Sin City - The Real One - Is Coming!
The Frank Miller's Sin City: Recut & Extended Edition is due on December 13th.
This extended edition of the film will include expanded versions of each of the film's four individual segments (Customer Is Always Right, The Hard Good-bye, Big Fat Kill and That Yellow Bastard) split out into short films on their own, each with their own title cards.
You'll be able to watch them each separately, or in any order you like.
U.S. frontier saga replaces Trudeau miniseries
TORONTO (CP) - Pierre Trudeau was supposed to be doing battle with Maurice Duplessis again this weekend.
Instead, CBC-TV will be telling the story of the settling of the American frontier. Such is the fate of Canadian content in this, Week Six of the public broadcaster's lockout of its 5,500 unionized employees. A fall slate heavy with Canadian programming has been shelved by the network until the labour dispute ends and there's time to properly promote the fare.
Trudeau: The Making of a Maverick - a two-part prequel to the earlier CBC miniseries - delves into the former prime minister's earlier political life in Quebec and had been scheduled to air this Sunday and Monday night.
But instead, the CBC has imported as substitute filler Into the West, a sprawling, 12-hour multi-generational tale about the opening of the American wilderness and the impact it had on the Plains Indians. Produced by Steven Spielberg and Ted Turner, the series was filmed partially in Alberta.
"It's a replacement schedule," concedes CBC spokesman Jason MacDonald. "It's not going to replace a lot of the things we had planned, like the Trudeau miniseries. I think that just underlines the reason why we need to get back to doing what we normally do."
The replacement schedule for September and October is also top-heavy with documentaries that are pinch-hitting for the dramas and comedy viewers had been promised. Sex Slaves, a searing documentary on the international flesh trade, recently drew 479,000 viewers - a figure MacDonald says was "above expectations," given the situation.
The main sticking point at the contract negotiations remains management's wish to have more flexibility in the hiring of casual and contract workers, something the Canadian Media Guild sees as a blatant threat to job security. An agreement was reported Wednesday on language pertaining to the issue of contracting out, although the union stresses the contracting out of services, while important, is not the same thing as hiring employees on contract.
That agreement leaves five more key issues unsettled.
And whether Wednesday's declaration of support by the CBC board of directors for president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch's lockout strategy will hasten or prolong a settlement remains to be seen.
Public sentiment, meanwhile, seems divided between those who dearly miss their daily CBC fix and those who insist the network is a waste of taxpayers' dollars, and that private broadcasters could fill the bill.
Regina writer Sandra Birdsell, for example, says she really misses her CBC and that it's part of her life.
"I can't imagine not being able to listen to CBC Radio," she said, calling the public broadcaster "our lifeline to the rest of this country."
Hundreds of people packed a Toronto concert hall Wednesday night for a free benefit show and hear speaker after speaker deliver the same message: bring back the CBC.
Speeches and performances by the likes of former prime minister Joe Clark and writers Alice Munro and June Callwood urged an immediate end to the lockout.
"We need (the CBC) and we are gathered here because the custodians of that institution - on both sides of the dispute - may need reminding how much damage is being done," Clark said.
In Sydney, N.S., locked-out employees were joined by a crowd of enthusiastic supporters at a downtown march and rally.
Listeners, politicians and many of the 25 local CBC Cape Breton radio and television employees marched along the city's main street where the crowd swelled to about 100.
When Parliament resumes next week, Conservative MP Bev Oda wants the CBC called before the heritage committee to explain the lockout's impact on programming and budgets. She says she understands and sympathizes with both sides.
"It's not an easy thing to go through," Oda says. "There are impacts not only on the employees but their families, et cetera. But the faster we can get this over, the sooner we can get on with the business at hand."
The locked-out workers have proven to be masters at public relations with their podcasts, newsletters, websites, rallies and concerts.
But MacDonald says such pro-union stunts just serve to distract from the issue.
"And the more distractions, the more attention paid to those kind of things, you run the risk of only prolonging the time it takes to get a deal."
Meanwhile, radio personality Shelagh Rogers and a couple of producers have been traversing the country in a minivan in a project called Caravan Unlocked, in which Rogers has been meeting both the public and CBC pickets. She arrived in Toronto this week fresh from crossing the Prairies and insists the spirit is "pretty darn good" among employees.
