"Friends" Comeback?
It looks like the folks over at NBC are missing their Friends so much they've persuaded the TV gang to reunite.
Fox News reports Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Matthew Perry have all agreed to four new hour-long episodes of the long running mega-hit, to air this year.
The new deal pushes each of the former sitcom stars earnings to a whopping $5 million each, per-episode.
While the network anticipates a ratings windfall with the new Friends specials, execs are also looking at improving Matt LeBlanc's sitcom spin-off by possibly adding David Schwimmer and Matthew Perry to the cast and renaming the show, from "Joey" to "It's A Guy Thing."
Love is all around for Moore on "70s'
LOS ANGELES — Mary Tyler Moore is on the set, playing a 1970s professional woman who works at a TV station in the Upper Midwest.
But it's not her '70s show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. It's That '70s Show— which happens to have inherited the soundstage of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Got it?
Moore returned to the scene of her classic TV comedy last fall to shoot three episodes of That '70s Show. Her first episode runs Thursday (Fox, 8 p.m. ET/PT).
Moore, 69, plays Christine St. George, a local daytime TV host who hires Jackie Burkhart (Mila Kunis) to be her assistant at What's Up Wisconsin? Surface parallels to her MTM character, Mary Richards of WJM in Minneapolis, are obvious, but there's a big difference.
While Richards was "ladylike and wholesome and welcoming, this woman's just the opposite," says Moore, who likes playing against type. "Christine St. George is a very self-centered woman, a tad psychotic."
'70s Show writers and producers had fun with the connection to Moore's TV past. St. George has a single rose on her desk, as Richards did. Gavin MacLeod, who co-starred as news writer Murray, guests in one episode. (St. George fires him because he's always writing stories about Minnesota.)
In one scene, Jackie asks St. George what she thinks of a hat. "I say, 'I'll show you what I think of it,' and I hurl it to the sky with such venom,' " Moore says.
Moore says she already was a fan of That '70s Show, which will finish its eight-season run with its 200th episode on May 18. (Moore's show ran seven seasons, from 1970 to 1977.)
Working with a legend — there's a plaque on the soundstage wall commemorating Moore's sitcom — was easy and comfortable, '70s regulars say.
"She will try anything. She's very gung-ho," says Kunis, 22, who grew up watching MTM on Nick at Nite.
Things might have gotten too comfortable for Debra Jo Rupp, '70s mom Kitty Forman, who watched Moore's comedy during her college years. "One day I needed to ask her something during a scene, and I went, 'Mair,' " as Rhoda or Murray or Ted might have, Rupp says. "I was horrified. I went, 'Oh, my God. That's too intimate.' But she let it roll right off her."
Moore notes the changes made in the soundstage over the years: Sets are in different places; new audience bleachers have been built. Sitcoms are shot differently, with an extra camera. And she marvels at technological advances such as new editing tools.
But for all the changes, "there's an aura here," she says.
Moore, who lives with her husband, physician Robert Levine, in New York, doesn't miss the week-in, week-out grind of a TV series. Most of her recent work has been in movies, and she still works closely with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
But she still gets a thrill performing in front of a studio audience. "It's the sound of laughter," she says. "That's what I miss more than anything."
