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(10/02/09 3:55pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>LOS ANGELES — It was business as usual for David Letterman and CBS' "Late Show." The band played. The host, dapper as always in a well-tailored suit, recited his monologue; some jokes hit, some missed.Then Letterman proceeded to take viewers, and television, on an extraordinary journey that was part confessional, part entertainment and wholly, if jarringly, hypnotic.The medium has come close to moments like this before in the U.S. — Hugh Grant's prostitute mea culpa on "Tonight" is the familiar example of recent years — but never achieved the merger of farce and drama that Letterman finessed."I'm glad you folks are here tonight," he told his "Late Show" New York studio audience Thursday. "I'm glad you're in such a pleasant mood, because I have a little story that I would like to tell you and the home viewers as well.""Do you feel like a story?" Letterman asked amiably, as if making sure a child was ready for a cozy bedtime tale.The audience got much more than that from a man acknowledged to be a master of the art of broadcasting.By turns raffish, somber, self-effacing, blunt and coyly, comically manipulative, Letterman wove a mystery tale of his own behavior and that of a CBS' "48 Hours" employee arrested in an alleged multimillion-dollar extortion plot against him.Letterman took his time — 10 minutes, a TV eternity these days for one topic — to slowly reel in viewers.Even the 21st-century pipelines that allow the famous to control their message, whether Twitter or Facebook or you name it, looked like amateur hour.Opening his tale, the 62-year-old Letterman said it all started with a letter and package left in his car."I know that you do some terrible, terrible things and that I can prove you do some terrible things," the letter warned, with proof enclosed, he recounted.The audience, expecting the comedy that's reliably delivered by Uncle Dave, played along. They laughed.They laughed about the man who allegedly threatened to put this "terrible stuff" about Letterman's life in a screenplay and a book. They laughed when he recalled the district attorney's office telling him, "Hellooo, this is blackmail."The first break in the levity came when Letterman finally disclosed how much allegedly was demanded for silence, a princely $2 million. Real money, even for a well-paid late-night host."Oooooh," breathed a respectful studio audience.Letterman started to edge away from the light and into darkness. He feared being harmed, he said."I want to reiterate how terrifying this is," he said, almost plaintively, a private man forced to bare his soul. "I'm motivated by nothing but guilt. I'm a towering mass of Lutheran Midwestern guilt."The audience, sensing its cue, applauded.He had them on the hook, ready to deliver the big plot twist that would wow them — or turn them against him. Viewers knew there was something "creepy" that Letterman had done, because he kept saying that was part of the goods someone had on him. Letterman, a careful wordsmith, repeated "creepy" enough to make sure it stuck.Even a devoted fan could easily summon the specter of the most awful transgressions. Then Letterman dropped his bombshell: There were allegations that he had sex with women who worked for him.Finally cowed by an unvarnished, unfunny remark, by the suggestion of improper behavior, the nasty whiff of sexual harassment in the workplace, the studio audience murmured uneasily.Letterman made his final, brilliant move. He was honest."My response to that is, yes, I have. I have had sex with women who work on this show," he said. Married since March to a girlfriend of many years, and the father of a son born in 2003, Letterman didn't say when the encounters occurred.The comedian, who has mocked so many celebrities for such transgressions, suddenly was himself a target. But the audience was back on his side and erupting in applause and cheers.Letterman moved gracefully into the role of victim.He invoked his need to protect the women involved, his family and himself. He ended with his hope that he can "protect his job.""Thank you for letting me bend your ears," he said. Then, back to the business at hand with guest Woody Harrelson."Good to be here on this auspicious night," the actor said with a sly but good-natured smile. All was well with "Late Show" and its host.But what happens when the TV bubble bursts and people take another look?
(06/23/09 1:47pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>LOS ANGELES – Ed McMahon, the loyal “Tonight Show” sidekick who bolstered boss Johnny Carson with guffaws and a resounding “H-e-e-e-e-e-ere’s Johnny!” for 30 years, has died at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 86.Publicist Howard Bragman says McMahon died early Tuesday at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center surrounded by his family.Bragman didn’t give a cause of death, saying only that McMahon had a “multitude of health problems the last few months.”McMahon had bone cancer, among other illnesses, according to a person close to the entertainer, and had been hospitalized for several weeks. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
(02/12/08 5:52am)
LOS ANGELES – TV producers say they expect writers to return to work as early as Wednesday now that the Writers Guild of America has moved to end its three-month-old strike.\nOn Sunday, guild leaders recommended a tentative three-year contract to members and asked them to vote separately on a quick end to the walkout.\nMembership meetings will be held Tuesday in New York and Los Angeles, said Patric Verrone, president of the guild’s West Coast branch.\n“This is the best deal this guild has bargained for in 30 years,” Verrone said.\nThe tentative contract secures writers a share of the burgeoning digital-media market, he said, including compensation for Internet-delivered TV shows and movies.\n“If they (producers) get paid, we get paid,” Verrone said. “This contract makes that a reality,” But, he added, “It is not all we hoped for and it is not all we deserved.”\nStill, the union’s negotiating committee recommended Saturday that the contract be accepted, and the West guild’s board of directors and the East Coast guild’s council agreed. They called for a membership ratification vote, which will be conducted by mail over about two weeks.\nMember approval of the contract and the strike’s end appeared likely. At heavily attended membership meetings Saturday in New York and Los Angeles, there was resounding support for the proposed deal that could put TV and movie production back on track, salvage the rest of the TV season and remove a boycott threat from this month’s Oscars.\nVerrone thanked television viewers who “tolerated three months of reruns and reality TV.”\nThe guild’s major bargaining concession to studios was agreeing to take unionization of animation and reality TV shows off the table, Verrone said. The guild has said it still intends to pursue those goals.\nThe Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios, said it had no comment Sunday on the guild’s actions.\nThe strike’s end would allow many hit series to return this spring for what’s left of the current season, airing anywhere from four to seven new episodes. Shows with marginal audience numbers may not return until fall, or could\nbe canceled.\nA minimum of four weeks would be needed for producers to start from scratch with their first post-strike episodes of comedies and get them on the air, industry members said. A drama would require six to eight weeks from concept to broadcast.\n“It will be all hands on deck for the writing staff,” said Chris Mundy, co-executive producer of CBS’ drama “Criminal Minds.” He hopes to get a couple of scripts in the pipeline right away, and for about seven episodes to air by the end of May.\n“It’s a real balancing act,” he said, “to get up and running as fast as possible, but not let the quality slip.”\nThe strike, the first in 20 years for the writers guild, began Nov. 5 and included bitter exchanges between the guild and the producers alliance. Talks collapsed in December.\nIn January, the studios reached an agreement in separate negotiations with the Directors Guild of America. Top media company executives, including Peter Chernin of News Corp. and Robert Iger of The Walt Disney Co., asked the writers to\nresume bargaining.\nWhat were termed informal talks between the executives and guild leaders led to the tentative contract that writers will be voting on.\nTogether, the East and West Coast guilds represent 12,000 writers, with about 10,000 of those involved in the strike. It has cost the Los Angeles area economy alone an estimated $1 billion or more.\nBased on the guild’s summary of the deal, it is similar to the agreement reached\nwith directors.\nIt provides union jurisdiction over projects created for the Internet based on certain guidelines, sets compensation for streamed, ad-supported programs, and increases residual payments for downloaded movies and TV programs.\nWriters would get a maximum flat fee of about $1,200 for streamed programs in the deal’s first two years and then get a percentage of a distributor’s gross in year three — the last point an improvement on the directors deal, which remains at the flat payment rate.\nThe writers and directors guild deals both include a provision that compensation for ad-supported streaming wouldn’t kick in until after a window of 17 to 24 days deemed “promotional” by\nthe studios.\nSome writers have balked at that, saying Internet traffic is heaviest in the first \nfew days.
