ALF Will Talk Some More

TV Land has just ordered six new episodes of ALF'S HIT TALK SHOW featuring the cat-loving alien Alf, also known as Gordon Shumway.

HIT TALK SHOW debuted as a special in July 2004 and ratings were good enough to bring it back to the screen. Ed McMahon, long-time TONIGHT SHOW's sidekick, will be Alf's co-host.

ALF'S HIT TALK SHOW will debut on November 5 at 11 p.m.

'The Grudge' Scares Up $22M to Stay No. 1

LOS ANGELES - Halloween spirit possessed movie-goers as Sarah Michelle Gellar (news)'s fright flick "The Grudge" remained the top draw for the second straight weekend with $22.4 million. The film biography "Ray," which has drawn Academy Awards buzz for Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles in the title role, debuted in second place with $20.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The horror tale "Saw," about a serial killer who puts victims through grisly morality trials, opened at No. 3 with $17.4 million. The cast includes Cary Elwes and Danny Glover.

In narrower release, Nicole Kidman's "Birth" had a so-so debut, coming in at No. 11 with $1.7 million in 550 cinemas to average $3,091 a theater. Kidman plays a widow about to remarry when she encounters a 10-year-old boy claiming to be the reincarnation of her dead husband.

By comparison, "Ray" debuted in 2,006 theaters with a healthy $10,020 average, while "Saw" averaged $7,516 in 2,315 cinemas.

"The Grudge," starring Gellar as an American student tormented by a hateful spirit lurking in a Tokyo house, lifted its 10-day domestic gross to $71.3 million. A remake of a Japanese horror hit, "The Grudge" cost just $10 million to produce.

Scary movies tend to plummet in their second weekend because hardcore horror fans catch them in the first few days. Halloween weekend helped shore up "The Grudge," whose receipts fell just 43 percent, a relatively strong hold from its $39.1 million debut.

"The Grudge" and "Saw" drew mostly younger viewers looking for Halloween scares. The audience for "Ray" was older, with three-fourths of viewers age 30 and over.

Films that play to older crowds tend to stick around longer at theaters, and distributor Universal Studios is counting on the movie's Oscar prospects to extend its appeal through awards season.

Interest in Charles has surged since his death last June and Foxx has received enormous acclaim for his uncanny re-creation of the blind singer's mannerisms and spirit.

"This is the most talked about performance of the year," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "His performance even transcends the movie itself."

Director Taylor Hackford, who had Charles' full support on "Ray," struggled for 15 years to get the movie made. Financed independently, the finished film was shopped around futilely among Hollywood studios until it found a home at Universal.

"Nobody wanted this movie, so as a result we are celebrating like you can't even believe," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal. "We expect a long life for this movie."

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Grudge," $22.4 million.
2. "Ray," $20.1 million.
3. "Saw," $17.4 million.
4. "Shark Tale," $8 million.
5. "Shall We Dance?" $6.3 million.
6. "Friday Night Lights," $4.1 million.
7. "Ladder 49," $3.3 million.
8. "Team America: World Police," $3.1 million.
9. "Surviving Christmas," $2.6 million.
10. "Taxi," $2.15 million.

Stefani Revisits '80s Pop on Solo Album

NEW YORK (Billboard) - To hear No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani tell it, she's just a girl from Orange County following a dream.

"I'm just like you, except I write songs," Stefani says. "I feel like I'm doing something right. And right now, I feel like I'm in a good place in my life."

Indeed. Stefani -- rock star, pop culture icon, fashion entrepreneur (clothing line L.A.M.B.), actress (Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator," due in December), wife of Bush vocalist/guitarist Gavin Rossdale -- is gearing up for the next chapter in a prolific career.

Her solo debut album -- or as she prefers to call it, "my side project" -- "Love, Angel, Music, Baby" arrives November 23 in North America (and a day earlier in Europe) from Interscope.

The disc will also be available in a deluxe limited edition. This fabric-wrapped, gold-embossed Digipak, with a case designed by Stefani/L.A.M.B., will retail for less than $30.

PERSONAL CONCEPT

"Gwen is the kind of person with the potential to move the needle of popular culture," Interscope Geffen A&M chairman Jimmy Iovine says. "She comes from a different place; she has her own lane. This is her very own concept album."

Stefani is more direct. "This is my dance record," she says of the set. "I had always wanted to do a dance record, but 'dance' is misleading (because) the definition of 'dance music' around the world is so different."

Stefani's "dance record" -- not to be confused with today's four-on-the-floor underground club music -- is steeped in all things '80s, from Lisa Lisa and Debbie Deb to Depeche Mode and the Cure, from Prince and Club Nouveau to Missing Persons and L'Trimm.

Stefani credits No Doubt bandmate Tony Kanal with exposing her to these sounds. "I was a strict ska girl until I met Tony," she says. "He was always listening to all this stuff that you would hear when you went dancing at Knott's Berry Farm -- like I did."

She adds, "Everyone I worked with (on this album) was under strict instructions as far as inspiration goes. I wanted to recapture the feeling I had when I first heard those songs."

"Love, Angel, Music, Baby" includes the work of numerous producers, songwriters and musicians: Dr. Dre and Eve ("Rich Girl"), the Neptunes ("Hollaback Girl"), Wendy & Lisa and New Order's Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner ("Real Thing"), Dallas Austin ("Cool"), OutKast's Andre 3000 ("Long Way to Go"), Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis ("Harajuku Girls") and Kanal ("Serious"). Stefani co-wrote all the tracks on the album.

Lead single "What You Waiting For?" -- which ascends the Billboard Hot 100 to No. 63 this week -- was penned with Linda Perry.

COLLABORATIVE EFFORT

"It wasn't about me having to create every part," Stefani says of the album. "It was about me driving the car, making the rules. Because I let so many other people in, this record is less of me than a No Doubt record. I see it as one big collaboration."

Stefani -- who has collaborated with Eve ("Let Me Blow Ya Mind") and Moby ("South Side") in recent years -- acknowledges that she had a goal: "I was not looking to make an art record. I was looking to make a specific record that would be everyone's guilty pleasure. There was no room for anything but singles on this album."

Whether Stefani takes "Love, Angel, Music, Baby" on the road remains to be seen. "Touring is something I've done a lot of in my life, and right now it's about doing stuff I've never done before -- like dancing to my own song in a club," Stefani says. "But I can't picture myself touring without No Doubt."

Speaking of No Doubt (as she often does), Stefani hopes hardcore and casual fans alike will welcome her album. "I have all the respect for everyone (who has) ever supported No Doubt around the world," she says. "But if I'm being honest, when I'm making songs I'm only thinking of myself. I had a specific thing I wanted to try (with this album), and now I'm ready to share it with people."

Elton John Blames Tantrums on Creativity

LONDON (Reuters) - Pop star Elton John says he doesn't mean to throw tantrums -- it just comes with the territory of being creative.

John told Britain's Sunday Times magazine that his behavior had changed since beating drug and alcohol addictions 14 years ago, yet "the rage and the temper are still there ... but it's part of being creative."

The British superstar, famous for his outbursts, grabbed headlines last month when he cursed and shouted at Taiwanese photographers for surprising him as he arrived at Taipei airport, calling them "rude, vile pigs."

At a London award ceremony a week later, he launched into a foul-mouthed tirade at pop star Madonna, accusing her of charging fans outrageous prices to see her lip-synch in concert.

"Anyone who lip-synchs in public on stage when you pay 75 pounds ($134) to see them should be shot," he said.

John, 57, said he was working to rein in his temper.

"I don't seem to have anger -- I have rage. There are still times, especially when I'm tired, when the bad temper and the irrationality come out. And I hate that. Because I'm trying to change it."

The 30-year veteran of the music business also said he has grown weary of the industry's excess.

"People slag me off because I'm a larger-than-life character, and that's part of my thing from the past.

"I'm not happy being in the limelight much. I don't want to be at every party. I used to love it. I hate it now. My life's changed."

New Hannibal Lecter Book Due Late 2005

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ever wondered what made Hannibal a cannibal?

The answer will come when Thomas Harris' new novel about serial killer Hannibal Lecter, "Behind the Mask," is published next year.

"Millions of readers in 25 languages have wondered how Dr. Lecter developed his particular appetite for evil. This novel will satisfy their curiosity," publisher Bantam Dell said in a statement announcing the book would be ready late in 2005.

Chillingly brought to the screen by Anthony Hopkins in the 1991 film "The Silence of the Lambs," Hannibal Lecter is due to be back on movie screens for another outing based on the new novel. Film rights for the book have been acquired by The Dino De Laurentiis Company, producer of "Red Dragon" and "Hannibal."

"Behind the Mask" will be the fourth book about Hannibal, who first appeared in "Red Dragon."

"Hannibal," the third book in the series, was a number one New York Times hardcover and paperback bestseller, with sales of nearly 1.5 million hardcovers in 1999 and more than 3 million paperbacks.

Irwyn Applebaum, president of Bantam Dell Publishing Group, part of Random House, called Harris, "the premier novelist of psychological suspense of our time" and said Lecter was "the literary figure to whom all other villains are compared."

Random House is a division of Bertelsmann .

Lavigne Says Fake Pop Starlets Are 'Pathetic'

CLEVELAND (Billboard) - With Ashlee Simpson in the news this week following a disastrous lip-synching appearance on "Saturday Night Live," Canadian pop singer Avril Lavigne says it's "pathetic" that some young artists don't sing on their own record or on stage.

While she can relate to the pressures of learning how to play live and work an audience for the first time, Lavigne says she takes exception to the practice of lip-synching.

"You know what? There are a lot of people out there today, who have become stars or famous musicians -- I wouldn't really define them as a star -- with a record only because they have connections and only because they have money and for the wrong reasons," Lavigne, 20, told Billboard.com.

"And it sucks. Actually, I know for a fact there are some young female artists who don't even sing on their own records and who don't sing live. And that is pathetic."

Ashlee Simpson, the younger sister of fellow reality TV starlet, Jessica Simpson, was caught out during her "SNL" appearance when a pre-recorded vocal track started playing as she held her microphone to her side. She initially blamed her band, and then a sore throat that prevented her from singing live.

Lavigne, who is six days older than Simpson, added, "I got signed because of my voice. That's what (then-Arista head Antonio) 'L.A.' Reid signed me on. He said, 'Wow, you are only 15 and you can really sing. I'm going to sign you.' And I've never lip-synced once."

Lavigne is in the midst of a North American tour to promote her newly released second album "Under My Skin," which has sold 1.8 million copies to date in the United States. She drops in on Hampton, Va., Oct. 30.

She says she's more confident than ever. On stage, she's singing, playing piano and even showing off her drum chops on one song.

While she has been doing a little writing on tour, and live material is being gathered for an eventual DVD release, there is no timetable for her next project. Said Lavigne, "No, I'm going to be out here for a while."

Lavigne recorded the theme song for the upcoming "SpongeBob SquarePants" soundtrack, due Nov. 9 via Sire.

"I sang the theme song but did my own version for the movie," she said. "I had never done anything like that before so I said that would be kind of cool. You know, a good experience. I just did a rockier version -- a me version of it."

Springsteen draws 100,000 to cheer Kerry

Bruce Springsteen sent megastar wattage pumping through John Kerry's presidential campaign Thursday, rocking crowds of over 100,000 people in swing states Wisconsin and Ohio.

"The Boss," famed for hits including Born in the USA, said the Democratic candidate had lived his country's history and was a guardian of the gritty working folk and American fables that people his songs.

In Madison, Wisconsin, thousands of spectators packed balconies on neat wooden houses along a mile-long stretch of road climbing up the Midwest state's white Capitol, packed with what fire chiefs said was at least 80,000 people.

"As a songwriter I've written about America for 30 years, tried to write about who we are, what we stand for, and what we fight for," said Springsteen, who has never before endorsed a presidential candidate.

Springsteen said Kerry shared his fight for "human principles" of economic justice, healing the sick, healthcare, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and a "sane foreign policy."

"I believe that Senator Kerry honors these ideals. He has lived our history over the past 50 years. He has an informed and adult view of America and its people."

"He's shown us starting as a young man that by facing America's hard truths, both the good and bad that that's where we find a deeper patriotism," the rocker said, as golden leaves floated from the trees onto his stage.

Sox Win Throws Curve to Barrymore Movie

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The Boston Red Sox's historic World Series baseball win Wednesday has forced a rewrite of a sports-based romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon.

Fox's "Fever Pitch," which is set during the 2004 Red Sox season, stars Barrymore as a woman who falls for Fallon's Red Sox-obsessed sports addict. It is in production in Toronto and depicts the Red Sox losing just as the baseball team has for the past 85 years.

"We had gone into the movie anticipating that the Red Sox would not win the World Championship, and it would be another dismal ending for them, but love would conquer all," said Peter Farrelly, who is directing with brother Bobby. "But what happened because of this turn of events, we now have the double whammy of a happy love story and a championship team at the same time."

Because of the reversal of fortune, screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, who Americanized English author Nick Hornby's football novel, have been in rewrite mode to incorporate the championship run.

"Since Game 4 of the Yankee series, when the Red Sox pulled it out and started turning the tide, (Ganz and Mandel) were writing on an hour-by-hour basis," Farrelly said.

The production shot in Boston's Fenway Park last month, incorporating actual games into the movie. When it looked as if the team was going to clinch the World Series title, a skeleton crew including the actors flew to St. Louis to shoot a scene or two at the final game.

"Had we made this ending up, it would have been considered too trite," said Nancy Juvonen, a producer on the film. "Now the happy ending isn't just for our couple, it's a happy ending for the team and all underdogs."

Long-Lost Final Film by Ed Wood Rediscovered

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Considered the worst film maker of all time, Ed Wood won a cult following after his death and now fans can see his long-lost last film "Necromania," a work some say shows he was so bad that he was brilliant.

But it's not for the faint-hearted. The 1971 movie is a porn film documenting the sexual enlightenment of a young couple at the hands of a coven of witches.

The much maligned creator of enduring cult classics such as "Bride of the Monster," Wood was himself the subject of Tim Burton's 1994 biopic, the lead role played by Johnny Depp.

That film shows the making of Wood's most famous film -- "Plan 9 From Outer Space" from 1956 -- in which actors screw up their lines and "special effects" include pie tins for flying saucers.

"Necromania" -- the last film Wood directed -- was filmed over two or three days with a budget of no more than $7,000 and the only copies went missing soon after it was made. The movie tells the story of Danny and Shirley, a young couple who visit the mysterious Madame Heles for help with their flagging sex life. The lessons they are taught involve skulls, spells and sex in a coffin.

Rudolph Grey, author of a biography of the director, and a fellow Ed Wood enthusiast, movie distributor Alexander Kogan, unearthed "Necromania" in a warehouse in Los Angeles after more than 15 years of detective work.

A year ago they contacted the editors of a pornography Web site called Fleshbot, which this week will start selling the DVD by mail order for $19.99.

"I knew of its existence since about 1982 and it intrigued me because it was supposedly one of the last feature movies that Ed Wood did, so naturally I wanted to see it," said Grey.

At one point Grey and Kogan were frustrated to be told the only person who might know the film's whereabouts was in jail -- as a result of a porn bust in Florida.

They waited until he got out and resumed the search, striking gold in 2001.

PURE GENIUS?

"This is something more than just porn," said Fredrik Carlstrom, executive producer of the DVD featuring two versions of the film, one soft core, the other more explicit.

"This is an old film. It's in the '70s, they're hairy, they don't look the way we are used to now," Carlstrom said.

"It has a story, it has ambition ... It's like all his films, like anything that's so bad it becomes good. Or maybe it's pure genius. That's the appeal of Ed Wood."

Struggling to find backers for more mainstream work, Wood turned to smut in the 1960s, making a string of films and "loops" -- short porn flicks shown in coin-operated booths -- up until his death in 1978.

Grey, author of the biography "Nightmare of Ecstasy," said those who dismiss him as naive and talentless are plain wrong.

"These movies seem to exist in another plain of existence where nobody pays any attention to them whatsoever, and that must have been frustrating to Ed Wood," Grey said.

He says "Necromania" displays Wood's wit and style and he points to a scene where the main character Danny is struggling to untangle a pair of red pajama bottoms to put them on.

"The guy's fumbling for about 15 seconds and he's starting to laugh -- the actor, he can't get the pajama bottoms on and he's laughing," Grey says. "He could have cut that out but Ed Wood left that in intentionally. He was having some fun."

Red Sox Win First World Series Since 1918

ST. LOUIS - The Boston Red Sox — yes, the Boston Red Sox! — are World Series champions at long, long last. No more curse and no doubt about it. Ridiculed and reviled through decades of defeat, the Red Sox didn't just beat the St. Louis Cardinals, owners of the best record in baseball, they swept them for their first crown since 1918.

Johnny Damon homered on the fourth pitch of the game, Derek Lowe made it stand up and the Red Sox won 3-0 Wednesday night. Edgar Renteria grounded out for the final out, wrapping up a Series in which the Red Sox never trailed.

Chants of "Let's go, Red Sox!" bounced all around Busch Stadium, with Boston fans as revved-up as they were relieved. Only 10 nights earlier, the Red Sox were just three outs from getting swept by the New York Yankees in the AL championship series before becoming the first team in baseball postseason history to overcome a 3-0 deficit.

It was Boston's sixth championship, but the first after 86 years of frustration and futility, after two world wars, the Great Depression, men on the moon, and the rise and fall of the Soviet Union.

After all that, on a night when the moon went dark in a total eclipse, the Red Sox made it look easy.

Gone was the heartbreak of four Game 7 losses since their last title, a drought — some insist it was a curse — that really began after they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920.

"We wanted to do it so bad for the city of Boston. To win a World Series with this on our chests — it hasn't been done since 1918," Kevin Millar of the Red Sox said. "So rip up those '1918' posters right now."

Damon's leadoff homer off starter Jason Marquis and Trot Nixon's two-out, two-run double on a 3-0 pitch were all that Lowe needed. Having won the first-round clincher against Anaheim in relief and then winning Game 7 at Yankee Stadium, Lowe blanked the Cards on a mere three hits for seven innings.

Relievers Bronson Arroyo and Alan Embree worked the eighth and Keith Foulke finished it off for his first save.

The Red Sox get to raise the World Series banner next April 11 in the home opener at Fenway Park, with the Yankees in town forced to watch.

Boston became the third straight wild-card team to win it, relying on the guts of Curt Schilling and guile of Pedro Martinez. And they took it in the same year they traded away popular shortstop Nomar Garciaparra.

Led by Series MVP Manny Ramirez, Boston got key contributions from almost everyone. Backup outfielder Dave Roberts did not play in the Series, yet it was his stolen base in the ninth inning of Game 4 in the ALCS that began the comeback against Mariano Rivera.

And while second baseman Mark Bellhorn was born in Boston, no one else on the roster came from anywhere near Beantown. And the only homegrown players on the team are Trot Nixon and rookie Kevin Youkilis.

No matter, this win might make all of them as much a part of New England lore as Plymouth Rock and Paul Revere.

Or, as Red Sox owner John Henry said close to gametime: "People tell me this is the biggest thing since the Revolutionary War."

The Boston win also left no doubt which city is now the most jinxed in baseball. It's Chicago — the Cubs last won it all in 1908, the White Sox in 1917.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals team that led the majors with 105 wins never showed up. The timely hitting, solid pitching and sharp baserunning that served them so well all season completely broke down.

Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds, the meat of the order, combined for just one RBI. Rolen got it on a sacrifice fly, and it was little consolation as he went 0-for-15.

Ramirez, put on waivers in the offseason and nearly traded to Texas for Alex Rodriguez, was 7-for-17 (.412) with a homer and four RBIs. The left fielder's biggest contribution came in Game 3, when he bounced back from a couple of errors to throw out a runner at the plate.

Lowe was loose from the start. While the Cardinals took batting practice, he sat alone in the Boston dugout, his hat backward and singing the little ditty, "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands."

Lowe was equally relaxed on the mound. He gave up a leadoff single to Tony Womack, then retired 13 straight batters until Renteria doubled in the fifth. Renteria made it to third on a wild pitch, but Lowe fanned John Mabry — who unsuccessfully argued that he tipped strike three — and got Yadier Molina on a routine grounder.

At that point, the Cardinals were going quietly. About the only noise they made came when Molina, a 21-year-old rookie catcher whose two brothers catch for Anaheim, began yapping at Ramirez when the Boston star came to the plate in the fourth.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona quickly rushed out of the dugout to keep things calm.

Best known before this year for being Michael Jordan's manager in the minors, Francona made plenty of wicked smart moves. Oakland's bench coach in 2003, he took over after Grady Little was fired last fall. Baltimore and the White Sox also interviewed the man who managed Philadelphia to losing seasons from 1997-2000.

And while many Boston fans hollered for him to bench the slumping Damon in the ALCS, Francona stuck with him. Damon hit a grand slam and two-run homer in Game 7.

Facing Marquis, Damon yanked a shot over the right-center field wall and before he could circle the bases, the chants of "Let's go, Red Sox!" began echoing from the upper deck.

Damon became the second Boston player to hit a leadoff homer in the Series. The other? Patsy Dougherty, who did it in 1903 for the Americans — renamed the Red Sox five years later.

A single by Ramirez and double by David Ortiz got the Red Sox ramped up again in the third. Pujols threw out Ramirez at the plate, trying to score on a grounder to first base, and a walk loaded the bases with two outs.

Nixon took three straight balls and Francona gambled, giving his good fastball hitter the green light. That's what Nixon got, and he drilled it off the right-center wall for a 3-0 lead.

Notes:@ Ramirez tied Derek Jeter and Hank Bauer for the longest postseason hitting streak at 17 games. ... Damon hit the 17th leadoff homer in Series history. Jeter (2000) was the last to do it. ... This was Jim Burton's 55th birthday. A rookie in 1975 for Boston, he gave up Joe Morgan's go-ahead single in the ninth inning of Game 7 against Cincinnati. Burton pitched only one more game in the majors. ... The Red Sox led for 34 of the 36 innings. ... Larry Walker put down his first sacrifice since 1991. He bunted in the first inning, but Lowe threw him out. ... Boston teams continued to bedevil St. Louis clubs. The New England Patriots beat the Rams in the 2002 Super Bowl, the Bruins swept the Blues for the 1970 Stanley Cup and the Celtics won their first NBA title by defeating the Hawks in 1957.

The Reviews Are In: Movie Critics Noticed

LOS ANGELES - Let's review movie reviews. Millions read them. Actors covet nice ones. Studios scour them for positive nuggets to cram into advertising blurbs.

But how much influence do reviews really have on a movie's fate?

Virtually none on big action flicks and lowbrow comedies, which can pack in huge crowds despite rotten reviews. Family audiences and horror and sci-fi fans can turn out to see practically anything in their genre, no matter what reviews say.

Critics of critics say professional reviewers have snooty tastes, applying the same criteria to an Eddie Murphy comedy or Vin Diesel bust-'em-up as they would to a Kurosawa or Fellini film.

The Web has given movie buffs a broad forum to carp about traditional reviewers and post their own opinions, which often reflect more populist tastes than those of professional critics.

"You do wonder what kind of limited power we have," said USA Today movie reviewer Claudia Puig. "But we do it because it's a great job. I can't tell you how many people tell me, `You've got the best job in the world.' When you love something, you're so excited to be able to tell people, and when you hate something, you love to be able to tell people, `Don't see that.'"

It's in their passion for film — and their ability to scout out little gems — that professional critics hold sway.

This time of year, the awards prospects and commercial fortunes of many small films rest with reviewers, whose praise can help them gain a toehold among the holiday box-office behemoths.

Mike Leigh's abortion drama "Vera Drake," Alexander Payne's road-trip tale "Sideways" and David O. Russell's ensemble comedy "I (Heart) Huckabees" debuted strongly in limited release on the strength of good advance notice from critics.

Unlike the gradual rollouts of old Hollywood, when reviews helped spread the word on new movies, summer popcorn flicks and other big releases now roar into as many theaters as possible, backed by colossal marketing campaigns to grab moviegoers over opening weekend.

"Movie reviews don't mean jack to summer blockbusters. It's pointless to even review it," said Will Smith, who has scored July hits with such critically drubbed flicks as "Independence Day," "Wild Wild West," "Men in Black II" and "Bad Boys II."

Smith struck again this fall with his animated hit "Shark Tale." Trashed by critics, "Shark Tale" filled a void for family fare at theaters, with parents and kids rushing to see it.

Reviews were mixed on Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," with many top critics loathing it. But no critic on Earth was going to keep avid Christians out of theaters, along with a more general audience intrigued by the religious firestorm the movie caused. "The Passion" took in $370.3 million, No. 3 on this year's domestic box-office chart.

This year's list of top hits is crowded with movies poorly received by critics, among them "The Day After Tomorrow," "Van Helsing," "Troy" and "The Village."

A survey of 2,000 people by three business school researchers found that television ads and recommendations from others were the biggest influences on movie-going habits, each factor cited by about 70 percent of respondents. Professional reviews ran a distant third at 33 percent, while online ratings on such sites as Yahoo and the Internet Movie Database influenced 28 percent.

Sites like Rottentomatoes.com, which compiles reviews from professional critics but also Internet newcomers, have become more valuable to many consumers than the opinions of individual critics, said Chris Dellarocas, one of the researchers who conducted the survey as part of a study on how online reviews can predict a movie's box-office performance.

"I think there's a shift away from trusting the experts and more toward trusting the opinions of many," said Dellarocas, an associate professor of information technology at the University of Maryland.

If today's audiences are looking more for strength-in-numbers consensus than the voice of individual critics, the Internet still has advantages for reviewers.

Many astute critics have cropped up online who otherwise would not have had a forum. Newspaper critics who once had mainly local followings have found national exposure on the Web.

And sites such as Rottentomatoes.com or rival Metacritic.com provide cyber hangouts for film fans interested to read what critics in general have to say.

"It's the whole idea of united we stand, divided we fall," said Paul Lee, marketing manager for Rottentomatoes.com. "The Internet allows critics to come together and have collectively a bigger voice."

For their biggest releases, studios stage advertising blitzes and debut movies in as many as 4,000 theaters — two-thirds of the total number of cinemas — essentially buying huge opening-weekend grosses.

"Any film that can spend tens of millions of dollars on advertising can effectively obliterate any critical comment," said Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan.

The year's two top-grossing films received almost universally favorable reviews. Yet "Shrek 2" owes its $436.5 million haul and "Spider-Man 2" its $372.6 million take to the fact they were sequels to enormously popular movies and hit theaters preceded by ubiquitous hype and promotion.

Commercial and critical sensibilities often run counter. Critics tend to savor high-minded drama and artistic production, while the average male viewer might rate a movie for its explosion and babe factor.

"You can't take a movie which is designed to be an action-adventure film and have it critically reviewed by somebody who's interested in independent, intense, dark, in-depth character portrayals like `Taxi Driver,'" said Nicolas Cage, whose adventure film "National Treasure" opens just before Thanksgiving.

Audiences may grumble that critics are snobs, but Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said reviewers have to stay true to their tastes and let people know about worthy independent features, foreign films and documentaries lurking in the shadows of the latest blockbuster.

"You don't need a critic to tell you about `Titanic,'" Ebert said. "You really need a critic to tell you about good movies you might miss or might not have heard of otherwise. You don't need a critic to tell you the box office is right."

The one sure value of movie reviews is that they are part of the fun of show business. Reviews get people talking about movies, and sometimes, lead them to a cinematic jewel they never would have found on their own.

"Unless film is your life, you're going to be overwhelmed by the choices," said the Los Angeles Times' Turan, whose new book — "Never Coming to a Theater Near You: A Celebration of a Certain Kind of Movie" — is a collection of his reviews of cherished smaller movies. "You need a guide, and I think people are grateful to be guided to something they like, because otherwise, it's a crapshoot."

"Forget your stupid theme park! I'm gonna make my own! With hookers! And blackjack! In fact, forget the theme park!"

— Bender, Fox's FUTURAMA

Apple announces online music store ITunes coming to Canada in November

TORONTO (CP) - Canadian music lovers who've been itching to get into the ITunes online music store will have the chance next month.

Apple confirmed Tuesday that it will make ITunes available in this country in November. But Simon Atkins, a spokesman for the company in Canada, said Apple isn't ready to announce an exact date yet, or the price for songs here. The word of a Canadian November debut came as the company launched a European Union version of its store for downloaders in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

Speculation about a Canadian launch has heated up in recent weeks, with a spate of media stories. A billboard promoting the music store has even popped up at the Ryerson University campus in Toronto.

"I have been waiting for iTMS to come to Canada, I'm jealous of my friend who has a US billing address so he can get music off of the US iTMS," says one posting in a macrumors.com forum.

The ITunes Music Store allows PC and Mac users to legally purchase and download music online. It'll provide competition for Puretracks, which established in Canada more than a year ago, as well as www.napster.ca and www.archambault.ca.

