Tarantino digs directing 'CSI'
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Unlike criminal investigator Nick Stokes, who's buried alive in the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation season finale, Quentin Tarantino didn't feel at all trapped by working within the confines of network television.
"It wasn't a challenge in that regard because ... I like the show," says Tarantino, who conceived and directed the episode. "I just wanted to do my episode of it. So the format was all the stuff I embrace. I just wanted it to be bigger, to feel in some way like a CSI movie."
TV's top-rated program concludes its fifth season Thursday (8 p.m. Eastern) with Tarantino's two-hour Grave Danger, subtitled Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 in homage to his most recent feature project, Kill Bill, released in two parts.
Tarantino, who rose to auteur prominence with 1994's audacious Pulp Fiction, has seen every episode of CSI - many watched while shooting Kill Bill in Beijing, where he says the series played on "what was called the Adrenaline Channel" at 6 p.m. on Sunday - his day off.
Like much of the CSI audience, he's "fascinated by the whole forensic thing." And head criminologist Gil Grissom (William Petersen) is his favourite TV character - "the best detective to come along since Columbo."
Tarantino's unabashed admiration for the series led to his doing this season's last show.
"Word spread like wildfire that Quentin Tarantino was watching and we all took such pride in that, and eventually we started to think if he's such a big fan, why don't we ask him to write and direct a show," says executive producer/writer Carol Mendelsohn.
Petersen called the filmmaker, who immediately accepted. Working with the show's writing team, Tarantino came up with a script that originally was supposed to be one hour. But as filming started, it became clear there was enough material to fill two.
George Eads, who plays Stokes, says Tarantino's presence on the set energized cast and crew alike.
"So when Quentin came on that set, everybody had a little pep in their step, excited to be at work," he recalls. "They were laughing and smiling. They loved being there and after five years, it was like the adrenaline shot that was in Pulp Fiction that the girl got in the chest. That was exactly what our set needed."
Mendelsohn describes Tarantino's mood while shooting as "pure joy. There's nothing he would rather be doing ... and when you see him bring such wide-eyed enthusiasm and energy and love for his job, you just say 'I know why I do this!"'
Veteran character actor John Saxon, picked by Tarantino to guest-star as the criminal mastermind in the finale, also was taken with the director's spirit.
"He's so overwhelming enthusiastic. I think it really is one of his great strengths," Saxon says.
Tarantino says he chose Saxon because his favourite episodes of CSI have Grissom "matching wits with another mastermind ... I needed a big sequence in the middle with him and Grissom facing each other like (Robert) DeNiro and (Al) Pacino in the middle of Heat. I needed an actor who could really hold his own against Billy (Petersen) in that kind of situation and John Saxon is the only actor to ever steal a movie from Marlon Brando," a reference to the 1966 Western The Appaloosa.
Any one of the criminal investigation team could have been chosen to be the buried-alive victim, but Mendelsohn gave the job to Eads because "I didn't think anyone had more raw emotion inside of them at this point than George. I felt that he had something that needed to come out."
Tarantino couldn't agree more.
"It was just kind of perfect for this character, where he falls in the surrogate family," the director says. "He's kind of the bastard stepchild. Grissom has never really given it to him 100 per cent - they did an episode at one point about that - so it was perfect to see him now as the son who has never quite got the attention, but now they maybe are going to lose him and they realize how valuable he is."
Tarantino, who guest-directed a scene for the lurid feature Sin City, says he had few problems staying within the bounds of CBS's censors. "I wasn't trying to have them (the cast) cuss," he laughs, "and the show's pretty far out there anyway."
But as graphic as regular CSI episodes can be, Tarantino - who directed an episode of NBC's ER in 1995 - says he created one scene "so gory I think we are going to have to show it in black and white. But it's a hallucination sequence, so it will work kind of well like that."
Lindsay Lohan Says 'Mission' Role Possible
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Lindsay Lohan speeds into theaters this summer with "Herbie: Fully Loaded," but hopes to see some real action with a part in "Mission: Impossible 3."
The 18-year-old starlet says that she has a chance of landing a role in the action film franchise starring Tom Cruise.
"I actually met with J.J. Abrams, who is directing [the film]," reveals Lohan in an interview with "Access Hollywood" airing Tuesday, May 17. "I'm a huge fan of ... 'Lost' and 'Alias,' so hopefully, we will see what happens."
Lohan is psyched about co-starring with Cruise as well as the role's physical challenges.
"It's kind of an incredible feeling, I'm scared. If I do 'Mission: Impossible 3' that is going to be so exhilarating," she says. "I just can't wait to do stunts and get all into it. I'll be in training for a few weeks, putting on some muscles."
Some may doubt her ability to train for the role with her recent dramatic weight loss, which has sparked speculation about her excessive partying or bowing to the Hollywood mindset to be thin.
