Seinfeld Gets Piece of the 'Rock'
Jerry Seinfeld hasn't done much prime-time TV since exiting his iconic NBC sitcom nine years ago -- a guest voice on "Dilbert" here, a "Seinfeld" special there.
And come October, a headline-grabbing (or so NBC hopes) appearance on "30 Rock."
Seinfeld, who's also doing a series of shorts about the making of his "Bee Movie" for NBC, will appear on the season premiere of "30 Rock" on Thursday, Oct. 4. He'll play himself and butt heads with NBC exec Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin).
"I was thrilled to be asked to guest star on NBC's hit comedy '30 Rock,'" Seinfeld says in a statement. "I think it's going to be so refreshing for me to be playing myself in a show that has nothing to do with neurotic, dysfunctional New York characters."
To hear NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman tell it, landing Seinfeld for the guest spot was a matter of timing.
"I reached out to Jerry and had such a fun conversation with him," Silverman said Monday at NBC's press tour sessions. As the two talked about his "Bee Movie" shorts, "I asked him if he'd be part of the show, and he said, 'You know what, I love that show. You hit me on the one thing I'm predisposed to, because I really like the show.' ... It was great. It couldn't have been more positive and exciting, and he also loves the show. I think it was the right call around the right show to the right guy."
Carrie Underwood's Fall Follow-Up
Los Angeles (E! Online) - Carrie Underwood doesn't want to spend her life jaded, waitin'or just resting on her laurels.
Arista Records and 19 Recordings announced Monday that the follow-up to the country crossover star's mega-hit debut Some Hearts has been slated for an Oct. 23 release.
While it seems as if Underwood must be on her third or fourth album by now, that's only because the multiplatinum-selling Some Hearts took up residence at number one on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart back in 2005 and managed to return to that spot multiple times over the next two and half years.
The hit-filled album, which dropped Nov. 15, 2005, has been certified six-times platinum in the U.S., is the best-selling country disc/download of 2007 so far, with nearly 1.1 million copies sold just this year.
After the American Idol-assisted success of the Grammy-winning "Jesus Take the Wheel," it was unsure whether Underwood would have mass-market appeal, but with spunky tunes such as "Before He Cheats" and "Wasted," she's become a powerhouse on the pop charts, as well. Some Hearts was named the best-selling album of all genres at the Billboard Music Awards in December, Underwood's eighth sales-fueled trophy in two years.
Two Grammys (Best New Artist and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Jesus Takes the Wheel"), five Academy of Country Music Awards, three CMT Music Awards, two CMA's and one American Music Award after coming out on top on the fourth season of Idol, Underwood's doing okay.
Some Hearts spawned seven singles, three of which went platinum, and Underwood also had a hit with her cover of the Pretenders' "I'll Stand by You," which she performed on the Idol Gives Back charity special in April.
The 24-year-old Oklahoman's as-yet untitled sophomore effort is being produced by Some Hearts collaborator Mark Bright and will feature some more songwriting by Underwood, who co-penned the tune "I Ain't in Checotah Anymore" on Some Hearts.
Before she repeats, however, Underwood can be heard on Brad Paisley's latest album, 5th Gear, on the tune "Oh Love," and she's set to help kick off New York's Fall Fashion Week by performing Sept. 6 at the fourth annual Fashion Rocks! gala at Radio City Music Hall.
Also scheduled to perform at the event, to be hosted by Jeremy Piven and broadcast the following evening on CBS, are Aerosmith, Alicia Keys, Avril Lavigne, Usher, Fall Out Boy, Jennifer Hudson, Fergie, Jennifer Lopez, Ludacris, Martina McBride and Santana.
Alicia Witt cops `Law & Order: CI' role
NEW YORK - Add Alicia Witt to the "Law & Order" lineup.
The 31-year-old actress, whose previous TV credits include "Cybill," has joined the cast of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," it was announced Monday.
Witt will play police detective Nola Falacci, who will be partnered with detective Mike Logan (Chris Noth). She'll be a temporary replacement for Julianne Nicholson, who is on maternity leave.
Witt costarred with Cybill Shepherd on the CBS sitcom "Cybill" for three years. The series ended in 1998. Her films include "The Upside of Anger" and "Two Weeks Notice."
Original episodes of "Criminal Intent" this coming season will air first on cable's USA network and then later, with no date yet specified, on NBC. "CI" reruns have ranked among USA's most popular shows.
When it announced its fall schedule in the spring, NBC explained that it had room only for two of the three "Law & Order" series. It brought back the highest-rated, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and the original "Law & Order." The "CI" episodes that will run first on USA would be a midseason replacement, the network said.
Internet flooded with new Prince CD after giveaway
A day after it was distributed free inside a British newspaper, music icon Prince's latest album is widely accessible after countless fans posted it online.
