BITS AND PIECES 10/10
agcbli...@yahoo.com
--THE controversial life- and-death case of Terri Schiavo has finally
been dramatized - on this week's edition of "Law & Order." In the
episode, a man whose wife is in a vegetative state is killed by a car
bomb the day her feeding tube is slated to be removed. Some people
protesting the impending death are also injured. In real life, Schiavo,
41, had been in what doctors call a "persistent vegetative state."
Until her death, Schiavo's parents and husband fought over whether to
take away her feeding tube, which was eventually removed. She died a
few weeks later.
--IN a Hollywood shocker, the creator of this season's biggest new
show, "Commander in Chief," was yanked from his duties over the
weekend. The show - with actress Geena Davis playing the first female
president of the United States - has been the hit of the new TV
season, drawing nearly 17 million viewers in its first two weeks on the
air. The firing of Rod Lurie - a 43-year-old former movie critic who
turned to making movies and TV shows himself in the late '90s -
rocked the Hollywood TV establishment late Friday. ABC, the network
that airs "Commander," quickly named Steven Bochco, the veteran
producer of such TV classics as "NYPD Blue," "LA Law" and "Hill Street
Blues," to replace him. Lurie seemed to be riding the biggest hit of
his short career when - without explanation - he was canned. One
trade report cited as the reason "logistical setbacks" that slowed down
production of the series. As a critic for local LA TV, Lurie was famous
for his blunt, no-prisoners reviewing style - so much so that some
studios barred him from their screenings. His movies include "The
Contender," a thriller starring Joan Allen about the first female vice
presidential nominee.
NY POST/MICHAEL STARR....
--Forget Oprah Winfrey - ABC's "Lost" could be the new minter of
best-selling books. On last week's episode, Flann O'Brien's book, "The
Third Policeman," was flashed on-screen for an instant. Well, that
instant, seen by 21 million viewers, translated into immediate sales on
amazon.com - with the book climbing 420 percent on amazon from the
time "Lost" ended Wednesday to Thursday morning.
--Jayne Meadows has sent me a copy of Ben Alba's just-published
"Inventing Late Night: Steve Allen And The Original Tonight Show"
(Prometheus Books), which includes a foreword by Jay Leno and
interviews with many people associated with Allen's "Tonight" show,
which premiered on NBC in 1954.
--These are busy and exciting times for Mark Feuerstein. Not only did
Feuerstein open opposite Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette this past week
end in the big-screen movie "In Her Shoes," but he'll also be seen in
"Law & Order" Oct. 26. Feuerstein's proud dad, Harvey S. Feuerstein,
rented out the Kips Bay theater tonight and invited his co-workers to
watch Mark in "In Her Shoes."
--The "Dora the Explorer Dance Fiesta!" CD, released to morrow,
includes duets with Los Lonely Boys and Carlos Santana.
--Court TV's Emily Barsh suggests the word talkerazzi to define
bookers, producers, etc. trying for that day's "get" to come on their
shows.
NY POST/PAGE SIX...
--KATIE Couric has one busy love life. On Friday, when PAGE SIX
reported that landscape painter Stephen Hannock had given an interview
to Fortune magazine confirming he was dating the "Today" show star,
lawyer Herb Nass called to inform us that Katie was also seeing his
good friend, Dr. Seth Neubardt. Neubardt, 46, a White Plains orthopedic
surgeon, has been "hot and heavy for three months" with Couric, Nass
says. Neubardt met her through a mutual friend, the late Project ALS
founder Jennifer Estes. "They are very fond of each other," Nass says
of Couric and Neubardt. "He's not someone who seeks publicity. He's
just a very salt-of-the-earth guy." Couric's spokeswoman declined to
comment.
