CBC's NHL ratings among best ever
TORONTO (CP-AP) -- The Stanley Cup final was a bonanza for the CBC and a bust south of the border.
Tampa Bay's 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames in Game 7 drew an average of 4.862 million viewers Monday night, making it the second-highest rated NHL game ever for CBC. Only coverage of Game 7 of the 1994 final between Vancouver and the New York Rangers drew more, with 4.957 million tuning in for the Rangers' 3-2 win.
But those numbers include pre-game and post-game coverage. The game itself Monday drew 5.560 million Canadians, which was up from 5.404 million in 1994.
The entire final averaged 3.735 million viewers -- the highest-rated final round since the ratings were introduced in 1989. Last year's final between Anaheim and New Jersey averaged 1.507 million.
All four rounds of the 2004 playoffs averaged 2.154 million viewers, up 35 per cent from last season's 1.593 million.
The record audience for a sporting event in Canada, with more than 10 million English and French-language CBC viewers, was the Canadian men's gold medal hockey win over the U.S. at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.
In the U.S., the average rating for the five Stanley Cup final games on ABC were the lowest since the network began broadcasting the final again in 2000.
Monday's game got a 4.2 rating with a 7 share. That's down nine per cent from the 4.6 with an 8 for New Jersey's 3-0 win over Anaheim in Game 7 last year -- the highest-rated NHL game since broadcast networks began carrying the final in 1998.
Still, the rating for Monday's game was well above the five-game average of 2.6 with a 5 share.
The rating is the percentage of all homes with TVs, whether or not they are in use. Share is the percentage of homes with TVs in use. Each rating point represents about 1.08 million households.
The U.S. ratings were anemic throughout the series. The first two games were on ESPN, with Game 1 tying for the lowest-rated Stanley Cup final game on the cable network since 1990.
TWEAKED
The upcoming NBC Friends spinoff Joey undergoing some last-minute tinkering as producers have decided to dump Ashley Scott, the actress who played Matt LeBlanc's neighbor, after she failed to test well with audiences. Her character will get an overhaul and be recast.
Pee-wee's Playhouse finally comes to DVD
Early adopters of DVD may recall, that along with Shawshank Redemption and Back to the Future, Pee-wee's Big Adventure was one of the longest delayed discs in the format's history, but even after it finally arrived there was no word on the beloved Pee-wee's Playhouse television show.
Finally, Image Entertainment will release the show which was just named by TV Guide as on of the top 25 cult shows on television.
The entire series will come out split into two box sets containing audio commentaries with Paul Reubens and other features from the Pee-wee archives.
In addition to the two sets, Pee-wee’s Christmas Special - which included a new fruitcake wing on the playhouse – will be made available.
Suggested retail on the box sets will be $49.95 each. The Christmas Special will be priced at$14.99. All three releases will happen in early 2005!
'Aw, Phooey!' Donald Duck Turns 70!
PARIS - "Aw, phooey!" Donald Duck is 70!
The cantankerous and often unlucky Disney legend feted his birthday at Disneyland Paris on Wednesday by dancing on stage under a shower of confetti as hundreds of park revelers sang "Happy Birthday To You."
A parade down the theme park's Main Street marked the occasion, with Mickey and Minnie Mouse leading the way. Daisy Duck and friends trailed behind carrying a giant pink cake bearing 70 candles.
Donald made his acting debut on June 9, 1934, in a Silly Symphony movie titled "The Wise Little Hen." Since then, the lovable yet fussy fowl has appeared in hundreds of films, from the educational "Donald Duck in Mathematics Land" to the 1942 cartoon "Donald Duck Drafted."
Turning entirely incoherent during his frequent feather-flying tantrums, Donald's favorite sayings in calmer times include "Aw, phooey!" and "Oh yeah?"
Donald, who wooed longtime love Daisy during much of his career, usually wears a sailor suit with — inexplicably — no pants. His middle name, revealed in the World War II draft cartoon, is Fountleroy.
His nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie went on to their own show biz career, starring alongside Donald's uncle Scrooge McDuck in the Disney series "DuckTales" that debuted in the late 1980s.
Clarence "Ducky" Nash was Donald's original voice. He was succeeded by Disney artist Tony Anselmo. Moving from the screen to the printed page, Donald debuted in a daily comic strip in 1938.
Donald stars alongside Mickey Mouse in "Mickey's PhilharMagic," a new 3-D attraction at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Disney also released a retrospective DVD last month, titled "Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume 1 (1934-1941)."
For the festivities in Paris on Wednesday, Karl Lagerfeld drew a portrait of the birthday duck sporting the fashion designer's signature glasses and cardigan. T-shirts with the image will be sold as collector's items.
"Oh-la-la, what energy — you're always so young!" yelled the master of ceremonies as the septuagenarian bird waved to the crowd, kissed Daisy and buoyantly danced away.
Parton's 'Always Love You' Tops CMT List
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - In the teen movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," one character advises his buddy, "When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV." Country Music Television has come up with its own list of can't-miss love songs, but it doesn't include Zeppelin.
