Turn On:
Friday night, the Cartoon Network offers the premiere of a new cartoon series about Japanese pop stars, "Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi" (7:30 p.m. ET), and CMT brings you the season premiere of "Cowboy U: Moloka'i" (9 p.m. ET), which brings five city couples to Hawaii to compete for their Hawaiian cowboy stripes. And Sunday night, PBS offers "Touching the Void," at 9 p.m. ET, a documentary about two mountain climbers.
Morning Briefing:
They're no good Linda Ronstadt, who made headlines a few months back for ticking off a Vegas audience by sending a shout out to Michael Moore and "Fahrenheit 9/11," is not giving up the fight against the current administration. "People don't realize that by voting Republican, they voted against themselves," Ronstadt tells USA Today. What's more, she says, "I worry that some people are entertained by the idea of this war. They don't know anything about the Iraqis, but they're angry and frustrated in their own lives. It's like Germany, before Hitler took over. The economy was bad and people felt kicked around. They looked for a scapegoat. Now we've got a new bunch of Hitlers." Of that Vegas uprising, she says, if some members of the audience, said to have shown their displeasure by chucking drinks and ripping down posters, "behaved like naughty schoolboys, that's not my fault. I doubt it was the first time they had drunk people in Vegas, you know?" In fact, she says, the whole thing "made me look rather good, I think." (USA Today)
Carreyed away? Jim Carrey, who says he took the antidepressant Prozac for "a long time," is high on life these days. "You know, I had to get off [Prozac] at a certain point because I realized that ... everything is OK," Carrey says in an interview set to air this Sunday on "60 Minutes," according to the DrudgeReport. "[Now] I rarely drink coffee. I am very serious about no alcohol, no drugs. Life is too beautiful." He's also high on religion -- just don't ask which one. "I'm a Buddhist, I'm a Muslim, I'm a Christian. I'm whatever you want me to be," he says. "It all comes down to the same thing." (Drudge)
Little sex, much angst: Oliver Stone's "Alexander" doesn't open until next Friday, but apparently the embargo on reviews doesn't extend to veteran gossipists. Consequently, Liz Smith has seen fit to weigh in with a few choice observations about the film: "The movie is not, as one wise-acre quipped, 'this year's "Showgirls."' Maybe that person was reacting to Colin [Farrell]'s iffy bleach job or Jared Leto (as Alexander's lover, Hephaistion) and his fabulous eyeliner. The remark indicated we'd be rolling in campy situations and dialogue -- not to mention sex, sex, sex. I hate to be the harbinger of bad news, but ... no. There's little sex, yet lots of angst." True, she says, "Alexander's bisexuality is addressed. But no, Farrell and Leto never lip-lock. They talk. They gaze hungrily. They hug, more or less manfully. We're supposed to get it that they're lovers. But somehow the relationship never seems real." And there you have it. (N.Y. Newsday) Oh, and what of Angelina Jolie playing Colin Farrell's mother, though she's but one year his senior? Here's how Jolie says she dealt with it: "I focused on everything about me that's seen death and feels old and is a mom and feels drained and disappointed by life. And he focused on everything that's hopeful and young about him. And, somehow, we met in the middle." (AP Television News)
Bad bet: Remember that deal between Jamie-Lynn DiScala and the online casino. Well, it's off. Why? Because Casino Fortune called the "Sopranos" star, who has battled an eating disorder and was hoping to help online gamblers who also might be struggling with the disease, "fat, then scrawny" in a press release. "Why did we hire her? Mainly because she was fat, then scrawny, and finally found a way to control her eating disorder," Rose said. "Many of our female players experience the same. Sitting on the couch night after night watching 'The Sopranos' and other shows takes a toll on the human body. We're offering our players a little guidance and inspiration." Informed of the executive's quote, DiScala was said to have "burst into tears" -- and promptly withdrew from the deal. (Lloyd Grove's Lowdown)
Also: It was American night at the MTV Europe Awards in Rome last night. Among the biggest winners were OutKast (best group; best song and best video, "Hey Ya!"), Britney Spears (best female) and Usher (best male; best album, "Confessions"), prompting at least one music writer to dub the awards an "absolute disgrace." (Gigwise.com) ... Police are negotiating with rapper Young Buck (aka David Darnell Brown) to surrender in the stabbing of the man who slugged Dr. Dre at the Vibe hip-hop awards earlier this week (BBC News) ... Robin Williams is in talks with Fox to star in a sequel to "Mrs. Doubtfire," 11 years after that film's release (Reuters/Hollywood Reporter) ... Howard Stern rallied fans on behalf of his future employer, Sirius Satellite Radio, in New York's Union Square on Thursday -- and blasted the FCC. Sirius has also announced that former Viacom honcho Mel Karmazin will become its chief executive officer (Associated Press and PR Newswire) ... Vanilla Ice is back in the news after his pet wallaroo (a cross between a kangaroo and a wallaby) escaped from the rapper's Florida home (where he kept it illegally) and scratched a woman and kicked her car. Not nice, baby. (Associated Press) ... Michael Jackson has been sued by a Los Angeles antiques store that claims he owes them $178,875 for merchandise he purchased and failed to pay for (Associated Press) ... Almost 3,000 people showed up for O.D.B.'s funeral in Brooklyn on Thursday, including the surviving members of Wu-Tang Clan, Kurtis Blow and Mariah Carey (N.Y. Post) ... What will Martha Stewart be eating for Thanksgiving in the clink? Nothin' fancy. Nothin' Martha-esque. "We have an established menu already in place that goes through an examination by a dietitian," a prison spokeswoman said. "And we don't let the inmates have input into how we run our menu." (Rush and Molloy)
-- Amy Reiter
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