Daniel Craig Does Five Bonds

Good news on the 007 front with things moving forward fast. Today it was confirmed that Paul Haggis has just handed in his final draft of the "Bond 22" screenplay ahead of the upcoming writer's strike.

Meanwhile MGM chairman and CEO Harry Sloan confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the studio has signed Daniel Craig to do four more "James Bond" movies after 'Royale'.

This would bring his total to five - just behind Roger Moore (7) and Sean Connery (6), but ahead of Pierce Brosnan (4), Timothy Dalton (2) and George Lazenby (1).

Theme song singers for "Bond 22" are already being talked about with the likes of "X-Factor" winner Leona Lewis and HIM frontman Ville Valo dubiously suggested by the British tabloids this week.

Finally Italy is looking to be a the site of much filming according to MI6 which says that Grand Hotel Gardone and Locanda Punta San Vigilio Hotel on the edge of Lake Garda are to be scouted shortly. The Stelvio Pass in the Italian Alps, and Matera in the Basilicata region are apparently set for shoots.

Krist Novoselic speaks ahead of 'Nirvana Unplugged' DVD

Nirvana's legendary 'MTV Unplugged In New York' performance is finally set to be released on DVD, nearly 14 years to the day from when it was performed.

The DVD will contain both the original broadcast of the show and the complete unedited version of the set with 5.1 Surround Sound.

Speaking to NME.COM, Nirvana's bass player Krist Novoselic said he was looking forward to the release, particularly in its new audio format.

"The new 5.1 sound really opens it up and it gave me a new appreciation for the songs," he explained. "You can hear what each instrument is doing. It really invites you in and I'm sure everyone will enjoy it in a new way. I'd really like to re-release 'In Utero' in that way at some point."

In between songs on the unedited 66-minute version, the band are seen affably chatting with each other, debating what songs to play and even taking requests from the audience.

At one point, they even break into a jokey version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's classic 'Sweet Home Alabama' with guest performers The Meat Puppets.

Also featured on the DVD are previously unseen rehearsal takes of 'Plateau', 'About A Girl', 'Polly', 'Come As You Are', 'All Apologies' and their cover of David Bowie's 'The Man Who Sold The World'.

A rehearsal version of 'Pennyroyal Tea' which features guitarist Pat Smear also playing in the track is included. This was originally the way the band planned to perform the song until Kurt Cobain decided at the last minute to play it solo during the show.

Additionally, a 20 minute documentary featuring interviews with the band and members of the crew are also included.

The DVD is set for release on November 20th.

Hollywood strike could hit Canuck TV

TORONTO - Private broadcasters CTV and Global spend a lot of PR dollars heralding the ratings successes of the prime-time American blockbusters that are their top moneymakers - "Grey's Anatomy," "Desperate Housewives" and "House" among them.

But there won't be any new episodes of those fan favourites much past January if Hollywood screenwriters go on strike Wednesday night for a prolonged period of time, a headache for Canadian networks as they try to determine how to fill the potential gaps in their schedules.

Will Canadian audiences be inundated with reruns or the same glut of reality shows that are expected to flood the American networks if the strike drags on? Or will there be a sudden appearance of homemade programming on CTV and Global?

Both private broadcasters said Tuesday they were watching the situation closely.

"We're talking internally about a range of scenarios - we're planning for the worst but hoping for the best," said Mike Cosentino, senior vice-president of program scheduling for CTV. "We're talking about it, we're planning for contingencies, we're hoping that our schedule can remain vibrant."

Barbara Williams, senior vice-president of programming and production for CanWest MediaWorks, said Global wasn't overly concerned about the long-term impact of a strike.

"We're a long way from facing those problems," she said. "We don't even know if this strike is going to happen. If it does, we'll deal with it then and we'll see how things play out and we'll make some decisions as we go ... first we'll see what the American networks are doing, but they don't know either."

But others suggest a lengthy strike could present golden opportunities for all sorts of players in Canada, from the private broadcasters to CBC and homegrown production companies.

Both Global and CTV have long been criticized for a dearth of homemade programming on their airwaves, and some suggest a long strike could provide them with a captive audience for made-in-Canada shows.

"Gosh, do you think they might actually have to start creating some Canadian product?" Ken Ferguson, head of Toronto Film Studios, a film and television production company, said of Global and CTV.

"This should be an opportunity - it should be the opportunity for Canadians to produce product that would probably find a ready market in the United States as well. But I'll be pleasantly surprised if any of them do that."

While Global said it had no plans to trot out any Canadian programming in the event of a prolonged strike, Cosentino said CTV had plenty of Canadian shows that were slated to air in the months to come - from "Degrassi: The Next Generation" to "Robson Arms."

He added that the network was committed to producing Canadian programming regardless of the strike.

"Is it our intention to run Canadian programming to replace American content? Not exactly. Our strategy with Canadian programming is to run it in the best possible slot we can to deliver it to the right audience," he said. "The reality is, these shows are going to debut with or without a strike and we're going to put our muscle behind them anyway."

For the CBC, a protracted strike could put the public broadcaster in the unusual position of not having to compete every night against new episodes of huge U.S. blockbusters.

"It will be an interesting opportunity for the CBC to not necessarily be up against the American juggernauts," said Kirstine Layfield, head of programming for the network.

"If their shows get affected by the strike and their inventory dries up a bit, it creates a great opportunity for people to check in with the CBC and see what we have, because whenever people do check in with us lately, they like what they see."

Layfield also said she's hearing from Canadian writers and other talent in the U.S. who are pondering a move back home due in part to the strike.

"For a lot of people, it's just sort of the final straw," she said. "It's yet another reason why it might be good to come back home."

Mary Darling, head of Westwind Pictures, the production company behind the CBC hit "Little Mosque on the Prairie," says such a reverse brain drain to the north can only be good for the Canadian industry.

"We've heard some whispers from some talent down in Los Angeles, people trying to cover their butts who shall remain nameless," she said.

"This strike could end up spilling a little bit of sparkle dust on the Canadian community. There's so much Canadian talent down there ... there may be some really interesting, wonderful opportunities for Canadian producers as they draw on the experiences of people who have done volumes and volumes and volumes of writing in L.A. who are coming back home and want to stay home."

Downchild has 8 nominations for Maple Blues Awards

Veteran Toronto blues band Downchild has snagged a leading eight nominations for the Maple Blues Awards, a national award for outstanding achievement in blues music.

Downchild, founded 38 years ago by Donnie Walsh, earned nominations for entertainer, electric act and recording of the year for Live at the Palais Royale.

Each member of the band earned individual nominations — vocalist Chuck Jackson, keyboardist Michael Fonfara, horn player Pat Carey, drummer Mike Fitzpatrick and bassist Gary Kendall.

Toronto soul man Danny Brooks is up for four awards, including best male vocalist and recording of the year for No Easy Way Out.

Downchild is competing for entertainer of the year with Vancouver's Jim Byrnes and Colin James along with Jack de Keyser and Toronto's Shakura S'Aida.

Montreal's Queen of the Blues, Dawn Tyler Watson, who has earned a nomination for best female vocalist and best acoustic act, will host a gala awards ceremony Jan. 21 in Toronto.

Ndidi Onukwulu, Roxanne Potvin, Suzie Vinnick and S'Aida are also in the running for best female vocalist.

Johnny Max, Kevin Breit, Chris Whiteley, Paul Reddick and Fathead also had multiple nominations.

Nominees are selected by a panel of blues experts from across Canada, and winners are selected by the online votes of Canadian fans.

Voting runs Nov. 4 until Dec. 8.

Maple Blues Awards selected nominees

Entertainer of the year
Jim Byrnes
Jack de Keyzer
Downchild
Colin James
Shakura S'Aida

Electric act
Downchild
Sue Foley/Deborah Coleman/Roxanne Potvin
Colin James and the Little Big Band
Garrett Mason
Johnny Max Band

Acoustic act
Diana Braithwaite & Chris Whiteley
Michael Jerome Brown
Harry Manx & Kevin Breit
Big Dave McLean
Dawn Tyler Watson & Paul Deslauriers

Male vocalist
Danny Brooks
Jim Byrnes
Chuck Jackson
Harrison Kennedy
John Mays

Female vocalist
Ndidi Onukuwulu
Roxanne Potvin
Shakura S'Aida
Suzie Vinnick
Dawn Tyler Watson

New artist/group
Little Miss Higgins
Steve Marriner
Son Roberts Band
Steve Strongman
Thom Swift

B-52's Getting The Party Started Again

Fred Schneider blames the 16-year gap between B-52's albums on a lack of proximity.

"All our other records we basically wrote together in one place; now we all live in different parts of the country," Schneider tells Billboard.com ahead of the new "Funplex," due Feb. 26 on Astralwerks. "We'd get together when we could, but it was a slow process.

"Some of us have been wanting to do this for a long time," he continues. "A couple years ago we just started writing, and everything worked out."

"Funplex," which follows 1992's "Good Stuff" and the two new songs which graced 1998's "Time Capsule: Songs For a Future Generation," was recorded with producer Steve Osborne (New Order, KT Tunstall) over two sessions earlier this year in upstate New York and Athens, Ga.

A couple of songs are being considered for the first single -- including the opening and closing tracks, "Pump" and "Keep This Party Going" -- and Schneider says that between now and the album's release, the B-52's plan to create plenty of visual and viral material to support the album.

"We want to do a lot of cheap, YouTube-type stuff rather than watching some tired video by a band," Schneider says. "It just seems more interesting. We want to do something that entertains us, has some edge to it and our fans will dig."

Despite the layoff, Schneider says writing the new material was a natural process. "Keith (Strickland) brought in music and Kate (Pierson), Cindy (Wilson) and I jammed on it," he explains. The sound, he says, is "sexed-up and hyper fun and danceable. It's a B-52's record." There's also a bit of social commentary on the title track and "Keep This Party Going," but Schneider says, "we don't hit people over the heads with it."

"We're just totally behind this record, and we think it's one of our best," Schneider notes. "There hasn't been a B-52's record out in a long time. We have to fill that void that we left."

Schneider says the group has worked up about six of the new songs to play in its shows, which include a Halloween gig tomorrow (Oct. 31) at New York's Roseland Ballroom.

Alanis Morissette tunes in to "Radio"

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Alanis Morissette has joined the cast of sci-fi novelist Philip K. Dick's semiautobiographical feature adaptation "Radio Free Albemuth."

The Canadian pop singer plays Sylvia, a woman who shows up in the vision of a record label executive named Nick (Jonathan Scarfe) as a glamorous singer.

In reality, she's an ordinary woman in unexpected remission from lymphoma who, after appearing in Nick's visions, gets a job as his secretary. She becomes his soul mate thanks to the pair's shared spirituality and visions.

"Radio" began filming this month in and around Los Angeles. Director John Alan Simon adapted the script from Dick's 1976 novel, which was published posthumously in 1985. It was loosely based on his own experience with visions in the mid-'70s.

"I am a big fan of Philip K. Dick's poetic and expansively imaginative books," Morissette said. "I feel blessed to portray Sylvia, and to be part of this story being told in film."

The Grammy-winning "You Oughta Know" singer guest-starred as a lesbian on three episodes of the FX plastic-surgery drama "Nip/Tuck" last year.

Jerry Seinfeld returns with `Bee Movie'

NEW YORK - Jerry Seinfeld casually refers to "the TV show" like it was just another resume entry, a vaguely familiar event from his past.

Wait, wasn't that TV show "Seinfeld"? One of the greatest comedies in TV history? You know, the one with double-dippers, puffy shirts and mimbos?

Seinfeld, it seems, has moved on more than most of his audience. Though "the TV show" ended its historic run in 1998, the perpetual glow of "Seinfeld" has been mostly uninterrupted because its star and namesake has remained largely out of sight — like his beloved Superman resting in his Fortress of Solitude.

Seinfeld has even been called "the J.D. Salinger of television," as Conan O'Brien recently joked.

"I'm doing as much as I possibly can, I promise you," says Seinfeld, archly defending himself with a laugh in his Manhattan office, where the award statuettes are outnumbered only by the many model cars that dot the room.

The 53-year-old comedian is releasing "Bee Movie," a film which began as a causal pun made over dinner with Steven Spielberg. A call was then placed to Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of Dreamworks Animation SKG, and the small joke eventually spiraled into a $150 million blockbuster which Seinfeld has spent more than three years writing, producing and voicing the main character.

Seinfeld, of course, hasn't been doing nothing since "Seinfeld." He and wife Jessica were married in 1999 and have since had three children. Seinfeld's mission has generally been to return to being a standup comedian; his relentless work to build a new act was documented in the 2002 film "Comedian."

But that documentary grossed less than $3 million in limited release. Tens of thousands have seen Seinfeld in comedy clubs across the country — contributing a significant chunk of estimated yearly earnings of $60 million, including $15 million for "Seinfeld" residuals, according to Forbes.

To those who wish they saw him more, Seinfeld replies with his characteristic flare for language: "Me too, but I wonder if they would be willing to accept me being not good. I wish I could do more, too, but I can't do more as good, so I figure I'll do less, but good."

For years Katzenberg pitched movie roles to Seinfeld, who had numerous opportunities to star in films. So why did Seinfeld make "Bee Movie" his first feature film and his first major post-"Seinfeld" project?

"One very simple difference, but it made all the difference in the world: This was his idea," says Katzenberg. "If you look at Jerry's work, his entire career was always about doing things he authored."

Katzenberg adds: "Jerry has his own rhythms and his own interests."

Like the bees depicted in "Bee Movie," Seinfeld believes in sticking to what you do best, and for him, that's centered upon the comedic persona he's sharpened and refined over decades. He would rather leave the acting to the pros. "Tom Hanks is available. He can do it," he jokes.

Finding a new challenge, though, was imperative.

"That's why I haven't made a live action movie," Seinfeld says, explaining that it would be "too similar to what we did on the show. ... And I have no need for the ego gratification of `Hey, I'm in a movie.' But this medium was so different and interesting — that kind of sparked my energy."

The comedian acknowledges that his energy was low after working on "Seinfeld" for nearly a decade. The painstaking process of creating an animated movie, though, has left him "even more tired than I was before," he says.

What's distinctive about "Bee Movie" is how thoroughly it's imbued with Seinfeld's sense of humor. The involvement of talent in animated films doesn't typically go beyond a few days in a sound studio, but "Bee Movie" is essentially Seinfeld in bee form. Though Dreamworks is pitching it as a family movie, Seinfeld never had kids in mind when writing it.

"You should feel like you really spent time with my outlook on silliness, I guess," he says. "That's why I tried to put my fingerprint on everything in the movie — so it feels like it was made by one person. Sometimes that studio, corporate feel — the movies can feel very processed so it feels like generic entertainment."

Evident is Seinfeld's love of details (the bees can survive up to about 75-pages of magazine thickness, making the especially thick Italian Vogue the most frightening of weapons), his gift for gymnastic phrasing (his character remarks: "There's quite a bit of pomp under the circumstances") and his sometimes overlooked inclination for pushing comedy to surreal ends.

That was most obvious once his "Seinfeld" partner and co-creator Larry David left the show before the last two seasons, leading to some out-there plots (like Kramer hydrating Jerry's car with his own blood). In "Bee Movie," the bee voiced by Seinfeld sues honey companies for stealing the bees' honey.

"I always try to work personally," he explains. "On the TV show, we never thought we would have an across-the-board appeal — we didn't seek it. We just thought, `Let's make our little thing and whoever likes it, likes it.' I tried the same thing with this."

Seinfeld has a lot riding on "Bee Movie," and he has aggressively (and creatively) promoted it — like bungee-jumping at the Cannes Film Festival and hosting a series of one-minute sketch comedy promos he calls "TV Juniors."

The unflappable Seinfeld acknowledges: "I'm a little keyed up about the movie's opening. I think of it as extreme interest in the outcome."

Once the fanfare of "Bee Movie" has subsided, Seinfeld simply is planning to hit the road again and get back to what he calls his "normal, daily life": writing and honing his standup act.

Still, he says, "It's fun to chop down a big tree once in a while. I don't know if I could live this way all the time, but every once in a while. I think that's why people run these marathons: `I wonder if I could run that far without dying.' It's idiotic, but it's part of human nature."

Singer Robert Goulet dies at 73

LOS ANGELES - Robert Goulet, the handsome, big-voiced baritone whose Broadway debut in "Camelot" launched an award-winning stage and recording career, has died. He was 73.

The singer died Tuesday morning in a Los Angeles hospital while awaiting a lung transplant, said Goulet spokesman Norm Johnson.

He had been awaiting a lung transplant at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after being found last month to have a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis.

Goulet had remained in good spirits even as he waited for the transplant, said Vera Goulet, his wife of 25 years.

"Just watch my vocal cords," she said he told doctors before they inserted a breathing tube.

The Massachusetts-born Goulet, who spent much of his youth in Canada, gained stardom in 1960 with "Camelot," the Lerner and Loewe musical that starred Richard Burton as King Arthur and Julie Andrews as his Queen Guenevere.

Goulet played Sir Lancelot, the arrogant French knight who falls in love with Guenevere.

He became a hit with American TV viewers with appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and other programs. Sullivan labeled him the "American baritone from Canada," where he had already been a popular star in the 1950s, hosting his own TV show called "General Electric's Showtime."

The Los Angeles Times wrote in 1963 that Goulet "is popping up in specials so often these days that you almost feel he has a weekly show. The handsome lad is about the hottest item in show business since his Broadway debut."

Goulet won a Grammy Award in 1962 as best new artist and made the singles chart in 1964 with "My Love Forgive Me."

"When I'm using a microphone or doing recordings I try to concentrate on the emotional content of the song and to forget about the voice itself," he told The New York Times in 1962.

"Sometimes I think that if you sing with a big voice, the people in the audience don't listen to the words, as they should," he told the paper. "They just listen to the sound."

While he returned to Broadway only infrequently after "Camelot," he did win a Tony award in 1968 for best actor in a musical for his role in "The Happy Time." His other Broadway appearances were in "Moon Over Buffalo" in 1995 and "La Cage aux Folles" in 2005, plus a "Camelot" revival in 1993 in which he played King Arthur.

His stage credits elsewhere include productions of "Carousel," "Finian's Rainbow," "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," "The Pajama Game," "Meet Me in St. Louis," and "South Pacific."

Goulet also got some film work, performing in movies ranging from the animated "Gay Purr-ee" (1962) to "Underground" (1970) to "The Naked Gun 2 1/2" (1991). He played a lounge singer in Louis Malle's acclaimed 1980 film "Atlantic City."

He returned to Broadway in 2005 as one half of a gay couple in "La Cage aux Folles," and Associated Press theater critic Michael Kuchwara praised Goulet for his "affable, self-deprecating charm."

Goulet had no problems poking fun at his own fame, appearing recently in an Emerald nuts commercial in which he "messes" with the stuff of dozing office workers, and lending his name to Goulet's SnoozeBars. Goulet also has been sent up by Will Ferrell on "Saturday Night Live."

"You have to have humor and be able to laugh at yourself," Goulet said in a biography on his Web site.

The only son of French-Canadian parents, Goulet was born in Lawrence, Mass. After his father died, his mother moved the family to Canada when the future star was about 13.

He received vocal training at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto but decided opera wasn't for him. He made his first professional appearance at age 16 with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. His early success on Canadian television preceded his breakthrough on Broadway.

When his onetime costar Julie Andrews received a Kennedy Center Honors award in 2001, Goulet was among those joining in singing in her honor.

In his last performance Sept. 20 in Syracuse, N.Y., the crooner was backed by a 15-piece orchestra as he performed the one-man show "A Man and his Music."

Although Goulet headlined frequently on the Las Vegas Strip, one period stood out, evidenced by a photograph that hung on his office wall. It was the mid-1970s, and he had just finished a two-week run at the Desert Inn when he was asked to fill in at the Frontier, across the street.

Overnight, the marquees of two of the Strip's hottest resorts read the same: "Robert Goulet."

"I played there many, many years and have wonderful memories of the place," Goulet told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

His first two marriages ended in divorce. He had a daughter with his first wife, Louise Longmore, and two sons with his second wife, Carol Lawrence, the actress and singer who played Maria in the original Broadway production of "West Side Story."

After their breakup, she portrayed him unflatteringly in a book. "There's a fine line between love and hate," he responded in a New York Times interview. "She went on every talk show interview and cut me to shreds, and I've never done anything like that, and I won't."

Holiday movie season preview

LOS ANGELES - Among your choices on Hollywood's holiday menu, you can have talking bees and chipmunks or savage aliens and predators. You can have jolly elves and pretty princesses or vicious gangsters and the mother of all mythic monsters. You can have music, or you can have blood. And in at least one case, you can have both.

"I remember I did try to pitch it as a musical with lots of blood," director Tim Burton recalled of his early attempts many years ago to make a movie version of Stephen Sondheim's stage hit "Sweeney Todd."

With frequent collaborator Johnny Depp in the title role, Burton finally succeeds with an adaptation of the musical about the murderous 18th century Londoner who turns his barber business into a shop of horrors.

This time of year is Hollywood's most diverse, offering a mix of dark drama vying for Academy Award attention, action, horror and fantasy sagas, and light comedy and animated films.

Among the comic and cartoon offerings: "Bee Movie," with Jerry Seinfeld providing the voice of a worker bee who sues humanity for stealing honey; "Alvin and the Chipmunks," a blend of live-action and computer animation featuring Jason Lee and the little cartoon rodents; "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium," starring Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman in the tale of a magical toy shop; "Enchanted," with Amy Adams as a cartoon fairy-tale princess exiled by a wicked queen (Susan Sarandon) into very real Manhattan; and "Fred Claus," with Vince Vaughn as the black-sheep brother of old St. Nick (Paul Giamatti).

Reuniting Vaughn with "Wedding Crashers" director David Dobkin, "Fred Claus" casts Santa's brother as a guy who's lived for centuries in Santa's shadow.

"There's definitely a sense of sibling rivalry," said Giamatti, who wears a fat suit to play Santa. "I was always kind of the favourite, I become Santa Claus and everybody loves me. Everywhere he looks, Santa is everywhere, and he's just a screw-up who can't hold a job."

The season offers a couple of real-world holiday stories with "This Christmas," a family-reunion flick whose ensemble cast includes Delroy Lindo, Regina King and Mekhi Phifer, and "The Perfect Holiday," featuring Gabrielle Union, Morris Chestnut, Queen Latifah and Terrence Howard in a romance between a single mom and a store Santa.

In his first big project since his sitcom went off the air, Seinfeld also co-wrote "Bee Movie," the idea stemming from his childhood fascination for nature documentaries. Seinfeld liked the drama - and unintentional laughs - those shows brought to the natural world.

"I found them kind of funny, because they make one species the hero. That week, whatever his prey is, you want him to kill it. The next week, the one that was the hero becomes the prey, and you want that one to die," Seinfeld said. "Your allegiance changes with whoever is the star of the show that week."

Disney's "Enchanted" tweaks the studio's legacy by forcing a classic animated princess to survive in an unfamiliar realm.

"It begins in the animated kingdom. My character is looking for her true love, and she immediately meets him, but the prince's jealous stepmother casts her into Manhattan," Adams said. "She confronts all sorts of realities. There's an old man who steals her crown, she learns the truth about gravity. She learns what food tastes like. It just tastes different in the real world."

A look at other highlights this season:

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT:

Two grave, violent, brilliantly executed crime sagas could emerge as front-runners for this year's best-picture Oscar. Ridley Scott's "American Gangster," with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, and Joel and Ethan Coen's "No Country for Old Men," featuring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin, have caught strong buzz in advance screenings.

Based on a true story, "American Gangster" stars Washington as a 1970s Harlem drug lord who balances brutality with altruism and Crowe as a freewheeling but upright Jersey cop on his trail.

"No Country for Old Men" is adapted from Cormac McCarthy's novel and features Jones as a sheriff tracking a merciless killer (Bardem), who in turn is pursuing a good old Texas boy (Brolin) who made off with a fortune in drug money.

Also on the crime front is "Hitman," with Timothy Olyphant starring as a genetically engineered assassin in an adaptation of the video game, and Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream," the filmmaker's third-straight tale set in England.

"Cassandra's Dream" is Allen at his darkest, with Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell as brothers lured into a murder scheme. Allen said he set out to craft a tragedy among ordinary people, McGregor playing an ambitious son stuck toiling in his ailing father's restaurant, Farrell an auto mechanic with modest aspirations.

"I wanted two nice brothers. Ewan a sweet guy who works for his father even though he doesn't want to," Allen said. "And Colin a decent guy who just wants to have a nice little house with his wife and all that. They get into this terrible situation because of their ambition, because of their flaws, and they get swept up in this tragic thing."

LANDS OF MAKE-BELIEVE:

In the fantasy footsteps of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Chronicles of Narnia" comes "The Golden Compass," with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig leading the cast in the adventure of a young girl trying to rescue a friend in an alternate reality.

Robert Zemeckis brings the Norse legend of "Beowulf" to life with similar technology he used on "The Polar Express" to capture live actors whose performances are then digitally animated. The film features Anthony Hopkins, Ray Winstone and Angelina Jolie as Beowulf's vile foe, Grendel's mother.

Emily Watson leads the cast of "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep," about a Scottish boy whose magical egg hatches into a legendary creature that lives in a little body of water called Loch Ness.

BLACK GOLD AND LEGENDARY RICHES:

Daniel Day-Lewis stars as a fortune-seeker in California's oil boom of the early 1900s in "There Will Be Blood," a saga loosely based on an Upton Sinclair novel and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson ("Magnolia").

Nicolas Cage reunites with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Jon Turteltaub for "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," the sequel to their 2004 smash.

This time, Cage's history-minded treasure hunter sets out to clear the name of an ancestor implicated in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the quest leading to a mythic cache of wealth and a secret text intended only for the eyes of U.S. leaders.

"A book only presidents are privy to, and in the book are all the secrets of the great myths, like Area 51, the Kennedy assassination or who was involved with this conspiracy, or Cibola," a legendary city of vast riches sought by early Spanish explorers, Cage said. "What becomes revealed to us is there was this enormous treasure, kind of a Native American sacred temple that was a city of gold."

CURRENT AFFAIRS:

Robert Redford directs himself, Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep in "Lions for Lambs," an ideological saga set against the war in Afghanistan involving a presidential hopeful, an inspirational professor and a story-hungry journalist.

"Charlie Wilson's War," from director Mike Nichols, stars Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman in a drama about the architects of the U.S. response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

"The Kite Runner" is the stark story of an Afghan boy who flees with his father to America after the Soviet invasion but returns as an adult to rescue the son of an old childhood friend.

In "Grace Is Gone," John Cusack plays a man who takes his daughters on a road trip to put off breaking the news that their mother has died in action in Iraq.

DEATH AND DYING:

Francis Ford Coppola returns with his first film in 10 years. The fantastical "Youth Without Youth" stars Tim Roth as an elderly scholar filled with regret. His whose life's work, a tome on the origins of language, remains unfinished; when a freak lightning strike restores his youth, he has a chance to correct past mistakes.

The second-chance theme resonated with Coppola, who spent much of the last decade developing an epic film that never got off the ground. He wound up financing "Youth Without Youth" himself and shot it like a young maverick director fresh out of film school.

"I found lots of parallels in the character's life and my life," Coppola said. "I had the big work I hadn't been able to finish. I got a chance to reinvent myself and make a film not as a big Hollywood producer but as kind of a new wave filmmaker."

"P.S. I Love You" stars Hilary Swank as a widow whose husband left behind a series of tasks for her to cope with her grief and get on with her life.

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney team for "The Savages," playing a brother and sister reluctantly forced to care for their estranged, dying father.

"The Bucket List" features Jack Nicholson as a wealthy business executive and Morgan Freeman as an auto mechanic, both dying of cancer, who form an unlikely friendship and set out to do all the things they wish they'd done with their lives.

"Two older guys who have cancer and are going to die, that doesn't sound like a blockbuster," said Rob Reiner, who directed "The Bucket List." "But when you see the movie, it's emotional, it's uplifting, and it's not about dying. It's a movie about living and embracing life."

LOVE AND MARRIAGE:

Nicole Kidman plays a writer sowing discontent as the marriage of her sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to an out-of-work artist (Jack Black) approaches in "Margot at the Wedding."

Javier Bardem, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Benjamin Bratt star in "Love in the Time of Cholera," an adaptation of the novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez that traces the half-century wait of a man to win his true love.

"Atonement" features Keira Knightley and James McAvoy in a chronicle of the repercussions that follow a teenage girl's false accusations against her sister's lover.

CREATURE FEATURES:

Last man alive Will Smith fends off the remnants of humanity, who have been transformed into nocturnal fiends in "I Am Legend," a new adaptation of the novel that also was the basis for Charlton Heston's "The Omega Man" and Vincent Price's "The Last Man on Earth."

"There's something primal about being the last person on Earth," said Smith, who spends much of the movie alone and in silence. "It's me and a dog for the first probably hour and 15 minutes."

"Stephen King's the Mist" is the third adaptation of the horror master by director Frank Darabont ("The Green Mile," "The Shawshank Redemption"). Thomas Jane and Marcia Gay Harden lead the cast in the tale of townsfolk threatened by creatures from a mysterious mist.

The grudge match continues between two breeds of space monster in "Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem."

BALLADS, BLUES AND BOB:

Not one, but six Bob Dylans come to the screen in "I'm Not There," director Todd Haynes' dreamlike portrait of the rock icon. Among the performers doing Dylan: Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett, who plays a Dylan-esque folk idol enraging his fans by going electric.

Blanchett's character comes the closest to the real Dylan, a spot-on rendering of the musician in the mid-1960s as he confounded fans and critics with oblique prattle and unpredictable musical turns.

