A mellowing Bruce Willis dishes on Demi, 'Die Hard'

Yippee-ki-yay: Die Hard's John McClane is back June 27. And after 12 years, Bruce Willis' McClane is showing his, ahem, maturity.

The actor, 52, tells the next Vanity Fair: "A lot of the physical stuff that they had me doing was still, let's say, low-tech. I don't bounce as well off the concrete floors as I used to. … I'm glad I didn't wait a couple more years to do this."

A lot has happened to Willis since the last Die Hard. After 11 years of marriage and three children (daughters Rumer, 18, Scout, 15, and Talullah, 13), he and Demi Moore split up in 1998 and were divorced in 2000. Moore married Ashton Kutcher in 2005, and Willis was among the wedding guests.

Willis refers to the Moore-Kutchers as his "extended family," according to Vanity Fair, which has photos of the group on vacation in Turks and Caicos, where he has a home. "It's hard for people to understand," he says, "but we go on holidays together. We still raise our kids together. … Demi is the mother of my children and Ashton is the stepfather of my children. I'm thrilled that Ashton turned out to be such a great guy. I love Demi, and I know she loves me."

As for Willis, no serious girlfriend has emerged, though there have been plenty of tabloid reports. He doesn't feel the need to address gossip these days because "they're not writing about guys my age much anymore, unless I do something naughty. They're writing about the kids. That's what drives pop culture now. Anything goes, to the point when if it's O.K. for young pop stars or film stars to show photos of their naked vaginas in a magazine, then it's over, man. It's the (expletive) Fall of Rome."

The June issue of Vanity Fair hits newsstands in New York and Los Angeles on Wednesday and nationwide May 8.

300, Pirates Top MTV Movie Noms

Spartans versus pirates? The 2007 MTV Movie Awards is shaping up to be a bloodbath.

This time around, the numbers are on 300's side, with the agro period flick raking in a leading five nominations, including one in the all important Best Movie category as well as a Best Performance nod for leading warrior Gerard Butler.

Sadly, Best Supporting Performance by a Loincloth was not among the categories up for grabs this year.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest also made for a strong nominee, wrangling four nominations, while The Devil Wears Prada, Blades of Glory and Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhastan each man-wrestled their way to three nods apiece.

The films will all vie for a chance to take home the Golden Popcorn—the most coveted of all gilded snack-food-based movie awards—for Best Movie, with Little Miss Sunshine rounding out the top category.

In addition to nods for Butler and the flick itself, 300 scored nominations for Lena Headey, who snagged a Breakthrough Performance nomination, Rodrigo Santoro, who got name-checked as Best Villain, and Butler versus "the Über-Immortal," whose big-screen combat earned the duo a nod for Best Fight.

Among their competition for the category is Blades' boys Will Ferrell and Jon Heder and the man-on-man stylings of Borat's Sacha Baron Cohen and Ken Davitian.

As for the Pirates' booty, Johnny Depp scored a requisite Best Performance nod, facing off against both Butler and costar Keira Knightley—last year, MTV melded its separate actor and actress categories for the more gender-neutral grouping. Fellow eye candy Orlando Bloom, meanwhile, failed to make the solo nominee cut.

Cohen also managed to earn himself a Best Comedic Performance nod for his sister-kissing Kazakh reporter, going up against Ferrell and, in something of a surprise, Emily Blunt, among others.

Blunt, who earned her nod for the scene-stealing assistant in The Devil Wears Prada, also happened to steal the thunder of the movie's supposed star Anne Hathaway, who failed to earn a nomination. Blunt managed a pair of them, including one for Breakthrough Performance.

Her competition in the latter category includes Justin Timberlake, who earned an out-of-left-field nomination for his not so heralded turn in Alpha Dog.

The big showdown for Best Kiss pits Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby's Ferrell and Cohen (who at least have the precedent of a Brokeback Mountain win in the same category last year) against The Holiday's Cameron Diaz and Jude Law, Stomp the Yard's Columbus Short and Meagan Good, Invincible's Mark Walhlberg and Elizabeth Banks and Little Man's Marlon Wayans and Brittany Daniel.

In addition to the same old categories, this year MTV is rolling out two new awards, one of which will be completely user-generated.

Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet, which as its name suggests honors a buzz-worthy flick that has yet to be released, features an inaugural slate of Evan Almighty, Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer, Hairspray, Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, Rush Hour 3 and Transformers.

The other new category, Best Movie Spoof, will be populated entirely from entries from viewers, who can submit their own movie short parodies through MTV.com.

As always, the winners will be determined by viewer votes through both the cable net's Website and text message. Sarah Silverman hosts the ceremony, taking place June 3 in Los Angeles.

Here's a complete list of nominees for the 2007 MTV Movie Awards:

Best Movie
300
Blades of Glory
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Little Miss Sunshine
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Best Performance
Gerard Butler, 300
Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Keira Knightley, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Beyoncé Knowles, Dreamgirls
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness

Breakthrough Performance
Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Lena Headey, 300
Columbus Short, Stomp the Yard
Jaden Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Justin Timberlake, Alpha Dog

Best Comedic Performance
Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada
Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Will Ferrell, Blades of Glory
Adam Sandler, Click
Ben Stiller, Night at the Museum

Best Kiss
Cameron Diaz & Jude Law, The Holiday
Will Ferrell & Sacha Baron Cohen, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Columbus Short & Meagan Good, Stomp the Yard
Mark Wahlberg & Elizabeth Banks, Invincible
Marlon Wayans & Brittany Daniel, Little Man

Best Villain
Tobin Bell, Saw III
Jack Nicholson, The Departed
Bill Nighy, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Rodrigo Santoro, 300
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada

Best Fight
Jack Black & Hector Jimenez versus Los Duendes, Nacho Libre
Gerard Butler versus "the Über-Immortal," 300
Sacha Baron Cohen versus Ken Davitian, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Will Ferrell versusJon Heder, Blades of Glory
Uma Thurman versus Anna Faris, My Super Ex-Girlfriend

Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet
Evan Almighty
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Hairspray
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix
Rush Hour 3
Transformers

McCartney says new CD is retrospective

NEW YORK - Paul McCartney says his upcoming album, "Memory Almost Full," looks back to the past.

"In places it's a very personal record and a lot of it is retrospective, drawing from memory, like memories from being a kid, from Liverpool and from summers gone," the 64-year-old ex-Beatle said Monday in a statement.

"The album is evocative, emotional, rocking, but I can't really sum it up in one sentence," he said.

"Memory Almost Full," McCartney's 21st solo album, will be released June 5 in the United States. It is his first for Hear Music, Starbucks' new music label.

A medley of five songs on the 13-track disc is "purposely retrospective," said the legendary singer-songwriter. "I thought this might be because I'm at this point in my life, but then I think about the times I was writing with John (Lennon) and a lot of that was also looking back."

Film director Michel Gondry has directed a music video — starring Natalie Portman — for the opening track "Dance Tonight," but McCartney said he's "not going to give the plot away."

McCartney last released the acclaimed "Chaos And Creation In the Backyard," in 2005.

Carson's foil Tommy Newsom dies at 78

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Tommy Newsom, the former backup bandleader on "The Tonight Show" whose "Mr. Excitement" nickname was a running joke for Johnny Carson, has died. He was 78.

Newsom died of cancer Saturday at his home in Portsmouth, the city of his birth, according to his nephew, Jim Newsom.

Newsom, who played saxophone, joined "The Tonight Show" in 1962 and rose from band member to assistant music director. He retired along with Carson in 1992.

Newsom won music direction Emmys for "Night of 100 Stars" in 1982 and "The 40th Annual Tony Awards Show" in 1986. "The Tonight Show" received five Emmy awards during Newsom's years on it.

"I hope he will be remembered as a gifted musician," Jim Newsom said Monday in a telephone interview. "I'm sure he will be remembered for his wit and deadpan humor on `The Tonight Show.' And to some of us a certain age, he will always be remembered as Mr. Excitement."

That was the name Carson gave Newsom to make light of his low-key personality and drab brown and blue suits — a sharp contrast to the flashy style of bandleader Doc Severinsen.

"He became a running character in Carson's monologue," Jim Newsom said. "Tommy enjoyed that."

Not long after the Carson era ended in 1992, Newsom remarked that his image as an ordinary guy was "fairly accurate — compared to Rambo."

"I realize things have to end sometime," Newsom said at the time. "I felt regrets at it ending and there was a sense of relief in a way."

Along with his work on "The Tonight Show," Newsom arranged and composed music for Skitch Henderson, Woody Herman, Kenny Rogers, John Denver and other performers.

He also released several albums as a bandleader, including "Live From Beautiful Downtown Burbank" in 1978 and "I Remember You, Johnny" in 1996.

Newsom was born in 1929 and got his first horn for Christmas at age 8. He graduated from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, then toured with a U.S. Air Force jazz ensemble during a four-year enlistment.

Before landing his "Tonight" gig, he toured the Soviet Union and South America with Benny Goodman and played in "The Merv Griffin Show" orchestra.

Newsom is survived by his wife of 50 years, Patricia, and their daughter, Candy Newsom.

Lambert seeks repeat success with new CD

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - She torched a cheating lover's home in "Kerosene" and loaded up a shotgun for an abusive man in "Gunpowder & Lead."

She named the title track to her latest album "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," for Pete's sake.

And yet Miranda Lambert, a striking blond with pouty lips, laughs at the suggestion she might be, well, the girlfriend from hell.

"I'm actually a nice person, most of the time," she says softly.

And despite the tough demeanor, she's actually feeling a touch fragile these days. She faces the pressure of following up a successful debut, and she's scared to death about it.

"If I don't do that well, I let everybody down. I let myself down," she said.

While her 2005 debut "Kerosene" went platinum, it didn't get much help from country radio. Her highest-charting single by far was the title cut, and it failed to make the Top 10 on Billboard's country music singles chart.

The edgy title track from her new album, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," stalled at No. 50. Her latest single, the more traditional "Famous in a Small Town," is just now registering on the charts.

"I think with the right single she's going to break. The question is does she have it yet," said Brian Jennings, program director at WGAR in Cleveland.

No one questions Lambert's talent. She's been writing and performing since she was a teenager. She's toured with superstars George Strait, Keith Urban and Toby Keith. Her performance at last year's Country Music Association awards was a jaw-dropper for the normally staid CMA, with Lambert smashing her guitar on stage like Pete Townsend.

On the new record, she again wrote or co-wrote most of the songs. And while she can still come across as the wild blonde whose idea of a night out involves tequila and gunplay, she shows a more vulnerable side with ballads like "Love Letters," "More Like Her" and "Easy From Now On."

"I'm 23 years old, and I go through the things that a regular 23-year-old girl goes through," she said. "I don't want people to look at me and think, 'Oh my God, she's scary. She's the crazy ex-girlfriend.'"

Lambert has one of the more unusual stories in country music. Growing up in Lindale, Texas, her parents were private detectives who shared stories of cheating and deceit over dinner every night.

"To me, it was just mom and dad's job. But seeing that harsh reality of real life early on started coming out when I was writing," she said.

They got the case of a lifetime when Paula Jones hired them for her sexual discrimination lawsuit against President Clinton. They worked on it for two years, and it left a big impression on Lambert and her younger brother.

"Mom and dad would leave the house and say, 'These men in black might come to the door, and they'll want our files. Just let them in, and you go to your room and lock the door,'" she recalled.

Crazy stuff, and pure gold for an aspiring country singer. She began writing songs at 17 and playing at rodeos, fairs and radio stations across Texas.

She cracked the Texas music chart before she even finished high school and won a spot on the inaugural season of USA Network's "Nashville Star" talent show, finishing third behind winner Buddy Jewell.

Lambert stood out from the get-go, said Tracy Gershon, a judge on the show and a Sony Nashville executive who ended up signing her.

"She had a lot of focus and vision," recalled Gershon, now vice president of A&R at Warner Brothers Nashville. "She was an old soul in a lot of ways. Her points of reference for songs were Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton. She had a great sense of music history about her and a real sense of herself."

By not winning, Lambert did herself a favor. Unlike Jewell, she got a recording contract without the pressure to put something out right away. And she took full advantage it.

Gershon remembers a meeting with former Sony Nashville President John Grady and other top brass where Lambert told them she wanted to write her own songs and pick her own musicians, and she was willing to walk away if she didn't get what she wanted.

"I had my mouth open," Gershon said. "She said it with such force, and they said OK. I had never seen that."

The resulting album "Kerosene" debuted at No. 1 in 2005 and established Lambert as a rising star.

With the new record, she knows that radio airplay is key, and she said she's ready to go back to promoting herself one radio station at a time if she has to.

"Hey, I did it before and I'll do it again," Lambert said. "I'll march my happy butt right into the station and tell them to play my music, because it worked when I was 17."

Love plans to sell Cobain's belongings

NEW YORK - Courtney Love, widow of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, says she plans to sell most of his belongings.

"I'm going to have a Christie's auction," Love, 42, tells AOL music Web site Spinner.com. "(My house) is like a mausoleum."

Love and Cobain wed in 1992 and had a daughter, Frances Bean, that year. Cobain committed suicide in 1994.

"My daughter doesn't need to inherit a giant ... bag full of flannel ... shirts," says Love, former frontwoman of the rock band Hole. "A sweater, a guitar and the lyrics to `(Smells Like) Teen Spirit' — that's what my daughter gets. And the rest of it we'll just ... sell."

No date has been set for the auction, AOL publicist Kurt Patat told The Associated Press on Monday.

Love, whose upcoming album is titled, "Nobody's Daughter," says friends support the idea.

"Everyone's been positive and behind me on it," she says. "We'll make a lot of money and give a bunch of it to charity."

She'll have a chance to move on from Cobain, too.

"I still wear his pajamas to bed. How am I ever going to go form another relationship in my lifetime wearing Kurt's pajamas?"

...Here Are The Grey's Anatomy spinoff details

By this point, it's one of the worst kept secrets in TV land.

But if you haven't already heard, the medical staff at Seattle Grace will be short one redhead come the fall.

That's because ABC plans to launch a spinoff series from Grey's Anatomy, one of the sole bright lights in the network's historically dim Thursday night lineup.

While little is known about the series (at this point, not even a name has been confirmed, although Private Practice seems to be the tentative fave), we can tell you the show will focus on Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd (Kate Walsh), ex-wife of one Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) -- or McDreamy, as he's better known to the rest of the world.

The show's creators are playing their hand pretty close to their vest, opting not to do any advance press, nor even let critics see in advance the two-hour Grey's Anatomy episode that will set the stage for Addison's departure this coming Thursday night. But our friends at CTV were kind enough to share a few details, confirming that this week's instalment will see Addison take a road trip to Los Angeles, ostensibly to visit with a few old friends from med school.

Also, the show boasts a host of guest stars, among them Taye Diggs (Chicago), Tim Daly (The Nine), Paul Adelstein (Prison Break), and Amy Brenneman (Judging Amy).

A recent piece in the Los Angeles Times helped fill in a few more blanks -- namely, that two of Addison's pals (Diggs and Merrin Dungey) work at a successful oceanside health co-op with a staff that's just quirky enough -- widowed holistic-med expert, self-doubting therapist, male gyno who's clueless with the ladies -- to provide years of sexy, soap-opera fodder.

Addison, still reeling from her own disastrous romantic encounters, concludes that while her new cohorts' personal lives may be a mess, their professional standards are exemplary, leading her to ditch Seattle's rain-streaked vistas for the far sunnier environs of Santa Monica.

So will the show find an audience, especially in a TV landscape that's already cluttered with quip-prone doctors who can't keep their hands off each other?

Well, spinoffs are always a gamble, which probably explains why there are so few of them these days (and, no, we don't count the myriad permutations of either the CSI or Law & Order franchises). For every well-received Frasier there's a disastrous dud such as Joey, which means only time will tell whether audiences will respond warmly to a sexy neo-natal surgeon and her dating peccadilloes.

OUR PICKS: MINI & MEGA!

Summer movies are all about wallowing in great, gooey gobs of excess. This is the season for the big (“Shrek the Third”), the loud (“Transformers”), and the uncomplicated (“Fantastic Four”) - stuff that goes perfectly with arctic air conditioning and extra-large troughs of buttery popcorn. Still, there will be times when you want some subtlety - more Zach Braff, less Michael Bay.

So rather than giving you a rundown of absolutely everything being released in the next four months (and excluding any film that is a third in a franchise) this summer movie calendar offers one marquee-topping flick and one indie alternative for each of the 17 weeks. Happy viewing!

MAY 11
The Smash: “28 Weeks Later . . . ” In a sequel to “28 Days Later,” London’s declared free of the virus that turned its citizens into zombies - then one last carrier surfaces.

Why we care: Panders to our worst avian-flu imaginings.

The Sleeper: “Provoked: A True Story” Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai in a true story of an Indian woman who killed her abusive husband (Naveen Andrews) and was sentenced to life in prison.

Why we care: Might be good enough to wipe out memory of similarly themed J.Lo flick, “Enough.”

MAY 18
The Smash: “Captivity” Hot guy and girl (Daniel Gillies and Elisha Cuthbert) are kidnapped, held prisoner in a basement and tortured.

Why we care: Firestorm about overly torture-y billboards has predictably piqued our interest.

The sleeper: “The Wendell Baker Story” Luke Wilson’s the writer, co-director and star of this ’70s-throwback comedy about an ex-con; brother Owen co-stars, brother Andrew co-directs.

Why we care: You can never have too many Wilsons.

MAY 25
The Smash: OK, there’s “Bug” with Ashley Judd playing a bartender who becomes convinced she has parasites under her skin. But let’s just face facts: You’re going to see “Pirates of the Caribbean” and nothing else this week has much of a chance.

The sleeper: “Paprika” Trippy anime feature about a machine that lets you enter someone else’s dreams. Inevitably, it falls into the wrong hands.

Why we care: Perfect plot for sophisticated animators to really go nuts on the visuals.

JUNE 1
The Smash: “Knocked Up” Seth Rogen’s the lead in this comedy, from the director of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” about a schlub who impregnates a one-night stand (Katherine Heigl).

Why we care: It’s a “Freaks and Geeks” reunion: director Judd Apatow, Rogen, Jason Segel and Martin Starr.

The sleeper: “Day Watch” The Russian sequel to 2006’s “Night Watch” is the follow-up in a trilogy of sprawling, high-octane Russian vampire movies.

Why we care: Takes every conceivable American action-film technique and throws it in a blender with some Russian actors.

JUNE 8
The Smash: “Surf’s Up” “It” boy Shia LaBeouf voices the lead in this animated story about a penguin who wants to be a surfer.

Why we care: If you can get past the penguin fatigue, it looks more promising than a lot of last year’s animated animal flicks.

The sleeper: “La Vie En Rose” French biopic about legendary singer Edith Piaf (Marion Cotillard), a cabaret sensation who died at 47.

Why we care: Cotillard reportedly knocks it out of the park as the long-suffering but charismatic Piaf.

JUNE 15
The Smash: “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis & Co. return as the superhero foursome, this time to battle not only Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon), but also the mysterious Silver Surfer.

Why we care: Ever since “X2,” we keep hoping another superhero sequel will surpass the original.

The sleeper: “Eagle vs. Shark” Socially awkward New Zealand woman (Loren Horsley) falls for even more socially awkward guy (Jemaine Clement, of comedy duo “Flight of the Conchords”).

Why we care: It’s the Kiwi “Napoleon Dynamite,” which will likely work both for and against it.

JUNE 22
The Smash: “Evan Almighty” Steve Carell reprises his character from “Bruce Almighty,” who’s called by God (Morgan Freeman) to build an ark.

Why we care: Anything Carell touches turns to funny.

The sleeper: “A Mighty Heart” Michael Winterbottom tells the story of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter murdered in Pakistan in 2002. Angelina Jolie stars as his widow.

Why we care: Winterbottom brings the serious-film cred; Jolie brings the spectacle.

JUNE 29
The Smash: “Ratatouille” Pixar takes on French restaurants through the eyes of a Parisian rat (Patton Oswalt) who wants to become a chef.

Why we care: It’s Pixar. Resistance is futile.

The sleeper: “You Kill Me” (June 27) Ben Kingsley stars as a hit man who’s trying to change his life.

Why we care: Directed by John Dahl, who one day will craft a worthy follow-up to 1994’s “The Last Seduction.”

JULY 4
The Smash: “Transformers” The Deceptacons and the Autobots battle it out on planet Earth, Michael Bay- style!

Why we care: Doesn’t seem possible to take the concept of kiddie toys as scary alien invaders seriously - but you never know.

The sleeper: “Joshua” (July 6) New twist on the “Bad Seed” story, with Vera Farmiga and Sam Rockwell as parents of creepy 9-year-old boy.

Why we care: Farmiga and Rockwelboth have the chops to carry any film.

JULY 13
The Smash: “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” Fifth installment of the J.K. Rowling saga sees Hogwarts overtaken by a fascistic leader.

Why we care: Each successive Potter pic gets a little farther afield from being just a kids’ movie.

The sleeper: “Talk to Me” Don Cheadle stars as rabble-rousing ’60s radio DJ and ex-con Ralph Waldo “Petey” Green.

Why we care: Three reasons - Martin Sheen, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Cheadle.

JULY 20
The Smash: “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry” Adam Sandler and Kevin James are fireman buddies who marry to get health benefits.

Why we care: Can Sandler play gay without turning it into Mr. Roper-style caricature?

The sleeper: “Hairspray” Film version of the Broadway musical, stars John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken and Amanda Bynes.

Why we care: Travolta in a fat-lady suit!

JULY 27
The Smash: “The Simpsons Movie” Feature version of the insanely long-running show sees Homer tasked with saving the world . . . from himself, as usual.

Why we care: Penned by the original writers, this could be a return to original, impeccable comedy.

The sleeper: “No Reservations” Catherine Zeta-Jones’ type-A chef becomes the guardian of her young niece, softens up and falls for fellow chef Aaron Eckhart.

Why we care: Eckhart, never the soft-and-cuddly type, is a good bet for a non-mushy romantic comedy.

AUG. 3
The Smash: “Hot Rod” Stuntman Andy Samberg attempts the ultimate jump to raise money to cure his abusive stepdad - so he can beat him up.

Why we care: Produced by Will Ferrell, this looks like “Talladega Nights Lite” - and that’s just fine by us.

The sleeper: “The Ten” David Wain (“Wet Hot American Summer”) directs series of comic vignettes based (loosely, one presumes) on the Ten Commandments.

Why we care: All-star cast includes Adam Brody, Paul Rudd, Jessica Alba, Famke Janssen, Winona Ryder, Liev Shreiber, Gretchen Mol, Oliver Platt.

AUG. 10
The Smash: “Stardust” Epic fantasy about young man trying to find his way back from a magical world. Stars Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, Sienna Miller and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Why we care: Based on a novel by acclaimed “Sandman” comic creator Neil Gaiman.

The sleeper: “Rocket Science” A teenage boy with a major stuttering problem tries to get the girl by joining the debate team.

Why we care: Won director award at Sundance.

AUG. 17
The Smash: “The Invasion” Update of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” stars Nicole Kidman as a psychiatrist who discovers what’s causing an alien plague.

Why we care: Kidman can clearly do creepy well, as in “The Others.”

The sleeper: “King of Kong” Old-school video game champions battle to be the best Donkey Kong player.

Why we care: Every so often, a documentary gets us totally engrossed in a random subculture - could “Kong” be this year’s?

AUG. 24
The Smash: “Virgin Territory” Hayden Christensen and Mischa Barton as Florentines in the Middle Ages who escape to the countryside during the Black Plague.

Why we care: This is why Barton left “The O.C.” Was it worth it?

The sleeper: “The Hottest State” Ethan Hawke writes, directs and appears in this adaptation of his novel about a Texan who moves to New York to make it as an actor.

Why we care: Hawke’s proven he can direct (“Chelsea Walls”) and write screenplays (“Before Sunset”) as well as act - can he juggle all three?

AUG. 31
The Smash: “Halloween” Rob Zombie’s remake of John Carpenter’s 1978 horror classic ups the gore ante but leaves the William Shatner mask pretty much intact.

Why we care: Zombie’s already proven himself a horror virtuoso with “House of 1000 Corpses,” its sequel and a “Grindhouse” trailer.

The sleeper: “Atonement” Keira Knightley and James McAvoy star in this adaptation of the Ian McEwan novel.

Why we care: Director Joe Wright did great things with Knightley in “Pride and Prejudice.”

'Disturbia' earns $9.1M as Spidey looms

LOS ANGELES - Movie-goers continued to keep their eyes on the Peeping Tom thriller "Disturbia," which fended off a weak batch of newcomers to remain No. 1 for the third straight weekend with $9.1 million.

The movie business seemed to be on hold in anticipation of a huge summer that begins this week with Sony's "Spider-Man 3." The top-12 movies took in an anemic $62.9 million, down 30 percent from the same weekend last year, when "RV" was the No. 1 movie with $16.4 million.

DreamWorks and Paramount's "Disturbia," starring Shia LaBeouf as a house-bound teen whose surveillance of neighbors uncovers a killer, raised its total to $52.2 million after three weekends, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Disney's supernatural thriller "The Invisible" turned in the best performance among the weekend's ho-hum debuts, taking in $7.6 million to open at No. 2. The movie centers on a teen trying to solve his own murder while trapped in a nether zone between life and death.

Paramount's "Next," starring Nicolas Cage as a man whose ability to see into the future is exploited by federal agents trying to stop a terrorist nuclear attack, premiered at No. 3 with $7.2 million.

Lionsgate's "The Condemned," with wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin as one of 10 Death Row inmates dropped on an island to fight to the death for an Internet reality show, debuted in ninth-place with $4 million.

Yari Film Group's comedy "Kickin' It Old Skool," starring Jamie Kennedy as a man who wakes from a 20-year coma and tries to revive his break-dancing career, opened at No. 11 with $2.8 million.

Though movie attendance is up 1.2 percent so far this year compared to last, Hollywood has been in a lull in recent weeks as a huge crop of summer films looms, including Friday's premiere of "Spider-Man 3," followed closely by DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek the Third" and Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."

"I think people are just absolutely ready for a big summer movie," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. "You can see by the box office over the last few weekends, they're ready, and it's been a long time coming. I do anticipate it's going to be an incredible weekend for us."

"Spider-Man" took in $114.8 million in its first weekend in 2002, a three-day opening that remained an all-time high until "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" set a new record last summer with $132 million.

In 2004, "Spider-Man 2" opened on a Wednesday before a long four-day Fourth of July weekend and took in a record $180.1 million in its first six days.

"This was an incredibly slow weekend. To have a top movie come in under $10 million just shows how the marketplace is in a holding pattern," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "It'll all be made up next weekend with `Spider-Man 3.'"

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. "Disturbia," $9.1 million.
2. "The Invisible," $7.6 million.
3. "Next," $7.2 million.
4. "Fracture," $7.1 million.
5. "Blades of Glory," $5.2 million.
6. "Meet the Robinsons," $4.84 million.
7. "Hot Fuzz," $4.8 million.
8. "Vacancy," $4.2 million.
9. "The Condemned," $4 million.
10. "Are We Done Yet?", $3.4 million.

THE COUCH POTATO REPORT - April 28th, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on some spectacular releases, and one you may want to avoid.

There is a lot for me to talk about this week, so let's jump right in, starting with the Academy Award winning fim THE QUEEN.

THE QUEEN is a spectacular movie about what might have taken place behind-the-scenes between Queen Elizabeth and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the week following the death of Princess Diana.

A week that features an outpouring of emotion that no one could have predicted, and an equally unpredictable response from The Royal Family.

Helen Mirren won the Academy Award for her work as Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth The Second, and it was well deserved.

From the moment just before the movie's opening credits when she looks directly toward the camera, and right at us, she is The Queen.

It is an exceptional performance!!

We may never know what actually happened behind-the-scenes between after the death of Princess Diana, and the DVD of THE QUEEN even features a commentary from British historian & royal expert Robert Lacey acknowledging that.

But what we do get is an exceptionally well done movie that seems plausible, and above all else respects the people in real life that it is based on.

THE QUEEN is a spectacular film.

I will also use the word spectacular to describe the BBC documentary series PLANET EARTH.

There has been a lot of stories in the news this week about our planet, and if you'd like to get a unique look at what we could lose if we don't take care of it, then this is the box set for you!!

PLANET EARTH is a five-DVD, eleven part series that doesn't just cover the wildlife on our planet, it also gives us a one-of-a-kind look at mountains, caves, deserts, shallow seas, and much, much more!!

If you've ever wanted to see birds fighting caribou, a polar bear against a walrus, or watch North America turn from Summer to autumn using a camera from space, then do not miss PLANET EARTH.

It is simply spectacular!!

Up next this week is the three-DVD set for CHILLY BEACH, the CBC show about the Canadian island town where the tourists are few and the beer is plentiful

If you have never seen the show Saturday mornings on CBC Television, well the two main residents of Chilly Beach are Dale and Frank, two hockey-playing, beer-drinking best friends.

Yes, this show is distinctly Canadian!

CHILLY BEACH might be an animated show that is intended for kids, but as an adult, I enjoyed watching the show this week on DVD as well.

It has a great sense of humour.

Okay, right now I'd like to tell you about the DVD release of the classic television series WKRP IN CINCINNATI.

Finally this show is available on DVD...well, actually, the show that we watched when it aired from 1978 to 1982, the show we loved about the radio station and the eclectic group of people who worked there, the show that remains a television classic, will never appear on DVD.

What is actually available now is an edited version with most of the great music, and even some of the classic scenes and plots taken out, because they have references to songs and their lyrics, and those songs and references aren't free.

The producers of WKRP would have had to pay upwards of $100,000 for each and every song they featured in the show, and since the show takes place at a radio station, there is lots and lots of music.

So instead of working hard to get permission from the artists and paying them, like many other old shows have done in order to secure a DVD release of their shows as they originally aired, the studio decided to just substitute most of the music.

So if you are a fan of the series as it first aired, you will be very, very disappointed by this three-disc DVD set.

Now, if you are a completest, you would obviously want the episodes as you remember them...as they originally aired....as we've enjoyed them on TV for the past 29 years...but they are not available....and due to the cost of licensing the music, they may never be available.

However, the laughs are still there, the characters are still there, and while the episodes are not the same in this edited version as they once were, this box set is the next best thing.

And for now, that will have to be good enough.

Finally this week is THE JOHNNY CARSON SHOW!

This TV show originally aired in 1955 and 1956 and they are an important part in Johnny's journey to stardom.

After a series of local radio and TV jobs in Nebraska, where he was raised, Carson started in Los Angeles in 1950. His sketch comedy show, "Carson's Cellar," ran from 1951-53 and drew attention from Hollywood.

A staff writing job for "The Red Skelton Show" followed.

The program provided Carson with a lucky break. When Skelton was injured backstage, Carson took the comedian's place in front of the cameras.

People then tried to find the right vehicle for the up-and-coming comic, trying him out as host of the summer quiz show "Earn Your Vacation" in 1954 and then "The Johnny Carson Show."

The 2-DVD set for THE JOHNNY CARSON SHOW is very entertaining, but if it more than that. It is also fascinationg.

It allows us to watch a very thin 29-year-old Carson, begin to form some of the mannerisms and style he used to eventually make "The Tonight Show" his own, en route to becomming the undisputed king of late night television.

The very entertaining JOHNNY CARSON SHOW, the edited but still one of the the five best TV shows ever WKRP IN CINCINNATTI, the enjoyable CBC show CHILLY BEACH, the spectacular DVD Box Set for the BBC documantary series PLANET EARTH, and the also spectacular THE QUEEN are all now available on DVD.

Coming up in the next Couch Potato Report

THE ARROW is the true story of how Canada almost built one of the world's most advanced fighter planes, back in the 1950s; teh TV series ROBSON ARMS debuts on DVD; LITTLE CHILDREN is a very, very interesting movie starring Kate Winslet and Jennifer Connelly; and then there is FLETCH! I'll also talk about THE JANE DOE EDITION of Chevy Chase's classic film FLETCH next week.

Also coming up next week, since the action filled, very loud, check-your-brain-at-the-door summer movie season will be upon us in theatres, I will offer you an alternative.