(02/11/08 5:25am)
LOS ANGELES – Hollywood writers on Saturday gave resounding support to a tentative agreement with studios that could end a strike that has crippled the entertainment industry. However, it appeared the approval process might briefly delay their return to work.\nAbout 3,500 writers packed the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to hear from union leaders about the proposed deal that was finalized just hours before meetings were held on both coasts by the Writers Guild of America.\nA person familiar with the guild’s plan, who requested anonymity because of a media blackout, said the WGA board would meet Sunday and decide on whether to authorize a quick, two-day vote of its members to determine if a strike order should be lifted.\nGiving writers a 48-hour window to vote on lifting the strike order would help alleviate concerns that the agreement was being pushed too rapidly by the guild’s board.\nIf guild members support lifting the strike order, they could return to work as early as Wednesday.\n“The feeling in the room was really positive,” said screenwriter Mike Galvin, adding that no one at the Los Angeles gathering said the deal “was crummy.”\nCompensation for projects delivered via digital media was the central issue in the 3-month-old walkout, which idled thousands of workers, disrupted the TV season and moviemaking and took the shine off Hollywood’s awards season.\n“I believe it is a good deal. I am going to be recommending this deal to our membership,” Michael Winship, president of the Writers Guild of America, East, told reporters before the New York meeting at a Times Square hotel.\nWinship said afterward that he was encouraged by the membership’s response.\n“We had a very lively discussion. I’m happy with what happened. ... At the moment, I feel strongly (the proposed deal) has a strong chance of going through,” he said.\nWriters leaving the two-hour-plus New York meeting characterized the reaction as generally positive and said there was cautious optimism that the end of the strike – the guild’s first in 20 years – could be near.
(02/06/08 4:47am)
LOS ANGELES – An agreement to end the three-month-old Hollywood writers strike could be ready in time to avoid disrupting the Oscars, but studios and the union are still haggling over the precise language, two people familiar with the talks said.\nThe Writers Guild of America bargaining committee and board of directors received updates on the status of informal talks with studio executives, the pair said Monday. They were not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.\nOne of the people has said a formal deal is possible by the end of this week.\nThere was significant progress toward a proposed agreement last week on the toughest issues concerning compensation for projects distributed via the Internet.\nWhile specifics of the negotiations were not disclosed, the proposal agreement is believed to include significant increases in the residuals that writers get for online use of movies and TV shows.\nLast month, studios reached a tentative deal with the Directors Guild of America that included increased residuals for some paid Internet downloads and for ad-supported streaming of programs.\nThe informal talks are essentially a substitute for the formal negotiations between writers and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that broke off Dec. 7. Writers went on strike Nov. 5.\nThe guild and the studios repeatedly have declined comment on the talks, citing a news blackout.\nBut stars attending an Academy Awards luncheon Monday seemed optimistic that a deal would be reached in time for the Feb. 24 Oscar show.\n“I’m a positive individual. I think the sun will come up tomorrow,” said Viggo Mortensen, a best-actor contender for the crime tale “Eastern Promises.”\nThe guild has declined to grant striking writers permission to work on the show. While organizers have said they would offer some kind of Oscar show anyway, some stars said they wouldn’t cross picket lines to attend.\nThe strike also has shut down production on some major TV shows.\nMichael Moore, a WGA member nominated for his health-care documentary, “Sicko,” blamed the studios and said they had “shut the town down over a couple pennies.”\nMoore said if no agreement is reached, he might start a penny drive to raise the money for writer demands, and suggested people would contribute in order to see their favorite shows return.
(01/30/08 4:27am)
LOS ANGELES – Life just got a lot easier for the head of the Recording Academy.\nLast month, Neil Portnow vowed to stage a full-scale Grammy Awards show with or without support from the striking writers guild.\nHe should have little trouble delivering on that pledge after the Writers Guild of America agreed Monday to let its members work on the show set for Feb. 10.\nPortnow called the guild’s decision gratifying and promised a 50th-anniversary show “with an amazing lineup of artists and performances.”\nWith the guild’s board of directors deciding to sign an interim agreement for the awards ceremony, the Grammys will escape the fate that befell this month’s Golden Globes.\nThe Globes were stripped of stars and pomp when the guild wouldn’t agree to an interim deal and the Screen Actors Guild encouraged its members to boycott the ceremony, which was reduced to a news conference.\nThe agreement allowing guild-covered writing for the Grammys is in support of union musicians and also will help advance writers’ own quest for “a fair contract,” the guild said in a statement.\n“Professional musicians face many of the same issues that we do concerning fair compensation for the use of their work in new media,” Patric M. Verrone, president of the guild’s West Coast branch, said in the statement.\nThe guild referred to the deal as an interim agreement, not a writing waiver, but it applies solely to the Grammys, taking it out of the category of a struck show and allowing the use of union writers.\nOther interim deals made by the guild with independent studios such as United Artists and Worldwide Pants apply broadly to a company’s slate of projects.\nPayment for projects distributed via the Internet is a central issue in the contract dispute between the writers union and the alliance that represents studios.\nInformal talks began last week between the union and several studio chiefs in an effort to resolve the nearly three-month-old strike that has disrupted movie and TV production. Formal negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke down in early December.\nDuring the impasse, the Directors Guild of America reached a tentative deal with the alliance that addressed new-media issues and created pressure for the writers to resume talks.\nThe writers guild has agreed to allow next month’s NAACP Image Awards to proceed with guild support, a courtesy also granted to last Sunday night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards.\nBut the guild has declined a waiver for the Academy Awards, raising doubts about how the Feb. 24 ceremony will be staged if the strike continues and actors stage a boycott.
(01/24/08 4:47am)
LOS ANGELES – With idled entertainment industry workers and Oscar-nominated actors among the interested observers, striking writers and studios are talking again after weeks of bargaining silence.\nThe Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said in a joint statement they will start informal discussions Wednesday aimed at full negotiations and an end to the nearly 3-month-old strike.\nThe announcement came the day nominations were announced for the Academy Awards, raising the prospect that the Feb. 24 ceremony might proceed without the threatened union picketing that derailed the Golden Globes.\nIn a goodwill gesture toward another big ceremony Tuesday, the guild said it had decided against picketing the Feb. 10 Grammy Awards.\nRecording Academy President Neil Portnow said in a statement that his organization was pleased with the decision and that the awards “will focus solely on the great music, artists and charitable work resulting from our show.”\nAn interim agreement allowing writers to work on the show would be welcome and might yet occur given the “fluid situation,” Portnow told The Associated Press. But the performance-driven Grammys can still be “a complete show” without it, he said.\nContract talks between the guild and studios broke down Dec. 7 after the companies demanded that a half-dozen issues be dropped, including calls for the unionization of reality and animation shows. The guild rejected the demands.\nThe guild agreed Tuesday to withdraw those two issues to “make absolutely clear our commitment to bringing a speedy conclusion to negotiations,” union executives Michael Winship and Patric Verrone said in an e-mail letter to members.\nBut organizing efforts for guild representation in those genres will continue and will be discussed more fully in the next two weeks, said Winship and Verrone, presidents of the East Coast and West Coast guilds, respectively.\nCompensation for movie and TV projects distributed over the Internet are considered to be the central contract issues.\nBoth sides said a media blackout would be in place during the discussions.\nOn Tuesday, guild leaders met with studio chiefs to help get the negotiations back on track, according to a person familiar with the bargaining strategy who was not authorized to publicly comment and asked for anonymity.\nThe new approach mirrors a series of meetings held by the Directors Guild of America and studio heads before they began formal talks and reached a tentative deal last week after less than a week of bargaining.\nThe writers strike started Nov. 5. When the directors guild announced its deal with the alliance last week, studio heads urged the writers to join informal talks that could lead to the resumption of their negotiations.\nIn its deal with producers, the directors union reached agreement on the new-media compensation issues that also were key to their members, including compensation for movie and TV projects delivered over the Internet.\nThe studio executives said the deal established a precedent for the industry’s creative talent to “participate financially in every emerging area of new media.”\nThe directors won several key contract points, including union jurisdiction over programs produced for distribution on the Internet and payments for downloaded TV programs and movies based on a percentage of the distributor’s gross.