"I think there's a lot of pressure," Lohan admits. "Especially when you lose a lot of weight and then people are telling you, 'You look great!' You are like, 'So ... did I look fat before?'"
If she gets the part, she may replace Scarlett Johansson who, along with Carrie-Anne Moss, left the film due to scheduling and script delays.
Lohan recently wrapped the romantic comedy "Just My Luck" and races into theaters with "Herbie" on Wednesday, June 22.
Portman Prefers Being Bald
Revenge of the Sith star Natalie Portman accepts the bizarre responses her radical new haircut has provoked - but insists she prefers being bald. Fans were shocked when Closer Oscar nominee Portman shaved her head for her role in new movie V For Vendetta. She says, "Some people will think I'm a neo-Nazi or that I have cancer or I'm a lesbian. After all the crazy hairstyles I had to endure for the films, it's quite liberating to have no hair - especially in this heat."
Minogue Diagnosed with Breast Cancer
Pop beauty Kylie Minogue has apologized to fans for postponing the Australian leg of her Showgirl Tour - after being diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. The singer discovered she had the disease earlier this week during a visit to her family in her home town of Melbourne. Minogue is devastated about letting down fans by cancelling the dates in her native Australia - due to open on Thursday - but insists there is no alternative because she requires immediate treatment. The 36-year-old's publicist explains in a statement, "Whilst at home in Melbourne with her family this week, prior to her Australian Showgirl Tour, Kylie was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. She will undergo immediate treatment and consequently her Australian tour will not be able to proceed as planned." Minogue adds, "I was so looking forward to bringing the Showgirl tour to Australian audiences. Nevertheless hopefully all will work out fine and I'll be back with you all again soon." The diminutive star has been an avid supporter of breast cancer charities for many years, and recently raised a staggering $4,560 by auctioning her signed bra for Breast Cancer Care as part of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Minogue is the latest in a long list of celebrities who have battled the disease, including Olivia Newton-John, Dusty Springfield, and more recently Aimee Osbourne and Melissa Etheridge.
Murray Wants a Break from Acting
Bill Murray has announced plans to ditch his tiring movie career - in favor of mowing lawns and reading books.
The Lost In Translation star, 54, admits that since filming his new Jim Jarmusch-directed movie Broken Flowers recently, he's begun appreciating just how much he needs a break.
He says, "Doing all those movies in a row, I didn't have anything left. At the end of Jim's movie I was empty, dry as a bone."
Murray goes on to describe his experience shooting The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou as "a penitentiary sentence" because he was separated from his family for so long.
He adds, "I'm really looking to cut lawns for the summer. I don't really want to work at all." Murray also intends to sit back, read books and play the guitar and piano.
Fox re-ups '24,' 'Arrested'
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - After several weeks of negotiations, Fox Broadcasting Co. has sealed a deal to bring back real-time political thriller "24" for two more seasons.
The network has also given a last-minute renewal to reigning best-comedy Emmy winner "Arrested Development," which has been on the bubble since the network cut back the show's second-season order in the spring because of underwhelming ratings.
Both shows are produced by Fox's News Corp. sibling, 20th Century Fox TV, and Imagine TV, the small-screen arm of Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment.
While there has been a lot of buzz about "Arrested Development" getting a short order for next season, Fox's decision to pick up a full-season, 22-episode order of the quirky series, comes as somewhat of a surprise.
"'Arrested Development' is one of the best comedies on television," Fox's recently appointed entertainment president Peter Liguori said. "The decision to order another season becomes easy when you consider its amazing cast, creative brilliance, critical acclaim and advertiser appeal."
In addition to its returning series, Fox, which will announce its fall schedule Thursday at City Center Theater, will present to advertisers its new shows for next season, the comedies "Kitchen Confidential" and "The War at Home" and the dramas "Reunion," "Head Cases," "Bones" and "Deviant Behavior."
Nintendo Joins Battle of New Game Systems
LOS ANGELES - Let the battle for the digital den begin again. Nintendo Co. on Tuesday was the last of the three major video game console makers to preview its next-generation system, called Revolution. The Japanese company had a tiny surprise, too.
Revolution will face stiff competition from Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 as the manufacturers vie to attract a more diverse audience with products that serve as digital entertainment hubs instead of just serving up video games.
After years of promoting their existing consoles with big-budget games, the three companies touted sleek new technology this week on the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, an annual industry meeting that begins Wednesday.
The ability to play older games was addressed by all three makers, with backward compatibility meaning owners of the new systems will be able to play games created for the existing Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2.
Nintendo went a step further, announcing Tuesday to applause and cheers that Revolution's built-in wireless Internet will provide downloadable access to the thousands of games in company's 20-year-old library, going back to the original Nintendo Entertainment System.
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's president, did not provide many details on the Revolution but he showed an enthusiastic audience a black prototype box with a blue, front-loading disc drive as well as a picture of several possible color schemes, ranging from silver to bright yellow.
