Afternoon Briefing:
More Janet news . . . : Now we hear that CBS edited out Janet Jackson's use of the word "Jesus" -- as in "Oh, Jesus" when Letterman asked her again and again about the boob exposure incident. Where it will end, only Jesus knows. (TV Guide)
Pacino as Bonaparte? The diminutive yet feisty Italian, Al Pacino, is set to play the diminutive yet feisty Frenchman, Napoleon, in an upcoming film titled "The Master of Longwood" -- about Bonaparte's relationship with a British girl during exile. (IMDB)
--Karen Croft
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Morning Briefing
Janet on Letterman: Janet Jackson, whose new album launches today, still claims that what happened at the Super Bowl was just an accident. "It was very embarrassing for me to have so many people see this little breast," she said last night, to which Letterman responded, "What was supposed to happen ... clowns jumping out of a car?" (Reuters)
Does Adriana get whacked? Drea De Matteo has signed to star in Matt LeBlanc's "Friends" spinoff, "Joey," next season, playing Joey's sister Gina. So what does that mean for her character on "The Sopranos"? This season, Adriana has been increasingly agitated about being an FBI informant while carrying on as the fiancé of a mob lieutenant, Christopher; we've already seen her nearly spill the beans during a drunken breakdown at Carmela's movie night. Will she be found out? Will she flee into a witness protection program? (Fox)
In other breast news: Kofi Asare, recently and briefly famous for being photographed suckling at Courtney Love's breast (and afterward being mistaken for a homeless man), is planning to put out a "rap mixtape." Possible titles he's deciding between: "Milk Money" and "All I Wanted Was Some Chicken Nuggets." In a recent interview, he summed up the situation thus: "I guess that's the best thing about sucking a breast. Both people get something out of it. It's a good exchange." (Page Six)
Jesus returns today: The 12th and final installment of the wildly popular "Left Behind" series arrives in bookstores today. The final installment, "Glorious Appearing," doesn't have a surprise ending -- Jesus, of course, returns -- but it may rack up surprising sales. The series has so far sold more than 40 million copies. Bob Fillingane, a Mississippi Christian bookseller, in the Times yesterday: "Many people have asked me, Do you think they will finish the series before Christ comes?" (Drudge)
F-bombs away: No one's been fired yet, but somehow the fearsome F-bomb made it to the air on last Friday's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on ABC. Chris Farney, Richard Simmons' recent punching bag, used it twice during an interview on the show; it was bleeped out the first time, but lucky East Coast viewers got to hear it the second time around. (NYDN)
James Bowie, er, Jason Patric arrested: "The Alamo" star took a stand of his own against Austin police last night, shoving a police officer and challenging police to test him for drunkenness. A police spokesman pointed out that "there is no test administered for public intoxication and officers only need to have suspicion" (which Patric really should have known from "Narc"). (Ananova)
Money Quote
Sheriff's Detective Mike Kubricht, of Richmond, Texas, on what led 21-year-old Dan Leach to come forward in the death of his girlfriend, which had been ruled a suicide: "We asked him why he came forward now, and he said first that he had seen the movie 'The Passion of the Christ,' and that moved him. Then he spoke with an old family friend that was a preacher and decided to contact police." Kubricht also noted that Leach "is an avid 'CSI' watcher."
Turn On
Karen Hughes, whose memoir comes out today, appears on "Larry King Live" (9 p.m; CNN), and later on "The Charlie Rose Show" (PBS; check local listings). Will either Larry or Charlie ask her what she knows about the Plame affair? After stopping for five weeks, the clock starts again on "24" (9 p.m. EST; FOX). It's now 4 a.m., and Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is running out of time to save the president or the planet or his leftover burrito or whatever is at stake now. With only nine episodes left until the Armageddon-inducing finale, you can bet the body count is going to be high. And baby-Brokaw Gideon Yago and a young audience give Sen. John Kerry the "boxers or briefs?" treatment on "20 Million Questions for John Kerry" (10:30 p.m. ET; MTV).
-- Scott Lamb and Kerry Lauerman
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