Axed CBC drama wins top Gemini

TORONTO - The choice showed Intelligence, but the timing was kind of awkward.

The critically acclaimed but ratings-challenged series Intelligence, which officially was cancelled by the CBC last winter, took home the award for best drama series at the 2008 Gemini Awards, which were held last night in Toronto.

The last new episode of Intelligence aired almost a year ago, so it made for a bit of a weird atmosphere last night when Intelligence beat out fellow best-drama nominees The Border, The Tudors, Durham County and Murdoch Mysteries.

But we don't mean "weird" in a way that suggests Intelligence, which starred the excellent Ian Tracey and Klea Scott, wasn't worthy. In fact, yours truly was a devoted follower, and we always wondered why more Canadians weren't tuning in.

Regardless, last night must have been pretty sweet for Intelligence creator Chris Haddock. Sadly, he was not in attendance last night to share his, uh, "opinion."

However, mentalist The Amazing Kreskin cracked wise by "predicting" Intelligence would be "renewed for two more seasons." Priceless.

In an interview that appeared in Sun Media outlets in November 2007, Haddock blasted the CBC, claiming the public broadcaster had become "hostile" to his kind of story-telling and had not adequately promoted his show.

CBC executive director of network programming Kirstine Layfield strongly rejected Haddock's accusations, pointing out no creator of a series ever thinks their show is being promoted enough. Layfield claimed the CBC brought Intelligence back for a second season "in good faith" because of the quality of the series, but the ratings simply did not improve.

Haddock subsequently attempted to take an American-ized version of Intelligence to Fox in the United States, but Fox's initial interest was not followed by firm commitments.

The Gemini Awards were hosted by veteran Canadian actor/director Jason Priestley, who first made a name for himself playing Brandon Walsh on Beverly Hills 90210 in the 1990s. Priestley had a hilarious taped opening bit about proving he was Canadian to the likes of Brent Butt, Megan Follows and the Trailer Park Boys.

Among the presenters last night was Shenae Grimes, the young Canadian who plays Annie Wilson in the new 90210, following her portrayal of Darcy Edwards on CTV's Degrassi: The Next Generation. Priestley referred to Grimes as being from "the new, old, 9021-oh, let it go already."

"It's so exciting to be home - it's about time," said Grimes, who is from the Toronto area. "I haven't been here since June. The cold is crazy."

Another presenter last night was Canadian actress Natasha Henstridge, who currently is starring in the apparently doomed ABC series Eli Stone. Fortunately for Henstridge, she was on hand to accept a Gemini Award in person for best actress in a dramatic program or mini-series, for her role in CTV's Would Be Kings.

"To feel that in my home country people recognize my work on that level is so, so flattering," Henstridge said.

Project Runway Canada took home a Gemini for best reality program or series.

Best comedy program or series was won by CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

Cock'd Gunns, which originally aired on IFC, took home trophies for best ensemble performance in a comedy and best writing in a comedy or variety program.

Best dramatic mini-series was won by The Englishman's Boy, and Nicholas Campbell's work in that program earned him an award for best actor in a mini-series.

Justin Louis and Helene Joy won best-actor and best-actress in a drama for their performances in Durham County, which aired originally on The Movie Network and Movie Central.

"Acting in Canada you often don't feel you get the attention you deserve, so this is great," Joy said.

Best direction in a drama series went to Holly Dale for Durham County.

Leah Miller and Brendan Fehr won the viewers' choice polls for hottest female and male, respectively.

GEMINI WINNERS

Best dramatic series: "Intelligence."

Best comedy program or series: "This Hour Has 22 Minutes."

Best dramatic miniseries: "The Englishman's Boy."

Best reality program or series: "Project Runway Canada."

Best performance by an actor in a continuing leading dramatic role: Justin Louis, "Durham County" (episode "What Lies Beneath").

Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a dramatic program or miniseries: Nicholas Campbell, "The Englishman's Boy."

Best performance by an actress in a continuing leading dramatic role: Helene Joy, "Durham County" (episode "Guys and Dolls").

Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a dramatic program or miniseries: Natasha Henstridge, "Would Be Kings."

Best ensemble performance in a comedy program or series: Inessa Annie Frantowski, Brooks Gray, Andy King, Rebecca McMahon, Leo Scherman, Morgan Waters: "Cock'd Gunns" (episode "A Taste of Success").

Best host or interviewer in a general/human interest or talk program or series: George Stroumboulopoulos, "The Hour With George Stroumboulopoulos."

Best host or interviewer in a sports program or sportscast: Ron MacLean, "Hockey Day in Canada."

Best news anchor: Ian Hanomansing, "CBC News at Six."

Best writing in a comedy or variety program or series: Brooks Gray, Andy King, Leo Scherman, Morgan Waters: "Cock'd Gunns" (episode "Ready, Aim, Fire").

Best direction in a dramatic series: Holly Dale, "Durham County" (episode "What Lies Beneath").

Station takes call letters of TV show

CINCINNATI – WKRP is back on the air in Cincinnati — but this time it's for real.

A low-power TV station has changed its call letters to WKRP, the same as the fictional radio station in the 1970s hit series "WKRP in Cincinnati."

The station changed its call letters to promote its new digital TV signal. It formerly went by WBQC-TV.

General Manager Elliott Block says the new call letters give the station recognition because so many people remember the television sit-com.

Station takes call letters of TV show

CINCINNATI – WKRP is back on the air in Cincinnati — but this time it's for real.

A low-power TV station has changed its call letters to WKRP, the same as the fictional radio station in the 1970s hit series "WKRP in Cincinnati."

The station changed its call letters to promote its new digital TV signal. It formerly went by WBQC-TV.

General Manager Elliott Block says the new call letters give the station recognition because so many people remember the television sit-com.

'Four Christmases' finds $31.7M in holiday cheer

LOS ANGELES – Thanksgiving weekend movie crowds gobbled up the Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn holiday comedy "Four Christmases," which debuted at No. 1 with $31.7 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Warner Bros. release, featuring Witherspoon and Vaughn as a couple suffering through four separate family holiday gatherings, raised its total to $46.7 million since opening Wednesday to get a head start on the long weekend.

In terms of revenue, it was Hollywood's second-biggest Thanksgiving period ever. The top 12 movies took in $223.7 million from Wednesday to Sunday, trailing only the $232.2 million haul over Thanksgiving in 2000.

Summit Entertainment's vampire romance "Twilight," which had a huge No. 1 opening the previous weekend, took a steep 62 percent decline from its $69.6 million debut and was neck-and-neck for second place with Disney's animated family flick "Bolt."

Based on Sunday's estimates, "Bolt" had a slight lead with $26.6 million for the weekend, compared to $26.4 million for "Twilight." Their rankings could change once final numbers are released Monday.

"Twilight' is still a phenomenon, but you can't really maintain that level of intensity week after week," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

"Twilight" raised its 10-day total to $119.7 million, while "Bolt" lifted its sum to $66.9 million.

Hollywood typically releases a handful of holiday-themed movies starting in November, but "Four Christmases" has the market virtually to itself this season.

"It was the perfect time. It's the only movie out there that deals with Christmas," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros.

The only potential competition comes Dec. 12 with the John Leguizamo tale "Nothing Like the Holidays."

The weekend's other new wide release, the Nicole Kidman-Hugh Jackman epic "Australia," opened at No. 5 with $14.8 million for the weekend and $20 million since debuting Wednesday.

The 20th Century Fox film reunites Kidman with "Moulin Rouge" director Baz Luhrmann for a World War II-era romance between an aristocratic British woman and an Australian ranch hand.

Sean Penn's drama "Milk" got off to a great start in limited release, coming in at No. 10 with $1.4 million in just 36 theaters. The film had a strong average of $38,375 a cinema, compared with $9,571 in 3,310 theaters for "Four Christmases."

"Milk," an Academy Awards contender released by Focus Features, stars Penn as gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk, the San Francisco city supervisor slain by a colleague who also killed the mayor. The film expands to more theaters Friday.

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. "Four Christmases," $31.7 million.
2. "Bolt," $26.6 million.
3. "Twilight," $26.4 million.
4. "Quantum of Solace," $19.5 million.
5. "Australia," $14.8 million.
6. "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," $14.5 million.
7. "Transporter 3," $12.3 million.
8. "Role Models," $5.3 million.
9. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," $1.7 million.
10. "Milk," $1.4 million.

The Couch Potato Report - November 29th, 2008

This week The Couch Potato Report peels on okay sequel, an awful sequel, and planet earth.

Sequels can be good...they can be...there have been many good and great sequels...THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, TERMINATOR II, and especially THE GODFATHER - PART II...these were all great sequels that equaled or surpassed their predecessors.

But, and lets be honest here, most film follow ups are usually quite unnescessary from a film fan's point of view and - if we are being honest - it is true that they are rarely as good as the original.

And that is certainly true with this week's first two releases, including our HOT POTATO, the made-in-Quebec sequel CRUISING BAR 2...a film that was released this year, 19 years after the first one!

This thing is a huge letdown from the original CRUISING BAR, a film that remains a very entertaining comedy about four very different men from very different lifestyles, who are all getting ready to go out to try and find some companionship on a Saturday night.

The four men don't know each other, and they don't even interact in the movie, but they do all have a connection.

All four of them - the very shy nerd, a broken- hearted junkie, a snob yuppy, and a middle-aged married man - are all played by the same actor.

Michel Côté plays all four lead characters, and he gives all four a unique series of body movements and voices.

CRUISING BAR was first released to Canadian theatres in 1989, and it isn't perfect, but it is very, very good and I easily recommend it.

The sequel...not so much.

In CRUISING BAR 2, the characters are still unique individuals, and they are sometimes funny, but the film isn't entertaining at all. After you get past the fact that you are seeing these characters 19 years later, and catching up with them, it is just one dance scene after another...and it all equals a sequel that isn't as good as the original.

Skip the sequel, see the original.

BUT, for all the negative things I could say about CRUSING BAR 2, at least it has the same writer, director, and almost all of the stars from the first one.

Our next sequel can't boast that...actually there is very little that this next film can boast about...IT is awful in almost every way!!

IT...is SLAP SHOT 3.

The original SLAP SHOT had Paul Newman as a player-coach of a failing hockey team who finds success using fighting and violence during games.

It is raunchy, rowdy, profane, and it is a classic!! It is easily one of the top three sports films ever made!!

SLAP SHOT 3 is just an embarassment to all those who love and admire the original 1977 film.

In this film - subtitled THE JUNIOR LEAGUES - a young group of kids from a boys home must win a hockey game to save their home, and maybe even grow up a little along the way.

Yes, you heard that right...SLAP SHOT 3 is a film for teenagers...and not a very good one at that!!

But for fans of the first film, what makes it even worse is that three members of the original cast appear in it...I guess The Hanson brothers haven't saved their money!

There might be some young teens who are hockey fans who get some entertainment value out of this Langly, B.C. filmed release, but I got nothing worthwhile out of SLAP SHOT 3....even though it does co-star Saskatchewan's own Leslie Nielsen and features cameos from two of my favourite hockey players of all time - Doug Gilmour and Mark Messier.

No, even with those three guys in it, SLAP SHOT 3 - THE JUNIOR LEAGUE is potentially the worst sequel ever!!!

Not really, indeed!!

Sequels aside, lets move on now to something that I can - and do - recommend...maybe not to everyone, but to those who find unique people fascinating...I give you GONZO - THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON!

The late Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author, most famous for his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to such a degree that they become central figures of their stories.

GONZO - THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON is a documentary that completely delves into Thompson's writings on music and politics, and asks his friends, family, and well-know people such as Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, author Tom Wolfe and cartoonist Ralph Steadman - among many others - to help describe the mythos of Hunter and his adventures...which were usually filled with drug induced hysteria.

No, due to Thompson's language, use of guns and drugs, this isn't for everyone, but I found him, and the documentary film about him - GONZO - THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON - narrated by Johnny Depp - utterly fascinating.

Up next this week is last year's Vince Vaughan's Christmas film - FRED CLAUS...this one is new on DVD and Blu-Ray and shouldn't be confused with his Christmas film from this year - FOUR CHRISTMASES, which is in theatres now. The new film is actually very entertaining...and then there is FRED CLAUS.

Did you know that Santa had a big brother? Well that is the premise in this film as Vince Vaughan from WEDDING CRASHERS and SWINGERS is the big bro, who is constantly living in the shadow of his younger, and more succesful sibling.

The great Paul Giamatti from SIDEWAYS and CINDERELLA MAN plays Santa and he and Fred have been estranged for many years, but when Fred needs help, he must reconcile his differences with his brother and help with out when an efficiency expert threatens to shut Santa and his operation down.

Yes, Fred must help his brother save Christmas.

I saw this film in theatres last year when it came out, and again this week at home, and while I continue to love the cast and the premise, the film just isn't very good.

It isn't ho-ho-horrible, FRED CLAUS actually has some good scenes and moments, but with the people involved, it should have been much better.

Let's call this one a good rental.

Before I get to this week's Blu-Ray beacon, let me tell you that THE COMPLETE 7TH SEASON of the television show SCRUBS is now available as well!!

SCRUBS is the Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning comedy about the professional and personal lives of several characters working at a teaching hospital.

SCRUBS features slapstick, fast-paced dialogue, and surreal moments....but even as a fan, I must admit that THE COMPLETE 7TH SEASON of SCRUBS isn't as good as the some of the earlier seasons.

But it does still have some very good moments, and it remains one of my favourites.

Finally this week, is the Blu-Ray Beacon

Blu-ray is the next step in DVDs and home viewing as a Blu-ray Disc can store almost six times the capacity of a standard two-layer DVD and that extra space allows these releases to have superior quality over regular DVDs and gives the filmmakers and studios the chance to include more Special Features and material that isn't possible on DVD.

So each week for the next little while, as the format continues to take off, and the number of films available in Blu-ray increases, I will spotlight one new release each week, and share more information about the format, in this forum - The BLU-RAY BEACON.

This week, the spotlight shines on THE BBC EARTH COLLECTION!

THE BBC EARTH COLLECTION features the brilliant 4 DVD set for PLANET EARTH and the 2 DVD set for EARTH THE BIOGRAPHY

Planet Earth is simply one of the most entertaining documentaries ever seen!

It takes us to the highest peaks and the lowest valleys with astonishing photography and incredible detail.

EARTH - THE BIOGRAPHY is a five-part series that look at how our our planet was formed, and how it is changing.

While not as completely compelling as the PLANET EARTH, EARTH THE BIOGRAPHY is still an exceptional series and very worthy of your time.

I have seen these shows several times, and enjoyed them each time, but while watching them on Blu-Ray this week, I think I have fnally seen them as close to being there as possible! The colours are richer, the events seem even more realistic, and just when I thought I couldn't enjoy them any more than I already do, I have.

These are fantastic additions to your library, even if you already own them on DVD. The quality is just that good that it is worth the upgrade!

This week's BLU-RAY BEACON shined the spotlight on the very interesting 6-Disc set THE BBC EARTH COLLECTION with PLANET EARTH and EARTH - THE BIOGRAPHY and it is available now on Blu-Ray and DVD.

The still entertaining SCRUBS - THE COMPLETE 7TH SEASON, the good rental FRED CLAUS, the very interesting GONZO - THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON, the embarrassing SLAP SHOT 3 and the sequel-that-isn't-as-good-as-the-original CRUISING BAR 2 are all available now on DVD.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

I will let you know all about THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of THE TUDORS; THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, a small film from Ireland and one from Quebefc, one big Hollywood Summer Blockbuster and the BLU RAY BEACON features THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

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!

April Wine frontman hospitalized after collapse

April Wine lead singer Myles Goodwin was hospitalized in Montreal on Friday, after he collapsed on his way to the airport.

"He arrived at the airport, collapsed and hit his head," guitarist Brian Greenway, who was travelling with Goodwin, told CBC News.

While Greenway said that his colleague appeared to be doing better after initial treatment and undergoing some tests, he added that they were still awaiting further details.

"We'll have to wait and see what the doctors say."

The band had been heading for Nova Scotia, where they were to play at a sold out concert marking the 25th anniversary of Halifax radio station Q104.

The Canadian hard rockers, who originally got their start in Halifax, had been set to surprise fans by bringing original bandmembers Richie and David Henman onto the stage.

The show will go on, however, with a tribute to April Wine. Halifax-area rocker Joel Plaskett has also been added to the performance lineup.

Weezer Raids Vaults, Records Xmas Carols

On the heels of the release of the second volume of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo's home recordings, the group is now taking a look back into its own vaults.

Cuomo tells Billboard he has "no idea" when the tentatively titled "Odds and Ends" will be released, but describes it as "just another fun project to do. They're great songs, but for some reason they didn't make the final cut for [a] record. They span a vast period of time from the very beginning of our career in the early '90s right up to the present day."

Meanwhile, Cuomo says Weezer may tour next spring with Oasis, and is hoping to enlist Spike Jonze to direct a video for the song "The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived" from its recent "The Red Album."

And while the next Weezer studio album appears to be a ways off, the group recently recorded six Christmas carols that will be downloadable for the iPhone game "Tap Tap Revenge," including "Oh Holy Night." Says Cuomo, "They're the classics."

In addition, Cuomo recently wrote a song with sibling pop duo Aly & AJ, although it's unclear when it may see the light of day. "It was such a blast to remember how teenagers approach songwriting," he says of the experience. "Their minds just work so fast and they have no fear and no ego."

Cuomo's "Alone II: The Home Recordings" was released earlier this week by Suretone/Geffen. The first installment came out in December 2007.

CTV confirms 105 layoffs in Toronto

A little more than a week after CTV chief Ivan Fecan warned staff of impending layoffs, the private broadcaster has announced it is cutting "approximately" 105 positions.

"Virtually all of these positions are here in Toronto," spokeswoman Bonnie Brownlee said about the cuts on Thursday.

Brownlee added that she doesn't "have the full breakdown" of the divisions affected.

CTV Inc. owns and operates 27 conventional television stations across the country and has news bureaus across Canada and internationally, including in Washington, London and Beijing.

Its parent company, CTVglobemedia Inc., owns sports channel TSN, music network Much Music, arts and culture channel Bravo and more than two dozen other specialty TV channels.

CTVglobemedia also owns the Globe and Mail newspaper as well as 34 CHUM radio stations across the country.

"No further reductions will be taken for the balance of this year," according to an e-mail staff received on Thursday from Dawn Fell, CTVglobemedia's executive vice president of human resources and operations.

Last week, Fecan — who serves as chief executive officer of CTV as well as president and CEO of CTVglobemedia — informed employees that layoffs, a hiring freeze and other operational changes were pending because of declining ad revenues, in part because of the global economic downturn.

Earlier this month, media giant Canwest announced it was cutting 560 jobs — about five per cent of its workforce — including 210 jobs on its broadcast side.

Conventional TV broadcasters have complained of declining revenues in the face of rising competition from pay and speciality services.

In July, Statistics Canada reported that revenue for conventional television fell by 5.3 per cent, slipping to $1.267 billion in 2007 from 2006. By comparison, pay television revenue in Canada rose by 13.5 per cent for the same period, hitting $547 million in 2007.

In the spring, CTV and Canwest Global teamed up to call on the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to enact a controversial carriage fees proposal to help traditional broadcasters. The CRTC rejected the idea.

The CBC, which was also calling for the introduction of carriage fees, will be carrying out its own cost-cutting plan, given the current economic climate.

However, in his note to staff on Friday, CBC/Radio-Canada president Hubert Lacroix said "where others are contemplating and predicting layoffs, we are looking to put in place and push forward with solutions that won't involve cutting jobs."

Gene Simmons teams up with Belinda Stronach

KISS founder's venture seeks 3 Canadian bands for partnership deals and a reality TV series

Global glory and unimaginable wealth may have eluded the vast majority of hard-working Canadian pop and rock bands for decades, but those days are over, says Gene Simmons, the self-made rock 'n' roll squillionaire, American marketing superstar and founder of the cartoonish glam-rock band KISS.

"I have a new business model that will get Canadian bands out on tour, onto television and into the world's mainstream," Simmons said last night as he laid out some of the details behind plans to relaunch his dormant Canadian label, Simmons Records. It's a new joint venture between the star of the hit reality TV series Gene Simmons Family Jewels, Magna auto parts heiress and former Tory/Liberal MP Belinda Stronach, and Universal Music Canada.

"The idea is to have the bands we sign develop a strong Canadian identity first in Canada, then move them onto the world stage," said Simmons, who is in Toronto "for a few days" to finalize the deal, scout talent and take care of the Canadian ends of other businesses – books, comic books, advertising and merchandising – that he helps run under the Los Angeles-based umbrella company Simmons Abramson Marketing.

"For years, the only way Canadian acts could make it was to go to the States and more or less become an American band. In the new music marketing age, that doesn't have to happen."

The connection with Stronach, for four years a silent partner in a Canadian talent development company, Big Bold Sun Music, was coincidental, Simmons said.

"I've known the Stronach family for years. Our company handles the promotion and merchandising for Frank's Energy Drink, which was created by Frank Stronach, Belinda's father.

"When (Universal Music Canada president) Randy Lennox and I were talking about the new label, and the philosophy of new business models, he mentioned Belinda might be looking to invest in a new music company. It made sense to me."

Simmons is looking to sign three Canadian acts a year to his label – "pop, pop-rock and rock, and we're even interested in rap artists, as long as they've got something different going for them, like a sense of humour."

He has his eye on the Toronto progressive hip-hop band Down With Webster as his first signing.

"They're peculiar and eccentric, a cross between Arrested Development, Sly & The Family Stone and Red Hot Chili Peppers," Simmons said. "Their music is like a stew that's made out of familiar ingredients but tastes different because of the way it's blended and cooked."

Acts signed to the label will also star in a Canadian-made reality TV series for a network Simmons is not at liberty to name.

"We'll follow them from the time they start making their first album, and make moves to say goodbye to their families and girlfriends, and go out on the road ... like leaving home to join the circus."

The bands and their music will also be featured in merchandising and product advertising campaigns, and movies and TV shows, Simmons said, adding that financing for the new venture amounts to "millions."

The label will offer its artists a version of the all-inclusive and controversial "360-degree" deal, which will make the record company a partner in touring, merchandising, publishing, licensing, television and product placement revenues, Simmons said.

"Canadian labels have been trying to do something like this for years. What's different this time is me. I know how to make things happen."

Guns N’ Roses Demand Apology From Dr. Pepper Over Soda “Fiasco”

Guns N’ Roses are threatening Dr. Pepper with legal action over what the band calls “a complete fiasco” of a publicity stunt. Dr. Pepper promised every person in America a free can of soda if Guns N’ Roses released Chinese Democracy this year; on November 23rd, the day Democracy was released, fans were told they could get a coupon for a free can at its website. According Axl Rose’s lawyer Alan S. Gutman, things went terribly wrong: Yesterday he sent a letter to Dr. Pepper CEO Larry Young saying that the soda company’s website crashed and that “the redemption scheme your company clumsily implemented for this offer was an unmitigated disaster which defrauded consumers and, in the eyes of vocal fans, ‘ruined’ the day of Chinese Democracy’s release”. The band is seeking a public apology via ads in newspapers, plus more time for people to claim their free soda and monetary damages. In the words of the letter: “Now it’s time to clean up the mess.” The letter continues, “As we all now know, Dr. Pepper created an expansive and highly-publicized advertising campaign based solely on the exploitation of my cleints’ legendary reputation. In and of itself this campaign brazenly violated our clients’ rights in numerous respects. Unfortunately, Dr. Pepper has now magnified the damage this campaign has caused through its appalling failure to make good on a promise it made to the American public.”

Other highlights from the letter: “Our clients are outrated at your treatment of their fans and the American public in general. After it became clear that Chinese Democracy would be released in 2008, Dr. Pepper executive Tony Jacobs proudly proclaimed that Dr. Pepper would make good on its promise to give a free soda to everyone in America. It turned out that Dr. Pepper did not define ‘everyone in America’ the same way as ‘everyone in America’ defined ‘everyone in America.’” It concludes, “Had you wished to engage in a commercial tie-in with our clients, you should have negotiated a legitimate arrangement instead of hijacking their rights without payment. Rest assured, this misappropriation will not be free.”

Is this Nicole Kidman's last movie?

NEW YORK–Nicole Kidman isn't sure whether she will ever make another movie. But if she doesn't, it's fitting that her final screen role should be in Australia, the epic $130 million romantic adventure that reunites her with her Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann and filmed in their homeland with an all-Australian cast and crew.

"I wanted to make a film for my country since I was a little girl," she said. "I grew up on Australian cinema, and the films created my aspirations and my dreams. This film represents that for me. Baz wanted to do a Gone With The Wind-type film for Australia, mixing high comedy and intense drama with references to many different films and somehow put them together in an homage to old movies, and I think it's wonderful."

Kidman, 41, portrays an English aristocrat who travels to Australia where she meets a rough, tough drover (Hugh Jackman) and they reluctantly join forces to save the land she inherited. Luhrmann's sweeping story includes villainous cattlemen, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the plight of part-Aboriginal children who were taken from their families and placed in state institutions.

Luhrmann wrote 19 drafts of the script and then filmed for nine months, mostly in Australia's Outback, shooting four different endings before he was satisfied.

"I saw far more of the country while making this film than I ever did before," said Kidman. "Even though it was really tough and difficult at times, I'm so glad we travelled around and filmed in so many different locations. To feel the air and see the wonderful sunsets and be ravished by the elements was exquisite."