"But patience is wearing thin and of course the longer this goes on, there's more anger and more of a sour feeling," says Rogers, who concedes that even if both sides kiss and make up now it will be a long time before it's business as usual.
"I think locking the people out was a brutal thing to do," she says. "It was a shock. It felt like being dumped by your first boyfriend. You never forget."
Emmys Carson tribute: Where was Leno?
It was surprising enough to see David Letterman at the Emmys, making a rare awards show appearance a decade after his Uma-Oprah debacle at the Oscars. It was even more surprising to see Dave totally serious and stiff for the Johnny Carson tribute that had brought him to speak at the Shrine Auditorium.
But most surprising was the apparent acknowledgement by everyone (not just Jon Stewart), that it's Letterman, not Jay Leno, who's Carson's true heir. After all, Leno didn't speak at the tribute or appear in the clip montage, nor was his name mentioned. (When his name did come up, as a nominee for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, the hall was strangely silent.)
Asked by Entertainment Weekly about Leno's absence from the tribute, Emmy producer Ken Ehrlich declined to comment, but a Tonight Show publicist told the magazine that the talk-show host was never asked to appear in the segment in the first place.
You can read the full story in the Emmy wrap-up in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly that comes out Friday.
FOX Resets '24' Clock for Mid-January
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) FOX is moving the fifth-season premiere of "24" back one week in January, hoping to take advantage of an NFL lead-in to give the show a ratings bump.
Originally scheduled to open Sunday, Jan. 8, the show will now begin its fifth year on Jan. 15. As it did last season, FOX is making a two-night event of the season's beginning, offering up back-to-back episodes on Jan. 15 and 16. The series will settle into its regular time at 9 p.m. ET Jan. 23.
The miniseries-like premiere paid dividends for "24" last season, scoring some of the show's biggest audiences ever and building momentum that translated into its most-watched season. FOX's strategy of running the season without repeats, which it will do again in 2006, helped as well.
Last season's premiere was helped by having a National Football League playoff game as its lead-in in much of the country, and the NFL schedule played a role in this year's scheduling as well. FOX only recently learned that it would have the late-afternoon playoff game on Jan. 15, a network spokesman says, and made the move in hopes of duplicating the success of last year's opener.
Pushing the show back a week also means FOX will have to air a two-hour block of episodes at some point in the season to keep the finale from airing after May sweeps end. That bit of scheduling has yet to be finalized.
Season five of "24" will pick up 18 months after last season's end, with the presumed-dead Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) living under a false identity with a woman (Connie Britton, "Spin City") and her son (Brady Corbet). Carlos Bernard, Mary Lynn Rajskub, James Morrison, Kim Raver, Roger Cross and Louis Lombardi will reprise their roles from last season, while Jean Smart ("Center of the Universe") and Sean Astin ("The Lord of the Rings") are joining the cast.
Garbage Embarking On 'Indefinite Break'
Rock act Garbage will take "an indefinite break" after its Australian tour ends Oct. 1 in Perth. "We're taking a hiatus -- I don't know if we're calling it a day," singer Shirley Manson told the Melbourne Herald Sun. A group spokesperson had no comment on the developments.
Rumors have been circulating that things were not right in the Garbage camp after the band cancelled European dates scheduled after the Australian tour.
Band members admitted Garbage almost broke up during the making of its latest album, "Bleed Like Me," but later insisted they were thrilled with the finished product. "Because we were on the verge of losing it all, we made the album of our career," drummer Butch Vig told Billboard. "We feel completely rejuvenated."
The set debuted in April at a career-best No. 4 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 245,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It spawned the band's first top 10 Modern Rock hit since 1998 with "Why Do You Love Me," which reached No. 8.
"We've not stopped for 10 years," Manson told the newspaper. "We always swore if it wasn't 100% fun, we'd stop it."
New Nirvana Compilation On The Way
Just in time for the holidays, DGC has set a Nov. 1 release date for a new Nirvana compilation. "Sliver: The Best of the Box" rounds up highlights from the last year's boxed set "With the Lights Out" and will also feature three previously unreleased tracks, details of which have yet to be revealed.