(01/07/08 4:25am)
LOS ANGELES – Golden Globe-nominated actors are expected to snub the awards in support of striking Hollywood writers, the actors union said Friday, jeopardizing one of the entertainment industry’s signature showcases.\nNBC, however, said it was sticking by its plans to air the Jan. 13 ceremony, despite the uncertainty about how much – if any – star power the Globes could muster.\n“The network plans to move forward with the broadcast at this point,” NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks said, adding that it has yet to be determined which actors will participate.\nScreen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg made the announcement after canvassing nominees during the past several weeks.\n“There appears to be unanimous agreement that these actors will not cross” the picket lines to present or accept an award, he said in a prepared statement.\nThe Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which organizes the awards, said it was wrestling with the “unfortunate predicament.”\n“We are making every effort to work out a solution that will permit the Golden Globes to take place with the creative community present to participate,” Jorge Camara, the group’s president, said in a statement.\nThe association hoped to announce a resolution Monday, Camara said.\nThe writers’ strike, which began Nov. 5, has broad implications for the way Hollywood does business. Whatever deal is struck by writers on payment for shows offered on the Internet could affect talks with actors and directors, whose contracts expire next June.\nThe Golden Globes show brings in a reported $5 million for the association and millions more in advertising revenue for NBC.\nOn Friday, a dozen publicity firms representing what they called a majority of Golden Globe-nominated actors, writers and directors, as well as many stars invited to appear as presenters, released a letter sent to NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker.\n“After much discussion with our clients, we have concluded the vast majority of the talent we represent are not comfortable crossing a picket line,” the \nletter said.\nThe stars would appear only if NBC and Dick Clark productions, which produces the show, reaches an interim agreement with the writers guild, the publicists told Zucker.\nThe Clark company lashed out at the guild in a statement Friday, citing repeated efforts to reach an interim agreement akin to the union deal with another independent company, Worldwide Pants, which produces David Letterman’s show.\n“We are disappointed that the WGA has refused to bargain with us in good faith. It is apparent that we are being treated differently from similarly situated production companies,” the Clark company said.\nAn e-mail request for guild comment was not immediately answered.\nMeanwhile, writers guild President Patric M. Verrone lauded the move by actors and said the “entire awards show season is being put in jeopardy by the intransigence of a few big media corporations.”\nIn his statement, Verrone urged studios to resume talks that broke off Dec. 7.\nThe Writers Guild of America had refused to grant a waiver to allow its members to work on the Globes, the People’s Choice Awards and the prestigious Academy Awards.\nA total of 72 actors are among this year’s Golden Globe nominees. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has repeatedly tried to seek the blessing of the writer’s guild.\nThe actor’s union said previously that the choice to attend was a personal one that its members would make \nfor themselves.\nIn his statement Friday, Rosenberg also weighed in on the late-night talk shows, which are back on the air. Some are working without writers, while others made deals with the writers guild.\nRosenberg stopped short of pressing actors to skip the picketed shows, like Jay \nLeno’s “Tonight.”\n“We urge our members to appear on the two programs that have independent agreements with the WGA, ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’ and ‘Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,’” he said.\nActors who appear on other shows have to cross picket lines, he said.\nThat creates “the same situation that has led to the consensus among actors to skip the Golden Globes,” Rosenberg said.
(09/06/07 1:46am)
LOS ANGELES – The two men are perched at a piano, one tapping out an impromptu version of the classic tune “In a Mellow Tone,” the other nodding encouragement.\nWhat makes the scene noteworthy is that the piano man is Clint Eastwood and his cheering section is Tony Bennett. They’ve met at a studio for a bit of music and conversation being filmed for Eastwood’s documentary portrait of the great pop singer.\n“Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends,” debuting Wednesday, Sept. 12, on PBS stations, pairs two artists who have demonstrated both longevity and the creative strength to remain unaffected by fashion.\n“He’s the last of the storytelling singers. They phrase things just the way they’re telling a story ... instead of a lot of gymnastics,” Eastwood told The Associated Press.\nHe recalled seeing Bennett at the 2005 Monterey Jazz Festival and filming him in anticipation of making the biography that’s airing as part of PBS’ “American Masters” series.\n“Good thing we did, too,” Eastwood said of capturing Bennett’s set, which is laced throughout the film. “He’s had so many wonderful performances but that performance was really good. People were just spellbound.”\nAnd, as “The Music Never Ends” shows, Bennett reveled in the audience’s response.\n“I’d love to sing for another 60 years. Beautiful!” he announced with the familiar wide grin that rarely leaves him onstage.\nBennett, 81, whose signature song is “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” has retained the power and pitch to deliver a song the way it should be done, said Eastwood, 77.\nThe singer returns the compliment, calling Eastwood’s Oscar-winning work as a director “magnificent” and a demonstration of what can be learned from experience.\n“You know what to leave out; you simplify to communicate more,” Bennett told the AP.\nEastwood’s film is a reminder of how beautifully Bennett does that. But the simplicity is deceptive: His approach mixes jazz with pop and has deep roots in the Italian musical tradition of bel canto (“beautiful music”), which emphasizes a light, flowing technique.\nThe documentary also places Bennett within the American cultural context, tallying both his influences (Fred Astaire, Judy Garland among them) and how he ranks as a performer – and a painter. To Bennett’s delight, his artwork gets its share of attention.\nAlec Baldwin, who played Bennett in a “Saturday Night Live” skit opposite the good-natured singer himself, offers a particularly sharp observation.\n“In theater and in live performance ... the audience has to believe that there’s no place else you’d rather be. And there is no one in this business who conveys that more effectively than Bennett,” Baldwin says in the film.\nAs for Bennett’s vocals, another admirer put it best.\n“For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business,” was Frank Sinatra’s assessment. “He excites me when I watch him, he moves me. He’s the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind and probably a little more. There’s a feeling in back of it.”\nEastwood, a jazz buff who’s composed for film, holds his subject in equally high regard.\n“If America is a song, Tony Bennett is its singer. Here is the singer and here is the song,” narrator Anthony Hopkins says in the film’s opening.\nThe documentary is “very much one artist’s musings about and appreciation for another, in the same way that our film on (Bob) Dylan, directed by Martin Scorsese, was,” said “American Masters” executive producer and series creator Susan Lacy.\nWorking with director-producer Bruce Ricker, Eastwood focused on the work and character of the former Anthony Dominick Benedetto, who was re-christened by early booster Bob Hope. “The Music Never Ends,” presented by Netflix’s Red Envelope Entertainment, has the smooth pacing of an unhurried, relished tune.\nThere’s a treasure trove of clips, including one illustrating Bennett’s reluctant 1950s cover of Hank Williams’ “Cold, Cold Heart.” When Bennett finally gives in to his record company and goes country, he does it his way.\nPerforming at the Grand Ole Opry, he’s seated next to a cowboy-hatted Ernest Tubbs. But Bennett is, as always, impeccably turned out in a suit, tie and French-cuffed shirt.\nIn interviews for the film, longtime friend Harry Belafonte cites his admiration of Bennett’s stalwart support for the civil rights movement. Writer Gay Talese marvels at the career that has spanned the mid-20th century to now, and with no end in sight.\n“Tony Bennett in the Studio: A Life of Art and Music,” by Bennett and a co-author, is out this month, as are two new albums, and Bennett proudly notes his paintings have been accepted at museums including the Smithsonian. He collected two Grammy Awards this year, including one for his best-selling album “Duets: an American Classic,” to increase his total to 15. He has an ambitious concert schedule.\nForget the alternative, he said.\n“As George Burns said, ‘Retire to what?’ You should do what you really like to do, love to do, and then just keep going forward. The more you keep learning, the more life becomes important, and it makes you live longer.”