NEW CD RELEASES FOR JANUARY 24, 2006
Tom Abbs and Frequency Response The Animated Adventures of Knox (CD/DVD combo; includes film and soundtrack) (482 Music)
Action Action An Army of Shapes Between Wars (Victory)
The Advantage elf-titled (Kill Rock Stars)
Ahleuchatistas What You Will (Cuneiform)
AIDS Wolf Lovvers (Lovepump United)
Akimbo Forging Steel and Laying Stone (Alternative Tentacles)
Tha Alkaholiks Firewater (group's final album; w/production by Danger Mouse, Evidence of Dilated Peoples and more) (Koch)
The Apparitions As This Is Futuristic (Machine)
Audio Bullys Generation (w/Roots Manuva and Madness frontman Suggs) (Astralwerks)
Benassi Brothers Phobia (Ultra)
Karl Blau Beneath Waves (K Records)
Bones Brigade Endless Bummer (Coalition)
Marty Casey and the Lovehammers (runner-up of Rock Star: INXS contest) Marty Casey and the Lovehammers (Epic)
Rosanne Cash Black Cadillac (Capitol)
Cat Power The Greatest (Matador)
Catfish Haven Please Come Back EP (Secretly Canadian)
Andre Ceccarelli Trio Avenue Des Diables Blues (Dreyfus)
The Class of 98 Touch This and Die (The Militia Group)
Clearlake Amber (Domino)
Davis Coen Can't Get There from Here (219)
Tony Conrad Fantastic Glissando (Table of the Elements)
Cuete Sounds of Violence (PR)
Current 93 Whilst the Night Rejoices Profound and Still (re-recording of 1998 album "Soft Black Stars" w/new vocals and arrangements) (Durtro)
Demiricous One (Metal Blade)
Discipline Downfall of the Working Man (Thorp)
DJ Beyond Krash Presents: Beyond Hip-Hop (mix CD) (Tommy Boy)
T. Duggins Undone (includes covers of Bob Dylan, Leadbelly, Shane MacGowen and more) (Thick)
Liz Durrett The Mezzanine (produced by Vic Chesnutt) (Warm)
East River Pipe What Are You on? (Merge)
East West Blast Test Popular Music for Unpopular People (Ipecac)
The Elected (members of Rilo Kiley) Sun, Sun, Sun (Sub Pop)
Electric President Electric President (Morr)
Enlow The Recovery (produced by the Descendents' Stephen Egerton) (Blood & Ink)
Ester Drang Rocinate (Jade Tree)
Excepter Sunbomber EP (Touch and Go)
Piers Faccini Streets of London EP (Everloving)
Fatsoe 1 Is Thatsoe (Hungry Hustler)
Film School Film School (Beggars Banquet)
Fivespeed Morning Over Midnight (Virgin)
Ace Frehley Greatest Hits Live (Megaforce)
The Gibson Brothers Red Letter Day (Rounder)
The Go-Betweens That Striped Sunlight Sound of (Yep Roc)
Golden Dogs Everything in 3 Parts (enhanced CD; 2004 Canadian release) (Funzalo)
Larry Goldings Quartet (Palmetto)
Jose Gonzalez Stay in the Shade EP (Parasol/Hidden Agenda)
The Gossip Standing in the Way of Control (Kill Rock Stars)
The Gourds Heavy Ornamentals (Eleven Thirty)
Green Carnation The Acoustic Verses (The End Records)
Hayseed Dixie Hot Piece of Grass (Cooking Vinyl)
His Name Is Alive Detrola (Reincarnate)
Taylor Hollingsworth Tragic City (Brash)
William Hooker/Lee Ranaldo The Celestial Answer (Table of the Elements)
Michael Houser (of Widespread Panic) Sandbox (posthumous release) (Supercat)
Il Divo Ancora (special edition CD/DVD combo available same day) (Columbia)
Incognito Eleven (Narada)
Interference Viva La Interference (The Social Registry)
Ironbound NYC (members of Sick of It All) With a Brick (Thorp)
Richard Leo Johnson The Legend of Vernon McAlister (Cuneiform)
Jukebox Zeros Four on the Floor (Steel Cage)
Richard Julian Slow New York (w/Norah Jones and members of her band) (Manhattan)
Junior Kelly, Bounty Killer and Capleton The Good, the Bad and the Blazing (Minor7Flat5)
Kevin Kerby The Secret Lives of All Night Radios (Max)
Jennifer Kimball Oh Hear Us (Jennifer Kimball/Redeye)
Ladysmith Black Mambazo Long Walk to Freedom (SACD same day) (Heads Up)
Jenny Lewis (of Rilo Kiley) Rabbit Fur Coat (guests Bright Eyes, M. Ward and members of Maroon 5 and Death Cab for Cutie) (Team Love)
Liar Murder Manifesto (GSR)
Lovedrug Pretend You're Alive (re-release of 2004 debut) (Columbia)
Mask (w/Sonja Kristina of Curved Air) Heavy Petal - The Tenebrous Odyssey of Jack and Virginia (Globe Music Media Arts)
Eric Matthews Foundation Sounds (Empyrean)