"That's why Todd wanted a woman to play it, because if you had a man play it, you would have been looking for the impersonation," Blanchett said. "And so you would have been seeing the shortfall, whereas you're automatically saying there's a Brechtian distance here between character and performer, and that allows for the poetry and kind of the irony to really breathe."

John Sayles' "Honeydripper" stars Danny Glover as a Deep South proprietor making one last stab to save his failing juke joint, hiring an electric-guitar whiz amid the transition from blues to rock 'n' roll in the 1950s.

John C. Reilly stars in "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," a comedy chronicling the sordid life of a musician who lives the extreme rock-star life as he sleeps around, sires kids and does every drug he can find.

"August Rush" features Robin Williams, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Freddie Highmore in the story of an orphaned musical prodigy seeking his parents.

And the season's big musical question: Can Johnny Depp sing?

"He's a very musical person, but when he said he would do it, nobody had any idea if he could sing. I knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't have said yes to doing it if he couldn't," said "Sweeney Todd" director Burton, adding that he was pleasantly surprised at how well the vocals of Depp and co-stars Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen and Alan Rickman turned out.

"It's pretty much all actors, not professional singers, and they really did a great job. It's one of my favourite roles that Johnny has done."

New CD Releases, October 30: Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Levon Helm

Britney Spears "Blackout"

It's been four years since the pop diva released her last new studio album, 2003's "In the Zone," which produced the mega-hit "Toxic." Yet, the public can be excused for thinking that the hiatus has actually been much longer. That's because it seems like ages since the star was in the news for something music related.

But--oh, boy!--has Britney been in the news a lot over the last four years. There have been countless tabloid stories about her marriage woes, child-custody problems and party-animal escapades (with and without panties).

Finally, the star returns with her fifth studio effort, "Blackout." The album was officially leaked on the Internet recently, allowing folks to hear all 12 of the tracks, and some of the early reviews have been surprisingly positive. Spears has received more good news with the album's first single, "Gimme More," which has proven to be a hit both on radio and on the charts.

* * *
Backstreet Boys "Unbreakable"

The Jive label should utterly dominate record sales this week. Not only does Britney have a new album coming out, but the Backstreet Boys are back as well.

That's right--Howie, Nick, AJ and Brian are back and ready to try and re-capture the title of top boy band. With 'NSync on the shelf, that shouldn't be too hard.

The only member that isn't in the fold for "Unbreakable" is Kevin Richardson. The singer has left the band, reportedly to focus on starting a family, though it is speculated that he will rejoin the group for its next album.

The first single from the set is the piano-ballad "Inconsolable."

The Backstreet Boys hope that "Unbreakable" will further add to what is already a very impressive career in terms of album sales. The group has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making it one of the best-selling pop bands of all time.

* * *
Levon Helm "Dirt Farmer"

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, who came to fame as the drummer in The Band, apparently likes to take his time. Case in point: "Dirt Farmer" is Helm's first new solo studio album in 25 years.

The 67-year-old Arkansas native handles several different instruments (including drums and mandolin) as well as all the lead vocals on this album. He receives some assistance on "Dirt Farmer" from such guests as multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell (a longtime member of Bob Dylan's band) and his daughter Amy (a member of Ollabelle).

The album comes after some trying times in Helm's life. Notably, he underwent treatments for throat cancer, and a fire consumed some 80 percent of his recording studio.

* * *
Andrea Bocelli "The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere"

The platinum-plus-selling tenor vocalist is set to deliver his first-ever greatest- hits package. The collection includes such fan favorites as "Romanza," "La Voce del Silenzio" and "Time to Say Goodbye," Bocelli's smash duet with Sarah Brightman.

Bocelli will support this set with a tour that kicks off Dec. 1 in Las Vegas. He's currently scheduled to remain on the road through a Dec. 15 date in Anaheim, CA.

* * *
Original Soundtrack "I'm Not There"

This 2-disc soundtrack to the forthcoming film about Bob Dylan features several different talents covering the great songwriter's works. Included in the mix are Eddie Vedder, Cat Power, John Doe, Sufjan Stevens and Calexico, among many others.

* * *
More new releases:
Avenged Sevenfold, "Avenged Sevenfold" (Warner Bros)
David Bowie, "David Bowie Box" (Sony)
Will Downing, "After Tonight" (Peak)
Flyleaf, "Flyleaf" (Interscope)
Robert Fripp and Brian Eno, "Unreleased Works of Sterling Genius" (DMG)
Joy Division, "Closer" (Rhino)
Joy Division, "Unknown Pleasures" (Rhino)
Layo and Bushwacka, "Global Underground: Rio de Janeiro" (GU)
Otep, "The Ascension" (Koch)
Puscifer, "V Is for Vagina" (Puscifer Ent)
Queen, "Queen Rock Montreal" (Hollywood)
Taking Back Sunday, "Notes from the Past" (Victory)
Josh Turner, "Everything Is Fine" (MCA)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Twin Peaks: All New Season Two Music" (Absurda)

Parton sang for Wagoner in final hours

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Dolly Parton said Monday she feels like a part of her died along with her old duet partner, Porter Wagoner. But she said she was grateful that she was able to spend a few final hours with the man who launched her career before he succumbed to cancer Sunday.

"Part of him will always live through me and my music as he was my first big break," Parton said.

The 80-year-old Grand Ole Opry star and showman died of lung cancer Sunday in a Nashville hospice, after being transferred there Friday from a hospital.

Parton said she was there with his family, sang for him and prayed with him.

"It felt good that I had the opportunity to say goodbye properly," Parton said.

Wagoner had a streak of hits in the 1960s and '70s, and enjoyed a comeback in recent months with a new album.

To many longtime fans, though, he may be best remembered for his sparkly rhinestone suits and for singing with Parton on his TV show from 1967 to 1974.

Marty Stuart, who produced Wagoner's last album, the critically acclaimed "Wagonmaster," said he grew up watching his TV show and they later became close friends.

Stuart was one of the musicians who backed Wagoner this summer when he opened for the influential rock group the White Stripes at Madison Square Garden, a show that underscored the aging singer's newfound popularity with a fresh wave of young fans.

"He was a masterful showman who understood the art of the final act," Stuart said. "He left the world on top."

Stuart said Wagoner had been invited to light the nation's Christmas tree at the Pageant of Peace celebration in Washington, D.C., next month.

"One of the last things he said to me was, 'You're gonna have to call the president and tell him I won't be able to sing him any Christmas songs this year. Maybe next year,'" Stuart recalled.

Country music singer Patty Loveless said Wagoner was a mentor to her in her early years and became like family to her.

"He encouraged me and helped me to fulfill my dreams and was truly an inspiration," Loveless said. "I love him and I miss him already."

The Grand Ole Opry announced Monday that funeral arrangements would be open to the public. Visitation will be Wednesday at a local funeral home, with a funeral on Thursday at the Grand Ole Opry House.

Slings & Arrows victorious with big wins at Gemini gala

Slings & Arrows, a Movie Network show about the goings on behind the scenes of a fictional Shakespearean theatre festival, nabbed four major awards at the Gemini gala in Regina on Sunday.

The show won best dramatic series as well as best writing in a drama. Actors Paul Gross and Martha Burns, a husband and wife team who star in the show, were honoured with acting trophies.

CBC host George Stroumboulopoulos launched the 22nd annual Gemini Awards Gala with a pre-packaged skit involving a bus trip to Saskatchewan, calling the province "flat" and dropping by the outdoor sets of CBC's Little Mosque on the Prairie and CTV's Corner Gas, both filmed in the province.

Throughout the sketch, various TV personalities, including Rick Mercer, sex therapist Sue Johanson and Alex Trebek of Jeopardy!, admonished the host of The Hour for his faux pas.

Stroumboulopoulos, dressed nattily in a black suit with tie, hosted the final awards night celebrating Canadian English-language television at Regina's Conexus Arts Centre, the second time the gala night has been located outside of Toronto. Vancouver was host to last year's show.

Men in Trees lead James Tupper, Jason Priestley and Gross were the first guest hosts on the stage. The three joked about their tenuous connections as Priestly played a game of Six Degrees of Separation.

The threesome handed out the best actress award in a dramatic series to Gross's wife Burns. Gross was later presented with a best actor trophy for the same series.

Instead of giving a thank you speech, Gross honoured William Hutt, a founding company member of Canada's Stratford Festival, who died this year.

Next in the show came Brent Butt of Corner Gas and Carlo Rota of Little Mosque on the Prairie. Rota commented on how his show was shut out of all categories but was given a special Canada Award for fostering racial tolerance in the country.

Butt's response? "Oh, too bad."

Actress shocked by win

The pair presented the award for best individual performance in a comedy program. The winner turned out to be a very shocked Phyllis Ellis for The Wilkinsons, beating out the likes of Rick Mercer of the CBC's Rick Mercer Report and John Cleese in the Just for Laughs Gala Series.

"I feel great. I'm sure you're all wondering who I am but I'm not hurt," joked Ellis.

Best Comedy Series went to Corner Gas, which beat out CBC shows This Hour Has 22 Minutes and the Royal Canadian Air Farce, the animation Odd Job Jack and Rent-A-Goalie.

"We all want to dedicate this to the crew which works hard on the show here in Regina … and gets it into 1.6 million homes every week," said the series creator and star Brent Butt.

Howie Mandel, who now hosts the popular game show Deal or No Deal and handed out the award with wrestler Trish Stratus, complained how none of these series offered him a guest starring role.

After the award was given out, Stroumboulopoulos sat behind Luba Goy and pointed out the Air Farce star, joking that he once went out with her.

Little Mosque captures Canada Award

Other skits included a mock public service announcement for FLOP, Forgotten Lives of Puppets, with actress Camilla Scott telling the public that "Did you know that puppets only have a five-year life span in the entertainment business?"

The fast-moving show, sliced down to a one-hour broadcast from the usual two hours, cut to CBC comedian Sean Majumder, Smallville's Kristen Kreuk and Sarah Chalke of Scrubs to present the best drama series trophy to Slings & Arrows.

The show's creators and stars stood back to allow Peter Hutt, the nephew of William Hutt, to give the official acceptance.

"Thank you for Slings & Arrows … it's as magical an experience as I've had in television," said Hutt, whose uncle appeared in the series.

Mercer presented the prize for best host in a sports program to the CBC's Ron MacLean for Hockey Night in Canada. MacLean began his career on the program in 1986.

MacLean, who now has seven Geminis, thanked his wife, parents and singled out fellow sportscaster James Duthie who covers the NHL for TSN: "Duthie, you deserve a win, too."

CBC program Little Mosque on the Prairie was then honoured with the Canada Award for helping spread tolerance and understanding through its series.

"I'd like to thank my broadcaster, CBC, for being brave," said show creator Zarqa Nawaz, who stood along with her producers and several members of the cast.

The show, now in its second season, gets more than a million viewers every week.

Last presenter: Dan from Regina

The last award of the televised show featured a "regular white guy" — introduced as Dan from Regina — who presented the inaugural Viewers Choice Award, given to a Canadian who is not eligible for a Gemini.

"This is so amazing," said an ebullient Howie Mandel, who won through an online voting poll over 21 other Canadians starring in Hollywood productions.

"It's great to reward people for their talent and skill but I think it's much more important to be popular."

Mandel had the audience laughing as he said, "I can now tell people I am the favourite Canadian" and then invited Dan to hang out with him.

Stroumboulopoulos ended the show by thanking the people of Regina and Saskatchewan and the crew: "For the love of God, we got it done in an hour."

Here is your list of winners:

Best Dramatic Series
Slings & Arrows (Movie Network)

Best Actor in a Drama Series
Paul Gross, Slings & Arrows

Best Actress in a Drama Series
Martha Burns, Slings & Arrows

Best Direction in a Drama Series
Chris Haddock, Intelligence (CBC)

Best Comedy Series
Corner Gas (CTV)

Best Ensemble in a Comedy
Brent Butt, Lorne Cardinal, Fred Ewanuick, Gabrielle Miller, Eric Peterson, Nancy Robertson, Tara Spencer-Nairn, Janet Wright, Corner Gas

Best Writing in a Comedy
Mark Farrell, Corner Gas

Best Writing in a Drama
Susan Coyne, Bob Martin, Mark McKinney, Slings & Arrows

Best Host or Interviewer in a Sports Program
Ron MacLean, Hockey Night in Canada (CBC)

Best News Anchor
Gord Martineau, CityNews at Six - Toronto

Best Music or Variety Program
2006 MuchMusic Video Awards

Best Social/Political Documentary
Fatherland

Country star Porter Wagoner dies at 80

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Porter Wagoner was known for a string of country hits in the '60s, perennial appearances at the Grand Ole Opry in his trademark rhinestone suits, and for launching the career of Dolly Parton.

Like many older performers, his star had faded in recent years. But his death from lung cancer Sunday, at 80, came only after a remarkable late-career revival that won him a new generation of fans.

The Missouri-born Wagoner signed with RCA Records in 1955 and joined the Opry in 1957, "the greatest place in the world to have a career in country music," he said in 1997. His showmanship, suits and pompadoured hair made him famous.

He had his own syndicated TV show, "The Porter Wagoner Show," for 21 years, beginning in 1960. It was one of the first syndicated shows to come out of Nashville and set a pattern for many others.

"Some shows are mechanical, but ours was not polished and slick," he said in 1982.

Among his hits, many of which he wrote or co-wrote, were "Carroll County Accident," "A Satisfied Mind," "Company's Comin'," "Skid Row Joe," "Misery Loves Company" and "Green Green Grass of Home."

The songs often told stories of tragedy or despair. In "Carroll County Accident," a married man having an affair is killed in a car crash; "Skid Row Joe" deals with a once-famous singer who's lost everything.

In 2002, he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

In May, after years without a recording contract, he signed with ANTI- records, an eclectic Los Angeles label best known for alt-rock acts like Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Neko Case.

Wagoner's final album, "Wagonmaster," was released in June and earned him some of the best reviews of his career. Over the summer, he was the opening act for the influential rock duo White Stripes at a sold-out show at New York's Madison Square Garden.

"The young people I met backstage, some of them were 20 years old. They wanted to get my autograph and tell me they really liked me," Porter said with tears in his eyes the day after the New York show. "If only they knew how that made me feel — like a new breath of fresh air."

To many music fans, Wagoner was best known as the man who boosted Parton's career. He had hired the 21-year-old singer as his duet partner in 1967, when she was just beginning to gain notice through songs such as "Dumb Blonde."

They were the Country Music Association's duo of the year in 1970 and 1971, recording hit duets including "The Last Thing on My Mind."

Parton's solo country records, such as her autobiographical "Coat of Many Colors," also began climbing the charts in the early 1970s. She wrote the pop standard "I Will Always Love You" in 1973 after Wagoner suggested she shift from story songs to focus on love songs.

The two quit singing duets in 1974 and she went on to wide stardom with pop hits and movies such as "9 to 5," whose theme song was also a hit for her.

Wagoner sued her for $3 million in assets, but they settled out of court in 1980. He said later they were always friendly, "but it's a fact that when you're involved with attorneys and companies that have them on retainer, it makes a different story."

At a charity roast for Wagoner in 1995, she explained the breakup this way: "We split over creative differences. I was creative, and Porter was different."

He said in a 1982 Associated Press interview that his show "was a training ground for her; she learned a great deal and I exposed her to very important people and the country music fans."

She was present at the ceremony in May 2007 honoring Wagoner on his silver anniversary with the Opry. At the time, he called Parton "one of my best friends today." She also visited him in the hospital as he battled cancer.

Wagoner, who had survived an abdominal aneurysm in 2006, was hospitalized again this month and his publicist disclosed he had lung cancer. He died at 8:25 p.m. CDT Sunday in a Nashville hospice, said Darlene Bieber, a spokeswoman for the Opry.

Country singer and Opry member Dierks Bentley visited Wagoner in the hospice over the weekend and said Wagoner led them in prayer, thanking God for his friends, his family and the Grand Ole Opry.

"The loss of Porter is a great loss for the Grand Ole Opry and for country music, and personally it is a great loss of a friend I was really just getting to know," Bentley said. "I feel blessed for the time I had with him."

Pete Fisher, vice president and general manager of the Opry, said the Opry family of musicians and performers was deeply saddened by the news. "His passion for the Opry and all of country music was truly immeasurable," Fisher said.

Wagoner was born in West Plains, Mo., and became known as "The Thin Man From West Plains" because of his lanky frame. He recalled that he spent hours as a child pretending to be an Opry performer, using a tree stump as a stage.

He started in radio, then became a regular on the "Ozark Jubilee," one of the first televised national country music shows. On the Opry since 1957, he joined Roy Acuff and other onetime idols.

At one point his wardrobe included more than 60 handmade rhinestone suits.

"Rhinestone suits are just beautiful under the lights," he said. "They've become a big part of my career. I get more compliments on my outfits than any other entertainer — except for Liberace."

While he continued with the Opry, and even had a small part in the 1982 movie "Honky Tonk Man" starring Clint Eastwood, his recording career dried up in the 1980s — until his return this year.

"I stopped making records because I didn't like the way they were wanting me to record," he said. "When RCA dropped me from the label, I didn't really care about making records for another label because I didn't have any say in what they would release and how they would make the records and so forth."

'Saw IV' slays in $32.M debut weekend

LOS ANGELES - The killer of the "Saw" franchise may be dead, but his sadistic spirit lives on. Lionsgate's "Saw IV" led the weekend box office with $32.1 million, maintaining the horror franchise's position as a Halloween perennial, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Debuting at No. 2 was Disney's "Dan in Real Life," a romance starring Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche and Dane Cook that took in $12.1 million.

Overall Hollywood revenues declined for the sixth-straight weekend, though business was off only a fraction compared to the same weekend last year. The top-12 movies took in $86.1 million, down 2 percent, better results than the previous weeks, when business had fallen significantly more.

The results for "Saw IV" were on par with the debut of "Saw III," which pulled in $33.6 million over the same weekend last year. Since the original low-budget "Saw" became an out-of-nowhere fright sensation in 2004, Lionsgate has released a new chapter each October, all hits.

"I would expect to see `Saw V' next year, `Saw VI' the year after that and `Saw VII' the following year if they can keep it up," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "There's just something inherently gruesome and compelling about these movies. I don't know what that says about society in general, but it certainly works at the box office."

"Saw IV" features post-mortem horrors concocted by the fiendish killer Jigsaw (Tobin Bell, seen in flashbacks), whose autopsy turns up a cassette tape in his entrails that leads the cops into a new snare of torture puzzles the madman left behind.

"Dan in Real Life" was the prime choice for the date crowd. The movie stars Carell as a widower raising three daughters who falls for his brother's new girlfriend (Binoche) during a family reunion.

In narrower release, Roadside Attractions' "Bella" opened solidly with $1.3 million. The film stars Eduardo Verastegui as a former soccer player who hooks up with a pregnant waitress (Tammy Blanchard).

Thinkfilm's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," directed by Sidney Lumet ("Dog Day Afternoon," "Network"), opened strongly in limited release at two New York City theaters with $73,500. The film, which gradually expands into nationwide release through November, stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke as brothers in financial straits who plot to rob their parents' jewelry store.

A high-profile documentary, Sony Pictures Classics' "Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains," had a poor debut, taking in just $10,573 at seven theaters. The film from director Jonathan Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs") follows the former president during a tour to promote his book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."

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. "Saw IV," $32.1 million.
2. "Dan in Real Life," $12.1 million.
3. "30 Days of Night," $6.7 million.
4. "The Game Plan," $6.3 million.
5. "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?", $5.7 million.
6. "Michael Clayton," $5 million.
7. "Gone Baby Gone," $3.9 million.
8. "The Comebacks," $3.45 million.
9. "We Own the Night," $3.4 million.
10. "Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas," $3.35 million.

The Couch Potato Report - October 27th, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report peels some DVDs that have been released, just in time for all Hallow's Eve!

Halloween is on Wednesday, and in advance of that, the studios have been releasing and re-releasing titles that are apropos for this time of year.

Specifically - horror films.

So, I have a few of those to briefly tell you about, and then I have a Canadian film that scared me more than any of those movies.

Let me start with THE REAPING, a religion-themed horror film that features the Ten Plagues of Egypt, and stars two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank.

In a small Louisiana bayou town called Haven, the death of a child in mysterious circumstances sparks of a series of events that seem to represent the aforementioned biblical plagues.

Rivers and other water sources turned to blood, amphibians, lice or gnats, wild animals, disease on livestock, and so on.

Hilary Swank from MILLION DOLLAR BABY is former Christian missionary who now travels to places to prove that it isn't God who is behind these type of events, and she proves the truth using science.

THE REAPING isn't the most original horror film that you will ever see - especially since it doesn't even know if it wants to be a horror film, a thriller or a movie about a person losing their faith - and the twists and turns it does offer that are close to being original are fairly predictable.

So, if you like Hilary Swank, and you enjoy this type of film at this time of year, then perhaps you will get some entertainment value out of THE REAPING.

I didn't dislike it, and I don't think it was a waste of my time, but I have seen better.

In fact, I saw better right after it was over...because when THE REAPING was done, I watched the 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION of the Academy Award nominated horror film POLTERGEIST.

A real-life poltergeist is a spirit or ghost that manifests itself by moving and influencing objects.

The film of that name is set in a time when television stations went off the air after a full day or programming.

And while one such station is off the air, the television in five-year-old Carol Anne's parents' suburban California living room begins communicating with her.

Or, something inside of it does anyway.

In something that was incredibly unique at the time of the film's original release on June 4th, 1982, Carol Anne gets pulled inside the TV, and the rest of teh movie focusses on her family's attempt to get her back.

POLTERGEIST was written by Steven Speilberg and directed by Tobe Hooper, who also gave us another great Halloween film - THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and the two men working together gave us many great scares 25 years ago, and their film still holds up today!

The 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION DVD doesn't feature a comprehensive retrospective documentary, or any unique making of featuretees, and that is disappointing.

But it does contain the film itself, and that is good enough for me.

Up next, for your Halloweekend viewing "pleasure" is: the two-disc, four-film set CHUCKY - THE KILLER DVD COLLECTION about a less than perfect child's doll.

This surprisingly still enjoyable set about a homicidal doll doesn't feature the original 1988 horror film CHILD's PLAY - as that film was produced by a different studio than the one releasing this set - but it does feature the very enjoyable sequel CHILD'S PLAY 2, the less than enjoyable CHILD'S PLAY 3, the campy and very entertaining BRIDE OF CHUCKY - with Emmy winner Katharine Heigl and Canadian actress Jennifer Tilly - and the not-so-good SEED OF CHUCKY.

Chucky is one of the most recognizable faces of film horror over the last two decades, along with Freddy and Jason - and if you can accept the premise - about a small doll that somehow manages to overpower every human - no matter how big - he faces - then you will be entertained by this inexpensive set of four films.

Somehow the premise worked when they were originally released, and it stands up now.

These are great films for this time of year!

Okay, the next release I have for you is not a stereotypical horror film, it is more of a thriller with horrific elements.

Kevin Costner plays a bad guy in MR. BROOKS.

Costner's Earl Brooks is an upstanding bow tie wearing, box making business owner and family man who, is named the Portland Chamber of Commerce's Man of the Year.

But secretly, Earl is addicted to killing, just for the thrill.

And then, after a two-year break from his addiction, Mr. Brooks starts up again.

William Hurt plays the dark side of Mr. Brooks' ego, Demi Moore is the cop who is on his trail, and comedian Dane Cook is a man who catches Brooks in the murderous act, but instead of turning him in...explains that there is something else he wants.

MR. BROOKS, both the film and the character played by Kevin Costner, is creepy. But they aren't really all that satisfying.

I'm not disappointed I saw it, as the script, acting and premise are all sort of interesting, but somehow it just didn't all come together to form a movie that I could wholeheartedly recommend.

I also can't wholeheartedly recommend THE SOPRANOS - SEASON 6, PART 2 DVD

When it first came on, and for the first few seasons THE SOPRANOS was one of the most unique and interesting shows on TV.

For the last few years it was a train wreck, a car crash...something that I didn't watching, but just couldn't look away from.

The four disc set that is SEASON 6, PART 2 of THE SOPRANOS features more episodes that are boring than ones that are superb, but somehow I enjoyed sitting through it again over the past few weeks, especially since I already knew what happened in the controversial final episode.

An episode that is now available on DVD.

Our final film this week is the Canadian documentary ANTLERS is about the big game hunters of the forests of Northern Quebec.

This movie actually scared me at times...more than any of those horror films....adn I enjoyed every second of it!

I am not a hunter now, nor have I ever been a hunter.

I have no issues with those who do hunt, I just don't hunt myself.

ANTLERS introduces us to people who enjoy hunting...who really, really enjoy hunting!

The film is in French, so I don't have a clip to prove my point, but I can tell you that at one point we meet a guy who has 25 mounted Deer heads on the walls of the place where he lives.

And he is hoping to add to that.

Oh, and it is his parents house, but he is hoping to get his own house some day so he will have more room for his trophies.

I found that a bit scary...entertaining, but scary!

If you have ever wanted to see real life hunters gutting a moose, carving a beaver, or setting traps to catch these and other animals, then ANTLERS is the film for you!

Personally, I was intrigued, grossed out, offended, and entertained, all at the same time!

This is everything you want in a film during a Halloweekend!!

ANTLERS, THE SOPRANOS - SEASON 6, PART 2 DVD, MR. BROOKS, and the horror films CHUCKY - THE KILLER DVD COLLECTION, POLTERGEIST and THE REAPING are all available now on DVD.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

GEOLOGIC JOURNEY takes a look at the vast, wild beauty we call Canada at it traces the extraordinary history of our continent.

TALK TO ME is a film - based on the true story - of an ex-con who became a popular talk show host and community activist, in the late sixties and early seventies.

MEET THE ROBINSONS is an animated film from Walt Disney about a young inventor.

ENTOURAGE - SEASON THREE, PART TWO features the latest DVD releases of Vince, E, Turtle and Johnny Drama.

And LICENSE TO WED is an unfunny comedy that is so bad, it may cause engaged people to rethink their plans.

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!

Shatner's Kirk not aboard for new `Trek'

LOS ANGELES - The original Capt. Kirk is disheartened he won't get to boldly go anywhere with his old pal Spock in the new "Star Trek" movie.

While Leonard Nimoy is reprising his role as the pointy-eared Vulcan in next year's science-fiction flick, William Shatner is not on board as Kirk.

"I couldn't believe it. I'm not in the movie at all. Leonard, God bless his heart, is in, but not me," Shatner, 76, told The Associated Press on Thursday. "I thought, what a decision to make, since it obviously is a decision not to make use of the popularity I have to ensure the movie has good box office. It didn't seem to be a wise business decision."

Director J.J. Abrams announced last summer that Nimoy would reprise the role he originated opposite Shatner in the 1960s television show and played again in six big-screen adventures.

Abrams said Shatner probably would have a part in the film, which is due in theaters in December 2008. But while Shatner said he had a couple of meetings with Abrams, nothing came of it.

Abrams' "Trek" film, whose plot is being kept under wraps by distributor Paramount, recounts an early adventure for the crew of the starship Enterprise, with Chris Pines as the young Kirk and Zachary Quinto as the young Spock.

The cast includes Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, Simon Pegg as engineer Scott, John Cho as helmsman Sulu, Zoe Saldana as communications officer Uhura and Anton Yelchin as navigator Chekov, roles respectively originated by DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig.

Past "Trek" films presented an obstacle to the revival of Shatner's Kirk, who died at the end of 1994's "Star Trek: Generations."

But in science fiction, you can never truly say die. Spock was killed off in 1982's "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" then resurrected in 1984's "Star Trek: The Search for Spock," with Nimoy's Vulcan living on to co-star in three more films, two episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and now Abrams' new movie.

"I've got a lot to do," said Shatner, whose current work includes the TV show "Boston Legal," narration for the Christmas spoof "Stalking Santa" due on DVD on Nov. 6, and the prequel "Star Trek: Academy — Collision Course," a novel chronicling Kirk and Spock's first meeting.

Shatner says of "Star Trek": "Having been in on the creation of it, I was hoping to be in on the re-creation."

Massive Pink Floyd Box Due In December

Pink Floyd's entire studio discography will be bundled for the 16-disc boxed set "Oh By the Way," due Dec. 4 internationally. For the time being, the limited pressing of 10,000 will only be available as an import in the United States.

The box spans Pink Floyd's 1967 debut, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn," to its 1994 swan song, "The Division Bell," with a new portrait collage from longtime visual collaborator Storm Thorgerson. Also included is a 20" by 30" poster.

Each album is a reproduction of the original vinyl release, with the "Dark Side of the Moon" cover appearing on CD for the first time since the early 1990s.

Missing from "Oh By the Way" is the rarities album "Relics," live albums "Delicate Sound of Thunder" and "Pulse" and compilations such as "A Collection of Great Dance Songs."

"Oh By the Way" includes:

"The Piper at the Gates of Dawn"
"A Saucer Full of Secrets"
"More"
"Ummagumma"
"Atom Heart Mother"
"Meddle"
"Obscured by Clouds"
"Dark Side of the Moon"
"Wish You Were Here"
"Animals"
"The Wall"
"The Final Cut"
"A Momentary Lapse of Reason"
"The Division Bell"

At 60, Hagar Still Ready To Rock

Although he was laid up recovering on the day after his 60th anniversary bash on Oct. 13 at his Cabo Wabo Cantina in Mexico, Sammy Hagar's advanced age has not slowed the Red Rocker in the slightest. In fact, he says, it's making him work that much harder.

