Martina Joins The Muppets
Martina McBride's version of "When Love Is Gone" is a new addition to "The Muppet Christmas Carol" soundtrack, reissued yesterday (Nov. 22) in conjunction with an anniversary DVD edition of the classic holiday film. The balance of the Walt Disney Records set mirrors the original version, with Paul Williams' songs and score as sung by such beloved characters as Kermit the Frog (as Bob Crachit), Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem and Statler and Waldorf (as the late Marley Brothers).
Still featured on the disc is Meredith Braun's original "When Love Is Gone," as well as star Michal Caine (Ebenezer Scrooge) singing the joyous "Thankful Heart" upon his Christmas morning epiphany.
Dubbed "Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition," in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Jim Henson Company, the new DVD due Tuesday (Nov. 29) includes remastered version of the film in full-frame and widescreen format. Also reissued on DVD Tuesday are "The Muppet Movie," "The Great Muppet Caper" and "Muppet Treasure Island."
...ABC's 'Alias' to end run after 5 years
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Alias," the ABC espionage drama starring Jennifer Garner as a sexy, globe-trotting secret agent, will end its prime-time run in May after five seasons on the air, the network said on Wednesday.
No reason was given for bringing the series to a close, but the show has declined sharply in the ratings since moving to a tougher time slot on Thursdays this season opposite the CBS reality hit "Survivor: Guatemala."
"Alias" also has undergone a creative make-over this season as producers wrote the real-life pregnancy of Garner into the show's story line.
It was not immediately clear what role, if any, Garner's impending motherhood played in the decision to conclude the series at the end of its fifth season. The Houston-born actress, 33, is married to Hollywood star Ben Affleck, her co-star in the 2003 comic book movie "Daredevil."
In a statement announcing the move, ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson and executive producer Jeff Pinkner promised fans that the show would "rev up" for the remainder of the season as it heads for a climactic finale.
Garner has earned four back-to-back Emmy Award nominations for her role as super spy Sydney Bristow, a master of disguise who has chased terrorists and dodged danger in hot spots around the world, even finding time for occasional romance.
The CIA was so impressed by her character that Garner was enlisted last year to film a recruitment video for the agency on its employment Web site.
"Alias" enjoyed its biggest ratings success last season in a plum Wednesday night time slot following ABC's hit castaway thriller "Lost." But the show has struggled this fall on Thursday nights against "Survivor," averaging 7 million viewers a week, down from 10.3 million last season, according to Nielsen Media Research.
By comparison, "Survivor" tallied nearly 19 million viewers last week, giving Viacom Inc.-owned CBS control of its hour. ABC is a unit of the Walt Disney Co.
Simpson, Lachey Officially Separating
LOS ANGELES - After months of rumors, denials and salacious magazine covers, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey are officially calling it quits.
The couple jointly announced their separation Wednesday, their publicists Meredith O'Sullivan and Rob Shooter confirmed.
"After three years of marriage, and careful thought and consideration, we have decided to part ways," Simpson and Lachey said in an official statement.
"This is the mutual decision of two people with an enormous amount of respect and admiration for each other. We hope that you respect our privacy during this difficult time."
The couple wed in October 2002 and went on to star in their own reality show, "Newlyweds," on MTV. The show made them A-list celebrities.
Following Simpson's role in 2004's "The Dukes of Hazzard," tabloid magazines began reporting trouble in the marriage.
Us Weekly first reported the couple's split in its Oct. 17 issue.
SHORT SIGHTED
Billy Crystal made $10 million on Broad way last season with his autobiographical show "700 Sundays," so why not Martin Short?
The popular comedian recently unveiled his show, "Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me," for an invited audience made up of theater owners, potential investors, celebrity pals (Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Steve Martin, Eugene Levy) and other showbiz insiders.
People who saw it are still laughing.
Unlike Crystal's carefully wrought, sentimental trip back to his childhood on Long Beach, Short's show is pure, old-fashioned sketch comedy and musical revue.
"It's loose, very loose," says a theater executive.
Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman — Broadway's favorite funny couple who wrote the score to "Hairspray" — supplied the original songs and comic routines.
Wittman calls the show a cross between "Hellzapoppin' " — the legendary Olsen and Johnson vaudeville from 1938 — and "New Faces of 1952," a revue that launched the careers of Eartha Kitt, Paul Lynde and lyricist Sheldon Harnick ("Fiddler on the Roof").
"The notion behind this is: It's OK to be entertaining," Wittman says. "We're just being funny for the sake of being funny."
Short, who is joined on stage by four other performers, plays himself at times, though his life story is completely made up.
"Marty's had a wonderful life, so we had to create some angst," Wittman says.
Short pokes fun at all the autobiographical shows that have swamped Broadway in recent years, including Crystal's.
Crystal talked about the "boulder" he had to push through life, a symbol for the sudden death of his father when Crystal was a kid; Short talks about a symbolic "snowball" he's had to deal with while struggling to make it in showbiz.
"It's hard. Sometimes you forget to wear your mittens."
Where Elaine Stritch dragged around a stool on stage in "At Liberty," Short drags around a bar stool and talks about the 12-step program.
In the second half of the show, Short trots out his Jiminy Glick character, the fawning celebrity interviewer and host of his own entertainment cable show in Butte, Montana.
Glick sings a song called "Every Saturday at Sardi's" — "where we stop by and sip Bacardis" — and then pulls a celebrity out of the audience for an interview (Lane, Paul Shaffer and "Sweeney Todd" star Michael Cerveris all obliged him at the workshop).
When the show gets to Broadway, Wittman says Short will make good use of any celebrity who's in town that night to appear on David Letterman's show.
Another routine, which I hear is hysterical, concerns famous Broadway directors, including Tommy Tune, who is played by an actor on stilts.
Bob Fosse makes an appearance as well. A drink in his hand, a cigarette hanging from his lips, he's in the middle of choreographing a number when he has a heart attack.
The dancers think his convulsions are steps and mimic him until they wind up dead.
If all of this sounds funny to you, then you're probably a showbiz insider — or at least a theater queen.
And the one criticism that some people have about "Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me" is that it's too insider-y for its own good.
Wittman is aware of that pitfall, however, and he says he's taken pains to make sure everyone is in on the joke.
"It has to stand on its own," he says. "It can't just be 10 gay men laughing."
"Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me" (a good title, but not as funny as the original, "If I'd Saved, I Wouldn't Be Here") will likely play out-of-town tryouts in Chicago and San Francisco before opening on Broadway in the spring.
Cruise Buys Sonogram Machine for Katie
NEW YORK - Tom Cruise has made an unusual purchase for his fiancee Katie Holmes — one that will let them see the development of their baby. "I bought a sonogram machine," Cruise says on ABC's "Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2005," to air Nov. 29 (10 p.m. EST). Excerpts of the interview are published in the latest issue of People magazine, on newsstands Friday.
The 43-year-old actor said the couple will do their own sonograms, which show fetus development with ultrasound waves. Cruise said he will donate the machine to a hospital after the baby is born. Sonogram machines range in cost from $25,000 to $200,000.
Holmes' pregnancy was announced in early October. The couple, who have been dating since April, became engaged in June.
"We are gonna get married next summer or early fall," Cruise told Walters. "We don't have a date set yet."
Cruise said he didn't know if the baby is a boy or a girl. He has two children, Connor, 10, and Isabella, 12, from his marriage to Nicole Kidman. It will be the first child for 26-year-old Holmes.