She learned how to ride a horse like a ranch hand while herding cattle, and it made such an impression on her that she and her husband of two years, country star Keith Urban, have bought a rural cattle ranch in Australia.

"I love the film and I loved the cows, so when we're in Australia we're going to spend a lot of time on the property," she said.

After Moulin Rouge! in 2001, Kidman and Luhrmann had often talked about working together again and were set to team up on Alexander; but when Oliver Stone beat them to it with his own version in 2004, Luhrmann began thinking about Australia.

He went to see Kidman in Nashville, where she lives with Urban. "He never gives you a script; he just tells you his ideas," she said.

"He's very, very different to anyone I have ever worked with.

"Baz is such an unusual filmmaker and obviously the process to get the film made is unusual, as well. He's completely original ... he whispers things to me.

``He has ways in which he accesses my emotional life."

Kidman and Luhrmann, 46, were talking in a New York hotel room not far from an apartment where Kidman is temporarily staying with her baby, Sunday Rose, who was born five months ago.

She and Luhrmann had just flown in from the Australia premiere in Sydney and she looked glamorous in a grey, low-cut tweed suit and diamond-drop earrings.

She and the director are clearly close friends.

"She wasn't just an actor in this; she was my partner," said Luhrmann. "At times the shoot was very hard and difficult, and when some people thought they couldn't go on Nicole was the one who led the charge. When things are at their very worst, that is when she is at her very best."

But he doesn't think they could ever work together again.

"So many life-transforming things happen when we work together," he said reflectively. "On Moulin Rouge! she was breaking up with Tom Cruise and my father died. Then six weeks before we finished filming Australia, she told me she was pregnant and we both burst into tears because I knew that was what she had wanted more than anything else. We both said we can't make another movie together because there are only so many life-transforming events we can go through."

Luhrmann has no projects lined up for the future, although he says: "One day I'll take that James Bond film. That'll be fun."

Kidman, too, has nothing planned now that she has finished a two-week stint filming a small role in the musical Nine, due out next year. And she is not seeking any more work.

"I have to say I'm not that interested in making films any more," she said.

"I know I'm not meant to say that, but that's where it is for me now. I'm 41 years old and very happy being in Tennessee with my baby and with my husband. I just don't have that burning desire any more."

Tributes pour in for Kenny MacLean

TORONTO — Platinum Blonde bass player Kenny MacLean was an ambitious “pop-meister” who was brimming with ideas and had a lot more music to share with the world, friends and colleagues said Tuesday as news of his death spread.

The Canadian ‘80s band officially announced on its website that MacLean had died. Police said the veteran musician was discovered collapsed and unresponsive Monday at his Toronto apartment.

Just days earlier, MacLean gave an “electrifying” performance at a party in Toronto to celebrate the upcoming release of his third solo album, “Completely,” and he had recently convinced his Platinum Blonde bandmates to get back together for a reunion gig, said drummer Chris Steffler.

“We were (going) to put together a Platinum Blonde show for the first time in over 20 years and the rehearsal was set for 5 p.m. Monday,” Steffler said.

“And I just couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t returning calls to confirm ... Now we’re all just kind of shocked.”

Steffler said the band is upset that some are quickly turning to gossip and speculating about how MacLean might have died, rather than focusing on his musical contributions.

MacLean was found in his bathroom with a toothbrush in his hand and the tap running, Steffler said, which suggests he might have suffered a heart attack.

Toxicology tests will reveal if there were any drugs in MacLean’s system but Steffler discounted the idea of an overdose or suicide attempt.

“He had his track pants and a T-shirt on, it’s not like it was after a show and he had a bunch of (cocaine) on his face or a needle sticking out of somewhere,” he said.

“There’s no way he would take his own life or anything like that, and his party consumption days were long behind him, so it’s really untimely.”

Record producer Terry Brown, who has worked on several classic Rush albums and music by the likes of Max Webster and Blue Rodeo, said MacLean’s death was “very sad news” and a loss of a great talent.

“He was an incredibly talented fellow who had so much enthusiasm and such great ideas, he was a pop-meister, he just wrote great pop tunes,” said Brown, who worked with MacLean on his solo album, “Clear.”

“And he was just one of those people that always had lots of melodies and great ideas in his head and was always dying to get things done. Unfortunately, we never got this (latest) record off the ground, which is a real shame. It had so much potential but ... I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.”

MacLean joined Platinum Blonde for their second album, 1985’s “Alien Shores,” which featured one of the band’s biggest Canadian hits — “Crying Over You,” which won a Gemini Award for best music video — and their only U.S. hit, “Somebody Somewhere.”

The album went quadruple platinum and 1987’s “Contact” went platinum.

MacLean won a SOCAN Award for his solo album, “Don’t Look Back,” and he also strayed from his rock roots to play with the Edmonton Symphony and Orchestra London.

Most recently, in addition to preparing to release his latest CD, he worked on a project called Rock Through The Ages, playing covers of musical hits from the 1950s through to today’s singles by the likes of Oasis and Coldplay.

His new band played regular gigs in Toronto as well as corporate shows for the likes of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Laidlaw, Monsanto, TD Canada Trust, the Toronto Blue Jays and Yamaha Music Canada.

He also worked with a company called hMh Music, an independent record label and music company dedicated to working with emerging artists.

Platinum Blonde bassist found dead

Sources say that former Platinum Blonde bassist Kenny MacLean died following a CD release party in Toronto Friday, Nov. 21.

He was found this morning by his sister and it is thought he passed away sometime during the night after the event.

"Kenny had his party at the Mod Club on Friday and he was really excited," local musician Angel Marr said in a brief phone interview.

"We don't know if he died right after the party or later," he continued. "I'm in shock. I've known Kenny for 15 years."

While police have yet to confirm the news, Facebook tributes have already started pouring in.

Former Much VJ Steve Anthony wrote that he is in "shock about my pal Kenny MacLean."

At their peak in the mid-'80s, Platinum Blonde was playing arenas and became known as 'Canada's Duran Duran.'

New CD Releases, November 25th: Guns N' Roses, Kanye West, The Killers, Barry Manilow, Ludacris and more!

Guns N' Roses "Chinese Democracy" (Geffen)

At long last, Guns N' Roses fulfills its promise of a sixth studio album. Some fans, quite understandably, had come to believe this moment might never arrive. Ten years in the making, "Chinese Democracy" stands with The Beach Boys' "Smile" among the most famously delayed albums in rock history.

This GN'R is hardly the group that first set out, back in 1998, to make this record. Notably, vocalist Axl Rose is the only original member left in the band.

The 14-track set is the group's first studio album since 1993's "The Spaghetti Incident?," and its first to feature original material since 1991's "Use Your Illusion I and II." The first two singles from the record are the title track and the tune "Better."

* * *
Kanye West "808s & Heartbreak" (Island Def Jam)

The 10-time Grammy winner returns with his fourth studio album. The eagerly anticipated "808s & Heartbreak," set for release on Nov. 24, follows last year's chart-topping "Graduation."

The first single from "808s & Heartbreak" is the tune "Love Lockdown," which West premiered onstage at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. The second single is "Heartless," a song performed for the first time at the ONE Campaign concert during the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO.

The album's title is a reference to the Roland TR-808, a programmable drum machine that West reportedly used in constructing the majority of the record's tracks.

* * *
The Killers "Day & Age" (Island Def Jam)

The popular modern-rock troupe is ready to unveil its third studio album of new material. "Day & Age" follows 2004's "Hot Fuss" and 2006's "Sam's Town," as well as last year's collection of studio outtakes and b-sides "Sawdust."

The Killers collaborated with Scottish electronic-music whiz Stuart Price (Madonna, Missy Elliot) on "Day & Age." The first single from the album is the tune "Human."

The group has a few performances lined up for December, but it plans to wait until the new year to really start supporting "Day & Age" on the road. The band's 14-city headlining trek is set to kick off Jan. 17 in Denver, CO.

* * *
Barry Manilow "The Greatest Songs of the Eighties" (Arista)

The popular crooner releases the fourth installment in his decade-specific series. "The Greatest Songs of the Eighties" features Manilow covering 12 smash hits from the '80s, including Journey's "Open Arms," the Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton number "Island in the Stream" (performed as a duet with Reba McEntire), Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You" and Phil Collins' "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)"

* * *
Ludacris "Theater of the Mind" (Island Def Jam)

"Theater of the Mind," which follows 2006's "Release Therapy," features a bevy of guest stars, including Lil Wayne, Jamie Foxx, The Game, T.I., Chris Brown, Nas, Jay-Z, Chris Rock, Common, T-Pain and Spike Lee. Besides recording the album, Ludacris remains busy with other projects--notably, he stars in the recent films "Max Payne" and "RocknRolla."

* * *
More new releases:
Jon Anderson, "3 Ships: 22nd Anniversary Edition" (Opio)
Jeff Beck, "Performing this Week...Live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club" (Eagle)
Rivers Cuomo, "Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo" (Geffen)
Doris Day, "Christmas" (Collector's Choice)
Fireman, "Electric Arguments" (ATO)
Hall & Oates, "Live at the Troubadour" (Shout)
Linkin Park, "Road to Revolution: Live at Milton Keynes" (Warner Bros.)
Liza Minnelli, "The Complete A&M Recordings" (Collector's Choice)
Paramore, "The Final Riot!" (Fueled by Ramen)
R.E.M., "Murmur: Deluxe Edition" (A&M)
Return to Forever, "Returns" (Eagle)
White Zombie, "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" (Geffen)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Gears of War 2" (Sumthing Else)
"13" (Ghostlight)

McCartney laments snags in Beatles' iTunes talks

LONDON (Billboard) – The Beatles' back catalog won't be appearing on iTunes anytime soon, according to Paul McCartney.

Speaking at a media launch Monday in London for the new album by his side project the Fireman, "Electric Arguments," McCartney said that Apple Corp. and the band's label EMI could not agree on terms to release the Beatles' catalog to iTunes and other download services.

"That is constantly being talked of -- we'd like to do it," McCartney said. "What happens is, when something's as big as the Beatles, it's heavy negotiations."

He added: "We are very for it; we've been pushing it. But there are a couple of sticking points, I understand. So the last word I got back was that it had stalled, the whole process.

"(EMI executives) want something we're not prepared to give them. Hey, sounds like the music business.

"It's between EMI and the Beatles -- what else is new."

"Arguments" is the third album released by McCartney under the Fireman alias with collaborator Youth, and it is the first with vocals. It was released on the indie label One Little Indian in the U.K. on Monday, and it is set to be released Tuesday in the U.S. on ATO/Red.

McCartney, who broke with EMI to release his solo album "Memory Almost Full" on Starbucks' Hear Music label in June 2007, said he was glad he left the major.

"I think the majors at the moment, I'm not dissing them, but I don't think they really know what's going on," he said, speaking at the Fire Station pub in London's Waterloo district. "With the download culture, they are floundering a little bit."

He added: "I think I was right at that time because right after that EMI got sold, so I would have been in the middle of a sale situation.

"The other thing is, they've got so many people on their books -- like it or not, you're just one of them. It's not a great situation; you like to feel like you're among friends, so that was why I ended up going independent. And this time it's kind of even more indie."

Asked by Billboard about going up against Guns N' Roses' first release in more than 17 years, "Chinese Democracy," McCartney said: "I never look at who we're in competition with. I don't really feel in competition with anyone, particularly with the Fireman. It's one of those projects -- it's not like you're releasing as Coldplay, or Guns N' Roses, for that matter. I wish them good luck with it because it's been a long time coming."

McCartney also criticized reality TV shows like the U.K.'s "The X Factor," describing them as a "phase we're going through."

"I'm not keen on it, but I watch it like everybody else," he said, adding that such shows are "compulsive viewing -- but so is a traffic accident."

China state media blast new Guns N' Roses album

BEIJING – A newspaper published by China's ruling Communist Party is blasting the latest Guns N' Roses album as an attack on the Chinese nation.

Delayed since recording began in 1994, "Chinese Democracy" hit stores in the U.S. on Sunday, although it is unlikely to be sold legally in China, where censors maintain tight control over films, music and publications.

In an article Monday headlined "American band releases album venomously attacking China," the Global Times said unidentified Chinese Internet users had described the album as part of a plot by some in the West to "grasp and control the world using democracy as a pawn."

The album "turns its spear point on China," the article said.

China's Foreign Ministry did not respond to faxed questions about the article, although a spokesman speaking on routine condition of anonymity said: "We don't need to comment on that."

Spokesmen for the Culture Ministry and State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, government bodies that regulate album releases and performances, could not be reached for comment.

The Global Times article referred only to the title of the album and not to specific song lyrics. The record's title track makes a reference to the Falun Gong meditation movement that was banned by China as an "evil cult" and warns "if your Great Wall rocks blame yourself," in an apparent message to the country's authoritarian government.

Songs from the album could be heard on Internet sites such as YouTube and the band's MySpace page on Monday and it was not immediately possible to tell whether China's Internet monitors were seeking to block access to it.

Monitors use content filters that highlight and sometimes block messages containing words such as democracy. That prompted some Internet users to combine English and Chinese characters in their postings about the album to skirt such monitoring.

China approves only limited numbers of foreign films and recordings for distribution each year, partly due to political concerns but also to protect domestic producers.

Live performances are also closely regulated, with bands forced to submit set lists beforehand. The Rolling Stones were asked not to play several songs with suggestive lyrics during their 2006 China debut, including "Brown Sugar," "Honky Tonk Woman," "Beast of Burden" and "Let's Spend the Night Together."

Earlier this year, bandleader Harry Connick Jr. was forced to make last-minute changes to his show in Shanghai because an old song list was mistakenly submitted to Chinese authorities to secure the performance permit for the concert. Authorities insisted he play the songs on the original list, even though his band did not have the music for them.

That came just a week after Icelandic singer Bjork embarrassed authorities by shouting "Tibet!" at the end of a Shanghai concert, prompting stricter vetting of foreign performers.

Despite such restrictions, computer file sharing and pirating of DVDs, computer games and music CDs is rampant in China, meaning that much banned material is available through alternative channels.

Thanks for the memories, Wendel

Wendel Clark provided Maple Leafs fans with many reasons to cheer, but here is The Toronto Sun's top-10 list:

- The wild applause at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre when Clark put on the Leafs jersey on draft day 1985. The Leafs had finished last overall the year before and there was an immediate sense that this Saskatchewan farm boy was something special.

"When he put the sweater on, a few thousand people suddenly sounded like 20,000," assistant GM Gord Stellick said. "It told you a lot about Leaf fans, that they'd take to Wendel like that after the year we'd had."

- Clark's homespun take on a wild brawl with the Detroit Red Wings in his rookie year: "Just like a bar in Kelvington on a Saturday night."

- His check that flattened Bruce Bell of the Quebec Nordiques.

- How he dealt with a persistent reporter who kept asking why he wouldn't fight distant cousin Joey Kocur of the Wings. After the reporter's 10th attempt, Clark brought the conversation to an abrupt end by saying "would you like me to fight you?"

- The famous video of him strolling in front of the Gardens with his mullet and rural wardrobe.

"He was part of this city, like Toronto's son," Tie Domi said. "You saw him grow up, you saw him go away (twice), but you always knew he would come back."

- How you knew he was going to shoot, even on a 3-on-0.

- He took on all comers, from John Kordic to Slava Fetisov to Marty McSorley.

"He was 5-foot-10 but played like he was 6-foot-3," Steve Thomas said. "It showed the heart he had."

- The strong relationship with his parents, Les and Alma, who drove hours and hours to see him play in Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg and the Western U.S. Les had the greatest hockey influence, but Wendel never forgot his mother's role.

"It's because of my mother's sacrifices that I'm in the NHL," Clark once said.

When Wendel took a shine to playing the saxophone in high school, Alma agreed to pay for lessons, but only if he saw them through and didn't cut hockey practice.

- The standing ovation he received for hitting the post in a 2000 playoff game against the Devils.

- His tearful 2000 retirement at the ACC: "This will bring closure," Clark said in front of friends and family. "I started as a Leaf and now I can end as a Leaf. No matter where I've played, this always has been like home."

The Road To Oz

Hugh Jackman: Sexiest Man Alive. Wolverine. Third wheel?

The newly-titled actor recalls a twinge of concern when he signed on to play a lowbrow cowboy in the ambitious Baz Luhrmann epic "Australia." Mostly because he was starring opposite Baz's BFF, Nicole Kidman.

"I've heard Nicole describe Baz as her creative soulmate," says Jackman, looking not-at-all lowbrow (but still superlatively sexy) while snacking on raspberries and melon in a posh Midtown lounge. He wondered whether he'd be intruding on the Kidman-Luhrmann partnership, which began with the Australian director's lush 2001 musical "Moulin Rouge."

"The moment we started shooting, though, I felt like it was the three of us," Jackman says. "It was always inclusive, and that expanded to the entire cast."

No one puts Hugh in a corner! Least of all Luhrmann, who says Jackman was the very embodiment of that "rough-hewn" type missing in today's movies, Daniel Craig notwithstanding. (Though, truth be told, not even Jackman seems to know what rough-hewnness entails, exactly, or how it might surpass the brawniness of his "X-Men" character. "I've got a beard in this one," he offers.)

"I think audiences will be surprised by Hugh Jackman in this film," says Luhrmann. "He really easily assumes that classic movie style of Clint Eastwood or John Wayne."

Indeed, he squints like a champ, rides horses and looks good in a silhouetted clinch against a blood-orange sunset background. It's all part of Luhrmann's master plan to resurrect the old-school epic.

"The music must be sweeping!" the director says grandly. "The drama must be intense! You have high comedy, and then you have romance and action. These days, it's either or. But this film has all of them. It's a banquet."

It's also a big, expensive gamble. With budget estimates ranging from $130 million (the official version) to $200 million (the detractors'), "Australia" is crossing its fingers that audiences will clamor for an unapologetically heartfelt saga that owes more than a small debt to oldies like "Out of Africa," "Gone with the Wind" and "The African Queen." Especially "Out of Africa." (See sidebar.)

Out Friday, the film's set during World War II and is based around a relatively little known historical event: the bombing of the city of Darwin by the Japanese.

Nicole Kidman's Lady Sarah Ashley, just arrived from London, has found her husband dead and herself the proprietor of an enormous middle-of-nowhere cattle farm called Faraway Downs. Jackman's character, known only as The Drover, is the archetypal hot, reluctant hero - a mercenary who finds himself unwittingly drawn to the initially bitchy heroine he's agreed to help out of an impossible situation.

So, does Luhrmann's movie fit the requirements of a true epic? Let us count the ways.

The story of "Australia," Luhrmann's first film since 2001's "Moulin Rouge," is itself epic. He'd already been thinking gargantuan for years, planning a spectacle about Alexander the Great starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kidman. Then he found out Oliver Stone was working on one, too.

Luhrmann changed tack and began researching the history of his native country. Which involved spending quality time in the Aussie countryside he refers to fondly as "the faraway of the faraway."

Once written, the project went through several casting changes. Kidman was attached from the beginning, but Russell Crowe was initially slated to play the Drover. When his demands about script approval became problematic, he was out and Jackman was in (with a reported brief period of consideration for Heath Ledger).

The story contains many chapters, most of them on a grand scale involving explosions, animal herds or extreme weather. Its running time is appropriately lengthy at two hours and 40 minutes. And - this is absolutely key - it was shot on location in the middle of a forbidding landscape that would inevitably be problematic for the cast and crew.

Despite the fact that the director and his stars were all in their home country, none had ever spent any time in the sort of remote terrain in which they'd be shooting.

"I've seen far more of this country during the making of this film than I had in the 30 years that I lived here," Kidman says. "Even though it was extremely difficult at times, I'm so glad we traveled and filmed in those locations. To feel the air and be ravished by the elements was exquisite and necessary."

Luhrmann concurs. "When you're making a sweeping epic, you expect all sorts of challenges," he says. "Equine flu? Raining for the first time in 100 years? That's just normal stuff."

He's not exaggerating about the rain. "We were in the middle of the dry season, and they had so much rain - the last recorded rainfall that was anything like it was 100 years ago, and that was half what we got!" says Jackman.

And then there was the horse flu. "The moment equine flu hit, everyone freaked out," Jackman says. "The government immediately put out a quarantine. And we're in the middle of shooting a movie about horses. So we had 300 horses that were not allowed to move 5 yards."

There are so very many pitfalls involved in shooting an epic, one almost begins to suspect people of making them just for the anecdotes. (After all, a wild tale of a near-escape from wildlife in the outback sure beats recounting your latest foray into Studio City.)

"At night, we'd shine a light into the river and you could see all the crocodiles. It was infested with crocodiles," Jackman recounts, a little nostalgically. "We were up on a hill, and they told me crocs rarely go up the hill. But Baz was camping down by the bottom of the river."

"We kid each other about who had the most threatening crocodile story," says Luhrmann, who'd insisted on camping the entire time the film was shooting.

Luhrman's movie has been one long cavalcade of challenges - and in that respect, it can count itself in the ranks of all the epics which Luhrmann freely cites as influences.

When David Lean made "Lawrence of Arabia," his star was nearly trampled to death by a camel. "Gone with the Wind" went through three different directors. Meryl Streep, on the set of "Out of Africa," had to contend with territorial hippopotami, lions on the loose and a beetle as big as her hand.

And nearly everyone on the set of "The African Queen" got sick, except for Humphrey Bogart, who claimed it was because he subsisted on Scotch.

Luhrmann's shoot was plagued with sickness of a different sort: the morning kind. An astonishing six crew members, plus Kidman herself, found out they were pregnant during the seven-month shoot. Local aboriginal waters were cited as the reason for the fertility - though, one might note, there also wasn't much else out there in the way of nightlife.

The rockiest territory of all may have been the film's Aboriginal-oppression theme. "I think you can't really tell a story about Australia without handling the first inhabitants of our country," says Jackman. "They've been there for 40,000 years. We've been there for 200."

The film's youngest star is Brandon Walters, who plays a "half-caste" boy - half-Aboriginal, half-white - in danger of being rounded up and shipped off for cultural "retraining" by whites. This dark chapter in the country's history is known as the Stolen Generations.

"This was a big scar on the history of our country," says Luhrmann, who says he isn't taking any overt political stance. "The film doesn't purport to say it's right or wrong. It just says it happened."

In early reviews, the director's handling of the Aboriginal issue has been largely praised, with Walters even garnering some Oscar buzz.

But a larger question remains: Do American audiences really care? Some are speculating the movie will be a bomb. (Although, famously, Gary Cooper said the same thing about "Gone with the Wind," predicting it would be "the biggest flop in Hollywood history.")

"There's a reason people don't make movies like this anymore," says Jackman. "They're hard to do. God knows, they may never make them again - not like this, anyway."

The naysayers are nothing new for Luhrmann, of course. When he made "Strictly Ballroom," they said nobody wanted to see a high-concept dancing movie. When he released "Moulin Rouge," they said the movie musical would never make a comeback.

And when he pitched the idea for "Australia," they said nobody makes movies this way anymore. Luhrmann had a one-word response for his detractors: Tara.

"I'll go back to Tara. I'll go home," he says, paraphrasing the final lines of "Gone With the Wind." "It means, ultimately what matters is that you're with people who you'll love and who love you. It means that life continues on. That's the big message of my film. And I think people are absolutely famished for it. I wouldn't have said that until I saw how intensely the audience reacted."

The audience he's referring to is the crowd at "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which was recently treated to an advance viewing of a rough cut of the film (when The Post spoke to the director last week, he still wasn't done editing).

But rumors began shortly after that screening that Luhrmann had been pressured by the studio - and negative test-audience reactions - into re-cutting the film's end into a happier conclusion. Which Luhrmann has denied repeatedly, if vaguely.

"I wrote about four endings, and I shot two," he says, "and I'll tell you something - the ending was actually a surprise, even to me, because it was really a response to what I was feeling as I edited it."

Jackman, who at the time of the interview had not seen the film, thinks people ought to give Luhrmann the benefit of the doubt.

"I think it's redundant, and a little unfair, to talk about what could have been until people have seen it," he says. "Because it's a work of fiction. So there's always options. People should just see it straight out. They shouldn't see it thinking, 'Oh, I heard there was going to be this other ending.'

"Whatever he chooses," he says, "I'm sure it will be the right thing."

First Twilight Sequel Announced

All it took was one big Box Office day for Summit Entertainment to officially commit to more Twilight. They’re so excited, they came into work on a Saturday to email the media and let us know that they are officially moving forward on the sequel, based on the second book in Stephanie Meyer’s vampire series. It’s called New Moon and there’s no way to keep it from rising.

This isn’t exactly a surprise. A few weeks ago the company locked up the movie’s screenwriter, Melissa Rosenberg to start working on scripts for New Moon and the other inevitable sequels to follow. Now, even though she probably hasn’t finished the script, the whole thing has a big, screaming, green light. Twilight made $35 million just on its opening day domestically. It only cost $37 million to make so even if no one shows up to see it on Saturday and Sunday they’ve already pretty much turned a profit. For a relatively new, smallish studio like Summit, this is a really big deal.

From what we’ve heard, it’s likely the same old cast will return. Twilight may make them a hot commodity, but before it it’s not like Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were in big demand. They owe them.

Everyone who hasn't been brainwashed by the books seems to agree that this is a very poorly done movie, which makes this sequel news particularly depressing for lovers of good film, while at the same time presumably the best thing ever to all of the women who came squealing out of midnight screenings on Tuesday. The silver lining here is that since the first movie has made so much money, the second one will almost certainly have a bigger budget. Maybe that won't help the script any, but some halfway decent special effects couldn't hurt.