He said the final box will be about the size of a stack of three DVD cases.
Details on Revolution's high-tech innards were less specific than what is being provided by Microsoft and Sony.
Aside from the included Wi-Fi networking, the Revolution will have wireless controllers, two USB 2.0 ports and slots for DS memory cards. Nintendo did not say anything about the processor or graphics chips that will be used to power the machine, other than that they are being developed by IBM Corp. and ATI Technologies Inc.
"This is the console where the big idea can prevail over big budgets," Iwata said.
With Xbox 360 and PS3, meanwhile, snazzy technology able to deliver cinema-quality graphics and sound has been the center attraction.
Xbox 360 will have three speedy processors and custom graphics chip from ATI, a removable 20-gigabyte hard drive and wireless capability for cable-free access to the company's Xbox Live online multiplayer service.
And while Xbox 360 can play movies, music and television, it won't replace the desktop computer as an ideal nerve center for such content, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said. The company on Tuesday announced an extender for its Media Center operating system that allows users to stream media from the desktop onto their Xbox 360.
"We think the PC is the best hub for that," he said. He later added, "It's the most general purpose of the devices."
PS3 is to boast Cell processors, jointly developed by Sony with IBM and Toshiba Corp., that are purportedly 10 times faster than current generation computer processors.
But beyond all the techno-lingo, important details for consumers including price and game costs still haven't been announced. The Xbox 360 will be the first to market, due around Thanksgiving, followed by the PS3 next spring and the Revolution sometime next year.
"They are all pursing strategies that really play to their own strengths," said P.J. McNealy, a senior analyst at American Technology Research. "At this point it is primarily marketing and position, that's the main goal here."
In 2004, the PlayStation 2 led the U.S. console wars with 43 percent of the market, according to Jupiter Research. The original Xbox was a distant No. 2 with 19 percent, followed by Nintendo's GameCube at 14 percent. The remainder included handheld game systems.
Jonathan Epstein, a video game agent for United Talent Agency, said the rise of broadband Internet and more processing power has fueled these new consoles' ability to move beyond games alone. And that could help grow the market for games beyond the traditional young male audience.
Nintendo's surprise announcement was a tiny redesigned Game Boy Advance called Micro, available this fall for an undisclosed price. The silver device, about the size of an iPod Mini, is a redesign and doesn't offer any new technology, officials said.
"This is just another kind of edgy element that we're adding to the mix," Nintendo of America spokeswoman Perrin Kaplan said.
New types of interactivity were the main thrust of Nintendo's hopes to broaden the $10 billion U.S. game market.
"Electroplankton" for Nintendo's DS handheld lets gamers manipulate fish and other sea creatures to create rhythmic sound effects and music. "Nintendogs," already available in Japan, employs the DS' microphone as you shout orders to get your digital pup to do tricks like sit and roll over.
Spears, Husband Do Letterman's Top 10 List
NEW YORK - Britney Spears and Kevin Federline were everywhere Tuesday including reading a top 10 list on CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman."
On the day their reality show premiered on UPN, the 23-year-old pop star and her husband stopped by Ellen DeGeneres' syndicated talk show, and later paid Letterman a visit.
"Britney and Kevin: Chaotic" also premiered a six-episode series featuring private home videos during their courtship, engagement and wedding.
But let them tell you why to watch.
The couple's Top 10 reasons to check out their new show are:
10. Britney: There's never-before-seen footage of me wrestling an alligator.
9. Kevin: Unlike those "Desperate Housewives" chicks, we're not, like, 60 years old.
8. Britney: It's like "American Idol" except no one sleeps with Paula Abdul.
7. Kevin: In the first episode, you can see my ass.
6. Britney: I'm hot.
5. Kevin: She's hot.
4. Britney and Kevin: We haven't had nearly enough media coverage.
3. Britney: It's gotta be better than this show.
2. Kevin: If enough people tune in, maybe my wife will make out with Madonna again.
1. Britney: In the season finale, you'll find out that Dave is the father of my baby oops.
...McGraw Has Top Single, Song at ACM Awards
LAS VEGAS - Leading nominee Tim McGraw took top single and song honors for his hit "Live Like You Were Dying" on Tuesday night at the 40th annual Academy of Country Music Awards.
Most of McGraw's six nominations came from the song about living life to its fullest. It has special meaning for the singer because his father, former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Tug McGraw, died of cancer last year.
Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss also grabbed two trophies for their haunting duet "Whiskey Lullaby," which won for best video and vocal event. Paisley said he had initially been concerned that radio wouldn't play the song because of its dark themes.
"It's death and drinking. It's summertime for God's sake," he said.
The show had an international flavor, with several segments piped in via satellite. Camouflage-clad Toby Keith performed "As Good as I Once Was" for a crowd of clapping U.S. troops in Iraq, saying "Welcome to honky-tonk university, ya'll. We're in Baghdad."