Besides the United States, ITunes is already available in the U.K., France and Germany. The EU store gives users the ability to play songs on up to five personal computers, burn a single song onto CDs an unlimited number of times, burn the same playlist up to seven times and listen to their music on an unlimited number of IPods.

"ITunes is the world's number one online music store, with more than 150 million downloads and over 70 per cent market share in the U.S. and U.K.," Eddy Cue, Apple's vice-president of Applications, said in a statement Tuesday.

"We're excited to bring the ITunes Music Store to even more music fans across Europe, and with this expansion we now reach customers in almost 70 per cent of the global music market."

The EU ITunes Music Store features over 700,000 songs from four major music companies and more than 100 independent record labels. It has exclusive tracks from a variety of artists, including Marc Anthony, Andrea Bocelli, Black Eyed Peas, Destiny's Child, Duran Duran, George Michael and Gwen Stefani.

The company hasn't announced how many songs will be available to Canadian consumers.

Apple Rolls Out iPod Photo, Rocks with U2

SAN JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. rolled out on Tuesday a new iPod that allows users to view and share photos, a dramatic expansion that takes the most popular digital music player squarely into the multimedia realm, while spurring its rivalry with Microsoft Corp. and others.

Apple also has hooked up with Irish rock band U2 to announce the iPod U2 Special Edition, a black model with a bright red click-wheel and holds up to 5,000 songs.

The new iPod Photo, which had been widely anticipated, is a multimedia device with a color screen and comes with 40 gigabytes or 60 gigabytes of storage -- two to three times more than the storage available on its most used music player.

The iPod Photo, partnership with U2, which appears in the most recent iPod television commercial, and a Digital Box Set of more than 400 U2 songs, underscore how digital music, and, arguably Apple, are transforming multimedia and music.

"You're seeing bits of the future here in how the leadership power centers of media are shifting," said Mike McGuire, an analyst with research firm GartnerG2. "These are the companies that are going to be the next media titans. Does that include Apple? Yes. Does that include Microsoft, Starbucks and others? Yes."

The iPod Photo 40-gigabyte version sells for $499 and the 60-gigabyte model for $599. Both immediately available.

"We think photos are the next big thing. Everyone has the content" because of the rapid proliferation of digital cameras among consumers "and there are no copyright issues," Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said at a news conference. "We think music plus photos is the next big thing."

"If you look at Apple's customer base they absolutely are focused around two major areas, one is music and one is photos," said Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin. "This was purely a natural evolution."

The timing of Apple's U2 iPod release coincides with the upcoming Nov. 23 release of the Dublin-based band's new album "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb."

The U2 iPod will sell for $349 and is expected to be available in mid-November.

'EVEN BETTER THAN THE REAL THING'

The Cupertino, California-based computer maker also said it created the online music industry's first-of-its-kind "Digital Box Set." The set, "The Complete U2," will contain over 400 tracks including all of the band's albums. Fans will be able to buy and download it with just one click on the iTunes Music Store in the United States and Europe beginning in late November for $149.

Since the iPod's introduction in October 2001, Cupertino, California-based Apple has sold more than 6 million iPods, 2 million alone in Apple's most recent quarter.

Apple remains the undisputed leader in digital music players and online music sales with the iPod, iPod mini and the iTunes online music store.

But rivals are converging on the market, with No. 1 software company Microsoft earlier this month officially launched its own music store. Also earlier this month, Dell Inc. announced a slimmed-down player and Virgin Electronics has weighed in with its own tiny player.

Bono told reporters after he and U2 guitarist The Edge performed two songs from the new album that U2 was not paid to appear in the iPod ads, and that the band and Apple would share profits from the U2 iPod.

"It's a horizontal relationship rather than a vertical one," Bono said. "We will make (money) on the products that we put out together. If they don't sell, we won't."

The Edge said he sees the partnership with Apple as the beginning of a wholesale transformation in the distribution of music, to an online world from a physical one of CDs.

"We wanted to find an innovative way to redefine the distribution of music," The Edge told reporters. "We see it as the next step for the music business."

Familiar Names Lead People's Choice Nominees

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Neither Julia Roberts nor George Clooney has opened a film so far this year, but both stars made the cut in nominations announced on Tuesday for the annual fan-driven People's Choice Awards.

Roberts and Clooney, who will reunite later this year in "Ocean's Twelve," the highly anticipated sequel to the 2001 hit remake of caper "Ocean's Eleven," were nominated as favorite female movie star and favorite male star, respectively.

Roberts, whose last film, "Mona Lisa Smile," debuted in December 2003 and quickly faded, will face off against fellow nominees Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Charlize Theron and Reese Witherspoon. Roberts was voted favorite film actress in the previous year's competition.

Clooney, last seen a year ago opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones in the darkly comic "Intolerable Cruelty," is up against Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington.

Unlike the Oscars and other entertainment awards shows, in which nominees and winners are selected by industry peers, the People's Choice Awards are determined by the public.

In previous years, polling for the awards was conducted by the Gallup Organization. This year, Entertainment Weekly magazine recruited a group of 6,000 readers to nominate their favorites from pre-selected candidates in various film, music and television categories.

The top five selections for each category became nominees. The winners will be announced January 9 in a ceremony televised on CBS.

Organizers said nominees for other categories, including favorite film drama and comedy, will be revealed in December.

In TV categories, two of ABC's new series -- "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" -- made the cut for favorite new drama. "Lost" also scored a nod for Matthew Fox as favorite male TV star. Veteran NBC sitcom "Will & Grace" was the most recognized TV series, garnering nominations for favorite TV comedy and for co-stars Debra Messing and Megan Mullally.

Other nominees announced on Tuesday are as follows:

* favorite musical group -- Evanescence, Maroon 5, No Doubt, OutKast, U2;

* Favorite male singer -- Eminem, Josh Groban, John Mayer, Prince, Usher;

* Favorite female singer -- Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, Avril Lavigne and Sarah McLachlan;

* Favorite TV comedy -- "Arrested Development" (Fox), "Everybody Loves Raymond" (CBS), "Scrubs" (NBC), "That '70s Show" (Fox), "Will & Grace" (NBC);

* Favorite TV drama -- "Alias" (ABC), "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (CBS), "Gilmore Girls" (WB); "The O.C." (Fox) and "The Sopranos" (HBO).

* Favorite reality show competition -- "Extreme Makeover" (ABC), "American Idol" (Fox), "The Apprentice" (NBC), "Survivor" (CBS) and "Last Comic Standing" (NBC).

Paris Packs Her Bags for 'Simple Life 3'

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two rich blond women and three dogs will board a Greyhound bus on Wednesday -- with dozens of cameramen, makeup artists and hangers-on in hot pursuit -- as a new installment of the reality TV show "The Simple Life" starts filming.

The stars of the show, heiress Paris Hilton and her best friend Nicole Richie, said they planned to spend the eve of their departure packing -- nine suitcases for Hilton and six for Richie.

"I never end up wearing even half the things I bring, but it's always good to have a selection. You never know where we're going or what the weather's going to be like," Hilton said.

Fox scored a major hit with the first two seasons of "The Simple Life." In the first season, the pair were transplanted to a farm in middle America, while the second season saw the duo traveling from town to town in a camper van.

This time, the pair will visit major cities along the East Coast and work as interns in a range of jobs, including stints on Wall Street and in a classroom.

"It's two girlfriends having fun and being silly which I think a lot of girls can relate to," Richie said in an interview in a penthouse loft in Manhattan.

"A lot of people have misconceptions that we wouldn't know how to do things," says Richie, daughter of singer Lionel Richie and a childhood friend of Hilton family heiress Paris. "This is to show everybody that we can do it."

Still, she is hoping the big city tour will mean no repeats of the episode when she had to put her arm inside a cow. "I'm just over doing manual labor, we don't want to get dirty any more," she said.

Insiders said the show's producers approached several people in the U.S. House of Representatives to procure an internship for the celebrity socialites, but they came up empty-handed.

Only the show's producers know the final itinerary for the monthlong trip and the nature of the jobs the two will perform. The show is expected to air in the first half of next year.

The Couch Potato Report - October 26th, 2004

In The Couch Potato Report this week, there's not much in the way of new stuff, but wait until you hear about what's coming out next week!

I know I have a tendency to come off stoic and serious. I have rarely laughed in public and I can't remember the last time I told a joke.

But even though that may be true, I do actually enjoy a hearty laugh, guffaw or chuckle. Yes, even though I am usually quite serious I enjoy laughing a great deal.

A great many of my laughs in the last decade have come courtesy of the work of the Wayans family.

With their movies HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE, SCARY MOVIE and MO MONEY, and the television series IN LIVING COLOUR, Damon, Keenan Ivory, Shawn and Marlon Wayans have all given me that rare pleasure known as laughter.

I've laughed with them. I've laughed at them. I've laughed.

And that is the reason I wanted to see the movie WHITE CHICKS. I wanted to laugh.

But WHITE CHICKS isn't funny. At all. And now that it is available on video and DVD I want to make 100% sure you know that, just in case you've always trusted the Wayans family for your laughs as well.

In WHITE CHICKS Keenan Ivory Wayans directs his brothers Marlon and Shawn. They play African-American FBI agents who have to go undercover as over-privileged white debutantes to try and prevent a kidnapping.

Other than the fact that the film doesn't have one laugh in it, the absolute worst thing about WHITE CHICKS is how bad the make-up is. The two "white chicks" look horrible. They aren't believable for a second! Even if this is supposed to be a comedic film that you don't take seriously, c'mon! Bad work is bad work!

And WHITE CHICKS looks bad, plus - as I've mentioned - it is a comedy that has no laughs.

This movie is absolutely horrible on every level.

Now, if you want to see the premise of an African-American person going undercover as a white person done right, pick up SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: THE BEST OF EDDIE MURPHY and watch his classic "White Like Me" film. Now that was one of the funniest things I have ever seen!

Okay, since it is going to be Halloween on Saturday, you might be in the mood to check out a movie with some horrific elements this week. And if you like your horrific films to have zombies in them, well you are in luck as the remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD is now available!

After a devastating viral outbreak, a Milwaukee shopping mall is under siege by cannibalistic zombies. Inside the mall is a group of people who haven't been infected, and they are trying to keep the zombies out.

Ah yes, a nice simple, believable premise!

Canadian national treasure Sarah Polley, of ROAD TO AVONLEA, GO and THE SWEET HEREAFTER stars with Ving Rhames of PULP FICTION and Mekhi Phifer from 8 MILE.

Unlike WHITE CHICKS, DAWN OF THE DEAD is very funny. It also has a simple plot and a great deal of tension. Plus, if you are a fan of the 1978 original, you will catch the tributes to George A. Romero's original. If you are not a fan of that classic zombie movie, no worries, just check out this update and you will have a new classic zombie film to enjoy.

But be warned, if you don't enjoy horror or zombie movies, then DAWN OF THE DEAD isn't a movie you should see. Halloween or not!

WHITE CHICKS, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: THE BEST OF EDDIE MURPHY and DAWN OF THE DEAD are all available now at your favourite local video store.

COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT

The incredible SHREK 2 sees the ogre and his wife Fiona summoned to meet the in-laws. Don't worry Donkey is also back and he goes along for the ride. Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy all return to provide the characters voices.

LOONEY TUNES - THE GOLDEN COLLECTION: VOLUME TWO is a 4 disc set that has 60 more of the finest, funniest, bestest Golden Era cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety Bird, The Road Runner, Wile E Coyote and all of the other classic animated Looney Tunes characters.

The word "classic" will never be used in conjunction with the remake of the film AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS. Jackie Chan plays a thief and Steve Coogan is a London inventor. Together they travel around the world. You won't care.

You might care that STAR TREK" THE ORIGINAL SERIES - THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON is coming out. If not, there is NORTHERN EXPOSURE - THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON or THREE'S COMPANY - SEASON THREE to placate your desire to own some classic television series on DVD.

I'm Dan Reynish and I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next week on The Couch!

New Tuneage

There's not much, but here are the new music releases for Tuesday, October 26, 2004:

CREED Greatest Hits (Sony)
EVANESCENCE Live DVD/CD (Sony)
LEONARD COHEN Dear Heather (Columbia)
RICKY MARTIN TBA (Ricky Martin) (Sony)
SIMPLE PLAN Still Not Getting Any... (Warner)
THE GUESS WHO Running Back Through Canada (BMG Canada)

Ashlee Simpson Takes 'SNL' Lip Sync Blame

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Ashlee Simpson is reportedly taking the heat for deciding to lip-sync during a performance on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" over the weekend, a plan that backfired when the vocals to the wrong song were audible during her second appearance.

Simpson had already performed her single "Pieces of You" and had returned to the "SNL" stage to run through the title track of her Geffen debut album, "Autobiography." As the band kicked into the song, her vocals to the first song were heard while Simpson held her microphone at her side.

Flustered, she improvised a few dance steps before bolting from the stage. NBC quickly cut to a commercial.

At the close of the show, Simpson deflected the blame, telling the viewing audience "I feel so bad. My band started playing the wrong song." Geffen issued a statement blaming a computer glitch that should have played pre-recorded percussion rather than the "Pieces of You" vocals.

Simpson was reportedly singing a different tune Monday. MTV, home to her reality series "The Ashlee Simpson Show," reported on its Web site that Simpson admitted to lip syncing on the show because her voice has suffering from the stresses of a heavy promotional schedule.

"I can't cancel something like 'SNL,"' Simpson is said to have written in a post on her Web site. "You and I know that even if I synched on it or not, I'd still get seen by millions, maybe even make a few more fans.

"I'll hold my head high and say I think it was silly of me to do it, silly of me to blame the band, I was just so f---ing embarrassed," she added. "But I don't think it did me much harm, and people will see that soon."

An attempt to find Simpson's original post is daunting, as her site's message board has become a battleground where her staunch fans are fighting to defend her from an onslaught of thousands of negative, even vicious posts.

Amidst the often-vulgar posts in the site's "open forum" is a quote lifted from a Lucky magazine interview where she was asked about lip-synching. "I'm totally against it and offended by it," she said. "I'm going out to let my real talent show, not to just stand there and dance around. Personally, I'd never lip-synch. It's just not me."

The younger sister of singer-turned-reality television star Jessica Simpson scored her family's first chart-topping album when "Autobiography" was released in August. The set spent three non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 2 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Secrets of ALIAS

J.J. Abrams, currently busy with MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3, gave the 411 about the upcoming season of ALIAS wiht TV Guide Online.

Even though some fans were highly disappointed by season three, Abrams says that he's proud of it and that viewers will, as season four is unveiled, like season three better because it helped build the foundates of the upcoming season. However, he admits he there were some mistakes done last year: "I think one of the biggest mistakes I made last year was to let story and plot dictate episodes rather than have our characters run the show. There was no more Sydney as a real, normal person." But fans can rest assured, Abrams confirms that this season we'll get back to the show's roots and see Sydney as a person and not just a suit.

The ALIAS guru also makes a few revelations about the upcoming season. This season's two-hour premiere will solve season's three cliffhanger involving Sydney finding out something shocking Jack did. Melissa George is not schedule to come back at the moment. They are trying to get Bradley Cooper to reprise his role of Will in at least one episode.

Since Mia Maestro is now a regular, viewers can expect the relationship between sisters to be explored. "[The sisters relationship] won't be without its issues. Ultimately, it'll be very relatable, the kinds of things siblings experience, but transposed onto that sort of odd universe of ALIAS," J.J. Abrams reveals.

The fourth season will also allow the characters to return to the dynamic that worked best for them. "Sloane will no longer be a peripheral character. Vaughn will no longer be the kind of meandering betrayer of Sydney. Marshall won't just be another mouthpiece in conference-room scenes. Dixon will no longer be the authority figure. And Jack will no longer just be the milquetoast dad."

ALIAS fans shouldn't expect Lena Olin to grace the screen again as Irina Derevko even if the ALIAS people would love to have her back. Sark will come back but as a guest star and not a regular.

ALIAS returns on ABC in January 2005.

BUFFY DVDs Lack Gellar Commentaries

It's not lack of interest but time constraints that prevented the BUFFY star from doing episode commentaries on the BUFFY DVDs.

As she explained to Sci Fi Wire, commentaries were done while the stars where filming BUFFY episodes. "I was working constantly, three units. There was never time. It was unfortunate. It was a timing thing. If you tell a line producer, 'OK, we need Sarah for two hours on this day to do commentary,' the line producer is going to tell you, 'Uh-uh.' So that was why I didn't do it during the show. And if I had free time, if for some reason I was getting a day off, I was taking it. I was exhausted," she explained.

Season seven of BUFFY comes out on DVD on November 16.

CHAPPELLE'S SALES

The double-disc DVD of Dave Chappelle's Chappelle's Show Season One: Uncensored selling 2 million copies and breaking the previous record for a television series held by The Simpsons: The Complete First Season, which sold 1.9 million copies, according to Nielsen VideoScan. Under his new contract, Chappelle reportedly receives one-half of the revenue from all DVD sales.

Movie-Goers Hold 'Grudge' Against Affleck

LOS ANGELES - Movie-goers hold no grudges against Sarah Michelle Gellar, but they apparently have a beef with Ben Affleck. Gellar's fright flick "The Grudge" got a jump on Halloween with a $40 million opening weekend to debut at No. 1, while Affleck delivered a holiday turkey with "Surviving Christmas," his critically drubbed comedy that came in No. 7 with just $4.5 million.

The animated "Shark Tale," the top movie for three straight weekends, slipped to second place with $14.3 million, lifting its total to $136.9 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"The Grudge," a remake of a Japanese horror hit, stars Gellar as an American student in Tokyo terrorized by a raging spirit lingering in a house with a violent history.

Debuting in 3,245 theaters, "The Grudge" averaged a healthy $12,327 per cinema.

The movie marks the English-language debut for director Takashi Shimizu, who also made the Japanese original. "The Grudge" was produced by the horror outfit created by "Spider-Man" filmmaker Sam Raimi, who got his start with the cult fright flick "The Evil Dead."

Audiences this time of year are in the mood for scary movies, but the big debut for "The Grudge" indicates it grabbed more than the usual Halloween crowd, said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony, which released the movie.

"I would say that when you do $40 million, it's got to be more than" the Halloween influence, Bruer said. "You have Sam Raimi, who's got incredible knowledge of this genre. We had tremendous marketing, and Sarah Michelle Gellar, who was out there pounding the pavement, fighting for this film."

"Surviving Christmas" did barely better than Affleck's notorious 2003 bomb "Gigli," which had a $3.8 million opening weekend.

The movie stars Affleck as a lonely guy who hires a pretend family for the holidays. Critics trashed the movie, whose release was delayed a year to avoid bumping up against Affleck's thriller "Paycheck" during the 2003 holiday season.

Executives at DreamWorks, which released "Surviving Christmas," were unavailable for comment Sunday, a spokeswoman said.

Along with terrible reviews, "Surviving Christmas" may have been hurt by its October release date, unusually early for a yuletide movie.

"It is a little early, but people would accept Christmas in October if it had been a really good movie," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

After three weeks in limited release, critical favorite "I (Heart) Huckabees" expanded nationwide and broke into the top 10 with $3 million.

Another darling of critics, the road-trip comedy "Sideways," had a stellar debut in four New York City and Los Angeles theaters, grossing $208,293 to average $52,073. Directed by Alexander Payne ("About Schmidt"), "Sideways" stars Paul Giamatti as a loser in love on a bachelor spree at California wineries with a buddy who's about to marry.

"The Machinist," starring Christian Bale as a man coming unhinged after a year without sleep, also opened strongly in limited release with $64,000 in three New York City and Los Angeles theaters, averaging $21,333.

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Grudge," $40 million.
2. "Shark Tale," $14.3 million.
3. "Shall We Dance?", $8.6 million.
4. "Friday Night Lights," $7 million.
5. "Team America: World Police," $6.6 million.
6. "Ladder 49," $5.4 million.
7. "Surviving Christmas," $4.5 million.
8. "Taxi," $4.25 million.
9. "The Forgotten," $3.4 million.
10. "I (Heart) Huckabees," $3 million.

Did 'SNL' Gaffe Expose Simpson Vocal Aid?

NEW YORK - Singer Ashlee Simpson's "extra help" may have been exposed when a "Saturday Night Live" audience heard her voice — singing the wrong song — while she held a microphone at her waist.

Her record company blamed a computer glitch and she blamed her band for Sunday morning's incident, which cut off her planned performance of the song "Autobiography" on the network comedy show.

Simpson had performed her hit single "Pieces of Me" without incident earlier in the show. When she came back a second time, her band started playing and the first lines of her singing "Pieces of Me" could be heard again.

She looked momentarily confused as the band plowed ahead with the song and the vocal was quickly silenced.

Simpson made some exaggerated hopping dance moves, then walked off the stage 35 seconds into the performance. NBC quickly cut to a commercial.

"What can I say?" guest host Jude Law said with Simpson standing next to him at the end of the show. "Live TV."

"Exactly," Simpson said. "I feel so bad. My band started playing the wrong song. I didn't know what to do so I thought I'd do a hoe-down."

Her record company, Geffen Records, said there was a computer glitch. Instead of some pretaped electronic percussion, the recording of "Pieces of Me" started mistakenly performing, the record company said in a statement.

But it sounded suspiciously like a guide vocal that's a common — although almost always unspoken — concert aid. Either the singer "lip synchs" by mouthing words to a backing tape or has a live microphone and sings along to the tape, making the voice sound more powerful than it is.

Such vocal tricks have been used before on the show, making "Saturday Night Live" not entirely live, said a show insider who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A Geffen spokeswoman did not immediately return a call for comment.

Simpson's walk-off joins the lore of other unexpected music moments on "SNL": Elvis Costello stopping and changing songs on live TV, and Sinead O'Connor tearing up a picture of the pope.

AC/DC Honored with Street Name in Australia

MELBOURNE (Billboard) - AC/DC formed in Sydney in 1974, but it's the Australian city of Melbourne that has honored the veteran hard rock band with its own street.

On Oct. 1, Melbourne City Council renamed Corporation Lane in the city center ACDC Lane, at a ceremony attended by 500 fans. A bagpiper played the 1975 track "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll)" at the festivities, while local bands played other AC/DC material for five hours in a nearby bar.

Recording commitments prevented the band from attending, but guitarist Angus Young sent a message: "Melbourne was our stomping ground in the early days. If you could make it in Melbourne, you could make it anywhere else in the world."

Present at the ceremony were Fifa Riccobono, CEO of AC/DC's Australian label, Albert Productions, and TV presenter Ian "Molly" Meldrum, an early supporter of the band.

The council debated the name change for several months, and it proceeded despite local protests from a restaurant and a Christian group.

Porn Star Hits It Big as Best-Selling Writer

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - She has two bodyguards, four dogs, a surgically enhanced double D-cup bust and an almost 600-page book on the best-seller list.

And the fact she spends a lot of her time naked has nothing to do with living in the sunny climes of Scottsdale, Arizona.

Indeed if, as some have suggested, porn stars are the new socialites, Jenna Jameson, whose raunchy memoir has been on the New York Times best seller list for months, is more at home in a G-string than an evening gown.

"How To Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale," written with Neil Strauss, is more self-absorbed than Bill Clinton's autobiography although Jameson says :"Clinton had more sex."

That depends, of course, on what ones mean by sex, undeniably the thrust of Jameson's oeuvre. The book teems with pictures of bare-breasts, comic book panels, handwritten diary entries and graphic detail.

"I've had ... women tell me I'm their idol," 30-year-old Jameson said in an interview. "They want to be like me. They're seeing the glamour icon but don't realize ... there are more facets to me besides spreading my legs."

Born in Las Vegas to a cop turned criminal father and showgirl mother who died when she was two, Jameson entered the X-rated world at age 17.

Wanting to be a stripper at Las Vegas's Crazy Horse Too, the voluptuous blonde was told to come back after getting rid of her braces. That night, Jameson says, she yanked them from her teeth with pliers and wire-cutters and never looked back.

Changing her name to Jameson (after the Irish whiskey), she made her way from stripper to X-rated photo model, eventually becoming a porn performer. The book chronicles a litany of sordid escapades, including a gang rape and Jameson's eating disorders, drug addictions and numerous lesbian and three-way affairs, both on and off camera.

As a cinematic porn goddess, Jameson says she worked only five times a year, usually with the same partner. "I was lucky to not have caught any sexual diseases, even though I worked without condoms for two years."

Today Jameson says she is monogamous and happily married and only has sex -- both on-screen and off- -- with her husband, Jay Grdina, an adult-film studio owner and business entrepreneur. The couple started a film production, marketing and web hosting company. So with Jameson a millionaire who no longer needs to bare her body for bucks, one wonders why she persists.

LOVES WORK

"I love what I do for a living," said Jameson, dragging on a cigarette, the only vice she claims to still have.

"I'm also trying to change the way the industry is run, which is mostly headed by men who don't take women seriously as business people. To change things for girls going into the industry, I have to continue. I want to continue."

Like many actresses, Jameson worries about losing her beauty. "Our looks pay our bills. I get Botox and love it. I'm very expressive and I'm trying to keep lines from appearing. I did have a chin implant and I'm having breast-reduction surgery," she said.

Downsizing her implants to a C cup seems right, Jameson says, because to remove them completely "would leave too much extra skin."

"I'll get a full reduction after I have children," she said.

In the interim, the couple continue to produce hard-core films, with a Hollywood deal in the works for her autobiography.

"I initially wanted Kate Hudson to play me," said Jameson, "but she's not as endowed as I am. My fans have mentioned Pamela Anderson, Jaime Pressly and even Meryl Streep."

Absurd as that sounds, it's no more farcical than living in a world where a porn star achieves the American dream.

"I don't know if I can spit out another book. Maybe it'll be a coffee table book of photos or maybe I'll focus on something more family-oriented.

"If I do have a daughter," she said with resolve. "There's no way in hell I would allow her to be a porn star and go through the things I went through."

The Dead Will Rise at The Box Office This Weekend

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Halloween might be a week away, but Hollywood is beginning its annual horrorfest on Friday when "The Grudge," starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, opens in theaters.

Offering horror fans another chance to see Gellar fight off demons -- following her seven-year stint as the heroine in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" -- "The Grudge" is on track to lure young males in droves.

A remake of the Japanese thriller "Ju-on," the Columbia Pictures release is expected to bring in about $20 million, a bit better than DreamWorks' "The Ring," another PG-13 Japanese remake, which opened to $15 million in 2002.

The film was written and directed by Takashi Shimizu, who also was responsible for the Japanese original and who used his Japanese crew to shoot the remake.

The other wide release hitting theaters this weekend is DreamWorks' "Surviving Christmas," starring Ben Affleck and James Gandolfini. Following in the wake of some dismal early reviews, "Christmas" will likely hover around the $5 million mark.

In the past 18 months, Affleck has been widely lampooned for his role in "Gigli" and didn't really energize the box office with either John Woo's "Paycheck" or Kevin Smith's "Jersey Girl."

Those films likely to fill the rest of the top five include DreamWorks' "Shark Tale," which topped the charts with $22 million last weekend; Miramax's "Shall We Dance?" which has maintained strong midweek numbers after a respectable No. 4 opening last weekend; adult fare "Ladder 49"; the high school football drama "Friday Night Lights"; and perhaps Paramount's "Team America: World Police," though it disappointed with its No. 3 bow last weekend.

The limited-release market is becoming increasingly crowded in preparation for awards season.

Fox Seachlight's "I (Heart) Huckabees," No. 12 last weekend, will expand wide this weekend to 720 theaters and hopes to build on an already impressive $2.6 million gross.

Searchlight also opens Alexander Payne's "Sideways" Friday. Starring Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church, "Sideways" revolves around two men traveling to the Santa Barbara, Calif., wine country for a bachelor sendoff.

Fine Line Features will expand "Vera Drake" to the top 15 markets, following a successful opening in New York in conjunction with the New York Film Festival. With a $20,435 per-screen average for its second weekend in release, the film, centering on an abortionist living in 1950s England, already has won critical acclaim for actress Imelda Staunton and director Mike Leigh.

Paramount Classics will unveil "The Machinist," starring Christian Bale as an industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year and is beginning to question his sanity. The R-rated film will open in three locations in Los Angeles and New York.

The documentary "Lightning in a Bottle" from filmmaker Antoine Fuqua will be released by Sony Pictures Classics on two screens in Los Angeles and New York. The PG-13 film showcases the 2003 Radio City Music Hall concert celebrating the anniversary of American blues.

MGM will release through its United Artists' specialty label "Undertow" on six screens in Los Angeles and New York. The R-rated thriller is directed by David Gordon Green.

Little-Known TV Actor Cast as Next Movie Superman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Landing one of the hottest roles in Hollywood, little-known television actor Brandon Routh has been cast as the Man of Steel in an upcoming "Superman" movie from Warner Bros. Pictures, the studio said on Friday.