Below I’ve posted the full, official press release from Summit announcing New Moon. You fangless Twilight fans may want to frame it or something. Non-fans should probably print it out and burn the thing in effigy. You’ve just been sentenced to spend the rest of this decade Meyered in emo vampire emotion porn.

SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES TWILIGHT SEQUEL – NEW MOON

Los Angeles, CA November 22, 2008 – Summit Entertainment announced today that the studio is officially moving forward with the production of NEW MOON, the second installment of its filmed franchise TWILIGHT, the action-packed, modern day vampire love story. The movie will be based on the second novel in author Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series titled, New Moon. The first movie in the TWILIGHT franchise, the self-titled TWILIGHT, arrived in theaters this weekend to sold-out showings.

Stephenie Meyer stated, "I don't think any other author has had a more positive experience with the makers of her movie adaptation than I have had with Summit Entertainment. I'm thrilled to have the chance to work with them again on NEW MOON."

Starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, TWILIGHT tells the story of 17-year-old Bella Swan who moves to the small town of Forks, Washington to live with her father, and becomes drawn to Edward Cullen, a pale, mysterious classmate who seems determined to push her away. But neither can deny the attraction that pulls them together…even when Edward confides that he and his family are vampires. Their unorthodox romance puts her in physical danger when Edward’s nemesis comes to town and sets his sights on Bella.

About Summit Entertainment, LLC

Summit Entertainment, LLC is a worldwide theatrical motion picture development, financing, production and distribution studio. The studio handles all aspects of marketing and distribution for both its own internally developed motion pictures as well as acquired pictures. Summit Entertainment, LLC also represents international sales for both its own slate and third party product. Summit Entertainment, LLC plans to release 10 to 12 films annually.

No Doubt Regrouping For Tour, Album

No Doubt will return to the road in 2009 while it finishes its first studio album in seven years. The group made the announcement via an instant message transcript posted on its official Web site, but did not provide specific details.

"I have cabin fever. Maybe we should play some shows or something," guitarist Tom Dumont wrote. Vocalist Gwen Stefani answered, "I think we should go out now. I don't think we should wait. Pack up the babies and get a bunch of nannies. So fun! Would be so inspiring to get out there and play all those songs again."

The group then discusses how continuing to write new music on the road would be inspiring, and vows to alert management to its plans.

No Doubt has been in the studio on and off throughout 2008. But Stefani's participation has been limited of late, having given birth to her second son in late August.

The group hasn't played live since mid-2004, and its last studio album was 2001's "Rock Steady." Since then, Stefani has released two critically acclaimed solo albums, while the other group members have pursued solo and session work as well as producing. Most recently, they appear on Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland's solo album, "'Happy' in Galoshes."

DVR usage making big changes in television viewing

NEW YORK (AP) — Figuring out a prime-time schedule is usually one of CW network chief Dawn Ostroff's most important duties. Never, however, has it seemed to matter less.

The promise inherent in digital video recorders — that viewers can be in control of their own TV schedules — is rapidly being fulfilled this fall, and the business is changing around it. Nearly 30% of the nation's TV homes have at least one.

Nowhere is the impact more apparent than at the CW, where recording the shows and watching them later account for nearly 17% of the network's viewership over a one-week period. Two years ago, it was less than 5%, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The time-shifting is more dramatic for individual shows. The CW even had a week where the audience of 18-to-34-year-old women for 90210 increased by a stunning 79% over the live broadcast.

Viewing for ABC, CBS and NBC programs are all more than 10% time-shifted now, too. Fox's programming is only 8% time-shifted this fall, in large part because it has shown postseason baseball, which very few people watch later.

"More and more people are changing the way they consume television," said Alan Wurtzel, NBC's chief research executive. "In the next few years, we will rewrite all the rules."

The most time-shifted show is NBC's The Office, where 28% of its audience watched it sometime other than Thursdays at 9 p.m, Nielsen said. Action shows and serialized dramas, like Fringe,Heroes and Grey's Anatomy, have big time-shifted audiences. Not surprisingly, young people are the quickest to adapt to new technology.

Among the least time-shifted shows this fall were Deal or No Deal,60 Minutes and King of the Hill.

With The Office, time-shifting has kept alive a show that might otherwise be dead. The comedy has the week's toughest time slot, competing directly against CBS' more popular CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and ABC's Grey's Anatomy.

The flip side is that DVRs make it harder for new shows like NBC's just-canceled My Own Worst Enemy to get established. Given the choice of trying something new or watching a recorded version of a favorite show, the DVR usually wins out.

"I call the DVR our frien-emy," Wurtzel said.

Time-shifting has played a prominent part in the decline of the 10 p.m. time slot, where a powerhouse like NBC's ER ruled television not too long ago. Only three of Nielsen's top 20 prime-time shows a week ago started at that hour, all of them on CBS.

Many viewers are recording shows from 8 or 9 p.m. and watching them later, after dinner or when the kids go to bed, instead of what's on live at 10 p.m. This phenomenon hurts late-night programming, too.

"The biggest single competitor to network programming in any time slot now is (pre-recorded) network programming," said David Poltrack, chief researcher at CBS.

Networks will likely continue to concentrate their top shows in an earlier hour. Some executives can even see a day when networks stop putting high-cost scripted series at 10 p.m. altogether, although there's pressure from local stations to provide strong lead-ins to their late-night news shows.

There was a time, not too long ago, when network executives slept with laptops or fax machines by their beds so they could rise before dawn to check the previous night's ratings.

Now, Ostroff said, "it's a system that's no longer relevant."

She got a peek at the new TV world last spring. CW executives were getting an anecdotal sense that Gossip Girl was catching on, even though it wasn't reflected in the overnight ratings. It had a big DVR pickup, and many young fans watched free video streams. The CW briefly stopped streaming the show in order to increase the TV ratings, but fans quickly found illegal versions online, so CW streamed again.

The problem: the CW isn't earning as much from the show as it should, considering how many people are watching it.

"We've got to figure out a way to monetize this content being consumed," Ostroff said.

The networks' weekly ratings scorecard, a traditional psychic barometer, also means less. It's based on live viewing, plus playbacks within 24 hours. One recent week the broadcast networks were down 10% from the previous year — an alarming sign of failure on its face — but add in a week's worth of time-shifters and the decline was only 3%, Poltrack said.

Asked whether the increased time-shifting helped the networks, Fox chief scheduler Preston Beckman was as ambivalent as Wurtzel.

"It's a little of both," he said. It's always encouraging that viewers watch the shows, whenever they do it. But advertising rates are calculated based on people who watch a show within three days of its original airing. So if you tape House on Tuesday to watch Saturday night, Fox gets nothing for it.

He worries that the ease of DVRs may get people out of the habit of watching their favorite shows. First, they don't have to worry about being at the TV at a certain hour because their shows are being recorded. Then they forget to watch the playback. Before you know it, they've stopped seeing the shows regularly.

It isn't simply more houses getting DVRs that is making a difference these days, it's houses getting their second or third DVRs, the experts said.

CBS' Poltrack believes that DVR usage will continue to grow until the machines are in about half of the nation's homes with TVs. He expects the technology to become obsolete soon after that, because more people will have televisions and computers working together to give them even more freedom to program their personal networks.

"We basically have reached the point now where everyone realizes that it's in everyone's best interests to make popular programming available so people can watch it any time they want to watch it," he said.

'Controversial' George Harrison interview comes to light

An illuminating interview with the late Beatles guitarist George Harrison has been unveiled after 40 years in storage.

Journalist Miranda Ward, a Beatles friend at the time, recorded the interview in 1967 on reel-to-reel tapes.

Film director David Lambert told BBC News he heard the recordings as part of his research for his movie, The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour Memories. Lambert uses a small portion of the interview in the film.

"He goes on to talk about the drink culture of Great Britain, which in 1967, from how he describes it, seems exactly as it is today," Lambert said.

"He talks about use of drugs and how certain politicians tend to rule the world and rule our lives."

Lambert described the interview as "pretty controversial" but refused to divulge details.

"He covers all aspects of things, the Eastern mysticism, he was very involved at the time with the Maharishi [Mahesh Yogi]."

Expands on views

Lambert said Harrison, who died of cancer in 2001, expands on his own views about life and philosophy.

"I think you'll actually look at George and think, 'The guy really is talking a lot of sense and people should have listened possibly at the time.'

"He wasn't one to talk about these things. If you listened to it, you would fully expect someone like John [Lennon] to be doing the interview."

Lambert said he believes the full recording will come to light soon. He said movie director Martin Scorsese has expressed interest in the reel-to-reels. Scorsese announced in 2007 he was making a film about Harrison.

Harrison embarked on a successful solo career after the Beatles broke up at the end of the 1960s. The hits he wrote and sang include Here Comes the Sun, Something, While My Guitar Gently Weeps and My Sweet Lord.

'Twilight' takes $70.6M bite out of box office

LOS ANGELES – The vampire romance "Twilight" drained the box office in its opening weekend, taking in $70.6 million. Catherine Hardwicke's film also enjoyed the biggest opening ever for a female director, blowing away the previous standard of $41.1 million set by Mimi Leder's "Deep Impact" in 1998.

Drawing from its huge fan base of teenage girls, who fell for Stephenie Meyer's novel of forbidden love between brooding vampire Edward Cullen and bookish high schooler Bella Swan, "Twilight" made a whopping $20,636 per theater, according to Sunday morning estimates.

And the fangirls will get another taste soon enough: Summit Entertainment, which released "Twilight," announced during the weekend that it's going ahead with production of "New Moon," based on the second book in Meyer's internationally best-selling series. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart will return as its star-crossed lovers, but whether Hardwicke will be at the helm again is still being determined.

The laid-back Hardwicke, who went bodyboarding at sunset Saturday to take her mind off this high-pressure weekend, said Sunday morning that she was heading to a meeting later in the day to discuss her possible involvement in "New Moon."

"I want to be sure that it's going to be done right. I don't want to rush into it," she said. "It's not like `Friday the 13th' or `Halloween,' you can't just do it super fast and knock another one out. I want to understand their plans and all that."
Hardwicke, whose previous films include "Thirteen" and "Lords of Dogtown," also said she was thrilled about the prospect that the success of "Twilight" will inspire other women and young girls to pursue a career in filmmaking.

"I hope not just women but all minorities get enthused and encouraged by it. I look at the (Directors Guild of America) calendar, at the pictures of everyone that had different movies each month, and it's usually 22-29 different directors, and almost every month there's one female and maybe one minority," she said. "We've been having a lot of events, talking to a lot of fans, and so many kids of course are madly in love with Robert but tons of kids of every kind (and) girls are coming up to me and saying `I want to direct now, I'm writing a screenplay now, you're my inspiration.' I think it's great that people are getting excited."

The big opening for "Twilight" also helps put Summit Entertainment on the map, said Richie Say, the company's president of domestic distribution. Summit has only been around since April 2007 and "Twilight," its sixth release, cost just $37 million to make.

"It certainly says what we've been saying all along, that we can do more with less," he said. When Warner Bros. pushed "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" from this weekend to a July 2009 debut, and Summit jumped to move "Twilight" from Dec. 12 into that spot on the schedule, "that decision was made in a day. I don't know that the major studios have that ability."

The tremendous take for "Twilight" far exceeded expectations, which had been set around $50 million.

"Teen girls rule the earth," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. "If you look back at the `Hannah Montana' movie, how well that did, and now this movie, the teen girl audience will never be ignored again or underestimated. It was always teen boys who were the coveted ones, but someone finally caught on to the idea that girls love movies, too, and if you create something that they're into, that they're passionate about, they will come out in big numbers and drive the box office."

The other major debut of the weekend, Walt Disney's 3-D animated "Bolt," made $27 million to take third place. Featuring the voices of John Travolta and Miley Cyrus, "Bolt" follows the cross-country journey of a dog who plays a superhero on television, but sadly realizes he has no magical powers once he gets separated from his "person."

Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution, said "Twilight" took a bite out of everyone's box office this weekend. If the vampire saga hadn't been around, Viane said, Disney would have expected an opening of at least $30 million.

"Obviously we believe in the Thanksgiving holiday in a big, big way," he said. "We've always viewed this as one of those 10-day marathons between opening day and the end of the Thanksgiving weekend."

Last weekend's No. 1 movie, "Quantum of Solace," came in second with $27.4 million. The latest James Bond extravaganza has now grossed $109.5 million, and it crossed the $100 million mark faster than any other film in the franchise, said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. It's also made $309 million internationally.

"We're in great shape. We're way ahead of where we were with `Casino Royale,'" said Bruer, referring to the last Bond picture, which also starred Daniel Craig as a more visceral incarnation of 007.

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. "Twilight," $70.5 million.
2. "Quantum of Solace," $27.4 million.
3. "Bolt," $27 million.
4. "Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa," $16 million.
5. "Role Models." $7.2 million.
6. "Changeling," $2.6 million.
7. "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," $2 million.
8. "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," $1.7 million.
9. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," $1.67 million.
10. "The Secret Life of Bees," $1.28 million.

Vatican: Beatles music better than today's songs

VATICAN CITY – Vatican media are praising the Beatles' musical legacy and sounding philosophical about John Lennon's boast that the British band was more popular than Jesus.

Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano recalls that Lennon's comment outraged many when he made it in 1966.

But it says in its Saturday edition that the remark can be written off now as the bragging of a young man wrestling with unexpected success.

The newspaper as well as Vatican Radio last week noted the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' "White Album."

It said the album demonstrated how creative the Beatles were, compared with what it called the "standardized, stereotypical" songs being produced today.

The Couch Potato Report - November 22nd, 2008

This week The Couch Potato Report peels a film with a maple flavour, a tremendous animated film, and a Blu band of brothers.

As you may already know, each week, this Report is the only place you can go to hear about the latest Canadian films and films starring Canadian actors on DVD.

Sure, I am boasting when I say that...but I also say it with a lot of pride. I might not always like the films made here in our home and native land, but I will always support them, watch them and give you my honest feelings and opinions about them.

Such was the case back in December of 2006 when I reviewed a film that was made in and around Toronto called SIDEKICK.

I concluded my comments that week by saying:

"SIDEKICK is - and looks - low budget, and that is part of it's charm. At one point there is actually scene where there is dirt on the lens. It isn't great, but with low expectations, you might enjoy SIDEKICK. I know I did."

And now the folks who made that film are back with something new...a documentary called MAPLE FLAVOUR FILMS.

This is a movie that I not only liked, but I think all film lovers should see, just so everyone can see the sorry state of the Canadian film industry firsthand.

SIDEKICK's writer, producer and several other members of the cast and crew drive across Canada with their movie trying to find an audience and a distributor.

As they show their film, they also spend time talking with people about our nation's film industry.

Now I'll be honest with you, I didn't see MAPLE FLAVOUR FILMS in a theatre, and I didn't even see it the first time in my house on a DVD. Nope, I first saw it when I was on a plane this summer, and it is the type of movie that most people might not ever hear of, unless someone tells them about it.

And on this day, that someone is me!

The simple truth here is that the Canadian film industry has it easy. There are very few laws and rules it must follow when it comes to showing Canadian films.

The Investment Canada Act requires Canadian content and ads in foreign magazines sold here, and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ensures that Canadian radio and television broadcasters must air a certain percentage of content that was at least partly written, produced, presented, or otherwise contributed to by persons from Canada.

Yet - somehow, theatre owners are not required to show our nation's films on their screens.

In addition to the road trip Sparaga and his crew take to show SIDEKICK to people, MAPLE FLAVOUR FILMS also features Canadian studio heads and distributors discussing the state of the film industry in our country, and giving their opinions on why it is so hard to get a film like SIDEKICK into our theatres.

I highly recommend MAPLE FLAVOUR FILMS because it is a thought provoking documentary, but it isn't a release that is going to be available everywhere.

But you can buy it online, or ask your local library to get it. For more details on how to do that, just go to www.cbc.ca/saskweekend and look under LINKS.

And stay tuned to Saskatchewan Weekend for ongoing coverage of the Canadian Film Industry and Canadian films...after all, Canada Lives Here.

Now, in addition to Canadian films, I also shine the spotlight on some other notable releases each week, and on this Saturday morning, THE most notable non-Canadian film of the week is the spectacular Pixar film WALL*E!!

WALL*E is the latest film from the Pixar Animation Studio, the same folks who also gave us Toy Story 1 & 2, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, and Ratatouille, and for me, just seeing the name Pixar on a film is enough to recommend it...but once you see their films there is many other reasons, and WALL*E is no exception!!

The Pixar winning streak continues!!!

WALL*E takes place in the distant future, where a small waste collecting robot who is a Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-class, meets a robot named Eve and accidentally embarks on a space journey that may ultimately decide the fate of mankind.

WALL*E is magical, beautiful, fantastic and it is one of my favourite films of 2008!! The love story is very sweet, the animation spectacular, and there are some great inside jokes hidden in it as well!!

WALL*E is a modern day classic that I highly recommend.

And if you want to see some classics from the 1950s and sixties that I also highly recommend there are three new releases this week in the superb WALT DISNEY TREASURES collection.

The WALT DISNEY TREASURES are two-disc DVD sets of classic Disney works, covering work from the studio's earliest days to more recent work and this time out the studio has released DR. SYN: THE SCARECROW OF ROMNEY MARSH, which originally ran on TV Show "World of Disney" in 1963; THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB PRESENTS ANNETTE, yes the world's most popular Mousekateer stars in her own series from the 1957-1958 Season, and then there is THE CHRONOLOGICAL DONALD, VOLUME 4 with cartoons from the years 1951-1961.

All three of these releases come in collector's tins, and there numbers are very limited, so if you remember these shows and caroons from your childhood, don't miss your chance to own them!!

And the great bonus features and behind-the-scenes footage and retrospectives that they include. This is good stuff!!

Up next this week is the summer action film HELLBOY 2 - THE GOLDEN ARMY.

Directed by Guillermo del Toro, the man who gave us the Oscar winning film PAN'S LABYRINTH, this second film in Big Red's transition from comics to the silver screen isn't as great as the first one, but del Toro's work is always so visually interesting that I am prepared to sit through whatever he does!!

In THE GOLDEN ARMY the mythical world starts a rebellion against humanity in order to rule the Earth, so Hellboy and his team must save the world once again.

Simply put, if you liked the original film, or like most films based on comic book characters, you will enjoy this one too.

If you have never heard of the character, and don't like comic book action films, then you should probably skip it.

Finally this week is a new feature here on the report - the BLU RAY BEACON.

Blu-ray is the next step in DVDs and the disc itself has the same physical dimensions as standard DVDs and CDs.

Plus, a two-layer Blu-ray Disc can store almost six times the capacity of a two-layer DVD, or ten times that of a single-layer DVD.

That extra space allows these films to have superior quality over regular DVDs and gives the filmmakers and studios the chance to include more Special Features and material that isn't possible on DVD.

So each week for the next little while, as the format continues to take off, and the number of films available in Blu-ray increases, I will spotlight one new release each week, and share more information about the format, in this forum - The BLU-RAY BEACON.

Up first is the spectacular Blu-ray version of the HBO war series BAND OF BROTHERS.

BAND OF BROTHERS is a superbly done ten-part television World War II mini-series based on the book of the same title written by historian and biographer Stephen Ambrose.

Co-produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks it centers on the experiences of "Easy Company" of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, from their basic training through the airborne landings in Normandy and on to the end of the war.

The DVD set debuted in November of 2002 and it has a wealth of special features, which are all on this new release, and exclusive to the Blu-ray Box Set is an interactive field guide with timelines and maps that takes you in the field through onscreen text with the real men of Easy Company, and a picture in picture commentary from the actual veterans that appears from time to time during the action.

The BLU-RAY BEACON this week shines on BAND OF BROTHERS, a great series that is available now - for the first time - in a spectacular 6 disc Blu-Ray Box Set.

It is also out on DVD, along with the visually interesting sequel HELLBOY 2 - THE GOLDEN ARMY, the fun WALT DISNEY TREASURES releases THE CHRONOLOGICAL DONALD, VOLUME 4 - 1951-1961, THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB PRESENTS ANNETTE - 1957-1958 Season and DR. SYN: THE SCARECROW OF ROMNEY MARSH, the spectacular Pixar film WALL*E, that is great for all ages, and the eye opening Canadian documentary MAPLE FLAVOUR FILMS.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

I will tell you about the made-in-Quebec film CRUISING BAR 2, the sequel SLAP SHOT 3, GONZO - THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON, and the BLU RAY BEACON will shine on THE BBC EARTH COLLECTION.

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!

Why the Kiss-off? Simmons asks Rock Hall of Fame

Gene Simmons has a question for the Cleveland-based Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"Why isn't Kiss a member?" the frontman asked Thursday, addressing a group of music industry executives and journalists in a speech at the Billboard Touring Conference.

"There are disco bands, rap bands, Yiddish folk song bands in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but not Kiss," Simmons said. "I believe we have more gold records in America than any other group, but it's OK."

Kiss qualifies under the rule that a band has to have a track record of at least 25 years to merit a Hall of Fame nomination. Its first album was released in 1974.

The nine acts on a short list for induction in 2009 include Metallica, Run DMC and Jeff Beck. The Hall of Fame even inducted its first rap act last year.

But Kiss, an American rock band known for its pyrotechnics, blood spitting and face paint, has yet to see its name put forward.

The final five chosen will be announced in January.

Simmons's speech was filmed for an episode of his reality show Gene Simmons Family Jewels, currently in its third season on the A&E cable channel.

He said Kiss continues to be serious about performing and is planning a North American tour next year.

Simmons took a dig at the economics of the music business, saying touring is now critical to making money.

"Thank God you're the last vestiges of a dying breed, because the record industry is already dead, because we trained the people [that] they don't have to pay for stuff that they used to pay for," he said. "The record industry allowed that and people are shocked they're out of business."

CBC defends itself against report on expenses

Canada's public broadcaster says it takes the management of taxpayers' money "very seriously" and a recent report of overspending by one of its executives is largely a distortion of the truth by some of the CBC's competitors.

Timothy Casgrain, the chairman of CBC's board of directors, said the Crown corporation has taken several steps this year to strengthen transparency and the approval process for expenses incurred by staff and executives.

To that end, the travel and hospitality expenses of all senior management are posted on CBC websites. Additionally, the expenses of CBC/Radio-Canada president Hubert Lacroix, as well as Casgrain, are now subject to scrutiny by the audit committee of the CBC board of directors.

"The people who work at this corporation are mindful of the need to manage public resources responsibly in order to maximize the effectiveness of the services Canadians expect us to provide," Casgrain said.

His comments were made in a letter sent Friday to Heritage Minister James Moore, who two days earlier had sent his own letter to CBC demanding that it outline what measures were being taken by the corporation to "ensure the highest level of accountability to taxpayers."

Moore's letter came on the heels of a Sun Media report that claimed documents obtained through access to information laws showed the CBC's executive vice-president for French services, Sylvain Lafrance, claimed almost $80,000 in expenses for theatre tickets, meals and travel in 2006.

"I am sure that you are sensitive to the fact that, at a time of fiscal restraint, when Canadians are struggling to maintain their jobs and savings, this sort of reported excess does not sit well with them," Moore wrote in a letter addressed to Casgrain.

Total includes corporate expenses: Casgrain

The report, according to Casgrain, was taken out of context and paints "a totally distorted picture of the expenses of one of our most effective executives."

"Some of the items mentioned are expenses incurred by M. Lafrance in the conduct of his duties, while others are corporate expenses of French services for which he is responsible. That distinction was lost in the media reports," Casgrain wrote.

He said that while the CBC is mindful of its financial responsibility to the Canadian public, the public nature of its operations makes the corporation particularly vulnerable to attacks from its competitors.

He noted the CBC has received more than 150 access to information requests this year — far more than those received by other Crown corporations — and that the bulk of these requests have come from two sources.

CBC was added to the list of agencies subject to access to information laws after the Conservative government came into power in 2006.

Casgrain also noted that Lafrance, as well as CBC/Radio-Canada, are currently the targets of legal action initiated by Quebecor Inc., which owns the Sun newspaper chain and Le Journal de Montréal.

Lacroix sent a memo to the entire corporation Friday detailing ways the public broadcaster intends to reduce costs in light of the recent economic downturn in Canada.

Lacroix's letter says the CBC will:

Review all plans for capital expenditures to determine whether they can be deferred or cancelled.

Review all new hires on a case-by-case basis at the vice-presidential level.
Significantly reduce expenditures for travel, hospitality, overtime and in other areas.

Lacroix said that more details and guidelines will be available from CBC managers shortly.

Midseason premiere dates for 'Scrubs,' 'Practice' and 'Mars'

UPDATED: On the heels of declining to order more episodes of three dramas, ABC made a trio of midseason scheduling decisions.

-- "Scrubs" will have its ABC premiere on Tuesday, Jan. 6, at 9 p.m. ABC will run an hour of back-to-back episodes for two weeks. Then "Scrubs" will settle into as a single half hour at 9 p.m. The network hasn't announced what half-hour program will run complete the hour, though one likely option is the new Mike Judge animated comedy "The Goode Family." AICN notes Tuesdays at a 9 p.m. has significance for "Scrubs," that it's about the same slot NBC used to launch the program in 2001.