"With the Lights Out" was a quick hit, debuting at No. 19 on The Billboard 200. It was the biggest sales week for a boxed set since Garth Brooks' "The Limited Series" in 1998 and has shifted 429,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The box was originally intended for release in Christmas 2001, to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of Nirvana's breakthrough album, "Nevermind." But surviving members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl were thwarted by lawsuits from Kurt Cobain's widow Courtney Love, who objected to their planned use of the previously "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 the following month.
'Desperate Housewives' Opens New Season
NEW YORK - With the return of "Desperate Housewives," scads of pressing questions will be answered. Or at least addressed. Or something. Please!
Ever since the hit ABC series wrapped its first season, fans have been marking time, itching to learn what lies ahead for Bree (Marcia Cross) whose husband Rex up and died on the finale.
Will the grieving widow have to defend herself against accusations by Rex's doctor that she at one point a vengeful, cheated-on wife is somehow responsible for his death? And what about George, Bree's creepy suitor? Can there be any doubt that this Bree-obsessed pharmacist tampered with Rex's medicine? When will the murderous scheme come to light?
But that's not all the show left hanging four long months ago.
Mike the hunky plumber who dates Susan ( Teri Hatcher) was last seen walking into an ambush by unhinged teenager Zach, who was holding Susan at gunpoint while holed up in Mike's house. How will Mike save the day?
Oh, and by the way, how is Zach gonna take the news that he's really Mike's son?
These and other matters will be dealt with (hope, hope!) in the season premiere airing 9 p.m. EDT Sunday, as "Desperate Housewives" resumes the narrative juggling act that made this mystery/melodrama/boudoir comedy last year's most popular new show.
It joins no fewer than a dozen new dramas that take a similarly serial approach to their storytelling and whose arrival on the schedule "Desperate Housewives" surely helped inspire.
By now you already know that Lynette (just-crowned Emmy winner Felicity Huffman) is going back to work and leaving her hubby to play Mr. Mom. Gabrielle ( Eva Longoria) is expecting a child maybe her husband's, maybe not as her husband heads to jail. Susan's ex will get it on with Edie ( Nicollette Sheridan). And Betty (new cast member Alfre Woodard) settles in with Some Sort of Secret only her teenage son shares.
In short, complications run wild on Wisteria Lane, where each answer seems to breed only yet another question.
Same for ABC's "Lost," which returned Wednesday with precious morsels of new info about that confounded hole as well as other issues challenging the island castaways but left the audience panting for next week's handout.
Such are the unrequited appetites of viewers in this age of continuing story lines.
You recall how it began. In a major change from the self-contained episodes of most weekly dramas, prime-time borrowed the serial model of daytime soap operas a quarter-century ago for "Dallas," whose "Who Shot J.R.?" cliffhanger spurred a guessing game that consumed the whole nation.
Then, in 1980, the police drama "Hill Street Blues" took the complex structure of the soap opera world and married it with narratives of equal complexity. This kind of multithreaded drama caught on big, and only grew bigger as shows like "St. Elsewhere" and "thirtysomething" paved the way for today's "The West Wing," "24," "Alias" and "The Sopranos."
On Fox's new "Reunion" this season, six high school friends will age 20 years one year per week while a murder mystery enfolds them. And the same network's "Prison Break" will take viewers step by exhaustive step as a man lands himself in jail to bust out his brother, who is due to be executed in just 30 days.
On ABC's "Invasion," alien body snatchers descend upon a small Florida town (will they take over the world?). On CBS' "Threshold," aliens try to rejigger the DNA of the human race for their own peculiar purpose (will they take over the world?). On NBC's "Surface," strange sea creatures bob up all over the place (will they take over the world?).
You know the drill for the audience: that oh-so-gradual accretion of facts, those buried references to dislodge, the grand revelations booby-trapped with red herrings. There's always more to learn and you resolve, over time, to master it. Who can resist the potential payoff? After all, you build equity from your investment watching "Lost" in a way that close-ended hours of "Law & Order" or "CSI" could never provide.
Besides, serial TV might even boost your brain power.
Television is "demanding more cognitive engagement with each passing year," Steven Johnson writes in his recent book, "Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter."
"Think of it," he proposes, "as a kind of positive brainwashing the popular media steadily, but almost imperceptibly, making our minds sharper, as we soak in entertainment usually dismissed as so much lowbrow fluff."
But as you soak, you sometimes stew. That's the mixed blessing of serial TV. Fans of shows like "Lost" know all too well how there's an escalating burden, along with the reward, involved with keeping up. Hurley's lottery numbers! That toy plane of Kate's! How much minutiae can any viewer process?