Each week during the summer movie season we will have a FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL and I will tell you about at least one current release on DVD that you need your brain to enjoy.

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!

Red Sock-gate

BOSTON (AP) - Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling offered US$1 million to anyone who could prove it was not blood that blotted his famous sock in the 2004 playoffs, and criticized members of the media in a blog on his personal Web site Friday.

The controversy over what stained Schilling's sock was reignited this week when Baltimore Orioles broadcaster Gary Thorne said Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli had told him it was paint, not blood, and that it was done for a publicity stunt.

Mirabelli called that a lie, and Thorne said Thursday he had misreported what Mirabelli said.

Still, Schilling blasted Thorne and the media in general Friday in his first public statement since Thorne's on-air comments.

Schilling was injured in Game 1 of the 2004 AL championship series against New York. Team doctors stitched a tendon in his right ankle to keep it from flopping around, and he returned to lead the Red Sox to a remarkable win in Game 6 to tie the series at 3-3. The Red Sox went on to win that series, and won the World Series for their first title since 1918.

"If you have ... the guts, grab an orthopedic surgeon, have them suture your ankle skin down to the tissue covering the bone in your ankle joint, then walk around for four hours," Schilling wrote on his website www.38pitches.com. "After that go find a mound, throw a hundred or so pitches, run over, cover first a few times. When you're done check that ankle and see if it bleeds."

Thorne did not immediately return a message Friday left with his employer, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.

Schilling offered $1 million to anyone who could prove the blood on his sock was not authentic. But it's unclear where the sock is. Schilling has said he put it in the laundry; on Friday he wrote that he suspects a Yankees clubhouse employee still has it. The pitcher donated another bloodstained sock worn in Game 2 of the World Series to the Hall of Fame.

"If the blood on the sock is fake, I'll donate a million dollars to that person's charity, if not they donate that amount to (Schilling's charities for ALS research)," he wrote. "Any takers?"

Schilling also ripped several members of the national sports media for exaggerating stories based on their own insecurities and for "rolling their eyes" when he talks about his faith in God. His recommendation: "Put them all on an island somewhere.

"If you haven't figured it out by now, working in the media is a pretty nice gig," the pitcher wrote. "Barring outright plagiarism or committing a crime, you don't have to be accountable if you don't want to."

Rush shows humour on new album

Yes, veteran Canadian prog-rockers Rush deal with some pretty heavy issues — such as religion and war — on their new album Snakes & Arrows, which hits stores Tuesday.

But they also maintain their sense of humour, having lifted the title of one of their new instrumentals — Malignant Narcissim — from a line about how terrorists think in the outrageous 2004 movie comedy, Team America: World Police.

The irreverant film sprang from the same minds, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who brought the world South Park.

“We’re all big Matt Stone fans, and South Park fans, so we we were all fans of that movie,” Rush singer-bassist Geddy Lee said yesterday in Toronto. “And (Rush drummer-lyricist) Neil (Peart) is friends with Matt Stone. And Matt and Trey Parker were both Rush fans at some point. So they keep in contact. And (Neil) said, ‘Look, we want to do this song called Malignant Narcissim, and (Matt) was thrilled. He said, ‘Great!’ ”

But when the band found out their Snakes & Arrows co-producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver) had never seen the movie, they set up a special screening while recording with him in the Catskills.

“We were recording during American Thanksgiving,” Lee said. “And we planned this big dinner, actually in this big drum room, in this big recording room. So we set this giant table up and everybody and the crew, even the chef who was cooking for us that night, sat down with us and had this big meal. And at the end of it, we all crowded around the control room and on their big giant screen that comes down for when they’re doing film work there, we watched World Police as our big celebration.”

Raskulinecz laughed his butt off.

“Oh, yeah, how could you not?” Lee said. “It’s so ridiculous. I think it should offend, but it’s funny. They’ll offend anyone. They’re equal-opportunity offenders.”

'Studio 60' returning in May

NBC has set a return date for "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip."

The Aaron Sorkin drama, which arrived last fall as the season's most hyped show and vanished from NBC's schedule amidst sinking ratings, will move to Thursday nights at 10 p.m. starting on May 24, at least according to the network's website for the show.

Not-so-coincidentally, that Thursday is the day after the end of the crucial May sweeps period and it comes a week after the upfront presentation at which NBC will reveal to advertisers whether or not "Studio 60" has a future on the network next season.

The show's chances for renewal are believed to be relatively slim.

Savvy viewers will recall that this is a return of sorts for "Studio 60." Last May, NBC announced that the series would air on Thursday nights at 9 p.m., only to run scurrying to Mondays after ABC moved "Grey's Anatomy" into the same time period.

"Studio 60" had a solid premiere, but by the time February rolled around the series was drawing only around 7 million same-day viewers (factoring in DVR usage gave the series a boost). The last original "Studio 60" aired back on February 19, before NBC shelved it a week earlier than expected for "The Black Donnellys."

Of course, "The Black Donnellys" failed to even premiere big and NBC pulled the plug on that Paul Haggis-created drama after only six episodes, replacing it with "The Real Wedding Crashers," which also didn't exactly dominate the time period.

NBC has yet to announce its specific intentions for the truncated "Studio 60" return. Six episodes remain unaired.

White Stripes return to the road with an 'Icky Thump'

The White Stripes are set to embark on a world tour this summer to support their upcoming album, "Icky Thump."

Following a two-week stint in Europe beginning June 1, the garage-rock duo will kick off North American dates June 17 at Manchester, TN's Bonnaroo Festival. The outing includes shows in all 10 Canadian provinces, as well as the Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest territories.

"Having never done a full tour of Canada, [drummer] Meg [White] and I thought it was high time to go whole hog," frontman Jack White said in a statement, adding that the July 14 concert in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, will fall on The White Stripes' 10th anniversary.

Following the Canadian run, the Whites will return to the US for performances in 16 Eastern states that they have yet to visit in their career, plus a few other markets including New York City and Boston, according to the band's website. Confirmed North American dates are listed below. More are expected soon. Euro gigs can be found at the duo's website.

To help celebrate The White Stripes' 10th year, the band has teamed with British music mag NME to distribute a limited-edition, red vinyl, seven-inch single of the track "Rag and Bone" from the "Icky Thump" album, which will be released June 19 in the US. The special NME issue, which hits the streets June 6, will mark the first time in more than a decade that a vinyl record has been given away with a magazine, according to The White Stripes' website.

Less than a week later, the band will release the album's first radio single, the title track, on white vinyl. In the meantime, the song "Icky Thump" is available exclusively online at iTunes starting today (4/26).

The new set is The White Stripes' sixth studio effort following 2005's "Get Behind Me Satan," which scored a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.

June 2007
17 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival
24 - Burnaby, British Columbia - Deer Lake Park
25 - Whitehorse, Yukon - Yukon Arts Centre
26 - Yellowknife, Northwest Territories - Shorty Brown Multiplex Arena
27 - Iqaluit, Nunavut - Arctic Winter Games Arena
29 - Calgary, Alberta - Pengrowth Saddledome
30 - Edmonton, Alberta - Shaw Convention Center

July 2007
1 - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - TCU Place
2 - Winnipeg, Manitoba - MTS Centre
3 - Thunder Bay, Ontario - Community Auditorium
5 - Toronto, Ontario - Molson Amphitheatre
6 - Montreal, Quebec - Bell Centre
7 - London, Ontario - John Labatt Centre
8 - Ottawa, Ontario - LeBreton Flats Park (Ottawa Bluesfest)
10 - Moncton, New Brunswick - Moncton Coliseum Arena
11 - Charlottetown, Price Edward Island - Charlottetown Civic Centre
13 - Halifax, Nova Scotia - Cunard Centre
14 - Glace Bay, Nova Scotia - Savoy Theatre
16 - St. John's, Newfoundland - Mile One Center
22 - Portland, ME - Cumberland Civic Center
23 - Boston, MA - Agganis Arena
24 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
25 - Wallingford, CT - Chevrolet Theater
27 - Wilmington, DE - Grand Opera House
28 - Fairfax, VA - Patriot Center
29 - North Myrtle Beach, SC - House of Blues
30 - Birmingham, AL - Sloss Furnace
31 - Southaven, MS - Snowden Grove Park Amphitheater

Silverman Is Magic for MTV Movie Awards

MTV announced Thursday that Silverman will host the 2007 MTV Movie Awards, bringing her particular brand of pretty-girl-says-filthy-things humor to the irreverent trophy show. She takes over for Jessica Alba, who hosted the awards last year.

The awards are scheduled to air live on Sunday, June 3. "Survivor" guru Burnett is executive producing the show, his first collaboration with MTV.

"Sarah's irreverent, no-holds-barred sarcasm and humor have made her one of the hottest comedians in the industry," says Christina Norman, president of MTV. "Sarah is just the person to orchestrate the madness and keep everyone guessing about who'll be her next target."

Silverman stars in "The Sarah Silverman Program," which returns for a second season on MTV's Viacom sibling Comedy Central in the fall. She also hosted the Independent Spirit Awards in 2006.

Her movie and TV credits also include "The School of Rock," "Greg the Bunny" and a feature-film version of her one-woman show, "Jesus Is Magic."

Kelly Clarkson Ready To Rock On Summer Trek

Kelly Clarkson will spend nearly three months on the road this summer and fall in support of her upcoming RCA album, "My December." The tour begins July 11 in Portland, Ore., and will run through Sept. 28 in Las Vegas, with venues to be announced. Clarkson will also perform July 7 at the Live Earth benefit in East Rutherford, N.J.

"My December," a release date for which has yet to be confirmed, is led by the single "Never Again," which is just now settling in at U.S. radio outlets.

Before the tour, Clarkson will appear May 12 at Los Angeles radio station KISS FM's Wango Tango show in Irvine, Calif., and will perform May 15 with Reba McEntire at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas.

Here are Kelly Clarkson's tour dates:

July 7: East Rutherford, N.J. (Giants Stadium / Live Earth)
July 11: Portland, Ore.

July 13: Seattle
July 15: Sacramento, Calif.
July 17: San Jose, Calif.
July 19: Anaheim, Calif.
July 21: Denver
July 22: Kansas City, Mo.
July 25: Minneapolis
July 27: St. Louis
July 29: Chicago
July 31: Detroit
Aug. 2: Toronto
Aug. 4: Boston
Aug. 5: Albany, N.Y.
Aug. 12: Uncasville, Conn.
Aug. 14: Cleveland
Aug. 16: Philadelphia
Aug. 18: Uniondale, N.Y.
Aug. 19: Washington D.C.
Aug. 22, 24: East Rutherford, N.J.
Aug. 26: Nashville
Aug. 28: Atlanta
Aug. 30: Ft Lauderdale, Fla.
Sept. 1: Orlando, Fla.
Sept. 2: Tampa, Fla.
Sept. 5: Dallas
Sept. 7: Houston
Sept. 9: Las Vegas
Sept. 13: Calgary, A.B.
Sept. 14: Edmonton, A.B.
Sept. 16: Vancouver
Sept. 19: Fresno, Calif.
Sept. 21: San Diego
Sept. 23: Phoenix
Sept. 26: Los Angeles
Sept. 28: Las Vegas

Beastie Boys name new album

Beastie Boys have revealed exclusively to NME.COM that their new album will be called 'The Mix Up' and will be released in June.

Bandmember Mike D said the follow-up to 2004's 'To The 5 Boroughs' will be "radically different" to its' predecessor. The rockier record will instead hark to the style of the band's classic albums 'Check Your Head' and 'Paul's Boutique'.

Mike D said: "We play instruments on the whole album, as opposed to sampling. There's more rock on there. If you know us you can trace the influences and they're no completely surprising. Someone who listens to us casually might think 'What the hell are these guys doing?'

"It might make you flip your wig right off, or your hairpiece, if you're a casual listener."

The star also talked about the band's forthcoming appearance at the London leg of the Live Earth shows, which aim to promote action to confront global climate change.

Beastie Boys will perform at Wembley Stadium alongside the likes of Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snow Patrol.

Speaking about the cause, Mike D said: "It's come to the point where drastic measures have to be taken now. To really create a mass consciousness of what needs to be done, mass action, it's gonna take mass awareness. And these huge concerts around the globe are probably one of the best means of doing so."

Asked if he would be playing any new material at the event, the star replied: "By that point we'll already be playing new songs. But I dunno - you don't wanna do 'Jazz Odyssey' in front of a crowd of 60,000."

Film lobbyist Jack Valenti dies at 85

LOS ANGELES - Jack Valenti, the former White House aide and film industry lobbyist who instituted the modern movie ratings system and guided Hollywood from the censorship era to the digital age, died Thursday. He was 85.

Valenti had a stroke in March and was hospitalized for several weeks at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center in Baltimore.

He died of complications from the stroke at his Washington, D.C., home, said Seth Oster of the Motion Picture Association of America.

"In a sometimes unreasonable business, Jack Valenti was a giant voice of reason," Steven Spielberg said in a statement. "He was the greatest ambassador Hollywood has ever known, and I will value his wisdom and friendship for all time."

Valenti was a special assistant and confidant to President Lyndon Johnson when he was lured to Hollywood in 1966 by movie moguls Lew Wasserman and Arthur Krim.

When he took over as president of the Motion Picture Association of America, Valenti was caught between Hollywood's outdated system of self-censorship and the liberal cultural explosion taking place in America.

Valenti abolished the industry's restrictive Hays code, which prohibited explicit violence and frank treatment of sex, and in 1968 oversaw creation of today's letter-based ratings system.

"While I believe that every director, studio has the right to make the movies they want to make, everybody else has a right not to watch it," Valenti told The Associated Press shortly before his retirement in 2004. "All we do is give advance cautionary warnings and say this is what we think is in this movie."

Dan Glickman, his successor at the MPAA, said Thursday that Valenti embodied the "theatricality" of the industry.

"Jack was a showman, a gentleman, an orator, and a passionate champion of this country, its movies, and the enduring freedoms that made both so important to this world," Glickman said in a statement.

John Fithian, who heads the National Association of Theatre Owners, recalled Valenti as a wise and ready mentor. Fithian said he had lunch with Valenti shortly before his stroke.

"I was going to lunch to ask him advice actually on one or two critical issues. He was on top of his game, taking calls from leading directors in the middle of lunch to answer questions and give them advice," Fithian said.

The white-haired Valenti was familiar to movie fans through his appearances at the Academy Awards, when frequent Oscar host Johnny Carson would poke fun at his speeches. But Valenti was a showman, equally animated whether testifying at a congressional hearing, hobnobbing with celebrities at the Cannes Film Festival, or previewing films for Washington's elite in his office's private theater.

His friends ranged from actors Kirk Douglas and Sidney Poitier to, more improbably, Sen. Jesse Helms, a conservative often at odds with Hollywood.

"Jack Valenti was a true leader and gentleman whose wit, fire and passion for our business inspired everyone regardless of politics or opinion, background or belief," Barry Meyer, chairman and chief executive officer of Warner Bros., said in a statement.

In Valenti's later years he handled tricky new challenges from the Internet and technologies that allow movies to be illegally reproduced and distributed in an instant. Valenti also traveled worldwide seeking to thwart movie piracy and boost film exports to reluctant countries such as China.

Valenti's Washington career was born from tragedy. As a Texas-based political consultant working for then-Vice President Johnson, Valenti was riding in the presidential motorcade on Nov. 22, 1963, when President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Valenti, six cars behind the president, initially didn't know what happened.

"Without a trace of warning, the car in front of us accelerated from eight miles an hour to eighty," he wrote in his memoir, "This Time, This Place," to be published in June. "The whole spectacle turned bizarre, like an arcade game run amok, as we drove madly toward or away from some unnamed terror."

In an Associated Press interview, he said in 2003 that the assassination "is so seared in my memory I literally, sometimes at night — not often, but once or twice a year — I relive that day."

Oliver Stone's 1991 film "JFK" angered Valenti. Stressing he wasn't speaking for the MPAA, he said the film's implication that LBJ was involved in the assassination was "quackery" plucked from a "slag heap of loony theories."

Hurried aboard Air Force One for Johnson's historic flight back to Washington, Valenti was instantly drafted as a special assistant to the new president.

His duties grew to include congressional relations, diplomacy and speech editing, and he attended Cabinet and National Security Council meetings. Valenti became known for his loyalty, likening Johnson to Lincoln for his civil rights efforts and declaring, to widespread ridicule, "I sleep each night a little better" knowing Johnson was in charge.

Yet Valenti resigned in 1966, over Johnson's objections, to accept the movie post. He became one of the highest-paid and best-known trade association executives, with a salary topping $1 million and his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

A lifelong film lover, he once cited the 1966 film "A Man for All Seasons" as his all-time favorite.

The ratings program that featured labels such as "G" for general audiences remained his greatest legacy, even as social mores evolved even further, creating new criticism over Hollywood's attempts to protect its audience.

The ratings system has met with recent disapproval from many film critics, cinema fans and moviemakers, especially directors of independent films who say the system is stacked in favor of big studio productions and against edgier, low-budget fare. Critics also say the system is overly prudish on sex while allowing excessive violence. Recently, tobacco opponents have even sought to add smoking to the list of activities deemed too sensitive for younger viewers.

Director Kirby Dick's 2006 documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" depicted the system as a secretive and inconsistent process that did not provide adequate methods to appeal decisions.

The system did undergo changes over the decades. A PG-13 rating (parental guidance strongly recommended) was added in the 1980s. The X rating for adult films was transformed into the NC-17 rating in the 1990s.

But the format Valenti laid out in the late 1960s generally has remained intact. Valenti was always quick to rebut critics, saying frequent MPAA surveys found that parents with young children felt the ratings system was a helpful guide.

Without the ratings system, Valenti said, Hollywood could be faced with a labyrinth of local censorship boards with conflicting standards.

Born in Houston, the grandson of Sicilian immigrants, Valenti swept floors and made popcorn in a local theater as a boy. He never lost his wonder at what he called the "miraculous, unfathomable alchemy" of moviemaking.

After earning the Distinguished Flying Cross for piloting bombing missions over Italy in World War II, he worked his way through night school at the University of Houston, then earned a master's in business administration from Harvard.

In 1952, he co-founded an advertising and political consulting agency. He was introduced to Senate Majority Leader Johnson three years later and was "mesmerized," Valenti recalled. "I felt a primal force was in my presence."

He met his future wife, Mary Margaret Wiley, through his budding friendship with the senator — she was Johnson's longtime secretary. They had three children.

Valenti wrote a handful of books, including one on Johnson, "A Very Human President," and a novel, "Protect and Defend," published in 1992 by Doubleday with the help of one of its senior editors, Jacqueline Kennedy.

By the time he retired, the movie business had been on a growth spurt for more than a decade, with admissions climbing to their highest level since the late 1950s.

"I'm the luckiest guy in the world, because I spent my entire public working career in two of life's classic fascinations, politics and Hollywood," he said in 2004. "You can't beat that."

'Monster Mash' singer Pickett dies at 69

NEW YORK - He does the "Monster Mash" no more. Bobby "Boris" Pickett, whose dead-on Boris Karloff impression propelled the Halloween anthem to the top of the charts in 1962, making him one of pop music's most enduring one-hit wonders, has died of leukemia. He was 69.

Pickett, dubbed "The Guy Lombardo of Halloween," died Wednesday night at the West Los Angeles Veterans Hospital, said his longtime manager, Stuart Hersh. His daughter, Nancy, and his sister, Lynda, were at Pickett's bedside.

"Monster Mash" hit the Billboard chart three times: when it debuted in 1962, reaching No. 1 the week before Halloween; again in August 1970, and for a third time in May 1973. The resurrections were appropriate for a song where Pickett gravely intoned the forever-stuck-in-your-head chorus: "He did the monster mash. ... It was a graveyard smash."

The novelty hit's fans included Bob Dylan, who played the single on his XM Satellite Radio program last October. "Our next artist is considered a one-hit wonder, but his one hit comes back year after year," Dylan noted.

The hit single ensured Pickett's place in the pantheon of pop music obscurities, said syndicated radio host Dr. Demento, whose long-running program celebrates offbeat tunes.

"It's certainly the biggest Halloween song of all time," said Demento. The DJ, who interviewed Pickett last year, said he maintained a sense of humor about his singular success: "As he loved to say at oldies shows, `And now I'm going to do a medley of my hit.'"

Pickett's impression of Karloff (who despite his name was an Englishman, born William Henry Pratt) was forged in Somerville, Mass., where the boy watched horror films in a theater managed by his father.

Pickett used the impersonation in a nightclub act and when performing with his band the Cordials. A bandmate convinced Pickett they needed to do a song to showcase the Karloff voice, and "Monster Mash" was born — "written in about a half-hour," said Dr. Demento.

The recording, done in a couple of hours, featured a then-unknown piano player named Leon Russell and a backing band christened The Crypt-Kickers. It was rejected by four major labels before Gary Paxton, lead singer on the Hollywood Argyles' novelty hit "Alley Oop," released "Monster Mash" on his own label.

The instant smash became a sort-of Christmas carol for the pumpkin and ghoul set. In a 1996 interview with People magazine, Pickett said he never grew tired of it: "When I hear it, I hear a cash register ringing."

While Pickett never re-created its success, his "Monster's Holiday," a Christmas follow-up, reached No. 30 in December 1962. And "Graduation Day" hit No. 80 in June 1963.

He continued performing through his final gig in November. He remained in demand for Halloween performances, including a memorable 1973 show where his bus broke down outside Frankenstein, Mo.

Beside his daughter and sister, Pickett is survived by two grandchildren.

Marr, Dixie Chicks Enrich Crowded House Album

As expected, the newly reformed Crowded House will release its first album in nearly 15 years this summer. "Time on Earth" will feature contributions from guitarist Smiths/Modest Mouse guitarist Johnny Marr on a pair of songs, plus production credits from Ethan Johns and Steve Lillywhite.

The album will be released July 2 in the U.K. via Parlophone and July 10 in North America via ATO Records.

"Time on Earth" was formed from the foundation of what would have been frontman Neil Finn's next solo album, which was in the works with Crowded House bassist Nick Seymour. It will be the first album to feature the band's new drummer Matt Sherrod, who replaces the late Paul Hester. One cut, "Silent House," was co-written with the Dixie Chicks, whose own version of the song appeared on last year's Grammy-award winning "Taking the Long Way."

Crowded House's last studio effort, "Together Alone," was released in 1993. In January, the group released the CD/DVD set "Farewell to the World," which chronicled its final concert in 1996 in Sydney.

Crowded House is confirmed for only a handful of concerts so far, including a gig tomorrow (April 26) at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, Ariz., which precedes an appearance at Coachella this weekend.

Here is the track list to "Time on Earth":

"Nobody Wants To"
"Don't Stop Now"
"She Called Up"
"Say That Again"
"Pour Le Monde"
"Even a Child"
"Heaven That I'm Making"
"Silent House"
"English Trees"
"Walked Her Way Down"
"Transit Lounge"
"You Are the One To Make Me Cry"
"A Sigh"
"People Are Like Suns"

Networks' top shows at a ratings loss

In the past few weeks, a raft of top shows on all major networks have hit record lows: Lost, Desperate Housewives, ER, My Name Is Earl, The Simpsons, Two and a Half Men, CSI: Miami and, just Monday, Heroes. Still others, such as 24, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and American Idol, had their worst ratings in two years or more.

The losses, never welcome, are especially alarming as networks gear up for their annual ritual of unfurling fall lineups in mid-May and selling the bulk of their ad time for next season, often based on current ratings.

No one has a definitive answer as to the cause. But as usual, there's lots of finger-pointing. Some excuses wielded by TV executives and advertisers:

•Daylight. The switch to daylight saving time in March, three weeks early, depressed viewing levels compared with last year as more viewers stayed outdoors. That, coupled with a larger load of repeats, hurt ratings for original episodes airing in recent weeks. "The two created a compound effect that has depressed regular-series viewing levels," says CBS' David Poltrack.

•Long breaks. Serialized dramas have suffered from long hiatuses. They don't repeat well, so networks are largely pulling them off; fans lose interest or lose track when they return. Lost, Jericho, Ugly Betty and Heroes — which returned with 12 million viewers — have been particularly susceptible.

•DVR use. For some shows, time-shifting accounts for most of the falloff. Last year at this time, only 5% of the homes in Nielsen's sample had the recording devices; now 15.8% do. That has sparked a wider gap between ratings for shows watched live — the only yardstick used by Nielsen last year — and those watched within seven days of their initial airing.

"If you look at live plus seven-day viewing, those declines for several shows start to vanish," says Fox's Preston Beckman. Lost lost 14% of its live viewing this season, but when time-shifting is factored in, the show is down only 1%. The Office, down 10%, is actually up 2% with delayed viewing included.

"We can't really examine things in the same mind-set that we did a year ago," ABC research chief Larry Hyams says.

Trouble is, advertisers so far are refusing to pay for all those procrastinating viewers, arguing that many skip commercials. So Nielsen is testing ways to measure audiences for commercials, not just programs.

Still other observers worry the shortfall may mark a tipping point as networks lose share to the Internet, cable and other media. "When you put it all together, it snowballs," says Starcom Media's Sam Armando. Yet hope springs eternal as the finale-filled May sweeps begins: "In another month we can have turned the corner."

Barrymore is People's `most beautiful'

NEW YORK - She was born with her acting family's classic beauty, but Drew Barrymore credits her fun-loving approach to life for her No. 1 spot on People magazine's annual "100 Most Beautiful People" list.

"I just think happiness is what makes you pretty. Period," she tells the magazine. "Happy people are beautiful. They become like a mirror and they reflect that happiness."

Barrymore, 32, graces the cover of the issue that hits newsstands Friday. It's her fourth time on the list, but first as cover girl.

Making the cover "made my peacock feathers shine in the golden-hour light and extend to the heavens," says Barrymore, who stars in the upcoming Warner Bros. film "Lucky You," opposite Eric Bana.

Inside, she weighs in on a host of beauty-related topics. Her beauty rules for dating? "The only fundamental rule for me is to just be yourself," she says. "Let your freak-flag fly, and if someone doesn't get you, move on."

Barrymore is one of 11 celebrities — including Eva Longoria and the three Jessicas (Simpson, Alba and Biel) — photographed for the issue without makeup.

"I find that men, in my past, have preferred me without it," Biel, 25, says of makeup.

Among others on the "Beautiful People" list: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, Alicia Keys, Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Garner, Scarlett Johansson, Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Halle Berry, Julia Roberts and Jennifer Lopez.

Baldwin's request to quit sitcom denied

LOS ANGELES - Divorced dad Alec Baldwin, caught yelling at his daughter on a voicemail message, said Wednesday he asked NBC to let him out of his "30 Rock" contract so he can devote his time to the issue of "parental alienation."

"If I never acted again I couldn't care less," Baldwin said in a pre-taped appearance for ABC's "The View," scheduled to air Friday.

The actor, in a transcript provided to The Associated Press by "The View," said that he also wanted to quit "30 Rock" so the sitcom and the hundreds who work on it wouldn't "be hurt by the situation."

NBC, however, quickly shot down the idea. The actor has became a key asset for the freshman sitcom, stealing the show as an oily but charming network executive overseeing a "Saturday Night Live"-type program.

"Alec Baldwin remains an important part of `30 Rock.' We look forward to having him continue his role in the show," NBC said in a statement Wednesday.

A network spokeswoman said she didn't know how many seasons his contract covered. A call to Baldwin's publicist in New York was not immediately returned.

Baldwin intends to fulfill his obligation to the show, a source close to the actor said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make a statement.

"30 Rock," created by and starring "Saturday Night Live" alumna Tina Fey, has been renewed for a second year. Production wrapped in March and the season finale airs Thursday for the show that has gotten rave reviews but mediocre ratings.

Baldwin and ex-wife Kim Basinger have been embroiled since their 2002 divorce in a custody dispute over their daughter, Ireland, 11. It boiled up recently over Baldwin's telephone message for his daughter, berating her as a "rude, thoughtless little pig" for missing his call.

A tape of the message was obtained by celebrity Web site TMZ.com and broadcast worldwide. The actor blamed his former wife for leaking the tape, which she denied.

Baldwin was interviewed on "The View" by Barbara Walters and Rosie O'Donnell.

Walters asked Baldwin about his harsh remarks to his daughter.

"You didn't mean to say it to your child?" she said.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with being frustrated or angry about something," he replied. "It's the way you do it, and as people often do in this world, I took it out on the wrong person because I'm unable, under the current dynamic, to address the other person."

"I realize that was wrong," Baldwin added.

"You said it to your daughter, but you meant it for your ex-wife?" Walters asked.

"Well, I think that goes without saying, quite frankly," Baldwin said.

Asked by Walters if he had spoken to his daughter since and how things stood, Baldwin declined to answer, citing "ongoing procedures and so forth."

The next hearing on visitation issues is scheduled for May 4.

According to the partial transcript from "The View," Baldwin said he intended to take "three years or five years, it doesn't matter," and focus on the problem of divorced parents and their children. He has a book coming out about divorce litigation, possibly this fall, he said.

"There were bills that were proposed in (by California lawmakers) that were killed which were about equality and co-parenting and divorce litigation and ... this is work that I've been creeping up on, but I've been busy," he said.

Acting has lost its importance to him, he said.

"I've had enough of this quite frankly to last me a lifetime, especially in the modern tabloid world and ... there's a bigger thing I want to do, there's a more important thing I want to do," Baldwin said.

O'Donnell leaving 'The View'

NEW YORK (AP) - Rosie O'Donnell's stormy tenure on "The View" will be a short one. The opinionated host was unable to agree on a contract with ABC, and she'll leave the show in June.

O'Donnell said on the show Wednesday that she wanted to stay for one more year, and ABC wanted three. So she decided to leave, although she said she will appear occasionally next season for things like a planned one-hour special on autism.

"It just didn't work," she said, "and that's show biz. But it's not sad because I loved it here and I love you guys and I'm not going away."

O'Donnell has helped raise the ratings for the daytime chat show invented by Barbara Walters. But her outspokenness has caused continual controversy, including a nasty name-calling feud with Donald Trump that placed Walters squarely in the middle.

"We have had, to say the least, an interesting year," Walters said.

Walters said she had nothing to do with the decision, reached after talks between representatives for ABC Daytime and O'Donnell.

"This is not my doing or my choice," she said.

Walters was frequently left to clean up the damage after O'Donnell. She did it most recently Monday, when O'Donnell was criticized for using bad language and attacking Rupert Murdoch from the dais of the annual New York Women in Communication awards luncheon.

"I would like to point out that Rosie's view is not always mine," Walters said. "I would like to say for the record that I am very fond of Rupert Murdoch."

In the Trump imbroglio, O'Donnell was reportedly mad that Walters did not come more swiftly to her defence, while Trump said Walters told him she didn't want O'Donnell on the show - a claim Walters denied.

Trump quickly went on Fox News Channel Wednesday to claim that O'Donnell was fired by ABC because of remarks made at the Women in Communications luncheon.

"Barbara's the happiest person in the world that Rosie's been fired," Trump said.

Cindi Berger, spokeswoman for both O'Donnell and Walters, denied Trump's claim, wondering how he would know what had happened in contract talks between O'Donnell and ABC.

"She wasn't going to commit to anything for three years and they would not commit to her for one more," Berger said. Locking in O'Donnell to a three-year deal could protect ABC from year-to-year increases if the ratings continue to be good for the show.

Despite controversy - or maybe because of it - O'Donnell was good business for ABC, owned by the Walt Disney Co. Ratings for "The View" during February sweeps were up 15 per cent in key women demographics over the same time in 2006.

Bill Carroll, an expert in the syndication market for Katz Television, said he'd be surprised if ABC didn't try hard to keep O'Donnell, given the attention she brought to the long-running show.

The timing of the announcement doesn't particularly suit O'Donnell if she wants to remain in daytime television. She wouldn't be able to introduce a new program to the syndication market until September 2008, he said. But the company that produced O'Donnell's long-running daytime show has expressed interest in having her back, he said.

O'Donnell has discussed acting on the FX show, "Nip/Tuck." But she has not decided what she wants to do in TV in the future, Berger said.

