Fall Out Boy Takes Flight For Release Day Shows

Fall Out Boy is reviving a tried-and-true promotional gimmick for Feb. 6, the day its new Island album, "Infinity on High," hits stores. The group will play shows in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles in the course of 24 hours, all of which will be documented by MTV.

The first stop will be the network's New York studio for a performance on "TRL," which the band will also host. In late afternoon, Fall Out Boy will play Chicago's House of Blues, and will wrap the day with a set atop a rooftop in downtown Los Angeles.

Fans can gain entry to the shows via radio stations in each market and FallOutBoy.MTV.com. A separate contest at MTVFlight206.com will reward two people the chance to fly with the band throughout the day.

In addition, Fall Out Boy will perform on the first episode of the new show "MTV Live," premiering commercial free on Feb. 6.

As reported last week, the band scored the highest bow for a band since radio-only titles joined the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1998 by debuting at No. 2 with the single "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race."

Chevy Chase is Fletch

After Chevy walked away from Saturday Night Live fame, he hit the big screen for several hits and misses, but everyone remembers Fletch. Universal is presenting a special edition DVD coming later this year.

The DVD itself will contain upgraded sound and picture with anamorphic widescreen adn Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, but so far no extras have been announced.

On May 1st the Jane Doe Edition arrives, just make sure it isn't in disguise.

High body count clouds sequel to "The Departed"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It's hard to imagine a sequel to a movie like Oscar-nominated crime drama "The Departed," which ends in such a spasm of violence that hardly any of the lead characters are left alive.

But almost anything is possible in Hollywood when enough money is at stake. So it should come as no surprise that a follow-up to Martin Scorsese's cops-and-gangsters thriller, the biggest box-office hit of his career, is already in the works.

A person close to the situation said on Wednesday that the screenwriter behind "The Departed," William Monahan, was outlining a film script that would bring back a surviving character played by Mark Wahlberg and introduce a new role envisioned for Robert De Niro.

Neither Monahan's spokesman nor Warner Bros. Pictures, which distributed "The Departed," had any comment on sequel plans. One studio spokeswoman called talk of a possible follow-up "premature."

Representatives for Wahlberg and Scorsese could not immediately be reached. And De Niro's publicist said he was not aware of any talks involving his client, who is good friends with Scorsese.

It was Wahlberg who told MTV on the red carpet of the Golden Globe Awards earlier this month about the possibility of enlisting De Niro to star in a "Departed" follow-up.

Wahlberg earned an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor for his role in the film as a hot-headed, foul-mouthed police detective. Scorsese was nominated as best director for his work on the film.

The movie itself, adapted from the 2002 Hong Kong film "Infernal Affairs," about an undercover cop who infiltrates a crime gang to root out a police department mole, was nominated as best picture and is considered a front-runner to win Hollywood's top honor on February 25.

According to sources cited by The Hollywood Reporter, Scorsese would need to approve any plans for a new film before it could move forward.

Scorsese has never directed a sequel to any of his films, though his 1986 pool hall drama "The Color of Money" was a follow-up to 1961's "The Hustler" directed by Robert Rossen.

The original "Infernal Affairs" was followed by a "prequel," involving events leading up to the first movie, and a third film that combined elements of the first two. According to The Reporter, the idea of a prequel for "The Departed" has not been ruled out.

"The Departed" has so far grossed $125.8 million in U.S. ticket sales alone, making it by far the biggest box-office success among the five films nominated for an Academy Award as best picture.

Man arrested in Boston marketing ploy

BOSTON - Several illuminated electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city Wednesday in what turned out to be a publicity campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. Most if not all of the devices depict a character giving the finger.

Peter Berdovsky, 29, of Arlington, was arrested on one felony charge of placing a hoax device and one charge of disorderly conduct, state Attorney General Martha Coakley said later Wednesday. He had been hired to place the devices, she said.

Highways, bridges and a section of the Charles River were shut down and bomb squads were sent in before authorities declared the devices were harmless.

Turner Broadcasting, a division of Time Warner Inc. and parent of Cartoon Network, later said the devices were part of a promotion for the TV show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," a surreal series about a talking milkshake, a box of fries and a meatball.

Authorities are investigating whether Turner and any other companies should be criminally charged, Coakley said. It wasn't immediately clear Wednesday who might have hired Berdovsky.

"We're not going to let this go without looking at the further roots of how this happened to cause the panic in this city," Coakley said at a news conference.

Those conducting the campaign should have known the devices could cause panic because they were placed in sensitive areas, she said. Turner did not notify officials of the publicity campaign until around 5 p.m., nearly four hours after the first calls came in about the devices, she and others said.

At least 14 of the devices were found, Coakley said.

"The packages in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger," Turner said in a statement.

It said the devices have been in place for two to three weeks in 10 cities: Boston; New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Atlanta; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; San Francisco; and Philadelphia.

"We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger," the company said. As soon as the company realized the problem, it said, law enforcement officials were told of their locations in all 10 cities.

The marketing firm that put them up, Interference Inc., has been ordered to remove them immediately, said Phil Kent, Turner chairman.

"We apologize to the citizens of Boston that part of a marketing campaign was mistaken for a public danger," Kent said. "We appreciate the gravity of this situation and, like any responsible company would, are putting all necessary resources toward understanding the facts surrounding it as quickly as possible."

Interference Inc. had no immediate comment. A woman who answered the phone at the New York-based firm's offices Wednesday afternoon said the firm's CEO was out of town and would not be able to comment until Thursday.

There were no reports from police Wednesday of residents in the other nine cities spotting similar devices.

Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke praised Boston authorities for sharing their knowledge quickly with Washington officials and the public.

"Hoaxes are a tremendous burden on local law enforcement and counter-terrorism resources and there's absolutely no place for them in a post-9/11 world," Knocke said.

Authorities said some of the objects looked like circuit boards or had wires hanging from them.

The first device was found at a subway and bus station underneath Interstate 93, forcing the shutdown of the station and the highway.

Later, police said four calls, all around 1 p.m., reported devices at the Boston University Bridge and the Longfellow Bridge, both of which span the Charles River, at a Boston street corner and at the Tufts-New England Medical Center.

The package near the Boston University bridge was found attached to a structure beneath the span, authorities said.

Subway service across the Longfellow Bridge between Boston and Cambridge was briefly suspended, and Storrow Drive was closed as well. A similar device was found Wednesday evening just north of Fenway Park, police spokesman Eddy Chrispin said.

Wanda Higgins, a 47-year-old Weymouth resident and a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, heard about the threat as she watched television news coverage while preparing to leave work at 4 p.m.

"I saw the bomb squad guys carrying a paper bag with their bare hands," Higgins said. "I knew it couldn't be too serious."

Messages seeking additional comment from the Atlanta-based Cartoon Network were left with several publicists.

"Aqua Teen Hunger Force" is a cartoon with a cultish following that airs as part of the Adult Swim late-night block of programs for adults on the Cartoon Network. A feature length film based on the show is slated for release March 23.

The cartoon also includes two trouble-making, 1980s-graphic-like characters called "mooninites," named Ignignokt and Err — who were pictured on the suspicious devices. They are known for making the obscene hand gesture depicted on the devices.

ROBOCOP REVIEWS SELF

January 30, 2007 -- Here's how Peter Weller (succinctly) sums up several pieces of an eclectic résumé:

* "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension" (1984): "I don't understand it to this day."

* "RoboCop" (1987): "Brilliant movie."

* "RoboCop 2" (1990): "Top-heavy, without the morality. Happy to do [both films] and happy to leave them. Left them to do 'Naked Lunch' - fantastic."

* "Shoot the Moon" (1982): "A nonsympathetic look at American divorce, one of the best of the genre. Proud to be in it. And it may just be the best thing Diane Keaton ever did."

* "24" (2006): "The patriot who saw it another way. Did it as a favor for a friend [Manny Coto, one of the head writers], very grateful to have done it. It was great to be in that sort of cutting-edge television. . . . I didn't follow it before the show. They had to get me up to date - they sent me all the DVDs."

Bublé plans to give up Grammys for hockey game

Canadian crooner Michael Bublé is nominated for a Grammy Award for best traditional pop vocal album, but plans to stay home and watch the Vancouver Canucks play on the night of the awards ceremony.

The Vancouver artist, competing for the award with fellow Canadian Sarah McLachlan, said he's boycotting the Feb. 11 event in Los Angeles because his category will not be presented live on TV.

"Our category is selling way too many records to be given away at a dinner before, so I'm just not going to show up," Bublé said, lashing out at organizers for not giving his category the respect he says it deserves.

Most of the Grammys are awarded at an afternoon ceremony before the televised gala.

Bublé is nominated for Caught in the Act. He's competing against McLachlan's Wintersong, Bette Midler's Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook, Smokey Robinson's Timeless Love and Tony Bennett's Duets.

That's another thing that peeves the singer, who won four Junos in 2006.

Last year, in his first Grammy nomination, he lost out in the traditional pop album category to Bennett, one of his idols and a sentimental favourite for the American music industry.

"Why should I go to the Grammys?" he said. "'Cause I'll lose. No, I'll lose. They might as well have already scratched Tony Bennett's name into the damn thing. I'm not going."

It's a chore just to get recognized, he said.

Bublé said he feels "like a dirtbag" sometimes when he walks an awards show red carpet and fans don't recognize him, "just because I'm not in the tabloids."

All in all, he'd rather not miss the hockey game.

"I'm going to stay home and watch the (Vancouver) Canucks," said Bublé, who lives in Vancouver with his girlfriend, Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt.

Best-selling author Sidney Sheldon dies

LOS ANGELES - Sidney Sheldon, who won awards in three careers, Broadway theater, movies and television, then at age 50 turned to writing best-selling novels about stalwart women who triumph in a hostile world of ruthless men, has died. He was 89.

Sheldon died Tuesday afternoon of complications from pneumonia at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, said Warren Cowan, his publicist. His wife, Alexandra, and his daughter, author Mary Sheldon, were by his side.

"I've lost a longtime and dear friend," Cowan said. "In all my years in this business, I've never heard an unkind word said about him."

Sheldon's books, with titles such as "Rage of Angels," "The Other Side of Midnight," "Master of the Game" and "If Tomorrow Comes," provided his greatest fame. They were cleverly plotted, with a high degree of suspense and sensuality and a device to keep the reader turning pages.

"I try to write my books so the reader can't put them down," he explained in a 1982 interview. "I try to construct them so when the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she has to read just one more chapter. It's the technique of the old Saturday afternoon serial: leave the guy hanging on the edge of the cliff at the end of the chapter."

Analyzing why so many women bought his books, he commented: "I like to write about women who are talented and capable, but most important, retain their femininity. Women have tremendous power- their femininity, because men can't do without it."

Sheldon was obviously not aiming at highbrow critics, whose reviews of his books were generally disparaging. He remained undeterred, promoting the novels and himself with genial fervor. A big, cheerful man, he bragged about his work habits.

Unlike other novelists who toiled over typewriters or computers, he dictated 50 pages a day to a secretary or a tape machine. He corrected the pages the following day, continuing the routine until he had 1,200 to 1,500 pages.

"Then I do a complete rewrite- 12 to 15 times," he said. "I spend a whole year rewriting."

Several of his novels became television miniseries, often with the author as producer.

Henley says new Eagles album in the works: report

LOS ANGELES, Jan 30 (Reuters Life!) - Fans of Southern California's classic rock group the Eagles may soon be getting that peaceful, easy feeling all over again.

Don Henley, one of the group's founding members, said during a private weekend concert appearance he and his old bandmates were nearing completion of their first album of all-new music in nearly 30 years, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Tuesday.

"It's coming out in 60 to 90 days, if we don't kill each other first," Henley was quoted as telling his audience on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Neither Henley's publicist nor his manager had any immediate comment on the report.

The group's last collection of all-new studio material was 1979's "The Long Run," which produced the Grammy-winning No. 1 hit single "Heartache Tonight."

The Eagles' 1976 greatest-hits collection, including such favorites as "Peaceful Easy Feeling," "Take It Easy" and "One of These Nights," became the biggest-selling U.S. album of all time, with sales of 29 million copies to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The Eagles officially disbanded in 1982 and its members all went on to release solo recordings. In 1994, the group reunited for their first full-scale comeback tour with Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Timothy Schmit and Don Felder.

The band appeared together again, with past members Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Teri Polo set for third 'Fockers' film

LOS ANGELES - Teri Polo is set to reprise her role as Ben Stiller's wife in "Meet the Little Focker," the third installment of the movie franchise. "I think he cast me in the role because I play a great straight man," she said. "Actually, I think I'm funnier off-camera."

Polo worked with Robert DeNiro in the 2004 sequel, "Meet the Fockers," and in 2000 in the original "Meet the Parents."

"I literally glued myself to his side because I didn't know if I ever was going to get this opportunity again," she said of their collaboration. "I asked him what was more difficult — comedy or drama — and it surprised me when he said it's basically the same thing. It's all in the way you deliver the line."

Polo, a 37-year-old divorced mother of a young son, can next be seen playing a cynical divorce attorney who finds love with her legal opposition in "Love is a Four Letter Word," airing Saturday on the Hallmark Channel.

Love and marriage are recurring themes for Polo's projects this year. She plays one of three sisters running a wedding-planning business on the upcoming Fox series "The Wedding Bells," written by David E. Kelley.

'Grey's Anatomy' Cast Unsure of Washington's Future

Isaiah Washington's Grey's Anatomy cast mates are keeping their distance as the disgraced actor battles his demons in rehab.

The star was a no-show at Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards, where his cast mates claimed a Best TV Ensemble, after checking into a treatment centre to address issues that reared up after he twice referred to gay co-star TR Knight as a "f****t." And while co-star Chandra Wilson offered her support to him during her Best Actress acceptance speech, other cast mates weren't quite so warm towards Washington.

Katherine Heigl, who suggested the actor shouldn't be allowed to speak publicly after mentioning the 'f' word at a Golden Globe Awards backstage press conference earlier this month, was still chilly towards him. Of his SAG Awards absence, she said, "As far as we know, he's seeking treatment right now to help with some of his issues.

We don't know when he'll be back, or for how long." After publicly apologizing for his remarks, Washington checked into a residential treatment facility last week in a bid to keep his job on the medical drama, according to news reports in America.

New Releases, Jan. 30: Norah Jones, Katharine McPhee, Madonna

Norah Jones "Not Too Late"

The jazzy songbird returns with her third studio set. It follows 2004's quadruple-platinum-selling "Feels Like Home," a work that nabbed Jones a Grammy in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category (her eighth Grammy overall).

The singer, the daughter of sitar great Ravi Shankar, wrote or co-wrote all of the album's 13 tracks. The disc was produced by Jones' bassist and songwriting partner, Lee Alexander.

According to her publicist, Jones is the best-selling female artist of the 21st century, with more than 15 million in sales over the course of the decade, and 30 million worldwide.

* * *
Katharine McPhee "Katharine McPhee"

The runner-up to Taylor Hicks in last year's "American Idol" competition drops her self-titled debut album. The CD's first single, "Over It," hit radio earlier this month.

The Southern California native worked with a number of collaborators on this disc, including producer Nate 'Danja' Hills, a man nominated for two Grammys this year for his efforts on Justin Timberlake's "FutureSex/LoveSounds."

* * *
Madonna "The Confessions Tour--Live from London"

This two-disc CD/DVD combo was filmed at London's Wembley Arena during the Material Girl's highly successful Confessions Tour.

The set focuses largely on material from Madonna's "Confessions on a Dance Floor" CD, but also includes a few old hits, including "Like a Virgin" and "Lucky Star."

* * *
Celtic Woman "A New Journey"

The money-making machine that is the Celtic Woman returns with a follow-up to its 2006 holiday offering, "A Christmas Celebration," a work that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard World Music chart back in November.

The female Irish vocal ensemble--featuring Chloe Agnew, Lisa Kelly, Meav Ni Mhaolchatha, Orla Fallon, Mairead Nesbitt and recent addition Hayley Westenra--will launch a lengthy North American trek in support of the album in mid-February, starting off in Tampa, FL.

* * *
Art Garfunkel "Some Enchanted Evening"

Following in the footsteps of such pop stars as Bryan Ferry and Rod Stewart, Garfunkel mines the Great American Songbook on this new album. The disc includes such all-time classic songs as "Someone to Watch Over Me," "Let's Fall in Love," "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" and the title track.

* * *
More new releases:
Lily Allen, "Alright, Still" (Capitol)
Tommy Castro, "Painkiller" (Blind Pig)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, "Some Loud Thunder" (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)
Harry Connick Jr., "Chanson du Vieux Carre" (Marsalis)
Harry Connick Jr., "Oh, My Nola" (Sony)
Bill Kirchen, "Hammer of the Honkey-Tonk Gods" (Proper)
Dave Koz, "At the Movies" (Capitol)
Paolo Nutini, "These Streets" (Atlantic)
Pain of Salvation, "Scarsick" (Inside Out)
Rockabye Baby!, "Lullaby Renditions of U2" (Baby Rock)
Xavier Rudd, "Food in the Belly" (Anti)
Jill Scott, "Collaborations" (Hidden Beach)
Skinny Puppy, "Mythmaker" (Synthetic Symphony)
Tin Hat, "Sad Machinery of Spring" (Hannibal)
X Clan, "Return From Mecca" (Suburban Noize)
Various Artists, "Endless Highway--The Music Of The Band" (Savoy)

Colbert wins bet against mayor

TORONTO (CP) - After losing a friendly hockey bet with satirical late-night pundit Stephen Colbert, the mayor of Oshawa, Ont. sheepishly conceded defeat on the show Monday night via telephone.

The punishment? John Gray's birthday on March 20 will be declared "Stephen Colbert Day" in his city, just east of Toronto.

"Mr. Mayor, let me ask you something: How are you planning to spend your 'Stephen Colbert Day,' " the host asked Gray, as a graphic of a moose wearing a "mayor" sash appeared in lieu of a headshot.

"Oh that's right, it's your birthday. How old are you going to be? Old enough to know better than to take on Stephen Colbert?"

The mayor genially responded: "Hopefully in future, yes."

In recent months, Colbert - who portrays a know-it-all right-winger on his show - has been rooting for the Ontario Hockey League's Saginaw Spirit after finding out the Michigan team had named its mascot Steagle Colbeagle the Eagle, as a tribute to him.

On Friday night, The Spirit beat the Oshawa Generals 5-4. Gray was among the 5,527 fans who attended the sold-out game.

Before his brief interview with Gray, Colbert reminded his viewers about the terms of the wager.

"If Oshawa wins, I will wear an Oshawa jersey on my show. But when the Spirit kicks Oshawa's moose haunches, I don't want to declare Stephen Colbert day on my birthday, I want to declare it on your birthday," said Colbert to cheers and applause.

Gray issued his challenge on a local radio station after Colbert urged Spirit fans to toss General Motors earnings reports onto the ice during Friday's game - an apparent jab at the auto-maker's plant that employs hundreds of Oshawa residents.

"Mayor Gray was there to watch his dreams crash to the ice like a sub-par GM financial report," Colbert said.

The financial reports were apparent retaliation for the Generals feting an earlier win against the Spirit by holding a teddy bear toss for charity.

A running joke on "The Colbert Report" is the host's inexplicable fear and hatred of bears. He called Oshawa's stunt an "obvious attempt to taunt me."

The New-York-based Colbert report is aired on Comedy Central in the United States and on CTV and The Comedy Network in Canada.

On Monday's show, Gray accepted his teams' loss graciously and promised to uphold his end of the bargain.

"I've already got a coffee shop downtown threatening to name a coffee after you and whatever the blend is, he promises that the spoon will lean to the right," Gray chuckled.

Colbert played the good-natured winner, too, saying he'd don a General's jersey on his show anyway.

With that, he stood up, untucked his dress shirt, pulled down his suit pants and flashed the Oshawa jersey, wrapped around his bottom like underpants.

Walk of Fame asking for noms

TORONTO (CP) - Who deserves to be on Canada's Walk of Fame?

Canadians are being asked again this year to cast their ballots on who they think should be inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. This year's stars will be announced in a ceremony on June 9 to be televised by CTV at a later date. Peter Soumalias, president of Canada's Walk of Fame, says the contest truly determines who makes it onto the Walk of Fame.

"We received thousands and thousands of excellent suggestions last year," he said in a news release. "And I'm pleased to say that every one of our 2006 nominees were suggested by contest entrants."

Visit the www.Canadaswalkoffame.com website to cast your votes and read the criteria on who can be nominated. Everyone who makes a nomination is automatically entered to win a trip for two to Toronto to take part in all the Walk of Fame festivities courtesy of WestJet.

Canada's Walk of Fame was established nine years ago. To date, 101 Canadians have been honoured.

The Couch Potato Report - January 30th, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on a very engaging documentary, a very entertaining British Royle family and the Oscar nominations.

CHINA RISES is a four part CBC series from the same people who made HOCKEY: A PEOPLE'S HISTORY and it is a very interesting look at a country that
consists of one-fifth of the world's population, uses a third of the world's steel and almost half of it's cement.

I must admit that even though I have many friends who are Chinese, I didn't know that much about China before I started to watch this two-DVD Box Set.

And now I want to know more.

CHINA RISES does feature stories about The Great Wall, the forbidden city and Chinese food, and they all have their own merits, but the series primarily tells the stories of the people.

The people who have succeeded in the new China, those who are working hard to succeed, and the people who have been left behind.

The eyes of the world will be focused on China next year when the Beijing Olympics Begin on August 8th, or 8-8-08 as this documentary shows us, and if you want to take a unique look inside the country now, I suggest you check out CHINA RISES.

It is a superb series that gives you a look at the incredible transformation that the country is undergoing - for better and for worse.

Now, for more on CHINA RISES you can go online to www.cbc.ca/chinarises.

Next up this week is a surprisingly entertaining BBC series.

If you always thought that SEINFELD was a show about nothing, wait until you meet THE ROYLE FAMILY.

The Royles are a British family who appear to do nothing other than eat, drink tea, smoke, watch TV and talk...man do they talk.

Jim Royle is the family patriarch and his long-suffering wife is Barbara. Denise and Anthony are their kids and Dave is Denise's fiance.

With the exception of a few neighbours and a grandparent, the five Royles are the only people you meet in this six-episode series.

Now, when I sat down to watch this show I had never seen or even heard of it.

And as I sit here with you this morning, I must tell you that I loved it!

Sure, THE ROYLE FAMILY are just a group of people who sit around the house and eat, drink tea, smoke, watch TV and talk, but unlike most North American series we see these days about families, there is no anger or negativity.

Sure, The Royles make smart-alec comments about each other, and they poke fun and tease, but they have genuine love and enjoy each others company.

But I enjoyed being in the company of THE ROYLE FAMILY.

Now, the other two films I have to tell you about this week are the horror films SAW III and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING.

I am not going to take up much of your time with these releases, other than to say if you have seen any of the other films in these series, and you enjoyed them, then you will probably enjoyed these two movies.

If you haven't, then you won't.

I am no longer a huge fan of the horror genre, I think I lost interest in it when I lost my twenties, but I will admit that SAW III and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING are worth your time.

If you enjoy watching films like this.

To the surprise of no one SAW III and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING were ignored when the nominations for the 79th annual Academy Awards were announced on last Tuesday morning.

Also to no one's surprise, the nominations confirmed what all prognosticators already knew: the only open race is for "Best Picture."

Even prior to the Golden Globes, and their nominations, the following five of the big six races were already determined, due to buzz, the fact that the people themselves were showing contrition regarding winning an Oscar, and their performances themselves.

It is true that these people can lose their Oscars between now and Tuesday, February 20th when the Oscar Ballots are due, but as of today, those guaranteed to win on Oscar night are:

Best Actress
Helen Mirren, THE QUEEN

Best Actor
Forest Whitaker, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Hudson, DREAMGIRLS

Best Supporting Actor
Eddie Murphy, DREAMGIRLS

And

Best Director
Martin Scorsese, THE DEPARTED.

So now, out of the five nominees, who wins Best Picture?

Well, BABEL was a surprise Golden Globe winner, so it has to make the final two; THE DEPARTED has no buzz at all in this category, but it will (finally) give Marty his Award, and Mark Wahlberg's nominations shows the academy notices a great performance - yes "Marky Mark" is now an Academy Award nominee - but no one thinks it was the Best Picture last year; the Academy loves Clint Eastwood, but LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA doesn't have the momentum of his previous Oscar winners MILLION DOLLAR BABY or UNFORGIVEN; LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE was the surprise winner of the top feature film award presented by the Producers Guild of America last weekend, confirming that voters are aware of this wonderful little film, so that gives it momentum; and THE QUEEN is also wonderful, and the nomination for Best Director for Stephen Frears is proof again that voters are aware of the movie, but it is getting all of it's buzz for Helen Mirren, not for the film itself.

So now, who wins Best Picture?

At this point, it looks like it is a race between BABEL and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, with the latter poised to be the only surprise on Oscar night, February 25th.

That is a surprise I would enjoy.

I will make my final predictions on the day of the Oscars, and if you have yet to see LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, it is available now on DVD, along with the informative CBC documentary CHINA RISES, the somehow engaging BBC series THE ROYLE FAMILY, and the horror films SAW III and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING.

Coming up in the next Couch Potato Report

TALES OF RAT FINK is a Canadian film about the life and times of famed hot rod & custom car designer Ed "Big Daddy" Roth; JESUS CAMP is a documentary on kids who attend a religious summer camp and it received an Oscar nomination this week in the Best Documentary feature catagory; CATCH A FIRE is a drama about terrorism in Apartheid-era South Africa; and the foreign film THREE TIMES features three stories set in three times, 1911, 1966 and 2005.

I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in
seven days.

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next time on The Couch!

The Police reunite for Grammys

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Police will reunite to open the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on February 11, The Recording Academy said on Tuesday, fueling speculation that the hit 1980s band is planning a reunion tour.

The five-time Grammy-winning band, led by frontman Sting, with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers, split up in 1984 and was last seen playing together in 2003 to commemorate their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The band, known for such hits as "Roxanne," "Message in a Bottle" and "Every Breath You Take," has never performed at the annual telecast for the music industry's most prestigious awards that are given by The Recording Academy.

"The Police join a stellar list of past Grammy Awards opening acts, which includes reunions and once-in-a-lifetime performances," said a statement from the academy.

Members of The Police have so far refused to confirm rumors that the band is planning to reunite in 2007 for dates in Britain and the United States, with this year marking the 30th anniversary of the release of "Roxanne."

Last month the band's label A&M Records, which is owned by Universal Music, said in a statement that they would mark the year somehow.

"It is our intention to mark the anniversary by doing something special with the band's catalog of songs. Needless to say, everyone is hopeful the band will support our plans and while early discussions have taken place, nothing has been decided," said the statement.

Other presenters at the Grammy Awards include Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Christina Aguilera, Melissa Etheridge and Stevie Wonder.

Timbaland Prepares To 'Shock' With Superstar Guests

As tipped here last month, producer/artist Timbaland has lined up an array of superstar guests for his new album, "Shock Value." Due March 27 via Mosley Music Group/Blackground/Interscope, the project will be introduced later this week by first single "Give It to Me," featuring Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado.

The album is said to be "sequenced like a movie" and encompasses a wide range of genres. "He ventures into the alternative world and the real pop world," Timbaland right-hand-man Nate "Danja" Hills previously told Billboard.com. "He has so many different sounds from hip-hop, to pop, to rock on this album. And he pulls every single one of them off perfectly.

Beyond Furtado and Timberlake, guests on "Shock Value" include Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, the Hives, Elton John, Fall Out Boy, M.I.A, She Wants Revenge and Kerri Hilson, who is signed to Mosley Music Group.

Timbaland has not released an album under his own name since 2003's "Under Construction II," a collaboration with longtime partner Magoo. He is presently on tour with Timberlake and debuting snippets from "Shock Value" during his mini-set each night.

Avril Sets Date For Clap-Happy New Album

Avril Lavigne has penciled in an April 17 release for her new RCA album, "The Best Damn Thing." As previously reported, the first single is "Girlfriend"; it will arrive March 5 at U.S. radio outlets, and its accompanying video will premiere Feb. 26 on MTV.

With its handclaps and bad-girl vibe, the track is reminiscent of Toni Basil's "Mickey," as Lavigne pushes past rival ladies to demand attention from a new guy: "She's like, so whatever / you could do so much better," she sings of her competition.

Two other tracks previewed by Billboard.com follow in a similar style: "I Can Do Better" is a fast and punky kiss-off with Blink 182-ish guitar riffs, and the title cut finds Lavigne proclaiming she is the "best damn thing your eyes have ever seen."

Elsewhere, "When You're Gone" is a power ballad with a piano and synth introduction, and "Everything Back But You" mines Rancid-style pop/punk for another diss of a cheating boyfriend. "The Best Damn Thing" will also include "Keep Holding On," previously released on the "Eragon" soundtrack.

"I wanted to make sure the songs were fun -- fun for the fans and myself," Lavigne said in a December post on her MySpace page. At present, Lavigne is in the midst of tour rehearsals but details have yet to be announced.

Musical spectrum lauds Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell was 18 years old the first time she met an actual songwriter.

Apparently, it made an impression.

Some 45 years later, the highly revered Alberta-born, Saskatchewan-raised singer-songwriter was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame last night during a gala concert at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

"I thought it was extraordinary that I had met a man who had wrote a song," Mitchell, 63, said after sustained and loud applause while she stood on the stage at the John Bassett Theatre.

"I was working in a coffee house in Saskatoon and I'd sung songs and I'd danced to songs but I'd never met a man who had wrote a song, and about three years, I guess, it took until I wrote my first song and, well, as you know, I wrote a lot of them, a lot of them are quite unorthodox."

Reflecting Mitchell's wide-ranging musical adventures over the last four decades -- she described herself as "a meditative artist in a calculated world" -- artists from folk, funk, jazz and opera paid tribute to her last night .

And the smiling Mitchell was clearly moved by the experience, even gamely joining in on an impromptu crowd singalong led by gala co-host Andrew Craig of Big Yellow Taxi between performances.

"It's very powerful to reminisce and to be in the company of such terrific friends," said Mitchell, who said she had pals in tow that went as far back as the fourth grade. "I'm overwhelmed at their loyalty to me over the years and how much fun we still have together. This is a great honour for all musicians. Anyone who receives this honour should be very, very proud. But we are building a heritage here in this country."

Among those honouring Mitchell was former '70s paramour and fellow singer-songwriter James Taylor.

Taylor, 58, sublimely performed Mitchell's 1969 classic Woodstock, one of five of her tunes that were also inducted into the CSHF, along with 20 other songs by various songwriters.

"I first heard Joni Mitchell's music in Paul McCartney's office at Apple Records in London in 1968," Taylor said from the stage. "We met actually here at the Mariposa festival, I think it was '70, maybe '71, I can't quite remember.

"Things are hazy from those days."

Others paying tribute to Mitchell were big-voiced funk singer Chaka Khan and jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, who joined forces on Mitchell's Help Me.

Hancock was actually asked to present Mitchell, who is also a painter, poet and photographer, with her award.

He told reporters backstage during a pre-gala cocktail reception that they first met in 1978 when she was collaborating with jazz bassist/composer Charles Mingus for her 1979 Mingus album, which would be his last. He died during the recording of it.

"Joni is a renaissance person for the 21st century," Hancock said. "She has exhibited the best qualities that the human spirit has to offer. She's a hero of mine."

Mitchell surprised many when she dropped by the pre-gala reception where she was presented with a Boucher custom-made acoustic guitar and began strumming the instrument in an impromptu moment.

That guitar presentation aside, noted Canadian author Margaret Atwood also spoke briefly before the final performance of the night by Canadian soprano star Measha Brueggergosman.

"Joni Mitchell and I have some things in common --though I'm older and she's blonder," Atwood joked.

But it was Brueggergosman who brought down the house with her thrilling performance of Mitchell's Both Sides Now, backed by an orchestra.

Other CSHF 2007 songwriter inductees included Broadway and film score creator Raymond Egan and Wilf Carter, commonly known as the father of Canadian country music.

Former Blood, Sweat and Tears frontman David Clayton-Thomas kicked off the gala concert with Spinning Wheel -- among the 25 songs inducted -- backed by about a dozen musicians, half of them horn players.

Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy and Oh Susanna also performed an upbeat version of the inducted tune, You Were On My Mind, written by Sylvia Fricker (Tyson), and Vancouver crooner Michael Buble sang the inducted classic How About You, co-written by Ralph Freed and Burton Lane, changing one line to "and Joni Mitchell's lyrics -- they give me a thrill!"

CBC-TV will broadcast a one-hour special on the gala nationally on March 5 at 8 p.m.

Today, CBC Radio One will feature some of the performances at 11 a.m. and CBC Radio Two will do the same at 8 p.m.

Indiana Jones to Start Production in 2007

The World's Favorite Action Hero is Back! Indiana Jones to Start Production in 2007

In a long-awaited announcement, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg revealed today that the fourth installment of Indiana Jones will begin production in June 2007. Harrison Ford returns in his role as the daring Dr. Jones for the new adventure. The film will be produced by Lucasfilm Ltd., directed by Steven Spielberg and released by Paramount Pictures throughout the world in May 2008.

The screenplay has been written by David Koepp.

Spielberg states "George, Harrison and I are all very excited. We feel that the script was well worth the wait. We hope it delivers everything you'd expect from our history with Indiana Jones."

The film will be produced by Frank Marshall with George Lucas and Kathy Kennedy as executive producers. "Working with Steven, Frank, Kathy and the Indy crew is like working with family," states Lucas. "These films are such great fun to make. I'm looking forward to reuniting with the team and starting this new journey."

The film has plenty of action in store for the rogue archeologist. Harrison Ford comments " I'm delighted to be back in business with my old friends. I don't know if the pants still fit but I know the hat will. "

It will be shot on undisclosed locations around the world as well as in the United States.

For more than 25 years, audiences have been enraptured by the exploits of Indiana Jones. The film trilogy -- Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade --garnered 14 Academy Award nominations, won 7 Oscars, and grossed over $1,182,000,000 at the box office. The films are among the most popular films ever made and have become a legendary part of film history.

SAG Awards soaking in the 'Sunshine'

LOS ANGELES - Another week, another awards show, and the Best Picture Oscar situation looks as up in the air as ever...or does it?

"Little Miss Sunshine," took the Screen Actors Guild's ensemble prize Sunday night, the group's equivalent of a best picture award. Top acting honors, however, went to obvious front-runners Forest Whitaker, Helen Mirren, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson.

"Sunshine," the low-budget, road-trip charmer, came out of the Sundance Film Festival and bested bigger studio competition in "The Departed," "The Queen," "Babel" (which took the best-drama statue two weeks ago at the Golden Globes) and "Dreamgirls" (which won the Globe for best musical or comedy).

The SAG win for "Little Miss Sunshine," coupled with its unexpected victory at the Producers Guild Awards, would seem to improve the film's prospects at the Oscars, where it's in the best-picture category with "Babel," "The Departed," "Letters From Iwo Jima" and "The Queen."

Three out of the past four years, the SAG ensemble winner has won at the Academy Awards — "Crash," "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and "Chicago." They don't usually line up, though, and they differed two years ago when SAG honored "Sideways" and the Academy Award went to "Million Dollar Baby."

"I think we feel good. Does anybody not feel good? Raise your hand," said Greg Kinnear, who played the harried dad in "Sunshine," as he turned to co-stars Alan Arkin, Steve Carell and Abigail Breslin.

Asked what an Oscar would mean, Kinnear said, "It would mean a great deal to all of us. Making a movie isn't always a great experience, that's the facts. This really was a remarkable experience."

Whitaker won best actor for his thunderous turn as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland," with Mirren taking the best actress statue for her searing portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen."

Mirren seemed visibly stirred by her best-actress win (her second award of the night), beginning her acceptance speech at the Shrine Auditorium with a shaky, "Be still my beating heart, be still.

"When I did my costume fitting for 'The Queen," I walked in and saw all those sensible shoes and those tweed skirts, laid out in a row, and I cried. I thought, `I can't play anyone who chooses to wear those clothes, I just can't do it.' I learned to love the person who chooses to wear those clothes."

Earlier in the evening, Mirren won for best actress in a TV movie or miniseries for her portrayal of another queen in "Elizabeth 1."

She was demure backstage about whether she wants the Oscar, and about the universal acclaim she's received for her performance. She pointed out that the last time she won a SAG award was for playing a housekeeper in "Gosford Park," which won the ensemble prize in 2002.

"So I do downstairs as well as upstairs," she quipped.

Whitaker, meanwhile, was soft-spoken and humble: "It's been an amazing ride, not a ride I'm used to. I've never had it."

Murphy won the supporting-actor award for his work as a tormented, drug-addicted soul singer in "Dreamgirls." His co-star, Hudson, received the supporting-actress award as the splashy musical's rejected diva, who steals scenes with her show-stopping numbers.

"I just want to thank you for noticing little ol' me, and for accepting me," said Hudson, a former "American Idol" contestant who looks more destined than ever for Oscar greatness.

Although this was an unusual dramatic role for Murphy, he couldn't help but joke onstage, accepting the award in a fake British accent.

"I've been acting for some 25 years now and this is a tremendous honor to me. No, I'm sorry," he said, cracking up. "It's just when the British people come up and get the awards, it's so smooth with their stuff. And I feel goofy up here 'cause I don't be winning stuff."

Backstage, Murphy said he and his "Dreamgirls" castmates were as surprised as everyone else that the film received a leading eight Oscar nominations but not one for best picture.

"We got eight nominations, that was a great thing. We were happy about that," he said. "I was so happy to be nominated, I wasn't feeling disappointment about anything. I was caught off guard that we didn't get nominated for best picture but I've just been happy, nonstop happy."

On the television side of the awards, "Grey's Anatomy" won best dramatic series on the heels of its Golden Globe victory and in the midst of its off-screen troubles involving homophobic slurs uttered by actor Isaiah Washington, who has since entered counseling.

"Grey's" co-star Chandra Wilson, in accepting the award for best actress in a drama, addressed the matter with humor: "It's about those 10 cast members sitting over there, and the other one in rehab."

America Ferrera, two weeks after her surprise Golden Globe win, took the prize for best actress in a comedy series for her starring role as a sweetly awkward fashion magazine worker in "Ugly Betty."

Discussing the unprecedented success for the show, which has a largely Hispanic cast, Ferrera said: "What's great is that Latinos are a huge part of the audience. It's wonderful for them to begin to see representation of themselves on screen, which is something I pined for when I was younger."

Oscar favorites honored at SAG Awards

LOS ANGELES - Helen Mirren of "The Queen" and Forest Whitaker of "The Last King of Scotland" won Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday as best lead players, their latest prizes on the road to the Academy Awards.

The road-trip romp "Little Miss Sunshine" won the prize for best film ensemble, the guild's equivalent of a best-picture award.

Solidifying their positions as Oscar favorites, Mirren won for playing British monarch Elizabeth II and Whitaker for starring as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson won supporting-acting honors as soulful singers in "Dreamgirls," reinforcing their status as Oscar front-runners as well.

The best-picture Oscar race, though, remains wide open, with "The Queen" and "Little Miss Sunshine" up against three sprawling dramas, "The Departed," "Babel" and "Letters From Iwo Jima."

Mirren said she initially was dismayed at the prospect of donning Elizabeth II's conservative wardrobe, including sensible shoes and tweed skirts.

"I thought, I can't play anyone who chooses to wear those clothes. I just can't do it," said Mirren, who also won the guild honor for best actress in a miniseries as the current monarch's namesake in "Elizabeth I."

"But I learned to love the person who chooses to wear those clothes, because I learned to love a person without vanity, but with a great sense of discipline that I understand. With a great sense of duty that I understand. And with a great deal of courage, and that I understand."

It seemed the soft-spoken Whitaker was struck speechless, rambling through some awkward words of gratitude.

"I want to thank you for allowing me to have a moment like this," Whitaker said.

"Little Miss Sunshine" co-star Greg Kinnear thanked the German automaker that designed the rickety minibus the film's horribly dysfunctional family drives to their little girl's beauty pageant.

"I'd like to thank the engineers at Volkswagen for making a beautiful vehicle back in 1969 that is so comfortable, so safe," Kinnear said.

Murphy, who built his career as a fast-talking comic player, began with a thank-you speech more appropriate for a serious thespian — but his sober demeanor proved a gag.

"What a tremendous honor to be recognized by one's peers. I've been acting for some 25 years now and this is a tremendous honor," said Murphy, talking in a British accent.

"No, I'm sorry," said Murphy, cracking up in laughter. "I feel goofy up here, 'cause I don't be winning stuff."

As a powerhouse vocalist in "Dreamgirls," Hudson continued her breakneck rise to movie stardom after becoming famous as an "American Idol" contender two years ago. Hudson thanked her co-stars, who included Murphy, Jamie Foxx and Beyonce Knowles.

"Because of you, I was able to work and learn from the best. Yes, you are the best," said Hudson, who added thanks to the actors guild. "Just thank you for noticing little old me and accepting me."

"Dreamgirls," which had been considered a potential best-picture favorite at the Academy Awards, was among the guild nominees for best ensemble cast, yet was shut out of the nominations for the top Oscar.

Backstage, Murphy said he and his "Dreamgirls" castmates were as surprised as everyone else that the film received a leading eight Oscar nominations — but not one for best picture.

"We got eight nominations, that was a great thing. We were happy about that," he said. "I was so happy to be nominated, I wasn't feeling disappointment about anything. I was caught off guard that we didn't get nominated for best picture but I've just been happy, nonstop happy."

The ensemble win for "Little Miss Sunshine" could give the low-budget film a best-picture boost at the Oscars. But academy voters tend to favor heavy drama such as fellow nominees "Babel" and "The Departed."

The guild category has never been a reliable forecast for how the top Oscar might play out. In the 11 years since the guild added the ensemble honor, only five winners have gone on to receive the best-picture Oscar, including 2005's "Crash."

The guild's individual acting winners often line up with the Oscars, however. Three of the four guild winners for 2005 — Philip Seymour Hoffman of "Capote," Reese Witherspoon of "Walk the Line" and Rachel Weisz of "The Constant Gardener" — all went on to receive Oscars, while all four guild acting winners for 2004 won at the Oscars.

Whitaker, Mirren, Murphy and Hudson have dominated Hollywood's acting honors this awards season, all four also taking home Golden Globes.

Mirren was diplomatic backstage when asked if she wants the Oscar.

"I'm not going there right now," Mirren said. "But it's been the most incredible year for me, ever. That's been amazing at this end of my life."