"There's so much I want to do," Hagar tells Billboard.com, "and there's nothing I feel holding me back -- nothing with my age or my physical health or my strength or my enthusiasm, my talent. I'm having more fun that I've ever had, I gotta tell ya."

Hagar, who's currently on the road with former Van Halen bandmate Michael Anthony as his special guest, has a number of projects in the works. First among them is a new album, the follow-up to last year's "Livin' It Up." Hagar says he's about "halfway through" with it and plans to finish recording in December and January for an expected second quarter of 2008 release.

"It's quirky music," Hagar says. "It's a little bit more worldbeat and kinda harder rock, more like going back to (1981's) 'Standing Hampton' or (1984's) 'VOA' or something. Those records were very '80s, with a little bit of influence of Peter Gabriel and people like that. Now I think it's more Peter Gabriel-influenced with a hard rock edge on it."

Hagar will support the album with a summer festival tour, for which he plans an "anthology" tour that will feature the original Montrose lineup, his original Sammy Hagar Band, his current group, the Wabos, and a "superstar guitarist" that will join him and Anthony to play Van Halen material.

"I have some people in mind," Hagar reports, "but I haven't made the call yet." Hagar adds there will also be "a big, all-star jam at the end" of the show.

Hagar, who still retains a 20 percent ownership in his Cabo Wabo tequila brand, has also launched Cabo Wabo Radio, an Internet station that will offer varying levels of free and subscription services -- with an evening program broadcast live from Cabo Wabo.

One thing Hagar won't be doing, however, is Chickenfoot, the "supergroup" he talked about forming with Anthony and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. The trio has jammed before, including at Hagar's birthday bashes, but for now, he says, the project isn't practical.

"I just can't do it," Hagar says. "There's no room in my life for another band, so that's not gonna happen."

'Scrubs' tidies up messy plot details in final season

Don't expect the Ross-and-Rachel routine during the final season of Scrubs.
Creator Bill Lawrence will resolve the will-they-or-won't-they of docs J.D. (Zach Braff) and Elliot (Sarah Chalke). But that's only one of many relationships that will get substantial attention in the hospital comedy's seventh and final season, which premiered on Thursday night.

"We're going to resolve those things during the year rather than build up to some overwrought, emotional finale. This is a comedy. All people want is a chance to say goodbye and that we tie up loose ends," Lawrence says, then jokes: "Then we're going to cut to black really quick and play a Journey song."

Lawrence says the main goal is to satisfy "the loyal cult audience," one that has helped the Emmy-nominated series score a long run, despite so-so ratings.

"This fan base has kept the show alive single-handedly by consuming the DVDs and websites and following us from time slot to time slot," he says. "If you try to satisfy them, they feel very proprietary about the show. If you're not a big juggernaut hit, it's the way to stay alive."

Knowing this is the final season, Lawrence and his writers get to plan the show's conclusion, a luxury that wasn't available last season because it wasn't clear when the show would end. That's one reason last season ended with cliffhanging stories, such as J.D.'s impending fatherhood and Elliot's upcoming wedding, both of which will be addressed this season.

Questions surrounding many other relationships will be answered as well, such as: Will physician buddies J.D. and Turk (Donald Faison), who is married to nurse Carla (Judy Reyes), remain as close as they have been in the face of adulthood? Will J.D. finally get validation from the sharp-tongued Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley)?

Braff, whose perpetual man-child character will do some growing up this season, especially enjoys the intimacy of the J.D.-Turk friendship. "It's funny and original. I think Bill has pushed the envelope in how gay two characters can be without actually being gay," he says of a duo that sang Guy Love in last season's musical episode.

In addition, the janitor (Neil Flynn) will finally get a name and a girlfriend, because that's what Flynn asked for if the show returned for a seventh season. Secondary characters will get attention, including jittery lawyer Ted (Sam Lloyd), self-loving surgeon Todd (Robert Maschio) and Dr. Cox's wife, Jordan (Christa Miller, who is married to Lawrence).

Some guest stars will return, including Tom Cavanagh and Elizabeth Banks. Lawrence and Braff wish they could bring back others, such as Brendan Fraser, but the writers killed off some characters.

In place of a musical, this season's extravaganza, directed by Braff, will pay homage to The Princess Bride, centering on a bedtime story Dr. Cox tells his daughter. That means wild costumes for cast members who will play such characters as the village idiot (Braff), a giant (Flynn), a princess (Chalke) and a knight (McGinley).

Such signature fantasy scenes have been part of Scrubs' odd balancing act, a comedy that can be extremely broad while also touching on serious emotional elements. When the show has gotten too goofy, that connection has broken, Lawrence says.

Braff, who likes the broad comedy, says Scrubs will tone it down this year, reflecting its early days. "I think it's smart to end where it began, which was a smidgen less broad than at times we have been."

MacLaine joins 'Green Gables' cast

Academy Award-winner Shirley MacLaine has joined the cast of Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning, CTV announced yesterday.

MacLaine, 73, will play matriarch Amelia Thomas, alongside Rachel Blanchard (as Louisa Thomas), Barbara Hershey (as the grown-up Anne Shirley) and Hannah Endicott-Douglas (as the young Anne Shirley).

Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning is a made-for-TV movie that will air sometime in 2008.

"Shirley MacLaine is a screen legend," executive producer/director/writer Kevin Sullivan said in a statement. "To be able to cast her unique personality in the role of Amelia Thomas promises to bring both humour and pathos to this production, in a grand style that only a movie star of her stature can elicit."

Hollywood stars get lift to Geminis

TORONTO - A generous "dragon" from the CBC hit show "Dragons' Den" is flying a jetload of stars from Hollywood to Regina for this weekend's Gemini Awards.

Jim Treliving, one of four panel members on the popular reality show, has arranged for a private jet to fly a group of Los Angeles-based actors - some of them Gemini nominees and some of them presenters - to the Saskatchewan capital because there's no direct flight between L.A. and Regina.

Howie Mandel, Sarah Chalke, Jason Priestley, Kathleen Robertson, Andrea Roth, Russell Peters, James Tupper and his girlfriend, Anne Heche, are confirmed to board the flight, said the producer of Sunday's Gemini telecast on CBC-TV.

"He's putting his big bucks to good use getting us some amazing stars up to Regina for the big broadcast," Steve Sloan said from Regina on Wednesday.

"Because there's no direct flight, we had to put our minds together to come up with a solution and so we tapped into one of the dragons who came to our rescue."

Treliving, a former Mountie who owns Boston Pizza, was unsurprisingly humble considering he's known as the kind-hearted "good cop" on the "Dragons' Den" panel.

"The Gemini people just said can you help us out and I said sure," Treliving said in an interview from Dallas, where he's overseeing the company's U.S. expansion.

"I use a jet company, where I can use different sizes of jets for my private use, so there was no problem setting it up."

Treliving said he's nervous, however, that the wildfires currently raging in Southern California could put a crimp in the "Gemini jet" plans. Some roads have been blocked to the Van Nuys Airport in the San Fernando Valley, where the jet is scheduled to depart for Saskatchewan on Sunday afternoon.

"We're keeping our fingers crossed and hoping the situation begins to improve."

Roth ("Rescue Me"), Chalke ("Scrubs") and Mandel ("Deal or No Deal") are all nominated for Geminis while Tupper, who stars in the show "Men in Trees" with Heche, is up for the viewer's choice award for the favourite Canadian actor on television.

"The rest are presenters, happy to support the Canadian industry," Sloan said.

The producer admitted he was nervous that few stars would be able to make it to Regina because there was no direct flight from Hollywood.

"We thought it would be a real stumbling block at the beginning. It was nothing against the city of Regina, but it was just the location in terms of attracting stars. But there's been more stars attached to this show than any other Gemini broadcast I can remember, and I started on the seventh Geminis, and this is now the 22nd."

Prince's Purple Rain reigns over movie soundtrack list

Purple Rain, the film that starred hit recording artist Prince at the height of his 1980s-era success, has topped a list of Hollywood's greatest movie soundtracks compiled by the editors of Vanity Fair.

The magazine revealed the top 10 soundtracks Wednesday that made the cut out of 50 albums that will be explored in a one-off publication entitled Movies Rock.

The special issue, featuring actor Bill Murray's impression of rock and roll icon Elvis Presley on the cover, will be published in November. Issues will be sent to subscribers of 14 titles published by Vanity Fair's publisher Condé Nast.

Editors described Prince's 1984 Purple Rain soundtrack as a combination of "funk, R&B, pop, metal and even psychedelia" that became "a sound that defined the '80s," according to a Reuters report.

However, while hailing the list's soundtracks, the editors also acknowledged the cinematic faults of several of their selections.

The editors described Purple Rain, which netted Prince an Oscar, a Grammy and other trophies, as "perhaps the best badly acted film ever."

Along the same lines, in the write-up of the eighth-ranked Saturday Night Fever, the magazine called the disco-era film's soundtrack "required listening," while at the same time poking fun at the iconic white suit star John Travolta dons in the movie.

The magazine's list of the top 10 greatest soundtracks is:

1) Purple Rain
2) A Hard Day's Night
3) The Harder They Come
4) Pulp Fiction
5) The Graduate
6) Superfly
7) Trainspotting
8) Saturday Night Fever
9) American Graffiti
10) The Big Chill

In conjunction with the special magazine issue, Condé Nast Media Group will host a concert featuring artists such as Elton John, Carrie Underwood and Beyoncé Knowles performing famous music from the movies.

"We wanted to create an extraordinary show that would pay tribute to the indelible impact music has on film," Condé Nast Media Group president Richard Beckman said in a statement issued Wednesday.

Others set to participate include Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Fergie, Jennifer Hudson and John Williams.

The Movies Rock concert will take place Dec. 2 in Los Angeles at the Kodak Theatre, home of the Academy Awards. The event will be broadcast as a two-hour television special on CBS on Dec. 7.

Sarah Jessica Parker Named Unsexiest Woman

The folks over at Maxim magazine think it's too easy picking Charlize Theron as the Sexiest Woman Alive. They'd rather weigh in on who's unsexy.

The unfortunate recipient of the lad mag's Unsexiest title is "Sex & the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker, whose character Carrie Bradshaw is not only in high demand with the opposite sex, but is also a fashion diva among the fair sex.

Maxim, however, points out her more, um, equine features: "How the hell did this Barbaro-faced broad manage to be the least sexy woman in a group of very unsexy women and still star on a show with 'sex' in the title? Pull your skirt down, Secretariat, we´d rather ride Chris Noth."

In the runner-up position is the Beehived One herself, "Rehab" singer Amy Winehouse, whose "openly hemorrhaging translucent skin, rat's nest mane and lashes that look more like surgically attached bats.".

On the small screen, "Grey's Anatomy" star Sandra Oh took third place for playing "Dr. McSkinny, with her cold bedside manner and boyish figure."

Rounding out the Unsexy 5 is Madonna in the penultimate position "with a mug that looks Euro-sealed to her skull." The heir to her pop princess throne, Britney Spears, took last place because, "Less than five years ago, Britney had a python wrapped around her well-toned torso onstage at the VMAs. Since then, she´s lost the ability to perform, but gained two kids, two useless ex-husbands, and about 23 pounds of Funyun pudge."

First look: Comedy guru Mike Myers loves his characters

LOS ANGELES — Mike Myers doesn't seem like a slowpoke. He tends to talk fast, play multiple characters in his movies and rattle off jokes like Robin Williams on Red Bull.

But the secret behind his comedy, he says, is patience.

It has taken Myers four years to do his first live-action movie since 2003's The Cat in the Hat and a decade to create an original comic character (his last being 1997's Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery).

He finally returns with The Love Guru, which hits screens June 20. The film, which also stars Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake and Ben Kingsley, features Myers as Pitka, an American left as a child at the gates of an ashram in India. Pitka becomes a self-help guru who tries to smooth the marital rift of a hockey star and his wife.

Myers, a native of Ontario, says he wrote the film because of his interests in Eastern philosophy and hockey. But he isn't the type to zip out a script the moment an idea hits.

"I enjoy having the Lamaze birthing process of it," says Myers, who also authored the Wayne's World and Austin Powers franchises. "It usually takes me three, 3½ years in between characters."

Why so long? He's very protective of his original live-action characters. "I've written and created everything I've done, and it takes me a year to reflect on what I've done, a year to let the idea incubate and a year to create" a new character.

For Pitka, that included playing a philosopher of Eastern religion in New York and Los Angeles, where some unsuspecting passersby sought advice from Myers, who never broke from character.

"They asked some very spiritual and deep questions," he says. "It's been fascinating combining comedy with a nice life-affirming message."

Fascinating, if challenging. He knows combining comedy, hockey and Eastern principles is a little "like figuring out how they got the peanut butter in the chocolate and the chocolate in the peanut butter."

But he didn't expect the Wayne's World or Austin Powers films to be successes, either.

"When I did Wayne's World, I thought you had to grow up in my neighborhood to get it," he says. "When I did Austin, I thought you had to grow up in my house to get it, because my parents are from Liverpool. But I've been very lucky to create things people have liked, so I have to stay true to the things that interest me."

Goulet sedated while awaiting transplant

LAS VEGAS - Singer and actor Robert Goulet is heavily sedated and breathing through a respirator in a Los Angeles hospital while he awaits a lung transplant, his wife told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "He can hear me but he can't respond," Vera Goulet said of the 73-year-old crooner.

Vera Goulet said doctors told her the lung transplants are the most successful operation of any transplant, with a success rate of 88 percent. A suitable donor has yet to be found, she said.

"God willing, if we proceed with this, our doctors feel that there's no reason he will not have at least 15 years of life doing what he does, going back on stage and singing," she said. "That's very encouraging."

The singer fell ill when flying home to Las Vegas after performing at a Sept. 20 concert in Syracuse, N.Y., his wife said. Doctors initially assumed it was some kind of bug, but he got weaker until he had to be rushed to the hospital 10 days later, she said.

Goulet was diagnosed with a form of pulmonary fibrosis that his official Web site described as a "rapidly progressive and fatal condition." He was transported to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles as a transplant patient Oct. 13.

Speaking by phone from the hospital, Vera Goulet said doctors inserted a breathing tube down her husband's throat and sedated him, and that they were last able to speak two weeks ago.

"He said, 'Just give me a new pair of lungs and I'll hit the high notes until I'm 100,'" she said.

"I told him I loved him. He told me he loves me. He was ready to have the tube inserted. And he said, 'Just watch my vocal cords.'" The couple's 25th wedding anniversary was Oct. 17.

Meanwhile, she said, fans and performers have been calling and e-mailing from around the world, including comedian Jerry Lewis, actress Suzanne Somers and singer Harry Connick Jr., she said.

"Tony Orlando called and said, 'Give him a punch in the stomach for me,'" she said.

Goulet, born to French-Canadian parents in Lawrence, Mass., has won acclaim for a Broadway career that took off after his debut performance as Sir Lancelot in "Camelot" in 1960. Goulet's multiple appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" helped make him a star.

Goulet won a Grammy Award in 1962 for Best New Artist and a Tony Award in 1968 for his role in "The Happy Time."

Over the years, Goulet continued to perform onstage.

His illness forced the cancellation of planned performances in Denver and a commercial TV shoot, Vera Goulet said.

'Sopranos' creator defends famous finale

NEW YORK - Just when we had made our peace with "The Sopranos" finale and moved on with our lives, David Chase has stirred things up again.

Breaking his silence months after the HBO mob drama ended its run, he is offering a belated explanation for that blackout at the restaurant. He strongly suggests that, no, Tony Soprano didn't get whacked moments later as he munched onion rings with his family at Holsten's. And mostly Chase wonders why so many viewers got so worked up over the series' non-finish.

"There WAS a war going on that week, and attempted terror attacks in London," says Chase. "But these people were talking about onion rings."

The interview, included in "`The Sopranos': The Complete Book," published this week, finds Chase exasperated by viewers who were upset that Tony didn't meet explicit doom.

Chase says the New Jersey mob boss "had been people's alter ego. They had gleefully watched him rob, kill, pillage, lie and cheat. They had cheered him on. And then, all of a sudden, they wanted to see him punished for all that. They wanted 'justice'...

"The pathetic thing — to me — was how much they wanted HIS blood, after cheering him on for eight years."

In the days, and even weeks, after the finale aired June 10, "Sopranos" wonks combed that episode for buried clues, concocting wild theories. (Was this some sort of "Last Supper" reimagined with Tony, wife Carmela, son A.J. and daughter Meadow?)

Chase insists that what you saw (and didn't see) is what you get.

"There are no esoteric clues in there. No `Da Vinci Code,'" he declares.

He says it's "just great" if fans tried to find a deeper meaning, but "most of them, most of us, should have done this kind of thing in high school English class and didn't."

He defends the bleak, seemingly inconclusive ending as appropriate — and even a little hopeful.

A.J. will "probably be a low-level movie producer. But he's not going to be a killer like his father, is he? Meadow may not become a pediatrician or even a lawyer ... but she'll learn to operate in the world in ways that Carmela never did.

"It's not ideal. It's not what the parents dreamed of. But it's better than it was," Chase says.

And as for that notorious blackout in the middle of the Journey power ballad, "Don't Stop Believin'"?

"Originally, I didn't want any credits at all," says Chase. "I just wanted the black screen to go the length of the credits — all the way to the HBO `whoosh' sound. But the Directors Guild wouldn't give us a waiver."

And while this unexpected finish left lots of viewers thinking their cable service was on the fritz, Chase insists it wasn't meant as a prank.

"Why would we want to do that?" he asks. "Why would we entertain people for eight years only to give them the finger?"

New CD Releases, Oct. 23: Carrie Underwood, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Gary Allan

Carrie Underwood "Carnival Ride"

Country star Carrie Underwood is ready to take fans on a "Carnival Ride." This set follows her 2005 debut, "Some Hearts," an award-winning, multi-platinum offering that spawned the crossover hits "Jesus Take the Wheel," "Before He Cheats," "Wasted" and "Don't Forget to Remember Me."

"Carnival Ride" was produced by Mark Bright, who helmed seven tracks on "Some Hearts," and includes Underwood in the songwriting credits.

It's already been a big year for the fourth-season "American Idol" winner. She scored two Grammys--Best New Artist and Best Female Country Vocal Performance--and is the reigning Female Vocalist of the Year for both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.

Underwood is also up for three trophies at the 41st Annual Country Music Association Awards, which will be held Nov. 7 at the Sommet Center in Nashville, TN, and aired live on ABC-TV.

* * *
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss "Raising Sand"

Talk about an unlikely pairing--Robert Plant and Alison Krauss recording a studio effort together? Yet, that's exactly what fans will get with "Raising Sand."

The story of this project began when former Led Zeppelin frontman Plant phoned contemporary bluegrass star Krauss about seven years ago to tell her he admired her work and wanted to work with her someday. The duo first sang together at a Leadbelly tribute during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, and eventually enlisted producer T-Bone Burnett to help them record together.

The resulting 13-track "Raising Sand" covers a wide spectrum of musical territory, according to the project's publicist, including R&B, blues, country and folk.

* * *
Gary Allan "Living Hard"

Country singer Gary Allan is looking for a three-peat with "Living Hard." His last two releases--this year's "Greatest Hits" and 2005's "Tough All Over"--both hit No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

Allan is supporting "Living Hard" by living on the road. He's doing some solo dates, but mostly spending his time as the opening act on Keith Urban's big road show. The Urban run lasts throughout November and well into December.

* * *
Dwight Yoakam "Dwight Sings Buck"

The country crooner tips his tall cowboy hat to one of his musical idols (and close friends) on "Dwight Sings Buck." Yoakam collaborated with Buck Owens on numerous occasions over the years, most famously on the hit "Streets of Bakersfield," so this is a tribute record that really makes sense. On "Dwight Sings Buck," Yoakam handles such tunes as "Foolin' Around," "Act Naturally" and "Above and Beyond."

* * *
Serj Tankian "Elect the Dead"

System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian walks the solo road with the grimly titled "Elect the Dead." Tankian produced the album himself and played most of the instruments on the set, though he was joined by guest drummers John Dolmayan (System of a Down) and Brian "Brain" Mantia (Primus). The album's first single is "Empty Walls." The singer is supporting the record during a North American tour, currently set to wind up Oct. 28 in San Francisco.

* * *
More new releases:
Coheed & Cambria, "No World For Tomorrow" (Sony)
David Gahan, "Hourglass" (Mute)
Exodus, "The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A" (Nuclear Blast)
Heart, "Dreamboat Annie Live" (Shout)
Helloween, "Gambling With the Devil" (Steamhammer)
Juanes, "La Vida... Es un Ratico" (Universal)
Scum of the Earth, "Sleaze Freak" (Eclipse)
Seether, "Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces" (Wind-Up)
Soilwork, "Sworn to a Great Divide" (Nuclear Blast)
Nick Swardson, "Party" (Comedy Central)
Ween, "La Cucaracha" (Rounder)
Rob Zombie, "Zombie Live" (Geffen)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Battlestar Galactica Season 3" (La-La Land)
"Twin Peaks: All New Season Two Music" (Absurda)

Larry David's divorce mirrored on 'Curb'

NEW YORK - In the exaggerated mirror to Larry David's life that is "Curb Your Enthusiasm," even the comedian's own divorce is fodder for comedy.

Sunday night's episode of the HBO show was a classic case of art imitating life with the announcement by David's fictional spouse, played by Cheryl Hines, that she was leaving. It was just in June that David and his real-life wife, Laurie David, separated after 14 years of marriage.

The real-life divorce was filed by Laurie David, citing "irreconcilable differences." Their spokesman has called the split "very amicable." On "Curb," the breakup was set off when Cheryl called hysterically from a potentially crashing airplane. Larry told her to "call back in 10 minutes" because he was having their Tivo fixed by a cable guy.

Safe but still rattled, Cheryl returned to declare: "I'm leaving, Larry. I can't do this anymore."

"People ask me all the time, `How do you stay with him?'" she explained. "I always tell them, `There's another side to Larry that you don't see.' And then I just realized today, there's no other side."

Larry argued to no avail that the phone reception was bad and, besides, he was able to save her Tivoed shows like "Top Chef" and "Project Runway." The rest of the episode finds the couple's friends (some of whom are the REAL couple's friends), choosing sides between either Larry or Cheryl.

David has always pursued a realistic brand of comedy that pulls directly from life. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the NBC classic "Seinfeld" one night at a New York grocery, where they decided that their casual banter should be the show — famously referred to as "a show about nothing."

Even that moment was eventually portrayed on "Seinfeld" when Jerry and George (the character based on David, played by Jason Alexander) decide to create a sitcom for NBC.

The origins of "Curb" were similar. While preparing for a comedy special on HBO, David's friend and comedian Jeff Garlin suggested that David have the entire process filmed.

A loosely scripted, naturalistic approach is now the "Curb" signature. Though his character bears his name and much of his life, David has always said it's an exaggeration — who he might be if he had no manners or restraint.

Whether David's divorce would be reflected on "Curb" had been a matter of speculation. In an interview with The Associated Press in early September (after the season wrapped but before it hit the air), David played cagy when asked if his marital woes would seep into the show.

"Can't fire Cheryl," he replied.

Asked if perhaps the fictional couple might feel increased discord, if not collapse, David said: "There's something there, obviously. I wouldn't shy away from dealing with it, if I do another year."

Now David's divorce has made its presence felt, and the following episodes will help determine whether his on-screen marriage still has any chance. A spokesman for HBO said the split would indeed constitute a full arc.

Both Larry and Laurie David, in real life, declined to comment.

CBS cancels Jackman's 'Viva Laughlin'

LOS ANGELES - The music has stopped for "Viva Laughlin," an offbeat song-and-dance drama that drew such low ratings it was canceled by CBS after two airings.

Even having film star Hugh Jackman ("X-Men") aboard as executive producer and cast member couldn't save the series. It was the second cancellation of the young season, after CW's "Online Nation," and the first scripted show to be yanked.

"Viva Laughlin," based on the hit British series "Viva Blackpool," debuted last Thursday with 8.4 million viewers — a pittance compared to the 21.2 million viewers that watched the CBS show preceding it, top-rated "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

Moving to what was intended as its regular time slot, 8 p.m. EST Sunday, "Viva Laughlin" dropped to an estimated 6.8 million viewers. The show starring Lloyd Owen as a small-time gambler caught up in a murder investigation drew mostly drew largely poor reviews.

It will be replaced next Sunday by a "CSI" rerun, with reality series "The Amazing Race" then taking over the time period, CBS (part of CBS Corp.) said Monday.

Singer May Be Done With Superman

It’s happening again. Bryan Singer may have just handed Brett Ratner, or his cinematic equivalent another superhero franchise to ruin. Variety is reporting that Superman Returns writers Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris have opted not to return to write the film’s sequel.

That in itself isn’t a major blow for the project, after all Singer could be going on without them. What’s worrying is that Variety article seems to be hinting that the WB may be looking to start completely over with Superman (though Warners denies it), and pretend the other movie never existed, as they’re doing with Hulk. If that’s really what’s happening, then forget about Bryan Singer being involved.

The baffling thing here is that despite all the panic surrounding its box office totals, Superman Returns was a hit. It made just as much money as Batman Begins, which has now spawned another film helmed by Chris Nolan and backed entirely by the studio. Superman Returns cost more to make, but a large portion of that cost had nothing to do with the actual movie and was carried over by previous, failed efforts to make the movie happen. Superman Returns is not Hulk, and starting over with it seems not just ridiculous, but sot of insulting to the huge audiences who showed up to see it.

You have to wonder if this has something to do with Singer’s slowness to get started on making the sequel. Warner Brothers was all for it, then Singer took a bunch of other projects instead of getting his ass in gear to make the blue boy fly again. Right now he’s working on Tom Cruise’s Nazi movie Valkyrie for United Artsits when Warners would almost certainly like to have him doing pre-production for Supes with them. Assuming Singer was actually serious about wanting to do it. Lately it hasn’t seemed like it.

He did the same thing on X-Men 3, delaying on doing anything with it while he loaded up other projects to do first. Eventually Fox got sick of waiting for him, they never got a deal done, and the studio grabbed the first jerk they could find to direct it. The result was the awful Brett Ratner soiling of the once great X-Men franchise. Ratner has always wanted to get his hands on Superman, somewhere out there he’s smiling.

For now though, there’s nothing definitive. Hopefully this is all wrong-headed rumor and conjecture. We need more Superman, but more importantly we need more of Bryan Singer’s brilliant Superman. If he’s not involved and if it’s not a sequel to Returns, then forget it. Nobody is interested, you’re only pissing on the character. Apparently there’s a worse word in the cinematic language than “remake” or “prequel”. It’s “reboot” and it’s kryptonite for Superman. For now though, no reason to panic. The official word is that this is still a sequel and as far as anyone knows Singer will be back. Get to work Bryan!

H.I.M. to do next Bond theme?

Rumors are swirling that H.I.M are set to do the theme song for the next James Bond film.

The composers David Arnold and Don Black were allegedly impressed by the band's track "Wings Of A Butterfly."

The duo allegedly got chatting to the frontman Ville Valo at the BMI Awards.

A source told The Daily Star: "David Arnold and Don Black were in deep conversation with Ville on the night. They love the song that won him an award. They think he has just the right ear to write a classic Bond hit with them.

Lessing says Sept. 11 attacks not so bad

MADRID, Spain - Nobel laureate Doris Lessing said the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States were "not that terrible" when compared with attacks by the IRA in Britain.

"September 11 was terrible, but if one goes back over the history of the IRA, what happened to the Americans wasn't that terrible," the Nobel Literature Prize winner told the leading Spanish daily El Pais.

"Some Americans will think I'm crazy. Many people died, two prominent buildings fell, but it was neither as terrible nor as extraordinary as they think. They're a very naive people, or they pretend to be," she said in an interview published Sunday.

"Do you know what people forget? That the IRA attacked with bombs against our government; it killed several people while a Conservative congress was being held and in which the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, was (attending). People forget," she said.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks. About 3,700 died and tens of thousands of people were maimed in more than 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland. The Irish Republican Army guerrilla group, which caused most of the deaths, disarmed in 2005.

Attempts by The Associated Press to reach Lessing in London for comment Monday were unsuccessful. Her agent's office said the author was unavailable because she was not feeling well.

In the El Pais interview, Lessing had sharp words for both President Bush and his ally, former British premier Tony Blair.

"I always hated Tony Blair, from the beginning," El Pais quoted Lessing as saying. "Many of us hated Tony Blair, I think he has been a disaster for Britain and we have suffered him for many years. I said it when he was elected: This man is a little showman who is going to cause us problems and he did."

"As for Bush, he's a world calamity," added Lessing. "Everyone is tired of this man. Either he is stupid or he is very clever, although you have to remember he is a member of a social class which has profited from wars."

Iran also came in for a lashing from Lessing, who was born to British parents who were living in what is now Bakhtaran, Iran.

"I hate Iran, I hate the Iranian government, it's a cruel and evil government," she was quoted as saying.

"Look what happened to its president in New York, they called him evil and cruel in Colombia University. Marvelous! They should have said more to him! Nobody criticizes him, because of oil."

The author of dozens of works from short stories to science fiction, including the classic "The Golden Notebook," Lessing won the Nobel Prize for literature earlier this month. She was praised by the judges for her "skepticism, fire and visionary power."

Manitobans sweep WCMAs

MOOSE JAW, Sask. - Music artists from Manitoba took home the most hardware at the Western Canadian Music Awards presented Sunday night in Moose Jaw, Sask., capturing eight trophies.

Among them was country band Doc Walker, who won outstanding independent album of the year and dedicated the win to leader singer Chris Thorsteinson's mother, Betty, who died last week.