O'Donnell made headlines repeatedly for comments on "The View," and for testy exchanges with her more conservative partner, Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

She criticized "American Idol" in January for airing humiliating auditions. "Isn't that what America thinks of entertainment? To make fun of someone's physical appearance. And when they leave the room, laugh hysterically at them. Three millionaires, one probably intoxicated."

She accused fellow ABC daytime host Kelly Ripa of making a homophobic remark, said "radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America" and has been critical of President Bush.

Statements by public figures are being watched more closely in the post-Don Imus era. The lobbying group Focus on the Family said it was preparing to contact advertisers on "The View" as part of a campaign against O'Donnell. The group is angry at O'Donnell for comments they feel were insulting to Catholics.

Lucas, Hamill reunite for 'Star Wars' spoof

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - George Lucas and Mark Hamill will reunite for "Robot Chicken: Star Wars," a 30-minute stop-motion animation special for Adult Swim, Cartoon Network's late-night programming block.

The special spoofs key scenes and favorite characters from the "Star Wars" universe. It was done in collaboration with Lucas' production company Lucasfilm. Lucas, the creator of the "Star Wars" franchise, will voice a cartoon version of himself, and Hamill will resurrect Luke Skywalker.

The special, set to premiere at 10 p.m. on June 17, comes from "Robot Chicken" creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich. Green directed.

The voice cast also includes Conan O'Brien, Seth MacFarlane, Robert Smigel, Malcolm McDowell, Hulk Hogan, James Van Der Beek, Donald Faison, Abraham Benrubi, Breckin Meyer and Joey Fatone.

The special stems from three "Star Wars" skits on "Robot Chicken," including the popular "Emperor's Phone Call," featuring Darth Vader calling Emperor Palpatine to tell him that the Death Star has been blown up.

Representatives for Lucasfilm wanted to post that sketch on StarWars.com, and they set up a meeting with Green and Senreich that turned into a pitch meeting for a special.

"We were big fans of the work that Matt and Seth had done, so when they approached us about the idea to make a 'Robot Chicken' episode dedicated to 'Star Wars,' we were really enthusiastic about it," said Tom Warner, Lucasfilm's senior director of marketing.

The "Star Wars" special was developed with Lucasfilm's approval at every stage. The company also helped with sound files on Chewbacca and R2-D2.

Like just about every child in 1977, Green saw the first "Star Wars" movie.

"It informed my whole creative sensibility, and the 'Star Wars' toys I played with in my childhood inspired my imagination," Green said. "I've always wanted to be a part of a 'Star Wars' project, and I got to make one."

And he got to direct Lucas.

"It was really exciting," Green said. "He was very shy but very playful."

Mock metal group Spinal Tap to reunite

NEW YORK (AP) — Spinal Tap is back, and this time the band wants to help save the world from global warming.

The mock heavy metal group immortalized in the 1984 mockumentary, "This is Spinal Tap," will reunite for a performance at Wembley Stadium in London as part of the Live Earth concerts scheduled worldwide for July 7.

The original members of Spinal Tap will be there: guitarist Nigel Tufnel (played by Christopher Guest), singer David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer). Rob Reiner, who both directed "This is Spinal Tap" and played the fake documentarian Marty DeBergi in the film, will also be in attendance.

A new 15-minute film directed by Reiner on the band's reunion will also play at the opening night of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on Wednesday. The slate for the opening gala, to be hosted by Al Gore, was previously announced, excepting the Reiner short.

The festival is to open with a showing of several global warming-themed short films produced by the SOS (Save Our Selves) campaign. SOS is also putting on the Live Earth concerts, to be held across seven continents.

Reiner spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday to explain the reunion of Spinal Tap — a band always known more as a parody of rock `n roll excess than environmental awareness.

"They're not that environmentally conscious, but they've heard of global warming," said Reiner, whose other films include "When Harry Met Sally" and "Stand By Me." "Nigel thought it was just because he was wearing too much clothing — that if he just took his jacket off it would be cooler."

Spinal Tap has reunited several times since the film, but hasn't for a number of years. For the band — whose last album was 1992's "Break like the Wind" — the occasion warranted a new single: "Warmer Than Hell."

Reiner provided a sneak peak at the lyrics: "The devil went to Devon, it felt like the fourth degree/ He said, `Is it hot in here, or is it only me?'"

The director said the new short film explains what the band has been doing with their lives lately. Nigel has been raising miniature horses to race, but can't find jockeys small enough to ride them; David is now a hip-hop producer who also runs a colonic clinic; and Derek is in rehab for addiction to the Internet.

Reiner, 60, has for over 20 years worked with the National Resources Defense Council, an environmental action organization. Though the Spinal Tap reunion will be a lot of laughs, he hopes the SOS short films program and the Live Earth concerts have a substantial effect.

"What I think is going to be nice about this whole effort is there will be marching orders for people," said Reiner. "Not only from a personal standpoint of what individuals can do in their lives, but a macro perspective with respect to the public sector and government."

Atwood says Tories out to 'squash the arts'

Canadian author Margaret Atwood has torn a strip off the current Conservative government over its arts policies.

The Tories are out to "squash the arts into the dust," she said in Montreal just ahead of the opening of the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.

She was deeply critical of the Harper government's cuts to the arts, especially the literary arts.

"They basically just hate us," she said in an interview with CBC Radio. "You know it’s people who have never seen any arts in their own lives — they would rather not have gardens, they would rather have parking lots. They just think it’s a frill probably."

It was particularly short-sighted to cut funding for cultural tours that allow Canadian artists to develop fans overseas, she said.

"When selling artistic things abroad, that money comes into Canada and is taxed in Canada, so it’s a net gain for Canada," she said.

"Would they like to guess how much Yann Martel’s novel The Life of Pi generated abroad? Would they like to know … how much my foreign editions bring in? Would they like to know how much [Canadian producer] Robert LePage generates abroad?"

The arts are being neglected despite bringing economic activity and prosperity to the country, Atwood said.

Events such as the opening of the Four Seasons Performing Arts Centre in Toronto bring in millions of dollars from international guests, she said, yet the centre is one of six Toronto cultural projects still awaiting a funding announcement from Ottawa.

'Would they like to guess how much Yann Martel's novel The Life of Pi generated abroad? Would they like to know … how much my foreign editions bring in?'—Margaret Atwood

"Well, it is really a great mystery for a section of the economy that supports so much. It is so that the government supports all kinds of infrastructure for hockey and sports, they support all sorts of stuff for business, so why are they being this way about the arts, a sector which contributes a great deal."

Atwood will be awarded the $10,000 Grand Prix at the Blue Met Festival, which starts Wednesday.

The Montreal festival itself lost $150,000 in funding this year, Atwood said.

Atwood is one of three giants of Canadian literature who are in the running this year for the Man Booker International, one of the richest prizes in literature.

She will be interviewed on stage in Montreal Friday at 8 p.m. by CBC Radio host Jian Ghomeshi.

CanWest to bring celebrity-focused E! Network to Canadians

The U.S. cable network that popularized "where are they now?" celebrity exposés and red carpet reporting by Joan Rivers is heading north of the border.

CanWest will bring E! Networks to Canada by rebranding its CH network E! as of Sept. 1, CanWest MediaWorks announced Tuesday.

In an agreement with the U.S. network, the upcoming Canadian version of the celebrity and entertainment-focused channel will feature a mix of E! programming as well as Canadian-produced content, CanWest said.

Current E! offerings include the popular celebrity documentary series E! True Hollywood Stories, the Playboy mansion-set reality show The Girls Next Door and a news show hosted by American Idol's Ryan Seacrest.

CH stations will continue to have relaunched local news and information programming, CanWest said.

"We are very confident that the powerful combination of the E! brand and content, alongside our Canadian and local programming, will resonate strongly with Canadian audiences," said Kathleen Dore, CanWest's president of Canadian television.

The Walrus dominates in magazine awards finalists

For the second consecutive year, The Walrus has dominated the nominee list for the upcoming National Magazine Awards, which celebrate their 30th anniversary this year.

Organizers announced the nominees for awards in 37 categories at an evening event in Montreal on Monday. More than 300 articles from 78 different titles are vying for the annual prizes.

General interest magazine The Walrus, which launched in 2003, scored 51 nominations overall. Earning the second-highest number of nods was perennial favourite city title Toronto Life, with 23 nominations.

Other Canadian magazines that have won multiple nominations include Maclean's, Toro, Report on Business and L'actualité.

Competing for the magazine of the year honour are L'actualité, Explore and The Walrus.

Early winners announced in Montreal

At Monday night's event, aside from unveiling this year's main nominees, organizers announced the winners of three special honours.

Buffy Cram won the second annual best student writer award for her article "Man Hands," which appeared in Prairie Fire.

Jeremy Klaszus was named best new writer for articles like "Big Oil on Trial" and "Trouble in the Field," both published in Alberta Views.

The National Magazine Award Foundation will also pay tribute to longtime publisher Neville Gilfoy with its Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement.

Established in 1977, the foundation honours excellence in the Canadian magazine industry with categories that recognize writing, photography and visual presentation.

The 30th annual National Magazine Awards will be presented at a lavish ceremony in Toronto on June 15.

Zach Braff Is Out Of Fletch

When it was supposed to be written directed by Kevin Smith and star Jason Lee, remaking Chevy Chase’s Fletch seemed like a fun idea. When Paramount refused to allow Jason Lee to play the lead and Kevin Smith left the project, it still seemed like it might be cool since word was that ‘Scrubs’ star Zach Braff would step in to play Fletch. But maybe now is a good time to just forget about the whole Fletch remake thing, since TV Guide says Zach Braff has turned down the part.

The good news is that Zach ditched it to run off and write and direct his own movie, a project called Open Hearts. Personally, that’s what I’ve been saying he should be doing all along. His first film, Garden State was a critically acclaimed hit, yet instead of getting back behind the camera he’s been wasting time doing voice work in bad Disney cartoons and acting in other people’s less than great movies. Doing his own thing is where Braff should be.

Braff’s ‘Scrubs’ boss Bill Lawrence is still attached to direct the movie, Fletch Won, so it’s not lost in development hell quite yet. He’s out looking for another Fletch. However, unless he hires Jason Lee, my excite-o-meter for this project has dropped to zero.

Best. Theme Park Ride. Ever.

NBC-Universal's theme parks are planning a ride based on 20th Century Fox's animated smash "The Simpsons."

The company announced on Tuesday (April 24) that families will be able to experience the world of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson at the Universal Orlando Resort and at Universal Studios Hollywood starting in the spring of 2008.

"The ride is designed to duplicate the Simpsons home-viewing experience, only at high speed and with lots of screaming," quips "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening.

Dana Walden and Gary Newman, presidents at 20th Century Fox TV add, "'The Simpsons' is nothing short of a cultural phenomenon and nearly 400 episodes in, the multiple Emmy-Award winning show continues to be as hilarious and inspired as ever. Creating an attraction based on this landmark series is a fantastic opportunity for our viewers to experience The Simpsons in a whole new way, as well as potentially expose it to an even wider audience."

The official release boasts that visitors will be able to "experience a side of Springfield previously unexplored as they enjoy the new ride's interpretation of thrill rides, dark rides and 'live' shows that make up a new fantasy amusement park dreamed up by the show's cantankerous Krusty the Clown." Of more interest is the announcement that all of the voices on the attraction will be provided by the show's original vocal cast.

"I am particularly thrilled since, like most people, I'm forever looking for a way to cut the line at Universal Theme Parks," adds James L. Brooks.

The 400th episode of "The Simpsons" will air this May, toward the end of the show's 18th season. After seemingly endless rumors and ample anticipation, "The Simpsons Movie" will hit theaters everywhere on July 27.

Raconteurs In The Thick Of Recording New Album

The Raconteurs are in a Nashville recording studio working on the follow-up to their 2006 debut "Broken Boy Soldiers" and hope to have a new album out sometime next year.

The group, which features Jack White of the White Stripes, Brendan Benson, and Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler of The Greenhornes, has been recording at Blackbird Studio in Nashville for a week-and-a-half and currently has 12 songs written, White tells Billboard.com.

The group is attempting to get as much of the as yet unnamed sophomore album done before the White Stripes start touring in support of their next album, "Icky Thump," due June 19 on Third Man Records/Warner Bros. Records. That outing also is slated to begin in June.

White, who once again is serving as the producer for the Raconteurs, cautions that the band may not have a completed product in place by the time it wraps its scheduled three-week recording session. "We don't know if were going to finish but we wanted to get everything down before we got busy," White says. "We have a lot bigger ideas about certain things, so we will see how far we get."

The Raconteurs are working with engineer Joe Chiccarelli (Beck, The Shins, Frank Zappa), who also teamed with the White Stripes on "Icky Thump," which likewise was recorded at Blackbird.

The band is signed to White's Third Man Records but remains in need of a marketing and distribution partner in the U.S. in the wake of the shuttering of
V2 Records in January. Warner Bros.' deal with Third Man covers only The White Stripes, sources say. However, the band hopes to have that situation sorted and an album out by 2008.

White is keeping mum on the sound of the new Raconteurs songs. However, he describes them as "very different" from the first album. So far, he's pleased with the results. "It's coming out great, man," he says.

Disfigured film critic Ebert defies paparazzi

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Borrowing a line from "Gone With the Wind," film critic Roger Ebert is telling the paparazzi to take all the pictures they want when he appears in public after surgery that has left him temporarily disfigured.

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn," Ebert said in a column published on Tuesday in the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Pulitzer Prize winner and co-host of the syndicated television show "Ebert & Roeper" had surgery last year for salivary gland cancer that spread to his lower jaw.

Part of his jawbone was removed, and two replacement operations have failed, he said. He is awaiting a third operation.

Ebert, 64, also had a tracheotomy that left him unable to speak. While he has written some movie reviews during recovery, his TV show has used guest critics.

This week Ebert kicks off his annual Overlooked Film Festival in Urbana, Illinois, south of Chicago. As he has for the last eight years, he will host the event.

He said people had urged him not to attend because the paparazzi would take unflattering photos and gossip columns would dish up mean-spirited comments about him.

"When I turn up in Urbana, I will be wearing a gauze bandage around my neck, and my mouth will be seen to droop. So it goes," Ebert wrote.

"We spend too much time hiding illness. There is an assumption that I must always look the same. I hope to look better than I look now. But I'm not going to miss my festival," he added.

Ebert said he now communicates "with written notes and a lot of hand waving and eye-rolling." If a planned surgery is successful, "my speech will be restored."

Upcoming CD releases

April showers bring May flowers, and this year, they've also brought a flood of CDs.

Major releases will be springing up like weeds over the next couple of months.

Here's our quick guide to the toppermost of the poppermost. Mark your calendars, but do it in pencil since this is subject to change.

May 1

MICHAEL BUBLE

Call Me Irresponsible

We have called Mr. Bubble many things over the years. Irresponsible would be a big step up.

May 1

DINOSAUR JR.

Beyond

J. Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph reunite after 18 years. Our ears are sore already.

May 1

TORI AMOS

American Doll Posse

Big Red's ninth CD is a concept album with her portraying five different characters. Yikes.

May 1

FEIST

The Reminder

The Broken Social Scenester cut her mellow sophomore disc in France -- and in her pyjamas.

May 1

RUSH

Snakes & Arrows

Geek alert! It's another set of mathy prog epics from Canada's beloved power trio.

May 1

BJORK

Volta

Just when you thought Bjork couldn't get weirder, she teams up with -- get this -- Timbaland.

May 8

LINKIN PARK

Minutes to Midnight

Hey guys, Iron Maiden called -- they want their album title back.

May 15

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT

Release the Stars

Rufus releases a set of bleak, bare-bones ballads recorded in Brooklyn and Berlin.

May 15

WILCO

Sky Blue Sky

Jeff Tweedy and Co. return to a more traditional alt-country sound on this sixth studio album.

May 15

MAROON5

It Won't Be Soon Before Long

Adam Levine and his boys embrace the sound of '80s acts like Police, Talking Heads and Prince.

May 22

OZZY OSBOURNE

Black Rain

We noticed if you move one letter, this album is called Lack Brain. Just saying.

May 22

USED, THE

Lies for the Liars

The Utah screamers take it to the next level with this ambitious third album.

May 22

R. KELLY

Double Up

RK does his lawyer a favour by toning down the horndog R&B balladry for upbeat hip-hop.

May 29

SATELLITE PARTY

Ultra Payloaded

Perry Farrell and guitarist Nuno Bettencourt front this groovy guitar-rock outfit.

May 29

VELVET REVOLVER

Libertad

Scott Weiland, Slash and the boys add some depth and texture to their second CD.

May 29

CHRIS CORNELL

Carry On

Ex-Soundgarden/Audioslave wailer takes another ill-advised stab at solo success.

June 5

MARILYN MANSON

Eat Me, Drink Me

Says this is his most personal CD. That's scarier than anything he could make up.

June 5

RYAN ADAMS

Easy Tiger

It's been over a year since his last CD -- and it's still his fourth album in two years.

June 5

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

Live in Dublin

The Boss and his Seeger Sessions Band kick it in Ireland.

June 5

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

Era Vulgaris

Trent Reznor and Julian Casablancas guest on the latest robo-rock fest from gigantic singer-guitarist Josh Homme.

June 12

THE WHITE STRIPES

Icky Thump

Everybody's favourite fake brother-and-sister drums-and-guitar duo returns with another disc of minimalist indie-rawk.

June 19

BON JOVI

Lost Highway

He's a cowboy -- no, really. The hair-rocker and his band go country on this album. Oh, goodie.

June 19

BRYAN FERRY

Dylanesque

Apparently, the crooner's crooner loves him some Zimmy.

June 19

PAUL MCCARTNEY

TBA

Get a Big Mac at Starbucks when the ex-Beatle debuts on the coffee giant's Hear Music label.

TBA

GUNS N' ROSES

Chinese Democracy

Psyche! Give it up, kids; this sucker is never coming out.

New CD Releases, April 24: Patti Smith, Arctic Monkeys, The Nightwatchman

Patti Smith "Twelve"

Smith is widely considered to be one of the greatest songwriters in rock music history. That's why "Twelve," a collection of cover tunes, comes as a bit of surprise. But, then again, Smith has certainly delivered her share of surprises during her 30-plus-year career.

Smith and her band--Lenny Kaye (guitar), Jay Dee Daugherty (drums) and Tony Shanahan (bass, keyboards)--tackle a dozen cover tunes originally penned by such artists as Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Paul Simon. The set includes such songs as Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," Young's "Helpless," The Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter," Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

"Twelve" is the first new studio offering for Smith since 2004's "Trampin'." The poet/punk-rocker was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year, as part of a class that also included R.E.M. and Van Halen.

* * *
Arctic Monkeys "Favourite Worst Nightmare"

The British indie-rock act, which ranked as the ultimate buzz band of 2006, will hope to generate more attention with the release of its sophomore set. The first single from the new disc, "Brianstorm," has already been released to radio.

"Favourite Worst Nightmare" follows the 2006 debut "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not." That disc was a smash in the band's native country, debuting at No. 1 on the British album charts and quickly going triple platinum.

The Brits will back the new album with a North American tour that kicks off with an April 27 appearance at the Coachella festival in Indio, CA.

* * *
The Nightwatchman "One Man Revolution"

Guitar whiz Tom Morello--best known for his unorthodox six-string stylings with Rage Against the Machine and, more recently, Audioslave--goes it alone for his first solo album. The politically and socially active Morello--who handles lead vocals on the set--channels his idealism into "One Man Revolution" via his alter ego, The Nightwatchman.

The album's release comes in the wake of Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell's February announcement that he had left the group--a situation to which Morello is no stranger; Rage frontman Zack de la Rocha jumped ship in 2000.

Morello, who has been touring in advance of his new album's release, will appear as part of a reunited Rage Against the Machine lineup during a handful of summer festivals.

* * *
Donny Osmond "Love Songs of the '70s"

Hoping to follow in the footsteps of Rod Stewart and Barry Manilow--two stars that found new success by covering old songs--the most-famous Osmond brother releases "Love Songs of the '70s."

The set features Osmond's covers of such former hits as Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," The Bee Gees' "How Deep is Your Love," Leo Sayer's "When I Need You" and Billy Preston's "Will It Go Round in Circles." Most appropriately, Osmond also visits the Manilow songbook and walks away with his own rendition of "Mandy."

* * *
Porcupine Tree "Fear of a Blank Planet"

The experimental rock troupe will support its latest set with a nearly month-long North American tour that kicks off on May 8 in Seattle.

"Fear of a Blank Planet," an obvious (and clever) play on the title of Public Enemy's classic "Fear of a Black Planet," has already been released on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean and has charted in the Top 20 in some European countries.

* * *
Various Artists "A Tribute to Joni Mitchell"

An eclectic crew of artists band together to pay tribute to the great singer/songwriter. "A Tribute to Joni Mitchell" features recordings by such stars as jazz pianist Brad Mehldau, quirky pop/rock queen Bjork and funk-master Prince.

* * *
More new releases:
Norman Brown, "Stay with Me" (Peak)
Patrizio Buanne, "Forever Begins Tonight" (Republic)
Charlotte Gainsbourg, "5:55" (Vice)
Bebel Gilberto, "Momento" (Six Degrees)
Colin Hay, "Are You Looking At Me?" (Compass)
Joe, "Ain't Nothing Like Me" (Jive)
Marillion, "Somewhere Else" (MVD)
Keiko Matsui, "Moyo" (Shout Factory)
Jane Monheit, "Surrender" (Concord)
The Nightwatchman, "One Man Revolution" (Sony)
John Prine and Mac Wiseman, "Standard Songs for Average People" (Oh Boy)
Neil Sedaka, "The Definitive Collection" (Razor and Tie)
Simply Red, "Stay" (Simply Red)
Mavis Staples, "We'll Never Turn Back" (Anti)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Evil Dead: The Musical (2006 Original Off-Broadway Cast)" (Time Life)

'Doctor Who' Season Three Travels to Sci Fi

Sci Fi Channel and BBC Worldwide Americas has acquired the third season of the popular time travel series "Doctor Who" for premiere on Sci Fi in July.

Season Three stars David Tennant as the tenth actor to play the titular timelord and introduces Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones, his new companion who replaces last season's Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). The Doctor's new adventures kick off with the "Doctor Who Christmas Special: The Runaway Bride," guest-starring award-winning comedy actress Catherine Tate.

"'Doctor Who' has become a favorite among Sci Fi audiences," says Chris Regina, the channel's Vice President of Programming. "We are happy to bring the show back for its third season and look forward to following the Doctor's continuing adventures with his newest companion."

The series' executive producer and lead writer Russell T. Davies adds, "We were delighted and honored by the second series' success, and we can promise new thrills, new laughs and some terrifying new aliens. The Doctor and Martha are destined to meet William Shakespeare, blood-sucking alien Plasmavores, The Judoon -- a clan of galactic stormtroopers -- and a sinister Dalek plot in 1930s New York."

"Doctor Who" is the longest-running science fiction TV series to date and was revived recently starring Christopher Eccleston ("Heroes") as the ninth incarnation of the Doctor. Tennant replaced him last season, which aired on Sci Fi to solid viewership.

May Sweeps will flower with finales, cliffhangers

We've reached the May Sweeps, a time for see-you-in-September cliffhangers from shows that are coming back and we're-outta-here goodbyes from shows that aren't. It's jam-packed; USA TODAY leads you through the May maze.

•April 26

30 Rock, NBC, 9 ET/PT (Thursday)

Raines, NBC, 9 ET/PT (Friday)

The sweeps kick off with two early farewells, one of them final. 30 Rock wraps up with a special episode featuring fabulous Broadway diva Elaine Stritch, which should be a great setup for the show's fall return. No such luck for Raines, which pours out its last hour Friday.

•May 3

My Name Is Earl, NBC, 8 ET/PT

Those jokers at NBC are spicing up — more exactly, smelling up —Earl with a "scratch and sniff" episode, which sounds like fun. Unfortunately, they're also "super-sizing" the whole schedule, including a 67-minute ER, which sounds like considerably less fun. Not that it matters: Most people will likely watch the two-hour Grey's Anatomy (ABC, 9).

•May 6

The Amazing Race, CBS, 8 ET/PT

This "all-star" version of the Race has been less amazing than a mistake. But if you've been watching this long, you probably want to see who wins. Or at 9, tune to NBC for a special look back at SNL in the '90s.

•May 7

Drive, Fox, 8 ET/PT

Well, that was fast — which I guess is only fitting. Fox's cross-country car race comes to a sudden stop with what it hopes is a cliffhanger, and not just a plunge off the TV cliff.

•May 10

Without a Trace, CBS, 10 ET/PT

Trace ends its season on the night where it belongs. Welcome back, old friend. Where have you been?

•May 13

7th Heaven, CW, 8 ET/PT

The family soap meets its maker after a long run. The run was a year longer than it should have been, but loyal fans will still want to say goodbye.

•May 14

King of Queens, CBS, 9 ET/PT

Speaking of long runs and late goodbyes, CBS' working-class, worker-bee sitcom signs off after nine seasons. Find it hard to believe the show lasted that long? They probably do, too.

•May 16

The Price is Right Spectacular, CBS, 8 ET/PT

If anyone deserves a salute for longevity, it's Bob Barker. He gets two this week: Wednesday's Spectacular and Thursday's Bob Barker: A Celebration of 50 Years on Television.

•May 17

Ugly Betty, ABC, 8 ET/PT

It's the last Thursday of the season, meaning you'll also be taking leave of the night's biggest hits, Grey's and CSI. But considering the ride so far, you just know Betty has one of the year's wildest ends in store.

•May 21

24, Fox, 8 ET/PT

Jack's dreariest day ends. We know he'll prevail over the bad guys. Whether he prevails over Heroes (NBC, 9) remains to be seen.

•May 22

Veronica Mars, CW, 8 ET/PT

Goodbyes can be tough even when the time is right for parting. Like the two-hour finale of Veronica Mars, a great show that has sadly run its short course.

•May 23

American Idol, Fox, 8 ET/PT

Lost, ABC, 9 ET/PT

Not an easy choice: Idol winner or the two-hour finale of Lost? I'll be Lost, but most of you will be running on Idol.

Letterman to appear on Regis' talk show

NEW YORK - David Letterman will be Regis Philbin's first guest when he returns Thursday to "Live With Regis and Kelly" after having triple heart bypass surgery six weeks ago.

Philbin was a guest host on CBS' "Late Show" after Letterman underwent heart bypass surgery in 2000. He also stepped in when Letterman was recovering from an eye infection in 2003.

"Very appropriate," said "Live" co-host Kelly Ripa, who made the announcement Monday on the syndicated talk show.

Philbin, 75, has been at home recuperating since his surgery last month.

He has been a frequent guest on Letterman's late-night show.

Smashing Pumpkins Settle On 'Zeitgeist' Track List

The Smashing Pumpkins have settled on the track list for "Zeitgeist," the first album since 2000. As previously reported, the album is due July 7 via Martha's Music/Reprise. A first single has yet to be specified, nor has the makeup of the band beyond original frontman Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin.

"Is everyone afraid? Has everyone changed?," Corgan sings on opener "Doomsday Clock," a big, loud rocker in the vein of "Geek U.S.A." from "Siamese Dream." The set is frontloaded with songs of this ilk, hearkening back to the grunge era with detuned guitars and pounding drums on tracks such as "Tarantula," "Orchid" and "7 Shades of Black."

A more nuanced, less abrasive approach is evident on "Never Lost," which has vibraphone and organ tucked into the mix, while "For God and Country" is a bass-driven tune with shades of Depeche Mode-style synth-rock. The album closes with the mostly synth-powered "Pomp and Circumstance," as Corgan's multi-tracked vocals take on an angelic effect.

The band will play its first show in six-and-a-half years May 22 at the Grand Rex Theatre in Paris. European festival appearances will follow through mid-June; the Pumpkins' first U.S. show will be July 7 at the Live Earth concert in East Rutherford, N.J.

Here is the track list for "Zeitgeist":

"Doomsday Clock"
"7 Shades of Black"
"Orchid"
"That's the Way"
"Tarantula"
"Starz"
"United States"
"Never Lost"
"Bring the Light"
"Come On (Let's Go)"
"For God and Country"
"Pomp and Circumstance"

'Disturbia' No. 1 for 2nd straight week

LOS ANGELES - The face of Hannibal Lecter was no match for Shia LaBeouf in a box-office battle of murder thrillers. DreamWorks and Paramount's "Disturbia," starring LaBeouf as a teen who suspects a neighbor of murder, took in $13.5 million to hold the top weekend movie spot for a second straight weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

New Line Cinema's "Fracture" starring Anthony Hopkins — who played serial killer Lecter in three films — debuted at No. 2 with $11.2 million. Hopkins plays a sly defendant accused of killing his unfaithful wife, with Ryan Gosling co-starring as the prosecutor.

DreamWorks and Paramount's figure-skating comedy "Blades of Glory," starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder, was No. 3 with $7.8 million in its fourth weekend to cross the $100 million mark.

Sony Screen Gems' horror flick "Vacancy," starring Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson as a couple marked for grisly death at a sleazy motel, led a rush of other new wide releases, opening at No. 4 with $7.6 million.

The buddy-cop comedy "Hot Fuzz," released by Focus Features' Rogue Pictures unit, had a strong start in narrower release, premiering at No. 6 with $5.8 million in 825 theaters, about a third the number of cinemas where "Fracture" and "Vacancy" played.

"Hot Fuzz" comes from the "Shaun of the Dead" team of director Edgar Wright and his co-writer and star Simon Pegg, who plays a London super-cop exiled to a sleepy British town, where he encounters a series of grisly deaths.

The Warner Bros. drama "In the Land of Women" opened at a weak No. 8 with $4.9 million. The movie stars Adam Brody as a heartbroken writer who moves in with his grandmother and forges a relationship with a neighbor ( Meg Ryan) and her teenage daughter.

After a solid start this year, Hollywood's overall revenues were down for a second straight weekend. The top 12 movies took in $74 million, off 26 percent compared to the same weekend last year, when "Silent Hill" opened at No. 1 with $20.2 million.

"This is like an onslaught of films trying to get into the marketplace before the big summer rush," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "People are just holding their breath waiting for summer to start, and while they're holding their breath, they didn't go to the movies in big numbers."

However, attendance is up 2.4 percent from last year, and studio executives predict this could be a record summer for modern Hollywood with major sequels including "Spider-Man 3," "Shrek the Third" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."

"Disturbia" raised its 10-day total to $40.7 million, already taking in roughly double what it cost to make the movie.

The film has established the 20-year-old LaBeouf, whose big break came as the star of the Disney Channel series "Even Stevens," as a bankable leading man.

"He has this appeal which I think works for the girls obviously, who are big suspense fans, and guys like him, too, so that's a double plus," said DreamWorks spokesman Marvin Levy.

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. "Disturbia," $13.5 million.
2. "Fracture," $11.2 million.
3. "Blades of Glory," $7.8 million.
4. "Vacancy," $7.6 million.
5. "Meet the Robinsons," $7.1 million.
6. "Hot Fuzz," $5.8 million.
7. "Are We Done Yet?", $5.2 million.
8. "In the Land of Women," $4.9 million.
9. "Perfect Stranger," $4.1 million.
10. "Wild Hogs," $2.9 million.

The Couch Potato Report - April 21st, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on some great Canadian inventions and two very different films about two very different American presidents.

First up this week is the DVD release of the exceptionally interesting CBC Television special THE GREATEST CANADIAN INVENTION.

I am a technology freak. A gadget geek. I like reading about them, finding out where they came from, how they work...and I am usually one of the first people on my block to have a new item when it comes out for sale.

So it was with great excitement back on Wednesday, January 3rd, that I sat down to watch THE GREATEST CANADIAN INVENTION, a two hour show that celebrated the finest innovations and innovators our country has ever produced.

Canadians from Coast to Coast to Coast used the CBC's website to vote for the invention they thought was the greatest and the show counts down the top fifty, ending up at our nation's greatest invention.

And I enjoyed this show immensely.

No, sadly, it wasn't perfect, but I did learn alot about some unique items, some I didn't know were Canadian.

For the record, the Lightbulb, the Telephone, Five Pin Bowling, Pacemaker, the Electric Wheelchair, Ski-Doo, Electric Oven and the Paint roller were all invented by Canadians!!