(08/23/07 1:38am)
LOS ANGELES – Ryan Seacrest of “American Idol” is hosting next month’s Emmy ceremony, but viewers still won’t be able to call in and pick the winners.\nSeacrest’s appeal is expected to be a “magnet” that pulls viewers, especially younger ones, to the awards show on Fox, Dick Askin, chairman and chief executive officer of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, said Monday.\nThe 59th Primetime Emmy Awards will air Sept. 16.\nLast year’s Emmys, hosted on NBC by Conan O’Brien, drew about 16.1 million viewers, making it the second least-watched Emmy telecast since 1991. It aired unusually early, in August, to make way for NBC’s National Football League telecast.\nThe awards ceremony rotates among the four major broadcast networks.\nThe Emmys were meant to have even more of an “Idol” touch, with two of the talent show’s executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick producing. But they withdrew from the job earlier this year, citing their demanding schedules, and veteran producer Ken Ehrlich took their place.
(04/26/07 4:00am)
LOS ANGELES – Teller, the silent half of Penn & Teller, has a habit of introducing magic and drama into unexpected places.\nAs a youngster he dared to stage his nascent act at a party for rowdy Cub Scouts (he was pelted with candy). As a young man he appeared at a Princeton University pub in front of rowdier students (he was pelted with beer).\nHe and Penn Jillette took their ironic form of magic, replete with the threat of danger as well as comedy, to generally irony-free Las Vegas, where they’ve been rewarded with a long-running show at the Rio hotel and casino.\nTheir Showtime series with the rebellious name – edited, it’s “Penn & Teller: (Naughty Word Meaning Baloney)!” – is in its fifth season of debunking any topic ripe for attack. Thursday’s episode on immigration includes illegal workers building a replica border fence and showing how to get past it.\nAnd how about this: Teller is fulfilling a long-held dream of staging Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” the way he believes it should be: as a “supernatural horror thriller.” He’s working with the Two River Theater Company in Red Bank, N.J., for an early 2008 debut.\nThe play is “dark and creepy and full of murders and supernatural events. It’s just great. The suspense just makes your hair rise when they’re murdering the king,” Teller said with infectious delight.\nHe vows tricks “that would do fine credit to any professional magic show, but they’re in the context of this terrifying play, so I think they should blow people’s heads off.” Examples include vanishing daggers and hands that are blood-soaked one moment, clean the next.\n“Pretty creepy,” he says, wearing a satisfied smile. His voice, the one audiences never hear, is pleasantly mild and reassuring.\nTeller is reveling in these graphic descriptions in the airy and chic hotel suite where he’s staying on a business trip from Las Vegas. A boyish-looking 59, he’s dressed meticulously in a crisp white shirt, black pants and elegant shoes.\nHis speech is precise as well, whether he’s recalling personal anecdotes (for the record, his parents were more heartbroken than he was about the Scout fiasco) or describing the first magic prop he owned, at age 5, purchased off the “Howdy Doody” TV show.\nIt consisted of a small cardboard tray that could hide a few pennies and hold a few more on top. When the tray was tipped, the coins would have appeared to magically multiply as the hidden ones slipped out.\n“That’s my earliest memory of a magic trick. And I don’t remember any period of my life thereafter in which magic was not a part of my life,” said the Philadelphia-born Raymond Teller.\nHis passion was fanned in high school by fate’s sleight of hand. It turned out Teller’s drama teacher, David Rosenbaum, also worked as a magician and wrote about the craft.
(11/02/06 5:04am)
LOS ANGELES - Television can peddle soap, cars and political candidates like nobody's business. But in one contrary corner there's a network selling viewers an idea: looking outward to understand the world and how to live in it. \nCommercial-free, 24-hour Link TV, with a budget that might cover a broadcast network's executive bonuses, offers international newscasts, documentaries and music shows aimed at helping Americans assess the global picture -- big and small.\n"Our goal is to engage Americans and give them the information they need to make smart choices as citizens ... and to get involved," said Link TV co-founder and president Kim Spencer, a former ABC News producer and documentary filmmaker.\nHe described Link's programming as "a pretty eclectic mix. You can go from seeing news from the Middle East to a documentary on China to a mix of world music videos you won't see on MTV."\n"It's ironic, but Americans with 200, 300 channels really have a very limited choice compared to some in other parts of the world," Spencer said.\n"Mosaic," Link's Peabody Award-winning half-hour daily sampling of newscasts from 30 Middle Eastern broadcasters, is the hallmark of the network that is delivered primarily via DirecTV and Dish Network to 28 million U.S. homes.\nReports from Egypt, Jordan and Israel and elsewhere are presented unedited and translated, if required, into English. Want to know what Iranians are hearing on their state-run newscast? Tune into Link for Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.\nStarting next year, the program "Global Pulse" will showcase news from other regions along with commentary and public opinion polls to provide context.\nAmong the first areas of attention will be Latin America, which has produced such provocative images as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez denouncing President Bush as "the devil" in a United Nations speech.\n"But what do we really know about what's going on in Latin America?" Spencer said. Link's distillation of news and analysis could begin to fill in the gaps, he said.\nOn the cultural side, November brings the launch of movie series "Cinemondo," with the U.S. debut of films including Iran's Oscar-nominated "Border Cafe" and "May 6th" by Theo Van Gogh, the Dutch filmmaker killed over his sharp criticism of Muslims.\n"Out of the Box," an original Link series hosted by actor-activist Peter Coyote, searches for stories and individuals overlooked by mainstream TV news.\nLink's extensive slate of documentaries range from "Bad Medicine," about the dangers of counterfeit drugs, to lighter fare including "Accordian Tribe," about a gathering of great accordian players, and "The Girl from Ipanema," a look at the song's legacy and bossa nova.\nThe network's funding is a combination of grants and viewer contributions, with support from celebrities including musicians Dave Matthews ("He became hooked on Link and would watch it on his tour bus," Spencer said), Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt and Cher and actor Brad Pitt.\nThe bulk of Link's $6 million annual budget is provided by organizations including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The latter joined with Link to launch "Mosaic" in 2001, one month after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.\n"Link is the kind of fast-moving, entrepreneurial organization that can do something new without an act of Congress or a stockholders' meeting," said Eric Newton, the Knight Foundation's director for journalism initiatives.\nWith "Mosaic," Newton said, Link offers the kind of coverage that can't be found elsewhere and shares the foundation's vision of "free-flowing international news."\nWendy Hanamura, station manager, pledge-drive producer and more for San Francisco-based Link TV called the network "an exciting place to work."\n"You can have a good idea on Monday, and if you can find funding for it ... you can be in production in a matter of weeks," she said.\nSome Link programs are available on cable in a few markets, including San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and New York City, and on local cable access and university channels. On Link's Web site, material including all past editions of Mosaic -- some 600 -- is available.\nThe network, which marked its sixth year in 2005 by winning broadcasting's prestigious Peabody for "Mosaic," still is trying to cut deals with major cable operators.\nIt's Link TV's vibe as much as a specific program that keeps more than 5 million viewers tuning in on a regular basis.\n"Our viewers are coming to Link not necessarily for appointment viewing around a particular program but because all of our programs take them to this connection we make for them to the rest of the world," Spencer said.\nCharles Noble, an Orange County, Calif., businessman, considers Link a valuable alternative to broadcast news and an adjunct to PBS' "NewsHour."\n"I don't even watch the networks. You can go from one news channel to the next, even though they're on different networks, and it's the same subject. ... It's not in-depth," Noble said. "Link takes a subject and really goes into detail."\nThe programs "allow you to draw your own opinions because they're not political statements. It's somebody saying, 'Here's what we're doing, or here's what I experienced,'" Noble said.\nA majority of Link's programming is acquired from outside sources such as the BBC in Britain and ITVS, Independent Television Service. More than 90 percent of the network's fare is airing for the first time in the United States.\n"These are documentaries that deal not only with difficult social issues around the world but people who are making a change," Spencer said. "We try not to leave people in a puddle on the couch thinking, 'Oh, my God, now what do I do?' We generally try with our programs to offer something you can do," such as connecting with organizations.\nIt's an approach that draws a varied audience. According to research surveys, more than 56 percent of regular Link viewers also watch Fox News Channel. Forty-two percent of them voted for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004; 31 percent voted for President Bush.\n"People who watch a lot of different perspectives don't close themselves off," Spencer said. "We're not trying to be (liberal radio network) Air America. We're trying to be accessible to anybody who's a thinking American"