"She was the backbone basically of this band I think from the beginning," said guitarist Murray Pulver.

Pulver half-joked that the band might be "a mess" without Betty Thorsteinson.

"She took care of day-to-day things that the rest of us would not be aware of and was really sort of the heart and soul of a lot of it ... the whole business part of it. She was passionate about music too."

Doc Walker also snagged the trophy for outstanding country recording and seemed surprised by the double win.

"It's always unexpected," said Doc Walker's Dave Wasyliw.

"I think after the CCMAs and things like that we realized that anything can happen and you should probably have a speech in your pocket, but you don't. You don't listen to yourself that's for sure," laughed Wasyliw.

"You never learn. You go up there and you fumble your way through it."

In September, Doc Walker took album of the year honours at the Canadian Country Music Awards held in nearby Regina.

Other Manitobans to win Sunday night included Romi Mayes, who won outstanding roots recording solo and songwriter of the year. The quartet Nathan - which had five nominations - won outstanding roots recording duo or group for their album "Key Principles."

"It feels great, 'cause we're just gonna continue to pump out what we do so if people are willing to put up with it ..." singer and guitarist Shelley Marshall said, adding a laugh.

"It's awesome, we're really happy."

Lead singer and guitarist Keri Latimer echoed those comments, saying it's nice to know Nathan is still resonating with the audience.

Not to be outdone by Manitoba, artists from British Columbia followed with six awards. Among them, Joel Kroeker won outstanding pop recording and Jim Byrnes won outstanding blues recording. Neither was in attendance.

Saskatchewan-born The Blood Lines made their home province proud, capturing the award for outstanding rock recording.

The awards, held at the Snowbirds Hangar 6, opened with an emotional presentation as Buffy Sainte-Marie was honoured with her induction into the Western Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

With a career spanning more than 40 years and numerous international awards, honours and platinum recordings to her credit, Sainte-Marie proudly remembered her roots.

"I'm very proud, very proud to be a working musician from Western Canada," Sainte-Marie told the crowd, which gave her a standing ovation.

"I've had a lifetime of going back-and-forth from Canada, across Canada, through Canada and I'm so very proud of the traditions that are coming to light so that all Canadians might understand and appreciate the music that comes from this area."

Regina's Queen City Kids were also honoured with an induction into the Western Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

This year's awards ceremony saw Nelly Furtado, Diana Krall and Jann Arden all receive international achievement awards. All three accepted their honours via pre-recorded video.

The Western Canadian Music Awards recognizes and celebrates the best recording artists from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, B.C. and the Yukon in 18 categories.

Here is the list of winners from the Western Canadian Music Awards presented Sunday night in Moose Jaw, Sask.:

Outstanding Aboriginal Recording: Leela Gilday, Sedze.

Outstanding Blues Recording: Jim Byrnes, House of Refuge.

Outstanding Children's Recording: Pied Pumkin, Pumkids.

Outstanding Christian Recording: Fresh I.E., The Warren Project.

Outstanding Classical Composition: Owen Underhill., Canzone di Petra.

Outstanding Classical Recording: James Ehnes, Barber Korngold Walton.

Outstanding Country Recording: Doc Walker, Doc Walker.

Outstanding Francophone Recording:Johnny Cajun, Johnny Cajun.

Outstanding Instrumental Recording: Moses Mayes, Second Ring.

Outstanding Jazz Recording: Kent Sangster, Obsession.

Outstanding Pop Recording: Joel Kroeker, Closer To The Flame.

Outstanding Rock Recording: The Blood Lines, The Blood Lines.

Outstanding Roots Recording, Duo/Group: Nathan, Key Principles.

Outstanding Roots Recording, Solo: Romi Mayes, Sweet Somethin' Steady.

Outstanding Urban Recording: Skavenjah, El Ritmo de la Vida.

Outstanding Album/Independent Artist: Doc Walker, Doc Walker.

Songwriter of the Year: Romi Mayes, Sweet Somethin' Steady.

Video of the Year: Kris Demeanor, I Have Seen The Future.

International Achievement Awards: Jann Arden, Nelly Furtado, Diana Krall.

Hall of Fame: Buffy Sainte-Marie, Queen City Kids.

"Christmas" comes early for Jim Carrey

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter)- Jim Carrey will star in a special effects-heavy adaptation of "A Christmas Carol," which Robert Zemeckis will direct for Walt Disney Pictures.

Carrey will play Scrooge, the ghost of Christmas past, the ghost of Christmas present and the ghost of Christmas future.

Production will incorporate performance capture, and blend live action and computer-generated imagery, building on techniques used for Zemeckis' "The Polar Express" and upcoming "Beowulf," as well as "Monster House," which he executive produced with Steven Spielberg.

Zemeckis wrote the screenplay for the film, which will be made for a 3-D stereoscopic release. A release date has not been set.

Several Web sites have reported that Bob Hoskins -- who worked with Zemeckis on "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" -- might play Mr. Fezziwig in the film, but Disney said no official dealmaking has begun with the British actor.

Carrey's upcoming projects include "Ripley's Believe It or Not," and providing the voice of Horton for the animated film "Horton Hears a Who." His more recent credits include "The Number 23" and "Fun With Dick and Jane."

Loverboy back with new album

TORONTO - OK, so the tight leather pants are now just plain too tight and the bandana headband would only serve to hide a receding hairline.

But that cheeseball grin is spread wide across Mike Reno's face and it's obvious that this Loverboy still loves a good party, and even relishes the '80s shmaltz that has come to define him.

The iconic performer, whose bombastic delivery with rock band Loverboy dominated the charts for a good chunk of that decade, is ready with the zingers when asked if he still has the red leather pants he was once known for.

"Absolutely, I have them on right now," Reno quips while seated at a downtown lounge, suggesting they are under the faded jeans he's wearing with a black cowboy shirt, half open to reveal a black wife-beater.

"They're actually red leather cut-offs."

It's been a quarter century since such attire actually induced screams of approval, but Loverboy's hefty catalogue of '80s anthems have kept the Canadian band on a steady tour circuit of casinos and state fairs on both sides of the border.

Hits such as "Turn Me Loose," "The Kid Is Hot Tonite," "Working for the Weekend," "Lovin' Every Minute of It" and "Heaven in Your Eyes" continue to pop up in movie soundtracks and TV shows, making sure a new generation of beer-swilling college kids learn how to do the rock 'n' roll swagger right, complete with crumpled-rock-singer-face.

Today, Reno says he's excited to be talking about new material for a change - Loverboy's first new album in a decade.

"Which is a long time," he admits. "I think we were ready for it because we had some things to say and we needed to get it out.

"There's a lot of water under the bridge, we lost a couple guys along the way, a few wives have come and gone between the bunch of us. A lot of things happened but we've settled into a nice place. We feel good."

The 10-track "Just Getting Started" covers familiar territory for the straight-ahead rock group, also made up of guitarist Paul Dean, keyboardist Doug Johnson, drummer Matt Frenette and bassist Ken (Spider) Sinnaeve.

Reno says they were conscious of maintaining Loverboy's distinctive sound while seeking a fresh edge.

At the same time, he admits it's been tough for the band to survive in the face of changing tastes and rocky times.

They enjoyed a quick ride to the top when they formed in Calgary in 1980, unleashing a steady stream of hit albums that kept them soaring through most of the decade.

But then radio dropped the rock 'n' roll classic format and the band was forced into a "break" in the early '90s, Reno says. Things hit bottom with 1997's failed album "Six" - a mistake in many ways, Reno admits.

"We did a record that we didn't really believe in and the timing was kind of all wrong," he says. "It was almost like it was a forced issue and we really didn't put a lot of effort into it, not enough effort for it to be a substantial hit."

Reno gripes that the record company they used - now defunct - was more interested in adding Loverboy to its roster than supporting any kind of lasting work.

"We were kind of tired and it showed. Sometimes when you get exhausted you don't even know you're exhausted, you just go, 'OK, let's do it and get it over with.' "

Tensions in the band were also making things difficult. Several attempts to make an album over the past decade failed.

"It never really worked. Everybody's patience wore out and everybody had little temper tantrums and it just didn't happen. Somebody didn't like that and somebody didn't like that and by the end of the day you just went, 'Well this isn't really working because you don't like his songs and he doesn't like your songs.' And I said it's like going to kindergarten, almost. But we're grown men having squabbles over whose songs are better and I said, 'You know what? I don't like doing this anymore.' So I ended up starting working with other people."

As a result, most of the new songs are Reno's collaboration with other songwriters, producing tracks that were later brought to the rest of the band.

The first song they tackled was "Stranded," an ode to Loverboy's late bassist Scott Smith, who was lost at sea in a 2000 sailing accident off the coast of California.

"That was real hard to come back from because it's such a tragic loss," Reno says. "I still think of him as being on an island, you know, with a coconut guitar made out of bamboo and coconut. ... That was probably the hardest thing I've had to deal with in a long time."

Loverboy's new disc comes out Tuesday.

FULL DVD PACKET

10-DISC SET CAPTURES THE SPIRIT AND GENIUS OF STANLEY KUBRICK

October 21, 2007 -- To perfectly capture the quality of French soil, Stanley Kubrick brought actual samples of earth home with him for screen tests. But that level of obsessive preparation is what you would expect from a great director prepping "Napoleon," a biopic starring Jack Nicholson in the title role.

Unfortunately, that movie never got made. But you'll hear about it in the many hours of extras included in "Warner Director's Series: Stanley Kubrick."

The 10-DVD set features remastered and mostly widescreen versions of "2001: A Space Odyssey," "A Clockwork Orange," "The Shining," "Full Metal Jacket" and "Eyes Wide Shut," as well as a documentary called "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures." "Full Metal Jacket" is the only film without a complete second disc of extras.

The treasures to be found here are both trivial and grand, including lots of from-the-set tidbits. While filming "A Clockwork Orange," for example, star Malcolm McDowell tells how, when preparing to shoot the horrific "Singing in the Rain" attack scene, Adrienne Corri - the actress he would soon brutalize on camera - approached him and said, "Well, Malcolm, now you're gonna find out that I'm a real redhead."

On "The Shining" disc, we get a behind-the-scenes doc that shows Nicholson getting into character by bouncing around the set swinging an ax, mumbling, "Ax murderer, kill!"

We learn that the grand opening of "2001" was actually crafted from still photographs, and that Kubrick directed the photographers by phone using the coordinates on a map because of his paralyzing fear of flying.

We also get an in-depth glimpse of the man himself, with a gallery of pictures he took for Look magazine while still in high school.

Directors who worked with, and were inspired by, Kubrick - Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Sydney Pollack and others - extoll his achievements, as if confirming that film may never gotten where it is today without the vision of this very private man from The Bronx.

Vampires sink teeth into movie audiences

LOS ANGELES - The horror tale "30 Days of Night" had three days of box-office bite. The Sony fright flick, with Josh Hartnett leading Alaskans against ravenous vampires that turn up for the prolonged winter darkness, debuted as the weekend's No. 1 movie with $16 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Audiences continued to choose merriment over misery as the latest crop of sober Academy Awards hopefuls, among them Ben Affleck's "Gone Baby Gone," Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal's "Rendition" and Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro's "Things We Lost in the Fire," debuted with so-so to dismal numbers.

Whether it's the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, deadly news out of Pakistan and Myanmar or Friday's stock market tumble, moviegoers seem disinterested in more bad news at theaters with films about child-kidnapping, torture, widowhood and heroin addiction.

"Fall is the season of the serious movie, and it seems like audiences in a way are resisting the serious movie right now," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "Audiences are finding their horror or their intensity in real life, and they're not looking for it in the movies."

Other escapist fare joined "30 Days of Night" at the top of the box-office chart. "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?", the Lionsgate release that was the previous weekend's No. 1 flick, slipped to second place with $12.1 million, raising its total to $38.9 million.

Disney's family comedy "The Game Plan" held up well at No. 3 with $8.1 million, lifting its four-week total to $69.2 million.

Affleck made his directing debut with Miramax's "Gone Baby Gone," which debuted at No. 5 with $6 million. The critically acclaimed movie stars the filmmaker's brother, Casey Affleck, as a private detective trying to solve a young girl's abduction.

Coming in on par with "Gone Baby Gone" was Fox Atomic's "The Comebacks," a lowbrow spoof of sports movies that opened at No. 6 with $5.85 million.

New Line's "Rendition," starring Witherspoon and Gyllenhaal in the story of an Egyptian-born man detained and tortured under suspicion of terrorism, premiered at No. 9 with $4.2 million.

The DreamWorks-Paramount release "Things We Lost in the Fire," with Berry as a widow who takes in her husband's drug-addicted best friend (Del Toro), opened far outside the top-10 with $1.6 million.

Further proof that movie fans want fun over adversity: a 3-D version of Disney's Halloween perennial "Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas" was No. 8 with $5.1 million and had a better rate of return per-theater than any of the new wide releases.

Playing in 564 cinemas, "Nightmare Before Christmas" averaged $9,122, compared to $5,604 in 2,855 locations for "30 Days of Night;" $3,503 in 1,713 sites for "Gone Baby Gone;" $1,856 in 2,250 theaters for "Rendition" and $1,405 in 1,142 cinemas for "Things We Lost in the Fire."

"There's just so much serious fare. We have overloaded the marketplace with this highbrow, serious product," said Chris Aronson, senior vice president of distribution for 20th Century Fox. "The audience is saying, `Give me something to have some fun with.'"

While fun movies ruled, the overall box office skidded for the fifth-straight weekend. The top-12 movies took in $79.7 million, down 10 percent from the same weekend last year.

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

1. "30 Days of Night," $16 million.
2. "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?", $12.1 million.
3. "The Game Plan," $8.1 million.
4. "Michael Clayton," $7.1 million.
5. "Gone Baby Gone," $6 million.
6. "The Comebacks," $5.85 million.
7. "We Own the Night," $5.5 million.
8. "Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas," $5.1 million.
9. "Rendition," $4.2 million.
10. "The Heartbreak Kid," $3.9 million.

Top 100 Leafs ranked

One can quibble with where players are ranked in "Maple Leafs Top 100" but there's no knocking the technique used by Mike Leonetti.

He assembled a jury of 14 and gave each a ballot consisting of 140 players in alphabetical order covering the years 1927 through 2007. Write-ins were allowed. Each panelist came up with his own rankings during the summer and autumn of 2006 and results were finalized earlier this year. Points were allotted to each player corresponding to his ranking on each list.

When it was all computed, Dave Keon landed in the No. 1 position. Rounding out the top-12 were Ted Kennedy, Syl Apps, Frank Mahovlich, Darryl Sittler, Charlie Conacher, Johnny Bower, Tim Horton, Turk Broda, Borje Salming, Red Kelly and Mats Sundin.

"I'm happy with the product," says Leonetti. "A lot of work went into it.

"It took about a year to put it all together."

Leonetti wrote the player profiles, John Iaboni applied his insightful touch to companion essays on selected players, and the 9.5x11.5-inch book is full of photographs.

"I've done quite a number of books and the ones that have sold the most are about the Leafs," says Leonetti. "There seems to be no lack of appetite - same as tickets for their games."

Doug Gilmour is 13th and Wendel Clark is 21st among the chosen 100.

No, Rocky Saganiuk didn't make it.

Other current Leafs on the list are Bryan McCabe (47), Tomas Kaberle (54) and Darcy Tucker (85).

Sundin just passed Sittler for the all-time club goals and points records, but the jury did its work before that happened. Perhaps if a second edition is produced the current captain will jump higher in the rankings.

"Sundin's chapter is not yet complete," says Leonetti. "I don't think Mats cracks into the top 10 just yet but with the passing of time we'll appreciate his numbers more.

"Right now, I think he's where he should be."

Jury members were Leonetti, Iaboni, Mark Askin, Howard Berger, Joe Bowen, Milt Dunnell, Doug Farraway, Paul Hendrick, Lance Hornby, Harry Neale, Frank Orr, Paul Patskou, Frank Selke and Bill Watters.

Leonetti was thrilled to have Dunnell on the jury. The former sports writer was 100 when he filled out his ballot and turns 102 on Dec. 24.

"I sent him a letter and asked him to participate and three weeks later I got the list from him," says Leonetti. "He's the dean of sports writers in Canada.

"It boggles my mind to think he'd seen everybody on that list."

As for the best player not among the 100, Leonetti goes with goaltender Bernie Parent. He didn't make it because he played only 65 games in the blue and white in 1971 and 1972 before helping the Philadelphia Flyers win two NHL championships.

Todd Gill (84) even made it, and now Leafs fans will debate it.

Any Leafs fan will have a ball with this thoroughly researched, well written and handsomely produced history of Toronto's greatest players.

(238 pages, Raincoast Books, $50)

The Couch Potato Report - October 20th, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report peels another Hollywood film made here in Western Canada and three other new releases.

I have four films to tell you about this week, so lets get to them, starting with a mafia comedy that was shot in Winnipeg.

YOU KILL ME is the name of this week's first film, and it stars Academy Award winner Sir Ben Kingsley, from GHANDI and SEXY BEAST.

He plays Frank, a hit man for a mob family in Buffalo.

When he fails to complete an assignment, due to his drinking problem, he is sent to San Francisco to clean up his act.

Once he arrives, Frank stops drinking, he starts working in a mortuary, and he goes to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, where he confesses what he does for a living.

He also starts to date a woman that he meets at the Funeral home, a woman played by the great Tea Leoni from BAD BOYS and THE FAMILY MAN.

YOU KILL ME is a mob movie, with lots of violence, it has romance, with the great Tea Leoni, and it is a comedy.

I was engaged by it, and I enjoyed it, but it really isn't all that fresh or entertaining, because it features too many scenes and storylines that we have already seen in other mob comedies like ANALYZE THIS.

If YOU KILL ME hadn't been made in Winnipeg, a city I know, a city I love, and if my cousin Mark hadn't been the second assistant cameraman on the film, I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it at all....but, y'know what...I did actually enjoy it.

I don't completely recommend it...but I will say this: it is what they call a "good rental."

Our next film this week is also a good rental, but I can't fully recommend it either.

That film is THE HOAX.

RICHARD GERE stars in this film - based on the actual events of Clifford Irving, an American novelist who became well known in the early 1970s when his "authorized autobiography" of Howard Hughes was suspected of being a hoax.

Gere is very good in this movie, and director Lasse Hallström has created a film that is very interesting to look at, using period footage and dating the footage he shot.

Even if you know the true story in the film, which I did, THE HOAX still manages to be dramatic, and is often very funny.

THE HOAX is mature, well written, and acted. It is also an enagaging and entertaining film, but I just didn't love it. I thought I would, but I didn't.

However, I do recommend it, primarily due to it's maturity. We don't get many movies like this anymore, ones that are made for adults.

It is also a "good rental."

Up next this week is part two of the GRINDHOUSE double feature of films that came out in theatres back in April.

It was made by directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez as a tribute to the B-Movies that used to play at drive-ins and as late, late shows at some theatres in the 1970s.

The two movies are being released seperately on DVD and a few weeks ago, I told you about Tarrantino's DEATH PROOF, and now Rodriguez's PLANET TERROR is also available on DVD.

PLANET TERROR focusses on a group of people attempting to survive an onslaught of zombie-like creatures as they feud with a military unit.

PLANET TERROR is loud, cheezy and full of cartoon violence.

And I loved it!!!

It was the better half of the GRINDHOUSE film in theatres, and it is a fun film to watch...if you enjoy movies that are loud, cheezy and full of cartoon violence, that is.

BUT, be warned!!

Yes, the two GRINDHOUSE films are now available seperately...but they will eventually come out as one big package, according to the comments made by director Robert Rodriguez in the PLANET TERROR special features.

Finally this week, Steve Carell from THE OFFICE and THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN stars in the most expensive "comedy" ever made, an unfunny, complete-waste-of-your-time release called EVAN ALMIGHTY.

EVAN ALMIGHTY is the unfunny sequel to the very funny 2003 film BRUCE ALMIGHTY.

Jim Carrey and Jennifer Anniston were the stars of that film, and Steve Carell had a small part in that film as the reporter who got the job that Carrey's character wanted.

And now, they have built a whole film around this secondary character...and they shouldn't have.

Newly elected to Congress, the former reporter and his family move to Washington where he is asked - by God, played once again by Morgan Freeman - to build an ark.

After that, more strange things start to occur...all different kinds of animals start following him around, he grows a beard that won't go away no matter how many times he shaves, and none of it is funny, interesting, heartwarming or worthy of your time.

Even though I like the message of faith the film presents, and I like Carell, Freeman, the great Lauren Graham and most of the other actors in the movie, EVEN ALMIGHTY is not a good rental, it is not a good anything.

Skip it, ignore it, pass it by!

The non-comedy EVAN ALMIGHTY, the loud, cheezy and full of cartoon violence GRINDHOUSE film PLANET TERROR, the good rental mature film THE HOAX, and the made-in-Winnipeg film YOU KILL ME, which is also a good rental, are all available now on DVD.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

Just in time for Halloween, I'll tell you about the religion-themed horror film THE REAPING based on the Ten Plagues of Egypt; the Academy Award nominated horror film POLTERGEIST; and the supernatural horror film set CHUCKY - THE KILLER DVD COLLECTION about a less than perfect doll.

Also next week, the Canadian documentary ANTLERS is about the big game hunters of the forests of Northern Quebec; Kevin Costner plays a bad guy in MR. BROOKS; and THE SOPRANOS - SEASON 6, PART 2 DVD set gives you the chance to make sense out of the series' ending as often as you'd like, in the privacy of your own home.

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!

BBC announces 2,500 job cuts, newsroom integration

The British Broadcasting Corporation has confirmed to its staff a drastic cost-cutting strategy that will result in 2,500 job cuts, the creation of fewer original programs and the integration of its TV, radio and online newsrooms.

In a video message to staff on Thursday, BBC director general Mark Thompson said the decision had to be made if the BBC wanted to survive in today's digital age.

"Media is transforming. Audiences are transforming," he said.

"I don't want to minimize the human consequences of some of the decisions we have reached, but this is not just a story about cuts. It's about building our future."

The plan, to be rolled out over the next six years, is the BBC's answer to a funding shortfall of £2 billion (about $3.97 billion) after it reached a lower-than-expected licence fee settlement with the government earlier this year.

The British public broadcaster is directly funded by the licence fee, an annual tax paid by all households using televisions.

The plan calls for 2,500 jobs to be cut, with 1,800 people to be made redundant and 700 to be redeployed elsewhere in the corporation. The departments facing the largest employee losses include factual programming and news and current affairs.

Thursday's announcement follows the nearly 4,000 jobs cuts the BBC announced in 2005.

Another key component of the plan is the amalgamation of the BBC's television, radio and online newsrooms in an attempt to avoid duplication. BBC bosses have said that in the future, they envision journalists filing news for all media lines.

Fewer original shows planned

Thompson also revealed on Thursday that the BBC will cut the number of original shows it makes by 10 per cent and air more reruns, with the focus shifting to making "fewer, better and more distinctive" shows.

"It will be a smaller BBC, but one which packs a bigger punch because it is more focused on quality and the content that really makes a difference to audiences," Thompson said.

Within the next six years, the broadcaster will also sell the BBC Television Centre. Currently, a large amount of the BBC's news programming is produced out of the west London facility.

In a related announcement, the BBC will move ahead with its proposal to display advertisements on its international site, BBC.com.

Details of the streamlining plan were leaked earlier this week following a briefing Thompson had with senior executives.

On Wednesday, staffers and union representatives patrolled outside the BBC's central London headquarters in order to greet members of the broadcaster's governing board, who were arriving to hear details and give their approval of the plan.

Strike threatened

Unions representing BBC staffers have objected to extreme cost-cutting plans and threatened to strike in the weeks leading up to the holiday season. Journalists have argued that the new strategy will have a detrimental effect on the quality of the BBC service.

"We fail to understand how they can claim to be defending public service broadcasting while making the most savage cuts in core news and current affairs areas," said Jeremy Dear, head of the National Union of Journalists.

"Unless the BBC reconsiders its position, strike action looks inevitable."

The BBC has had a rough year in the public eye. Earlier this month, the head of the broadcaster's flagship TV channel resigned over the misleading editing of documentary footage involving Queen Elizabeth and U.S. photographer Annie Leibovitz.

In July, the broadcaster suspended all on-air contests after an investigation showed a host of its radio and TV competitions were bogus, with offences including production staff phoning in to "win" competitions, an announcement of a fake winner when no winner existed and a contest show aired as live when it was pre-recorded.

Pre-fall premieres shift Oscar race

The last three months of 2007 will bring many of the powerhouse movies hoping to compete at the coming Academy Awards, but no one can rule out the back nine anymore.

Movies released in the spring, summer and early fall have claimed many of the top prizes the past two years, obliterating the latecomers' traditional dominance.

Most of last year's big winners —The Departed, The Queen, Little Miss Sunshine and The Last King of Scotland — were already in theaters by this time.

"That's dramatic evidence of how early the race has pushed up the awards calendar. It forces us to pay special attention to what's already out," says awards expert Tom O'Neil of TheEnvelope.com.

One reason for the shift is that early debuts allow studios to blanket voters later with DVDs without fear of piracy for a new film.

Best-picture winner The Departed opened Oct. 6 last year, and the critically heralded George Clooney thriller Michael Clayton chose that spot to premiere this year. A number of powerhouse films will soon follow: No Country for Old Men, Charlie Wilson's War and Sweeney Todd among them.

Lead actor: Men had meaty roles

The lead-performer races also would look dramatically different if the latecomers of winter were taken out of the equation.

Among the beneficiaries might be Don Cheadle, for his role as 1960s radio host Petey Greene in Talk to Me, as well as Chris Cooper for his quiet performance as a true-life FBI traitor in January's Breach.

"Cheadle is one of those great actors, very contained and serious and stoic, and for this one he was willing to let loose. It's funny, but also outrageous and uninhibited. He's long overdue," says Barry Koltnow, veteran Hollywood correspondent for The Orange County Register.

As for Cooper, a winner for Adaptation: "Breach is the kind of movie voters like when they're not thinking epic," Koltnow says, though the film is unlikely to get a major (and expensive) push from its studio, Universal. "It doesn't have a chance, but it's one of the better movies of the year so far."

Other actors worthy of consideration: Tommy Lee Jones as the military father investigating his soldier son's murder in In the Valley of Elah. "It's a smoldering, volcanic performance from a man they like," says O'Neil of TheEnvelope.com.

Sasha Stone of AwardsDaily.com says Christian Bale could snag a lead-actor bid for his rancher in the Western 3:10 to Yuma or his U.S. pilot shot down in Rescue Dawn.

"Both performances help him with the nomination, but 3:10 to Yuma for sure is his best chance," she says. "It's a genre movie, but it could sneak up and prove to be an award movie by the end of the year."

Lead actress: Look to earlier films for female nominees

Female contenders from the past nine months have a strong chance this year because pundits see few flashy roles for women in the as-yet-unreleased films. That bodes well for Jodie Foster's vigilante in The Brave One, as well as Angelina Jolie's take on Mariane Pearl in the docudrama A Mighty Heart.

"They thought they could cash in on (Jolie's) tabloid prominence and rolled out too big with a movie that had limited appeal as a topic, so it was a disaster at the box office in mid-summer, but they are not giving up the Oscar hope," O'Neil says.

Julie Christie stands a strong chance for her role as a woman slowly forgetting her husband as she enters the early stages of Alzheimer's disease in the heartbreaking Away From Her. "She's one of those actresses, like Judi Dench or Helen Mirren, who is so iconic that she can't be ignored," Stone says.

Another likely actress contender is Keri Russell for her cynical, pregnant piemaker in Waitress. "It's from Fox Searchlight, and they are incredibly good at pushing their movies," Stone says of the studio behind last year's Little Miss Sunshine and The Last King of Scotland. "They're pushing hard on Waitress."

O'Neil adds La Vie en Rose, starring Marion Cotillard as singer Edith Piaf. It's a tiny film, but he believes voters make room for non-commercial films. "They hold on to the box office week after week after week," he says. "And they find their audience."

The latecomers: Films, actors who now reign could be deposed

Soon these films will have to make way for November and December — and Oscar bids from Cate Blanchett, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Johnny Depp.

Blanchett's Nixonian histrionics as the aging 16th-century British monarch in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, a sequel to her 1998 breakthrough, are catching attention, even if the film itself is not. She also stands a chance for her portrayal of an androgynous Bob Dylan in the surreal biopic I'm Not There, which has played well at recent festivals.

There is much anticipation for director Mike Nichols' Charlie Wilson's War, a biting drama starring Hanks as a Texas congressman who starts secretly funneling U.S. money to the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, with Roberts as a socialite who helps him. Philip Seymour Hoffman co-stars as a colorful rogue CIA agent.

Also, Johnny Depp is likely to be a fearsome opponent when Tim Burton's musical Sweeney Todd, about a serial-killing London barber in the early 1800s, makes its crimson splash on the big screen.

Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe in the crime saga American Gangster also are expected to entice Oscar voters, though it has only played at a few private screenings. Meanwhile the lighthearted teen pregnancy comedy Juno, starring Ellen Page and Jennifer Garner, also has created a stir on the festival circuit.

And among the scores of films set to premiere between now and the end of the year, there could always be a few surprises.

Best picture: Out early, but still hot

Looking back from early autumn presents a number of other noteworthy contenders, including the military crime saga In the Valley of Elah and the back-to-nature tragedy Into the Wild, both September movies.

Here are three offbeat choices hoping to make the cut: Once, Eastern Promises and Hairspray.

Though they may be long shots, the respective studios already have launched campaigns to win over the hearts and minds of voters for the Oscars, Golden Globes and the many assorted critics and guild awards.