--HEATHER Locklear still knows how to party. Locklear and six
girlfriends, including Charlie Sheen's wife, Denise Richards,
celebrated the blond bombshell's 44th birthday in a private room at Koi
recently. The party "got really rowdy - everyone was having a good
time, and Heather calls [her ex-hubby] Tommy Lee and tells him to get
over there." Lee hotfooted it, but not soon enough. Just as he arrived,
Locklear, who's married to Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, and her
pals left to continue partying at her house. An hour later, Richards
exited the soiree, telling a pal: "I have enough of the craziness! That
was wild!"
--NOTE to the Indian government: Lovely Elizabeth Hurley wants to talk
to you! Hurley, who's championing the Breast Cancer Research Foundation
with Evelyn Lauder, rode on a new Song 747 jet from Boston to New York
on Friday morning. She tells PAGE SIX and "The Insider," "I am trying
to get a hold of someone in India who could help me. I want to do a
huge benefit next year in Agra at the Taj Mahal where we turn the Taj
pink for Breast Cancer Awareness [via lights, not dye]." Meanwhile,
Hurley, who is reported to be engaged to Indian Arun Nayar and just
came out with a beachwear catalogue, is trying a new profession:
farming. "I have a farm in Gloucester [England] where I am growing only
organic food and raising animals. I just got some new chickens in, and
we are only a year away from being certified organic. I want to then
produce organic food and sell it in stores."
--BRAD Pitt is fighting back against the paparazzi. The star was livid
when pictures of him, Angelina Jolie and Jolie's son, Maddox, were
snapped on her tucked-away British estate. Now Pitt has bought a
secluded, modest getaway cabin in the Canadian wilderness and
instructed his bodyguards to take pictures of any lensmen who follow
him and Jolie, should he need evidence one day in court after he
presses harassment charges. Shots of the photographers who follow Pitt
and Jolie around are posted on sunsetprotective.com.
--Selma Blair will host the launch of Montblanc's women's jewelry
collection Tuesday at Cain and that John Legend will perform.
NY POST/CINDY ADAMS...
--IT'S Jewish holiday time. Holy Week. Rosh Hashanah. Yom Kippur. So
where'd Scientologist John Travolta go? To contemplate? And meditate?
And hibernate? The Greenbrier hotel, which is up the Alleghenys in West
Virginia. Alone. By himself. Two days. In a suite. Just holed up. With
room service.
--In his off hours, Matthew McConaughey's been driving a trailer across
country. He tours. Chats. Accompanied only by his dog.
NY POST/LIZ SMITH...
--'I DON'T do it, but I don't want to judge because I don't know how
I'll feel when I'm 40 or 50, and if that is something I would do. I
know that getting older is tough . . . I think about getting older
constantly. I'm in my mid-30s now, so you start thinking, 'God, wow,
I'm going to get there soon.' " That's Jennifer Lopez in Harper's
Bazaar, talking about the possibility of plastic surgery. She's a long
way from it, but I'm glad she is not joining all those who insist, "Oh,
no never!" Please. When your face is 40 feet high on a movie screen,
you want those jowls adjusted! And if you want to pleasure Mrs. Marc
Anthony - as in giving her a present, silly - try bath products.
She loves her long luxurious soaks. P.S. Charlize Theron is on the
cover of Bazaar. Another famous blonde, Gwyneth Paltrow decorates
Vogue. Both give interesting interviews. However, both are compelled to
model clothes - with one or two exceptions - that are just
ridiculous: fussy, lumpy, overdone. In real life, one never sees either
beauty in such overpowering get-ups.
--IS THE "Today" show walking a frayed tightrope with its weekly
gathering of unknown (and unfunny) comics delivering bitchy comments on
the week in celebrity news? So many of the skewered stars are people
"Today" would consider big "gets:" Tom and Katie; Nick and Jessica;
Lindsay Lohan. The chortling that goes on when Matt Lauer or David
Gregory egg on the comics is squirm-inducing. And I bet the first time
a p.r. handler says "no" to queen bee Katie Couric - after she
requests an interview because somebody's delicate client has been
wounded - this little segment will bite the dust. It's fine and funny
for MTV or VH1, where over-the-top irreverence is expected. But when
you're a morning news show competing for high-stakes ratings grabbers?
