OK, folks, after you've seen "42nd Street" get your tickets to the musical based on the life of Mother Teresa. At the same time the little lady was being beatified in Rome this week, 1,300 people packed a theater there to see the life of the possible future saint played out to the sounds of reggae, funk and pop songs. Is nothing sacred? (BBC)
Sometimes there is justice. The awful show "Coupling" -- American version -- is on the verge of cancellation. Daily Variety said of it, "The cast has no likable characters, motivation for every act is sexual, and the theme of moronic men versus wily women has been played out." But other than that, it's great! (Ananova)
Will the fascination with John F. Kennedy and Camelot ever end? In a word, no. ABC is planning a 22-episode dramatic series called "The Kennedys" to be produced by Brian Robbins, who was born on Nov. 22, 1963. Says Robbins, "This series will reach beneath the headlines to explore the forces that still captivate a nation." And it will probably mean more work for the Sheen family. (IMDB)
Is "The Sopranos" going the way of "Dallas"? Sources are saying that several of the dead characters are signed up for the next season and may appear in "dreamlike" sequences. The list of the whacked and merely deceased includes Vincent Pastore (Big Pussy), David Proval (Richie Aprile), John Heard (Detective Makazian), Al Sapienza (Mikey Palmice), Dan Grimaldi (Spoons Parisi) and Jason Cerbone (Jackie Aprile Jr). And the whacked of all whacked, Joe Pantoliano (Ralphie Cifaretto), is also onboard for another go-around. No word on whether he'll have his head or not. (CNN)
Speaking of the dead, and kindly -- last night 800 people gathered in New York for the Paris Review's 50th anniversary and final farewell to founder and bon vivant extraordinaire George Plimpton, who died a few weeks ago at 76. Plimpton was one of a handful that could attract a crowd as wonderfully diverse as Walter Cronkite, Martha Stewart, William Styron, Alec Baldwin, Timothy Hutton, Paul Auster and James Lipton. Kurt Vonnegut, referring to Plimpton's penchant for "participatory journalism" (such as the experience scrimmaging with the Detroit Lions he chronicled in "Paper Lion"), capped the evening with this comment: "If anyone can come back from the dead and then write about it, it'll have to be George Plimpton." Amen. (N.Y. Newsday)
It's enough to make a person wonder if Sean "Puffy/P.Diddy" Combs will pull an Arnold and run for office one of these days. The hip-hop mogul made a public appearance at a New York high school Tuesday to promote his plan to raise $1 million for city schools through sponsorships for running the New York City Marathon next month. The motto for his jog? "P. Diddy Runs the City."
Puffy/P.Diddy took the auditorium stage at I.S. 218 wearing gray SeanJohn sweats, a chunky diamond necklace and sunglasses, thanked the roomful of cheering seventh-graders, and said, "Y'all been doing an excellent job with what we've been giving y'all so far, but to be honest, y'all really need our support. You don't get a lot of the things you see myself, Jay-Z and 50 Cent get unless you get an education." Educated at public and parochial schools and Howard University, Puffy/P. Diddy also handed out goody bags containing school supplies and "P. Diddy Runs the City" T-shirts. After all, today's 11-year-olds are tomorrow's voting public. (N.Y. Daily News)
Money Quote
Woody Allen in the proposal for a tell-all autobiography he's shopping around, for which he wants around $10 million: "One selling point to begin with is that I do have some ability to write. It's not an 'as told to' book, nor is it written by an actor or director who has no experience with prose ... The drawback is that it would take me between six months and a year to really do a fine job and it's hard to imagine there's enough money out there to make me take the time away from film or theater to do it." (Page Six)
Best of the Rest
Page Six: "Access Hollywood" anchor Pat O'Brien says, "I have harbored thoughts about running for governor of South Dakota. I am from South Dakota. I love it there. It's not a whim. I know what I'm talking about"; Michael Jackson may be dropped by Sony after release of upcoming greatest-hits album; Shannen Doherty to pose again for Playboy's December issue; Rev. Al Sharpton on Schwarzenegger win: "He proved that you don't have to be a career politician to get elected. We're a lot alike, only I didn't have a stunt man to do all my dirty work"; Jennifer Lopez refuses to promote greatest hits DVD. Says her rep, "Jennifer is not doing press right now for anything ... She's taking a break."
Rush and Molloy: Donna Summer says she tried to commit suicide by jumping out of a hotel-room window back in 1976, in the midst of a struggle with amphetamines, but was "shocked back to reality" when her foot got in some curtains and a maid walked in; Chaka Khan says she was addicted to crack as recently as 1999; Harvey Weinstein says that Hillary Clinton turned down his offer to have her own talk show in order to run for Senate; The Artist Formerly Known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince caught going door-to-door with Sly and the Family Stone bass player Larry Graham in Minnesota to spread the message of Jehovah's Witness, pisses off Jewish couple when he rings their doorbell to make his proselytizing pitch hours before Yom Kippur; Pink says she likes "strong, assertive, independent, tough women" who "happen to be gay" but insists she "definitely" prefers pairing up with men.
Boldface Names: Robert Evans disses Sharon Stone in first episode of his new Comedy Central animated cartoon series, "Kid Notorious," admits to real-life friction with Stone, says, "Let's say it this way: she doesn't like me." As for those rumors linking him up with Paris Hilton, Evans says, "Nice girl. Funny girl. I don't know her that well." Adds, "I'm a very, very reclusive person."
--Amy Reiter
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