Routh, 25, whose credits include the ABC soap opera "One Life to Live" and prime-time WB drama "Gilmore Girls," is the only casting choice announced for the film, which has been in development at Warner in one form or another since 1998.

Now under the direction of Bryan Singer, the filmmaker behind the "X-Men" movies for 20th Century Fox, the "Superman" film is expected to begin principal photography in Australia early next year for a summer 2006 release, the Time Warner Inc.-owned studio said.

Routh originally tested for the role when director McG was overseeing the project and later caught Singer's attention, a source close to the actor told Reuters.

The casting announcement came less than two weeks after actor Christopher Reeve, who wore the red cape for Warner Bros. in four "Superman" movies during the 1970s and '80s before he was paralyzed in an equestrian accident, died at age 52.

In a statement issued by the studio, Singer said he always had intended to hire an unknown to play the comic book hero in the upcoming film.

"Brandon is an extremely fine actor who possesses the physical qualifications of (the role). But he also embodies the legacy and history of this character in a way that makes me certain he's the right choice."

The 6-foot-2-inch performer was born and raised in Iowa, home state of television's original Superman, George Reeves, giving Routh the same Midwestern roots as the superhero's mild-mannered alter ego, Clark Kent.

The Sith Arrives Next Week

The much awaited new teaser trailer for STAR WARS: EPISODE III -- REVENGE OF THE SITH will debut in theaters on November 5 before the premiere of the Disney/Pixar movie THE INCREDIBLES.

However, members of Hyperspace and AOL subscribers will be able to view the trailer online on November 4. The clip will also air on TV the same evening but Luscasfilm did not say if it would be as a commercial or part of an entertainment news program.

The SITH trailer will ultimately be available to the mere mortal with and Internet connection on November 8 at starwars.com.

Rapper Eminem says 'Bush not my homie' but maybe Kerry isn't either

NEW YORK (AP) - Rap star Eminem plans to vote for the first time ever this year and while he is highly critical of President George W. Bush, he has not yet settled on Democrat John Kerry.

"Bush is definitely not my homie," Eminem said in an interview to be published in Rolling Stone magazine's Nov. 5 edition, parts of which were posted Thursday on the magazine's website. "But I'm still undecided. Kerry has been known to say some things that's caught my attention, made a few statements I've liked but I don't know."

"Whatever my decision, I would like to see Bush out of office."

The 32-year old rapper includes an angry and profanity-laced denunciation of Bush and the war in Iraq on his new album, Encore, which will release next month.

"Let the president answer on higher anarchy/Strap him with an AK-47, let him go fight his own war/Let him impress daddy that way...No more blood for oil," Eminem says in the single Mosh.

"He's been painted to be this hero and he's got our troops over there dying for no reason," Eminem said in the interview.

"He's in a tailspin, running around like a dog chasing his tail. And we got young people over there dyin', kids in their teens, early 20s that should have futures ahead of them."

"And for what? It seems like Vietnam 2."

"People think their votes don't count but people need to get out and vote," Eminem added.

New version of Band Aid Christmas song planned: report

LONDON (AP) -- The founders of Band Aid, the 1984 charity effort that raised millions for Ethiopian famine relief, plan a new version of the single Do They Know It's Christmas, a British newspaper reported.

The Sun tabloid said Wednesday that Bob Geldof and Midge Ure had approached top British acts including Coldplay, the Darkness, Robbie Williams and Dido to appear on the single, which would be released before Christmas.

"It's definitely going to happen. I'm very excited," Ure was quoted as saying. "This project is not just about raising money. It's about putting the focus back on Africa and the problem of famine which has not gone away."

The original single, which featured musicians including Bono, Boy George, Phil Collins and Sting, sold three million copies and raised $9.4 million US for Ethiopia. It was followed by the 1985 Live Aid concert, which raised more than $47 million. A U.S. single, We Are the World, featured a lineup of 43 artists including Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen and Diana Ross.

Silent Bob loves CTV's Degrassi:Kevin Smith plans to act in three-episode arc

TORONTO (CP) - Jay and Silent Bob are coming to Canada.

And they plan to visit Degrassi high school. Indie American filmmaker Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats, Jersey Girl) has made no secret over the years of his love of the long-running Canadian TV franchise, and has even included references to it in his films featuring those slacker/stoner characters Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith).

After his offers to direct and/or write for the show were declined (sorry, he was told, Degrassi is 100 per cent Canadian content and that would jeopardize their Telefilm funding) it was agreed he could act in three episodes. So he'll be playing a dual role: a visiting director and the mute Silent Bob character he plays in his films.

"It's the easiest job in the world because I have to play myself but I play a fictionalized version of myself where I've been successful," Smith quipped Wednesday during a photo-op visit to the north-end Toronto studios of Epitome Productions where Degrassi is shot. "I pretend I'm a little different version of me."

The droll director posed with cast members and happily accepted an "official" Degrassi High lettered cardigan sweater, which he promised to wear to bed with his wife.

The script's pretext for the Degrassi visit is that Smith is shooting a new film, Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, in which the characters require a high-school diploma but no school in the U.S. will accept them, so they come to Toronto.

"I'm just angry that I didn't think of that first and shoot that picture," he said. "So we actually may wind up making that movie one day because I'm incredibly charmed by that notion."

Admitting to a long-standing crush on the show's character Caitlin Ryan (Stacie Mistysyn), Smith revealed that the onscreen version of himself is single and that he might be pursuing her in the storyline - something, he conceded, that he hasn't yet cleared with his real-life spouse. But he revealed that Mewes would be joining him on the episodes, adding that he might also try to get actor-friend Ben Affleck to show up.

"Affleck, honestly, could use the work right now. What better way to reboot your career than starring in a Canadian melodrama?"

Smith is planning to start another real Jay and Silent Bob film - a Clerks sequel - early next year, about the time his Degrassi arc will be airing on CTV.

As to whether the Degrassi experience will become part of the film series, he said that was an interesting question.

"That'd be awesome. I might throw in a reference, like, 'We just got back from Canada. Here are our degrees.' "

The Jersey boy readily heaped praise on Degrassi, recalling how, as far back as 1990, he was working in a convenience store on Sunday mornings and, in order to maintain his sanity, would catch episodes of the Degrassi High and Junior High forerunners which were then airing on PBS.

"So I just kind of fell in love with the show," he said, adding that growing up was never depicted so accurately on television.

"I loved the story arcs and I also love challenging material . . . such a great alternative to most of the crap that's on American TV."

The new Degrassi is now the flagship show on Noggin, a teen-oriented cable channel in the U.S., and cast members have become so well known they were mobbed during a recent cross-country publicity tour of U.S. malls.

Smith, 34, said Degrassi makes him feel young again because it takes him back to his own high school days.

"And these kids are insanely good actors," he added. "This is just really the topping on the dessert, it takes the cake, there's nothing left."

Stefani Dresses Up Solo Debut Package

Gwen Stefani is offering fans a little something extra via a special edition of her upcoming Interscope solo debut, "Love, Angel, Music, Baby." Due Nov. 23, the disc will come in a fabric-wrapped, gold-embossed digipak and feature a book-style layout with a gold ribbon bookmark. Stefani also custom designed the case for the CD, which will retail for around $40.

The upcoming album is led by the single "What You Waiting For?," co-written by Stefani with Linda Perry. The cut is No. 81 in its second week on the Billboard Hot 100 and also debuted last week on Billboard's Adult Top 40, Top 40 Mainstream and Top 40 Tracks airplay charts.

The accompanying video clip was recently shot in Los Angeles by Francis Lawrence (Jennifer Lopez, Nelly Furtado) and can be streamed on Stefani's official Web site. The artist is expected to perform the song Nov. 14 as part of the opening of the American Music Awards, to be broadcast live on ABC.

Mulder Adds Guest Host to His Resume

CBS has tapped actor David Duchovny, best known as Fox Mulder on the hit series THE X-FILES, to guest host the THE LATE LATE SHOW on Wednesday, October 20, 2004.

Duchovny is one of many actors and comedians who filled in as guest-hosts since former THE LATE LATE SHOW host Craig Kilborn's departure in September.

Back Together Again: Original Duran Duran

NEW YORK - They played the obligatory classics: "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Girls on Film." But when Simon Le Bon ripped into the chorus of the new single "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise," the sun suddenly illuminated Times Square as if to officially mark a new day for Duran Duran.

As the original five members performed for "Good Morning America" last week, it seemed the planets had finally aligned for a band that had been ignored through its ever-changing lineup and lackluster albums of the past ten years.

The British quintet once created a fan hysteria that was compared to the Beatles', and they are largely credited for ushering in the music video age with their innovative and exotic clips. Still, until recently, they couldn't buy the sort of publicity they're now enjoying.

"We are really pleased to be back in the history books where for a while it looked as though we were being written out of them," Le Bon told The Associated Press, commenting on the Lifetime Achievement award MTV finally bestowed upon the video pioneers last year and the sudden excitement over Duran Duran's 12th album, "Astronaut."

It's been three years since Le Bon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, guitarist Andy Taylor, bassist John Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor (none of them related) announced their reunion. Since then, they've played to sold-out crowds and made calculated public appearances to whet fans' appetite for the product. The anticipation also helped to secure a multi-album deal with Epic Records.

"We were dealing with the industry in its most jaded, deprived, downsized state," Andy Taylor recalled, "but when they saw the concert tickets flying out the ... window the question was answered for them and they came to the table with what we wanted."

Enduring good looks didn't hurt the band's cause either, but the former poster boys, now in their 40s, had no intention of simply letting Sony repackage their greatest hits.

"We didn't get back together to play 'Hungry Like the Wolf,'" John Taylor said, revealing the small creases bordering his flirty eyes. "We got back together to see what kind of music we could create together, and oh my God, this is the sound that we've been striving for!"

Who better to achieve that sound than old Duran Duran producer Nile Rogers, alongside Don Gilmore and Dallas Austin — who's been a big fan since he was a kid.

"I don't think they try to come off too trendy or too young or be what they are not," Austin said. "I think if you like Duran Duran you'll really like this record."

Rhodes agrees: "If it hadn't of worked musically and we hadn't have felt that it was something that was as good as everything we had done before, there is no way it would have ever come out. There's just too much pride in what we created together."

The studio chemistry (which the band considers their best since 1983's "Seven and The Ragged Tiger") resulted in a potent, moody album that showcases a newfound comfort in voicing powerful opinions.

"The first batch of songs we did in the South of France were all very upbeat and happy go lucky," Roger Taylor said, "and the second batch was after 9/11."

"Point of No Return," perhaps their most political song to date, deals with America's response to terrorism. Le Bon said the message is that rather than bombing people, "you've got to try and make the world a fairer place."

No matter where this release takes them, the quintet is committed to not letting their youthful insecurities once again divide them. Still, the band may always have to ride the line between '80S nostalgia act and relevant 21st century band.

"We are proud of the '80s, we know where we came from," Le Bon says with a transfixing, crystal-blue gaze. "But it ain't where we're going."

David Letterman to Appear on 'Regis'

NEW YORK - David Letterman, who infrequently appears on anyone's show but his own, will make a guest appearance next month on "Live With Regis and Kelly." Letterman, host of CBS' "Late Show," will appear on Nov. 8, the syndicated morning talk show said Tuesday.

"I think it's nice that he visits our show once every 10 years," co-host Regis Philbin told The Associated Press by phone. "But I'm very pleased."

Philbin and Letterman have long traded friendly barbs. He subbed for Letterman in 2000 when the late-night host underwent heart bypass surgery and again in 2003 while Letterman recuperated from an eye infection.

About their friendship, Philbin says, "that's the problem. We're great friends when I go on his show and then I leave and I don't hear from him. But I'm going to settle that on my home ground."

In anticipation of the event, "Live," with Kelly Ripa as co-host, has released its own Top Ten list, with reasons why Letterman is appearing on the show. Among them: "Thinks Kelly is hot" and "Wants to return Regis' copy of `Deuce Bigalow' in person."

U2, Apple in iPod Deal

NEW YORK (Billboard) - U2 and Apple Computer Inc. are expected to announce next week that they have signed a deal to sell custom iPods.

According to a source, the Irish rock band's upcoming album "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," due Nov. 23 via Interscope Records, will come preloaded on iPods that will be available the week of street date.

Interscope, a unit of Universal Music Group, declined to comment; an Apple spokesperson could not be reached.

E-mails from Apple chairman and CEO Steve Jobs and U2 members Bono and the Edge have invited members of the press to a "special event" scheduled for Oct. 26 in San Jose, Calif.

U2's new single "Vertigo" is featured in current television ads for the iPod. The track is currently No. 2 on Billboard's airplay-based Modern Rock Tracks chart, and No. 44 on the Hot 100, which is based on both retail sales and radio airplay.

Buzzing about Oscar

The bad news is that Chris Rock will host the February 27th Oscar ceremony.

The godo news is tha the studios are beginning to roll out the films they hope will be among the top contenders.

It's been a lean year for early Oscar hopefuls. Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ will likely fill one of the five slots for best picture even though it is already out on DVD.

It's become too much of a phenomenon for the academy to ignore.

Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 would have been a shoo-in for best documentary, but the man has an ego as big as his waistline, so he's demanding it be considered for the best picture category instead.

The most likely contenders for best picture of 2004 will be rolling out over the next 10 weeks. High on the list is Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, which offers a glimpse at the high-flying, high-rolling life of eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes. Unless Oliver Stone's Alexander is a compete dud it will nab one of the coveted spots because Hollywood loves a spectacle.

Musicals are popular once again with both audiences and academy voters, so Joel Schumacher's Phantom of the Opera looks like another safe bet for a best picture nod.

No film is getting more positive advance buzz in Hollywood these days than Mike Nichol's Closer, a story of four people's love and betrayal of one another. It's based on a stage play and stars Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen.

In recent years, the academy has looked for at least one little movie, art film or foreign flick to champion which bodes well for the Che Guvara road movie The Motorcycle Diaries, Bill Murray's quirky The Life Aquatic and Kinsey, the story of America's famous sex therapists.

The most hotly contended category for the 2004 Oscars will be for best actor. There are at least twice as many possibilities as there are slots. Jim Caviezel heads the pack with his performance as the tortured Christ in The Passion of the Christ with Leonardo DiCaprio a close second for his transformation into the power-hungry playboy Howard Hughes in The Aviator. Jamie Foxx does a staggering job of bringing the legendary Ray Charles to life in Ray, as does Liam Neeson in portraying Alfred Kinsey in Kinsey. Hollywood's new-found love affair with Johnny Depp could find him getting nominated for playing J.M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan in Finding Neverland -- and Colin Ferrell may get nominated for Alexander even though he's wearing a mini-skirt for much of the film.

Jude Law could get a nod for being the unfaithful lover in Closer and don't count Bill Murray out for Life Aquatic.

Law's co-star Julia Roberts will likely head the best actress category by being nominated for Closer. Roberts swears she's putting her career on hold to be a stellar mom. A second Oscar will be a way for Hollywood to show Julia how much they love and need her.

The old guard in Hollywood love Annette Bening and she gives a rousing turn as the fading actress in Being Julia. Nicole Kidman is back in her best haunted mode in the creepy psychological drama Birth.

Kate Winslet could be nominated for Finding Neverland and Laura Linney is a match for Neeson in Kinsey. Gwyneth Paltrow has a good chance of recognition this year for Proof in which she plays a woman haunted by the ghost of her famous father (Anthony Hopkins).

The deciding factor is performance, not only on screen, but at the box office. If pictures such as Birth, Proof, Kinsey, The Life Aquatic, Beyond the Sea and Ray fail to connect with audiences, they'll be just as quickly forgotten by academy members who are swayed as much by popularity as they are by talent and hype.

Here are the new CD releases for Tuesday October 19, 2004:

JIMMY EAT WORLD Futures (Universal)
NEVILLE BROTHERS Walkin' in the Shadow of Life (Narada)
RHEOSTATICS 2067 (True North)
ROBBIE WILLIAMS Greatest Hits (EMI)
THE MUSIC Welcome to the North (Capitol)
VANESSA CARLTON Harmonium (Interscope)
VARIOUS ARTISTS Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon (Sony)

The Couch Potato Report - October 19th, 2004

In The Couch Potato Report this week, there's, well, there's a lot! Corner Gas, SCTV, Garfield, Van Helsing and Ed Wood!

By now I am sure you are well aware of the made-in-Saskatchewan television show CORNER GAS.

If not, it is set in the fictional Saskatchewan town of Dog River, takes place mainly at the corner gas station, and stars Tisdale, Saskatchewan's own Brent Butt.

CORNER GAS is one of the most popular shows on Canadian television and now CORNER GAS - SEASON ONE is set to become a very popular DVD and video set as well.

CORNER GAS - SEASON ONE features all 13 episodes from the first year of the show, and the 2-DVD set also has audio commentaries on three episodes from Brent Butt and others, a blooper reel and many other extras.

THE TAXMAN, PILATES TWIST, GRAD '68, WORLD'S BIGGEST THINGS, HOOK, LINE & SINKER, FACE OFF. All of the imminently quotable, and very funny episodes are all included.

Just press play and enjoy!

You can now also press play and enjoy more episodes of SCTV on DVD!

Back in June I professed the first SCTV Box Set that was released to be "The Comedy Release Of The Year."

I must now amend that statement as SCTV - VOLUME 2 is just as good. Thus, my new statement is - "The SCTV Box Sets Are The Comedy Releases Of The Year."

SCTV - VOLUME 2 picks up where the first box set left off and we get nine more 90-minute shows from SCTV's fourth season.

Originally broadcast in 1981 and 1982, this set contains many SCTV classic parodies, including "The Jazz Singer" and "The Godfather," as well as the uniquely SCTV segments "I'm Taking My Own Head, Screwing It On Right, and No Guy's Gonna Tell Me That It Ain't"; Meryl Streep blowing up real good on the "Farm Film Report"; Bob and Doug McKenzie demonstrating how to stuff a mouse inside a beer bottle; "Benny Hill Street Blues"; performances by musical stars Al Jarreau, Natalie Cole, The Boomtown Rats, Talking Heads and much, much more!

The 5-disc box set is also loaded with over 90 minutes of special features, including new & unreleased material, and there is also a 24-page booklet.

Yes, the SCTV Box Sets Are The Comedy Releases Of The Year. And you can expect me to proclaim something similar next year as Volume 3 will be released in February!

Okay, CORNER GAS - SEASON ONE and SCTV - VOLUME 2 are the best of this week's new releases. Let me briefly tell you about two other releases before I get to this week's final good title.

The first of those other releases is VAN HELSING. This was supposed to be the start of a franchise that would see Hugh Jackman from X-MEN star in many, many films as a vampire hunter. If they do make it a franchise, I hope they work harder to make sure the next films aren't also absolutely dreadful.

The sets in VAN HELSING are all amazing, and the characters are interesting, but instead of making a movie, they made a video game.

All of the action that takes place is all done with computer-animated special effects and bad effects at that. Not one thing looks real. It just looks like a computer game. Press this button to kill the bad guys, press that button to change your weapon.

Not long into the movie's 132 minute running time I found myself actually saying, "Who cares?!?!"

Who cares if Van Helsing succeeds, who cares if he fails, who cares if Dracula's minions live, or die, who cares, who cares, who cares!!

I certainly didn't care while I watched the movie and I don't care now.

Even the presence of the lovely and talented Kate Beckinsale of SERENDIPITY and UNDERWORLD as the love interest slash equal of Van Helsing didn't interest me. Both she and Hugh Jackman have great screen presence, but together in VAN HELSING they don't add up too much.

VAN HELSING just isn't worth your time. See it if you want to, but I don't recommend it at all.

I also don't recommend GARFIELD: THE MOVIE, but if you see it you won't hate it. I certainly didn't hate it, it just serves no purpose.

On June 19, 1978 the comic strip Garfield debuted in 41 newspapers. Today, Garfield is the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world appearing in 2,570 newspapers.

On June 11, 2004 GARFIELD: THE MOVIE debuted in 3,094 theaters. Even though the film isn't horrible, and Bill Murray is okay as the voice of the titular cat, here's hoping we get another 26 years of laughter from the comic strip before they even think about making another film.

None of the characters in the film look or act like their cartoon counterparts and the actual human beings who embody the cartoon people don't have the personality of the drawings either.

Garfield, the comic cat, is usually funny on several levels. GARFIELD - THE MOVIE isn't funny, or entertaining at all.

But, as I said, if you see the movie you won't hate it. You'll watch it and it will be over.

Over. Done. Finished.

And now that I am over, done, finished with this week's mediocre films let me get back to something good stuff to wrap up this week's Report.

Back in 1994, after he had scored major box-office hits with BATMAN, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and BATMAN RETURNS, director Tim Burton announced that his next film would be a biography of failed 1950's filmmaker Ed Wood.

Wood resume includes movies that are universally thought of as some of the worst movies ever made. GLEN OR GLENDA, THE BRIDE AND THE BEAST and PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SOACE are just three of his cinematic messes.

Wood loved movies, and he just wanted to make movies, but he could never catch a break, even when Hollywood's biggest director of the mid-nineties decided to make a picture about him.

Tim Burton's film ED WOOD starred Johnny Depp, Bill Murray, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette and Martin Landau, who won an Oscar for his work in the movie. It debuted in theatres in 1994 and it wasn't a hit.

In his day no one went to Ed Wood's films and that year no one went to see a film about Ed Wood either.

Well, I shouldn't say no one went. My friends and I went, and we loved the movie ED WOOD. We loved it then and we love it now.

For us, and others like us, there is now an ED WOOD: SPECIAL EDITION DVD!

If you are a fan of old Hollywood, classic characters, or just a recent convert of Johnny Depp's due to his work in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, then ED WOOD is a movie for you!

The comic highlight of the movie is a scene featuring a stuffed octopus that was being used as a prop. Since he didn't have the necessary motor, Martin Landau throws his body down upon the puppet and, in an attempt to create the illusion of mobility, wraps the limbs about him.

It is a classic scene in a classic film many people have never seen, but should tak ethe time to watch.

ED WOOD is one of the best films of all time about one of the worst filmmakers of all time.

CORNER GAS: SEASON ONE, SCTV - VOLUME 2, VAN HELSING, GARFIELD: THE MOVIE and ED WOOD: THE SPECIAL EDITION are all available now at your favourite local video store.

COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT...

...is a film that is horrible on every level. It is called WHITE CHICKS and it features two male FBI agents who go undercover as rich heiresses. Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans and Jaime King are the "stars" of this complete waste of time.

Man is that movie bad, but luckily next week's other release is pretty good.

That movie is DAWN OF THE DEAD, the 2004 remake of the respected 1978 zombie movie where zombies overrun the United States. Canadian national treasure Sarah Polley stars with PULP FICTION's Ving Rhames and Mekhi Phifer from 8 MILE.

I'm Dan Reynish and I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next week on The Couch!

Group rips on CBC movie night

TORONTO (CP) -- The CBC would do better to acquire the rights of other hockey league games for Saturday night telecast, instead of "foreign" movies for the duration of the current NHL lockout, says Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.

In an open latter to CBC president Robert Rabinovitch on Monday, Friends says that in the place of Hockey Night in Canada, the public broadcaster could be airing Canadian Hockey League games, such as Drummondville at P.E.I. next Saturday night.

"In the last month of your mandate as CBC president, we find it highly regrettable that you would preside over a scheduling change that will have the effect of reducing Canadian content on CBC Television's prime time schedule to a level last seen in the 1980s," says Friends spokesman Ian Morrison.

"Hockey is an important part of Canadian culture."

Last Saturday, CBC aired the popcorn classics Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Disney's Dinosaur. On Oct. 30, the network will show a prime-time pre-Halloween airing of Monsters, Inc.

The open letter is just the latest in a series of critical broadsides aimed at the CBC for failing to come up with Canadian programming alternatives in light of the current NHL dispute.

Pop singer picks up the pace on her second record

"It's the past two years as a journal of my life, basically," Kelly Clarkson says of her second album, due November 30th. Because her life has been more fast-paced, Clarkson promises a decidedly more aggressive style the second time around.

"It's rock & roll, baby," she says excitedly of the sound, before adding with a huge smile, "It's pop as well, obviously. I'm not Metallica -- but it is more rock, and it's a little deeper. It's very rock, and it's very cool."

Helping her dig deep are an array of producers and writers, including Clif Magness and Rhett Lawrence, both of whom return from Clarkson's chart-topping debut, Thankful. Also on board are former Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody and Kara Dioguardi, who has written songs for Ashlee Simpson, Marc Anthony and Kylie Minogue.

With all the talent involved, Clarkson and Co. are having a difficult time pairing down the material. "We're still picking tracks right now," she says. "We've got so many songs, we're just picking our favorites."

Clarkson is anxious to wrap up the process so she can return to the road. "I'll be touring right after the album comes out," says the former American Idol champion. "I think people know that when I perform live, I usually win the audience over."

Season of Change for 'The West Wing'

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) "The West Wing" went through behind-the-scenes upheaval last season, with executive producer John Wells and a team of writers taking over for the show's prolific creator, Aaron Sorkin.

The changes sparked a good deal of debate among critics and fans about whether the show was better or worse in the wake of Sorkin's departure. (Ratings, which had been dipping toward the end of Sorkin's tenure, took a significant hit.)

As "The West Wing" begins its sixth season on NBC Wednesday (Oct. 20), the show is likely to spark further discussion -- this time for what goes on in front of the camera. As the fictional administration enters its last years, members of the White House staff will find themselves in new roles, while several candidates begin their campaigns to replace President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen).

In addition to following the show's timeline -- Bartlet is now in the third year of his second term -- the shakeup should allow viewers to see familiar characters in a new light, Wells says.

"One of the things that starts to happen on long-running TV shows -- and I didn't know this until I did 'ER' -- is that unless you shake things up and sort of change the way characters relate to each other, you inevitably end up with the same character dynamics and you start in three or four years to feel like you're repeating yourself," he says.

"A lot of the things we're doing are just changing the dynamics between the characters you've already come to know and love so they're not doing exactly the same thing, and they have to confront the differences in the way their job works and how they work with their co-workers."

For example, White House chief of staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer) suffers a heart attack in the season's second episode, forcing him to give up his job. Bartlet makes an unexpected choice to replace him, ruffling feathers among other staffers.

Then there are the people vying to replace Bartlet. Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda have joined the cast, playing candidates from both major parties. Smits plays Matt Santos, a former Houston mayor and three-term congressman running a long-shot campaign for the Democratic nomination; he impresses Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) during a policy debate.

Alda, meanwhile, plays Arnold Vinick, a moderate senator seen as a front-runner for the Republican nomination. Vice President Bob Russell (Gary Cole) is also in the mix, aided by White House staffer Will Bailey (Joshua Malina).

"Part of what we're playing throughout the fall is the growing unease with the leading candidates that show up for the Democratic nomination," Wells says, "and should the White House try behind the scenes to get more involved in seeing if a better candidate should be put forward?"

The campaign to replace Bartlet doesn't necessarily mean "The West Wing" is in its homestretch; although the show is in the last year of its contract with NBC, Wells says he's "fairly certain" the network will renew it.

"I expect they'll respect the quality of the show and what it's meant to them and make certain we have lots of time to continue to make the show," he says.

Wells doesn't yet know who might win the fictional election the show is setting up, most likely for next season. He has contingency plans, though: Smits and Alda both have options in their contracts to return next season.

GANGSTER ADD

Universal greenlighting production on Carlito's Way: The Beginning, a prequel to Brian DePalma's 1993 drama that will star Jay Hernandez, Sean Combs and Luis Guzman.

Winslet Scoffs at Rumors About Her Weight

LONDON - She is famed for her pride in her curvy figure — and actress Kate Winslet says reports that she had slimmed down to a British size 8 — the equivalent of a U.S. size 4 — are "insane."

British newspapers carried prominent photographs Monday of the svelte-looking "Titanic" star in a floor-length Ben de Lisi gown at the premiere in London Sunday of her latest movie, "Finding Neverland."

Most speculated that she had been dieting to regain her figure after the birth of her second child, Joe.

"It is so insane; I haven't lost any weight," Winslet said in an interview Monday morning with GMTV.

"Everybody likes to think it is a great story to talk about my fluctuating weight. The reality is I have had two children in four years and the only time my weight goes up and down is when I'm pregnant, which happens. I have stayed the same weight apart from those times," she said.

In "Finding Neverland," the 29-year-old Winslet plays Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, whose four young sons inspired Scottish author J.M Barrie — played by Johnny Depp — to write the children's classic "Peter Pan."

The film, which also stars Julie Christie and Dustin Hoffman, tells how Barrie, who had no children of his own, befriended the Davies boys in London's Kensington Gardens.

Winslet is married to Sam Mendes, director of the Oscar-winning "American Beauty" and creative producer of the upcoming stage version of "Shrek."

