Armstrong Recalls 'Moonlighting' Days
Curtis Armstrong had an atypical introduction to film and television work.
"I was spoiled going into movies, because my first movie was 'Risky Business' and I was spoiled for television by 'Moonlighting,'" says the veteran character actor.
Armstrong arrived on "Moonlighting" early in its third season, a transitional moment for the private investigator comedy. The show had just received 16 Emmy nominations, including a somewhat peculiar outstanding drama series nod.
"Once 'Moonlighting' had established its reputation for being clever and flip and self-referential, that's what everybody was looking for and at the same time everyone's looking for that, maybe the leads are saying, 'You know, we've done a pie fight and we've done drag. Now I would like to do something that gives me a little exercise.'" Armstrong says.
Introduced as an unwilling love interest for Allyce Beasley's Agnes, Armstrong's Herbert Viola initially provided an awkward, bumbling injection of humor, allowing stars Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd to concentrate on their emotions.
"As much as it may have pleased Bruce to do serious dramatic stretches on that show, it may not have been what the audience particularly wanted," explains Armstrong. "They might have liked the flip, crazy David Addison of the old days, so they needed somebody to dress up as a woman and pop out of a cake and that was me."
The show's third season, premiering on DVD on Tuesday (Feb. 7), had only 15 episodes. Amidst that truncated schedule came classics like "Atomic Shakespeare," the show's take-off on "Taming of the Shrew."
"They wrote the script, which was so clever, and they had these fabulous costumes ... and then we went to shoot at the Court of Miracles at the backlot of Universal and, for me, this was the biggest thrill of my life, because I had grown up loving the old Universal horror movies and the Universal Sherlock Holmes movies, which all took place on that set," Armstrong recalls.
That season also featured "The Straight Poop," a behind-the-scenes exploration of the animosity between Willis' Dave Addison and Shepherd's Maddie Hayes, which parodied tabloid rumors surrounding the real on-set antics.
"Because of the tensions around the set there were different camps and you had to avoid being in any of the camps -- and I'm not just talking about two camps, there were other camps," Armstrong says. "They were dancing around this Maypole of weirdness and stress."
Armstrong only recently revisited his "Moonlighting" experience, screening an episode for his daughter.
"It was enough to live it and I've never really been compelled to relive it," he laughs.
Armstrong has found Europeans associate him with "Moonlighting," while Americans recognize his familiar face from films like "Revenge of the Nerds" and "Better Off Dead." Armstrong has never had a problem being approached by fans, even ones calling him "Booger."
"The way I look at is, if you're an actor and you have one role in a career that people remember with affection and write you letters about and stop you in the street, then you're damned lucky. To have more than one is an incredible blessing."
Armstrong pays tribute to ex-fiancee Crow on his radio show
NEW YORK (AP) — Lance Armstrong closed his weekly satellite radio show on a bittersweet note by playing ex-fiancee Sheryl Crow's song Letter To God.
The seven-time Tour De France winner and the Grammy-winning rocker announced their breakup in a joint statement last week after "much thought and consideration," despite their "deep love and respect."
Armstrong acknowledged the split in his Sunday night talk show, "Armstrong Radio," on the Sirius Satellite Radio channel "Faction," saying he was "torn it didn't work out."
"Obviously, this week was a rough week for us, but that doesn't change the fact that Sheryl is an unbelievable lady, one of the smartest, wisest, most gifted people I've ever met and a person that I can honestly say has shown me a love that I never knew," he said.
"It's only fair that I say that, and it's only fair that we play one of her songs tonight and not run from the situation."
Crowe, 43, has called Armstrong, 34, the inspiration for her last album, Wildflower, which was released in September.
They announced their engagement in September. It would have been her first marriage and his second. He has three children from a previous marriage.
Following the breakup announcement, Armstrong reportedly canceled his scheduled appearance as a presenter at the 48th annual Grammy Awards on Wednesday. A call to the Recording Academy by The Associated Press was not immediately returned Tuesday.
Crowe is up for three Grammys: best pop vocal album (Wildflower ), best female pop vocal performance for Good Is Good and best country collaboration with vocals for Building Bridges.
Rolling Stones say Super Bowl censors "ridiculous"
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Rolling Stones considered the decision to censor two of their songs during the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday "ridiculous" and unnecessary, a representative for the band said on Tuesday.
Stones spokeswoman Fran Curtis took issue with a comment by a National Football League spokesman on Monday that the band was not only aware of the plan to lower the volume on Mick Jagger's microphone for two lines but also "fine with it."
Producers of the top rated U.S. television event of the year have been cautious about causing offense ever since Janet Jackson bared her breast during her act in 2004 in a now famous "wardrobe malfunction."
During the Rolling Stones' act on Sunday, in the song "Start Me Up," the line "you make a dead man come" was cut short and a barnyard reference to "cocks" in the new song "Rough Justice" also disappeared.
"The Rolling Stones were aware of our plan which was to simply lower the volume on his microphone at those two appropriate moments," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Reuters on Monday. "We had agreed to that plan earlier in the week. The Stones were aware of it and they were fine with it."
But the Stone's representative said the members of the band were far from happy with the decision to cut the lines on the broadcast which was carried by ABC.
"The Rolling Stones thought the censorship of their songs by the NFL/ABC was absolutely ridiculous and completely unnecessary," Curtis said, adding that they were aware of the plan before the show.
Asked whether the Stones had felt strongly enough to take any action, such as pulling out of the show, she said: "The band did the songs they were supposed to do and they sang all the words."
"There were many many conversations back and forth and the band clearly was not happy about it."
ABC Sports has said any alteration of the lyrics was done by the NFL and its production company.