NY DAILY NEWS/RUSH AND MOLLOY....
--"Brokeback Mountain" director Ang Lee sees his gay cowboy flick
rounding up mainstream success, despite its controversial subject.
"It's a lot warmer than I expected, how people respond to it," Lee told
us. The movie, in which Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger play lovers in
the lonely American West, has picked up critical praise and won the top
prize at the Venice Film Festival. "The material is quite challenging,
but somehow it made some sort of vibe and has a lot of goodwill!"
Despite rumors of tension on the set between "Brokeback" screenwriter
Larry McMurtry and Lee, the "Ice Storm" director assured us that
McMurtry and novelist Annie Proulx, who wrote the original story, "both
loved the movie." "It's a special relief," Lee sighed. "Brokeback" will
debut in limited release, which is also a relief to the director. "It's
more natural to me. Every movie I did, except 'The Hulk,' I did with
that kind of platform," Lee said, admitting he was "uncomfortable" with
the release of "Hulk," which he thought "was really shoved out into the
market."
--Looks like Burberry thinks "Constant Gardener" star Rachel Weisz is a
safer bet than Kate Moss. The staid fashion house declined to use Kate
for its spring campaign after revelations of her cocaine use appeared
in the London Mirror. But sources say the beautiful Weisz, who stars in
the upcoming epic "The Fountain," is on deck. "Burberry wanted to use
an elegant and sophisticated British beauty for their fragrance, and
Rachel fit the bill," a source told the Mail on Sunday. Meanwhile, as
far as acting gigs go, Weisz has particular demands for her next role.
"I very much need to do a comedy," she told us. "I'm not going back to
work after 'The Fountain' unless it's a comedy." Got that, Hollywood?
--Elizabeth Hurley and Evelyn Lauder unveiled Song Airline's Pink Plane
Friday morning at JFK to support the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
--"Devil Wears Prada" author Lauren Weisberger tried to downplay her
role in the book's film adaptation at a party for her new tome,
"Everyone Worth Knowing," at the W Times Square, describing it as
"limited." But Wendy Finerman, who's producing the Meryl Streep
vehicle, piped up to disagree. "We got her a director's chair," she
insisted of the film-obsessed Weisberger.
--Denzel Washington and Queen Latifah celebrated the comeback of
Salt-N-Pepa with the ladies at Taj.
--Kate Hudson and Chris Robinson ignored oglers at A.O.C Bedford.
--Manhattan got a little redneck last week, when Lee Ann Womack did
some tequila shooters onstage and sang "Twenty Years and Two Husbands
Ago" at Cipriani.
NY DAILY NEWS/LLOYD GROVE...
--Patty Hearst has a message for folks who are worried about terrorist
attacks: Stop wringing your hands, people! "I was kidnapped by
terrorists. It's not like I'm numb to this and think it can't happen.
But get real!" Hearst admonished. "There's so much weeping and wailing
and memorializing, my feeling is it'd be a lot healthier if people
didn't externalize so much and kind of bucked up a little bit." The
51-year-old media heiress was famously abducted by the Symbionese
Liberation Army in 1974, then served 21 months in prison for bank
robbery and was pardoned by Bill Clinton. "What good is our government
if they can't keep our level of fear at a point where we can think
about what's really going on?" she told Lowdown. "We are a nation with
the most frightened people on the planet. People who come over here
just laugh at us." Hearst - who today lives a quiet life in Connecticut
with her bodyguard-turned-husband, Bernard Shaw - confided: "It's
better to have a lower profile." The tabloid celebrity culture "has
reached a ludicrous level," she added. "How many times can you look up
someone's skirt and think it's fascinating? 'Look, they're pumping
their own gas!' ... We had a subscription to one magazine, which I
won't name - I just had to call up and cancel it because there were 18
pages of people scratching their a- or licking their fingers or blowing
their noses." Hearst is hyping her Oct. 19 guest appearance on the Sci
Fi Channel's animated series "Tripping the Rift," in which she voices a
former stripper. "I've always wanted to be a cartoon character," she
admitted. "I've practically been reduced to that in real life."