CNN's Tucker Carlson, Jon Stewart Feuding

NEW YORK - How's this for a feud that straddles the line between politics and entertainment: CNN's bow-tied conservative Tucker Carlson vs. "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart.

Carlson on Monday fanned embers still hot from their "Crossfire" confrontation, saying Stewart looked ridiculous during his CNN appearance and was a sellout for publicly backing Democrat John Kerry for president.

Stewart, appearing on the debate show Friday, angered Carlson by saying "Crossfire" is "partisan hackery" that does little to advance the cause of democracy.

And that was the mild stuff.

"You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably," Stewart said.

Responded Carlson: "You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think."

"You need to go to one," Stewart shot back.

Carlson complained that for a comedian, Stewart wasn't being very funny.

"Come on," he said. "Be funny."

"No," Stewart said. "I'm not going to be your monkey."

Carlson chided Stewart for lobbing softball questions when Kerry appeared on "The Daily Show" last month.

Later, Carlson told Stewart he was "more fun" on his Comedy Central show, and Stewart called him a jerk — although he used a more vulgar term.

"I thought that he looked ridiculous," Carlson said in an interview Monday, "and I think the tape makes that clear."

Carlson said Stewart continued lecturing the "Crossfire" crew after the show went off the air. "I wasn't offended as much as I was unimpressed," he said.

Stewart wasn't talking about the confrontation on Monday, a spokesman said. Comedy Central executive Tony Fox said there may be some regret over the vulgarity, but that Stewart has been a longtime critic of cable news networks and their political argument shows.

The comedian hasn't gone out of his way to endorse Kerry. In a public forum last week in New York, he was asked who he would vote for, and he said he'd back the Democrat.

Carlson noted that many of the great comedians kept their political opinions to themselves, not for fear of offending anyone, but because it could hurt their art.

"You're selling out," he said. "If you are a satirist or an acute social observer, and he is, and all of a sudden you suspend disbelief on someone or suck up rather than prod or poke someone, people will look at you and say, `Even if I agree with you, I don't like it,'" he said.

Fox said "The Daily Show" poked fun at people in power, regardless of their party. Most people who watch Stewart are aware that he leans to the left politically.

"I don't think it really impacts the show at all," he said. "The show does what it does regardless of Jon's political persuasion."

Melissa Etheridge Recovering from Cancer Surgeries

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rock singer Melissa Etheridge, who revealed earlier this month that she was battling breast cancer, says she is recovering at home from two recent surgeries and plans to undergo chemotherapy.

"The good news is they took out the tumor and a few lymph nodes, only one of which was positive (for cancer)," Etheridge, 43, said in a statement posted on her Web site on Friday.

"I still have both of my breasts, and whether I will keep them is a bridge I have to cross later."

"What an unexpected journey this is," she added. "I will be entering the phase of chemotherapy next. Who knows what that will bring."

In the meantime, the Kansas-born artist said she plans to continue working on an upcoming greatest-hits album, as well as a pilot TV comedy being developed for ABC. In it, she stars as a single lesbian raising a child with a straight roommate.

Etheridge made headlines and became a hero in the gay community in 1993 when she publicly revealed that she is a lesbian. In 2000, she disclosed that fellow rocker David Crosby was the biological father of her children.

The raspy-voiced rocker, known for such hits as "Come to My Window" and "I'm the Only One," announced Oct. 8 that she was canceling the remaining 11 dates on her North American tour in order to deal with her illness. She said doctors have described her prognosis as "excellent."

She also urged her fans to "please vote" in the U.S. presidential election on November 2.

SMELLS LIKE KERRY SPIRIT

Former Nirvana mates Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic making their first joint public appearance together in over a decade at a rally for Kerry Tuesday night in Las Vegas.

Jon Stewart Bitchslaps CNN's 'Crossfire' Show

In what could well be the strangest and most refreshing media moment of the election season, "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart turned up on a live broadcast of CNN's "Crossfire" Friday and accused the mainstream media — and his hosts in particular — of being soft and failing to do their duty as journalists to keep politicians and the political process honest.

Reaching well outside his usual youthful "Daily Show" demo, Stewart took to "Crossfire" to promote his new book, "America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction", but instead of pushing the tome, Stewart used his time to verbally slap the network and the media for being "dishonest" and "doing a disservice" to the American public. After co-host Tucker Carlson suggested that Stewart went easy on Senator John Kerry when the candidate was a guest on "The Daily Show," Stewart unloaded on "Crossfire," calling hosts Carlson and Paul Begala "partisan hacks" and chiding them for not raising the level of discourse on their show beyond sloganeering.

"What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery," Stewart said. "You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.

"I watch your show every day, and it kills me. It's so painful to watch," Stewart added as it became apparent that the comedian was not joking. He went on to hammer the network, and the media in general, for its coverage of the presidential debates. Stewart said it was a disservice to viewers to immediately seek reaction from campaign insiders and presidential cheerleaders following the debates, noting that the debates' famed "Spin Alley" should be called "Deception Lane."

"The thing is, we need your help," Stewart said. "Right now, you're helping the politicians and the corporations and we're left out there to mow our lawns."

While the audience seemed to be behind Stewart, Begala and Carlson were both taken aback. The hosts tried to feed Stewart set-up lines hoping to draw him into a more light-hearted shtick, but Stewart stayed on point and hammered away at the show, the hosts, and the state of political journalism. Carlson grew increasingly frustrated, at first noting that the segment wasn't "funny," and later verbally sparring with the comedian.

"You're not very much fun," Carlson said. "Do you like lecture people like this, or do you come over to their house and sit and lecture them; they're not doing the right thing, that they're missing their opportunities, evading their responsibilities?"

"If I think they are," Stewart retorted.

The conversation reached its most heated moment when Carlson said to Stewart, "I do think you're more fun on your show," to which Stewart replied, "You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show."

"That went great," Stewart could be heard sarcastically saying as the show went off the air (a transcript of the show is available on CNN.com).

In an era when the media is increasingly fragmented and viewers can surround themselves with programming that falls right in line with their own views, be they on the right or the left, Stewart's blast seemed especially on point. It seems fitting that the tirade came on a day when much of the media attention focused on the presidential race was directed at the mention of Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter during the last presidential debate, as opposed to the issues addressed at that debate.

Britney Spears Announces She's Taking A Break From Her Career

Britney Spears is taking a break — again. She made the announcement late Friday in a "letter of truth" she posted on her fan site.

Her knee gave out on her during the "Outrageous" video shoot (forcing the cancellation of her summer tour) for a reason, she said — so that she would "have no choice but to stop" and give her body some rest. She said she feels like she's missed out on too many of "the simple things" — like being able to watch such movies as Mandy Moore's "Saved" and re-runs of "Sex and the City" because of her nonstop work schedule, which kept her "going and going and going."

"It's amazing what advisors will push you to do, even if it means taking a naive young blonde girl and putting her on the cover of every magazine," she wrote. Now, she'd like to "take some time off to enjoy life."

"My prerogative right now is to just chill and let all of the other overexposed blondes on the cover of Us Weekly be your entertainment," she wrote. "Good luck girls!"

Spears also said that her next project would be focusing on being a wife and hopefully a mother. "I can't wait to start my family!" she wrote.

Spears last took a hiatus following her world tour that ended in July 2002. But though she had planned to take six months off, the break ended after three months, when she started to work on In the Zone.

Destiny's Child Sets 'Fulfilled' Track List

Destiny's Child has confirmed the track list for its highly anticipated new album, "Destiny Fulfilled." Due Nov. 23 via Columbia, the 11-track set has gotten a huge early boost from the single "Lose My Breath," which has climbed to No. 4 in just five weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. A 12-inch vinyl single for the track will be released Nov. 2.

Other tracks set for inclusion on "Destiny Fulfilled" are "Soldier" featuring T.I. and Lil' Wayne, "Is She the Reason" and "Through With Love." Production was supplied by Rodney Jerkins, Rockwilder, Mario Winans and Rich Harrison, among others.

The new album is Destiny's Child's follow-up to 2001's "Survivor," which hit No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and featured the No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 singles "Bootylicious" and "Independent Women Pt. 1."

The group has already begun lining up major partners to promote "Destiny Fulfilled," including McDonald's, which will sponsor Destiny's Child's next tour. The Destiny Fulfilled & Lovin' It outing kicks off in April 2005 and will hit 70 cities.

The partnership kicks off in November with a commercial promoting World Children's Day in conjunction with the Ronald McDonald House charity. Over the next 18 months, Destiny's Child will participate in a variety of "I'm Lovin' It" campaign tie-ins, encompassing radio, television, print and Internet spots, as well as special merchandising and other promotions.

Here is the track list for "Destiny Fulfilled":

"Lose My Breath"
"Soldier" featuring T.I. and Lil Wayne
"Cater 2 U"
"T-Shirt"
"Is She the Reason"
"Girl"
"Bad Habit"
"If"
"Free"
"Through With Love"
"Love"

[After Lois tries to feed Stewie his broccoli "airplane style"] "Damn you, Damn the Broccoli, and Damn the Wright Brothers!"

— Stewie Griffin, from Fox's FAMILY GUY

CBC series reveals Top 10 in countdown to who is the Greatest Canadian

TORONTO (CP) - It's gone from 140,000 to 50 to 10. And five weeks from now, the name of The Greatest Canadian will be unveiled during the wrap-up of the CBC-TV series of the same name, which debuted Sunday night.

In the opening episode, host Wendy Mesley announced the top 10 contenders for the title, after whittling down the list from 50, those figures who got the most votes of the 140,000 submitted by the public in a contest held last spring.

So the Top 10 are: NDP political legend T.C. Douglas, hockey star Wayne Gretzky, TV sports personality Don Cherry, founding prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald, one-legged runner Terry Fox, medical pioneer Dr. Frederick Banting, prime minister and Nobel peace prize winner Lester Pearson, telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, TV science host and environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki and, former PM Pierre Trudeau.

"Prime Minister if you're watching, congratulations!" Mesley said coyly. "You've shaken hands with several people on the list."

Not surprisingly, the 40 runners-up represent an eclectic and sometimes curious list, including Rick Mercer, John Candy, Avril Lavigne, Bret (Hitman) Hart, Tecumseh, Laura Secord, Mike Myers, Stompin' Tom Connors, Louis Riel and even The Unknown Soldier.

Beginning Monday night and continuing twice weekly until Nov. 28, CBC will telecast hour-long specials in which current celebrities have been assigned to advocate their assigned contender. Up first Monday night, for example, MuchMusic personality George Stroumboulopoulos will make the case for Tommy Douglas, the prairie politician often described as the father of Canadian medicare. Stroumboulopoulos calls Douglas "a real rebel and a rebel WITH a cause."

On Monday, Nov. 29, the winner will be announced in a final special.

Doug Bennett of Doug and the Slugs has died in Calgary

CALGARY (CP) - Doug Bennett, the lead singer of the prolific Canadian band, Doug and the Slugs, died over the weekend at the age of 53.

He was admitted to hospital in Calgary on October 9th, suffering acute symptoms from what his former band member, Simon Kendall, called a long-standing illness in a statement released Sunday. He lost consciousness soon after his arrival and died on Saturday. Bennett was born in Toronto and moved to Vancouver in 1973. He formed Doug and the Slugs four years later.

The band released four gold albums and performed from New York to the far north as one of the premier Canadian touring acts in the 1980s.

A prolific songwriter, Bennett wrote a number of hits for the band including; Too Bad, Day By Day, Making It Work, Tomcat Prowl, among others.

May he rest in peace.

Stars of 'The Office' in Two-Hour Special

The bad news: David Brent, the comically cringe-worthy hero of "The Office," was laid off from his job as a manager of a paper-supply company on season two of this hilarious BBC mockumentary series.

The good news: He took his termination money and financed a rock video starring himself.

The bad news: Nobody bought his record and he lost everything.

The great news: Brent is back in a two-hour special that will bring "Office" fans up to date on everyone from the Wernham Hogg company, while bringing closure to these losers with remarkable grace.

Ricky Gervais (also co-writer and co-director) is back as Brent, who now sells cleaning products door-to-door while milking what he pretends is fame from prior TV exposure on "The Office" series.

He also has a way of often popping into the old workplace with appalling frequency.

"He's here more often now that he doesn't work here," David's former colleague Gareth (Mackenzie Crook) tells the camera.

Airing Thursday at 9 p.m. EDT on cable's BBC America, "The Office Special" finds David at his insufferable best, and never more so than on his video, included here (he performs the long-ago hit, "If You Don't Know Me By Now").

All in all, this is a real "Office" party!

'Shark Tale' Wins Third Straight Weekend

LOS ANGELES - Movie-goers stuck with fish and football over puppets and prancers as "Shark Tale" and "Friday Night Lights" retained the top two box-office spots for another weekend.

The animated "Shark Tale" was No. 1 for the third straight weekend, pulling in $22.1 million, studio estimates showed Sunday. With the family audience almost entirely to itself, "Shark Tale" had climbed to a 17-day domestic total of $118.8 million.

The football flick "Friday Night Lights" came in at No. 2 for a second weekend with $13.1 million, lifting its 10-day gross to $38.7 million.

The puppet parody "Team America: World Police" debuted in third with $12.3 million. No. 4 was "Shall We Dance?" starring Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez and Susan Sarandon, with $11.6 million.

It was a so-so debut for "Team America" from "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who crafted a foul-mouthed, bloody action comedy using puppets to satirize everything from U.S. global military muscle to Hollywood political activism.

"Coming out, you want to tell people what you just saw because it's so unique," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "Leading up to the election, because it is a rather political movie, if it gets some word of mouth going, it'll hang in there, no pun intended."

The movie had caught a lot of buzz for its raunchy humor, celebrity bashing and a puppet sex scene that nearly brought it an NC-17 rating, which would have restricted audiences to those 17 and older. The sex scene was toned down so the movie could win an R rating.

Critics generally praised "Team America" for its irreverent humor, but the movie came in on the low end of distributor Paramount's box-office expectations of a $12 million to $15 million debut.

"The heat on the picture seemed to be building as we got closer to opening, but the weekend wasn't that disappointing," said Wayne Lewellen, Paramount's head of distribution.

A remake of a Japanese hit, "Shall We Dance?" stars Gere as a discontented family man who finds renewed lust for life when he begins dance lessons and strikes up a friendship with a beautiful dance teacher, played by Lopez.

Distributor Miramax opened "Shall We Dance?" in a relatively narrow 1,772 theaters. The strategy paid off as the movie averaged a solid $6,559 per theater, the highest average among movies in wide release.

"Team America" debuted in 2,539 theaters and averaged $4,844.

"Shall We Dance?" played to older viewers, and women made up two-thirds of the audience.

"For a generally female date type of audience, this was a perfect movie for this past weekend," said Mike Rudnitsky, head of distribution for Miramax. "There's not much competition out there for that demographic."

A handful of limited release movies debuted poorly. Robin Williams' sci-fi tale "The Final Cut" grossed $235,000 in 117 theaters for a weak $2,009 average.

"Stephen King's Riding the Bullet," based on a short story by the horror master, took in $101,107 in 100 theaters, averaging $1,011.

The funeral comedy "Eulogy," whose ensemble cast includes Ray Romano, Zooey Deschanel, Debra Winger and Piper Laurie, did $45,000 in 22 theaters for a $2,045 average.

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Shark Tale," $22.1 million.
2. "Friday Night Lights," $13.1 million.
3. "Team America: World Police," $12.3 million.
4. "Shall We Dance?", $11.6 million.
5. "Ladder 49," $8.6 million.
6. "Taxi," $7.7 million.
7. "The Forgotten," $6 million.
8. "Raise Your Voice," $3 million.
9. "The Motorcycle Diaries," $1.7 million.
10. "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow," $1.3 million.

Scholars Grapple With Godzilla Legacy

LAWRENCE, Kan. - He's attacked other monsters and terrorized Japan for decades. Now Godzilla is confronting academics who want to wrestle with his legacy.

The University of Kansas plans to pay homage to the giant lizard later this month, organizing a three-day scholarly conference for the 50th anniversary of his first film.

It's not just about celebrating campy creature features. Planners want to provoke discussion of globalization, Japanese pop culture and Japanese-American relations after World War II.

"I would like people to take Godzilla more seriously," said Bill Tsutsui, a history professor at the University of Kansas and author of the book "Godzilla on My Mind," which discusses the history of the monster's movies.

The conference that begins Oct. 28 will offer speeches, panel discussions and free screenings of Godzilla films, including "Gojira," the Japanese movie that started Godzilla's career in November 1954.

Atop the movie theater will be an inflatable 28-foot Godzilla balloon. Items from Tsutsui's collection of Godzilla memorabilia will be on display in the university's main library.

The notion of a serious Godzilla conference drew puzzled looks on campus.

"It's kind of odd," freshman Kathleen Schafer said. "I didn't think scholars would be interested."

But historians, anthropologists and other academics are coming from universities such as Duke, Harvard and Vanderbilt.

Among the fans in attendance will be Andrew Kar, a technical writer from St. Joseph, Mo., who has been hooked on monster movies since childhood.

"When you're a 35-year-old man and you're still enjoying these films, you have to ask yourself why," he said. "For some of us, it translates. For others, it's gibberish."

Japan's Toho Co. has produced 27 Godzilla films in five decades, with a 28th movie, "Godzilla: Final Wars," to be released in December. An American "Godzilla" was released in 1998, though many aficionados don't consider it a true Godzilla movie.

Yoshikuni Igarashi, director of east Asian studies at Vanderbilt, sees Godzilla films as important cultural artifacts.

For example, the first Godzilla film came only eight months after the United States tested a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.

The movie — in which H-bomb testing disturbs Godzilla's undersea habitat and transforms him into a behemoth with fiery, radioactive breath — reflects anxiety and a feeling of helplessness in the face of a nuclear threat, Igarashi said.

The franchise was widely known for its campy special effects. Godzilla films featured men in dinosaur suits stomping around miniature urban landscapes and some monster battles that, Tsutsui acknowledged in his book, seem more like professional wrestling matches.

When an American version of the first film was released in 1956 — re-edited to include new scenes featuring Raymond Burr of "Perry Mason" fame — the New York Times dismissed it as "cheap cinematic horror-stuff."

"It is true there were some bad, bad films produced, particularly in the late '60s and early '70s," said Igarashi, who plans to lecture at the conference on the 1964 movie "Godzilla vs. the Thing," in which Godzilla battles the giant moth, Mothra, and its offspring.

Two Japanese foundations provided $35,000 to help fund the conference.

Takao Shibata, the Japanese consul general in Kansas City, Mo., said the meeting will help educate people about his nation but acknowledged: "The idea of this kind of serious analysis of the evolution of Godzilla — it never occurred to me."

Johnny Depp Says He's No Heartthrob

LONDON - Johnny Depp reckons he's no great movie pinup — he just has a "weird job." Arriving Sunday for the premiere of his latest movie, "Finding Neverland," at London's Leicester Square, Depp played down his movie-star image as fans lining the red carpet screamed his name.

"I wouldn't say I'm a heartthrob," he said, as his companion, French singer and actress Vanessa Paradis, looked on. "I just have a very weird job."

Depp has been touted to win his first Oscar for his role as "Peter Pan" creator J.M. Barrie, but the 41-year-old actor dismissed such talk.

"I can't say that occupies my every thought or every moment," he said. "That's not my job to think about that, but if people want to say that, that is really sweet."

Co-star Kate Winslet, who plays the mother of the four young brothers who inspired Barrie to write "Peter Pan," also gave a knock to Depp's reputation as a movie hunk.

"Everybody asks me this, whether I'm slightly annoyed that I didn't get to kiss Johnny Depp," said Winslet, 29. "We would have laughed."

NBC Changing 'LAX' Flight, Sends 'Hawaii' to Standby

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - NBC will reroute the airport drama "LAX" from Monday to Wednesday in time for sweeps month, making room for a new reality series, "The $25 Million Dollar Hoax."

Beginning Oct. 27, "LAX" will air Wednesdays at 8 p.m., replacing fellow rookie series "Hawaii," which NBC has put on hiatus. "LAX," which stars Heather Locklear and Blair Underwood, has not made much headway against tough competition from ABC's "Monday Night Football" and CBS' "CSI: Miami" in its three weeks on the air.

Stepping into "LAX's" Monday 10 p.m. slot is "Hoax," a three-episode prank showcase in which a fake lottery winner sets out to deceive family and friends. "Hoax," which begins Nov. 8, will be hosted by Ed McMahon and George Gray ("The Weakest Link"). It is based on a British format.

The detective drama "Hawaii" has found little traction Wednesday at 8 p.m., facing stiff competition against ABC's new hit "Lost," not to mention CBS' "60 Minutes" and UPN's "America's Next Top Model." The series will continue production on its 13-episode order in Hawaii.

In its new slot, "LAX" will also take over lead-in duties for "The West Wing," which returns to its usual 9 p.m. spot.

Sony's 'Spidey 2' DVD Lures Corporate Muscle

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Already having ensnared more than $370 million at the U.S. box office, "Spider-Man 2" is spinning a whole new $100 million marketing and promotional web to back the release of the film on DVD and VHS on November 30.

The marketing campaign for the two-disc DVD -- featuring more than 10 hours of exclusive content -- includes national television, print and radio advertising through January, shopping mall promotions and billboards as well as promotions with eight brand partners, according to Sony's Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment unit.

Energizer Batteries, Embassy Suites, Activision, Orville Redenbacher, Red Baron, Crest SpinBrush and sister companies Sony Electronics and Sony Music have all signed on for one of the studio's largest marketing and promotional campaigns for a DVD release.

"It's comparable to the first 'Spider-Man' (home video release) in size. What's different this time is the breadth of promotional partners," Columbia TriStar vp marketing Tracey Garvin said. About half of the $100 million support for the DVD release comes from the promotional partners.

Another element of the campaign will be "Spider-Man 2" TV spots and a nearly three-minute trailer featured on Regal Entertainment's 6,000 screens.

Embassy Suites will promote the film through national cable television and print, online and direct-mail advertising. Activision will run an integrated national television and print advertising campaign supporting both its video game and the DVD release.

Angelina Jolie Named Sexiest Woman by Esquire

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Angelina Jolie, who manages to mesmerize men -- and fight off robot invaders -- with just one eye in her latest movie, has been named the "sexiest woman alive" in the latest edition of Esquire magazine.

Jolie, featured as the alluring, courageous fighter pilot with an eye patch in "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow," was the top pick of the magazine's editors and mostly male readers to grace the cover of Esquire's annual "Women We Love" issue.

The 29-year-old Jolie, who also lends her voice and sexy persona to a vampish fish named Lola in the computer-animated undersea adventure "Shark Tale," received 7 percent of all votes cast by readers.

Fellow Oscar winner and "Catwoman" star Halle Berry ran a close second with 6 percent. Newlywed pop princess Britney Spears made the cut this year at No. 3.

In an Esquire interview accompanying a cover photo of the actress, Jolie acknowledged her image as being "kind of wild or bad or weird or crazy."

"The tattoos, the blood, cutting myself -- it's all very much who I am," she said. "If you knew me privately, you might think I was even wilder than my reputation. But I'm also much softer. I'm a soft woman. Softer than people think."

She also reveals that she recently bought an airplane and is taking flying lessons, a hobby she embraced because she and her 3-year-old adopted son share a fascination with planes.

"I have to concentrate on my son," she said. "That's why I have lovers right now and not a boyfriend. I don't want my son to start calling somebody Daddy unless that person's gonna stay."

Jolie's marriage to actor Billy Bob Thornton ended in divorce in May 2003. She will next be seen as Alexander the Great's mom in Oliver Stone's upcoming epic "Alexander."

Rounding out the field of leading contenders for sexiest woman in the magazine's November issue, which hits newsstands this week, were TV/pop personality Jessica Simpson, sultry R&B singer Beyonce, Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron and former "Friends" star Jennifer Aniston.

Beatles, Cirque du Soleil teaming up

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The Beatles and Cirque du Soleil are banding together to create a powerhouse theatrical production at the Mirage hotel-casino to replace the legendary Siegfried & Roy act that closed more than a year ago.

This is the first time the Beatles have teamed up to do a major theatrical partnership after carefully guarding its popular music for decades, said Neil Aspinall, managing director of the band's Apple Corps label.

The deal for the joint-venture production that is expected to cost more than $100 million US was reached this week between Cirque du Soleil, Apple and the Mirage, said Bill McBeath, the hotel-casino's president and chief operating officer.

The yet untitled show should be ready in about 20 months, McBeath said.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Aspinall said a Las Vegas marriage with Cirque du Soleil was "too good of an opportunity to pass up."

The Beatles had been approached with many theatrical proposals, he said, but none offered the creativity and innovation for which Cirque du Soleil is regarded.

French for "circus of the sun," Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil is known for its acrobatic performances that blend athleticism with music and artistry. More than seven million people saw its shows around the world last year.

Aspinall said other offers amounted to nothing "more than a stage production with cover versions" of Beatles songs, not something that would burnish the Beatles' musical legacy.

Other locations, London, New York and Tokyo also were considered but none could match Las Vegas's appeal and its massive influx of tourists. The city is expected to top 37 million visitors this year.

"That helped tip the balance," Aspinall said.

Another draw was the Mirage's commitment to building a new theatre. McBeath said the theatre, under construction since August, will hold about 2,000 people and offer 360-degree seating.

The theatre replaces the one in which the German illusionists performed for about 13 years before Roy Horn was nearly killed Oct. 3, 2003, by one of his tigers. Since the mauling, the Mirage has been without its signature act.

The show not only fills a major entertainment void at the Mirage, the mega-resort that helped redefine Las Vegas, but also adds another high-dollar extravaganza to bolster the city's pitch as the entertainment capital of the world.

Caesars Palace built Celine Dion a $95 million theatre for her A New Day show, which Concerts West produced for $30 million. The Phantom of the Opera, one of the most successful shows in the history of Broadway, is coming to the Venetian hotel-casino in 2006; and the Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q will open in September 2005 at the Wynn Las Vegas resort.

Cirque du Soleil recently announced a new $165 million show at the MGM Grand called KA.

Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte didn't reveal much about the 90-minute Beatles show, other to say it would contain the Canadian company's famous acrobatics and be a celebration of Beatles music.

Laliberte said the two groups, although using different mediums, complemented each other.

"They did with words what we did with images," he said. "It's timeless."

Laliberte said he began discussing the idea about four and a half years ago with George Harrison, who died of cancer in 2001.

The remaining Beatles will help shape the production, though Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will not appear in the production. Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison also will collaborate on the project.

The songs to be used in the show are undecided, but Cirque du Soleil will have complete access to the Beatles' musical archive. Other show details remained closely guarded.

"That's a tough one," Aspinall said. "It's still a work in progress."

McBeath said he expects the combination to supplant the popular Siegfried & Roy spectacle, which generated $44 million in annual revenue.

"We had anticipated Siegfried and Roy closing out their career at the end of the 2005," McBeath said.

It turned out Laliberte had the perfect pitch.

"It was a home run," McBeath said. "There was no equivocation as to whether this would be successful or not."

The investment should improve the fortunes of the aging Mirage, a gilded hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip that Steve Wynn opened in 1989.

"I think this show is the most important statement The Mirage could make after 15 years," McBeath said.

This is Cirque du Soleil's fifth show in Las Vegas, and Laliberte suggested it wouldn't be the last. He called Las Vegas a gold mine.

"If I can be producing 10 shows, I'll be producing 10 shows."

It will a homecoming of sorts for the Beatles. The band last played Las Vegas in 1964, playing two performances at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Boxed Set Shines 'Light' on Rare Nirvana

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Although specific details are still under lock and key, the long-delayed Nirvana boxed set planned for a Nov. 23 release finally has a name: "With the Lights Out" will include three audio CDs and a DVD.

The audio portion of the Universal Music Enterprises release is expected to include some previously unreleased tracks, rehearsals, a selection of late frontman Kurt Cobain's home demos and sessions recorded for radio broadcasts. The only known component of the DVD is footage of the fledgling band playing a 1987 house party.

"With the Lights Out" was originally intended for release in Christmas 2001, to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of Nirvana's breakthrough album, "Nevermind." But surviving members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic were thwarted by lawsuits from Cobain's widow Courtney Love, who objected to their planned use of the previously unreleased track "You Know You're Right" in the set.

The dispute was eventually settled in September 2002, with the parties agreeing to earmark "You Know You're Right" for a self-titled Nirvana compilation released on Oct. 29, 2002. The album has gone on to sell more than 1.45 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Chris Rock to Be Host of Academy Awards

LOS ANGELES - The Oscars have a piece of the Rock. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday announced Chris Rock will host the next Academy Awards telecast.

Rock, who's been in the films "Head of State" and "Dogma," is best known for his standup comedy specials "Bigger & Blacker," "Bring the Pain" and "Never Scared."