"Hairspray had some of the best reviews and some of the strongest box-office numbers, and it's from a Broadway show that won the Tony for best musical," says O'Neil. "It's a proven award winner. And it's frothy and silly on one hand, but it also has a serious theme about racism."

Once, another music-themed movie, this one a bittersweet romance about street musicians, also could sneak into the top five as the academy's nod to scrappy, art-house filmmaking. "It has a really strong, beating heart, and that's the thing that gets them," says Sasha Stone of AwardsDaily.com. "Picking a movie like that makes the voters look good because it's so original."

Both films also are likely to get a bump from the Golden Globes, which has a separate category for musical/comedy, thus giving them an extra chance to compete with the straight-up dramas.

Awards voters also like their occasional grit — consider Million Dollar Baby and The Departed— which gives a shot to the Russian Mob thriller Eastern Promises.

Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn in TheLord of the Rings) delivers a strong performance as a smooth, smirking gangster who is simultaneously magnetic and repulsive. That gives it a memorable edge, says The Orange County Register's Koltnow, who blogs at barry.freedomblogging.com: "He justifies your confidence in the character. You don't know why you liked him, but you prove to have good instincts. Nothing makes academy voters feel better than feeling smart."

Coppola chides 3 Oscar-winning actors

NEW YORK - Everyone wants to work with Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson — except Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola — who directed Pacino and De Niro in "The Godfather" trilogy — says the trio of Oscar-winning actors have become apathetic.

"I don't feel that kind of passion to do a role and be great coming from those guys, because if it was there, they would do it! I mean, they're all in a position to do it," the 68-year-old filmmaker tells GQ magazine in its November issue, on newsstands Tuesday.

"Pacino always wanted to do theater. He wanted to do `Peer Gynt.' He wanted to do Shakespeare. Pacino will say, `Oh, I was raised next to a furnace in New York, and I'm never going to L.A.,' but they all live off the fat of the land," Coppola says.

He calls De Niro "wealthy and powerful" — and more ambitious than Nicholson.

"I think if there was a role that De Niro was hungry for, he would come after it. I don't think Jack would," he says. "Jack has money and influence and girls, and I think he's a little bit like (Marlon) Brando, except Brando went through some tough times."

Nicholson — a front-row regular at the Oscars and at Los Angeles Laker games — "was always kind of a joker" and a Hollywood schmooze, says Coppola.

"He's got a little bit of a mean streak," he says. "He's intelligent, always wired in with the big guys and the big bosses of the studios."

Adds Coppola: "I don't know what any of them want anymore."

Joey Bishop dead at 89

LOS ANGELES - Joey Bishop, the stone-faced comedian who found success in nightclubs, television and movies but became most famous as a member of Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack, has died at 89.

He was the group's last surviving member. Peter Lawford died in 1984, Sammy Davis Jr. in 1990, Dean Martin in 1995, and Sinatra in 1998.

Bishop died Wednesday night of multiple causes at his home in Newport Beach, publicist and longtime friend Warren Cowan said Thursday.

The Rat Pack became a show business sensation in the early 1960s, appearing at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas in shows that combined music and comedy in a seemingly chaotic manner.

Reviewers often claimed that Bishop played a minor role, but Sinatra knew otherwise. He termed the comedian "the Hub of the Big Wheel," with Bishop coming up with some of the best one-liners and beginning many jokes with his favorite phrase, "Son of a gun!"

The quintet lived it up whenever members were free of their own commitments. They appeared together in such films as "Ocean's Eleven" and "Sergeants 3" and proudly gave honorary membership to a certain fun-loving politician from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, at whose inauguration gala Bishop served as master of ceremonies.

The Rat Pack faded after Kennedy's assassination, but the late 1990s brought a renaissance, with the group depicted in an HBO movie and portrayed by imitators in Las Vegas and elsewhere. The movie "Ocean's Eleven" was even remade in 2003 with George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the lead roles.

Bishop defended his fellow performers' rowdy reputations in a 1998 interview.

"Are we remembered as being drunk and chasing broads?" he asked. "I never saw Frank, Dean, Sammy or Peter drunk during performances. That was only a gag. And do you believe these guys had to chase broads? They had to chase 'em away."

Away from the Rat Pack, Bishop starred in two TV series, both called "The Joey Bishop Show."

The first, an NBC sitcom, got off to a rocky start in 1961. Critical and audience response was generally negative, and the second season brought a change in format. The third season brought a change in network, with the show moving to ABC, but nothing seemed to help and it was canceled in 1965.

In the first series, Bishop played a TV talk show host.

Then, he really became a TV talk show host. His program was started by ABC in 1967 as a challenge to Johnny Carson's immensely popular "The Tonight Show."

Like Carson, Bishop sat behind a desk and bantered with a sidekick, TV newcomer Regis Philbin. But despite an impressive guest list and outrageous stunts, Bishop couldn't dent Carson's ratings, and "The Joey Bishop Show" was canceled after two seasons.

Bishop then became a familiar guest figure in TV variety shows and as sub for vacationing talk show hosts, filling in for Carson 205 times.

He also played character roles in such movies as "The Naked and the Dead" ("I played both roles"), "Onion-head," "Johnny Cool," "Texas Across the River," "Who's Minding the Mint?" "Valley of the Dolls" and "The Delta Force."

His comedic schooling came from vaudeville, burlesque and nightclubs.

Skipping his last high school semester in Philadelphia, he formed a music and comedy act with two other boys, and they played clubs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. They called themselves the Bishop Brothers, borrowing the name from their driver, Glenn Bishop.

Joseph Abraham Gottlieb would eventually adopt Joey Bishop as his stage name.

When his partners got drafted, Bishop went to work as a single, playing his first solo date in Cleveland at the well-named El Dumpo.

During these early years he developed his style: laid-back drollery, with surprise throwaway lines.

After 3 1/2 years in the Army, Bishop resumed his career in 1945. Within five years he was earning $1,000 a week at New York's Latin Quarter. Sinatra saw him there one night and hired him as opening act.

While most members of the Sinatra entourage treated the great man gingerly, Bishop had no inhibitions. He would tell audiences that the group's leader hadn't ignored him: "He spoke to me backstage; he told me `Get out of the way.'"

When Sinatra almost drowned filming a movie scene in Hawaii, Bishop wired him: "I thought you could walk on water."

Born in New York's borough of the Bronx, Bishop was the youngest of five children of two immigrants from Eastern Europe.

When he was 3 months old the family moved to South Philadelphia, where he attended public schools. He recalled being an indifferent student, once remarking, "In kindergarten, I flunked sand pile."

In 1941 Bishop married Sylvia Ruzga and, despite the rigors of a show business career, the marriage survived until her death in 1999.

Bishop, who had one son, Larry, spent his retirement years on the upscale Lido Isle in Southern California's Newport Bay.

Actress Deborah Kerr dies at age 86

LONDON - British actress Deborah Kerr, who shared one of cinema's most famous kisses with Burt Lancaster in "From Here to Eternity," has died, her agent said Thursday. She was 86.

Kerr, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, died Tuesday in Suffolk, eastern England, agent Anne Hutton said.

Born in Scotland in 1921, Kerr began her career in regional British theaters and entertained the troops during World War II. Her first major screen role was in "Major Barbara" in 1941.

For many she will be remembered best for her clinch in the surf with Lancaster in the wartime drama "From Here to Eternity" — regularly voted among the greatest screen kisses.

Other memorable roles included Anna Leonowens, the British governess who falls for the king of Siam in "The King and I."

Kerr is survived by her husband, Peter Viertel, two daughters and three grandchildren.

'Harvest' voted top Canuck album

Neil Young's classic disc "Harvest" tops a list of the 100 best Canadian albums, according to a new coffee-table book coming out Thursday.

Author and music lover Bob Mersereau polled nearly 600 musicians, critics, DJs and retailers to come up with a ranking of the country's best-loved discs for his book, "The Top 100 Canadian Albums" (Goose Lane Editions).

Joni Mitchell's "Blue" comes in at number 2, followed by Young's "After the Gold Rush." Rounding out the top five are the Band's "Music From Big Pink" and the Tragically Hip's "Fully Completely."

Mersereau admits the poll results are very much a "snapshot" of today's Canadian tastes rather than a definitive statement on the history of Canuck rock, and that the list will undoubtedly raise debate among anyone passionate about music.

"That's the whole fun," Mersereau says.

"The important part is to talk about Canadian music and enjoy it. This was tried to be a consensus of as many music people and music fans and big serious listeners across the country that have definite opinions. I'd be shocked if there wasn't complaints and arguments and debates. Half of my (own) list didn't make it."

A quick glance at the book reveals several repeat appearances by well-loved Canadian artists: Young comes up eight times, while the Guess Who, Mitchell and Gordon Lightfoot each have five albums on the list. The Tragically Hip have four, while Sloan have three.

"I think it's legitimate that there are so many repeats. I can't argue with any of these artists. I might prefer one over the other but I think it's really good to see albums like Joni Mitchell's 'Hissing of Summer Lawns,' which was career suicide when it came out," says Mersereau, a music writer and longtime arts reporter for CBC-TV in New Brunswick.

The tabulation was fairly simple, Mersereau explains in the introduction to the book, which also includes album artwork and new interviews with many of the musicians.

Each juror was asked to send in a list of their top 10 discs, using whatever criteria they wished. Each number 1 pick was awarded 10 points, with the number 2 choice given nine points, and so on.

A total of 580 responses were tallied, and Mersereau says he took pains to make sure they were drawn from a range of ages, regions and backgrounds.

"I didn't want this to be a music nerd book ... I wanted this to be something different," he adds.

"I wanted popularity to be in it, too, because we are talking about pop music even if it is Oscar Peterson or Glenn Gould. What's popular, what people want, what people like, that is often scorned in critical circles, yet there's a reason things are popular and there's a reason things stay popular like the Guess Who or April Wine. They have the ability to make us feel great and they become important memories for us through our whole lives."

Amid the classics are some modern sensations. Montreal supergroup the Arcade Fire come in at number 8 with 2004's "Funeral," while Broken Social Scene's 2002 disc "You Forgot It in People" lands at 28 and Feist's 2004 disc "Let It Die" is number 43.

"It wasn't just young people that were doing the votes for that, I had people like Stuart McLean, a CBC broadcaster, voting for Arcade Fire. Shocked me. I didn't know Stuart was that hip, but sure is."

Other discs benefited from the passage of time. Hamilton punk band Simply Saucer failed to make a dent in the music scene in the mid-'70s and disappeared into obscurity until being rediscovered by a local music writer in 1987, says Mersereau.

Their early sessions were revived as vinyl copies, and then followed by a CD reissue in 2003. The music insiders who jumped on the disc pushed it onto the 36 spot of Mersereau's list.

"Things change and people pass (albums) back and forth," notes Mersereau.

"(Simply Saucer) never went anywhere, gave up in 1979 and (it's a) sheer fluke that they have become so influential to a new generation."

Music lovers can debate their own favourites at a series of book launches to be held across the country over the next week.

Mersereau promises that a stop in Halifax this weekend will feature a special musical guest from the list

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Debate is sure to follow the release of "The Top 100 Canadian Albums," a book based on a survey of nearly 600 musicians, music critics and fans. A look at what made the Top 20:

1. "Harvest," Neil Young (Reprise, 1972)

2. "Blue," Joni Mitchell (Reprise, 1970)

3. "After the Gold Rush," Neil Young (Reprise, 1970)

4. "Music From Big Pink," The Band (Capitol, 1968)

5. "Fully Completely," The Tragically Hip (MCA, 1992)

6. "Jagged Little Pill," Alanis Morisette (Maverick, 1995)

7. "The Band," The Band (Capitol, 1969)

8. "Funeral," Arcade Fire (Merge, 2004)

9. "Moving Pictures," Rush (Anthem, 1981)

10. "American Woman," The Guess Who (RCA, 1970)

11. "Songs of Leonard Cohen," Leonard Cohen (Columbia, 1967)

12. "Reckless," Bryan Adams (A&M, 1984)

13. "Five Days in July," Blue Rodeo (Warner, 1993)

14. "Twice Removed," Sloan (Geffen, 1994)

15. "Up To Here," The Tragically Hip (MCA, 1989)

16. "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere," Neil Young with Crazy Horse (Reprise, 1969)

17. "2112," Rush (Mercury 1976)

18. "Court and Spark," Joni Mitchell (Asylum, 1974)

19. "Whale Music," Rheostatics (Sire, 1992)

20. "Acadie," Daniel Lanois (Opal, 1989)

The Zodiac: Director's Cut is closing in on you

From Paramount Home Entertainment finally comes full information on the release of the Zodiac: Director’s Cut scheduled for release in January on DVD and HD-DVD.

Based on the actual case files of one of the most intriguing unsolved crimes in the nation’s history, “Zodiac” is a thriller from David Fincher, director of “Se7en” and “Panic Room.” As a serial killer terrifies the San Francisco Bay Area and taunts police with his ciphers and letters, investigators in four jurisdictions search for the murderer. The case will become an obsession for four men as their lives and careers are built and destroyed by the endless trail of clues.

The Director’s Cut of David Fincher’s thriller will comes as a 2-Disc set featuring the movie in anamorphic widescreen with 5 minutes of additional footage inserted back into the film. As extras the release will contain a Commentary Track by director David Fincher, as well as another Commentary Track featuring the cast and crew, including Jake Gyllenhall, Robert Downey Jr., Producer Brad Fischer, James Vanderbilt and James Ellroy.

A long string of Featurettes and Documentaries is included on the release, such as the multi-part documentary ”Zodiac Deciphered” covering aspects such as “The San Francisco Chronicle,” “Hall of Justice,” “Obsession,” “Blue Rock Springs,” “Presidio Heights,” and “Lake Berryessa.”

”The Visual Effects of Zodiac” is another multi-part documentary showing the “Digital Workflow,” and Sequence Breakdowns for “Blue Rock Springs,” “”Lake Berryessa” and “San Francisco.”

”This is the Zodiac Speaking” is a look at the facts behind the movie, covering “Lake Herman Road,” “Blue Rock Springs,” “Lake Berryessa” and “San Francisco.” Then in Prime Suspect we get to take a look at “His Name Was Arthur Leigh Allen” and the “Linguistic Analysis.”

The release will also offer up Jeopardy Surface: Geographic Profiling a 6:30 minute video, the 5-minute video The Psychology of Aggression: Behavioral Profiling and the movie’s Theatrical Trailer

The HD-DVD version will feature a 1080p widescreen transfer complemented by a Dolby Digital Plus audio track. Also coming as a 2-Disc set, it will contain the same bonus materials, though all of them presented in full 1080p high definition, plus two additional text-based features, “Dr. Kim Rossmo's Geographic Profile of the Zodiac” and “Special Agent Sharon Pagaling-Hagan's Behavioral Profile of the Zodiac”.

The “Zodiac: Director’s Cut” will be in stores on January 8 and carries a $39.99 price tag.

Led Zeppelin mum on future

The three surviving members of Led Zeppelin are reuniting next month for their first full concert since disbanding 27 years ago.

What everyone wants to know, though, is this a precursor to a world concert tour? Or a new CD of original material? Or both?

Neither guitarist Jimmy Page nor bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones ruled out anything yesterday, in separate telephone interviews with Sun Media.

Page, Jones, singer Robert Plant and drummer Jason Bonham -- son of the fourth member of Zeppelin, John Bonham, who died in 1980 -- are playing a two-hour set Nov. 26 at the 02 Arena in London, England, as part of a tribute concert in aid of the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund. Ertegun was the forward-thinking Atlantic Records executive who signed Zeppelin to a record deal in 1968.

So is this show actually a, well, trial zeppelin for a full-blown reunification?

"Basically, we are concentrating on this show," Jones, 61, said. "That's where all the energy is going. I mean, who knows, but one step at a time."

Page, 63, was much more circuitous in answering the tour question. He said that all three surviving band members, as well as Jason Bonham when he tours with Foreigner, always play Zep material whenever they perform live.

"So you've got the four individual members playing Led Zeppelin in four different capacities," Page said. "When they unite, you've got the key members. You can't play it any better, as they're the people who actually played it and wrote it in the first place ...

"(The Nov. 26 concert) is what we're working toward ... That's what we have on our horizon at this point. I know you want to hear other answers, but I'm afraid that's all I can give you."

Page, though, was less vague as to the prospects of new material.

"Look, I'd be really surprised if there wasn't -- you know, I mean I just know the way we are," the riffmaster said. "We're musicians ... as we're playing we'll probably be coming up with all manner of things. And that will be fun. I mean, that's what it's all about.

"Let's do the 02 show, shall we? And then we'll speak to you afterward."

It was at a jam session back in June -- yes, those reports back then were accurate after all -- that the four musicians gathered to see if they could make a go of it.

"We had a very, very secret tryout in June just to see if it was possible and if anyone wanted to do it, to see if the will was there," Jones said. "And it was pretty exciting. We made all the musical cues, and we were pretty hot."

Page said it was the crucial moment.

"The hardest step -- or the most tentative step -- was to actually be able to get together, the four of us, in a rehearsal room to actually play with the instruments ... and keep the whole damn thing under wraps.

"As it was, we did manage to pull it off, and we didn't have to shake hands and say, 'Well, at least we sort of know that it might not be a good idea.' It was quite the opposite."

New Zeppelin reissues will soon hit stores: A two-disc best-of CD titled Motherlode (Nov. 13), and bolstered CD and DVD reissues of their 1976 film The Song Remains the Same (Nov. 20). This week, the band also announced that its entire catalogue will be available for full-album or single-track download beginning Nov. 13.

Expect the songs to remain the same

So what songs will Led Zeppelin play at its reunion concert next month?

The usual standards Stairway to Heaven, Kashmir and Whole Lotta Love? What about some obscure gems?

Neither Jimmy Page nor John Paul Jones would divulge anything yesterday in interviews with Sun Media, but they did provide a few clues.

"You don't want to give it all away," Jones said. "We played kind of the normal songs at the rehearsal."

In confirming that they'd "more than likely" play an acoustic or off-the-beaten-path song or two, Page said the band already has a "blueprint" of a setlist heading into rehearsals next week.

"Now it's time to start constructing the architecture," Page said.

When Page and singer Robert Plant toured together twice in the '90s, they had backing musicians galore -- two orchestras, even, for one tour.

Will there be any backing musicians this time?

"No, you've got to be joking," Jones said. "We've never needed to do that."

Page agreed: "I never felt comfortable with people filling in ... We want to individually be heard as to what we're doing, but also individually within the context of the four of us singing and playing together. It's really important that you don't cloud the issue with other people."

There are no plans for either a telecast or webcast, live or delayed -- or even a DVD, Jones said.

Between 25 and 30 million online ticket applications were received from around the globe. Uh, that's about one in every 250 people on the planet!

"The response is staggering. It's quite overwhelming," Jones said. "Sorry they can't all be there."

Kravitz to headline Grey Cup halftime

Grammy-Award winning American rocker Lenny Kravitz will perform during the halftime show at the Grey Cup in Toronto next month, organizers of the Canadian Football League championship announced Wednesday.

Kravitz has recorded multiple hits over his music career including, Are You Gonna Go My Way, It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over, Fly Away, Mama Said, and the remake of the Guess Who anthem, American Woman.

The 95th annual Grey Cup is Nov. 25 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. CBC will have the game live at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Kravitz, who has sold over 20 million records worldwide, will release his ninth studio album, Love Revolution, on Feb. 5, 2008.

The American rocker is the latest big act to perform at the Grey Cup, one of the oldest professional sports championships in North America.

Others include:

2006 in Winnipeg: Canadian pop songstress Nelly Furtado.
2005 in Vancouver: American hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas.
2004 in Ottawa: Tragically Hip.
2003 in Regina: Bryan Adams and Sam Roberts.
2002 in Edmonton: Country star Shania Twain.

Third 'Kissology' Due In Time For Christmas

The third release in Kiss' archival "Kissology" DVD series will arrive in time for Christmas. "Volume Three: 1992-2000" is due Dec. 18 via VH1 Classic and will feature four DVDs comprising nearly 10 hours of footage.

The first disc begins with a complete performance recorded at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit from November 1992. It also features the complete August 1995 "MTV Unplugged" set which found the original Kiss lineup of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss perform together on stage for the first time in nearly 16 years.

The second disc chronicles the original lineup's subsequent successful reunion tours of the late '90s, including the Detroit kickoff of the 1996 outing. Five tracks recorded near the Brooklyn Bridge in New York for the same year's MTV Video Music Awards round out the DVD.

Disc three boasts a performance from the August 1999 film premiere party for "Detroit Rock City" and a June 2000 concert at New Jersey's Continental Airlines Arena. The fourth disc eschews the chronological structure to offer a December 1973 set from New York, when Kiss performed the majority of its self-titled debut two months before its release.

Certain versions of "Kissology" will also include a fifth disc, which features the group's June 1996 performance at L.A. radio station KROQ's Weenie Roast.

In 2005, Stanley explained that the Kissology series was inspired by classic film by another renowned rock artist. "That Scorsese/Dylan piece ['No Direction Home: Bob Dylan'] was eye opening, at least to me, in terms of how you can be immersed in a time capsule, and not only see the music and be part of the crowd, but also get a sense of who Dylan was then," he said. "That set a really high bar, and I think that is more likely our approach at this point."

Poker game led to Pam's latest marriage

NEW YORK - Pamela Anderson says she and Rick Salomon took their 17-year friendship to the next level during a poker game.

"I left the table and Errol (Lyon, Anderson's driver) played in my place," the 40-year-old ex-"Baywatch" star tells OK! magazine. "I came back to find myself $250,000 in the hole to Rick!"

So Salomon — best known for making a sex tape with ex-girlfriend Paris Hilton — struck a flirty deal.

"Rick, being the gentleman, said he would wipe my debt if I gave him a kiss, so I have to thank Vegas for our relationship switching gears!" Anderson says in the magazine's latest issue, on newsstands Thursday. "It evolved into spending every day — and then nights — together."

Salomon weighs in, telling OK!: "I've been plotting and scheming for the past 15 years, and I finally got the girl."

The couple tied the knot Oct. 6 in a villa at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, squeezing in their vows between Anderson's performances as an assistant in Hans Klok's magic show at a nearby casino.

It was the third marriage for both Anderson and Salomon. The couple met when she was dating one of Salomon's friends.

Anderson was previously wed to Kid Rock and Tommy Lee. Salomon's ex-wives are actresses Shannen Doherty and E.G. Daily.

"There has always been chemistry, but mostly it's been camaraderie," Anderson says. "We have been there for each other through everything. We have seen each other through it all — that's tough to find."

She adds: "I don't just love him, I like him. We are an oddly good match."

Colbert announces presidential pursuit

NEW YORK - Stephen Colbert has announced his candidacy for president on "The Colbert Report," tossing his satirical hat into the ring of an already crowded race.

"I shall seek the office of the president of the United States," Colbert said Tuesday on his Comedy Central show as red, white and blue balloons fell around him.

Colbert, 43, had recently satirized the coyness of would-be presidential candidates by refusing to disclose whether he would seek the country's highest office — a refusal that often came without any prompting.

Shortly before making the announcement, Colbert appeared on "The Daily Show" (the show that spawned Colbert's spin-off) and played cagey, claiming he was only ready to consider a White House bid. He entered the studio set pulled by a bicycle pedaled by Uncle Sam and quickly pulled out a bale of hay and a bottle of beer to show that he was "an Average Joe."

Colbert said his final decision would be announced on a "more prestigious show," which turned out to be his own.

"After nearly 15 minutes of soul-searching, I have heard the call," said Colbert.

His recent best-seller, "I Am America (And So Can You!)," allowed him to mock the now-standard approach to a White House run, complete with a high-profile book tour.

Colbert said he planned to run in South Carolina, "and South Carolina alone." The state, one of the key early primaries, is also Colbert's native state. Earlier this week, South Carolina public television station ETV invited Colbert to announce his candidacy on its air.

Exactly how far the mock conservative pundit planned to stretch his impression of a presidential candidate wasn't clear. Colbert rarely breaks character on camera, including at his memorable speech at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner last year.

The Comedy Central host has often mobilized his fans ("Colbert Nation"), encouraging them to vote to have a Hungarian bridge named after him, for example, or to vandalize Web site Wikipedia.com with his version of "truthiness" and "wikiality."

Colbert said he would run as both a Democrat and Republican. He earlier explained the strategy: "I can lose twice." He claimed three running mate possibilities: Colbert-Huckabee, Colbert-Putin or Colbert-Colbert.

Minutes after announcing his presidential pursuit, Colbert welcomed CBS political analyst Jeff Greenfield to ask how he had changed the race.

"This is going to be one for the books," said Greenfield.

A spokesman for Colbert said he would be unavailable for further comment Tuesday evening.

In a guest column for Maureen Dowd in Sunday's New York Times, Colbert wrote: "I am not ready to announce yet — even though it's clear that the voters are desperate for a white, male, middle-aged, Jesus-trumpeting alternative."

George Lucas planning 'Star Wars' TV series

Filmmaker George Lucas said Tuesday that he has "just begun work" on a live-action television series rooted in the "Star Wars" universe, which is huge news not just for fans of the science-fiction epic but also for networks looking for a piece of the Lucas magic that has grossed $4.3 billion in theaters worldwide.

There is a caveat, though: The proposed series doesn't have anyone named Luke or Anakin in it, a story path that Lucas concedes is "taking chances" as far as connecting with an audience expecting the familiar mythology.

"The Skywalkers aren't in it, and it's about minor characters," Lucas said in an interview. "It has nothing to do with Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader or any of those people. It's completely different. But it's a good idea, and it's going to be a lot of fun to do."

Lucas joked that the series would be about "the life of robots" but wouldn't let any details slip about the true premise. The "extended universe" of "Star Wars" has come to life already in Lucas-sanctioned novels, comics and games that chronicle the history of the Jedi and tell the tales of bit players in the films, such as the bounty hunters from "The Empire Strikes Back."

Lucas already has another television series percolating: Lucas Animation has been working for months on "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," a computer-animated series that he hopes will introduce a new era of visuals to weekly episodic television. Lucas plans to produce it through his own companies before shopping the finished product to networks.

That model may also be used for the live-action show, although producer Rick McCallum said Tuesday that it's too early to say. McCallum is interviewing writers for the live-action series.

Lucas is confident he can find a home for his droids and Jedi, but he also knows the projects are unorthodox enough to give network executives pause.

"They are having a hard time," Lucas said. "They're saying, 'This doesn't fit into our little square boxes,' and I say, 'Well, yeah, but it's "Star Wars." And "Star Wars" doesn't fit into that box.' "

Nickelback's 'Reasons' joins rare 6M sales club

The members of Nickelback are music's latest 6-million-seller men. But the way things are going, there may not be many more.

The Canadian rockers' All the Right Reasons album, which was released in October 2005, crossed the 6 million sales mark last week. It's the only album released that year or since to reach that level; only one album from 2004 and two from 2003 have hit 6 million. Just 15 new albums released since 2000 have sold more than Nickelback, most from the early years when album sales were far healthier.

Nickelback's success might be a throwback to the past, and the way the band has accomplished its feat — gradually but steadily, with more than 100 consecutive weeks in the top 30 of Billboard's album chart — seems pretty old-fashioned as well. Singer Chad Kroeger and company don't dominate the tabloids, occupy a lot of magazine covers or give away their albums online.

Instead, all the right reasons for the album's success include:

• Relentless touring. The band is seldom off the road, having toured to support the album through much of 2006 and 2007.

• Radio appeal. Reasons has enough variety to appeal to adult-contemporary stations (with more pop-oriented material such as Photograph) and rock formats (with heavier tunes such as Side of a Bullet). Five songs from the album have appeared on Nielsen BDS' multi-format national radio airplay chart, all reaching No. 25 or higher.

• A sound for the times. Nickelback's classic formula of rock rhythms with catchy choruses and guttural vocals defines what a lot of casual music fans think of as rock 'n' roll. The recipe works so well that American Idol's Chris Daughtry has scored three big hits with Nickelback sound-alikes.

• Talent. Give it up for the band. Despite barbs from critics who say they're crass and rock fanatics who say they're too pop, Nickelback has a knack for songs that stick in your head and probably have more depth than they get credit for.

Prime example: current hit Rockstar, a celebration of wannabe rock-lifestyle excess that works as a savage satire: "We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat"; "get washed-up singers writing all my songs"; "I'm gonna sing those songs that offend the censors/Gonna pop my pills from a Pez dispenser" — the one-liners keep coming.

THESE THREE ARE CLOSE

Although the 6-million-seller is an endangered species, there should be at least three more joining the ranks in the near future.

-American Idol Carrie Underwood's 2005 debut, Some Hearts, has sold 5.95 million. It's still selling around 10,000 a week, so it should hit the mark by the end of November.

-The Dixie Chicks' Home has sold 5.94 million since 2002 but is not currently on Billboard's top 200 catalog chart, meaning its sales have slowed to fewer than 1,500 copies a week. So it may take a year or more to pass 6 million. Had Natalie Maines opted to talk about the weather instead of President Bush, it probably would have been a different story.

-Another American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, is at 5.86 million with 2004 sophomore album Breakaway. It's selling nearly 4,000 copies a week and may get a boost from her current tour, so 6 million by mid-2008 is not out of the question.

All sales figures courtesy Nielsen SoundScan

Welles' 'Kane' Oscar to be auctioned

NEW YORK - Orson Welles' 1941 Oscar for "Citizen Kane," considered one of the greatest movies of all time, will go on the auction block in December.

Sotheby's auction house estimated Tuesday that the Academy Award for Best Screenplay will sell for between $800,000 and $1.2 million.

