'Survivor' Picks Its $1 Million Winner
NEW YORK - It was a high-stakes battle that didn't have a clear-cut favorite — but, as always, in the end there was one "Survivor."
(Spoiler alert: Those still waiting to watch Sunday's season-ending "Survivor: Panama, Exile Island," you've been warned.)
Aras Baskauskas, a 24-year-old yoga instructor from Santa Monica, Calif., beat out Danielle DiLorenzo, a 24-year-old medical sales representative from Boston, to win the 12th edition of the CBS reality show — and the $1 million champion's payoff.
DiLorenzo, who host Jeff Probst said in an interview was one of "the weakest players who've ever played the game," won the final immunity challenge — a contest that involved balancing on a series of wobbly platforms on the ocean — to reach the final two.
The immunity win allowed her to eliminate one of the other two still remaining, Baskauskas or ex-Navy fighter pilot Terry Deitz. DiLorenzo chose to send Deitz packing, breaking the "alliance" agreement she'd made with him.
Baskauskas, who briefly played professional basketball in Lithuania, had an intense rivalry — a "macho" hostility, as DiLorenzo called it — with the 46-year-old Deitz, who won multiple immunity challenges during the 39-day-contest.
At the final council vote, however, when it came down to Baskauskas or DiLorenzo, Deitz voted in favor of Baskauskas.
"Out of the two of you, you were head and shoulders the winner," said Deitz in reference to his nemesis, flashing his vote card to the camera.
When he made his case at the final council to the jury of ex-"Survivor" castmates, Baskauskas said he deserved to win because he "worked hard at establishing real relationships."
Booted contestant/jury member Shane Powers blasted Baskauskas, however. DiLorenzo, Powers said, was "useless at camp" and that Deitz, not Baskauskas, should have landed in the final two.
Cirie Fields, a 35-year-old nurse from Walterboro, S.C., was the first of the final four to be voted out of the competition during Sunday night's two-hour finale.
The show from executive producer Mark Burnett, who also produces NBC's "The Apprentice," remains a top-level ratings performer.
After the final votes were cast at the tribal council in Panama, they were tallied on a live broadcast Sunday night from the Ed Sullivan Theater in Manhattan.
'West Wing' Ends With Graceful Transition
NEW YORK - It was an orderly transition Sunday night as President Jed Bartlet left office and "The West Wing" came to a graceful end.
After seven TV seasons (and two terms in his fictional White House), the heroic, quirky, often embattled chief executive played by Martin Sheen was succeeded by Matt Santos ( Jimmy Smits). As the Bartlet administration came to its inevitable conclusion, so did the NBC drama.
"You did a lot of good, Jed, a lot of good," the First Lady ( Stockard Channing) told her husband as Inauguration Day dawned.
Bartlet's mood at that moment must have matched many viewers': relief, satisfaction, gratitude and sadness that it was about to be over.
And later on, Abbie Bartlet said proudly, "Jed, you made it. You're still here" — after the assassination attempt, his battle with multiple sclerosis, and the punishing duties of his job.
Sentiment hung heavy through the hour, both for the characters and the audience. In particular, former chief of staff Leo McGarry, who had died suddenly on the campaign trail as Santos' vice-presidential running mate, was repeatedly recalled (as was, implicitly, the late John Spencer, who played him until his death of a heart attack last December).
"I'm gonna take one final stroll around the joint, to make sure nobody's making off with the cutlery," Bartlet told his secretary ( Lily Tomlin) after tending to one final presidential task: signing some pardons in the oval office.
Caution: Spoiler alert. Would he pardon Toby Ziegler ( Richard Schiff), a trusted senior adviser who had leaked classified information out of conscience, then confessed; been fired, tried and indicted; and now was facing prison?
Though still torn between feelings of betrayal and affection — well, of course, Bartlet pardoned Toby.
For the episode, a full-scale inauguration platform was erected, where the ceremony would soon begin as, back at the White House, Bartlet staffers watched coverage of it on their TVs and finished packing up.
Then, at 42 minutes into the hour, Santos took the oath of office. An era was over. So, remarkably, was the brief inauguration scene.
"Nice speech," the former president told President Santos (viewers will never know).
"No JFK," Santos replied.
"No," smiled Bartlet. "But you've got time. Make me proud, Mr. President."
"I'll do my best, Mr. President," Santos said.
And Bartlet was gone.
In the unseen Santos administration ahead, "West Wing" favorites Donna Moss and Josh Lyman ( Janel Moloney and Bradley Whitford) will be part of the team — and presumably will remain an item, a recent development after having been partners for years in TV's sexiest unconsummated, unacknowledged romance.
"The West Wing," which premiered in fall 1999, was the vision of Aaron Sorkin, whose genius was reflected in the pilot episode, repeated Sunday night just before the finale aired. Sorkin not only created the series, but wrote all the episodes for several seasons before leaving it.
Although a popular hit as well as a critical smash, the series in recent seasons dropped precipitously from its former Top-10 status and was canceled by the network.
Even so, this season's episodes have been strong, charting not only White House goings-on but also the campaign between Santos and his Republican challenger, Arnold Vinick ( Alan Alda).
Viewers can be cheered that Sorkin will be back on TV: NBC has announced that his new series, "Studio 60 on Sunset Strip" will be on its fall lineup, with stars including "West Wing" alumni Whitford and Timothy Busfield.
And Sunday the final scene of "The West Wing" left the audience on a forward-looking note, too, even if expressed in a wistful tone.
"What are you thinking about?" Abbie Bartlet asked her husband as they flew back home to New Hampshire after the marvelous adventure they had shared with "West Wing" fans.
"Tomorrow," he replied.