(08/29/06 3:20am)
LOS ANGELES-- The Emmys followed a predictable path Sunday as Tony Shalhoub won his third acting trophy for "Monk" and departed series "Will & Grace," "The West Wing" and "Huff" earned bittersweet toasts.\nThe surprises in the ceremony were courtesy of host Conan O'Brien and his inventive comedy bits, including a running gag that had Bob Newhart's life threatened if the show ran long.\n"I just want to say it's gratifying to be chosen from such a distinguished group of losers -- actors," Shalhoub joked in accepting the award for best actor in a comedy. Among the also-rans looking on: Steve Carell of "The Office," a critical favorite.\nWinning didn't take the sting out of cancellation for at least one star.\n"It's not supposed to work this way, is it, when you say goodbye to something?" said Blythe Danner, named best supporting actress in a drama for the canceled "Huff."\n"I guess I have to thank Showtime, even though they canceled us," Danner said with a smile.\nMegan Mullally was honored for her supporting actress work in the sitcom "Will & Grace," which wrapped up its eight-year run this year.\nAlan Alda was named best supporting actor in a drama for his role as a Republican presidential candidate on "The West Wing," canceled after seven seasons.\nAlda wasn't on hand to accept the award, but he might have become blase: In recent years, he also had an Oscar nomination for his role in Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator," a Tony nomination for his Broadway performance in David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross" and another Emmy bid for "West Wing" -- none of which he won.\nHis win was the 26th Emmy for the White House drama, a drama series record. The show had been tied with "Hill Street Blues" and "L.A. Law" with 25.\nJeremy Piven of "Entourage" was named best supporting actor in a comedy.\nO'Brien made sure "Lost," largely left out of the Emmy awards, got noticed after all.\nThe ceremony opened with a filmed comedy bit in which O'Brien was seen sipping champagne aboard a jetliner. "What could possibly go wrong tonight?" he says before the plane crashes onto an island resembling the one in ABC's drama.\nAfter being greeted by "Lost" star Jorge Garcia, O'Brien fled through a mysterious hatch and ended up crashing through other series including "The Office," "24" and "House."\n"Subject could be anemic, possibly albino," was the diagnosis of "House" star Hugh Laurie.\nO'Brien was equally self-deprecating before he started a song-and-dance number.\n"It's my second time hosting. And as you'll see tonight, the third time's the charm," O'Brien said.\nThe ceremony paid tribute to producer Dick Clark of "American Bandstand" fame, who has been recovering from a stroke he suffered in 2004.\n"I have accomplished my childhood dream, to be in show business. Everybody should be so lucky, to have their dreams come true. I've been truly blessed," said Clark, his speech somewhat muffled. He was seated at a podium on stage when he was introduced.\nBarry Manilow serenaded Clark with the show's bouncy theme song before collecting his own Emmy for the special "Barry Manilow: Music and Passion."\nAaron Spelling, the prolific producer who died in June at 83, was paid often-tearful tribute by his one-time stars, including Jaclyn Smith, Farrah Fawcett and Kate Jackson of "Charlie's Angels" and Joan Collins and Heather Locklear of "Dynasty."\nThroughout the ceremony, veteran comedian and TV star Newhart popped up occasionally for O'Brien's gag.\n"The show rarely has come in on time. Why? Because there's no real consequences," O'Brien said as Newhart was wheeled onstage in what Conan warned was an airtight container -- with just three hours of air, the ceremony's scheduled running time.\n"Yes. It's very simple. If the Emmys run one second over, Bob Newhart dies," O'Brien said as Newhart's famous deadpan expression showed a tinge of alarm. "So keep those speeches short, ladies and gentlemen. Bob Newhart's life in your hands."\n"Grey's Anatomy" and "24" contended for top Emmy honors Sunday while the snubbed "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" sat on the sidelines.\nSome blamed the TV academy's revamped nominations process for omitting a show like "Lost," which was last year's best drama series but only up for writing and directing at the 58th annual Emmy Awards. Others said prospective nominees flubbed it by not submitting their best work to judges.\nThe red carpet was red hot for stars arriving at the Shrine Auditorium under a blistering summer sun. (Before the show, the temperature was 88 degrees.)\nJennifer Love Hewitt and others used small, battery-powered fans to cool down between -- even during -- interviews.\n"I'm sweating," conceded "Grey's Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington. "You've just got to make it look good."\nThe evening promised a slugfest, with medical shows "Grey's Anatomy" and "House" up against the pressure-cooker drama "24," the mobsters of "The Sopranos" and old lion "The West Wing."\nAnother now-gone series, the canceled "Arrested Development," was among the best comedy series nominees, facing "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "The Office," "Scrubs," and "Two and a Half Men."\n"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," the satirical newscast, reaped two Emmys, for best variety, music or comedy and the writing award for that category.\nStewart was moderately self-effacing in his speech, saying after the first honor: "I think this year you actually made a terrible mistake. But thank you."\nKelly MacDonald was named best supporting actress in a movie or miniseries for "The Girl in the Cafe," closing the book on one of Emmy's odder nominations. The drama also was named best made-for-TV movie.\nEllen Burstyn's nomination in the category, for the TV movie "Mrs. Harris," was a head scratcher -- her cameo was clocked at 14 seconds. She didn't attend the ceremony.\nCloris Leachman, also competing for "Mrs. Harris," failed to extend the Emmy record she set just last week as most-honored performer ever. Her total reached nine when she won a guest-actress award for "Malcolm in the Middle" at the Creative Arts Emmys.\nBesides Leachman, other guest actors in drama and comedy series honored at the Creative Arts Emmys were Leslie Jordan for "Will & Grace," Patricia Clarkson for "Six Feet Under" and Christian Clemenson for "Boston Legal"
(01/25/06 4:42am)
LOS ANGELES -- Considering it's the biggest kid on the block, "American Idol" is becoming quite the bully.\nFox's talent contest has regularly made an art of mocking the untalented who expose their dreams of stardom on TV, but the show's fifth year has the stench of a mean season.\nVulnerable contestants are coming in for more ridicule; bounced contestants are unleashing more extended and expletive-laden attacks on the judges and, we are warned, the future will demonstrate how vicious singers can be when they really want to win.\n"We now have contestants who will not let anything get in their way of victory," host Ryan Seacrest told The Associated Press before the show returned. "Some contestants have thrown each other under the bus this season."\nMuch is at stake. Producers FremantleMedia North America, Inc. and 19 Entertainment, who again have delivered the No. 1-rated show to Fox (last week's premiere drew a record 35.5 million viewers), are under pressure to keep the format a lucrative draw.\n"Shows have to reinvent themselves to stay fresh and invigorated for all these years," said analyst Shari Anne Brill of New York-based Carat USA.\nWeight and sexuality are favorite targets, as in previous seasons and just like around the typical school yard. But there is new venom in everybody's blood, and emotional fragility be damned.\nThis especially cheap insult came from a man who also knows how to wittily target the performance, not the person. He once compared a singer to a "waiter in a ghastly Spanish nightclub," and said a yodeled song was "a cross between a rodeo and 'La Cage Aux Folles.'"\nCut and print it; that's the kind of humiliation that sells.\nCowell and host Ryan Seacrest are known for their faintly gay-mocking banter, but the limits have become so stretched that the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation contacted Fox to voice concerns regarding the show's treatment of "sexual orientation and gender expression."\n"The real offense here was in the producer's decision to add insult to injury by turning a contestant's gender expression into the butt of a joke," spokesman Damon Romine said in a statement posted on the group's Web site.
