Actress Beverly D'Angelo and companion Al Pacino welcomed the birth of twins, a boy and a girl, on Friday... Veteran character actor Sandy Baron — best known for his role on Seinfeld as the grumpy retiree at odds with Jerry's dad — died Jan. 21 of emphysema. He was 64. — Michael Ausiello
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Anheuser-Busch's commercial featuring comic Cedric Kyles squirting beer all over his dream date was voted the best Super Bowl spot in USA Today's ad meter (which polls 119 adults). It was the third year in a row that the beer maker had the most-liked commercial. E-Trade's ad featuring a superhuman security guard was second, followed by Visa's multiplying rabbits. Among the losers were Blockbuster's DirecTV pitch, any spot by Verizon and Subway's ad with miracle dieter Jared.
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Coming off of its big Emmy and Golden Globe wins, The West Wing is now setting its sights on the TV Guide Awards. Finalists for the third annual TV Guide Awards were announced today in Los Angeles by Frasier's Jane Leeves and JAG's David James Elliott, and NBC's White House drama led the pack with six finalist nods, including Drama Series of the Year, Actor of the Year in a Drama Series (Martin Sheen), Actress of the Year in a Drama Series (Allison Janney), Supporting Actor of the Year in a Drama Series (Rob Lowe and John Spencer) and Supporting Actress of the Year in a Drama Series (Stockard Channing). Frasier and Everybody Loves Raymond tied for second with five finalist nods, followed by read more
R&B singer/Moesha actress Brandy is a signature away from starring as Dorothy in Fox's hip-hop TV remake of The Wizard of Oz, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The project — tentatively titled The O.Z. — will also star Queen Latifah (Glenda the Good Witch), Busta Rhymes (the Cowardly Lion), Little Richard (the Wizard), Ginuwine (the Scarecrow) and R&B group IMX (the flying monkeys). In the update, Dorothy is a hip-hop musical producer based in Los Angeles who, following an earthquake, finds herself (and Toto, natch) in a place called Big O.Z.
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The Believer, an indie film about a Jewish neo-Nazi skinhead, won the grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The top documentary award went to Southern Comfort, about a romance between transsexuals. The musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, based on the hit off-Broadway play about a rocker struggling with her botched sex-change operation, took home the major audience award, and its star, John Cameron Mitchell, was named best director for a dramatic film. The documentary audience award was a tie between Dogtown and Z-Boys, about extreme sports pioneers, and Scout's Honor, a study of the Boy Scouts' anti-gay policies.
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Pop diva Celine Dion gave birth to a baby boy Thursday morning in Palm Beach, Florida. Rene-Charles arrived three weeks ahead of schedule and weighed in at 6 lbs, 8 oz. It's the first child for Dion and her manager-hubby Rene Angelil, who conceived the baby through in vitro fertilization. According to a statement released by the singer's rep, both mother and child are "doing marvelously well and are in perfect health." Dion is in the midst of a three-year career sabbatical. — Michael Ausiello
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Madonna has hired hubby Guy Ritchie to direct the video for her next single, "What It Feels Like for a Girl." According to MTV News, shooting will begin in Los Angeles sometime in mid-February. Reports had surfaced that Madonna was slated to appear in Ritchie's next film, The Mole; however, the filmmaker recently denied this.
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The Practice's Camryn Manheim — who is three months away from delivering her first child, a boy — has no immediate plans to reveal who the father is. As it is, the Emmy winner is perplexed that anyone really cares.
"People are very fascinated about who the dad is," Manheim tells TV Guide Online. "But it's really not up to me to make the decision to talk about that. I've got nothing to be ashamed of. But until I get the blessing of my son that I can talk about him and about what's going on, I'm keeping it confidential. It's not about just me anymore."
Manheim — whose pregnancy was incorporated into her Practice character's storyline — also can't share her son's moniker because, well, she hasn't settled on one yet. "I have some names floating around," she says. "I hated my name, Debi, so much that at 22 I changed it. I am the artist-formerly-known-as-Debi. So it's important to me that I p
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CBS should have extended its current gag order to include Survivor's 16 original castaways. Kelly Wiglesworth — the 23-year-old ex-Palau Tigan who lost the $1 million booty to naked Richard Hatch and who received a now-legendary tongue-lashing from redneck Susan Hawk — believes she has the inside track on who won't be going the distance on Survivor: The Australian Outback (premiering Sunday following the Super Bowl).
As Wiglesworth confides, she recently met Outback contestant Jerri Manthey, and on close inspection determined that, well, she's a big ol' loser. "I don't think she won," Wiglesworth tells TV Guide Online. "She did not say a word to me... She could be the [winner] for all I know. But personally, I just got the vibe that she didn't win."
Wiglesworth and her former Survivor buds Dirk Been, Joel Klug and Gervase Peterson invited Manthey — a 30-year-old actress
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For richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, dead people-reader John Edward insists that he can see ghosts. In fact, the host of the Sci Fi Channel's breakout hit, Crossing Over with John Edward, reveals that a little chest congestion may actually help clear the pathway between him and the great beyond.
"The night of [one] lecture I had a 103 [degree] fever and begged the sponsor to cancel it," recalls the 31-year-old Edward, who has been helping people contact their deceased loved ones for 16 years through his personal practice, public appearances and, now, his TV show. "I said, 'I don't know if I'm going to be able to get out there and do this.'" Well, as it turns out, the medium was getting freaked out over nothing. "It was one of the best events I ever had."
The reason being, explains Edward, is that the success or failure of his readings are — to a certain degree — out of his hands. "I can only be as good as [the audience members] a
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