And what about the ladies of Wisteria Lane, romancing and seducing, then withholding from the audience? Must every fact be so hard-won by the viewer? Must these "Desperate Housewives" be such a tease?
'Lost' Premiere Raises More Mystery
******THIS STORY CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!***********
HONOLULU - "Lost" capped its thrilling first season with island adversaries Jack and Locke peering down an eerie shaft sunk deep into the earth. For fans who waited all summer for answers, the wait may be over but the questions are just beginning.
In Wednesday night's second-season premiere of the Hawaii-filmed castaway drama, Jack, Locke and Kate separately descended into the shaft after blowing the metal hatch.
Keeping with "Lost" tradition, what lies beneath was as perplexing as it was revealing electricity, plumbing, a computer room and a man with a thick accent living a subterranean existence. Surprisingly, Jack had met the man before.
The man's intentions weren't divulged in the episode, which ended in a tense scene with him pointing a gun at the head of Locke and ordering Jack to lower his firearm.
Jack didn't know who or what to believe. All he knew is that Kate is missing.
"I think when people watch this show and get to the end of the episode, they're dying to find out what's going to happen next week and they really don't have any idea," said Matthew Fox, who plays Jack, a doctor who has emerged as the unofficial leader of the plane-crash survivors.
Walt, the screaming youngster who was kidnapped at sea by a group of men, made a startling appearance. Shannon stumbled across the boy in the woods after being separated from Sayid.
Walt told Shannon to be quiet then disappeared upon a second look. When Shannon told the other castaways that she saw Walt, she immediately was met with suspicion.
Was Shannon hallucinating? Was Walt hiding? Or is Walt a ghost?
Those answers will be divulged in later episodes.
As the castaways became separated and their number dwindled during the night, they grew increasingly impatient and distraught. But Jack stepped up his leadership role, becoming the voice of hope.
"We're all going to be safe as long as we stay together," Jack said. "The sun comes up in three hours and we're all going to be here to see that happen."
In an emotional flashback, viewers also saw how Jack met his future wife, Sarah.
Sarah, who's engaged to another man, seriously injured her spine in a car accident and is believed to be paralyzed from the waist down. She told Jack that she wants to "dance at her wedding," and needs his help.
While performing surgery, Jack promised to fix her, which later troubled him. After Jack informed the fiance that Sarah most likely will be paralyzed, the fiance panicked.
"Lost" addicts remain left with many questions. But as Daniel Dae Kim, who plays Korean tough guy Jin, put it:
"Our writers are incredibly smart. I'm sure once they start answering questions for the audience, they'll be asking five more for every one they answer.
"They'll have a lot more to think about."
Nurse sews up 'Big Brother' victory
'Big Brother 6' HouseGuest and Jedi Knight in training, Howie Gordon, said it best. Finalists Maggie Ausburn and Ivette Corredero were indeed "America's last choices" to win the CBS reality show.
Despite being despised by the overwhelming majority of die-hard fans, Maggie Ausburn, the 26-year-old nurse from Las Vegas, took home the $500,000 U.S. grand prize while Ivette, the 25-year-old waitress from Miami, came in second and scored $50,000 U.S. by a vote of four to three on the finale of the series. Fittingly, the self-proclaimed star of the show, Howie, cast the deciding ballot.
Former HouseGuest turned CBS on-air personality Marcellas Reynolds, who has lived with the label of making the biggest strategic mistake in 'Big Brother' history, can most likely rest easy now as that honour probably goes to Ivette for picking Disciples Alliance mate Maggie over her arch-nemesis in the house, Outcasts member Janelle Pierzina, in the final three. Ironically, when the jury cast their votes, Janelle picked Ivette to win.
Ivette, who had claimed over and over again that she was playing for her family, justified her decision by saying she couldn't break her promise to the Disciples because she would lose the jury vote. Some jury members argued Ivette picked a friend she had known for just 80 days over her own family. In reality, Ivette's shabby treatment of jury members April and Rachel, her outspoken nature and her persistent trash talking in the house behind people's backs (which included racist comments about Iraqi-born player Kaysar Ridha), probably cost her the victory more than anything else.