Now, I have heard of the man who hosts the show - CBC Radio's Bob McDonald from Quirks and Quarks - a great radio invention that can be heard on CBC Radio One Saturdays - including today - from 12 am to 1 pm.

And yes, I also know who astronaut Chris Hadfield, basketball MVP Steve Nash, Playwright and Columnist Drew Hayden Taylor, home decoration specialist Debbie Travis, and writer Margaret Atwood, are, as well as several of the other commentators.

But, in all honesty, I didn't know who some of the commentators were, and I found that worked against the show, not the inventions - the show.

However, if you already know who Mike Holmes, Mariam McDonald, Abena Otchere, Vikram Vij, and Joyce Gunhouse or Judy Cornish are you won't have that problem.

No, THE GREATEST CANADIAN INVENTION isn't perfect, but what it does exceptionally well is tell us the who, when and where of these inventions.

That is why it is a must see, and a great DVD to own.

Up next this week is one movie about an American president that is worth seeing and one that you should skip.

I'll start with the one that you should see: DEATH OF A PRESIDENT is a British made film that follows the investigation of the fictional assassination of President George W. Bush on October 19th, 2007.

This film uses actual footage of Mr. Bush, Vice President Cheny, and other top level officials and combines that with interviews with actors who are playing written roles.

The film has a great script and teh story is is told as an investigative documentary that takes place a few years into the future and examines the as-yet-unsolved crime.

There was only one time, once during DEATH OF A PRESIDENT where the illusion that this was a real documentary was broken.

I won't tell you where that is, as perhaps you won't notice it and you won't fault the film at all.

For me, that was the movie's only flaw. Otherwise, it was an exceptionally well done, and very interesting movie. It is one I think you should see, regardless of your political views of the Bush administration.

DEATH OF A PRESIDENT is about the fictional assasination of the current sitting U.S. President and I recommend you see it.

BOBBY is a film about the real assasination of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a man who could have become president.

Kennedy was a great man. This is not a great film and you should ignore it.

Bobby Kennedy remains a fascinating character almost 39 years after his death, but instead of focussing on him writer-director Emilio Estevez instead uses Kennedy's assasination as a backdrop, instead, trying to engage us with the mostly uninteresting stories of 22 people who just happened to be at the Ambassador Hotel when Kennedy was killed.

The cast of BOBBY - including Anthony Hopkins, Sharon Stone, William H. Macy, Elijah Wood, Lindsey Lohan, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Helen Hunt, Martin Sheen - is quite impressive, and their acting is not at fault here.

This film could have taken place at any hotel in any city on any date.

Using the Ambassador Hotel on June 6th, 1968, is a failed attempt to give the film meaning.

It doesn't work. The only part of BOBBY that will ever be remembered are the clips of Kennedy's speaches that are contained in the film.

And with the events this week in Virginia and HOuston, some of his words and questions remain just as relevant as ever.

Someday there will be a great movie made about this great man, but BOBBY isn't it.

However, it is now available on DVD alongside the fictional and interesting DEATH OF A PRESIDENT and the exceptional CBC television special THE GREATEST CANADIAN INVENTION.

Coming up in the next Couch Potato Report

I'll talk about Helen Mirren's exceptional Oscar Winning performance in THE QUEEN; the spectacular documentary series PLANET EARTH; we'll go to CHILLY BEACH, the Canadian island town where the tourists are few and the beer is plentiful; I'll tell you why you need to ignore the DVD release of the classic television series WKRP IN CINCINNATI; and in THE JOHNNY CARSON SHOW from 1955 and 56 we get to see the man at work before he made "The Tonight Show" his own.

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!

Rock is off the air in Cincinnati

The show they thought would never come to DVD actually comes to DVD next week.

And all the reasons they thought it would never arrive may actually be good reasons why it shouldn't be here now.

"WKRP in Cincinnati" was a late-1970s rock radio comedy filled with, shock of shocks, actual rock songs. Foreigner's "Hot Blooded" provided the punchline when bland newsman Les Nessman (Richard Sanders) donned a "hip" curly wig for a date with sexy station receptionist Jennifer (Loni Anderson). Pink Floyd's "Dogs" spun on the turntable as square boss Arthur Carlson (Gordon Jump) tried to discern what strange song zoned-out DJ Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman) was playing. The show rocked with the sounds of Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock & Roll" and Elvis Costello's "Goon Squad."

Note the past tense.

None of those songs makes it onto the first-season DVD set coming Tuesday from Fox Home Entertainment. Every episode has had music replaced, and in places where a song was integral to a scene, footage has been trimmed out.

The blame for what "WKRP" diehards decry as a travesty lies with, your choice:

A. Music licensing costs, skyrocketing as composers/performers/any- body with a hand in the till tries to make a buck from the supposed pot o' gold in TV DVD sales.

B. Greedy corporations, unconcerned with preserving the integrity of a show, taking the easiest/cheapest path toward throwing product onto store shelves.

C.Consumers prizing low prices above all else, making even well-intentioned distributors figure it's not worth shelling out to license original music if it means the set costs more.

Any or all answers might be apt. "It's the kind of a situation that Fox couldn't really win with," says Gord Lacey, whose authoritative TV Shows on DVD Web site was recently incorporated into TV Guide's online domain. "They either release the show with music substitutions," Lacey says, "or they don't release it at all."

During "WKRP's" original 1978-82 CBS run, the rights to the rock songs it played would have been licensed for TV series broadcast (which often includes syndicated reruns). Remember that 30 years ago even the videocassette market didn't exist, much less DVD or online. Retaining the rights to those songs in new digital media means relicensing their use. And that means getting permission from everyone involved - composers and publishers of music and lyrics, song performers, record companies and down the line.

While fans like to blame DVD distributors' greed, "sometimes people simply won't license [the use of] their songs" at all, Lacey says. Or they demand fees exorbitant enough to drastically hike DVD costs. NBC's cult fave "Freaks and Geeks," for instance, was released with its many '80s pop songs intact - but the 18-episode set had a list price of $70, at least $10 more than most drama sets of 22-plus episodes. "With other shows," Lacey says, "they can't even clear the theme song." DVD seasons of "Married ... With Children" replaced its "Love and Marriage" theme, and the new "George Lopez" set comes without "Low Rider."

Are those crucial losses? Maybe not. Are the "WKRP" songs? Maybe. Even casual fans could wonder why they're hearing generic instrumental riffs instead of recognizable song vocals.

"WKRP" diehards are livid, filling online message boards with invective and vows to boycott what they consider a bastardized release.

They might note, however, that series creator Hugh Wilson acknowledges in the DVD's pilot commentary (alongside costars Anderson and Frank Bonner) that music was replaced because it cost so much. Wilson later says in commentary for the classic "Turkeys Away" episode that he finds the substitutions "pretty good. I don't mind those music replacements."

Well, sure. He's probably busy admiring the scripts he wrote and the actors he cast, both of which hold up remarkably well nearly 30 years later. (So, surprisingly, do the crisp videotape visuals.) Longtime fans will be assessing the episodes' overall impression - at least partially dependent on the hot hits that made "WKRP" cool. As Loni Anderson says in DVD commentary, "music was kind of the ninth star" of the show.

Could Fox have done it differently? If they had licensed even a couple of joke-essential songs, say "Hot Blooded" and "Dogs," fans might not have gotten quite so worked up. (Search "WKRP" at YouTube to view those sequences with original music intact.) Suppose Fox had spent so much to license music that it raised the season's list price from $40 to $50. Would that have cut hugely into DVD sales? The first seasons of "Scrubs" and "Home Improvement" came out listed at $50. But most sitcoms of the "WKRP" vintage list for less: "M*A*S*H" is $40, while "Three's Company" and "The Facts of Life" are $30.

At least the catchy "WKRP" theme song ("Baby, if you've ever wondered/Wondered whatever became of me") is there at the start of every episode.

Thank God Hugh Wilson wrote it.

More thrillers invade box office

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Another weekend, another couple of thrillers. As the domestic box office catches its breath before plunging into the summer tentpole season, the Anthony Hopkins whodunit "Fracture" and the hotel horror "Vacancy" will attempt to scare up some ticket sales. Industry experts expect them to open in the $10 million-$15 million range.

Also new is the femme-centric comedy-drama "In the Land of Women," which stars Adam Brody of "O.C." fame, and will be hard-pressed to top the $10 million mark.

The film that looks to be generating the most buzz is the British cop comedy "Hot Fuzz." But the R-rated film is bowing in only 825 theaters -- vs. more than 2,000 for each of the other newcomers -- so won't overtake the board leaders.

The challenge for the newcomers is to win over a marketplace that might be suffering from thriller overload. Last weekend, the nosy-neighbor thriller "Disturbia" beat expectations to open at No. 1 with $22.2 million tally. A respectable 40%-50% drop would see the teen-oriented movie pull $11 million-$14 million.

New Line's R-rated "Fracture" boasts the best genes. Oscar winner Hopkins plays a wily murderer who matches wits with a young district attorney (Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling). It was directed by Gregory Hoblit, who mined similar territory in the Edward Norton breathrough "Primal Fear." Trailers that pit Hopkins against Gosling echo "The Silence of the Lambs."

Screen Gems' R-rated "Vacancy" stars Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson as a married couple stranded in an out-of-the-way motel where hidden video cameras track their every move. It marks the first American feature of Hungarian director Nimrod Antal ("Kontroll").

If it hopes to challenge either of the two new thrillers, "Women" will have to peel young girls away from "Disturbia" and its newly minted star, Shia LaBeouf. Its best hope for doing that lies in the appeal of Brody, the hunky star of Fox's teen soap "The O.C." In the film, he plays a young man who becomes entwined in the lives of his new neighbors, played by Meg Ryan and Kristen Stewart. The PG-13 film represents the directorial debut of Jonathan Kasdan, son of Lawrence Kasdan.

The film that looks to be generating the most fan excitement is the British cop comedy

"Hot Fuzz," already a hit in Britain, was directed by Edgar Wright, who made a name for himself with the zombie comedy "Shaun of the Dead." He directs co-writer Simon Pegg and Martin Freeman as mismatched partners in the Rogue Pictures release.

In limited engagements, ReelSource will screen "The Tripper," a horror film about hippies who encounter a maniacal killer with a Ronald Reagan fixation -- the killer's dog is named Nancy. The R-rated movie starring Lukas Haas and Thomas Jane marks the directorial debut of David Arquette, who enlisted his wife, Courteney Cox, to play a role.

For fans of more genteel comedy, Sony Pictures Classics will open "The Valet," from veteran French farceur Frances Weber, in Los Angeles and New York.

Pitt feels the "Burn" for Coens

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Brad Pitt has signed on to join his "Ocean's Thirteen" co-star George Clooney in the Coen brothers' black comedy "Burn After Reading." The project, which also stars Frances McDormand, centers on a CIA agent who loses the disc of the book he is writing.

Like the film's title, the screenplay is shrouded in secrecy, and it was unclear what role Pitt would play.

The actor will begin shooting the film in late August.

Joel and Ethan Coen penned the screenplay, and Joel Coen will direct. Focus Features will distribute worldwide.

Pitt, whose "Ocean's Thirteen" will unspool at next month's Cannes Film Festival, recently wrapped "The Assassination of Jesse James." The "Babel" star's upcoming films also include "Benjamin Button," which he is finishing in New Orleans.

U.S. album sales tumble

LOS ANGELES (AP) - U.S. album sales are down by 17 per cent so far this year, a downward spiral caused in part by a surge in online music purchases and fewer big-name albums being released in the first quarter.

A total of 135.8 million albums were sold in the United States through the end of last week, compared with 163.3 million in the year-ago period, Nielsen SoundScan said.

The number of digital tracks sold, meanwhile, jumped by 53 per cent to 250.8 million compared with 164.2 million in the same period last year, the firm said.

The shortfall in album sales drops to 10.5 per cent when sales of digital singles are counted as 10-track equivalent albums.

"It's not making up totally for the decline but at least it's able to account for some of the decline in sales," said Chris Muratore, vice-president of retail relations for Nielsen Entertainment.

Still, overall music sales are up by more than 17 per cent but that figure includes all albums, singles, music videos and digital downloads.

The recording industry has seen CD album sales decline for years, in part due to the rise of online file-sharing but also as consumers have spent more of their leisure dollars on other entertainment purchases, such as DVDs and video games.

The industry has benefitted from sources of revenue that weren't around just a few years ago, such as mobile music sales.

So far this year, more than 72 million ringtones have been purchased by mobile phone-users, said Nielsen RingScan, which began tracking the sector last fall.

One factor in the decline of album sales is that record labels have cut back on the number of new album releases by major artists early in the calendar year.

"If you look at the last couple of years, fewer and fewer of those acts have been released in the first half of the year and this year has been horrible," Muratore said.

"It's proven that if you put something out, an established name, a big name, people are going to go buy the music."

Crooner Norah Jones and country singer Tim McGraw are the biggest acts to release new albums this year, he said.

Jones' album, "Not Too Late," has sold about 1.2 million copies so far this year, while McGraw's "Let It Go," has sold 570,000, SoundScan said.

Fall Out Boy's album "Infinity On High," has sold around 760,000 copies, the firm said.

The other top sellers this year have been albums released last year by the likes of Justin Timberlake, Daughtry, and Akon.

Last year's biggest-selling album, the soundtrack inspired by the Disney Channel movie "High School Musical," was released in January. It sold more than 3.7 million copies.

"Six out of the past seven years, the No. 1 album was released no later than May," Muratore said.

Frank Darabont Hates George Lucas

The last week or so has been littered with Indiana Jones 4 news. Rumors have been bandied about on things like the name of the movie and the appearance (or lack thereof) of favorite characters. This is a project that will continue to generate interest up until release and that was once again demonstrated by an MTV News interview with Frank Darabont. The Shawshank Redemption writer/director wrote a screenplay for Indy 4 that was rejected by producer/assclown George Lucas. Darabont, who claims Spielberg loved his script, is a little bitter, to say the least.

Referring to Indy 4 as topping the list of his bad writing experiences, Darabont said, “It showed me how badly things can go. I spent a year of very determined effort on something I was very excited about, working very closely with Steven Spielberg and coming up with a result that I and he felt was terrific. He wanted to direct it as his next movie, and then suddenly the whole thing goes down in flames because George Lucas doesn't like the script. If there is one thing that Lucas knows, it’s good scripts, so I’m sure he was correct. But Darabont sanguinely questioned Lucas’ sanity. “I told him he was crazy.” Darabont recalled, “I said, "You have a fantastic script. I think you're insane, George." Surprisingly, this approach didn’t work.

/Film says that Darabont’s script may have had Indiana investigating UFO’s and included appearances from Kate Capshaw (booooo) and Karen Allen (yeaaaaaaa.) But the site also says the actual contents of the script are in dispute. Darabont says he has no idea if anything he wrote will remain in the new “Indy has a son” movie that will eventually get made. I don’t think Lucas has a good recent (by recent, I mean the last 30 years) record as a writer or director but Darabont hasn’t been able to break out of being a very good adapter of Stephen King’s work into a general movie writer, either. Also, Lucas may have saved us from the return of Kate Capshaw, which is never a bad thing. The Internet tide seems to be on Darabont’s side, but this might be a case where I remain neutral on who is right and who is stupid. I’m Switzerland here.

Timberlake, Alba on list of sexy celebs

NEW YORK - Another day, another list. But what the heck, this one is a "What is Sexy?" rundown from Victoria's Secret. "SexyBack" singer Justin Timberlake is sexiest male musician; Jessica Alba, who starred in "Sin City," is sexiest actress; and David Beckham, who has three sons with his wife, Victoria, is sexiest dad.

The list of sexy entertainers and athletes was announced Thursday. It was compiled by a team of Victoria's Secret executives, designers and supermodel spokeswomen, including Heidi Klum and Karolina Kurkova. Klum and Kurkova were to host a party in Las Vegas on Thursday to celebrate the list-makers.

"I still think my husband (Seal) is the sexiest dad for our children, but (that's) beside the point," Klum, 33, told The Associated Press.

Matthew McConaughey was honored for his "beach body."

"You know, he has his shirt off a lot lately," said Klum, host of Bravo's "Project Runway."

Other sexy celebs: Eric Dane (actor), Carrie Underwood (female musician), speed racer Danica Patrick (female athlete), Yankee Derek Jeter (male athlete), Kate Hudson (mom), and Jay-Z and Beyonce (couple).

Sienna Miller won props for her trendsetting style, Josh Duhamel for his smile and Adrian Grenier for his eyes. Cameron Diaz has the sexiest legs, while Jennifer Hudson was singled out in the lips category.

The ABC medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" — surprise, surprise — has the sexiest cast.

NBC could lay down the 'Law'

Law & Order is trying to avoid becoming a victim.

NBC and producer Dick Wolf are in negotiations to shave costs from the longest-running crime series and one of its spinoffs, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, to justify keeping either on the air. (A third, more successful series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, isn't endangered.)

A final decision won't be made until next month, when NBC sets its fall lineup. But there's a good chance at least one of them won't return. That would mark a stark departure from L&O's heyday a half-dozen years ago, when, as a top-10 series, it spawned spinoffs SVU (1999), Criminal Intent (2001) and the short-lived Trial by Jury (2005).

"I'm surprised it's in this position," Wolf says. He says he has heard no complaints about the show's quality. "It's not a creative discussion; it's obviously a business discussion. We're having very serious talks about how to take a significant amount of money out of the budgets," from cutting cast members to changing film stocks.

Says NBC West Coast chief Marc Graboff: "We're exploring with Dick ways to keep one or both."

Yet thanks to their longevity and star salaries, each now costs a steep $4 million an episode to produce, vs. $2.5 million for similarly rated Las Vegas. That show sealed its renewal by trimming its budget, dropping stars James Caan and Nikki Cox.

But unlike Vegas, L&O has earned billions for NBC Universal, which produces the show, airs its original episodes and sells reruns to TNT and its own USA and Bravo channels. Pick up a remote and you can hardly miss it: Today alone, these cable networks will air 16 episodes of the three series. But all that exposure — coupled with normal declines for aging series — has sent ratings into a tailspin.

L&O, already sagging last season, was moved to low-rated Fridays in the fall, where it has since declined 19%. It now ranks slightly behind Criminal Intent, down 16% in its new Tuesday home. Both average about 9 million viewers, still above NBC's record-low prime-time average the past two weeks.

The fourth-place network, under financial strain, is exploring whether less popular but cheaper series are better.

Fans are split. Some call L&O an institution: "It's the only show I literally drop everything to watch," says Sherrill Craig of Raleigh, N.C. Others say it's time to go, after too-frequent cast changes and too many spinoffs.

Wolf has his own agenda: breaking the record for longest-running drama held by CBS' Gunsmoke, which ran 20 years. L&O is now in its 17th. "I would obviously love the show to go 21 seasons. I still think that has the potential to happen."

'American Idol' says sayonara to Sanjaya

NEW YORK - Sanjaya Malakar, the under-talented but unflappable singer who horrified and captivated millions in his improbable "American Idol" run, was finally voted off the show Wednesday night. When the result was announced, Malakar wiped away tears and got a big hug from LaKisha Jones, the next lowest vote-getter. "I'm fine," he told Ryan Seacrest. "It was an amazing experience."

"I can promise you: We won't soon forget you," Seacrest replied.

Malakar then performed one last song, "Something To Talk About." Putting his own twist on the song, the 17-year-old known for his pretty looks and ever-changing hairstyles ad-libbed: "Let's give them something to talk about ... other than hair."

On Tuesday night's show, Simon Cowell had slammed his performance as "utterly horrendous." And for once, the notoriously mean judge was vindicated.

"I'm beginning to sense something here," a grinning Cowell said when Malakar wound up in the bottom three.

Six contestants are now left: Jones, Blake Lewis, Jordin Sparks, Chris Richardson, Melinda Doolittle and Phil Stacey.

Malakar was routinely savaged by Cowell as he developed into one of the weakest, most awkward "Idol" finalists ever. Still, the gangly teen managed to outlast better singers by cultivating an unlikely fan base that helped him survive round after round of viewer elimination.

Though his breathy, childlike singing voice paled in comparison with other finalists, his ability to stand out kept him in the competition. He consistently delivered the season's most talked-about performances, even daring to sport a ponytail mohawk that added pizazz to an otherwise tepid rendition of No Doubt's "Bathwater."

That, of course, wound up fodder for watercooler discussion on G-rated morning programs and smart-alecky Web sites, stoking suspicion that Malakar was self-consciously manipulating the media to carve a place in "American Idol" history.

Many had predicted that he would make it all the way to May finale. Among Malakar's supporters: radio shock jock Howard Stern and the Web site VotefortheWorst.com, which has long promoted the show's tone-deaf candidates. (Previous targets include surly Scott Savol and sweet-natured Kevin Covais. Cult superstar William Hung never even made it to Hollywood.)

Malakar also had the backing of friends and family in his home state of Washington. "He's very handsome. That's most of it," marveled his friend Pat Wright, a gospel choir director in Seattle. "He's a teenager, and young girls and guys really like him."

Malakar seemed buoyed by his widespread fame.

"Welcome to the universe of Sanjaya!" he proudly proclaimed on a recent telecast, following a backhanded compliment from an exasperated Cowell.

Indeed, after panning another of Malakar's performances, Cowell threw up his arms and said there was nothing he could say to prevent people from voting for the oddball-turned-national phenomenon.

But, in the end, Malakar could not win enough votes to join the ranks of Taylor Hicks, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.

He will, however, live forever on YouTube.

Star of stage and screen, Kitty Carlisle Hart dies

Kitty Carlisle Hart, whose career extended from the Broadway stage to television and film, has died at age 96.

Her son, Christopher Hart, confirmed his mother "passed away peacefully" at home, after struggling with pneumonia, which she contracted during Christmas.

Kitty Carlisle Hart, seen here celebrating her 94th birthday in New York in 2004, has died at age 96.
(Richard Drew/Associated Press)
"She had such a wonderful life, and a great long run. It was a blessing," he said.

Hart appeared for many years on the popular game show To Tell the Truth.

She starred in numerous movies including A Night at the Opera (1935), She Loves Me Not and Here Is My Heart, both opposite Bing Crosby, as well as Woody Allen's Radio Days. Her Broadway productions included Champagne Sec and the 1984 revival of On Your Toes.

Her operatic career included a debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1967 in Die Fledermaus and the title role in the American premiere of Benjamin Britten's Rape of Lucretia.

Hart was born in New Orleans on Sept. 3, 1910. She went on to attend the Sorbonne in Paris, the London School of Economics and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Many may recall her stint, from 1956 to 1967, as a celebrity panelist on the prime-time game show To Tell the Truth, in which three contestants would claim to be the same person and the panelists would have to determine which one was telling the truth.

Hart's late husband was the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Moss Hart, known for You Can't Take It With You and The Man Who Came to Dinner. Moss Hart, who died in 1961, won a Tony for directing My Fair Lady on Broadway.

Received National Medal of Arts in 1991

Kitty Hart continued to lead a robust life through her senior years, starting each day with an exercise routine.

"I can do things a woman a fifth my age can't do.… I do 40 leg lifts without stopping, and then I take my legs, I put them over my head, and I touch the floor behind me with my toes, and then very slowly I let myself down, touching every vertebrae as I go," Hart told 60 Minutes when she was 90.

Hart served 20 years on the New York State Council on the Arts and in 1991, received the National Medal of Arts.

Besides her son, she is survived by her daughter, Catherine, and three grandchildren.

Meatballs comes Back to Disc

Bill Murray enjoyed camp with Meatballs: Special Edition on DVD and Blu-Ray coming from Sony Home Entertainment.

The DVD will be in anamorphic widescreen and the Blu-ray is in 1080p. An audio commentary with Ivan Reitman and a documenatary are included on both.

On June 5th, the releases will arrive on $19.99 and $28.95 each.

New CD Releases, April 17: Nine Inch Nails, Avril Lavigne, Cowboy Junkies

Nine Inch Nails "Year Zero"

Trent Reznor's goth-inspired hard rock troupe is set to roll out the follow-up to 2005's "With Teeth." The first single from "Year Zero" is "Survivalism."

Reznor has issued a statement about the album's intriguing premise, which sounds as if it could double as a plot for a big budget sci-fi film.

"Well, it takes place about 15 years in the future. Things are not good. If you imagine a world where greed and power continue to run their likely course, you'll have an idea of the backdrop. The world has reached the breaking point--politically, spiritually and ecologically. Written from various perspectives of people in this world, Year Zero examines various viewpoints set against an impending moment of truth."

In other words, it's typical NIN stuff.

* * *
Avril Lavigne "The Best Damn Thing"

The punk-pop princess will release her third full-length studio set, which follows 2004's triple-platinum album "Under My Skin."

The lead-off single from "The Best Damn Thing" is "Girlfriend," a song the star co-wrote with Dr. Luke.

* * *
Cowboy Junkies "At the End of Paths Taken"

The Canadian roots-rockers are set to drop their 10th studio album, "At the End of Paths Taken." The band's previous outing was the politically minded "Early 21st Century Blues."

The new disc was produced by the band's guitarist/songwriter Michael Timmins, the brother of Junkies' vocalist Margo Timmins. The group is currently in the midst of a tour.

In other Junkies news, the group is also celebrating the 20th anniversary of its classic album "The Trinity Session." The Junkies will mark the occasion by releasing a dual CD/DVD consisting of a new recording of "The Trinity Session" that features a number of musical guests.

* * *
Bucky Covington "Bucky Covington"

This finalist from the fifth season of "American Idol," who eventually finished eighth on the show, is finally set to release his eponymous debut.

The vocalist, who straddles the line between country and rock styles, is signed to the Nashville label Lyric Street label.

* * *
Clay Walker "Fall"

The clean-cut country crooner has been a major chart presence since the start of his career--his first two singles both topped the charts. The cowboy is gunning for more success with this follow-up to 2003's "A Few Questions."

* * *
Other new releases:
Greyboy Allstars, "What Happened to TV?" (SCI Fidelity)
Lumidee, "Unexpected" (TVT)
Page McConnell, "Page McConnell" (Sony)
Onitsha, "Church Girl" (Hidden Beach)
Michael Penn, "Palms and Runes, Tarot and Tea: A Michael Penn Collection" (Sony)
Paul Rodgers, "Live in Glasgow" (Eagle)
Ryan Shaw, "This is Ryan Shaw" (Columbia)
Six Feet Under, "Commandment" (Metal Blade)
Pam Tillis, "Rhinestoned" (Thirty Tigers)
David Torn, Tim Berne, Craig Taborn and Tom Rainey, "Prezens" (ECM)
Various Artists, "Hard to Find 45s on CD Volume 9: 1957-1959" (Eric Collection)
Various Artists, "Hard to Find 45s on CD Volume 10: 1960-1965" (Eric Collection)
Arcadi Volodos, "Volodos plays Liszt" (Sony)
Paul Wall, "Get Money, Stay True" (Atlantic)
Watermelon Slim and the Workers, "The Wheel Man" (Northern Blues)

'Spider-Man' Director Raimi Considers 'The Hobbit'

Spider-Man 4 is beginning to look a little shaky - director Sam Raimi is looking to tackle literary epic The Hobbit. The moviemaker, who is the brains behind all three Spider-Man movies, has revealed he's in the running to replace Peter Jackson as the director of the Lord Of The Rings prequel. And, if he does head to Middle Earth, actress Kirsten Dunst insists she definitely won't be back for a fourth Spider-Man. In an exclusive interview with EW.com, Raimi says, "Peter Jackson might be the best filmmaker on the planet right now... First and foremost, those (Lord of The Rings films) are Peter Jackson and (New Line studio boss) Bob Shaye's films. If Peter didn't want to do it, and Bob wanted me to do it - and they were both OK with me picking up the reigns - that would be great. I love the book. It's maybe a more kid-friendly story than the others." Dunst, who was in Tokyo, Japan last night for the Spider-Man 3 world premiere, insists she can't imagine returning for a fourth film without Raimi. She explains, "It's disrespectful to the whole team, I think, to do that. And audiences aren't stupid. It'd be a big flop without me, Tobey Maguire or Sam. That would really not be the smartest move."

Late Bob Clark changed Cdn film industry

Bob Clark may not have been an actual Canadian but it would be hard to imagine a Canadian film industry without him.

The 67-year-old director, who, along with his 22-year-old son was tragically killed last week by a drunk driver near his Pacific Palisades home, was born in New Orleans but relocated to Canada in the early 1970s to take advantage of the country's government-instituted tax incentives designed to kick-start Hollywood North.

Although the complex tax shelter point-system structure could make it difficult for filmmakers to leave a personal imprint, it proved to be an environment in which Clark thrived both commercially and artistically.

He found early success in the horror genre, most notably with 1974's Black Christmas, which would usher in the era of the body count slasher movie.

He'd successfully break out of the thriller arena five years later with Murder by Decree starring Christopher Plummer as Sherlock Holmes and James Mason as Watson. The film would go on to win five Genie Awards including one for best achievement in direction.

Tribute, an adaptation of the Bernard Slade play of the same name, was released the following year, earning star Jack Lemmon both a Genie Award and an Oscar nomination.

Of course, much has been written about Porky's, the raunchy teen sex comedy that would beget American Pie and still, to the chagrin of some, remains the all-time, highest-grossing Canadian movie, with a global take of $250 million.

It almost didn't happen.

The production company, Montreal-based Astral Communications (now Astral Media), had been a major player in the tax shelter game, making thrillers like Terror Train (starring Jamie Lee Curtis) and Death Ship.

But when the racy Porky's scared Astral's risk-averse investors away, company founder Harold Greenberg was forced to personally pony up the $4 million budget and the powerful multimedia outfit would become known in the industry as the house that Porky's built.

Clark would also write and direct the less-successful 1983 sequel before making the movie for which he would best be remembered--A Christmas Story.

While not an immediate hit, viewer fondness for Clark's adaptation of humorist Jean Shepherd's '40s childhood memoirs had grown steadily over the years, ensuring the film's status as a much-loved holiday perennial.

A Christmas Story would bring Clark two more Genie Awards -- for best directing, in a tie with Videodrome director David Cronenberg, and for best screenplay which he'd share with Shepherd.

That film would essentially mark the end of Clark's Canadian period. He moved on to studio work, where his subsequent output was considerably spottier, running the gamut from the Sylvester Stallone-Dolly Parton comedy, Rhinestone to the critically maligned but commercially successful Baby Geniuses.

Ironically, Clark's early career output had been undergoing a revival on several fronts.

The week of his death saw the DVD release of a remake of his Black Christmas while the 25th anniversary of Porky's was marked by an Entertainment Weekly cover story on influential '80s teen sex comedies.

Shock jock Howard Stern, who bought the rights to Porky's several years ago, is still planning to attach his name to a new version, and Clark, himself, was preparing to do a remake of his 1972 thriller, Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things.

Clark's output also merited a reference in the irreverent, animated Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters, which opened on Friday.

But it's A Christmas Story, and the words of the adult Ralphie (narrated by Shepherd) that provide an all-too-appropriate epitaph:

"Sometimes, at the height of our revelries, when our joy is at its zenith, when all is most right with the world, the most unthinkable disasters descend upon us."

'Tiny Bubbles' singer Don Ho dies at 76

HONOLULU - Legendary crooner Don Ho, who entertained tourists for decades wearing raspberry-tinted sunglasses and singing the catchy signature tune "Tiny Bubbles," has died. He was 76.

He died Saturday morning of heart failure, publicist Donna Jung said.

Ho had suffered with heart problems for the past several years, and had a pacemaker installed last fall. In 2005, he underwent an experimental stem cell procedure on his ailing heart in Thailand in 2005.

Ho entertained Hollywood's biggest stars and thousands of tourists for four decades. For many, no trip to Hawaii was complete without seeing his Waikiki show — a mix of songs, jokes, double entendres, Hawaii history and audience participation.

Shows usually started and ended with the same song, "Tiny Bubbles." Ho mostly hummed as the audience enthusiastically took over the song's swaying, silly lyrics: "Tiny bubbles/in the wine/make me happy/make me feel fine."