And Keith Urban accepted the top male vocalist and album honor for his "Be Here" from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
"I'm blown away," Urban said. "It's like 20 to two in the morning, but this is the best wake-up call I've ever had."
Spunky newcomer Gretchen Wilson, who had the breakout hit of the year with "Redneck Woman," took home honors for top new artist and female vocalist.
She cried as she accepted the second trophy, which had gone to Martina McBride each of the past three years.
"I don't even really know what to say, except for thank you," Wilson said.
Wilson, in jeans and a tank top, kicked off the show with a lively rendition of "Here for the Party," the title song of her quadruple-platinum debut album.
Veterans Brooks & Dunn beat out several newcomers for top vocal duo, their record 19th career award.
"This sure felt like the year that ya'll were gonna want to hear somebody else come up here and say thanks," Kix Brooks said. "We don't get it," Ronnie Dunn added.
Another veteran, Faith Hill, ended a five-year hiatus from the awards show with a performance of "Mississippi Girl." Wearing a sheer green blouse and jeans, Hill looked rejuvenated as she pumped her fist and strutted across the stage.
Retired superstar Garth Brooks was greeted by more than 20 seconds of applause as he walked onstage to honor his friend Chris LeDoux, who died March 9 of liver cancer.
"I'm not saying you're saying this but, I've missed you too," Brooks told the crowd.
Newlywed Kenny Chesney had five nominations, as did Krauss, who was not at the show.
Chesney's earnest performance of "Anything But Mine" evoked his surprise wedding to Renee Zellweger last week. The stars of Nashville and Hollywood tied the knot on the Caribbean island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where they were photographed barefoot on the beach. The song includes the line "she has to feel the sand beneath her feet."
The fan-selected Humanitarian Award went to Neal McCoy, who said he was "tickled to death."
Trophies were being presented in only 12 categories over three hours, allowing the performance-driven CBS telecast from the Mandalay Bay Resort to focus as much on entertainment as awards.
The honors were determined by the 3,000 members of the California-based academy, except for the humanitarian and video awards, which were decided by fans.
Toronto beats out Hamilton to house Canadian music hall of fame
TORONTO (CP) - Canadian music legends will soon be immortalized at a flashy music museum to be built in Toronto.
The city beat out nearby Hamilton to house the facility, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) was poised to announce Tuesday. "When you think of a Canadian music hall of fame, it could generate a somewhat dusty image and that is very far from what we're shooting for. It's going to be very high-energy," Ross Reynolds, chairman of CARAS, said Monday.
"It will be much more interactive than the rock 'n' roll hall of fame (in Cleveland)."
The facility, expected to open in the summer of 2007, will be located at the bustling corner of Yonge and Dundas streets in the city's downtown core.
It is expected to span three floors of a 10-storey building already under construction that will also include a record store, stereo store, movie theatres and restaurants.
Peter Tillmann, president of Spinning Wheel Designs and project director for the Toronto bid, likened the complex to an "entertainment-style project similar to Times Square, New York."
"The outside of the building has been designed like a giant billboard," he said.
"If you can imagine a 10-storey-high billboard with, say, 18 different types of television screens and monitors and flashing lights and all kinds of bells and whistles."
Inside, the facility will take visitors "behind the scenes" of the music industry, Tillman said.
"There will be a lot of exhibits where people can interact and become their favourite musician so they can get into an editing suite, they can play an instrument, they can do some recording with their vocals, they can go in and see how instruments are made," he said.
For more than 25 years, CARAS has been inducting musicians and industry leaders into a hall of fame, but has not had a "bricks-mortar" base.
Five cities - Toronto, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Sault Ste. Marie - originally bid on the project. All other candidates eventually dropped out or were eliminated except for Hamilton and Toronto.
Reynolds said Toronto was chosen because it draws so many visitors.
"The overriding driving factor here was the location and the traffic and the dynamism of that particular location," he said.
Currently the hall exists in the virtual world only at www.juno-awards.ca. Each year new names are added at a ceremony folded into the televised Juno Awards.
The building is to be the Canadian equivalent to Cleveland's famous structure - designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei - only it won't be limited to those in the world of rock 'n' roll.
The project will cost about $40 million, with funds to come from corporate sponsors and the music industry as well as a mix of private and public sponsors.
Dave Chappelle Speaks: 'I'm Not Crazy; I'm Not Smoking Crack'
Two weeks after going AWOL from his Comedy Central show, comedian Dave Chappelle has finally spoken out about his flight to South Africa. Denying that he's in a mental health facility or that he is on drugs, Chappelle chalked his disappearance up to a combination of stress, creative angst over the ideas for his show, and the fact that he's sometimes a "difficult dude."
Speaking to Time magazine, Chappelle said, "I'm not crazy; I'm not smoking crack." But a week after the third season of his "Chappelle's Show" was postponed indefinitely, Chappelle said he's definitely feeling intense pressure and needed to escape to get his head together.