Mirren's "Elizabeth I" co-star Jeremy Irons won the guild's prize for best actor in a TV movie or miniseries.

Other TV winners were America Ferrera of "Ugly Betty" and Alec Baldwin of "30 Rock" as performers in comedy series, and Chandra Wilson of "Grey's Anatomy" and Hugh Laurie of "House" as performers in dramatic shows. TV ensemble prizes went to "Grey's Anatomy" for drama and "The Office" for comedy.

"This is quite the honor having these people present this to us," Steve Carell, star of "The Office," said of the award's presenters, the cast of the sitcom classic "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," including Moore, Edward Asner and Cloris Leachman.

13th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® Recipients

Female Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries
Helen Mirren / ELIZABETH I – Elizabeth I - HBO

Male Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries
Jeremy Irons / ELIZABETH I – Earl of Leicester - HBO

Female Actor in a Comedy Series
America Ferrera / UGLY BETTY – Betty Suarez - ABC

Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin / 30 ROCK – Jack Donaghy - NBC

Ensemble in a Comedy Series
THE OFFICE - NBC Leslie David Baker - Stanley Hudson Brian Baumgartner - Kevin Malone Steve Carell - Michael Scott David Denman - Roy Anderson Jenna Fischer - Pam Beesly Kate Flannery - Meredith Palmer Melora Hardin - Jan Levinson Mindy Kaling - Kelly Kapoor Angela Kinsey - Angela Martin John Krasinski - Jim Halpert Paul Lieberstein - Toby Flenderson B.J. Novak - Ryan Howard Oscar Nunez - Oscar Martinez Phyllis Smith - Phyllis Lapin Rainn Wilson - Dwight Schrute

Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Eddie Murphy / DREAMGIRLS – James “Thunder” Early Paramount Pictures

Life Achievement Award
Julie Andrews

Female Actor in a Drama Series
Chandra Wilson / GREY’S ANATOMY – Dr. Miranda Bailey - ABC

Male Actor in a Drama Series
Hugh Laurie / HOUSE – Dr. Gregory House - FOX

Ensemble in a Drama Series
GREY’S ANATOMY - ABC Justin Chambers - Alex Karev Eric Dane - Mark Sloan Patrick Dempsey - Derek Shepherd Katherine Heigl - Isobel “Izzie” Stevens T.R. Knight - George O’Malley Sandra Oh - Cristina Yang James Pickens, Jr. - Richard Webber Ellen Pompeo - Meredith Grey Sara Ramirez - Callie Torres Kate Walsh - Addison Montgomery Shepherd Isaiah Washington - Preston Burke Chandra Wilson - Miranda Bailey

Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Jennifer Hudson / DREAMGIRLS – Effie White - Paramount Pictures

Male Actor in a Leading Role
Forest Whitaker / THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND – Idi Amin - Fox Searchlight Pictures

Female Actor in a Leading Role
Helen Mirren / THE QUEEN – The Queen - Miramax Films

Cast of a Motion Picture
Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, Abigail Breslin - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

Hey Now: It’s Garry Shandling’s Obsession

It was almost nine years ago that Larry Sanders, the fictional talk-show host who was a too-close-for-comfort amalgam of Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Jay Leno and Jack Paar, signed off the air. In the final episode of his show (and of the biting HBO series that bore the same name), he perched Carsonesque on a stool in front of a blue curtain and started his farewell monologue.

“To you at home, thank you so much,” he began, choking up. Regaining his composure, he returned his gaze to the audience and continued, “To tell you the truth, I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do without you.”

Larry wasn’t just losing his talk show; he was losing a nightly ego boost, and the security of a shimmering curtain that kept the real world at bay. But what of Garry Shandling, the comedian who not only played Larry but created him and “The Larry Sanders Show”? After a six-year run, what would either of them do without it?

“The Larry Sanders Show” had always straddled a fine line between reality and fiction, with Mr. Shandling encouraging the actors and writers to draw on their own experiences to send up the most unappealing aspects of Hollywood culture.

Thus an endless stream of celebrities were recruited to play cartoonish versions of themselves, whether it was Ellen DeGeneres having a fling with Larry while Hollywood buzzed about her sexuality, or Alec Baldwin sleeping with Larry’s wife while the couple were separated, only to be booked later as one of Larry’s guests.

But while the actor and his main character shared more than a few awkward insecurities, Mr. Shandling had never pursued that nightly fix of entertaining millions. As a regular substitute host on “The Tonight Show” in the 1980s, he could have tried to succeed Mr. Carson and was later offered Mr. Letterman’s old job. He declined.

Nonetheless that final “Larry Sanders” monologue proved prescient: Mr. Shandling, now 57, has never entirely moved on. Unlike Jerry Seinfeld, whose television series ended that same spring, Mr. Shandling has not done a stand-up tour. And unlike Bill Cosby, whose “Cosby Show” signed off NBC in 1992 only to be succeeded by “Cosby” on CBS, he has not pursued another series.

Meanwhile, as “Larry Sanders” fades from memory, shows like “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Entourage” on HBO, and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” and “30 Rock” on NBC, have tried to replicate the show-business realism that Mr. Shandling did first and, arguably, best.

Save for two gigs as host of the Emmy Awards and scattered movie roles, Mr. Shandling has kept a low profile. “It’s very similar to — what is it? — the seven stages of grieving,” he said recently, during the first extended interview he had granted in several years. “First there’s the shock,” he said, at ease in a soft leather chair in his living room. “Now I’m going to head for something funny here. Then there’s denial, acceptance and,” he paused, “masturbation.”

As it turns out, the wrenching process of producing as many as 18 episodes a season was so grueling for Mr. Shandling — who was not only the star but also the head writer and so-called show runner — that he never really gave the show a proper goodbye. Meanwhile, in the midst of ending the show, he filed a spectacular lawsuit against his manager, Brad Grey, whom he accused of cheating him.

Hence there was no real wrap party for the cast, and even years later Mr. Shandling was still too exhausted to contribute much to a DVD of episodes from the first season. “It was unfortunate the show couldn’t end with a higher spirit,” he said.

These days Mr. Shandling seems more settled. He spends much of his time boxing (four times a week) or in periodic pickup basketball games at his home.

He is financially secure, at least partly as a result of his settlement with Mr. Grey, valued by Mr. Shandling’s lawyer at more than $10 million. His bushy brown hair, so memorable from his early “Tonight” appearances, remains full but is now close-cropped; his face is tan and taut. And he has sought peace in a place Larry never would: the study of Zen Buddhism. He meditates on long, solitary trips to Hawaii or around his sprawling home, with its sloping backyard overlooking a canyon.

“My sense is that this has been a time for Garry of introspection, and, it sounds funny to say about a comedian or comic actor, of real spiritual growth,” said Peter Tolan, a writer and producer who was his longtime collaborator on the show. “He’s in a better place than when we were doing the show.”

Still, Mr. Shandling has lately been tugged by a powerful, almost obsessive desire to go back and revisit the breadth of his “Larry Sanders’’ experience, for the purpose, he said, of finding out both who he was then and how he might give the show, and his role in it, a fitting ending. His vehicle: a DVD set, drawn from all six seasons of “Larry Sanders,” to be released by Sony Pictures on April 17.

Other performers might be content to put out such packages with a few sweeteners, maybe some outtakes and running commentary from the star. But Mr. Shandling has never been like other performers. More than a year ago he set out, hand-held camera crew in tow, to interview virtually everyone connected to the show. There are the series regulars, including Jeffrey Tambor, who played Hank Kingsley (“hey now!”), Larry’s eager-to-please yet quick-to-lash-out sidekick, and Rip Torn, who played Artie, Larry’s fiercely protective executive producer. Mr. Shandling’s camera also found many of the A-list guest stars whom he had goaded into cameos on the original show, including Mr. Seinfeld, Mr. Baldwin, Sharon Stone, David Duchovny, Carol Burnett, Jon Stewart and Tom Petty.

Thus the DVD’s title, “Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show,” and its length: four discs, despite containing just 23 episodes.

Mr. Shandling concedes that these recorded conversations — which are presented largely unedited, with awkward silences and plenty of mistakes — are at least partly self-congratulatory. Taken as a whole the treatment is also expansive, exhaustive and at times exhausting, with Mr. Shandling’s new material (including a documentary) adding up to nearly eight hours.

But the results are, in many instances, riveting. There are some good casting stories: Ms. Burnett, for example, tells how Mr. Shandling persuaded her to be a guest and to play against her clean-cut image. (On the talk-show-within-a-show, she warns Larry that the loincloth costume he’s wearing isn’t covering what it needs to cover.) And Bruno Kirby, whom Larry memorably “bumped” from the last episode, made an appearance as well — his last, it turned out, before he died last summer.

But to those who watch them carefully — and Mr. Shandling hasn’t a clue whether anyone will — the interviews are also striking for his efforts to make amends. He apologizes to some of the best-known people in Hollywood for having failed to thank them for their service on “Larry Sanders,” and for largely allowing them to drift from his life in the years since.

It is as if the drama club president has returned to high school, a decade after graduating, to find out what his classmates and teachers really thought of him, while also telling them he was sorry if he occasionally passed them in the corridor without saying hello. Mr. Shandling has a slightly darker analogy.

“What’s that old adage, you don’t hear nice things until the funeral?” he said. “I wanted to objectively see the realities of that time. What was I like? What were my relationships like, with the actors and writers? What did they feel?”

Thus the viewer gets to listen in as Mr. Shandling apologizes for not reciprocating when Mr. Baldwin promised to send a gift after his cameo appearance, and later for losing Mr. Baldwin’s cellphone number. This scene of self-reckoning takes place in a boxing gym.

“I thought you really extended yourself,” Mr. Shandling says, as his hands are being wrapped outside the ring. “I did not appropriately extend myself back. I’d like to. ...”

“Make it up to me by coming in here and smacking me in the face a few times?” Mr. Baldwin says, leaning against the ropes.

Mr. Shandling responds, “I’m going to allow you to hit me so hard that I don’t have to. ... ”

“Work again for the next five years?” Mr. Baldwin interjects.

No, Mr. Shandling says, “ ...finish these DVDs.” Mr. Baldwin eventually gets fairly pummeled by the better-trained Mr. Shandling, while the two somehow conduct a meaningful conversation about comedy.

It is hard of course for anyone to be genuine with a camera trained on him, but an exchange that raw would never find its way onto Jay Leno’s “Tonight,” or even Bravo’s “Inside the Actors Studio.”

The most voyeuristic moment on the DVD, however, probably comes when Mr. Shandling sits down in a production office to talk to Linda Doucett. On the show she played Hank’s secretary, Darlene, but in real life she was Mr. Shandling’s fiancée, at least for a time. After the engagement ended, she was fired, and in 1996 she sued Mr. Shandling, along with Mr. Grey’s company, for sexual harassment and wrongful termination. Mr. Shandling and Ms. Doucett eventually reached a settlement, but last March she told The New York Times that he had warned her that Mr. Grey once considered putting Anthony Pellicano, the private investigator now under federal investigation, on her case.

In the interview Ms. Doucett is teary as she and Mr. Shandling openly discuss their relationship. “It’s really perfect for ‘Larry Sanders,’ ” he said, “and perfect for the DVD and, I suppose, perfect for my life that I’m able to have captured the nature of this personal relationship on tape.” (He said he would have nothing to say about the Pellicano matter, “until it’s finished.”)

Perhaps appropriately, the four discs end with Mr. Shandling in idle conversation with a Vietnamese monk, who is seeking to explain the meaning of a particular Buddhist statue.

“So always extend compassion,” Mr. Shandling is heard saying to the monk, Hanh Nguyen, who interrupts him to add, “Love and compassion to all sentient beings.”

“Even for the enemy,” Mr. Shandling adds, sounding like a post-enlightenment Larry.

The monk responds: “Sure. The true enemy is ignorance.”

GARRY SHANDLING’S humor always had the neurotic shadings of someone raised a summer weekend’s drive from the borscht belt, but he actually grew up in Tucson. His family had moved there from Chicago because the dry climate better suited his older brother, Barry, who suffered from cystic fibrosis.

Barry died when Garry was 10. “I was devastated,” Mr. Shandling recalled. “I remember starting to cry in the schoolyard. I didn’t quite know how to deal with it. I think there was some damage in that.”

His comedic awakening came in his early teens, when he watched “Hot Dog,” a children’s show that, in this particular episode, featured an appearance by Woody Allen. “Here he is, this kid in Arizona, he’s not in New York,” Mr. Shandling recalled, “and while being Jewish, he’s not at all Jewish in the traditional sense, of a noisy Jewish household. And suddenly he sees Woody Allen, and he relates.”

He went on to study electrical engineering at the University of Arizona, but in his junior year he wrote a monologue in the style of George Carlin. As it turned out, he was able to get it to Mr. Carlin, who read it and encouraged him to pursue a career in comedy. After he sold scripts for “Sanford and Son” and “Welcome Back, Kotter,” his big break came during a “Tonight” appearance in March 1981, in which Carson told viewers: “His name is Garry Shandling. You’ll hear a lot about him.”

In his first sitcom, “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” Mr. Shandling frequently broke character to address the camera and even walk into the audience. That experience led directly to “Larry Sanders,” in which he marshaled everything he had seen backstage in Hollywood to produce, in cinéma vérité style, a scripted half-hour comedy intended to show how people really treat one another when the spotlights are off.

For several years now the creative well that fed those efforts seems to have run dry, and instead of mounting something original, he has been content to retrace old steps. Watching him during this period has been somewhat frustrating to some old friends, who believe he is young enough and creative enough to find fresh ways to entertain people.

Mr. Seinfeld, for example, is among those who have been encouraging Mr. Shandling to go back on the road as a stand-up comedian, with an eye toward bringing his act to television. In a recent phone interview Mr. Seinfeld said he understood his friend’s reluctance.

“When you go through this TV thing like he and I did, you make so much, you do so much, you’re kind of overfull at the end,” he said. “You don’t want to write anything. You don’t want to read anybody at an audition.”

“Someone starts pitching you an idea,” he added, “and your head just explodes.”

And yet, Jeffrey Tambor said, the same relentlessness Mr. Shandling displayed on “Larry Sanders” was reassuringly evident in his preparation of the DVD. When Mr. Tambor arrived at Mr. Shandling’s home for a joint interview with Mr. Torn, he was filmed from the time he left his car, so no moment would be lost.

“He’s thrown himself into this like I’ve never seen,” Mr. Tambor said. “Happy go lucky, he ain’t. Heels clicking, he ain’t. But I think he had enormous pride in that show, and I think that continues.”

Told of Mr. Shandling’s various attempts to make amends, Mr. Tambor said: “He certainly doesn’t owe me an apology. He changed my life.”

Nonetheless, by finally putting his “Sanders” experience to bed between the covers of his DVD, Mr. Shandling is hoping that he may finally be able to consider what the next new thing might be. “It certainly didn’t start that way,” he said, “but there is no question that this became a reflective journey that I’m still absorbing.”

One idea he is mulling is working up to a stand-up special, as Mr. Seinfeld and others have urged. Another project would draw from his study of Buddhism and shed further light on “what life is about, what the human condition is about,” maybe a series or documentary. He has yet to divine quite what.

“Usually things become clearer as I get closer to the moment of execution,” he said. And then, because old habits die hard, he added, “That’s not to be confused with Saddam Hussein’s execution.”

SAG Awards offer tune-up for top awards as front-runners cruise toward Oscars

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Helen Mirren won the Screen Actors Guild Award on Sunday for the title role in the TV miniseries "Elizabeth I," a possible warmup for her potential film award later in the evening as Elizabeth II in "The Queen."

"I'm so proud. I love this award more than any other award," said Mirren, who was chosen as best actress in a TV movie or miniseries. "I think especially being a Brit, American film acting has always inspired us and influenced us and pressed us, or me, anyway. I've always looked to American film actors to teach me how to do it, basically."

Her "Elizabeth I" co-star Jeremy Irons won the guild's prize for best actor in a TV movie or miniseries.

Mirren's TV win as the 16th and 17th century British monarch follows triumphs for the same role at the Emmys and Golden Globes. Her film turn as the leader's modern-day namesake in "The Queen" has brought her a string of Hollywood honors that is expected to culminate with the best-actress prize at the Feb. 25 Oscars.

On the movie side, this year's Screen Actors Guild Awards appeared to be a dress rehearsal for the Academy Awards.

Nominees in the four film-acting categories for the guild awards were virtually identical to contenders announced at the Oscar nominations last week, including front-runners Mirren, Forest Whitaker, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson.

With 19 of the 20 SAG nominees also earning Oscar slots, the guild awards were poised to give winners a chance to practice their academy thank-yous for Hollywood's top prizes Feb. 25.

Along with front-runner Mirren, the lead-actor honour was favoured to Whitaker as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland." Mirren and Whitaker have dominated earlier film honors throughout the awards season.

Murphy and Hudson were solid bets to take home supporting prizes as soulful singers in the musical "Dreamgirls."

The category for overall ensemble cast, the guild's equivalent of a best-picture award, included three of the best-picture Oscar contenders: the sprawling global drama "Babel," the mob epic "The Departed" and the edgy road-trip comedy "Little Miss Sunshine."

"Dreamgirls," which had been considered a potential best-picture favorite at the Academy Awards, also was among the guild cast nominees, yet was shut out of the nominations for the top Oscar. The other cast nominee was the Robert Kennedy tale "Bobby."

Besides the five film prizes, the guild also honors television achievement in eight categories.

The ensemble-cast winner may get a boost for best picture at the Oscars, though the guild category has never been a reliable forecast for how the Oscars might play out. In the 11 years since the guild added the ensemble honor, only five winners have gone on to receive the best-picture Oscar, including 2005's "Crash."

Past guild ensemble winners include "Sideways," "Gosford Park," "Apollo 13" and "The Birdcage," none of which won the best-picture Oscar.

The guild's individual-acting winners fare much better on Oscar night because many of the voters for that category are also members of the academy's actors branch, which chooses the acting Oscars.

Three of the four guild winners for 2005 - Philip Seymour Hoffman of "Capote," Reese Witherspoon of "Walk the Line" and Rachel Weisz of "The Constant Gardener" - all went on to receive Oscars, while all four guild acting winners for 2004 won at the Oscars.

The 13th annual SAG awards also recognized Julie Andrews for lifetime achievement.

Film and TV nominees were chosen by two groups of 2,100 people randomly chosen from the guild's 120,000 members. The guild's full membership was eligible to vote for winners.

Spoof 'Epic Movie' tops box office

LOS ANGELES - The comedy spoof "Epic Movie" debuted atop the box office as Oscar contenders got a bump in the first weekend since the Academy Award nominations were announced, according to studio and industry estimates Sunday.

"Epic Movie," which lampoons dozens of films, a few MTV shows and Paris Hilton, raked in $19.2 million. It was a cost-effective release for 20th Century Fox, which enjoyed a similar turnstile bonanza a year ago with the spoof "Date Movie."

"When you gross the first weekend almost what it costs to make, it is enormously successful. We're pleased," Fox executive Bert Livingston said of the Regency Productions film distributed by Fox.

"It seems these teen audiences have just this insatiable appetite for these spoofs," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "They are economically sensible. It's just a license to make money for the studio."

Audiences also turned out for Universal Pictures' "Smokin' Aces," a violent, dark comedy about hit men converging on Lake Tahoe for the $1 million prize to assassinate magician Buddy "Aces" Israel. It opened in second place with $14.3 million.

"It's a very edgy, R-rated, hip and cool movie. It doesn't surprise me," Dergarabedian said.

In third place was Fox's everlasting "Night at the Museum," which took in another $9.5 million to boost its six-week total to $217 million. The new Jennifer Garner movie from Sony, "Catch and Release," was No. 4, and "Stomp the Yard" from Sony/Screen Gems was fifth.

Four Oscar nominated films followed: Paramount's "Dreamgirls" was No. 6, Sony's "The Pursuit of Happyness" was No. 7, "Pan's Labyrinth" from Picturehouse was No. 8 and Miramax's "The Queen" was No. 9.

Oscar aspirant "The Departed," which added 1,326 screens Friday, jumped from No. 35 last weekend to No. 12 with a $3 million take.

"Babel," another Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner, was 13th with $2.6 million, a 25 percent hike over the previous weekend.

"Obviously we're very enthused about the impact of the seven Academy Award nominations," Paramount Vantage executive Rob Schulze said of the "Babel" showing.

Rounding out the Top 10 was "The Hitcher" from Focus/Rogue.

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Epic Movie," $19.2 million.
2. "Smokin' Aces," $14.3 million.
3. "Night at the Museum," $9.5 million.
4. "Catch and Release," $8 million.
5. "Stomp the Yard," $7.8 million.
6. "Dreamgirls," $6.6 million.
7. "The Pursuit of Happyness," $5 million.
8. "Pan's Labyrinth," $4.5 million.
9. "The Queen," $4 million.
10. "The Hitcher," $3.6 million.

String of stars to fete Joni Mitchell at songwriters gala

A star-studded gala featuring James Taylor and Chaka Khan will usher folk singer Joni Mitchell into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in Toronto on Sunday night.

An assortment of singers will take the stage to pay tribute to the Alberta-born, Saskatchewan-raised Mitchell, as well as other inductees.

Taylor will sing Woodstock and Khan will do Help Me, while Canadian opera star Measha Brueggergosman will be delivering a version of Both Sides Now. They are three of five Mitchell songs to be inducted into the hall, the others being Big Yellow Taxi and You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio.

Brueggergosman, a classical soprano singer who grew up listening to Mitchell's music, credits Mitchell for teaching her "to value poetry in music."

"She taught me the importance of text, that words above all else are important. She is such an amazing poet in addition to writing unbelievable songs."

Mitchell became a folk singer in the mid-1960s and had her big break when she sold Both Sides Now to American singer Judy Collins in 1968.

During her career Mitchell branched out into experimental jazz, captured five Grammys and was inducted into the Canadian Rock Hall of Fame in 1981.

Homage to Jean-Pierre Ferland

Francophone stars Isabelle Boulay, Laurence Jalbert and Mario Pelchat will each deliver an homage to Quebec icon Jean-Pierre Ferland, with French star Patrick Bruel also scheduled to participate, via a performance from Paris.

Other 2007 inductees include "Canada's Father of Country Music" Wilf Carter, and Broadway and film composer Raymond Egan.

Other tracks being honoured include Spinning Wheel, the David Clayton-Thomas song that has been recorded by more than 400 artists in 20 languages, and You Were on My Mind by Sylvia Fricker (Tyson).

The ceremony will include the presentation of legacy awards to Canadian tenor Henry Burr and Canadian folk music impresario Sam Gesser.

Songs must be more than 25 years old to be considered for the hall of fame.

Also scheduled to take part in the celebration, the fourth induction ceremony for the hall, are Herbie Hancock, George Canyon, Michael Bublé, Emm Gryner and Corb Lund.

Hosted by CBC Radio's Andrew Craig and Radio-Canada's Sophie Durocher, the black-tie event will take place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

CBC Radio will broadcast segments of the tribute gala, beginning with Sounds Like Canada on Radio One at 11 a.m. Monday, and as a two-hour special beginning at 8 p.m. Monday on Radio Two. A CBC-TV show about the gala will follow on March 5.

SAG Awards offer tune-up for Oscar night

LOS ANGELES - This year's Screen Actors Guild Awards appeared to be a dress rehearsal for the Academy Awards.

Nominees in the four film-acting categories for Sunday's 13th annual guild awards were virtually identical to contenders announced at the Oscar nominations last week, including front-runners Helen Mirren, Forest Whitaker, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson.

With 19 of the 20 SAG nominees also earning Oscar slots, the guild awards were poised to give winners a chance to practice their academy thank-yous for Hollywood's top prizes Feb. 25.

The lead-acting honors were favored to go to Mirren as British monarch Elizabeth II in "The Queen" and Whitaker as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland." Mirren and Whitaker have dominated earlier film honors throughout the awards season.

Murphy and Hudson were solid bets to take home supporting prizes as soulful singers in the musical "Dreamgirls."

The category for overall ensemble cast, the guild's equivalent of a best-picture award, included three of the best-picture Oscar contenders: the sprawling global drama "Babel," the mob epic "The Departed" and the edgy road-trip comedy "Little Miss Sunshine."

"Dreamgirls," which had been considered a potential best-picture favorite at the Academy Awards, also was among the guild cast nominees, yet was shut out of the nominations for the top Oscar. The other cast nominee was the Robert Kennedy tale "Bobby."

Besides the five film prizes, the guild also honors television achievement in eight categories. Among this year's nominees were Mirren for best actress in a movie or miniseries as the current monarch's namesake and predecessor in "Elizabeth I."

The ensemble-cast winner may get a boost for best picture at the Oscars, though the guild category has never been a reliable forecast for how the Oscars might play out. In the 11 years since the guild added the ensemble honor, only five winners have gone on to receive the best-picture Oscar, including 2005's "Crash."

Past guild ensemble winners include "Sideways," "Gosford Park," "Apollo 13" and "The Birdcage," none of which won the best-picture Oscar.

The guild's individual-acting winners fare much better on Oscar night because many of the voters for that category are also members of the academy's actors branch, which chooses the acting Oscars.

Three of the four guild winners for 2005 — Philip Seymour Hoffman of "Capote," Reese Witherspoon of "Walk the Line" and Rachel Weisz of "The Constant Gardener" — all went on to receive Oscars, while all four guild acting winners for 2004 won at the Oscars.

The 13th annual SAG awards also recognized Julie Andrews for lifetime achievement.

Film and TV nominees were chosen by two groups of 2,100 people randomly chosen from the guild's 120,000 members. The guild's full membership was eligible to vote for winners.

Holmes Takes 'Mad Money' Over 'Batman' Sequel

Katie Holmes is reportedly out of "The Dark Knight," but Suri's mom has picked her first post-maternity movie role.

According to Variety, Holmes will appear in "Mad Money," a heist flick from "Thelma & Louise" writer Callie Khouri.

Holmes and Queen Latifah will play employees of the Federal Reserve who hatch a plan to steal piles of soon-to-be-destroyed currency. A third female lead has yet to be cast.

It's also being reported in Variety that Holmes is officially out of the sequel to "Batman Begins." The trade paper says that Holmes "dropped out," while other Internet sources are suggesting that Holmes' character, attorney and love interest Rachel Dawes, is in the "Dark Knight" script, but that the role is being recast.

Prior to her whirlwind romance and marriage to Tom Cruise, Holmes' credits included "Dawson's Creek" and features like "First Daughter" and "Pieces of April."

Modest Mouse Confirms Release Date, Track List

Modest Mouse has set a March 20 release date for its new Epic album, "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank." The 14-track set is led by the single "Dashboard," which is No. 10 in its third week on Billboard's Modern Rock chart. A video for the song was recently directed by Motion Theory.

Starting Tuesday (Jan. 30), fans who pre-order the album via iTunes will receive an immediate download of "Dashboard" as well an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip from the video shoot.

Four songs have been added to the 10 Billboard.com previewed in December: opener "March Into the Sea," the twitchy "Fly Trapped in a Jar," the subdued, spacy "Little Motel" and "People As Places As People." The Shins' James Mercer guests on three tracks: "We've Got Everything," "Florida" and "Missed the Boat."

Billboard.com has learned Modest Mouse, which now features former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, will play some West Coast U.S. dates in March and then hit the road for a world tour upon release of the album.

Here is the track list for "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank":

"March Into the Sea"
"Dashboard"
"Fire It Up"
"Florida"
"Parting of the Sensory"
"Missed the Boat"
"We've Got Everything"
"Fly Trapped in a Jar"
"Education"
"Little Motel"
"Steam Engenius
"Spitting Venom"
"People As Places As People"
"Invisible"

Twin Peaks On DVD - Will You Wait?

We've got a bit of an update for you today on CBS/Paramount's plans for David Lynch's Twin Peaks TV series on DVD in 2007.

As most of you should know by now, the long-awaited Twin Peaks: The Second Season is already set to hit DVD on 4/10.

Our sources are telling us that this release is designed for those who may already have Season One (released back in 2001 by Artisan/Republic) and the unaired pilot episode (released on DVD in Japan and available only as an import) on disc.

However, for those of you who are patient and want it all in one shot... we're told to expect CBS/Paramount to announce a Twin Peaks: The Complete Series box set for release later in 2007 that contains both seasons AND the pilot episode, PLUS lots of newly-produced extras.

Watch for details on the box set to be announced in the next few months.

'King of the Hill' returns

NEW YORK (AP) - "I'll have a normal orange juice, please," says Hank Hill. "And make it normal."

He wishes! Hank, plaintive hero of Fox's comedy "King of the Hill," is joining someone at a dang ol' prissy juice bar. Not by his choice. This is not Hank's kind of place. Nor are these his kind of times.

Never were. After a decade on the air, "King of the Hill" (starting its new season 8:30 p.m. EST Sunday) finds Hank pretty much where he was in January 1997: a Texas good ol' boy in a world bent on serving up things that, in his mind, just aren't normal. Hank's a regular guy in a world that's always redefining "regular."

Hank doesn't smile much. He's sad-eyed, with fretful little furrows etched into his brow.

Even so, he loves his job as a propane salesman and also "loves barbecue, pickup trucks, edging the lawn, both kinds of music (country and western), and lamenting how a lack of common sense and a crush of meddling bureaucrats in today's society make life all that much harder for the working man."

At least, that's how I described him 10 years ago, when reviewing the premiere of this animated yet staunchly uncartoonish sitcom.

I could've added that Hank's a churchgoer and a family man (sturdy wife Peggy; slothful 13-year-old son Bobby; coquettish niece Luanne, 18) who, with his high school football days long gone, plays a new team sport - posting himself with buddies Dale, Bill and Boomhauer out by the street, standing side by side, saying little, beers in hand.

Hank was a remarkable invention 10 years ago. The fact that "King of the Hill" carries on to this day, still funny and savvy, is even more notable.

Sunday's episode focuses on Peggy. She is feeling unfeminine (her size-16 feet and all the great shoes that don't fit them are to blame).

"YOU think I'm feminine, doncha, Hank?" she presses.

"Sure y'ar," says Hank, who, unequipped with a silver tongue, elaborates: "You're a wife, and a mother."

But then Peggy makes a new gal-pal, Carolyn, someone with whom she can comfortably share female concerns - and female tips.

Accounting for her square-rimmed eyeglasses, Peggy tells Carolyn they "hide thin brows, frown lines and wrinkles. People do not say it, but they make me look 10 years younger."

In short, opening up to Carolyn is just what she needed.

But there's a problem. Turns out Carolyn is a drag queen who, while shopping for plus-size ladies' shoes, mistook Peggy for a fellow drag queen.

If it sounds sitcommy, it isn't. "King of the Hill" is as understated as Hank's laconic manner. Its stories rely not on gimmicks, but on shrewdly observed details.

Distraught at having been taken for a man, Peggy orders Hank not to answer the phone when Carolyn calls. But he's obliged to object: "Well, Peggy, that's just like telling a lie."

"Fine," she snaps. "Then, I'm not at home."

"Well," persists Hank, "that's ALSO a lie."

It's a revealing exchange. Not for the first time, Hank has argued for following the rules, however much society prefers to rewrite them. The world may be shifting under his feet, but Hank is taking a stand on his tiny piece of turf.

He's not a raging, Archie Bunker-like nostalgist singing "Those Were the Days." Hank doesn't yearn for the past. He stays busy clinging to a tenuous now: when "orange juice," under normal circumstances, can still mean simply orange juice, without "nutrient boosters"; when being a wife and mother can still certify a woman's femininity.

In his 11th season, Hank more than ever is a man on the spot, torn between squabbling, widening extremes. With his muted battle cry "Hold on a minute here," he's a man caught in the middle between the people in charge. He's the man politicians always glorify in campaign speeches, but conveniently forget once they win. The ordinary guy, just trying to get by.

Nonetheless, dang it, Hank is getting by OK.

And so is "King of the Hill."

Co-created by "Beavis & Butt-head" mastermind Mike Judge (who also furnishes Hank's voice) the show premiered with dim prospects. Only two prime-time animated series before it had been hits: "The Simpsons" (then already seven years old) and "The Flintstones" (which premiered way back in 1960).

What were the odds for this newcomer succeeding? Not only was it a cartoon, but its setting and style were even more reined-in than the typical live-action sitcom.

And what of Hank and the other denizens of quiet, if quirky, Arlen? These characters weren't tailored for the viewer to relate to, exactly. Nor were they engineered as joke machines. Instead, they came across as comfortably familiar - acting like real folks just might act.

As Hank is fond of saying, "I'll tell you what." Against the odds, that's what his show continues to do.

Chipmunks Movie Has A Director

Fans of songs so high-pitched that only dogs can properly appreciate them are in for a treat. The long-mooted Alvin and the Chipmunks movie has a director, in the shape of kids movie veteran Tim Hill.

The story, for those three of you not familiar with the series, follows a trio of chipmunks who form their own musical group, managed by their human adoptive father, Dave. The three chipmunks are Alvin, the troublemaker and star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespecled intellectual, and Theodore, the nice but dim baby of the group.

Originally created in the 1950s for novelty records and then a cartoon series, most people today probably remember the 1980s adventures of the three lovable scamps. Oh, and those helium vocals, actually created by speeding up the voice of their creator, Ross Bagdasarian Sr.

The film will be a CG-live action hybrid, like Hill's last effort, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. But don't hold that against him - he was also the head writer on the much better Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie, and directed Muppets From Space, which wasn't bad. The script for this effort comes from Jon Vitti, a longterm Simpsons writing veteran (he's one of the screenwriters on the movie) and King of the Hill. So while it still has the potential to be really annoying and utterly eardrum bursting, let's keep our fingers crossed and our voices high as this one moves forward.

Report: Police Rehearsing For Tour In Vancouver

The Police will rehearse for their upcoming reunion tour at Lions Gate Studios in Vancouver, according to reports today (Jan. 25) by the city's classic rock radio station, CFMI. Details of the summer trek, the band's first in more than two decades, will be announced next month.

In addition, the Police are strongly rumored to be performing as part of the opening segment of the Grammy telecast on Feb. 11 from Los Angeles' Staples Center. At deadline, a Grammy spokesperson had no information on a possible appearance by the group.

Before the Police get busy, Sting has a three-week European tour on tap in support of his lute album, "Songs From the Labryinth." The outing, which finds the artist accompanied by lutenist Edin Karamazov, begins Feb. 18 in Paris and wraps March 12 in Stuttgart, Germany.

On Feb. 20, Deutsche Grammophon will release a CD/DVD companion piece to "Labryinth," dubbed "The Journey And The Labyrinth: The Music Of John Dowland." The project will include a DVD chronicling Sting's fascination with 16th century musician John Dowland and a concert at St. Luke's Church in London.

The audio from that show, which features the Police's "Message in a Bottle" and Robert Johnson's "Hell Hound," is represented on the CD.

Hargitay & Meloni's $VU

Forget coffee and donuts—with the amount of cash Detectives Benson and Stabler are about to rake in, they may want to consider upgrading to lattes and croissants.

After weeks of negotiations and insinuations that the franchise could fare just as well without its star castmembers, NBC has confirmed that Law & Order: Special Victims Unit actors Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni have extended their contracts for two more years.

Which means the fictional perps of sexually based offenses will be hunted down through at least 2009.

While neither NBC nor franchise mastermind Dick Wolf disclosed the financial terms of the renewed deal, the trades are reporting that Hargitay and Meloni will take home annual salaries of more than $6.5 million.

The hefty payday, which amounts to roughly $300,000 to $340,000 per episode each.

If the reports are accurate, the pay bump puts Hargitay on par with The Closer star Kyra Sedgwick, who, after signing a contract for a reported $300,000 per episode last week, had been pegged as one of, if not the, top compensated female stars on TV.

While he refused to talk specifics of the deal, Wolf did comment on the return of his leads.

"I'm thrilled that Chris and Mariska have decided to stay with a show that they've made an indelible stamp upon, as we move into our ninth season," he said in a statement.

The contracts were apparently finalized this week, though they had been in the works for some time and apparently were close enough to a done deal for for the network to announce last week during the Television Critics Association conference that Law & Order: SVU would be returning in the fall.

Hargitay, who's taken home both a Golden Globe and an Emmy for her role as Detective Olivia Benson, and Meloni, who this year received an Emmy nomination for his role as Detective Elliot Stabler, have been with the series since its debut in 1999 and are considered more crucial to the show's success than players in other branches of the franchise.

Law & Order: SVU, the highest rated of all the Wolf procedurals, will not only welcome back its two stars this fall but will add another to its roster.

Flags of Our Fathers actor Adam Beach has signed on as a regular castmember, reprising his guest-starring role as Brooklyn-based Detective Chester Lake.

Movie Theaters To Sell Naming Rights

Borrowing a page from sports arenas and stadiums, movie theaters may be next to sell naming rights to advertisers.

Canada's Cineplex Entertainment, the country's largest exhibitor, announced Wednesday that it had sold naming rights to five theaters in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver to Scotiabank.

As part of the deal, movie patrons who use a specially branded Scotiabank debit card to make purchases at the theater will be able to earn free movie tickets and combos at concession stands.

Crowded House confirms reunion for world tour

MELBOURNE, Australia (Billboard) - Crowded House has confirmed media speculation that it will reunite for a 12-month world tour this year.

Although tour dates are yet to be finalized, the Neil Finn-led group will appear at April's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in southern California along with Bjork, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against the Machine, among others.

A new album, "Time On Earth," will be released to coincide with the performances, according to a statement from their label, EMI Music Australia.

The line-up will include singer/guitarist Finn, bassist Nick Seymour, and touring keyboard player Mark Hart. Auditions have been held in Melbourne for a drummer, to replace Paul Hester, who committed suicide in 2005. These auditions will extend to Auckland and Los Angeles in coming weeks.

"It feels right to us that the band should re-emerge at this time," New Zealand-born Finn said in a statement. "We look forward to reconnecting with the audience that we established and for whom we still hold a deep respect.

"We aim to make the upcoming shows and the new music every bit as vital and spirited as what has come before."

Crowded House released four studio albums between 1985 and 1996, all of which topped the Australian and New Zealand charts. Its self-titled debut album reached No. 12 on the Billboard 200 on the back of smash single "Don't Dream It's Over," which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The follow up album "Temple Of Low Men" from 1988 peaked at No. 40 in the United States.

The group built a huge following in the United Kingdom, where the 1993 album "Woodface" -- featuring Finn's older brother, Tim -- reached No. 6, and hits set "Recurring Dream" hit No. 1 in 1996.

A newly released DVD, "Farewell To The World," documenting their 1996 farewell show on the steps of Sydney Opera House before 120,000 fans, topped the Australian Recording Industry Assn.'s DVD chart and is certified 4-times platinum (60,000 units).

Kidman in crash during LA movie shoot

LOS ANGELES - Nicole Kidman was taken to a hospital after the Jaguar she was in crashed early Thursday during downtown shooting of the science fiction thriller "The Invasion," police said.

Kidman, 39, was examined at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and then released a short time later. Paramedics were called to examine Kidman for injuries before she was taken to the hospital, police said.

"Nicole Kidman was in the vehicle at the time of the accident and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. She was released shortly thereafter," Warner Bros. said in a statement.

No other actors were involved in the scene at the time of the accident, the studio said.

The Jaguar was being towed by a camera rig that skidded while taking a corner and caused Kidman's car to hit a pole on West Sixth Street, police said. The actress was wearing a seat belt.

"The stunt driver apparently went off course and hit a light post at about 1 a.m.," police Officer Karen Smith said.

Eight people, including Kidman, stuntmen and cameramen, were taken to hospitals for examination and were released, Smith said. Warner Bros. said two crew members had minor injuries.

Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc., also said production continued after the crash and Kidman was expected back on the set Thursday.

The Oscar-winning actress, who stars as a Washington psychiatrist who unearths the origin of an alien epidemic, was involved in a scene involving an escape from zombielike characters who are on the hood of the car.

The stakes are high in Casino Royale

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is currently preparing the release of the latest James Bond movie, Casino Royale for release on DVD, Blu-Ray Disc and for the PSP in March.

“Casino Royale” introduces James Bond before he holds his license to kill. But Bond is no less dangerous, and with two professional assassinations in quick succession, he is elevated to "00" status. "M" (Judi Dench), head of the British Secret Service, sends the newly-promoted 007 on his first mission that takes him to Madagascar, the Bahamas and eventually leads him to Montenegro to face Le Chiffre, a ruthless financier under threat from his terrorist clientele, who is attempting to restore his funds in a high-stakes poker game at the Casino Royale.

"M" places Bond under the watchful eye of the Treasury official Vesper Lynd. At first skeptical of what value Vesper can provide, Bond's interest in her deepens as they brave danger together. Le Chiffre's cunning and cruelty come to bear on them both in a way Bond could never imagine, and he learns his most important lesson: Trust no one.

The 2-disc DVD set will offer up the film in an anamorphic widescreen transfer with over 90 minutes of extras such as the Documentaries “Becoming Bond” and ”James Bond: For Real.” Also included is a new Featurette called “Bond Girls Are Forever” as well as the Chris Cornell Music Video.

The Blu-Ray Disc version of the film will feature a 1080p transfer of the movie, including the same bonus materials, while the UMD version for PSP will contain only the feature film without any extras.

“Casino Royale” will come to stores on March 13 and carry a $28.96 price tag for the DVD and UMD versions and a $38.96 price tag for the Blu-Ray version.

PITY PARTY

Now it's time for the Oscar for best achievement in (kiss and) makeup. The world's most stupendous and celebritastic event - you know, the one that draws about the same ratings as the losers-and-freaks episode of "American Idol" - is shaping up as a great big pity party for longtime snubbees Martin Scorsese, Helen Mirren and Peter O'Toole. Collectively, they are zero for 14 at previous ceremonies. But after yesterday's nominations emerged, all were hoping to turn guilt into gilt at the Feb. 25 Academy Awards.

Oscar is always playing catch-up by backing not the swiftest ponies, but the ones at the door to the glue factory. Al Pacino got his makeup Oscar for "Scent of a Woman" because they owed him one for "The Godfather Part II" - which he didn't win because Oscar was bestowing belated (and undeserved) honors on Art Carney for "Harry and Tonto."

Henry Fonda got his Oscar on his deathbed for "On Golden Pond," and John Wayne got his for "True Grit" because for the first time he looked mortal.

Meanwhile, the immortal performances of Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight in "Midnight Cowboy" were overlooked.