Topping the 100 greatest love songs is Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," a song she took to No. 1 on the country chart in 1974. The tune got a rebirth 18 years later when Whitney Houston made it a No. 1 pop hit and it was featured in the movie "The Bodyguard."
Parton wasn't immediately available for comment, but in 1998 she told CMT about a woman who stopped her in an airport and thanked her for writing the lyrics.
"The lady's father was dying of cancer, and he had never been able to tell his family how much he loved them," Parton said. "When he heard the song, he went out and bought the cassette and brought each of his children in individually and played the song for them. He said, `These are the words I want you to know are in my heart.'"
Parton called the encounter "one of the proudest moments of my life."
Rounding out the top 12 love songs: Willie Nelson's "You Were Always On My Mind"; Patsy Cline's "Sweet Dreams"; Randy Travis' "Forever and Ever, Amen"; Conway Twitty's "Hello Darlin'"; Garth Brooks' "Unanswered Prayers"; Lonestar's "Amazed"; Kenny Rogers' "She Believes in Me"; George Strait's "I Cross My Heart"; George Jones and Tammy Wynette's "Golden Ring"; Merle Haggard's "That's The Way Love Goes"; and "When You Say Nothing At All," a hit for Keith Whitley and later Alison Krauss & Union Station.
CMT released the list Wednesday in a concert in which the top 12 were performed.
Parton was scheduled to be there, as were Kenny Rogers, Randy Travis, Lee Ann Womack, Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley with the Del McCoury Band, Sara Evans, Joe Nichols, Michael McDonald, Lonestar, Josh Turner, Julie Roberts, Buddy Jewell and Raul Malo of The Mavericks.
McDonald, a pop and rock singer with a deep, soulful voice, was to perform Nelson's song.
"It's a beautiful song," McDonald said. "It expresses one of those great sentiments. There's no one out there who hasn't experienced that."
Rogers recalled how "She Believes in Me" stood out when he first heard it and how he knew right away that he wanted to record it.
"I thought it was the ultimate musician's song," Rogers said. "In the song it talks about the old guitar in the corner and he's out trying to hustle and make a living for himself. He comes home and when it really gets tough it's nice to know she believes in me."
The two-hour concert will air Sunday on CMT at 8 p.m. and will be preceded by a four-hour documentary about the songs.
The selection process was loose. A team at CMT came up with the list, trying to capture "the full breadth and scope of country music's rich history of love songs — in their many aspects," a spokeswoman said.
Performing someone else's signature song is both an honor and a challenge, said Nichols, who co-hosted the concert with Evans and teamed with Womack for the duet "Golden Ring."
"It's hard not to try to sing like that person, not to do their same mannerisms," Nichols said.
Nichols added that with the possible exception of drinking, there is no more common theme in country music than love.
Love songs resonate with listeners in all genres, McDonald said, because "nothing permeates everything we do more than that. It's kind of what drives us, really. There is so much about it. You can never exhaust the subject."
Doh! - Homer's Catchphrase Tops British Poll
LONDON (Reuters) - Homer Simpson's emphatic exclamation "Doh!" has topped a British poll of favorite TV comedy catchphrases, easily beating an array of home-grown classics.
The bumbling hero of American animated TV series "The Simpsons" -- who often accompanies his trademark saying with a slap to the forehead -- topped Nuts Magazine's poll with 34 percent of the vote.
"Doh" has even found a home in the Oxford English Dictionary, which defines it as:
"Expressing frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly or not as planned or that one has just said or done something foolish. Also implying that another person has said or done something foolish."
The rest of the poll's top 10, published Wednesday, all come from British television hits.
At No. 2 was "Don't Panic!" from 1970s war comedy "Dad's Army," one of Britain's best-loved programs about a group of aging Home Guard soldiers ill-prepared for a feared German attack.
"I wan' that wun' (I want that one)" from Little Britain, a new satire on life in the UK, was third in the poll. "You plonker" from long-running series "Only Fools and Horses" was fourth while "I don't believe it," grumpy Victor Meldrew's favorite saying from "One Foot in the Grave," was No. 5.
The rest of the top ten in the poll of 3,000 men were:
"Proper Bo" from sketch show "Bo Selecta" at six; "Suits You" from the "Fast Show" at seven; "Ah, ha!" from "Alan Partridge" at eight and "Booyakasha!" from "Ali G" at nine.
Rounding out the top 10 was "Loadsamoney!" from "Harry Enfield."
Britney Spears Undergoes Knee Surgery After Injury
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop princess Britney Spears underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in New York on Wednesday after injuring herself during a late-night video shoot, according to her record label.
Spears, 22, had just completed a scene with rap star Snoop Dogg for a video of her latest single, "Outrageous," and was doing choreography under the L Train line on Roosevelt Avenue in Manhattan when her left knee gave out, Jive Records said in a statement.
"She obviously took a wrong step and blew out her knee," a spokeswoman said. "It was an old dance injury."
The mishap occurred at 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and Spears was taken immediately to a local hospital, where doctors performed an MRI scan and found floating cartilage in her knee, Jive said.
The spokeswoman said there was no immediate word on the outcome of the surgery.
A previous knee injury while performing in Illinois forced the singer to cancel some concert dates earlier this year.