May 25, 2005 |
AND THE WINNERS ARE...
The 2004-05 TV season doesn't end until tonight, but two networks have already declared victory: CBS and Fox. The Eye net — paced by the final season of Everybody Loves Raymond and a little franchise called CSI — will finish first among total viewers and adults 25-54, while American Idol-fueled Fox will come out on top in adults 18-49 for the first time in its 19-year history. The news was also good for ABC, which, despite placing third, was up 16 percent over last year, thanks to freshman smashes Desperate Housewives, Lost and Grey's Anatomy. And NBC? Um, let's not kick a Peacock while it's down. |
JACKO UPDATE
Michael Jackson will not be taking the stand in his child-molestation trial, lead defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. confirmed Tuesday. The announcement came after a day of celeb-studded testimony from Rush Hour star Chris Tucker and Tonight Show host Jay Leno — during which Tucker said he once took Jacko's accuser to the mall, and Leno told the stunned courtroom, "I'm not Batman!" (Click here for an explanation of the latter.) The defense is expected to rest its case formally later today. |
IN RELATED NEWS...
Just hours after testifying, Jay Leno reported to work at The Tonight Show and proceeded to poke fun at Jacko in his opening monologue. "OK, you know the worst part about testifying? I had to follow the chimp," he joked. "The witness chair was a mess." Eh, the Batman crack was funnier. |
SOPRANOS' STAY OF EXECUTION
Turns out, the hysterically hyped upcoming sixth season of The Sopranos may not be the HBO mob hit's last after all. Said series creator David Chase Tuesday at a forum sponsored by The New Yorker and Syracuse University: "I really enjoy [doing the show], so why leave something like that? It's just a question of whether the story works out creatively in six seasons, which I think it will." On the other hand, he added, a seventh season isn't out of the question, either. "It is possible." Hmm. Perhaps it's not a coincidence that Chase says Season 6 is going to revolve around "money and materialism." |
TALKING SMACK
Tom Cruise isn't the only celeb to suffer a meltdown in front of TV cameras this week. Burt Reynolds slapped a CBS television producer in the face Tuesday at the New York premiere of The Longest Yard — and the whole thing was caught on tape! The 69-year-old loose cannon became enraged when the producer acknowledged he hadn't seen the original 1974 version of Yard, prompting the smack. "You don't know anything about the movie?" Burt scowled. "What... kind of guy are you?" Reynolds' rep insists the actor was just "kidding." Eh, Leno's monkey crack was funnier. |
WHITNEY UPDATE
Bobby Brown says his wife, Whitney Houston, has successfully completed a second stint in rehab. "I'm very confident," he told Access Hollywood. "She's my lady and she's doing wonderful. Everything about her spirit right now is just great. We're enjoying life again." Spoken like a guy who just watched two of his friends nearly get stabbed to death (Entertainment News 5/24). |
THAT'S HOT (AND BOTHERED)
The Parents Television Council has a beef with Paris Hilton. The watchdog group is calling on its one million members to protest California-based hamburger chain Carl's Jr. after it aired a racy TV spot featuring Paris Hilton. In the commercial, Hilton, clad in a skimpy black swimsuit, hoses down a Bentley while biting into a Carl's Jr. Spicy BBQ Burger. PTC spokeswoman Melissa Caldwell says the ad is "basically soft porn." Not that Missy would know what soft porn looks like. |
DON'T TELL KATIE...
J.J. Abrams has tapped Michelle Monaghan (The Bourne Supremacy) to play Tom Cruise's love interest in Mission: Impossible 3. Sources say Cruise OK'd the casting by jumping up and down on Abrams' couch five times and doing 16 bended-knee fist-pumps. |
SHORT CUTS
Former Olive Garden waitress Renee Zellweger received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Tuesday... Dream-maker Oprah Winfrey celebrated the end of another season of The Oprah Winfrey Show by giving her entire staff an all-expense-paid trip to Maui, The Insider reports... And finally, it's Wednesday, so do yourself a favor and go read Ask Ausiello. All the cool kids are doing it. |
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