Mirren - described by one bookmaker as a 1-to-12 crap bet, the single biggest favorite in the history of the Academy Awards has spent more time waiting to be crowned than Prince Charles. She's a cinch to win for her QE II turn in "The Queen," a surprise hit that picked up six nominations, including nods for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay.

The film is a serious contender for Best Picture, along with "Babel," which received seven nominations and is a favorite of the huge actors' branch of voters, and "The Departed," which earned a disappointing five nominations, including only one acting nomination, for Mark Wahlberg as Best Supporting Actor.

Mirren has been nominated twice before - for "The Madness of King George" and "Gosford Park" - but the industry is slavering to reward her this time.
Scorsese, who has five previous nominations but no wins, "should have won twice - for 'Raging Bull' and 'GoodFellas,'" says a longtime voter. This year, he's the favorite for Best Director for "The Departed," though again he's up against Clint Eastwood for the little-seen Japanese-language WWII movie "Letters from Iwo Jima," which has no chance for Best Picture.

Scorsese isn't well liked in Hollywood; working in New York alienates him from the mass of voters.

"He's not a local," says a West Coast voter. "There's this admiration for him as a terrific director, but we don't ever run into him. Aloof would be the polite term. He's like Woody Allen. Let's face it, he's a strange man. We all respect him, but Hitchcock was nominated five times and didn't win. Do Marty's films stack up against Hitchcock's? I think people would be happy if he won because then he could quit campaigning. And who else would you give it to? Marty's the default winner."

(Also up for Best Director are Stephen Frears for "The Queen," Alejandro Gonz lez Iñ rritu for "Babel"and Paul Greengrass for "United 93.")

Like Mirren, O'Toole is gifted, British and winless. He's up for an eighth, and likely final, nomination for "Venus," which will set a record for Oscar futility if he loses to the favorite, Forest Whitaker for "The Last King of Scotland."

His first big role, in "Lawrence of Arabia," got steamrolled by Gregory Peck's equally legendary performance in "To Kill a Mockingbird." O'Toole easily could have won in 1968 for "The Lion in Winter," but the Oscar went to journeyman Cliff Robertson for playing a mentally retarded man in "Charly."

Now O'Toole is tied with his old drinking buddy Richard Burton (both were nominated for "Becket" but lost to Rex Harrison for "My Fair Lady") for the futility record - seven nominations, no wins. Three years ago, O'Toole won the honorary Oscar - which he initially declined, saying he hoped to "win the lovely bugger outright" - but both Fonda and Paul Newman won the career award the year before they won Best Actor.

But like Scorsese, O'Toole doesn't work the scene, while Whitaker has been shaking every hand in the 310 area code. "If you have somebody like O'Toole up against you, it's gotta make you nervous," says a voter. "But I'd have to say Whitaker is going to win because he seems like such a nice guy. O'Toole hasn't let anyone know he wants to win. You gotta look like you want it. O'Toole, I worked with him on two films. He was a thorny, thorny man."

"Babel," "The Queen" and "The Departed" were seen as almost evenly matched in the race to win Best Picture. The underdog nominee is "Little Miss Sunshine," a hilarious kitchen-sink indie.

"Babel" nearly ran the table, getting Best Supporting Actress nominations for both Rinko Kikuchi and Adriana Barazza, two blazingly obscure performers. But the film's only star, Brad Pitt, didn't get a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Nevertheless, he could still win an Oscar - he's a producer of "The Departed."

Also snubbed was "The Departed"'s cackling anti-conscience, Jack Nicholson. "Nicholson sucked," says an East Coast voter. "Wahlberg was brilliant. Plus, they like to discover new people."

Meanwhile, "Babel" is both depressing and a financial flop; "The Queen," while enjoyable, is basically BBC TV.

Does that lay the ground for the biggest underdog in Oscar history - a movie that didn't get a Best Director nod or a single nomination in any crafts category?
"The only film I've heard people say they love," says a voter who has been talking to many peers, "is 'Little Miss Sunshine.'"

MARTIN SCORSESE - ODDS TO WIN: 4:9
nominated 6 times
Best Director
1981 "Raging Bull"
1989 "The Last Temptation of Christ"
1991 "GoodFellas"
2003 "Gangs of New York"
2005 "The Aviator"
2007 "The Departed"

HELEN MIRREN - ODD TO WIN: 1:12
nominated 3 times
Best Supporting Actress, 1995 "The Madness of King George"
Best Supporting Actress, 2002 "Gosford Park"
Best Actress, 2007 "The Queen"

PETER O'TOOLE -ODD TO WIN: 6:1
nominated 7 times
Best Actor, 1963 "Lawrence of Arabia"
Best Actor, 1965 "Becket"
Best Actor, 1969 "The Lion in Winter"
Best Actor, 1970 "Goodbye, Mr. Chips"
Best Actor, 1973 "The Ruling Class"
Best Actor, 1981 "The Stunt Man"
Best Actor, 1983 "My Favorite Year"
Best Actor, 2007 "Venus"

ALAN ARKIN - ODDS TO WIN: 8:1
nominated
Best Actor, 1966 "The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming"
Best Actor, 1968 "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter"
Best Supporting Actor, 2007 "Little Miss Sunshine"

Van Halen reuniting with Roth for summer tour

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - A deal is almost set for David Lee Roth to return to the Van Halen fold for a summer tour of amphitheaters, sources told Billboard.com

They said a contract could be signed as early as Wednesday for tour promoter Live Nation to produce a 40-date trek, which would mark Roth's first outing with the rock band in more than 20 years.

Spokeswomen for Roth and the band said they were unable to provide any confirmation.

Guitarist Eddie Van Halen's 15-year-old son Wolfgang has stepped in for original bassist Michael Anthony in the new incarnation of the group, which also features Eddie's brother Alex Van Halen on drums.

Van Halen last toured in 2004 with vocalist Sammy Hagar, Roth's replacement, grossing nearly $40 million, according to Billboard Boxscore. Hagar refused to collaborate further with the Van Halen brothers after the tour's completion, although he has consistently played live with Anthony in recent years. The warring factions may wind up meeting in public in March when Van Halen is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Oscar nomination snubs and surprises

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Usually the Oscar race seems pretty much firmed up long before anyone’s name is announced as a nominee at 5:38 a.m. PST. Not so this year — there were some wonderful surprises and surprising snubs.

Among them:

— WAKE-UP CALL: “Dreamgirls,” the de facto front-runner throughout awards season, received a leading eight nominations — except for the biggie, best picture. It looked like a shoo-in, especially after winning the Golden Globe for best musical or comedy. Co-stars Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson (who also won at the Golden Globes) were nominated in the supporting-actor categories, as expected. But director Bill Condon was shut out, as were top-billed stars Jamie Foxx and Beyonce Knowles. And of the film’s eight nominations, three are for original song. (The others came in art direction, costume design and sound mixing.)

— FEEL THE VIBRATION: Mark Wahlberg, the artist formerly known as Marky Mark, beat out his more established co-stars in “The Departed” — Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon — to score a nomination for best supporting actor. Among the talented ensemble cast in Martin Scorsese’s mob drama, which also includes Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen, Wahlberg was a consistent scene stealer as a bitter Boston detective. He was even more arresting than in his days as a rapper and underwear model.

— NADA PARA PEDRO: Longtime critical darling and Oscar favorite Pedro Almodovar was left out of the foreign-language category with “Volver,” his supernatural tale of strong women in a small Spanish town. The film’s star, Penelope Cruz, did score a best-actress nomination, though — the first for a Spanish actress. Almodovar was widely expected to be included in the category; his 1999 film “All About My Mother” won the foreign-language prize, and he also earned an Oscar for his original screenplay for 2002’s “Talk to Her.”

— HOW DO YOU SAY “OSCAR” IN MAYAN?: It looked like Mel Gibson was nuts when he said he was making an ultraviolent historical epic in subtitled Mayan with an entirely unknown cast. Now it looks like he was on to something — not only did it open at No. 1 at the box office, it has three Oscar nominations: makeup, sound editing and sound mixing. Say what you will about Mel, the man knows how to make a mean — and technically flawless — action picture.

— THE SEPT. 11 FILMS: Paul Greengrass received a much-deserved directing nomination for “United 93,” his harrowing, detailed docudrama about the hijacked flight that nose-dived into a Pennsylvania field. He took the spot that might have gone to Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris of “Little Miss Sunshine,” the only ones in the best-picture category who didn’t also get a nomination for best director. “United 93” also was recognized for its editing. Oliver Stone’s stirring “World Trade Center,” meanwhile, received no nominations, despite his elaborate recreation of ground zero and strong performances from Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

— THE RETURN OF KELLY LEAK: Jackie Earle Haley, until recently best known for his role as bad-boy slugger Kelly Leak in the 1976 classic “The Bad News Bears,” has completed his comeback with a supporting-actor nomination for “Little Children.” Haley is chilling as a former sexual predator who returns to his hometown and sparks fear in the suburbanites. He also appeared last year as a bloodless bodyguard in “All the King’s Men.”

— SMALL FILMS, BIG PERFORMANCES: A couple of Sundance favorites also found themselves among the Oscar nominees. Ryan Gosling, who did complex work as a drug-addicted junior-high-school teacher in the low-budget “Half Nelson,” received a best-actor nomination. And the independent darling “Little Miss Sunshine,” besides being honored among the best-picture and original-screenplay contenders, also earned supporting-actor nominations for the adorable, 10-year-old Abigail Breslin and Alan Arkin as a cantankerous grandfather.

'Heroes' Expands Universe with Roberts

The cast of "Heroes" will grow a little bit more this season with the addition of the ever-busy Eric Roberts.

The one-time "Less Than Perfect" star will join the first-year NBC hit later this season. He'll be playing a character named Thompson, an associate of Jack Coleman's shadowy HRG, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In other casting news, Scott Cohen ("Law & Order: Trial by Jury") is reuniting with "Gilmore Girls" creator Amy Sherman-Palladino on a FOX pilot, and former "24" regular James Badge Dale will star in NBC's drama "Fort Pit."

It's unclear whether Roberts will be a regular or have a recurring part on "Heroes." He's one of several recent additions to the cast; former "Dr. Who" Christopher Eccleston made his first appearance on the show Monday, and Stana Katic ("24," "The Shield") was seen in a preview for a future episode. Jessalyn Gilsig ("Nip/Tuck") will also be featured on the show this season.

Roberts, whose credits range from "Star 80" to "The Cable Guy" to "Less Than Perfect," will next be seen in the Hallmark Channel's miniseries "Pandemic." He also has several film projects at various stages of production.

Also at NBC, Dale will play a fresh-from-the-academy police officer in "Fort Pit," a drama about a precinct filled with rookies and veteran officers riding out the last days of their careers. Dale starred in the third season of "24" and recently co-starred in the Oscar-nominated "The Departed."

Cohen, meanwhile, has taken a role in "The Return of Jezebel James," a comedy about two estranged sisters who reunite when one agrees to carry the other's baby. He'll play the boyfriend of one of the sisters. It's a reunion with Sherman-Palladino for Cohen, who played Lorelai's (Lauren Graham) boyfriend Max Medina early in the show's life.

'Borat' improv script lands Oscar nom

NEW YORK - Wa Wa Wee Wah? Borat Sagdiyev himself might have exclaimed that catch phrase upon hearing that the largely improvised "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" had been nominated Tuesday for a best adapted screenplay Oscar.

The majority of the movie, starring Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat, is fueled by Cohen's interactions with real people — most of whom weren't reading from a script. Needless to say, if they had been supplied dialogue, many of the unwitting actors wouldn't have sued (as they have) over their inclusion in the film.

And still a team of four writers was nominated for the Oscar: Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham and Dan Mazer. The same four, plus Todd Phillips, were credited with the story.

What in the name of Kazakhstan is going on here?

When "Borat" was introduced to the press last fall, the production notes from studio 20th Century Fox said "there was no script" for the film, which it explained was "a new form of filmmaking for an age in which reality and entertainment have become increasingly intertwined."

Does a film need a screenplay to be considered for best screenplay? Can anyone beside Yogi Berra answer such a question?

Bruce Davis, executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, says the academy defers to the Writers Guild when it comes to writing credit. ("Borat" is nominated in the adapted category because it's based on a pre-existing character — in this case, Baron Cohen's TV show "Da Ali G Show.")

Jody Frisch, a spokeswoman for the Writers Guild, says there is, in fact, a script for "Borat." The WGA earlier nominated "Borat" for best adapted screenplay.

"They turned in a script," Frisch said Tuesday. "There was a script. The Writers Guild basically recognizes the creative process of writing, whether it's traditional drama or comedy, whether it's reality or documentary or animation. It's all writing."

The WGA raised eyebrows in 2003 when it honored Michael Moore's "screenplay" for his documentary "Bowling for Columbine." Like "Borat," that film included a large amount of narration, but relied mostly on interviews and real-life interaction.

Similarly, the WGA has battled production companies to establish writer credit for those penning reality television programming.

"There's always improvisation on a movie, if you think about it — even the very traditional, original drama," says Frisch. "It's a collaborative process. ... A lot of it is, you're creating the arc of the story."

Baron Cohen, who didn't receive the best-actor nomination that some expected, did not immediately return requests Tuesday for a comment on the best screenplay nomination.

He did, though, last week at a question-and-answer session with the WGA, say: "We'd sit around the writers' room and imagine the scene. What do we want it to look like?" He added, "Looking at the script and the finished film, they're remarkably the same."

"Borat" will compete for best adapted screenplay against the scripts for "Children of Men," "The Departed," "Little Children" and "Notes on a Scandal."

Regina animator gets Oscar nomination

A filmmaker from Saskatchewan said he almost drove off the highway when he found out he was nominated for an Academy Award.

Animator Michael Thurmeier, who is from Regina but now works at Blue Sky Studios in White Plains, N.Y., received the nod for best short animated film on Tuesday morning.

Although he knew his film No Time for Nuts was on a short list, it still came as a surprise, he said.

After watching the live broadcast of nominations and failing to hear his name called, he got in his car to drive to work. While he was on the highway, his wife called him on his cellphone.

"I just about drove off," Thurmeier told CBC. "I really didn't think we had much of a chance."

No Time for Nuts is a computer-generated animated spinoff of the popular Ice Age movies.

Thurmeier was nominated with Chris Renaud, his co-director on the film.

Thurmeier said his interest in art began when he was a child in Regina, but he never dreamed he would work on Hollywood films.

"I always had an interest in film and in drawing, but … it feels so far away when you are a kid in Saskatchewan," said Thurmeier, who trained for his craft at Ontario's Sheridan College. "It just ended up working out."

The film is about Scrat, a sabre-toothed squirrel that finds a time machine while trying to bury an acorn.

Thurmeier described the movie as a six-minute throwback to classic Warner Brothers cartoons.

The Academy Awards gala will be on Feb. 25. Among those who will be cheering Thurmeier on that night is his delighted father, Regina's Daryl Thurmeier.

"The rest of the day will be just sort of floating," Daryl Thurmeier said on Tuesday, adding that he couldn't wait to talk to his son later in the day.

Meanwhile, Michael Thurmeier said he's eagerly anticipating the Oscar nominees' lunch and is looking ahead to the big day.

"I'll have to lose 10 pounds and go get a tux, I guess," he said.

Early Predictions

The nominations for the 79th annual Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday morning and they confirmed what all prognosticators already knew: the only open race is for "Best Picture."

Even prior to the Golden Globes, and their nominations, the following five of the big six races were already determined, due to buzz, the fact that the people themselves were showing contrition regarding winning an Oscar, and their performances themselves.

Those guaranteed to win on Oscar night are:

Best Actress
Helen Mirren, THE QUEEN

Best Actor
Forest Whitaker, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Hudson, DREAMGIRLS

Best Supporting Actor
Eddie Murphy, DREAMGIRLS

And

Best Director
Martin Scorsese, THE DEPARTED.

So now, who wins Best Picture?

Well, BABEL was a surprise Golden Globe winner, so it has to make the final two; THE DEPARTED has no buzz at all in this category, but it will (finally) give Marty his Award, and Mark Wahlberg's nominations shows the academy notices a great performance - yes "Marky Mark" is now an Academy Award nominee - but no one thinks it was the Best Picture last year; the Academy loves Clint Eastwood, but LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA doesn't have the momentum of his previous Oscar winners MILLION DOLLAR BABY or UNFORGIVEN; LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE was the surprise winner of the top feature film award presented by the Producers Guild of America last weekend, confirming that voters are aware of this wonderful little film, so that gives it momentum; and THE QUEEN is also wonderful, and the nomination for Best Director for Stephen Frears is proof again that voters are aware of the movie, but it is getting all of it's buzz for Helen Mirren, not for the film itself.

So now, who wins Best Picture?

At this point, it looks like it is a race between BABEL and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, with the latter poised to be the only surprise on Oscar night, February 25th.

That is a surprise I would enjoy.

'Dreamgirls' picks up most Oscar nods

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - The peppy "Dreamgirls" led Academy Awards contenders Tuesday with eight nominations, but surprisingly was shut out in the best picture category after being considered a potential front-runner.

The sweeping ensemble drama "Babel" was close behind with seven, including best picture and acting honors for two newcomers to U.S. audiences, Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi.

Other best-picture nominees were the bloody crime saga "The Departed," the World War II spectacle "Letters From Iwo Jima," the road-trip comedy "Little Miss Sunshine" and the monarchy-in-crisis chronicle "The Queen."

Going into nominations day, the best-picture competition looked unusually wide open, with no consensus on a favorite. With "Dreamgirls," a Golden Globe winner out of the race, the best picture competition was even more up for grabs.

But front-runners in all four acting categories nabbed nominations and seem poised to come home with Oscars on Feb. 25: Helen Mirren for best actress as British monarch Elizabeth II in "The Queen"; Forest Whitaker for best actor as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland"; and Eddie Murphy and former "American Idol" finalist Jennifer Hudson as soulful singers in "Dreamgirls" supporting roles.

All four won at the Golden Globes.

Oscar attention is a new experience for Murphy, whose fast-talking persona has brought him devoted audiences but little awards acclaim in his 25-year career. For Hudson, the nomination caps a speedy rise to stardom with her first film role, just two years after making her name on "American Idol."

The best-actress category featured a 14th nomination for two-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep, padding her record as the most-nominated actor ever, this time as a demonically demanding boss in "The Devil Wears Prada."

Joining Mirren and Streep as best-actress nominees were Penelope Cruz as a woman dealing with bizarre domestic crises in "Volver"; Judi Dench as a scheming teacher in "Notes on a Scandal"; and Kate Winslet as a woman in an affair with a neighbor in "Little Children."

Other best-actor nominees were Leonardo DiCaprio as a mercenary hunting a rare gem in "Blood Diamond"; Ryan Gosling as a teacher with a drug addiction in "Half Nelson"; Peter O'Toole as a lecherous old actor in "Venus"; and Will Smith as a homeless dad in "The Pursuit of Happyness."

Whitaker is expected to come away with best actor, though sentiment is high for O'Toole, who has been nominated seven times, losing each. An eighth loss for O'Toole, who nearly turned down an honorary Oscar three years ago because he hoped to earn one outright, would put him in the record books as the actor with the most nominations without winning.

This finally may be the year for another perennial loser, Scorsese, who is tied with four other directors for the Oscar-futility record of five nominations and five losses.

"The Departed" marks Scorsese's return to the cops-and-mobsters genre he mastered in decades past and is considered his best shot to finally win an Oscar, though a sixth defeat would put him alone in the record book as the losingest director ever.

NOMINATIONS BY CATEGORY - 79TH AWARDS

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Leonardo DiCaprio - BLOOD DIAMOND
Ryan Gosling - HALF NELSON
Peter O'Toole - VENUS
Will Smith - THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
Forest Whitaker - THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Alan Arkin - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jackie Earle Haley - LITTLE CHILDREN
Djimon Hounsou - BLOOD DIAMOND
Eddie Murphy - DREAMGIRLS
Mark Wahlberg - THE DEPARTED

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Penélope Cruz - VOLVER
Judi Dench - NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Helen Mirren - THE QUEEN
Meryl Streep - THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Kate Winslet - LITTLE CHILDREN

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Adriana Barraza - BABEL
Cate Blanchett - NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Abigail Breslin - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jennifer Hudson - DREAMGIRLS
Rinko Kikuchi - BABEL

Best motion picture of the year
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
THE QUEEN

Achievement in directing
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, BABEL
Martin Scorsese, THE DEPARTED
Clint Eastwood, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
Stephen Frears, THE QUEEN
Paul Greengrass, UNITED 93

Best animated feature film of the year
CARS
HAPPY FEET
MONSTER HOUSE

Achievement in art direction
DREAMGIRLS
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
PAN'S LABYRINTH
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
THE PRESTIGE

Achievement in cinematography
THE BLACK DAHLIA
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE ILLUSIONIST
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE PRESTIGE

Achievement in costume design
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
DREAMGIRLS
MARIE ANTOINETTE
THE QUEEN

Best documentary feature
DELIVER US FROM EVIL
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS
JESUS CAMP
MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY

Best documentary short subject
THE BLOOD OF YINGZHOU DISTRICT
RECYCLED LIFE
REHEARSING A DREAM
TWO HANDS

Achievement in film editing
BABEL
BLOOD DIAMOND
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE DEPARTED
UNITED 93

Best foreign language film of the year
AFTER THE WEDDING
DAYS OF GLORY (INDIGÈNES)
THE LIVES OF OTHERS
PAN'S LABYRINTH
WATER

Achievement in makeup
APOCALYPTO
CLICK
PAN'S LABYRINTH

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
BABEL
THE GOOD GERMAN
NOTES ON A SCANDAL
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE QUEEN

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"I Need to Wake Up" - AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
"Listen" - DREAMGIRLS
"Love You I Do" - DREAMGIRLS
"Our Town" - CARS
"Patience" - DREAMGIRLS

Best animated short film
THE DANISH POET
LIFTED
THE LITTLE MATCHGIRL
MAESTRO
NO TIME FOR NUTS

Best live action short film
BINTA AND THE GREAT IDEA (BINTA Y LA GRAN IDEA)
ÉRAMOS POCOS (ONE TOO MANY)
HELMER & SON
THE SAVIOUR
WEST BANK STORY

Achievement in sound editing
APOCALYPTO
BLOOD DIAMOND
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST

Achievement in sound mixing
APOCALYPTO
BLOOD DIAMOND
DREAMGIRLS
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST

Achievement in visual effects
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
POSEIDON
SUPERMAN RETURNS

Adapted screenplay
BORAT CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE DEPARTED
LITTLE CHILDREN
NOTES ON A SCANDAL

Original screenplay
BABEL
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE QUEEN

'Dreamgirls' picks up most Oscar nods

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - The peppy musical "Dreamgirls" led Academy Awards contenders Tuesday with eight nominations, but surprisingly was shut out in the best picture category for which it had been considered a potential front-runner.

The sweeping ensemble drama "Babel" was close behind with seven, including best picture and acting honors for two newcomers to U.S. audiences, Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi.

Other best-picture nominees were the bloody crime saga "The Departed," the World War II spectacle "Letters From Iwo Jima," the road-trip comedy "Little Miss Sunshine" and the monarchy-in-crisis chronicle "The Queen."

Going into nominations day, the best-picture competition looks unusually wide open, with no consensus on a favorite. With "Dreamgirls," a Golden Globe winner out of the race, the best picture competition was even more up for grabs.

But front-runners in all four categories nabbed nominations and seem poised to come home with Oscars on Feb. 25: Helen Mirren for best actress as British monarch Elizabeth II in "The Queen"; Forest Whitaker for best actor as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland"; and Eddie Murphy and former "American Idol" finalist Jennifer Hudson as soulful singers in "Dreamgirls."

The other nominees for best actor are Leonardo DiCaprio for "Blood Diamond," " Ryan Gosling" for "Half Nelson," Peter O'Toole for "Venus," and Will Smith for "The Pursuit of Happyness."

New Releases, Jan. 23: John Mellencamp, The Shins, The Grateful Dead

John Mellencamp "Freedom's Road"

The rootsy rocker is back with his first batch of all-new material since 2001's "Cuttin' Heads."

TV viewers might already be familiar with the disc's first cut, "Our Country," which Mellencamp played prior to World Series Game 2 back in October. The song is also prominently featured in a new line of commercials for Chevrolet trucks.

Also of note, "Freedom's Road" finds Mellencamp collaborating with folk queen Joan Baez on the protest tune "Jim Crow."

* * *
The Shins "Wincing the Night Away"

The Portland, OR-based indie-pop band finally returns with the follow-up to 2003's "Chutes Too Narrow." The first single from "Wincing the Night Away," the group's third studio set, is the tune "Phantom Limb."

The Shins will support the new album with a short tour that kicks off on Feb. 8 in Minneapolis and is currently scheduled to wind up on Feb. 21 with a homecoming show in Portland.

* * *
The Grateful Dead "Live at the Cow Palace: New Years Eve 1976"

No group was more closely associated with New Year's Eve than The Grateful Dead. The band's long run of San Francisco Bay Area NYE gigs are mentioned with true reverence in jam-band circles. During this outing, Garcia and the gang helped patchouli-scented patrons usher in 1977 with a show full of such favorites as "Looks Like Rain," "Deal" and "Scarlet Begonias."

* * *
Various Artists "2007 Grammy Nominees"

Get primed for the Feb. 11 Grammy Awards with this set of songs from many of this year's top nominees. The disc features such selections as Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You," Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel," Pink's "Stupid Girls" and James Blunt's "You're Beautiful."

* * *
Kenny Wayne Shepherd "10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads"

The young guitar great joins with Double Trouble's Tommy Shannon (bass) and Chris Layton (drums) on a trip through the "Backroads" of blues music. The CD/DVD package follows the trio across the country for performances with a number of both well-known and somewhat obscure blues musicians.

* * *
More new releases:
Deerhoof, "Friend Opportunity" (Kill Rock Stars)
The Good, the Bad and the Queen, "The Good, the Bad and the Queen" (Virgin)
Kristin Hersh, "Learn to Sing Like a Star" (Yep Roc)
Chuck Loeb, "Presence" (Heads Up)
Menomena, "Friend & Foe" (Barsuk)
Beverley Mitchell, "Beverley Mitchell" (Word)
Of Montreal, "Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer" (Polyvinyl)
Oscar Peterson, "Perfect Peterson: The Best of the Pablo and Telarc Recordings" (Pablo)
Pretty Ricky, "Late Night Special" (Atlantic)
Sonny Rollins, "Sonny Please" (Emarcy)
Peter Rowan and Tony Rice, "Quartet" (Rounder)
Saliva, "Blood Stained Love Story" (Island)
Tony Trischka, "Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular" (Rounder)
Various artists, "Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life" (Blue Note)

AFI Overhauls Top 100 for CBS

When the American Film Institute last ranked its top films, "Citizen Kane," "Casablanca" and "The Godfather" topped the list. But that was a decade ago, before "Napoleon Dynamite," "White Chicks" and several key films starring Rob Schneider. With that in mind, the AFI is ready to issue a new Top 100, in a badly named CBS special titled "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies -- 10th Anniversary Edition."

The CBS telecast will air in June after a panel of 1500 members of the Hollywood community (including filmmakers, actors and critics/historians) make their picks from the ballot of 400 nominated movies.

In order to update the list, the AFI has added 44 films from the past decade to the list of potential honorees. That group of 44 includes best picture Oscar winners like "Titanic," "American Beauty" and "Crash," as well as marginally quirkier entries like "Rushmore," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Good Night, and Good Luck." All three "Lord of the Rings" films, "Shrek," "Spider-Man 2" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" are also possibilities, if the panel likes blockbusters.

This won't just be a one-time refresh for the AFI list. The group hopes to add and subtract films every 10 years "to mark changing cultural perspectives."

"AFI has created the most comprehensibe and credible examination of excellence in American film with the 'AFI's 100 Years...' series," says AFI President and CEO Jean Picker Firstenberg. "And, whether you agree with these lists or not, they have a sparked a 10-year conversation on what makes a great movie and why. We are excited to ignite this conversation once again, this year and every 10 to come. Let the debate begin!"

'Simpsons' Movie Attracts 'All-Star Team'

Under the "Too Many Cooks" theory of filmmaking, it's normally a bad sign when a movie has three or four or five screenwriters, an indication of rewrites or studio tampering.

"The Simpsons Movie" has at least 11 writers amiably sharing credit and the creative team couldn't be happier.

"[I]t's the home team that's doing the movie," Long-time "Simpsons" vet James L. Brooks told the room at the Television Critics press tour over the weekend.

"It's not a different group of people who came in. For our animators to have this kind of scope and this stuff to play with for the first time, I can't tell you what it means to them."

Brooks is one of the screenwriters on the long-gestating film, as are series creator Matt Groening and familiar series producer/scribes including Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Mike Scully and Matt Selman.

"Anybody who has been an animator on 'The Simpsons,' generally we've called them up and said, 'Come back,'" Groening said. "And we got a couple of studios working on the movie. And David Silverman, one of the original directors back in 'The Tracey Ullman' days, supervising director of 'The Simpsons' for many years, is doing this with many veteran directors of the show. And then as Jim said, it's the home team. The writers are basically people who have run the show, been the showrunners."

Jean added, "It's almost an all-star team."

The producers are looking for a PG-13 rating for the film, which 20th Century Fox will release on July 27. The initial trailers have all been of the teaser variety, leaving many fans curious about the plot. Specific details aren't likely until a full-length trailer debuts in May, but Brooks explains that it finally just became time to bring "The Simpsons" to the big screen.

"You know what the truth is? Because I can't quite put my finger on it," Brooks said of the many delays. "We always wanted the right, at the last minute, to say we weren't doing a movie, even after we'd worked at the script. We always wanted that right, and there was one regime where that was tough to grant, and we needed that. And I think what finally happened is that we wanted to do it."

As many fans versed in "Simpsons" lore already know, the "Kamp Krusty" storyline that launched the show's much-adored fourth season was originally viewed as a possible feature plot.

"Then we said, 'We're a television show,' and that shut us up for a long time. ..." Brooks explained. "We wanted to focus on that. And then two years ago, almost simultaneously, we all began to think we should explore it."

Groening is satisfied that after the lengthy wait, the time is right for "The Simpsons Movie."

"When we showed the clips from the show at the San Diego Comic-Con or at colleges, or whatever, it's just, for me, personally -- and I think you've all experienced this, as well -- really thrilling to hear a big crowd laugh at the same time," he said. "For me, personally, that's part of it. Is that great art? I don't know, but it's fun."

Drew, Hugh match like 'Music and Lyrics'

NEW YORK — Some people first encounter each other in coffee shops or on the subway.

Hugh Grant got to know his latest co-star, Drew Barrymore, in a slightly more offbeat way.

"Drew sent me a letter during my great scandal of 1995," Grant says, referring to his arrest in Los Angeles for picking up prostitute Divine Brown in his car. "I had two incredibly supportive letters from famous people. One was from Drew.

The other was from Francis Ford Coppola. Both apologizing for the press coverage and being supportive. So I've always loved Drew for that."

Barrymore shrieks. "I forgot that! I'm so not Hollywood Bob that way or would send anyone I didn't know a letter. But I thought you were so charming. I wrote you a letter and you wrote me one back, and it hung on my fridge for a long time."

Now the former pen pals play musical chairs in the romantic comedy Music and Lyrics, opening on Valentine's Day. Grant, 46, stars as a has-been '80s pop star who is asked to write a tune for a hot singer, and Barrymore, 31, plays his reluctant writing buddy. Grant learned to play the piano for the movie, and, yes, that's his voice you hear in the film.

"Of all the people in the world to be a pop star, I'm terribly miscast," Grant says. "That's me singing, but that's very cheatable. They have amazing machines now. The computer puts you in tune and makes you sound great. Do you have any idea how music is made nowadays? It's all completely fraudulent. You don't have to be able to sing."

Counters Barrymore, who duets with Grant in the comedy: "But that said, before we pull all the magic out of the music industry, there has to be personality behind it. You did practice diligently, and there are plenty of scenes where you sing a cappella and sound wonderful."

In person, the two couldn't be more dissimilar.

He's an acerbic Brit with a scathing wit, joking that he had sex with Barrymore in an elevator. She's bubbly and sunny, drinking iced tea and sitting on her bare feet to warm them up. He listens to ABBA, the Gypsy Kings and military bands. She likes Muse's Black Holes and Revelations. Back home in London, Grant is dating socialite Jemima Khan, while Barrymore recently broke up with Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti.

"We're such a yin and yang," Barrymore says. "Opposites attract, oil and water; it's good. Who wants too much sunshine or too much of a dark cloud?"

The mood on the Manhattan set, the actors say, was more subdued than side-splitting.

"I'm not unpleasant or rude," Grant says. "But I'm very anxious, and I get bored very easily and crabby and a bit dark and solitary on the set. For a girl who's naturally full of sunshine and laughter, it must have been tough."

Not so, Barrymore says. Grant, she says, "can be very intense. But at the end of the day, I simply love and adore him because he genuinely cares about getting it right. And he's also a really good guy. I had a really hard day one day, and he came and put his arm around me and put a beer in my hand and said to tell him all about it."

She turns to Grant and smiles. "You're a good man, Hubert."

"It wasn't typical!" he cracks.

Grant says he signed on to Music and Lyrics because of the subject matter, but he concedes that his mind has been on expanding his talents beyond acting. "I cling pathetically to the notion that I'll move from being an interpretive kind of artist to being one who actually writes the thing. I've been really trying to write my book."

Girlfriend Khan has helped. She, he says, "has forced me virtually at gunpoint to sit down and actually do it as opposed to talk about it or make notes."

Khan accompanied Grant to the Golden Globes and wore a sexy white dress, but to his chagrin, "she refuses to have her photograph taken. I said, 'Oh, go on,' and she bolted like a horse. Kept jumping things. It was extraordinary."

Such an attitude is unfamiliar to Grant, who jokes that being a washed-up celebrity "is on my list of terrors."

"You have to try and get out when, relatively speaking, you're still at the top," he says. "And once you're out, have some other thing that gives you self-esteem. But to slide down, down gradually into ignominy …"

Grant trails off as Barrymore interjects: "I don't think that can happen for you. It does become up to you at a certain point. You earn the right to choose what your life is going to be."

The actress, who runs her production company, Flower Films, with friend Nancy Juvonen, says she has never done anything purely for the money. "And I never will."

"I have," Grant retorts, "and I've always regretted it. I appeared on Italian television for a vast sum of money, and, God, I regret it. I looked like such a twit."

Oscar catches up with world culture

LOS ANGELES — This year's Oscar race is considered as wide open as any in recent memory, but analysts say one facet of Tuesday's Academy Awards nominations appears certain: an ethnically diverse slate of contenders.

As studios expand their worldview beyond the West — and see the potential for ticket sales overseas — minority actors and racially diverse themes are increasingly finding their way to the big screen.

And that should be reflected in Tuesday's nominations, which are announced at 5:30 a.m. PT/8:30 a.m. ET.

"It's unheard of for so many cultures to get represented in Hollywood, but it's finally happening," says Sasha Stone of OscarWatch.com. "It used to be we were shocked if one black person got nominated for an Oscar. Now we're seeing almost every culture getting represented."

Indeed, black, Hispanic and Asian actors are considered serious contenders for Oscar nominations, if not outright wins:

•Forest Whitaker is the front-runner for the best-actor Oscar for portraying Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland.

•Penelope Cruz is expected to be a best-actress nominee for Volver.

•Jennifer Hudson is the odds-on favorite to be nominated and win best supporting actress for Dreamgirls.

Other minority stars, including Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness), Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls) and Babel's Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi, are expected to vie for acting awards, while Alejandro González Iñárritu is a contender for best director for Babel.

The multicultural shift not only reflects a canny commercial strategy. Some say Hollywood is growing up.

"We've just matured in general," says David Poland of MovieCityNews .com. "Hollywood is still making niche films for black or Hispanic audiences. But more stars are crossing over into commercial films, and audiences — and the academy — are following."

Iñárritu says the industry has become "more willing to accept globalization and that we're all connected. People are interested in stories beyond just their world."

Alfonso Cuarón, the Mexican-born director who made Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and this year's Children of Men, says the business is simply reflecting its own changing demographics.

"Hollywood has always been made up of immigrants," he says. "We had a German revolution. A French film revolution. It's just now, the immigrants aren't all from Europe."

And studios know that putting, say, a Mexican star like Barraza in a film makes it more marketable in Latin markets.

Some cultures, particularly Asian, are still underrepresented in Hollywood, Stone says. "But compared to just a few years ago, it's a different world."

Crowded House Hops On Reunion Bandwagon

Crowded House will reform after a 10-year-plus hiatus for a tour this year, including a stop at California's Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in late April. The reunion, which was first reported by several Australian newspapers and confirmed by the webmaster of the Neil Finn site Frenz.com, will coincide with a new studio album.

Finn had previously maintained he would never revive Crowded House following the 2005 suicide of drummer Paul Hester. "It's an instant knee-jerk reaction, 'no Paul no Crowded House' for some, and you, know that's actually okay," webmaster Peter Green wrote on the Frenz.com message board. "Simply don't see them or play the new record. But there is a good chance you might be missing out on something special. Sometimes it's worth taking a leap of faith and giving something a chance."

"Neil has had a hankering to play in a band again and what better band to do this in but the one he had the most joy with," he continued.

The solo album Finn previously told Billboard.com would feature Crowded House bassist Mark Seymour has morphed into a Crowded House release, although it is unknown when it will hit stores. Also unclear is who will replace Hester; auditions are said to be underway to fill the slot. Multi-instrumentalist Mark Hart, who joined Crowded House full time in 1992, will be back in the fold for the live dates.

"It's a pretty emotional record, I think," Finn said of the new disc, which was produced by Ethan Johns. "It's hard for me to evaluate, 'cause I'm so close to it now. But I think it's fairly simple, which I'm really happy about. There's a lot of heart in the record, which I'm happy about, too."

Crowded House formed in 1985 and is best known for hits like "Don't Dream It's Over," "Something So Strong," "World Where You Live" and "Fall At Your Feet." The group's final show, held Nov. 24, 1996, in Melbourne, was released last week as the CD/DVD set "Farewell to the World" by EMI.

Last year, Finn and his brother Tim, who also contributed to Crowded House for a time, reunited with their seminal New Wave act Split Enz for a a short tour nearly 22 years after the band's split.

Whitaker describes struggles as an actor

NEW YORK - Over his career, Forest Whitaker has played roles that weren't written for black actors.

"I had moments where the directors were open enough to let me do that, yeah," he told Newsweek for editions on newsstands Monday. "In 'Good Morning, Vietnam,' my character was written as a nerdy Jewish guy. In 'The Color of Money,' the character was originally a Yuppie."

Whitaker received a Golden Globe for best actor in a drama for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland." He also is considered a favorite for an acting Oscar.

But there was a time when his family had doubts about his choice of careers.

"I wasn't making much money, and sometimes really struggling, but I was, like, "No, Ma. This is what I want to do." Those were difficult conversations because I had my own doubts," he said at the magazine's Oscar panel discussion with other actors.

"It took me a long time to feel comfortable thinking, "I'm an actor. I can do this,'" he said.

`Instinct,' `Little Man' lead Razzies

LOS ANGELES - At least someone was happy Sharon Stone reprised her notorious femme-fatale role with "Basic Instinct 2."

The box-office bomb received seven nominations Monday for the Razzie Awards that mock the bottom of Hollywood's barrel, among them worst picture and worst actress of the year.

Also receiving seven nominations was the Wayans brothers comedy "Little Man," about a thief posing as a baby, including worst picture and director for Keenen Ivory Wayans.

Shawn and Marlon Wayans shared a worst-actor nomination, while sisters Hilary and Haylie Duff shared a worst-actress nomination for "Material Girls."

"We stuck the siblings together to allow room for more dreck," said Razzies founder John Wilson.

The other worst-picture nominees were the fantasies "BloodRayne" and "Lady in the Water" and the thriller "The Wicker Man."

Winners will be announced Feb. 24, the day before the Academy Awards.

Joining Stone and the Duffs in the worst-actress category were Lindsay Lohan for "Just My Luck," Kristanna Loken for "BloodRayne" and Jessica Simpson for "Employee of the Month."

Stone previously won a Razzie as worst-actress for 1994's "The Specialist" and "Intersection."

"She's what we call a Razzie repeat offender. Perhaps even a recidivist," Wilson said.

"Basic Instinct 2" also had a nomination for worst screen couple for Stone's "lopsided breasts." Also nominated were co-star David Thewlis for worst supporting actor and the movie's director, Michael Caton-Jones.

Along with the Wayans, "Little Man" co-star Rob Schneider had a worst-actor nomination. The other nominees were Tim Allen for "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause," "The Shaggy Dog" and "Zoom"; Nicolas Cage for "The Wicker Man"; and Larry the Cable Guy for "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector."

The Razzies added a new category, worst excuse for family entertainment. The nominees were "Deck the Halls," "Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties," "RV," "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause" and "The Shaggy Dog."

The big surprise for Wilson was that all-time Razzies champ Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky Balboa" was not nominated. Stallone, who has 30 Razzie nominations and 10 wins, surprised many skeptics by delivering a sequel that was well received by audiences and earned better-than-expected reviews.

"At the first of the year, you could not have convinced me it wasn't going to be a Razzie contender," Wilson said. "I would like to publicly say that Stallone has made a good movie."

Pre-Valentine's Double-Dose for '24'

LOS ANGELES -- What's the perfect Valentine's Day gift for viewers who hate romance, but love watching ultra-intense men battle terrorists?

For FOX, the answer is a special double-dose of "24." The network has scheduled a two-hour "24" event for Monday, Feb. 12, two days before the most lovey-dovey day of the year (but conveniently in the midst of the February sweeps period).

The event will cover the hours between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and will feature guest stars Chad Lowe and Powers Boothe as a "savvy politico" and the vice president, respectively. FOX's description of the episode's plot -- "The nation continues to reel from the terrorist attacks and Agent Bauer battles unthinkable circumstances" -- is somewhat less than helpful.

The defending Emmy winner for outstanding drama series, "24" premiered last week with a two-day, four-hour launch that exceeded the show's fifth season premiere by five percent among adults 18-49 and 14 percent in total viewers.

Miranda Lambert Not Withholding On Second CD

Breakthrough country artist Miranda Lambert will return May 1 with her sophomore album, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend." Lambert had a hand in writing eight of the 11 songs; other artists contributing to the writing include Gillian Welch and Patty Griffin.

The album closes with "Easy From Now On," penned by Carlene Carter and Susanna Clark, and previously recorded by Emmylou Harris on her 1978 album "Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town." The title cut can be sampled from Lambert's Web site.