"I'm definitely stressed out," Chappelle said, explaining why he abruptly left the taping of his show in late April to go on a "spiritual retreat" in South Africa without notifying his agent, publicist or fans.
"There were things that overwhelmed me," he said. "But not in the way that people are saying. I haven't spent any of the money. All that stuff about partying and taking crack is not true. Why do I live on a farm in Ohio? To support my partying lifestyle?"
Chappelle said the pressure to live up to the unprecedented $50 million contract he signed with Comedy Central for two more seasons of the show has definitely led to some intense stress, which he felt he needed to escape from.
"Let me tell you the things I can do here which I can't at home: think, eat, sleep, laugh. I'm an introspective dude. I enjoy my own thoughts sometimes. And I've been doing a lot of thinking here," explained Chappelle, described as "lucid and thoughtful" during a 90-minute interview.
"You hear so many voices jockeying for position in your mind that you want to make sure that you hear your own voice," Chappelle said. "So I figured, let me just cut myself off from everybody, take a minute and pull a Flintstone stop a speeding car by using my bare feet as the brakes."
Two weeks ago and just a day after Comedy Central began promoting the anticipated May 31 debut of the series' third season the channel announced that production on the show had been unexpectedly postponed (see "Production On 'Chappelle's Show' Suspended"). At the time, Chappelle's spokesperson did not provide any other information, saying only that both sides expected to resume taping at some point.
Then, last week, Entertainment Weekly reported that Chappelle had checked into a mental health facility in South Africa. In his interview with Time, however, the comedian denied that report. "I'm not in a mental facility," Chappelle, 31, said. He also denied a drug problem, but said he had a 40-minute consultation with a psychiatrist.
"If you don't have the right people around you, and you're moving at a million miles an hour, you can lose yourself," Chappelle said. "Everyone around me says, 'You're a genius, you're great, that's your voice,' but I'm not sure that they're right. ... You got to be careful of the company you keep. It's hard to know how much to say. One of the things that happens when people make the leap from a certain amount of money to tens of millions of dollars is that the people around you dramatically change."
Though he'd heard other people talk about how fame can change you, Chappelle said he now knows firsthand how it not only changes your life, but also the lives of people around you. "You have to have people around you that you can trust and aren't just out for a meal ticket," he said.
Chappelle, who is staying with friends in Durban, South Africa, also chalked his flight up to dissatisfaction with the direction the show was going, saying, "I want to make sure I'm dancing and not shuffling. Whatever decisions I make right now I'm going to have to live with. Your soul is priceless." Because he felt the show's first two seasons had "a real spirit to them," Chappelle said he wants to make sure everything he does has a similar spirit.
Chappelle admitted that he's sometimes a "difficult kind of dude," and that when he left the show for the first time, in December, it was over similar "psychological" issues. At the time, his spokesperson said Chappelle was suffering from an intense bout of the flu. "I have trust issues," he said. "I saw some stuff in myself that I just didn't dig. ... There were some things about myself that I didn't like. People got to take inventory from time to time."
Speculation for the breakdown in the show's shooting schedule had also centered on creative tension between Chappelle and Comedy Central. But a network spokesperson denied any creative clashes last week and Comedy Central president Doug Herzog told Time that the racial-envelope-pushing comedian has "complete creative freedom" on the show. Chappelle also denied that Comedy Central was part of the problem.
His longtime writing partner, Neal Brennan, said if there were creative differences, they were not out of the ordinary and that, "By the numbers, this was the worst way to have done it. He couldn't think straight. It was fight or flight and he chose flight."
Herzog who said he recently finally saw a handful of the sketches Chappelle shot earlier this year which he thought were as funny as anything from the first two seasons has told his staff that he doesn't believe the show will be back on the air in 2005.
"When I get back, [I hope] everything will be up and running, or we'll make other arrangements," said Chappelle, who did not give a timetable for when he might return to the U.S., or if he will return to producing the show when he does. "I don't know what the lay of the land is."
Chappelle said a number of prominent black entertainers have stepped up to offer advice among them former Fugees singer Lauryn Hill but it's the advice his father gave him when he decided to try comedy that has stuck in Chappelle's mind. "He said, 'Name your price before you get there. And if you ever find it's more expensive than what you're prepared to give, then get out.' "
Gwen Stefani Plans Another Solo Album By Year's End
It seems the "Hollaback Girl" is getting ready to do just that six months after its release, Gwen Stefani's planning a sequel to her solo album, Love, Angel, Music, Baby. She hopes to have it out by the holidays and thinks that deadline is doable since she has so many leftovers from her original recording sessions.