An estimated three million copies of Planet Earth were packaged as a promotional "covermount," or giveaway, with the Mail on Sunday newspaper a move that raised an uproar among U.K. record retailers and even caused Prince's British distributor to nix its own sales launch of the album.
As of Monday morning, the 10-track album could easily be downloaded from numerous file-sharing websites. The physical CD is also being offered for sale on auction website eBay.
The album is scheduled to begin selling in international markets on Monday, but the North American release is not until July 24.
Recently, when asked why he chose to give his latest CD away for free, the 49-year-old was unrepentant and called the move "direct marketing."
"I don't have to be in the speculation business of the record industry, which is going through a lot of tumultuous times right now," said the Minneapolis-born artist.
The eclectic, prolific artist has long fought against the traditional recording industry structure.
He once officially changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol to protest a record contract and has also appeared in public with the word "slave" scrawled across his cheek as his comment on another recording industry battle.
More recently, he drew criticism from the industry for giving a copy of his 2004 album Musicology to each fan who attended one of his concerts.
For years, Prince, whose real name is Prince Rogers Nelson, has also explored distributing his music via his own website.
"Prince's only aim is to get music to those who want to hear it," according to a spokesman on the artist's official website.
The award-winning singer, songwriter and musician "feels that charts are just music industry constructions and have little or no relevance to fans or even artists today."
Prince's ample catalogue of diverse hits includes 1999, Kiss, Let's Go Crazy, Diamonds and Pearls, When Doves Cry and The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.
In August, he will give 21 concerts in London, at each of which he is also scheduled to hand out free copies of his latest album.
Second "X-Files" pic moving toward production
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The "X-Files" film sequel is heating up.
Co-star David Duchovny indicated Saturday during the Television Critics Association press tour that the film, which has been the subject of speculation for the past few years, is one step closer to becoming a reality.
"I'm supposed to see a script next week," Duchovny said at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, adding that creator Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz wrote the screenplay and that Carter is set to direct.
Duchovny also reiterated past remarks that he and "X-Files" co-star Gillian Anderson "are on board" the follow-up to the 1998 film and the series that ran on Fox from 1993 to 2002.
The film reportedly was delayed in part because of a now-settled lawsuit filed by Carter in late 2005 against 20th Century Fox Television alleging breach of contract, contractual interference and other claims over payments allegedly owed to him from the series.
Duchovny was at TCA promoting his upcoming Showtime comedy series "Californication," which debuts August 13.
'Potter' works magic in $77.4M debut
LOS ANGELES - Harry Potter remains a box-office charmer.
The Warner Bros. fantasy sequel "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" conjured up a $77.4 million debut to lead the weekend box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.
That raised the movie's total domestic gross to $140 million since opening Wednesday.
"Order of the Phoenix" also has taken in an additional $190.3 million in 44 other countries where it began rolling out Wednesday.
"Transformers," the DreamWorks-Paramount sci-fi tale that was the previous weekend's No. 1 movie, slipped to second place with $36 million, lifting its total to $223 million.
The weekend's other new wide release, grisly horror story "Captivity" from Lionsgate and After Dark Films, opened out of the top 10 with $1.55 million, coming in at No. 12. The movie stars Elisha Cuthbert as a model who is abducted and tortured.
"Order of the Phoenix" expanded overall business for Hollywood. The top 12 movies took in $171.1 million, up 14 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" was No. 1 with $62.3 million.
The fifth chapter in the movie series based on J.K. Rowling's novels about the teen wizard, "Order of the Phoenix" has Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) leading a secret society of students to prepare for the coming showdown with the evil Lord Voldemort.
The previous four "Harry Potter" flicks all had bigger first weekends, ranging from $88.4 million to $102.7 million, but those all debuted Friday. "Order of the Phoenix" was the first to get a jump on the weekend with a Wednesday opening.
"We're in the middle of summer, and we just said why not, because kids are out of school," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros. "It certainly turned out to be the right decision."
"Order of the Phoenix" did more business in five days than each of the first three "Harry Potter" movies did in their first full week, and it nearly matched the $146 million first week total of the fourth film, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," Fellman said.
Warner Bros. counts on the "Harry Potter" frenzy to persist with the publication next Saturday of the final book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."
"People are going to have Potter mania happening again when the book comes out," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "They'll be walking book in hand into the movie theater."
In limited release, Focus Features' film biography "Talk to Me" opened strongly with $390,754 in 33 theaters. The film stars Don Cheadle as an ex-con who becomes an outspoken social commentator on the radio in the 1960s.
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. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," $77.4 million.
2. "Transformers," $36 million.
3. "Ratatouille," $18 million.
4. "Live Free or Die Hard," $10.9 million.
5. "License to Wed," $7.4 million.
6. "1408," $5.01 million.
7. "Evan Almighty," $5 million.
8. "Knocked Up," $3.7 million.
9. "Sicko," $2.65 million.
10. "Ocean's Thirteen," $1.9 million.