"I let people in a lot more than I did on the last record -- so I'm a little scared, but I'm proud," says Lambert of the follow-up to 2005's "Kerosene," which became the sixth debut country album to open at No. 1 on The Billboard 200. The title track was nominated for a best female country vocal performance Grammy.

Lambert begins a run of dates supporting Toby Keith on Jan. 25 in Albany, N.Y.

'Barney Miller' officer Ron Carey dies

LOS ANGELES - Ron Carey, an actor best known for his work as a cocky, height-challenged policeman on the 1970s TV comedy "Barney Miller," has died. He was 71.

Carey died of a stroke Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said Michael Ciccolini, an extended relative and family spokesman.

Carey had a recurring role on "Barney Miller" from 1976 to 1982 as Officer Carl Levitt, who yearned for a promotion to detective in the New York squad room run by Capt. Barney Miller ( Hal Linden).

Carey also appeared in several Mel Brooks movies, including "High Anxiety" and "History of the World Part I."

"Ron Carey was truly talented, very funny and one of the dearest men I've ever worked with," Brooks said in a statement.

Carey played a Boston cab driver in the 1970 Jack Lemmon comedy "The Out of Towners." He also appeared in scores of commercials, and took pride in being a supporting player and a character actor.

"Stars are stars," he told Newsday in 1989. "But without us, the show wouldn't go on."

Carey was born Ronald Joseph Cicenia on Dec. 11, 1935, in Newark, N.J.

He launched his stand-up comedy career in New York after earning a bachelor's degree in communications from Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., in 1956. He made his first national television appearance a decade later on "The Merv Griffin Show." Appearances on "The Tonight Show" and the "Ed Sullivan Show" followed.

Carey is survived by his wife, Sharon, and his brother, Jimmy Cicenia.

Likely best film Oscar nominees seem easy to pick

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Martin Scorsese's crime thriller "The Departed" is almost certain to grab a slot in the Oscar race for best film, along with the musical "Dreamgirls" and the comedy "Little Miss Sunshine," when Academy Award nominations are announced on Tuesday.

Oscar pundits say those three films are likely to square off against "Babel," a saga of clashing cultures, and "The Queen," a portrait of the British royal family, in the competition for Hollywood's highest honors.

All five already have been nominated for best picture by two of Hollywood's most influential trade groups -- the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America -- whose picks usually predict Oscar sentiment.

"This year we've seen unprecedented agreement among the guild awards for five front-runners for best picture," said Tom O'Neil, awards columnist for the Web site TheEnvelope.com. "It's a fairly easy year to predict the nominations."

"Babel" and "Dreamgirls," the film adaptation of a Broadway hit loosely based on the Motown music group Diana Ross & the Supremes, gained momentum last week by winning Golden Globe awards for best film drama and best comedy or musical.

And "Little Miss Sunshine," a low-budget road comedy about an unlikely young beauty queen and her quirky family, got a boost as the surprise choice for best picture at the Producers Guild awards on Saturday night.

DARK HORSE CANDIDATES

But O'Neil said that any of the five presumed Oscar favorites could find themselves bumped off the list for best film by one of several dark horse candidates, including the comic sensation "Borat" and Clint Eastwood's Japanese-language war film "Letters from Iwo Jima."

That is because the Oscar ballot system makes it possible for a film to land one of the five best-picture nominations by garnering support from one-sixth plus one of the votes cast by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

"The point is, all you need is a small, passionate core of support to get a nomination. You don't need the bulk of the academy," O'Neil told Reuters.

The mock documentary "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" also is a wild card in the race for best actor. It remains to be seen whether its star, British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, can gain Oscar recognition for his slapstick, often bawdy performance as a cluelessly offensive journalist from Central Asia.

Other big questions are whether Leonardo DiCaprio will land a best-actor bid for either "The Departed" or "Blood Diamond" -- Oscar rules bar him from competing for both -- and whether Brad Pitt will be nominated as best actor or best supporting actor in "Babel."

WILD CARDS

Other critically acclaimed wild cards that stand a chance of clinching a nod for best picture are "United 93," a drama set aboard one of the airliners seized by suicide hijackers on September 11, and the Spanish-language film "Pan's Labyrinth," which mixes a dark fantasy with the horrors of war.

"Labyrinth" is a favorite for nomination as best foreign-language film, along with Pedro Almodovar's "Volver," starring Penelope Cruz.

The biggest commercial success in terms of the five most likely Oscar contenders for best film is "The Departed," which has grossed more than $121 million domestically and is still playing in theaters. Notwithstanding longshot "Borat," which has grossed $127 million, the others rank relatively low on the box-office scale.

In the contest for best director, Scorsese, 64, is a shoo-in to be nominated for "The Departed," a tale of double-dealing cops and gangsters. And he is favored to win, by virtue of an Oscar dynamic that O'Neil calls "the overdue director's syndrome."

The filmmaker behind such classics as "Taxi Driver" and "Goodfellas," Scorsese has never won an Academy Award despite five nominations as best director.

His most likely rivals include Bill Condon for "Dreamgirls," British filmmaker Stephen Frears for "The Queen," Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for "Babel" and Eastwood for "Letters from Iwo Jima."

Two performers are seen as sure bets to vie for best actor -- Forest Whitaker for his role as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland," and veteran Peter O'Toole for playing an aging actor who falls for a young woman in "Venus."

An Oscar triumph would be especially gratifying for O'Toole, who has been nominated as best actor seven times without winning.

The front-runners for an Oscar bid as best actress this year are Penelope Cruz for "Volver," Judi Dench for "Notes on a Scandal," Helen Mirren for "The Queen," Meryl Streep for "The Devil Wears Prada" and Kate Winslet for "Little Children."

Golden Globes wins help smaller films

LOS ANGELES - The dance flick "Stomp the Yard" retained its top spot at the box office for a second week, but a handful of small films were boosted by their success at the Golden Globes.

The Fox Searchlight film "The Last King of Scotland" was the biggest beneficiary as the studio shrewdly expanded the art house film from four theaters to 495, anticipating a good performance at the Globes. The movie took in an estimated $1.8 million from Friday to Sunday.

Forest Whitaker was named best actor in a drama for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. He also is considered a favorite for an acting Oscar.

"The marketplace accepted the movie," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "Having Forest Whitaker win for that key role really boosted the film."

"Babel," from Paramount Vantage, increased its ticket sales 500 percent from last weekend after the film, an ensemble piece featuring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, won best drama honors at the Globes.

The film, which initially didn't make the list of top 20 box office earners, jumped to 12th place this weekend with $2.3 million, according to studio estimates, bringing its 13-week take to $24 million.

The Miramax drama "The Queen" also got a huge lift, jumping 233 percent from last week to the ninth spot after its star, Helen Mirren, won two Golden Globes — one for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen," and as Queen Elizabeth I in a TV miniseries.

Another smaller film, the wartime fantasy "Pan's Labyrinth," from Picturehouse, a division of Time Warner Inc., saw its weekend gross jump 118 percent, moving it from 18th place last week to seventh place this weekend with $4.7 million.

The film, from Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, has won numerous awards, although it lost last week in the best foreign-language film category at the Globes to the Clint Eastwood Japanese-language war film "Letters From Iwo Jima."

"Anyone who is skeptical about the positive effect a Globe win can have on a film's box office need only look at this weekend's numbers," Dergarabedian said.

Many of the films are expected to be nominated Tuesday for the Academy Awards.

"Stomp the Yard," which focuses on a step competition between rival college fraternities, earned $13.3 million, narrowly beating "Night at the Museum" with $13 million. The comedy starring Ben Stiller has made about $206 million.

The only film to open wide this weekend, the horror movie "The Hitcher," came in fourth at the box office.

"The film is a little disappointing for us," said Jack Foley, president of distribution for Rogue Pictures. "It opened competitively in a sluggish marketplace and I think it will stick around for a few weeks anyway."

Overall, box office receipts for the top 12 films were down 20 percent from the same weekend last year.

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Stomp the Yard," $13.3 million.
2. "Night at the Museum," $13 million.
3. "Dreamgirls," $8.7 million.
4. "The Hitcher," $8.2 million.
5. "The Pursuit of Happyness," $6.7 million.
6. "Freedom Writers," $5.6 million.
7. "Pan's Labyrinth," $4.7 million.
8. "Children of Men," $3.7 million.
9. "The Queen," $3.7 million.
10. "Arthur and The Invisibles," $3.1 million.

Mamas and Papas' Denny Doherty dies

TORONTO (CP) - Halifax-born Denny Doherty was remembered Friday as the "angelic voice" that carried the '60s folk group the Mamas and the Papas through such memorable hits as "California Dreamin"' and "Monday, Monday."

Doherty died early Friday at his home in suburban Mississauga after suffering an aneurysm in his abdomen, said his sister Frances Arnold. He was 66.

"Everybody used to think that John Phillips, who wrote the songs, was also the main voice of the group, but it wasn't - it was the angelic voice of Denny Doherty," said Larry Leblanc, Canadian editor of Billboard Magazine.

"He was often overlooked but it was really his voice that carried the group."

The group's hits also included "Dream a Little Dream of Me" and "Dedicated to the One I Love." Doherty co-wrote the songs "I Saw Her Again Last Night" and "Got a Feelin.' "

Despite being together for just three tumultuous years marked by drug use and destructive love triangles, the Mamas and the Papas had 10 hit singles over five albums. The band broke up in 1968 amid internal squabbling.

Doherty, along with (Mama) Cass Elliot and John and Michelle Phillips, sold an estimated 20 million records.

In 1974 the 30-year-old Elliot suffered a fatal heart attack. John Phillips, the group's chief songwriter, died in 2001 at age 65.

"What made the group special was their haunting and sumptuous harmony singing," according to "The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll."

Kim Cook of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences compared Doherty to other top performers of the time.

"He was one of a group of Canadians of that era that would have included Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and others who were heading to the U.S. to make music and in some cases, fame and fortune," Cook said.

"He's an artist that, in terms of career accomplishments perhaps didn't rank with some of those artists but still had a fine career and really was a key component in some absolutely vital and compelling music."

Doherty started his music career in Montreal in 1960 as the co-founder of the Colonials, which later became the Halifax Three.

He launched an acting career in the '70s and appeared on Broadway in the 1974 play "Man on the Moon." Later in Halifax, he joined John Neville at the Neptune Theatre where he was in "The Taming of the Shrew," "Much Ado About Nothing" and "Cabaret."

The Mama and Papas had a short-lived comeback in 1982, adding two new faces to the classic group. John's daughter MacKenzie Phillips and Elaine (Spanky) McFarlane.

Doherty was involved in a number of musical projects, including an autobiographical musical, "Dream a Little Dream," which premiered in Toronto in 2001.

He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1996.

Doherty also dabbled in television, playing the role of the affable harbourmaster in the children's TV series "Theodore Tugboat."

The show, originally produced in Halifax by CBC, featured a cast of small, radio-controlled tugboats. Doherty provided the narration and the voices for all the characters.

Though the backdrop for the show was known as the Big Harbour, the model set - complete with a huge water tank - was actually a fairly accurate rendering of Halifax harbour.

The show attracted a huge following among its young fans in the mid-1990s when it appeared on CBC and later on PBS, the non-profit public broadcaster in the United States.

Every show featured Doherty's musical, mellifluous voice telling the stories of Theodore the tugboat and his friends, many of whom were named after places in Atlantic Canada.

Doherty suffered kidney problems following surgery Dec. 14 and was put on dialysis, Arnold said. He was released from hospital last week, and Arnold said he sounded tired when she spoke with him just days ago.

"It's got an unreal quality to it, I just can't get it through my head," Arnold, 78, said by phone from Halifax. "We weren't expecting it."

She said Doherty was depressed about his decline in health, and had been making plans for an adventurous boat trip across the Atlantic.

"He was a very energetic, busy active person and it was hard for him to make that adjustment, I think," she said.

Arnold says the first time her mother heard Doherty on the radio it was him singing "California Dreamin'."

"My mother stood in the kitchen and cried," she says.

Doherty, who was married twice, is survived by his siblings Frances, Joe, Denise and Joan and children John, Emberly and Jessica. Both of his wives predeceased him.

Funeral arrangements have yet to be made, Arnold said.

Toronto Maple Leafs Of 1967 To Be Saluted

(TORONTO) -- The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Friday that the 1967 Stanley Cup Championship team will be reunited and recognized in a pre-game ceremony when the Edmonton Oilers visit Air Canada Centre on February 17.

The game also marks the 80th anniversary of the Toronto Maple Leafs first game in 1927. Several players have confirmed their participation for the game next month including; George Armstrong, Bobby Baun, Johnny Bower, Brian Conacher, Ron Ellis, Aut Erickson, Larry Hillman, Larry Jeffrey, Red Kelly, Dave Keon, Jim Pappin, Marcel Pronovost, Eddie Shack, Allan Stanley, Pete Stemkowski, and Mike Walton.

“This is a terrific opportunity for our organization and our loyal fans to celebrate the achievement of a great team,” said John Ferguson, general manager of the Maple Leafs. “It’s really about saluting the last club of that Leafs’ era just before NHL expansion on a milestone anniversary of 40 years. It’s an occasion for them to enjoy their company once again and it also gives our fans the chance to cheer them as a group one more time.”

The 1966-67 edition of the Toronto Maple Leafs captured the franchise’s 11th Stanley Cup and fourth of the decade. The team defeated the reigning two-time Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens in the sixth game on May 2, 1967 as Canada was celebrating its centennial.

Ten members of the 1967 Maple Leafs would later be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame. A total of 11 players from the 1967 team played on the three other Stanley Cup winning teams in 1962, 1963, 1964. They are: Johnny Bower, Larry Hillman, Bob Baun, Allan Stanley, Red Kelly, George Armstrong, Dave Keon, Bob Pulford, Eddie Shack, Frank Mahovlich and the late Tim Horton. Terry Sawchuk, Bruce Gamble, Horton, and coach and general manager Punch Imlach are the only gentlemen from the 1967 team that are deceased.

The Maple Leafs compiled a record of 32 wins, 27 losses, and 11 ties in 70 games in the 1966-67 regular season. The team’s 75 points placed them third in the standings behind Chicago (94 points), and Montreal (77). The Maple Leafs eliminated the first-place Chicago Blackhawks in six games in the opening round before completing the same feat in the Stanley Cup Final against the Canadiens.

Dave Keon led the team in regular season scoring with 52 points (19g, 33a) and he finished 12th among all NHL players in points that season. He earned the Conn Smythe Trophy as ‘the most valuable player for his team in the playoffs’ that year. Jim Pappin scored the Stanley Cup winning goal and he led all NHL players with seven goals and 15 points during the 12 games of the 1967 post-season. Forty years ago, the team was bolstered in the nets for the third and final season by two of hockey’s greatest goalies; Johnny Bower at age 42 and Terry Sawchuk at age 37. The unlikely playoff run came on the heels of a regular season in which the team needed three other goalies (Gamble, Gary Smith and the late Al Smith) at various points of the season. In addition, King Clancy spelled an ill Punch Imlach for a 10 game stretch behind the bench and led them to a 7-1-2 record.

Interestingly enough, the team had a 10-game losing streak from January 15 to February 8 scoring just 15 goals before regrouping to capture the Stanley Cup over their national rival. The hallmark of the 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs was their experience. They sported the oldest lineup to ever win the Stanley Cup, with an average age of 31. Seven players were over 35 and 12 members were over age 30. Bower and Stanley (age 41) were the oldest members of the team in the last year of the Original Six.

Doctor Who - Did you see the chainsaw episode? ***Updated***

We've had a few readers write in to report a strange glitch with Doctor Who season 2, which they rented from NetFlix.

At exactly the 32:40 mark of disc 1, episode 2 ("New Earth") the video switches to chainsaw-horror movie (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning), which includes a very graphic scene of someone getting his legs cut off with a chainsaw. The bonus material on the disc can't be accessed either, which will allow you to quickly check to see if you have a problem disc.

How can something like this happen? Most DVDs are made up of two layers, so layer 1 is Doctor Who, while layer 2 is the psycho-chainsaw movie. Companies send their material off to be replicated in large replication facilities that handle movies and TV shows from many different companies. There must have been a glitch in the production of Doctor Who which caused the two different layers to be combined, and was caught after a few sets had made their way out of the facility. We've only had two reports of this issue, and both people rented the discs from NetFlix.

If you've purchased a set like this from a store, please drop us a line, but please do not email to say that your set is fine; we expect there are only a handful of incorrect sets out there.

Update: John Halpin wrote to let us know he had the same problem, but he also said that the disc was labeled "Not for retail sale - Rental only" on it. That's great news, and it means that consumers shouldn't have this problem on the sets they purchase.

Remembering the historic 1977 Oscars

NEW YORK - When Jack Nicholson opened the envelope and read "Rocky" as the best-picture winner at the 49th Academy Awards 30 years ago, Sylvester Stallone was caught without his tie.

The actor's rental bow tie had fallen off on his way to the ceremony, but producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff still dragged Stallone up to the stage. Stallone may have been caught unprepared for the occasion, but he wasn't alone — most of Hollywood was surprised too.

In fitting underdog fashion, "Rocky" upset a legendary class of films. Also up for best picture at the 1977 Oscars were three movies generally considered among the best America has produced: "All the President's Men," "Network" and "Taxi Driver." (Hal Ashby's Woody Guthrie biopic "Bound for Glory" was the fifth nomination.)

As the 30th anniversary of those Oscars nears, there are a few notable parallels. Stallone has again produced a "Rocky" film ("Rocky Balboa"), though it would be fortunate to win one nomination, let alone the ten that the original did. "Taxi Driver" director Martin Scorsese is again in the hunt with "The Departed."

But for many, the 49th Academy Awards remains exhibit A in any argument about the academy's less than perfect taste — a critique that usually cites the best-picture loss of "Citizen Kane" in 1942 (to John Ford's "How Green Was My Valley"), Alfred Hitchcock's lack of a best-director award or Art Carney's best-actor win in 1975 over Nicholson ("Chinatown"), Al Pacino ("The Godfather: Part II") and Dustin Hoffman ("Lenny").

"In hindsight, it looks crazy that, of those nominated films, `Rocky' won — because `Rocky' is the flimsiest by far, and was so at the time," says film critic and historian David Thomson. "But at the time, there was this stupid notion that Sly Stallone represented a great American success story."

"It's a shining example of how silly (the Oscars) can be," adds Thomson.

Sidney Lumet directed "Network," the darkly satirical portrait of TV news. It won three acting Oscars and best screenplay for Paddy Chayefsky, but the best-picture loss still stings for Lumet.

"I've been nominated five times," the director told The Associated Press last year. "But on two occasions, I got so pissed off about what beat us. With `Network,' we were beaten out by `Rocky' for Christ's sake." (Lumet, who was finally awarded an honorary Oscar in 2005, also mentions the best picture win for "Gandhi" over his "The Verdict" in 1983.)

"Rocky" has almost certainly affected American culture more than the other three nominees — there is a statue of the film's main character in Philadelphia, after all. Propelled by Stallone's passion for it, the movie opened in limited release in late November of 1976 with modest hopes. Winkler says, "It just kind of got momentum as it went along." It won the Golden Globe for best drama and eventually landed two Oscars besides best picture: best director (John G. Avildsen) and best film editing.

But "All the President's Men," "Network" and "Taxi Driver" are all considered gems from one of the most vibrant periods of American cinema: the 1970s. It was then that directors — newly labeled as "auteurs" — like Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Robert Altman flourished.

1976, when these films opened, was of course the bicentennial, which many think affected the Oscar voting. "Rocky" was wrapped up in the flag — the boxer literally drapes it over himself in the movie's finale: a bicentennial bout against Apollo Creed.

"I think there was a kind of feeling in the country at the time — we had just gone through a decade of terrible social problems in America," remembers Winkler, who went on to produce films including "Raging Bull," "The Right Stuff" and "Goodfellas."

"And all of a sudden this movie came along and said, `You know, if you believe in yourself, you'll be OK.' And suddenly it became part of what America was about. I think maybe if the picture had come out two years later or two years earlier, it might not have caught on the way it did."

Some would say, though, that "Taxi Driver," "Network" and "All the President's Men" all said more about America than "Rocky."

"All the President's Men," which was nominated for eight Oscars and won four, depicted in step-by-step detail the reporting of Bob Woodward ( Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Hoffman) that exposed the depth of President Nixon's Watergate scandal.

Remembering "All the President's Men," Redford told the AP on the film's 30th anniversary: "It was very much about hard work that won the day, and that's an American ethic."

It was also an election year in 1976, and some think "All the President's Men" helped Jimmy Carter defeat incumbent Gerald Ford, who pardoned Nixon.

"Taxi Driver," which failed to win any of its four nominations, was the darkest of the best picture films from 1976. The story of Travis Bickle's ( Robert De Niro) festering anger in New York City culminates in a bloody conclusion — which even among the edgy cinema of the `70s likely made some academy members uncomfortable.

"I think `Rocky' won because it had a good feeling. It was an uplifting film," says Tim Dirks, who runs the "Greatest Films" Web site, http://www.filmsite.org. "The other films were a little bit too heavy or too edgy for the time and `Rocky' was a million-to-one shot — and it went the distance."

According to Dirks (whose site lists the "Rocky" best-picture win as one of the "worst of the worst" awards), the theme is a familiar one: the academy often goes for less edgy material. There are always many factors in Oscar voting, but examples of cautiousness can perhaps be seen as recently as last year, when "Crash" upset "Brokeback Mountain" — and as early as "Citizen Kane."

"Even `Citizen Kane' was a little edgy," Dirks says. "It had a lot of controversy over its portrayal of someone who looked a lot like William Randolph Hearst."

The academy can be proud that it managed to at least nominate "Taxi Driver," "All the President's Men" and "Network." Some very well-regarded movies were never nominated at all, among them Howard Hawks' "His Girl Friday" (1940) and John Ford's "The Searchers" (1956).

Despite the questionable victory by "Rocky," 1976 remains an impressive class for American films, which most years — 2006 included — would have difficulty living up to.

"We don't have those kind of pictures anymore," says Thomson. "We don't have the big entertainment that deals with serious subjects.

"Today, `Network' would be an independent film."

Columnist Art Buchwald dead at 81

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Art Buchwald, who took humorous jabs at Washington politicians in syndicated columns for decades, has died, a close friend said Thursday. He was 81.

Buchwald died late Wednesday, said CNN anchor Kyra Phillips. Buchwald was her mentor for 18 years, and she became a close friend of the family. The unofficial cause of death, she said, was kidney failure.

She said Buchwald's son and daughter-in-law were at his side, "holding his hand. He passed away peacefully."

"In the last few weeks, he knew it was his time," she said. "He said his good-byes to everybody."

That included his colleagues at the Washington Post, which published his columns after he moved to Washington in the 1960s.

Buchwald suffered a stroke in 2000, and was plagued by kidney and circulation problems, which led doctors to amputate one of his legs below the knee.

He checked into a Washington hospice February 7 after he chose to quit life-prolonging kidney dialysis. His last treatment was February 1. However, Phillips said Thursday that he continued to make hospital visits because of minor infections from the amputation.

He planned his funeral when he went to the hospice.

"I went to the hospice to die," he told Phillips in November. But he defied the odds, and in July he was flown to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, to spend the summer.

"I had two decisions. Continue dialysis and that's boring to do three times a week, and I don't know where that's going, or I can just enjoy life and see where it takes me," he told writer Suzette Martinez Standring, who spent two days with him in late February.

Writing about near-death experience

He resumed writing, including a book about his near-death experience.

Buchwald launched his career as a columnist in 1949 in Paris, where he wrote about the light side of Paris nightlife in the European edition of the New York Herald Tribune. He returned to the United States around 1962 and moved to Washington, where he began writing columns filled with political satire for The Washington Post.

Some of Buchwald's observations:

During the Watergate scandal, Buchwald explained that the sound in the 18 1/2-minute gap in the White House tapes actually was Nixon humming.

"Just when you think there's nothing to write about, Nixon says, 'I am not a crook.' Jimmy Carter says, 'I have lusted after women in my heart.' President Reagan says, 'I have just taken a urinalysis test, and I am not on dope.'"

"Have you ever seen a candidate talking to a rich person on television?"

"Every time you think television has hit its lowest ebb, a new program comes along to make you wonder where you thought the ebb was."

Pulitzer Prize for commentary

Buchwald won a Pulitzer Prize for outstanding commentary in 1982, and in 1986 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He began writing columns, later syndicated, for The Washington Post in the late 1960s.

The humorist authored dozens of books, including two memoirs, "Leaving Home" (1993) and "I'll Always Have Paris" (1996). He also wrote "Paris After Dark" (1950), "Son of the Great Society" (1961), "Washington Is Leaking" (1976) and "While Reagan Slept" (1983).

Buchwald and producer Alain Bernheim filed a lawsuit in 1988 against Paramount Pictures, contending the company used Buchwald's script idea as the basis for the movie "Coming to America," without giving them credit or profits. Buchwald won the case.

Despite his ill health, Buchwald enjoyed his friends and social events, and celebrated his 80th birthday in 2005 at the French Embassy in Washington.

'The patron saint of political satire'

According to Standring, Buchwald had a parade of celebrity visitors, including several members of the Kennedy family, and he still loved to joke with people.

Standring visited Buchwald to present him with the 2006 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, calling him the "patron saint of political satire."

The writer acknowledged that Buchwald likely wouldn't be alive by June, when the organization's meeting will be held.

According to Buchwald's assistant, Cathy Crary, her boss wrote three columns a week until about 1995, and penned two weekly until January.

Buchwald, she said, always has been humble and accessible.

Listed in the phone book

"He's listed in the phone directory and always has been. People see his name and can't believe it's the real Art Buchwald, but that's how he is," Crary said.

Buchwald was born in Mount Vernon, New York, where he and his two sisters spent their youths in foster homes, according to The Washington Post. His mother was committed to an asylum soon after he was born.

The writer suffered two bouts of depression. The last episode, in the 1980s, resulted from the breakup of his long marriage. He has a son, Joel, and a daughter, Jennifer, who lives in Massachusetts, but has been staying in Washington.

"Buchwald doesn't see himself as courageous, nor does he feel shored up by supernatural spiritual strength," Shandring said. "To fade away naturally is the decision he made when faced with the alternative of being hooked up to a dialysis machine three times a week, for five hours at a stretch for the rest of his life."

CBC Radio to broaden Radio Two, add arts magazine

CBC introduced on Wednesday a slate of arts and culture programming changes to its two main radio services, largely driven by the decision to expand CBC Radio Two as a flag-waving Canadian music service and broaden the musical genres featured on air.

The announcement comes about three years after the public broadcaster began an in-depth study that examined CBC Radio's arts programming, and polled the public and the country's cultural stakeholders about what they wanted to see.

Music programming will largely migrate off CBC Radio One, the news and current affairs-focused main service. However, comedy, drama and other arts and entertainment programming will continue to be featured on Radio One, available to 98 per cent of Canadians.

Radio management is rebranding Radio Two — which reaches about 75 per cent of Canadians — as an adult-oriented music service, targeting an audience over age 35.

More than half of the current Radio Two audience is over 65, said Jane Chalmers, the vice-president of CBC English Radio.

Retains classical core, adds jazz, contemporary

While the revamped Radio Two will retain classical music at its core, there is a plan to expand its playlist — and, the network hopes, attract slightly younger listeners — with more jazz and contemporary music. Boosting the service's Canadian content by about 20 per cent is also a priority.

"We're retaining our commitment to classical music, so that oasis will continue," Chalmers told CBC Arts Online.

"But we also feel that a lot of great quality Canadian music is not being heard on any radio station or any broadcaster, period. It would have a natural home on Radio Two."

Changes to Radio Two will include the establishment of hosted, themed blocks each evening, seven days a week, with jazz featured from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., live performances following for two hours, and contemporary music showcased from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Other changes:

Elements of Global Village, which features world music and reports about music from correspondents located worldwide, will be incorporated into Dispatches, the weekly Radio One program featuring reports and documentaries by journalists abroad.

Radio dramas and comedies will be showcased in the half-hour slot before noon weekdays at the end of Sounds Like Canada on Radio One.

Montreal host Danielle Charbonneau will host a new overnight music program, featuring a broad range of genres, on Radio Two.

Between the Covers, which features novels and short stories read in 15-minute instalments, will migrate online.

Ottawa-based musical mash-up/match-up show Fuse will move up from its current Saturday evening spot to replace the last hour of Definitely Not the Opera on Saturday afternoon on Radio One and to Sunday afternoon on Radio Two.

Hosts will include those already familiar to CBC listeners, like Katie Malloch, Matt Galloway and Laurie Brown, as well as newcomers such as Winnipeg-based composer Pat Carrabré and jazz singer Tim Tamashiro out of Calgary.

While it will ultimately be programmers who define the musical lineup of each show, "it could include experimental jazz, it could include fusion styles, it could include electronica," said Jennifer McGuire, executive director of programming for CBC English Radio.

News updates on Radio Two will also change, with a new three-minute package of headlines and highlights to be introduced on the hour during radio's morning and afternoon "drive-home" hours. This new news package will be designed specifically with Radio Two's music emphasis in mind and tailored to reflect the different regions across the country.

With Radio Two poised as an adult-oriented music service, the public broadcaster's more youth-oriented music offerings — like CBC Radio Three and Brave New Waves — will be available on CBC's Sirius satellite channels and via podcasting.

New afternoon arts magazine

With music the focus on Radio Two, Radio One will see some program reshuffling as well as a new weekday arts magazine show hosted by musician and CBC personality Jian Ghomeshi.

Reporters and producers across the country will contribute to the new afternoon show, which will be produced out of Toronto and replace the current pop culture show Freestyle.

The new program will also be presented in a condensed version weekday evenings, replacing The Arts Tonight. It will encompass a broad range of arts, culture, music, and entertainment news and features.

"We had a commitment to increase the presence of our arts coverage on the network. That was a goal going in," McGuire said of the new show, which is yet to be named.

"We want a reflection of what's happening regionally to be showcased."

Changes to start in March

The first phase of the changes will be launched in mid-March, with the final slate scheduled to roll out in about a year. The changes will affect 63 staffers. Managers are in the process of discussing reassignments.

"It is our job to respond to the environment out there," McGuire said. "This idea of continually growing, and pushing and moving forward what we do is not a bad idea."

Chalmers said sustainability, through the addition of younger and more diverse listeners representative of Canada, will be her measure of whether the changes are successful.

Success "doesn't necessarily mean more [listeners], but we want to guarantee that the audience is sustainable over the long term," she said. "And ideally, if we grow more audience, that's great."

Media watchdog enthusiastic

Media watchdog Friends of Canadian Broadcasting praised the Wednesday announcement, calling the changes "responsible management."

"You have to update and improve," said group spokesman Ian Morrison.

"We have to support the idea of trying to adjust to younger demographics … and as long as they're sensitive to their existing audience, I commend them."

Sorkin shifts 'Studio 60' toward relationships

PASADENA, Calif. — Aaron Sorkin wants a little more love for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

When the NBC show returns Monday (10 ET/PT) for a seven-week run, Sorkin says you'll see less sketch comedy and more romantic comedy. Speaking on the show's super-sized set to TV reporters at the industry's semiannual press tour, Sorkin says the new episodes will focus on a couple of couples: Danny and Jordan (Bradley Whitford and Amanda Peet) will come together; and Matt and Harriet (Matthew Perry and Sarah Paulson) will fall apart — and them come back together.

Sorkin hopes the relationship shifts will bring more viewers to the show. But he also thinks the show is doing fine overall, and that the focus on ratings disappointment (Studio 60 averages fewer than 9 million viewers) can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. It could just be that 60 was never meant to be an Idol-sized hit.

"Not everything is for everybody. When I compare the size of the Studio 60 audience to the Sports Night audience (an earlier Sorkin behind-the-TV-scenes series), I'm delighted."

NBC may not be as delighted: The show may not air 22 episodes this season, and it may not stay on Mondays. (The Black Donnellys will take over the slot in March). Still, network entertainment president Kevin Reilly says, "We're leaving it alone. Let's see what happens. The show is too good not to give it a full season."

Good the show may be, but Sorkin also knows it attracts more than its share of viewer complaints. Some he filters out (most anything on the Internet); some he considers. But in the end, it's his show. "You got to be careful not to let too many voices into your head, or you're not going to get anywhere. … I tried to stay focused and keep writing the show I intended to write."

Lindsay Lohan checks into rehab

LOS ANGELES - Lindsay Lohan has checked into rehab. "I have made a proactive decision to take care of my personal health. I appreciate your well wishes and ask that you please respect my privacy at this time," said the 20-year-old actress in a statement issued Wednesday through her publicist, Leslie Sloane Zelnick.

Us Weekly reports that Lohan entered the posh Wonderland Center in Los Angeles at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, arriving in a sports utility vehicle and clutching a Jamba Juice.

Zelnick confirmed to The Associated Press in December that Lohan was attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Lohan told People magazine then that she had been going to the meetings for a year.

"I haven't had a drink in seven days. Or anything," she said to People. "I'm not even legal to, so why would I? I don't drink when I go to clubs. I drink with my friends at home, but there's no need to. I feel better not drinking. It's more fun. I have Red Bull."

Last July, Lohan was treated for several hours at a Los Angeles area hospital for overheating and dehydration on the set of "Georgia Rule."

The actress, whose other screen credits include "Mean Girls," "Bobby," "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Freaky Friday," recently had surgery to remove her appendix.

The Rock joins 'Get Smart' cast

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson ("Be Cool") and Terence Stamp ("Elektra") have signed on for the spy spoof "Get Smart," a film adaptation of the classic 1965 TV series.

Johnson will play Agent 23, a newly created character for the movie, while Stamp will portray an evil mastermind.

The film features Steve Carrell as Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway as Agent 99.

Peter Segal ("50 First Dates," "Anger Management") is set to direct.

"Get Smart," which will be shot in Los Angeles, Washington and Moscow, begins filming next month.

'Grey's' Heigl fumes over comments

LOS ANGELES (AP) - "Grey's Anatomy" star Katherine Heigl was not pleased with fellow castmate Isaiah Washington's comments following Monday's Golden Globe Awards.

During an interview in the press room after the show's best-drama win, Washington denied his involvement in a heated on-set incident in October during which he allegedly used a homophobic slur.

"No, I did not call (co-star) T.R. (Knight) a faggot," Washington said. "Never happened, never happened."

Rather than soothing the situation, his comments left Heigl seething.

"I'm going to be really honest right now, he needs to just not speak in public. Period," Heigl told "Access Hollywood" at a Golden Globe after-party. "I'm sorry, that did not need to be said. I'm not OK with it."

She called the comments "hurtful," characterizing the incident as one that should be handled privately among the show's cast and crew.

"I don't think (Washington) means it the way he comes off," Heigl said. "But T.R. is my best friend. ... I will use every ounce of energy I have to take you down if you hurt his feelings."

Knight, who said soon after the October fracas that he is gay, appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" Tuesday to discuss the original incident and Washington's recent comments.

"He referred to me as a faggot. Everyone heard it," Knight said of the October squabble.

Comments from Heigl and Washington were set to air Tuesday on "Access Hollywood." A call placed after hours Tuesday to Washington's representative was not returned.

Oscar race lacks best-picture favorite

LOS ANGELES - The Golden Globes, trade unions, film critics and just about everyone else in Hollywood have weighed in on 2006's best film achievements, helping to solidify the Academy Awards picture — and muddy it up a bit, too.

With the Oscar nominations due out Tuesday, a few clear front-runners and some intriguing wild cards have emerged, along with an unusually open race for the top prize.

Still to come are honors by the Directors Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild, whose nominations came out earlier this month. Those awards should help sort out the much of the Oscar outlook, but unlike most years, when a solid favorite often emerges, the best-picture category could remain up for grabs right up to awards night Feb. 25.

Here is a look at how Oscar season is shaping up:

THE SURE THINGS:

Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker seemingly sewed up the best-actress and actor categories from the minute their films debuted last fall.

A grand dame of British drama, Mirren looks unbeatable for her turn as prim Elizabeth II in "The Queen." Mirren brings marvelous haughtiness and humanity to the maligned monarch as she blindly ignores — then awkwardly acknowledges — her subjects' pleas for royal reassurance and comfort over the death of Princess Diana in 1997.

If there's a best-actress dark horse, it's Penelope Cruz, who delivers a career performance full of heart and humor in "Volver," playing a woman coping with bizarre — and possibly supernatural — crises in her domestic life.

But with Mirren in the mix, Cruz almost certainly has to settle for runner-up status.

The quiet, even-keeled Whitaker, known more for hushed menace or gentle humor, explodes on screen as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland," presenting a figure of towering passion and depraved cruelty.

The fictionalized story casts the bombastic, big-hearted and brutal Amin first as mentor — later as tormentor — of a young Scottish doctor seeking adventure in Africa.

The only actor with an outside chance at usurping Whitaker's Oscar crown is:

THE LION IN WINTER:

All the hard, hedonistic mileage of Peter O'Toole's life — and that of his character, a frail but still lecherous old actor — shows clearly on his face in "Venus," a portrait of a man whose libido still functions, even if his body doesn't.

O'Toole is tied with Richard Burton — his co-star in 1964's "Becket," which earned them both best-actor nominations — for the Oscar-futility record among actors, each nominated seven times but never winning.

Another loss would make O'Toole the all-time biggest acting loser at oh-for-eight.

With other best-actor nominations for such films as "Lawrence of Arabia," "My Favorite Year" and "The Lion in Winter," O'Toole was given an honorary Oscar four years ago, a prize he almost turned down, saying he felt he still had a chance to win the award outright.

There's an outside chance that still could happen, despite Whitaker's dominating performance. O'Toole is superb in "Venus," and the 74-year-old actor could prove a sentimental favorite among Oscar voters who feel he's been unduly overlooked.

The precedent is there: A year after the academy gave Henry Fonda an honorary award, the 76-year-old Hollywood legend finally won the best-actor Oscar, for "On Golden Pond."

THE BEST-PICTURE PUZZLE:

The rousing Motown-era musical? The sweeping mob epic? The globe-trotting ensemble drama? The beloved road-trip romp? The sly, caustic palace tale?

Most years, a front-runner or two has emerged by now, but no clear favorite has stepped forward from this season's far-flung group of best-picture wannabes.

Almost certain to grab nominations are the musical "Dreamgirls," the crime saga "The Departed" and the monarchy chronicle "The Queen." The international drama "Babel" also looks like a safe bet, and the road tale "Little Miss Sunshine" has a strong shot to become a rare comedy that sneaks into the best-picture mix.

Clint Eastwood's World War II companion films, "Letters From Iwo Jima" and "Flags of Our Fathers," have outside chances, though neither has caught much fire with earlier awards or audiences. The suburban comic drama "Little Children" also has a shot.

"Dreamgirls" was the big winner at the Golden Globes with three prizes, including best musical or comedy. "Babel" came in leading the field with seven nominations but left with just one, for best drama.

Despite crafting such modern classics as "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull" and "Goodfellas," "The Departed" director Martin Scorsese never has delivered a best-picture winner — or won the directing Oscar.

Sentiment could be on his side this time with the cops-and-crooks tale of moles in the Boston mob and police force. Like audiences who flocked to "The Departed" and made it Scorsese's biggest hit ever, Oscar voters undoubtedly appreciate the filmmaker's return to raw, roiling crime cinema, a genre whose conventions he has helped define for more than three decades.

But the musical — long moribund until 2001's "Moulin Rouge" scored a best-picture nomination and 2002's "Chicago" won the best-picture Oscar — continues its resurgence with "Dreamgirls."

Adapted from the stage sensation, the film traces the rise of a Supremes-like singing trio from Detroit's 1960s music scene. On course to follow "Chicago" as a $100 million box-office hit, "Dreamgirls" is a crowd-pleaser anchored by invigorating musical performances and classy production values that will have across-the-board appeal for academy voters.

THE DESERVING VETERAN:

Since his early 20s, Eddie Murphy has weathered broad career swings.

His infectious grin and manic temperament have won over audiences in "Beverly Hills Cop," "48 Hrs." and the "Doctor Dolittle" and "Nutty Professor" flicks, but he's tanked when straying too far from his likable, tried-and-true persona with such duds as "Holy Man," "Vampire in Brooklyn" and "The Adventures of Pluto Nash."

As a James Brown-like soul wailer in "Dreamgirls," Murphy finally has found an ideal fit for his in-your-face attitude, his edgier dark side and his innate talent to take the stage and blow the roof off the joint.

With a Golden Globe now on his shelf, Murphy heads toward the Oscars looking like a solid supporting-actor front-runner.

THE DESERVING DIRECTORS:

Like O'Toole, Scorsese could go down in the books as one of the all-time biggest failures at the Oscars. With five nominations and no wins, Scorsese is tied with four other directors for losingest filmmaker.

A sixth loss would make Scorsese the record-holder.

His prospects look good this time, though the same was true two years ago, when he lost to Clint Eastwood, whose "Million Dollar Baby" beat Scorsese's "The Aviator" for best picture.

Eastwood scored two directing nominations for the Golden Globes with "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima," though his Oscar star faded after he was shut out for a Directors Guild nomination.

The winner at the Golden Globes, Scorsese was among the guild nominees, along with Stephen Frears for "The Queen," Bill Condon for "Dreamgirls," Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for "Babel" and the husband-and-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris for "Little Miss Sunshine."

Oscar nominees generally line up close to the guild picks, though Eastwood could slip in to displace someone.

As for a winner, Scorsese certainly has sentiment on his side. No matter how "The Departed" fares in other Oscar categories, the directing prize finally seems within his grasp.

THE DESERVING NEWCOMERS:

In barely two years, Jennifer Hudson has gone from talent-show hopeful as a finalist on "American Idol" to Golden Globe winner and likely Oscar front-runner as supporting actress for her show-stopping role in "Dreamgirls."

With her first acting role as a saucy vocal powerhouse forced to take a backseat to her more mainstream and photogenic band mate, Hudson steals scene after scene opposite Oscar winner Jamie Foxx and pop superstar Beyonce Knowles.

While Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett were the marquee names in "Babel," the most memorable performances came from two faces relatively new to the Hollywood crowd.

Mexican actress Adriana Barraza is heartbreaking as nanny to two American children whose life takes a terrible turn because of tragic events half a world away. Japanese newcomer Rinko Kikuchi proves mesmerizing with a silent, wrenching, introspective performance as a teen whose family is struck by the same events overseas.