"Me and Pharrell are going in the studio again, and we just started talking about doing a whole 'nother album with the tracks that never made it on this record and maybe writing a few more," she said. "It's going to be kind of like 'part two.' "
After her initial sessions with Pharrell Williams, who produced "Hollaback Girl" (see "Gwen Stefani Answers No Doubt Fans With 'Attitude Song' "), Stefani realized that she overshot her mark. "The next day, I was like, 'Now I have to put out two records, I got too many tracks,' " she said. "There was a moment where I almost did, but it didn't work out."
Much like before, now her dilemma is trying to decide which tracks to pick. There's the first song she wrote with Linda Perry, "Fine by You." "It's cute, but not what I was looking for," Gwen said. "But it always feels good to write a song." There's also "Wonderful Life for Him," featuring Depeche Mode's Martin Gore on guitar, which was one of the last songs Stefani wrote with Perry and freaked the singer out so much she had to flee from the session (see "Gwen Stefani Turns To Bandmate For Aid After Freak-Out"). "It's a great track," Stefani said. "I wanted to write this deep song for a friend who had passed away, but I came in the next day and [Perry] had already written lyrics."
Stefani also has plenty of tracks she's already written with other producers, such as "Parental Advisory" with Rich Harrison and "You Started It" with Pharrell. Of the latter she said, "It has these great chords, and to me, it doesn't sound anything like the Neptunes. It sounds like an early, early No Doubt song. "There are a lot of songs to choose from," she laughed. "It's really hard to choose, just because I want everyone to hear all the songs."
NEW VIDEO AND DVD RELEASES FOR MAY 17, 2005
The Adventures of Pete & Pete: Season One (2-disc set)
Batman: Return to the Bat Cave
Berga: Soldiers of Another War: PBS
Blue (1968)
Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss (2004)
Candide (2004)
Cheers: Season Five (4-disc set)
Clarissa Explains It All: Season One (2-disc set)
Class of 1984 (1982)
The Commish: The Best of Season One
Dance With Me Henry (1956)
Dinotopia: The Quest for the Ruby Sunstone
Escort West (1958)
Fortunes of War (1987)
The Golden Girls: Season Two (3-disc set)
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1980)
The Green Butchers (De Grψnne Slagtere) (2003)
Hour of the Gun (1967)
The Hunting Party (1971)
I'll Take Sweden (1965)
Infection (2000)
Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964)
It's Easier for a Camel (Il est plus facile pour un chameau ) (2003)
Johnny Reno (1966)
Kinsey: Special Edition (2-disc set) (2004)
Kinsey (2004)
Kinsey: PBS
Law & Order: Season Three
Loving Feeling (1968)
Macarthur: PBS
The Mask: Platinum Series (1994)
More Dead Than Alive (1968)
NBA Dynasty Series: The Complete History of the Philadelphia 76ers
The Noose Hangs High (1948)
The Princess and the Pirate (1944)
Quicksilver Highway (1997)
Return With Honor: PBS
Sam Whiskey (1969)
The Secret of the Holy Grail (2-disc set)
Seinfeld: Season Four (4-disc set)
The Scalphunters (1968)
Sci-Fighter (2004)
Scrubs: Season One (4-disc set)
The Sea Inside (Mar adentro) (2004)
Silk Stalkings: The Best of Season One
The Simpsons: Bart Wars
Six Feet Under: Season Three (5-disc set)
Son of The Mask: Platinum Series (2005)
The Stone Boy (1984)
Team America: World Police (unrated) (2004)
Team America: World Police (R-rated) (2004)
Waterhole #3 (1967)
War Letters: PBS
West Point: PBS
White Noise (widescreen) (2005)
White Noise (full-frame) (2005)
X-Treme Fighter (2004)
NEW CD RELEASES FOR MAY 17, 2005
An Angle We Can Breathe Under Alcohol (Sanctuary)
Miss Angel That's the Way I Tumble (Electro-Fi)
The Away Team National Anthem (guests Smif N Wesson, Little Brother and more) (6 Hole)
Chris Beard Live Wire (NorthernBlues)
Andy Bole Ramshackle Pier (Ad Hoc)
Breaking Point Beautiful Disorder (Wind-up)
Circus Maximus The First Chapter (Sensory)
Clairdee Music Moves (DeClare)
Clearlake Wonder if the Snow Will Settle EP (UK remixes and b-sides; w/cover of Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl") (Domino)
Common Ground High Voltage (Delmark)
Elizabeth Cook This Side of the Moon (Emergent/Hog County)