Jewel to plug new release on 'Y & R'
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Jewel is hitting the daytime-TV soap world to promote her new CD.
The singer-songwriter will appear May 31 on The Young and the Restless. The CBS soap opera is daytime's top-rated drama. On the show, Jewel will perform at a fundraiser hosted by characters Nick and Sharon Newman to mark the first anniversary of their teenage daughter's death in a drunk-driving accident.
She'll sing Again and Again and Good Day from her new Goodbye Alice in Wonderland CD, released earlier this month.
At the end of the episode, Jewel will appear in a public service announcement for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
The singer's acting credits include the movie Ride With the Devil and the TV series The Lyon's Den.
Do you own songs bought online? Well, sort of
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Like millions around the world, you have an iPod, the market-leading digital music player made by Apple Computer Inc. and have spent perhaps a few hundred dollars buying songs from the company's iTunes music store.
But do you really own the tunes? Whether you do, however, depends on how you define ownership.
"Owning implies control and if you bought the tracks on iTunes you don't have complete control," said Rob Enderle, president of market researcher the Enderle Group.
Those songs you bought online from Apple play just fine, of course, so long you do so on the company's iTunes digital jukebox software, on an iPod, burn a CD (you can only burn the same "playlist," or collection of songs, seven times), or stream them wirelessly to your stereo using another Apple gizmo.
But Apple's FairPlay digital rights management, or DRM, software prevents you from listening to those purchased songs on a music player from Dell Inc., Creative, Sony, or others. The same thing goes for songs you've imported to your computer from CDs you already own.
The DRM software is Apple's way of preventing piracy and is a large part of the reason why the recording industry has so warmly embraced the iTunes Music Store.
"A lot of people would argue it's the closest thing you're going to get other than buying a CD," said analyst Mike McGuire of market research firm Gartner of the restrictions Apple and others place on music bought online.
To be sure, Apple rivals have their own DRM technology to protect against piracy, such as Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp., but none have been as successful so far as Apple. The Cupertino, California-based company has a 70-percent market share in the United States for digital music players, and higher than that for music purchased online.
Beyond just having songs you bought from iTunes "trapped" on the iPod and in iTunes, it's also not a snap to move songs from an iPod - whether you bought them or initially pulled them off a CD - back up to a computer. While it's possible to do so, Apple doesn't make it easy, right off the bat, because it's trying to discourage piracy.
"They do it to lock you in," Enderle said, noting an example of if you spent $500 on buying songs from iTunes. "You now have a $500 switching cost to pull out of iTunes."
But there are a number of different and perfectly legal reasons why you'd want to be able to do that.
For example, your computer suffers a disastrous crash, you lose data that includes your music library, and you want to recover your lost music library from your iPod and return it to your now-repaired computer.
There are programs that let you move songs from the iPod, up to a computer - such as Senuti and PodWorks - but, for the average user, it may be more than he or she is up for. There are some ways around companies' DRM technology, but those are far trickier to use and Microsoft and others frequently plug holes in their software to prevent converting DRM-protected songs into unprotected MP3 files.
As for how complicated it is to get around DRM protection, consider this quote from a Website: "Microsoft's DRM is actually, for a change, really well thought out. The XML content header at the top of every protected WMA file just can't be changed because it's digitally signed using either ECC or RSA. The same thing goes for the actual license files and corresponding keys."
That's language that is probably not readily understood by the average consumer.
"The average consumer hasn't run into the restrictions" that the likes of Apple, Microsoft and Sony have placed on online music purchases, McGuire said. "Certainly there's some interest in Apple wanting people to return to the iTunes store but these restrictions are really due to the rights holders and the labels."
Cruise Sinks 'Poseidon' at Box Office
LOS ANGELES - It was bottoms up for "Poseidon," as the cruise ship disaster remake failed to topple "Mission: Impossible III" from a second week atop the nation's box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"Mission: Impossible III" clung to No. 1 with a $24.5 million take during an anemic North America box office weekend that saw the Tom Cruise action film drop 49 percent from its opening weekend.
Internationally, "Mission: Impossible III" raked in another $70 million to bring its two-week earnings overall to $214 million.
"It's not a bad start," said Rob Moore, Paramount's president of worldwide marketing, distribution and operations.
"Poseidon," which reportedly cost $150 million-plus to make, debuted in second place with what was described as a solid weekend opening of $20.3 million.
"You've got two PG-13 action movies vying for the top spot and each earned over $20 million. I think that's pretty strong for Mother's Day weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian of Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., which tracks box office performance.
But the overall North America turnstile take was more than 13 percent behind the comparable 2005 period, the first time in seven weeks that box office receipts dropped over last year's figures.
"The top 12 films for this weekend are down about 13.5 percent for comparable weekend last year. Hollywood has been on a roll for seven weeks," Dergarabedian said, adding the upcoming weekend has two potential blockbusters that could again float all boats.
"This was a solid but not spectacular weekend leading up to a big week ahead with `The Da Vinci Code' and `Over the Hedge.' This will be classic counter-programming," he said.
The Robin Williams comedy "RV" was third with $9.5 million, Lindsay Lohan's "Just My Luck" debuted in fourth with $5.5 million and "An American Haunting" was fifth with $3.7 million.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Mission: Impossible III," $24.5 million.
2. "Poseidon," $20.3 million.
3. "RV," $9.5 million.
4. "Just My Luck," $5.5 million.
5. "An American Haunting," $3.7 million.
6. "United 93," $3.6 million.
7. "Stick It," $3.2 million.
8. "Ice Age: The Meltdown," $3 million.
9. "Silent Hill," $2.2 million.
10. "Hoot," $2.1 million.