Mellowdrone Box (Columbia)
Alistair Moock Let It Go (Corazong)
Paul Motian Band Garden of Eden (ECM)
Nasum Grand Finale (Relapse)
Natas N of tha World (featuring Esham) (Moist Music)
The National Trust Kings and Queens (Thrill Jockey)
The Nein Wrath of Circuits (Sonic Unyon)
A Northern Chorus Bitter Hands Resign (Sonic Unyon)
P.O.D. Testify (co-produced by Glen Ballard; guests Matisyahu and Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.) (Atlantic)
Jak Paris Electric Revolution (NEV)
Patty Hurst Shifter Too Crowded on the Losing End (w/Whiskeytown's Skillet Gilmore) (Evo)
Pearls & Brass The Indian Tower (ICE #226) (Drag City)
Robert Pollard From a Compound Eye (Merge)
Portugal. The Man Waiter: "You Vultures!!" (Fearless)
Railroad Earth Elko (two CDs; live album) (SCI Fidelity)
Scott Reeder (ex-Obsessed/Kyuss) TunnelVision Brilliance (Liquor and Poker)
Steve Reynolds Exile (429)
Henry Rollins Talk Is Cheap Volume 2 (two CDs) (Touch and Go)
Saint Etienne Tales from Turnpike House (w/three bonus tracks not on UK release) (Savoy)
Scarlet This Was Always Meant to Fall Apart (Ferret)
Duncan Sheik White Limousine (Rounder)
Slow Runner No Disassemble (J Records)
Snotty featuring PooPoo Man and George Clinton Snot Logical (Audio Fidelity)
Some Girls Heaven's Pregnant Teens (Epitaph)
Soweto Gospel Choir Blessed (Shanachie)
The Special Goodness T.S.G. (Epitaph)
Streetwize Does Dre (Shanachie)
subdudes Behind the Levee (Back Porch)
KT Sullivan/Mark Nader A Fine Romance (DRG/Koch)
Sworn Enemy The Beginning of the End (Abacus)
Jeff Talmadge Blissville (Corazong)
Tarkio Omnibus (two CDs) (Kill Rock Stars)
Livingston Taylor There You Are Again (guests Carly Simon, James Taylor, Take 6, Vince Gill, David Sanborn and more) (Coconut Bay)
Test Icicles For Screening Purposes Only (Domino)
Tortoise and Bonnie "Prince" Billie The Brave and the Bold (covers album w/songs by Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Devo and more) (Overcoat)
Lamine Toure and Group Saloum Lamine Toure (Nomadic Wax)
Town and Country Up Above (Thrill Jockey)
Josh Turner Your Man (MCA Nashville)
UB40 Who You Fighting For? (includes cover of Beatles rarity "I'll Be on My Way") (Rhino)
Varttina Miero (Real World)
Rocky Votolato Makers (Second Nature/Barsuk)
Waterdown All Riot (Victory)
The Weather Machines The Sound of Pseudoscience (Tigers Against Crime!)
Wintergreen The Extended Play EP (Mt. Fuji)
Jah Wobble Mu (Trojan)
Yellowcard Lights and Sounds (Capitol)
Zaar Zaar (Cuneiform)
Zaperoko 3 (Universal)
VA 2006 Grammy Nominees (BMG Heritage)
VA Best of the Taste of Chaos (two CDs; rare, exclusive and previously unreleased tracks from Thrice, Deftones, the Used, Dillinger Escape Plan and more) (Warcon Enterprises)
VA Chicano Players: The Best of Chicano Rap (PR)
VA Future Retro (Rhino)
VA Klub.Life (two CDs; dance compilation) (Water Music)
VA Love Sucks (Rhino)
VA No. 1 Smooth Jazz Hits (Shanachie)
VA Otis's Opuses (Kill Rock Stars)
VA The Killer in You: A Tribute to Smashing Pumpkins (w/Hopesfall, A Static Lullaby, Poison the Well and more) (Reignition)
VA Ultra.Dance: 7 (mix CD w/Duran Duran, the Killers, Destiny's Child and more) (Ultra)
OCR The Color Purple (includes duet "What About Love?" by Patti LaBelle and Jill Scott; show produced by Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones) (Angel)
OST Annapolis (score by Brian Tyler) (Varése Sarabande)
OST Breakfast on Pluto (Cillian Murphy/Liam Neeson film) (Milan)
OST Fun with Dick and Jane (Jim Carrey comedy; score by Theodore Shapiro) (Varése Sarabande)
OST Hostel (score by Nathan Barr) (Varése Sarabande)
OST London (includes eight new songs by the Crystal Method; debut release on the group's label) (Tiny E)
OST Nanny McPhee (score by Patrick Doyle) (Varése Sarabande)
OST The L Word: The Third Season (w/songs by D'Angelo, Tegan and Sara, Telepopmusik and more) (Tommy Boy)
OST The World's Fastest Indian (Anthony Hopkins drama) (Milan)
DVD Hooked (Music Video Distributors)