The golden statuette, believed to have been once lost by Welles himself, resurfaced in 1994, and after an extended legal battle was returned to his estate. In 2003, it was acquired by the Dax Foundation, a Los Angeles-based charity. The proceeds will help fund the organization's worldwide efforts.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said it has no plans to block the sale.

"We're never happy to see Academy Awards go on sale," said Bruce Davis, executive director of the academy.

"Citizen Kane," a story about a power hungry publishing magnate played by Welles and widely believed to be based on the life of William Randolph Hearst, was voted the number one film in history by the American Film Institute in 2007 and by the British Film Institute in 2002.

The Oscar will be sold Dec. 11 and displayed at Sotheby's in New York on Dec. 7-10.

Welles was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1970 "for superlative artistry and versatility in the creation of motion pictures."

U2's 'Joshua Tree' Blooms Again

To celebrate the 20th birthday of its landmark album "The Joshua Tree," U2 is reissuing the set in four different incarnations on Nov. 20 via UMe. The album will be available as a remastered single CD, a 2-CD set, a 2-CD/1-DVD collectible box and a double-vinyl package.

The single-disc will be housed in a jewel case, but the 2-CD set comes in a hard back case. The 2-CD/1-DVD version has a base and lid to accommodate the discs as well as five portfolio prints. Band members have contributed new liner notes for the package.

Of most interest to fans is the inclusion of rare material on the expanded editions. Although details have yet to be announced, "Joshua Tree" demos, alternate versions and B-sides from the period are expected to appear.

The DVD is understood to comprise a July 4, 1987, show at the Paris Hippodrome, as well as the documentary "Outside It's America."

Produced by Brian Eno, "The Joshua Tree" shot U2's commercial fortunes into the stratosphere. The album's first three tracks were huge singles, with both "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Jorja Fox quitting role on CBS hit 'CSI'

NEW YORK - Jorja Fox is waving goodbye to "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." Fox, 39, tells EW.com she has quit the Las Vegas-based forensics drama, saying she wants to explore other opportunities.

"There are all these things I want to do," she said in a story posted Monday on the Web site. "Some are personal. Some are professional. And I really need to do some of them before I get too old."

Fox has wrapped up filming on the hit CBS series, and will make her last appearance as Sara Sidle in an episode to air next month, according to the Web site.

CBS publicist Kate Fisher had no comment Tuesday.

Fox's run on "CSI" nearly ended in 2004 when she and co-star George Eads were fired during tense contract negotiations. They were later hired back.

"If I thought the show were on its last legs, I would have tried harder to stay the course," said Fox, whose contract expired in May. "But I feel like it's going to be around for a while, so if I don't want some of those dreams to pass me by, I have to get off the ride for a while."

Fox has been a cast member since "CSI" premiered in 2000.

Madonna, Live Nation link up on deal

LOS ANGELES - Madonna and concert promoter Live Nation Inc. announced a deal Tuesday that will give the company an all-encompassing stake in the music of the Material Girl, the latest big-name artist to break ranks with a major record label.

Financial terms were not disclosed in the joint statement released by Madonna and Live Nation.

The deal is worth about $120 million over 10 years, a person who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the matter previously told The Associated Press.

The official announcement came after weeks of speculation that Madonna would abandon Warner Music Group Corp., which refused to match the Live Nation deal.

Madonna said in the statement that she was drawn to the deal with Live Nation because of the changes the music business has undergone in recent years.

"The paradigm in the music business has shifted and as an artist and a business woman, I have to move with that shift," Madonna said. "For the first time in my career, the way that my music can reach my fans is unlimited. I've never wanted to think in a limited way and with this new partnership, the possibilities are endless."

The singer still owes Warner Bros. Records another studio album and a greatest hits album.

The deal with Live Nation encompasses future music and music-related businesses, including the Madonna brand, albums, touring, merchandising, fan club and Web site, DVDs, music-related television and film projects, and associated sponsorship agreements, the statement said.

Shares of Live Nation rose 8 cents to $21.50 during afternoon trading.

Under terms of the deal, Madonna, 49, would receive a signing bonus of about $18 million and a roughly $17 million advance for each of three albums, the person said. A portion of the compensation would involve stock, the person told the AP.

Madonna could also benefit significantly from the touring component of the agreement, which gives Live Nation the exclusive right to promote her tours, the person said.

Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino said in the statement that Madonna will be the founding artist in its new Artist Nation division, created to partner with musicians to manage their diverse rights and provide global distribution and marketing.

"I am thrilled that Madonna, who is also now a shareholder in our company, has joined with us to create a new business model for our industry," Rapino said. "Bringing all the varied elements of Madonna's stunning music career into the Artist Nation and Live Nation family, moves her future and the future of our company into a unique and extraordinary place."

Some Wall Street analysts have questioned whether Live Nation can squeeze out a significant profit from the deal. The Material Girl's age has also led some to suggest she may not be as bankable a recording artist as she's been in the past.

Arthur Fogel, the head of global touring at Live Nation who has produced Madonna's last three tours, shrugged off the criticism, blaming "ageism" for doubts about her ability to sell CDs and fill arenas.

"Madonna is an incredibly talented and vital artist and will continue to be," Fogel told the AP. "Clearly, we would not have done this deal if we didn't have a great expectation of great returns."

Rapino said he doesn't understand Wall Street's skepticism.

"I'm amazed that our stock hasn't jumped considerably in that we're absolutely delivering what we talked about for two years," he said, referring to Live Nation's efforts to grab a bigger slice of the music business beyond touring.

"This is not about a Madonna deal ... Madonna is the validation that this division is the strategy that's come to life," Rapino said.

The company expects to do other all-encompassing deals involving a range of artists, from superstars to new talent.

"There's no reason it can't work with a baby band," Rapino said.

CTV to air new 'Anne of Green Gables'

TORONTO - Anne of Green Gables is returning to television.

CTV announced plans Monday for a new "Anne of Green Gables" TV movie, set to air next year. The network says production has already started on the three-hour movie, called "Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning."

It will star Oscar nominee Barbara Hershey as well as 12-year-old Hannah Endicott-Douglas, who will play Anne Shirley.

Hershey will play Anne as a woman in her 50s looking back on her younger years.

CTV says the new Anne movie will be a "prequel" to an Anne of Green Gables miniseries that aired in 1985.

The freckled, red-haired Anne is one of Canada's most recognizable homegrown characters. CTV says the search to find an actress included a YouTube casting call and a cross-Canada audition tour.

Endicott-Douglas, who lives in Toronto, appeared in the TV movie "Samantha: an American Girl Holiday."

WKRP star Carol Bruce dies at 87

Carol Bruce, an American character actress best known as the acerbic Mama Carlson on WKRP in Cincinnati, has died. She was 87.

Bruce died last Tuesday at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in suburban Woodland Hills, Calif., a spokesman confirmed Monday.

Bruce was born Shirley Levy in Great Neck, N.Y., and showed talent as a teenager.

She had an early career on the musical stage, beginning as a Montreal nightclub singer and moving on to Broadway, where she was part of the original cast of Louisiana Purchase.

Irving Berlin was reported to have created a role in the musical for her distinctive sultry voice.

She was signed by Universal Pictures and made her screen debut in the 1941 Abbott & Costello vehicle Keep 'Em Flying, followed by Behind the Eight Ball.

But she preferred live performance and returned to Broadway, where she sang in nightspots such as Copacabana, and appeared in revue and variety shows.

She won the role of Julie in the acclaimed 1946 revival of Showboat opposite Kenneth Spencer and Jan Clayton.

Bruce also appeared in One Touch of Venus, Annie Get Your Gun, Lady in the Dark and Pal Joey, and shared a stage with Noel Coward in London, England.

In 1979, she returned to film with a role in American Gigolo.

That same year, she took over the role of Mama Carlson, the tough-talking owner of a radio station managed by her son Arthur, played by Gordon Jump on WKRP in Cincinnati.

Sylvia Sidney had originated the role, but stayed with it only one season. Bruce stayed on until 1982.

She scored a stream of other TV credits throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including:

Doogie Howser, M.D.
The Golden Girls.
The Twilight Zone.
Diff'rent Strokes.
Party of Five.
Knots Landing.

New CD Releases, Oct. 16: Neil Young, R.E.M., Jimmy Eat World

Neil Young "Chrome Dreams II"

The rock legend originally planned to release "Chrome Dreams" back in 1977. Yet, the project was shelved and "unfortunately, all original documentation and art for this album was lost in a fire that destroyed Neil's Malibu home in early 1978," according to Young's website.

Never one to quit easily, Young now returns with "Chrome Dreams II." Among its 10 tracks are two epics--one 18 minutes long and another 13 minutes. Young and his "The Volume Dealers" partner Niko Bolas produced.

As part of a co-promotion with Ticketmaster, every fan who orders up to three tickets to Young's upcoming trek (which kicks off Oct. 18 in Boise, ID) will receive a code good for a free copy of "Chrome Dreams II" through Warner Brothers Records' online store. Fans who purchase four tickets or more will receive two copies of the album.

The offer will be available to everyone who purchases Neil Young tickets on Ticketmaster.com, and to those who purchase Neil Young tickets via phone and provide a valid email address, according to Ticketmaster.

Young's backing band for the tour will include Ben Keith (pedal steel guitar, dobro and other instruments), Ralph Molina (drums) and Rick Rosas (bass), all of whom were on hand in Northern California last summer to help record "Chrome Dreams II."

As the tour gets warmed up, Young will host the 21st annual Bridge School Benefit concerts, set for Oct. 27 and 28 in Mountain View, CA. He'll be joined on the bill by Metallica, John Mayer, Tom Waits with the Kronos Quartet, and the trio of Eddie Vedder, Flea and Jack Irons, among others.

* * *
R.E.M. "R.E.M. Live"

This past summer, R.E.M. treated fans to a five-night stand at the intimate Olympia Theater in Dublin, Ireland. During that residency, the recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees showcased new material, much of which will likely land on the band’s next studio record.

Staying with the Irish theme, R.E.M. will now release its first ever live album--which was recorded back in early 2005 at Dublin’s Point Theatre. "R.E.M. Live" features vocalist Michael Stipe and gang performing 22 songs over the course of two CDs as well as an accompanying DVD. The track listing includes such smashes as "Orange Crush," "Man on the Moon" and "Drive."

* * *
Jimmy Eat World "Chase This Light"

The Arizona-based pop-punkers return to the fray with "Chase This Light." The album is Jimmy Eat World's first full-length studio set since 2004's gold-certified "Futures," which landed on end-of-year best-of lists compiled by Rolling Stone, Blender and Spin.

Executive producer Butch Vig recently described the new album in a statement as "Quite eclectic," adding "There are three or four songs that sound like classic Jimmy Eat World, with angular, razor-sharp guitars. There are a couple that are a lot more dreamy, and some that are very groove-acious."

The band is currently in the midst of a North American tour, which is scheduled to conclude in mid-November in Chicago.

* * *
Thrice "The Alchemy Index, Vols. 1-2"

Having waited since 2005's "Vheissu," Thrice fans will be getting plenty of new product from their favorite band in the months to come.

The group plans to release four EPs, beginning with the two found on "The Alchemy Index, Vols. 1-2." These first two EPs are being subtitled "Fire and Water." The second half of "Alchemy" ("Earth and Air") will follow in the spring.

If all of this is a bit confusing, perhaps it will make more sense to fans once they see Thrice in concert. The band is taking part in a triple-header tour (with Brand New and MewithoutYou) that kicks off Oct. 18 and is scheduled to run through mid-December.

* * *
Angie Stone "The Art of Love and War"

The Grammy-winning R&B/soul star returns with her first batch of new recordings since 2004’s "Stone Love." In the interim, she released a greatest-hits package, "Stone Hits: The Very Best of Angie Stone."

The multimedia star has also recently ventured into theater, appearing in the leading role in "Issues: We've Got Them All." Furthermore, she took part in the fourth season of VH1’s popular reality television series "Celebrity Fit Club."

* * *
More new releases:
Cecilia Bartoli, "Maria" (Decca)
Karen Dalton, "Cotton Eyed Joe" (Delmore)
Sandy Denny, "Live at the BBC" (Universal)
Aretha Franklin, "Rare and Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul" (Rhino)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Live at Monterey" (Experience Hendrix)
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette, "My Foolish Heart" (ECM)
Jars of Clay, "Christmas Songs" (Nettwerk)
Kenna, "Make Sure They See My Face" (Interscope)
Eric Marienthal, "Just Around the Corner" (Peak)
Michael W. Smith, "It's a Wonderful Christmas" (Reunion)
James Taylor, "Don't Mess with Mr. T: James Taylor Quartet Plays Motown" (Dome)
Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, "Danza II: The Electric Boogaloo" (Metal Blade)
Umphrey's McGee, "Live at the Murat" (SCI Fidelity)
Underworld, "Oblivion with Bells" (ATO)
VAST, "April" (2blossoms)

Were Radiohead fans duped by the download?

At the end of Radiohead's pay-what-you-like download album In Rainbows, will you find pots of gold or fool's gold? That depends on where you stand on the debate.

Fans who downloaded the label-bypassing seventh studio album by the British stars quickly learned that there were a few caveats to the donation-based download. First, the sound quality is not necessarily optimum, encoded at a bit rate of 160 kbps (kilobits per second), lower than Radiohead's earlier albums (though higher than a standard iTunes track download).

In an interview last week with British trade magazine Music Week, Radiohead's longtime managers, Chris Hufford and Bryce Edge, acknowledged that the download offer was a piece of a larger puzzle to generate more publicity for the CD release. "If we didn't believe that when people hear the music they will want to buy the CD, then we wouldn't do what we are doing," Edge said.

Now fans who anted up a reasonable sum for an album they could have gotten free will have to buy the album again come January if they want the improved sound.

"They never said that downloading the album would be the only way to purchase it," says Nate Wilholt, 21, of Grand Rapids, Mich., who spent $2 for the download. "I pretty much figured there would be an eventual traditional release … I would hope fans knew what they were getting into."

Some fans criticized the band's failure to disclose the downloadable version's quality and the release date of the CD. "I would've appreciated knowing the bit rate," says David Sandell, 27, a Chicago fan who spent $6.50 for the download. "But if I knew the MP3 would be low audio quality, I would have paid less."

Others lauded the band's pioneering effort to get the music to their fans quickly. "I think this band is doing the right thing and cutting out the middleman, and they should be rewarded," says Susan Alvare, 30, of Dallas. She plans to buy the download for $15.

Other fans don't miss the difference in sound quality. "I didn't notice that the sound quality is subpar and don't know if I will notice upon my next listen," says Nadia Tuma, 25, of New York. "I'm here for the art and can still appreciate the music for what is it, regardless of minute differences in sound production." She donated $20 for the download.

But Roger Wade, 42, of Portland, Ore., who has not ordered the download, is still unhappy with the band on both counts. "This honor-system gimmick has turned out to be sloppy at best and dishonest and devious at worst. It's common knowledge that 192 kbps is the accepted minimum bit rate among nearly everyone who even knows what a bit rate is.

"And then word that this honor-system release might just be a promotional tool for a longer and higher-quality release in the future is a real kick in the teeth to their hard-core fans who wanted to reward the band for this unique approach to distributing their new material. If I'd offered to pay $10 or more for the download, I would feel like a real sucker at this point."

More fan reaction:

•Bryan Ward, 38, of Westmont, Ill., spent $2. "I plan to buy the box set and the actual CD, but I don't have the money right now. Now I feel guilty that I paid too little."

•Jacob David Sawyer, 27, of Manchester, N.H., donated not a cent. "I'm planning on buying the CD when it comes out, anyway. Why pay for it twice?"

•Jami Sams, 26, of Corona, Calif., spent $7. "I really like the album; in hindsight, I think I should have paid more."

•Michael Gallaugher, 33, of Columbus, Ohio, spent $10 "because it's what it would have cost on iTunes. It just would have been nice to know what the options were going to be beforehand."

Arcade Fire Rocks With Springsteen In Ottawa

The Arcade Fire made a surprise appearance during the encore of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's show on Sunday night at Ottawa's Scotiabank Place, playing on two of the latter's songs as well as one of its own.

The collaboration began on "State Trooper," its first airing on the tour so far and first E Street Band performance since 1984, according to Springsteen's Web site. Springsteen then yielded the spotlight to the Arcade Fire, who, with E Street assistance, played its song "Keep the Car Running" from this year's acclaimed "Neon Bible." The group remained onstage for "Born To Run."

The show also featured the tour premieres of "Tougher Than the Rest" and "Backstreets."

Springsteen's outing in support of the just-released "Magic" continues tonight in Toronto and will play two shows at New York's Madison Square Garden later in the week.

Led Zeppelin to sell music online

LONDON (Reuters) - British rockers Led Zeppelin will offer their music online for the first time next month, they said on Monday.

The band, whose reunion gig in London in November prompted more than a million fans to apply for 10,000 available tickets, is one of the last major pop music acts to offer their catalogue digitally.

From November 13, Led Zeppelin, which disbanded in 1980 following the death of drummer John Bonham, will make its albums available for download from all online music retailers.

The group behind such hits as "Stairway to Heaven" and "Communication Breakdown," which has sold an estimated 300 million albums worldwide, joins the digital revolution sweeping the music industry as physical CD sales continue to fall.

"We are pleased that the complete Led Zeppelin catalogue will now be available digitally," said guitarist Jimmy Page.

"The addition of the digital option will better enable fans to obtain their music in whichever manner they prefer," he said in a statement.

As well as downloads, Led Zeppelin is teaming up with mobile provider Verizon Wireless to provide ring tones and full song downloads. Verizon Wireless is owned by Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc.

The band hit the headlines in September with the announcement of a one-off reunion gig on November 26 as a tribute to the late founder of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, who signed Led Zeppelin in 1968.

The group will also release "Mothership," a two-CD collection spanning the group's 12-year career and a remixed version of "The Song Remains the Same" soundtrack from the band's three-night stint at Madison Square Garden in 1973.

Perry fans RSVP with $21.5 million

LOS ANGELES - Academy Awards heavyweights such as George Clooney and Cate Blanchett were no match for another of Tyler Perry's populist tales.

The Lionsgate release "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?", a marital yarn whose ensemble cast includes Janet Jackson, Malik Yoba, Jill Scott and writer-director Perry, debuted as the No. 1 weekend movie with $21.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Perry's flick came in well ahead of Clooney's legal drama "Michael Clayton," Blanchett's historical pageant "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," and Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg's crime saga "We Own the Night," which all pulled in modest crowds.

"The Game Plan," which had been No. 1 the previous two weekends, was neck-and-neck with "Michael Clayton" and "We Own the Night" for second-place. Exact rankings awaited final studio numbers Monday.

Disney reported an $11.5 million haul for "The Game Plan," Warner Bros. reported $11.01 million for "Michael Clayton" and Sony reported $11 million for "We Own the Night."

Universal's "The Golden Age," a followup to 1998's "Elizabeth," was No. 6 with $6.2 million.

Despite the rush of movies featuring top stars, overall business continued to slide. Revenues were down for the fourth-straight weekend, with the top-12 films taking in $85.5 million, off 14 percent from the same weekend last year, when "The Grudge 2" and "The Departed" led the box office.

Though "Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls" had a so-so opening earlier this year, "Why Did I Get Married?" joined his previous hits "Madea's Family Reunion" and "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," which also opened at No. 1.

"Why Did I Get Married?" follows the domestic trials of couples re-evaluating their relationships during an annual reunion.

"Tyler Perry is a mogul," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "There is a built-in audience base for Tyler Perry's movies, no matter what time of year, no matter what the subject matter."

"Michael Clayton," which went into nationwide release after opening in a handful of theaters a week earlier, stars Clooney as an attorney in moral crisis over a class-action lawsuit.

"We Own the Night" features Phoenix and Wahlberg in the story of a black-sheep brother who makes amends with his family of cops to take on Russian drug dealers.

In "The Golden Age," Blanchett reprises her role as Britain's Queen Elizabeth I as she faces a holy war with Spain.

The studios are counting on Oscar buzz for Blanchett and Clooney to keep "The Golden Age" and "Michael Clayton."

"We think we really have a solid Oscar contender here, and we're in for the long run," said Dan Fellman, Warner's head of distribution.

Such films tend to have more staying power, since they appeal to older moviegoers who do not necessarily rush out to see films over opening weekend.

"This is a very specific kind of film that isn't going to launch in the marketplace the same as some of the other broad-based movies do," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal. "This is a very discerning audience. There are a lot of films vying for that same adult audience, so we were pleased to get it launched."

In limited release, the oddball romance "Lars and the Real Girl," starring Ryan Gosling, took in a healthy $85,000 in seven theaters; "Sleuth," with Michael Caine and Jude Law in an update of Caine and Laurence Olivier's 1972 battle of wits, opened with $50,090 in nine theaters; and "Control" — a drama about Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, who killed himself at age 23, debuted strongly with $26,500 in one theater.

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. "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?", $21.5 million.
2. "The Game Plan," $11.5 million.
3. "Michael Clayton," $11.01 million.
4. "We Own the Night," $11 million.
5. "The Heartbreak Kid," $7.4 million.
6. "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," $6.2 million.
7. "The Kingdom," $4.6 million.
8. "Across the Universe," $4 million.
9. "Resident Evil: Extinction," $2.65 million.
10. "The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising," $2.15 million.

The Couch Potato Report - October 13th, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report peels a 2 DVD set from the Air Farce and a pair of Special Edition DVDs.

I have three titles to tell you about this week, and none of them really need much introduction, since they have all been around since at least 1998.

I'll start with the elder statemen in this week's group, the thirty-four year old Royal Canadian Air Farce.

The one and only Air Farce started performing under that name in 1973, and later that year their CBC radio show began.

It was on the air for 24 seasons through 1997.

The first Air Farce television special aired in 1980, and a short-lived TV series went to air in 1981.

After a long hiatus from TV, it was a 1992 New Year's Eve special for CBC television that brought the group back to our airwaves in October of 1993...where it continues to this day.

THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE - FARCEBOOK is a double-DVD of Air Farce comedy, featuring one disc with 43 of their best sketches from last year, and another one with their entire 300th show, including some special guests.

For the record, I have done 378 episodes of my show!

Anyway, the thing that always makes me appreciate the Air Farce is the fact that always spoofs Canadian politics and politicians, Canadian trends, our commercials, and even some of our well-known institutions, like the CBC.

THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE - FARCEBOOK is a very funny collection of Canadian comedy, and I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

Oh, and don't forget that you can see the AIR FARCE every Friday night at 8 pm on CBC Television.

Up next this week, just in time for the release of ELIZABETH - THE GOLDEN AGE in theatres yesterday, is a SPECIAL EDITION of the Academy Award winning 1998 film ELIZABETH.

Academy Award winners Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush and Richard Attenborough star in this great movie that is loosely based on the early reign of Queen Elizabeth the first of England and it primary follows Elizabeth being courted by suitors as she deals with various threats to her reign.

Yes, there are many historical inaccuracies with ELIZABETH, so it probably shouldn't be shown in a history class as a documentary on the era, but if you enjoy costume dramas, then this is a film for you!

It is engaging, entertaining, and features some incredible acting, costumes, make-up and locations.

The film ends with Elizabeth assuming the persona of 'The Virgin Queen', and initiating England's Golden Age, and that is where the new movie - now in theatres - picks up her story.

This SPECIAL EDITION DVD includes a look at the new film, and some making of features on the first one as well.

It is a great movie to add to your library!

Another film that you can now add to your library is the 1980 Al Pacino film CRUISING as it is finally available on DVD, and as a DELUXE EDITION no less!

CRUISING stars Al Pacino as an young cop who goes under cover in New York City in the 1970s to try and find a serial killer that is targeting gay men.

His work takes a toll on his relationship with his girlfriend and leads him to question his own sexual orientation.

CRUISING is by no means a classic, and it is very homophobic at times, but it remains a film that has a hard to figure out murder mystery at it's core, one that I finally understand, but only because I listened to director William Friedkin's commentary, and watched the behind-the-scenes documentaries on the DVD.

If you are a fan of Al Pacino, and you are a completist, then this is one for you!

The DELUXE EDITION of CRUISING, the SPECIAL EDITION of ELIZABETH, and THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE - FARCEBOOK are all available now on DVD.

And remember…you can see all-new episodes of the AIR FARCE every Friday night at 8 pm on CBC Television.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

YOU KILL ME is a mafia comedy thriller made in Winnipeg starring Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley; In THE HOAX Richard Gere is a man who sells a fake biography of Howard Hughes to a premiere publishing house in the early 1970s; PLANET TERROR is director Robert Rodriguez's half of the GRINDHOUSE movie duo from earlier this year, and this is the better half; And Steve Carell from TV's THE OFFICE and THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN stars in the most expensive comedy ever made, a film called EVAN ALMIGHTY.

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!

Final frontier for Cho, Pegg

John Cho and Simon Pegg have boarded the Starship Enterprise.

Cho has been cast as Sulu, the Enterprise's helmsman, while Pegg has signed on to play Scotty, the ship's Scottish chief engineer, in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" feature for Paramount.

The "Trek" casting deals appear to be closing at warp speed this week, with Eric Bana signing on Wednesday to play the movie's villain, Nero.

Already on board are Zoe Saldana as Uhura and Anton Yelchin as a young Chekov, the Russian-born navigator, as well as Zachary Quinto as a young Spock. Leonard Nimoy, who originated the role of Spock, is on board as well. Chris Pine is in talks to play the young Kirk.

The movie is expected to shoot from November-March.

Plot details are begin kept under wraps, but it is understood that the movie chronicles the early days of the Enterprise crew. The lead roles remaining to be cast are Christopher Pike, the first captain of the Enterprise, and Kirk's parents.

Montgomery "Scotty" Scott was the ship's third-in-command and was known for his problem-solving abilities in plot-critical situations. The role was originated by the late James Doohan.

Lt. Hikaru Sulu, known for his love of fencing, always was seen on deck piloting the ship next to Chekov. George Takei played the character in the 1960s TV series and the 1980s movies.

Cho starred as Harold in the cult hit "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle." He is reprising the role for the sequel. Cho is repped by Gersh, Principato/Young and attorney Alex Kohner.

Pegg, repped by CAA, starred in "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz." He next toplines David Schwimmer's comedy "Run, Fat Boy, Run."

Slash memoir recounts Guns N' Roses mayhem

NEW YORK (Billboard) - He was the chain-smoking, Jack Daniels-drinking guitarist for one of the most explosive bands in history. But in his memoir "Slash," out October 30 via HarperEntertainment, the former Guns N' Roses member wants to set the record straight.

Fans can take note: riots, overdoses and controversies all make appearances. There are also surprises, from how Saul Hudson was dubbed Slash, to what it was like living with mercurial singer Axl Rose in their rehearsal space.

Just don't bother asking Slash, now sober and playing guitar in Velvet Revolver, if the original Guns will get back together, because he insists it won't happen. Ever.

BILLBOARD: IN THE BOOK, YOU MENTION THAT YOU FELT ROCK BIOGRAPHIES WERE "INACCURATE AND FULL OF S---." HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT SETTING THE TONE TO AVOID THIS?

SLASH: I've been approached about doing a book for probably all the wrong reasons so many times, I couldn't validate it in my own mind. For one, it seemed very self-indulgent, very self-centered and very final -- and I have no plans of retiring. Finally, I started to realize all this Guns hype that goes on, all this bull--- that surrounds that band, it's inaccurate, and most isn't even inaccurate, it's just made up. I got fed up with it. (The book will) answer a lot of these questions. I just figured, "Be as honest as possible."

BILLBOARD: DRUGS AND DRINKING ARE A BIG PART OF THE STORY. HOW DID IT FEEL TO SEE THIS DOWN ON PAPER?

SLASH: A lot of that stuff I came back and cut out because I didn't want it to be one of those books that basically bragged about how hardcore (we were), blah, blah, blah. Especially nowadays, (because) a lot of musicians and rock bands have this badge they wear that says that they can party really hard, and I hate that. But I probably talk more about that than I actually talk about music. The music was sort of a natural thing you don't have to talk about, but chemical abuse was sort of every living, breathing moment.

BILLBOARD: A HUGE PART OF THE BOOK IS GUNS AS YOU'RE TOURING AND THE TARDINESS OF AXL ROSE. WAS THERE EVER ANY EXPLANATION OF WHAT WAS BEHIND THAT?

SLASH: There's no mention of that in the book at all because it's not my place. In other words, if there was some sort of history that was common knowledge, it would be different. Because there was no real logic behind any of it, the only thing I could do was sort of put the facts there the way I saw it. There could be a lot of stuff that I don't know about that goes on even behind the scenes, behind the scenes, behind the scenes.

BILLBOARD: THERE'S TWO YEARS OF FOOTAGE FROM THE "USE YOUR ILLUSION" TOUR. ANY CHANCE A FILM WILL BE MADE?

SLASH: I know right now there's no rhyme or reason behind the business really that is the Guns N' Roses original lineup or as close to the original lineup as we ended up with. All that stuff is in such a topsy-turvy state, and there's really no relationship -- a healthy, positive relationship, at least -- between myself and Axl. (So) I really don't have any idea as to how any of that stuff will see the light of day. The situation will hopefully be rectified at one point.

BILLBOARD: ARE YOU WRITING NEW MATERIAL FOR VELVET REVOLVER? ARE THERE ANY PLANS TO ADD DATES TO THE CURRENT ITINERARY?

