Veteran sitcom producer Al Simon died last week of complications from Alzheimer's disease at age 88, according to AP. Simon's production credits include The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres and Mr. Ed; he also worked on Truth or Consequences.
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Big-hearted Rosie O'Donnell is taking herself out of the running for future Emmy consideration. "Thank you very much, but I've had my share," she tells the New York Daily News. "I felt a little gluttonous." O'Donnell just won her fourth Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host in four attempts, and feels that it's someone else's turn to take home the gold.
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TV funnyman Dana Carvey says he pleaded, "Please, God, let me live!" after doctors botched his double-bypass operation and left him at death's door. Carvey, 45, bared his agony as he spoke for the first time about the horrific hospital error that nearly cost him his life. "They bypassed the wrong artery. I can't believe they bypassed the wrong artery!" the blond-haired jokeman tells next week's People magazine. "It's like removing the wrong kidney — it's that big of a mistake." —New York Post
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X-FILES MYSTERY SOLVED: Fox has decided to renew The X-Files for an eighth season, with or without series star David Duchovny. The network has inked renewal deals with series creator/executive producer Chris Carter and star Gillian Anderson but negotiations continue with Duchovny. In preparation for Duchovny's possible exit from the series, Fox has prepared a season finale in which his agent Mulder character is abducted by aliens.
MILLIONAIRE VARIATIONS AHEAD: ABC plans to expand on its popular Who Wants to Be a Millionaire game-show format this fall with special college week and teen week editions, Variety reports. The network is also considering a worldwide broadcast of an international tournament of champions starring both Regis Philbin and British Millionaire host Chris Tarrant.
PRINCE IS BACK!: Prince, who years ago cha
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Britney Spears certainly has her critics, but she's been voted the world's sexiest woman by female readers of the UK version of FHM magazine. "Britney is no superwaif and she has respect for her body," the magazine's editor tells the BBC. "That counts for a lot when a woman is casting her vote." Spears finished in 16th place last year, so she's obviously doing something right as far as UK women are concerned.
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Move over, Xena! Rhino Home Video today releases the first volume of Electrawoman and Dynagirl, the supercampy '70s Krofft TV series that featured Deidre Hall (Days of Our Lives) and Judy Strangis as costumed crimefighters. Rhino is also releasing two episodes of The Lost Saucer, the zany Krofft sci-fi series starring Jim Nabors and Ruth Buzzi. Ah, memories!
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A Florida judge has ordered bad-boy singer Bobby Brown to stay in jail until a June 19 hearing that will decide whether he violated his probation from a 1996 drunken-driving charge; Brown, you'll recall, was arrested May 10 in New Jersey and extradited to Florida (there was a warrant out for his arrest because he tested positive for cocaine use in June 1999). According to AP, Brown told his attorney, "It's not fair, man, it's not fair" after Monday's hearing.
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Woody Allen's latest and most controversial movie is going straight to cable TV — and it's certainly not the tepid Small Time Crooks.
A thoroughly outrageous religious spoof called Picking Up the Pieces is turning up on Cinemax beginning Friday night, apparently because the producers are having trouble lining up a theatrical run. Nobody is confirming exactly why, but it isn't hard to guess why distributors might have shied away from this combination of magic realism, black comedy — and barbs at organized religion that make last year's hot potato, Dogma, seem reverent by comparison. —New York Post
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Add current Saturday Night Live star Will Ferrell to the cast of Dieter, the upcoming Mike Myers film based on the old SNL "Sprockets" sketch. Variety reports that the actor will play Bob Sheeder, Dieter's American cousin, in the film.
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Comedian Paula Poundstone and former Designing Women star Meshach Taylor are set to tell the truth! According to Variety, the two will appear as regular celebrity panelists on the upcoming syndicated revival of To Tell the Truth, hosted by John O'Hurley (Seinfeld). A third regular celebrity panelist will be announced shortly, while a fourth star will join the the trio on each episode.
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