-- ABC has made official its previously reported plan for "Life on Mars" to run after "Lost" on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. "Mars" will go on hiatus next month, then join "Lost" in originals starting Jan. 28. (Update: ABC has ordered four more episodes of "Mars.") The "Mars" producers, I'm told, are pretty excited about this move. "Lost" is a lower-rated lead-in, sure, but the feeling is that "Mars" viewers have more in common with "Lost" fans than "Grey's" fans. Plus, it takes some of the pressure off -- it's no fun losing 50% of your lead-in.

-- Also as previously reported, "Private Pratice" will air after "Grey's Anatomy" -- and sooner than anybody thought. Starting Dec. 11, repeats of "Practice" will replace "Mars" after "Grey's." On Jan. 8, "Pratice" will return to originals. Sources say the plan gives "Mars" some needed additional production time and helps ensure there will be original episodes ready when "Lost" returns.

What's in a Name, When It's Bronx Mowgli Wentz?

Los Angeles (E! Online) – Did Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz really name their kid Bronx Mowgli? That has to be a joke. —Cara, Alabama

No joke. Let's put it this way: If you've ever wondered exactly how desperate stars are for publicity, look no further than Ashlee and Pete's new bundle of joy, Bronx Mowgli Wentz.

"This is really about the couple making a play for attention," baby-naming expert Pamela Redmond Satran tells me. "It's just another element of celebrities using kids as publicity."

OK, but seriously. Other than a history graced with illegal whiskey, mass arson and Fort Apache, what could have moved these people to choose Bronx? Or Mowgli? Well, there are some clues emerging from their personal lives...

For the uninitiated, the Bronx is a New York borough, and Mowgli was the name of a little boy in Disney's classic cartoon film The Jungle Book. (Bonus fact: Jungle Book author Rudyard Kipling once stated that the first syllable of Mowgli should rhyme with cow, not toe, though the latter pronunciation is more common in the U.S.)

"There was a Winnie-the-Pooh theme with her baby shower," Satran notes. "There's definitely a Disney theme going on with this couple, so that could have something to do with where the baby name came from."

Sure. That. As for Bronx, we've recently seen a slew of celebrity place names, including Savannah (Marcia Cross), Brooklyn (Victoria and David Beckham), Alabama (Drea de Matteo), and Kingston and Zuma (Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale). Zuma is a beach here in Southern California.

"That's a big trend right now, very fashionable," Satran says.

As for what the future holds for a boy with such a name, the answer is, nothing much.

"It'll probably be the same as if they named the baby Bobby," Satran says. "He'll live a life in the spotlight, playing with Brooklyn and Kingston."

Sutherland back as Bauer

Kiefer Sutherland is back as Jack Bauer this weekend and, as usual, he's surrounded by Canadians.

Jon Cassar, a native of Malta who grew up in Ottawa and is a graduate of that city's Algonquin College, has directed "24" since it went on the air in 2002. Often, he does so sporting a Toronto Maple Leafs cap.

A veteran who paid his dues in Canadian television, he is now an executive producer on "24," winning an Emmy for directing the series in 2006.

Cassar's allegiances to his homeland remain strong, notes Vancouver native Gil Bellows, who is in the new TV movie "24: Redemption" (airing Sunday at 8 p.m. on Global and Fox).

"Jon's a homer," says Bellows. "If he worked with somebody in Toronto, and he thought they were really good, he would fight for them to get a job on the show."

During the late '90s, Cassar perfected his run-and-gun, one-or-two-takes-tops shooting style on the action series "La Femme Nikita" in Toronto.

That series was produced by "24" co-creator Joel Surnow. Many of the Canadian actors who passed through "Nikita," including Alberta Watson and Carlo Rota, were later brought into the "24" mix.

Another of Cassar's past jobs was directing "Forever Knight." The star of that series, Geraint Wyn Davies, has had some face time on "24."

Cassar is still reaching across the border for Canadian talent. Colm Feore, who Cassar worked with years ago while directing episodes of "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues," plays the White House's "First Gentleman" in the TV movie and in upcoming episodes of the series.

Shooting in South Africa really energized the cast and crew, says Cassar. Gone are the computer-crammed CTU crime labs and other spy gadgets.

"It's all very low tech," he says. "We wanted it to look different. There's almost a period kind of feel to it."

At first, Cassar was against sticking to the strict, real-time format for the TV movie.

"I said to them, 'Guys, we don't really need to do this,"' he said.

The writers, however, came up with a story that worked as a real-time, two hour adventure, complete with "24"-style tension.

The story finds Bauer, devastated and alone when we last saw him on the side of a cliff at the end of the sixth season, searching the world for some answers.

"He was so disillusioned by not only what he had done with his life, but circumstances that he had been confronted with here in the States," Sutherland told reporters last July in Los Angeles .

In Africa, he stumbles across an old Special Forces buddy (played by Robert Carlyle) and throws himself into his pal's project, providing a safe haven for children caught up in war.

"There was something wonderful about beginning in South Africa , that he had actually found a kind of peace and calm there with his friend," said Sutherland.

Shooting during the African winter proved a challenge. There was only eight hours of sunlight a day, and conditions were often windy.

This didn't curtail Cassar and his breakneck shooting pace. While an entire season of "24" unfolds in sequence, with one episode always directly leading to the next, Cassar has worked out a production system allowing the cast and crew to shoot two episodes at once. The "24: Redemption" TV movie was shot and banked in a little over three weeks.

The TV movie could be a dry run for an eventual "24" theatrical release.

Cassar says it is a project he and Sutherland and fellow executive producers Surnow and Howard Shore have discussed in the past.

"Doing the series takes 10, 11 months out of my year," he says, "so there never seemed to be a way to work in a movie until the series was finished.

This year, with the writers strike forcing a full year delay in getting to a seventh season (starting Jan. 11 and 12 in a four hour block on Fox and Global), they finally had a chance.

"Now we're back talking about a feature again," says Cassar.

Sarah McLachlan, Loverboy to be honoured at Junos

Lilith Fair founder and charitable campaigner Sarah McLachlan has been named winner of the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award to be presented at the Juno Awards gala in March.

It is the fourth time the award, for an artist whose "humanitarian contributions have positively enhanced the social fabric of Canada" has been given.

The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which hosts the Junos, also announced Thursday that '80s rock band Loverboy would be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

The band that created Turn Me Loose and This Could Be the Night was formed in Calgary in 1980 and is now based in Vancouver.

Members include Mike Reno on lead vocals, guitarist Paul Dean, bassist Scott Smith, keyboard player Doug Johnson on keyboards and Matt Frenette on drums. Smith died in 2000 after being knocked off a sailboat.

McLachlan, best known for her hit Angel, has had a 20-year career as a singer-songwriter and is an eight-time Juno Award winner. She also earned Grammy Awards for Building a Mystery, Last Dance and I Will Remember You.

She is widely recognized for founding Lilith Fair, a tour headlined by all female artists that raised money for charities and women's shelters across North America.

Lilith Fair ran for three years and was considered ground-breaking for its role in promoting women in music.

Her Sarah McLachlan Foundation supports music education among young Canadians and has established a Vancouver program to provide music lessons to disadvantaged children.

In 2004, McLachlan and director Sophie Muller created fund-raising video World on Fire, designed to raise awareness about the need for global aid.

She also has been involved with music education charity MusiCounts, global charity Free the Children, and the B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Previous winners of the Allan Waters Award, named for the CHUM Ltd. founder, include Paul Brandt, Bruce Cockburn and Tom Jackson.

The Juno gala is March 28.

Can't wait? MySpace streams long-delayed Guns N' Roses album

Just days before the long-awaited Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy hits stores, the band has released the complete album to social networking site MySpace.

Visitors to the band's MySpace page can listen to the entire album, but will not be able to download the 14 songs. Officially, Chinese Democracy will be released Sunday.

Tracks off the anticipated release, which arrives nearly 15 years after the band's last album, have previously popped up online both in authorized and unauthorized manners.

This summer, a U.S. blogger was charged with violating U.S. copyright laws for posting leaked tracks from Chinese Democracy on his website in June.

In September, the band chose to debut the song Shacklers' Revenge as part of the video game Rock Band 2. Last month, the album's title song made its radio debut.

After rising to fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s, hard-rocking band Guns N' Roses appeared to disintegrate as frontman Axl Rose fought with his bandmates. Rose remains the sole member of the original Guns N' Roses lineup.

More early online releases

Giving curious fans an early taste of new albums by streaming songs online has become an increasingly common way recording artists promote their forthcoming releases.

As part of their latest venture as The Firemen, former Beatle Paul McCartney and musician-producer Youth allowed U.S. public broadcaster NPR to stream their upcoming third album Electric Arguments on Tuesday — a week ahead of its Nov. 25 retail release.

MySpace also began streaming the album on Thursday.

Dr Pepper to deliver on its free-soda promise!!

LOS ANGELES – Dr Pepper is making good on its promise of free soda now that the release of Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is a reality. The soft-drink maker said in March that it would give a free soda to everyone in America if the album dropped in 2008. "Chinese Democracy," infamously delayed since recording began in 1994, goes on sale Sunday.

"We never thought this day would come," Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing, said in a statement. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

Beginning Sunday at 12:01 a.m., coupons for a free 20-ounce soda will be available for 24 hours on Dr Pepper's Web site. They'll be honored until Feb. 28.

Sources: Daisies, Stone and Dirty Sexy Canceled

Los Angeles (E! Online) – ABC has canceled Pushing Daisies, executive producer Bryan Fuller confirms to me exclusively.

According to reports, Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money have also been canceled, but reps for both shows have declined to comment.

Bryan Fuller tells me, "[ABC president] Steve McPherson called me, and said 'We gave it the best shot we could.' "

According to Fuller, the facts are these: "It's very likely that Pushing Daisies will end after episode 13, which as you know, is a cliffhanger. But we are talking to DC Comics about doing comic books that will wrap up our storylines, and I already have a pitch for a movie ready to go.

"To be honest, I'm really not feeling very boo-hoo about it. I am so proud of the show. We put together 22 really good episodes, and there is a lot to be proud of. I'm sure I'll be working with a lot of these people again, and I would love to do so."

Actor Hugh Jackman named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive

NEW YORK - Hugh Jackman says wife Deborra-Lee Furness teased him after finding out he'd been named People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive."

Recalling Furness' reaction, Jackman says: "God bless her, she said, 'I could've told them that years ago! And then she said, 'Obviously Brad (Pitt) wasn't available this year.' And I said, 'That was a joke, right?' "

The magazine's executive editor, Jess Cagle, said Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show that Jackman is a "surprising choice," but he'd been on the editors' minds "for a long time and it seemed like this was the year to do him."

Cagle pointed out that not only is Jackman's career at its peak, with the "X-Men" movies and his upcoming epic with Nicole Kidman "Australia," but he's "built like a tank."

Blink-182 members finally "reconnecting"

NEW YORK (Billboard) – After a messy split in 2005, the members of Blink-182 are back in communication, raising speculation that a reunion may be in the offing for the pop-punk trio.

On his blog (http://www.pickrset.com/markhoppus/), group member Mark Hoppus says the recent death of Blink producer Jerry Finn and drummer Travis Barker's survival of a plane crash brought the threesome back in contact.

"We're just reconnecting as friends after four years of not talking," he says. "It's a good thing. Obviously the first question for a lot of people will be, 'Does this mean a Blink-182 reunion?' The answer is none of us know. We haven't talked about it at all. Right now it's just good for the three of us to see one another, reconnect and let the past be the past."

Since Blink-182's split, Barker and Hoppus formed +44, while Tom DeLonge fronted Angels & Airwaves. The band's last show was December 16, 2004, in Dublin; its career sales are more than 12.7 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Hark! Colbert sings in new Christmas special

NEW YORK – The permanently suit-clad Stephen Colbert has traded in his pinstripes for a cardigan sweater, red turtleneck and furry boots.

Following the tradition of Andy Williams and Bing Crosby, Colbert hosts his own holiday special in "A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All." The hour-long special airs Sunday at 10 p.m. EST on Comedy Central, and will on Tuesday be released as a DVD, complete with a Yule log of burning books.

Clearly in the Christmas spirit, at the first mention of old holiday specials, Colbert launches into renditions of Williams' "Little Altar Boy" and Crosby and David Bowie's "Little Drummer Boy."

The latter was the inspiration for a duet between Colbert and Willie Nelson, who appears — in one of the more bizarre numbers — as a tiny wise man in a miniature nativity scene.

"This is just some good fun to watch during your eggnog-induced dementia," Colbert joked in an interview Wednesday.

The special finds Colbert far from his "Colbert Report" set in an obviously made-for-TV room of a mountain cabin dressed for Christmas. Hanging by the fireplace are two stockings, one labeled "Stephen," the other "Colbert."

While he's snowed in and a bear lurks outside, Colbert is visited by Nelson, Toby Keith, Jon Stewart, John Legend, Feist and Elvis Costello to sing Christmas songs that were penned by "Daily Show" executive producer David Javerbaum and composed by Adam Schlesinger.

"I had a clear, clear command to everyone involved: 'No cynicism,'" said Colbert. "We're not mocking Christmas specials. We're doing MY Christmas special. And that was the aesthetic we tried to bring into it. Like, we're really doing this. I want people to see this every year."

The special was originally planned for last Christmas but was delayed a year when Colbert became swamped during his brief run for president in the South Carolina primary. Instead, the special was taped mostly over a three-week period in August.

The 44-year-old comedian, who lives in New Jersey with his wife and three children, is a practicing Catholic who has taught Sunday school at his church. The special concludes on a positive note, with Colbert and Costello singing that "there are much worse things" than believing in Christmas.

Costume pieces from the special are being auctioned to benefit Feeding America, and a percentage of the DVD proceeds will also go to the charity.

Conservative pundits, of course, were the basis of Colbert's character — and there is some allusion to the "war on Christmas" that various commentators have waged in recent years.

But while Colbert still remains in character, the special is ultimately mostly free of politics. During the nonstop campaign, Colbert looked forward to the special like a "gift box," completely removed from the election.

"See, no politics," said Colbert proudly, as if proving his versatility.

Though fodder from the campaign was a boon to "The Report," Colbert says he feels greater freedom now that the election is over.

"I've actually had a better time than I've had in a long time," he said about the last few weeks. "I was strapped to someone else's galloping horse. There was no escaping how fast the news was changing. We were completely in a responsive comedy."

But there is nothing reactive about the unique "A Colbert Christmas."

"I'm so proud that we made something that is sincerely strange," said Colbert, "but also strangely sincere."

Hiring freeze, layoffs to come at CTV: memo

Layoffs, a hiring freeze and revisions or delays of new projects are in the cards at Canadian broadcaster CTV, according to a memo staff received Tuesday.

In the note, CTV CEO Ivan Fecan blamed both the global financial downturn and "the ongoing structural issues affecting conventional television" for the new operational plan.

Staff are slated to meet at a town hall with Fecan in Toronto on Wednesday to hear further details.

In the meantime, Fecan's message outlined several cost-cutting measures that were put into place Tuesday.

"Across all TV properties, there will be a hiring freeze," as well as a halt on travel and entertainment spending, he wrote.

"New projects, unspent capital plans will be revised, delayed or halted" and management has called on each department to "identify efficiencies — unfortunately, this will result in some layoffs."

However, organizational changes will not be the same across the board, he said.

"Each situation will be judged by its own circumstances … where there is strong revenue or competitive reasons, we may choose to add, not cut, resources."

The news comes a week after media giant Canwest announced it is cutting five per cent of its workforce, including 210 broadcast and 350 publishing jobs.

Canwest president Leonard Asper partially attributed the decision to the current economic climate and the current pressures facing conventional TV operations.

In July, Statistics Canada reported that revenue for conventional television fell by 5.3 per cent, slipping to $1.267 billion in 2007 versus 2006. By comparison, pay television revenue in Canada rose by 13.5 per cent for the same period, hitting $547 million in 2007.

Both Fecan and Asper also blamed the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's recent rejection of carriage fees to help traditional broadcasters, such as CTV, Canwest's Global television network and CBC-TV.

CTV Inc. owns and operates 27 conventional television stations across the country and has news bureaus across Canada and internationally, including in Washington, London and Beijing.

Its parent company, CTVglobemedia, also owns the Globe and Mail newspaper, 34 CHUM radio stations across the country, as well as TSN, Much Music, Bravo and more than two dozen other specialty TV channels.

New CD Releases, November 18th: Beyonce, Nickelback, David Cook, Il Divo, Dido and Sammy Hagar.

Beyonce "I Am ... Sasha Fierce" (Columbia)

The R&B/pop superstar bounces back into the spotlight with the release of an ambitious double album. The first disc in the set reportedly will be titled "I am ... ," while the second CD will carry the name "Sasha Fierce."

In a statement, Beyonce said "I Am ..." features songs about who she is underneath all the makeup, the lights and the exciting star drama.

She goes on to say that "Sasha Fierce" represents her alter ego, who is fun, sensual, aggressive, outspoken and glamorous--a side of her that comes out when she is working and on the stage.

"I am ... Sasha Fierce" is Beyonce's third studio album, following 2006's mega-smash "B'Day." The former Destiny's Child star is expected to conduct a lengthy world tour next year in support of the new set.

* * *
Nickelback "Dark Horse" (Roadrunner)

The Canadian rockers are back with their sixth studio album, which follows 2005's "All the Right Reasons." The new set features the single "Gotta Be Somebody."

"Dark Horse" was co-produced by the band and Mutt Lange, the legendary studio wiz who has helped score hits for Def Leppard, AC/DC and many others. The group recorded earlier this year in vocalist/guitarist Chad Kroeger's converted barn studio in Vancouver, British Columbia.

* * *
David Cook "David Cook" (RCA)

One week after the release of the self-titled debut record by his main competitor--2008 "American Idol" runner-up, David Archuleta--"AI" champ David Cook drops his own eponymous debut.

"David Cook" was produced by Grammy-winner Rob Cavallo (Kid Rock, Green Day) and features 13 tracks, nine of which Cook co-wrote with such veteran songwriters as Chris Cornell and Brian Howes. The record's first single, "Light On," was co-written by Cook and Cornell.

* * *
Il Divo "The Promise" (Sony)

The international superstar vocalists return to set the mood with another batch of romantic pop/opera songs. "The Promise" follows 2006's worldwide best-seller "Siempre"

The vocal quartet, formed by "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell and featuring singers Carlos Marin, Urs Buhler, David Miller and Sebastien Izambard, has sold more than 22 million albums since first breaking onto the scene with its 2004 self-titled release.

* * *
Dido "Safe Trip Home" (Arista)

The British vocalist gives fans her third album, and her first since 2003's "Life for Rent." "Safe Trip Home" features collaborations with such stars as Brian Eno, Mick Fleetwood and Citizen Cope.

* * *
More new releases:
Above & Beyond, "Anjunabeats Vol. 6" (Ultra)
Ricardo Arjona, "Quinto Piso" (Warner Bros.)
Belle & Sebastian, "The BBC Sessions" (Matador)
Zac Brown, "The Foundation" (Atlantic)
Miley Cyrus, "Breakout Platinum Edition" (Hollywood)
The Doors, "Live at The Matrix" (Rhino)
Sammy Hagar, "Cosmic Universal Fashion" (Roadrunner)
Randy Houser, "Anything Goes" (Universal)
Ricky Martin, "17" (Epic)
Mudvayne, "The New Game" (Epic)
Laura Pausini, "Primavera Anticipada" (Warner Bros.)
The Priests, "The Priests" (RCA)
Blake Shelton, "Startin' Fires" (Reprise)
Rod Stewart, "The Definitive Rod Stewart" (Rhino)

Instrumental Interplay At Heart Of Rush DVD

For its new DVD, "Snakes & Arrows Live," Rush took a somewhat different approach than on its last two video releases, 2003's "Rush in Rio" and 2005's "R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour."

"With this one we wanted to focus on the playing," singer/bassist/keyboardist Geddy Lee tells Billboard.com. "So a lot of the camera work features the interaction between Neil (Peart), Alex (Lifeson) and myself, a lot of the details that you don't normally cover in a DVD performance. So for fans of the music who love to see what everybody's fingers are doing and how we interact back and forth with each other, that became the overriding focus on this one."

"Snakes & Arrows Live" was shot with 21 High Definition cameras during a two-night stand in October 2007 at the Ahoy Rotterdam Arena in the Netherlands -- the same shows that produced the "Snakes & Arrows Live" album that came out in April. The two releases were separated, Lee says, because Rush wanted to have something out for its 2008 North American tour and also because "we needed more time to spend on the DVD to make it more special."

Besides the 24-song concert, the "Snakes & Arrows Live" DVD also includes four "authorized bootleg" songs from Atlanta in 2008, alternate versions of the songs "Far Cry" and "The Way the Wind Blows," a performance of "Red Sector A" from the 2004 R30 Tour and the "What's That Smell?" filmed comedic skit that opened the second half of the Snakes & Arrows Tour shows.

Mostly, though, Lee says the DVD confirms to him that "we were playing really well and that everything in the show kind of revolves around that and there was great energy coming from us. That's what I was seeing on the screen."

Lee says "Snakes & Arrows Live" will have to hold Rush fans over for a while. The trio is currently "on a break" and "a little burnt out right now," though he has every confidence there will be another Rush album in the future.

"I think we're gonna stay quiet for awhile and then start writing -- when we're going to start writing I can't say just yet," Lee notes. "It may be in the fall, maybe the spring, maybe the following spring. But eventually we'll start writing some songs and recording them, and hopefully that will be followed up by another tour down the road a couple years from now."

Bruce Springsteen's "Working on a Dream" Set for January 27 Release on Columbia Records

Bruce Springsteen's new album "Working on a Dream" has been set for a January 27 release on Columbia Records. "Working on a Dream" was recorded with the E Street Band and features twelve new Springsteen compositions plus two bonus tracks. It is the fourth collaboration between Springsteen and Brendan O'Brien, who produced and mixed the album.

"Working on a Dream" Song Titles:

1. Outlaw Pete
2. My Lucky Day
3. Working on a Dream
4. Queen of the Supermarket
5. What Love Can Do
6. This Life
7. Good Eye
8. Tomorrow Never Knows
9. Life Itself
10. Kingdom of Days
11. Surprise, Surprise
12. The Last Carnival

Bonus tracks:
The Wrestler
A Night with the Jersey Devil

Bruce Springsteen said, "Towards the end of recording 'Magic,' excited by the return to pop production sounds, I continued writing. When my friend producer Brendan O'Brien heard the new songs, he said, 'Let's keep going.' Over the course of the next year, that's just what we did, recording with the E Street Band during the breaks on last year's tour. I hope 'Working on a Dream' has caught the energy of the band fresh off the road from some of the most exciting shows we've ever done. All the songs were written quickly, we usually used one of our first few takes, and we all had a blast making this one from beginning to end."

"Working on a Dream" is Bruce Springsteen's twenty-fourth album and was recorded and mixed at Southern Tracks in Atlanta, GA with additional recording in New York City, Los Angeles, and New Jersey.

Bond finds 'Solace' in $70.4M box office debut

LOS ANGELES – James Bond's quantum of the weekend box office: $70.4 million. "Quantum of Solace," with Daniel Craig returning as Bond for the first direct sequel in the spy franchise, pulled in nearly $30 million more over opening weekend than its predecessor, 2006's "Casino Royale," according to studio estimates Sunday.

The debut also topped the previous opening-weekend record for a Bond flick, $47 million for 2002's "Die Another Day."

Adjusting for inflation, Sony's "Quantum of Solace" easily drew a bigger audience than that installment, the last Bond adventure featuring Pierce Brosnan. Based on 2002 admission prices, about 8.1 million tickets were sold for "Die Another Day" in the first weekend, compared to 9.8 million for "Quantum of Solace."

Two years ago, Craig was an unknown quantity as Bond, a stage-trained actor with little action experience and a resume that tended toward small, artsier films. Many fans were unhappy with the casting choice, but the critical and commercial success of "Casino Royale" silenced the critics.

"Quantum of Solace" picks up where "Casino Royale" left off, with Bond seeking to avenge the death of his lover.

"With 'Casino Royale,' people were rediscovering the franchise in a way with Daniel Craig as James Bond," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. "Quite frankly, they loved it. They loved the movie, and they loved him in the role, so I think by the time `Quantum of Solace' was ready, audiences in the U.S. as well as the world audience was way ready."

"Quantum of Solace" began rolling out overseas two weekends before its U.S. debut, and its worldwide total now stands at $322 million.

DreamWorks Animation's "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," which debuted at No. 1 the previous weekend, slipped to second place with $36.1 million, raising its 10-day total to $118 million.

"Quantum of Solace" gave a huge boost to overall revenues as Hollywood heads toward Thanksgiving, one of the year's busiest weekends at theaters. The top 12 movies took in $142.9 million, up 54 percent from the same weekend a year ago, when "Beowulf" led the box office with $27.5 million.

Movie revenue is running 1 percent ahead of 2007's record pace, when the industry took in $9.7 billion, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers. Factoring in inflation, the number of tickets sold this year is 3.5 percent behind 2007's, though.

The next two weekends will bring more likely hits, including the vampire romance "Twilight," John Travolta and Miley Cyrus' animated comedy "Bolt" and Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn's holiday romp "Four Christmases."

"Hollywood is in the best possible position right now, because it's all about momentum, and the industry certainly has that heading into the all-important holiday period," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers.

Fox Searchlight's "Slumdog Millionaire" had an impressive debut in limited release, taking in $350,434 in 10 theaters for a strong average of $35,043 a cinema. By comparison, "Quantum of Solace" averaged $20,400 in 3,451 theaters.