SLASH: We have Japan and Australia booked for November and December, and then I think we'll probably be heading to Europe at the beginning of the year. We're going until the end of next summer for sure. We just got started touring, so as a group I can't say that we're actively working on the new record, but I've got my little recording apparatus on my guitar in my room, and that's what I do during the days off on the tour. That's where I start putting ideas down.

BILLBOARD: FINALLY, (AXL ROSE'S GUNS PROJECT) "CHINESE DEMOCRACY." WILL IT EVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY?

SLASH: Everybody asks me that. I didn't mention that in the book because it's on Axl's watch. It'll get done, and it'll come out when he feels comfortable with putting it out. And Axl works in a different time zone than I do. So what may seem like a long time to other people is a tick of the clock to him. It'll come out though. It will.

Do superstars still need record labels?

LOS ANGELES - Prince freed himself from record labels years ago. Paul McCartney, Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have followed. Now the Material Girl appears to be kissing her big-name record company goodbye for a cool $120 million.

Could U2 be next? Justin Timberlake? Coldplay? Do superstars even need traditional multiyear album contracts when CD sales are plummeting and fans are swiping tons of music for free online, or tuning in to their favorite bands via YouTube, MySpace and other Internet portals?

"There's a prevailing wisdom that many established acts don't need a record label anymore," said Bruce Flohr, an executive at Red Light Management, which represents artists such as Dave Matthews Band and Alanis Morrissette, and ATO Records, home to David Grey, Gomez and Crowded House, among others.

"This is the new frontier. This is the beginning of a new era for the music business," Flohr said.

Executives at the four major record labels would not comment on the record for this story. But several noted privately that their companies are still the best at artist development, promotion and physical distribution of their product — something even big acts can't entirely do without.

The four majors are Warner Music Group Corp., Vivendi's Universal Music Group, EMI Group PLC, and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG. They accounted for more than 88 percent of all U.S. music album sales this year.

Still, some headliners are becoming convinced they have the clout to change the rules.

Madonna is said to be close to signing a recording and touring deal with concert promoter Live Nation Inc. after turning down an offer from her longtime label at Warner Music Group Corp.

Under terms of the new 10-year deal, Madonna, 49, would receive a signing bonus of about $18 million and a roughly $17 million advance for each of three albums. Live Nation also would have to pay $50 million in cash and stock to promote each Madonna tour.

Warner Music just couldn't afford to pay that much to re-sign Madonna, Michael Savner, an analyst with Bank of America, said in a research note.

Meanwhile, Radiohead created a stir — and plenty of publicity — when the British rockers disclosed last week they would bypass signing a new deal with a record label and make their new album available online, letting fans decide how much they wanted to pay to download it.

Earlier this year, Paul McCartney signed with Hear Music, a startup label launched by coffee retailer Starbucks Corp. and Concord Music Group, rather than going to a major.

Even the Eagles are going it alone with their upcoming album, "Long Road Out of Eden." The group, which has sold more than 120 million albums worldwide, will release the album exclusively through Wal-Mart stores.

The trend had Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor exulting over being "free of any recording contract with any label" in a recent post on his Web site.

"I have been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very different, and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate," he wrote.

Music industry insiders say the bids for independence only make sense for the most popular acts or those with devout fans who fill concert seats, buy T-shirts and seek out their music.

"These artists are in the position to basically set their own rules and set their own course," said Ted Cohen, managing partner of media consulting firm Tag Strategic and a longtime record label executive.

Meanwhile, social-networking sites and Internet distribution are making it possible for lesser-known and unsigned bands to boost their profiles and sell CDs.

"The game used to be really simple," Flohr said. "You get your record played on radio, you get your face on Rolling Stone (magazine), and you get on 'Saturday Night Live.'

"Now, it's you put your video on YouTube, you get your MySpace page happening, you do your deal with Facebook, you tour ... all these things add up, hopefully, to a successful record."

Some established major acts are using the same tactics as their new albums post lackluster sales but their concert tours keep selling out.

The strategy doesn't help record companies. The industry has seen a 14 percent drop in the number of CDs sold in the U.S. compared with the same time last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Sales of digital tracks online are up 46 percent over the same period, but have yet to offset the industry's losses during the past decade.

To adapt, the major labels are trying to cut deals with artists that go beyond album sales and encompass income from concert tickets, T-shirts, music publishing and other sources.

New bands with their eyes on superstardom still need the deep pockets of the major labels to pay for the promotion, marketing and distribution necessary to get heard above the din of countless other acts.

Even superstars can use the boost.

Take Prince. Famous for scribbling "slave" on his cheek during a bitter dispute with Warner Bros. Records in the early 1990s, he has released most of his music over the Internet during the past 10 years while striking CD distribution and marketing deals with different major labels to get copies of his albums in stores.

Radiohead has said they want to get their latest album in stores in a few months and are said to be shopping for a possible major label distribution deal, if not a multiple album contract.

And it's widely expected that Live Nation will have to strike a distribution deal with an established label to handle promotion and get Madonna's upcoming albums in stores.

In theory, that could lead Live Nation back to Warner Music, home of Warner Bros. Records, where Madonna signed as a new artist in 1984.

"It comes down to, do you need a label? Possibly not. Do you need the expertise that a label traditionally brought? Absolutely," Cohen said.

Despite the turmoil in the industry, the major record companies continue to exert considerable influence in the marketplace.

Major labels are not likely to disappear or become irrelevant, although the role they play might change as digital music overtakes CDs and other physical formats, Flohr said.

"I don't think this is the death of anything," Flohr said. "I actually think this is the rebirth of all of us."

Bon Jovi announces Cdn tour dates

The New Jersey rockers, whose latest album, Lost Highway, debuted at No. 1 in Canada earlier this year and remained in the top spot for thee consecutive weeks, will kick off a nine-city Canadian tour on Nov. 14 at Montreal's Bell Centre.

It is the first series of shows the band is undertaking in support of Lost Highway, which contained the hit No. 1 single, (You Want To) Make A Memory.

Tickets will go on sale Saturday with prices and on-sale locations still to come.

The other Canadian dates and venues are: Nov. 14, Ottawa, Scotiabank Bank Place; Nov. 19, London, Ont., John Labatt Centre; Dec. 6, Toronto, Air Canada Centre; Dec. 9, Winnipeg, MTS Centre; Dec. 10, Saskatoon, Credit Union Centre; Dec. 12, Edmonton, Rexall Place; Dec. 13, Calgary, Pengrowth Saddledome, Dec. 15, Vancouver, BC, GM Place.

The tour marks Bon Jovi's first concerts in Ottawa, London, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Vancouver in more than a decade.

Bon Jovi was in Toronto last month appearing on the season finale of Canadian Idol.

New CD Releases, Oct. 9: Jennifer Lopez, Kid Rock, Josh Groban

Jennifer Lopez "Brave"

Having released the all-Spanish album "Como Ama Una Mujer" back in March, the dance queen wastes no time and returns her with her second offering of the year, "Brave."

"Como Ama Una Mujer" was a major success for Lopez. The disc, the actor/dancer/singer's first all-Spanish album, shot to No. 1 on Billboard's Latin album chart and debuted at No. 10 on The Billboard 200. It's the highest-selling Spanish debut ever, according to a press release.

Now, she's looking for success with this "Brave" batch of English-sung songs. So far, so good--the album's first single, "Do It Well," has proven to be a radio hit.

Lopez is currently on the road with her husband, Marc Anthony. For the 14-city "Jennifer & Marc En Concierto" outing, Lopez and Anthony plan to perform separate sets of their own material and then appear together for a third set. Each will sing songs in both English and Spanish.

In addition to focusing on their first tour together, the star couple has been busy promoting their recently released film, "El Cantante," in which Anthony stars as the tragic salsa legend Hector Lavoe and Lopez co-stars as his manager/wife.

* * *
Kid Rock "Rock and Roll Jesus"

The Kid can still make headlines, but can he still sell records? That question will be answered when the rocking rapper drops his new studio set, "Rock N Roll Jesus."

The album was produced by Rock and Rob Cavallo (Green Day, Goo Goo Dolls) and features Rock's Twisted Brown Trucker band and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The vocalist is touring through early next month in support of "Rock N Roll Jesus."

Of course, none of that is what people really seem to be interested in when it comes to Rock. What they apparently care about is his high-profile hijinks, such as when he brawled with Tommy Lee at the MTV Video Music Awards in September.

* * *
Josh Groban "Noel"

The young pop/classical vocalist's fourth album is a holiday-season offering. "Noel" features the crooner singing duets with R&B star Brian McKnight and country diva Faith Hill, as well as performing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The album was produced by David Foster.

Given Groban's healthy following, "Noel" looks like a surefire holiday hit for those who simply can't get enough versions of "The Christmas Song," "First Noel," "Ava Maria," "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and other seasonal favorites.

* * *
Eric Clapton "Complete Clapton"

"Complete Clapton" hardly lives up to its name. It would take much more than two discs and 36 tracks to do justice to the mighty singer/guitarist's entire career.

Still, this in-"Complete Clapton" does offer a nice overview of one of the most remarkable runs in rock history. Included in the mix are such songs as "After Midnight," "Tears in Heaven," "Let It Rain" and, of course, "Layla."

* * *
LeAnn Rimes "Family"

The former country music child prodigy returns with her tenth studio album, which follows last year's "Whatever We Wanna."

Rimes, although now in her mid-20s, is still best known for the work that she did as a young teen. Her major-label debut, "Blue," made her a star at age 13 and earned her two Grammy awards.

* * *
Alter Bridge "Blackbird"

The rock group--which comprises former Creed members Mark Tremonti (guitar), Scott Phillips (drums) and Brian Marshall (bass), along with ex-Mayfield Four frontman Myles Kennedy--is ready to drop its sophomore set.

"Blackbird" was produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette (Incubus, Three Days Grace) and follows 2004's Gold-certified "One Day Remains." The band is currently flying through North American venues in support of "Blackbird."

* * *
More new releases:
Anuna, "Christmas Songs" (Koch)
Band of Horses, "Cease to Begin" (Sub Pop)
Beirut, "The Flying Club Cup" (Ba Da Bing)
Vanessa Carlton, "Heroes & Thieves" (Motown)
Marc Cohn, "Join the Parade" (Decca)
Sara Evans, "Greatest Hits" (RCA)
Jens Lekman, "Night Falls Over Kortedala" (Secretly Canadian)
Megadeth, "Warchest Box Set" (EMI)
The Naked Brothers Band, "The Naked Brothers Band" (Sony)
Overkill, "Immortalis" (Bodog)
Puddle of Mudd, "Famous" (Geffen)
She Wants Revenge, "This Is Forever" (Geffen)
Van Zant, "My Kind of Country" (Sony)

Arctic Monkeys, Amy Winehouse top Q Awards

The Arctic Monkeys were honoured as the best music act in the world at the 21st annual Q Awards in London.

The annual trophies, handed out by influential British music magazine Q, also gave embattled soul singer Amy Winehouse the prize for best album for Back to Black. Winehouse has been fighting a public battle with drug addiction. She did not attend the noon-time ceremonies at London's Grosvenor House Hotel on Monday.

Other major winners included ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, bestowed the title of Q Icon. He thanked his former bandmates, his children and his late wife, Linda.

"I thank Linda for seeing me through some real tough periods," said McCartney, who notably excluded his estranged wife Heather Mills, whom he's divorcing.

"I've been doing this since I was just a little bairn and it's still the same for me now — still the same magic, still the same emotion, still the same thrill."

Minogue nervous on 'first day back at work'

Australian songbird Kylie Minogue got a standing ovation after she was announced the winner of the Q Idol award.

"Just don't ask me what it means, but I'm very grateful and honoured to be receiving this," the 39-year-old pop diva, who recently recovered from breast cancer.

"It's my first day back at work … so it's very exciting and slightly nerve-wracking."

Other winners included:

Top single: Your Love Alone is Not Enough by Manic Street Preachers.

Best video: Ruby, Kaiser Chiefs.

Best new act: The Enemy.

Best live act: Muse.

Innovation in sound: Sigur Ros.

Best classic songwriter: Billy Bragg.

Best classic album: Urban Hymns by the Verve.

Lifetime achievement: Johnny Marr, ex-guitarist for the Smiths.

A Q Hero award was given posthumously to the late Tony Wilson, the founder of Manchester's Factory Records and the man credited with bringing acts such as Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays to the world.

Peter Hook of Joy Division struggled to hold back the tears as he paid tribute to Wilson, known as Mr. Manchester, and presented the prize to Wilson's two children.

Gabriel juggling new album with array of projects

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Peter Gabriel has resumed work on his next studio album while juggling an array of other projects.

"There are some (new) things," he told Billboard last Friday in New York. "I've been very good at distraction with some charitable things and some Internet things. But I'm now back in writing mode and I'm very much enjoying that."

Gabriel, however, wouldn't put a timetable on when the as-yet-untitled project would be ready. After all, a decade went by between the release of his last two albums, 1992's "Us" and 2002's "Up."

"Autumn. Or spring," he said with a laugh when asked about a potential arrival date. "That usually suffices. In some year."

He did not rule out some kind of collaboration with his ex-Genesis bandmates, who are on the road with a successful reunion tour. There had been talk of presenting the 1974 concept album "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" on stage, but Gabriel couldn't commit to clearing his schedule for the time necessary to do so.

"I'm hoping to see the show because I think they're going to do some more European dates, he said. "Nothing is excluded (in terms of a possible reunion). We're still breathing and we don't need to be wheeled onto the stage. But I don't know. It's quite a time commitment to get it sounding right. When WOMAD (Gabriel's world-music festival) started and got into heavy financial trouble, (Genesis) extremely generously agreed to do a benefit with me, performing. I learned then it takes a lot longer than you think to relearn what you think you knew."

Gabriel, who was in New York for the Audio Engineering Society convention, has recently been focusing on the launch of TheElders.org, which aims to create a coalition of veteran leaders to inspire a younger generation to help solve global issues. In conjunction, Gabriel is hoping to organize a concert timed to the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December 2008.

"With any luck it will be the most significant bands of the new generation," he said. "I hope we can make it happen."

Sting tops list of worst lyricists

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Maybe Sting should start writing more instrumentals.

The school teacher-turned-rock star topped Blender's list of the worst lyricists, thanks to lines that betray "mountainous pomposity (and) cloying spirituality," the music magazine said.

The survey, contained in the November issue that hits newsstands next week, placed Rush drummer Neil Peart at No. 2, Creed frontman Scott Stapp at No. 3, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher at No. 4, and soft-rocker Dan Fogelberg at No. 5.

Blender assailed Sting for such alleged sins as name-dropping Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov in the Police tune "Don't Stand So Close to Me," quoting a Volvo bumper sticker ("If You Love Someone Set Them Free"), and co-opting the works of Chaucer, St. Augustine and Shakespeare.

A spokeswoman for the English rocker, who is currently in Belgium on the Police's reunion world tour, did not respond to a request for comment.

Blender described Canadian rocker Peart's lyrics as "richly awful tapestries of fantasy and science," and said Gallagher "seemed incapable of following a metaphor through a single line, let alone a whole verse."

Further down the ranks, Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant (No. 23) was derided for his Tolkienesque musings on Gollum and Mordor in "Ramble On."

Carly Simon (No. 31) was mocked for rhyming "yacht," "apricot" and "gavotte" in "You're So Vain."

Paul McCartney made No. 38, thanks in part to "Ebony and Ivory," his socially conscious duet with Stevie Wonder.

Apatow tells how he got hero's autograph

NEW YORK - Judd Apatow, writer and director of comedy hits "Knocked Up" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," is doubtless already a hero to kids who want to break into film or comedy. But once, he was just a kid dying for the autograph of his own hero, Steve Martin.

Apatow regaled an audience at the New Yorker Festival this weekend with the tale of how, on vacation in California as a boy, he had spotted Martin washing his car in front of his home.

The young Apatow jumped out of the car and asked for an autograph, but Martin said he didn't give autographs at his home. "Please, we won't tell anyone," Apatow begged. Sorry, Martin said, but no.

So Apatow went home and wrote Martin a nasty letter, in which he gave an early glimpse of his now well-documented talent for profanity. Three months later, he received a package from Martin that contained a copy of his book "Cruel Shoes."

"I'm sorry," read Martin's inscription. "I didn't realize I was speaking to THE Judd Apatow."

THE Judd Apatow's latest hit, as a producer, was "Superbad," one of the most popular comedies of the summer. The movie, which chronicles the final high-school days of two teenage friends (Michael Cera and Jonah Hill), was written by Seth Rogen (the star of "Knocked Up") and Evan Goldberg, and directed by Greg Mottola.

Rogen, who also appeared with Apatow at the New Yorker Festival, discussed how similar his real life with his buddies is to "Knocked Up," in which his real friends actually appear with him, living and acting in ways best described as juvenile.

"I've lived with them, in conditions that are humiliatingly similar," Rogen said.

Britney Christens New Album 'Blackout'

Britney Spears has christened her new album "Blackout." The Jive set is due Nov. 13 and is led by the single "Gimme More," which rockets 68-3 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week after selling 179,000 downloads, her first top 10 hit since "Toxic" in March 2004.

A video for the track is now available on iTunes and will premiere Monday on traditional broadcast outlets.

A track list has yet to be announced, but “Blackout” is known to include the songs “Heaven on Earth,” “Radar,” “Piece of Me” and “Break the Ice.” Among the production and songwriting collaborators are Bloodshy & Avant, Nate “Danjahandz” Hills and Kara DioGuardi.

Spears’ sizzling chart performance this week stands in stark contrast to her ongoing personal travails. The artist was stripped of custody of her two small children and although she was given visitation rights, a monitor must be present at all times.

Police guitarist says new album possible

DUBLIN, Ireland - Will the curtain close again on The Police when their reunion tour ends? Andy Summers says the fractious trio could have a new album in them.

"It's sort of like living with the elephant in the room. I would see it as a challenge, to make an absolutely brilliant pop album at this stage of our career, and that would be something quite remarkable," Summers, 64, said.

The Police broke up in 1984 following five albums and a relationship-wrecking world tour. Their hits include "Roxanne" and "Every Breath You Take."

Since then, frontman Sting, 56, has sustained solo stardom. Guitarist Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland, 55, have pursued their own, much more low-key recording projects.

They reunited for a 30th-anniversary world tour that began in May and is scheduled to run into next year.

Summers said the trio has yet to discuss in any detail the prospect of recording a new album together. But he said the tour had sharpened their group skills — and, four months into the reunion, creating something new together would make sense.

The Police performed a sold-out concert Saturday in Dublin's 82,000-seat Croke Park that received praise from critics and the largely 30-something crowd alike.

Summers — whose percussive guitar style is an important part of The Police's sound-fusing pop, punk, jazz and reggae — said the tour is a full-time workout.

"Right now it is just the tour and holding everything together, mentally, physically and musically. The tour and the traveling and the playing and the tension you have to keep to do it every night is all-devouring," he said. "It is just too much."

Summers spoke to reporters in a central Dublin park, where he was signing copies of "I'll Be Watching You: Inside The Police 1980-1983," his personal photographic record of the band's glory years. Last year he published his autobiography, "One Train Later: A Memoir."

Jimmy Fallon: Got any plans in 2009?

Is the Conan O'Brien succession plan the worst-kept secret in town?

A knowledgeable source familiar with the negotiations recently told Entertainment Weekly what many in town already believe: that SNL vet Jimmy Fallon is the guy who'll replace Conan O'Brien when the latter takes over The Tonight Show in 2009.

Several publications like Broadcasting & Cable have already reported it as a strong possibility, though NBC won't confirm other than acknowledging that Fallon is at the top of its "short list" (the comedian already signed a development deal with the network earlier this year).

Alrighty then! If there are any unanswered questions left when it comes to late night, it involves Jay Leno and whether he'll take NBC up on its offer to stick around once O'Brien assumes his post. Speculation is rampant that Leno won't settle for the occasional primetime peacock special; maybe he'll bolt for another network like ABC and put Nightline out of business (or at least out of the 11:35 p.m. timeslot).

One thing's for sure: this inevitable game of musical chairs could turn out to be even juicier than the Leno-Letterman saga chronicled in Bill Carter's 1996 tome The Late Shift.

Stay tuned...

Hollywood studio rep sees 'disaster' after talks break off with writers

Negotiations have broken off again between the union representing Hollywood writers and the studios, with both sides blaming the other for the lack of movement.

"We have had six across-the-table sessions and have been met with only silence and stonewalling," said J. Nicholas Counter III, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

"We are farther apart … than when we started, and the only outcome we see is a disaster."

The Writers Guild of America has been in talks with the alliance since July.

The two sides are scheduled to return to the bargaining table on Tuesday but it remains to be seen whether they can continue talking, as Friday's meeting lasted only one hour.

In statements released Friday, both sides accused the other of inflexibility and expressed frustration at the slow pace of negotiations.

The guild mailed ballots to its members Oct. 1, asking them to authorize a strike. The union gave members until Oct. 18 to decide. The writers' contract expires Oct. 31.

Studios and networks have hastened the filming of shows and movies while also stockpiling scripts. The last strike was in 1988 and that lasted 22 weeks, costing the industry an estimated half billion dollars.

The two sides are far apart on issues such as pay for TV reality shows and work distributed over the internet and cellphones. In addition, the studios would like to delay paying residuals on shows and movies until producers have recouped their costs.

"The entertainment industry is successful and growing like never before. Writers, whose creativity is at the heart of that success and growth, are committed to sharing in it," said the guild in a statement released on Friday.

Bryan Adams to headline peace concerts in West Bank, Israel

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams will headline two concerts for peace in the West Bank and Israel this week, according to the New York-based OneVoice organization.

"Our goal is to send a message to the world, that the Palestinian people love life, and hope for life and liberation," said Fathi Darwish from OneVoice on Sunday.

The 47-year-old musician, known for hits such as Heaven, Summer of 69 and (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, will first perform on Thursday at a football stadium in the ancient town of Jericho in the West Bank and then finish off the day with a concert in Tel Aviv.

The concerts will be broadcast via satellite to locations in Ottawa, London and Washington D.C.

OneVoice has campaigned on behalf of Israelis and Palestinians, demanding their leaders sit down to finalize an agreement on a Palestinian state living in peace with Israel.

Celebrity supporters of OneVoice will also be sending out messages during the concert via videolink. Hollywood backers of One Voice include Brad Pitt, Rhea Perlman, Danny DeVito, Jason Alexander and Jennifer Aniston.

OneVoice says it has collected more than half a million signatories to its initiative and is aiming to reach the one million mark by the end of the year.

The Oct. 18 concerts will be free but concertgoers must sign the One Voice petition to gain entrance.

Adams, who is an officer of the Order of Canada, has participated in and organized numerous charity concerts over the years. He's done Live Aid, Rock For Amnesty and Live 8, as well as special performances to aid earthquake victims in India in 2004 and in Pakistan in 2005.

Box office "Heartbreak" for Stiller comedy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ben Stiller's new comedy "The Heartbreak Kid" barely registered a pulse at the weekend box office in North America, in a badly-timed setback for its underappreciated studio DreamWorks.

The raunchy remake of a 1972 Neil Simon movie opened at No. 2, with an estimated $14 million during its first three days, the studio said on Sunday.

It failed to take the No. 1 spot from last weekend's champ, "The Game Plan," which earned $16.3 million. A week ago another high-profile star vehicle, "The Kingdom," also had to settle for a No. 2 opening.

Industry experts had expected a $20 million-plus start for Stiller's reunion with Peter and Bobby Farrelly, the directors of the 1998 comedy smash "There's Something About Mary."

It was the worst performer so far this year for DreamWorks, which operates with a high degree of autonomy from its parent, Paramount Pictures. The studio, owned by Viacom Inc., bought DreamWorks in 2005 for $1.6 billion.

Messages left with DreamWorks officials were not immediately returned.

While Paramount's own slate has been less-than-stellar amid a lengthy restructuring, DreamWorks has been on a roll this year, producing four consecutive chart-toppers -- "Norbit," "Blades of Glory," "Disturbia" and "Transformers."

But DreamWorks co-founders Steven Spielberg and David Geffen had dropped hints in recent weeks that they might take their filmmaking talent elsewhere.

"ROLLING ON THE FLOOR"

The two sides reached a detente, announced on Thursday, under which DreamWorks titles would henceforth be released under a new DreamWorks-Paramount banner, rather than just under the Paramount name.

Now, DreamWorks is getting some recognition, for a movie largely ignored by moviegoers and trashed by critics.

In a familiar role, Stiller plays a hapless newlywed who belatedly realizes that his spouse (Malin Akerman) is deranged and meets the real love of his life (Michelle Monaghan) on his honeymoon.

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman told Wall Street analysts in August that the film had him "rolling on the floor with laughter."

Critics rolled around in agony, labeling "The Heartbreak Kid" misogynistic, crude and mean-spirited. Less than a third of the reviewers cited by Rotten Tomatoes (http://www.rottentomatoes.com) liked the movie.

Stiller was last in theaters with the worldwide hit "Night at the Museum," which opened to $30.4 million on the weekend before Christmas Day 2006. He headlined five movies in 2004 -- and all did considerably better, except for "Envy," another DreamWorks production.

"The Heartbreak Kid" was produced after some key personnel changes. Stiller and Akerman replaced Jason Bateman and Amy Poehler, while the Farrelly brothers came aboard in 2005 after Barry Sonnenfeld and then James Bobin exited.

The Farrellys, whose fortunes have waned in recent years with films like "Fever Pitch" and "Stuck On You," are among five credited writers.

Elsewhere, "The Game Plan," a Walt Disney Co. comedy starring former wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a football star saddled with a young daughter he never knew about, has earned $42.8 million after 10 days.

Universal Pictures' terrorism thriller "The Kingdom," starring Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner and Chris Cooper, slipped to No. 3 with $9.3 million. Its 10-day haul rose to $31.4 million.

The Couch Potato Report - October 6th, 2007

This week The Couch Potato Report peels sound, on film, a forty year old jungle book, and we'll laugh.


The definitive documentary on Jazz music and Jazz musicians is Ken Burns' ten part series JAZZ, that first aired on television, and was released on DVD, in 2001.

JAZZ is a spectacular series that looks at the history of jazz music from its origins at the turn of the twentieth century through to the present day.

Canadian director Ron Mann's IMAGINE THE SOUND documentary on jazz actually predated Ken Burns' magnificent series by two decades, but Mann's film was only released on DVD this year.

And while Ken Burns' looks at jazz as a whole, IMAGINE THE SOUND is about free jazz, a type of music that attempts to break down or extend the conventions of jazz, often by discarding fixed chord changes or tempos.

IMAGINE THE SOUND features interviews with and musical and dramatic performances by pianist Cecil Taylor, saxophonist Archie Shepp, trumpeter Bill Dixon and pianist Paul Bley.

It was filmed and produced in Canada and it is a great tribute to a group of highly celebrated artists that helped forge the avant-garde jazz scene of the 1960s.

Over the years Mann has become known for his one-of-a-kind documentaries COMIC BOOK CONFIDENTIAL, TWIST, GRASS and TALES OF THE RAT FINK.

IMAGINE THE SOUND was Mann's first film and it is now available on DVD for the first time.

If you are not already a huge fan of jazz music, and the free jazz period of teh 1960s, IMAGINE THE SOUND is not a good place for you to start.

You have to know at least a little about free-form jazz music, or jazz music as a whole, to take anything away from it.

But if you are already a jazz lover, or a lover of jazz if you will, then this is a great movie for you.

I know a little about jazz, so I enjoyed it, but I loved Ken Burns' series much more.

However, the reason that both IMAGINE THE SOUDN and Ken Burns' JAZZ are worth mentioning is because they get jazz music out to the masses, and that is always a good thing, as far as I am concerned

Yes, I only know a little about jazz, but I can trace the history of what I do know back to one thing.

One thing that is also new on DVD this week...well, new in a 40th anniversary edition.

Louis Prima stars as King Louis from the Walt Disney animated film THE JUNGLE BOOK, and I first learned what jazz music was because of his performance in the film.

After hearing it, I just wanted to know more, and now, I know a little about jazz.

Originally released on October 18th, 1967, THE JUNGLE BOOK was very loosely based on the stories about the man-cub Mowgli from Rudyard Kipling's book of the same name.

And now, THE JUNGLE BOOK is available as a two-disc 40th Anniversary Edition! This edition comes complete with a superb digital restoration, a wealth of special features, and all of the fun and magic you remember, including one of the greatest songs of all time!

I loved THE JUNGLE BOOK then, I love it now, and I will always highly recommend it.

This is the textbook definition of a "classic" film!

Also out this week is the suspense thriller 1408, based on the Stephen King story of the same name.

1408 is the number of a hotel room in New York City that may just be the final room that Cusack's character visits.

This is not the best suspense thriller that you will see this year, but if you enjoy things that go bump in the night, or are just a fan of Cusack's work - as I am - then I think that you will enjoy it.

RED ROAD is also full of suspense, but it is set in Glasgow, Scotland, instead of New York.

The other main difference is the fact that during the course of RED ROAD, you are never quite sure what is going on.

RED ROAD is about a security camera operator who observes the daily activities of the public through a large bank of video monitors, and reports suspicious incidents to the police.

One day she notices a man from her past, and she continues to observe him, eventually makes contact.

During the entire time she is watching him, tracking him, and dating him, we - the audience - never know her motivations, as they aren't given to us until the end.

RED ROAD is a movie where nothing happens for the longest time, but somehow it is all very interesting.

And then, once everything is explained, it is interesting for different reasons.

I didn't love RED ROAD, but it engaged and entertained me.

If you are looking for a small, unique film to watch, I think you should look for it!

Finally, this week is a three movie set that I wanted to let you know is available, just in case you need a few laughs, because THE ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER COMEDY FAVOURITES COLLECTION will defintely make you laugh.