"I hate that song," he often joked to the crowd. He said he saved it for the end because "people my age can't remember if we did it or not."

The son of bar owners, Ho broke into the Waikiki entertainment scene in the early 1960s and, except for short periods, never left. Few artists are more associated with one place.

"Hawaii is my partner," Ho told The Associated Press in 2004.

Donald Tai Loy Ho, who was Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and German, was born Aug. 13, 1930, in Honolulu and grew up in the then-rural countryside of Kaneohe.

In high school, he was a star football player and worked for a brief time in a pineapple cannery. After graduating in 1949, he attended Springfield College in Massachusetts on an athletic scholarship. He grew homesick, returned to the islands and ended up graduating from the University of Hawaii in 1953 with a degree in sociology.

Inspired by the U.S. military planes flying in and out of Hawaii during World War II, Ho joined the Air Force. As the Korean War wound down, he piloted transport planes between Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu and Tokyo.

When he returned home and took over his parents' struggling neighborhood bar, Honey's, he put together a band and started performing at his father's request.

"I had no intention of being an entertainer," Ho said. "I just played songs I liked from the radio, and pretty soon that place was jammed. Every weekend there would be lines down the street."

Honey's became a happening place on Oahu, with other Hawaiian musicians stopping in for jam sessions. Ho began to play at various spots at Hawaii, and soon, he was packing places such as the Coconut Grove in Hollywood and the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.

Stars such as Lucille Ball, Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra were known to be in the audience for Ho's shows.

Ho also became a television star, and hosted the "The Don Ho Show" on ABC from 1976-77. One of Ho's most memorable TV appearances was a 1972 cameo on an episode of "The Brady Bunch."

"I've had too much fun all these years," he said in the 2004 interview. "I feel real guilty about it."

Besides "Tiny Bubbles," his other well-known songs include "I'll Remember You," "With All My Love," and the "Hawaiian Wedding Song."

The Couch Potato Report - April 14th, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on a hotel, some children of men, a crude awakening and some vice cops from Miami.

First up this week is the DVD release of the CBC series AT THE HOTEL.

This series from Ken Finkleman - the brilliant creator of THE NEWSROOM takes place at the upscale hotel Château Rousseau in an undefined Canadian city.

During the course of this six episode series there are dozens of stories that take place as we meet the staff, the guests, and a wide array of very unique people, good and bad.

There is also time spent introducing us to a writer, who is working on a book, and the family who owns the Hotel.

But in the end, only a few of the stories and characters we meet are interesting and have any resonance.

AT THE HOTEL is a very ambitious show. It looks great, is well written, and features appearances from some of Canada's best-known film, television and theatre actors in roles both small and large.

It is funny, dramatic, a murder mystery, and at times it is even a musical...but in the end AT THE HOTEL is...well, it is like a hotel stay itself.

You check in, maybe you watch a little TV or take a swim in the pool, but in the end, you walk away from your stay and rarely think about that Hotel again.

I admit that I did find AT THE HOTEL to be entertaining and interesting, but it is too methodical in it's storytelling, and there is too much time wasted on too many secondary characters, and it is for that reason that I can't recommend it.

The show wasn't a waste of my time, and I don't think it would be a waste of yours either, but there are better things to watch.

Things like the film CHILDREN OF MEN, for instance.

In this film - set in futuristic London in the year 2027 - women can no longer have babies and knowing that it's days are numbered, society begins to crumble under a wave of violence and anarchy.

Clive Owen from INSIDE MAN and CLOSER is the man who's job is to protect a mysteriously pregnant girl and the possible future of the human race from a group of terrorists who want her dead.

And that is all that I am going to say about this film except this: Add it to your must see list now. It is dramatic, full of science-fiction elements, and has great action sequences.

CHILDREN OF MEN has something for everyone, plus, it is a unique cinematic vision. The people behind the film created a world and characters that aren't like the ones you see in movies every day, and that affords it an extra level of appreciation.

I didn't love the movie, but I will see it again, at least once. CHILDREN OF MEN is just that interesting.

Up next this week is the eye opening documentary A CRUDE AWAKENING: THE OIL CRASH.

Using archival footage, shots of burning oil fields, and interviews with experts, the film presents the facts about the planet's dwindling oil resources.

A CRUDE AWAKENING is informative and insightful as it describes the oil crisis in a way we can all understand.

However, no matter how insightful, informative, and true the facts are, the filmmakers don't make the film entertaining enough.

Yes, it is full of vital information that we all need to know, but even though it is only ninety minutes long, it seems much, much longer because it is just fact after fact after fact after fact.

But, even if you have to watch it in multiple sittings, A CRUDE AWAKENING: THE OIL CRASH is still a movie that you should see...because we will all need to do our part to solve this crisis.

Okay, finally this week is the latest DVD releases from the classic 1980's series MIAMI VICE.

By now I am sure you you have heard of the 1984 to 1989 television series about the adventures of the vice squad detectives of the Miami Police Department starring Don Johnson as Detective James 'Sonny' Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Detective Ricardo 'Rico' Tubbs.

What you might not know isthat Season 3 and 4 are now available on DVD, and in addition to the show itself, the best part about these two seasons is that we get to watch some of the entertainment world's biggest names today, in some of their earliest roles.

Some of those people are comedian Chris Rock, Steve Buscemi from FARGO and THE SOPRANOS, THE MATRIX'S Laurence Fishburne and SCHINDLER'S LIST Oscar nominee Liam Neeson.

I was a fan of MIAMI VICE when it originally aired, and I had a great time this week watching it again on DVD.

MIAMI VICE - SEASONS 3 and 4, the eye opening documentary A CRUDE AWAKENING: THE OIL CRASH, the very interesting CHILDREN OF MEN, and the not completely a waste of your time CBC series AT THE HOTEL are all now available on DVD.

Coming up in the next Couch Potato Report

THE GREATEST CANADIAN INVENTION celebrates and counts down the finest innovations and innovators our country has produced; DEATH OF A PRESIDENT follows the investigation of the fictional assassination of President George W. Bush on October 19th, 2007 while BOBBY is the story of the real assasination of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy; and in THE JOHNNY CARSON SHOW from 1955 and 56 we get to see the man at work before he made "The Tonight Show" his own.

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!

CBC Radio One's Q to cover national arts and culture

CBC Radio One will launch a new arts and culture radio show Monday called Q, hosted by Jian Ghomeshi.

The show was created after a review of all arts and culture programming on CBC Radio showed Canadians had an appetite for news about cultural developments across the country.

"To certain extent, we see it as a national arts show of record," Ghomeshi said in an interview with CBC Arts Online.

Q is promising a fast-paced mix of interviews, reporter pieces, soundscapes and music that covers a broad range of arts.

And like the James Bond gadget man of the same name, it hopes to be smart and inventive.

It is working with a loose definition of arts and entertainment that includes video games, new technology and new media phenomena, as well as architecture, opera, dance, film, TV, theatre and music.

"We have a real commitment to a fusion of pop culture and the classical arts," said Ghomeshi, who has been host of The National Playlist and a contributor to The Hour.

Celebrities and the red carpet "are not at the top of the agenda," he said, but the show will delve into pop culture stories as well as provide a broad picture of cultural events across the country.

The focus will be on Canada but also on intriguing entertainment and cultural ideas from around the world.

Regular contributors

The first show features an exclusive interview with Canadian singer Loreena McKennitt. It will also include the premiere of the new album by Joel Plaskett Emergency, which is due out April 17, and the story of a broadcaster who has started a popular new radio station in Afghanistan with programming that is mainly music.

The show will have regular contributors, including diva Measha Brueggergosman, who will give a backstage look at opera from where ever she is in her travels. There will be a weekly chat about TV, but few reviews of arts events, Ghomeshi said.

Q will air each weekday on CBC Radio One from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in most markets, 2.30 to 4 p.m in Newfoundland, 2 to 3 p.m. in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver and Alberta, and from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in Manitoba. An hour-long encore presentation will air each weeknight at 10 p.m.

Also on Monday, Between the Covers is migrating from terrestrial radio to online and will also be available as a podcast.

The Arts Report and The Arts Tonight are gone from the air and Freestyle and Between the Covers end this week.

Writers and Company, hosted by Eleanor Wachtel, will be expanded, with Wachtel taking on new projects in radio and on new media platforms.

LaBeouf to star in new `Indiana Jones'

LOS ANGELES - After months of building Internet buzz, this can finally be reported as fact: Shia LaBeouf has been cast in the upcoming "Indiana Jones" movie.

Producer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg announced Friday that LaBeouf will appear alongside Harrison Ford in the fourth installment of the adventure franchise, scheduled for release May 22, 2008. Production is set to begin in June.

"We are excited about bringing Shia into our Indy family," Spielberg said in a statement on the "Indiana Jones" Web site. "His talent has impressed not only his audiences throughout his young career but the directors, producers and fellow actors who have worked with him in his television career and now his film career."

Paramount, a division of Viacom Inc., declined Friday to say what role LaBeouf would be playing.

The 20-year-old actor told The Associated Press in March that the persistent Internet rumors about his casting in the film were just that — rumors.

"The way that thing started, it's just wild how it snowballed," LaBeouf told the AP then. "I don't have a deal on the table, it's just a rumor. Would I do it? In a second. It'd be working for a legend and working with legends. Who wouldn't? But is it something I'm doing right now? No. I'm an out-of-work actor."

It's a busy weekend for the up-and-coming actor. He stars in "Disturbia," a high-tech, teen version of "Rear Window," which opened Friday; then he's hosting NBC's "Saturday Night Live" on Saturday.

LaBeouf also co-stars in this summer's "Transformers" movie for Spielberg's DreamWorks Pictures, and provides the voice of one of the penguins in the animated "Surf's Up." His previous films include "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," "The Greatest Game Ever Played" and "Holes." He also won a Daytime Emmy in 2003 for the Disney Channel series "Even Stevens."

John Fogerty firms up summer plans

John Fogerty has announced dates for a North American summer trek, with all but two of the shows taking place in Canadian venues.

The veteran rocker, who currently has no new product to promote, also announced on his website that he would be going into the recording studio this spring to begin work on a new album, tentatively scheduled for release later this fall.

Fogerty will launch an extensive European tour in June before kicking off his North American run July 17 in Montreal. The former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman will also make another domestic appearance before the 12-date July outing when he tackles a May 20 slot at the Doheny Blues Festival in Dana Point, CA.

Fogerty's complete European tour plans can be found at his website; his North American itinerary is below.

Fogerty's most recent release was last June's concert DVD "The Long Road Home--In Concert." The video was captured during Fogerty's 2005 tour in support of his 2004 album, "Deja Vu All Over Again."

May 2007
20 - Dana Point, CA - Doheny Blues Festival

July 2007
17 - Montreal, Quebec - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier
18 - Ottawa, Ontario - Scotiabank Place
20 - Toronto, Ontario - Molson Amphitheatre
21 - London, Ontario - John Labatt Centre
22 - Kettering, OH - Fraze Pavilion
24 - Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theatre
26 - Winnipeg, Manitoba - MTS Centre
28 - Calgary, Alberta - Pengrowth Saddledome
29 - Edmonton, Alberta - Rexall Place
31 - Kelowna, British Columbia - Prospera Place

August 2007
1 - Victoria, British Columbia - Sav On Foods Centre
2 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Deer Lake Park

'Mummy' Sequel: Fraser In, Weisz Out

Star Brendan Fraser will return for "The Mummy 3," but the same can't be said for the franchise's leading lady.

According to Variety, Fraser has reached a lucrative deal for the Rob Cohen-directed "Mummy 3." He'll have to find a new love interest, though, because Rachel Weisz is out.

The first two "Mummy" films have earned comfortably over $800 million worldwide, with "The Mummy Returns" opening in 2001, two years after the original. Production on "The Mummy 3" will begin at the end of the summer, giving Universal a big release for the summer of 2008.

Miles Millar and Alfred Gough wrote "The Mummy 3," which is set in China and features Jet Li as the main villain. The trade paper reports that the scribes will do a new pass on the script to take Weisz's absence into account.

Weisz won an Oscar last year for "The Constant Gardner" and has lined up roles in "The Brothers Bloom" and "Dirt Music," filling her schedule.

Fraser, meanwhile, has "Journey 3D" and "Inkheart" on tap for 2008, with both films coming from New Line. The "George of the Jungle" star was most recently seen in "Crash" and "Looney Tunes: Back in Action."

Thrillers chasing skaters at becalmed box office

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Consider this weekend at the box office a kind of last call before the bar closes.

Summer blockbuster season is fast approaching -- "Spider-Man 3" comes out on May 4 -- and then the competition for screens will become intense. Hollywood is taking advantage of the lull to drop a lot of midrange movies into the marketplace.

Five new wide releases enter the fray on Friday, but only two -- the dueling thrillers "Perfect Stranger" and "Disturbia" -- seem to have a chance of ending the two-week reign of the Will Ferrell comedy "Blades of Glory," which made $22 million last weekend.

"Stranger" boasts the starriest cast of the weekend. Halle Berry plays a reporter who goes undercover to investigate an ad exec ( Bruce Willis) whom she suspects is guilty of murder. The last time the Oscar-winning Berry ventured into suspense waters, the result was 2003's "Gothika," which bowed to $19 million. Given all the competition, "Stranger" probably won't hit that mark but will be looking to achieve $15 million or better. James Foley ("Glengarry Glen Ross") directed the R-rated Columbia film, which is targeting older audiences.

"Disturbia," a teenage riff on "Rear Window," stars Shia LaBeouf as an angry kid under house arrest who suspects that one of his neighbors ( David Morse) is a murderer. With a PG-13 rating, the Paramount Pictures release, directed by D.J. Caruso ("The Salton Sea"), is looking to lure teens, and should open somewhere around the $15 million mark as well.

The rest of the new arrivals are expected to battle it out below the $10 million mark, some of them significantly below.

"Redline" stars Nathan Phillips ("Wolf Creek") and Nadia Bjorlin in a series of car chases. The film's financier, real estate mogul and high-end auto aficionado Daniel Sadek, is distributing the PG-13 release himself, a risky move.

20th Century Fox is serving up "Pathfinder," an R-rated Vikings-and-Indians movie starring Karl Urban.

Lionsgate is chasing after moviegoers with the R-rated, urban-themed "Slow Burn," in which D.A. Ray Liotta faces off against gang leader LL Cool J.

For sheer novelty, there is First Look Pictures' launch of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters." The R-rated animated movie about fast-food friends Master Shake, Frylock and Meatwad is a spinoff of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim series. It's sure to have some cult appeal, which could allow it to trump some of the surrounding movies.

Let's hate Toronto, Canadian documentary says

TORONTO (Reuters) - The dislike of Canada's biggest city, Toronto, in the rest of the country runs so deep that a filmmaker has made a documentary about it.

"People in Toronto are soulless, one-eyed corporate zombies," Joey Keithley, of the Vancouver punk band D.O.A., says in the film, "Let's All Hate Toronto."

The 73-minute film, which premieres at Toronto's Hot Docs documentary festival next week, follows a character called Mister Toronto, who embarks on a cross-Canada trip brandishing a sign that reads "Toronto Appreciation Day" and steels himself for the onslaught.

His tour leads from Newfoundland on the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific city of Vancouver, where feelings against Toronto -- usually acknowledged as the country's financial center and the cultural capital of English Canada -- run deepest of all.

"There is something different (about hating Toronto). People are more passionate about it," filmmaker and co-director Albert Neremberghe said in an interview.

"People have a grudging respect for New York outside of the city, and have a grudging respect for London. But people outside of Toronto don't have that for Toronto, they really don't."

Neremberg, who is from Montreal, got the idea for the film from a 1956 publication with the same name as the movie.

He said collective dislike of a city is not unique to Canada, and said he might like to make similar films on other countries' love-hate relationships with major cities.

Influential author Vonnegut dies at 84

NEW YORK - Kurt Vonnegut mixed the bitter and funny with a touch of the profound in books such as "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Cat's Cradle," and "Hocus Pocus."

Vonnegut, regarded by many critics as a key influence in shaping 20th-century American literature, died Wednesday at 84. He suffered brain injuries after a recent fall at his Manhattan home, said his wife, photographer Jill Krementz.

Vonnegut's more than a dozen books, short stories, essays and plays contained elements of social commentary, science fiction and autobiography.

"He was sort of like nobody else," said fellow author Gore Vidal. "Kurt was never dull."

A self-described religious skeptic and freethinking humanist, Vonnegut used protagonists such as Billy Pilgrim and Eliot Rosewater as transparent vehicles for his points of view.

He lectured regularly, exhorting audiences to think for themselves and delighting in barbed commentary against the institutions he felt were dehumanizing people.

"He was a man who combined a wicked sense of humor and sort of steady moral compass, who was always sort of looking at the big picture of the things that were most important," said Joel Bleifuss, editor of In These Times, a liberal magazine based in Chicago that featured Vonnegut articles.

Some of Vonnegut's books were banned and burned for suspected obscenity. He took on censorship as an active member of the PEN writers' aid group and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The American Humanist Association, which promotes individual freedom, rational thought and scientific skepticism, made him its honorary president.

Vonnegut said the villains in his books were never individuals, but culture, society and history, which he said were making a mess of the planet.

"I like to say that the 51st state is the state of denial," he told The Associated Press in 2005. "It's as though a huge comet were heading for us and nobody wants to talk about it. We're just about to run out of petroleum and there's nothing to replace it."

Despite his commercial success, Vonnegut battled depression throughout his life, and in 1984, he attempted suicide with pills and alcohol, joking later about how he botched the job.

"I will say anything to be funny, often in the most horrible situations," Vonnegut, whose watery, heavy-lidded eyes and unruly hair made him seem to be in existential pain, once told a gathering of psychiatrists.

Vonnegut was born on Nov. 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, and studied chemistry at Cornell University before joining the Army. His mother killed herself just before he left for Germany during World War II, where he was quickly taken prisoner during the Battle of the Bulge. He was being held in Dresden when Allied bombs firebombed the city.

"The firebombing of Dresden explains absolutely nothing about why I write what I write and am what I am," Vonnegut wrote in "Fates Worse Than Death," his 1991 autobiography of sorts.

But he spent 23 years struggling to write about the ordeal, which he survived by huddling with other POW's inside an underground meat locker labeled slaughterhouse-five.

The novel that emerged, in which Pvt. Pilgrim is transported from Dresden by time-traveling aliens, was published at the height of the Vietnam War, and solidified his reputation as an iconoclast.

After World War II, he reported for Chicago's City News Bureau, then did public relations for General Electric, a job he loathed. He wrote his first novel, "Player Piano," in 1951, followed by "The Sirens of Titan," "Canary in a Cat House" and "Mother Night," making ends meet by selling Saabs on Cape Cod.

Critics ignored him at first, then denigrated his deliberately bizarre stories and disjointed plots as haphazardly written science fiction. But his novels became cult classics, especially "Cat's Cradle" in 1963, in which scientists create "ice-nine," a crystal that turns water solid and destroys the earth.

He retired from novel writing in his later years, but continued to publish short articles. He had a best-seller in 2005 with "A Man Without a Country," a collection of his nonfiction, including jabs at the Bush administration ("upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography") and the uncertain future of the planet.

He called the book's success "a nice glass of champagne at the end of a life."

Vonnegut, who had homes in Manhattan and the Hamptons in New York, adopted his sister's three young children after she died. He also had three children of his own with his first wife, Jane Marie Cox, and later adopted a daughter, Lily, with his second wife, Krementz.

Vonnegut once said that of all the ways to die, he'd prefer to go out in an airplane crash on the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. He often joked about the difficulties of old age.

"When Hemingway killed himself he put a period at the end of his life; old age is more like a semicolon," Vonnegut told the AP.

"My father, like Hemingway, was a gun nut and was very unhappy late in life. But he was proud of not committing suicide. And I'll do the same, so as not to set a bad example for my children."

'Office' fans flock to edit Wikipedia

NEW YORK (AP) - In last week's episode of the NBC series "The Office," the boss Michael Scott turned to Wikipedia for tips on fending off an employee's request for a pay raise. Viewers quickly flocked to the online encyclopedia and added their take to its entry on negotiations.

Administrators at Wikipedia had to limit editing of the entry, most recently late Tuesday, placing it in "semi-protection" mode. That meant users couldn't make changes anonymously or from accounts fewer than four days old - to discourage those drawn to the site specifically because of the broadcast.

The site imposed similar restrictions on the entry twice before, only to see vandalism continue after they were lifted.

Wikipedia is a collaborative reference site where anyone can add, change or even delete entries, regardless of expertise. The thinking is that the collective wisdom results in a better product overall, and members of the community can watch for any vandalism and reverse it.

In the case of the "negotiation" entry, viewers quickly added phoney tips in response to clueless advice from Scott, played by Steve Carell, in last week's episode.

One edit simply replaced the entry with a statement praising the television program. That was followed by the insertion of Scott's tips for getting the upper hand, including "suddenly changing the location" and "refusing to talk first."

Users made more than 100 changes, including those to reverse the vandalism, before the site imposed the latest restrictions on revisions.

Wikipedia does face vandalism from time to time as a result of high-profile mentions.

Fans of Stephen Colbert's Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report" flocked to Wikipedia to alter articles on elephants after he said on the program, "all we need to do is convince a majority of people that some factoid is true - for instance, that Africa has more elephants today than it did 10 years ago."

Changes aren't always noticed and fixed immediately.

In late 2005, prominent journalist John Seigenthaler, the former publisher of the Tennessean newspaper and founding editorial director of USA Today, revealed that a Wikipedia entry that ran for four months had incorrectly named him as a longtime suspect in the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert.

Emmy-winning 'Taxi' writer Daniels dies

Stan Daniels, an Emmy-winning TV writer and producer who worked on two of the most acclaimed comedies of the 1970s, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," and "Taxi," has died. He was 72.

Daniels died of heart failure Friday, according to Mount Sinai Memorial Park.

Daniels won eight Emmys during his long television career, including three as co-creator and executive producer of "Taxi" and three as a writer on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

He wrote for "The Dean Martin Show" and "The Bill Cosby Show," and early Cosby situation comedy, before joining "Mary Tyler Moore," which ran from 1970-77. He also wrote for the Cloris Leachman spinoff series, "Phyllis."

He and three MTM Prods. colleagues -- James L. Brooks, David Davis and Ed Weinberger -- left in 1977 to set up a production unit at Paramount Pictures, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time. Their show "Taxi" debuted the following year and ran through 1983.

Daniels also co-created the Brenda Vaccaro series "Lily" and co-wrote with Brooks the 1978 TV movie "Cindy," a retelling of the Cinderella story with a black cast.

Among Daniels' other TV credits were "The Kid," "For Richer, For Poorer," "Glory! Glory!" and "The Substitute Wife."

On Broadway, he composed music and lyrics for "So Long 174th Street," a 1976 musical version of the play "Enter Laughing."

Born in Toronto, Daniels attended the University of Toronto and before receiving a fellowship to study at Oxford.

He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Alene, and four children.

Actor Roscoe Lee Browne dies in LA at 81

LOS ANGELES - Actor Roscoe Lee Browne, whose rich voice and dignified bearing brought him an Emmy Award and a Tony nomination, has died. He was 81.

Browne died early Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after a long battle with cancer, said Alan Nierob, a spokesman for the family.

Browne's career included classic theater to TV cartoons. He also was a poet and a former world-class athlete.

His deep, cultured voice was heard narrating the 1995 hit movie "Babe." On screen, his character often was smart, cynical and well-educated, whether a congressman, a judge or a butler.

Born to a Baptist minister in Woodbury, N.J., Browne graduated from historically black Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, where he later returned to teach comparative literature and French. He also was a track star, winning the 880-yard run in the 1952 Millrose Games.

Browne was selling wine for an import company when he decided to become a full-time actor in 1956 and had roles that year in the inaugural season of the New York Shakespeare Festival in a production of "Julius Caesar."

In 1961, he starred in an English-language version of Jean Genet's play "The Blacks."

Two years later, he was The Narrator in a Broadway production of "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe," a play by Edward Albee from a novella by Carson McCullers. In a front page article on the advances made by blacks in the theater, the New York Times noted that Browne's understudy was white.

He won an Obie Award in 1965 for his role as a rebellious slave in the off-Broadway "Benito Cereno."

In movies, he was a spy in the 1969 Alfred Hitchcock feature "Topaz" and a camp cook in 1972's "The Cowboys," which starred John Wayne.

"Some critics complained that I spoke too well to be believable" in the cook's role, Browne told The Washington Post in 1972. "When a critic makes that remark, I think, if I had said, 'Yassuh, boss' to John Wayne, then the critic would have taken a shine to me."

On television, he had several memorable guest roles. He was a snobbish black lawyer trapped in an elevator with bigot Archie Bunker in an episode of the 1970s TV comedy "All in the Family" and the butler Saunders in the comedy "Soap." He won an Emmy in 1986 for a guest role as Professor Foster on "The Cosby Show."

In 1992, Browne returned to Broadway in "Two Trains Running," one of August Wilson's acclaimed series of plays on the black experience. It won the Tony for best play and brought Browne a Tony nomination for best featured (supporting) actor.

The New York Times said he portrayed "the wry perspective of one who believes that human folly knows few bounds and certainly no racial bounds. The performance is wise and slyly life-affirming."

Browne also wrote poetry and included some of it along with works by masters such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti and William Butler Yeats in "Behind the Broken Words," a poetry anthology stage piece that he and Anthony Zerbe performed annually for three decades.

No Leafs, no fun

The best part of the hockey season begins tonight -- yet all LEafs fans are on the outside looking in.

It is a most unfortunate place to be.

It didn't hit me, really, until last spring, after a year without hockey, how much I loved the Stanley Cup playoffs and how much the absence of the Maple Leafs affected my regular playoff emotions.

It must be different in a place such as Columbus, where there have been no playoffs, and hockey isn't all over your television, and you don't have a fantasy playoff draft, and you have to never think about what game is being shown on any given night.

But Toronto is Hockey Country -- and it is a market that lives, dies and emotes on a far too personal basis about everything that is Maple Leafs. And by not being good enough to make the playoffs, it isn't only that Leafs fans aren't always certain where to turn, it's that they have been essentially robbed of the opportunity to be part of hockey at its very best.

The Stanley Cup playoffs are not like any other championship run in sports and I haven't always understood why. In baseball, you expect the World Series to be better than the divisional championships and better than the League Championships Series.

In the CFL and the NFL, the Grey Cup and the Super Bowl are the games that are expected to outshine any other.

But from this view, there is an inverse effect to the Stanley Cup playoffs. The first round tends to be the best round of the playoffs. The players are still fresh. The possibilities are endless.

By the time the third and fourth rounds come around, it is often like the television show Survivor. The last men standing win.

Which is how the Maple Leafs have robbed all of you.

They stole your opening round. They stole your unbridled optimism. They stole the great hockey belief -- and Mats Sundin was talking about this the other day -- that any team can win just by making it to the playoffs.

That may not be necessarily true, but fans and players love that talk and who are we to stomp all over anyone's dreams?

Just no dreams, this year. The Maple Leafs made certain of that. In their flimsy apology, printed in ad form in yesterday's Toronto Sun, they glossed over how low the goals of this hockey team really are.

"We share your disappointment," the ad read. "However, we accomplished much along the way that puts us in a great position moving forward to pick up those few points in the standings needed to reach that next level."

Some teams begin seasons in search of championships. The Leafs begin them in search of eighth place. And when they don't get there, the most intense NHL market in the business finds itself having to scatter and try to find enough to care about in other cities and other places.

It can't be good for hockey when the Leafs miss the playoffs. It can't be good for hockey when Edmonton is out and Montreal is out. These cities are the lifeblood of the game.

So, now we watch, not certain where to turn. Can we get passionate about watching San Jose play Nashville without an emotional attachment in a first-round series that should be good enough for a Cup final.

PASSIONATE

Can we get passionate about watching the hated Ottawa Senators -- listen, we all have to hate somebody -- against the charming Pittsburgh Penguins (who, by the way, were 32 points behind the Leafs last season)? If you can't find it in your hearts to cheer for Sidney Crosby and Gary Roberts, you may have no heart.

I'm vaguely interested in Vancouver-Dallas because this is Roberto Luongo's playoff debut. Same goes for Calgary-Detroit, mostly to see if the annual Red Wings collapse is upon us.

Can't get excited about Devils versus anyone. Don't care about the Thrashers and Rangers. Will watch Buffalo beat the Islanders just to see what Wade Dubielewicz really is.

But it's not the same when there are no flags on cars, no horns honking, no non-stop analysis taking place on every radio station, in every coffee shop, on any of the hundred or so panels on sports television.

A playoffs without Toronto won't seem very much like playoffs at all.

'Las Vegas' Rolling Dice with Selleck

Tom Selleck has been out of the TV-series game for a little while, but NBC may deal him in for next season.

The former "Magnum, P.I." star and multiple Emmy nominee is talking with NBC about joining the cast of "Las Vegas" next season. He would play the new owner of the Montecito Hotel and Casino, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Selleck would in effect be replacing James Caan, who left the series at the end of the show's abbreviated, 17-episode season earlier this year. Nikki Cox has also departed.

If the deal goes through, Selleck would be taking his first series-regular role since his short-lived CBS sitcom "The Closer" aired in 1998. He has scarcely lacked for work, however, starring in numerous TV movies -- including the "Jesse Stone" series of films for CBS -- and guest-starring on "Friends" and "Boston Legal."

His other recent credits include "Ike: Countdown to D-Day" and the TNT westerns "Crossfire Trail" and "Monte Walsh." He also has a voice role in the current Disney movie "Meet the Robinsons."

Selleck won an Emmy for his "Magnum, P.I." role in 1984 and has been nominated five other times, most recently for a 2000 guest appearance on "Friends."

"Las Vegas" finished its fourth season in early March and may begin filming its fifth in the near future, ahead of the normal midsummer start for most shows.

Would you believe a 'Smart' spy spoof?

The new Get Smart movie has to contend with two big changes from the original 1965 TV show: the fall of communism and the rise of feminism.

Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway are at work on the remake as spymasters Maxwell Smart and Agent 99, taking over for the late Don Adams and Barbara Feldon, now 75. The movie is set for release in June 2008.

Director Peter Segal (50 First Dates, Tommy Boy) says the challenge was figuring out a way to update a silly Cold War comedy for the world after 9/11, finding things to laugh at in the face of global fear.

"We try to show the disconnect between government agencies as we saw right after 9/11 when the CIA and FBI weren't really communicating," Segal says. "We wanted to make sure we were politically satirical."

The anarchy group known as KAOS is back for more foiling, and the mockery tends to stay closer to bureaucratic bungling.

"Obviously, Max works for CONTROL, and there's a lot of infighting within Washington over who's responsible for which parts of the world," Segal says.

The story focuses on KAOS' blackmailing the United States by threatening to give away launch codes for nuclear bombs that are in the hands of bad guys.

"Max has to figure out where the bombs are and stop them, ultimately saving the world," Segal says.

Meanwhile, the iconic shoe-phone and Cone of Silence make their return.

Carell's Oscar-winning Little Miss Sunshine co-star Alan Arkin takes on the role of CONTROL's Chief, a gruff straight man originally played by the late Edward Platt.

The film updates the relationship between the two heroes, telling an origin story of how Smart became an agent and met 99. In this version, she is the veteran spy who takes the newcomer under her wing.

"In the TV show, she was the woman who stood firmly behind her man," Segal says. When Smart failed to live up to his name, Feldon's character tended to giggle it away with an eye roll and an "Oh, Max!"

"That's a little dated for today," Segal says. "99 is a little more kick-(butt) and tougher, more emancipated. She's more the female James Bond, teaching him the ropes."

Krall, Bublé win National Jazz Awards

Diana Krall and Michael Bublé were named best vocalists at the National Jazz Awards, Canada's sixth annual gathering to honour jazz musicians.

Krall, whose From This Moment On was released in 2006, won female vocalist of the year and international musician of the year.

Bublé took home the male vocalist award at the ceremony at Toronto's Palais Royale on Tuesday.

