Turn On:
Yet another reality TV show joins the fray on Monday night: NBC's "$25 Million Dollar Hoax" (10 p.m. EST), in which a woman pretends to win a pile of dough and begins behaving badly. Also on NBC, another reality TV show, "Fear Factor" (8 p.m., EST), celebrates its 100th episode by coming to NYC and cooking up rat stew. Or you can eschew all that and tune in to "They Made America" (PBS, check local listings), a four-part series based on Harold Evans' new book about visionaries who helped make our fine nation what it is today. Sigh.
Morning Briefing:
Powell hitting the road? A "well-placed D.C. source" has told Page Six that Secretary of State Colin Powell, long believed to be at least somewhat dissatisfied with his role in the current administration, is "ready to retire. He's tired and wants to spend time with his family." Powell is said to have powwowed with President Bush over the weekend to strategize the best time for him to leave his position, which the source says could come "at any time -- next month, but definitely within the year." (Page Six)
Nasty, nasty neighbor, according to Jim: James Belushi is suing his next-door neighbor, original Catwoman Julie Newmar, for $4 million, contending that she waged a "campaign of harassment" against him. Belushi alleges that Newmar spied on his family, deliberately tried to disturb him by playing loud music, dissed him to neighbors and friends, and has generally "engaged in a malicious and premeditated campaign to prevent and destroy Belushi's quiet peace." (Associated Press)
Yeah, that must be it: Why did "The Incredibles" eat "Alfie's" lunch at the box office over the weekend, taking in an estimated $70.7 million nationwide compared to the Jude Law-starring remake's paltry $6.5 million? Depends on who you ask. Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking company Exhibitor Relations, credits Disney-Pixar, who he says have audience appeal "down to an absolute science." But Wayne Llewellyn, president of distribution at Paramount, the company behind "Alfie," is chalking his movie's poor performance up to politics, blaming those red staters. "It could be the mood of the country right now. It seems to be the result of the election. Maybe they didn't want to see a guy that slept around." (New York Times)
More Carter-family dirty laundry: For some mysterious reason, Jane Carter, mother of former Backstreet Boy Nick Carter and his singin' younger bro Aaron, has decided to speak out about the night Aaron spent with Michael Jackson when he was a wee lad of 15. She says she has no idea what happened that night -- after Nick ditched Aaron at Neverland during a birthday party for Jackson -- but says she's haunted by fears of what may have gone down. "I don't know if he was alone with Michael. I don't know. I don't know what transpired that night!" Jane Carter has told Access Hollywood. And Aaron and Nick's sister Leslie, in whom be apparently confided a few details, says, "I think I remember him saying that he had smoked some marijuana with him or something like that. That was a really wild story he told me, but I don't know if I should believe it or not." Mama Jane, who, you may recall, was once accused by Aaron of swiping his money, adds, "Even if nothing happened, which probably nothing happened, that I know of, it just doesn't look good." (N.Y. Daily News)
Ho-hum but happy: Those of you who think that the Oscar disproportionately honors the wearers of prosthetics, take note. In "Kinsey," the movie about sex researcher Alfred Kinsey that opens this Friday, Laura Linney hides her light under the proverbial prosthetic bushel in order to play Kinsey's drab wife. And she liked it. "Some people get depressed wearing an ugly wig and makeup for a week, but I didn't feel that way," Linney says. "I loved playing someone who saw life in such a vibrant way. And at the end of the day, when they'd brush my hair and get the prosthetics off, I'd look in the mirror a bit surprised, and say, 'Ooh, hi!'" (N.Y. Daily News)
Also: Sean Lennon and Milla Jovovich are reportedly romantically involved (Rush and Molloy) ... Howard Dean's 20-year-old daughter, Anne, a junior at Yale, was treated for undisclosed injuries and released from a New Haven hospital after an SUV in which she was a passenger overturned on the highway (Associated Press) ... Marisa Tomei is considering filing suit against the organizers of an "Alaska Theater Cruise" who ran an ad in the New Yorker including her name without her OK in a list of aging performers such as Ed Asner, Patricia Neal, Eartha Kitt and Jerry Orbach. She is not, she insists, planning to perform on the cruise (Page Six) ... And Kate Beckinsale wants the world to know that her bust has not been surgically enhanced, explaining, "I've not had a breast job. The moment those rumors started was when people saw my stretch marks -- I've got stretch marks everywhere" (Glamour via Knight Ridder Tribune)
Money Quote:
Matthew Broderick on getting advice about women from Marlon Brando: "He gave me one tip. He was talking about a woman nearby and he said, 'Look at that a--.' He just loved it. And I said, 'You don't think it's a little big?' And he said, 'No, that's what you want. You want that abundancy.' I remember he used that word." (Elle via Lloyd Grove's Lowdown)
-- Amy Reiter
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