This set features the Governator's best foray's into comedy - TWINS, JUNIOR, and KINDERGARTEN COP.

All three movies were directed by Canadian filmaker Ivan Reitman, and all three are very, very funny!! I highly recommed all three, whether you have seen them before, or haven't seen them since they came out in the late eighties and early nineties!!

The very funny ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER COMEDY FAVOURITES COLLECTION, the interesting suspense films RED ROAD and 1408, the classic Disney film THE JUNGLE BOOK, and the Canadian made documentary IMAGINE THE SOUND are all available now on DVD.


Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE - FARCEBOOK is a double-DVD of Air Farce comedy, featuring 43 sketches from the show last season on CBC - and don't forget that you can see the AIR FARCE every Friday night at 8 pm on CBC Television.

YOU KILL ME is a mafia comedy thriller made in Winnipeg starring Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley; Academy Award winners Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush and Richard Attenborough star in the new SPECIAL EDITION of the film ELIZABETH; and the classic 1980 Al Pacino film CRUISING debuts on DVD in a DELUXE EDITION!

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!

Another New Springsteen Album Already Done?

Bruce Springsteen isn't always known for working quickly, but he just may have another new album already in the can on the heels of "Magic," released earlier this week via Columbia.

"There's another group of songs that exist that I think are great songs and should end up somewhere, but they just didn't quite fit with this group," says producer Brendan O'Brien, who helmed "Magic" as well as 2002's "The Rising" and 2005's "Devils & Dust."

O'Brien declined to comment on murmurs that the new album could be out as soon as next spring, saying only, "I'll defer to others on that one."

What's clear is that O'Brien has played a key role in one of the most prolific period of album releases in Springsteen's storied career. Before "The Rising," the Boss hadn't made a new studio album in seven years, and hadn't recorded with the E Street Band in nearly 20.

"He had produced his own music with other people for a long time," O'Brien says. "If he was meeting with me, it meant he maybe wanted to try something new and inspired. He needed somebody to help him get over the hump."

In contrast to the somber, Sept. 11, 2001-themed "The Rising," the folk-leaning solo album "Devils & Dust" and last year's all-traditional "The Seeger Sessions," "Magic" offers some of the most melodic songs Springsteen has written in years. The material is tailor-made for the onstage power of the E Street Band, which has just begun a North American tour.

O'Brien credits Springsteen with allowing him to participate in the vetting process, which in turn shaped the mostly high-energy vibe of the new album.
"It was clear he wanted that kind of input, and I let him know right away that that's something I like to do and am helpful with," he says. "On this one, we met at his place and he sat down and played me a bunch of songs. I would be looking at the lyric book while he was singing them. He'd finish, we'd talk, and we'd make notes."

Once ensconced at O'Brien's Atlanta studio, the producer set Springsteen up with a pared-down core band of drummer Max Weinberg, bassist Garry Tallent and pianist Roy Bittan to record basic tracks. Contributions from E Streeters like guitarist Steven Van Zandt, keyboardist Danny Federici and saxophonist Clarence Clemons were added later.

"As best I can tell, everyone else seems at peace with that," O'Brien says. "We'll bring Danny and Steve in, but by that point, I have a better idea as to what we need them for. It makes their overdubbing much more specific."

Movie Rumors Continue

Rumors are circulating through the media of a forthcoming Doctor Who movie. Billie Piper, rumored to be set to return as Rose for series four, is now being cited as starring alongside current Doctor David Tennant in the film. "It's all been hushed up ... but yes, it's definitely happening," a source reportedly told the Daily Star. "David and Billie were a superb combination on the small screen, so it seems only right that they appear in the film."

These reports are coming out following a statement made by BBC Head of Fiction Jane Tranter,who recently told Media Guardian that she is keeping the possibility of a Doctor Who film open. Tranter is quoted as saying, "I would not rule out a film version of Doctor Who, no." There has been no announcements regarding the return of Piper or a forthcoming film released by the BBC.

Nirvana's 'Unplugged' Finally Heading To DVD

Nirvana's Nov. 18, 1993, "MTV Unplugged" taping will make its DVD debut Nov. 20 via Universal Music Enterprises. "MTV Unplugged in New York" was released Nov. 1, 1994, on CD, the first Nirvana product to appear following Kurt Cobain's suicide that April.

Like the CD, the DVD will include the songs "Something in the Way" and "Oh Me," which did not appear on the original MTV broadcast. The DVD also sports four tracks from the band's soundcheck and previously unreleased behind-the-scenes footage.

Nirvana's "Unplugged" date is arguably the most famous in the long-running series, as the band eschewed most of its hits in favor of lesser-known album tracks and obscure covers (particularly, three Meat Puppets songs). The live version of "About a Girl" reached No. 1 on Billboard's Modern Rock tally.

Here is the track list for "MTV Unplugged in New York":

"About a Girl"
"Come As You Are"
"Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam"
"The Man Who Sold the World"
"Pennyroyal Tea"
"Dumb"
"Polly"
"On a Plain"
"Something in the Way"
"Plateau"
"Oh Me"
"Lake of Fire"
"All Apologies"
"Where Did You Sleep Last Night"

Leave it to Jerry 'Beaver' Mathers, Tony Dow

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Fifty years after they first appeared on TV as Wally and Theodore "the Beaver" Cleaver on Oct. 4. 1957, Leave It to Beaver stars Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers are still going at it like real brothers.

Discussing the plot of their 1980s reunion series, Still the Beaver, Mathers, 59, recalls that "Wally was doing very well in his architectural business."

"No, no," corrects Dow, 62. "Wally was an attorney. Since I hate attorneys, they made me an attorney."

The two friends laugh, making it clear that they also share another brotherly quality: deep affection.

"Fifty is a milestone, like a wedding anniversary," boasts Mathers, seated next to Dow in the posh TV Land offices where they have come to talk up this weekend's 24-hour 50th anniversary marathon (TV Land, Saturday at 8 p.m. ET/PT).

Mathers, the divorced father of two daughters and a son, just concluded a three-month run in Broadway's Hairspray playing the father, Wilbur. Dow tells Mathers he feels "really bad" that he missed his performance.

"I've been busy," Dow says.

Sounding very much like the Beav, always in awe of his big bro, Mathers prods Dow: "Tell him what you do."

With an aw-shucks sort of humility, Dow reveals he is building luxury condominiums.

"Tell him what else you do," Mathers says. (You can almost hear him say: "Go on, Wally. Tell 'em. Tell 'em.")

Turns out Dow is a sculptor of modern art, and one of his bronze pieces is on display in the backyard garden of their former TV mom, Barbara Billingsley, whose June Cleaver will always be remembered for vacuuming the Cleaver living room in high heels and pearls.

Dow, now a grandfather, and his wife, Lauren, live close to Billingsley. "I talk to her quite a bit," he says. "We have dinner once a month or so."

"She was singing at my mom's 80th birthday party about three months ago," Mathers pipes in. "It was the night before I left for Broadway."

Calling from her home in Los Angeles, Billingsley, her voice quivering just a bit, still sounds like a proud mama at age 91.

"They were always good kids," she says of her TV sons. "Tony had an exhibit of his artwork and sold 18 pieces. Pretty darn good, isn't it?"

Not leaving Mathers out, she adds: "Jerry told me it had been a dream of his always to be able to go to New York and be in a Broadway show. So all we have to do is decide what we want to do. You have to have a dream."

Ten years ago, a big-screen Beaver remake was produced, and only Billingsley accepted an invitation to cameo. (TV dad Hugh Beaumont died in 1982.)

"Tony and Jerry didn't want to be in it," Billingsley says. "They were crazy. But it really didn't turn out very good."

The two also turned down numerous celebrity reality show offers, Mathers says. "They thought they could throw more money at us and have us do it, but we said, 'No, it's not about that.' When you denigrate (Beaver) in any way, it's not worth it."

"I think it depreciated the value of (the brand)," agrees Dow, who even dodged an opportunity to direct the film.

Says Mathers: "There were a lot of inneundos and such. And the Eddie Haskell character was more sexual than anything else."

Funny enough, all these years later, the original Eddie Haskell, Ken Osmond, is still in the thick of things. He has filed a multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuit seeking unpaid royalties from the Screen Actors Guild.

"This suit is on behalf of all actors," Osmond, 64, says in an e-mail. "SAG should have paid this money out that it has been collecting for over 11 years."

Asked about Osmond's lawsuit, Dow groans and defends Osmond just as Wally always stood up for troublemaker Eddie: "I spoke to Ken, and I doubt it was his idea."

Global laying off 200 across Canada

Global Television is cutting 200 jobs across Canada as it develops new "state of the art" broadcast centres in four cities, CanWest announced on Thursday.

The company said the centres, to be located in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto, will use the latest in broadcast technology. It will also mean local news programs can immediately begin the transition to high definition, CanWest MediaWorks Inc. said.

Although CanWest is adding 50 positions as part of the process, it will lose 250 jobs, meaning a net loss of 200.

Across the Maritimes, 30 positions in Halifax and 11 in New Brunswick are being cut.

Network employees in Halifax said they were shocked by the news.

"It came as a complete surprise. There was no warning," said Paul Saulnier, a union leader with CEP and a technical director who's losing his job.

The layoffs take effect next spring around the time the first centre is planned to be opened in Vancouver. The other three are expected to be operational over the next 18 months.

Record companies win music sharing trial

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — The recording industry won a key fight Thursday against illegal music downloading when a federal jury found a Minnesota woman shared copyrighted music online and levied $220,000 in damages against her.

Record companies have filed some 26,000 lawsuits since 2003 over file-sharing, which has hurt sales because it allows people to get music for free instead of paying for recordings in stores.

This was the first such case to go to trial. Many other defendants have settled by paying the companies a few thousand dollars.

The jury ordered Jammie Thomas, 30, to pay the six record companies that sued her $9,250 for each of 24 songs they focused on in the case. They had alleged she shared 1,702 songs in all.

The companies accused Thomas, 30, of Brainerd, of offering the songs online through a Kazaa file-sharing account. She denied wrongdoing and testified that she didn't have a Kazaa account.

During the three-day trial, the record companies presented evidence they said showed the copyrighted songs were offered by a Kazaa user under the name "tereastarr."

Their witnesses, including officials from an Internet provider and a security firm, testified that the Internet address used by "tereastarr" belonged to Thomas.

Mick Jagger without Keith?

NEW YORK - Very few musicians can say they want to collaborate with Bono, John Lennon, David Bowie, Lenny Kravitz, Dave Stewart and Peter Tosh and actually make it happen. Mick Jagger is one.

Jagger's vacations from Keith Richards and the rest of the Rolling Stones are remembered in a new compilation, "The Very Best of Mick Jagger," which includes highlights from his four solo albums between 1985 and 2001, along with a handful of curios.

One song, "Too Many Cooks (Spoil the Soup)," is a rare pairing of a Beatle and Rolling Stone that had never been heard publicly. During Lennon's "lost weekend," a drunken period of separation from Yoko Ono that he spent in Los Angeles, he held Sunday afternoon jam sessions at the Record Plant studio. Jagger stopped by when he was in town.

The drill was the same - lunch was served, along with plenty of other substances, and the musicians would play what struck their fancy. Lennon had originally played guitar on this near-forgotten 1970 cut, then moved behind the console to produce instead.

"We found various versions of it lying around under people's beds," Jagger told The Associated Press in an interview. "An engineer would say, 'Well, my wife, who I'm divorced from, she had them under the bed but she's sold the house.' I'd say, 'Oh, God, is this professional?' But we found a good-sounding master."

Jagger's collaboration with Bowie was a 1985 romp through the Motown hit "Dancing in the Street." His duet on "Don't Look Back" with the late reggae star Peter Tosh, which they sang together on a memorable "Saturday Night Live" appearance, was pulled off one of Tosh's albums.

The Stone's solo work flits across styles but this collection emphasizes how he'd often take the time away from his day job to emphasize his love for soul music.

To a large extent, Jagger's solo catalogue has been forgotten. He was likely victimized by critical hype at the time - some glowing Rolling Stone reviews that Jagger didn't live up to. Two of his albums were also released during a period of estrangement from Richards in the 1980s, and sniping comments from his partner hurt Jagger's rock cred.

Richards, who guards the Stones' legacy like an angry bear, criticized his partner for being obsessed with sounding younger than he was. He threw a wet blanket on Jagger's first solo album, "She's the Boss," in 1985.

"I don't think it was necessary for him to do that kind of album," Richards told an Australian newspaper at the time. "Making a solo's fine by me. But apart from the timing of it being a little screwed up, I thought it'd be something he couldn't do with the Stones, rather than an obviously commercial rock 'n' roll album. If it was Irish folk songs with a lady harpist I would have respected it."

It wasn't something Jagger was anxious to revisit in the interview: "I don't really want to get into the Keith area, thank you very much."

While a song like "Just Another Night" retains its crackle, some of Jagger's solo material suffers from dated production. When the percussion screams "1980s" and it's not the 1980s, it's a distraction.

The best song here is the most recent - "Old Habits Die Hard," made with Stewart for the "Alfie" soundtrack in 2004 - partly because it's impossible to tell when it was recorded.

"These kind of tunes represent the times they were in," Jagger said. "You can't avoid that. You can always do them again, but I don't see the point in that, to be honest."

Jagger said he doesn't consciously try to write differently for his solo work or the Stones, except when it's for a specific project like the "Alfie" soundtrack.

"Songs can be done in many different ways," he said. "Often it's not the song, it's the treatment of the song that makes a difference."

Each song, particularly each collaboration, brings back memories.

Jagger wanted U2's Bono for "Joy," since the song had a spiritual dimension and some of U2's work explored that area. He intercepted a U2 tour and set up recording equipment in the dining room of a dingy German country house. Bono, suffering from a throat ailment, wandered into the room in his pyjamas to add a vocal.

Jagger was looking forward to writing songs with Kravitz. When he arrived at Kravitz's house in Miami, his host played a near-completed song.

"It's all him playing," he said. "All him drumming. There's no vocals. So I said, 'Well, I thought we were going to write a song?' He said, 'Now you have to write the lyrics for the song.' He completely finished it and then we got to write. It was a very odd way of doing it. Actually, it worked out. It was fantastic in the end."

Jagger has just finished a three-year period of touring with the Stones and is looking forward to some other projects, like producing a remake of the film "The Women."

Now an impossibly fit 64, Jagger has been dealing with retirement questions for half his life. It's becoming apparent that the Stones will roll on as long as Jagger and Richards are physically able.

"I look forward to doing more work with the Stones," he said. "We're not stopping anytime that I know about. I was just thinking the other night about what the next show would be."

Baking up new mischief: upcoming Wallace & Gromit short set for 2008

Hit animated duo Wallace and Gromit are headed back to TV next year, British production company Aardman announced Wednesday.

The Oscar-winning company revealed that filming of a new short featuring the beloved bumbling inventor and his faithful canine companion will begin production at Aardman's Bristol studios in January.

The 30-minute film, to be shown on the BBC, will be titled Trouble at' Mill and is scheduled to appear by December 2008.

Trouble at' Mill follows Wallace and Gromit as they dive into the business of running a bakery. As usual, Wallace encounters a lovely new love interest: bread enthusiast Piella Bakewell.

Naturally, the duo also become embroiled in a mystery, this time involving a dozen missing bakers.

"I've been spending the last few months writing a new Wallace and Gromit film with [writer] Bob Baker. We worked together on The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave. We got together to write a new one," Nick Park, the Oscar-winning creator of the plasticine duo, said in an interview on the Wallace and Gromit website.

On the site, "we're gonna have a blog going on.… I don't know what blogs are really," Park said, laughing.

He later added that the site would feature "updates and pictures and video footage of what we're up to and stuff like that."

Park's Wallace and Gromit characters were last seen in feature-length film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which won the best animated feature Oscar in 2006.

U.S. trial over music downloads starts Tuesday

A group of record companies says Jammie Thomas illegally shared everything from Enya to Swedish death metal online. Tuesday, she will become the first of 26,000 people sued by the recording industry to take the case to trial.

The Brainerd, Minn., resident is accused of illegally sharing 1,702 songs for free on a file-sharing network. Her trial offers the first chance for both sides in the debate over online music sharing to show a jury its version of the facts.

Thomas is accused of violating the song owners' copyrights. Her lawyer says the record companies haven't even proved she shared the songs.

Most of the 26,000 people the record industry group has sued have settled by paying a few thousand dollars.

"We think that speaks to the clarity of the law here," said Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America.

But lawyers for the defendants say they've settled because trials cost tens of thousands of dollars. Thomas's lawyer, Brian Toder, said she was determined to fight. He declined to make her available for an interview.

"She came into my office and was willing to pay a retainer of pretty much what they wanted to settle for," he said. "And if someone's willing to pay a lawyer rather than pay to make it go away, that says a lot."

Thomas is at risk for a judgment of more than $1.2 million. The recording association is seeking damages set under federal law, of $750 to $30,000 for each copyright violation.

"We repeatedly offer out-of-court settlements far less than what the law allows," Lamy said. The lawsuits aim to "communicate that there are consequences for breaking the law and encourage fans to turn to legal online services."

Jury selection starts Tuesday in Duluth, Minn., and opening statements are expected the same day.

The record companies claim that on Feb. 21, 2005, online investigators at SafeNet Inc., found 1,702 files shared under what they said was a Kazaa account being used by Thomas. The songs included Swedish death metal band Opeth, German industrial group VNV Nation and American rock band Chevelle.

"This individual was distributing these audio files for free over the internet under the username 'tereastarr@KaZaA' to potentially millions of other KaZaA users," according to court papers.

Virgin Records America Inc., Capitol Records Inc. and Warner Bros. Records Inc. are among the companies suing Thomas.

In addition to filing the lawsuits, the industry group has sent 4,000 pre-lawsuit letters, Lamy said.

File-sharing continues

The recording industry convinced a federal judge in 2001 to shut down Napster, which made copyrighted music available on its own computers. Since Napster reopened, it has charged users for music.

The file-sharing programs that emerged to take Napster's place point users to files available on a variety of computers and servers. But their impact has been the same: millions of songs are being downloaded for free instead of purchased legally.

So the recording industry began naming individual file-sharers users in lawsuits in September 2003. The industry association says the lawsuits have helped. But the number of households that have downloaded music with file-sharing programs has risen from 6.9 million in April 2003 to 7.8 million in March 2007, according to industry tracking.

"I think by most any metric you choose, it's been a failure," said Fred von Lohmann, the senior intellectual property attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group.

He questioned whether the lawsuits are much of a deterrent, because the 26,000 cases have targeted only a small percentage of music downloaders.

"The vast majority of people will never know anyone who's gotten sued for this," he said.

Toder, Thomas's attorney, plans to start with the basics — making the record companies prove they own the songs. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis threw out 784 pages of documents produced by the record companies to show they owned a sample of the songs. Toder had argued that the documents were produced seven months late.

The Boss gets his own day in Connecticut

HARTFORD, Conn. - It isn't just any Tuesday in Connecticut. It's officially "Bruce Springsteen Day" — according to Gov. Jodi Rell.

The Boss and his E Street Band open their first tour in four years Tuesday night at the Hartford Civic Center. They're promoting their new album, "Magic."

Rell issued a proclamation honoring the multiple Grammy winner for his contributions to American music and declared Oct. 2 as "Bruce Springsteen Day in Connecticut."

Aside from the atmospheric title track, "Magic" returns Springsteen, 58, to rock 'n' roll, and all 11 songs are new. He released a solo acoustic effort, "Devils & Dust," in 2005 and the folk-inspired "The Seeger Sessions" last year.

"Magic" is the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's first album with his longtime bandmates since the Sept. 11-inspired "The Rising" in 2002.

Fraggle CD collection arrives October 30

New collector's edition CD box set includes all three original Fraggle Rock albums and bonus liner notes, cast photos and sheet music from the beloved series

KOCH Records announces the release of Fraggle Rockin’-A 3 CD Collector’s Edition on October 30, 2007. This 3-Disc Collector’s Edition contains all 3 original albums, wonderfully re-mastered and packed in one digi-pack set, with rarely seen photos and contributions from the original composers. Now fans and collectors of all ages can dance their cares away…down at Fraggle Rock.

Music played an important role in all of Jim Henson’s work, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the world of Fraggle Rock. Harmony, among species and within nature, is a central theme of the series, and original music enlivens each episode and helps the characters make connections and find resolutions to their conflicts. The Fraggles, Doozers and Gorgs sing and dance their cares away to all manner of songs, written in every musical style imaginable by composers Dennis Lee and Philip Balsam.

Don Gillis’s musical direction and scoring emphasize the joy and vitality of each performance, moving along the action and bringing each story to a satisfying conclusion. The poetry of the lyrics and the hand-clapping rhythms make the music of Fraggle Rock a toe-tapping delight for all who listen.

Disc 1 Fraggle Rock

1. Fraggle Rock Theme
2. Follow Me
3. Convincing John
4. Doozer Knitting Song
5. Do It On My Own
6. Wemblin' Fool
7. Why?
8. Lost and Found
9. Catch the Tail by the Tiger
10. Brave Boy, Jump Up
11. Muck and Goo
12. Friendship Song
13. Fraggle Rock Rock
14. Beetle Song
15. Easy is the Only Way to Go
16. Our Melody

Disc 2 Fraggle Rock: Perfect Harmony

1. Fraggle Rock Theme
2. Go with the Flow
3. Perfect Harmony
4. Without a Hat
5. Music Box
6. Here to There
7. Sail Away
8. Workin'
9. Dum De Dum
10. Ragtime Queen
11. I Seen Troubles
12. Dreaming of Someone
13. Pantry Chant
14. Helping Hand
15. Time to Live as One
16. Closing Theme

Disc 3 Fraggle Rock - Music and Magic

1. Fraggle Rock Theme
2. Pukka, Pukka, Pukka Squeetily Boink
3. Let Me Be Your Song
4. Wemblin' Fool
5. Yes, We Can
6. Catch the Tail by the Tiger
7. There's a Lot I Want to Know
8. Follow Me
9. Friends Till the End
10. Is It True?
11. The Rock Goes On
12. Pass It On
13. Just Don't Know What Time It Is
14. Convincing John
15. Get Goin'
16. Doozer Knitting Song
17. The Way I've Got To Go
18. Only Way Home
19. Stuff Samba
20. Sweet, Sweet Little Treat
21. Closing Theme

New CD Releases, Oct. 2: Bruce Springsteen, Annie Lennox, John Fogerty

Bruce Springsteen "Magic"

The Boss returns to give his loyal fans some "Magic." The album follows last year's well-received studio effort "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions," a salute to folk great Pete Seeger, and the concert set "Live in Dublin," which documents Springsteen's recent tour.

"Magic" is Springsteen's first disc with his fabled E Street Band since 2002's "The Rising," a work that tackled many 9/11-related subjects. The new album was produced and mixed by acclaimed industry vet Brendan O'Brien, who also oversaw "The Rising" and 2005's "Devils and Dust."

Having played a few hometown warm-up shows in Asbury Park, NJ, the Boss will kick off his much-anticipated Northern American road show with the E Street Band Oct. 2 in Hartford, CT. From there, he'll hit cities across the country before winding things up with a Nov. 18-19 double-shot in Boston.

* * *
Annie Lennox "Songs of Mass Destruction"

The government may have had trouble locating any "weapons of mass destruction" in the Middle East, but fans should have no trouble finding Annie Lennox's "Songs of Mass Destruction" in stores.

The singer, who came to fame as one half of the '80s duo the Eurythmics, recorded the 11-song set with super-producer Glen Ballard. "Songs of Mass Destruction" is Lennox's fifth overall solo CD and her first since 2003's "Bare."

Lennox will spread her "Songs of Mass Destruction" with a North American tour that kicks off Oct. 8 in San Diego.

* * *
John Fogerty "Revival"

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, who released at least a dozen classic-rock staples during his time fronting Credence Clearwater Revival, returns to the fray with "Revival."

He's also, in a way, returning home. The self-produced "Revival" is being released on Fantasy Records, which was the label that put out the classic CCR albums. It's Fogerty's first album of new material for Fantasy Records in 35 years.

What took so long? Well, the veteran rocker fought with the label for more than 30 years over the rights to his own songs. The company was sold to Concord Records in recent years, paving the way for a reconciliation with Fogerty in 2005, which was followed later that year by the release of his first complete career retrospective, "The Long Road Home."

Fogerty will support "Revival" with a five-week US trek, which launches Nov. 2 at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom.

* * *
Matchbox Twenty "Exile on Mainstream"

Fans of the platinum pop-rock combo will finally get some new material. "Exile on Mainstream," while mostly a greatest-hits package, includes six brand new songs that were produced by mastermind Steve Lillywhite (U2, Dave Matthews Band).

These half-dozen recordings are the first batch of new studio material from the band since 2002's "More Than You Think You Are." In recent years, frontman Rob Thomas has been concentrating on his solo career, which has included a successful debut album and a tour behind the set.

* * *
Faith Hill "The Hits"

Having released six solo albums, the country music diva has deemed it time to give fans "The Hits." This best-of collection from Tim McGraw's better half features such smashes as "This Kiss," "Mississippi Girl" and "Breathe."

* * *
More new releases:
Brooks & Dunn, "Cowboy Town" (Arista)
Cake, "B-Sides and Rarities" (Upbeat)
Dashboard Confessional, "The Shade of Poison Trees" (Vagrant)
Dylan, "Bob Dylan" (Sony)
PJ Harvey, "White Chalk" (Island)
J Holiday, "Back of My Lac" (Capitol)
Mick Jagger, "Very Best of Mick Jagger" (Rhino)
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, "100 Days, 100 Nights" (Daptone)
Stacey Kent, "Breakfast on the Morning Tram" (Blue Note)
Nightwish, "Dark Passion Play" (Roadrunner)
Siouxsie, "Mantaray" (Decca)
Trey Songz, "Trey Day" (Atlantic)
Frankie Valli, "Romancing the 60's" (Motown)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Grease--The New Broadway Cast Recording (2007 Broadway Revival Cast)" (Sony Classics)

Seinfeld stars in season opener of "30 Rock"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The freshly anointed best comedy on television (according to the Emmys) kicks off its second season with a rip-roaring opener featuring Jerry Seinfeld in an inspired guest turn.

The charmingly written and superbly acted episode intersperses a trio of plotlines that never trample one another. The A-story involves a boffo idea from network boss Jack (Alec Baldwin): Use all of that NBC-owned footage featuring Seinfeld to digitally insert him into every NBC primetime show imaginable (introducing "SeinfeldVision!") and capitalize on the network's intellectual property. It goes less than swell. Big shockeroo, that.

The show-within-the-show has been on summertime hiatus, and what a tumultuous hiatus it has been. Liz's (Tina Fey) boyfriend Floyd has split up with her. Jenna (Jane Krakowski) has put on a zillion pounds while starring in "Mystic Pizza: The Musical" because of all the actual pizza she had to eat. And Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) becomes Tracy's (Tracy Morgan) office wife after his actual wife boots him out of the house, forcing him to take up full-time residence in his office.

The stories are interwoven with seamless ease, all joined at the hip by the bouncy soundtrack. Fey is superb as a lovelorn control freak in transparent denial, and Baldwin . . . well, he's a flat-out revelation, leaving us wondering how it was again that Ricky Gervais beat him out for the lead comedy actor award at the Emmys. The academy certainly has some explaining to do. Then again, so does the TV audience for failing to support such a grand comedic exercise.

New Radiohead album price? It's 'up to you'

Innovative rock band Radiohead has stunned the music world by announcing that its forthcoming album will make its debut as a digital download available for whatever individual consumers want to pay for it.

Guitarist Jonny Greenwood announced on the band's website late Sunday night that the new album In Rainbows has been completed and would be released Oct. 10 online.

When pre-ordering the album through the website, the checkout screen returns the message: "It's up to you."

A subsequent message adds: "No really, it's up to you."

A physical version of the band's seventh album — a special edition featuring two discs as well as lyrics and artwork — will follow in December.

The critically acclaimed band fulfilled its contract with record label EMI with its previous album, 2003's Hail to the Thief.

In the past, despite being leaked onto the internet before their official release dates, Radiohead albums have still shot to the top of music charts.

Radiohead and its frontman, Thom Yorke, are among those in the recording industry who have questioned the traditional music model and the dominance of record labels.

Prince, for instance, has regularly given his music away for free in the past few years, with the U.S. pop, rock and funk icon employing unconventional distribution techniques like releasing tracks on his website first and handing out free copies of new albums to those attending his concerts.

Most recently, the American singer, composer and musician gave away thousands of his latest album Planet Earth through a British newspaper. While the move angered the record industry, his subsequent 21-day concert series in London attracted packed, enthusiastic audiences.

MacLean, CBC reach long-term deal

Host Ron MacLean will be welcoming viewers to Hockey Night in Canada for at least the next seven seasons after agreeing to a new contract Monday.

The new deal will run through the 2013-14 campaign, which coincides with the television deal struck by the CBC and National Hockey League in March.

"For millions of Canadians, Ron is the face of CBC Sports, and we are absolutely thrilled to continue our partnership with him for the long term," Scott Moore, the executive director of CBC Sports, said in a statement.

"He has become a great ambassador for our network. He is the best in the business and has played an integral role in building CBC's Hockey Night in Canada into the most influential and popular sports brand in Canada."

MacLean joined the network in 1986 and hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs' telecasts on HNIC before becoming the full-time national host the following year.

He will host a HNIC doubleheader on Oct. 4 when the Ottawa Senators visit Toronto at 7 p.m. ET, followed by the Calgary Flames hosting Philadelphia.