Dionne Taylor and David Clayton Thomas were the designated co-hosts of the jazz awards ceremony, with performances scheduled by Oliver Jones, John Nugent, Jim Galloway, Hugh Fraser, Peter Appleyard and young singer Sophie Berkel.

Hilario Duran, a Cuban-born jazz musician who teaches at Toronto's acclaimed jazz faculty at Humber College in Toronto, won best Latin jazz artist, and his Hilario Duran Latin Jazz Band, formed in 2005, was named best big band.

Phil Nimmons won two awards, as best clarinetist and best arranger.

Montreal pianist Jones's One More Time was named jazz album of the year. One More Time was made last year after he came out of a much-publicized retirement.

The Murley/Braid Quartet, featuring Mike Murley on tenor saxophone and David Braid on piano, won the honours for best acoustic band after a tour that took them across Canada in 2006. Braid also earned the award for best composer and Murley was named best saxophonist.

National Jazz Awards 2007

Electric band Nick Ali's Electryc Trio
Musician Don Thompson
Drummer Terry Clark
Bassist George Koller
Guitarist Reg Schwager
Keyboardist Robi Botos
Violinist Anne Lindsay
Instrumentalist Don Thompson
Trumpeter Guido Basso

Cherry to make U.S. debut on NBC

NEW YORK - Don Cherry is bringing his loud mouth and louder outfits south of the border.

The outspoken former coach of the Boston Bruins, who has been a fixture on CBC's "Hockey Night In Canada' telecasts for more than 25 years, will make his U.S. broadcasting debut as part of NBC's Stanley Cup playoff telecasts, the network announced Tuesday.

"A lot of people have written that what I say up here I would never get away with it down in the States," said Cherry, the Bruins' coach from the 1974-75 season until the 1978-79 campaign. "I'll just go on and do what I have to do.

"In the States, they wanted me to go on one time in Pittsburgh. Jaromir Jagr, it was when he had long hair and he was with Mario Lemieux and I said, 'There's Mario and his daughter.' It didn't go over too good. That was my last time in the States."

Cherry will be teamed with Brett Hull, the never-shy former player who is in his first season with NBC.

"Better get some plaids," Cherry said.

Hull will also to contribute to CBC's coverage in Canada.

"He tells it like it is," Hull said of Cherry. "If they did it on a regular basis, he would be just as popular down here as he is up there. Part of the thing that's missing, not with just hockey, but in all coverage in the American sports world, is some personality. I think that's why you see a guy like Terry Bradshaw, as popular as he is.

"He's not just Mr. P.C., going, 'That was a nice catch and throw.'"

Lifetime to grant 'Wish' for Sackhoff

"Battlestar Galactica" star Katee Sackhoff is starring in the tentatively titled telefilm "Be Careful What You Wish For," which is set to air on Lifetime in the U.S. and on CH Television in Canada.

The two-hour movie, from Blueprint Entertainment, is set in a small town in the 1990s. Sackhoff will star as Sara Jacob, a teenager who has had a crush on one of her classmates since preschool. But when an eclipse lands the unsuspecting teens at their wedding almost 20 years in the future, neither of them is prepared for what adulthood has in store.

Also starring in the movie, which just wrapped production, are Sage Brocklebank ("Psych"), Kim Poirier ("Dawn of the Dead") and Tommy Lioutas ("Whistler"). "Careful" is set to air July 16 on Lifetime.

"Careful," filmed on location in Regina and Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, was produced by Blueprint with local producer Stephen Onda Prods. The companies produced the TV movie "Intimate Stranger."

Executive producers for Blueprint are John Morayniss, Noreen Halpern and Ira Pincus. Onda and Blueprint vp production and development Bernard Bourret are producing. The director is David Winkler, and the writers are Nancey Silvers and Ron Fassler.

Sackhoff also is guest-starring on the pilot for NBC's "The Bionic Woman" -- a reimagining of the 1970s series that centers on Jamie Sommers (Michelle Ryan), a woman who is turned into a walking technological miracle after a car crash -- as Sarah, an evil bionic woman and nemesis to Sommers. The news follows the recent apparent demise of Sackhoff's "Battlestar" character, Starbuck.

Sackhoff is repped by Diverse Talent Group and manager Jamie Freed at the Collective.

Harvey Is Mad!!

Harvey Weinstein is so disappointed in the $11.6 million opening weekend gross for "Grindhouse" - the three-hour-plus double-feature directed by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez - he's considering re-releasing each film, "Death Proof" and "Planet Terror," separately in longer versions, the way they'll play in foreign markets and on DVD.

"I don't think people understood what we were doing," Weinstein told The New York Post's Page Six.

"The audience didn't get the idea that it is two movies for the price of one. I don't understand the math, but I want to accommodate the audience." He said the main deterrent to ticket buyers is the length, which "becomes a time commitment."

Sneak peek: King Shrek returns in May

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - Time to catch up with your ogre friend Shrek, his greenish bride, Fiona, and their two men Friday, the yammering Donkey and the overreaching Puss in Boots.

The filmmakers behind "Shrek the Third" offered a sneak peek at their PDI-DreamWorks animation complex near San Francisco. From the 20 minutes of footage they showed, the film looks likely to meet expectations as one of summer's hottest tickets.

Key voice stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas return, with Justin Timberlake headlining the newcomers as geeky teenager Artie.

"You feel you've got a lot to live up to, man," Timberlake said about being the new kid on the block in the Shrek world. "Every character is so good. When you come into `Shrek,' you definitely feel you have a lot to prove."

The gang is joined by a gargantuan cast as the filmmakers take advantage of advances in computer animation to load up on supporting players, among them magician Merlin, Captain Hook, wicked witches, ugly stepsisters and four of the fairy-tale world's fairest princesses.

Here's a rundown of the players and their exploits for the film that hits theaters May 18:

WHAT'S HAPPENING: Just when newlyweds Shrek and Fiona thought they could head home to peace and quiet in the swamp, Fiona's dad, the frog King Harold, croaks.

On his deathbed, he asks son-in-law Shrek to take over the throne of Far Far Away, a job the ogre dreads. Shrek's only option: track down Fiona's distant cousin Artie and groom him to become king.

So Shrek and sidekicks Donkey and Puss sail away to find Artie, the future King Arthur. Just as they leave, Fiona drops another bomb on her anti-social, kid-hating husband: There's a little ogre on the way.

Fiona stays behind at the palace, where Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Rapunzel throw her a baby shower. The gifts include one of the seven dwarfs as a live-in baby sitter ("Don't worry," Snow White tells Fiona. "I have six more at home.").

Palace life is interrupted by an invasion of fairy-tale villains, led by Prince Charming, whose happy-ever-after was dashed by Shrek in the first two films. The prince takes over the realm, forcing Fiona to teach her posse of pampered princesses to stand up for themselves rather than wait for a man to rescue them.

"A big part of this film is just the theme of taking responsibility, be it fatherhood or kingship or whatever," said Nick Walker, head of layout on the animation team for "Shrek the Third."

WHO'S BACK: The whole gang returns, led by the key foursome of Shrek (Myers), Donkey (Murphy), Fiona (Diaz) and Puss in Boots (Banderas).

Shrek's still barking at everyone in his Scottish brogue, though married life brings out his softer side more and more.

"What I love about the Scottish people, which is part of my heritage, is they go from, `I love you, come here,' to `You get out of my house!'" Myers said. "Scottish people are hilarious when they're angry. They shift gears so fast."

Also back: Fiona's mom, Queen Lillian ( Julie Andrews, who in a dizzy moment hums "My Favorite Things," a tune she sang in "The Sound of Music"); King Harold ( John Cleese); villainous Prince Charming ( Rupert Everett); and ugly stepsister Doris (Larry King).

It wouldn't be a "Shrek" movie without all those goofy bit players, including the three little pigs, Pinocchio and the Gingerbread Man. The minor characters were so much fun, the filmmakers said they had to reign them in or they might have taken over.

"Gingey tries to steal the show," said "Shrek the Third" co-director Raman Hui.

WHO'S NEW: The main new face is Arthur Pendragon, or Artie (Timberlake), a bumbling teen who's first seen getting his butt kicked by jock Lancelot in a jousting match at his high school.

When Shrek, Donkey and Puss arrive with the news that Artie's in line to become a king, it swells his head after a lifetime spent a rung lower on the social scale than the school dorks who play a medieval variation of Dungeons and Dragons.

"He doesn't know anything but kind of being a loser," Timberlake said. "When he finds out through his blood line that he's heir to the throne, he thinks, I can do this. But when he realizes what type of responsibility it is, his natural instinct is to run away."

Timberlake, whose poster appears as a gag on Fiona's bedroom wall in "Shrek 2," recently split in real life from Diaz, but it was not their personal relationship that led to the "Shrek the Third" gig. The filmmakers rang him up after catching Timberlake on "Saturday Night Live."

"We had seen him on `SNL' and were blown away by how funny he was," said "Shrek the Third" producer Aron Warner. "He's got a great presence and a great voice and is clearly funny, so he's going to help us make this character what he needed to be."

Shrek, Donkey and Puss also run across magician Merlin ( Eric Idle), who used to be a teacher at Artie's school until he had a nervous breakdown.

Other newcomers include the quartet of princesses, haughty Snow White ( Amy Poehler); long-haired Rapunzel ( Maya Rudolph); obsessive clean freak Cinderella ( Amy Sedaris); and narcoleptic Sleeping Beauty ( Cheri Oteri).

Regis Philbin joins the voice cast as Mabel, another ugly stepsister, while Captain Hook, seen briefly singing a Tom Waits song in "Shrek 2," advances to a speaking role, with vocals by Ian McShane.

There are hordes of others, from palace flunkies to medieval Valley Girls to a Wicked Witch singing Charlene's sappy 1980s hit "I've Never Been to Me" as a torch song.

It was a juggling act for the filmmakers, with so many new and returning characters competing for screen time. They stuck to one principle to balance it all.

"Shrek is going to drive the story. That is our goal from day one," said Chris Miller, who moves up from head of story on the last movie to make his directing debut on "Shrek the Third."

"When you have all these characters, a lot of them you want to spend a lot of time with. They're interesting. They all have a place in this film. But at the end of the day, it's supporting Shrek's story."

WHAT'S BETTER:

With three more years of refinements to computer animation, what isn't better about "Shrek the Third"?

The 350 people who worked on the film created more realistic fire and water images, developed ways to mimic how light behaves in the real world and even simulated the slightly seasick oscillations of live-action shipboard scenes, where the camera lags just a tick behind the rocking of the waves.

They scrapped the basic computer models of Shrek and other lead characters they had worked with since the first movie and rebuilt them from inside out to take advantage of the subtler anatomy now possible. The filmmakers had to resist the urge to make external improvements so they could remain true to the look of the original film.

"We had a lot of work to try to make the characters look the same. Be better, but look the same," said Lucia Modesto, one of the film's character technical-direction supervisors. "The motor inside Shrek is all brand-new. The outside is almost the same."

Greater variation in hair styles, body types, facial features and clothing allowed the team to bring in far more characters and present huge crowd scenes.

"In the past, we had issues where our hero characters looked great because we spent so much time on them, but the generic characters, the secondaries, didn't look quite so good, to the point where on `Shrek 1' we tried to stay away from them," said visual-effects supervisor Philippe Gluckman. "Now they all look great."

The advances are a bit daunting to the actors, who jokingly wonder if they could be replaced in live-action films by computer simulations.

"It makes me shake in my pants," Banderas said. "Someday, they may not need actors anymore. That's why I'm going to Broadway, man."

Former Smith boyfriend father of infant

NASSAU, Bahamas - Anna Nicole Smith's former boyfriend Larry Birkhead said Tuesday that DNA tests have proven he is the father of her infant daughter.

Birkhead emerged from a closed court hearing to announce the results. Smith's companion, Howard K. Stern, has been caring for the girl, Dannielynn, who could inherit a fortune in the wake of her mother's February death.

After the hearing, Stern said he would not fight for custody.

An expert in genetic evidence said the DNA analysis has proven Birkhead is Dannielynn's father. Dr. Michael Baird, who analyzed the results of a March 21 DNA test, announced the results outside the court. "Essentially, he's the biological father," Baird said.

A jubilant Birkhead said "My baby's going to be coming home pretty soon."

Coming soon: Mr. Bean the game

That bumbling, loveable Mr. Bean is getting his own video game. Blast! Entertainment has confirmed that Tiger Aspect Productions will be developing the game for them.

The PlayStation 2 title will be a 3D adventure with Mr. Bean on the hunt for his missing Teddy. The title will focus on problem solving tasks.

Played by legendary comedian Rowan Atkinson, the child-like character has had a live action and television series as well as a feature movie entitled ‘Bean’ in North America. A new Mr. Bean movie, ‘Mr. Bean's Holiday’, will be released in North America this August.

Phil Spector readies defence

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The defence in Phil Spector's murder trial will portray gunshot victim Lana Clarkson as despondent about her finances and acting career and possibly contemplating suicide just before she met the record producer, documents filed Monday showed.

Defence lawyers submitted motions arguing Clarkson's mental state and use of drugs before her death at Spector's mansion are central to the trial and should not be excluded as evidence.

The motions were submitted in advance of a hearing set for Tuesday. Jury selection resumes April 16.

Clarkson was shot Feb. 3, 2003, in the foyer of Spector's suburban Alhambra, Calif., home. Best known for her role in the 1980s cult film "Barbarian Queen," she was a nightclub hostess at the time of her death.

Prosecutors allege Spector - creator of the "Wall of Sound" that revolutionized the recording of rock music - shot Clarkson dead. The coroner's office called it a homicide but also noted Clarkson had gunshot residue on both of her hands and may have pulled the trigger.

Spector has pleaded not guilty and has suggested the shooting was an accident.

Defence lawyers quoted from e-mails written by the actress in the months before her death.

"I am truly at the end of this whole deal. I am going to tidy my affairs and chuck it...," she wrote in an e-mail to an unidentified friend, accepting an offer to borrow US$200 on Dec. 8, 2002, the motion said.

The message said she would probably lose the cottage she had been renting in Los Angeles's Venice area and explained she was e-mailing rather than using the telephone because "this way you cannot hear my tears."

Shortly after that, Clarkson's mood brightened when she won a role in a play to portray Marilyn Monroe.

She called it "one of the best parts I've ever been offered," the documents show.

The motion says that between Jan. 10, 2003 and the date of her death she was fired from the play.

Lawyer Robert Blasier, who authored the 18-page motion, said the prosecution wants to "eliminate the core issue" of the defence by asking to exclude evidence regarding Clarkson's character and state of mind.

Deputy district attorney Alan Jackson filed a motion last week to stop the defence from launching character attacks on Clarkson. He also sought to exclude an unfinished memoir found in Clarkson's computer, as well as film clips that show her handling guns.

"We can certainly understand why the prosecution would want to litigate away one of the central issues in this case under the guise that the people just want to protect the memory of Lana Clarkson," Blasier said.

He said there should have been a "psychological autopsy" of Clarkson by the coroner's office.

New CD Releases, April 10: Bright Eyes, Grinderman, Blonde Redhead

Bright Eyes "Cassadaga"

Bright Eyes, the indie-rock band led by acclaimed songwriter Conor Oberst, returns with its first full-length batch of new songs since simultaneously releasing two discs--"Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" and "I'm Awake, It's Morning"--back in 2005.

Oberst was aided on "Cassadaga" by a cast of players that included regular band members Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott as well as such special guests as Gillian Welch, Janet Weiss (formerly of Sleater-Kinney) and Ben Kweller.

Oberst and crew will support the new set with a North American tour that begins April 22 in Milwaukee, WI and continues into June.

* * *
Grinderman "Grinderman"

Don't recognize the name? Well, fans of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds should definitely recognize the sound. Grinderman is the side project of Cave and a few Seeds (drummer Jim Sclavunos, bassist Martyn Casey and violinist Warren Ellis).

The Grinderman release is just one facet of what should be a pretty busy year for Cave and his fellow musicians. Also in the works is the Aug. 26 release of Cave and the Seeds' first DVD, "God is in the House." That band is also planning a short tour of North America, currently scheduled to stretch from June 16 to 25.

* * *
Blonde Redhead "23"

No. 23 turned out to be a pretty lucky numeral for Michael Jordan. We'll see if the number pans out as well for this rock trio of vocalist Kazu Makino and Italian twins Simone and Amedeo Pace.

This is the seventh studio album for the group--which performed last month at the South by Southwest music conference in Austin, TX--and its first since 2004's "Misery is a Butterfly."

* * *
DJ Tiesto "Elements of Life"

The electronic music star is back with a follow-up to 2004's "Just Be." The DJ, who is well known for his work in the trance genre, enlisted vocalists BT and Faithless' Maxi Jazz to help out on "Elements of Life."

* * *
Martin Short "Fame Becomes Me"

The gifted comedian, who came to fame as a cast member on "Saturday Night Live," delivers the soundtrack to his hit Broadway comedy/musical. "Fame Becomes Me" features original music from the composer/lyricist behind the mega-successful show "Hairspray."

* * *
Other new releases:
Brother Ali, "The Undisputed Truth" (Rhymesayers)
Chayanne, "Mi Tiempo" (Sony)
The Clark Sisters, "Live One Last Time" (EMI)
Cocorosie, "The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn" (Touch and Go)
Mark Farina, "House of Om" (Om)
Hell Yeah, "Hell Yeah" (Sony)
Bob James, "Angels of Shanghai" (Koch)
Brenda Lee, "Gospel Duets with Treasured Friends" (Reunion)
MiG, "MiG" (Decca)
Scott Miller and the Commonwealth, "Reconstruction" (Sugarhill)
Nekromantix, "Life Is a Grave and I Dig It" (Hellcat)
Sandi Patty, "Falling Forward" (Sony)
Laura Veirs, "Saltbreakers" (Nonesuch)
VNV Nation, "Judgement" (Metropolis)
Wonder Pets!, "Wonder Pets!" (Nick)

Rock all-stars remake Sgt. Pepper's for anniversary tribute

Some of the U.K.'s most popular rock bands are set to remake the iconic Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band this spring.

The BBC has enlisted a host of hit musical acts — including Oasis, The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Travis, Razorlight and James Morrison — for the project, which will pay tribute to the album's upcoming 40th anniversary.

Over the years, the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has topped several best album lists.

"This will be not only a unique radio event, but a very special musical moment," Lesley Douglas, controller of BBC Radio Two, said in an interview with BBC News.

Douglas also said that the new versions "will be a fitting tribute to one of the great albums of all time."

The bands are participating in recording sessions with BBC Radio Two, with the tribute to air June 2.

Geoff Emerick, the original engineer who recorded the Sgt. Pepper's album in 1967, is also taking part.

He will record the new cover album with the same equipment he used for the Fab Four's original at London's famed Abbey Road Studios.

Released June 1, 1967, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was the eighth album from the Beatles.

With songs like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, When I'm Sixty-Four, A Day in the Life and With a Little Help from My Friends, it was an instant hit and grew to become one of the band's most influential albums and has often topped critical lists of the greatest albums of all time.

The album's cover art — which featured a collage depicting the band in costume alongside with images of Karl Marx, Bob Dylan, W.C. Fields, Marlene Dietrich, Edgar Allen Poe, Marilyn Monroe and dozens of other famous figures — also gained acclaim. Aside from being enshrined on a British stamp, it has been parodied by everyone from Frank Zappa to MAD magazine to The Simpsons.

NBC Bounces 'Barker' to Saturday

Given the underwhelming ratings it's earned in its few weeks on the air, "Andy Barker, P.I." was probably a longshot for renewal next year anyway. But that shot just got longer.

NBC has bumped "Andy" from its Thursday schedule this week and moved the show's final two episodes to the barren wasteland that is Saturday night network primetime. The remaining two episodes of the show will air back-to-back at 8 p.m. ET Saturday, April 14.

"Scrubs" will take over "Andy's" 9:30 p.m. time period a week earlier than originally planned. The veteran hospital comedy is switching spots with "30 Rock" for a few weeks and will move back to 9 p.m. in early May.

If there's any positive news in the "Andy Barker" move, it's that all six produced episodes will now air on the network. NBC had initially scheduled only five for air, with the sixth, "The Lady Varnishes," slated to appear only on the network's web site.

The first three episodes of "Andy Barker," which stars Andy Richter as a CPA-turned-private eye, averaged about 5.2 million viewers. Those numbers give the show, which earned a fair share of critical praise, the unwelcome distinction of being NBC's lowest-rated series this season.

Apple sells 100 million iPods

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc. has sold its 100 millionth iPod in just over five years, boasting on Monday that the digital device was "the fastest selling music player in history" that appeals to both young and old.

Since its November 2001 launch, the portable music player has become the must-have gadget worldwide, with Apple introducing more than 10 new models to incorporate changing technology such as the ability to record and play videos, hold photos, and with more varied, fashionable colors.

"iPod has helped millions of people around the world rekindle their passion for music, and we're thrilled to be a part of that," Apple's COE Steve Jobs said in a statement.

Apple said its iTunes online music store has sold more than 2.5 billion songs, 50 million television shows and more than 1.3 million movies.

The market-leading iPod has taken over from the original portable audio player with headphones, or the Walkman, that was launched by Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). in 1979.

Grammy Award-winning singer Mary I. Blige said it was hard to remember life before the pocket-sized iPod.

"iPod is more than just a music player, it's an extension of your personality and a great way to take your favorite music with you everywhere you go," she said in a statement.

Current versions of the iPod are priced at about $249 and are no longer just ubiquitous among urban teenagers.

A survey of 100 people aged 99 years and older released earlier this month by U.S. health care co-ordinator Evercare found four percent of respondents had listened to music on an iPod.

The iPod has also sparked a vast range of over 4,000 accessories varying from cases to speaker systems and more than 70 percent of 2007-model U.S. cars offer iPod connectivity.

The iPod has become so commonplace that one of Australia's biggest banks, the Commonwealth Bank, has used a recent version -- the slimline Nano -- to compare global currencies and purchasing power in 26 countries, similar to the Big Mac index launched 20 years ago by The Economist magazine.

Sopranos finale begins on downbeat note

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - And so begins the last dance of the wiseguys. HBO's "The Sopranos" has been one of television's true monuments, a masterpiece of grand artistic vision and extraordinary performance.

Part of its legacy will certainly be its glorious inconsistency, which one can also see as experimentation -- like the episode last season during which Tony Soprano ( James Gandolfini) imagined his life as an everyday salesman during a protracted dream sequence as he hovered between life and death with a gunshot wound.

Creator David Chase has never stopped pushing the creative envelope, and he isn't about to start now as the show launches its final nine (really this time) episodes that cap eight years of some of the most memorable drama we're ever likely to see on this or any other planet.

That the opening two stanzas supplied for review carry an especially bittersweet, downbeat edge should surprise us not at all. Chase and Co. are lulling us into a state of complacency. Everything's winding down, you see. But I don't trust it, and neither should you. This series has proved expert at screwing with our heads, and already I'm feeling screwed with anew. The early point of this swan song seems to be that these people are walking, talking anachronisms who don't seem to yet realize that their time has passed. That naivete is poised to tango with the usual dark comedy as "Sopranos" shuffles off into the sunset.

As we pick up this second half of the final season -- I think that's what they're calling it -- Tony still is on the mend from his brush with death after having been shot by the dementia-laden Uncle Junior ( Dominic Chianese). But the opening hour is eerily quiet, one that leaves us quivering with anxiety. Tony and wife Carmela ( Edie Falco) accompany his embattled sister Janice ( Aida Turturro) and henpecked brother-in-law Bobby (Steven R. Schirripa) on a weekend retreat to the Adirondacks that's filled with Monopoly, karaoke -- and one memorable interfamilial brawl. Also in the mix now is the ongoing preoccupation of Tony's nephew Christopher ( Michael Imperioli) with Hollywood and his new mob-funded slasher movie, for which he unsuccessfully tried to recruit Ben Kingsley.

That engrossing first hour is brilliantly low key, written by Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider, Matthew Weiner and Chase and directed by Tim Van Patten. In the second hour (airing April 15, penned by Terence Winter and directed by Alan Taylor), Tony is suddenly disturbed that a character based on him behaves like such a thug in Christopher's flick. And as this plays out, there's the inglorious death of the once-volatile Johnny Sack (Vincent Curatola) from cancer while in prison. It features a sprightly turn by director Sydney Pollack as an orderly convicted of murdering his wife and others.

Both episodes seem to set an especially gloomy tone, one that appears to be Chase's way of setting us up for the inevitable "crime doesn't pay, look what happens to all of these poor saps" message. But again, if we have learned anything from this man and this show, it is that we should be braced to expect the unexpected.

"Sopranos" looks to be taking us on one of its darkest journeys yet en route to the finish line, setting a tantalizing table for the forthcoming climax.

Johnny Hart, 'B.C.' creator, dies at 76

ALBANY, N.Y. - Cartoonist Johnny Hart, whose award-winning "B.C." comic strip appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers worldwide, has died. He was 76.

Hart died Saturday while working at his home in Endicott.

"He had a stroke," his wife, Bobby, said Sunday. "He died at his storyboard."

"B.C.," populated by prehistoric cavemen and dinosaurs, was launched in 1958 and eventually appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers with an audience of 100 million, according to Creators Syndicate Inc., which distributes it.

"He was generally regarded as one of the best cartoonists we've ever had," Hart's friend Mell Lazarus, creator of the "Momma" and "Miss Peach" comic strips, said from his California home. "He was totally original. 'B.C' broke ground and led the way for a number of imitators, none of which ever came close."

After he graduated from Union-Endicott High School, Hart met Brant Parker, a young cartoonist who became a prime influence and co-creator with Hart of the "Wizard of Id" comic strip.

Hart enlisted in the Air Force and began producing cartoons for Pacific Stars and Stripes. He sold his first freelance cartoon to the Saturday Evening Post after his discharge from the military in 1954.

He won numerous awards for his work, including the National Cartoonist Society's prestigious Reuben Award twice for Cartoonist of the Year.

Later in his career, some of Hart's cartoons had religious themes, a reflection of his own Christian faith. That sometimes led to controversy.

A strip published on Easter in 2001 drew protests from Jewish groups and led several newspapers to drop the strip. The cartoon depicted a menorah transforming into a cross, with accompanying text quoting some of Jesus Christ's dying words. Critics said it implied that Christianity supersedes Judaism.

Hart said he intended the strip as a tribute to both faiths.

"He had such an emphasis on kindness, generosity, and patience," said Richard Newcombe, founder and president of Creators Syndicate in Los Angeles.

Newcombe said Hart was the first cartoonist to sign on when the syndicate was created 20 years ago. "Traditionally, comic strips were owned by syndicates," Newcombe said. "We were different because we allowed cartoonists to own their own work. It was because of Johnny's commitment to this idea that made us a success."

Newcombe said "B.C." and "Wizard of Id" would continue. Family members have been helping produce the strips for years, and they have an extensive computer archive of Hart's drawings to work with, he said.

When "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz died in 2000, United Media, which held the rights to the strip featuring Charlie Brown and Snoopy, started running old panels of the cartoon.

Besides his wife, Hart is survived by two daughters, Patti and Perri. He was a native of Endicott, about 135 miles northwest of New York City, and drew his comic strip at a studio in his home there until the day he died.

A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the Nineveh Presbyterian Church.

Hoser mania is back, eh?

HOLLYWOOD -- Coo Roo Coo Coo Coo Coo Coo Coo!

It's been quite a while since we've heard the immortal call of the "Great White North," but that's about to change as Bob and Doug McKenzie get ready to celebrate a significant anniversary.

True, their movie, Strange Brew was released in 1983, but why wait until 2008 to commemorate 25 years when there's a perfectly good two-four sitting in front of them right now.

Refusing to let that, uh, Golden opportunity slip away, Toronto-based producer Jane Welowszky has been in Hollywood doing interviews for Bob & Doug's Two-Four Anniversary, a one-hour special slated to air on CBC this summer in which Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas reunite to play the beloved McKenzie Brothers for what could be the very last time.

Among those Welowszky has filmed so far, sharing their fondest Bob & Doug memories, are Ben Stiller, Martin Short, Jason Priestly, Paul Dooley (who was one of the Strange Brew cast members), The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Dave Foley, Tom Green, Mad TV's Will Sasso and hockey great Mark Napier.

"Ben Stiller had lined up with his mother, Anne Meara, when he was just a kid, waiting three hours to get their autograph at Sam Goody Records at Rockefeller Center," says Welowszky, who heads up a production company called Me Jane Films.

"Everyone has a story or an anecdote since the McKenzies really touched a lot of lives."

She's hoping one of those willing to share will also include Demi Moore who had actually auditioned for Strange Brew but ended up losing the role (of Pam Elsinore) to Canadian actress Lynne Griffin.

In the course of her travels, Welowszky is also looking to snag some of the politicians who at the time felt that Bob and Doug were harmful to the Canadian image.

While a firm date has yet to be locked in, Welowszky anticipates CBC will agree to May 19, the kick-off to the Victoria Day long weekend, which also happens to be the unofficial start of two-four season.

A special edition Strange Brew DVD is slated to come out in the fall, which will also likely contain some of the recently shot footage.

As aficionados will tell you, "Great White North" took off back in 1980 when SCTV was mandated by the government to fill two minutes of each program with what would be considered strictly Canadian content.

The ensuing Hosermania had become a bit of a mixed blessing for Moranis and Thomas over the years, but absence has clearly made their hearts grow fonder. Their toques have been recreated for the occasion as has the memorable GWN set.

"When Bob and Doug left SCTV the original set was basically thrown out," says Welowszky.

"We found a guy who used to work for the show and he rescued it from the dumpster and now it's in his basement in Toronto so he and his buddies can sit around drinking beer in front of the "Great White North" set."

Among plans to promote the upcoming special is an on-line Canadian Hoser competition ("like Canadian Idol but really different, eh?").

Beyond the big Two-Four, development continues on the long-in-gestation The Animated Adventures of Bob & Doug, a half-hour series that would air in the Simpsons/King of the Hill time slot.

"As Dave says, he looks better animated now," says Welowszky.

"He'll have a long shelf-life that way."

Beauty, eh?

Springsteen Steals The Show At Springsteen Tribute

Twenty artists paid tribute to the music of Bruce Springsteen at New York's Carnegie Hall Thursday night (April 5), but it was the man himself who stole the show with a surprise performance. The lineup for the third in a continuing series of fundraisers for Music For Youth featured Odetta, Steve Earle, Ronnie Spector and Patti Smith, who sang the Springsteen-penned number that earned her a top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hit, "Because the Night."

Prior to the Boss' appearance, the evening comprised several memorable performances, including stark acoustic readings of "Born in the U.S.A." and "Dancing in the Dark" by Joseph Arthur and Pete Yorn, respectively; a passionate "Streets of Fire" by Elysian Fields; and an infectiously charged "Atlantic City" by the Hold Steady.

When Springsteen, acoustic guitar and harmonica in hand, arrived on stage just after the anticipated last act had exited, the crowd leapt to its feet, remaining there for nearly 30 minutes. Springsteen opened with some thoughts on the evening up to that point, noting how it was both "lovely and harrowing" to see his songs performed, and making special mention of Odetta, who he said "just did the greatest version of '57 Channels' I ever heard."

He then launched into an inspired version of "The Promised Land," his gruff voice sounding closer than ever to Bob Dylan's.

From there it was into fan-favorite "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)." But Springsteen interrupted it barely halfway through to joke that the song "was too damn long." A humorous nutshell-summary of his career followed, culminating with, "And then people came to New York City from miles around -- well, from the tri-state area, at least -- to hear his songs," drawing jubilant applause.

After closing the abridged "Rosalita," Springsteen called all the performers back to the stage for a group sing-along, this time for the complete, seven-minute "Rosalita." The Boss instructed they "trash the hell out of the thing," but it proved a rousing finish.

Charles Feldman, Music For Youth's chairman, said the benefit raised "well over" $100,000 for MFY. Meanwhile, the event's producer, Michael Dorf, revealed that the next MFY benefit is slated for Oct. 10, though the honoree is still to be named.

'Personal Issues' Upend Fall Out Boy Tour

Fall Out Boy has postponed the start of its stint on the Honda Civic Tour due to undisclosed "personal issues." The trek was to begin April 18 in Charlotte, N.C., but has now been pushed back to May 11 in Denver. The lone date that has been canceled is May 1 in Sacramento, Calif.; refunds are available at points of purchase.

