Bateman vs. Bateman on 'Arrested Development'

If "Arrested Development" is indeed going down, then it's going down on its own defiantly left-field terms.

In the show's latest bit of inside-joke casting, Justine Bateman -- the older sister of star Jason Bateman -- will guest-star on the FOX series scheduled for Monday, Jan. 9. She's filming the episode this week.

Some time ago, "Arrested" creator Mitch Hurwitz joked that he'd like to bring Justine Bateman on the show as a love interest for her brother's character, Michael Bluth. That won't be the case in this episode. Instead, she'll play the far less cringe-inducing role of Michael's long-lost older sister Nellie.

After discovering he has another sister, Michael tracks Nellie down and hires her as a consultant for The Bluth Co. As with most things related to the business, though, the plan doesn't quite work out the way Michael envisioned, and he discovers Nellie might not be who she says she is.

Justine Bateman, who became famous as Mallory Keaton on "Family Ties" in the 1980s, more recently starred in the Showtime miniseries "Out of Order" and the Hallmark Channel movie "The Hollywood Mom's Mystery." She's also put in a couple of guest appearances on CBS' "Still Standing" over the past two seasons.

Her episode of "Arrested Development" may be one of the show's last. FOX has decided against a full season of the show, which has aired six episodes so far this fall. The week following Bateman's episode will bring two hours' worth of "24," and the unscripted show "Skating with Celebrities" takes up residence in the 8 p.m. Monday timeslot after that.

Aronofsky Directs 'Lost'

Rachel Weisz's film director fiance Darren Aronofsky is such a huge fan of hit TV drama Lost - he has signed up to direct an episode. The Requiem For A Dream director made a call to the desert island show's bosses to ask if he could head an episode, and was thrilled when they agreed. Aronofsky's episode will be broadcast in the US in May.

Theron Steps In As Bond Babe Favorite?

Charlize Theron has reportedly replaced Angelina Jolie as director Martin Campbell's first choice for the latest Bond girl role.

The Monster star has bewitched Campbell and executives at Sony, according to website Scotsman.com, and now she's the favorite to follow in the footsteps of Bond babes like Honor Blackman, Jane Seymour and Teri Hatcher.

If selected, the South African beauty would become the second actress to star in a Bond film following an Oscar win - Halle Berry appeared in Die Another Day after picking up a golden statue for her role in Monster's Ball.

Jolie has reportedly been offered the role of Vesper Lynd in the new 007 adventure, Casino Royale, but suggested the character should be "toughened up."

Jeff Probst Signs New 'Survivor' Contract

LOS ANGELES - Jeff Probst said he's decided that life without "Survivor" wouldn't be as much fun and he's sticking with the CBS reality series.

"I was thinking about retiring and spending my time traveling to exotic locations around the world, meeting new and interesting people. Then I realized, uh, wait a second, I'm already doing that with 'Survivor' and getting paid for it, as well," Probst, 44, said in a statement Thursday.

He has signed a new multiyear deal, CBS spokesman Chris Ender said.

In October, Probst had said he was weighing whether to continue with the show. He's served as host since "Survivor" debuted in summer 2000 and his current contract was through the edition now in production.

Mark Burnett, the show's executive producer, welcomed Probst's decision to remain as host and producer, lauding his contributions to the "ever-evolving game" in which players face physical and mental challenges in a bid to win $1 million.

"I consider him a friend and look forward to continuing to keep 'Survivor' fresh with Jeff for many more seasons," Burnett said in a statement.

Last month, CBS announced that it will air the 13th and 14th versions of "Survivor" in the 2006-07 season.

That 12th edition, being filmed at an undisclosed location, is to be broadcast next spring. The finale for the current show, "Survivor: Guatemala," is Sunday, Dec. 11.

Snoop Dogg takes reins at XM channel

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - XM Satellite Radio said Thursday it named rapper Snoop Dogg the executive producer of XM's classic hip-hop channel, the Rhyme. The channel already is the home of an exclusive Snoop Dogg radio show. "I will play music that people have never heard and music that they haven't heard in a long time," said Snoop Dogg, a.k.a. Calvin Broadus.

Fans Mark Anniversary of Lennon's Murder

NEW YORK - Some met John Lennon in person, others knew him from the television, still others never knew him at all. On Thursday, they gathered by the hundreds in Central Park's Strawberry Fields to remember the pacifist rock star murdered 25 years ago by a deranged Beatles fan.

Generations from across the world, if not quite the universe, united to celebrate Lennon's life and his message of peace — playing his music, singing his songs, imagining what might have been if the ex-Beatle had survived the Dec. 8, 1980, shooting outside his Manhattan apartment building.