A film festival favorite, "Slumdog Millionaire" was directed by Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting," "28 Days Later") and follows the alternately heartwarming and horrific life of a poor youth who becomes a contestant on India's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"

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. "Quantum of Solace," $70.4 million.
2. "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," $36.1 million.
3. "Role Models," $11.7 million.
4. "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," $5.9 million.
5. "Changeling," $4.2 million.
6. "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," $3.2 million.
7. "Soul Men," $2.43 million.
8. "The Secret Life of Bees," $2.4 million.
9. "Saw V," $1.8 million.
10. "The Haunting of Molly Hartley," $1.6 million.

Aniston talks about Jolie, Pitt

NEW YORK - Jennifer Aniston says Angelina Jolie was out of line when she spilled details about her relationship with Brad Pitt while they were filming "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."

In an interview in the December issue of Vogue, Aniston talks about the magazine's 2007 profile of Jolie, who talked about growing chummy with Pitt - then married to Aniston - while shooting the action film in 2004.

"There was stuff printed there that was definitely from a time when I was unaware that it was happening," Aniston says. "I felt those details were a little inappropriate to discuss. That stuff about how she couldn't wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool."

Jolie recently told The New York Times that she and Pitt fell in love on the "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" set.

Pitt and Aniston, who were married in July 2000, announced their separation in January 2005. In the months that followed, Pitt was seen in public with Jolie. Pitt and Aniston divorced in October.

In May 2006, Jolie gave birth to a daughter, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt. The couple now have six children, including four-month-old twins who were born in July.

Aniston tells Vogue that she and Pitt are on good terms.

"We have exchanged a few very kind hellos and wishing you wells and sending you love and congratulations on your babies," she says. "I have nothing but absolute admiration for him, and ... I'm proud of him! I think he's really done some amazing things!"

Asked about her breakup, the 39-year-old actress says: "Well, it never was that bad. I mean, look, it's not like divorce is something that you go, 'Oooh, I can't wait to get divorced!' ... But I've got to tell you, it's so vague at this point, it's so faraway in my mind, I can't even remember the darkness. I mean, in the end, we really had an amicable split."

Aniston, who stars in the upcoming films "Marley & Me" and "He's Just Not That Into You," also dishes on her post-divorce romances with Vince Vaughn and John Mayer.

"I call Vince my defibrillator," she says of her co-star in 2006's "The Break-Up." "He literally brought me back to life. My first gasp of air was a big laugh! It was great. I love him. ... He was lovely and fun and perfect for the time we had together. And I needed that. And it sort of ran its course."

As for the tabloid fuss over her relationship with Mayer, she says: "Love just shows up and you go, 'Oh, wow, this is going to be a hayride and a half."'

Aniston says she feels protective of the 31-year-old singer, who was criticized for talking to the media about how he ended their romance.

"Trust me, you'll never see that happen again from that man," she says. "And it doesn't take away from the fact that he is a wonderful guy. We care about each other."

"Quantum of Solace" set to blast U.S. box offices

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Even before new James Bond flick "Quantum of Solace" blasts into U.S. movie theaters this Friday, industry watchers are expecting it to earn big bucks at box offices and easily top previous 007 film "Casino Royale."

The film is the 22nd in the lucrative series that dates to 1962's "Dr. No" and altogether has grossed over $4 billion at U.S. and Canadian box offices when totals are adjusted for inflation, according to boxofficemojo.com.

"Quantum of Solace," in which the British secret agent battles a villain looking to control natural resources, already has topped box office charts in Europe and other markets.

It debuted in London about two weeks ago, and took in a record-breaking 15.4 million pounds ($25 million) on its opening weekend. So far, it has collected more than $160 million in over 60 international markets.

"This is arguably the most anticipated movie of the holiday season and therefore expectations are quite high," said Paul Dergarabedian of box office watcher Media by Numbers. "I think we are going to see tremendous numbers."

Dergarabedian did not predict an opening weekend figure, but he said "Quantum of Solace" was "certainly on track" to equal or beat "Casino Royale," which debuted with $40.8 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales in November of 2006.

"Casino Royale" introduced actor Daniel Craig as the new James Bond and went on to become arguably the biggest Bond ever with $167 million in the U.S. and Canada and another $426 million internationally for a global total near $594 million.

Dergarabedian noted U.S. box offices have been on a roll lately with five of the past six weekends beating year ago comparisons. Last weekend family film "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" opened to an eye-popping $63 million.

"The fact is, there was so much moviegoing last week that it just enhances the prospects for Bond," he said.

So far, reviews have been mostly good with the film scoring a 76 percent positive rating on Web site rottentomatoes.com, which aggregates movie reviews.

But critical reaction matters little to opening weekend ticket sales for event movies like "Quantum of Solace," which rely on studio marketing to lure crowds to theaters.

The Bond movies are co-produced by EON Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc and distributed by Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony Corp's Sony Pictures Entertainment.

In Flanders Fields

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915. Here is the story of the making of that poem:
Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the South African War, it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood here, and Major John McCrae had seen and heard enough in his dressing station to last him a lifetime.

As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans -- in the Ypres salient.

It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it:

"I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."

One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.

The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Canal de l'Yser, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.

In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.

A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."

When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read:

"The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."

In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915.

Lightfoot mini-tour set for spring

Canadian folk legend Gordon Lightfoot has announced a brief cross-country tour for next April.

The singer-songwriter, who will turn 70 later this month, will play in Nanaimo, B.C. (April 8-9), Vancouver (April 10-11), Calgary (April 13), Edmonton (April 14), Winnipeg (April 16), Thunder Bay (April 17) and Sault Ste. Marie (April 18), it was announced yesterday.

The tour does not include dates in Saskatchewan, Toronto, Ottawa, London or Montreal.

Tickets for the Nanaimo shows are currently on sale, while the others go on sale Friday.

"WORKIN' ON A DREAM" TO PREMIERE ON SUNDAY

Are you ready for some football? Well, even if you're not, you'll probably want to tune in to the Cowboys/Redskins Sunday Night Football game on November 16. As NBC's Al Michaels announced last night: "Next week we'll have the world premiere of Springsteen's new song 'Workin' on a Dream' set to NFL highlights at halftime at next week's game." Springsteen performed an acoustic version of the new song last week in Cleveland; this will be our first chance to hear the studio recording.

Wall-E DVDs To Feature Advanced Definition

Pixar Animation Studios director Andrew Stanton says that the Richmond, CA-based company has gone to extraordinary lengths to preserve precise details in its Blu-ray version of Wall-E, due to be released on November 18.

The Video Business website quoted Stanton as saying, "This is the first time where a format exactly represents how good a film looks in the building here. ... It used to be that you'd only go downhill from here after [creating films in the studio]. We sweat over every pixel."

Pixar's general manager, Jim Morris, suggested that the extra work poured into the Blu-ray edition, was initially a matter of Pixar pride. "This is a filmmaker's dream. They didn't think that anyone cared about that level of technicality as much as they do, and now they are happy that people do."

"Jumanji" director Johnston does `Captain America'

LOS ANGELES – Captain America has a new boss.

Joe Johnston, whose credits include "Jurassic Park III" and "Jumanji," has been signed to direct the comic-book adaptation "The First Avenger: Captain America," Marvel Studios announced Monday.

The movie is scheduled for release May 6, 2011, the same weekend that Marvel scored a blockbuster this year with "Iron Man," starring Robert Downey Jr. "Iron Man 2" comes out May 7, 2010.

Distributed by Paramount Pictures, "Captain America" is based on the Marvel Comics character Steve Rogers, who volunteers for a research program that transforms him into a patriotic super-soldier. The lead role has not yet been cast.

Marvel also is teaming Captain America with Downey's Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Thor and other superheroes from the comic-book giant's vaults for "The Avengers," due in theaters July 15, 2011.

Johnston is directing "The Wolf Man," an update of the horror classic starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins that comes out in 2009. His other credits include "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," "The Rocketeer" and "October Sky."

Superheroes will battle for People's Choice honors

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Superheroes Batman and Iron Man and adventurer Indiana Jones, will battle for top film honors at the upcoming People's Choice Awards which annually bestows honors on favorite celebrities in film, TV and music.

Among nominees named on Monday for People's Choice Awards was pop star Britney Spears who earned a nod as a "scene stealing" guest star on television but was shut out of music categories.

The People's Choice Awards, which will be given out on January 7, are one of Hollywood's earliest shows in its season of honors leading to the Oscars, the film industry's top prizes.

But unlike the more prestigious Oscars or any of the many other honors given out by entertainment groups, People's Choice winners are voted on by movie, TV and music fans.

Australian actor Heath Ledger was nominated with his "The Dark Knight" co-star Christian Bale for best on-screen matchup, as well as in the favorite cast category for the Batman movie released after Ledger's accidental death in January. Ledger played the villainous Joker to Bale's heroic Batman.

"Iron Man" star Robert Downey Jr. and Bale were also nominated for favorite male action star, while "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" will fight it out with "The Dark Knight" and "Iron Man" for the favorite movie and favorite action movie award.

New categories for this year's 35th Annual People's Choice Awards include favorite superhero, favorite TV drama diva, favorite film cast, favorite scene-stealing guest star and favorite star under 35.

Spears, 26, is nominated for her two guest appearances earlier this year in the TV sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" in which she played a sassy office assistant.
But Spears does not appear in the music categories, which are dominated by Rihanna, Alicia Keys and Carrie Underwood on the female side. R&B star Chris Brown had most mentions in the male music sections.

The four singers were also among the favorite under 35 year-old nominees, along with teen favorites Daniel Radcliffe, Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron, Chace Crawford, Shia LaBeouf and Justin Timberlake.

The winner will be chosen by a public online vote at the www.pcaVOTE.com Web site from November10 thru December 7. The awards will be handed out in Los Angeles in a live TV broadcast on the CBS broadcast network.

New CD Releases, November 11th: David Archuleta, Enya, Taylor Swift, Tracy Chapman, Seal and more!

David Archuleta "David Archuleta" (Jive)

The second-place finisher on the seventh season of TV's "American Idol" is set to drop his eponymous debut record. The album's first single/video, "Crush," is already a smash hit.

Although he was the runner-up to David Cook on "American Idol," the 17-year-old vocalist certainly has a sizable fan base in place. During the show's finale, Archuleta reportedly received 44 percent of the 97 million votes cast. His ardent fans, who believe Archuleta "wuz robbed" on "Idol," go by the nicknames "Archies" or "Arch Angels."

* * *
Enya "And Winter Came" (Reprise)

Ireland's biggest selling solo artist, who has moved more than 70 million albums worldwide to date, releases her seventh studio effort. "And Winter Came" follows 2005's "Amarantine," a work that has sold some 6 million copies.

Keeping with the season, the 12 tunes on the new album boast a Christmas/winter theme. Ten of the tracks are original compositions, which are all sung in English. She also adds two traditional numbers, one sung in Latin and one in Gaelic.

* * *
Taylor Swift "Fearless" (Big Machine)

The young Grammy-nominated country singer is now ready to make her sophomore outing. "Fearless" follows the artist's self-titled debut of 2006, which has been certified triple platinum.

The 18-year-old Pennsylvania native has quickly risen to become one of country music's top stars. Her debut album spawned five consecutive Top 10 singles on the Billboard country chart, making her the first female solo artist to accomplish that feat.

The first single from "Fearless" is the tune "Love Story."

* * *
Tracy Chapman "Our Bright Future" (Atlantic)

The contemporary folk-rock star issues her eighth studio album, "Our Bright Future." The 11-song set is Chapman's first release since 2005's "Where You Live, " and the singer is just about to launch a 21-date European tour in support of the new set. It's her first solo tour in more than a decade, so fans on this side of the Atlantic are dearly hoping that she soon announces dates in North America.

* * *
Seal "Soul" (Warner Bros.)

The velvety smooth R&B/pop star returns to action with his seventh studio album. "Soul" is an all-covers project that features Seal singing some of the greatest soul songs of all time. Included in the mix are Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come," Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" and Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long."

* * *
More new releases:
Cheap Trick, "Budokan!" (Sony)
Barbara Cook, "Rainbow Round My Shoulder" (DRG)
David Foster and Friends, "Hit Man" (Warner Bros.)
Patti LuPone, "Patti Lupone at Les Mouches" (Razor & Tie)
Mudcrutch, "Live" (Warner Bros.)
New Order, "Low-Life" (Winedark)
New Order, "Power, Corruption and Lies" (Winedark)
New Order, "Technique" (Winedark)
Luciano Pavarotti, "The Duets" (Decca)
The Smiths, "The Sound of the Smiths: The Very Best of the Smiths" (Rhino)
T-Pain, "Thr33 Ringz" (Jive)
Various Artists, "NOW That's What I Call Music 29" (Universal)
Butch Walker, "Sycamore Meadows" (R.E.D.)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Indiana Jones: The Soundtracks Collection" (Concord)

Tim McGraw to host 'SNL'

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tim McGraw's spokeswoman says the singer will host "Saturday Night Live" on Nov. 22, joining a short list of country stars to host the popular show.

Garth Brooks was the last one, and that was back in 1999. Other country singers to host SNL include Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton.

McGraw - who is married to country star Faith Hill - says he isn't exactly known for comedy in his movies but fans who come to his concerts at least know he has a sense of humour.

Hanging out with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon might help. McGraw appears with them in the holiday comedy "Four Christmases" out later this month.

His many hits include "Live Like You Were Dying," "Where the Green Grass Grows" and his latest, "Let it Go."

Bob Dylan turns up at Neil Young's childhood home for a tour

When you live in the house where a world-famous musician grew up, it's expected to be a bit of a draw.

But John Kiernan, who occupies Neil Young’s former Winnipeg home on Grosvenor Avenue, never imagined another famous musician would show up at his door.

Kiernan told CBC News on Monday that he was looking out the window a week ago Sunday and saw his wife talking with two strangers on the front lawn.

“And I'm looking around, and I realize, this guy having a tuque on has really great boots on, these sort of cowboy, motorcycle boots. And he was wearing really nice leather pants. And I realize I'm staring face-to-face with Bob Dylan.”

After the music legend and his manager were invited into the house, Dylan asked a lot of thoughtful questions, including about Neil Young's old bedroom.

“OK, so this was his view, and this was where he listened to his music. It suddenly dawned on me, when you're looking at Bob Dylan standing in a hallway, that he had a very parallel experience 200 miles to the south, sitting in his room, listening to his music, looking out his window.”

Dylan grew up in Hibbing, Minn., about 500 km southeast of Winnipeg, while Neil Young spent his formative high school years playing in Winnipeg rock band The Squires.

Kiernan said Dylan and his manager visited for a while before heading off to tour other areas of the city.

Dylan then played a concert at Winnipeg's MTS Centre later that night, Nov. 2.

Chris Rock to redo 'Funeral' service

Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Sony's Screen Gems are partnering with Chris Rock for an urban reworking of the 2007 British comedy "Death at a Funeral."

Rock will produce, star and co-write the script with Aeysha Carr.

The project is inspired by SKE's 2007 feature, which was written by Dean Craig and directed by Frank Oz. That film made for about $9 million and released by MGM in the U.S., grossed $8.5 million stateside and $46.5 million worldwide.

Sidney Kimmel, Share Stallings and Laurence Malkin are returning to produce the new version.

William Horberg, who served as executive producer for the 2007 version, also is on board to produce under the terms of the first-look arrangement he struck with SKE when he left the company as its production chief.

The ensemble comedy will take place in an urban American setting and centers on a funeral ceremony that devolves into a debacle of misplaced cadavers, indecent exposure and family secrets. The cast will be primarily black, supplanting the earlier, England-set version's British cast.

"We've been trying to work with Chris Rock and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment for some time now," Screen Gems president Clint Culpepper said. "It's exciting to us that this film provides the opportunity to work with both."

The producers are looking for a director for the project, which is planned to start production in the spring.

"Chris, who was an unabashed fan of the film, came to us with a hysterical, completely new reimagining of the original concept," said SKE's Jim Tauber, who is serving as an executive producer along with scribe Craig. "Clint and his team loved it and jumped on board right away, and they're bringing their considerable marketing and distribution savvy to the project."

"Funeral" marks the first SKE production since the company announced its plans in the summer to refocus its efforts on films with a more commercial appeal, rather than specialty films it had produced such as "Synecdoche, New York" and "Lars and the Real Girl."

Screen Gems' Scott Strauss is overseeing the project for the studio.

'Lyrics' captures Paul Simon's career

For an iconic songwriter whose words, melodies and rhythms are inextricably linked, a page of lyrics might seem like a chassis in search of an engine. In Paul Simon's case, it's almost impossible to read, and not mentally sing, his familiar lines:

And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson

Jesus loves you more than you will know, wo wo wo

Paul Simon's Lyrics 1964-2008 (Simon & Schuster, $35), out Tuesday, spans his entire career, from Simon & Garfunkel's 1964 debut album through this year's unreleased songs Rewrite and Love and Hard Times.

Illustrated with vintage snapshots, album covers and handwritten notes, the chronological Lyrics "follows my natural evolution as a writer," says Simon, 67. "I'm not somebody who takes a lot of photos. Here are the photos of my life."

In editing the manuscript for typos, Simon resisted succumbing to nostalgia but found himself retracing the stages of his career.

"My lyrics started to get good when I wrote about something I knew," he says. "When I was a young songwriter, that's the least interesting to me. Later on, it gets more complex as characters emerge who are at least partially autobiographical."

The winner of 12 Grammys and the first Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, Simon is highly regarded for a sterling songbook that has drawn parallels to the work of Irving Berlin and Cole Porter.

His songs can be wise, biting, mournful and romantic. But fans of You Can Call Me Al, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover and Pigs, Sheep and Wolves know he's also funny.

"People tend to say that my writing is very serious," Simon says. "Jokes are an essential part, but it's not often talked about."

Simon has resumed writing and recording lately, with four completed songs "and a few sketches" that may surface, though he has no firm plans for an album.

"What's nice about the implosion of the record business is you can find any number of forms to release songs," he says. "I could make a CD, but I don't have to."

After five decades, writing "is intensely enjoyable but also harder, partly because I'm at an age now where every truth seems to contain its opposite," he says. "That's a harder construct, lyrically.

"Musically, I don't want to repeat something I did before. I never think, 'Time to write another Graceland.' It would be impossible, anyway."

Country star Merle Haggard battling lung cancer

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Country singer Merle Haggard, recently diagnosed with lung cancer, had part of a lung removed and is recovering at home, his spokeswoman said on Sunday.

The 71-year-old singer-songwriter underwent surgery on Monday in a Bakersfield, California, hospital.

"I'm feeling good ... better and better each day," Haggard was quoted as saying in a statement. "If not for the love and wisdom of my wife (Theresa), I might not be around today."

Doctors removed the upper lobe of Haggard's right lung after a biopsy revealed that he had non-small cell lung cancer, the statement said. Tests revealed that all the affected tissue was removed.

According to the American Lung Association, non-small cell lung cancer usually spreads to different parts of the body more slowly than the less-common small cell lung cancer.

Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer of men and women in the United States. The expected 5-year survival rate for lung cancer patients is 16 percent, according to the association.

Haggard has been touring and recording since 1965, combining folk, jazz, pop and blues traditions to compose songs that have been covered by the likes of Elvis Costello, the Grateful Dead and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

He is perhaps best known for his anti-hippie anthem "Okie From Muskogee," which topped the charts in 1969. Haggard entered the business following a decade of run-ins with the law, culminating in a stint in California's San Quentin State Prison.

YouTube to post full-length MGM films

NEW YORK (Reuters) – YouTube, the largest video-sharing website, will show full-length television shows and films from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's archives in its latest step to boost advertising revenue by adding professional programing, the company told Reuters on Sunday.

The site, owned by Google Inc, plans to make the announcement about the new partnership on Monday.

MGM Studios will kick off the partnership by posting episodes of its decade-old "American Gladiators" program to YouTube on one channel.

On another channel, MGM will post full-length action films like "Bulletproof Monk" and "The Magnificent Seven" and clips from popular movies like "Legally Blonde." These will be free to watch, with ads running alongside the video.

YouTube in October forged a similar partnership with CBS Corp to run full-length archived shows, including "Star Trek," "Young and the Restless" and "Beverly Hills 90210."

Many TV networks already run short clips on YouTube, which also offers millions of home videos uploaded by users.

But until now, YouTube videos were predominantly short clips of ten minutes or less. The company has been experimenting with full-length shows for some months with Time Warner Inc's HBO and CBS's Showtime cable networks.

The new partnerships put YouTube in more direct competition with Hulu, the online video site owned by News Corp and General Electric's NBC Universal.

Hulu features up-to-date full-length shows from News Corp's Fox networks, NBC and CBS. It also has a YouTube channel which features short-clip versions of its shows.

"Mama Africa" Miriam Makeba dies after concert

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African singer Miriam Makeba, one of Africa's best known voices and a champion of the fight against apartheid during three decades in exile, has died of a heart attack after a concert in Italy. She was 76.

Known as "Mama Africa" and the "Empress of African Song," Makeba was the first black South African musician to gain international fame, winning renown in the 1950s for her sweeping vocals. She was loathed by South Africa's white minority rulers.

Former South African President and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela paid homage to the singer, calling her "South Africa's first lady of song" and saying her music inspired hope.

"Despite her tremendous sacrifice and the pain she felt to leave behind her beloved family and her country when she went into exile, she continued to make us proud as she used her worldwide fame to focus attention on the abomination of apartheid," Mandela said in a letter released by his foundation.

"It was fitting that her last moments were spent on a stage, enriching the hearts and lives of others -- and again in support of a good cause."

Makeba fell ill after a concert against organized crime in the southern Italian town of Baia Verde late Sunday, her publicist said. She died after being rushed to a clinic in the town of Castel Volturno.

"It was from a heart attack, but she had not been well for some time," publicist Mark Lechat told Reuters. He said Makeba had also been suffering from arthritis.

TRIBUTES

Radio stations across South Africa paid tribute to the singer, reading out text messages in praise of one of the best loved stars in the country and across the continent.

"Throughout her life, Mama Makeba communicated a positive message to the world about the struggle of the people of South Africa and the certainty of victory over the dark forces of apartheid colonialism through the art of song," said Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Makeba spent 31 years in exile after speaking out against apartheid. One of her songs demanded the release of Mandela, who spent 27 years in jail for fighting white-minority rule. She returned home in 1990.

Makeba also always stressed her African pride through her hairstyles and traditional clothes.

She came from humble beginnings in a shantytown near Johannesburg. The former domestic servant first started to sing in her school choir and learned new songs by listening to recordings of American jazz artists like Ella Fitzgerald.

Mixing jazz with traditional African sounds, Makeba punctuated some songs with the clicks of her Xhosa language, creating classics such as "The Click Song" and "Pata Pata."

Makeba won attention on the international stage as lead singer for the South African band The Manhattan Brothers. In New York, she worked with Harry Belafonte.

While she won over millions on the stage, Makeba's personal life was marred by tragedy. Makeba had said her first husband often beat her, and she left him after finding him in bed with her sister.

Makeba married American "black power" activist Stokely Carmichael in 1968 and they moved to the West African country of Guinea, but later split. She was divorced four times.

Action never stops for Daniel Craig

“To tell a story is our business, and this is a cracking story to tell.” — Dame Judi Dench (M) on Quantum of Solace.

The really good news about Daniel Craig is that he’s still Daniel Craig — this despite having a veritable tidal wave known as James Bond crash over his life.

A few years into his reign as the iconic secret agent and back to promote Quantum of Solace, the actor, 40, seems as energetic and enthusiastic as ever.

This newest Bond film opens in theatres Friday and with 12:01 a.m. screenings in most cities across Canada.

Craig is seemingly oblivious to his new global celebrity and as unfazed as ever by his own success.

Not that it’s been easy being James Bond.

“It was very nuts,” he jokes about the furor over Casino Royale in 2006. “But then, I had no benchmark for that. I’d been in movies that I’d considered successful, and also that were critically successful, but the idea of box office was anathema to me.”

That’s changed somewhat. He says, “I think, a little learning is a dangerous thing, because coming to Quantum of Solace, it’s like, ‘We’ve got to make this much money, we’ve got to do this,’ and I try not to think about it. I try to keep it out of the equation. I let other people worry about it,” he says, and then smiling, he adds, “and they do.”

They must be worried a little less by now. Quantum of Solace has already opened in England, where it shattered all previous box-office records for opening weekends, including that set by Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire. And by Casino Royale.

Quantum of Solace is the first-ever direct sequel in the franchise, and takes Bond all over the globe in his quest to avenge the death of Vesper and reveal the inner workings of the criminal organization, Quantum.

The action begins about an hour after Casino Royale ends — but this is a more cold and brooding James Bond than ever. Quantum of Solace is actually more frantic, if you can image, than Casino Royale, with stupendous action involving car chases, boat chases, an impossible foot chase across the rooftops of Siena, Italy, off-hand leaping out of airplanes and feats of derring-do in the midst of an inferno. It never stops.

Bond’s female sidekick is Camille (Olga Kurylenko), a woman also out for revenge; the main villain is played by Mathieu Almaric, who is the oily Dominic Greene, a man intent upon cornering the market in certain natural resources. He holds whole countries for ransom.

Quantum of Solace involves more filming locations than any other movie in the franchise, with Bond vs. the baddies in Panama, Chile, Mexico, Italy, Austria and the UK. The jewel in the crown in this chapter is shoot-out at the Bergenz opera house, where all hell breaks loose in the middle of a performance of Tosca.

Talk about breathtaking.

