Morning Briefing:
Madonna leaves Malawi: Her humanitarian/adoption mission apparently over, Madonna and her husband, Guy Ritchie, left Malawi via private jet early Friday morning, their adopted 1-year-old son, David, in tow. Malawi officials have waived the state's rules restricting intercountry adoptions for the celeb couple, and a judge granted Madonna an interim order allowing her to leave the country with the boy. The singer has yet to make any public statement about the adoption. (Associated Press)
Gibson/Sawyer, Part 2: "Good Morning America" ran the second half of Diane Sawyer's interview with Mel Gibson on Friday morning, a conversation focused on his "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world" quote during his drunken-driving arrest in Malibu, Calif., in July. Gibson said that while Jews bear some responsibility for the war with Lebanon -- "I think that they're not blameless in the conflict" -- he repudiates what he said under the influence of tequila: "Let me be real clear here, in sobriety, sitting here, in front of you, national television," he told Sawyer, "that I don't believe that Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Asked where his anti-Semitic vehemence could possibly have come from, he said, "As you know, a couple of years ago I released the film 'Passion.' Even before anyone saw a frame of the film, for an entire year, I was subjected to a pretty brutal sort of public beating ... The film came out. It was released, and you could have heard a pin drop, you know. Even the crickets weren't chirping," he said. "But the other thing I never heard was one single word of apology." (People)
Mel's arresting officer under investigation: The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department recently raided the house of Deputy James Mee, the officer who arrested Gibson for his DUI, looking for evidence that he was responsible for leaking the four pages of the original arrest report to TMZ -- the four pages containing Gibson's anti-Semitic slur and the phrase "sugar tits." The department has said it's a crime for officers to leak confidential arrest reports, and TMZ reports officers searched Mee's computer, phone records and other documents in an effort to find the source of the leak. (TMZ)
John Mark Karr's drunken interview gets new life: Last weekend, ABC announced it was scrapping plans to air talk show host Dr. Keith Ablow's interview with suspected pedophile John Mark Karr -- reportedly because of Karr's erratic behavior and the bad press stemming from an incident last week in which Karr and two ABC producers were stopped by police after showing up at Karr's former workplace in San Francisco, the Convent of the Sacred Heart, for part of the interview segment. Now Page Six says that NBC purchased the footage from ABC and plans to run the interview sometime next week -- on Thursday, Drudge wrote that the interview was scheduled to run today but was pulled as "legal details are being worked out." Also worth noting: Karr was reportedly served six drinks before sitting down to talk to Ablow. (Jossip, CBS, Page Six, Drudge via TV Newser)
Also:
At the taping of an upcoming "Oprah" show, Jennifer Aniston said that she and Vince Vaughn have not split up, and that she did not actually get breast implants. (People) ... After months recovering from surgery, Roger Ebert has returned to the critic's seat with a review of Helen Mirren's "The Queen." (Risky Biz) ... Usher has been forced to drop out of his role in a Broadway production of "Chicago" because of a throat infection. (BBC News) ... Hilary Duff has filed for a restraining order against two obsessed fans, one of whom relocated to Los Angeles from Russia "for the sole purpose of meeting and becoming romantically involved" with her. (E Online)
Money Quote:
"Ugly Betty" star America Ferrera on what passes for curves in Hollywood: "I think it's hilarious when magazines call Jessica Alba or Eva Longoria curvy. Come on. They're not curvy, they're small -- I'm curvy!" (Perez Hilton)
Turn On:
Friday night brings two debuts: Bob Saget hosts a new game show from the people behind "Deal or No Deal" called "1 vs. 100" (NBC, 9 p.m. EDT), and British comedian Steve Coogan's new series, "Saxondale" (BBC America, 11 p.m. EDT), details the life of an ex-roadie. Also on Friday, "Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film" (Starz, 9 p.m. EDT) documents the gory genre by interviewing everyone from John Carpenter and Wes Craven to actress Betsy Palmer, who played Mrs. Voorhees in the "Jason" series. On Sunday, the "Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Benefit for Autism Charities" (Comedy Central, 8 p.m. EDT) features Jon Stewart as host and appearances by Jack Black, Steve Carell, Sacha Baron Cohen, Stephen Colbert, Will Ferrell, Ricky Gervais, Adam Sandler and others.
On the Talk Shows:
Charlie Rose (PBS, check local listings): John Grisham
David Letterman (CBS, 11:30 p.m. EDT): Diddy, Neil Patrick Harris
Jay Leno (NBC, 11:35 p.m. EDT): Terry Bradshaw, Joy Behar, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
Conan O'Brien (NBC, 12:35 a.m. EDT): Jason Schwartzman
Craig Ferguson (CBS, 12:35 a.m. EDT): Michael Caine, Mario Vasquez
Jimmy Kimmel (ABC, 12:05 a.m. EDT): Justin Timberlake, Kate Walsh
-- Scott Lamb
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