up with her ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake.

* Sometimes it's highbrow.

Katie Couric and political commentator Ann Coulter, author of Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right, went at each other on the Today show last year. Coulter made a reference to Couric as Hitler's mistress, "the affable Eva Braun of morning TV."

"The 'affable,' " Couric snorted. "Thanks. That makes me feel sooo much better."

It was the buzz of media circles for days.

* Sometimes it gets physical.

The hot Miller Lite beer ad running now titled "Catfight" shows women wrestling in a pit of cement. The closest thing stars have done might be the now-legendary reports of tense times two years ago on the set of Wise Girls, a movie starring Mariah Carey and Mira Sorvino. People magazine quoted a producer saying the two had such disagreements that one day they went at each other, with Mariah throwing a salt shaker at Mira and the two wrestling to the floor. The actresses immediately issued denials.

Meow!

Fishburne Talks MATRIX Sequel Differences

Laurence Fishburne, who reprises the role of Morpheus in the upcoming two Matrix sequels, told SCI FI Wire that the two movies won't be like other sequels. "It's not like a regular sequel," Fishburne said in an interview. "These things are huge, and there's more characters [and] more people."

Fishburne added that he appreciated the chance to play an ambiguous character. "My overall experience was that it was wonderful," he said. "I'm eternally grateful to be a part of The Matrix. It's this huge juggernaut of a thing. It's the Star Wars of its time. I get to be Obi-Wan and f-cking Darth Vader all at the same time. When you meet Morpheus, I don't know about you, but when I saw Morpheus in the movie, I wasn't taking no f-cking red-pill, blue-pill sh-t. I wasn't drinking the water. I was like, 'DON'T TRUST HIM!' He's not all good; he's not all bad. He's not like the white knight or the black knight. He's a combination, and therefore he is a real being."

The first sequel, The Matrix Reloaded, opens May 15. The next film, The Matrix Revolutions, opens Nov. 7, both 2003.

Will Britney Spears Be Joining The Cast Of DIE HARD 4?

Sharp-eyed readers in Dallas sent word today about a bizarre entertainment story that appeared in yesterday's Morning News newspaper. According to our scoopers, the news story stated that none other than pop song starlet Britney Spears is being considered to play Bruce Willis' daughter in the new Die Hard movie. The Texan newspaper claimed they got their info from a source close to the singer, and that the setting for the film would be on a Carribean holiday. Also mentioned by the source was that Willis wants to kill off his character of supercop John McClane in the picture. The spectacular story later appeared on Tuesday's edition of Entertainment Tonight. Before you start screaming in the streets, bear in mind that this story hasn't been confirmed by anyone from Spears' or Willis' two camps.

Methinks that is a sign of the global apocalypse, but I am holding out hope for the human race.

Band: 'Bee Gees' Name Died With Gibb

LONDON - The Bee Gees name died with Maurice Gibb, one of the surviving band members said Wednesday.

Robin Gibb said he and older brother Barry would no longer use the name under which they and their brother Maurice performed for more than 30 years.

"Anything we do, we will do together, but it'll be as brothers — not under the name of the Bee Gees, that will be reserved in history as the three of us," Robin Gibb told Britain's GMTV television show.

But, he said, the surviving siblings would continue to make music. "I think Maurice would want that."

Maurice Gibb died Jan. 12 at 53 after suffering a heart attack prior to undergoing emergency surgery for an intestinal blockage.

Robin Gibb said the death of his twin brother was like "losing your soul mate."

The brothers formed the Bee Gees — short for the Brothers Gibb — in the 1960s and recorded a string of No. 1 hits, selling more than 110 million records

They became a falsetto-voiced disco sensation during the 1970s with hits from the movie "Saturday Night Fever," including "Stayin' Alive" and "Night Fever."

'American Idol' Gets Storming Start

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A new edition of "American Idol," the hit reality TV show that teams dreams with screams, got off to a storming start, giving Fox television one of its highest audience ratings ever.

The 2003 season premiere of the amateur talent search for the next instant pop star averaged 26.5 million viewers -- the biggest audience for any network show Tuesday night -- according to preliminary figures on Wednesday from Nielsen Media Research.

The winning formula of barbed comments from British record executive and judge Simon Cowell ("Go back to your vocal coach and demand a refund") and the hopes of thousands of young wannabe stars grabbed a 30 percent share of viewers younger than 50, the key demographic most prized by advertisers.

Delighted Fox executives said Tuesday evening's 90-minute show gave the News Corp. Ltd. -owned network its highest-rated night ever, excluding sports telecasts.

The first edition of "American Idol" proved an unexpected hit last summer and made household names of its eventual winner, former cocktail waitress Kelly Clarkson, and runner-up Justin Guarini. Clarkson won an instant contract with RCA Records and scored a No. 1 hit single with "A Moment Like This," the song she performed on the show.

The second series enters a prime-time landscape bustling with new "reality" favorites, including ABC's "The Bachelorette," which features a bevy of young males vying for the attention of a leggy, blond cheerleader, and Fox's own reality dating show "Joe Millionaire."

Cowell, dubbed "Mr. Nasty" by the American media last year, returned to the judging panel for the second edition along with music industry executive Randy Jackson and singer-choreographer Paula Abdul.

Tens of thousands of singers in six U.S. cities auditioned for the second series, with many of them getting the sharp end of Cowell's tongue for their efforts.

"This says you went to the Fame high school," Cowell told one nervous contestant. "Did you get thrown out?"

"If you lived 2,000 years ago and sang like that, I think they would have stoned you," he told another.

The season finale, in which the winner will be announced, will be broadcast in May.