THE DESERVING LONGSHOTS:

On rare occasions when academy voters go for comic roles, it's usually with a respected dramatic actor who's gone slumming in a comedy, such as Kevin Kline, a supporting-actor winner for "A Fish Called Wanda."

Sacha Baron Cohen's turn as a crass and clueless observer of the United States in "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" won him the Golden Globe for best actor in a musical or comedy.

The role almost certainly is too outrageous to earn him a best-actor nomination from the staid academy, but it would be nice to seem him in the mix if only to liven up what could be an otherwise predictable lineup.

Two little-seen films about protagonists coping with drug problems brought acting nominations at earlier awards for actors every bit as good as the likely Oscar nominees, but who probably will not be among the five finalists.

Maggie Gyllenhaal earned a Golden Globe nomination as an ex-con fighting her drug addiction and trying to work her way back into her young daughter's life in "Sherrybaby."

Ryan Gosling was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award as an inspiring teacher struggling with a drug habit, who becomes both mentor and reclamation project for a bright inner-city student in "Half Nelson."

But it's tough for such deserving smaller performances to break into a roster crowded with such Oscar heavyweights as Mirren, O'Toole, Leonardo DiCaprio ("The Departed," "Blood Diamond"), Judi Dench ("Notes on a Scandal"), Kate Winslet ("Little Children") and Will Smith ("The Pursuit of Happyness").

Happy Feet is tapping to video in March

The animated hit Happy Feet starring a vast variety of celebrity voices will dance to DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Disc this March.

In the great nation of Emperor Penguins, deep in Antarctica, you're nobody unless you can sing - which is unfortunate for Mumble (Elijah Wood), who is the worst singer in the world. He is born dancing to his own tune...tap dancing. As fate would have it, his one friend, Gloria (Brittany Murphy), happens to be the best singer around. Mumble and Gloria have a connection from the moment they hatch, but she struggles with his strange "hippity- hoppity" ways.

Away from home for the first time, Mumble meets a posse of decidedly un-Emperor-like penguins - the Adelie Amigos. Led by Ramon (Robin Williams), the Adelies instantly embrace Mumble's cool dance moves and invite him to party with them.

In Adelie Land, Mumble seeks the counsel of Lovelace the Guru (also voiced by Robin Williams), a crazy-feathered Rockhopper penguin who will answer any of life's questions for the price of a pebble. Together with Lovelace and the Amigos, Mumble sets out across vast landscapes and, after some epic encounters, proves that by being true to yourself, you can make all the difference in the world.

Directed by George Miller, “Happy Feet” features the voice talent of Hugh Jackman, Brittany Murphy, Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Magda Szubanski, Nicole Kidman, Robin Williams, Anthony Lapaglia, and Steve Irwin among others.

The DVD version will come as separate widescreen or pan & scan versions with 5.1 channel Dolby Digital audio tracks. As extras you will find the Featurette “Dance Like A Penguin” on the release as well as two new animated sequences “Mumble meets a Blue Whale” and “A Happy Feet Moment.” Next up are the two Music Videos “Hit Me Up” from Gia, and Prine’s “Thee Song of the Heart.” As a special bonus from the Warner Vaults, the 1936 Tex Avery Cartoon “I Love to Singa” will also be incorporated on this release.

The HD-DVD version, coming on a HD-30/DVD-9 combo version, will feature the widescreen version of the film with Dolby Digital EX 5.1 and a lossless TrueHD Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track in English, as well as Dolby Digital EX 5.1 tracks in French and Spanish. All extras from the DVD version will also be included on the HD-DVD side of the release.

The Blu-Ray Disc version will offer only Dolby Digital EX 5.1 tracks in English, French and Spanish. The TrueHD track will be missing from this release but all the DVD’s extras will be included.

The DVD version will carry a $29.99 sticker price while the HD-DVD/DVD combo will set you back $39.99 and the Blu-Ray Disc can be yours for $34.99 when “Happy Feet” hits retail shelves on March 27.

Healey recovering from lung cancer surgery

TORONTO (CP) - Blues-rock singer Jeff Healey is recovering from surgery to remove cancerous tissue from both lungs.

Healey's publicist says the celebrated blind guitarist underwent a major operation Thursday and is recuperating in a Toronto hospital with family at his side. Richard Flohil says Healey was diagnosed with lung cancer in December but chose to keep the news private until now.

He says doctors report a successful operation, and notes they caught the disease early due to regular testing.

Flohil says Healey is in good spirits and eager to return to the stage soon.

Healey, an occasional smoker, lost his eye sight to retinoblastoma, a rare form of cancer that left him blind in both eyes by age one.

In the past 18 months, he's also undergone two operations to remove two sarcomas in his left leg.

"He varies like anybody in this situation between grumpy and depressed about it to being very positive," Flohil said of Healey's mood. "Most of the time he's pretty positive."

"As Jeff says, I've had 40 good years, you get a bump every now and then."

The operation comes just days after Healey celebrated the opening of a new blues club in the heart of Toronto's entertainment district.

He performed at a gala opening of Jeff Healey's Roadhouse on Jan. 9, an opening that was originally scheduled for Jan. 10 but moved up to allow time to prepare for surgery on Jan. 11.

Flohil said Healey was eager to play guitar again with his blues-rock outfit The Jeff Healey Band and his classic jazz group, Jeff Healey and the Jazz Wizards, with whom he plays trumpet and guitar.

It wasn't clear how the most recent operation would affect Healey's ability to play trumpet.

Trailer Park Boys are back to host East Coast Music Awards

Ricky, Julian and Bubbles are once again leaving the friendly confines of Sunnyvale for the bright lights of Halifax.

The foul-mouthed Trailer Park Boys trio will return as hosts of the East Coast Music Awards next month in the Nova Scotia capital, organizers announced Tuesday.

Producers for the Feb. 18 gala show, which will be broadcast nationally on CBC, said the popular characters — played by Robb Wells, John Paul Tremblay and Mike Smith — were an easy choice to host for the second straight time after being well received by last year's audience.

The announcement comes on the heels of a successful year for the Trailer Park Boys franchise.

The television show aired its sixth season on the Showcase network in the spring, whileTrailer Park Boys: The Movie — released in Canadian theatres in October — earned critical acclaim and robust box office numbers.

The film is nominated for best picture and best adapted screenplay at the Feb. 13 Genie Awards.

Diverse list of performers on tap

East Coat Music Awards officials unveiled a preliminary lineup of performances for the show, which they say will showcase the diversity of East Coast music.

Among the performers will be Halifax-based alternative rock group the Joel Plaskett Emergency; New Brunswick-based Acadian singer-songwriter George Belliveau; Classified, a rapper from Enfield, N.S.; and a number of up-and-coming songwriters, including P.E.I's Rose Cousins.

The awards show will include tributes to John Allan Cameron and Dutch Mason, two Nova Scotian musicians who both died this year.

The show, to be held at the Halifax Metro Centre, wraps up a four-day music festival expected to draw 400 artists, 2,500 delegates and 50,000 fans.

Blink and you'll miss it: Stephen Merchant on 24, Ricky Gervais still to come

Did you catch Stephen Merchant on 24 this weekend?

It was a "blink and you'll miss it" moment, and the poor guy didn't even get a line. However, as a self-professed fan of the show, it was probably a moment in heaven for him. Literally, a moment. Someone hands him a sheet of paper that he's supposed to ostensibly do something extremely critical with (hey, he works in the CTU after all), and he gives them a grim little nod in return.

Ahhh, the acting chops that had to take. Still, I would've jumped at the chance to be on the show, even if I was background extra number 48 in a crowd scene.

Apparently they also filmed a scene with Ricky Gervais that might be an extra on the DVD for this season. According to rickygervais.com, "In the scene, a group of White House brass meet to discuss an impending terrorist threat. Gervais, dressed like a presidential advisor, keeps whispering under his breath to give the mission to Jack Bauer - and then acts incredulous when someone else says it aloud and takes credit for the idea."

Stephen Merchant currently co-stars in the HBO comedy Extras, which he co-created and produces with Ricky Gervais, and also did the same for the BBC version of The Office, which is fantastic if you haven't seen it.

Now that's comedy, folks.

Lachey and Mendes are most fun, fearless

NEW YORK (AP) — Nick Lachey and Eva Mendes have been named Fun Fearless Male and Female of the Year by Cosmopolitan magazine.

The stars grace a double cover in the magazine's February issue. Mendes is pictured on the front wearing a sky blue dress followed by a second cover featuring Lachey in a button-down shirt and jeans.

Lachey, 33, had a 2006 hit album, What's Left of Me, which used his broken marriage with Jessica Simpson as inspiration.

"I've certainly gotten my share of criticism from people who are like 'how could you talk about all that? It's so undignified,'" he says in an interview with the magazine.

"For me, it was the greatest thing I could do to let my guard down and be willing to expose my emotions and put them into music. Especially when going through an experience like divorce, you have to find some outlet to get that out of your system or it'll eat you up."

Mendes, 28, has starred in films such as Training Day and Hitch, and will be seen opposite Nicolas Cage in the thriller Ghost Rider, a Sony Pictures release, which is slated to open in theaters Feb. 16.

"I took a risk with acting. ... You just always have to take risks," she tells the magazine. "I always go with my gut, and it's always right. People are scared to do that."

Hollywood's highlights for 2007

LOS ANGELES - Heer ar ethe highlights of Hollywood's 2007 film slate (and yes, the release schedules are subject to change):

Winter and spring:

ARE WE DONE YET?: The sequel to "Are We There Yet?" has Ice Cube and Nia Long stuck with a new house that's a money pit.

THE ASTRONAUT FARMER: A former NASA astronaut ( Billy Bob Thornton) struggles to build his own rocket to travel into space.

BALLS OF FURY: A man goes undercover in the shadowy world of underground Ping-Pong tournaments in this comedy featuring Christopher Walken and George Lopez.

BECAUSE I SAID SO: An overly earnest mom ( Diane Keaton) tries to find the right man for her youngest daughter ( Mandy Moore).

BLADES OF GLORY: Disgraced figure-skating rivals ( Will Ferrell and Jon Heder) worm their way back into the sport as the first men's pairs team.

BREACH: A young FBI man ( Ryan Phillippe) is assigned to help root out double-agent Robert Hanssen ( Chris Cooper).

BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA: An awkward boy and the new girl at school find kinship and magical adventure in an adaptation of the children's fantasy book.

CATCH AND RELEASE: A circle of friends and an unlikely new flame help a woman ( Jennifer Garner) cope with the death of her fiance.

DEAD SILENCE: The filmmakers behind the horror hit "Saw," James Wan and Leigh Whannell, spin a supernatural tale of a town with a bloody history.

FRACTURE: After an engineer ( Anthony Hopkins) is acquitted of trying to kill his wife, the prosecutor ( Ryan Gosling) crusades for justice.

GHOST RIDER: Nicolas Cage stars as the Marvel Comics hero who's a motorcycle stunt rider by day, a bounty hunter of demons by night.

GRINDHOUSE: Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez each direct a segment in a double-bill of old-style B-movie thrillers.

HANNIBAL RISING: The twisted, traumatic youth of future serial killer Hannibal Lecter is examined in this prequel.

HOT FUZZ: The creators of "Shaun of the Dead" spin an action comedy about a hotshot London cop farmed out to a sleepy town's police force.

IN THE LAND OF WOMEN: A young man becomes involved with the troubled lives of a mother and her daughters. With Meg Ryan.

I THINK I LOVE MY WIFE: Chris Rock directs and stars in a domestic comedy about a family man whose eye strays to a beautiful old friend ( Kerry Washington).

THE KINGDOM: Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner are part of an FBI team hunting terrorists in Saudi Arabia.

LUCKY YOU: A poker hotshot ( Eric Bana) faces off against his estranged dad ( Robert Duvall) in a high-stakes tournament. Drew Barrymore co-stars.

MUSIC AND LYRICS: Hugh Grant's a pop-music has-been who teams with a quirky partner (Drew Barrymore) to write a comeback song.

THE NANNY DIARIES: A college grad (Scarlett Johannson) takes a job as nanny for a demanding Manhattan couple ( Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti).

NORBIT: Eddie Murphy plays multiple roles in the story of a put-upon man trying to escape his beastly fiance to be with his childhood sweetheart ( Thandie Newton).

THE NUMBER 23: Jim Carrey stars as a man obsessed with a book that he believes has foreboding consequences for his life.

PERFECT STRANGER: Halle Berry goes undercover as a reporter investigating her friend's murder. With Bruce Willis.

PREMONITION: Sandra Bullock's a woman racing to prevent a vision of her husband's death from coming true.

THE REAPING: A former missionary ( Hilary Swank) who has become a debunker of religious phenomena stumbles on a series of Biblical plagues.

REIGN OVER ME: A dentist ( Adam Sandler) whose family died in the Sept. 11 attacks finds an unexpected shoulder to lean on from his old college roommate ( Don Cheadle).

RENO 911! MIAMI: The goofs from the TV comedy about Nevada cops hit the big-screen, taking on terrorists at a police convention in Florida.

SMOKIN' ACES: Cops and mobsters clash in an action romp about a federal witness with a price on his head. With Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia and Alicia Keys.

SUNSHINE: A crew of astronauts encounters terror and trauma on a mission to re-ignite the dying sun.

TMNT: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles return to battle an army of monsters. The voice cast includes Sarah Michelle Gellar and Patrick Stewart.

TYLER PERRY'S DADDY'S LITTLE GIRLS: Filmmaker Perry ("Madea's Family Reunion") tells the story of a single dad trying to regain custody of his daughters.

WILD HOGS: Middle-aged buddies ( Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy) find misadventure on a motorcycle trip.

ZODIAC: Robert Downey Jr. and Jake Gyllenhaal lead the cast in a thriller about a serial killer who terrorized San Francisco.

Summer:

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM: Matt Damon's amnesiac assassin is back, trying to unravel his past.

EVAN ALMIGHTY: The follow-up to "Bruce Almighty" elevates Steve Carell from supporting to lead player as a man commanded by God ( Morgan Freeman) to build an ark.

EVENING: A dying woman ( Vanessa Redgrave) shares the story of a lost love with her daughters. With Claire Danes, Toni Collette and Natasha Richardson.

FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba and their superhero pals battle a force that threatens Earth's destruction.

1408: John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson star in an adaptation of Stephen King's tale about a skeptical author who stays in a notoriously haunted hotel room.

HAIRSPRAY: A new big-screen take on the cult film that inspired the Broadway hit about a teen dance show, featuring John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer and Queen Latifah.

HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX: The boy wizard ( Daniel Radcliffe) helps lead a secret society of students to battle sinister enemies.

HOSTEL: PART II: The follow-up to last year's horror hit centers on three American art students who find terror on a weekend trip in Europe.

I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY: Adam Sandler and Kevin James play firefighter buddies forced by an insurance mix-up to pose as a gay couple.

THE INVASION: Nicole Kidman plays a psychiatrist who discovers the secret of an extraterrestrial epidemic that alters human behavior.

KNOCKED UP: Katherine Heigl stars as a woman whose one-night stand has parental consequences.

LICENSE TO WED: Robin Williams plays a pastor putting a couple through an outrageous marriage test.

LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD: Bruce Willis is back in "Die Hard" mode to stop an attack on the U.S. computer infrastructure.

MAMA'S BOY: A 29-year-old (Jon Heder) who still lives with his mother (Diane Keaton) dukes it out with mom's new beau ( Jeff Daniels).

A MIGHTY HEART: Mariane Pearl ( Angelina Jolie) embarks on a search for her husband, journalist Daniel Pearl, abducted and eventually slain in Pakistan.

NANCY DREW: Author Carolyn Keene's teen sleuth (Emma Roberts) investigates the long-unsolved death of a movie star.

NO RESERVATIONS: Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart star in a romance about a perfectionist chef placed in charge of her young niece (Abigail Breslin).

OCEAN'S THIRTEEN: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and the gang reunite for another heist caper.

ONE MISSED CALL: Cell phone messages portend the receivers' impending deaths in a supernatural thriller with Edward Burns and Shannyn Sossamon.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END: Friends come to the rescue of buccaneer Johnny Depp, who's been exiled to Davy Jones' locker.

RATATOUILLE: A rodent dreams of becoming a gourmet chef at a Paris restaurant in this latest Pixar-Disney animated comedy.

RUSH HOUR 3: Buddy cops Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker return to take on a crime clan in Paris.

SHREK THE THIRD: The newlywed ogre (voiced by Mike Myers) searches for King Arthur to take over the throne in the animated sequel.

THE SIMPSONS MOVIE: Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie leap to the big-screen in an adaptation of the long-running cartoon series.

SPIDER-MAN 3: The web-slinging superhero ( Tobey Maguire) battles two new villains as well as his own dark side.

STARDUST: Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes and Peter O'Toole lead the cast of this fantasy about a quest for a fallen star.

SURF'S UP: The voices of Jon Heder and Jeff Bridges are featured in this animated comedy about surfing-crazy penguins.

TALK TO ME: A charismatic black ex-con (Don Cheadle) becomes a provocative radio personality at a white-owned station in the 1960s.

TRANSFORMERS: The transforming action-figure toys get their own action spectacle as aliens battle on Earth.

28 WEEKS LATER: The follow-up to the zombie hit "28 Days Later" finds the rage virus that decimated Britain roaring back with a vengeance.

UNDERDOG: A combination of live action and computer animation brings the cartoon canine superhero to life.

Fall and holiday season:

ALIEN VS. PREDATOR 2: The battling space monsters are back at it on Earth, this time squaring off in a Colorado town.

AMERICAN GANGSTER: Denzel Washington's a 1970s Harlem crime boss, Russell Crowe's the misfit cop pursuing him.

ATONEMENT: Lives are altered forever by a teenager's false accusation against her sister's lover. With Keira Knightley.

BEAN II: Rowan Atkinson reprises his nearly silent role as the Brit who brings disaster in his wake, this time on a trip to the French Riviera.

BEE MOVIE: Jerry Seinfeld provides the voice of a bee who sues humanity for stealing his species' honey in this animated comedy.

BEOWULF: Ray Winstone is the legendary warrior in the showdown with the monster Grendel and his mother (Angelina Jolie).

THE BRAVE ONE: A New Yorker ( Jodie Foster) pursues vigilante justice after her fiance is slain. With Terrence Howard.

EASTERN PROMISES: The life of a ruthless mobster ( Viggo Mortensen) is turned on its head when he meets a midwife ( Naomi Watts) on a mission.

ENCHANTED: A princess ( Amy Adams) is exiled from her magical land by an evil queen ( Susan Sarandon) and forced to get by in modern Manhattan.

FRED CLAUS: Santa's naughty brother ( Vince Vaughn) is bailed out of jail by St. Nick (Paul Giamatti) and forced to work off his debt making toys at the North Pole.

THE GAME PLAN: A football quarterback (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) suddenly finds himself single dad to a daughter he never knew he had.

THE GOLDEN AGE: The follow-up to "Elizabeth" has Cate Blanchett back as Britain's 16th century monarch, facing palace intrigue and war with Spain.

THE GOLDEN COMPASS: A girl trying to help a friend is swept up in an adventure that takes her to a fantastic alternate reality. With Nicole Kidman.

I AM LEGEND: An update of "The Omega Man" stars Will Smith as the last man in New York, surrounded by plague victims who have become ravenous fiends.

INTO THE WILD: Sean Penn directs a drama based on the true story of a young idealist ( Emile Hirsch) whose Alaska journey meets with tragedy.

MARGOT AT THE WEDDING: Nicole Kidman, Jack Black, Jennifer Jason Leigh and John Turturro star in a story of a family in crisis.

MICHAEL CLAYTON: George Clooney's a burned-out lawyer handling dirty work for a corporate firm and winds up in a firestorm over a class-action case.

MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM: The insecure manager ( Natalie Portman) of a magical toy store inherits the business from its 243-year-old proprietor ( Dustin Hoffman).

NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS: Historian-adventurer Nicolas Cage returns for another puzzle-filled quest.

RESERVATION ROAD: Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connelly, Mark Ruffalo and Mira Sorvino star in a drama set in the aftermath of a child's death.

SAW IV: It wouldn't be Halloween without another dose of sadistic games from the horror franchise.

THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE: A widow (Halle Berry) finds solace with her husband's childhood friend ( Benicio Del Toro), a heroin addict.

30 DAYS OF NIGHT: An Alaskan sheriff ( Josh Hartnett) battles vampires who've come to take advantage of his town's monthlong winter night.

VANTAGE POINT: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver and William Hurt star in a presidential assassination thriller.

Rob and Amber Lead 'Amazing Race: All-Stars' Cast

Rob and Amber Mariano, TV's most frequently televised reality couple, will make their expected return to unscripted programming on "The Amazing Race: All-Stars," leading a cast of favorites.

CBS announced the 11 returning teams on Tuesday (Jan. 16) morning, a group that includes only a single former winner: Joyce and Uchenna Agu, who took the million dollars home after Season 7.

Joyce and Uchenna, if you'll recall, narrowly beat Rob and Amber, who each competed on a season of "Survivor" before meeting and falling in love on "Survivor: All-Stars." In addition, the couple televised their wedding and they've also begun a new show on Fox Reality.

Among the interesting twists is the mixed team of Eric Sanchez and Danielle "Dee" Turner. Although they competed on separate teams in Season 9 (he finished second, while she was in seventh), they met and have been dating since soon after.

"Amazing Race: All-Stars" will premiere on Sunday, Feb. 18.

A glimpse of the 11 teams:

Names: Dustin Seltzer and Kandice Pelletier
Ages: both 25
Occupations: Former beauty queens, current students
Relationship: Best friends
Previous results: Season 10, 4th place

Names: Joe Baldassare and Bill Bartek ("Team Guido")
Ages: 56, 53
Occupations: Owns Mineral Trading Company, Realtor
Relationship: Life Partners
Previous results: Season 1, 3rd place

Names: Kevin O'Connor and Drew Feinberg
Ages: 40, 41
Occupations: Forensic Accountant, Senior Court Officer
Relationship: Lifelong friends
Previous results: Season 1, 4th Place

Names: Ozwald Mendez and Danilo Jimenez
Ages: 36, 41
Occupations: Advertising, Paralegal
Relationship: Best friends
Previous results: Season 2, 4th Place

Names: John Vito Pietanza and Jill Aquilino
Ages: 32, 29
Occupations: Trader, Product Controller
Relationship: Formerly dating
Previous results: Season 3, 5th Place

Names: Uchenna Agu and Joyce Agu
Ages: 42, 46
Occupations: Land Developer, Sales
Relationship: Married
Previous results: Season 7 winners

Names: David Conley, Jr. and Mary Conley
Ages: 33, 32
Occupations: Coal Miner, Homemaker
Relationship: Married
Previous results: Season 10, 6th Place

Names: Charla Baklayan Faddoul and Mirna Hindoyan
Ages: both 30
Occupations: Real Estate Investor, Attorney
Relationship: Cousins
Previous results: Season 5, 6th Place

Names: Rob Mariano and Amber Mariano
Ages: 30, 28
Occupations: TV Personalities
Relationship: Married
Previous results: Season 7, 2nd Place

Names: Teri Pollack and Ian Pollack
Ages: 53, 54
Occupations: Homemaker, Private Investigator
Relationship: Married parents
Previous results: Season 3, 2nd Place

Names: Eric Sanchez and Danielle Turner
Ages: 28, 23
Occupations: Waiter, Bartender
Relationship: Dating
Previous results: Season 9, 2nd Place and 7th Place

Springsteen, Dylan Soundtrack 'Lucky You'

The soundtrack to the upcoming poker-themed flick "Lucky You" will boast a new Bob Dylan track ("Huck's Theme") as well as a Kris Kristofferson original ("They Ain't Got 'Em All") and Bruce Springsteen's "The Fever" and "Lucky Town," the latter of which is heard during the title sequence and the movie's trailer.

"Lucky You" is due March 6 via Columbia and in theaters March 16. The soundtrack also features tracks from Ryan Adams, George Jones, Shawn Colvin, Bonnie Raitt and the film's co-star, Drew Barrymore, who plays an aspiring singer.

Springsteen's "The Fever" may be unfamiliar to casual fans. The soul ballad was recorded in 1973 and was frequently played live during the "Darkness on the Edge of Town" tour in 1978. But a studio version was omitted from the 1998 Springsteen retrospective "Tracks," prompting groans from the Boss' avid listeners. The song was finally issued a few months later on "18 Tracks," a single-disc version of the boxed set.

Here is the track list for "Lucky You":

"Lucky Town," Bruce Springsteen
"The Fever," Bruce Springsteen

"Huck's Tune," Bob Dylan
"The Cold Hart Truth," Drew Barrymore
"Choices," George Jones
"Maybe This Time," Liza Minnelli
"I Always Get Lucky With You," George Jones
"Let It Ride," Ryan Adams
"Viva Las Vegas," Shawn Colvin
"Positively 4th St., "Johnny Rivers
"They Ain't Got 'Em All," Kris Kristofferson
"Bartender's Blues," Bonnie Raitt

Scrubs a Near Lock for Next Fall

Thursday-night comedy Scrubs will be back for a seventh season on either NBC or ABC, according to creator Bill Lawrence.

With the Touchstone Television-produced show now in syndication, Lawrence says, should NBC pass on bringing the show back, it will find a home at Touchstone’s corporate cousin, ABC. "Since every produced episode makes a ton of money for Touchstone," Lawrence says, "they told us not to write a finale for this year."

The show has a strong chance of returning to NBC next year, he adds. "We’ve essentially been told that NBC is really happy with how we are doing. I would say it’s better than a coin flip we are back on NBC."

Airing at 9 p.m. between The Office and rookie 30 Rock, Scrubs is averaging a solid 3.5 rating/9 share in the adult 18-49 demo as part of a Thursday-night comedy block that is cherished by NBC President Kevin Reilly. At a median age of 36.1, it is the network’s youngest-skewing primetime series.

"NBC isn’t the same juggernaut anymore," Lawrence says, "but it still feels cool to be on Thursdays."

But he understands that there is less financial motivation for NBC to keep the Touchstone-produced show on the network. "The show is a dinosaur, on one network and completely owned by another," he acknowledges.

And Touchstone continues to show faith in the show. The studio greenlighted a Jan. 18 musical episode at double the cost of a typical installment.

Lawrence also says that the show would not continue without star Zach Braff, but he "feels pretty good" that Braff is on board for a seventh and final season.

Sting Considers Police Reunion Rumors

Sting is considering reuniting with his former bandmates from The Police to mark the 30th anniversary of the group's formation.

The band's ex-frontman wants to commemorate the occasion properly and play gigs again with drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers.

He explains, "We started 30 years ago, so it would be nice to do something to celebrate. We don't quite know what, but we're talking about it. I'm very proud of the band we were in. I left the band because I felt I wanted to grow as a musician, to mature as a musician and to try more things than a band is able to do. A band is very constricted. I spent the last 25 years exploring that freedom and having a great time."

Sting's reunion thoughts come just two weeks after news circulated the trio was planning a comeback in 2007.

'Babel,' 'Dreamgirls' top Globes

(CNN) -- "Babel" and "Dreamgirls" cemented their positions as Oscar front-runners by winning best drama and best comedy or musical, respectively, at the Golden Globes Monday night.

Two of the "Dreamgirls" stars, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson, also saw some dreams come true with awards for supporting actor and actress.

"This goes far beyond everything I could have ever imagined," an emotional Hudson said in accepting her award, the first of the evening. "You do not know how much this does for my confidence. ... It makes me feel like I'm part of a community."

Hudson dedicated her award to Florence Ballard, one of the singers from the Supremes -- the musical group on which "Dreamgirls" is loosely based.

Murphy was as calm as Hudson was effusive.

"Wow. I'll be damned," said Murphy, who plays a slick soul singer in the film. He thanked a number of executives and artists, concluding with "This is a nice moment."

Forest Whitaker won best actor in a drama for his performance as Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland."

Sacha Baron Cohen won best actor for a comedy or musical for "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."

Baron Cohen started out talking about seeing an "ugly part of America," then sealed the joke by referring to the private parts of "my co-star, Ken Davitian."

After several more elegantly off-color jokes at Davitian's -- and his own -- expense, Baron Cohen concluded, "Thank you to everybody in America who has not sued me so far."

Helen Mirren was a double winner for playing two British queens named Elizabeth: best actress in a drama as Elizabeth II in "The Queen" and best actress in a miniseries or movie for "Elizabeth I."

"The Queen" also won best screenplay. Its screenwriter, Peter Morgan, began a politically themed speech -- appropriate to the writer of the pointed "Queen," "The Last King of Scotland" and the play "Frost/Nixon" -- but had to wrap up quickly.

"What do we have to do to get our leaders to listen to us?" he asked, launching into what appeared was going to be an extended talk. But after a few sentences he received a motion to cut things short, which he did with a quick thanks.

Martin Scorsese, who helmed "The Departed," won the Globe for best director.

"I'm going to try to talk faster than I normally do," Scorsese said. The director, true to his film-lover roots, paid as much tribute to other films -- including the Hong Kong basis of "The Departed," "Infernal Affairs" -- as he did his colleagues.

The Globes also give out awards for television programs. In a pair of shockers, "Ugly Betty" won best TV comedy or musical, and its star, America Ferrera, won best actress in a comedy or musical.

"I'm so sorry, I'm such a mess. I'm still getting over the shock of our first award," said Ferrera tearfully.

The actress, who plays the curvy, quirky Betty character in the series, noted the support she's received from fans who recognize that "beauty ... lies deeper than what we see."

"Grey's Anatomy" won best TV drama.

Meryl Streep won best actress in a musical or comedy for her performance in "The Devil Wears Prada."

"I think I've worked with everybody in the room," Streep joked. She then paid tribute to her fellow actress nominees. "It's been such a fun year to watch movies because of you gals," she said.

She also put in a plug for smaller, independent films, such as "Sherrybaby" and "Pan's Labyrinth," which don't get the exposure of "Prada." Streep asked audiences to demand them from theater managers.

"Letters from Iwo Jima" won best foreign-language film. The Clint Eastwood film, which is in Japanese and shows the Battle of Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective, has topped a number of critics' best-of lists.

'House's' Laurie: 'I am speechless'

HBO's "Elizabeth I" proved dominant among TV movies, winning best miniseries or movie, best actress in a miniseries or movie (Helen Mirren) and best supporting actor (Jeremy Irons).

"House's" Hugh Laurie won for best actor in a drama and "The Closer's" Kyra Sedgwick won best actress in a drama.

"I am speechless. I am literally without a speech," said Laurie, joking about the freebies offered stars -- which never includes "a speech by Dolce & Gabbana." Laurie then offered tributes to "the heads of the five families" -- meaning network executives -- as well as his old comic partner, Stephen Fry, and a number of "House" colleagues.

Alec Baldwin won best actor in a TV musical or comedy for "30 Rock."

"Cars" won the Globes' first award for best animated film.

The Globes, awarded by the 85 or so members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are seen as a bellwether for the Academy Awards.

Seven of the last 10 Academy Award-winning best pictures have also won Globe best film honors, and two other Globe winners -- last year's "Brokeback Mountain" and 1998's "Saving Private Ryan" -- are widely seen to have been upset at the Oscars.

Nominations for the Academy Awards will be announced January 23, eight days after the Globes, and the Oscars are slated for February 25.

The Golden Globes are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

List of Golden Globe Award winners

Here is the complete list of winners at Monday's 64th annual Golden Globes presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in Beverly Hills, Calif.:

MOTION PICTURES

_Picture, Drama: _"Babel"

_Actress, Drama: Helen Mirren, "The Queen"

_Actor, Drama: Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland"

_Picture, Musical or Comedy: "Dreamgirls"

_Actress, Musical or Comedy: Meryl Streep, "The Devil Wears Prada"

_Actor, Musical or Comedy: Sacha Baron Cohen, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"

_Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"

_Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy, "Dreamgirls"

_Director: Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"

_Movie Screenplay: Peter Morgan, "The Queen"

_Foreign Language: "Letters From Iwo Jima," USA/Japan

_Original Score: Alexandre Desplat, "The Painted Veil"

_Original Song: "The Song of the Heart" from "Happy Feet"

_Animated Film: "Cars"

TELEVISION

_Series, Drama: "Grey's Anatomy," ABC

_Actress, Drama: Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"

_Actor, Drama: Hugh Laurie, "House"

_Series, Musical or Comedy: "Ugly Betty," ABC

_Actress, Musical or Comedy: America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty"

_Actor, Musical or Comedy: Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"

_Miniseries or movie: "Elizabeth I," HBO

_Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Helen Mirren, "Elizabeth I"

_Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Bill Nighy, "Gideon's Daughter"

_Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Emily Blunt, "Gideon's Daughter"

_Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Jeremy Irons, "Elizabeth I"

_Cecil B. DeMille Award: Warren Beatty

New Muppet presentation pilot filmed

The 10-minute mock documentary follows the daily happenings of Kermit and the Muppets, both on and off stage. This pilot could lead to a new series featuring the Classic Muppet characters.

For years we've heard all kinds of reports of "the new Muppet Show" - from an edgy prime-time variety show on FOX to a spoof of reality TV competitions on ABC. Well earlier this month a short presentation pilot for a proposed Muppet mini-series recently wrapped production. The project is being kept "under wraps" right now. It is still in development and subject to change. However the Walt Disney Company is currently considering a series that will relaunch the Muppets back onto television and in the public's eye.

This presentation pilot, completed in January 2007, proposes a mini-series shot in mock documentary style that continues to follow the adventures of the Muppets as they create a new show.

The short pilot uses the television syntax of a documentary (think "The Office" meets "The Muppet Show"). The series revolves around Kermit the Frog as he attempts to reassemble the Muppet troupe and launch a new Muppet show. The mockumentary mini-series would feature fictional English filmmaker Ian Bascombe who, with his film crew, follow the daily happenings Kermit and the Muppets, both on and off stage. Bascombe finds that many of the classic Muppets have gone off to other venues since we last saw them and follows Kermit as the frog attempts to track them down and get the whole troupe back together.

For example, Fozzie has gone off to a solo career in stand-up comedy, Sam Eagle is now a security personnel, and Miss Piggy has been a busy actress in Hollywood. Similar to The Muppet Movie, Kermit travels around getting the gang to come together for a common goal – putting on a show. But aside from just getting everyone onboard, Kermit and the gang have to plan and develop the show itself.

This test pilot, which is now beginning to circulate the inner management of the Walt Disney Company, was written and produced by Bill Prady and was directed by Bill Barretta. Muppeteers Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz and Bill Barretta were also involved in the project. Aside from the Muppets, this spec pilot also included cameo appearances from John Landis and Melina Kanakaredes.

Although a presentation pitch was filmed for the series, it is no guarantee that the project will be developed further or see the light of day. Muppet fans may already know that over the past decade more than three similar pilot pitches for a new Muppet show have been made, and almost half a dozen concepts for series have reached different stages of development as well. However insiders are currently hopeful for this pilot; they say it looks great and is truly entertaining and original. Sources say that it is likely the Disney executives, after seeing the presentation pitch, will in fact green-light the mini-series to move into production (and possibly air) later in 2007.

Rumor also has it that if successful, the mini-series could be used as a way to launch the Muppets with a new full-time series (which, like the previous Muppet series, would follow the misadventures of the weekly show they've now developed). However that wouldn't be until 2008 or 2009 (if at all).

Needless to say, this is very exciting new for Muppet fans. It shows hope for the franchise, and give some comfort to eager fans to know Disney is actively looking for ways to use and rejuvenate the characters. We will keep you posted as soon as we get more details on the development of this mockumentary mini-series, or any other information on the possible return of the Muppets to television.

Furtado to host Juno Awards

Pop singer Nelly Furtado, who stormed back onto the music charts last year with her chart-topping track Promiscuous, has been named host of the upcoming Juno Awards.

The announcement was made Monday night.

Furtado follows in the footsteps of past singer-hosts Shania Twain and Alanis Morrissette. Other recent hosts have included actors Brent Butt and Pamela Anderson.

The 28-year-old Furtado, originally from Victoria, B.C., is a past Grammy and Juno Award-winner.

Furtado released her third album, Loose, in 2006 and it became the year's top-selling Canadian album. It has spawned three No. 1 songs, including the ubiquitous and radio-friendly Promiscuous, which features hit rap producer Timbaland.

Performers for the Junos, Canada's most prominent musical honours, have yet to be announced. The ceremony is set to take place in Saskatoon on April 1.

"Babel," "Borat," "Queen" top Golden Globe nods

LOS ANGELES - A truly international lineup of films and performers highlight Monday's Golden Globes, where such contenders as "Babel," "The Queen," "The Last King of Scotland" and "Borat" square off amid the home stretch to the Academy Awards.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel," a saga of families on three continents linked by tragic events in the African desert, led with seven nominations, including best drama and supporting-acting honors for Brad Pitt, Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi.

Martin Scorsese's mob tale "The Departed" was next with six nominations, including best drama and best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, who had a second lead-actor nomination for the African adventure "Blood Diamond."

There was no clear front-runner for the best-drama prize, whose other nominees were the Robert Kennedy tale "Bobby," the suburban comic drama "Little Children" and the British-royalty story "The Queen."

The musical "Dreamgirls" looked like a favorite to win the best musical or comedy Globe, though Sacha Baron Cohen's raucous satire "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" also was a strong contender.

The other musical or comedy nominees were the fashion-business comedy "The Devil Wears Prada," the road-trip romp "Little Miss Sunshine" and the tobacco-industry satire "Thank You for Smoking."

Helen Mirren was the obvious favorite for best dramatic actress as Britain's monarch Elizabeth II in "The Queen." Forest Whitaker was a safe bet for dramatic actor as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland," though Peter O'Toole had strong prospects as a lecherous old actor in "Venus."

Warren Beatty was to receive the Globes' Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement.

Hollywood's second-biggest film honors, the Globes are something of a dress rehearsal for the Oscars, whose nominations come out Jan. 23. The Oscar ceremony is Feb. 25.

While the Oscars are a formal, dignified affair in a theater, the Globes are looser, with stars, filmmakers and studio bosses sharing drinks and dinner at tables in a hotel ballroom.

"You have within a very small circle all the most important people in Hollywood," said Philip Berk, who heads the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that awards the Globes. "There's liquor on the table and wine. We serve a fabulous meal. But once the show begins, the actual process of the awards is very serious."

The roughly 85 members of the foreign press group comprise a small number compared to the 5,800 film professionals eligible to vote for the Oscars.

Yet the group has a strong history of forecasting eventual Academy Awards winners and providing momentum for Globe recipients as Oscar voters begin to cast ballots.

Such Globe best-picture winners as "Shakespeare in Love," "American Beauty," "Gladiator" and "Chicago" went on to win the same prize at the Oscars. Globe voters were off target the last two years, anointing 2004's "The Aviator" as best drama, a prize that went to "Million Dollar Baby" at the Oscars, and 2005's "Brokeback Mountain," which lost to "Crash" come Oscar night.

But all four of 2005's acting recipients at the Oscars — Philip Seymour Hoffman, Reese Witherspoon, George Clooney and Rachel Weisz — also won Golden Globes.

Nominations balloting for the Oscars closed Saturday, so the outcome of the Globes cannot affect who gets nominated. But the Globes can influence who wins on Oscar night, serving as a reminder to academy voters of top performances and achievements.

Milch: 'Deadwood' Movies Still Alive

Following the unceremonious end of "Deadwood" as a series last summer, a number of the show's fans declared that they wouldn't be watching creator David Milch's new show, "John from Cincinnati" -- because it's not "Deadwood."

Milch, naturally, hopes those people will eventually change their minds. And it sounds as if those fans may yet get a conclusion to the saga of Al Swearengen, Seth Bullock et al.

"The first thing I'd say to them is thanks for appreciating the work that we've done," Milch said Friday during a session for "John from Cincinnati" at the winter press tour in Pasadena. "And you know, I spent a significant portion of yesterday in collaboration with Evan Wright, who's a wonderful writer, with whom I'm doing the first of the two 'Deadwood' two-hour films. And we're very optimistic about the outcome of that work."

After plans for a fourth season of "Deadwood" fell apart last year, HBO and Milch reached a deal to produce a pair of two-hour films to wrap up the story. There has been some skepticism about whether the movies will actually get made, but Milch is optimistic.

"We have every intention of going forward," he says. He hopes to start work on the first film this summer, after "John" finishes production on its first season. Wright is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and author of the book "Generation Kill" about the Iraq war.

Of reports that he had intended for "Deadwood" to run four seasons, Milch has this to say: "You know, the big thing to keep in mind when you hear those sorts of statements that I had planned on a fourth season on this -- I'm a sociopath. You know, someone asked me, how long do you intend to do 'Deadwood'? And as part of my sociopathology, I say, 'Well, when does my contract run out?' And I realize my contract ran out at the end of four seasons. So I'm thinking, 'How does the kid exert the most leverage in the negotiating package for four seasons?' ...

"So the answer is, I never had a specific -- listen, when I pitched 'Deadwood,' I pitched it as a series set in Rome at the time of the Nero. Does that sound like I know what I'm talking about?"

That said, he realizes that the "abrupt rupture" of the end of "Deadwood" affected the show's fans, just as it did him and the cast and crew.

"But you know, there are certain rooms where one frequently hears the expression 'life on life's terms.' ... We're going to put 'John From Cincinnati' on, and it's my deepest hope that, in the scheme of things, enough forgiveness is available from those viewers to just give it a chance. And if I'm given strength and time, we're definitely going to do more 'Deadwoods.'"

Official Film To Be Made Of Kurt Cobain's Life?

LOS ANGELES (January 11, 2007) -- Access Hollywood has learned late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain may finally be immortalized on screen with the permission of his widow, rocker Courtney Love.

Love has acquired the rights to Heavier Than Heaven, author Charles Cross' biography on the late grunge singer, a source close to the star told Access. According to our source, several studios are in discussions with Love to bring the book to the big screen.

The rocker also confirmed the project is "in an embryonic stage," with a post on a Courtney Love fansite MoonwashedRose.com. "[It] has no script and no director attached, let alone stars," she added.

If deals are made and reached, this will be the first authorized look at the life of Kurt Cobain, his band Nirvana and his relationship with his wife. Love, who is currently preparing her second solo album tentatively titled How Dirty Girls Get Clean added in her post that if the movie is made, "it will of course be (an) A list and high end film."

Gus Van Sant's "Last Days," released in 2005 is thought by many to be that director's unauthorized account of Cobain's life. The movie starred Michael Pitt and featured a cameo from Nirvana's former labelmate, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon.

Hobbit Hostilities Escalate

Los Angeles (E! Online) - One ring might rule them all, but one lawsuit's threatening the future of one of Hollywood's biggest franchises.