"I have a lot of gifts to buy," Maggie told host Julie Chen as she celebrated her win with friends and family. "I have family to take care of. I have a house to actually put furniture in, taxes to pay and animals to take care of."
The gloomy finale concludes a disappointing 'Big Brother' season devoid of any creativity by the producers who seemed content to rehash twists and happenings from previous seasons. The 'Summer of Secrets' theme failed to live up its hype with the clandestine partners twist being unraveled early on and the supposed secrets of the new 'Big Brother' house amounting to nothing more than a hidden room and puzzles that were for the most part awarded to and not solved by the HouseGuests.
Although the casting of the series was commendable, the gamesmanship itself was the worst of any season thus far with the bumbling players making cardinal mistake after cardinal mistake such as openly discussing strategy with their sworn foes time and time again. Howie's decision to nominate members of his own alliance for eviction, Kaysar surrendering the Head of Household title to Jennifer at the end of a 14-hour endurance challenge and Ivette's final three decision will rightfully go down as the most appalling strategic blunders ever.
The transparent recycling was evident too in a finale that hung its hat on the town hall concept torn right from the pages of 'Survivor'. In front of a live audience full of many past 'Big Brother' contestants, jury members and returning players squared off without the fireworks many might have expected. Fan favourite Kaysar Ridha, who was voted back into the game by the viewing public, did get a chance to confront Jennifer Vasquez over the promise she broke that eventually led to him being booted the same week he returned.
"Jennifer, next time, think for yourself," said Kaysar bluntly.
When asked to if she wanted defend herself by host Julie Chen, Jennifer replied that she did think for herself but that her group (The Disciples Alliance) swayed her decision.
HouseGuest Eric Littmann, whose eviction was orchestrated by Kaysar, weighed in with his two cents.
"He did the same exact thing to me but I guess the same medicine doesn't taste the same," he said.
Maggie is scheduled to be appear on the House Calls, the 'Big Brother' Internet talk show hosted by Gretchen Massey and Marcellas Reynolds on CBS.com on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Final 'Big Brother 6' Jury Vote
Beau: Ivette.
April: Maggie.
James: Ivette.
Rachel: Maggie.
Janelle: Ivette.
Jennifer: Maggie.
Howie: Maggie.
Canada's next Oscar entry is C.R.A.Z.Y.
C.R.A.Z.Y. has been chosen to represent Canada at the 78th annual Academy Awards in the category of best foreign language film.
The Quebec film recently won the best Canadian feature award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
C.R.A.Z.Y. is Jean-Marc Vallιe's homage to the pop culture-saturated middle class of the 1970s. Variety.com's Jay Weissberg called it a "bouncy coming-of-age tale that coasts along on a terrific soundtrack and a spot-on feel for period detail."
Oscar nominations will be announced in Hollywood Jan. 31. Last year, 50 countries competed for a coveted nomination.
The Academy Awards will be handed out March 5.
The decision to go with C.R.A.Z.Y. was announced by Telefilm. It chairs a committee of Canadian film industry delegates that considered 12 eligible films.
In 2004, Denys Arcand's The Barbarian Invasions won the foreign language film prize.
'Rock Star: INXS' Claims Its Fortune
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) In 1997, when news spread that INXS frontman Michael Hutchence had died, J.D. Fortune was hanging out with friends in a pool hall.
"They were playing 'Elegantly Wasted' and they had video monitors up," the 32-year-old Canadian recalls. "It was sort of like an empty feeling; it was totally a vacuum of, 'Oh, wow, what's going to happen to the band?'"
The singer found out on Tuesday (Sept. 20) when he beat 14 other contestants and was invited by the Australian group to join their band. Before embarking on CBS' televised "Rock Star: INXS" search, the surviving members -- brothers Andrew, Jon and Tim Ferris, Garry Beers and Kirk Pengilly -- had availed themselves of Terence Trent D'Arby, Suze DeMarchi, Jimmy Barnes and Jon Stevens' services in the intervening years.
Not that Fortune was a sure thing.
"Oh, I've had doubts throughout the whole thing," he laughs. "My personal life and who I am as a person was flashed across a TV screen for two-and-a-half months, so there's no flies on me. Everybody knows who I am, and what I'm like, and what I stand for."
This includes an incident early on where he asserted that unlike the others who were just learning INXS' catalog of songs he already knew them because he loves them, a couple of cases of unpreparedness and a not particularly well-received performance of "Suspicious Minds" from the former Elvis impersonator.