Craig does as much of his own stunt work as he can, and that shows up loud and clear in Quantum of Solace. Second unit director Dan Bradley has talked about Craig’s fantastic work ethic, and how he willingly undertook leaps across streets and alleyways from four and five storey rooftops. “He even jumped out a window and dropped 20 feet toward the roof of a speeding bus,” said Bradley.

Craig has a distinct philosophy about all of this — he just wants it to look real.

“It sounds (conceited) of me, to sort of compare the two, but there’s a tradition in cinema that goes way back to Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, and even earlier when they said, ‘Can you ride a horse? Then you’ve got the part.’ The thing of it is, when Buster Keaton is standing there and the house falls down, it’s him. There’s no special effects and there’s no CGI and they didn’t do any jump cutting and we can see it all. And I just love that.”

When he’s not working, Craig stays busy with, um — well, we really couldn’t say what he does on his own time. He lives with American producer Satsuki Mitchell, dated Sienna Miller and Kate Moss in the past and has a daughter of 16 from his first marriage to actress Fiona Loudon. The actor has protected himself and his private life as much possible, saying, “I fight tooth and nail to keep it that way. And it’s not even so much to protect myself. It’s to protect my family. Their normality of life, or the way they treat me, is precious to me, and changing that, some of it becoming public knowledge — if you’re talking about someone’s personal life, who isn’t involved with a public life, it’s really hurtful.”

He adds, “If I’ve invited OK! magazine or Hello into my house and I say, ‘This is my curtains, this is my bed,’ I can’t really complain, can I? But I try to stay solid. And have a precedent.”

The one area of his life that’s an open book is his career. Craig always wanted to be an actor, from childhood onward. “I grew up in and around Liverpool in the last depression. I left school at 16, 17. I considered joining the Navy, I was a waiter, but beyond that, I’d always wanted to be an actor and my mother, thankfully, gave me just that gentle nudge. Which was just, ‘Go do it,’ and how she dealt with that, I don’t know. She’s a good woman. That encouragement was enough, that’s all I needed.” Having just sworn not to talk about his personal life, Craig looks a bit pained at himself for talking about his mother. “I gave it my best shot,” he continues. “It took a while, but there it was. There was a safety net to fall back on, the family is there, the solidity, and you feel you can do anything. And at 17 or 18, you feel you can do anything anyway,” he says, laughing.

He went to London to join the National Youth Theatre at 16. Craig graduated from the London Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1991. He then won a role in the 1992 South African boxing drama, The Power of One — which he calls his first paying job. He was 21, and he has worked steadily since in theatre, TV and such films as Layer Cake, The Mother, Enduring Love, Infamous, Sylvia, The Trench, The Jacket, Road To Perdition, Love Is The Devil, Munich, His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass and of course, Casino Royale. He will be seen in December in Defiance, playing one of a trio of Polish brothers who elude the Nazis during the Second World War.

And what was it about acting that was such a huge magnet for him when he was young?

“Dressing up and showing off,” says Craig. “Still is."

"Madagascar" roars with $63.5 million weekend

LOS ANGELES – Families herded into movie theaters for another trek with stranded zoo animals as the animated sequel "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" led the weekend with a $63.5 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The haul for the DreamWorks Animation comedy far surpassed the $47.2 million debut for "Madagascar" over Memorial Day weekend in 2005. Its three-day total also beat the $61 million gross the first movie took in over that full four-day holiday weekend.

"It just shows people seem happy to escape to the movies and have a good laugh," said Anne Globe, head of marketing for DreamWorks Animation.
While parents with children were the bulk of the audience, "Madagascar" also drew teens and adults on their own, who made up half the audience on Friday and one-third on Saturday, Globe said.

Premiering in second place with $19.3 million was the Universal Pictures comedy "Role Models," starring Seann William Scott and Paul Rudd as immature adults sentenced to community service as mentors for two misfit youths.

The weekend's other new wide release, the Weinstein Co. music comedy "Soul Men," opened weakly with $5.6 million, despite the lure of Samuel L. Jackson and his late co-stars, Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes, who died last summer. Jackson and Mac play an estranged singing team on a reunion road trip to a memorial concert.

Mac also was among the voice cast for the "Madagascar" sequel, providing vocals as Zuba, the father of Ben Stiller's Alex the lion.

"Certainly, he just brought a wonderful heart to the role of Zuba. We were just fortunate to have him for that character," Globe said.

The movie also reunites voice stars Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith and Sacha Baron Cohen as the animal gang crash lands in an African nature preserve.

Disney's "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," which had been No. 1 the previous two weekends, slipped to third place with $9.3 million, raising its total to $75.7 million.

"Madagascar" and "Role Models" kicked off a big start to Hollywood's holiday season. The top 12 movies took in $128.8 million, up 32 percent from the same weekend last year.

"It's all boding well," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal. "We have lots of really good films coming, lots of commercial films. I love the fact that everybody's going to the movies. I love the fact that everybody likes what they're seeing."

The season continues with Sony's James Bond adventure "Quantum of Solace" on Friday, then Summit Entertainment's vampire romance "Twilight" and Disney's animated canine comedy "Bolt" on Nov. 21.

"Quantum of Solace" continued to pull in big audiences overseas with $106.5 million in 60 countries, raising its total to $160.3 million since it began opening internationally Oct. 31.

Hollywood's domestic revenue for the year stands at $7.96 billion, a fraction ahead of the pace in 2007, when the industry took in a record $9.7 billion, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

Factoring in inflation, the number of tickets sold this year trails last year's admissions by 4 percent. But Hollywood has a stronger lineup this time heading into Thanksgiving, so studios could finish the year with a bang.

"Given where we are and the films in the pipeline, we have a huge shot at more than making up for any kind of attendance deficit," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. "You wouldn't know there was a recession if you were just looking at the movie industry."

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. "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," $63.5 million.
2. "Role Models," $19.3 million.
3. "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," $9.3 million.
4. "Changeling," $7.3 million.
5. "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," $6.5 million.
6. "Soul Men," $5.6 million.
7. "Saw V," $4.2 million.
8. "The Haunting of Molly Hartley," $3.5 million.
9. "The Secret Life of Bees," $3.1 million.
10. "Eagle Eye," $2.6 million.

The Couch Potato Report - November 8th, 2008

This week The Couch Potato Report peels two of everything, two TV shows, two movies, and two animated films.

Yes, there are two of everything this week, and we will start with the releases that give us more TV ON DVD, most notably the HOT POTATO this week, the debut on disc of the Michael J. Fox series SPIN CITY.

SPIN CITY was the show that brought Edmonton born, Burnaby, B.C. raised Michael J. Fox back to television, as once the classic series FAMILY TIES had ended - and I am sure you know this - he had become a world renowned movie star with films such as the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy and THE SECRET OF MY SUCCESS.

Co-created by Gary David Goldberg, the man responsible for Fox's previous successful show, SPIN CITY focuses on the Mayor of New York City and his staff as they run the city - although the main person in charge is Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty, which is the character played by Fox.

SPIN CITY ran ran from 1996 to 2002 and if you only watched the later years of the show, you probably weren't aware that actress Carla Guigino from the SPY KIDS films and the film SIN CITY played his live-in girlfriend in the early episodes.

They are all included in the 4-DVD set SPIN CITY: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON.

I remain a huge Michael J. Fox fan, and since he is no longer able to act on a regular basis, due to the fact that he has Parkinson's disease, so I enjoyed watching this show again over the past week.

If you remain a fan as well, or you just enjoy a well written sitcom, with a great ensemble cast, the SPIN CITY: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON is available for you to enjoy now on DVD as well.

And, if you were also a fan of FAMILY TIES, the end of every episode of SPIN CITY will also bring back some pleasant memories.

And if you prefer Canadian sitcoms to the ones produced in the States, well then you are in luck this week as well!!

ROBSON ARMS - SEASON THREE is now out on DVD too!!

ROBSON ARMS is a Canadian anthology television series that takes place in and around the Robson Arms apartment building in Vancouver and each episode of the show focuses on a different tenant of the building, although we also see the other people who live in the building in the halls, or in the store that is located in the lobby.

ROBSON ARMS features lots of Canadian music and references and it has a large ensemble cast of well known Canadian actors that rotates from week to week, but when SEASON ONE was released on DVD my review concluded with this:

"...in the end, I just didn't find the show really isn't all that entertaining."

But when SEASON TWO was released, the show won me over!!

My review for that season featured this conclusion:

"...the producers got rid of most of the unlikeable characters, and added a few people you could actually care about, and while I didn't completely love SEASON TWO of the show, I really did enjoy watching it, and catching up with the folks who live in this Vancouver building."

And now, with the release of SEASON THREE on DVD, what am I thinking?

I am thinking more along the lines of how I felt after seeing SEASON ONE! Sadly, I found most of SEASON THREE of ROBSON ARMS awful!

The stories that the filmmakers gave us for this year are uninteresting and I just didn't care! Yes, Vancouver looks great as it has been shot beautifully for the show, but almost all of the likeability that the characters had is gone, and there are only a few entertaining minutes - and they are spread out over the course of the entire 13 episodes - and so my conclusion this time is this:

"...I wanted to like SEASON THREE of ROBSON ARMS, but I didn't. All the goodwill I felt towards the show after SEASON TWO was eroded quickly, and I was left watching something I didn't care about. Skip this release, unless you have to see how the series wraps up."

And yes, SEASON THREE is the final one for the show as ROBSON ARMS has been cancelled.

May SEASON TWO rest in peace! The other two are just best forgotten!

That was your two television show reviews, now lets move on to the movies I have for you this week, starting with a great film based on a classic series.

Yes, we segue from TV Shows On DVD to a film based on a TV show on DVD.

The title of this one is GET SMART.

The film smartly features some of the catch phrases, characters, gadgets and locations of the series, but it is mostly an all-new piece of entertainment that is based around the charaters we used to see on TV.

But it is those characters that we are watching this film for, and you will once again see Max, Agent 99, Fang, and The Chief is some very funny and entertaining situations.

Steve Carell from television's THE OFFICE takes over as Maxwell Smart, and Anne Hathaway is Agent 99. They both do an exceptional job of making these iconic roles their own.

GET SMART is funny, and it is a great action film too. I liked it a lot, and it is one of my favourites of 2008.

One of my favourite films of all-time is ANIMAL HOUSE, and this classic comedy is now out in a 30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION!

ANIMAL HOUSE is one of those films that has already been released on DVD three times, so instead of reviewing the film - which remains a classic comedy and one that is a must see for anyone who loves to laugh - I will review the DVD's extras.

Admittedly, the 30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION does include several extras that were not on the "Double Secret Probation Edition", most notably Animal House: The Inside Story - a 98-minute documentary is a great companion piece to An Animal House Reunion - the absolute complete documentary on the film that has appeared before.

So, bottom line, is the ANIMAL HOUSE - 30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION DVD worth your money? Well, it is priced under $20...but, if you already own something better than the very first release of the film on the format, you probably don't need this one.

Personally, I watched the 30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION, just as I have watched the other releases, but I still own the Collector's Edition that came out in 2002.

That one is good enough for me, until the next edition comes out in another year, or so.

Finally this week I have two animated children's movies to tell you about. One is a classic, the other features a classic character, but the film itself is for young kids only.

That film is TINKERBELL.

Tinkerbell is a fictional character from J.M. Barrie's 1904 play and 1911 novel Peter and Wendy. She has also appeared in multiple film and television adaptations of the story, in particular the 1953 animated Walt Disney picture Peter Pan.

Initially described by Barrie as "a common fairy," she has since become a worldwide icon, and this first movie about her is for young girls only, I'm thinking between the ages of 3 to 8! Perhaps some older gilrs might like it, but I don't think it is even intended for older kids.

It is bright and loud and for young girls.

As an older man, I actually though the animation looked kind of creepy, but my 8 year old neice Taylynn liked it, so if you have a young lady in your house or family, this one is for them!

That other animated film is the Disney classic SLEEPING BEAUTY. It is available now in a two-disc, 50th Anniversary Edition.

Most very young kids won't able to sit through this film as it is a bit slower in pace than the animated films of today, but those who do sit through it will be rewarded as it has such spectacular visuals and such a strong villain that it makes up for the fact that it doesn't really have a good lead character.

SLEEPING BEAUTY is a true cinematic classic, and it has never looked better! It is available now on DVD, along with TINKERBELL, which is for young girls only, the classic ANIMAL HOUSE and the film version of the television show GET SMART, a film I liked a lot! Plus, the not very good SEASON THREE of the Canadian TV series ROBSON ARMS and THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of Michael J. Fox's SPIN CITY are available now on DVD as well.


Coming up in two weeks on the next Couch Potato Report

I will have a wealth of very interesting new releases for you, including two o fthe most entertaining films of the year WALL*E and HELLBOY 2 - THE GOLDEN ARMY, and a very interesting documentary about the state of the Canadian Film Industry called MAPLE FLAVOUR FILMS.

I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in fourteen days, on the weekend of November 22nd.

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

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

CBC-TV's Henry Champ bids an emotional goodbye

Veteran CBC correspondent Henry Champ bade an emotional farewell to television viewers on air Friday morning, as the Manitoban reporter retired after a journalism career spanning more than four decades.

As his last day approached, Champ said, his thoughts frequently returned to "the marvellous contact that I had with Canadians all my life."

"When you're in television, it's kind of special because people see you and they think they know you, and they come up and talk to you frequently," he said.

"Occasionally people will walk down the streets in Washington — who are visiting from Canada — and they'll spot me and we'll have wonderful conversations. That was the best part of the job."

Though he began his journalism career as a print reporter in Manitoba, Champ is best known for his many years in television.

He spent 15 years at CTV, serving as an investigative reporter at W5 and as a news correspondent and bureau chief in Washington, London and Montreal. During that time, he was also among the last correspondents to leave Vietnam during the fall of Saigon and was among the first Canadian journalists admitted into the People's Republic of China.

'Newspaperman in Brandon'

He later moved to NBC News, where he spent 10 years covering politics from European bureaus and in Washington.

In 1993, Champ joined CBC, where his jobs have ranged from being part of the anchor team of CBC Morning News to his most recent post as CBC Newsworld's Washington correspondent.

On Friday, Champ hearkened back to getting his start in journalism as a "newspaperman in Brandon" in 1960.

"I was making $191 a month, and I remember thinking to myself … that if I could be called a good journeyman reporter by the time I was 45 — by my colleagues — that would be a wonderful career. And I think I made it," he said, his voice breaking.

"I hope people understand that I'm crying not because I'm sad, but just because it was a hell of a ride and every minute was enjoyable."

Champ has accepted a three-year term as chancellor with his alma mater, Brandon University, which in 2005 recognized him with an honorary doctor of laws degree.

Though Champ said he's "looking forward to a wonderful retirement," his new chancellor post, working with youth in Washington, and spending more time on his farm in Maryland, he will still have a hand in journalism.

"It's not going to end, because I'm still going to write my column for CBCNews.ca," he said.

"Occasionally people will ask me something, and maybe I can give them an answer or two."

Ex-'24' Star Is Getting 'Lost'

Former "24" star Reiko Aylesworth may soon be involved in a different sort of international intrigue on "Lost."

Aylesworth is in negotiations to take a "major" recurring role on the upcoming season of the ABC series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She would appear in at least four episodes of the show, which will make its return early next year.

The character Aylesworth would be playing is described as "a smart and successful professional woman with a love for the outdoors who is looking for the right man." This being "Lost," that could mean almost anything. Could she be:

A heretofore unseen Other who's been working behind the scenes in searching for the "right man" -- say, John Locke (Terry O'Quinn)?

An operative for either Ben (Michael Emerson) or Widmore (Alan Dale) who's helping track the movements of either side's adversaries?

Someone who gets involved with one of the Oceanic Six? (Note to the character: If this is the case, you're looking in the wrong place for the right man.)

Aylesworth is best known for playing CTU agent Michelle Dessler on "24" for three-plus seasons. She had a recurring part on "ER" last season and has recently appeared in the movies "Aliens vs. Predator -- Requiem" and "Mr. Brooks."

Sick days cost CBC $15M

Sick days and short-term disability leave are costing the taxpayer-funded CBC over $15 million annually in lost productivity.

Documents obtained through Access to Information reveal that in 2006-07 the CBC lost $15.3 million as a result of 68,000 sick days taken by the Crown corporation's staff of just under 10,000 employees. That was up from $13.6 million in lost productivity the previous year.

"Although, as with many large organizations, the absentee rates and the costs seem to be rising generally the absentee rates at CBC do appear to be high and they certainly are of concern to us," said CBC spokesman Jeff Keay.

In 2006-07, the CBC received $974 million from the federal government.

While the $15.3 million loss may seem staggering, when compared with the federal public service, the CBC has a better record.

According to Statistics Canada, federal employees missed an average of 9.2 days of work in 2007 because of illness but CBC employees only missed an average of 7.4 days.

While the numbers suggest CBC employees take fewer sick days than a federal government employees, when the numbers are broken down into staff for French and English CBC, they tell a different story.

Staff working at CBC French television missed 9.7 days of work in 2006-07 while CBC French radio staff missed 8.2 days of work.

This is in stark contrast to CBC's English television staff that missed only six days of work that year and CBC's English radio staff who missed even less at 5.9 days.

Keay said the CBC has been working with the unions which represent CBC employees to find out what they can do to cut back on the number of days employees miss each year.

Aside from general health, the CBC says Keay has recognized that as a news gathering organization its employees work in a high stress environment and are concentrating on the mental well-being of staff.

In 2005, the corporation conducted a survey of nearly half its staff and found that 44% were displaying symptoms of high-level psychological distress. Nine out of 10 said the distress was related to their work.

The survey also revealed a tension between staff and management and a culture where people failed to show mutual respect in the workplace.

Since that time, the CBC has been mandating that each employee attend a half-day "respect seminar" designed to improve relations between staff.

Lenny Kravitz scraps Canadian run

Retro rocker Lenny Kravitz has pulled the plug on the rest of his trek through the Great White North due to "illness".

"Following rave reviews and record attendances across Canada it is with great regret that Lenny Kravitz has had to cancel the remainder of his Canadian tour," reads an announcement posted at Kravitz's MySpace page "Lenny is suffering from severe throat problems that have resulted in him not being able to sing or even talk."

The announcement goes on to say that "2009 will be a huge year for Lenny with a world tour that will play heavily in the US and Canada. Lenny looks forward to seeing all of his Canadian fans again at this time and once again apologizes for the very unforeseen cancellation."

Cattrall Confirms Sex And The City Sequel

Kim Cattrall has confirmed there will be a Sex And The City movie sequel - with filming scheduled to begin as early as next summer.

The actress, who played maneater Samantha Jones in the hit U.S. TV series, was the last of the original core cast - which included Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis - to agree to star in the big-screen adaptation.

Earlier this year, Parker alluded to the possibility of a sequel to the blockbuster, promising that she and writer/director Michael Patrick King would "have that conversation (about a sequel) sooner rather than later".

And, speaking to pop star Melanie Brown in a U.K. TV interview on Tuesday, Cattrall revealed that a follow-up is indeed in the pipeline.

She told the former Spice Girl: "Yes, there will be a sequel. We will do the sequel next summer.

"We wanted to (film) the first time, and now we're hopefully doing it again for the second time."

However, she added that it was "difficult getting everybody who's so incredibly busy all together at the same time".

The movie Sex And The City stormed international box offices after its May release, grossing more than $391 million (GBP211.4 million) worldwide.

"Madagascar" top destination for moviegoers

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Hollywood should jump back into the win column this weekend with three diverse wide openers, led by "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa."

A built-in fan base and strong early reviews could help the DreamWorks Animation sequel outpace the 2005 franchise original's opening Friday-Sunday haul of $47.2 million. "Madagascar" bowed during a Memorial Day frame and thus posted a four-day opening of $61 million, en route to grossing $193.6 million overall domestically.

The Paramount-distributed sequel certainly should ring up at least $45 million-$50 million, but a big weekend of moviegoing could push the comedy even a bit higher.

"I think the movie has a real shot at opening over $50 million," Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore said. "The only real wild card is the weather. If it rains, that's great news for any film that plays to a family audience. But if it snows, it kills you."

Like its predecessor, the new "Madagascar" was co-directed by Eric Darnell -- who helmed 1998's "Antz" -- and Tom McGrath, who directed two episodes of "The Ren & Stimpy Show" before getting his big-screen break. Its voice cast again features Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer and Sacha Baron Cohen.

Elsewhere among the weekend debuts, Universal unspools the raunchy comedy "Role Models," while MGM sends out the urban-skewing "Soul Men," starring the late Bernie Mac. Sales for the new films will be padded by grosses for holdovers including Disney's "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," which has held the top spot for the past two weekends.

That should make for a combo powerful enough to outpace the comparable year-ago weekend, a $114 million frame whose top opener was Warner Bros.' seasonal comedy "Fred Claus" with a disappointing $18.5 million. Total sales marked a year-over-year decline last weekend for the first time in six sessions.

"Role Models" has been drawing quite a favorable response from critics, and prerelease tracking indicates solid interest among young male moviegoers for the Seann William Scott and Paul Rudd starrer, suggesting a bow in the low single-digit millions. Anything higher would seem unlikely with "Madagascar" hitting the marketplace and the Weinstein Co.'s R-rated comedy "Zack and Miri Make A Porno" in just its second weekend.

"Soul Men" will be helped by core appeal among fans of both Mac and Samuel L. Jackson, and an inaugural weekend of as much as $10 million appears possible. (In an odd twist of fate, Mac actually has two films opening this weekend; he provides a voice in "Madagascar" as the father of Stiller's lead character Alex the Lion.)

Mac's death this year prompted helmer Malcolm D. Lee ("Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins") to add some poignant bio clips prior to the film's final credits. "Soul Man" also features the late Isaac Hayes in a smaller role.

Limited openers include this doozy: Lionsgate's campy rock musical "Repo! The Genetic Opera," which unspools in eight locations in six markets.

Rated R for gore and violence, "Repo" is based on a stage musical with songs composed by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich and a futuristic sci-fi theme. The cast includes pop songstress Sarah Brightman and Paris Hilton, with Darren Lynn Bousman ("Saw II," "III," "IV") directing.

Lionsgate plans a slow expansion over coming frames, hoping to spin a cult fan base built on word-of-mouth.

"If we're lucky, we'll turn it into a 'Rocky Horror' kind of film," Lionsgate distribution president Steve Rothenberg said.

New Springsteen album due in January: report

NEW YORK (Billboard) – Bruce Springsteen's next album is expected for release around the time of Barack Obama's presidential inauguration in January, according to the fan Web site Backstreets.com (http://www.backstreets.com).

The follow-up to 2007's "Magic" will likely contain the song "Workin' on a Dream," which Springsteen debuted last weekend at an Obama rally in Cleveland.

No other information is known about the project, and his representative was unavailable for comment. Springsteen is known to have had a wealth of material left over from "Magic" sessions with producer Brendan O'Brien, but it's unknown whether any of those songs will make the cut.

The rocker campaigned tirelessly for Obama during the homestretch of the election, playing fundraisers and rallies across the country. Thursday night, he will perform at New York's Town Hall as part of the Stand Up for Heroes benefit, alongside his wife Patti Scialfa and comedians Whoopi Goldberg and Ricky Gervais.

'Jurassic Park' author Crichton dead

NEW YORK -- Michael Crichton, the million-selling author who made scientific research terrifying and irresistible in such thrillers as "Jurassic Park," "Timeline" and "The Andromeda Strain," has died of cancer, his family said.

Crichton died Tuesday in Los Angeles at age 66 after privately battling cancer.

"Through his books, Michael Crichton served as an inspiration to students of all ages, challenged scientists in many fields, and illuminated the mysteries of the world in a way we could all understand," his family said in a statement.

"While the world knew him as a great storyteller that challenged our preconceived notions about the world around us -- and entertained us all while doing so -- his wife Sherri, daughter Taylor, family and friends knew Michael Crichton as a devoted husband, loving father and generous friend who inspired each of us to strive to see the wonders of our world through new eyes."

He was an experimenter and popularizer known for his stories of disaster and systematic breakdown, such as the rampant microbe of "The Andromeda Strain" or the dinosaurs running madly in "Jurassic Park." Many of his books became major Hollywood movies, including "Jurassic Park," "Rising Sun" and "Disclosure." Crichton himself directed and wrote "The Great Train Robbery" and he co-wrote the script for the blockbuster "Twister."

In 1994, he created the award-winning TV hospital series "ER." He's even had a dinosaur named for him, Crichton's ankylosaur.

"Michael's talent out-scaled even his own dinosaurs of 'Jurassic Park,' " said "Jurassic Park" director Steven Spielberg, a friend of Crichton's for 40 years.

"He was the greatest at blending science with big theatrical concepts, which is what gave credibility to dinosaurs again walking the Earth. . . . Michael was a gentle soul who reserved his flamboyant side for his novels. There is no one in the wings that will ever take his place."

John Wells, executive producer of "ER" called the author "an extraordinary man. Brilliant, funny, erudite, gracious, exceptionally inquisitive and always thoughtful.

"No lunch with Michael lasted less than three hours and no subject was too prosaic or obscure to attract his interest. Sexual politics, medical and scientific ethics, anthropology, archeology, economics, astronomy, astrology, quantum physics, and molecular biology were all regular topics of conversation."

In recent years, he was the rare novelist granted a White House meeting with President George W. Bush, perhaps because of his skepticism about global warming, which Crichton addressed in the 2004 novel, "State of Fear."

Crichton's views were strongly condemned by environmentalists, who alleged that the author was hurting efforts to pass legislation to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide.