Rock, 39, has previously hosted the MTV's Movie Awards.

"I am a huge fan of Chris Rock," said Gil Cates, the producer of the Oscars telecast. "He always makes me laugh and he always has something interesting to say. Chris represents the best of the new generation of comics. Having him host the Oscars is terrific."

The one-time "Saturday Night Live" regular has won three Emmys for his TV programs and two Grammys for his comedy albums. Rock currently is shooting a remake of "The Longest Yard" with Adam Sandler and recently provided the voice of the zebra in the animated feature "Madagascar," both to be released in May 2005. His other film credits include "Pootie Tang," "Bad Company," "Down to Earth" and "Nurse Betty."

The 77th Academy Awards telecast is set for Feb. 27.

'Miami' Twice

It only took 20 years, but the pastels of Miami Vice are finally moving from the TV to the big screen, with the show's executive producer, Michael Mann, at the helm, according to Variety. Colin Farrell is in talks to replace Don Johnson as Det. James ''Sonny'' Crockett, while Jamie Foxx -- who previously worked with Mann in Collateral and Ali -- is up for Philip Michael Thomas' former role, Det. Ricardo Tubbs, the trade paper reported.

Earlier this month, Foxx, whose upcoming role in Ray is sparking Oscar talk, told the movie website latinoreview.com that he was looking forward to appearing in the Vice movie. No word if Johnson and Thomas get cameos -- but surely some of those drug-dealer roles are open.

Pierce Brosnan says Bond producers relieved him of 007's licence to kill

Pierce Brosnan did not quit his most famous role as agent James Bond, he was fired. And there is no going back, the 51-year-old, Irish-born, four-time 007 says.

"It's over, it's over, it's absolutely over," Brosnan says this week in Nassau, The Bahamas, where he sits with media to promote his latest film, After The Sunset, a heist comedy which slightly parodies his role as a super-secret agent.

Brosnan says he was willing, even eager, to do a fifth and final Bond, adding that 007 producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson had asked him to return, although no contracts were signed. Brosnan's last Bond movie, Die Another Day in 2002, was the 20th official instalment in the franchise, which started with Sean Connery in Dr. No in 1962.

"They invited me back right before I went to present that film, before I went on the road with Halle Berry to sell the movie. They said: 'We're so happy with the success, we want you to come back!' I went on the road a happy man, you know. I thought we'd get a fifth and no more. That would be it, really.

"I'd done it. You get bored. You get older. You give of yourself to something and then you have no more to give. But I thought a fifth would be good.

"And then one day the phone rang -- I was here (in Nassau shooting After The Sunset) -- and my agents told me that the goal posts had moved and that they had changed their minds." Brosnan says this with a weary tone, with a sigh.

"It's very hard to find the truth in that town (Hollywood) or in this business at times," Brosnan says. "But it was their prerogative to change their minds. They can do it!" And they might have done it "to go younger," Brosnan says.

"It was disappointing. It was surprising. And I accepted the knowledge (that his run as 007 was over for good) after 24 hours of being in shock."

Brosnan has been extremely reluctant to go on the record about the Bond issue. For TV interviews in Nassau, Brosnan had publicists order TV hosts to avoid the issue.

No such orders were given to print media. Then, pressed by The Toronto Sun, Brosnan says: "To bring up Bond ... (he frowns) ... I did my time in the trenches on that movie (franchise) ..."

But offered a chance to finally put his version of the events on the record, Brosnan did. Part of the story, he says, is that he always knew the end was coming.

"If you have that thought ruminating in your head -- knowing that things are going to change, knowing that you're going to get older, knowing it only lasts a certain amount of time playing a certain role -- then you clearly prepare yourself for what's down the road, even though you don't know what's down the road. But you prepare yourself emotionally.

"(So) you know something's going to be finished, it's going to be over. And it comes with a great disappointment but it also comes with a great satisfaction of having achieved the success with it that I had achieved."

Brosnan claims he harbours no bitterness. "None, none, none! It's not worth having. If I did, it would make all the great decade, the four films, the lovely success, meaningless. Bitterness against whom and for what reason?"

But he admits there is some satisfaction in seeing the franchise stumble, with the next Bond movie postponed for at least a year. "Go figure!" Brosnan says with a wry grin.

"One does chuckle at it all. You don't gloat or anything like that, because that's equally meaningless. It's such a game, such a game, this business. So there you go, that's the story, as much as I know."

STAR PICKS NEW BOND

With the next James Bond movie postponed for at least another year before it even gets filmed, the franchise producers have plenty of time to find their new 007. And Pierce Brosnan will be watching the process closely.

"Oh yeah," Brosnan says of having an emotional stake in the awkward decision. "There will be a few hurdles to go through here, of letting go, and seeing the next guy do the piece, and who is it going to be?"

The target list -- it's all speculation -- includes Britons Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Gerard Butler, Jude Law, Dougray Scott and Ewan McGregor, and Australians Hugh Jackman, Heath Ledger and Eric Bana.

"I was on that list years ago and I was on it with a lot of other great actors," says Brosnan. "So I'm looking at the list and going: 'Hmmmm, he's interesting, no, he's interesting, no, no, no ... But there is one guy and it was 'Wow!'"

Unfortunately, Brosnan won't reveal who he's talking about but he saw him in a recent movie and was impressed. "He had a presence: Face, body, voice, the eyes. He would make a good one. But we'll see, we'll see."

Lohan Makes Boob Tube Cameo on 'That '70s Show'

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) The long anticipated first creative collaboration between barely legal big screen starlet Lindsay Lohan and her off-screen love Wilmer Valderrama will finally take place in November. The "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" thespian and the "Summer Catch" co-star will share scenes in an episode of FOX's "That '70s Show."

Titled "Mother's Little Helper," the Lohan episode will air on Wednesday, Nov. 17, in the midst of the crucial sweeps period.

Lohan plays Danielle, a new client at the salon where Fez (Valderrama) recently became a shampoo boy. After Fez consoles Danielle about her troubled love life, viewers will get the chance to see if Lohan and Valderrama have on-screen chemistry as well. But will Fez have competition from Ashton Kutcher's Kelso?

The 24-year-old Valderrama and Lohan went public with their romance in the middle of this summer, suspiciously soon, gossip wags might argue, after the actress' 18th birthday. The veteran of "Parent Trap" and "Freaky Friday" remakes, Lohan was installed as a star after the surprise success of "Mean Girls" and thanks, at least in some part, to her willingness to be photographed in revealing attire.

Up next for Lohan is another remake, "Herbie: Fully Loaded." Up next for Valderrama is more episodes of "That '70s Show."

CBC's countdown to the Greatest Canadian a TV highlight next week

(CP) - Who is the greatest Canadian of them all?

CBC-TV hopes, if not to answer that question officially, at least to stimulate a national debate, beginning this Sunday night and continuing twice weekly through to a late November finale.

Nearly 140,000 votes were submitted by the public last April and May in a premise copied from the BBC (Great Britons, in 2002, won by Winston Churchill). The CBC then selected the 50 figures with the most votes, and they will be whittled down to 10 on Sunday's two-hour opening telecast (8 p.m. ET), hosted by Wendy Mesley. Then, each of the 10 contenders will be paired with a high-profile "advocate," someone who will make an impassioned plea for his or her choice in a series of hour-long programs to air in the subsequent weeks.

The 10 include: MuchMusic personality George Stroumboulopoulos, Canada's first Reform party MP Deborah Grey, former wrestler Bret (Hitman) Hart, author and professor Charlotte Gray, radio host and actor Sook-Yin Lee, TV comedian Mary Walsh, actor Paul Gross, journalist Evan Solomon, rocker Melissa Auf Der Maur and broadcaster Rex Murphy.

The first advocate episode airs Monday, Oct. 18, as Stroumboulopoulos fights for a "real rebel and a rebel WITH a cause."

On Oct. 20, Gray will defend her nominee who she insists is the "greatest Canadian of them all, hands down, no brainer, game over."

The one-hour advocacy specials will air each Monday and Wednesday (at 8 p.m.) with encore presentations on Newsworld Tuesdays and Thursdays. Viewers can vote after each episode (www.cbc.ca/greatest). Then the advocates regroup for a final pitch and debate in front of a studio audience on Nov. 28. On Nov. 29, the results are revealed.

"Far from a traditional biographical documentary, each of these advocacy programs is a truly impassioned, energetic tribute," says co-executive producer Mark Starowicz.

Kidman: I Would Rather Be a Brunette

PARIS - Blondes may have more fun, but Nicole Kidman says she would rather have been born a brunette.

The actress, in an interview with French magazine Paris Match, also said she is growing tired of cinema and doesn't see herself pursuing her film career indefinitely. And she revealed that her 2001 divorce from Tom Cruise changed her criteria for selecting roles.

"Since my divorce, I lean, consciously or not, toward characters who are strong women taking control of their destiny, personal and professional," the weekly quoted Kidman as saying.

"The position of a so-called powerful actress is comforting for a single woman like me," she added. "It gives you a character of hardened steel."

Kidman, envied for her golden curls and porcelain skin, said she believes a darker complexion would have left her less susceptible to the sun's damaging rays. She said she worries about skin cancer.

"I would, all things said, have preferred to be a brunette with a dark complexion. But I work with what I have," she said.

Spears Says She Wants to Be Britney Federline

BERLIN (Reuters) - American pop star Britney Spears said on Wednesday she wants to change her name after marrying 26-year-old dancer Kevin Federline last month.

"I probably will, Britney Federline, I like that," Spears, 22, told Germany's Bunte magazine. "Society probably won't allow me but I would like to change it."

Spears, who has sold more than 60 million albums since she shot to fame in 1999, became the first female performer in the history of Billboard magazine to have her first three albums open at No. 1 on the pop album chart.

The star who earlier this year married a former high school sweetheart in Las Vegas before having that marriage annulled three days later also told Bunte she hopes to start having children soon.

"There are a few things I want to take care of this year before I have my baby," she said.

"I'd love to have a baby already. But I've got to take care of some things first ... I want to become a mother. I'm crazy about children ... next year, when I'm 23 I'll be ready."

Spider-Man 3 to be the last

HOLLYWOOD -- For Peter Parker and his alter-ego Spider-Man, three is the magic number.

"If it were up to me, Spider-Man 3 would not be the last of this series of films," says Sam Raimi, who directed the first two Spider-Man movies and is working on the third.

The decision rests with Amy Pascal, chairman of Sony's Columbia Pictures which releases the Spider-Man films.

"Amy is adamant she wants to make the third film the end. She wants Spider-Man 3 to have a sense of completion. "She told me to give this one a satisfying, fulfilling ending. She says it is only fair to the fans who have been so enthusiastic and faithful. She says we owe it to them."

Raimi admits he is nervous and is approaching this final installment, which begins shooting in January 2006 for a May 2007 release, with much trepidation. "I keep wondering how I can make a third one that will be just as positively received and reviewed."

'A-Team' headed to the big screen

A big-screen movie version of the popular '80s action series "The A-Team" is in the works.

Bruce Feirstein -- best known for writing the James Bond films "Golden Eye," "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "The World is Not Enough" -- has signed on to write the project, Variety reports.

Creator Stephen J. Cannell will produce the film alongside Spike Seldin.

Casting for the movie has not yet begun.

"The A-Team" ran from 1983-1987 on NBC. It starred George Peppard and Mr. T as Veitnam vets wanted by the military for a crime they didn't commit.

Wal-Mart Wants $10 CDs

Biggest U.S. record retailer battles record labels over prices

Wal-mart wants every CD you buy to cost less than ten bucks. And the nation's largest retailer -- which moved a quarter of a trillion dollars' worth of goods last year -- usually gets its way. Suppliers who don't accede to Wal-Mart's "everyday low price" mantra often find their products bounced from the chain's stores, excluded from being sold to the 138 million people who shop at a Wal-Mart store every week.

In the past decade, Wal-Mart has quietly emerged as the nation's biggest record store. Wal-Mart now sells an estimated one out of every five major-label albums. It has so much power, industry insiders say, that what it chooses to stock can basically determine what becomes a hit. "If you don't have a Wal-Mart account, you probably won't have a major pop artist," says one label executive.

Along with other giant retailers such as Best Buy and Target, Wal-Mart willingly loses money selling CDs for less than $10 (they buy most hit CDs from distributors for around $12). These companies use bargain CDs to lure consumers to the store, hoping they might also grab a boombox or a DVD player while checking out the music deals.

Less-expensive CDs are something consumers have been demanding for years. But here's the hitch: Wal-Mart is tired of losing money on cheap CDs. It wants to keep selling them for less than $10 -- $9.72, to be exact -- but it wants the record industry to lower the prices at which it purchases them. Last winter, Wal-Mart asked the industry to supply it with choice albums -- from new releases from alternative rockers the Killers to perennial classics such as Beatles 1 -- at favorable prices. According to music-industry sources, Wal-Mart executives hinted that they could reduce Wal-Mart's CD stock and replace it with more lucrative DVDs and video games.

"This wasn't framed as a gentle negotiation," says one label rep. "It's a line in the sand -- you don't do this, then the threat is this." (Wal-Mart denies these claims.) As a result, all of the major labels agreed to supply some popular albums to Wal-Mart's $9.72 program. "We're in such a competitive world, and you can't reach consumers if you're not in Wal-Mart," admits another label executive.

Tensions are not as high now as they were last winter, but making sure Wal-Mart is happy remains one of the music industry's major priorities. That's because if Wal-Mart cut back on music, industry sales would suffer severely -- though Wal-Mart's shareholders would barely bat an eye. While Wal-Mart represents nearly twenty percent of major-label music sales, music represents only about two percent of Wal-Mart's total sales. "If they got out of selling music, it would mean nothing to them," says another label executive. "This keeps me awake at night."

Wal-Mart would not directly comment on tensions with the labels, but Gary Severson, Wal-Mart's senior vice president and general merchandise manager in charge of the chain's entertainment section, did allude to the dispute about music prices. "The labels price things based on what they believe they can get -- a pricing philosophy a lot of industries have," he says. "But we like to price things as cheaply as we possibly can, rather than charge as much as we can get. It's a big difference in philosophy, and we try to help other people see that." Virtually no industry executives would publicly comment about their company's relationship with Wal-Mart. But off the record, many record-industry executives shared their concerns. "I don't think there is a music supplier in America who really enjoys doing business with Wal-Mart," says one major-label rep.

No one in the music business ever expected Wal-Mart to become the most powerful force in record retailing. In the past, the business was shared among smaller local and regional chains such as Musicland, which once had an estimated ten percent of the market. But as Wal-Mart and other national discount operations such as Target and Best Buy have grown -- approximately half of all major-label music is sold through these three -- an estimated 1,200 record stores have closed in the past two years, according to market-research firm Almighty Institute of Music Retail. Last February, Tower Records, with ninety-three stores, declared bankruptcy and is now up for sale; Musicland has already changed owners, with many local outposts shuttered.

Wal-Mart is like no traditional record seller. Unlike a typical Tower store, which stocks 60,000 titles, an average Wal-Mart carries about 5,000 CDs. That leaves little room on the shelf for developing artists or independent labels. There's also scant space for catalog albums, which now represent about forty percent of all sales. At a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Thorton, Colorado, for example, there were no copies of the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street or Nirvana's Nevermind. While most of the latest hits were priced at $13.88, some records -- from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack to the latest by Yellowcard -- were displayed for $9.72. Says Severson, "Paying fifteen dollars for a piece of music is a difficult value equation for customers."

For the music industry, having such a dominant retailer is like being stuck in a bad marriage. Whereas traditional music retailers took advertising money from the labels to push new releases in Sunday newspaper circulars, Wal-Mart barely advertises locally. It relies on national campaigns, where it promotes its own low-price policy. "Wal-Mart has no long-term care for an individual artist or marketing plan, unlike the specialty stores, which were a real business partner," says one former distribution executive. "At Wal-Mart, we're a commodity and have to fight for shelf space like Colgate fights for shelf space."

In the same way that Wal-Mart made it difficult for local mom-and-pop retailers to compete with its low prices, it has hurt smaller music stores. "When you're buying CDs for twelve dollars and selling them for ten like Wal-Mart, it makes the rest of us look like we're gouging the customer, when we're not," says Don Van Cleave, head of the Coalition for Independent Music Stores, a retail consortium. "It's supertough to compete with that price point." Even online, Wal-Mart sells songs for eighty-eight cents, compared with ninety-nine cents at the market leader, Apple iTunes Music Store.

Getting Wal-Mart excited about carrying a record is at the top of every label's to-do list, but it's harder than it sounds. There is an immense cultural chasm between slick industry executives and Severson's team of three music buyers at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. Only one of the three had ever worked in music retailing -- until that person moved to a new division in August and was replaced by someone who previously bought Wal-Mart's salty snacks. (Wal-Mart also relies on buyers at its two distribution companies, Handleman and Anderson Merchandisers, who purchase records as well as stock the Wal-Mart stores.)

"Content-wise, Wal-Mart is limited about what they sell," says one label chieftain. "Wal-Mart is Middle America's shopping headquarters, with different buying habits and consumer tastes than those who live in Manhattan and L.A." When founder Sam Walton christened the first Wal-Mart in 1962, music was never a priority -- it wasn't an everyday, easy-to-stock product like light bulbs, since the Top Ten changed so much. The chain also had specific objections to music. Walton wanted all stores to remain family-friendly, and in the rural South, rock & roll had the potential to turn away many customers. In 1986, the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart led one such campaign to ban music from Wal-Mart, saying rock fostered "adultery, alcoholism, drug abuse, necrophilia, bestiality and you name it." Albums and magazines about rock (including Rolling Stone) were temporarily pulled from the Wal-Mart shelves.

Wal-Mart's wariness about music ended once the music industry adopted a voluntary advisory sticker on albums deemed to contain adult language or sexual content. Today, before any new album is released, someone at each label is charged with asking, "Do we have any Wal-Mart issues?" If an advisory sticker is placed on an album, the label will put out a clean version about ninety percent of the time. Since the edited version of a hit record usually averages only about ten percent of a record's total sales, they do it mostly to keep Wal-Mart happy.

Wal-Mart has loosened up a bit, too. Eminem's albums, stickered or not, are not carried by the chain, but it does sell the 8 Mile soundtrack. And it carries an edited version of 50 Cent's debut. Since the labels are so adept at self-policing, though, censorship controversies are now rare. "There have been examples in the past, but it's not a current issue," says Severson.

Wal-Mart has also urged the labels to create exclusive new products that would lower music prices. In a short-lived test, Universal excerpted seven songs from existing albums by acts such as Sum 41 and Ashanti and sold them at Wal-Mart for $7. Few other labels wanted to participate. "They proposed it to a bunch of artists and managers, but everyone was worried that we are sending a message that instead of the sixteen-track album we sold, those nine extra songs were filler," says a label executive.

Some record executives think they can survive Wal-Mart's push. They argue that the hottest acts will always command a premium price. "50 Cent sold 7 million copies," says one rep, "and I guarantee that many of those sold for fifteen, sixteen dollars." And they believe that Wal-Mart will want to carry those hits because they draw customers. "If they can't find a record at Wal-Mart, people will go elsewhere," says one executive. "We should play hardball." But each label is watching the others to see if any make major concessions to Wal-Mart's demands for lower prices. A label that gives in could gain shelf space at the expense of another. "If you lose an account, one of your rivals could get more product in the store and get one up on everyone else," says a major-label rep. "You have to tread cautiously."

The tug of war between the labels and Wal-Mart isn't going away soon. The chain is aggressively opening new stores -- fifty-seven in October -- including some in urban areas. So unless it makes good on its threat to cut back on its music section, it will continue to grow as the top record store and become even more powerful. Laments one industry rep, "There is some impending doom associated with us not helping them."

Price War: Does a CD have to cost $15.99?

Major labels insist that the low prices mass retailers such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy demand are impossible for them to achieve. But Best Buy senior vice president Gary Arnold counters, "The record industry needs to refine their business models, because the consumer is the ultimate arbitrator. And the consumer feels music isn't properly priced." Labels point to roster cuts and layoffs as evidence that they can't sell CDs cheaper.

This breakdown of the cost of a typical major-label release by the independent market-research firm Almighty Institute of Music Retail shows where the money goes for a new album with a list price of $15.99.

$0.17 Musicians' unions
$0.80 Packaging/manufacturing
$0.82 Publishing royalties
$0.80 Retail profit
$0.90 Distribution
$1.60 Artists' royalties
$1.70 Label profit
$2.40 Marketing/promotion
$2.91 Label overhead
$3.89 Retail overhead

Capitol Boxes Up Early Beatles Albums

The Beatles' first four U.S. albums -- "Meet the Beatles," "The Beatles Second Album," "Something New" and "Beatles '65" -- will be bundled together in the boxed set "The Capitol Albums Volume 1," due Nov. 16. All were originally released in 1964 as Beatlemania swept the United States.

"In the '60s, American record labels often chose to reformat British records to suit the needs of the U.S. market," says Capitol president Andy Slater. "In America, singles were generally included on current albums, where in the U.K. albums and singles were most often separate releases. Higher music publishing costs in the U.S. also made it impractical to include as many songs on American albums. In addition, in the case of the Beatles, some of the recordings on the American albums were given more echo than the British versions, to 'Americanize' their sound."

The albums, which have been remastered from the original tapes, include stereo and mono versions of each song. Each album is housed in a miniature replica of its original album cover, while the box will feature a 48-page booklet chronicling the Beatles' unprecedented 1964.

"Meet the Beatles" (originally issued Jan. 20, 1964, in the United States) begins with what was at the time the group's latest single, "I Want To Hold Your Hand," and its U.S. and U.K. B-sides, "I Saw Her Standing There" and "This Boy." The bulk of the remaining tracks were taken from the U.K. version of the album "With the Beatles."

"The Beatles Second Album" (April 10, 1964) is a grabbag of such tracks as the "She Loves You" single and its B-side "I'll Get You," additional songs from "With the Beatles," cuts from the "Long Tall Sally" EP and a German version of "I Want To Hold Your Hand."

"Something New" (July 20, 1964) includes eight songs from the soundtrack to the Beatles' first film, "A Hard Day's Night," although not the title track or "Can't Buy Me Love." The album was denied the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Top LPs chart by the movie's proper soundtrack, issued by United Artists.

"Beatles '65" (Dec. 15, 1964) boasts the "I Feel Fine"/"She's a Woman" single, the "A Hard Day's Night" leftover "(I'll Be Back)" and eight songs from the U.K. album "Beatles for Sale," including three particularly dark John Lennon tunes, "No Reply," "I'm a Loser" and "Baby's in Black."

It is unknown if Capitol plans to re-release additional titles such as "Beatles VI" or "Yesterday ... and Today."

Here is the track list for "The Capitol Albums Vol. 1"

"Meet the Beatles":
"I Want To Hold Your Hand"
"I Saw Her Standing There"
"This Boy"
"It Won't Be Long"
"All I've Got To Do"
"All My Loving"
"Don't Bother Me"
"Little Child"
"Till There Was You"
"Hold Me Tight"
"I Wanna Be Your Man"
"Not a Second Time"

"The Beatles Second Album":
"Roll Over Beethoven"
"Thank You Girl"
"You Really Got a Hold on Me"
"Devil in Her Heart"
"Money"
"You Can't Do That"
"Long Tall Sally"
"I Call Your Name"
"Please Mr. Postman"
"I'll Get You"
"She Loves You"

"Something New":
"I'll Cry Instead"
"Things We Said Today"
"Any Time At All"
"When I Get Home"
"Slow Down"
"Matchbox"
"Tell Me Why"
"And I Love Her"
"I'm Happy Just To Dance With You"
"If I Fell"
"Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand"

"Beatles '65":
"No Reply"
"I'm a Loser"
"Baby's in Black
"Rock and Roll Music"
"I'll Follow the Sun"
"Mr. Moonlight"
"Honey Don't"
"I'll Be Back"
"She's a Woman"
"I Feel Fine"
"Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby"

HE'S AN AMERICAN NOW

Jim Carrey officially becoming a United States citizen Tuesday. The Canadian-born funnyman has no intention of giving up his ties north of the border however and will maintain dual citizenship.

Matthew Perry to Guest Star on 'Scrubs'

NEW YORK - Matthew Perry is sweeping back to NBC, but he won't be visiting his friend "Joey." Instead, Perry will be sitting in the director's chair and standing in front of the lens as a guest star for the Nov. 23 episode of "Scrubs," NBC has announced.

In the Perry-directed episode, the former "Friends" star will play a man willing to donate one of his kidneys to his sick father — played by Perry's real-life dad John Bennett Perry — until complications arise.

The appearance will mark the first time — other than Matt LeBlanc on his spinoff, "Joey" — that a "Friends" principal has returned to the peacock network. For 10 seasons, Perry played sarcastic "Friend" Chandler Bing.

Perry's not the only former NBC star suiting up for "Scrubs." Julianna Margulies, who was featured on "ER" for six seasons, will guest star in two sweeps episodes on Nov. 9 and Nov. 16. This time Margulies' NBC performance will be scrub-free. She'll portray a malpractice lawyer.

Former "Ed" star Tom Cavanagh reprised his guest role from last season during the October 12 episode.

"Scrubs" stars Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Donald Faison, Neil Flynn, Ken Jenkins, Judy Reyes, and John C. McGinley as the wacky resident staff of Sacred Heart Hospital.

Angry Michael Jackson Says Eminem Video Demeaning

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Michael Jackson, angry over a "demeaning and insensitive" new Eminem music video that makes light of the child molestation charges against him, on Tuesday asked that networks pull it off the air.

Eminem's "Just Lose It" video shows the rapper, dressed as Jackson, sitting on the edge of a bed as young boys bounce behind him. At another point his nose falls off, a reference to rumors that Jackson has had extensive plastic surgery.

The video has already been pulled off the BET cable television network at the request of the self-proclaimed "King of Pop," who became one of the best-selling recording artists of all time in part thanks to his elaborate and pioneering music videos.

"I'm very angry at Eminem's depiction of me in this video. I feel that it is outrageous and disrespectful. It is one thing to spoof but it is another to be demeaning and insensitive," Jackson said in a radio interview in Los Angeles, according to a transcript provided by his spokeswoman.

"I've admired Eminem as (an) artist and was shocked by this. The video was inappropriate and disrespectful to me, my children, my family and the community at large," he said. "It is my hope that the other networks will take BET's lead and pull it."

A publicist for Eminem released a brief statement saying "We are sorry" BET chose to take the video off the air. He declined further comment.

Jackson, 46, faces trial in January on a 10-count indictment that charges him with child molestation and conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty.

The Couch Potato Report - October 12th, 2004

In The Couch Potato Report this week, there's a disastrous disaster
film, and the always charming Kate Hudson.

The disaster movie has long been a successful staple of the motion picture industry.

The seventies gave us THE TOWERING INFERNO, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, AIRPORT and EARTHQUAKE.

In the nineties we went to see INDEPENDENCE DAY, TWISTER, ARMAGEDDON and the two most successful disaster movies of all time: JURASSIC PARK and TITANIC.

Now, in 2004, we have THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW.

If you are a fan of the disaster film genre - meaning you prefer spectacle to script - then this is a film for you.

But, be warned, this film doesn't just feature stuff blowing up real good. It has a message!

And that message is that as a result of global warming, the Gulf Stream shuts down. Then the North Atlantic region starts to cool while heat builds up in the tropics. The result is a severe storm, the likes of which have never been seen, and a dramatic change in the global climate.

That all causes the disasters in this disaster film to be set in motion.

Now, up to the point that the disasters stop happening, and that includes the explanations of what is happening around the globe, up until the explosions end THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW is actually pretty good.

However, once the talking and the "how do we get out of this?" part of the movie begins then the entire film goes downhill and is quite unwatchable.

THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW was directed by Roland Emmerich and just like his INDEPENDENCE DAY and GODZILLA remake special effects are the big selling point with his films.

Even if the points behind the dialogue in the movie is possible, and could have real world consequence, it's the spectacle that's important here, not the script.

So forget the less-than-original plot about a father and son who endure an end-of-the-world scenario and just sit back, relax, and enjoy the sights of a tornado-ravaged Los Angeles, blizzards in New Delhi, Japan being pummeled by
grapefruit-sized hailstones, and Manhattan flooded by swelling oceans and then frozen by the onset of a modern ice age.

The special effects are great, even if the movie is not.

THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW is not a film you will remember forever; but because of the great special effects, and an enjoyable cast that includes Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal it's also a film that you won't feel was a total waste of time to watch.

No THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW is a total waste of your time.

And as much as I would like to say the opposite is true with this week's other major new release, I just can't.

No, RAISING HELEN isn't a total waste of your time either.

It is utterly average, but I didn't hate the film. A film I expected to hate.

The always charming Kate Hudson from ALMOST FAMOUS and HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS is the very superflous Helen.

