David Letterman reportedly had to scrap a proposed Late Show Top 10 list that poked fun at the lawsuit filed against CBS by contestant Stacey Stillman in which she claimed the game was rigged. According to the New York Post, Tuesday's Late Show was to feature the "Top Ten Reasons to Sue CBS." However, the bit was later replaced with the "Top Ten Things Dumb Guys Think J.Lo Means." A show rep insisted that the switch was not ordered by CBS. "We had no contact with the network about the Top 10," said the spokesperson. "We substituted the J.Lo Top 10 because we thought it was funnier." However, one member of the audience disagreed, saying, "The original one was much funnier."
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Survivor creator Mark Burnett may soon have an Emmy to go with his vast fortune. According to Variety, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences voted to create two new primetime categories that will honor reality TV. Outstanding Nonfiction Programming (reality) would include such entertainment-based shows as Fox's Temptation Island, the WB's Popstars and ABC's Making the Band, while Outstanding Nonfiction Programming (special class) would recognize shows that culminate with a cash-prize winner, like Survivor and Big Brother. (Don't hold your breath, housemates.) The move takes effect this year.
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London police are investigating whether foul-mouthed rapper Eminem incited teenage fans to take drugs during his sold-out concert in Manchester Thursday night, Reuters reports. During his performance, the 28-year-old Grammy nominee appeared on stage with a chainsaw and simulated his own death in an electric chair. "We had people inside watching the act," Chief Inspector Steve White said. "We have seized the videotape the arena used to record the act."
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In March, ABC will blow in like a lion (it hopes) with three new sitcoms headlined by big-name stars. My Wife and Kids with Damon Wayons hits Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET starting March 14. It'll be followed by the now thrice-weekly Whose Line Is It Anyway? That same night, Spin City surrenders its 9:30 pm/ET time period to Denis Leary's cop comedy The Job for six weeks. After The Mole is exposed in its final episode on March 6, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire takes its place. And on March 27 at 9:30 pm/ET, Joan Cusack's What About Joan? replaces The Geena Davis Show until May. Got that? — Michael Ausiello with Daniel R. Coleridge
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When Saturday Night Live sacked Joan Cusack in 1986, after just one season on the series, she entered a dark period. "It was horrible," the actress recently told reporters while out promoting her new ABC Tuesday night sitcom What About Joan? (premiering March 27 at 9:30/ET). "But actually, then I did Broadcast News and there was one scene in it where I got fired. [Director James L. Brooks] said to me, 'Have you ever been fired?' I hadn't thought of it like that — that I had been fired — and it was horrible. But it was great [for the movie]."
Cusack claims she doesn't recall the reason SNL gave for her dismissal. "I'm sure they said, 'It's not about you... You did a great job. It's just not in the stars,'" she muses. "I don't remember what they said, but I think the show is great now. There's great women on it and it's funny.
"It was a really weird year, the year we were doing [SNL]," she continues pensively.
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There are a few grisly scenes in Hannibal that weekend moviegoers may wish they didn't have to see (read: brain kabobs). Well, here's one they won't.
"There was a big scene involving the Internet where Clarice (Julianne Moore) is tracking Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) by finding out who buys the memorabilia of serial killers," screenwriter Steven Zaillian tells TV Guide Online of the plot point ultimately sliced by director Ridley Scott. "The scene led her to... a guy who owned one of those comic book stores and who was one of the dealers of this material."
To research the storyline, Zaillian signed on to the Internet to see what he could dig up. "You can just type in the specific name of the killer and see what you find," he explains. "For instance, you can buy the contents of Jeffrey Dahmer's refrigerator... It was chilling."
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UPN has ordered a pilot that stars cross-dressing diva RuPaul as a transsexual nanny, Variety reports. The project — tentatively titled The Tranny — is being produced by the guy behind the network's short-lived stinker The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer. Meanwhile, Fox has given the go-ahead for a comedy starring ex-Late Night with Conan O'Brien sidekick Andy Richter. In Anything Can Happen, Richter will play a single guy with a vivid fantasy life.
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Fitness guru Jane Fonda is giving up exercise to write a book about the controversy surrounding her days as a Vietnam War peace activist (that led her to be dubbed "Hanoi Jane"). The former Mrs. Ted Turner tells Barbara Walters on tonight's 20/20 that "I feel like, when I exercise, that it keeps things in... It's a very weird thing that's going on in my head." Fonda goes on to say that she and Turner remain friends, and she still has no intention of resuming her film career.
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Looks like Temptation Island refugee Taheed Watson is breakin' the law again. First, he and girlfriend Ytosse Patterson made headlines when they were forced to exit their sexy Eden — after Temptation producers learned the feisty couple had concealed the existence of their child, in violation of the show's rules. Now, Watson's playing the badass again with an acting gig as a crack house dweller on the syndie series, Arrest & Trial. His episode, titled "Ruthless Ricky," airs Feb. 19. Meanwhile, the fifth episode of Temptation on Wednesday night attracted 17 million viewers, just behind timeslot competitor The West Wing (18.2 million viewers). However, among adults age 18-49, Fox's guilty pleasure trounced NBC's White House drama.
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Maralyn "Mad Dog" Hershey, the 52-year-old retired police officer from Wakefield, Va., was the third contestant voted out of Survivor: The Australian Outback. One of those stabbing Hershey in the back was her "conjoined twin," Tina Wesson — a vote the ex-cop admitted stung. "I had no idea [that she voted me off] until I watched it last night for the first time," Hershey said on CBS's The Early Show. "I had to give my own self first aid... but I'm recovering." And should Hugh Hefner come calling, "Mad Dog" said she'd drop trou for a measly $1,200. For a recap of episode three, click here. Meanwhile, in their second head-to-head face-off last night, Survivor once again beat NBC's Friends. According to preliminary ratings estimates, Survivor scored an 18 rating and 26 share, compared to a 15.7/23 for Friends.
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