"Unfortunately, because of some personal issues we had to delay the tour a few weeks," Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz says in a statement. "We want to put on the best possible show we can and know that this extra couple of weeks will give us the time to put ourselves in the right place to put on the best show we can."

The tour, which will also feature rapper Paul Wall and rock outfits Cobra Starship, +44 and The Academy Is..., will now conclude July 2 in Anaheim, Calif.

Wentz told Billboard.com in an earlier interview that in addition to playing the hits and pumping its latest Island album, "Infinity on High," the quartet plans to play songs from its catalog that have never been performed live, as well as re-arranged versions of other tracks and covers. "It'll be right back to Michael Jackson, probably," he said of the latter. "I'd say expect Jackson 5 or 'Beat It' or something like that."

"Infinity on High" is the No. 4 top-selling release of the year so far, according to Nielsen SoundScan, having shifted 695,000 units.

HBO comedy 'Entourage' is one sweet treat

There's something to be said for a well-made trifle.

Indeed, a near total absence of profundity and pretension is one of the joys of Entourage. A meandering comic soap about life among Hollywood's idle rich and famous, Entourage doesn't push as hard to impress, or to break through TV's boundaries, as most HBO series do. And it is the better for it.

Just because the series isn't deep, however, doesn't mean it's vapid. In its own understated way, Entourage is a kind of comedy of bad manners, an anti-morality play in which victory almost always goes to the least deserving.

At the top of that list is Vince (Adrian Grenier), a star to whom more than his share of good things flow. At the temporary bottom is Ari (Jeremy Piven), a still-successful agent who has lost Vince as a client and fears he may be losing the sharpest part of his edge.

Ari's goal as the show launches into the second half of its season? Get Vince back and regain the evil joy he takes in firing people and insulting the staff.

The plus side of Ari's search for non-redemption, aside from the opportunities it provides Piven for a wider range of rants, is that it makes room for a new agent in Vince's life: Amanda, played by the always enticing Carla Gugino. There's obvious sexual tension between the two, and just as obviously, there's only one direction in which that tension is going to lead.

The crisis is built around Vince's search for a new film. Amanda wants him to do an Edith Wharton movie. But Vince and Eric (Kevin Connolly) still long to do the much-discussed Medellin. And Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and Drama (Kevin Dillon) continue their hunt to bed every brain-free woman in Hollywood.

Plot matters less than the trappings of success. Yet underneath all that geniality is the strain that comes from knowing your hold on the trappings is tenuous.

Piven justifiably grabs much of the attention, but the entire cast is worthy of praise, starting with Grenier as the not-as-guileless-as-he-seems Vince. And has any sitcom ever put forth a more believable picture of a deluded hanger-on than Dillon's Drama?

So indulge. Entourage, after all, is all about Hollywood, and indulgence is what Hollywood is all about.

Ex-Kiss guitarist Mark St. John dies

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Former Kiss guitarist Mark St. John died Thursday from an apparent brain hemorrhage. He was 51.

Born Mark Norton in Hollywood, St. John was Kiss' third official guitarist, having replaced Vinnie Vincent -- the substitute for Ace Frehley -- in 1984.

By this point, Kiss had done away with its trademark makeup and costumes, but the group was enjoying a career renaissance. The lone Kiss album on which St. John appeared, "Animalize," re-established the group as one of the world's top arena metal bands. The album spawned the popular MTV video, "Heaven's on Fire" (the only Kiss video to feature St. John).

St. John's flashy playing reflected the era's Van Halen-influenced rock guitarists, but it certainly helped spark the material on "Animalize," which many fans consider one of Kiss' strongest non-makeup releases. However, right around the time Kiss was to launch a worldwide tour in support of the album, St. John was diagnosed with a form of arthritis called Reiter's Syndrome, which caused his hands and arms to swell, and prevented him from playing guitar.

Guitarist Bruce Kulick filled in (St. John did manage to play one full show with the group, and portions of a few others) and eventually replaced St. John as Kiss' permanent guitarist.

His medical condition improved after leaving Kiss, and St. John launched a pop/metal outfit, White Tiger, with ex-Black Sabbath singer David Donato. St. John briefly teamed up with original Kiss drummer Peter Criss in a group that didn't release any recordings, and appeared as a guest speaker at Kiss conventions. In 2001, he released an all-instrumental album, "Magic Bullet Theory."

"I wish to express my sympathy to Mark St. John's family and friends," Kulick said in a statement. "Though Mark was the guitarist I replaced, I respected his talent and contribution to Kiss."

'Blades' stays on top with $23 million

LOS ANGELES - Movie audiences were more interested in light comedy over Easter weekend than in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's "Grindhouse," a double-feature ode to bloody exploitation flicks.

Paramount and DreamWorks' figure-skating romp "Blades of Glory" remained the No. 1 movie with $23 million, followed for the second weekend by Disney's animated comedy "Meet the Robinsons" with $17 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"Grindhouse," a three-hour reinvention of the down-and-dirty B-movie double features Tarantino and Rodriguez grew up watching, debuted at No. 4 with $11.6 million.

It finished behind Sony's family comedy "Are We Done Yet?", starring Ice Cube in a sequel to "Are We There Yet?", which opened at No. 3 with $15 million.

Released by the Weinstein Co., "Grindhouse" fell well short of expectations. Box-office forecasters had figured the movie would premiere in the ballpark of Tarantino's two "Kill Bill" movies and Rodriguez's "Sin City," whose opening weekends ranged from $22 million to $29 million.

The weak debut for "Grindhouse" was a blow to the Weinstein Co., formed two years ago by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein after they departed their old outfit, Disney-owned Miramax. The "Grindhouse" directors were steady providers for the Weinsteins at Miramax, which released Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" and "Kill Bill" films and Rodriguez's "Spy Kids" movies.

"Grindhouse" presents two full films. Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" features Rose McGowan as a go-go dancer who becomes a zombie fighter with a machine gun for a leg. Tarantino's "Death Proof" stars Kurt Russell as a serial killer who stalks women with his beefed-up car.

"With these two filmmakers' pedigree and the overall cool factor that this film had going for it, you would have figured it would have done a lot more business," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

The movie's running time was an impediment, limiting the number of screenings theaters could fit in.

Harvey Weinstein said disappointing returns for "Grindhouse" resulted from the "novelty in America of releasing a double bill and asking an audience to make a three-hour commitment."

"Grindhouse" played to big crowds on the East and West coasts but failed to click with audiences in the Midwest and South, Weinstein said.

With theatrical receipts, overseas sales, television and home-video revenues, "Grindhouse" will turn a profit on its $53 million budget, Weinstein said. The company hoped that word of mouth from those who did see it would sustain it at theaters in coming weeks, he said.

"If you go see it with any audience, walk into any theater, you'll see people screaming and applauding like a rock concert," Weinstein said. "Maybe we didn't educate the audience that it's such an experience."

Movie-goers clearly were in the mood for something lighter. "Blades of Glory," starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder as skating rivals who team up as the sport's first men's pair, raised its 10-day total to $68.4 million, its receipts dropping a slim 30 percent from opening weekend.

"There's a real hunger out there for something that you can go to and say, 'Hey, let me get away from the terrible things we have to watch and read every day,'" said Marvin Levy, spokesman for DreamWorks, one of the studios behind "Blades of Glory."

"Meet the Robinsons," the animated adventure of a time-traveling orphan boy, also held strongly in its second weekend, raising its 10-day total to $52.2 million.

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. "Blades of Glory," $23 million.
2. "Meet the Robinsons," $17 million.
3. "Are We Done Yet?", $15 million.
4. "Grindhouse," $11.6 million.
5. "The Reaping," $10.1 million.
6. "300," $8.8 million.
7. "Wild Hogs," $6.8 million.
8. "Shooter," $5.8 million.
9. "TMNT," $4.9 million.
10. "Firehouse Dog," $4 million.

The Couch Potato Report - April 6th, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on one of the world's greatest directors, a "classic" Canadian film and more.

Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s - when I was a kid - I loved going to the movies! Yes, in the winter I also played hockey, and baseball was also my summer past time, but all year 'round, I went to the movies.

I have many great childhood memories of sitting in a theatre, with my pop and candy, and being taken to different places around the world through films, and those experiences are one of the reasons why I am as passionate about movies as I am today.

It was at the movies that I got to know the works of some of the world's greatest filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, and Robert Altman.

Especially Altman.

He is a filmmaker who was born on February 20th…and we share a birthday. In 1970 Robert Altman made a movie called MASH, about some doctors in the military...I am sure you've heard of it, it was a huge hit and they even made a long-running TV series about it.

The reason his military movie appealed to me, was because my Dad was in the military, and as a kid who looked up to his father, I was always interested in things that were connected to him.

Robert Altman had great success in the early 1970s, but as the eighties began, that success waned.

However, he had a career renaissance that started in the early 1990s with a spectacular film called THE PLAYER.

And now all eight films that he made, starting with that comeback film, during the remaining years of his life are available in the spectacular eight film box set THE ROBERT ALTMAN BOX.

Those films are THE PLAYER, READY TO WEAR, SHORT CUTS, COOKIE's FORTUNE, DR. T AND THE WOMEN, KANSAS CITY, A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION and the Academy Award winning film GOSFORD PARK.

Of the eight films THE PLAYER, SHORT CUTS and GOSFORD PARK are the classics, but each movie is distinct in it's own way, especially since Altman doesn't seem to waste a single moment on screen, and the diaglogue in each of his movies is not only well written, but the people in his films talk the way people in the real world do.

Their not just characters, they are humans.

THE ROBERT ALTMAN BOX is a great way for you to get to know the work of a master of filmmaking, a man who in 2006 was given an Honorary Academy Award for a career that has repeatedly reinvented the art form and inspired filmmakers and audiences alike.

This BOX SET is available in stores now, and I think you should check it out so you can begin making some cinematic memories of your own...childhood or otherwise.

Yes, let me talk about something other than Hollywood as I recap some other notable releases this week.

A naive barber is the main character in the new-to-DVD "classic" Canadian film HIGHWAY 61.

Don McKellar from TWITCH CITY and THE RED VIOLIN is the aforementioned barber and the film allows us to spend some time with him one summer as he travels down highway 61 with a mysterious red-haired woman who asks him for a ride.

HIGHWAY 61 is a classic in the sense that if you saw it when it first came out in 1991 and loved it, then you will still love it today.

Otherwise, you probably won't get much out of this rock and roll road show.

I am not the world's biggest fan of the film, but I had a great time watching it again on DVD.

I also had a great time watching the latest screen performance from a woman who doesn't act in very many movies these days.

The great Ashley Judd from KISS THE GIRLS, DOUBLE JEOPARDY and DE-LOVELY is back, and she is playing a woman searching for love in COME EARLY MORNING.

This movie is not a classic, but it is a very interesting story about a woman who just can't seem to allow herself to be happy...unless there is alcohol involved.

However, the film does respect it's lead character, and I am happy to report that this isn't your usual "girl meets boy, boy loses girl, boy wants girl back" Hollywood film.

Everything that happens makes sense, and for that reason, and the presense of Ashley Judd, I enjoyed COME EARLY MORNING

I have two other releases to quickly tell you about this morning, the Academy Award winning Best Animated Feature HAPPY FEET has tap danced it's way onto DVD.

If you are looking for a film for the kids the Easter Weekend, this story about a penguin who can't sing, but can dance, will definately entertain the younger ones.

But if you are an adult, this film loses steam at around the 55 minute mark when it goes from an upbeat, very entertaining movie about some dancing and singing penguins, to a message film.

Now I am not saying that there is anything wrong with message films, but when HAPPY FEET starts to preach about saving the world's oceans and protecting teh environment it all just seems out of place...especially in a film about some singing and dancing penguins.

I think kids will enjoy the film from start to finish, but I only enjoyed the first half.

But...for that first 55 minutes HAPPY FEET is a great film and worthy of the Oscar it won.

Finally this week is the three DVD Box Set for part one of season three of the spectacular TV series ENTOURAGE.

This show is about film star Vincent Chase, his group of friends from New York, and his agent who live and work in and around the movie business in Hollywood.

This series features great work by Canadian actress Emmanuelle Chriqui, and Oscar winning filmmaking Canucks James Cameron and Paul Haggis.

ENTOURAGE does a great job of taking us behind the scenes of the movie business, but it does a much better job at allowing us to spend time with four guys who are enjoying life.

Due to it's language and content, ENTOURAGE isn't a series for everyone, but it is a show that I love, and I enjoyed watching this DVD set again this week.

ENTOURAGE - SEASON THREE, PART ONE, the Oscar winning HAPPY FEET, Ashley Judd's COME EARLY MORNING, the "classic" Canadian film HIGHWAY 61, and the eight film DVD set THE ROBERT ALTMAN BOX are all now available on DVD.

Coming up in the next Couch Potato Report

I will talk about the engaing and entertaining CBC series AT THE HOTEL.

Also next week, I will share my thoughts on teh very interesting film CHILDREN OF MEN; the eye opening A CRUDE AWAKENING; and the latest DVD releases of the classic 1980's series MIAMI VICE.

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!

Lucas Still Trying To Sign Connery for Jones Movie

Movie mogul George Lucas refuses to give up on recruiting Sean Connery for the fourth Indiana Jones movie, despite the Scottish star's reluctance to sign on as the adventurer's father.

Connery has been linked to the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie, but insists he's not that interested in reprising his role as Henry Jones from Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade.

That hasn't stopped persistent Lucas, who says, "We're still trying."

In other Indiana Jones casting news, Lucas admits he was stunned when director Steven Spielberg told him he wanted to sign Cate Blanchett as Jones' love interest in the new film.

He tells newspaper USA Today, "That's who my director wanted and I always bow to the wishes of my director. I approved it because she seemed like a good idea. When I met her at the Academy Awards, I told her, 'Hey, you work for me now!'"

Foster's Sexuality Under Attack Again in Gay Magazine

Actress Jodie Foster's sexuality is under attack again - this time from one of America's top gay magazines.

The bold editors of Out have put an image of two models holding masks of Foster and CNN newsman Anderson Cooper over their faces on the cover of the upcoming May issue, over the headline: "The Glass Closet: Why the stars won't come out and play."

The lifestyle magazine's May issue features a list of America's most influential gay men and women, but editors couldn't resist taking a swipe at Foster, who has been the subject of lesbian rumors for years.

According to the editors, the controversial cover image is "a sly commentary on the way that semi-closeted celebrities hide in plain sight." The accompanying article, penned by leading gay writer Michael Musto, sets out to challenge stars like Foster to address the sexuality issue that dogs them, rather than simply avoid the question.

Musto writes, "It's true that stars are free to put up whatever walls they want in order to maintain boundaries with the public."

Meanwhile, entertainment mogul David Geffen tops Out's gay power list.

`Sopranos' star ready for show to end

NEW YORK - The time has come for HBO's "The Sopranos" to be rubbed out. And Michael Imperioli is ready for the end.

The 41-year-old actor returns as Christopher Moltisanti for the final season of the Emmy-winning mob drama, which premieres Sunday (9 p.m. EDT).

"I love the show," Imperioli told AP Radio in a recent interview. "It's gonna be sad to leave it. I think the timing is right to end it."

What's in store for his character?

"I would like to end it in the psychiatric hospital with Uncle Junior," he joked. "It's probably gonna end, I would imagine, not the way people expect."

Imperioli said he hopes Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, won't allow Christopher to take over as mob boss.

"If it ends with me as the boss then what's the point, it's over, right? Then I don't get to enjoy it," he laughed. "I don't have any desires in that how it ends. I mean, I know however it's going to end, it's going to be interesting and appropriate."

He said it would be funny if Christopher's fiancee, Adriana La Cerva (Drea de Matteo), got revenge on him.

"Maybe (she) comes from beyond the grave, makes him a zombie and brings him to the netherworld. I don't know, I always thought he could be killed by Adriana but that's not gonna happen," he said.

Indiana Jones 4 First Trailer Details

George Lucas has been out talking about Indiana Jones 4 again, and it sounds like he hasn’t been watching the same Indy movies we have over the years.

When USA Today asked him if the extremely aged Harrison Ford would be up to all the running it takes to be Dr. Jones he said, “He's not running in any of the movies . He's either on a horse or driving a car or a motorcycle. And he'll play his age in this movie with what's appropriate. The chases are more suspenseful than speedy.”

Huh George? What about the iconic rolling ball scene? Isn’t that nothing but running? Apparently not. “Like the rolling ball in the first film — it's not that he's running that fast, it's that there's a giant ball coming at him.” Yes, it’s that there’s this giant ball coming at him, and then he runs away from it. Indiana Jones is not a fan of being squashed flat. Maybe for this new movie Lucas can just give him CGI legs. Since he can no longer run away, it sounds like Ford is going to get caught and pounded on. George adds that, “he will get beat up, which is a tradition for us."

As for the casting of Cate Blanchett, he says that wasn’t his idea. George says, “That's who my director wanted, and I always bow to the wishes of my director.” Except of course for that time on Star Wars when he took over the movie… nevermind. But he seems happy with Cate as the film’s leading lady.

“Approved it because she seemed like a good idea. When I met her at the Academy Awards , I told her, 'Hey, you work for me now!'"” That’s right Blanchett, and if you don’t behave he’ll replace you with one of the computer animated images of you left over from Lord of the Rings.

This movie can’t really be happening, can it? Lucas still insists it is. CominSoon quotes him as saying that they start shooting in Los Angeles this June and then they’ll take their cameras all over the world to exotic locations. Involved may be some sort of giant waterfall. He even has a plan for the trailer. Lucas says expect the first Indiana Jones 4 trailer in Thanksgiving. It’s a crazy world when even movie trailers have release dates.

'90s 'SNL' Gets Documentary Treatment

NBC has ordered up another documentary on the history of "Saturday Night Live," this time focusing on the show's up-and-down ride through the 1990s.

"Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation" is the third in a series of films about the late-night institution by director-producer Kenneth Bowser. The previous two, focusing on the show's early years and the tribulations of the 1980s, aired in 2005.

"This new 'Saturday Night Live in the '90s' special is funny, dramatic and filled with great clips and new interviews featuring the biggest comedy stars of today," NBC's Rick Ludwin says. "These are the backstage stories that made headlines. For viewers who grew up watching and became fans of 'SNL' in the '90s, this is your night."

As with the past two "SNL" documentaries, "Pop Culture Nation" will be filled with interviews from cast members and writers, including Chris Rock, Mike Myers, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Dana Carvey, Cheri Oteri, Molly Shannon, Jimmy Fallon and Tim Meadows. It will also feature two little-used players from the mid-'90s who have since gone on to much wider fame: Sarah Silverman and David Koechner.

Bowser earned an Emmy nomination in 2005 for the first "SNL" documentary, "Live from New York." He was also nominated last year for a PBS "American Masters" documentary on John Ford and John Wayne.

"Saturday Night Live in the '90s" is scheduled to air Sunday, May 6 on NBC.

Morissette in 'My Humps' spoof

TORONTO (CP) - A cutting parody of the Black Eyed Peas' party song "My Humps" has Alanis Morissette fans howling online.

A spoof music video on sites including Morissette's website and MySpace page has the Ottawa native crooning a slowed-down torch version of the chart-topper and gyrating in a variety of hootchie outfits including short-shorts, a tube top and a tight satin jacket.

The ridiculous clip is attracting cheers from fans across the blogosphere, where pop-culture junkies are delighting in the "Ironic" singer's no-holds-barred critique of the titillating track and singer Fergie's suggestive dance moves.

"The 'My Humps' video is ultra-comic GOLD!" one fan, identified as 31-year-old Julian from Decatur, Ga., writes on Morissette's MySpace page.

"Your video is freakin' hilarious. Maybe u could do Alanis-licious too." adds Kelly, a 30-year-old woman from Texas.

A spokesman for Morissette said the singer was not commenting on why she recorded the song and shot a video, but reports have suggested it was an April Fool's joke for fans.

With call-and-response lyrics including the hypnotic refrain, "My humps, my humps, my humps, my lovely lady lumps," the Black Eyed Peas hit has drawn its fair share of detractors since its release in late 2005.

Slate.com derided the track in a December 2005 posting as "horrifically bad," going on to describe it as "a stunning assemblage of awful ideas." The All Music Guide called it "one of the most embarrassing rap performances of the new millennium."

Still, its catchy melody and suggestive video won it heavy radio and television play last year, and in February "My Humps" won a Grammy for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal.

But it's clear the song still rankles. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 1.5 million people had watched Morissette's goofy cover on Youtube.com.

"HAHA! I like Alanis all over again," dannosaurus says on Youtube.com, identified on his profile as 33-year-old Dan from the United States.

"This is just perfect. Really shows how stupid those lyrics actually are."

-

On the web: http://alanis.com/main.html.

Venture cut, new programs introduced to CBC-TV lineup

CBC-TV has cancelled the award-winning business news and current affairs program Venture, with staff of the venerable series learning of the decision in a meeting Wednesday afternoon.

Venture, the acclaimed performing arts series Opening Night and six other shows will not be returning to the CBC-TV schedule this fall, said Jeff Keay, CBC's head of media relations.

Other cancelled programs are:

Moving On
Country Canada
72 Hours: True Crime
Jozi-H
Hatching, Matching & Dispatching
Rumours

"They've been terrific shows. They've had terrific runs," Keay told CBC Arts Online.

"We see the TV schedule as something in a constant state of evolution," he said, adding that content that had been covered in these programs will "continue in other forms" on the network.

Keay said that for the cancelled shows produced by the CBC, the majority of the staff will be reassigned, but there would be 10 redundancies.

Staff celebrate Venture's 'great legacy'

After the announcement, the show's team headed out to a nearby pub to "drown our sorrows and celebrate the great legacy that Venture leaves," said Dianne Buckner, the show's host and one of its producers.

"We're all very, very sad," said Buckner, who joined Venture as a reporter in 1991 and succeeded Robert Scully as host in 1997.

"We're very proud of the show that we did … It was a fantastic program.”

A mainstay of CBC-TV since its debut in January 1985, Venture shone a weekly spotlight on the worlds of business and enterprise in a way that showed how they affected regular Canadians.

Over the years, the series has counted a host of high-profile media personalities among its staff, beginning with the first host, Patrick Watson, the former co-host and producer of CBC's This Hour Has Seven Days and later chair of the public broadcaster.

Other former Venture reporters and producers include media critic Antonia Zerbisias, Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente and B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor, the well-known former journalist who also served as chair of the CBC.

Venture's latest half-hour series, Dreamers + Schemers, began airing last Sunday during a lunchtime slot on CBC Newsworld. The show will remain on the CBC-TV schedule until May 20.

New programming revealed

CBC also announced on Wednesday a handful of new additions to the TV lineup, including the star-studded new Henry VIII drama The Tudors, with Jonathan Rhys Meyers portraying the British king.

Among the programs returning to the schedule will be favourites like Marketplace, Hockey Night in Canada, and the comedy trio This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Rick Mercer Report and Royal Canadian Air Farce, as well as recent hits such as Test the Nation and Little Mosque on the Prairie.

More information about CBC-TV's upcoming lineup will be announced in late May.

In a management decision unrelated to Wednesday's programming announcement, Keay added that 31 other CBC staffers across the country involved in business and administration functions have also been declared redundant.

Apu Gets His Groove On

When is a scoop not a scoop? When someone else reported it in a newspaper nearly a fortnight before you did. Back on March 23, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that 11 7-Eleven stores around the country were going to be turned into Kwik-E-Marts to help promote The Simpsons Movie (insert your favorite D’oh joke here, everyone else is.)

Then yesterday, AICN printed an email from a reader giving the same info without acknowledging that newspapers have been reporting it for over a week. Boy, you just can’t trust anyone on the Internet these days… except for me, of course.

As far as the story itself goes, damn, I hope they do one here. Reportedly you’ll be able to buy Krusty-O’s, Buzz Cola, and Squishees. The chances are low I’ll see one anywhere but on television though, there are 4,700 7-Elevens nationwide, and this will only happen at 0.2% of them. Margaret Chabris, a spokeswoman for the retail chains parent company had a tremendous grasp of the obvious when she said “"We've done research, and research shows us that our customers like . . . movies.” I hope Margaret didn’t pay more than $5 for that research, because it’s not like splitting the atom or anything, it’s pretty much common sense.

"Grindhouse" set to terrorize holiday box office

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Americans might be marking such religious celebrations as Passover and Easter this week, but at the box office this weekend, the stage is set for bloody mayhem and broad slapstick.

The No. 1 slot is likely to go to "Grindhouse," a marathon of B-movie tropes from Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, which should open in the low- to mid-$20 million range.

The Dimension Films/Weinstein Co. release is the big-buzz movie among legions of hardcore thrill-seekers. The novel packaging -- the movie is set up as a double bill, complete with trailers of coming attractions -- encompasses Rodriguez's "Planet Terror," in which Rose McGowan blasts away at nasty zombies, and Tarantino's "Death Proof," in which Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike faces off against some fast-driving chicks.

Two years ago on April 1, Rodriguez's "Sin City" opened to $29.1 million. And Tarantino's past two films, "Kill Bill-Vol. 1" in 2003 and "Kill Bill-Vol. 2" in 2004, opened to $22.1 million and $25.1 million, respectively. "Grindhouse's" biggest handicap is not its R rating but the fact that it runs more than three hours.

Sony Pictures, meanwhile, will court laughs with its this-old-house comedy "Are We Done Yet?"

The PG-rated release is both a sequel -- stars Ice Cube and Nia Long, whose characters were dating in 2005's road trip comedy "Are We There Yet?" are now married with children -- and a remake of sorts: It's loosely based on 1948's "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House," with Ice Cube stepping into the Cary Grant role of a new homeowner who stumbles into a money pit.

"Are We There Yet?" attracted families and urban audiences, opening at No. 1 with $18.6 million in 2005. The sequel could do comparable business, but its three-day weekend number will likely be lower because of the movie's Wednesday opening, timed to take advantage of school vacationers.

"Done" will end up jousting with last weekend's No. 1 film, the comedy "Blades of Glory," for the second spot. "Blades" bowed at $33 million last weekend, so a 40%-50% drop would put it in the $16 million-$20 million range. It also will compete with the second weekend of Disney's animated "Meet the Robinsons."

Warner Bros. Pictures' "The Reaping," which opens Thursday, might have some resonance given the surrounding religious holidays. The R-rated horror movie stars Hilary Swank as a religious skeptic investigating what appears to be a series of biblical plagues in a Southern town. Despite the presence of the two-time Oscar winner, the movie could have difficulty climbing above the $10 million mark.

On the family front, Fox's PG-rated "Firehouse Dog," which opened Wednesday, will compete with "Robinsons" and the three-week old "TMNT."

'Christmas Story' director dies in crash

LOS ANGELES - Film director Bob Clark, best known for the holiday classic "A Christmas Story," was killed with his son Wednesday in a head-on crash with a vehicle that a drunken driver steered into the wrong lane, police and the filmmaker's assistant said.

Clark, 67, and son Ariel Hanrath-Clark, 22, were killed in the accident in Pacific Palisades, said Lyne Leavy, Clark's personal assistant.

The two men were in an Infiniti that collided head-on with a GMC Yukon around 2:30 a.m. PDT, said Lt. Paul Vernon, a police spokesman. The driver of the other car was under the influence of alcohol and was driving without a license, Vernon said.

The driver, Hector Velazquez-Nava, 24, of Los Angeles, remained hospitalized and will be booked for investigation of gross vehicular manslaughter after being treated, Vernon said. A female passenger in his car also was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and released, police said.

In Clark's most famous film, all 9-year-old Ralphie Parker wants for Christmas is an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle.

His mother, teacher and Santa Claus all warn: "You'll shoot your eye out, kid."

A school bully named Scut Farkus, a leg lamp, a freezing flagpole mishap and some four-letter defiance helped the movie become a seasonal fixture with "It's A Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street."

Scott Schwartz, who played Flick in "A Christmas Story" and kept in touch with Clark, called Clark one of the "nicest, sweetest guys that you'd ever want to come in contact with."

"It's a tragic day for all of us who knew and loved Bob Clark," Schwartz said. "Bob was a fun-loving, jelly-roll kind of guy who will be sorely missed."

The director of The Christmas Story House in Cleveland, which was used for several exterior shots in the film, said Clark had been planning to visit in August.

"We were all very excited about meeting him," said executive director Steve Siedlecki. "It's very sad to think that that will never happen."

The house started a condolence book for Clark's family that fans who visit the house can sign, he said. Renovated to look like Ralphie's movie home, the house opened in November and has welcomed about 30,000 visitors.

Clark specialized in horror movies and thrillers early in his career, directing such 1970s flicks as "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things," "Murder by Decree," "Breaking Point" and "Black Christmas," which was remade last year.

His breakout success came with 1981's sex farce "Porky's," a coming-of-age romp that he followed two years later with "Porky's II: The Next Day."

In 1983, "A Christmas Story" marked a career high for Clark. Darrin McGavin, Melinda Dillon and Peter Billingsley starred in the adaptation of Jean Shepard's childhood memoir of a boy in the 1940s.

The film was a modest theatrical success, but critics loved it.

In 1994, Clark directed a forgettable sequel, "It Runs in the Family," featuring Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen and Kieran Culkin in a continuation of Shepard's memoirs.

In recent years, Clark made family comedies that were savaged by critics, including "Karate Dog," "Baby Geniuses" and its sequel, "Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2."

Among Clark's other movies were Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton's "Rhinestone," Timothy Hutton's "Turk 182!", and Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd's "Loose Cannons."

Keith Richards: 'I snorted my father'

LONDON - Keith Richards has acknowledged consuming a raft of illegal substances in his time, but this may top them all. In comments published Tuesday, the 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist said he had snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine.

"The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," Richards was quoted as saying by British music magazine NME.

"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared," he said. "... It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."

Richards' father, Bert, died in 2002, at 84.

Richards, one of rock's legendary wild men, told the magazine that his survival was the result of luck, and advised young musicians against trying to emulate him.

"I did it because that was the way I did it. Now people think it's a way of life," he was quoted as saying.

"I've no pretensions about immortality," he added. "I'm the same as everyone ... just kind of lucky.

"I was No. 1 on the `who's likely to die' list for 10 years. I mean, I was really disappointed when I fell off the list," Richards said.

Chriqui relishes Yoko role

Sloan is Yoko.

Okay, maybe that's overstating it.

But beautiful Canadian actress Emmanuelle Chriqui, who plays Sloan in the popular series Entourage, relishes the suggestion that her character is strong enough to threaten the boys' club.

"I love that you think that," Chriqui said. "That's tremendous."

You'll recall, of course, that the Beatles broke up. It may have had nothing or everything to do with the influence of Yoko Ono after she hooked up with John Lennon, but yes, the Beatles did break up.

"What's important to note, and even as an actor it has been important never to lose track of this, is that Entourage is the boys, and will always be the boys," Chriqui said. "The ladies come in and give it different colours here and there, but ultimately, with that clan, I don't see it breaking apart any time soon."

Entourage returns with a new episode this Sunday on The Movie Network and Movie Central in Canada. It's one of those shows that has developed a cult following -- if you're in the club, you're really in the club.

"It is shocking sometimes, but I don't get recognized on the street every day," said Chriqui, 29. "Definitely the boys do, 100%. I get little hoots and hollers sometimes, but I don't feel like, 'Oh my God, I have to go out looking my best all the time.' I totally can pass under the radar."

Well, you'll have to excuse us if we don't quite believe Chriqui passes "under the radar" very often. After all, this is someone who ranked No. 37 on Maxim magazine's "hot 100" list last year.

Chriqui was born in Montreal, but moved to the Toronto area when she was a toddler and went on to attend Unionville High School. She ventured to the United States to pursue her acting career and landed roles in movies like Detroit Rock City, Snow Day, On The Line and In The Mix, but her profile got a huge boost with TV roles on The O.C., Unscripted and Entourage.

Chriqui still has family in Toronto and Montreal and she visits when she can, but the bulk of her life is split between New York and Los Angeles.

