Flamboyant rock legend Little Richard — who gave us classic tunes like "Tutti Frutti" and "Good Golly Miss Molly" — is retiring from showbiz. "I just thank the Lord that he's given me an opportunity to receive [an NAACP] Image Award — and especially that I'm going to be retiring after this year," the 69-year-old tells tonight's Extra. "What better way than to get an award... from your people before you retire. It's a blessing and a lesson."
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Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice, is expecting her second child with her soccer-playing husband, David, reports The Associated Press. The couple have a two-year-old son and the new baby is due in September... Outspoken Texas Ranger pitcher John Rocker will be making his motion picture debut as a homicidal maniac. The Greenskeeper was filmed in October but doesn't have an official release date yet... According to Variety, the Game Show Network will be premiering a new version of the classic game show Press Your Luck, which was known for its catchphrase "Big bucks, no whammys." Starting April 15, the cable network will air Whammy! The All New Press Your Luck, to be hosted by E! personality Todd Newton. — Angel Cohn with Daniel R. Coleridge
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Thanksgiving dinner should be a tad more pleasant at the Rimes household now: LeAnn Rimes's heated and very public legal tussle with her dad reportedly has been settled. Wilbur Rimes, father of the 19-year-old singer, told The Tennessean that, "all of the legal troubles between my daughter and I are over." He did not provide specifics. Rimes sued her pa in 2000 alleging that he and a former co-manager cheated her out of more than $7 million. Wilbur filed a countersuit against Rimes's company.
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Reruns of CBS's Amazing Race 2 will run on sister network UPN on Fridays at 9 pm/ET — two days after its regularly scheduled Wednesday airing on CBS. Race 2 debuts March 11. UPN, meanwhile, has picked up a new version of The Twilight Zone for the fall.
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Actor John Thaw, known around the globe for his role as the grumpy detective in the acclaimed British series Inspector Morse, died Thursday of throat cancer. He was 60. Inspector Morse ran for 13 years in the United States on PBS's Mystery! series.
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The parents of Daniel Karven-Veres — the four-year-old boy who drowned during a birthday party at Tommy Lee's Malibu home last June — are now suing the rock star. Their suit alleges that the children in Lee's pool lacked adult supervision that day, and had no one available to perform CPR in case of an emergency. They seek to recover Daniel's medical and funeral expenses, plus punitive damages for their pain and suffering.
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Now that Keri Russell and the gang from Felicity are packing it in at the end of the season, critics are hoping those angst-ridden teens on Dawson's Creek will take the hint and call it a day as well. But if the show's stars have it their way — Katie Holmes in particular — Dawson's upcoming 100th episode (airing April 17, 8 pm/ET) will mark the first of many milestones to come.
"As long as we continue telling good stories and keep the level we want to achieve high, I want to do as many [episodes] as possible," Holmes confides to TV Guide Online. (Although the WB has yet to officially rule on Dawson's fate, insiders say the show is a shoo-in for renewal.)
Reflecting on the previous 100 episodes, Holmes adm
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CBS's decision to lighten up Max Bickford is paying off: After a bumpy start, Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss's CBS drama The Education of Max Bickford (Sundays, 8 pm/ET) is enjoying a late ratings surge. Still, Dreyfuss thinks Max's image makeover remains incomplete, and suggests his history professor could use a crash course in Hanky Panky 101.
"I personally am hoping that [he goes] through a stage [where he has] a lot of shallow sex," the Oscar winner jokes to TV Guide Online. "Then maybe he'll settle down with a character... But I wouldn't want to skip the shallow sex part."
Could the erstwhile Mr. Holland be referring to ex-lover Andrea, played by fellow Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden? Perhaps, but he insists their renewed flirtation will remain just that
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Film critic Roger Ebert will undergo surgery today to remove a cancerous growth from his thyroid gland. The 59-year-old movie reviewer underwent a similar operation in 1987. "I am told this type of tumor is slow-growing and not aggressive," he said in a statement.
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