(09/22/05 4:00am)
LOS ANGELES -- Everybody loved "Raymond" one more time at the Emmys, honoring the show Sunday as best comedy series for its final season and denying newcomer "Desperate Housewives." Another first-year hit, "Lost," won best drama honors.\nFelicity Huffman and Patricia Arquette became first-time Emmy winners as they received lead actress honors while Tony Shalhoub and James Spader once again proved favorites in the best actor category.\n"I've turned into one of those actresses and I'm sorry," Huffman, who plays an overwhelmed homemaker on ABC's "Desperate Housewives," said as she teared up at the start of her acceptance speech.\nShe thanked "the women of Wisteria Lane," her co-stars Marcia Cross and Teri Hatcher -- also nominees in the category -- and Nicollette Sheridan and Eva Longoria.\nSpader was named best dramatic actor for "Boston Legal" for his portrayal of a lawyer with an ethics problem -- his second consecutive win.\n"I'd like to thank the academy and I'd like to thank my mother and I'd like to thank my mother again, because I forgot to thank her last year," he said.\nOther past Emmy favorites grabbed trophies at Sunday's ceremony, with Brad Garrett and Doris Roberts of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and William Shatner of "Boston Legal" receiving best supporting actor honors.\nGarrett received his third Emmy for the CBS sitcom and Shatner received his second Emmy for the character of egotistical lawyer Denny Crane, who also had first been featured on "The Practice."\n"Oh, my gosh. ... Thank you so much," said Garrett, adding facetiously: "I have to dedicate this to Britney (Spears) and our baby. This is amazing."\nHost Ellen DeGeneres paid brief tribute to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The magnolia on her lapel was for them; presenters also were asked to wear the state flower of Louisiana and Mississippi. And Jon Stewart, a winner and a presenter, did a comedic bit that blasted the federal response to Katrina. But for the most part, the tragedy that had drawn Americans to their TV sets received scant attention as the ceremony's focus remained mainly on the awards.\nThe ceremony did include a tribute to late-night king Johnny Carson, the "Tonight" show host who died this year, with David Letterman remembering the man who entertained America and was mentor to so many comedians.\nThe ceremony also honored network TV's veteran news anchors, the retired Dan Rather of CBS and Tom Brokaw of NBC and the late Peter Jennings of ABC. Rather and Brokaw drew a prolonged standing ovation when they took the stage.\n"The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" repeated as best variety, music or comedy series and again won for writing.\n"Desperate Housewives" won the comedy series directing award while the writing trophy went to Fox's "Arrested Development"
(09/22/05 2:20am)
LOS ANGELES -- Everybody loved "Raymond" one more time at the Emmys, honoring the show Sunday as best comedy series for its final season and denying newcomer "Desperate Housewives." Another first-year hit, "Lost," won best drama honors.\nFelicity Huffman and Patricia Arquette became first-time Emmy winners as they received lead actress honors while Tony Shalhoub and James Spader once again proved favorites in the best actor category.\n"I've turned into one of those actresses and I'm sorry," Huffman, who plays an overwhelmed homemaker on ABC's "Desperate Housewives," said as she teared up at the start of her acceptance speech.\nShe thanked "the women of Wisteria Lane," her co-stars Marcia Cross and Teri Hatcher -- also nominees in the category -- and Nicollette Sheridan and Eva Longoria.\nSpader was named best dramatic actor for "Boston Legal" for his portrayal of a lawyer with an ethics problem -- his second consecutive win.\n"I'd like to thank the academy and I'd like to thank my mother and I'd like to thank my mother again, because I forgot to thank her last year," he said.\nOther past Emmy favorites grabbed trophies at Sunday's ceremony, with Brad Garrett and Doris Roberts of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and William Shatner of "Boston Legal" receiving best supporting actor honors.\nGarrett received his third Emmy for the CBS sitcom and Shatner received his second Emmy for the character of egotistical lawyer Denny Crane, who also had first been featured on "The Practice."\n"Oh, my gosh. ... Thank you so much," said Garrett, adding facetiously: "I have to dedicate this to Britney (Spears) and our baby. This is amazing."\nHost Ellen DeGeneres paid brief tribute to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The magnolia on her lapel was for them; presenters also were asked to wear the state flower of Louisiana and Mississippi. And Jon Stewart, a winner and a presenter, did a comedic bit that blasted the federal response to Katrina. But for the most part, the tragedy that had drawn Americans to their TV sets received scant attention as the ceremony's focus remained mainly on the awards.\nThe ceremony did include a tribute to late-night king Johnny Carson, the "Tonight" show host who died this year, with David Letterman remembering the man who entertained America and was mentor to so many comedians.\nThe ceremony also honored network TV's veteran news anchors, the retired Dan Rather of CBS and Tom Brokaw of NBC and the late Peter Jennings of ABC. Rather and Brokaw drew a prolonged standing ovation when they took the stage.\n"The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" repeated as best variety, music or comedy series and again won for writing.\n"Desperate Housewives" won the comedy series directing award while the writing trophy went to Fox's "Arrested Development"
(03/21/05 4:32am)
LOS ANGELES -- The biopic "Ray" about the life of legendary singer Ray Charles won four NAACP Image Awards, including an outstanding-actor trophy that added to its star Jamie Foxx's armful of honors. "Ray" was nominated for a leading seven awards, including outstanding motion picture and outstanding actor in a motion picture for Foxx, who received the best-actor Oscar at last month's Academy Awards. Foxx exchanged long embraces Saturday night with presenters Sidney Poitier and Diahann Carroll as he accepted his NAACP trophy.\nThe 36th annual Image Awards, which honor films, television, literature and music by and about people of color, were handed out at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The ceremony, hosted by actor Chris Tucker, was scheduled to air Friday on Fox.\n"This has been an absolutely wonderful ride," Foxx said, who also won a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of the music legend.\nIt was the second year in a row that Ray Charles loomed large at the Image Awards. He was inducted into the NAACP Hall of Fame in 2004, three months before his death at 73. \nSinger-songwriter Alicia Keys also was a multiple winner, taking home a pair of trophies for outstanding song and music video for "If I Ain't Got You." Winners were chosen by members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Other honors for "Ray" included: Kerry Washington, outstanding actress in a motion picture, and Regina King, outstanding supporting actress in a motion picture.\nIn her acceptance speech, Washington said the country needs the NAACP's activism more than ever. Speaking at a ceremony that, unlike most other awards shows, eagerly blends politics and entertainment, she warned that the rights of people of color, women and the poor are "in danger of being stripped" away.\nAcademy Award winner Morgan Freeman won the Image Award for supporting actor in his role in the film "Million Dollar Baby." Freeman and Foxx made Oscar history earlier this year. For only the second time in the ceremony's 77 years, blacks earned two of the four acting awards. Denzel Washington and Halle Berry won in 2002. \nKanye West was named outstanding new artist for his album, "College Dropout," while Grammy-winner Usher was honored as outstanding male artist. "American Idol" winner Fantasia was named outstanding female artist. West was humble in his acceptance speech.\n"I made some mistakes, and I learned from those mistakes," West said to the audience, characterizing the past year as "a trip."\nIn the new category of outstanding independent or foreign film, the award went to Bishop T.D. Jakes' drama about abuse, "Woman Thou Art Loosed." Jakes' novel, from which the movie was adapted, also was named best literary work, fiction.\nU.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., received the Chairman's Award, while the Vanguard Award went to pop star Prince. Talk show host and entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey also was inducted into the NAACP Hall of Fame.\n"There is an element of show business to politics," Obama said. "But I think it's important to remind ourselves that what's at stake in our politics is more than just image."\nSerious problems exist, he said, including a lack of health care for all families, children who are unable to read and a lack of attention to the African continent.