"At that point it was totally about just doing the task at hand and letting the chips fall where they may," Fortune says. "It wasn't about trying to impress INXS; it was just about trying to get my shit together."
Dave Navarro, who was one of the show's hosts and often served as a conduit between the band and contestants, was often the person to question Fortune's choices.
"I support anything INXS chooses to do with their career," says the guitarist who has played with Jane's Addiction and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, about the show's outcome. "J.D.'s got something that's very charismatic and he's obviously a talented vocalist.
"I'm personally very excited to see Marty [Casey] move on because I think he's a dynamic performer."
A consistently strong contestant with a great capacity for absorbing and incorporating INXS' feedback into his performances, Casey entered the finale a fan favorite who had only been in the Bottom Three once. He also distinguished himself by being one of the most gracious runner-ups in reality show history -- smiling broadly and enthusiastically enjoying the mini-concert the new INXS threw immediately following the finale.
"I just wanted J.D.'s moment to not be anything about my sadness," Casey says. "I didn't want to be down. It was a great moment in his life, so I wanted to respect that moment and give him his spot in the sun."
Will Emmy wins ignite 'Lost'?
Maybe the hatch contains shelf space for an Emmy.
The contents of the mysterious hatch and other puzzles are back for viewers to ponder when ABC's Lost returns Wedensday (recap special, 8 ET/PT, followed by second season premiere at 9). But a new, non-life-threatening question has arisen: Will Sunday's Emmy win for best dramatic series or other developments, such as a hot-selling DVD boost ratings for last season's No. 14 show?
The Emmy could help the drama, which follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a spooky island, but it's hard to gauge, ABC entertainment chief Steve McPherson says. Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams also won an Emmy for directing the two-hour pilot.
"I think it's great, especially the timing, with it coming back this week," McPherson says. "There's a portion of the audience that maybe saw it a few times but wasn't dedicated to it that might come back ... or there's a new audience that heard about the show pop-culture-wise, and now that it has the Emmy stamp of approval, may give it a shot."
But "the proof will be in the performance," he says. "In the end, the show is the measure."
The Emmy award for best drama or comedy is a big source of pride for a program and its network, but it traditionally hasn't meant a big boost in ratings, especially for a show that already is drawing a large audience, such as Lost, says David Bushman, television curator at the Museum of Television & Radio. "I don't think it's ever had the reputation of the Tony Awards, where you get extended life out of a Broadway show, or the Academy Awards," he says, where a win can mean a bounce at the box office.
He says an Emmy may help a high-quality but ratings-challenged show stave off cancellation. But it doesn't guarantee success: In fact, Fox's critically acclaimed Arrested Development lost viewers after winning last year's Emmy for best comedy.
Other factors may play a greater role if Lost's audience grows from last season's average of just under 16 million viewers:
The DVD release of Lost's first season Sept. 6 could attract new viewers. Another serialized drama, Fox's 24, benefited from DVD sales. Lost: The Complete First Season (Buena Vista, $59.99) performed impressively in its first week, selling nearly 400,000 copies, according to Home Media Research estimates.
The series is moving an hour later, to 9 p.m. ET/PT, when more households have their televisions on and more adults are available to watch. The earlier time slot also can cost a program viewers after daylight-saving time takes effect in the spring.
Tonight's first hour, Destination Lost, will give new and returning viewers a refresher course on the back stories of the survivors of Oceanic Air Flight 815 and the island's mysteries, narrated in a linear fashion.
In the second-hour season premiere, one castaway is picked to go into the hatch, while Shannon (Maggie Grace) is shocked by a familiar face in the jungle. Over the course of the season, Jack (Matthew Fox) will mistrust Locke (Terry O'Quinn) even more; Kate's (Evangeline Lilly) earlier life as a fugitive will be explored; and Charlie will grow closer to Claire (Emilie de Ravin) and her baby. Michelle Rodriguez joins the cast as another flight survivor, as does Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as an island resident.
Last season's cliffhangers including the contents of the hatch and the fates of the raft riders should help attract a large audience, says Shari Anne Brill of media buyer Carat USA. That can cut both ways, however. Some viewers and TV critics claimed Lost's finale didn't answer enough questions. "The cliffhangers left people wanting more," Brill says. "There are going to have to be some answers." Producers promise there will be.