Her life is but a dream of parties and men until her sister and brother in law die in a car crash and they leave custody of their three children to Helen.

Helen's other sister is already a suburban Mom, but since this is a movie she ends up taking them in.

Since the film is from the director of PRETTY WOMAN and THE PRINCESS DIARIES, some very predictable comedy and cinematic life lessons are contained within RAISING HELEN, but the film isn't a waste of your time.

It looks like it should have been, but it just isn't.

I wouldn't call it a movie you should rush out and rent, but if you have wanted to see it, check it out.

THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW and RAISING HELEN are both available right now at your favourite local video store.

COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT

Hugh Jackman from X-MEN and and Kate Beckinsale of SERENDIPITY are the very original actors who star in the less than original film VAN HELSING where they battle monsters in Transylvania. Yes I'm serious.

I'm also serious when I tell you that on June 19, 1978 the comic strip Garfield debuted in 41 newspapers. Today, Garfield is the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world appearing in 2,570 newspapers.

On June 11, 2004 GARFIELD: THE MOVIE debuted in 3,094 theaters. Even though the film isn't horrible, and Bill Murray is okay as the voice of the titular cat, here's hoping we get another 26 years of laughter from the comic strip before they even think about making another film.

Finally next week, the ED WOOD: SPECIAL EDITION DVD that was supposed to come out in February will finally see the light of day. If you are a fan of old Hollywood, classic characters, or a recent convert of Johnny Depp's, then this is a movie for you!

I'm Dan Reynish and I'll have more on those, and some other releases,
in seven days.

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next week on The Couch!

Do You Love Music?

Here are the new CD releases for Tuesday, October 12, 2004:

311 311 Day 2004 - Live In New Orleans (Zomba)
ALICIA KEYS DVD-TBA-WW (J Records)
AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB Love Songs for Patriots (Merge)
ARETHA FRANKLIN TBA (Arista)
BACKSTREET BOYS TBA (Zomba)
CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN New Roman Times (Cooking Vinyl/spinART)
CAVE IN TBA-WW (RCA)
CELINE DION Miracles (collaboration with Anne Geddes) (Sony)
DAVE MATTHEWS BAND TBA-WW
DIDO TBA-DVD (Arista)
HOPE OF THE STATES The Lost Riots (Sony)
KIRK FRANKLIN TBA (Zomba)
LONESTAR DVD-TBA-WW (RCA Country)
THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES Origins (Warner)

All release dates are subject to change.

'Team America' Takes on the World

LOS ANGELES - Sometimes Trey Parker and Matt Stone are trying to make you laugh, and sometimes they're trying to make you squirm. The "South Park" creators do all of the above with their new film, "Team America: World Police," which narrowly avoided an NC-17 rating by trimming a hardcore sex scene — between puppets.

"Team America" is inspired by the old "Thunderbirds" puppet sci-fi adventure TV show. Parker and Stone, who delight in pushing the limits of both comedy and taste, borrow the format to mock the Iraq war and Hollywood blow-up epics like "Con Air" and "Armageddon."

The movie follows a squad of marionette heroes who fight terrorists (never mind that they reduce Paris and Cairo to ruins in the process). They recruit a Broadway actor, Gary, as an undercover operative. But Gary isn't always on board with their aggressive ways — yet he's tired of Hollywood liberal whining and, hey, somebody's got to stop North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il from destroying the world, right?

Parker and Stone had puppets made of President Bush and John Kerry, but ultimately cut both characters from the movie, saying they didn't want it to be blatantly political.

"For us, it's a way to think about all the emotions behind the politics," Stone said. "It's not so much, 'Here's what we should do. ...' Gary is supposed to (represent) all the emotions that we've felt over the past couple years (about America's role in the world.) Are you proud? Are you ashamed? It's probably a combination of both."

Parker and Stone don't feel they have much to add to political discourse in general.

"I think the only thing we do assert is that it's fine and good for everyone to hate us (Americans) and think we're (jerks), but there is a big difference between (jerks) and (psychos)" like Osama Bin Laden, Parker said — substituting profane body-part slang for his descriptions.

Body parts were conspicuously absent from the puppet sex scene — the marionettes have only a network of joints and hinges awkwardly bumping and grinding. After the scene was cut, the movie ratings board gave "Team America" an R.

"It's still funny," Stone said if the scene, "but nowhere near what it was. The scene itself is so funny and innocuous. It's not mean-spirited. It's not edgy. It's just what kids do. We all did that with dolls growing up."

Old college friends Parker and Stone are mostly tickled by what they see as the silliness of the ratings board decision. Parker points out that the pervasive gruesome violence — such as the gory, bullet-riddled bodies of puppet celebrities — didn't raise any eyebrows.

The old phrase "equal opportunity offender" applies generously to this movie, which attempts to place the world's population in three groups: sissies represented by Hollywood peaceniks like Tim Robbins and Michael Moore; jerks played by hard-charging "My country, right or wrong" nationalists on the "world police" team; and psychos — terrorists, dictators and global criminals.

In "Team America," jerks need the sissies to keep them in line, and sissies need the jerks to protect them from psychos.

Overall, the movie is just meant to provoke people, regardless of their politics.

"That's much more interesting than, 'Here's what we think!'" Stone said. "We don't know anything about foreign policy or anything. We don't know anything about anything."

"We make cartoons," Parker added, with mock feebleness.

So far only one celebrity they lampoon has lashed back: Sean Penn, who entered their comedic cross-hairs when he made a trip to Iraq and then published ads denouncing the then-impending American attack.

In the letter, the Oscar-winning "Mystic River" star said he didn't "mind being of service, in satire and silliness" as a character who becomes a pawn of North Korea's super-villain, but took issue with Stone on another matter.

In a recent Rolling Stone magazine article, Stone mocked hip-hop mogul P. Diddy's "Vote or Die" registration campaign, saying he didn't think "uninformed" people should be encouraged to go to the polls.

"It's all well to joke about me or whomever you choose," Penn wrote. "Not so well, to encourage irresponsibility that will ultimately lead to the disembowelment, mutilation, exploitation, and death of innocent people throughout the world."

Stone claimed Penn misunderstood him.

"My whole thing is I just wish uninformed people would just stay home," Stone told The Associated Press. "If you don't know who you're going to vote for, there's no shame in not voting."

Parker said he was just grateful for the free press Penn gave them by sending his letter to the Los Angeles Times: "It's really funny because in the letter he's really unhappy with us, and yet he couldn't have done anything better for the movie. Now we're on the front page again!"

They reserve their harshest treatment, however, for "Fahrenheit 9/11" filmmaker Michael Moore — but their disdain is as much personal as political.

Stone, who is from Littleton, Colo., agreed to talk about his hometown and the infamous high-school shooting there for Moore's anti-gun documentary "Bowling for Columbine."

"We have a very specific beef with Michael Moore," Stone said. "I did an interview, and he didn't mischaracterize me or anything I said in the movie. But what he did do was put this cartoon right after me that made it look like we did that cartoon."

Parker and Stone still harbor hard feelings about that sassy, anti-gun cartoon because they feel it was done in "South Park" style. They believe the proximity to Stone's interview misled some fans into thinking they had done the cartoon, even though Moore never said they did.

For this slight, Moore's punishment in "Team America" is extreme: he's depicted as a gibbering, overweight, hot-dog eating buffoon who straps explosives to his body to blow up the American do-gooders. The puppet was reportedly stuffed with ham when it blew.

Cruel? Certainly. Unfair? Yes.

But the "South Park" guys like to make you squirm.

Bee Gees Round Up 'Number Ones'

NEW YORK (Billboard) - In the vein of similar projects celebrating the Beatles and Elvis Presley, Universal will on Nov. 9 release "Bee Gees Number Ones," compiling chart-topping hits from the legendary Gibb brothers.

The project will be released with different track lists for international markets and will also be available in a limited edition with a bonus DVD.

The North American/international edition boasts 19 tracks, running chronologically from 1967's "Massachusetts" to 1987's "You Win Again." In between are such massive hits as "Jive Talkin'," "How Deep Is Your Love," "Stayin' Alive," "Night Fever" and "Tragedy." The disc closes with 2001's "Man in the Middle," included as a tribute to Maurice Gibb, who died suddenly last year.

In the U.K. and Japan, "Number Ones" features a slightly different 20-track running order, adding cuts such as "More Than a Woman" and "Islands in the Stream," a 1983 No. 1 hit for Dolly Parton.

The limited-edition CD/DVD combo includes 18 audio tracks plus rare footage of the group performing "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," "How Deep Is Your Love," "Jive Talkin'," "Massachusetts" and "I Started a Joke" on the U.K. TV show "An Audience With."

Springsteen's 'Plugged' Grows a Little on DVD

NEW YORK (Billboard) - The Bruce Springsteen home video title "MTV Plugged" will be reissued Nov. 9 on DVD with the addition of one performance not included in the original 1992 concert broadcast.

"Roll of the Dice," which stems from that year's Columbia studio album "Human Touch," joins "Living Proof" and "If I Should Fall Behind," which were not broadcast but appeared on the now out-of-print VHS release of this title.

"Plugged" stems from what was to be Springsteen's appearance on MTV's popular "Unplugged" series, which placed major artists in an acoustic setting in front of an intimate audience. Admittedly not rehearsed well enough to perform in that forum, Springsteen broke the rules and performed electric, leading the network to market the broadcast with the "Un" crossed out in the "Unplugged" logo.

Joining the Boss for the performance were guitarist Shane Fontayne, drummer Zachary Alford and bassist Tommy Sims, sometimes referred to by fans as his "fake band," as they were the players with whom Springsteen performed during an extended break from working with the E Street Band that included the release of the simultaneously released "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town," selections from which make up the bulk of the "Plugged" selections.

Also joining Springsteen for the taping were E Streeters Roy Bittan (keyboards) and Patti Scialfa (vocals/guitar), and multi-instrumentalist Crystal Talifero and backing vocalists Gia Ciambotti, Carol Dennis, Cleopatra Kennedy, Bobby King and Angel Rogers.

Springsteen is in the midst of the multi-artist Vote for Change tour, which will stage its all-star finale Monday night in Washington, D.C.. He'll headline one additional show Wednesday in East Rutherford, N.J., with R.E.M., John Fogerty and Jackson Browne also taking part, among others.

Christopher Reeve Dies at 52

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. - Actor Christopher Reeve, who turned personal tragedy into a public crusade and from his wheelchair became the nation's most recognizable spokesman for spinal cord research, has died. He was 52.

Reeve died Sunday of complications from an infection caused by a bedsore. He went into cardiac arrest Saturday, while at his Pound Ridge home, then fell into a coma and died Sunday at a hospital surrounded by his family, his publicist said.

His advocacy for stem cell research helped it emerge as a major campaign issue between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry. His name was even mentioned by Kerry during the second presidential debate on Friday.

In the last week Reeve had developed a serious systemic infection, a common problem for people living with paralysis who develop bedsores and depend on tubes and other medical devices needed for their care. He entered the hospital Saturday.

Dana Reeve thanked her husband's personal staff of nurses and aides, "as well as the millions of fans from around the world."

"He put up with a lot," his mother, Barbara Johnson, told the syndicated television show "The Insider." "I'm glad that he is free of all those tubes."

Before the 1995 horse-riding accident that caused his paralysis, Reeve's athletic, 6-foot-4-inch frame and love of adventure made him a natural choice for the title role in the first "Superman" movie in 1978. He insisted on performing his own stunts.

"Look, I've flown, I've become evil, loved, stopped and turned the world backward, I've faced my peers, I've befriended children and small animals and I've rescued cats from trees," Reeve told the Los Angeles Times in 1983, just before the release of the third "Superman" movie. "What else is there left for Superman to do that hasn't been done?"

Though he owed his fame to it, Reeve made a concerted effort to, as he often put it, "escape the cape." He played an embittered, crippled Vietnam veteran in the 1980 Broadway play "Fifth of July," a lovestruck time-traveler in the 1980 movie "Somewhere in Time," and an aspiring playwright in the 1982 suspense thriller "Deathtrap."

More recent films included John Carpenter's "Village of the Damned," and the HBO movies "Above Suspicion" and "In the Gloaming," which he directed. Among his other film credits are "The Remains of the Day," "The Aviator," and "Morning Glory."

Reeve's life changed completely after he broke his neck in May 1995 when he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Va.

Enduring months of therapy to allow him to breathe for longer and longer periods without a respirator, Reeve emerged to lobby Congress for better insurance protection against catastrophic injury. He moved an Academy Award audience to tears with a call for more films about social issues.

"Hollywood needs to do more," he said in the 1996 Oscar awards appearance. "Let's continue to take risks. Let's tackle the issues. In many ways our film community can do it better than anyone else."

He returned to directing, and even returned to acting in a 1998 production of "Rear Window," a modern update of the Hitchcock thriller about a man in a wheelchair who is convinced a neighbor has been murdered. Reeve won a Screen Actors Guild award for best actor in a TV movie or miniseries.

"I was worried that only acting with my voice and my face, I might not be able to communicate effectively enough to tell the story," Reeve said. "But I was surprised to find that if I really concentrated, and just let the thoughts happen, that they would read on my face."

Reeve also made several guest appearances on the WB series "Smallville" as Dr. Swann, a scientist who gave the teenage Clark Kent insight into his future as Superman.

In 2000, Reeve was able to move his index finger, and a specialized workout regimen made his legs and arms stronger. With rigorous therapy, involving repeated electrical stimulation of the muscles, he also regained sensation in other parts of his body. He vowed to walk again.

"I refuse to allow a disability to determine how I live my life. I don't mean to be reckless, but setting a goal that seems a bit daunting actually is very helpful toward recovery," Reeve said.

Dr. John McDonald treated Reeve as director of the Spinal Cord Injury Program at Washington University in St. Louis. He called Reeve "one of the most intense individuals I've ever met in my life."

"Before him there was really no hope," McDonald said. "If you had a spinal cord injury like his there was not much that could be done, but he's changed all that. He's demonstrated that there is hope and that there are things that can be done."

Dr. Raymond Onders, who implanted electrodes in Reeve's diaphragm in a groundbreaking surgery to help him breathe, said the sore that led to the infection was not Reeve's only recent health problem.

"Many different problems develop after nine years of being dependent on a ventilator, not being able to move yourself, having intestinal problems. ... It just slowly builds up over the years," Onders told ABC's "Good Morning America."

Reeve was born Sept. 25, 1952, in New York City, son of a novelist and a newspaper reporter. About age 10, he made his first stage appearance — in Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Yeoman of the Guard" at a theater in Princeton, N.J.

After graduating from Cornell University in 1974, he landed a part as coldhearted bigamist Ben Harper on the soap opera "Love of Life." He also performed frequently on stage, winning his first Broadway role as the grandson of Katharine Hepburn's character in "A Matter of Gravity."

Reeve's first movie role was a minor one in the submarine disaster movie "Gray Lady Down," released in 1978. "Superman" soon followed. Reeve was selected for the role from among about 200 aspirants.

While filming "Superman" in London, Reeve met modeling agency co-founder Gae Exton, and the two began a relationship that lasted several years. They had a son and a daughter, but never wed.

Reeve later married Dana Morosini; they had one son, Will, 12. Reeve also is survived by his mother, Barbara Johnson; his father, Franklin Reeve; his brother, Benjamin Reeve; and the children from his relationship with Exton, Matthew, 25, and Alexandra, 21.

Funeral plans were not immediately announced.

In his 1998 book, "Still Me," he recalled that after the accident, when he contemplating giving up, his wife told him: "I want you to know that I'll be with you for the long haul, no matter what. You're still you. And I love you."

His children helped, too, he told interviewer Barbara Walters.

"I could see how much they needed me and wanted me ... and how lucky we all are and that my brain is on straight."

Wait for Raimi Commentary Until 'Spider-Man 2.5'

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - The "Spider-Man 2" DVD is scheduled to be released Nov. 30 with more than 10 hours of bonus materials and commentaries but director Sam Raimi ("A Simple Plan") tells Zap2it.com that his contribution to the "Spider-Man 2.5" DVD won't be ready until much later.

"I know I won't be done with my part of it," says Raimi who is working on new effect shots, editing, and storyboarding new scenes for the "Spider-Man 2.5" DVD. "I don't think I can be done until January at least, maybe February."

"Spider-Man 2.5" will be an extended cut of "Spider-Man 2." Raimi says that he will complete scenes that he didn't have the cash to finish when he did Spidey 2.

"I board-out with my artists a lot of the sequences in the Spider-Man movies that I eventually cut down for pacing sake, most often times for money sake -- we can't afford them," explains the director while out doing press for the Sarah Michelle Gellar horror flick "The Grudge."

Raimi says that the additional scenes are short but take a lot of time to create.

"It may not seem like a lot to you but it's a lot to me. It's like six seconds new of the train, there's going to be like eight seconds new of some water fight you never saw, there's like 12 seconds new on this battle building," Raimi explains. "For me though 12 seconds is six shots that all have to be figured out, and within thattwo2 seconds the amount of animation for each of those tentacles and how Spidey's going to move and it's very complicated for me."

In epic films like Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings," extra footage released on DVD is often provided by scenes cut from the film and story left out of the novels. However, Raimi says that's not the case for "Spider-Man 2.5."

"We have to work the other way: what won't they [the audience] mind that we could put in?" he says.

Raimi says that releasing 2.5 as well as "Spider-Man 2" is simply a financial decision by the Sony. "They know that people who like the second movie would want to own it as it is on DVD. And then it's just a gamble. 'Oh if we spend another four million dollars can we make another $10 million?' I think that's how it works," he explains.

"It's not really that I had some scenes to put in. The movie really was the best I could make it. It's not like I could see how you make it better. But I said, 'Okay, if you want to spend money and really give the kids a few more action scenes in there, that's fine it's [the] kids choice if they want to spend that money,' but then I think it's fair."

"Spider-Man 2" is scheduled to be released Nov. 30. "Spider-Man 2.5" as yet has no scheduled release date.

Raimi Spills About 'Spidey 3'

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - The villains featured in the next "Spider-Man" movie have yet to be unmasked, but writer/director Sam Raimi says they'll be chosen after they pick apart Peter Parker's angst.

While doing press for the horror film "The Grudge," which he produced, Raimi tells Zap2it.com that they're making progress on "Spider-Man 3" and he reveals that it's probably the final film in the blockbuster franchise for the high-flying superhero.

At the moment the identities of the villains remain a mystery even to Raimi himself. "I'm not supposed to tell you, and in fact I can't tell you -- because I'm still figuring that out with my brother," says Raimi, adding that he and his brother Ivan ("Army of Darkness") don't plan on writing "Spider-Man 3" all on their own. "[We're] bringing in the really good writers like Alvin Sargent, ("Spider-Man 2") and maybe Michael Chabon ("Spider-Man 2") if I can get him - yeah the best in the business."

However, the Raimi brothers have already kick started the process by posing a number of questions for Parker, Spidey's alter-ego.

"We're writing the story right now and we're starting by determining what Peter Parker's journey is as a human being," says Raimi. "What deficits does he have? Where was he at the end of the last film and what is it that he still has to learn? How will this relationship with the woman he loves evolve from this point forward and what will be their new obstacles? Will it come from outside sources or will it be something from within that destroys their love? These are the questions were asking."

Raimi helmed the first two films that star Tobey Maguire ("Seabiscuit") and Kirsten Dunst ("Wimbledon.")

Raimi says that once he and his brother know what the characters want, where they're headed, and what it is they have to learn, they will then try to find a villain who best represents those conflicts. "So it's maybe kind of a backwards way to chose a villain. That's why I can't quite say yet. I haven't quite figured it out yet," admits the director.

Principal photography for "Spider-Man 3" is scheduled to commence in January 2006 and the director confesses that he would love to make a fourth film. But he says, "I know how quickly things turn in Hollywood, so I know after this third one that will be it."

And besides, Raimi admits that he is afraid to ask Sony chairman Amy Pascal about continuing the franchise.

"I never have asked her but I have the feeling that she just wants this one to be the final one. She's very emotionally attached to them and wants us to have a sense of completion to it for the audience," Raimi says. "[She feels] that they probably would like to see a 'Spider-Man 3,' but not any more. So she wants to make it complete and final without setting up new things at the end, like the end of the second one."

This year "Spider-Man 2" has grossed over $371 million at the box office, second only to "Shrek 2" that grossed more than $436 million.

Sarah McLachlan uses music video to raise funds for charity

VANCOUVER (CP) - Sarah McLachlan asked what her $150,000 music video budget could buy, and found the answer in the Third World.

The singer, video director Sophie Muller and the production crew donated their services to make the short film for World On Fire, which is currently on heavy rotation on MuchMoreMusic.

The video explains how the money will be used. For example, instead of spending $5,000 on hair and makeup, 145 Afghan girls will be schooled for one year. Other items include spending $7,500 on medicine for 5,000 people for six months in Nairobi, Kenya or $500 on nuts and bolts to secure houses of monsoon victims.

"The song is about trying not to feel paralysed when we see all that is wrong with the world, and remembering that even the smallest gesture can make a difference - corny but true," McLachlan said in a statement.

"I wanted a video that wasn't about me and wasn't preachy, but one that would help shine a light on the tragedy and turmoil in the world and also show the beauty and strength of the human spirit."

In addition to graphics illustrating the donated items, the four-minute, 19-second-long video shows footage from the affected villages.

The $150,000 was divided between 11 charities including Action Aid, War Child and Care Usa.

Classmates Sue Over 'Dazed and Confused'

SANTA FE, N.M. - Three former high school classmates of "Dazed and Confused" director Richard Linklater have filed a lawsuit claiming they have suffered embarrassment and ridicule because of characters based on them in the movie.

The men — Bobby Wooderson, Andy Slater and Richard "Pink" Floyd — say Linklater did not get their permission before creating three characters in the 1993 cult classic sharing their surnames and likenesses. The suit was filed Thursday in Santa Fe against Universal Studios, which released the film.

The movie follows the drug- and alcohol-fueled hijinks of teenagers on the last day of school in May 1976. The men said the negative characterizations in the film have made their lives miserable and caused their neighbors to think poorly of them.

"We had fun in high school, but there is nothing true about that movie. Yet, I am having to deal with it all the time," said Floyd, who works at a car dealership in Huntsville, Texas, where the men went to high school.

Ernest Freeman, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, said Slater has also had problems because people make assumptions that he takes illegal drugs.

Slater runs a construction and remodeling company and Wooderson works in the technology sector. Both men also still live in Huntsville.

Linklater's agent did not immediately return a message Saturday seeking comment.

The suit was filed in New Mexico because it has a longer statute of limitations than other states for claims of defamation and false light, attorneys said.

'Shark Tale' Nets Second No. 1 Weekend

LOS ANGELES - "Shark Tale" remained the big fish at the box office, with the animated comedy taking in $31.7 million to hold the No. 1 spot for a second straight weekend.

Billy Bob Thornton's "Friday Night Lights," based on the real-life fervor for high school football in small-town Odessa, Texas, debuted in second place with $20.6 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Another holdover, the firefighting drama "Ladder 49," came in third with $13.3 million, while the Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon action comedy "Taxi" had a so-so opening weekend of $12.05 million to place fourth.

The weekend's other new wide release, Hilary Duff's teen tale "Raise Your Voice," debuted at a weak No. 6 with $4.6 million.

Expanding to wider release after two weeks in a limited run, "The Motorcycle Diaries" broke into the top 10, grossing $1.4 million for ninth place. The film chronicles a road trip taken by the young Ernesto "Che" Guevara and a pal across South America.

The overall box office was virtually unchanged compared to the same weekend last year, with the top 12 movies taking in $98.3 million.

With the family audience almost to itself, "Shark Tale" held up especially well, its haul down just 33 percent from opening weekend. The movie lifted its 10-day total to $87.7 million.

"Ladder 49," starring John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix, also had a solid hold, its gross down 40 percent from its first weekend to raise its total to $42.2 million.

Based on H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger's 1990 best seller, "Friday Night Lights" stars Thornton as Permian High School football coach Gary Gaines as he steers his team toward a championship run.

The movie had been aimed largely at young males, but it captured a fairly wide audience, with 54 percent of viewers older than 25 and women making up 44 percent of the crowds, according to distributor Universal Studios.

"I think it's the fact that it's a true story, and the fact that is has a lot of heart, which bodes well even for females," said Nikki Rocco, Universal head of distribution. "I loved it because it really delves into the feeling of what it's like to be so committed to something."

Among the new movies, "Friday Night Lights" earned high marks from critics, while reviewers generally trashed "Taxi" and "Raise Your Voice."

"You can really attribute the gross on `Friday Night Lights' to the strong reviews," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "It's a football movie and has appeal to a lot of high schoolers at this time of year, but much of the audience for a movie like that decides to see a movie based on reviews."

In limited release, Billy Crudup and Claire Danes' Restoration-era theater drama "Stage Beauty" did solid business, opening with $39,000 in three theaters.

The techno-thriller "Primer," the top dramatic prize winner at last winter's Sundance Film Festival, also debuted in three theaters and pulled in $30,360.

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Shark Tale," $31.7 million.
2. "Friday Night Lights," $20.6 million.
3. "Ladder 49," $13.3 million.
4. "Taxi," $12.05 million.
5. "The Forgotten," $7.5 million.
6. "Raise Your Voice," $4.6 million.
7. "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow," $2.3 million.
8. "Shaun of the Dead," $1.6 million.
9. "The Motorcycle Diaries," $1.4 million.
10. "Resident Evil: Apocalypse," $1.25 million.

Singer Melissa Etheridge diagnosed with breast cancer, cancels tour

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Singer Melissa Etheridge has been diagnosed with breast cancer and has cancelled upcoming tour dates to undergo treatment, her publicist said Thursday.

Etheridge, 43, will undergo surgery and a "speedy and complete recovery" is expected by her doctor, publicist Marcel Pariseau said in a statement. The cancer was detected early and Etheridge has been receiving treatment, Pariseau said. "I am fortunate to be under a wonderful doctor's care and thankful that this was caught early," Etheridge said in the statement. "I am looking forward to a quick and full recovery."

Etheridge and actress Tammy Lynn Michaels held a commitment ceremony in September 2003. The musician, who lives in Los Angeles, shares custody of a daughter and son with former partner Julie Cypher, who had the children through artificial insemination using a sperm donation from rocker David Crosby.

Etheridge's latest album, Lucky, was released in February. Refunds for tickets to her upcoming shows will be available where they were bought; the entertainer's website says she had been scheduled to play 11 dates in seven cities this month.

Letterman Narrows Late-Night Ratings Gap with Leno

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rival talk show hosts Jay Leno and David Letterman are fighting again, turning up the heat on the serious business of late-night comedy ratings.

Nearly a year after NBC chieftain Jeff Zucker proclaimed Leno was so far ahead in the ratings that "there is no more late-night war," CBS boasted on Thursday that Letterman was on the comeback trail, narrowing the gap against a fading Leno.

To be sure, NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" remains the No. 1 choice of viewers by every measure over the CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," a dynamic that has held sway since 1995. So precious to NBC is "The Tonight Show" franchise that the network last week gave the world five years' advance notice that Leno would be stepping down in 2009 to make way for Conan O'Brien.

But in a trend that began during the summer, Letterman has cut Leno's overall viewer advantage by more than half to less than 1 million viewers a night so far this season, according to figures from Nielsen Media Research.

For the first two weeks of the season, Letterman is averaging 4.64 million viewers nightly, up 10 percent from the same period a year ago. Leno, meanwhile, is off 6 percent in total audience to 5.59 million viewers. Last year, "Tonight" enjoyed a 2 million-viewer margin over "Late Show."

Moreover, "Late Show" is up 14 percent in the benchmark audience demographic of viewers aged 18-49 -- the group most prized by advertisers -- compared with the first two weeks of last season, while "Tonight" is down 13 percent.

"What was once an insurmountable lead is clearly shrinking," a CBS spokesman told Reuters, citing the network's early dominance in prime time as a key factor in driving up ratings for its late-night audience.

NBC executives, however, were quick to assert that two weeks does not a trend make.

They acknowledge that Letterman posted exceptionally strong numbers the first week of the season, with guest appearances by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and self-help guru Dr. Phil McGraw drawing hefty audiences. But they said Leno returned to a wider margin of victory last week.

NBC also said that year-to-year comparisons favor Letterman because he was still in a relative slump this time last year following an unplanned hiatus of several weeks in the spring of 2003 due to a bout with shingles.

CBS insists that Letterman has been steadily gaining ground since early summer.

From May 31 through Aug. 6, "Late Show" cut "Tonight" to its slimmest summertime lead since 2001 among young adults and since 1996 in overall viewership, according to Nielsen. At the same time, Leno experienced his lowest standings since Letterman premiered on CBS opposite his program in 1993.

