With curiosity as a major factor, viewers turned to E! Entertainment in droves Sunday night to catch a glimpse of Kathie Lee Gifford in Spinning Out of Control. According to Nielsen Media Research, the two-hour original pic averaged a 1.4 household rating (which, in E!'s universe, equals 953,000 homes). Comparatively, Spinning Out of Control was up a whopping 180 percent compared to the previous week's line-up of E! True Hollywood Story and Wild On.
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Country superstar Shania Twain and her producer-husband, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, are expecting their first child... During May sweeps on NBC, Denise Richards will appear on Friends as Ross and Monica's shapely cousin, while Bebe Neuwirth returns to Frasier as Lilith, who offers her ex-hubby (Kelsey Grammer) her own wry brand of advice about Lana (Jean Smart)... Courtroom competition like Judge Judy has overruled the low-rated syndie Curtis Court, which will bang its gavel for the final time on Sept. 6, Variety reports. — Daniel R. Coleridge with Michael Ausiello
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Five people were injured (with one seriously hurt) on Thursday when scaffolding collapsed in the red carpet area at L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium, where the Academy Awards are to be held Sunday. The area was in the midst of being prepped to accommodate press coverage of celebrity arrivals at the big event, which is not expected to suffer any delays due to the accident.
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Look for Sam Neill (The Dish) to flood May sweeps with testosterone when he plays a strapping submarine commander in the NBC TV movie Submerged. Based on Peter Maas's best-selling book The Terrible Hours, the telepic recounts the true story of the U.S. Navy's rescue of a sunken sub's crew from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
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Eminem detractors everywhere, ready your voodoo pins. Come July, three dolls made in the controversial rapper's image will be on sale in stores, The Associated Press reports. One features Eminem looking laid-back in a puffy white jacket, while another hockey-masked, chainsaw-wielding doll captures his rougher "Slim Shady" persona. The third poppet's design remains undetermined — no doubt it will be similarly Chucky-esque.
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ABC confirmed Wednesday that Good Will Hunting scribes Matt Damon and Ben Affleck will serve as executive producers of its newest reality series, The Runner. The show follows the 28-day cross-country trip of a single contestant who must avoid being tracked down by viewers at home. The contestant wins bounty money only if a viewer doesn't snag it first by pinpointing his or her location. Meanwhile, similar cat-and-mouse games planned by rival networks include CBS's The Amazing Race and Fox's End Game.
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Three Hollywood heavyweights are pumping their creative juices into the Sci Fi Channel's programming lineup, Variety reports. Horror maven Stephen King has written Firestarter: The Next Chapter, a four-hour sequel to 1984's Firestarter, which starred Drew Barrymore and George C. Scott. Hellraiser scribe Clive Barker will produce Saint Sinner, about a time-traveling monk hunting shapely demonesses on the loose. And Steven Spielberg will begin production on his long-anticipated 20-hour alien-abduction miniseries, Taken. Other Sci Fi plans include another Babylon 5 movie, titled The Legend of the Rangers.
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Jennifer Love Hewitt is moving in on Julia Roberts's turf. For a scene in her new film Heartbreakers (opening Friday), the actress paraded around in a sexy pink number that was so bust-enhancing, members of the cast and crew dubbed her Erin Brockovich.
"[That] pink dress [with] the pink bra on the outside of it... everyone called me Erin the whole time," laughs the former star of Fox's Party of Five and its short-lived spinoff Time of Your Life, who plays a con artist in the pic. "I dedicated my boobs to her in that scene, which I am sure is the weirdest thing she has ever had dedicated to her."
Taking a break from teen movies such as I Know What You Did Last Summer and Can't Hardly Wait, Hewitt continues her push towards more adult fare in the upcoming Alec Baldwin-directed remake of the 1941 classic film The Devil and Daniel Webster, in which she stars as Satan. "The devil in this is very interes
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'N Sync's Justin Timberlake is in talks to play the Scarecrow in The O.Z., Fox's hip-hop TV remake of The Wizard of Oz, Variety reports. Meanwhile, actress-singer Brandy (Moesha) — who was slated to star as Dorothy — has dropped out and may be replaced by R&B songstress Mya. Also negotiating possible roles in the update are John Leguizamo, who would play an evil warlock, and Little Richard, in talks to appear as the Wizard.
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Oscar-winning thesp Meryl Streep has signed on to play a small role in director Steven Spielberg's sci-fi pic Minority Report, Variety reports. The film — which starts production today — also stars Tom Cruise and Colin Farrell.
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