New Line Cinema cohead Bob Shaye has lashed out at The Lord of the Rings ringmaster Peter Jackson, calling the Oscar winner greedy for suing the studio over disputed profits from the first film in the trilogy. He also left little doubt that New Line considers the director persona non grata when it comes to future projects, including the highly anticipated big-screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.

"I do not want to make a movie with somebody who is suing me," the studio chief told Sci Fi Wire while making the publicity rounds for his own directing effort, the family-friendly fantasy film The Last Mimzy. "It will never happen during my watch."

Shaye, who made the gutsy decision to greenlight simultaneous production on all three Lord of the Rings films, took particular offense at what he said was the New Zealander's "arrogance" and ungrateful attitude in the wake of his success.

"Not that I don't think Peter is a good filmmaker and that he hasn't contributed significantly to filmography and made three very good movies. And I don't even expect him to say 'thank you' for having me make it happen and having New Line make it happen," continued Shaye, who was an executive producer on the trilogy. "But to think that I, as a functionary in a company that has been around for a long time, but is now owned by a very big conglomerate, would care one bit about trying to cheat the guy...he's either had very poor counsel or is completely misinformed."

The executive was also irked when many of the LOTR stars declined to participate in a video celebrating New Line's 40th anniversary—mainly, he believed, because of their affection for Jackson.

"I don't care about Peter Jackson anymore," Shaye said. "He wants to have another $100 million or $50 million, whatever he's suing us for. He doesn't want to sit down and talk about it. He thinks that we owe him something after we've paid him over a quarter of a billion dollars...Cheers, Peter."

Such remarks would seem to put the kibosh on Frodo fanatics' dreams of Jackson returning to Middle Earth and helming The Hobbit and possibly another prequel.

Of course, it's possible both sides are simply engaged in high-stakes brinksmanship to get what they want.

In Shaye's case, by cutting Jackson out of the franchise that made his career and won him a trio of Oscars, the executive might be able to leverage a settlement to his liking. On the other hand, he could simply be reacting to Jackson, who, in a preemptive move, tried to force New Line's hand in late November by sending an open letter to theonering.net, voicing his issues with New Line.

In it, Jackson informed Tolkien devotees that the studio planned to move forward on The Hobbit without him, because New Line wanted to get the prequel in production before resolving his lawsuit.

The news prompted peeved fans to launch a letter-writing campaign urging the studio not to cut ties with the 45-year-old filmmaker or else face a boycott. In one hopeful sign, MGM—which owns the distribution rights to The Hobbit—told E! Online the "game is not over" and Jackson was still a possibility to direct.

Meanwhile, in response to Shaye's remarks this week, Jackson's company fired back with a statement Thursday, calling his former boss' comments "regrettable" and restating his case.

"Fundamentally, our legal action is about holding New Line to its contractual obligations and promises," the filmmaker said. "It is regrettable that Bob has chosen to make it personal. I have always had the highest respect and affection for Bob and other senior management at New Line and continue to do so.

"But the studio was and continues to be completely uncooperative [regarding an open audit of the films' books]," Jackson continued. "This has compelled us to file a lawsuit to pursue our contractual rights under the law. Nobody likes legal action, but the studio left us with no alternative."

Jackson also balked at Shaye's assertion that LOTR actors dissed the studio because of the bad blood between the filmmaker and the suits.

"I have never discussed this video with any of the cast of the LOTR. The issues that Bob Shaye has with the cast predate this lawsuit by many years," Jackson said.

An unnamed person Jackson's camp was quoted in Variety saying Shaye's disparaging remarks were an attempt to put the focus on the millions of dollars Jackson made instead of any book-cooking on the studio's part. The trade paper also reported that both parties appear to far from a settlement in the lawsuit.

Until that happens, Jackson has plenty to keep him busy. His next directorial effort, Alice Sebold's ghost story The Lovely Bones, is due out later this year. He has also optioned Temeraire, a set of fantasy novels about dragons in the Napoleonic Wars, and is producing Dambusters, an effects-heavy remake of the World War II aerial battle drama.

One movie that's temporarily off the drawing board is the Jackson-produced Halo. The videogame adaptation project was indefinitely shelved after Universal and 20th Century Fox pulled their financing, citing rising production costs and Jackson's unwillingness to take a pay cut.

'Lost' producers in talks about end date

PASADENA, Calif. - Makers of the tropical island drama "Lost" say they're talking with ABC executives about setting an end date for the series.

There's no sense the finale is coming anytime soon. But knowing they have a deadline will help writers of the convoluted drama lay out how they want the story to end, producers said Sunday in a meeting with TV critics here.

"Once we figure out when that will be, a lot of the questions will go away," said Carlton Cuse, an executive producer. "Lost" is in its third season.

The producers, citing Fox's "The X-Files," said they didn't want to wear out their welcome. "That was a great show that probably ran two seasons too long," Cuse said. "That is a cautionary tale for us."

"Lost" is due back on ABC's schedule next month following an extended hiatus after the season's first six episodes and will air uninterrupted through May. The schedule was a direct result of fans' complaints about reruns disrupting their concentration in past seasons, producers said.

It's likely next year that all 22 episodes will run consecutively, much like Fox is doing with "24."

One prominent critic — ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson — said he thought the first six episodes this season concentrated too heavily on the stories of Jack, Kate and Sawyer at the expense of other members of the large cast.

The producers said that will be rectified right away for the season's second half as "Lost" goes back to the beach.

"Lost," which is shifting back an hour to 10 p.m. Eastern time, Wednesdays, on ABC's schedule, has seen a 14 percent drop in its audience this year, according to Nielsen Media Research. Producers contend the numbers are deceptive because of a comparison with the second season, when "Lost" was a cultural sensation.

The producers concede that it's a demanding story for viewers to keep up with, and not one that people can join in the middle.

"We want them back," executive producer Damon Lindelof said of the lost fans. "We really believe in the show and the audience we're getting. But if we write towards getting them back, we may alienate the audience that we already have."

O.J.: Chapter is not a murder confession

LOS ANGELES - O.J. Simpson says a chapter from his unpublished book that hypothesizes how he would have killed his ex-wife and her friend was created mostly from a ghostwriter's research and is not a confession.

"I'm saying it's a fictional creation," Simpson said Sunday in a telephone interview. "It has so many (factual) holes in it that anybody who knew anything about it would know that I didn't write it."

His comments came as Newsweek published a story for its current issue paraphrasing the chapter, called "The Night in Question," which the magazine said it had obtained from an anonymous source.

Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman after a yearlong trial. A civil jury later held him liable for the killings. On Sunday, Simpson again denied killing the couple.

Simpson declined to provide a copy of the chapter to The Associated Press.

"I don't have it," he said. "I shredded everything I had about it, and I thought I shredded it from my memory."

Newsweek's account of the chapter describes Simpson as becoming angry with his ex-wife at his daughter's dance recital. He later went to her condominium to scare her, entering with a knife through a back gate with a broken latch, the account states.

Simpson encountered Goldman and accused him of planning a sexual encounter with Nicole. He became enraged when Nicole's Akita dog appeared to recognize Goldman as a familiar visitor, the account states.

Nicole rushed at Simpson and fell, hitting her head on the ground, according to the account. Goldman then took a karate stance, further angering Simpson, who dared Goldman to fight before pulling back.

"Then something went horribly wrong, and I know what happened, but I can't tell you exactly how," Newsweek quoted Simpson as writing.

The account contains no descriptions of the actual killings but says Simpson was drenched in blood and holding a bloody knife when he regained control of himself. Both victims were dead.

The ghostwriter of "If I Did It" knew nothing about the case when he came into the project and had to do a lot of research, Simpson said. The writer was not a witness at the criminal trial, as has been reported, Simpson said.

Simpson said he saw a number of factual flaws while proofreading the chapter but did not correct them because he thought that would prove that he did not write it, he said.

Author Laurence Schiller, whose book "American Tragedy" contains a detailed account of the crime and its aftermath, said he was contacted last November by someone who read the chapter to him.

"There's not a fact in there that wasn't previously printed or was in the trial discovery papers," Schiller said.

Schiller agreed with Simpson that there are technical flaws in the chapter, including the claim that Simpson entered Nicole's home through a broken back gate. Both Schiller and Simpson said the front gate had the broken latch.

The book was to be published on Nov. 30 by News Corp.-owned HarperCollins. News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch called off the project 10 days before, apologizing for any pain that it had caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.

When the proposal for a book was brought to him, Simpson said, he implored the publishers not to include the "created half-chapter" about the killings.

However, "they said it was the hook that would sell the book," Simpson said.

He said he elicited a promise that there would be no descriptions of anyone being killed, something he feared would upset his children.

"Was it tacky?" he said. "Yes, it was tacky. But it was brought to me. I didn't have an agent out there saying, here's a book from O.J."

He said he agreed to the book because he needed the money for his family.

"I knew going in it would be what it would be," he said. "It was worth it. I made a decision that it would benefit my family and my life. I don't have any regrets."

Tricia Helfer bares all for Playboy

Number Six, clothes zero.

Tricia Helfer, darling of Donalda and sex-oozing Cylon of TV's hit Battlestar Galactica, is baring all in the latest Playboy.

What's that sound you hear? Geeks shattering the sound barrier on their way to the 7-Eleven across from their parents' basement?

Or gasps of disapproval from her hometown, a central Alberta village of fewer than 300 residents?

Helfer knows to expect both.

"I haven't heard from anybody back home (yet), so I'm sure I'll get a little bit more inundated next week," Helfer says from L.A.

As for what the reaction to the 10-page nude pictorial -- shot in Acapulco -- will be, she admits, "I'm not sure. Obviously, there are all spectrums (of opinion), but I went into it knowing that. There will be people who disagree with it and people who think it's fantastic. But I didn't do it for other people, I did it for myself.

"I talked to every member of my family and essentially asked their permission. I wouldn't do something to highly embarrass my family.

"They were all supportive. I went over the details with all of them."

She concludes, "Everyone's going to get to see a lot more of me."

The appearance -- a no-brainer, really, considering as Number Six, a smouldering cyborg siren, Helfer has become science fiction's newly minted sex symbol -- comes after a two-year courtship in which the magazine's editors pursued the statuesque former model.

So why did Helf say yes to Hef -- or at least Hugh Hefner's empire -- now?

"I guess the timing is key quite often. In my mind, the timing was right. I got to choose the photographer and I always wanted to work with Sante D'Orazio and I had photo approval and my husband is 100 per cent behind it."

She was further swayed when the magazine's editors pointed out the other women who had doffed their duds in Playboy.

"Charlize Theron, Gabrielle Reese, models like Stephanie Seymour and Cindy Crawford, Jamie Pressly -- I respect these women. I looked at the photos they had done. They were beautiful, tasteful pictures. And coming from the modelling world, I certainly was not squeamish about nudity. We all have the same parts ... (Modelling), you have to get used it. Not that that means you're walking down the street flashing everyone."

And while two years ago, she was still trying to establish herself as an actress -- turning her back on a lucrative modelling career to do so -- she now finds herself on Battlestar, a series which has garnered critical acclaim far surpassing anyone's expectations.

Remember, in the goofy 1970s original series people wore capes, jumpsuits and played with robotic teddy bears. The disarmingly gritty redo, conversely, concerns itself with war, terrorism and paranoia.

"I wanted to get a base out there of people who know me as as an actor. I didn't want to be thought of as someone who got one lucky job. I now have a career and my resume is growing. (The Playboy pictorial) is a compliment to a building career."

It's a career that just as easily may never have happened. Born and raised on a farm in Donalda, Alta., Helfer began modelling after she was discovered standing in a movie-ticket line.

She moved to New York and modelled for a decade in which she was featured in campaigns for Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Victoria's Secret and Giorgio Armani.

Now 32, Helfer spoke to the Sun after attending a luncheon sponsored by the American Film Institute, where the best of television was being honoured.

There, she found herself sitting among such luminaries as Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood with Battlestar being hailed among the finest series on the air, alongside such dramas as 24 and The Wire.

This week, Helfer heads to New York to tape an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman tomorrow (the episode airs Friday). Then on Tuesday, she's a guest on Howard Stern's radio show.

It's her first time being interviewed by either media titan.

"I'm incredibly excited and incredibly terrified. Who knows? I may be crying all the way back ... or maybe I'll be bouncing off the ceiling of the plane because I'm so elated."

Stern, one expects, will reference the Playboy photos once. Or twice. Or more.

"Who knows where (that conversation) will go? But Howard Stern is a big Battlestar fan, so that may make it a little easier. Or it may make it worse."

After that, she travels to Vancouver to film an episode of the CW series Supernatural. (As Canadian fans already know, she won't be returning to host the second season of Canada's Next Top Model.)

Meanwhile, she awaits reaction to the Playboy spread from Donalda, which she just visited for four days at Christmastime.

What might guys she dated in high school think when perusing the magazine, for example?

She laughs, " 'I never saw those before!' "

'Stomp the Yard' dances to No. 1 finish

LOS ANGELES - The dance flick "Stomp the Yard" was a step ahead of the competition at the box office, debuting as the No. 1 weekend movie with $22 million.

Starring Columbus Short as a raw but talented dancer at the center of a step competition between rival college fraternities, the Sony Screen Gems movie knocked off 20th Century Fox's "Night at the Museum," which had been the top film for three straight weekends.

"Night at the Museum" slipped to second place with $17.1 million, raising its total to $185.8 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The weekend's other new movies had ho-hum debuts. Universal's youth drama "Alpha Dog," featuring Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster and Justin Timberlake in a tale of drugs, kidnapping and murder, opened at No. 7 with $6.1 million.

Disney's "Primeval," a thriller with Dominic Purcell and Orlando Jones as part of a news crew pursuing a prolific serial killer, premiered at No. 8 with $6 million.

Expanding to nationwide release after a limited run in December to qualify for the Academy Awards, "Arthur and the Invisibles," a live-action and animated family film from the Weinstein Co. and MGM, was No. 9 with $4.3 million.

Strong turnout by black movie-goers — who accounted for nearly two-thirds of the audience, according to Sony — pushed "Stomp the Yard" over the top. The movie followed in the footsteps of other black-themed films that debuted at No. 1 over previous Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekends, including "Glory Road" last year and "Coach Carter" in 2005.

"Sony picked a great weekend to release the film," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "The urban audience wields a lot of clout at the box office. If you put a film in the marketplace that has that built-in appeal to that audience, look at the numbers. The numbers speak for themselves."

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Tuesday.

1. "Stomp the Yard," $22 million.
2. "Night at the Museum," $17.1 million.
3. "The Pursuit of Happyness," $9.1 million.
4. "Dreamgirls," $8.1 million.
5. "Freedom Writers," $7.1 million.
6. "Children of Men," $6.4 million.
7. "Alpha Dog," $6.1 million.
8. "Primeval," $6 million.
9. "Arthur and the Invisibles," $4.3 million.
10. "The Good Shepherd," $3.9 million.

The Couch Potato Report - January 12th, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on some extras, THE illusionist and a night listener.

Back in 2001 Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant created the BBC series THE OFFICE about a group of paper merchants in a bleak British industrial town.

Gervais also played David Brent, a man who isn't, but thinks he's the coolest, funniest, and most popular boss ever.

Meanwhile, Tim longs for Dawn - the engaged receptionist - and he keeps himself sane by playing childish practical jokes on his super serious co-worker Gareth.

THE OFFICE is one of the most enjoyable television series ever created and now Gervais and Merchant have followed up their success with another tremendously enjoyable piece of comedy - a show called EXTRAS

EXTRAS is about Andy Millman, Actor. The man never forgets his lines, because he is just an extra, one of the people you see milling about behind your favourite stars in movies and TV shows.

Andy has considered himself an actor for five years but thanks to his useless agent he hasn't actually done any real acting.

Ricky Gervais plays Andy and if you enjoyed the uncomfortable silence in THE OFFICE, you will love EXTRAS.

Steven Merchant appears as the agent, and every scene between the two is absolutely priceless!!

EXTRAS also features self-mocking guest appearances by some of Hollywood's biggest names including Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet, Samuel L. Jackson and STAR TREK'S Patrick Stewart

EXTRAS is a superb show to watch and the Special Features on the DVD make it moreso.

There are behind-the-scenes featurettes and over 20 minutes of deleted scenes and outtakes.

I especially enjoyed watching the outtakes because you get to see how much fun Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant had while they were making the show.

That fun translates on screen and EXTRAS is all the better for it. You don't have to like THE OFFICE to enjoy EXTRAS...in fact, in many ways EXTRAS is a more accessible show.

But if you like to laugh, the show's name once again is EXTRAS. I recommend that you check it out!!

Up next this week is THE ILLUSIONIST.

THE ILLUSIONIST stars Edward Norton from THE ITALIAN JOB and FIGHT CLUB as a magician who returns to his home in Vienna after making a name for himself while performing around the world.

Once he gets back, he is re-ntroduced to his childhood sweatheart.

However, his sweatheart is now a duchess who is set to be engaged to Crown Prince Leopold, future ruler of the Austria-Hungarian Empire and Leopold is not as taken with the magician as his potential bride, so he sends his police inspector to check things out.

THE ILLUSIONIST has some interesting twists and turns, and comes complete with romance, suspense, and enough action and magic to keep almost everyone happy.

I completely enjoyed it!

The very enjoyable THE ILLUSIONIST is now available on DVD, alongside the superbly entertaining EXTRAS, from the creators of THE OFFICE.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

Robin Williams stars in THE NIGHT LISTENER as a radio announcer who begins communicating with his biggest fan, but when questions about the fans identity come up, the host's life is thrown into chaos.

Also next week, the action film CRANK, the absolutely awful THE LADY IN THE WATER and the Hollywood murder mystery THE BLACK DAHLIA.

I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next time on The Couch!

Rankins postpone reunion tour after family death

The long-awaited Rankin Family comeback tour, set to begin Sunday, has been temporarily postponed, after the sudden death of elder sister Geraldine (Rankin) Coyne.

Coyne, 49, died at her Calgary home on Wednesday after suffering a brain aneurysm. A funeral is scheduled for Monday in Calgary.

"We have postponed the Nanaimo shows set for the 14th and 15th, but no decision has yet been made regarding when and where the tour will start up," group spokeswoman Marlene Palmer said in an e-mail sent Thursday night, according to the Halifax Chronicle Herald.

"We are working on rescheduling the affected shows and will advise in due course."

In November, the performing siblings — guitarist and vocalist Jimmy and singers Raylene, Carol Jean (Cookie) and Heather — announced a cross-country tour and upcoming new album.

The tour would be the group's first in more than eight years, as well as the first tour since the 2000 death of its eldest member, pianist and fiddler John Morris. His daughter, Molly, was scheduled to join the new tour.

The Rankins released their newest album, The Rankin Family: Reunion Exclusive Tour Edition, on Tuesday, with the tour originally scheduled to begin with two shows in Nanaimo, B.C., on Sunday and Monday.

They were to continue through Victoria, Vancouver, Vernon and Prince George next week.

A family troupe that originally performed at local celebrations around their hometown of Mabou in Cape Breton, the Rankins formally began touring professionally in 1989.

Known for mixing traditional Celtic sounds with more contemporary folk and pop, the band chalked up sales of more than two million albums worldwide and had won multiple Juno and East Coast Music Awards when, in 1999, the siblings decided to work on solo projects.

One More for 'The Sopranos'

LOS ANGELES -- The last ride for "The Sopranos" is still scheduled for this spring, but creator David Chase couldn't quite let go with eight episodes.

As such, HBO has added a ninth episode to the show's final run, which also now has a definite premiere date: Sunday, April 8. "Entourage" will also return that night, wrapping up its third season with eight episodes.

For those of you marking your calendars, then, that's 86 days until Tony (James Gandolfini) and Co. grace the screen again.

When the show left off last June, the Soprano family was celebrating Christmas and things seemed to be going rather well: Tony seemed to have reached detente with Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent), Carmela's (Edie Falco) spec house was back on track and AJ (Robert Iler) had both a job and a girlfriend.

The show's history suggests, though, that good times aren't meant to last. On the minus side of the ledger, Christopher (Michael Imperioli) has relapsed into heroin use and begun an affair with a fellow addict (Julianna Margulies) tensions between the New York and New Jersey crews linger, and there are those two mysterious guys who hang out at the Bada Bing.

As for "Entourage," it will resume with Vince (Adrian Grenier) having fired his agent Ari (Jeremy Piven) and struck out on his own. The show has been picked up for a fourth season, which is likely to premiere later in the year.

'24' thrives on the pressure

LOS ANGELES — Tick. Come up with a concept to span 24 TV episodes, not just the usual 22.

Tick. Break in many new cast members.

Tick. Maintain absolute continuity to keep the integrity of a real-time format.

Tick. And, just for fun, land a jet on a highway.

Jack Bauer's not the only one with time pressures. Like the counterterrorist agent, the producers, writers and directors of 24 face a ticking clock of challenges in making the Emmy-winning drama.

The spotlight on their work is especially bright going into the sixth season (Fox, Sunday, 8 ET/PT) after a year that yielded 24's highest ratings (13.6 million viewers) and five Emmys, including best drama, director and actor (Kiefer Sutherland for his portrayal of juggernaut Jack).

But the set of 24— housed in a nondescript former pencil factory in the San Fernando Valley suburb of Chatsworth — hardly seems a pressure cooker during a December visit when the 13th and 14th hours are being filmed.

Everybody's busy trying to meet various demands and deadlines, but there's a confident air: We've done it before and we'll do it again. Even as the writers try to come up with new angles on a well-mined theme — Jack vs. terrorists — there's less advance script planning each season. "We've learned to have faith in ourselves. There's a lot less panic than there was at the beginning," says executive producer Howard Gordon during an interview in the producers' cigar room, the kind of perk that comes with being a hit.

Sutherland, also an executive producer, says the writers, including co-creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, "seem at times almost to invite the stress of backing themselves into a corner. Then they get in a room, all of them, and go to town on it. And amazing stuff will come out of it."

24's unique challenge is the interlocking combination of real time and serialization. "Without question it is our most difficult series" to produce, says Dana Walden, president of 20th Century Fox Television. "You take a process that's really difficult and add on this (real-time) conceit that makes the level of attention to detail so necessary."

Each episode must connect with the next, weaving separate, simultaneous story lines together and playing scenes out as part of a 24-hour day. Throwing in big action sequences, traditionally the stuff of feature films, adds thrills but also production complexity.

"On any serialized show, one script depends on what happened in the previous script. This show magnifies that because we approach it on a minute-to-minute basis," says Evan Katz, an executive producer and writer.

Continuity is paramount. Each department head, from the writing staff to wardrobe, has to make sure that all details follow from scene to scene because mistakes would be amplified in a format where one hour follows another. Script supervisor Anne Melville is the ultimate check, with a strong institutional memory and a thick book of detailed character and story notes.

Together, they make sure visual appearances, from hairstyles to ripped clothing, and plot points match. It gets tougher when scenes are shot out of sequence. The book "is a lot of pages," Melville says.

"If somebody has a scratch on their face on Day 1, it's there at the end of the" season, she says. "It has to carry over, show after show."

New information must fit characters' pasts. When a reference was made to Jack's premarital relationship 20 years earlier, Melville reminded writers his daughter, Kim, was over 20 and that Jack would have been married at the time. The number was pushed back.

Past must match present

That focus appears to be second nature for the veteran production staff. As Emmy-winning director Jon Cassar choreographs actor movements on 24's shadowy Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) set, he keeps in mind the past as well as the present.

With a few takes, the actors have the crisscross timing down, but something's wrong. "He definitely wasn't there," Cassar says, pointing to an extra in the bluish glow of the situation room. "There" is the previous chronological scene, which was shot weeks earlier.

For the writers, the clock for the new season starts ticking each spring, before the current season has even concluded. They toss ideas around — Gordon calls it "a fishing expedition" — as they look for next season's story. Sometimes it comes earlier, such as this year's opener in which Jack, finally freed from a Chinese prison, is asked to sacrifice his life to stop ongoing terror attacks in the USA. Sometimes it's later, as with last year's shocking assassination of President David Palmer in the opening moments.

The key, Gordon says, is for the writers to avoid repeating themselves. However, he says it's impossible at this point in the show's history to up the ante each year — considering 24 has exploded a nuclear bomb, released poison gases and featured a president who betrays his country.

"We take ourselves off the hook on that," he says. We write "what's interesting for us. If it's interesting for us, chances are it will be interesting for the audience."

Gordon acknowledges that writers take liberties with some details, such as driving times in L.A. and physical recovery from injuries. "But what we try to do is hew toward an emotional integrity, to have (the characters) react the way they would react. With emotions, hopefully, there's not too much disbelief," he says.

Cassar credits the writers with "keeping all the characters in play," noting that even successful serials, such as Lost, can have trouble balancing a large cast. At the same time, he notes continuity sometimes makes individual episodes and seasons "seem like a blur."

Writers are typically only two to four episodes ahead of production, allowing for a quick shift in the season's direction with a new idea, such as last year's revelation that President Logan was secretly betraying the country.

"We didn't decide Logan was crooked until episode 8 or 9," Katz says. "Once we knew that, we knew the season had to culminate with Jack against Logan. But first, we had to go back a little bit" to make sure the new direction wasn't contradicted by past events.

That flexibility wouldn't be possible without an experienced production team. 24 has a large number of personnel who remain from the beginning, unusual for a show entering its sixth season.

"The crew operates like clockwork," says Mary Lynn Rajskub, who plays Chloe.

Producers and directors can accommodate changes in story direction and produce two episodes at the same time, a rare feat that saves time and money but requires precise organization.

Sutherland describes it as a well-oiled upstairs-downstairs, with the division being task, not class. "In our building, all the writers and producers work on the second floor, and Jon Cassar and I basically work on the first floor, where we shoot everything. The writers write it, we make it and Joel cuts it. Rarely do we ever cross paths," he says.

The directors and producers don't flinch when given scenes featuring big, eye-catching effects, such as landing a plane on the freeway — they used a real plane on I-210, along with some computer graphics — or arranging for real Marines to participate in an assault on terrorists in Season 4.

(When asked if 24 had a bigger budget than other series, Gordon said, "No, smaller than many," but wouldn't specify a figure.)

The biggest coup, according to production supervisor Michael Klick, was getting the Navy's permission to use a real nuclear sub for last season's confrontation between Jack and his former mentor.

"Most producers would say, 'We can't do this,' " Gordon says. "We say we want to land a 747 on the 118 or, on two weeks' notice, I need two F-16s for a flyover, or we want to shoot on a sub. Michael will call the Navy and get it done."

Klick says his biggest challenge is arranging actors' schedules. With more than 500 speaking parts over the seasons, many actors aren't signed to exclusive contracts and shooting must be scheduled around their other projects. For scenes involving Jack and his father, Klick could find only one two-day weekend window for Sutherland and James Cromwell.

Over five seasons, 24's producers, cast and crew have painted themselves into the occasional corner, such as Teri, Jack's wife, coming down with amnesia in Season 1 or Kim being cornered by the infamous cougar in Season 2. In the process, they've learned lessons that have improved the show.

Some are practical. Since Season 2, Jack's bad day has started near dawn instead of midnight, making use of extra hours of light when production starts in summer and shooting night hours in winter.

The right point of view

Other lessons affect how the story is told. At the start of Season 3, the audience didn't know that Jack — in his heroin addiction days — was doing undercover work unknown to CTU. The surprise and the addiction had little payoff.

"It made us see the audience needed to understand the show from Jack's point of view," Gordon says. For the same reasons, the show is filmed with two cameras — one on wheels and one handheld — at human eye level.

In some cases, limitations become assets. Phone conversations and car travel in TV shows can be dead time, but 24 combines them, conveying plot information and updating parallel story lines during calls from the road, Cassar says.

"The secret to the show is that we give each other room to contribute. Everybody feels like they're contributing — the editors, actors, wardrobe people," Gordon says. "They feel like they're contributing to the telling of the story."

"The Queen" takes on Bond at British film awards

LONDON (Reuters) - James Bond will take on Her Majesty at the British film awards, with "Casino Royale" garnering nine BAFTA nominations on Friday, just one behind frontrunner "The Queen."

Stephen Frears was on the best director shortlist for "The Queen," and Helen Mirren, an Oscar favorite in the leading role, was a best actress nominee for her portrayal of a confused monarch at the time of Princess Diana's death in 1997.

Daniel Craig, the controversial choice to replace Pierce Brosnan as superspy James Bond in "Casino Royale," was vindicated with a nomination for best actor.

"'Casino Royale' has got nine nominations including best actor for Daniel Craig which is really one in the eye for all those people who said he wasn't the right person for the job," film critic Mark Kermode told the BBC.

Craig will be up against Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Departed," Richard Griffiths in "The History Boys," Peter O'Toole in "Venus" and Forest Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland," in which he portrays brutal Ugandan leader Idi Amin.

In the best actress category, Mirren competes with fellow British veteran Judi Dench for her role in school sex drama "Notes on a Scandal," Penelope Cruz for her acclaimed performance in "Volver," Meryl Streep in fashion comedy "The Devil Wears Prada" and Kate Winslet in "Little Children."

In the best film category, "The Queen" is joined by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel," "The Departed," directed by Martin Scorsese, "The Last King of Scotland" and low-budget beauty pageant comedy "Little Miss Sunshine."

Frears takes on directors Scorsese, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris ("Little Miss Sunshine"), Inarritu and Paul Greengrass for his fact-based September 11 drama "United 93."

OSCAR BAROMETER?

In 2001 the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' annual awards were moved to before the Oscars, helping them to attract some of Hollywood's biggest stars hoping to generate buzz as the awards season reached its climax.

But the BAFTAs, with a slant toward British films and different rules, have only a patchy record of predicting who will pick up Academy Awards.

This year, they moved forward the cutoff date for nomination hopefuls, disqualifying potential Oscar contenders like Clint Eastwood's "Letters From Iwo Jima" in what has been described as an "own goal" for the organization.

Best supporting actor nominations went to Alan Arkin ("Little Miss Sunshine"), James McAvoy ("The Last King of Scotland"), Jack Nicholson ("The Departed"), Leslie Phillips ("Venus") and Michael Sheen ("The Queen").

Up for best supporting actress are Emily Blunt ("The Devil Wears Prada"), Abigail Breslin and Toni Collette ("Little Miss Sunshine"), Frances de la Tour ("The History Boys") and Jennifer Hudson ("Dreamgirls").

"Pan's Labyrinth," a fantasy set in Spain during World War Two, garnered eight BAFTA nominations, "Babel," starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett exploring cultural and linguistic barriers, won seven, and crime thriller "The Departed," "Little Miss Sunshine" and "United 93" each won six.

The awards will be handed out on February 11.

New Line Chief: Jackson Won't Direct 'Hobbit' Prequel "On My Watch"

New Line Co-chairman Bob Shaye has made it clear that his decision not to bring back Peter Jackson to direct the Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit is final and not just a negotiating ploy.

In an interview with the online Sci-Fi Wire, Shaye said that hiring Jackson for The Hobbit "will never happen during my watch."

He claimed that Jackson had received "a quarter of a billion dollars paid to him so far, justifiably, according to contract, completely right, and this guy ... turns around without wanting to have a discussion with us and sues us and refused to discuss it unless we just give in to his plan. ... I don't want to work with that guy anymore."

Shaye then emphasized: "He will never make any movie with New Line Cinema again while I'm still working at the company."

Jackson quickly fired back that he had tried to discuss the issues with New Line "for over a year, but the studio was and continues to be completely uncooperative."

"Borat" nominated for Writers Guild award

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Box office sensation "Borat," a largely improvised faux documentary about a boorish Kazakh journalist, gained more Oscar momentum on Thursday as it was nominated with four other comedies for the 2006 Writers Guild of America Awards.

"Borat" star Sacha Baron Cohen and three collaborators will vie for best adapted screenplay against the writers of two other comedies, "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Thank You For Smoking," and two deadly serious dramas, "Little Children" and "The Departed."

Two more comedies, "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Stranger Than Fiction," were nominated for best original screenplay along with three dramas -- the globe-spanning saga "Babel," royal family portrait "The Queen" and the September 11 thriller "United 93."

The list comes out less than two weeks before nominations for the Academy Awards, Hollywood's top honors, are announced. Due to overlapping membership with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which oversees the Oscars, the WGA awards are regarded as a key bellwether for a film's Oscar chances, especially in the screenplay categories.

All the writers who made the cut this year are first-time WGA nominees, a guild spokesman said.

But one of the big surprises from this year's roster of contenders is the unusually large number of comedies -- half of the 10 nominated screenplays -- competing for an award that tends to favor dramas.

"I can't tell you how happy that makes me," said Michael Arndt, who wrote "Little Miss Sunshine." The offbeat comedy centers on an eccentric family rushing across the country in a broken-down Volkswagen bus to get their plucky young daughter to a beauty contest, and how a string of disappointments brings them all closer together.

"Sometime's there's a sense that because comedy deals in humor that it's less substantial than drama," Arndt told Reuters. "But I think comedy can see the human condition as clearly, and sometimes more clearly, than drama can."

'MOCKUMENTARY'

For Cohen's film, fully titled "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," the WGA nod was striking for its recognition of an outlandishly broad comedy whose script was largely ad-libbed by its star.

The concept of the film was based on the Borat character Cohen created for his TV show -- a cluelessly offensive Kazakh TV journalist with a thick mustache, wild-eyed grin and boisterous catch phrases like "Very nice!" and "Sexytime!"

Chronicling Borat's exploits on a cross-country U.S. road trip, the film is driven by Cohen's improvised, unrehearsed encounters with ordinary folk who become unsuspecting foils.

The low-budget "mockumentary" was an unexpected smash hit at the box office, grossing $127 million in North America alone, but it also sparked a fair amount of controversy.

The film drew protests from Kazakh authorities outraged by Cohen's portrait of their Central Asian country as a backward nation of imbeciles. It also sparked lawsuits by some of his unwitting subjects, including two college fraternity brothers shown guzzling alcohol and making racist remarks in the film.

While Cohen said he worked from material he and three co-writers sketched out in advance, the film was very much a moving target that evolved according to the situations he confronted during production.

Cohen said he was happy that the Writers Guild sought to recognize what he said was "essentially an experiment."

"We didn't know if it would work or not," he said in a telephone interview. "The idea of writing a story, and then trying to make that story literally happen in the real world, was something that had never been done before."

The film previously garnered Golden Globe nominations for best comedy and for best actor in a comedy for Cohen.

The Writers Guild Awards will be presented on February 11 in simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles. The Oscars, whose nominations are revealed on January 23, are handed out on February 25.

'Mosque' debuts to 2.1M viewers

TORONTO (CP) - Zaib Shaikh, the star of CBC's "Little Mosque on the Prairie," couldn't contain his glee Wednesday after learning the internationally hyped sitcom pulled in 2.1 million viewers for its premiere.

"It's fantastic for Canadian culture, it's fantastic for Muslims and non-Muslims and their perceptions about one another, it's fantastic for the CBC, it's fantastic for Canadian television," said the Toronto-born Shaikh, who plays the progressive young imam on "Little Mosque."

"The fact that so many people seemed to want to watch it, that so many people actually did watch it and that a Canadian show is getting this much international attention - it's quite surprising and unbelievable."

An audience of more than a million is considered a huge number for a Canadian show. CTV's "Corner Gas," the private broadcaster's big sitcom hit and one of the country's highest-rated shows, pulls in close to 1.5 million viewers a week.

American powerhouse shows like "Desperate Housewives" and "House" routinely get just over two million Canadian viewers a week.

Initial numbers suggested "Little Mosque" won its time slot Tuesday.

"We are thrilled and ecstatic," said Kirstine Layfield, CBC's director of network programming. "Not only did the number astound us, but the response to the show has been very positive. Three-quarters of the people who phoned in about the show loved it, and the only people who had anything negative to say just didn't like that we ran commercials."

"Little Mosque" has been getting buzz for weeks, with everyone from the BBC to CNN running items on the comedy, the creation of Muslim filmmaker Zarqa Nawaz. Much of the attention has focused on the fact that the show is a comedy about Muslims set in a post 9-11 world.

The CBC, struggling terribly in the ratings, had a lot invested in the show and promoted it with uncharacteristic cash and vigour, including an event at downtown Toronto's Dundas Square last week that featured free chicken shawarma and a bunch of friendly camels.

"I've got to say I didn't expect it to become the global phenomenon that it has become when I started writing it three years ago," a giggling Nawaz said Wednesday after getting word about the ratings. "But the comedy does live up to the hype, and future episodes just get funnier and funnier while at the same time delving into some deeper issues."

The question now, of course, is whether viewers will continue to tune in or whether Tuesday's ratings bonanza was due to the novelty factor.

The show moves to Mondays at 9 p.m. EST and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. following its Tuesday night debut this week - something that makes Nawaz nervous that the show could lose viewers.

"Our only concern now is that it's moving to a different time slot, and we hope people will find us," she said.

Shaikh, for one, thinks there is reason to be optimistic.

"My friends in Vancouver were in a bar and there was a group of Caucasian guys there, like 25 to 32, who saw the trailer and were laughing their heads off and saying they were going to get into the show," he says. "It is just meant to be funny, not political and not educational, and I really believe Canadians are going to continue to watch it and to like it."

CanWest, Goldman Sachs buy Alliance Atlantis for $2.3B

CanWest Global Communications Corp. and the private equity firm Goldman Sachs Capital Partners confirmed late Wednesday that they are buying Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. — one of Canada's biggest entertainment companies.

The CanWest and Goldman Sachs groups will pay $53 for each Class A and Class B share of Alliance Atlantis. The companies say that values the deal at $2.3 billion.

The takeover offer is less than the price Alliance Atlantis stock closed at Wednesday. The Class A voting shares ended the trading day at $54.18, while the Class B non-voting shares closed at $53.61.

Shareholders owning 80 per cent of the Class A shares have committed to tender their shares to the offer, the companies said. Holders of the Class B shares will be asked to vote in favour of the deal at a meeting to be held in the spring.

"The combined expertise of CanWest and Alliance Atlantis will enable us to produce even better Canadian content, promote it more effectively, and provide greater access to more viewers across more platforms," said CanWest CEO Leonard Asper in a release.

A CanWest company will be the controlling shareholder of Alliance Atlantis once the deal is finalized by mid-2007. CRTC approval will be required for the deal to proceed.

The companies say Alliance Atlantis' specialty television business and CanWest's Canadian television business will be combined, but not before 2011.

A Canadian partner of Goldman Sachs Capital Partners will ultimately control Alliance Atlantis' Motion Picture Distribution business, which is a major distributor of motion pictures in Canada.

The GS group will also own Alliance Atlantis' stake in the highly lucrative CSI television franchise. Alliance Atlantis now co-produces the various CSI dramas with CBS.

Confirmation of a deal came just hours after the companies acknowledged they were in exclusive takeover talks. That acknowledgement followed media reports earlier in the week that said CanWest and Goldman Sachs had teamed up to make a run at Alliance Atlantis.

Toronto-based Alliance Atlantis said on Dec. 20 that it was exploring its "strategic alternatives," and said it had sought expressions of interest from selected potential buyers.

Alliance Atlantis owns 13 specialty television channels, including Showcase — which airs the Trailer Park Boys series. It also owns Discovery Health, the Food Network, HGTV, History Television and the Life Network.

`Munsters' star Yvonne De Carlo dies

LOS ANGELES - Yvonne De Carlo, the beautiful star who played Moses' wife in "The Ten Commandments" but achieved her greatest popularity on TV's "The Munsters," has died. She was 84.

De Carlo died of natural causes Monday at the Motion Picture & Television facility in suburban Los Angeles, longtime friend and television producer Kevin Burns said Wednesday.

De Carlo, whose shapely figure helped launch her career in B-movie desert adventures and Westerns, rose to more important roles in the 1950s. Later, she had a key role in a landmark Broadway musical, Stephen Sondheim's "Follies."

But for TV viewers, she will always be known as Lily Munster in the 1964-1966 slapstick horror-movie spoof "The Munsters." The series (the name allegedly derived from "fun-monsters") offered a gallery of Universal Pictures grotesques, including Dracula and Frankenstein's monster, in a cobwebbed gothic setting.

Lily, vampire-like in a black gown, presided over the faux scary household and was a rock for her gentle but often bumbling husband, Herman, played by 6-foot-5-inch character actor Fred Gwynne (decked out as the Frankenstein monster).

While it lasted only two years, the series had a long life in syndication and resulted in two feature movies, "Munster Go Home!" (1966) and "The Munsters' Revenge." (1981, for TV).

At the series' end, De Carlo commented: "It meant security. It gave me a new, young audience I wouldn't have had otherwise. It made me `hot' again, which I wasn't for a while."

"I think she will best remembered as the definitive Lily Munster. She was the vampire mom to millions of baby boomers. In that sense, she's iconic," Burns said Wednesday.

"But it would be a shame if that's the only way she is remembered. She was also one of the biggest beauty queens of the `40s and `50s, one of the most beautiful women in the world. This was one of the great glamour queens of Hollywood, one of the last ones."

George Barris, who created the ghoulish "Munsters" car, equipped De Carlo's Jaguar with spider web hubcaps, a gargoyle hood ornament and a glossy black sunroof.

"She was a wonderful lady and a car buff. She loved the show so much that she incorporated it into her life, her own car," Barris said Wednesday.

De Carlo sustained a long career by repeatedly reinventing herself. When movie roles became scarce, she ventured into stage musicals. Her greatest stage triumph came on Broadway in 1971 with "Follies," which won the 1972 Tony award for best original musical score.

Over the years, De Carlo augmented her stardom by shrewd use of publicity. Gossip columnists reported her dates with famous men. In her 1987 book, "Yvonne: An Autobiography," she listed 22 of her lovers, who included Howard Hughes, Burt Lancaster, Robert Stack, Robert Taylor, Billy Wilder, Aly Khan and an Iranian prince.

The Canadian-born De Carlo began her career with a parade of bit parts in films of the early 1940s, then emerged as a star in 1945 with "Salome — Where She Danced," a routine movie about a dancer from Vienna who becomes a spy in the wild West.

Universal Pictures exploited her slightly exotic looks and a shape that looked ideal in a harem dress in such "sex-and-sand" programmers as "Song of Scheherazade," "Slave Girl," "Casbah" and "Desert Hawk."

The studio also employed her to add zest to Westerns, usually as a dance-hall girl or a gun-toting sharpshooter. Among the titles: "Frontier Gal," "Black Bart," "River Lady," "Calamity Jane and Sam Bass" and "The Gal Who Took the West."

