Morning Briefing:
Paris arrested for DUI: Stopped by LAPD cops while driving her silver Mercedes McLaren SLR just after midnight Wednesday, Paris Hilton failed a breathalyzer test and was arrested for driving under the influence. She was then bailed out and driven home by her long-suffering rep, Eliot Mintz, who told the gathered paparazzi that Paris had had a long day, no food and only one drink. A police source said of her mug shot, which you can expect to leak out later today, "It doesn't look like Nick Nolte." (You can watch the scintillating video of her shameful post-arrest arrival home here.) (TMZ)
Clinton demands rolling heads: ABC's look back at the events of Sept. 11, "The Path to 9/11," is set to broadcast this Sunday night, but if Bill Clinton has his way, it may not air at all. Clinton is incensed that the six-hour special implies that he was too busy getting sexual favors from an intern to chase down Osama bin Laden. As Salon critic Heather Havrilesky wrote in her review of the show: "Instead of offering us some indication of President Clinton's earnest efforts to stop Osama bin Laden, we're repeatedly treated to his most uneasy moments in the hot seat over [Monica] Lewinsky, painting the president as a buffoon more interested in blow jobs than terrorists." A number of Clinton White House officials are upset -- former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told reporters a scene depicting her is "false and defamatory" -- and now, in a four-page letter to the network, Clinton writes, "The content of this drama is factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate and ABC has the duty to fully correct all errors or pull the drama entirely." (N.Y. Post, Washington Post)
Profile of a predator hunter: Radar has a long piece on Thursday about the bizarre character who serves as the behind-the-scenes heart of NBC's disturbing/fascinating "To Catch a Predator" series, Phillip John Eide, aka Xavier Von Erck. (He legally changed his name last year.) Von Erck's Web site, Perverted-Justice.com, was the inspiration and means for NBC's series of pedophile sting operations. (Perverted Justice workers pretend to be children in online chat rooms and lure pedophiles into face-to-face meetings -- the men arrive only to meet with an NBC crew and police officers.) He comes off as almost as big a kook as some of the pedophiles caught on tape for the show: Radar recounts how he once pretended to be a woman for months in order to seduce and then publicly shame a vocal critic of the Web site, and also prints long quotes from his blog writings, including this passage dedicated to 9/11 conspiracy theorists: "I wish I could fucking kill 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Yes, kill. I'd like to kill them. Kill them all ... I want you to die. I wish you would die. Why don't you die? Just die." (Radar)
Also:
Bob Dylan is sitting pretty atop the Billboard chart for the first time in 30 years -- his new album, "Modern Times," sold 192,000 copies in its first week, putting him at No. 1 for the first time since 1976's "Desire." (Billboard) ... Katie Couric's debut newscast on Tuesday at CBS averaged 13.6 million viewers, almost double the competition at ABC and NBC and the best ratings the network has had for a nightly news show since 1998. (Hollywood Reporter) ... "Desperate Housewives" star Marcia Cross is pregnant with her first child, due in April. (People) ... Both Amazon.com and Apple are reportedly about to launch online movie-downloading services -- Amazon will launch its movie store this Friday, and Apple is expected to unveil its new service next Tuesday. (Variety) ... David Letterman, 59, is signing up for four more years as the host of "The Late Show" on CBS. (Hollywood Reporter) ... Pete Doherty has been evicted from his apartment in London for not paying his rent since January -- he owes almost $19,000 in back rent. (Splash News) ... Suffering withdrawal from hearing Samuel L. Jackson swear since the "Snakes on a Plane" hype died down? This collection of profanity-laced Jackson sound clips should keep you busy for a while. (eBaum's World)
Money Quote:
From Vanity Fair writer Jane Sarkin's slavish story about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes as parents, which accompanied the baby Suri photo spread: "Tom's mother, an upbeat, outgoing woman from Louisville, Kentucky, moves in closer. She watches her son and daughter-in-law-to-be kiss. She sees her granddaughter Suri smile for the camera. The sun reddens the peak in the distance. Tom's mom begins to cry. Others on the hillside start to well up too. Tom seems to be forcing back the tears himself." (Vanity Fair via Star)
Turn On:
The pro football season kicks off Thursday night with "NFL Opening 2006" (NBC, 8:30 p.m. EDT), followed later by the food documentary series "American Eats" (A&E, 10 p.m. EDT). It's also the series premiere of Fox's new marital sitcom, "'Til Death" (8 p.m. EDT), and Showtime presents a documentary filmed over a decade in South Central Los Angeles, "Slippin': Ten Years With the Bloods" (10 p.m. EDT)
On the Talk Shows:
Larry King (CNN, 9 p.m. EDT): Andre Agassi
Charlie Rose (PBS, check local listings): Newsweek editor Jon Meacham
David Letterman (CBS, 11:30 p.m. EDT): Colin Farrell, India.Arie (repeat)
Jay Leno (NBC, 11:35 p.m. EDT): Jessica Simpson
Conan O'Brien (NBC, 12:35 a.m. EDT): David Duchovny, Ben Harper
Craig Ferguson (CBS, 12:35 a.m. EDT): Steve Carell, the Subways (repeat)
Jimmy Kimmel (ABC, 12:05 a.m. EDT): Anthony Michael Hall, James Carville, Robert Randolph and the Family Band
Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 11 p.m. EDT): Martin Short (repeat)
Stephen Colbert (Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. EDT): Janna Levin (repeat)
(Yes, these are Thursday's actual listings -- we accidentally published them yesterday. Our apologies.)
-- Scott Lamb
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