DVD South Beach Raw (live performances and interviews w/Jay-Z, Black Eyed Peas, Slick Rick and more) (Music Video Distributors)
DVD Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music? (documentary on Christian music scene; w/performances from Pedro the Lion, Cool Hand Luke and more) (Blank Stare)
DVD AWOL-One Culturama Video Bombshelter Presents: Culturama 666 Vol. 2 (Music Video Distributors)
DVD Nick Barrett and Clive Nolan (of Pendragon and Arena) A Rush of Adrenaline (live acoustic duo performance) (Music Video Distributors/Metal Mind)
DVD Buzzcocks Live at Shepherds Bush Empire 2003 (London performance plus interviews and tour footage) (Music Video Distributors)
DVD Four Tet Everything Ecstatic Part II (music videos; includes bonus CD w/new music) (Domino)
DVD The Game Stop Snitchin', Stop Lyin' (Bungalo)
DVD Gordon Haskell The Road to Harry's Bar (Music Video Distributors)
DVD Il Divo Encore (Columbia)
DVD Pain Live Is Overrated (two 2005 concerts plus music videos, interview and more) (Music Video Distributors)
DVD Startet Set Starter Set (Kill Rock Stars)
DVD Starz Back in Action Live 2003 (reunion show w/behind-the-scenes footage) (Music Video Distributors/GB Music)
DVD Kim Waters In the Groove (Shanachie)
Jewel Emerges From 'Wonderland' With New CD
Jewel has set a May 2 release date for her sixth studio album, "Goodbye Alice in Wonderland." The Atlantic set was produced by Rob Cavallo and will be led by the single "Again and Again," which will be delivered in late February to U.S. radio outlets.
"This is the most autobiographical album I have made since [her 1995 debut] 'Pieces of You' and I spent a lot of time sequencing it, so that each song sets up the next, like a novel with a beginning, a middle and an end," the artist says in a statement.
A video for the new album's title track will be made available first to members of Jewel's fan club on Wednesday (Jan. 25) and then to the general public via her Web site five days later. The clip was shot on the artist's Texas ranch by photographer Kurt Markus.
"Goodbye Alice in Wonderland" is the follow-up to 2003's "0304," which debuted at No. 2 on The Billboard 200 and has sold more than 756,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
'OFFICE' TO CLOSE EARLY
'The Office" — the new comedy that was just finding its feet after a year on the air — is ending its season early.
NBC, the network that airs the show, says "The Office" will end for the year in March.
The show's star, Steve Carell, has a commitment to make a movie, "Evan Almighty," and will not be available to tape episodes.
The shortened season rep resents something of a blow for the series. Since moving to Thursday nights, the show's ratings have skyrocketed as viewers discovered its eccentric, cringe-worthy humor.
NBC said it had already renewed the series for next season — but interrupting viewers' habits is a gamble.
The time slot is set to be filled by new comedy, "Teachers.
NBC's 'Scrubs' Getting Sillier
PASADENA, Calif. - His colleagues at "Scrubs" wouldn't let Zach Braff get a big head after the success of his movie, "Garden State."
"I was at Sundance feeling very proud of myself," Braff said Sunday, "and the very first thing I had to do when I came back was a scene where I was wearing a full clown suit and having children hit me with balloons."
And that, snickered executive producer Bill Lawrence, didn't even make it on the show.
By design, the medical spoof is getting sillier and sillier in its fifth season, Lawrence said.
For one of Tuesday's episodes, producers dug a trench to film an elaborate scene where Braff's character rides a scooter into a puddle and then pops out of another, nearby puddle.
"Twenty-one seconds, $70,000," Lawrence said. "Thank you, NBC. It made us laugh."
Oscars May Surprise Despite Front-Runners
NEW YORK - As Oscar season heats up, it's a one-horse race led by two cowboys.
"Brokeback Mountain," the Western romance starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, is widely considered the front-runner approaching the Jan. 31 nominations.