In 1956 she veered from her former image when Cecil B. DeMille chose her to play Sephora, wife to Charlton Heston's Moses in "The Ten Commandments." The following year she costarred with Clark Gable and Sidney Poitier in "Band of Angels" as Gable's upper-class sweetheart who learns of her black forebears.

De Carlo was born Peggy Yvonne Middleton in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Sept. 1, 1922 (some sources say 1924). Abandoned by her father, she was raised by her mother in poor circumstances. The girl took dancing lessons and dropped out of high school to work in night clubs and local theaters. She continued dancing in clubs when she and her mother moved to Los Angeles.

Paramount Pictures signed her to a contract in 1942, and she adopted her middle name and her mother's middle name. Dropped by Paramount after 20 minor roles, she landed at Universal.

In 1955, De Carlo married Bob Morgan, a topflight stunt man, and the marriage produced two sons, Bruce and Michael. During a stunt aboard a moving log train for "How the West Was Won," Morgan was thrown underneath the wheels. The accident cost him a leg, and for a time De Carlo abandoned her career to care for him. They later divorced.

In her late years, De Carlo lived in semiretirement near Solvang, north of Santa Barbara. Her son Michael died in 1997, and she suffered a stroke the following year.

'Pirates,' Depp lead People's Awards

LOS ANGELES - The movie swashbuckler "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and its stars Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley led winners during Tuesday night's 33rd annual People's Choice Awards.

Jennifer Aniston, Ellen DeGeneres, Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, Nickelback, Justin Timberlake, Eva Longoria and Patrick Dempsey were also favorites.

"If it wasn't for the people, I'd never win an award," Longoria said, laughing as she accepted her award for female television star.

The movies "Click" and "Cars" were also winners.

Depp, appearing by satellite from London, said he was humbled by the honor.

"I know that I've said this before. But the fact that this award comes from the people makes it all the more special," he said. "And thanks for keeping me employed, yeah? You're the boss."

The CBS-TV show from the Shrine Auditorium was hosted by Queen Latifah. Winners were picked by public Internet balloting. The Favorite New TV Comedy and Favorite New TV Drama categories were open for online voting through the first hour of the broadcast.

The list of favorites:

MOVIES

• Female star: Jennifer Aniston

• Male star: Johnny Depp

• Leading lady: Cameron Diaz

• Leading man: Vince Vaughn

• Female action star: Halle Berry

• Male action star: Johnny Depp

• On-screen matchup: Johnny Depp & Keira Knightley

• Movie: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"

• Movie drama: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"

• Movie comedy: "Click"

• Family movie: "Cars"

MUSIC

• Female singer: Carrie Underwood

• Male singer: Kenny Chesney

• Group: Nickelback

• R&B song: "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake

• Hip-hop song: "Shake That" by Eminem

• Pop song: "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira

• Country song: "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood

• Rock song: "Who Says You Can't Go Home" by Bon Jovi

• Song from a movie: "Life is a Highway" by Rascal Flatts from "Cars"

• Remake: "Life is a Highway" by Rascal Flatts

TELEVISION

• Comedy: "Two and a Half Men"

• Animated comedy: "The Simpsons"

• Drama: "Grey's Anatomy"

• Competition/Reality show: "American Idol"

• New Comedy: "The Class"

• New Drama: "Heroes"

• Female star: Eva Longoria

• Male star: Patrick Dempsey

• Talk show host: Ellen DeGeneres

OTHER

• Funny female star: Ellen DeGeneres

• Funny male star: Robin Williams

The Couch Potato Report - January 9th, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on five films, including one about some snakes on a plane.

Our first film this week is THE WAR TAPES - a superb but hard to watch documentary that was filmed by actual servicemen in Iraq.

Before heading to the war several members of the National Guard were given digital video cameras.

THE WAR TAPES is the film that was edited together from their footage and it provides a perspective on a complex and troubled conflict.

At times THE WAR TAPES is fascinating, frustrating, disgusting, and at other times it is insightful and dispicable.

But at all times it gives us an insiders look at the war in Iraq, and what it is doing to the people who are fighting there.

When this year's Academy Award nominations are announced on January 23rd THE WAR TAPES is likely to get nominated in the DOCUMENTARY FEATURE category. If that happens, everyone will be lining up at your local store to check out this movie. Don't wait, see it before the rush.

You might not be glad you did, but you will have experienced a one of a kind look at war.

Next up this week is THINGS TO DO. This is a small Canadian film that probably won't get an Oscar nod, but it is still fun to watch.

The plot in THINGS TO DO is as follows: A twenty-five year old office worker leaves the big city behind and go back to his childhood hometown to take stock of his life and try to resolve some past regrets.

And while that plot does have some unique twists and turns, the reason that THINGS TO DO is worth seeing, is because the two lead characters are so interesting and...well, boring.

These aren't movie people, they are people people, living lives that we can all relate to.

Not all conversations in real life sparkle or are peppered with pop culture references, sometimes - in real life - people just ask each other questions.

That is what happens in this movie too!

THINGS TO DO isn't for everyone, but if you are interested in a small film about small people with big problems, then search it out.

But you don't like films like that because matial arts films are more your forte, then track down Jet Li's FEARLESS.

It has hand fighting...Pole fighting...And even sword fighting.

FEARLESS is inspired by a real-life Chinese martial arts master.

Jet Li from ROMEO MUST DIE and HERO plays this legendary figure, whose martial arts style and fearless fight helped the people in China regain their pride in the early 20th century when China was intimidated and humiliated by the growing Western and Japanese powers.

Li is superb, and if you like films full of fighting, then FEARLESS is the movie you need to find this week.

The fourth of five films I have for you in this Couch Potato Report is a horror movie set in a cave.

It is called THE DESCENT.

In the film a group of female friends get trapped in a mountain cave due to a rockfall.

As they try and find a way out of the caves they start to realize that time, and lack of oxygen aren't their only enemies.

They are also being pursued by a strange breed of predators.

In a day and age when almost every film released stars and is for people between the ages of 18 and 25, the most positive thing I can say about THE DESCENT is the fact that it stars adults, making adult decisions...and trying to come to grips with the adult consequences.

Other than that, THE DESCENT is only, and I hate to say this, but the creativity of my statement is on par with the film itself - THE DESCENT is only a decent horror film.

It doesn't deserve to be buried under rocks, but I'm not sure everyone needs to see it on the shelves at your local store either.

Okay, the final release this week is a little known film about some SNAKES ON A PLANE.

Since this film was released in theatres back in August "professional critics" have been falling over each other to tell you how bad it is, why it doesn't work, how fake the computer generated snakes look, and anything else negative that they can say about it.

Truth is, this isn't a film for "professional critics."

It is a film for people who would be interested in seeing a movie called SNAKES ON A PLANE.

I saw this film sitting in a jam packed theatre the night it came out, and I watched it again this week at home on DVD.

I enjoyed it both times.

It is everything a film called SNAKES ON A PLANE should be!

If you think you'd be interested in seeing an action film with Samuel L. Jackson about snakes on a plane, then go ahead and enjoy!

Otherwise, there are plenty of other selections now available on DVD on the shelves at your favourite local home entertainment store, including the only decent THE DESCENT, JET LI'S superb martial arts film FEARLESS, the fun to watch Canadian film THINGS TO DO and the potential Academy Award nominee THE WAR TAPES.

Coming up in the next Couch Potato Report

Ricky Gervais followed up his superb BBC series THE OFFICE with the spectacular series EXTRAS and SEASON ONE is now available on DVD with guest stars Patrick Stewart, Kate Winslet and Ben Stiller.

Also next week, in THE ILLUSIONIST a magician uses his abilities to secure the love of a woman far above his social standing and in THE NIGHT LISTENER a radio announcer begins communicating with his biggest fan, but when questions about the boy's identity come up, the host's life is thrown into chaos.

I always hate it when radio announcer's lives are thrown into chaos!!

I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next time on The Couch!

Wonder Woman Sophia Bush

Freshly divorced, actress Sophia Bush may now be ready to take on a new role as Wonder Woman.

Moviehole.net reports that Joss Whedon's remake of the movie based on the DC Comic Wonder Woman has still to confirm an actress for the role of the leading lady.

Bush is the latest rumoured contender for the part, as she has yet to deny the buzz of her possible new character. When questioned about her participation in the movie, she simply answered, "Maybe."

Others rumoured for the part include Jessica Biel, Morena Baccarin, and Charisma Carpenter.

DGA Snubs Eastwood--Twice

Last year, Clint Eastwood was presented with the Directors Guild of America's ultimate honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award. This year, the Hollywood icon was presented with absolutely nada.

Eastwood got snubbed twice by the DGA on Tuesday as the group unveiled its nominee list for Best Director--make that, its Eastwood-free nominee list.

Martin Scorsese (The Departed), Bill Condon (Dreamgirls), Stephen Frears (The Queen), Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel) and the tandem behind Little Miss Sunshine, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, all made the cut.

Eastwood (Flags of Our Fathers) and Eastwood (Letters from Iwo Jima) didn't.

Up until the DGA nominations, Eastwood seemed a safe bet for at least one Best Director berth at the Oscars. He did well at the critics awards (thanks to Iwo Jima, typically), and, at the Golden Globes, he scored directing nods for both World War II films.

But now, having been denied by the DGA (and his films having been denied last week by the Producers Guild), Eastwood will be fighting history--a tough task even for the Man With No Name.

Last year, the DGA field turned out to be Oscar's Best Director field, from little-known Bennett Miller (Capote) to big-winner Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain).
As the DGA perennially reminds, its feature-film directing award is an almost-flawless predictor of Oscar success. Since the DGA began dispensing trophies in 1949, 51 of 57 DGA winners to date have gone onto become Best Director winners at the Academy Awards.

While none of this is good news to Eastwood, all of this is good news to the usually luckless Scorsese, who brings experience, as well as a certain amount of angst, to a field of DGA nominee newbies.

Scorsese's nod for The Departed is his seventh. He's never won. A model of consistency, Scoreses has been nominated seven times for writing and directing Oscars, and never won.

Frears, whose credits include High Fidelity and Dangerous Liaisons, notches his first feature-film DGA nomination for The Queen. Back in 1991, Frears managed a feat that could give hope to all of Tuesday's snubees (including United 93's Paul Greengrass): He netted a Best Directing Oscar nomination for The Grifters without the benefit of a DGA nomination.

Bill Condon, the writer behind the Oscar juggernaut that was Chicago, is the director behind the Oscar juggernaut that could be Dreamgirls. An Academy Award-winning writer for Gods and Monsters, he's another first-time DGA nominee.

González Iñárritu has been compiling love letters from critics since Amores Perros made a splash at Cannes in 2000. His nomination for Babel, however, is his first sign of encouragement from the DGA.

First time was the charm for Dayton and Faris, the husband-and-wife team and music-video veterans who made their feature-film directing debut with Little Miss Sunshine. On the heels of their comedy's PGA Best Picture nomination, the little comedy about winning and losing looks like it may well get a chance to do both in Oscar's top categories.

With her shared nomination, Faris becomes the only the sixth woman to rate a DGA feature-film nod, and the first since Sofia Coppola was in the game for Lost in Translation in 2004.

The DGA winner will be announced at the guild's 59th annual dinner, scheduled for Feb. 3 in Los Angeles. Carl Reiner (The Jerk), Paris Barclay (NYPD Blue, Cold Case, etc.) and Taylor Hackford (Ray) are among those to be presented with special awards.

If Scorsese loses (again), he can at least take pride in the Best Director honor he scored Monday from the Online Film Critics Society. Other top winners in that contest: United 93, named Best Picture; and, per usual, The Last King of Scotland's Forest Whitaker and The Queen's Helen Mirren, named Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively.

And the shiny mantel pieces don't stop coming. The Golden Globes are Monday. Oscar nominations are due out Jan. 23.

Ripken, Gwynn elected to Hall of Fame

NEW YORK - Mark McGwire fell far short in his first try for the Hall of Fame, picked by 23.5 percent of voters while Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. easily gained baseball's highest honor.

Tarnished by accusations of steroid use, McGwire appeared on 128 of a record 545 ballots in voting released Tuesday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Ripken was picked by 537 voters, appearing on 98.5 percent of ballots, falling just short of the record percentage of 98.84 set by Tom Seaver when he was selected on 425 of 430 ballots in 1992.

Gwynn was just behind with 532 votes, 97.6 percent.

LG offers dual-format DVD

LAS VEGAS -- A new high-definition DVD player is offering a glimmer of hope for those hopelessly confused by the Betamax-vs.-VHS-style format war currently being waged in the arena of next-generation living room entertainment.

But the hope comes at a steep price.

At the kickoff of this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, LG Electronics announced it will be releasing a high-definition DVD player that will play both Blu-ray and HD DVD movies, meaning film fans will be able to buy movies in either of the competing formats and have them play on a single device.

"Through the dual-format HD player, LG has eliminated the fear of having to commit to one technology and made this innovation accessible to everyone," LG Electronics Canada spokesman Frank Lee said yesterday.

The LG SMB-007 -- Super Multi Blue player -- will be available this spring for $1,499.

While the cost of the all-in-one player will certainly cause some eyes to water, Lee said it's not uncommon for a new technology to come at a premium price. "We need to remind ourselves that no more than 20 years ago an entry-level mono VCR was being sold at $1,199," he said.

Apart from the sticker shock, the Super Multi Blue player comes with another caveat -- it's less a perfect melding of the two technologies than it is a Blu-ray player that also happens to support HD DVD playback. The much-touted interactive menu features of the next-gen DVD formats will be functional only for Blu-ray movies played on the device, not HD DVD flicks.

The ongoing format war between the Blu-ray and HD DVD technologies has been compared to the Betamax versus VHS dust-up of the late '70s and early '80s. So far, HD DVD players have seen better sales, although the Blu-ray format enjoys greater support from the major Hollywood studios.

Lee said the consumer will ultimately decide whether Blu-ray or HD DVD emerges triumphant in the format war, but that the new hybrid player will serve the needs of those who want to cover both bases without buying two devices.

The sprawling LG booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center drew throngs of curious onlookers yesterday, many of whom were gathered around a Super Multi Blue display showing a Blu-ray movie running on one of the new players and an HD DVD movie on another. Even Hollywood megaproducer Jerry Bruckheimer stopped by briefly to check the device out.

'Bon Cop' tops Genie nominations

TORONTO (CP) -- The bilingual cop action film "Bon Cop, Bad Cop," one of the top-grossing films in Canadian history, picked up a handful of Genie nominations on Tuesday, including best picture and best actor nods for its two male stars.

But it was "The Rocket," the moving film about hockey legend Maurice Richard and the rise of Quebec nationalism, that received the lion's share of nominations, receiving 13 nods in 19 Genie categories, including best picture.

Roy Dupuis also got a best actor nomination for his turn as the beloved Habitant.

Three other films rounded out the best picture category: "Trailer Park Boys: The Movie," "La petite guide de la vengeance (The Little Book of Vengeance)," and "Un dimanche a Kigali (A Sunday in Kigali)."

"Bon Cop's" Colm Feore and Patrick Huard, who play bickering cops from Ontario and Quebec, respectively, as they try to solve a chain of hockey-related serial killings, join Dupuis in the best actor category. Olivier Gourmet in "Congorama" and Luc Picard in "Un dimanche a Kigali" were also nominated. It was Picard's second nomination in as many years; he got a nod last year for his work in "L'Audition."

In the best actress category, 12-year-old Jodelle Ferland, the Vancouver actress best known for her turn in "Silent Hill," was nominated for her starring role in the stomach-churning "Tideland." The Terry Gilliam horror film was funded in part by Telefilm Canada and was one of the most critically reviled movies of the year.

Julie Le Breton also got a nod for "The Rocket," Fatou N'Diaye for "Un dimanche a Kigali," Ginette Reno for "Le secret de ma mere" and American actress Sigourney Weaver for "Snow Cake."

While Ricky, Bubbles and Julian were shut out in the acting categories, their "Trailer Park Boys" co-star, Hugh Dillon, picked up a best supporting actor nod for his portrayal of Sonny, the sinister owner of the boys' favourite strip club.

"Bon Cop, Bad Cop" -- considered the top-grossing Canadian film of all time if inflation isn't taken into account ("Porky's" would still be ahead in today's dollars) had a total of 10 nominations, "Un dimanche a Kigali" had seven and "Tideland" had six, most of them in production categories.

The Genies, honouring the best in Canadian cinema, will be handed out Feb. 13 in a gala to be broadcast on Citytv.

...The 2007 Genie nominees

BEST MOTION PICTURE

BON COP, BAD COP - Kevin Tierney

GUIDE DE LA PETITE VENGEANCE / THE LITTLE BOOK OF REVENGE - Roger Frappier, Luc Vandal

MAURICE RICHARD / THE ROCKET - Denise Robert, Daniel Louis

TRAILER PARK BOYS: THE MOVIE - Barrie Dunn, Mike Clattenburg, Michael Volpe

UN DIMANCHE A KIGALI / A SUNDAY IN KIGALI - Lyse Lafontaine, Michael Mosca

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN

JEAN BECOTTE - Bon Cop, Bad Cop

MARY-ANN LIU, ATHENA WONG - Eve and the Fire Horse

MICHEL PROULX - Maurice Richard / The Rocket

FRANCOIS SEGUIN - La Rage de l'ange / Angel's Rage

JASNA STEFANOVIC - Tideland

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN

MICHELLINE AMAAQ - The Journals of Knud Rasmussen

SANDY BUCK - Eve and the Fire Horse

FRANCESCA CHAMBERLAND - Maurice Richard / The Rocket

MARIO DAVIGNON - Tideland

ANNIE DUFORT - La Vie secrete des gens heureux / The Secret Life of Happy People

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY

BRUCE CHUN - Bon Cop, Bad Cop

STEVE COSENS - Snow Cake

PIERRE GILL - Maurice Richard / The Rocket

JAN KIESSER - Beowulf & Grendel

NICOLA PECORINI - Tideland

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTION

ERIK CANUEL - Bon Cop, Bad Cop

JEAN-FRANCOIS POULIOT - Guide de la Petite Vengeance / The Little Book of Revenge

CHARLES BINAME - Maurice Richard / The Rocket

ROBERT FAVREAU - Un dimanche a Kigali / A Sunday in Kigali

STEPHANE LAPOINTE - La Vie secrete des gens heureux / The Secret Life of Happy People

ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING

MICHEL ARCAND - Maurice Richard / The Rocket

JEAN-FRANCOIS BERGERON - Bon Cop, Bad Cop

FREDERIQUE BROOS - Congorama

MICHEL GROU - Cheech

LESLEY WALKER - Tideland

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE

NORMAND CORBEIL - Cheech

MICHEL CUSSON - Maurice Richard / The Rocket

PIERRE DESROCHERS - La Vie secrete des gens heureux / The Secret Life of Happy People

HILMAR ORN HILMARSSON - Beowulf & Grendel

JEAN ROBITAILLE - Sans elle / Without Her

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG

BRAMWELL TOVEY, RICHARD BELL - Eighteen - In a Heartbeat

DAN BIGRAS - La Rage de l'ange / Angel's Rage - L'Astronaute

PATRICK WATSON, CAROLINE DHAVERNAS - La belle bete / The Beautiful Beast - Trace-Moi

ERIC LAPOINTE, STEPHANE DUFOUR, JAMIL - Bon Cop, Bad Cop - Tattoo

JENNIFER KREISBERG - Unnatural & Accidental - Have Hope

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

ROY DUPUIS - Maurice Richard / The Rocket

COLM FEORE - Bon Cop, Bad Cop

OLIVIER GOURMET - Congorama

PATRICK HUARD - Bon Cop, Bad Cop

LUC PICARD - Un dimanche a Kigali / A Sunday in Kigali

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

HUGH DILLON - Trailer Park Boys: The Movie

ROBERT JOY - Whole New Thing

CHAN CHIT MAN LESTER - Eve and the Fire Horse

STEPHEN MCHATTIE - Maurice Richard / The Rocket

MICHEL MULLER - Guide de la Petite Vengeance / The Little Book of Revenge

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

JODELLE FERLAND - Tideland

JULIE LE BRETON - Maurice Richard / The Rocket

FATOU N'DIAYE - Un dimanche a Kigali / A Sunday in Kigali

GINETTE RENO - Le secret de ma mere

SIGOURNEY WEAVER - Snow Cake

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

CAROLINE DHAVERNAS - Niagara Motel

MARIE GIGNAC - La Vie secrete des gens heureux / The Secret Life of Happy People

EMILY HAMPSHIRE - Snow Cake

CARRIE ANNE MOSS - Snow Cake

VIVIAN WU - Eve and the Fire Horse

ACHIEVEMENT IN OVERALL SOUND

DANIEL PELLERIN, GASHTASEB ARIANA, JEFF CARTER - Eve and the Fire Horse

CLAUDE HAZANAVICIUS, CLAUDE BEAUGRAND, LUC BOUDRIAS, BERNARD GARIEPY STROBL - Maurice Richard / The Rocket

DOMINIQUE CHARTRAND, GAVIN FERNANDES, NATHALIE MORIN, PIERRE PAQUET - Bon Cop, Bad Cop

DAVID LEE, DOUGLAS COOPER, ROBERT FARR - Tideland

MARIE-CLAUDE GAGNE, CLAUDE LA HAYE, HANS PETER STROBL, BERNARD GARIEPY STROBL - Un dimanche a Kigali / A Sunday in Kigali

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING

PIERRE-JULES AUDET, GUY FRANCOEUR, GUY PELLETIER - Cheech

CLAUDE BEAUGRAND, OLIVIER CALVERT, JEROME DECARIE, NATALIE FLEURANT, FRANCINE POIRIER - Maurice Richard / The Rocket

CHRISTIAN RIVEST, VALERY DUFORT-BOUCHER, TCHAE MEASROCH - Bon Cop, Bad Cop

MARIE-CLAUDE GAGNE - Un dimanche a Kigali / A Sunday in Kigali

JANE TATTERSALL, BARRY GILMORE, DAVID MCCALLUM, DONNA POWELL, DAVE ROSE-Beowulf & Grendel

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

PHILIPPE FALARDEAU - Congorama

KEN SCOTT - Guide de la Petite Vengeance / The Little Book of Revenge

KEN SCOTT - Maurice Richard / The Rocket

MARTIN GIRARD, GHYSLAINE COTE - Le secret de ma mere

STEPHANE LAPOINTE - La Vie secrete des gens heureux / The Secret Life of Happy People

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

MIKE CLATTENBURG, ROBB WELLS - Trailer Park Boys: The Movie

FRANCOIS LETOURNEAU - Cheech

ROBERT FAVREAU, GIL COURTEMANCHE - Un dimanche a Kigali / A Sunday in Kigali

BEST DOCUMENTARY

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES - Jennifer Baichwal, Nick de Pencier, Gerry Flahive, Daniel Iron, Peter Starr

LA PLANETE BLANCHE / THE WHITE PLANET - Jean Lemire, Thierry Piantanida, Thierry Ragobert

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT DRAMA

BIG GIRL - Renuka Jeyapalan, Anneli Ekborn, Michael Gelfand

HIRO - Matthew Swanson, Oliver-Barnet Lindsay

JACK ET JACQUES - Marie-Helene Copti

LE ROUGE AU SOL / RED - Maxime Giroux, Paul Barbeau

SNAPSHOTS FOR HENRY - Teresa Hannigan, Charlotte Disher

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

THE DANISH POET - Torill Kove, Lise Fearnley, Marcy Page

HISTOIRE TRAGIQUE AVEC FIN HEUREUSE / TRAGIC STORY WITH HAPPY ENDING - Regina Pessoa, Patrick Eveno, Abi Feijo, Jacques-Remy Girerd, Marcel Jean

Apple unveils long-awaited phone, TV box

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday unveiled a new mobile phone that downloads and plays music as well as a set-top box that allows people to stream video from their computers to their televisions.

Jobs said Apple's iPhone would "reinvent" the telecommunications sector and "leapfrog" past the current generation of hard-to-use smart phones.

"Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything," he said during his keynote address at the annual Macworld Conference and Expo. "It's very fortunate if you can work on just one of these in your career. ... Apple's been very fortunate in that it's introduced a few of these."

Apple shares jumped 5 percent on the announcements.

Jobs demonstrated the phone's music capabilities by playing "Lovely Rita, Meter Maid," from the Beatles' "Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band."

IPhone uses a patented touch-screen technology Apple is calling "multi-touch."

"We're going to use a pointing device that we're all born with," Jobs said. "It works like magic. ... It's far more accurate than any touch display ever shipped. It ignores unintended touches. It's super smart."

The phone automatically synchs your media — movies, music, photos — through Apple's iTunes digital content store. The device also synchs e-mail content, Web bookmarks and nearly any type of digital content stored on your computer.

"It's just like an iPod," Jobs said, "charge and synch."

IPhone is less than a half-inch thin — less than almost any phone on the market today. It comes with a 2-megapixel digital camera built into the back, as well as a slot for headphones and a SIM card. Jobs did not immediately provide details on price or availability.

Jobs also said the company will begin taking orders Tuesday for $299 video box, called Apple TV. It will be available in February.

The gadget is designed to bridge computers and television sets so users can more easily watch their downloaded movies on a big screen. A prototype of the gadget was displayed by Jobs in September when Apple announced it would sell TV shows and movies through its iTunes online store.

The product could be as revolutionary to digital movies as Apple's iPod music player was to digital music. Both devices liberate media from the computer, allowing people to enjoy digital files without being chained to a desktop or laptop.

"It's really, really easy to use," Jobs told the crowd at San Francisco's Moscone Center before demonstrating the system with a video clip of "The Good Shepherd." "It's got the processing horsepower to do the kinds of things we like to do."

Apple TV will come with a 40-gigabyte hard drive that stores up to 50 hours of video. It features an Intel Corp. microprocessor and can handle videos, photos and music streamed from up to five computers within the wireless range.

Jobs also said Apple has sold more than 2 billion songs on its popular iTunes music download service, catapulting the company into the top ranks of music sellers worldwide. Apple, which sells 58 songs per second, or 5 million songs a day, sells more songs than Amazon.com and ranks behind only Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target as a music retailer.

"We couldn't be happier with the growth rate of iTunes," Jobs said.

He said Apple will sell digital movies from Paramount. Apple has partnered with Disney for several months, offering about 100 movies on iTunes. With Paramount's selection, it will have 250 movies available for downloading on the site.

With Tuesday's launches, it remains to be seen whether the leading seller of digital music players can colonize an entirely new category of gadgets. Apple could use a megahit along the lines of its iconic iPod to divert investors' attention from the stock options-backdating scandal that has tainted its reputation.

The backdating of stock options, which has been widespread among Silicon Valley companies, involves pegging stock options to favorable grant dates in the past to boost the recipients' award. It isn't necessarily illegal, but securities laws require companies to properly disclose the practice in their accounting and settle any charges that may result.

In a December filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple said Jobs was aware of, or recommended the selection of, some favorable grant dates but he neither benefited financially from them nor "appreciated the accounting implications."

Apple shares were up $4.29 to $89.76 in midday trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $50.16 to $93.16.

Piven and Cusack friendship may be over

NEW YORK - Jeremy Piven played second banana to his friend John Cusack until his recent breakthrough in HBO's "Entourage," winning an Emmy Award last year for his role as sharklike agent Ari Gold.

Now Piven and Cusack, who studied acting at Chicago's Piven Theatre Workshop, which was run by Piven's parents, appear to be on the outs, or so Piven suggests in an interview in the February issue of Best Life magazine, on newsstands Friday.

"No comment. I mean, you could fill in the blank, I bet," the 41-year-old actor says when asked how Cusack has handled Piven's recent success.

Piven played supporting roles to Cusack in films such as "Say Anything," "Gross Pointe Blank" and "Runaway Jury" before getting his big break on "Entourage."

"... I was always proud of him, and I was always in his corner," Piven says of the 40-year-old Cusack. "Always."

The Associated Press was attempting Tuesday to reach a representative for Cusack, who stars in "Grace Is Gone," which will be shown at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, later this month.

Piven, who co-stars with Ben Affleck in the upcoming film "Smokin' Aces," a Universal Studios release, says he values loyalty.

"It just says so much about a person if he has space for other people's success," he says.

"I have always been so proud of my friends' success. I own that proudly because I come by it naturally. I was raised on that spirit of collaboration. ... You start getting into trouble in life when you start comparing and contrasting your life to anyone else's. You don't win when you do that."

Cooperstown bound?

NEW YORK (AP) - Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. will fall short of becoming the first unanimous Hall of Fame picks while Mark McGwire doesn't figure to be anywhere close to the necessary 75 per cent when 2007 voting is released Tuesday.

Paul Ladewski of the Daily Southtown in suburban Chicago wrote in a column Monday that he submitted a blank ballot because of doubts he had over performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

"At this point, I don't have nearly enough information to make a value judgment of this magnitude. In particular, that concerns any player in the Steroids Era, which I consider to be the 1993-2004 period, give or a take a season," Ladewski wrote. "This isn't to suggest that Gwynn or Ripken or the majority of the other eligible candidates padded his statistics with performance-enhancers and cheated the game, their predecessors and the fans in the process.

"But tell me, except for the players themselves, who can say what they put into their bodies over the years with any degree of certainty?"

Gwynn and Ripken likely will vie for the highest percentages ever in Hall voting. McGwire, also on the ballot for the first time, probably will draw only one in four votes, according to a November survey of about 20 per cent of eligible voters taken by The Associated Press.

McGwire finished with 583 home runs, seventh on the career list, and hit 70 homers in 1998 to set the season record, a mark Barry Bonds broke three years later.

But many voters have said they won't select McGwire for baseball's highest honour until he answers questions about steroids use. McGwire's refusal to address his past during a 2005 congressional hearing damaged his reputation among many of the 10-year members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America who cast ballots.

"I think I would vote for him," Gwynn said. "I think I would vote for a lot of those guys who are considered to have done it."

Tom Seaver holds the record percentage at 98.84, set when he was selected on 425 of 430 ballots in 1992.

Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News was among three writers who submitted blank ballots that year, joined by Bob Hertzel of The Pittsburgh Press and freelance writer Bob Hunter. Retired writers Deane McGowen and Bud Tucker did not vote for Seaver.

"That was the first year that baseball intervened with Pete Rose and kept his name off the ballot," Hagen said Monday. "I just felt like that was a way of protesting.

"It had nothing to do with Tom Seaver."

Ty Cobb was left off four ballots, Nolan Ryan wasn't on six, Hank Aaron on nine, Babe Ruth on 11 and Willie Mays on 23. Joe DiMaggio needed to appear on the ballot three times to get in, receiving 44 per cent and 69 per cent in his first two tries.

"I'll admit I sort of felt that sooner or later it might come my way," DiMaggio was quoted as saying by The New York Times after he was elected in 1955. "But after failing to make it during the first two elections for which I was eligible - well, I just wasn't too sure."

Past elections also were cited by Ladewski as reasons for submitting a blank ballot.

"What makes Gwynn and Ripken so special that they deserve to be unanimous selections?" he wrote. "Walter Johnson, Cy Young and Honus Wagner didn't receive such Hall passes.

"Neither did Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. In fact, nobody has in the history of the game. Based on the standards set by the Hall of Fame voters decades ago, is there a neutral observer out there who can honestly say Gwynn and Ripken should be afforded an unprecedented honour?"

Reliever Bruce Sutter made it last year on the 13th try, when Jim Rice fell 53 votes short and Goose Gossage was 54 shy. Rice is on the ballot for the 13th time this year, and he may have a better chance at gaining election next year, when Tim Raines and David Justice are the top first-time eligibles. Rickey Henderson goes on the 2009 ballot.

Gwynn and Ripken are baseball dinosaurs who spent their entire major league careers with one team.

In a 20-year career with the San Diego Padres that began in 1982, Gwynn won eight NL batting titles to tie Honus Wagner's NL record and was a member of 15 all-star teams. He finished with a .338 career average and won five Gold Gloves as an outfielder.

Ripken played in 2,632 consecutive games, breaking Lou Gehrig's ironman record of 2,130. Ripken spent 21 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, hitting .276 with 431 home runs. A 19-time all-star, he won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 1982, the AL MVP award in 1983 and 1991 and was a two-time Gold Glove shortstop.

Jose Canseco also is on the ballot for the first time. The former Toronto Blue Jay said he used steroids along with McGwire when they were teammates. Two-time Cy Young award winner Bret Saberhagen, former NL MVP Ken Caminiti and Harold Baines also are on the ballot for the first time.

A player remains on the ballot for up to 15 elections as long as he gets five per cent of the votes every year.

Any players elected will be inducted during ceremonies held July 29 at the Hall in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with anyone elected from the Veterans Committee vote, which will be announced Feb. 27.

Hagar Hoping Van Halen Takes High Road At Rock Hall

Van Halen's appearance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on March 12 "could go a lot of different ways," according to Sammy Hagar. That said, Hagar -- the group's second frontman, from 1985-96 -- tells Billboard.com he has high hopes that the famously combative group will take the high road on that particular night.

"My hope is that everyone lets everything go and we go there in complete respect of each other and in a loving way, with the attitude that 'I couldn't have done it without you' towards everybody," says Hagar, who received the official word of Van Halen's selection at his Cabo Wabo Cantina in Mexico, where he and Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony have spent the past week jamming with Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith in a newly developing side project called Chickenfoot.

But he also notes that, "The biggest fear for me is there'll be animosity and 'I won't talk to that guy' and maybe some harsh words towards each other or some sly remarks in speeches ... and it's not out of the question that that could happen. But in the end, no matter what happens, when you hear the music you're gonna go, 'That's one of the greatest rock'n'roll bands in the world, ever, and well-deserved the inauguration into the Hall of Fame."

Hagar says he hadn't spoken to anyone other than Anthony about the induction but planned to put in a congratulatory call to drummer Alex Van Halen. He expects that manager Irving Azoff "is gonna try to spin everyone together somehow" and says he'll "go with the flow" with induction ceremony plans, which Hagar expects will include a live Van Halen performance.

However, Hagar deemed talk of a Van Halen tour this year with original frontman David Lee Roth and guitarist Eddie Van Halen's 15-year-old son Wolfgang on bass speculative and voiced concern for that particular turn in the band's course.

"Wolfie's a great guy; I love Wolfie. But I don't think Van Halen should bring a 15-year-old kid to replace Sam, Dave and Michael Anthony," Hagar says. "That's a lot of pressure for Wolfie. Just 'cause he's Eddie's son doesn't mean he can go out and play in arenas and perform and entertain an audience for two hours. I would love to see Eddie and Alex get behind Wolfie, with a kid of his age singing, and produce the record for him and help him launch a career. I'd rather see it go that way than come out and say 'Wolfie's the bass player in Van Halen and maybe singing, too.' Van Halen's got way too much history to have that put on him."

"Titanic" director set to begin work on new film

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - James Cameron is set to direct the sci-fi adventure saga "Avatar," his first dramatic feature since the Oscar-winning blockbuster "Titanic" in 1997, distributor 20th Century Fox said Monday.

Cameron, who has been developing the story for over a decade, will start principal photography in April for a summer 2009 release.

"Avatar" is the story of a wounded ex-marine who is unwillingly sent to settle and exploit a faraway planet. He gets caught up in battle for survival by the planet's inhabitants.

After global screen tests, he selected Australian Sam Worthington, who starred in "Somersault" and "Dirty Deeds," to play the lead role of Jake Sully. Zoe Saldana ("The Terminal," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl") will portray the local woman Jake gets involved with. Both actors have signed on for possible future installments as well.

Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment team has spent years researching a groundbreaking mix of live-action cinematography and virtual photorealistic production techniques for "Avatar," which will feature virtual characters filmed for 3-D release in a new digital 3-D format. Cameron has been lobbying movie theater owners to adopt more digital projection systems. Both he and Fox are anticipating that digital 3D theaters will be widespread by 2009.

Principal photography will take place in and around Los Angeles, and in New Zealand. The visual effects will be handled by "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson's Oscar-winning production house Weta Digital, which is based in Wellington.

"Avatar" is the latest creative partnership between Cameron and Fox. They first joined forces in 1985 for the sci-fi classic "Aliens." Next came "The Abyss," which revolutionized visual effects technology; and "True Lies," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 1996, Fox greenlighted Cameron's "Titanic," which became the biggest blockbuster of all time, earning $1.8 billion worldwide, and won a record-breaking eleven Academy Awards, including best picture.

R.E.M., Van Halen Lead 2007 Rock Hall Class

R.E.M., Van Halen, Patti Smith, the Ronettes and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame March 12 during a ceremony at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. To be eligible for induction, this year's class had to release their first single no later than 1981.

The upcoming event will also pay tribute to late Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun, who served as the chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.

R.E.M. and Van Halen face the decision of whether to perform at the ceremony with ex-members. R.E.M. reunited with former drummer Bill Berry last fall to celebrate its induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and even hit the studio with him to record a track for an as-yet-unreleased charity album.

For Van Halen, the situation is more complex. The group is without a lead singer, although rumors are swirling that original frontman David Lee Roth will tour with the outfit this summer. In addition, Eddie Van Halen's teenage son recently replaced longtime bassist Michael Anthony in the band.

Black Sabbath, the Sex Pistols, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blondie, Miles Davis and record moguls Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss were enshrined in the Hall in 2006.

Web watchers and Wall Street await revamped Disney.com

The stakes could scarcely be bigger for Walt Disney Co. as it unveils a revamped flagship Web site Monday.

Reversing the company's past Internet stumbles is a top priority for Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger, whose reputation as a new-media leader in an old-media business could be tarnished if the site fails to attract more viewers.

Disney.com is already among the most popular sites with kids, so company executives have tried to convey modest goals. They say Disney simply wants the current 25 million monthly visitors to stay longer, watch more ads and deepen their connections to the company's characters.

But investors will be looking for more dramatic results.

"We've seen a lot of announcements out of Disney with respect to the Net. Now the expectations are higher," UBS analyst Aryeh Bourkoff said. "This year, the focus has to be on execution."

Since assuming the top Disney job from Michael Eisner 15 months ago, Iger has dropped Disney's previous antagonism toward Web innovations and struck such pioneering deals as the first one to sell prime-time television shows and movies over Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes store.

But Disney's own Web site has changed little, and the zealous policing of its creations has limited the environments kids can create using its characters.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday, Iger will give a preview of the overhauled site that will be accessible to the public later this month.

"I believe we successfully strike the right balance between the huge strength of the existing business and the potential of new media," Steve Wadsworth, president of the Walt Disney Internet Group, said in an interview.

More than any other big media company, family-oriented Disney must worry about navigating between the strict controls that appeal to parents and children's increasing expectations of freedom.

The new Disney.com will present itself differently to various age groups, although all will get expanded video, games and other interaction. As on MySpace, visitors will be able to create their own Web sites, communicate with each other and mash together and share music and videos -- as long as it's Disney music and videos.

Parents will have to use their credit cards to register their children as regular site visitors and will get detailed options for limiting what their kids can do.

Although Iger has predicted a substantial gain in Disney's digital revenue in the current fiscal year, he isn't predicting any meaningful increase in profit.

Disney's current Web revenue of more than $500 million comes in roughly equal parts from product sales, advertising and subscriptions to such premium services as the multiplayer kids game Toontown Online, in which the virtual world's characters team to play practical jokes on humorless robots.

Now is a time for more Internet investment, analysts said -- as long as it is better managed than the more than $800 million Disney blew during the dot-com bubble on the failed Web portal Go.com.

As for the concept of controlled creativity, probably the clearest precedent for the new Disney.com is Toontown, Wadsworth said.

Kids who play there can chat with each other with pre-approved phrases, unless they show that they know each other in real life. In that case, they can converse normally. Disney based Toontown on a theme-park attraction.

"It's a good analogy, and we've been quite successful even though Toontown is not a major franchise," Wadsworth said.

Imagine, he suggested, what could happen with an immersive environment stemming from hit movies such as "Pirates of the Caribbean," which will spawn a multiplayer online game on Disney.com within a few months.

Analyst Li Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li said other Disney.com mini-worlds could please kids, too.

"If they can write anything they want on the homepage and if the interactions themselves have a safe environment, I think it will work pretty well," Li said. "It definitely draws an affinity to the brand, and branding in the end produces commerce."

'Museum' extends No. 1 run at box office

LOS ANGELES - Museum crowds are strong at movie theaters.

Ben Stiller's "Night at the Museum" took in $24 million to stay on top at the box office for a third-straight weekend, fending off a soft crop of newcomers during the post-holiday lull.

"Night at the Museum," from 20th Century Fox, raised its three-week domestic total to $164.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Will Smith's "The Pursuit of Happyness," from Sony, finished second again with $13 million to raise its total to $124.2 million.

Expanding from its Christmas debut in a handful of theaters, Universal's thriller "Children of Men" led the new wide releases, coming in at No. 3 with $10.3 million. The film stars Clive Owen and Julianne Moore in a tale of a near future in which humanity faces extinction because of infertility.

Debuting in fourth with $9.7 million was Paramount's drama "Freedom Writers," starring Hilary Swank as an idealistic teacher who uses writing journals and exercises in tolerance to inspire her class of racially divided teens.

Lionsgate's animated comedy "Happily N'Ever After," a fairy-tale farce featuring the voices of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sigourney Weaver, opened at No. 6 with $6.8 million.

New Line's "Code Name: The Cleaner," a comedy with Cedric the Entertainer as a janitor who thinks he's a spy, premiered out of the top 10, coming in at No. 11 with $4.6 million.

Films competing for Academy Awards attention did well as they expanded to more theaters, including Fox Searchlight's "Notes on a Scandal," which took in $1.1 million in just 93 theaters. The film stars Judi Dench as a teacher preying on a colleague ( Cate Blanchett) having an affair with a student.

Hollywood started off 2007 well, with overall grosses for the first week of the year at $273 million, up 10 percent from the same period last year, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

"This is a reflection of the fact that 2006 ended rather strongly" with "Night at the Museum," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. "So it's not surprising that 2007 would start on a positive note."

With a family-friendly PG rating plus a lot of appeal for adults without children, "Night at the Museum" is pulling in audiences of all ages.

"It plays from 8 to 80, and it plays from Maine to Maui," said Chris Aronson, senior vice president for distribution at 20th Century Fox. "It's one of those across-the-board hits that pleases everybody who sees it."