If not a literary giant, he was a physical one, standing 6 feet 9 inches and ready for battle with the press. In a 2004 interview with The Associated Press, Crichton came with a tape recorder, text books and a pile of graphs and charts as he defended "State of Fear" and his take on global warming.

"I have a lot of trouble with things that don't seem true to me," Crichton said at the time, his large, manicured hands gesturing to his graphs. "I'm very uncomfortable just accepting. There's something in me that wants to pound the table and say, 'That's not true.' "

He spoke to few scientists about his questions, convinced that he could interpret the data himself.

"If we put everything in the hands of experts and if we say that as intelligent outsiders, we are not qualified to look over the shoulder of anybody, then we're in some kind of really weird world," he said.

A new novel by Crichton had been tentatively scheduled to come next month, but publisher HarperCollins said the book was postponed indefinitely because of his illness.

One of four siblings, Crichton was born in Chicago and grew up in Roslyn, Long Island. His father was a journalist and young Michael spent much of his childhood writing extra papers for teachers.

In third grade, he wrote a nine-page play that his father typed for him, using carbon paper so the other kids would know their parts. He was tall, gangly and awkward and used writing as a way to escape. Mark Twain and Alfred Hitchcock were his role models.

Figuring he would not be able to make a living as writer, and not good enough at basketball, he decided to become a doctor. He studied anthropology at Harvard College and later graduated from Harvard Medical School.

During medical school, he turned out books under pseudonyms. (One that the tall author used was Jeffrey Hudson, a 17th-century dwarf in the court of King Charles II of England.) He had modest success with his writing and decided to pursue it.

His first hit, "The Andromeda Strain," was written while he was still in medical school and quickly caught on upon its 1969 release. It was a featured selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and was sold to Universal in Hollywood for $250,000.

"A few of the teachers feel I'm wasting my time, and that in some ways I have wasted theirs," he told The New York Times in 1969. "When I asked for a couple of days off to go to California about a movie sale, that raised an eyebrow."

His books seemed designed to provoke debate, whether the theories of quantum physics in "Timeline," the reverse sexual discrimination of "Disclosure" or the spectre of Japanese eminence in "Rising Sun."

"The initial response from the (Japanese) establishment was, 'You're a racist,' " he said. "So then, because I'm always trying to deal with data, I went on a tour talking about it and gave a very careful argument, and their response came back, 'Well you say that but we know you're a racist.' "

Crichton had a rigid work schedule, rising before dawn and writing from about 6 a.m. to around 3 p.m., breaking only for lunch. He enjoyed being one of the few novelists recognized in public but he also felt limited by fame.

"Of course, the celebrity is nice. But when I go do research, it's much more difficult now. The kind of freedom I had 10 years ago is gone," he said. "You have to have good table manners. You can't have spaghetti hanging out of your mouth at a restaurant."

Crichton was married five times and had one child. A private funeral is planned.

Obama triumphs, will be first black US president

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama was elected the nation's first black president Tuesday night in a historic triumph that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself.

The 47-year-old Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his victory by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Iowa.

A huge crowd thronged Grant Park in Chicago to cheer Obama's improbable triumph and await his first public speech as president-elect.

Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, will take their oaths of office as president and vice president on Jan. 20, 2009.

As the 44th president, Obama will move into the Oval Office as leader of a country that is almost certainly in recession, and fighting two long wars, one in Iraq, the other in Afghanistan.

The popular vote was close, but not the count in the Electoral College, where it counted.

There, Obama's audacious decision to contest McCain in states that hadn't gone Democratic in years paid rich dividends.

Fellow Democrats rode his coattails to gains in both houses of Congress, toppling Republican incumbents and winning open seats alike.

Obama has said his first order of presidential business will be to tackle the economy. He has also pledged to withdraw most U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months.

'Law & Order' boss slams TV lineup

Law & Order creator Dick Wolf didn't hide behind legal lingo when asked about the current TV season.

"You want one word? Disastrous," Wolf said.

"Have I missed something? Is there a new breakout hit? This is the second year in a row where nothing has gotten traction and it's November. That's not good for the business."

In an effort to save the business at NBC, Law & Order is being brought back this week, moved up from its original "early 2009" start-date in an effort to stop the bleeding in the ratings.

"Scheduling choices are something I have absolutely nothing to do with and no say in," the 61-year-old Wolf said about being brought in off the bench early. "I'm glad to be back is the bottom line. I wish we had some more promo time. The episodes are just fine, but I wish more people knew we were coming, because it's a daunting promotional climate now.

"But this is like complaining about global warming. Everybody is having a lousy year. My fondest hope is Law & Order is going to carry the water here and help the network, because for better or worse, a rising tide raises all boats."

Burnett opts out, becomes free agent

TORONTO -- A.J. Burnett is going to be a free agent. On Tuesday, Burnett's agent, Darek Braunecker, confirmed that the pitcher will opt out of his contract with the Blue Jays, walking away from the $24 million he was scheduled to make over the next two seasons.

Braunecker met with the Blue Jays on Tuesday at the General Managers Meetings in Dana Point, Calif., to inform the club of his client's decision. Braunecker stressed that Burnett's choice doesn't mean that the right-hander doesn't still have interest in re-signing with Toronto.

Burnett signed a five-year contract worth $55 million with the Blue Jays before the 2006 season. After a pair of injury-riddled campaigns, Burnett pieced together arguably the best showing of his career in '08, posting a personal-best 18 wins with an American League-leading 231 strikeouts.

Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi, who was not immediately available for comment, has indicated that the club would be willing to discuss a new multi-year contract for the pitcher. Braunecker chose not to comment when asked if Toronto had already fielded an offer to retain the pitcher.

Beyond the Blue Jays, the Yankees, Orioles and Red Sox have all been rumored to be interested in Burnett, who makes his offseason home outside of Baltimore. Burnett is arguably the top available arm behind free agent CC Sabathia and could be in the market for a four- or five-year deal worth between $15-18 million annually.

Olbermann gives Affleck an 'A+'

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and a "flattered" Keith Olbermann is giving Ben Affleck high marks for his Saturday Night Live impersonation. "As a technical achievement, it was an A+," Olbermann told TV Newser's Gail Shister. "Ben got most of the facial expressions right, and the camera turns were hilarious."

He adds, "From the moment I heard about it as they rehearsed on Friday, I was flattered. I might nitpick the details, but there is a status implied by this. Especially running it before midnight. Especially having the host doing the impression. Also, you can kvetch now and again about criticism, and Lord knows I do, but if you are insulted by something like this, it's time to become a Park Ranger."

Moffat Favoured Older Actor for Who Role in '99

An article appearing in The Sun quotes comments incoming showrunner Steven Moffat made to Doctor Who Magazine in 1999, using them to suggest that the casting of the next Doctor could go to an older actor.

Moffat is quoted as saying: "Although I loved Peter Davison and Paul McGann, probably the best two actors in the role, I don’t think young, dashing Doctors are right at all.

"He should be 40-plus and weird-looking — the kind of wacky grandfather kids know on sight to be secretly one of them."

The article also speculates that the next lead actor will be well-known, quoting Moffat as having said: "Any actor with the ‘right stuff’ is unlikely to be a complete unknown."

David Tennant continues in the role of the Doctor through the 2009 television specials and a new Doctor will be introduced when Moffat takes the reins in 2010.

Tim Robbins runs into voting trouble

NEW YORK – Many Americans endured long lines to vote. Tim Robbins had to get a court order before he was allowed to cast his vote for president.

The 50-year-old actor's voting woes began Tuesday morning when he ran into trouble at his polling station: His name was missing from the registration rolls. He said his name was nowhere to be found on the books at a YMCA in downtown Manhattan, where he'd previously voted in presidential elections.

"I had been voting there for years," he said in a telephone interview. "I have not moved, I have not changed party affiliations. There's no reason why it shouldn't be in the rolls. So I was given a paper ballot and filled it out, but I wanted my vote to be registered there — and I don't trust paper ballots."

Robbins, who lives with partner Susan Sarandon and has been registered to vote in New York since 1988, said he doesn't trust paper or affidavit ballots because "oftentimes those things get lost or thrown away." So he did not submit his and asked to speak to a supervisor.

"I stayed in the voting place and asked to see someone from the Board of Elections and told them I wasn't going to leave until someone from the Board of Elections came and explained to me why I wasn't being allowed to vote — why my name had been taken off the voter rolls."

The supervisor said a police officer had been called over, he said, "at which point, I said to him, `Are you trying to intimidate me?'" The police at the location said he had "every right to be there," said Robbins, well-known as a liberal activist who even played a candidate running for the Senate in "Bob Roberts," a 1992 film he also wrote and directed.

Police said there was no police involvement.

After hours of waiting, Robbins said he was told to visit the board's downtown office, which confirmed what he knew to be true: He's a registered voter. A judge then issued a court order allowing him to vote — and that he did, at the same location where his trouble began.

"If anything it seems like a random thing, but in randomness there are numbers. And there have been in the past," said Robbins, who said that other voters also were not listed.

"This is just one example of how difficult it is to vote in the United States," he said.

Holiday highlights: Bond, Nixon, `Madagascar' gang

LOS ANGELES – Nixon's back. So are Kate and Leo, Nicole and Baz, a herd of stranded zoo animals and a very vengeful James Bond.

Despite the harsh economy, Hollywood has been on a box-office roll the last month, and studios head into the year's homestretch with a solid lineup of returns, reunions and promising newcomers that could uphold the old saw about movies as a recession-proof business.

Lighthearted fare such as "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" and "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" provided a brisk prelude to the holiday season, of which the first big offering is the animated sequel "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa."

The movie reunites a voice cast led by Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith and David Schwimmer as the foursome of zoo buddies, now stuck on a wildlife preserve in Africa after their ramshackle plane crashes.

Stiller enjoyed making the sequel more, partly because he wasn't so lonely in the recording booth doing the vocals. Actors generally work alone on animated flicks, but one pivotal scene between Stiller's Alex the lion and Rock's Marty the zebra was recorded with both actors in the room.

"I really wanted to have that experience to see what came out of it. It was a lot of fun improvising back and forth, doing a scene with somebody else like a regular movie," Stiller said. "Just getting Chris in the room and riffing with it was inspiring."

Among other big films: Daniel Craig returns as Bond in "Quantum of Solace"; "Titanic" stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are together again in the domestic drama "Revolutionary Road"; Nicole Kidman reteams with "Moulin Rouge" director Baz Luhrmann for the World War II-era epic "Australia"; Kidman's ex, Tom Cruise, stars in his own World War II tale "Valkyrie"; Frank Langella reprises his stage role as Richard Nixon in Ron Howard's "Frost/Nixon"; "Babel" co-stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett reunite for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"; Keanu Reeves stars in an update of the sci-fi classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still"; and a best-seller comes to the screen with "Twilight," about a teen's romance with a studly vampire.

Adapted from the first book in Stephenie Meyer's series, "Twilight" stars Kristen Stewart as the new girl at school who falls for the eternally young bloodsucker (Robert Pattinson) from a family of vamps trying to do the right thing by refusing to feed off humans.

Teen girls have been the core audience for the books. But director Catherine Hardwicke figures it's a story everyone can relate to, even her mom's 70-something friends.

"You can relate to falling in love with the wrong person, not your socio-economic class, not your gender, not your race, or the bad boy in school — someone your family and his family and society doesn't think you should be with," Hardwicke said. "In this case, it's extreme, because he's not the same species."

"Quantum of Solace" picks up where 2006's "Casino Royale" left off, with 007 out to avenge the death of his great love. Bond bounds around the world, going rogue as his quest tosses him up against a phony environmentalist cornering a South American water supply and lands him in the company of a woman (Olga Kurylenko) with her own mission of vengeance.

Unlike the always slick Bond of old, Craig again presents an operative with rough edges, who reveals his emotional scars in the downtime between the action.

"You've got this mix, this man that works incredibly intensely for short periods of time on incredibly terrifying missions, then has to go back to normal life, and doesn't cope with it very well," Craig said. "I love that idea that he's at his best when he's in trouble."

Other upcoming Hollywood highlights:

HOLIDAY TALES:

"Four Christmases" features Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn as a couple suffering through the ultimate holiday horror — four separate family gatherings with parents, stepparents, siblings and other kin. The cast includes Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, Mary Steenburgen and Vaughn buddy Jon Favreau.

In "Nothing Like the Holidays," a family copes with upheaval, new additions and old resentments as siblings head home for Christmas at their parents' place. The cast includes John Leguizamo, Debra Messing, Freddy Rodriguez, Alfred Molina and Elizabeth Pena.

HEAVYWEIGHT DRAMA:

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio played lovers whose romance wound up on the rocks after the ship hit the iceberg in "Titanic." With "Revolutionary Road," they play a couple on another sort of collision course as they try to break free of their stifling suburban lives.

"We knew if we were going to a relationship, a love story again, it would have to be dramatically different," DiCaprio said. "This very much is about the disintegration of a relationship."

Clint Eastwood directs and stars in "Gran Torino," about a bigoted Korean War veteran who develops unexpected rapport with his immigrant neighbors.

"Doubt" features Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams in a moral showdown between a traditional nun and a progressive priest accused of abusing a student at a Catholic school in 1964.

DOGGIE TALES:

Following in the paw prints of "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," Miley Cyrus and John Travolta provide the lead voices in the animated "Bolt," a family flick about a dog that plays a superhero on TV but must scrape by on his ordinary canine abilities on a cross-country trek home.

"Marley & Me" stars Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson in an adaptation of John Grogan's book about a crazy mutt whose mischievous ways keep him perpetually in the doghouse with his exasperated owners.

Michelle Williams puts in a heart-wrenching performance in "Wendy and Lucy," a drama about a woman who encounters hostility, indifference and the occasional act of kindness after she and her dog become stranded on their way to a new life in Alaska.

ON THE WAR FRONT:

"Australia" takes Nicole Kidman, co-star Hugh Jackman and director Baz Luhrmann back to their homeland as World War II breaks out.

"It was important to all of us, Baz, Hugh and myself, that we be able to go back where we started, at a time when we could go anywhere in the world, and actually choose to go there and tell our story," Kidman said.

Kidman plays a Brit searching for her unfaithful husband in Australia, where she hooks up with a rough local (Jackman) on a cattle drive across the barren landscape, the two ending up at ground zero during a Japanese bombing.

Tom Cruise, Kidman's ex, and Daniel Craig each headline thrillers about fighters opposing the Nazis in Europe.

Craig stars in "Defiance," a tale of Jewish brothers who organize a resistance movement in Eastern Europe, while Cruise plays German Col. Claus von Stauffenberg in "Valkyrie," a thriller about conspirators who plotted to kill Adolf Hitler.

Viggo Mortensen also puts on a German uniform in "Good," playing an academic gradually seduced into collaborating with the Nazis during the Holocaust.

"The Reader" features Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes in the story of a young man's obsession with an older woman, whom he encounters again years later when she is on trial as a Nazi war criminal.

ACTION:

Jason Statham returns for "Transporter 3," as the world's most-lethal delivery man finds a little romance while escorting a Ukrainian official's daughter.

"Punisher: War Zone" has Ray Stevenson as the new incarnation of the Marvel Comics vigilante, who takes on the minions of a vengeful crime boss.

Graphic novelist Frank Miller ("300") directs "The Spirit," the story of a resurrected crimefighter (Gabriel Macht) battling a villain (Samuel L. Jackson) with a destructive scheme to achieve immortality. Scarlett Johansson co-stars.

SCI-FI/FANTASY:

Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly star in "The Day the Earth Stood Still," an update of the 1950s classic about an alien and his robot partner who come to our world with an ultimatum for humanity.

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" features Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in an adaptation of an F. Scott Fitzgerald story that traces the strange life of a man born in his 80s who ages backward toward infancy.

TRAGIC LEADERS:

Sean Penn stars in the title role of "Milk," based on the life of gay political pioneer Harvey Milk, who was slain along with Mayor George Moscone by a fellow San Francisco politician.

Steven Soderbergh's two-part epic "Che" stars Benicio Del Toro as revolutionary Che Guevara as he rises to power alongside Fidel Castro in Cuba but fails in a similar guerrilla campaign in Bolivia.

"Frost/Nixon" presents the behind-the-scenes and on-camera drama between Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) and British TV personality David Frost (Michael Sheen) amid their historic series of interviews in 1977.

With the actors reprising their roles from Peter Morgan's play, the film is anchored by a brooding, melancholy performance from Langella, who captures the intonation and bearing of Nixon without relying on mimicry or impersonation.

"He made it a point to steer clear of all of that," said "Frost/Nixon" director Ron Howard. "Frank, starting with the play and on through the movie, his approach to Nixon just became more and more laserlike and refined. He's not trying to do an impression, but he is trying to evoke an honest sense of the man."

FOR LAUGHS:

In "Bedtime Stories," Adam Sandler stars as a hotel handyman who inexplicably finds the outrageous tales he spins for his niece and nephew coming true.

Jim Carrey accentuates the positive in "Yes Man," playing a loser whose life takes a positive turn after he adopts a self-help program requiring him to say yes to everything.

"Role Models" casts Seann William Scott and Paul Rudd as immature grown-ups who wind up sentenced to community service as youth mentors.

MUSIC:

"Soul Men" pairs Samuel L. Jackson and the late Bernie Mac as former singing partners trying to put decades of bad blood behind them as they travel cross-country for a tribute concert. The late Isaac Hayes co-stars.

A cast that includes Paris Hilton, Alexa Vega of "Spy Kids" and opera singer Sarah Brightman is featured in "Repo! The Genetic Opera," a musical horror story in a future world where repo men take back transplanted organs if recipients can't keep up the payments.

SECOND CHANCES:

Will Smith follows his summer smash "Hancock" with the sober drama "Seven Pounds," playing a man trying to make amends for his past by helping seven strangers. The cast includes Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson and Barry Pepper.

"Slumdog Millionaire," the latest from director Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting"), spins the story of a young man (Dev Patel) whose appearance on India's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is the backdrop to reconnect with the lost love of his horrific childhood.

Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz and Mark Ruffalo star in "The Brothers Bloom," about a pair of con-man siblings, one with a shot to chuck his trade and find the life of romance and adventure he's always wanted.

"Last Chance Harvey" features Dustin Hoffman as a failed jingle writer and Emma Thompson as a statistics bureaucrat whose chance encounter at an airport bar could change both their lives.

Mickey Rourke may emerge as Hollywood's latest reclamation project with "The Wrestler," Oscar buzz swirling for his performance as a former star trying to recapture past glory in the ring.

The story parallels the real-life saga of Rourke, who squandered his early acting promise with years of bad behavior that made him an outcast in Hollywood. Rourke wants "The Wrestler" to prove he's willing and able to go the distance again.

"What I hope more than anything else is that when I meet directors that I want to work with, they don't have to say, `Oh, no, no, we can't use him!'" Rourke said. "I want people to be not remembering the old Mickey but who I am now."

Rick Moranis opts out of cartoon take on iconic comic duo Bob and Doug

TORONTO - Canada's iconic comic duo Bob and Doug don't sound quite like they used to.

The beloved hosers, immortalized on "SCTV" by comedians Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, are set to return next year in an animated series but only Thomas - who plays Doug - is lending his voice.

Moranis's character, Bob, will be voiced by former "Full House" star Dave Coulier.

Thomas says Moranis is staying behind the scenes as executive producer and just isn't interested in appearing on the show.

"You have to come in every two weeks or so and record and he just didn't want to do that so I said, 'All right, we'll get somebody else,' " Thomas said Monday from Los Angeles.

"I think at a certain age you have to allow people to do what they want."

It's been nearly 30 years since the beer-swilling duo debuted on the beloved sketch show "SCTV" with their tuques, lumberjack jackets and liberal use of the words "eh" and "hoser."

Thomas says the half-hour show will be updated with current cultural references to bring it into the new millennium and appeal to a new generation. But he understands that some fans might be upset that Coulier is voicing Moranis's role.

"There's got to be room to grow," insists Thomas, adding that he and Coulier have been friends for years since they worked together on "America's Funniest People." Coulier hosted and Thomas executive-produced.

"I can understand some real diehard fans going, 'Oh, man, that's an outrage!' But I think most people will look at it and judge it as it is and go, 'Is this funny? Does it work?' And I think it does and I think we'll get their blessing as a result of that."

"Bob and Doug" is set to air early next year on Global and talks are in the works for a U.S. broadcast via Fox.

Like the live version, the cartoon take will feature direct-to-camera addresses where the McKenzie brothers can wisecrack and banter in their unique lingo, but the expanded format will lift the veil on their personal lives. Upcoming storylines reveal the duo's friends, family and the town where Bob and Doug live - a fictional place called Maple Lake, located somewhere in Ontario near the United States border.

"It's sort of like Springfield in the Simpsons, you know," Thomas explains.

Turns out the boys work as garbage collectors and live in a much more culturally diverse world than their live action incarnations. Other characters include their boss, Dwight, who is black and drives the garbage truck, and their good friend Henry Chow, who runs a Chinese restaurant.

"I think you have a requirement to make a lot of changes that you wouldn't have done for the sort of purists and fans of Bob and Doug on the old two-minute shows on the Great White North set," Thomas says of the new elements.

The last time fans got an in-depth look at the boys was in the 1983 feature film, "Strange Brew," but Thomas says all the backstory developed for that film had to be abandoned for the cartoon because of rights issues.

"MGM will sue us," he says simply. "So we have to create new realities. So we have a dog and instead of calling it Hosehead as we did in 'Strange Brew,' we called the dog Buck. And we can't drink Elsinore beer because we don't own that, MGM does. And all these big companies are so litigious and so proprietary that you can't mess around with them."

Thomas, who runs the animation company behind the show - Animax Entertainment - says he is also working on a couple of pilot scripts as a writer, but is not interested in doing much acting these days.

"It has to be something, I think, where I sit down," says the funnyman, who turns 60 in May.

"Behind a desk.... I don't really like jumping all over the place. I don't have that youthful enthusiasm I used to have."

Genesis Holding Out Hope For Gabriel Gigs

With a third box set of catalog upgrades looming, a reunion of Genesis' revered 1971-75 lineup is still in the ether -- but hardly in stone.

"We've never said never about it, you know," keyboardist Tony Banks tells Billboard.com. "I know Phil (Collins) would be quite happy with the idea of just playing the drums; it would be quite fun for him. Mike (Rutherford) and I are certainly happy to do it. I know Steve (Hackett) is keen as well. I think it'd be down to Peter (Gabriel) more than anyone else."

Gabriel was actually the first to broach the idea of reuniting that Genesis lineup, initially for a handful of performances of the 1974 concept piece "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway," in 2004. He later pulled back in order to concentrate on a solo album he's still making. It did lead to Banks, Collins and Rutherford reuniting for a tour in 2007, and there are still hopes that the older roster will eventually do something together.

"It would be fun to do something like that purely for the fun of working together again and seeing where it takes you," Rutherford notes. Hackett adds that, "I think we should do this before one of us dies; we're not getting any younger, to quote one of the songs, so maybe one day it'll happen." Banks, meanwhile, says that rather than merely "The Lamb...," he'd like to see the group "do a sort of best-of from that era. You want to do things like 'Supper's Ready,' I think, and 'The Musical Box,' definitely."

All of that music is showcased on "Genesis: 1970-1975," a seven-CD and six-DVD box set that includes upgraded editions of all five albums the group recorded between those years. Each has a DVD of time-appropriate performance footage and new interviews, as well as a set of rare "Extras." It's the third in a series of boxed reissues, saved for last even though they're earlier recordings.

"I think they're the ones there's possibly more anticipation for," Banks says. "These albums have a reputation but they probably didn't sell as many in the first place, so there's a feeling that they have a chance to do something now."

Banks says Genesis is considering some further catalog reissues, including a possible boxed set of the group's several live albums as well as issuing single shows for sale via band's Web site. He's also put together a remastered version of his 1979 solo album "A Curious Feeling" that he plans to release in 2009.

Edwards discusses his cameo as Dr. Greene on `ER'

NEW YORK – Anthony Edwards says it's easy being Greene.

The actor, who left "ER" six years ago, said in a telephone news conference Monday that he had no problem getting back into the swing of things while reprising his role as Dr. Mark Greene for the Nov. 13 episode of the NBC medical drama.

Said Edwards: "It was really like going back to high school, in the best way. It was like going back to your favorite class and having your favorite teacher. ... It took about a half an hour — and after about a half an hour, I really felt like I'd never left."

Dr. Greene, who died of a brain tumor at the end of the 2002 season, appears in flashback scenes with former County General Drs. Kerry Weaver and Robert Romano (portrayed by Laura Innes and Paul McCrane, respectively).

He also has an encounter with series newcomer Dr. Cate Banfield (Angela Bassett), an attending physician at the hospital, after she brings in her sick son. The flashbacks are interwoven with a present-day story line that shows Banfield helping in the rescue of a young girl who falls into a lake.

Discussing the character's passion for medicine, Edwards said: "When you get on an airplane, you hope that the pilot really loves flying — I think that's what Greene had. You do want to go to a hospital and have a good doctor who loves being a doctor there."

Edwards' appearance comes in the 15th and final season of "ER," which debuted in 1994 and launched the careers of George Clooney, who left the show in 1999, and others in the ensemble cast.

Like many "ER" fans, Edwards hopes for the return of Clooney's character, Dr. Doug Ross. He has said Clooney would be a fool not to make a cameo.

Said Edwards: "I would never judge anybody else. All I can do is share that I had a good experience, and I hope that whoever gets asked and has the opportunity does do it."