'Fahrenheit' Burns Home-Video Sales Records

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Michael Moore's politically charged documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" sold about 2 million combined DVD and VHS units Tuesday (Oct. 5), its first day in release, according to industry sources.

That Day 1 sales figure and projected Week 1 sales of 3 million combined units set the benchmark as the most successful documentary ever released on home video.

While initial home video sales figures for "Fahrenheit" were expected to break records -- considering its $119 million domestic boxoffice take -- industry observers are watching closely to see how the title will sell and rent over time.

Of the units sold Tuesday, about 1.4 million were sold to rental stores, sources said.

Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, which is distributing "Fahrenheit" in the United States, has taken a conservative approach to releasing the title, shipping about 3.4 million combined units to retail and rental stores for its launch week, sources said.

Last week's best-selling DVD and rental title was MGM Home Entertainment's "Walking Tall," which generated about $6.11 million in gross rental spending during its first five days on store shelves, according to Nielsen VideoScan and Video Store magazine research, respectively.

Lions Gate's "Barbie as the Prince and the Pauper" was the nation's best-selling VHS and the sixth-best-selling DVD for the week ending Oct. 3, according to VideoScan. The latest direct-to-video release of "Barbie" is believed to have sold more than 800,000 combined DVD and VHS units during its first five days on store shelves.

Universal Studios Home Video's release of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, was the third-best-selling DVD and the fourth-best-renting video during the same frame. "Eternal Sunshine" generated about $4.5 million in gross rental spending, or 13.3% of its domestic boxoffice take, according to Video Store magazine.

Fogerty Readies Fall Headlining Tour

Following his run on the ongoing Vote for Change tour, John Fogerty will launch his own headlining tour Nov. 8 at Nashville's famed Ryman Auditorium. At deadline, 11 stops were confirmed in such cities as New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago and Boston; more dates are expected.

The former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman is heading out in support of his latest studio album, "Déjà Vu All Over Again." Released last month by Geffen Records/Interscope, the set debuted at No. 23 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 37,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

While the album's title track is a politically charged song that draws comparisons between the war in Iraq and the Vietnam War, the rest of the set is far more lighthearted. "I'm a rock'n'roll musician, and at the time I was growing up, the first order of business for rock'n'roll was to have fun," Fogerty recently told Billboard.

On Friday, Fogerty kicked off a stint on the Vote for Change tour with Bruce Springsteen and R.E.M. in Philadelphia. So far, he has been performing "Centerfield," the new album's title track and CCR's "Fortunate Son," as well as joining in on Springsteen's "The Promised Land."

That leg of the tour plays tonight (Oct. 5) in St. Paul, Minn. (with Bright Eyes rounding out the bill) and Friday in Orlando, Fla. (with Tracy Chapman). Fogerty will also take part in Monday's all-star finale in Washington, D.C., and will join Springsteen and Jackson Browne at a just announced Oct. 13 show in New Jersey.

Here are Fogerty's tour dates:

Oct. 5: St. Paul, Minn. (Xcel Energy Center; Vote for Change)
Oct. 8: Orlando, Fla. (TD Waterhouse Centre; Vote for Change)
Oct. 11: Washington, D.C. (MCI Center; Vote for Change)
Oct. 13: East Rutherford, N.J. (Continental Airlines Arena; Vote for Change)
Nov. 8: Nashville (Ryman Auditorium)
Nov. 9: Asheville, N.C. (Thomas Wolfe Auditorium)
Nov. 10: Atlanta (Tabernacle)
Nov. 12: Washington, D.C. (930 Club)
Nov. 13: Upper Darby, Pa. (Tower Theatre)
Nov. 14: Boston (Orpheum Theatre)
Nov. 16: New York (Beacon Theatre)
Nov. 18: Toronto (Massey Hall)
Nov. 20: Detroit (State Theatre)
Nov. 21: Chicago (Chicago Theatre)
Nov. 26: Los Angeles (Pantages Theatre)

Rarities Highlight Bon Jovi Box

NEW YORK (Billboard) - "I Get a Rush," "Miss Fourth of July" and "Garageland" are a few of the previously unreleased cuts that will highlight the forthcoming five-disc box set "100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong."

Due Nov. 16 via Island, the set will feature 38 recordings that have never seen the light of day, 12 rare non-album tracks and a DVD of previously unseen interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.

The songs on the box cover 1985 to 2003 and include dozens of leftover tracks from recording sessions for Bon Jovi albums. Other songs set for inclusion are "Why Aren't You Dead?," "The Radio Saved My Life Tonight," "Outlaws of Love," "We Rule the Night" and "Rich Man Living in a Poor Man's House," which Jon Bon Jovi wrote with former Eurythmics principal Dave Stewart.

The set will come with a 64-page book featuring fan testimonials and "personal content" compiled by the band.

With the release of "100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong," the band is launching American XS Platinum, a premium level of membership in its fan program that allows participants to gain access to exclusive footage online as well as passwords for pre-sales on concert tickets.

Here is the track listing for "100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong":

Disc one:
"Why Aren't You Dead?" (outtake, 1994)
"The Radio Saved My Life Tonight" (outtake, 1992)
"Taking It Back" (outtake, 1992)
"Someday I'll Be Saturday Night (Demo)" (demo, 1994)
"Miss Fourth of July" (outtake, 1992)
"Open All Night" (outtake, 1994)
"These Arms Are Open All Night" (outtake, 1998)
"I Get a Rush" (outtake, 1996)
"Someday Just Might Be Tonight" (outtake, 1999)
"Thief of Hearts" (outtake, 2003)
"Last Man Standing" (outtake, 2003)
"I Just Want to Be Your Man" (outtake, 1994)

Disc two:
"Garageland" (outtake, 1999)
"Starting All Over Again" (bonus track for Japan release, 1992)
"Maybe Someday" (outtake, 1999)
"Last Chance Train" (outtake, 1998)
"The Fire Inside" (outtake, 1994)
"Every Beat of My Heart" (outtake, 1992)
"Rich Man Living in a Poor Man's House" (outtake, 1998)
"The One That Got Away" (outtake, 1999)
"You Can Sleep While I Dream" (outtake, 1999)
"Outlaws of Love" (outtake, 1992)
"Good Guys Don't Always Wear White" ("The Cowboy Way" soundtrack, 1994)
"We Rule the Night" (outtake, 1985)

Disc three:
"Edge of a Broken Heart" (from "Disorderlies" soundtrack, 1986)
"Sympathy" (outtake, 1992)
"Only in My Dreams" (outtake, 1994)
"Shut Up and Kiss Me" (outtake)
"Crazy Love" (outtake, 1998)
"Lonely at the Top" (B-side, 1995)
"Ordinary People" (B-side, 1999)
"Flesh and Bone" (outtake, 1994)
"Satellite" (outtake, 1999)
"If I Can't Have Your Love" (unreleased Richie Sambora (news) solo track)
"Real Life" ("EDTV" soundtrack, 1999)
"Memphis Lives in Me" (from musical "Memphis," 2003)
"Too Much of a Good Thing" (outtake, 1999)

Disc four:
"Love Ain't Nothing But a Four Letter Word" (outtake, 1992)
"Love Ain't Nothing But a Four Letter Word" (demo, 1992)
"River Runs Dry" (outtake, 1996)
"Always" (demo, 1994)
"Kidnap an Angel" (outtake, 1999)
"Breathe" (B-side, 2002)
"Out of Bounds" (outtake, 1986)
"Letter to a Friend" (outtake, 1994)
"Temptation" (B-side, 2000)
"Gotta Have a Reason" (outtake, 1993)
"All I Wanna Do Is You" (outtake)
"Billy" (outtake, 1992)
"Nobody's Hero" (outtake, 1994)
"Livin' on a Prayer" (demo, 1986)

Comic Rodney Dangerfield Dies in L.A. at Age 82

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rodney Dangerfield, the goggle-eyed comic famed for his self-deprecating one-liners and signature phrase "I can't get no respect," died on Tuesday at age 82, his spokesman said.

A veteran Las Vegas headliner and TV variety-show fixture who became a pop culture sensation in middle age with a string of broad film comedies starting with "Caddyshack" in 1980, Dangerfield died at the UCLA Medical Center, where he had undergone heart valve replacement surgery on Aug. 25, spokesman Kevin Sasaki said.

Although his initial forays into show business fizzled, Dangerfield successfully restarted his career as a comedian in his 40s. Opening one of America's first comedy clubs -- the now-famous Dangerfield's in Manhattan -- he went on to become a national sensation in his own right and helped launch the careers of such comics as Jim Carrey and Jerry Seinfeld.

His famous trademark white shirt and red tie are on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

Dangerfield suffered a stroke following his surgery in August and "developed infectious and abdominal complications from which he did not recover," Sasaki said.

During the past week, the entertainer emerged from a coma he had slipped into sometime after the operation, according to his wife, Joan. "When Rodney emerged, he kissed me, squeezed my hand, and smiled for the doctors," she said in a statement.

A native of New York's Long Island, Dangerfield had endured a series of health problems and surgeries in recent years, including double-bypass heart surgery in March 2000 and an operation three months later to correct an aneurysm. He also suffered a mild heart attack in November 2001. Last spring, he underwent brain surgery.

A month later, Dangerfield greeted reporters at the hospital dressed in a sports shirt and Bermuda shorts and declared, "My brain is OK. I feel like a new man." Later, responding to a medical question, he answered, "Ask me about things I'm familiar with, like drugs or prostitution."

TWO STARTS AT SHOWBIZ

Born Jacob Cohen in Babylon, New York, in 1921, Dangerfield began writing jokes as a teenager, struggling as a comic and singing waiter in the "Borscht Belt" resorts of the Catskill Mountains under the name of Jack Roy in the 1940s.

Leaving show business to earn a living as a house painter and aluminum siding salesman, he returned to the comedy circuit about a decade later, this time as Rodney Dangerfield.

He eventually opened a New York nightclub and became a nationally recognized act with comedy albums and numerous TV appearances. Along the way he is credited with helping give a start to an impressive array of once-obscure talents who went on to become stars, among them Carrey, Seinfeld, Roseanne and the late Sam Kinison.

Moving easily from nightclubs to TV to commercials to film, Dangerfield remained popular well past the peak of his career in the 1980s, forever tugging at his tie and drawing laughs with his catch phrase "I can't get no respect."

Dangerfield made his film debut in the 1971 low-budget comedy "The Projectionist," playing the dual supporting roles of a tyrannical cinema manager and a serial villain, The Bat.

But his big-screen breakout came in a string of rowdy comedies in the 1980s -- "Caddyshack," "Easy Money" and "Back to School." His movie appearances generally have mirrored his stand-up comedy persona, with Dangerfield playing boisterous, casually ribald characters with a rapid-fire patter of one-liners.

Later film roles included the coach of a girl's soccer team in "Ladybugs" (1992), an abusive father in Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" (1994), a tabloid TV show reporter in "Meet Wally Sparks" (1997) and a wannabe opera star in "The 4th Tenor" (2002).

In June, Dangerfield released his autobiography, "It's Not Easy Bein' Me."

He will be missed.

Actress Minnie Driver Launches Her Debut Album

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actress Minnie Driver launched her debut album on Tuesday, reigniting the musical aspirations she abandoned when she was cast in her first big movie.

The actress, now singer, performed songs from her CD, "Everything I've Got in My Pocket," at a New York record store on the day it was released by Rounder Records.

"I hope I don't give you indigestion," Driver, 34, told the assembled lunchtime crowd of about 120 people.

Driver first gained fame in 1995's "Circle of Friends" and followed that up with roles, in 1997, in "Grosse Pointe Blank" and "Good Will Hunting." She earned an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress in the latter.

Since then, Driver -- currently promoting a new movie, "The Phantom of the Opera" -- has appeared in more than a dozen films, though she also has garnered buzz for a recent recurring spot on the TV comedy "Will & Grace" and for her break-ups with actors Matt Damon and Josh Brolin.

Driver wrote 10 of the 11 songs on the album, which also includes a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart."

"Everything I've Got in My Pocket" is a return of sorts to Driver's roots. Through her teenage years and in her early twenties, she sang in jazz clubs and had a recording contract with Island Records. But she put her musical aspirations on hold after being cast in the movie "Circle of Friends."

Rounder Records, an independent U.S. label, is billing the album as "sultry, bittersweet vocals with sparse, atmospheric pop and a hint of contemporary folk."

Among fans waiting in line for Driver's autograph, Eugene Friedman of Boca Raton, Florida, said: "She tries really hard and is always trying to expand her versatility. She seems like a good sport."

The album has yet to be extensively reviewed, though the Toronto Star wrote, "She can actually sing." It added, however, "She can only write one kind of song, and it's very slooooow, sad and boring."

Nirvana box set due in November

The long-rumoured Nirvana box set will hit Canadian retail stores on November 23, according to Universal Music.

The four-disc compilation is comprised of three CDs and one DVD and, according to NME.com, is going by the working title of "With The Lights Out."

The set will contain over 40 audio tracks and a wealth of archive footage.

Fans can expect to hear previously unheard demos on the CDs, while the DVD is expected to feature an early live show.

D'OH OR DIE

The upcoming "Simpsons" movie will either "kill the show or completely reinvigorate it," the long-running animated series creator says.

While still in the earliest stages of production, a "Simpsons" movie is definitely on the way, creator Matt Groening said in an interview with London's Guardian newspaper.

"Everyone on the show this year seems really re-energized, and we're starting to throw out ideas for the movie and I think that will either kill the show or completely re-invigorate it," Groening says.

"We're trying to tell a story that we wouldn't do on television and take advantage of a longer process and a more ambitious process for animation," he says.

Meanwhile, the paper says that "The Simpsons" may finally come to an end in 2009 — after it reaches its 20th season, according to buzz at the offices where it is produced.

"It's not a machine," says Groening of how difficult the show is to produce, even after all these years. "It's a bunch of humans working really hard. It doesn't get any easier because we're still faced with the problem of having a history. We're trying not to repeat ourselves and we're also competing with people's memories of their favorite episode."

If "The Simpsons" does wrap up in 2009, it will top "Gunsmoke" as the longest running entertainment show on television — a record that's also being challenged by the "Law & Order."

With "The Simpsons" entering its 16th season, many fans have worried about the creative direction of the show. Some feel that over the years, Homer and company have lost their zing.

Groening says he was also concerned, but thinks the show is back on track.

"A few years ago I though, well, we've got to run out of steam soon and that we'd be done by now," he says. "We're not, in fact we're going full steam ahead."

Yeardly Smith, who plays the voice of Lisa Simpson, says that if the show is going to end soon, she hopes it happens while "The Simpsons" is still a ratings topper.

"I would hope that the writers would pull the plug while we're still on top of our game so we can go out with a bang instead of a piffle in terms of quality and stuff," she says.

The Couch Potato Report - October 5th, 2004

In The Couch Potato Report this week there is the film that wants to topple a President and Aladdin.

Michael Moore is a regular American from Flint, Michigan. He is also a documentary filmmaker. In his early films he attempted to find out why companies like General Motors and Nike deserted and destroyed American cities just to make greater profits.

If nothing else, his films ROGER & ME and THE BIG ONE and his television show TV NATION made you think about how companies do business. Specifically, how much money do they need to make if it comes at the expense of an entire city, and thousands of people?

In 2002 Moore released the documentary BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE.

It was an examination of the American gun culture of fear, and included Moore's trip to a bank where he received a free gun just for opening an account

BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. During his acceptance speech Moore was booed off of the stage for saying:

"We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elects a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's the fictition of duct tape or fictition of orange alerts we are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you."

It then came as no surprise when it was announced that Moore's next film was going to be about George W. Bush

That film is FAHRENHEIT 9/11. It won the Palme d'Or earlier this year as the best film at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and it is now available on video and DVD.

In FAHRENHEIT 9/11 Moore blames the Bush government for corporate corruption, senseless death, an unnecessary war, and political favoritism toward Osama Bin Laden's family and Saudi oil partners following the terrorist attacks of September 11th.

Now, before I go on, let me remind you that I live in Canada and I am a very proud Canadian. I passionately follow Canadian politics and can converse with you at any time about our country and what I feel is politically right and wrong.

I can also give you my opinions on American politics, trust me, don't ever get me started on John F. Kennedy, but since I am not an American, and have never lived in America, they are just opinions.

I have many opinions about George W. Bush that I won't get into in this forum, but let me suffice to say that he is the worst thing to happen to American politics since Lee Harvey Oswald.

That said, I was really looking forward to seeing FAHRENHEIT 9/11. I wasn't disappointed one bit.

Since I knew going in that the film's singular intention is to topple the administration of President George W. Bush I admit that even though I might have agreed with it, I still watched it with some skepticism.

In the end your own personal politics will determine whether you think FAHRENHEIT 9/11 is a good or bad movie. If you can, I suggest that you try and put all of that aside and just watch what is a very riveting and interesting film.

For the record, Michael Moore's next documentary is called SICKO and it will focus on the American healthcare system. Moore got the idea for the movie while he was shooting in Canada for BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE and heard that we Canadians don't have to pay for healthcare.

Not yet anyway.

Oops, there is that political opinion cropping up again. Let me put it away and focus on this week's other new DVD release instead.

That release is the classic animated Disney film ALADDIN. It is finally debuting on DVD.

Disney's 1992 animated feature is a triumph of wit and skill that holds up surprisingly well twelve years after the fact.

The high-tech artwork and graphics look great, the characters are strong, the familiar story is still enjoyable to watch.

Truth be told, it is Robin Williams' frantically hilarious vocal performance as ALADDIN's genie that continues to keep the movie fresh.

Even if you don't get caught up in the love story between the title character and his girlfriend Jasmine, there is still Williams's improvisational energy.

Plus, since this is the first movie that my nephew Brendan ever quoted to me, it will always hold a special place in my heart.

Now I can't wait for him to get older so I can show him FAHRENHEIT 9/11 and talk politics with him.

FAHRENHEIT 9/11 and ALADDIN are both available at your favourite local video store.

COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT

THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW is this past summer's ecological disaster film. Up to a certain point it is actually very good.

And

The always charming Kate Hudson stars in RAISING HELEN as a young woman who suddenly finds herself the mother of three.

I'm Dan Reynish and I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next week on The Couch!

New Tunage!

Here are the new CD releases for Tuesday October 5, 2004:

CAKE Pressure Chief (Sony)
CESARIA EVORA TBA-WW (Arista Associated Labels)
DIANA DEGARMO TBA album-WW (RCA)
DURAN DURAN New Album (Sony)
FATBOY SLIM Palookaville (Astralwerks/Virgin)
GOOD CHARLOTTE New Album (Sony)
HEATHER HEADLEY TBA-WW (RCA)
RHEOSTATICS 2067 (True North)
RYAN TYLER TBA-WW (RCA Country)
TOM WAITS Real Gone (Anti/Epitaph)
TYRESE TBA-WW (J Records)
WILLIAM SHATNER Has Been (Shout! Factory)

Why Idiot Was The Smart Move For Green Day

HOLLYWOOD — That American Idiot is both Green Day's most ambitious album and the band's first to debut at #1 demonstrates something to Billie Joe Armstrong.

"If there's any advice I've taken or would give, it's if you just do exactly what you want to do and don't look back, then things work out and people genuinely get excited because of that," the singer said.

A less seasoned band might be afraid to attempt a rock opera, not to mention one that attacks their current government. Green Day never thought twice about it.

"I'm surprised that more quote-unquote 'hard rock bands' haven't gotten more outspoken [against Bush]," said Armstrong, who sings "Sieg heil to the president gasman" on "Holiday." "I mean, I learn so much through music, a lot more than I have through school. You know, bands from the '60s, and the punk-rock bands in the '70s and '80s.

"I think the problem with a lot of rock bands or pop groups or whatever is that they're so afraid of damaging their precious careers," he continued. "For me, I think it is something that can enrich mine: 'Yeah, I supported this. This meant a lot to me.' "

As elaborate as American Idiot is, the album is not without singles, as the title track, currently #1 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart, proves. For the follow-up, Green Day are going with the somber "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."

"It comes right after the song 'Holiday' and it sort of deals with more of that alienation and disenfranchised feelings, but sort of singles it out to something more melancholy," Armstrong explained. "I think that's the link between a song like 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' to even a song like 'American Idiot.' "

Green Day have yet to select a video treatment, but bassist Mike Dirnt joked he wanted "something with bling in it." "Motorcycles and jet skis and stuff," drummer Tre Cool added.

Truthfully, the band would probably rather save their video budget to make a companion film to the nine-minute operetta, "Jesus of Suburbia."

"It's a good roller-coaster ride and it shifts gears with lots of highs and lows, and if we could make something visually as colorful as the song itself — or not necessarily colorful, but that's a good ride — I think it would be really interesting," Dirnt said. "We should just play that song over the 'Thriller' video."

In reviews of American Idiot, "Jesus of Suburbia" is often singled out as the album's musical and emotional highlight. Some DJs are even spinning the epic track.

"I think the DJs like 'Jesus of Suburbia' because they can put it on and go have a cigarette and a crap," Tre Cool deadpanned. "It's really important to have that go-to, like 'In A Gadda Da Vida,' a real long song. It's also good if you're a stripper, 'cause then you can be on the pole for nine minutes and make big bucks."

Along with singing praises for "Jesus of Suburbia," critics are calling the album a turning point for Green Day, who are now considered the forefathers of one of the most popular genres on radio, the Punk-Rock Revival.

"We set up shop in a really creative way with this record," Dirnt said. "You know, if people want to call it 'reinvention' or 'redefining' or whatever, I think it worked. I'm happy with it and hopefully all our fans like it. That's the key."

"We just wanted to have fun, [to] push ourselves and be ambitious and make the biggest record that we've ever made as far as satisfying ourselves," Cool added. "And doing it outside of the standard Green Day formula that is so popular these days."

Before a note was even recorded, the band decided to take the no-looking-back approach.

"Billie was definitely at the helm driving things, but it was an open forum, where if any one of us had anything to express we'd put it out there," Dirnt said. "And we really chose from the best of what we had."

Paul Gross is back in the saddle

Paul Gross is smiling.

He's sitting on a sun-splashed hotel patio during the recent Toronto International Film Festival and lighting up one more smoke from his omnipresent pack of Players.

Fans of the 45-year-old star — who is probably the most popular Canadian actor around today — may wonder which of his many smiles Gross was sporting.

Was it the quizzical grin that smoothed over so many rough spots for Constable Benton Fraser on Due South?

Or was he favouring the cocky half-smirk that made Chris Cutter from Men With Brooms so cheekily endearing?

The answer is neither.

On this particular day, Gross beams with the quietly satisfied look of an actor who has two projects he's proud of about to reach the public eye.

The first is Daniel MacIvor's latest film, Wilby Wonderful, which opens in Toronto this Friday after having had its premiere last month during the film festival.

It's a typically MacIvor-esque view of the human situation, in which he presents us with the inhabitants of a small island community on the East Coast as their lives seesaw from comedy to tragedy before our eyes.

Gross plays Buddy French, the local police officer, who is facing a variety of midlife crises: marital, career and ideological. There's a strong streak of the loser in Buddy, which makes it an odd choice for everyone's favorite winner, Gross, but the actor didn't have a moment's hesitation about playing the part.

"I got a script through my door and I sat down to read it in my kitchen. Got to the end, picked up the phone and said, `I'll do it.'"

Interestingly enough, although Gross "had admired (MacIvor) for so many years as both a writer and performer, I had never met him. I'd never even spoken to him."

And although it was the quality of the writing that first snagged the attention of Gross, it was the rest of the cast that had been assembled that clinched the deal, with performers like Rebecca Jenkins, Sandra Oh, James Allodi and Maury Chaykin all along for the ride.

"You'd have to be a fool not go with a cast like that," laughs Gross, "it was absolutely the most delightful movie experience I've ever had."

The film was largely shot at a decommissioned Canadian Forces station at Shelburne, N.S. and Gross describes it in a phrase as "Camp Wilby."

"We slept in dorms and there was a huge kitchen where you could have cooked for a battalion. We had movie nights, ping-pong tournaments, go-karts, fireworks. In fact, the movie had to work around our social calendar."

But according to Gross, even the work wound up having a playful air to it.

"MacIvor creates an amazing atmosphere for actors to work in. Far better than I've ever been able to do," he confessed, referring to his own numerous stints as a director.

"We did a lot of talking about the scenes in advance, but when we actually came to work on them, it all fell together so easily. I can't even remember him directing us on set, and that's the greatest compliment I can offer a director."

The last film Gross made before Wilby Wonderful was the box office winner, Men With Brooms, which he starred in, directed, co-authored and co-produced.

He practically leaps out of his chair with joy when asked what it felt like not to have all that on his shoulders this time around.

"Man, it was such a relief not to be pulling the wagon. Just to show up and be told what to wear, where to stand and not worry about whether the light was falling or if it was going to rain tomorrow. I just had to be myself. It was sublime."

Men With Brooms was the most financially successful Canadian film of the past quarter century, but here is its creator, two years later, playing a role in someone else's movie instead of helming another major project of his own. How come?

"Ah, that's the genius of the Canadian system," sighs Gross with a heavy layer of sarcasm, "it doesn't like to reward success. We always have to start from Square One."

And so, instead of a big-screen feature, his latest major effort is a 4-hour miniseries schedule to be broadcast on CBC on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

It's called H2O: The Last Prime Minister and Gross describes it as "a political thriller set in Ottawa." After the Prime Minister drowns, his son takes over the reigns of government and finds the country facing an international conspiracy.

Gross plays the filial heir-apparent and can't say enough about the work of director Charles Binamé. "It's the first time I've written something that actually wound up looking like it did it in my head while I was creating it."

He's also bullish about the way CBC has handled the project. "I haven't worked there in a long time, but their total support and unreserved enthusiasm for the project has been fantastic."

And as if this month wasn't already shaping up to be a big enough month for Gross, he receives one of the final proofs that he's made it big in his native land: he gets the full Life And Times profile treatment from CBC on Thursday, Oct. 14 at 8 p.m.

"I can't wait to see it," quips Gross, "I'm dying to find out what I'm really like."

And then he smiles again.

New '24' Helps Ring In the New Year

Champagne headaches will have only just worn off, but FOX has scheduled the premiere of the fourth season of "24" for Sunday, Jan. 9, 2005. While the network recently announced that the new season would begin on Monday, Jan. 3, the revised date will allow "24" to launch with three hours of programming over two intense nights.

The Sunday sneak will also let FOX tease the lauded drama following coverage of the NFC Wild Card game.

The fourth longest day of Jack Bauer's (Kiefer Sutherland) life will start with a two-hour episode, as the Emmy-winning series begins a 24-episode run that won't be interrupted by repeats or preemptions (unless FOX unearths a couple "American Idol" specials that are just too pressing to keep on the shelf). After the two-hour episode, which will air from 8-10 p.m., the show will move into its regular Monday 9 p.m. ET time the following night (Jan. 10).

Fans of the show will recall that in the third season Jack helped the Counter Terrorist Unit stop a motley group of madmen from unleashing a deadly virus in Los Angeles. He also spent four or five episodes in Mexico doing virtually nothing and occasionally dealt with an addiction to heroin.

Season four, FOX reveals, will begin at 7 a.m. and will, once again, take place over the course of a single day. If you want the twists and turns of the season to be entirely fresh, you may want to turn away, but CTU is now run by Erin Driscoll (Alberta Watson), an agent who fired Jack when she took over on the job. Jack is now working for the Secretary of Defense (William Devane) and dating his married daughter (Kim Raver), but after the explosion of a commuter train, Jack finds himself back at CTU.

The fate of the world, it seems, hangs in the balance.

The season also features Nestor Serrano ("The Day After Tomorrow") as Middle Eastern businessman and Oscar nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo ("The House of Sand and Fog") as his wife.

The first three seasons of "24" all earned Emmy nominations for outstanding drama series.

Young Jams For Votes, Readies 'Greatest Hits'

Although not an announced part of the lineup, Neil Young spent the weekend making appearances at Vote for Change tour stops in Toledo, Ohio, and Detroit. Sources suggest the veteran Canadian singer/songwriter may turn up to play with every VFC bill before the trek wraps Oct. 11 in Washington, D.C.

Young dropped in on Pearl Jam's Saturday evening show in Toledo, stunning the crowd at the start of the second encore when he and his wife Pegi guested with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder on an acoustic version of "Harvest Moon." Young stuck around to rock through "All Along the Watchtower," "Cortez the Killer," "Rockin' in the Free World" and, with Peter Frampton chipping in on guitar, "Act of Love," which appeared on the 1995 Young/Pearl Jam album "Mirror Ball."

The next evening, Young was even busier, reprising "Harvest Moon" and "Heart of Gold" with the Dixie Chicks and James Taylor at Detroit's Fox Theatre. Later on, he teamed with Dave Matthews Band just outside the city at the Palace of Auburn Hills for "Watchtower" and "Rockin' in the Free World."