--I hear that Rolling Stone founder and U2 fan Jann Wenner is raising
eyebrows around town by scheduling a celeb-studded dinner for the Irish
band at his upper West Side townhouse on Wednesday night, the eve of
Yom Kippur. That's the Day of Atonement, as Jann might remember from
his childhood, when ritual fasting begins for the holiest day on the
Jewish calendar. Some of Wenner's observant invitees have sent their
regrets - never mind that Wenner, I'm told, ordered two complete sets
of mailed invitations after the first set carried esthetically
displeasing address labels instead of properly elegant caligraphy. No
comment from Wenner.
--Are Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher hogging the rumored $3 million
wedding photo paycheck they collected from OK! magazine? Lowdown hears
that the newlyweds floated a rumor that they were donating the money to
Habitat for Humanity to distract guttersnipe gossips from their real
plans: to keep the cash for themselves. "We have no knowledge of the
donation, but we certainly welcome any support," Habitat spokesman
Duane Bates told Lowdown. Mrs. Kutcher's PR rep dismissed the
speculation as "nonsense" and added: "Demi wants to keep her charitable
donations private and does not allow me to comment."
NY DAILY NEWS/RICHARD HUFF...
--Dayna Devon fans are in luck: The co-host of the news magazine
"Extra" returns to work today. Devon has been on maternity leave since
the late summer. She gave birth to daughter Emmi Sept. 2. Since she's
been out, a who's who list of celebrities have filled in her slot
alongside Mark McGrath. Among them have been Celine Dion, Tommy Lee,
Burt Reynolds, Dave Navarro, Cybill Shepherd and Jane Kaczmarek.
--Santana and Los Lonely Boys. The CD also includes a music video for
"Dora Dance to the Rescue," a DVD hitting stores tomorrow, too.
--"Sex and the City" cast member Cynthia Nixon will guest- star on an
December episode of Fox's medical drama "House." She'll play a
sharp-witted patient who suffers a mysterious seizure and goes
head-to-head with cantankerous Dr. Gregory House, played by Hugh
Laurie.
--ABC News this week kicked off "Loose Nukes on Main Street: The New
Terror Threat," a series of segments looking at the potential for a
nuclear terrorist attack, that will air as part of all ABC News shows.
USA TODAY/By Karen Thomas....
--Actor Nathan Lane got an unwanted accessory days before the
much-anticipated Broadway revival of The Odd Couple began for previews:
a broken finger swathed in a huge white bandage. Lane, who teams again
with The Producers co-star Matthew Broderick in the comedy,
accidentally slammed his right index finger in a door and required 14
stitches, Time magazine reported. Lane said he would take off the
splint and bandage for the performance.
--WB's paranormal series Supernatural has been picked up for a full
22-week season. The show (Tuesday, 9 p.m. ET/PT) stars Jared Padalecki
and Jensen Ackles.
--Seven celebrated African-American films are heading to DVD in time
for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month. Arriving in
stores Jan. 10 (Warner Brothers Video, $20): classics Cabin in the Sky,
Hallelujah and The Green Pastures and contemporary dramas Buffalo
Soldiers, Freedom Song, Heat Wave and Passing Glory. Bonus: musical
short Rufus Jones for President, starring a 7-year-old Sammy Davis Jr.
3 A.M. GIRLS/With Kiki King, Eva Simpson And Caroline Hedley...
--MICHAEL Jackson enjoyed his night out at Billy Elliot: The Musical so
much that he invited the whole cast to join him afterwards in his hotel
for a drink. The singer, who's in London to record a charity single for
victims of Hurricane Katrina, caught the smash-hit show on Saturday
night. A source close to Wacko reveals: "Michael thought the production
was amazing. He asked the actors to come and join him in the Dorchester
hotel for a post-show celebration."