Cowboy Troy Loco Motive (Warner Bros. Nashville)
Matt Darey Upfront Trance (two CDs) (Water)
De Novo Dahl Cats & Kittens (two CDs) (Theory 8)
The Deathray Davies The Kick and the Snare (Glurp)
Daz Dillinger The Dogg Pound Gangsta presents "Gangsta Crunk" (Gangsta Advisory/Daz Dillinger Music)
Disbelief 66Sick (Nuclear Blast)
DJ Rap Bulletproof (System Recordings)
Eleven Days of Rain Within (Dark Star)
Epoxies Stop the Future (Fat Wreck Chords)
The Forecast Late Night Conversations (Victory)
Yves Francois Blues for Hawk (Delmark)
Frost Welcome to Frost Angeles (Thump)
Robbie Fulks Georgia Hard (Yep Roc)
Keith Fullerton Whitman Multiples (Kranky)
Alexander Hacke (of Einstόrzende Neubauten) Sanctuary (enhanced CD w/video footage and interviews; w/members of the Germs, the Jesus Lizard, Swans and more) (Koolarrow)
Jon Hassell Maarifa Street/Magic Realism 2 (City Hall)
Het Let's Het (Ad Hoc)
Hiltmeyer Inc. Sendling 70 (Gomma)
Horace Pinker Texas One Ten (enhanced CD w/videos) (Thick/Southern)
Idiot Pilot Strange We Should Meet Here (Reprise)
Insane Clown Posse The Calm (Psychopathic)
Vijay Iyer Reimagining (Savoy)
Catherine Jauniaux/Tim Hodgkinson Fluvial (Ad Hoc)
Juju Mob Black Candles (Eastern Conference)
Juliette and the Licks (actress Juliette Lewis) You're Speaking My Language (Fiddler)
Toby Keith Honky Tonk University (Dreamworks Nashville)
Kem Album II (Universal Motown)
L.E.G.A.C.Y. (of Justus League) Project Mayhem (produced by 9th Wonder) (6 Hole)
Bill Laswell Presents Trojan Dub Massive Chapter 1 (remixes of Trojan catalog) (Sanctuary)
Bill Laswell Presents Trojan Dub Massive Chapter 2 (remixes of Trojan catalog) (Sanctuary)
Huey Lewis & the News Live at 25 (DVD same day) (Rhino)
Love Hate Hero Just Breathe (Ferret)
MCCB Things from the Past (Ad Hoc)
Thollem Mcdonas/Rick Rivera Everything's Going Everywhere (Jazzheads/Edgetone)
Memphis Bleek 534 (w/Jay-Z, M.O.P., Young Gunz, Swizz Beats and more) (Island Def Jam)
Mercury Rev The Secret Migration (V2)
Van Morrison Magic Time (Geffen)
Natalie Natalie (Universal Motown)
Nudge Cached (Kranky)
Bobby Pinson Man Like Me (RCA)
The Red Chord Clients (Metal Blade)
Renegade Foxxx Still Hustlin' (Thump)
The Rippingtons Wild Card (featuring Russ Freeman) (Concord)
The Rocket Summer Hello, Good Friend (The Militia Group)
Avi Rothbard Twin Song (MidLantic)
Billy Joe Shaver A Tribute to - Live (Compadre)
Gwen Stefani Maximum (audio biography) (Chrome Dreams)
Supermachiner Rise of the Great Machine (Victory)
System of a Down Mezmerize (produced by Rick Rubin) (Columbia)
Finis Tasby What My Blues Are All About (Electro-Fi)
Thievery Corporation Perfect Remixes Vol. 4 (remixes of Luscious Jackson, Pizzicato Five and more) (Warlock)
Tight Phantomz Crazy When Wet (Southern Records)
Troubled Hubble Making Beds in a Burning House (Lookout!)
Tupac More Maximum (audio biography) (Chrome Dreams)
Venus Handcuffs Venus Handcuffs (Ad Hoc)
Ricky Warwick Love Many, Trust Few (Sanctuary)
Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne Let It Loose (Electro-Fi)
Woof 7 Inches (Ad Hoc)
VA Feuding Banjos: Revenge of the Citybillys (VI Music)
VA Norcal Comp 2005 (Agent)
VA The Devil Is a Busy Man (VI Music)
VA Totally Hits 2005 (BMG/Warner)
OST Darcy's Wild Life (NBC TV show) (Sony BMG)
OST Hour of the Gun (score by Jerry Goldsmith) (Varθse Sarabande)
OST Live Fast, Die Never: Music from the TV Series Angel (score by Robert J. Carl) (Rounder)
OST The Muppets: Wizard of Oz (w/Ashanti) (Walt Disney)
OST The Shield (TV drama; w/songs from Master P, Kelis, Damageplan and more) (Lakeshore)
DVD Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio with Billy Bang Live at the River East Art Center (Delmark)
DVD The Flaming Lips The Fearless Freaks (new documentary) (Shout! Factory)
DVD Peter Gabriel Growing Up on Tour: A Family Portrait (documentary of 2002 tour) (Lakeshore/Riverside)
DVD Lou Reed Spanish Fly: Live in Spain (Sanctuary)
DVD VA Hootenanny (Sanctuary)
DVD VA Live from Bonnaroo 2004 (two DVDs) (Sanctuary)
FOR ONCE, FOX HASNT MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE
It was a good weekend for big stars and underdogs as ABC, Fox and the WB all moved one step closer to setting their fall skeds.