Meanwhile, Reprise has set a Nov. 16 release date for Young's first "Greatest Hits." The 16-track set boasts such classics as "The Needle and the Damage Done," "Southern Man," Young's sole No. 1 hit, "Comes a Time" and "Cinnamon Girl," along with the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young cuts "Ohio" and "Helpless."

"Greatest Hits" will also be available with a bonus DVD featuring the original stereo master mixes of the music. When each song is played, the DVD will display the vinyl cover of the album from which it is drawn spinning on turntable. Bonus features include a photo gallery, lyrics and music videos for "Harvest Moon" and "Rockin' in the Free World."

As previously reported, Young will host and perform at his annual Bridge School Benefit on Oct. 23-24 outside San Francisco. Paul McCartney, Sonic Youth, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tony Bennett are also on the bill.

Here is the track list for "Greatest Hits":

"Down by the River"
"Cowgirl in the Sand"
"Cinnamon Girl"
"Helpless"
"After the Gold Rush"
"Only Love Can Break Your Heart"
"Southern Man"
"Ohio"
"The Needle and the Damage Done"
"Old Man"
"Heart of Gold"
"Like a Hurricane"
"Comes a Time"
"Hey, Hey, My, My (Into the Black)"
"Rockin' in the Free World"
"Harvest Moon"

Elton John Takes Blasts Madonna for Lip-Synching

LONDON (Reuters) - British pop veteran Elton John took a foul-mouthed swipe at Madonna Monday, saying she cheated her fans by miming on stage.

But the American pop superstar was swift to dismiss his accusation, saying she does not lip-synch or criticize other artists.

While collecting a song-writing award from Q music magazine in London, John suddenly launched into a tirade against Madonna when he discovered she had been nominated for Best Live Act.

"Anyone who lip-synchs in public on stage when you pay 75 pounds ($134) to see them should be shot," John said in reference to ticket prices for Madonna's Reinvention tour.

"Madonna, best f---ing live act? F--- off," said the singer renowned as much for his outrageous outbursts as he is for his outlandish outfits.

"Since when has lip-synching been live?" he asked.

He ended his outburst by saying: "That's me off her f---ing Christmas card list but do I give a toss? No."

His tirade prompted a swift response from Madonna's U.S. spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg, who said in a statement: "Madonna does not lip-synch nor does she spend her time trashing other artists.

"She sang every note on her Reinvention tour live and is not ashamed that she was well paid for her hard work."

And Madonna, 46, showed she was not taking John's criticism too seriously.

"Elton John remains on her Christmas card list whether he is nice ... or naughty," the statement added.

Madonna lost out to British band Muse for the Live Act title.

Elton John hit the headlines in Taiwan last month when, confronted by a wall of flashing cameras at Taipei airport, he lashed out at the local media, calling them "rude, vile pigs."

"The televisions and photographers at the airport were the rudest people that I've ever met and I've been to 60 countries," the 57-year-old star said.

His partner, David Furnish, has memorably captured the flamboyant star at his most outrageous and demanding in a fly-on-the-wall documentary appropriately named "Tantrums and Tiaras."

Madonna herself is no stranger to foul-mouthed outbursts -- as the organizers of one of the world's most famous art prizes found out to their cost three years ago.

Britain's Channel Four had to apologize for Madonna's "strong language" when she presented the Turner Prize on live television.

Cerutti gone far too young

He was a gentleman scholar from Amherst College.

He had an almost regal cerebral bearing in a game often played by those whose idea of heavy reading is gazing at the back of two baseball cards.

John Cerutti, the former Blue Jays lefty and current broadcaster for Rogers Sportsnet, didn't attend yesterday's usual 11 a.m. production meeting.

Hours later, Cerutti was discovered in his SkyDome Hotel room with vital signs absent. Cerutti was dead at the unfair age of 44.

"John is the most organized person I've ever met," said Jays clubhouse manager Jeff Ross, a good friend of Cerutti. "No way he would have forgotten the game time or thought we were on TSN."

Calls to Cerutti's cell phone and hotel room went unanswered. Finally, police officers and emergency medical personnel removed the door and found Cerutti in his bed. Foul play is not suspected.

In the play-hard-on-the-field and live-harder-off-the-field baseball world, some are two-fisted drinkers and some drink a lot unless they are starting the next day. Cerutti was a comparable wallflower.

"I never met a finer man in or out of baseball," said former Jays manager Buck Martinez, who drove Cerutti's wife Claudia to a Florida airport last night for a flight to Boston to meet her daughter.

Rob Faulds did the broadcast solo with Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi and radio broadcaster Tom Cheek filling in for a few innings.

"It's very shocking to lose someone in the prime of his life," said former Jays GM Gord Ash from St. Louis. "I stopped by to see Tom Cheek a couple of weeks ago and had a nice visit with John.

"He had an appreciation for the game both as a player and broadcaster."

Cerutti, who pitched for the Jays from 1985-'90, spent Saturday golfing with his family and then on his day off showed at the SkyDome. He never had a bad word to say about anyone, whether it was on air or standing in the press box.

"We both had children, but we were at different stages of parenting, so we had some good discussions," said Rick Briggs-Jude, the vice-president of programming at Sportsnet. "What came through was how proud he was of all his children (Nicole, Janine and Daniel)."

A scratch golfer, Cerutti lived on the East Lake Woodlands golf complex in Oldsmar, Fla., a few miles from Dunedin.

"I saw John last week in Tampa," said Tim Wilken, former Jays scouting director. "He was a good competitor. We played on a basketball team together, he beat most in golf. He was a great athlete and very family oriented."

The Jays flip-flopped Cerutti between the bullpen and the rotation. In 1990, he threw more than 200 innings in going 11-11. Whether he went seven innings or 1 2/3 innings, he was always there to answer questions. He would hang out with Tom Henke.

LAID BACK

Cerutti's laid-back off-field demeanor was a question mark for the Jays before the 1981 June draft.

One day, Amherst first baseman Larry DeRespino told him a strange story about "an Italian-looking guy in a Jays jacket" calling him aside to ask him questions.

The man asked DeRespino what Cerutti would do to him if DeRespino did something bad to Cerutti ... like steal his girlfriend or insult his mother.

DeRespino's reply: "He'd probably punch me in the face."

Right baseball answer. The guy in the Jays jacket was scout Al LaMacchia.

The Jays drafted Cerutti to begin a 14-year relationship, one which ended far too early.

Doc Walker wins top honours at WCMA

CALGARY (CP) -- In the house and in control, country rockers Doc Walker knocked off the big guns at the Western Canadian Music Awards.

The Manitoba indie band took two trophies, including the coveted entertainer of the year title over international superstars Nickelback, Sarah McLachlan and Nelly Furtado who were no-shows at Sunday's awards.

Lead singer Chris Thorsteinson was shocked by the award, which is voted on by fans.

"This is why we travel, why we drive around in a broken-down bus -- because of the fans," Thorsteinson told the crowd of more than 1,000 gathered for the awards ceremony.

The boys from Portage la Prairie, who have spent much of the last decade living out of the back of a van performing at everything from potato festivals to football games, also took the top country recording for their second album, Everyone Aboard.

"They sell millions more records than we do, but entertainer of the year is getting out there and playing," Thorsteinson said backstage.

The accolades follow Doc Walker's best group trophy at the Canadian Country Music Awards last month in Edmonton.

Hosted by rocker Bif Naked, the Western Canadian awards are still struggling to establish an identity. Only half of the winners showed up to collect their trophies for the show that was not televised.

Other double winners Sunday were the Weakerthans, who took best song and independent album for Reconstruction Site; and Matthew Good of Vancouver, who won best rock recording for Avalanche and best video.

B.C. singer-songwriter Jill Paquette also took two awards for outstanding aboriginal and Christian recordings. Paquette's self-titled debut has already earned her a Juno and three Vibe awards for Christian music.

But this is the first time the soft-spoken Paquette has been honoured for both aspects of her faith background.

"I feel there is a sacredness that I like to approach in my music," said the 25-year-old Metis. "I just feel so honoured to be part of the Canadian music scene which has inspired me."

Although organizers stressed the Western Canadian awards are designed to highlight the accomplishments of rising stars, the heavy hitters didn't go home empty-handed.

Rockers Nickelback, the pride of Hanna, Alta., won best album by a major label artist, while Victoria's Nelly Furtado took best pop recording for Folklore.

Calgary's Jann Arden was recognized for co-producing her latest release, Love Is The Only Soldier.

Vancouver hip hop crew Swollen Members took home best rap or hip hop recording, an award they also won at the first Western Awards last year in Regina.

Manitoba's Wailin' Jennys won best roots recording for 40 Days.

The evening also featured a tribute to Calgary-based rockers The Stampeders, who were inducted into the Western Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

The Stampeders, best known for the tight harmonies of the 1970s hit Sweet City Woman, continue to tour more than 35 years after they began performing. And they can still draw a crowd, attracting 12,000 at an outdoor concert in Sydney, N.S., over the summer.

"We had lots of fun pioneering, not a helluva much money but lots of fun," laughed drummer Kim Berly, who wrote Oh My Lady.

Guitarist Ronnie King said was touched by the tribute, which he called the acknowledgement of a dream.

"We wanted to be the Beatles," he said. "For a while we had some Stampedermania. We were allowed to be street rockers."

The third Western Canadian Music Awards will be held in Vancouver next fall.

WINNERS LIST

Entertainer of the year: Doc Walker

Outstanding album (independent): The Weakerthans, Reconstruction Site

Outstanding album (major label): Nickelback, The Long Road

Outstanding producer: Jann Arden/Russell Broom, Love Is The Only Soldier

Outstanding songwriter: John K. Samson/The Weakerthans, Reconstruction Site

Outstanding pop recording: Nelly Furtado, Folklore

Outstanding country recording: Doc Walker, Everyone Aboard

Outstanding rap/hip-hop recording: Swollen Members, Heavy

Outstanding rock recording: Matthew Good, Avalanche

Outstanding roots recording: The Wailin' Jennys, 40 Days

Outstanding aboriginal recording: Jill Paquette, Jill Paquette

Outstanding blues recording: Big Dave McLean, Blues from the Middle

Outstanding children's recording: Lulu and the TomCat, 3, 2, 1 Kadooze

Outstanding Christian recording: Jill Paquette, Jill Paquette

Outstanding classical composition: Robert Turner, Third Symphony: Canadian Composers Portraits

Outstanding classical recording: (Tie) CBC Radio Orchestra, Jacques Hetu: Concertos; Chor Leoni Men's Choir, Yuletide Fires

Outstanding francophone recording: Danielle Hebert, Aventuriere Accidentelle

Outstanding instrumental recording: Great Uncles of the Revolution, Blow the House Down

Outstanding jazz recording: Marilyn Lerner/Sonny Greenwich, Special Angel

Video of the year: Matthew Good, In a World Called Catastrophe.

Hall of Fame inductee: The Stampeders

'Psycho' Star Janet Leigh Dies at 77

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood movie star Janet Leigh, best known as the knife attack victim in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho," has died at the age of 77, CNN reported on Monday.

"Janet Leigh died peacefully in her home Sunday afternoon," Heidi Schaeffer, a spokeswoman for Leigh's daughter, actress Jamie Lee Curtis, was quoted as saying.

Leigh died in her Beverly Hills home. Daughters Jamie Lee and Kelly Curtis and her fourth husband, Robert Brandt, were at the home, Schaeffer said.

Leigh had been battling vasculitis -- an inflammation of the blood vessels -- for a year, she said.

Leigh also appeared in films such as "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962), "Bye Bye Birdie" (1963), "Little Women" (1949) and "Touch of Evil" (1958).

Conan Looks Forward to Earlier Time Slot

NEW YORK - Conan O'Brien said he was looking forward to "being on at a time when people can see me" when he replaces Jay Leno as host of the "Tonight" show in five years.

NBC announced last week that O'Brien, whose show airs at 12:35 a.m. Eastern, will move up an hour earlier when he takes over for Leno in 2009. The move by NBC — and endorsed by Leno — was to keep O'Brien from jumping to another network when his contract expired.

"My parents have no idea what I do for a living," O'Brien joked Saturday night about his late, late gig. "They think I'm still in law school."

O'Brien, who spoke at The New Yorker Festival, said he would likely leave New York, where his "Late Night" show is based, to Los Angeles, home of "Tonight."

"We have time to figure it out," he said.

O'Brien, 41, was twice the editor of the Harvard Lampoon, worked as a writer on "Saturday Night Live" for three and a half years and was the supervising producer of "The Simpsons."

He debuted on "Late Night" in September 1993 after David Letterman moved to CBS for an earlier time slot when he was passed up for the "Tonight" show job.

After some initial struggling, O'Brien's show attained success and came to dominate his time slot. Among its well-known features are "Triumph the Insult Comic Dog" and "In the Year 2000." It reaches 2.5 million viewers a night.

O'Brien will become the fifth host of the 50-year-old "Tonight" show, following Leno, Johnny Carson, Jack Paar and Steve Allen. Leno has been the show's host since 1992.

And Leno sucks!!

'Shark Tale' Hooks Movie-Goers With $49.1M

LOS ANGELES - The animated fish story "Shark Tale" swamped the competition, opening as the top weekend movie with $49.1 million and potentially breaking the record for best October debut. John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix's firefighting adventure "Ladder 49" premiered in second place with $22.8 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The new flicks bumped the previous weekend's top movie, "The Forgotten," to third place with $12 million, raising its 10-day total to $38.3 million.

"Woman, Thou Art Loosed," starring Kimberly Elise as a woman traumatized by childhood sexual abuse who lands on Death Row, opened at No. 6 with $2.5 million. Adapted from the book by Texas church leader T.D. Jakes, the movie opened in narrower release of 408 theaters, about a tenth of the number for "Shark Tale."

"I (Heart) Huckabees," an ensemble comedy from David O. Russell ("Three Kings"), had a spectacular debut in limited release, taking in $300,062 in four New York City and Los Angeles theaters. The movie averaged a whopping $75,016, compared with $12,226 in 4,016 cinemas for "Shark Tale."

"Huckabees," whose cast includes Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jason Schwartzman, Naomi Watts, Jude Law and Mark Wahlberg, gradually expands to nationwide release through October.

"Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry," a documentary from George Butler ("Pumping Iron"), opened weakly with $303,000 in 160 theaters for a $1,894 average. The movie chronicles the Democratic presidential candidate's Vietnam service and his subsequent stand against the war.

"Shark Tale" and "Ladder 49" lifted Hollywood out of its box-office doldrums. The top 12 movies took in $104.4 million, up 30 percent from the same weekend last year, the first increase after four straight weekends of declining revenue.

"The box-office has been flatlining for the last month. September was absolutely abysmal," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "So 'Shark Tale' and to a lesser extent 'Ladder 49' really jump-started the marketplace."

If numbers hold when final figures are released Monday, "Shark Tale" would set a record among October debuts, topping the $48.1 million opening of last year's "Scary Movie 3."

"Shark Tale" overcame so-so reviews, with some critics calling it a retread of the "Shrek" movies and the fish tale "Finding Nemo."

But after a long drought for children's movies, families flooded theaters for "Shark Tale." Adding to the luster was the movie's A-list voice cast, including Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Renee Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, Martin Scorsese and Jack Black.

While "Shark Tale" did not approach the $70.3 million debut of last year's "Finding Nemo," it was distributor DreamWorks' second-best opening ever behind the $108 million premiere of "Shrek 2."

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Shark Tale," $49.1 million.
2. "Ladder 49," $22.8 million.
3. "The Forgotten," $12 million.
4. "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow," $3.4 million.
5. "Mr. 3000," $2.6 million.
6. "Woman, Thou Art Loosed," $2.5 million.
7. "Shaun of the Dead," $2.4 million.
8. "Resident Evil: Apocalypse," $2.3 million.
9. "First Daughter," $2.15 million.
10. "Cellular," $2 million.

Jagger Excited About New Stones Album

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mick Jagger is on a major songwriting roll, penning new tunes for an upcoming Rolling Stones album and basking in the glow of praise for the soundtrack he helped create for the upcoming film, "Alfie."

Jagger, famed frontman of the Stones, teamed with Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart to write and perform 13 songs for the film, including the haunting "Old Habits Die Hard," which will be released by Virgin Records on Oct. 19 as the first single from the soundtrack CD.

"I just tried to make the music work for the film, and also stand on its own," Jagger told Reuters in an interview on Friday.

"It's music to be listened to and also has to be music that you can watch the film by without getting jarred -- the music working for the film and moving in the same direction."

The movie, a remake of the 1966 "Alfie," stars Jude Law in the title role along with Susan Sarandon and Marisa Tomei. It opens in the United States on Oct. 22.

Jagger, 61, said he is immersed again in writing.

"I've been writing new songs for the Rolling Stones' next album. We just started, and it will be out sometime next year. We'll start recording in November," Jagger said.

"It should be good. I've been writing the last month for that, and I'm quite excited by what I've got so far."

Jagger said the Stones will be delivering some new music next month, with the release of a double CD live recording.

"One is unknown songs, and the other CD is familiar tunes," he said.

The new "Alfie" soundtrack also features performances by Sheryl Crow and Joss Stone.

Eminem Charts Highest Bow Yet

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Eminem simultaneously earns the highest-debuting song of his career on the Billboard Hot 100 and the highest-debuting non-"American Idol" track of 2004.

"Just Lose It" (Shady/Aftermath) is a new entry at No. 17. That's considerably higher than Eminem's previous two highest debuts, "Lose Yourself" (which opened at No. 43 the week of Oct. 5, 2002) and "Without Me" (No. 44 the week of May 11, 2002).

"Just Lose It" eclipses the No. 29 bow of Usher and Alicia Keys' "My Boo" (LaFace) a month ago, to become the fourth-highest new entry of the year, behind "I Believe" by Fantasia at No. 1, "Solitaire"/"The Way" by Clay Aiken (news) at No. 4 and "Dreams" by Diana DeGarmo at No. 14.

"Just Lose It" is one of two debuts in the top half of the chart. "Vertigo" (Interscope) by U2 is off to a strong start, with a debut at No. 46. It's the highest debut for a U2 single since the No. 30 entry of "Staring at the Sun" the week of April 26, 1997. "Vertigo" is already the biggest U2 hit since "Beautiful Day" peaked at No. 21 the week of Jan. 27, 2001.

'BOO' ON SECOND

The high debuts of new songs by Eminem and U2 make them candidates for the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, but they'll have to get past "My Boo" (LaFace) from Usher and Alicia Keys. That superstar duet advances 5-2, poised to become Usher's fourth No. 1 of 2004 and Keys' first chart-topper since "Fallin"' in summer 2001.

If "Boo" captures first place next week, it will end the five-week reign of "Goodies" (Sho'Nuff-Musicline/LaFace) by Ciara Featuring Petey Pablo. Other than Usher's "Yeah!" and "Burn," no song has been No. 1 for five weeks or more since OutKast ruled the chart for nine frames with "Hey Ya!," which assumed pole position in December 2003.

HER PERROGATIVE

Britney Spears earns her fourth Mainstream Top 40 hit this year, as "My Prerogative" (Jive) begins its chart life at No. 28. Spears is now tied with Usher as the artist with the most chart debuts this year on this tally.

Spears also has charted the most songs on Mainstream Top 40 so far this decade, with a total of 14. With 16 charting songs in her career, Spears is in fourth place behind Madonna (24), Janet Jackson (21) and Mariah Carey (20) for the artist with the most charted titles in the history of the chart.

'FREEK' OUT

After 40 weeks, "Freek-a-Leek" by Petey Pablo drops off the Rhythmic Top 40 chart, but not before becoming the third-longest-running song in this survey's history. The two songs to have longer runs on this list are "Where My Girls At" by 702 (42 weeks) and "Too Close" by Next (52).

Minnie in the Driver's Seat on First Album

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Minnie Driver knows the news of yet another actress making an album generally starts people's eyes rolling, and she's just fine with that.

"With all due respect, the bar is set fairly low in terms of actors making seminal records, especially singer-songwriters," Driver says. "Mainly it seems to be a bid for more money and fame instead of a truly creative endeavor."

For Driver, the project started as a way to exorcise some demons. "The idea of making a record came only after I had written six songs," she says. Producer Marc "Doc" Dauer "had far more faith than I did that it was a record. I was just working out some personal stuff. He was like, 'C'mon, honey, you have to profit off your pain!"'

The result is the low-key, mellow "Everything I've Got in My Pocket," which comes out Oct. 5 on Zoe/Rounder in the United States and Oct. 18 in the rest of the world through Liberty/EMI.

Driver, who has been playing live for several months, will open 18 dates for the Finn Brothers in the United Kingdom starting Oct. 15. Her band includes Dauer and the Wallflowers' Rami Jaffe.

"It's really important that I put it across live," she says. "I know that's the only way people are going to buy me as a musical artist."

But, like any new act, she has had to take her lumps. She opened an OXFAM benefit recently that also featured R.E.M., Coldplay's Chris Martin and the Thrills.

"It was awful!" she says with a laugh. "It was like, 'What the hell is Minnie Driver doing singing?' But I pretty much won them over by the end of the set. People were like, 'Go and earn your stripes. It doesn't come for free.' I love the challenge."

Photographer Richard Avedon Dies at 81

NEW YORK - Richard Avedon, the revolutionary photographer who redefined fashion photography as an art form while achieving critical acclaim through his stark black-and-white portraits of the powerful and celebrated, died Friday. He was 81.

Avedon suffered a brain hemorrhage last month while on assignment in San Antonio, Texas, for The New Yorker, taking pictures for a piece called "On Democracy." He spent months on the project, shooting politicians, delegates and citizens from around the country.

He died at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, said Perri Dorset, a spokeswoman for the magazine.

"We've lost one of the great visual imaginations of the last half century," said David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker.

Avedon's influence on photography was immense, and his sensuous fashion work helped create the era of supermodels such as Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford. But Avedon went in another direction with his portrait work, shooting unsparing and often unflattering shots of subjects from Marilyn Monroe to Michael Moore.

"The results can be pitiless," Time magazine critic Richard Lacayo once noted. "With every wrinkle and sag set out in high relief, even the mightiest plutocrat seems just one more dwindling mortal."

As a Publishers Weekly review once noted, Avedon helped create the cachet of celebrity — if he took someone's picture, they must be famous. His fun-loving, fantasy-inspiring approach helped turn the fashion industry into a multibillion-dollar business.

Scores of imitators struggled to replicate his signature style, known simply as "The Avedon Look."

"The world's most famous photographer," trumpeted a 2002 story on Avedon in The New York Times. It was a title he wore for decades; back in 1958, he was named one of the world's 10 finest photographers by Popular Photography magazine.

Prestigious institutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., staged major Avedon retrospectives, and his list of honors stretched across more than 50 years. In 2003, he received a National Arts Award for lifetime achievement.

During his career, Avedon worked for such photograph-driven publications as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, and served as The New Yorker's first staff photographer. His skill also earned him another title: He was reputed to be the world's highest-paid photographer.

"He's the most wonderful man in the business because he realizes that models are not just coat hangers," famed model Suzy Parker once said. An Avedon shot of Parker from 1959 was credited with igniting the bikini boom.

Avedon said his view of the world was literally affected by his nearsightedness. "I began trying to create an out-of-focus world — a heightened reality better than real, that suggests, rather than tells you," he once told The New Yorker in an interview.

Among Avedon's best-known work was "Nothing Personal," a 1964 collection of unflattering photographs of affluent Americans. He collaborated with author James Baldwin, a former classmate at the Bronx's DeWitt Clinton High School.

Time magazine called his photos of former President Eisenhower, Adlai Stevenson, Marilyn Monroe and other celebrities "a subtler, crueler instrument of distortion than any caricaturist's pencil."

In 2002-03, his portrait work was again highlighted at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He chose his subjects among people who interested him, instead of photographing people on commission. All were shot against a white background, without any of the typical poses or smiling faces.

Born in New York City in 1923, he experienced a strict upbringing in which his father — the founder of a dress shop called Avedon's Fifth Avenue — made him account for every penny of his five-cent weekly allowance.

In 1940, at age 17, Avedon dropped out of high school to run errands for a photographic company. Two years later he joined the U.S. Merchant Marine, receiving a Rolleiflex camera as a going-away gift from his father.

He was assigned to the Merchant Marine photo branch, taking personnel identification photos. Later, he went on several missions to photograph shipwrecks.

Following wartime service, Avedon became a professional photographer for the tony Bonwit Teller department stores, then moved to Harper's Bazaar, where he stayed for two decades.

His breakthrough approach to fashion photography included extravagant settings such as NASA launch pads and the pyramids of Egypt.

"There's always been a separation between fashion and what I call my deeper work," Avedon said in a 1974 interview. "Fashion is where I make my living. I'm not knocking it; it's a pleasure to make a living that way. Then there's the deeper pleasure of doing my portraits."

Avedon's reputation spread to Madison Avenue, where advertisers ranging from Revlon to Douglas Aircraft sought his services. By the mid-1960s, his studio had upwards of $250,000 in annual billings.

He also developed relationships with some of the world's most sought-after models including Dorian Leigh; Dorothy Horan, best known as Dovima; Sunny Harnett; and Leigh's younger sister, Suzy Parker.

Avedon left Harper's Bazaar in 1966 to join rival Vogue as a staff photographer. In 1970, his work filled several galleries at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in what was called the largest one-man photo exhibit ever.

His early career was fictionalized in the 1957 Hollywood musical "Funny Face," starring Fred Astaire as the fashion photographer "Dick Avery."

Avedon was married in 1944 to Dorcas Nowell, a model known professionally as Doe Avedon. They divorced after five years. In 1951, he married Evelyn Franklin. The pair later separated.

"If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it's as though I've neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up," he said in 1970. "I know that the accident of my being a photographer has made my life possible."

Springsteen Kicks Off 'Vote for Change'

PHILADELPHIA - Two of the biggest forces in rock music over the last 20 years were plugging in the amplifiers Friday to kick off a high-volume effort to oust President Bush on Nov. 2.

Bruce Springsteen and R.E.M. brought a dose of music and politics to the Wachovia Center, starting a 10-day series of "Vote For Change" shows in battleground states. With a long list of high-profile artists from across the generational divide, the concerts will raise money for efforts to defeat Bush and other Republicans in next month's elections.

The Philadelphia show was one of six "Vote For Change" concerts scheduled across Pennsylvania on Friday night. On the other end of the state, the Dixie Chicks and James Taylor were to perform in Pittsburgh, with other concerts in Erie, State College, Reading and Wilkes-Barre.

Springsteen and R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe took the stage to cheers Friday to introduce the first band, Bright Eyes, and also reminded the crowd of the importance of voting Nov. 2.

"This is a very important moment for every one of us and for our country," Stipe said.

Fans lining up before the concert said they were definitely there for the music, but that the current political scene made them even more enthusiastic about supporting the artists.

Steve St. Germain, 54, of Point Pleasant, N.J., a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, says he can't stand Bush and is outraged about the Iraq war.

"I feel that man has gone crazy with an unjust war, wasting American lives, killing innocent women and children and spending money we can't afford to spend," he said.

Leon Berkowitz, 41, a New Jersey native now living in Virginia, says he admires Springsteen and others for their political stance.

"I think he's taking a lot of responsibility, putting himself out there, saying what he's for," he said. "I think if Bush gets re-elected, it's going to be horrible."

The tour will also make stops in Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Washington, Arizona and Washington, D.C.

But not all fans at the Philadelphia concert agreed with the artists' politics.

Michelle Peters, 20, of Laurel Springs, N.J. said she was just there for the music and that she planned to vote for Bush. "I think Kerry lies," said Peters, who attended with three friends who are Kerry supporters. "I wanted to wear a Bush/Cheney sticker, but I think I'd get beat up for it."

Eli Pariser, executive director of political action committee and tour sponsor MoveOn PAC, said the tour's political message shouldn't surprise most concertgoers.

"These are people who are the town criers. Sometimes they're singing about relationships and sometimes about the environment," Pariser said.

The tour, also featuring Pearl Jam, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, John Mellencamp and others, includes 37 shows in 30 cities through Oct. 11. Proceeds will go to America Coming Together, or ACT, a group raising money for Democratic candidates. Voter registration information will be available during the concerts.

Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard said he wants to convince voters that the Bush administration has been reckless in its foreign policy since Sept. 11.

"For me, personally, I very much want John Kerry to win," Gossard said in an interview. "I think that he's expressed an interest in re-engaging the world community and saying the last administration is not representative of the way America wants to do business with the world."

Bands on the tour span many musical categories as well as the generations. John Fogerty, the former leader of Credence Clearwater Revival in the 1960s and 1970s, and James Taylor, whose folk star status began in the 1960s, will be on the same bill as R&B singer/songwriter/producer Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds, whose fame didn't come until the 1980s and 1990s.