--JUDE Law shopping at designer store The Barn in King's Lynn.
--BLACK Eyed Peas pin-up Fergie must have an aversion to airline grub -
even in business class. While on tour in Australia the 30-year-old
boarded a flight in Brisbane with 12 Whopper burgers and fries for her
crew. Sources tell us that within minutes the 767 aircraft was stinking
of greasy grub - and she and her mates didn't even eat the feast. A
passenger revealed: "Most of them were in business class with plenty of
food being served, so why they needed hamburgers was beyond me. Fergie
took two bites and fell asleep with the burger on her lap."
LAS VEGAS JOURNAL/NORM CLARKE...
--Motley Crue's concert ended on a strained note Saturday at the Hard
Rock Hotel. Unhappy with technical difficulties, the band members
walked off the stage at the end of the show and didn't return for an
encore. The crowd wanted more and reacted loudly. The Hard Rock issued
a statement saying, "Due to technical difficulties with Motley Crue's
equipment they were unable to perform an encore during Saturday night's
show and they were expected to perform a Sunday night show." No refunds
would be issued, the statement explained, because "encores are at the
discretion of the band on a nightly basis."
--Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, dining with two other couples at Andre
Rochat's Alize (Palms) on Friday. Rochat sent Agassi's favorite potato
dish to the table. Agassi and Graf were later on the town at Pure
(Caesars Palace), where former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker teamed
up with DJ AM.
--Baseball slugger Barry Bonds, getting a private tour of the new Palms
Fantasy Tower from Palms owner George Maloof on Saturday. Bonds, who
will enter the 2006 season six home runs shy of Babe Ruth's 714 and 47
shy of Henry Aaron's all-time mark of 755, later was spotted having
dinner at Taqueria Canonita at The Venetian.
--Cal Ripken Jr., attending the Jose Luis Castillo-Diego Corrales fight
at the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday night.
--Rio headliner Penn Jillette at the sumo tournament at Mandalay Bay on
Sunday. Also spotted: David Arquette, who later was seen dining at Tao
(The Venetian).
--David Cassidy, checking out the newly revamped performance of
"Fantasy" (Luxor) on Saturday night. ... Tony and Jill Curtis, renewing
their wedding vows Friday at the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood wedding
chapel and then celebrating with dinner at Elements.
--Star boxer Floyd Mayweather, ordering 10 bottles of Cristal champagne
at OPM Nightclub (Forum Shops at Caesars) on Saturday. Also there: Ron
Stone of the Oakland Raiders and J Prince, owner of Rapp A Lot Records.
--Diego Corrales, dining at Piero's Italian Cuisine on Friday.
--Paris Hilton, back at Tao (The Venetian) for a second night Saturday,
partying with Kimberly Stewart and Bijou Phillips. Also turning heads:
Actors James Caan and George Hamilton with real estate developer Don
Sofer.
--Paris Hilton and Fat Joe, who performed at the one-year anniversary
of Body English (Hard Rock Hotel), later were hanging at the VIP room
at Club Paradise.
--Fat Joe and entourage at Forty Deuce (Mandalay Bay).
--At Olives at the Bellagio on Saturday: The late Rick Nelson's twin
sons, Gunnar and Matthew Nelson. Word is that they're looking for a Las
Vegas venue.
--Siegfried & Roy, presenting the awards at the 15th Las Vegas
Metropolitan Police Department K-9 trials on Sunday at The Orleans
Arena.
--At SW Steakhouse (Wynn) on Saturday: Ivana Trump, Cal Ripken, James
Caan, George Hamilton, handbag designer Cece Cord and the Krzyzewskis.
--Paris Hilton, buying ferrets and snakes at a local pet store.
en0...@yahoo.com
For chrissakes, can she not enjoy herself without feeling the need to
call him up? She totally does not deserve the husband she has and if
she carries on harping back to this 'party lifestyle' she used to have
with Mr Lee then she is going to seriously jeapordise her marriage. I
was so angry when I read this...