Slow Start for 'Simpsons' Movie
Despite having announced months ago that a Simpsons movie had been greenlit, the film's producer has indicated that the movie is still in development. David Mirkin, who also produces the TV series, told today's (Tuesday) Houston Chronicle that no release date has been set. "It's all about the quality -- the writing -- which we're working on now. We are very quality conscious, and we don't want the series to suffer because of the movie." Mirkin did indicate that the crude animation of the TV show will be enhanced for the movie. He said, "We're looking at various tests to get the right look. We're taking it into the realm of cinema but not too far from how it looks on the show."
McCready Blames OD on Pregnancy
Mindy McCready's sad-as-country-ballad life has taken another dramatic turn.
The 29-year-old Nashville songbird appeared in a Franklin, Tennessee, court on Monday and dropped a bombshell: She tried to commit suicide earlier this summer because she found out she was pregnant.
McCready was in court to explain a string of behavior that left her in the hospital and then in jail, and to appeal the terms of her bail.
The "Guys Do It All the Time" singer was arrested in Florida after officials in Williamson County, Tennessee, issued a warrant for her arrest. According to the warrant, McCready left the state without permission and failed to contact her probation officer during the month of July.
McCready said she went to Florida to be with her family after months of trouble.
Her downward spiral began a year ago, when she was charged fraudulently obtaining the painkiller OxyContin.
McCready, who claimed she was trying to score the pills for a friend, eventually pleaded guilty and was slapped with a $4,000 fine, sentenced to three years of supervised probation and ordered to complete 200 hours of community service.
On May 6, the former Nashville darling was stopped for speeding and wound up being charged with drunken driving and driving with a suspended license, which earned her first probation violation.
Two days after her DUI arrest, McCready was beaten and almost choked to death by her on-again, off-again boyfriend, William McKnight, 38, who allegedly ambushed the singer in her home. He was later charged with attempted murder as a result of the altercation.
Within a month, she was charged in Arizona on counts including unlawful use of transportation, unlawful imprisonment and hindering prosecution stemming from an incident involving a stolen pickup truck. The charges, she claimed, were a result of mistaken identity.
By the end of June, she learned she was with child and that's when she took off to the Sunshine State. "I attempted to commit suicide after I found out," she told Judge Jeff Bivins, per the Nashville Tennessean. "I had just been through a horrible ordeal."
No word on the identity of the father, but McKnight was in Florida at the time of her suicide attempt. He told police the couple had reconciled and handed over her suicide note.
McCready spent several days hospitalized recovering from an overdose of pills. Her doctor asked her to enroll in a monthlong after-care program, further delaying her return to Tennessee.
But she was tracked down, arrested and jailed on Aug. 26. She was transferred to a Tennessee lockup a week later and was allowed out on $50,000 bond last Wednesday. Prosecutors said one of the reasons she was permitted to leave jail was because of complications in her pregnancy.
On Monday, McCready tried to persuade Bivins to relax the terms of her bail. But Bivins wouldn't budge and kept the restrictins intact. McCready must stay within 50 miles of Franklin, submit to random drug testing, wear an electronic ankle monitor, meet with a probation officer twice a week and remain in her home between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.
McCready said the restrictions would prevent her from being a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show next week. Bivins said she could attend the taping as long as she notified her probation officers in advance and returns promplty.
Bivins also ordered her to begin performing community service as agreed to under the terms of her 2004 plea bargain. McCready said she was under the impression she could give a benefit concert to satisfy the requirement, but Bivins said there was no such stiputation in her deal.
She's due back in Williamson County court Nov. 14 to face the probation-violation charges.
The singer has also missed two court dates in Arizona due to her hospitalization and subsequent jailing. A judge has rescheduled her arraignment for Oct. 3, but it's not clear if McCready will be permitted to leave Tennessee.
Mariah Carey Tops AMA Noms
Apparently Mariah Carey and American Music Award nominations belong together.
The R&B diva led the AMA field with four nominations in all, including nods for Best Female Artist and Best Album for The Emancipation of Mimi in both the pop and R&B categories.
The nominations for the 33rd Annual American Music Awards were announced Tuesday during a news conference at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The awards ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 22 at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium and will be broadcast live by ABC. Cedric the Entertainer is slated to host the festivities.