Yoko Ono was among those at Strawberry Fields, walking through a horde of hundreds of Lennon fans before stopping at a flower-covered mosaic paying tribute to Lennon with its one-word message: "IMAGINE."

"His message is still the same: peace and love and live the best you can," said Martha Wagner, who came into Manhattan from Dover, N.J., with a scrapbook full of newspaper clippings about Lennon. She remembered hearing news of the slaying on television: "My heart stopped. I screamed."

Kim Polson, 50, of Manhattan, recalled seeing Lennon in an Upper West Side coffee shop four months before the shooting. She was late for work that day, hanging around and listening to Lennon's conversation.

"I'll be late for work again today," said Polson, one of the early arrivals at Strawberry Fields on the anniversary — a bitterly cold day. "John Lennon made me late again."

The scene was much the same in Lennon's hometown of Liverpool, England, where scores of fans from around the world remembered him with white balloons, flowers and prayers. The balloons, carrying written tributes to Lennon, were released into the sky.

"I just wrote 'Merry Christmas John' on my balloon," said James Andrews, a 9-year-old from Bournemouth, England. "I love the Beatles, and especially John Lennon."

A short service was also held beside a statue of Lennon on Liverpool's Mathew Street, where the Beatles played early in their career at the Cavern Club.

Lennon's songwriting partner, Paul McCartney, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that Lennon was "one of the great men of the 20th century ... I will always feel some kind of link with John."

In New York, locals and tourists stood side-by-side near the Lennon-inspired Central Park mosaic. One man played Beatles' music on an acoustic guitar, as visitors piled off tour buses to stop at Strawberry Fields. They brought flowers, candles and bittersweet memories.

"He entered people's hearts, and made us softer toward each other," said Cummings Dass, 65, who came to Manhattan from Trinidad for the anniversary. "When he died, a part of the music died with him."

If Lennon were alive, he would have turned 65 in October.

Across the street at the Dakota, the apartment house where Lennon was killed, fans walked respectfully past police and security guards. Traditionally, Ono lights a candle in her apartment window in the evening as a show of solidarity with the crowd gathered in the park.

Lennon, who had turned 40 just two months before, was returning with Ono from a recording studio when he was gunned down at about 10:50 p.m. — the time that a moment of silence was planned in Central Park.

A second moment of silence was planned for 11:15 p.m., the approximate time of Lennon's death. City officials planned to close the park at 1 a.m., as they have for several years over the objection of fans who want an all-night vigil.

Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman, comes up for parole next year. His bids for freedom have already been rejected three times.

For 16-year-old Sarah Koflan, of Bernardston, Mass., her Thursday trip to Central Park was as close as she would ever get to Lennon. Although born nearly a decade after his death, the teen still considers Lennon a role model.

"John Lennon is my hero," she said. "He's the coolest guy. ... Just being here today, with everyone who loves him, is awesome. It's a beautiful feeling."

McCartney's reaction was a 'drag'

Statement left Beatles fans irate

After John Lennon was shot dead, a grieving world wanted -- indeed, needed -- to see Paul McCartney, with a wrenched heart, struggling to cope with the sudden loss of his dear friend.

Like the rest of us.

But pretty much the opposite transpired. Caught by a camera crew leaving a London recording studio a day after Lennon's assassination in New York City, McCartney said with all matter-of-factness: "It's a drag."

No emotion. No "I can't believe my best mate is gone." No sign of love behind the missing tears.

Just: "It's a drag."

If millions of people worldwide found themselves sobbing, unable to come to grips with the tragedy, how was it that McCartney -- Lennon's soulmate for more than a decade -- could be so seemingly cold and unaffected? His reaction still outrages many Beatles fans.

In 1984 McCartney and his then-wife Linda gave Playboy magazine an in-depth interview, during which he explained his infamous public utterance.

"What happened was we heard the news that morning and, strangely enough, all of us ... the three Beatles, friends of John's ... all of us reacted in the same way. Separately," McCartney told Playboy. "Everyone just went to work that day ... Nobody could stay home with that news.

"As I was coming out of the studio later, there was a reporter, and as we were driving away, he just stuck the microphone in the window and shouted, 'What do you think about John's death?' I had just finished a whole day in shock and I said, 'It's a drag.' I meant drag in the heaviest sense of the word, you know: 'It's a -- DRAG.' But when you look at that in print, it says, 'Yes, it's a drag.' Matter of fact.

"What could you say? ... I still haven't taken it in. I don't want to."