(10/01/04 5:20am)
LOS ANGELES -- Welcome to Wisteria Lane, Mr. Cherry's neighborhood.\nHere, in seemingly placid suburbia, homemakers tend to their husbands, children and flower beds -- while barely suppressing fear and frustration that threaten to blow the place sky high.\nThat's how Marc Cherry, creator of ABC's "Desperate Housewives," paints his fictional corner of the world. It's a comically dark view but one, he insists, that's a big step removed from satire.\n"Satire sounds like you're making fun of something. And the truth is I'm not making fun of the suburbs. I love the suburbs," Cherry said. "I love the values of the suburbs, loved my family, our neighbors.\n"It's just that stuff happens. I don't romanticize that life at all."\nGrowing up in Southern California and Oklahoma (with intermissions in Hong Kong and Iran, courtesy of his father's work in the oil industry), Cherry, 42, saw a fair amount of stuff.\n"I remember the husbands leaving with their suitcases and my parents saying, 'You're not allowed to ask them what's going on.' I remember the custody battles. The full range of human experience was there."\nIn "Desperate Housewives," the houses are more perfect and the housewives more perfectly beautiful (and deeply troubled?) than in a typical neighborhood. The series debuts 10 p.m. EDT Sunday.\nABC is hoping it produces some home improvement for the network's ratings, which are in a prolonged slump. It was willing to take a chance on "Desperate Housewives" when other networks passed (good writing but "not gritty enough," HBO told Cherry).\nThere's no risk when it comes to the ensemble cast, all of whom have solid credentials in prime-time angst.\nTeri Hatcher ("Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman") is Susan, a single mom looking for love, maybe in the wrong places. Felicity Huffman ("Sports Night") plays Lynette, a high-powered businesswoman turned highly frazzled mom. Marcia Cross ("Melrose Place") is Bree, a pent-up perfectionist. Eva Longoria's ("L.A. Dragnet") Gabrielle may be reconsidering the price she paid for a suburban haven.\nHovering nearby is the spirit of Mary Alice (Brenda Strong, "Starship Troopers"), whose suicide stunned Wisteria Lane. She's now a one-woman Greek chorus, watching as her former pals try to keep their balance.\nIn a TV season crowded with reality programs and endless variations on a criminal theme (the "Law & Order" and "CSI" franchises), "Desperate Housewives" stands out.\nEven its title is bold. Cherry recalled one ad industry executive's comment that, although the show had merit, ABC faced a challenge attracting viewers because of the offbeat name.\n"Good heavens," said an exasperated Cherry. "If people are enjoying the heck out of it, they'll watch it. It's that marketing thing of putting the cart ahead of the horse."\nFor Cherry, the priority was making a smart show that could erase the memory of mediocre sitcoms he'd worked on. He started at the top, as a young writer on the hit sitcom "The Golden Girls" (1985 to '92) but then added flops like "The Crew," a "Friends" clone, to his resume.\nHe wanted to return to the example of "The Golden Girls," in which creator Susan Harris explored the lives of older women, and create a show that had something to say and that hadn't been done "a million and one times."\nInspiration hit during a visit with his 67-year-old mother, Martha. Watching a news report about Andrea Yates, the Texas mother who drowned her five children, Cherry expressed bewilderment at such despair.\n"My mom took her cigarette out of her mouth and said, 'I've been there,'" he said. She recounted the almost overwhelming burden of being alone with three youngsters while her husband pursued a master's degree. Cherry's mom successfully coped because of family help.\nHe was struck by the idea that a "perfectly sane, rational woman could have the life she wanted, being a wife and mother ... and still have moments of insanity."\nCherry figures that what was true for his mom is true again, with a twist, in the post-feminist 21st century: Women can decide for family over work but must accept responsibility for the outcome.\n"Now it's 'I've chosen it, I'm in control. Oh, I can't blame anyone for my own unhappiness, what do I do?'" said Cherry, channeling his characters.\nThere is no promise of happy endings in "Desperate Housewives," but expect laughs along with the suffering. "The comedy comes out from the fact that our gals tend to make bad choices," Cherry said.\nThe writer-producer figures that, so far, his own choices are being validated. "Desperate Housewives," heavily promoted by ABC, has drawn plentiful buzz and solid reviews.\n"It's nice, ain't no denying that. Having done shows where they weren't talking about them, or when they were talking about them they weren't saying nice things, it's definitely nice"
(09/30/04 4:26am)
LOS ANGELES -- If rhetorical fireworks light up Thursday's foreign policy debate between President Bush and John Kerry, don't expect moderator Jim Lehrer to ignite them.\nThe longtime PBS anchor, making his 10th appearance as a presidential debate moderator, likely will toe the line he's drawn for himself before: Asking measured questions and avoiding provocative gotchas.\n"For me to be aggressive and beat up on these guys, I'm not going to do that. That's not what I signed on to do, and I don't think any moderator should," Lehrer told CNN's "Larry King Live" in 2000 after Bush and Al Gore faced off.\nHe would rather be criticized for overly bland questions than for showing "how tough I was," he told King.\nLehrer, who PBS said was declining all pre-debate interviews this week, has drawn both praise and criticism for his style.\nFormer CNN anchorman Bernard Shaw said Lehrer's track record makes him "the dean of moderators."\n"I think Jim Lehrer is always a good choice," said Shaw. "He's basic journalism. He's fair. He's balanced. He's accurate."\nSaid Judy Woodruff, the CNN anchor and former Lehrer colleague at PBS: "Jim Lehrer proves time and again he puts himself in the shoes of the voter ... and asks questions that are going to draw out these candidates, rather than trip them up."\nBut Lehrer has drawn heat for what some contend is a gloves-on style that fails to sufficiently challenge candidates on their positions.\nIn 2000, one critic said Lehrer was running the debates like "some kind of sherry hour" at Harvard. Jack Shafer, an editor-at-large for Slate magazine, dismissed Lehrer in 1996 as too plugged into a "civil, placid, friendly, unaggressive Washington."\nThe debates moderated by Lehrer haven't yielded the kind of memorable moments that others have teased -- or forced out.\nIn a 1988 match-up between Michael Dukakis and Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, who was then vice president, CNN's Shaw asked the Massachusetts governor a hypothetical question: If Dukakis' wife were raped and murdered, might it affect his anti-death penalty stance?\nThe dry, unemotional answer given by the Democratic candidate was seen as a costly stumble.\nStill, it's questionable whether anyone could create spontaneity in this year's trio of debates, which have strict rules and largely exclude interplay between candidates and moderator.\nAs mandated by the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, moderators are responsible for the questions and for keeping the candidates to answers of up to 2 minutes. Moderators have the discretion of opening "extended discussion" on a question for one more minute.\nThis format is more of an issue than Lehrer's approach, said Alex Jones, director of Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.\nJones praised Lehrer as a "superb" and responsible journalist who's willing to take a tough stand. "Jim Lehrer was the most outspoken voice in television denouncing the networks' decision not to carry the conventions more fully."\nHe said the debates themselves scarcely deserve the name, given the lack of give-and-take, scripted responses and moderator's weak role.\n"The way they have stripped the role of the ability to challenge, follow or engage beyond simply asking questions, I think the moderator's role is almost one you could phone in," he said.