Apple cuts iPod Shuffle price, adds 1-GB Nano
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. on Tuesday cut the price of its cheapest digital music player, the iPod Shuffle, and launched a smaller-capacity version of its mid-priced iPod Nano.
The move by Apple, which has 70 percent of the U.S. digital music player market, is aimed at further consolidating a market that it leads, Apple executives said. The company also said it has now sold 12 million videos on its iTunes online store.
Apple has already sold more than 40 million iPods since their introduction in October 2001, and, in 2005 alone, sold more than 30 million of the popular items.
The price cuts could raise questions about whether Apple's profit margins will suffer, but American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu said he was not concerned.
"The price of components have come down more than 70 percent, especially flash memory for the Shuffle," he said. "And the price of the Shuffle hadn't changed, so they were making a ton of profit off the Shuffle. So they're passing some of those savings on."
Asked whether Apple needed to cut prices for products that were already so popular, Wu said, "While iPods have a 70 percent share in the U.S., internationally its share is much lower at around 40 percent."
Cupertino, California-based Apple said the 512-megabyte Shuffle will now sell for $69, down from $99 previously. The 1-gigabyte model will sell for $99, down from $129.
The 512-megabyte version holds about 120 songs.
The new 1-gigabyte Nano, the sleek iPod model that won rave reviews from critics and consumers when it was introduced last September, was priced at $149.
The 2-gigabyte Nano sells for $199 and holds about 500 songs; a 4-gigabyte model sells for $249.
Greg Joswiak, head of iPod product marketing, in a telephone interview declined to comment on the lower prices' impact on iPod gross margins, he said the announcement was part of Apple's longer-term strategy. Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer has said that average gross margin on all iPod models is 20 percent or more.
"It's fair to say this has been a planned move," Joswiak said when asked about gross margin impact.
Wu also said that recent studies suggest only a third of all U.S. households have a digital music player, suggesting that the market opportunity for the iPod is greater than its global market share suggests.
Apple shares rose 30 cents to $67.60 on Nasdaq. During the session they traded as high as $69.48, a gain of 3 percent. The shares fell nearly 13 percent over the previous four intraday trading sessions.
The stock trades at about 25 times its projected earnings per share before items for its fiscal year 2007 ending in September.
Scarlett and Keira get naked for Vanity Fair
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rising film stars Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley, better known for their work with their clothes on, have bared all for Vanity Fair.
"Lost in Translation" actress Johansson, 21, and Britain's Knightley, 20, who is Oscar-nominated for her role in "Pride and Prejudice" stripped naked for the cover photo of the magazine's annual Hollywood issue.
Fashion designer Tom Ford, guest artistic director for the Hollywood portfolio which hits newsstands on Wednesday, said the pair had few qualms about the shoot.
"We didn't have to convince them. And you know, in today's world everything is vetted through a publicist, so they all knew right before they got to the set," Ford told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday.
But Ford said Rachel McAdams, who starred in "The Notebook" and appeared in "Mean Girls," got cold feet at the last minute.
"She did want to do it, and then when she was on set, I think she felt uncomfortable, and I didn't want to make anybody feel uncomfortable," he said.
Angelina Jolie also posed naked -- in a bathtub -- for the special, which includes shots of a fully clothed George Clooney and a galaxy of other stars.
Spears incident draws attention of child welfare
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Photographs showing pop star Britney Spears driving a car with her infant son in her lap, in apparent violation of motor safety laws, caught the attention of child welfare authorities and ignited a media uproar on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said a deputy paid a visit to Spears' home in Malibu to obtain "contact information" at the request of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.
"We were contacted by DCFS to obtain contact information from the Spears for them," said the spokesman, Luis Castro. "What they're going to do with the information we don't know. It's not our investigation."
A spokeswoman for the Family Services Department, Louise Grasmehr, declined comment on the Spears incident. But she said her agency routinely sends social workers to any homes where a child has been reported to be placed in danger, including the failure to properly restrain a baby in a moving car.
Meanwhile, Spears, 24, issued a statement insisting that she is a good mother and that incident in question was the result of a "frightful encounter with the paparazzi."
Pictures published in the New York Post and elsewhere on Tuesday showed Spears at the wheel of her sport utility vehicle, holding her 5-month-old baby, Sean, on her lap. A man identified as her bodyguard is shown next to her in the front passenger seat.
According to the Post, Spears drove for at least two miles along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu on Monday.
A source close to Spears told Reuters that the incident occurred after the singer had driven to a Starbucks shop with her son strapped into his car seat in the back of her SUV.
She moved the baby to her lap after stopping at the coffee shop to let her bodyguard go inside, then became unnerved as photographers swarmed around the vehicle as she waited for him to return, the source said. When the bodyguard got back in the car, Spears quickly drove off with her son still in her lap.
"I had a horrifying, frightful encounter with the paparazzi while I was with my baby," Spears said in a statement issued through her publicist. She said Monday's episode reminded her of an incident last summer in which she was "trapped" in her car by a throng of photographers.
"I instinctively took measures to get my baby and me out of harm's way, but the paparazzi continued to stalk us, and took photos of us which were sold to the media," she said. "I love my child and would do anything to protect him."
Under California law, automobile passengers are required to be secured in a child-safety seat or booster seat until they are at least 6 years old or weigh at least 60 pounds.
The photos of Spears and her baby drew widespread media attention, even becoming a subject of discussion on the popular morning television show "Live with Regis and Kelly."
Spears, who has kept a relatively low profile since marrying dancer Kevin Federline in September 2004, is planning to return to the spotlight this spring with a guest appearance on the NBC television sitcom "Will & Grace."