Michael Jackson will celebrate his 30th anniversary as a solo artist with an all-star concert at Madison Square Garden on Sept. 7, The Associated Press reports. Among the celebrities slated to appear are Jill Scott, Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, 'N Sync, Marc Anthony and Shaggy. The concert event will also mark a reunion between Jackson and his brothers. "I am very excited to celebrate my 30th anniversary as a solo artist with such a distinguished array of talent, friends and fans," the King of Pop said in a statement. "I look forward to performing live and reuniting with my brothers on this special night."
read more
Question: Please help. I think that Patrick Cassidy was the male lead in the short-lived television series Dirty Dancing. It starred Melora Hardin and, I think, Cassidy. I can't find proof of it on the Internet. I ask because Patrick Cassidy is the name of one of the leads in the Broadway tour of Aida, and I have a bet with co-workers about the TV show. Thanks. — Heather
Televisionary: You think right, Heather.
The dashing Mr. Cassidy, who currently portrays Radames in Disney's national tour of Aida, filled the role of Johnny Castle in the TV version of the movie. (For those of you who perhaps spent a few years in an isolation tank in the late '80s, Patrick Swayze played the part on the big screen.) You may also have caught him in the short-lived Steven Bochco series Bay City Blues.
On the show, Cassidy starred opposite Ms. Hardin, as you say, who play
read more
What did the Easter bunny bring Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar? Some chocolate candies, one of those yummy cream-filled eggs and... a diamond ring! The actress and her matinee idol beau, Freddie Prinze Jr., announced their engagement over the recent Easter weekend at a joint birthday party for Gellar and her ICM agent, Eddie Yablans, Access Hollywood reports. The gem is reportedly from jeweler Cathy Waterman, who has designed pieces for stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Meryl Streep and Meg Ryan. Gellar and Prinze — who co-star in the upcoming live action Scooby-Doo film — have been dating for a year and a half.
read more
Question: Hi, TV people. We have watched Nash Bridges since it started, but we must have missed something. What happened to Evan? They talk like he died. If he did, what happened to him and when did it air? Thanks. — AP
Televisionary: "People?" C'mon, now, AP — my wife'll tell you I often contradict myself and even have trouble making my mind up, but you're the first to accuse me of exhibiting multiple personalities. Then again, you refer to yourself in the plural, so perhaps you're some sort of Borg-like communal entity that thinks as one and you assume everyone else is, too?
Be that as it may, you must have missed last year's season ender. Evan Cortez (Jaimé P. Gomez) was killed in Las Vegas by an assassin while working undercover. Many fans were shocked and upset by the death, but as the police genre goes, they should've seen this one coming. The guy was all set to elope wit
read more
Question: Who sings the theme song from CSI? Is it The Who?
Televisionary: Y'know, if I was in one of my more puckish moods (or, as my brother might more accurately define it, being an ass), I might entertain you all with a wonderfully bent variation on the old Abbott and Costello "Who's on first?" routine. But the new, super-serious Televisionary eschews such tomfoolery. [Editor's note: Don't fall for it. He's just suckering you into believing that until he feels like being an ass again — I say he makes it for one or two more questions.]
The CSI theme song is a truncated version of The Who's "Who Are You," which was also featured in a Gateway Computers campaign. It's the title cut from their 1978 release of the same name. If you like the tune, I recommend checking out the entire album (I can call it that since it came out before the advent of the CD). It was the last one featurin
read more
Question: I know that all your questions start this way, but please help settle an argument for me. A woman at work says that the Simpsons people stole "cowabunga" from the creator of The Ninja Turtles. But it was really Charles Schulz and Snoopy who took it from the surfer world, wasn't it? Thanks. — Don M., Worton, Md.
Televisionary: Well, as these things usually go, you guys are — how do I say this artfully? — well, you're both wrong, Don. However, you're a bit closer to the truth, chronologically speaking, than your colleague is.
The term "cowabunga" was originally spelled "kowabonga," and it was created by writer Eddie Kean, head writer for The Howdy Doody Show, in 1949. Now, for the following detective work I
read more
Madonna's much-anticipated summer concert extravaganza finally has a name. The Drowned World Tour — which kicks off June 5 in Germany and concludes Sept. 9 at Los Angeles' Staples Center — is being billed by promoter SFX as the most "extravagant stage spectacle" of her career. For the complete tour itinerary, visit sfx.com.
read more
Aaron Sorkin, the Emmy-winning creator and executive producer of NBC's The West Wing, was arrested Sunday at Burbank Airport after security guards found a quantity of hallucinogenic mushrooms in his carry-on bag, Electronic Media reports. Sorkin was apparently attempting to catch a Southwest Airlines flight from Burbank to Las Vegas when he was nabbed. Airport spokesman Victor Gill said the acclaimed writer-producer was charged with possession of a controlled substance and released on his own recognizance after posting $10,000 bail. Sorkin — who is scheduled to be arraigned April 30 — released the following statement: "I am glad to be surrounded by such a supportive group of people and am prepared to proceed as directed by my attorney and in the best interest of my family."
read more
The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has denied CBS's plea that it be able to submit both Survivor and Survivor: The Australian Outback as separate programs for Emmy awards consideration, Variety reports. The network had asked that the two seasons of the reality phenom be considered as individual programs in the newly created non-fiction (special class) Emmy category. However, ATAS VP John Leverence argued that the two Survivors are actually two seasons of the same show. Speaking of Survivor, one-time castaway Gervase Peterson was reportedly assaulted Thursday by a limo driver who was taking him to a taping of the CBS soap As the World Turns. Peterson, who was unharmed, opted not to press charges.
read more
Rachael Leigh Cook got a kick out of being a member of an all-girl rock band in Josie and the Pussycats. However, the 21-year-old actress had mixed feelings about becoming a modern-day Barbie.
"They made dolls of us that are so real they're scary," she says of the very anatomically correct figures modeled after Cook and fellow Pussycats Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson. "They actually scanned us with a computer to get the shapes right. You sit with this thing spinning around you that's like a cross between a make-up mirror and a microwave. I just kept thinking, 'Try not to look weird.'"
Well, that experience was not nearly as grueling as the one that transformed her from being a brunette to a redhead — another Josie requirement. "To get my natural brown to flaming red took a lot of hair dye," sighs Cook, whose big break came opposite Freddie Prinze Jr. in the 1999 romantic comedy She's All That. "After a while I real
read more