The Ang Lee-directed film won a commanding four Golden Globes, including best picture, adding to previous honors from New York and Los Angeles film critics. On Sunday, it also won the top honor from the Producers Guild.
But the March 5 Oscars are unusually late this year because of the Olympics, leaving voters plenty of time to mull over their choices.
In the meantime, awards will be bestowed by the Directors Guild, the Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guild and the British Academy — all of which could change the handicapping.
"The guild awards are the same voters as the Oscars — they're all like-minded people," says Tom O'Neil, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times' "The Envelope" Web site. "They could give us a very different direction for this race."
"In that month, there's a lot of time for pampered, indulgent Oscar voters to change their mind if they want to," he says. "This race is not over."
O'Neil grants that "Brokeback" is easily in the lead right now, but sees competition in George Clooney's black-and-white retelling of Edward R. Murrow's famous broadcasts in "Good Night, and Good Luck." He also sees a contender in "Crash," the ensemble drama about intertwining prejudices, by Paul Haggis.
"Crash" has caught heat recently, buoyed by a DVD release (its theatrical release was in May) and nominations from the Producers Guild for best picture and the Directors Guild for best director.
Nevertheless, its spring release and low budget don't give it the heft of other Oscar contenders, leaving it a definite underdog.
"Walk the Line," which took three Golden Globes including best picture for a musical or comedy, will probably be nominated for best picture. However, the Johnny Cash biopic doesn't have the social themes that "Brokeback," "Good Night" and "Crash" do.
In the past, Hollywood has often opted to support films making a statement. Last year's winner, "Million Dollar Baby," was far from your typical popcorn fare, dealing with the divisive issue of euthanasia. 2002's winner, "A Beautiful Mind," tackled mental illness, and "American Beauty," which won in 2000, peered at suburban mid-life crisis.
Other Best Pictures that could be said to have an air of importance include "Schindler's List" (1994), "Driving Miss Daisy" (1990), "Rain Man" (1989), "Platoon" (1987), "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1980), "The Deer Hunter" (1979) and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1976).
But there are also a fair share of less brainy winners, including crowd-pleasing epics like "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2004), "Gladiator" (2001) and "Braveheart" (1996). Then there are bright, optimistic movies like "Chicago" (2003), "Forrest Gump" (1995) and "Rocky" (1977).
If the 2006 Oscar voters choose to go that way, they could look to Peter Jackson's "King Kong," the pageantry of "Memoirs of a Geisha," or the Jane Austen adaptation "Pride & Prejudice."
That appears unlikely, though, since critics savaged "Geisha," "Kong" never quite ran amok as expected, and "Prejudice" received good reviews but little buzz.
Other story lines to look for:
• Capote vs. Cash: The Golden Globes kept Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Capote") and Joaquin Phoenix ("Walk the Line") separated by genre, but the Oscars won't. Toss in Heath Ledger from "Brokeback," and the best actor category is a battlefield of heavyweight performances.
• Munich Rebound? In November, Steven Spielberg's "Munich" was expected to rule the Oscars. It has since been received by some as a classic, but by many with a shrug. Still, Spielberg isn't often forgotten by Oscar.
• Felicity Alone: The best actress category appears this year's most predictable. Felicity Huffman's gender-bending performance in "Transamerica" has the look of a shoo-in, though Reese Witherspoon in "Walk the Line" has a fighting chance.
• Clooney On Top: Can George Clooney land two nominations — one for acting in "Syriana," one for directing "Good Night, and Good Luck"?
• A (Newer) World: Terrence Malick has edited down his poetic tale of Pocahontas after initial screenings. Will the shorter cut of "The New World" find favor with Oscar voters? The maverick, recluse director has long been a hero of Hollywood's; his last picture, "The Thin Red Line," was awarded seven noms by the Academy.
• Daily Show, Primetime: Everyone will be curious how political the jokes of host Jon Stewart's are. The entire ceremony may have a generally liberal vibe (even more so than usual), considering so many of the relevant films deal with sexuality or politics.
• Will Anyone Watch? Past ratings have suggested that the key to high viewership for the Academy Awards often isn't the host, but the movies. When one film (like "Titanic") has dominated the field, people tune in. This year, the current favorite, "Brokeback Mountain," is a controversial film that has grossed less than $50 million.