Three webs all but wrapped up their series orders for the 2005-06 season, with new Fox Entertainment topper Peter Liguori moving with particular speed, picking up much of his first crop of shows nearly a week before the net's Thursday upfront presentation.
News was particularly good for many (but not all) skeins that had been hanging by a thread.
Fox told 20th Century Fox and Imagine TV that "Arrested Development" will be back for another season, while "The Bernie Mac Show" also got a surprise renewal. ABC had good news for 20th's John Stamos laffer "Jake in Progress," which is headed back for a second season, and vet comedy "Less Than Perfect," which many had written off as dead. Alphabet also ordered another season of "The Bachelor," which is expected to return sometime in 2006.
News was not so good for the WB's "Jack & Bobby": It's been killed after one low-rated season.
As for what's new, ABC had a busy weekend, picking up a hefty six dramas and five comedies.
Orders on the Alphabet drama front included Touchstone's "Commander-in-Chief," starring Geena Davis as the country's first female president, as well as John Wells' Warner Bros. TV buddy cop procedural "Evidence."
Also at the net, the Touchstone entry "In Justice" -- which revolves around investigators who work to free wrongfully convicted prisoners -- got the nod, as did supernatural thriller "Invasion," Warner Bros. TV's take on bizarre occurrences in a small town.
Then there's the Touchstone update of "Night Stalker," about journalists who investigate unusual phenomena, and J.J. Abrams' "What About Brian," also from Touchstone, which stars Barry Watson as a thirtysomething man who realizes all of his friends have gotten married.
Alphabet comedies scoring orders include the Tollin-Robbins entry "Crumbs," from Touchstone TV, about two brothers who end up running the family business when their parents die, and Sony Pictures TV's "Emily's Reasons Why Not," based on the book about a self-help author who doesn't take her own advice.
Also new are "Freddie," the Warner Bros. TV laffer starring Freddie Prinze Jr. as a young man raised by women; Warner Bros.' "Hot Properties," about four women in a real estate office; and NBC Universal TV Studio's "Sons and Daughters," about siblings and their families.
Bubble shows making a comeback include "Rodney," "George Lopez," "Hope & Faith" and the aforementioned "Jake" and "Less Than Perfect." Gone are "8 Simple Rules" and "My Wife and Kids."
In addition to "The Bachelor," ABC also has renewed frosh unscripted skeins "Wife Swap" and "Supernanny."
Over at Fox, drama pickups include "Deviant Behavior," from Regency TV, starring Johnny Messner as the leader of a team that investigates deviant criminals. Fox also nabbed "Reunion," from Warner Bros. TV, which looks year-by-year at the lives of high school pals returning for their 20th reunion.
Also at Fox, "Bones," from 20th Century Fox TV, stars Emily Deschanel as a forensic anthropologist, while in "Head Cases," also from 20th, Chris O'Donnell plays a lawyer who has a nervous breakdown (Daily Variety, May 13).
As for Fox comedy orders, Darren Star's "Kitchen Confidential," based on the book by bad-boy chef Anthony Bourdain, revolves around the world of New York restaurants. Bradley Cooper plays the lead character in the laffer from 20th Century Fox TV and New Line TV.
"The War at Home," from Warner Bros. TV, stars Michael Rapaport and Anita Barone as parents attempting to raise their teenage kids. "The Loop," from 20th Century Fox TV, stars Bret Harrison as a recent college grad who gets a corporate job and is forced to grow up.
Then there's improv laffer "Freebirds," produced by alternative shingle Fox 21, which shows the flipside of "The Loop" -- an unmotivated college grad who moves back in with his folks. "Freebirds" is an out-of-left-field pickup of a presentation shot for the virtually unheard-of sum of $50,000 and could be a sign of Liguori's willingness to embrace the experimental.
In addition to "Arrested" and "Bernie," Fox has renewed midseason laffer "Stacked." News doesn't appear to be good for laffers "Quintuplets" or "Life on a Stick." At the WB, Frog is moving forward with Warner Bros. TV's "Supernatural," the spooky road-trip drama starring Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as brothers who encounter unusual phenomena on the back roads of America; as well as the studio's "Related," about four sisters (Laura San Giacomo, Lizzy Caplan, Jennifer Esposito and Laura Breckenridge) in Manhattan.
Frog has also picked up the Jerry Bruckheimer drama "Just Legal," from Warner Bros. TV, about a teenage lawyer in Venice, Calif. And on tap, possibly for midseason, is "Pepper Dennis," from 20th Century Fox, with Rebecca Romijn as a news reporter in Chicago.
Net also is bringing back the Fran Drescher comedy "Living With Fran," with more comedy orders to come.
Meanwhile, the WB passed on its Ron White comedy project, which likely signals it won't schedule a "blue-collar comedy night," as had been expected. Frog also may be mulling a return to comedies on Sunday night.