\nThat's a shame, Jones said, because Lehrer "is a good interrogator when he's allowed to be an interrogator, and I think that's what these debates ought to be about."\nIn 1996 and 2000, Lehrer handled all three presidential debates (he moderated one in 1988 and two in '92). This time around he's sharing the job with ABC's Charles Gibson and CBS' Bob Schieffer, who will conduct the second and third debates, respectively.\nBut Lehrer's foreign-policy assignment is arguably the most crucial. The Iraq war and terrorism are the hot issues and the first debate is likely to draw the biggest audience.\nDespite his many turns as moderator, Lehrer, normally watched by about 3 million people nightly on "NewsHour," appears to have retained an enthusiasm -- and even awe -- for the debate work he does in front of tens of millions of Americans.\nWhen the debate commission called on him in 2000, he told Larry King, "I was exhilarated by it, the fact that they would select me ... There's no need in playing games about it -- it made me feel good."\nShaw understands Lehrer's emphasis on serving the event rather than reveling in his role or its power.\n"If your head is in the clouds you don't belong in the moderator's chair," he said.\n"You should be the coolest you've ever been and the most sober in realizing this is historical and important for the democratic process and the American voters, and you are the least important part"
(09/20/04 5:57am)
LOS ANGELES -- "The Sopranos" became the first cable show to win the Emmy for best drama series Sunday and fellow HBO entry "Angels in America" received a record 11 awards as Fox's surprise comedy winner "Arrested Developed" proved a rare bright spot for broadcast TV.\nBroadcast networks also collected performance awards for comedy series, but it was clear that cable's accomplishments were overshadowing the traditional networks.\n"Angels in America," the miniseries adaptation of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play about the 1980s AIDS crisis, won seven Emmys on Sunday, including outstanding miniseries and acting trophies for Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Mary-Louise Parker and Jeffrey Wright. Kushner received a best writing award and Mike Nichols won best director.\n"As you know the fight against AIDS isn't over yet and we must do what we can for Africa. ... Let's see what we can do," Nichols said.\n"Angels in America" proved a record breaker. With the four Emmys won Sept. 12 at the creative arts awards and the seven it won Sunday, it exceeded the nine awards won by "Roots" in 1977 to become the most honored miniseries. It matched the 11 won by "Eleanor and Franklin" in 1976, the most for any program in one season.\n"The Sopranos" finally collected the best drama Emmy in its fifth try.\n"This is really great and seeing those goodbye episodes before gave me some great ideas how to end the show," series creator David Chase said of "The Sopranos," which has one more season ahead of it.\nMichael Imperioli and Drea de Matteo, who played a hard-luck mob couple whose relationship ended in betrayal on "The Sopranos," won drama series supporting actor and actress Emmys.\n"There are so many people that are responsible for this, that if I even try to thank any of them right now, I might puke, choke, cry or die. And you've already seen me do that," said de Matteo, whose character was bumped off last season. She's now on NBC's "Friends" spinoff "Joey."\nIn some good news for the broadcast networks, Allison Janney of NBC's "The West Wing" and James Spader of ABC's "The Practice" won best actor awards for drama.\n"You've all made wonderful choices in shoes and dresses tonight and you all look absolutely beautiful," Spader said in a lighthearted acceptance.\nFox's "Arrested Development" proved another broadcast bright spot, winning as best comedy series after a freshman year that was critically acclaimed but low rated.\n"This is so huge for us. You know what, let's watch it," said series creator Mitchell Hurwitz.\n"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," which has spent election year skewering the candidates for tiny Comedy Central, won an award for best variety series for the second year in a row. His writing staff also won an Emmy.\nMirroring the concern in Hollywood over the state of situation comedies, the four major comedy acting awards went for work in series that are now off the air. Kelsey Grammer won his fourth Emmy for best actor in a comedy for "Frasier" and Sarah Jessica Parker won best actress for "Sex and the City."\n"I had the most extraordinary life on television," Grammer said. "'Frasier' was a gift in my life and the people that I got to meet and work with were the greatest and this is just the cherry on top."\nGrammer paid tribute to the late John Ritter, who was nominated posthumously for "Eight Simple Rules."\n"He was a terrific guy and his death was a shock to all of us. And he'll be missed, not only just for his kindness but also for his work." Grammer said.\nDavid Hyde Pierce won a supporting actor award for "Frasier," which ended an 11-year run this spring, and Cynthia Nixon won best supporting actress for "Sex and the City."\nThe awards provided fresh evidence that the major broadcast networks, even as they open their new season this week, have ceded creative ground to cable networks.\nElaine Stritch became an instant joke subject for her over-the-top acceptance of the Emmy for best individual performance in a variety or music program. The 79-year-old veteran stage actress even tested ABC's five-second delay -- better known as the Janet Jackson precaution -- and had part of her speech bleeped out.\n"Look at the company I'm in here. And I'm so glad none of them won," Stritch said before the orchestra played her off the stage.\nDonald Trump and "Survivor" creator Mark Burnett found themselves looking on from the audience as a less-popular show, CBS' "The Amazing Race," won best reality series for the second year in a row.\nHost Garry Shandling repeatedly poked fun at the genre, joking about "Extreme Makeover," Paris Hilton and Trump in his monologue.\n"It's to the point now when a commercial comes on I go, 'Thank God, professional actors in a story,'" he quipped.\n"Angels in America" was the most-nominated program this year with 21 nods, and won four at the Sept. 12 creative arts awards for craft achievement. In his acceptance speech, Kushner used his time on stage to lobby for gay marriage.\n"Thanks to my wonderful husband, Mark. Someday soon we can have a legal marriage license and you can make an honest homosexual out of me," he said.\nHyde Pierce was honored for the fourth time as best supporting actor for "Frasier."\n"In sitcom school they tell you how great it is to have a long-running show, but they don't tell you how hard it is to say goodbye," Hyde Pierce said.\nThe ceremony highlighted the theme of last laughs, paying videotaped tribute not only to the three major series that ended their runs last season, but also many that came before including "Cheers," "Mad About You" and "Roseanne."\nHBO's "Something the Lord Made" won best made-for-TV movie.\nThe most-nominated drama series was HBO's "The Sopranos" with 20, including bids for James Gandolfini and Edie Falco. Although both actors have won before, the mob story has yet to snatch the top drama award.\nThe benchmarks: "Eleanor and Franklin," whose 11 awards in 1976 are the most for any program in one season, and "Roots," the most-honored miniseries with nine awards in 1977.\nThe third Bob Hope Humanitarian Award was presented posthumously to actor, producer and philanthropist Danny Thomas, with his daughter, actress Marlo Thomas, accepting.\nHBO led the nominations with its highest-ever total, 124. NBC was second with 65, followed by CBS with 44, Fox with 31 and ABC with 33. PBS earned 27 nominations. The awards are given by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.\nActing awards for guest roles were given out at a previous ceremony. Emmys for best guest actress and actor in a drama series went to William Shatner and Sharon Stone for episodes of "The Practice."\nFor guest actor and actress in a comedy series, the winners were Laura Linney for NBC's "Frasier" and John Turturro for USA's "Monk"