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Night at the Museum," $24 million.
2. "The Pursuit of Happyness," $13 million.
3. "Children of Men," $10.3 million.
4. "Freedom Writers," $9.7 million.
5. "Dreamgirls," $8.8 million.
6. "Happily N'Ever After," $6.8 million.
7. "Charlotte's Web," $6.6 million.
8. "The Good Shepherd," $6.5 million.
9. "Rocky Balboa," $6.3 million.
10. "We Are Marshall," $5.1 million.

Golden Troika - Canada wins third-straight gold!

LEKSAND, Sweden (CP) - Canada won a third straight world junior hockey championship and its first in Europe in a decade with a 4-2 win over Russia on Friday.

After taking the title in Vancouver last year and in Grand Forks, N.D., in 2005, the challenge for this Canadian squad was to win it outside North America. The country hadn't done so since 1997 in Geneva, Switzerland.

"It's unbelievable, a great feeling," Canadian forward Jonathan Toews said. "Tonight was a battle from start to finish. The Russians are a great team but we came out hard and finished hard, too."

Canadian defenceman Marc Staal also won gold in Vancouver but said this year's victory is a "totally different feeling."

"Winning in Europe is unbelievable," he said. "From the start (of the tournament) we just kept it simple. We clogged up the middle, teams got frustrated and turned it over."

Defenceman Kris Russell also won his second straight gold.

"Both are special and both are unique but to win it over here where Canada hasn't won in 10 years is quite a feat," he said.

Canada rode its excellent goaltending, defencemen and special teams to the final and the only question mark then was whether the team could produce enough goals at even-strength against the skilled and speedy Russians.

"The guys that we knew could score came through for us tonight," said Canadian coach Craig Hartsburg.

The Canadians were snakebitten in their semifinal against the U.S. and won that game 2-1 via a shootout.

But University of Michigan forward Andrew Cogliano, Bryan Little of the Barrie Colts and North Dakota forward Toews all scored in a five-minute span starting at 15:35 of the first period, with power-play goals by Little and Toews.

"We got that quick start and it made it easier for me to play," Canadian goaltender Carey Price said.

Brad Marchand of the Val-d'Or Foreurs gave Canada a 4-0 lead six minutes into the second period, but Pavel Valentenko and Gennadi Churilov scored power-play goals for Russia to cut Canada's lead in half heading into the third.

Both sides had power-play opportunities in the third period they couldn't convert. Russia pressed for a goal, but couldn't solve Price in the third period. Canada also withstood being two men down late in the third after Staal took a penalty for tripping and the Russians pulled their goaltender.

Price was named tournament MVP by the media and chosen best goaltender of the tournament by the International Ice Hockey Federation directorate.

He was the difference in Canada even getting to the final with his outstanding performance in overtime and in the shootout of the semifinal.

The Montreal Canadiens' draft pick stopped 25 of 27 shots against Russia and made a key stop on Anton Krysanov, who was breaking in alone short-handed early in the third period.

Russian counterpart Sergei Varlamov, a Washington Capitals draft pick, also made 25 saves.

Canadian captain and defenceman Kristopher Letang and Toews were named to the all-star team.

Hartsburg switched centres heading into the game, putting Toews between Steve Downie and Marchand and moving Cogliano to the second line with Tom Pyatt and Ryan O'Marra.

Cogliano and Little scored their first goals in regulation time in the tournament, after scoring in the shootout against the U.S. in the semifinal.

Andrei Kiryukhin dropped the puck down to Churilov at the face-off circle and his sharp-angled shot beat Price with 36 left in the second period.

Valentenko scored Russia's first goal at 11:27 of the second period. Price couldn't see the puck behind a couple of Russian bodies and Price was beaten stick-side by Valentenko's shot from the blue-line.

After helping kill off a second Russian power-play, Toews drove down the left wing and fed a charging Marchand, who shovelled the puck past Varlamov at the six-minute mark of the second period to make it 4-0 for Canada.

Russia opened the second period with a man advantage, during which Andrei Kiryukhin's blast from the blue-line squeaked between Price's pads and slid towards the goal-line. Russell stepped in to clear the puck.

Downie of the Peterborough Petes collected a rebound and sent the puck over to Toews at the hashmarks, where Toews whipped the puck high over Varlamov's stick to make it 3-0 with a power-play goal at 18:02 of the first period.

Little backhanded a rebound on a Letang shot over Varlamov's stick at 17:29.

Ryan O'Marra of the Saginaw Spirit cruised through the slot and dished the puck to an unchecked Cogliano, who fired the puck past Varlamov's glove at 15:35.

James Neal of the Plymouth Whalers dealt Igor Musatov a hard check at centre ice early in the first period.

Price dropped his pads and stopped a streaking Igor Makarov coming down the middle just less than three minutes into the game.

About 300 fans were among the announced crowd of 5,223 at Ejendals Arena to cheer on the defending champions.

A large group of them in the standing section of rink began chanting "We want gold" 10 minutes before the puck dropped and "You've got nothing" when Canada took a 4-0 lead.

They were joined by several Swedes, including a Swedish drummer, because the Canadians had cheered for their country in a 2-1 loss to the U.S. in the bronze-medal game earlier.

Following the game, the arena announcer specifically thanked the Canadian fans who were in Sweden for their enthusiasm throughout the tournament.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper watched the game from Ottawa. During a brief phone with Hartsburg carried live on TSN, he said the team had made all of Canada proud.

"You had the whole country cheering for you," said Harper. "I think everybody has taken an early weekend to watch the game."

Notes: The 2008 world junior hockey championship will be held in Pardubice and Liberec, Czech Republic ... Canada will have five players eligible to return for the 2008 tournament: defenceman Karl Alzner, goaltender Leland Irving and forwards Sam Gagner, Brad Marchand and Jonathan Toews ... Belarus and Germany were relegated back down to the B world championship, while Denmark and Kazakhstan earned promotion to the A tournament in the Czech Republic.

GAME SUMMARY
LEKSAND, Sweden (CP) -- World junior hockey championship gold-medal game Friday:
First Period
1. Canada, Cogliano 1 (O'Marra, Pyatt) 15:35
2. Canada, Little 1 (Letang) 17:29 (pp)
3. Canada, Toews 4 (Downie, Franson) 18:02 (pp)
Penalties -- Churilov Rus (slashing) 7:00, Anisimov Rus (holding) 16:47, Valetenko Rus (high-sticking) 17:47, Helm Cda (boarding) 19:02.
Second Period
4. Canada, Marchand 2 (Toews) 6:00
5. Russia, Valentenko 2 11:27 (pp)
6. Russia, Churilov 2 (Loginov) 19:24 (pp)
Penalties -- Downie Cda (roughing) Anikeyenko Rus (charging) 2:42, Staal Cda (high-sticking) 3:43, Alzner Cda (holding) 11:21, Toews Cda (hooking) Kucheryavenko Rus (unsportsmanlike conduct) 12:11, Toews Cda (hooking) 15:09, Letang Cda (roughing) Glovatsky Rus (roughing) 15:09, O'Marra Cda (high-sticking) 19:03.
Third Period
No scoring.
Penalties -- Ryasensky Rus (interference) 2:33, Bumagin Rus (hooking) 2:50, Helm Cda (hooking) 7:34, Little Cda (checking to the head, misconduct, minor served by Marchand) 11:23, Staal Cda (tripping) 18:12.
Shots on goal by
Canada 15 11 3--29
Russia 7 10 10--27

Goal (shots-saves) -- Canada, Price (W, 6-0); Russia, Varlamov (L, 5-1)
Power plays (goals-chances) -- Canada 2-5; Russia 2-8.
Referee -- Danny Kurmann (Switzerland); Linesmen -- Milan Novak (Slovakia), Fredrik Ulriksson (Sweden).
Attendance -- 5,223 (7,650).

'Family Guy' Staff Back at Work

Once again, rumors of the demise of "Family Guy" appear to have been greatly exaggerated.

Scribes on FOX's apparently unkillable animated comedy returned to work this week after a two-month hiatus that led many naysayers to suggest that "Family Guy" might be down for the count once again.

Initially scheduled to kick off writing on the sixth season of "Family Guy" back in late October, the show's staff was sent home as 20th Century Fox TV attempted to iron out a new deal with series creator/voice/executive producer Seth MacFarlane.

While both industry trade papers agree that MacFarlane fresh pact with the studio remains unconsummated, the "Family Guy" writers were called back into the offices on Tuesday (Jan. 2) and started breaking stories on Wednesday.

MacFarlane, who also executive produces "American Dad" and the upcoming "The Winner" for FOX, is expected to have a lucrative deal in place soon.

The Couch Potato Report - January 5th, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on a lost series, an invincible man, and some treasures.

Every Canadian hockey fan of a certain vintage remembers where they were in September of 1972.

And those of us who aren't old enough to remember where we were, still know all about Paul Henderson's immortal goal.

But few of us have the same recollection for September of 1974, even though Team Canada was playing the Russians again.

That is primarily due to the fact that the National Hockey League and it's players told Hockey Canada that they weren't interested in playing the Russians again, so a team of WHA all-stars accepted the challenge.

Today, we can hear the roster of the 1974 team and acknowledge that it is equal in many ways the squad who were skating behind Paul Henderson when he scored the greatest goal in Canadian hockey history in 1972.

But in 1974 the WHA was an ugly stepsister to the NHL, and many people didn't consider the leagues equal, so the series didn't get the same hype of the previous incarnation.

Until now as TEAM CANADA 1974: THE LOST SERIES has come out as a four-disc box set.

TEAM CANADA 1974: THE LOST SERIES is a superb 4-DVD set that presents seven of the eight games from the series. Games that have been unseen since their original broadcast, plus a documentary about the series and a commentary track over one of the games from Frank Mahovlich and Gordie Howe.

Howe is featured prominantly in this Box Set and I enjoyed every second of footage on Mr. Hockey.

I also really liked watching and listening to Bobby Hull.

TEAM CANADA 1974: THE LOST SERIES is a great piece of Canada's international hockey history and even though some of the audio and images are less than pristine since the original broadcast tapes were destroyed years ago, the set is still full of great hockey highlights.

Now, if you are a fan of Canadian hockey and would like to pick up this set, be warned that TEAM CANADA 1974: THE LOST SERIES is limited to 10,000 sets

Yes, the superb TEAM CANADA 1974 Box Set is limited to 10,000 copies, but you don't have to worry about stores running out of copies of the film INVINCIBLE, there will be lots out there to buy, and to rent.

Over the past few years the genre of of sports movies featuring a person who rises above the odds has started to become so cliche that I was starting to think that I would never actually enjoy one of these films again.

GLORY ROAD, REMEMBER THE TITANS, MIRACLE, PREFONTAINE, and FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS are just a few examples of some of the films that I haven't enjoyed from the genre I call "Predictable Sports Films."

And when I first heard about the film INVINCIBLE about a part time bartender and teacher in Philadelphia who gets an opportunity to try out for the National Football League's Phildelphia Eagles I thought it had "Predictable Sports Film" written all over it.

But INVINCIBLE rises above the cliches and is a very entertaining movie.

Don't mistake me, the film does have it's moments where it treads upon the same ground predictible ground as the many other sports movies that have come before it, but while heading toward that path, this based on a true story about Vince Papale, who was 30 years old, almost out of work, abandoned by his wife, and biding time as a bartender when he answered an open call for tryouts for the Eagles in 1976, is still a very entertaining movie.

I really enjoyed INVINCIBLE!

Our final four titles this week are the latest releases in the WALT DISNEY TREASURES collection.

The WALT DISNEY TREASURES are two disc sets of classic Disney works, covering productions from the studio's earliest days to more recent work.

The latest releases are THE COMPLETE PLUTO - VOLUME TWO with Mickey's faithful friend in twenty-plus cartoons.

MORE SILLY SYMPHONIES completes the series of music-themed cartoons that Walt Disney created to train his artists and to experiment with new techniques and visual styles.

If you saw them originally, or when they were aired again in the 1970s, THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB FEATURING THE HARDY BOYS might bring back some memories for you, the same way it did for me.

If you have young kids who didn't see them originally, feel free to get them involved in "The Mystery of The Applegate Treasure."

And the final new WALT DISNEY TREASURES release is YOUR HOST WALT DISNEY where we get to see several programs hosted by the man himself.

Including one with a Moose Jaw born entertainer named Art Linkletter.

I always enjoy the WALT DISNEY TREASURES releases as they are a great way to look back on animation, television and the entertainment industry itself in some cases as it was getting started.

And I enjoyed these releases too!

YOUR HOST WALT DISNEY, THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB FEATURING THE HARDY BOYS, MORE SILLY SYMPHONIES and THE COMPLETE PLUTO VOLUME TWO are all very entertaining and they are available now on DVD as part of the WALT DISNEY TREASURES collection along with the also entertaining INVINCIBLE
and the superb TEAM CANADA - THE LOST SERIES.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

THE WAR TAPES is a documentary filmed by actual servicemen in Iraq and in a few weeks it will probably get an Academy Award nomination; THINGS TO DO is a small Canadian film that will probably not get an Oscar nod, but it is still fun to watch.

Also next week, I will talk about the martial arts based FEARLESS, the set in a cave horror movie called THE DESCENT and a little known film about some SNAKES ON A PLANE.

I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next time on The Couch!

Album sales plunge, downloads up

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - U.S. album sales continued to decline in 2006, down nearly five per cent from the previous year, but total music sales were up thanks to a huge increase in digital downloads.

About 588.2 million albums were sold in 2006 - a 4.9 per cent decline from 2005, according to year-end sales figures released Thursday by Nielsen SoundScan. But digital sales increased by 65 per cent over the previous year, with 582 million tracks sold, and digital album sales more than doubled, with nearly 33 million sold.

Overall music sales increased by more than 19 per cent in 2006, but that number includes all albums, singles, music videos and digital downloads.

Billboard magazine senior correspondent Brian Garrity said consumers are buying more single songs and fewer albums, and that makes it harder for the record industry to maintain profits.

"At the end of the day, pop music is a singles driven business, so why would I want to buy a whole album?" Garrity said.

In the final week of 2006, Beyonce's song "Irreplaceable" set a new record for a single digital track, selling 269,000 copies in one week.

And for the first time ever a digital song - "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter - sold more than two million copies in one year, thanks to the play it got as the send-off song on "American Idol."

Another song from TV - The Fray's "How to Save a Life," which was featured on "Grey's Anatomy" - was the No. 7 digital song for the year.

"TV is the new radio, in that people discover new songs through TV," Garrity said.

The top-selling album of the year was a soundtrack inspired by the Disney Channel movie "High School Musical," which sold more than 3.7 million copies.

Another Disney-inspired soundtrack aimed at 'tweens - "Hannah Montana" - was the No. 8-selling album and sold nearly two million copies.

"It was a big year for 'tweens," Garrity said. "They were the big market movers."

Albums by Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, Nickelback and Justin Timberlake rounded out the top five.

But the top sellers in 2006 were no match for the biggest albums of previous years. Mariah Carey sold nearly five million copies of "The Emancipation of Mimi" in 2005, and 50 Cent's "Massacre" was close behind at 4.8 million.

Rap and R&B were hardest hit by the decline in album sales. Rap album sales fell by more than 20 per cent - from more than 75 million albums sold in 2005, to fewer than 60 million. R&B plummeted more than 18 per cent.

Alternative music - an amorphous category that embraces everything from U2 to Gwen Stefani and John Mayer - also saw album sales fall 9.2 per cent.

It was a better year for country music, which saw its album sales fall by less than one per cent.

Country group Rascal Flatts was the biggest selling act in the United States last year, with nearly five million albums sold and nearly four million digital track sales.

Of the 10 top-selling artists last year, five were country acts (Rascal Flatts, Johnny Cash, Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw and Keith Urban). The Dixie Chicks also had the No. 9 album of the year, despite virtually no play on country radio.

Classical heartthrobs Andrea Bocelli and Il Divo helped give classical music the largest percentage sales boost of any genre - a 22.5 per cent increase in 2006.

Christian/gospel and Latin music also saw slight increases in album sales.

Larry Kenswil, president of Universal Music Group's global digital division, said companies are looking at new ways to profit from digital downloads.

Some ideas include using advertising to let consumers listen to tracks for free, or creating new products that fall somewhere between a 99-cent single and the cost of a whole album - maybe a package of three songs and a video, Kenswil said.

You Can't Lose at the Oscars If You Can't Win

Beyoncé Knowles cannot lose the Best Song Oscar. Brad Pitt cannot be denied the Best Picture award.

That's because Knowles isn't even eligible in the former category; and, as of now, Pitt, a credited producer on The Departed, isn't eligible in the latter category.

Such are the breaks of the Oscar ballot.

In the case of Knowles, the singer-actor is one of four credited songwriters on the new Dreamgirls tune, "Listen." And at the Jan. 15 Golden Globes, she'll be vying for a Best Original Song statuette along with her three collaborators, Henry Krieger, Anne Preven and Scott Cutler.

But come the Oscars, should the track rate an Original Song nomination, Knowles won't be one of the nominees. That's because the Academy limits the number of credited songwriters to three per song. And in the credit roll on "Listen," Knowles is fourth, leaving her the odd composer out.

"It's no surprise," Knowles spokesman Alan Nierob said Thursday. "It's all good. The rules are the rules."

The rules, as they relate to Knowles, were first brought to light Wednesday by the Los Angeles Times' awards-centric Website, The Envelope.

According to Academy spokeswoman Teni Melidonian, the limit on Original Song personnel was enforced starting with films released in 2005. The move was done, the rep said Thursday, to ensure that songwriters and composers who make the greatest contribution receive the greatest amount of Oscar credit.

And on "Listen," it was determined, Knowles' collaborators made greater contributions than Knowles. Which is not the same as saying Knowles didn't contribute. She did, Nierob said. And not only that, she sounds ready to contribute more.

"If the song's fortunate enough to be nominated, if they are kind enough to invite her to perform [at the show], no one else is going to perform it, I hope," Nierob said.

Pitt, meanwhile, looks to have lost a shot at a potential Best Picture Oscar after the Producers Guild of America on Wednesday nominated The Departed for its top award, but only listed Graham King as the crime drama's producer.

In the film, Pitt, King and Paramount honcho Brad Grey are all listed as producers.

The PGA's take on who is and isn't a noteworthy producer is key because the Academy now uses the guild to help vet which producers are eligible for its Best Picture award.

"The producers in the Academy were increasingly bothered by the number of individuals given the producer credit," Academy executive director Bruce Davis said Thursday. "They thought it was watering down what it means to be a producer."

As far as the Oscars go, the producers' guild word isn't final. Someone who was not deigned credit-worthy by the PGA, such as Pitt or Grey, could file an appeal with the Academy should his or her film go on to snag a Best Picture nomination. Last year, three shut-out producers on Crash tried, and failed, to get in the game that way.

According to Thursday Times', Grey was undecided about whether he would pursue an Academy appeal should The Departed end up in Oscar's Best Picture race come the Jan. 23 nominations.

It was not known if Pitt even asked the guild to list him among The Departed's award-worthy producers. A PGA spokeswoman said Thursday that she couldn't comment; Pitt's personal publicist could not be reached for comment.

Per the Times, Grey not only asked the PGA for the credit, he lobbied--hard.
All is not lost, meanwhile, for Pitt and Knowles.

Pitt is still eligible for the acting categories for Babel. Knowles is still being pushed as a Best Actress contender for Dreamgirls.

When it comes to the Oscars, it never hurts to diversify.

Mirren, DiCaprio Each Earn 2 SAG Nominations

LOS ANGELES - The ensemble drama "Babel," the musical "Dreamgirls" and the road-trip tale "Little Miss Sunshine" each earned three nominations Thursday for the Screen Actors Guild Awards, while Leonardo DiCaprio and Helen Mirren both had two nominations.

Mirren was nominated for playing both of England's two Queen Elizabeths, as best actress in a film as the current monarch in "The Queen" and as best actress in a TV movie or miniseries for playing her predecessor in "Elizabeth I."

The TV role earned Mirren an Emmy last fall, while she is considered the favorite to win the best-actress Oscar for "The Queen."

DiCaprio had a lead-actor film nomination as a mercenary hunting a rare gem in the African adventure "Blood Diamond" and a supporting-actor nomination as a cop undercover in a Boston crime gang in "The Departed."

At the upcoming Golden Globes, DiCaprio was nominated as lead actor for both films, but under SAG rules, he was entered in different categories. Oscar voters are free to cast ballots for actors in lead or supporting categories.

"Dreamgirls" grabbed supporting nominations for Eddie Murphy as a soul singer and Jennifer Hudson as a vocal powerhouse booted out of a Supremes-like trio. The film also had a slot in the guild's category for best overall acting ensemble, which includes Jamie Foxx and Beyonce Knowles, who were shut out in the lead-acting nominations.

The other ensemble nominees were "Babel," the Robert Kennedy drama "Bobby," "The Departed" and "Little Miss Sunshine."

Key cast members from some of those films — among them Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon of "The Departed," Brad Pitt of "Babel," and Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette and Steve Carell of "Little Miss Sunshine" — were overlooked for nominations.

Carell did score a TV nomination as best actor in a comedy series for "The Office," which also was among nominees for best comedy ensemble.

Another notable snub was Sacha Baron Cohen, who has a Golden Globe nomination as best actor for a comedy or musical for the hit comedy "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" but was not among guild picks.

Cohen's Oscar-nomination prospects for the outrageous role as a crass, clueless Kazakh journalist remain fuzzy. Oscar voters tend to favor heavyweight dramatic performances over comic turns.

Along with Mirren, other likely Oscar favorites and nominees dominated the guild choices, including Forest Whitaker as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland" and Peter O'Toole as an aging actor whose lecherous ways are revived by a young woman in "Venus."

The guild also had some surprise nominees, including Ryan Gosling for lead actor as a teacher with a drug problem in the acclaimed but little-seen drama "Half Nelson" and child actor Abigail Breslin for supporting actress as a 7-year-old obsessed with competing in beauty pageants in "Little Miss Sunshine."

Will Smith rounded out the lead-actor field as a homeless dad in "The Pursuit of Happyness."

Joining Mirren for lead-actress nominations were Penelope Cruz as a woman with bizarre family crises in "Volver"; Judi Dench as a scheming teacher in "Notes on a Scandal"; Meryl Streep as the boss from hell in "The Devil Wears Prada"; and Kate Winslet as a woman having an affair with a neighbor in "Little Children."

"Babel" also had supporting-actress nominations for Adriana Barraza as a nanny in peril and Rinko Kikuchi as a deaf schoolgirl. "Little Miss Sunshine" also earned a nomination for Alan Arkin as a foul-mouthed, heroin-snorting grandfather.

The guild picks are one of the last major announcements in Hollywood awards season before Academy Awards nominations come out Jan. 23. The Oscars will be presented Feb. 25.

Actors guild winners often go on to win Oscars, including three SAG winners from last year: lead performers Philip Seymour Hoffman for "Capote" and Reese Witherspoon for "Walk the Line," and supporting actress Rachel Weisz for "The Constant Gardener."

Last year's winner for the guild's prize for the overall acting ensemble, "Crash," also went on to the win the best-picture Oscar.

Awards will be presented Jan. 28 in a ceremony televised on TNT and TBS. Film and TV nominees were chosen by two groups of 2,100 people randomly chosen from the guild's 120,000 members. The guild's full membership is eligible to vote for winners.

CBC's Little Mosque to break new ground

In a show that will be the first of its kind on North American TV, CBC plans to begin a new comedy series about a small community of Muslims living in rural Saskatchewan.

Little Mosque on the Prairie doesn't come to air until Jan. 9, but already it has attracted attention from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN and satirical talk-show host Stephen Colbert.

The show's creator, Zarqa Nawaz, says she hopes the cheeky send-up of stereotypes and the clash of cultures will show Muslims in a new light.

"That Muslims can be funny and are just like everyone else," she said in an interview with CBC Television.

A Regina-based mother of four, Nawaz says she hopes her children will see the new face of Canada in the show.

"I'd like them to be able to watch TV and see people who also look like them. So they can also connect that way," she said.

Shot in Toronto in 2006, the show focuses on a Muslim community in the fictional Prairie town of Mercy, following family conflicts and the community's interaction with their neighbours.

"It's based on my own observations growing up as Muslim in North America," she said.

Toronto-born actor Zaib Shaikh plays a young lawyer turned religious leader in the series.

The show isn't meant to be political, he said, and doesn't deal with political themes.

"It's a show that's meant to be funny, that shows an aspect of Canadian culture that just happens to be Muslim."

In one episode, a father fights with his adolescent daughter over what she can wear to school. In another, a battle of sexes erupts when a spiritual leader wants to put a divider between men and women in the mosque.

The show is a half-hour sitcom with humour arising out of the situations, Nawaz said, adding that her main goal is to get people laughing.

"Muslims have reacted very favourably to the show, because they want to see themselves on screen as real people," she said.

Nawaz was born in England, grew up in Toronto and moved to Saskatchewan 10 years ago. Her BBQ Muslims was a hit at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1996.

Actor Carlo Rota, who has a part in this show, as well as the hit U.S. series 24, says he thinks Little Mosque on the Prairie could only be made in Canada.

"I get heavy guys, bad guys, guys that garrotte, guys that strafe with machine guns," he says of his usual roles for TV.

American TV is too timid to make a show with such a fresh perspective, he said.

The show premieres next Tuesday and then will air on Monday nights and be repeated on Wednesday nights.

Police Reunion Rumors Reaching Fever Pitch

Rumors are swirling that the Police will reunite for 2007 dates in England and the United States, which would be the legendary trio's first since disbanding in 1986. Sources tell Billboard.com the reports are legitimate but would not publicly comment until final details are nearer to completion.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the release of "Roxanne," the single that broke the Police in the United States. "Discussions have been underway as to how this will be commemorated," reads a post on Sting's Web site attributed to an A&M spokesperson. "While we can confirm that there will indeed be something special done to mark the occasion, the depth of the band's involvement still remains undetermined."

Sources say in addition to DVD releases, A&M is planning another multi-disc collection in the vein of 1993's "Message in a Box," which featured the band's complete studio recordings and a handful of rarities.

A Police reunion has been the concert industry's dream for two decades, as it is believed the band could play stadiums internationally should it choose to reunite. But besides an impromptu set at Sting's 1992 wedding to Trudie Styler, the Police's only other post-breakup performance was in celebration of its 2003 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

And while Sting has repeatedly expressed reluctance at reuniting, drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers have kept the flame alive. This summer, Summers told Billboard he was certain the group could have continued on past its 1983 commercial peak with "Synchronicity."

"The more rational approach would have been, 'OK, Sting, go make a solo record, and let's get back together in two or three years,'" he said. "I'm certain we could have done that. Of course we could have. We were definitely not in a creative dry space. We could have easily carried on, and we could probably still be there. That wasn't to be our fate. It went in another way. I regret we never paid it off with a last tour. We snuck out the back door, which is what we were told to do, until it just became too frustrating to lie about it."

"I'm very keen on it," Copeland told Billboard.com of a potential reunion, the day after the Rock Hall induction. "But I absolutely understand why it's not going to happen and I'm down with that. It was really great to be the Police for 15 minutes. If you can think of some other award we can go get or some other good reason, give me a call, and I'll try it out!"

In 2001, Copeland excitedly told Billboard about "one piece of unreleased Police product" which he hoped would eventually see the light of day.

"One of the times when they were working on the box set or something like that, they convened the three of us on the phone. Sting and Andy were in Italy; Andy was visiting Sting at the time, and I was on a DSL line in L.A.," he recalled. "And we went down all the song titles from all of our albums. Song title: 'Can't Stand Losing You.' And we each just talked about the track and argued and shouted and screamed. There was laughter and tears. It was very cathartic. It was almost like a therapy session. It was hysterical. It was so much fun."

"We were really going at it with all the language, straight for the jugular, refighting the battles, laughing hysterically while we put the stiletto exactly where we stuck it last time," he continued. "The engineer said it was like watching a concert. They were in Italy and it's like after dinner, and I'm here in L.A. at 10 in the morning. I'm getting more and more caffeinated as they're getting drunker and drunker."

"It seems like we're in contact all the time, but actually, years go by," Copeland said of his ongoing relationship with Summers and Sting. "It's sort of like whenever we see each other, it's like we saw each other five minutes ago. We don't have any sensation of time going by. We don't pick up the phone every week, but when we do, we pick up from where we left off."

Canada actors talking one more time before strike

TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) - Canada's actors union and North American producers will return to the bargaining table Wednesday in a last-ditch attempt to forge a new labor deal and avert a planned industry shutdown next Monday.

On Friday, representatives for ACTRA, which represents 21,000 domestic performers, met informally with negotiators representing various producer groups, agreeing to resume talks Wednesday.

ACTRA (the Alliance of Canadian Cinema Television and Radio Artists) also agreed to delay plans for industrial action to back its demands. The current Independent Production Agreement expired Sunday, and the performers union is now in a legal position to strike in much of the country for the first time.

But Stephen Waddell, ACTRA's chief negotiator, said the actors union agreed to more talks after receiving assurances from producers that an increased-wage proposal was possible.

"(It is) only on the basis that there had been some off-the-record discussions and that it appears the CFTPA (Canadian Film and Television Production Assn.) is willing to ... put more money on the table, that we are agreeing to postpone the declaration of the strike," he said Friday.

Waddell added that ACTRA will serve 72-hour strike notice Wednesday and will carry through on its threat Monday at midnight should no agreement on a new production agreement be reached in time.

John Barrack, the CFTPA's chief negotiator, offered no details on the producers' latest bargaining strategy, but welcomed ACTRA's assurance that it will strike only if next week's crunch talks broke down.

The most recent round of talks between ACTRA and the producers stalled after the performers rejected a proposed wage increase of 4 percent over three years, subject to certain deferrals. ACTRA is demanding a 15 percent wage increase over three years and new-media residuals, among other demands.

Strong summer movies drive DVDs to '06 rally

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Call it the year of smoke and mirrors. When 2006 began, fearful studio executives were still reeling with the first down year in DVD history. They were anxiously looking for salvation, and hoping to find it in high-definition discs, digital downloads or perhaps a combination of the two.

The next generation of software did launch in 2006, regrettably with two incompatible formats, first HD-DVD in April and then Blu-ray Disc in June. Digital downloading began as well, with all the big Hollywood studios aggressively selling their hot new movies on Movielink, CinemaNow, Apple's iTunes and other download services. Studio executives even coined a new term, "electronic sell-through," or EST, for the lucrative business model.

But in the end, none of these technological marvels really mattered. High-def discs still are a blip on the sales radar, and digital downloading are even less of a blip. And lo and behold, what saved the day for home entertainment was an unexpected resurgence in the DVD market, fueled by a powerful slate of summer theatricals.

"What we're looking at is a market that is up slightly from last year, overall," said David Bishop, president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. "But if you break down the components, we're projecting DVD sales to be up 3 percent, year-over-year, and rental to be up about 12 percent. What drags the industry down to a flat or slightly up basis is that VHS sales and rentals are virtually going away."

"The industry is up as a whole, despite a decrease in overall pricing," added Kelley Avery, president of worldwide home entertainment at Paramount Pictures. "Contrary to popular belief, reports of the decline of DVD have been exaggerated."

Much of the optimism floating around the studio DVD divisions stems from the exceptionally strong fourth quarter. Things got off to a good start when Fox's "X-Men: The Last Stand" and Disney's "The Little Mermaid Platinum Edition" generated $80 million in consumer spending in a single day. Further triumphs came as the quarter progressed, culminating this month when Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" sold 10.5 million DVDs its first week in stores, putting it on track to become the top-selling live-action DVD ever.

The fourth-quarter DVD sales rally was probably the biggest home entertainment story of 2006, even though it didn't make the biggest headlines. That honor went to the launch of the two high-def disc formats and the flurry of major studio deals with digital downloading services.

On the packaged-media front, the launch of two rival, incompatible formats was, if not a disaster, a major disappointment. But the real culprit, and the reason software sales have been anemic (fewer than 10,000 units of even a really big title are typical), wasn't so much a lack of a unified standard. It was the fact that consumer electronics manufacturers really dropped the ball, with a series of delays that really pinged adoption rates. The HD-DVD camp never got beyond two Toshiba models, including an entry-level model retailing for $499, while only at the very end of the year did Blu-ray get additional players to join the $999 Samsung model that arrived in stores in late June.

"Everyone was disappointed in the quantity (of players) that came out of the electronics companies," said Warner Home Video president Ron Sanders. "But what is encouraging is that the attach rate of the software was amazingly high. On average, consumers bought 28 to 30 movies per set-top box, and that's just below what it was for DVD in the same time frame."

Digital downloading, simmering on the back burner for several years, also had its official coming out in April when five of the six major studios begin selling downloads of their movies over the Internet, through services Movielink and CinemaNow. New releases went out day-and-date with the DVDs. Holdout Disney soon joined the party, and by year's end, the two dedicated download services were joined by a wide variety of others, including Apple's iTunes, Amazon.com and file-swapping service BitTorrent. The only hitch was that in most cases, downloaded movies could not be burned to standard DVDs for easy transport into the living room.

In the retail world, the mass merchants continued to clobber each other over price and exclusive gifts with purchase on hot new theatrical DVD releases, while two veteran audio-video combo chains, Musicland and Tower Records and Video, bit the dust. The former was acquired by Trans World Entertainment after filing for bankruptcy, while Tower was liquidated.

So what lies ahead for 2007? For starters, studio presidents expect big things from high-def discs. The prognosis for 2007 is that one of the two rival formats will fall by the wayside, consumer electronics makers will rally and start cranking out players, the Chinese will weigh in with cheap players of their own and by the fourth quarter, high-def discs will be a viable, significant business.

"Consumers are buying more high-definition TVs than ever before," said Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. And once they get hooked on high-definition entertainment through digital cable, he said, consumers are going to want, even expect, high-def content from all their media, spurring demand for high-def discs.

The digital download market, too, is expected to grow significantly, particularly with the prospect that consumers will be able to burn downloaded movies onto DVDs playable in their set-top units. CinemaNow introduced the download-to-burn option on select catalog titles during the summer, but this year the gates are expected to be thrust wide open.

Depending on how well the summer theatrical features fare at the box office, studio chiefs say 2007 could be a very good year, overall, for home entertainment.

WKRP in Cincinnati - Watch for falling Turkeys - Season 1 date, details and extras!

We knew that fans would get excited over the news that WKRP was finally coming out, so we know they'll love this - the date, specs and a list of extras, thanks to one of our retail friends.

The 3 disc set will feature all 22 episodes (561 mins) from the first season, including the famous Turkey episode. The set will retail for $39.98 when it's released on April 3.

Disc 1 Side A:
Pilot (Part 1)
Pilot (Part 2)
Les On a Ledge
Hoodlum Rock

Disc 1 Side B:
Hold-Up
Bailey's Show
Turkeys Away
Love Returns

Disc 2 Side A:
Mama's Review
A Date With Jennifer
The Contest Nobody Could Win2/5/1979 Tornado

Disc 2 Side B:
Goodbye, Johnny
Johnny Comes Back
Never Leave Me, Lucille
I Want to Keep My Baby

Disc 3 Side A:
A Commercial Break
Who is Gordon Sims?
I Do, I DoFor Now

Disc 3 Side B:
Young Master Carlson
Fish Story
Preacher
Special Features include:
Commentary on Pilot (part 1) by creator and cast members
Commentary on "Johnny Comes Back" by creator and cast members
"Don't Touch That Dial - the Making of WKRP"
"Turning A 'Turkey' Into A Classic"
"Doctor Johnny Fever, And I Am Burning Up In Here"

Brangelina, TomKat on list of most-hated words

It's time to banish TomKat, Brangelina and every other cutesy combination of celebrity names, according to Lake Superior State University, which publishes an annual list of overused words it would like to see retired.

Also on the hit list is that staple of medical advertising, "ask your doctor," and i-anything, as in iPod, i-telephone, i-meeting, the new corporate speak for any product with a connection to the internet.

The university, based in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., compiles an annual list of words it would like to see banished for misuse, overuse and general uselessness, based on submissions from around the world.

It received 4,500 submissions and a university committee whittled that down to 16.

"Truthiness," the word coined by Stephen Colbert that dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster says best sums up 2006, is among the phrases the word watchers would like to see forgotten.

A word the committee banished in 1984, "awesome," is again on the list for becoming meaningless through overuse.

Media watchers who helped create the list also dislike the phrase "we're pregnant," as spoken by one-half of an expectant couple.

"I'm sure any woman who has given birth will tell you that 'we' did not deliver the baby," said one writer.

Also on the list of words the university thinks should be banned:

- Gitmo: U.S. military shorthand for Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.
- Gone missing or went missing: A phrase that makes missing sound like a place you can visit. "Was missing" is correct.
- Pwn or pwned: A phrase used by internet gamers, meaning defeated, that is creeping into common use.
- Now playing in theatres: An overused marketing phrase.
- Undocumented alien: If they had documents, they wouldn't be illegal aliens.
- Armed robbery or drug deal gone bad: It's hard to imagine one gone good.
- Chipotle: Once it meant a roasted jalapeno. Now it is on menus to describe burritos, meats and sauces.
- Search: Use "google" instead.
- Healthy food: "Healthful" is the term to mean fresh fruits and vegetables.
- Boasts: Overused in real estate ads in phrases such as "master bedroom boasts his-and-her fireplaces."

The university has been publishing its list of much-hated words since 1976, but there's no evidence that the media pay attention, said university spokesman Tom Pink.

"Sometimes people write us and tell us, 'This isn't working,"' Pink said. "I tell them we need an enforcement division."

Upcoming album releases

"Nothing changes on New Year's Day," Bono once claimed. Maybe not. But January 2nd? That's another story.

Tomorrow, the first CDs of 2007 land in stores. And while there's only a light skiff of releases this week and next, soon we'll be shovelling out from under a blizzard of new albums by everyone from Avril to (cross your fingers) Axl.

Here's a glance at some of the major titles due in the coming months. And remember, all this info is subject to change -- whether Bono likes it or not.

January

Carly Simon

Into White

Carly croons soothing songs like Over the Rainbow, Hush Little Baby and her 1978 hit Devoted to You. Jan. 2

America

Here & Now

Call it A Horse With Big Names -- members of Fountains of Wayne, Smashing Pumpkins, My Morning Jacket, Nada Surf and more guest on this comeback from the '70s folk-rock duo. Jan. 16

Diana Ross

I Love You

The original Dreamgirl drops her first CD in seven years -- a covers set that includes What About Love, The Look of Love and Crazy Little Thing Called Love (are we sensing a theme here?). Jan. 16

The Good, the Bad & the Queen

The Good, the Bad & the Queen

Supergroup alert: Damon Albarn and Clash bassist Paul Simonon team up with Fela Kuti's drummer and The Verve's guitarist in this mouth-watering lineup. Jan. 23.

John Mellencamp

Freedom's Road

More heartfelt heartland odes from the Indiana roots-rock vet. Folk icon Joan Baez drops by on one cut. Jan. 23.

The Shins

Wincing the Night Away

Zach Braff's favourite indie-rock band returns to its underground roots for this third album. Jan. 23.

Norah Jones

Not Too Late

Not wishing to fix what ain't broke, the New York jazz-pop phenom stays the course for her third set, keeping the same band and producer. Jan. 30.

February

Fall Out Boy

Infinity on High

Count on more emo-pop hits -- and more wordy song titles like This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race. Feb. 6.

Barbra Streisand

Live Streisand

This two-disc chronicle of Babs' recent tour was recorded at the opening shows in Philly and New York. Feb. 6.

Lucinda Williams

West

It's been four years since the singer-songwriter's last disc. For a woman who once took eight years to make an album, that's almost speedy. Feb. 13.

Kittie

Funeral for Yesterday

Release no. 4 from London's hard-rocking Lander sisters is a concept album about death and resurrection -- oh, and banging your head. Feb. 20.

Jesse Malin

Glitter in the Gutter

Bruce Springsteen, Ryan Adams, Josh Homme and Jakob Dylan guest on the rootsy rocker's latest. Feb. 20.

March

Guns N' Roses

Chinese Democracy

No, really. This time he means it. Seriously. And really, what could possibly go wrong? March 6.

Air

Pocket Symphony

Asian classical instruments, Pulp vocalist Jarvis Cocker and producer Nigel Godrich all factor into the electronica duo's latest effort. March 6.

Finger Eleven

Them Vs. You Vs. Me

The Burlington rockers claim this disc has more humour and musical variety than their previous CDs. We'll drink to that. March 13.

Good Charlotte

Good Morning Revival

Joel Madden has said he wants his band to be "the punk-rock OutKast." Here's your chance to see what the hell that means. March 13.

The Stooges

The Weirdness

Iggy Pop and his old cronies release their first album in 33 years. Minuteman Mike Watt handles bass duties. We are so there, dude. March 20.

April

Fountains of Wayne

Traffic and Weather

If anybody can turn traffic and weather reports into irresistibly hooky pop-rock chart-toppers, it's these guys. April 3.

Kings of Leon

Because of the Times

Get ready to get down again with these hirsute southern rockers. April 10.

Avril Lavigne

The Best Damn Thing

She says it's "really fast, fun, young, bratty, aggressive, confident (and) cocky in a playful way." That really would be the best damn thing she could do at this point. TBA.

Presidential pratfall? Enough already!

Chevy Chase, who portrayed Gerald Ford as a klutz on "Saturday Night Live," says he does not enjoy the renewed attention the ex-president's death has brought him.

"I'm just a guy who made some fun of Gerald Ford in 1976, and I prefer to be left alone, really," the 63-year-old comedian said last week from a Colorado ski resort where he had been skiing with his daughter.

Chase said he gets upset when people say that Ford "made" his career.

"The man who 'made my career' did not do 'Fletch,' did not do 'Caddyshack,' did not write for the Smothers Brothers before he wrote for 'Saturday Night Live,' did not write for 12 years before that and win Writers Guild awards," he said.

"It's that kind of thing that comes out in the press that perpetuates myths about me that are disgusting, that hurt my feelings, that hurt my family's feelings."

Chase and other original cast members of "Saturday Night Live" once relished the national publicity that the show's irreverent comedy generated. But since Ford's death at age 93 last week, Chase has declined interview requests from the nation's top newspapers and TV news programs, which have repeatedly played excerpts of his old skits.

"He did not make my career," said Chase, who spoke to Reuters twice by telephone. "If anything, I took his career and put it in the dumper, because I did not want him to be president of this country. That's the way it really should be written."

Chase said he later became friendly with Ford and called the Republican "a very, very sweet man."

"He took my wife and I on a whole lovely trip through Grand Rapids to show us where he had been as a child and what not," he said. "We kept in touch and he was just a terrific guy."