New Peanuts videos released online

NEW YORK - Barack Obama, John McCain ... or Linus?

In a batch of 20 new webisodes, Charlie Brown and the gang have been brought back to animated life, much in the style of their classic holiday TV specials. But Lucy, Snoopy and others have been remade for the web in three-to four-minute videos taken directly from classic 1964 comic strips.

In one of them, Linus runs for class president, only to be bedevilled by a controversial skeleton from his past: his strident belief in his Halloween hero, the Great Pumpkin.

Linus pleads: "In my administration, children will be children and adults will be adults!"

The videos are all new, made with Flash animation and new voices for the characters. But even though it's new technology, attention has been paid to maintaining the integrity of both the strip and its beloved animation specials.

"You're not trying to change it," said Jeannie Schulz, widow of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. "You're trying to keep it the same and freshen it."

The score, for example, is reminiscent of Vince Guaraldi's famous jazz that accompanied the "Peanuts" television specials.

Beginning Monday, for only a limited time, fans will be able to download two episodes of the series for free on Apple's iTunes. Otherwise, two bundled episodes are available for 99 cents each, or the full season for $7.99.

The videos were made by Warner Bros.' Motion Comics, which has previously brought strips of Batman, Superman and Watchmen to animated life. The Peanuts project was done with the involvement of the Schulz family and estate, which monitored the adaptation.

"Our interest was in keeping the integrity of the Peanuts strip," said Jeannie Schulz. "They've done a very cute job of making it really look like the old animation, but better. Better in that it's brighter, the voices are still cute and charming."

She adds, though, that too much animation technology - like CG animation - wouldn't be fitting for the simplistic style of the Peanuts strip and cartoons.

"CG doesn't quite look right with them," said Schulz. "I still love that funny way they walk along."

But what would the Peanuts creator - who died in 2000 at the age of 77 - think of his old strips showing up decades later, fully animated on laptops and cellphones?

"I'm sort of glad that Sparky - Mr. Schulz - isn't alive (to see it)" laughs his wife. "But even though he would not understand why people wanted to look at things on their telephone, he understood stories and telling stories."

New CD Releases, November 4: Brad Paisley, Harry Connick, Jr., Hinder, Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, more

Brad Paisley "Play" (RCA)

The country star shows off his guitar chops on this axe-oriented affair. "Play" features Paisley in collaboration with some of the industry's top guitar heroes, including Buck Owens and B.B. King. The 16-track offering also features such guest stars as Keith Urban and Steve Wariner.

"Play," a mostly instrumental outing, is Paisley's seventh album. His previous disc was 2007's platinum-selling "5th Gear," which topped the country charts and produced five hit singles.

* * *
Harry Connick Jr. "What a Night! A Christmas Album" (Sony)

The multi-talented star, who has achieved success in various genres of music as well as with film, TV and theater projects, returns with something new for fans to put on their Christmas wish lists.

"What a Night! A Christmas Album" is Connick's third holiday offering, following 1993's "When My Heart Finds Christmas" and 2003's "Harry for the Holidays." The album is a mix of holiday favorites, such as "Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Jingle Bells," and new originals.

* * *
Hinder "Take It to the Limit" (Universal)

These rockers--drummer Cody Hanson, singer Austin Winkler, guitarists Joe "Blower" Garvey and Mark King, and bassist Mike Rodden--are set to release their sophomore CD. "Take It to the Limit" follows 2005's "Extreme Behavior," a work that has been certified triple platinum.

Hinder is currently supporting "Take It to the Limit" on the road. The band is headlining the Jagermeister Music Tour, which also includes Rev Theory and Trapt. The jaunt is scheduled to last through a Dec. 20 date in Cleveland.

* * *
Andrea Bocelli "Incanto" (Decca)

The Italian pop/opera star offers up his second CD of the year. "Incanto" follows "Vivere Live in Tuscany," a two-disc effort that featured all of his best-known tunes and guest appearances by Kenny G, Chris Botti and Sarah Brightman, to name a few. This time around, the famed tenor's set consists of 14 classic Italian love songs, including "Because," "Mamma," "Granada," "Funiculi Funicula" and "Un Amore Cosi Grande."

Correspondingly, Bocelli has booked two-night stands in Washington, DC, and San Antonio, TX, for later this month. On Nov. 21-22, he'll make his debut at the Washington National Opera, performing Rossini's "Petite Messe Solennelle" with conductor by Placido Domingo. On Nov. 25-26, he'll perform a concert version of the opera "Cavalleria Rusticana" at the San Antonio Municipal Auditorium.

* * *
Sarah Brightman "A Winter Symphony" (Manhattan)

The British soprano star gets in the holiday mood with "A Winter Symphony," a work that features such Christmas-time tunes as "Silent Night" and "I Believe in Father Christmas." The album's title is a reference to Brightman's release "Symphony," which came out earlier this year.

* * *
More new releases:
Deadmau5, "Random Album Title" (Ultra)
Hilary Duff, "Best Of" (Hollywood)
Jeff Dunham, "Don't Come Home for Christmas" (Image)
Gamma Ray, "Hell Yeah!!! The Awesome Foursome: Live in Montreal" (Steamhammer)
OhGr, "Devils in My Details" (SPV)
Randy Owen, "One on One" (Broken Bow)
Axel Rudi Pell, "Tales of the Crown" (Steamhammer)
Q-Tip, "The Renaissance" (Universal)
Lou Reed, "Berlin: Live at St. Ann's Warehouse" (Matador)
Shiny Toy Guns, "Season of Poison" (Universal)
Mavis Staples, "Live" (Anti)
Cat Stevens, "Tea for the Tillerman" (A&M)
Cat Stevens, "Teaser and the Firecat" (A&M)
Pastor Hezekiah Walker, "Souled Out" (Verity)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Twilight" (Atlantic)

Who door not closed, says Tennant

Doctor Who actor David Tennant has not ruled out the possibility of returning to the hit BBC series after he leaves.

"Who knows what might happen in the future?" he told BBC Breakfast. "The door isn't necessarily closed forever."

The 37-year-old revealed last week he would be relinquishing the role after shooting four more specials in 2009.

But he did admit it was "one of those parts that sticks with you," citing Peter Davison's appearance last year in a Who short made for Children in Need.

The actor refused to be drawn, though, on who might become his eventual successor.

"It's not down to me," said the actor, currently appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. "I've got nothing to do with it."

'Career suicide'

Bookmakers have made James Nesbitt one of the favourites to take over the coveted role.

The Cold Feet star has downplayed the speculation, however, saying he has no interest in becoming the 11th doctor.

Speaking to the BBC's Lizo Mzimba in Marrakesh, Morocco, where he is currently filming new drama Occupation, the actor said it would be "career suicide" for him to follow in Tennant's footsteps.

He did say, though, that Paterson Joseph - another actor who has been linked to the role - "would be great".

'Heroes' duo get the ax

Big shakeup on the staff of NBC's "Heroes" came down on Sunday with the axing of co-exec producers Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb.

Both scribe-producers had been with the show since its first season and were known to have led the day-to-day production operation under the direction of creator/exec producer Tim Kring.

"Heroes," produced by Universal Media Studios, has struggled in the ratings its third season. It's understood that Alexander and Loeb were let go because of Peacock execs' frustration with the creative direction of the show. The show is also said to have been grappling with hefty budget overruns this season, that are going well beyond its already sizable $4 million per-seg pricetag.

Reps for NBC and UMS declined comment.

Fox Counts Down to 24 Premiere

Los Angeles (E! Online) – For those suffering from Jack Bauer withdrawals, Fox has the cure for what ails you: a firm premiere date for the long-awaited, delay-plagued seventh-season premiere of 24.

The network today announced that Kiefer Sutherland and his terrorism-fighting costars will return to kick off their new run with a two-night, four-hour premiere Jan. 11 and 12.

The fourth hour of the premiere will mark the series' milestone 150th episode. The season will run without interruption through to May.

This time around, the seventh-worst day of Bauer's life will revolve around—wait for it—a national security crisis that unfolds as the protagonist's presumed-dead former colleague Tony Almeida returns.

For fans unwilling to wait until January—and who have already been waiting for about 18 months, as the season-six finale aired in spring 2007—Fox will air a two-hour TV-movie prequel that bridges the gap between seasons six and seven.

24: Redemption takes place on Inauguration Day and sees Bauer attempting to save the world from South Africa, his first ever non-L.A. location. Jon Voight stars as the requisite bad guy.

The special airs Nov. 23.

Guitar Hero: World Tour - Unlock All Songs!

Don't wanna wait to rock? Take a look at the songs you can unlock with this awesome code!

On the main menu, select the "Options" Menu then select the "Cheats" Menu. Click on the "Enter New Cheat" selection & enter the following code to unlock the 84-song track vault, and play all of these great hits from the get-go. Rock on!

Enter the colors by pressing only the fret colors on the guitar or hitting the drum pads: BLUE, BLUE, RED, GREEN, GREEN, BLUE, BLUE, YELLOW.

The Couch Potato Report - November 1st, 2008

This week The Couch Potato Report peels some journeys - one to the center of the earth, one to Berlin, and one to The Stanley Cup Finals!

There is a lot to cover this week, and I liked all of it, so let me dive right in with this week's HOT POTATO, a great family film called JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.

Canadian actor Brendan Fraser stars in the film that focusses on three modern day characters who follow some of the clues from the classic 1864 Jules Verne novel as they sort of accidentally find themselves on a - JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.

Now, for those who love the book, you should know that this is not a faithful interpretation of the 1864 Jules Verne novel. The book is simply a reference point with some of the story elements incorporated into it.

It is, however, an entertaining movie that I think would be great for the whole family to sit and watch together.

PLUS, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH was originally filmed to be seen in 3D, and the DVD comes with some glasses so you can watch it that way, if you'd like.

And with those glasses, some of the action and special effects - especially the ride in the coal mining car - is a blast!!

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH is not a classic, like the book it shares a title with, but I just plain enjoyed it.

Fans, especially younger ones, of the Pittsburgh Penguins or Sidney Crosby might also enjoy our next release this week.

Personally, I wanted and expected more from the NHL produced release SIDNEY CROSBY - ON THE ICE AND BEYOND, but it is still a pretty entertaining and informative.

Personally, I was expecting ON THE ICE AND BEYOND to be a career overview, with footage of Sid The Kid playing hockey as a young boy, through his junior days, the entry draft and his time thus far in the NHL.

To my chagrin, it is a film that only covers a bit of Sid's life. It mainly focuses on the Pittsburgh Penguins' 2007-2008 season and their road to the 2008 Stanley Cup Final.

And while it is a very well produced DVD that also features the entire Winter Classic game played outdoors in Buffalo, it just left me wanting more. Who is this kid Sid? What are his likes and dislikes? What does he do the night before a big game...like, say, a game in the Stanley Cup Final?!?

He narrates it, so he could have explained it all to us...but that is not what the film is about.

No, instead of being an complete documentary about the life of the man who is now the face of the National Hockey League, it is an NHL approved and produced look at one year in his life, with a few flashbacks to past glories.

I will stop short of calling it more of a commercial for the NHL than a documentary, and that is because this is a release that is simply meant for young fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sidney Crosby.

Yes, they might enjoy SIDNEY CROSBY - ON THE ICE AND BEYOND, but I only mildly enjoyed it and as such I suggest you hold off until a more complete, informative and insightful documentary comes out about Sidney Crosby, because you know there will eventually be at least one more DVD released of this exciting young hockey star before his career ends in twenty years or so.

At least one!

Now, if you know anyone who is a fan of the great Lou Reed, well I can guarantee you that they will love the film LOU REED's BERLIN.

LOU REED's BERLIN is the film by Academy Award nominated director Julian Schnabel - who gave us THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY and it is a straight concert film - with a few cinematic elemants - of Lou's 2006 live concert performance of his 1973 concept album "Berlin", filmed over five nights at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York.

If you or anyone you know is a fan of Lou Reed, or his "Berlin" album, then this is a must watch and own. Otherwise, you don't need to see LOU REED's BERLIN as it literally is just a concert film, and Lou has never been a dynamic stage performer, and that is certainly true in this film.

This one is for the fans. Enjoy it fans!!

Up next this week is a very engaging documentary, one set in the world of breakdancing...yes, there is still breakdancing in this day and age...it is called PLANET B-BOY.

The film was directed by Canadian-American Korean filmmaker Benson Lee and it focuses on the 2005 Battle of the Year while also describing B-Boy and Breakdancing culture and history as a global phenomenon.

Even if you think that a film that features extensive footage of B-boy dancers in competition, as well as street performances and various rehearsals by the different crews from France, Japan, South Korea, and the United States around the world doesn't sound interesting, it is!

The people you meet in this film just want what we all want, to be happy, and be the best in the world at something.

And the dance moves that they do are spectacular!!

If you are looking for something a little different to watch, that is interesting and at times even dramatic, search out PLANET B-BOY and get served!!

Finally this week are two films featuring animation. One is for adults, and the other for kids. Well, admittedly the second one is also for adults who watched the show as kids.

That second release features The Smurfs, but in front of that is THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of ROBOT CHICKEN.

ROBOT CHICKEN is an Emmy Award-Winning animated television series with short, quick sketches that parody a number of well known pop culture icons.

Even though THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of ROBOT CHICKEN isn't as consistantly entertaining as SEASONS ONE AND TWO, each episode is less than 12 minutes long, and if you enjoy being entertained by stupid or juvenile humour, and you have not seen this show yet, then rush out and get some ROBOT CHICKEN right now, and have a laugh...or two...or even more!!

Finally this week is THE SMURFS: SEASON 1, VOLUME 2

Created on October 23rd, 1958, in Belgium The Smurfs are a group of small blue creatures who live in mushroom houses somewhere in the woods.

Their popularity as toys continues around the glode to this day, but it was the 1981 debut of their Saturday-morning cartoon that first made them famous in North America.

This two disc boxset THE SMURFS - SEASON ONE, VOLUME ONE includes the final 20 episodes from Season 1.

Yes, they are back to Smurf up your day, any time you need them!

This show was fun then, and it is fun now!

If you loved The Smurfs when you are a kid...this is a perfect way to feel young again.

VOLUME 2 of SEASON 1 of the always fun TV show THE SMURFS, the good-but-not-as-good-as-the-first-two COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of ROBOT CHICKEN, the very interesting documentary PLANET B-BOY, LOU REED's concert film BERLIN, the could-have-been-better SIDNEY CROSBY release called ON THE ICE AND BEYOND and the great family film JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH are all available now on DVD.


Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

Michael J. Fox's television series SPIN CITY finally debuts on DVD, along with SEASON THREE of the Canadian series ROBSON ARMS.

Also next week, the cinematic version of GET SMART, the 30th ANNIVERSARY of ANIMAL HOUSE; Disney's SLEEPING BEAUTY, and Peter Pan's fairy gets her own movie with TINKERBELL.

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!

"HSM3" maintains its box-office grades with $15M

LOS ANGELES – Hollywood made audiences repeat senior year.

Disney's "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" hauled in $15 million to remain the top movie for the second straight weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Starring Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens in a big-screen sequel to the Disney Channel TV movies, "High School Musical 3" raised its 10-day total to $61.8 million.

Debuting at No. 2 with $10.7 million was the Weinstein Co. comedy "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as pals who do a skin flick to dig themselves out of debt.

Lionsgate's horror sequel "Saw V," the latest tale about psychokiller Jigsaw, slipped from second place to third with $10.1 million, lifting its 10-day total to $45.8 million.

Expanding nationwide after a weekend in limited release was Clint Eastwood's "Changeling," which took in $9.4 million to finish at No. 4. The Universal Pictures drama stars Angelina Jolie as a single mother victimized by police who botched the investigation into her missing son.

Freestyle Releasing's "The Haunting of Molly Hartley" debuted with $6 million to come in at No. 5. The movie stars Haley Bennett as a traumatized teen who finds fresh terror at her new school.

"RocknRolla" — the latest from Madonna's soon-to-be-ex-husband, Guy Ritchie — was a dud as it expanded from limited to nationwide release. The crime romp featuring Gerard Butler and Thandie Newton took in just $1.8 million, finishing well outside the top 10. Madonna and Ritchie announced their separation last month.

After a big surge the previous weekend, Hollywood revenues plunged. The top 12 movies took in $75.2 million, off 38 percent from the same weekend last year, when "American Gangster" opened with $43.6 million and "Bee Movie" debuted with $38 million.

Non-scary movies were hurt with Halloween falling on Friday. "High School Musical 3" did just $1.7 million on Friday, but it rebounded with $8.2 million Saturday.

"The target audience was out collecting candy or trick-or-treating Friday, but Saturday came back like a monster," said Mark Zoradi, president of Disney's motion-picture group.

Likewise, "Zack and Miri" opened with only $2.2 million Friday but pulled in $4.8 million Saturday. The movie also faced some audience resistance over the racy subject matter and the word "Porno" in the title.

"I would anecdotally speculate that that hurt us," said Steve Bunnell, head of distribution for Weinstein, which had trouble placing ads because of the movie's title and themes. "We were surprised that we ended up with the controversy. We thought everybody in America would understand that it was a joke."

The film has nudity but is tame compared to hard-core adult films. Yet the ratings board of the Motion Picture Association of America initially slapped it with an NC-17 rating, the kiss of death at the box office.

Writer-director Kevin Smith talked it down to an R rating on appeal.

James Bond got off to a big start overseas in advance of the U.S. debut of the super-spy's latest adventure, with Sony's "Quantum of Solace" taking in $38.6 million in Great Britain, France and Sweden.

"Quantum of Solace" opens in 57 more countries this week and arrives in North American theaters Nov. 14. The film picks up where 2006's "Casino Royale" left off, with Bond (Daniel Craig) out for payback over his lover's death.

Hollywood blockbusters rarely open weeks in advance of their U.S. premiere, but the Bond franchise does a huge ratio of its business overseas. "Casino Royale" took in 72 percent of its $600 million worldwide total outside the United States, said Mark Zucker, Sony's president of international distribution.

"Bond is like a national hero in the UK," Zucker said.

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

1. "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," $15 million.
2. "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," $10.7 million.
3. "Saw V," $10.1 million.
4. "Changeling," $9.4 million.
5. "The Haunting of Molly Harvey," $6 million.
6. "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," $4.7 million.
7. "The Secret Life of Bees," $4 million.
8. "Max Payne," $3.7 million.
9. "Eagle Eye," $3.4 million.
10. "Pride and Glory," $3.3 million.

Bond film opens with guns blazing in Britain

LONDON (Reuters) – The new James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," debuted in Britain on Friday to record one-day ticket sales of 4.94 million pounds ($8 million), distributor Columbia Pictures said on Saturday.

The total tops "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the previous record holder with an opening day haul of 4.025 million pounds ($6.5 million) in 2005, and it also beat the 2.9 million pounds ($4.72 million) first-day total for the last Bond flick, "Casino Royale" (2006), Columbia said.

In "Quantum of Solace," British super spy Bond (Daniel Craig) is on a mission across South America and Europe to stop an eco-terrorist from controlling precious natural resources, and he wants to learn why the woman he loved in "Casino Royale" betrayed him.

"Casino Royale," was a huge box office success with a global haul of $594 million.

Friday's British opening of "Quantum of Solace" in 542 theaters will be followed by a November 14 debut of the film in the United States and Canada.

Columbia Pictures is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, the media wing of Japan's Sony Corp.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Terkel dies at 96

CHICAGO – Studs Terkel, the ageless master of listening and speaking, a broadcaster, activist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose best-selling oral histories celebrated the common people he liked to call the "non-celebrated," died Friday. He was 96.

Dan Terkell said his father died at home, and described his death as "peaceful, no agony. This is what he wanted."

"My dad led a long, full, eventful, sometimes tempestuous, but very satisfying life," Terkell said in a statement issued through his father's colleague and close friend Thom Clark.

He was a native New Yorker who moved to Chicago as a child and came to embrace and embody his adopted town, with all its "carbuncles and warts," as he recalled in his 2007 memoir, "Touch and Go." He was a cigar and martini man, white-haired and elegantly rumpled in his trademark red-checkered shirts, an old rebel who never mellowed, never retired, never forgot, and "never met a picket line or petition I didn't like."

"A lot of people feel, 'What can I do, (it's) hopeless,'" Terkel told The Associated Press in 2003. "Well, through all these years there have been the people I'm talking about, whom we call activists ... who give us hope and through them we have hope."

The tougher the subject, the harder Terkel took it on. He put out an oral history collection on race relations in 1992 called "Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About The American Obsession," and, in 1995, "Coming of Age," recollections of men and women 70 and older.

He cared about what divided us, and what united us: death — in his 2001 "Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith," and hope, in his 2003 "Hope Dies Last."

Terkel won a 1985 Pulitzer Prize for "The Good War," remembrances of World War II; contrasted rich and poor along the same Chicago street in "Division Street: America," 1966; limned the Depression in "Hard Times," 1970; and chronicled how people feel about their jobs in "Working," 1974.

"When the Chinese Wall was built, where did the masons go for lunch? When Caesar conquered Gall, was there not even a cook in the army? And here's the big one, when the Armada sank, you read that King Philip wept. Were there no other tears?" Terkel said upon receiving an honorary National Book Award medal in 1997. "And that's what I believe oral history is about. It's about those who shed those other tears, who on rare occasions of triumph laugh that other laugh."

Andre Schiffrin — Terkel's longtime editor, publisher and close friend who gave Terkel the idea for many of his books — said Terkel "had been in bad shape in recent weeks and he really felt that his life had come to an end. But he was as engaged as ever. He was a big fan of (Democratic presidential candidate Barack) Obama and he said one of the things that kept him going was that he wanted to see the results of the election."

For his oral histories, Terkel interviewed his subjects on tape, then transcribed and sifted. "What first comes out of an interview are tons of ore; you have to get that gold dust in your hands," he wrote in his memoir. "Now, how does it become a necklace or a ring or a gold watch? You have to get the form; you have to mold the gold dust."

Said Schiffrin: "He liked to tell the story of an interview with a woman in a public housing unit in Chicago. At the end of the interview, the woman said, `My goodness, I didn't know I felt that way.' That was his genius."

Terkel would joke that his obsession with tape recording was equaled by only one other man, a certain former president of the United States: "Richard Nixon and I could be aptly described as neo-Cartesians. I tape, therefore I am."

He also was a syndicated radio talk show host, voice of gangsters on old radio soaps, jazz critic, actor in the 1988 film "Eight Men Out," and survivor of the 1950s blacklist.

In 1999, a panel of judges organized by the Modern Library, a book publisher, picked "Working" as No. 54 on its list of the century's 100 best English-language works of nonfiction. And in 2006, the Library of Congress announced that a radio interview he did with author James Baldwin in September 1962 was selected for the National Recording Registry of sound recordings worthy of preservation. Terkel's other interview subjects included Louis Armstrong, Buster Keaton, Marlon Brando and Bob Dylan.

Terkel's politics were liberal, vintage FDR. He would never forget the many New Deal programs from the Great Depression and worried that the country suffered from "a national Alzheimer's disease" that made government the perceived enemy. In a 1992 interview with the AP, he advocated "pressure from below, from the grass roots. That means the people who live and work in cities — that used to be called the working class, although now everyone says middle class."

Terkel was born Louis Terkel on May 16, 1912, in the Bronx. His father, Samuel, was a tailor; his mother, Anna, a seamstress. The family moved to Chicago in 1922 and ran a rooming house where young Louis would meet the workers and activists who would profoundly influence his view of the world.

"It was those loners — argumentative ones, deceptively quite ones, the talkers and the walkers — who, always engaged in something outside themselves, unintentionally became my mentors," Terkel wrote in "Touch and Go."

He got the nickname Studs as a young man, from the character Studs Lonigan, the protagonist of James T. Farrell's beloved trilogy of novels about an Irish-American youth from Chicago's South Side.

Terkel graduated from the University of Chicago in 1932, studying philosophy, and also picked up a law degree. But instead of choosing law, he worked briefly in the civil service and then found employment in radio with one of his beloved "alphabet agencies" from the New Deal, the WPA Writers Project.

His early work as a stage actor led to radio acting, disc jockey jobs and then to radio interview shows beginning in the 1940s. From 1949 to 1952, he was the star of a national TV show, "Studs' Place," a program of largely improvised stories and songs set in a fictional bar (later a restaurant) owned by Studs. Some viewers even thought it was a real place, and would go looking for it in Chicago.

"People were never put down," Terkel recalled in the 1995 book "The Box: An Oral History of Television, 1920-1961." "The stories were about little aspects of their lives. There was no audience and no canned laughter. ... It was one of the most exhilarating times of my life."

The McCarthy-era antipathy toward activists cost him his national TV outlet. But his radio interview show flourished, first at WFMT in Chicago and then, through syndication, in many markets.

As his editor sponsored elaborate parties to celebrate his 95th birthday and the release of his 2007 memoir, "Touch and Go," Terkel reflected on a career spent writing about those who rarely heard their stories told.

"My discovery was people needed to be needed by others, need to count; that's the word," he said in an interview with the AP.

He also joked about his long life: "Curiosity did not kill this cat."

In 1939, he married social worker Ida Goldberg, a marriage that lasted 60 years even though she couldn't get him to dance and always called him Louis, not Studs. "Ida was a far better person than I, that's the reality of it," Terkel later wrote of Ida, who died in 1999.

"She had a certain empathy I lack. And she was more politically active than I. ... Did she play a tremendous role in my life? Yeah, you could say so."