IMPACT

"Usually people pick one or the other," Chriqui said. "But the love of my life lives in New York, so we go back and forth."

Sloan doesn't make a huge impact in the premiere episode of Entourage's new run (Season 3B, they're calling it). But in the second episode her status as the girlfriend of Eric (Kevin Connolly) intrudes upon the tightly knit world created by Vince (Adrian Grenier), Drama (Kevin Dillon) and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara).

"They're shooting the fourth season right now and with this show it's script to script," Chriqui said. "To be honest with you, I don't know the future of Sloan. I just assume Eric and Sloan are not going to stay in la-la land forever. Either they get married, or they end it."

We all know how that's going to turn out. Eric is a fool, but peer pressure is a powerful thing.

Whatever happens, the exposure Chriqui has received on Entourage has opened a world of possibilities.

"Entourage has brought a visibility I never had before." Chriqui said. "I can say, truly, that everything I've been auditioning for I'd love to be part of. That doesn't always happen, so it's nice.

"It's kind of like a chess game. We'll see what the next move is."

If only the real Yoko had as many career options.

Juno Awards beaten in ratings

TORONTO (CP) - Looks like Miss Marple beat up on the Juno Awards on Sunday night.

CBC-TV's new Miss Marple mystery "At Bertram's Hotel" - which aired at 8 p.m. ET - had 1.03 million viewers, the public broadcaster said. Over on CTV, the Juno Awards, which aired from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET, grabbed 912,000 viewers.

Global's "The Simpsons" - which aired at 8 p.m. EDT-meanwhile, also managed to pull in more viewers than Canada's premier music awards show with 966,000 viewers.

All numbers are from BBM Nielsen.

Gillian Anderson Confirms More X-Files

Former celebrity Gillian Anderson recently spoke out about that long rumored X-Files movie sequel and she assured everyone that yes, it’s really really really happening this time. No really!

You’ll remember that last week her X-Files co-star David Duchovny started talking about the sequel again, and now Gillian has spoken to Empire Magazine and added her voice to his. She says, “Every year or two they talk about it again, but it seems like it might be for real this time. Somehow it seems like somebody’s really serious about it. I know that Chris’ lawsuit with Fox is over, so maybe now it can be done.”

She didn’t offer up much information on what it would be about, just insists it will be scary and that she doesn’t “think they’re interested in touching on any of the conspiracy stuff.” Wait a minute… isn’t X-Files nothing but conspiracy stuff? I mean, isn’t the the whole point of the franchise? It’s not A Nightmare on Elm Street. It’s creepy, scary, conspiracy stuff. It’s aliens and secret government cover ups. How can you make an X-Files movie without “touching on any of the conspiracy stuff”?

I’m still not convinced the movie is actually happening. I’m filing X-Files 2 next to Indiana Jones 4 in my “I’ll believe it when I see it” file.

Springsteen's Seeger Sojourn Heads To CD/DVD

To commemorate his 2006 detour with his New Orleans-themed Seeger Sessions Band, Bruce Springsteen will release a live CD/DVD this summer that captures a 2006 performance with the outfit.

"Bruce Springsteen With The Seeger Sessions Band Live in Dublin" will be available online and in stores on June 5 via Columbia. The 23-track release will include a concert DVD, a Blu-ray disc and a separate two-CD set. It will be culled from the band's three-night stand at the Point in Dublin in November 2006.

Throughout the Seeger Sessions tour Springsteen traditionally performed the bulk of the album "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions," versions of "When the Saints Go Marching In" and "This Little Light of Mine" and reworked versions of his own songs, such as "Johnny 99," "Open All Night," "The River" and "Atlantic City."

The three Dublin shows also saw the tour debut of a number of Springsteen-penned tracks, including "Highway Patrolman" and "For You."

Of late, the artist is rumored to have been spending time in Atlanta, where he recorded 2002's "The Rising" with producer Brendan O'Brien.

Here is the track list for "Live in Dublin":

"Atlantic City"
"Old Dan Tucker"
"Eyes on the Prize"
"Jesse James"
"Further on Up the Road"
"O Mary Don't You Weep"
"Erie Canal"
"If I Should Fall Behind"
"My Oklahoma Home"
"Highway Patrolman"
"Mrs. McGrath"
"How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live"
"Jacob's Ladder"
"Long Time Comin'"
"Open All Night"
"Pay Me My Money Down"
"Growin' Up"
"When the Saints Go Marching In"
"This Little Light of Mine"
"American Land"
"Blinded By the Light" (Credits)

Bonus Songs:
"Love of the Common People"
"We Shall Overcome"

Biel Beats Johansson in Sexy Women Poll

Jessica Biel has beaten her reported one-time love rival Scarlett Johansson to the top of a new Sexiest Women poll.

Both actresses were romantically linked to Justin Timberlake at the beginning of 2007, although Johansson, who appeared in the pop star's steamy "What Goes Around, Comes Around" video, has recently denied she dated the singer. But, if the rumors were true, Timberlake was dating the two top women in the world, according to men's magazine Stuff.

Biel finished first and Johansson second in the publication's 100 Sexiest Women list.

The two women, who were recently spotted shopping together in Paris, France, beat off challenges from Jessica Alba, Eva Longoria and American Idol star Katharine McPhee.

The top 10 is:
1. Jessica Biel
2. Scarlett Johansson
3. Jessica Alba
4. Eva Longoria
5. Katharine McPhee
6. Sienna Miller
7. Olivia Wilde
8. Angelina Jolie
9. Malin Akerman
10. Christina Aguilera

Research firm argues against Sirius-XM deal

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Influential research firm Carmel Group argued against a planned merger between Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. in a new report sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters.

The National Association of Broadcasters represents local broadcast radio stations that oppose the combination of the two satellite radio companies with which they compete.

The Carmel Group is credited for having lent arguments to regulators' rejection of a 2002 merger plan between satellite television providers EchoStar Communications Corp. and DirecTV Group Inc.

The new report, issued on Tuesday, concluded that the Sirius-XM deal would result in "less service, less affordability, less diversity and less choice in content and hardware."

In morning Nasdaq trade, Sirius shares were down 4 cents at $3.11, while XM fell 19 cents to $12.20.

The report also included a "ping pong" chart of retail promotions and other moves that Sirius and XM took to compete with each other, to support the argument that their competition forced improvements in service, choice and pricing.

Sirius Chief Executive Mel Karmazin has promised lawmakers reviewing the deal that the combined company would not raise prices. The deal requires approval from the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust office as well as the Federal Communications Commission.

The end is near for 'The Sopranos'

"THE SOPRANOS" begins its final run of nine installments this Sunday on HBO with the sound of law enforcement banging at Tony Soprano's door. "Is this it?"

Carmela says, sitting up in bed. I took that line as a poke at the audience, mocking the otherworldly hype and expectation about the conclusion of the series, which is to say who gets to live and who gets to die.

Some of what makes "The Sopranos" great is unforeseen magic, inexorably tied to the freedom success on HBO has granted — the way Robert Iler, for instance, who plays AJ Soprano, has gone in real time from chubby kid to the sullen, direction-less twentysomething that perfectly embodies the questionable citizen Tony (James Gandolfini) and Carmela (Edie Falco) have produced.

Perhaps, over the course of its eight years and 86 hours, the show's ultimate sleight-of-hand is the way in which the gruesome acts of violence these guys commit invites our repulsion even as these same crimes are quickly forgiven (and/or forgotten). Part of this, true, involves the romanticizing of the mob in popular culture, but all the buzzing about who will get bumped off as the series wraps up — Paulie? Syl? Christopher? — belies the fact that what makes "The Sopranos" meaningful is the way it observes (grouses about, really) the texture of contemporary life.

"The Sopranos" is a bitter comedy about family, the clash of the old world and the new, of parent and child, the violence and criminal behavior set off by the fact that the very same week Tony sits opposite a therapist whose job is to ask, "So, where are you?"

So where were we?

"The Sopranos" began last season with a plot event — Tony shot by his demented Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) — which set in motion a season that was, in retrospect, kind of baroque: A comatose mob boss has a near-death experience in which he's being hounded by Buddhist monks, who mistake him for a salesman of a faulty heating system.

There was also the outing of the gay mob lieutenant Vito, played as a tragedy of identity, and Tony's nephew Christopher's trip to Hollywood to woo Sir Ben Kingsley ("Sir Kingsley!" as Christopher saluted him) for his mob-themed slasher movie "Cleaver."

In the brief flush of action that propels us back into the series' final season, Tony is arrested on a gun charge, a flashback reminding us that he tossed the weapon in question into the snow back in 2004, while fleeing a raid on New York crime boss Johnny Sack's house. The gun arrest (a nuisance charge by the Essex County sheriff's office) turns out to be a palate teaser, for various bills will finally come due now, RICO cases being brought to fruition and the Cosa Nostra gasping into the 21st century without viable successors, white-haired men meting out justice and jockeying for position with other white hairs, the larger "war on terror" making them seem quaint by comparison.

The first two episodes feature ripples of the attrition: Johnny Sack is dying of cancer in prison (given counsel and comfort by an orderly played by director Sydney Pollack, in a pretty hilarious turn as an oncologist who shot his wife), while a wise guy is arrested at the after-party for the "Cleaver" screening, a movie on which Tony is the silent investor and other mobsters are the producers, including Christopher (Michael Imperioli).

This is all a continuation of last season's thematics of a changing world — Tony selling out a property in the old neighborhood to Jamba Juice, his lieutenants unable to shake down a Starbucks-like barista impervious to their muscle.

"My estimate? Historically?" Tony says Sunday of the fate awaiting mob bosses. "Eighty percent of the time it ends in the can like Johnny Sack, or on the embalming table at Cozarelli's."

He says this while sitting in a boat in upstate New York near the Canadian border with his doormat brother-in-law Bobby Bacala (Steven R. Schirripa), on a weekend getaway where Bobby and Tony's voluble sister Janice (Aida Turturro) have invited Tony and Carmela up to celebrate his birthday.

It comes as something of a shock that Tony's only turning 47: He's noticeably slower, weaker and more engrossed in his legacy. There is about this taut, superbly written lake episode (by Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider, series creator David Chase and Matthew Weiner) an idyllic quiet that slowly becomes unnerving. We're reminded, once again, that we're in the presence of nouveau riche conservatives — the offspring of immigrants relaxing as the Caribbean nanny watches the kid, everyone in agreement that they oughta build a wall around the country to keep the illegals out.

In a mob story, a secluded lake portends bad things; on "The Sopranos," that bad thing turns out to be family members in close proximity to each other over a long boozy night of karaoke and Monopoly. The Janice character arrived on the show at the beginning of Season 2 — a hippie returning from Seattle with a Rolling Stones tongue tattooed on her breast — and since then she's been nothing but a headache.

Janice only performs "acts of Janice," is how Tony described his big sister to his psychiatrist Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) last year, and at the lake the two begin laying into each other, hovering and jabbing until the replayed dynamic inevitably spills over into violence. The ensuing brawl, sumo in nature, upsets the order of things briefly; it reaffirms that Tony is ever-dependent on guile to emerge victorious.

But they are his pyrrhic victories. The years have helped make Tony Soprano a tragic figure — he's aged in his eight TV years like a president, so that the guy you see getting out his SUV at the close of the opening credits is a shadow.

Gandolfini, in his performance, has by increments become more lumbering — slower, softer and wiser, but still, if he can summon the energy, that brute.

Interviewed several years ago on National Public Radio, Chase said that he had an ending for the character in mind.

"The gangster movie is a long American tradition," he said. "But they've all been, except for 'The Godfather' trilogy … it's usually the rise and fall. It's been that way since the beginning. The criminal rises from the gutter, has his moment of glory, and then goes down and pays for his crime in a hail of bullets. That's usually the template.

"As Tony has his rise," Chase added of his protagonist, "he's always having his fall every day. His rise and his fall seem to be happening all the time together." You feel in the two episodes HBO sent out the bitter comedy unable to keep pace with what is mournful and sad — the show's final parlor trick toward absolute empathy with a sociopath examining his inner life.

The full circle arrives, glaringly, in the one place that Tony has been a constant — the therapy room. So that, as the curtain begins to close, you get the scene in which the mob guy, teary-eyed over a betrayal, is going deeper than the therapist.

"Without invalidating your feelings," she says, "is it possible that on some level you're reading into all this?"

"I've been coming here for years," Tony Soprano responds. "I know too much about the subconscious now."

New CD Releases, April 3: Martina McBride, Alan Jackson, George Strait, Jimmy Buffett, Alison Krauss

Martina McBride "Waking Up Laughing"

The platinum-selling vocalist follows 2005's chart-topping "Timeless," a collection of classic country standards, with her self-produced ninth studio album.

McBride has had much success singing other songwriters' tunes over the years. To date, she's sold more than 16 million records and charted 22 Top 10 singles. With "Waking Up Laughing," however, she's taking a different path, and has written some of her own songs, including the set's first hit single, "Anyway."

The four-time Country Music Association Vocalist of the Year will support "Waking Up Laughing" with a lengthy tour that kicks off April 12 in Kansas City, MO.

* * *
Alan Jackson, George Strait and Jimmy Buffett "Live at Texas Stadium"

The three musical legends team up for what many expect to be one of the top-selling live albums of 2007. The 15-track set documents a concert that was held in 2004 at Texas Stadium in Dallas and includes both solo performances and collaborations.

The set list was drawn from all three of the performers' catalogs. Included in the mix are Strait's "All My Ex's Live in Texas," Jackson's "Where I Come From" and, of course, Buffett's signature "Margaritaville."

* * *
Alison Krauss "A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection"

Don't be fooled: This 16-track set is not a best-of collection. Instead, it delivers an assortment of Krauss' work on soundtracks and side projects.

On the soundtrack side, "A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection" features the songs "The Scarlet Tide" and "You Will Be My Ain True Love" (both from "Cold Mountain") as well as "Down to the River to Pray" (from "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"). It also includes a number of collaborations, notably Krauss' duet with John Waite on "Missing You."

* * *
Kings of Leon "Because of the Times"

The Southern rockers return with their third full-length studio release, which follows 2003's "Youth and Young Manhood" and 2005's "Aha Shake Heartbreak."

The three Followill brothers (Caleb, Nathan and Jared) and their cousin (Matthew Followill) will support "Because of the Times" with a North American tour that begins with an April 28 date at the Coachella Valley Music Festival in Indio, CA.

* * *
Hilary Duff "Dignity"

The former tween dream, beloved by millions of youngsters for her role as TV's Lizzie McGuire, is going for a more mature look and sound with this new album. That's clear from the cover, a very sophisticated and refined headshot, to the title track, which takes potshots at the immature party antics of other young celebs.

* * *
Other new releases:
Andiamo, "Love, From Italy" (Denon)
Black Sabbath, "The Dio Years" (Rhino)
Brandi Carlile, "The Story" (Sony)
Chevelle, "Vena Sera" (Sony)
Kurt Elling, "Nightmoves" (Concord)
Fountains of Wayne, "Traffic and Weather" (Virgin)
Jeff Lorber, "He Had a Hat" (Blue Note)
Ozomatli, "Don't Mess With the Dragon" (Concord)
Panda Bear, "Person Pitch" (Paw Tracks)
Martin Sexton, "Seeds" (Kitchen Table)
Shadows Fall, "Threads of Life" (Atlantic)
Static-X, "Cannibal" (Warner Bros.)
Timbaland, "Timbaland Presents Shock Value" (Interscope)
Various artists, "Mississippi Blues: Rare Cuts 19" (JSP)
Chris Whitley, Jeff Lang, "Dislocation Blues" (Rounder)

Soundtracks and scores:
"The Road Mix: Music from the Television Series One Tree Hill, Vol. 3" (Maverick)

'Knight Rider' Trans Am up for sale

DUBLIN, Calif. - KITT, the flame-throwing, river-jumping, talking muscle car from the `80s TV show "Knight Rider," is up for sale. Restored to its debut-season glory, the modified black 1982 Pontiac Trans Am is offered at $149,995 at a Dublin auto dealership. Johnny "Vette" Verhoek of Kassabian Motors has had the car, officially called Knight Industries Two Thousand, on display for about a month.

It is one of four documented "camera cars" used for close-up shots and scenes where David Hasselhoff, who played Michael Knight in the series, was behind the wheel.

Although it cannot achieve the 300 mph speeds that KITT reached, soar 50 feet in the air or throw smoke bombs, key features of the star car are intact. Perhaps most important, the red scanner light on the nose glows and makes a humming noise.

The car has two working video screens on the dashboard, and the cockpit features buttons that light up in green, yellow and red: ski mode, rocket boost, micro jam, silent mode, oil slick and eject.

Most of the buttons don't do anything, Verhoek said. Nor can the car hold a conversation or drive itself.

KITT isn't even street legal because of missing smog equipment and other modifications. Whoever buys the car will probably keep it in a private collection, or it may be purchased by a museum, Verhoek said.

The car belongs to Tim Russo of Livermore, a Kassabian customer who figured now was a good time to test the market, with the 25th anniversary of the show's debut coming up.

Russo purchased the car 10 years ago at an auction in San Diego, and has spent the last decade finding parts to restore it.

EMI, Apple to sell DRM-free songs online

LONDON - Breaking from the rest of the recording industry, EMI Group said Monday it will begin selling songs online that are free of copy-protection technology through Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store. The deal, however, doesn't include music from the label's biggest act, The Beatles.

ITunes customers will soon be able to buy songs by the Rolling Stones, Norah Jones, Coldplay and other top-selling artists for $1.29, or 30 cents more than the copy-protected version. The premium tunes also will be offered in a higher quality than the 99-cent tracks.

EMI Chief Executive Eric Nicoli said The Beatles music catalog is excluded from the deal, but said the company was "working on it." He declined to set a time frame for negotiations over the catalog.

The announcement followed calls by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs earlier this year for the world's four major record companies, including EMI Group PLC, to start selling songs online without copy-protection software.

The technology, known as digital rights management, or DRM, is designed to combat piracy by preventing unauthorized copying or sharing, but it also can be a consumer headache. Some music players, for instance, support one type of DRM software but not others.

The DRM used by Apple does not work with competing services or devices, meaning that consumers can only download songs from iTunes to work on their computers or iPod music players. The lock between the download services and players has drawn criticism from European industry regulators, who argue that it limits buyer choice.

"Doing the right thing for the customer going forward is to tear down the walls that impede interoperability," Jobs told a London news conference.

He has previously argued there was little benefit to record companies selling more than 90 percent of their music without DRM on compact discs, then selling the remaining percentage online with DRM.

Some analysts suggest that lifting the software restrictions could boost sales of online music, which currently account for around 10 percent of global music sales.

Jobs said that he planned to offer around half of all music in the iTunes store under the premium package by the end of the year, but declined to say whether the company was in discussions with other leading record companies.

"Consumers tell us overwhelmingly that they would be prepared to pay a higher price for digital music that they could use on any player," Nicoli said. "It is key to unlocking and energizing the digital music business."

The iTunes music store will begin offering EMI's entire catalog — apart from The Beatles — without DRM software starting next month, he said.

EMI has acted as the distributor for The Beatles since the early 1960s, but The Beatles' music holding company, Apple Corps Ltd., has so far declined to allow the Fab Four's music on any Internet music services, including iTunes.

The situation was exacerbated by a long-running trademark dispute between Apple Inc. and Apple Corps. That legal feud was resolved in February when the two companies agreed on joint use of the apple logo and name, a deal many saw as paving the way for an agreement for online access to the Fab Four's songs.

Apple Corps was founded by the Beatles in 1968 and is still owned by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, the widow of John Lennon and the estate of George Harrison.

Shares of Apple Inc. jumped 72 cents, to $93.63, in Monday trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Nelly reigns at the Junos

SASKATOON (CP) - It proved to be Nelly's night at the Juno Awards on Sunday, with pop diva Nelly Furtado displaying a wacky sense of humour as she took the glitzy gala's top prizes for a club-thumping album that dominated charts worldwide.

The triumphant turn came as the bubbly singer juggled hosting duties and a live televised performance that threw her into a variety of slapstick bits and outrageous costumes.

Furtado swept all five categories she was nominated in, taking the annual event's biggest accolades including best artist, best single and best album in two award ceremonies held over the weekend.

"Thank you, Canada, I love you for accepting me," Furtado said in Sunday's telecast, in which she took the winner's podium three times. "I love you!"

Toronto-based rock band Billy Talent was the only other multiple winner of the weekend, taking trophies for group of the year and rock album of the year.

Front man Ben Kowalewicz said they wanted to share the award with their friends and co-nominees Alexisonfire. Backstage, he said they had a very simple plan for their Juno celebration: "Get drunk. Get very, very drunk."

Kowalewicz also offered a special thanks to the band's hometown of Mississauga, Ont., crediting the community with supporting them through a decade-long climb to the top.

But it was a disappointing night for critics' favourite k-os, a genre-mashing performer who had tied with Furtado and rockers Billy Talent for most nominations for his acclaimed disc "Atlantis: Hymns for Disco."

K-os lost four trophies at a private ceremony Saturday and lost the fifth award, a best-single nomination for his infectious party song "Sunday Morning," to Furtado's "Promiscuous" on Sunday.

He appeared early in the broadcast with a performance of his hit "Sunday Morning," changing the lyric to at one point declare: "This show is not me, this show is propaganda."

Furtado set an off-kilter tone early in the show by arriving onstage suspended from cables high above Saskatoon's Credit Union Centre. The Victoria beauty wore an all-black outfit adorned with feathers in a nod to her 2000 debut hit "I'm Like A Bird," and later poked more fun at herself by appearing in a black latex bodysuit and a matronly nightgown in pre-taped comedy bits.

She ended the evening with five trophies including the two accolades she picked up at Saturday's private industry event. That ceremony crowned her artist of the year and her blockbuster disc "Loose" the best pop album.

Backstage, Furtado said she was shocked by her multiple wins, especially best album.

"I've sat in the audience at the Junos and lost for best album twice and I always wondered, 'Oh, maybe one day I'll get that,' you know?" said Furtado, adding she was indebted to her producer Timbaland, the U.S. beat guru also behind hits from Justin Timberlake and The Pussycat Dolls.

"I didn't think it would come so soon and with this album."

Onstage, Furtado took pains in her acceptance speeches to extend kudos to fellow nominees.

"I just hand it to all the Canadian artists. This is for everybody - old, new, up and coming, the legends," Furtado said as she took the trophy for fan choice dressed in a silky blue gown, the third of several Canadian-designed outfits for the evening. "I'm just happy to be here and humbled."

Later, she threw props to best single rivals k-os and Jim Cuddy when she took the podium for the second time in 20 minutes.

Other winners Sunday included Hamilton's Tomi Swick, who was named new artist of the year over Canadian Idol champs Eva Avila and Melissa O'Neil and indie darling Patrick Watson.

"Holy crap," Swick exclaimed upon reaching the microphone and launching into a laundry list of friends and family to thank.

The R&B/soul recording of the year went to jacksoul's disc "mySOUL."

With just seven awards to hand out, Sunday's broadcast was largely about the performances.

Artists including The Tragically Hip, Patrick Watson, City and Colour, Billy Talent and Three Days Grace took the stage in front of an audience of roughly 13,000 fans, some of whom started lining up outside Saskatoon's Credit Union Centre as early as 7 a.m. to catch a glimpse of their favourite artists.

Meanwhile, Winnipeg-born producer Bob Rock was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in recognition of his work producing and engineering albums for superstars including Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Cher, Motley Crue, and Bryan Adams.

Other Juno winners Saturday included sultry siren Diana Krall, whose disc "From This Moment On" snagged best vocal jazz album and veteran Jim Cuddy, who took best adult alternative album for "The Light That Guides You Home," beating out Neil Young, Sarah Harmer, Matt Mays and Ron Sexsmith.

City and Colour took best alternative album with "Sometimes" and country star George Canyon was awarded best country recording for "Somebody Wrote Love."

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The winners:

Juno Fan Choice Award: Nelly Furtado.

Group of the Year: Billy Talent.

New Artist of the Year: Tomi Swick.

Single of the Year: "Promiscuous," Nelly Furtado.

R&B Soul/Recording of the Year: "mySOUL," jacksoul.

Rock Album of the Year: "Billy Talent II," Billy Talent.

Album of the Year: "Loose," Nelly Furtado.

'Blades of Glory' wins box office gold

LOS ANGELES - Stars-on-ice Will Ferrell and Jon Heder took the box office gold for the weekend. Paramount and DreamWorks' "Blades of Glory," with Ferrell and Heder playing figure-skating rivals who become the sport's first men's pair, debuted as the No. 1 movie with $33 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Disney's animated adventure "Meet the Robinsons," about the time-traveling journey of a brilliant but lonely orphan, debuted in second place with $25.1 million.

The previous weekend's top movie — the Warner Bros. animated tale "TMNT," a revival of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle" franchise — slipped to fourth place with $9.2 million, down a steep 62 percent from its $24.3 million debut. "TMNT" raised its 10-day total to $38.4 million.

After a monthlong surge, the overall box office declined. The top 12 movies took in $115 million, down 13 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Ice Age: The Meltdown" opened with $68 million.

"This is still a good weekend, a pretty healthy one-two punch with `Blades of Glory' and `Meet the Robinsons' at the top," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

Movie attendance is up 4 percent so far this year, Dergarabedian said.

Teaming with "Napoleon Dynamite" star Heder on "Blades of Glory," Ferrell scored the second-best opening of his career, behind last summer's "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," which took in $47 million in its first weekend.

"It starts with a great concept, and the whole picture was cast so well," said DreamWorks spokesman Marvin Levy. "Another part of the surprise was, we got a ton of very, very good reviews."

"Meet the Robinsons" played in about 3,400 theaters and did especially well in a 3-D version at 600 cinemas, said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney. The studio did not have a precise breakdown, but cinemas reported that screens playing the 3-D version pulled in about double the grosses of theaters running the regular 2-D version, Viane said.

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. "Blades of Glory," $33 million.
2. "Meet the Robinsons," $25.1 million.
3. "300," $11.2 million.
4. "TMNT," $9.2 million.
5. "Wild Hogs," $8.4 million.
6. "Shooter," $8 million.
7. "Premonition," $5.1 million.
8. "The Last Mimzy," $4 million.
9. "The Hills Have Eyes 2," $3.9 million.
10. "Reign Over Me," $3.7 million.

Apple, Beatles label plan announcement

LONDON - Record company EMI Group PLC said Sunday it planned to unveil "an exciting new digital offering" with computer company Apple Inc., raising expectations that The Beatles' music catalog is about to be made available through Apple's iTunes online music store.

EMI said it would hold a news conference Monday at its London headquarters with its chief executive, Eric Nicoli, and Apple boss Steve Jobs "and a special live performance."

The company gave no further details.

EMI has been The Beatles' record label since the early 1960s.

The Beatles have so far been the most prominent holdout from iTunes and other online music services, and Apple's overtures to put the music online were stymied by a long-running trademark dispute with The Beatles' commercial guardian, Apple Corps. Ltd.

In February, Apple Inc. and Apple Corps resolved their legal feud over use of the apple logo and name, paving the way for an agreement for online access to the Fab Four's songs.

Apple Corps was founded by the Fab Four in 1968 and is still owned by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, the widow of John Lennon and the estate of George Harrison.

Nelly's sweep begins

SASKATOON -- The Nelly Sweep has officially begun.

Five-time Juno nominee Nelly Furtado picked up two early awards for pop album of the year for her latest disc, Loose, and artist of the year last night at the pre-telecast gala dinner and awards held at TCU Place.

The Victoria-born, Toronto-based singer-songwriter was also in line to win the remaining three awards she's vying for during tonight's televised Junos at Credit Union Centre, an event she is also hosting and performing on.

Her huge hit, Promiscuous, seems a lock for single of the year, while Loose seems a sure thing for album of the year, since it's the best selling Canadian album of 2006 and has sold a staggering 10 million copies worldwide.

"This third album's really kind of cemented a lot of things for me, kind of set in stone that I hope to be doing this for at least the rest of my life," Furtado said earlier in the day.

The Juno Face Choice Award, voted on by fans, also seems a sure bet for Furtado, who said before the gala dinner that she was most looking forward to the performances during tonight's show.

"I mean I'm a quite a cheerleader, I have a lot of team spirit, and I feel it more than ever when I'm at the Juno Awards," said Furtado.

Still, she did admit the Juno hosting gig has been "really stressful, but a good kind of stressful... I think my performance will be the most relaxing part of the evening for me.

"It's live TV and live TV is strange," Furtado continued. "Like anything can happen, like my microphone could stop working or the teleprompter could be on the wrong section, so there's a lot of variables. Also I happen to have a sort of edgy personality where I like to throw people for a loop sometimes. I like to do the unexpected. I like to push buttons."

Other early winners at last night's pre-telecast gala dinner ceremony, which saw 32 of 39 Junos handed out, included City and Colour's Sometimes, which picked up best alternative album, Diana's Krall's From This Moment On, which won vocal jazz album of the year, and Swollen Members' Black Magic, named best rap recording.

Recent Grammy winner Gordie Sampson won songwriter of the year honours, beating out rivals that included k-os, Sarah Harmer and Ron Sexsmith, while Mobile was named best new group, and Jim Cuddy's The Light That Guides You Home won best adult alternative album.

Harmer won home music DVD of the year for Escarpment Blues. Sam Roberts' Bridge To Nowhere was video of the year. The Dixie Chicks' Taking The Long Way won international album.

Early winners

SASKATOON (CP) - HEre are the winners from Saturday night's non-broadcast portion of the Juno Awards:

International Album of the Year: "Taking the Long Way" (Dixie Chicks).

Artist of the Year: Nelly Furtado.

New Group of the Year: Mobile.

Songwriter of the Year: Gordie Sampson.

Country Recording of the Year: "Somebody Wrote Love" (George Canyon).

Rap Recording of the Year: "Black Magic" (Swollen Members).

Adult Alternative Album of the Year: "The Light That Guides You Home" (Jim Cuddy).

Alternative Album of the Year: "Sometimes" (City and Colour).

Pop Album of the Year: "Loose" (Nelly Furtado).

Vocal Jazz Album of the Year: "From This Moment On" (Diana Krall).

Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year: "From the Heart" (Hilario Duran and His Latin Jazz Big Band).

Traditional Jazz Album of the Year: "Avenue Standard" (Jon Ballantyne).

Instrumental Album of the Year: "Run Neil Run" (Sisters Euclid).

Francophone Album of the Year: "Il etait une fois dans l'est" (Antoine Gratton).

Children's Album of the Year: "My Beautiful World" (Jack Grunsky).

Classical Album of the Year, Solo or Chamber Ensemble: "Piazzolla" (Les Violons du Roy/ Jean-Marie Zeitouni).

Classical Album of the Year, Large Ensemble or Soloist(s) With Large Ensemble Accompaniment: "Mozart: Violin Concerti" (James Ehnes, Mozart Anniversary Orchestra).

Classical Album of the Year, Vocal or Choral Performance: "Mozart: Arie e Duetti" (Isabel Bayrakdarian, Michael Schade, Russell Braun, Canadian Opera Company Orchestra/ Richard Bradshaw).

Classical Composition of the Year: "Clere Venus" (Denis Gougeon).

Dance Recording of the Year: "Sexor" (Tiga).

Reggae Recording of the Year: "Xrated" (Korexion).

Aboriginal Recording of the Year: "Sedze" (Leela Gilday).

Roots & Traditional Album of the Year, Solo: "Yellowjacket" (Stephen Fearing).

Roots & Traditional Album of the Year, Group: "Bloom" (The McDades).

Blues Album of the Year: "House of Refuge" (Jim Byrnes).

Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year: "Wide-Eyed and Mystified" (Downhere).

World Music Album of the Year: "Kaba Horo" (Lubo Alexandrov).

Jack Richardson Producer of the Year: Brian Howes.

Recording Engineer of the Year: John "Beetle" Bailey.

CD/DVD Artwork Design of the Year: Chloe Lum & Yannick Desranleau for Seripop.

Video of the Year: "Bridge to Nowhere" (Duplex).

Music DVD of the Year: "Escarpment Blues" (Andy Keen, Sarah Harmer, Patrick Sambrook).