He was in denial. Just as when his mother died when he was 14. His way of dealing with that enormous loss was to lock up his emotions in public, and not talk about it even in private. The same thing was happening again.

"(Linda and I) just looked at all the news on the telly, and we sat there with all the kids, just crying all evening. Just couldn't handle it, really."

McCartney said it was "a consoling factor" to know that his last phone chat with Lennon was pleasant and didn't end, as so many of their post-Beatles conversations had, with them blowing up at each other and slamming down the phone.

To Rolling Stone magazine in 1986, McCartney elaborated.

"The last couple of phone calls (John and I) had were getting very nice. I remember once he said to me, 'Do they play me against you like they play you against me?' Because there were always people in the background pitting us against each other. And I said, 'Yeah, they do. They sure do.' That was a couple of months before he ... it's still weird even to say, 'before he died.' I still can't come to terms with that. I still don't believe it. It's like, you know, those dreams you have where he's still alive, then you wake up and ... 'Oh.' "

Fans Mark Anniverary of Lennon's Murder 21 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Fans brought flowers, candles and their own bittersweet memories Thursday as they gathered to mark the day 25 years ago when John Lennon was murdered.

"With the country at war, his work and philosophy seem more poignant and more desperately needed than ever," said Kim Polson, who said she fell in love with the Beatles when she saw them on television at age 8.

She was an early morning visitor to Strawberry Fields, the section of Central Park just outside the Dakota apartment building where Lennon was gunned down by a deranged fan on Dec. 8, 1980.

Several dozen people had gathered by midmorning, some local residents, some tourists. One woman sat with scrapbook she had assembled over the years. Among the floral offerings were a half-dozen white roses and a bough of holly.

On that night 25 years ago, Lennon — who had just turned 40 — was returning from a midtown Manhattan recording studio with his wife, Yoko Ono. In an instant, Mark David Chapman, a fan carrying a copy of J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye," opened fire on Lennon. Police officers put the mortally wounded singer in the back of a squad car, but shortly after arriving a hospital, Lennon was dead.

Tom Leighton, one of the organizers of an ad-hoc memorial committee, said people attend the vigil for different personal reasons, but "primarily it's to pay our respects and share our grief collectively."

Fans hold a moment of silence is held at 10:50 p.m. — the time he was shot — and again at 11:15 — the time he is believed to have died. Despite protests, city officials planned to close the park at 1 a.m., as they have for several years.

Polson, who lives a block from the Dakota, recalled seeing Lennon in a coffee shop four months before he was killed. She stuck around to listen to him talk to a colleague.

"I came to the office two hours late that morning and my boss was furious, so I said, 'Ask me why I'm late.' When I told him, he was no longer angry."

"I'll be late for work again today. John Lennon made me late again," she said.

Chapman remains in New York's Attica state prison, where his third request for parole was denied in October.

Carey, West, Legend top Grammy noms

NEW YORK (AP) - Mariah Carey's comeback came full circle Thursday as she was nominated for eight Grammys, including album of the year for The Emancipation of Mimi and song and record of the year for her torch ballad We Belong Together.

Carey's eight nominations tied John Legend and Kanye West. Soul crooner Legend's nominations included best new artist, while his mentor West is up for album of the year for Late Registration and song of the year for Gold Digger.

Other multiple nominees included 50 Cent, Gwen Stefani, U2 and Bruce Springsteen.

Springsteen was among the surprises - his Devils & Dust was nominated for song of the year, along with Rascal Flatts' Bless the Broken Road, Legend's Ordinary People, Carey's We Belong Together and U2's Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own.

U2, nominated for five awards, was also represented in the album of the year category for How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. Besides Carey and West, other nominees in the category were Stefani for Love. Angel. Music. Baby and Paul McCartney's Chaos and Creation in the Backyard.

Besides We Belong Together and Goldigger, record of the year nominees included the Gorillaz' Feel Good Inc. featuring De La Soul, Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Stefani's Hollaback Girl.

One of the big snubs: Coldplay, who's "X&Y," one of the year's biggest albums with hits like "Fix You," was shut out of the album, song and record of the year categories. But they were nominated for rock album of the year.

Montreal's the Arcade Fire scored a nomination for best alternative music album for Funeral while rocker Neil Young received two nods: one for best rock album for Prairie Wind and best solo rock performance for The Painter.

Vancouvers Michael Buble received a nomination for best traditional pop album for his record Its Time.

Daniel Lanois, who was raised in Hamilton, Ont., was a double nominee in the categories of best pop instrumental performance and album.

The Grammys will be handed out in Los Angeles on Feb. 8.