Kelly Clarkson, 50 Cent and Green Day trailed Carey with three nominations apiece.
Clarkson will go head to head against Carey and Gwen Stefani for Best Female Artist in the pop/rock category and will also compete for the Best Album trophy. The American Idol winner is also in the running for Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist against John Mayer and Maroon 5.
Fiddy is up for Best Male Artist in both the pop/rock and rap/hip categories. His chart-topping album, The Massacre, was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Album.
Green Day will compete for the Best Band, Duo or Group honor in the pop/rock category against the Black Eyed Peas and 3 Doors Down and for Favorite Artist cred in the alternative category against Coldplay and System of a Down. The band's American Idiot is up for Best Pop/Rock Album.
Other multiple nominees included the Black Eyed Peas, Destiny's Child, Eminem, Fantasia, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw and Gretchen Wilson, who all racked up two nominations apiece.
Nominations are determined on the basis of record sales. A survey of about 20,000 listeners is used to select the winners.
Here's a roundup of the nominees for the 33rd Annual American Music Awards:
POP/ROCK:
Male Artist: 50 Cent, Will Smith, Rob Thomas
Female Artist: Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani
Band, Duo or Group: Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, 3 Doors Down
Album: The Emancipation Of Mimi (Mariah Carey), Breakaway (Kelly Clarkson), American Idiot (Green Day)
SOUL/RHYTHM & BLUES:
Male Artist: R. Kelly, John Legend, Omarion
Female Artist: Mariah Carey, Ciara, Fantasia
Band, Duo or Group: Destiny's Child, 112, Pretty Ricky
Album: The Emancipation Of Mimi (Mariah Carey), Destiny Fulfilled (Destiny's Child), Free Yourself (Fantasia)
COUNTRY:
Male Artist: Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw
Female Artist: Martina McBride, LeAnn Rimes, Gretchen Wilson
Band, Duo or Group: Big & Rich, Brooks & Dunn, Rascal Flatts
Album: Honkytonk University (Toby Keith), Live Like You Were Dying (Tim McGraw), Here For The Party (Gretchen Wilson)
RAP/HIP-HOP:
Male Artist: Eminem, 50 Cent, Ludacris
Female Artist: Missy Elliott, Lil' Kim, Trina
Band, Duo or Group: Black Eyed Peas, Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz, Ying Yang Twins
Album: Encore (Eminem), The Massacre, (50 Cent), Urban Legend (T.I.)
ADULT CONTEMPORARY:
Favorite Artist: Kelly Clarkson, Maroon 5, John Mayer
LATIN:
Favorite Artist: Daddy Yankee, Luis Miguel, Shakira
ALTERNATIVE:
Favorite Artist: Coldplay, Green Day, System of a Down
CONTEMPORARY INSPIRATIONAL:
Favorite Artist: Casting Crowns, Jars of Clay, Mary Mary
BREAKTHROUGH:
New Artist (all genres): The Killers, Jesse McCartney, Sugarland
Foster Flies High at 'Flightplan' Premiere
LOS ANGELES - While most headliners are chronically delayed arriving at their own Hollywood premieres, Jodie Foster landed early to work the red carpet at the unveiling of the thriller "Flightplan."
"It's my job," Foster told AP Television News on Monday night. "I wouldn't not promote my movie and you want to get out there and tell people what it's about and to communicate why you loved it."
"Flightplan," which opens Friday, follows a woman and young daughter who become separated while on an international flight. Was the girl abducted? Did she even exist? No spoilers from Foster, 42, who was glamorous in a black Armani cocktail dress.
One secret was revealed by screenwriter Peter A. Dowling, who said Foster's role was originally intended for a male actor. "(The character) is a very strong woman," Dowling explained. "I think one of the most amazing things about that kind of situation when it starts off, as a man, it has a tendency not be to written as a victim, because a male star doesn't want to be seen as a victim, whereas a lot of these female-driven thrillers ... well it's a woman in peril, that's the way people come at her, so I think it is good that she is a very proactive, strong woman."
Other attendees included co-stars Peter Sarsgaard, Erika Christensen and Sean Bean. Kate Beahan, who has a key role as a flight attendant, said none of the film was shot on a real aircraft, but it felt that way: "When I finished filming and I flew back home to Australia, I really did not want to take that 14-hour flight."